| Gen Con Report |
[20 Aug 2006|11:47am] |
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...
Gen Con many great and interesting people, including Chuck and Lonnie from The Dragon's Landing, Harping Mick and Chris from The House of the Harping Monkey, Paul of Cthulhu, the Sons of Kryos, and the Fistful of Comics and Games guys.
I got to do a lot while I was there, including participate in the big MEGACAST with a bunch of podcasters. It was a total riot.
BE SURE TO CHECK OUT GEN CON ALMOST LIVE FOR TONS OF GEN CON GOODNESS!
Anyway ... here's the breakdown ...
WEDNESDAY
Our plane left on Wednesday, o-dark-early. We managed to get to the airport and onto the plane in record time, before any of the wonderful stuff in Britain happened. We had a really small plane, probably the smallest commercial flight-type out there, a regional commuter flight. From what I understand, the plane was the smallest commuter jet before getting into private planes. It was tight, compact, and an all around pleasant flight.
We landed, got our luggage, and went to the shuttle service, coupons in hand, to catch a ride to the hotel. Everything had been going fine up until that point. We got to the shuttle, and I spoke to the attendant, asking for their cheapest share-ride that would take us to the Radisson City Centre hotel in downtown Indy. She was very nice and obliged ... with a limo.
Yes, a limo.
My pocketbook was beginning to feel ligter already, but we hopped in, and rode in style to the hotel, whereupon arriving, the four of us shelled out a mind-boggling $10 each for the limo ride. Here I was, expecting some outrageous number! Anyone traveling to Indy, use Carey Transportation. They are nice, and have cheap limousines.
We got to the hotel too early to check in, but they put us on the wait list for the next available room. They took our luggage and stored it for us, and we went to the nearby mall to walk around, and hopped over to the convention center to take a gander at the place. We picked up our free swag bags, ate some lunch, and made it back to the hotel around 2:00 or 3:00 or something. We got our room, got inside, and crashed for a while. To take up some time, we all played some Civilization 4 and watched some fan-films I brought on disc (Nathan had his laptop). Another surprise at the hotel was that they had full advanced cable -- something like 70 channels of basic TV for free. Impressive. Most impressive.
We went to a local pizza place for dinner, a place called Enzo's. It was good, inexpensive, and right next door. The rest of the night was passed in relative calmness (after we went to sleep, that is another story).
THURSDAY
The previous evening, the excitement began. I was a restless sleeper and began to flail a bit, almost decking my friend, James, in my delerium. Nathan had a bit of a health issue and needed to go to the emergency room for a short while. I, of course, slept through the whole thing.
When we all dragged ourselves from our slumber, we showered, then me, Becca, and James, took off to the convention center to hit the Exhibitor Hall when it opened. We had a small breakfast I think, then got enveloped into the throng of excited gamers, waiting for the doors to the hall to open.
We got inside, and the three of us go in line at the Wizkids booth so Becca and James could get The Great Cthulhu from Wizkids' new HorrorClix line. It wasn't something I wanted to get, but I stood in line anyway. Becca and I spoke to a nice gentleman in line with us who had not been to Gen Con in 15 years or some such. After obtaining the squid-headed monstrosity, Becca and I (James had disappeared into the throng at this point) went to Pagan Publishing's booth so I could get a stuffed Cthulhu (a tradition of mine).
Sadly, Pagan did not bring any Cthulhus with them this year, because of shipping costs and Toy Vault's line of cheaper Cthuhlhus that had bitten into their sales the last few years. After anguising over the end of a 9-year long tradition for me, I shook it off, and bought a copy of the "soundtrack" to A Shoggoth on the Roof.
The walking around and shopping commenced, and I managed to lose Becca along the way. I hit the Green Ronin booth to get the new Mutants and Masterminds books, and hit some other places along the way. I eventually hit the auction and met up with people for lunch.
The day progressed as such, except for a brief stop at the Klingon Jail and Bail so I could get them to arrest Chuck and Lonnie after the podcast panel the next day. That evening, after dinner, Nathan and I had to make it to a Mutants and Masterminds game. Despite the game only taking a rather paltry 45 minutes (rather than the normal 4 hours), we managed to have some fun, despite the GM of the game being a total goober who didn't know what the heck he was doing. Oh, well. Such is the risk of con adventures.
The evening progressed on ... and no crazy nocturnal activities like the previous night ...
FRIDAY
Friday was my busy day. I grabbed breakfast with Becca and James, then we parted ways as I went to the Podcaster panel. It was standing-room only, but I managed to meet many of the podcasters I had wanted to meet, as well as get the skinny on some other shows I now listen to (Have Games Will Travel by Paul Tevis being one of them). The panel was informative and went very well, I thought.
Chuck and Lonnie were arrested at the end, as planned, and, thanks to Jim in Buffalo, we got them on tape in the cell before they were (unjustly) bailed out by Chris from the Harping Monkey.
I had to make a Mutants and Masterminds game at noon, so I ran to that. This game went much better, taking up the greater portion of 4 hours. It was a new "Living" campaign world that was being developed. "Living" meaning an ongoing campaign world where you can play the same character in other conventions. It was fun. Not the best Mutants and Masterminds game I've played, but it was fun.
Then, it was off to the Exhibitor Hall for a few hours, then on to the RAM to the Dragon's Landing Meet and Greet (organized by yours truly). There, I got to meet the podcasters and listeners I've grown to call friends online (Jim in Buffalo, Direwolf, etc.). We (The DLSS) saved Chupacabra Bob, and gave Chuck and Lonnie a small "Dragon's Landing" inn (courtesy of Crystal Caste). The M&G was tons of fun, went to the later hours for me, but I had to jet when the few remaining decided to go the pub, the Claddagh for drinks to the wee hours.
Nathan and Becca went to Video Games Live, and they had a great time. James went to see Gamers: Dorkness Rising on Friday, and we forbode him from speaking of it, as we all had tickets to see it on Saturday night.
SATURDAY
Shopping day! On Saturday, I did most of my shopping. I met the podcasters at 12:30 at the Hyatt for the big MEGACAST! You can listen to the hour-long cast here, and listen carefully for me! Also listen for Jim in Buffalo as well as others. It was a blast to participate.
I got the autographs of Kevin Sorbo, William Katt, and the Mythbusters' Grant Imahara, Kari Byron (hotness), and Tory Belleci. They were all great to meet. They were all very nice. I want to say about Tory Belleci, though, he was much cooler in person than I expected. He was very talkative, and a genuinely nice guy. All the Mythbusters people were great, but I felt that I could probably stand and talk to Tory about obscure movies for a while. He's the type of guy, like Bruce Campbell, that you'd want to buy a beer for. Check out Tory's Myspace page.
That evening, we saw The Gamers: Dorkness Rising, and met up with Paul of Cthulhu. I congratulated him on his website's Ennie win the previous night (Way to Go, Paul!) and we all sat together for the movie. The movie was hilarious. I can't wait for it to come out. Darn funny stuff.
The odd thing that night was having a fan of Paul's website insist that Paul, Nathan, and I pose for a picture for him. I guess the guy thought we were somebody. We sort of shrugged and mugged for the camera. I was glad to get some more time to talk to Paul a bit, but was saddened I didn't get to meet the other Yog-Radio guys, Fin and Neal. Sorry, guys!
SUNDAY
The wrap-up day. I finished up my shopping on this day and met everyone at the RAM for a farewell lunch. That was a good Tarrasque Burger.
Onto the limo ride, then the plane trip, and then back home, where I fetched my dog, and crashed.
I even came back with money in my pocket. A good convention all around.
Ethan
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| Back from the Brink |
[14 Aug 2006|01:36pm] |
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I'm freshely back from Gen Con, now getting back into the groove of life once again. School begins next week ... and I will be a hermit.
But, Gen Con ... yes, four days of fun and fancy-free (well, not free) gaming and shopping.
I had a great time, saw some great folks, met many podcasters, participated in a Metacast (which was cool - check out the whole Gen Con Almost Live site), and saw Gamers: Dorkness Rising! I will try and post a detailed report, with pictures at some point (sometime within the next six months ...).
Ethan
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| Blast from the Past |
[16 Jul 2006|04:13pm] |
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Well, Gen Con is once again sneaking up on me, and I'm doing my best to save money for it. This is my 10th anniversay going to Gen Con, so this year's kinda special.
Now, Gen Con wasn't the first convention I went to, that was Kulcon II, sponsored by the gaming organization, Kugar (article), at the University of Kansas. It was a fun little convention, not anythink like the big GC. It was a good place to start, though. I went with my brother, played some old school Paranoia, Champions, and did my first game of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.
It was an experience I would never forget.
I was going through some old papers and found this:
I've still got the original flyer ... gotta say ... that beings back memories. Now, though, there are pretty much no good conventions in the entire Kansas City area ... the black hole of gaming and sci fi. There is the Kansas City Comic Con, but I've never actually been to that one. I should go one of these years.
Looking through the old flyer, it beckons some interesting things. The convention touted the following guests, in this order:
Jean Rabe (TSR Game Designed and Polyhedron Editor)
Bruce Nesmith (TSR Game Designer and Creator of Ravenloft)
Tom Dowd (FASA Designer of Earthdawn and Shadowrun)
Fred Fields (Exclusive Illustrator for TSR)
Wizards of the Coast (Creators of Magic: The Gathering)
Timothy Bradstreet (Freelance artist for Dark Horse Comics, artist for X Comics, and Aliens. Cover artist for Dragon Magazine and artist for White Wolf.)
Where are these people, now?
Jean Rabe is mainly an author who works for Wizards of the Coast.
Bruce Nesmith, as far as I can tell, now works for the video game industry.
Tom Dowd ... well, I don't know what happened to him since FASA closed up shop.
Fred Fields still does art, but now not exclusively for TSR.
TSR no longer really exists, it was bought by Wizards of the Coast, who was subsequently bought by Hasbro. They now publish D&D 3.5 Edition, Star Wars, the Pokemon card game, Axis and Allies Collectible Miniatures Game, and many others.
Timothy Bradstreet now does many covers for Marvel Comics, most notably the entire run of Punisher comics. He's a sought after artist, now.
It's amazing what can happen in 12 years ...
Incidentally, the 13th Annual Weiner Dog Nationals are on July 30th. Perhaps I will go ...
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| Superman Returns and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest |
[09 Jul 2006|09:21pm] |
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I'm just back from seeing the new Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, and it was fantastic. Just as good as the first movie, and then some.
I've also seen Superman Returns ...
Let's be a bit organized about this, first. I don't have a lot to say about Pirates, but I have something to say about Superman Returns, so ...
I will begin with Superman Returns. First, let me say I don't consider myself a huge Superman fan. He's a classicly poorly written character that usually has the effect of numbing down any comic book story. That being said, I'm a fan of three of the first four Superman films with Christopher Reeve. Yes, I actually have a soft spot for Superman 4: The Quest for Peace. I have multiple reasons for it, but suffice it to say my first comic book I remember owning was the comic book version of the movie.
I had no problem with the acting, few problems with the story, and several problems with the costume.
Brandon Routh is the living embodiment of Christopher Reeve. I can say he emmulates Reeve well, but also makes the part his own. He does a great job giving homage to the late great Superman himself, yet also manages to bring his own spin onto the character. He is a confident Superman, and a sufficient bumbling Clark Kent. Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane is better, in my opinion, than the original Margot Kidder, but not as good as Teri Hatcher from Lois & Clark. She did a good job of being a confident woman in a sterotypically feminine roll. She was attractive, yet not glamorous, as Lois Lane should be, and her chemistry with Routh was nice. Good ol' Cyclops is in the movie as the nephew of Perry White, Richard, and he is much mroe heroic and solid in this film than he was in X-Men: The Last Stand. I'd like to see him return for the next Superman film. Sam Huntington as Jimmy Olsen does a good job as well, playing Jimmy with an appropriate amount of geekiness. He, as well, puts his own stamp on the character, making him lovable, and not too much of a dweeb like he is usually portrayed as. He is, needless to say, leaps and bounds better than Justin Whailin, who took over for Michael Landes in the second season of Lois & Clark. Perry White is played by Skeletor himself, Frank Langella, who does a great job not making him another clone of J. Jonah Jameson from Spider-Man. He plays Perry as quiet and confident, as a newspaper editor interested in getting the job done. He's not yelling all the time, and he managesn to pull of the "Great Caesar's Ghost" line with strength.
The real acting gem in this movie is Kevin Spacey. Gene Hackman is a great Lex Luthor, but Spacey is a Luthor for the new generation. He's ruthless, determined, and intelligent -- all aspects of Luthor that make him scary as heck. Spacey is just the best reason to see the movie. No kidding. His helper, Parker Posey, who plays his new female sidekick, Kitty, also pulls a great performance off. She does a good job saying a lot without ... saying a lot. A definate improvement over Valerie Perrine, who's not exactly hard to look at, but just got annoying after a while. We shall not mention Jon Cryer, who was Lex's nephew Lenny in Superman 4. No, no mentioning him at all. He does not exist.
The story of the movie was somewhat solid, but I felt that Singer was trying to do a lot with the movie that could have been saved for another film. We have the technology now to see supervillians, so I want to see Superman fight Bizarro, or Brainiac, or Metallo or something. The movie went out of its way to give props to the first two movies, which were made almost 30 years ago. Both Superman 1 and 2 are both in continuity with this movie, so see those before seeing this one. If you don't ... you might be a bit confused. It may just be because I haven't watched those first two in a while, and that's why I found this movie a bit odd, referencing to the old flicks.
The costume. Yes ... the costume. I can tolerate the embossed "S" on his chest. I can even tolerate the off-redness of his cape . But the belt and the boots. No. I refuse. The cape is two different colors, the interior is a brighter shade of red than the exterior. It should be brighter. Much brighter. Superman is the epitome of the four-color comic book character. His reds should be fire-engine red. They should mirror the red of the American flag! It's a bit drab. The belt has a really dumb "S" as the buckle. Where did he come up with that? And if you look at the boots real close (when you can see the backs of them in the hospital room at the end of the movie), you will see two "S's" on the backs of them, embossed from the material of the boot.
It is the lamest thing I've ever seen. Superman's little booties. It must be an ancient Kryptonian way of writing your name on your shoes, so the other little Kryptonian kiddies don't steal them. LAME LAME LAME!
Overall, I liked the movie, but not overtly so.
Now, Pirates!
I loved the movie. It was fun, energetic, the effects were superb, and the story was interesting. It was as good as the first film, if not better. It's a bit slow of a start, but the movie is solid throughout.
There's not much to say about it, really. It's just a fun movie. Fun movies are making a comeback. You know, movies that are fun to watch, despite any proclivities anyone might have. Other movies in that vein are the Indiana Jones films, the original Star Wars movies, more recently, The Mummy, and the like. Movies that are just plain entertaining. This is definately one of them.
I must say the effects in the movie are great. They did a wonderful job with Davey Jones, played by everyone's favorite uber-vampire from Underworld, Bill Nighy (incidently, he's also the stepfather in Shaun of the Dead). His effects are well done. I would have to surmise that he is part makeup and part CGI, but hats off to ILM for leaving the humanity in him. A credit to the actor for portraying emotion through all that stuff he has on. His eyes are left alone by any CGI (as far as I can tell) and makeup. He has a humanity to them, and you can even feel for ol' squidhead from time to time.
Also, he's just a walking, talking, embodiment of Cthulhu. That has to be something.
Anyway, next movies up for me would be Clerks 2 and Lady in the Water.
Take it easy!
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| Got a Letter ... |
[06 Jul 2006|04:06pm] |
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I know I've been quiet, lately, but I did get this in the mail today ... it was a pleasant surprise.
It is now firmly attached to my Resume! No news to report on the job front. Still plugging away.
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| DVD Covers |
[28 Jun 2006|11:53am] |
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I was killing time yesterday and playing around with Photoshop. I got to looking at some of my DVD covers and picking the new Star Wars prequel trilogy and deciding that the DVD covers were lame. So ... I made my own.
Here they are ...
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| Uwe Boll ... Doctor of Dilligent Doodoo |
[27 Jun 2006|12:14am] |
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As you all know, I like to bash on Uwe Boll. A lot. He's an easy target, yet so mind boggling, I must talk about him.
Despite trying to find out how this man gets work in this world today, and why no one has locked him in a trunk and dumped him in the South China Sea as of yet, I must turn everyone's attention to a bit of added news from a previous entry. As you know, bouncing Boll issued a challenge to his critics on the internet a'la Jay and Silent Bob Strikes Back, saying, amongst other things, that he will choose hsi worst critic to face him in the boxing ring, and then get a cameo role in one of his new movies.
Now, getting a part in one of his movies would be akin to swallowing rusty razor blades until you pass out, but one critic has officially accepted his challenge. Those folks over at Something Awful kindly e-mailed bubba Boll and served him thusly with a review of Alone in the Dark.
I'm gonna have to guess that this list he has of people who want to fight him has to be at least half the size of War and Peace by now. I'd fight him, but I don't want to run the possibility of getting into one of his movies (unless I can hold up a sign reading "Run For Your Lives" or something and get paid), I would just want my collective $4 back for renting his movies. The sheer pleasure of slapping the silly German around would be payback enough for wasting precious hours of my life watching two of his films.
I swear, I want those three hours back. It's like he was stabbing me with very small knives for 180 minutes. Ouch.
I still don't know how he gts work, though. Few of his movies have made money -- domestically or internationally. Allow me to elaborate ...
House of the Dead (based on the video game by Capcom, I believe)
Production Cost: $12 Million
Domestic Gross: $10,249,719
International Gross: $3,568,462
Total Gross: $13,818,181
Total Profit/Loss: $1,818,181
Alone in the Dark (based on the video game by Atari/Infogrames)
Production Cost: $20 Million
Domestic Gross: $5,178,569
International Gross: $2,992,033
Total Gross: $8,170,602
Total Profit/Loss: -$11,829,398
Bloodrayne (based on the video game by ... oh, who cares?)
Production Cost: $25 Million
Domestic Gross: $2,405,420
International Gross: $1,186,560
Total Gross: $3,591,980
Total Profit/Loss: -$21,408,020
Therefore, his running "Tab" would be about $31,419,237 in the hole. What costs $31 Million in this day and age ... click here to find some examples.
I don't see how a Hollywood bottom-liner would look at the above information and say, "I want this guy to direct my next movie!"
Probably the guy who came up with Catwoman.
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| Job Hunting, Podcasts, and Purists |
[24 Jun 2006|07:59am] |
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I've been busy looking for a better job.
I quit my old job, and got a job doing data entry. It's not bad, fairly autonomous, and I can listen to music or audiobooks or podcasts or something while I work. I've got some interviews set up for next week, and those are in the legal field, so ... cross your fingers.
I'm still hopelessly addicted to podcasts. I'm now listening to GeeksOn, which is okay. They have good material, but the three guys in it are rather pompus and arrogant, a bit full of themselves, if you will. I like the podcast, but sometimes I want to remind these guys that they're a geek podcast for free on the internet, and just because they live in Los Angeles and work (somewhat) in the movie industry, doesn't mean that they're the messiahs of the internet.
I've found, listening to many podcasts around the net, that my friends and I (typically -- not all my friends, but some) are fairly laid back when it comes to comic book movies and other typically controversial topics. When a comic book movie comes out and totally goes against the comic book mythology, we go pretty easy on it (X3, for example). There are those exceptions, where the film company totally throws the mythology in the fans faces, spits on it, and then defacates on it as well (Catwoman, for example). Other issues, like the dreaded Evolution (ahhhh, Kansas ...) are discussed amongst my friends, but none of us come to blows. We usually can agree on the point of ... what is a day to God? Does God measure days in 24 hour increments? Doubtful.
Anyway, before I start getting on a soapbox, let me get to the point. I've found that I'm pretty accepting of most things other geeks are up in arms over. It mystifies me sometimes. I see some people (some friends of mine, in fact) that get all worked up over some trivial things in films, just because it's different than the original concept or the original book/comic/whatever. Hell, even the great film Sin City had to make a few changes from the original comic book, but it had the blessing of the writer, Frank Miller to do so. That's the way to work!
I understand that there is a transition from comic/book/whatever to film. It does not translate easily from one medium to another. It never will. Some are translated better, some are worse. Sticking so close to the book, for example, can be a very bad thing ... ahem ... Battlefield Earth, anyone? Diverging from the source material too much can lead to anuerisms like Catwoman, for example. I think a happy medium needs to be reached.
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| Severed/Liberated |
[10 Jun 2006|07:32am] |
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Well, my job offered me severence if I stay on through the 19th. I've got tons of applications out there right now, and have ahd two calls already for interviews.
We shall see what happens.
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[08 Jun 2006|10:35pm] |
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Aaaaaah!
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| Protect Chupa Bob |
[31 May 2006|12:45pm] |
I listen to a podcast regularly called Dragon's Landing. It's a great podcast, and everyone should listen to it.
Anyway, this is serious. It seems a plot has hatched from two other podcasts, the Domain of Apokolipz and those rowdy monkeys over at the House of the Harping Monkey may be plotting to try and abduct the beloved Chupacabra mascot of the Dragon's Landing ... Bob.
So, I've began the Dragon's Landing Secret Service. Wear this badge with pride!
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| X3 |
[31 May 2006|07:42am] |
I've been to see X-Men 3: The Last Stand, and there's enough buzz around everywhere to spoil most of the movie, so I will try and give you a review that does not spoil anything.
First of all, I liked the movie. It was not as good as the first two, but it was still an enjoyable flick. God knows, it's leaps and bounds better than Man Thing .
With a new director comes a new style to the film, and it's not a bad style. It was evident that the director was respectful to Bryan Singer's way of doing things, but he has his own way. The villain, Magneto, is fantastic (but what else do you expect from Ian McKellen ... the man is a fantastic actor), and Vinnie Jones is great as Juggernaut.
They do take some dramatic license with the characters here and there, and I think that's where the controversy comes into play. I'm not going to say what happens, but those of you who have seen the movie know what I'm talking about.
First of all, people need to stay through the end credits ... there's a tag at the end of the credits that sure puts a twist on the film. I won't spoil that, but stay in your seats when the credits start to roll, and do not leave.
Second of all, in film, things must be sacrificed in order to tell a coherent story. Sure, they could have stopped to explain that Juggernaut's powers are all because of his magical armor that he wears, and that he's Xavier's half-brother, but he's a peripheral character in the movie. He's not a main character, so, therefore, his screen time is limited. The movie would be hours and hours in length if the filmmakers spent time to tell each character's backstory. It just isn't going to happen. Some things need to change for a good story to be told in a film, it's a different medium, and not everything will translate.
Still along those lines, there is over fourty years of history behind the X-Men, and we can't expect Fox, Bryan Singer, Avi Arad, or Brett Ratner to tell a complete faithful story of the X-Men -- there's just too much backstory. It's like trying to tell someone about Lost in less than thirty seconds ... you just can't do it. You must make changes in order to tell a good story.
Third of all, character death. This is a point of major contention for some reason. All I can say is this ... it's a comic book, people. Characters die all the bloody time, and they keep coming back. It's inevitable (usually). Remember the "Death of Superman" those many years ago? That was a great story ... Superman died ... and then came back to life. It's hard to keep a superhero down.
Now, I'm not saying that the movie was perfect, far from it, I'm justy saying that the movie was enjoyable. It was fun. It's X-Men, not Citizen Kane. For instance, Angel is an entirely superflous character and has no point in the movie. No point. He's on screen collectively for about five minutes. I have no problems when he's on screen ... but he is rather useless, which is too bad, Angel's a good character, a conflicted character.
Anyway, here's hoping to Apocalypse for the next films ...
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| Jumping in With Both Feet |
[30 May 2006|11:59pm] |
I am a writer. I haven't been writing as much as I should.
Hell, I haven't been writing at all.
That needs to be rectified. I took a Creative Writing class this last semester, and got an "A" in it. Everyone tells me that I write well, but I find that I'm the biggest critic of my stuff.
Well, I'm biting the bullet, and I'm going to start trying to get stuff published, be is gaming material, stories, or whatever. Tomorrow, I'm dropping off a proposal that's going to Chaosium, the publishers of Call of Cthulhu, a horror role-playing game. I'm also talking with some people about some possible writing projects for other games out there, but nothing I can really talk about.
Anyway, I need to write more, and I shall do it! I need everyone to pester me and to keep me on task. I'm thinking of doing a weekly or bi-weekly story that is serialized, meaning that each time I post something, it will be an "episode" of a series. We'll see what happens, but I have to brainstorm about what it's going to be about.
Meanwhile, I've been addicted to podcasts. I'm listening to a number of them, now, but I think it's better than gluing myself in front of a television and scratching myself obscenely. I'm listening to Dragon's Landing, a podcast about RPGs, Domain of Apokolipz, another podcast about RPGs, Gamer: The Podcasting, you can guess what that one's about, Does My Geek Look Big in This? podcast, which is about many things, including beer and gaming, and The Round Table, which is a gaming podcast about mythology (it's pretty good). I'm thinking about checking out Fistful of Comics, After Serenity (a podcast show continuing the Firefly universe after Serenity, it's done by someone who worked on the movie), and a few others. I'm addicted, but it's a free addiction, so it could be worse.
You should all also know that my business has paid off -- I got straight A's this semester, so I'm darn proud of myself!
Woot!
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| Oops. |
[30 May 2006|11:39pm] |
I have no excuse. I'm a lazy bastard. Deal with it.
What have I been doing? Working. School. Working. School. That's about it. Tonight was my last class for the semester, so I'm doing gooooood.
I don't have a whole lot to talk about. Over the last 6 months, I've worked hard at school and it looks like I'm going to get a 4.0 this semester, I've been dealing with Medicare's Drug Coverage debacle, and doing my best to stay sane in an insane world.
Anyway ... updates ... I've been reading books (listening to audio books, really), and have seen a few movies in the last six months. I've listened to the new Harry Potter book (good book), Timeline (great book), The Da Vinci Code (good book), and am currently listening to Prey by Michael Crichton. Movies I've seen include V for Vendetta (great movie), Silent Hill (good movie), and Mission Impossible 3 (okay movie).
I built a new computer when I upgraded, so I now have two computers. I went to a Queen + Paul Rogers concert, which was absolutely awesome. Visited my mother and grandmother briefly.
Sorry I can't be more accomodating on updates and ramblings, but soon I'll do my best to update this more often. I'm working on a few projects, including something involving the Canadian Crusaders, the premier superteam of Canada (headed my Massive Defender, but more on him later).
One thing I will probably do on this site is ramble a bit on gaming. Not video gaming, but tabletop gaming (RPGs and Board Games). Those are my avid hobbies, and I'm gonna use this space to pimp out things I like.
First, I'm going to steer people towards a great podcast called The Dragon's Landing. It's a great podcast about tabletop gaming that gives great advice and wonderful resources to gamers across the web. Run by Chuck and Lonnie, the Dragon's Landing has a plethora of stuff on the site that is useful to everyone.
I'll elaborate more on this some other time.
Take care,
Ethan
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| Welcome Back to the Land of the Living |
[08 Sep 2005|10:02pm] |
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It's been a while, I know, but time, as they say, is not on my side.
I've been rather busy, moving, then Gen Con, then school, all the while working full time. I'm taking a Japanese class this semester, so my time is going to be rather full dealing with that workload. I'll do my best to keep this updated.
Incidentally, I've started up a Live Journal mirror of my blog, so I can see which of these systems I like the best, blogging or Live Journal. So, take your pick as far as the ones you want to read -- they're both the same content, just different formats.
On with the updates from Planet Ethan.
My move went very well, nothing was lost or damaged. I had a few days off to get unpacked and settled in, so that was nice. I built bookcases and a futon for the new place and got everything unpacked by the time I had to go back to work. Of course, now that I live in Kansas City and commute to Lawrence for work, gas prices went through the bloody roof. Figures.
I've gotta say, I love my new place. I'm working on getting some pictures up, but that might take a week or so. I love living by myself (no offense, former roomie). It's nice to come home and relax and not have to deal with anyone. It's my domain, my territory, my home. The complex I live at is beautiful, well-cared for, and close to the highway. I actually got a chance to use the swimming pool here not too long ago (man that was nice).
Shortly after my move, I made the trek to Gen Con Indianapolis with my friend, James. The trip went well, no car problems or anything out of the ordinary. I got a few pictures, but not too many. We stayed with a guy who lives out in Indiana who had space in his hotel room. Jim was a real nice guy, all three of us got along great together (IMO).
Gen Con Report
James came over and crashed on my sofa on Tuesday night.
The two of us went to Perkins up the street for some breakfast before we hit the road at about 8:00 AM.
We made good time traversing Missouri and Illinois, but ran into a stalled big rig in Indiana, which slowed us down considerably. However, we still managed to make good time and arrived at the Hotel at about 4:00 or so in the afternoon.
After getting settled in, James and I ran some stuff over the the auction to register, then we headed over to the Forum Stink. The Forum Stink is a get together of various people on the Gen Con Forums.
The Stink was a lot of fun. We got some SWAG (which I like to say stands for SWeet Arse Goodies) in the form of a canvas bag and some leftover freebies from Star Wars Celebration III. We met some nice folks from the forums and witnessed the Forum awards and what not. There was a raffle for some SWAG as well, but I didn't get anything (James got a rather phallic-looking alien travel mug-thing). Good times were had by all. After the Stink, we made our way over the the RAM, a local brewery and resturaunt near the convention center. We picked up the new commemorative Gen Con 2005 Kiltlifter Ale mugs they were selling. We each got one last year for 2004, and at $10 a piece, they're worth the price. As with last year, they were having a Gen Con themed menu. We each got the Privateer Press Warmachine Burger (huge burger). It was very good, but not as good as the Strahd's Steak-in-the-Heart Burger last year ...
We returned to the hotel for some sleep and finally got to meet Jim.
Thursday kicked off the convention.
James and I went to the opening of the Exhibitor Hall to get the must-have goodies.
I got Mutants & Masterminds 2nd Edition and a Cthulhu doll, which is my convention ritual (I now have nine of these little buggers at home).
We wandered about a bit, hit the auction and bought more stuff until I had a game in the afternoon.
I played Deadlands for the first time this year. I'm familiar with the game, but I've never actually played it, just run it for my players. Deadlands is a western horror game. The title of the scenario was, "I Left My Heart in San Francisco." It was a lot of fun, run by one of the guys on the forums. I played a bank robber named Johnny Montana. We were hired by the Triads in Shan Fan (San Francisco in the game) to find out who was killing people around town and taking their hearts. It was a lot of fun. We had a good group of people playing and we managed to stop the bad guy from summoning the beastie to do more harm (gazebo-in-park + Chinese demon x lots-o-dynamite = big crater in the middle of town).
I got out of the game around 5:00 or so and then met up with James for some dinner (can't recall where we went), but high-tailed it to another game at 8:00 that night.
Enter the Dungeon Crawl Classics Open Tournament Round 1. This game could have been fun. Emphasis on could have. The GM was a moron and didn't know the rules well, though he didn't admit it. It was a lot of little things that stacked up against us throgh the course of the game. He made bad calls and just plain didn't know the rules (attacks of opportunities on charge attacks ... sheesh). So that was a disappointment. I'm not one to rules-lawyer, but this guy was absolutely screwing us over. It was not a fun time at all.
I got back to the hotel room shortly before midnight and hit the sack.
The next day was a busy day for me. Of couse, the game I was really looking forward to was at 8:00 AM -- Feng Shui. Sadly, since I'm an idiot, I forgot to take my phone off of silent mode, so my phone alarm didn't wake me up when I wanted it to. So, I found myself with some time to kill in the morning which I used to shop and hit the auction as necessary. That afternoon was Mutants & Masterminds: Assault on Wedge Island. The guy running this was very well-prepared. He was an illustrator, so he had these real nice character sheets and maps made up that really added to the game. Check out his website. Great game. Basically, we were superheroes during the end of World War II and we were sent in by General Patton to recon an island off the coast of Great Britain. Upon investigating, we discover monstrous abominations being created in the image of the Third Reich! It was definately time for some Two-Fisted-Allied-Justice to be dished out. I was playing an American soldier named Big Red, a big grunt made of metal who could heat himelf up so he was red hot, hence the name. We stopped the insidious Nazi forces and rescued the captured Japanese doctor and his daughter in the process.
James and I made for a quick grub-grab at a chinese place nearby that was rather lackluster, then I headed to another Mutants & Masterminds game, Breakout in Tarterus 2.
This GM was much less prepared than the previous one. When I got to the table, he was finishing up the characters and complaining that this was the first time he had run M&M. My first thoughts were not good, but I was pleasantly surprised. I had a good time playing a brainiac genius gadgeteer who's father had created this space station now used as a prison called Tarterus 2. Of couse, my dad had his bouts of good and evil, and one of his followers showed up and tried to bust out a major baddie named Starseed, who was a super-being who was transforming into a star. He was imprisoned in the core of the station, providing power to the station. Craziness ensued, but a good time was had by all.
Then comes Saturday, a rather lax day for me. I hit the auction and the exhibitor hall for a while, getting Ron Glass's autograph and meeting some people from the new Battlestar Galactica. I played in a demo of the new City of Heroes Collectible Card Game, and it was pretty good. I got some extra goodies from the AEG people for demoing the game, so that was nice. I had another Mutants & Masterminds game that afternoon, this time it was Vote Early, Kill Often!
This GM was well-prepared, not as much so as the first GM, but he did a good job. Not as fancy a game as the first one I played, but it was still a lot of fun. I ended up with a flying genius who could control gravity called Singularity. We basically had to stop a senator from summoning a demon and trying to become president. Fun stuff.
That night James and I went to see the screening presentation of the sneak peak/making of for the new D&D movie, Dungeons & Dragons: Wrath of the Dragon God. It looks much better than the first movie, much better. It's not a perfect movie, but it is definately a huge step in the right direction. We also saw the making of presentation of The Gamers: Dornkess Rising, the highly anticipated sequel to The Gamers, from Dead Gentlemen Productions. It looks hilarious. I can't wait to get that one.
Sunday, James and I got our payouts from the Auction and then hit the exhibitor hall for some last minute buys. We got checked out of the hotel and hit the road at 3:00 PM, beating the throngs of people leaving Indy. We got home about 11:00 PM.
School
School began that following day. I'm taking a Japanese language class, Paralegal professional studies class, and Public speaking. The Japanese language class is going to be a lot of work, but I'm enjoying it so far. I'm keeping up, so I'm rather proud of myself. Not much to tell otherwise on the school front.
Bruce Campbell
Bruce Campbell did a book signing on the 25th of August, so James tagged along and we got his autograph. I couldn't get a copy of his new book, so I had him sign a paperback copy of his old book, If Chins Could Kill. I also had him sign my Evil Dead 2 blood-red laserdisc. Sweeeeeeeeeet. He was a real nice guy, as usual. James and I got there real ealry, so we were the fifth and sixth in line. Good times.
That night, James and I went to see The Brothers Grimm. I can't say it was a good movie, in fact, I'd say it was a bad movie. It was a mess. It really seemed to me that the studio must have brutally butchered it in order to get it the PG-13 rating it had. It had glaring segments in it that needed more exposition. Not a good movie at all. I do intend to check it out on DVD if, and only if, a Director's Cut comes out.
Now that all that is over, I'm back to the School/Work routine. I work 40 hours a week, and go to school full time, so I'm going to be busy for a little while. I'll post when I can, so, until then, take care!
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| Back in Black |
[28 Aug 2005|03:07pm] |
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I've been away for a while, and been real busy, as usual. Gen Con came and went, friends came and visited, and school has begun to consume me once again. I'm pouring over some Japanese homework right now, and lamenting the fact that I'm not doing something much more exciting.
Oh, well, them's the breaks, as they say.
Gen Con was a fun show, nothing too memorable. I met Ron Glass, of Firefly fame, and met Ernie Hudson (Ghostbusters, The Crow) and others. I bought a lot of stuff, as usual, and enjoyed not having to work for several days.
Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of time to post right now, back to the books. Expect a bigger post within the next couple of days.
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