Thanks to following the Pathfinder group on FaceBook, I discovered this cool solution for my players’ minis whenever they’re on horseback. The only downside was there’s some assembly required.
I scored ten of them, enough for my players and a few for enemies who choose to attack while on a steed.
I think I need to make a new category of movie. Namely for those I often see trailers for (via Apple’s site, at Alamo, Hulu, etc.) and then they never play at any theaters around Austin. Including the Great Hills 8 which is my city’s “art house” for the north side, Alamo Lamar seems to be the south side. Fortunately, they may turn up on Netflix to sit in my queue for weeks. Well, I’m trying to clear out my movies on Netflix to make room for others and since Hulu focuses on TV series, it will be tricky.
Anyway, another candidate in my new category (joining Cashback and High Rise) is this promising little indie horror film. The premise isn’t super original, a horror version of Jumanji but I wanted to check it out.
Beyond entails two estranged brothers (John and Gordon) who reunite after their father’s disappearance. It isn’t the first time he’s run off without telling anyone for days on end but after six months, I’m guessing he can be declared officially dead. Besides selling the house they grew up in, the brothers need to liquidate all the inventory of a horror-based video store their father opened in 1992. When they gain access to the office, they discover a VHS-based board game amongst the paperwork. The tape was still in the VCR too. Obviously John, Gordon and Margot (John’s girlfriend) take the game home and play it for laughs. They initially get more than they expected, especially when the game’s MC/Narrator Evelyn interacts with them, something we all know is impossible from a linear medium like tape.
Afterwards Beyond just turns into a gore-laden mess with a disappointing conclusion as the trio successfully retrieve the four keys to “win” the game. I was really bummed. The movie started off strong despite the acting being a tad stiff but after the second key is “found” (the first two keys have very awful consequences), Beyond takes a lame turn. I can handle the gore and bloodletting slowing down; it was the fear, suspense and mystery getting thrown out the window during the final act. The movie begins like HBO’s Tales from the Crypt and then devolves into an episode of the syndicated, not scary Tales from the Darkside.
The people behind Beyond do have potential though so I look forward to their next attempt in any genre. Maybe they’ll get it right.
One of my favorite singers from the Sevenites-Eighties came through Austin back in February, Mr. John Waite. Although I never like Bad English, his solo and Babys work has always overshadowed the supergroup’s mediocrity. John comes to Austin every several years and I kept missing him but this go round he played the relatively new 3Ten venue under the larger ACL/Moody Theater. The picture above is courtesy of my friend Ayako who also loves Eighties Pop-Rock music because she has been a fan of John’s since her upbringing in Japan. Nice to know how well good music transcends language barriers.
From the setlist below, you can see he stuck to the hits while he is touring to promote an acoustic collection of past work. John still doesn’t perform “Tears,” my personal favorite from his biggest album No Brakes. However, he does do “Change” from Ignition which also has a fantastic music video, back when MTV was entertaining to all and not nouveau riche programming. And yes, he did cover Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower” and closed with Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta’ Love.” John’s voice remains awesome, resonates with emotion even though his trademark red hair is all gray and silver now.
A big trifecta of celebration today! Easter (aka Zombie Jesus Day), April Fool’s Day and the 50th anniversary of Planet of the Apes. The last one is the “birthday” for when the classic movie was released. Of course, in the late Sixties, movies weren’t released in the same markets all at once, they took their time migrating across the cities until their journey ended somewhere in the boonies. I don’t think simultaneous openings began to happen until the mid Seventies, definitely around the time FedEx or UPS could deliver stuff overnight. Maybe someone who is a stronger film history student can correct me.
April is a great month in Central Texas too. It’s the beginning of Summer but it’s not uncomfortably hot yet.
Meanwhile, more catching up on all the cool things I’ve seen and people I’ve met.
Keep reading, I know I am, between some great new comic books and I found a decent biographer on John Adams in my super-long-term goal of reading about every president of the US, in order. Trump I think will just be an ugly Wikipedia page.
The long-awaited film adaption of Ernest Cline’s bestseller is here and it’s terrible. I know all about the limitations of movies versus books, so spare methose comments. Ready was always going to be a huge challenge since Cline’s references were a copyright/trademark nightmare. Substituting certain Eighties properties from the book to those they could get for the movie was fine. “Streamlining” elements for a general audience I can live with too, e.g.(not a spoiler) one challenge involves the old Atari 2600 home system instead of the Tempest arcade game because I don’t think anyone born after 1980 has seen it.
The problem lies in the story’s translation to film. Screenwriters Cline and Penn transform the story from being a scavenger hunt in a virtual universe set in a miserable dystopia into a paint-by-numbers contest flick in which the underdog triumphs over a bullying, two-dimensional CEO. Within ten minutes it’s already stupid via the “whacky races” sequence being the first goal toward winning control of the OASIS. Originally, just finding the challenge to get the first key was shrouded in mystery for the past five years and Spielberg with Cline and Penn in tow change it to some daily event people have been trying to win for five years. Really? And somehow, the evil IOI corporation with its scores of researchers couldn’t figure out that the solution was to drive backwards? Ugh. The Lowest-Common-Denomiator Spielberg decided to direct Ready, the same one who did Oscar® bait Saving Private Cliché.
The other cheat in the film I hated was how Halladay’s entire memory was accessible as a museum like the globes from Inside Out because he managed to upload himself a la Altered Carbon. Again, IOI wouldn’t be swarming this virtual location? What made the book enjoyable was the mystery and how people like Wade had to do their own research into Halladay, like how biography writers do. Nope, Spielberg doesn’t trust his audience to have much smarts, ergo the Halladay Museum.
My final annoyance was the addition of two characters to the film, TJ Miller’s virtual assassin and a real-world assassin working for IOI. They just create more forced humor for dumb people. Oh, I forgot about “the resistance” angle Art3mis is part of. Lame!
Now if you haven’t read the book, is Ready worth seeing? I can’t say with utter certainty but I lean toward “no” since it’s mostly eye candy tacked on to a weakly executed story.
One day, I’m hoping Cline will pull his head out of Spielberg’s ass and try again in a decade with Ready being a miniseries much like Jame Ellroy has been trying with LA Confidentialor how Frank Herbert’s estate did with Dune. It’s not looking likely though. Cline’s second novel Armada got ravaged as a repeat of Ready Player One so he may be a one-trick pony (Harper Lee readily came to mind) who blew his wad on this disappointment.
I do want to give my two cents about all the whining nerds, geeks, fanboys, etc., who bitched over how Ready appropriated “their culture.” Now you know how Black Americans feel when White kids in the suburbs do the same thing. What is happening is Karl Marx’s theory about history, how the overriding thesis (the way things are) collides with an antithesis (rebellious behavior, music, etc.), forms a synthesis and becomes the new thesis. Get used to it is my advice. Besides, seeing non-stereotypes, especially women, playing D&D these days makes me happy.
Alamo Extras: Mexican kids show of them singing some space crap; the winning dogs from Alamo’s “Dress up your dog as a Wes Anderson character” contest; ads for Timex quartz watches (they’re from the future!), two for the horrible ET Atari game, the awesome Megamania game which starred the Tubes!, Nintendo’s failed Virtual Boy, Missile Command for the Atari 2600, a lame CD-ROM game in which you can be a director like Spielberg and a 900-number to call Freddy Krueger; Trailers for Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Iron Giant and Back to the Future; a bit from a Japanese comedy show of a guy playing Pac Man; clip from an ABC news story on VR circa 1991; seeing a Black guy’s reaction to the Ready Player One teaser trailer (it’s supposed to be funny I guess); Spielberg giving a tour of his Ambling offices to a Japanese news team; Ernest Cline talking about why he loves The Iron Giant, his time at Amblin Studios and a tour of his customized DeLorean he bought with the money he made from the novel.
Somewhat the counter to Ultimate Magic as Combat focuses on all aspects of fighting with more archetypes, classes and whatever.
Chapter 1 is over a quarter of the book but it’s divided into two sections. New Classes and additional Archetypes for any existing class with a martial element. As for the new classes, only one is original (Gunslinger) and the other two are Japanese takes on the existing: Ninja for Rogue and Samurai for Cavalier. Gunslinger has numerous cool abilities yet Pathfinder‘s take on most firearms doesn’t progress past the (American) Revolutionary War. They’re expensive to buy, ammunition is expensive, they break easily and to add insult to the costs, they don’t inflict much damage (1d4 to 1d8) unless you nail the target with a successful critical hit, then the damage is quadrupled. Being part of a Fantasy game gives Gunslingers access to magical ammo and I’m confident their weapons can be enchanted like bows.
Ninjas follow much of the same breakdown as the Core Rogue with ki thrown in to power their tricks. Samurai are no different than Cavaliers beyond the gear.
The archetypes are focused on combat possibilities but not exclusively. There’s archaeologist for Bards, merciful healer for Clerics and charlatan for Rogues.
Chapter 2 contains combat feats with new categories in addition to the usual kind: Teamwork, Critical, Style and Performance. My personal favorite are the Style Feats for Monks. During my couple years in Houston, one of the independent TV stations would show those Hong Kong Kung Fu movies with martial artists using Tiger or Crane Style to take down their enemies. The Style Feats work in the same progressive manner as Power Attack leads to Cleave leads to Greater Cleave. Can a Monk know multiple styles? I think so, the trick is to have the ranks in certain skills. Feats, Levels and Stats are a given.
Chapter 3 covers “Mastering Combat” but half is dedicated to Oriental, gladiator and stone-age equipment with more detail on firearms and ammo for the Gunslinger. Then the rest is how handle duels, performance combat (gladiatorial battles namely) and siege engines should you want to remake those awesome Lord of the Rings scenes. I’m thinking of Helm’s Deep.
Chapter 4 is vehicles. This includes airships alongside the expected land and water-based stuff the PCs may encounter, rent or use.
Chapter 5 introduces some variant rules. Three out of four would slow the game down even further in my opinion: armor as damage reduction, piece-meal armor and Wounds and Vigor instead of hit points, the latter stinks of 4E. The called shots suggestion is nice and somewhat better than the generic -4 modifier when a player wants to take out an enemy’s eye or neck.
Chapter 6 is 42 pages of new, primarily combat-focused spells.
I failed to make the final case on Magic but I will here on Combat. Is this worth having? I have to give it a resounding yes and given a choice between Combat and Magic, I would go with Combat. Having some assistance on vehicles is a universal matter because traveling great distances to faraway lands is a core element to the game. Plus I’m a sucker for the Style Feats to make Monks different.
There will be a pocket version coming this Summer.
Maybe it was for the best to not make anymore movies with jaegers and kaiju duking it out in the various cities on the Pacific Ocean. Uprising proved the old adage with sequels…more is less, especially when the producers are blatantly bending over backwards to kiss China’s ass.
Uprising is ten years after our victory over the kaiju and life has mostly returned to normal. There’s a construction boom fueling numerous economies since the threat is gone. However, the prosperity isn’t spread out equally, some coastal cities remain abandoned like Santa Monica, thanks to a giant kaiju skeleton being a reminder. But amongst the ruins is General Pentecost’s son Jake hustling broken jaeger parts for whatever fancies him (food, booze, etc). Obviously, he is drawn back into the academy because the PPDC has built new jaegers should the monsters return and only he can train a ragtag group of early teens to be the new pilots. The argument is that younger people can merge their minds into the drift better than adults.
Time is running out though. A “benevolent” Chinese corporation has perfected a better solution. Instead of human pilots, have the jaegers crewed by drones. Then every major city can have a quartet of jaegers ready to defend at a moment’s notice, thus the problem of not enough human pilots is solved. Again, all these things are being done as a precaution. General Pentecost gave his life to permanently stop the kaiju and it has been ten years.
Of course we wouldn’t have a movie if the kaiju didn’t return. The how and why is both a spoiler and a predictable let down covered in Chinese ass kissing. It’s a good thing del Toro passed on this to win an Oscar® for making Grinding Nemo.
I have couple quick complaints on Uprising for starters. If the kaiju are gone, why do the cops have a jaeger to chase small-time thieves as per the opening act of the movie. In the original, the giant robots were being phased out due to their costs. With no more enemy, I doubt a police department could get the funding to resurrect a broken one. The other, bigger gripe is the cliché, pre-teen wunderkind who manages to build a smaller jaeger from salvaged parts and it almost behaves like an annoying Transformer, rolling around in a ball as if it were cybernetic armadillo.
All Uprising has going for it are the giant robot fights and Charlie Day’s wacky professor character. Not much of an incentive to spend money on when Netflix and Hulu carry anime featuring Gundams and other more impressive battles.
Alamo Extras: A lame Sixties robot toy, Rock’emSock’em Robots and Mattel’s Shogun Warriors commercials; Gammarah, Godzilla (the original and the one with Raymond Burr), War of the Gargantuans and Inframan trailers; other monster attack alongside UltraMan scenes; a how-to video for operating a real-life Gundam called a Kurata; scenes from a movie called Love on Delivery; the opening to Voltron (the dog robot version); scenes from Evangelion; and a funny Japanese commercial of a monster that pitches wiffle balls to bat back.
I discovered and got on the bandwagon late with this show, I wholeheartedly admit it. However, it was so great, I’ve watched all four episodes TWICE since I love toys, even at my advanced age. Not just playing with them but I love to know the story behind their creation.
Toys kicks off with Star Wars during the Kenner years which was my childhood too. Thanks to George Lucas’ willingness to market anything, he accidentally co-created one of the greatest licenses of all time. He almost killed it with his crappy prequels though. Next is Barbie, the only girls’ toy in the lot and I think the oldest in the Modern Era. I enjoyed how they highlighted the different sculpts of Barbie’s face and explained why her neck is longer than a standard human. Mattel Toys returns with the story of He-Man, a toy/TV show that kind of flipped the Star Wars formula (the toys came before the show). My minor gripe regarding this episode is the producers left out D&D’s influence and how He-Man was originally going to be the D&D toy line for Mattel. Lastly is GI Joe, primarily the Eighties period.
How Toys differs from say I Love the Eighties on VH-1 is the interviews. They don’t bother getting B-list celebrities’ input, the producers found the designers, the lawyers, the executives and artists who made what we loved possible. A few are no longer alive yet there are enough key people to piece together the true story on why He-Man exclaims, “I have the power!” or why do the big GI Joes have their thumbnails on the wrong side.
I can’t wait for the next quartet of shows as per the theme song. I don’t necessarily agree with what they’ll cover: Lego (they have their own documentary), Hello Kitty (this tends to be popular with teens and adults), Transformers and Star Trek (this property has been with multiple companies). If it were up to me, I would’ve gone with…
Finding a toy nearly half as popular or as influential as Barbie for girls is a tough nut to crack. Should these producers get a second season, they definitely need to include D&D.
Check the show out on Netflix. Nostalgia carries much of it for me but I also crave to know the history behind what fueled the scores of space operas I composed while alone with all these bitchin’ toys.
My niece Rachel (technically my cousin’s daughter, but niece is easier on the brain than all that “removed” crap) received a grant from the Fulbright Organization! This will enable her to carry out her proposal in India.
Here’s the proposal Rachel explained to me…
In partnership with local mentors and via the assistance of a translator, Rachel will conduct individual, in-depth interviews of women in which she will:
These interviews will be conducted with adult women visiting St. John’s Medical College Hospital and the Vivekananda Memorial Hospital, only utilizing the assistance of a translator if participants are not comfortable speaking in English. As the interviews are conducted, there will be a review of the data to ascertain possible correlations between breast and cervical cancer knowledge and various demographic factors.
Essentially it’s public health research addressing gaps in health education knowledge in relation to breast and cervical cancer — what do these women know of the risk factors/prevention/treatment/stigma, etc.
From this assessment Rachel can work with her mentors in her host affiliations to develop interventions to address these gaps in knowledge and hopefully increase awareness of breast/cervical cancer in these areas.
Pretty heavy stuff but I’m very, very impressed on what Rachel has accomplished thus far. Not sure if I’m allowed to be proud with her being my cousin Matthew’s daughter. I’m mainly thrilled to see another person light a candle instead of choosing to curse the darkness in these Isolationist times. Helping people around the world is what makes a people, a nation or civilization great. Actions like Rachel’s are what the Economist calls “soft power” and I think America needs to do more of this instead of using force. Preventive medical care benefits the world too.
Have a safe and prosperous journey Rachel!
This kick-ass mini came with the core game Imperial Assault. Like most Fantasy Flight games, it uses D&D dice but with goofy symbols on them instead of numbers. For me, I just picked up the game and expansion packs to have Star Wars minis that are better made then the WOTC random boxes.
One day I hope to get a Star Wars game rolling with the best set of RPG rules, WOTC’s revised 2002 edition they rolled out right before Attack of the Clones hit theaters. There were slight changes to the game (probably 3.5E ideas) but more importantly, the Gamemastering section provided the details on Clone Troopers and the Separatists’ battle droids.
Why WOTC over say the reprinted WEG or the current FFG editions? I like what WOTC did, if you know how to play D&D/Pathfinder, then Star Wars isn’t terribly different with the core game mechanics.
A couple months ago, I got to meet and see The Posies at the Cactus Cafe. You may remember them from the Nineties but they never stopped performing after they left DGC Records. Ken and Jon have produced solo albums as well as participating in other projects; Jon helped Ben Folds out on William Shatner’s awesome 2004 record Has Been and a while back, Ken was REM’s touring keyboardist.
If I haven’t gone on enough about the Cactus Cafe, I can’t help it. This is Austin’s best and most intimate live venue. Nestled inside UT’s Student Union, the place is smaller than my house with its small stage and a bar in the back. To me, the Cactus is the ultimate spot for anyone who shares my obsession because of the intimacy.
So the Posies came to play primarily their hits from the first three major albums: Dear 23, Frosting on the Beater and Amazing Disgrace. These are being re-issued in deluxe editions via PledgeMusic, I threw in my money after promising Ken I would. Can’t wait to receive them in the mail. It was just Ken and Jon with their electric guitars and an electronic piano for some numbers Ken does. What a show.
Obviously as you can see above, I had face time with them. They were impressed I remembered their 1996 show at Liberty Lunch, I’m wearing the tour shirt from it. I mentioned how I always recall Ken’s guitars with the different Michael Jackson stickers and Jon’s huge array of pedals. Jon realized, he has the original silkscreen if they wanted to make more. They told me a fan created the design, it wasn’t drawn by an actual Archie artist. Jon explained how he got to work on Shatner’s record which I mentioned earlier. He said he witnessed the sessions involving Henry Rollins’ “I Can’t Get Behind That,” yet no dice on the country number. Ken clarified his involvement on finishing production for a Game Theory remaster via Scott Miller’s widow. Man these guys are talented, they have their hands in working on numerous things. I finally told them how much “Throwaway” is my favorite song. Jon then said, “We forgot to do that one!”
Here’s some other good news the Posies told the audience. They will be returning this late Spring/early Summer on a Frosting on the Beater 25th anniversary tour with the original bassist Dave Fox and drummer Mike Musberger in tow. I cannot wait. Should they be passing through your neck of the woods, you need to see them. The Posies were a bright spot of incredible Power Pop in the Nineties amongst the Grunge bullshit.
As I’ve been getting back into the groove of Austin life, using the gym has been the immediate short-term goal but on weekdays I’m easing into it. Firstly, Daylight Savings Time has messed up my sleep hygiene so getting to work on time comes first. Fitting in the gym is being done by making sure I leave the house five minutes earlier each day. Eventually, there will be plenty of time to “close the rings” on my Watch and chip away at my exercise goals.
Today though is Saturday. Excuses don’t hold up as well.
Honestly I wanted to get up and hit the road by 7:05 AM (where I left off Friday). Someone forgot to set the alarm which led to me sleeping in until 8:40 AM. Yeah, First-World problems as “Weird Al” sings. I still pulled off my routine involving running on the treadmill, stairs (via stairmaster) and biking. The latter I quit at 7.5 miles, the distant between the gym and my house. Plus, the green ring wasn’t budging since I had it set to level one. I really wanted to cruise.
The important this is that I started. Now to continue and keep watching my progression bars on the right side of the site. Eating less is the bigger challenge.
Usually by the third monster book, the accusation of “cash grab” is often heard. Me, I don’t mind so much. I fondly remember 2e’s binder approach with their Monster Manual. You could buy different packs of monsters which were often organized by the campaign settings: Ravenloft, Dark Sun, Greyhawk, etc. If you were running a straightforward fantasy setting, then you knew you weren’t missing out by passing up the Ravenloft set.
With Paizo, their Bestiary series is starting to have a stronger emphasis on certain types. For Three, it’s the Orient with entries on Oni, Imperial Dragons, terra-cotta warriors and the infamous “jumping vampire.” I also like these volumes because they often incorporate new monsters that were created in previous modules and Adventure Paths.
Keep in mind I’m a completist, which colors my vote on making Three a vital addition for PF1 GMs. For the budget-conscious, it is available in the new, smaller pocket edition.
With a little restructuring the assets and finances of the Maggi Republic, we have paid off my car Vixen (an orange Prius C) ahead of time. It doesn’t feel too early. I think the vehicle was financed over six years with Toyota. The rate of 1.99% was impossible to pass up since Somara’s credit union would only do 2.15% at best.
I should be receiving the title in the mail in a week or two. Add it to our rather barren safe deposit box which I think has the same thing for Somara’s Honda Fit and an invalid deed with our timeshare; because we bought another deed.
Next up, tackling the home stretch of Somara’s last education loan. Then we only have to sweat the house.
I celebrated a little last night with a glass of hard cider at the Stars game.
One of the greatest living Physicists passed away today and what made Hawking more remarkable is that he pushed on through despite ALS slowly destroying his body. I think he’s one of the longest surviving people to have the disease.
I will need to raise his dumbed-down version of his famous book, A Brief History of Time up in my reading queue on my iPad or get a physical copy.
Not to brag, but I had heard of Hawking in high school during the Eighties because Time magazine put him on the cover and said he was the next Einstein. Sadly, I cannot find an image of said cover. Never gave him another thought until Hawking was mentioned in a Geena Davis interview.
Hawking will definitely be well remembered thanks to his willingness to participate in comedy. He made four memorable appearances in my life.
Near the end of his life, Hawking made some pretty dire warnings regarding encountering aliens, developing AIs and our failure to slow Climate Change. Let’s hope he’s wrong on two out of three.
I want to close with one his famous quotes:
“Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious. And however difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at. It matters that you don’t just give up.”`
