Raithe

Apparently this got announced at SDCC... http://youtu.be/y364b2Hcq7I

The heat is still ongoing. Quirkily enough, estimates are being given that around 760 people have died in the UK due to the heatwave for one reason or another.

If we're celebrating cosplay at comiccon... (and just to walk the edge of some matters..)

I think it's based more on how at the time the Mormon Prophet "discovered" those extra Commandments under his field and formed his wacky cult. That's how it was generally perceived by a lot of people of the time. One of those crazy nutjob things. Just like Scientology gets viewed by a lot of folks now. Not to have a crack at Mormons. I've known a few and they're quite devout and sincere in their belief and they generally don't try brainwashing and abusing folks in that manner. It's just that shift brought about by time. What society at large in one time frame perceives as a crazy, minor cult... Come back a few decades/centuries on and it's an expansive and non-crazy world religion. Just like Christianity after Constantine decided to back it... If it hadn't expanded into the Roman Empire's state religion and sank hooks into the political movers and shakers, would it have become what it has? One of the reasons its always hard to split religion and politics. Where influence and power goes...

Which is weird because by all accounts of people who work with him or meet him, he's a generally friendly and sincere guy (if occasionally nuts). Although that could just be the hollywood system of not maligning a powerhouse who might take offence and blackballing you in the industry... But would that really stop the likes of Jeremy Clarkson and Simon Pegg?

Heh, the comment someone made that I've always liked was: "If you think about it, the Mormon religion was the Scientology of it's time. Now look where they are. Be scared of what the future may bring."

Actually, I know my knowledge of American History is a bit ropey at times, but I seem to recall some mention that references to "God" didn't actually turn up in the constitution when it was originally written? That they were more slipped in some years later. Hm. now it's going to niggle away at my mind while I try to remember where that worked its way into my memory. And I kind of thought they were written as "Guiding Principles" not "Carved in Stone Tablet Commandments"

Eat some sushi while sat in the hammock watching a gloriously golden-red half moon rise over the house. Hm ,also got drawn into a discussion with a topic of "if you had the sort of job that you could do from anywhere, where in the world would you live and why?" For some reason that just made me think of some of the cruises my parents took me on when I was growing up. The classic P&O cruise liners, not those annoying, brash, coastal "party ships" that so many people say are cruises (I know, the snob in me breaks out ). How there'd always be a batch of old folks on the ships who literally lived year round, staying from one cruise to the next, because it worked out better then paying for an actual retirement home. Just imagining what it would be like if you had a job you could pretty much phone/internet in while living as a passenger like that. All the services, the fine dining, the entertainment, the theatre, the cinema, the library, the casino, the clubs... The travel, the rolling ocean waves and sea breezes, every few days hitting a different port and another culture.. That certainly sounds appealing to me.

What's annoying is how many films feel like the cameraman is Michael J Fox. The shaky cam is beginning to really bug the hell out of me.

What, that isn't just rough foreplay?

Heh, I've got some friends in Carolina who keep saying "Come visit us. When you do, we're going to take you to one of the proper RPG Conventions here, and the gun range!"

The other side of Tomb Raider I liked was a few almost tongue-in-cheek references to what she's had to do in the name of survival and the sheer amount of killing she's done by the end of the game. They handled the shock of the first "kill" fairly nicely, but then glossed over and she was all fairly happy (so to speak), so that did feel a bit of a letdown. But to have a couple of comments from Lara and others around her turn up felt more humerous "poke fun at video game killing" almost rather then serious emotive aspects of what she was going through. Still, they made me smile at the time.

I think the major issue with Tomb Raider, is that it's setup. It isn't about Tomb Raiding (apart from the basic premise of they were an archaeological expedition), it's about how Lara goes from being the sort of innocent student to being a confident, capable survivor who knows she is perfectly capable of killing people who are trying to kill her. It's a set up for future Tomb Raiders that might actually be about Tomb Raiding. Hell, they end it with that whole Lara pondering on a place to look for doesn't it?

I think we need to establish a specific "Gun Pron" thread for folks here..

Just got back in from a visit to town and central bank branch office... all fun and games. It's always awkward to run the balance of being quite annoyed and letting them know it, when the person you're talking to is polite, professional, is fixing your problems and had nothing to do with causing any of the problems in the first place. Still, hot. Apparently the government has issues heatwave level 3 warnings in most places around the country to a lot of the emergency services. Temperatures have been running on average between 5-10 degrees C above what they normally are for over a week. Various high risk health issues for people not adapted to it, sunstroke and wotnot.

http://youtu.be/UjnuAgEP4kU I have to admit, I'm liking the Hawaii reference..

I thought this news article might amuse a few folks here.. BBC News - How Scientology Changed the Internet

Cloned Gat is amusing. The narrative of the "mad scientist fanboi" is also kind of chuckleworthy.

Just finished off Far Cry 3. (although only picked up 90 of the 120 relics scattered around the islands). Hm, I have to say, that finale is a serious wtf moment of writing. Seriously, you go through the whole game geared on saving your friends.

I'm kind of getting the idea that you're talking something akin to the oh..Radiant System of quests in Skyrim, but applied to NPC's, their relationships, and the quests they're invovled with/provide to the player.

Well, it's a fair swathe of returning talent from the previous three games. Apart from Eliza Dushku's Shaundi, and Michael Clarke Duncan's Ben King (for obvious reasons), I think that's pretty much the original voice actors for all of them.

Welcome to your local branch of the bank ,where we can do all the usual helpful things. Like tell you that for problem a> you have to make an appointment to see someone at a different branch. For problem b> we talk as if we can help you, but actually that means you going away to write a letter you bring back so we can send it to someone else, so they can do stuff that in a week or two might help. For problem c> we'll smile and re-iterate that you need to make an appointment with someone at another branch.

Heretic! BURN THE HERETIC!!

The joys of what looks like a table when you write the initial post, turning into a mass when you actually post it..