metadigital

I try not to dwell on the How?, and enjoy the art. After all, asking a great artist, composer or sportsperson will not grant startling revelations of lucid observation; moreso, people of superior talents are just as nonplussed by their abilities as the rest of us mere mortals. So I try to block out Whedon's reasoning and make my own interpretations ...

I see that David Israelite, President of the National Music Publishers' Association, made his contribution to the Dumbest Comment Ever contest, when he stated "the unauthorised use of lyrics and tablature deprives the songwriter of the ability to make a living, and is no different than stealing." Good effort for ledgerdomain, but major bonus points for outright imbercility. As John Walker from PC Format commented: "Yes. No differerent at all, David. Apart from nothing having been stolen, of course. But otherwise, no different. "Copyright Watch would like to condemn writing stories about people dying. After all, it's no different than murder." :D

One of my (alas, sad) conclusions from Whedon's commentary is that such questions weren't probably on his mind at all. The use of Chinese may have started as a clever obsevation about Darwinistic socio-politicological fates of our modern culture, but the result is a cheap device to hide profanity. Ugh.

Cyberpunk 2020 ... mmmmm

I like the amoral expedience of the truly evil (in game worlds, obviously); the biggest advantage they have is the surprise they generate to their actions brought on through their complete lack of scruples in their dealings with their opponents. Lawful Evil is a whole other ball o' wax, too. After all, I think I can make a pretty good argument for any system that places the good of the system over the good of the individuals, against their individual wills. Then again, without a cogent self-decipline of altruism disseminated in societial systems, the necessary self-sacrificial motivations don't exist. So those same deficient societies need the additional Lawful Evil mechanisms to survive. And if the totalitarian societies are more efficient, if they flourish at the expense of kinder, gentler societies, what sort of evil is it to kill those innocents who lives prevent the deaths of those misanthropic (maltruistic ? :D) societies ... Does the existence of some great evil, in fear of which many other peoples might put their personal evils aside, to join together in combat of the greater evil, and in whose wake might descendants of those peoples create a better societies ... does that constitute a necessary evil, or an abomination to be expunged?

The guy looks like a dwarf, to me. I think the bunny's been eating his food ...

Bokishi, that is a worrying set of imagery. Up your dose, for the common good.

Tv footage of the rioting in Lebanon had the Imams upbraiding and physically intervening with the extremist troublemakers. The biggest issue, I feel, is not the current brou-haha; it is the lack of protests from the Islamic community after extremists commited unspeakable acts of violence (9/11 and 7/7) in their names. The poor PR of Islam is either due to a lack of compassion for their adopted host societies (doubtful, but the criticism can be alleged by miscreants) or a complete na

But there is one beyond that... <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Yep. I wasn't interested in resurecting the old thread, which I was contributing to when it was live two months ago. But thanks for adding the link for to assist the newbies in completing their prep. Quiet you. The duel: "... Well, I'm alright." Serenity (Innara): "Because so few men are." (one of the very few insights into her motivation) One of my big gripes is the assumption (prime-time US tv pre-requisite? :ph34r:) that Christianity will outlive / subsume / absorb all other monotheistic religions. I would have let him off if there wasn't a direct reference to "The Bible" (when River is "fixing it"). Everyone knows you can't fix the Bible.

μ? μ, what? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Actually, iirc, that was my first reaction, too. You Greek-alphabet-and-SI-unit cognizant science geek!

Calvin and Hobbes FTW!

Can I have a blue-haired manga cyborg-alien-human super pre-pubescent girl with two chest-implanted cannons and a fiendish hatred for small insectivorous furry marsupials and burrowing spine-covered monotremes (but not the fluffy duck-billed ones)? That has a prediliction for betting on rooster fights and an unfortunate habit of detonating as a thermonuclear explosion?

Not exactly a cash flow problem, but... http://money.cnn.com/2006/02/02/technology...onic_arts.reut/ <{POST_SNAPBACK}> ... EA -- which in December warned that results would be "well below" estimates without giving specific profit guidance -- said net income in its fiscal third quarter was $259 million, or 83 cents per share, down from net income of $375 million, or $1.18, in the year-earlier quarter ended Dec. 31. Revenue declined 11 percent to $1.27 billion from $1.43 billion. ... Gee, my condolences to them. This is a perfect example of the problem. Now I'm no communist-socialist-pinko-fabian-leftie-weirdo: I'm a big fan of, and all for, captialism. But when the medium controls the message, when the tail wags the dog, when the ULTIMATE GOAL becomes money and not quality product, then these guys should go join a bank where they can work with an end product that is money, and not screw around with my games! :angry: Incidentally, blind Freddy's deaf guide dog could have predicted that Xbox 360-related earnings wouldn't meet estimates with the second division line-up of games.

I don't buy the argument that reliable revenue forecasting necessarily prohibits creativity. You can't tell me that EA, for example, has a cash flow problem. They have enough market leverage and large muscular international finance representatives standing behind them that they can do an SKG or Pixar. Instead, good game development is stymied by the rapacious greed manifested from the principle-agent problem anomaly currently plaguing the Wall Street corporate frontier. Except by companies that, ironically, are openly mocked (by trade magazines who are coincidentally bankrolled by advertisements from the same Gecko-inspired avaricious dysfunctionoids ) for placing design above seasonally-forecasted marketing-dictated deadlines, like VALVe and 3d Realms. Just a thought. "

So it didn't matter so much who won the 2012 Olympic bid, then? :D Pity London won it then ... ... still, Britain was only interested in winning when they found out Paris was the favourite ...

Can we put it to a vote? I vote no. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I no vote.

Forget the comics, I want the bunnies ..!

I agree that the technology is near to a point where it is possible for authors / artistic designers / developers to take over from bitsmiths pushing the resolution of the anisotropic-filtered, pixel-pipelined envelope. I think companies like Bioware and OE can take a bow for creating the story-making magic boxes like NwN and NwN2 (and VALVe for Steam, too), which provide the stage, lighting, soundstage, special effects generator and acting troop for the budding Spielberg-Scorsese-Kubrick-Fellini-Barlasts of the RPG noir / surrealistic movement / cin

The Civ 4 demo is particularly well designed and will take one through all the bullet points of Civilization godliness. Don't get to hung up on the details, just watch the effects of decisions ... Next, read the manual

It's certainly better to have the ability to create the new models ... we can just hope that the toolset is as easy to use as it is FEATURE-PACKED!

Is that when Cthulu is due to appear?

It looks a little off-kilter, like it is in the middle of a psychopathic rage (differently-sized irises = indicator of systemic cerebellar impariment, donchaknow) ... :ph34r:

Sigh. Temperament of a Jedi he has not. And too old to begin the training, he is.

Yeah, it's good. But I guess we're all now unsuitable for players as you've just explained the entire "hidden plot" device to us.