metadigital

Reminds me of Woody Allen's joke about his Uncle that thinks he's a chicken (that's the uncle thinks the uncle is a chicken, the chicken isn't his nephew ... anyway ...) He was asked Why don't you get him (the uncle: are you following this?) some help? Because we can use the eggs. There are surprisingly few places of such tolerance and amiable friendliness on the big bad internets ... at least they aren't highlighted in flourescent yellow and double-underlined in red; the communities are just as xenophobic and stranger-shy and strange as any Hollywood B-grade depiction of a small mid-western town where teenagers seem to inevitably get stranded ...

They aren't anywhere near the size of an old friend of mine's cat: this one made Garfield look like an Eastern Bloc female gymnast to his Eastern Bloc shotputter ... :ph34r:

Maybe they wanted to hear if he had anything astonishing for his last words? (Unlikely considering the logorrh

... Not to mention the entire Obsidian community wishing illwill on you.

Wow. Totally left-field off topic, but I just experienced d

I thought you ran out of air. And baud.

There is a pet Cane Toad in Queensland that weighs in at about 16kg ... :ph34r:

Have to concur with Enoch here (even though I still have only played ONE game

He does indeed sound like a hoopy frood. Regarding:

Woah! I've only been online for about half-a-dozen hours: I haven't had time to read version three in its entirety, yet! Last thing I wrote in that thread was that the "new standard format" of Eldar's creation was in fact not a standard, as interpreted by all and sundry, but in fact more a signpost for others to create their own specific "standard" categories, much like Eldar did when he coined "didactic (good)" and "didactic (bad)" to have a dig at me (although I can't fathom why he would use those categories "). The point is that people like to hear other peoples' (good) appraisals of themselves ("How good am I? Let me read the ways ..."), but actual creative effort (1% inspiration, 99% perspiration) is required to write them. Which is why so few people have written them. But does not mean that I do not think the required effort, in my estimation, for more than half of you is greater than half as much as you deserve ... I'll need to re-familiarise myself with the old (and some new) characters of the forum before I can launch into blisteringly laconic epithets of brutal sardonicism ... if that is what the Obsidian Colosseum crowds want ... "

I don't think it's possible to set any credible science fiction many hundreds of years in the future, specifically because the advent of the technological singularity is perhaps withinn fifty years of the present day. Barring this, of course, there is always space opera (Star Trek / Star Wars / Buck Rodgers / Flash Gordon / etc). Stories that are interesting to play are about the interactions of people (i.e. different characters): loves, hates, different allegiances working together for a common goal, despite their mutual enmity, etc, etc. Just pick a good character (screen-) play and change the setting to the future. Typically it will involve some sort of moral dilemma; i.e. where there is no "correct" choice, just different consequences for each chosen solution: both bad and good. Is it better to commit genocide to prevent a murderous (must be amoral) species from destroying the galaxy? Is it better for many people to suffer in the long term, or for few to suffer greatly for a short term? What if the choice is not made by either group? Et cetra. Under no circumstances should you resort to lazy "chosen one" plots. If you do, you will suddenly hear a noise that sounds like several thousand people saying "Wop!", just before you die, horribly ...

Good word! Nice little allegorical vignette, too.

Yes. You appear to be correct.

That ain't no palindrome, either. So I am led to the conclusion that it is blank verse. (But nice blank verse.)

You are sometimes sober?

That reminds me, I was going to watch In the Heat of the Night the other night, but it wouldn't work in my DVD player ... v. annoying.

More disturbing was what the lead singer was trying to resemble ... " (I've got more in common with lesbians, really. Buddum-tish!)

Thanks, everyone. (Even you, mkreku. You do realise that high doses of psychotropics hammers the formation of short- and long-term memories by disrupting the chemical processes, don't you? ") Is that a four-line haiku? MU As in my comments are sailing over the tops of the respondents' heads, without nary a dint in their collective thresholds. " I hope you aren't just saying that because I've been working on the Star Trek®© Diplomacy®© Obsidian Rules ... "

Just have some other mental task to accomplish, and bring it to the front of your mind when the awfulness appears. (Shopping lists are an eay one: I tend to continue on some sort of scientific/mathematic/philosophical lemma or conundrum.) I think it was the deft direction displayed in BWP, where a low budget camcorder recording ("camcording"?) became a credible cinematic product that was so admirable. Also it certainly helped (spear-headed?) the "handycam equals gritty realism" phenomenon.

Second best. I love the Shakespeare quoting Chang as the villian. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Ricardo Montalban quotes Herman Melville. They were both pretty good. Everything is dubbed. I understand what you mean about the atmosphere. I have watched dubbed movies, and then rewatched them in English, and sometimes things are lost in the translation. It's especially bad with wordplay, puns, in-jokes and slang. I have seen a few times when the dubbed line has nothing to do with the real thing, but those extremes are very rare. There's not much to be done about it unfortunately, as the level of foreign languages taught here is rather low. And worst of all is, most people don't seem to care... <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I wouldn't be too concerned: everyone will be speaking Spanish pretty soon, anyway ... " ... Although it seems pretty silly translating latin into a Romance language, as they are just modern dialects of it. Italian partner was astonished that she could understand latin in the film (not having been previously aquainted with the language, owing to a deficiency of schooling. ^_^) Grodin is superb: "... white-collar criminal." Not many people are aware of the (until recently) small cashe of films that are DeNiro comedies (before all the boring parodies of DeNiro's serious roles became the standard for his "comic performances", as in Analyze This). I would recommend watching The King of Comedy, too. I saw it recently available on DVD, too, so there is no reason not to see it ... Oh, the irony ...

I would recommend you check out any of Sir David Attenborough's decades of breathtaking nature documentaries: more of the awe-inspiring insect-eye's-view of mother nature, less of the saccherinely-over-the-top-voice-over. Nature is amazing without the spin.

Hmm. Favourite Clint (acting) movies? Dirty Harry. Sudden Impact (for that culture-permeating quote, delivered by a professional that can continually make the neck-hairs stand in ovation). The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Unforgiven. Heartbreak Ridge. I thought the weight loss from that show made it creepy . It made me think of Robert Deniro in Raging Bull, just at the opposite end of the spectrum. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I don't think the film itself is that spectacular, if one disregards the dismorphism undergone by Bale ... if that is even possible. Though considering it, the film is truly extraordinary. I cannot stand to watch Ewan Macgregor, he has a not-insignificant anti-Charismatic effect on me. What struck me as notable in the film was Mr Gilliam's highlighting of how nasty the Napoleonic French were to the rest of Europe, and specifically the poor old teuton peasants. No wonder Kaiser Wilhelm thought it was a good idea to band together and pay back the Gauls ... Ditto. Mr Fantastic (oh, the irony) is the most wan actor since Mr Demi Moore ... You weren't flunked because your interpretation is just as valid (even if it doesn't agree with what the director was trying to deliver); in fact it is probably more valid ... " I liek Spiderman.

One-eyed Willy! "'Til I Die" Time: 2:37 Brother Publishing Co. BMI B side with "Long Promised Road" Brian Wilson I'm a cork on the ocean Floating over the raging sea How deep is the ocean? How deep is the ocean? I lost my way Hey hey hey I'm a rock in a landslide Rolling over the mountainside How deep is the valley? How deep is the valley? It kills my soul Hey hey hey I'm a leaf on a windy day Pretty soon I'll be blown away How long will the wind blow? How long will the wind blow? Ohhhh Until I die Until I die These things I'll be until I die These things I'll be until I die These things I'll be until I die These things I'll be until I die These things I'll be until I die These things I'll be until I die These things I'll be until I die These things I'll be until I die These things I'll be until I die These things I'll be until I die Brian Wilson is a genuine genius.

Firefly complete series was superb

I missed Tank Girl? Damn.