Gromnir

"Come off it. Critics sometimes read too much into films and come up with absurd interpretations that defy common logic, but here we have a film where even the average netizen is seeing parallels. Maybe the director (as I said, this has nothing to do with Miller unless he screenwrote the fillers) didn't intend it, but he sure as hell should've expected it." who said they didn't expect it? point is that it were not the intent of the writer or director to do as you thinks they is doing. what you see as pro-bush propaganda were clearly not the intent of anybody involved in the project, and in point o' fact, we suspect that their fear were something quite different, 'cause miller has been fighting the same battle for a long, long time. and no, you can't name a dozen instances in which material were added to make leonidas more sympathetic... your one example is pretty darn weak and we wouldn't even bother to include as making leonidas genuinely sympathetic. "I still don't see how you can even begin to argue that Leonidas was a terrorist without resorting to pin finding." and yet you do find bush parallels? HA! by the way, we never said that leonidas were a terrorist, but his cause and actions is far more likely to draw parallels to the terrorists than to bush. a handful of vigilantes, acting outside the bounds of the law, killing heralds and maiming ambassadors, fighting a suicidal battle 'gainst a tyrant from across the sea, in hopes that their deaths will inspire a nation and a people to action will resonate more with those we call terrorists, or with the bush cabinet? you not see how such a story could be held up as being sympathetic for those freedom fighters in palestine and afghanastan and iraq who never actually thinks of themselves as terrorists? heck, even your claims that the queen lobbying the legislature were a bush parallel works better for the terrorists. after all, bush had congressional support for his invasions o' afghanastan and iraq. is the terrorists who feel compelled to act w/o the sanction of legitimate governing bodies. HA! miller has been fighting the anarchist/pro-terrorist label long for 300 were printed, and as you has observed, miller's personal pov is clearly anti-terrorism. nevertheless, you jokers looks at the sandwich and see what you will. if you were now arguing that miller were pro-anarchy or terrorism we could at least understand where you is coming from, but the notion that the guy who created TDKR would be involved in a pro-bush propaganda vehicle is patently ludicrous. and the only reason Gromnir argues with you is 'cause Gromnir is sympathetic to miller's plight... and to other artists. is painful to watches wacky people try to turn their works into some kinda allegory in favor/against war, abortion, conservation, or whatever else the topic o' the hour is. you wanna see some additional 'cause to dislike the bush administration and those evil peoples who support him? fine. just eat the freaking sandwich 'stead 'o trying to seeing imagined patterns int the toasted bread. HA! Good Fun!

"I don't think it's a logical stretch to say that Xerxes and Leonidas can, variably, both represent Bush." well, so much for your conclusions being based on the OBVIOUS, eh? again, as you yourself has noted above, miller is clearly not a pro-terrorist, and it is highly unlikely that he would create a graphic novel encouraging terrorism. nevertheless, Gromnir's pro-terrorist interp of 300 is at least as likely as your pro-bush nonsense... more so in point of fact. keep staring at the grilled cheese sandwich and you will find whatever the hell you wish, and you pretty much concede that point with the bit we quoted in this post. regardless, it is hardly OBVIOUS that miller or the director o' 300 had any sort o' political motivations in making 300. you wanna keep staring at the grilled cheese sandwich to find proof of pro or anti bush images? go for it. might as well look for parallels to the smurfs... and Gromnir can do that too if you wish... use select images from 300 to Prove that miller simply were ripping off the smurfs. nuts. we can see one bit o' material added to movie to makes leonidas seem more sympathetic and less the suicide bomber, but oddly 'nuff nobody here seems to mention. go figure. HA! Good Fun!

"Like I said - it's not that critics are reading too much into it, but that it's too obvious not to read anything into... Unless we assume that the director/screenwriter is so incompetent as to be unconscious of what he's inserting." *chuckle* is SO obvious that half the people at aicn an imdb is findinding opposite conclusion you did... and Gromnir is thinking that you is all nuts. queen stuff is not American freedom or euro freedom or middle-east freedom. you is simply looking at the grilled cheese sandwich and seeing what you wish to. the queen's stuff were added to give a non-combatant female an ative role and to be making a sacrifice similar to leonidas... sacrifice body and soul. could just as easily make parallel to any other political body. wanna exploit minor details to make a point? Gromnir can do too.... maybe 300 is actually pro terrorist, after all, the 300 is a small group o' freedom fighters that essentially go on a suicide bombing run against a Tyrant, a tyrant far from his own lands, with vast resources and improved technology. the suicide fighters die so as to mobilize their countryment to eventual victory... and the queen stuff, well that is obviously more middle-eastern than american... 'specially as the writers make a big deal 'bout how women is not allowed to join in male politics. gives the middle-eastern women a role-model inspite o' their relative impotence in me politics, a more photogenic hannan mikha'il-ashrawi? ... is a freaking grilled cheese sandwich. HA! Good Fun!

10 years ago a woman in florida made a grilled cheese sandwich... claimed that she could see the image of the virgin mary in the toasted bread. next thing you know, thousands o' people is suggesting that the grilled cheese is Proof o' God. heck, in ten years the tasty luncheon morsel never went moldy... is obviously proof of God's will. ... people wanna see God's divine power in a sandwich? fine. how much easier is it to see pro-bush propoganda in 300? take whatever message you want to from 300. Gromnir liked the action sequences well enough... but am not sure if the film managed to indoctrinate us with pro or anti bush sentiment. am s'possing that if a good old fashioned brain washing were the goal, then 300 were a bit of a failure. too bad, 'cause we really did likes the cinematography and on-screen mayhem. HA! Good Fun!

for chrissakes...xerxes was brown-skinned 'cause the rl xerxes was brown-skinned. no other reason. in TDKR, all of the adversaries is white. and the notion that a hero is heterosexual should warrant considerable reflection, 'cause how rare is it for heroic male characters in lit and film to be hetero? obviously miller gots some kinda agenda. and yeah, leonidas looks like the ubermensch, but that too is a rarity in a freaking comic book, eh? miller the fascist... HA! you people is a hoot. miller creates a comic book in which a handful of idealists rush off vigilante style to oppose a tyrant, The Man, knowing full well that in so doing they is gonna die... and somehow you clowns see bush propoganda? HA! Good Fun!

"300 came out in 1998 so it's difficult to argue that it's a pro-Bush propaganda piece." so why try? the senate stuff were tacked on to give the female lead something to do... try not to read so much into it. the queen obviously were gonna be a non-combatant, so how could writers/directors has her actively fight for freedom? have her sew more red capes? has her rally the peoples directly? sure, coulda' gone that way, but you still gotta work sacrifice into the mix. you see the tree and miss the forest. as for miller... you is again reading far too much into what little you has read from him. miller is all 'bout fighting for Personal Freedom. do yourself a favor and actually read some miller stuff, 'cause if you did you should be aware that there is a running theme in all his works... an individual gots to stand up to and against an unjust establishment and fight for liberty and justice. the establishment may change, but the message is always the same. Ronald Regan Cold War US, the Church, The Police, Xerxes, etc. The Man takes many forms, and miller uses each symbolically rather than literal. miller's stand on terrorism is understandable, 'cause terrorism takes choice away from folks, which makes it 'bout as anti-liberty as you can get... 'least that is what he told Gromnir way back in 1989. *shrug* the jokers who somehows sees 300 as a pro-bush propoganda piece is wacky. in point o' fact, it is far easier to put bush/America in the role of xerxes than it is to has bush=leonidas... but that too would be missing the point o' miller's message. HA! Good Fun!

... is not like 300 is miller's first graphic novel. the same guy who had batman kick superman's (truth, justice and the American Way,) arse is the guy who created some kinda pro-bush propoganda piece? 300 is less political than is TDKR, and is maybe a bit less clever in the way it is structured, but miller is still miller, and miller's leonidas and batman gots lots in common. people will see what they wish to see. HA! Good Fun!

whatever faults captain america possessed, at least he were kewler than captain britain. HA! Good Fun!

similar? only in the sense that in both 300 and sin city, the dialogue as written in the comic book were not meant to be spoken. stuff in print not always translate well when it has a living person doing the speakings... will seem forced, over-blown, hokie. sin city were going for film noir... very different dialogues from 300. that being said, Gromnir suspects that 300, as a relatively faithful adaptation, will face same problem that sin city did: Frank Miller's dialogues ain't always fit for human mouths. HA! Good Fun!

drizzle is the ideal character to exploit fantasy geeks and losers. from the very start, sex and drow were linked... were drawn pretty in modules and in fiend folio and described as decadent and promiscuous. geeks and losers not know much 'bout sex so they is more fascinated by it. drow gots same appeal as does vampires and similar beings. also, drizzle is a comic book super hero. fantasy geeks and losers tends to be fans o' comic books, and drizzle mighta' jumped straight from pages of marvel or dc. sure, drizzle started as a simply a competent drow swordsman, but salvatore quickly changed so that driz would be magic with swords in hand... capable o' acheiving the most improbable victories. most important, driz is beautiful and heroic and shunned by a society simply 'cause he is different... and his original drow brethren shun him 'cause he refused to conform. fantasy geeks and losers amost always feels likes outsiders and so they can empathize with drizzle. the thing is that drizzle still has powerful peoples who know his worth, and he has hot babes who is attracted to him, so drizzle is an outsider who has friends of quality and romance with supermodels? ... poor driz. lucky driz. bah. HA! Good Fun!

now let us be honest. cut 20 hours from a crpg and it ain't gonna simply be the Donkey Kong repetitive barrel jumping that gets thrown aways. also, keeps in mind that cutting repetitious combats and you would still have gotten to level 20... and people woulda' complained 'bout that too. mindless and repetitous activties in a game is hardly limited to crpgs... but crpg developers IS pretty unapologetic 'bout the whole situation. in other games you gets such tedious filler in small doses... crpgs just does more. part o' blame can be laid at feets o' pnp rpg devlopers. heck, d&d and d20 even has some formula worked out from which crs is generated... forms whole basis for granting xps. most combats is not 'posed to be difficult or challenging in d&d, 'cause challenging requires expenditure o' valuable potions and wands and scrolls and magic ammo... not to mention the loss o' hps and possibly playerlives as well. crpgs follow similar formulas... but w/o all the time consuming dice rolling and bathroom breaks, developers adds in stuff to bolster a bit. the only genuine rpgs is mp games with a dm... or mmporpgs. d&d crpgs, for the most part, is squad-basd tactical combat games, with some rp elements thrown into the mix... so maybe compare to strat games. strategy games usually involves a realtive small number of maps or missions which for all intents and purposes functions likes big puzzles. you start off weak and pathetic with a few gunts or space marines or zergs or whatever. maps gets bigger and moe complex, and you gets to slowly access more units... is kinda like leveling. most of the battles you fights in a strategy game is pretty damn repetitious, no? vogel vastly overstates unique nature o' crpgs. in any event, Gromnir would be much in favor of decreasing the number o' barrels we gotta jump... the thing is that we would prefer that the devlopers increase the tactical/strategic challenges of the remaining combat encounters... but reload and rt hinder this somewhat, and the old pnp formula involving X encounters per level is gonna be hard to shakes too. cut 40 down to 20 w/o fundamental change in model would simply gives a game half as long... not result in a game with all the good stuff and none of the pointless barrel jumping. HA! Good Fun!

is nice that you believe so, but we has had such threads censured in past, and reasoning behind such censure is that such threads is spam... a shout out into the void w/o purpose save for hopes that somebody shouts back. sad. you wanna build community? is many constructive opportunities t do so. this is simply mod appoved spam. congrats. HA! Good Fun! We can build a community by kicking you to the curb. Me, myself and I thinks that Grommy got up on the wrong side of the bed today. HA! Good Fun! 'course, none o' your insights change fact that this kinda nonsense is spam. Gromnir not see a need for such crap. the Obsidians has said that this board is no place for such crap. tell us how the "i'm back" drivel is different than prohibited intro and birthday threads... 'cause 'less you come up with something rational and reasonable, wals should be locking/deleting... and he/she surely should not be suggesting that this kinda tripe builds community if it is his/her job to kill it. HA! Good Fun!

is nice that you believe so, but we has had such threads censured in past, and reasoning behind such censure is that such threads is spam... a shout out into the void w/o purpose save for hopes that somebody shouts back. sad. you wanna build community? is many constructive opportunities t do so. this is simply mod appoved spam. congrats. HA! Good Fun!

bad reasoning... bad logic. even if one dismisses Gromnir (for whatever reason,) it not mean that Gromnir is wrong. threads, such as the one in which you is posting, is no different than the "it's my birthday!" or the introduction threads... both o' which has been censured as spam by the Powers that Be... and for good reason. piffle. seems to be some wires crossed at mod central. HA! Good Fun!

odd. we thinks that such piffle proves the opposite. need some kinda validation from a game development message board community? is arguably not as sad as it seems at first blush, but clearly it ain't a mark o' distinction neither. HA! Good Fun!

don't feel bad that Gromnir don't know you, 'cause we don't know who most of these posters is... and am perfectly okie dokie with that. aside: am not sure why peoples announces their comings and goings on these boards. post or don't. you ain't one of those people that bought self flowers on valentines' day, is you? that might explain. HA! Good Fun!

fair enough... have done that once or twice ourself. HA! Good Fun!

Unless I'm completely confusing my philosophers, and I don't believe I am, Spinoza was a neutral monist pantheist, i.e. he believed everything is a part of god whom is a being of infinite attributes including mind and body (in opposition to Descartes' dualism). As a derivation thereof, he believed humans (as a part of the one reality that is god) had no freewill except to understand why things occurred as they did, and so everything occured out of necessity. Ravenskya's father's religious views are a classical Clockwork Universe and thus Deism. you really gotta read the entire thread before responding. maybe scroll up a page. HA! Good Fun!

"There is no way to back religion other than with unfounded ideology." the same is true of all the best things in life... like romantic love and honor and free will n' liberty. the reality o' romantic love is far less meaningful and important than is the simple choice to believe in romantic love. prove love to Gromnir. go ahead, we dare you. you can prove sexual attraction and need to procreate, but modern notions o' romantic love is different. old timey poets and toubadours maybe pulled a fast one on mankind, got us to believe that there were something pure and noble 'bout messy carnal desires? good for them.. good for Gromnir. what you call delusion, others will call faith. maybe God is a delusion, but that really ain't all that important at the end of the day... 'least not from Gromnir's perspective. is Gromnir a better person and is Gromnir's life better because of his belief and faith in love or liberty? probably. so why should belief in God be any different? *shrug* HA! Good Fun!

That's my Dad's take on the world, not mine. But apparently Ben Franklin and a few others thought the same way. It's got a name, I just don't know what it is. The thinking is that God created the world and now he sits back and watches like and experiment, and one day he will be done with it and the end will come. I don't believe it, but my Dad had to suffer through Catholic school where he was beaten by nuns and such, so the fact that he believes in God at all makes me feel a little better. that is deism in a nutshell... the old clockmaker hypothesis. HA! Good Fun!

"someone who believes in God but doesn't believe that God pays any attention to the world. That he made it and left it to see what it would do... something like that." were the quote you responded to. whether you believe or not, the pantheist notions o' Spinoza seems to come pretty darn close to the mark of what were quoted. HA! Good Fun!

A deist, maybe? Other than that...wow. Very deep and at the same time touching. Very true, too. Props to ya. "i believe in Spinoza's God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with the fates and actions of human beings." -Einstein HA! Good Fun!

up until very recent, Gromnir were convinced that all anime were some sorta Japanese mind-numbing technique meant to pacify her native population, a technique which were largely (and thankfully) unable to overcome cultural barriers... save for in the case of angst-ridden western teens who need also be in a drugged stupor for their brains to be properly prepared for anime's brain zorking effects. when we were at Cal, some o' our asian roomates were impressed/horrified by our knowledge o' classic movies and our appreciation for Kurosawa, so they offered to show us the Greatest Movie Ever Made: akira. ... movie ends and our roomates look to Gromnir for some feedback... "what is with you guys and your f*&^#@&* fascination with godzilla?" *shrug* +80% of anime is simply some variation of pinocchio or godzilla... on acid. and the other stuff, likes flcl, is just plain retarded... for the most part. however, not too long ago we did see Grave of the Fireflies, and grudgingly had to admit that it were a damn fine piece o' storytelling. so we checked out some other anime, and we gotta admit that Spirited Away were an excellent bit of children's animation... better than anything we had seen from disney in years. Cowboy Bebop is the only anime series we has been able to watch in its entirety, and it actually had a handful of ok-to-pretty-good episodes (though we wanna hunt don't and beat to unconciousness the guy responsible for Samurai 7.) so, ok, anime ain't complete crap... but most of it is. HA! Good Fun!

the numbers of persons who actually play nwn mp is relative small. those issues that is vital to junai will never be a factor for the overwhelming majority of nwn2 purchasers. HA! Good Fun!