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« Show all entries for JULY 2004
Sunday, 25 July 2004 04:01:38
It's not all that late, but I'm tired so this won't be detailed. Cathy and I arrived at 9:30 and just waltzed right in, since I had gotten our badges the night before. We wandered the huge exhibit area for a while, bought a few things, talked to a few people who saw Cathy's 'A Man Named Jayne' t-shirt, then headed to the balcony at 10:00. We wandered around for about 20 minutes without seeing/recognizing any other Browncoats so we headed to the blood drive room. On our way back UKGirl hailed us and asked who we were. She was the only Browncoat (i.e. from one of the boards) we met today. There is a massive LACK of Firefly swag. In all her shopping all Cathy found was a couple of pictures. She bought one of the whole crew so we at least have something for them to sign. What else did I see? Star Wars panel (we left after 15 minutes), Farscape panel was pretty much the highlight of the day. Sky Captain looks to be a great movie. Quite a few very odd costumes. More, and better, I hope, tomorrow.
Sunday, 25 July 2004 07:22:23
You know, when I was twelve, I remember watching "Meatballs" starring an unknown Bill Murray. At the time, I thought that that was the funniest movie that I'd ever seen. What it said to me as a pre-teen was so right on the mark I had to see it five more times just to be sure. (Of course, my parents didn't know I was seeing the same movie over and over, I told them it was a different movie each time.) Strangely, my brother, who was a year and a half older, never seemed to be as enthralled with it as I was. He only saw it when I did the first time. Flashforward almost twenty years and I felt the need to see it again for the first time in decades... DVD's weren't around, so I got it on tape from Blockbuster and popped some popcorn fully expecting to sink into the warm memories of late childhood. Fifteen minutes into the film and I was flabbergasted at how much the movie had changed. (well, ok, it was me that changed.) The movie I remembered was sharply witty, emotionally engaging and well plotted. (Yeah, like a twelve year old thinks that way... i just thought it was too cool for words...) Now, however, I found myself so disappointed. The clever repartee was little more than heavy belching and dumb set-ups for one-liners. The emotions were bare manipulations and little else, and the plot was thinner than wet toilet paper tied together with that alien mucus... In short, I was so disappointed that I wondered what I had seen in this movie and I found myself thinking that maybe my brother was right all that time ago. But then... but then.... I realized that I was frowning my adult frown and thinking my adult thoughts. Maybe this wasn't the approach to take... I stopped the tape and re-wound it. I told myself to just watch the damned movie and stop being so judgemental. I soon found myself watching a stupid, juvenile comedy and thoroughly enjoying it... I laughed as a young Bill Murray subtly stuck it to the rich kids's camp... I saw the losers of Camp Northstar brave their way through love and lust and watched as they fought the good fight in a futile decathalon against the same rich kids. I won't say more in case you haven't seen it. The movie would never be as good as it was when I was twelve, but then, neither would I. But at least the kid inside still thought it was funny... :wink: Flash further forward... I saw "I, Robot" yesterday and, going in, I was ready to not like it. I worshipped the original book and the previews looked nothing like it. All the precious in the world won't make a mule a thoroughbred. Still, my preconceptions have been wrong before (Titanic for one). So I went with a couple of friends in order to be able to say that I gave it a fair shot. Well, I gave it a fair shot...and wound up liking it. A lot. I wanted to say that it wasn't anything special but it kept me entertained, slightly puzzled and happily amused. (The Alan Tudyk voice was very well done even though I had to try like the devil to get the image of Wash reading the lines out of my head. Fortunately seeing the movie "Dodge Ball" really helped.) I know I wanted the book in movie form. I know that I wanted to dislike this, but the movie I saw was like the best of the Sunday Serials that old fogeys talk about. The Buck Rodgers and Flash Gordon stuff. It was cool and hip (sometimes a little too much) and Will Smith will never pull off a character filled with pathos like Denzel Washington, but that said, anyone who saw this and picked it apart for flaws wasn't going to see a movie, they were going to do a job or serve an agenda. "I, Robot" is a good summer movie in a year with a lot of good summer movies so far. "Shrek2", "Day After Tomorrow", "Spiderman2", all these have really entertained. It's seriously been one of the best summers for movies in years. (well, to me anyway...) That said, this is a good, fun movie that won't disappoint if you try not to take it or yourself too seriously. (Hey, at least you don't know how it ends, right? Can you say that going into "Titanic"?) Be silly. Go see it.
Sunday, 25 July 2004 09:54:39
The other day I had this idea that I'd throw myself into the whole fan fic writing thing. I wanted to be able to contribute somehthing other than my normal "oh yea, me too" on the discussion boards. As I have said many times, I am so happy that I found this site and all of you similarly obsessed type people. Anyway an idea finally came to me and so I thought I'd type out a few rough paragraphs and come back to flesh it out later. To make a long story, well not quite so long... four hours later I had written nearly 7 pages. I wanted to keep going but I knew I had to get some sleep before it was time to go to work. Needless to say it took me nearly forever to fall asleep. This crazy freaking story had taken over my brain! Have I lost my mind? Almost completely... and strangest part is kind of like it.
Sunday, 25 July 2004 20:51:11
Ok, here was my thumbnail of Mal before: Mal UPP 88B966 5 terms. 2 peacetime Army, 2 wartime Army (Browncoat), 1 Rogue or Merchant Total Skill Points: 15 Rank: E-4 (Platoon Sergeant) So, now a little discussion of how I can up with this and some more detail. First, the UPP (Universal Personal Profile) (for those unfamiliar with Traveller, that string of numbers after Mal’s name). Strength: 8 Ok, since CT/MT uses 2d6, you get a range of 2-12 with 7 being dead average. Mal’s a strong guy, but not super strong, and as we saw in Trash, not really ‘cut’ so to speak. So an 8, above average, but not so much. Dexterity: 8 Ok, once again, Mal is good on his feet, but not super good. I might be persuaded to up this to a 10 to give him an advantageous DM with an auto-pistol, but I’m not sure that isn’t more a result of experience (skills) over natural talent. Endurance: B (11) This comes from War Stories. Mal’s tough, that’s what gives him his physical edge more than anything. All in all, this give Mal 6 points of advantage over an average Joe (777). Seems about right to me. Intelligence: 9 Mal is one smart character (no pun intended). He’s usually (but not quite always) one step ahead. I think a 9 is about right. Education: 6 Traveller Education is kind of an odd thing. A 7 means an associates degree, but you could roll up a character with a C (12) which is a post doctorate level of education at 18 (and with an intel of 2 theoretically), so I modified it a little in my system so that no one can get above a 7 just by rolling and an average character will get a 5, 6, or 7. So, a 6 is a high school education. There’s never been any hint that Mal went to college, so 7 or higher is out. It’s also not clear that he went to high school either, but he could have picked up some education points along the way in his prior service as well. Social Standing: 6 Mal is one of those guys just on the edge of respectability. He was probably upper middle class (his family owned a ranch with lots of employees at one time), an 8 maybe, but that standing has taken a hit after being on the loosing side of the war. Mal’s respectable enough to move in higher circles and disrespectable enough not to be too out of place on the underside of society. A 6 seems right there. Prior Service and Skills. Ok, now is when the back story becomes important. You have to make some assumptions about the society in order to model it in a game system that produces characters by having them live a good part of their life before they start ‘adventuring.’ So, in Mal’s case, here are some assumptions that went into the model. Browncoats, who were they? My take it that the Browncoats were a frontier militia set up to protect the fringe and the new colonies from Reaver attacks. In terms of the CG system, that means that Mal could be a Browncoat before the war starts, and based on his experience and rank at the end of the war, he was probably in the military before it began. We may learn in the BDM that that’s not the case, but for now, it works for me. So, before the war, Mal was in the Army career. Now, my Firefly Traveller system has a couple of tweaks form the original CT/MT system, so that it allows for enlisted ranks and promotion with out having to used the advanced CG system. That boosts the number of skills you can earn per term. I also have a system for what MT calls ‘special duty’, but you could just used the MT system if you wanted to (it’s simpler, you just roll one die and based on the career, if you beat a 4, 5, or 6 you get another skill for that term). So, basically, a character is eligible for 1 skill per term automatically, 1 skill if they get promoted, 1 skill of they get special duty, plus an extra skill for ‘basic training’ the first year they are in a service. You can also get a couple of default skills based on where you grew up, so, Mal probably gets equestrian and a weapon’s skill for growing up on the fringe. So, looking at the tables and the modification that I’ve made you