T-Bone

Why oh why does this 1989 promotional video from Microsoft make me so happy? and yet so sad all at the same time?

KT

BR 8 miss
BR 6 miss.

The axebeak is my bane.

paul

that globe is awesome. It's neat to see India so spread out, and it's weird to see Mongolia's borders are so well defined. Portland looked pretty good too, that's nice.

At home with the kids.

Why are Bald Eagles so funny?

My economy is bigger than yours.

3D graphical globe of the world's economic activity.

Japan is crazy.

On Ruxpin

No, here's what I typed in:
ruxpin, ruxpin, ruxpin, ruxpin ruxpin ruxpin

Note where the commas are. Blogger took out two of the single ruxpins for redundancy.

...

Fact: my girlfriend's parents know the guy who invented Teddy Ruxpin. I guess he'd be like Teddy Ruxpin's dad, or god, or something.

Mother Chucker.

Wow, that's a lot of Helsinki fashion.

However, it does kind of have a 1st year art student feel to it. I couldn't make my way through entirely, but after the first guy, everyone else's style paled in comparison.

The shear number of Hels wearing Chucks shocked me. I am wearing Chucks right now. -It makes me feel Finnish.

One failing of the label cloud: Ruxpin Ruxpin Ruxpin without any commas only counts as one unique label. -It doesn't parse the text. EDIT: Oh, you caught that. Maybe I can change it? Whatever. Fucking Blogging.

Ruxpin retard love

Yeah, this TT blog format is sort of retarded. Then again, I thought blogger itself was retarded when we first started, and I've come to embrace my retarded love.

The New York photos page? The first kid is wearing a Tool shirt. Yeah. they're some of the only 'rock' that I like, but it's still funny to see someone labeling themselves as a 'tool'.

I'll see your average New Yorkers, and raise you crazy Helsinki street fashion:
http://www.hel-looks.com/

The cloud thing is awesome. Totally gonna pump up Ruxpin. Let's see what happens when I type it in a bunch down below.

EDIT: even though I typed in about four individual ruxpins, not counting 'ruxpin ruxpin ruxpin', it collapsed them into one. Huh.

Hmm.

Generally, I think this new Blogger interface sucks. It seems kind of like blogging for dummies. Ease of use, but it seems more difficult to tweak.

Thus, I don't think I am going to change the mainpage over.

Anyway, photography generally bores me. However, This series of New Yorkers going through turnstiles has something to it. -I think I like method to my photography.

Awesome Label Cloud!

Well, it needs more work, but I found a cool widget for a label cloud on Table Talk.

New Toolz

Well, beyond switching to the new version of blogger, there is actually a new editing template we can choose as well.

I am not sure about it just yet. I think I will experiment with the Table Talk page, and see if it is worthwhile. Anyway, things might get a bit funky over here for a bit...

If it was on youtube, it'd probably be like a 60 second movie that would make you laugh at the end when the guy falls off his gay little Vespa

Well here we are in BLOG.2.

Thanks to Mark for all his effort here. It's really his blog, I'm just like the Wal-Mart middle management guy who yells at you.

Check it out, we can 'label posts'. That's down in the lower right. I've taken their suggestion and labeled this post with 'scooter fall'.

...

Yeah Steve, except this week we're not attracting so many eagle picture people. Our hits are way down from last week. Or maybe last week we just got a big erroneous spike.

Don't these people want their eagle pictures and aids cures anymore?

Searching is fun

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

More movie time

That Darth Bastard movie made me laugh so hard. Yeah, the ending was hilarious.

As fer movies, eh, I don't know all that much really. I troll imdb and the Criterion Collection. I just know a couple people who know a lot, and I live right next to the world's best video store. Have a lot of late nights to kill, so I just wander in and browse. I've seen a ton of movies in the last year.

This all got started due to several things coinciding. First, my girlfriend's a big horror movie fan, and two movies that she wanted to see kicked this all off... Last House on the Left and Cannibal Holocaust (check 'em out on imdb.com). I was pretty shocked, actually, and started to wonder just how far you could legally go in making a movie. The guy who made Cannibal Holocaust was put on trial, and rightly so- it's fucked up, and definitely has its illegal moments. It's the movie that inspired Blair Witch, by the way. Great movie though, for what it is.

Soon I discovered that video store. Doing the work I do, I was getting home right as the video store was about to close, so I could pop in and grab something to watch while falling asleep. Then I met a couple people who gave me a lot of good suggestions.

Mainly though, my girl and I had a few late night phone conversations, both of us on the internet, finding and reading about horrible movies to each other. I forget the websites, things like badmoviereviews.com or cultfilms.com or something like that. I think one of the better is I couldn't believe the depth and breadth of crap on film. So I guess I had to see for myself.

Criterion Collection is really good- lots of great and weird stuff. The movie I mentioned earlier, Salo (the homage to de Sade) is Criterion also, and probably wins the award for most horrible movie. Guinea Pig and Men Behind the Sun are also contenders.

In My Skin (Dans Ma Peau) is also creepy and weird, and I actually fainted when I saw it. In the theatre. Didn't have much to eat that day, so I chalk it up to low blood sugar. I watched it again on video, no problem that time. It's so fucking graphic and personal. About a woman who's life is rather unsatisfying, until she accidentally gashes her leg open. She becomes fascinated with the wound and begins, uh, opening it up. Expanding it. Checks into a hotel room to start photographing herself cutting off her own skin. It's a quiet movie, not a horror movie in the usual sense.

Irreversible is another fucked up French movie. One of the characters is an awful NPC after my own heart- a pimp who hangs out in a sleazy gay S&M club. His name is 'La Tenia'. "The Tapeworm". It's shot kind of like Memento, in that it's backwards- each scene comes chronologically before the following scene. What the movie's famous for is this unbelievably realistic, long single-take single-shot rape scene. Not to spoil anything, but it comes in the middle, not the end of the movie, and afterwards, you just sort of watch the other characters getting ready to go to this party and living their lives (because it's shot in reverse time order). For a long time, I couldn't figure out why the climax of the narrative was pretty much in the exact middle of the movie. But I think it works- I've rambled on too long though, so I won't get into it.

Needless to say, Steve, these aren't films you want kids to watch. Usually I shrug and laugh at parental advisory stickers on video games and music. These aren't like that, at least not to me. Definitely check out Pan's Labyrinth though. All those 80s kids' fantasy movies, that even though they basically sucked I was worried weren't made anymore- it's a great homage and work of art.

Too funny.

OMG Darth Bastard rocks. I love the final stare down.

Adventure Time also rocks. -Maximum adventure while making a minimum of sense. But that doesn't matter right now...

Darth Bastard

Damn Rob... you own the rights to the title "Man with the most knowledge of obscure cinema" Keep the reviews coming. I am dying to see Pan's Lab... looks amazing, glad to hear it gets the Dr. Elfie seal of approval.

I thought I would throw this out for general consumption

Movie time

I don't understand the whole executive bonus thing. I mean, I do, but wouldn't you feel dirty taking a multi-million dollar check while your company collapses around you?

...

Yup, I think Pan's Labyrinth is the best in the genre.

I've seen a lot of horrible stuff lately. I wanted to see this old horror movie called "Eyes Without A Face" by this French guy. (Which is good.) Walked into the video store and asked for it, and the clerk said "oh yeah, we have that on VHS". I said okay. He said "but no, you don't want that. You want the DVD version, for the extras." I said I don't usually watch that stuff. He said "trust me- you want to see this."

The 'extras' amounted to an extremely graphic documentary on Paris abattoirs. Holy Christ. And I thought Cannibal Holocaust was rough. I kept hoping it would end.

Not daunted, I watched a pair of old Japanese horror movies in a series called 'Guinea Pig'. The first, "Devil's Experiment" was just awful. Basically a snuff film. Although I Spit On Your Grave, Last House on the Left, and Salo are arguably much worse for the actual content.

The second Guinea Pig was more entertaining. It was called "The Android of Notre Dame" and is was like Frankenhooker starring a midget. And the title really has nothing to do with the movie except for this line of dialog:

Midget Scientist: "You've heard of the Hunchback of Notre Dame?"
His Dying Sister: "Yes..."
MS: "Did you know he was really an android?"
HDS: (faint, sad smile... she looks off in the distance)
And, scene.

KT

Ford loses $12.7 billion ("B" illion) in 2006. Managers still get bonuses.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16804725/

PLAB

I'm waiting to get home to follow your link, Justin.

We saw Pan's Labyrinth this weekend. Fucking Awesome. Rob, there is one part that is so very Narboring (sp?).

Adventure Time

Well, here's the creator's blog.

http://frederatorblogs.com/adventure_time

I think the cartoon was rejected by Nickelodeon or is otherwise pending approval or something. At the moment, that's all there is. It's awesome as is, but I definitely wouldn't mind more.

Adventure Time

Adventure Time is so super good.

I looked around... that's it? There's no more? Shit!

This must be a new thing...

Gregory Vrill was an Oxy Moron

The D&D cartoon should have been more like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_g36TwjC4h4

SRSLY.

The guy who does Jake's voice is none other than the voice of Futurama's Bender.

Uh

Paul, you've got a visitor.

Nothing beats those old Vrill blog post comments though. You could power a tractor with that hate. I just don't have the 'killer NPC' thing going on here yet. This is a pretty different game than before.

Actually that link might be our first real blog comment if Paul really has a friend. Mark's UO has like a million of them. 17 unique viewers yesterday, and it was like a blog wasteland out here. We've got people coming here, stealing our eagle pictures, do they say hello? How's it going? Fuck you eagle thiefs.

...

And I've been ripping off Achewood for a long time now, so I guess it's time they return the favor.

...

MapStats is great. Our peak day is Wednesday, and we rarely get hits on the weekend. It's weird, I would've guessed just the opposite.

Thanks for the ACEN, but why you hatin'?

Hello all; allow me to refer you to my character record page: http://www.blogger.com/profile/34348290

I included the URL because I worry that some of us might not be good at finding stuff.

Also, see the bottom category, labelled 'favorite books':

Spec longbow

proficient long sword. Speaks Common

Elvish

weretounge. NWP: Quickdraw

close-combat archery

firebuilding

Lycanthrope lore

fletcher
bowyer

producing.

Right there, four lines up, is 'Lycanthrope lore'. That was one of my starting NWPs. It's true, not EXACTLY the same as Lycanthrope ID, but I do have skills in it. And I agree, a lot of people think they're good at things they're not so good at, but Threnody happens to be pretty good with the werefolk. Perhaps next level, if some more specialization is needed, she'll take 'Lycanthrope ID', because I wasn't aware of the multitude of lycanthropic skills available to the elf-on-the-go.

Acen

So we all love Acen. Did you know he's got a home page? (Who has a home page anymore?)

http://homepage.mac.com/acen/Menu7.html

You can listen to some (but not all) of his stuff, including his newish song which ain't that great. He has a little blurb about each one for what inspired him to make it.

You can also watch his movies- he's making tourist travel videos now or something? Corporate films I guess. Actually, his version of 50 Cent's Candy Shop in his Reebok movie is pretty good I think. Guy's gotta make a living, right?

Anyway, Acen is great. For the longest time, I thought the name was simply acid + amen, which if you think about it, is a great name right there. Mark, since you won't make me an admin on the links page, you'll have to add this link yourself. Could ya do that for me?

Mechandise

Yeah, I'll get a new cool mug made.

Our file host that hosted our images has been failing. I had to move some of our images and buttons. -It's funny, our Google ad banner has made $26.31. Not too shabby. -Give it a good click every once in a while.

Thx

Yeah I like. Nice to know that there are good conditions for HAM operation.

Can I request a new mug be made for game 2? It's a totally different party.

...

52% of our search engine referrals in the last month came from people looking for eagle pictures. Traffic is much lower so far today than yesterday. Maybe all those people looking for eagles are 'repeat viewers' and on to our game.

I hear it's all about content.

Thus, you can find a useful HAM operator atmospheric conditions banner as well as a fish headlines banner on the mainpage. You're welcome.

Blow yer house down

Yeah, I saw the HIV cure thing a couple days ago. Made me feel dirty too. But yeah, I agree, the eagle pictures are fucking magic.

...

Been working all through the night. Long ass science project.

How do I pass the hours, you might wonder. Well last night it was tracking down the old D&D cartoon on youtube. This night, I was watching Detroit 'jit' videos and listening to Detroit booty bass, aka ghettotech. Super good stuff. Maybe you're wondering where you can get some too?

Jackpot.

&.

(You're welcome.)

Oh no.

OMG, 'Cure for HIV' brought someone to our site.

I am so ashamed.

The results are in.

Well, it seems that "Teddy Ruxpin Eagle Slayer" drew some hits from Reddit, but not many votes. According to MapStats, we got 86 unique visitors. My Active Meter count says that we got 93. According to Active Meter, our average is 37 unique visitors per day. 2.51 times the average for yesterday.

Maybe we should have used that blonde with the eagle.

I say we endeavor to get 200 unique visitors in one day. Let's set one day next week, and pull out all the stops. -Shameless media blitz.

Hoola hoop BJs.

Trouser fish.

Jimmy Carter Destroyer.

Inspiration

So this is where Rob is turning for ideas?

http://www.dungeonsdragonsblog.com/product-review-idylls-of-the-rat-king/

web two point oh

make that one more vote for ruxpin and eagles

A traffic experiment with Reddit.

I don't know if you guys ever use Digg or Reddit, but one way to garner some attention is to 'Reddit' a post, then have everyone vote for it. -You can only vote once per IP, then it subtracts your vote.

As an experiment, I'll Reddit a post called 'Teddy Ruxpin Eagle Slayer' on the mainpage.

Your job: Go to reddit.com, make a new account (you just need a ID and password, no form) and search for "Teddy Ruxpin Eagle Slayer", then vote for it. VOTE ONLY ONCE with the same IP address.

Hits.

Well, one way to get more hits is to provide what people actually want. Barring that:

Bald Eagle Database

Porn Rookie

Taste of Paradise

Free Money Giveaway

Where's Waldo

Teddy Ruxpin Eagle Slayer

Free Broadswords

Ninja Training School

Magic!

Jug fucking isn't really a 'gray area' I'd guess. Either we're exactly what you want, or we're a bitter jugfuckless disappointment.

Anyway, got the graveyard shift tonight. Watching D&D cartoons. Reminds me a lot of Scooby-Doo, especially with the pidgin-speaking animal, Fred/Hank, Sheila/Daphne, etc. Odd mention on wikipedia, I think, that parental consultant groups enforced mores such as 'the group is right, the dissenter wrong' in the show.

Skeleton Warrior: "Behold! The Lost Tower!"

Sheila: "It's so skinny! What holds it up?"

SW: "Magic!"

...

Later:

Yeah, bitches. Check it out:
(here's the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1kdEfNPMpM)
Part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nm2T6dkHLk&mode=related&search=
Part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9A35NpDzQ4&mode=related&search=

The first part, check out how the kids totally deny the Dungeonmaster's quest.

Google's gettin' jiggy with us

So, 'American Bald Eagle' pulls up nothing in Google, unless you do an 'images' search. There, we're on the main page.

I wanted to test this out, so I did some searches. 'Fucking rats' didn't pull us up - neither did 'Trouble With A Few Giant Rats' or 'I had to look up Enya' or 'Theodore Koppel' or 'A forest green vest' - all from recent posts.

'I fucking hate lycanthropes' came up on the second search page.

'Norman Rockwell And Stavos Vanilli' gave three pages, which look like they cull various blogs. It's kinda weird - one of them had links to two of Thak's entries (and that's it for DiD stuff).

I suspect we'll need a blitz kind of campaign to get other sites to link here, if we want to start appearing in them Google searches. God knows if someone is looking for 'first aid for rat bite' they oughta have the option of checking out what we're doing. I mean - if they've got the time to do a web search when there's a medical emergency, they've got the time to read a fantasy gaming blog.

Anyway. I have another snow day tomorrow. I'll see what I can do about spreading the word. I want us to get the cash to fund that D&D project!

Oh - and if you look in the last year, 3 people came our way when looking for jug fucking. So hello to all you jug fuckers, or those of you who are undecided about jug fucking. I hope our little blog can help you make some of those hard decisions, or at least shed some light on the whole jug fucking issue. Thank you and goodnight.

"Touch a bomb"?

But not a lot, sadly.

With Blogger MapStats, we can even do the experiment- see if all this bullshitting raises our hit rate this week. I mean, really, it's silly, people love to search for AMERICAN BALD EAGLES. A full 25% of our hits came from people searching for it. When I googled for it, I didn't see our website though. Let me try again...

Nope. Twenty pages of Google hits, and then ten pages on teh Blogger search. How is BALD EAGLE leading people to us? It's a mother fucking mystery.

I did find this great page though of a guy who wants to see a bald eagle. He also wants to make someone pee their pants, touch a bomb, and discover a mathematical theorem:
http://im-so-skinny.livejournal.com/31710.html

I think you basically get to do ONE of those things, really. Unless you're Alan Turing, and my friend- you're no Alan Turing.

...

Our blog is shameful. Other recent searches that led people here:
halfling pussy
cure for hiv
master parsifal
Mr. Purple Rain

Sadly we have none of those.

Paul

David Hasselhoff the musical!

O. J. Simpson is my father. The real story.

Necronomicon.

Clitoral tattoos.

mashed potato fetish

cross dressing dogs?

how to get free money.

Fan Service

Hey guys - if we're going to bankroll the third Dungeons and Dragons movie - or convince our Brazilian backers that we're serious about Dungeons and Dragons 3e - the Cartoon! - we gotta increase the hits. Rob's trying, sure, with the

BALD EAGLES AND HOT CHICKS

Stuff, but I think we should all pitch in. I'm inclucing myself in this - I've been sorely lacking in searchable phrases. I intend to drop some phrases about

Pokemon Fanfic

or

Naked Pokemon

or even

Pokemon Porn

In my next posts. I'm not saying we all have to be limited to Pokemon, necessarily - Digimon works, too, and I hear the kids are still crazy about

NAKED PICTURES OF KIM POSSIBLE

You know. Maybe just one catchphrase every few posts and we'll see what gets hits.

Sedition Sedition Sedition!

Big In Brazil

On my dialup connection here, so I haven't been able to check it out yet, but here are some starter links:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=dungeons+and+dragons+cartoon&search=Search
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_&_Dragons_(TV_series)

But check it out:
"The US DVDs were released on December 5, 2006." (from the wikipedia link).

Sure enough:
http://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Complete-Willie-Aames/dp/B000JBXY44/sr=8-1/qid=1168927873/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-3563312-7289643?ie=UTF8&s=dvd


And:
"The show was one of the greatest cartoon hits in Brazil, where it was known as Caverna do Dragão ("Dragon's Cave"), exhibited almost daily over 20 years."


Justin's right... check out episode 17.

I don't remember any Cloud Bears in D&D

Haha, ah, the D&D cartoon. There was so much... "not D&D" stuff in there. Like the cavalier without a sword, and what was the chick with the pole? Thief-Acrobat or something? Anyone see the episode with what were basically care bears? They lived in the clouds, were pink, and I think they had some crystal that the main bad guy wanted or something... it's been a while.

Cheers Mark for the suggestion of the Presto tatoo, it's very me. I don't think the +3 bonus on your to get laid roll applies with that one, sadly.

Dag Nabbit

I look forward to seeing the tatoo.

Discogs

Shop around a bit first... honestly, the artist name didn't ring a bell- er, excuse the pun. There may be other versions. Might be possible to find a mix online somewhere? I didn't look. But "House of Acid Jazz" is almost certainly the album name, 'cause in those days, I was all about house music, and never would've bought acid jazz stuff without some sort of 'house' reference. Not that HoAJ ended up being all that housey.

Discogs is the shit though. They'd be the best website in my world if they had mp3 samples, or god forbid, full downloads. Spent a long time searching for old tracks from long ago. Not that I necessarily need to look too far back... 2006 was a great year for music. Honest to god fucking techno came back.

Cloae enuf!

Rob - I'm'a gonna just buy a copy of that disk. Ring ring ring ring!

Ba-deep a Deet!

Getting Closer

Dave:
http://www.discogs.com/release/619280

Still working on it.

The Worst Is The Wookie Virtual Sex Simulator... No, The Worst Is The Fat Kid Wookie... No, I Give Up, Too Hard To Tell

Anyone seen the old D&D cartoon lately? It's one of the things I keep meaning to track down.

Just saw the Star Wars Christmas Special a couple weeks ago. Wow is that painful. Kristin burned two DVDs of it, just because stuff that bad needs to be archived. It's sort of like watching someone- someone you know- taking a long, slow dump. And I mean long, like two hours.

The Uni ass shot gives me the creeps. Somebody had to draw that.

...

Most tattoos give you like a +1d4 bonus to getting laid, I'd guess. A dwarf fighting a mindflayer probably rocks a solid -3 to that check.

This one's an option too.

Nice Uni ass shot.

These tattoos are mandatory:

I think we should all follow Paul's lead. These were randomly assigned, of course.

Rob:






Me:






Dave:






Steve (Dag):






Steve (KT):






Justin:

news does travel.

I actually know a guy with a sweet dwarf fighing a mindflayer tattoo on his arm with a set of dice cascading through the picture. I didn't know mine had reached the web already.

Paul's Tattoo

Hi guys, I'm posting a picture of Paul's hand tattoo from his game. He's Gunther, King of the Dwarves. He wields a +2 Hammer and wears a Helm of Levitation so he can attack flying monsters.

You all are wearing those 'beer-dispensing' baseball caps except it's like a blueberry slushee that cures you

Okay, we're agreed about Goodberry. No problem, and I think the spell is fine if you do. It can manifest itself as mini-fridges if you want, but the game effects will be the same... up to you how freaky and techno you want your spells to be.

And I love that game. BLOCKS.

Sorry about the iTunes Chromeo screw dude. I'm workin on a fix.

The demon!

From BoingBoing. Take a good look at this kids game.

KT

OK, I updated my sheet to show the 2 slots. As for NPCs, if you want them to have Goodberries, they are going to have them , regardless of whether I make this convenient spell or not. This is just a bookkeeping thing, I didn't make the spell more powerful (2 hp/berry, 12 berries/rd, etc.).

I just really like this adventure and party, and I'd like to keep people from going negative/dying.

On the other hand, I could build small "refrigerators" instead, like tiny cylinders that would cool and preserve the berries, and can administer them.

Is that better?

Goodberry: A Solution?

Okay, how does this variant of Mark's idea sound: continually burn EITHER two 1st circle spells OR one 2nd circle spell, and everyone's got their own 8 pts of Goodberry healing until the next time you can go and make more berries at the Greenhouse.

This burned spell slot(s) essentially accounts for a Preservative spell.

Plus, yeah, you use a few other spells in the downtime to make the berries in the first place (it takes two 3rd circles to make them- one for Betterberry, one for Plant Growth just to get the damn berries in the first place from The Greenhouse's stock).

Any night you wish, you can rememorize over those burned spells to get whatever you want, but then all berries expire in the next 24 hrs.

That makes bookkeeping minimal.

Two scoops.

Yeah, that was a big problem with fluid magic.

8 berries each might be too convenient. Basically, it comes down to this: I'd hate NPCs to have 8 berries each.

Maybe you can make a somewhat different healing spell for 3rd. Or, have the spell last a day and you can use raisins instead of fresh berries. Goodraisins. You could keep say, two scoops of raisins in your pack for a long time. Burn the spell, everyone gets healing raisins for that day.

BTW Steve, your didfactory invite is in your gmail account.

Betterberry?

I'm not really trying to make a more powerful spell. It would still have the same limits as the old one (1hp/berry, 8 berries max). I just want everyone to start adventures with 8 berries since we go negative so much, and the regular goodberry spell isn't useful (1. who has fresh berries in an underground city? 2. Who wants to keep track of exactly how many days pass, and which berries are still edible?).

I don't want to make powerful spells, I just want to make convenient ones.

I don't really understand what's up with the robot, I thought you said that I could earn enough gold from selling stuff and using the poison so that the robot could be made. I figured it's cost was about what I'd earn for the month, so I'd break even. I didn't really understand all the numbers you were throwing out. And in one instance, you said "when they see your spider bot," or something like that, and I asked "so is the robot all done?" and you didn't say anything, so I inferred that the bot was good 2 go. If not, what's still needed? Tut has like 10g on him, but that's before getting money from divvying up all the loot and such (and working).

5th level Hold Person

Guys, this is a serious and complicated issue. In fact, the major plot arc in the Narbohring 2 campaign (the essence rings of Barrowsreich) was designed around this problem.

Priests pray to gods to make things happen on earth. So shouldn't a cleric be able to cast a more powerful version of Hold Person, say, at 4th or 5th Circle, with more targets and/or more severe penalties to saves?

The problem is, compare a 5th circle Hold Person to the real 5th Circle combat spells: Flame Strike and Slay Living. A 5th circle Hold, if things scale up like the Cure spells do, should be strictly much better than Slay Living and generally better than Flame Strike.

Thoughts?

THE LUCKY

For some reason, we've got this 'Link Exchange' button thing on the sidebar? Anyway, it was this bright blue button I just had to press. It goes here:

http://cutemegz.angelic-pink.net/

But please guys don't go blabbing to all your friends about her personal life because her blog is private. For some reason, I just love the unreadable white-on-gray text and headlines like 'Filed under whatever'. Ahh, the internet. It reminds me of the time Ed and I were at a nice restaurant in Detroit- I think Mark, Dave, and our cousin were there, and Ed asks the waiter to "bring him a glass of their cheapest wine".

The internet is like sipping from a glass of the cheapest wine.

KT

Glad I ventured over here.

I'm probably not leaving Chicago for awhile. It's a great place. I'll be really busy until April 15th. If anyone is interested in seeing Chi town when it's nice out, I'd love to have you in town. I get a really good discount at the hotel right next to me (because it's next to me, they give us like a 40% discount or something).

I wouldn't mind going to Florida or something, but I don't know what you guys think.

I'm just basically keeping it real like a nice plate of veal, and keepin it clean like a washin machine.

That man can dance

Oh wow:
http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2007/01/on_using_happy_.html

Just read the first sentence in the main text. I won't spoil anything here.

Oh, and:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3baQGb2zIY&eurl=

More youtube fun. It's not better or worse than Tickle-Me-Elmo-On-Fire, juuuuussstt different. From the same blog as above.

Mile High

Damn Skippy. Can't wait to see you Rob. DO email me an itinerary. I would love to hear you speak as well as lunch, dinner, and or drinks or whatever. Let me know what's up.

Tut, check your email, as I might be out in your neck o' the woods in March some time... hopefully we can hook up.

What about everyone else? I would love to get together. I know a lot of you have seen each other in the last few months (Turkey Day, Christmas) and there is more comin' with Rob flyin and Mark headin west. I would be super interested in getting together, all of us, and gaming live. Of course there would be some going out and such, but let's get together and game.

Portland? Detroit? Denver? Chicago? Somebody name it and I'll be there. A lot of us have a place to stay in Detroit, but I can put up people who don't. I could put almost all of you up at my place (food and lodging) in Denver (if we did this before August).

What say you?

Big in Japan

Chromeo obtained. Will be sending later. Hey, I just checked my old email, that's right, you and Gao Qi are going to be in town Feb 6 to 11! Good timing, as I leave on Feb 12. Starting my 'international tour' so to speak. Denver, Detroit, Salt Lake City, Tokyo, and maybe LA. One of those things is not like the other.

And then afterwards, Mark, I'll be in Detroit from Feb 14 to 19 (Valentine's Day and such).

So yeah, Steve/Dag: I'll be in Denver, with free time on Feb 13. I'll be at the Hyatt if you're available that day for lunch or something. Hmm, I probably should email this to you to make sure you see it...

Tony Danza

Tony Danza's Paralyzation? Damn, that coupled with Alligator Dimension, this system is going to rock.

Yeah, I am still working on the game system. Steve, I'll send you an invite to DiDFactory today. However, it's just me doing grunt work right now. -I think the rules skeleton is pretty much complete. There are 4 types of Magic, Hermetic (wizards), Hedge (illusionist/enchanter), Faith (priests), and Ritual (witch/summoner). I've got nearly full lists for Hermetic and Hedge. But new spell ideas for any type are welcome. I will need a lot of help in the editing phase. Along with the invite, I'll send you the email account where you can get the newest version. I am going to self-publish this thing on Lulu or something. Anyone that helps is entitled to credit and/or royalties (if I decide to charge anything at all). Anyway, I've done some research into copyright stuff, and game mechanics are not protected. -Just trademark names and such. -It's actually pretty interesting stuff, the world of game design and creative property.

Rob, thanks for Video Queen. It rocks. -I'll send some Adult when I get home tonight. You could really repay me if you can use your skillz to find some Chromeo. They are frickin' awesome. You can listen to their stuff on myspace, but I haven't found any downloads. -I've been working on setting up my spare computer as a music server for all of us. Right now it is just looking for extraterrestrial life at an incredibly slow rate. Life has been crazy busy here too. Science and otherwise. I can't wait to chill in San Fran. Gao Qi demands that we dance, so find something good.

In other news, it looks like UO is going to be published (in part) in a blog compilation. Vintage books. -That's pretty cool.

What else? I dunno. I've got to do some science.

It's more fun to compute

Naw, it ain't like that. Antivirus and spyware doing fine, really. It's just that my computer is kinda old now (2003) and full of data and music, and the network here blows. Had something like 12 Mb left on the HD not too long ago. Just a matter of cleaning house, so to speak. And getting the goddamn tech guy here to get away from MacWorld and make my baby print again.

...

Mark, paging Mark. A while back, Ed recommended ADULT. (I guess that's the right way of saying it?), this Detroit synthpop/electro band. You got any of this? Have had trouble finding good stuff on line. If you got it, well isn't that what the gmail accounts are all about? I'll see your ADULT. and raise you Video Queen by Boycrusher, which is like my favorite song this week. Kinda tired of mashups these days; more into sleazy electro stuff. Fuck it, look for Video Queen in the mail there. Merry Late Christmas.

talk.

oh and nice prince juice rap Theo.

paul

what anti virus shit are you running Rob? And when did this start with the puter?

HA HA HA OH WOW

Whoa, that burning Elmo is some crazy shit. You're right, the audio is just fucked up.

Sorry things are still a bit sporadic. 1) Trying to get some work done. 2) Computer is having a rough time of it all across the board; can't print, can't use my email program, etc. 3) Crafting Cold Cuts ain't like dusting crops, kid.

Until I cried.

Don't miss the sound.

King Tut

I'm glad the CCC is over, I was just going to post that I won't be able to post much of a rap anytime soon because work is pretty busy, and I study for the CPA exam after work.

So, what next? I think there are several little adventures we can go on, if I remember correctly, one of the posts a few weeks back summarized them.

AMERICAN BALD EAGLE

I love looking at the map stats. We're up to almost 1500 unique views per month. I wager most of them come from people pressing the 'Go to a random blog' button in the upper right hand corner, but that's okay.

Anyway, for whatever reason, 'American Bald Eagle' is our biggest draw. I tried it on Google and clicked through a few pages of searches, and we were nowhere to be seen. Maybe we should just routinely post bald eagle pictures on the blog and see if our map stats skyrocket. Hence the post on the main page.

...

Saw Pan's Labyrinth on New Year's Eve (prior to a night of much drinking, where my girl taught me what a 'Jaeger Bomb' is). What a fucking great movie (already #155 on IMDB). In addition to one of the tightest, best stories I've seen in a movie, ever, it referenced just about every kid's fantasy movie I could think of (except maybe Dark Crystal): Mirrormask, Sleeping Beauty, Wizard of Oz, Neverending Story, Labyrinth, &c, and surpassed them all (not necessarily a hard feat). Also, the great twinning of events in the real adult world and in the fantasy realm.

The movie is worth watching, if only for a single scene (SPOILER, yo): where Ofelia fails her saving throw on her second quest, in the dimension of the Eater of Children (aka the Pale Man). (Not the only brilliant scene in the movie, but my favorite scene in any movie second to the Harkonnen surgeons of Giedi Prime in Dune.) I aspire to that level of weirdness and horror.

Threnody

Hey all,

Thanks for the birthday wishes! Sorry I haven't been posting, but I've been on vacation, and trying to recover from last term and a whirlwind Cali adventure.

But now I'm back! I'm-a gonna go over to DiD and see what's what, and what kind of trouble I can finish. 'Cuz I don't start it, see.

Not laconic

Thanks Steve; and yeah, Tut's got it. Props to Theodore also.

It ain't over yet though... but I'll leave some time for others to step up. Today's Friday, so let's see what the weekend brings. C'mon PCs!

...

Straight outta Compton
A man in a hooded cloak
Live life with gusto

Be not ashamed.

I am not ashamed
I asked the guy in the stall
A blaze of glory

Beatz and Rhymes

Damn it Rob... now, over on DiD, Dag is quite confident in KT and TK - Dag knows we will win the lyrical battle...

but damn dude... you laid down some seriously wicked shit. are you sure you don't want to leave the whole research and academia world and cut a record? I'll mix up some beats... No doubt we could go platinum.

and steve... I'm glad you held out to the final round... that was a sizeable one-two punch.

King Tut

1 for initiative, 2 to hit, 4 for dmg.

Yeah invite me, hook me up to Factory.

It's Dave's birthday too

It is!

Happy birthday Dave!

Happy birthday Chris!

...

Back full time now. In lab and in game. We'll commence our regularly scheduled programming, at least for the next 1.5 months before I go on international tour.

Fuk yeh.

paul!

It's Chris' birthday.

Buckley: "I'm pretty!"

Steve, I think you missed the few emails I sent inviting you to the Factory. It's regarding a gaming system I'm making. Rob, Paul and Dave helped out some.

If you want, I'll give you the address where version 3.8 is about to be posted.

As for Stunnah, Buckley's initiative is a 4.

No. 1 Stunnah

1 Dex, 6 Cha, 6 HP.

Bring it bitches, the No. 1 Stunnah takes on all comers.

Why can't I post on DiD Factory? Not that I know what the hell it is.

Update

Sorry gang- will be back to full time on the 4th.

Peanut Gallery

Cat's away....

C'mon, this combat is a stalling tactic. We've brought flava.