Archive for August 2004
Who ya gonna call?
August 29, 2004, 11:28 pmWell, after nearly 15 years, I ran my first role-playing game. As you might expect, it was Ghostbusters. Partly because I dig GB, but partly because I wouldn’t have to learn or refresh myself on a more complex system.
It was a bit light as systems go, but it did make for laughs and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. I’ll try a few things differently next time. Yes, next time. See you in November.
I got a lot of Hero Clix in and this time I did my best to learn some tricks. Kyle and Chris are advanced rules hounds, while I’m a helpless romantic. Which is to say that they build teams using the system - I build teams that are classic comic references. That, and I’m lazy when it comes to learning rules in fine detail and don’t have as much practice as I’d like. I like logic to my team-ups, they want maximum ability, so I always look good as a team, but they have the knowledge (and you know what School House Rocks taught us about that) so I get stomped.
I still got stomped on day one, but Kyle always has some nice prizes for participation. But today, despite being late, Kyle opted to run a 500 point game. I won. Head to head, I think they still would have stomped me, but today I had a tougher team and I was able to take advantage of them going after one another. Hooray!
Overall it was another successful gaming weekend - I walked away with some sweet prizes, some happy trades, and a pile of Illuminati: New World Order cards - I now have enough for three or four people to build good decks and play, so that’s on my to-do list. Hands up if you’re interested.
I really, really need to get my figures sorted - time to download some checklists.
—castewar | Comments Off
(posted in the General category)
Can’t… breath…
August 25, 2004, 2:38 amSo, by now you should have seen Batman: Dead End, which has thus far been a high point in fan films;
Now there are these two shorts;
If only they were making them for a company that gave a shit and rewarded this kind of fan appreciation.
—castewar | Comments Off
(posted in the General category)
Reserving opinion…
August 23, 2004, 7:20 pm…but so far not offended.
Last Shot. Will be of interest to Toren.
—castewar | Comments Off
(posted in the General category)
Movies
August 22, 2004, 8:19 pmI went and saw Riding Giants last night. Made by the same guy who did Dogtown and the Z-Boys, Riding Giants is much the same, covering a large and important chunk of surfing history (a lot doesn’t get covered mind you, but this is a good piece to examine). Lots of archive footage and photos (though not as much as Dogtown, which benefitted from a journalist-photographer following the birth of the skate scene) and I’d recommend it to anyone.
As a bonus, Tinseltown showed the US Shaun of the Dead trailer before hand. The audience dug it - I only wish they could have seen the UK trailer.
I have to wonder about Roger Ebert. He’s a man who’s opinion I respect, but in his review of Riding Giants (which he gave 3 out of 4 stars) he mistakes “hydrology” with “hydroponics”. And it somehow slipped by his editors - surely someone would put two and two together and wonder what soil-free cultivation has to do with a 60 foot wave.
And sadly he seems a little lost while watching Donnie Darko.
As a friend, I will happily provide my explainations for both Lost Highway and Donnie Darko to anyone who watched them and left scratching their heads, provided I have an opportunity to have a refresher viewing.
—castewar | 6 comments
(posted in the General category)
Errata
August 19, 2004, 2:21 pmSo much to cover;
Elmer Bernstein died yesterday. He composed a lot of music that you’d recognize. I enjoyed his work on Ghostbusters the most, but he also did The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape, The Man With the Golden Arm, the theme to National Geographic, etc. He was my favoritest modern composer and now he’s gone.
Calgary continues to discover new reasons why rampant expansion without matching population growth is a bad idea, which I’m sure will enevitably lead to them proclaiming me as having called it correctly in the late 80s. At first it was minor hassles like travel distances. Then the transit system started to falter (you can’t maintain a good transit system for barely a millions people covering an area as big as the Greater Vancouver Area. Now it’s policing - they can’t afford enough cops to cover the entire city properly. STOP BUILDING OUTWARDS!
And I’ve heard that Peter’s Drive-In is closing. Peter’s is the Calgary burger joint. Every town has one or two, burger joints that have been around since burger joints were cool, like Dick’s in Seattle. Anyhow, this one has been around forever, they make the best tasting, worst looking burgers around, and a large fries is a giant box of fries. They had 25 different flavours of milkshake, including my favorite, rootbeer. I haven’t seen a that place without a line-up ever - they had two drive-through windows and a giant parking lot to the side for people who wanted to walk up to the front. No indoors space, this was a take-out joint and it was always busy, even in the winter time. And now it’s going away too.
Oh, and you should check out the Shaun Squad website - Wright, Pegg, and Frost are maintaining a blog as they wander North America promoting Shaun of the Dead.
UPDATE: It turns out I get 100 pints at the website if anyone signs up. You don’t have to, I’m just saying, if you’re inclined to, or anyone else you know, please feel free to do so, through the banner’s link.
I think that’s it. I’ll get back to you.
—castewar | 7 comments
(posted in the General category)
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