Messages

256

Role Playing Public Radio Podcast / Re: Cody Fan Club

« on: November 30, 2010, 01:23:55 AM »

Unfortunately, I had a higher calling . . . playing Monsters and Other Childish Things with Ross, Tom, Aaron, and a very special guest player (you'll find out soooooon).

Please, PLEASE tell me it's Billy Dee Williams.
(Because...how awesome would that be? Very)

257

General Chaos / Re: Happy Thanksgiving!

« on: November 30, 2010, 01:17:32 AM »

AAA-Meeer-errr-i-i-caaaaa...


(NSFW)

<a href="" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win"></a>

258

General Chaos / Re: Worst Witch vs. Harry Potter

« on: November 27, 2010, 10:57:51 AM »

The only plot credit I give to J.K. Rowling is the Harry vs. Voldemort as destined enemies plot. However, I'm one of those guys that believes that there's really only 10 or so plots used in fiction, they're all just told from different angles. If you look hard enough you'll probably find similar plots in Claremont's run of X-men with some trashy Harlequin romance novel. Harry being yang and Voldemort being yin isn't the first time we've seen that kind of plot. (i.e. Luke/Vader, Hal Jordan/Sinestro, Captain America/Red Skull, Mario/Wario, Daniel LaRusso/Johnny, The Jersey Shore cast/Intelligence, RPPR's Tom/Saving Throws)

Well I just did a search on whether or not there were any lawsuits due to "The Worst Witch" and found that while it doesn't appear that there was a lawsuit for "The Worst Witch" itself, J.K. Rowling has been involved in a a couple of lawsuits claiming copyright infringement of other authors' properties.

Also, this nerd librarian named James Vander Ark made some website (I found this out today) that was a lexicon of everything in the Harry Potter Universe. He then tried to make a print version of the so-called encyclopedia and was sued by J.K. Rowling, who claimed that this encyclopedia was in contention of an encyclopedia that she was planning to release. She then claimed that the "anguish" of the lawsuit sapped her creativity and she isn't going to release that encyclopedia. Eventually VanDerArk's book was released minus some protected content.

To this, Orson Scott Card, creator of the "Ender's Game" series blasted her. I love this.

"This frivolous lawsuit puts at serious risk the entire tradition of commentary on fiction. Any student writing a paper about the Harry Potter books, any scholarly treatise about it, will certainly do everything she's complaining about. Once you publish fiction, Ms. Rowling, anybody is free to write about it, to comment on it, and to quote liberally from it, as long as the source is cited.... She let herself be talked into being outraged over a perfectly normal publishing activity, one that she had actually made use of herself during its web incarnation. Now she is suing somebody who has devoted years to promoting her work and making no money from his efforts -- which actually helped her make some of her bazillions of dollars. Talent does not excuse Rowling's ingratitude, her vanity, her greed, her bullying of the little guy, and her pathetic claims of emotional distress."

I'm going back to sleep now

259

General Chaos / Re: Cody's got a new website!

« on: November 26, 2010, 10:22:47 AM »

To close out the week, I've got a review up of the worst arcade game ever made, Justice League United. If you're like me, you probably think "Justice League arcade?! How could that be bad?"

Read the review and find out!

The good news is that it's an arcade game and not a positively reviewed Xbox 360 game that you buy and soon learn that you absolutely hate. I've never seen that game around, but it's been a while since I've been near an arcade. They're pretty hard to come by in Arizona unless you hit a Dave&Busters.

http://www.arcadeandpinballmachines.com/content-product_info/product_id-2105/x_men_arcade_games_1992.html
(add 800 bucks for the 6 player version)

260

RPGs / Re: What Are You Playing Now?

« on: November 26, 2010, 09:53:09 AM »

Running: Nothing after a good few years of running the Star Wars Saga Edition, Mutants and Masterminds, and Call of Cthulhu

Playing: Mutants and Masterminds (X-teens), Changeling: The Lost.

Soon to be running... My DM says in a few months he's going to need a break, so I'm going to run and give them a choice between:   D&D 4Ed, Serenity, Game of Thrones, Werewolf: The Forsaken, Mutants and Masterminds 3ed turned into a Transformers game, or Battlestar Galactica.

261

General Chaos / Worst Witch vs. Harry Potter

« on: November 25, 2010, 11:00:08 AM »

Alright, consider this a milestone. I'm creating my own first topic on these boards. Let's hope it goes well.

Lately my facebook has been filled to the ass with people raving on and on about how great the new Harry Potter movie is. I have never really been a gigantic Harry Potter fan-boy for a few reasons:

1. I reserve my absolute fanboy obsession for things that strike a deep nostalgia within me. Thusly, I am a "fanboy" of Star Wars, Transformers, the X-men, Dungeons and Dragons...ie all shit that I was into when I was a kid. I'm not trying to be too opinionated but I just can't become a super-fanboy for every new thing. New things gotta get their "big-boy britches on first" I guess.

2. While Harry Potter's entertained me when I've watched it and I don't have a lot of bad things to say about it, I'm just not awestruck and floored by how "awesome" J.K. Rowling is because I remember an 80's TV series called "The Worst Witch". I remember watching this as a kid, but there's also tons of YouTube clips online you can go an indulge yourself with. Basically, it's a show about a prestigious witch academy at a super secret castle location where the girls have to wear uniforms, practice riding broomsticks, get into hijinks, and constantly dodge their dark and overbrooding potions teacher.

...now...I know this sounds familiar. Take a closer look...

<a href="" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win"></a>

So...the difference is that it's an all girl's school, the main character is a female, the brooding teacher is a female and that Harry Potter has a bit more plot to it.

<a href="" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win"></a>

So I guess my point is this. While the world around me seems to freak out and J.K. Rowling earns more money than the Queen of England (literally, she has MORE MONEY than the Queen) I feel like I'm this slightly unimpressed guy going: "Uh...hey am I the only one that remembers this? This isn't exactly a new idea, you know?"

HOWEVER THERE IS SOME AWESOME TO BE FOUND HERE...

1. Ms. Garrett from Facts of Life was involved.
2. Fairuza Balk grew up to be hotter than hell.
3. This bomb-ass Tim Curry singing clip, complete with non-awesome 1980's (or circa 2009 Public Access TV) special effects.

<a href="" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win"></a>

-peace.

262

General Chaos / Re: The RPPR radio.

« on: November 25, 2010, 10:41:11 AM »

<a href="" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win"></a>

<a href="" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win"></a>

<a href="" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win"></a>

Last few songs I listened to.

263

Role Playing Public Radio Podcast / Re: Cody Fan Club

« on: November 25, 2010, 10:33:08 AM »

Oh it's good times, man. We're playing again on Saturday.

264

Role Playing Public Radio Podcast / Re: The RPPR fan-fic

« on: November 25, 2010, 10:26:50 AM »

Well...looks like Tom and Cody finally got that fight with the hydra.

265

Role Playing Public Radio Podcast / Re: Cody Fan Club

« on: November 25, 2010, 10:18:39 AM »

I guess I'm kind of the "Cody" of my group. Right now we're playing an X-men universe mutants and masterminds game, and my character is an ESL (English as a second language) mutant from Denmark who completely loses his grasp with the English language when he gets excited. So when things are calm, he has the time to pick the right words for the job. However...

(When the character "Pixie" was capture by Mephisto and laid on a slab for human sacrifice, Orn ran in, pointed his finger at Mephisto and...)
"YOU PUT HER DOWN RIGHT NOW".

(Or when Juggernaut said "Don't write checks your body can't cash")
"You shut your mouth or I will pay your face".

266

Role Playing Public Radio Podcast / Re: Help us pick The Best of RPPR!

« on: November 25, 2010, 10:10:28 AM »

I know this isn't the best help because I don't have a timecode. It was in the Candle Cove episode when Ross ran World of Darkness. Tom's Park Ranger character validating himself constantly as being a fully deputized officer of the law despite everyone's pre-conceived belief that they are "forest rent-a-cops" got me EVERY time.

267

RPGs / Re: Character Bad Ideas

« on: November 25, 2010, 10:05:15 AM »

I'm going to throw myself under the bus on this one...

I once made a 3.5 Wizard who was Neutral Good and had a personal problem with wizard spells that killed. He abhorred violence and would try to avoid it at every pass. So...naturally the character's spellbook was filled with traps such as grease, color spray, polymorph, stuff that makes shields, stuff that makes walls, etc. It drove the group up the fucking wall, but was actually really fun to play.

Oh, and the character's passion in life was to try and modernize magic and create magical items that all people could use to enrich their lives. Why stop at the sunrod or waterproof matches? He carried a cooking pot everywhere with him that was self-heating on magical command. He'd say stuff like "Just think of it guys, what if we were able to create bags of holding for moving companies..." or "Stop telling me I'm stupid, just imagine what a wand that constantly cast "Goodberry" would do for the children in the wastes."

268

Role Playing Public Radio Podcast / Re: Cody Fan Club

« on: June 23, 2010, 10:02:17 AM »

I used Coldplay the other day to remove a stump in the yard.

269

Role Playing Public Radio Podcast / Re: Cody Fan Club

« on: June 14, 2010, 10:06:11 AM »

Mike: Hey guys, you know what what I learned the other day?

Everyone: What?

Mike: I learned I can shoot halfway across the room!

Ross: Umm...

Tom: Uhh?

Cody: THAT'S AWESOME. I've never measured myself, but that is really COOL!

I respect Mike, but I now love Cody more than ever.

Ditto on that.

Is it wrong that I'm actually wondering what the science behind that is?

270

Role Playing Public Radio Podcast / Re: New world campaign

« on: June 08, 2010, 10:24:00 AM »

People's noses bleeding. CONSTANTS. That would be hell to run.

"Well...you have to find your constant..."