Think about it. In the present time, everything you know is sent to your younger self, who continues to learn from that point. When your younger self reaches the present time, the same thing happens, sending everything you started with, plus everything your new, improved, younger self has learned, back again. When her younger self, reaches the present, it happens again, and again, and again, until...
Sunday, November 10, 2024
What I Know Now
Sure, we all wish we knew what we know now when we were younger, but have you ever considered what kind of power you're tampering with?
Wednesday, September 18, 2024
The Latest Commuting Books
I mentioned before that I had been digging into Tolkien for my commute book lately. So yeah, I finished Lord of the Rings (including the Appendices this time, which I'm not sure I've ever read straight through before), Unfinished Tales, The Hobbit, and The Silmarillion, I was especially fond of the narration by Martin Shaw on the last two.
I had always been curious about Polidori's The Vampyre, as one of the first stories with the modern version of a vampire. It's really short, and, unlike Frankenstein, is told exactly the way you'd expect, considering its origin. It sounds like someone just telling a campfire story out loud. I guess it had its moments, but, like I said, there's not much to it.
So now I'm listening to The Stand. Figured it was time to stick with Halloween themes, although this monster of a book will probably last well beyond. He hasn't even finished introducing the characters yet. The only other Stephen King book I've read is It, and that was a long time ago. Having seen two screen adaptations of this one, I figured it was about time I found out what the real story was. Like I said, though, I don't think I'm anywhere near the real story so far.
And, no, the picture doesn't have anything to do with any of this. I just wanted to have some kind of picture and there was my Nilbog being adorable.
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Friday, September 06, 2024
Eldest
Random thoughts on S2E4 in no particular order. And yes, there are spoilers.
Galadriel's status continues to nag me. It's not about her fighting and being hot-tempered. She probably would be past that phase by the Second Age, but I don't really care. It's that she's a subordinate in someone else's army. Tolkien has her settling in various places, but never answering to a king. But whatever. The story is the story.
What the hell is Tom Bombadil doing in Rhun? I'm so happy to see him finally get some screen time that I don't even care. That guy's accent was all over the place, though.
Galadriel talks about how she's starting to see into the otherworld after she gets her ring. Gil-Galad mentions prophetic visions. Elves, especially the older ones and the ones who've been to Valinor (Galadriel definitely yes, but I think Gil-Galad was born late in the First Age, in Beleriand, like Elrond) can already do those things. I guess they just want to give the rings as many non-visible elf powers as they can.
The developing hobbit origins are fun to see.
Galadriel and Elrond's route to Eregion doesn't make much sense to me. I'm pretty sure the road through Bree and the (future) Shire was already there by then. They seem to plan on crossing the Baranduin (yep, good old Brandywine) by an elf bridge somewhere north of the Shire, then decide to go south when they see that it's been destroyed. Crossing at any point that would take them through the Barrow Downs would mean using the bridge on the road they should have taken in the first place, or taking some kind of ferry. If you cross at Sarn Ford, you don't need to go anywhere near the Barrow Downs.
And okay, the Barrow Downs. Those barrows were Third Age graves left by Arnor. They wouldn't be there yet. I mean, sure, that ground could always have been cursed before the Witch King sent evil spirits there, but you wouldn't think the Dunedain would build even more barrows on a used (and cursed) graveyard. But hey, who (other than Peter Jackson) doesn't love seeing barrow wights? Weird thing, that "using their own weapons" rule, but I get not wanting it to be too easy for the elves to clobber them.
Update: Apparently I was at least partially wrong. I just read elsewhere that the ancestors of the Edain also built barrows at Tyrn Gorthad back in the First Age and the later Dunedain revered them, which is why they buried their lords there. As far as I know, though, there's still no reason to think the ground was cursed before the Witch King sent evil spirits into it. I guess Sauron could have pulled the same stunt in the Second Age, as they sort of implied.
That mud worm thing was pretty cool.
Hey, an entwife! I can't remember when Tolkien said they left, but he did say they went east. I'm also not sure where exactly Arondir and Isildur are supposed to be when they meet the ents.
In case you wondered, Tolkien did say, "the number is unknown" about the Istari, before talking about the five who came to the Grey Havens. So the Stranger doesn't have to be any of those. I hope he's not, since those definitely didn't arrive in a fireball and didn't show up until the Third Age. It also means that there's no reason the bad guy in Rhun couldn't be there. Interestingly enough, Tolkien did suggest that maybe the Blue Wizards founded magical traditions in the far east.
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Friday, August 16, 2024
My Balrog Buddy
Did you ever wonder if maybe Gandalf knew that Balrog from back in the day, back when they were both just a couple of maiar chillin' in Aman?
Balrog: Uh, my name's Rocky.
Gandalf: Holy shit! Rocky? Long time no see, bru! It's me: Olorin! How ya been?
Balrog: Ollie! Hey! Well, after the the Melkor gig fell through, I kinda checked out for a while. I was just processing my trauma, y'know? Until these weirdbeard midgets woke me up. What's their deal anyway?
Gandalf: Oh, they are a pain and a half! You have no idea the shit I deal with! Why, I even--
Aragorn: He cannot stand alone! Elendil! I am with you, Gandalf!
Boromir: Gondor! Gondor!
Balrog: So I guess we gotta fight now.
Gandalf: Stupid fuckers. Hey, nice catching up with ya, Rocky! [smites bridge] Fly, you fools!
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Tuesday, August 06, 2024
Gen Con 2024: Who Missed Me?
It's been a couple of years since I went to Gen Con. We were still wearing plague masks last time. A few people had them this year, but they didn't stand out amidst all the other cosplay stuff. One disturbing change is that they replaced the carpet in the convention center. I'm not sure it even counts as Gen Con without that carpet.
The drive to Indy went well. I mostly listened to audiobooks (The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales). My left arm is now noticeably darker than my right because of the sun coming through the car window. Anyway, I got to Indy on Wednesday night, had some drinks with Tom, and that was pretty much it for Wednesday.
I didn't have any games to prep for or find. I guess the last time I ran games at Gen Con was was 2018. When it was time to submit events this year, I wasn't even sure I'd be able to make it to Indy. I'm thinking next year I actually will run a game or two. We'll see.
Parking was a bit of a challenge. Even the insanely expensive hotel lots were full. Eventually we found a $20/day lot somewhere in Kentucky and were able to walk in from there.
Tom's games were all Crawlspace this year. I wandered off during the first one to have a look around. That was Thursday morning, and the exhibit hall was still super crowded. Actually, I think that's the thickest it ever got, even more than the usual Saturday influx. I wandered back, futzed around on my laptop, and the game ended. I never really followed what happened.
The afternoon game, "The Seance," was crazy. I didn't play in this one either, but I did stick around to watch. Two tables full of players hamming it up as a mix of skeptics, believers, and grieving family. Some of them were wearing Ghostbuster costumes.
After that, we poked our heads into the exhibit hall and stopped to see what was up in that stadium thing on the way back to the car. Looked like Goodman Games was selling stuff out of a van. We joked about how Gen Con was setting up for one of those "Who's The Werewolf" games with the whole stadium playing and 200 werewolves scattered about. Friday's game was in the Hyatt instead of the Marriott. It was fun to revisit that one. I haven't had any events there in a long time and always liked it. We had some mall pizza for lunch and settled into our cozy hidden room for the event. Tom brought some weird cinnamon beer.
There were only three of us playing "The Sleep Study III." I was the nepotism-hire administrator working with one assistant, one PC subject, and a bunch of NPCs. It was a trip. Tom listed it as IV instead of III in his blog, so maybe I've got it wrong, but I know he said III at the table. Anyway, I'll never relax to the sound of birds chirping again.
We had some drinks at the Crowne Plaza Bar, chatted with the bartender and whoever was next to Tom. The hotel or maybe Gen Con was offering "Dragon Punch," a mix of red wine and Coke. Seriously. Even the bartender was disgusted. I had a couple of Manhattans instead. We looked around the convention hall some more, and had dinner with some friends. Still no Jerry, though. He was a slave to the auction the entire time, as far as I know.
Tom and I bought some generic tickets and looked for events over the next few days, but nope. He knew some people involved with Tower of Gygax or Gaxx or whatever, but the people piling up at the door for it got scary, so we ran away.
We didn't have any more scheduled events to worry about on Saturday. We took a more serious run around the exhibit hall. I bought a One Ring book. Tom talked to some people and found a couple of things. I mostly tried to avoid making eye contact. I can only take so many elevator pitches.
We were going to meet some more friends and they suggested the Omni bar, but there turned out to be no Omni bar this year. Blah blah remodeling blah. We did meet the Nieblings out in the hallway, though. They worked on the original Dungeon Master's Guide for TSR, although their names are buried in the acknowledgements on page 8.
Our friends showed up, agreed that it wouldn't be any fun to eat in the weird little space the Omni was offering, and moved on to Taggart's (Crowne Plaza) again. Fine with me. I love Crowne Plaza. As it happened, several of the group were late for a LARP event because of all the shuffling, but they were too polite to mention it until dinner was over.
I can't believe neither Tom nor I thought to get pictures of Brett and Natalie in their excellent Achilles and Artemis costumes.
My feet and I were wiped out. After a nap, Tom brought back some Long John Silver's and we watched a bunch of Blake's 7 on Freevee. I had never seen the show before, so that was neat.
We had thought about just staying in on Sunday, but some of the stuff we saw in the exhibit hall was sounding more appealing to Tom, and of course it would be silly to blow off a day when there are only four, especially with my feet finally adapting. So, whatever, we had another look around, had some drinks, bought some stuff.
Stopped at the auction to talk to Jerry for a few minutes.And here's the loot. Well, mostly. I already had the pendant. It came from a giant Halloween festival and it has captured the light of some good times.
So we had another nice evening of sci-fi and beer and that was about it before the trip home.
Friday, July 12, 2024
Words, Words, Words
55,000 words done on The Nameless Way. Not that impressive, considering it's taken me nine years and I'm not even halfway finished, but it's something.
Thursday, April 11, 2024
Remember It
Never mind whatever else I said about X-Men '97. This episode blew me away. Keep the kleenex handy when you watch it. Damn.
Please, please, please, don't cop out on this.
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Tuesday, March 12, 2024
Back in Middle Earth
I had been listening to audiobooks on the way home from work. I listened to Bonfire and Darth Plagueis and The Exorcist.
I started listening to Book of Swords but it kinda put me off after a while. I'm not sure why. Anyway, I got out of the habit.
The original idea was to read stuff that's new to me. Recently, though, I decided I needed some Tolkien in my life again so I started Lord of the Rings (unabridged, not one of the dramatized versions).
I'm in the midst of one of my favorite parts, the Old Forest / Barrow Downs bit (and the Shire-to-Rivendell journey in general). Pure joy.
It's probably the best thing happening in my life right now.
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Monday, March 11, 2024
Death to DST
Adjusting all the clocks for Daylight Saving Time always makes me feel like a collaborator. Like, did I really do everything I could to fight this abomination before I recanted?
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Thursday, February 01, 2024
Shaking Off Mud
I do these visualizations to meditate, sometimes. In one, I imagine all my financial/social obligations as a field of thick, clingy mud. It starts to pull me down, and I give myself to the Fire. The Fire burns brightly enough to dry the mud, and, as its vessel, I do too. We bake the mud into solid steps I can climb. We burn more. We burn brightly enough to cook the whole pit into a platform I can walk across. Finally, the Fire lifts me off the ground and all the mud, the flesh, falls away. The only obligation I have left is to keep burning.
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Saturday, January 27, 2024
Wednesday, January 10, 2024
Defenders Sessions 8-11
I was scrolling through the "SuperHero" tag after posting last night's review and noticed that I never posted the rest of my Defenders session recaps. Some of these were just notes I wrote for myself, rather than for strangers to read, so there's that. Anyway, here ya go. Oh, and yes, one of my players who joined around this point just had to be a goddamn DC character. I apologize on his behalf.
Session 8 Recap (04/11/20)
Cut Scene: Skivorski investigating. Follows Croit and CTE enforcers into warehouse where he sees them packing up (take this/leave that). Croit mentions that they have to clear everything important out because "those Hydra freaks" have been snooping around. Suddenly we see Skivorski cry out and fall and pan up to Silencer, crouching on top of some crates. Croit and his crew, expecting more people to show up, rush to leave and carelessly knock over a barrel on Skivorski. As the villains leave, we see Skivorski scream and get up as bullets fall out of his skin. He staggers towards the front door as his skin bubbles and his features warp.
Jessica has been sleeping a lot. Harry hired a new drummer for Dazzler's band, Johann, "Jack" Toggins, a big nordic-looking guy.
The Big Concert: Starts great, although Jack is a little heavy-handed. Then protesters show up with anti-powers signs. Fights break out, but Dazzler pacifies them with a light show and the song, "Imagine." Jess didn't have to intervene. Kate Kane was hanging out at the bar.
While the crowd is clearing out, there's a scream from backstage. Alison, Jess, and Kate, show up and see Cassie with a Hydra-drained Lance. She says she just found him this way. Jess is compelled to link into Hyra-consciousness and finds out Cassie did it because Lance caught her melting stuff with her aura. Same with Beefer.
Jess pretends to help but really tricks Cassie into burning her arm a little and calls Costa. She uses the burn to make it obvious that Cassie is powered and get her hauled off to The Raft. Introductions and stuff. Everyone's famous.
Later, Doc Samson (post-mutation Skivorski) shows up with his muscles and green hair and tells them about the warehouse in the Bronx.
Session 9 (4/25/20)
Ali, Jess, and Kate check out the warehouse and find several hydras also checking it out. They find spilled chemicals and a control panel with three big buttons and masking-tape labels reading FEAR, DOUBT, and HATE. Jessica used her hydra link to get in on their plan and keep them away from the others. Their plan turned out to be destroying the vault and setting all its inmates loose on the city. None of them knew who Fury really was.
They also caught a guy named Basil Elks who tried to freeze Ali and Samson with some kind of psi power.
Jessica left and tried to use her hydra abilities to identify Fury. A vague feeling made her suspect Trish. When confronted, Trish seemed oblivious so Jess tried to make contact again. Trish's expression changed suddenly. She said, "what have you done?" and passed out.
Session 10 (5/9/20)
Cassie got disintegrated by Fury on her way to the Raft.
Everybody ended up at Trish's apartment. They couldn't wake her up so they called Claire, who said she needed a hospital with big beepy machinery or something. After a little reconnaissance courtesy of Kate's drone, they found that the old theater across from Rudy's still had an active CTE lab. They broke in and intimidated the scientist there into letting them use his gadgets.
Samson suggested projecting their minds into Trish's because "her consciousness is fragmented." In Trish's mind, they overcame some trippy obstacles and finally set her free from a funky dome thing. Trish woke up and told them there was more to Fury's plan and it had wanted to incorporate everyone into its hydra collective. Also, while the remaining hydras (including Jess) were no longer linked, some of them still had powers.
Session 11 (6/8/20)
With the destruction (?) of Fury, Hydra was going berserk in New York. Malcolm gathered a gaggle of powered peeps over at Alias and put together a plan to split up into groups and take down the assorted villains and their brainwashed minions all at once. Dazzler, who had seen Moon Knight die, was a little surprised to see him there. He shrugged it off as, "a Moon thing."
15th Precinct – Iron Fist, Frank Castle, Doc Samson
A ghost was terrorizing the 15th Precinct. Danny put on his Iron Fist outfit and joined Frank Castle and Doc Samson to check it out. They found Cassie ranting to a brainwashed mob about how Dazzler and her freak friends got her killed and she was going to get revenge. Frank ran in and begged Cassie to take him to the other side so he could see his family again. She reached into his chest and he dropped. Samson decided he should take on the ghost while Iron Fist did crowd control, which didn't work out so well because Samson couldn't touch her. Switching roles, Iron Fist found a way to drain her chi, although he pleaded with her to go in peace so he wouldn't have to destroy her. Once she was vacuumed up, they were able to revive Frank.
Times Square – Luke Cage, Colleen Wing, Moon Knight
Ripley Ryan and Vince Hayes were in Times Square preaching the virtues of Hydra. Ripley turned out to be so strong that she was even able to hurt Luke (Sweet Christmas!). Vince had mind control powers. Again, there was a mob to fight but the good guys won eventually.
Hell's Kitchen Pier – Hellcat, Misty Knight, Daredevil
Doreen Green, Jackson Day, Jason Macendale, and a bunch of goons were taking over a boat at one of the docks in Hell's Kitchen. Doreen's annoying power nullification ability caused Misty's arm to weaken. Jackson had rage powers and Jason had a bunch of gadgets. He also had a psychic thing, but he never got around to using it.
Next time, in part 2 the season finale, we get to find out what happened to Jessica, Alison, and Kate.
Session 12 (6/20/20)
Intro
Red Hook Pier – Jessica Jones, Dazzler, Batwoman
(Basil Elks, Joey Macone, Maddy Pryor)
Oops. I guess I never got around to doing this one. Bummer. I'm pretty sure there was a surreal party scene on a boat.Tuesday, January 09, 2024
One Episode of Echo
Checked out the first episode of Echo. I wonder if this is all we'll get to see of my beautiful Matt. I didn't really worry about that when I was watching She-Hulk because I wanted to watch the show anyway. This time... I dunno. I don't even like the main character, but liking the protagonist isn't a requirement.
I went on, thinking, hey, even without Daredevil, it'll be nice to be back in some approximation of the Marvel New York I loved in the Netflix shows. Yeah, well, about that. Once the flashbacks are over, the first thing they do is take us back to her home town in Oklahoma.
Okla.
Fucking.
Homa.
To which I can only say what I always told my parents when I was a kid and we went to visit my cousins, I DON'T WANNA GO TO OKLAHOMA! It's not a good place. Basically, it's like the description of Africa in that British feed-the-skeleton-people Christmas song. It is a barren wasteland, riddled with fire and ash and dust, the very air you breathe a poisonous fume.
Still, I'll probably go ahead and watch some more. I mean, I made it through Mad God. A show set in Oklahoma can't be too much worse.
"Tonight, thank God it's them instead of you."
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