Zovarue

Zeugma's page

Organized Play Member. 1,324 posts (1,500 including aliases). 4 reviews. 1 list. 1 wishlist. 1 Organized Play character. 6 aliases.


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The Exchange

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Redblade8 wrote:
Zeugma wrote:
I also read a lot of Ray Bradbury. My parents had a huge anthology of his short stories I would read from, and that’s probably what got me into science fiction more than anything else.
Was it The Stories of Ray Bradbury? My parents got me that for my 10th birthday. My god, but that book messed my head up (in the good way).

Yes. That very book. I had to go to the bookshelf and thank goodness I did because now I see it’s an autographed copy! Signed by Ray Bradbury to my mom in 1980!

The Exchange

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Albatoonoe wrote:
My first was "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" by Jules Verne, and I love it to this day. there is something about this journey into the unknown led by character that is intimately familiar that I will always like. I guess that it allows the in-depth explanations if how so much more digestible and natural.

Also one of my favorites! I read it on a camping trip to the beach in college. I finished it under the glow of a flashlight while the waves were crashing wildly against the shore just after sunset over the Pacific and I felt like I could almost look out and see The Nautilus breaching in the surf.

The Exchange

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We have Strategicon down here in Los Angeles. They put on 3 cons a year: Orccon, GameX, and Gateway. Next one is in February 2018.

The Exchange

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Rysky wrote:

MODULE!

NIDAL!

SQUUUUUUUUUUUUUUEEEEEEEEEE!

Ditto!

The Exchange

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To me it felt really solid from first to last. There weren't any plot threads that were picked up and dropped - everything is nicely foreshadowed and none of the books were really weak, although I've only read through it and not played it yet.

The Exchange

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The trailer wasn't great, but I'm hoping the movie will be good. I liked the book and graphic novel adaptation. It's a good story.

The Exchange

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Does "Earnest Scared Stupid," "Earnest Goes to Jail" et. al. count as terrible? I like them. They're really stupid though.

The Exchange

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I'm reading Jack London's The Sea Wolf, which I'm enjoying so far even though I've already seen the film. I've just realized the title isn't the name of the ship, but of the story's main character, and I'm on chapter 10. : -/

The Exchange

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NobodysHome wrote:

Use the Urban Dictionary.

Though I was surprised; I've never heard "plotz" used negatively before...

It can be either. Like, when I'm exhausted after a rough day at work and someone calls to invite me out: "I can't. After the day I've had, I'd just plotz!"

The Exchange

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I really like the cover. Awesome evil dryad!

The Exchange

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My sister, a middle-school science teacher, has just started an after-school RPG club! She has about 7 students interested. I'm so proud of her!

The Exchange

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I hope y'all feel better soon. I miss my free entertainment.

The Exchange

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My favorite part of the James Whale's Frankenstein (1931) is the long tracking shot of the father carrying his dead daughter through the wedding festival, and the gradual change in tone from festivity to absolute shock and horror. And the best thing about that scene is that there are zero special effects, zero "surprise" cuts, and it is still emotionally effective - I had to remind myself that it's only a movie and that little girl isn't actually dead. Go watch that scene. It's great.

The Exchange

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NobodysHome wrote:


They searched the room and found the remains of a dwarf, including a masterwork stone hammerhead that Narlock easily identified as one of the treasures of the Kraggorach clan of dwarves. After figuring out that it would take them days to return the hammerhead properly, the party just shrugged its collective shoulders and sold it to the Free Captains instead. (The Free Captains are making out like pirates in this campaign. It's pretty awesome.)

Fixed a typo.

The Exchange

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We'll Shakespeare sort of was a rebel, wasn't he? What with Richard II being a "treasonous" play.

Shakespeare's Richard II and the Essex Rebellion


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It's....it's like my nightmares have come true! I have found my people!

The Exchange

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Eric Hinkle wrote:
Zeugma wrote:
I got around to watching "The Gorgon" (1964) I recorded off of the TCM channel. Oh boy were the special effects "special"! But Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee were awesome. I especially loved the scene where Lee slaps Richard Pasco's character. GIF-worthy.
I actually like that one better than some of the later Lee Dracula movies. Though nothing will ever dethrone Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires. Van Helsing and seven Chinese martial arts masters against a gang of Dracula-controlled Asian vampires and their zombie horde! The only way it could've been better would be if they'd given us Bruce Lee versus the Christopher Lee Dracula on screen.

I need to watch that! Bruce Lee vs. Christopher Lee ought to be one of the match-ups on Epic Rap Battles of History!

The Exchange

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The book I ordered from the scratch-n-dent was in near-perfect condition - the only problem being some of the pages that hadn't been cut properly so they were still connected along the fold. SoI just took my X-Acto knife and finished the job. Back in the 19th century almost all books came "unopened" (the technical term - "uncut" means the book hasn't been rebound). So I got my book and I learned a new biblio term!
Here's a link about it!

Has anyone here on the website had their paper Adventure Paths recut and bound? If so, how much did it cost, and did you like the result? It would be an awesome project to rebind all 6 parts of an AP into one book!

The Exchange

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I got around to watching "The Gorgon" (1964) I recorded off of the TCM channel. Oh boy were the special effects "special"! But Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee were awesome. I especially loved the scene where Lee slaps Richard Pasco's character. GIF-worthy.

The Exchange

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I'm on chapter 3 of The Wall of Storms. It's fun so far -- there's already been a bar fight and the gods are meddling in the affairs of mortals as much as ever, but there are a ton of characters to keep track of. Also, I think I bruised my hand holding the book up to read -- this is one of the few times I think I ought to get a book-stand.

The Exchange

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Eric Hinkle wrote:

This is a director rather than a specific movie, but am I alone in loving (most of) Roger Corman's work? Yeah, he did some stinkers -- what the heck was he thinking when he did Gas-s-s-s? But most of his movies are a delight, even when they make next to no sense whatever.

Really if you want to see a Grade-A wizard's duel, you have got to see The Raven. Vincent Price, Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre, and a young Jack Nicholson all take turns chewing the scenery, and it is glorious.

I love all the schlocky Vincent Price films! "The Horla,"* "House of Wax," "Witchfinder General,"* the "Doctor Phibes"films, I even liked "Ruddigore" (Price can't sing a darn but he's just so hammy I love him anyway!) I have playbills from plays he was in here in Los Angeles -- he had an extensive stage career in addition to his film, tv and radio work.

* Horla = aka "Diary of a Madman"
* Witchfinder General = aka "The Conqueror Worm"

The Exchange

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BigNorseWolf wrote:
Flight of dragons. Loved the dragons designs (only non anerexic eastern dragons i can remember really) and the fantastic biology driving some of the plot.

Don McLean! Don't forget the theme-song sung by Don McLean!

The Exchange

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I'm reading The Conglomeroid Cocktail Party, by Robert Silverberg. It's a collection of short stories. Some of them I love: particularly "A Thousand Paces Along the Via Dolorosa," which is about a guy trying to score some psychedelic mushrooms

Spoiler:
it all goes terribly wrong.

But some of them aren't so great: particularly "The Man Who Floated in Time," which is the least imaginative time-travel story ever.

I still haven't started Liu's The Wall of Storms, but I'm reacquainting myself with the characters from the first book, half of whom I'd utterly forgotten.

The Exchange

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Oh no! Don't split the party!

The Exchange

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Thanks, Cosmo, for crashing the servers at my work today! That was super helpful during the 4:30 after-school rush!

The Exchange

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<sarcasm>Thanks, 137ben!</sarcasm> Now I feel super old!

The Exchange

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That puts things in perspective for anyone playing a dwarf or elf character. I can see the Nirmathi human characters getting peeved each time the elf forgets and tells them she wants to "free Molthune from the goblinoid menace!"

The Exchange

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Come on, Giant! Let's get back to Roy's giant-bashing!

The Exchange

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I quit The Fifth Servant. It's very well written, and the period details (16th century Prague) are excellent, but the plot is just too noir for me at the moment. I don't do well with even imaginary torture and I skimmed ahead and saw some of the Inquisition scenes coming up and decided I didn't need this in my life right now. I'll try to pick it up again when I'm in a better mood.

I've started reading Looking for Spinoza: Joy, Sorrow, and the Feeling Brain, by Antonio Damasio. I suspect the science is a bit out of date but I'm enjoying it so far. It's kind of a slow read for me since I haven't taken a biology course since my first year of college, but it meshes with some of the articles I read about how Pixar developed the movie "Inside Out", about the emotional building-blocks of personality.

The Exchange

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Here's a link to the Frontiers of Imagination series! link

The Exchange

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This thread always makes me smile.

The Exchange

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I Ain't Gonna Give Nobody None of My Jellyroll

and

He May Be Your Dog But He's Wearing My Collar

Why don't songs have clever lyrics and innuendo like they used to, I want to know?

The Exchange

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TOZ wrote:
Zeugma wrote:
I love how Roy's speech is just so contradicted in the last panel.
Roy's speech isn't contradicted, it's a juxtaposition highlighting the contrast between the two teams.

Well put, and more accurate than my statement when just looking at OotS as the main 6 characters of the webcomic (plus Blackwing). But I was thinking of the fight in the larger sense of the "team" being those on the airship vs. the enemy frost giants; in that sense, I think my statement can also stand.

The Exchange

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I love how Roy's speech is just so contradicted in the last panel.


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John Kretzer wrote:
I Blame Cosmo for snow.

Don't blame Cosmo for snow. We need more snow here in drought-country. I blame Cosmo for no snow. We call him No-Snow Cosmo in slo-mo when we're too low to go to Whiskey A Go Go.

The Exchange

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This king was standing in the middle of a crowd of shouting miners.

--Terry Pratchett, Witches Abroad


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Kajehase wrote:
I blame Cosmo that a cold virus has left me unable to walk in a straight line for the past 24 hours.

Oh no! You too, Kajehase? It's spreading! The Cosmo plague is spreading!


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I think I'm finally over the flu!

Spoiler:
Brraaaiiinnnsss!

The Exchange

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My library got an exhibitor license for this movie, so we'll be showing it next month!

The Exchange

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I still have the flu. Thanks, Cosmo.

The Exchange

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I blame Cosmo for giving me a cold on the last day of work before my vacation.

The Exchange

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Women scare robber out of store by whipping sex toys at his face

The Exchange

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I LOVE the purple dragon on the cover!

The Exchange

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The minotaur reminds me of this scene: Can I go home?

The Exchange

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The "Mr. Holmes" book arrived: A Slight Trick of the Mind, by Mitch Cullins. So far it is tracking pretty closely to the movie, but I read that it will diverge from the film in interesting ways, so I'm hoping to be surprised. I can't judge yet, but it has a high standard to live up to, since I loved Ian McKellen and Laura Linney in the movie.

The Exchange

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Set wrote:
Cole Deschain wrote:
The Lost Boys. "One thing about living in Santa Carla I never could stomach; all the damn vampires."

Woo! Vampire movies! I can watch The Lost Boys or Vamp or Near Dark on endless repeat.

For comedies, it's Clue, Oscar, A Fish Called Wanda, Soapdish, etc.

There's also pulpy stuff (some campy, some almost serious), like The Shadow, The Rocketeer, The Phantom, Flash Gordon or Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.

Have you seen Without a Clue? Michael Caine as Sherlock Holmes and Ben Kingsley as Dr. Watson. Hilarious!

The Exchange

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Tremors.

The Exchange

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I finished Paris in the 20th Century. It had a suitably French, downer ending, with the protagonist dying in a winter cemetary. I can see why it didn't get published in Verne's lifetime.

Now I'm reading another Winter themed book: The Left Hand of Darkness. It's a reread. The last time I read it in high school, so I have totally forgotten the ending, although certain scenes remain in my head. e.g. Genly Ai walking through a forest of red trees, the landships driving over the snow. Le Guin is very good at worldbuilding in her description - just in her own, subtle way. However, on the second reading, I've discovered places where the connections between this book and her other "Hainish" books rubs a bit thin - that is, it stretches probability farther than it needs to go in order to make a tenuous in-text connection. Unless she's trying to make a point about the nature of the novel or point out its construction as a creation of her authorship, which would be very post-modern (despite Cervantes having done it), and I don't think she's trying to do that. It could be stealth marketing...But that kind of thing doesn't affect me. Hmm....Maybe I should go check out Rocannon's World...

The Exchange

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I was expecting the tedious misogyny in Paris in the 20th Century, because I skimmed through before reading, but it is inadvertently funny when a character says, "There have been no true women since our grandmothers' time..." and he's supposed to be a guy in his 30s. Hold on there, Jules, you're getting way ahead of yourself. The GMILF won't be a "thing" until at least the 1970s*!

*e.g. "Harold and Maude" et al.

The Exchange

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I've put Rite of Passage on pause for now after not getting very far in it. I've turned to Jules Verne's Paris in the 20th Century. I'm really enjoying it, and it reads quickly despite my needing to page through the endnotes when he name-drops now-obscure 19th c. industrialists.

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