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What did you take from your second viewing of Inception that enhanced your enjoyment of the movie? (wondering if I should see it a second time at the cinema or wait for dvd)The thing that I really REALLY enjoyed on my second viewing was realizing how in control of the story Christopher Nolan was, and how he put a LOT of hints and tidbits in there that built toward supporting one specific interpretation without making it the only possible solution.
YES! That’s what I thought (if you’re thinking what I’m thinking), especially the elements of the chase in Mombassa, and how nearly every new scene in the movie begins (in light of Dom’s early conversations with Ariadne in regards to the nature of dreams and how you can tell).
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Why do you think a great movie like Inception took less or similar at the US box office (even allowing for exchange rates) than in a small market like Australia? Why did it gross significantly less in the US than The Expendables?According to boxofficemojo.com, Inception's grossed $658 million so far. The Expendables has grossed $82 million, again according to boxofficemojo.com.
In that case, the inforamtion you've seen is VERY different (and probably far more accurate) than the figure I've seen. I think they might have misplaced a decimal place in the figures I saw (which put inception at somewhere near the 60 million mark).
Creative Director
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+1. Heart BRP. Have you checked out Mongoose's Runequest II or the Basic Roleplaying compendium by Chaosium? I've even thought of adapting Pathfinder APs to the Stormbringer (1st ed) BRP ruleset.
Haven't looked at Runequest, but I do own the BRP compendium. It's cool!
It's not a good system for heavy combat, but it's GREAT for story or investigation games.
Did you play Planescape at all? If so did you like it? Spelljammer, Dark sun, stuff like that..any thoughts?
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Do you think Stallone should have tried to get Van Damme and Kurt Russel for The Expendables to ‘complete the set’?From what I've heard, he DID approach Van Damme, but Van Damme said something to the effect of, "No way, you suck, gethahellouta here."
Kurt Russel would have been a great choice.
The movie's done well enough that I wouldn't be surprsied to see a sequel. Here's hoping it's plot forces Stallone and Statham to team up with rivals Schwarzenegger and Kurt Russel to fight against Jesse Ventura, Alan Rickman, and Clancy Brown.
That would be cool.
Best 80's movie villain?
Best all time movie villain?
Who plays a better Brit hardman, Jason Statham or Vinnie Jones?
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Have you packed yet?
How far are you moving?
Some surveys suggest that people get more stressed about moving house than they do about getting divorced. Without going into your marital history, thoughts?
Haven't packed yet. I just brought home some boxes, though. I'm moving from Renton to Redmond, which is a distance of about 22 miles. My average commute to work (1-way) will go from a 40 minute drive to a 1 minute drive. I'm pretty stoked about that. I can walk to and from work at my new place in less time than it currently takes me to drive to work on most days.
I've never been married, so I can't compare that. But I do hate moving with the fiery passion of a thousand suns. It's taken me about a year to psych myself up for this move, for example.
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Golarion or Athas? ^_^
Still Golarion. In fact, there's only one game world I like more than Golarion, and that's Baria, my homebrew world. And since Golarion has a lot of Baria in it... it's not really a separate world, I guess...
Greyhawk comes the closest to Golarion of the published game worlds.
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Will Jade Regent rock? Will there be Minkai schoolgirls / nurses / flight attendants? (not required for the AP to rock, just wondering)I really really hope Jade Regent will rock. I'm a little nervous about the fact that the AP could have a significant railroad element (the journey from Sandpoint to Minkai), and about how the focus of the AP at this point is on NPCs and not PCs. Lots of time to figure those things out though.
I have faith.
Over the years there have been various complaints about ‘rail-roading’ in APs. Did you get a lot of complaints about ‘too sand-boxy’ for Kingmaker? (I expect not, but it would be kind of funny / ironic).
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same question only with 2nd graders, non-lethal damage is legalYou are standing in a field. From all sides, house cats are approaching you. You will die in this encounter, and it will be the cats that kill you. How many cats will you kill before going down?Zero.
If I know I'm gonna die, I'm cool with all of the cats surviving.
Wasn't there a website that actually calculated how long it would take an unlimited number of 2nd graders to take you down? You put in your vitals, such as height and weight and athletic ability and other things and it made the calculation for you.
I'm gonna guess 32.
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Interesting thoughts. There’s also the ‘evil / twisted doctor’ movies, like Dead Ringers, though they probably fall into the same sub-genre for the most part.
I’m not sure I’d put Alien into that sub-genre (although I’ll bow to your superior knowledge of horror, monster and body mod movies). I never really got the sense that the Alien incorporated inorganic material in its body, although going back to many of Geiger’s drawings you do certainly get that impression of the melding of flesh and metal in a lot of them. And then I suppose there is that organic material that they form their hives with. It’s probably about time I watched Alien again.
What did you think of Alien 3?
Of Alien Resurrection?
Of ... Alien vs Predator?
Have you seen the new Predator movie? Any good?
...
Dead Ringers is pretty close to the body horror genre, since it's got a lot of surgery stuff in it. Same with "Crash". In fact, the vast majority of Cronenberg's movies (like both of those) are in this category. His latest foray into crime/gangster movies is a departure for him, but since he's equally awesome at THAT genre I'm cool with it.
Alien isn't 100% in the sub-genre, but the fact that it has a bit about parasitism and a lifeform that grows inside a person and then takes on some physical qualities and explodes out of the body puts it on the fringe of the genre. Certainly Geiger's art style is DEEP in the genre, so by that angle it's in body horror simply because he designed the alien and the derelict ship and all of that.
I thought Alien 3 was a well made but INCREDIBLY dark and depressing movie. I didn't hate it NEARLY as much as all my friends did. I in fact kind of liked it, and liked how brave it was at going some really depressing places with characters we've come to love.
I really hate Alien Resurrection a lot. Mostly because of the last 20 minutes of the movie, where things just suddenly get unfathomly stupid and moronic and dumb; that, and the design of the newborn alien was TERRIBLE.
The Alien vs. Predator movies are dumb fun. Entertaining but disposable.
The new Predator movie was actually quite good. Not as good as the original, but very fun. MUCH better than Predator 2.
What I'm REALLY looking forward to are the next two Alien movies—prequels directed by Ridley Scott, coming out next year. THOSE have some serious potential to be great.
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Creative Director
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Elric of Melnibone or Conan the Cimmerian?
Conan, but mostly because I think Robert E. Howard is just a better writer than Michael Moorcock. Not that Moorcock is bad; far from it. Howard is just REALLY gifted at telling rip-roaring awesome stories.
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In that case, the inforamtion you've seen is VERY different (and probably far more accurate) than the figure I've seen. I think they might have misplaced a decimal place in the figures I saw (which put inception at somewhere near the 60 million mark).Why do you think a great movie like Inception took less or similar at the US box office (even allowing for exchange rates) than in a small market like Australia? Why did it gross significantly less in the US than The Expendables?According to boxofficemojo.com, Inception's grossed $658 million so far. The Expendables has grossed $82 million, again according to boxofficemojo.com.
Yah. There's no way that "The Expendables" passed the 100 million mark. That would have been HUGE news.
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Did you play Planescape at all? If so did you like it? Spelljammer, Dark sun, stuff like that..any thoughts?
A friend of mine ran a Planescape campaign that was VERY fun (my character was named Lavinia Amieko and she had a kobold samurai cohort named Chupo). He'd been threatening to run a Planescape game for nearly 10 years before he finally did, and as a result, I missed out on the vast majority of the Planescape releases, alas. Wish I'd bought them anyway.
When it first came out, I really REALLY loved Spelljammer. But the more I read it, the less I liked it because it had way too many silly and goofy elements to it. Today, I don't like it much at all.
Dark Sun is great; I've always loved post-apocalyptic stories, and the idea of a post-apocalyptic FANTASY setting was unheard of to me at the time Dark Sun came out. I never got to play enough of that setting.
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Best 80's movie villain?
Tie between the Queen Alien from "Aliens" and Thulsa Doom from "Conan."
Best all time movie villain?
Three way tie between the Alien from "Alien," Norman Bates, and Pazuzu from "The Exorcist."
Who plays a better Brit hardman, Jason Statham or Vinnie Jones?
Vinnie Jones, because he's more physically intimidating (although I think Statham's a much better actor).
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Over the years there have been various complaints about ‘rail-roading’ in APs. Did you get a lot of complaints about ‘too sand-boxy’ for Kingmaker? (I expect not, but it would be kind of funny / ironic).
We did, but not nearly as many complaints about how railroady the APs were. That said, if we did 5 super sandboxy APs in a row, I bet we WOULD get some complaints.
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How do you think it happens when otherwise (or potentially) good movies have those ‘what were they thinking?’ moments? Things that anyone with any amount of intelligence or taste could have told the movie makers ‘this is stupid’ or ‘this doesn’t make any sense’ or ‘this is a gaping plot hole’. How do these things make it to the screen when we are talking about huge budgets?
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I thought Alien 3 was a well made but INCREDIBLY dark and depressing movie. I didn't hate it NEARLY as much as all my friends did. I in fact kind of liked it, and liked how brave it was at going some really depressing places with characters we've come to love.
Yeah, I liked it, but I know a lot of people who didn't, and I don't think the critics (generally) liked it.
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You guys have made some efforts in paying tribute to the classics - I can see various APs that pay homage to Against the Giants, Vault of the Drow and smaller elements of other classic modules.
Is there any chance you guys will do something along the lines of Against the Slave Lords or Temple of Elemental Evil?
I know the small (36 page) and APs are the standard adventure formats but have you guys considered making a fight-heavy 3-4 part mod (more slaver vs. Crypt -which I thought was great BTW) series or a large single one-off module/crawl? In this case "large" being 96 pages give or take. Maybe a mega module set in the Worldwound?
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Will Jade Regent rock? Will there be Minkai schoolgirls / nurses / flight attendants? (not required for the AP to rock, just wondering)I really really hope Jade Regent will rock. I'm a little nervous about the fact that the AP could have a significant railroad element (the journey from Sandpoint to Minkai), and about how the focus of the AP at this point is on NPCs and not PCs. Lots of time to figure those things out though.Following Kingmaker being about PCs building a literal empire, what if Jade Regent is aimed at a business empire or continents spanning organisation? The PCs travel to Minkai to establish a base/branch there, and then they could wander around Minkai establishing other trading posts, etc, in other places. If you make it more about shifting alliances and resources in strategic places it might be sufficiently different from Kingmaker not to be just a rerun.
I’m guessing that by this stage the general outline and theme of the AP have been determined.
How far ahead of publishing does Paizo (ideally) have the outline and theme of an AP? Do the authors of each part start writing about the same time, or is that staggered?
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Best 80's movie villain?Tie between the Queen Alien from "Aliens" and Thulsa Doom from "Conan."
Best all time movie villain?Three way tie between the Alien from "Alien," Norman Bates, and Pazuzu from "The Exorcist."
Does not computer....Alien was released in the 80s was it not? Should that not make the first one a three way tie too?
Out of all of the Role Playing systems you have played who is the:
Best villian?
Most Badass Dragon?
Coolest NPC?
Most Powerful Wizard?
interesting God?
Nastiest Demon?
Best Monster?
Most fun adventure?
After following your recommendation and watching Human Centipede, I feel like I am going to puke. Why recommend something so sick without giving a headsup like Don't watch this it is even more sick and twisted than you'd think? Seriously though I don't consider my self weak-stomach when it comes to horror movies, but that one was seriously disturbing.. nice house the doctor had though..
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After following your recommendation and watching Human Centipede, I feel like I am going to puke. Why recommend something so sick without giving a headsup like Don't watch this it is even more sick and twisted than you'd think? Seriously though I don't consider my self weak-stomach when it comes to horror movies, but that one was seriously disturbing.. nice house the doctor had though..
In the two hours and 44 minutes between when James made his post and you made yours, you went out to the cinema, watched a movie with a running time of one hour and 32 minutes sans previews, adds etc, and posted about it? Wow.
Also, you took this:
Even zombies need lovin!As for "The Human Centipede," it's actually one of my favorite movies of the year. It's definitely not for everyone, but it's a really well-made movie that goes places NO movie has gone before. And the most awesome part? Those who only read about it and don't see the movie will invariably have MORE HORRIFIC IMAGES in their mind than those who DO see the movie.
as a recommendation and then were surprised that it turned out not to be for you?
You probably should have stuck around for some of the subsequent discussion ...
Do you prefer Robert E Howards Horror/cthulhuesque stories or his Conan stories?
Is there any chance of Eric Mona Publishing The Sowers of the Thunder?
Who do you prefer of Howards female characters?
"Dark Agnes" de Chastillon
Bêlit
Valeria of the Red Brotherhood
Red Sonya of Rogatino (the proper Red Sonya)
There's this thing called the internet... It's like I never learn to just stick with the Mothman Prophecies type of horror flicks which I like, when I don't really like the overly macabre ones such as Hills have Eyes, Hills run Red and Saw. And I'd say plotwise, Hills have Eyes and Hills run Red are better than Saw. I wonder how some people can keep on watching basicly the same sick torture movie over and over just with a new number. Why is that James? oh and btw James, Mothman Prophecies or Human Centipede?
Do you like green eggs and ham?
Would you eat them in a box?
Would you share them with a fox?
Would you eat them on a plane?
Would you eat them on a train?
Since someone already asked about Tyralandi's theme music...
Will we ever get to see the Magic Item write-up on the Thrice Damned Fiddle of Tvash-Prull?
What is the percentage of people on the Internet that takes satire literally?
If something productive was ever said in one of the psionic threads would anyone notice?
What's your favourite soap opera?
Have you heard the word is love?
answer to you questions yes and yes
When are we going to see more about Dr. Bensi Skule?
Last time I tried to summon Cthulu people stopped me. Do you know of a good way to prevent these people from interrupting me?
Have you packed yet?
How far are you moving?
Some surveys suggest that people get more stressed about moving house than they do about getting divorced. Without going into your marital history, thoughts?
Haven't packed yet. I just brought home some boxes, though. I'm moving from Renton to Redmond, which is a distance of about 22 miles. My average commute to work (1-way) will go from a 40 minute drive to a 1 minute drive. I'm pretty stoked about that. I can walk to and from work at my new place in less time than it currently takes me to drive to work on most days.
I've never been married, so I can't compare that. But I do hate moving with the fiery passion of a thousand suns. It's taken me about a year to psych myself up for this move, for example.
Do you realize that your close proximity to Paizo will force the company to move (again) to a location at least 45 minutes from your new home?
So I guess I cannot borrow any amount of money?
What can I have for free?
Is this what it feels like when doves cry?
Do you dye your hair?
Who was your favorite actress to play Catwoman?
What would Golarion look like if it was set in a more modern setting?
What are your favorite pizza toppings?
If you could say one thing to all the people who are getting uppity about future products (i.e. epic and psionic rules) what would you say?