Dark Shadows coming on May 11, 2012.
http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/09/22/johnny-depps-true-dark-shadows-vampire/
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Oh Angelique
I look forward to our next meeting.
Dark Shadows coming on May 11, 2012.
http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/09/22/johnny-depps-true-dark-shadows-vampire/
Dark Shadows coming on May 11, 2012.
http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/09/22/johnny-depps-true-dark-shadows-vampire/
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Nicholas Cage, Vampire
So it's not really a big secret that I am fan of Nick Cage's movies, even when they disappoint me.
But this is too much to NOT to do something with.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/nicolas-cage-vampire-photo-sale-236543
Of course Vampire Nick Cage has spent the last 130 years fighting his immortal enemy, Keanu Reeves.
http://www.keanuisimmortal.com/
Why not.
Now I just need Ghosts of Albion stats for both of them.
But this is too much to NOT to do something with.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/nicolas-cage-vampire-photo-sale-236543
Of course Vampire Nick Cage has spent the last 130 years fighting his immortal enemy, Keanu Reeves.
Why not.
Now I just need Ghosts of Albion stats for both of them.
Amazon Princess: Wonder Woman #1
Read my post about the new Wonder Woman #1 over at Amazon Princess.
Introducing my other blog
I have started up another blog.
This one has more to do with my academic and work-related interests than anything to do with gaming.
Sometime they might cross paths, but nothing at the moment is coming to mind.
The URL is an easy one:
http://timbrannan.wordpress.com/
It is called, originally enough, Tim Brannan's Education Blog.
I am hoping it will grow and be as successful as I deem this blog to be.
I am not slowing down my posting here though. My Education blog is going to be low bandwidth for a while. But every so often I get something I want to post and it is not really appropriate to post here.
Stop by and have a look every so often!
This one has more to do with my academic and work-related interests than anything to do with gaming.
Sometime they might cross paths, but nothing at the moment is coming to mind.
The URL is an easy one:
http://timbrannan.wordpress.com/
It is called, originally enough, Tim Brannan's Education Blog.
I am hoping it will grow and be as successful as I deem this blog to be.
I am not slowing down my posting here though. My Education blog is going to be low bandwidth for a while. But every so often I get something I want to post and it is not really appropriate to post here.
Stop by and have a look every so often!
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
And sometimes it breaks...
If you have never appreciated the job playtesters do for you then wait till you give them a brilliant bit text you have written and watch them break it.
My playtesters for Ghosts of Albion were some of the best. In my own group I was arrogant enough to think I had the Cinematic Unisystem game wired so tight nothing could happen. So I tried out a few new things. One of which was an updated combat system and another was an alternate magic system.
Well no sooner than when the words "break it" came out of my mouth did my players do exactly that. Rather gleefully too I might add.
The combat system was just slow and had too much rolling.
The magic system, that I loved, didn't work at all. It was in fact a complete bust.
So the magic system in GoA now was born out of those ashes. But it goes to show you that what looks and reads great on paper doesn't always play great on the table.
And it never really changes.
Just recently I worked out a new magical combat system for my Basic-era book "The Witch".
I thought it was great. So I tried it out. It was not as great as I hoped. Not bad mind you, but nothing like the one in GoA.
So I tweaked it, and polished it and tweaked, and tweaked. And sooner or later I ended up with a system that was more complex than anything else in the game which was the opposite of my design philosophy.
At present the magic combat system of Wizard vs. Wizard (or Witch vs. Witch, or Witch vs. Wizard) is on hold.
The trouble is now The Witch is off to the proofreaders (sans magical combat system) and I am still at a loss on how to do it so it works well and works fast.
Back to the drawing board I guess.
My playtesters for Ghosts of Albion were some of the best. In my own group I was arrogant enough to think I had the Cinematic Unisystem game wired so tight nothing could happen. So I tried out a few new things. One of which was an updated combat system and another was an alternate magic system.
Well no sooner than when the words "break it" came out of my mouth did my players do exactly that. Rather gleefully too I might add.
The combat system was just slow and had too much rolling.
The magic system, that I loved, didn't work at all. It was in fact a complete bust.
So the magic system in GoA now was born out of those ashes. But it goes to show you that what looks and reads great on paper doesn't always play great on the table.
And it never really changes.
Just recently I worked out a new magical combat system for my Basic-era book "The Witch".
I thought it was great. So I tried it out. It was not as great as I hoped. Not bad mind you, but nothing like the one in GoA.
So I tweaked it, and polished it and tweaked, and tweaked. And sooner or later I ended up with a system that was more complex than anything else in the game which was the opposite of my design philosophy.
At present the magic combat system of Wizard vs. Wizard (or Witch vs. Witch, or Witch vs. Wizard) is on hold.
The trouble is now The Witch is off to the proofreaders (sans magical combat system) and I am still at a loss on how to do it so it works well and works fast.
Back to the drawing board I guess.
Monday, September 19, 2011
Worst Movies Ever
I am participating in the Worst Movies Ever Blogfest.
Here is my list of the worst movies I have ever seen.
Now strictly speaking I like bad movies, but some are "so bad they are good" and others (this list) are "so bad and they are still bad". Generally I judge a bad movie by how much a headache it gives me.
Savannah Smiles (1982)
I don't know why I hate this movie, I just do. Syrupy sweet, silly plot and dialog. I saw it in the theater and was so bored I snuck out to play Space Invaders. I guess the little girl in the movie later died of an overdose when she was 22.
Monster-a-Go Go (1965)
Not even MST3k could save this brainless movie. Not only was it bad, the ending sucked and just pissed you off.
The Dunwich Horror (2009)
Pity poor H.P. Lovecraft. Nearly every one of his stories put on the big screen sucked or was so far removed from the source material as to be unrecognizable. This one is both. Also pity poor Dean Stockwell as this was his second try at this movie and they both sucked.
This is LINO (Lovecraft in name only) and a made for Sci-Fi movie. So the plot was weak and the story had the same names of thing Lovecraft talked about, but no where near what readers would recognize.
Gryphon (2007)
Sometimes a movie comes along that makes you reevaluate your devotion to fandom. Gryphon is that film. I love sowrds and sorcery movies, but this one is a chore to watch. Bad CGI, no real plot and characters that I can't care about. Yes it has Amber Benson in it and I am still a fan of hers, but even she called this movie "a paycheck". I am also still fan of Sarah Douglas in this and even she couldn't save it for me.
Moscow Zero (2006)
I once had a roommate that claimed that if he ever saw Vincent Gallo on the street he would punch him in the face. After this movie I am inclined to agree. I watched this one a dare. My father-in-law said it was the worst movie he ever saw and thought it would measure up to my regular fare. It is pretty bad. Not the worst mind you, but it is in my top 10 obviously. Boring and most of it was in Russian. In the end I hoped that it was the opening to Hell just so SOMETHING would happen.
Antichrist (2009)
Putting this movie on my list seems a bit like a cheat. It's an indie film and sometimes indie films have to be judged on a different scale than other films. Antichrist gets no fucking break from me though. It is hard to actually sum up what I dislike more about this. Is it the plot that seems to go nowhere? Is it the fact that I can't care even a little about these characters? Is it the implied long term child abuse and the fact that the mother let her child die? Is it that the big reveal at the end is "all women are evil!"? Hey if I am spoiling this for you, thank me, I wish some one had cared enough about me to tell me not to watch this. This movie is one of the few on this list that actually pisses me off.
Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964)
Again this one might a cheat since it is so bad it is infamous. Plus I get a certain kick out of this movie since my dad and I watched it to make fun of all the problems. But really there are no two ways about this, this is a horrible movie and frankly I am sure stopped more than one family from celebrating Christmas in protest.
The Wicker Man (2006)
Not the creepy original, but the newer Nick Cage version. This movie is so bad that I can't even begin to know where to start. Exactly how many women will Cage punch? Hard to say, I have tried to get the memory of this one removed.
This is an example of the "tortured by his past" Nick Cage character, he only has so many he can do, so this is the same guy from "The Happening" (which also sucks, but not enough to make this list).
The Last Airbender (2010)
This might also be a cheat since it is so new and it is not bad so much as how much potential was waster. The Nick cartoon Avatar The Last Airbender was by far one of the best American animation productions ever. It had heart, comedy, plot and characters you got know and like and see grow. The movie lacked all of that; traded for some tacked on crappy CGI and 3D. Who can we blame for this? Easy. M. Night Shyamalan. Also a study in wasted potential. "The Sixth Sense" was brilliant. "Signs" was...ok. "The Girl in the Water" was a much worse movie than TLA, but I expected nothing from that movie and that is what I got it. The Last Airbender had so far to fall and it managed to fall the entire way. Fans of the series (like my wife and kids who got me into it) will understand when I say that the Ember Island Players would have done a better job here.
Alien: Resurrection (1997)
This movie is here because A.) it is bad, the script is just stupid, and B.) it shows how far a great series can fall. Sure the later Superman movies of the 80s fell just as a bad, the stories were still Superman stories; that is they are stories you could have found in the comics (and they would have worked there). A:R just sucks. When I watched this movie it kept me from watching all the other Alien movies for years. It even made me dislike Wynona Ryder, and have watched a steady stream of movies with her in the 90s so that was a feat.
This movie is just bad really and I feel bad for the actors having to be in it.
There are many more of course, but these are the ones most on my mind.
Now strictly speaking I like bad movies, but some are "so bad they are good" and others (this list) are "so bad and they are still bad". Generally I judge a bad movie by how much a headache it gives me.
Savannah Smiles (1982)
I don't know why I hate this movie, I just do. Syrupy sweet, silly plot and dialog. I saw it in the theater and was so bored I snuck out to play Space Invaders. I guess the little girl in the movie later died of an overdose when she was 22.
Monster-a-Go Go (1965)
Not even MST3k could save this brainless movie. Not only was it bad, the ending sucked and just pissed you off.
The Dunwich Horror (2009)
Pity poor H.P. Lovecraft. Nearly every one of his stories put on the big screen sucked or was so far removed from the source material as to be unrecognizable. This one is both. Also pity poor Dean Stockwell as this was his second try at this movie and they both sucked.
This is LINO (Lovecraft in name only) and a made for Sci-Fi movie. So the plot was weak and the story had the same names of thing Lovecraft talked about, but no where near what readers would recognize.
Gryphon (2007)
Sometimes a movie comes along that makes you reevaluate your devotion to fandom. Gryphon is that film. I love sowrds and sorcery movies, but this one is a chore to watch. Bad CGI, no real plot and characters that I can't care about. Yes it has Amber Benson in it and I am still a fan of hers, but even she called this movie "a paycheck". I am also still fan of Sarah Douglas in this and even she couldn't save it for me.
Moscow Zero (2006)
I once had a roommate that claimed that if he ever saw Vincent Gallo on the street he would punch him in the face. After this movie I am inclined to agree. I watched this one a dare. My father-in-law said it was the worst movie he ever saw and thought it would measure up to my regular fare. It is pretty bad. Not the worst mind you, but it is in my top 10 obviously. Boring and most of it was in Russian. In the end I hoped that it was the opening to Hell just so SOMETHING would happen.
Antichrist (2009)
Putting this movie on my list seems a bit like a cheat. It's an indie film and sometimes indie films have to be judged on a different scale than other films. Antichrist gets no fucking break from me though. It is hard to actually sum up what I dislike more about this. Is it the plot that seems to go nowhere? Is it the fact that I can't care even a little about these characters? Is it the implied long term child abuse and the fact that the mother let her child die? Is it that the big reveal at the end is "all women are evil!"? Hey if I am spoiling this for you, thank me, I wish some one had cared enough about me to tell me not to watch this. This movie is one of the few on this list that actually pisses me off.
Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964)
Again this one might a cheat since it is so bad it is infamous. Plus I get a certain kick out of this movie since my dad and I watched it to make fun of all the problems. But really there are no two ways about this, this is a horrible movie and frankly I am sure stopped more than one family from celebrating Christmas in protest.
The Wicker Man (2006)
Not the creepy original, but the newer Nick Cage version. This movie is so bad that I can't even begin to know where to start. Exactly how many women will Cage punch? Hard to say, I have tried to get the memory of this one removed.
This is an example of the "tortured by his past" Nick Cage character, he only has so many he can do, so this is the same guy from "The Happening" (which also sucks, but not enough to make this list).
The Last Airbender (2010)
This might also be a cheat since it is so new and it is not bad so much as how much potential was waster. The Nick cartoon Avatar The Last Airbender was by far one of the best American animation productions ever. It had heart, comedy, plot and characters you got know and like and see grow. The movie lacked all of that; traded for some tacked on crappy CGI and 3D. Who can we blame for this? Easy. M. Night Shyamalan. Also a study in wasted potential. "The Sixth Sense" was brilliant. "Signs" was...ok. "The Girl in the Water" was a much worse movie than TLA, but I expected nothing from that movie and that is what I got it. The Last Airbender had so far to fall and it managed to fall the entire way. Fans of the series (like my wife and kids who got me into it) will understand when I say that the Ember Island Players would have done a better job here.
Alien: Resurrection (1997)
This movie is here because A.) it is bad, the script is just stupid, and B.) it shows how far a great series can fall. Sure the later Superman movies of the 80s fell just as a bad, the stories were still Superman stories; that is they are stories you could have found in the comics (and they would have worked there). A:R just sucks. When I watched this movie it kept me from watching all the other Alien movies for years. It even made me dislike Wynona Ryder, and have watched a steady stream of movies with her in the 90s so that was a feat.
This movie is just bad really and I feel bad for the actors having to be in it.
There are many more of course, but these are the ones most on my mind.
Edited to add: Seems the Linky script is broken.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
The Secret Circle
I watched the new WB witch show "The Secret Circle".
So far it is not so bad, not great, but it has a lot of potential I think.
I'll be checking it out next week I am sure.
So far it is not so bad, not great, but it has a lot of potential I think.
I'll be checking it out next week I am sure.
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