I don't want to shock you guys, but there's no blog today

I did some Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay this morning (as I often do on Sundays) and I spent most of my afternoon prepping for my first day at my new job tomorrow (including going over the benefits package). Anyway, I wanted to do a review of Return to Ravnica from the prerelease, but I didn't have the money to go to the prerelease so the best I would have been able to do was a "Top 10" related to the set which I can do tomorrow sometime or maybe next week.

Depends on my mood. And comments I guess. But to be honest, it's mostly mood.

Anyway, hope your Monday is going well.

The Kirk Statue

So, I really like this idea of a Star Trek RPG. Heaven knows, I'm probably never going to be able to run it, but I love the idea and I'll love it until I quit watching reruns of The Next Generation on Netflix and something shiny comes along (Last week I got flack from a woman in her 40's for not having seen Firefly yet, so that probably.).

Anyway, in a setting where humanity isn't around, but Starfleet and The Academy are, it occurred to me that there should be a damned statue of James T. Kirk around somewhere. What would a statue of Starfleet's most notable member be without an inspiring quote? 

"How we deal with death is at least as important as how we deal with life."

It's the Magic: Golgari/Izzet

I did and blink-and-you'll-miss-it review of Izzet vs. Golgari last week. That's my full review. It's pretty straightforward. The only other notable thing about Izzet vs. Golgari is how incredibly homoerotic it is. You doubt me? Check below the cut (NSFW. I mean, there aren't any dicks, but if someone sees you looking at this, they'll think it's your thing and nothing you can say will change their opinion.)

Still working on today's blog

Instead, have a video of a Mythbusters guy dancing in a cage to the sound of Doctor Who played on...lighting, I guess. Someone on the Mythbusters staff plays "the lightning" as an instrument.

Election Night 2012

On November 6, folks here in the US are voting on a third of our Senate, 100% of our House of Representatives, and a variety of other local issues. There's also a presidential election, which is carrying a disproportionate amount of interest.

Of course, as one of the candidates recently pointed out, there's really not much give in the voting numbers; a bulk of the voting population is already committed to one side or the other. Indeed, there are lot of polls about who's more popular amongst voters in general, but that's irrelevant. A nominee can be more popular and still lose the election because of the electoral college. Now, there are a lot of sites that give you an electoral college breakdowns as they stand now, but they agree on a few things: most state's votes are set in stone, a dozen or so have some wiggle room, and the rest are too close to call.

Still, on that night, 24-hour news networks will make a noble attempt to frame this as some sort of dramatic battle with its own narrative. I can only assume they do this because there exists a Vallhala for reporters, where they constantly report on a never ending tide of clean wars, humanitarian disasters, and nip slips until the day of Ragnarock. But here on Earth, hour by hour, as the polls close that night, they'll unveil the results of exit polls that have been 90% complete for hours, acting as though the most obvious results are somehow shocking or relevant to buy time until the important states' votes are counted. For your benefit, I've constructed a projected timeline to follow along with.

Advice For Writers

Writer: I love Star Trek, but I want to explore the dark--

It's a Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate

Some of the sharper of you guys may have realized that I've been missing a lot of Mondays and not doing a lot of "It's the Magic" lately. It's not that I've lost interest in Magic, but that the space, time, and lack of pressures I could boast a year or so ago just aren't there, and it's hard for me to focus on Magic with the zeal I did then.

I'll probably do something with Izzet vs Golgari on Monday, though I doubt it'll be a straightforward review (Izzet seems to win a lot, but Golgari is just shy of scary up to the point that the game turns. Reviewed!). Then, I'll probably do a standard "Top 10 Return to Ravnica Spoilers" and maybe a bit on the prerelease. After that, I don't really know. "It's the Battletech" doesn't quite have the same ring to it.

I've noticed I've been "overengineering" a lot of the topics I've got queued up. You know what it's like; you want to do something big and really good and you end up needing to devote time and effort to it that you never really do and it never gets done and maybe you should just do an okay job and get it done because there's no rhyme or reason to any of it anyway.

We've only seen 2 1/2 seasons of the revived Doctor Who...

…but because of Tumblr, I’m like the creepy psychic kid of Doctor Who for my friends.

general questions
“The reason The Doctor doesn’t disrupt the timeline is because…time is kind of a…wibbley-wobbley…timey-wimey…thing.”
Friend:”…”
“Well, I’m sure the series will give you a more technical explanation later.”

The Sound of Drums
“But he can’t be a Time Lord. The only other Time Lord is…oooooooh.”

I'm afraid I can't get gay married...

...I'm already in love with the internet.

Unfathomable Expectations

I didn't write much on this one. I mean it's a lot of writing for me, but it is a long one. Long because I've got links like crazy and if you care about this kind of stuff, if you want to read this whole thing, you gotta click all the links and read all the reads. It's a big time investment and if you don't wanna, then don't; no harm no foul.

You should read it; not necessarily what I've put down, but what everyone else has in the links. They're stories that everyone benefits by reading.

Blog in 1000 Words: Batman

 

Page 26 of The Dark Knight Returns, by Frank Miller

Image is from BigOther.com and Part Six of their review of the series. 

Rewatching Star Trek: Silicon Avatar

Sorry about the inside joke, non-Star Trek people:

Click through picture for more detail.

Linkstorm: Hacks

Writer and comedian Robert Newman applies arguments against providing a welfare state for hypothetically amoral, self-interested recipients to demonstrably amoral and self-interested corporations. (Link)

Stacey Campfield, state senator from Tennessee says some things that all-but-require the "This is what many conservatives actually believe" subtitles at the bottom of the screen.

Bradley Manning is a quarter of the way into his third year of incarceration for allegedly leaking sensitive cables from the US government. His treatment is way, way below board and certainly uncalled for, considering he's being held by the self-proclaimed world leader of democracy, fair trials, individual initiative, and compassionate, Christian attitudes. Considering that his guilt is taken as common knowledge (Aside: He did it.), it's astounding that our government isn't even competent enough to put together a decent case and take him to trial.

Star Trek Homebrew RPG

Intro
Guys, I love Star Trek and roleplaying. In the past, I've been unimpressed with the complicated system used for many Star Trek (and other ) RPGs. They possess a certain technical fidelity, but suck in general. My dissatisfaction stems from the belief that Star Trek is a morality play set in a science fiction universe, not a cohesive, hard science fiction setting. I would love to play a Star Trek RPG, but I can't; anyone else running Star Trek would get it wrong. This leaves the creation and execution of a Star Trek Roleplaying Game in my hands. 

Pitch
If you've ever run a roleplaying game, you know that roleplayers are dickbags who generally don't get Star Trek (or at least my very narrow interpretation of the franchise). I've adopted an approach which accepts that players are dickbags who at least want to learn how the Star Trek universe works. Keeping that in mind, the best pitch I've got is: Ten years after the events of Star Trek: Nemesis, aka Star Trek 10, aka Star Trek: Franchise-Killer, the human race began vanishing, removing the backbone of both The United Federation of Planets and Starfleet.

Job-A-Rama

So, I've got to line up some stuff for the job I'm not enthusiastic about tomorrow, drop by the job that isn't enthusiastic about me tomorrow, and send some stuff in a the job that doesn't really want me but is willing to make it work.

Played some of the Star Trek: CCG this weekend because I'm apparently incapable of separating nostalgic reenactment from fun. Also watched a lot of Star Trek: The Next Generation, played some Magic, and roleplayed a lot. It was good times. Thanks everyone.

Real blog tomorrow.

Maybe.