Harrison Ford

Crowd Sourcing

I don't have a proper blog for today. During my interview Friday, it was suggested I review some materials, so working on that has been a priority. I've also lost some time because I tried to work on a new project but woefully underestimated how big and intricate a particular part of the scripting was.

Anyway, I have to make an aesthetic choice related to that project and aesthetics are not my strong point. You see, I have this mask that I need to paint:

Boston Bombings

You guys know about the bombing in Boston and how they caught the surviving bomber, but what you might not be aware of is Representative Greg Ball of the US House of Representatives advocating torturing the Dzhokar Tsarneav.

For more people saying we should torture Dzhokhar Tsarneav you can just check out the Twitter search (admittedly, there are a fair number of people opposed to it too).

Torture in this circumstance comes from two motivations. The more reasonable is interrogation. While Chechens are usually known for terrorism against Russia, the explosives knowledge and a choice of targets (a high-profile, internationally celebrated event with minimal security) might indicate some outside help. Certainly, applying pressure to get information on that outside help is going to be more effective than asking nicely. The beauty of torture is that you can ask nicely, then apply that pressure. Personally, I don' t think torture is very effective, but then I admit there's a liberal bias in a lot of my media feeds.

The worse reason is retribution. My fellow countrymen have an unhealthy attitude with retributive punishment that really ends with terrorists. We have an entire party that wants to punish people for bad life decisions and sees prison less as a place of reform and more as the expensive shelf to keep black people on so they don't clutter the place up. What I'm saying is that retributive torture is part of a long, bad cultural excitement over making certain people suffer.

Skipping over the topic of folks who allow no impairment of the second amendment while gleefully penning exceptions to the sixth and eighth, it's discouraging to have to remind people that we are supposed to be the good people here. The use of righteous outrage as a source of infinite justification for any retributive action is the action of the enemy, not of the self-purported leader of the free world.

Denver 5 Proof of Concept, pt 05

A few months ago, I and a friend kicked around an aborted comics project featuring superhuman jerks being jerks on a truly superhuman level. Character descriptions are here and the pilot plots are posted below. 

<-Previous First Next->

Comic 021

1. Doctor Bob and Giohi are in Doctor Bob's office. Doctor Bob is on the phone. The clock on the wall indicates it's about 1 AM. Doctor Bob's pad is on the table.

Bob (to the person on the phone)

"Really? Yeah. He's here now."

2. Still in Dr. Bob's office. Cyber Paranoid is in the doorway now, curious. Doctor Bob looks at him like the irritant he is. He's got one hand over the phone's microphone to address CP.

Cyber Paranoid

"What's up?"

Dr. Roberts

"Someone died. Go away."

3. Same scene.

Doctor Bob (to the phone)

"Yes. We'll have him ready."

Cyber Paranoid

"Who's dead?"

Doctor Bob (whispering)

"Go away!"

4. Same scene.

Doctor Bob

"I'll contact our legal counsel."

Cyber Paranoid

"Who'll be ready?"

Doctor Bob (whispering)

"Quit hacking my pad!"

Up to Speed

Jesus, last week was a fuck of a time for me take off, eh?

With all due respect to the Christians reading: Jesus fucking christ.

All that, and those videos didn't impress the legions of spambots that pushed my numbers disturbingly high last month. I'm still breaking 40,000 lifetime hits this month, so that's pretty cool¹.

Anyway, I'm trying to look forward to the future. Preordained blockbuster/social obligation Iron Man 3 hits theaters May 3. So you're just a single is he/isn't he drunk Harrison Ford video away from watching the first buckling bulkhead of a successful movie franchise implosion.

Luke's Change: an Inside Job

It's the Magic: Quinton Hoover

This weekend, popular discontent over the latest spoiler from Dragon's Maze was eclipsed by the news that Quinton Hoover, fantasy artist responsible for some of Magic's most memorable art, passed away at the age of 49.

I'll cop to being aware of only a few Magic artists, so I didn't know Hoover by name before Friday afternoon. It didn't take too long for sites like Art of M:TG and a quick look around The Gatherer to realize I've known his work since before I played Magic.

Not all of the early art was representative of what the card did *cough* Stasis *cough* and I never really got how Green Arrow's interpretive dance performance exemplified regeneration. It's because I posses the paired faults of being too lazy to examine art and too much a philistine to even properly appreciate it.

You know this one. There are newer Wraths of Gods, in name and form alike, but if it's not an angry, glowing face looking down on opposing armies as they slowly die, it's just not the same.

Filibuster

****** Roulette

I Knew You Were Tribbles

So...spoilers, I guess?

One reason of hundreds to love Craig Ferguson

Ukeleles

Linkstorm: Authority

Denver 5 Proof of Concept, pt 04

A few months ago, I and a friend kicked around an aborted comics project featuring superhuman jerks being jerks on a truly superhuman level. Character descriptions are here and the pilot plots are posted below. 

<-Previous  First  Next->

Comic 016

1. View of Doctor Roberts' office. GUY DREIL stands at the door, opposite DOCTOR ROBERTS, who's sitting at his desk. There should be bookshelves along the wall closer to Bob and a window closer to Guy.

Smith (CAPTION BOX)

"My name is Thomas Smith."
 

Guy Dreil

"You don't seem concerned. He's left the compound without permission."
  

Smith (CAPTION BOX)

"I'm not in this one."

2. Still in Dr. Bob's office.
 

Smith (CAPTION BOX)

"I was thinking about lies today."
 

Dr. Roberts

"Of course not. In all likelihood he went home to visit his parents."
 

Smith (CAPTION BOX)

"There are plenty of factual things which are perfect lies."

3. TYLER is in a club, dancing with TASHA, an attractive woman his age.

Smith (CAPTION BOX)

"...and more falsehoods that are the truth."
 

Tyler

"Me? I'm a student at CSU, but I'm taking a semester off to reevaluate."
 

4. Still in the club.

Smith (CAPTION BOX)

"Sometimes, two people lie because they want to believe."
 

Tasha

"Really? That's cool."

Field Manual Kris: Bump and Plug

Ptthph!

So I'm still looking for a job and trying to stay ahead of my blog update schedule (not always successfully). I've had some problems concentrating lately either because of too much or too little caffeine/alcohol. Not sure. Should investigate further.

I thought I'd take a moment to mention a few other things that are going on.

Star Trek: Rivalries

Linkstorm: Faith in Humanity

Linkstorm-Is this thing on?

It was not on.

Technical Problems

Also, is it possible Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy will be a better Star Wars movie than the next Star Wars movie?

WesterosCraft

On the off chance you haven't seen it yet:

Dragon's Maze Spoilers

[EDIT] Crap. Folks are Googling their way here for Dragon's Maze spoilers, an outcome I should have predicted when I put up a post labeled "Dragon's Maze spoilers" a week before actual Dragon's Maze spoilers came out, but didn't.

Hey, welcome. The blog is a grab-bag o' things, but the other Magic stuff is here. 

As some of you might know, the next magic set is called Dragon's Maze. In it, Niv-Mizzet finds a way to settle the conflict between Ravnica's 10 guilds with the creation/discovery of a maze across the city. The guild whose champion is the first to make it through the maze will (ostensibly) be the one to rule over Ravnica.

The images of the champions have been released, but their stats have not. I've compiled a list of those characters and their cards and estimated their abilities based on my knowledge of Ravnica, the mechanics introduced in Return to Ravnica and Gatecrash, and my limited understanding of Magic's current design philosophies.

It's a good ability that works well with bloodthirst, even if the draw/discard thing is more red than green.