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June 19, 2004
Last Samurai Finally caught The Last Samurai last night. It was a decidedly mixed bag -- really cool samurai (and ninja) action, but a bit heavy on the "white man's burden" stuff about how western civilization has done nothing but destroy noble and honorable cultures. It felt like Dances with Wolves with katana. Don't get me wrong, I'm not debating that western cultural imperialism has done some pretty shitty stuff over the years, but the underlying message in this movie annoyed me. It seems to have become fashionable to knock the historical legacy of western culture, despite the amount of good it has done the world. There was also a bit of a Braveheart to it -- a small band of rebels going up against nearly insurmountable odds, and winning the respect of their foes. Meh. Again, cool battle stuff, cool historical accuracy, annoying thematic message. June 06, 2004
Still plugging away... Once again, there are no significant updates to the material on the website, but once again, there is a reason for that -- and it doesn't mean I've been slacking off! First of all, at my "day job" we've spent the last couple of weeks training for the new contract we're servicing. The training was kind of easy, because 90% of the stuff they were teaching us we already knew... but the training ran from 7am to 3pm. Since I've been working 2pm to 10pm the last three years (or so) my whole schedule was thrown out of whack. It can be tough to update a website when you're desperately needing sleep. I've been continuing my work on the Workings of Magic chapter for the Earthdawn Classic Player's Compendium. I've been in semi-regular contact with James Flowers (current line developer) and Lou Prosperi (former line developer) to make sure that everything is up to snuff. It's fun, but it's a lot of work. Hopefully, we'll be playing Earthdawn tonight... but at this particular moment whether we will or not remains to be seen... the lovely wife was put through the paces in her first week back at school, and may choose to sit out and get some homework done instead of gaming. She also has an 8am class, so it's likely to be an early night. Which is cool -- your real life should take priority over fantasy life. It's good to relax and blow off steam with an RPG, but when your real life suffers... you should take a step back and examine why you feel the need to shirk your responsibilities. That about does it for now. See you 'round the net! June 03, 2004
Sometimes I really hate my hobby. Not from an enjoyment level, of course -- I still get a lot of enjoyment out of it. No, I'm talking about the slew of new stuff coming out later this that I will desperately want to own, even if I never play it. Brief list? Well, there's Ars Magica fifth edition. Paranoia XP, Earthdawn Classic (though I probably won;t have to pay for copies of those books *grin*), the new World of Darkness and Vampire: the Requiem. *sigh* I'm sure there are others, but that's just off the top of my head. It's been several years since I really wanted to go on a big RPG spending-spree, but this summer (and fall) looks like my wallet is going to take a hit. I look forward to it. |
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