| This Fucking Show

Just watched the 10th episode of the final season for Battlestar Galactica. HOLY FUCKING SHIT. Anyone else watching this season live? I will not spoil it (and we still have 10 episodes left) but it's the same feeling as ONE YEAR LATER. Damn. Good show.

Haha, WoYo is rad! Both names are cool, but WoYo sounds catchy and something teens would be into.

Awesome the stuff is going forward! Goodluck man! As far as the desserts go, I know out here Starbucks tried for awhile to have breakfast sandwiches - like bacon & egg, etc. That shit failed miserably. People complained that the stores smelled like processed meat (they did) instead of coffee. So they've gone back to pastries n' shit. So just don't put stinky egg samitches in there!

| eeeeeyyyyyyy...

Yeah, sorry about the hiatus. Been busy with slaving at the factory and working on side projects. Still i'd thought I wanted to share the on-goings with me friends especially the side projects that actually seems to be moving. coolio.

In reply to rudies post a long time agooo in a galaxy far far away - Penguins i think only offered 1 flavor. The green tea and shakes that we have made makes it far more repeatable and flavorful. I can see why Phib-berry hit the market so strongly. The shit really tastes pretty good if ur into that frozen dessert craze and i think this time it'll be here to stay.

I have on-board an ex-Hilton head chef of 20 years, and a ingenious (gold-digging) marketing company to help launch the retail store. We'll be offereing a starbucks style menu with dessert as well as frozen yogurt drinks I plan to call Frogees, (but i'm looking for a cooler unique name like frappacino). Any thot bots?

My store name is called BigApple, but am toying with another name like WoYo. (world of yogurt, after our favorite game)

Anyway, peac.

Jett

| jA-El lives!

I will have to deliver a not so unexpected no to the question of being on or near about the Philippines July 3rd. I hope that all goes well. Let us know how the event goes down. How are thing going for you. Sounds like your business ventures are rolling forward nicely. When is the next time you will be in the states again?



Also the first seven seconds of this clip is golden after you watch it something like 10 times.

I wanna RPG, fuckers!

D>M>

| Invitation

Anyone passing by the Philippines on July 3rd?
If so, you are invited to a Product Marketing event to taste test my shops yogurt products.
If not, be there spiritually! (or just drive down to your nearest phib-berry, our products are close in taste, but ours is in real yogurt liquid instead of powder)

edit: but seriously if anyone happens to be in the area, let me know. and i will reserve you a spot.

Jett

| More bullshit...

Too many hard drives?

D>M>

Hey Jon, they announced a date for that Pixies album on Rock Band! June 17th and 1520 points (its 14 songs afterall!)(EDIT: The date is wrong, maybe it's the week after now, but this month! Maybe!) Ingo Schultz (I misspelled INFO and then totally had crazy memories of INGO!)

Don't forget that Circuit City has the 1600 points cards on sale for $15 till maybe tomorrow. Target had them on sale the week before. So nab them cheap while you can.

There's also a booty trailer for Ticket to Ride Xbox Live edition on the marketplace. It doesn't show much, but it looks like it will basically look just like the boardgame. But since none of you a-holes have gold memberships, that will be a pass.

| Everybody loves...

Oh yeah, At lunch I ran across these and just was astounded at people will do when bored.

Log cutting or perhaps this. They could only make this better if they had wagon wheels and an "oh shit!" steering wheel. Jezuz.

D>M>

Check your lease, man, 'cause you're living in F*** City. Jeez I love Arrested Development.

Either I'm getting crotchetier or the world is getting more annoying around me. For example take my neighborhood. Last night, someone went around lighting firecrackers for an hour from eleven to midnight. Also, the other night, the gay guy who lives below us was having sex with someone from eleven at night until seven in the morning. Basically they would have sex for like 15 minutes, then they would have an (extremely loud) stoned conversation for about 30 minutes, then more assfucking. Rinse and repeat. I mean, great, congratulations for being on multiple kinds of drugs and all, but anyway I think I'm getting ready to move away from other people.

At least work is a lot more fun lately than it was for a long time. I've been promoted to a more managerial position (note: not actually paid more yet, just given more work) so now I am officially bossing around my former peers who I used to just unofficially boss around. I also have been making inquiries into and am getting some positive response to switching departments out of QA and into a more creative production role. Soon my dream of licensing Jack Chick tracts and putting them into electronic toys for children will be complete! By the way this is what I have been working on lately.

Rudy, forgot to say this... you should give the Baroque Cycle books another try. Fuck rereading the first book (the third book gives a synopsis of the important parts anyway), but the 2nd and 3rd are good.

I flipped through the books at the store today. I wasn't super-impressed with the presentation of the books, but that didn't give me much feel for the game itself. I did get the impression that the game is totally, totally divergent from any previous edition.

And uh, I also got it on pdf from a guy at work. So I can start reading through it sooner rather than later I guess....

I guess the thing that I've realized about 4th ed is that I don't care that much if it's good or not. If it's good: great! let's play it. If it's not that good: who cares, we have literally dozens of other great RPGs between us. I kinda feel like I've got WFRP and Savage Worlds and heck, the D&D Rules Cyclopedia as "safety" games. I have more fun games than I have time to play. So, if the new release of D&D spurs us to get together and play that's wonderful but I'm certainly not gonna be bothered if the game sucks as long as we go to something else that is good. I mean we haven't even finished the Vault of the Iron God Savage Worlds game I was running at Gencon two years ago....

Couple random thoughts:
1. Denis, hasn't D&D always had a minis focus? I mean not so much basic D&D but look at 1st ed. Every single measurement in that game is in inches (representing squares on a battle map). That said, I really hope the game is playable without miniatures. I always felt like if a battle required us to break out the minis that it always took away from the drama of the battle and automatically made it a more cerebral experience. That isn't always bad but usually isn't what I want.
2. I don't want to play DM-less D&D, that's not what it's about for me at all. I mean, I already have Warhammer Quest and Descent road to legend, and those games don't have rulebooks adding up to like a thousand pages long....
3. I like the idea of the online stuff, I think it's great. I have heard the actual implementation is pretty poor at the moment though.
4. We should get together for some role-playing fun! I can probably get clearance to host, one of these weekends... perhaps another JonCon is in order?

Not about D&D
They're making a Watchmen movie. I hope it's cool. Anyway they're starting to release some sort of marketing bits for it... I thought this was pretty cool.

| I second the Dork

I picked up my set yesterday at Borders. I had a 30% off poopon, combined with some 15% for doing a 5 minute survey, it all worked out nicely.

It really looks fun! I might be caught up in the whole 3e hoopla feeling, but this seems like a FUN system. Definitely streamlined and I won't say dumbed down, but certainly more accessible. Sure, it is minis heavy, and yes it is totally influenced by WoW, but it seems like it will be more fun, for more people than 3e ever was.

I liked 3e, or rather I liked our campaigns of 3e because I never really played after that. I am equally excited to play this for a single, short campaign, and then never pick it up again, if that is how it all plays out, too.

The web features seem cool, but unnecessary for the most part. The virtual table is really no more than a regulated 3d version of the minis game, but with 4e rules. And you can customize the way your 'figure' appears. Nothing wrong with that, infact, it is kinda cool. There is a character builder and tracker, and will be a repository of most, if not all, D&D articles and releases (except for hardback books, I think) that will be online too.

The rules read fun, and each player gets powers that can be useful, and used often throughout a play session, so no more 1rst level wiznards being left in the cold cause their magic missiles are all used up. Also, leveling has been unified across all classes.

The traditionalist/mean-old-man in me is disgruntled, sure. I can complain all I want and miss the old days, and miss Unearthed Arcana and how amazingly cool it was, and how I actually liked 2nd edition a lot, and all that, but this just an evolution and one that I can get behind. It is certainly much less imposing than that initial read of 3e was at Gencon. I remember thinking I would never read through all this, and I never really did. This version feels like it has sunk to my mental level and I will be able to grok it and have some fun!

| Old man shaking his fist at the kids on his lawn

I just got my copies of D&D (Player's and DM) today. Skimmed through both.

As a stand alone game I have no problems with it. It's moved to a dungeoncrawl pen and paper and miniature game. (This may be the only time when miniatures don't necessarily make a game better - gasp!) It is not a continuation of Advanced D&D though.

My initial impressions are that it feels a bit watered down. More like Advanced Descent or Extreme Advanced Heroquest. Or Basic D&D for the new millenium? Characters fall more in the superhero range (1st lvl wizards start with 10+ HP).

- The tone of writing is definitely geared towards a new, younger audience. A lot of hand holding on the whole roleplaying experience.

- Took many cues from video games (terminology, mechanics, playstyle).
Classes were balanced for combat, similar to a video game. For that reason the optimal number of players is four to fill the character roles (controller, defender, leader, striker).
Classes are grouped in those categories and it is encouraged that these roles be filled.
Combat relies heavily on placement and movement on a grid. (distances are now measured in squares. No more pesky feet and yards thank you very much.)

- Classes: cleric, fighter, paladin, ranger, rogue, warlock, warlord, wizard. Warlord?

- They moved the magic treasure list to the Player's Manual... Diablo?

As an introductory roleplaying game, it does a good job. It would fit well for linked dungeoncrawls. But I don't think it improves on the D&D I like to play.

Well, I'm a dork and I pick up RPG books to read on the BART, so I'm going to pick it up (you can get the three-pack from Amazon for less than $60 right now). I'm definitely up to play it and would be willing to run it if there was a source of decent adventures. Really all that's needed is the collective will to set aside time on the weekends to play.

We just got back from being in Lake Tahoe for the weekend. I really like it there. Growing up, only the rich jerk kids ever talked about it so I assumed it was something I wanted no part of. Having been there twice now I can definitely say the rich jerks are right in this case. Great weather and air. Really relaxing. If we were playing Cashflow I could see "3,500,000 House in Tahoe" being my end goal. Of course both times I've been it has bee in the spring off-season with practically zero tourists around. I bet it's crowded with jarks in winter and summer. We all should definitely rent a "cabin" up there sometime, it would be awesomeness with extra awesome sauce.

| DnD

eLzar, I too had the same sort of temptations to pick up 4e. Even, knowing full well it will in all likelihood never see the light of day within our group, I still was tempted. The fact is no one in our group has the time to learn the new system and run an adventure. Besides, most of the members in the group seem over DnD and more interested in other systems if an RPG were to be played. Booo... Certainly the reviews and experiences I have read on line are intriguing indeed. Are they the right direction for the franchise? Probably...

jr0n: Uggg.. When did you pick up your 360? Sounds like yours is of the older generations that is much more prone to that sort of failure. I have heard that the first couple generations of the 360 has a 30% failure rate. Seems a very typical Micro$oft rationale for releasing something not quite ready for prime time. Always one year too early with that company.

r00d: My GF is hopelessly addicted to Lego Indy on the DS. I sometimes wake up around midnight to the sound of legos breaking and whips cracking. Pretty funny actually.

Ry: That sounds like a pretty unpleasant experience. Hopefully, it will not be all for nil. If the septum can be repaired, it may make the experience worth it. Unfortunately, it sounds like Ja -El went through a similar experience. He had some nose work completed maybe four years ago. I am not sure if it was sleep apnea related, but it definitely was related to restricted air flow through his nose. In the end he seemed very dissatisfied with the outcome of the operation. He didn't seem to have a lot of confidence in his surgeon's skills afterwords. But that was right after the surgery and maybe the condition lessened after the the swelling and scarring had a chance to subside.

D>M>

oh noes!

The little 4th grade nerd in me has died. D&D with no DM? Sacrilige.

I actually ended up buying the books from Amazon. They won't be here until later this week.

From what I've read, I doubt I'll really warm up to the new edition. But it might prove an interesting read if can get past the bitter, bitter old man "hate everything new" feelings.