First Time Watching – Reaction Videos

A great way to watch ‘The Thing’ fifteen times in the same day and have each watch vary at least slightly.

Basically, “First Time Watching” videos are for when you’re lonely and want to watch a movie with someone but noone else is into it.

A very useful purpose, I think, at times. The trick is finding the co-watchers that you enjoy co-watching with. So to that purpose, there are a lot of possibilities.

I would recommend giving each a try, and finding out which you like and which you don’t, simple as that. I’ll be watching and reviewing a lot of said reaction videos, with a review of the first-timers typically as well as the subject. That’s a very important part of the enjoyment here.

SPOILER AND NOTE: For copyright purposes, they DO NOT watch the entire film in their videos. So it’s more for re-watching an edited version of a film you know you like (‘The Thing’, I’m lookin’ at you) with someone you know you’ll enjoy watch discovering and reacting to for the first time.

To Those Who Said My Site Would Be A Total Failure

To all those who said/thought my online radio station would fail miserably, before it potentially goes away (quit, not fired), here’s my failure:

You have 555,486 Total Visits (As of 4/11/13)

So, probably a bit more including the several years since.

There’s something extremely fulfilling about not just succeeding, but about GRINDING THE FACES of naysayers into the ground about it. Ahhhhhhhh…what a feeling.

Oh, and…

Semper Puppy Radio (First Iteration):

24 Overall Favorite Station selections
1 VIP Favorite Station selection
602 Presets
3465 listening hours in the last 30 days
Rating: 5 out of 5 (4 Votes)
95 Facebook likes
5 Google shares
2 Tweets
1 Pinit

But WAIT, there’s MORE!

“Semper Puppy helps me get through my 12hr shift at work.”

Semper Puppy station peak (first iteration) – 383rd (Out of over 7,000 I believe).
(Last top ten list, by country, last 30 days for first Semper Puppy iteration)

1 – The United States
2 – Mexico
3 – Brazil
4 – Canada
5 – Argentina
6 – The United Kingdom
7 – Germany
8 – Spain
9 – Serbia
10 – Italy

(Last top ten list, by country, last 30 days for second Semper Puppy iteration)

1 – The United States
2 – Germany
3 – Canada
4 – Mexico
5 – The United Kingdom
6 – Brazil
7 – Israel
8 – Ireland
9 – Switzerland
10 – Portugal

(Last top ten list, by state, last 30 days for second Semper Puppy iteration)

1 – IL
2 – CT
3 – FL
4 – CO
5 – OH
6 – TX
7 – CA
8 – NJ
9 – NC
10 – NY

Semper Puppy, second iteration:
All-Time Highs:

Grunge: 1st
Classic Alternative: 10th
Adult Album Alternative: 16th
Overall: 490th

Semper Puppy, third iteration:
All-Time Highs:

Grunge: 1st
Classic Alternative: 7th
Indie Rock: 14th
Overall: 507th

Semper Puppy, fourth iteration:
All-Time Highs:

Grunge: 1st
Classic Alternative: 7th
Indie Rock: 14th
Overall: 464th

Unique Countries, Last 30 Days, fourth iteration: 47 (Record: 50 on 3/13/17)

Yip! >.<

Support Your Local Wikipedia

It can be a gateway to click after click of interesting subjects-related subjects. Take the following, for instance:

“You can see that man wants the impossible: He wants to lose his isolation and keep it at the same time. He can’t stand the sense of separateness, and yet he can’t allow the complete suffocation of his vitality. He wants to expand by merging with the powerful beyond that transcends him, yet he wants while merging with it to remain individual and aloof…”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terror_management_theory

There They Go, Satisfied Customers By The Thousands! (Part Five)

See ‘There They Go, Satisfied Customers By The Thousands! (Part Three)’.

Also:

Latest mailing quote – “This is your final notice.”

Well thank God.

If you’re going to pester (some might say harass) me in some other way, I’d be glad to post all about it here.

“I can hold my breath a longgg time!”

Subeta Review – 2/25/17

“See previous entry ‘Subeta Review’.

Changes: None to the overall quality/good points/bad points…but there is definite improvement over the past year and a half or so. Little things, mostly…but fairly consistently added/improved little things.

And the artwork is MUCH better than it used to be, overall.”

The above is an update of the original review, published almost a year ago on this blog.

I copied it here because it – again, in a positive manner – is fitting.

Meaning:

The bad points aren’t any worse than they were last time…and last time, they weren’t any worse than they were the FIRST time. If anything, the bad points aren’t as bad (Games are SLIGHTLY better, for instance). So nothing is worse…AND…

If you can accept the bad points, the good points are – again – better than they were. Artwork, item listings, functionality, features, continuity, quests, community-type activities…all are slightly improved (again).

So basically this is a site on a small but steady upward trend. It’s better now than it’s ever been, and it seems – based on quite a bit of experience – that it continues to trend upward, from the last time slowly (but continually) up to now.

Also of note, the staff is overall very friendly and helpful, and – as mentioned before – they *SEEM*, at least, to actually care. About the game, the site, and (at least to a certain degree) the players.

Not perfect, certainly…but if you like what you see now, you’ll likely like what you see even more as time goes on.

If you DON’T like what you see now, it’s probably not for you.

P.S. – Kudos to the sometimes-relevant “gift items” and the overall level of personal and independent acceptance on the site.

MUDing – A Pupdate

“I’m … disappointed that you’ve chosen to store her, I had the pleasure to interact with her and you played her beautifully.” – ‘Armageddon’ staff

Oh, I bet you tell that to all the boys.

And you’re not the first! I’ve turned down several people already today. Still, we’ll get around it.

Conclusion: I guess I’m the Boogie Cousins of roleplaying.

P.S. – The hardest part of Forgotten Kingdoms roleplay is pretending, in character, that Gwain’s incredibly dull and persistent (and unpunished) obvious anachronistic stupidity doesn’t make you want to either puke or kick him in the nuts. Projectile vomit, maybe?

I was there YEARS ago, and also DAYS ago.

And no sidewinding, bushwhacking, hornswoggling, cracker-croaker is gonna roll my bishercutter!

And his roleplay hasn’t changed. Not at all. So, obviously, there’s been no punishment for his OBVIOUS and CONTINUAL violations of supposed “roleplay enforcement”, making the claim of “roleplay enforcement” just a huge pile of untrue advertising bullsh1t.

I’m not talking about things that are borderline. I’m not talking about a mistake once in a while. I’m not talking about “hey what’s up” instead of “Ho there, yon dapper fellow! Howst farest thee this day?”

I’m talking about persistent, constant, incessant, FOR YEARS, blatant, impossible-to-ignore and impossible-to-respond-in-character-to anachronisms.

As long as he’s there, every “rule” they have is worthless. Because they do NOT “enforce” roleplay. He is a living, breathing, anachronism-spewing example of that.

As to WHY…I can’t possibly imagine. It’s not like he’s even INTERESTING in his rule-breaking. He’s not even FUNNY when he does it. He’s DULL. DULL, DULL, My GOD he’s dull…and irrepressibly drab and awful.

Anyways, my job here is done. Now, the ritualistic sex.

2/25/17: Also, please feel free to try ‘The Burning Post’ 2.1. Because if you’re looking for a MUD where you can put in a lot of effort without worrying about the IMP getting bored and doing a “soft reboot”…this ain’t it. BUT, he’ll gladly tell you about his personal life and talk about how much he wishes he was playing other games. Because, after all, it’s “more of a”…(chat channel?)…”than a MUD”.

Caveats (I need to brush my MUDs more often): Shard is very helpful. Psyche is pretty helpful. Most of the players are fairly helpful, and decent RPers. Some are pretty darn good, actually. Vis:

FAIR USE: CRITICISM – A decent clip from an…ok episode. Idle does his best to carry the show post-Cleese.

Site Review – Google (Little Date-Related Animated Thingies)

Pretty cool.

Most of them are cute in theory and they have a cutesy sort of charm about them.

And some of them are actually informative, kind of.

A few exceptions to this, of course, including:

– “Weird Al” Yankovic Day
– Too much lean towards Science-Worship in choices (Where’s P. Feyerabend?)
– WTF is with the Christmas one? I mean…the daddy Google wearing a new tie and drinking coffee, fine. The mommy Google sewing something and one of the little baby Googles happy watching, fine. But the three other little-kid Googles: HAPPY about getting SOCKS??? Is that supposed to be ironically funny or is Google getting a generous grant from the ConHugeCo sock corporation?

Kids aren’t HAPPY about getting socks; they should be crying their little animated eyeballs out. Or hastily tossing them aside and moving hopefully on towards the next gift.

“SOCKS??? For the love of all that is Good and Sacred, WHY???!!!”

Semper Puppy Radio – All The Info I Want To Keep Updated

Peak Listeners, Last 30 Days: 10 (Record: 13 on 2/21/17)

Unique Listeners, Last 30 Days: 431 (Record: 444 on 3/26/17)

Unique Countries, Last 30 Days: 47 (Record: 50 on 3/13/17)

Top Ten Listeners, Last 30 Days (By Country)

1) The United Kingdom
2) Germany
3) The United States
4) Canada
5) Portugal
6) Croatia
7) Bosnia And Herzegovina
8) Hungary
9) Australia
10) Brazil

Last Updated: 3/31/17

12/25/16: If you want to qualify for the Top Ten (and who doesn’t?) you have to log in from a verifiable source.

There They Go, Satisfied Customers By The Thousands! (Part Four)

Recent message from Alexa.com regarding my website ranking:

“We don’t have enough data to rank this website.”

Bullsh1t.

You had “enough data” for the past two months+, you have just as much now…MORE, actually.

I suggest you change that message slightly…here’s an idea:

“We don’t have enough of your money to rank this website.”

Yeah, that has a nice ring to it.

Though, this does solve the problem of “Do/should I give a fck about my alexa.com ranking?”

The answer to “Do I give enough of a fck about my alexa.com ranking to give them money?” is the same as the answer to “should I follow ‘keyword recommendations’ and alter my posts to make them less genuine and more popular?” and “should I pretend to have different opinions that align more with the collective?”

No thanks, I’ll take the nosedive.

There They Go, Satisfied Customers By The Thousands! (Part Three)

As an unwanted and rather annoying follow-up:

Recently received SECOND notice from a collection company.

If you’ll check Part Two, you’ll see that the company in question is – according to some – not very reputable.

So, to www.peryourhealth.com AND as a document of my ongoing saga:

You can send me as many “bills” as you want. I’m not going to give you my credit card information, nor am I going to send you a vast amount of money for something that may already be paid.

This is an insurance matter. I WOULD give you my “insurance information” (quoting your letter), but unfortunately the only number you provide is a billing number, with NO way to connect to someone to give information to. As for your website, when I try to go there I have to enter some “information” (my quotes this time) which is “provided” (ditto) for me.

When I enter this information, it says the attempt was “unsuccessful”.

HOWEVER, it also lists a VERY convenient *NUDGE NUDGE* “pay now” option where I can send you money *WINK WINK* for something I am *NOT* responsible for, which is covered by my insurance *GRIN GRIN SNAP SNAP*, and which MAY HAVE ALREADY BEEN PAID. *SAY NO MORE!*

I WOULD give you my insurance information, but you provide ABSOLUTELY NO WAY TO DO SO. Therefore, I regard it as your fault; if you want my insurance information, give me a WAY TO PROVIDE IT.

I will not be sending you vast quantities of money for something covered by my insurance.

If you want their information, ask me in a way that I can reply to.

It is YOUR “responsibility” (quotes mine) to provide a means of giving information to you. You do NOT, and I will not use one of the many EXTREMELY convenient options to simply give you money to make you go away, since I’m not in the habit of giving vast quantities of money to someone/thing simply because they send me a piece of paper.

If you want to keep sending me your useless “notices”, fine.

Every time you do, I’ll re-post here affirming the above until you either A) provide the necessary means or B) go away.

Oh, and in the spirit of Buckwheat’s untimely demise, here’s a link for those of you that may have missed it before:

https://www.webwiki.com/peryourhealth.com

10/26/16: DOCUMENT

There They Go, Satisfied Customers By The Thousands! (Part Two)

FAQ:

1) What if it’s got a nick?
A: If you’ve got a knick-knack with a nick in it, we’ll knock the nick out of the knick-knack with Brighto.

2) Oh…I didn’t notice the leg was missing. War, eh?
A: No, banana peel.

3) WTF is this cr@p?
A: https://www.webwiki.com/peryourhealth.com

10/17/16: DOCUMENT

Site Review (Three Different Ones)

Wanted to post something and these have been sitting annoyingly waiting for me to review them, so here goes a quick rundown:

Subetalodge.org – Subeta fan site; exhaustive lists of all things Subetan.

gog.com – “Classic” (and other) pc game site. Fairly low prices for (if you’re old enough) some of the games you remember from your (relative) youth and wish you could play again. Limited experience with it; no problems so far.

Dafont.com – ALL fonts, ALL the time. It’s a hoard of fonts, so if you’re in a font-deciding mood (shrug) it’s probably worth a look. Again, (very) limited experience with it.

Da end. Why no grades? I don’t trust my impartiality. Caveat Emptor.

Deviantart Review – DestinyBlue

An artist I think is worth your time because her drawings look good (she has talent) and – more importantly – because I believe her drawings actually mean something to her.

It *seems*, at least, to me, that the emotions she’s expressing are real; that they’re being expressed not for commercial gain but simply because she wishes either to share with others or help heal herself…or both.

It’s not easy to be a very good artist, simply in terms of drawing pictures that look good. It’s not easy to, as an artist, express feelings well – in a manner that comes across strongly, and as genuine.

When you can do both, as she can, that’s something worth watching.

For Those Of You Eagerly Awaiting Grimmsy Grimmling And/Or A New Review

Well, I got nothin’, so here’s a way to kill a few minutes by reading a peg solitaire guide.

http://www.chessandpoker.com/peg-solitaire-solution.html

The guide’s pretty good, actually. Informative, kinda witty.

Caveat Webtor.

– Puppy >.< Yip!

Puppy’s All-Time Blog Hit Total

I wasn’t gonna, but the DDOS attacks just make it seem so impressive.

Before switching to current blog: 1,005,084

Total Hits (All-Time): 1,430,988

Last Updated: 9/21/16

9/22/16: This has become tiresome.

I’ll leave the last total as…the last total. From now on, if you want to see how many hits I’m getting, a good way to get a general idea is to look at ‘My Alexa.com Website Ranking’…conveniently updated on this site!

Deep Puppy Thoughts (Part 150)

Ok, now as an amateur critic I feel it’s only appropriate to give criticism where criticism is due…HOWEVER, I feel it’s also proper to give praise where praise is due.

So, major kudos to GoDaddy and WordPress for holding up aces under this recent/current/possible future DDOS attack.

I’ll be giving a play-by-play analysis for those interested in the exact goings-on, but let me make my first comment – as I am wont to do – via quote:

FAIR USE: CRITICISM – The furthest (well, maybe) I’ve ever seen bullets move someone across an open space in film history.

Site Review – Recent YouTube Tailored Advert

YouTube’s great and all…I mean, just for MST3K shorts and Python bits alone…but my duty is clear:

You only get one call.

If you’re desperate enough to call this number, that means you don’t have a lawyer and can’t afford a really good one. It also means you’re stupid enough to look ON YOUTUBE for a lawyer. D@MN.

So, with the chances totally up in the air as to whether the lawyer you get will suck or not, always consider the following…

…when things are on the line, and the chances are just as good either way…would you rather have a young, attractive blonde woman or an ugly middle-aged fat guy?

Who knows, she might even find you irresistibly attractive.

This message brought to you by Shameless, Exploitative, Wakeman & Howe & Crosby & Stills & Nash & sometimes Young & Donner & Blitzen & Grumpy & Sneezy & Bashful & Ahwon & Ahtoo & Alvin & Simon & Theodore & Lo & Low & Lowe & Behold & E. Dufresne.

(a subsidiary of ConHugeCo)

Site Review – Shmoop.com

I didn’t exactly conduct a thorough search of all available entries, BUT…

From my experience reading the informative, easily accessible and occasionally amusing notes on ‘We’, as well as seeing a similar pattern in the entry for Orwell’s ‘1984’, this seems to be a useful and interesting resource for relatively intelligent book summaries.

The site is designed as a ‘X For Dummies’ sort of amusing cheatsheet on a wide variety of things. I have absolutely no use for the “test preparation” sections (which is fine, since I’m not reviewing them)…but speaking only in terms of “I’m interested in X…I’d like to learn the basics in a comprehensible but still accurate fashion”, this is a worthy site for random information/inspiration seekers; from what I can gather, at least.

Oh, and after reading the staff summary, a guest review from Harry Caray:

“CUBS WIN!”

As well as some brilliant food for thought:

“If you were a hotdog, and you were starvin’ to death…would you eat yourself?”

As with the questions posed by ‘We’ and ‘1984’, there are no easy answers.

Interesting. Really.

http://www.shmoop.com/we/

Good stuff. Thank you shmoop!

A small excerpt re: ‘We’ –

“George Orwell actively cited it as influencing his novel ‘1984’, and even chided Huxley for not doing the same.”

– On ‘We’…and right on. Orwell was at least authentic in the Jarmuschian sense. And he was a hell of a lot more talented, but that’s neither here nor there.

I give it a solid 6.9.

Bridgewater State Hospital/Titicut Follies

Here’s the lowdown. Not from 1967, and not from someone PAID BY THE FACILITY. From someone there within the past five years.

I don’t see the big deal in trying to ban people from watching the 1967 film ‘Titicut Follies’.

Not because it wouldn’t be disturbing, but because (and if you don’t believe this, you could probably use a BSH evaluation) EVERYONE KNOWS that no matter WHAT it shows, the party line will be: “That was X years ago…things are much better now.”

And, since no movies have been made showing BSH life since ‘Titicut Follies’, almost 50 years ago, how exactly can that statement be either proved or disproved, at all, with any reliability?

Well…the only people who KNOW how things work there now (or, recently, at least) are:
1) Employees
2) Inmates…I MEAN “Patients”

Right? I mean, how can anyone deny the most incredibly BASE and SIMPLISTIC logic that makes that an inevitable fact?

So the only people that know how things work there now – and therefore the only people who have ANY credibility in saying “It’s better”, “It’s worse”, “It’s the same”, or anything else in that regard – are employees and inmates.

Since the employees are all part of the same fra(with a little ma)ternity, since the state PAYS THEIR SALARIES, since they all have a common interest in having BSH portrayed as “well-run” and “humane”…is it REALLY a stretch to say “Well…opinions from BSH employees would tend to be exaggeratedly positive, at best.”

You know…because that’s their JOBS they’re talking about. WTF do you expect?

“Yeah, this place is a sh1thole, we treat people horribly…so, where’s my next check?”

I mean, to believe you’re going to get anything CLOSE to an “objective” opinion from staff (who get paid by the state) and the state (who pays the staff…see the symbiosis?)…well, now THAT is insane.

It’s insulting any reasonable person’s intelligence to suggest that is the case, and/or to suggest they BELIEVE that is the case because “well, we told you to.”

So the QUESTION is…how do you get an accurate portrayal of the way things are, NOW (or at least, very recently), when staff has a vested incentive to make things seem better than reality and “patients” (admittedly, in the same not-insulting-your-intelligence way) a vested incentive to make things seem worse than reality?

Well, you find people that 1) USED to work there, and are willing to tell it like it really is (in their experience), and people that 2) USED to be “patients” there, are NO LONGER patients there, have been completely removed from the BSH “system”, have no great bias towards the system for exceptionally horrific personal treatment, have NO personal incentive to praise OR criticize the system, and who are willing to be honest and even-handed in their evaluation of a system they, IN FACT, experienced first-hand.

As for number 2: Hi. That would be me.

So here goes:

First, anything you see in ‘Titicut Follies’ is COMPLETELY irrelevant. That’s 1967. There is no intrinsic connection between that, and modern BSH. Don’t be upset about what happened there almost fifty years ago. Be upset over what MIGHT BE happening there NOW.

Second, any comments suggesting that BSH has “improved” or “advanced” from ‘Titicut Follies’ – made by people with a vested interest to say so – are just as COMPLETELY irrelevant. Of COURSE they’re going to say that. Doesn’t make it true or untrue…it’s the standard party line, and so such statements are utterly meaningless.

To put any weight in either as realistic evidence of “Today’s BSH” is sloppy, lazy, and ignorant at best. And, I happen to know from actually BEING THERE…just plain WRONG. IMPO, of course.

The fact is, BSH is both better and worse than shown in ‘Titicut Follies’.

Let’s look at the positives and negatives one by one:

Positives:

1) Obviously, available medications have improved. The amount of different medications, the skill at prescribing said medications, the effectiveness of said medications (since everyone isn’t just given the same tranquilizers and “hope for the best…”) is improved. I’ve seen that…it’s a fact. OVERALL, it’s a fact. Now, this – to me – is more indicative of the progress of medication therapy IN GENERAL than to any change in “philosophy” at BSH; they work with what they have, and now they have a lot more options. They would have to be colossally inept and/or malicious NOT to prescribe more effectively.

1b) In a thirty day period of observing medication prescription and dispersal, my AUTHENTIC observation was that – for the most part – patients were given at least arguably appropriate medications at at least arguably appropriate levels. Also, FOR THE MOST PART, patients’ concerns over medications were given at least SOMEWHAT of an audience and the patients’ own evaluations of their feelings were taken into SOME account.

So, from what *I* observed, as someone RIGHT THERE, this area (once you were out of ITU…see “Negatives” below) was handled fairly well, and fairly professionally.

2) Obviously, facilities visible to the casual visitor (the main grounds, the visiting room, anything of that sort) are relatively clean and well-kept. This is GOOD, I guess…but what does it really mean? Nothing. Unless you’re DUMB enough to think that “Well…the lawn looks nice, so…the cells must be nice too.” I mean…really? It’s appearance, it’s good for business since people that CAN COMPLAIN (visitors) see it; of course it looks decent. Nothing to do whatsoever with what goes on inside, for better or worse.

2b) OVERALL, in my observation, facilities were GENERALLY both in decent shape and available to MOST patients (See “ITU” below). There was space to exercise, there was space to go outside, there was a decent-sized library (good enough, at least), there was adequate space for patient size, and so on.

So, again from MY observation, facilities were adequate in terms of exercise, outside space, medical, library, etc.

There were even Church (well, large room with lots of chairs and a priest) services for those that wished to attend, and the occasional MOVIE.

All of these things: Medical, library, exercise, church services, etc… had one thing in common. They were provided by employees that were NOT guards. Make of that what you will. It seemed the general attitude of the guards (IN GENERAL…) towards all these things was indifferent tolerance. Sort of “Fine, whatever…go, don’t, whatever…just don’t fck with me and don’t fck up my schedule.”

Which, come to think of it, is a pretty reasonable attitude, given that they weren’t there to be your friend, they were there to guard you. Guard the non-guards from the patients, guard the patients from the other patients, etc…

3) Most of the “professional” staff (Doctors, Psychiatrists, and the like) behaved in a fairly professional manner.

4) SOME OF the guards behaved in a decent, professional, responsible manner. They did their jobs, and as long as you didn’t act like a pr1ck or intensely fck with them or their responsibilities, they returned the courtesy to you. Which, really, is all you could realistically ask.

Negatives:

1) Obviously, since people who end up LEAVING BSH (patients, that is) can speak freely about their OWN experiences, treatment toward those both a) EXPECTED to leave and b) EXPECTED to be coherent and at least somewhat literate would tend (IMPO) to be more civilized and less abusive. Make of that what you will.

1b) Example: I was in ITU at the same time as someone else who was extremely vocal. I HEARD what this person said, and what was said to them AND about them. I UNDERSTOOD how this person was viewed, in general, by the guards that I heard. This person was viewed as a) someone that could be safely mocked and/or ignored, b) someone whose complaints to anyone about such treatment would be ignored, c) someone that had noone on the outside advocating for them or keeping tabs on how they were treated. There was noone there that gave a sh1t, and even if there WAS, this person was too mentally ill to coherently complain, and even if they COULD it would be their word against 2+ guards. In other words, he was FCKED, and the guards knew it. And, you know, I’m sorry…I don’t like bullies. And the ones who picked on this guy…that’s all they were; bullies aren’t any better or worse with a uniform and a badge.

Now, *I* was much more coherent than this person. I was much more able to understand what was happening, to REMEMBER what was happening and repeat it to my lawyer when they eventually showed up. I was much more able to verbally defend myself from constant random insults; the only “treatment” you received in ITU was being treated to abuse. Quite frankly I didn’t give much of a sh1t what they were saying about ME, but I *DID* care that they were verbally and emotionally abusing someone who was obviously in SEVERE emotional pain and who was just as obviously UNABLE to defend themself from such abuse. So, I basically tried asking (reasonably) why they were abusing someone for no reason. And when they told me to go fck myself and kept laughing at him (and me), I just said random bullsh1t back to them whenever they said random bullsh1t to him. And, like the DUMBA$$ COWARDS they were (and most bullies are), when confronted with a non-helpless opponent, their balls shrunk and they shut the fck up. And FCK ’em. You see, I was much more able to respond coherently…I was also much more able to COMPLAIN coherently and REMEMBER to do so. So, for these reasons, I was not subject to anywhere near the amount of abuse as this other person.

2) From conversations overheard from MULTIPLE sources, including directly from people supposedly affected who seemed perfectly coherent and reasonable in their statements and explanations, the duration of one’s stay at BSH was – at least at times – not of primary concern to those in charge. All 30-Day Evaluations are equal, but some 30-Day Evaluations are more equal than others.

2b) From what I remember, and what I gathered, and what I heard, and what I pieced together from coherent information…there were some people who had been at BSH FAR longer than they should have been. Whose “evaluation” had ended, according to THE LAW in such matters, but who remained there regardless.

I’m not talking about 31 days instead of 30. I’m talking WEEKS, even MONTHS over the LEGALLY ASSIGNED time. And it seems to ME, that these people were those least able to advocate for themselves, and least able to have others advocate for them from outside BSH.

3) SOME of the “professional” staff behaved in a lazy and unprofessional manner.

4) A LOT of the guards (I can’t say what percentage, or “most”, or whatever…it’s too far back to be that precise) were just a$$holes, plain and simple. They obviously had fun making fun of/pushing around the patients, got off on their mini power trips, didn’t give a sh1t about what they were supposed to be doing, and cared a hell of a lot more about “So, what are you doing when your shift’s over?” than “So, what should I be doing now for, like…my job?”

5) This is very subjective, admittedly…and it does NOT apply to ALL “evaluators”…but consider this:

It is a FACT that MANY “patients” (myself for one) there had not been found guilty of *ANYTHING* in a court of law.

Because you are sent for an “evaluation” of your mental state does NOT (supposedly, at least) have ANYTHING to do with “guilt” or “innocence” of ANYTHING…it has to do with: “Is this person mentally competent to stand trial?”. That’s the key…STAND TRIAL. Trial. Where you go, being presumed innocent until proven guilty. You know…the criminal “justice” system.

However, let’s be real. If the case that will be brought against anyone “evaluated” will be (and I think it will) ‘State Of Massachusetts Vs. X’, do you think the State of Massachusetts wants ANYONE to be found innocent?

In other words, do you think the State of Massachusetts WANTS to bring a case against someone and LOSE? Of course not.

Now just think for yourself, but here are a few facts:

– The District Attorney/Assistant DA/Etc are State employees
– Everyone working at BSH is a State employee
– “Evaluations” that strengthen the State’s case and weaken the individual’s benefit: The State and injure: The Individual
– Generally, organizations that are on the same side tend to work together.

This has been a subjective analysis made by someone that was relatively lucky in that he wasn’t dumped there and forgotten. A lot of people with mental illness DO NOT have anyone noticing when they “vanish”, and it is therefore much easier to get away with poor treatment on such people…

Because, who the fck are they gonna complain to?

A mentally ill person, against an entire SYSTEM, with noone to help them? Complaining to…what…”internal affairs”?

Oh, yeah, that sounds really effective.

IN ALL FAIRNESS: There were many people I encountered at BSH who were NOT abusive; psychiatrists, officers, counselors, even patients who went out of their way to help those that obviously needed help.

Some. There were SOME of those people. And there were also PLENTY of people that gave exactly as much of a sh1t as they had to: namely, none.

Things are as they have been, and will be, in any place where power is curtailed only by those that wield it and where those that are subject to it have virtually no recourse.

Think about it: There most certainly ARE at least some sadistic SOB’s working there…do you really think, if one of them had a problem with a “patient” they would hesitate to toss them into ITU (solitary) until they were good and ready to let them out? Based on WHATEVER rationale they wanted to use?

Because, it would come down to this:

Noone in ITU (“patient”) sees anyone else in ITU. Therefore, each “patient” has only their word working for them…if they are even coherent enough to have THAT (therapy does NOT take place in ITU, and medications are sloppily prescribed AT BEST).

On the other hand, every guard has at least one other guard working with them.

So…if a patient says he was abused, beaten, degraded, etc…and a guard denies it, and has a partner to back their side up…who gets believed?

THINK ABOUT IT.

Now, does this mean all guards/authorities are sadists and all “patients” are poor, helpless victims? Of course not.

I saw instances where people in authority were acting perfectly reasonably and “patients” decided to insult/threaten/attack them.

But if you don’t think the opposite happens too, you’re just living in a fantasy world.

The fact is, you can be sent to ITU for the SLIGHTEST things, and once you’re there you DON’T GET OUT until they’re good and ready to let you out.

And the daily serenading of the “patients” with insults and laughter by (some of) the guards is of questionable treatment value, I think. And when “patients” get upset that they’re treated like rat sh1t? Well, they’re being uncooperative…another day in the hole.

If you get sent there, and noone outside BSH knows you were sent there (if you even have someone outside BSH that would care), you’re fcked.

THEY DON’T TELL PEOPLE. People outside have to DIRECTLY find out. Meaning they have to ASK if a person is there. And even then, from my recollection, “patients” in ITU are neither confirmed nor denied. So you can godd@mn ROT there, in some instances, if they feel like letting you.

No confirmation, no visitors, no therapy, and quite often no hope.

How, exactly, is this “Intensive Treatment”?

ITU – what a joke. There was NO therapy in ITU. ITU was BSH’s LTI-speak for “Solitary”. It consisted of being thrown into a CELL no larger (and probably smaller) than you imagine a jail cell being, with a lumpy beanbag “mattress” in the center that was relatively unstained if you were lucky. You received a threadbare “blanket” that covered maybe half your body. The lighting consisted of one bulb flickering overhead (the light from the hall was blocked by the very-reinforced door) and the occasional stream of light from the one heavily barred window VERY high in the cell. The toilet seemed to work all the time, but ODDLY the sink seemed to sometimes work, sometimes not. And noone would come in to adjust it…it simply did NOT work sometimes. Same mechanism, different result. So if you want to be really charitable you can say shoddy pipe system, and if not you can say wellllllll maybe some of the guards might have fcked with some of the inmates…PATIENTS. The food delivery system went thusly: “Here’s your *insert name of meal here*”…your responses available were “Ok/thank you/etc”, in which case the food was slid through a small horizontal hole briefly opened in the doorframe, or anything else (ranging from the extremely benign…”I just threw up I can’t look at food now” to the extremely malignant… “Fck you motherfcker!”) in which case you were marked as “Refusing Food”. That was a strike to getting out of ITU, so accepting it and then passing it right back 15 mins later was the way to go if you thought you might vomit. Otherwise, even the most polite, benign, REASONABLE response (“I just threw up, I can’t look at food, I’m sorry”) was taken EXACTLY the same way: “Patient Refused Food”.

I have ABSOLUTELY no idea what the “Guards” were there for – and they were there, always. I mean, the cell doors were THICK, REINFORCED doors…noone was “breaking out”. Basically all *I* heard the guards do was talk about their personal lives and make fun of the patients, some of whom were obviously in EXTREME mental and/or physical pain.

I’m not talking about me, either. I’m not whining because they were mean to me. I’ve been around mentally ill people. I can tell when someone is SEVERELY mentally ill – severely depressed, suicidal, etc…

I HEARD, for a FACT, at least one patient who was OBVIOUSLY, to even the most casual observer, in EXTREME pain and distress…and not only did they do NOTHING to help them AT ALL, they actually went OUT OF THEIR WAY to yell at and MAKE FUN OF them. They seemed to think it was funny.

And wow, that takes a lot of balls, huh? To have a weapon, be backed up by another guard with a weapon (at LEAST one other guard), be in a position of complete power, be separated by a reinforced, multi-locked door, and make fun of someone in the equivalent of rags, with no weapons and a supposedly compromised mentality.

I HEARD this happening. And the patient wasn’t yelling psychotic sh1t at the guards…they weren’t screaming threats, they weren’t acting like fcken psychos, they weren’t acting “dangerous”…they were screaming IN PAIN, they were asking for HELP. And the response was – from some at least – “Oh, shut up!…So, anyway, did you see the game-”

So basically, you have to bite your fcken tongue, accept the verbal abuse from the guards and the sh1t conditions, act reasonable even though you’re being treated UNREASONABLY, be very calm and pleasant…and then, maybe, you get out of ITU and into the main system.

Placement in/removal from ITU was seemingly based on the morning rounds doctor’s mood and how compliant you were.

I don’t mean he was reasonable and you screamed at him. I mean, he asked questions and if you didn’t give the proper answers (to his liking, IMPO) then they slid the little door shut and you waited til the next day for another chance at it.

Once in the main system, this is what I saw/experienced:

As in ITU, there was NO therapy. There was NO “treatment”. You were given the meds your outside psychiatrist had ALREADY prescribed for you (unless they reduced or cut them off), and that was it.

ITU “therapist” meetings were to decide: “Does he get out of ITU today or not?”. Nothing more.

Main system “therapist” meetings were extremely infrequent. You could ASK to see a therapist, but that was a request…it could very easily be denied.

And I think everyone KNEW that the therapists weren’t there to give “therapy”, because the vast majority of requests that *I* saw/heard about were about getting things done such as obtaining a form necessary to put numbers on for people you could call, getting paper to actually write on if you wanted to communicate with someone outside the facility, etc…

This whole Op-Ed piece is written pretty chaotically, but I think it gets the point(s) across.

IF YOU KNOW SOMEONE AT BSH, AND YOU CARE ABOUT THEM:

Make sure they’re being treated humanely.

Latin Insult Exchanges Of The Olllllld West

In case anyone’s interested, I found this pretty darn good-looking Latin translation site with a pretty darn interesting discussion on what was really “said” in the bottom-residing clip.

(Latin translation site): You’re not so bad yourself, big boy.

Oh, I bet you tell that t- NYAH!

Anyhoo, you may find this informative and/or interesting, as it shows that in Latin the “literal” translation isn’t always the “literary” translation.

http://latindiscussion.com/forum/latin/latin-conversation-in-the-movie-tombstone.6909/

10/16/16: FAIR USE: CRITICISM – Good scene from an ok movie. (housekeeping)

Forgotten Kingdoms – A Decent, Beautifully Coded Joke

With occasional good role-playing. And zombies.

All of the previous caveats still apply (search for “Forgotten Kingdoms”), with the following updates:

A short list of at-least-pretty-well-played characters to hope you run into should you play:
-Areia
-Andreas
-Zethanon
Some female Cyricist who was with Zethanon
-Demitrias
-Daerin
Some female Tymoran whose name begins with “A” and was with Daerin
Some male Kelemvorite whose name begins with “C”
And the rest from before, plus a few others probably that I can’t think of or never ran into (played both Evil and Good, so not that many).

So…definitely gotten better, as far as PLAYERS go, OVERALL: Some old ones coming back that are good, that female Tempusian hands-behind-back-er nowhere to be seen, Casamir and his “single-bent-talon/clipped voice” two-trick pony act almost never there, absolutely HORRID roleplay very difficult to find (to be fair, so is GREAT roleplay, as the mean is still “mediocre”, but still, an improvement).

However…on the apples front…

Here’s what happened to a recent character from an UNKNOWN player (that is, the Imms had no idea who was playing the character, since the connection was from TMC and had TMC’s IP address, the same as everyone else that logs in from TMC…therefore, it was basically a “new player” as far as they were concerned):

Constable in the Market Center suddenly, for no reason, takes a pair of red tights and puts them on, talking about how they make him look slimming.
BUT…
A character drinks like literally 15 bottles of hard liquor, is COMPLETELY wasted, throws up repeatedly, falls down in his own puke, gets back up again, walks around covered in puke, throws up a few more times, walks RIGHT BY at least two guards, one of whose JOB is to watch for “Drunks and Hooligans” whilst covered in puke and staggering, goes a bit down the street, throws up, and collapses in a pool of his own vomit.

Reaction by guard in tavern, guard “watching” for drunks, and Constable: Nothing.

Reaction by guard, in the same room, as character THROWS UP ALL OVER A SHOPKEEPER’S FLOOR: Nothing.

I mean, he could not have been more drunk, or more covered in vomit, or staggering more…he basically did as close as you can to walking up to a guard and saying drunkenly “I’m drunk you stupid fck arrest me!!!!!” and the reaction? Nothing.

So, come on…the way the Imm’s handle NPC animation, this is JV at the administrative level as well as the play level.

I mean if you like jokes you might like it…but “staying in character???” When that’s how the people that JUDGE ROLEPLAY roleplay the NPC’s? Come on….funny, and sad. Are you JOKING me? (C. Sheen from ‘Platoon’ again).

Priceless: I KNOW an Imm was online, and did nothing to make the NPC’s AT ALL realistic, because as my character was lying on the ground ON A MAIN STREET DURING THE DAY COVERED IN VOMIT, instead of doing anything useful they made some (I’m sure handy-dandy) changes and typed “OOC: Copyover in a sec.”…”OOC: Copyover incoming.” …after seeing a question on the “Ask” channel (because they see EVERYTHING on the “Ask” channel) that basically asked, in a really nice, polite way, after waiting about 15 IRL minutes “Hey, can you come and arrest me here?”.

Was my character “trying for attention?” No. Was I “testing the Imm’s?” No. I was playing a character that was intelligent, talented, somewhat charismatic, confident…but, for a very good reason, was STARTING as inspired by drunken, hitting-on-Uhura James T. Kirk from ‘Star Trek (2009)’.

Because, you know, a character should change slightly in 10-15 years. *AHEM*

So, the plan was, in-character, he’d START like that (with a pretty decent background I must say) and then – depending on circumstances – he’d change, one way or another. You know…like characters in movies do, unless they’re directed by Ed Wood or the guy that made ‘Manos’ on a bet.

Like, how Kirk at 20 and Kirk at 35 are NOT exactly the same. Kinda makes sense, to me.

Oh…as far as the “only one account” thing goes…come on. I KNOW for a fact that at least one player has made multiple accounts, and judging from the way players come, leave for months, years…come back…come on. You’re naive if you don’t think like J. Phoenix about this (“Nobody knows what nobody knows, you know what I mean?”)

In conclusion, what FK post would be complete without a Gwain analysis, so here’s one:

I was thinking…Gwain is sort of like to FK what George F. Will from that SNL skit was to baseball: Knows EVERY SINGLE THING about the game, a virtual encyclopedia of information…but not a CLUE as to how to use that information in ANY useful way.

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/george-f-wills-sports-machine/n9910

11/15/16: FAIR USE: CRITICISM – A great sketch displaying how sometimes people can be OVERLY intellectual.

MUD Top Ten Rankings – Pupdate

There may very well be other MUSH’s and the like that would qualify for my top ten.  However, since many MUSH’s entail LONG creation time and LONG wait time and LONG…etc, I have not fully explored them to be able to say which those might be.  This is because many of them (yes, I’ve gone through the LONG process) are NOT good roleplaying centers, despite the “rigorous” attention to creation, background, etc.

So the ones that ARE: Beyond ‘No Return’, I don’t know who you are, and if you’re desperate for good RP other MUSH’s *MIGHT* contain it.  It’s a question of slogging through all the cr@p in that hope.  There are – and I’d just like to be emphatic about this – NO other good roleplaying MUD’s out there, as of last complete scan of TMC.  I’ve tried them all.  No “possible” good ones.  MUSH’s are your last recourse if you don’t like my list.

Also, on a somewhat surprising note, one change in my Top Ten: ‘Forgotten Kingdoms’ is up from a shaky 10th to a good, solid 9th; right behind N/A, N/A, and N/A, but now clearly ahead of N/A.

Signs of progress: Less study-hall chit-chat in the Market Center, elevation of overall play.  Still not your first option, but there are DEFINITELY some (SOME) opportunities for decent roleplay.

Signs of no progress: Gwain is still there.

Note To Self – Check For A Response From Live365 To This Message

Hi, I’m having a problem with my Live365 station “Semper Puppy”. The broadcast listings show a TLH from yesterday which is impossible, given that I monitored the listeners and there is no way the TLH could be below a certain level, yet it is listed as well below that. I tried to ask for help via the website help function, but it didn’t work for some reason despite being filled out properly – it simply refused to “send” the message. When I tried calling for help, I was told that “Only Pro Broadcasters can receive telephone support.” So I’m not sure what to do, since both methods I’ve tried have failed. Can you advise me? Thanks.

Why You Should Listen To My Online Radio Station (Seriously)

1) I have absolutely no interest in encouraging you to become a VIP, since the ads (while mostly stupid) are brief and IMPO quite tolerable.
2) I will freely encourage you to use AdBlock Plus to stop most of the annoying ad sh1t they put on my station page.
3) I really don’t care what you rate the songs…really. So you don’t have to worry about me pretending to give a fck. I play it if I think it’s good. That’s all.
4) You will never, ever, ever hear “Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town”.
5) It doesn’t suck, because it’s already succeeded.
6) THERE IS NO REASON SIX

Pupdate – Forgotten Kingdoms

The roleplaying on FK has, overall, gotten slightly better since my previous rankings.

However, this is NOT due to a “general improvement” in roleplay…it’s due to a few good roleplayers playing a few different characters fairly regularly.

You can therefore find good roleplay much easier than when it was, say, one or two good RPers.

So, in essence, your chances of finding someone good amongst the sludgy cesspool of mediocrity is higher now than it was. Probably than it EVER was…how long that will last, of course, is completely up in the air: since the roleplaying of most remains mediocre, the point in playing depends on the continued playing of the few, the proud, the good FK roleplayers.

It WOULD, in all honesty, be perfect if FK had Armageddon’s RP quality. THEY DO NOT.

But if they DID, it would marry some really good aspects together.

Armageddon has the RP but lacks the sufficient and consistent help files, the overall friendly Imm presence, the overall friendly player presence (OOC), the visually pleasant appearance (no, it’s not “cuz the game is harsh”, though that’d be a good one)…and the life expectancy is just a LITTLE too grim. FK, on the other hand, has tons of mostly consistent and complete helpfiles, overall friendly Imm/Player presence (OOC), a pleasant visual experience…but there is virtual character immortality.

Two extremes on the life expectancy scale…somewhere in the middle would be nice.

IF FK ever retained the few good RPers they have, AND attracted new ones, AND the mediocre ones tried harder, AND the bad ones learned to at least be mediocre, AND the IDAA ones STOPPED PLAYING (Gwain: this means you) then FK would actually be superior to Armageddon, or any other MUD.

However, that is currently NOT the case, nor is it likely, given past experience, to ever be the case.

Semper Puppy Mach 2.2.2.2 – Rankings

Grunge: 1st
Classic Alternative: 7th
Indie Rock: 14th
Overall: 507th

All-Time Highs:
Grunge: 1st
Classic Alternative: 7th
Indie Rock: 14th
Overall: 464th

Last Updated: 1/12/16

1/14/16: NOTE: 1/12/16 will be the last update, barring a miracle.  With stations disappearing left and right, the numbers would begin to be a bit misleading.  But hey…I did as well as Mach 2.  Of course, you never forget your FIRST time… *sigh*

Hashtag ThreeTimeChamp

-Puppy >.< Yip!

OkC – Exploration Of A Strange New World (Part One)

Entry One: As I move through this strange new land, I find myself slowly becoming accustomed to the habits of the natives. I was surprised at first when I discovered that everyone here likes both ‘Amelie’ and ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’…but I’ve come to accept, if not fully comprehend, it.

Entry Two: Cursory examination of the landscape itself reveals apparent lacks of genuine substance in areas dubbed “fourth down the list” and “seventh down the list”. These areas appear, to the best of my estimation, suitable for occupying space between the other, more solid areas. As such I assume they are necessary, though I am at a loss to explain why or how they developed in the first place.

Entry Three: I have performed some basic testing on the natives. My results are shocking – though admittedly this is a VERY small minority, some of them have answered “Yes” to the following questions:
1) Would you sleep with a serial killer?
2) Would you date a cannibal?

Or perhaps the actions are reversed, I admit I am a bit shaken by the results. However, this does lead me to a conclusion that is very similar to the innovative ‘Penguin Experiments’ conducted many years ago:
These people score poorly when compared to primitive human sub-groups like the Bushmen of the Kalahari, but better than BBC Programme Planners. The clarity is devastating.

MUD Top Ten Rankings – Pupdate

So, I haven’t found any new MUX’s to add to my top ten list (their fault, not mine). I’m workin on it!!! There’s one that MIGHT be added, if like…anyone actually roleplays with me. Kinda necessary to judge.

BUT…I have noticed that, of the 6 included in my top ten rankings, the following has happened since I ranked them:

Forgotten Kingdoms: Down VERY slightly…but who cares?

Armageddon: No change (hard to go up from 2nd)

The Inquisition: Legacy: Up from 7th to 3rd

Burning Post II: Up from the mid-40’s to 18th

Harshlands: Up from high-60’s to 41st

No Return: No idea, haven’t followed it

So that’s pretty much:
1 Unknown (I suspect up, but not positive)
2 About the same
1 Up a fair amount
2 Up a LOT

Now, does this have anything to do with me?

I doubt it. But you never know. And it is deserved.

Coming soon to a MUX near you. MUAHAHAHAHAHA.

MUD Review – Threshold

No review of roleplay.

This is a MUD that heavily “encourages” you to PAY-TO-PLAY after you’ve played a certain number of hours…if you don’t, you eventually show up on a list. What is this, ScarletLetter MUD?

I mean…it isn’t the pay aspect that bothers me. It’s the fact that you don’t necessarily FIND OUT about this until you’ve invested some time in the game…therefore making it possible you’ll like it (or hate it, I have no idea) and THEN find out, thereby making it more likely you’ll pay.

I just don’t agree with that.

MUD Review: The Search Continues…

I won’t mention the MU(x) name, since I didn’t actually play it…just a quote here:

“Brambling pages: you will need to think about the other things, and then justify it in the questionnaire. You are making a STARTING character…”

Apparently, it’s not appropriate for a STARTING character to be “very good” (4) at something they’ve practiced for 21 years…there.

Well…in my subjective opinion.

and ON, and ON, and ON…

“(An Imm, name withheld cuz they weren’t a 4 at anal-retentive) says, “You may do what you wish. It is your opinion.”

Thank you.

*SATIRE…SATIRE…SATIRE*

MUD Reviews – Top Ten

EDIT: Includes the occasional MUSH, where noted.

To make things a bit easier, I’ve decided to rank all the MUDs I’ve played (excluding those that are no longer active) in order of quality of roleplay.

These are all at least SOMEWHAT worth your time…the lower you go, the less so. Anything on here has at least SOME value, though…as there are dozens if not hundreds of MUDs I’ve played that range from mediocre down to so-bad-they’re-not-even-worthy-of-mention. Sort of like how I don’t review sh1t movies anymore (besides zombies, d@mn them!)…if it’s between wretched and at least of slight quality, there’s only so many ways to say “This is a really bad movie.”

EDIT, 9/12/15: Everything on TMC’s Top 20 has been tried. If it doesn’t appear here, it’s not worth your time (for roleplay). It may be worth your hack n slash, pure PK, or other time(s)…but not roleplay.

EDIT, 9/12/15: A little more than halfway through every “Roleplay-Enforced” MUD listed on TMC. Sad but true. Please, four more.

The fact this list isn’t complete shows you I have high standards! Make use of that.

Note these are ranked according to QUALITY OF ROLEPLAY. They may be (and some certainly are) deficient in other areas (helpfiles, player/imm courtesy, ease of functions, etc…)

1) Armageddon
2) Harshlands
3) The Inquisition: Legacy
4) Burning Post II
5) No Return (MUSH)
6) N/A
7) N/A
8) N/A
9) Forgotten Kingdoms
10) N/A
T-11th) Any other MU(x). The law of averages insists there’s at least one good roleplayer SOMEWHERE on a given MU(x). Maybe you have to wait a month. *shrug* But I’m not gonna spend 20 hours to find The One *R* on every single otherwise mediocre-at-best MU(x). If you *CAN* find them, STICK TO THEM LIKE GLUE.

After this, to be honest, they do tend to get a little f@cken boring.

That’s why I stopped!

Last updated: 12/29/15

MUD Review – The Inquisition: Legacy (Plus Bonus Footage)

Ok, so ‘The Inquisition: Legacy’ is moving rapidly up the TMC top 20. And probably rightfully so. Visiting recently, I found almost every player and Imm friendly, helpful, and pleasant.

The roleplay is, as with any MUD, varied. There are some people that do it very well, there are some people that do it very badly, and there are lots of people in the middle.  I would add, in TIL’s favor, that – unlike say…oh, I don’t know…FK – they actually ARE Roleplay-Intensive. Roleplaying actually IS required. You have to actually play a CHARACTER. So, at least the mediocre role-players are mediocre roleplayers PLAYING CHARACTERS as opposed to say…oh, I don’t know…mediocre roleplayers doing a hang-out chat on a MUD, with nametags required to differentiate them from one another.

So I recommend TIL. And you know me…I’m a fairly harsh critic. If you like roleplaying (and can deal with the setting, of course, which is based on Medieval Inquisition-ish times) this is pretty high on the list. It’s not ‘Armageddon’, but…it’s high up.

It’s improving, too…both codewise and player-base wise. Not that more players means they’re all BETTER…but the more there are, the greater the chance…etc.

However, I don’t think I’ve ever had a reaction, from another character, in character, that was as incredibly, mind-numbingly stupid as the following:

“”Do you have more than one string on your viol, miss Dalton?…I am no musician, but I am confident that a musical piece should have more than one note played at varying speeds.” Moxie Von Demuregan says, drumming her fingers on the table.”

This is after player writes ELEVEN PARAGRAPHS describing how the song is NOT all the same, edits them AT LEAST a dozen times, and makes them as COMPLETELY EVOCATIVE as possible.

I mean, Moxie…did you even read the descriptions? Or did you close your eyes after the first paragraph? And also…are you intentionally trying to play a completely moronic character? Because if you ARE, then…well, I stand corrected, and you’re doing brilliantly. Otherwise I just…I mean, if you’re playing a character with above-moronic intelligence, you shouldn’t play them as moronic. That’s just bad form for an RPI, RP-Enforced MUD.

AT LEAST four other people (I’m being conservative here) read the same text and said, basically, some variation of “That was absolutely beautiful”, “Words can’t describe it”, “That was Heavenly”, “Amazing”…the list goes on. Oh, and many emoted having their mouths drop open, staring in amazement, being on the verge of tears, etc. So, ummm…I think the problem here is one player has no fcken clue. I mean…there are BLIND PLAYERS on TIL that can read better than Mox.

Instead of eleven carefully-written paragaphs (the length of which player of Moxie did NOT complain about…they made it clear it was the “just one note”) I probably would have gotten a more positive reaction if I had typed the following:

“pmote plays a note.

pmote plays a different note.

pmote finish.”

EDIT, 9/8/15: To those that say: “Well, anything’s okay if it’s IC” my response is this: Any SUBJECTIVE response IC to another character is one thing…a response that ignores A SPECIFICALLY STATED FACT is another. You can’t just pretend something happened that didn’t, didn’t happen that did, or speak in gibberish in terms of your reactions to other characters, cuz you feel like it. Unless you’re playing an insane idiot.

I mean, I know music is subjective…but some things are just OBVIOUS…like, if you listen to a 5-piece band play and say you only heard one instrument…and you don’t have a hearing problem…you’re quite clearly…something.

Here’s the song I describe with ELEVEN PARAGRAPHS to get her response.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc6e8NOswOg

I think you’ll notice, after the REALLY long intro (I started at around 2:23, so skip til then…Given 6 paragraphs), there appears to be a slight change in volume and sound (at 3:03, given 4 paragraphs…1 paragraph was the fading sound). Maybe that’s just me.

EDIT, 9/10/15: The volume of the call-and-response is actually a combination of the parts at 2:23 (softer) and the parts earlier beginning at 1:10 (louder, harsher), and then even louder, each(!) note(!!) more distinct(!!!) as it grows. Just FYI.

I think this is the proper response to Mox’s judgement:

Of course, this is ALL just my personal opinion and/or satire.

Ummm…judge for yourself. And play more than one note, d@mnit!

10/16/16: FAIR USE: CRITICISM – Good clips. From movies. (housekeeping)

A Pre-Emptive Retort, And Final Word (It’s Too Easy)

I do, in fact, have YEARS of experience with FK.

My characters (well, a few at least) were loved and received many compliments.

I was there when Dalvyn and Gwain played, and recently with Liora and…unfortunately, still Gwain.

I’ve known the game, very well, for many years.

I’ve seen the vast improvements in every area but one.

It is…a subjective opinion.

But…it is not one made out of bitterness. It IS my genuine opinion.

Roleplay has always been mediocre, with a few exceptions.

And it still is…there’s been no advancement whatsoever.

I’ve gone back, and back, over and over. Why? I think a current player summed it up well when they said to me OOC “It’s like crack.” You know it’s bad, and you don’t WANT to…but you just can’t help it. For me…it’s the glimmer of hope, at finding the two or three good roleplayers in the entire game.

I’d like to emphasize, also, that I have NEVER been officially asked to leave by a member of staff. And, according to their rules…they CAN do that.

All IMPO of course.

-SUBJECT RELAYING ACCURATE ACCOUNT, THOUGH SOME STATEMENTS SUBJECTIVE; NO PHYSIOLOGICAL CHANGES-

And now, a bit of fun (SATIRE…SATIRE…SATIRE):

Theory: FK is, in fact, the great lost work of the magnificent L.F. Dibley; an undiscovered Festering, a monumental achievement, and an unrivaled statement on the proper length, format, and content of optimum roleplay. Vis:

(3:58-4:32)

Bye FK…if there’s any relevance to TMC’s rankings regarding adherence to type (in this case, listed: “Roleplay Enforced”), you will fade and be forgotten.

10/16/16: FAIR USE: CRITICISM – A good clip from a great show. (housekeeping)