Grimmsy Grimmling IV is imminent. Like, today maybe. Or tomorrow. We’ll see.
Semper Puppy Radio is doing pretty well, actually. New records for listeners/countries…check it out at dapuppy.com
I’m now on Vampirefreaks.com. Why?
“My…dark destructive tastes…I chose…to stroll amongst the waste that was your heart…lost in the dark…”
Speaking of which, I wonder how CD2 is doing.
“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.
“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.
“The most beautiful emotion we can experience is the mystical. It is the power of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead. To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty, which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their most primitive forms—this knowledge, this feeling, is at the center of true religiousness. In this sense, and in this sense only, I belong to the rank of devoutly religious men.”
Shatner: dull. He drinks more as the movie goes on, suggesting a possibleway to tolerate it.
Family visit: sucks
Boy in a tree: sucks
Crime scene visit: kinda creepy
Santa and his zombie elves: cheezy cr@p
Ending: horrible
No, it’s not quite stupid enough to be funny.
No, you can’t just watch the non-sh1tty one, because it cuts back n’ forth between them all until the end.
Inspirational Quote: “Elves becoming the walking dead; no, it does not make any sense.”
Grade: F
Grimmsy Grimmling IV coming soon!
And after that, new Grimmsys will be ALL NEW! Like, you won’t be able to read them before they actually get made into comics! THINK of it!
In other news:
Semper Puppy Radio is doing…ok. Link to listen is at dapuppy.com
Check out the other two links at dapuppy.com – puppies n’ kitties are awesome!
I’m trying to think of something else but nothing happens!
Positives: Well-directed, interesting premise, solid acting.
Negatives: Moves too slowly, not creepy enough, not “believable” enough.
It’s about a man slowly going insane, his friend, and how it affects them both.
It gets more creepy and interesting as it goes along…slowly…at first.
Then, it plateaus with everything pretty much “laid out” for you. And it stays there. Until the end. Which is disappointing.
Too clinical, too step-by-step analytical, and not enough SCARY AS HELL.
Think Jack Nicholson from ‘The Shining’. The typing scene. That…is scary. REALLY creepy, convincing GOING CRAZY.
TAP…TAPTAP…TAPTAPTAP…TAPTAP…
This is not. It’s like it was made from the viewpoint of someone who had read a dozen books on severe mental illness, but never actually experienced anything close to it themselves.
Despite all that, its intent, the acting, the direction, the quality of it…make it interesting.
But don’t expect to be scared. Just…intrigued.
Cute moment: GHOST WARS
Grade: C-
Zomromcom about a boy who loves a girl so much that he comes back from the dead to fulfill his dream of taking her to the prom.
It’s totally deadpan: there’s no “horror”, because the tone just never allows for that.
It’s more like a typical high school “loser slowly wins over the most popular girl from the dumb jock with his sincerity” movie, except that the plot twists impacting the relationship (the focus of the film) are due to things like body parts falling off and a growing appetite for human flesh. You know, no big whoop.
The lead is very even-keeled despite his zombiehood, and doesn’t understand when other people are mildly confused by his return (that’s about as strong a reaction as he gets at first…maybe that’s a joke on how noone really paid attention to him when he was alive anyway).
His parents are blissfully ignorant of the fact that he’s come back from the dead in a “oh, hi, welcome back” everything-is-fine 50’s ‘Date With The Family’ sort of way. His mother stays just as pleasant as she adapts to his new appetite; like the rest of the movie, it’s amusing/interesting at first, but eventually runs out of ideas and “surprises” and becomes mostly just silly.
It does stay at least mildly interesting until right near the end, though, so it’s worth a watch. The ending is rather weak, but tolerable.
Inspirational Quote: “I was at the mortuary; they’re practically *giving* them away.”
Grade: C
I felt inspired to post the following PSA. You’re lucky.
When and if you drink, *always* drink responsibly. Vis:
FAIR USE: CRITICISM – Good clip from an unrecognized genius.
BTW, this post is number 3,333.
A remarkable accomplishment!
FAIR USE: CRITICISM – A clip from MST3K’s/Ed Wood’s ‘The Violent Years’, with horror levels almost as high as the movie ‘Shivers’.
The scariest thing about this movie is that, in researching it a bit, I found out that one of the things at the top of David Cronenberg’s wish list was/(is?) to work with Burt Reynolds. And NOT in a mockumentary.
The overall idea is interesting and the movie is disturbing – like most of Cronenberg’s work, I think – but despite some inherently disturbing scenes it’s decidedly un-scary; it seems like the idea was conceived well enough and then just written very poorly.
The doctor’s brief escape from the perilous pool scene reminded me a bit of Galahad’s just-in-time rescue from the Castle Anthrax.
Suggested dialogue upgrade (this did come out at around the same time, so it could have been L.F. Dibleyed):
(Doctor) *internal dialogue* “At this time I felt I was in great peril; however, something inside me insisted that I go back, and face the peril, even if perhaps it would be too perilous.”
OMG what a horrific, terrifying ending…(besides the rotten sax solo, I mean): Not since Ed Wood’s classic ‘The Violent Years’ couple-in-a-car scene has the male population of the world felt so incredibly threatened as by the second car leaving the garage.
In other news, this shows that you CAN, in fact, improve as a writer/director/filmmaker. Because, unlike some of Cronenberg’s later works, this sucks big-time.
Generous grade provided by the idea itself and a few halfway-decent scenes. And so as not to offend my Canadian readers.
Grade: D-
So let me get this straight…
An alien organism possessing (supposed) intelligence, that spreads and “infects” a THOUSAND times easier (even ACCIDENTALLY) than, I don’t know, let’s say…human-sized seed pods that take hours to function after being smuggled into your basement…and the ONE group they fail to target/infect is by easy definition one of – if not – THE most dangerous threat(s) to their assimilation aspirations?
I was gonna give it a D- for competence, a few mildly interesting scenes, and a nice little car-smothering chase. But when it didn’t go for the obvious, cliche (but competent and believable) ending, and instead chose the WTF, dumba$$, there’s no fcken way that would happen one, it lost even that.
There is nothing here that is not either:
– Totally predictable, OR
– Totally annoying in crushing any (almost-guaranteed superior) ideas you might have for it.
Try either of the ‘Body Snatchers’ movies (original or 70’s remake), ‘The Puppet Masters’ (borderline, but still), or anything else but this if you want the genre.
Great missed casting opportunities as extras: Keanu Reeves, Christian Bale, Nic Cage.
Inspirational Quote: “Yeah, we’re here. You wouldn’t believe this place, man; so much Nobel gold here you’d think you’re in Fort Knox…”
Grade: F
If you’re ever in a conflict with another (verbal, mental, physical, checkers…) and it becomes incredibly obvious that you’ve essentially won, but they simply refuse to concede defeat, just look at them and say with mild annoyance: “Look, you stupid b@stard, you’ve got no arms left!”
Saves a lot of time and hey, they ain’t worth it.
I think this could become the next great catchphrase in the Trump era.
*SATIRE…SATIRE…SATIRE*
FAIR USE: CRITICISM – The clip is intended to portray a conflict of words and also someone betrayed by their arrogance. It does both well.
Grimmsy Grimmling, part three. Posted and ready to be viewed or ignored! Make sure you scroll back and start with frame one first!
That’s the BOSTON Celtics.
Some interesting articles and, more importantly, some fairly intelligent and varied analysis in the comments.
Not recommended for non-Celtics fans, of course. But the level of commentary is generally far above the usual “comments section”.
Grimmsy the Third is coming IMMINENTLY! Or REALLY SOON.
But now, the antitheist vaudevillian:
FAIR USE: CRITICISM – It’s funny. You know, just funny.
FAIR USE: CRITICISM – Good clip from a good movie.
A mildly interesting opening take on the old (zombie) idea.
Unfortunately, all the slick direction and loud noises can’t mask the fact that the acting is either over- or mediocre.
The characters are mostly undefined, and the movie seems to say “oh, fck it” after a brief attempt at inspiration, content to devolve into the usual.
It picks up a little near the end, with a couple of interesting moments; but it’s still strictly for the zombie-movie-obsessed, and only if you must.
Grade: D-
To clarify, I do *not* oppose science.
I do not oppose science facts; and I wholeheartedly denounce “alternative” facts.
The point I have tried to make, via much more intelligent sources such as Paul Feyerabend and George Orwell, is that you should always think for yourself.
That doesn’t mean make up your own facts.
It means do careful research, gather input from all sources, analyze all the data available, and make a realistic, informed decision; taking into account facts and opinions, and ignoring outright lies and propaganda.
The ultimate enemy is propaganda, in ANY form. You can’t use propaganda to defeat propaganda; that’s called hypocrisy.
With an open mind and an open heart, always seek out the truth in your self and in the world. This is how to respond to “alternative facts”.
And, when you know something is propagandic BS, the very worst thing you can do is to ignore/accept it.
If you can’t oppose it, you can at the very least mock it.
You know…ridicule it. In public, yet.
Well whaddya know, Dick Dawk’s advice finally proves useful. For SOMETHING.
*SATIRE…SATIRE…SATIRE*
Suggested Reading: ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’. Yes, I read it…I even *reviewed* it!
I’m not sure about their main number, but here’s their alternative fax:
202-225-3121
“Don’t let the bastards get you down.”
“My daughter’s just discovering Nirvana…and…she…she’s realizing the energy; that energy that she feels when she listens to it…it’s not something that she’s heard from her generation. She hasn’t heard that. She told me; because I said ‘Ok, so nothing you’ve heard reminds you- “Uh, there’s nothing like that. Nothing is exactly like that.”‘ – Tori Amos
FAIR USE: CRITICISM – Cool clip from a movie I haven’t reviewed yet. I don’t think there’s much more to the entire movie than (things like) this, but hey it’s kinda cute.
Semper Puppy Radio – Modified slightly for your (tell a lie, my) enjoyment. Go to dapuppy.com and click on the far-right link.
Grimmsy Grimmling – I’m workin’ on it! ETA late this month.
Movie reviews – Should return on a non-consistent basis fairly soon.
DPT’s – As usual.
Other – *shrug* I dunno…inspire me.
Ad for ‘Salem Five’:
The kid playing the tuba did NOT survive the zombie apocalypse. (See the opening of ‘Land Of The Dead’).
And definitely didn’t hook up with Mr. B.
As the saying goes, you’re NOT gonna play well without using plenty of lip and tongue action.
To open: I think Trump is a scumbag and I in no way support him. HOWEVER…
“Protesters who assembled in the area — some throwing rocks and bricks at the police — had smashed car windows…Earlier in the day, protesters destroyed the glass front of a Bank of America and a Starbucks in the area; images captured some people holding hammers…”
So, to protest the election of a hateful candidate, you engage in violent, hateful, destructive activities? Yeah, that makes sense.
Also, you are aware – I hope – that being a police officer does not make you inherently a Trump supporter (amazing I’d have to say that, but see below), and that police officers preventing people from smashing windows has nothing to do with Trump. It’s called “their job”. You know…keeping the peace? Something you (I would assume) supposedly support?
Point of note: Just because you think Trump wants to set up a fascist “police-state” does not mean that ALL police officers are – on election day – SUDDENLY fascist opponents of freedom and ardent Trump supporters.
I mean, what are you, ignorant? Read a fcken book or something.
““Police officers,” a woman in the crowd grumbled, “are Trump supporters.””
What are you, a moron? Your actions and your rhetoric are just as ignorant and hateful as the rhetoric you’re SUPPOSEDLY protesting.
It’s called a PEACEFUL TRANSFER OF POWER. Respect it, you dumb fcks.
You wanna protest? Fine, protest. But do it peacefully. You know, like civilized, not-hateful, non-ignorant people. Like the people you supposedly are, not like the people you supposedly oppose.
“They chanted — “We are a peaceful protest!” — but by late morning, several shop windows in downtown Washington had been shattered…”
Ummmm…yeah.
By the way, you wanna know why Trump won? I mean, besides racism, sexism, misogyny, homophobia, xenophobia, etc…
But seriously, ONE small part of why he won is this: A lot of people that are NOT racist, sexist, misogynistic, homophobic, xenophobic a$$holes were just tired of the upward-trending snarky elitism from certain groups…
So way to go, antitheists. You’ve helped elect Donald Trump.
I think Dick Dawk’s “Mock them. Ridicule them in public.” method didn’t work QUITE as well as he’d (and they’d) hoped.
“…kind of a slob…and really just a boy, who’s never grown up. You know…I think sometimes when you uh…uh, have disturbing things as a child you kinda never wanna get out of your childhood because you want to keep it going and make it good, some day, you know?”
“Promise?”
“It means something that you can’t break…ever.”
“Uhhh…a friend…-”
“Is someone that you’d do anything for…”
“And they never break a promise.”
FAIR USE: CRITICISM – Great remake; inspired.
See ‘GoDaddy Customer Service – Pupdate’ (ignore the last little bit).
So, now football AND basketball fans are all incredibly stupid?
Chevy Silverado ad:
“blah blah”
“Oh, did I say there was *one* Silverado? There’s *five*”
*Silverados appear…people murmur, sort of like…”ok…”*
And that’s it.
Nothing about the Silverado.
Oh, did I say there was *one* piece of lint in my pocket? There’s *five*.
So fcken what you d@mn moron???
Make what you want of any of it, I know what it all means.
I am the God I AM THE GOD!
“Kirk: It’s been my experience that the prejudices people feel about each other disappear when they get to know each other.
Elaan: It’s not in my experience.”
FAIR USE: CRITICISM – Pretty good clip from a great movie. The beginnings of a friendship.
I think it would be great if they re-made the ST:TOS episode ‘The Changeling’, basically having it be the same except Nomad would respond slightly-altered thusly:
“Non-Sequitur. Puppies and kittens are cute.”
Look, I’m dapuppy. I’m dapuppy and I want my snausages.
