Timewaster's Guide Archive

Tage and I saw it last night, and we agree that it is simply awesome. The fights and chases are incredible, the new revelations are amazing, and the new information regarding the world of the movie (Zion, rogue programs, the nature of the matrix, the nature of the One) are wild and exactly what I was looking for. The dialogue and pop philosophy are about on par with the first movie, so make your own judgements on that. In general I have to say that I think I like this one better than the first--it didn't show me brand new effects, but it showed me depth of character and setting that the first one lacked. An incredible movie.

It is rated R for two reasons: first, there is a sex scene between Neo and Trinity that doesn't show anything other than facial expressions, but it's intercut with shots of sweaty dancing people and leaves no room for interpretation. Second, one guy gets shot in the head. If you ever watch CSI, you've seen more gruesome stuff than this. On the whole, the movie is less bloody and has far less swearing than the first movie (the latter because Cypher's not in it).

If I have a complaint, it's that a couple of the fight scene graphics were a little too CG. The scene where Neo fights a zillion Agent Smiths had a couple of shots that looked pretty fake and video game-y, but given the nature of the matrix I suppose that makes sense in some kind of cosmic way.

I guess I haven't really given to many spoilers yet, so, um...sorry.

I've grown quite fond of the new FX series "Lucky." Does anyone else watch this?

Alright, this is a cool card.

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/feature/149

In the RPG threads we've been discussing the possibility of running an RPG here on the forum, so this section is where it will take place. At present the only game is Patriot City, the superhero game we're going to use to test the concept. If it works, and if people are interested, we can start more games in the future.

The way this forum game will work is thusly:

1) If you want to play, post here or email me directly. We don't want a huge group, but I'm not going to turn anyone away at this point.

2) You and I, preferably using AIM, will create a character. This is a superhero game, and we'll be using Heroes Unlimited mixed with my little house rules. The important things to remember are that a) I'm not a rules lawyer, and tend to fudge a lot when I GM, and b) a forum game is primarily based on interaction, with very little call for mechanics and such. If a skill check or combat roll becomes necessary, I'll do the rolling and tell you what happened. It's theoretically possible to play without even thinking about the rules, so don't worry if you don't know how HU works.

3) The game will have a board of it's own, called Patriot City. Within this board we'll have a thread for tha actual game, and maybe another thread where I post random news stories and rumors. If the group splits up, we may split into other threads. I won't make any of you create new profiles, and I probably won't even limit board access--anyone can read and post, so please use some common courtesy and only post where you're allowed to. (I might have to change this if it becomes a problem.)

4) A few etiquette rules will make things easier. Write your character name at the top of each post, so we don't get confused. If you're speaking out of character, use italics. If you're in character but not actually saying something out loud, write normally. Actual dialogue spoken by your character should be in quotes. so for example:

Gee, what a fun game!
Do I recognize the man who's following us?
"Hey you! Why are you following us!"
If he gives me any trouble, I'll shoot my eye beams at him and dive for cover.

5) Let the preparations begin!

Hot diggity dog. I think this trailer is officially cooler than the Two Towers trailer, which was the coolest trailer of all time.

http://whatisthematrix.warnerbros.com/rl_cmp/sequel_trailers.html

I'd like to announce that late last night my wife started having really strong contractions, so we went to the hospital (American Fork Hospital, for those in the know) and it turned out that their very small maternity ward was completely full. 100%. So we went to Utah Valley and got in, but by this time Dawn was barely coherent and Audrey, who was still with us because we couldn't find a babysitter, was screaming in the back beause she was hungry. I contemplated checking her in to the pediatric ward just to get her off my hands, but I saw my next-door neighbor in the lobby waiting while her husband had his finger stitched back on after a sink disposal accident, so I left my daughter with her and took Dawn up to the maternity ward. Labor, delivery, etc., a few hours later we had not one but two baby boys, exactly 5 lbs each. We were thinking of naming them Benjamin and Ethan, but Romulus and Remus were too good to pass up.

Also, I'd like to wish everybody a happy April Fool's day.

The unspoken subtext of this article is that Pokemon wasn't doing them any good, so they made a low offer and didn't argue when it wasn't accepted. This will certainly be a financial hit for WotC, but it offers them the chance to free up some people and resources to fill in with a better game.

Interesting, though, that the press release mentions all their other CCGs except for Harry Potter.