Sunday, June 29, 2008

Millions of years old

In the dead of night, when we gaze up at the sea of stars above, what we are seeing is light, tens of millions of years old. It travels millions of light years across the universe, until it's finally absorbed by our optic centers. Now imagine what kind of insubstantial, deep space photons this light is carrying. Light that has traveled across the galaxy. Light that could be as old as the dinosaurs. Light that carries unknown properties, in minute amounts. Light that enters into our eye, into our brain, into our mind. Now imagine that you sit in a field, or some other area where the amount of light spilling from the urban landscape is at a minimum. You're out in the forest somewhere, far away from civilization. Its just you and the stars. Now imagine you lay in this field all night, not sleeping, but staring up at the stars. Now imagine you have a tent, and you sleep all day, and each night you gaze at the heavens above, absorbing the ancient light into your retina. Eventually, the cosmic rays will cause some kind of transformation. Right? The question is, how long will it take. How long will it take before the cosmic rays from the far reaches of the galaxy, carrying alien photons, change the structure of your brain, re-shaping your frontal lobe, causing you to develop incredible psychic powers. Imagine being able to control people with your mind! Imagine the power of crushing a person's heart with just a thought! Imagine what it means to be a true god of the universe! Feel the energy of this dimension and the next course through your veins!

Monday, June 16, 2008

Its official, 4th edition Dungeons and Dragons sucks my balls. Despite the fact that Wizards of the Coast say they are NOT trying to compete with WOW and it's ilk, its fairly obvious they are. It seems to be aimed at 13 year old boys who want to smash orcs. Well, I guess it was always aimed at 13 year old boys, but still, it held somekind of an attraction to older, more mature players. Not it seems the roleplaying aspect has diminished considerably. All the skills, feats and spells are far more combat specific. Anything that had strictly a roleplaying effect, with no relevance to combat has been completely removed. It either works in battle, or it ain't needed in the game. It seems they really want people to play this online. I mean, who really needs to talk to real people, when you can do it all online! While I do have friends who stick to 2nd Edition, I think I will stick with 3.5.

On a side not, "The Happening" wasn't really very good, although it would have made a great short film. And "Chocolate" was also a slight disappointment. Wasn't nearly as much ass kicking as I thought there was going to be. Plus, Jee Ja Yanin doesn't have the speed that Tony Jaa or Dan Chupong have. Yes, there is a great tribute to Jackie Chan during the factory fight scene, and it does pick up towards the end, but some of it is so uninspired and recycled from other, far better, Thai action films. Still, she does learn to fight by watching Ong Bak, which is kind of funny.