Buys
The big news is that I finally got the DC Adventures RPG. It's so pretty, I want to play it. Looking through it, I do find the character creation rules to be a little bit more complex than other systems I'm used to, but I just need to start making heroes with it to see. It seems to me that it's more of a "power creation" system inside regular chargen, which is cool, because your not limited to a powers list per se. It puts the burden on the player's imagination to come up with a hero, not based on a shopping list, but out of thin air. Nothing wrong with that. I do wish the names for powers were more evocative to help spark those imaginations. For example, there is no Invisibility power - you have to put a visual component on an effect called Concealment. That kind of thing. Anyway, not getting to play it this semester for sure, so a good 4 months to experiment with it.
I also got the complete Angel boxed set, on account of my being so far into Buffy, I really need to look at the other side of the 'verse. And Kung Fu Hustle, because my Kung Fu Friday Fans (KFFFs) have been begging for me to put it on our watch list for weeks.
"Accomplishments"
DVDs: Moving right along with my Buffy experience, I just flipped Series 5. It's a very strong season that explores, among other things, mortality, what it means to be a Slayer, Spike's history, and Buffy's retrofitted sister Dawn. All very well realized - we even get to see a couple of cool past Slayers - but the real gem in the middle of the season is The Body, which had me in tears even through the commentary track. It may actually beat Battlestar Galactica at year's end in my Best TV Episode I Watched in 2010 category. The DVD includes commentaries on a select few episodes - only one is spoilery this time, Jane Espensen can't help herself, grrr - as well as a nice selection of featurettes. These are fluffier than usual, I though, but still fun and interesting.
Kung Fu Friday brought us Martial Club, a Lau Kar Leung comedy about rival schools getting into misunderstandings and fights, and starring Gordon Liu (as a version of Wong Fei-Hung no less) and My Young Auntie herself, Kara Hui Ying-Hung. It's an almost exhausting wall-to-wall fight extravaganza, with Lau Kar Leung's usual prowess and innovations. More than that, Lau Kar Leung likes to teach us something about the martial world, and so we learn about lion dances, about what martial clubs take as insults and about the importance of stances. The slim extras include yet another lion dance demonstration, but not that much more.
New Unauthorized Doctor Who CCG cards: 24, finishing off Battlefield's crop. Next weekend, I think I'll do Amy's Choice.
Hyperion to a Satyr posts this week:
I.v. Swearing Oaths - French Rock Opera
The big news is that I finally got the DC Adventures RPG. It's so pretty, I want to play it. Looking through it, I do find the character creation rules to be a little bit more complex than other systems I'm used to, but I just need to start making heroes with it to see. It seems to me that it's more of a "power creation" system inside regular chargen, which is cool, because your not limited to a powers list per se. It puts the burden on the player's imagination to come up with a hero, not based on a shopping list, but out of thin air. Nothing wrong with that. I do wish the names for powers were more evocative to help spark those imaginations. For example, there is no Invisibility power - you have to put a visual component on an effect called Concealment. That kind of thing. Anyway, not getting to play it this semester for sure, so a good 4 months to experiment with it.I also got the complete Angel boxed set, on account of my being so far into Buffy, I really need to look at the other side of the 'verse. And Kung Fu Hustle, because my Kung Fu Friday Fans (KFFFs) have been begging for me to put it on our watch list for weeks.
"Accomplishments"
DVDs: Moving right along with my Buffy experience, I just flipped Series 5. It's a very strong season that explores, among other things, mortality, what it means to be a Slayer, Spike's history, and Buffy's retrofitted sister Dawn. All very well realized - we even get to see a couple of cool past Slayers - but the real gem in the middle of the season is The Body, which had me in tears even through the commentary track. It may actually beat Battlestar Galactica at year's end in my Best TV Episode I Watched in 2010 category. The DVD includes commentaries on a select few episodes - only one is spoilery this time, Jane Espensen can't help herself, grrr - as well as a nice selection of featurettes. These are fluffier than usual, I though, but still fun and interesting.
Kung Fu Friday brought us Martial Club, a Lau Kar Leung comedy about rival schools getting into misunderstandings and fights, and starring Gordon Liu (as a version of Wong Fei-Hung no less) and My Young Auntie herself, Kara Hui Ying-Hung. It's an almost exhausting wall-to-wall fight extravaganza, with Lau Kar Leung's usual prowess and innovations. More than that, Lau Kar Leung likes to teach us something about the martial world, and so we learn about lion dances, about what martial clubs take as insults and about the importance of stances. The slim extras include yet another lion dance demonstration, but not that much more.New Unauthorized Doctor Who CCG cards: 24, finishing off Battlefield's crop. Next weekend, I think I'll do Amy's Choice.
Hyperion to a Satyr posts this week:
I.v. Swearing Oaths - French Rock Opera
Comments
It feels very comic book-y, in a good way. At the time, I didn't know Riley from Adam, but I was still moved by his departure episode, and The Body is, of course, devastating. The finale is one of my favorite hours of TV. I'm glad the show stuck around, but that would have made an awesome series finale.