You say you will, but you know you won't
Aug. 2nd, 2004 10:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kingandyFriday: Bolton bla bla bla ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ghostbritain bla bla bla birthday bla bla bla pubbage[1] bla bla bla fun. Did not snog anybody. This is largely because it was me, samharber and the ARMY OF COUPLES. And while Sam has said he would do me in the past[2], tonight he was not nearly drunk enough.
Saturday was great, the day consisted of a small amount of shopping followed by four hours of Firefly. I still object to the overdone Wild West imagery - dirty and functional is all well and good but the ship's kitchen is straight out of the Waltons. On reflection this only surfaces occasionally, but it always annoys me (Playing horseshoes in the hold?). Still, the writing is easily good enough to compensate.
After Firefly I abandonedghostbritain, shunning his weekend-after-Birthday all-you-can-eat buffet in favour of a night in Rock World with stsquad, zheers and assorted friends. It's the first time I've been there, and it wasn't quite so bad as I expected (but then I did have some horrifically low expectations, which always helps you enjoy something). Spent far too much time attached by various means to zheers, who as ever was enormously affectionate right up to the point where he apologised. Did eventually find myself in his bed, but this was because I needed to sleep, and he was wired on Speed and wasn't going to be using it. Sigh. Still, at least there was snoggage.[3]
Sunday: Woke up, for the first time ever, next to a woman I only met the previous day. Did more shopping and finally bought a crappy wedding gift for my cousin. Eventually chose an oil-pouring thing, something useful that they may or may not have already. (They did have a list, but everything in my price range was gone, bought by other people.) Am determined thatarwel and icklejo will get something wholly useless from me to celebrate their marriage, possibly laser tag or a board game. Or handcuffs. While in town, accidentally slipped and fell directly upon HMV, and when I got up I found I had acquired the second series of Randall & Hopkirk [Deceased] (Vic & Bob version), as well as three random computer games from the Buy Two Get One Free deal. These were Thief II, an RPG called Enclave and The Temple Of Elemental Evil A Classic Greyhawk Adventure.
Have so far installed The Temple Of Elemental Evil A Classic Greyhawk Adventure, and it's all good so far - though I think I may have skipped ahead in the plot a little, having gone straight for the contact and found the next area instead of bimbling around town solving subquests. I will probably head back to town, since I'm having no luck fighting these swarms of zombies and ogres as a first-level party. Though it does assume a serious preknowledge of the d20 3.5 rules, I've found no real problems so far. Niggles are that they don't seem to have included the ability for clerics to swap out their spells for healing, and there doesn't seem any way to disengage from a fight - no running away up the stairs, you have to fight to the death. I suppose it makes a certain amount of sense, since in a paper-and-pencils game you wouldn't have the "upstairs is an entirely different area" aspect, but it's still annoying when I'm officially still fighting the ogre in the next room (though he hasn't actually seen me yet) and I want to go away and rest up.
Still, mighty pretty.
After HMV I also stopped at Forbidden Planet where they'd run out of comic boxed but I bought Spyboy anyway (though it was issue #2 - grr! Why does nobody tell me when these things are starting up again?), then went to Books Etc where I picked up Death: At Death's Door (a manga-style Sandman tie-in tale that takes place during Season Of Mists), and Creature Tech (a fantastic science adventure story from Doug Tennapel, creator of Earthworm Jim). Both are excellent. Creature Tech is about a plot by a mad zombie scientist to conquer the world with a giant space eel. This involves a demonic hand and the Shroud of Turin. It is so cool.
[1] As opposed to "Pubidj", which is just silly. Pubbage, like Babbage and cabbage and cribbage.
[2] His three constraints are (1) female, (2) hot and (3) breathing, and apparently two out of three is all he requires. This may have been a drunken lie. At least I hope it was, for the sake of hot female corpses the world over.
[3] See [1].
[4] The amazing recurring footnote[4].
ghostbritain bla bla bla birthday bla bla bla pubbage[1] bla bla bla fun. Did not snog anybody. This is largely because it was me, samharber and the ARMY OF COUPLES. And while Sam has said he would do me in the past[2], tonight he was not nearly drunk enough.Saturday was great, the day consisted of a small amount of shopping followed by four hours of Firefly. I still object to the overdone Wild West imagery - dirty and functional is all well and good but the ship's kitchen is straight out of the Waltons. On reflection this only surfaces occasionally, but it always annoys me (Playing horseshoes in the hold?). Still, the writing is easily good enough to compensate.
After Firefly I abandoned
ghostbritain, shunning his weekend-after-Birthday all-you-can-eat buffet in favour of a night in Rock World with stsquad, zheers and assorted friends. It's the first time I've been there, and it wasn't quite so bad as I expected (but then I did have some horrifically low expectations, which always helps you enjoy something). Spent far too much time attached by various means to zheers, who as ever was enormously affectionate right up to the point where he apologised. Did eventually find myself in his bed, but this was because I needed to sleep, and he was wired on Speed and wasn't going to be using it. Sigh. Still, at least there was snoggage.[3]Sunday: Woke up, for the first time ever, next to a woman I only met the previous day. Did more shopping and finally bought a crappy wedding gift for my cousin. Eventually chose an oil-pouring thing, something useful that they may or may not have already. (They did have a list, but everything in my price range was gone, bought by other people.) Am determined that
arwel and icklejo will get something wholly useless from me to celebrate their marriage, possibly laser tag or a board game. Or handcuffs. While in town, accidentally slipped and fell directly upon HMV, and when I got up I found I had acquired the second series of Randall & Hopkirk [Deceased] (Vic & Bob version), as well as three random computer games from the Buy Two Get One Free deal. These were Thief II, an RPG called Enclave and The Temple Of Elemental Evil A Classic Greyhawk Adventure.Have so far installed The Temple Of Elemental Evil A Classic Greyhawk Adventure, and it's all good so far - though I think I may have skipped ahead in the plot a little, having gone straight for the contact and found the next area instead of bimbling around town solving subquests. I will probably head back to town, since I'm having no luck fighting these swarms of zombies and ogres as a first-level party. Though it does assume a serious preknowledge of the d20 3.5 rules, I've found no real problems so far. Niggles are that they don't seem to have included the ability for clerics to swap out their spells for healing, and there doesn't seem any way to disengage from a fight - no running away up the stairs, you have to fight to the death. I suppose it makes a certain amount of sense, since in a paper-and-pencils game you wouldn't have the "upstairs is an entirely different area" aspect, but it's still annoying when I'm officially still fighting the ogre in the next room (though he hasn't actually seen me yet) and I want to go away and rest up.
Still, mighty pretty.
After HMV I also stopped at Forbidden Planet where they'd run out of comic boxed but I bought Spyboy anyway (though it was issue #2 - grr! Why does nobody tell me when these things are starting up again?), then went to Books Etc where I picked up Death: At Death's Door (a manga-style Sandman tie-in tale that takes place during Season Of Mists), and Creature Tech (a fantastic science adventure story from Doug Tennapel, creator of Earthworm Jim). Both are excellent. Creature Tech is about a plot by a mad zombie scientist to conquer the world with a giant space eel. This involves a demonic hand and the Shroud of Turin. It is so cool.
[1] As opposed to "Pubidj", which is just silly. Pubbage, like Babbage and cabbage and cribbage.
[2] His three constraints are (1) female, (2) hot and (3) breathing, and apparently two out of three is all he requires. This may have been a drunken lie. At least I hope it was, for the sake of hot female corpses the world over.
[3] See [1].
[4] The amazing recurring footnote[4].
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Firefly's overdone theme-stylings
Date: 2004-08-02 05:29 am (UTC)Then I caught another one and was pleasantly surprised by the good quality of story and characteristaion and at how funny (ha ha - in a good way) it could be. Then I watched most of the rest of them.
I think it is, on the whole, a higly enjoyable program and it never should have been cancelled. It was never given a chance to get the wild west/ space them right and it was never given a chance to allow an audience of regular viewers to develop. Mostly, it wasn't given a chance. I suspect it was like "hmmm, we're not getting as many viewers as Buffy, let's can it" without considering Buffy season 1's original viewing figures - which I doubt were huge either. Dang those corporate TV bosses!
Re: Firefly's overdone theme-stylings
Date: 2004-08-02 05:37 am (UTC)Buffy's first season ratings were through the roof, this is how they got a second season. It was a mid-season replacement for something else that got canned halfway through ... so the corporate TV system can work sometimes.
Re: Firefly's overdone theme-stylings
Date: 2004-08-02 06:14 am (UTC)So there you go. Plus, Jane has lots of other, non-wild-west-y guns.
I liked Firefly a lot, even though I was partially unsure during a couple of the first episodes when people wearing Starship Troopers body armour featured. The characters and dialogue is just fantastic, and was in no way a large part of the inspiration for the Black Kraken at Maelstrom (though that seems to have totally fallen by the wayside, hence my near-total lack of involvement with them this event...)
Re: Firefly's overdone theme-stylings
Date: 2004-08-02 06:37 am (UTC)I did occasionally think that in things like (f'rexample) ST:TNG there was a distinct overreliance on shiny tech - you would never have anything so simple as a box or a mug; it would be an electronic motorised metal carriage unit or a space mug. Everything had to be made of perspex and contain twinkly lights, and possibly rotating bits. While I am, as I say, happy to see the filthy functional tramp-steamer look back in fashion, I can't help but feel they should put more thought into "what's the cheapest way to do this" and less into "OMG COWBOYS".
Re: Firefly's overdone theme-stylings
Date: 2004-08-03 02:17 am (UTC)Which is why, of course, the Valarian Space Marines in EE "Doc" Smith's Lensman series use Space Axes. And planets.
Re: Firefly's overdone theme-stylings
Date: 2004-08-03 02:48 am (UTC)But then I've not read the Lensmen books so maybe it makes sense in context. The only Doc Smith book I've even seen was Planet Of Treachery! which I did not read because it's book seven in a series...
Must use fewer ellipses...
Re: Firefly's overdone theme-stylings
Date: 2004-08-03 04:41 am (UTC)And then you invent an antimatter sphere as large as a planet for when someone sends one or two at you.
Look, it was the thirties ... everyone was doing coruscating energies ... I fell in with a bad crowd.
Re: Firefly's overdone theme-stylings
Date: 2004-08-02 06:43 am (UTC)shiny
Date: 2004-08-02 07:10 am (UTC)Re: shiny
Date: 2004-08-02 07:29 am (UTC)Re: shiny
Date: 2004-08-02 07:32 am (UTC)Re: shiny
Date: 2004-08-02 07:34 am (UTC)Re: Firefly's overdone theme-stylings
Date: 2004-08-02 10:53 am (UTC)Get over it. It's a stylisation that makes the show different. It makes sense, although the explanations are only given to justify the inclusion, if you follow...
It's a nice idea, it's different, it's fucking funny, incredibly well characterised and fun all the way.
If it didn't go all the way, it would just be ripping off several ST:TNG/Voyager episodes.
But then, i never like Star Trek tech. It was always too shiney and did everything.
I liked Alien because the crew were idiots who essentially only knew how to keep the ship flying using string and gaffa tape.
I like the Millenium Falcon for much the same reasons.
I like Firefly partly because of the old west feel.
Look at Enterprise - That was supposed to be what Firefly is - a ship full of chancers rocketing into space, not actually knowing what they were getting themselves into with very primitive tech.
Unfortunately, it looks higher tech than ST:TNG in many ways (the displays for a start...)
Nope, you and Andy are wrong.
I'm Queen...
Re: Firefly's overdone theme-stylings
Date: 2004-08-02 10:59 am (UTC)I like Firefly partly because of the old west feel.
reads, in my version, like this:
I like Firefly despite the old west feel.
As I say, tramp steamer dirty tech is good. It's the cowboy hats and string vests that stretch my suspension of disbelief.
OVERALL, GOOD.