The Deconstructionist: Seduction of the Innocent

Filed Under BBT Magazine, Comic Books, The Deconstructionist, Censorship, Public Libraries, Milk and Cheese | 5 Comments

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The comic book geeks know what’s coming

I live in a major U.S. city—major. I won’t say the name because of the sensitive nature of what I’m about to discuss, but suffice it to say that this city I live in is one of the big ones-not New York big- we fail to see the point in such flagrant audacity- but we kick Seattle’s ass. Big. Major. Classy. Say our name and Chicago seethes with jealousy, Miami blushes with awe. That kind of city.
 
And we have the kind of public library system that a major city deserves: Diverse. Far-reaching. High-tech. Our library makes Philadelphia’s look like to magazine rack at the kind of third-rate bus-station you’d find in a place like Philly. Or Detroit. Or San Francisco. Our library kicks all their asses.
 

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Boom Boom on Location: Scurvy (part two)

Filed Under BBT Magazine, RPGs, Geeks, Very Silly People, BBT, Blacksmithing, Fantasy, Ender, Get Me Out Of Here, Nerds, Major Victory, Enterprise, Pete Tzinski, Boom-Boom, technology, Video Games, pirates of the burning seas, swords, pirates, mmorpg, pirates of the burning sea | 3 Comments

  

We pillage we plunder, we rifle we loot, drink up me hearties, yo ho. Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate’s life for me.

So, I’ve been fearlessly toiling away on behalf of BBT: The Magazine: The Blog: Boom Boom: The Column (colons enough for ya?) by playing Pirates of the Burning Sea beta, which I talked about last week. Surely, you remember. Having had a week to dilly around in this pirate universe, I intended to sit down and give a list of things I did and didn’t like. Unfortunately, this list definitely weighs into the negatives more than positives. But let’s just get rolling.

 POSITIVES:

- The actual business of steering your ship around the big, vasty open world is a lot of fun. When you get the wind just right in your sails and you head out for distant ports, it’s a lot of fun sailing along. It looks gorgeous.

- The ship-to-ship combat is interesting and fun. You not only have to contend with the swiveling cannons (greater range, less firepower) you have to line up your mounted cannons (only shoot from the sides of your ship, greater power). Your sails play a big part, so does your crew. If you have a good crew that outnumbers theirs, good moral, you can board their ship and try to take it over. I did this wonderfully when my ship was in Very Bad Shape. I boarded and took their boat and kept on fighting.

- The ship-board weapons are cool. Everything from heavy shots to chained cannon-balls for bringing down masts, to a buckshot type of packed-pellet cannon which just massacres the other player’s crew.

- The music is good. Not great, but…good. It sounds pirate-like.

- Graphically, the people look nice.

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A Foray Into The Seedy Underbelly Of Second Life by Earl B Morris

Filed Under BBT Magazine, WoW, Geeks, Filk, Filking, Earl B Morris, Web 2.0, Throwing Screwy Pills In The Bathtub, Zombies, Nerds, Tron, second life, mmorpg, Dungeons & Dragons, From The Desk Of Earl B Morris | 4 Comments

 

After reading Ariesgeeks latest web-blogger of futuristic ponderings about world of the computer attached to the WWW (World Wide Internet), specifically the use of graphic representations of the self called “avatars,” with which one may communicate to other people in US and Canada, I found myself inspired to give it a go. The software he was promoting was called Second Life, by Mattel I believe, and has proven very popular among the In Crowd for the past several months.

I’m no stranger to the WWW myself, so after drawing my great aunt a sitz bath, and putting Frederick, our little Cairn Terrier in the garage to urinate, I sat down and began to research the Second Life. I found a large community of people had web-bloggers of their own regarding this phenomenon, and one in particular attracted my interest – a review of Houses of Ill Repute that are available in the virtual arena. It seems that even here we are not immune to the influence of the seedy underbelly of humanity.

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Compromise: The Inherent Tyranny of Colons: How A Long-Ass Title Divided Is An Early Sign of Executive Interference

Filed Under Advertising, Video Games, Blow On It, Development, Feargus Home | 9 Comments

Blow on itVideo Game Creation and Culture with Feargus Home

 

 

 I don’t know how recent a trend this is, but I don’t remember game titles being separated by colons when I was young. It may have happened - I’m not saying it didn’t - but if it did it never really reached the pop culture watermark it enjoys today. From titles such as Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties to the bafflingly titled S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadows of Chernobyl, colons enjoy a prominent position in current electronic entertainment. Why? They very rarely are necessary – take a look at Oblivion, for instance. Yes, the full title is Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion but the whole bit about it being a continuation of some series is above the title in teensy weensy print. The title is Oblivion. The Elder Scrolls part is just a landmark to let you know what you are getting into much in the same way Sid Meier puts his name above Civilization so that your family will know you won’t be doing things like “noting their presence” or “maintaining a bare minimum of hygiene” or “caring if the kids turn feral when you stop feeding them.”

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The Deconstructionist: Welcome to Geekworld

Filed Under BBT Magazine, Geeks, The Deconstructionist, Dungeons & Dragons | 7 Comments

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  Please keep your overly-pronounced opinions about 4th edition inside the car at all times

Earlier this week I posted a link in the forums that led to an article in the Tampa Bay Herald about grown men who play Dungeons and Dragons. I found the link on the enworld.org discussion boards where the comments revealed two attitudes: one, relief that the article wasn’t wholly damning of gaming culture, and two, that gaming culture is even newsworthy anymore. 

Most of the folks who registered surprise at the fair treatment of gamers in the press are probably older. I remember a day when all it took as someone to murder a cat and leave it where the police to find it and the newspapers would be ablaze with the terms ‘gaming cult’ and ‘Satanist-linked game, ‘Dungeons and Dragons’—even if the guy who killed the cat had been playing GURPS, or Paranoia, or Apple Panic when the idea to murder a cat came to him.

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Soylent Screen: The Sticky Hands of Time

Filed Under BBT Magazine, Movies, Soylent Screen, Jef Taylor, Lesbians | 6 Comments

Soylent Screen with Jef TaylorFilm Reviews with BBT Critic Jef Taylor

If you and I are in disagreement about the merits of a particular film, the worst way to bring me to your side is to insist that the movie requires repeated viewings. I’m terribly sorry, but I don’t approach movies that way. You gotta get me on the first try: wow me, delight me, capture my attention; it’s what movies are good at.

 But why should that be so? How often have you had to let an album "grow on you" before you decided that you loved it? Writing on the page is often judged on how well it stands up to repeated readings, and a well-crafted painting demands that you come back to it and look at it in new ways.

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