Just finished watching Heroes "The Company Man".
Best Television Episode I have seen in years. Major loose ends tied up, new one dropped. Incredible acting by everyone involved but mostly by "Mr Bennet". This is how you handle shows with many plot thread. You give resolution, and drop more questions.
And the actualy story - the ending scene had me leaking out the eyes. Amazing stuff.
Heroes is now officially my favorite TV show of all time. - Now granted they have a lot of chances to screw things up, but for right now, I like it better than I liked Babylon 5.
As for other shows on TV right now - ranked in order of preference -
Dead Zone
24
Monk
The Shield
Stargate Atlantis
Stargate SG1
Battlestar - Now this is a good show, and ranked much higher in previous lists, but it really fell off at the end of season 2 - so badly I almost was thinking to pass on the season 3 DVDs. And unless we see some resolution to the whole Cylon god thing / Baltar/ ect somewhere in 3 I will publically proclaim that these guys fell prey to the "Lost" disease of leaving things hanging for way too long. Hopefully Season 3 will restore my faith - But I have to wait for the DVDs.
And a new entry - Dresden Files. I've enjoyed the couple of episodes that I saw, but don't know how well it will do over the long haul.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Friday, February 23, 2007
Good Covers
Many times when a band covers someone else's music it just turns our really bad (Garth Brooks doing Shameless). Or a song that is a note for note cover that you almost cannot tell from the original that there is so little input from the band doing the cover (Creed, I'm lookin at you here for Riders on the Storm - show some creativity). I'm not even considering "novelty" covers like Shatner's Lucy.
So this blog post is a list of covers that I thought were as good or better than the original.
Songs covered that Bob Dylan wrote don't count - there are too many of them, and almost all are better than the Dylan originals.
Elenor Rigby by Godhead. Industrial cover, and the metallic dehuminizing music fits the songs theme of lonelyness perfectly.
Stairway to Heaven by Dolly Parton. The way she takes the song, with violin banjo mandolin and her wonderful voice is just great. Very good approach to a song that has been way overplayed.
The Big Medly by Dream Theater - a live homage to the stuff they loved. Any band that can pull off a medly of:
* In The Flesh?
* Carry On Wayward Son
* Bohemian Rhapsody
* Lovin, Touchin, Squeezin
* Cruise Control
* Turn It On Again
Is just great.
American Woman - Lenny Kravtz - A great take on another overplayed chestnut.
One that I liked but I don't exactly consider better (or even as good) but that I liked nonetheless was Limp Bizkt's Behind Blue Eyes.
Welcome to the Machine - Rocket Scientists. A great cover of a great Floyd song.
Have a Cigar - Foo Fighters and Brian May. Yeah I'm biased there.
Holy Diver - Pat Boone. Yeah it was something for laughs, but I really like this one, and the fact that Dio came and did backup vocals for it shows that he has class too.
In the same vein - True by Paul Anka. I prefer this album over the Boone, as I think the arrangements are better. This is one of the best on the album.
And saving the best for last. In my opinion the greatest cover in the world -
Hurt by Johnny Cash. His cracked and pained voice singing this with very little accompanyment is just brutal to hear, and as you listen, you know he is just singing about all the loss of his life, especially his wife. Powerful powerful stuff.
So this blog post is a list of covers that I thought were as good or better than the original.
Songs covered that Bob Dylan wrote don't count - there are too many of them, and almost all are better than the Dylan originals.
Elenor Rigby by Godhead. Industrial cover, and the metallic dehuminizing music fits the songs theme of lonelyness perfectly.
Stairway to Heaven by Dolly Parton. The way she takes the song, with violin banjo mandolin and her wonderful voice is just great. Very good approach to a song that has been way overplayed.
The Big Medly by Dream Theater - a live homage to the stuff they loved. Any band that can pull off a medly of:
* In The Flesh?
* Carry On Wayward Son
* Bohemian Rhapsody
* Lovin, Touchin, Squeezin
* Cruise Control
* Turn It On Again
Is just great.
American Woman - Lenny Kravtz - A great take on another overplayed chestnut.
One that I liked but I don't exactly consider better (or even as good) but that I liked nonetheless was Limp Bizkt's Behind Blue Eyes.
Welcome to the Machine - Rocket Scientists. A great cover of a great Floyd song.
Have a Cigar - Foo Fighters and Brian May. Yeah I'm biased there.
Holy Diver - Pat Boone. Yeah it was something for laughs, but I really like this one, and the fact that Dio came and did backup vocals for it shows that he has class too.
In the same vein - True by Paul Anka. I prefer this album over the Boone, as I think the arrangements are better. This is one of the best on the album.
And saving the best for last. In my opinion the greatest cover in the world -
Hurt by Johnny Cash. His cracked and pained voice singing this with very little accompanyment is just brutal to hear, and as you listen, you know he is just singing about all the loss of his life, especially his wife. Powerful powerful stuff.
Monday, February 19, 2007
Which Batman
Another Quiz.
Again this one doesn't surprise me at all.
What kind of Batman are you?
You're JLA Batman. As Superman once said, you're the world's most dangerous man. You can defeat White martians and Demigods by preparing and exploiting their weakness. Sometimes you're a bit arrogant, but you've more than earned your spot standing alongside the Justice League of America
Take this quiz!
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Again this one doesn't surprise me at all.
What kind of Batman are you?
You're JLA Batman. As Superman once said, you're the world's most dangerous man. You can defeat White martians and Demigods by preparing and exploiting their weakness. Sometimes you're a bit arrogant, but you've more than earned your spot standing alongside the Justice League of America
Take this quiz!
Quizilla |
Join
| Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code
Alignment :)
About what I expected. I'm a goody two shoes.
You scored as Lawful Good. A lawful good person acts as a good person is expected or required to act. They are dedicated to upholding both what is right and what is set down in law.
You scored as Lawful Good. A lawful good person acts as a good person is expected or required to act. They are dedicated to upholding both what is right and what is set down in law.
What is your Alignment? created with QuizFarm.com |
Sunday, February 18, 2007
500 gig
Well, almost 2 weeks since my last post.
This is a "I'm not dead" post. :)
I've been distracted; two reasons - the lesser one - I'm getting very close to starting my Fantasy HERO campaign, and working more on it.
Second, and the title for the post - I recently got a 500 gig external hard drive. It is devoted to my music collection. I normalize every mp3 I own so they are all the same volume level. I started doing this way back when, when the players wouldn't do that. So it is now a necessity.
I have a bunch of music that hasn't gone through that process. So I have been doing that. It takes a bit of work (and then going through and fixing all my folders and such so that each album folder now has the year the album was recorded).
It's been taking a lot of time.
When I get done (and this will likely take months) - I should have maybe 100 gig free on the drive, maybe less.
Let the tunage begin.
This is a "I'm not dead" post. :)
I've been distracted; two reasons - the lesser one - I'm getting very close to starting my Fantasy HERO campaign, and working more on it.
Second, and the title for the post - I recently got a 500 gig external hard drive. It is devoted to my music collection. I normalize every mp3 I own so they are all the same volume level. I started doing this way back when, when the players wouldn't do that. So it is now a necessity.
I have a bunch of music that hasn't gone through that process. So I have been doing that. It takes a bit of work (and then going through and fixing all my folders and such so that each album folder now has the year the album was recorded).
It's been taking a lot of time.
When I get done (and this will likely take months) - I should have maybe 100 gig free on the drive, maybe less.
Let the tunage begin.
Monday, February 5, 2007
Superheroes
"It's a bird, it's a plane...", "With great power comes great responsibility", "In brightest Day, in blackest night", "It's clobberin' time", "Criminals a cowardly superstitious lot".
Superheroes are something I really enjoy. Superhero stories are modern mythologies* and just great stories, anywhere from revenge fantasies (Punisher) to the stories of everything that is good and great about the ideals of man (Superman). I love comic books, I love superhero movies, and novels... but my greatest love for the superhero comes from putting myself into their place - superhero roleplaying games.
Note - the rest of this post is a "look at me, look at what I have" but what is a blog but an excuse for ego anyway. :)
I play a lot of superhero RPG. I've been playing Champions since 1985 and really haven't stopped since. I play other things occasionally, and I've run Fantasy, but my primary love is the superhero. And because not all the stuff that is great belongs to one company** I collect superhero roleplaying game. I play HERO/Champions, but I steal the good bits from other stuff. I don't do licensed games - if I want the stats for superman, I'll build him myself.
So anyway this is a list of what superhero RPG stuff I have, in no particular order, with commentary.
Champions/HERO. - Only the greatest RPG system ever written. I have every book from every edition (including the one rarity - Wings of the Valkyrie). However the 5th ed Champions universe has a tone and flavor I don't really like - some bits are great, but overall it tends to dark, and a little bland.
Mutants and Mastermind - I detest the system, but the source stuff is great. The Freedom City universe is very very well written and has a great flavor and tone. The characters are a little too clear on who they are ripping off from the comics, but I can overlook that. And some of the originals are great.
Gurps Supers - the setting was okay, although the IST was a liberals dream, so I generally ignore that part of the world. A number of very cool characters, and one organization in particular - Supertemps; a temp agency for people with superpowers - a low level brick for demolition or construction work, speedsters for couriers and such. I've used them in every game I've run since I read the book.
Heroes Unlimited. Palladium system gah! But the stuff Bill Coffin wrote was top notch. Gramercy Island is the perfect dark/iron age super prison. Century City and is also great.
Godsend Agenda (I have the d6 stuff). Interesting world, assuming lots of alien influence in our world.
M& M Superlink - these are third party support for Mutants and Mastermind. Stuff is hit or miss, as it comes from a number of publishers. The Blackwyrm games stuff (Algernon Files, and Fires of War) are some of the best superhero supplements published - and they are releasing HERO versions too!!
Silver Age Sentinels - a sadly dead game. Very nice source stuff. Decent system. The company went under during the implosion in the last few years. I loved the tone most of all - they were not kidding with the "Silver Age" moniker.
Brave New World - Sucky system, and it was a metaplot driven, hostage release format (ie very important info is spread through all the books, to force you to buy them all). Other than that, a very nice alternate earth in a serious dystopia.
Aberrant - White Wolf. Ugg. These people can't have any characters that don't get problems from using their powers. Setting is interesting, if a little bleak, and has great elements to steal. Also metaplot driven.
Godlike/Wild Talents - Interesting system, and Godlike has an amazing setting. Not traditional superheroes by any means, but a really cool idea for superpowers in WWII.
Villains and Vigilantes - a classic. Lots of simple characters. I love that. And a lot of adventures to mine for idea. I use a number of them.
Champions New Millennium - Fuzion system ick. Setting was okay, art was way to 90s. But had a couple of nifty twists on the Champions.
Blood of Heroes. Uses the system from the original DC heroes game, so that is pretty good. The characters are hit or miss, but some of them are very nice.
Supersystem - a wargame rulebook, but they have HERO stats in one book, and that makes other characters easy to convert.
Superworld - had a couple of modules, and I thought they were pretty decent.
Heroes and Heroines- bad. But I saw it cheap.
Foundation: A world in black and white. One of the early d20 non fantasy efforts. Game system and power rules suck. Most of the characters suck, world is bland. Was later marketed as a PDF with the "Worst reviewed game" as a selling point.
Cosmic Enforcers. Has a Palladium look to it, and again, I got it because it was cheap.
Capes - not a roleplaying game as advertised, but an exercise in communal storytelling. I hated it's precepts.
Heroes Forever - my most recent purchase. Interesting cheaply made game, and the source stuff has a few gems. Of all the stuff mentioned this is the only one I don't have the entire line for.
* If you haven't read David Brin's Thor Meets Captain America, go right out and do so right now. It is collected in River of Time.
Or you can read it online here.
** there are even some good things from Marvel right now, amazingly enough.
Friday, February 2, 2007
Meme Twofer - 020207
First off - today is my 18th wedding anniversay. Nifty.
Appetizer
What was one of the fashion fads when you were a teenager?
Bellbottoms that one took me a bit, I have never ever payed attention to fashion.
Soup
Name one thing you think people assume about you when they first meet you.
Whooboy. That I am an intellctually push person. I tend to use my full range of vocabulary and thought processes. And while working at 7-11 I found many people who couldn't follow what I was saying.
Salad
On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being highest, how hard do you work?
Depending on mood 7 to 9.
Main Course
If you were given a free 30-second commercial during the Super Bowl to sell anything you currently own, what would you advertise?
If it were to sell something I currently own, and want to get rid of - my house.
If it is something that I like, and want to see more sales of, HERO system.
Dessert
Fill in the blank: I love to ________ when it is _________.
listen, rains. I grew up on the coast of Oregon. I love the sound of rain.
Top 5 songs that you consider "stinkbombs" (Bonus points for you if you don't use songs by any pop tart* or boyband)
I will Always love you - Whitney Houston. I want to hurl when I hear this.
My Heart will go on - Celene Dion - same thing.
I can't get no satifaction - Rolling stones. I generally can't stand the Stones, but this is one of the ones I hate the most. The Devo version is much better.
Anarchy in the UK - Sex pistols. I can't stand punk (with a few minor exceptions), and this song is a perfect example of why. At least God Save the Queen was unintentionally funny.
Just about any by Garth Brooks - I hate the way his voice sounds, and I wince everytime I hear his music on the radio. I don't know his songs particularly well enough to pick just one.
* I'd not heard the term pop tart before. I love it. :)
Appetizer
What was one of the fashion fads when you were a teenager?
Bellbottoms that one took me a bit, I have never ever payed attention to fashion.
Soup
Name one thing you think people assume about you when they first meet you.
Whooboy. That I am an intellctually push person. I tend to use my full range of vocabulary and thought processes. And while working at 7-11 I found many people who couldn't follow what I was saying.
Salad
On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being highest, how hard do you work?
Depending on mood 7 to 9.
Main Course
If you were given a free 30-second commercial during the Super Bowl to sell anything you currently own, what would you advertise?
If it were to sell something I currently own, and want to get rid of - my house.
If it is something that I like, and want to see more sales of, HERO system.
Dessert
Fill in the blank: I love to ________ when it is _________.
listen, rains. I grew up on the coast of Oregon. I love the sound of rain.
Top 5 songs that you consider "stinkbombs" (Bonus points for you if you don't use songs by any pop tart* or boyband)
I will Always love you - Whitney Houston. I want to hurl when I hear this.
My Heart will go on - Celene Dion - same thing.
I can't get no satifaction - Rolling stones. I generally can't stand the Stones, but this is one of the ones I hate the most. The Devo version is much better.
Anarchy in the UK - Sex pistols. I can't stand punk (with a few minor exceptions), and this song is a perfect example of why. At least God Save the Queen was unintentionally funny.
Just about any by Garth Brooks - I hate the way his voice sounds, and I wince everytime I hear his music on the radio. I don't know his songs particularly well enough to pick just one.
* I'd not heard the term pop tart before. I love it. :)