Popular Culture

   Here it is, the Halloween short story for 2015. It's a bit long, actually, so I decided to put it on its own page, instead of in the post body like I usually do...

http://dielikeadisneyvillain.blogspot.com/p/popularculture-themachine-of-death-can.html

   Enjoy!

Spooky Story 2015

   Tomorrow's story, the annual spooky short story, will be my original story submitted (and rejected!) from Machine of Death volume 2. Makes me happy.

   It's called POPULAR CULTURE, and it takes place in the near future. It's about, well, it's a Machine of Death story, and so it's about what any other one of those is... a machine that lets you know, with 100% accuracy, how you will die. Yep, yep, just like the blog header.

   It's not as overtly spooky as last year's story was, but wasn't intended to be... It's still a MoD story...

   I'm not sure how good it is. The twist ending isn't much of a twist, but then again it's neither much of an ending. I'm alright with it; what it did well I'm very proud of. I suppose I'll let it speak for itself, so, shutting up now.

Rejection

   The application for BYU Provo (main campus) finally came back. The... application? The acceptance letter. Or rejection letter. Whichever. The announcement. And, which whichever it was, well... They were awfully kind, and I was actually... relieved? 

   Provo actually has a graphic design major-- Rexburg turns out has the arts major with graphic design focus, either as a BA or a BFA. If I wanted (and I'm considering it?) I could change my focus even within my proclaimed major, take whatever class I want, but... my point here-- the focus of this post-- why I'm even bringing this up, all has to do with that: Provo, rejection letter, relieved actually, it's like some kind of world of possibilities being in a smaller pond. 

   Malcolm Gladwell writes in David and Goliath how sometimes it's better to be a big fish in a small pond than a small fish in a big one-- how it can be better to go to a less-prestigious university. Would I still make this choice, to attend BYU-I, even if I were accepted to Provo? It'd be nice to be accepted to Harvard and blow them off, but this is BYU, anyway. At least the animation department is prestigious there, but that's not my intended major anyway, and any animation education to potentially suit my needs fits just as well in Idaho.

   Rejection feels nice. I've been rejected formally a few times, not nearly enough. Mostly in writing, those stories shipped off and slapped down. 

   But it feels awesome to be rejected. I just realize this now-- I need to be rejected more often. But to be rejected means to ship around, and to ship around means to have a manuscript, and to have a manuscript means to have a manuscript written. And writing is not my favorite hobby. It is the one I feel most satisfied by. But it is not my favorite.

   How satisfactory would it be to be rejected? That's the process, the whole process, the system, how everything works: write crap, mail it around, get rejected. Repeat. Success is an accidental part of the program. Though we'd be lost without it.

Laser Pointers

   I've never actually played laser pointer with the cat till now. It was quite... undramatic. It did notice the laser pointer dot eventually, tracked it with its eyes but I don't think ever attempted pouncing on it. And sniffed the pointer itself later on. But it did work. Not that well, but it did.

   Don't they notice how the dot disappears when they're blocking the line? How does it work? We amuse ourselves by watching them chase after the dot, oblivious to the lack of physicality (indeed, lack of physicality is one reason the chase succeeds so well- there's no physical feedback of having "caught" anything, so huntmode continues indefinitely.)

   We're amused by their oblivion-- oblivi-? obliviousness, at least-- but what if we're the oblivious ones? Think about it- exactly like the laser points, flicking in and out, cats glide through past the edges of our sensation, coming into view randomly. Like the laser points, we follow them, mindlessly, amused. When we've caught them, they slip away like water.

   So I'm thinking, what if cats themselves are laser pointer dots to us, cast by fourth- or fifth-dimensional beings for their amusement as we foolishly chase the illusory?

Talk Like Ben Stein Day '15!

   On this Ben Stein day, I wanted to do something somehow related to winning Ben Stein's money? Ride of the Valkyries played during the end theme to that show, so I figure that today, we're going to get our Ben Stein on...

   obliquely.

   Hmm... maybe one of these days...

(

   Hobby Lobby is a magical land. This actually has nothing to do with this post, but I couldn't let the post go by without bringing that up at least once.

   Went to Five Guys Burgers and Fries yesterday. Anyway. It was everything I'd ever heard of it: endless complimentary peanuts, and bottom buns that fall apart as you try to eat. Are basically the only two things I've ever heard about the place.

   ...

   The reason the bottom buns fall apart is a topic of serious debate in certain circles. You know... probably. Are you ordering too many toppings? Does it have to do with the tinfoil they wrap the burgers in? Is the bread just shoddily made? Or is it because the burgers are just that juicy; and if so, is "juicy" just a euphemism for "incredibly greasy?"

   Here is not the forum to moot such a topic of so great a portent. All of this is actually tangential to my topic as well. Though it does bring me to it.

   What nobody ever told me about Five Guys, is their great taste in background music over the speakers. (C'mon, I mean, as we arrived, they were playing early '80s U2!) The thing is, though...

   At one point, "Layla" by Eric Clapton's Derek and the Dominoes started playing. Started playing, and... I don't know. There was the sing-y part,  which ended and went into the piano part, but I'm not sure if that part ever ended. It's like, the outro bit never happened. It must have moved on to other songs, but, that's not how it seemed. It seemed like all that followed, and continues to follow, is still an extension of that song. Exactly like a giant, open parenthesis, that has yet to resolve...

Mythology Wednesday: Arcas

   Callisto was a nymph, daughter of Lycaon, king of what is now Arcadia. She bore a son, Arcas, to Zeus (because, who else is going to be anybody's father?)

   More crazy transformation stuff here- she gets turned into a bear in one of those wacky sitcom-style spats that Greek mythographers just loved to write about. Arcas's father prevents Hera from doing the same to Arcas, and puts him in the Greek Mythological equivalent of the witness protection program/adoption system (which Zeus himself, incidentally, was part of when he was a boy, I recall from a wholly unrelated myth.) King Lycaon gives Arcas up as a human sacrifice, and that's where things get REALLY interesting...

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On Accounts

   I finally ended the "will they or won't they" with TV Tropes yesterday, and made the relationship official by getting an account. I'm a troper now, officially, which give me mixed feelings but "never miss the opportunity to do something you'll regret later...!" If Randall Munroe, who's generally accepted to be awesome (though depending on whom you ask there's also that sense of smug superiority, which I'll let slide) can admit that he's addicted to TV Tropes and Cracked, then, yes, I will say it too. I am proud to say, however, that for the past 3-4ish months, I've been almost entirely Cracked-free! The withdrawls aren't as bad as you'd expect.

   You know the way I got this blogger account on the same day as I got my Facebook, because, hey I've got a cyberpresence now anyway? Emboldened by this move, and fearing my wicked-sweet handle may get snapped up elsewhere, I also came within, somehow literal inches of getting a Twitter account as well. Turns out you need a cell phone to finalize getting your account for some reason, though, and still I'm quite happy not to have one of those, thank you very much. Even for emergencies.

   I mean, Kitty Genovese made it out just fine without those, didn't she?

   If anything, all I need is a pager. I think they meant cell phone, but all they put was "phone..." Does a pager count in such instances?

   I know, I could have just used someone else's phone number to be sure, and, I don't know, disabled the feature that automatically sends tweets to your phone, but before I did that I realized, why do I need a Twitter in the first place, and what the lanta would I tweet? The only reason I' keep my Facebook is (aside from the fact that I'm not the one who got it for myself but was given it by friends who wanted to "friend" me in VR as well as meatspace) so I have a place to store all the things I like in real life, and remember that I like them in cyberspace. (aah, yes, Dave Devries, the Monster Engine himself, yes... The Museum of Bad Art, quite good, quite good...)

   Meanwhile, is it even the best time to get onto Twitter? If Penny Arcade is to be believed, Joss Whedon-- the Joss Whedon, the one whose name is a measurement for how many people "follow" you-- has quit Twitter, because (according to PA) he was getting zergswarmed with hatetweets about Avengers 2. I'm not sure how accurate this is, as from what I've seen everyone on Twitter loved Age of Ultron, while it was on Tumblr that people caused controversy about some of the choices he made. Now, I'm not entirely sure I understand the mechanisms of TUMBLng-- it blogs and generates memes?-- but, I don't think it's connected to Twitter, is it? So, I don't know. I am regularly fascinated by the mechanics that operate a toaster, though, so I don't think I'm quite the man to comment on, anything, vaguely, technological.

   There's a tingle at the edge of anything you do in public, especially online. A fear. Quasianonymous forums can do that-- what if I do something noobish, and they can tell I'm a noob, and decide I'm not worthy of life, and track down my IP address and identity on the internet, and come to my house and murder me in the middle of the night? It sounds kind of ridiculous when put that way, but would seriously make a good horror movie if done right: kind of far-fetched, but based off a common enough experience so as to be seriously "it could happen" freaky. Beyond the idea of being murdered bysstrangers in your sleep (which plays into common human vulnerabilities) it taps into deeper vulnerabilities and fears as well: what if I'm inadequate, what if they don't accept me. What if I mess up and I'm the only one who doesn't realize it, and everybody mocks me.

   Frightening stuff, no?

   Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to dally with the toaster.

Bat Logic (plus Zootopia Watch)

   Today I've been researching (and, like, totally not randomly slacking, but doing genuine research, gosh!) reading a lot about the Riddler in general and especially in the old Adam West Batman show, how silly it always gets whenever the Riddler is involved. Boy oh boy. Deduction of the riddle of the week always involved suspension of all known laws of logic in the string of associations it took to stop the guy... As from the 1966 movie:

   We've discovered a string of puns that tenuously could lead to either Riddler, Joker, Catwoman, or the Penguin. Well, clearly, it's all of them then, and they're all working together! Clearly.

   This theory turns out to be 100% correct. 

   Sure, it would have been nice to have some additional clues, like a little sticky note attached to that exploding shark that said, "also, guess what, the location of this attack stands for the name of someone behind this," but it looks like the detective skills The Batfamily are so great, they didn't need it. Maybe there was a note but they never said in the film, I don't know...

   There's a two-parter episode in season 2 where there's a newer bigger badder Riddler-type villain, The Puzzler, who's basically the Riddler up to an 11? Apparently there was a contract dispute with actor Frank Gorshin during season 2, so they immigrated this minor Superman villain over for Bats to fight as a Riddler clone, but they took it and ran with it, so, up to an 11. How bad? His whole clue is just the word, "puzzles." Euh. "This'll really make them put on their thinking caps," he cackles. Not an exact quote I don't think, but it's got to be true, because the Puzzler's clue somehow leads to a balloon factory or some biz, and the Caped Crusader and the Boy Wonder manage to figure it out. When, I repeat, the whole clue is just the word "puzzles." Which is, well it made my brain hurt how even the '60s Caped Crusader could figure that one out.

   Later, AND THIS IS AN ABSOLUTELY TRUE STORY, I was washing my hands and found myself casually trying to figure out what Puzzler did mean by "Puzzles." Puzzles... puzzles... jigsaw puzzles? puzzle pieces... piece together... piece together what? and I realized it was just random arbitrary word association from then out, once I'd made it that far and even before then, and once again it would really be helpful to have some kind of guidelines (like the above mentioned sticky note) to let me know if I was on the right track. At least provide me with the number of layers deep the word association should go, Puzzler! Wait a minute... Layers deep... Inception! Tom Hardy... No, no, no. That's not even part of the original clue! Dang it, Puzzler, now you've got me doing it. Doing it... babymaking... storks... Vlassic pickles! Oh, crap. And at that moment, I realized that I couldn't stop. Can't stop... can't stop... once you pop you just can't stop... Pringles! And Pringles stack... layers deep... nooo! 

ZOOTOPIA WATCH:
   According to the trailer, Zootopia is "from the makers of" Big Hero Six and Frozen, and I'm not sure if that means just Disney or not. All three directors were "creative leadership" on Big Hero Six, and codirector Byron Howard codirected Tangled, which is set in the same universe as Frozen, but...? Let's just assume that somewhere Frozen does fit into this, and not just Tangled, beyond just being the flavor of the decade. (Wreck It Ralph. They passed up on the opportunity to point out that Rich Moore directed Wreck It Ralph...!) It's kind of odd, though, and seeing Tangled conflated (?) with Frozen reminds me of Disney's trend recently to give their animated pictures names that can be interpreted both literally and symbolically.

"Rapunzel has severe mommy issues and feels tied down to her old life? Combine that with the hair motif and call it Tangled. The Ice Queen is emotionally stunted and needs to learn how to break free? Combine it with the snow motif and call it Frozen." -Dan Wells

   It's a pretty big trend (click on that link for the full post, and be sure to check out the comments.) If Brave, Frozen, Tangled et al. all have symbolic titles, why not Zootopia?

   ...To be sure, I'm kind of puzzled as to what that word could be symbolic to mean, but still... it'll probably all become clear once the movie comes out.

Reconciliations Are Made

   Since my mission, serving "the Happiest Zone on Earth" and attending all the numerous appropriately themed parties, I'd kind of had it to the gills with Disney-- even occasionally regretting naming my blog and theming it as I did (TOTALLY FAIR USE, THOUGH, PLEASE DO NOT SUE.) 

   Can't say what it was for certain: the experience of watching fully grown adults devolve into children before my eyes, the beyond-11 levels of awesome approaching some kind of hard-to-describe inanity-of-fun in a family-friendly toxic sugar rush of partying, the fact that I very rarely won any scavenger hunts...? Whatever it was, it just, turned me off, sometimes. Turned me off from Disney. It happens; I once read of a girl who can't stand Cat Stevens anymore after boarding with hippies one time (I think she made a comic one-shot of it on DeviantArt, so totally not making it up.)

   And, funny thing, all this time I haven't been sure if I've gotten over that. 

   But...

   Wha-? Wel--... Mm.. my goodness.

   You know what I said earlier, about getting sued? I take it back.

   Have all my money, Disney.

   Have all my money right now.

TV

 Grandparents anyway. I told you that we're back from there, but I hardly told you about what happened in Oregon. Well, then. I've got three words to say on that subject, regarding my maternal grandparents.

   They've got DirecTV.

   Holy crud was it an eventful week in television. I was there to see American Pharoah make horse racing history (by so many lengths it was anticlimactic.) I was there for the epic climax of a long Adventure Time arc (and I'm still trying to process how lumpin' epic it was. The callback at the end with the fish saying how it would "croak" out there- I sat in stunned silence for, like, fifteen minutes.) I was there for... shoot, the season premiere of Next Food Network Star?

   Why not!

   There were also a bunch of other shows premiering as well, of course, which on one hand does dissuade me from the theory that maybe we hit TV at sweeps week, but on the other hand I don't care much about. Remember Summer of 2012 when I burned myself out trying to keep up with all the new network shows coming out? I realized  a lot of shows don't make it past one season, and television follows Sturgeon's Revelation just like everything else, I stopped paying attention to those (except for when Hannibal came out) (and Blacklist.) You can almost never tell the eventual success or quality of a show from such early efforts as the first season. Even trying to avoid the self-fulfilling Firefly effect... well, anyway. Food Network Star is an established program, so, yeah all right.

   I'd forgotten how nice it is to have satellite broadcasting, and though we hardly hit any yard sales (that's a different post entirely) I'd count last week as a success on the amount of TV we got in alone (and the sugar, but, also a different post.)

   Yes, I highly doubt that all weeks on television are as eventful as last week was, though this week is shaping up to be pretty tanjin' eventful as well, with this Saturday hosting not only Phineas and Ferb's series grand finale but also Friendship is Magic hitting its (very important) 100 episode milestone. And probably some other stuff as well, but c'mon, you know none as great as the stuff I just mentioned.

Back from Vacationland (100/100 Split)

   There is, as of this post, exactly an even hundred/hundred split between backlogs, the Hundred Things during my mission and the hundred posts not put up because I've just been lazy and went without posting after it. Without posting. Not without writing. It's really more of a dearth of, editing the post ideas I do have, than having them in the first place.

   Although even that still left a lot of planned posts unwritten.

   We got back today from Oregon, which I haven't told you about till now because hey guys we're all out of the house for the next week, come right on by and steal whatever you want, but, we're back, and the cat's still alive, and we're all good, and we can tell you about it now.

   You know the AlphaSmart, though? I'm a mad gambit-planning genius. There's a, however dang long, car ride up there (hours and hours,) which I realized could be spent on more than just getting deeper into whatever books I'd picked up from the library (and had to renew over telephone being out of town by the time they were due.) Writing in the car could be accomplished with just a pen and a pad of paper, but that writing would have to be transcribed later (and I know, from my mission, what a pain transcription can be (though that's not one of my Hundred Things.))

   So I masterfully set up a major plot (read: swung by on errands I was doing anyway) arranged to grab Cailin's old AlphaSmart in town, so that I'd be able to write in electronic form during the car ride there and back. Between TTDRCBA and here, I managed to crank out, maybe, 1 1/2 AlphaSmart max-sized files... I plan on getting this batch of hundred up by the end of the month. It's still going to require a lot of fact-checking and editing, but... (man, I don't care if nobody reads this anymore; I've got standards! and at least it allows me to get a bit more experimental with my posts, since nobody's going to call me out on anything...)

On Talking Bunnies

   Caught some Sophia the First a couple of days ago to finally see what all the hype is all about (this probably tells you a lot more about me than you'd care to know, but apparently I define "hype" by the number of coloring books are about something.) From coloring books, it appears that it's traditional hand-drawn, but it's not even that; it's CG. And I'd always thought from the tie-in junior novelizations that there's a guest Disney princess who stops by at the end of every episode who delivers some platitude, but from what I've seen they don't even have that, so I don't know where that comes from.

   What they do have is Tim Gunn. Tim. Gunn.

   And Wayne Brady, so hold on.

   I was watching, like, this show's not all that great, thinking of maybe not even getting through a whole episode, when Sophia's bunny spoke up and it was the most majestic beautiful sound I've heard in my life. "Oh my gosh, bunny," I found myself saying. "Say something again." I saw during the end credits Tim Gunn plays Bailiwick, and Wayne Brady did... something, maybe at least miscellaneous voice acting, which is common for bigger-named voice actors to do from time to time so I didn't think that much of it. Aside from, of course, Wayne Brady how awesome is that. I had to stick around for a few more episodes until someone called the majestically voiced bunny by name (Clover, apparently) so that I knew what name to look for when the end credits came around again.

   And the credits came around again.

   Wayne Brady. You glorious man. (He's on my shortlist, alongside Craig Ferguson and maybe one or two more people, of voice actors/comedians who are not only smart but also very probably geniuses.) I'm not saying that between him and Tim Gunn they make the rest of it worth sitting through, but... man, I'm even considering watching Food Fight --Food Fight!-- just because he voiced the chocolate squirrel thing that's on the cover, of all of the, coloring books...

5% of the Day

   Though 80% of my waking productive life yesterday was spent watching television and 15% was spent goofing off online, for some reason that last 5% was super satisfying and the day felt like a total win. What's 5% of 24 hours? That's, 1,440 minutes a day, so, 5% of that should be, 72, minutes... and I'm sure the stuff I'm thinking about took less time than that, by maybe just a little bit, so, less than five percent. But that five percent, man. Breaking it down, in case you want to, timestalk me, or something... that's, stalking THROUGH TIME, somehow; if you ever need to assassinate me in the past, well, here's my schedule:

   Woke up around 6:30. Got bunted from bathroom to bathroom until I could finally take a shower.

7:30-12:00: Watch Burn Notice and Leverage; good shows, so I wouldn't call this time a waste. WINNING. Probably eat something in here as well; I don't know. That's half of the entire day so far, and about a third of my time awake. My time spent on the internet, from here to 3:30 is generally aimless but also not a bust-- finished up the last of the YouTube creative writing class playlist first mentioned here, for one. And here's the good stuff.

   Cailin has an old Alphasmart, or, did have an old Alphasmart (or, CamelCaps? so, AlphaSmart?); she didn't need it anymore since she got a newer model, so she put up an open invitation for me if I needed it. Alphasmarts is how she does all of her fiction writing-- straight-up word processor, no distractions, so it's pretty nice, she says. We'll see. She writes when she's not doing, other things, I guess, like, her real job. I've been collaborating lately with her a bit on Persistence of Memory 5.0 but she's also got one or two other writing projects going on for when she needs a break from that, kind of thing.

   Planning to spend a bit of time on a road trip coming up, I decided yesterday to take him up on that. Ran into town to pick that up from him right before his 3:00-4:00 lunch break ended; we didn't have much time to chat, but. First face-to-face in a quarter-decade.

   And then I got Grandma and Grandpa's check for graduating deposited. And got stuff back into my savings account, so that it's not empty for the first time in two years almost to the day (don't. ask.)

   And then back home, more internets (or, um, moar, internets, because, yes, I spent my time here on that side of the web (being the side that spells like that.)) After that, I suppose I did take that long walk, so perhaps my period of "solid win" does extend to 5% of my day or more.

   And then I made popcorn chicken and watched a bunch of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. Which was plenty better than I expected, with all the talk I hear about it about how it doesn't really have a direction of its own to head in and thus needs to be thrown into the wind to be tugged by the currents of whichever MCU film came out the most recently... It's even got a few moments that make you say, "holy crap this is a good show." Not as many as has, say, The Blacklist, where such a moment happens about every five minutes on average (with all the intrigue, not to mention James Spader, flyin' around,) but, Agents does have its share of moments. That being said, it can be kind of a mixed bag sometimes, but there's probably a website or some other tool out there that tells you whether any given episode is worth taking the time to watch or not...

   In case you're wondering: my three daily activities I listed a couple Tuesdays ago: television watching of course, but, also got in piano practice in between shows, and got in scripture study in the car running those errands. Solid. 80% of the day spent on those three daily things, 15% spent surfing the web, and those 72 minutes spent walking, banking and Alphasmarting, and that made that day even more solid.

   Put that way, with so much time goofing off, the day shouldn't have been that solid, right? But out of 24 hours, I've got it figured out, man. If just 5% of a day can make that day having been worth living, imagine what it would be like if you spent more than that amount of time spent pursuing a worthwhile goal...

Mythology Wednesday: Polyphonte

   Polyphonte was the daughter of Hipponous and Thrassa. Thrassa's father was Ares, god of war, and that's going to be important. Remember that now. Alright.

   Polyphonte was a total devotee of Artemis, and Aphrodite didn't like that very much. Being goddess of love, she figured she could totally mess with Polyphonte, though. If there is one thing that Artemis likes, it's wild animals, and if there are two things Artemis likes, it's wild animals and virginity, so Aphrodite totally realized, dude, I could make Polyphonte fall in love with, crap I don't know, a bear, and she and the bear would totally get freaky, and it'd be a twofer to break up the Artemis/Polyphonte sismance (which is like a bromance, but with girls?)...

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Mensiversary

   So much was spent the day before yesterday focused on how I'm graduated and everything, and how this blog reached the 1,000 post milestone, that I totally overlooked another milestone. I'm not entirely certain that it's a "milestone," actually, but it's an anniversary, or, half of one... It's just a couple of days off now, this post, but I'd totally spaced how the 19th also marked the advent of being home off of my mission for half a year. The 20th was the first full day, but yesterday 6-months-after-that was a Wednesday, which means myths, and though I could have posted about this six month mark yesterday I figure myths are appropriate enough, coming from my mission anyway, and all.

   Mensiversary? Like anniversary, from the Latin, but with months instead of years? My spel czech isn't red-flagging it, so, hey! Mensiversary works.

   Here'd be traditionally the part where I talk about being home for half a year, and how it feels, and how home life differs from my mission life... and how one quarter of the people back on the mission have never met me, by now...

   And here's the part where I either shrug that off with some lame excuse, or follow through with that promise. Hoo boy.

   It comes down to expectations, of course. Expectations of now, from then. If it were only that, though, you figure I'd be a lot less hesitant to tackle the subject, with which I am quite comfortable, thank you very much, so either I just lied to you there or it must be something else. What I think it is, it's not really anything that I haven't covered at least briefly elsewhere... and if I wanted to go deeper, I'd have to go, a lot deeper. Like, not likely to be covered in a single post, deeper.

   Who's ready to get angsty?

Open Field

   Let me start out with what has to be the quote of the day. Not that today hasn't been filled with some excellent quotations, but I've got this one within easy copy/paste reach, and it's applicable to the topic at hand (being how, it's been quite a bit longer than two years, but, I received my two-year degree yesterday and am now I suppose a graduate of more than just compulsory education.) Here, plucked from the heart of correspondence with old companions still on the mission, it is for you now:

   The open expanse of life sits before you with no limits or bounds, and opportunity around every turn, except I already called it an open expanse didn't I? Not too many turns in a flat field... well, opportunities all over the place then. You'll just have to build something to turn by for them to be around. That way life will be more interesting than a field. 

   It kind of reads like the back of a Dominion box, doesn't it? My goodness. It would probably be more powerful imagery just keeping the first... two, sentences, but the remainder is pretty crucial too, and, anyway! Yes. That gem is from Elder Rose there. I've tried to respect the identities of people on the mission, refraining from naming names except in specific cases like all the blogs I linked to where it's a matter of public record anyway.* Mentioning Elder Rose by name is unavoidable, however, considering, reasons. Expect more from (and with!) him in the future...
 
   It was almost a month ago, but still just a couple of posts at press time, that I was explaining how now that I had 1,000 posts and wasn't holding myself back internally from posting, I could get on more blogging of things I'm thinking about anyway, being barred only by external, um, entities. Quite a few of those lately with finals and all, but that's all over. I just kept thinking Sunday evening how there were no online discussions that I needed to respond to on selected assigned readings...

   There are still a few things I'd really rather like to get done before cranking out polished backlog hardcore... What is on this list? In no particular order:

1. Ward membership clerk duties.
2. Application for further educational pursuit.
3. Journal backlog (non-blog.)

   Those are larger, more major goals. Clerk duties are most important to the present; college application is most important to my future; journaling is most important to my past. All of them need to be done. Probably set aside a day to work on them, or find a few hours in a day to make some major chipping away at them. Big obstacle: procrastination. If these things can be done at basically any time, why not just keep them on one's chest indefinitely? On top of those, there are the things I try (and generally succeed) to make time for everyday anyway:

1. Scripture study.
2. Piano practice.
3. Copious amounts of television watching.

   Why am I so successful at these things and not the longer-term stuff? I can see how I manage to fit watching cartoons into my day, even if it is for hours at a time, but, the other two? I think it's because those can be in chunks as large or small as I want, and so they don't require much apparent commitment to do them. Which isn't how I view blogging, or journaling, or clerking, to my detriment.

   It's been a pretty big post so far, so I think I'll wrap it up here, right before recapitulating the main theme in a satisfying way and/or getting to the meat of the issue, as I am maddeningly wont to do...

To Forge a Realm (POWER GRID Problems)

   The "To Forge a Realm" game expansion for "Kingsburg," by Stratelibri and Fantasy Flight Games, arrived today. Five new modules are added to the base game, including not only new rows of buildings to build along the technology tree, but additional rows that you can choose to replace preexisting rows, variable player powers, special conditions, and an all-new system of determining reinforcements at the end of the year when the kingdom is besieged by dangerous threats. So much variability is added to the game.

Behold. (Via Fantasy Flight Games.)

   Kingsburg is a great game, but, I wouldn't be making a post just on it if there weren't a "but." Kingsburg is a great game, but there's really not much in the base set to prevent it from getting stale. The same stuff happens each game, each season... you influence the king's advisers, you collect your resources, you build your buildings, and you fight your monsters. The only thing that changes from game to game is which monsters come at the end of the year, and there's only so much variability in those. You can choose to build your buildings in a different order, sometimes you roll poorly, and sometimes people influence advisers that you'd like to have been the one to influence for the season (which requires you to modify your strategy,) but other than that each game plays out the same.

   That's what Alex says baffles him about the popularity of the game "Power Grid": once you've played one game of it, you may as well quit, because there's not really much replayability. Different maps you can choose to play with, sure, and different orders of opportunity with which the power plants present themselves, sure, but the game remains basically exactly the same, with replay value next to nil. He'd be happy to play if someone else owned the game, but he'd never consider buying a copy for himself. As light-and-casual yet strategic Kingsburg is, it suffered from the same problems as Power Grid: the underlying strategy is always going to remain static from game to game, with little thought needed how to achieve victory.

   With Kingsburg: To Forge a Realm, though, after one game (and not even all of the modules!) it was clear that Kingsburg was jumping up back to its previous high position on Alex's list of his top tabletop and cardgames (it had slipped lower and lower as he became aware of the replayability issue.) It's even getting higher now than it previously had been.

   So yeah.

On: The Kind of Stuff We Mormons Watch

   When I first got home from my mission, the first thing I watched (besides, like, Scott Sterling getting his face caved in, which had come out only a day or two before I'd come home) was, well, you could probably guess what I would have wanted to watch first.

   It was Ender's Game.

   The first movie I actually watched, though, was Catching Fire, because there's a trailer for it on the Ender's Game DVD-- and I saw that it was on Netflix, and I wanted to catch it before it disappeared like Netflix movies do sometimes (for those of you counting, though, yep, it's still there.)

   (The other YouTube videos I watched beforehand were the Hunger Games parody music videos, from the same dudes who brought you Scott Sterling, being BYUTV's "Studio C." So.)

   The first movie my brother who just got back wanted to watch-- well, it was The Saratov Approach, actually. The one about the missionaries who get kidnapped and held for ransom? (Which is... well, I suppose it's a decent enough choice for when you're off your mission...)

   And then we forced him to watch the LEGO Movie, because it's so awesome.

   And then he watched Ender's Game. Got around to it last night. So.

Thespis Strip Dated Sunday, May 3, 2015

   Coming "soon."