Wednesday, July 17, 2013

SWTOR Character Profiles: Sith Warrior

Welcome back, ladies and gents, to the Assassin's Den. Today, I bring you the profile for my Sith Warrior.

Name: Adaso
Gender: Male
Species: Pureblood Sith
Age: 23 standard years
Homeworld: Jaguada's moon
 Class: Sith Warrior/Sith Juggernaut DPS Focus
Personality Profile: Raised in a noble house older than the landing of the Jedi, Adaso is a dark knight, with a code of honor and chivalry; he treats both his superiors and inferiors with respect.  But his honor is Sith honor, his outlook on chivalry is steeped in the Dark Side of the Force.  Murder, torture and betrayal are as much tools for his ascension as compassion.  Adaso views the Imperial Military structure in high regard, and treats officers and soldiers with respect.  That said, he does not tolerate betrayal.

And yes, I know this makes once scene in the Sith Warrior's story difficult, but I figure that Adaso has an understanding with Quinn after that; he won't fault him for following orders, but even a hint of betrayal and Quinn will die horribly.

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

SWTOR Character Profiles: Sith Inquisitor

Welcome back, ladies and gents, to the Assassin's Den. Today, I bring you the profile for my Sith Inquisitor.

Name: Koyi'shak
Gender: Female
Species: Twi'lek
 Age: 24 standard years
Homeworld: Nowhere she wishes to admit to
 Class: Sith Inquisitor/Sith Assassin DPS Focus
Personality Profile: Before being forced into slavery, she was angry and willing to do whatever was necessary to avoid the fate of so many other women of her people.  But now that she's Sith, she's a sociopath and a megalomaniac, willing to use and discard anyone and everything she needs to in order to gain power and comfort.  She is also a sadist, delighting in the pain her new power can cause others.  She isn't completely without redeeming qualities, however. She has a soft spot for anyone who shares her quest for knowledge, whether they benefit her quest for power or not.

Monday, July 15, 2013

SWTOR Character Profiles: Bounty Hunter

Welcome back, ladies and gents, to the Assassin's Den. Today, I will do the character profile of my Bounty Hunter on SWTOR.

Name: Maircus
Gender: Male
Species: Human
 Age: 31 standard years
Homeworld: Telos IV
Class: Bounty Hunter/Mercenary DPS Focus
Personality Profile: Having spend most of his adult life in law enforcement, Maircus isn't like most would expect of him.  While he has no problem with killing, he gives his targets a chance to surrender whenever possible.  He prefers a good fight and a chance for honor and glory to credits, but he won't pass up the opportunity to make money when it comes around.  He tries to be a good Mandalorian, learning the language and tries to live his life according to the tenants of the Resol'Nare.  Many would consider him cold, but those who befriend him will find a warm and caring man who looks out for his people.

Sunday, July 14, 2013

SWTOR Character Profiles: Jedi Knight

As those who are following my ff.net "story" know, I roleplay my characters within the context of the game.  To aid myself in doing that, I've created back stories, moments that give insight into the characters' personality (both on Fanfiction.net under my SWTOR Character Tales story) and these character bios.  I'll be posting these over the next 8 days, so enjoy.

Name: Ragdat
Gender: Male
Species: Rattataki
Age: 27 standard years
Homeworld: Rattatak, but was found by the Jedi on Nar Shaddaa
Class: Jedi Knight/Jedi Guardian DPS focus
Personality Profile: Ragdat is a young man who has a strong desire for justice.  He has a kind heart, but he tends to leap before he looks and makes some snap decisions that others in the Jedi Order may find questionable.  However, his heart is in the right place, and he gets results.  He won't hesitate to help someone in need, but he wants those he helps to be able look out for themselves, as his life on Rattatak and Nar Shaddaa taught him.  He prefers to keep moving, and becomes restless if he has sit still for too long.

I'll do my Bounty Hunter tomorrow, and my Sith Inquistor after that.  From there, we'll see.

Monday, July 8, 2013

Response to Penny Arcade's "Near Miss" comic and blogpost

I just found about this off the Penny Arcade comic website; a teenager made an idle threat on facebook that was taken EXTREMELY seriously by authorities.

Here is Tycho's news post on the subject.

Personally, I'm torn about this.  On one hand, he's a kid who said something stupid on a social networking site, and may pay for it for the next decade of his life.  According to this news article, the kid made a comment about slaughtering a kindergarten class and feeding on their hearts, in response to a spat he was having with a League of Legends player.  But, according to the same article, authorities found no weapons in his home, and no plans to go through with it.  But regardless, he was charged with making a terrorist threat, a third-degree felony, and spent his 19th birthday in prison, with a 500,000 dollar bail for him.  This is overreacting to the extreme by authorities.

On the other hand, no matter what happens to him, this kid knows that you don't make threats like that. That there are certain lines you don't cross.  You don't make rape jokes, and you certainly don't make jokes about murdering a kindergarten class.

Both the kid's father and Tycho of Penny Arcade say that context is everything.  While I agree to a point, what made this kid think his statement was okay in any way, shape or form?  What made him think in an age when we've had the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Columbine, Heritage High School, Fayeteville shooting and the University of Central Arkansas have happened, and STILL in the public consciousness? What made him think that his supposedly sarcastic comment wouldn't be jumped all over by authorities?

While I have sympathy for the kid, I really hope he goes away.  Kids are out of control, and have been for a LONG time.  In order for the youngest generations to understand that their actions have consequences, somebody's got to fry. 

To be honest, this kid's actions should have been nipped in the bud years ago BY HIS PARENTS!  But, since they didn't society has to punish this 19 year old kid for their lack of parenting.  In fact, they should also punish the parents, since they didn't do their job earlier.

And I don't care that the article says the kid is so depressed about his fate that he doesn't even dress himself; in the eyes of the law, he's an adult paying the consequences for his actions.  Actions he should have known better than to do.

Again, I feel sympathy for the kid; he was "in the wrong place at the wrong time".  But kids need to learn that people online are more than just words in a box and a picture of a cartoon character.  They are the same people that you see walking down the street, and if you make the kind of comment IRL as he made online, he'd be suffering the same fate as he is now.  The age of anonymity on the internet is over.  Everyone is online, and it is MUCH easier to track you down today than it was even five years ago.  People are held accountable for what they do both online and offline now, and examples need to be made.  I'm sorry that this kid is that example, and I know he'll learn from it either way, but examples need to be made.

So, I leave this blogpost with something I've posted before; the Death of Civility.  It's got a few Bible verses in it on how to be a better person at the end, which are good guides for how to do so, regardless of your beliefs.

Take care of yourselves, ladies and gents, and remember that you are not as anonymous as you think.

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Star Wars Retrospective: Wrap up

Welcome back, Ladies and Gentlemen, to my retrospective on the Star Wars Saga.  Unlike the days before, this is brand new content.  That's right, I'm not going to repost the entry I did four years ago.

So, a little backstory; before Episode 4 was released in 1977, movies were not what we think of today.  In the decade before it was released, some of the highest grossing movies were downers. A Clockwork Orange, The French Connection, The Godfather, the Exorcist, Papillon...even Rocky ended on a down note.  (Yes, Rocky 1 ended on a down note; he lost the match.  That one was an anomaly until Rocky Balboa. But I digress.)

Star Wars brought hope into cinema.  George Lucas gave us a story of triumph over adversity when all Hollywood thought we wanted was a gritty setting. George Lucas gave us high fantasy when Hollywood thought we wanted grim reality.  And George Lucas gave us a world worth fighting for, when Hollywood thought we wanted a distopian view of things.

Because of Star Wars, special effects techniques and technologies advanced decades, which had stagnated since the 1950s.  Any of you who have the original VHS or laserdisc releases of Episode 4 can see just how awesome the original effects were, compared to movies like 2001 a Space Odyssey or Planet of the Apes.  Granted, these were done in 1968, ILM was dealing with pretty much the same technologies in the 9 years between.  George Lucas wanted his movies to LOOK as good as the story he was trying to tell.

He also broke away with normal conventions of 1977; he went with a classical score instead of the disco or rock soundtrack that was expected at the time. Remember, in 1977, disco was king.  But it is timeless because of it.  A person who has never seen Episode 4 can watch it and not immediately think it's from the 70s.  Don't believe me? Then check this out; it's a disco version of the opening theme.



(BTW, I had to change the video, but this is what 70s looked like to, in addition to what disco sounds like.)

This movie also started the trend of the summer blockbuster.  Before this, if I remember things correctly, the biggest movies came out in the winter.  With Episode 4's release on May 25, 1977, it began the trend of the summer blockbuster.

This movie began 36 years of fandom and cultural impact, and counting.  We have seen books, tv shows, comic books, video games, fan fiction, fan movies, fan music, toys, and parodies.  We've even seen a "religion"; the 2001 Jedi Census Phenomenon.  Even lexicon from the film is known in popular culture; President Barack Obama mentioned the Jedi Mind Trick in one of his speeches.

Hundreds of authors, artists, musicians and film makers have been inspired by Star Wars.  Seth Macfarlane, Kevin Smith, Seth Green, J.J. Abrams, and SO many others have been inspired by the Star Wars Saga.  Hell, Abrams was tapped to make the next Star Wars movie, scheduled for release in 2015.

Star Wars has advanced technology, both inside and outside the film industry.  Industrial Light and Magic was founded in 1975 by George Lucas.  They are the biggest name in special effects today, and have advanced technology and techniques that filmmakers use today.  We also got Pixar out of Lucasfilm.  Skywalker Sound came from George Lucas, a set of tools used by both film makers and musicians now.

And lastly, there are VERY few people in this day and age who haven't seen at least one of them. I have met 2 people in 30 years.  I have known over a hundred people (and I mean conversed with on a regular basis at one point or another.  If I go with casual acquaintances, I've known more) in my life, and only 2 have never seen Star Wars in any way, shape or form.

Star Wars had its crap. Episode 1 and the Clone Wars cartoon comes to mind.  Those are garbage.  As is the New Jedi Order novels.   Those piss me off.  But no series of any genre has been as consistently good as Star Wars.  No other fandom outside Lord of the Rings has the dedicated fanbase that Star Wars has.  And yes, I know that the original Star Trek aired before Star Wars.  But had it not been for Episode 4, Star Trek would have been nothing more than a scifi tv show from the 1960s.

Star Wars changed the landscape of the world.  It has touched the world in ways most forms of media never could.  No matter what Disney does with the franchise from this point on, what George Lucas brought us from 1977 to 2012 has touched the lives of many people, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

Saturday, June 22, 2013

Star Wars Retrospective: Episode 6

I've found out that my problem with my headaches is a combination of the fact the weather (I get headaches when it's way to hot out), my new glasses, and caffeine withdrawal of all things.  After I had a soda, I felt MUCH better.  So, instead of cutting out the soda entirely, I'm trying to wean myself down from three cups of soda at approximately 20 ounces, (what I'm starting with now) to two, to one, to none.

Anyway, on to the retrospective.

Episode 6: Return of the Jedi.  The end of the Original Trilogy, and the end of the saga of Anakin Skywalker. And also the worst of the Old Trilogy.  Don't get me wrong, it's still a very good movie, and it's vastly superior to Episode 1 and 2, but it doesn't live up to the quality seen in the two directly prior.  Hell, it' superior to Episode 3!

There's little I can say about the characters at this point.  Ian McDiarmid makes his debut as Palpatine in this movie, and performs his role as Emperor and Lord of the Sith perfectly.  Imperious, creepy, kinda sleazy, and powerful as hell; McDiarmid portrayed those traits perfectly.

Now, for plot points; Vader's redemption.  We see a hint of what Anakin Skywalker should have been in Empire, when Vader called out to Luke through the Force, but this is the movie where we truly get to see what Luke means to Vader; Luke is not only his way to free himself from the thrall of Palpatine, he's his last link to Padme, and his only chance at being loved.  And that's all he ever wanted, every since he left Tatooine as a boy; to have some love him.

Luke's journey, however, is very different.  He's trained to be a weapon to kill the Emperor and Vader, but he ends up a true Jedi; a wise man who looks for the right answer, not just the quickest one.  Granted, he stumbled on the journey; he not only attacked the Emperor out of anger (and he would have killed him, had Vader not jumped to the Emperor's defense), but he viciously attacked Vader when he realized that Luke had a sister.  But, in the end, Luke chose to be a Jedi, like his father before him.  Better, in many ways, because Luke was calm during situations when Anakin would have losing it.

Now, the story between Leia and Han continued as it should, with a couple of fun twists.  I thought the moments when Han thought Leia was in love with Luke to be kinda funny in a lot of ways.  The scene where Han says "I won't stand in the way of you and Luke" was too funny, especially when Leia told him that Luke was her brother.

The Ewoks were cool.  Cute and cuddly characters who had a very tribal, hunter focused society made them both kid appeal and awesome.  Watch the way they fought the Empire; not the silly moments where they try to take down an AT-ST with a piece of rope, but the moments where they are jamming their spears into the soft parts in the stormtrooper armor. 

Now, for the nitpicky stuff.  First is the change from Sebastian Shaw as Anakin's Force Ghost into Hayden Christensen as Anakin's Force Ghost.  The reason behind it is that Anakin reverts back to the way he was before he falls to the Dark Side, and I really don't have a problem with this change.  It's a very silly change, but it doesn't hurt the universe or the movie.

What I DO have a problem with is this; how the hell does Cloud City, Tatooine, Naboo and Coruscant know that the Emperor is dead and the Death Star has been destroyed?  I know instantaneous galactic wide communication works, but I question the logic of showing that.  I really doubt the Empire would broadcast the Emperor just died, and I doubt that the average citizen would believe that the Alliance killed the Emperor that early. 

And, of course, Jar Jar is now in Return of the Jedi....No.   Just.....No.  Why the fuck would George Lucas put Jar Jar in Return of the Jedi?  Granted, he's not physically in the fucking movie, but why have him shout "Wesa free!"

All in all, I enjoy watching Return of the Jedi.  I just ignore the bullshit, and I enjoy the movie.

Next up, a full retrospective on the entire saga.


Now, unlike these past six, tomorrow won't be an old entry; it will be brand new.  So, I'm going to actually have to think about what I'm going to say.  Look forward to it!