Not-So-Mith'd Opportunity: Random Banter # 222

[SZbNAhL]

Spoiler: Story Time

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Okay, so my university had a Gaming Society which had a heavy focus on video games, because at that time that's what most members wanted. I talked to the exec about setting up a separate Facebook group for those interested in tabletop games so people interested in finding groups could do so without having to wade through the video games discussion, and they okay ed it. Thus in Term 1 was born the [Uni] Gaming Society Tabletop page.

Everything went fine, a couple of groups got created but nothing much happened, and board games got more accepted at society meetups. Heck, I met one of my best friends by playing Mario Kart at a fresher's society meetup (three rooms, one Xbox, one Wii, one in theory for PC gaming but in practice for whatever people wanted).

Then the next year essentially the entirety of the exec were replaced. Suddenly only one member regularly played tabletop games, with most of the rest being 'hardcore' video gamers. Suddenly generalised game meetups stop, the only ones that happened were specifically for Smash Brother, or 'online meetups" that were AV excuse to play the multilayer games the exec wanted to play . At the same time there was a surge of increase in interest for tabletop gaming, in particular D&D and Pathfinder.

A month after term started I got an angry message from the Web Officer demanding why we were using the society name and asking for a DM (yeah.... on a tabletop gaming group filled with roleplayers, PM would have been better, or just message). Despite me being very clearly the only admin.the eventual result was a conversation that boiled down to 'how dare you have the nerve to use the society's mane with permission, no you should have asked first, no we will not heavy permission why would we want to be linked to your tabletop gaming page". Well the eventual result was that I just changed the name of the page, started actually promoting it to spite them, and then let the page die it's slow death.

There wasn't much happening over the next few months, a few people suggested meetups that got shot down, including my idea for a weekly board games evening (that I would host if they'd just book me the room and make the event). Turned down because 'none of us have the free time to host, and you can just play board games at the socials'. The socials that took place in the very loud campus pub, not the best place to play Seven Wonders.

Everything came to a head the day after the AGM. Announced about eighteen hours before it happened the first myself and many other members heard about it was sheet it was over and the exec tried to blame the us for the result being 'we want more focus on Smash Brothers'. What followed was the most activity the group had seen in months, as the membership rose up in fury. Not only had they not given anybody sufficient notice of the meeting, they had spent the entire year only supporting physical meetups for Smash Brothers or in the pub, and the 'Internet meetups' not appealing to the large section of the society (now known to have been the majority by a small but significant margin) who wanted to meet up and play games, maybe two or three in a four hour meetup.

Or in other words 'you dug your own hole, if you don't like it climb out by yourself'.

A second AGM was quickly organised and promoted sensibly, but the damage was done. By the next Fresher's Week the returning 2nd and 3rd years remembered the lack of support and decided to spend their money on joining other societies. The 1st years found something else to do. By the end of the year the society didn't exist, and the ex exec had posted for the first time in a year in the traditional strongly worded letter style with explicit examples of where that year's exec had gone wrong.

But that tabletop gaming page I started? It died a quiet death a few months before the university year ended. The Science Fiction society started pulling double duty as the place to find a group, while the Chaplaincy started promoting it's board game collection. I'd had to stop supporting my page when my ditties as Secretary Evil Vizier* of the creative writing society, which proved to be a more fulfilling use of my time.

*Everybody had informal titles styled after a stereotypical fantasy court. The secretary had originally been the Chief Scribe, but in the previous AGM I'd consolidated the day to day running in the position so that the Chair/Overlord could focus on preparing for meetings and planning events.

Seems to me that the simple solution would have been to found your own society with blackjack and hookers specifically for tabletop games. My university has one - all you really need are about a dozen atendees, a room (which universities tend to have in abundance) and a stack of boardgames (which can get expensive, but if you pool the fees from all the members over the years and cut a sponsorphip deal with a local games shop like we did, you can get quite a nice collection).

Which reminds me: I'm graduating and moving to London to train as a teacher (actually have already moved, see left). Which I guess means the above paragraph should have been in the past tense. The main difference from a playground perspective is that I'll stop talking down Alabama and start talking down Kentucky, which hosts the smaller and inferior version of my new city.

[Anonymouswizard]

Seems to me that the simple solution would have been to found your own society with blackjack and hookers specifically for tabletop games. My university has one - all you really need are about a dozen atendees, a room (which universities tend to have in abundance) and a stack of boardgames (which can get expensive, but if you pool the fees from all the members over the years and cut a sponsorphip deal with a local games shop like we did, you can get quite a nice collection).

You wouldn't believe the fuss kicked up when I tried and behan advertising for members, the TCG society already got enough flak. Plus I was too busy essentially running the Creative Writing society, being a regular member of the Debating and Tea societies, helping with the regular Chaplaincy events, and coursework.

Without the time to set up a society I made my offer: if they'd just book me a seminar room and let me know the time I'd host a board games event. Assuming I could rope a couple of people into bringing games along or raid the games at home I'd be able to supply enough board games for twenty, maybe thirty people, not counting all the board games the society already owned. But nope,that required effort and so never happened.

Which reminds me: I'm graduating and moving to London to train as a teacher (actually have already moved, see left). Which I guess means the above paragraph should have been in the past tense. The main difference from a playground perspective is that I'll stop talking down Alabama and start talking down Kentucky, which hosts the smaller and inferior version of my new city.

Ah, moving down from the North are we?

Well if I ever see you around I'll not notice you, having no idea what you look like.

[LaZodiac]

I realize I'm late to the party on this one but I saw The Shawshank Redemption yesterday while doing laundry. It was really good.

Also I may have spent um... 40 hours, 100% clearing Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. It was a real good game!

[SZbNAhL]

Ah, moving down from the North are we?

Here there be dragons (at Temple Bar, at any rate).

Well if I ever see you around I'll not notice you, having no idea what you look like.

I'm sure it will come up in conversation. Londoners all talk to each other on public transport, right?

But seriously, this makes me wonder how many times I've come across people I know from online IRL and just not realised. It's a weird thought.

[Mith]

Here there be dragons (at Temple Bar, at any rate).



I'm sure it will come up in conversation. Londoners all talk to each other on public transport, right?

But seriously, this makes me wonder how many times I've come across people I know from online IRL and just not realised. It's a weird thought.

A friend of mine has a friend he met online who's mum visits someone who lives in the same town on a regular basis. So she's been the courier of small gifts between them. Considering she's coming up from the States, it works out better than trying to ship things.

[Peelee]

I realize I'm late to the party on this one but I saw The Shawshank Redemption yesterday while doing laundry. It was really good.

No more late than I was suggesting a movie from '92 to begin with.

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On the one hand, I wish they ended it on the bus after Red said, "I hope." On the other, the visuals of the sea stretching out to eternity when the whole movie had the walled backgrounds everywhere was pretty striking, and I could see the appeal there. Even the bus shot didn't have that much of a visual impact.

[Anonymouswizard]

So I'm in the mood for some cyberpunk, and have access to both Netflix and Amazon Prime. Anything decent in the genre on those?

Before somebody says Altered Carbon, I've tried and it's terrible even when you ignore the unnecessary changes from the book (what's wrong with Kovacs being pro-immortality? Or the Envoys being UN special forces?).

[Peelee]

So I'm in the mood for some cyberpunk, and have access to both Netflix and Amazon Prime. Anything decent in the genre on those?

If you toss Hulu into the mix, you could hit up Future Man. A lot of the humor is low-brow, but it's still pretty clever.

[Tvtyrant]

Today for my birthday my 14 years old son took my 3 years old son into the backyard to play and to let me get some cooking and reading done, and from the 3 years old I heard in a loud chipper voice: "A BEEHIVE! HELLO BEE!"

FWLIW, despite my STUNNING HUMILITY!!!, a wrote a rather long post that I thought I'd share here.

Happy belated birthday!

[Anonymouswizard]

If you toss Hulu into the mix, you could hit up Future Man. A lot of the humor is low-brow, but it's still pretty clever.

Hulu? Isn't this the thing only available in America?

Time to see if Netflix has Psycho-Pass I guess...

[Peelee]

Hulu? Isn't this the thing only available in America?

Time to see if Netflix has Psycho-Pass I guess...

No clue, but you raise a good point - check and see if the UK Netflix or Prime Video have Future Man!

[2D8HP]

So I'm in the mood for some cyberpunk, and have access to both Netflix and Amazon Prime. Anything decent in the genre on those?

Before somebody says Altered Carbon, I've tried and it's terrible even when you ignore the unnecessary changes from the book (what's wrong with Kovacs being pro-immortality? Or the Envoys being UN special forces?).

I don't know if it's available from those services, but back in 1990 I saw Hardware which I wouldn't call enjoyable, but with a story lifted from a 2000AD comic book, plus cameos by Iggy Pop and Lemmy, it was very "cyberpunk" with an emphasis on "punk".

Happy belated birthday!

Thanks!

[Teddy]

It's a few days old news now, but Swedish midsummer was celebrated in traditional fashion with salute cannon, sword fighting and a fire show last Friday. Plus all the actual traditional elements, such as dancing on a pole draped in flowers, eating herring and potatoes with liberal amounts of alcohol and song, and midnight skinny dipping (which I didn't take part in this year as all the people I wanted to hang out with was sitting around a bonfire on a hill at the time). All in all, a midsummer well spent, and I'm already looking forward to the next!

[Peelee]

Midsummer? America just had the first day of summer three days ago!

[LaZodiac]

No more late than I was suggesting a movie from '92 to begin with.

Spoiler

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On the one hand, I wish they ended it on the bus after Red said, "I hope." On the other, the visuals of the sea stretching out to eternity when the whole movie had the walled backgrounds everywhere was pretty striking, and I could see the appeal there. Even the bus shot didn't have that much of a visual impact.

Spoiler

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This film needed to show the happy ending is real and true and there. For a film about hope, leaving it open ended is too tragic to endure, I think.

Also it's truly fascinating reading through the changes from book to movie and just how... unbelievably bad Stephen King is at writing amazing stuff. It's a very good writer who writes a lot of really good things, but he always makes these tiny little errors that feel more... for lack of a better word "real", but in a way that makes his stories less impactfull. It's fascinating to me, at any rate.

So I'm in the mood for some cyberpunk, and have access to both Netflix and Amazon Prime. Anything decent in the genre on those?

Before somebody says Altered Carbon, I've tried and it's terrible even when you ignore the unnecessary changes from the book (what's wrong with Kovacs being pro-immortality? Or the Envoys being UN special forces?).

Sex/Death/Robots is pretty good from what I've heard! It's not NECESSARILY Cyberpunk, but when your episodic tv show thesis is "you must include elements of sex, death, and or robots, everything else is fair game" you get a lot of cyberpunk and cyberpunk adjacent things.

[Anonymouswizard]

It's a few days old news now, but Swedish midsummer was celebrated in traditional fashion with salute cannon, sword fighting and a fire show last Friday. Plus all the actual traditional elements, such as dancing on a pole draped in flowers, eating herring and potatoes with liberal amounts of alcohol and song, and midnight skinny dipping (which I didn't take part in this year as all the people I wanted to hang out with was sitting around a bonfire on a hill at the time). All in all, a midsummer well spent, and I'm already looking forward to the next!

Sounds better than the traditional UK midsummer activities of 'stay inside because of the rain'.

N0ot to be confused with the traditional Midsomer activities, which involve killing somebody in a creative way that'll take approximately a ninety minute episode to fully uncover.

And now I'll just pretend I have no desire to engage in skinny dipping with any of my friends, nooooooooooooooooo

EDIT: already seen SD+R, it's very good even if some of the episodes are weaker. It's somewhat of a shame they began on a Peter F. Hamilton story, as the next few just weren't as entertaining, but it gets better again (especially by Zima Blue).

[Peelee]

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This film needed to show the happy ending is real and true and there. For a film about hope, leaving it open ended is too tragic to endure, I think.

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That's still a happy ending, though. It's Red's story, not Andy's; Andy is the same person at the end that he is at the beginning, it's Red who has an arc and changes. He starts out hopeless, he's in for life, he just goes through the motions at the parole hearings. He lectures Andy on hope being dangerous, on how he needs to stomp it out, and it's indicative of how Red himself is lost and has given up. Even when he does get parole, his out-of-prison experiences mirror Brooks' entirely. Pre-Andy Red would have followed that same path and killed himself just like Brooks, because he had no hope, just like Brooks. He doesn't. He goes to the field, finds the tree, buys the bus ticket. He takes the other road, and in the end, he finally admit the change that got him out of prison and saved his life in Brooks' room. Even the preceding lines are all happy - "I hope the Pacific is as big and blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope to see my friend again. I hope." it's a damned happy ending already, showing the reunion itself isn't really necessary. I think in all respects it would have been a better ending, if not for the cinematography they did at the beach. That, IMO, is what pushes the reunion scene over for me. But the bus scene would still have been perfect.

(the reason I broughy thiz up in the first place was, IIRC, it originally ended on the bus and execs wanted a more overt ending where you actually see them together).

[Grey_Wolf_c]

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That's still a happy ending, though. It's Red's story, not Andy's; Andy is the same person at the end that he is at the beginning, it's Red who has an arc and changes. He starts out hopeless, he's in for life, he just goes through the motions at the parole hearings. He lectures Andy on hope being dangerous, on how he needs to stomp it out, and it's indicative of how Red himself is lost and has given up. Even when he does get parole, his out-of-prison experiences mirror Brooks' entirely. Pre-Andy Red would have followed that same path and killed himself just like Brooks, because he had no hope, just like Brooks. He doesn't. He goes to the field, finds the tree, buys the bus ticket. He takes the other road, and in the end, he finally admit the change that got him out of prison and saved his life in Brooks' room. Even the preceding lines are all happy - "I hope the Pacific is as big and blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope to see my friend again. I hope." it's a damned happy ending already, showing the reunion itself isn't really necessary. I think in all respects it would have been a better ending, if not for the cinematography they did at the beach. That, IMO, is what pushes the reunion scene over for me. But the bus scene would still have been perfect.

(the reason I broughy thiz up in the first place was, IIRC, it originally ended on the bus and execs wanted a more overt ending where you actually see them together).

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I disagree. The bus would need to be post-border, or the chance that he'd be caught and sent back to prison would remain there as a (small but non-zero) chance. All the hope in the world won't give you a happy ending if you have the niggling doubt of if he made it. We know Andy made it because of the blank postcard, so something similar could have worked - Dumb-ass getting a second postcard, say, or as above, maybe showing the bus past the border - but some kind of tangible demonstration that the hope drove him to success is rather appreciated.

Teal deer: I agree with the execs that the bus wasn't quite enough to close of the film.

Grey Wolf

[LaZodiac]

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That's still a happy ending, though. It's Red's story, not Andy's; Andy is the same person at the end that he is at the beginning, it's Red who has an arc and changes. He starts out hopeless, he's in for life, he just goes through the motions at the parole hearings. He lectures Andy on hope being dangerous, on how he needs to stomp it out, and it's indicative of how Red himself is lost and has given up. Even when he does get parole, his out-of-prison experiences mirror Brooks' entirely. Pre-Andy Red would have followed that same path and killed himself just like Brooks, because he had no hope, just like Brooks. He doesn't. He goes to the field, finds the tree, buys the bus ticket. He takes the other road, and in the end, he finally admit the change that got him out of prison and saved his life in Brooks' room. Even the preceding lines are all happy - "I hope the Pacific is as big and blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope to see my friend again. I hope." it's a damned happy ending already, showing the reunion itself isn't really necessary. I think in all respects it would have been a better ending, if not for the cinematography they did at the beach. That, IMO, is what pushes the reunion scene over for me. But the bus scene would still have been perfect.

(the reason I broughy thiz up in the first place was, IIRC, it originally ended on the bus and execs wanted a more overt ending where you actually see them together).

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If that's the case I didn't see it in my reading up on the film after watching it that I tend to do.

In my opinion, leaving it open as to whether or not Red finds Andy or not is a sour note. Something about the film carried such a weight that if they "left it up to your imagination" it might lead to despair or anxiety. Leaving it in no uncertain terms that Red finds him, and they're best friends forever and get to hang out, really sells home the message of hope more. The cinematography absolutely sells it as necessary from a film craft standpoint, as you mentioned, but I feel like from a narrative sense as well this is a scene that they needed.

I guess what I'm saying is that I want a story where there's no ambiguity to the happy ending. Not ever story needs it so clear cut, but this one felt like it did.

[Fyraltari]

A heatwave is starting and I had boiling water poured on my foot because of a co-worker's ill placed kettle.
That is all.

[enderlord99]

This kills the giant enemy crab!

[Bartmanhomer]

A heatwave is starting and I had boiling water poured on my foot because of a co-worker's ill placed kettle.
That is all.

Are you ok?

[Fyraltari]

Are you ok?

Well I don't think it was exactly boiling yet. I have four blisters (two big ones and two little ones), it hurt for a while and I'm going to need a bandage for the next couple of weeks but nothing too bad.

[Anonymouswizard]

Well I don't think it was exactly boiling yet. I have four blisters (two big ones and two little ones), it hurt for a while and I'm going to need a bandage for the next couple of weeks but nothing too bad.

Oh, yeah, foot scalds are the worst. Thankfully mine was protected by my sock, so I just have a roughly five centimetre scar these days and didn't get too much in the way of blisters, but when I got it about eight months back I was limping for a couple of days.

[SZbNAhL]

Midsummer? America just had the first day of summer three days ago!

So you have three days from the start of summer to midsummer, then three days from midsummer to the end of summer. A regular-length six-day summer, just like we have every year. What's the problem?

...

Oh, that's right, I forgot you weren't British.

[enderlord99]

Oh, that's right, I forgot you weren't British.

The climate where I live is almost exactly the same as that in Britain, despite being part of America.

Summer is longer than 6 days; it just happens to be wet... just like all the other seasons.

[2D8HP]

Midsomer activities

I find it curious that a little English village seems to have a murder rate exceeding Detroit's in the 1980's

[Peelee]

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I disagree. The bus would need to be post-border, or the chance that he'd be caught and sent back to prison would remain there as a (small but non-zero) chance. All the hope in the world won't give you a happy ending if you have the niggling doubt of if he made it. We know Andy made it because of the blank postcard, so something similar could have worked - Dumb-ass getting a second postcard, say, or as above, maybe showing the bus past the border - but some kind of tangible demonstration that the hope drove him to success is rather appreciated.

Teal deer: I agree with the execs that the bus wasn't quite enough to close of the film.

Grey Wolf

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If that's the case I didn't see it in my reading up on the film after watching it that I tend to do.

In my opinion, leaving it open as to whether or not Red finds Andy or not is a sour note. Something about the film carried such a weight that if they "left it up to your imagination" it might lead to despair or anxiety. Leaving it in no uncertain terms that Red finds him, and they're best friends forever and get to hang out, really sells home the message of hope more. The cinematography absolutely sells it as necessary from a film craft standpoint, as you mentioned, but I feel like from a narrative sense as well this is a scene that they needed.

I guess what I'm saying is that I want a story where there's no ambiguity to the happy ending. Not ever story needs it so clear cut, but this one felt like it did.

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All I'm saying is, the book ends on "I hope," and it's a damn fine ending. Whether he makes it or not is beside the point (though I like that he does, and in the short story, I fully believe he does). But that's not Red's redemption, finding hope again was.

[enderlord99]

Steamed Hams but it's simultaneously a Telltale game and a Phoenix Wright one, with the UIs layered on top of each other

[Caerulea]

So, where should I start with Pratchett? What 5 books first?