deviantART: by:InverseReality-2

Dragon Age: Origins Review

~InverseReality-2 — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 22:25:20 PST

Note: The following review discusses gameplay and general user interface. No story spoilers have been included.

BiowareÂs new Dragon Age: Origins CRPG arrived in the mail on Wednesday. Confused marketing prior to the release had me wondering whether to buy it. I donÂt understand why Bioware insists on using their concept art to market their titles. The art is always dark and murky, a little pulp, and never reflects the actual mood of the story. But my problem was neatly solved when my brother got it for me for my birthday. Thus far, IÂm about 54% percent of the way through the game, and quite a bit below the 100 hours of game play promised Â IÂm only at about 30 hrs recorded thus far.

Unlike Mass Effect, the mechanics of the game UI seem to be geared more heavily for PC users rather than console play. Drilling down into the action menus is unintuitive and time consuming Â on the Xbox, you have to hold down the left shoulder trigger religiously to get anywhere, and a slight slip of the finger in battle means that youÂre suddenly exposed, or have to struggle to get back to the menu item again, costing you real time and taking up valuable play time.

The much-touted Eclipse engine seems dated and handicapped next to comparable contemporaries. (It does allow for significant end-user development, but as I am not much of a modder, I haven't heard about how well it works in this regard.) Having played other action adventure games like LionheadÂs Fable 2 and BethesdaÂs Fallout 3, I have to say, the movement and action controls on Dragon Age: Origins are clunky and overloaded. Fighting is ridiculously difficult in real-time and the transparent overlapping menus have way too many options for battle. The in-game event notices Â a huge banner with swirly blood that pops up every time some quest is updated Â are badly proportioned and difficult to see on my 32" flatscreen from any distance farther than 2 feet away. There are no multi-camera angle controls (annoying!), no jumping, no swimming, no looting, and no at-will wanton killing. (To the last complaint I say, "so much for being the spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate!")

The Dragon Age: Origins name comes from the conceit that the game boasts six different customizable origin stories for the player, based on the variables of race and gender. In terms of game story customization, this is an interesting move towards greater replayability and player-character engagement, and I predict that we will see greater variety and development on this front in future games. Story-wise, however, I am not impressed. There have been no surprising twists (given the advertising, I expected more hard decisions and betrayals), and the characters lack the hook of previous Bioware fare. (How I missed Minsc and his miniature giant space hamster, Boo!) The gameÂs target audience is, admittedly, in the 17-22 year old range, so perhaps the absence of real emotional "hardness" isn't surprising. The naivete and lack of dramatic pathos in the plotline seems to suggest even younger crowd; belying the ÂMÂ for mature audience rating.

Overall, I find this a step back from the game play and story development exhibited in BiowareÂs previous release, Mass Effect. But for BaldurÂs Gate and Neverwinter Nights nostalgia, it seems like a timely revisit to the sword and sorcery genre. As an avid gamer who grew up on the Final Fantasy franchise and the Bioware RPGs, itÂs nonetheless a must-play for the True Believers. But after years of the same thing replayed again and again in different settings: Bioware, I am ready for more of a change.

DA Features: Spreading the Love with Butter Knives

~InverseReality-2 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:16:41 PST

I'm a sucker for bandwagons, because they are awesomecakes. Thanks to ~VaguelyFamiliar, I get to sign up for this one. Yay! It's all about spreading the DA love around, and introducing viewers on your page to other fellow viewers and potential DA friends. So guys, comment quickly and comment fast! I want to start spewing the praise, already.

P.s. The title is misleading. There are no butter knives.

Rules (slightly modified)

1) I will feature 15 people on this journal in a Promotional List.

2) The features will be determined by the first 14 people to comment on this journal entry.

3) For each of those 14 people, I will put their avatar and three deviations I like from their gallery on the list.

4) If you comment here and I feature you, you'll have to do the same in your journal, putting me in first place, completing the list with 14 people in this way.

The idea of this is not to get a free feature, it is to spread art around for everyone!

6,666 Kirriban Winners

~InverseReality-2 — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:16:18 PST

I'm still behind on the 6,000 pageviews one, but if you want it, free commission is up for grabs in a few more pageviews!

UPDATE: Kirriban caught by both ~robokop and ~Lweeling who both sent me screenshots. I guess this has happened before to other people. Oh well, prizes all around!

asked for a drawing of her character Sabel

asked for a picture of Brianna from Kotor II

As a side note, got the last 6,000 hits kirriban for Chai Ka and Wildflower from Jade Empire that I am still working on.

Thanks to everyone for playing! Next kirriban will presumably be at 7,000. So I need to get drawing!

Fallout from Fallout 3

~InverseReality-2 — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 10:54:17 PDT

Started playing it and have been doing so for the last two weeks. This is partly why my sleep schedule is more shot to hell than a shotgun-riddled super mutant.

As a BIG fan of the original two, I found that this game plays around in the playground of the world, but isn't at the level of of EPIC that I really wanted to see it as. I mean, c'mon! The first chunk of the game is all about running around chasing after "my dad"! I don't really trust in any game story where my personal relationship to a fictional "father" is a key part of the plot. Besides, I'm way too old to be emo like that.

In the original game, I was the Vault Dweller, and I had to save the world from being overrun by Super Mutants and for this purpose, effectively became a one-man (or woman) rampage of Gatling Guns and a stimpack collection that could bury the Lourve. In the sequel, I was The Chosen One destined to lead my people to paradise, and I did! -- by defeating the power-armor covered remnants of the US government single-handedly as a one-man (or woman) army. See a pattern here?

But the third game? I'm going to save the world by making their water tasty. WTF? Now, I guess I'm only 1/3 to 1/2 of the way through the game, but I'm already missing the humor of the original two, and I sure hope there is a massive army of Super Mutants, soldiers, or some other massively over-sized/over-armored horde that I need to defeat single-handedly, because so far this game is kinda mediocre in its execution. I'm going to see it to the end, nevertheless, but so far, not too impressed. Even with the shiny graphics. (Mass Effect did it better.)

Did Anyone Catch the 6,000 Kirriban?

~InverseReality-2 — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 16:12:06 PDT

No one has sent in a screenshot to claim yet. (Currently at 6,015.) What's the closest number out there?

Magical Pink Girl Irony

~InverseReality-2 — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:37:03 PDT

Now presenting, Barbie the Musketeer -- with transforming magical girl dress!!

I love that Barbie does back flips across the screen and her demure skirt never moves.

Where Do Kotor Fans Go to Hang Now?

~InverseReality-2 — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 15:39:01 PDT

Friend of mine (Canny, who runs Totally KotOR) recently returned to the wired after 2 years away working as a Missionary in China. One of the first things he's pointed out to me is that the KotOR Fan Media site is really not what is used to be. And it's true. There's a lot less traffic going through there now than when I joined 3 and a half years ago. Three and a half years. Damn, that's a long time. (Heck, I've been on and off DA for three years, now, too.)

I partially have KotOR to blame for getting me into fan art and fiction. I used to rarely ever touch it. But after playing Jade Empire, I was totally hooked on the immersive worlds Bioware built. I jumped into KotOR looking for the next Jade Empire. What I found was a game less satisfying (but with a sequel) and a massive fan-built community that sucked me in. I found myself crafting things I never thought I could do. In retrospect, some of my short stories for the Dueling Circle challenges are still pretty darn good. Dark. I like dark.

Anyway, a lot of my connections online today are friends I first connected to from the KotOR Fan Media site. And also FF.net, though the KFM folk are way more active with fanart on DA. But where are you guys now? Where do you hang your KotOR fetish? Have you moved on to other games, other genres? What's up?

Black and White

~InverseReality-2 — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:05:57 PDT

Finished skimming Black and White by Jackie Kessler and Caitlin Kittredge. Read the first two chapters about a month ago, read another third last night, and woke up in the morning at 4am and just read the last two chapters. I did not miss anything for skipping. I know some people feel very strongly about reading the end of a book, and some of my friends look at me aghast when I tell them what I do. But let's consider here: why do people *not* read the ending of a book in advance?

I would argue that it's because they feel that knowing the ending in advance spoils the story. Destroys the satisfaction of the ending. You don't get the suspense of waiting to find out, or the adrenaline of hitting the climax. But for me, it's just the opposite. Especially if I *know* I'm reading a pedantic piece of near-crap and I just want to get through it as quick as possible. Knowing the ending keeps me from fretting about whether my narrative suspicions are wrong or right, and calms me down enough to enjoy the rest of the story. It helps me to evaluate the writing better because I can take a step back and check out how the writer is building to the climax. I attribute this to years of perversion studying way too much literature, but I enjoy looking at another writerÂs craftsmanship and dissecting how it was put together, even if it was mediocre writing. So, while for some knowing the ending ÂspoilsÂ the story, I think that the full entirety of a novel is not just its Âstory,Â but also its construction and planning, and reading the ending helps me better enjoy and appreciate the process that gets the story there instead of getting frustrated by the poor quality of the writing and angry at the crappy pace. And yeah, I *could* also do that by rereading the book again after I read it the first time, but if I can barely finish the book in its entirety the first time around, why the Hell would I read it again for kicks?

Now, there are *some* books that I will not skip to the end of find out. Terry Pratchett is one author I enjoy from beginning to end. Eoin Colfer is another. William Boniface and Hilari Belli two close thirds. (Although in the case of Bell, I broke that rule once for an interminable, but enjoyable, trilogy she wrote.)

So ultimately, my feelings on the Black and White book: mediocre action, cheesy dialog, and too much girl baggage. Great read for girl comic readers looking for a female-oriented perspective, terrible for anyone looking for a genuinely good comic story. (No Alan Moore, you Jackie and Caitlin.) For a decent comic-book-novel-spin try Austin GrossmanÂs better written Soon I will be Invincible. Same dual-pov chapters, and some actual surprise twists that you wonÂt see coming in chapter 2.

Rating: C+

House Arrest

~InverseReality-2 — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 21:50:37 PDT

Belatedly, I have started watching the show House, the very popular, top-tv-ratings-ranked medical-magical-mystery show so many people are blogging about. And I have to say, it's ~~tolerable~~ hilarious. Actually, it's supposed to be a medical drama with spurts of comedy, but about a third of the shots in the show are of the various doctors/characters looking seriously at each other or space, thinking about the answer to their new medical dilemma, with no indication whatsoever what is passing through their vacuous minds. So it might as well be a fantasy for all I know: that's how completely I am blindsided by their resolutions.

But the characters are a delightful mix of ironically compelling and genuine clichÃ©, so despite my compulsive yelling at the TV, I am well-entertained even while correcting the titular Dr.House's glaring gaps in logic. But I am told that this is only Season One of the show, where it's still getting its feet under it, and that the later seasons are actually really good. For that I'm a little sad, because then I'll have one less tv show to make fun of.

In the first episode we meet Doctor House, a brilliant, physically crippled, acclaimed medical practitioner who is still the best damned doctor at the hospital. (I had to use italics there because this is a subjective opinion. Subject to the magical world House lives in. Because, say, in the real world, he'd be a really crappy doctor we could replace easily with a high-techy widget thingy called a database.) House's disability comes in the form of a bad right leg, which died in a muscle spasm, and for this reason we are asked to blithely ignore his addiction to pain medication (Vicodin) because his grumpy crippledness makes for delightful verbal abuse of the people around him.

We soon learn that House specializes in infectious diseases, negative reinforcements, and sarcastic superiority; he is also a strong proponent of human experimentation and the process of elimination. By this, I mean that he frequently employs a treat-the-symptom, we'll-figure-out-what-the-problem-is-later-depending-on-the-patient's-reaction tactic to diagnosing fatal, time-sensitive diseases. Oh, and ethical practice seems far from his list of worthwhile concerns.

House is not only the best doctor in the hospital, but also the Department Head of Diagnostics at the Princeton Medical Learning Hospital, and has a "handpicked" team of three young doctors at the top of their respective specialties. These guys are so obviously underutilized and frequently derided that they have nothing better to do than wheel patients around the hospital in wheelchairs or breaking and entering into people's homes (more on that later). I am left frequently wondering what happens to all the other near-death patients who arenÂt on the comprehensive House Medical Care plan, and his team of four doctors only ever seem to take on one disease case at a time. But at the same time, I can't emphasize enough how much I want that insurance plan when I get a near-fatal, obscure disease. House's 24-hour team of crackpot doctors can break into my house any day in order to find the cause of my illness! And yes, they do this on multiple occasions to search the homes for the "cause" of their patient's woes. One of the underlying morals of the show is, "people always lie," so obviously, breaking and entering into a patient's house is the way to cureÂ deception? Anyway, it works out and it's not like this is one of those Law & Order shows so we don't need to spend a lot of time on the criminal court cases afterward.

We're given over and over again that House is a misanthropist, though it's equally frequently suggested that he is actually a deeply compassionate healer with a heart of gold who is completely alienated from the rest of the world because of his crippling, terrible pain. I still prefer to believe that House really is just a right bastard who enjoys problem-solving and Sudoku, who happens to work at a hospital because it pays well. His co-workers all seem hell-bent on writing humanity into him, though, and perhaps this is because they all became doctors when their parents said so, but secretly harbor the furtive desire to become writers, which is why they make up all those stories about House.

Rundown of the rest of the cast:

Chase is the handsome Australian doctor who smoked weed as a teenager, wanted to go into seminary school, and ended up as a doctor because his father wanted him to. We're maybe supposed to think about how he wasted his talent at medicine instead of becoming a model, but other than that he may be the most vanilla character on the show.

Cameron is (I think) the name of the female doctor on House's team. (Wikipedia update: her first name is Allison.) We're told in the first few episodes that House hired her for her looks, with the im...

Clean Slate!

~InverseReality-2 — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 12:44:35 PDT

Ack -- I haven't posted to this site in... well, long enough for some 600 deviantions to accrue! To everyone who I follow who hasn't gotten gobs of flattering, loving comments from me: I adore your work, you're doing fabulous, and I saw the pic, but I don't have enough time on my hands to comment on every one -- SORRY!

I'll try to do better from now on, but I need to start out on a clean slate again to even try to get back on track with following everyone's awesome creations. Hopefully, also means I'll get back into drawing or writing or whatever again, but that's been few and far between for myself lately. *sigh*

Quickie Thoughts on Watchmen Before Anyone Else!!!

~InverseReality-2 — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 04:28:11 PST

Watchmen wasÂ not a disaster.

Bear in mind, I loved the dystopic, chaotic, anarchistic, angry, four-toned panels of the original comic, so my opinion about a shiny, flashy, high-res, and slow-mo studded movie is bound to be reserved. I didnÂt want to walk into another Wanted experience, so I deliberately set my standards low, low, low for the Watchmen movie.

On the plus side, the casting worked a lot better than I had hoped, and I think the choices were as good as any talent available in this generation. The tall and graceful Matthew Goode as Ozymandias was dead-on. He embodied everything I imagined a real-life Adrian Veidt would look be: charming, reserved, and intellectual. Jackie Earle Haley, who was wonderful as the pedophile in Little Children, makes filthy the entire screen with his intense, powerful character-acting; in this instance, the mad-twitch of emotion across RorschachÂs face that shows up even through his mask.

Billy Crudup, with a bit of digital blue height extension and a lot of apathetic nudity, carries the role of Dr. Manhattan through sheer voice alone: compassionate yet detachedÂan godlike, yet fallibly human enigma. Malin Ackerman is going to be a hot commodity after this movie, and justifiably so: she goes believably from teary-eyed waif to kick-butt bombshell without even stopping for a new layer of mascara.

The soundtrack to the whole piece, however, was unexpectedly disappointing. Heavy in popular ballads from the era, I found most of the licensed selections predictable and sentimental, which I thought worked against the entire purpose of the original story. It was slick and slyly paced to the action, however, and we're treated to more than one instance of ironic lyrical-visual juxtaposition where some seemingly inappropriate song plays while something completely ironically different happens onscreen. Oh, so ironic.

Ultimately, I think that the director made a movie genuinely watchable by fans, although you may not want to refresh your mind with the original story shortly before seeing this movie. (Put that one off until later.)

Book Marathon

~InverseReality-2 — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 01:47:31 PST

I have been reading *a lot* recently. This is a big switch for me, because for the past eight years or so (and especially after college), I hardly read *anything* unless it was online or required for a class. I am rather proud of my ravenous, word-consuming, frenetic reading spree, and I hope the tradition keeps up even after I get myself one of those job things I have also been reading so much about.

In the interest of impressing myself, and also to encourage myself with what I can do with a little bit of plastic (library card) and some free time, here is the budding list of everything I have read since last November, in no particular order. (Which is to say, I cannot remember what order I read them in, but the *really* good ones are highlighted with an asterisk.)

Note: Since this is primarily a reminder for me of the good/bad books I read which I may or may not be interested in revisiting, nonfiction how-to books have not been included in this list. I only ever read those things once.

[November 2008]
Red Dwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers
Red Dwarf: Better Than Life
Red Dwarf: Backwards
Red Dwarf: Last Human
Legion From the Shadows by Karl Edward Wagner
Sir Apropos of Nothing by Peter David
The Grey King by Susan Cooper
The Wish List by Eoin Colfer
The Supernaturalist by Eoin Colfer*

[December 2008]
Ordinary Boy: The Great Powers Outage by William Boniface*
Bloodstone by Karl Edward Wagner*
Making Money by Terry Pratchett
Nation by Terry Pratchett*
Charlie Bone and the Time Twister by Jenny Nimmo
Charlie Bone and the Invisible Boy by Jenny Nimmo
Hound of Rowan by Henry H. Neff

[January 2009]
Charlie Bone And The Hidden King by Jenny Nimmo
Charlie Bone and The Castle Of Mirrors by Jenny Nimmo
Charlie Bone and The Beast by Jenny Nimmo
The Second Siege by Henry H. Neff*
Mass Effect: Revelation
The Tracker*

[February 2009]
Larklight
Starcross
Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony by Eoin Colfer*
Half-Moon Investigations
Greenwitch by Susan Cooper

Tag

~InverseReality-2 — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 12:18:37 PDT

Tagged by I tag no one.

Info
[X] I am shorter than 5'4.
[ ] I think I'm ugly sometimes.
[X] I have many scars.
[X] I tan easily.
[ ] I wish my hair was a different color.
[ ] I have friends who have never seen my natural hair color.
[ ] I have a tattoo.
[X] I am self-conscious about my appearance (sometimes)
[X] I have/I've had braces.
[ ] I wear glasses
[ ] I would get plastic surgery if it were 100% safe, free of cost, and scar-free
[ X] I've been told I'm attractive by a complete stranger.
[ ] I have more than 2 piercing.
[ ] I have piercing in places besides my ears.
[X] I have freckles.

Family/Home Life
[ ] I've sworn at my parents.
[ ] I've run away from home.
[ ] I've been kicked out of the house.
[X] My biological parents are together.
[ ] I have a sibling less than one year old
[] I want to have kids someday.
[ ] I've lost a child.

School/Work
[] I'm in school
[X] I have a job
[X] I've fallen asleep at work/school.
[X] I almost always do my homework.
[] I've missed a week or more of school.
[ ] I've been on the Honor Roll within the last 2 years
[ ] I failed more than 1 class last year
[ X] I've stolen something from my job
[ ] I've been fired

Embarrassment
[X] I've slipped out an "lol" in a spoken conversation.
[ ] Disney movies still make me cry.
[ ] I've peed from laughing.
[X] I've snorted while laughing.
[ ] I've laughed so hard I've cried.
[ ] I've glued my hand to something.
[ ] I've had my pants rip in public.

Health
[ ] I was born with a disease/impairment
[X] I've gotten stitches/staples.
[ ] I've broken a bone
[ ] I've had my tonsils removed.
[X] I've sat in a doctorÂs office/emergency room with a friend.
[X] I've had my wisdom teeth removed.
[ ] I had a serious surgery.
[x] I've had chicken pox.
[ ] I've had measles

Traveling
[X] I've driven over 200 miles in one day.
[X] I've been on a plane.
[X] I've been to Canada.
[X] I've been to Mexico.
[X] I've been to Niagara Falls.
[ ] I've been to Japan.
[ ] I've celebrated Mardi Gras in New Orleans.
[ ] I've been to Europe.
[ ] I've been to Africa.

Experiences
[ X] I've gotten lost in my city.
[X] I've seen a shooting star.
[X] I've wished on a shooting star
[X] I've seen a meteor shower.
[X] I've gone out in public in my pajamas.
[] I've pushed all the buttons on an elevator.
[X ] I've kicked a guy where it hurts.
[ X] I've been to a casino.
[ ] I've been skydiving
[X] I've gone skinny dipping.
[ ] I've played spin the bottle.
[ ] I've drunk a whole gallon of milk in one hour.
[ ] I've crashed a car.
[ X] I've been Skiing.
[X] I've been in a play.
[ ] I've met someone in person from myspace.
[] I've caught a snowflake on my tongue.
[ ] I've seen the Northern lights.
[ ] I've sat on a roof top at night.
[ ] I've played chicken.
[X] I've played a prank on someone
[X] I've ridden in a taxi.
[ X] I've seen the Rocky Horror Picture Show.
[X] I've eaten sushi.
[ ] I've been snowboarding.

Relationships
[] I'm single
[X] I'm in a relationship
[ ] I'm engaged.
[ ] I'm married.
[ ] I've gone on a blind date.
[ ] I've been the dumped more than the dumper.
[] I miss someone right now.
[ ] I have a fear of abandonment.
[ ] I've gotten divorced.
[X] I've had feelings for someone who didn't have them back.
[X] I've told someone I loved them when I didn't.
[ ] I've told someone I didn't love them when I did.
[X] I've kept something from a past relationship.

Sexuality
[]I've had a crush on someone of the same sex.
[ ] I've had a crush on a teacher.
[X] I am a cuddler.
[X] I've been kissed in the rain.
[ ] I've hugged a stranger.
[ ] I have kissed a stranger.

Honesty/Crime
[X] I've done something I promised someone else I wouldn't.
[X] I've done something I promised myself I wouldn't.
[ ] I've snuck out of my house.
[X] I have lied to my parents about where I am.
[X] I am keeping a secret from the world. (I suspect quite a few people are)
[X] I've cheated while playing a game.
[X] I've cheated on a test.
[X] I've run a red light.
[ ] I've been suspended from school.
[X] I've witnessed a crime.
[ ] I've been in a fist fight.
[ ] I've been arrested.

Drugs/Alcohol
[X] I've consumed alcohol.

SW: Clone Wars

~InverseReality-2 — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 08:51:41 PDT

Saw the movie with my baby brother a week ago. Some thoughts:

+++ Old-School Star Wars fans hate it, and I was expecting to hate it, too. Actually thought it was okay (not spectacular, but at least mediocre). Did not resent movie for time spent / money lost.

+++ I love it when my Jedi look like cookie dough. Mmm. Even Anakin looks almost likable. Almost. And tasty Ewan McGregor, uh, I mean Obi-Wan? Woo!

+++ C-A-P-O-T-E HUTT!! That is all.

+++ I can see character potential for that alien padawan with the name IÂve already forgotten. SheÂs not your normal stupid-teenager. Maybe because she's already paired up with a stupid teenager, and you can't get any stupider than Anakin, so therefore, she has to be the mature teenager of the team. Albeit still a teenager. But if someone would like to supply it to me and point out my forgetfulness, thanks in advance.

+++ Even digital PadmÃ© still makes me want to puke a little in my mouth. I hate you Natalie Portman. I just do.

New DeviantArt Account

~InverseReality-2 — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 23:50:26 PDT

I started a whole new account just for my kitty photography. I could see this obsession getting extra compulsive, and so have decided to give it its own playground. You can now checkout loads and loads of kittens galore (redundant) at:

milkoverfloweth.deviantart.com

May your deity of choice save my feline-infected soul. Oh, and also I have become very good at impromptu Photoshop frames. Yay.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

~InverseReality-2 — Thu, 22 May 2008 10:57:18 PDT

Reposted from LJ entry.

Courtesy of a friend, we got an advanced screening of the movie at 10:30pm last night. Visually, I thought it was something like Sky Captain meets Die Hard, without the charm of either. But IÂd still say it was a satisfying romp for Indie fans, and the best part is the obligatory geeked-out compare/contrast youÂll indulge in with your friends immediately following the final credits. (Puke.) Although I am a little iffy about the opening premise of Indiana Jones breaking into Area 51 with a Russian crew (Indie is under coercion, of course), the preternatural alien-themed plot device is fitting, if preposterous, for a 2008 pulp re-visitation. (This not a spoiler except for the first ten minutes of the movie.)

A for effort and not ruining the franchise but a C for lack of real excitement and tension. (Well, you can hardly blame them since we *all* know whatÂs going to happen anyway, right? But it makes me nostalgic for the final scene from Holy Grail.)

What is a キリ番?

~InverseReality-2 — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 13:28:43 PDT

Etymology

Japanese ããªçª (kiriban) from åãã®ããçª (kiri no ii ban) - "a number which is a good place to stop", "a round number".

kiriban (plural: kiriban or kiribans)

1. A milestone; an interesting number displayed on a web counter, such as 10000, 22222, etc.; particularly, one selected by the website owner for the purpose of giving a prize to whoever reaches it.
2. A gift or prize given to one who reaches such a milestone.
3. The system of giving gifts to those who reach web count milestones.

Usage
Also used as in attribution, as kiriban winner, kiriban number, kiriban picture, etc., or with a number indicating the kiriban, as kiriban 5000.

Thank you Wictionary! Also see Urban Dictionary.

Forgive me for being slow on the learning curve. Seems like these are getting popular everywhere now, and I had no clue what it was all about. So thatÂs why theyÂre called kiribans? Okay!

In honor of new discoveries and vocabulary knowledge, I am going to attempt a first-ever kiriban for 1,888 pageviews! Failing that, weÂll just roll on by to 2,000 and so onÂ I believe the rules are you must take a screenshot "proof"; of the page count and send it in via comment or e-mail to claim your prize. Prizes are traditionally free commission sketches of debatable quality. It all depends on the skill of the artist, I suppose, as well as the request. Goodluck!

Vanity CD

~InverseReality-2 — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 12:07:04 PST

Reposted from my LJ entry.

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first article title on the page is the name of your band.

2. http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four words of the very last quote is the title of your album.

3. http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/
The third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4. Use your graphics program of choice to throw them together, and post the result!

Self-Perception Theory: Has Taken to Drink

My Trip to the Kwik-E-Mart

~InverseReality-2 — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 14:56:49 PDT

Life imitates art in this real-life rendition of SpringfieldÂs favorite convenience store, and Saturday afternoon I went on a shopping trip to the Kwik-E-Mart in Mountain View. For those of you who donÂt know, for the Simpsons movie coming out at the end of this month, 7-11 set up twelve shops across the U.S. & Canada to resemble the iconic Kwik-E-Mart from the animated show, and one of the locations is right in nearby Mountain View, California off the 101 Freeway (take the Shoreline exit).

So is the Simpsons-promo convenience-store makeover really worth all the effort? Well, plenty of people appeared to think so (including me) because there was a security guard and a line all waiting outside the door!

The store had a hunt-and-scavenge bevy of movie-tie in promotional products, like Krusty O's, Buzz soda, Radioactive Man #711, Squishees, Simpsons character cookies, and some very, very pink donuts.

It occurred to me that this was a very popular and very clever marketing plan, not the least because now, if you type in "Kwik-E-Mart" into any search engine, it brings up a flurry of movie-related discussions and pictures.

Everyone wants a piece of the merchandising tie-in action, too, from the Krusty O's cereal to the Buzz Cola, to Slushee goodies, and this is generating some great buzz all around the upcoming Simpsons movie.

I plan to go back on Wednesday to see if they have any new Radioactive Man #711 comics in stock.

Happy V-Day!

~InverseReality-2 — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 15:56:32 PST

So this year, as an antidote to the commercial-saccharine glut of Valentines Day pressure on singles and couples to all go out and behave as if it were something special, I present to you, in mp3 format, a few reminders for the lovey-dovey season. Just remember that even though today might be your special kissy-wissy-ootchy-cootchy day with significant other (or not), making love work is still a hard and often painful, painful process.

Not that this should prevent you from rockin out all the way.

Hearts, yall.

This years WORST LOVE SONGS EVER FOR VALENTINES

01. What is Love by Haddaway 4:27 [Who really knows, anyway?]
02. Id Do Anything for Love (But I Wont Do That) by Meatloaf 12:01 [WFT is that supposed to mean?!?!]
03. You Are the Master by Bif Naked 4:00 [And youll enjoy it, too.]
04. The Bad Touch by The Bloodhound Gang 3:34 [You dont want to know where they stuck it.]
05. Not a Virgin by Poe 3:42
06. Bills, Bills, Bills by Destiny’s Child 4:31 [Time to buy a new boytoy.]
07. Fight for All the Wrong Reasons by Nickelback 3:44 [You do have a point]
08. Song for the Dumped by Ben Folds Five 3:40 [I want my money back, too.]
09. You Ought Know by Alanis Morrisett 4:09 [Dont you?]
10. Nothing But You by Kim Ferron 3:58 [Or whatever.]
11. Late by Xu Meijing 4:56
12. Every Breathe You Take by Sting & The Police 4:12 [Stalking is just your way of saying, Honey, I love you so much Im willing to invade your privacy, right?]
13. Let Her Cry by Hootie and the Blowfish 5:08 [And of course, the Rebound.]

Band-wagon, Buggers!

~InverseReality-2 — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 18:34:01 PDT

Four wheels and a bloody-right paint job, mate. They call this a meme, but I call it the new chain-letter. Remember those? Ugh.

"You know what the chain of command is? It's the chain I go get and beat you with 'til you understand who's in ruttin' command here!"

The first 5 people to comment on this post get to make me work.

Your options:

1) Request a 100 word drabble on any subject
2) Request sketch on a subject/character of their choice

Me: I'm best with drawing cartoony things, women, and digitally altering something. I can write, but that can also take awhile. I don't have many mature content filters when it comes to images or sketches (both visual and literary), but I reserve the right to shoot down anything too perverse. Example? Barney making love to a mailbox. I don't care how horny the mailbox was.

Your obligation:

In return you have to post this to your own damn journal/blog/forum/whatever thing. Be specific about what you're willing/not willing to do. I'm supposed to check this.

Current Takers:

1) 4sakenangelÂRough sketch is done, haven't had time to work out the layout and details. Hope to work on that since vacation from school is now on!
2) KnucklixÂrequests a stegosaur on a rocketship [COMPLETE]
3) [open]
4) [open]
5) [open]