Vondy

I was in one of the local game stores with my lady last evening. Its a great store. Friendly, welcoming, well-stocked. It has a big gaming room and private side-rooms in the basement.There is also a play-area behind the partitions upstairs. While browsing I hear references to assorted Hero rules from a game going on behind the rear partition. "Resistant PD" and "Speed Chart," among others. My ears perked up. Interest kicked in. I was elated and then, almost immediately, aggrieved. The game-master had a loud, nasal, officious, and condescending voice and manner. His game-mastering style was also grandiloquent and rail-roady. I confess my hackles immediately rose. Every syllable was like a jackhammer blow to my "aesthetic nerves." Eavesdropping (15-), I kept thinking: "What a an ass!" Maybe he's a great game-master. Maybe his players love him. But, from overhearing twenty minutes of that game, there is no way in hell I would join in. Not even for Hero. No. Just no.

As a point of order, he never actually made the attempt. Attempted murder was a step farther than her went. He contemplated it and came to the brink, but realized that he now stood on the precipice of the darkside himself. As a good person would, he was filled with self-horror and shame at what he had almost done. Good people, even righteous people, are tempted all the time. The biggest temptations are those that beg us to do evil to preserve good. "Strike me down..." "Save your friends..." Just because Luke threw his lightsaber aside in the Throne Room and refused to kill his father doesn't mean he was now free from that temptation for the rest of his days. Righteous people struggle with their desires and the lure of the wrong choice all the time. I ddin't find this half as disturbing or off-putting as many appaerently did. After all, he didn't actually kill Kylo Ren. No, what I did find disturbing and extemely off-putting was that our hero ran away and abandoned those who needed him and his duty rather than look himself in the mirror and own what he'd nearly done. King David failed miserably and yet owned his sin, made his penitence, and came to be referred to as the greatest and most righteous king in the history of Israel as a result. No, what bothered me was that the righteous choice a hero of Luke's caliber should have made would have been to acknowledge failure and then strive against it knowing he had more moral miles to go before he sleeps.

Warning: Harsh Language. The opening line from Swordfish comes to mind: "You know what the problem with Hollywood is. They make shit. Unbelievable, unremarkable shit." Of course, Swordfish played straight-man to its own introductory thesis! But, so does almost everything else Hollywood makes. Especially, when The Mouse gets involved.

I read the first one. It was interesting and as a 39-year gamer, satisfying in a "nerdarcheological" sense. But... I decided not to pick up the second one.

We live in an increasingly isolated society and, increasingly, people find themselves limited to a public-yet-anonymous circle of people they can express themselves to. I would normally suggest, get out and go for a walk, sit down at a local gaming store and play face-to-face with some people even if its not your game, or even just unplug for a few days. But, I don't know if those are options for you. So, I will say, when depression sinks in the world turns black and we can't always see the upsides and opportunities we have. We blot those out and say "its all bad." I understand that. I've been there. I've done that. I just ask that you try to ride it out and know that we are with you in spirit. Get out of the house, treat yourself to a meal you like, watch a movie or play a game. Pick up the phone and call a friend. I know you probably aren't anywhere near me, but if I'm wrong, go ahead and send me a PM. We'll get together and do something nerdy.

I've never been a wargamer. Don't get me wrong, I've played wargames. I've enjoyed playing wargames. I have a knack for wargames. But I'm not a wargamer. The price point, time spent painting, fiddly bits, and shelf-space... its not for me. I prefer my books and dice and characters and stories. So, last week I'm in the game store with my wife, who I have been running in an FFG Star Wars game. She's started to enjoy being a geek. Anyways, I'm looking for a board game we can all play as a family. While looking at The Red Dragon Inn series she calls me over and points at the wall of X-Wing and Armada. My RPG buddies of the last 26 years have gone totally bonkers for X-Wing. I played it. It was okay. I played Armada. I liked it quite a bit. But... the price point on these games. Its why I've taken a pass. So I explain the concept to her and she says "huh, weird." I end up not buying anything. The next day I come home from work to find my wife standing over stack of boxes and says "hey honey, look what I got." I go to the dinner table to investigate and find she has an Armada core set and like six expansions sitting on the table. Um.... I'm flabbergasted. She's never wargamed. I pointed out the price point when we were at the store. I ask, "just how much did you spend on all this?" She grins with an ingratieting smile and holds an Imperial Star Destroyer out to me and perly says "Look, honey, Star Destroyer!" As though that explains away everything and cannot be argued. Did I mention she is Jedisexual? In for a penny; in for a pound. We are now playing "angry space triangles." She absolutely loves it. Wait a minute, I married a wargamer?! Whaaaaat?

Urbanization.

Leviathan's Wake and Caliban's War. Both are excellent. It reminds me of the Jovian Chronicles game universe except, instead of a giant robots, it has an alien protomolocule and "vomit zombies."

Agreed. You can add more important women to the story without engaging in derisive and smirky "battle of the sexes" posturing. Whether you like Rogue One or not, Jyn Erso was a strong female lead who didn't lecture, talk-down to, or smirk at the men around her. As for Holdo, condescending purple haired admirals with halo headdresses in evening dresses who are bad at leadership do nothing for me. She was an admiral. Have her dress like an admiral, behave like an admiral, and express herself like an admiral. And, you know, actually have enough regard for her reporting officers enough to at least inform them of her battle-plan. Gosh... that might of helped.

We agree. Your point is understood and, to a certain degree, I concur with the emotional sentiment. But I've also grown weary of the constant rhetorical overstatement and license that pervades our nation's political discourse. It makes having a measured, nuanced, reasonable, and productive discussion difficult.

Why is it the second someone says they are "fiscally conservative" everyone starts implying there is philosophical or political dissonance? I'm not sure how those would be difficult to reconcile since the key phrase is "defense." You can make your country an extremely scary porcupine and maintain a highly effective expeditionary capacity without conducting an endless (decades upon decades) string of simultaneous military operations in multiple areas of the globe. We could make reasonable defense cuts and still have the best funded and most powerful military in the world. We just need to be a hell of a lot more judicious about intervention and a hell of a lot more brutal about soft and inneficient bureucrats. I fully advocate aforementioned shift to more circumspect positions / policies, btw. But while many want to point at the military, its not the albatross that is bankrupting us. Its expensive and can be cut, but its not the only federal belt tightening I want to see. I know people shriek that its heartless, but our entitlement programs are the principal cause of our balooning debt. They are not sustainable and will lead our nation to insolvency. And let's not even talk about government pork-barrel programs and spending at the federal level for every pet cause under the sun. I want just every single federal program to be made meaner and leaner, and to be forced to prove it is providing value and actually accomplishing its aims. I'm not against regulation, but I think it should be smart, specific, and equally as judicious as our military policy should be. Stereotypical conservatives don't understand the law of unintended consequences and black swans in foreign policy. Stereotypical pogressives don't understand those things vis-a-vis economics and culture. That said, I'm not anti government. I'm not anti-regulation. And I'm not anti-legislation. I'm just highly circumspect about government meddling. Politics is downstream of culture. Attempting to legislate it is effectively casting Summon Black Swan IX. I want most of my government at the local level, where I can keep an eye on it, more directly influence it, bang on doors when the policy wonks start acting stupid, and tailor it to local and regional customs, mores, and communities.

I'm not sure building their own mirror-universe version of the Tea Party is a winning strategy for the dems. My parents were Reagan Democrats. I'm a Kennedy Republican. If John F Kennedy or Bobby Kennedy were running today, I'd vote for them. Problem is, they couldn't win a nomination for a seat from the Democrats today. Cest la vie. Hasta lavista America. Centrist, moderate, mainstream voters no longer have a home. Partisan idiots are ruling the roost. Find me a fiscally conservative proponent of free markets, a staunch proponent of civil liberties and curtailed government power, and a robust defense. I'll vote for them. Otherwise, I have no choice because no real choice is being offered.

Life is too short. Hasta, Starlord!

What did you find so deeply objectionable? That he failed? That he turned cynical over it? That he didn't want to look himself in the mirror? That it included a third pseudo-woke woman-splaining moment? At least the writer's prejudices are clear and consistent! Women have a moral monopoly and men must listen, right? I found Luke's story arc at least plausible, if overripe in its bitterness. Great men do fail. Skywalkers do mope. A lot. In fact, they mope so much that evil empires are born. It might not be how I would had Luke re-enter the stage, but I wasn't so put out by it that I would cry "fake Luke." And he did stand up, overcome his failure, do the right thing, and went out in a way that left me fist pumping and saying: "Luke! F------! Skywalker!" Luke is still my boy.

The Phantom Menace had some great set pieces and bits that suffer terribly for large swaths of cringe-worthy bits. I feel the exact same way about The Last Jedi. The only reason I'd put TLJ over TPM is Luke Skywalker. I'm a Luke guy. Attack of the Clones is a watchable, fun, yet uninspiring Flash-Gordon / Buck Rogers serial style film. I don't hate it. I can watch it without too much pain. Aside from establishing that Skywalkers all have to outgrow being whiney-little-biatches to earn the black and hitting once great female protagonist with the banal weak-addled-pregnant-woman-in-love stereotype, Revenge of the Sith was a fairly good film. I could have done without Samuel L Jackson running the Jedi Order (or SHIELD for that matter), but.... shrug. For Me: The Empire Strikes Back A New Hope Return of the Jedi Rogue One Revenge of the Sith Solo Attack of the Clones The Last Jedi The Phantom Menace The Force Awakens Ergo, they take all their marbles and go home.

I don't hate them. Five or six of them were truly enjoyable. I just find the vast majority of them unsatisfying. Saying "I don't like them and this is why" is not hate. Its just a statement of personal preferences and/or criticism. Give up the social media wangst-fest and come back down to earth with the rest of us.

After having seen so many Marvel smokers, its not hard to read between the lines and "know" whether it will appeal or not. I'm not a fan of the Marvel films. I know, on the Hero boards that's heresy, but of 20 films to date I've only really enjoyed six of them. The others were mostly watchable films with high production values, but in no way left me thinking "Oh Wow!" They were spectacular, but not meaningful or innovative or artistically interesting. I can't say as they made me think "I just have to go see the next one!" Especially a movie with a giant crowded and convoluted cross-over cast. I know cross-over mini-series are a think in comics, but dear God, just no. Would I watch it for free on Netflix? Maybe if something else more compeeling wasn't also available. Sure. The cash cow is being milked until its udders squirt blood instead of milk. I find it tawdry and cynical and off-putting. I can enjoy a good superhero film now and again, but the "own them all" style marketing with multiple releases per year doesn't make me want to open my wallet. I want to see something new and fresh and innovative. Most MCU films follow a formula and, quite frankly, are largely overseasoned thin-gruel. At this point they are insulting my intelligence and asking me to spend on "yet another formulaic superhero blockbuster." Innovate or die. For me, the MCU is mostly producing corpses at this point. Dead on arrival.

I think suspending / cancelling the anthology films is the wrong reaction to one movie that didn't rule the box offices the way they wanted. As a film, Solo was better than The Force Awakens (IMO). They just need to slow their roll, time their releases better, and make a good movie. You know, do the work and respect the material instead of assuming "populous blockbuster trash" will automatically turn into gold if you slap "Star Wars" onto it. Admirals who don't wear evening gowns on the bridge and dress, you know, like Admirals. might also help. Personally, I would love to see Ewan McGreggor reprise his role as Obi-Wan in an anthology film. He was the shining light of the prequels, for me.

I still haven't seen it. From perusing this thread, I'm not feeling like I missed anything. Money saved. Thank you, all.

I like Rey. I just don't find her interesting as a person. I find this true of a lot of female characters in American media. I watch a lot of international television and its a cultural propaganda our entertainment industry has bought into. Women in other countries' media are allowed to be flawed or make poor moral choices. Imperfection is interesting and allows for more compelling character arcs. Women in American media tend to be presented as perfect people who are always in the right. The result? They are boring people, make boring decisions, have boring stories and are, quite frankly, boorish. There are exceptions, of course. Lorraine Broughton from Atomic Blond was a morally grey and personally flawed character. But that character was bucking a disappointingly banal cultural trend and therefore was tres awesome as a result. Welcome to Disney's America. All women are princesses. Perfect in every way. It is heresy (and misogyny) to disagree.

My cut of the Last Jedi would be: opening scene with Po, all Luke Skywalker scenes, throne room fight scene. The movie would be about 45 minutes long.

Holdo reminded me of the Fairy Godmother from Shrek, only arrogant, snarky, uninspiring, and witholding I wouldn't be surprised if Episode IX reavels the Knights of Ren are dark side wielding Oompa-Loompas.

My younger daughter (15) jumped up when Holdo died and pumped both arms in the theater yelling "Yes!" Afterward I asked "You really liked the rebel cruiser jumping to hyperspace right into the dreadnaught. huh?" She answered, "That was cool, but what I was cheering about was that that annoying biatch died."

Honestly, if they had replaced Rose with an Ewok I would have enjoyed the movie more.

Plot? What? Oh, that!