Techwright

Sometimes, the people to mourn are not the actors playing the heroes but the composers who give energy and style to the heroic work. Lalo Schifrin died Thursday, June 26 at age 93. If the name doesn't jog the memory, undoubtedly his most famous work will: the iconic theme song to the Mission: Impossible franchise of TV shows and movies. Actually, I think "iconic" might be a gross understatement. It has been adapted several times by composers as mighty as Danny Elfman, Hanz Zimmer, and Michael Giacchino. It even was so iconic that it forced out none other than John Williams when he refused to work with the theme on the first of the movies. This AP News article does a great job of enlightening one to Schifrin's work beyond Mission: Impossible, which includes several legends he worked with and shows he composed for.

To be balanced, there still is a lot of the light-show Jubilee in the series, especially early in the season, but without giving away too much, she has an unusual encounter which enlightens her to her full potential, and by season end, the big bads are getting a painful lesson in what "leveling up" can mean.

Point out some in-game places that you wished had specific names. I'll lead off by suggesting the 3 warehouse locations in Skyway where the Supertroll rave events occur should have names, especially the one where Babbage also shows up. While from an RP standpoint, it might be nice to have signs on the buildings giving a company name, I'd be fine with chat identifying them with something as bland as Troll Rave East, Troll Rave South, and Troll Rave West. Rather than wait for another player to fumble around with the location system, just announce Babbage as near Troll Rave East, or TR East. Thought about this tonight when a player announced Babbage as "near the South tram station" when it was really next to "Troll Rave East". (Someone eventually put up the coordinates, but not before a handful of people had been milling around the station searching for Babbage in traditional locations. In addition, the warehouse Babbage often appears at near the bend in the war wall could probably benefit from a name as well.

And I just rediscovered another while perusing random videos: Col. John Henry Patterson in The Ghost and the Darkness. Can't believe I ever forgot that one. Of the key seven at the top of the cast, four have died in the past two years.

Just learned of this: Ahoy. Apparently, this will be a team Age of Sail warship game, though there will be a solo captaincy combat option as well. By "team", I gather one creates a character, goes through training ("Seamanship") to run a "real" sailing ship and learn the articles of war to which players will be bound (presumably this starts as midshipman), then works one's way up the ladder of success. Friends can join the same ship and assume the roles of officers under one friend as captain. "Ahoy is a skills-based experience, where seamanship should be easy to learn, but hard to master" Sea Trials - Closed Alpha - targeted Quarter 1, 2026 - Closed Alpha players will be aiding in the testing of the Seamanship portion of the game. It doesn't sound like combat yet, unless there's target practice. Arena - Public Release - targeted Quarter 4, 2026 - This will be the battle stage. Demonstrated were British vs. Continental Navies, but there were 3 other flags available. There's suppose to be 4 modes of this stage, with more opportunities to come, both sea and land, as well as new ships in the future: Sea Trials - Peaceful Sailing with friends Beat to Quarters - Two teams, multiple ships Naumachia - Every captain for themselves Dominion - Capture and hold the objectives Open World - "Future Vision" - TBA - the gist is that they want to make the entire Caribbean an explorable and colonizable content: "trade, smuggling, piracy" were a few points named. Side note: I must give them credit for smarts for using Boccherini's musical duet as a sure way to motivate Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World fans to join the game. (full name of piece: Musica notturna delle strade di Madrid (Night Music of the Streets of Madrid), Opus 30 No. 6 (G. 324)) Also, the sea chanty sung by El Pony Pisador at the end of the video is really quite catchy:

This looks promising... Denis Villeneuve has been named as director for the next Bond film, setting the stage for all that comes. Villeneuve refers to himself as "a die-hard Bond fan". But first he'll complete Dune: Messiah. (As the last Bond thread was locked a few months back, I appeal to all to keep the discussion classy.)

There were times I felt like G'Kar and Mulari were written by Shakespeare. Their comedy, their tragedy, and their growth across the seasons, was some of the best fictional television I've ever seen. It's too bad some folks can't look past crazy hairdos and alien makeup to see the human nature the characters are meant to reflect.

Pistols and Archery don't really sound like Phys Ed stuff (this from a former camp archery instructor), that is, unless you're doing some sort of running action with them. Most archery ranges uses a 45 lbs draw as their maximum, paired with close targets, which I raised an eyebrow at when I was investigating archery ranges in my area at which to practice. The camp I instructed at taught 9 and 10 year olds using 45 lbs bows. Adults who could handle them were offered 60 lbs bows, which is what we two instructors used. Admittedly, I had some great biceps after 10 weeks of summer, but I was pulling that string 4 hours a day 6 days a week. I don't really see that action as Phys Ed. Now if we had a safe training possible in a "run and gun" style, that might be Phys Ed, likewise a biathlon for guns. (Now if the course was offering "Medieval archery", I might see that as Phys Ed, as the longbow archers of that era frequently had bows of 180 lbs draw weight in order to penetrate armor, and it was their daily job to train. That...is a workout.) Gamification: Best I can think of may never see the light of day, sadly. I've a buddy who is a genius coder and health nut, and came very close to releasing an excellent fitness website that did a great job of aiding people wanting to improve their health. He enlisted me for insights as I'm exactly the kind of person the site would target, and I pitched the idea of taking a page from gaming and giving multiple rewards in the fitness program: Long term goal rewards (I'd probably compare this to security levels in COH), but also a variety of smaller rewards for meeting short-term goals. The idea was to get the dopamine pumping to keep the more challenged "in the game" during spots that were harder to hit the long-term goals. Sadly, the project has been tabled indefinitely, as he finishes a couple of other concepts and brings them to market, including a new, affordable concept in personal alert buttons, those "help me, I've fallen and I can't get up" things. This one's got some concepts that would make it useful to healthy people leading active lifestyles as well. Sadly, the chance to bring this to market, disrupted the fitness program design.

By any chance, do you mean a "Mary Sue" rather than a "mcguffin"? I've always understood "Mcguffin" to mean an object that affects the plot or subplot, like the One Ring in The Lord of the Rings or the Ark of the Covenant in Raiders of the Lost Ark. (Okay, when double-checking myself, I learned the "object" could be a person, like Private Ryan in Saving Private Ryan.)

See, when you say "decent", that's a loaded question. "Decent" is subjective. I went through a Top 100 list, and a surprising number have some movie, good or rotten, out there. I do think there's a few though. Homeworld: similar to Battlestar: Galactica, but I think there's enough difference there that it can hold it's own, particularly if they show the techno-tribalism in the protagonist race. Karan S'Jet, the human computer, is a fascinating character on her own. If successful, they can do the prequel and tell the Deserts of Kharak story. I've not played these, but have seen some of the game "movies" that players have stitched together: 1. God of War franchise 2. Red Dead Redemption franchise I'm not sure The Legend of Zelda franchise has ever had a live-action movie (though probably some anime somewhere). There is a reserved page on imdb.com for a 2027 live action movie, but it has no real details, so it's more or less a placeholder for something that might never happen. In that vein, there appears to be a placeholder for a TV series for God of War as well. It has one comment, that Jason Momoa would like to play Kratos. Other than that, there's nothing to say this really is happening. While I think Dragon's Lair would be the stronger of two to adapt, let's not forget its little sibling Space Ace. That was a hilarious send-up of the Buck Rogers/Flash Gordon-type tale, with the hero pulling a reverse-Captain America, being hit with a beam that turns him to a wimp with moments of restoration. I'd love to see it come to screen. I'd also point to the Portal franchise. While there was an excellent fan-made short out there, I could wish for a full adaptation. And in regards to cape adventures, CoH may never make the cut, but would Overwatch? I've not played the game, just seen some of the introductory animation, and wonder if it might not have a draw at the box office. Oh, and for the gamers of the 1980s: Pitfall! - One of Activision's great successes from the 1980s. I envision a blend of Indiana Jones and Jumanji (and honestly, why haven't they released a Pitfall! game that isn't a 2D scroller? One like a Tomb Raider, Legend of Zelda, or Uncharted game, but with its own cheeky humor, would be much appreciated, at least by me.) Defender - first a coin-guzzling success in the arcades, then a popular cartridge game (and frequently ripped off by others), this side scroller, lone-fighter game of alien invasion might make a great film, if they take the time to write a strong script around it. Otherwise, it's likely to be hammy like Independence Day, or a bomb like Battleship. River Raid - another Activision cartridge success, I envision this one somewhere between Top Gun, The Dam Busters, and Firefox (with Clint Eastwood).

That sounds a lot like Sam Guthrie, Marvel's Cannonball.

Welcome, Home! I share this list of chat abbreviations with a lot of new players in hopes of sparing them some growing pains when learning the game: In addition, WuTang's new player introduction thread from 2024 has a lot of useful information shared by experienced players:

Are you saying that's a pro or a con? Repeatable implies a point of exhaustion of interest to me, personally.

It seems the Planet Coaster franchise will have competition in days to come. A proof-of-concept video was dropped for Metaparks to correspond with a kickstarter fundraiser. I've already seen a few of the bigger YouTubers associated with Planet Coaster expressing interest in the would-be competitor. Oh...and its multiplayer?! I don't entirely understand that, yet, but it's intriguing.

"Reboot" is a bit of a weird term when it comes to Bond stories. The only true reboot we got was with the start of the Daniel Craig era. In essence, all previous actors represented the same character lifetime. But of course, that gets weird as it puts the character as active for 40 years yet looking as then 49-year old Pierce Brosnan. So what is accepted is a series of "soft" or partial reboots that update the character into the era the actor inhabits. I do think with the changing of the guard, that a full reboot is in order, and that should be a young Bond, or young enough that it is clear he has experience and at least a Lt. Commander rank in the Royal Navy. This gives the potential for a long run of an actor in the role, or a series of actors covering the same version of Bond without the need for a soft reboot to deal with the times and tech. You just see Bond aging over the next 25 to 30 years. Despite having a close friend who endorses this, I've never been down for "Bond" as a mantle worn by multiple agents. That is what the "00" title is for. Reducing the name also to a mantle does not explain how the individual characteristics...all of them...repeatedly appear in the character. This is why I lobby for a parallel movie or TV arc focused on the other "00" agents. They can be named, killed, and the number refilled.

I've said this for years. But I'll agree with the others: Batman is on the JLA for his brain. What I know of Marvel Comics seems to back this up. I'm always interested in the street-level guys, particularly if they've one power that can be utilized in a number of interesting ways. So some character like Spider-Man or Daredevil usually works. It's when we get to the Fantastic Four that I have issues. Let me qualify by saying I like the characters. I really enjoy the characters. Ben Grimm and Johnny Storm annoying each other like brothers works for me. It's the situations these four are always in that annoys me. What I call the "Phenomenal Cosmic Power" scale stories. Literally the only buff on the team that stands any chance against opponents of this scale is Reed Richards' intellect, and its whatever the writers make of it for the scenario. And yet the team keep taking on the baddies that are able to level worlds. It's been a breaking of the suspension of belief repeatedly for me, and I sometimes wonder if it is part of the reason F4 films struggle. Every once in a while, though, there's a cosmic level story that works with a street-level super. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 5 had one. Without giving too much away, the season starts with the revelation that the core team has been pulled most of a century forward in time, to find Earth literally shattered, and the remnants of humanity clinging to existence on a fragment of the ruined planet. The hero Quake, who can tap into natural vibrational frequencies around her, is shocked to hear that the survivors believe she was the one who tore the planet apart. Up until that point, the mightiest vibration she'd unleashed had created an avalanche on an uninhabited mountainside. So the scenario was basically a powerful street-level super hearing that somehow she scaled up far beyond her previous best and shattered the planet. The shock and mystery behind that, including what might have triggered her, drove the story pretty well. But I see that as an exception.

*Quietly slips the "Starhawke: Year One" game concept overview back in the drawer* Yes. Yes, it is intriguing.

Oh, man! I came to the forums thinking I had the scoop on this. Hats off to you for beating me to the punch. 😎 I see your find reflects the Playstation. I spotted it over on Steam. I like the trailer. Obviously, this is another reboot and origin story, and I'm fine with that. I like the more global look to the government types. I've never set foot in merry old England, sadly, but to this outsider, this choice feels like a strong reflection of the effects of the Commonwealth. It sounds like the chief villain is another rogue 00, which might be why nascent Bond is recruited: someone who a rogue 00 has not trained with, and therefore is less likely to anticipate. I actually like this. I've said elsewhere before that I'd love the spotlight to be shown more on the other eight 00's. For those who remain heroes, it gives us a chance to worry: will they survive the mission? We don't get that with Bond. We know he'll survive. The only questions are who around him will not, and how that will affect him. For those who turn villain, it highlights that the 00 program is a razor's edge: the government needs the most dangerous predators on its payroll, but the challenge is to keep them on a tight leash lest they give in to their darker impulses and become the new Big Bad threatening the nation or the world. I'm puzzled by the facial scar. Does Bond really need that? While we live in the era of rapid facial identification regardless of physical markings, I do think carrying a huge scar on the right cheek would be a dead giveaway to the bad guys as to who you are. No facial-recognition A.I. needed. Unless at the end when he's given his 00 license, it comes with a free plastic surgery facelift? GVFR 637J is the UK license plate on that gold car. Is that a reference to something or just a random alpha-numeric? Wondering who the girl is that Bond is following around. Could this be Moneypenny, and the start of their platonic flirting?

On the positive side, I rather like the larger, more-open Atta mission cave.

To be fair, they probably had trouble recognizing you from any other lemming.

Near me (up to 49 miles): Downtown Greer, South Carolina - used for Leatherheads, the George Clooney, Renée Zellweger movie regarding the early days of American football. Gaffney, SC - formerly home to a never-activated nuclear power plant (now removed). The stacks from this power plant were sculpted inside, filled with an insane amount of water, covered with kids' ball pit balls to darken the water, and turned into the undersea scape of the movie The Abyss. (Ironically about 250 miles from the coast.) The infamous trench fall from the movie was created by repeatedly dropping the actor from top to bottom of the stack. Lake Jocassee, South Carolina - bordered by Devil's Fork State Park, Lake Jocassee is one of my favorite spots on Earth. deep blue, very cold waters, lots of hiking trails and camping...and location to some of the shooting for the legendary Deliverance. No, I've never heard banjo playing, but the gift shop used to sell bumper stickers about it. The river was, in part, the Chattooga River, famous for its white water rafting and fishing, which forms the western-most border of South Carolina against Georgia and North Carolina. As a teen Scout, I used to camp next to it in the Ellicott Rock Wilderness, a primitive camping area. Ellicott Rock being a boulder in the river, the geological point where Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina all meet. (Yes, I've stood on it.) T. L. Hanna High School, Anderson, SC - site of the real life events of the movie Radio, starring Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Ed Harris. The high school also has another famous student: the late Chadwick Boseman, best known as The Black Panther. While the town of Walterboro, SC, closer to the center of the state was used for much of the movie, the hometown of the high school, Anderson, SC was incorporated into some of the movie. I've worked in Anderson on IT contracts before, and drive by T.L. Hanna at least a few times each year still. Brattonsville, SC - (about 85-90 miles) not a current town, but a living museum composed of houses and plantations of the past, Brattonsville was the site of the real life Battle of Huck's Defeat, a small, quickly-over, but important battle in the southern states' fight during the American Revolutionary War. Some of the properties were chosen to be used in Mel Gibson & Heath Ledger's The Patriot, a completely fictional work woven from bits and pieces of the real life patriots of the vicious guerrilla-style fighting in South Carolina during the Revolution. I've been to Brattonsville and toured the spots used in the movie. The next several locations were all in areas badly damaged by Hurricane Helene last September. I've been up that way once since then, and some large sections are still closed to all traffic. Dillsboro, North Carolina and Cheoah Dam - this is a bit more regional: 100 miles away traveling mountain roads, or about 60 miles as the crow flies. These are the sites of two of the biggest moments in the Harrison Ford/Tom Lee Jones blockbuster The Fugitive. A portion of the Great Smoky Mountains Railway near Dillsboro was utilized to film the movie's terrifying train/bus crash and Cheoah Dam was, of course, the site of the legendary first clash of the two main characters. Biltmore Mansion, Asheville, North Carolina. Another regional one, roughly an hour's drive from me. I've been there many, many times thanks to a few yearly passes I once held. I'm actually not sure how many films have been made at the mansion and its surrounding estate, but here's a list of 13 of them. My personal favorite is The Private Eyes with Tim Conway and Don Knotts. Lake Lure, North Carolina- (about 50 miles north, but maybe more these days, depending on route due to wiped out roads) filming location for the iconic 1980s film Dirty Dancing. Unfortunately, Lake Lure has had it rough this last decade, first with forest fires ravaging its shores in the autumn of 2016, then with the absolutely devastating impact of Hurricane Helene, which pushed tons of rubble and debris through swollen rivers and into the lake. It may be decades before Lake Lure might be considered "normal" again. As if that were not enough, the buildings used in the movie burned several years back. The photo highlighting the link I included shows what it was before the area was decimated. Dupont State Recreational Forest, Lake James State Park, Chimney Rock Park, Nolichucky River in Pisgah National Forest...pretty much shoot a cannon ball in any direction out of Asheville, NC and you'll be pointed towards some filming spot for The Last of the Mohicans, with Daniel Day Lewis. Many of these locations were brutally scarred, even wiped from the map by Hurricane Helene last September. Chimney Rock Park for example, had the whole road and town below it taken all the way back to nature. Hardly a board or asphalt piece remained, though the park remains. They're in the process of building a new road, and in time, a new town. The Nolichucky River, likewise flooded and carved a new landscape. Incidentally, the Nolichucky's edge was the birthplace of American legend Davy Crockett. (He was not "born on the mountaintop" as the song goes.) I had a chance to visit the birthplace site back in July 2019. Not sure if anything of it remains now, but a state park had grown up around it. Also a side note: at the time of filming, I was working with the Humane Societies of western South Carolina as a courier. The regional head, as one of her duties, had to observe Hollywood films in the region to make certain the animals on set were being humanly treated. She took a firestorm of flack for The Last of the Mohicans. One rube royally berated her for the scene in which the hero and his adopted Mohican family hunted and killed an elk. After this yahoo finally lost some steam, she very pointedly noted that no elk was on set. It was a robot designed to look like an elk. She noted some other films she had observed on behalf of the Humane Society, like Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken. That, apparently was filmed down at Myrtle Beach, SC about 250 miles away. **I'm now told that some of The Hunger Games was filmed in Dupon State Recreational Forest. Cold Mountain, North Carolina - I read part of the book upon which the movie Cold Mountain with Jude Law, Renee Zellweger, and Nicole Kidman, was based, and learned it was a real mountain about 45 miles north of me, though a lot longer due to the mountain roads needed to reach it. So in early spring of 2003, I drove up to it. The route I took, State 276, I would NOT recommend to anyone with a fear of heights. Narrow lanes, dense fog, long drop-offs. I admit I was terrified someone would come around a hairpin turn so far from civilization and hit me over the side of the mountains. That said, the area around the mountain itself is flat and beautiful. Just approach it from a different direction. I suppose if there was a filming location I'd want to visit, perhaps the studios in Atlanta, about 150 miles south, where the Marvel Cinematic Universe is largely created.

Thank you for the clarification.

Interesting. So it is more than just Marchand or Mr. G. ? From your list it looks like all of First Ward should be end game material unlocked upon completing the first 3 Incarnate trials.

We Americans do love a good gram. Especially with a bit of chocolate bar and toasted marshmallow. 😋 j/k - Most US packaging has both imperial and metric on it these days, as do measuring cups.