Techwright

Just to be clear, is it the color of the first attack, or is it perhaps tied to an aura? I ask because I deliberately set my energy blaster with an activated aura set to the fists. The fists stay the color that I associated to the aura regardless of what color I make the energy blasts. I could even tap brawl, which has no color setting, and it would trigger the fist lighting.

I'd be all for a 1920s/30s/40s Dieselpunk/Pulp reskinning, possibly done as an added "zone" using time travel. Imagine a 1930-ish Steel Canyon with a strong Art Deco reskinning, maybe a zeppelin floating overhead, and period cars driving around. Neon lights illuminate the night, highlighting theaters, diners, and noir-fueling dives. Maybe add to the already present, if somewhat limited, costume elements related to that genre. Reskin zone borders to remove the war walls. Sure, you'll still need to move from zone to zone with a loading pause, but it would be more like crossing zones in Praetoria. So re-skin to a miniature golf course? duck pin alley? Axe throwing hall? laundromat with a Starbucks? Which is weird considering entertainment-wise, superhero movies represent 10 of the top 25 highest grossing movie slots (and #26 is a superhero movie, too). You'd think there'd be a strong interest in them in MMOs.

Yes but does he smell sweet? 😉 (Great musical, btw. Howard Keel always gave an amazing performance.)

True, but if you look closely, you'll find there's a lovely assortment of mixed nuts in this thread.

I was unemployed most of 2014. I downloaded a copy of Civ II and played to ridiculous amounts. Graphics weren't great but I loved everything else except the AI when making political decisions. VI is somewhat better at that, though still not great. I got annoyed with the religion elements for an entirely different reason. I'd get a nation with no religion to completely accept my religion, then bam, religious culture bomb, in one turn, the capital completely converts to a new religion, and converts 50%, sometimes more, of all the closest cities in the nation. Wiping out all the hard work on a whim is more than a little off-putting. There should at least be a build-up period before a culture bomb. If you're going to ignore the religion aspect, it sounds like a perfect time to play the Kongo. They're not permitted to have their own religion and have to work with whatever comes their way. Yeah, too many city-states. I'd rather have an option to fully absorb one or two of them once I've completely won them over. For now, I set the start bar lower. Speaking of "absorb", I'm greatly annoyed that I cannot merge settlers into other cities. It was a key tactic in Civ II and III for bleeding off overcrowding, and rapidly growing a new city. Besides, it is completely normal in the real world. I also despise that I cannot obliterate the starting capitals of the other empires. That is unnatural.

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Rule of Acquisition #82: The flimsier the product, the higher the price. (Or in this case, the more money it moves.) Sounds like someone studied the Ferengi. Rule of Acquisition #219: Possession is eleven-tenths of the law! (Sorry, couldn't disengage from the list fast enough. 😁)

So based on a smattering of chatterings around the web, is this production introducing the Marvel version of the Olympians? I've been wondering for a while if they'd ever introduce Marvel's Hercules to the MCU. Strong like Thor, less control and common sense. I was also wondering because a certain chain exercise looked like a very old Titan was an unwilling participant. Made me think of Prometheus with a bad outcome. (Or perhaps a good outcome. Sure beats getting your ever-growing liver ripped out by carrion birds every day.)

Well, they did put out a warning some time back that this would be MCU's first true horror movie. (Though the What If...? zombie episode was probably the first horror production in the MCU.) That said, it doesn't feel like zombie Baba Yaga. The clothes are in great shape other than what's smeared on them, and Wanda looks mostly intact. That's not to say we're not witnessing yet another terrifying version of Wanda, something worse for not having the quantum plague.

Currently playing the snot out of Civilization VI, which is weird because I find the game, except for graphics and slightly better AI, to be inferior to Civ III, which I dearly loved. Unfortunately, Civ III is not compatible with Windows 10, and I'd have to virtualize a copy of Windows XP to get the game running again.

Those that have been commenting about their love of Monopoly might want to check out the predecessor game The Landlord's Game. Rumor is that there's a crowdsourcing going on to revive and publish the game. I learned of this when I took my elderly Mom back to her hometown of Macomb, IL a few weeks ago. The city limits sign said it was the hometown of the creator of Monopoly, Elizabeth J. Magie (later Phillips). This puzzled me, and I launched into a search that revealed that "Lizzie" did indeed create The Landlord's Game, with a testing model in 1903 and a patent in 1904 (A second patent for a revision came in 1924.), three decades before Monopoly. The game ended up selling in both Britain and England for years before Charles Darrow showed up at Parker Brothers to hawk a game he "invented". It's been demonstrated that his version was so similar that it had to have been a theft of her intellectual property. Regardless, Parker Brothers bought the rights to both Monopoly and The Landlord's Game, so legalities became a moot point. The Landlord's Game was originally created to explain through playing the basic concepts of Georgism, an economic ideology.

Just when it was getting good, too. There's an old 1980s show, Otherworld...only lasted 6 episodes or so. Probably the highlight was Mark Lenard (original Sarek on Star Trek) playing a villainous military commander one episode. The premise was that a family got "off the rails" on a tour of Eqypt in their Earth and stumbled upon a chamber hiding a portal to a parallel universe. Entrance to the chamber triggered the portal. Arriving, they found a parallel Earth ruled by a fascist-like government, about 75 to 100 years more advanced than their Earth. They also heard rumors of ancient markers showing a path that men from another world used find another portal to return to their homeworld, richer and with knowledge that they used to conquer and rule. The family realizes this must be how a certain ruling dynasties came to be in their own world, and that the path is probably their way home, too. They set out to discover the path then follow it crossing zones (the government isolated people to zones, requiring special passes to travel between them) and realizing they'll have to learn an advanced technology and different cultural concepts in order to blend in and survive. Pretty cool concept, just never given the chance to build an audience. In light of cancellation, it's pretty easy to assume the family was eventually captured or destroyed. (I do hope someone will reboot the concept someday.)

For me, it was Tuesday.

It's a raised rock ledge, probably near water. "Bank" makes perfect sense.

Some badges give minor boosts or temporary tools/powers, usually after some effort expended getting said badges. Speculate, if you will, what rewards might be added to badges currently without anything to make them more attractive in the mini-game that is badge hunting. For example, an oft-overlooked badge group are those badges hidden in safeguard missions. People generally depart once the archvillain is dealt with. Perhaps a six-hour in-game-time boost to health/energy/power might encourage a hunt?

Simply to make a fortune off all the beachfront property that used to be the desert land they bought next to the fault, I'm sure. 😉

Funny you should mention that. I'd seen a couple of interviews way back (I think one was in relation to the TV Dune) where Hurt was questioned about the thoughts and feelings of his characters and he started giving very curt answers to the interviewers. It was clear he was very irritated to the point of angry with them for bringing this up. His highly annoyed, barely-in-check responses amounted to "It's a role. I just play a role. I don't care what the characters feel or think." Which I found surprising at the time both for his rudeness, and for his seeming lack of empathy towards the role he played. How does one become a great actor and portray well a character if they cannot at least picture how the character thinks and feels?

Khallisti Wharf The Holiday skating pond zone Talos Island (central island only) west side of Independence Port Pretty much anywhere that Vahz, CoT, Banished Pantheon, or anyone else trying to use you as fodder for their projects might be hanging out. The Family, Tsoo, Outcasts, Warriors, etc. might be bullies, but you can pay them "protection" money to leave you alone...sometimes. Those others see your body as currency. The funny thing is, I think Boomtown might just qualify. Not a lot of potable water, but the rent's cheap, and if you hole up somewhere near the reconstruction site, it's close to Steel Canyon for jobs.

RL interruption? Maternal uncle's death. We had to take a week off to drive my elderly mom across country for the memorial service. On the plus side, I got a bit of time to cross off a visit to the Cahokia Mounds (UNESCO World Heritage Site) from my bucket list, and it was the first time in 20 years that all surviving members of my maternal family were in one place simultaneously.

I've played the Star Wars III and Batman 2 games. Really enjoyed the ground combat sequences in SWIII.

So it is the Hudsucker Proxy for sports?

I'm picturing Bill in an early 1980's TV show squaring off against a Roller Derby team.

Now I so want a scene of Daleks facing the front of an elevator, the eye stalks slowly bobbing and weaving to The Girl from Ipanema.

Elon Musk is pretty good with pronouncing hard names. Why not ask him?

The Fresh Viz of Westview? I never really considered a season 2 as a possibility. WV was really about setting the stage for multiple tales to come, The Multiverse of Madness being first. Clearly the "Vision Mk II" story will be explored at some point, but if there's a dedicated Vison-Wanda storyline, it will probably be titled and pitched differently. The TV version has proudly concluded its broadcast day.