Wifezilla and I watched the first disc of Lost, Season Three this past weekend (in glorious full screen high def, no less). I loved Season One of the show, mainly because I really like survivalist stories, especially stranded island ones. I guess that was the appeal of Gilligan's Island, tuning in to see what coconut/bamboo invention they had come up with to wash their clothes, blow dry their hair, and perform open-heart surgery.
My only complaint with Season One is the writers teased me with their mechanical monster and then dropped it like a nuclear-heated potato. They had that thing eating people left and right for the first few episodes. Which was great because there's nothing better than a rampaging monster on a human-filled, deserted island. Sure, you never actually got to see it necessarily, only hear it grind and puff and move like a blur. But you knew the revelation was coming, and I tuned in specifically to see this steam-powered horror, hoping beyond hope to see some poor slob dangling helplessly from its maw.
But then I guess the show got picked up to finish the season, the writers had no idea how to actually explain this machine, and it quickly faded into distant memory. The entire show kneads its other story lines similarly, piquing viewer interest then disposing the plot line without wrapping it up in a satisfying way. At least not satisfying to me.
I mean, is it really fair to explain the man-eating mechanical monster in Season Four or Five of the series? The writers will says yes to rationalize breathing life into their show, but I personally don't find any of the characters and their flash-back vignettes interesting enough to forgo the logical continuation of story events begun on the island.
I guess that's why I found Lost, Season Two so disappointing. Rather than explaining plot lines from the first season, the show introduced new ones. Yes, some of those new story lines were finished within Season Two, and the show definitely offered up some great surprises (Walt, you treacherous bastard!) But mostly I felt jerked around by the show, like the writers hadn't anticipated the show's success and were scrabbling to set up plot threads that could sustain season upon season of viewership.
The first four episodes of Lost, Season Three haven't wrapped up anything from Season One. Nevertheless, I am drawn into it, even though I've forgotten Season Two events and am at times mystified by the islanders' behavior. Sawyer and Kate are especially interesting so far, as they share confinement and plot to escape. Jack seems to have only two speeds: rage and cry. Kate looks knuckle-chewingly fetching in the sundress the Others procured for her and John is as bald and nutty as ever. I am not at all pleased that Wifezilla swoons over Sawyer like some doe-eyed urban cougar, but her devotion for that white trash, Kid Rock wanna-be is as rock solid as it is unrequited.
All in all, it's shaping up to be an improvement over last season, even if it invents more questions then it answers.
Monday, January 7, 2008
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Lady Vashj Dead, SSC Cleared
A big congrats to Requiem, my raiding guild, for killing Lady Vashj for the first time, clearing SSC, and taking another big step towards Mount Hyjal and Black Temple.
Phase two is the critical transition, and everyone performed their jobs magnificently: melee tanked and killed the elite nagas, dps killed elements, tainted cores, and passed tainted cores, healing healed and passed tainted cores, and the strider team tore into striders.
I was on strider duty. Our first attempt, I must have been feared at least four times.
Completely unacceptable.
Not only can avoidable fearing run you into the elite nagas, it also more importantly stops your dps flow. So, after that poor showing, I vowed no more fears. And I didn't get a single one after that.
The entire strider team did a great job, from kiting to all out dps. Our lock occasionally pulled, but Havak, our kiting shammy, did a great job getting its attention back. I even pulled a few times, but never long enough to have to start kiting. On both our successful phase two attempts, I don't think two striders were ever up at the same time. Which is exactly how it should go down.
So, Requiem cleared SSC. The guild's attention will now focus back on Tempest Keep and Kael'thas Sunstrider. Requiem could be in Mount Hyjal by the end of the month.
I can't wait.
Phase two is the critical transition, and everyone performed their jobs magnificently: melee tanked and killed the elite nagas, dps killed elements, tainted cores, and passed tainted cores, healing healed and passed tainted cores, and the strider team tore into striders.
I was on strider duty. Our first attempt, I must have been feared at least four times.
Completely unacceptable.
Not only can avoidable fearing run you into the elite nagas, it also more importantly stops your dps flow. So, after that poor showing, I vowed no more fears. And I didn't get a single one after that.
The entire strider team did a great job, from kiting to all out dps. Our lock occasionally pulled, but Havak, our kiting shammy, did a great job getting its attention back. I even pulled a few times, but never long enough to have to start kiting. On both our successful phase two attempts, I don't think two striders were ever up at the same time. Which is exactly how it should go down.
So, Requiem cleared SSC. The guild's attention will now focus back on Tempest Keep and Kael'thas Sunstrider. Requiem could be in Mount Hyjal by the end of the month.
I can't wait.
Friday, January 4, 2008
Carebear Extraordinaire
My first pvp experience was Star Wars: Galaxies. I rolled Empire and within seconds of flagging in Naboo, I was ganked by hordes of rebels. But in SW: G, it wasn't enough just to kill your opponent, you also had to spit and otherwise defile their warm carcass, all the while corpse camping them to the end of time. SW: G had no version of Battlegrounds, still doesn't as far as I know, so pvp'ers had little to do with their time other than type /spit and wait for you to crawl back to your dead body so they could gank you again. And spit on you more.
Needless to say, I didn't pvp much after that.
For some reason, that experience made a lasting impression on me. All the way into my third year of playing WoW. Before Battlegrounds, I did dabble in some World pvp, mostly defending Crossroads. But those forays into player-versus-player combat were few and far between. The different Battleground events released sporadically, but I never even tried them. Instead, I contented myself with questing and raiding. To put my mind at ease, I pretended the pvp rewards sucked.
But after some not-so-gentle prodding from a fellow guildee, I tried a round of Arathi Basin last week. . . and had a blast. Battlegrounds pvp is so fast-paced, no one has the time to /spit your dead corpse. It's a relatively strategic affair, with an end-game zerg rush that helps finish the round earlier rather than later. I'm also revisiting Hellfire Peninsula and doing the pvp daily there. I try to kill Alliance while camping flags, but they usually run off before I can finish the job. Though I did manage to fully dot one poor alliance slob who flew away only to die mid-air.
Highly satisfying, that.
I'm not going to pretend that I'm any good at pvp. I'm still learning the ropes, and though some of my pve experience translates over, I still see Alliance opponents and fellow Horde run circles around me. Still, I'm very well-geared, and that makes up for a lot of nubness.
So I guess this means I'm not a Carebear anymore. Which is a good thing, because I really want that raptor mount.
Needless to say, I didn't pvp much after that.
For some reason, that experience made a lasting impression on me. All the way into my third year of playing WoW. Before Battlegrounds, I did dabble in some World pvp, mostly defending Crossroads. But those forays into player-versus-player combat were few and far between. The different Battleground events released sporadically, but I never even tried them. Instead, I contented myself with questing and raiding. To put my mind at ease, I pretended the pvp rewards sucked.
But after some not-so-gentle prodding from a fellow guildee, I tried a round of Arathi Basin last week. . . and had a blast. Battlegrounds pvp is so fast-paced, no one has the time to /spit your dead corpse. It's a relatively strategic affair, with an end-game zerg rush that helps finish the round earlier rather than later. I'm also revisiting Hellfire Peninsula and doing the pvp daily there. I try to kill Alliance while camping flags, but they usually run off before I can finish the job. Though I did manage to fully dot one poor alliance slob who flew away only to die mid-air.
Highly satisfying, that.
I'm not going to pretend that I'm any good at pvp. I'm still learning the ropes, and though some of my pve experience translates over, I still see Alliance opponents and fellow Horde run circles around me. Still, I'm very well-geared, and that makes up for a lot of nubness.
So I guess this means I'm not a Carebear anymore. Which is a good thing, because I really want that raptor mount.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
World Without End
I read The Pillars of the Earth waaaay back in my undergrad days and loved it for its detailed account of medieval life and cathedral building. Ken Follett wrote a sequel to that book entitled World Without End, which I received this Christmas and am enjoying almost as much as Pillars.
My only complaint about Follett, and this runs across almost everything I've read by him, is his tendency to surround his characters in tabloid exploits. Nearly all his characters are handsome or beautiful. A good chunk of the women in World are described as "buxom and long-legged." It makes you want to visit that town one day, but it's not exactly the stuff of realism.
Now, this contrasts starkly with what Follett does well: describe the engineering and craft of medieval building construction. He focused on cathedrals in Pillars, a stone bridge in World and both make for riveting reading. The details of the construction are what are so interesting, becoming a character almost on to themselves. For instance, Merthin, the brilliant young carpenter who successfully competes for the Kingbridge Priory bridge project, employs a novel engineering technique, cofferdams, to help lay the foundation for the stone bridge. The cofferdams, two circular layers of wood poles water-sealed with clay, allow the construction of mortared foundations in an aquatic environment (in this instance, a river.)
It's a great read, especially if you like a historic medieval setting. I'm not a fan of the soap-opera antics of the main characters, but I know most readers probably enjoy that part of the book too. If you haven't read either title, go back and pick up Pillars before you tackle World. The latter is a sequel, though in spirit only; the two books can be successfully read out of sequence.
My only complaint about Follett, and this runs across almost everything I've read by him, is his tendency to surround his characters in tabloid exploits. Nearly all his characters are handsome or beautiful. A good chunk of the women in World are described as "buxom and long-legged." It makes you want to visit that town one day, but it's not exactly the stuff of realism.
Now, this contrasts starkly with what Follett does well: describe the engineering and craft of medieval building construction. He focused on cathedrals in Pillars, a stone bridge in World and both make for riveting reading. The details of the construction are what are so interesting, becoming a character almost on to themselves. For instance, Merthin, the brilliant young carpenter who successfully competes for the Kingbridge Priory bridge project, employs a novel engineering technique, cofferdams, to help lay the foundation for the stone bridge. The cofferdams, two circular layers of wood poles water-sealed with clay, allow the construction of mortared foundations in an aquatic environment (in this instance, a river.)
It's a great read, especially if you like a historic medieval setting. I'm not a fan of the soap-opera antics of the main characters, but I know most readers probably enjoy that part of the book too. If you haven't read either title, go back and pick up Pillars before you tackle World. The latter is a sequel, though in spirit only; the two books can be successfully read out of sequence.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Green Is the New Purple
I was reading Penny Arcade today and saw Tycho link a shirt they made, I presume, for when Burning Crusade came out. I do remember that strange feeling of replacing purple epics for green gear looted off some non-descript trash mob wandering Outlands, and this shirt summarizes that experience well.
We'll all probably need to wear this garment when Wrath of the Lich King appears.
We'll all probably need to wear this garment when Wrath of the Lich King appears.
Happy Birthday Hallie!
Happy birthday to Hallie, my oldest daughter.
She was born seven years ago, which seems both a long and short time ago. I'll never forget the moment she was born. The doctor held her up for Wifezilla and I to see and Hallie's eyes were like giant orbs, taking everything in. She didn't cry, but shivered and stared everywhere. She freaked me out an hour later when I went to check up on her in the observation room. The nurses had swaddled her and she lay in one of those clear plastic incubator devices. As I peered through the glass window, Hallie's eyes were still wide open! The tiny little baby hadn't closed them since birth and the newbie father in me quickly jumped to the conclusion that something was wrong with her.
Hours later, I held her as she slept deeply and breathed a sigh a relief that she had finally closed her eyes.
It's been full tilt every since.
She was born seven years ago, which seems both a long and short time ago. I'll never forget the moment she was born. The doctor held her up for Wifezilla and I to see and Hallie's eyes were like giant orbs, taking everything in. She didn't cry, but shivered and stared everywhere. She freaked me out an hour later when I went to check up on her in the observation room. The nurses had swaddled her and she lay in one of those clear plastic incubator devices. As I peered through the glass window, Hallie's eyes were still wide open! The tiny little baby hadn't closed them since birth and the newbie father in me quickly jumped to the conclusion that something was wrong with her.
Hours later, I held her as she slept deeply and breathed a sigh a relief that she had finally closed her eyes.
It's been full tilt every since.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
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