I had a chance to get caught up on all the Lost DVDs this weekend. Seasons 1 and 2 had me pretty gripped, and the finale of Season 3 certainly got my attention back, but overall I am starting to rate the show as a disappointment. A well-produced and well acted disappoinment, but a disappointment nonetheless. Between Lost, Alias and Cloverfield I am going to have to just say me and J.J. Abrams do not agree. There will be spoilers in my criticisms ahead, but if you do not know what I am talking about you either do not care to watch Lost or are taking too long to stay current anyways. Cope.

My main issue with his work is suspension of disbelief; I can not believe, even in Hollywood World, that any people would make the decisions they do. The biggie is Cloverfield, a pseudo-realistic approach to a godzilla monster attacking New York, and the lead decides to go right in to save his ex-girlfriend. Jack and other survivors in Lost continue to pig-headedly refuse to listen to anything the Others tell them and pay for that over and over again. You would think one, just one of those people would realise they get duped so easily because there is a grain of truth in all the bunk getting thrown at them. The solutions his characters come to are always just a little too flawed, and in the case of Lost, the outcome is predictable even in a show that essentially lies to the audience constantly.

Which brings me to the other problem, specifically with Lost, that I have with his work: Lost has no floor. The X-Files made it clear everything was lie, but as things moved along questions were answered. Even if it led to more questions, the previous answers held up. In Lost, when you finally get something revealed to you, it turns out to be a ruse within an episode. Instead of getting any closer to knowing what is going on you’re not only back at square one, there is even more you are left wondering about. Three seasons in and all that has been definitively shown is how the plane crashed, that Kate is hot, and they are at least partially surrounded by water. So far all the other details provided have not explained anything, just shown me details that have otherwise proven inconsequential thus far. I am starting to get the impression Abrams and his writing staff still have not figured out the island is all about, but feel obliged to keep dropping hints until they can work something out.

The two main characters I started to get attached to went through a “Stupid Phase” I was never able to get over. The other one I was starting to like met an ignominius end at the hands of a character I have always felt was obnoxious and over-rated before he could develop. The layers have been getting peeled back to reveal more layers, or that a unlikely series of events was one of Ben’s plans all along. Again. Without introducing Other Others or some tiresome true bad guys faction I can not see how they are stretching this out for three more seasons without getting redundant and pedantic.

Just my two cents.

It’s turning into a bad year for humour.

This is the first of 8 sections of my apartment I’m going to be trying to get clean in the next couple weeks.

Is this becoming an annual thing?

I admit I bought the D&D books, alright? I owe folding mostly to the excellent podcasts they’ve been running previewing the new rules. Tyler, Matt and Teddy all spotted the waning vitriol in my writings about the raw feeling in my bottom left by 4E and knew I’d be getting it. I don’t know if they expected the enthusiasm of the turnaround. Even Allister embraced it quite suddenly. The seeds of the new campaign should be planted this weekend.

Another edition of 40K so soon after the last seems desperate, though. I have to check the copyrights when I get home, but that last edition couldn’t have been very long ago. I mean they’ve barely had time to reprint even three or four major Army Lists. At least, as far as I’m told, the new edition only replaces the main rulebook. Still, though, Jeez…

Scott Kurtz was among the many over the last couple weeks defending D&D 4th Edition:

I’m also getting a lot of emails from uber-gaming-nerds who are infuriated that I’m supporting the new 4th edition. For those people, I would like to reflect on the great sage Aurthur Fonzarelli and reply with a hearty “Sit on it, Potsie!”

You know what I don’t miss about my old D&D gaming sessions? I’ll tell you. I don’t miss the ridiculous debates between the min-maxing rule-mongers over some bullshit minutia or statistic. If Wizards wants to make a simpler version of their classic game in the hopes of making the time spent playing more enjoyable, while at the same time bringing in a a whole new group of gamers who might have avoided it in the past…awesome! Yay!

Guess what? Your 3.5 edition stuff did not disintegrate into a pile of black dust today. Get over yourselves. Nobody gives a shit that you committed all the old books to memory and figured out the math of the rules to totally max out your character. Nobody wants you at the table. We only invited you because you got all the books and so many goddamn miniatures.

I did not commit the 3.5 stuff to memory and Warroom Jr. has next to no trouble with arguing over the minutiae. I know where he’s coming from there, though, because we’ve met those people and they are obnoxious. Often because human memory is not perfect and they end up being wrong after all. But I digress: We were told that 3.5 and the Open Gaming License was the pinnacle of their rules. After re-releasing 3rd Edition as 3.5 so soon after it had just come out was insulting; An insult lessened by assurances that 3.5 was it.

They.
Fucking.
Lied.
I don’t care how many years have passed since 3.5 was released, the Techincal Readout: 3025 from the 80’s is still completely compatible with the system it’s written for. A system that has released new edition three times since with only replacing the core rulesbooks being necessary. The same applies to Silhouette books and HERO, so don’t tell me it’s impossible for a pen & paper system to stay current without napalming it’s whole library every five years.

There’s only three books now. Wait until the Eberron sourcebooks are revised and re-released, as well and Forgotten Realms. Then there’s the follow-up Monster Handbooks, the new classes, since Wizards made it clear they had to pick which classes go into the main books. those four books will be seven by the end of August, then the miniatures will start flowing, and before you know it 4E will be a heaping pile of shit taking up room as well and only the annoying fucker who can afford to buy them all will be able to run the games. Square one.

As for just continuing with 3.5: What if you want to attend conventions and/or participate in RPGA events and living campaigns? That’s all going to be in 4E sicne Wizards handles it. Kinda like a patch you have to pay for. Or you could stay with 3.5 and watch that fun just drift away. Give me a break, that’s like saying you don’t have to buy Wrath of the Lich King when it comes out. Sure, you’re sticking to your principles, but you’re just being obstinant.

If you didn’t like 3 or 3.5 and didn’t buy them and 4E appeals to you: I’m jealous. Seriously, it actually looks as polished and clean as I wish 3.5 was. It plays clean and fast and ditches so many of the stupid conventions and artifacts left over from AD&D and before. I like effective rules, not advanced ones. I just can’t look at the books worth in excess of $1000 piled in my apartment without remembering the podcast in which one of the designers pleaded for clemency, swearing the editions end with 3.5. I think I’m allowed a bad taste in my mouth after that.

I think it’s only fair he get pegged for it. Easily one of my top pet peeves these days is parents’ pig-headed refusal to face facts and accept their little hellion is… well… a little hellion. The world is a mean place, and the sooner one learns that acting like an ass means being responded to like an ass the better.

“She stood him up at the front of the classroom and asked each child, in her words, to tell Alex what we don’t like about him,” angry mom Melissa Barton relates. “It must have been so crushing for him to hear you’re annoying, you’re disgusting. We don’t want you here.”

So it would have been better to simply put up with an annoying, disgusting little gremlin throwing crayons and say nothing? No. That kinds of intervention works on kids better than adults. Ever try to tell a 28-year-old he’s got a problem?

Not long after, they learned the roots of the youngster’s problems - their son had autism, a syndrome that affects the ability to relate to others and communicate in a normal way.

Now that is a shame; But I still stand by Ms. Portillo because she is a Kindergarten teacher, not a doctor that could have diagnosed the poor boy’s condition and acted accordingly. At least now he’ll get specific treatment; Assuming the parents can afford it. I suppose if they can afford to sue stressed-out teachers trying to instill a little maturity (Just a little. I know they’re kids) and accountability they’ll be fine.

I think I might pick up a copy of Radiohead’s “The Bends”.
“Fake Plastic Trees” should be on Rock Band.
I’ve listenened to “Machine Gun” from the new Portishead album and I’m not quite as impressed.

Covering a co-worker’s vacation tonight and tomorrow and I’m making it a point to listen to Accuradio, specifically their Brit Rock and Future Perfect stations without hitting skip. Ever. The idea being that I’m certain I’ve been going past songs I’d probably like but didn’t recognise the artist. Not having time to skip tracks introduced me to Muse and Thom Yorke’s solo work.

Oh and Teddy might not like to hear this, but I like the one new song I’ve heard from Portishead’s latest, “The Rip”: