Centuramage
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Posts posted by Centuramage
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No love for The Da Vinci Code? I thought it was a great movie.
Really? I thought The Da Vinci Code was a terrible movie. I'll even go ahead and explain why for you.
First, we're going to look at the Da Vinci Code book (spoilers ahead). Dan Brown is a very formulaic writer. Don't get me wrong, he's good for the cheap thriller fiction that he sells, but as far as actual good writing goes, he's pretty useless. His books always involve a ruggedly handsome hero who's a professor of something at some acclaimed university, his extremely beautiful and intelligent love interest who also happens to be a scientist of sorts, a red herring in the form of a person who's been alluded to as the main villian the entire time and in the end turns out to not be at all, the real villian who ironically enough is the trustworthy father figure that our rugged hero and his love interest seek counsol from in their time of need, and the villian's minion, who's been running around doing all the dirty work all this time.
The plot starts off with the murder of some prominent figure somehow close to the hero's love interest. The minion then kills off several innocent people as the hero and the love interest tirade through a random romantic city in Western Europe where all the events take place. Eventually the hero saves the day just when all hope seemed lost and discovers some impossible theory to be true (The illuminati, Mary Magdelene mothering Jesus's child, cold fusion, the tooth fairy).
I just summed up the Da Vinci Code in about 6 sentences. Funnily enough, I summed up Angels and Demons too, another Dan Brown novel.
So where were we? Right. Ron Howard has a pretty dull and unoriginal script to start with, but at least he doesn't have a whole lot to screw up. It's an oft-copied tale reminiscent of mystery stories from our youth. But alas, Ron Howard fails us by casting Tom Hanks as the rugged intellectual hero. Not Christian Bale, not Russell Crowe, not Harrison Ford (20 years ago), not even Tom Cruise(*shudder*), he picked Tom Hanks. No one could've predicted the sheer incompetance of Tom Hank's portrayal of Robert Langdon. He bumbles around for 2 hours spouting off irrelevent facts about things no one cares about. In contrast, Robert Langdon's book character had the ability to coyly weave in factoids about his surroundings over the course of his travels. Okay, maybe it wasn't quite that subtle, but it was certainly more subtle than Tom Hanks, who would just need to catch half a glimpse of some pyramid lying casually in the background to start relating facts about it for 10 minutes. Facts that, amazingly enough, would become important later on in the film.
There are some really good films that I've seen that when I watch them the 10th or so time, I notice a small subtlety that contributes to the plot or foreshadows something later that I hadn't noticed before, and that all but the keenest of eyes would miss. Ron Howard uses Tom Hanks to take these subtleties and rub your nose in them.
What's more, the end of the film deviated from the book so far that it didn't even merit comparison. It was like Ron Howard read some different book. I understand that the director is allowed some graces in the name of artistic interpretation, but the book's ending turned out to be 100 times better than the disgustingly traditional Hollywood closure ending that this movie provided. I walked out with 5 minutes left to get a jump on the mass exodus from the theatre.
All in all, TERRIBLE movie.
Also, I vote for The Departed.
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1pm EST
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They're awesome. :lol:Barenaked LadiesO.A.R. anyone?
O.A.R. is the college staple. Every college kid in America knows OAR and all the smart ones loathe them. Way overexposed. In fact, they're pretty much the antithesis of what this post is going for.
I'm digging Melvin Taylor and Rory Gallagher lately...I'd throw in Jason Becker as well, but I'll bet that Dan knows who he is.
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The Mars Volta was always one of my favorite group names. The Smashing Pumpkins was also a neat name...hm. Nirvana. That's all I can think of atm.
However, no one has mentioned how "From Autumn To Ashes" is the most stereotypical name for an emo sissy rock group there is.
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Christmas music! :D
Any favorite versions of the "traditional" Christmas songs or whatnot?
A few of the ones I enjoy are the albums "Merry Axemas: A Guitar Christmas" and it's 2nd volume. The tracks are largely done by prominent and well-respected guitarists in the industry...Steve Vai, Al Di Meola, Steve Morse, and Neal Schon just to name a few.
Though the idea obviously caters to guitarists, it does provide a pretty extensive collaboration of ideas, many unique and soothing to take in. This aural adventure through amicable and adroit adaptations of traditional Christmas melodies really changed my mind about the genre in general...I wasn't really crazy about it for many years. Do try to pick it up at a record store if you get a chance; my particular favorite is Neal Schon's rendition of O Come, O Come Emmanuel.
Also, I can't neglect the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Whoever their guitarists are have crisp, intense tones that are reminiscent of Brian May (from Queen) in their timbre. Melodic and robust, they often deliver auditory aesthetics that are unmatched by the tones of most guitarists I've heard. At least one of their guitarists (Al Pirtrelli) studied at the revered Berkelee School of Music (before dropping out) and was called upon to replace Marty Friedman after he left Megadeth (not the most laudable credibility, I suppose).
In addition to their guitars, I also enjoy the vocals. They are very theateresque in their projection and clarity. The annunciation(sic?) is immaculate compared to the drawling, mumbling lyrics of most artists who try to turn lyrical presentation into an art form so much that they end up sacrificing coherence for style. TSO's lyrical delivery is unfortunately rare, but definitely pleasing in the ability to employ a unique style while still allowing the listener to easily comprehend the lyrics.
Anyone have any other Christmasey things they've heard and liked? Please share :)
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I think the notion of Tip.it or Runescape fame is grossly pretentious.
I'm not famous myself, nor could I care any less about who is or who isn't, but having interacted with some "well-known" Runescapers/Tip.iters in times past, I must say that some of them have let their assumed fame go to their heads and use it as a means by which to treat others in a subordinate manner.
I find that kind of behavior disgusting and unbecoming, especially since "fame" in these parts is so trivial. There are better standards to hold yourself to. If Runescape/Tip.it fame is something you admire and strive for (as a post of this nature would suggest), then you are selling yourself short; you are better off expending energy toward other, more fruitful endeavors.
Rather than promote fame as some kind of laudable achievement, maybe consider promoting qualities you really find admirable in a person.
No, I'm not famous, nor do I think I have any famous friends, but through Runescape, I've had the opportunity to meet a very few kind, generous, loving, good-hearted people; and that's worth much more to me than anything online fame has to offer.
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Thanks for the suggestions folks :)
I haven't worked it out yet, but con seems like it might be worthwhile :D
Thanks again
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Hey folks,
I...have a bit of a problem. I had saved up quite a bit of money for the slave auction and now that the auction's over, I still have the same amount of money idling in my bank. I'm not really sure what to do with it, but I am open to all suggestions. Current gp totals just over 25 mil gp with 17.5k oak logs and 1k yew logs to work with if need be. Note that I would like to focus on either gaining more gp with my current savings or greatly assisting my current levels. I look forward to your ideas. :)
Please and thank you,
Centuramage
PS: I just had to add a bit of an addendum...the first tidbid is a request to back up your selections with reasoning, not just "Zomg! Buy a Santa!". Also, please note that this is not an invitation to ask me for my gp. I worked hard for this and wish to benefit from its use. Thanks again.
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I enjoyed this article for the most part and thought it accurately conveyed the concerns of most Runescapers who have partaken in the Hunting skill, however there was one portion of this article I took issue with:
It would be very nice if Jagex could arrange pre-release "guided tours" of its major upgrades and new skills introductions for the "Press", such as Your Mysterious Editor and other major fan site representatives. That way, when a new skill comes out, we could write about it straight away. As it is, between the crowds in the hunting preserves and the pressures of Real LifeÃÆââââ¬Ã¾Ãââ, it's taken YME a good two weeks to get enough time on the skill to feel able to give it a fair review. Of course we'd have to sign non-disclosure agreements, and not publish until after the release, but that would fine ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Ãâ we'd still be able to get the news to you while it's still fresh.Now, I can't speak for anyone else who read that portion, but I found that excessively presumptuous and obtrusive of you, Editor, to even suggest that Jagex should allow you special privleges simply because of what you do here.
Firstly, last time I checked, Jagex isn't in the business of playing favorites toward prominent figures on it's independantly run fansites. Don't get me wrong, I understand the desire to be fresh and current, but that merits you no extras. Especially because, secondly, you're don't write any news for this community, in the way I understand it. I've always understood news to be a factual account of information. Albeit, much of today's reporting includes very slanted, purposely biased accounts of the events, but you're not even advertised as news. You write an editorial, which amounts to nothing more than your interpretation of Runescape goings on, the quality of which parallels many online blogs. So...you want special treatment because you write a weekly Runescape blog? Where's the sense in that?
The most worrisome thing to me though, is that you feign this selfless desire in previewing the Hunting skill, advertising your wish to bring a quicker editorial while neglecting other motives. I've read your other editorials, you're no different a Runescaper from the rest of us. We all would've liked a little sneak peek with motives ranging from passing curiosity to perhaps getting a jump on those vicious crowds you wrote about, but for you to take advantage of your position and use your contribution to the community as a means to impose these wishes through the thin guise of a noble cause is coarse at the very least.
I don't see why it needed to be included in your editorial anyway; I see the relevance to the content matter of the rest of the editorial, but I don't see the necessity. In this reader's opinion, you tarnished what was otherwise a relatively well written editorial.
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So I've thought about getting a tattoo...when I was younger I wanted something like a tiger or a dragon...nothing really original. I think for something to entice me to get that kind of thing drawn on my body, it would have to be something very poignant and of extraordinary sentimental value to me. My answer, for now anyway, is no to getting a tattoo, but that doesn't rule out the future possibility
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I wouldn't want to alter anytihng or kill anyone; in fact, I wouldn't even have to exist in the prior reality, I would be perfectly content as an omnipresent 3rd party viewer, not unlike the point of view of some novels and movies. However, I'd like to view the life and times of Jesus of Nazereth...see firsthand, what happened. That sure would clear up alot. Obviously the same for other folks who managed a religious following after them...Siddhartha Guatama, etc, etc.
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I recommend either Draynor bank or Yanille Bank.
Both banks have nice long stretches of empty land to light fires in :)
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It would take a very shrewd and determined businessman with a little bit of luck, but i think it's definitely possible. I'd recommend keeping 750k in your coffers at miscellania at all times (assuming you've done royal trouble), and gathering coal and flax daily. Mining rune ore is also a great source of income...it depends entirely on your skills, really. Better skills will obviously net easier profit gains.
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I was thinking that this now opens up the possibility of Jagex releasing a quest that requires level 100 in something to complete. It could be flexible such that level 100 in any one of a plethora of skills can complete it, and the reward could be calibrated to the skill you used.
One possible scenario is that you need to acquire a certain non-tradable log by chopping a tree that requires level 100 wc to chop. Alternatively, if you can't do that, you can mine an ore that only level 100 miners can mine.
Rewards could differ based on which scenario you carried out :)
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University Halloween parties are fun. I think this year I will go as a mafia-type gangster. Trench coat, shirt, tie, dress khakis, a flask of good scotch, and a cigar :)
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At the risk of sounding rude, I think that the sheer arrogance required to create a post solely to discussing how awesome you are, joking or not, makes you decidedly not-awesome.
You've already declared yourself pretentious...in fact, it's difficult to pick you apart because you've practically satirized yourself. Really, the only thing left to say is that, in spite of your heavily inflated ego and assumed omniscience, you put the caption for the figure above the graphic, when captions for figures go below a graphic. (source)
Moron. :D
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This correction is for the Wilderness Course in which there are two minor, related errors.
Firstly, the ridge (listed at 15 exp per lap) is technically not part of the lap. You do need to cross it to enter the course, but after that, it's not used at all. However, the total lap exp doesn't change at all, because I found that the lap bonus is actually 499 exp, not 484 exp as listed:
Figure 1: Prior to finishing a lap
Figure 2: Post lap completion
Hope this helps.
[inferno_char edit: Noted, thanks.]
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Runescape's really not the game for you if you get bored easily - I'm surprised you got this far. :P
My advice for you is to play music, have a TV on somewhere, have soem instant messenger running, talk on the phone, anythign to add some kind of extra stimulus.
No way. Runescape's the perfect game for you if you get bored easily! :D You have so many skills to train, it's darren!(insane)
I recommend one of two things:
Either train a bit of rc than move to something else...maybe do 1k pure ess at a time and have a fallback skill to work on when you get sick of RCing, orrrrrr make a little competition out of it. See how many ess you can craft in an hour? Than try to beat your last hour :D.
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I don't know if it's still true, but you used to be able to examine coal and it would say, "A non-renewable resource." Well, I took this quite literally and thought that the coal rocks mined would never again fill up with coal again and that a new coal rock would crop up somewhere until the world was littered with empty rocks. :)
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RS2 or "RS3D" was the switch from cartoony 2D to solid modelling, now unless there is something as big as that, there will be no need for a switch to RS3.
I read through every one of the posts here hoping that someone had already addressed what I'm about to, and the above was about as close as it got:
The version of Runescape we've come to know as Runescape Classic incorperated the use of two dimensional and three dimensional sprites (objects integrated onto a three dimensional interface).
I believe (but my memory may fail me) that RS2 was originally planned as a purely graphical update, but Jagex ended up revamping the entire game engine. Why? Because converting the graphics entirely into 3D objects afforded Jagex much more in terms of what they could accomplish with this game. This can be seen both in the instantaneous results of RS2 and in the updates and developments that have been implimented since its release. I mean, Jagex will always be progressive with Runescape as they have been for the last 5.5+ years, but the idea that there can be an update so shaking that it actually seperates the game into two again is lofty at the very least.
I think that this week's Tip.it Times topic shows a severe lack of understanding in the differences between RS Classic and RS2 and perhaps a lack of respect for what Jagex has been able to do with Runescape already. What they've done with a Java-based game that can be quickly transmitted online is simply amazing, in my opinion. In addition, I've always thought the question of RS3 to be rather superficial and simple-minded, very uninspired. Those who liked the difference in Runescape Classic and RS2 think that naturally, RS3 is in the foreseeable future without any mind to what that might actually entail. The editor seems to think that an "RS3" would be simply a compliation of "new stuff", but as any of the arrogant, zealous, former PKs of the Runescape Classic community would tell you, the difference from game version to game version is just as much about altering what already exists.
Then there's the last paragraph, which haphazardly takes the logical leap of faith into asserting that Jagex is working on a new game. Or so it would seem, did there not already exist evidence that Jagex was working on something new, as some of the TIF users have denoted above. I wonder if the last paragraph was as much a stab in the dark as it seems to be? Or if it was instead, an assertion made with pre-existing knowledge? Of course, that's just the skeptic in me, always questioning. ;)
I guess it can be said that I didn't particularly like this week's edition of the Tip.It Times, and I suppose that's unfortunate, as it's the first week that I actually read it. However, I think I'll make a point to read them from now on, as I have heard many good things about the Times and think that perhaps, this is an isolated case.
Also, you(the editor) mentions space cowboys. This reminded me of Firefly. Darn good show. :D
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I think that B.B. King's "Why I Sing the Blues" and Paul Simon's "Homeless" would probably suit your needs nicely. :)
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Another one that I liked when I was in high school was...well, the entire essay by Annie Dillard entitled: Death of a Moth (Not to be confused with Virginia Woolf's Death of the Moth). The whole essay can be found here.
However, for the pitifully lazy (it's not that long an essay), my favorite bit is:
I don't mind living alone. I like eating alone and reading, I don't mind sleeping alone. The only time I mind being alone is when something is funny, when I am laughing at something funny, I wish someone were around. Sometimes I think it is pretty funny that I sleep alone. -
The thing that most people don't understand about the poor quality of Jagex's graphics is that when you consider that it's a browser based game that's 1) based in Java and 2) very quick to download, then what they've done graphically with this game is truly astounding. I admire the Jagex coders, especially having worked with Java for 2 and a half years now. I don't claim to be anywhere near a professional-grade coder, but what they've done with the language is, in my eyes, nothing short of wizardry.
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Advertising in general doesn't bother me, but there is one thing about advertising that has always made me wonder:
Why do Pepsico and Coca Cola advertise? Surely every last one of you know what Pepsi and Coke are. You probably have a particular favorite. You may favor either, neither, or both, but I am positive that not one of you has ever seen a Pepsi or Coke commercial and thought, "You know, maybe I'm wrong?"
It's a waste of their profits, I think.
Worst Thing You've Drank
in Off-Topic
Posted
Over a year ago, I took ill advice from a friend offering free booze...his uncle made some moonshine he didn't like so he offered it to me...I drank it like it was water; the taste was so muted, that I wasn't aware it was close to 180 proof.
I won't go into specifics about what happened that evening; I tried to block most of it out, but I had a date the next night at around 9pm...the hangover was still in full swing at that point. It carried through the 2nd day and quite aways into the 2nd evening. Horrible, horrible fallout.