TGS Full Comment Room

Add Comment | Previous Week | Text-Only Comment Room | Comment Room Information

TGS WebSite | TGS MirrorSite | Current Episode

One more thing
Gside: that was a joke about ctrl-r. Us mac users use command-r 8-). I wonder what a fae named command-r would look like...hmmm...
Josh "Imzadi" Wurzel - [josh@kicktothenuts.com]
Berkeley, CA, US of A
Saturday, February 24, 2001 03:28:29 AM
IP: adsl-64-170-152-74.dsl.sntc01.pacbell.net

Todd and Greg: Thanks for the explanations about Coyote and the answers to my questions about 2198.

Daniel: So nice to see another mac user in here! Any other mac users?

Aingeal: please don't torch me bald. I'd rather not look like my father. And I irritate too. ::Growls and eyes light up::

Gunjack: I look forward to our debates on morality and ethics. Imzadi is, well, read the Star Trek book by Peter David titled "Imzadi" for a clear definition.
The suit. SOLD. Don't worry, I'll wear the helmet. I won't be much good at free advertising for you if I'm a corpse. But if you only multiply my pitiful strength by a factor of eight, I'll barely be strong enough to lift a small car. Can we do any better? I'd gladly sacrifice some speed for more strength. The rifle is a nice idea, but I don't plan on carrying extra weaponry. I'd like to have my hands free. That's what the built in wrist cannon and "plasmafaust" are for. Under an overcoat, yes. But what about under a suit? Or a pair of jeans?
I love weaponry too. That is a great description. Do you have any drawings online that I could see?
I sincerely hope that Skippy can do other things well besides dress himself up as a klingon. Otherwise I will have him shipped to Pluto when I take over the world, along with all the other people who have no useful skills.

Gside/Lynati: I wasn't actually being piggish when I said that I'd have to meet with Warpmind. I just worry that he might do something like restrict trade and immigration to/from his chosen domain. Why would people want to move to Scandavia? Because there's a bunch of beautiful blond-haired, blue-eyed people there. So we can't have Warpmind being a total dick about that stuff. Comprende?

Gunjack: well here's some RED for ya!
Josh "Imzadi" Wurzel - [josh@kicktothenuts.com]
Berkeley, CA, US of A
Saturday, February 24, 2001 03:22:53 AM
IP: adsl-64-170-152-74.dsl.sntc01.pacbell.net

Gside><<You need a friend for that?>> Why do you think they call it "riding shotgun?" ; )

My word, just LOOK at all that green!
Gunjack "Doc" Valentine
Saturday, February 24, 2001 03:17:10 AM
IP: 216-146-183-1.bwn.net

Imzadi> <<ctrl-r, huh? I've never heard of that particular child of Oberon>>: Just the shortcut key for reloading most browsers.

Gunjack> <<Subtly, thy name is Gside>>: What do you want? I'm an engineer.
<<I'd STILL say it's nicer than EN, though>>: I'd say the art tends towards that direction more often, but EN's subject matter is more ribald than SMT. Though THL has them both beat in both areas ("Whay didn't you tell me my sister was here?").
<<the reference was to the large stag pic you used>>: I never actually noticed that until you said it. They haven't featured Buck in a couple weeks ("Hey is that Miss Kiwi behind her?"). Though just be glad there isn't a pic featuring two canids.
<>: It seems that you're in charge of the semi-conventional division, while Fire Storm heads the strange matter/energy department.
<<Gunjack "Higgeldy-Piggledy" Valentine>>: Read the Breathed interview?

Warpmind> <>: I wasn't really talking to you, just completing your thought to others who were interested.

Imzadi> <<We might need to have a meeting about that one>>: I'd think exports can be arranged. Warpind probably wouldn't handle a harem that large, and Lynati would get angry anyway.

Lynati> <<No. you won't. ...pig>>: What'd I say.

Taleweaver> <<Down hear in Cal Poly its seems there are more female Civs than MEs>>: I thought all the females were concentrated in ChemE.

Lady Corax> <<That joke was from the ASME handbook?>>: Not really, but it was from an official ASME T-shirt.

Calíope> <<You dont sniff it man!>>: You sure about that?
<<Oh! Right!...whats that?>>: I just like giving names like that to recurring items. Like all the FTCs I have from Calc 3. It helps to think of formulae for naming bad horror sequels. Ever notice how horror sequels inevitable tendwards porn?

Imzadi> <<Its so nice being in a room full of people who actually know what "Imzadi" is/means>>: Le premiere.

Aaron> <<So, CR updates are like a second coming?>>: Essentially. Happens about the same frequency. Though I did forget an o.

Daniel Johnson> <<Guess I'm gonna have to start thinking about upgrading>>: Just please don't stop over to ask to borrow a bucket of ice. (ref: Penny Arcade)

CtB> Enjoy the water.

<<Somebody better post something obscene and/or off-topic soon, or I will scream>>: I've been watching Flame of Recca, and there are some scenes that are just so incredibly wrong. Such as when they are registering for the tournament. Wang. Moi island! Does anyone have any opinions on the state of porn today? Clown wig is good. Nin-nin get no respect. I could use a download site for LBG. Have you seen the big, orange...

Mary Flanders> <<Probably because he's about as tall as them and he doesn't intimidate them like the rest of us do>>: i think it's a statistic that women go for taller guys.
<>: You need a friend for that?

Gunjack> <<SCOTTISH DWARVES ROCK>>: Lali ho?
<<Do multiple personalities count as friends?>>: I'd say so. And so do we.
<<What the HECK is an Imzadi?>>: It's a Betazed concept.
<<Better not say that in front of Skippy>>: Doesn't he have other skills?
<>: I wouldn't have guessed.

Na zdorov'ya.
Gside - [gside@eden.rutgers.edu]
Piscatway, NJ
Saturday, February 24, 2001 01:36:54 AM
IP: gside.resnet.rutgers.edu

Oops, forgot one other thing I needed to say today...

Josh - Enhanced strength, Check. The suit should multiply your strength by a factor of eight or so. High speed flight, check, though I don't suggest flying at these speeds without the use of a good helmet. The system is a miniturized fusion air-ram, and this version maxes out somewhere around 350-400 kmh. At that speed, a good-sized grasshopper could ruin your WHOLE day. Also, there's a set of collapsable quick-detatch wings. They'll increase your fuel economy and stability, and can be used for carrying extra ordinance.
For built-in weaponry, we can do the laser and "brainfryer". Might I also suggest a good HVK rifle? Much handier for armored vehicles and the occasional animated Statue of Liberty. Also, I've taken the liberty of adding a plasmafaust to your left gauntlet. On impact, it will discharge a massive plasma burst directly into your target. Armor penetration is extreme, but be sure to change your gauntlets every 20-30 shots to avoid... *ahem* ...Backwash.
The armor is a rather nice composite that the labs have worked up; it should keep you safe from all smallarms and support weapons fire up to, say, a direct hit from a 80mm+ shaped charge. If you need better, talk to Wilek; he usually handles the forcefields. Again, the helmet won't protect your head if you leave it at home.

And yes, the whole thing DOES fit under a good overcoat, provided you remove the helmet and gauntlets.

I LOVE gunnery.
Gunjack "Pop Goes the Weasel" Valentine
Saturday, February 24, 2001 01:20:15 AM
IP: 216-146-183-1.bwn.net

Played FF9 all afternoon. All I can say is... SCOTTISH DWARVES ROCK!!!!
8D

*ahem* ...And I got the Laser Pistol design of to my collegue, and am now awaiting his reply. And Mere still isn't home.

Mary><<BTW, anyone of you have a friend who says something along the lines of, "I feel like going on a Tri-State killing spree. Anyone care to join me?"? :)>> I myself say that on many occasions. And the scary part is, there isn't anyone else in the room. Do multiple personalities count as friends?

Imzadi - Apparently, I came in late. What the HECK is an Imzadi? <<Sorry if it offended you, but expect to see more of it in the future 8-).>> At least yer honest, Laddie... <<When I used it at Virtual World, no one had a clue.>> *sighs* ...I SO hate to be a disapointment... ; ) <<Is it just me, or is this a lot like that, but the people are slightly better looking and generally have some talent besides dressing themselves up like klingons?>> Better not say that in front of Skippy... *chuckles*
<<This is what I get for taking a Philosophy class on Morality and Ethics, neither of which I possess.>> Heh. I think we're gonna end up Debating, sooner or later...

Taleweaver><<My big bugaboo is the crazed robot convention. You know any android, robot or supercomputer will eventually turn on their human masters and become a homicidal maniac.>> I haven't seen this that often since "2001"... Maybe it's just that I've been lucky enough to miss all the trash. The two examples that come to mind are the Terminator series and the Matrix; In both, it wasn't psychosis that pushed the AIs over the edge, it was self-preservation. Also, Asimov's "Three Laws" are rather laughable. One of the most likely areas for autonomous robots to emerge is in the military, and they aren't going to be acting only to preserve life. If humanity itself can't follow those three laws, why should our creations do so?
And time travel cliches don't bother me that much; I subscribe to the "multiple realities" thoery of scifi, so I assume that they aren't really messing with one timeline, but rather moving themselves around between MULTIPLE timelines. Keeping this view firmly in mind makes the "Back to the Future" movies almost watchable...
And what bugs me? Well, for starters...
"Yep he got taken out. One round, right through the vest. Yep, one of those Teflon-Coated Sniper Bullets (tm), pierces any armor. Yeah, poor guy never had a chance..."
Not to authors: if you don't have a freaking clue about weapons, PLEASE don't try to sound like you do. It's embaressing.
And second, I put a vote in for the "Lethal Force Complaint". Why is it that the good guys never can seem to bring themselves to actually KILL? *winks at the TGS writers* ...Yeah, I know, it's a kiddie show to some extent (shirtless Elisa+Goliath Romance Novel pics!), but them stone-crunching talons ain't there just for show. And do you guys have ANY idea how much firepower a Garg could pack if he put his mind to it? And it'd solve SO MANY PROBLEMS... *sighs* ...Ah, well... ; )

Anyway, that's all for now. Must go and mentally prepare for tearing down the car's engine tomorrow... ; P
Gunjack "Kerthunk" Valentine
Saturday, February 24, 2001 12:59:22 AM
IP: 216-146-183-1.bwn.net

*enters*

Hehe...you know, I have this friend in my group at school. He's a junior and he can be a real pain in the ass. I like to think that his middle name is Foot In Mouth. We violent girls have to constantly beat him up to keep him in line. :) The funny thing about him is that the girls at our sister school in Japan LOVE him. A year ago when they came over for our exchange program, quite a few of the girls hung out with my friend A LOT. When they went back to Japan, they sent him letters asking him to come live with them(individually). They sent him letters, anime drawings they did, and I think(though not sure) several Valentines. All this when he had a girlfriend! And when we talked to them on Thursday through the computer, my friend was very hesitant to let himself be shown on the computer camera. But once he did, the girls kept trying to get him back on. God, it's so funny. My friend has his own fan club/harem in Japan! ;P Probably because he's about as tall as them and he doesn't intimidate them like the rest of us do. :)

YIPEEE!!! I got the second volume of InuYasha today!!! Now I have 12 mangas total now. ^_^ My friend Beth, on the other hand, has 96 mangas. O.o She brags about it a bit sometimes. :P

BTW, anyone of you have a friend who says something along the lines of, "I feel like going on a Tri-State killing spree. Anyone care to join me?"? :)
Mary Flanders
Saturday, February 24, 2001 12:06:42 AM
IP: adsl-63-195-144-108.dsl.scrm01.pacbell.net

Christ, this CR is beginning to look more and more like the regular Station 8 gargoyle CR. And that scares the hell out of me.

Somebody better post something obscene and/or off-topic soon, or I will scream.

Grammy outfits: Sort of a disappointment for me. I mean, I suppose most of them were nice. Toni Braxton, thankfully, wore something that looked like it was made out of toilet paper. But God bless her. For all people talk about Jennifer Lopez last year, I have to say--and I mean no slight to J-Lo--that Lopez does not have the body that the lovely Ms. Braxton does. I'm sorry, call me chauvinistic, but the big ass is not necessarily a turn on for me.

Madonna looked like....well, an O.W. I wish she would conveniently fall off the face of the planet.

Christina Aguilera was a vision, at least to me. I didn't know what was up with her hair, or the outfit, but at least she was prominently displaying her "cleavagio". That's why I like Christina more than I do Britney; Britney is more "wholesome" and "girl-next-door". Unfortunately, I don't dig that. Give me the naughty girl anyday. (Who wants to start the old "Demona is better cause she's a bad girl!" debate? ;)

Destiny's Child looked good. But they always do. Those are 3 of the best looking women in all of music today.

Macy Gray....okay, she looked like the result of the Big Bang in her closet. As if a huge explosion went off in her clothing collection, and her ensemble randomly came together. She was a mess, but at least she didn't have the afro!

I thought Shelby Lynne was kind of cute, but she should have stopped picking that cold sore as she was accepting her award.

And as for Faith Hill.....her marriage to Tim McGraw boggles me. I mean, he's a good-looking guy and all....but she is unfreakin'believable. He better wake up every morning and thank God that she's the first thing he sets his eyes on.
Sevarius Jr. - [SevariusJr@excite.com]
Friday, February 23, 2001 11:14:27 PM
IP: cache-2.lnh.md.webcache.rcn.net

Still no heat, too. But they're separate things ... we have a water heater *and* a water-boiling furnace.
Coyote the Bando
Friday, February 23, 2001 10:45:45 PM
IP: 216.28.101.58

Coyote: Does that mean no heat or is your boiler and water heater different systems?
FS and LM, PDQ, ISO and CD-ROM
Friday, February 23, 2001 10:42:26 PM
IP: 64.109.143.22

Coyoti X? he battles alongside his friend zeroyena against the evil Sigmatos and his army of steel clan reploids 8 at a time
shogun raptor
Friday, February 23, 2001 10:41:49 PM
IP: user-38ldcqr.dialup.mindspring.com

FS: Not quite yet. The pilot on the water heater went out ... so no *hot* water yet. :(

But at least we *got* water. :)
Coyote the Bando
Algonac, Michigan
Friday, February 23, 2001 10:33:22 PM
IP: 216.28.101.58

Coyote: Congrats! You have WATER!
So... did you take that multi-hour shower like you talked about? :)

Imagine: You can LET THE FAUCET RUN!

You can water the (frozen) lawn!

AND, (this is the most important part), you don't have to worry about your neighbors calling ya in!
Fire Storm and Lady Mystic
Friday, February 23, 2001 10:31:25 PM
IP: 64.109.143.22

::rae from stunned position:: uhm... Imzadi not wise.... ::shakes off stun and turns dragon form, torching him bald:: don do that... I irritate ::smiles a lil:: and eyes Archwolf's tail:: (Dont ask).

::returns to normal falcon form, and perches to watch people again::
Aingeal - [aingealkelly@yahoo.com]
Hades, Frozen
Friday, February 23, 2001 10:03:22 PM
IP: 207.42.162.193

**enters kind of numbly**

A little odd feeling tonight ... think I'm having the start of a slight ear infection coming on ... ah well. On the plus side, WE FINALLY HAVE WATER!! Oh, Lord, after three bloody months, it feels so wonderful! I'll never take the sound of a toilet flushing for granted for the rest of my life!!!

**composes self**

Sorry. But I'm excited. Can't be helped. My winter-long nightmare is nearly over.

Well now, what's happening ...

XenaTrek: Like everyone else said, you definitely count for Engineering Week. And as far as the costumes go ... Gloria Estefan's was basically a blue evening gown but the top was just three straps of fabric crossing her boobs. Macy Gray ... think "slob chic" and add a mink stole, and you have her getup. :P **hugs**

Milady Corax: **hugs for her too**

Kyryn: Actually ... check the date I said before. My aunt sent an e-mail asking for info, and Bill Gullickson (the new Packard's developer) sent a line back stating they're not going to production for another couple of years. But it'll be coming!! :)
Oh, and I definitely know about Packard's lineage of customer satisfaction and quality ... I can think of no other car company in history who needed simple word-of-mouth to advertise and succeeded (and as I'm sure Okami knows, Packard's slogan was and hopefully still will be "Ask the man who owns one.").

Milady Corax: **hugs again ... d'you sense a pattern here?**

Gathering 2K+1: As of right now I'm still planning on attending, depending on how inexpensively I'll be able to get down to LA. But I *am* workin' on it. Unfortunatley it has to wait until I get my poor ailing Caddy back on the road.

Milady Corax: **hugs again** Hey, you're gone all weekend, I gotta make it up *somehow.* ;)

Robby: So I picked up a book from AP called "MangaEX" today ... they have a thing in the back regarding submissions ... any way I can get the gears greased for that sort of thing? **wink wink nudge nudge say no more**

Milady Corax: Oops ... this must be getting old ... **pulls a screen over them both, keeps it there for a few minutes, then pulls it away again** There. ;)

Daniel Johnson: As far as computer games I'm interested in goes, I just need to track down some cheat codes for Army Men: Toys in Space ... I *hate* gettin' killed so dang easily!!

'Sall for me, then ... we leave you this evening with this poignant little poem left at the makeshift memorial for Dale Earnhardt outside DEI's headquarters. I read it at ESPN.com, thought it was really cute and sad, so I wanted to share it. (Incidentally ... Kevin Harvick will be driving a *white* GM/Goodwrench car bearing #29 Sunday)

**clears throat**

When God made you, He knew what you would be
You would be the driver of the black #3
Now you're in Heaven racing for the Lord
I just hope God didn't put you in a Ford.
--Unknown author

**leaves the room after hugging Lady Corax one more time for good measure**
Coyote the Bando - [gathering_motor_city_2004@hotmail.com]
Algonac, Michigan
Friday, February 23, 2001 09:48:41 PM
IP: 216.28.101.58

Arg! Take two...

Well, being as I've been conspicuous by my absence, I thought I'd just drop in for a moment. RL, my new dog especially, has been occupying much of my time. Fortunately, we're establishing a routine, and I should be around more next week. If it's not already obvious, I'm crazy about this mutt. ;) I never realized just how much I missed having a dog.

If anyone's interested in computer games, check out the screen shots linked to my name. Doom 3, as demonstrated at MacWorld Tokyo a couple of days ago. Whoa! The real time lighting and shading effects are incredible. These shots were from Doom 3 on a Power Mac G4 with a GeForce 3 card. The GeForce 3 will be a BTO option on the G4 next month. Guess I'm gonna have to start thinking about upgrading. :)
----
lain:
Ooof! Gee, thanks. ;P

Hopefully more replies this weekend.
Daniel Johnson - [danielj7@mac.com]
Ocean Grove, NJ, USA
Friday, February 23, 2001 09:43:34 PM
IP: adsl-138-89-70-193.nnj.adsl.bellatlantic.net

Well, being as I've been conspicuous by my absence, I thought I'd just drop in for a moment. RL, my new dog especially, has been occupying much of my time. Fortunately, we're establishing a routine, and I should be around more next week. If it's not already obvious, I'm crazy about this mutt. ;) I never realized just how much
Daniel Johnson - [danielj7@mac.com]
Ocean Grove, NJ, USA
Friday, February 23, 2001 09:32:58 PM
IP: adsl-138-89-70-193.nnj.adsl.bellatlantic.net

Imzadi> TGS started out with the intent of following Greg Weisman's Master Plan. But understand that we originally only knew about the spin-offs and a few minor things. Greg planned on Oberon being Merlin's father, we didn't know that and had already planned our universe. We really liked what we had done and it was too late to change it, so we don't follow exaxtly what Greg Weisman would have done.

TGS is more accuratly loosly inspired by Greg Weisman's Master Plan, with a few similarities, but mostly everything is worlds apart. I like it that way, it keeps both universes fresher.
Greg "Xanatos" Bishansky - [Madoc55@hotmail.com]
Friday, February 23, 2001 09:07:31 PM
IP: dialin-1562-tnt.nyc.bestweb.net

IMZADI - Madoc is Merlin's father in TGS, but Oberon is Merlin's father in the Masterplan. (The Madoc notion was developed before Greg Weisman revealed that Oberon was Merlin's father in his own plans).

As for the "Gargoyles 2198" questions, I'm afraid that Greg Weisman isn't going to be answering them for a while yet (just in case he gets to make that series and wants to ensure some surprises for the audience).
Todd Jensen - [merlyn@ninenet.com]
St. Louis, MO
Friday, February 23, 2001 09:05:04 PM
IP: 216.87.46.156.dialup-stl.primary.net

Daphne: thanks for the kind words about my site. I'm so proud of it. I add to it as often as I can. It does take some time to fully take in all that's there, I'll admit that. A cabinet member, huh? Like, the door or the hinge? I haven't really mastered any transmutation spells, and flesh to wood is really tough (consults Grimorum)...hmmm...

Todd: I just checked out your Guide to the Gargoyles Universe. Most impressive. I've read all of TGS and all of the spinoffs that have been written to date, and I just didn't know some of that stuff. I guess I just wasn't paying close enough attention. But your timeline confused me. Pendragon suggested that Madoc fathered Merlin, not Oberon. Or is that just the TGS staff and not really part of Mr. Weisman's "master plan"?

Greg/Todd: Who builds Coyotes 5-9? If it was Xanatos, then why on Earth is he doing this? And how is Alexander Xanatos still alive in 2198? Did his fae heritage make him immortal? If so, is Fox immortal? And where's Merlin when the space spawn attack? Just sitting around with his thumb up his butt? So many questions...I hope Weisman isn't the only one with the answers.
Josh "Imzadi" Wurzel - [josh@kicktothenuts.com]
Berkeley, CA, US of A
Friday, February 23, 2001 08:53:46 PM
IP: adsl-64-170-152-74.dsl.sntc01.pacbell.net

Imazadi> Coyote-X is the Coyote robot of 2198 in Greg Weisman's Master Plan. Todd Jensen wrote down what we currently know about it in his excellent "Complete Guide to the Gargoyles Universe" that is up on my site, which you can see if you click on my name. As for Coyote-X, and other upcoming Coyote robots, here's an excerpt from the Guide. Hope you don't mind Todd.

[In the immediate future, three more Coyote robots, at least, will be built. Coyote 5.0 will be connected in some way to Coldsteel, although how is as yet unknown. Coyote 6.0 will set up the Ultra-Pack - whether on its own initiative, or upon instructions for somebody else, is also as yet unknown - and Coyote 7.0 will actually lead the Ultra-Pack into battle.

By 2198, the line of Coyote robots has culminated in the figure of Coyote-X. The exact identity of Coyote-X’s builder is unknown, but the 2198 edition of this robot has become a very cunning and ambitious figure with designs to take over the world. After the Space-Spawn invade Earth, however, he expands his ambition to the conquest of the entire galaxy.]
Greg "Xanatos" Bishansky - [Madoc55@hotmail.com]
Croton on Hudson, NY, U.S.A.
Friday, February 23, 2001 08:23:03 PM
IP: dialin-1562-tnt.nyc.bestweb.net

[on a quest for the hampsterdance song]

Josh/Imz>> hey. awesome website. I'm gonna have to take some time to wander around the place. I myself have no goals of world domination... although I kind of see myself as a cabinet member :)

***warning-- mini-rant***

"All philadelphia public and parochial schools are closed". except they never bothered to tell us that "philadelphia parochial" means distict, not achdiocese.

***end mini-rant***

happiness!
Daphne
the suburban bubble
Friday, February 23, 2001 08:15:27 PM
IP: dialup-63.214.207.148.philadelphia1.level3.net

Aingeal: I'm neither. ::Stuns with a phaser:: Dodge THAT, smartass!

I, too, have a problem with the whole "renegade robot" deal, but not the same reason that Todd does. The problem with robots is that morality is impossible to program. Since they know only what's in their programming, its impossible to call them "renegade". A robot could follow you around your entire life and never fully duplicate your moral code.
But if you were an artificial intelligence, imagine looking at the scenario on earth. Humans are fscking everything up. We destroy the earth, wage wars for no good reason, blah blah blah.
Any robot with a basic self-preservation program worth its salt would figure out that they would be much safer if there were no stupid humans around mucking everything up. And that's not even an AI. So its really easy to imagine a robot wanting to destroy humanity, if for no other reason than it found the earth "pretty". It wouldn't have the moral qualms with killing everyone to protect its goals.

This is what I get for taking a Philosophy class on Morality and Ethics, neither of which I possess.

Oh yeah, and WHO'S COYOTE-X? Where can I read something about him? I always loved the Coyote robots, cuz they were so damn funny. His "first stab at cliched villainy". Hehe, I loved that line.

You’re going to die very badly.
-The bad guy, "No Escape"
Josh "Imzadi" Wurzel - [josh@kicktothenuts.com]
Berkeley, CA, US of A
Friday, February 23, 2001 08:12:06 PM
IP: adsl-64-170-152-74.dsl.sntc01.pacbell.net

GREG - I don't feel qualified to talk about Coyote-X as yet, since we don't have the whole story on him so far. Maybe when the "Gargoyles 2198" contest is over (it's drawing close to the end, since there are only three blanks left to be filled) I'll ask Greg Weisman about him.

Truth to tell, my own opinion on robots is pretty much the same as that of Goliath at the end of "Outfoxed"; they do merely what they are programmed to do, and it is living beings (such as humans and gargoyles) who have the ability to make choices and decisions, real ones.
Todd Jensen - [merlyn@ninenet.com]
St. Louis, MO
Friday, February 23, 2001 07:32:21 PM
IP: 216.87.46.187.dialup-stl.primary.net

Todd> Interesting comments on robots. What do you think of Coyote-X btw?

Also, depends on the robot. The second "Terminator" movie explores some of this.
Greg "Xanatos" Bishansky - [Madoc55@hotmail.com]
Friday, February 23, 2001 07:25:26 PM
IP: dialin-1562-tnt.nyc.bestweb.net

I'll admit that I'm one person who feels skeptical about the whole "renegade robot" business (though I've mentioned this before), largely because I have troubles imagining robots, computers, and other forms of artificial intelligences wanting to take over the world, destroy humanity, or anything like that. Such urges would have to come through emotions (greed, power-hunger, hatred, vengefulness, etc.) which I can't imagine a robot having. I believe that it takes an organic being to be a genuine villain or antagonist (although a computer or robot could be being an enemy because it has been programmed by its creator to be one and has to follow its orders - though that would make it more a slave to be pitied than an enemy to be feared).

Admittedly, the Matrix in "Walkabout" did work very well, because it was acting out of a misinterpretation of its programming objectives and believed itself to be obeying their logical conclusion, and because Goliath and Dingo were able to reason with it.
Todd Jensen - [merlyn@ninenet.com]
St. Louis, MO
Friday, February 23, 2001 07:09:04 PM
IP: 216.87.46.187.dialup-stl.primary.net

Heylo again... I'm being forced to delurk to pester Imzyboy :D

::grins over at Imzy:: (don't ya just hate the nicnames?) so... what's up? and btw... which one are you? Riker or Deanna? ;)

::ducks any incipitent attacks::

::flies off to lurk over Archwolf's shouder again::
Aingeal - [aingealkelly@yahoo.com]
Hades, Frozen section
Friday, February 23, 2001 06:59:45 PM
IP: 207.42.162.198

Wanders in wearing a Marilyn Manson Holywood T-shirt.

Christine> Glad you had a good weekend. Good luck with the publisher.

Warpy> <<What's so interesting about federal prison?>> Don't watch OZ, do you? Seriously, the group interaction. Gangstas, Aryans, Muslims, and all the others. And the contestants have to navigate the maze of group and individual dynamics, decide what group, if any, to join, and yes, they have to avoid becoming someone's b!itch. Unless that's their strategy.

Lain> (Hugs) I wish I could find something to say to you that would make it better... but I can't. I can't promise things will improve, and if I did, I'd be a lyin' sack of sh!t. But good things do happen sometimes. I had kind of a similar conversation with my dad recently, about how I'm a good guy when I relax, but I shouldn't try so hard to be "dark" and "angstful". I wanted to scream at him. The dark person *is* me. The relaxed guy he likes is nothing but a persona I put on to please him. If you feel like you need to hit him, go for it. It might be cathartic. I'd like to do the same, but I work for my dad, something I hate to admit, and if I did that I'd be out of a job. And, "Fired for punching out the boss" doesn't make for a great reference.

Revel> <> Hmm, maybe you, Jenna, and Mike could share. The room for people who have to avoid their rooms. ;)

Todd> Turnips> Are you sure you're still sane? It looks like this place is finally getting to you. ;)

Guandalug> Those new features do sound nifty.

Josh> I'm going to the Gathering, even if I have to walk there. As for what it's like, it's indescribable. All I can say is: There's magic in the air.

Dreamie> <<If you like that, you should see my car's seat covers. ^_~ >> You got the seat covers?!? Boss! The most I could ever find was a steering wheel cover.

Gside> <<Probably won't be for a god while>> So, CR updates are like a second coming? ;)

I think that's it. Oh, yeah, one last thing...

Eimenim was robbed!

Aaron - [JCarnage@Yahoo.com]
San Antonio, TX, USA
Friday, February 23, 2001 05:17:47 PM
IP: 209.33.140.102

::Imzadi calmly struts into CR::

For all you Bay Area Dwellers, tonight is the infamous "Josh and Mike's Movie Night" hosted by none other than me and my roommate (no, not "my roommate and I"). Tonight is an "Ahnold" night, and we'll be showing T2, Predator, and Total Recall. For info on the next movie night, drop me a line.

I love fridays. Does anyone else have class schedules where they're packed Mon-Thurs, but have almost nothing on Friday? It rules, doesn't it?

Lynati: I didn't mean the kind of meeting where I slip a knife in Warp's back. He really can have scandanavia. And you can be his queen or whatever if that's what floats your boat. I just want to meet with him to establish what he intends to do with the area and how he plans on using his resources. Yes, I am a bit piggish at times. Sorry if it offended you, but expect to see more of it in the future 8-).

Re layout of castle wyvern: there is no way we saw enough of the castle in the show to draw a floor plan. Even back and forth between scenes in New York and scenes in Scotland, you have to remember that Castle Wyvern is HUGE. Its walls, if they didn't enclose the village, were more than ample to protect the villagers and keep enough food for all of them during a seige. But if you happen across the plans, email them to me PLEASE...I'll need to design my headquarters for world domination soon. Maybe we should just ask Mr. Weissman himself.

DPH: I would love mutant powers, but I have none aside from immortality. So I'll have to settle for the artificial stuff.

Re Avalon Mists: WOO HOO! Avmists rules. I'm particularly looking forward to seeing artwork by The Barracuda. I don't know if you guys have read any of his fanfic, but he's got some cool characters in there.

XenaTrek: a fitting pic for your handle. A woman warrior who happens to appear on the worlds greatest sci-fi show. You are definitely an engineer. These days, being an engineer is so trendy these days that anyone can stick it to their job title. Garbage men are now called "Sanitation Engineers". Though they work hard and do an important job, I don't really think they get to be included in Engineers week.
By the way, from your description, you have the coolest job in the world. I aspire to be you.

Taleweaver: Are you at Cal Poly SLO? Do you have an overabundance of female CivE's? Could you stuff them all in your car and bring them to Gathering?
I think most schools have more female CivE's than female MechE's, because Civil has Environmental Engineering, which appeals more to women than to men (tree huggin' hippies!).

LadyCorax: Congrats on holding back on ripping that moron e-mailers throat out. When someone sends me stupid stuff, I am usually not so disciplined. I often "reply all" and send the response not just to them, but to their family, co-workers, etc. making them look like a total fool for sending it (God, I'm sadistic). Glad the engineering jokes lifted your mood. While everyone is laughing at our expense, we'll be laughing our way to the bank! BUWAHAHAHAHA! Ah the joys of being an engineer.

Lain: <Imzy, or something> hey! I recognize that line! 8-) Its so nice being in a room full of people who actually know what "Imzadi" is/means. When I used it at Virtual World, no one had a clue.

Well, that's all for now. Gotta go to my second and last class for the day, a measly 50-minute physics lecture. Bring on the relativity!

Windows© 98(n) - 32-bit extensions and graphical shell for a
16-bit patch to an 8-bit operating system originally coded for a 4-bit microprocessor, written by a 2-bit company that can't stand 1 bit of competition.
-Unknown (yes, I do a lot of M$ bashing)
Josh "Imzadi" Wurzel - [josh@kicktothenuts.com]
Berkeley, CA, US of A
Friday, February 23, 2001 04:24:07 PM
IP: adsl-64-170-152-74.dsl.sntc01.pacbell.net

Caliope>(hugged)
James Birdsong - [LennexMacDuff@yahoo.com]
San Diego, CA, USA
Friday, February 23, 2001 04:16:43 PM
IP: adsl-63-207-129-173.dsl.sndg02.pacbell.net

*lain wanders in, rather chuffed about the list of English Sayings she has been collecting for the past few days*

Still.. I think my favourite has to be "Jeez mate, yer a 24 karat plonker".. heh heh... oh dear, my relies crack me up.. ;D

Imzy.. or something.. ;)>> Hija and welcome.. I will have more to say to you when I have more than five seconds of computer time...

Warpmind>> *tickles warpmind telepathically from across the room.. hey.. Illuminati you say?? EEEEeeeeeexcellent..

Lynati>> Grabs Lynati in a bear hug.. just cause she is great.. :D
22 hours on a bus you say??? hmmmm..... *ponders a delicious ponder*

Daniel J>> No worries my dear. I be OK.. *grabs Daniel J in a big hug and donates a noogie ;P*
I'm not.. er.. "hittin the skids" yet, mate ;)

Gunjack>> jeez yer goin barmy with them typos, hecky fumps.. you reckon it's still that time I switched them keys??

anyway.. sorry that's all the time I have..
I'm gonna be doin a bunk for the next few days but I shall return as soon as I am able, and post Blackpool Rock to all of you whose addresses I have :D:D

cheers,
(and love)
lain, keepin 'er kecks on ;)
the Land of Faraway
Friday, February 23, 2001 03:34:48 PM
IP: 63.99.105.163

Hi!!!!

Sorry i've been away for so long, but its been a buisy week! I had to do this EVIL perspective drawing of the hallways at the bell tower....eeeeeevil.... :P But I've missed you all truly my darlings!!! * ^_~ *

Winterwolf the quiet one> *starts tickling the wolf* You wont be quiet for long!!! Hahahahaha*tickle tickle tickle* :P Oh! Did you see roswell!? Neet, huh??? Michael has some family of his own now, and arent Michael and Maria so special, lazing about in the lap of luxury :P And those Vegas previews are QUITE interesting...lets see who's gonna get hitched! :P

Gunjack> <<maybe so, but I enjoy the series quite a bit more now that I understand what the heck is going on.>> lol yeah, it always helps to know whats goin' on :P <<There's a big difference. The teddybear PJs actually had CLASS... >>....riiiight....*shudders* :P

Gside> <<That's gotta mess with your sinuses.>> You dont sniff it man! You eat it!!! Raw!!! Goes stright to your head!!! :P <<<<well intentioned good boys>>: Do those even exist?>> lol sure they do! they just go around pretending to be naughty evil boys just like therest of 'em :P <<Bride of evil laugh. >> Oh! Right!...whats that? :P

Wilek> <<If he was, he's now a little pile of cinders with little piteously blinking eyes on top>> *blinx* Like anouncer 1.0!!!....Nevermind, BunnyWars reference :P *hands Wilek a broom* :P

Emambu> <<The Art of Happiness: WEEEEEEEEEEEE!" by Caliope.>> LOL Can it be illustrated you think? I'm better at those then the actual writing :P

Mary> <> ...ok, I CAN see the Ranma guys doing a strip tease, but Kenshin?!...I just cant picture it as well forsome reason. But I supose it made the situation all the funnier :P

I gotta get! I'll see ya guys!!! *HUGZ all and scrambles out*
Caliope
Friday, February 23, 2001 03:20:32 PM
IP: 136.145.70.210

I very much like that picture!
Janine Renard
Friday, February 23, 2001 03:15:51 PM
IP: phx-207.treknet.net

**LC walks in, growling** Okay...some idiot had the nerve to send me one of those stupid e-mail forwards, except this one *really* bothered me...it was about how people shouldn't be so worried about spending time mourning Earnhardt, because he was a rich racing guy. Okay, now tell me if that isn't totally inappropriate to send to someone like me at this point? **growls again** I *just barely* stopped myself from replying to the sender with a fairly not-so-nice note...I just blocked her address instead. **growls**

On the bright side, though...I love the engineering jokes, everyone. Great way to lift my mood a bit. :)

Patrick> Sorry if I offended ya with my silly civil/mechanical engineering joke. I didn't mean any harm by it! :) Let me just tell ya that I truly appreciate a well-built road...especially if it's level and straight for at least a quarter mile...:)

Gside> That joke was from the ASME handbook? Coolies...a friend of mine told it to me, now I know where he got it. :)

XenaTrek> **hugs** Hey, you're definitely included in engineering week! :) **hugs some more** ;P

And hey, if anyone out there (lain, Sorow, or anybody else) ever wants to talk or whatever, drop me a line on IM...my screen name there is webbedwarriors :)

**sighs** Well, I guess I'd better drag myself back outta here...have a nice weekend, y'all, and I'll be back around again soon. :)
Lady Corax
Friday, February 23, 2001 03:15:15 PM
IP: manzy-mo-1-226.rescomp.arizona.edu

I definately like this pic.

Death and Rebirth> I believe in the cycle. My favorite piece from Fantasia 2000 was the Firebird Suite, but comics and by extension sci-fi/fantasy take too many liberties with it.

Here's another question to keep everyone talking. What other cliches have been done to death? My big bugaboo is the crazed robot convention. You know any android, robot or supercomputer will eventually turn on their human masters and become a homicidal maniac. Like no one's ever heard of Asmiov's Three rules of Robotics. That and time travel cliches, but I don't want get into that. But what pus a burr in your saddle?

National Engineer's Week> Hey I have a healthy respect for Civil Engineers. I'm sort of jealous. Down hear in Cal Poly its seems there are more female Civs than MEs. But I'll add another engineering joke.

The time and place is the French Revolution outside of Paris. A priest, a thief and an engineer are taking out to the guillotine. The priest is first to be beheaded.

He asks. "Let me meet my fate looking up toward heaven."

The mob complies. The blade is let go and it stops halfway down. The mob was perplexed, but they figure God intervened ad the priest was to be set free.

The thief seeing this also asked to die facing skyward. And again the blade stopped halfway. The mob set the thief free as well.

Not wanting to die the engineer asked for similar treatment. And just as the mob was about to let the blade fall, the Engineer exclaimed "Wait, I see your problem..."

Bonne Weekend
Taleweaver - [taleweaver@usa.net]
Friday, February 23, 2001 01:48:09 PM
IP: hal5000.engineering.csupomona.edu

*delurks from days (or is it weeks?) of absent*
Anyone miss me?

Eek! New picies to play with... hmmm. So far I haven't seen anyone use this one, guess I will. :oP

Imzadi: Welcome to the room. Coyote and I use to go the a few Star Trek conventions in our college days. However the last one we went to I was extremely disappointed. They finally provided sign language interpreters for the con, but no one bothered to 'man' the handicapper section where the signers were placed. And we had a group of people who has no use for a signer nor am I convinced they were really 'disable' sat in front of me, Coyote and a few profoundly deaf individuals.

LC: Giving out hugs are we? Where's mine? :oP j/k *hugs*

Re: DVD Players >> What was the question again LC? I'm spending way too much time on the computer to see clearly. I have the one on my home computer. There's a very long story to go w/ it on how it got set up and the cost that went into it. Coyote knows it, or at least he should. I'll be on IM tonite, if you're on I'll tell you about it.

Re: Gathering '01 >> I'm still gonna try providing I have enough to cover that trip and SIGGRAPH in August. I should, but we'll have to see. *hints out to the con set-up people* Hopefully there will be signers this time unlike the last year.

Lain and Sorrow: Sorry I don't know the whole story other than people telling you to hang in there. So hang in there kiddos, and if you need someone to listen, feel free to drop me an email or an IM. (My screen name is EllisL007).

Re: 2000 Grammy's: D'oh! W/ all the 'juices' I've heard about this years show, I knew I should have taped it. Decided to turn in early that night. Coyote, I really want to know what is you are talking about w/ some of the outfits. BTW I did see Toni Braxton (sp?) outfit... its outta here!

Speaking of Disney (of course no one mentioned it), I did see Beau Bridges and his family in my area last weekend. It took me like 5 minutes to figure it out it was him too. Eek! Also, w/ Rosie O'Donnell here this week and part of next, I wonder who I will see this weekend. *big grin* Oh Coyote... I mentioned Meatloaf to a fellow castmember (at Tower) and they said he did come thru here awhile ago. Also the actors who way Xander and Tara on Buffy will be in town for a con next weekend, wouldn't surprise me if they manage to sneak some time at Disney. (Tho I did see Brandon years ago somewhere before he became an actor)

LC: Thanks for letting me know about Engineer's Week. My job titles states that I'm an engineer, so I guess I'm included huh?

*thinks* Let see anything else? I know I'm forgetting something. Then again I should get back to this redundant task that I swear is not cooperating. Grrr... silly software. For those who were and/or are wondering, I'm work for a defense firm where we make software in a 3D virtual reality environment for military training. Essentially a giant/life size video game.

Gotta run. *hugs to everyone* Later.

XenaTrek - [ellislis@yahoo.com]
Orlando, FL, USA
Friday, February 23, 2001 01:27:38 PM
IP: proxy2a.lmco.com

Avalon Mists > just a reminder, the deadline for the Spring 2001 issue is next Wednesday, Feb. 28th. Still eagerly looking for fics, character spotlights, crossovers, and of course entries for the Challenge! E-mail submissions to christine@sabledrake.com

Survivor > aaaaaaa! I can't wait a whole week to see what happens! They sure do make it look like someone gets chomped into gator bait, and it would just totally stand to reason that it's Mike, but those guys are tricksy, my precious, tricksy indeed, and it might turn out to be something different ... But what a tremendous relief that Kimmi is gone; I can even imagine the rest of Kucha, on their hot winning streak, saying to one another "let's throw the next immunity challenge just so we can get her the hell out of here!" I also wouldn't have been surprised if she'd done something really idiotic like letting the chickens go "by accident" ... watch, she'll probably get an award from PETA or something for standing up for her beliefs :P

Christine - [christine@sabledrake.com]
Friday, February 23, 2001 12:58:54 PM
IP: 14-108.075.popsite.net

I don't care if multiple people try to take over your universe, as long as no outsiders try to take over the BFTS universe.

Imzadi - hahahaha. I am running for president of the unknown for the year 2002. The best part is no will dare challenge ballot results. Who needs a suit of armor when mutant powers can more than make up for it?

**WORK RELATED**
I am being doing the same unskilled task for the past 3 days. I wanted to do something different, something new. Oh well. More delays. I don't have a electronic key to get into the door of my workplace yet, so I have to rely on others to let me in the door. There are as many full-time employees in my area on 1st shift as there are temps in the same area on 2nd shift.
**END WORK RELATED**

**RP RELATED**
I have thinking about taking into my main RP character into my fictional workplace, Xelom. That way, I could get away with telling some of the stuff and let the reader figure out what is real and what is not, without giving away any secrets.
**END RP RELATED**

Hear ye, here ye, over here 3+4>2+5<1+6, too to two

Sorry about I had to let my insanity loose to make up for having a new sane person in the CR room. Wait a minute, does trying to take over the world qualify one for being sane?

**BFTS RP continues**
"Doctor, there has been only 2 cases similiar to DPH's mental condition," replied the telepath.

"You mean . . ." ,replied the squire.

"The experimental headmaster transformers," continued the telepath.

"So are you suggesting that we treat DPH like we treated Lunatic and Lunacy's problems," continued the squire.
**END BFTS RP for now**
How/what are Lunatic and Lunacy? Read next time for answers.
DPH - [dph_of_rules@yahoo.com]
AR, USA
Friday, February 23, 2001 11:56:44 AM
IP: max1-25.cwy.cei.net

*Lynati pokes her head in*

Imzadi: <Warpmind: You can have scandanavia. I mean, who wants a bunch of beautiful, blue-eyed, blond-haired...oh. We might need to have a meeting about that one.>
*Wraps arms possessively around warpmind* No. you won't.
...pig. :P

Gunjack: I believe that that is a "deep thought", by Jack Handey.

ALSO: I remember someone delurking in here a while back and asking for comprehensive plans for the layout of castle Wyvern. I, too, have been looking for a site/ book that has them. Please, if anyone knows where they are, let me know. THANK YOU.

*Grins, and drags Warps off into IM...err, the mistetoe room*
Lynati - [Lynati_1@hotmail.com]
Friday, February 23, 2001 11:52:00 AM
IP: kcx-ks18a-143.rasserver.net

Gunjack: Performance parameters? Maneuverable flight, preferrably at speeds of over 50 m/s (that's about 100 mph to you non-engineers). It needs to make up for the fact that I'm a scrawny 50 kg weakling by enhancing my strength somehow. A few built-in weapons would be nice (laser cannon, that cool Coyote distortion ray thingy), as well as some communications equipment. If you want to top Xanatos' Goliath-armor, how about something that I can wear under my clothes? Now THAT would be cool. And it needs all kinds of Inspector gadget tools, like lighters in the fingertips and stuff. I'm sure I could go on and on...

Warpmind: You can have scandanavia. I mean, who wants a bunch of beautiful, blue-eyed, blond-haired...oh. We might need to have a meeting about that one.

Patrick: Thank you for the encouraging words for us civil engineers. To often people forget that we are just as valuable as programmers. Although we've learned that there's no money in building things for the long haul. You think those Roman engineers are getting bonuses for not having to repair their stuff? NO! The money is in fixing things, so civil engineers have learned to put bugs into their projects, just like programmers.

A word about Gathering '01: Once, when I was twelve, I attended a Star Trek convention. Is it just me, or is this a lot like that, but the people are slightly better looking and generally have some talent besides dressing themselves up like klingons?

Friends don't let friends use Windows.
-Unknown
Josh "Imzadi" Wurzel - [josh@kicktothenuts.com]
Berkeley, CA, USA
Friday, February 23, 2001 11:14:28 AM
IP: adsl-64-170-152-74.dsl.sntc01.pacbell.net

The Gathering 2001 is getting closer than you think... just four months from today until convention weekend, and even lest time left to pre-register. Don't be left out of the money-saving benefits of pre-registration or miss your chance to dine with the stars... pre-register or reserve your seat at the dinner before May 15, 2001!

http://gathering.gargoyles-fans.org/

Greetings to all my fellow engineers. Here's a neat site with a pretty nice collection of engineer jokes

http://www.virtualengineer.com/

All you mechanical, electrical, and computer engineers out there, just remember next time you're about to crack on us civil engineers... if it wasn't for a civil engineer, you wouldn't have a road to drive that high-powered car with the fancy new engine on, a nice solid building to protect your cubicle from the weather. Civil engineers might not be making the most high-tech things, but we're building stuff for the long haul (there's stuff all over Europe that was built by Roman civil engineers 2000 years ago that is still in use today). Civil engineers don't build targets... we build landmarks. >:)
Patrick Toman
Friday, February 23, 2001 06:25:15 AM
IP: ac8b7232.ipt.aol.com

*Warpmind enters, looking grim.*
Overslept. Missed several buses. No IM with Lynati this morning. WAAAAAAAAAAAH. :( And to top it off, Gunjack Valentine almost made me worry about his mental health, too... ];)

Lain: *Grin* Always a pleasure, ma'am. ;)

SJ: Comic deaths? Hear ye, hear ye... either death ought to be treated with some reverence and respect, or with none at all. But NEVER EVER with an excessive amount of resurrections. (Either a low bodycount with heaps of emotion involved, or an extremely high one without emotions, IMNSHO.)

Howdy, Imzadi. A word of advice: trying to seize control of Scandinavia will be met with heavy resistance. True, I'm emigrating, but when the Nereus Project takes effect, I've got dibs on that sector. (I was the first to ask; that simple.)

Dreamie: You're attending G'01, right? You, and most of the others there will probably recieve a rather... substantial surprise. ]:) *Leans over to plot with Lynati.*

Gside: I know, I know - I keep myself updated on the webcomics I've so far been addicted to... ]:)

Gunjack Valentine: You didn't really creep me out. Your efforts were commendable, but they didn't work. *THUNK* *THUNK* ];) (Love the quote, by the way.)

Well, that's about it. I've just gotta finish FTP'ing stuff from work to my website, for retrieval when I get home...
Warpmind de InzanE - [warpmind@usa.net]
Middle, Nowhere, Norway
Friday, February 23, 2001 05:34:51 AM
IP: spock.ti.telenor.net

Gah. LOOK at all those typos. Just horrible. Betcha all think I'm an illiterate hayseed by now... : P

*looks at fingers*

That's it, chums, ya'll are FIRED. Now, where'd I leave that Ka-Bar...
Gunjack "Higgeldy-Piggledy" Valentine
Friday, February 23, 2001 04:27:59 AM
IP: 216-146-184-225.bwn.net

Gside - ....... ; P *slaps face* ...Subtly, thy name is Gside. "Yer dead weight, Marty..." You managed to explain EVERYTHING but what I asked you to.
And SMT isn't softcore porn, it's... It's.. Ok, maybe it is. I'd STILL say it's nicer than EN, though.

Aaaaaanyway. Kit, the reference was to the large stag pic you used. Reading an issue or to of SMT and then looking at the pics of the England clans causes... Unusual mental corolations.

Firestorm - You do weapons to!? What the HECK!? I thought *I* was in charge of Weps R&D! I didn't even know you were part of the project! Why don't people tell me these things!? 8 P ...Well, good to be workin' with ya, 'Mano. Yet another reason to get around to that Mk23 H+ drawing...

Josh><<Well if you can build me a Xanatos-style exo-frame, the cosmos is yours.>> Between FS and I, I'm sure we can do considerably better than that. What performance perameters did you have in mind?

Well, it appears that tonight was NOT, in fact, the day Lain got home. And since Lyn and Warps are both absent, I guess that means I'd better get to bed.

.....Right after I creep the HECK out of Warps. INCOOOOMMIIIINGGGGG!!!!! Get down, Healthy! Down, dangit! Mouthy's hit!
; )
That was more fun than I've had in WEEKS. And no, I don't really need more sleep.

Real replies at a latter date, though with precisely whom has yet to be detirmined. Duenan still hasn't answered that large sack of letters I sent...

"Sometimes, I picture a world of peace and happiness, were strife is unknown and guile is unneeded. And then I think how easy it'd be to attack 'em, cause they'd never see it coming..."
-Anonymous
Gunjack "Pies" Valentine - [miphsingleton@hotmail.com]
Friday, February 23, 2001 04:25:02 AM
IP: 216-146-184-225.bwn.net

Kaioto: Yes, kicktothenuts.com is the ultimate domain name. Best investment I ever made (note: I still hate forking over hard-earned $$ to those Nazis at register.com). And the coolest part is that since I own the site, people can email ANYTHING@kicktothenuts.com and it comes right to me.

Stay tuned for kicktothenuts.com, an emerging e-card business, due in a couple months (buwahahahaha!)

Gside:Good joke. I'm more familiar with the version where the CompSci dude is a microsoft employee and he says "close all the windows, shut down the car, and start it up again." 8-) I always love making fun of micro$haft. Thanks for the welcoming words. ctrl-r, huh? I've never heard of that particular child of Oberon.

The trick is not to die for your country, but to make the other poor bastard die for his.
-General George S. Patton
Josh "Imzadi" Wurzel - [josh@kicktothenuts.com]
Berkeley, CA, USA
Friday, February 23, 2001 01:56:58 AM
IP: adsl-64-170-152-74.dsl.sntc01.pacbell.net

Fire Storm> I'm sorry, but I spent a good part of the evening killing your children, or at least your relatives. I am fully convinced Dave is nigh a diety, and CPS2 emulation is a good thing.

Gunjack> <<Well said, 'mano>>: Thank you.
<<Gside, wanna handle the SMT explanation for Kit?>>: Why not. SMT is an acronym for Supermegatopia, a city invented by and a domain name registered by the Brothers Grinn. They are comics artists that have two sagas going at this time. That of the city of Supermegatopia (a city full of super heros), and that of Crushed and her comanions. Just about everything they do could be considered softcore porn. I am not sure which is more wrong, the transition between Deviations 2 and 3, or how Crushed managed to escaped the minotaur.
<<Gunjack "Curvy" Valentine>>: Must obey silky curves. Wait, where'd the silky come from?

Todd Jensen> <<The turnips flee in terror, with the pigs in hot pursuit>>: Are you sure you still have your sanity?

Sev. Jr.> <<in comics, death is at best transitory>>: You'd like Supermegatopia.

Kyryn> <<Your mother is a clarinet?>>: And my father smelt of formaldehyde. But it's just a standard way of referring to musicians. Just as I am multiple saxes (so far S, A, T, and b).

Hyperion> <<Someone set us up the bomb>>: I thought is was "...set up us...."
<<Sorry, it had to be done>>: I know.
<<we've never been able to map the process of human thought>>: I think we have parts of it.

Warpmind> <<just click my name>>: And then check out the current storyline ("Do you see any scars?" "No, they look real").

Welcome, Imzadi.

Monkey> <<anyone know for certain how to pronounce that?>>: According to pantheon.org, {lee'-thee}, though I personally say "lease" with a lisp.

And why does lisp have an s?

Imzadi> <<How'd you know I was going to take over the world?>>: It's on your site.
<>: The Nereus Project absorbs all competition. Though it does ensure a good life for those who join quickly.

Dreamie> <<Though I especially enjoyed the topics concerning gargoyle anatomy and genetics>>: Did you catch my theory on the technology needed for massive genetic restructuring, and its implications for nigh immortality?
<<I’m looking forward to the new Dr. Dolittle where... he gets his arm bitten off>>: You might want to check out the current storyline at Shinku... It's at yamcha.keenspace.com

Imzadi> <<Wilek just promise you these things for no good reason?>>: Wilek is just.
<<do you guys have some magical fae that sits by your computer that tells you when the CR's been updated?>>: I just press ctrl-r if I want to check.

Lady Corax> <<Happy National Engineering Week>>: Thank you.
<<what's the difference between mechanical engineers and civil engineers?>>: Straight from the ASME handbook (actually, a shirt).

Imzadi> <<until something way damn cooler comes out>>: Probably won't be for a god while. The CR just got updated, and that's a biyearly or so occurrance.

Might as well pull out an engineer joke: A mechE, EE, and CompSci were driving down a deserted highway when their car breaks down. The mechE says he knows how to fix it, just tighten a couple screws on the carburator and they can get going. The EE disagrees, they need to clean the contacts on the battery and it'll work. The CompSci ways they're both completely wrong, they need to get out of the car, close all the doors, get back in, and try again.
For more, see http://www.eden.rutgers.edu/~borkodin/engjokes.html

Toku Kai> <<Who’s in charge of Deuce’s old machine anyway?>>: Wilek, but I believe he created some autonomous devices based on the same technology.

Na zdorov'ya.
Gside - [gside@eden.rutgers.edu]
Piscatway, NJ
Friday, February 23, 2001 01:19:58 AM
IP: gside.resnet.rutgers.edu

Lain>> ::Hugs:: I’m glad your friends here have helped you. Sometimes we just need to let things out, and let those who care about us know what’s going on inside. I wish I could’ve been some help to you, but there are some pies I’d better keep my fingers from. I’m not as good a baker as many in this room.

Imz>> Nice talking with you on IM. Welcome to the room. I’ll be at the Gathering in LA myself. Dang, kicktothenuts.com. I’ve got email address envy now.

::looks around:: Who’s in charge of Deuce’s old machine anyway? We’ve got a live one here.

Dreamie>> Looks like that one might be a keeper, eh? ;-)

Killing off characters>> I’m actually a big fan of mortality. I’ve found some off beat comics to be rather diverting actually. Astro City is fast becoming a favorite of mine. They haven’t abused the “Come back to life” clauses too much yet from what I’ve read. That really turned me off to Superman and X-men and a lot of the other strong labels of modern comics years ago. I’m in SJ’s camp on this one. I think more off-camera deaths and the “never found the body” situations should be the ones that have consideration for dodging the bullet. If you want character death to be meaningful, you can’t take away the meaning of death as often as comics try and get away with.

Although, I DO think that some death should be senseless. That’s the backdrop of mortality that gives the world some grit. There is something profound yet ironic about a superhero being killed in a plane crash or a soccer riot. Perhaps a simple real-world horror like AIDS would take its toll on one of the elite. After all, not everyone has a hyper-healing factor or the like. Main characters lives aren’t throw-away, certainly, but neither are the lives of “normals” in our real world. Perhaps the more realistic presence of death would give fantasy characters a richer presence of life.

Maybe the real problem is that writers change so often that a long-range arc for a character’s life really never gets played out. In that case, devising a useful life to death arc is nearly impossible, so death isn’t used as it could be in literature (like a Tragic Hero) but is instead bent only towards the ratings grab during Sweeps. ::shrugs:: Hey, I guess they’ve got franchises to worry about and money to make. Don’t kill the Golden Goose you know … at least not useless you are ready to resurrect it tomorrow to get your eggs again, huh?

Ah well, I need to go so I can sleep. I must sleep so I can work. I must work so I can get paid. I must get paid so I can spend money. I must spend money to obtain yet more building-blocks for my master plan. I must get the building blocks so I can set my plan in motion. I must set my plan in motion so it can reach fruition. It needs to reach fruition so I can um … er … live happily ever after or something …

Ah well … romantic notions can be gratifying in and of themselves, I suppose.

Night all,
Kaioto - [kaioto@yahoo.com]
Boston, MA, USA
Friday, February 23, 2001 12:22:32 AM
IP: 141.133.147.152

Milady Corax: I certainly don't mind at all, my lovely lady ... **hugs her back as much as she hugged him, and then some**
Coyote the Bando
Algonac, Michigan
Friday, February 23, 2001 12:14:42 AM
IP: 216.28.101.33

Josh, Firestorm> Thanks for the DVD info! I really, really appreciate it. :)

Josh> Sexual favors, eh? Hm...maybe I'll move to Canada. ;) Just kidding. Anyway, it's nice to see another engineer 'round these parts...and heck yeah, we deserve our own week. :) As for the LA Gathering...well, I don't know yet...but I'm working on it. Can't promise anything, though. :)

Later, y'all! :)
Lady Corax
Thursday, February 22, 2001 11:58:56 PM
IP: manzy-mo-1-226.rescomp.arizona.edu

If you guys are wondering why I'm responding so often, its because I don't feel like doing any homework and its pouring outside in the Bay Area so I'm not shleping anywhere (read as: I'm bored to tears). I've finally decided on this pic permanently, until something way damn cooler comes out. I know its the sigil of all that is evil, but I like it anyway.

I had no idea it was National Engineers Week. I'm a civil engineer (though I plan on demolishing targets, not building them) and god darn it, we deserve a week 8-).

Here's another engineer joke:
Two engineering students were walking across campus when one said, "Where did you get such a great bike?"
The second engineer replied, "Well, I was walking along yesterday minding my own business when a beautiful woman rode up on this bike. She threw the bike to the ground, took off all her clothes and said, "Take what you want."
The second engineer nodded approvingly, "Good choice; the clothes probably wouldn’t have fit."

For more engineering jokes, email me and ask for my engineer jokes file! What can I say, I'm one of the few engineers with a sense of humor about my profession.

I'm curious as to how people who are going to the Gathering are planning on getting there.

LadyCorax: Glad you liked the website. On DVD players: My roommate and I split a Phillips DVD711 player. It was about $200 and it works great. We're both pretty tech-savvy but had no interest in a million and two features. It has an intuitive interface and the remote control doesn't have a billion buttons.
On Arizona: I already promised the US of A to my best friend (I will retain total control from a stronghold in Switzerland). I suppose he might let you have Arizona in exchange for sexual favors, but you'll have to take it up with him. Email me for more info.
On Scotland: provided you can demonstrate that you have a resource that I will need for total domination, I will be happy to give it to you. Otherwise, I'm sorry but I can't help you.
You live in AZ, will you be attending Gathering in Los Angeles?

Fire Storm: Weapons, huh? Well if you can build me a Xanatos-style exo-frame, the cosmos is yours. Oh, and if you need tips on becoming an immortal, I'll be happy to share.

People on AOL Instant Messenger or ICQ: Add me. I'm OakleyPosterBoy on both services. Gives me something to do when I don't feel like doing work 8-).
Josh "Imzadi" Wurzel - [josh@kicktothenuts.com]
Berkeley, CA, USA
Thursday, February 22, 2001 11:25:44 PM
IP: adsl-64-170-152-74.dsl.sntc01.pacbell.net

Wmzadi: <Or do you have some incredibly valuable resource that he needs so much that he was willing to sac 100 years of trade for the entire solar system?>
Weapons. Pure and simple.
I have been attempting to design some weapons based on what is seen in movies, and I have figured out how to make a few.
GIVEN, my prototypes are not yet functional, but given a little time, I can get some of them working.
And Wilek really just wants to rule the world. I want to rule the cosmos! :)
THAT... and Wilek, at least I think, is not too interested in commerse.
And besides... what is 100 years to someone who plans on becoming an immortal?

Lady Corax: <And no, before anyone says anything, I am NOT a guy...I just love the Prince Ravyn pic>
Well, I am a guy, but that dosn't stop me from using the Valkyre and Flit pics.
<BTW, anybody out there have a DVD player?>
Ya can't go wrong with Sony. Personal Preferance? Their 200 DVD changer. GIVEN it is $500 and not really available retail, it is orderable. It is truly the only DVD changer I would buy.
Other than that... Hell, even the little $99 POS I have has decent features. Not a brand name, a little noise mechanically, but it works and has a 5.1 output.
Currently the market has made it so even the cheapest one is of decent quality.
Fire Storm - [Night-Flame@usa.net]
Thursday, February 22, 2001 11:16:42 PM
IP: 64.109.143.22

And no, before anyone says anything, I am NOT a guy...I just love the Prince Ravyn pic. :)

Survivor> Oh my dear goodness...I saw that preview for the next "Survivor" also...man, I'm going to *have* to see that. Dude. That poor, insane Michigander...**winks at the various posters from MI** And thank everything that is good in the universe that Kimmi got booted off...although I would have liked to see that one scary bodybuilding chick beat her up...:) Colby's still my man in this whole thing.

Coyote> **hugs tight** Hey there. :)

Dreamie> I will be sure to take care of myself out there...thanks for thinking of me! :) I really appreciate it. :)

Although just for the record, I *do* race with the same open-faced helmet...**shrugs** I also race with a fireproof jacket, 5-point harness, full 10 point roll cage, etc...the rules for my bracket have only required the helmet and some sort of lapbelt. *Way* too little for my tastes when you're rockin' at 110 miles an hour plus next to some weirdo fishtailing down the track...;)

Oh, yeah...Happy National Engineering Week, everyone (especially all you other engineers out there). Sorry that the week's almost over...I kinda just found out myself. :) And now for a silly non-funny engineering joke from a mechanical engineer...

...what's the difference between mechanical engineers and civil engineers? Well, mechanical engineers build weapons--civil engineers build targets. :)

Josh> Welcome! :) Loved the website, by the way. And when ya do take over the world...can I keep Arizona? ;) Or at least make a deal for Scotland...:)

Coyote again> **hugs again** Hey some more. :)

BTW, anybody out there have a DVD player? Anyone have any advice on good brands, good features of the little things, bad stuff, etc? I know absolutely nothing about the darn things. :)

monkey> Well, my old English teacher used to pronounce "lethe" like "leth" (rhymes with "meth")...I could be wrong, though.

BTW, everyone, let me just say that Ben Stein is one AWESOME dude. :)

Oh, yeah...anyone in here see "Highlander: Endgame" when it first came out? I was just at a test screening of a "new" version with new scenes and a new ending...the new scenes all worked really well (mainly more action scenes), but let me tell ya that I was upset with the new ending. If anyone wants to know, just let me know and I'll post it up in spoiler warnings or send ya an e-mail or something. :)

Coyote again> **hugs some more** Sorry, dude, I'm in a huggy mood tonight...;)

Well, that's it for me...have a nice weekend, everyone! :)
Lady Corax
Thursday, February 22, 2001 10:57:25 PM
IP: manzy-mo-1-226.rescomp.arizona.edu

Damn Disney. I watch Toon Disney every day. I've seen every gargoyles episode at least three times. I know them by heart. I crave new material! When I take over the world, Greg Weissman will be back in business.

Fire Storm: Did Wilek just promise you these things for no good reason? Or do you have some incredibly valuable resource that he needs so much that he was willing to sac 100 years of trade for the entire solar system?

Dreamie: Same thing I do every night, Pinky, watch Gargoyles, then TRY TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD! Okay, this joke is getting old.

m.o.n.k.e.y.: according to dictionary.com, its prounounced lee-thee, stress on the first syllable.

Hey, do you guys have some magical fae that sits by your computer that tells you when the CR's been updated? Is there a program I can get (for the Mac)? On the other hand, if you do have a magical fae, could you send him/her my way?
Josh "Imzadi" Wurzel - [josh@kicktothenuts.com]
Berkeley, CA, USA
Thursday, February 22, 2001 10:49:59 PM
IP: adsl-64-170-152-74.dsl.sntc01.pacbell.net

FS: Ten bucks says the DM was makin' his weekly visit. ;)
Coyote the Bando
Thursday, February 22, 2001 10:19:52 PM
IP: 216.28.101.33

Imzadi: <How'd you know I was going to take over the world?>
Know thy enemy! :)
Well, Wilek promised me Mars and the shipping rights for the entire solar system for 100 years with an option to extend that.
I forget the web site that explains his world domination plans in detail.

Coyote: Odd thing happened to me today: I went into the Murrys by my house and met not one but *THREE* knowledgeable sales people that were WILLING to help me!
Is hell freezing over? *Checks the Weather Channel*
Yep. Hell, MI is pretty cold! :)
Fire Storm - [Night-Flame@usa.net]
Thursday, February 22, 2001 10:02:24 PM
IP: 64.109.143.22

:::runs into the CR, tripping on the door jam and falling on her face:::
Hey all!

As I waited for the CR update.. I idly went into the archives and started reading. :::laughs::: Do you all realize just how entertaining you are? Though I especially enjoyed the topics concerning gargoyle anatomy and genetics.

Gside:<<Ah, yes, you wouldn't want any of the instruments falling off, would you?>> No.. that would be bad...lord knows if you’d be able to recover them then.

Warps:<<No speculations, please. It wasn't at all like *that*. ];) >> Oh c’mon.. I’m all about speculation.. and... suuuuuuuure it wasn’t. ];)

<<Crocodile Hunter in Manhattan>> I’m looking forward to the new Dr. Dolittle where (as far as I can tell from the previews), he gets his arm bitten off. Mmmm.. Chubby Aussie Arms....:::evil grin:::

Congrats on the job, Stephen!

Aaron:<<Mmmm, leopard print.... >> If you like that, you should see my car’s seat covers. ^_~

Coyote:<<**reads Love's Dreamie's post** wow ... now *that's* romantic. :) >> :::swoons and nods:::

Emambu:<> As far as I'm concerned, the most wonderful man to grace the planet. ^_^ <<@_@ That's it... I'm bringing my scissors. No net shall hold me! >> :::smirks::: We shall see... :::evil laugh:::

Cali:<<lol I think its everyones answer then, really, you feel like wearing a pretty dress and sudenly your in love! :P>> In situations such as those, I simply proclaim “Sugar!” and skip away.

Imzadi:<<Who else is planning on coming to Gathering this year? >> :::grins and raises her hand::: Oh and... What do you want to do tonight, Brain? :::giggles::: Welcome to the CR.

Winterwolf:<<<fish>Is something fishy going on here?>> I swear I heard the ever so faint sounds of spawning. <<<pew> Well with all the fish it is bound to smell bad at some point! **laughs**>> See next comment ~~~> <<<swats him> Okay I’ll be good now!>>

<<<Shadowrider> Hopefully he’ll be here this weekend.>> Damn! I missed him again! :::hands on hips::: Well doesn’t that beat all :::huff:::

Shadowrider:<<Jokes apart, nice to see you after a while! >> It’s good to *read* you at least! ^_^

<<Dale Earnhardt>> Wow.. my condolences to the family.. and Lady Corax, you be sure to take care of yourself, m‘kay?

<<<picture> Wow that’s a fantastic work! ^_^ >> Wilek<<It's really cool. Weird, but cool. 8) >> Hey Thanks! ^_^

:::Thrusts her arms in the air::: Ok, who wants a GLOMP!

Mary: I once received balloons on valentine's day years ago.. and never figured out who they were from. So I feel your...:::cough::: pain. :::chuckles::: Though you know sometimes the mystery is alluring ^_^

Lain and Sorow: Ladies, you are special, and never...eeeeeeeeeever let anyone convince you otherwise! We all love you here (as we realize how amazing it is to know and interact with you), and will always be here if you need us. ^_^ :::grins and hugs both Lain and Sorrow:::

Ironwolf:<<Do you wanna hear a neat story? Love at first sight really dose exist I saw it happen to two friends of mine.>> You’re absolutely right, it’s true! it happened to me and I didn’t even realize it at the time. :::pauses with a slightly confused expression::: Eh...yeah.

:::turns on her heel and smacks into the CR wall:::
Aw hell...
:::Crawls out:::

Dreamie - [Dreamie09@aol.com]
Thursday, February 22, 2001 10:02:07 PM
IP: aca9707d.ipt.aol.com

Firestorm: How'd you know I was going to take over the world? That secret information is only publicly available on my website 8-)
Wilek: if you've got the same goal, we should start the plotting and stuff. I could use allies...but I've already told certain friends and family that they could rule countries as my puppet heads of state (Italy, USA, Switzerland, France, England, Canada)...hope we don't need to do battle over that 8-)
Josh "Imzadi" Wurzel - [josh@kicktothenuts.com]
Berkeley, CA, USA
Thursday, February 22, 2001 09:41:59 PM
IP: adsl-64-170-152-74.dsl.sntc01.pacbell.net

just curious....
i was looking back at old tgs episodes + i saw that you have an old episode called lethe: the mythological river of forgetfulness.
anyone know for certain how to pronounce that?
m.o.n.k.e.y.
Thursday, February 22, 2001 09:31:15 PM
IP: ppp0155.connect.ab.ca

Wilek: Watch out! Imzadi wants to take over the world too!
Better take care of him before he gets popular! :)

Imzadi: Welcome to the room! :)
Fire Storm - [Night-Flame@usa.net]
Thursday, February 22, 2001 09:21:50 PM
IP: 64.109.143.22

SJ, re: death in comics: I guess it all depends on the sort of methods you use in storytelling whether you resurrect or keep a character dead. To use Alan Moore as an example, he's actually done both. In the resurrection department ... the longest continuous storyline thus far to run in "Tom Strong" involved the title character having to face down past villains, including his by-all-accounts-dead arch foe Paul Saveen and a Nazi superwoman he'd faced in WWII Berlin. As an explanation for the superwoman (who hadn't aged a day since 1945 and survived a burning bunker collapsing on her), it was just explained that she was genetically engineered to be ultimately perfect. Whereas Saveen's resurrection wasn't as it appeared ... it turned out his death in 1986 *was* indeed real, and the current "Saveen" facing Strong was a villain in a similar mold as Clayface named Denby Jilks. (of course the highlight of the story was Tom's very black and *very pissed off* wife Dhalua kick the Nazi chick's butt royally)

In the "staying dead" department, on the other hand, you have Girl One's death in "Top Ten." That one definitely looks permanent, not only because of the damage incurred (she had a huge hole ripped in her torso by an enraged junkie goddess demanding her smack) but also because of the tone of the book itself, being sort of like NYPD Blue with superheroes as the characters.

So there ya have both sides of the fence. And I've been talkin' *way* too much. :)
Coyote the Bando
Algonac, Michigan
Thursday, February 22, 2001 09:01:47 PM
IP: 216.28.101.33

Okay I've been reading your chats back and forth for the past few weeks, and since you're all b*tching about how the room is dead this week, I'll introduce myself. My name's Josh (Imzadi is my callsign). I'm a gargoyles addict (duh!) and a second year student at UC Berkeley. Yes, those are my actual email and website addresses.
Okay, enough about me. Its cool being in here amongst so many other gargoyles fans and writers. Who else is planning on coming to Gathering this year?
Imzadi - [josh@kicktothenuts.com]
Berkeley, CA, USA
Thursday, February 22, 2001 08:57:29 PM
IP: adsl-64-161-24-165.dsl.sntc01.pacbell.net

SJ> Agreed on all points. So that's why Collosus died. I gave up comics a few months ago, but I'll have to pick up a copy of that issue. Also a nice "Gargoyles" reference to death is the death of the Magus.

Also I like to think that TGS handled death quite well. The deaths of George Harrison and Madoc come to mind, and even though we didn't show Renard die, it's affects were handled quite well. Deborah had a good death, and "Requiem", well I think it was magnificent.
Greg "Xanatos" Bishansky
Thursday, February 22, 2001 08:38:21 PM
IP: dialin-1562-tnt.nyc.bestweb.net

Holy sh!t...Okay, I just watched Survivor, and from what I've seen of next week's episode, Mike of the Kucha tribe gets TAKEN OUT by a crocodile!

Sweet! Finally, after almost a season and a half of relatively easy "surviving", someone gets their ass handed to them by Mother Nature! Whoooo!

DISCLAIMER: Of course, I really hope that Mike is okay. Don't want him permanently injured, obviously.
Sevarius Jr.
Thursday, February 22, 2001 08:34:15 PM
IP: cache-2.lnh.md.webcache.rcn.net

Damn this CR is dead this week.

Taleweaver: To make a somewhat general statement, I think that death in comics should be used to add something meaningful to the story. For instance, the hero dies sacrificing themselves to save the life of another, as Colossus did recently in the X-Men. I didn't want him to die, cause I liked the character, but his exit was very dramatic and helped the overall story. If you aren't familiar with his particular death, the X-Men were looking for a cure for the Legacy Virus, the mutant version of AIDS, and found one when the late Moira MacTaggart gave them a formula, but the cure itself was only a partial solution; it would kill the person who took it. So, Colossus, remembering how his sister died from the virus and knowing that even though he couldn't bring her back, he could save the lives of millions of others, he injected himself with the cure, and died as a result. But his blood was used to form a real antidote, and poof, no more Legacy Virus. It added some punch to the story. This is what I call a "good" death.
Another death I find acceptable is, for example, that of a villain who falls prety to his own nefarious schemes or who finally faces punishment for his crimes. A recent example--Ultron. In the Avengers recently, Ultron just went totally apesh!t and destroyed an entire nation. Literally. It just wasn't there anymore. So, after fighting him almost to a standstill, the Avengers ultimately get the upper hand, and Hank Pym, aka Goliath aka Giant Man aka the original Ant Man, otherwise known as the guy who first created Ultron, he got all bad-ass and killed the damn robot. Now, one could argue that it was "okay" to kill Ultron because Ultron was not human, but I think that death is "good" because it shows a truly vile villain getting his just punishment. To use a gargoyle example: Hakon dying with the Captain of the Guard. The Captain's death was poignant too, because it was both his attempt to redeem himself by saving the Princess as well as his inevitable punishment for his part in the betrayal.

Death shouldn't just be senseless, without thought, unless you are trying to establish that the villain is truly evil (like with Ultron), or that the hero walks an ultra-thin line between sanity and madness (such as *the* anti-hero of all comics, the Punisher). Likewise, you shouldn't just kill villains or heros left and right, without a purpose. And the purpose should be a damn good one.

As for bringing characters back from the dead.....maybe every now and again. The "oh, you didn't really kill me! It was my cloned twin brother from a parallel dimension!" thing only works every so often. And if you do bring someone back, you had better make sure it's a damn good explanation as to why they aren't pushing up daisies. Here's a scenario that I sort of like: Hero / Villain gets in a fight, knocked on head, is thought dead, but in reality just had amnesia and, unable to remember who they are, lives a totally different life, until one day they remember who they are. I like that scenario....the problem is, even that has been done to death. I say, you should only be allowed to bring back one character you "killed" for every, oh, let's say, 50 characters you killed. And also, if you're gonna bring someone back, only do it for a short time. Don't let them linger, because...well, they should be dead.

Very few of the "back from the dead" stories work. How many times has Xena been resurrected? God, I lost count. I think the best "BFTD" story has to be Captain America's, but then again, he didn't really ever die, he was just a popsicle for a few decades. I think that the best BFTD stories, the ones that work and are the most plausible, are the ones in which the original character comes back as a new character. Take DC Comics and Hal Jordan, for instance. Hal was Green Lantern, he goes a little crazy and just happens to kill the rest of the Corps, then he sacrifices himself to save the Earth. Now he's the new Spectre. Some fans find this blasphemous, but I say at least if they are going to bring back an old character, they've thought of a new and interesting way to repackage them.

Personally, I wish that comics would shy away from this vicious cycle of death-rebirth. I say, make the deaths for real, but obviously, comic companies will never do that as long as the death angles sell comics (I mean, how many copies of Superman's death issue sold? Millions!).

Anyway, just my thoughts on it.
Sevarius Jr. - [bpoole@mailexcite.com]
Thursday, February 22, 2001 08:25:55 PM
IP: cache-2.lnh.md.webcache.rcn.net

Doug>> lucky! ever since 7th grade (when a bunch of kids circualted an anti-favoritism petition), we've been told are rights are non-existant. In fact, last year, during a leadership conference, we did a workshop on the constitution in school... we were told to bear in mind that what was covered only applied to public school, not catholic school.
<the snothead Bishop > ooh... what diocese? we have cardinal bevilaqua (sp?), who rocks.

ok, I fixed up my best (female) friend with an ex (who I remained friends with). they are now getting along almost disturbingly well. so well, in fact, that he got farther with her in one date than he did with me the entire time he and i were together (admittedly not very far, that). Now, he thinks he owes me, so he's setting me up with one of his friends... or trying to,at least. Steve (the setup) has yet to respond to my mail.

*****WARNIng BFTS RP*****

[THE REALM]

Jason looks surprised. "what do you mean, they dress like me?"
Daphne shrugs. "Sturdy blue or tan trousers, basic shirts, little ornamentation, timepieces strapped to the wrist. Do you think they're coming from your Realm?"
Jason pauses, then smiles. "Do you want to go find out?"
Daphne agrees, and they head to the park.

***** END BFTS*****

Happiness!
Daphne
Thursday, February 22, 2001 08:07:38 PM
IP: dialup-209.246.214.218.philadelphia1.level3.net

*enters*

Hey people! I got to do something totemo (totemo=very) cool today. Some of my friends and fellow Japanese student classmates got to talk to our sister school in Japan over the computer! They gave us a presentation on food, music, movies, and anime that are popular in Japan right now. :) I was nervous about talking to them, since I'm only in Japanese 1 and I didn't want to sound dumb in front of a whole classroom of people. ;P I only spoke briefly. I'll wait till my Japanese is better in college before I'll try talking to a Japanese native again (who doesn't already know English really well like my teacher. ;P).

But it was loads of fun. We also got to show them some American junk food that we like to eat. We had to explain Twinkies to them! Hmmm...I just hope they don't think that's all we eat for snacks. ;P

Must go now. talk to you guys later!

*GONE*
Mary Flanders
Thursday, February 22, 2001 07:31:54 PM
IP: adsl-63-195-144-108.dsl.scrm01.pacbell.net

*Sees Lain's latest post, and promptly starts breathing again*

heh... Good to hear things approach normal. Now, let's see what we can do to IMPROVE on that... *heads for the sketchpad*
<<why do you always have to be RIGHT..?????...>> *deadpan* ...It's our job, ma'am. ; ) *hugs* <> Oh, but THESE are ALWAYS fun. Looking forward to it. 8 ) When do you get back, anyway? o.O

Just got done writing my letters, and now I gotta do some art. maybe THEN I'll have time for replies, and maybe a little more FF9... :D ....Life is GOOD!

*boogies out to Billy Joel's "We didn't start the fire"*
Gunjack "Rolaids" Valentine - [miphsingleton@hotmail.com]
Thursday, February 22, 2001 07:17:29 PM
IP: 216-146-184-220.bwn.net

Warpmind>> SIR!!! yes SIR!!!
:P

yeah yeah yeah.. :P
bunch o jerks you guys are.. being RIGHT..

why do you always have to be RIGHT..?????...

yeah.. I still love you..

yeah, I'll be fine, I am buff, no wirries.. or.. wOrries.. or whatever.. *shakes fist at typo demon*

I just needed to have a .. shall we say.. rather one-sided shouting match.. *winks at Gunjack* and now I am in the land of DEALING with STUFF once again.

so yeah..
must go bed..
have monster headache.. as per usual :P

*hands out HUGS to all.. accompanied by THANKS and LOVE*

love (extra love.. ;)),

lain - [sanchinwalker@hotmail.com]
Still the Land of Faraway
Thursday, February 22, 2001 06:38:48 PM
IP: 63.99.105.163

Just checking in.

Rooms have been dead today.
Fire Storm - [Night-Flame@usa.net]
Thursday, February 22, 2001 06:30:54 PM
IP: 64.109.143.22

Hi Everyone.

Unfortunately my connection difficulties haven't gotten any better and I just don't have the time to catch up at work these days. I'm hoping to get back to being a regular poster soon.

To those going through tough times be strong. I wish you the best. Go out and have a good time if possible. Just let out what you are holding in and that should be one step to feeling better. **HUGS**

I'll be back. Until then I'll be Winterwolf the quiet one.
Winterwolf
Bronx, NY
Thursday, February 22, 2001 04:05:29 PM
IP: ice.greyinteractive.com

Comics and death> Hey all, you know this has been a subject I've been kicking around in my stories. Under what circumstances is death good for the story and is there any case where bringing someone back from the dead is a good thing?

What killed my interest in Xena was the numerous resurrections. It was like, what's the point? Death is just a tease to yank on my heartstrings. Death had no meaning.

Or maybe it's just that there doesn't seem a price added to coming back from the land beyond the mists. I'd like to know what others think. It's really makes me wonder. Why some resurrections are permitted and why others are considered terrible.
Taleweaver - [taleweaver@usa.net]
Thursday, February 22, 2001 02:46:00 PM
IP: hal5000.engineering.csupomona.edu

*Warpmind enters, looking weary.*
Well, now I'm near finished packing down the stash in the apartment... and near finished, myself, as well...

Lain: *Grandiose hug.* You are heading home, you are cheering up, and you are receiving a package in the mail sometime over the next couple of weeks. That's an order. You got that? :) (Oh, and if you were planning to get the Illuminatus! Trilogy, don't bother, eh?) Oh, and next time we meet on IM, I might have found someone that could counsel you? (Y'know, 'bout the stuff you've mentioned there.)

Revel: And you are? Oh, right, that rumored third roomie... ];) But really, we won't mind your presence much, I think. We'll act like you're not even there, right, Lynati? ];)

Jannie: Thank you for your recommendations prior to my emigration. ;)

Comic Deaths: Well... just click my name... ];)

Well, that's about it. Ciao, everyone.
Warpmind de InzanE - [warpmind@usa.net]
Middle, Nowhere, Norway
Thursday, February 22, 2001 01:57:48 PM
IP: hume.ti.telenor.net

Lain, you are describing how I felt my last semester at a certain college (before I graduated at a different college). Just hang in there.

**PERSONAL**
While I was cleaning my room up an looking through things, I started to wonder how I got from a certain point to where I am now. Then, I stopped to think: how long before I 'can' get back on the track of things I WANTED to do. Then, I remembered things I wanted to do when I was hired full time and realized that I have kept my long term career option in focus: being a computer programmer. But, one new thing have come up since then: my back problem. If I was forced to use a wheel chair for the rest of my life or completely unharmed by the accident, things would be better. Collecting an insurance settlement would not be so . . . difficult. I feel I am NOT handicapped enough to get a special parking sticker, but handicapped enough to warrant special attention. Maybe it's my feelings. Being able to walk for short lengths of time without severe pain is just unique and frustrating. Someone on 1st shift (ranked just above regular employee) told me I should not even be working there because of my back problem. If only she realized what I was up against. Given my college degree (which has not helped me get a job), I would be expected to find work rather easily, except that is not the case. If I lose this job, oh well, I am very stuck. Thank goodness for the Americans with Disablities Act.
**END PERSONAL**

**BFTS RP continues**
A telepath tries to enter DPH's mind and within 1 second leaves. "Damn, it's like his amazing unnatural mental defenses have been turned from Warning-intruder-alert mode into die-here-without-escaping mode. I can't tell you a thing about what is going on inside of his mind."
**END BFTS RP for now**
What is the secret of DPH's mental defenses?
DPH - [dph_of_rules@yahoo.com]
AR, USA
Thursday, February 22, 2001 12:57:11 PM
IP: max1-59.cwy.cei.net

*with a resunding crash, Hyperion drops through the ceiling, a blazing white with six, vast, glowing, blue-white wings spread. He strides over to Gside, drawing his massive shimmering crystal-bright longsword and puts his face just inches away*
Gside> Someone set us up the bomb
*He turned and wanders back into the CR, sheathing his sword and dimming slightly*
Sorry, it had to be done...
You know, I'm sure there was something else I had to do here...
*produces large scroll and reads down it*
Oh, right...
lain> Although I, personally, am morally opposed to any type of drug that changes the way one thinks or feels, I agree with most everyone else. There is a time of seeking professional help and you are at it. And, no offense to any registered psychologists here, this ain't the place to find it.
I think from reading your posts, you're in college. If so, there should be some counseling services on your campus. At least talk to someone who understands the workings of the human mind. They will be able to help you more than we can.
A mind is a most wonderful instrument. We, as a people, have traveled to the moon, explored the workings of the atom and even peeked into the beginings of the universe itself, but we've never been able to map the process of human thought.
Somewhere in the three pounds of grey matter is everything that makes you, throughts, memories and emotions, a fantastic interplay of chemicals and electricity that defies explaination...it's magnificent, and it is worth your time to make sure that it is working as best it can.
please find someone to help you, you owe it, both to yourself and to everyone you know...
*Hyperion glares up at the hole on the ceiling and leaps through it, chucnks of the roof falling upward behind him to secure in place
*******
and remember, never mix drugs and invocations. It is vitally important to know which gibbering monstrosity to throw holy water at and which guibbering monstroisyt which will got away in a few hours with a hot bath and some B vitamin complex.
*********
hyperion - [hyperion@justice.com]
Thursday, February 22, 2001 12:44:32 PM
IP: ba-148.adsl.stargate.net

****Kyryn steps in.****

Gside><Don't be. It's just a problem with me. I'm taking an inaccurate representation of the form of a clarinet too personally. Probably becase my mother's one, and as a bando, I have been surrounded by them a good number of times.> Your mother is a clarinet?!? LOL!

Coyote> It's all your fault. I showed that link on the Packards to Okami and now he's busy figuring out how to raise $100,000 in the next year or so. *grin* However, his main comment was -- "I'll really agree that it's a Packard if it has the reliability of one, since that was one of the hallmarks of a Packard."

Comic Deaths> Hmmm. I seem to remember Marvel kicking themselves for a number of years since they killed off Dracula (even issued a death certificate in the back of a Dr. Strange issue) by dispelling the curse/spell that allowed vampires to exist. This was just before vampires got hugely popular again. I got many a chuckle out of that one because they really couldn't figure a way out of that hole for a long time.

Lain> <<<hugs>>> You do have friends who worry about you. I understand. I'm fighting my own periodic bouts of depression and burnout.

SOROW> <<<hugs>>> The same goes for you.

Later, All!

****Kyryn steps out.****

Kyryn
Denton, TX
Thursday, February 22, 2001 10:42:15 AM
IP: exofw.aicpa.org

Sevarius Jr> I agree with you on comic deaths. And very often, the explanations for why they've come back are completely ludicrous.

"What you saw die was not me, but rather a clone of me."

"The formula that gave me my super strength also granted me an advanced healing factor."

"Oh, I never died at all, rather I [Insert impossible escape here]."

"That wasn't me, that was an alternate timeline version of me."

And my personal favorite, after this character's body was filled with bullets...

"I wasn't dead. I was miraculously able to slow down my metabolism, so I merely appeared dead."

Looking back at these, they're kind of funny. But they're so stupid.
Greg "Xanatos" Bishansky - [Madoc55@hotmail.com]
Thursday, February 22, 2001 10:17:13 AM
IP: dialin-1562-tnt.nyc.bestweb.net

Todd: Both. I mean, in comics, death is at best transitory. People come back from the dead in comics quicker than Kenny does on South Park. Marvel is maybe the worst perpetrator. I can't tell you how many heros / villains die in that particular universe that pop up again, literally, just a few issues later. (The one that really pissed me off was back when Kevin Smith did a run on Daredevil--he killed off the Spider-Man villain, Mysterio, and lo and behold, Spidey was fighting Mysterio just a few issues later. They explained it away as "not the *real* Mysterio" or some rubbish like that, but still, if they killed the guy--any version of him--than they should just have a moratorium on using the character for quite some time afterward).

The Cyclops thing annoys me for two reasons: Yes, I don't like Cyclops. He's always been a fairly uninteresting character to me, at best (which is amazing, considering the high soap opera drama that is his life. For God's sake, his brother is trapped in a parallel universe, his dad is the captain of a spaceship, and he may or may not have a half-human/alien half-brother! Plus his son, Nathan aka Cable, is a warrior from thousands of years in the future....his life is high drama, and STILL he has the personality of a vegetable). I get upset that Colossus dies, even if it was well-written, because I like that character more than Cyclops.

The other thing that pisses me off, though, is that the way they handled this whole thing, his death, it was not good-storytelling, it was just a cheap ploy to sell some comics. They killed him off just long enough to add a little suspense, and bam! Now you have a miniseries where it shows that he never really died, he just merged with Apocalypse, and now he's Scott again. Blecch. It was just crummy. If you're gonna do something like that, make sure he's gone for at least a few *years*. He was gone maybe one year, tops, which is nothing in comics.

Thank God for Bucky and Uncle Ben. Without them, I would have no rock to lean on for salvation.
Sevarius Jr. - [bpoole@mailexcite.com]
Thursday, February 22, 2001 10:06:33 AM
IP: cache-2.lnh.md.webcache.rcn.net

<-- This is what I feel like right now. :)

Survived another night of working, have to work again tonight. So big post will be tomorrow, on my day off, after which things should and had better get back to normal. <fingers crossed>

Daphne: I went to a Catholic high school, and they gave the students lots of rights, going stag to prom among them. Of course, the liberal, caring, and very cool principal left the same year I graduated and after that the snothead Bishop did his best to turn everything around. <sigh>

Lady Mystic: Didn't I thank you and Firestorm too? I'm pretty sure I did. <shrugs> In any case, thanks now, for all the hard work you both did. It is very much appreciated. :)

Jannie: <laughs> How about "Officer, I'm only trying to escape the maniac trying to run me off the road. I had just gotten away when you showed up and pulled me over." Jim (Jammer) used that line once and I will never forget the look he got in reply. Needless to say, the officer was not amused or forgiving. <shakes head>

Must sleep now. Later.
Doug
Thursday, February 22, 2001 08:28:12 AM
IP: pool-63.52.168.148.dlls.grid.net

*once again appears in a flash of bright light*

Another short visit from work. Just two things:

a) A big sorry to all of you who tried to look at my fanfic-archive yesterday and found naught but problems.... some quick changes seem to have blown up my code. I fixed that - everything should be back to normal by now.

b) I've got some new features: Direct linking into an author's story-page. No direct linking of stories (this would bypass the security-checks as well as some internal counters) but to the stoy-lists. Or to a second page similary available: The search result page. Just execute a search, grab the resulting URL and link to it - this way you will be able to present a link to your newest story.

I hope this feature is apreciated - I thought it as nice to have.

May the winds be with you

*disappears back to work before anyone notices his absence*
Guandalug la'Fay - [guandalug@gmx.de]
Thursday, February 22, 2001 08:22:32 AM
IP: mailgate-b.ais-gmbh.de

SEVARIUS JR. - Just out of curiosity, is your protest over Cyclops being back from the dead based on "it cheapens the death scene to have the one who died come back to life" (something that I can agree upon) or the fact that it's Cyclops who's back from the dead (given that I've noticed that Scott Summers generally tends to be viewed as the X-Men with about as much personality as a turnip)?

*** There is a sudden knock at the comment room door; Todd goes to open it to find outside a small crowd of indignant turnips. One of them hands him a little note saying, "You have just said that Scott Summers/Cyclops has as much personality as a turnip. We find that insulting, and we intend to sue you for slander."***

Well, there's only one way to deal with this.

*** Todd rings a bell loudly, calling, "Come and get it!" A herd of pigs suddenly charges from out of nowhere into the comment room, sees the turnips, and heads straight for them. The turnips flee in terror, with the pigs in hot pursuit.***

There, that should take care of that problem.

LAIN - Sorry to hear about your troubles. I'll be wishing you my best as well.
Todd Jensen - [merlyn@ninenet.com]
St. Louis, MO
Thursday, February 22, 2001 06:59:04 AM
IP: 216.87.46.252.dialup-stl.primary.net

*Lynati dives into the room and huggle-attacks lain*

nnnnnnnnnnnnnoooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!
*sniffles*

you are my friend.
you are my friend.
you are my friend.
you are my friend.
I will miss you.
I miss you now.

Keep it together. remember: You are just an empty cage, girl, if you kill the bird.
You aren't the only one deprived of RL physical contact, either. Maybe you should just tell your parent how you really feel. And tell him that we exist in the RL, too, and that it takes about 22 hours on a greyhound bus to come visit you. and then stick your tongue out at him and go "Neener neener neener"...for no purpose other than writing those words is highly amusing to me.
*huggles*
Get back to canada, and open your gift, laincob. I am fairly sure that it will cheer you up for at least a full minute. Possibly more.

I hope to see you soon, my sister. *Hugs that are powerful enough to carry into the "real world"*

*Stays in the CR, refusing to stop hugging lain*
Lynati
Thursday, February 22, 2001 03:01:32 AM
IP: 207.94.232.126

Lain><<You would forgive me if I never came back?>> Remember a conversation we had, late one night, about amputation? :*|

Gside - Well said, 'mano...

*heads back to his desk to check the arrival times of flights from England*

Spent the last two nights modelling the Xcom handgun. Spent all tonight writing emails and letters. Replies when and if I get to em. Gside, wanna handle the SMT explanation for Kit? She might have mistook it for something perverted. Oh, wait, it IS. Dang.
Gunjack "Curvy" Valentine
Thursday, February 22, 2001 01:43:51 AM
IP: 216-146-183-70.bwn.net

All your base are belong to us!

Kyryn> <<She shrugs and pulls out a small umbrella>>: Cocktail sized? You'd be amazed at the lift those things can produce.

Lain> What I am about to say is intended to let you know you are not alone, but it will most likely come across as sounding incredibly insensitive, so you may want to skip over it (it would probably be for the best). But most of all, I hope you don't do anything stupid and that you will find what you lack.
<<pretending that... I am a perfect daughter and friend>>: I doubt such entities exist.
<<when if I ever get that stupid piece of paper>>: That stupid piece of paper (an incredibly apt way to refer to it (though I tend to leave off the stupid part, generally)) is quite important. It makes getting a better paying job incredibly easier, even if it isn't remotely related to what you studied.
<<you know that noone from that school has PHYSICALLY TOUCHED me... since the beginning of this year?>>: Sounds about right, at least from the male side of things.
<<You know I have not a single friend from highschool?>>: I'm not sure if I've had any friends. Acquaintances, but not quite friends.
<>: See previous mention of doing something stupid.
<<My grandmother.. has visions.. and she didn't want me to know>>: Probably because she assumes the first assumtion on anyone's mind that she tells will be that she's going senile. If you can convince her that you trust her senses, she'll probably feel more open.
<>: ref.: stupid things.
<<You would forgive me if I never came back?>>: Right now, I'm leaning towards no.
<>: Life is full of thresholds.
<>: I intend to make use of every bit of protection my zoo can give me until they throw me out. Why else would I be going for two majors at a minimum of five years?

SOROW> You feel better, too.

Mary Flanders> <<To the person who sent me the Crushlink messege>>: I try not to take the internet too seriously (probably doesn't help that I would take any romantic advance as a complete and utter joke (and wouldn't help me determine the gender of the person)). Interesting choice of picture for your semi outraged post, though. And I would like to claim innocence.

I just found our that innocense (note spelling) is a type of flower. That could make for interesting interpretations of typos.

Lady Mystic> <<Still trying to find a pic and text color combo that suits me>>: Nimue suits a literal interpretation of your handle, and the color seems to match the picture rather well.
<<I'm glad most of you are pleased>>: Sorry about that. I really am pleased with the update, and I thank you for your work.
<<including the refraining of "flipping" images>>: I was trying to imply that flipping the image would reduce the quality of the image (at least for it's purposes in the CR).
<<That's how it was in the original illustration and that's how it'll stay for the CR pic. Sorry>>: Don't be. It's just a problem with me. I'm taking an inaccurate representation of the form of a clarinet too personally. Probably becase my mother's one, and as a bando, I have been surrounded by them a good number of times.

Ironwolf> <<she told me that the sex was great but I was not cute enough to date>>: I do believe that statement is more incomprehensible than the intro of Zero Wing (For great justice!).

Tim> <<sanctimonous "civil right activist" turned rabid watchdog special interests group called GLAAD>>: Sounds like an average day at Rutgers, what with LABIA, BiGLARU, and whatnot.

Sev. Jr.> <<could you have picked two more untalented old farts than them?>>: Generally, I tend to have a bit of respect for the style of older works.
<<WHY THE HELL IS CYCLOPS BACK ALIVE?>>: I beleive only two people ever stay dead: Uncle Ben and
Bucky.

At the request of our temporarially missing Italian friend, I am rotating the mp3 to Francesco Guccini's Il Vecchio e Il Bambino. There is also a translation the rider of shades graciously provided.

Na zdorov'ya.
Gside - [gside@eden.rutgers.edu]
Piscatway, NJ
Thursday, February 22, 2001 12:45:21 AM
IP: gside.resnet.rutgers.edu

Emambu > thank you for the continuing review of Sabledrake! I always enjoy your insightful comments.

lain > heed Daniel; he's got some very good advice. Depression is not a personal weakness; it is a condition and can be treated. I have suffered it myself, both in high school / college and more recently.

Continuing book news > I expect to finish Archmage tonight; did the big dramatic finish last night and now have only about 20 pages of wrap-up and epilogue to go through. If I am quick, I plan to celebrate by watching Shawshank Redemption and eating half a pint of Ben & Jerry's cookie dough ice cream ... damn I love my job! Also, the publisher from RadCon e-mailed _me_ before I could e-mail her, which I think is a very encouraging sign!

Christine - [christine@sabledrake.com]
Wednesday, February 21, 2001 11:47:39 PM
IP: 09-027.075.popsite.net

Tim: Exactly. Look, I'm not even really an Eminem fan, but even I can see that the guy pretty much deserved to win, but didn't because they (whoever decides who gets the awards) were just too pussy to give him the award. Because they were afraid of being considered supportive of this "obviously homophobic and intolerant" young man.

This crap always pisses me off. I equate this right up there with the religious groups who boycott people like Marilyn Manson or Howard Stern. Look, they aren't the problem. Eminem isn't the problem. I highly doubt his music is inspiring people to go harm homosexuals; if it does, those people probably already wanted to do so in the first place. Protesting this one little schmuck is just wasting resources that could be spent better elsewhere.
Sevarius Jr.
Wednesday, February 21, 2001 11:22:20 PM
IP: cache-2.lnh.md.webcache.rcn.net

Well, this year's Grammys are done, and thank God.

First off, the show itself was utterly HORRIBLE. God damn. Jon Stewart...I like the guy, but when he told his jokes, you would not have found a deader crowd in a cemetery. The whole show was a clusterf!ck, but then again, that's to be expected.

I have to say this, about Album of the year.....what were you thinking? What kind of acid were you on to give the award to Steely F@#&ing Dan??? Jesus, could you have picked two more untalented old farts than them? I know that Radiohead didn't have a chance, and they didn't want to give it to Eminem--even though he pretty much deserved it--but at least you could have given it to Beck.

U2 won for record and song of the year for Beautiful Day. Personally, I didn't think that they'd win, or that that particular song was that great, but I like U2, so I'm happy for them.

Shelby Lynne won best new artist--no surprise there. Eminem did walk away with a few Grammys--best rap album, best rap solo, and best rap duo. Foo Fighters won a couple awards, which boggles my mind.

The rest of the awards I don't give a rat's ass about.

One soul-shockingly frightening thing did occur during the Grammys--there was a trailer for Josie and the Pussycats, starring Rachel Leigh Cooke. I AM SORRY, but I don't care how much you love her (and I know Doug and I, to name names, are in that camp), I don't care how pretty she is (and she is damn hot with them little cat ears on), this movie looks incredibly bad. The Horror.

Jannie: YOU read Ultimate X-Men? Good huh? ;) Personally, I don't think that the book is as good as Ultimate Spider-Man -- Mark Millar is a little too overrated, and can't compete with a really amazing talent like Brian Michael Bendis -- but it's a fun book.

Speaking of comics, I got my Previews today, and some disturbing stuff inside of it. I know that new Marvel EIC Joe Quesada is trying to get people interested in the books again, but the changes he's made are hit or miss. First off, a new Blink series--good. A new Claremont series--maybe good (Claremont didn't do that good on his last X-run). Mike Allred pencilling X-Force--freakin' awesome! Grant Morrison writing X-Men--maybe good. I'm not thrilled with all of Morrison's work.
The unforgiveable, though--they are making the movie costumes the comic costumes. If that isn't perverted, I don't know what is.

Oh, and WHY THE HELL IS CYCLOPS BACK ALIVE? GODDAMNIT, THE LITTLE ASS MONKEY SHOULD HAVE STAYED DEAD!!!!!

Sorry, needed to vent.
Sevarius Jr. - [bpoole@mailexcite.com]
Wednesday, February 21, 2001 11:08:40 PM
IP: cache-2.lnh.md.webcache.rcn.net

NOOOO! Eminem Lost!

That's so bad though. What really bugs me is that sanctimonous "civil right activist" turned rabid watchdog special interests group called GLAAD are gonna be short-stroking this all over the new as a "victory towards tolerance."

I really don't have anything against gays, but these assholes will sue or boycott if you look at them the wrong way, present homosexuals the way they want you to, or don't complety agree with their views on issues. They whined over that villianous gay prince in "Braveheart" for Christ Sakes!
Tim
Wednesday, February 21, 2001 10:52:11 PM
IP: wsc0051.wsc.edu

Lain> I won’t say I know how you feel but and god this is going to be embarrassing but I will tell you a little about my self and my experiences and if you think they relate then I would be happy to talk.

Lets see lets start easy born in the year of the metal dog (look up Chinese horoscope to see what year that was) parents divorced when I turned 11 and I am half Hispanic. Being alone hmmm I have not gone out on a date in over a year and a half. My last girlfriend well she wasn’t really a girl friend she was a friend who well we became intimate and I thought things might be getting serious which made me happy till she told me that the sex was great but I was not cute enough to date :o( . ? Beats me I cant figure that out either but well I really told her that intimacy and relationship go hand in hand and well I am alone again and have been for a while. I had one really close friend and he died from a hospital screw up after a heart attack 10/31/99. My Grandfather died a few months later. Lost my job and well lots of other bad stuff. Do you know my biggest mistake? I stopped coming here. Yea we fight tempers flare but hell we are a community we are friends if you need them. (Opps that came from somewhere song commercial?) I don’t really know where I am going with this um I guess I just wanted to say if you want to talk talk we can listen. Heck I had to distance my self from my family because I really almost went insane. I kept a journal during that time and well it is really scary, just don't give up on yourself and people. Do you wanna hear a neat story? Love at first sight really dose exist I saw it happen to two friends of mine. They are now married so hey it is out there shesh l sound like a hallmark card

Umm that’s enough for now try and talk to someone ok anyone do it here if you want
Umm speaking of movies (yes I am changing the subject) ride with the devil is a great western and a must rent. Jewel is even in it (the singer poet with a couple of albums not the former cr poster :o) ) takes place during the civil war.
gotta go

Ironwolf - [cag16@bellsouth.net]
eastridge, tn, usa
Wednesday, February 21, 2001 10:14:34 PM
IP: host-209-214-40-121.cha.bellsouth.net

A couple of quickies here ... watching the Grammys and having my eyes bug out of my head upon viewing Gloria Estefan's outfit (and at the same time my stomach turning upon viewing Macy Gray's ... oh my Gawd, doesn't *anybody* know how to dress anymore?!) ...

lain and SOROW: **big mammoth bear hugs** Hang in there, ladies. I've been where both of you are right now, and believe me, I know it's not fun. I've felt trapped like you have, lain ... trapped by narrow-minded cruel classmates and family that seemingly couldn't understand why I was so ridiculed. I've also felt depressed like you, SOROW ... it's like being in a pit and nobody seems to care, right? Well, let me tell ya both ... there's a light at the end of both of your tunnels. My trapped state escaped when the Internet came along. My depression took a bit longer, but I eventually wound up snapping out of it, in no small part thanks to two of the most special women I've ever known. **pauses to give hugs to both Lady Corax and XenaTrek**
So hang in there, girls. It *does* get better. And as long as ya both have the bunch'a us in here, you'll never be alone. :)

Spacebabie: The full story about that is that Sterling Marlin's nightmare began when a STUPID newscaster blamed him for Earnhardt's crash. It eventually led to a mountain of hate mail and (from what I heard) *one* phoned death threat. Marlin's going to have higher security than usual at Rockingham this week, though.
Oh, incidentally, Childress Racing named a replacement to drive in Earnhardt's place for the remainder of the season ... Busch Grand National 2000 Rookie of the Year Kevin Harvick. The rumor is that he's going to drive Earnhardt's car, but it'll be repainted and renumbered, possibly as #30. There's also a fan petition circulating to prevent *anyone but an Earnhardt* from driving a Winston Cup car bearing #3. There's also supposed to be a decal on most of the cars for the remainder of the season honoring Dale Sr., and there was even a rumor that all the cars Earnhardt owned would be painted black (unlikely).

Anyway ... back to the Grammys for me ... :)
Coyote the Bando - [gathering_motor_city_2004@hotmail.com]
Algonac, Michigan
Wednesday, February 21, 2001 09:59:58 PM
IP: 216.28.101.111

Kit>> <Maybe you should try something similar> I wish. unfortunately, it's catholic school... we have no rights, we just do what we're told. Or not, but I have a 4-year perfect discipline record.

Mary>> it's ok. you're allowed. geez... anonimity. scary.

Lain>> I have nothing to say that won't sound trivial or trite. I'm sorry. but I'm here, I'm listening (well, reading), and I care.

not too much else, at least that I can sum up before Last Call, so...

happiness!
Daphne
Wednesday, February 21, 2001 09:02:50 PM
IP: dialup-63.214.193.136.philadelphia1.level3.net

Lain:
<<You would forgive me if I never came back?>>
NO!

Listen to me--please. What you are describing is EXACTLY the way that I often felt. EXACTLY.

<>
Like I said: EXACTLY! Several months ago, I had a couple of...incidents at work. I lost my temper, screamed, and threw things. Over nothing. It was so utterly out of character for me that everyone was really worried. I was worried. I would never do that. I felt so empty. Why do I bother doing anything. I just wanted to run as fast and as far as possible. And then I would cry. I never cry. Not because I don't feel sadness, but because I learned from an early age to bury my emotions. Feelings were a weakness. I was the odd one; the one everyone else would pick on. I didn't belong. I had few friends. There's not a single person I went to high school with that I would consider a friend or have any interest in meeting again. College was better, but I commuted and so had no real contact with other students outside of class. I suck at making friends. I have no friends from college, either. I've had violent mood swings. Yes, my mother's illness has intensified everything, but I've had these feelings, to some degree, for a long time.

So, I have some understanding of what you are feeling.

Because I am so intimately familiar with these feelings, and because I consider you to be among those few I call "friend" I am going to be very blunt.

You have Depression.

You need help.

A doctor, psychiatrist, therapist--some professional. Someone to discuss this with.

This is serious.

In my case, my neurotransmitter levels are screwed up, and I need to take Prozac to restore some semblance of normality to my brain chemistry. It really does work. But, there are other things that could be at work. Only a professional can determine that.

Please find help. Not for me or anyone else, but just for you.

I'm begging you.

Daniel Johnson - [danielj7@mac.com]
Ocean Grove, NJ, USA
Wednesday, February 21, 2001 08:55:57 PM
IP: adsl-138-89-70-193.nnj.adsl.bellatlantic.net

*** TGS CR INFO UPDATE ***

Many new things to mention this time 'round.

The Images Archive includes a new sub-navigation feature that enables you to jump between numerous pages within the archive. (Please report any JavaScript malfunctions to me at lady-mystic@usa.net.)

>> http://tgs.gargoyles-fans.org/cr/images/index.html

The lists of available and awaiting images has been revised to accommodate the current CR update. Note that the Goliath & Demona (Silhouette) pic won't display in the room due to a coding error. We're working getting it fixed. (Same with the spelling of Caspian on the Add Comment page.)

>> http://tgs.gargoyles-fans.org/cr/images/available.html

The CR Rules has been slightly revised. Everything is the same except I took off the "Dumlao X" reference concerning the TGS CR Admin pic in rule #1. There is also a link to the images page that displays the admin pic.

>> http://tgs.gargoyles-fans.org/cr/rules.html

The Text Colors page includes a link to the samples directory for those who can't use or don't want to use the JavaScript feature. (Please report any JavaScript malfunctions to me at lady-mystic@usa.net.)

>> http://tgs.gargoyles-fans.org/cr/colors.html

Like the Images Archive, the New Images Archive includes a sub-navigation feature that enables jumping between numerous pages with the archive. (Please report any JavaScript malfunctions to me at lady-mystic@usa.net.)

>> http://tgs.gargoyles-fans.org/cr/new/index.html

The CR Archive has been updated to include weeks up to February 17th. The mid-week wipe caused no problems this time around. So far we aren't missing anything for 2001. This archive also features a jump-to sub-navigation similar to the two images archives.

>> http://tgs.gargoyles-fans.org/cr/archive/index.html

The Stats for the past poll are in! A new category has been made for all polls concerning CR Information. View the statistics of past polls and even an updated FAQ. New voting sessions will be handled here instead of in the New Images location, as previously occurred.

>> http://tgs.gargoyles-fans.org/cr/polls/index.html

To accommodate for the new category, navigation on all CR Info pages has been revised.

*** END TGS CR INFO UPDATE ***

Still trying to find a pic and text color combo that suits me. I hope you don't mind. I'll try not to go overboard in my search.

I apologize if I've missed any replies posted in the past couple of weeks.

DumlaoX: <<It was HELL trying to make each pic meticulously perfect for CR viewing. And resizing is another story altogether...>> I did all the editing for the new CR pics. It seemed to take forever. But I have a knack for it and loved doing it. I don't even mind doing it again. <G> Glad you approve of FS's work and mine. Hope you enjoy the lack of said responsibilities. And hope you enjoy visiting the room even more.

Everyone: Thanks for all the compliments on the CR update. I'm glad most of you are pleased. :)

Gside: <<I can tell already that the Lapin picture is really going to bother me. And flipping it to make the hands right makes him play to the edge of the CR. And I just noticed something else wrong with the clarinet (the fingers aren't lined up).>> I tried to keep most pics true to their originals (including the refraining of "flipping" images). That's how it was in the original illustration and that's how it'll stay for the CR pic. Sorry.

Doug/Kitainia: <<Gorebash on the great job coding>> Actually, FS updated the cgi and Gorebash just pasted them into place, while I updated the html for the rooms and add comment pages. I also cleaned up the old CR pics and edited all the new CR pics.

Doug: Don't know if you got a reply to your request or not but... Go to the CR Archive. The "lost CR week" is available there.

Aingeal: <<help on building good guesbook/CR type setups>> Well, it depends on just what you want and what you're willing/able to do. There are all sorts of companies out there that offer guest book services ( http://www.dreambook.com/ ) and forum services ( http://www.yabb.org/ and http://www.ezboard.com/ ). Dreambook, YaBB, and ezboard are customizable to match your site. If you want to handle everything from coding to management then you'll probably want to see the appropriate scripts in Matt's Script Archive ( http://www.worldwidemart.com/scripts/ ) or talk to Gorebash (The guy who owns and runs Station 8 ( http://www.s8.org/ ) and hosts many chat and comment rooms, including this CR.) Gore used to have his chat and comment room codes available for download and viewing. Although he's really busy so it's hard to get a hold of him. Hope this helps. :)
Lady Mystic - [<-- TGS CR INFO UPDATE !!!]
TGS CR Info Senior Admin.
Wednesday, February 21, 2001 08:46:20 PM
IP: 64.109.143.22

*enters in a puff of outragious frustration*

OK, Listen up!!! To the person who sent me the Crushlink messege, please save me from the anxiety attack I get every six months and just send me an e-mail straight to me!!!! OK??? It's that simple!!!! Just tell me who you are!!!! OK!?!

*realizes the entire CR is staring at her* Um...hehe...Uh...^_^;;

*runs out*
Mary Flanders
Wednesday, February 21, 2001 08:35:01 PM
IP: adsl-63-195-144-108.dsl.scrm01.pacbell.net

I really don't have anything to report today, I've been feeling overly depressed lately and it's scaring me. I have a very dark and disturbing mind I think. Luckily I'm not stupid enough to commit suicide cause I know through all the $*@! that happens, there all still a few things to live for. A bit of advice for the room, don't ever let anyone make you feel bad about yourself. I'm trying to chew my own advice. Love ya and don't stay up too late. Haha.
SOROW
Wednesday, February 21, 2001 08:09:47 PM
IP: a020-0894.dll2.splitrock.net

[Tim walks in reads Lain's dreary CR post. Tim grins and gives Lain a big Hug]

Welcome to Adulthood, Lain! Next stop- Car payments, flaccidity, and Cynicism!
Tim Phipps
USAWednesday, February 21, 2001 07:44:22 PM
IP: wsc0051.wsc.edu

Doug> I received this and immediately thought of you ;)

Things not to say to police officers:

1. Sorry, Officer, I didn't realize my radar detector
wasn't plugged in.

2. Aren't you the guy from the Village People?

3. Hey, you must've been doin' about 125 mph to keep
up with me. Good job!

4. Are You Andy or Barney?

5. I thought you had to be in good physical condition
to be a police officer.

6. You're not gonna check the trunk, are you?

7. I pay your salary!

8. Gee, Officer! That's terrific. The last officer
only gave me a warning, too!

9. Do you know why you pulled me over? Okay, just so
one of us does.

10. I was trying to keep up with traffic. I know there
are no other cars around. That's how far ahead of me
they are.

I would have emailed you this, but I don't have your email addy :(
11. When the Officer says "Gee Son....Your eyes look
red, have you been drinking?" You probably shouldn't
respond with, "Gee Officer your eyes look glazed, have
you been eating doughnuts?"
Jannie
Wednesday, February 21, 2001 07:31:08 PM
IP: 209.83.228.170

Lain: I think I feel just like you having to work nights. I don't like this cage, not one bit. Enforced sleep deprivation when one should be sleeping, my schedule getting messed up, trying to bite my tongue when it comes to my opinion on things, it's all <bleah>. <growls> I hope Abel will let me off tomorrow and then get my schedule back to normal, getting Rubio down here from San Antonio to help out would probably be a good idea if he's worried about giving other people too much overtime. <sigh> Until then, I'm stuck in this cage, like you. You want my advice? Remember, you're not alone. You're not the only one who feels like you do. Nothing helps a bad mood and depression like spreading it around, to quote Calvin and Hobbes, so cheer up with the knowledge that other people feel your pain and are your friends. We're there for you and always will be no matter what. Revel's bit about remembering you're not a child and telling people what they do to you to make you feel so bad and Kit's about trying to enjoy your time at home and looking for good things in it are also good bits of advice- I'm not recommending you take either suggested action, but do try to remember you have other people there for you. You do not need to be feeling so down. I will be praying for you like many others, hoping you can cheer up soon. Playing a violent video game and imagining the enemies are the people responsible for my current bad mood always helps me. I don't know what works for you, but you should do it. In the time you've been in here, some of us have come to love you even though we don't know you. And we don't like seeing you this way at all.

Big post tomorrow, if I don't have to work all night again. <prays that it not be so, then leaves>
Doug
Wednesday, February 21, 2001 06:12:10 PM
IP: pool-63.52.167.252.dlls.grid.net

Don't have time to say much but...

Lain: Cheer up. This too will pass. I can easily see that your depression and anger has a valid understandable source, but just because it can be justified is no reason to let it run and ruin your life. Put it aside and move on. Try to enjoy your time at home, no matter how crazy or painful it may be. It only comes along every so often, and the people there are your family. Yeah, I know this sounds trite, but believe me, it's what you should do- you'll feel much better if you do it. I'll be praying for you to be able to feel good in your situation soon. Either that or escape it as you wish. And, btw, yes, we would miss you very much if you went away forever. You've put yourself in our hearts, like it or not. :)

Buffy and Angel: **SPOILERS** I agree with Taleweaver a lot about this week's episodes. Buffy was weak and boring, not entertaining at all IMO except in a couple scenes (Spike getting knocked out the window, Giles' intimidating Spike- I was grinning enthusiastically at the latter scene). There were some good Xander-Anya moments, and Willow and Tara undergoing jealousy was fun, but there was overall no real comedy in this one. I too miss the Xanderisms and Oz. <sigh> Buffy had some decent development, but it's happened to her before. Amber and Warren were okay characters but too predictable in action and development, and a bit too unbelievable at times too (the lack of an off button for one thing, and also April's combat mode). Didn't like Buffy and Ben either (thank goodness that relationship didn't happen, it seemed so dumb), or how Dawn has now immediately broken off the friendship with Spike. That seems too fast, they had a different relationship than he and Buffy did and it should have lasted longer. <sigh> Good surprises at the end with Spike wanting a robot Buffy (hopefully Buffy will smash it easily) and Joyce- looking forward to seeing how these situations turn out next week. Hopefully it will make for better development.

Angel was much better, but still a bit too dark IMO to be really great. I enjoyed all the continuity in it- the Host, the bookseller, Kate and the cops, etc. The confrontations between Angel, Cordy, and Wes were quite well-done scenes, and the third-eye-removal case's end was believable even though it made me growl. Kate's depression was shown well too, as were the developments on Lilah and Lindsay (both of whom it was good to see again). Great to see Darla actually trying to take down Angel too. I especially enjoyed the scene at the end with the return of Holland and the revelation of where the "Home Office" was- that was unexpected, chilling, and quite well-written too. Angel's walking away was very poignant, showed his development well. Hopefully he will change his outlook on things now that he knows they're not as simple as one expects- if he doesn't lose his soul now that he's slept with Darla. That scene disturbed me a little btw- I could understand why it happened, but still it didn't seem logical. <shivers> Hopefully we'll get some insight into it next week and it will have intriguing well-written consequences. I missed Gunn in this episode too, and didn't like Wesley and Virginia's breakup (it did make for good development, still). I hope that things are just as well-written and intriguing next week, but also that the development is less dark and more sunshine-y for everyone. One likes to be given a feeling of hope, after all. **SPOILERS END**

Must go now! Working again tonight. Later.
Kitainia
Wednesday, February 21, 2001 06:02:45 PM
IP: pool-63.52.167.252.dlls.grid.net

REVEL>> I am not arrogant enough to believe that the whole world is against me..
and thank you very much but I am no longer in highschool, not by a few years.. and everyone always says post-secondary is a world different from HighSchool but.. sorry it isn't. Everything is the same only you are away from home. There will always, always be those who don't like you because they can feel "not like us" seeping from your veins.

I am not a child.

I am not on any "threshold"

I am in a zoo and occasionally someone decides to take me out of the cage and for a walk - on a leash - so I can taste freedom but never be consumed. I am never out long enough to truly get away, but just long enough to know that the cage is NOT what I want..

THAT'S where I am..

And my spidey sense has been going all day and it isn't helping either.

lain - [I have no email account because this system does not allow me acces]
Wednesday, February 21, 2001 05:15:17 PM
IP: 63.99.105.163

Taleweaver> Only the Shadow knows what lies the hearts of men O_O shogun rapter> STARZ on basic cable?
James Birdsong
San Diego, CA, USA
Wednesday, February 21, 2001 05:14:09 PM
IP: adsl-63-207-130-233.dsl.sndg02.pacbell.net

That's suppose to say "Warps and Lynati"
Revel
Wednesday, February 21, 2001 04:47:58 PM
IP: ac93c0a7.ipt.aol.com

I think I'm going to ramble now for those of you who don't care what I say skip it.
On the good side of things I am handling this insane schedle that I made for myself fairly well, but I recommend to anyone NOT to take three core classes along side two advanced ones. If you thought you had life before now you won't leave the campus. Small thing though.

Lain-Okay this is going to sound a little strange coming from me but I figure I should say something to ease your thoughs or to at least give you another perspective. I can relate when you feel as if no one wants you and that family and the enitre world is against you. It sucks I know, but the truth is the world is a pretty big place and best of all it's full of possibilities. Highschool is just a threshold of what is out there and when you pass that boudary you'll forget about H.S. and all those people. As for parents, that's tough. Not all parents are reasonable, but they are adults nonetheless. My father learned that yelling at my brother and I does not work like when we were little. We are grown and we can argue our side of things. The problem is you have boundaries too. Running away and striking physically solve nothing, prove nothing, and are usually unforgettable. You are almost an adult by any standard so you may just have to sit down with your father and talk with him. Tell him what you are thinking and why you are thinking of such things. It's hard to stand up to a parent I know, it's scary because you're not sure if you can take back the things you say, but sometimes you have to tell them why you hurt, because they may be the cause and not even know it.
My opinion of course.

Wars and Lynati- I have this strange feeling I'm going to want to sleep on someone else's floor for my own good come June. ;)

Later
Revel - [samrx5@cs.com]
denton, tx
Wednesday, February 21, 2001 04:46:38 PM
IP: ac93c0a7.ipt.aol.com

Lain: Check your e-mail, please

everyone else: I'll try and do a full post tomorrow. Take care,

---Emambu
Emambu - [erikmambu@hotmail.com]
Philadelphia, PA, USA
Wednesday, February 21, 2001 04:06:12 PM
IP: dhcp81-237.pittsburgh.resnet.pitt.edu

*lain enters, red-eyed and with a glazed and distant look on her face*

Hey all.. I have had a horrible day. Mostly, I think this is because I have realized that I DON'T WANT TO GO HOME. I would do ANYTHING to keep from having to go back to that school with those people and those classes.. anything..
This happens whenever I escape for longer than two days.. I start to realize how miserable I am and how much I just want to curl up and pack it all in and never be seen ever again when I am there.
Not that here is the greatest place either, but ANYWHERE is better than being a living zombie and pretending that everything is A-OK and I am a perfect daughter and friend and.. well the whole lot. Pretending that I am OK when I really am not.
And what is my father's solution to this? (after the stream of insults about me not being committed to anything and me never going to go anywhere in life and needing to pay more attention to the things that REALLY matter (AKA NOT the internet and a bunch of people who I will never meet and who don't know anything about me and might be making everything about themselves up and etc etc) His solution is to just carry on and things will pick up. Just "stick to something for once in your life" no matter how broken and deformed I end up when if I ever get that stupid piece of paper.. That there are "piles of people in REZ just WAITING to be my FRIENDS".. but I think he fails to see that I have been at that school for two years, and I still hate it and I bet all those people would love me ever so much if I went out to the bars with them and got drunk out of my skull at least three times a week..
I don't think so...

you know that noone from that school has PHYSICALLY TOUCHED me (unless they were in need of comfort and I went and hugged them.. or they wanted to hurt me..) since the beginning of this year?
You know I have not a single friend from highschool?
You know I live a life of unrequited longing for human contact?

But I have no other options... I HAVE to go back to that place. There is no escape, I am trapped.

And I feel so empty.

I feel like there is nothing in the world I would like more that to disappear and never come back.

This morning when my father was shouting at me, I wanted nothing more than to hit him. I wanted to pull back and LET GO.. and I think I am losing whatever I thought it was that was me.. because I would never do that..

Last night, I was in the bathroom and my dad and Grandmother were talking about my mother and how she died, and then my Grandma started talking about these visions she had.. that she had them when she was young and now they have come back..
My grandmother.. has visions.. and she didn't want me to know..

What am I doing? what am I doing at all??
I just want to run.

You would forgive me if I never came back?
lain, crawling in silence..
the Land of Faraway
Wednesday, February 21, 2001 03:24:47 PM
IP: 63.99.105.163

Not really a spoiler because others have already discussed it as well ;) Buffy and Angel opinion following...

Taleweaver> I totally agree with you about this week's Buffy. I thought it was lame. It had it's good moments with Spike - whom I feel sorry for now - and I'm still a bit confused about the Ben/Glory angle, but other than that, the last few moments of the show were the most exciting and intriguing.... Spike wanting a Buffy-bot. hehehe and of course, to see what happens to Joyce.
Angel...I'm impatient and ready for it to move on. I'm tired of this "darker" side of Angel. Very poignant point with where the Home Office ended up being!
Would Angel be effected because he participated in the pleasures of the flesh?

*goes back to reading Ultimate X-Men #3 comic* It just came out today! =)
Jannie
Wednesday, February 21, 2001 02:59:23 PM
IP: 209-83-228-135.hou.port.mytelco.com

YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE!!

for those parties interested, STARZ will be airing the Miyzazaki masterpiece Princess Mononoke on thursday, Feb. 22 at 9:30 PM eastern standard time so for those interested, set those VCRs people!
shogun raptor
Wednesday, February 21, 2001 01:27:17 PM
IP: mia-this01.firn.edu

Well it's Wednesday, so like others, last night's Buffy and Angel are on my mind.

* * * * * Spoilers Buffy and Angel * * * * *

Buffy was weak this week. It had some high points, but it didn't out number the lows. One problem I had was with the fembot. While she looked hot, as soon as you learn she's a robot, which for me was about the second or third scene she shows up, it was a countdown before she went Westworld started killing. I also couldn't believe an engineer would build something without an off button.

Buffy learning to deal without a man in her life is OK, but haven't we covered this ground after Angel turned evil, then Angel sent to hell, then after getting dumped by that dog who slept with her and dumped her. It's a good message, but a little ho-hum third time around.

Joyce's death does leave a lot of questions. Such as what will happen to Dawn? Xander's bits were good. I too miss Oz, but i also miss the Xanderism. You know those one-line zingers that you can't wait to unleash on others. Could use a few more.

Angel was great. Definately the way a story like this should go. And as dark as things are, I don't think they've hit rock-bottom yet. Virginia's break up caught me off-guard as did the reappearence of Holland. I don't think Angel's lost his soul. Depression sex doesn't lead to bliss. But Angel needs to learn what he's fighting for. He doesn't feel he can get redemption and Holland's little speech took the wind of his heroic sail. So he needs to rediscover what's worth fighting for. The sad thing is that all the friends he's pushed away could have helped him find it.

I especially like the elevator trip to the Home Office. It reall to the conflict to a higher level. Demons and monsters, where the evil is ugly and obvious, is easy to fight, but the evil men do, the cruelty in the hearts of men, that is a more intractable foe. That is real challenge. I'll be glued next week to see what happens.

* * * * * End of Spoilers * * * * *

Not much happening this week over here. I hope everything is peaceful where you are.

See ya
Taleweaver - [taleweaver@usa.net]
Wednesday, February 21, 2001 01:09:14 PM
IP: hal5000.engineering.csupomona.edu

**walks in the CR room.**

Kit - Interestingly enough, I checked the website. On the front page, I found a section about VHDM and I said to myself, hey that's an area where I work. Yes, I will keep up the mystery about what I do, just in case some company spy finds me here.

**RP RELATED**
I will try to completely catch up with all the archiving by the end of this week. Brooklyn, thanks for declaring when you intend to post BFTS RP. No BFTS RP from me today, everything I post for the next few days will require time to think before taking a small step.
**END RP RELATED**

Oh yea, I barely got home from before today. I took a shower drank some milk, slept for about 3 hours and woke up. I drank another glass of milk and slept until about 11:00 am this morning. I had a good FREE meal at work: fish (and chicken), hushpuppies, french fries, coleslaw, and pork+beans.

That's all for now from me.
DPH - [dph_of_rules@yahoo.com]
AR, USA
Wednesday, February 21, 2001 12:54:38 PM
IP: max1-17.cwy.cei.net

****Kyryn, in human form, opens a door and steps into the CR. DC's screams and strange crunching sounds are heard before she closes the door behind her.****

I'll be a while getting my revenge, but I prefer not to graphically detail it. Some things are better left to the imagination...

Coyote> Packards? New? Interesting...I forwarded the link to Okami. He's another Packard fan.

Daniel J> Congrats on the new dog! Shepherd mixes are generally great dogs.

Later, all!

****Kyryn dives out the window, forgetting that she doesn't have wings right now. She opens the ripcord on a parachute and looks rather annoyed when only confetti pops out of the pack. She shrugs and pulls out a small umbrella, opens it, and then floats away a la Mary Poppins.****
Kyryn
Denton, TX
Wednesday, February 21, 2001 11:31:35 AM
IP: exofw.aicpa.org

Severius Jr>(not laughing) Elvis? Never heard of him. Mariylyn Manson is pure evil in my book but THAT IS MY PERSONAL OPNINION. There I said it in caps so you will see it loud and clear. I don't expect you to agree (emotionless like Stare Priss) Warpmind> Intriqueing :D
James Birdsong - [LennexMacDuff@yahoo.com]
Token sane guy
Wednesday, February 21, 2001 09:04:07 AM
IP: adsl-63-207-129-211.dsl.sndg02.pacbell.net

Well the Expectorant works. I'm all loose, but now I stffed up in the head. Could someone brutally kill Sli Sludge?

Ok now this is sick. You know the guy who bumped Earnheart's car,,,Sterling. The guy feels bad enough as it is but. He had to shut his website down because of death threats. Not to just himself but his own family.

Grammy's Gonna watch. How much you wanna bet someone from Rage of Limp will make a complete @$$ of himself? And yes I want the real musicans to win not these teenybopper acts.
::Starts doing strange hand gestures:: Pagua Sum fa pagua sum fa pagua sum fa.
SPOILERS FOR BUFFY AND ANGEL>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
pretty decent episode. Glad that Buffy doesnt need a guy in her life to make her happy. Felt kind os sorry for April.
HIGLIGHTS
Xander's comfort speech to Buffy
Xander's commet about Oz...I miss him too.
April throwing Spike out ofthe window.
Ben in a dress
Anya being comfortable with Xander describing other women.
Giles unleashing the Ripper on Spike
Glory's reaction to Buffy's phone call

Angel
and it just keeps on getting darker. Liked seeing that one guy from Angel's past again, too bad he had to die. Also thought that was interesting seeing where the elevator ended up.
Highlights
Angel and the goats
That one woman finally coming to her senses
Lilah's commet on staking the bitca
The Host
Angel in the new office of Wes and Cordy.
Welsey stadning up.
Cordy's chewing him out.
Angel leaping through the window
Angel getting some action...undecovers
Lows
Underuse of Gunn.

END SPOILERS>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Spacebabie - [LadyAndromeda@smstars.zzn.com]
Orlando, Fl., U.S.A
Wednesday, February 21, 2001 08:21:37 AM
IP: user-37kapg7.dialup.mindspring.com

* BUFFY/ANGEL SPOILERS *

BUFFY: A rather good episode, I think. April was a rather unsettling character, but I gradually got to sympathize with her (the poor thing was merely obeying her programming), and to dislike Warren as something of a jerk (it served him right to have his human girl-friend walk out on him once she learned the truth). I was glad to see Buffy learn from the incident and be ready to move on over it.

Giles's confrontation with Spike at the magic shop was very effective; Rupert really can be quite a formidable figure when he needs to. And I got something of a chuckle out of Spike's little encounter with April.

The ending is a very chilling one; now I definitely have to see the next episode to find out what happens to Joyce.

One incidental touch that I found very funny: Tara's complaint about all the bad spelling on the Internet. I can certainly agree with her on that one.

ANGEL: Boy, it just keeps on getting darker. Kate getting kicked out of the police by Internal Affairs and taking it poorly (when she reached for the pills, I was half-expecting her to commit suicide). Wesley and Virginia breaking up, and Cordelia being lured into a trap. And Angel going darker than ever and finally sleeping with Darla (not to mention the grim musings on the dark side of humanity that's really responsible for Wolfram & Hart from Holland, whose return was quite a welcome surprise for me). Powerful drama, but I hope that things start to lighten up a little soon; it's getting a little too depressing at this point.

* SPOILERS END *
Todd Jensen - [merlyn@ninenet.com]
St. Louis, MO
Wednesday, February 21, 2001 06:39:08 AM
IP: 216.87.46.221.dialup-stl.primary.net

*Warpmind pops into existence.*
Heya.

James Birdsong: We of the Illuminati find conspiracy theorists a great source of entertainment. As well as a great means to unveil upstart conspiracies, such as that sordid MJ-12 incident a few years back... ];)

Aaron: What's so interesting about federal prison? The biggest concern would be for the contestants to avoid their new fiancée, Bubba... ];) As for why I'm the only one with odds... I believe my actual travel distance, as much as the fact that my G'01-and-surrounding events have been rather hyped up, may have something to do with it... ;)

Coyote the Bando: That figures. And motorsports are fun, too! (Fave racing movie? Thunderbolt, with Jackie Chan, of course...) Gotta have noisy crashes and powerful engines... ]:)

Kit: Yes, as I said, we of the Illuminati consider conspiracy theorists a source of amusement. ];) As for the HeroMachine pic - thanks. Best likeness I found. (Though, I suppose I might as well have shaved...) And that sword does sound like something I'd like to see, for sure... after all, four millennia old swords are hard to find these days... :) And how I came to that decision? Well, several things affected that... lessee, where to begin... in no particular order, I picked Austin because of the Illuminati server, it's Texas, I've got a cane sword to take to the guy who sold it to me (No, I mean to make a little complaint about it, not use it on him), unless I'm mistaken, id Software has their HQ in the area, as do SJ Games, and a few other minor influences. As for the job, well... the stories you've told are part of it, but so is what I consider a vote of confidence that Doug let slip in the CR a while back. (A LONG while back.) (He said he thought I'd make a good security guard...) As for the job loss, don't worry 'bout it. I knew it was coming. And financial security isn't so much the issue - if I live with my parents, unemployed, I'll STILL be making money until June... *Grin* Gotta love having a small flaw that grants ya social services money... ]:) (Don't worry - I doubt it could in any shape or form affect my job performance.) As for you using W. Masters' works as help to clear up arguments... I... uh... nope; I DON'T want to know... ];)

Christine: Glad you had fun at that con. :)

Lynati: I see from your post that you're almost as crazy as me... I shudder with anticipation at the thought of any offspring... ];)

*Scampers off into the Mistletoe room to chat with Lynati.*
Warpmind de InzanE - [warpmind@usa.net]
Middle, Nowhere, Norway
Wednesday, February 21, 2001 04:39:48 AM
IP: spock.ti.telenor.net

*Lynati enters through the fabric gate, looking rather disturbing. Her eyes are yellow with little red flames creeping out from the center, and her forhead and lower face are covered with greyish black stripey-marks. Black marks also slide from the corners of her eyes up into her hairline. Her face, arms, and torso are also covered in a fine sifting of black charcoal, white and brown conte,and blue chalk. her pants are likewise heavily marked by similar colors. She crosses the room and climbs up onto the mantel over the fireplace.*

heh heh heh HEH HEH!!!

I suppose your wondering what is wrong with me.
...I mean, the thing tonight.

We-ell, I have been in the foundations building, working more or less constantly, since 5:45 pm until 3:15 am, when they kicked us out of the building. (I did this yesterday, too. :P) The music choice of me and my fellow procrastinators seems to get steadily stranger as the night progresses; it started normaly enough with Janis Joplin and Tom Petty, but at some point we started listening to Asian bar music...and then I offered up my Maori music CD with the fun techno remixes at the end...It was around 2 am that the score to Fight Club ended (boy is THAT fun to work too; you start to think the drawings are moving...or maybe it was the hour...or maybe it was just me.) and I pulled out my discman and put Tori Amos's "The happy wocher workers" on repeat...I was still listening to that when security showed up to oust us. (and all of this without caffeine for the last month and a half!!)
My project is starting to reaaalllly look good; but is still incomplete.
And due at 1:00 pm tomorrow! (later today, actually.)
So, if I am kickered from the building, why am I not curled up all warm and cozy-like in my bed for the five and a half hours I have until morning class?
well, Foundations does re-open at 7:45, and I intend to get back to work (with a large bottle of coco-cola) as soon as I breakfast, so I would only be getting about four hours of sleep anyway. And I've kind of been having a problem with my alarm...oh, it works just fine. It was blaring loudly when I got up this afternoon...about four hours after it had started going off. I slept through it, and missed my afternoon class...bleaaaggh. :P :P :P
So, on the upside, I got a total of nine hours sleep today/ last night; five in the night and four from my "hour-long" between-class nap.
Also, I forgot to mention that I now have to read Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" for my philosophy class tomorrow, which I will do after I finish this post.
...huh...which may lead someone to wonder why am I bothering to do the reading when I fully intend to skip said philosophy class in favor of working on my project...
ANYway.
I need to stay up, and exhaust myself so that I will fall asleep at a "decent hour" tonight and get my sleep schedule back on school hours.
..of course, THAT plan has failed to work for the last week and a half...
Well, I'm gonna go shower now and remove my warpaint. see ya.

Valentine: hah hah ahhah!!! *snickers* sorry, just thinking about all those people who must have taken your "I model" comment in the artist's modeling sense...I hope you remember to be more clear on the question in the future...
}=)

ironwolf: no, missed those... :( (I will get to them soon, tho.)

Warpmind: *SSSSSSSSMMMMMMMMMOOOOOOOOOOOOCCHH!!!!!!* ;)

*Lynati Exits*
Lynati
"Who needs sleep?"
Wednesday, February 21, 2001 04:32:26 AM
IP: 207.94.232.79

Interesting discussions on political correctness and hentai tentacles over at megatokyo. Not at the same time, though.

Wilek> When I responded to the smae statement twice, the second response was actually supposed to be an apology for talking about Cid before you got to him.

Fire Storm> <<Thank you yet again!>>: Not a problem.
<<Ever hear of a grape pie?>>: Nope, but why should that stop you?
<<Hopefully true, but no>>: Depends on if there is a matrix, right?
<<Gnutella, I believe>>: I would like to claim that was my second choice. Though I do remember having to input a server to set it up. But it does seem that anyone can start a Gnutella server.
<<Zed looks like Riff>>: Nah, hair's too dark, wrong sunglasses (and you can see his eyes), and he's dressed too well (when have youever seen Riff in a vest?).

Kitainia> <<The main character in Metroid has always looked more asexual than female to me>>: Never used Justin Bailey?

Christine> Congratulations on the publisher hook up and the successful audio test.

Na zdorov'ya.
Gside - [gside@eden.rutgers.edu]
Piscatway, NJ
Wednesday, February 21, 2001 01:40:23 AM
IP: gside.resnet.rutgers.edu

RadCon report > despite some organizational mix-ups (the con booklet not listing a schedule of events, the pocket program only being given out to 400 of the 1000 attendees, and the program disagreeing with the schedules given to the pros on what panels they were supposed to be doing, some panels not listed anywhere at all, and no one ever sure what the hell was up with the reading room), I had a great time this year. I've seen some of the other authors three years running now and they accept me as a struggling newbie and are encouraging and understanding.

The author GoH this year was Mike Stackpole, most familiar to me through his gaming efforts; I was able to tell him in person how much I'd valued his talk at Origins seven years ago on handling those who think gamers are evil. He's a very neat guy.

Most interesting and promising of al for me was meeting and making a real connection with a publisher. She is the director of her company's fantasy division, and was on the prowl for new talent. So, after our first talk, she bought both my books in the dealer's room, read the first chapter of CotSB that night, and remarked most favorably on it the next day in her panel titled "What Editors Really Want to See." After the panel, we talked privately for 45 minutes and, at the risk of jinxing myself here, I think there is a very strong chance that I've got a shot at selling the first ElfLore novel. Which could mean a home for the rest of that trilogy and the other upcoming ones; their contracts sometimes include "and any other books involving this world / these characters." This would of course be the break I've been dreaming of! She and I really hit it off, she likes my stuff, and she thought it was great that I was out there at a con pushing my books in person. This is the most encouraging thing I've had in ... well ... jeez, EVER!

So, as I expect to finish the revisions on Archmage this week, my next project is to dust off the first ElfLore and send it to her. This could really be it, please let this be it!

In other exciting book news, I visited TimeFare on Sunday night and did a reading test on Black Roses. My admiration for voice actors has gone up several notches because it is hella creepy being alone in that windowless room, me and the microphone, not able to see anyone else but _knowing_ they're in the next room listening. Despite being all nervous, the test went well enough that I am going to do the reading myself. I have "cadence" when I read, they say, which is the most important thing and the rest will improve with coaching. This means that I will be spending most of my weekends in April and May commuting over to the Tri-Cities, doing three two-hour sessions a day, and then coming home in time to be at work Sunday nights. For an additional 6% royalty on top of the 10% I get as the author, hey-hey! It's going to be hectic but I should be able to do the reading over 4 or 5 weekends and then the really time-consuming parts of editing, effects, music, and all will be done by TimeFare. With an eye toward a Halloween release because mine is the first horror novel they've done. We will hopefully have demo tapes available in time for the Gathering, too!

All in all, therefore, it was an incredibly promising weekend for me. These projects are what it will take to make me feel more like an actual professional and less like a fangirl with pretensions ; )

Tim had a good weekend too -- he ran an OGRE/GEV game and we got back to find that two of the players had promptly sent glowing e-mails to Steve Jackson Games commending him for it; the MIB chair was dying to know what he did! Made all his hard work preparing for it most worthwhile!

Christine - [christine@sabledrake.com]
Tuesday, February 20, 2001 11:45:32 PM
IP: 18-069.075.popsite.net

James: Oh my, are we going to have to go through this tired act again? Look, Manson is not evil. Understand that the man is first and foremost an entertainer. Hence, a lot of what he does is purely for show. Not all of it is--he is generally a weird, perhaps even disturbed individual, as can be seen by reading his autobiography (which is very cool, btw). But he's not evil. He doesn't really worship Satan, he doesn't really advocate killing anyone, he really won't corrupt the youth of America.
The guy is just an entertainer who has found a great gimmick that ensures that he will always grab someone's attention, if for no other reason than the gimmick is inherently controversial in nature. You don't have to like him, but don't call the guy evil just because his music and his persona ain't that feel-good bubble-gum crap that's perverting the airwaves nowadays.

You know, people thought Elvis was the devil when he first swayed those hips of his. The "King" used to actually get criticized for, and I quote, "dancing like a Negro". This was considered a bad thing. Today, love him or hate him or think of him as a joke, the guy is a cultural icon. You may not know who the vice president is, or who is the mayor of your own town, but you damn well know who Elvis Aaron Presley is. People thought he was corrupting the minds of America, and if that doesn't make you laugh I don't know what will.

Jesus. Manson is a gimmick. He ain't evil. I bet Jackal supports me on this.

Kit: I have to disagree with you on Gladiator. While it was no Spartacus, it was one of the better films of the year, IMHO. I thought it was an overall good film, if for no other reason than the well-done fight scenes. And I like Russell Crowe, so perhaps I'm a little biased. But I didn't think it was that bad.
As for Ed Harris....look, I like the guy, I really do. I think that he is a talented actor, I just thought that others could have easily been nominated to that category. Michael Douglas, for instance, for either Traffic or Wonder Boys.

But all of this entertainment talk has led me to.....

****SJ's GRAMMY PREDICTIONS!!!***
God, and I thought the Oscar noms were bad.

RECORD OF THE YEAR:
"Say My Name" Destiny's Child
"I Try" Macy Gray
"Music" Madonna
"Bye Bye Bye" N Sync
"Beautiful Day" U2

My, the pain starts early, doesn't it? Of this bunch, the only one that I really like is U2. U2 is probably my favorite pop band of all time. The rest....Madonna is just tired. N Sync? That's a rather unfunny joke. Destiny's Child....at least the song is catchy. They'll probably give it to Macy Gray, because Macy Gray is given high praise by critics, even though I would rather hear the sounds of kittens being shred apart by lawnmowers than listen to her albums (I'm sorry, I don't like R&B / soul / funk music).

ALBUM OF THE YEAR:
"Midnite Vultures" Beck
"The Marshall Mathers LP" Eminem
"Kid A" Radiohead
"You're the One" Paul Simon
"Two Against Nature" Steely Dan

First off, who brought Simon and Steely Dan out of the attic, dusted them off, and gave them a best album nom? These two old performers (well, three, since Dan is a duo) cancel each other out. Personally, I'd love to see Radiohead win. Of all the British music out there, Radiohead is perhaps the best. Coldplay is very close behind (anyone have "Parachutes"? Damn that's a good album!), and those two morons who think they are the Beatles reincarnated, the Gallagher Bros., are at the bottom of the heap. Radiohead deserves props. In an American market saturated with the worthless Limp Bizkits of the music world , it would be nice to see a worthy band get the Grammy. I'd also be happy if Beck won. Beck Hanson is among the most talented of songwriters out there, and Vultures was a fine effort. I predict, however, that Eminem will get this, because the fact of the matter is--Marshall Mathers is a damn good album. He may bash gays, women, and himself in it, but it is a very intelligent (yes, I know, you disagree) and talented piece of work. I don't mind Eminem winning, either, because I'm gonna enjoy the controversy that will cause.

SONG OF THE YEAR:
"Beautiful Day" U2
"Breathe" Faith Hill
"I Hope You Dance" Lee Ann Womack
"I Try" Macy Gray
"Say My Name" Destiny's Child

This category is utterly insane. I don't think they could have picked a more eclectic mix of songs. Personally, I'd love for "I Hope You Dance" to win, because that song is just awesome. I've weened myself away from country music, but it's songs like this that make me sit back and appreciate that genre. If you haven't heard the song, it's basically a mother's words of hope and inspiration to her daughter. Very beautiful. I don't know why Destiny's Child is in there. But you know what? That, I think, is what's going to win. Not because it's the best, but because it helped sell millions of records, which is what I think they're looking for.

NEW ARTIST:
Shelby Lynne
Brad Paisley
Papa Roach
Jill Scott
Sisqo

The fact that Sisqo was nominated for ANYTHING makes me lose faith in the human race.
While it would please me to no end to see Papa Roach win this, they don't have a chance in hell. Shelby Lynne has this one as good as won. But that doesn't upset me. If you've heard any of her life story, you'd probably feel happy that she would gain such success in her life.

POP VOCAL ALBUM
"Inside Job" Don Henley
"Music" Madonna
"No Strings Attached" N Sync
"Oops...I Did It Again!" Britney Spears
"Two Against Nature" Steely Dan

All I can say is, if I was trapped on a desert island, and these five selections were the only music that I could listen to for the rest of my life, I would poke out my eardrums with the sharpest stick I could find.
N Sync wins it, cause the album has sold about 8 gazillion copies.

RAP ALBUM:
"And then there was X" DMX
"Dr. Dre--2001" Dr. Dre
"The Marshall Mathers LP" Eminem
"Vol. 3...Life and Times of S. Carter" Jay-Z
"Country Grammar" Nelly

How did Outkast's "Stankonia" get left out of this? You telling me Jay Z is in there, but not Outkast? Good God. Well, this is a no-brainer. Eminem, all the way.
The real fun will be in seeing which of these 5 gentlemen shoots up a nightclub after the show goes off the air. My money is on Jay-Z.

FEMALE POP VOCAL:
"What A Girl Wants" Christina Aguilera
"I Try" Macy Gray
"Music" Madonna
"Save Me" Aimee Mann
"Both Sides Now" Joni Mitchell
"Oops!...I Did It Again" Britney Spears

The very fact that Christina Aguilera and Britney are nominated spells doom for American music culture. The only good thing about this? You can guarantee that, between the two of them, they won't be wearing enough material to make a handkerchief. Madonna.....I'm sorry, I've got to be evil. Two letters describe her--O.W. The O stands for old. You can figure out the W yourself (trust me, it ain't that hard). I think Macy Gray wins this, but Aimee Mann is probably a strong contender, cause the Grammy's like her.
Let me ask you something.....is Poe not cool or something? Cause I would have nominated her for this. Or Dido. Christ, where is Dido? She should be on this list.

MALE POP VOCAL:
"You Sang To Me" Marc Anthony
"Taking You Home" Don Henley
"She Bangs" Ricky Martin
"6, 8, 12" Brian McKnight
"She Walks This Earth" Sting

If I thought the female category was bad, this makes me want to tear my own throat out.
I say Marcy Anthony wins, but I wouldn't be sad if Sting won, cause I like him. This is a horrible category, though. Anyone who nominates Ricky Martin for any award based upon actual talent should look into a full psychiatric exam.

HARD ROCK PERFORMANCE:
"American Bad Ass" Kid Rock
"Take A Look Around" Limp Bizkit
"Grievance" Pearl Jam
"Guerilla Radio" Rage Against the Machine
"Down" Stone Temple Pilots

God, wouldn't I love STP to win. I love STP....they're one of my favorite bands EVER, and they've finally gotten back into the groove now that Scott is off of drugs....or at least since he's out of jail. Alas, I think they'd be the last to win this. Kid Rock or Limp Bizkit will win. Words can not adequate describe how much I HATE them. How much? I would rather listen to the Backstreet Boyz and N Sync non stop for ALL eternity than to listen to either Kid Rock or Limp Bizkit. They are SOULLESS ABOMINATIONS BEFORE THE FACE OF OUR LORD! If a redneck piece of trailer trash and a little wigger who has delusions of grandeur are the "saviors" or rock music, than I will gladly take a butcher knife to rock music's throat and end the suffering.

ROCK SONG:
"Again" Lenny Kravitz
"Bent" Matchbox Twenty
"Californication" Red Hot Chili Peppers
"Kryptonite" 3 Doors Down
"With Arms Wide Open" Creed

Let's review this category: Lenny Kravitz thinks he's Jimmi Hendrix, but then again, if you smoked as much weed as Lenny than you'd think you were Sir Isaac Freakin' Newton. Matchbox Twenty released their sophomore album, which was not titled "Hey! We're a Mediocre Band! Lightning Doesn't Strike Twice!!" but should have been. The Red Hot Chili Peppers deserve credit for doing the improbable--actually making me enjoy a RHCP album (it had never been done before!). 3 Doors Down, quite frankly, had one of the best albums of last year, indie rock or not. And Creed....I like Creed. But does Scott have to try and make every song sound so goddamn important? People may think that Fred Durst is the savior of rock, but one thing is for sure--Scott Stapp absolutely believes that HE is the savior of rock.
Lenny wins, with Creed close behind.

ROCK ALBUM:
"Crush" Bon Jovi
"There's Nothing Left to Lose" Foo Fighters
"Mad Season" Matchbox Twenty
"Return to Saturn" No Doubt
"The Battle of Los Angeles" Rage Against the Machine

This is a difficult category to pick. Bon Jovi put out another album when Jon Bon Jovi finally woke up and realized that that acting career of his wasn't leading him to any Oscar award ceremonies. Foo Fighters....I never thought I'd say this in my life, but I agree with Courtney Love--drummers shouldn't sing. Rage......well, we all know what I think about little commie bastards who whine and bitch about America, while at the same time enjoy the millions of dollars they earn from our own capitalistic society.....I'd love for No Doubt to win, and I'll pick them. Cause I like their music, and cause I have a big poster of Gwen Stefani on my wall. Damn is she cute!

ROCK PERFORMANCE, DUO OR GROUP:
"It's My Life" Bon Jovi
"With Arms Wide Open" Creed
"Learn To Fly" Foo Fighters
"Californication" Red Hot Chilli Peppers
"Beautiful Day" U2

Creed will win, and Scott's Messiah complex will further into a deeper psychosis. I'm hoping that if they do win, he brings that kid up there on the stage with him. Cause we haven't seen enough of that kid already, have we Scott? I think he's somewhat related to Kathie Lee.

***END PREDICTIONS***
Sevarius Jr. - [bpoole@mailexcite.com]
Tuesday, February 20, 2001 10:46:12 PM
IP: cache-2.lnh.md.webcache.rcn.net

Kitainia go right ahead and use what I said, and good luck with the paper

Aaron yep sonja blue and hey she doesn’t kill all vamps they just seem to get in her way a lot :o)

Lynati yep read all 3 books haven’t read the white wolf cross over yet. I met her a Dragon con too she is almost a regular there. She has 2 werewolf books out and one book on angels and demons called “Angels on fire” it is really good “Walking Wolf” is a great werewolf book as well I don’t remember the other one off the top of my head. Have you read Barbara Hambly’s “Walking with the dead” it is a great vampire novel as well.
And speaking of vamps Spoiler alert*************************
Poor spike he really is just one of us dumb guy if he thinks a poor imitation will replace buffy. Kinda sad this eps played up to ever negative feature of men and cast them all in a what?! stupid uncaring callous (shesh I need a thesaurus) way. This was really a sad eps. Hmm I wonder if this eps is to cheer up women for valentines post depression Now what about us guys! I wonder if Spike will be there for buffy now that her mom is (what dead? Hmm I don’t know I would be really impressed with the show if they did that). Yea Spike will never win buffy but he needs to keep trying. By giving up all he proves is that she is right and that he never loved her, but was in lust with her. Now I want a female perspective on this question (you guys can answer too) do you think part of the anger buffy feels is that spike was saying how much he loved her, but was still having sex with harmony? Though offering to off your ex really is not that much of a well a way to prove your love (I mean if you can off someone you loved then why not the one you love now?)

Now Angel
1 it is not a moment of intimacy it is a moment of true happiness and well having wild monkey sex with Darla is not a moment of true happiness it is stress release so I don’t think the curse is broken.
I hope it snaps angel out of his funk I mean well heck when angel broke up the team he was playing into wolfem and hart’s hands. He is well pretty ineffective as a Chosen one with out them. well gotta run i just leave you something wolfish i like to say
the evening is young and the moon is bright
and my blood burns with the howl of the night

ironwolf
Tuesday, February 20, 2001 10:25:08 PM
IP: host-209-215-9-178.cha.bellsouth.net

Today was pretty successful because I went shopping for formal dresses and I found one, red ;) I'm going to borrow a prom dress from my cousin because I can't afford it and I may not have a date at that. Anyway, at least I'll look good :)
***TGS SPOILERS***
I admit that I am overly disappointed that only Goliath, Hudson, and Lex are going to Japan. I thought all the clans would get to meet each other. At least we know something exciting will happen while they're away. Great development between Demona and Brooklyn. It's great to see her thanking him for his help. And we hadn't heard from Andrea in a while either. Great ep!
***END***
SOROW
Tuesday, February 20, 2001 10:06:55 PM
IP: a010-0570.dll2.splitrock.net

Hi guys,

Just thought I'd check in.
Note to all BFTS RPers I will resume RPing thursday.
I plan on it being every thursday or friday.

That is all

Buh bye!
Brooklyn - [mango_11_19@hotmail.com]
Tuesday, February 20, 2001 07:35:45 PM
IP: 216.117.75.70

Kitainia> General Chaotica is from a black and white tv/radio program. As for a more real person definition of evil (pause so you can grab your seat in suspense) how about somone that people love to love. No I don't mean Barney, I mean Marilyn Manson. Villians should be you love to hate or you hate to hate or you hate to love but this muscician (shudder) people actually buy his music even though the guy is EVIL. As close to evil in my book as a person can be. Least Hitler is hated and feared not worshipped like ze man that took name from Charles Manson and Marilyn Monroe sheesh
James Birdsong - [lennexMacDuff@yahoo.com]
The following post is my opnion only and not to be yelled at in case of disagreement
Tuesday, February 20, 2001 06:31:22 PM
IP: adsl-64-165-18-160.dsl.sndg02.pacbell.net

**SPOILERS AHEAD, THIS IS PART 2**
Simpsons was okay this week, though I didn't like the lack of continuity for Bob's reformation. :( Bob was entertaining as always however- I hope they're not really killing him off, I like the guy too much. Some very good moments between him and Krusty as well as with Bart. I was disappointed not to get any with Lisa though, those have always been most entertaining to me. :( X-Files had another good episode, a very nice suspenseful plot, but I wish they'd given us straighter answers about Scully's baby and its father. I enjoyed Zeta Project this week, there were some very good bits with Zeta and Ro commenting on love and caring, and the agents had a triumphant return as antagonists. West's unhooking the belt drove me bananas too. :)

Great TGS this week. Another fantastic illustration from Lain, and excellent writing from Greg Xanatos. Thailog made a very good villain, I've been missing him and was glad to see him back. His plot was perfectly in keeping with his character and motivation and the plot flowed around it very well. His smug attitude throughout it all in particular made me grin. I can't say I liked seeing him win the day at the end, but I was glad to see a dark ending in TGS for the first time in a long while, and Demona's trying to strike back should be intriguing. I can hardly wait to see what she'll do, and how the clan will deal with Thailog's new-found power. Liked the continuity with Broadway and Angela's argument and the Ultra-Pack, I look forward to seeing if Thailog does any more with them in the future. I think we should have seen more of Andrea, but it was good to have her mentioned at least. I hope more development on Thailog is ahead, particularly in relation to human-garg relations. He's got to have an opinion on the way it should be and we don't know it. One small downside to the ep- the developments to the main clan members were good but not really as major as they could have been. I hope an ep with such development is ahead, at least for Goliath. I agree with Ed that some more detail could have been had in some places, but there was enough to make the story good IMO. Demona's motivation and development was interesting and detailed enough for me because I know their past history so well- I recognize it may not have been so for others though. :( Overall, this week gets 9/10 and a thumbs-up.

Can't really comment on the new Buffy and Angel as I haven't seen them yet and I'll be working during them too. We have a VCR so we won't miss them though. I'll post comments tomorrow sometime probably. I have to say now that listening to radio commercials for the new eps has me spooked in a major way already. <shivers and grins>
**END SPOILERS**

SOROW: Condolences on the bad week. I hope your headaches are gone by now, I understand why you had them but they still worried me. :( Glad you and your enemy are making up, I hope things work out. My job usually has me working till midnight too, with 8 am classes three mornings a week. I get enough sleep only because of the miracles of coffee and power naps. <sighs> Hope you can get used to the cycle or get more of the sleep you need soon. I also hope your date goes well, just to say it again. :) BTW, is this the same guy you had to reject earlier? Just curious.

Gunjack: Thanks for the reminder about Oni, I knew about that game but forgot about it when I mentioned No One Lives Forever. I'll have to play it next. By the way, what did you mean by SMT?

Jannie: Doug and I couldn't see Hannibal because of work, glad to know we didn't miss much. We were cracked up by The District this week too. Nancy and Danny were hilarious. Not as much as Mannion's confrontation with the identity thief though. :) I too like seeing his sensitive side show itself, and the writer is a good new love interest for him (wish I could remember her name). Enjoyed the Temple development too, and seeing that taxi union boss as an antagonist who was forced to face reality. I too am looking forward to what problems the new US Attorney might create and hope to enjoy Mannion's wedding this weekend.

Daniel Johnson: Maybe the dog's original owner wasn't as cool as you are. :) Congrats on him, hope he keeps working out well.

<moment of silence for William Masters> He was one of my role models as a psychologist, someone who mastered the craft and used it to teach people important things about themselves. Click my name for more specific info. His book has been very helpful to me and Doug in settling arguments. :)

Wilek: <nods> There are a gajillion different phobias. And I suck at Latin, so I have a hard time remembering them very well at all. Glad you understand my problem with terms- It's easier for me to say "Okay, you're afraid of X" than "you have X phobia." Seems nicer for the patient too, not everyone likes being classified. Some professors I've had have been able to accept my disregard for terms and higher regard for people in practicing psychology, others haven't. But I usually get decent grades from both. <gives cyber-cookie> Glad you guessed No One Lives Forever, I'm still enjoying it. Great to have an action spy game making fun of all the cliches. Nice plot to it too, very well-written with good development. So far I wish Bruno had lasted longer (I liked him a lot, he reminded me of my grandfather), I am looking forward to riddling Volkov with bullets sometime in the future, and wish to God they'd give me the option to smack Smith upside the head no matter the consequences. (It better come sometime in the game!). I will check Oni out next, and maybe Alice too. I'd never heard of it before, but if it has a female lead and is a shooter it could be worth a look. The main character in Metroid has always looked more asexual than female to me.

Guandalug: Alright! :) Congrats on finishing the new GFW fanfic archive. I look forward to seeing it, hope it's uploaded soon. The search engine is appreciated, I pray it works. Please let us know when it's been loaded on the page.

Coyote: I agree about Dale Earnhardt, I hope NASCAR honors him somehow. We'll see. Hope you get your Caddy fixed soon, good luck with it.

And now I have to cut this short. Work's in less than an hour and I haven't eaten dinner. I think I got to all the comments but I may not have. I'll try to make up tomorrow, with Buffy and Angel reviews too. See you all then, hope everyone's life is enjoyable until and beyond. Later! <Kit hops on her bike and zips out>

**BACK TO RP ACTION**

The screen comes on again, displaying Hope Island from the Captain Planet TV show, surrounded by the bizarre vehicles that captured Asil and her party the last time we saw them. The party itself is locked inside a large cage in the middle of the Crystal Chamber, all chained to the walls and deprived of whatever weapons they had. The Planeteers stand on guard duty nearby while their Eco-Villain foes- turned-allies are manning the perimeter elsewhere? "You guys sure Turner wants them alive and unharmed?" Wheeler is asking the others. "There are things I'd like to do to the winged girl in there." "You can do them to me tonight, lover," Gi tells him with a knowing smile. "I know," the Fire Planeteer shrugs. "I just like some variety now and then." "Shut up, boy," Linka orders him. "Bad enough you have to sexually harass me all the time on our show, now you do it to our prisoners too?" "It's who I am," Wheeler chuckles. "Yes, unfortunately," Ma-Ti sighs, turning away from the others to look up at the cage. "Our main concern is that they not escape," Kwame says. "Soon Geoffrey will be back with the special transport to return the female to Atlanta. We'll question the rest at our leisure." "I hope they don't have any allies on the outside they managed to reach," Gi says. "Mal's put up a pretty strong firewall around that AI Guod, but if he got a message out before…" "Don't worry, baby," Wheeler chuckles. "No one's gonna get past the Eco-Villains' defenses. Against us they sucked, but when we're helping each other." He claps his hands together and enthusiastically grins. From inside the cage, Asil grits her teeth and glares in his direction, causing Nipon to raise an eyebrow. Just then, Dr. Blight turns away from the computer she is sitting at nearby with a panicked look on her face. "We have trouble!" she tells the Planeteers. "Nukem reports his sub is under attack!" "What?" the five teens gasp as one. The display changes to the waters outside Hope Island, where the nuclear sub in question is shaking as torpedo after torpedo smashes into it. The man launching the torpedos, an immensely muscled blonde hero in an orange wetsuit with full scuba mask grins as he pulls the trigger once more, ignoring the grunts from the green alien in similar gear who is helping him hold the launcher on his shoulder. "Score!" Duke Nukem laughs. "That'll teach you not to steal my name!!" As his latest shot hits home, the sub cracks in two and the Eco-Villain Duke Nukem and Leadhead fall out of it. The latter grunts in shock, then screams as his heavy suit makes him sink like a stone and drown. Duke Nukem growls and starts swimming straight for the videogame character who shares his name, launching gamma ray blasts as he comes. "Ooh, this oughta be good," Duke the hero laughs as he swims out of the way, Kiff muttering oaths as he does his best to keep up and help hold ready the torpedo gun.

Meanwhile in the Mall of America's parking lot, the Goroistro demon has just stomped on another group of soldiers and is continuing to bellow his rage, seemingly ignoring the large amount of snow that is now covering its shoulders and continuing to fall on its head. "Brrr, this weather's turned bad," Tricia shakes as she, Doug, and Boris come out of the parking garage and run up beside Shap, Shauna, Anthony, and Kit. "We about to hit that thing?" "The Onslaught's ready for it," Kit says. "Orion's just gotta find its weakness. Elena, can you distract it so it doesn't kill any more people in the meantime?" "Dias-quatro!" Elena replies in her native tongue over the radio, then dives straight out of the sky for the Goroistro's head, firing energy bolts. The monster roars and swats at her, but she easily evades, smiling as her shots hit home. "We better sting it some ourselves too," Doug says. "Everyone fan out, take shots when you're ready. If we can keep distracting it, it won't be able to get any of us." "Good idea," Shap says. "Just try not to make it face the Onslaught yet please," Jammer requests over the radio. "I know even in this snowstorm we're kinda hard to miss but…" "Understood," Kit says. "We better get that thing before the weather gets any worse." "Let's hop to it then," says Shauna. As the others nod and they split up to move to good positions, Elena continues her dodging and firing and Jammer turns to Orion. "Found the necessary info yet, preacher?" "One more second," the cleric replies. Jammer mutters an oath and looks at Lathrop and Tanith. "What about y'all?" "All missiles locked and on target," Lathrop says. "Ready to fire at your word." "And I just got the guns figured out," Tanith says. "I'm taking aim right now. I must note, I don't like doing this. The first rule of Wicca is harm none. It doesn't apply to demons, but if I miss and…" "Don't think about that," Lathrop tells her. "I try not to every time I launch a fireball or some other wide-area spell." "Is it easy not thinking about it?" Tanith asks. The wizard shakes his head and sighs. "Here we go!" Orion shouts just then. "I finished the article. Basic summary- Goroistro are the ultimate siege engines of Hell, used to destroy cities and such. They're almost unstoppable due to very thick hides and strong constitutions coupled with great size, stamina, and strength. Their only weaknesses are their extremely anti-social dispositions, which prevent two or more from acting in concert, their limited intelligence, and sub-zero temperatures." "Sub-zero?" Jammer smiles. "You mean this weather could work for us?" "Possibly," Orion nods. "The Goroistro's thick hide keeps it from noticing moisture and cold- however it can still freeze up and get bogged down with snow. We just have to keep it busy long enough for that to happen. Then one slash of our sword on full power and we can get it." "Sounds like a plan then," Kitainia grins from below. "There's just one problem," Orion sighs. "There's no one here to direct the monster, they usually have another smarter demon doing that to keep them under control. Goroistro have notoriously bad tempers and if this one flies into a berserk rage, we may not be able to stand up to it." "Do we know how not to piss it off?" asks Shauna. "Sadly no," Orion sighs. "The book doesn't contain that information." "Great," Boris sighs. "Let's make do as usual then." The others nod in agreement and all take aim to attack the Goroistro, Orion manning the Onslaught's laser cannon, as the screen goes blank.

**NEXT- CATCH-UP WITH ASIL AND SOME WITH THE DAMNED SOULS TOO. END RP**
Kitainia
Tuesday, February 20, 2001 05:44:44 PM
IP: pool-63.52.170.226.dlls.grid.net

**DANGER- RP AHEAD**

"Another group of targets successfully eliminated," the masked commander of the Wise Guy Mob is saying to his subordinates as the screen comes on. "Good work, boys. Soon all the assets Ted Turner has here in Hollywood will be eliminated, and then his cadre's ability to continue making lazy imbeciles out of the people of Earth for their demonic masters will be crippled severely." "And we'll continue to keep on helping that happen," Robert Duvall nods. "It's our duty as caring individuals." "We can't get them all, you know," the group's newest member, William Forsythe, sighs. "No matter what, there'll always be idiots and people bad at their crafts of all stripes in this town." "Then we'll worry about the worst and let the less bad ones be ignored," de Niro recommends. "Gotta leave some bad people to make the good ones look better." "Amen," the masked leader nods. "Now, our next targets are Macualay Culkin, Mary Kate Olsen, and her sister Ashley. These three continue to waste enormous amounts of time and money making movies nobody possessing the least degree of intelligence could possibly enjoy and it cannot be allowed to go on any longer, according to Don Gato." "Culkin's mine!!" Joe Pesci declares, banging his fist on the table. "I'm still smarting from all he did to me in the Home Alone movies! You know they didn't even let me use a stunt double for those?" "And now you have the chance to get the brat back," de Niro grins. "Damn straight!" Pesci agrees. "There are some people I wish I could get back, too," Forsythe smiles. "People who forced me into doing the dry character role I like in awful movies. Martin Lawrence, the Wayans brothers,…" "Hold it," the leader stops him with an upraised finger. "We are about a much higher purpose than revenge." "Right," Forsythe quickly recovers. "The latest gossip on Culkin indicates he has his house rigged with so many traps it makes Home Alone look like a film without violence," Duvall says. "And the Olsen twins are both black belts in several martial arts, believe it or not. They're not going to be easy to take down, even though it may seem that way." The Wise Guys frown at this news and look at each other worriedly. "Perhaps I can help," a voice interjects. The group turns and their mouths fall open almost as one to see Rachael Leigh Cook standing in the meeting room's doorway. "That is," she smiles slyly at them, "if you wouldn't mind having a Wise Girl on the team."

The display changes to a third-floor room in Abdullah bin Aziz's mansion where Michael Marter is shaking his head as he looks down at the battle raging below. "To think that one machine can so easily face and destroy so many…" he mutters to himself. He then looks down to the window below him, making sure the rope that ties his belt to a nearby table is secure. "Kristin," he speaks into his radio. "Yes?" Aussie answers from the STRIKE Super Apache, knowing only one man outside her family she lets use her real name. "It's Michael. How are things going?" "Bloody bad," the co-pilot curses with a snarl. "Extremely so. That thing's been hit with enough ordinance to fight World War 3 and half of it's not doing any damage. The other half is apparently being repaired by that dragon's own internal machines. We just fired our last missile, and the thing shrugged it off like a gnat. Even Lloky's fireballs barely did any good before it blasted her out of the sky." "Great," Michael sighs. "Well, I'm about to do something rather rash, I'm afraid." He outlines his plan and gets a chuckle from Aussie. "Make sure you hit the computer," she says. "That'll probably do some good for us down here." "I'll try," Michael replies. "Can you do me a favor, though? Get over here and be ready to extract me if I need it. I'll drop off this rope and grab your winch's hook." "Deal," Aussie nods. "We'll break off from the dragon and hover in wait. Just give us two minutes to get the boss's okay." "Thank you," Michael says, then switches frequencies. "Fasil, where are you?" "Michael?" Erin's father answers. "What is it? We're ascending the stairs to the mansion's second floor- we've been told Abdullah's somewhere on it. I'm having trouble remembering the mansion's exact layout though." "The room you want is at the end of the west hall, has a gold door with a crystal knob," Michael tells him. "I'm about to smash my way into it from the window above right now." "Please tell me you're not serious," Fasil frowns. "I am," Michael replies. "And I would like it if you busted down the door and charged in at the same time." On his radio, Fasil looks up from his radio and raises an eyebrow at Erin, Hassan, Sarita, Bessus, and Mist. "Deal," Erin says without hesitation, and the others nod in agreement. "Just let us find the door," Fasil grins as he replies back to Marter, then he and his family continue running up the stairs. Outside, Lloky twitches and rolls her battered and heavily wounded body over, moaning in pain as she looks toward Apep and the soldiers he is fighting. "You're not in control of yourself," she whispers as her head shines briefly with a spell. "You don't want to be doing what you are. You may not be a good dragon, but you don't deserve this. You have to fight, Apep- you have to fight." Apep's body seems to freeze for a few seconds again just then, before resuming its attacks on the Desert Knights. "And you are fighting," Lloky smiles, then slumps unconscious as the pain of her injuries becomes too severe and the screen goes blank.

**NEXT- THE WISE GUYS (AND GIRL) GET SERIOUSLY WISE, AND ERIN FINALLY CONFRONTS ABDULLAH. END RP FOR NOW**

<Kit walks in smiling as usual> Hey everybody. I'm posting a bit early today due to some problems at work. We had two people quit yesterday after getting into arguments with the store's new assistant manager, who seems to be taking his new authority a little too seriously. :( Another was caught by Loss Prevention stealing CDs and got arrested. Thus I have to work six hours tonight, on my usual day off. Doug has to work all night too, because of more trouble at his job. The lazy bum guy, Gabriel Urbano, was fired last night for sleeping and not patrolling like he should be doing AGAIN (about time, we think), and Doug has to cover his shifts until a replacement is found. That's not the only bad news in our lives either- we just got the car back from its first oil change last week and yesterday we found out the incompetent mechanics forgot to screw the filter cap back on, so hot oil was sprayed all over our engine during a week's worth of driving and we didn't even know it till smoke started coming out last night. They cleaned up the engine and gave us a new cap and filter for free, but it took the whole morning to get it done. :( On top of that, we've recently heard some very disturbing things about Mike Hernandez. The reason his background didn't check out was past convictions for burglary and aggravated assault, and now he's been assaulting former officers of PS 2000 who didn't do the jobs they were supposed to. This is very worrisome, to say the least. :( Currently, he's on the run somewhere and the APD are looking for him along with the state police. And the guy never even gave us any hint he was like that. You think you know someone…<shakes head> It's clear his victims probably deserved it, but still Mike shouldn't be doing what he is. <growls> Thank goodness Doug and just about all the other officers on the job now are good professional reliable people. I'd hate to think what might happen if Hernandez showed up stalking them. The Holder sightings are worrisome enough (anybody remember that psycho bastard? He's been seen by night officers at two stores recently whizzing around the parking lot in his car and ranting about how he needs bullets. It's enough to make me worry bigtime about Doug. <sighs> ). Hopefully this mess is only temporary, like all the others have been. :( Three good things to balance the bad though- Jammer and Tricia are engaged (as you all know), Stephanie's baby has a future in soccer and karate or so she claims (he's moving around now), and the house is full of wedding gift furniture. <grin> Our parents helped us put it all out there yesterday. Still no agreement on the wedding ceremony, but there were many hints that Doug's mom and mine are close to an understanding. I did my best to remind them it was our decision, not theirs, but I'm not sure they listened. We'll try again next week when Doug's folks come in for his birthday, I hope we can make more progress talking to them alone. <fingers crossed> Our utilities are still being installed on the property, so it'll be a while longer before we move out there. Getting a washer and dryer set up out there is the next big step. On to replies now, I hope I can get them all done before I have to report to work at six.

Warpmind: Thanks for telling me about the freakout of that conspiracy theorist, you made me laugh. Cool HeroMachine picture. I asked Dad about the sword, he said there's nothing he knows of on it that's Cabalistic or otherwise bad, but it is so old that one can't possibly know everything in its history. It's a family heirloom, yeah, but we've only had it five hundred and fifty or so years, and it's over four thousand years old so there's no way to know for sure. Not without doing research I don't have time for anyway. :( Thanks for your interest just the same. BTW, I've been reading your e-mails to Doug and I couldn't help but notice you're pretty serious about coming here to live in Austin. Mind telling us exactly how you came to that decision? And why you want to work for Doug's security company so much? I have the feeling us talking about what goes on at that job so often played a big role. <grin> Condolences on the job loss, I heard about it. Hope you are able to get another one soon so you can stay financially secure until your move to this side of the world.

Spacebabie: Ah, yes, glomping. I love doing that, but I wasn't aware there was a word for it. <smug look>

James: Pretty cliched definition of evil. Thanks for posting it. I still think a definition that applies better to real life bad guys would be far more practical (I don't even know who General Chaotica is!).

Shingami: I woke up to flowers on Valentine's Day too. Not roses but hibiscus, whose smell drives me wild. <grin> Glad to know your love gave you a good gift on the day too.

Ironwolf: Welcome back! I'd almost forgotten about you, I hate to say. :( Good to have you in the room again, though. Interesting theories about Spike, I'm currently writing a term paper (psychological profile of a fictional character at different points in time) on him for a class and I hope you don't mind me using some of what you said. Doug's theories are already in there. The paper's not due for a month so you don't have to tell me immediately, but please do soon. I too am looking forward to what comes of Spike's honest relationship with Dawn, since one is indeed developing (I am a little worried about her not having a problem with his descriptions of horrifying acts though), and agree that his love may be allowing him to still be human in a way.

Kirshanta: You're welcome, and already forgiven, in case you were worried. Check out HeroMachine.com if you want to load those pics, I think they can link you to a plug-in that will help you load the program and see them. Glad you calmed down quickly from last week, although I can understand your anger. I don't like being called Missy either. Not one bit. <grin> Glad you consider us special and like our pic. I hope many more fun abductions are in the future for you and Patrick, kudos on being hapy together. :)

Stephen: Hmm, you liked the Buffy movie and thought it was cutting-edge but not the TV show? Funny how it's the other way around to me and Doug. Maybe it's just the movie's plot holes vs. the show's almost complete lack thereof. <shrugs> Congrats on finding a job finally, I hope it works out. I personally think everyone must work fast food at some time in their lives to get used to what doing a job means, before they get something better and higher-paying (or become fast-food managers :). Doug's first real job was at Jack-in-the-Box, mine was at Gadzooks but I did work at Wendy's my junior high school year.

As I may have mentioned before, I too really like all the new pictures we're getting. Kudos to Gorebash on the great job coding, and to Robby, Firestorm, and Lady Mystic for helping make it all possible. My only regret is I can't recall who many of the newly pictured characters are. :(

Aaron: Thanks for the correction on Eminem and Elton. I was already planning to miss the Grammys due to work. As for the Oscars, well, I too hope CTHD wins Best Picture, but I doubt it'll happen so I'll accept Almost Famous as another possibility. Not Gladiator though. A predictable film with uninteresting weak characters, an script written to make the actors look better than they are full of plot holes, boring action, and stale if existent romance should never be praised, let alone awarded. Unfortunately, the Academy doesn't seem to realize this. :(

Daniel Johnson: Your mother doesn't seem to realize what happened? That worries me. Your friend's situation with the dying fiance worries me too. I will be praying for both of them and your mother, hope things work out with happy endings. Maybe your friends can get married before he passes away, end the legal rights troubles. It's good that she's starting to deal with the pain of things, but still bad that it's happening of course. :( Please do keep us posted on the situations, I know they may get worse before they get better but we can take bad news. We too know about what not killing you making you stronger and its truth. Thanks for the laughs and eye-rolling grimaces I got from reading that list of idiotically futile human deeds last week.

Daphne: Ah, overkill. I get it now. :) I happen to think overkill is good in some cases, though. <shrugs> I don't think I like your school's policy on prom dates, but I wish you luck finding someone to help you comply with it and have a good time. Our school almost did the same thing with our prom, but then several students brought up problems- what if you and your date arrive at different times? What if your date calls in sick or has to go out of town? Isn't this discriminating against seniors who can't find dates? There are more girls than boys in the class, aren't there? Etc. It worked on the principal and he allowed us to go stag if we wanted to. Maybe you should try something similar. Good luck if you do.

SJ: I disagree with you about Ed Harris. I think he's an excellent actor and I personally will be cheering for him on Oscar night since I hear he worked very hard to get Pollock made. The other nominations are people I've never heard of or don't like, but that's beside the point. I also must register my opinion that CTHD was not the only gem of a movie that came out this year. There was also Nurse Betty (an unsung film that deserves many awards it's not even getting nominated for IMO), Almost Famous, The Patriot, and a couple others. And some movies had gems of preformances or lines (Rachael Leigh Cook in Get Carter, Gone in Sixty Seconds' "The car is you. You are the car."). But yeah, I missed good movies too this year. <sigh> It'll make me really angry if they somehow justify the bad movies' existence by awarding them. They better not. <growls> Despite our differences in opinion, I still enjoyed immensely your reveiews of the Oscars and Razzies and share most of your opinions about certain categories. Your picks too, some of them. :)

DPH: Congrats on finally getting the job you wanted so badly, I hope your training continues to go well and you pick up the skills you need. Thanks for telling us the company name too. I found Molex's home page on the web, and it looks as interesting as you made it out to be, if not more. As professional too. Gubio's done some contract work for them in the past, they're very good according to him. Do you mind if I post a link to the page in here so everyone knows exactly where you're working now? You can still keep up some mystery about your exact duties if you want. <grin>

Robby: That early wipe was quite surprising. :) As was your intent, I know. I too hope miracles and good things soon enter your life, especially on the Internet connection and posting front. Good luck with the Timedancer breakdowns, I hope the next season's stories are just as great and entertaining as the last three have been.

Lady Corax, Coyote: Just so y'all know, I was smiling very widely when I first read the news y'all were still together, despite all the problems your relationship has had. I hope things continue to work out well for you both. :) Congrats on the great love, and on the good Valentine's Day too. May all the future ones you have together be as wonderful. :) Doug's and mine was equally great in its way. Happy Belated Birthday to Arizona (I didn't know it was born on that day. One of Doug's friends at work, Gilbert Ortiz, also was.).

DumlaoX: The power crisis in California isn't as bad as the media makes it seem? Oh, good. :) I hope the bad parts of it blow over soon. I will definitely purchase that Mega-Genesis-Game CD when we get a Dreamcast, so far reservations are continuining to kill Keith's supplies of them- everyone in town is taking advantage of the console's new low price. And we wouldn't think of buying one anywhere but his store, so we have to continue to wait. :( Hope you're right about your LSAT.

Calliope: My girls nights out are usually mellow but fun too. Except when the guys crash them, as they did the last one. Hopefully two days of barely even speaking to them afterwards (longer for Shauna and Shap) was enough incentive for them not to do that again. :)

Christine: I understand you not wanting to get your hopes up. :( I hope your hopes are still there, though. Hope is a good thing, you know. Best of luck.

Lynati: I'm a big Laurell K fan too. Her recent Unseelie book is currently occupying a lot of my free time- I'm enjoying it and want to see Anita and Merry team up someday. <grin>

Republican Woman/Conspiracy Theorist: Welcome. Your posts have been interesting so far. <reads over Clinton-related list> Damn. I didn't know all that. Now that I do, I am disturbed that a family with so many worrisome people and events in their past has so much power in our nation. Even more worried, I should say. If the media would just stop talking about them, maybe things could change, but no. <sighs>

Iraq Situation: Like many, I applaud the bombing there. I think we should have gotten Saddam back in '91 and damn the consequences. I know many other Americans agree. Maybe this time we will. I'm praying for it. <sigh>

Shadowrider: Will miss you until your next leave, hope it's soon. Thank you again for all the congrats. We'll be sure to give you another update when next you come back.

Jannie: Glad you had fun at the Houston Rodeo, I always enjoyed it myself when Dad took me and Stephanie. That was back in the childhood days. <grin> I agree with you about the new stadium in Houston, they should have kept the Dome. It had so much mystique about it, that mystique was part of Houston. Same deal with the Oilers and the Transco Tower, both of which have different names now. I so often have nostalgia about the way that city was these days I'm glad I moved out. May Austin never become similar. <prayer> Glad you support Doug's decision to be in law enforcement someday, I too often worry about him. In his current job as well as his future one. But I'm very proud of him too. :) You're right about the low pay cops get, but Doug and I strangely have no problem with it. Some of us believe money is of less importance than other things in life. :)

Coyote: Congrats on Lady Corax, I'm very happy you two are still together. I kinda suspected it, but confirmation was needed. :) Congrats on the new roof too. I've been praying for your mother's sleep problems to soon pass and intend to continue. Hope your headache goes away soon too.

GXB: That's unfortunately the way the world is sometimes- they hear of one bad thing happening in a place they never heard of before, and they immediately start assuming it's all bad. Good that you and the city's other residents know it's not so and are working to keep it that way. I wish your local cops the best of luck catching the swastika painter if they haven't already. Please let us know when they do. I liked your punishment idea for him. :) Great job, btw, on this week's TGS. More comments are in Part 2.

Wilek: The arcade Michael Jackson Moonwalker also had better graphics, and cooler enemies and levels. Same plot, but there were actually bosses to fight at the end of every level. The dance numbers you could induce at will were the most fun, though. They should have put those in the console version. Oh well. I continue to enjoy your amusing persepective on life, hope it never goes away. Glad I was able to change your mind about Starr. <Duke Nukem references> You have to be a big fan of Rainer Wolfcastle from the Simpsons to get a couple of them. Kiff is the ancestor of a similar character on Futu-rama, watch that show to understand his plight (which cracks me up, so I put it into the RP).

Mary: If it's a prank I think you would be very justified in tracking down the person and punishing them severely. I'd even help if you asked.

Emmabu: <Distant horizon> Yeah, I knew what you meant. But she is out there, I hope you're as confident in that as I am. :) Thanks for the congrats again, and for the water advice. I'm drinking a lot more of it these days. <grin> Hope Dominic and Neely are doing okay. Maybe if his fear keeps up, she can try proposing to him. <smirk>

Part 1 ends.
Kitainia
Tuesday, February 20, 2001 05:44:09 PM
IP: pool-63.52.170.226.dlls.grid.net

Coyote> Thank you! No one had answered me yet.... it's been bugging me on what happened!

Daniel> congrats on your new dog! He sounds really cute and sweet :) I'm such a sap when it comes to dogs - I have 4 of them to prove it ;) 2 pugs and 2 chihuahuas *L*

Lain> "Geez life seems to be dull in the CR without me these days :P " ummmm no. It hasn't been dull around here at all...oh, have you been gone? *blinks*
I've enjoyed everyone's conversation so far this week and I don't think anyone has been dull.
Jannie
Tuesday, February 20, 2001 04:51:22 PM
IP: 209.83.228.186

*peeks in for a second*
FireStorm> Thanx a lot.... I always forget that room.... and I guess I should send sone news into the newsgroup as well. But I guess I'll save that until the switch has been done.
*disappears again into the night*
Guandalug la'Fay - [Guandalug@gmx.de]
Tuesday, February 20, 2001 04:50:04 PM
IP: dial-142103.hrz.uni-dortmund.de

Geez life seems to be dull in the CR without me these days :P where is everyone????

Oh well.. not much to report today.. not much to relpy to.. not much of much muchly much ado about nothin in particular.. (?)

"'It will never come!' Pilate suddenly shouted in a voice so terrible that Jeshua staggered back.. then in a lower voice, he asked: 'Jeshua Ha-Nostri, do you believe in any gods?'
'God is one,' replied Jeshua. 'I believe in Him.'
'Then pray to him! Pray hard! However,' at this Pilate's voice fell again, 'it will do no good. Have you a wife?' asked Pilate with a sudden inexplicable access of depression.
'No, I am alone.'"

If you do not live this moment, you may never get it back.. and could you forgive yourself if you let it slide past?..
lain
the Land of Faraway, deep in contemplation
Tuesday, February 20, 2001 04:21:52 PM
IP: 63.99.105.163

**enters with his forearms entirely covered in grease and dust**

Grrrrrrrrrrrrr ... now I remember *why* I tuned the Caddy's engine last time before the engine was even in ... cylinder #8 is a female dog and three-quarters to install the plug. Whole job's almost done ... just that ONE BLOODY PLUG is keeping me from finishing. **mutters something about running over some automotive engineers, then stops** Shouldn't really go that far, I guess ... Milady Corax would kill me ... ;)

**sigh** Anyway ... let's see what's up around here ...

SJ: Actually, I *don't* watch auto racing to look for a crash. I watch for the thrill of speed and observing the driving skill *of* the drivers. (And if I ever get the chance to see one of Milady Corax's races up close and personal ... I'll be watching for her to *win.* ;) As Milady Corax so eloquently put it on Sunday night, Earnhardt was, is, and probably always *will* be the best. All that can be expected is that nobody ever replace him, but merely succeed him ... Dale Jr. is the perfect man for the job, actually.

Incidentally, the Winston Cup series is not pausing because of Dale Earnhardt's death, they'll be racing at Rockingham on Sunday. Among the things I've heard the fans suggest NASCAR do to honor the fallen hero, the ones that sound the best to me are retiring his #3 GM/Goodwrench car and the *radical* move of leaving the pole position vacant this week.
Myself, I have the *strangest* feeling that Dale Jr.'s car is going to be changing colors before the season's out ...

Mandi: At least some of the mourning of the last couple of weeks hasn't been necessary. Glad to hear Traci's okay. :)

Jannie: **SPOILER WARNING AHEAD!!** In case nobody's answered this already ... Hannibal snapped an inhalant capsule under Mason's nose which put him in a drugged up goofy state, which allowed Hannibal to coerce Mason into doing some of the hideous things shown ... including hanging from his neck and slicing off *his own* face. Hannibal's good at that sort of thing ... remember the inmate in "Silence of the Lambs" that slimed Starling on her way out the door from her first conversation with Dr. Lecter? Recall what happened to *him?* **END SPOILER WARNING**

Warpmind: I'd imagine you probably never heard of him because NASCAR isn't exactly international (the only race they do outside of the U.S. is an annual road-course exhibition race in Japan). But if you want to put it on a more international scale ... NASCAR losing Dale Earnhardt is much similar to Formula One losing Ayrton Senna three or four years ago ... pretty much their biggest star.

'Sall for me today ... oh yeah, the name link. I happened to stumble across this the other day. Now I have some very close personal ties to the Packard Motor Company (my grandmother worked for them for 20 years up until it got absorbed by Studebaker, shortly after which she left). God rest her soul, but wouldn't this just make her sooo happy ... it appears that by model year 2002, there will be a resurrected Packard marque on the roads. Performance and luxury enthusiasts will be equally happy ... however, the price tag is probably going to be astronomical (conservative estimates I heard two years ago put it in the $100,000 range ... oh, but it's soooooooo nice to dream ... ;).

Well, that's definitley it for me. **leaves to scrape his arms off**
Coyote the Bando - [gathering_motor_city_2004@hotmail.com]
Algonac, Michigan
Tuesday, February 20, 2001 04:17:57 PM
IP: 216.28.101.160

(Moment of silence for Dale Earnhardt)

Gunjack><<"And you should probably wear underwear, too...". ; )>> I dunno, underwear can be optional... (Wonders again why only Warpy has odds) <<Methinks we'll have to fight for the honor...>> Nah, I'll handle obscure references, and you do the weapons, and we'll be kind of a Wilek-by-committee. <<Anyone up for sausage?>> Not unless you're looking to grow more little blue suckers like your right arm. Hentai tentacles should never be consumed, lest they muck with your genetic code. Think of it as a reeeeeeeeeeally bad form of mad cow disease.

Mary> That sounds like a good plan. I wish you the best of luck with it.

Gside> Yes, another Sabrina fan.

Wilek><<Am...I infectious?>> I dunno, I haven't gotten blue or any taller yet, so I don't think the metamorphosis is moving very fast. <<Still, they're not going to want him if they're that much into each other. O_o>> True, but it's really hard to get with video chicks anyway. And the results are usually pretty sad when you do. << I've grandiose ideas involving power tools and tire chains.>> Hey, go for it. I predict that by 2020 we'll have brought back gladiatorial combat.

Emmambu><<Well, we dispatched LA for you>> And impressively so. My thanks. <<Now the question is, would you like a glass of water or coke?>> Hmmm, lemme think..... COKE!

SJ> Well, you know Bill ditched the Mid-town Manhattan office for one in Harlem, right?

SOROW> Hugz from me and Death. Hope the date goes well.

Mandi> Yaye! She's not dead!

Warpy><<this CR ought to make a little think-tank to devise a proper Survivor show.>> I still like Federal Prison.

Ironwolf> Sonja Blue, right? She pisses the Hell out of me. Personally, I'd like to be a vamp. I certainly wouldn't spend my un-life killing my fellows. (Unless of course, they got in my way)

In other news, if all goes well, I might actually be getting a new car. The Nova has finally given up the ghost, and I'm hoping to pick up a Camry. It's older then the Nova, but it has 40K less miles on it, and it has a sunroof.

Later.

Aaron - [JCarnage@Yahoo.com]
San Antonio, TX, USA
Tuesday, February 20, 2001 04:05:14 PM
IP: 209.33.140.102

Gotta love lurking... I've missed quite a bit... ::smiles a bit:; tho Wolf keeps ma a lil posted.

::perches:: I'm hunting for good webspace to build a site on that wont cost me much... my problem with freesites being the banners they put up that keep mussing up my frames.

anyone has any help.. and/or help on building good guesbook/CR type setups, I'd appreciate it.. i'm trying very hard to get this thing running... but i don't know all that i need to to make it work.

thanks....

::flies over and lands on Archwolf::

::looks down:: hm... ::preens his fur, then pulls out a few hairs:: I'm feeling obnoxious.... ::flies off before she doesna any serious damage::
Aingeal - [aingealkelly@yahoo.com]
hades, frozen
Tuesday, February 20, 2001 03:21:42 PM
IP: 207.42.162.189

<>POSSIBLE TGS/Gathering 1999 DEAD DOG PARTY SPOILERS!<>

GXB: <Thanks. Also, while I was at Gathering 98, I wasn't at the party you mentioned. What took place there that was similar to what happened in "Contingencies"?>
DO'H! I meant 1999, Dallas.

Mainly I was reminded of the end where Demona and her son (by brooklyn) got onto a plane.
It wasn't EXACTLY like that in TGS... hell, in TGS she didn't even get to the airport yet, but the FEEL of it was the same as the dead dog party. If I recall, you were the one that told the end, but I could be wrong.

You were at the 1999 DDP, right?

<>POSSIBLE TGS/Gathering 1999 DEAD DOG PARTY SPOILERS!<>
Fire Storm
Tuesday, February 20, 2001 02:27:57 PM
IP: 64.109.143.22

Guandalug la'Fay: Don't forget the other primary CR!
Http://www.s8.org/gargoyles/comment.html (My link)
Fire Storm - [Night-Flame@usa.net]
Tuesday, February 20, 2001 02:22:31 PM
IP: 64.109.143.22

*drops out of a rift in the fabric of space and time*

Grrrrrrreeeeeeetings from Germany to all of you out there, wherever and whatever you might be.

Sorry for being silent so long, but RL held me kinda busy.... In fact, I normally wouldn't even have the time to post here right now, but what the hell. My boss ain't in the building, so... :)

I've got a small announcement: The new Fanfic-Archive is done. I'm just waiting for the webmasters to upgrade their system to it's needs and upload it. The archive got a few bugfixes and a brand new search engine (that might become changed over again soon :). And: My copy of the archive now holds all stories that were accessible up to 02/18/2001. All others will of course be included as well when the transition will be made.

All authors will get one more EMail from me as soon as I switched over, this EMail having their current data and the titles of the stories they have in the archive - just for checking. If any of you finds some broken stories or such, PLEASE mail me - about 2500 Stories simply cannot have been manually transferred without an error - I just don't know WHERE I failed :)

Now, I have to catch up with TGS..... 3 stories to go. If you would excuse me......

*quickly disappears into the library to fetch the latest TGS stories*
Guandalug la'Fay - [Guandalug@gmx.de]
Tuesday, February 20, 2001 11:00:24 AM
IP: 195.243.11.162

hmm. Look's like this will be around my new normal posting time.

Conspiracy Theorist - Tying seemingly unrelated events together makes you . . . rather valuable. You might want to bring along some protection from DNA scanners. You never know when one of the conspiracy groups in this CR might try to CLONE you.

Wilek - Your conspiracy group can't creep into the BFTS RP, right?
DPH - [dph_of_rules@yahoo.com]
AR, USA
Tuesday, February 20, 2001 10:50:10 AM
IP: max1-7.cwy.cei.net

Conspriacy theorists> You may already have said and if so discard this message but what does the illuminati think of you people and what do you think of them? (puts mike in front of you and turns on video camera with extra zoom)
James Birdsong - [LennexMacDuff@yahoo.com]
San Diego, CA, USA
Tuesday, February 20, 2001 10:49:59 AM
IP: h2odam.sdccd.cc.ca.us

Firestorm> Thanks. Also, while I was at Gathering 98, I wasn't at the party you mentioned. What took place there that was similar to what happened in "Contingencies"?
Greg "Xanatos" Bishansky - [Madoc55@hotmail.com]
Tuesday, February 20, 2001 09:57:18 AM
IP: dialin-1201-tnt.nyc.bestweb.net

*Warpmind enters, poinging about.*
There's a manga readily available in Norway! Dirty Pair has appeared in Norway! True, the translation probably sucks, but who cares! It's a Manga! It's in Norway! It's overdue! It's... four months until I emigrate... BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH... *Unpoings*

Shadowrider: *Grin*

Wilek: Might as well give up now; we're going to make you a womanizer, wether you like it or not. ];) As for the fear module, remember, I work with Illuminati standards. We have ethic guidelines we're forced to follow, strange as it may seem. But we're estimating full functionality within this fall. (The opening of old KGB and STASSI archives recovered many files on the subject thought long lost.) As for the tentacles, actually, no. I wasn't planning on killing them; I know the PERFECT place for them to take up residence... But I'm not providing any further details. Gside already hit a little too close to the mark... ];)

Gside: Yess... both... Catgirlization... Hmmm... *Blinks over at Lynati* Um, I'll leave those details up to you and SJ, methinks. As for Napster, I stand corrected.

Well, that's it. *Opens a side door, revealing an arsenal that would make Riff act like Kiki.* Ooops, wrong door. *Opens another door, from which a 5" xenomorph bounces out, running up into Warpmind's shirtpocket and hides inside.* So THAT was where Cuddly had gone... Oh, well. *Opens third door and disappears into the Mistletoe Chamber with Lynati.*
Warpmind de InzanE - [warpmind@usa.net]
Middle, Nowhere, Norway
Tuesday, February 20, 2001 08:39:12 AM
IP: ti21a68-0053.dialup.online.no

Gside: 
Ah. That explains it.
<Ask and ye shall recieve. And again, remember to tell me after you get them>
Got'em. Thank you yet again!
<That would be scary. We should probably retrain him just in case>
Yeah. Giving pain is just not as rewarding when the subject likes it.
<But since you are the only sentient, you could always have the new ones pick up the others' work>
Hmm... true...
<You would be that much more happy>
Probally! Hmm... Chocolate... RASPBERRY!... strawberry... Hmm... TRIPLE BERRY!... grape?
Ever hear of a grape pie?
<Did you get a little confused there?>
Na... I just got a little confused.
<I'm drawing a blank here. Real life?>
Hopefully true, but no. Gnutella, I believe.

You know, I have been to MySpace.com so much I have been automaticailly entering my myspace login name here instead of Fire Storm!

Zed looks like Riff!
Fire Storm - [Night-Flame@usa.net]
Tuesday, February 20, 2001 01:48:43 AM
IP: 64.109.143.22

Fire Storm> <<Did you get your Ranma season 2 from Scour?>>: I believe I got most of mine save the OVAs and a couple of the later episodes of seasons four and five from Scour.
<<Episodes 20 AND 22 are corrupted to me>>: Ask and ye shall recieve. And again, remember to tell me after you get them.
<<Ah... DELICIOUS loopholes>>: Oh so tasty.
<<Maybe he enjoys the pain!>>: That would be scary. We should probably retrain him just in case.
<<Maybe... if I let them live>>: But since you are the only sentient, you could always have the new ones pick up the others' work.
<>: You would be that much more happy.
<<Oh no. Not that again>>: It was a good example.
<<ICK! Metroid is FIRST PERSON ONLY!>>: Did you get a little confused there?
<<Nothing. Hey, it's Japan!>>: Which explains so much.
<>: I'm drawing a blank here. Real life?

Na zdorov'ya.
Gside - [gside@eden.rutgers.edu]
Piscatway, NJ
Tuesday, February 20, 2001 12:55:40 AM
IP: gside.resnet.rutgers.edu

Gside: Did you get your Ranma season 2 from Scour?
Episodes 20 AND 22 are corrupted to me.
Maybe it's my end.
<Nope. It's part of my loophole.>
Ah... DELICIOUS loopholes!
<t seems to be a rather bad day for DC. You'd think he'd learn.>
Maybe he enjoys the pain!
<Couldn't you get your drones to work on something?>
Maybe... if I let them live.

Hmm... I should make more pies!
I mean, that cheese cake WAS pretty good, and I usually don't even like cheesecake!
<Homonecropyrobestialiacophobia>
Oh no. Not that again! ;)
<But apparently they're making it first person. Shame, that.>
ICK! Metroid is FIRST PERSON ONLY!
BTW... have you seen the gameboy version of Tomb Raider? Side scroller!
<What's so strange about Japanese heavy metal, 90 percent of which is the word idiot?>
Anwser: Nothing. Hey, it's Japan!

Warpmind: <Napster is peer-to-peer based...>
BUT, and quite a big one too, is that Napster requires a server.
I know that there is at least one TRUE peer to peer based service (ABSOLUTELY no server)

<>TGS SPOILERS!!<>

Greg "Xanatos" Bishansky: Great story! I really enjoied how messed up you made Demona in the end!
Although... for some reason I couldn't help but think of the 1998 Gathering Dead Dog party round robin!

Sure, the Ultra Pack wasn't used too much.
They were just a Contingency

<>END SPOILERS!<>

Wilek: <Hm...there can't be too many planets of that description; we'll look up all the ones within our reach and let you know what we find.>
*FS hisses with parental concern*
<hope you have a big enough printer>
Yeah, but War and Peace would cost me $10,000 per copy!

Fire Storm - [Night-Flame@usa.net]
Tuesday, February 20, 2001 12:29:11 AM
IP: 64.109.143.22

Fire Storm> <>: My condolences.
<<Would that affect your daily limit?>>: Nope. It's part of my loophole. If I use my eden account, which they don't monitor, to grab the files, I can then get it off there for free, since eden is a rutgers server. And it does work in both directions, so the only downside to helping you would be a reduced max filesize I could get for myself and arranging the file rotations.
<<being one of the only sentient members of my species in the multiverse>>: Couldn't you get your drones to work on something?
<<What programs are non-server based?>>: Gnutella? I havent' played with it much, but it doesn't seem to have an extremely wide user base yet.

It seems to be a rather bad day for DC. You'd think he'd learn. Or maybe if he condenses all the torture, it doesn't seem as bad.

Warpmind> <>: Who says we can't do both? We could probably train the creations to fetch instead of eat. And a couple missing limbs beforehand probably wouldn't mean much of a change in the catgirlization process.
<<Napster is peer-to-peer based>>: Almost. It needs a central server to organize all the file sharing requests. Luckily, there are programs like Napigator that free you from using Napster's servers.

New TGS: SPOILERS Very nice once again. Some major events are starting to take place to guide the upcoming season. Oh, and I'm voting for Macbeth. /SPOILERS

Ed> <<What always annoys me about pies is the pastry>>: But you can get pastries that make the pie. I have had, on occasion, a pie that mad me say, that was an amazing crust. Odd noete: on your standard fruit based pie, I tend to like the bottom crust over the top.
No, there was no metaphor there, I was just talking about pies. I subject that could use a little more discussion.

Mary Flanders> <<Yes, but has anyone written a _fanfic_ about Ranma and male Co. doing a striptease?>>: I haven't a clue. It wouldn't surprise me if anyone had. And I would have thought that if you had seen the image before, you would have gotten the inspiration then.

Fire Srorm> <<sorry it took so long>>: Not a problem. I probably could have left it up for a couple days without it affecting my downloading.
<<That... and Junkyard Wars was on>>: !@#$. I forgot. And the first season has so much more style. I want those goggles.

Wilek> I do beleive you're starting to become regular again. Been eating more roughage? Sorry, I jsut like saying roughage. Roughage. wang
<<Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee agreed to have a battle>>: Over a noisemaker (what we call a rattle). The Tenniel illustrations are very symmetrical, though he does seem to have erred on who was armed with what.
<<there must be a gajillion different phobias alone>>: But those aren't too bad. Just take a greek or latin root or five and add it to -phobia. Homonecropyrobestialiacophobia.
<<and probably later this year, Metroid for the Nintendo Gamecube>>: But apparently they're making it first person. Shame, that.
<<A very specially modified form of buckminsterfullerine that we've engineered to be as chemically non-reactive as possible with acids>>: Flourinated? Gotta love those teflon balls.
<>: You should come to Jersey sometime.
<<Who else can I infect with the blood-smeared razor that is my mind?>>: I think you've gotten everyone in the CR at one time or another.
<<maybe I should use it full time instead of as part of a rotation>>: Whatever you wish, but I'm not sure if anything else fits you wuite as well.
<<If I knew who Jone was, I might see the significance in this>>: The demonic smilied succubus spawn from Life of Riley.
<<Not necessarily--they were merely *introduced* first>>: But if you don't take introduction as creation, that makes video game cronology a tad more difficult.
<<Not necessarily--they were merely *introduced* first>>: Sorry about that.
<<The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers>>: I believe it's been proposed before.
<>: That, and standard undies wouldn't do much to protect them.
<<our merry war won't be that easy>>: It was a nice try.
<<Baka Song> O...K>>: What's so strange about Japanese heavy metal, 90 percent of which is the word idiot?
<<You should see them in a game of fetch>>: But what could you use as a retrieval object that would survive one round?

Lynati> <>: They have it in the dubbed version. I'm looking for the Japanese. Preferrably with the video, but my main question is is it worth it?

Na zdorov'ya.
Gside - [gside@eden.rutgers.edu]
Piscatway, NJ
Tuesday, February 20, 2001 12:16:39 AM
IP: gside.resnet.rutgers.edu

*Lynati Enters*

Gside: I could have sworn I have heard an English Version of that song...but perhaps it is just my overactive imagination.

ironwolf: Did you catch Nancy Collin's short Conja Blue story in 'The Vampire Sextette"? also, have you read all three books in the "midnight Blue" colection, or just the one you mentioned?

ah, that's all for now. :)

*Lynati sweeps off through the fabric gate*
Lynati
Monday, February 19, 2001 11:22:31 PM
IP: posseisdn69.the-posse.com

BOW BEFORE ME, PEASANTS! <...> This has been a test of the Nereus Monarchy System. Had this been an actual monarchy, you would already have been wretched.

Warpmind> <<you're right. *Adds the point "Teach Wilek the finer points of appreciating females" to the Nereus Project agenda.*>> I almost said that I intend to go down fighting, but the truth is that I do not intend to go down at all. Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee agreed to have a battle...<hehehe> <<Don't trust the androids. We don't have the fear module perfected yet.>> Yours don't, perhaps--mine have little free will of their own--only enough to facilitate efficient following of their orders--and their encryption is top-notch. :) <<The couriers, however... they've got this nice little high explosive implanted in the base of the skull... and I have the remote trigger. ];)>> Nice. I shall have to make use of this somehow. >:) <<Hey, guys! *Shows tentacles a map. Tentacles vanish.* There. Sent'em to a campus where they'll make themselves appreciated and useful... Don't ask. ]:)>> And when they tumble out the airlock, they flash-freeze, and we reduce them to their component atoms with the plasma cannons...<muhahahaha> I like the way you think. >:)

Conspiracy Theorist> <<the scariest part about it is that any one of us could be next ::Jaws theme begins to play in the background::>> Trust us, if you side with OUR conspiracy, you'll have little to fear from other conspiracies. >:) You could be very valuable to us--conspiracy theorists, by definition, are rather good at weaving together seemingly disparate threads of evidence into a coherent timeline of events and structures of influence, and that kind of skill would be useful for investigations and for helping us conceal ourselves from the other conspiracies. 8) <<So I've noticed... But what it is you conspire about I have yet to figure out.>> Why, trying to take over the world. But for a good cause of course. :)

Kit> <<All the terms in psychology drive me nuts btw. It's easy for me to talk to people and help them sort things out, but I don't like classifying them mainly because I can't remember all the categories. :( )>> I can see why; there must be a gajillion different phobias alone. O_o <<We don't mind your archiving at all- glad that someone's doing it. :)>> Glad to help. :) <<Cyber-cookie to anyone who can guess the extremely cool computer game I've been playing lately. Hint- it's practically the only shooter with a female PC on the market right now. :(>> No One Lives Forever, or something along those lines. It has some company, though--Oni, Alice, and probably later this year, Metroid for the Nintendo Gamecube.

Gunjack> <<Either you're caught in a time warp, or something fishy's going on...>> Both--it's a time warp of my own kreation, as a komponent of my plan to kompress time and konquer the world! :P <<Kinda like the Hippy Greyhound Ride From Hell I took a few summers ago. I always wanted to be the Ancient Mariner....>> Story. Now. ;P

Emambu> <<Yeah! I mean, with your imagination, I'm sure you could have come up with something. :)>> Yehh...I think I was distracted. O_o

FS> <<Fortunately it was a toxic atmosphere planet orbiting a x-ray pulsar. Hell for anything else, but we seemed to like it!>> Hm...there can't be too many planets of that description; we'll look up all the ones within our reach and let you know what we find. :) <<Yeah, but what are you making the nanites out of?>> A very specially modified form of buckminsterfullerine that we've engineered to be as chemically non-reactive as possible with acids. Granted, it would disintegrate with exposure to air, but as these are meant for use inside an organic body, that shouldn't be an issue. <<The ones I described were little more than a 50 foot wide cellular baloon. But so few of my children were energy-vores. And the ones that were didn't float. But anythings possible.>> Especially with genetic engineering--there were DNA tags in these things that couldn't possibly have been natural. We've traced the style of engineering back to a quaint little civilization from Zeta Reticuli. The fact that they're all dead has complicated the investigation. <<Only one I have been able to find is a atlas.>> Been to Project Gutenberg? They have all kinds of public-domain stuff there; hope you have a big enough printer. :)

Jaden> Welcome bacK! 8D

SJ> <<Well, I'm proud to say that I NEVER drink water.>> You too? I find it hideously bland, unless its so cold its practically frozen, and then only if there's nothing else to drink. <<So I'm drinking acid. I've got three letters for you-- BFD. I can handle an ulcer by age 30.>> I always figured the stomach's own acids broke down the acids in Coke...if said acids made it to the bloodstream, I would think they'd cause severe problems. O_o <<That's why I plan to kick the bucket right in the middle of an orgy.>> I intend to die on worldwide television in such a manner as to make people wonder if I'm actually dead. "Andy are ya goofin' on Elvis..."

DJ> New dog> Glad he has someone to take care of him; hope he gets better. :) <<OH NO!! I'M THINKING LIKE WILEK!!! :)>> That's three. Who else can I infect with the blood-smeared razor that is my mind? >8) <<That's what the squirrels always tell me. They are the mouths of Satan.>> Check out http://n64movies.ign.com/media/previews/newvideo/conkersbfd/bfdret6.mov for some nice squirrel-squashing. That gargoyle has a really kewl voice. ^_^

Shadowrider> <<Hi, friend. It's been a long while...>> Way too long. :) Glad to see you're back; hope you can stay for quite a while. ^_^ <<Time to move for me, again>> O_o It seems like you just got here...

SOROW> <<this has been one of the worst weeks of my life. Mainly because it was really hard to go through Valentines Day after I just broke up with my boyfriend and we haven't spoken to each other in four days because I always end up yelling at him when I see him. Now I hate Valentines Day. All this stress I've been getting from him and from dance practice (my girls are giving me a hard time) has caused me to get severe headaches all week and I've had to come home from school a lot just to get medicine. I'm overly emotional all the time now and I most often begin to cry for no apparent reason. My job has me working a lot, mostly until midnight and I can't get sufficient sleep.>> Aii. :( You are in need of a hug. <does so> Hope things start looking up.

Gside> <<That one seems oddly appropriate for you.>> Wow, two different people who noticed that...maybe I should use it full time instead of as part of a rotation. ;) <<True, but if you take Jone's origin into consideration, combined with the similarities between the two, it might just make sense that Zoë is Jone's mother.>> Huh. O_o If I knew who Jone was, I might see the significance in this. ;P <<March was rutting season for hares, and male hares were rather known for their antics during the time.>> I've heard things about competitive gangbangs and the like. O_o Nature is gross, ne? <<But the 1-ups existed first.>> Not necessarily--they were merely *introduced* first. ;) <<And got turned into a little buglike thing with a mustache, no?>> I wouldn't know; I haven't gotten that far. <> Actually, I'm kind of illiterate about power tools outside of belt sanders, drills, and chainsaws, and I don't know much about the *intended* purpose of those. :P <<And they must have quite a few copyright lawers on had for all the parodies they make (Jurassic Pork, Saving Ryan's Privates...).>> The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers...<> Huh. I guess they do have more to worry about from a bullet in the head than a shot in the mummy-daddy button. <<Do they make camo print silk?>> Yes, if it sells, and I think it would look so cool that I can't see why it wouldn't. <<True, but what other stimuli do you respond to positively?>> Power told is power lost; our merry war won't be that easy. <<Shame, that. It would probably make a good creative stimulus.>> Only if I want to stoop to writing for the Adult Archive. O_o <<No one's put any nanites on permanent CR repair yet?>> Ach, I forgot they were on call. False alarm. :P <<So do you have any plans to deal with Dr. Madblood?>> Haven't gotten that far yet. O_o Baka Song> O...K. o_O <<I'm waiting for Wilek's response to that.>> All I can think of offhand is some manner of riff on this old urban legend: Once, a mother recieved a phone call and heard her daughter's voice screaming hysterically on the other end. Thinking that something ghastly was happening, the mother sent the police to her daughter's house. When the police broke the door down, they found that something ghastly *was* happening: She was in the process of getting phreaky with her boyfriend/husband/whoever it was, and while doing so, had, with her foot, accidentally knocked the phone's reciever off the hook and hit the speed-dial with her toe. O_o

Mandi> <> O_o I'm glad they were wrong about her being dead, but to put you through that grief... >:/

Kai> <<I’ve got a marble up my nose … strange thing that …>> Any recovered memories of ritualized abuse? Oh wait, high school. Never mind.

Spacebabie> <<If its not one thing ith my body its another. The rash is clearing up but now I have chest congestion>> Agghkk. O_o

Pistoff>> <<So how geeky do I look now?>> At least you don't have a name like Ray Butts. The fact that he made it through school without committing murder and/or suicide is nothing short of a miracle. O_o

Doug> <<Wilek and SJ's latest awful experiement, enormous xenomorph-Doberman-vulture crossbreeds>> You should see them in a game of fetch. <muahhahaha>
Wilek Nereus
Monday, February 19, 2001 11:09:49 PM
IP: proxy1.spaceproxy.com

Gside: Thanks! Works fine! sorry it took so long. Had to download it twice (That... and Junkyard Wars was on!)
Fire Storm - [Night-Flame@usa.net]
Monday, February 19, 2001 09:27:20 PM
IP: 64.109.143.22

Oops, that was me for that last BFTS RP post. I know y'all would have figured that out anyways.
DPH - [dph_of_rules@yahoo.com]
AR, USA
Monday, February 19, 2001 08:52:01 PM
IP: max1-25.cwy.cei.net

Ok, DC & Netlag, you are in trouble. 1st, you keep me from sending a reply to the yahoo group for the TGS writing staff. It took 10 $^*&%*% minutes for that reply to show up. 2nd, you cause me to somehow lose my previously typed up post.

**Fireworks go off outside the CR and continue to do so until the end of this post.**

I guess that settles one question about today. I did go to Orientation.

**WORK RELATED**
I bet I spent 1/4 of the day on paperwork. The lecture about 'Sexual harrassment' was pretty boring, since I figured out most of the stuff earlier. After that, I got a FREE lunch. When I came back, the guy from HR over safety came in and talked. The last part of the day I spent watching a video on safety and I could not help but laugh at some of the accidents. Yes, others present laughed too.
**END WORK RELATED**

ok, 1+1=4.

**RP RELATED**
Thanks to David G, for help with lots of help organizing ITAG. Oh yea, here are ranks listed in order from highest to lowest in cause anyone is interested: Preceptor, Knight, Squire, and Page.
**END RP RELATED**

**BFTS RP continues**
Marshal Daniel Johnson, preceptor of security, ordered Plastique Saber to be debriefed by a Page.

The page started asking her questions about her adventures with DPH starting with her arrival at DPH's house continuing to her arrival at ITAG.

Plastique was observing the main focus of the questions was about Winterwolf, Frost, and Equus.

Meanwhile, one of the squires of the order of service was checking DPH's vital signs. DPH's vital signs were normal for DPH so the squire was confused about why DPH was unconscious. She called another squire, a telepath, to check on DPH's mind.
**END BFTS RP for now**
Anonymous
Monday, February 19, 2001 08:48:46 PM
IP: max1-25.cwy.cei.net

Fire Storm> Sorry, that wasn't right. Should have checked the link first, now it should work.

Na zdorov'ya.
Gside - [gside@eden.rutgers.edu]
Piscatway, NJ
Monday, February 19, 2001 08:09:50 PM
IP: gside.resnet.rutgers.edu

Quick responce:
Fire Storm> It should be at my link (not may normal one). Let me know when you get it.

Na zdorov'ya.
Gside - [gside@eden.rutgers.edu]
Piscatway, NJ
Monday, February 19, 2001 08:08:54 PM
IP: gside.resnet.rutgers.edu

Gside: Do you have Ranma, season 2, episode 18?
The one on the download site is down.
Fire Storm - [Night-Flame@usa.net]
Monday, February 19, 2001 07:36:07 PM
IP: 64.109.143.22

Hallo everyone!
How is everything?
My life is pretty good right now. :)
Here are few replies.

<Winterwolf>
Hey man long time no see! Tell ya what, I'll be on Friday night at 9:00 if you can hop on messenger then let me know through email to confirm it. Okay?

<Emambu> Thanks for the criticism! I always enjoy it.

That would be it for now!
C- ya!

Brooklyn - [mango_11_19@hotmail.com]
Monday, February 19, 2001 07:20:38 PM
IP: 216.117.75.150

Hi everyone thanks for the welcome back real quick post tonight I post more after buffy and angel tomorrow.

Doug interesting theories on vampires I like the direction you are going. Have you read Sunglasses after dark? Spoilers for the book ahead. It has a living vampire with 3 personalities the main one who came into existence after she was made she is a good guy who kills. Her vampire personality (a real demon) who is evil and her human personality hiding behind the main personality. I think you will like the series the author is Nancy Collins

Lynati Always a pleasure to meet another fine lady with excellent taste. I meet Ms Hamilton at dragon con and remind me to tell you how she writes her stories; it is kind of weird. I can’t wait for the new book heck I have half the ladies on my team at work pissed cause they are hooked and there are no new books for them! I starting to feel like a crack dealer psss hey kid wanna read something good?
ps i was scanning through the messages did gordon dickson die?!! how when sigh well
Later guys and gals

Ironwolf - [cag16@bellsouth.net]
Monday, February 19, 2001 06:53:56 PM
IP: host-209-214-41-214.cha.bellsouth.net

Kirshanta> Why were the Ultra Pack there you ask... Thailog's got them, he flaunts them." ;) I know, I know. A bad take off from one of Greg Weisman's smart-ass responses ;)

The real reason is, they were last seen working for him in "Re-Emergence" and still did work for him when it ended. They were there for continuity, and they're a valued resource to Thailog, why not make use of them.

As for Demona's behavior. I think it had to do with a lot of things. What Brooklyn told her in "Transitions", stress, because she knew that Thailog was back and gunning for her. She wanted to handle it by herself, to protect Angela, considering what Thailog did to her in "Re-Emergence". Also, Demona suspected Thailog was behind all that. Her gut told her, and she was right.

Also, this is just the beginning, things will get quite interesting over the course of this season and the next one.

Glad you liked the story. I had a lot of fun writing it. Thailog especially was fun to write. I love him... he's so deliciously evil. It was also great to write Demona, who was and still is my favorite "Gargoyles" character.
Greg "Xanatos" Bishansky - [Madoc55@hotmail.com]
Monday, February 19, 2001 06:06:17 PM
IP: dialin-672-tnt.nyc.bestweb.net

TGS SPOILERS ***

Ok - I just have to say - I LOVED THIS ONE. It had character development, emotional depth and a logical plotline. I found the scenes to be wonderfully constructed and nicely played out. A few could have used extra detail - such as Goliath's reaction at seeing the Maza's and his subsequent expression of anger - and the scene with Demona's outburst was also in need of a little more detail (although emotional because the physical was perfect)

I must agree with Ed - why were the pack mentionned at all? Greg, were you going to use them later on and decided not to? Also, why did Goliath not immediately inform Elisa of the threat to her parents. Should that not have been his primary concern?

OK - now here's the part I have trouble with. Demona reacts very strongly to the threats and the near misses and even to Angela's attempt to help her. But why exactly? What is the motivation? She doesn't KNOW for sure it is Thailog because everyting leads us to believe that she is surprised when the taxi driver tells her who his boss is.
And it's not anxiety for her daughter or over the company - because she rejects Angela's reaching out to her and Nightstone is doing fine.

So is her motivation hatred for Thailog - and if so I think it should have been dealt with. Because there were many ways in which Demona's hatred for her former love could have been brought to the fore - and detailed much better. It would have given a focus to her reactions - it almost seemed as though we as the reader were not let in on her thoughts and that made the reason for her emotional outbursts hard to understand.

To take Ed's analogy - the pie left me feeling a little empty. However - it was absolutely delicious and I realize that it left me empty because I need to have another peice, a fully filled peice with the missing ingredient in it.

All in all - Greg, this was a masterful stroke. I will freely say that it was one of if not the best this season. I loved the detail and the flow of it and I hope the other writers take off where you stopped and make the plotlines more flowing and better detailed as yours was.

All in all, I give it an 8.
Kirshanta - [Kirshanta@yahoo.com]
Monday, February 19, 2001 05:30:34 PM
IP: g30-33.citenet.net

Shadowrider> Bye Shadowrider. See you again next time.

Post abruptly ends here... feeling hungry going to make dinner and then eat. Bye.
Winterwolf
Bronx, NY
Monday, February 19, 2001 05:17:04 PM
IP: 1cust194.tnt48.nyc3.da.uu.net

Warpmind> ^_^ so in conclusion leave me sanity in tact for a better tommorow. thank you (bow) TGS episode> Neato. Nough said
James Birdsong - [LennexMacDuff@yahoo.com]
Token sane guy
Monday, February 19, 2001 04:43:22 PM
IP: adsl-63-207-129-89.dsl.sndg02.pacbell.net

heya all..
As a dedicated TGS idiot, I just thought I would inform you all that I spent the day taking some photographs of a certain "SEFTON HOUSE" in Burscough.. (I AM a dedicated TGS idiot, eh?? ;) yeesh..)
Also, they have WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE on TV here, only I COULD PLAY IF I WANTED!!!!! Not like that daft American one where they won't let me cos I'm a Canuck.. (though I do know that a Cardinal is NOT called a Marsupial, like some daft woman over ere..
(geez I'm pickin up tha accscunt alrady.. bleedin eck.. gonna tak a lorra tyme ta gee rida tha.. :P)

arright chucks, I gorra gerrof..
luv ya,
lain "Global Facility" iwakura
the land of faraway
Monday, February 19, 2001 03:28:55 PM
IP: 63.99.105.163

Good Afternoon Mr. & Mrs. America and all the ships at sea

It has been a while since I posted.

Oscars> The problem is that the show gets no respect from me and I suspect it is the same for a growing number of people. A movie like CT,HD should be viewed like it has a chance to win Best Picture, but everyone knows the fix is in. Given a choice the Academy will pick a sweeping, if meidoce epic like Gladiator and or a one lovefest like Erin Brocavich. Or that best actress possibilities shouldn't be out of the running because they aren't American or grace the cover of People ten times a year. Once I looked to the Oscars as the indicator of what was the best cinema produced. Now it's just another marketing ploy to sell more tickets, up the orders for videos. My hope is the Crouching Tiger wins best picture and upsets the establishment. i also hope Gladiator takes it's weak characters and plot-holes you can race a chariot through and sink quietly into obscurity. (I have a special hate for historical pieces that fail to get more than the basics down)

Well, I just needed to vent on that one. I've stopped watching the Oscars a few years ago, so no skin off my tail.

Good rental> Given some of the news this week, I'd recommend renting 'Canadian Bacon'. It's a hilarious story, preceding 'Wag the Dog' about manipulating military action for political gain. But what made me think about this movie was Angel. The last part of the show reminded me of 'Night of the Living Dead'. It's a running joke in our family, that black folks always die in horror and action flicks. 'Night of the Living Dead' is our prime example. The only one who knew what to do was the black guy and he gets shot in the end. Mind you, I was shocked Wesley was the one who got blasted.

Anyway, rent 'Canadian Bacon' or for a good Steve Martin double feature 'Bowfinger' and 'Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.'

Have a good week everyone.
Taleweaver - [taleweaver@usa.net]
Monday, February 19, 2001 03:21:17 PM
IP: hal5000.engineering.csupomona.edu

Gside>Yes, but has anyone written a _fanfic_ about Ranma and male Co. doing a striptease? :)
Mary Flanders
Monday, February 19, 2001 01:58:03 PM
IP: adsl-63-195-144-108.dsl.scrm01.pacbell.net

Ed> Thanks for the review. I'm sorry some of it wasn't as well detailed as you'd like. That was my fault entirely. You see, I'm still learning my craft. Writing has become my passion over the last few years, it's what I love and what I want to do for a living. I'm not yet the writer I want to be, but I'm learning as I write.

Thanks for the praise and the constructive critism. I'm glad you liked the story. I'm very proud of it, and I hope the next one I write will be even better.
Greg "Xanatos" Bishansky
Monday, February 19, 2001 01:48:14 PM
IP: dialin-672-tnt.nyc.bestweb.net

Time to move for me, again...but, before, a couple replies

***SPOILERS***

Very nice eps of TGS today. Interesting, indeed, I'm glad I was able to read it. I'd like to say something more, but I have no time.

***END***

Gside:> Check your mail

Warpmind:> "Ilona Staller"? Hmmm...yes...I seem to remember someone with this name...she eventually sat in our Parliament, if you didn't know it (for a VERY short time, luckily...and, guess which political side took her to that place...). But, it was what I was meaning: Italy is one of the biggest producers of "adult" material in the world, but at the same time movies and series often undercome absurd censorings when they have to be broadcasted here (it happened with "X-Files", with some episodes of "Star Trek", with a lot of animated series and eventually, I was said, with "Gargoyles" itself...). About weapons...well, I have a different position about it...and I'd say more if I had time. Next time maybe.

That's all. We'll see again next time I'll be home, meaning hopefully in a few weeks!

Goodbye to everyone!
Shadowrider - [shadowrider@katamail.com]
Milan, Italy
Monday, February 19, 2001 01:43:00 PM
IP: h213-18-18.mi2.albacom.net

GARGOYLES: ‘CONTINGENCIES’

***Comments include spoilers***

What always annoys me about pies is the pastry. I mean, pies usually have some delicious filling – apple, blackcurrant, rhubarb, steal and kidney, chicken and mushroom. But then you get masses of this pastry around it, which is usually bland and dry - or absolutely saturated in sugar. And then in some pies, it ends up that there’s more pastry than anything else. Of course, this hasn’t detracted from a great many years of happy pie eating. A bit like way the pastry in ‘CONTINGENCIES’ doesn’t mean the content is any less delicious.

The high points are gorgeous. Thailog blackmailing the clan. Demona clocking Angela. The letters and entire final scene. I’m going to take a leaf out of Kirshanta’s book in suggesting that these climax scenes could have had more weight, weight potentially put on through more intense descriptions to vary the pace around the punch scene. That turned from manic frustration to slow shock very quickly and I can’t help feeling that the writing didn’t convey the emotions of the scene. But we got Lain’s spectacularly emotive take on Angela’s look. It’s a pity that the background wasn’t there: setting her in the debris would have been particularly moving.

The most endearing part of the episode though, is the parallelism. Unfortunately, it wasn’t drawn out as well as it could have been: but even a chicken and mushroom pie with half a mushroom is still damned tasty. And “I will always love you.” wasn’t exactly a small tip-off. Just as Macbeth was once stripped of his crown, of his peace, of his home and betrayed by an insider – so was Demona. The reuse of the line Macbeth departed from Grouch with is delightfully poetic. In many ways, it’s a pity that this scene wasn’t restructured to put it last and with more emphasis, rather than Andrea. Not that the quality of the Demona-Andrea material is jeopardised by pastry: the talk of weaknesses and the significance of her throwing her letter away is great. If the parallel holds water, perhaps this means that Angela and Andrea – just like Lulach and Grouch before them – are looking at big trouble. Now there’s a pie I wouldn’t mind sinking my teeth into.

Still, I’ll always have a soft spot for the old classic pies as well: just plain chicken, rhubarb, apple pies – whatever. And that lovely scheming Machiavellian villain pie that I have nostalgic memories of from the original series is delightful here. The collaboration with the Yakuza, the targeting of the Mazas and Andrea. A few missed opportunities for pie-based innovation perhaps: having Elisa not in the entourage when Demona jeopardised Peter and Dianne’s life, and not having the potential fallout from that. Still, Thailog’s excitingly ominous ‘phase two’ remark suggests that he’s going to be a great villain.

Speaking of great villains, the Ultra-Pack were a bit pointless here. I liked where their frictions came to the fore, like Lobo admonishing Hyena and Wolf whilst reading ‘the Art of War’ (nice touch). And we saw some general background: Demona’s PIT donation for example. Still, they could have been used a little better.

Things are also moving on various other story fronts. Goliath, Hudson and Lexington heading off to this Ishimura gathering promises for some interesting stories but I don’t much fancy the idea of the clan being split. The focus has been too little on Goliath recently, and mostly on Demona and the Trio. Granted, the former looks off the scene for the time being but I would like to see Goliath in action as the leader of the Manhattan clan more.

All things considered though, a thoroughly well-baked episode, not quite as bursting at the seams with the gorgeous filling as I might have wished, but still pretty pukka.

Looking forward to next week!

***

Kyryn: Hope your connection difficulties get sorted out soon. Thanks for your efforts in releasing the episode as quickly as you could.

Lain: I didn’t see your comments until Saturday night. If you can access the ‘net in London though, by all means drop me a line. :)

And I've no idea if this picture 'goes', I'm just having a look...
Ed - [ed.reynolds@virgin.net]
London, England
Monday, February 19, 2001 01:25:34 PM
IP: ac824b8b.ipt.aol.com

** Kirshanta swoop in quickly, her eyes darting about for the figure she is hoping to find. She spot him hidden high up in his Admin tree and lands next to him, enfolding him in a garg hug of immesurable proportions (after carefully retracting her claws of course)**

Kaioto >> What a wonderful person you are to come in here and appoligize publicly. I know it was not easy and I thank you for it. Your ideas have merit and I believe will be much appreciated.
Please come by as a regular commentor once and awhile - we're not all that bad you know.

Ok - gotta go. Very busy. Work is changing - promotion and extra stuff to do - not much time to post (or even finish my sentences..)

I'll be back with spoilers ** A groan can be heard emanating from the CR and Kirshanta turns as she glides off **
I heard that!!!
Kirshanta - [Kirshanta@yahoo.com]
Monday, February 19, 2001 12:16:23 PM
IP: g67-83.citenet.net

Hey all the congestion is loosening up
Nods silently for Dale Earnheart

Sorrow>>>congrats

Fires>>Yeah we have more fires. The smoke is so bad they are closing I4.

Begin Spoilers SPOILER CITY...not to be confused with spatluar city>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Simpsons>>> yay Sideshow Bob is back, and he wants revenge on Krusty????What ever happend to the reformed Bob and what happened to Cecil? Funny seeing Bart not afraid of Bob. Sweet ending with Krusty crooning for Bob.

X-Files, ahh a nice cospiracy episode. Bonus alien babies. Bigger bonus Mulder.good to figure out more of Scully's pregnancy Still dont know if Mulder is 100 percent the father or not.

TGS...EXCELLENT episode. Great Demona development. Nice to see Thailog again.I liked the part where Brooklyn helps and I liked the andrea moments as well. sad to see Demona leaving the city for a while, liked the letters she wrote. I hope angela will forgive her someday. Great picture Lain
End Spoilers>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Spacebabie - [LadyAndromeda@smstars.zzn.com]
Orlando , Fl, U.S.A
Monday, February 19, 2001 11:31:04 AM
IP: user-37kap0e.dialup.mindspring.com

****Kyryn steps in and glares at DC. "I'll get you later!" His eyes go wide and he sneaks out of the room. Okay, the phone company apparently got their act together and got things fixed.****

Gentlebeings,

TGS now presents....

Contingencies

Written by Greg "Xanatos" Bishansky and Alan Coleman Waltrip

Artwork by Lain

Every silver lining has a dark cloud...

***Kyryn steps aside to avoid the stampede and smiles as the onrushing CR dwellers run down the evil DC. "By the way," she says sweetly to the trampled piece of pulp, "I'm still going to get you later."***
Kyryn - [<---clicky, clicky!]
Denton, TX
Monday, February 19, 2001 09:32:52 AM
IP: denm3-32.iglobal.net

*Warpmind enters, looking exhausted, but happy.*
Heya. Excuse me for a moment. *Picks up DC and shoves him through a very narrow funnel.* MSNIM trouble? Grrrrr...

James Birdsong. ];)

Fire Storm: You're not helping... ;)

Shadowrider: Yeah, but at least your tax level is diminishing... and I'll bet you don't have all those excessive taxes on gasoline, alcohol, or sales tax, either, hmmm? As for the pornography laws, well... the name "Ilona Staller" seems to ring a bell... not to mention that, far as I recall reading somewhere, and Italian porn star was canonized a few years back... ;) And I agree - the solution to the gun problem is probably not handing out guns to everyone, but dammit! When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns. And I'd rather not live in a country where the outlaws are the ones with the best weapons! :(

*Removes hat with a respectful gesture.* Never heard of this Earnhardt fella, but... sounds like he went out in a blaze of glory... or burning gasoline. ;)

How I want to die... hmmm... tough one... I'd rather die when I've had enough of the world, and I have nothing more to learn... say, about ten to fifteen millennia from now? (That, or around age 95, shot by a jealous husband...) ];)

Gside: Oooo, that sounds like a fascinating concept... but I thought more along the lines of an island filled with Dr. Sevarius' many creations - losers are lunch, if they're lucky... ];) As for Shokushu... SSSHHHH! Shush! Don't say it! Not here! *Blush* Um... aw, sod it... cat's probably long out of the bag... ];)

Fire Storm again: Napster is peer-to-peer based...

Doug: Got yer e-mail - replied.

Well, later, gang.
Warpmind de InzanE - [warpmind@usa.net]
Middle, Nowhere, Norway
Monday, February 19, 2001 09:26:34 AM
IP: ti21a68-0252.dialup.online.no

<moments of silence> for Dale Earnhardt and Gordon R. Dickson.

<moments of silence> also for local Austin basketball coach Ralph Murray Shaw, artist Balthus, groundbreaking sex education researcher William Masters, and baseball legend Eddie Matthews. All were great people and have recently passed on. :(

<looks around room and spots DC> You! We gotta talk about Kyryn's phone line problems! <DC laughs and says, "What you gonna do, kill me?" Doug shakes his head> Actually, no. They are. <He points behind the Gremlin, who turns and screams as he glimpses seven examples of Wilek and SJ's latest awful experiement, enormous xenomorph-Doberman-vulture crossbreeds, sneaking up on him. Seconds later, they leap to the attack and Doug grins, then stops posting at a censor's request>
Doug
Monday, February 19, 2001 09:22:43 AM
IP: pool-63.52.167.6.dlls.grid.net

I'm having problems with the phone lines tonight and can't get the connection stable enough to finish uploading the new episode. I'll get it up in the morning -- from work if I have to. Expect it up sometime before Noon on Monday Central Standard Time. My apologies for the delay.
Kyryn
Denton, TX
Monday, February 19, 2001 02:07:42 AM
IP: 207.43.204.127

<>*START DC DEATH!*<>

*xenomorphic Scorpion Fire Storm enters the CR and pours a 50 gallon drum of Bone Yard BBQ sauce on DC*
"What the... Why did you do that?" DC yells as he tries to wipe the tasty but sticky sauce off of him.
*XSFS grins as well as he can, then pulls out a propane powered flame thrower.*
"Light 'em up!" XSFX hisses.

<>*END DC DEATH PART 1*<>

DC REALLY pissed me off! I accidently erased all of my downloads of Ranma season 2!
Fortunately, I was able to recover the files I downloaded today.
Unfortunately, I DIDN'T download episodes 1-9 today. All I was able to save was episodes 10, 11, and 12, with some of the files to 13, 14, 15 and 22.

Daniel Johnson: <There could be any number of things screwed up, I'm afraid>
Don't worry. It's not your fault by any means!
If they don't respond to me within a reasonable time, I think I will go Linksys.

Gside: <f you ever get really desperate, I can put upt to 90 megs a time on my eden account.>
Would that affect your daily limit?
<You'd think a species would develop items its own scale>
Well, being one of the only sentient members of my species in the multiverse, not to mention the only sentient one on this planet does have it's drawbacks.
<But you do need some central server to query who has what.>
Thought so. What programs are non-server based? I know there has to be some peer-to-peer programs like that out there.

<>*PART 2 DC DEATH!*<>

4 hours and 450 degrees later...

"Yum yum! BBQ'ed DC anyone?" XSFS hisses as he rips off one of DC's legs.
"Finger licking good!"

<>*END DC DEATH!*<>
Fire Storm - [Night-Flame@usa.net]
Monday, February 19, 2001 01:43:34 AM
IP: 64.109.143.22

<-- Cute kid. :)

Pistoff: The cyber-cookie is yours. Eat hearty. :) Doug and I both really liked Space: Above and Beyond when it was on TV. His favorite episode was the Ray Butts one, I liked the one with Kelly Winslow and McQueen, who I still consider a grade-A hottie. <grin> If only that show's series finale hadn't been so awful...:(

Mandi: She's not dead? I got myself all worked up and anguished over someone I never knew for nothing? Heads are gonna roll for this!! :)

<moments of silence for Dale Earnhardt and Gordon R. Dickson, both masters of their crafts who had to die today>

SOROW: Ah, yes, compliments. Those are always nice to hear. I haven't heard one in a while myself. <gives Doug her hint hint look, he gulps and quickly says something about Kit's eyes flashing beautifully in the moonlight and her hair blowing wildly and wonderfully in the night breeze> Thank you. <grin> Congrats on the date, SOROW, I too hope it works out. And will be sending you my prayers to that effect. The guy sounds like he's great, and that's a good thing. You will let us know how it goes, won't you? :)

Real big post on Tuesday night (ok, maybe not that big since I'm making so many pre-emptive replies, but it will be big! :)
Kitainia
Monday, February 19, 2001 12:48:54 AM
IP: pool-63.52.167.140.dlls.grid.net

Mandolin> Good to hear the rumors of Traci's death were greatly exaggerated.

Toku Kai> <<there’s no cap on regular posts in the CR if your worried about that>>: I thought that's what I was trying to say.
<<I’ve got a marble up my nose … strange thing that>>: You'd be surprised what you can find there. My mother saved a twig that was found up mine, and I once sneezed a jelly bean.

Lynati> <<Lynati comes in, to the blasting sounds of the theme of the Ranma 1/2 movie "Nihao my Concubine">>: Do you think it's worth it to find a subbed OVA 2 for a natural language version of the chorus line?

Warpmind> <<I'm pretty sure WinAmp just kinda-sorta badmouthed me>>: Glad to be of service.
<<Survivor: The Isle of Dr. Sevarius>>: Losers go home as catgirls. Regardless of original gender.
<<I've even WRITTEN stuff that disobeys the letter of that law!>>: Shokushu?
<<Heh, life is crate, aye?>>: Cubic. Wooden it be wonderful?

DPH> <<Not having a device for 3-d motion did not prevent games such as descent from being developed>>: True, but would you want to use that system to reorient yourself in a 3d gui on your os?

Fire Storm> <>: Dojo destroyer/instant nanichuan. Not a bad episode. If you ever get really desperate, I can put upt to 90 megs a time on my eden account.
<<Only one I have been able to find is a atlas>>: You'd think a species would develop items its own scale.
<<Was Scour a server based program?>>: It was essentially napster for other file formats. But you do need some central server to query who has what.

Shadowrider> <<it is quite difficult to find it on Napster>>: I'd disagree on that. I got it on my first try. Not bad, good vocals and some nice guitar work. Occasionally in the intro, it'd remind me a little of the bit in Good Band and Ugly where Paco is running through the tomstones. I think it'll go up next. And remember: GNU's Not Unix.

Sev. Jr.> <<That's why I plan to kick the bucket right in the middle of an orgy>>: I'm waiting for Wilek's response to that.

Doug> << in a spaceship going down a black hole while listening to Johnny Cash>>: Does that mean we'd have to throw out our pancakes? And some people say you never actually make it to the black hole itself.

Mary Flanders> <<Someone aught to do a fanfic where the male cast of Ranma 1/2 does a strip tease>>: Haven't been to the Food Court, have you? http://users.vei.net/jng/fcp/movies/rumic4.html

SOROW> Enjoy the date.

Na zdorov'ya.
Gside - [gside@eden.rutgers.edu]
Piscatway, NJ
Monday, February 19, 2001 12:10:12 AM
IP: gside.resnet.rutgers.edu

::Looks at last post:: ACK! I meant that Ordell wrote the well recieved "Transitions", "Contingencies" is the upcoming episode.
Greg "Xanatos" Bishansky - [Madoc55@hotmail.com]
Sunday, February 18, 2001 11:59:39 PM
IP: dialin-672-tnt.nyc.bestweb.net

My good thing for the week: a fellow coworker of mine asked me out on a date today and I said yes. I sure hope this works out cause he's really nice and he said that I was beautiful. Nobody has said anything like that to me in a long time.
SOROW
Sunday, February 18, 2001 11:12:54 PM
IP: a010-0138.dll2.splitrock.net

*enters snickering*

Oh God...hehehehehe...I just got finished reading a short Rurouni Kenshin fanfic where the male cast does a "Full Monty" strip tease at the restaraunt in the series. :) Oooh boy that was funny. *snickers*

Someone aught to do a fanfic where the male cast of Ranma 1/2 does a strip tease.

Hmmm...maybe I should put that in my fanfic series somewhere...;)
Mary Flanders
Sunday, February 18, 2001 10:57:30 PM
IP: adsl-63-195-144-108.dsl.scrm01.pacbell.net

Doug: I believe that was a reference to an episode of "Space: Above and Beyond" in which something similar happens to a character named Ray Butts. So how geeky do I look now? ;)

Real post later, if RL ever gives me a break...
Pistoff
Sunday, February 18, 2001 10:48:10 PM
IP: ppp110-pm4-coosbay.ucinet.com

Kit and I want to die making out in a spaceship going down a black hole while listening to Johnny Cash. (Cyber-cake to whoever guesses the reference.)
Doug
Sunday, February 18, 2001 10:20:37 PM
IP: pool-63.52.171.191.dlls.grid.net

SJ> I want to kick the bucket like that to ;).

So I'm watching the 10 o-clock news and there's some NUT in Manhattan. A brown paper shopping bag was discovered in an alley containing multiple HUMAN body parts from mulitiple people. WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE!!! I swear, these days it seems like it's insane to NOT be armed at all times.

Oh well, on to some good news.

The next TGS story coming up was written by yours truly, and I'm extremely proud of it. My co-writer was Alan Ordell who wrote the well-recieved "Contingencies". I look forward to the feedback and the constructive critism.

Later.
Greg "Xanatos" Bishansky - [Madoc55@hotmail.com]
Croton on Hudson, NY, U.S.A.
Sunday, February 18, 2001 09:55:09 PM
IP: dialin-672-tnt.nyc.bestweb.net

New pic and color for me. Just one reply:

*** SPOILERS FOR HANNIBAL NOVEL ***

SJ> You hated the ending to Hannibal the book? I loved it. I thought it worked perfect. I didn't like it at first, but I gave it some time, and I can justify it.

Clairice had lost every male figure she had in her life: Crawford, Bregence, her father. The same had happened to Dr. Lecter. He had lost his sister, and everything he had built for himself had been lost. After everything had hit the fan, all that was left for themselves were each other.

Clarice wanted a father; Dr. Lecter wanted a sister.

I loved the ending of Hannibal. If I had to chose a favorite novel, I'd have to say that one.

Now, the movie... everything but the ending was great. The movie took out everything that made the novel so damn good, that your were left with a minimal barebones story...

*** END SPOILERS ***

Just my opinion, of course.

Alan Coleman "Ordell" Waltrip - [alan0815@hotmail.com]
Odessa/Midland, Texas
Sunday, February 18, 2001 09:14:32 PM
IP: d4ixk.odecpe.cableone.net

The Race: Wow. To be hideously morbid, and perhaps insensitive, this is the kind of thing that you know can happen at the 500, the kind of thing that perhaps you expect to happen (although, perhaps not involving a fatality), and yet it still surprises people.

I sort of find the whole thing surreal, since Dale was, according to some at least, favored to win the race.

And I'm sure that I'm going to come across as some sort of asshole here in saying this but....not that I wanted anyone to die....but don't you watch the races to see car crashes? I'm sorry, maybe I'm just evil, but that's the only reason I would watch the race. I don't understand the entertainment value of watching cars go round and round a track endlessly unless it is to catch a crash. Maybe I'm just sick.

Anyway, I'm sorry that Dale died. But at least he died doing what he loved. That's why I plan to kick the bucket right in the middle of an orgy.

Sorry, I'm not trying to make light of the situation, I'm just trying to add a little levity here.

Hannibal: Yes, the movie was severly lacking. On its own, the movie was decent, I suppose. I'm a little biased towards it, because Anthony Hopkins did do a tremendous job, even if what he had to work with wasn't the best, and I did like the gore. But the movie wasn't as good as the book, which is sad, because the book had one of the worst endings in all of literature. I'll never forgive Harris for what he did to the characters at the end of the book....
I think the problem with Hannibal is Silence of the Lambs. That movie was just so damn good, that Hannibal's flaws are just that much more apparent.
Sevarius Jr. - [SevariusJr@excite.com]
Sunday, February 18, 2001 08:55:28 PM
IP: cache-2.lnh.md.webcache.rcn.net

**LC shuffles in**

A moment of silence for the late Dale Earnhardt. Man, #3, you were the best, and from one racer to another, I will miss you, my hero.

Lady Corax
Sunday, February 18, 2001 07:50:14 PM
IP: manzy-mo-1-226.rescomp.arizona.edu

**enters carrying a black bundle and a flagpole under his arm. Erects the flagpole, attaches the bundle to the pole, unfurling it to reveal a black #3 Goodwrench flag. Lifts the flag to half-mast, ties it off, then takes time to observe a moment of silence for Dale Earnhardt.**

Farewell, Intimidator.
Coyote the Bando
Algonac, Michigan
Sunday, February 18, 2001 07:48:11 PM
IP: 216.28.101.39

*de lurks for a second*
I love the new format of the CR, its so fresh, bright and new.....
Unfortunetly, I would ask a moment of silence for a great NASCAR racer, Dale Earnhardt. You'll be missed by race fans Dale.
*pushes lurk button*
Bronx
Sunday, February 18, 2001 07:35:25 PM
IP: ac885537.ipt.aol.com

Very quiet today.

I'm really liking this new dog. He's so good. He does what he's told and is very affectionate, but he does have a bad case of separation anxiety. Probably because he was abandoned by his original owner. I don't understand how someone could just abandon such a cool dog. Grrr...
----
Fire Storm:
Sorry, man. I tried. :( There could be any number of things screwed up, I'm afraid. I don't know if it's an option, but you might consider returning that router and getting a different brand. I use a XRouter from XSense, and it works great. All configuration is done from a web browser and is a snap; no need to mess around with command lines. I've also heard good things about Linksys routers. I hope you get it straightened out. I've been toying with the idea of running my own server as well.
Daniel Johnson - [danielj7@mac.com]
Ocean Grove, NJ, USA
Sunday, February 18, 2001 07:18:53 PM
IP: adsl-138-89-70-193.nnj.adsl.bellatlantic.net

A nice night to everyone here. I post briefly, I have just a few things to say...

***WARNING - POSSIBLE SPOILER***

For one of those weird coincidences, I, like Jannie, have just seen "Hannibal" with my girlfriend (and please don't start saying "You forced that poor girl to see that scary movie!" or something like...actually, it was her who wanted to see it...I was rather going to choose "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"...). I must agree with Jannie - I was expecting something more. The first half of the movie isn't bad at all. Settled in a beautifully photographed Florence, and with the support of a Giancarlo Giannini in his best shape (not to mention Francesca Neri...), it develops the plot in an intriguing way, with a clever game of opposed situations and some very interesting dialogues, poetic quotings and historical reminiscences (although, I must object to the fact that inspector Pazzi is supposed to be descendant of Francesco De Pazzi. In Italy there will be some thousands of people with that family name, and several hundreds just in Florence...) The second half, instead, slips into the classic "serial killer movie" format, becoming predictable and almost banal. The final scene of the dinner is probably supposed to be horrific, but for a viewer used to horror-splatter movies it is nothing special, and even for the others it is just disgusting (and, I think, pretty useless). Julienne Moore is another weak point...she cannot compare even in the slightest way with Jodie Foster, and this affects the whole outcome of the character...the agent Starling in her hands becomes a monodimensional and almost stereotypical figure. In the end, the movie is only sufficient for me...but, I found interesting to see how you Americans like to picture our cities.

***END WARNING***

Gside:> MP3's title is "Il vecchio e il bambino", and artist is Francesco Guccini. Problem is, it is quite difficult to find it on Napster. You could wish to try searching for it on www.gnutella.it (it is an organization similar to Napster, but more devoted to Italian music). I had eventually thought to a rendez-vous on Napster itself, but I think there's no more time to organize it before I leave.

Warpmind:> Hmm...well, for sure you have some points. Anyway, I can tell you that, for example, here in Italy income tax is at 35% (slowly decreasing...about one percentile point a year, some years ago it was at 41%...) so there's worser places to live in. About pornography laws...well, we host the Vatican, need to say anything else? While I must object at your point about weapons...I am pro a strictly controlled weapons market, and I am quite sure that crime is not solved by giving a weapon to everyone...although I must admit that what you say about the police having to carry their weapons in the car's trunk makes little sense. Anyway, you seem quite sure of what you want, so...good luck! :)

Nothing more. Good night.
Shadowrider - [shadowrider@katamail.com]
Milan, Italy
Sunday, February 18, 2001 07:18:18 PM
IP: h255-22-247.mi2.albacom.net

Gunjack> I think it was you that asked about the bombing in Iraq, if not, I apologize. If so, from my understanding of things, the US and British military bombed some of the anti-aircraft command sites that have been shooting too much and with more accuracy at the no-fly zone (or something like that) Bottom line, they were violating the agreement. This was like a "warning" to Sodamn Insane. Of course, I love SJ's explanation much better than mine! *LOL*

I think I'm suppose to put some kind of warning here if I'm going to discuss a movie, book, 'toon, show, etc. right?
Ummm... Warning! Possible spoiler.
I went to see Hannibal today and was a bit disappointed. I felt it was too slow and not enough suspense. It was also very predictable =\ I didn't catch something though.. could someone please help me out? When Mason was telling his story of what happened between him and Hannibal - who did the slicing? Mason did it to himself in being under Hannibal's persuasive influence or Hannibal did it to him? I was distracted during that particular point... argh.
End of Warning.

Doug and Kit> were you able to watch The District last night? =) Nancy and Danny are cracking me up *L* Mannon is really starting to show the emotional/tender side of him, huh? Sounds like the new DA is going to bring some interesting future challenges to Mannon.. hehehe. Next week looks like it's going to be pretty good with the ex-wife's wedding to Albert!
Jannie
Sunday, February 18, 2001 05:30:00 PM
IP: 209.83.228.115

Say... did anyone tape that episode of Pokemon with Glider Saturday? Or, even better, anyone know where I can get the clip where Glider first attacked Team Rocket?
Fire Storm
Sunday, February 18, 2001 03:13:12 PM
IP: 64.109.143.22

Warpmind: <Okay, that just about BRUTALLY MURDERED the sweet innocence of Pokémon in my book...>
...then when Jessie and James were running away, Jessie said something about being careful of the facehugger attack and James said something like "I am running away so it's not my face I am worried about!"

DPH: <3-d user interface>
Very do-able, very possible.
Learn Java and some 3d modeling.

Daniel Johnson: Nope. Didn't work.
Frag it.
I e-mailed the company that made the router.
I have tried EVERYTHING I could think of!

THIS SUCKS! I haven't been able to download from MySpace this weekend!
AND I ONLY NEED 2 FILES FOR Season 2, Episode 10!!!!!

Gside: <Just find an appropriately scaled book>
Only one I have been able to find is a atlas.
<Well, I did get most of mine while scour was still working>
Was Scour a server based program?

Gunjack: <Actually, that was just a case of hitting the wrong key. Danged sloppy typing, I have>
Me too! Thats why those images didn't work! Dang typos!
Fire Storm - [Night-Flame@usa.net]
Sunday, February 18, 2001 03:09:10 PM
IP: 64.109.143.22

I choose this picture as my alternate. Only one color satisfies me.

Last night, Netlag decides to strike against me.

**WARNING:NETLAG VIOLENCE**
DPH pours gasoline all over Netlag. She is quickly soaked and DPH pulls out a flame thrower and catches Netlag on fire.
**END NETLAG VIOLENCE**

Things to look forward to this week:
Me changing my posting times.
Last check for me as a temp.
Either I am somewhat happy or completed ticked off after Monday.

3-d user interface - Not having a device for 3-d motion did not prevent games such as descent from being developed. I say it's time we have one. Heck, I hide the access points to certain programs on the ceiling or at the bottom of a lake. Also, having a 3-d interface would allow for more 'individual' user interfaces.

DPH - [dph_of_rules@yahoo.com]
AR, USA
Sunday, February 18, 2001 01:59:06 PM
IP: max1-39.cwy.cei.net

Warpmind> details smetails
James Birdsong - [LennexMacDuff@yahoo.com]
Token sane guy
Sunday, February 18, 2001 11:33:55 AM
IP: adsl-63-207-129-113.dsl.sndg02.pacbell.net

Water and Milk..Like Sj I prefer juices,milk and soda too water. Now there some medicle uses for colas.
1.Cola syrup is used to ease nausia
2.Dr Pepper was originaly made to help people with constipation.
If its not one thing ith my body its another. The rash is clearing up but now I have chest congestion. I need to make sure I'm allright for thursday beacuase ofa Midterm.. I finished my outline for my script.

Outlaw Star>>>was it me or did the end kind of remind anyone of the Matrix?

Sorrow>>>I hope you feel better soon. I have dealt with stress releated headaches as well. Some things that have helped are herbal teas and baths that are treated with products from Bath and Body Works.

Slayers Next>>>I just finihsed Disc A. Watching it on DVD is great ,especially all the goodies. Do you want to know the goodies? well Now that is a a secret.

Now I gotta fix lunch...wish I had some Sake for my cold.

Spacebabie
Orlando, Fl, U.S.A
Sunday, February 18, 2001 10:32:48 AM
IP: user-37kapff.dialup.mindspring.com

*Warpmind enters, frowning sheepishly.*
Well, while I don't speak Japanese, I'm pretty sure WinAmp just kinda-sorta badmouthed me... :| Last time I download an mp3 Lynati suggests. Then again... ;)

James Birdsong: Actually, the sanity extraction was performed with a really large vacuum cleaner, quite likely with Riff-style mods etc. There was no bio-entity involved in the sanity sucking, except whoever wielded the extractor. ];)

Kit: THANK you. I needed that. :) And late-night 10-hour shifts? Can do. Who needs daylight anyway? ;)

Emambu: Norway's currency is Norwegian crowns (NOK); it's currently at about 8 per USD. Oh, and that conspiracy theorist at work is VERY jumpy. Of course, I don't help, whispering small suggestions whenever he's near. And casting glances in his direction, then lowering my voice if I'm talking to someone when he enters. ]:) I'll have him a babbling lunatic by the end of the week, methinks. ]:) Oh, and I'll have that coke. I prefer not to drink water; fish do icky stuff in it. ];)

Fire Storm: A Pokemon named Glider? Facehugger-style attack? *Grimaces, shudders* Okay, that just about BRUTALLY MURDERED the sweet innocence of Pokémon in my book...

SJ: *Smirk* Methinks the Norwegian version of Survivor is tame... I haven't seen it yet (nor am I likely to), but I hear that they actually get food flown in daily, et cetera. :| Where's the challenge in that? And then they have to participate in all sorts of silly contests... *Shrug* Methinks this CR ought to make a little think-tank to devise a proper Survivor show. Maybe the Amazon? Lots of fun diseases, pretadors and PARASITES there... like the little fish that likes to lock itself into peoples' urethra... ]:) (Even better: Survivor: The Isle of Dr. Sevarius...)

Shadowrider: I know moving to the US is a big change, but let me list a FEW of my reasons (Lynati not included - she's a list of her own):
1: Tax. I am not against taxes, but over 30% income tax, almost 25% sales tax and about 900% tax on any form of tobacco and alcohol (not that I use those too MUCH, I just enjoy them occasionally) is stretching my patience thin.
2: Mostly rotten TV shows. We occasionally get a few good ones from abroad, but most of the time, it's Australian soaps. *Shudder* There are some good US shows that have aired, like Roswell (which hasn't been aired after the first season), and Space: Above & Beyond (which ALSO just offered one season here) and a few others which, most of the time, are replaced by ANY sports broadcast. :(
3: Movies. Usually badly subtitled, and in the case of animation, very badly dubbed. AND there are cases where movies took 17 MONTHS to get here.
4: Tax. I know I already mentioned this, but it's doubly bad.
5: Weapons regulations. I'm not saying owning weapons is a good thing, but I don't particularly like living in a country where gangmembers carry MP5's, while the police aren't allowed to carry their guns on patrol, but rather have to keep'em in the trunk of the car...
6: Tax. Yeah, yeah, but gimme a break here...
7: Pornography laws. I'm not saying I'm addicted to the stuff, or anything, but heck, the law is from 1915!!! For cryin' out loud, I've even WRITTEN stuff that disobeys the letter of that law! *Grmf* (Don't ask.)
This was a short list of some of the major reasons. Hope I didn't mutilate your mind as badly as I've done Gunjack's. ];)

Sorow: Awww, things'll get better. *Hands over shot of FuzzyFeelings(tm)* Here... looks like you need it.

Gside: Heh, life is crate, aye? ];)

Mandolin: Aw, sheesh - you'd almost think a hospital would have better control systems... :| Good thing she's still around, though. :)

Well, that kind of wraps up my post. Pasta la pizza, gang. *Disappears giggling into the Mistletoe Room.*
Warpmind de InzanE - [warpmind@usa.net]
Middle, Nowhere, Norway
Sunday, February 18, 2001 10:15:19 AM
IP: hume.ti.telenor.net

Fire Storm:
OK, I look over the manual you posted, and I think I know what you need to do. Routers are, generally, set up to block any incoming packets that aren't responses to outgoing packets. The reasons for this are complicated, but the effect is to act like a firewall. You need to tell the router to forward packets that you're interested in to your computer. Let's say that the IP address the router has assigned to your computer is 192.168.1.2, and you want to use it as a web server. You need to access the router's command line and enter:

system addserver 192.168.1.2 tcp http
save

If you want to use an FTP server, use 'ftp' instead if 'http'. You can associate as many ports as you want with your server. The router should recognize the common port names like 'http', 'ftp', 'smtp', 'pop3', 'nntp' and the like. For ones that it doesn't, you'll have to use the port number. If you want to associate ALL ports, use '0', but I don't recommend this. You can use UDP ports by replacing 'tcp' with 'udp'. Keep in mind that any ports you open this way will be vulnerable to intrusion, so make sure your server is configured properly. And definitely keep the remote login feature turned off!

Hope that helps, and feel free to ask for more.
----
SOROW:
Eek! I'm so sorry to here that. Hang in there! :(
Daniel Johnson - [danielj7@mac.com]
Ocean Grove, NJ, USA
Sunday, February 18, 2001 10:03:37 AM
IP: adsl-138-89-70-193.nnj.adsl.bellatlantic.net

*Lynati comes in, to the blasting sounds of the theme of the Ranma 1/2 movie "Nihao my Concubine"*

For those of you who care, the Lyrics to "Akane's Baka song", the Mp3 that is currently at Gside's site, may be found at this address:

http://mir.med.Utoronto.ca/ray/Aniverse/aslframe.htm

It's in the Ranma 1/2 section
CD listing: Ranma 1/2 Uta Koyomi (Ranma 1/2 song Calendar)
Track 3: Yasashii, Ii ni Narenai ( I won't become a gentle, good daughter)

...just in case anyone was wondering what I called Valentine earlier. ;)

*Gone*
Lynati
Sunday, February 18, 2001 06:15:42 AM
IP: 207.94.232.37

11th! So close... :)

---Emambu
Emambu - [erikmambu@hotmail.com]
Sunday, February 18, 2001 03:02:45 AM
IP: dhcp81-237.pittsburgh.resnet.pitt.edu

Some things official and serious. Some things less so. Some things just sleep-deprived ramblings. I trust you all to sort them out for yourselves.

Robby regrets to say he can once again, not post to the CR. Due to a flaw in design, the power cord to his laptop is torn, and his laptop has run out of battery power, which can only be replaced by having the power cord plugged in. (You begin to see the problem.) As such, he can still visit and wipe the CR on his other computer, but is once again unable to post. I’ll try and be available to relay anything that I can. :-(

Shadowrider + Gside>> Hey, folks, there’s no cap on regular posts in the CR if your worried about that. I think there is a limit somewhere on the RP volume, but that’s rarely brought up unless it starts getting excessive.

As for getting scolded, to Kirshanta and others>>

I’m sorry I’ve had a redwood up my butt this week. I think - in my own little world - I was trying to work some sort of “third-man-in” rule on fights to try and prevent situations from clearing the benches as the worst flame-wars have when they were in their momentum-gaining stages. I was also trying to separate my emotional state from my administrative state because I felt like I wasn’t managing effectively. The result was treating well-meaning people more harshly than warranted and generally making a complete jackass of myself. In the process, I was making people feel uncomfortable, embarrassed, and jumpy. To put it in the words of a perceptive individual I know, “You really screwed the pooch on that one.”

Anyway, I’m going to try and find a better approach to this. I’m thinking of putting anything below the official warning stuff in private email whenever possible. This prevents public embarrassment for first-time offenses and minor stepping in at preemptive stages. It also gives an opportunity to clear up context issues and lets people explain how they feel or what they perceive is going on without having to make it a public spectacle. Perhaps it’ll prove a useful procedure. Anyway, if you start getting into something that might be a bit … let’s say … antagonistic … with another poster, check your mail before you post.

I’m not saying that people need to avoid hotbed issues and heated discussions by any means. Let them thrive to your amusement or education. It is just the no-flames policy that comes into issue when arguments start integrating personal attacks. As long as people keep things mostly to the issues (and assuming the issues aren’t “you suck” in their nature) rather than “Why should I listen to a ditz like you?” I don’t want to get involved as anything more than a regular poster. Also, as always, please report harassing behavior or personal attacks to the Admin staff instead of responding to them, even if it is an “is not / are too” sort of thing. Responding flame for flame is not going to float on the “well, he started it” defense. I never planned on sorting out the bodies, just put out the fires.

OK, I’ve babbled more than my fair share. I’m going to pretend to sleep now or something … I feel like I’m a couple of cups of milk short of a bowl or Fruit Loops right now anyway … better stop writing before I do something embarrassing …

Gunjack>> Darnit, I was waiting for that pic! You took it! How could you? Whaaahhh! ::runs off crying::

No, its not passed Kai’s bedtime … no … not at all … thank God I don’t have work my RL job on Monday … and I don’t have to be sane most of the time to do this one …

Hm … I’ve got a marble up my nose … strange thing that …

Kaioto - [kaioto@yahoo.com]
Sunday, February 18, 2001 02:26:37 AM
IP: 1cust46.tnt1.brockton.ma.da.uu.net

Mandolin: 
The person that was in the car accident, right?
I hope she is alright, or at least getting better.

You should hear about hospital security...
Fire Storm - [Night-Flame@usa.net]
Sunday, February 18, 2001 12:53:06 AM
IP: 64.109.143.22

Ninth or tenth! :)

Oh, and guess what I found out? Hospital administrators (well, the ones at the place Traci was admitted) are idiots. I just got off the phone with Dana, and it turns out Traci's alive. *sigh* More on this absolutely ridiculous fiasco tomorrow.
Mandolin
Sunday, February 18, 2001 12:43:07 AM
IP: 144.175.21.16

7th, actually.

Wilek> Two seconds. And I know I reloaded right before I submitted.

And inspiried by one of Gunjack's nicknames, I decided to go with something more eastern for the mp3. I give you the Baka Song from Ranma.

Na zdorov'ya.
Gside - [gside@eden.rutgers.edu]
Piscatway, NJ
Sunday, February 18, 2001 12:42:00 AM
IP: gside.resnet.rutgers.edu

Top Ten!!!
Conspiracy Theorist
Sunday, February 18, 2001 12:35:14 AM
IP: ac83401b.ipt.aol.com

Shadowrider> <>: It's not a problem. It can easily be thought of as one post divided through the day. IT's really only a problem when taken to the extreme (see the two bannings to which I recently referred).

Gunjack> <<Note the differince in net postaghe between all your messages and my ONE>>: And let's not mention Wilek or Traveler's old form.
<<Gunjack "Hot Pants" Valentine>>: That's Mr. Hot Pants to you.

Daniel Johnson> MS vs. open source: Been reading User Friendly? http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20010216

Wilek> <<Me only problem now will be deciding which pic to use>>: That one seems oddly appropriate for you.
<<Ray. It's. Looking. At. Me>>: Don't move. It won't hurt you.
<>: True, but if you take Jone's origin into consideration, combined with the similarities between the two, it might just make sense that Zoë is Jone's mother.
<<as the March Hare>>: Do you know why Carroll used a March Hare? Because March was rutting season for hares, and male hares were rather known for their antics during the time. The hater went crazy from the mercury, of course.
<<Actually he reminds me more of me>>: I guess he does look somewhat Sabinesque.
<>: But the 1-ups existed first.
<>: Admirable, but we engineers prize the one over the other.
<<if I'm not mistaken he's the ruler of Lindblum>>: And got turned into a little buglike thing with a mustache, no?
<<Fascinating imagery, that>>: True, but I hadn't though of it that way. And I assume that you do know that a radial arm saw is just a circular saw attached to a rotating hinge.
<<What does porn have to do with lawyers?>>: You'd be surprised. And they must have quite a few copyright lawers on had for all the parodies they make (Jurassic Pork, Saving Ryan's Privates...).
<<Commando...?>>: I believe it's the common way of referrring to going without undergarments.
<<ponders the merits of trading red silk for camouflage print>>: Do they make camo print silk?
<>: True, but what other stimuli do you respond to positively?
<<During any kind of downtime, my brain is in the habit of wondering into places that make me want to rip it out of my head and stomp that sucker into a fine paste>>: Shame, that. It would probably make a good creative stimulus.
<<Ah crud, did anyone fix the ceiling?>>: No one's put any nanites on permanent CR repair yet? Or have they gotten overworked?
<<Miss Narbon is my soul mate>>: I rather thought so. So do you have any plans to deal with Dr. Madblood?
<<Feeling lucky?>>: Engineers have ways of making our own luck.
<<Am...I infectious?>>: I thought that was aa given.

Warpmind> <>: I think an appropriate response shoudl have been immediate crushing by crate.

Welcome Republican Woman.
<<But what it is you conspire about I have yet to figure out>>: Pretty much the standard: galactic domination.

DPH> <<figuring out how to shuffle the deck RANDOMLY>>: I say don't shuffle the deck, just choose a card randomly, and remember which cards have been chosen.
<>: No very good control devices fo 3d.

Emambu> <<Cute. Very, very cute>>: I do try.
<<I'll make sure to put you on the contributors list when we reach 500,000 visitors>>: Heh. Under least contributions? Only 4.6 months though (assuming constant hit rate).
<<don't feel too slighted>>: I did say I wasn't serious.
<<Barry Manilow? But that guy puts to sleep>>: but he has done some good things. They do have their place.
<<Now the question is, would you like a glass of water or coke?>>: Coke. They do own my soul, and Jersey water is worse than anything you described, anyway.

Fire Storm> <<Do you know how hard it is to read a book when your fingers are 18 inches long?>>: Just find an appropriately scaled book.
<>: But the standard music CDs only take 700, and they are more common.
<<And I am only half way through season 2>>: Well, I did get most of mine while scour was still working.

Daniel Johnson> <<you misspelled my name>>: !@#$. I just hit the e a little early.

Shadowrider> <<any ideas about how to send it to you?>>: Let's see, my aim is gside42 , but I'm in the habit of not putting on an away message. I could give you my eden password, but that would give you a little too much information. Or you could just give me artist and title, and hope I can find it by my own devices.

SOROW> Condolences on the hard week.

6th if I'm quick, a little more later.

Na zdorov'ya.
Gside - [gside@eden.rutgers.edu]
Piscatway, NJ
Sunday, February 18, 2001 12:31:25 AM
IP: gside.resnet.rutgers.edu

Top 10?
Wilek "We're all mad here" Nereus
Sunday, February 18, 2001 12:31:23 AM
IP: proxy1.spaceproxy.com

Fifth! ^_^
Lynati
Sunday, February 18, 2001 12:27:35 AM
IP: 205.184.255.175

Forth! ^_^
Dreamie
Sunday, February 18, 2001 12:23:13 AM
IP: ac8cb73d.ipt.aol.com

Ok FINE!
THIRD then!

Sheesh! It's getting so a guy can't be first any more! :)
Fire Storm
Sunday, February 18, 2001 12:14:00 AM
IP: 64.109.143.22

I am FIRSTy! ;)
ARRRRRGGGGG! NO! I AM SECOND!

You know... That does NOT look like Richard is hugging an eskimo! ;)
Fire Storm - [Night-Flame@usa.net]
Sunday, February 18, 2001 12:12:39 AM
IP: 64.109.143.22

SOROW> Hey if you need to talk I'm available. **HUGZ**

That's all for now.
Winterwolf
Bronx, NY
Sunday, February 18, 2001 12:12:31 AM
IP: 1cust140.tnt48.nyc3.da.uu.net

The first shall be last, and the last shall be FIRST!!!

Firestorm - Dangit, I allerted the oposition... ; ) ...Actually, that was just a case of hitting the wrong key. Danged sloppy typing, I have. : P

*Val looks at kit's pick, rubs his eyes, and looks again* ...Dang. Ok, time to decide. TGS, or SMT? Cause I'm gonna start confusing the two if this keeps up...
Oh, and Kit? You forgot about Oni.

And can someone tell me what the heck this is about bombing Iraq? Take pity on the poor, news-starved boy, will ya?

*Goes back to modeling the Xcom handgun, humming "Hasher with a Gym Bag*
Gunjack "Weenie Man" Valentine
Sunday, February 18, 2001 12:12:16 AM
IP: 216-146-183-155.bwn.net