Posts made by Warma Sheen

@Roz I would agree with your statement, but it did not apply to me. Most people did forgive it. I did not. I love Hugh Jackman. He's awesome. But his character was hollow. He could have played any generic or original super hero ("Claw Man!") with claws and nothing would have changed. He wasn't Wolverine. In this case, height matters. He was better suited to playing Sabertooth.

Wolverine was short, underestimated, overlooked, and disregarded his entire life. This created a huge chip on his shoulder that he could not get past. It made him cranky and touchy, downright unlikable to most, and prone to overreaction due to his Napoleon complex. People look at him and immediately discount him. This pissed him off and he fought using the chip on his shoulder as much as his claws. His combat was rabid and frenzied and always turned up to 11 - just like some small animal that is known for taking down much bigger prey that I can't quite recall at the moment...

This is Wolverine. What Fox did was reduce the character of Wolverine to his claws and his healing. As long as those were there, to them, the character was Wolverine. It wasn't. Not to me anyway. The claws and the healing were just features. Everything they disregarded was the character of Wolverine.

I think they figured, most people paying for the movie don't read comic books and those who do aren't intimately familiar with Wolverine's relationship to his height so ultimately it won't matter. And for the most part I think they were right. However... It was this same kind of corner cutting and overall lack of detail that went into every aspect of their films that made all the Fox superhero movies blow chunks compared to the Marvel movies.

The main thing I regret about MUs when I was younger was just getting started. If I could go back and not start, I would. It wasn't at all what I thought it was while I was playing it and it wasn't what I wanted it to be. I wanted an online version of a tabletop game (because my gaming group broke up) and it wasn't that at all. I wanted action and adventure and everyone around me wanted drama and TS. People would constantly look down on me and bad mouth me because what and how I wanted to play "wasn't the right way" (or some version of that). By the time I learned what was "socially acceptable" on a MU, I was so angry and resentful at having to play everyone else's way that I was just pissing people off and allowing people to piss me off on a constant basis. I never believed (and still don't) that MUing was a "collaborative writing experience". I'm not sure where that concept came from but I've rarely seen it apply to any MU*.

I was a very negative person for several years in large part due to my frustrations on MUs and with life. Eventually, it made me hate online gaming altogether. Self sabotage is a bitch like that cause I was basically addicted like a crackhead. I loved the high of MUs but couldn't see that the fun times were increasingly outweighed by the frustrations and shit slinging I was taking my way. Whenever a new game would pop up and I'd get that little spark of hope that this one would be better and I'd be let down all over again. I've spent hours, days, weeks, months, years of my life online on a MU, trying to get 'fun' to happen when I could have been out actually doing fun stuff.

It wasn't until I was older and wiser that I realized that the trade offs were not worth it and I was happier not playing at all, than finding little bright spots here and there while being frustrated and annoyed (or worse) all over the place more often than not.

I still think the biggest problem in MUs is the toxic community of players that doesn't really change. Not a lot of new MUers. Same bad people, only a few of which grow and mature. Others carry grudges for years or decades.

I still think too many people bring their RL issues (mental or emotional) to games and expect other people to accommodate them. MUs are not group therapy sessions or outlets for you to unload on others.

I used to think it was fun to find new and unique ways to "win". I swear I learned that from reading "Ender's Game" when I was little. But I missed the part where everyone fucking hated Ender and wanted to murder him. So I don't think its applicable on MUs anymore, if only because it annoys everyone else and ultimately makes everything else less fun for you in the long run.

I still think ICA has to equal ICC if you expect to have any theme on a MU. And not just between PCs, but from staff too. They need to bring the NPC folks that keep people in check in the first place, not just the NPCs that end up as event fodder. Every MU I've been to people do eyerolly stuff consistently because there are no real consequences. People are far too touchy about character death and character control and so consequences go out the window and inanity builds more and more until it overflows into complete theme abandonment and obliteration and even the staff can no longer rein it in.

I have learned to temper my expectations on what I'm getting out of a hobby (not just MUs but any hobby) and that has helped me enjoy the things I do in my life a lot more. And to better evaluate if it is something I want to keep doing or when to quit. I've learned that I'm not responsible for anyone else's fun so if I want to quit a game I can do so and not feel guilty for the people left behind.

I've learned that good staff are undervalued and underappreciated. I used to believe that anyone could be a good staffer so long as they had the right mindset of what the game is about. I've since learned that such is not true.

I've learned that bad staff are overly tolerated. I used to think you can just ignore bad staffers, but I've learned that just their presence infects the game and spreads negativity which spoils a game from the inside out.

And I've learned that no matter how right you are or how great your idea is, it is far more important how you express those ideas or opinions that determines whether people will take you seriously. It applies to RL too, but far, far more on MUs.

@Admiral It didn't end how I'd have liked, but it wasn't terrible... well, no, it was. I tried. But finales are too often like that, unfortunately.

Still, it doesn't keep me from wanting to see 4. I'm curious to see what 20 years can bring to the table. Whacko Wachowski has had both very good and very bad stuff in those 20 years. Let's see where this one falls.

@Auspice said in Good or New Movies Review:

Sony: Rather than admit it's Marvel's guidance and influence that made Spider-Man successful again, we're gonna fuck off and go back to what we were doing. Peace.

Fuck Sony. They let the Disney/Marvel team do all the heavy lifting and now they want to continue to milk all the profits for themselves as they ride the momentum someone else built for them. Short-sighted, greedy ingrates. It'll all fade pretty fast once Marvel gets rolling on their next story arc and Spider Man isn't a part of it. What a waste. Marvel just wanted an even split and it wasn't enough that they just made a billion dollars off of them on one movie? This makes me want to stab Sony executives in the face...

Been playing Orbus VR Reborn on the Oculus Quest. It is fantastic fun. A full MMO experience in VR. 8 classes and you can play them all on the same character. Dungeons, groups, raids, all the stuffs. I didn't think they were this far along with VR but it plays great. Its like living Everquest.

Also, you can invest a lot of time into it with new material unlike most of the other VR games out right now which only have a few hours of content, if that.

I think it is obvious that the Lakers are done trying to rebuild their team through the draft. Yes, they have gotten some players that seem like they should be very good, but it hasn't done anything from them. And after their disappointing 4th in the draft this year, they're turning to doing it like the recent champions have done it. Free agency. They are betting big that they won't need their next 3 first round draft picks.

Also, after all the problems the Lakers front office has had, they are trying to fix it all by just winning. As an organization, it would be worth the extra payout. The Lakers, as a commodity, has always had a strong image. But after years of losing the mess with Pelinka and Johnson (and the recent coaching search fiasco) have put the Lakers name in the toilet. Magic Johnson = Lakers. And after buying into the Dodgers, Magic Johnson has been closer and closer to fully beloved status across LA. And now Johnson has thrown the entire organization under the bus.

On the surface, it looks like they overpaid. But if they can start winning next season, all of that will be forgotten. And that would definitely be worth it, but that's a big IF. It is a calculated gamble that could work out very well for them. Especially with the Warriors out for the year. I just don't know that just LeBron and Davis get them there though. LeBron wasn't impressive last year. The year before that he willed the Cavs to the finals but he couldn't do much with what the Lakers had. Some because he's in decline, some because the roster was a mess. But just getting Davis doesn't get that done.

I don't think there's any way KD plays next year. No one expects him to and no one faults him. And no one can push him into trying to come back early without proving definitively that they have no soul.

The Raptors, remember, were only a very long game 7 bounce away from even advancing in the playoffs. Hopefully, this shows other teams that they can make runs to the finals by just playing solid team basketball without needing 3 superstars. Leonard did it once with Spurs, then again with the Raptors. The Rockets need to learn this. They should have already and that is the major fault of their organization. You know the Sixers are saying 'That could have been us'. And I wouldn't be surprised if people start counting the Warriors out. Hopefully they learn to start playing real basketball again. Sloppy play cost them games they didn't need to lose. (And I'll always and forever question their lack of 4th quarter effort to win game 1.)

I'm happy for the Raptors - the Warriors have won way too much to feel too bad for them - but the injuries kept the series from focusing on basketball. The KD thing just plain sucks, but we all knew he shouldn't have been playing. Looney playing with torn cartilage in his ribs was boss especially since he was ruled out of the series. Thompson wasn't someone they could win without if KD was already out. When he went down it was a wrap. You could see the Warriors knew it right away. Curry's look was so depressing. It sucks for Thompson and it sucked for what had become a good series.

Also the Raptors played an amazing series and deserved a better story than 'Yeah, you won but only because of all the Warriors injuries...'.

As a side note: It was interesting to see Thompson running through the tunnels and on the court on what turned out to be a torn ACL. I'm glad people saw that. People don't really understand how complicated of an injury it is. You basically can't feel it all - until that one moment you move the wrong way and then it feels like someone stabbed into your joint with a jagged ice pick.)

I would love to be excited about Cyberpunk 2077, but it is way too far off for me to even think about. 10 months? That's excessive for a pre-order for me. Though in the days of people funding a game before its even made, I guess it isn't that long.

Also, to me, the Avenger game doesn't look great at all. What I've seen so far has been pretty meh. Not only does it look dated, but the generic likenesses are super cheezy. Good luck with that one. I don't anticipate it breaking any records. Not good ones, anyway.

And the Oculus Quest has proven to be crazy fun. And a good work out. I got Vader Immortal and the lightsaber training is very fun. The story mode lasts about 5 seconds, but just lightsabering training droids and blaster bolts in a cord-free virtual environment has been hours and hours of sweaty fun. It does use all the space around you so you do have to (get to) turn around and watch out for attacks from behind. Lightsabering is not as physically intensive as boxing, though. Boxing in Creed and the training that goes with it really takes work. Loving it all around. VR games don't tend to have a very long story, but I guess the value is mostly in training high scores and multiplayer modes.

Coming down the stretch of game 5, they won that game with lights out 3 point shooting from Thompson and Curry when they were down by 6 to go up 3. I'm reminded again of Game 1 where they didn't even try but a single 3. I bet if they knew what position they were gonna be in right now they'd have tried harder to win that game. Shame on them for that.

I think the Warriors as an organization are shocked and confused that they can't handle the Raptors. I know I am. I think they thought it was gonna be an easy win and their best effort wasn't necessary. They weren't ready mentally and then as the injuries piled up, they took a beating physically. I don't fault them for not being able to win without 2 of their best. But they should be able to win without KD. They just have to stop ignoring basic fundamental techniques that are taught in every high school gym in the country. But they are so used to playing sloppy, its almost like they can't break their own bad habits. Even in game 5, they couldn't stop turning the ball over on mental errors and silly mistakes in the last 4 minutes of an elimination finals.

I'm shocked. I'll admit to being totally wrong on this one. But it has been some intense basketball watching, which I did not think I would have this year. So that's a win. And as a GS fan, I like that I can like the Raptors as a team, even in this situation. Class acts.

I'm surprised at how sloppy Golden State is as a team. I've noticed over the last couple of games and held off mentioning in case it was a fluke, but no. They are just horribly undisciplined. Besides the bad passes that the announcers have mentioned, there's no hustle for rebounds on most plays and no hustle back on defense for at least one person on every play. Its kind of embarrassing.

Yeah, they won tonight, but they aren't the better team on the court and you can feel it consistently. Golden State has better players. Toronto has the better team.

Edit: Also, props to Durant. He clearly wasn't ready to come back and he tried anyway and risked a lot.

@Jaded Yes, please. Let it die mercifully. Fox needs to just give up already and let Marvel/Disney move forward with it. If they can do with X-Men what they did with the Avengers, that would be amazing. Not likely, but I can still dream.

And yeah, I've heard really bad stuff about Dark Phoenix. Really bad stuff. I won't see it until it goes to video.

I saw them losing the second one. No Thompson? Not great odds. Even with Curry dropping 47. But not yesterday. That was a shock. Obviously, Thompson wasn't 100%, but it seemed to affect them more on defense than on offense. Toronto is on that hustle.

Also, what happened to Cousins? He had one great game, then disappeared. Only 19 minutes in game 4, 1-7 shooting. Just when I was about to get on board with him, he goes out and shows me why I think he's overrated.

Anyone think Durant is gonna strap on a cape and come save the day? Or is it really an achilles tear that he has and not just a calf strain?

@Apos That's a great example. African dialects definitely aren't one of those things people line up to experience. But that's why it is called a risk. Sometimes it pays big. Sometimes it sucks. You never really know what is gonna pay out. If you did, it wouldn't be a risk... So playing it safe is often the call. Especially in big franchises.

But Marvel has taken a lot of big risk that have payed out. Then again, as was pointed out, there were some risks they did not take which we'll never know how that could have turned out (admittedly, I don't know anything about the Captain Marvel stuff so I can't say to much there).

And at the end of the day, it isn't our millions of dollars that are at risk so it is a lot easier to make those calls form the cheap seats.

@SG Yes. This is what news in Canada consists of. Throw in a few pics of beautiful landscapes, a few selfies, a sport report, and you've got yourself a full broadcast.

@Sparks I totally agree. 100%. I'm not saying any of it is right. But how do you expect to encourage change if you don't correctly identify the problem? I mean, I get that people rail just to rail. But you could call it for what it actually is.

At the end of the day, it is obvious that the story that wanted to be told is not the story that was allowed to be told.

@insomniac7809 said in Fandom and entitlement:

"We wrote a gay couple but didn't acknowledge it" doesn't stop being chickenshit because it might annoy China or Russia.

You make it sound like producers are hiding in a corner scared, instead of making decisions that make money. These decisions aren't driven by fear. They're driven by greed.

Someone is making that decision. You have screenwriters, you have a director, you have producers. All these people have input into the final product. You think they're all scared of something? That seems downright silly. You must have a very, very different world view than me. If so, that's cool. To each their own.

But I doubt it.

@insomniac7809 said in Fandom and entitlement:

I don't believe this has anything to do with what works best for the story, as opposed to being too chickenshit to acknowledge a gay relationship in text rather than subtext.

This. Except what you call 'chickenshit' the execs call 'good business', like @Ghost said previously. If the last 3 years has shown anything, it is that hate is not extinct in the world. At all. Even a little bit. There are still many racists, bigots, and all manner of adjacent haters, all of whom are consumers. And not just in Western countries. There are plenty of movie dollars to be made all over the world, many of whom are no where near as "inclusive" as the US.

Trading smaller cash returns for openly acknowledging potentially scandalous text in a movie isn't good business. Even in Hollywood. Its sucks. But that's the world we live in.

Analysis: Raptors are done. Warriors in 5. Unless the Raptors win the next one, in which case: Warriors are done. Raptors in 6. That seems to be how analysis is done these days.

Otherwise, I didn't notice anything hinky in the last game and I was paying attention. Curry was off on his shooting, but that happens every now and again. Cousins played great and validated (very briefly) what everyone keeps saying about him. I give him credit for the fact that he played a lot more minutes than he was supposed to. Hope those injuries on aren't serious. I hate when the series is decided by who is not playing. Except in KD's case. I'm okay with him being gone.

I don't know the Raptors that well, but obviously a 20 point swing is gonna kill any team. That was a bad stretch where they couldn't hit a thing. Rough. Though it does say something that they still almost won. I do hate when teams play 'not to lose' like the Warriors did when they tried to slow things down and run the clock for the full 24 only to end up being forced into bad shots at the end. I think it hurts more than helps to take the 'bleed slowly' option. But that's a legit tactic.

@Sparks Thanks for the review. I've never owned a VR system before but I've been waiting to own one since I played a VR game in a mall in Miami in 1993 / 1994. It was nothing like it is today, but it was amazing for me at the time. It was probably the thing that turned me into a nerd more than anything else. I've stayed away from the previous systems because I didn't like the idea of cables and I would have yanked them out of one end or the other.

Also I've never played Beat Saber but everyone raves about it. I don't see the appeal, so I'm excited to be impressed by it.

@Ganymede said in The Basketball Thread:

And if I had to place a bet on injuries, I'd say that both Curry and Thompson are nursing undisclosed injuries, which would explain why they aren't hitting the 3s and why the Raptors beat the Warriors on fast-break points.

I'd agree if they were taking a bunch of threes and missing. But they weren't. They were hitting. Shooting 50% on 3s is great. The fact that they just stopped shooting them toward the end of the game... that's just weird.

But I'm just gonna wear my tin foil hat till Sunday and yell at the TV while I take my notes and file them behind the Roswell aliens, the 2nd gunman in Dallas, and the moon landing (the shadows are off, the shadows are off...)