tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6188119851730922397.post8776759991433047776..comments2024-03-28T08:50:57.015+01:00Comments on Beyond Fomalhaut: [REVIEW] Deep Carbon ObservatoryMelanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07165894144553629675noreply@blogger.comBlogger41125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6188119851730922397.post-50504863632202628332017-10-10T22:41:33.352+02:002017-10-10T22:41:33.352+02:00It actually does not play how it is characterized ...It actually does not play how it is characterized in this review at all...my group enjoyed it on all levels, including the moral conundrums, some very funny interractions, and ultimately settling/setting up DCO as their base with all it's quandaries and conundrums (i.e., the module has enough wealth in it for do gooders to actually help those in need, and actually make a real impact for those in need, long term, including the homeless and the orphaned- this might not be apparent upon first glance, but player agency can do wonders to alleviate suffering).Shivahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01221965860071283428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6188119851730922397.post-14120708805999275102017-09-26T04:33:12.732+02:002017-09-26T04:33:12.732+02:00The worst thing about Game of Thrones and this is ...The worst thing about Game of Thrones and this is the disease of contemporary fantasy in books and on screen is gender equalisation. So we have the grand mockery of the physically pathetic sex fighting on equal terms with men. If fantasy is anything it is a multiplier and should make women increasingly irrelevant, physically and mentally in accord with all the scientific evidence available. <br /><br />Instead, contemporary entertainment culture uses fantasy to equalise gender abilites, and the very stupid in our population 80% ? suck this up and RESENT with all their will. Kenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11165997449776226774noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6188119851730922397.post-56886151460721328442017-09-25T01:27:18.015+02:002017-09-25T01:27:18.015+02:00Lang's Die Nibelungen is extraordinary to look...Lang's Die Nibelungen is extraordinary to look at now that it has been refurbished, I have used stills in my game to help with atmosphere. In one sense it is a shame that the silent era didn't last until say 1960 which would have allowed to form a large library of true art-films, before speech moved things down a different track.<br /><br />Sometimes I find it useful to ditch the odious piano track, or the clumsy modern classical track and just play some good slow mood music, Klaus Schulze et al. Although the harp track on Faust works well.<br /><br />Chimes at Midnight, again restored, is exquisite and one of my favourite films. His Othello and Macbeth have also been restored and are excellent, but Falstaff was the perfect role for Welles.<br /><br />I wanted to like Beauty and the Beast but couldn't and I found Vampyr disappointing coming after Ordet.<br /><br />==Franju's Judex - Jacques Rivette's Duelle <br />Never heard of them. Will take a look.<br /><br />There is something alienating in true fantasy, which by definition should be original in order to move/disturb the mind, alienating in the sense that it is unlikely to be effective as a communal experience because it is inherently strange, and individuals have a more varying reaction to strangeness than to the quotidian, and so true fantasy is a troublesome commercial prospect.Kenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11165997449776226774noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6188119851730922397.post-16032419366781413212017-09-24T20:09:45.358+02:002017-09-24T20:09:45.358+02:00Very few movies have captured that quality, and th...Very few movies have captured that quality, and the only one that does it perfectly is <b>De Nibelungen</b>, with its happy accident of talent, budget, and technological restrictions (too early for dialogue, it necessarily invests its power in broad gestures and mytzhic vistas).<br /><br />There is actually something in <b>Chimes at Midnight</b>, not strictly fantasy, but it might as well be - here, it is the combination of great acting talent and a great director working under severe financial strain and delivering his best.<br /><br />Cocteau's fairytale <b>Beauty and the Beast</b> count, too; once again, the budget is minimal and the tricks are obvious, but the magic works.<br /><br />There are a few more in modern-day fantasy: Dreyer's <b>Vampyr</b> (uneven, but great where it counts), Franju's <b>Judex</b> (although it is more like a talented retroclone of Louis Feuillade's original genius), Jacques Rivette's <b>Duelle</b> (he got close in some of his other movies, but always dropped the ball - this one, though, is pure magic), and Kubrick, Tarkovsky and Lynch in some of their work.<br /><br />Much of what was intended as fantasy from the get-go never even got close, not even the good ones.Melanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07165894144553629675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6188119851730922397.post-15752684610364268482017-09-24T08:16:16.453+02:002017-09-24T08:16:16.453+02:00Im an old Twin Peaks fan, just season 1, but was d...Im an old Twin Peaks fan, just season 1, but was disappointed with the latest offering, some excellent high points but too much inevitable dull for-TV padding. The BBC had it right, 6 episodes per season, no fat.<br /><br />I use this tool often for TV shows, and I noticed that the same director has 3 of the top 4 GoT episodes, notably with very good battle scenes.<br />http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0944947/eprate<br /><br />==otherworldly quality<br />What films if any have successfully captured this for you? Isn't it a shame that At the Mountains of Madness hasn't been made into a movie yet. Off the top of my head, 2001 (with thanks to Ligeti), Whistle and I'll Come to you - 1968 J. Miller, Stalker 1979. Tobe Hooper's Salem's Lot is one of the few horror films I like. I think the vampires are as impressive as Ive seen and the house is horrific.Kenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11165997449776226774noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6188119851730922397.post-69509212845031093572017-09-23T10:45:53.851+02:002017-09-23T10:45:53.851+02:00Collectively written works always have that proble...Collectively written works always have that problem unless a creator with a strong hand can keep both the writers and the producers committed to his vision. That doesn't happen often (the new Twin Peaks was an extreme outlier), and you end up with series which are all over the place.<br /><br />WRT the CGI landscapes, what I have seen is fairly good, without the uncanny valley of bad CGI, and using the locations effectively. However, it is still just fantastic realism, without any real otherworldly quality. Of course, that realism is precisely what GoT is going for, but that's part of the reason it doesn't interest me.Melanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07165894144553629675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6188119851730922397.post-20004112520902320822017-09-23T05:52:22.437+02:002017-09-23T05:52:22.437+02:00Carrying on the GoT commentary, it is a very topsy...Carrying on the GoT commentary, it is a very topsy turvy affair with fluctuating directors. So you could condense GoT relying on specific directors/writers except for information which has been farmed out in intervening episodes. Weak episodes may have excellent performances from key actors or 6 minutes.<br /><br />I am beginning to think that the attractiveness of GoT lies in the high quality acting, and equally the seductive CGI landscapes and middle ages architecture. And not the plot. The acting will last. The CGI and the plot will not.Kenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11165997449776226774noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6188119851730922397.post-85758989129244253372017-09-17T00:31:24.641+02:002017-09-17T00:31:24.641+02:00All I know is that Settembrini, who is a snob with...All I know is that Settembrini, who is a snob with reservations about the mediocre Game of Thrones, has contempt for the Mentzer Basic D&D. This I know through a sententious compound of judgment, astrology and and odorous conflagration of unholy desert powders.Kenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11165997449776226774noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6188119851730922397.post-90894504824093929672017-09-16T23:04:41.962+02:002017-09-16T23:04:41.962+02:00My interest in swashbuckling hasn't ventured b...My interest in swashbuckling hasn't ventured beyond the Richard Lester Three & Four Musketeers movies, but I do really like those.<br /><br />"dirt, porn, and torture"<br /><br />Soft porn on TV seems a complete waste of time and money with so much porn readily available. This seems to be injected because it hasn't been done before and they can now get away with it and because it makes female characters more interesting in a world in which they would not be dramatically interesting at all.<br /><br />I could have done without the torture scenes in which are unearned by the scriptwriters, and while they can be shocking on a first viewing (will they - won't they) are cartoonish the second time around. I think there is a place for the depiction of torture in a history or narrative which focuses heavily on war, cruelty and violence, but it should be sparingly used if it is to have an effect, there should be an important plot/character need for it and it may be more powerful to suggest it than show it.<br /><br />I like the dirty fighters with their dirty faces, armour, words and outlook. That might be the core surviving achievement of the show that dirty fighters were presented in style. Kenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11165997449776226774noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6188119851730922397.post-35665312168163180692017-09-15T08:33:38.786+02:002017-09-15T08:33:38.786+02:00Interesting. This is also an accurate description ...Interesting. This is also an accurate description of the countless swashbuckler films which populated TV in the 1980s; mostly good while they lasted, mostly not very memorable once they ended. If you watch a lot of them, you tend to notice the actors (look! It's Jean-Paul Belmondo!) more than the actual plots. The latter tend to be sufficiently interchangeable to take a character or plotline from one and drop it into another without anyone noticing. Then on the top you have <b>Rinaldo Rinaldini der Räuberhauptmann</b>, the best collection of adventure film clichés collected in one package.<br /><br />I suspect GoT fills the same general niche in the popular imagination, except for the modern fascination with dirt, porn, and torture (and its various combinations). It is historical fantasy instead of fantastic history because western culture has been conclusively severed from its historical traditions, and so on and so forth.Melanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07165894144553629675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6188119851730922397.post-73392550906063468622017-09-15T02:23:12.772+02:002017-09-15T02:23:12.772+02:00Yep, Im reviewing the 1st/2nd seasons and my opini...Yep, Im reviewing the 1st/2nd seasons and my opinion is lurching all over the place day by day depending on what mood I am in with a large dose of wishful thinking and benefit of the doubt going on. However good/ok the tv show is I am still puzzled by how much better it is than the execrable books.Kenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11165997449776226774noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6188119851730922397.post-47901043414766306192017-09-15T02:16:17.349+02:002017-09-15T02:16:17.349+02:00Fast food is about right, tasty snacks with random...Fast food is about right, tasty snacks with random sauce after a night out.Kenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11165997449776226774noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6188119851730922397.post-63314179585820643282017-09-14T16:49:00.037+02:002017-09-14T16:49:00.037+02:00GoT as a TV show is like a Dan Brown novel, or a b...GoT as a TV show is like a Dan Brown novel, or a bag of Chips: while you are at it, you want more, you do not stop, but when its done, it's just done and you move on. YMMV, of course.Settembrinihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10393110320011475891noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6188119851730922397.post-74242899458420682432017-09-14T08:37:08.389+02:002017-09-14T08:37:08.389+02:00I have to say it left me completely cold. Not even...I have to say it left me completely cold. Not even any antipathy - just the inability to draw and sustain my interest.Melanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07165894144553629675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6188119851730922397.post-1788706100671667042017-09-14T07:16:30.271+02:002017-09-14T07:16:30.271+02:00I have made a claim that language, control of lang...I have made a claim that language, control of language, is the most important means or the most imposing implement when trying to capture a fantasy environment. However, I find Game of Thrones unreadable junk in book form but compelling in TV form with no improvement in language but exceptional production and captivating performances from the actors.<br /><br />So maybe language is not the be all and end all. GRR Martin deserves credit as the originator of an excellent TV show, huge credit, even if the source material is rubbish. There is so much brilliant fantasy fiction out there, Gene Wolfe, Hodgson, Leiber, which is ignored by HBO, but perhaps hollywood producers know better.<br /><br />My point is that I hold firmly to the notion that language is the most important ingredient in fantasy creation, but I am puzzled by how convincing GoT is on TV.Kenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11165997449776226774noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6188119851730922397.post-39898728454075099072017-09-12T22:16:32.304+02:002017-09-12T22:16:32.304+02:00Settembrini, fair enough except for 'Aesthetic...Settembrini, fair enough except for 'Aesthetics are always morals' but I don't want to go into that here.<br /><br />Melan, I was responding to other chap.Kenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11165997449776226774noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6188119851730922397.post-47813402300660940912017-09-12T11:58:09.923+02:002017-09-12T11:58:09.923+02:00Kent: Once again, I posted my personal, unenforced...Kent: Once again, I posted my personal, unenforced opinion about the module, described where my issues lay, and why that may or may not be relevant for you, the Other Reader. The review then goes on to discuss the <i>aesthetics</i> and <i>craft</i> of the module, noting its imagination, interactivity and mostly game-friendly focus, while criticising its problems with hidden depth. I am sure it gives a fair and sufficiently complete picture to let you, the Other Reader form a picture about it, and decide whether it is or isn't for you. Looking at the replies above yours, the review works. The rest is fighting against strawmen you erected yourself.Melanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07165894144553629675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6188119851730922397.post-60993955347191870232017-09-12T06:45:00.337+02:002017-09-12T06:45:00.337+02:00mmm...I do not think you really grasp the European...mmm...I do not think you really grasp the European experience that is informing my viewpoint. You seem to be fighting your US-based culture war, which neither I, nor Melan, are a part of. I appreciate your intention of trying to root out phillistines who, in their okie-yokel way, reject anything non-bowlderized and thereby lose out on a big chunk of western culture and art. ANd that you reject self-proclaimed liberals who are basically coastal-yokels and just as limited in their understanding. In short: your kneejerk is uncalled for, our argument is different. Misery tourism is not always deep just because it annoys the people you do not like.<br /> <br />Aesthetics are always morals, btw. At least according to my boys Kant and Schiller. Just so that you know: I do think Patrick and Zak describe a world of shit, but never do they force upon you to act like shit. Their despair and misery, especially with Patrick's work is always leaving the option on the side of the players what they do in face of misery around them. That is markedly different from a lot of the "death-metal-evul-will-win-muharhar"-darkness that some other LotFP products field. Anyhow, I looked around YDIS and KnK yesterday and THEIR kneejerk reaction to "darkness" is probably what you see in my or Melan's views. They are different, though.Settembrinihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10393110320011475891noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6188119851730922397.post-49298095322755738432017-09-11T23:48:45.979+02:002017-09-11T23:48:45.979+02:00Is the author of an heroic fantasy novel a hero? I...Is the author of an heroic fantasy novel a hero? Is he somehow admirable because he 'fantasizes about it'?<br /><br />Moralizing about fiction and art is something people who want to tell you how great they are do. It is obvious they want to talk about themselves, particularly their virtue, and not the work.<br /><br />The valid approach to expressing a reaction to art is aesthetic. Presenting an evil woeful world is a difficult challenge for a writer. You need a solid grasp on language to sustain tone and need to be perceptive to describe convincing characters for the environment.<br /><br />An acceptable negative reaction to such work is 'I don't want to go there' but not 'I don't want to go there because ... [self-serving sunday school and pop-psychology moralizing]' .Kenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11165997449776226774noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6188119851730922397.post-13864424085047284342017-09-10T19:20:48.033+02:002017-09-10T19:20:48.033+02:00If something ugly and/or vile is in an artists wor...If something ugly and/or vile is in an artists work, I always ask myself: "why did he put it in there?" For Street rap music, it is very clear: it's descriptive not normative. Thereby a mirror of society. Thereby generally justified.<br /><br />But in a D&D fictional work, the freedom given to the author let's you wonder much more whether the artists describes evil because he has seen and lived through it or because he fancies & fantasizes about it. <br /><br />For Patrick I have my own answer (I am a big fan!), but asking the question is neither dull nor useless. Settembrinihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10393110320011475891noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6188119851730922397.post-57818167547476323232017-09-09T10:36:21.100+02:002017-09-09T10:36:21.100+02:00Now that's something I approve of. Good job.
...Now that's something I approve of. Good job.<br /><br />I loved the strata of vampire ashes, swords, etc. That's imagery straight out of Moorcock's best work.Melanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07165894144553629675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6188119851730922397.post-10715342798632636042017-09-09T10:34:02.275+02:002017-09-09T10:34:02.275+02:00Correction: it is not virtue signalling, but somet...Correction: it is not virtue signalling, but something I genuinely believe. I will accept prudishness as a compliment.<br /><br />Interesting, though, that just like the one I wrote about Carcosa, this is <b>the</b> review nobody liked - not its fans and not its enemies. I will accept that as a compliment, too. Thanks, folks.Melanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07165894144553629675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6188119851730922397.post-67498703330179374272017-09-09T08:47:04.869+02:002017-09-09T08:47:04.869+02:00Well I'd argue that Carcosa is excellent. It f...Well I'd argue that Carcosa is excellent. It feels like the brainchild of a lobotomized Sade and a narrow-minded 14-year old overflowing with hormones. It has its moments of visionary scenes, but mostly it's just downright dull ("30 Orange Men in a castle" and such). The cosmic dangers and the arbitrary nature of the blasphemous magic system are so exaggerated that it teeters over from being frightening to just comical. You have a ridicilously slight chance of summoning some unspeakable horror (which will probably devour you if you succeed) if you commit a string of terrible deeds, just for the sake of being oh-so-nasty. Has anyone tried using the setting exactly as it's written? And who's the juvenile here, really?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6188119851730922397.post-65717363852550946152017-09-09T04:44:56.507+02:002017-09-09T04:44:56.507+02:00"it is misery tourism pure and simple"
..."it is misery tourism pure and simple"<br /><br />"It bothered me in the otherwise excellent Carcosa, and it bothers me in the premise and details of this module too. So many evils are visited on the hapless residents of this little corner of this fantasy world I don’t even know about that it somehow feels unjust. Of course, the existence of evil is the wellspring of adventure, but can you really make a difference at all?"<br /><br />==<br /><br />As a review this is virtue signalling prudishness. If anything there is an unwelcome abundance of teen friendly, cartoon evil in D&D modules that comes across as childlike and Victorian. There is more evil in the gentle weird fiction of MR James, Blackwood and Machen than most of the osr. Don't use the word Evil if you merely mean Naughty Outlaw or 'has teeth' or 'moving statue'.<br /><br />The dullness in your approach to reviewing is that you can't treat modules like Carcosa and DCO, which are well written in a style appropriate to their theme, fantastic evil and disaster, as deservingly occupying or trying to describe a nook in the D&D atmosphere. You have to treat them as if every module must strive for a bland, generic, vanilla, child friendly moral tone. Particularly when writers, like Geoffrey and Patrick, are using language more effectively than anyone else in the osr they should be judged for their intent and effect, and not how they accord with the bog-standard.<br /><br />'misery tourism' - that is a lazy cliche and I detect in your case resentment if not a sort of moral frigidity which is as common as it is ridiculous in the D&D community.<br /><br />Kenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11165997449776226774noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6188119851730922397.post-43748255892006058782017-09-02T10:39:17.925+02:002017-09-02T10:39:17.925+02:00The whole river part did nothing for me, so I ditc...The whole river part did nothing for me, so I ditched it. The observatory itself was a blast and I liked it very much. Also, the players loved it. Nota Bene: We played it in our RIFTS campaign. So all the wild concepts that Patrick is throwing out there do not overpower the setting that the RIFTS Megaverse is. In fact, DCO is a very good fit for RIFTS, especially because it struggles with infinities and deep time and thereby allow to show the vastness that is the Palladium Megaverse.<br />My only gripe with DCO is that sometimes his geology is overstepping the bounds of reason: a geological stratum made up from Vampire ashes implies such a large number of Vampires beyond any belief. Patrick is a language artist, not a numbers man, I got the feeling. Some Fermi estimation in the XKCD-style would have been in order.Settembrinihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10393110320011475891noreply@blogger.com