craigoxbrow

Planning for the Nationals 2012 is underway, including the all-important "new categories" phase.

Currently in the running:

The separation of the old and new WoD systems - will both get enough people? Personally, when I was playing WoD I liked a bit of variety... as long as I didn't have to spend half the adventure in the bloody Umbra again.
A Pirates! category - surely that's more something you attack other categories with? If you can't fit pirates into an RPG category you're just not trying.
The various 40K RPGs - I'd suggest WFRP as well, the grand old man of British RPGs seems like it deserves a shot.
Doctor Who - which I like, as you may have gathered, but I'm not sure the game's big enough to get a category to itself. And I'm not just saying that as I want to run it in my category what I made up.

Thoughts?

So, TRON Legacy. As previously noted, a huge 3D CGI spectacle based on a property I think is basically shit. But hey, matinee showing.

Not as bad as the first one, I guess.

Michael Sheen as Eddie Izzard as David Bowie was quite amusing.

Sam bleeding when cut neuters the threat of all those instant-kill weapons.

They were clearly very proud of CG Youthified Jeff Bridges. And shouldn't have been. He sort of worked in two shots, when lit from below so you can't see those lifeless shark eyes. If they hadn't shown him in the flashback I'd have guessed it was on purpose.

Hey, it's Cillian Murphy! ... Um... for a minute.

I didn't even like the music that much. It doesn't help that the main theme made it into the trailer... and something very like it into the trailer for Inception. So whenever it went BRRRRRRMMMMM diddlediddlediddlediddle BRRRRRRMMMMM diddlediddlediddlediddle I was thinking of a movie I liked much more.

Trailers: Gulliver's Travels. Really? Gnomeo And Juliet. Really? Emily Blunt is in both of these. Clearly she should only ever be approached in 2D format.

And Pirates!

Where the 3D looks pretty much like "yeah, three layers will do" cardboard cutouts, apart from the bit where the sword goes through the door.

First look at McShane and Cruz having a disagreement with Captain Jack Sparrow.

Yes, I know, bloated monster two-part sequel, but now a lean one-part sequel, might help...

Also in the group, Jack Sparrow And The Last Crusade?

Captain Jack Sparrow addresses the audience directly about all these rumours that he's planning a voyage.

Since "Captain Jack Sparrow lying cheerfully" is one of the consistent pleasures of the series, I'm there opening day.

I thought you might be interested in games I considered for the weekend before going with the Uncharted game. Some of these one-shot notions may recur at a later date.

( If there were ten of me, the GM shortage would have been sorted weeks ago... )

Looks like Eden Studios might actually be able to release books this year. Not the five completed Buffy and Angel books, of course, and the only Cinematic Unisystem book on the slate is one that I will not be buying, so it's of mostly academic interest to me. But hey, maybe they can get Arrgh, That Be Zombies out in time for Pirates 4.

... So I was at work, a-coverin' the lunch shift on account o' one o' the landlubber interns goin' off to photograph a friend's weddin' - drinks all round! - when one o' the films comes offa the spool. So an hour later it's back on an' fixed an' playin' away all happy likes again. An' I swear to yer, ten minutes later there's this sort o' whooshy spoolin' noise an' it's the other one spillin' onta the deck.

There's some days as you just can't win. Savvy?

Art joke responses to Disney buying Marvel trickle in. In my case, I ended up with an example where the Disney character is far cooler and more visually interesting.

Captain Jack Sparrow Versus Namor

Although in all fairness, Marvel's token sea-related hero is less cool and visually interesting than the Little Mermaid.