20050529

maybe i forgot i had this?

If I could speak Japanese better, maybe I could understand this. But only maybe.

On an unrelated note...

THINGS THE NEW "PHANTOM OF THE OPERA" HAS THAT ARE CONSIDERED TRADITIONAL OPERATIC ELEMENTS

-Chandelier
-Elephant (technically)
-Comic relief duo
-Murders
-Disguises

THINGS THE NEW "PHANTOM OF THE OPERA" DOESN'T HAVE THAT ARE CONSIDERED TRADITIONAL OPERATIC ELEMENTS

-More swordfighting
-Infidelity
-Ghosts

THINGS THE NEW "PHANTOM OF THE OPERA" HAS THAT AREN'T CONSIDERED TRADITIONAL OPERATIC ELEMENTS

-Miranda Richardson

THINGS THE NEW "PHANTOM OF THE OPERA" DOESN'T HAVE, GODDAMNIT

-Organ-playing

20050523

banned from the dci

While looking for the official draft rules on the WotC webpage, I stumbled across the full list of all players banned from DCI-sanctioned tournaments. Does it say what caused them to be banned? Yes, of course it does! Infractions range from the boring "fraudulent use of a DCI number" to the exciting "Unsporting Conduct Severe - Fighting."

Plus there's the perplexing "Presenting an insufficiently randomized deck." They kick you out for that? "Hey, sorry, but we're kicking you out because we think you could have shuffled your deck a couple more times. Sorry!"

I would like to apologize for these posts with the assurance that this blog will not be entirely about Magic.

20050522

i love products

Yesterday: went to Saviors of Kamigawa prerelease tournament with Megan and Drew. Went 0 out of 4 games in team sealed deck, but ended up with the Howling Mine Guy, Godo, and Cranial Extraction in addition to a bunch of other stuff that nobody really wanted but me.

However: One of the card store booths there was running a wheel-of-fortune-type deal where $1.00 got you a spin that could get you (mostly crappy) cards (although I missed my chance to get a Mudhole, alas). If you hit 0, you'd get to spin the Bonus Wheel for extra-special prizes that were actually pretty good. I spun precisely five times. First go: Rakavolver. Second: Mana Cache. Third: Foil Serra Avatar. It's shiny, flashy, and overpriced, which means that pre-teens (and Conner) just love it. Goddamnit, I don't need a foil Serra Avatar.

I ended up trading it off to some kid in exchange for a bunch of cards I actually want. I like to think of it as spreading evil, since that kid will now ruin all his friendships by lording his foil Serra Avatar over everybody else. He'll just bring it up in conversation whenever possible:

"Do you want to play Magic this
weekend?"
"Hell yes, I just got a foil Serra
Avatar!"
"I got an A on my project! I worked so hard
on it!
Aren't you glad for me?"
"Yes, but check out my foil Serra
Avatar!"
"Hey, did you hear that Timmy died of cancer? Isn't that sad?"
"I guess. Did you know that I have a foil
Serra Avatar?
"
And so on. My fourth spin brought me Psychic Trance, that little gem. And my fifth, last for the night? A booster box of Unhinged. Finally I can sponsor an Unhinged booster draft, not to mention the fact that I can stick City of Ass in my Sliver deck. Total profit for the night: About $120. Goddamnit.
The Actual Prerelease Tournament: Our decks were too big, so we could never find the cards we needed. My deck was still a lot of fun to play, though, because I could draw LOTS of cards. Probably more cards than anyone else in the room. Plus I had a bunch of Soulshift things going on. We still kept on losing, though.
Best Part: Somebody got out Reverence against me, which prevents him from being attacked by creatures with power 2 or less. With a couple exceptions, this means most of my creatures will never be able to touch him. I'm also pretty sure I have no way to get rid of the Reverence, but I decide to drag this out until the bitter end anyway. I end up losing the match simply because we run out of time in the round. Fun!
Unrelated: Today I bought clothes. I like clothes. Also a CD, but I won't say which one.

20050520

wake up

This is the internet record of one "Erik William Anderson Bear," aged 18 at present.

Entries will likely be sporadic and/or late at night.

Origin of Name: This is one of the keywords that the Overwatch Control Voice will say in Half-Life 2.


Edit: Archiving old subtitles:

1"Dropped bio-signal from protection teams"

2"The world won't change, all it does is turn"

3"Wish I had a socket set
To dismantle this morning"

4"I will rebuke your offerings,then spread dung on your faces." -God (Malachi 2:3)

5"No wonder it was only a seven hour war"

6"Uh-oh, it's morning time again"

7"Instead of death - firecrackers!"

8"even when mind and strength had gone, gratitude and a mutual tenderness still lived on in the heart of man"

9"And when he runs, he runs the fastest
He spins the Earth right on it axis"

10"Lonely hearts still beat the same
It's not romantic
It's just automatic"

11"We are all very interested in the future, for that is where you and I will spend the rest of our lives"

12"
All that remained was a dark red blotch on the face of the earth, blotching things up"

13"They follow each other
One
After another
After another"

14"Your weapons are useless against me"

15"He gives up on using his words and tries to communicate using only his eyes. Oh, how they bulge and struggle to convey unthinkable meaning."

16"The owls are not what they seem"

17"Technically you would only need one time traveler convention."

18"But there's no sense crying over every mistake
You just keep on trying 'til you run out of cake"

19"All these worlds are yours except Europa. Attempt no landings there."

20"What can change the nature of a man?"

21"Funny as Hell, it was the most horrible thing I could think of."

22"
I'll make a voice like all of time and all of the fog that ever was; I'll make a voice that is like an empty bed beside you all night long, and like an empty house when you open the door, and like trees in autumn with no leaves. A sound like the birds flying south, crying, and a sound like November wind and the sea on the hard, cold shore. I'll make a sound that's so alone that no one can miss it, that whoever hears it will weep in their souls, and hearths will seem warmer, and being inside will seem better to all who hear it in the distant towns."

23"
Definition: Love is making a shot to the knees of a target 120 kilometers away using an Aratech sniper rifle with a tri-light scope. Love is knowing your target, putting them in your targeting reticle, and together, achieving a singular purpose against statistically long odds."

24"I fought at the north wall! I fought at the south wall! I was everywhere!"

25"Mama, here comes midnight/With the dead moon in its jaws"

26"Hiding in the shadows/Where we don't belong"

26"Yes I know it was late/We were greeting the sun/Before long"

27"Did I dream you dreamed about me"