The Unofficial Badmovies.org Random Thought Thread!

[Alex]

Finally got around to starting a new D&D campaign last night, my first one where all the players are in different countries. Everything worked out, although it did come close to a first session TPK (Total Party Kill) when they decided to take on a minor bad guy, but while low on health. Wrote up a what was supposed to be a short summary of the game, which ended up being pretty much my longest ever blog post. Looking forward to next week's game.

[Newt]

I think Dr Who is screwed.  
If they start writing it for a woman, it's screwed.  
If they write it for a woman-acting-like-a-man it's screwed.  
The whole point of gender not mattering is gender not mattering.  

The Doctor is simply the Doctor.  Not a woman playing the Doctor.  Not a woman playing a man's soul in a woman's body.  Just a decent person trying to be reasonable and helpful and principled and kind (insert excerpts of the Doctor's speech to the Master here).  I think the level of writing ability they have displayed in the last year or so is definitely not up to that.  Not at all.  Not even close.  They'll have the Doctor acting like a stereotypical woman and alternately acting like a mannish woman, as fits the plot-du-jour.  Anything else is too subtle for them to pull off in terms of script and direction.   I pity the actress.

I actually thought you were joking, Sister Newt and then I saw you weren't. I don't actually know what to say about the fact that Dr Who 13 is a woman and I'm the son of a feminist.  

Trevor, I don't have any faith in the ability of the writers to be un-self conscious about it.  They should write the Doctor as the Doctor; no change just because the actor is a woman.  They have not demonstrated the ability to pull that off.

eta: It  shouldn't make any difference.  But I expect it will.

[AoTFan]

Finally got around to starting a new D&D campaign last night, my first one where all the players are in different countries. Everything worked out, although it did come close to a first session TPK (Total Party Kill) when they decided to take on a minor bad guy, but while low on health. Wrote up a what was supposed to be a short summary of the game, which ended up being pretty much my longest ever blog post. Looking forward to next week's game.

Oh, cool!  Been a long while since I've been able to play D&D.  What version are you using?

[Leah]

Welp, I have another job interview tomorrow. Currently in full panic mode.

[AoTFan]

Welp, I have another job interview tomorrow. Currently in full panic mode.

Good luck!

Remember, they want to know what you can do for them, so when they say, "Tell us about yourself" it's not really a "list your hobbies" question.  (Took me a bit to figure that out.)

[Alex]

Finally got around to starting a new D&D campaign last night, my first one where all the players are in different countries. Everything worked out, although it did come close to a first session TPK (Total Party Kill) when they decided to take on a minor bad guy, but while low on health. Wrote up a what was supposed to be a short summary of the game, which ended up being pretty much my longest ever blog post. Looking forward to next week's game.

Oh, cool!  Been a long while since I've been able to play D&D.  What version are you using?

Playing 3 / 3.5 and its set in the Forgotten Realms.

[ER]

I think Dr Who is screwed.  
If they start writing it for a woman, it's screwed.  
If they write it for a woman-acting-like-a-man it's screwed.  
The whole point of gender not mattering is gender not mattering.  

The Doctor is simply the Doctor.  Not a woman playing the Doctor.  Not a woman playing a man's soul in a woman's body.  Just a decent person trying to be reasonable and helpful and principled and kind (insert excerpts of the Doctor's speech to the Master here).  I think the level of writing ability they have displayed in the last year or so is definitely not up to that.  Not at all.  Not even close.  They'll have the Doctor acting like a stereotypical woman and alternately acting like a mannish woman, as fits the plot-du-jour.  Anything else is too subtle for them to pull off in terms of script and direction.   I pity the actress.

I actually thought you were joking, Sister Newt and then I saw you weren't. I don't actually know what to say about the fact that Dr Who 13 is a woman and I'm the son of a feminist.  

Trevor, I don't have any faith in the ability of the writers to be un-self conscious about it.  They should write the Doctor as the Doctor; no change just because the actor is a woman.  They have not demonstrated the ability to pull that off.

eta: It  shouldn't make any difference.  But I expect it will.

Newt, honey, if you think there is no difference in men and women, you have not been paying enough attention in life.

[ER]

Finally got around to starting a new D&D campaign last night, my first one where all the players are in different countries. Everything worked out, although it did come close to a first session TPK (Total Party Kill) when they decided to take on a minor bad guy, but while low on health. Wrote up a what was supposed to be a short summary of the game, which ended up being pretty much my longest ever blog post. Looking forward to next week's game.

Sounds like you had fun.

I bought my first new MTG deck in....seven years...last week, because the Egyptian artwork on the release interested me. I find the new series of Magic that have come out in this decade, though, are so intent on introducing novel themes to the game, to keep it fresh and keep people buying, that there is a strong danger in eroding the integral concepts that makes MTG what it is.

I get where Wizards of the Coast are coming from from a business standpoint, and if you're a serious gamer you are going to feel curious about a new ability being brought in and therefore buy a 2017 core set for twenty bucks a pre-con, because let's face it, after you've built a dozen decks, isn't straight-up 4/4 damage coming off a creature essentially going to affect the game identically whatever the creature you've cast is? So mixing things up with terms that force a player to make a purchase or get left behind is smart as a bottom line, but as a purist, I think it's undermining the game itself.

I remember my friend who has played D&D his whole life saying that was what was going wrong with that game, changes, changes, changes that drew focus on minutia and made questionable new ideas more important than what was time-tested and proven. So he and some others he plays with rebelled and are part of what he calls OSR---Old School Renaissance. They play only by the pre-Second Edition Gygax-era rules, central character classes devoid of specialization, simpler combat, and say they enjoy it better, that the game flows more quickly and is more appealing when broad overviews replace up close focus. (Just his words, I don't know what broad focus versus up-close refers to but you likely do.)

I bought those cards mainly to look at, but when I have been able to get her to sit still long enough in summertime I have played some enjoyable games with my daughter lately, my first in years, so I might see a return to dueling Magic again in my life.

Oddly despite my personality, I do best with decks built around white mana, and detest blue, which in real life would seem to fit me as I like knowledge and studying and an oblique assault over a head-first charge. (Strange world...)

Hope you have fun in your gaming.

[javakoala]

I think Dr Who is screwed.  
If they start writing it for a woman, it's screwed.  
If they write it for a woman-acting-like-a-man it's screwed.  
The whole point of gender not mattering is gender not mattering.  

The Doctor is simply the Doctor.  Not a woman playing the Doctor.  Not a woman playing a man's soul in a woman's body.  Just a decent person trying to be reasonable and helpful and principled and kind (insert excerpts of the Doctor's speech to the Master here).  I think the level of writing ability they have displayed in the last year or so is definitely not up to that.  Not at all.  Not even close.  They'll have the Doctor acting like a stereotypical woman and alternately acting like a mannish woman, as fits the plot-du-jour.  Anything else is too subtle for them to pull off in terms of script and direction.   I pity the actress.

I actually thought you were joking, Sister Newt and then I saw you weren't. I don't actually know what to say about the fact that Dr Who 13 is a woman and I'm the son of a feminist.  

Trevor, I don't have any faith in the ability of the writers to be un-self conscious about it.  They should write the Doctor as the Doctor; no change just because the actor is a woman.  They have not demonstrated the ability to pull that off.

eta: It  shouldn't make any difference.  But I expect it will.

Newt, honey, if you think there is no difference in men and women, you have not been paying enough attention in life.

While I have higher hopes and have been advocating a female Doctor since the rather fey Peter Davidson days, I think I understand Newt's argument.

I THINK she is saying that the Doctor is THE DOCTOR, whether he is young, old, fat, thin, white, black, male, or female. The only real difference between the Doctors, other than who played the character, is the personality brought to the character. Part of that is the actor themselves, but it also depends on the writers and their skill at establishing an independent character mold for each new Doctor.

Newt seems to be saying that, instead of just giving the new Doctor a solid personality that would work whether it is male or female (which is fairly true of most of the previous incarnations), the writers, who have apparently been slipping since I quit watching during the David Tennant period, may rely on more stereotypically girlie elements to create the Doctor's persona this time around.

Is that about right, Newt?

Personally, I always thought that, when the Doctor shifted into a woman's form, that the Doctor's basic response to the change should be, "Hmm, well, I'll need a different wardrobe, it appears." Then that should be the ONLY concession to the sex change.

A smart move would be to have the people the new Doctor meets treat her differently and have it cause the new Doctor some confusion. "What does it matter how I look? I AM the DOCTOR!"

[Newt]

Newt seems to be saying that, instead of just giving the new Doctor a solid personality that would work whether it is male or female (which is fairly true of most of the previous incarnations), the writers, who have apparently been slipping since I quit watching during the David Tennant period, may rely on more stereotypically girlie elements to create the Doctor's persona this time around.

Is that about right, Newt?

Personally, I always thought that, when the Doctor shifted into a woman's form, that the Doctor's basic response to the change should be, "Hmm, well, I'll need a different wardrobe, it appears." Then that should be the ONLY concession to the sex change.

A smart move would be to have the people the new Doctor meets treat her differently and have it cause the new Doctor some confusion. "What does it matter how I look? I AM the DOCTOR!"

Thank you, java, that is about it.      I appreciate your 'getting it'.

[indianasmith]

The only thing I hate worse than mowing the yard is when I finally start mowing the yard and the mower craps out!!!

[Newt]

Newt, honey, if you think there is no difference in men and women, you have not been paying enough attention in life.

Well, sweetie, it becomes debatable as to just who has not been paying attention.  In terms of behaviour (and physical characterisitics as well for that matter but let's not get too anthropological) the current trend is to see all humanity as being on a broad spectrum.  There is a great deal of overlap and one category blends into the next. Making generalisations based upon what group an individual may appear to belong to is so passé.

[ER]

One of the many (many many many and did I mention many) things that bugs me about this casting decision on Doctor Who (or the show occupying that name these days) is how it retroactively invalidated a firmly established law of the Time Lords.

If someone remembers, back in or just after the Keys To Time series/season, with Tom Baker and Romana, Romana, herself a Time Lady, lamented that she could not turn into a man, and the iconic fourth Doctor spoke about how gender-shifting was impossible for Galifreyans. (I think I have my ducks in a row there, I was only about seven when I saw it.)

Even a fantasy has to play by its own rules. But it doesn't matter, like I said I am finished with the show, it hasn't been good since mid-way into Matt Smith's time.

Now if you will excuse me, I have to go deposit a fat commission check (by my standards) and take someone to lunch.

accusare nemo se debet nisi coram Deo

[ER]

Newt, honey, if you think there is no difference in men and women, you have not been paying enough attention in life.

Well, sweetie, it becomes debatable as to just who has not been paying attention.  In terms of behaviour (and physical characterisiticsa as well for that matter but let's not get too anthropological) the current trend is to see all humanity as being on a broad spectrum.  There is a great deal of overlap and one category blends into the next. Making generalisations based upon what group an individual may appear to belong to is so passé.

Hmm, I'll think about that while I go to lunch with a man who has known lots of women, and see what he thinks on your theory that genders are interchangeable.

[ER]

Newt, honey, if you think there is no difference in men and women, you have not been paying enough attention in life.

Well, sweetie, it becomes debatable as to just who has not been paying attention.  In terms of behaviour (and physical characterisiticsa as well for that matter but let's not get too anthropological) the current trend is to see all humanity as being on a broad spectrum.  There is a great deal of overlap and one category blends into the next. Making generalisations based upon what group an individual may appear to belong to is so passé.

Hmm, I'll think about that while I go to lunch with a man who has known lots of women, and see what he thinks on your theory that genders are interchangeable.

PS The idea that gender does not matter drove David Reimer to take his own life. Another victim of theory over tradition.