Open Thread

Open thread today, talk about anything you want to.

20 Responses to Open Thread

  1. Coming at you from an undisclosed location where they pay me by the hour…

    Anyone else been checking out Defiance on Syfy? When I saw that Rockne O’Bannon was on board, I had high hopes because I love Farscape. So far… meh.

    What’s ruining it for me is the forbidden teenage romance. It’s too “Twilight” with the little d0uch3 sparkly vampire kid. Guess I was expecting something more along the lines of “mature” Syfy. I understand that they are trying to establish the setting in the middle of the action, but it’s rather contrived.

    Speaking of which… there has to be a literary or theatrical term for “establishing the setting in the middle of the action.” I just can’t think of it right now. Adding history or background as you tell the story. Filling in the gaps to explain current events, provide character motivations, or twist the plot.

  2. Prof. Abercrombie Q. Anthrax says:

    I’ve started reading Dark Horse’s compilations of the old CRIME DOES NOT PAY (The title begs to be written like that. Even more so, imagine some stentorian fellow bellowing that. But anyway…) title.
    CRIME DOES NOT PAY was originally published in the 40s by the long-gone firm Comic House, Inc. It’s content of true crime stories, all rendered in bright, solid color, made for great popularity on the newsstand and great hatred by critics. In the end, CRIME DOES NOT PAY, Comic House, and countless other titles and publishers were undone by Seduction Of The Innocent, the Kefauver Commission, and the establishment of the Comics Code Authority in 1954.

    It’s a nice antidote to the grim-and-gritty schlock getting hustled nowadays. The issues are reprinted complete with vintage ads (always another source of good laughs), and unaltered. The art adds a few extra chuckles, but not dismissively. Color combos get crazed, the action comes rapid-fire, and the effect is like good whiskey. You may knock it back one time, another time sip and savor.

    CRIME DOES NOT PAY may come off as laughable to modern eyes, but it’s another part of our comic heritage, and an important one at that.

  3. Prof. Abercrombie Q. Anthrax says:

    Atomic Punk, is the term you’re searching for “en (or in) medias res”? If I remember right, that’s the term for establishing setting in that manner.

  4. Keric says:

    Guess this is the place to say it, I have been Off of HM for awhile now, BECAUSE My father caught a trojan on our home computer network, this took me completely Offline for awhile, I’m sorry for the problems that it caused. L8rs will be setting up a gallery or two in forums!

  5. darkvatican says:

    Anything I want?! Cool.

    I say dwarves. Dwarves are cool.

  6. Prof. Abercrombie Q. Anthrax: in medias res

    Yes, thank you! Not enough room in my head to prepare a budget report and think of literary devices at the same time. I’ll sneak a peak at Dark Horse over this weekend. Haven’t read any of their titles in a loooooooooong time.

    @darkvatican: I’ve never been a fan of facial hair. If I had three wishes, my first would be that I would never grow whiskers!

  7. peak = peek.. argh… back to the spreadsheets…

  8. Keith_Kanin says:

    Is anyone watching Game of Thrones. I started watching on the recomendation of a friend. I will give the warning that I wasn’t given, it is NOT kid friendly. That being said, I have really enjoyed the show. As soon as I can find them all, I have decided to start reading the books that the show is based on.

    As a fan of the show, and a facebook user, I saw this in my feed today and thought that I would share it with the Hero machine community. I know how much everyone here likes contests. It would be great if someone from this family could win with an original HM work of art. Good luck.

    Game of Thrones

    Submit your original creations to the Game of Thrones Tumblr and compete against other artisans of the realm in our Fan Art Challenge: http://gameofthrones.tumblr.com/
    (NOTE: If you want to enter the contest please tag your work with “GoT Fan Art Challenge”) — Works of the Realm Part II (23 photos)

  9. Circle Girl says:

    I noticed that there haven’t been any new items or conversions in a while. Are those no longer done, or did I miss something?

  10. darkvatican says:

    I think Jeff is just busy, CG. That’s just my guess.

  11. Kaldath says:

    Circle Girl:
    I noticed that there haven’t been any new items or conversions in a while.Are those no longer done, or did I miss something?

    I had just spoken with Jeff on this subject about a week ago. He says he is sorry for the delays on Heromachine updates but that between work and home commitments that he is extremely busy. He does plan on doing more work on Heromachine but at this time has no time table on when we can expect anything new.

  12. TOOL says:

    So I have been wondering, just how far back can we post on different blog link? I mean I have actually gone through everypost HM has even posted anywhere on the site one day to catch myself back up. This was back when I got back into HM some time back because I had left after HM2 then seen there was a 3…Anywho I noticed per say you can like post something on a blog from like a year ago. So just how far back can we go if we wanted to post something for some reason?

    also…
    I have kinda liked what I have seen of Defiance, but I havent had time to catch too much of it.
    I have been meaning to watch game of thrones, but I have been watching vikings.
    The item making and redesigning has been put on a temp hold yes, I have already been down that chat road myself.
    Oh and I hear dwarves are excellent sprinters.

  13. CantDraw says:

    Defiance is okay but I think it would be better if they sent in some Volge to kill off the teenage romance. Yo, Atomic Punk you work in spreadsheets? That’s my bread and butter along with databases.

  14. Herr D says:

    @KeithK: Don’t buy them if you can get a sample for free, I’ve been warned that the books’ author of GoT doesn’t know where he wants the story to go. (grrmartin?)

    . . . and as a writer, I know the one thing you MUST have if you allow a vast cast of character? Story direction unity.

  15. TOOL says:

    My wife wanted to start working out with me because she’s tired of being overweight she says. Of course I don’t think she’s that bad off but I told her if she wants me to train her I will support her but she has to adhear to my training and stick with it. Maybe if I help her lose some weight I can get her to stop complaining about how fat she thinks she is. That stuff gets anoying after a while right guys lol I found some info from back when I was in the Army and made some blank characters courtesy of HM and made it all into a nice fitness packet I am going to present her with tomorrow. I train each morning by running 3 miles and doing this obstacle course near my house 2 times. So when I do the APFT it should be easier.

  16. Herr D says:

    @Tool: a lot of personal trainers refuse to help family, esp. spouses. For the same reason it’s against the law to perform surgery or counsel family / spouse. It can cause problems. Good luck.
    . . . on the other hand, a fitness packet might have a place on Forums . . .

  17. @Keith_Kanin: I have not watched or read any Game of Thrones. Mainly because I don’t subscribe to cable and I’m not much of a reader. I’ll ask my niece to fill me in. I trust her judgment on what TV and movies to see.

    @CantDraw: Hard to define what I do. Basically, I’m a project assistant. Spreadsheets and databases are about 50% of my job. Despite the mundane and repetitive nature, I manage to sneak in some color and artistry in my presentations. A Volge waxing little emo-boy would definitely make me more receptive to Defiance.

    I didn’t care for Vikings for the first two episodes. It was like Sons of Anarchy with boats instead of motorcycles. But now, I am hooked. I think it was supposed to be a docu-drama highlighting Viking conquest of England. It became so popular that they added another season (which isn’t until 2014!). Huge schoolboy crush on Lagertha.

  18. Scatman says:

    The Atomic Punk: Coming at you from an undisclosed location where they pay me by the hour…Anyone else been checking out Defiance on Syfy? When I saw that Rockne O’Bannon was on board, I had high hopes because I love Farscape. So far… meh.What’s ruining it for me is the forbidden teenage romance. It’s too “Twilight” with the little d0uch3 sparkly vampire kid. Guess I was expecting something more along the lines of “mature” Syfy. I understand that they are trying to establish the setting in the middle of the action, but it’s rather contrived.Speaking of which… there has to be a literary or theatrical term for “establishing the setting in the middle of the action.” I just can’t think of it right now. Adding history or background as you tell the story. Filling in the gaps to explain current events, provide character motivations, or twist the plot.

    I agree totally!!I watched the pilot and expected to see this awesome story plot around great sci-fi effects and costume.I was thoroughly misled!the plot is great and the story just isn’t!O-well what did I expect,Star wars?Of course that is a bad comparison,I just wish the show was as cool as the game…and that isn’t even much to write home about.

  19. TOOL says:

    Herr D: @Tool: a lot of personal trainers refuse to help family, esp. spouses. For the same reason it’s against the law to perform surgery or counsel family / spouse. It can cause problems. Good luck.. . . on the other hand, a fitness packet might have a place on Forums . . .

    She seemed to be okay with my idea. She didnt like that the stardard female body off of HM, she said it wasn’t realistic LOL. I told her maybe she could look like that with some time. If anyones that interested I can scan and load my stuff to my photobucket and then post here so people can see what I came up with. Its kinda rough but will get the job done. If anyone wants to revise or clean it up their welcome to it. Its a physical diagram for males and females with markers to each part of the body with lines to place measurements. Then to the side I put lines for different info like name, weight, and date. Its really for tracking and testing. As far as my personal day to day workout its kinda like I said earlier up. I switch it up sometimes because I have ADHD when I workout. I like to do several different stations or things. I cant just lift for 2 hours. I will go mad. Well let me know peoples…

  20. Nate_The_Prate says:

    My computer carked it a few days back and as a result I have been a slack-ass. My humble apologies and my all your base belong to you…