Things took a turn for both the obscene and obsequious and Pedantor proved he could crawl even lower into the gutter he calls home and Warren was bested by Cracklor, a skypeovore that feasts on distorted, craptacular VOIP. Oh, and somewhere in this menagerie of madness the sometimes forgotten but certainly notable “Boom Town” was commented on by the Three Who Rule.

Direct Download

Show Notes:

- Black Guardian trilogy DVD…details!
- Andrew Cartmel writing for…Torchwood?
- Doctor Who…movie?
- Boom…Town!

Interessierte Mitwirkende für ein PulpMag.
(= (Kurz)Geschichten: Fantasy, Horror, Phantastik, Mystery.)

Per Lulu oder ähnlich kostenlosem OnDemand. Es sollten außer dem Kaufpreis keine Kosten für irgendwen entstehen.

Magazin wäre jederzeit löschbar=begrenzt herausgebbar=keine Probleme wenn man die Geschichte(n) nochmal woanders veröffentlichen will.

Gesucht: Mitschreibende, Mitlesende, Mitkorrigierende, Mitherausgebende, Mitwerbende, Mitschaffende.

Shown in the Cinestar, Düsseldorf.

Depois da divulgação da mudança do nome e da marca do canal Syfy, já estão sendo inseridas na programação do canal as vinhetas que revelam a mudança. Apesar da característica sofisticada atribuída a marca, as peças produzidas pela excelente produtora Blind, mostram uma irreverência através de situações surreais que ilustram com clareza a ideia do slogan “Imagine Greater”. Ou seja, ficou explicitado que as atrações do canal surpreendem de forma ainda maior do que o grandiosamente imaginado, assim como o próprio rebrand. E tudo isso é conseguido através de uma ambiente tridimensional de certa forma aparentemente paradoxal, isto é, simples, formado por objetos e cenários minimalistas e predominantemente brancos, bem como se apresenta também a nova marca. A aplicação de outras cores e texturas, aliás, são extremamente pontuais. Contudo, o modo como esses elementos são integrados, aliados a uma animação bem executada, conferem mais força ao trabalho e reforçam ainda mais o novo conceito do canal.

Veja em HD

>>> Ficha Técnica

Ano: 2009

Canal: Syfy

Produção: Blind

>>> Contribuições: Motionographer

I wanted to write something easy, something I didn’t have to think much about and sex came to mind. But oh boy (no real boy intended), there was something to think about, a new theory of relationships lurking in the corners of my mind. First, the sex talk. Despite the fact that it’s been overanalyzed and over exposed especially after the ’70’s when other pleasurable indulgences were growing wings, people hardly get tired of talking or reading about sex.

@@@@@@ 

When people make inquisitions about sex, what do they get? Truthfully, aside from the stack of porn (overexposure of sex) a lot of people interested in sex have in their private collections, I don’t know. I know it is a basic need people constantly want to make better. Now, you’re getting the drift. This is not about talking about the sex act. You may be chilling with Dew, but not that much. Just giving you what you may not get elsewhere—the talking about sex talk. Far from it, I am not an expert on how to enhance your sex life, drive, or organ (Still a myth if this happens in men. What they’ll give!). But there are those who say they do know these things. And since I also do not have the ability to invade the specialized psyches of those who say they know, I am still not an expert.

@@@@@@

But while in the real sex talk mode, we’ll have to go beyond dumb stuff statistics. Some of these sex experts say men think about sex every 7-30 seconds. I say that’s dumb stuff. Real men who understand the real sex talk don’t. But a lot of men go along with it. Why? Because they’ll rather blame nature for their inability to control their sexual urges, their cheating ways that is. Dumb stuff. When you can not use your mind, your better judgment to control your sexual instincts, that shouldn’t be being a man, that’s being dumb. They’re more animalistic than human.

@@@@@@

Humans are defined by their intellectual capacity, the ability to capitalize on their minds more than their instincts. Such a man who can not reign in his instincts is less human (inferior in this sense) than a woman who can. To think otherwise is not to be intellectual. It is dumb stuff. Tough talk uhn…Dewlogic…but truth must be uncovered. Those days of self sustaining over inflated male egos are slowly eroding and men can now start seeing the illusions they’ve built around themselves for so long, or remain in the dumb stuff category where women can point them out.

@@@@@@

Where do men who work and thrive have the time to think about sex 4 times a minute (at every 15 seconds)? Maybe the experts meant to tell you the men to whom they refer are the inferior kind. These men are somewhat sex addicts and I can prove it. First, these experts can not prove that men think this way. Because when they have to ask a man every, say every 7-30 seconds what he is thinking about, they nullify the validity of the experiment. The men can not prove that they are thinking about sex and neither can the men asking them prove that they’re telling the truth. Ask a woman to do the asking and encounter more errors. Ask a sexy woman in underwear to do it and you’re pulling dumb.

@@@@@@

Second, to clarify, I’ll tell the difference between acts and thoughts in this case. Someone who acts on his instincts is fulfilled. The one who thinks about it a lot is deprived and more pitiful. I don’t have to be a man to know that what you feel most deprived of is what you seek constantly, especially when you’re not getting it. Just ask a drug addict. Such, a man who thinks about sex every 15 seconds, 4 times a minute, 240 times an hour is probably a sex addict.

@@@@@@

Now guys, agree, disagree, approve, disapprove, loathe or hate me, I’m cool with it. But to do those you have to read The Borrowed Wind, trace the path of two different men as they juggle the significance of manhood between family problems and murder. It’s the book your book club may not be recommending…well…dumb stuff. They’re too busy staring at the covers of those big publisher books. You may change your mind if you ever judged a book by its cover. You do know judging the intimate nature of something implicitly by its cover, thing or being is dumb stuff. And if you’re not up to it…dumb stuff as well. I recommend it, for men and for women. I also recommend Split, the Sci-Fi, drama, fantasy free fiction on Dewlogic. Next blog something interesting comes up, a new theory of relationship I tuned into from this blog—Sex and the WXYZ theory. I see Hot-Co-Motion, sexual and emotional. Make the Dewlogic Collection, The Borrowed Wind and Illicit Escapes (Stir &The Polar Pact) your summer reads. Find them on alapage.com in France, and on Krisostomus in Europe. Among all other places, preorder Legacy, the Becoming from Borders as well.

@@@Experience the shift from boyhood to manhood to murder@@@@@@

Split is the new free short story adaptation from my rants. I recommend it. It’s “fun, fun, fun.” When I come back to my rants again, we’ll be on 4 D Street with Mr. Dahbour, the Mind Robbing Professor. It is the most degenerative essence an intellectual can be. So he joins the lieu of Mr. Baumrin, the Jew in Hitler’s Paradise and Ms. Smith, the Fake ass Bee. My take on it is really different but I’ll detail my take and discuss Emerson’s view on something similar in an article length note. Because of some self imposed deadlines, I’m not sure when it will be ready, but when it’s ready you’ll know. Dewlogic…uncovering life…crap or goodies. If it’s life, I’m willing to touch it. You’re chilling with Dew Platt, putting my hard work where my mouth is.

Newest Free Fiction

It’s no secret that mainstream fashion has welcomed retro scifi with open arms.

So why doesn’t that love get reciprocated, so we can get some style going in the biggest genre blockbusters?

Source:
http://io9.com/5306350/fashion-loves-scifi-but-scifi-hates-fashion

I like science fiction and fantasy. I’m one of those people who can watch movies and TV shows multiple times. So I should watch The Twilight Zone, right? Except I don’t.

I’m thinking about that now because we’re in the midst of the SciFi channel’s annual Twilight Zone marathon (and don’t even get me started on the channel’s name change). For the July 4th weekend, the SciFi channel is off-limits for me. I just don’t enjoy watching it. It’s not the marathon. I don’t even like Twilight Zone in small, single-episode, doses.

For those of you who don’t know, The Twilight Zone ran from 1959 to 1964. Rod Serling hosted, and some of the best and brightest writers in SciFi and television scripted episodes. Stars like Jack Klugman, William Shatner, Burgess Meredith, and Martin Landau appeared. The brilliance of the series was was how it could use science fiction tropes to take an unusually sharp and critical look at society at the time. Then again, there were deeply psychological episodes like the Shatner classic, Nightmare at 20,000 Feet (an episode so good they re-made it for the 1983 movie, with John Lithgow taking Shatner’s place). So please understand that I’m not critiquing the show, or arguing against including it in the pantheon of classic television. I just don’t like it.

To be clear, I have watched it. I watched Twilight Zone growing up and loved it. There was always something good – the acting, the writing, the make-up, something. I just don’t watch it now.

The episodes usually have some kind of ironic twist. For example, in the first season of the show, Burgess Meredith was in an episode called Time Enough at Last. His character, Henry Bemis, loved to read, but never had enough time. A nuclear war wipes out the rest of the human race while Henry is taking his lunch hour in a bank vault, the only place where he can find peace enough to read. Now he has all the time and peace he wants to read, but his glasses slip off his face and break. Fade to black, cue credits, end. Many of the twists are well done and, for their time, original. In fact, the twists have become television tropes of their own, and are constantly re-used by contemporary writers. So even without watching the actual Twilight Zone, I see its influence in many “twist” endings.

Still, I know the endings of many shows and movies that I routinely re-watch, so what’s the big deal? I see a couple of differences. First, many things that I re-watch have emotional associations that have nothing to do with the content of the show or movie. For example, when I watch A Hard Day’s Night, Help!, or Yellow Submarine, the emotional associations come from the Beatles’ music, and from memories of listening to that music or watching those films with friends. Growing up, I watched The Twilight Zone by myself. Geek shows were a refuge from adolescence, and  that’s not a time that I need to revisit.

Second, when I re-watch things, I’m usually doing something else like writing, studying, cooking, or gaming. I don’t want something that’s going to intellectually or emotionally challenge me. I want the soothing background noise of the expected, and dammit The Twilight Zone is just too good to allow that.

So I respect The Twilight Zone, but I don’t watch it. Now. You wanna see something really scary?

Att jämföra Lessings romaner med hennes SciFi blev jag tipsad om, på frågan om det fanns en korrelation mellan gestaltande/beskrivande och vanlig skönlitteratur/fantasy. Det låter intressant men jag vet inte om jag ids lägga ner den tid som jag tror att ett sådant ämne kräver. Lessing är en författare som jag inte läst en stavelse av, det är en brist. Ett arbete om hennes böcker skulle innebära att jag startade på noll.

Looks like they´re taking over:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8127000/8127519.stm

“Phase IV”, anyone?

http://www.cinemademerde.com/Phase_IV.shtml

;D

Christaylor írt a földönkívüliekről, elkezdett a témán pörögni az agyam (najó, valójában szinte nincs olyan nap amikor ne néznék scifi sorozatot, vagy ne olvasnék valamit ebben a témában).

Ahogy elkezdtem gondolkodni rájöttem, hogy azért a kedvenc scifi filmjeimben, sorozataimban, könyveimben rengeteg típust/fajt/karaktert kreáltak, elképesztő a sokszínűség, szép is az emberi fantázia.

Amik így kapásból eszembe jutnak:

• Emberek: altípusai a mezei ember, a vicces pizsamás, az űrcowboyos, űrkalóz, jónő
• Szürkés-zöld esetlen csupasz emberalakú lények: iszonyú kíváncsi/perverz,  mert mindenképpen szeretné megismerni, megvizsgálni az embereket (mint a jelekben, 3. típusú találkozásokban, xatkákban, kicsit barátságosabb kiadásban az azgardok a csillagkapuban)
• Csontos fejűek: testük egészen emberi, de a buksijukon furcsa a csontozat, a koponyájuk alakja más mint nekünk, gyakoriak a deltakvadránsban.
• Gyíkcsávók: két lábon járó, emberi ruhát viselő, hegyes fogú, értelmes gyíkok. Lost world, babylon5, startrek, stargate, bizony népszerűek.
• Borgok-kiborgok, replikátorok, ami félig/teljesen kütyü (a gép az ember barátja vagy éppen ellensége, a beépített alkatrész életet ment vagy öl blabla…  asimovos robotika, teminátor, bicentennialman, csillagkapu, startrek borgjai)
• Klónok: akik, vagy akikről folyamatosan megy a lelkizés, etikai viták… ki az igazi, mi számít életnek, kinek az emlékei, tehet-e ilyet ember, mik a kiskapuk stb.
• Emberevők, részben a gyíkcsávók is ide tartoznak, továbbá mindenféle vempájör jellegű vér/életerő szívó lények, lidércek/wraithek is, stargate, világok harca…
• Rovarlényeg, pondrók, olyan meninblackesen, starwarsosan, alienesen
• Energiaként létezők, energiával táplálkozók, “felemelkedettek”
• Telepaták
• “Zöldek”: akik teljes összhangban élnek a természettel, a helyi ökoszisztéma, vagy konkrétan az anyabolygó részei… st, earth2
• Paraziták, mint a goauldok, tokrák, sok rovarszerű lény is…
• Törpék és óriások: van amikor olyan picik, hogy alig látni őket, valamikor meg óriásiak, mint egy űrbálna (aszem startrekben volt olyan aminek a beleiben repültek jóideig)
• Yoda, Csubakka, és ET (bár exer aszem rá a szarkupac kifejezést használja)  a’szem külön kategóriát alkotnak

Back at the station, the chief lab technician, Sarah Franklin, sat in her small room, a picture in her hand. The photo was wrinkled and faded from it’s years of being smuggled and hidden. It was a snapshot of a man, about 45 years old, with gray and golden hair, sitting on a bench, his arm over the shoulder of a pretty woman with sparkling green eyes, slightly younger. They appeared to be at a small house in the country. They were smiling.

Sarah was crying. She wiped tears from her cheek, trying not to make any noise that might be picked up by Command. She had been struggling against absolute despair. The couple in the picture were her parents, and the snapshot was taken shortly before the so-called “third uprising” against the Unification. It was the last desperate attempt at overthrowing the new government. It became the final, decisive demonstration of its power.

Her parents had opposed the revolution from the start. Sarah, who was at the medical university at the time, had disagreed with them. She was convinced that the revolution would usher in a new age of universal peace and prosperity. Her parents were afraid it would be at the cost of freedom, and they worried about such a gross centralization of power.

Unfortunately, they were also outspoken—and stubborn. After the third uprising, they refused the implantation of the new CommandLinks. That’s what had gotten them enrolled in the “education” program, and they disappeared soon after.

Sarah had been grieved by her parents disappearance, but she had also been convinced that it was brought on by their own stubbornness and erroneous views. She had actually been angry at them and their “foolishness.” She had submitted gladly to the implanation, happy to be a part of unity and progress.

But Sarah soon found that her parents were right. Soon every detail of her life was monitored and dictated according to the Unification’s scientifically designed plan for the progress of humanity. Shortly after the implantation, she was “selected” by Command for training as a scientist and Martianaut, assigned to the Exploration Division, and relocated from her country home (country homes were no longer permitted) to a tiny hovel in Dallas. She was instructed as to her diet and leisure activities, and she was even assigned a mate, one selected to ensure compatibility of lifestyle as well as genetically suitable offspring.

As part of a higher “caste”, she was trained to receive direction from the higher levels and issue directives to the lower. She was a link in a great network of data acquisition and command execution. She had ceased to be Sarah Franklin. She was now part of a great colonial organism, and just as a hive of bees cannot afford to have free individuals, neither could the Unification.

Now, Sarah sat there on the small couch, 78 million kilometers away from home, and cried. She had changed her mind about the Unification, and she would never have the chance to tell her parents they were right. Now she sat in a pioneer station on Mars, her life utterly controlled, and nothing to look forward to but a mind-controlling implant, the next stage of the “peaceful” revolution. She did not know how much longer she could go on. She picked up the bottle of white powder she had brought secretly from the lab. She opened it up and smelled it. The faint odor of bitter almond, characteristic of cyanide, repulsed her, and she closed the cap. “No,” she thought, “this is not the answer.”

Her CommandLink came to life, “Officer Franklin… Are you crying?.. Is there a problem?”

They must have heard her. “I’m sorry, Command. I stubbed my toe on the table.”

“Officer Franklin, why are you in your room?”

“I’m sorry, Command, I had forgotten to take my aclimatization pill today, I will return to the lab at once.”

“Thank you, Officer… Please continue with the atmospheric experiments according to the program. Update us as soon as you have new data.”

“Yes, Command.”

#

It was the next day. Jim had just finished breakfast and needed refuge from the din in the dining hall. He had enjoyed the coffee and imitation bacon and eggs, as well as the company of Sarah Franklin, the attractive Chief Lab Technician, but he had little tolerance for the talk offered up by the others at the table.

Sarah was in her 40s, with blond hair and deep green eyes. She was the only person among the 24 station inhabitants that he could relate to at all, and he had often wanted to bring her into his confidence. He would have liked someone to talk to. He sometimes fantasized that she might be Resistance material, but it was too risky. The hard reality was that the vast majority of people were Unification loyalists, and Sarah’s assigned mate, Wesley Wallace, was a true believer. He was there, too, sipping his tea and pontificating. A tall, blond-haired administrator-scientist with evasive blue eyes, he was pretentious and insecure. He was younger than Jim by about ten years, and their personalities clashed.

To Wesley’s left was Marcus Johansen, the brawny young technician, and a few of his peers, here to tend the wells, pumps, and electrolyzers. Like most of the so-called worker “caste,” they were happy as larks with the Unification as long as they got their daily rations of pills and virtual reality entertainment.

The group had been discussing the new UniLinks, that horrible replacement for the CommandLink that would read thought and transmit questions and commands directly into the host’s consciousness. Jim could imagine nothing more horrible, yet he knew it was only a matter of time before the higher “castes” were fitted with them. Then, control would be complete. It was unbelievable that many longed for the day, looked forward to being “fitted” with these tiny, horrible things. Most of the others at the table were excited, eagerly awaiting the implants, the last step toward unity, a giant leap of progress.

Jim had had trouble hiding his disgust and anxiety, and he knew that Wesley was a self-appointed spy for Command, so he politely took his leave of the table. As he did, his eyes met Sarah’s. They looked at each other for no more than a few seconds, but he wondered if he saw in her eyes the same pain he felt inside. Wesley caught them staring at each other, and Sarah looked down at her plate. Jim nodded to Wes and walked away.

As Jim walked down the hall toward the lounge, his CommandLink came to life, “Director Fox… Are you ill?… You did not participate in this mornings conversation at breakfast.”

“I’m fine, Command,” he said, “perhaps a bit tired from yesterday’s hike.”

“Please increase your daily exercise time to 1.5 hours until further notice. We will increase your food ration and vitamin supplements for the next week. Please see the station physician at 10:00 and report any further irregularities. And Director Fox….”

“Yes, Command.”

“Please review the motivational module tonight in for your educational exercises.”

“Yes, Command.”

Jim shook his head as he entered the lounge. He was glad to find it empty. He walked across the room to the window and looked out across the stark, pale brown desert. A shadow was falling over the landscape as a looming cloud of tawny dust blocked the sun, flashes of lightning illuminating its dark underbelly.

“Marcus,” Jim spoke, knowing his CommandLink would automatically direct the message to the proper individual.

“Yes, Sir.” Marcus was still at breakfast, his mouth full of food.

“Marcus, secure the wells, there is a whopper of storm brewing.”

“Yes, Sir,” he replied, then, “Umm, Sir, I’ve been working on the control module on well number five and will not have time to properly secure it. I will install the storm covers on all of the wells, but if number five’s cover goes, there is no primary protection. It may get damaged.”

“Understood, Marcus, but it’s not likely. Let’s hope for the best.”

The Command Link chimed in. “Director Fox…be sure to secure the station… transmit weather and damage reports as soon as they are available.”

“Yes, Command.”

Jim alerted the technicians in the air lock and garage bay, “Secure the station, severe dust storm approaching.”

“Director Fox, if the storm continues later than 11:00, you will reschedule your sampling trip for tomorrow.”

“Yes, Command.”

Jim stood there quietly for a moment, still looking out the window. As he looked up at the filtered sun, growing dimmer with each passing moment behind the thickening haze, Jim imagined himself a dinosaur, an ancient stegosaurus gazing stupidly at its dark doom.

Marcus drove the rover from well to well, checking the storm covers. The great dust storm was like a massive breaker about to crash down on the metallic dome of the station as it shined like an iridescent shell on the beach. Lightning cracked the darkness below as Jim wondered about the connection between this storm and the dust devils. He watched Marcus as he hurriedly got into the rover and fled across the dunes.

The air lock and bay techs secured the entrances to the station after Marcus returned. “All set Director, and just in time.”

Hola, han sido “días agitados” para la Cantina, entre postulaciones y pega, tamos todos tapados, pero aqui las reviews pendientes… dos de ellas, al menos. Las otras dos merecen post aparte.

En este reviersh veremos Terminator 4 y Heroes.

Terminator 4

Contexto: Nadie era fanático de Terminator, aunque hubo un poco de estudio previo como pa cachar que básicamente habia robots brígidos que querian destruir (nuevamente) el mundo y toda la esperanza radicaba (otra vez) en un solo weon.

Hola, Soy John Connor, siempre tengo barbita de tres dias y si estás leyendo esta wea, entonces eres parte de la resistencia.

De los vagos recuerdos que quedan de la película, podemos destacar que hubo varios guiños a la serie y las películas previas, como la frase “Come with me if you want to live” o los saltos con motos.

Color

No vamos a negar que las explosiones son cuáticas, que las partes de motos son entretes y etc’s varios. Cabe destacar que la trama no llega a ser tan mala como pa decir “Esto es una mierda”, de hecho es bastante razonable para lo que es la película y la hace interesante.  Como hemos visto tanta película ya, tamos curados de espanto y como no pagamos nada nunca, no vamos a decir que todo es la zorra pa guardar las apariencias.

No es precisamente una mala opción. Algo molesto eso si es que ambos protagonistas ponen una excesiva voz de “estamos hechos pico y todo el destino del universo depende de nosotros”

Hola, somos los protagonistas de la película y hablamos como si fueramos Ghosts de Starcraft pa darnos color

En fin, una película razonable como se dijo, donde por supuesto se hacen cagar a las leyes de la física, pero como casi nadie las cacha, da lo mismo .

Y para culminar la crítica, una posiblemente más seria crítica y por supuesto: la mina.

No estamos seguros si es la mina, pero en google images sale colocando "Terminator Salvation" asi que da lo mismo .

Heroes

Uf… por donde comenzar. Nosotros, como jamás cachamos casi nada, dijimos “Ptah… en volá ta basada en la… serie, no?”. Bueno, considerando que es relativamente exitosa, algo bueno podria pasar… pues NO. La película se llama originalmente Push, y al parecer no tiene nada que ver con la serie.

¿Qué se puede esperar con un poster promocional tan puteado como éste?

La película trata de gente con poderes cuáticos tiene que escapar porque por sus poderes los quieren hacer cagar. Al parecer, los que hicieron la película no cacharon que esa volada ya pasó [Lee et al, 1963].

Tonces, Dakota Fanning y otro weon más que mueve weas, dan jugo caleta de rato, haciendo cw hasta que termina la película.

Podemos resumir la película en el siguiente set de imagenes:

Figura 69: La película resumida en imágenes. Una sucesión de escenas que lucen a todo ritmo pero que no tienen casi nada de coherencia entre sí.

“Ya, pero cabros, ¿Algo bueno debe tener no?”. Ptah, demás po. Enumeramos aquí las cosas que salvan de la película:

\begin{enumerate}

\item La mina, claramente. Se llama Camila Belle (como “Camila Bella”) confirmando que las Camilas son bellas c.t.p.:

Cuidado, que en la película puedo controlar tu mente i wea.

\item Dakota Fanning se emborracha:

\item Hay una clase de weones que se llaman “Bleeders”, que su habilidad es desangrar cuando GRIIIITAAAAAN:

\end{enumerate}

En fín, no somos los únicos que la hacen pedazos, quizás lo más entrete es cachar la trivia de la película de la imdb, donde al final mencionan que JUSTO en Chile la película se llama “Heroes”… ¿Quién fue el mente brillante?

Ashley McGill, Drop Ship Pilot, and Amy Gaines, Weapons Officer

Studies for peripheral characters.  Amy (Left) and Ashley (Right) are conceived as support pilots– sort of the way “Wedge” appears in the cast of X-Wing pilots in Star Wars.  The suit doesn’t fit Ashley very well, and there’s a fix for that but it’s out of my economic reach at the moment.  When I’m feeling more flush, I’ll fix it.

Race for the Galaxy

Friday’s gaming started off strong with my first go at a fantastic new Rio Grande card game (non-collectible) called Race for the Galaxy.  Race is a Euro-style empire building game featuring fast, simultaneous play and a satisfyingly complex mechanic.

The designers managed to cram a surprising amount of information onto each card, but clever layout and efficient use of intuitive iconography somehow overcome clutter.  Moreover, from a purely aesthetic standpoint, the cards are striking. The art is gorgeous and evocative, and the card names/titles draw from hard sci-fi to provide context and subtle clues as to potential strategies and synergies.

Turns begin with players secretly choosing to perform one of five actions (Explore, Develop, Settle, Consume, and Produce).  After revealing their choices, players then progress through the chosen phases simultaneously, and the player who chose each specific phase is awarded with a moderate advantage.

The end of the game is triggered when one players lays down their 12^th card (developments and settled worlds), or when all the victory points have been drawn from the bank.  Points are then tallied and the new galactic emperor is crowned.

Suffice it to say that my description here is very cursory.  Race for the Galaxy is deep, and the learning curve is long.  You’ll get plenty of mileage from this great game, and that’s not to mention the two expansion packs, which add 5- and 6-player capability and some more mechanics to keep play fresh.

In retrospect, this game was my highlight of the con, and I had a great time playing round after round with some new buds I met at the table (looking at you, Virginia and Geno!).  Race has also gained some traction with the Blackrazors, so I doubt this one will be gathering dust any time soon.

The stationary translation nexus, or commonly referred to as a doorway between alternate universe within the multiverse,  contains a symbol above the doorway.  An alternate universe symbol was identified by a multiverse traveler.   Above the previously identified symbol we saw an Eye, and there was an icon below the eye, an arrow, like a pointer (^) directing toward the symbol, previously correlated with a pyramid.  Our latest multiverse traveler has identified the ‘Crown above the Heart’, but there was no mention of the pointer.

Just like in the show Stargate SG-1, where there are 7 symbols identifying a location, for this ‘doorway to another universe of existence’, there seems to be only one main symbol above the nexus.

Stargate - A hoax to cover up the real nexus to Alternate Universes within the Multiverse

Previously, when the stationary transation nexus was activated, the traveler identified a single symbol in the center, above the door of light,  an Eye, which was referred to as the minds’ eye, above an pointer, ^  symbol.  An analogy would be the Stargate cheveron locked, the arrow like component, which locks one of the stargate symbols in place. 

Initially thought to be a stagnent symbol above the door, it now appears there may be other single, signal icons, which may unlock other alternate universes.   At a abstract perspective it makes sense.  From an baseline existence perspective, if we eliminate all symbology from our minds, and live as abstract energy, a single symbol can literally conjure up an alternate existence, a universe of reality.  

A recent traveler described seeing the symbol of a crown above a heart, floated down into the universe onto a beach, where he said he saw a person with a crown, a gold colored crown on his head.  This person was dressed in all black, and had the impression of the wraiths of the Stargate Alantis universe.  However, it seems that these wraiths may  be an Altantian type creature.

On the round pedistal device, similar in concept, yet not in exact form or symbology to the ‘Stargate DHD’,  there are other bits that need to be aligned (e.g. dialed), two outward circles with a star shaped object in the center.  It seems like in the stationary translation nexus, the pedistal (e.g. Stargate DHD) is the actual alignment device whereby the circles and star on the pedistal are aligned, and the door, well, just displays the symbol above, and the light is ‘within’.  The symbol is the focal point for the Multiverse Traveler, like a single point to think about before entering the gate.  Dare I use the analagous reference to the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Remember Me”, where a universe bubble is formed, and the thought of the person creating the bubble, at the moment its created, is the constant of the universe. 

Whomever propogated ‘Stargate’ popularized Television show seems to have a) come up with this concept to actually debunk, or obfuscate the truth, and/or b) help awaken latent memories of the collective.  To top it off, they actually came up with an episode plot which has their Top Secret mission on a TV show, Stargate SG-1 Wormhole X-Treme!

Potential Multiverse Travelers should also refer to article:

Exploration Approaches to Multiverse Travel

I’m going to take a few minutes here and list a few helpful tips when it comes to the Hunters for Hire series.

01) Read everything you’re sent in regards to this series. I know the introductory email is long, but I didn’t write it just to waste time or to make your eyes pop out of your head. Honest. It contains important and useful information and will save on a bunch of questions and time later on.

02) When emailing one of the creators to ask about a specific planet, please list the system it is located in. In helps us to find the answer you’re looking for much, much quicker. We’re generally very busy and listing the system as well as the planet name will help save a great deal of time.

03) As you write your story, keep a record of where the information you use from the series bible is located. (example: write down the page numbers), this will not only help you when it comes time to double check your facts, but it will help the editors and/or the creators when questions arise.

04) Double check EVERYTHING before submitting. When dealing with this much information, it’s very easy to mess things up.

05) If it’s not in the series bible, odds are you probably shouldn’t include it in your book. I’m primarily referring to planets, systems, and alien races. I have stated numerous times but feel it necessary to point it out again, that there are no new planets, systems or alien races being added to the series at this point in time. However, if this should ever change, I will post notices.

06) What you are allowed to add to the world provided: plants, animals, gizmos and gadgets, ships, drugs, foods, and drinks as well as clothing. We provided some of each of those things into the bible, but there’s only so much you can think of when you’re not actively writing a book at the time.

07) The bounty hunters that the series revolve around are paid quite well, however, listing an exact number isn’t necessary. We intentionally avoided naming a specific price because what’s high in one instance, may be a low number in another. It will vary greatly depending upon who and what the hunters are dealing with.

08) Gate travel. It stands to reason that one cannot openly gate from Amalgamation space into Cintealios space and vice versa. They are mortal enemies and gate travel is highly restricted between the two, although the gates in each territory are connect to the other. If a story requires travel between the two territories, it requires the hunter to sneak across the border.

09) Cintealios women are kept in seclusion from the time of birth. This was implemented by the Cintealios leader in an attempt to preserve the purity of the races’ blood, meaning they didn’t want a non-pure blood male to mate with one of “their” females. Even female children resulting from a mating between a Cintealios male and a non-Cintealios female are often placed into seclusion.

10) Ulric Vonner knows EVERYTHING that goes on in the Web, though he will not admit to how he knows. There are no secrets from the man.

11) Constance O’Rourke – The Web’s supply handler. He can acquire anything a hunter might need to complete his/her mission, however, he will not act as a drug supplier to anyone with an addiction. Hunters are clean, unless a mission requires that they “appear” otherwise. Ulric won’t have an addict working for him as it would put the operation, the hunter, and everyone connected to the operation in jeopardy.

12) It’s not necessary to list every character that is named in the series bible into you book. I think I’ve mentioned this before, but it never hurts to repeat something. They are merely listed there in case you DO need to use them. Use only what you need from the series bible so long as the rest of your story fits into the world provided.

13) It takes more for a book to qualify for the series than calling your hero/heroine a hunter (or hunters) and naming off a planet from the series bible as their home world and/or location. I have jokingly called the series a plug and play type project, but in reality, it is much more complicated than that.  It is extremely difficult to take a pre-existing story and trying to make it fit into the world provided with this series without major rewrites.

14) If a planet’s description states that a particular race is the only inhabitant of the planet, you can’t put a “secret” society there. That would contradict the world’s set up and mess with the continuity and consistency of the series.

15) There are no traditional werewolves, vampires, witches, or other paranormal creatures in this series. An alien race that can shift its form does not count as a paranormal creature.

I’m sure there are other things I could list here, but this is all that’s coming to me at the moment. I’ll add to the list as things come up.

To the external viewer, the transformation was rapid. But to Dr Stephens time flowed very
slowly. He was aware of every pop and spasm as his body remoulded itself inside the powerful
morphic field inside the chamber. Even his clothes changed to better suit his new female
body. It was an odd sensation, to feel your very essence change like that.

One the process was over, and he had regained his senses, one thing was very clear. This was
definitely not the body dimensions he had programmed into the system. He hoped Jenkins
hadn’t messed about with the figures. His breasts were definitely much larger than he would
have liked. What other changes had Jenkins made?

Just then Jenkins walked in, and Dr Stephens eyes were immediately drawn to the obvious
tent in the man’s pants. His whole body shivered with excitement and he became aware of
just how horny he was. Now he realised just what other changes had been made. But he no
longer cared. He couldn’t think straight. He fell to his knees, and licked his lips.

Tomorrow (Wednesday 1/07/09) is the NZ premiere of Fringe on TV2 8.30pm. As a keen science fiction fan I have already seen the entire first season and highly recommend it, with one caveat, and I can not stress this enough, Do Not Think about the SCIENCE on this show. Seriously, it took me quite a few episodes to take this advice myself, there are concepts and statements in the show that just make you want to stick your head in the microwave a la “The Happening” if you don’t just let it flow over you, like a refreshing breeze of nonsense. One particularly egregious pronouncement from Walter, the main “Scientist” on the show was something like “Applying Occam’s razor, the simplest explanation is that the boy is telepathic”, these simple words had me trying to claw my way out of my own brain to escape the stupid

Those familiar with arguments in pseudoscience, including but not limited to: UFOs, Cryptozoology, faith healing and evolution denial, recognize that one of the most misapplied principles of critical thinking is “Occam’s Razor”. The trouble is that it seems so reasonable to those putting the argument forward that they carry along with them the otherwise reasonable people that hear it. If someone claims to be hearing voices and subsequently seems to know things that under normal circumstances they couldn’t know, the simplest explanation is not telepathy. Unfortunately inserting a fantastic and unsupported claim into a problem does not “simplify” things.

The simplest explanation of lights in the sky is not alien spacecraft, it is much more likely that the observer has failed to identify a mundane phenomena than it is that aliens have crossed the unimaginable distances between the stars using exotic physics that allow them faster than light speeds and are wandering around the countryside in our lower atmosphere cruising for a good time. It certainly takes less thought to arrive at aliens than it does to exhaust every other possible source for the lights but this in and of itself does not make it simpler

All that being said, if you can withstand the intellect destroying abuse of science as portrayed in Fringe then do by all means watch it. The interaction between Walter Bishop, brilliant scientist and one time psychiatric patient, and his son Peter is alone a large part of the enjoyment to be had from the show and well worth the many gaffs made by the writers in an attempt to string together a plot. I won’t attempt to dissect the show and point out the many inconsistencies with reality and how the world really works, this exercise has been done in much more depth than I would be able to muster for the project. I’ll simply point you there instead.

Episode:1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20