Role Playing Games

I am an avid Role Player, and truly do believe that real role players use dice. While video game rpgs are a good break, there is only so much you can do. The act of grabbing your case of Dr. pepper, and a bag of Cheetos to go sit in a basement on my buddies old mattresses was always a blast.
It is rather sad that he passed away this year at the age of 31 due to heart failure. Now Jeff, he wasn't your average basement dweller. He was an air force man, and one of my best buds in high school, and we kept in touch and almost became a couple. He was always a great GM (Game Master) is a bit of a min max-er, also known as a munchkin.
So to keep this man's memories alive I don't want to tarnish it with his ego, though i'm sure he is reading this or looking over my shoulder and rolling his eyes at me. he was always that way, able to take my teasing and all in stride, and he could dish out as good as he could take.

Role Playing, for those of you that don't know, is not something satanic, nor is it something that causes you to loose touch with reality and either off yourself when you character dies, or turn to drugs. No, the mere act of role playing is to suspend reality and forget the real world, if just for a bit, and to unwind. I can't think of too many things that is as much of a stress reliever as picturing that orcish horde being felled by the group in various bloody ways.
Now there are many games out there and for the most part people cut their teeth on Dungeons and Dragons. As much as I love this game I do not suggest 4th edition as it is more of an mmo style than an actual rpg. The game is not about what tier you are and so on, as in computer rpgs.
REAL rpgs are about the interactions between characters and the adventure itself. For a really really good example of a group of D&D players check out the movies The Gamers: Dorkness Rising. It really does explain what we 'geeks' are like, or even the wav files of the Dead Alewives.
If you are on a college campus, or close to one, head there and find out about the local role playing groups. most of them do not mind people coming in an sitting around to listen what a game is like. In fact many people might find themselves realizing that they have been role playing alone for most of their lives. Anytime you read a book and ponder what you would have done if you were in that situation, or wonder what it would be like to be in that movie with those abilities and how things may have turned out different had you or your idea of a character could have been there, you are essentially role playing.
The main differences between that and being in a group are, well, more people to help or hinder, and someone else is controlling things. The main difference is the factor of the dice, and the chance to succeed or to fail. While failing isnt what you want, sometimes it makes the game more dramatic and the victory that much sweeter.
I think I might blog more about role playing. it is something I love and well perhaps some of you might find this not only helpful to bridge the gap between you and your geeky friends, it might also get some of you to turn off the consoles and head out to meet people that do what you do on the computer, just with more options for customization of characters. Without a computer we are only limited by our imaginations.

Movies

"Allow me, if I may, to take you on a strange journey." - Criminologist, Rocky horror Picture Show

To talk about my taste in movies is to say the good the bad and the Limburger. I love a good bad movie such as 'Cannibal Women in the Avacado Jungle of Death', 'Kentucky Fried Movie', 'Airplane', and the likes. Then of course there are the Bert Eye Gordon films (pain parade as MST3K calls it), and Corman movies.
It is wise to recall that movies can tell us much about life at the time it was filmed. Take for instance 'It's A Wonderful Life'. Listen carefully to the words they use, and then ponder for yourself how the language would be changed for the times, and how it could be updated. Then take for instance almost any of the films in the very same genre today, and you'll see what i mean about a vast difference.
Comedy back in 'the day' was different too. Now i could go on about Abbott and Costello, the Stooges, and countless others but let's go with the so called rubber faced comedians. I am of course talking about the famous Danny Kaye.
Frankly I'm certain many of you have never heard of the man, but you know of his most famous scene I'm sure. Spoofed time and again in different movies the famous lines from the movies 'The Court Jester':

#1- I've got it! I've got it! The pellet with the poison's in the vessel with the pestle; the chalice from the palace has the brew that is true! Right? #2- Right. But there's been a change: they broke the chalice from the palace! #1- They broke the chalice from the palace? #2- And replaced it with a flagon. #1- A flagon...? #2- With the figure of a dragon. #1- Flagon with a dragon. #2- Right. #1- But did you put the pellet with the poison in the vessel with the pestle? #2-No! The pellet with the poison's in the flagon with the dragon! The vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true! #1- The pellet with the poison's in the flagon with the dragon; the vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true. #2- Just remember that.

Jim Carey does try very hard, and i admit does a good job being a rubber face, but in comparison with Kaye's works I feel that Carey tends to fall flat. Carey mainly plays for a vulgar laugh in his 'Ace Ventura' films, and thankfully has grown into a more serious actor that does a bit of slapstick.

Hollywood had high standards for tehir actors and actresses back in the day. They had to have a face, and a style that the people could fall in love with, or relate to in the realism of the characters. Today it seems that a name is supposed to carry the movie, one such flop 'Ghostrider'. Nicholas Cage may be a raving Ghostrider fan, but he did not play the character well. The character Blackheart was played better, and of course Caretaker was played to the hilt.
When I go to the movies these day I seriously wonder what I'm getting myself into. The actors today can take as many takes on a scene as they want because film is much cheaper today, adn they can digitally fix things. Back then it was quite precious and they tried very very hard to get it in only a couple of takes.
I was twelve when I began watching channels like AMC and TCM. Black and white or color never mattered but watching these people act with their whole body, face, and hands. They got into the characters and made you believe, one such is 'Dr. Zhivago'. I wish Hollywood would go back to the days of Basil Rathbone, Vincent Price, Betty Grable, Betty Davis, and Frank Sinatra.
Perhaps I am just a little too old school, and don't get me wrong I love some of the new movies, but they are few and far between. This of course is not even touching the animated movies.

So a challenge: next time you are in the movie rental store or checking out what is there on Netflix, try a Danny Kaye movie, or another 'old timer'. I think some of you might be plesantly surprised at the talent and the movies you find you love. best of all, most of them you can watch without fear of what your little kids may fear.

I did this challenge with my neice and introduced her via 'The Inspector General' to Danny Kaye. She loved it and was stunned when her mother (my sister who can't stand wide screen movies) that she had no idea who he was, or anything about the movie. From what i hear she is starting to sample more of the older films to find what she likes, but the comedy definately tickles her funny bone.

Work Ethics

I know that compared to people my own age i tend to have a more 'old school' work ethic. Work is work, it puts the money in my pocket, and a roof over my head, not to mention my internet and the food in my stomach.
So I call in sick only when I am really sick. The few times I have called in because i just didn't want to go, I can count on one hand, and that spans thirteen years of work. Now the number of times I skipped class in college, well that's different. I may not like my job or some of the tasks, or even dealing with customers, but if it keeps me warm dry and fed, then I have to put my all into it.

This brings me to my point: people who come to work drunk and/or hungover.

Do it once in a while, even once or twice a month (the hungover part) and fine big deal, so you look like you may have the flu and get sent home. However three times in one week tells me something. It says you have no respect for your job, and you don't care about your job. So to stand there and complain about your lack of hours is, well, laughable. Managers are going to give hours to people who do the work and show up able to do the work, not the one who repeatedly has 'the flu'.
What could make this worse? Well what if the worker in question is under age and doing this. Well then it isn't smart to talk of your partying habits with your superiors, and be surprised at an hour cut.
One more topper on this one, the person in question just got their visa renewed so that they can live and legally work in this country.

I chalk this rant to shooting yourself in one's own foot co-worker. All I can say is she will have many a problem the day she gets pulled over by a cop and has to show all her paper work, especially since they are really cracking down on drunk drivers in this country.

Perhaps tomorrow I shall have something more interesting to speak of. This thing has been bothering me since it happened last week, and i had to get it off my chest.

Greetings

Greetings to all whom have found this blog. I admit it is my first and we shall see together how this goes.
Mainly this blog has been created for my more deep thoughts and beliefs. while I admit my thoughts and beliefs may anger some I hope that some of them are thought provoking to others. All comments are welcome except those that are here to flame me for being my own unique snowflake. After all we are all unique snowflakes, each a different shape and crystalline pattern, however come spring we all melt back into water.
I guess I mean to say is that no matter who we are, color, religion, or what have you we are all the same inside. It is this we as a people should build upon, not such things are religious beliefs and race or gender, but the fact that we are a species capable of almost anything if we stand together in our own uniqueness.

I call this blog Thoughts from a dragon, because I feel there is much we can learn from the myths and legends. Also because out of all the creatures, mythical or otherwise real, they are my favorite. If one were to land and stand before me I would feel no fear, but awe.