Short Attention Span Review: "Weeds" 6/29

I'm a fan of this show. Don't get me wrong.

That said: Too many plots going on at one time to cram into a 30-minute space. No fewer than five story threads, all of them done a disservice by the quantity. What happened to the cop? We're left to assume. How did the dirty cop working with Silas and Doug come back into the equation? I dunno, but the old woman's "asswhore" comment was classic. And then there's Andy off on a mission to steal Judah's money - and then he has to pretend to be Judah and have sex with the bank teller. And Shane getting duped by his pot-thieving teacher. And where's the disappearing Sucio? And there's Celia! All of this, crammed into 30 minutes. It's just too much.

Make the show longer.

Short Attention Span Review: "True Blood" 6/28

Quite a bit going on in this episode!

I *almost* forgive the writers for making Sookie do such a stupid thing last week, as it resulted in a springboard for Jessica to find a new love interest, Lafayette to get the hell out of vampire prison, and Sookie and Bill to take their show on the road to Dallas.

Meanwhile, at Jesus camp, Jason's almost certain to end up in bed with Sara.

Over at Maryann's place, all lust is breaking loose.

And what the hell?! The new waitress likes to gore the competition?

Enjoying the twists and turns!

Short Attention Span Review: "Year One"

Rather than joining the sheep getting their brain cells eradicated by Michael Bay's new giant robot movie, I gave Harold Ramis some money for "Year One." It's not a great movie. It's not a sweeping summer blockbuster. But it's fun and has some genuinely funny moments. I got a kick out of the slow-speed horse cart chase scene and the seemingly never-ending murder of Abel by Cain. And while Transformers had Megan Fox, Year One had three attractive women sharing the screen. Also: Oliver Platt vamped up and begging for Michael Cera to oil him up? That was pretty damned funny.

The Oaks at Weston: Thieves

Some months back, late in 2008, I got a letter from the Oaks at Weston - my apartment at the time - which indicated that my current lease was up soon.

We didn't have any intention of renewing but, naturally, didn't want to close the door on the possibility if we didn't find somewhere new. We found somewhere new about a month before the lease expired. I figured it didn't make much difference one way or another, since our lease was running out, but I told the office folks that we'd be moving out.

And this is when they explained that we couldn't just let the lease run out. See, there was a clause in the fine print that indicated that, unless stated otherwise, the lease would renew upon expiration. It's the sort of logic that belonged in the George W. Bush years.

We moved to our new place, paid the Oaks for the time we lived in the apartment, and no more. Naturally, that didn't satisfy them. This week, two months after we've been out of the Oaks - and plenty of time for them to get new tenants in the old place - we got a letter from a collection agency demanding money. Then the agency called my cell phone and my office.

I spent a good 45 minutes on the phone with a hapless fellow who gave his name as Steve Sims, using a colorful selection of epithets and comparisons to extortionists and kneecapping thugs, which had the effect of making him act all butt-hurt and tell me that I "wasn't very pleasant."

Well, Steve, fuck you. It's not pleasant to have to deal with strong-arm tactics from the hired dog of a faceless corporation that's out to take money it hasn't earned from my limited resources. So, you'll just have to cope with the fact that someone you're trying to rape financially puts up a fight and makes you suffer a knock to the nuts in the process.

My tirade also yielded a better deal on the "settlement," which, if paid immediately, would prevent a hit to our credit rating and rental history. So, I'm glad about that much. And on the offchance we take legal action against the Oaks, it's better to pay and be done with it, then argue the ethics of it later.

As I close that chapter, let me share some of my thoughts about The Oaks at Weston, currently owned by the Steven D. Bell Corporation. I lived there for three years. Here are some key recollections:

* There's one dumpster for hundreds of residents. Every Sunday evening and Monday morning, the place looked like a Mumbai slum piled high with trash bags and tossed furniture.
* The smoke detectors are cheap pieces of shit with a tendency for beeping incessantly.
* Maintenance responsiveness was, with rare exceptions, atrocious.
* Parking? A fucking joke.
* Rent costs? Too high for what it got you.
* They dicked me over previously for the carpet in the first apartment, before we moved into the new place. They made me pony up cash to replace all the carpet, claiming Huck's fur had ruined it. Bullshit. A good cleaning would have done the trick. But we were already moving into the new place, so they had me over a barrel nice and neat. I should have known right then that they were lying thieves.
* They did a shitty job of keeping track of package deliveries. I had to ask on several occasions to get packages that had been dropped off weeks earlier. Some of those items had been perishable goods that Karen had ordered.
* They misrepresented or lied through omission about lease contracts, especially when they had the advantage.

Ultimately, it was an advantage that I gave them. My advice: Never sign a contract with an apartment complex unless you've had someone familiar with rental contract law look it over first. Make sure you have fair terms. Save yourself some money and heartache. Be smart.

Short Attention Span Review: "True Blood" 6/21

I liked a lot about this episode:

* Lafayette's still alive and kicking, and seems to have talked his way into immortality as a vampire.
* Everything involving Eric and his pals.
* Maryann is just fricking ancient and scary. Loved what she did to the crowd at Merlotte's.
* Sooki and Tara connecting again.
* The leadership retreat where Jason went all PTSD onstage.
* Sam and Andy commiserating.
* Sooki and Jessica bonding.

Something I didn't like:

* Sooki's dumbass decision to take Jessica on a road trip to visit Mom and Dad. She's got to be smarter than this. It seemed like a bad decision made for the sake of plot contrivance - adding one more cliffhanger to an episode that already had a couple of good ones.

Short Attention Span Review: "The Proposal"

Although this movie is amusing, its fundamentally flawed narrative premise and forced conclusion strip it of most redeemable features. At its core, The Proposal seems to preach that it's okay to give in to Stockholm Syndrome - to be extorted into a situation and then become enamored with your captor - rather than leaving yourself open to the possibility of making a fresh start with an old love or maybe finding a *real* love with that girl in the coffee shop back in New York City.

I liked about 75 percent of this movie a lot. But the ending killed it for me.

Short Attention Span Review: "True Blood" 6/14

The Deep South vampire series is back on HBO for the summer - and it's a welcome return, as far as I'm concerned.

I breathed a sigh of relief when it turned out the dead body in the back of Andy's police car wasn't Lafayette! But, poor Lafayette, I'm not sure that where he ended up is much better!

The bits introducing the the holy roller church folks that Jason is getting tangled up with got a little draggy, but I think it mostly felt that way because these are new characters.

Loved the bit of back story we got about Marianne. And I wonder how often Carl pisses her off like that? Not often, I guess. "NO ONE WANTED TOWELS!" *smack*!

One month after WoW...

It’s been a month since I left behind the World of Warcraft completely. So, let’s review what’s been accomplished in the post-WoW era thus far:

* We’ve got the new Drupal-powered site at http://www.jointhesaga.com
* OtherSpace has a crafting system, with items that players can customize and rename
* OtherSpace has a roleplaying "belt" system, which provides recognition for our most accomplished roleplayers
* OtherSpace has an HSpace testbed
* We've been able to showcase some fantastic new art by Reode
* I’ve kicked off a Twitter MUSH-awareness campaign
* The who list is regularly in double columns
* We've started offering bits of the old OS grid to players as keepsakes
* We're offering personalized virtual bobblehead souvenirs
* We're offering jointhesaga.com email addresses again
* We've added new races that ought to appeal to anthropomorphic roleplaying fans
* Story-wise: The Koltkamir government on Aukam formed under Zar Hideg Fekretu, creating a new foe for the playerbase

Back in January, someone asked: If OtherSpace is still sluggish in six months, would I shut it down for once and for all? The good news: No need to answer that question, because it feels like the sluggishness is fading. From a State of the Game standpoint, I think we're in pretty good shape. We've got a solid core of veteran JTSers, a growing crop of newbies, and a fairly steady flow of visitors. We've even seen players who faded away in the past showing up again with renewed enthusiasm. We've seen an uptick in PayPal contributions, which are always welcome to help offset the expense and effort of running the site and marketing the game. We're not anywhere close to break-even, but we're paid up for the year and in no danger of being shut down. Our Google analytics show an upswing in new traffic, not from old reliable sources like Top MUD Sites and the MUD Connector, but from Twitter and Facebook.

No, OtherSpace won't be shutting down anytime soon if I can help it. It's only going to keep getting stronger. As crafting continues to expand, as we add Hekayt Prime and other worlds to the grid, as we introduce the space system, OtherSpace will continue to grow and thrive thanks to the combined energies of an enthusiastic playerbase and an involved lead designer - the way it worked best in the old days.

The news for Necromundus isn't quite as cheery, but it's not all that grim, either. We've let it slip under the radar during the past few months while the lead admins worked on adding subclasses and expanding the sandboxy feel of Necromundus. However, now that OS is starting to steam along nicely and the work Necro's admins have been doing behind the scenes is close to finished, I'll start dedicating some energy to that game. Besides a lot of marketing on TMS, TMC, Twitter, and Yahoogroups, it'll get a bunch of new badges, including the roleplaying belt system that started on OtherSpace. Both OtherSpace and Necromundus will get a new belt, the Steel Belt, which will be one step above the Golden Belt - awarded to a player who accomplishes the achievement of earning a Golden Belt on both games. Another bonus for Necromundus: Anubis and Loki took on a new minion, Inari, to help spark activity. So, it's safe to assume that Necromundus is about to enjoy a renaissance of its own in the coming months.

All in all, it seems like giving up WoW and throwing myself back into the mix, full-force, is having an overall positive effect. So, what could make me happier?

* Getting some Golden Belt players who can become mentors for new players
* Spending more time writing the online novel (it has taken a back seat to the work that needs to be done in-game)
* Developing Ribas Salek through RP on OtherSpace
* Evolving the Koltkamir storyline on OtherSpace
* Getting at least a year or two ahead on server/marketing costs
* Fleshing out the information about Necromundus on the Drupal-powered site
* Settling on a BY-GOD-FINAL design for the main website at www.jointhesaga.com

We've had a lot of changes within the past year. I want to thank everyone from OS:NJ, Millennium, and Chiaroscuro who weathered the storm of our transition to the new OtherSpace. It amazes me how well that hare-brained scheme of mixing the three playerbases worked out. Yes, we had some regrettable losses as some players didn't want to make the shift, but we've bounced back. We'll be here when they decide to give us another try.

Short Attention Span Review: "The Hangover"

I laughed a lot during this movie.

Worth seeing on the big screen and with a large crowd around.

It's politically incorrect, perpetuates some bad stereotypes, and would get my money for a second viewing anyway.