Author Archives: tinkergoth

We never think that we’re missing much, til… – Final post for 2014

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Hey guys, I thought I should pop in and let people know that I’m still alive and kicking. Truth be told, I’ve been meaning to post something for a while now, but have just been having trouble getting motivation. I’m not going to make excuses, I’m not going to promise more regular updates. Instead I’m just going to talk about what’s been happening in my life, both recently and over the last year or so (quite possibly longer). I’ll keep it brief, but I just wanted to get this off my chest. As one of my friends says, it’s important that we be able to talk openly about this kind of stuff, so that others going through similar situations can know they’re not alone and that there’s help out there, no matter what the problem.

If you’re wondering about the title of this post, it’s a line from a Chevelle song, called Sleep Apnea. It came up while I was trying to think of something, and it seemed appropriate. I’ll explain that later though.

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CIFF 2014 Reviews – Round 2: Appropriate Behavior, Afterlife, The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her & Him, Starred Up

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Alright, time for the second round of reviews for the 2014 Canberra International Film Festival. I know I said it’d be up on Wednesday, but I’m afraid I had a most insistent migraine that decided I didn’t really need to do anything but take a bunch of painkillers and go to bed that evening. Who am I to tell the migraine no? So painkillers and bed it was. Even better, I couldn’t open my right eye properly the following morning, went to the doctor and found out that I have an eye infection… in the middle of film festival season. Thankfully I got it checked out before it had time to take hold, and it’s not contagious or too serious, with no impairment to my vision, so I’m still able to ride, work and go see the films. So, soldiering on through it. Unfortunately I still had a lot on to work around the festival as well, so this got pushed back further than I’d have liked.

Before I get stuck in though, I wanted to talk about something real quick. I was thinking the other day about what it is I love about film festivals. Interestingly enough, the biggest thing for me isn’t the films (though obviously they’re a pretty damn important part of it), rather it’s the people I meet. End up sitting next to the right person, strike up a conversation, and you can find out some fascinating stuff. At last year’s Freaky Fridays I met a couple of guys that I’m now hanging out with from time to time, going to the movies with semi-regularly and even helped out with a Tropfest entry by playing a minor role (I got to be a messed up looking vampire, good times!). I met a woman who helped setup the festival years back, and still bump into her at the movies from time to time, leading to plenty of discussions about cinema and what we’ve been watching. Just the other night at the Afterlife screening, I met a guy who comes up from Melbourne for a few weeks every year for the film festival, and had a great chat with him about what we’d both seen so far, as well as talking about the film after it finished. Without something like the festival, odds are that I’d never encounter these people, and I feel like that’d be a real shame. I sometimes have trouble meeting new people, and to have something like this where it can be almost guaranteed that I’m going to share some interests with the people around me really helps boost my confidence to talk to those around me.

Anyway, let’s get started. I’ve got five films to review this time around, but two of them will be reviewed as one due to the way they’re meant to be watched… don’t give me that look, you’ll see what I mean when I get to them. Moving along…

As last time, there may be spoilers, I make no promises, you have been warned. If you want to avoid them entirely except for basic setup spoilers, read the summary of the review, which is shown above the poster for each film. Again, titles link to the CIFF page for each film, which will have a trailer if one is available.

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CIFF 2014 Reviews – Round 1: In Order of Disappearance, Why Don’t You Play In Hell?, The Salvation and The Congress

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Hey hey! The 2014 Canberra International Film Festival started last Thursday, and I’ve been spending most of my free time since then watching movies. I’ve seen seven of the twenty-two (potentially twenty-three) on my schedule so far, and honestly I’ve loved them all. Unlike last year’s aborted attempt, this year I’m determined to review all of them. In the interests of making that manageable, I’ve set a couple of guidelines for myself. I’ll be reviewing them in batches of four films, and limiting myself to five hundred words per film, give or take a hundred words each. I’ll try to avoid major spoilers, but as always with my reviews, there’s no guarantees, so consider this your fair warning. If you want to be really safe, just read the summary I put at the start of each section. I’ll even put the poster for the movie after each summary so you know where to stop reading, so you know, never say I don’t do anything for you.

Now as I always say, I’m no serious film critic. I tend to go pretty easy on films so long as I find something to enjoy in them, and I make no apologies for that. So far this year I haven’t rated any of the films lower than a 4, and I think last year I only rated one of them as a 1 or 2.

Now that the preamble is out-of-the-way, let’s get this show on the road. For Round 1, I’ll be talking about In Order of Disappearance, Why Don’t You Play In Hell, The Salvation and The Congress. Each title is linked to the page for the film on the CIFF website, if a trailer is available for it, you can find it there.

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Tinkergoth’s Guide to Concert Etiquette (Warning: Profanity)

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Hey everyone. It’s been far longer than I’d wanted it to be before I posted something, but the truth of the matter is that I haven’t been gaming much at all recently, and am in fact taking a bit of a break from Pathfinder while I deal with some personal stuff. Additionally, the Canberra International Film Festival starts next Friday, meaning that any posts I make in the next three weeks or so are more likely than not to be related to that (my next post will in fact be a list of which movies I’m seeing, but in the mean time feel free to check out the program at www.ciff.com.au). Twenty three films in just under three weeks is a bit of a time sink, but hey, it only comes around once a year.

Anyway, let’s get onto the topic at hand. I went and saw The Tea Party at the ANU Bar tonight, which made me so, so happy, especially since The Superjesus were one of the support acts. For those of you who don’t know, The Tea Party are a Canadian rock band with a unique eastern influenced style that often gets them referred to as Moroccan Roll. They’re one of my favourite bands, have been since a family put me on to them when I was quite young. The show was, as expected, amazing, and they played almost all of the songs I wanted to hear (the only ones missing were Cathartik and Walking Wounded). I met some awesome people, rocked out and generally had a fantastic time. Walked out thankful that they’d finally got back together so that I had an opportunity to see them after all these years.

Unfortunately, as is often the case at shows held at venues like that (smallish university bars), some people can’t just enjoy the music, they have to ruin it for those around them. I kind of expect a crowd to get a bit rough at metal shows and so on, but for bands like The Tea Party it just ticks me off. Particularly when some lovely older woman who’s obviously a long time fan has arrived early to get a spot near the front with her husband and friends, and gets harassed badly enough that she ends up leaving in tears twenty minutes into the main act. So I’ve decided that I’d try to share some information about etiquette at gigs, which will hopefully educate and enlighten some people (not bloody likely, but it’s been way too long since I’ve had a rant, and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity). Obviously when I say “you” in the following rant, I’m not referring to everyone. Just the idiots who behave this way. Also, second and final warning, profanity is on the way.

So, buckle up ladies and gentlemen, and prepare yourself for…

Tinkergoth’s Guide to Concert Etiquette

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Review – “Pariah, Missouri” Vol. 1: Answering the Call

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“Welcome to the Weird West.”

That’s the first thing I thought when I read volume 1 of Andres Salazar’s comic Pariah, Missouri. For anyone who doesn’t know me well enough to tell, that’s a good thing. A really, really good thing. While I may not get many chances to play in it, Dead Lands has long been one of my favourite RPG settings, and the mix of western and supernatural influences in Pariah, Missouri, scratches the same itch for me. I’m by no means a fantasy purist, in fact the best way to describe it is that I love nothing more than having my chocolate (the fantasy genre) mixed with peanut butter (sci-fi, horror, westerns, whatever genre floats your boat). Note that this only applies to my tastes in fictional media (games, novels, movies, and so on)… bring any actual peanut butter anywhere near me, well, pray the gods have mercy, ’cause I sure as hell won’t. It’s not that I’m allergic or anything, I just really hate the taste of peanuts. Anyway, let’s get this back on track and into the actual review.

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What’s been going on?

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Hey guys, thought I’d post a quick update on what’s been going on here. The answer is, irritatingly, not a whole lot. More accurately, there’s a lot going on, but none of it’s really helping me get stuff posted here. I’m going through one of my semi-regular bouts of writer’s block, and hating every second of it as usual. It’s a really irritating time for it to happen to, as I have five updates for The Unusual Suspects that I want to get written and posted ASAP. Normally I’d be happy to just put ’em on the back-burner and wait until I’m able to work through the block, but these ones are a little different, as each one is actually a character created by a member from the Paizo message boards. I’ll explain more about what’s going on with that when I get the first post up finally, but they’re some pretty cool characters, and I’m keen to get them out there.

Apart from those frustrations, I’m working on a few new campaigns I’d like to run at some point. My Project Helleborus and Urban Magic homebrew games have sadly been postponed indefinitely, because finding the time to work on such ambitious projects isn’t feasible at the moment. With Pathfinder, I’ve found it’s really just easier for me to run and play Paizo’s Adventure Paths, as they’re generally pretty solid and can be run with a minimum of prep. Urban Magic… well that required me to re-skin the entirety of Mage: The Awakening to run it, and I honestly just don’t have that kind of time. I may be able to resurrect the idea later on using Savage Worlds or FATE, but it won’t be for a while. Right now my focus is on trying to get an AMP: Year One group going, and possibly one for Part-Time Gods as well. As I work on that, I’ll be posting status updates regarding the system, putting the group together, and running the game. I’m also getting a few one shots ready for various systems to run my cousin’s group through, so that should give me some more ammo for Role-Playing 101 updates, but I’m not sure when the group will be able to get together again (while I’m sure the kids would be happy to play every weekend, I know they’ve got school work they need to do, so I’m careful to make sure all the parents are okay with the session times).

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Initial Thoughts: Guardians of the Galaxy.

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So I saw Guardians of the Galaxy on the weekend… I want to review it. But I don’t know if I can. I honestly can’t think of the words to describe it properly. Everything about it just made me so happy. Once I’ve had a chance to let it all sink in, and maybe seen the movie again (maybe even a few times), I might try to do a proper review. But for now,  I thought I’d throw out some initial thoughts about it. Seriously though, just go watch it. I don’t care if you thought the Guardians didn’t deserve their own film, or how silly you think the concept is, this movie is amazing. This is pretty much entirely spoiler free, except for one major one right at the end of the post (there’s another warning and an image there just to make sure you don’t accidentally see it while reading).

Before we get stuck in though, just a quick note about upcoming stuff. I’ve got five updates for The Unusual Suspects in the works, but it’s going to take a while. Been struggling to get the descriptions written, and these aren’t my characters, so I’m waiting on some details for some of them. Still, hopefully I’ll have the first one up within the next week. Moving on…

Man, even just seeing that poster makes me so happy.

Man, even just seeing that poster makes me so happy.

Casting: Only going to talk about the main characters here.  Chris Pratt was adorably silly and loveable but had his moments of seriousness; Zoe Saldana was wonderful as Gamora (and on a side note, it was nice to see they didn’t shoehorn in a nude scene for no reason); Dave Bautista played Drax as a great mix of melancholy and unintentionally comical; and Bradley Cooper as the voice of Rocket was something else entirely. I mean, the depth he managed to bring to that character, showing that he’s more than just a talking racoon who happens to be a nutjob with a fixation on big guns. Then there’s Groot. I don’t care that pretty much all he says is “I am Groot”, with varying inflections depending on the context, Vin Diesel completely nailed it, and with the few words he was given to work with managed to hit me right in the feels (probably unsurprising to those who remember his role as the Iron Giant around fifteen years ago). Lee Pace was surprisingly dark in his role as Ronan the Accuser for the overall tone of the movie, but it worked really well. Karen Gillan… well, I’m more used to seeing her as Amy Pond, the adorable red-headed companion of Matt Smith’s incarnation of Doctor Who, but damn if she wasn’t fantastic as Nebula, the cyborg killing machine. Also very blue, and very bald. Yet still sexy somehow… is that weird? I guess it’s a little weird. But whatever.

Story: Easiest way to explain my thoughts on this is to use the Avengers film as a comparison. Avengers was very much a serious movie with moments of comedy, and the characters are heroes from the start. Guardians of the Galaxy on the other hand is a straight up comedy with moments of surprising emotional depth and seriousness. It throws you a bunch of criminals who, while very likable, aren’t exactly all about Truth, Justice and the American Way, then shows their gradual transition into Big Damn Heroes or, at the very least, Big Damn Anti-Heroes. It’s violent, it’s funny, it’s clever, and it’s extremely well told.

Visuals: It’s gorgeous. Everything about it is just beautiful to look at, even the occasional horrible stuff. I can’t really say much more. Total feast for the eyes sums it up nicely I guess.

Conclusion: Without a doubt, this is my favourite film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe so far, and I’m unbelievably happy that they’ve already confirmed a sequel. Oh all the other films have been great (I’m ignoring even Edward Norton’s Hulk here, I’ll admit there’s an MCU Hulk film when they give us one with Mark Ruffalo in it), but they’ve all been fairly serious stories with characters who are, as I said before, undoubtedly heroes (okay, Tony Stark may be a jerk sometimes, but he’s still an unequivocally good guy). It was refreshing to have a bunch of anti-heroes just bantering with each other as they bumbled around trying to figure out what to do. I have to admit, I’m glad I sprung for the premium tickets. It was great being able to lie back in a recliner, have people bring me wine and cocktails and food throughout the film, and just lose myself in the spectacle. I laughed, I rooted for the good(ish) guys, I gripped the edge of my seat where appropriate… and I cried. That’s right. I cried. I’m not ashamed to admit it, and anyone who’s seen the movie can probably take a pretty bloody good guess at where I lost it. I bloody well defy anyone to see that movie, get to that scene, and not feel at least a tear welling up!

SPOILERS BELOW THIS IMAGE!

They may be criminals, but I love them anyway...

They may be criminals, but I love them anyway…

For anyone who can’t work it out, or doesn’t mind spoilers, the scene that made me cry is pretty late in the film. The ship that the team is in is going to crash, and in order to save them, Groot turns himself into a cage to protect them… when Rocket realises what’s happening, he pleads with Groot to not do it. I may have the lines a little wrong here, as I was a bit tipsy by this stage, but it goes something like this…

Rocket: Groot, no… you’ll die! Why are you doing this…
Groot: We… are… Groot

Holy shit guys, that scene just sucker-punched me right in the feels. I mean Groot hasn’t said anything beyond his trademark “I am Groot” the whole way through the film, and he so clearly wanted to say “We are friends” to Rocket, but couldn’t get that last word out. Even thinking about it now, I’m feeling like I’m going to tear up.

END OF SPOILERS

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Written while listening to A Sound Mind. They’re an Australian band who unfortunately only ever released one album, Harmonia. I was lucky enough to see them when they were in Canberra one time, they were selling their album on the street after I’d finished my training course and was catching up with some friends… some random guy comes up, asks if I like music, then shoved some headphones at me. Had a listen, bought the album, and they threw in tickets to the gig that night. They’re a mix of rock, synth and pop, with some really uplifting lyrics. It’s not all non-stop happy joy, but the general theme is less “Life sucks” and more “Life may not be great right now, but hold yourself up and things will change for the better”.  I did just find out that it looks like the band members have split off and created two separate bands, PLUDO and Capio, so I’ll be tracking down some of their stuff for a listen very soon.

The Good, the Bad, and the Goddamn Moronic

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Alright ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. Strap yourself in, cause it’s time for a rant, and I’m good and properly pissed off. So much so that this is my seventh, that’s right, seventh, attempt at writing this. Every other attempt has degenerated into nigh incomprehensible streams of bile, rage and profanity… I’m hoping I can avoid that this time. Be warned though, there will still be some profanity, and plenty of rage.

So, this was meant to be posted last Sunday. Oh I had lots of plans for what to write about that weekend, like reviews of various movies/books/anime, or a discussion of a new World of Darkness game I’m joining and the character creation session we had for it last Friday. But on Saturday I noticed something while I was in JB HiFi picking up a game which confused me… the updated version/remake of Altelier Rorona: The Alchemist of Arland, had been rated R18+ for Sexual Violence. I was honestly puzzled, as I own the original game (also on PS3, same as the updated version), had only warranted a PG rating. “Surely this must be a mistake,” I thought. Got online when I got home, did some searching, and found out that not only had Atelier Rorona Plus been rated R18+, but so had the remake of the sequel, Atelier Totori Plus (which was released for PS Vita) had also been given an R18+ rating, for the same reasoning.

What. The. Fuck.

An image from this clearly horrifically adult game...

An image from this clearly horrifically adult game…

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Role-Playing 101: The Laundry RPG – Session 2

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Hey guys. Going to make this one quick, I’ve got my parents visiting this weekend and I’ve got a lot to do to get ready. It’s time for the report of the second session I ran of Cubicle 7’s game, The Laundry RPG, for my cousin and his friends. You can read the first report here.

A quick recap for anyone just joining us. Over the last year I’ve been occasionally running games for my 14-year-old cousin and his friends in an attempt to get them into tabletop gaming. The endgame is to get them running their own games, but while we work towards that, I’m running games in a bunch of different systems for them so they can decide what they want to play long-term. So far we’ve played Pathfinder and The Laundry RPG, with Shadowrun 5th Edition on the cards next. Before we could do that though, there was one more session of The Laundry RPG to run. It’s a game of Lovecraftian horror, spycraft shenanigans, and bleak humour about the end of the world and British public service bureaucracy, based on The Laundry Files novels by Charles Stross.

The Laundry RPG core book.

The Laundry RPG core book.

So, a week after the first session of The Laundry RPG, I rocked up at my cousin’s house again to run the next adventure. Since I’d had a busy week, I’d decided to stick with the same idea as last time, and run one of the ready to go adventures out of the core book. This time around, I was running The Greys. Everyone already knew the rules, except for one player who joined this session, so we were able to get going with barely any fuss.

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Changes…

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Hey guys. Just a quick update today, got a fair bit on.

You’ll notice that the site design has changed. Don’t be surprised if it happens again soon, or even a few times. Decided to finally try and find a theme I’m happy with. There’ll be some juggling around for this theme’s features, possibly a complete shift to another one if this doesn’t fit what I’m looking for.

My updates are probably going to slow down a bit for a few weeks. Got a lot on at work again, and an inspection on my apartment coming up. So I need to concentrate on finally unpacking all my stuff, sorting out what I don’t want to keep, and getting it all in order. Expect an update from me at least once a week, maybe twice if I have time. When I’m past the inspection and work settles down, I’ll go back to two or three posts a week . I’ll try to keep Jimbles posting whenever  he’s not too busy, and I’ll have another member of the Gnoll Tribe to introduce as soon as he decides it’s time to make his first post.

That’s it from me for now. Take it easy and keep the dice rolling.

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Written while listening to the Dredd OST. I never get sick of that industrial feel. Going to come in real handy for some upcoming games.