Happy to hear it. One of the more interesting thing's I've heard (haven't had it confirmed, so it's speculation for now):
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Antibenders are lead by Sokka.
In a city of metal and fire. Metalbender and firebenders control the lives of people.
If you cannot bend, even water, you are nobody. Destined to live in slums doing dirtiest jobs there are, with no escape.
20 years ago Sokka approached Fire Lord Zuko telling him of the suffering, hoping that the powerful Fire Lord sees the problem and changes the laws to stop the unfair segregation.
Zuko refuses as industrial output of the city brings benefits to whole world.
2 years later Sokka organizes strikes, which then turn into riots.
Aang arrives and stops the violence brining, sending nonbenders back to their slums.
With powerful Avatar present in the city, with earth king and fire lord unwilling to change how things work, nonbenders lose all hope and all spirit. 3 years pass with benders position being stronger than before.
To give them fighting chance, to make a statement, Sokka murders the most powerful bender in the world showing everyone that they can be beaten even by lowly nonbender.
A week later a new avatar is born
Tenzin soon arrives into the city looking for his fathers murderer. He fights and loses to sokka and his group.
Sokka goes into underground planning the fall of benders, while Zuko and earth king try to weed him out.
Tenzin makes contact with White Lotus and awaits new avatar.
15 years pass and avatar arrives in the city with three groups interested in her greatly.
Sokka wants to finish her once and for all, Zuko and earth King want to destroy antibenders once and for all while Tenzin and white lotus want to bring peace and harmony back to the city.
For the most part I'm excited as the majority of what we got to see of their world was from an outsider's perspective, as a tourist really. Since Aang and his party were the heroes, the story simply followed them while the places they visited merely provided a colorful backdrop. I'm hoping they flesh out "Republic City" a bit more than the locations in the original series.
Also: As a steampunk junkie I'm already getting those steamy punky tingly feelings all over my body.
You have to balance that though against the number of players who don't draft at all right now because it's too expensive and they get little experience if they lose often. It would probably open up drafting to a much larger segment of the Magic player base.
I really doubt they would do this unless profits were plummeting and they needed a new gimmick, but I'm just interested in what people think. Since no product is being dispensed, technically you're just paying for server space and I'm sure it would still be tremendously profitable for WotC.
This right here is exactly how I feel about drafting. I suck at it. I know I suck at it. I'd like to get better but I'm loathe to spend 60 bucks on four drafts trying to find out what works and what doesn't. If I knew I had a chance to go into a competitive draft and actually walk away with some sort of prize then I would certainly go for it.
However, seeing as getting better would cost much more than I would like, I'll stick to casual formats until I magically get better.
Of course I would do that. No one in their right mind who wanted to get better at drafting (and didn't have the money to draft as often as once per day/week) would pass that up.
It's funny you mention this. For my senior all night party thing, we had a hypnosis show at the end of it. Everyone found it incredibly hilarious, and it led me to want to read about hypnosis a bit. The kind of "state" you are talking about, the one where you're so absorbed in the book or movie or w/e, is known as a natural state of hypnosis. It's also very similar to when you're driving and you arrive at your destination and you don't remember driving there. The idea is that, because you're sooooooo entranced in thought or reading that book or w/e, that your subconscious takes control of your bodily functions (such as driving a familiar route or flipping a page) and lets you think and etc. to your hearts desire. It has been noted that most of the time, when you go into this state while driving, you are actually more safe than if you (as in your conscious self, not subconscious self) drove. Kind of random knowledge but I immediately thought of it after reading this
Anyways, I want to watch the movie again. If my parents go watch it, I'll probably watch it again with them, either that or watch it with a friend of mine when he gets back from Europe. I hope that the second time through will help me solidity my beliefs and etc. in certain theories.
There's actually a psychological term for this state (or a state very much like it) called "Flow". Basically you become so intent on a thought or action that your mind disconnects from the rest of your body and other thoughts. It's quite interesting. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)
To echo what pretty much everyone has said so far: great action film. I think it got it's point across well: high stakes, big explosions, and a deep personal struggle. Power went out half way through so there were many jokes made along the lines of: "well here's hoping part II is better". Here's a few reactions and questions I had afterwards:
Is it just me or are Leonardo's 'wives' getting crazier and crazier?
Anyone else feel that, at the very end as they got off the plane, it felt somewhat like a "heist" film? It just seemed odd to me, because I believe the main story was about Cobb's inner demon and we have to sit through everyone giving mental high-fives at the end. A minor nit-pick, I know, but it got under my skin.
One of the people I saw the movie with told me that he thought the fact that the workings of the "dream state machine" went unmentioned actually added to the movie by allowing for more time to focus on the development of Cobb's back story. I disagreed, how can one watch this movie and be satisfied with "the army made it". I'd have liked at least a little information regarding how exactly they merged two or more dreaming consciouses.
The thing that struck me most about the movie was that when in the dream world, everything felt sufficiently dream-like and unidentifiable. The people and places in the dream could have been anyone and anywhere.
In fact the whole movie felt as though it were a dream. The little details about the other characters' lives and personalities were put aside in favor of the main characters; the "dreamers". I'm not sure if I like this or not yet. I suppose it greatly depends on whether or not it was intentional or just poor film making.
All in all it was a fun and interesting look at a clever idea, with a satisfying ending. I see all this talk about the top spinning but the real note of finality for me that drove any thought of dreams within dreams within dreams from my mind was when his children turned and their faces were shown.
Also the spinning top's got nothing on Magneto's chess piece.
I'm planning on going to see it again, and I'm looking forward to it. Lot's of fun, so if you haven't yet: GO SEE IT!
Well you can't really go wrong with Cruel Ultimatum. Or you could just go the fun mill route with Traumatize for the Mirror and Brain Freeze for the Scepter.
Do you have an idea of the route you'd like to go down, or perhaps strategies that you favor more than others?
You're not living your life as if there's a 50% chance it's a computer program, presumably.
What would I be doing differently if I were in a computer program? In both cases I would live my life the same way, so actually I am acting exactly as though this reality is false (and, at the same time, true).
It's not punk to try to be punk. People get really angry when I point this out, but there's no definitive "punk" look. To even claim that you're punk isn't very punk.
In a world filled with punks there wouldn't be any punks.
I think that the attitude and the music do not necessarily go hand in hand. I'm no punk myself (quite happy to work with the system and all that), but I've certainly had friends who would fit the "attitude" requirement who rather disliked the music - and vice versa. However I would agree that people who live the lifestyle seem to be attracted to listening to and producing the music. As is the case with many fringe social groups, self expression is both the driving force and the product of their culture.
I'd like to see us try and go the non-obvious route and pick a permanent to couple with this ability. I'm voting artifact because I think this could get pretty nifty with some sort of sac-effect.
If what we perceive as reality is the work of electrochemical reactions in the brain then we can't ever truly know what is real and what isn't. We could be in a false reality, and, equally as possible, we could not be. In the end it doesn't matter. You and I exist in and live in this reality, and what matters to me is that we make the best of the short time given to us here by the endless series of matrices within matrices.
For the most part I'm excited as the majority of what we got to see of their world was from an outsider's perspective, as a tourist really. Since Aang and his party were the heroes, the story simply followed them while the places they visited merely provided a colorful backdrop. I'm hoping they flesh out "Republic City" a bit more than the locations in the original series.
Also: As a steampunk junkie I'm already getting those steamy punky tingly feelings all over my body.
This right here is exactly how I feel about drafting. I suck at it. I know I suck at it. I'd like to get better but I'm loathe to spend 60 bucks on four drafts trying to find out what works and what doesn't. If I knew I had a chance to go into a competitive draft and actually walk away with some sort of prize then I would certainly go for it.
However, seeing as getting better would cost much more than I would like, I'll stick to casual formats until I magically get better.
Of course I would do that. No one in their right mind who wanted to get better at drafting (and didn't have the money to draft as often as once per day/week) would pass that up.
There's actually a psychological term for this state (or a state very much like it) called "Flow". Basically you become so intent on a thought or action that your mind disconnects from the rest of your body and other thoughts. It's quite interesting. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)
Anyone else feel that, at the very end as they got off the plane, it felt somewhat like a "heist" film? It just seemed odd to me, because I believe the main story was about Cobb's inner demon and we have to sit through everyone giving mental high-fives at the end. A minor nit-pick, I know, but it got under my skin.
One of the people I saw the movie with told me that he thought the fact that the workings of the "dream state machine" went unmentioned actually added to the movie by allowing for more time to focus on the development of Cobb's back story. I disagreed, how can one watch this movie and be satisfied with "the army made it". I'd have liked at least a little information regarding how exactly they merged two or more dreaming consciouses.
The thing that struck me most about the movie was that when in the dream world, everything felt sufficiently dream-like and unidentifiable. The people and places in the dream could have been anyone and anywhere.
In fact the whole movie felt as though it were a dream. The little details about the other characters' lives and personalities were put aside in favor of the main characters; the "dreamers". I'm not sure if I like this or not yet. I suppose it greatly depends on whether or not it was intentional or just poor film making.
All in all it was a fun and interesting look at a clever idea, with a satisfying ending. I see all this talk about the top spinning but the real note of finality for me that drove any thought of dreams within dreams within dreams from my mind was when his children turned and their faces were shown.
Also the spinning top's got nothing on Magneto's chess piece.
I'm planning on going to see it again, and I'm looking forward to it. Lot's of fun, so if you haven't yet: GO SEE IT!
Well you can't really go wrong with Cruel Ultimatum. Or you could just go the fun mill route with Traumatize for the Mirror and Brain Freeze for the Scepter.
Do you have an idea of the route you'd like to go down, or perhaps strategies that you favor more than others?
Well bless my britches I think you've got it.
Artifact Creature - Scarecrow Hound
When Straw Dogs becomes the target of a spell or ability, return it to its owner's hand.
3/1
Next: The Mission
What would I be doing differently if I were in a computer program? In both cases I would live my life the same way, so actually I am acting exactly as though this reality is false (and, at the same time, true).
So the moment one tries to not give a hoot, or not act a certain way, then they are not being "punk"?
In a world filled with punks there wouldn't be any punks.
I think that the attitude and the music do not necessarily go hand in hand. I'm no punk myself (quite happy to work with the system and all that), but I've certainly had friends who would fit the "attitude" requirement who rather disliked the music - and vice versa. However I would agree that people who live the lifestyle seem to be attracted to listening to and producing the music. As is the case with many fringe social groups, self expression is both the driving force and the product of their culture.