Ironscarf wrote:

A Ouija Board will scream if you try to burn it. People who hear the
scream have less than thirty-six hours to live. There is only one proper
way to dispose of it: break the board into seven pieces, sprinkle it
with Holy Water then bury it.

THIS. FOR ME.
hahahahhanothankyou

Ouija Boards? Can't say I have ever encountered them. If I saw one the local Taotaomona (Guam's jungle spirits) would probably destroy them. I don't think they like competition (you have to ask permission from them if you need to do anything in the jungle).

Hit a snag with a story I'm working with. Maybe you military minded types can provide some insight.

Suppose an entire fleet of ships is stranded far away from home and have no coms with their home nation. The fleet commander (who is an admiral) is not there. During the ensuing battle with unknown enemies his second in command takes charge and manages to save the fleet.

Now there's a council with captains (all outranking said second in command) of every ship in the fleet. They're all old, some were military war commanders way back when. Others are military, but deal with things like manufacturing, agriculture, and freight. My reasoning why they all would vote to give the lowly second in command officer a promotion to “Grand Admiral” and giving that person the mission to keep the fleet alive until they find home is because of how the battle with the uknown enemy was handled and how well that person managed the resources at hand afterward.

Now in real life in this situation, could this really be done? Or would there be an ensuing power struggle to be dealt with first?

I know the story is mine to tell, but I don't want to do the “because the writer said so”. :)

LOnne- Bravo would be best to answer that I think.
But for my take on this there are three approaches:

1. Generally you'd expect there to be contingincey plans for most command situations pretty clearly laid out already, most especially if the chief goes missing! So the organisation that results in that person in charge could have just been written down beforehand and put in a sealed envelope, and the other captains will just abide by that.

2. Higher comamnd levels are VERY political. Maybe all those jelous, ambitious captains decide to have that person in charge as a way of ensuring none of the others get that role? They'll consider the new commander as nothing but a puppet until they prove themselves over time.

3. You're talking about an expiditionary force I think? Something that doesn't have easy communication with home base, they're supposed to be able to be self sufficeint. SO that's more like ooooooollld style colonial fleets or privateer raiding fleets from hundreds of years ago.
In that case the person with the best political skill and strongest personality will dominate.
-Also it helps a LOT if they have muscle on their side. Like one of the older dominant captains is a strong ally who helps keep the others in line for the new commander.

speaking from no “proper” knowledge on the subject I would imagine Ozone has it pretty nailed. There would be a clear second in command, but what about going further down the ranks where it all becomes less clear cut? All those experienced captains vying for position, that could have rich story potential.

Better Call Saul is so damn good. I'm so glad this series exists!

Fargo was excellent, too - can't wait for the second season of that, which is apparently about the “Sioux Falls Murders” from 30 years earlier that kept being referenced throughout the show.

I haven't got a clue what's going on with Ouija Boards. I shared an apartment with two friends some years back. They got ahold of a Ouija and played with it pretty regularly. I remember protesting slightly, having heard that doors could be opened. But I didn't care that much; I wasn't superstitious.

We did some experiments to see if the Board could tell us what number was on a paper (when the holder of the paper wasn't touching the…pointer thing. It couldn't tell us). Anyway, we talked to a couple of “spirits”.

I'm not sure what happened as a result. I don't know if it was completely imagination, or something otherworldly, or somewhere in between. But things got a little weird in that apartment after that.

- I wasn't scared or thinking much about the Ouija at all. I don't think I talked myself into being nervous. But I woke up in the middle of the night once or twice feeling like someone was in my room looking right at me.

- Things seemed to be moving during the night. I would wake up to find my calendar off the wall and across the room, or my keys in the wrong place. I was never sure if there was a mundane explanation…there certainly could have been.

- Once I was home alone and the air seemed to grow…I don't know….energized or something. It felt really weird. The hairs on the neck standing up and all that. Various clicks, creaks and thumps made me turn around on the couch to see what was going on. I finally checked the hall and the big broom closet near the door. Nothing there. It was a very tense, uncomfortable feeling.

I remember years later when I rented out an apartment in my house to tenants and they brought up Ouija Boards/spirits, I insisted they not use a Board in the house. Seems silly, I know…but imagination/the power of suggestion or not, I still wouldn't want to mess up the place where I live.

Ozone has it right. There would be a chain of command probably according to seniority. So the Second in command should already be the senior captain. If he isn't and was chosen by the admiral for his merit then there'd be a power battle depending on personality. And any clash of personality in a group setting is politics.

The second in command (depending on era and service he could be a commodore which could be an actual rank or an honorary one as second in command of a fleet and his real rank be captain and a junior one at that) out of respect would defer to the senior captain once the action is over or the senior captain being an ass could demand command of the fleet. So there's a clash of personalities. Or all could go smoothly as to how well he handled the fleet in the last operation. Your story, your characters you call it.

Like ozone said look up how the Royal Navy did things back in the day. All those Hornblower and Aubrey novels are all about this stuff.

Just for the sake of discussion let's plug this situation into my current comic. Commodore Tang is nominal fleet commander with Captains Aubrey, Pike, Kirk and Rickover under him (in order of seniority) Tang is incapcitated and he has his flag on board Kirk's ship. Kirk assumes command of the fleet though a junior captain and leads them to victory. Aubrey is a wise old fish and knows Kirk is the best officer to command. Pike is a stickler for detail and demands Aubrey or he command. Rickover is a skirt chasing sexist and no one listens to him. Aubrey and Pike will clash over Kirk's ability to command and Aubrey will grudgingly take command on Pike's insistence and Kirk's sense of fairness. And Rickover will chase Pike's First officer around trying to get in her pants.

Thanks for the advice, guys! This will make things easier/believable.

Yes, this commander has a few things going their way. Most of the old captains have served under the commander's superior officer, the Grand Admiral. And they all know of the GA's keen eye when it comes to potential. The only captain who opposes didn't serve under the GA, but he'll end up being put down because he lost most of his carrier's fighter squadron in an effort to relive his old war days… He essentially has all his fighters attack an enemy capship (because it worked for him in the past) despite the enemy's strengths and abilities being unknown. And it's the first major casualty the fleet suffers.

Banes wrote:
I remember years later when I rented out an apartment in my house to tenants and they brought up Ouija Boards/spirits, I insisted they not use a Board in the house. Seems silly, I know…but imagination/the power of suggestion or not, I still wouldn't want to mess up the place where I live.

It's easy to dismiss these things and say it's all in the mind, but that misses the point. The human brain is the most powerful tool in the known universe, so in the mind is a very scary place for them to be. I would probably do the same as you, even though logically, I know it's harmless. The primitive and superstitious parts of the brain demand to be heard.

They should be heard too. Stories about ghosties and goblins serve as metaphors for real fears people are otherwise unwilling to confront. A bit like science fiction, where you can write about the present in ways people wouldn't want to read, by setting it in the future. You could even mix them up and have space ghosts!
Did somebody mention L. Ron Hubbard?

I don't know Scaf… for the Ouija thing, as we know- there's nothing to it, but also the beleifs around them are pop-culture surface stuff.
I do somewhat agree with you, but on things that're more entrenched, like ghosts, mirrors, religion.
That said, pop-culture stuff can piggyback on more deeply held cultural beleifs and influence people to do amazingly stupid things.
I was thinking about incidents in South Africa, Nigeria, Brazil, and India where the less educated people conflated movie monsters with traditional beleifs to come up with bizzare stroies on why murders and thefts etc were happening: people transforming into goats, wolves, witches, government controlled cyborg assassins running rampant and murderin people, vampires, aliens, and more.

ozoneocean wrote:
I was thinking about incidents in South Africa, Nigeria, Brazil, and India where the less educated people conflated movie monsters with traditional beleifs to come up with bizzare stroies
And Puerto Rico. Woman sees horror movie, sees something in her back yeard and describes it exactly as said movie monster and a legend is born when the media christens it the goat sucker or more familarly Chupacabra. (carefully and diligently researched and verifed explanation for this particular phenomenon. If only others were so easy. Like how the described behavior and apearance of Bigfoot mirrors that of bears on their hind legs, but they're not bears on their hind legs they have to be something totally new and mystical.)


Someone sees or experiences something they can't qute explain or something familar in an unfamilar way and *poof* the bear on its hind legs is Bigfoot. A mangy mutt is a chupacabra and a raccoon becomes a six foot tall wolfman with red eyes. Look up rods, skyfish, solar rods. Someone who never saw a flying insect in a photograph happens to catch one in flight and suddenly its an unknown cryptozoological animal when it's a phenomena known to photographers since forever.

Don't get me started on nightvision UFOs. Untrained people misusing military equipment and suddenly the night sky is awash in battles of UFOs.

Then of course there is also mis-remembering. You see you precieved that pointer as moving when in fact if you had been paying attention the other girl moved it. You become convinced it was spirits and *poof* your Ouija board is haunted. Stage Magic tricks work like that. Suckers born every minute who will beleive anything. It's all the human mind and the ability of an observer to mis-perceive what they're looking at and then mis-remember it as something else yet again. Scarf is entirely correct. I'm too much of a trained observer who actually did confabulate the memory of a car accident I was in. The huamn mind makes up stuff and mis-remembers and makes connections where none exist all the time and suddenly we're in a world of spirits and ghosts.

And like this stuff happens everywhere including among the most sophisticated supposedly intelligent people not just Joe Hick in Pohdunk or Rasad the magical thinker in India. Alien abduction phenomena and devil worship false memory phenomena?

bravo1102 wrote:
Don't get me started on nightvision UFOs. Untrained people misusing military equipment and suddenly the night sky is awash in battles of UFOs.

I hadn't heard of this particular stupidity. Thanks. I spent a glorious half hour reading and watching idiots on the net discuss this ‘very real’ danger to humanity. Wonderful stuff.

Preparing for kickstarter has been one of the most nuts thing i've ever done. This to-do list is a fulltime job- not even exaggerating. I'm talking to a few people who have helped run kickstarters and they're pretty sure i'll exceed the goal, but there's a lot of out-of-pocket expenses for me right now and there's always that chance for flop.

Also another wonderful effect is quotes for commisioning people have gone up by 300% when they hear ‘kickstarter’. Yay -_-

fingers crossed it will come off. I can imagine it is a lot of work. I think a lot of kickstarters that fail do so because the creators didn't put enough effort in to really sell it and convince people that a finished product would materialise. I've supported a few kickstarter games and only one has released a finished product as yet. That was elite dangerous, and that has sucked up a lot of my time. it's not perfect but it is a damn good game.

Yeah, Kickstarter seems like it would be difficult to get done right, but once you reach your goal, with half the time still to go, you'll be glad you put in the time. I am surprised that quotes go up after hearing Kickstarter though, wouldn't a succesful Kickstarter guarantee that you have funding? So wouldn't it lessen their risk for getting involved?
- - -
I loaned a nephew of mine a large grocery bag of comic books almost a year ago. He was one of the first people in my family that showed any indication of shared interests. Over the course of that year I have not seen him again, and the memory of which books I lent him became fuzzier over time as well. I would sometimes wonder where my copy of ‘Bone’ was, or where I put ‘the compleat moonshadow’, but my living quarters are so messy that it would not be strange for me to find those books under a pile of other books, or hidden behind emptied bags of chips or soda.
My sister had her birthday party last weekend, and that cousin showed up as well. With a big smile on his face he handed me the same grocery bag, filled with each of the comic books I lent him, and then he started digging in his bag, and pulled out a massive wrapped gift. He didn't even say anything, but just handed it to me, and proceeded to mingle with a group of family members that I have no interest in interacting with. I had to serve these dredges for most of the evening, and I had more important things to do as the party drew to a close, so I forgot about the gift, that I had thrown onto my bed.

It contained that one issue of DMZ that I didn't have, that one companion comic to my favorite Marvel event, that Earth One version collection of Batman, and even a comic version of The Graveyard Book. Its nice to have people around that actually know you, even if you only see them once a year.

- - -

The DD 2015 Radioplay is still something that's happening. there'll be more news about it sometime this week.

- - -

The phrase Djinni sex powers has been running through my head for two full days. It makes it harder to actually write what I need to write.

Kroatz wrote:
Yeah, Kickstarter seems like it would be difficult to get done right, but once you reach your goal, with half the time still to go, you'll be glad you put in the time. I am surprised that quotes go up after hearing Kickstarter though, wouldn't a succesful Kickstarter guarantee that you have funding? So wouldn't it lessen their risk for getting involved?

I think it's the tendency for kickstarters to ask for 3k and then get 10k. It would be fine if the KS was funded but I'm going out of pocket here on 2-3 people charging me 200% mark-ups oh god make it stoppppp. D8

That's awesome of your cousin… people who give stuff back in the same or better condition are da real mvp. If i lent comics to my cousins they would be returned crusty with soda can indentations from being a coaster.

Kroatz wrote:
I loaned a nephew of mine a large grocery bag of comic books almost a year ago. He was one of the first people in my family that showed any indication of shared interests. Over the course of that year I have not seen him again, and the memory of which books I lent him became fuzzier over time as well. I would sometimes wonder where my copy of ‘Bone’ was, or where I put ‘the compleat moonshadow’, but my living quarters are so messy that it would not be strange for me to find those books under a pile of other books, or hidden behind emptied bags of chips or soda.
My sister had her birthday party last weekend, and that cousin showed up as well. With a big smile on his face he handed me the same grocery bag, filled with each of the comic books I lent him, and then he started digging in his bag, and pulled out a massive wrapped gift. He didn't even say anything, but just handed it to me, and proceeded to mingle with a group of family members that I have no interest in interacting with. I had to serve these dredges for most of the evening, and I had more important things to do as the party drew to a close, so I forgot about the gift, that I had thrown onto my bed.

It contained that one issue of DMZ that I didn't have, that one companion comic to my favorite Marvel event, that Earth One version collection of Batman, and even a comic version of The Graveyard Book. Its nice to have people around that actually know you, even if you only see them once a year.

Aww this is so cute! I hate loaning books and getting them back with
dog-eared pages, spills on them etc.. IF I get them back at all..
That being said, I borrowed my friends LOTR books, and my rabbit did chew
the hell out of one, because it fell under my bed and I didn't realise
it was there (I don't keep anything chewable on the ground). My friend
had only the books with the movie covers on them and she had often
mentioned she would love the hard cover copies, so I bought her the set
as a combined birthday/sorry my pet mutilated yours. Now I have her old
ones, including the chewed one, and now I am hinting to my friends I want the hard cover copies…..

I just hate loaning books out, and films too. either don't get them back or they are ruined in some way. I've even had someone have a dvd for so long that when I asked them about it they tried telling me it was theirs not mine and that they never borrowed it from me. one of the benefits o everything going digital.

Rare vinyl, borrowed by people who claim it never happened, or that it was some kind of agreed swap. Really? - that's why you left that terrible album at my house?
Books I saved up to buy, borrowed by people who then claim it was theirs all along and hadn't I had it for a long time?
Treasured old magazine with sentimental value, now with monetary value, not returned because “My cousin is ill and I couldn't ask him to part with it”. You gave it to your cousin? I'll stop now: the red mist is starting to roll in.

I've got good friends for book and movie loaning, for the most part. They return them in good condition.

One friend though hasn't returned my fave book of ‘20s magazine spot illustrations for over a year, maybe 2. But then I have his copy of Corto Maltise, the Irish one. That one in adition to another I have are apparently worth a couple of hundred because they’re some of the few that'd been translated into English. A Book collecter friend of mine strongly advises me to forget that it's borrowd…
Eh, Sebastian would probably give it to me anyway. But I really love that spot illustration book way more.

—-

For my mum's birthday I brought her good French champagne, I dressed up in my hussar gear, got one of my swords out and practised “Sabrage” on it, or “sabreing”. That's where you hold the bottle in one hand and knock the end off with a sword in the other. Went off without a hitch! Delicious champagne too.
I've always wanted to try that. You see vids on youtube where they use something that looks like a gigantic bowie knife with a comically oversized hilt. It's much better with a real sabre. :D

You actaually where able to hit the end off with a sabre???? I feel like that would be one big mess in my kitchen, or missing fingers and toes! But I am clumsy.

Ya, it's a bit of a trick really:
You chill the bottle beforehand so everything is more brittle, then you just flick the sabre up along the seem (the week point), and clock off the end.
I used my bluntest sword, and the flat, even blunter back edge at that.
It's the impact that does it, not a sharp edge.

You can use anything to do it; a bar, a metal spoon, the edge of a table, even a wine glass, but a cavalry sabre looks the showiest.

Shh, you're not supposed yo reveal the science behind the magic.

ozoneocean wrote:
Ya, it's a bit of a trick really:
You chill the bottle beforehand so everything is more brittle, then you just flick the sabre up along the seem (the week point), and clock off the end.
I used my bluntest sword, and the flat, even blunter back edge at that.
It's the impact that does it, not a sharp edge.

You can use anything to do it; a bar, a metal spoon, the edge of a table, even a wine glass, but a cavalry sabre looks the showiest.

And then you stand in the frame of an open second or third storey window and drink the whole thing. Or at least that's what Russian Hussars did once upon a time.

Just finished watching the entire Black Adder series all four seasons and all the specials and I laughed my butt off.

Then I watched Dead Snow 2: Red versus Dead and laughed even more. It was much better than the first movie. Broader comedy and some more interesting characters. And the Tiger tank. (It was one of the mock-ups built for Saving Private Ryan) With zombie tankers. Great all around and certainly worth seeing.

I thought it was French Hussars who did it to impress Napolean? :D
Ah, they probably all did it!

FRIDAY! It's Friiiiiday! OMG it's friday. Best day of the week. Long weekend here too; labour day! Woot!
I've pretty much finished the “pencils” of the latest Pinky TA page… time to work on the big hussar pic I wanna do after the study seemed to turn ok ok.
http://ozoneocean.deviantart.com/art/Death-s-Head-Hussar-515527928

———

The second season of BlackAdder was the best on for me.
In the first one the setting is GREAT but the character is wrong- too weak. In 2 he's sexy, powerful, nasty, and he WINS! A true antihero.
In subsequent series it never really recaputures that. They're still all pretty good and all the actors and the stories are fantastic, but the character of Blackadder doesn't reach the same heights.
He doesn't work as a vizear type or a scheming underling. He works best as a supremely confident, ambitious lord in his own right who's out for more power… and even though he never quite reaches the hieghts to which he aspires, he manages to win past all the travails that assail him at the expense of his eneimies- which is a win win.

Ah, Blackadder. A series so cunning it could outwit a fox while lecturing on philosophy and balancing a set of knives on its nose.
Season 2 is great. But I prefer Season 4 for the darker, gallows humour. And Season 3 has some great individual moments that resonate; waiting for death on an “unrealistic grassy knoll”, outwitting Samuel Johnson with the word ‘sausage’, and the poets (always there's poets) in the coffee shop.

Dear Duck Members,
ARTA place for all of us to share our characters, our art, our ideas, but all in the form of costume, fashion, and style. Show your appreciation to this forum by commenting or asking questions. Ozone Ocean and Kawaiidaigakuseihave been instrumental in this fantastic idea and we are really interested in seeing who out there is interested too!
Plus, I'm adding a tie-in brand new comic which is truly a labor of love. I'm using both new drawings and my childhood drawings of the same characters. It's called Confessions of a Paper Doll and it's coming soon!
Sincerely,
The Vampires,
VinoMas & Princess January

So I went from having zero coding prospects to having the best programmar in the scene email me and say “what's your budget”, afterwards agreeing to work on my project. I am beyond thrilled, but also a little intimidated. Guy knows unreal script, taught classes at ubisoft and worked on the star wars battlefront games… and im like trying to give him 100 full body sprites. (you cant get any more noob than this)
Thankfully my friend is wonderful and stopped me. I mean I'm sure he'd understand but i would have been embarrased. I'm kind of hyper aware he is being nice, as he has his own very successful project. The game is pretty much guaranteed to look amazing now.

God. I haven't had anxiety like this in a long time. I guess thats what happens when you truly want something.

Gunwallace wrote:
Ah, Blackadder. A series so cunning it could outwit a fox while lecturing on philosophy and balancing a set of knives on its nose.
Season 2 is great. But I prefer Season 4 for the darker, gallows humour. And Season 3 has some great individual moments that resonate; waiting for death on an “unrealistic grassy knoll”, outwitting Samuel Johnson with the word ‘sausage’, and the poets (always there's poets) in the coffee shop.

I also prefer Black Adder goes Forth because they captured the trench culture of the Great War perfectly. I recently re-read Great War and Modern Memory by Paul Fussel about the literature to arise out of the Great War and it made the series that much funnier. Each season has lots of inside jokes to someone intimate with the historical period. Then there's penultimate episode Black Adder Back and Forth which has Colin Firth as Shakespeare. SInce I have the whole DVD package I'm still watching the extras with all the interviews. And ever since watching the miniseries Merlin I've always had a thing for Miranda Richardson but realizing she played Queenie made me respect her even more as a great comic actress.

Of my friend, Mr. Spock, I can only say this: Of all the characters I have encountered in the Star Trek universe, his was the most…Human. He was, and always will be, my friend.



Rest well, Leonard Nimoy.
“Live long and prosper.”
(1931-2015)

Leonard Nimoy will be VERY sorely missed… :(