Mat Bowles

So, on this getting out more thing…

Well, I’m still exhausted. I’ve done nothing today really, except trawl around online and drink coffee. I’m thinking I’m a little out of shape.

Scratch that, everyone knows I’m a little out of shape. Anyway; as I said I would, left the office Friday, went straight to Exeter to take part in the pre-release tournament for Temple of Lore. This was cool for many reasons, among them a) I love draft generally, and the new Battle Packs really support the format, b) I haven’t played witha deck of my own for ages, and building one was cool and c) This is the first set that was actually involved in designing.

I love the game, and it was great fun. I drew a Nothrogg Warlord, a reprinted Goth’Ak, good to see she’ll actually be legal for long enough to affect the environment this time around. Drafting was interesting, and a little slow, as most of us had seen zero cards. Chris? I think perhaps pure sealed may be best for the first time we play a set, would make it easier for the new players and those of us that haven’t seen the cards already. Still, worth doing, although the complete lack of a Dev player made the last picks a little dull. First round was against , and we drew. That’s the first time Chris hasn’t beaten me in a tournament match for, what, 3 years? Second against , and again, a draw. I’m thinking we were playing slow. I know I was, and it was close at all times.

After that, I dropped, as I said I might, and left to go meet up with , , and others. They’d already left the Zephyr, according to Christy, it’s not a rock night there at all. Fortunately, the wonder of modern communication technology and the small point that Jo has credit meant Christy could tell me they’d gone to Timepiece. We sat on the balcony for much of the night, drinking, chatting and taking the piss out of people trying to go around to the side door that has, apparently, been blocked up. I wouldn’t know, hadn’t been there for years (1997 I think, when I first moved to Exeter for work). It’s ok, not as awful as I remembered, and there was some pretty to look at every so often. There was also more than a little very very ugly, and a fair amount of very stupidly drunk, but some of that was us, so no real issue with the place. Also saw , and concur with C, her girlfriend is truly gorgeous, but she was there celebrating graduation &c, so their company was brief.

I had planned to drive home afterwards, so was drinking lightly, but informed me, in no uncertain terms, that I was to come back to Jo’s and stay there for the night. Never argue with a lady who wants you to enjoy yourself, especially if she’s cute and single. Right? Lots of silliness ensued, including a not-very-sober me trying to figure out what was wrong with Jo’s laptop. Sober but tired me in the morning early-afternoon concluded “it’s buggered”, but that didn’t help much. Overloaded with too much software. Of course, when trying to fix it the the night before, I did get a little distracted and abandoned the project when the girls decided to take their clothes off ans wondered around in their underwear…

At one point, C talked me and Bob to walk her down to the swings by the river. I’m sort of getting used to going down there with her, it’s rather nice and tranquil at silly o’ clock in the morning. Eventually, sleep was decided upon. Jo’s dog didn’t seem to like this idea, but it did happen. C & Bob left to drive back to Reading after brunch, and I walked into town.

Had an omelette at Let’s Do on Fore St, that’s the 5th time I’ve eaten there, not exactly cheap compared to some places, but rather good for a basic cafe, and the smoothies are always nice. Then stumbled up to the top of town, went into GW for the first time in ages, and it seemed like nothing had changed. John at the till, Andy serving a customer, Steve doing nothing, Karl, the ex-manager before last at the till harassing John. Turns out Karl now lives in London and was just visiting, and the three staff were spending their first day working together in months. Still, longest serving team of staff in the chain, and I helped train all of them plus their manager (/smug mode). I don’t really miss working there, but the new Eldar codex does look rather good.

After that, popped into ’s shop (he weren’t in), then went to Steve’s, with the intention of saying hello, grabbing a coffee, then collecting the car and going home. Instead, I watched them play a board game (looked interesting, about the German postal system, but no idea what it was called), and then Duncan asked what my plans were, and decided we should go to the pub then play board games at his. Pub (The Globe) was as usual ok, and I manged to win most of our games of pool (how? Beyond me). Then went back to his, , , Alice and Will arrived and we played silly games.

It might have helped if I’d understood the rules to Hex Hex, and given that a few of the cards relied on reaction times (not something I’m good at when I’ve, y’know, had a nights sleeP), I at one point went to a score so negative it was off the chart. Still, an interesting, if silly game. It’s essentially Hot Potato with silly spell effects from cards. Not bad, possibly might buy it for future filler use. Well presented and set out, and the cards were clear for the most part, even if certain people did cheat.

After that, we tried the new Order of the Stick board game. I’m not a huge fan of the comic, I’ve read it a few times, and it’s amused, but essentially, I don’t roleplay, ergo it, and similar comics that rely on roleplay in jokes, aren’t as funny to me. Yes, I have roleplayed, yes, I get the humour, but it’s not really my sort of thing. Also, the game itself is, essentially, a silly version of a dungeon bash, possibly my least liked gaming style. It’s mechanically good, and I did enjoy it in a way, the humour is there, backstabbing is both encouraged and amusing, and I had no real fault with any specifics. Only real drawback is that it’s very difficult to see who, if anyone, is winning, and some of the abilities players can acquire do seem to screw people over a bit too easily, but that might have been linked to me not getting a few of the rules. Essentially, if you like the comic, the game is good, if you like Munchkin or Knights of the Dinner Table style pisstakes it’s probably your sort of thing, but if you like neither that much, probably better to spend the money on something else.

Like the Game of Thrones expansion. Anyway, after we’d done (Chris won, Duncan came second, and I was a close thrid despite messing up and playing a ‘difficult’ character), we said our goodbyes and I drove home. Collapsed into bed, woke up today, read Hogfather for a bit, then came online.

All in all, I’ve had a good weekend I think. Good to see people, good to enjoy Exeter with no reservations, and, naturally, seeing Jo and Christy running around in their underwear is always good.

October 30th, 2006 Posted by MatGB | Uncategorized | 4 comments

28 days a goth?

Hmm, not sure what to think on this one. , having moved to Exeter, is thinking of going to the Cavern tomorrow night. Fine, fairly normal. To see a band called “Betty Curse”. The lead singer of which is a persona created by Megan Burns, the actress who played Hannah in 28 Days Later. Now, of course, she’s 20, not 13/14 as she was at the time of the film. And, um, she looks pretty good from what I can find (band Myspace, her Myspace). She’s also, it appears from a few interviews, fairly switched on.

However, she’s backed by Island Records quite heavily, the contact section of the site (no direct link, not possible, see below) essentially promises to spam you with stuff about all their bands that might be of interest, and it just oozes marketing shill. It could be she’s genuine, and simply has a decent team behind her. She could be honest about always having been into darker stuff, and rejecting the popish mainstream. Alternately, she could have simply been hired and/or picked up by Island in an attempt to cash in on a market that they feel they’re neglecting. As this is my first encounter with her, and I can’t actually listen to the samples, anyone out there know more?

Their website is, quite palpably, bloody awful. That’s not just because it’s entirely done in Flash. Nor because it has autoplay music that I can’t turn off. The horrible gimmickry of the neon motif isn’t the worse crime, nor is the attrocious idea of the no-flash page that detects you have flash disabled, then asks you if want to view the site anyway, with no warning as to how you’ve got to the no-flash page. The worst crime is that navigation is almost impossible without wanting to gouge your eyes out, confusing and bloody stupid. All flash websites and designers who think they’re a good idea whould be run up and shot with a noose around their neck for good measure.

So, cool new artist with both track record to appeal, the looks to carry it off and a genuine goth/alt girl to like, or simple marketing dream designed to cash in on a market that the big boys in the industry can’t, normally, get in on?

And, perhaps of more direct relevence, given it’s apparently free entry, if I were to cancel my normal Monday night stuff, anyone interested in going along tomorrow?

October 30th, 2006 Posted by MatGB | Uncategorized | 7 comments

Now this is a thingy I could like

Got a text message from Dot last night; for those wondering, definately still alive. Message in its entirety is below the cut.

: I just lost

And on a differenct subject entirely, there’s a new silly meme going around. It’s not actually that bad. To join in go to www.lost.eu.

Worth a go.

Leaving the office now, straight off to Exeter to Steve’s to play in ’s tournament. Then, hopefully, to go meet for ’s birthday.

October 27th, 2006 Posted by MatGB | Uncategorized | 2 comments

Another GIP, and something else wrong

I wasn’t going to post again, but then ESN showed me had uploaded this icon, which I suspect he just did because I’d commented at his how I love seeing new icons in ESN. And, y’know, it’s a cool icon, so I’m using it first, damnit!

So, in another probably not safe for work series, via : The Sex Tutor - joining the Mile High club.

Oh, the other answers, for those that didn’t click the ‘view answers’ link in the poll, were Twin Peaks and Pratchett. I’m thinking some people missed the name of the poll. Meh, it was silly. And drop down polls are completely useless, they give the same results as radio buttons. Weird.

October 26th, 2006 Posted by MatGB | Uncategorized | 2 comments

Retrospective: The Lost Boys

Imagine modern television without the works of Joss Whedon and those he’s influenced. Imagine no Buffy, Angel, Firefly or derivatives such as Charmed. Imagine fewer arc plots, less ‘empowered female’ characters, less cool. Horrible, isn’t it. You just imagined a world in which The Lost Boys was never made.

Sleep all day

I can remember when it came out. I was 13, and it was all over the place. It was also a 15 certificate, so I had to wait a bit to watch it, eventually, I think, I saw the first TV broadcast, as did, well, everyone at school. It was so cool. It was the first pre-recorded video I bought, and the soundtrack is one of the few I own.

Tonight, I came home and watched it again (this took rewiring the video back into the old TV in my bedroom, feel honoured), for the first time in years. So, does it stand up to the test of time?

Party all night

First, the plot. It’s simple, really. Divorcee takes her two sons to move back home to Grandpa just outside Santa Carla, the ‘Murder capitol of the world’. Son the younger meets up with some (very) geeky comic book friends, who claim to be vampire hunters. Son the younger chases after a (very) gorgeous girl, joins her biker gang, and it turns out they’re vampires. Mother (aging hippy flake) starts dating (and working for) a boring video store (remember them?) owner, who is far too dull and nice to be involved in the plot, so everyone has to assume he’s the cheif bad guy. Grandpa spends most of film being nuts, visiting a neighbouring widow for the occasional shag, and then saves the day at the end. I was going to write a long analysis of it, but some quick googling found Wikipedia and this guy both have good ones. The latter is suitably piss-taking, so there y’go. It’s also got lots of pics, some animated, including The Worst Rock Singer in Film Ever candidate of my choice.

Never grow old

Has it aged? Hell yes. The fasion, the outlook, the ‘cute girl must be rescued’, the effects. So very dated. Is it still cool? Oh yeah. When I first watched it, I identified with Sam (the younger). Now, naturally, it’s Micheal (the older), but, y’know, the brooding long haired bloke in a leather jacket who gets the girl? Yes please. Even if he does wear a white t-shirt and my hair is better. It’s not a good movie. The acting is frequently sub-par, the effects can be poor (but then, 1980s, so pretty good for the time), and the pacing has problems, but the dialogue is great. Especially in the set up sequence.

Sam:Wait, you have a TV?

Grandpa: No. I just like to read the TV Guide. Read the TV Guide, you don’t need a TV.

(This is true, but I read reviews on my friends list and buy DVDs, so…)

David: What, you don’t like rice? Tell me Michael, how could a billion Chinese people be wrong? Come on!

David: How are those maggots?

Michael: Huh?

David: Maggots, Michael. You’re eating maggots. How do they taste?

This is the first bit that gives Micheal a hint there’s something wrong. His rice is a bunch of crawling maggots. Then when he throws it to the ground, it’s rice again. In the next bit, David’s noodles appear to be worms. He still drinks the ‘wine’ that’s actually vampire blood though. Well, he needs to, the film would end here otherwise.

Despite its age (and the quality of my old video), it’s still visually stunning. Some dodgy effects, but not many, very well shot and edited, and the soundtrack cuts in and out very well. In fact, the soundtrack remains one of the few movie soundtracks I’ve bought, and despite my tastes changing a lot since then, I still like a lot of it. Besides, it was this that got me into The Doors (Echo and the Bunnymen cover People are Strange, and the vampire lair has a picture of Morrison in the backdrop, something I doubt I knew at first viewing).

Although it does plod a bit, and the Frog brothers grate (a lot, but I never did like Corey Feldman), the film is great fun, and the final showdown, complete with the final line denouement, is great comedy horror viewing.

Never die

So, significant influence today? Well, yeah. Joss has been quoted in the past saying Lost Boys was an inspiration (the vampire mythos is completely different), although the best I can find online is a quick aside and a snarky review. SFX and similar print mags have covered the connections well, and they’re palpable on rewatching. Modern vampire movie, sexy, biker vamps, a reluctant vamp who’d rather not turn evil, a rock soundtrack, the whole shebang. Even the look of the vampires is similar.

It’s fun to be a vampire

Without Lost Boys, no Buffy? Probably. Not proven, of course, but it’s definately there as an influence. And without Buffy, no Doctor Who. And probably a much paler TV palette across the board, the massive success of Buffy helped reboot genre TV and allowed for character growth and arc plots in a much stronger way than US TV traditionally went for. An iconic, influential movie, with sexy men, a gorgeous girl, some great dialogue and a cranky old bloke who saves the day. What’s not to love?

As for the quote in my banner? It’s not actually in the film. But it was on the movie poster, on all the publicity and is on the VHS box.

It’s one of my favourite films. I commend it to the house.

October 26th, 2006 Posted by MatGB | Uncategorized | 2 comments

Layout almost finished…

Well, hacking around and coding stuff is interesting. I’ve nearly learnt how to do it now. I’ve given up on LJ figuring out what was wrong with my layout and just used the override hacks they’ve given me, it works, although the middle column isn’t quite in the right place.

I made me a banner/header background. I’ve got a curved edge version, but my FTP client has decided I don’t have access to my own site. Probably a glitch their end. The Collegium logo underneath the names will go, that’s there for the MySpace (if I ever go back and login again), I forgot to delete it. Anyway, to celebrate my new layout, a quiz…

And yes, I am messing around with the poll options, I’d not seen drop down boxes before. In other news, I’m re-reading Hogfather, and I am so looking forward to seeing it. I’d forgotten how much of a part Albert has in it, and I can just hear David Jason’s voice giving Death the hints, etc. Unfortunately, my sleep pattern is still all over the place after last week, and that’s not been helped by idiot neighbours asking me to move the car at 8am two days in a row, but not actually sterting work until after I actually drove off to get to work after 10am. Because I really love being woken up an hour and a half before planned two days in a row when my insomnia is killing me anyway.

Still, watched Sin City and Serenity tonight when I came home early. Actually watched Serenity twice, I, um, didn’t bother to stop it the second time and just dozed through it. ? Can you bring my Firefly box set down if you are coming down Friday?

October 25th, 2006 Posted by MatGB | Uncategorized | 2 comments

GIP: Hogfather

Have I done a Gratuitous Icon Post before? Doubt it, my l337 skillz don’t really actually stretch to good icons. But I can crop and do borders though. Anyway…

linked to the IMDB page for Hogfather. Sky One, Xmas day. Guess I’d better visit my parents at Christmas then. He also linked to the filmmakers gallery of promo shots. Oh yeah baby. I mean, I know that fancying the actress playing Susan is sorta, y’know, predictable? But, well, d’you blame me? Anyone know if Michelle Dockery can actually act? The rest of the cast is good (David Jason as Albert? Cool!), and Death looks very cool.

Oh, I’m about 2/3rds of the way through Wintersmith. Wee Free Men was good but didn’t grab, Hat Full of Sky was better, and Wintersmith is very good. I guess the whole written for the audience thing kicks in a little with the first one? Anyway, how does it go? Oh yeah. Nae King, nae Quinn, nae Laird, nae master…

Also? gives us Mark Harrison’s The Travellers, and for those of you who like their browsing uninterrupted by crappy pop ups that kill options like bookmarking, this link is the start of the actual strip. Why do webdesigners still think that forcing new windows to read their content is in any way a good idea?

October 22nd, 2006 Posted by MatGB | Uncategorized | 5 comments

Random linkspam

OK, for all the LARPers on my f-list (and there are far too many of oyu these days), linked to Ruthless Reviews. I think I agree with the writer on #10, and cannot fault his choice of winner. Question though; what is it with USian LARPers and those bloody stupid big swords? At least UK LARPers use swords that look vaguely realistic and have had some effort into realism (if not scale) put into them. I’ve alsmot bought a latex larp sword once, just because it was cool. Ah well.

points to this set of style guidelines for referring to the North of England. I mean, I’ve been up north a few times in my life, just a small number of visits gives me a better idea than any amount of mainstream media coverage. Ah well. It’s not like the Westcountry gets much better.

While trawling around looking for some stuff, I found the site of artist rkpost. He did some very good DT art, and some stuff for a few other games. I may work on a Sheriff Syn icon at some point, she always did look cool. ? The thumbnails are already cropped to size, and some are very well done.

Lastly? linked to Teddy Babes (probably not safe for work. Or, indeed, sanity, but mine left years ago). Can we here an eww? Yup, thought so. Especially impressive scary is Sonya, Vampire Mistress of the Night. OMFG.

Anyway, am possibly going to write something about how cool the idea of OpenID is generally, and ClaimID as a specific, but in the meantime, an example: and are both me. The latter is the one I’m likely to actually use on occasions, the basic idea is very sound. Very scary? OpenID accounts logged into LJ can upload Userpics. Um, why?

October 22nd, 2006 Posted by MatGB | Uncategorized | 34 comments

RPGs do Tolkien…

The DM of the Rings. I read the first, and chuckled, I kept reading, and chuckled lots. Then they introduced Legolas. And Gimli reminded me of .

If I was well and at work, I’d have skimmed ’s post. As it it, I read more than a couple links. Maybe not managing to sleep/keep food down for three days has an advantage? Not one I want to repeat soon, anyway.

October 20th, 2006 Posted by MatGB | Uncategorized | 4 comments

Are these guys for real?

So, I’m doing some Googling ^[1], and I find this:
The Texas Independence Movement

They appear to be linked to a bunch of conspiraloons, and the website is so tortuously bad I had to boot up IE to figure out what it was trying to do in some places (really badly coded javascript navigation panel), but, y’know, Texan independence?

I prefer the subdivision option myself.

October 20th, 2006 Posted by MatGB | Uncategorized | 3 comments