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
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MatGB |
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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 |
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7 comments