Allamorph

[quote name='keitaro583]...and what had happened was that [B]she let me feel her up a bit[/B] and i we were [B']sorta connecting[/B][/quote] [FONT=Arial][CENTER][B]O_O[/B][/CENTER] Ehh, [I]sorta[/I] connecting? Whatever happened to the part where you get to know them, and not just how they taste? Egad.[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial]Well, here I was, all set to discuss this thing, and then I come across this little remark. [QUOTE][SIZE="1"][I]Only a fool could think such an idea is still scientifically acceptable, and only a brute could think that there are no other ways of reading Genesis 1 and 2.[/I][/SIZE][/QUOTE] It seems I am a fool and a brute, then. I love objective discussions. (^_^) And since, then, my reasonings obviously have no place....[/FONT]

Hopelessly Human / Mr. Talkbox Interlude The Reaper was taken aback for a moment; he almost hadn't noticed the woman wall-flowering across the room, and Lucia's introduction had been brusque and rather cursory. It almost seemed that she had gone out of her way to try and avoid the task. Not that Nathan was at all surprised. Phaidra was a fair height and a moderately slender build, her physique accented by her smart attire, an olive-green high-collar blouse, matching ankle-length skirt, and a six-button double-breasted white blazer with gold trim. The jacket's length and proportions gave it the appearance of a glorified laboratory coat. At her neck hung a blue silk tie knotted in a slim half-Windsor, and Nathan took particular notice of the long gold tassel that fell from her left collar button. He also caught sight of a light trace of white dust along the inner part of her right shirt cuff; probably flour residue. Most people rolled their sleeves up while cooking, so she had likely been quite industrious in Lucia's kitchen to get dust up so high. Nathan chuckled inwardly at the thought. Her smooth features were refined and rather friendly at the moment, though Nathan guessed that they could easily change to intense fascination and excitement given the right opportunity. Long black bangs fell gracefully to either side of her face, masking her high brow, and the rest of her black hair was tied back with a large bronze-colored ribbon and still managed to fall almost below her hips. –Oi, women and their long hair lately, Nathan thought, glancing at Lucia's massive tresses and recalling Astera's natural blanket of hair. –Seems to be getting popular this side of dead. The ribbon, combined with the rimless oval glasses resting on Phaidra's nose, completed the professional atmosphere she seemed to carry with her. Nathan noticed an odd pair of creases in the inside elbow of her left sleeve: two parallel lines running exactly with the joint, most likely due to long hours holding a notebook or clipboard or some such object tucked into her arm. She was a researcher, then, or a scientist, or a student of something. Her posture projected an air of confidence, despite her current hesitant display, meaning she was either very good at what she did, or she intended to be. It also meant she had very little field experience. Oh well. That stuck him and Adrian—and eventually Alex—on frontline duty when the next major confrontation arose. He had been wrong before, though, so she might be fairly good after all ... and even if he was right, it didn't mean she was useless. Before he had a chance to reply to her offer, Lucia cleared her throat. –Figures. "Nathan, I really don't think–?" "Rubbish," Nathan interrupted. "I see nothing wrong with a small appetizer ... eh, Isen?" A faint smirk crept onto his companion's face. Lucia crossed her arms and fixed Nathan with an impatient stare. "I believe our time would be put to much better use if we simply got to the business at hand," she said flatly. Nathan matched her stance. "Lucia," he rejoined, "we have all eternity to exchange information with each other." "Well, almost eternity," he corrected. "But still. It's a long time. And first impressions only come once, so I like to grab them when I can." Lucia huffed, but said nothing. "Now then," Nathan continued pleasantly, turning his attention to the other woman, "despite appearances, I am very pleased to meet you, and would be happy to take you up on your offer." "As would I," added Isen, stepping forward. â??If you would like any assistance....â?� â??Oh! Thank you,â?� Phaidra said, smiling quickly. â??Iâ??ll be fine. But,â?� she went on hesitantly, â??if Lucia doesnâ??t think itâ??s appropriate, thenâ??â?� Nathan grinned. â??Nonsense. Itâ??ll be fine. And donâ??t mind her too much,â?� he said as he leaned forward, his voice dropping to a loud stage whisper. â??Sheâ??s a bit crusty.â?� An indignant shout came from behind him, and Isen smirked and shook her head. ---------------------- â??You said this was your first time in Mortality?â?� Nathan asked, taking another swallow of his tea: black, the leaves from India, though he couldnâ??t place the exact type. Nice, but he preferred the Southern orange-pekoe traditional and its trademark sweetness. Gods, he had been on this planet a long time. â??Yes,â?� Phaidra answered, â??why?â?� â??Oh, no reason,â?� said Nathan. He leaned back into the rough cushions of the couch, setting his cup on his already empty plate. â??Only, so far as Iâ??ve tasted, your handle on human cuisine is very good. I wasnâ??t aware they kept records of human recipes back home, though.â?� â??Thank you; they didnâ??t, for a while. The collection was started by me and a few friends, but Iâ??ve done most of the keeping-up with it, and I have requested the odd collection book from time to time. Lately theyâ??re brought back by people who come back and forth regularly.â?� â??Really,â?� commented Nathan. â??Odd. Theyâ??ve started working people in shifts? Hunh. â??So aside from your culinary interests, what do you study for fourteen hours a day?â?� â??Iâ??m sorry?â?� Phaidra sent the Reaper a confused look. â??I donâ??t remember saying....â?� â??You didnâ??t,â?� said Isen, selecting a second serving. â??He notices things: your appearance, your stance; little things. Youâ??ll get used to it.â?� â??Oh....â?� Phaidra still seemed perplexed, but she continued on. â??My work is based primarily in magic, and the design and refinement of arcane circles.â?� Nathan looked up as she spoke. â??I donâ??t spend quite that much time one it,â?� she smiled, â??but I do have several centuries experience in the field.â?� â??You donâ??t say,â?� Nathan remarked, intrigued. â??About how many centuries would we be talking about?â?� â??Well, Iâ??m not sure how long relatively itâ??s been over here, but Iâ??ve been engaged in that field for close to nine or ten back across the Gate. Iâ??ve had a request to come across to further my studies submitted for some time now, and it just went through recently.â?� Nathan nodded appreciatively. â??Cool,â?� he said. He grinned. â?? â??Bout time we had a good arcanist around here.â?� He leaned forward and picked up his cup again. â??You may find your talents put to use before long.â?� â??How interesting,â?� said Isen abruptly, as if something had just occurred to her. â??Death Cake.â?� Nathan almost passed tea through his nose.

[quote name='Retribution][font=Arial][QUOTE=Shy][SIZE=1']How is 'Blacks are voting as a singular bloc for Obama' any better an argument than 'The whites like Hillary'?[/SIZE][/quote] Honestly I see the whole "Obama can't appeal to white voters" as a farce. He won the majority of the midwest, which to my knowledge is more or less totally absent of black voters. The map can be found [url=http://politics.nytimes.com/election-guide/2008/results/demmap/index.html][b]here[/b][/url].[/font][/QUOTE] [FONT=Arial]I'm not sure how your reply there even pertained to what [COLOR="DarkRed"]Shy[/COLOR] said. For clarification, I'm pretty sure he's saying [I]both are stupid arguments to use[/I]. And I agree.[/FONT]

[quote name='Indi][COLOR="Indigo"']Laughing because you do suck.[/COLOR][/quote] [FONT=Arial][I]Oooohhhh daayammnn!![/I] [I]*ahem*[/I] I am a nerd. I was homeschooled as well. (But only through elementary.) I can house veritable libraries of information in my head, my deductive capabilities make people nervous, and I am mildly empathic. This basically means I am Moriarty incarnate. Insult me at your peril. (^_^)[/FONT]

[quote name='James][font=franklin gothic medium']That's fine, I just can't see where that is mentioned in the OP. [/font][/quote] [quote name='Darren']Also, with your avatars, I will need the following information:[/quote] [FONT=Arial]Yeah, it's there. :p Word's still out on my involvement, [COLOR="DarkRed"]Darren[/COLOR]. I'll let you know one way or the other soon.[/FONT]

[quote name='Morpheus']Basing it on who he associates with is completely pointless.[/quote] [FONT=Arial]Actually, you might want to reconsider that one. Not that I'm saying a man is completely defined by the company he keeps, but .... "a man is known by the company he keeps", as it were. So yeah, don't base your entire decision on it, but keep it in mind. Also, I think you're downplaying the role of the pastor far too much. A church's pastor (or reverend or father or priest or what-have-you) is a huge part of the church itself, and few people join churches and become regular members if they have many and sincere reservations and/or disagreements with that pastor's teachings. Now. Barack Obama's membership in that church under that pastor to me has no influence on my perception of him. His membership [I]for twenty years[/I], however, does. And you're right: just because Obama is married to that particular woman does not automatically imply that her beliefs are his beliefs. However, humans?while being quite private, independent creatures?are also decidedly social, and tend to form long-term and intimate relationships based on shared qualities and ideals. Therefore it is quite safe [I]and perfectly reasonable[/I] to assume that, though they certainly do not share every belief and conviction, a goodly amount of his ideals will line up with hers. Otherwise he probably would not have married her. Although in this country right now, you never know. :p Basically, while I do agree with you that a decision about Obama cannot be based completely on his associations, I [I]do not[/I] agree that one should discount them completely. To do such a summary dismissal of human nature is logically idiotic. And I [I]still[/I] say nothing on whether or not I'd vote for him.[/FONT]

[quote name='Morpheus']Any support for this? Especially the last part.[/quote] [FONT=Arial]Why? She openly declared they were her opinions, and she didn't try to convince you to follow suit. So since she wasn't arguing, she needed no support, and you've just been trolled. Smile. (^_^)[/FONT]

[quote name='Lunox][font=trebuchet ms'] YOU ARE FORGETTING RON PAUL, GOSH[/font][/quote] [FONT=Arial]I can already hear the wailing laments of the millions of high-school and college Vegans as they mourn their idol. It's better than Zoloft. :p[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial]Easy there, [COLOR="DarkRed"]SunfallE[/COLOR]. No need to get heated over somethin' as trivial as this, 'aight? (^_^) [COLOR="DarkRed"]Sandy[/COLOR], the popularity of a book/series is not indicative of quality one way or another. Having close to a billion fans doesn't mean it's good, but neither does it mean it's bad. It's just popular. I have no problems with a discussion of the quality of material in a thread about what people are reading. But if it's going to degenerate into pointless whacking and snippy replies, then somebody be the bigger man and [I]just don't respond[/I]. Cool? Cool.[/FONT]

[quote name='Dagger']... and something rubs me the wrong way about the suggestion that complexity in literature is inherently superior to simplicity, or that adult books are inherently superior to children's books, or that literature with a narrow audience is inherently superior to popular work.[/quote] [FONT=Arial]Of course not. My first reading material was Dr. Seuss and primer literature, followed by A.A. Milne and the various authors of the Stratemeyer Syndicate, who penned the Bobbsey Twins. You have to start somewhere. What I am getting at, rather, is that I am beyond that stage now. I want more from my reading, and J.K. Rowling's target audience no longer includes me. Any of you guys ever read anything by G.K. Chesterton? If not, I highly recommend it—especially if you've tried stuff by Nietzsche. For the record, I prefer Chesterton. He makes more sense. :p[/FONT]

[CENTER][IMG]http://icanhascheezburger.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/funny-pictures-pants-more-often.jpg[/IMG][/CENTER] [FONT="Arial"][CENTER]No, rly. Also,[/CENTER][/FONT] [CENTER][IMG]http://www.mows.com/mows/strip650.jpg[/IMG][/CENTER]

[FONT=Arial]It'll be done. (^_^) [B]Edit:[/B] For the record, Beth, our conversation meant yes, wait until I post. [B]Post Edit:[/B] Quick thought: all members of the Council should probably have extremely rare familiars, if they are indeed Reapers themselves. Degree of power is irrelevant; some will be more so, some less. At present, I can only think of a few rare beasts of mythology: Phoenix, Gryphon, Chimera, and Cerberus. Look for others, we should.[/FONT]

[quote name='CrimsonKnight']p.p.s allamorph, if you're not a teen and boring, what are you????[/quote] [FONT=Arial]If you're not a teen and boring, apparently your username is [COLOR="DarkRed"]Shy[/COLOR]. [/spam][/FONT]

[quote name='Sandy']Those sentences show that you haven't really read the books.[/quote] [FONT=Arial]True. [QUOTE][I]They also show how ignorant you are of the millions of fans the books have gathered from all over the world.[/I][/QUOTE] Not true. Actually, I find it rather an exemplification of the general societal tendency to [I]avoid thought[/I]. I am well aware that the general global populace raves over Harry Potter. I also am aware that the general global populace doesn't read much else. Especially much else of value. (^_^) [CENTER]---------------[/CENTER] I aim to see if I can find any more of Jim Butcher's [I][U]The Dresden Files[/U][/I] or Jacqueline Carey's [I][U]Kushiel's Avatar[/U][/I] series over the summer. After that, I should probably go back to Asimov.[/FONT]

[quote name='8bit][FONT="Tahoma"][COLOR="DimGray"]I liked Eragon! It was no Wheel of Time but I liked it. Of course, I've also never seen Star Wars Episodes IV, V and VI. :whoops:[/COLOR'][/FONT][/quote] [FONT=Arial]For shame. For absolute shame. The world of [I][U]Eragon[/U][/I] itself didn't bother me. I thought it was a rather good concept, regardless of how many people claim Paolini borrowed and stole from other series. (Honestly, who doesn't?) My bone is that Paolini [I]himself[/I] is immature. His story flow is highly erratic and left me in a constant state of "what-is-going-on??", his imagery is extremely clichéd?I was told he has the exact same scene in all three books?and the maximum length of his chapters is eight pages. It's like he wrote little scenes and called them chapters, and then decided to merge one or two chapters together and call them scenes. o_O So like I said, if he'd just waited a few more years to publish it, I have no doubt it'd be at least 50% better. Also, the movie destroyed every concept Paolini had. Ye gods, I was never so offended in my life. Well, that's not true. But I was really offended. :p[/FONT]

[quote name='Sandy']Matt, you know if the Harry Potter series was as horrible as you said, it would not have succeeded.[/quote] [FONT=Arial]Not true. Look at Spongebob Squarepants. I am withholding judgment at present since I quit after the first book. :p [B]Edit:[/B] And [COLOR="DarkRed"]Matt[/COLOR]'s next response is exactly what I would have said.[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial]I'm well out of my league in the realm of acrostics, so I can't really say anything helpful or otherwise. And I'm not quite sure why, but [B]Aaryanna[/B]'s poem resonates more with me. It has a certain [I]je ne sais qua[/I].... [I]*shot*[/I][/FONT]

[FONT=Arial][COLOR=DarkRed]A_M[/COLOR]: Gah! The rhyming! :p [COLOR=DarkRed]Treble[/COLOR]: Gah! You too! :p I've got this thing about rhyming without consistency of .... something. I forget what. But it's something! [I]*ridiculous pose*[/I] Either way, it didn't factor into my decision. I'm goin' with [B]A_M[/B] because I think she spoke the more [I]clearly[/I] to the challenge.[/FONT]

[quote name='Gavin][SIZE="1"']Hang on a sec...how'd you drag three of us with only two hands ?[/SIZE][/quote] [FONT=Arial]She grabbed you and Darren with the same hand. It also knocked your heads together. =P[/FONT]

[quote name='Decay']Unused talent. That's all I am.[/quote] [quote name='chibi-master']Whoa! I have the exact same curse...:animeswea But at least I'm positive! YAY, POSITIVE!!!:animesmil[/quote] [FONT=Arial]Lemme kill [I]that[/I] notion right now. I mean, the [I]curse[/I]. Not the positive thingy. That's fine. =P Unfinished sketches and lack of dedication are just signs of youth and inexperience. I most certainly haven't written every day since I started back in first grade, and there have been periods where I've written nothing at all. Most of my sketches are unfinished practice things written because I saw something and wanted to get as much of it down as I could. I [I]do[/I] have a twenty-one page scene (which hasn't quite achieved the chapter-break point yet) stored away in my Notebook, but it was mostly written during Calculus class and whenever there was little work to do in the office. I haven't touched it in two years, even though it does have one of my favorite action sequences and a fairly bizarre science-fiction concept. Fairly. So don't think that just 'cause you can't finish stuff it means you'll never be a writer. I guarantee you that if Christopher Paolini had waited two or three years to publish and spent that time getting rid of fluff and making stuff solid, I wouldn't hate Eragon quite so much as I do. =P[/FONT]

[QUOTE=Gavin][SIZE="1"]*Whacks Darren with an over-sized gavel.* Last time I checked, it was Judge [I]Kathy[/I]. ^_~[/SIZE][/QUOTE] [FONT=Arial][I]*replaces you*[/I] The substitution's legit; I think it's a little-known Utah law thing.... =P Continue onward, sir. 'Tis rather amusing.[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial][B]The Inventions Trio[/B], comprised of pianist Bill Mays, Marvin Stamm on trumpet, and cellist Alicia Horn (I believe), playing an interesting crossover Classical/Jazz album, [B]Fantasy[/B]. Mays composed one piece, and such composers as Gershwin, Debussy, and Rachmaninoff were paired with jazz composition notables such as "Bird" Parker. All in all a [I]very[/I] cool album; I think my favorite moment was when one of Bach's fugues was taken to a nice bebop.[/FONT]

[QUOTE=James][font=franklin gothic medium]For instance, if you look at the Graphic Worm... I'd almost say that's an ongoing event. It's something the whole community can enjoy, but it really makes sense for it to be in Art Studio rather than here. I have considered the idea of allowing members to make their own events across the site, or to nominate events that we can approve (so each forum could have different events running at different times). We might simply keep an active list of them here or elsewhere.[/font][/QUOTE] [quote name='Allamorph'][FONT=Arial][SIZE="1"]Perhaps, then, if events were tailored to a specific area and its denizens, they might see more action and [I]inter[/I]action. A regulated debate in [B]Anime Central[/B] over characters/series, for instance, or writing challenges for the [B]Anthology[/B], or trivia matches in the [B]Arcade[/B] or the [B]Lounge[/B]. Does that follow? Or am I being too complicated again?[/SIZE][/FONT][/QUOTE] [FONT=Arial]See, now I just feel like a jerk.... But yeah, I would also classify the Poetry Contest as an event, so I am all for the idea of forum-specific-ness. :animesmil It might also give the Event Master a reason to post officially outside of this area; they could start stuff off and work with each area's moderators on overseeing and such necessary stuff, so they'd get involved too. I love how specific I was in that paragraph. :p[/FONT]

[quote name='Aaryanna][COLOR="DarkGreen"][FONT="Book Antiqua"]If someone says they are an author and yet has nothing I can go physically check out at say the library or book store? Then I think of it as a hobby instead of them actually being an author.[/FONT'][/COLOR][/quote] [FONT=Arial]Those are called "published authors", my dear girl. (^_^) Also, grammatically you didn't want a question mark there, even though that's how your voice rose with the line. You want a comma. =P I've been writing to some extent or another since I was about seven or eight. When I was twelve/thirteen-ish I threw together this silly little thingummy about being a teenage cyborg for some creative writing assignment, based off of my various LEGO scenarios and such. Then somehow I got it into my head to try and make the thing work. Now I've had the concept for eight or nine years, and almost all of the Mary-Sue tripe has been removed (though I didn't hear of that term until last year; I just knew it was foolish). The beast now spans three timelines, forced me to create my own species, and has stuck enough material in my head to cover God knows how many books. If I can work on it steady for the rest of college, I may begin trying to lay it out for possible publication after I graduate. I'd really like that. I'm also a musical artist (trained in classical, jazz, rock, whatev) and I've been told I play chess with life. So yeah. o_O[/FONT]