James

[quote name='taperson'][SIZE="1"][COLOR="RoyalBlue"]This week is over, & that means it's the weekend. Mmmmmmmmmmm, life is so good.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/QUOTE] [font=franklin gothic medium]Oh yes, I'm [i]very[/i] happy that it's the weekend. And I have pretty much no plans for the next two days, which is great - plenty of time to just relax. :catgirl:[/font]

[quote name='Stephanie'][size=1]I love you guys, but can we maybe move this to its own thread? T_T This was my "haha REALLY?" thread up until about a page ago. Now I have nothing to laugh at when I get home![/size][/QUOTE] [center][img]http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/7638/orlybabyo.gif[/img][/center]

[quote name='SunfallE'][FONT="Lucida Sans Unicode"][COLOR="RoyalBlue"]Oh I don't know James. I think the complaint that putting something out there so the general public actually has time to read if they so wish, isn't unreasonable. By giving so little time before the actual vote, it's basically forcing people to rely on other outlets like the news or summaries online. Most working people simply do not have time to read much beyond that. I simply do not agree with the idea that telling the public, or anyone for that matter, to just suck it up and read it in such a short time, is in anyway fair. I see that kind of mentality and attitude very egoistical and downright annoying to deal with when I'm trying to understand politics. :/[/COLOR][/FONT][/QUOTE] [font=franklin gothic medium]Oh, I agree with you 100% - my comments had nothing to do with the complaint about putting something out with little time available to read it. I don't think I even referred directly to that. I was just making a comment about attitudes towards the mainstream news outlets. I agree that ideally, a proposed bill should be available for a good length of time so that the public can view it. I'm not sure though whether the time issue here is a deliberate egotistical thing or whether this bill has somehow fallen victim to Congress's procedural timing (most of which is, I think, actually mandated by the Constitution). In any case, [i]most[/i] people don't read actual bills at all. They simply don't, often for no other reason than that it's very cumbersome and most people just aren't that eager. And even if people did read it, there's often a lot of peripheral stuff in there that can be filtered out. This is why media plays a critical role when it comes to disseminating this kind of information in a more palatable form.[/font]

[font=franklin gothic medium]I am sad that Halloween isn't really widely celebrated in Australia. I am going to attempt to put together a little Halloween party at work though. Unfortunately I won't arrive in America until just after Halloween too. Damn.[/font]

[quote name='Lunox'][font=trebuchet ms] If you're going to dismiss all news sources as illegitimate, you might as well stop reading any article or newspaper. [/font][/QUOTE] [font=franklin gothic medium]I agree with this. There seems to be a weird tendency lately to simply dismiss every major news outlet, as if there's some kind of sinister agenda underneath everything. Most major news sources are fine and most adhere to journalistic standards (with Fox News occasionally being a significant exception). Having said that, I think the biggest issue is actually just bias or selective coverage. Without getting too far into it though, I think that it's very easy to draw a long bow and scoff at any mainstream news source when, in fact, most of them pretty much do the right thing most of the time. I have personally found - especially in University - that those who scoffed the most were the ones who weren't actually news readers themselves, or who had little knowledge of current affairs. I'm not saying that's happening here, but I definitely found this to be the case in my own experience. (So yes, in short, very few people are going to read an entire bill - but there should be plenty of sources for summary; the only question is whether or not people will bother to read the summaries themselves).[/font] [quote]I'm very good at what I do. And I only do it when some ego needs deflating.[/quote] [font=franklin gothic medium]I didn't see anything particularly ego-centric about Lunox's comments. You, on the other hand, need an Allamorph of your own to keep things in check.[/font]

[font=franklin gothic medium]Cool costume. It looks like you had fun and met plenty of people! We used to have a pretty vibrant cosplay section, come to think of it. I'm not exactly sure what people are doing with their cosplay stuff now.[/font]

[font=franklin gothic medium]So as Petie said, it looks like we can do this (and we will soon have a prominent link for this). We can do it so that it sorts correctly without you needing to click that link (thanks Petie). Good formatting suggestion for the name too, Shy. :catgirl:[/font]

[font=franklin gothic medium]I've been wanting to do a mobile version of OB for years, but as far as I know, vB itself hasn't had anything available. I'll talk to Des and Pete about this, it might be something we can look at.[/font]

[quote name='Allamorph'][FONT=Calibri]It was intended to be a "clever" retort to the large Tea Party movement that occurred in reaction to the health care proposal here. Those who wished to cast aspersions on said people began calling them "teabaggers" because of the play on the slightly less polite meaning. Oh, the maturity of our nation.[/FONT][/QUOTE] [font=franklin gothic medium]And was the Tea Party movement a reference to the Boston Tea Party by any chance? If so, that's probably an even more laughable play on words. Also to clarify, is the Tea Party movement the same as the town hall meetings?[/font]

[font=franklin gothic medium]I don't have a link to this - and I'm not sure that this is even the relevant thread - but can anyone explain what the [i]teabaggers[/i] are (regarding the health debate in the US?) I have an idea about what teabagging is supposed to be and the idea that crowds of "teabaggers" are turning up to town halls with guns is quite frightening. I wouldn't have thought teabagging and loaded weapons made a good combination.[/font]

[font=franklin gothic medium]I actually think that Obama should have politely declined this award. The fact that he has won it (simply for - and I forget how they put this - "creating a new atmosphere of change" or whatever) is itself an issue. And I think it kind of de-legitimises the whole concept of the prize to begin with. I have no axe to grind against Obama, but he's a new president. He faces many challenges. And despite any air of change that has been created simply due to him being president...he hasn't yet achieved outcomes that warrant this prize. It would be great if Obama actually won this award down the track due to his peace efforts. But to award it now just seems horribly short-sighted to me.[/font]

[quote name='anime girl67'][SIZE=1][COLOR=RoyalBlue]I totally had an account here, I thought. Maybe it vanished when I never used it? xD Who knows Anyway, I'm Ashley. I hate this username, but I don't want to make a new one. I've been on this site too long. Or at least, the myO version. Annnd... that is all. I probably won't post here much. [/COLOR][/SIZE][/QUOTE] [font=franklin gothic medium]I think we only now require fifty posts for you to be able to change your own user name. If you want it changed earlier though, feel free to PM me or one of the other admins and we'll change it for you. And welcome to all the other new members. :catgirl:[/font]

[quote name='Darren']Posted! James, I noticed a mistake. In your post, you indicated that Catherine is Victoria's mother, but her mother is actually Beatriste. I hope I didn't portray anything incorrectly. I'm trying to get the feel for the characters back, since it's been so long since I've RP'd on Almagest. James, Aaryanna: let me know if you need me to change anything.[/QUOTE] [font=franklin gothic medium]Oops, thanks for picking up that mistake. Your post was just fine, no worries at all. :catgirl: My next post will probably involve arriving in Brigit Town (unless Aaryanna wants to slip a post in now). And then I think we should be due for a landmark.[/font]

[font=franklin gothic medium]So, I think it's now time to hold a second vote for another new anime forum. The idea is for members to get involved - I want you guys to decide which anime you want to see featured at OB. Last time we had 108 voters, let's see if we can get more people involved this time. For this poll I have included the highest-rated anime from the previous poll, plus some of your suggestions posted at OB and theOtaku. As you can see, this list is significantly larger than the last. I wanted to include a bigger range for everyone to choose from. Feel free to discuss your choices in this thread. :catgirl:[/font]

[quote name='Darren']Well then, nevermind. I'll brainstorm and send you a PM, because I know that Edith is supposed to be an important NPC. I don't want to mess anything up![/QUOTE] [font=franklin gothic medium]Hm, it's ok. I'm pretty happy for you to utilize Edith how you like - I'm sure you can do this without fundamentally altering who she is or anything. At this stage I'm going to be focusing on Gustave's journey south - I'm not sure what I have planned for Edith in the short term. [b]Edit:[/b] Okay, my latest post is up. Basically I'm pointing for us to go to Brigit Town. This is where the next artifact is (as far as I remember from my conversation with Shy). This next artifact will dovetail into the story about the Black map and that, in turn, will lead to a broader understanding of what all of these artifacts actually are. Phew. I think Shy is planning another Landmark for when we get to Brigit Town, but he should probably comment on that. :catgirl:[/font]

[indent][center][img]http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/ee132/Runaway511/almagest%202/gustave_achard-1.jpg[/img] [img]http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/ee132/Runaway511/almagest%202/Victoria_Ann.jpg [/img] [img]http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/ee132/Runaway511/almagest%202/Liana_Prideux.jpg[/img][/center] [font=garamond][size=4][right][B]The Black Secret [/B][/right][/font][/size] [font=palatino linotype]The discussion over breakfast had centered on the strange map that Olivier had passed on to Gustave the night before. Olivier, Gustave, Victoria and Liana passed it around the table and examined it closely. The paper was clearly very old and when held up to the light, it was almost possible to see right through. One corner was badly worn, leading everyone to conclude that it had been hastily ripped out of a notebook or journal. One side of the map contained the word “Black” scrawled across it. The other side had a carefully-rendered series of intersecting lines. From a distance, they looked somewhat like a star. When viewed up close, one noticed that they were actually a series of double-lines that criss-crossed at the center of the page. Each line had a marker at the end; one had three wavy lines and another had a semi-circle. Yet another had the letters “BT”. What was most interesting, however, was the symbol in the center, where the double-lines intersected. It was a series of geometric shapes, very much like those Edith had found mysteriously stitched into the clothing she was to debut at the Le Monde Fashion Show. “I don’t know what it means,” said Olivier as he held the map up to the light once again. “Is it even really a [i]map[/i] at all?” suggested Victoria. “Perhaps it has a different meaning?” Olivier shook his head and held the map up for everybody to see. “Each of these lines has a marker at one end. And these markers are standard symbols that any explorer will know.” He pointed to the wavy lines on the left-hand side of the map. “See? These represent a body of water. And these semi-circles represent mountains. Each of these markers must represent a location somewhere in the world. If we knew where each location was, we could then draw these lines exactly as they are here.” Victoria squinted. “I’m not sure that I follow…” “Well, if each of these markers represents a real location and if you draw these lines across a real map, they will intersect at a certain place.” “Oh, X marks the spot!” said Liana with excitement. Olivier nodded. “Exactly. This map uses several locations to determine a destination. It looks to have been written quickly, but perhaps it was written in this way so that it would be cryptic to anyone who is unfamiliar with the territory.” Gustave raised an eyebrow. “But what territory? This could have come from anywhere. Those mountains could be anything – they could be Vosper in Anova or they could be the Eternal Peaks of Al-Rasham.” “Ah,” sighed Olivier, “that is a good point, except for one thing: this map originated in the Black family house. I suspect that this map represents that general region.” As if predicting the next question from his interested guests, Olivier raised a finger. “The Black house was in Brigit Town. It sits on a dirt road just outside the city. I would say that this map represents the southern desert region of Anova. Just look here; the water is on the left and the mountains are on the right.” “Oh!” exclaimed Victoria. “And maybe ‘BT’ means ‘Brigit Town’?” “Makes sense,” replied Gustave with a grin. Suddenly the fashion show in Le Monde seemed far less interesting than the mysterious “Black map”. And just as Olivier and his guests were discussing it in further detail, one of Oliver’s staff strode out onto the terrace with a silver platter, on top of which was perched a small black phone. “Call for Mr. Achard,” said the staffer as he handed the phone to Gustave. The others spoke amongst themselves as Gustave answered the call. But it was quickly apparent that he was receiving startling news. His eyes widened as he nodded and spoke quietly with the caller. Finally, he put the phone down and took a deep breath. “What’s the matter?” asked Olivier. “You will never guess who that was,” replied Gustave. He glanced at Victoria and a faint smile crept across his face. The others fell silent. “I just received a call from Katherine Almagest. It was she who examined those symbols for us!” Victoria grinned broadly. “You mean the State Library sent that sample to my aunt? How did she get back to us so quickly?” “She instantly recognised the symbols,” replied Gustave. “She is unsure about the exact translation, but the closest is ‘[i]Sacred Place[/i]’.” The entire table fell silent again. The warm, vivid sunlight that had enveloped them earlier in the morning had begun to dull. The gardeners were mostly finished their work and the only sound to be heard on the terrace was the soft hum of the waterfall. “You know what this means,” said Victoria thoughtfully. “We have to go to Brigit Town and follow this map.” Both Olivier and Gustave looked somewhat concerned at the idea. “I’m not sure your mother would approve of that,” said Gustave cautiously. “Who knows what we’ll find at the map’s source? It could be [i]anything[/i].” Liana interjected. “That’s true, but how long can anyone ignore what’s happening? First, those symbols appearing on Madame Edith’s dresses…and now the same symbol showing up on an old map. Isn’t anyone going to do anything about it?” This was true, to some degree. If this evidence were to be handed to the Anovan or Czenovian governments, they would likely treat it as strange superstition and fail to follow it through. The former Czenovian Monarchy had failed to discover the enormous cannon underneath High Czenoble only two years earlier and that was a far more obvious problem than random symbols appearing. Had Edith’s trained staff had not noticed the tiny symbols, it is unlikely that anyone else would have considered them unusual. “Nevertheless,” said Gustave firmly, “I have a duty to your grandfather… and to your mother, Victoria. I could never let you come to harm.” Victoria pouted. “You’ve never let me come to harm so far. Besides, a famous Anovan once said that adventures such as these build character.” “Who said that?” “You did, Uncle.” [/indent][/font]

[font=franklin gothic medium]At the moment I'm reading [b]90 Day Geisha[/b] by Chelsea Haywood and [b]The Lost Symbol[/b] by Dan Brown. 90 Day Geisha is essentially an autobiographical book about a young Canadian girl's experiences while performing a "hostess" role in Japan (specifically Roppongi in Tokyo). It's a pretty fascinating book, mostly because I've already read [b]Geisha of Gion[/b] by Mineko Iwasaki (easily the most famous Geisha in the 20th century) and it's interesting to compare traditional Geisha with the new "international hostess" business. On some level the Geisha culture survives in this way, but there's no doubt that the hostess business is far less glamorous - it certainly isn't the art form that Geisha was. Still, it's a fascinating read, especially for anyone who is interested in the strange rituals in Japan's entertainment districts. And in terms of The Lost Symbol, that's the follow up to The Da Vinci Code. I really enjoyed both Angels & Demons as well as Da Vinci Code, but it's pretty clear that The Lost Symbol is sticking to a formula and isn't really branching out into new territory. Yes, it's interesting, particularly because it delves into the Masonic history of America (and particularly Washington D.C.), but the actual characters are typically dry and two dimensional (I say typically because I think Dan Brown excels with history and detail, but his characters lack real personality or warmth). So far I'm enjoying it, but I'm not nearly as drawn in as I was on the previous two novels. Hopefully it'll keep improving as time goes on.[/font]

[quote name='CaNz']i was just giving my opinion... and out of context i guess my opinion does look preety stupid, However I never went "nutzoid" and if the remake of seven came out, i would probably play it eventually, and like it. I dont think it is the perfect game though... I dont see whats wrong with prefering a new game over an old one.[/QUOTE] [font=franklin gothic medium]I can understand your hesitation about a remake (especially considering how many spin-offs we've had). So I don't think your reaction is unreasonable. What I find interesting, though, is that Square-Enix hasn't done a remake already. As others have pointed out, the company isn't above milking the cash cow on a regular basis. In terms of whether a FFVII remake is valid or not though, I honestly think it depends. For example, if the remake is an identical game (and identical controls) with only a visual upgrade? Meh, I'm sure people would like it (I would), but it is also somewhat lazy (although I think people underestimate what even this "mild" upgrade would actually require). But what if they do a visual upgrade, improve the controls and include a superior translation as well? This may be a game changer for some. I personally would hate to see voice acting added, but I do want Americans to at least get the improved PAL translation (although hopefully an even better version arises). So I think it depends what S-E do. They could even add some new gameplay elements if they were really keen. It all comes down to how they approach it I think.[/font]

[quote name='Lunox'][font=trebuchet ms] Or she'll comment about how my iPod sucks, or something else obnoxious. I'm pretty sure most of it is just because she's a music elitist. [/font][/QUOTE] [font=franklin gothic medium]My brother used to be a bit like this (thankfully he's getting better). He used to criticise my music taste regularly. It was kind of funny in part because I simply don't care (and told him regularly that he was an idiot, haha). But it was also funny because he went through these phases of listening to certain specific stuff (especially anything that enhanced his macho self-image). Now that he's a bit older he's become a bit wiser too and is a bit more open to different types of music, regardless of "genre" or whatever. But a few weeks ago I was at his place and a Lady Gaga music video came on. He started up this tirade about how awful she was and I was kind of stunned. Nothing he said remotely made any sense - it all boiled down to her being "weird", basically. So I actually asked him to specifically explain why he doesn't like her. And he really couldn't, in part because he knew absolutely nothing about her story or her music. I wouldn't say that I am really a fan of Gaga (although I have huge respect for her as an artist), but I think more than anything his attitude about her was really sad - mostly because the more you shut your mind to things, the more you're likely to miss out on.[/font]

[font=franklin gothic medium]I think this story underlines the fact that really, nobody knows how to effectively deal with "true" sex offenders. I mean there are a few arguments you can make here. One side says that these people committed potentially horrible crimes and they've now served their time in jail. So at this point they should have the same right to a home as everybody else. The other side says that despite any time they have served, they remain a danger to the community and must therefore be isolated from society. My feeling is really somewhere in the middle. I mean, I have nothing but contempt for people who commit horrific sexual crimes - how could a reasonable person have any other emotion about it? On the other hand, I think it's sort of easy for people to say "well you shouldn't have done this in the first place" or "I'd be happy if you just burn in hell". I mean, [i]duh[/i] - talk about state the obvious. The issue is now more about how do we handle the situation once a person has been released from prison. And in a civilised society, we do have this expectation that you do the crime and you do your time and then (for the most part) that's it. I think sex offenders are a particular problem though because the evidence does seem to show that re-offending is fairly common. Therefore, we have to think of how best to prevent re-offending. I disagree with the idea of just sending people into the woods, for one thing. Surely it's obvious that this policy ultimately doesn't work on a number of levels (even if you're only thinking about the practicality of it). Having said that, where do you put sex offenders? Most towns and cities are not likely to have much housing that is sufficiently far from school zones. I almost think the only true solution is to literally build some sort of specialised accommodation or something - I don't know. It's a really tough problem. [/font]

[quote name='Darren'][SIZE="1"] [B]Edit:[/B] Again with me being an idiot... I just realized that James hasn't posted yet. I'm not quite sure what direction you were planning to take and how you were intending to settle the fashion show event. If I remember correctly, the last post from our group was from Aaryanna posting the morning of the show. (And they were still getting ready to attend) So, [B]James[/B], I'll let you go first, but just don't have them leave for Brigit town just yet. I'll take care of that after you post. If that's okay?[/SIZE][/QUOTE] [font=franklin gothic medium]Erm... the post I was writing literally skipped to the three of them being in a steamcar on the road leaving Bourgade, haha. *thinks*[/font]

[quote name='Darren']That's all fine... But I would like for Liana to stay on the up-and-up with the main plot-line, so I don't have to do boring fillers with her. So, I'm going to need a way for her to leave the city and go to Brigit town as well. She's only 16 after all.[/QUOTE] [font=franklin gothic medium]Yeah that's totally fine. I really don't mind what you do with Liana in terms of giving her a reason to go with Gustave/Victoria or to do her own thing. Given that Gustave and Victoria are essentially changing their plans, it may not even make sense for Liana to go with them at this stage - that's really up to you. I'm happy to wait until you've posted so that I can amend my next post accordingly (if that is needed).[/font]

[quote name='Darren']Definitely still in this for the long run. I have to make up for dropping out of the first Almagest right at the end. I've just been at a loss of what to write for Liana since I don't know the first thing about fashion shows. :P[/QUOTE] [font=franklin gothic medium]We won't be attending the fashion show I think. I am working on a new post (scrapped the old one) and in that, we'll be going direct to Brigit Town. My thinking is that Catherine Almagest has translated the symbols and determined that they are, in fact, an ancient map. This will lead our characters towards Brigit Town where I think Shy has something planned. But I just need to get that post going. Sorry it's taken so long! I'm hoping the event at Brigit Town will trigger a new Landmark.[/font]

[quote name='Desbreko'][color=#4B0082] Now, if you start a thread and actually give some information about the game, why it's worth playing and, say, ask what people think of it, it would be allowed. At that point the thread is no longer solely devoted to advertising, it also opens up points of discussion.[/color][/QUOTE] [font=franklin gothic medium]Bingo. Munchie, if you really want to promote your game, it would be worth creating a full thread about it where people can discuss it (as if it were any other game). Simply posting a link is blatant advertising - most forum communities would not accept that. So by all means munchie, feel free to take up Des's suggestion. :catgirl:[/font]

[font=franklin gothic medium]I don't mind the question being asked publicly, because it's a question that other members might be curious about. But yes, munchie, based on what you've said it sounds like your thread was closed because it was an advertisement. We consider advertising threads to be spam at OB. If you want to advertise your games, my suggestion is to either use your signature on here [b]or[/b] to actually purchase ad space on theOtaku (or even create your own theO World for this purpose).[/font]