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I had the idea to put together promotional images and brief descriptions of imaginary TV shows using the titles of popular shows already on TV. Hopefully you’ll get a laugh out of them.
Based in the 1950’s, American Idol is a pulp action serial about a team of adventuring archeologists searching for ancient treasures of the Native Americans. Follow their daring escapades as they delve through pueblo ruins and Amazon temples, facing danger at every turn. Can they outwit ancient traps and puzzles while racing to stay one step ahead of the soviets?
A spin-off from the original Star Trek series, Bones combines medical drama with science fiction. Join Dr. “Bones” McCoy as he travels the galaxy aboard the newly commissioned medical ship USS Reprieve, treating epidemics wherever they strike the Federation.
Step back in time to the medieval ages in Castle, the newest workplace sitcom on the air. If you think your boss is a tyrant, try being a knight for King Henry! Stress levels skyrocket when new yearly dragon-slaying quotas go into effect, and rumor has it that any underperformers will be sent off to the crusades.
Military action meets cute and fuzzy in Chuck, the new, zanny action-comedy about animals taking up arms against human oppression. Chuck the woodchuck has seen one too many trees plowed down for urban expansion, and decides to fight back as he leads a platoon of his furry friends into guerilla warfare. Chuck would!
Complete strangers take on home improvement projects together in the new reality TV game show House. Two teams of 6 people each move into separate houses. Both houses are old and dilapidated and the teams have just 1 month to completely remodel them. Tense drama and quirky antics mix with power tools and paintbrushes.
The History Channel original miniseries, How I Met Your Mother, explores the amazing true love stories of five couples that met during World War II. Dramatic reenactments supplement the touching tales told by the actual lovers and their friends and relatives.
Enter the highly competitive world of the professional chess tournament in Kings, the newest drama on NBC. Some of the smartest -and best looking- men and women from around the world vie for the championship, while they use their wits to manipulate events both on and off the chess board. Are you a pawn, or a king?
Four college kids set out for the adventure of their lives in Lost, a new coming of age dramedy on the CW. While attempting a great American road trip from
Survivor is a shocking new conspiracy thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat! 12 unsuspecting victims find themselves as the contestants in a deadly underground game where their lives are on the line. A mysterious organization sabotages their daily lives in every way imaginable, forcing them to fight for their very survival. The last man standing wins one hundred million dollars, but at what price?
Political and personal drama abounds in The Office. Michael Schrute has just been elected as the president of the
What do you think? Have a different take on a show title you would like to share?
Here’s a review of some of the things I’ve been learning while studying Japanese. I’m writing about them here as a refresher to me, and to share with anyone who might be interested in the language.
Mostly, I’ve been learning about Japanese grammar, starting with verbs. There are three kinds of verbs. Ichidan verbs all end in “ru”, and you conjugate them all the same way. Yodan verbs may end in different ways, including with “ru”, and you conjugate them differently depending on how they end. If a verb ends in “ru” it might be ichidan or yodan, and you just have to learn which it is through experience. The third kind of verb is irregular verbs. There are only a handful of them and they’re conjugated in ways that defy the normal laws of Japanese grammar. Sounds like English, huh?
To make an ichidan verb past-tense simply remove the “ru” at the end of it and add “ta”. For example, the word taberu, which means “to eat”, would become tabeta, which means “did eat”.
To make a yodan verb past-tense you remove the last syllable of the word to get the root, and then add a different ending depending on how the word originally ended. For example, with the word kiku, which means “to listen”, you remove the “ku” and add “ita”. This makes the word kiita, which means “did listen”. There is a handy chart in my Japanese grammar book that tells you how to change each ending for a yodan verb. I’ll transcribe it here:
“u” becomes “tta” “tsu” becomes “tta” “ru” becomes “tta”
“mu” becomes “nda” “nu” becomes “nda” “bu” becomes “nda”
“ku” becomes “ita” “gu” becomes “ida” “su” becomes “shita”
Fun fact: All ordinary present-tense verbs end with u.
Japanese also has a more formal version of verbs. To make an ichidan verb formal you remove the “ru” at the end and add “masu”. So the formal version of taberu would be tabemasu. To make a formal ichidan verb past-tense you remove the “su” at the end of “masu”, and add “shita” as if it were a yodan verb being made past-tense. So tabemasu would become tabemashita.
To make a yodan verb formal, you simply remove the last vowel from the word and add “imasu”. So kiku would become kikimasu. As with the ichidan formal, to make a yodan formal into a past-tense, you turn the last “su” into “shita”. So kikimasu becomes kikimashita.
Next, I’ve learned a little bit about particles. No indicates possession. O indicates that something is being acted upon. Example:
Japanese: Watashi no mizu o nonda
Literal English: I belonging to water was acted upon did drink
-or-
Japanese: Watashi no mizu o nonda
English: I drank my water.
Ka at the end of a statement makes it a question. Example:
Japanese: Watashi no mizu o nonda ka
English: I drank my water?
You can change any verb into a negative form by changing the ending as well. With an ichidan verb you drop the “ru” and add “nai”. So taberu (to eat) would become tabenai (not eat). With a yodan verb you drop the last vowel and add “anai”. So kiku (to listen) would become kikanai (not listen).
Now, to make an ichidan verb negative and past-tense you drop the “ru” and add “nakatta”. So taberu becomes tabenakatta. To make a yodan verb negative and past-tense you replace the last vowel with “anakatta”. For example, kiku becomes kikanakatta.
Making things a bit more complicated once again is the formal version of verbs. To make an ichidan verb formal and negative you drop the “ru” and add “masen”. So taberu becomes tabemasen. To make it formal, negative, and past-tense, you simply add “deshita” to the end of that. To say in a formal way that you didn’t eat would be tabemasen deshita.
To make a yodan verb formal and negative you drop the last vowel and add “imasen”. So kiku becomes kikimasen. Like ichidan, to make it formal, negative, and past-tense, you add “deshita”, making it kikimasen deshita.
Next is the gerund or –te form of a verb. This is easy to get and is used for a couple of things. To get the gerund form of a verb simply make it a normal past-tense verb, but change the last “a” to an “e”. So because taberu in past-tense would be tabeta, the gerund form is tabete. Because kiku in past-tense would be kiita, the gerund form is kiite.
One use of the gerund form is to make a polite request or command. For example:
Japanese: Watashi no mizu o nonde
English: Drink my water.
Another use of the gerund form is to list a sequence of actions in natural order. For example:
Japanese: Watashi wa shokuji o tabete deta
English: I ate a meal and left.
Changing the verb taberu (to eat) to its gerund form indicates that the following verb, deru (leave), is an action that follows.
The last thing I learned about in my lessons was a couple of irregular verbs and how to conjugate them.
One is suru which means “to do”. When changing this verb, for some reason the “ru” gets dropped and ignored completely, and the “su” is changed instead. Again, my grammar book has a nice chart to summarize how this verb changes, and I’ll transcribe some of that here.
Another irregular verb is kuru which means “to come”. Below is a similar chart as the one for suru, also copied from my grammar book.
Well, that’s pretty much everything I’ve covered so far. I’m looking forward to my next lesson.
In the Land of Women will be my first truly negative review on this blog. The premise for this drama sounded like it might have potential. The movie starts out with Carter Webb, a young man from Los Angeles, being dumped by his girlfriend. Wanting to get away from things, and learning that his grandmother thinks she’s dying, he travels to Michigan to care for the elderly woman. There he befriends the Hardwickes, a woman and her two daughters who live across the street. Their relationships move everyone involved to gain a new perspective on their lives.
So, that’s the basic premise, but the film fails to deliver. I was going to write a synopsis of the movie in a paragraph or two, but I changed my mind. It’s not worth writing. What happened? It really doesn’t matter. The characters are underdeveloped and generally unappealing. The family drama falls flat somehow, and most of the relationships that develop seem awkward or unrealistic. I don’t see how the main character makes any significant changes by the end of the story, or how he’s really affected by the things he experiences. It’s really hard to say what the movie was trying to convey. It did absolutely nothing for me. It wasn’t touching, or funny, or anything. It wasn’t horrible, it just wasn’t good. The only thing I really enjoyed was one scene where the teenage daughter of the family next door is painting in her basement. She paints a neat picture on this really big canvas. It was a very minor scene, but it made me want to paint again.
Roleplaying
Because of my obsession with roleplaying games, I tend to watch most movies and shows with an eye for what I could take from it and apply to gaming. Sadly, I found nothing inspiring about In the Land of Women.
Here's the next Weekly World. This technically makes two in the same week. Last week's world was late and didn't get posted until Monday, but I wanted to go ahead and post again today rather than getting behind. Once again, string these randomly generated elements together into a workable setting and plot. See previous Weekly Worlds here.
Here are the setting elements:
Setting: Medieval
Tone: Pulp
Things: Disaster, Mechanic
Tech Level: Post-Apocalyptic
Place: Hospital
And here are the plot elements:
Opposition: Tragic Villain
Plot Action: Convince (Strong) Pollution
Plot Action: Win (Religious) Launch
Again, before you read further, I challenge you to take 10-20 minutes to develop these elements into a workable fictional setting and plot, and post your results in the comments below. After you’re done, you can come back and read my interpretation of these elements.
My Weekly World: Cult of the God Seekers
After nuclear war brings an end to civilization as we know it and leaves the Earth a burning wasteland, the surviving remnants of mankind struggle for survival. Lacking access to advanced technology, a new dark age begins. Men pile up the ruble from devastated cities to construct castles and fortresses. The strongest warriors set boundaries and establish themselves as new kings and barons. Times are difficult, and often the line between life and death rests on the edge of a sword.
Only a scant few individuals retain any knowledge of advanced technology. These mechanics are revered as wizards, and are considered both an asset and a threat by the common people. A group of mechanics has established a religious order called the Cult of the God Seekers. They preach that god abandoned the world when the cataclysm occurred, and that he no longer believes mankind wants his aid. They claim that the only way to reach god and ask for his aid is to launch a rocket into space.
The heroes, a band of traveling warriors and scholars seeking knowledge of the old world, discover that the God Seekers will cause a terrible tragedy if they succeed in launching their rocket. The launch will release very strong pollutants that will quickly destroy the already unstable atmosphere and bring an ultimate end to all life on Earth. What’s worse is that Bishop Krow, the leader of the cult, knows this will happen. Years ago, Krow’s family was brutally murdered at the command of a local king, when Krow refused to build a mechanical army for the king. Now he seeks to end his own life and take vengeance in one fell swoop. The heroes must hurry to convince the local populace of the imminent danger, and rouse them to action to prevent the launch, while they take on Krow in his mechanical fortress.
What do you think? Be sure to post your own take on the elements in the comments if you haven't already.
I thought I'd share some more pictures from the Kingdom Hall remodel in Crescent City. Here's a shot of the auditorium with all of the demolition done. That's drywall stacked on the left side of the picture. One of our responsibilities in receiving was to count the drywall and make sure we received enough.
Last weekend the RBC set up the cook tent and began providing cooked meals for the volunteers. We've had some good stuff, and they do a good job keeping the lines moving fast.
Last weekend the stucco crew began work on the exterior of the building.
The tile crew also did their job last weekend. You can't see the tile here because it's covered to prevent damage, but it covers the entire lobby floor as well as the restrooms.
Here is the only structural change they're making to the building. They've added a wall in the area where the literature counters used to be. I think this is to seperate that area from the main auditorium, but I don't know for sure if it will still be where the literature counter is or not.
That's it for now. I'm looking forward to going back this weekend. It sounds like the painters will be doing a lot of work on Friday. I'm not sure what else is scheduled, but I'm sure it will be exciting.
I got my first laptop computer a few weeks ago. It was a pretty good deal on a Dell Inspiron 1545. It has an Intel Pentium Dual Core 2.0GHz processor, 3GB of memory, and a 250GB hard drive. The display is a glossy, 15.6 inch widescreen. It’s not amazing, but it will work great for me. I’ll mostly be using it for writing and art. Mostly I’ve been using it at home, but I took it to the RBC site the other day, and it was cool to be able to do some writing away from the desk. Here’s a picture I took with the integrated webcam and a mirror:
Ack! This article is a few days late!
Here's the next Weekly World. String these randomly generated elements together into a workable setting and plot. See previous Weekly Worlds here.
Here are the setting elements:
Setting: Stone Age
Tone: Conspiracy
Things: Mass Transit, Child
Tech Level: Domesticated Animals
Place: Beach
And here are the plot elements:
Opposition: Doppelganger
Plot Action: Blackmail (Classy) Computers
Plot Action: Clean (Sci-Fi) Disguise
Again, before you read further, I challenge you to take 10-20 minutes to develop these elements into a workable fictional setting and plot, and post your results in the comments below. After you’re done, you can come back and read my interpretation of these elements.
My Weekly World: The Secrets in Stone
The stone age world is ruled by the gods themselves, who issue commands through their chosen priests. While man has yet to learn the means for metal working, their numbers have multiplied greatly forcing them to spread out over a large region along the coast. In order to maintain control, the gods sent instructions from their temple describing how to build a stone railway upon which teams of mammoths could pull long trains of stone-wheeled carts. This rail system allowed priests to travel the land, keeping tabs on the goings-on in even far-flung villages both to the North and the South. By this means also, supplies and materials are transported to the capitol and redistributed as needed.
The heroes are a group of priests who travel the rail system investigating the affairs of different towns and acting on behalf of the gods. Problems soon arise when accusations of treachery are leveled against them one after the other. It soon becomes apparent that someone is engaging in underhanded dealings while perfectly mimicking their appearance. The heroes must pursue this doppelganger in order to clear their names and foil his nefarious plot.
Eventually they discover that their foe is actually a man from times more ancient than their own. Long ago, humans built an incredibly advanced civilization. When man was teetering on the brink of self-destruction they turned the care of their civilization over to a group of networked supercomputers that would determine the best course for mankind and dictate their every action. The computers decided that man was not ready for the level of technology they had achieved and so gradually guided them into a new stone age. Eventually all memory of their past glory was lost, and the computers had come to be regarded as gods. Now a man kept in stasis for all this time has reemerged into the new stone age, but knows the truth about the past and the nature of the gods. Using a high-tech holoshroud device that was buried with him, he’s been mimicking the appearances of various priests in order to get close to the gods. Now he gathered enough evidence of the gods’ true nature to completely undo all of their hard work. His goal, however, is not to act on this plan, but to merely use it as blackmail against the computers. He’ll keep their secret safe in exchange for the wealth and power that comes with the position of high priest.
What do you think? Be sure to post your own take on the elements in the comments if you haven't already.
About three years ago I spotted this book in a bookstore. The classic Japanese illustration on the cover jumped out at me as I walked past it. I bought it right then, but for some reason it’s taken me until just recently to finish reading it. It’s not that it isn’t interesting; I just kept getting distracted with other things.
Shinju is a historical mystery novel by Laura Joh Rowland. It’s based in Japan during the late 1600s, and follows the story of a police detective named Sano Ichiro as he investigates what appears to be a double suicide. He believes that the supposed lovers were actually murdered, and investigation soon produces evidence that this is true. In his pursuit of truth and justice, Ichiro faces many challenges that a modern detective would not encounter due to cultural restrictions and standards of propriety of the day. In the end, he discovers that the murders were just a small part of an intricate conspiracy with the ultimate aim of assassinating the shogun and starting a revolution.
Ichiro makes an interesting protagonist. He’s not just a detective but also a samurai, a man raised with martial training and a strong sense of duty. As a samurai, Ichiro is a man of action and a capable swordsman. His sense of duty is both a cause for inner conflict and a strong motivator for him. At first he almost determines to cease his investigations when his immediate superiors frown on his efforts. However, while his duty to them demands that he obey, he feels an even stronger duty to the pursuit of justice. Eventually he finds fulfillment when he discovers that his perseverance means the protection of the shogun, the highest lord to whom he owes his allegiance.
In reading this book I also learned some interesting things about ancient Japanese culture. When Ichiro wanted an autopsy of the dead man to determine the true cause of his death, he had to pursue it in secret because of the cultural taboo against cutting on dead bodies. One of the evidences against the original assumption that the two victims were lovers who had committed suicide together was the fact that the man was a known homosexual, and such a practice was socially accepted in Japan that long ago. It was also interesting to learn that the class distinctions of the day would allow a samurai to kill a commoner with little penalty, but murder of a samurai could result in execution. It was also interesting to learn about the arrangements imposed on the Japanese noblemen by the shogun in order to control them. All of the great landowners were required to maintain a luxurious estate in the capitol in addition to their estates on their own land. They were also required to keep their families there in the capitol. This meant that if they attempted to rebel the shogun could hold their families hostage and seize their properties in the city.
Overall, it was a very interesting read. Ichiro was an intelligent man, a skilled warrior, and a man of some character. The plot remained interesting from beginning to end, with the stakes gradually rising as the investigation progressed so that the excitement continued to mount.
Roleplaying
Because of my obsession with roleplaying games, I tend to absorb most material with an eye for what I could take from it and apply to gaming. Here are some ideas from Shinju.
Cultural Elements in Setting: The setting of historical Japan contributed a lot to the conflicts and complications of this story. It might be fun to play a game set in this period. I’ve never played a game where the setting gave much attention to cultural quirks and class distinctions. This story demonstrated that such elements can be powerful elements for bringing characters to life.
Mystery: I’ve played a couple of games where mystery was an element of the plot. In the game InSpectres, the player characters solve mysteries, but the solution to the mystery is provided by the players themselves. In the game Dogs in the Vineyard, the player characters have to investigate the goings-on of each town they visit, but the focus is less on solving mysteries and more on finding solutions to complex moral dilemmas. A game where the player characters investigate a mystery with the simple goal of discovering who-done-it and bringing that person to justice could be an interesting experience, though it would require careful attention from the GM to create a believable mystery with just the right amount of clues so that it is neither too easy to solve nor impossible to overcome.
It has yet to happen in any of the games I’ve played in or game mastered, but most game systems do provide for the possibility that a player’s character (PC) might die. Many games give characters hit points to measure their staying power in battle, and when those hit points are depleted they might die. Some games measure the number, and severity, of wounds a character receives with too many wounds resulting in death. Other games have other systems for injury and character death.
Some games, however, make PC death all but impossible. Often times, even when the system provides rules for character death, there is an understanding among the players and the GM that the GM will not “let” the PCs die. The reason for this is that players spend time creating a character and then developing that character in play. They become invested in their character through this process and don’t want to see them die. Taking this into consideration, it might seem reasonable that the death of a PC should be off limits. However, is anything lost by disallowing player character death?
Imagine your PC facing down the greatest foe they’ve ever encountered. The thrill of danger raises the hair on the back of your neck. The treat of death gets the adrenaline pumping through your veins. Then, you remember that there is really no danger at all. The GM won’t possible let your PC die. Defeat will mean, at worst, a temporary setback. The moment is lost. What should be an epic contest of cunning, will and might becomes a mundane exercise in rolling dice and comparing numbers. Success is only a matter of time. Even if you fail this confrontation, you know that your character will live to fight another day.
So, how could you maintain the thrill of risking PC death, without frustrating players who have become invested in their characters? Here are a couple of options:
Players Choose When to Risk Death: In the game Dogs in the Vineyard, the system allows for PC death, but the players choose when the stakes warrant the risk of death. Players always have the option to back down from any conflict as soon as they decide that the issue isn’t worth risking their PC’s life. This means that the risk of death is very real when the players decide to give a conflict their all, and they’re up against suitable opposition. But if the players, or their characters, don’t really care about the issues at hand they’re never forced to take that risk. This means that if a PC dies, at least it will be over a matter that their player deemed dramatically appropriate.
Quick Character Creation: Some games have a very simple process for creating PCs. This means that if your PC dies, it’s only a matter of minutes to create the game stats for a new one. This takes some of the bite out of PC death. Of course, it might take longer than a few minutes for players who really want an intricate back story for their character. One drawback to this approach is that it tends to encourage cardboard cutout characters. Players spend less time developing their characters in the initial process and don’t become as invested in their stories.
Multiple Characters for Each Player: At the beginning of the game, each player could create two or three characters. They might play one primarily, with any others having only minor support rolls in the story. However, if their primary character should die, they already have another waiting to step up and take their place. This is a character they’ve already invested some time in, and has already had some minor involvement in the story. By spreading your investment into multiple characters, the loss of one of them seems like less of a tragedy, but it does require more effort up front to develop multiple characters.
What do you think about PC death? Should PCs have to face the threat of death, or should they be immune except at the choice of their player. If PCs do risk death, what would be a good way to mitigate some of the pain of losing your character?
It’s been a while since I wrote a Words to Live By article. This time I want to share a couple of quotes about that self defining, and often heart breaking, moment when you finally witness the ugliest side of yourself.
The tragedy of a man who has found himself out.-Sir James Matthew Barrie
For some reason I can’t explain I know Saint Peter won’t call my name.-Viva La Vida, Coldplay
I believe that most of us experience this sooner or later in life. Up to a certain point you live your life believing that you’re a certain kind of person. Your upbringing and your own moral fiber would never allow you to go past a certain point, or to do something that you know unquestionably is wrong. And then it happens. Circumstances conspire with your own flaws and weaknesses to lead you down a dark path. Just one step in the wrong direction becomes another, and before you know it you’re spiraling out of control, running headlong down a path you never thought you’d take. Then all of a sudden it hits you like a ton of bricks. You find yourself looking in the mirror and wondering who this person is that’s looking back.
This moment can be devastating, but it can also be empowering. No act is unforgivable if you truly regret it. Knowing the evils that you’re capable of puts you on alert to combat those tendencies. With a lot of work, and a lot of help, you can push back the shadows.
Last week we started work on a major remodel of the Kingdom Hall in Crescent City, Florida. Here’s some “before” shots of the exterior:
And moving inside, here's the lobby:
The library:
The auditorium:
The literature counter is right off the main auditorium:
Here's the conference room:
A shot of the men's room:
Here's where I'll be working mostly. These are the containers where we store materials for the project. This time we have a tent just outside the main container, though the trees on this property provide plenty of shade as it is.
Here is the computer cart Jeremy built for us. It has a pull-out drawer for a laptop, a printer/scanner for printing purchase orders and scanning ship tickets, and in the bottom compartment are car batteries and a converter for power.
Jeremy really likes building stuff, and he's good at it. Here's Gareth helping him build a gravel sorter. The kingdom hall had a foot and a half of gravel all around the parameter of the building that had become mixed with a lot of dirt and leaves and such, so the brothers wanted a way to sift out the gravel from the rest. The way this thing works is that shovel the gravel and dirt into the top end, and then as someone rocks it back and forth with the handles, the gravel rolls down into a waiting wheelbarrow while the dirt falls through the wire mesh.
Just the other day we received all of the frames and planks for the scaffolding:
We also received the portoilets:
Last Friday they began demolition. They tore the siding off the outside of the building, took down the ceiling and insulation, and tore out a lot of the lobby and restrooms.
A local brother who is a retired mason also replaced some brick on the front-right corner of the building:
That's what's going on so far. I'm looking forward to being back there next week. Thursday or Friday we'll probably be receiving the chairs, which is a big deal.
Last week I washed windows at probably the biggest house we work at. This house is located in Windermere, Florida, and is the only three story house we do. Last time we washed only the outside of the windows, and it still took three of us five hours to complete. Here are some pictures of the house:
