CP3S

What are you talking about? Time travel is still really cool for 28 year olds!

Bingowings said:

I've never actually had a taco... ever.

Do they even have tacos in Scotland? Anywhere? Mexican restaurants seemed extremely rare when I was in the UK (though I did find one in England, and the food was really weird).

Based on that post, I feel like I am kind of pretentious when drunk.

:(

doubleofive said:

I want to make a thread where we share our recent discovery of

http://www.says-it.com/

Yes.

Bingowings said:

... 69.

I've always planned on dying in my late forties (probably from lung cancer), so that I never have to get old. But suddenly, I feel like it might be worth it to hold off until the age sixty nine, just so I can continue to be inappropriate long after my death. I can just imagine kids reading my tombstone, figuring up my age, then chuckling to themselves for year and years to come. I do want to be cremated though... so, I'm not sure how that will work (the idea of being preserved and buried is really disgusting to me). I might have to work out the kinks closer to the time...

DuracellEnergizer said:

"Dead Bart" is awesome, though. I would literally (and I mean literally) give my left hand to have that as the official series finale for The Simpsons.

Send me your left hand and lets make this happen! I know people.

JEDIT 1: and that show needs to end.

Just got home from an awesome date that didn't end at one of our places, which is really awesome, because it seems like that usually happens and then things get really intense for a few weeks (or days) and then it is all over. I'm really looking forward to seeing this one again, in a way that I am usually not.

On the other hand, I am buzzing hardcore in an unpleasant kind of way, feeling rather nauseated, yet consuming a McDonald's Angus third pounder (would never even consider doing something so disgusting when not tight), and feeling extremely depressed that it is now exactly 1/2 finished. I'd normal gag at the thought of such a thing, but at this moment, it is the most amazing thing I have ever eaten. When it is gone, I may have to cry myself to sleep. Totally should have ordered two of the things. It is freaking awesome!

EDIT: It is gone now, and I feel really empty inside. I wish it could have lasted forever. :(

EDIT 2: If you accidentally put a "j" in from of EDIT, it comes out as JEDIT, which totally contains the word "JEDI" but with a "T" on the end. HOW SWEET IT THAT?!? How it is I've lived this many yeatrs and am just now realizing this? This discovery totally makes up for my new found lack of a McDonald's Angus Third Pounder in my hand!

DuracellEnergizer said:

The X-Files (1998)

This was basically an extended Mytharc episode, which makes it twice as tedious, boring, and pointless as it would have been otherwise.

Fuck you. Just sayin'.

;)

Back to the Future, Part II (1989)

To call this a haphazard mess would be an understatement. The time travel rules make even less sense this time around, almost every character who shows his/her face is obnoxious, and the whole idea of going back to the events in the first film was a stupid, stagnant idea. If it wasn't for Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd, I'd hate this movie.

I think two is actually my favorite Back to the Future movie, which isn't saying much. About a year ago I went back and watched the whole trilogy and was thoroughly disappointed. These were some of my favorite movies when I was younger, and after not watching them in so many years, they came off as really cheesy and over-the-top. But I still felt the second one was a ridiculously fun revisiting of the original, and I really enjoyed the cross over. Three on the other hand, I felt was just silly through and through.

Thank, Greenie. Glad you liked it.

The reason for the long dialogue was that I was trying to squeeze an outline of all my ideas I had for the story into it as quickly as possible, before I forgot about them. All the story elements I wanted are referenced in this segment, kind of setting the ground rules. It refers back to everything that happened before this moment, and sets up the stuff I intended to come next. Had I continued it, this section would have been rewritten, removing a lot of detail and leaving more mystery to be unraveled as the story went on. For example, the fact that the leader of the other group is Dr. Mrs. Caldwell probably would have been removed and instead reveled to Reid when he meets her in person. And later the fact that her lover is Dr. Caldwell's former best friend, maybe even the fact that this group is splicing, and that they have a whole tribe of islanders on their side, would have probably been saved for Reid to discover on his own as well.

DuracellEnergizer said:

C3PX? Is he a relative or replicant of yours?

C3PX was this really cool former member here who I always really liked. Hands down the coolest member these forums has ever had! He left the forum some time ago. When I decided to stop lurking and start posting, I decided to take a similar name, make up some story about how I am him and had to make a new account because I lost my password, and pass myself off as him. Everyone seemed to buy it easily enough, so I just kept up the charade. Shhh, don't tell anyone.

Since Greenie seems interested, I'll share my concepts and what I wrote of my Bioshock sequel in another thread.

http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/C3PXs-Bioshock-3/topic/15328/

The story was to proceed with the protagonist being sent on a few tasks by Dr. Caldwell. Meeting Caldwell's colleges. And eventually being sent to retrieve something from the other group of former Rapture inhabitants, being led by Caldwell's wife and former best friend, who both "betrayed" him. This group was to have continued down the same road of plasmid abuse that was seen in Rapture, using it for fun, pleasure, and as weapons. They were also going to display the kind of desperate junkie desire/need for ADAM that was seen by the splicers. This group won over the native islanders by demonstrating their ability to use "magic" and now have essentially a whole army at their disposal, some of which have been taught how to use plasmids themselves. I figured as the story went on, this group might start to display signs of being "spliced up".

From them Reid would be introduced to plasmids and begin using them himself, and learn that Dr. Caldwell hadn't been entirely honest with him about everything. He'd find himself caught in the middle of a power struggle between the two groups of former Rapture scientist, uncovering the mysteries of what was going on, and trying to figure out which group was more trustworthy, or the lesser of two evils.

That is really as far into the story as I ever mapped out. I ran out of ideas, and realized I was wasting my time on what was simply fanfiction, something I've never been too fond of, my heart wasn't in it, my writing was sucking, and I just kind of dropped it.

CHAPTER THREE

I don’t know how long I was out for. My head was throbbing, my eyelids were heavy, and my shoulder was in sheer burning agony where the beast’s teeth had sunk into it and tore away the flesh. It took me a while to adjust to my settings. A fireplace. Walls covered in maps and diagrams. The smell of burning tobacco. I tried to move, but my whole body protested. I must have let out an audible groan, because at that moment a cheerful voice shouted out the words, “Ah, very good! You are awake!” Each syllable felt like a hammer beating me on the head. The man wore a collared shirt, spectacles, had unkempt shaggy hair parted in the middle, and held a lit pipe in his left hand.

“Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Dr. William Caldwell.”

Good, there is a doctor on this island, first lucky thing to happen to me all week. I quickly set about introducing myself, “I’m Daniel Reid. What’s my condition, doctor?”

“Oh, pardon me. I am not that kind of a doctor. I am a bio-geneticist. I, uh, you are going to live, if that is what you are afraid of. The shoulder looks pretty bad, but you are quite lucky to still be alive, if you ask me.”

Great, not so lucky after all. “Where the hell am I? And what the hell were those things that attacked me?”

“First off, I shall remind you that you appeared on my island, literally broke through my front door, and bleed on my rug before passing out. I do love guests, but I typically like to get to know them a little before we get this chummy. I’ve taken the liberty of bandaging your wounds and giving you some analgesics. The bleeding has stopped, and you are stable. There is no urgency to the situation. I would very much like to hear your story and how you came to my island before I go into the details of where the hell you are.”

I didn’t see any point in telling the man the entire truth. The people I was involved with, how the deal went bad, how they cast me overboard to die. Instead, I was just a normal boring old fisherman, unlucky enough to be got caught in a bad storm five nights ago. My boat capsized, my partner was lost, I alone escaped on the life raft and drifted for days before it sprung a leak. I thought I was dead, and the next thing I knew I woke up on the beach, somehow spared by the ocean. At least that last part was true. I told him everything after that point just as it has happened, from my encounter with those monsters, to running through his front door seeking safety.

“Well, now that I know a little about you… It is nice to meet you, Mr. Reid. Welcome to my island. I am sorry it has been a rough stay so far, we do not get a lot of guests around here. Now to answer your question of where the hell you are. I have often paused from my work in the evenings, musing about how I would explain this place to any guests who might arrive here. Prior to now, I have never had the pleasure. There have been signs of visitors prior to yourself, but unfortunately, you are the first who has managed to stumble upon my compound before meeting a tragic end. My creations have proven to be effective security.”

“Are you saying you somehow made those abominations? And they’ve been killing people? I assume you don’t lose any sleep over that at night?”

The strange man’s eyes narrowed and he seemed to be grinding his teeth as he glared at me silently for a few moments before speaking again, “Do not come into my home and judge me, sir! You certainly have the manners one would come to expect of a fisherman. My guardians are intended to protect a very precious substance. I will forgive you your blatant rudeness this once, as I imagine you feel you have washed up on the shores of hell itself.”

“You’ll have to forgive me, I’ve had kind of a bad day.” I was trying to appease him, but realized my words came out more than a little caustic. I decided keeping the conversation going would be a good idea, “Precious substance?”

“Yes, in the right hands it could reshape the world as we know it. Illness. Disease. Dysfunction. Deformity. Age. They could all become things of the past. Imagine what mankind could achieve if our greatest minds could go on living forever? Our bodies more youthful than yours or mine, even after thousands of years on this earth. Our children immune to disease. Our flesh impervious to harm. But in the wrong hands—Well, it could still reshape the word—But in ways I cringe to think about. It has a high potential for abuse. So many applications, not all of which have the greater good in mind.”

“And those monsters out there are guarding that?”

“The female wild pig has a strong motherly instinct to protect her young. This precious substance comes from a very rare deep-sea creature. It is symbiotic by nature, and requires a living host. By genetically modifying female sus scrofa, inseminating them, and planting my symbiotes into their unborn offspring, I have created a flawless system to simultaneously cultivate and secure this substance as I continue to do my research. Someday, when I can fully understand it, and ensure prevention of its abuse, I will return to civilization with it and reign in a new era of scientific discovery and achievement.”

“Those beasts are the most terrifying things I’ve ever seen in my life! What could you possibly be trying to protect this stuff from? More “visitors” like me? Trust me pal, when I showed up on your little island, I was just trying to save myself from becoming fish food. How would anybody even know about this stuff you’ve discovered, or what you think it is capable of, in order to even want to steal it from you? You’re on an uncharted island in the middle of the damn ocean!”

“I cannot take credit for discovering it myself. It was discovered by brilliant men in the most magnificent and terrifying city mankind has ever dreamt to build. I lived there for a time. It was seeing the way this discovery was used there that led me to flee from that place and find somewhere new to do my research.”

“If this stuff is already being researched on and used in someplace, and if it is as incredible as you say it is, aren’t you a little late to the show? The world is a small place these days, pal, with airplanes you can fly from one continent to the other in matters of hours. You’ve been isolated here for how long? How do you know it isn’t already on the market in some countries?”

He chuckled to himself, and spoke with a tone of condescension, “It is not the sort of city you can get to by plane. Nor is it the kind of place that shares its discoveries with the rest of the world. There were several of us who left this place. We were all once likeminded. We were working toward a common goal. Some have remained loyal to our cause, and you will get to meet them eventually. Others, like my traitorous wife, my backstabbing former best friend, and a few others have decided they see things differently. They want this stuff for their own selfish motives. Bunch of junkies. There were native inhabitants on this island before we arrived. My former colleagues have established themselves as gods among them, manipulating them, making them bow to their every whim. It is from them that I must protect this stuff. Also, we did not exactly leave my former home on the best of terms, it is a possibility that some from there may try to find us and destroy our research. I suppose, to some degree, I feel a need to protect it from accidental passersby, such as yourself, as well. If someone stumbled on it not knowing its power and took it back to the mainland, who knows what kind of hands it might fall into. My mutations may seem excessive, brutal, and grotesque, but I reassure you, they stand between the potential of much greater ills.”

There was an awkward silence before he spoke again, “How are you feeling?”

“Like hell. Your monsters did a number on me. If I can’t get to a real medical doctor anytime soon, I’m not sure I’ll ever get much use out of this shoulder again.”

“What if I told you I could make your shoulder better than it was when you arrived here?”

“I guess I’d say I don’t have a whole lot to lose at this point.”

“I’ll be blunt. You are on a remote island out of radio range of any shipping routes. We have worthy vessel to take you to someplace where you can more easily hitch a ride home, but it is in disrepair and is going to need quite a bit of work. If you are willing to provide us with a much needed extra set of hands for some things we need done around here, we can make getting you home a much higher priority. Nothing major, gathering materials for the boat repairs, as well as for some of our experiments, mostly. What do you say? Room and board are included.” He grinned widely at his last comment.

I thought about it for a few moments. My situation was pretty dire. By all rights, I should have drowned out there. I needed time for my shoulder to heal, and I had no hope of getting home without this man’s help. “Sounds like a deal to me” I agreed, holding out my hand. He stared at it for a moment, as if he’d forgotten what the gesture meant, before finally reaching out his own to shake it, “My good sir, I have a feeling you are going to make a fine temporary addition to our team.”

Somewhere lost in the depths for a this forum, probably the Video Games Thread (?), Xhonzi and I talked about what we would like to see in a sequel to Bioshock 2.

I really like the idea of it taking place on an island, following a group of scientists who fled the city of Rapture when they witnessed the foreshadowing of the misuse of plasmids, and realized the likely outcomes of this unchecked power. They took some of the symbiotic sea slugs with them, and settled on a remote island with the intent of continuing research into ADAM.

At one point I got the idea of developing this into a short piece of fiction, then decided I wasn't really into it, wasn't sure where to take the story, and decided to scrap it.

In the interest of sharing what I did come up with, here is what I came up with.

Chapter one was going to introduce us to the protagonist and to briefly tell the events leading up to his washing up on the shore of this remote island. 

In chapter two the protagonist was to venture into the jungle and have a run in with giant mutated boars, my idea for a replacement for the Big Daddies of Rapture, as guardians of the ADAM carrying hosts. The protagonist gets torn up by them, and while trying to escape, stumbles on a clearing in the jungle with a fancy looking Victorian style house. The protagonist runs to the house for safety, finds the front door locked, kicks it in, staggers inside, and passes out.

Chapter three, being the only chapter I completed a rough draft of, I will post here.

It is nothing exciting, mostly long pieces of dialogue in desperate need of trimming down.

greenpenguino said:

Hmmm... Might I have to go play it then!!!

Fixed and Yup.

CP3S said:

So, I sat down to pen Bioshock 3. Remember my whole storyline about a group breaking off and making a new civilization on an island? Yeah, I totally sat down to write that in earnest. Spent a bit of time making an outline, wrote a few pages, somewhere in there logged onto OT.com and read Xhonzi post something about being too busy for the site and going away... And then I thought, wait a minute? What is the point? And I stopped writing it.

Okay, so, you were the catalyst that made me realize it was a pointless thing to write, but I didn't decide it was pointless only because you were gone, I just realized it was all around pointless in general.

Too bad though, it would have been amazing! But no, you had to go and leave the forum. Jerk.

No! Don't stop writing! If there's a story you want to tell, write it!

I came up with a ton of concepts for the story I really liked, but after trying to write it, I realized there just wasn't a story there.

I do a lot of creative writing, but I've never written a single piece of fanfiction, and when I tried to write it and would reread what I wrote, it just read like your typical piece of fanfiction. Even the Bioshock novel reads like a piece of crappy fanfiction. I don't think the story translates well to words. Bioshock's very essence is about exploring a strange place and eventually uncovering a mystery. I tried to write my Bioshock III story in a first person style that slowing unraveled the mystery, but it just didn't seem to be working.

xhonzi said:

In fact, (and I realize I might get run out of town on a sky-rail for saying this) I think the combat/gameplay was best in 2.

So there.

I won't argue with that. 2 made a few game mechanic tweaks that were a definite improvement over the first one.

Well, I just now fought Slate. So yeah, I'm not too far into the game.

greenpenguino said:

After playing Bioshock 1 and quite a bit of Infinite (I've been told by loads of friends to steer clear of 2, as they don't think it's particularly good) I was thinking that maybe a Bioshock game set in space might be fairly good, even though it kind of already exists in the form of 'System Shock'.

I feel like a space or moon base setting would be kind of bland. Games have taken us to places like that countless times already. I do wish they'd release an HD version of System Shock 2 on PSN and XBL. I'd buy it in a heartbeat. It is a fun game, but I've never managed to get it working smoothly enough on a modern system to beat it. There are always extreme texture errors that made it unpleasant to play, or it ends up crashing on me every so often.

Bioshock 2 is a lot of fun, Greenie. The first one holds a really unique and special place in gaming history, it was a phenomenal game. Two takes you back to Rapture with much of the same game play, a few new weapons and plasmids, and a few new enemies, and improves on a few other things. It isn't groundbreaking in the slightest, but it is still well worth playing if you really enjoyed the first game and wouldn't mind continuing the experience. I found the storyline pretty fun too, even though it isn't meaningful in a way the first one was. BS2 didn't try to one up or out do the first game, which I respect. It is a good sequel.

I feel about it much the same as I do about The Planet of the Apes sequels. The first movie took us on an intriguing journey, and drove home a point at the end. The sequels just carried us along on fun journeys in the same universe. But while I'd consider the Apes sequels guilty pleasures of mine, Bioshock 2 is just a really good game that lives in the shadow of its predecessor and gets criticism for it. If you enjoyed searching and looting every nook and cranny of Rapture, getting into rows with Big Daddies, and found the world fascinating, you'd be robbing yourself by not playing this game. While it isn't the first Bioshock, it is still 99% better than the vast majority of current gen games out there.

You know I do! But I haven't found a lot of time to dedicate to it yet. I think I'll get a chance to burn a few hours on it tomorrow, and maybe a little bit the next day. Hopefully I'll manage to finish it before it is old news to you and you don't want to discuss it anymore.

Maybe you should go ahead and write and post what you want to discuss about it, and then I'll just avoid this thread for the next few days until I finish it. Then I can just read it and respond immediately after I beat it.

Warbler said:

CP3S said:Warbler is a talented signer, clearly.

How do you know that?  You've never heard me sing.

Because they asked you to do a solo at least twice now, and you said they seemed to enjoy it. Nobody has ever asked me to do a solo, and if they did they sure wouldn't enjoy it. I imagine this means you're not half bad of a singer. Plus, you totally nailed it on Good Friday. Sounds to me like you've got some talent there.

darth_ender said:

When one says, "I think maybe God wasn't helping you," or, "Maybe you just have more natural talent than you realize," I guess I don't don't see it as condescending, but merely expressing a different point of view.  But when one says, "No, you did that completely on your own," with simple matter-of-factness, it seems more demeaning.  Really, I guess it comes down to whether one precedes his comment with a phrase noting the subjectivity of his perspective.  When Leo made his comment, I don't believe he made any such note, which is why I commented as I did.  But I do believe he meant it in genuine kindness.

I feel like you hold a pretty tight double standard here. You get offended when an atheist boldly claims, "There is no God", but you wouldn't hesitate to even more boldly claim there is a God, and not only that, but claim you have a relationship with him and know what he wants or what things annoy him. 

An example from the same post:

It's when our pride in our own achievement exceeds our humility for his blessings that he becomes annoyed.

In both cases of, "I think maybe God wasn't helping you" and, "No, you did that completely on your own", it is merely a different point of view being expressed, and neither are intended as condescension.

Warbler is a talented signer, clearly. I must admit it saddens me a little bit that he can't accept that and take pride in it (which he has every right to do), but instead feels the need to give all credit to some supernatural force and continue to consider himself worthless and talentless, which is clearly far, far from the truth.

You have non believers who get really nervous before some public performance and end up nailing it when it comes time to perform all the time, Warb is telling himself they are much better than him, when in reality, he may be just as good or better than a lot of them.

There is nothing in the above paragraph meant as condescension, it is Warbler's story filtered through my godless worldview. Likewise, when Leo says he knows God doesn't exist, once filtered through your theistic worldview, it is offensive because it is pretty much slapping God in the face (you mentioned something before along the lines of feeling that we were disrespecting God with some of the stuff we are saying). 

I for one love it! I like trying to see different worldviews, and hearing the perspective of different people as seen through their own particular color sunglass lens shade. 

Ziggy Stardust said:

Creepypasta gets very stale, cheesy, and dumb very quickly. 

Had no clue what "Creepypasta" was, so I looked it up, read one story, and yes, I can see what you mean.

There are countless really good books out there, some filled with quick and easy to read short stories written by really good writers. I have never understood the appeal of fanfiction, or poorly written short stories on the internet.

darth_ender said:

Can we mention words that are generally used correctly, but end being overused by people attempting to sound pretentious?  If so, I've got a few of those I've been hanging on to.

Yes, please do.

Awkward is another one that seem really popular right now. It is usually used right, but every now and then I hear someone use it in a way that is really, well, awkward. I feel like people just think it is fun to say (especially in falsetto, for some reason), and every now and then decide it is time to say it the next time someone says something where it might halfway potentially fit.

"I met this cute girl at the bar the other day--"

"Awkward!"

"--and totally got her number."

"Dude, I ate a whole bag of mini Reese's Peanut Butter Cups this evening."

"Awkward!"

There are certain words that come "into style" and suddenly everyone is using them, and often times it seems they use them completely wrong. Ugh, it gets really annoying. I think the word "literally" is one I've heard a lot lately. "Man, I drank a whole bottle of sriracha last night, and today my anus is literally on fire!", "I played so much Bioshock Infinite for so many hours last night, my eyes literally dried up and fell out of my head.", "I woke up with such a hangover this morning, my head was literally exploding!"

I was venting about this in my head on the way to work the other day, and decided it could make for an amusing topic. I even came up with a nifty pop cultural reference for the thread title.

In my later years of college, everyone used the word "random" constantly. "That's random" had to be a phrase I heard at least a dozen times a day, and most the time there was nothing random involved at all.

Me: "I'm broke. I tried to go by the bank and deposit my check yesterday after I got off work, but they were closed."

Friend: "That's random!"

Me: "No. No, it wasn't. I got there at 5:01 and it closes at 5:00..."

===============================================

Me: "I'm hungry for tacos..."

Friend: "That's random!"

Me: "No. You just mentioned tacos not five seconds ago, and that made me hungry for them..."

ALSO, why does Taco Bell always give you so much damn sauce? I ordered three tacos, and got literally thirteen packets of verde sauce. It is like gas station receipts all over again. What a ridiculous waste!