Sunday, June 15, 2008

Of Violence in Media, TV Tropes, Fanfiction and Firefox

With the development of technology in the entertainment sector, quite a few different types of violence occur, not all have to involve blood though...

There was a point in time where pasting a face over another actor's face with a ton of gore and then ripping it off to simulate a face being shredded in between was revolutionary, now we can have it done with simple CGI, and make it look a lot worse.

I'm gonna categorize a few different types of violence...

Bullet hole - Blam ! Guy falls down, perfect, round hole in torso, gasping for air, bleeds. Dies.

Typical action movie thing. Not much here, just maybe a bit of spatter on the walls or something of those lines. Lets categorize even further !

Bullet Hole - Zombie Gunshot - Blam ! Shotgun to torso, 20% is blasted to kingdom come.

Why is it that zombies always seem to have more blood gore and assorted detritus on them and seem to often burst in creative ways ?

Bullet Hole - Shotgun to Average Guy - Close range, guys flies back into wall, guy looks up, a few spots are bleeding and maybe a small chunk of flesh is missing. Often survives.

These are a couple of your more basic types of gunshot violence.

But, lets look at violence in general !

Psychological: Darkness, creepy sound effects and shadows. Only a master can wreak psychological terror in broad daylight.

Gung Ho - I sweep minigun across stage. Minigun slices people in half. Ouch.

Let's compare these two in my life.

I merrily chuckle as enemy Orks with their big Power Klaws (That's spelled correctly) are cut down in a storm of Bolter Rounds from my Space Marines. Every shot sends a spray of blood out of the enemy. I keep the chuckles up.

Conlcusion: I eat my sandwich with a smile whilst reminiscing on the carnage.

Serenity, Feature Film, Scene where Crew Lands and Discover Miranda. Rotting corpses in a place that is unnaturally bright and all have wide open mouths and blank eyes. Summer Glau's excellent acting enhances this aura of fear by saying they all just sit there in their homes, they say nothing and... cue the tears !

I'm afraid of the dark for the past 3 days, leave all lights on and realize I'm only replicating this scene. I've looked behind me for more than 17 times, not because I want to see the TV behind me, but to look for these dead corpses. Stupid ? Yes. But talk to this kid who watched this scene he himself explicitly skipped in an attempt to 'confront his fears'.

Conclusion: I constantly fear their existence.

I was going to post a picture of all these things but realized how bad this would be for my own sanity.

These are just a few of the more basic types. Let's move on to a lighter subject !





Excerpt from TV Tropes.

"Everywhere you go, there's the genetically-engineered survivor warrior species that's infesting every corner of the galaxy and cheerfully trying to kill everything else in the galaxy because it's literally hard-wired into their genetic code. The closest thing to the good guys you can find in this setting is a tiny alien empire sandwiched between all the other factions, and they have a thing for forcing new subjects into their empire through orbital bombardment, sterilization, and concentration camps."

That's part of their summary of Warhammer 40000. All of it is true.

Any writer would love this site, as it is the nexus of good ideas and strong foundations to writing a good piece of fiction. Casual surfers get a laugh and are stuck to this as they realize the things they see on TV that are very similar all have the same base.

This is a wiki. Be warned. The first time I went there, I spent FIVE hours surfing it, no breaks. Every article has a link you're interested, it's a vicious cycle.

I'll start you off on this journey. The next 2 sections provide a number of links to the rest of the site, I believe you'll click at least one of them...or laugh yourself really, really hard. These are all part of the description of Warhammer 40000 AND articles related to Warhammer 40000

"Abnormal Ammo (Guns which fire razor-edged molecule-thick ninja stars, guns which fire nets of Razor Floss, guns which fire wooden stakes, flamethrowers which squirt holy napalm; biological guns which use, um, muscle spasms to fire flesh-eating beetles/maggots or exploding tumours, guns which open holes into hell, guns which fire tiny goblins into, through, and back out of hell.)"

"BFG (Way, way too many to list here. The short version is: Anything carried by a Space Marine.)
    • Or anything carried by the Tau, who are defined as the "shooty" faction.
    • You know, the Eldar have guns that send you straight to hell - and their standard issue assault rifles shoot tens of thousands of molecule-thick ninja stars at hypersonic speeds. Then there's the support weapon which vibrates the target to death. And the "Harlequin's Kiss," a device that shoots a mono-filament wire into the target, then spins, turning them into bloody soup. Oh, and a stupidly large handheld gun that shoots a cloud of these wires. And an artillery variant of the above, mounted on a house-sized flying tank.
      • The majority of Dark Eldar firearms are enormous spiky bladed things which fire pure pain.
    • Or anything carried by an Ork, whose guns mainly run on Clap Your Hands If You Believe and "moar dakka". The Ork Shokk Attak Gun, one of the most beautiful examples of the setting's "screw you, physics" attitude, sucks up tiny gremlins and fires them through the warp into armour. Having an insane daemon-tortured Snotling appearing inside your skull? Hurts.
    • Even the standard issue Imperial Guardsman's lasgun, one of the weakest weapons in the setting, is capable of blowing off heads and limbs with a single shot. Considered weak because the average footsoldier in the setting is either wearing an absurdly huge suit of armour made of future ceramics/living metal/enormous rusted steel plates held together by bolts and belief, or won't even notice a mere lost head or limb."
Any Warhammer 40000 player will tell you it's all true. I'm a Warhammer 40000 player.

It's all true.

The actual site is here.


"It's a gun, Frank. A gun that shoots swords."





On to Fanfiction!

A large site where fans of stuff write fiction about stuff.

Firefly and Serenity ALONE has 3918 different pieces of fiction and stories. From short 'ficlets' to massive epics. Any avid reader who wants to see what other fans will write about what he likes will visit this little piece of Heaven.

21 Genres.

Countless millions of words.

8 Major categories.

A lot of individual categories.

Just like when an artist dies, his paintings have 3 zeros added to their price, canceled TV shows here are no less similar.

Teen Titans and Firefly have seen a large boom of writings with their cancellation, Firefly now has 3918 and Teen Titans is running on high with 22,055. And remember, these numbers are different stories and not just chapters of these stories.

Anyone with Firefox probably knows that there is a Download Day coming up. Firefox is attempting to set the record of 'Most Software Downloads in 24 Hours' All we have to do is download Firefox 3 on Download day and pray it works.

Longest. Blog. Post. Ever.

Regards, Boombaye1

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Of Destroying RWT Blogs

Vaskor

That links to a post he made on how to report blogs to Blogger that break Runescape rules, with a nice place to start if you want to bring down these guys.

He suggested flagging it and sending a report to Blogger and so I did.

The letter I sent is below. I'll turn this message into a template for further reporting of this type.

"Firstly, Runescape an MMORPG has a number of rules, one of them is

No Real World Trading (http://www.runescape.com/kbase/viewarticle.ws?article_id=2082)

And of course, No Account
Buying/Sharing.
(http://www.runescape.com/kbase/viewarticle.ws?article_id=2076)

This blog advertises both real world trading AND the purchase of accounts with real money.

This is a clear violation of JaGex rules and should be investigated immediately.

This brings us to the issue of plagiarism.

The Tuesday, June 10 2008 post has a guide on Ghostly Robes which has been copied from Sal's Realm of Runescape. (http://runescape.salmoneus.net/ghost_robes.html)

Obviously, this blog tries to increase it's appeal by posting guides, supposedly it's on to make it seem more helpful.

I urge you to help rectify this problem as soon as possible, as these two rules are probably the most commonly broken in the game and cost the most to it's developers and players.

Regards, Boombaye1"



Here's the template:

Dear Sir/Madam (begin with a salutation)*

Firstly, Runescape an MMORPG has a number of rules, one of them is

(Insert rule which is broken) (Insert link to where this rule is located)**

(Insert any other rules broken and list them as above with their links)

(Explain what part of the rule is broken and where on the blog)

This is a clear violation of JaGex rules and should be investigated immediately.

(Next topic)

(Which post was breaking the rules, in this case, plagiarism, state where this was stolen from, provide a link to the original)
The Tuesday, June 10 2008 post has a guide on Ghostly Robes which has been copied from Sal's Realm of Runescape. (http://runescape.salmoneus.net/ghost_robes.html)

(Why do you think this was stolen, use your opinion)
Obviously, this blog tries to increase it's appeal by posting guides, supposedly it's on to make it seem more helpful.

(Explain why this should be dealt with)
I urge you to help rectify this problem as soon as possible, as these two rules are probably the most commonly broken in the game and cost the most to it's developers and players.

(Add some kind of ending like this)
Regards, (your name)

*To whom it may concern; Dear Sir/Madam and Dear Blogger Moderating Team. I didn't include one in my original letter. Use one of the above or come up with your own.

** JaGex rules are located here, be sure to pick the right one for your situation.

That'd be your basic letter so toss in the general direction of Blogger HQ if you're reporting a blog like this.

New links to blogs have been added.

Happy hunting.

Regards, Boombaye1

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Of Spam

Anyone who was here at the time of this post may notice a long string of stuff in the chatbox detailing the spam I received over a period of about 2-3 weeks.

It's gonna get ugly, references to adult material ahead, if you're mature enough to not chuckle at these people, read on.













Still here ? Good.

I'll be posting screenshots of every page. The ones highlighted are those which are to be deleted.

I messed up here, that Titan Quest thing is not spam musta been a mistake, anyway. That be the first part.

Number two.

Finally, Number three.

From Mrs Rebecca Williams
N�[38 Rue Des Martyrs Cocody
Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire

ATTN:
DEAREST ONE OF GOD

I am the above named person from Kuwait . I am married to Mr Benson Williams, who worked with Kuwait embassy in Ivory Coast for nine years before he died in the year 2004. We were married for eleven years without a child. He died after a brief illness that lasted for only four days.
Before his death we were both born again Christian. Since his death I decided not to remarry or get a child outside my matrimonial home which the Bible is against. When my late husband was alive he deposited the sum of $2. 5 Million (Two Million Five Hundred U.S. Dollars) in the bank here in Abidjan in suspense account.
Presently, the fund is still with the bank. Recently, my Doctor told me that i have serious sickness which is cancer problem. The one that disturbs me most is my stroke sickness. Having known my condition I decided to donate this fund to a church or individual that will utilize this money the way I am going to instruct herein. I want a church that will use this fund for orphanages, widows, propagating the word of God and to endeavour that the house of God is maintained.
The Bible made us to understand that blessed is the hand that giveth. I took this decision because I don’t have any child that will inherit this money and my husband relatives are not Christians and I don’t want my husband’s efforts to be used by unbelievers. I don’t want a situation where this money will be used in an ungodly way. This is why I am taking this decision. I am not afraid of death hence i know where I am going. I know that I am going to be in the bosom of the Lord. Exodus 14 VS 14 says that the Lord will fight my case and I shall hold my peace.
I don’t need any telephone communication in this regard because of my health hence the presence of my husband’s relatives is around me always I don't want them to know about this development. With God all things are possible. As soon as I receive your reply I shall give you the contact of the bank here in Abidjan . I want you and the church to always pray for me because the Lord is my shepherd. My happiness is that I lived a life of a worthy Christian. Whoever that wants to serve the Lord must serve him in spirit and Truth. Please always be prayerful all through your life.
Contact me on the above e-mail address for more information’s, any delay in your reply will give me room in sourcing another church or individual for this same purpose. Please assure me that you will act accordingly as I Stated herein. Hoping to receive your
reply.

Remain blessed in the Lord.
Yours in Christ,
Mrs Rebecca Williams.

Quite a few errors in this thing. In any case, sending your E-Mail in could mean they could ship a virus back, they may also ask you for your bank account details, don't do this !

My groundbreaking conclusion:

Utter spam. Sending in your details like this is as pointless as it gets. Don't fall for something like this !

I'll be adding a couple more links to my blogroll, stay tuned.

Regards, Boombaye1