Taven Moore's Blog, page 32

[Steven] Videorama – Ron Burgundy in Boise

Stay (or skip) towards the end on this one. The best stuff is at the very end. Way to go, Boise. You win Halloween this year.

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[Steven] Videorama – Dancing Lessons

[Steven] Videorama – Dancing Lessons

Keep an open mind – Dancing lessons for the white man

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Relational Psychology

Awesome Teachers Are Awesome

I remember once when I was in grade school, a teacher had us close our eyes and go through a guided imagery exercise. The teacher would say a few lines, then ask us to write down the description of a particular thing she’d mentioned.

At the end, she told us that it was a personality test, where our reactions to things might indicate things about how we view the world.

Recently, I stumbled upon what was almost certainly the exact personality test that she gave us, and I’d like to share it here.

AVOID READING THE COMMENTS

(If you’re going to take the test).

I’m going to replicate the personality test here because I want it to be a different format than what they have, but I am copying the content from this page.

The Process

I’m going to put the prompt in blockquotes, so it jumps out at you.

Read each blockquote separately (maybe close your eyes and really try to visualize it).
After the blockquote, I will have some italicised (so it’s harder to read) prompts about what you MIGHT see (this is helpful for folks who have never done this kind of test before).
Before reading the next blockquote, write down your reaction somewhere. It doesn’t have to be long or involved (though it can be).
Try to finish the entire quiz without reading anyone else’s responses!

I’ll post the supposed meaning of your interpretations at the bottom of the post, and you can feel free to comment with your results if you’d like. I find it interesting how often I have a very clear mental image, only to find out that someone else had an utterly different one!

The Test

Imagine that you are walking in a forest.

1. What do you see, and how does everything make you feel?

2. What kind of trees are there?

3. Is it bright or dark?

Now, describe the path you’re walking on.

Is the path clearly visible?

2. Is there any other path?

3. Is the path wide or narrow?

4. Is the path well-traveled or abandoned?

5. Is the path easily navigated or are there obstructions?

As you continue walking through the forest, you see a bear! Describe the bear. What is it doing? You need to continue on the path, but the bear is in your way. How do you get past it?

What is the bear doing?

a. The bear has not seen me.

b. The bear has seen me, and is being adorable.

c. The bear has seen me but is ignoring me.

d. The bear has seen me and is looking threatening.

e. The bear is coming right at me!

How do you get past the bear?

a. Actually, he is cute and I am seriously considering adoption.

b. I ignore him and walk on.

c. I try to find a way to walk around the bear.

d. I decide to go back or I try to hide.

e. I stand and fight. I win.

f. I stand and fight. I suffer a slight wound.

g. None of the options are close.

You continue to walk along the path in the forest until you stumble upon something. You turn around and notice that it’s a key. Describe the key. What do you think it unlocks?

Analysis

1. Forest

The forest represents how you felt about the world, as you were growing up. If you see squirrels playing then you felt that the world was a safe place.

The trees and the light in the forest represent the interaction that you had with adults as you were growing up, and the impact that this interaction had on you.

The taller the trees, the more influence adults had on your life.

The lighting represents the authority adults had over you. The brighter the forest, the more you felt you had the freedom to do as you wanted and the happier you must have felt growing up. Note: being given a lot of freedom does not imply that you were in any way neglected.

The darker the forest, the more restrictions you felt were placed on you, and the more likely you were to find yourself in stressful situations.

2.Path

Adolescence is represented by the path through the forest.

The path’s visibility indicates how prepared you were to handle situations during adolescence. The more visible the path, the more successful you were at anticipating changes, and facing challenges. A less visible path means you were less aware of what to expect and therefore some events may have left you feeling perplexed and bewildered.

Multiple paths are important choices that had to be made. If you saw many paths, you either saw many opportunities for yourself, or you were very confused about what choices to make.

The width of the path indicates room for emotional growth. The wider the path the more opportunities existed for emotional growth.

Meeting fellow travelers along the way, or a tidy and well maintained path, are indications of a frequently used path. A path that is not so frequently used, may have weeds and be scattered with litter. The more traveled the path, the less evidence there is of feeling isolated from your friends and family. Note: belonging to a small family or having a small circle of friends does not necessarily mean that you did not receive enough support.

Obstructions are the way that we perceive problems in adolescence. The more rocks, weeds and logs we see along the path, the more we feel that certain circumstances prevented us from accomplishing our goals.

3. Bear

The bear is symbolic of problems and how you deal with them. The question gave you the chance to see a potentially dangerous situation. If you saw a tame, harmless bear or a young playful bear, or even a teddy, then your life is stress free and when faced with a problem you see a challenge or opportunity instead.

If you saw a menacing bear then you are more likely to see problems rather than creative challenges or opportunities. People under routine stress will see large, dangerous bears.

If the bear has not seen you, or has seen you but is being adorable (Tami note: the original text said, “doing cute ‘bear type’ things” here. What the what is that even supposed to mean?), then you are not under everyday stress and you do not have many real problems. When presented with a problem you prefer to focus on the solution.

If the bear has seen you but is ignoring you, then although you may be worried or anxious about something, you are not under unhealthy levels of stress.

If the bear is looking threatening or is coming right at you, you need a holiday! You are likely to be under high levels of stress.

How you continue your journey past the bear represents how you are affected by stress, how you deal with challenges, and also how you make decisions. (Tami note: I’m not sure this one counts for animal lovers. What if it was a snake instead of a bear? Would that have changed your answer?)

If you walk up to the bear, you face your problems head on, and you take a direct and pragmatic approach to decision making

If you avoid the bear you may think your problems are insurmountable, and you prefer a more indirect, non-confrontational approach to decision making.

If you ignore the bear, you pay little attention to setbacks and you are not affected by stress.

If you were considering adoption, then you have a healthy approach towards life and everyday challenges.

6. Key

The key represents work related interests. The key’s appearance reveals how other people see your career, and the key’s function reveals your career goals.

1. Appearance (how other people see your career)

The more ornamental the key, the more you prefer a career that is remarkable, distinctive or unique.

Outdated or antiquated keys show you feel more comfortable in a conventional or long established career.

2. Function (career goals)

If the key opens everyday things such as cars and school lockers then your expectations about your career in terms of wealth, joy and accomplishments are average.

Keys to royal residences, castles, fortresses or mansions reveal a desire for power.

If the key is able to unlock and open a number of things then you are probably undecided and unsure about which career path to follow.

Keys to items or places along the way, reveal a desire to choose a career that will solve a challenge.

Keys that allow access to valuable things such as a treasure box, indicate a desire to accumulate wealth.

Keys to personal belongings such as diaries or lockets indicate that a fulfilling career is one which addresses other people’s needs.

If the key is of little use or value, you are rather pessimistic about finding a rewarding and fulfilling career.

A magical key or a key to a magical world may reveal excessively optimistic expectations from a career.

If you are unsure as to what the key may open, you have not yet defined your career goals.

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100 Pushups, and Other Goals as Well
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[Perry] Evil Dead: The Musical

With Halloween right around the corner and all, what better way to ring it in than to watch a performance of Evil Dead?

I caught the show this past weekend with a friend. It was a spur of the moment sort of thing. Just sort of randomly mentioned to a friend that it was playing at a theater downtown, just in a conversation about what was going on in the city that weekend and next thing you know?

Tickets.

So we went downtown to check it out.

Suffice to say, it was pretty damned hilarious.

It has all of the camp that you would expect from a musical, stage comedy based on the original movie, but then they ramp it up as they go.

It includes various musical numbers that I found incredibly amusing like “What the Fuck Was That?” which they sing after the deadites start showing up. Another one of my favorite songs was “Bit Part Demon” when one of the demons has a bit of an existential crisis and realizes that he’s never going to get the chance to kill the hero because he’s just a bit part demon.

Demon dance number? “Do the Necronomicon”?

Freaking. Gold.

What’s not to love? Bunch of demons dancing on stage as Ash and Annie translate the pages to banish the demons.

There’s a lot of Thriller in the demon dance number (obviously) and it was hilarious.

My only regret right now? Is not picking up tickets in the “Splatter Zone.” The first 2-4 rows of seats actually get sprayed by the fake blood on the stage as Ash kills the demons.

Hell, the freaking blood rains from the ceiling via some sort of sprinkler system during a moment and the people in the first few rows definitely get a bit of red on them.

It’s kind of crazy, cause by the end, when everyone is getting up to leave, you see a whole bunch of people wearing white clothes, looking like they’d just participated in some sort of massacre…but they’re all grinning and laughing.

Very disturbing.

I know that I’m a bit late to the part. From what I understand, this show has been around for the past 6 years or so…but it’s the first time I’ve seen it and I had a ball.

There IS a soundtrack you can buy, and you can even find the songs all arrayed on the Youtubes for your listening pleasure…

But honestly?

If there’s a chance you might end up checking this show out, I recommend not listening to the songs beforehand and going in blind.

Check it out!

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[Perry] Three Parts Dead
The Evil Internet
[Perry] Wherein Perry Goes Rock Climbing

The English Lesson

(original author unknown, found on the internet)

We’ll begin with box, and the plural is boxes,

But the plural of ox should be oxen, not oxes.

Then one fowl is goose, but two are called geese,

Yet the plural of moose should never be meese.

You may find a lone mouse or a whole lot of mice,

But the plural of house is houses, not hice.

If the plural of man is always called men,

Why shouldn’t the plural of pan be pen?

The cow in the plural may be cows or kine,

But the plural of vow is vows, not vine.

And I speak of a foot, and you show me your feet,

But I give a boot… would a pair be beet?

If one is a tooth, and a whole set is teeth,

Why shouldn’t the plural of booth be beeth?

If the singular is this, and the plural is these,

Why shouldn’t the plural of kiss be kese?

Then one may be that, and three be those,

Yet the plural of hat would never be hose.

We speak of a brother, and also of brethren,

But though we say mother, we never say methren.

The masculine pronouns are he, his and him,

But imagine the feminine she, shis, and shim.

So our English, I think you will agree,

Is the trickiest language you ever did see.

I take it you already know

of tough, and bough and cough and dough?

Others may stumble, but not you

on hiccough, through, slough and though.

Well done! And now you wish, perhaps

To learn of less familiar traps?

Beware of heard, a dreadful word

That looks like beard and sounds like bird.

And dead; it’s said like bed, not bead!

For goodness sake, don’t call it deed!

Watch out for meat and great and threat,

(They rhyme with suite and straight and debt)

A moth is not a moth in mother,

Nor both in bother, broth in brother.

And here is not a match for there,

Nor dear and fear for bear and pear,

And then there’s dose and rose and lose –

Just look them up &ndash and goose and choose,

And cork and work and card and ward

And font and front and word and sword.

And do and go, then thwart and cart.

Come, come, I’ve hardly made a start.

A dreadful language: Why, man alive,

I’d learned to talk when I was five.

And yet to write it, the more I tried,

I hadn’t learned it at fifty-five.

[An alternative version quotes the final couplet as:

And yet to write it, the more I sigh,

I'll not learn how 'til the day I die.]

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Plotting

[Steven] Videorama – Flight of the Conchords

Tape of Love

Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros

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I Am A Wizard

So, turns out the kinect is for more than just petting adorable baby tigers.

I know, I know, it’s hard to believe.

But! We picked up a copy of Fable: The Journey and now I can pet an adorable PONY, too.

(wait, wait, don’t leave. I swear there’s more to this post than just animals!)

Right, so. Fable: The Journey is awesome for more than just having a horse in it.

You play the entire game from a seated position, which is pretty amazing for those of us with limited living room space, and who are tired of the kinect complaining about not being able to see us while yelling at us to do better jumping jacks.

From this seated position, you drive Serin (that’s the horse) and your cart through various obstacles.

That’s fun enough, but it’d get pretty boring if that’s all the game was.

You are ALSO a wizard.

Left hand? Sticky push whip spells. (stab forward with your palm, then jerk sideways to yank mobs around, or yank obstacles INTO mobs).

Right hand? Blue magic bolts.

There are puzzles and battles and cut scenes all in the perfect balance to keep you from getting too tired with your arms in the air. (even so? Sore sore arms the next day)

I am having a lot of fun with this game.

Like mad cackling as I kill Hobbes, fun.

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[Perry] Audiobooks – The Dresden Files

A long time ago, Tami waxed rhapsodic about the virtues of audiobooks.

I’m here to share my own foray into the aural storytelling format.

I first got into audiobooks a couple of jobs ago. The job was important, but definitely of the autopilot variety. I was having trouble staying focused for hours on end, simply due to the lack of stimulation of any kind.

I tried the whole listening to music bit, but without a steady and reliable source of brand new music that was to my tastes, things were looking a little grim.

That’s when I first dipped into the world of audiobooks.

I’d been in the middle of reading one of the Dresden files at the time so, curious, I looked up who did the audiobooks and surprise, surprise. It was James Marsters.

Freaking Spike was reading out the Dresden files?

This I had to hear for myself.

So I started with book one.

I wasn’t blown away right from the start, I have to admit.

The first book, and honestly most of the second, Marsters was reading the books to me. And it wasn’t bad, I don’t want to give you that impression. Marsters has a lovely voice that’s especially suited for the little inner monologues and tangents that Dresden wanders around.

It’s around book three that he really…sort of picks up his stride.

There’s a character in the novels named “Toot-Toot”.

Toot’s a sprite, one of the wee folk.

The first couple of times Marsters reads his lines, he sounds like…a very slightly higher pitched James Marsters.

Come book three? Marsters really gets into it and whenever Toot gets to speak, he slips into this muppety Yoda-like voice and almost knocked me off my chair, I was laughing so hard.

He gets into the reading and it’s wonderful to hear. Each character gets their own little voice and flare, and by and large, he keeps their voices consistent from book to book.

The best way that I can describe it is not as James Marsters reading the book out loud…but more like he acts it. He makes choked and strangled noises when appropriate. He laughs and chuckles during speech when it’s called for.

And his women…

James Marsters is a man. This is irrefutable. But there ARE female characters in the Dresden books and they DO speak on occasion.

When he reads their parts…he doesn’t slip his voice up into a falsetto or anything like that…but there IS a shift. His voice tends to change its rhythm just a tiny bit and alters in a way that I can’t quite describe but very much convinces me that a woman is speaking those lines.

The best way I can describe it is that when he reads out various characters…it does NOT feel like a man doing impressions or voice acting and more…more like he’s creating an aural painting.

Does that make sense?

It’s just plain FUN to listen to.

I enjoy it highly and as the series goes through some utterly ridiculous ups and downs (the biggest one was definitely the climactic sequence of book 12 “Changes”), I feel like it’s the closest I’m ever going to get to seeing Harry Dresden on the big screen…and you know what?

I’m completely okay with it.

I think if they made a movie or a tv show about it, it would ruin the mental image I have of the characters. The way their voices sound in my head most definitely won’t line up to whoever they have acting the roles.

Listening to the audiobooks…because it’s just one reader, it doesn’t jolt me out of what I’m expecting to hear in my head, if that makes sense.

And yes, I am aware that a couple seasons of a tv show exist.

I refuse to acknowledge said existence in any meaningful way.

All I’m saying is that…if you were ever on the fence about giving audiobooks a try, or if you were wondering what a good and proper Harry Dresden might sound like…

Give the audiobooks a try.

That being said? I’m actually nearing the halfway point of the last audiobook now and now that I’ve sort of gotten accustomed to listening to it during my commute to and from work…I’m in a bit of a panic as I wonder what I’ll listen to next.

Anyone have any wonderful audiobook suggestions?

Related posts:

[Perry] First Person Perspective
[Perry] Enjoyable Reads from 2012
The Problem With AudioBooks

Flight Rising

Pixel Dragons

This post is about a browser game (not an app) where you breed dragons to get color combinations and possibly RP.

If any of that made your eyebrows slam down over your eyes in horrified confusion or mute judgement you’re free to move along.

…

WHEEEE

Okay, everyone that’s left? GROUP HUG

The game’s been out for a while, but they didn’t anticipate the volume of players that they ended up with. As a result, registration’s been closed for a long time.

HOWEVER, this coming Wednesday (October 23rd) they are planning a brief, 6 hour window to open registration.

Things could go horribly wrong and they might have to close it down early, BUT? This is your opportunity to get into the game.

FlightRising.com

One vital thing they didn’t tell me during my registration process is that when you choose your Flight (that’d be your element, like Fire or Ice or Nature or Plague), it dictates the color eye every single egg you hatch will produce.

Choose wisely. I am Ice flight, which means I have white/pale-blue eyes that go with almost every color combination I breed. I’m also very fond of Light eyes (pale yellow) but I’ve found that Plague and Arcane babies are harder to sell unless the colors are just right.

Warning

This game? It is not super-polished and finished. There are times when technical issues plague the site and it’s unusable. There have been times they’ve closed the whole thing down for a period. There is a LOT of whining and complaining about prices of things, and unfairness, and pretty much everything else that CAN be complained about.

I left once in a huff because I got mad at the people running the game. A friend got me back into it and I’m glad that I returned … but expect internet drama over this very silly dragon game, okay?

You have been warned.

ART! STORIES!

This game is fun because the art is spectacular, the addiction of pseudo-gambling with dragon colors and genes to produce the PERFECT babies is just WAY too strong, and even once everything becomes old hat, you can give your clan personalities and roleplay with them.

The longer I’ve played, the MORE I’ve enjoyed it, and I think it’s because I love the story aspects as much as the art.

Genes and Colors and Breeds, Oh My!

Thing the first — each breed of dragon has three pieces of lineart. There’s the hatchling/baby lineart, which is the same for both genders. Once it grows up (5 days? I think?) there is different art for the male versus the female of every breed. Breeds are differentiated by rarity — Plentifuls, Commons, Uncommons, Rare, and … whatever. It keeps changing, and even more breeds have been hinted at.

I like male Spirals, but not females. Female Pearlcatchers are my favorite model in the game, but male Pearlcatchers don’t really do anything for me. Male Tundras BEG to be hugged, but females look a little gaunt.

It’s all personal preference. =]

Thing the second — colors. There are THREE color slots on each dragon. Primary, which dictates the color of the body. Secondary, which dictates the color of wings and sometimes fluff tufts. And tertiary, which doesn’t even show up unless you have a tertiary gene (more on that in a moment).

There are … a lot of colors available. More than 65, with no promise that more colors won’t be released. (Idly — there are some dragons whose PRIMARY color slot will vary — “black” primary dragons tend to have a pale belly, and “spring” primary dragons may have yellow horns. This is an interesting thing which can make or break a hatchling’s final look.)

So, as if that wasn’t enough variation for you, there are also GENES. These are genetic additions to the color, which can be applied to the primary, secondary, AND tertiary slots! I’m not going to bother counting the current possibilities, as there is no question whatsoever that more genes are planned and will be released relatively soon.

Someone somewhere may figure out just how many different combinations of possible dragons can be made on this site. Someone with more time and math skills than me.

Let’s just say it’s a LOT.

Breeding

Once you HAVE your dragons, you can breed them. The cooldown is dependent on the breed of dragon. Plentifuls have the shortest cooldown at 15 days.

Let that sink in a moment, and realize this is not a game you need to spend all day playing. You can’t rush the breeding process at all. (You CAN spend that time playing mini games and whatnot, but that’s another story). I think the breeding cooldown on the most rare breed (the Wildclaw) is 35 days.

So, you match up a male and female and hit go, then you incubate a nest one time each day for five days, and then you have babies! The number of eggs is random, from 1 to 5 (which is only possible if you have two different breeds you’re breeding together).

If you match the parents carefully, you’re probably thrilled with your mewling little hatchies. If you didn’t, you may be horrified and wondering where you went wrong.

http://trollslum.net/fr/

That site is your new best friend. It will help you figure out what colors your pair CAN produce.

Also, when it comes to genes being passed down to babies, the most common option is the most likely. So if you breed a tiger-gened Tundra to a basic-gened Fae, you’re probably not going to get any tiger babies. Shimmer (secondary), Iridescent (primary), Wildclaw (breed), and Circuit (tertiary) are all the “rarest” in the breeding combo, so unless you’re pairing them with themselves, you’re going to get the other. Two shimmer dragons together will ALWAYS make shimmer babies. A shimmer plus an eyesots? Almost always eyespots.

It’s fun once you get used to it, but it can be frustrating if nobody takes the time to explain it to you. You expect a 50/50 chance, but it’s not even close to that. More like 10/90.

My Lair

THIS is my lair.

I’m slowly adding personalities and RP stories to many of them (that pink/pink pearlcatcher is going to become the clan Matriarch by the time I’m done with her!) but I thought you might like to see the pretty dragon pictures.

More

There’s more. Of course there’s more. There are mini games and forums and exalting and Coliseum battling, and a booming tumblr community, and the search feature, and an entire encyclopedia of lore … but I figure all that above is enough for now. (More than enough, likely, but it’s not a bad thing to come back and reference later).

If you join the site, I hope you come back and share your lair ID with me! I’ll add you as a friend.

Related posts:

[Perry] Counterattack! Puzzle and Dragons
There Be Dragons!
[Perry] Card Hunter

[Steven] Videorama – Fanmade Trailers

Green Lantern Fan Made Trailer

Man as Hal, how it should have been

Thundercats Fan Made Trailer

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