 My father's home, and happy. This is good. Many thanks to all of you who were concerned. In other news, yesterday was the General Election in New Zealand. Here's a summary of our process for edification and interest. Unlike the United States, NZ has a parliament of elected representatives; there is no President, the role of Prime Minister falling upon the appointed member of the strongest party. Our electoral system works like this: You get two votes, one for a local Member of Parliament, one for a Party. The MP vote elects a local representative; this makes up a certain proportion of the Parliament. The rest is filled off lists made by the respective Parties, who are allocated a number of seats determined by their proportion of the Party vote. Whether this system is better or not is not my concern, but it does seem to produce a wider range of MPs. The Green Party is commonly associated with hippies (and one Green MP has publically stated that he smokes marijuana religiously; he's Rastafarian); another MP is a transsexual. Our Prime Minister for the past two elections has been female, something the US can not boast of. The election is not final as I write this, but it appears the Labour party is winning again. Labour is the major central-left-wing party, opposed by central-right National; the minor parties count in their number (in rough order of apparent size) New Zealand First (led by maverick Winston Peters who switches sides like a ping-pong ball), the Alliance (left), the Greens (left), ACT (right), Christian Heritage, United Something, and Progressive Something (the last two are new and I don't remember them too well; my mind hasn't been on politics lately, can't think why). Labour and National between them make up about seventy-eighty percent of the seats; the rest is minor parties. Well, that's the politics out of the way for another three years or so. Hope you enjoyed this look at another system. (If you're a Kiwi, well, you've probably spotted all the mistakes I've made. Good on ya, mate.) HISTORY If this ever happened in history, I'd be surprised. ART The GIMP comes with a tool called 'Supernova'. I think it looks pretty. SOOO PRETTY... GAME Just because goblins are cannon fodder doesn't mean they don't respect their dead... or have the brains to catch the guy who killed them. And make no mistake: They are waiting for him to walk outside, and KNOW they have all the time in the world. Sometimes I can be very cruel to my players... EXILE'S RANT As the days wear on and I catch up to present day (and whence have less to ramble about) these should become less like rants and more like updates. We'll see. As it is, I check the comic every update day, so there's no reason I can't eventually write a daily update just like s/LaSH (God, that's a pain in the ass to write every time). Speaking of God (no, I'm not going to preach - I'm not 'of the faith', even if Lorenzo is) a little thanks from me to all those who spared a prayer or thought for s/L's dad in his time of need. I haven't actually caught up with him since Wednesday, and instead of watching the Buffy musical as planned (and blowing the evening talking about metaphysical, metascientific and metareligious concepts we'd probably forget the next morning) I only called to say a French friend had spontaneously shown up in town for an indeterminate length of time and was staying with us. She's still one room over. Gyst = I knew less about the situation than those of you who faithfully waited until midday for the comic strip. (The comic updates late here, early in the US -s/LaSH) Anyone who's taken the time to converse with s/L during this time's a better man than me. I scanned some pictures (including those for the first and currently still the last winner of my own inferior sketchings), did some French study and went to town for my Friday evening indulgence (food and a spa - slightly over half an hour apart). So I've had a much smoother day today than s/LaSH, tho if his father did come back today then a slightly less elating one. He'll also be pleased to know I FINALLY sat down and watched the Dark Angel finale. Onto the comic. My next silly little competition for more inferior art involves guessing the source of Lorenzo's grin. This should be easy, since you should've seen it more than once already (check your archives - whaddya mean you haven't saved every image in order?!) and there are two main sources it comes from, both of which involve cloaks and both of which come from the same, third, source. I could 'name' the grin, but of course that'd give it away. The next winner of my next little competition will win another piece of my own, don't-expect-DD-quality drawings. I've got a lot, they just aren't worth their own comic. s/LaSH's are. Speaking of comics, allow me to cut and paste my 'edited' rant from yesterweek involving centipedes, tho I fear s/LaSH may've already covered the bulk of it. Still, this is a rant, and I've still got the text lying around somewhere: Speaking of such things, I should probably make my own historical note or two here (I don't have a section devoted to anything, it wouldn't be a rant otherwise). First up, centipedes. It's only fair that I let you know, no one in recorded history has ever died of a giant centipede bite. HOWEVER, the unfathomly painful venom they inject HAS lead to records of people plunging their hands into boiling water to dull the pain. That's some big ouchies. As I keep telling Ben. And again. For which he will one day beat me with a broom/fork/goat (don't ask, it's a long story). Anyway, that sorta didn't make to the comic for a couple of reasons: 1) Ben didn't know when he drew it 2) This isn't OUR Earth 3) It wasn't in the game 4) It would've reduced the next 2 hours of game/comic time to rolling around on the floor and cursing 5) He sucked the poison out with a good portion of blood to protect his mouth 6) Who gives a damn WHAT really happens when one of those things bites you? *AHEM* Moving right along... s/LaSH is correct in stating that the centipede (in fact, most enemies) was killed with the scythe. C'mon, they do FOUR times damage on a critical! I fantasised about getting Lorenzo a portable hole to shove up one glove so he could keep it there, alas I never found one. I can't really say I was neglected by the DM (even if some severe mistreatment became a given later on), since here we have a level one character with masterwork chain. In more reference to the comic, some of you no doubt noticed that Lorenzo has a sword at his hip. This was intentional on my part, as I know there's nothing worse than having to resort to a dagger or fist-cuffs when you break your one weapon. I learned that the hard way many years ago. Ah, yes! And of course, s/LaSH mentions his lack of lense-flares! I keep telling him to use Photoshop! I swear the man never listens... however, you'd think by PS6 they'd bother putting in multiple undo levels... I'm gonna go look for a plug-in... Til next I grace or sully your screens, Exile |
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