http://www.thehugoawards.org/]List here.

(At least this year I've heard of some of them - I'm getting back into knowing about current SF, even if I still don't have time to read much of it.)
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

There are two types of Nicolas Cage films.
The first is the big Hollywood production where he is shoehorned into the Hollywood action role in much the way a Sir-Mixalot approved ass is shoehorned into a pair of jeans that are four sizes too small.  You may be able to make it work, but the bulges are visible and the end result is not particularly interesting or desirable.
The second kind is where someone says.  Nicholas is pretty fucked up.  I'm pretty fucked up.  Let's make a fucking movie!  From here arises such fare as Kick-Ass, Bad Lieutenant Port of Call New Orleans (with Werner Oedipal gerund Herzog no less) and today's film review subject- Drive Angry.
Make no mistake, this is not a good film.  The only way it would get an Oscar is if it stole it - and that would only to be to beat someone to death with it, use it as a sex toy; weld the dented, fluid stained remainder to the front of an engine-heavy performance car as a hood ornament  and drive off into the sunset.  It is an exploitation film - and entirely unapologetic about it, reveling in boobs, blood, car chases, and vehicular manslaughter.
The plot is simple and straightforward.  Cage drives out of hell with a mystic shotgun to save his infant granddaughter from being killed be a cult leader.  He is up against the cult, and 'the accountant' a heavenly (or hellish) collection agent, who is tasked with dragging his nasty ass back to pits.  Take a chunk of the Crow, sprinkle liberally with Steve McQueen, kick the amp up to 11 and add guns, titties and a villain performance that can only be described as 'A young Tommy Lee Jones channels Elvis' and you have 105 minutes of pure B Movie pleasure.
Cage grunts, growls and shoots his way through the titular role; he is joined by a serviceable female lead (who in a nice genre defying touch remains un-serviced by the protagonist) who is just as angry as he is.  The villain plays his role perfectly, and his minions are a  contemptible lot who are crying out for a shot-gun-bumper-9mm-whatever-the-hell-is-handy date with destiny.  The standout performance is 'The Accountant' the supernatural collection agent who steals every scene he is in.  An immaculate badass in a Hugo boss suit.  Oh and the cars should be on the cast as well - this movie loves its four wheeled protagonists - who despite not having any lines have more character and impact than the whole cast of the three recent transformer movies.
The violence is loud and gory, the sex is loud and not to be interrupted by something as trivial as 20 satanic meat sacks in need of ventilation and there are multiple moments of epic coolness.
Easily one of the better films I have seen this year - or at least among the most entertaining.  If you see it cheap in the used bin, it is worth $5.00 of your hard earned.
Shayne

One of the modifications being made to the costume generator in issue 21 is the removal of the 'Masks With Hair' category, given that the standard category is virtually identical, and the parts that are different are getting shifted in anyway. However, I've been testing the costume screen on the beta server, and if your character has a mask with hair, it defaults back to standard, face 1, default hair. To save headaches later, I recommend tweaking your characters at Icon now, rather then after 21 launches.

I downloaded a firmware update for my PSP and told it to get to work as usual, paged through the dire warnings about copyright and reverse-engineering and not unplugging the power cord/making sure the battery is fully charged becasue interrupting it is OMGBADDONOTWANT, etc. That was two hours ago. The PSP is still bouncing the staus bar between 99% and back down to 84% every two or three minutes. Furthermore, while I did make sure the battery was fully charged and should have at least four more hours in it, it won't last forever... This is an unmodified 2000-type with nothi9ng but official firmware, so I have no idea what the problem might be... the UMD drive crapped out a few months back but I was hoping for another browser performance upgrade since this is my primary e-book/fanfic reading device.

Does anyone know if such long update times are normal? If it comes down to it, will putting the power cord in to go off battery mode be as bad as taking it out and making the power regulator switch into battery mode?

- CD
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

Figured I'd try one of these out.
Awesome Sailor Moon/Chibi Moon pic
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

http://na.cityofheroes.com/en/news/game ... _light.php

I was thinking [size=smaller](never a good sign, I know)[/size] ... Now that StellviaCorp has declared independence from all Earth nations, they're going to need some official representation 'Daneside. But the Convention as a whole has the embassies and consulates.

So... copy a page from Taipei, and set up a "Stellvia Corporation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taipei_Eco ... ive_Office]Economic and Cultural Representative Office" system, perhaps.

Would anyone in the Convention get upset about what amounts to single-faction embassies? Would Taipei and Beijing get upset that somebody else is using their workaround? (Not that the Convention and Beijing get along already, but there's no point in making an enemy even angrier with you - especially when he's bigger than you are.)

In-universe, Noah would sound out a few folks he really trusts - Yayoi, A.C., Mal, Serenity I, Jeph, maybe Katz - before even mentioning the possibility of this on SMOF-ML. (Unless, of course, somebody esle had already done something similar.) Out-of-universe, all I can do is ask here for opinions...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

Not for me - for another GM.

The setup: GURPS In Nomine, Mercurian with Weirdness Magnet. The GM wants to have Lucifer (and a few of his Princes) drop by uninvited for a poker night. What's the appropriate music?

Ideas so far:

• Sympathy for The Devil, by The Rolling Stones [size=smaller](obvious song is obvious)[/size]
  
• The Devil Went Down to Georgia, by The Charlie Daniels Band
  
• Spanish Train, by Chris de Burgh
  

What is this thread for?

This thread is for quotes that are just So. Damned. Cool. that you have to share them with all of us. Not necessarily funny -- that's what the ROFL threads are for -- but EPIC. CMOA level quotes. 

Let's see your Awse.
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

Just an FYI for those interested.
I'll be unable to be online today due to a SNAFU between myself and my local power company. I couldn't pay them as they never sent me a bill with the account number on it, so they saw fit to cut me off this morning. After a bunch of frenzied calls to them and my mother in Canadia we got it straighten out, but I won't receive power until tomorrow.
Sucks, doesn't it.
If you are wondering how I'm sending, my apartment is kind enough to have a Community Business Center to use in an emergency.