All posts by Robin

I'm a woman in my early thirties living in North Carolina, USA, and I have a lot of varied interests; I love creative writing, music composition, web design, surfing the Internet, thinking out loud, and gaming. And yes, my glasses are crooked. :)
Thursday in the Zone

David King and Jack Krauser: Brains and Brawn

4 Comments

In the Resident Evil: Deck Building Game world, there are plenty of characters to choose from, and hundreds of ways for you to play them in Partner mode.

Recently, while preparing for a game, I was dealt two random characters…and I stumbled across a combination that is surprisingly awesome (and hilarious) to play. It involves characters you wouldn’t think would be all that great, and they aren’t–by themselves. But together, they have the potential to rock any boss in the Mansion.

The Brawn: Jack Krauser

One of the more basic characters to play comes from the first game box:

This is Jack Krauser, and he’s pretty much just a Knife guy. You get Knives for free once you get 1 Decoration, and at 7 Decorations, you add 5 damage to each Knife you play before you Explore the Mansion.

There aren’t too many frills here. You get a few Knives, you explore the Mansion, you kill a Zombie, you get more Knives, you Explore some more, rinse & repeat till game is over.

It can be hard to ramp up damage with Krauser, because he deals with Knives that are only dealing 5-10 damage each (excepting the Survival Knife, which does more and has the special effect of giving all Knives +5 damage). Thus, why he’s not often used except as a Partner (and only then when you have to).

The Brains: David King

For a while, Krauser was the only character who really specialized in Knives, and Knives remained an unpopular weapon type. Then, from the Outbreak set came David King.

David’s Level 1 ability, gained after 2 Decorations, is interesting–fun to use with a Pump-Action Shotgun to gain 2 Explores without having to actually put down the 40 Ammo needed to use the gun, for instance. (It’s also fun with many of the special weapons, like the Burst-Fire Handgun, the Survival Knife, the Signature Special, etc.)

But it’s his Level 2, gained at 6 Decorations, which is the fun one for this scenario. When you play a Knife, you can get a Knife from your Discard Pile. So, if you play 4 Knives this turn, you can get up to 4 Knives from your Discard Pile…and you can use them again to Explore the Mansion, arming you with up to 8 Knives instead of just 4.

(Images from BandaiCG.com)

The Two Together

Separately, Jack Krauser and David King are passable characters to play, nothing world-rending, but okay. Together? …Mwahaha. 🙂

Jack Krauser’s Knife-gaining ability and damage boost with Knives is great, but both abilities fluctuate too much per turn–one turn you get a handful of Knives, and the next turn…well, you may not. David King’s Level 2 ability lets you get back the Knives you used last turn, effectively Dumpster-diving for extra damage.

David King’s natural affinity for Knives and for putting new text on Weapons is great, but it doesn’t really work well on its own–there’s no damage boost. With Jack Krauser as his partner, King is suddenly a powerhouse, getting back multiple Knives a turn (which have the potential to do 10 damage apiece!).

Maximizing the Knife-Recycling Strategy

  • Incorporate lots of card draw, like Umbrella Corporation, Fierce Battle, and Mansion Foyer.
  • Trash out all Weapons that aren’t Knives and don’t have special effect text.
  • Remember to try to get Special Weapons if you want to be able to use David King’s first ability to its fullest.
  • Once you’re finished buying stuff for your deck, Trash out the Ammo/Gold, preferably using Shattered Memories so that your unnecessary Actions get Trashed out, too.
  • Don’t forget, once Krauser hits Level 1, to Gain a Knife every turn. David King can use that Gained Knife once he hits level 2–he can pull it back from Discard Pile to play!
  • Use Deadly Aim or Desperate Escape for boosting damage to all Knives; Deadly Aim costs less, but Desperate Escape doesn’t take up your Action for the turn.
  • Make sure to get the Survival Knife (the Special Knife weapon). You can Discard the Survival Knife with David King’s level 1 ability, giving another Knife its special ability, and then pull it back into play with his level 2 ability when you play another Knife. You’ll be getting 2 Survival Knives for the price of 1!

Summary

Try this strategy out in the Resident Evil DBG the next chance you get. I guarantee you’ll be laughing out loud with how much damage those “little” Knives can do when in the hands of King and Krauser!

Wednesday in the Word

Slightly Set Apart from the World

Leave a comment

Numbers 15:37-41
37 The LORD said to Moses, 38 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘Throughout the generations to come you are to make tassels on the corners of your garments, with a blue cord on each tassel. 39 You will have these tassels to look at and so you will remember all the commands of the LORD, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by chasing after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes. 40 Then you will remember to obey all my commands and will be consecrated to your God. 41 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the LORD your God.’”

God commands Moses, in this excerpt from Numbers, to have the Israelites wear special tassels on their garments, which would move when they moved and be a visual reminder of their covenant with God.

As the rest of the Old Testament bears out, Israel has a hard time sticking to its promises, especially when the rest of the ancient world around it is worshipping other gods and doing things that God said He didn’t like, without any visible punishment. Especially in the book of Judges, Israel waffles back and forth between God and Ba’al (or between God and pretty much any other regional deity with purported powers).

God’s command, then, is not just a fashion statement but a way of setting apart the Israelites from the others. They would look slightly different from the Canaanites, and they would also (ideally) behave differently from neighboring nations as well because they would be daily reminded by the tassels on their clothes. Their tassels, much like their commandments, would mark them as God’s chosen people.

Our ‘Tassels’: Crosses and WWJD, Among Others

Today, Christians wear a variety of things that (supposedly) show their faith: crosses dangling from necklaces; WWJD bracelets; shirts with Bible verse references printed in grungy fonts; even Bible verse brooches and pins. We mark ourselves as different with fashion, and we’re not alone in that–across the world, different religions and different cultures have been using fashion as a symbol of their uniqueness for millennia.

But are we Christians using these symbols, these modern-day tassels, as visual reminders of our faith?

I would venture to say that much of Christian fashion symbolism is mainly worn for pretending or for boasting, and not much for reminding. We’re more concerned with what other people will think of us wearing these symbols (i.e., we’re “better people”) than really believing what they stand for. But other Christians and non-Christians who observe us will notice our behavior, whether good or bad, and compare it to that symbol we are wearing. When we sin, and someone else notices not only the sin but the religious symbols, they are more apt to think that Christianity is bogus.

Case in point: I knew plenty of “Christians” growing up who wore all the trappings of Christianity, all the shirts and bracelets, all the cross necklaces you could ever want…but they never really ACTED like Christians. Instead, they acted selfish, boorish, judgmental, self-righteous, childish, and/or reckless. This reflected badly not only on them, but on the faith their fashion professed. Their fashion choices claimed they were set apart from the world, but they acted like perfectly happy members of the world.

If we’re going to wear the fashions of Christianity, we should let those symbols remind us of our faith, and remind us to practice it every day, not just Wednesday night and Sunday morning. Wearing the cross doesn’t mean you’re saved, necessarily, but bending before the proverbial cross and accepting Jesus does. Wearing a WWJD bracelet doesn’t mean you’re trying to live as Jesus taught, but reading Jesus’ teachings and doing your best to follow them does. We just can’t fake being slightly set apart from the world.

Tuesday on the Soapbox

The Massive Beauty-Product Purge

4 Comments

I’ll admit it, I’m an OCD hoarder. If you could see my bedroom…well, maybe it’s best if I don’t post such traumatizing, disturbing pictures of disorganization and junk stacks on the Internet. (LOL) And besides notebooks, scraps of paper, and purses, I have also hoarded beauty products most of my life. Hey, having it at home is better than having to go out and buy it, right?

…WRONG. When your bathroom countertops overflow into the sink and onto the floor on a regular basis, and the under-sink cabinets are stuffed full of products whose bottles have ruptured and/or otherwise leaked, you know you’re in trouble.

Yet I let it lie like this for years, stymied, paralyzed. I couldn’t do anything with the junk, even the junk I KNEW was junk, because…well, if I got rid of it, and then I needed it later, I’d have to go out and re-buy it. Torture.

The Breaking Point

The stalemate between me and the growing mess finally broke one spring afternoon in 2011, when I was, ahem, otherwise occupied in the bathroom and had nothing better to do than to stare at the mess covering the countertops.

As I watched, a series of large perfume bottles (Bath and Body Works-sized) slid slowly into the sink, piling up on top of each other like a fragrance avalanche. The noise and rumbling of the perfume bottles set off a couple of smaller avalanches of facial wipes boxes, soap containers, and shampoo bottles, cascading into the floor like so many mountain boulders.

My first instinctive thought was, “…REALLY?” I’d dealt with the mess associated with hoarding most of my life, but I’d never seen a mess move on its own, not like this, anyway.

This had to stop. It was no longer just an innocuous pile on countertops, but a threatening mass that was making it impossible for me to use my own bathroom space, let alone anybody who dared to come into the house. This…HAD to stop. It was beauty-product madness.

The War Begins

My first volley in the war on beauty clutter was to rid myself of all the obviously expired products–all the stuff that had mold growing on it, had exploded, or was otherwise unsuitable for putting on my face or body anymore.

My awesome boyfriend proved his love ten times over by helping me with all of it, since it hurts a lot for me to squat down and/or stand in one place for very long. (He is awesome, focused, logical man, especially when this little bird gets overtired and cranky.) Together, we unloaded the overstuffed cabinets into trash bag after trash bag, discovering the following gems in the process:

  • a can of prehistoric hair spray (kidding–it was only from 1996…I think)
  • several crushed shower gel bottles
  • dozens and dozens of dusty, gummy little-girl hair scrunchies
  • more sanitary pads than the world’s women will ever need
  • three cream-to-powder foundation palettes which had some kind of horrible splotchy mold on them
  • a hoard of toothpaste tubes, which were keeping one of the cabinet drawers from opening AND closing
  • a vial of liquid foundation that was literally puke-green in color. It used to be the color of my face, about ten years ago.
  • one shampoo bottle that had apparently become volatile and EXPLODED, leaving green slime all over most of the cabinet’s inventory
  • a can of brown spray paint that had somehow “eaten” itself and rusted almost completely away. (We were both like, “WHAT is this BROWN POWDER in this CABINET?!” And the smell…*UGH*)

The Hardest Part: Purging What Was “Still Good”

Once we got rid of the obvious trash, which was fairly easy, I faced the largest obstacle: getting rid of stuff that still had life in it, was still usable.

For me, getting rid of still-usable stuff is hard, because I look at the pile of stuff I’m getting rid of and think “wasted money.” It makes me literally sick to think of all the dollars going out the door in trash bags. Thus, another reason why I hoard, I guess.

I started having real trouble with it, was almost too daunted to keep going, until my boyfriend said, “Honestly, honey, how long has it been since you used it? If it makes you happier to keep it, please go ahead–but this doesn’t look like it’s been touched in years.”

My instant argument back was, “Well, I would have used it if I could have FOUND it in this mess!”

“True,” he replied, “but do you have anything that does exactly the same function?”

He had a point. In some cases, I did have something (or several somethings) that fulfilled exactly the same function (like the 7 nail clippers–I wish that was a jest). Knowing that part of my junk problem lay in having multiple copies of the same item was an important key in getting over my attachment to the items I’d bought.

In the case of the nail clippers, I kept 3 of the 7, because one was a specific, larger toenail clipper, one was regular nail clippers, and one was an itty-bitty nail clipper/file combo that I put into my purse. The other 4 went away–2 got given away, and 2, we found, were irreparably broken/rusted anyway, so they were trashed.

Systematically, we hunted through all the stuff. Endless iterations of Night-Blooming Jasmine shower gel and perfume (which I stockpiled because B&BW only offers it twice a year), 10 different Clinique compacts of pressed powder, literal hundreds of lip glosses…all were evaluated, condensed, and the excess removed. (We found that 4 of the jasmine perfume bottles were all just alcohol anyway…no fragrance smell remained. SAD)

The Aftermath

By the time the organizing carnage was (mostly) over, my bathroom cabinets were cleared; their interiors were empty and dusted out, left to air out overnight after long years of being shut away in shame. The countertops were also cleaned and polished up, and new systems of organization went into place atop them, showcasing my jewelry, my fragrance bottles, and my impressive scrunchie collection (hey, I grew up in the 90s, all right?). I also FINALLY had a place for all my makeup–at least, what remained of the huge collection I had (but more about that later).

At last, after years of getting ready (somehow) amid a torrent of products, my bathroom had become a true lady’s dressing room and ablutions room. I finally had room for everything, and everything that I had was stuff I was really going to use and really enjoyed, from shampoos and conditioners to fragrances, from powders to lipsticks and everything in between.

Next Week: The Makeup Survivors

Next week, I’m going to show what remains of the massive collection of old makeup we cleaned out. I went from several LARGE zippered bags of makeup to two tiny drawers-full in a five-drawer countertop organizer…unbelievable as it sounds!

Monday in the HTMLab

Leaving Letter Forms Behind: Symbol Fonts

Leave a comment

Sometimes it’s just not feasible to make icons for every single thing you want to link to on your page. Yet, you want something different than just a text link; you want something more creative than just “Click here for [this content]”.

And it’s not just links, either. Often, you end up with a need for a small graphic, but you either don’t want to draw it out or you can’t draw it on the computer (like me controlling a laptop mouse–fail). What does one do when you want a cute little graphic that doesn’t require Photoshop to create?

ANSWER: Use a symbol font!

What IS A Symbol Font, Anyway?

A symbol font is any font that does not display the typical alphabet letters when you use it. The most common (and oldest) of these symbol fonts are the Wingdings series and the Webdings font, often included with many systems’ default fonts.

Well, Why Bother with Fonts that Have No Recognizable Letters?

Precisely for the webdesign opportunities it offers. Not only do you have ready-made, professional-looking icon designs, but you can also include your symbol font as part of your webpage using the @font-face CSS declaration. It saves you from having to create icons; instead, you can just type a letter and stipulate that it has to display in the symbol font. Instant icon!

And, if you want to dress up your icons a little more, you can always use the symbol font in your preferred image-creation program, masking, sizing, turning, and otherwise decorating the font to look like a traditional icon. Either way you go about it, symbol fonts provide icons and small graphics with more professional “pop.”

How Can You Use Symbol Fonts?

I find that symbol fonts used as icons are best at slightly larger font sizes, so that they are more visible and easier to click on. Too-small symbols can be frustrating for users, because it’s hard to tell what the symbol even IS at small sizes.

Also, symbol fonts need to be used with as sharp a color contrast as possible (i.e., white symbol on black background) so that all the symbols are easily visible.

What Kinds of Symbol Fonts Exist?

Literally everything you can imagine…including fonts with symbols and pictures that baffle the mind. (“Why would anybody make a font out of THAT?!”) What follows below is a fairly broad listing of some of the better symbol fonts out there.

The images are merely samples of each font–in each case, I tried to capture much of the range each font covers. Also, some of the symbol fonts in my examples, below, are sized smaller or larger than I like, due to the previews. Clicking on their links, however, will take you to the pages where you can see them in better quality, and see the entire character set.

Useful Icons and Signs


Cursor
FFF Extras

IconBit1
IconBit2

PepGenious10
PixArrows

BTD Cart-O-Grapher
The B.O.M.B. (Best of Magurno Brushes)

Symbolix
DNR Recreation Symbols

Spaider Simbol

CD Icons
(not actually this huge normally)

WMSymbols

Little Faces and Emoticons


Skrewd Up Soulz
Spacy Stuff

SQCon
V5 Pixelpals

Decorative Designs


BitFuul
Rosette110621

Calligraphic Frames Soft Two
(screenshot does not do it justice)
Picture Squares
(screenshot does not do it justice)

Davy’s Dingbats 2
Gembats 2

Detailed Images


Suboel
(Christmas/holiday theme)
Craft
(Minecraft theme)

SL Mythological Silhouettes
Random Dingbats

(Fonts displayed in this section are from DaFont and Fontspace. Additional symbol fonts can be found at 1001Fonts.com.)

Summary

If you’re having trouble finding icons for what you want, try a symbol font–an easy and clean way to get icons without having to manage your own pixel-by-pixel design. For those of us who are not skilled in small designs (like me :P), symbol fonts can be a lovely way to dress up your page, whether used alone or within an image creation program.

Saturday with the Spark

Writing a Relatable Song

3 Comments

What makes a song “work?” What makes a song resonate with people?

Musical artists have been trying to capture that idea for centuries, and yet it still seems like it’s more luck than anything. Sometimes you just have a wonderful idea, not a winning formula.

As a longtime poet, composer, and songwriter (since the age of 12), I’ve written a lot of songs that either just don’t captivate me or don’t get a whole lot of response, even though they have a lot to say. Then, I’ve written songs that other people absolutely love and enjoy. Studying my “better” songs versus the less-popular ones has brought me to understand something about music that I never really thought about before.

Songs people enjoy are ones they can relate to best.

Seems too simple, right? I thought so, too. But as I thought about how I listen to music, and what kind of music I like, I realized more and more it was right. As a songwriter, you have to make your song relatable to others, and to do that, you have to balance between being too personal and too generic. So, I came up with lists of what makes a song too personal (as in, I can’t really listen to it because there’s so much detail I don’t relate to), or too generic (as in, it doesn’t have a point and/or doesn’t feel like it’s saying much of anything relatable to my life).

Note: Even though I ain’t professional yet and am not formally trained in “songwriting,” I have had a lot of experience playing, writing, rewriting, reworking, and eventually performing my songs.

You know your song is too personal when…

  • Your lyrics are cluttered with many specific place and people references, like a diary entry
  • You’re having trouble stretching your melody to fit around all these specific place names and friend names
  • There doesn’t seem to be enough room within the “2-verses, 2-choruses, 1-bridge, final chorus” song template to say all you want to say about the situation

I’ve fallen into the “too-personal” trap a good bit with my own songs. When others hear lyrics that are more about you than about how your situation parallels theirs, they can find it hard to relate to your song. Personal details flesh out the story you’re telling or the imagery you’re crafting, but don’t load the song up with tons of personal details that are too specific to you. It’s hard to sing along when you don’t know the story and can’t imagine it!

You know your song is too generic when…

  • The verses seem “empty” when you sing them, like there are too few words, but there are plenty in there
  • You’re not sure anymore which episode in your life you’re drawing inspiration from for the song
  • It seems like you’ve heard something similar on the radio, somewhere along the line

While trying to come up with an awesome new song for my church, I was falling into this trap over and over again. Everything I wrote felt forced, trite, and stupid–I kept thinking, “This verse could have been written by anybody! It sounds good, but it’s…not me, and it’s not about me. Grr!” I was trying too hard to write something people would like, and I was going too generic to do it. When audiences hear a song that’s too generic, the usual comment is that it feels like it’s been done before. And it likely has been!

So What Makes a “Relatable” Song, Anyway?

I believe it’s all about being just personal enough and yet appealing to all listeners’ emotions. (Good songwriters know how to strike that over and over; I hope I’ll get there one day, though many people have already told me they hear themselves in my songs just as much as they hear me. But not every one I write is a hit, and I have to remember that–it’s a balance you have to recalibrate every time.)

The following list of tips are the ones I follow when I’m writing a new song. To make this list, I thought, “What makes ME love a new song?”. The resulting list seems to work well and cover all the bases. (It’s more about crafting lyrics than melody, but there’s ways in which crafting one definitively influences the other.)

A Relatable Song…

  • …References emotions/repercussions coming from a specific event, rather than referencing the whole event itself
  • …Describes a state of being, even a transitional or transformational state of being (like coming to terms with death, entering a new relationship, etc.)
  • …Uses visual imagery to describe a place, intertwined with feelings that the place evokes
  • …Matches the mood of the melody (bouncy, somber, peaceful, tormented) with the mood and tone of the lyrics
  • …Contains the main emotional idea of the song within the chorus, and expands upon the main idea (and how it came about) in the verses

Summary

Though writing a “good” song may not always be quantifiable, I think we can weed out some of the too-personal/too-generic problems that hurt many beginning songwriters. It’s not about trying to “market” something, but trying to make something that others genuinely respond to. When I weep or laugh aloud at the end of the first playthrough of my song, I know it’s pretty good. When others weep or laugh aloud at the end of the first performance, because they have felt that way before and know exactly what I’m singing about, I know it’s really good.

Friday around the Web

Born to Learn, Moving with Dogs, Musical Wall, and 8Tracks

Leave a comment

Born to Learn
We were all born to learn…see this awesome series of philosophical animations that explain how and why we learn.

Dogs Don’t Understand Basic Concepts, Like Moving
Read the story of this poor, simple dog and the misadventures of moving…told in a hilarious, Microsoft Paint-style series of pictures.

A Wall that Plays Music when It Rains
You read that right. Look at the intricate piping along the wall and you’ll see what I mean!

8Tracks.com
Make your own playlists and mixes of your favorite songs, just using this site!

Thursday in the Zone

Sometimes, the Alter Egos are All You Need

1 Comment

Recently, the Alter Ego mechanic has been introduced to HeroClix. Now you can get Superman and Batman both for 48 points, or spring in Wonder Woman for 32 points, etc. Admittedly, you don’t get the figures at their absolute best, but it provides you a cheaper way to get the bigger figures on your team.

But what if you could care less about getting the bigger figures? For those of us who play swarm and support strategies, Alter Egos provide an infusion of small-point-value figures that are still combat-capable.

To me, the Alter Egos of today match up well with the Golden-Age era, little swarm figures of yesterday…which is why I’m writing this article. Sometimes, you don’t even NEED to pull in Batman or Wonder Woman, or Etrigan, or even Spiderman or Hulk. Sometimes, Bruce Banner, Diana Prince, Jason Blood, and Bruce Wayne can handle it all on their own.

The images used in this article came from the HCRealms Units page, a wonderful resource for Clix players to find figures and build teams. They also provide a preview for new sets coming out, so checking this page will keep you updated on the game. Just search under “Rank” for “Alter Ego,” and a full list will come up.

What’s the Special Power on Speed for Most of These These Figures?

That is the Alter Ego power–it is almost always on movement, and usually occurs on the last two or three clicks of the character’s living dial.

How are You Judging These Pieces?

I judge from my perspective as a Clix player. I do not play larger-point-value figures as a general rule, so I’m liable to see smaller figures as more playable. I also love supportive powers (like Prob, Telekinesis, Perplex, Outwit, and Support itself), so I gravitate toward small, one-trick-pony pieces that have these powers.

Lastly, I don’t play theme teams much at all (too restrictive), so I look at pieces solely for their “toolbox” value. I always ask, “What abilities can they bring to the table, and how much do I have to pay for it?”

Worthy AE Pieces

Ben Reilly

Why?: Wildcard team ability for 38 points? OKAY! And how about Combat Reflexes that gives him 19 defense up close? SURE! (He might not be all that combat-capable, but I would SO use him on a Wildcard Mystics or Wildcard Bat-team setup.)

Bruce Banner

Why?: The Perplex and Energy Shield is gravy, but the special powers on attack and defense are crazy good. The attack power is Incapacitate with an attack stat boost if you’re trying to Incap a figure with 4 or more damage. The defense is an automatic Alter Ego transformation if he takes 2 or more damage and reveals the defense power.

With a possible 11 attack against Superman and other godlike buddies (the Incap boost + Perplex), he’s a lot better than he looks for 50 points.

Bruce Wayne

Why?: Combat Reflexes with a 17 defense, and Outwit for 3 clicks, plus the 10 attack to start. He’s a combat-ready Outwitter–I’ve actually KOed opponents’ figures with him before. 😀

The slow movement aside, he’s very much worth the 48 points. And if the low movement bothers you, just have one of your flying pieces carry him around. (Especially fun with Green Lantern pieces or flying pieces with Phasing…lol)

Diana Prince

Why?: A Medic with 9 attack is almost necessary in these days of 17 and 18 defenses. Not only that, she’s 17 defense at range, and you’re likely going to keep her back from the front lines anyway, so she’s more easily defended against attack. A very worthy Support piece at 32 points, and great if you can’t afford/can’t use a Night Nurse.

General Thunderbolt Ross

Why?: While Leadership, S.H.I.E.L.D. team ability, and Enhancement make him a good supporting character, his special attack power is hilarious. Quoting the rules text:

“Once per game, give Thunderbolt Ross a double power action. Choose a square anywhere on the map. Modify General Thunderbolt Ross’ attack value by +3 and make a ranged combat attack that does not target, and compare the result to each character occupying the chosen square or a square adjacent to the chosen square. A hit character occupying the chosen square is dealt 3 damage. Other hit characters are dealt 2 damage that causes knock back from the chosen square. Destroy all walls and squares of blocking terrain in or adjacent to the chosen square.”

…Better than Energy Explosion. BAM!!!

The OTHER General Thunderbolt Ross

Why?: The Willpower/Leadership combo is great (especially for 42 points!), but again, it’s the special attack power that pushes him over the top. Other adjacent characters you control that are 75 points or less get +1 attack when they’re attacking someone with Super Strength. And, if they’re attacking a Hulk, they get +1 damage.

This figure can single-handedly help a little swarm team beat down a larger-point-value beatstick. Superman beware!

Jason Blood

Why?: Why NOT?! Let’s see, he’s got Prob, 18 defense at range, AND Mystics team ability…um, yeah, even with the low movement speed, he’s awesomely, annoyingly playable for 44 points. (He’s nearly the smallest Mystic in the game, too, which makes him hilarious to play with larger-cost Wildcards like Ultra Boy and Vet Supergirl, too.)

If it isn’t obvious already, I heart this piece. 😀

John Jameson

Why?: Forget the first click and the last two clicks. Look at the middle two clicks, the team ability, and the point cost for why Jameson is playable. Fun with Wildcard Mystics–the Toughness makes him able to soak more damage, but if he can’t soak it all, oh well, tough nachos for the guy who just hit him. Mystics damage for the win. 🙂

(And the Super Strength with 10 attack/17 defense? Even though it’s only for one click, it’s AWESOME for 38 points. You just don’t find that kind of ability in wildcards that low.)

Matt Murdock

Why?: The special damage power. Outwit normally on anybody, or Outwit Stealth, Perplex, or Outwit on anybody within 6 squares who’s 75 points or less, regardless of whether he can draw a line of fire to them. WIN!

Walter Kovacs

Why?: He has a trait that gives him Stealth, and he has Shapechange. Annoying enough for 38 points, right? WRONG–check out his special attack ability. Quoting rules text:

“At the beginning of your turn, choose a keyword belonging to an opposing character adjacent to Walter Kovacs. Until the beginning of your next turn, modify the attack value of Walter Kovacs or a character friendly to Walter Kovacs by +1 when they attack a character that possesses the chosen keyword.”

Um, if I play this piece and you play a keyworded team…hee hee, you are in more trouble than you think.

Kinda-Worth-It AE Pieces

Peter Parker

Why?: Super Senses makes him annoying, Wildcard team ability makes him versatile, and Perplex makes him supportive. But you have to push him to get Perplex, and that means losing that nice 17 starting defense.

For 50 points, you get a basic but solid Wildcard-fodder piece that can actually help out your team, but you may have to wait too long or risk losing him before you can use him.

Rick Jones

Why?: He’s a fine source for a Wildcard team (the Avengers team ability is not bad), and he has the ability to use another team ability himself. Give him Bat-Team, Mystics, or something else silly for extra LOLs.

The only issues I have with him is that he is remarkably short-lived for 48 points, and he doesn’t keep his abilities for very long, either. But if you’re looking for something to fill in the gaps (like an extra team ability or an extra Perplexer), this could work.

Unworthy AE Pieces

The OTHER Bruce Banner

Why?: For 55 points, you can find better Energy Explosion pieces (his special attack power is based off Energy Explosion), and the one click of Outwit does not help his cause much, either. This is a “Waiting-for-Hulk” piece, not a piece on his own.

Eddie Brock

Why?: He’s a “Waiting-for-Venom” or “Waiting-for-Anti-Venom” piece (the special attack power gets Anti-Venom, the special speed power gets Venom). Not much else. Shapechange is okay, but he’d mainly be an annoyance piece if you’re just playing him and not planning to change him out.

Clark Kent

Why?: Because you have to push him once to get to Perplex, and he’s not as combat-capable. He’s more a “Waiting-For-Superman” piece than a piece on his own. Not worth it to me, especially not paying 48 points for what amounts to a slightly-upgraded Con Artist.

Norman Osborn

Why?: Let’s see. He’s got a trait that pretty much uses a dice roll to determine which figure you can pull in when you Alter Ego. Bleh, leaving that up to chance is not my style. Also, he’s 66 points–who’s he going to Mastermind damage to in current environments? I’d rather have a REAL defense modifier, but then again I dislike Mastermind anyway. LOL

The saving grace here is the Outwit he’s got for 3 clicks, but I ain’t paying 66 points for just an Outwitter. Basically, he’d be a third-string attacker and Outwitter, and would be more dead weight than anything.

Summary

While a few Alter Ego pieces are not worth the investment, many of the AE pieces offer combat and support at low point costs. If you’re looking for bargains on Prob, Support, and Outwit in a Modern-Age environment, I’d say your search ends with this blog article!

Wednesday in the Word

Letting God Drive

Leave a comment

James 4:7
7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

This is much harder than James makes it sound. We humans don’t want to submit to anyone telling them what to do. But James makes no bones about anything in his short book, and this is no exception. In order to be Christian, we have to let go of our lives and trust that God is in control of it all.

Letting Go = Not Worrying, Raging, or Fighting, but Praying

But what does “letting go of our lives” mean? I think it encompasses all of the following and a lot more besides:

  • Not being mad at yourself or others for being late
  • Accepting your body’s small flaws
  • Not confronting others who anger you, but praying for them
  • Praying about the worry and guilt that torments you
  • Not raging about how someone else slighted you
  • Accepting a downgrade at work with grace

In each of these circumstances and countless others, God is still in control. Even in the bad times, God is there and God has you in His hands. Worrying, raging, and fruitlessly rumbling about in your life doesn’t do any good and indeed saps your energy.

Instead, being still and knowing that God is in control, letting God drive instead of trying to snatch the wheel away from Him, is submitting to His will. It’s about knowing that there is a purpose behind your temporary suffering, knowing that the horrible situation you’re in will be resolved in time (maybe not in the time you’d like it to be, but it will).

Letting God drive is not just about being passive, though–it’s about taking prayerful action when needed. If the situation at work is not resolving, for instance, and you’re concerned, pray about what to do–the calm and strength given to me through prayer is incomparable to anything else I’ve ever experienced. If you’re suffering pain, prayerfully considering and then asking about possible medical attention is key. But through all your prayerful action, there should be in the background a knowledge that whatever comes, God has the steering wheel and there is no need to worry.

Resisting the Devil by Living for God Rather than Self

Being willing to submit to God is part of being able to resist the Devil. When we are living for God’s glory rather than our own pleasures, we are suddenly accountable for every action. “Is what I’m about to do/tempted to do glorifying to God, or is this just for me?” It serves as a check for our behavior.

This is difficult, and it’s not an instant transformation. After four years of being in organized faith practice, I’m still dealing with guilt and worry over the anger and frustration I show on a daily basis–that isn’t glorifying to God. It may even make some people doubt my Christianity when I explode like that.

But I pray about it, really try to let go of the frustration instead of letting it pop out like a horrible jack-in-the-box of emotions. And the prayer, whether in the moment or afterward, has helped reduce the instances of explosion. Knowing God is still in control, no matter who has frustrated me or insulted me, is a comfort. Even though somebody else made the free-will decision to be a rear end to me, they’ll be accountable to God for that, just as I’ll be accountable for my anger.

Rely on God

He knows where He’s going, even if the road in some places is not paved yet, even if the car seems like it’s going to jostle completely apart, and even if the Devil runs alongside the car yelling and screaming at us. We just have to stop asking “Are we there yet are we there yet are we there yet?!”

Tuesday on the Soapbox

Let’s Stop Throwing Tantrums and Calling Names

3 Comments

Watching the political situation erupt in America is like watching kindergartners fight on the playground. Well, except for one major difference: there are more public tantrums, controversial angry statements, and name-calling than any 5-year-old could dream up.

Whatever political party you affiliate yourself with, or even if you are no political party (probably due to this very phenomenon), it is embarrassing for all of us. Who wants to be represented by people who can’t get along long enough to talk like grownups, when that’s what they’re being PAID to do?

Is Politics Even About Leadership Anymore?

The upcoming election in November has only heightened the tensions between the two dominant parties. Mitt Romney has already said that the reason he wants to win is to defeat Barack Obama. The words came straight from him: all he wants to do is beat a political rival, not lead the country, not get us out of the economic mess we’ve been mired in since 2006 (at least!).

I think that’s a very telling statement; it reveals how at least one candidate views politics, and as you survey the rest of the political field, the adversarial attitude between conservatives and liberals seems to be a popular view these days. Politics, if you look at federal Congress all the way down to local levels, is no longer about being a public servant, but about being a victor in the public eye. It’s no longer about solving national problems, but about who can tell the best story and garner the most attention so they get elected or reelected.

This is shameful, and it’s not right. Why bother having politicians at all, if this is how they’re going to act? Why bother electing people to lead, if they are going to ignore the duty we chose them for? Politics has turned into a zoo, complete with people throwing verbal excrement at each other, often just as much within their own party as across party lines.

Republicans and Democrats: More like a Dysfunctional Couple than True Enemies

This may sound strange to some, but I view the vitriolic back-and-forth between Republicans/conservatives and Democrats/liberals as the fighting between a dysfunctional, long-married couple.

Picture this: they’ve lived together for so long that the smallest flaws in the other person irritate them to death; they spend their days together angrily hashing and rehashing the same old issues and never getting anywhere on them. And don’t forget, both of them go to bed mad on a regular basis.

Neither person is interested in hearing the other’s point of view anymore. Neither one is interested, really, in resolving the conflict between them. The conflict has become a Conflict, with a capital C, that defines their very lives; it’s gone on for so long that it has become normal and accepted behavior. Any of this sounding familiar yet?

I believe both major American political parties have fallen into this trap with each other. There’s almost no listening going on between the two parties, but there’s a whole lot of negative comments and blanket generalizations about the other party flying around each camp. What was it I saw on Facebook a couple of nights ago from a conservative poster? “Well, all LIBS want ‘respect’ and wave the race card at you when you don’t give it.”

Generalizations -> Stereotypes -> Prejudices

These kinds of generalizations, stereotypes, and prejudices against each other get us absolutely nowhere. Once you start thinking of another person (or another party) in absolutes, like “He always forgets to pick up his **** socks off the floor!” or “They always want big government and big spending!”, then your perception of that person/party becomes one-dimensional. Soon enough, their flaws and your own prejudices are all you see.

I’m guilty of this myself; for years, I thought of conservatives in just the same negative way. I hated their “closed-minded religion” instead of true Jesus-following beliefs; I hated their defiant “God, guns and anti-gay” platform; I hated how they preached of tolerance while being intolerant of others. As a nearly-closeted liberal in an increasingly conservative town, county, region, and state, I felt personally attacked and marginalized by these beliefs. Because this was how I believed all conservatives acted, I feared the ones living near me.

But I’ve come to realize that not all conservatives believe or act this way. I was largely led astray by the sound bites I heard in the media, and it wasn’t until I actually was friends with real-life conservatives that I began to see the varying degrees of political belief within parties, and realize it in myself as well.

Instead of Letting the Aisle in Congress Divide Us, Let it Unite Us

I’m not saying that all the members of Congress should literally marry somebody of the other party (though that would be kinda funny). What I mean is that instead of throwing things across the aisle at each other, maybe we should commit to “walk down the Congress aisle” together, pledging not “till death do us part,” but “till compromise shall we listen.” Maybe conservatives and liberals should try to work things out more like a married couple would instead of like bitter enemies.

America is a diverse nation, full of vastly different opinions and ways of life; of course we’re going to disagree. I may not understand why conservatives believe as they do; they may not understand why I, as a liberal, believe as I do. But at least I should be willing to sit down, listen respectfully, and compromise where necessary. As long as we keep trying to legislate without listening, we are NEVER, EVER, EVER going to get anywhere, just as a married couple who keeps shouting over each other will never solve their argument.

We Need Each Other–We’re ALL Humans!

Conservatives and liberals need each other to survive, to serve as checks and balances for each other. That’s why the legislative, judicial, and executive branches of government even exist in the first place: to make sure the government and all its employees are making balanced decisions that take into account all possible outcomes and effects. The duality of the political parties is no accident; each needs the other to keep them from going overboard in either direction.

At least, that was how it was supposed to work. The way Congress is behaving these days, I wonder if any of them listened in civics class. And I thought handling 30 middle-schoolers at a time was rough; I would not want President Obama’s job right now. 30 surly 13-year-olds are not fun to deal with, but I think over 100 stubborn Congressmen and women might be just a wee bit more difficult to handle.

If we can get over the stereotypes and prejudices each party has against the other, we might just be able to solve the huge problems our nation is facing. If not…well, we’ll have to resign ourselves to more years and decades of failures before we learn. All the roses and flowers in the world won’t solve this. It will take heartfelt communication, and then, if we’re lucky, compromise and hope afterwards.

Monday in the HTMLab

Itty-Bitty Bitmappy Fonts

2 Comments

Big, beautiful, fancy fonts are awesome for making huge first impressions on a user. They’re like wearing a bold-patterned coat or a brightly-colored dress–they instantly grab attention. But the itty-bitty details on a website design help “finish” the site, just like jewelry or shined shoes give an outfit a more polished and put-together look.

Today, we’ll be looking at several itty-bitty fonts, called “bitmap fonts,” that can help do all sorts of small decorative tasks around your website. Labeling link buttons, crafting social media graphics, doing copyright text or watermarks, and even making up parts of hovered navigation can all be done using one or more of the fonts I’ll cover today.

Bitmap fonts are generally best used at smaller sizes, so today’s previews will have two sizes of each font. The larger font is more to show you what the font looks like. Also, bitmap fonts are usually best used without anti-aliasing–the harder edge gives the bitmap font its shape.

With the exception of Baby Blocks, all fonts were tested with the text “crooked glasses” in lowercase letters.

Squarish & Space-Agey


Aansa
Bit 1
no custom preview available
Ernest

Hilogin
Micro N56

Small and Graceful


BF Mnemonik
Chixat 8
Venice Classic

Outlined/Shadowed Letters


Bit Out
no custom preview available
Fipps
Half Life
(un-outlined also available)
no custom preview available

M04 Fatal Fury
(un-outlined also available)

Fun, Blocky Effects


Baby Blocks
(blocks appear for capital letters only)

V5 Bloques

Summary

I find that bitmap fonts are some of the best little tools in my font toolbox. Where other fonts are illegible at small sizes, bitmap fonts are perfectly legible; where other fonts would be too busy or too elaborate, bitmap fonts are just decorative enough without struggling to read them.

But what do you think? Might there be a place on your site for a few itty-bitty fonts?