[Recent Entries][Archive][Friends][User Info]

February 16th, 2008

February 16th, 2008
09:43 am [Link]	I Shall Admit It: Magic Nerdery I have bashed Finkel on a couple of occasions for not writing much, or contributing to the Magic community beyond his achievements of being arguably the top Magic player of all time.* But still, in my heart of hearts, I was always a fan. I wanted him to do well, even as he began to 3-3 tournaments just like the rest of us, and then Kai Budde began his upward climb, and he faded from relevancy. So I have to squee a little bit when I see that he's made his first Pro Tour Top 8 since 2003. And I kind of hope this is the start of his second wind - the kind of comeback that almost makes me understand why sports nuts get so excited. It'd be awesome if Finkel became a tournament monster on the scene again. I want my early Magic hero to win again. Silly, I know. But go, Finkel. Take the Tour. (I'd also be happy with Wafo-Tapa or Mike Hron. Then again, I'm always a fan of Guillaume Wafo-Tapa, mainly because I could say "Guillaume Wafo-Tapa" all day.) * If you're not familiar with Magic, "Who's the best Magic player of all time? Jon Finkel or Kai Budde?" is the way it's generally phrased. Some people have holdouts for others, like Oliver Ruel and the like, but generally it's down to Kai or Jon. (13 shouts of denial | tell me I'm full of it)
Time	Event
11:01 am [Link]	The Most Surprising Matchups Yesterday, I asked you to give me fictional matchups. And how the fights flowed! Alas, there were a lot of matchups I couldn't settle - not knowing Cowboy Bebop or the Transformers sufficiently well disqualifies me from refereeing them. (And damn, I do need to get my Torchwood Netflixed here stat, since I want to know who'd win in a fight between Captain Jack Harkness and Planescape: Torment's The Nameless One.) But some of the fights were just damn surprising. Here were the matchups that surprised me the most. Indiana Jones vs. Lara Croft Indy, easily. It'd look like a close matchup at first, but then in the middle of the fight Lara's camera angle would shift and you wouldn't be able to see where the hell she's going, and then Indy would knock her out. "Adam West Batman" vs "Tim Burton Batman" vs "Batman Begins Batman" Initially, I was going to give this to "Batman Begins Batman," just because he's the most ruthless of them all. (He alone was willing to, and did, kill when the situation demanded it.) Then I realized that the three of them play by different physics structures. And eventually, Batman being what it is, there'd be some huge building collapse with the three of them in it. Batman Begins Batman, playing by the closest to real-world physics rules, would be crushed. Tim Burton Batman would be buried underneath the rubble, hideously deformed, vowing vengeance upon his kind. Adam West Batman would walk out with smudges on his face, smoke billowing from his cape, just in time to make a witty quip about how the law can't be so easily defeated, Robin. You can't shoot Adam West Batman. He's only vulnerable to the sort of ludicrous traps that neither Burton or Begins Batman would think of. Adam West Batman wins. Star Trek's Scotty vs. Kaylee (give them identical non-functional ships and see who shoots the other out of the sky first) Well, that really is kind of a problem, because neither of them are pilots. If you put Luke Skywalker in the cabin of a broken treehouse, he'd still probably shoot either of them out of the sky. But the question is valid: Who's got the better skills? The answer is, of course, Scotty. "But that's not fair!" you scream. "Kaylee worked with no budget and no equipment! She's way better than Scotty!" Except, my friends, that you forget that Scotty's also worked with no excess equipment from time to time, and when he had to he jury-rigged a transporter into an infinite stasis machine in a way that impressed people a century later. Kaylee's a miracle worker at keeping Serenity running, I give you that, but she never makes any improvements. Hell, she had a whole camp full of equipment to cannibalize in the movie, and did she take advantage of that? No. She's good at what she does, but she doesn't improve, she just maintains. thetathx1138 nails it: "[Scotty's] not only dealt with hostile intelligences before, he knows machinery and starship systems so well he can turn a ship made by another culture into an aquarium that can traverse time and space." And he did that, you may note, with no funding and no external supplies. Kaylee's good, folks, but Scotty? Way better. Road Warrior's Mad Max vs. Tank Girl My heart is with Mad Max, but I have a feeling he'd be sufficiently confused by the dance number that she'd get the drop on him. Die Hard's John McClane vs. 24's Jack Bauer This'd be a tough one. John McClane has the edge on running from well-funded agencies, to be sure, but Jack Bauer is more ruthless - he'll do absolutely craz shit to win. This one would go the full 24 hours, but I'm pretty sure that at 23:45 Bauer would finally down an exhausted John McClane and take him into custody.... Mainly because McClane couldn't resist taunting Jack, thus continually giving Bauer clues as to where McClane's hiding. The most surprising, however, was this: Discworld's The Luggage vs. The Death Star The Luggage wins. If Obi-Wan Kenobi can get in there, the Luggage can eventually triumph. And I cannot believe that I just said that. But I believe it with all my heart. The most surprising one, though? The one suggested by my wife, but the one I cannot decide? It couldn't be a push - hell, the worlds they both hail from demand a clear and present victor - but I don't know who would triumph. This is the ultimate showdown, folks, and I have to admit my wife has stumped me. Captain James Tiberius Kirk vs. Bugs Bunny. Oh, the matchup. Two undefeated win records mashed together. Damn her black soul. (EDIT: The Kirk vs. Bunny fanfic. The googles, they do nothing....) (55 shouts of denial | tell me I'm full of it)
Time	Event
01:40 pm [Link]	Oh Dear, There Goes The Afternoon 2,700 mash-ups, free for download. Previewable. I cannot resist. (10 shouts of denial | tell me I'm full of it)