Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and All that Jazz

Just wanted to wish everyone out there a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holidays. May joy enter all your lives and may we all know peace and love in the coming new year.

Tymen

As Above, So Below - It's more than just a blog

As Above, So Below

A Game of Angels

"Bless the LORD, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word."

Psalm 103: 20

You are God's Will made manifest, sent to walk among the dark places, to watch over Mankind and to protect the Free Will which God granted them. But can you touch the darkness without being, in turn, touched by it.

Can you walk among the mortals without succumbing to Temptation, can you stand against the Fallen, your former brethren, without succumbing to their fate? Know this, as you gaze into the Mirror, the Fallen gaze out at you.

"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you."

Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil

The title and premise of an independent RPG, I am currently working on. I am currently working on the conflict mechanics and character creation process. It is moving forward and I feel pretty good about it.

Morbid and Creepifying

Okay, so I get up for work at 3:30 AM as usual and grab a shower.
I begin to get ready for work and as usual sit down to check out my e-mail for five to tem minutes.
I find the following link in an e-mail to the Nobilis list, talkin' about creepy, try reading through that at ten to four in the AM, even with all the lights on.

Check it out.

http://www.dionaea-house.com

Ambercon North Rocked!!!

Even with the problems associated with the Hotel of Which We Do Not Speak and the Hotel Whose Name Is Cursed Forever. I had an excellent time and gamed my a... , no wait, I gamed my hea..., no, not that either. I gamed a lot, let's put it that way.

Thanks to Stephanie Itchkawich, for giving me a different perspective on Benedict (If its Takes a Thousand Years) and for allowing us to create a truly intriguing universe (The White Lady).

Thanks to Mike Manolakes for bringing mystery and intrigue with a twist to Amber in The Zelany Code.

Thanks to Edwin Voskamp for Shadowworld, both Johann and Markus appreciated the chance to come alive during both games. Johann has plans, here is hoping to get them in motion. Markus's plans, however, are a little more long term and not evryone would be pleased with them.

Thanks to Jesse and Mark for running an excellent game, as always and my lips are sealed as to what happened.

And lastly, but not least, thanks to Chris Kindred for allowing Armande Berenger de la Valencoeur to ride once again with his brothers in arms, the Musketeers, but especially, Marcel and Alexis. Once again our plans came to fruition. (Why am I always surprised when a plan successfully comes together?)

Thank you to Jack and Craig for making the con such a great experience, even with all the problems that come their way. I salute you both and hope that we will have a much better hotel next year.

No Kidding

According to namestatistics.com.

Tymen is a very rare male name.

Very few men in the US are named Tymen.

Be proud of your unique name!

I'm so glad that there is a website to tell me something that I already knew.

Also, I might add, since I'm not from the US, I don't even fit into their statistical evaluations.

Sometimes, I really wish someone would invent a sarcasm font.

Tymen

So, they say it's your birthday, Well it's my birthday to, yeah!

Happy Birthday to me.

Not Fade Away

Angel The Series is Dead, Long live Angel.

And a more perfect ending couldn't have been done. The only thing more perfect would be Angel returning and because of the WB (Filthy network. Ptooay. We shall not speak of them again.) that isn't going to happen. I hope that someday Joss Whedon shall return to television triumphant and that those who treated his shows shabbily shall forever after descend into obscurity.

The Great Job Hunt is Over

I begin work on Monday at 8:30 AM. It's an interesting news reader position at Bowdens.
I'm psyched.

I know it's been awhile since my last entry, but sometimes life throws fastballs, sometimes curveballs and sometimes they slam you in the balls with a pitch. The last pitch I was thrown, however, I just hit out of the park.

I'm going to Kill Bill (part II)

Went and saw Kill Bill (part II) with several friends on Friday and just wanted to say.
It was amazing, an excellent finish to the first part. Most definitely different and
homaging different movie styles throughout, but it was a fitting ending for the beginning.

Also, Tarantino has been speaking of doing sequels to it, using the daughter of Vernita
Green as the protagonist of the next movie. It sounds like an extremely interesting idea
and if anybody could pull it off, it would be Quentin Tarantino.

See the movie, but don't forget your film geek credentials, they're checking them at the door.

Rest in Peace: First Amendment

Is this insane or what?
I'm not a huge fan of the Shock Jock, Howard Stern, but I do believe he has the right to do his show without outside interference.

Is this the Death for Freedom of Speech in the USA?

Has anyone in the US ever heard of the First Amendment?

When Art Schools begin defining what is acceptable
and unacceptable in Art and Literature, then the
United States truly has a problem and needs to deal with it.

Read on below:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/03/25/MNGI85QTK11.DTL

Games Without Frontiers: Nobilis

Speaking of Guardians of Order, I've been reading Nobilis recently and I so want to run a game of it. It just looks and feels like it would be extremely fun to play, as well as being something incredibly different from any other game out there.

Games Without Frontiers: Amber Shall Rise Again

This just in over the Amberlist. Man this is extremely cool news.

New Amber DRPG News from ACUS!

Recently, Erick Wujcik and Mark MacKinnon signed a Letter of Intent to transfer all publishing operations for the Amber Diceless Role-Playing Game from Phage Press to Guardians of Order.

While the details of this deal have not been finalised, Guardians Of Order wishes to solicit input and suggestions regarding the publishing of a new line of Amber role-playing products.

You are therefore invited to join Mark MacKinnon and Jesse Scoble at a Roundtable Discussion on Sunday morning at Ambercon US in the convention HQ Sunday morning.

Whoo-Hoo!

_____________________________________________________________________
Mark C. MacKinnon -- President, Guardians Of Order Incorporated
mark@guardiansorder.com http://www.guardiansorder.com

Silver Age Sentinels * Big Eyes, Small Mouth * Licensed Anime Guides
BESM d20 * d20 Mecha * Nobilis * Tekumel
Get Connected! at http://www.guardiansorder.com/forums
_____________________________________________________________________

I am so stoked over this.

Where Do We Go From Here

In the Job Search department, I have a job interview tomorrow at 4 PM. This rocks and I hope I get the job.
I am cautiously optimistic of my chances. It's a good job and I look forward to the interview.

Going Through the Motions

The Job search continues. Man, looking for a job sucks, it really does. It's not the searching part, that gets to me. It's the waiting for a reply to your sent out resume that really gets me, you put it out there and then you have to wait. It's the waiting that gets to you, everytime.

Mood: Reflective
Listening: Once More With Feeling, Buffy Musical soundtrack

Serenity Now

The Firefly movie has been greenlighted by Universal. It's Ironic, Joss Whedon, the man who turned his failed movie into a brilliant tv series, now has the chance to turn his failed, but equally brilliant, tv series into a movie. To all you Browncoaters out there I say. "We're big damn heroes" and Joss Whedon is the biggest damn hero of them all.

Ballad of Serenity
Music and lyrics by Joss Whedon
Performed by Sonny Rhodes

Take my love
Take my land
Take me where I cannot stand
I don't care
I'm still free
You can't take the sky from me

Take me out
To the black
Tell 'em I ain't coming back
Burn the land
And boil the sea
You can't take the sky from me

Have no place
I can be
Since I found Serenity
But you can't take the sky from me.

Keep Flying.

Saturday Night at the Movies

Watched some movies last night with friends. One stunk, one was excellent and one was just bizarre.

Started out at Andrew and Lori's where we watched the first 15 minutes of Johnny English, I was mildly amused, but not enough to make up for the fact that this movie was predictable and boring. I'd recommend the Austin Powers movies instead of this one. I normally like Rowan Atkinson, but more for his stand-up and Blackadder, than for Mr. Bean. Johnny English was closer to Mr. Bean. Spy Spoofs have been done better, the afore-mentioned Austin Powers trilogy comes to mind again. And since James Bond has been known to parody itself at times, I'd rather watch one of those again.

I then went down the block to another friend's place, Mark. Where along with James, Rob and Celine, we watched La Femme Nikita, now this was an excellent Spy movie, far superior to the Americanized version, Point of No Return. Luc Besson is an intriguing director and I adore the style and feel of this movie. I was glad to see this again, although I must remark that the english subtitles of this edition were subpar, but that may have been rectified with the newer special edition.

And now for something completely different, Rob and Celine then left and Mark, James and I were skimming the channels when on Scream TV we discovered a completely Bizarre film entitled Killer Condoms, it was an homage to Film Noire with a counter-culture twist, amusing and audacious in its way, the bizarreness of it seemed to draw you in. I'm not sure I would call it a cult classic, but it is definitely a cult film and cleverly done. It subverts the genre in many ways. The hard-nosed Sicilian trench-coated cop is unabashedly homosexual for one thing. It's set in New York, where it deals with seedier aspects of the city. The movie could be mistaken for a classic film noir save for one thing, the killer condoms themselves. The sheer silliness of the monster in question, almost over-shadows the message underlying the film. It takes an intriguing look at the treatment of of those who live alternative life-styles and asks acceptance. I'm not sure if I liked the movie, but it did draw me in. It's not for everyone, but if you happen to catch it. It does have it's moments.

Games without Frontiers - As Above, So Below: A Game of Angels

I'm currently working on the Role-Playing game above and am trying to come terms with what rules system to use. I am leaning heavily towards Nobilis, but am also considering using some of the rules from a Game called Paladin (an independent game, put out by Clinton R. Nixon. Check it out at www.anvilwerks.com.) I need to read up more on the Nobilis rules, but think they will add the elements, I am looking to add to the game.
I hope it will be fun, when I do get around to running it.

Morning is Broken

Getting up at 9 AM, when you only got to bed at 3 is not a good thing. Some days, six hours of sleep just isn't enough. Today is one of those days.

What is within your heart must come out.

In the night flying,
your heart blooms under the moon,
a single tear falls.

Who I am and Why I'm here.

"Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more; it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing."

- Shakespeare

How do I follow a quote like that? How can I claim myself a writer and dare to compare myself to old Bill himself, I don't, I won't and I can't. I just wanted to start off with a bang, with a powerful statement and Shakespeare is definitely the way to do that.

Why Macbeth you ask? It's my favourite tragedy by old Bill, with Richard III coming in a close second.
Roman Polanski's film version truly inspires and if you haven't seen Ian McKellen's Richard III, it is a remarkable interpretation for the cinema. See them both.

Personally I think Shakespeare would have adored Hollywood, flaws and all.

I suppose I should get to who I am and what I'm trying to do with this blog.

Tymen, that's the name I was given when I was born, I'm quite partial to it and am happy that it is fairly unique.

Ottawa, that's where I'm from. Ye olde capital of Canada for those who aren't in the know.

Writer, that's what I am in my heart of hearts. Currently working on several projects and even hope to direct a short film this summer. But, I need to find people who are willing to work for Glory and not much else.

Film and Television, both are passions of mine. Movies and Television are like a fine meal, they are to be savoured and explored. They should both make you take notice and think. They should draw you in and set your curiosity afire. (Curse the Gods of Television for canceling Angel and leaving my TV future Whedonless, although I await the Firefly movie with hope in my heart).

Role-Playing, is another passion of mine, a hobby which I enjoy, but do not pursue as much as I used to.
Although I wish that were not so.

This is in part who I am, as to why I am doing this Blog? I can leave you only with one answer in the form of a question.

Why not?