Planetperson

Sunday, September 7, 2008 I was reading through my ancient PMs to GregF, and my face was figuratively turning red as I noticed how obviously I was searching for the clearest, most congenial way to say "Hello, Greg" and "Thank you, goodbye" and never quite finding it, sounding more like I was supplicant to him for his almighty knowledge. Alright... I'll give you an example: Granted, it gets a lot better after that, and that's really tame compared to other PMs I've encountered in which the asker is practically saying, "Please, almighty Greg the Sun-god, lend me the answers I seek. I'm deyeingg!1!! ='( " In my experience, it is of no immediate consequence how you address Greg when you PM. For one, he never comments on it. But, of course, you should know that he is always happy to receive questions from fans -- you do not need to beg him -- particularly so when your questions are thoughtful, maybe clearly phrased, and have not been asked a million times (but 999,999 times is okay, lol). Nowadays, I keep it simple. I usually ask one question that's on my mind, although of course there would be nothing wrong with asking more. Although Greg wades through a tide of PMs every day, it is a task he says he enjoys, but I recognize that it is one that no one would like to be bogged down by, so I eliminate the fluff out of my messages. My typical message to Greg goes as follows. It's my generic template, and if you're unsettled about how you're currently messaging Greg, you can use it.

Saturday, September 6, 2008 What's interesting is that all summer I put off blogging almost entirely. Now that school has started, I'm posting something every darn day. Oh, and thanks for all the help yesterday, lol. I am waiting for an answer.

Yes, but the host can live without a parasite. If Matoran are "Parasites", & if they left, Mata-Nui would die. Unlike a Normal Parasite & host. They are not parasites; they are symbiotes. I thought the were the cells. O_o I would say they are "cells." Being either a parasite or a symbiote can be an attribute for a cell.

Friday, September 5, 2008 Oh, and I have a question for anyone who can help me: does anyone know where I could easily host an mp3 file to link to in an entry? I don't think Brickshelf and Maj allow that.

Yes, but the host can live without a parasite. If Matoran are "Parasites", & if they left, Mata-Nui would die. Unlike a Normal Parasite & host. They are not parasites; they are symbiotes. Mata Nui cannot live without the Matoran, nor they without him. And from what we know about Mata Nui so far, that's actual fact right now, it does not need to be based on the MN=MU theory. I agree with the Polynesian myth idea. I think the fact that Bionicle is based on a literal interpretation of that relationship between creator and created ultimately makes the story a fantastic, epic, even emotionally moving adventure.

I'm sure it was interesting .

It's just the way it's done, probably always will be.

Because that would be hugely inefficient and therefore a big evolutionary no-no. You just don't get aquatic creatures that have a natural tendency to sink.

People like themselves? That's my guess. If you're looking for meaningful criticism about your art, you know, I just wouldn't go looking for it on a forum with kids.

βαλλ’ εις κορακας. Seen that one?

Thursday, September 4, 2008 If you were a blogger back in the days of olde, you probably remember that the cute little squares that tell you if there are unviewed comments in an entry... were colored orange. Actually, that was a site-wide thing. All the little tags -- you probably don't even pay attention to them -- next to the title of a topic or next to the comment count at the bottom right of a blog entry used to be bright orange, at eye-grabbing contrast against BZPower's light blue background. But BZPower's changed them to blue now, ever since the same forum upgrade that jazzed up everyone's user page to include comments and friends listings and all that junk. Strangely enough, I've been noticing how different it is without the orange squares. When I was first writing in this blog, I was overjoyed to see that familiar orange dot on the screen to see that someone had actually found something I said interesting enough to comment on. I didn't get a lot of comments then. But now the new blue squares are just boring. It's like they're just there -- they have to tell you there's a new comment, they don't really want to be there and they hate their job, and they just want to blend in and stay out of notice, like ungrateful night guards for a box factory. The orange dudes, on the other hand, were always so full of life and yelled, "Congratulations, someone said something! Someone cares!" So, I'm nostalgic for the old guys, and I wish they would come back.

Ah, yes, I saw that one. It's one of the good ones. Thanks for not putting like five random weapons together. I'll rate ya five.

Four in the school? Odd situation.

You should enforce a friends list cut.

You just have to deal with that kind of thing sometimes. Just be glad they're addicted to that type of interaction and you're not. Or you could be a real man and tell em off in that deep, baritone voice.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008 Impulse comment. Do it.

It doesn't just sound like it, it is telling those people they should vote for a dual-function. Cuz that's certainly what I want, lol.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008 > Vote Here < So, this is my plan for the KanohiJournal contest. Trying not to sound too pretentious, I consider this version of Nuparu's aqua blaster blade to be the solution to a problem. Nuparu’s aqua blaster blade is mentioned and seen in action in the books, and, if you want to be particular, is therefore considered part of the canon storyline. Here’s the thing. The weapon is only mentioned in the books because the prototype Nuparu set that Greg Farshtey was given to work off held a blade weapon. But here we have the final, marketed version of the set that has a shield instead of a blade. And supposedly now both the shield and the ABB are part of the canon. This creates problems. Nuparu shouldn’t be able to carry so many weapons. Carrying a Cordak blaster, shield, and his aqua blaster blade would make Nuparu prohibitively bulky, and he just doesn’t have the hands to carry three weapons at once. It also stinks to have a set that doesn’t even include the character’s main weapon that is featured in the story. Now, I have an entry that reconciles all the story and even set problems concerning the ABB quite elegantly, I think. This ABB is a dual-function ability of Nuparu’s shield. Now Nuparu doesn’t have to deal with the problem of juggling three weapons anymore; his protosteel shield and aqua blaster blade are now one and the same. It’s the same difference as calling Pohatu Nuva’s climbing claws the Kodan ball when they are latched together. Just as the old Toa Nuva and Toa Metru’s tools had dual-function abilities, Nuparu can now switch his weapon between shield and blade modes. Nuparu can split his shield apart, holding one of the halves in his hand like a blade and attaching to it the power cell kept on his back to power its shock-wave function. He then relocates his leg armor to act as a brace for the blade. With this armor removed, he now has ample space to store the other half of his shield on his back. Now anyone who has the Nuparu Mahri set to begin with already has all the pieces he needs to build his melee weapon, because the blade is now in the set. For anyone who wants to put the nagging inconsistencies of the aqua blaster blade to rest, assuming the contest is going to be poll-based -- this is the entry to vote for. If not my entry, choose another one with dual-function idea, although I don't know if there will be many. If you want to lend support to what I consider to be the smoothest possible resolution to the story problems of the aqua blaster blade, you can use this banner. [url=http://www.bzpower.com/forum/index.php?automodule=blog&blogid=59&showentry=41689][img=http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/DihydrogenMonoxide/Bionicle/MOCs/NuparuABB/abbsig.jpg][/url]

People send you angry PMs? I mean, they take it personally? Awesome animation, good choice doing more CGI this year. Also, I don't know if this has been said, but to fix the Takanuva's Blog glitch, right-click on the flash object and lower the quality to medium.

Congrats. Now if I'd just try to be helpful I might get something like that too.

...$5...McToran for $5... Of course, I can't really find words for the castle, the mecha, anything else, really.

Monday, September 1, 2008 Labor Day Now that is cool. Reminds me of Halo.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008 Only the skilled can perform feats such as this. Only the cleansed may touch it. Believe me, it's a lot harder than it looks. Go ahead, try it yourself. In other news, it's the last day of summer for me... =[