BonusWavePilot

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Posts posted by BonusWavePilot

  1. Posted

    On 1/3/2019 at 2:52 PM, graddy said:

    Thank you for the detailed impressions. 

     

    I'm pulled between the modding ability and cheaper price of the PC version and the realization that at this point in my life I simply prefer sitting on the couch to game. 

     

    (I have a steam link, but on the first try playing a game it froze up. Not a great sign :( )

     

     

     

     

    I've had mostly good experiences getting things to stream to my Steam box, provided you have a wired network it should be ok - wifi just isn't fast enough. 

    Through ethernet though, it works well enough to even play tough platformers on without feeling like your fingers are lagging.

  2. Posted

    @twmac

    We proud few!  I also enjoyed season 2, although it had quite a different feel to it than the first...  It took me a couple of episodes to warm to the casting of Vince Vaughn, but in the end I bought into it.

    I tend to suspect that the 'iron grip' that Gormongous objects to Mr Pizzolatto having was also what made the original season so unique and worthwhile.

    Also, I am so very glad that Deadwood is getting a movie sequel...  The premature death of that series remains my worst executive-meddling-in-a-TV-series disappointment to date, I think.  Presumably the actors will have aged sufficiently that they will have to set it a decent amount of time after the series, which is a shame - the continuity of watching the (violent, amoral) 'coming of civilization' to the town as buildings grew and became more permanent, and each round of new folks vying for power became more brutal and better organised was a thing of beauty.

  3. Posted

    I had my first win yesterday!  4 islands, on normal. 

    It was a bit of a surprise - I was replaying with the starting squad to pick up a couple of achievements I had missed, and after I had got those, things were going quite well and just kept going well.  I think the Void Walkers are a lot easier to use now that I have used a couple of other squads and started to grok the game a bit better.  (The pilot that lets you act twice if you don't move certainly helped too.)

    Unlocked Blitzkreig and Flame Behemoths after, though I haven't tried them yet. 

    I wonder how well this would work as a multiplayer game...  If it was co-op with 2 teams vs Vek, then turn order might get fiddly - either you would have to wait for the Vek & your ally's squads to move before you could, or you'd have to interleave the movements somehow I suppose.  1v1 could work quite well though, one player using the Vek and the other mechs.

  5. Posted

    Played a few hours last night, and I suspect I will be doing the same this evening - it is really good!  My best effort so far is a few missions into the 2nd island, but I am definitely improving.  Have noticed I have started focusing much more on blocking spawns and taking the fight to them than I was to begin with.

    So far I have only used the starting team and the Rusting Hulks, but am already impressed by how differently those two play.  Am really looking forward to seeing what strange new units await in the other squads, and to having unlocked enough of them that the 'random team' option will have a good range of different units to choose from.  (The random start is always my preferred option in roguelikes, at least once I have some basic competence)

    I found the Rusting Hulks a lot easier than the starting squad, and I see Nappi got furthest with them too: the damaging smoke mechanic has good DOT.

     

     

  6. Posted

    @Erkki - as it happens, I saw In the Realm of the Senses recently too!

    I had often wondered what a film with a real plot and actors, which also contained explicit sex would be like.  Now I know!  (I knew the title by reputation, but I must admit I was still surprised by that first sex scene)

  7. Posted

    Hmmmmm....  So either it is:

    a ) The same guy, who has also been sent into alternative TP

    b ) Some kind of equivalent-guy: perhaps the version of him that exists in this universe/timeline/whatever

     

    I don't know if we can assume much if it is the latter - we haven't been given a lot to go on about how things work in "things might be different there" Twin Peaks.  If it is the former, then I suppose the most relevant questions are how he died, and what he was doing there to start with.  Presumably it relates to whatever is going on with Carrie to make her eager to go for a ride with random FBI guy.

    A tangent - if Cooper knows that everything in this alternative world (aside from Carrie, him and Diane, presumably) is just a construction, maybe this partly accounts for his more ruthless attitude and different affect there?  If he knows that it's all illusory he might be more willing to do harm, and perhaps even be a bit disgusted/scared by the artiface.  (ie. maybe what we're seeing is just Cooper, but deprived of his usual joyful connection to the world, because he isn't strictly in the world anymore).  I think I still lean towards him being more changed than that would indicate, but it's an interesting notion.
     

  9. Posted

    1 hour ago, Persistence of 3 said:

    An observation about Cooper. In the original series as well as FWWM when we see him in his black suit he's always wearing his FBI lapel pin. This isn't always so in the Return. In fact, the only time he wears his lapel pin are during the Lodge scenes prior to his exit through the #3 socket. So it wasn't just his shoes that didn't pass through to the other side. As an imperative of the narrative this makes good sense since Jade, then the casino operators and everyone else down the line would have noticed and reacted accordingly. Hookers and gambling operations would certainly take exception to a federal agent. So it goes to pass, through the remainder of the story Cooper no longer wears his lapel pin. Yet, watch part one again. When we see Cooper recieving the Giant/Fireman's clues, Cooper isn't wearing the pin. I think this pretty much establishes how much the story is being told out of sequence. The Cooper getting these clues is the Cooper from the 'end' of the story.

    Woah, good catch!

     

    It's funny how the search for clues in a show like this where small details might be relevant, and where the creators are unlikely to ever spell everything out makes the stakes of any continuity problems higher.  This FBI pin theory seems to me to be a good example of that: another might be the guy shouting for Billy at the diner, followed by a suddenly different crowd of extras in the diner.  In most other shows you would just assume a continuity glitch, but here it may actually be significant.  This is further complicated by Lynch's methods meaning that it might start as a mistake and then get adopted if he likes it.

  10. Posted

    @plasticflesh Ah yes, I had forgotten about Mr C's car flip being in a similar spot.  (Perhaps given more weight by RichCoop driving the same model of old car as Badcoop for his first evening crossed over.)

     

    ...and I had completely missed that Carrie's was the same house!

     

    It would seem a bit foolhardy of Jerry to go climbing on that rock after he saw Richard getting toasted up there, although he did attribute the death to his binoculars, so possibly he wouldn't have connected it with the location.  In this case, I suppose Richard's grisly end (presumably meant for Badcoop) was some kind of once-off trap, rather than a permanent change to a vortex at that spot.

  11. Posted

    @plasticflesh Hmm, an interesting possibility...  So if your friend is correct, Laura just called herself Carrie after escaping from Twin Peaks and its history of abuse?  In this case, how is her lack of knowledge of the family home accounted for?  I suppose she could just have repressed the memory of the place, but I would have expected her to be less co-operative with Coop's suggestion they travel back there if that were so, even if it does get her away from whatever happened with that body in her house.

    Does this explanation tie into the weirdness around Coop and Diane 'crossing over' somehow?  I guess it could be the different reality Coop created by rescuing Laura beginning there, but Laura's body disappearing in the flashback would seem to indicate that Twin Peaks itself was affected too. 

     

    On another note, apropos of nothing in particular, I really liked the randomness of some of the vortex locations.  The ones at Jackrabbit's palace or above the convenience store at least seem portentous, but the vortex that Gordon investigates, and the location of the 'crossover' point are both in such unremarkable places that it seems plausible they could have been there for years without anyone noticing.

  12. Posted

    @plasticflesh - some great thoughts in the Medium article you posted.  I think some of it is purely speculative without much to back it up (which is inevitable in these kinds of theories), but definitely food for thought.  I think I am least convinced by the idea of Laura acting as a 'bomb' by overloading Judy or other lodge spirits with garmonbozia.  I don't think we've really seen or heard anything to the effect that garmonbozia is dangerous to the lodge spirits who are intent on gathering it.  (Although Laura's origin as 'good' orb does seem to indicate that she is dangerous or at least opposed to the 'evil' orb types like Bob)

     

    I thought the idea of Coop & Diane's sex scene as conducting a ritual was quite resonant though - it could explain the pre-ordained feeling to Coop/Richard's instructions.  (And possibly give some further motivation to rape-happy Badcoop other than just being an evil sort, particularly in the case of Diane, if he was also attempting to enact a ritual).  I believe it possibly ties into some stuff from the Dossier about sex-magic too, but I have not read it.  Then again, if we assume that Diane has split from Coop at the point where she sees herself outside the hotel, then the scene might just be Linda coming to terms with the fact that Richard is acting super-weirdly.

     

    I liked the concept of the alternate reality (or what the Medium article called 'The Cage') as being our real world, and having the actual owner of the location at which the Palmer House is filmed answer the door seems to reinforce this, but I'm not so sure about it having been constructed as a cage for Judy... 

     

    The idea of the alternate reality being our own world in combination with the notion that Judy is the transliterated 交代 Jiāo Dài, or 'explanation' points to an interesting take where explanation of the show's mysteries is itself the worst possible evil, in which case I suppose Goodcoop as investigator seeking answers stands in for the audience, and oversteps into dangerous territory when he actually makes it into the real world...  Not sure exactly what that would parallel...  Maybe trying to use ideas about the motivation/psychology of the author to analyse events of the show?

  13. Posted

    13 hours ago, Ford said:

    Here's a quick theory on the end of episodes 17-18. In episode 17 when Cooper's face superimposes against the screen it represents a split in time. We are allowed to see one of these splits play out with Cooper going back to the lodge with the purpose of fulfilling his plan to save Laura and find Judy (two birds-one stone). Going into the lodge he remembers the Fireman's clues (430, Richard and Linda, Two birds one stone). He eventually travels (as Cooper) the 430 miles to some rip in time. When he enters the rip in time, he and Diane split. This is evidenced by Diane seeing another image of herself and the fact that at the hotel Cooper says things could change. In the hotel, we no longer are seeing Cooper - it is Richard. Richard doesn't remember the things the Giant told him, this is why he is so baffled by the note left in the morning. He only has a vague memory of himself, and some conditioned objective to find "Laura Palmer". We see Richard's personality change in the hotel, because he is a different person. Eventually they wind up at Laura's house and the ending. What we don't see, is that "Richard", conditioned to find Judy, and having already found Laura, will continue to lose his identity as Cooper and end up being Mr. C who will go back into the lodge and become Mr. C. Mr. C who has a conditioned need to find Judy for some unknown reason, which is a remnant of Cooper's original plan.

     

    Hmmm, I like this theory except for the Mr C stuff...  I think Coop is acting differently from the moment he emerges from the lodge: it is most obvious after he and Diane 'pass through', but even his interaction with her immediately upon emerging is quite un-Coop-like.  The kiss before they cross for example already seems strange and uncomfortable... 

    That said, it is definitely the sex scene with Diane that most drives it home - Coop's blank face and near-immobile participation are a hell of a counterpoint to Dougie and Janey-e's scene with Dougie's equally passive, but considerably more joyful interaction.  Actually, in a way, the scene with Diane is what I was afraid the scene with Janey was going to be (sans the silly floppy arms) until the camera showed Dougie's face.

  14. Posted

    4 hours ago, Frohike said:

    Judy seems to be a Lynchian equivalent to the old Gnostic concept of the Demiurge, a malevolent force that created a physical reality that contains aspects of divinity but is in fact a trap, a trick... a dream from which to awaken.

    One Gnostic mythos describes the declination of aspects of the divine into human form. Sophia (Greek: Σοφία, lit. "wisdom"), the Demiurge's mother a partial aspect of the divine Pleroma or "Fullness," desired to create something apart from the divine totality, without the receipt of divine assent. In this act of separate creation, she gave birth to the monstrous Demiurge and, being ashamed of her deed, wrapped him in a cloud and created a throne for him to be within it. The Demiurge, isolated, did not behold his mother, nor anyone else, and concluded that only he existed, ignorant of the superior levels of reality.

     

    The Demiurge, having received a portion of power from his mother, sets about a work of creation in unconscious imitation of the superior Pleromatic realm: He frames the seven heavens, as well as all material and animal things, according to forms furnished by his mother; working however blindly, and ignorant even of the existence of the mother who is the source of all his energy. He is blind to all that is spiritual, but he is king over the other two provinces. The word dēmiourgos properly describes his relation to the material; he is the father of that which is animal like himself.

     

    Thus Sophia's power becomes enclosed within the material forms of humanity, themselves entrapped within the material universe: the goal of Gnostic movements was typically the awakening of this spark, which permitted a return by the subject to the superior, non-material realities which were its primal source.

    Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demiurge

     

    Interesting!  Particularly in light of the theories that 'Judy' is a transliteration of that Chinese phrase that relates to 'knowing' or explanation. 

  15. Posted

    @Digger

    "You know it wants the food or the toy, and you are enjoying its reaction, and then continuing to promise and withhold is disrespectful."

     

    I think we can reasonably assume that Lynch & Frost know we want certain things, but 'you are enjoying its reaction' is supposition, and when was any promise made?

     

    "You'll never know, and I've not given you enough information to understand."

     

    But why do you assume you have a right to?  If they want to make something where there isn't enough information to be sure about anything, when did they agree to do otherwise?

     

    I get why the things you mention are frustrating, or not how you wish this was made, but I still can't get to disrespect, because I don't think we were owed or promised anything different.  Lynch and Frost are not beholden to our expectations.  (Well, not in an artistic sense anyway.  Perhaps financially, but I don't think either of them are likely to starve if TP bombs)

  16. Posted

    @Digger
    Well, if owed is not the concept to use, then by what measure can the choices in the series be disrespectful?  Otherwise it can be contrary to expectation, but the notion of respect doesn't come into it.

     

    Of course Twin Peaks is as open to reading and critique as anything else, and of course artists can offend or their work can miss the mark.  My point is that if you and a creator have different ideas of where that mark is, do you think you have a right to demand that they move to meet your definition?

     

    "These are characters and a world that has been pored over, examined and loved for over 25 years.  The characters, place and feel have been internalized.  I believe an audience can have expectations and opinions."

     

    Sure - there are a lot of us who really like this thing.  I don't agree that this means we ought to have any say over how it is made.

  18. Posted

    1 minute ago, Nordelnob said:

    This seems likely. Diane is traumatized for life. As much as she completely LOVES Cooper with all of her heart, having sex with someone who looks identical to your rapist is probably not the best thing to do.

     

    This was a disturbing scene.  The way I took it was that Diane recognised the change in Cooper since they had 'crossed over', and this is what was disturbing her - hence her attempts to cover RichardCoop's face.  (Or alternatively, if she was looking at it from the other side, she was alarmed by the change in Richard)

  20. Posted

    Oh sure, I'm not claiming that Lynch did any of this by accident. 

     

    Cockney Freddie and the magic gardening glove is no more ridiculous than super-strong teenage-minded Nadine, or Ben Horne's civil war obsession, to my mind.  It is true that the wackier stuff existed more in pockets than as a vein throughout this season though.

     

    All of which said, I'm not exactly arguing that I found the finale entirely satisfying myself, but I didn't find it retroactively changed my enjoyment of the earlier episodes.  I think I prefer something unsatisfyingly strange over a pat everything-comes-together sort of ending though, if I had to go one extreme or the other.

  21. Posted

    54 minutes ago, Aether said:

    The languid pace of the return and the ambiguity of so many scenes ultimately served no purpose and led to nothing. Where's Audrey? Lynch could care less. Her fate is not enigmatic, it was just discarded. In retrospect, a lot of the season meant very little, these were starting points that Lynch never intended to take anywhere interesting. The finale undid much of the season and much of Twin Peaks as a whole (literally) just so that we could witness Cooper (once again) lost and defeated. I only focus on the magic gardening glove nonsense because it's a window into how Lynch viewed the finale. Some of it was a joke to him, the rest was contempt for the viewer. You disagree and that's perfectly fine, it has been interesting to see the various reactions. Thanks, Frohike.

    "...so many scenes ultimately served no purpose..."  What purpose is a scene allowed to serve?  Does it have to be literally advancing the plot?  As an example - the languid pace: what sort of conclusion would have justified it for you?  I think it was mostly tonal - a way of dragging out the impatience and suspense.

    Does anything that is not completely explained count as 'discarded'?  How is there any room for 'enigmatic' in that arrangement?  When you have an explanation, you no longer have an enigma.

    "Some of it was a joke to him, the rest was contempt for the viewer."  Did you get his autograph during the discussion where you established this?  I'm happy to argue just about any interpretation of the work, but I think that attributing authorial motive is a much trickier question, especially in a work this inscrutable.

     

    Personally I find it unlikely that someone would throw their lives into making 18 hours of television just as a show of contempt, or that if they had, that this season is what we would have ended up with.

  22. Posted

    2 hours ago, UnpopularTrousers said:

    Before tonight's episode I wanna give a big ol' thanks to Chris and Jake for making such a great show every week and to everyone else in the community for engaging in such fun, insightful, and oftentimes ridiculous conversation. I don't think I would have enjoyed this season nearly as much without y'all.

     

    Now, let's do this thing.

     

    Here, here!  Thanks Jake & Chris!  Wondering how you are both going to react or interpret something has become an integral part of my TP enjoyment, and has helped ensure interesting elements don't slip by unnoticed.

     

    While we're at it, thanks to you forumites for the discussion, and to the forum mods for helping keep it civil.  Compared to a lot of places online this feels like a friendly environment, which I know doesn't happen without work.

  23. Posted

    Hmmm....  I think Dougiecoop as some kind of enlightened being / bodhisatva is an interesting notion. 

    If he was, what would we expect from such a person?  Am a buddhism noob but I would think compassion and detachment...  Not sure how well his being led around and glossolalia match up - while there are plenty of tales of spiritual types withdrawing from the world to find an epiphany of some description, it is generally more literal - meditating in a cave for years or some such, rather than just being away with the fairies.

    Have been reading up about some of the more superstitious end of Thai flavours of Buddhism.  Of the stuff I've encountered, I think Dougiecoop's charmed life is maybe closest to the promises of a Sak Yant tattoo or similar protective spell.  (Supposed to provide protection from violent attack and magic, and provide good luck)

  24. Posted

    I am laying bets on Diane as bloody-mouthed-prison-guy-who-is-possibly-Billy.  His glossolalia is similar to Dougie's repetitions, but with more mockery implied, which might fit with Diane's more acerbic personality.  (Although why BadCoop would have wanted to keep her around at all is another matter - surely would be less loose ends just to kill her...)

    Also, @Mentalgongfu, I know it is pointless, but as one of those pedants who fancies themselves as fighting a rearguard action against the ongoing decay of the language, I feel compelled to point out that the phrase is "to jibe with" rather than "jive with", 'jibe' being a rather archaic term for accord.

  25. Posted

    @Mentalgongfu said "Then the MC introduced "Audrey's dance," someone smashed Barney with a bottle, and Audrey screamed at her husband to get her out of there and flashed to a mirror in a white room.... so, I don't know if anyone has suggested this yet, but I'm starting to think she might be in a coma :)"

    Heheh - I reckon at this stage Audrey is in an institution of some kind.  Her makeup-less reflection being so framed by white reads that way to me anyway.

     

    @Owl said "Incidentally, I feel like we haven't given enough credit to the hilarious amount of beeping equipment in the office with Gordon Cole et al. It's like a sublte background parody of cop shows with how much beeping and blinking lights for no reason is  going on in the background of so many of these episodes. "

    Yes!  The camera pan around the room with all the old-school equipment then back to Cole's slightly worried, not-entirely-comprehending face was one of my favourite parts of this episode.

     

    @Urthmansaid " For one thing, when was the last time you got to see a woman of Fenn's age and build dance on TV and she's not an object of ridicule and she's not dancing to seduce some dude, just because she's caught up in a song?"

     

    This stood out for me too, and I thought she played it really well.