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Below are the most recent 25 friends' journal entries.

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    Saturday, July 5th, 2008
    sheepyrai
         		3:05a
    I just realized that if this is in fact a burst ovarian cyst coming on, I'm going to be gm'ing Exalted tomorrow while under the influence of vicodin.

    It's a good thing Mikael will be there or I'd come out of it and realize that four of my players have a Five Metal Shrike or something.
    Friday, July 4th, 2008
    sheepyrai
         		11:23p
    AUGH
    ASDLKFLKJASDG

    DAAAMN YOUUU CYSSSSSTT

    ( OVARIAN CYST 2: REVENGE OF THE CYST )
    whitewolf_lj
    [ femur73 ]
         		12:54p
    mirror, mirror on the wall...
    so, it comes to my attention that we haven't had an art discussion in ages. as such, I would like to know what secrets of the art side of things are y'all curious about? do you want to know...

    what we look for in a portfolio?
    what decisions go into the design of a book?
    what does an art director do?
    who does what on the art team?

    just add your questions in the comments and I will answer them as best I can on Fridays. I may even pull in a surprise guest here and there.

    - the matt,
    ww publishing
    production manager
    Thursday, July 3rd, 2008
    sheepyrai
         		6:58a
    LIGHTNING STORM!
    Lightning storm last night with just a little bit of actual thunder. I always thought thunder was a permanent accompaniment to lightning but I only heard it once or twice last night. Anyway, it was awesome. We were walking into the store and I was commenting about how dark it had gotten, but how it had probably cooled off too slowly to facilitate a thunderstorm and suddenly lightning arced between two clouds right behind the store. SO COOL.

    On the way out Mikael made us walk near tall trees and light posts. I was all "whatever, the storm was like way over there," and as soon as we got to the car, lightning right over us. ASSDLKJF SO COOL. I almost thought I saw some mammatus clouds in the storm's wake, but I really don't think conditions in this part of the state would ever cause those. Stupid stable weather system.

    I love storms. Extreme Instability is one of my favorite sites on the web. If you love storm chasing, or just retardedly frightening pictures of storms building, it's high recommended.

    Anyway, so now it's raining. It was pretty hot for Bellingham earlier this week (80? 85?) and now it's cool and raining. Just in time for the fourth! :/

    Also, for breakfast I am having peanut butter and crackers. >_>a
    Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008
    whitewolf_lj
    [ johnny_redactor ]
         		3:43p
    Chambers of Love: The State of Creation Edition
    So, as Eddy mentioned in the Monday Meeting post, I was in Columbus, OH this past week for Origins. Much fun was had, and I got to meet and talk Exalted and Scion with a lot of fans and freelancers. I took the opportunity to give people an overview of where the books they’re looking forward to are in the publishing process and a bit more about what’s going to be in The Manual of Exalted Power—The Infernals due out in 2009.
     
    So, first off, The Roll of Glorious Divinity II is at the printers, and the logo is, in fact, spelled correctly. Brian got a printer proof Monday, and everything looks good. The Compass of Terrestrial Directions—The East is being proofed internally at White Wolf right now, and it should be heading to the printer too before the July 4th holiday. We’re waiting for a bit of the final art to come in on Scion: Ragnarök, and then, it too will be headed into layout. Another Scion Companion installment will be available soon as well, chock full of new crunchy bits for players. Graceful Wicked Masques—The Fair Folk will be out of development and into editing this week, and then I’ll be diving straight into the Scroll of Fallen Races. Initial drafts are coming in for The Compass of Terrestrial Directions—The South, and they are being redlined by Dean Shomshak, who’s co-developing that book with me. In addition to the aforementioned East layout, Brian Glass is working on an as of yet top-secret assignment that will be revealed to you guys and gals soon. And then, there’s the next fatsplat currently being written for Exalted, namely The Manual of Exalted Power—The Infernals.
     
    Since I dished some Infernals info at Origins, I figured I’d give you folk the lowdown as well. It’s a standard Exalt-type fatsplat, with full rules for playing the Green Sun Princes. Michael Goodwin’s Charm set ideas are great, and I can’t wait to see his draft. The book also devotes a chapter to the akuma, focusing on how these fallen Chosen differ from the Green Sun Princes and also on how they operate in Creation. There is also a full chapter devoted to Helltech, which I can’t go into much detail on, but am really excited about.
     
    Well, that’s what’s going on now with my two games. I’ll be back with a similar “State of Creation” entry in a few months, and a new Chambers of Love in two weeks. Have a great Independence Day holiday, my fellow Americans, and everyone else enjoy a terrific weekend.
     
    Tuesday, July 1st, 2008
    whitewolf_lj
    [ eddyfate ]
         		1:18p
    Monday Meeting: Three Places, One Party (with pictures)
    What We're Doing (paraphrased from emails)

    Team Exalted
    John: "East proofing and finishing Graceful Wicked Masques."
    Brian: "Getting the East into proofing today. Out Friday (as I’m assuming most everyone is since it’s the 4th)."

    Team Vampire
    Joe: "Continuing work with a whole bunch of Immortal Sinners. Getting chunks of Nosferatu off to edits."
    Craig: "Con decompression. Mekhet."

    Team Rest-of-WoD-and-VtES
    Ethan: "[Upcoming WoD book] is the main thing. Also some administrata, and finishing up the
    art notes for [upcoming project]."
    Aileen: "Finishing up first proof for Keys to the Supernal Tarot. Pestering Ethan for more art notes."
    Mike: "Slasher layout continues. VTES packaging layout....figure get that out of the way. Witch Finders proofs from Transcon. Probably some other stuff that I can't remember at the moment."

    Team EVE
    Russell: "Writing design proposals for EVE Online. Receiving pieces of Nosferatu from writers."

    Team AP
    Eddy: "I got far less accomplished at Origins than I thought I would (and will be reducing future expectations of availability to work as a result) and a lot of things rolled onto my plate between being out for a week and the month changeover, so I've got a lot of ass to kick this week. Proofing Ruins of Ur (and Manifestations of Ichor if matt has further revisions). Redlining the Hunter SAS. Prepping Scion Companion pts. 5 and 6 for editing. Prepping Scion Companion pt. 3 for production, and submitting To the Flame to production. Start development of [four different projects]. Catching up on a lot of administrata from Origins, including future OBS and AP planning and following up on networking from Origins. Writing."
    Jess: "making corrections to Ruins of Ur and working on Scion Ragnarok"

    Team the matt
    the matt: Likely recovering from convention, proofing and deleting WAY too much email.
    Between a party at the office on Friday and two crews going to conventions at the same time, this week's meeting was a lot of catching up on what happened in various places in various times. Of course, tons of pictures were taken.

    ( Lots of pictures follow. )
    Monday, June 30th, 2008
    sheepyrai
         		10:18p
    HAY GUYS

    Who can tell me about this Jungle Book Shonen Mowgli? A friend was asking about it and I didn't even know they'd made a Jungle Book anime, lol XD;
    sheepyrai
         		7:08p
    ART

    Pray by *raithesheep on deviantART

    Something I finished yesterday at [info]ravynwolf's while watching Dirty Jobs. I can't believe I never gave this show a chance before.. I LOVE IT
    sheepyrai
         		6:02p
    200.5!
    Jesus, I totally forgot.

    I'm at 200.5 lbs now. I'm one fucking pound away from my first goal. AUGH.

    So far, that's six pounds in a month. More than one pound a week!

    I don't even want to say that I'm on a diet. Mostly what I'm doing is making sure that I have smaller portions, I only eat when I'm hungry, and, most importantly, I only eat good food as opposed to snack food. I had the "smaller portions" and "only when hungry" parts down originally, but "eating good food" was beyond me.

    ( Rai waxes poetic on lifestyle changes. )

    Anyway that's about everything I have on my mind about it >_>a I'm mostly just writing this down so that later, if I'm feeling bad about it and feel like I'm getting nowhere, I can look back on my entries and go "NO FUCK THAT, IT WAS WORKING, I GOTTA STICK IT TO THE FAT."
    sheepyrai
         		5:41p
    Movies
    This weekend I saw two movies in theaters, which is double what I normally see in half a year.

    "Kung Fu Panda" was FUCKING AWESOME
    ( THERE IS NO CHARGE FOR AWESOMENESS. .... OR ATTRACTIVENESS. )

    "Wall-E" was by far my favorite Pixar movie ever.
    ( d i r e c t i v e ? )

    It makes me really hope for the next generation of "kids movies." Both of these movies were geared towards children, but there was no talking down, no heavy-handed morals, no irritating musical numbers, and they were filled with stories, characters, and jokes that even grown ass adults like me can really appreciate.

    tl;dr -- These movies are amazing and totally worth even the non-matinée prices. GO SEE THEM.
    Sunday, June 29th, 2008
    sheepyrai
         		11:49p
    sheepyrai
         		10:57p
    haircuttu
    Okay so I finally got my hair cut again. The last time I got a cut was.... last year, actually, about a week after I started my new job. It was down past my shoulder blades and irritating the hell out of me.

    Upon trying to decide what to go with, being assaulted by PRETTY PRETTY MODEL PICTURES, I turned to my Hair Guy and said "So... how short do you think I could go?"

    SIX INCHES LATER, WE HAVE MYSPACE-STYLE PHOTOS

    "Exactly how much gel did I just use?"


    "Perfecting the art of taking photos of myself that don't actually show any of me."


    I'm so ridiculously happy with it. Now I want to wear pantsuits and get tattoos and go all lesbian-chic.

    Downside: Gotta update all my ID self portraits :(
    Saturday, June 28th, 2008
    sheepyrai
         		2:24p
    FANGIRL MODE: ON
    Oh man Diablo 3.

    "When Deckard Cain returns to the ruins of Tristram's Cathedral seeking clues to new stirrings of evil, a comet from the heavens strikes the very ground where Diablo once entered the world. The comet carries a dark omen in its fiery being and it calls the heroes of Sanctuary to defend the mortal world against the rising powers of the Burning Hells – and even the failing luminaries of the High Heavens itself."

    Well this is pretty much ham-fisted to me. The meteor falling in the cinematic must be an actual angel falling, possibly Tyrael, since it's sort of hinted in 2 that him destroying the Worldstone wasn't exactly according to plan. But the angels all seem to look the same >_>a

    Anyway I really thought the angels of the Diablo universe were fucking badass so I'd be happy to see them get hella lot more screentime/development.

    Also a metric fuckload of new announcements were made re: Wrath of the Lich King. To name a few,
    • A plan for a player to have two talent specs they can switch between with little fuss.
    • Deathknight characters will have their voices updated to sound more "deathknight-y."
    • Shaman totems will affect entire raids, not just their party, and also things like poison or sharpening stones on your weapons will not block the effects of Windfury totem.
    • Hunter pets will get their own talent trees holy shit.
    • ENTANGLING ROOTS INDOORS
    • DRUID DIRE BEAR AND CAT FORMS WILL HAVE NEW MODELS Edit: I really should clarify this. That's "Dire bear" comma "Dire cat" period. There's a Dire Cat form in WotLK.
    • A plan for players at 80 to take passengers on their mounts


    ..I think I need a Blizzard icon now.
    sheepyrai
         		3:32a
    BLIZZARD INVITATIONAL FEED SO SLOW

    DIABLO 3 SO REAL

    MUST HAVE MOAR

    edit: WELL OKAY I DIDN'T REALLY GET TO SEE THE WHOLE THING CONSECUTIVELY BUT I'M STILL DEFINITELY IN FANGIRL MODE. GENDER OPTIONS FOR CHARACTERS. WITCH DOCTORS LOOK AWESOME. SQUISHY SOUNDS AND GORE FLYING EVERYWHERE. LOLOL
    Friday, June 27th, 2008
    mixnmatchmemory
         		12:51p
    if not the help...
    I could really use company tonight and tomorrow while i move.
    Thursday, June 26th, 2008
    sheepyrai
         		7:00p
    diablo 3!
    lol hai thar, diablo. And with that fifth rune, we definitely have a pentacle! GG guys.

    BTW, the next numbered image is 08, and called "harbinger". My forehead is red from facepalming. However, this does not look like a tuskar, so the world is not a total loss!

    [info]uhrwerkmensch found that they basically had all the pictures uploaded and if I had looked for them manually by using the stupid fucking Lost numbers I would have found the whole image. WTF it's uhh ..... what is it. Chilly Willy indeed.
    sheepyrai
         		6:57p
    Psssst...... guys.

    [info]wowroticxchange

    It's--dare I say--quality controlled.

    Yes, I'm getting involved in another porn community. But..... quality control.

    EVERYBODY JOIN IF YOU LIKE NAKED PEOPLE!
    sheepyrai
         		5:03p
    d... diablo 3?
    Blizzard has actually confirmed that they will be announcing a new title, which means that at least all this riddle-solving bullshit isn't just for WotLK. I'm still betting on Diablo 3, although a new IP would be pleasantly surprising.

    Someone else somewhere has pointed out that when you trace the glyphs that have been appearing on the main splash page in order, you're one point away from drawing a pentacle. DEMONIC, LOL. No one can figure out for sure what the fourth glyph is though, but there are a lot of theories.

    Anyway, I'd completely forgotten about those god damn Lost numbers, so now I'm pretty sure that everything in master.css is just there to fuck with us. I'm coming to terms with the purple tuskar trap.

    Some other things of note:

    "I work as a phone sex operator, and to tell you the truth, usually it's boring as hell. ... But I do have weird callers, too. However, in recent memory, one of them takes the cake. He called and wanted me to do...a robot fantasy." -- There's an awesome comment thread in there about GLaDOS working as a phone sex operator, but I'll let you discover it yourself.

    Westboro Baptists to attempt to picket George Carlin's funeral. I'm shocked? Are you shocked? I'm fucking shocked! The funny part of that is, I bet he'd be pissed to not get a chance to see these sign-waving assholes issuing such scathing insults as "pottymouth." I also love the digs at Olbermann and Seinfeld lol XD
    sheepyrai
         		6:32a
    what
    L..... lol.

    Blizzard is fucking with me.

    Of course, the main screen changed again. Observe, the evil eyes peering at us through the ice! There's a fourth rune but um I have no idea what the fuck it is. [info]suasor probably told me last night while I was pretending to be awake.

    The next picture is under class "cold" and it's number 16.



    ...It is a goddamn purple Tuskar, isn't it? AUGH.

    The image numbering is also getting a little weird. Instead of moving "cold" to the very end of the css like the other three, they dropped it in the middle. That chunk of css now looks like this.

    /*.tundra {background:url(_images/04.jpg) no-repeat 0 0} */
    .clickthru {background:url('_images/ctbg.gif') repeat-x 0 0;}
    /*.cold {background:url(_images/16.jpg) no-repeat 0 0} */
    .clickthru .link {background:url('_images/ctbg.jpg') no-repeat 50% 0;text-align:center;height:29px;}
    .clickthru a {line-height:29px;padding:0 15px 0 0;background:url('_images/link.gif') no-repeat 100% 50%}
    /*.cavern {background:url(_images/15.jpg) no-repeat 0 0} */
    .icefield {cursor: pointer; background:url('_images/ice4.jpg') no-repeat 50% 0;height:874px;text-align:center;}
    .icefield a {display:block;height:55px;width:110px;position:relative;top:640px;margin:0 auto;}
    .footer {text-align:center;}
    /*.icy {background:url(_images/23.jpg) no-repeat 0 0} */

    So it goes 04, 16, 15, 23. Uh, D P O W. ....We need to buy a vowel.

    We've got two days left, so there are two possible letters missing from this. What other two letters could have this make sense? And does the order of the css have any sort of significance here?

    Also, please tell me it's not a stupid purple tuskar lol XD;
    Wednesday, June 25th, 2008
    sheepyrai
         		11:03p
    So today I had 1.5 pieces of cake, 0.5 donuts, an oreo "fudgey," and three chocolate covered pretzels, all in about the span of 15 minutes.

    Some people binge on, I don't know, actual drugs, and then.. there's me.

    So I've felt sort of junky and strung-out all day. You'd think that by now I would know to stay the fuck away from refined sugar but nooo
    whitewolf_lj
    [ eskemp ]     		2:13p
    Behind the Lines: Genre Fascists (#23)

    If you're into the meta discussion of RPGs, you probably know something about identifying gamers by "type." You know, saying things like "Well, Jason is a Powergamer who wants to be the best around, and Jill is an Explorer who's happiest discovering new things about the setting." One of the first books that I remember doing this was Aaron Allston's Strike Force for Champions, which was basically a book full of "Let me tell you about my characters/campaign" that was written well, and full of insanely great advice on how to keep a game going and your players happy. I bring Strike Force up in particular not just because it's the first place I ran into those labels (I was a crazy-mad Champions gamer back in college), but because of one particular label he used: the Genre Fiend.

    The Genre Fiend, or Genre Nazi, or Genre Fascist, or Genre Fanatic, or Genre Enthusiast — pick your favorite — is described as the sort of gamer who really likes the tropes of a given genre, and who will be happy when they're played up and unhappy when they're ignored or broken. He might be happy subverting them as an intellectual exercise, but most often he really likes playing a game in a fairly uncut genre. Despite the fact that terms like "fiend" and "Nazi" are not that complimentary, the Genre Junkie is actually not seen as a negative type of player. If you're running a pulp game, the Genre Tyrant will exult in two-fisted action, helpfully getting into fights atop zeppelins or car chases along winding roads with Tommy guns a-blazing. If you're going for a gritty Western, he'll create a character that showcases the interesting frontier ethics and morality of the time, rather than trying to reenact Back to the Future 3.

    The people who work here in the development trenches of White Wolf? They are Genre Overlords, let me tell you. They tend to be more experimental when it comes time to run games, mind, and may subvert tropes and do genre mash-ups in order to stimulate their brilliant, fevered minds — but once you actually set the genre of a game, they adhere to that puppy.

    I bring this up because sometimes people have asked why we haven't done something like "World of Darkness: Cyberpunk," or why Andrew Bates' light-hearted and cartoony pitch of "WoD: Kids" never saw the light of day while we turned around and did World of Darkness: Innocents. The World of Darkness is in itself a genre. You could even argue that it's two, overall — the original WoD was a more over-the-top, supernatural action-adventure with a couple of shots of serious philosophy and gritty noir-ish aspects, while the current incarnation is a more classic horror genre. Each of the game lines within that are additional genres, too, subsections with odd hooks like "Modern Fantasy" and "Savage Fury." And holding the reins of these settings are the kind of Genre Aficionados that keep things as consistent as they can. (This is also true of any non-WoD game we've done, I should note; a versatile system is great, but truly generic RPGs are not really our thing.)

    Now, that said, we're sensitive to the needs of players who like to do genre mash-ups with the WoD, and even those who like to take the Storytelling system and go brand new places with it. So we do try to provide neat things for you. I wouldn't be at all surprised if you could take the core magic system of Mage and have it work as a magic system for a fantasy setting — hell, the basic orders key in very well to classic fantasy tropes like necromancers, alchemists, enchantresses, diabolists and the like. There's some neat stuff in the upcoming Hunter that, if you were to rip the flavor text away, could serve as the basis for some serious genre-bending.

    But we don't do that sort of thing ourselves terribly often. The WoD is something that has a certain value to it if it remains within genre. I don't just mean that as a marketing concern (though that concern is present) — I mean it as a Genre Brute, someone who sees the aesthetic value of something that remains largely true to itself. Now, as a Genre Zealot, I'm not going to be pushing to put World of Darkness: Superheroes on the plate. Though that could be an interesting mash-up, it wouldn't really fit as a not-so-mashed-up setting element. But on the other hand, as a designer, I do like the thought of character design subsystems that could be used to make a fairly low-level supers game. Stuff like the Ridden or skinchangers are a start. Maybe you say "Hey, Skinchangers and/or Changing Breeds could be the basis for a supers game where supers get their powers from Moreau-like hybridization," and you build a setting around that. It does require a certain amount of ripping and repasting, but that's because the stuff to be ripped and repasted is ultimately material created out of love for the original genre, and with a desire to keep that genre well provided for.

    But you know, anything we put out might turn into something completely different in your own games. Wink wink, nudge nudge. And if you wind up with a subgenre or mash-up that rocks your players' faces off and leads to some of the best gaming ever, trust us — we're all for it. We might even wish we could play in those games ourselves. Never enough time, am I right?

    --
    Ring Name: Priscilla “Thug” Kim
    Hails From: The Far East (or West, actually, if you live in America; Eurocentricism isn't very helpful, is it?)
    Angle: Heel; thug by name, thug by nature
    Style: Martial brawler
    Entrance Music: “Enter the Dragon,” Euroboys
    Working the Crowd: Revels in the downstairs air-conditioning
    Foreign Object: 2”x4” with a nail in it (old-school!)
    Finishing Move: Jackboot (top-rope double foot stomp)
    mixnmatchmemory
         		2:43p
    So I'm thinking...
    I think I might submit something to harlequin romance for kicks. The books are relatively easy and fun to write with a limited word count.

    But I've got so many choices. I could use some inspiration. What sort of insipid romance novel would you like to see me write?
    sheepyrai
         		6:36a
    w... wtf
    Okay wait. Wait. What the hell is going on here.

    In my post yesterday I triumphantly announced Diablo 3 possibly maybe to my friends list. Uh. Now I don't know what the fuck is going on.

    Today's splash image has a third rune, and it's a Protoss tribal crest. The ice in the center is now broken and falling away. Also, the new image linked in master.css is called "icy," and is labeled 23. It looks like the upper right corner of a picture.

    When I put all the pieces together it looks like this:



    I.... have no idea what this is. I've rotated it all around to see if there's something I'm missing, but the biggest hint is going to be in that gray area where I can only assume the "face" of the picture is. The numbering theory would now state that this image is W. So we have D O W. WORLD OF DIABLO, LOLOLOL.

    Incorporating runes from their three biggest titles (just going to say that first rune is from Frostmourne, then we have the Hel rune, and the crest of the Protoss Akilae tribe), and then the imagery of the ice breaking around them....

    Is this Blizzard's new IP?
    Tuesday, June 24th, 2008
    sheepyrai
         		10:03p
    WHY YOU NOT CALL DIMITRI?
    Dimitri is single and has no trouble meeting women. Seriously, they approach him like six, seven times a day. Also, he's Greek, and very particular about what he likes. He finds Olga very elegant, unfortunately for her. He couldn't take his eyes of her, which makes her friends extremely jealous, even if they say they weren't, they were certainly envious that Dimitri was so taken with her.

    Also, he's writing on a movie script. He's Greek, too. This is a major opportunity for Olga to let the romance begin.

    Don't let Dimitri's passion and assertiveness frighten you or make you timid. He only wants to share with you his fabulous wealth and talents at lovemaking.

    Unless you have psychological problems. Then he is NOT INTERESTED.

    Did I mention he's Greek?

    beatsbackdeath: my friend waylon went to san francisco for a work trip
    beatsbackdeath: he got THIS from a coworker, who got it from a friend of a friend
    beatsbackdeath: dear olga recorded these, and I will forever love and respect her for that
    artist koupal: Oh my god.
    artist koupal: H-he's... so full of himself
    beatsbackdeath: Dimitri is COMPLETELY SINGLE and is great in bed.
    beatsbackdeath: Believe it or not he is a GREAT CATCH
    beatsbackdeath: There's NOTHING WRONG WITH HIM
    artist koupal: HE IS GUNTHER
    artist koupal: *lolololol*
    beatsbackdeath: He understands if you have issues though
    beatsbackdeath: maybe you were abused as a child?
    beatsbackdeath: maybe your mother has cancer?
    artist koupal: Oh my god
    beatsbackdeath: maybe you have an anxiety disorder and you are taking medication?
    artist koupal: LOL I'M NO LONGER INTERESTED
    sheepyrai
         		5:50p
    Walked home from work today. Please don't take that lightly--it's 45 minutes if I push myself and I never walk anywhere.

    I do feel a lot better about today though. Damn, it's just been up and down for me. One day I feel great and the next I'm bummed/anxious as hell.
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