Oh so sorry
You fell away
Down the well
Playing guessing games
Oh how you strove
For truth and meaning
Always seeing
Hardly feeling
If only you knew
If only you saw
That things that seem true
Are often found false
And where henceforth
Have you gone away
And will you come back
When you're done with your games

As we lay here
Silently in bed
My hand rests
On your naked hip

Your head on my arm
Back to chest
My face in your hair
Smell of shampoo
Sex and body wash

You mumble something
In half drowsy awareness
I can’t hear what it is though
It doesn’t matter
Because we are here
With my hand on your hip

In the space right before sleep
I can feel the touch of your lips
The slight pressure of hand on back
As you crawl into bed
Setting things into place
Like puzzle pieces as we lay
In that space it lasts forever
Like only dreams can
Filled with heat and light
Depth in brevity
A concerto from you to me

Arthur C. Clarke RIP

Arthur C. Clarke; probably, if not the most influential Science Fiction author of the last century then definitely in the top 3 has passed away this morning in his home in Sri Lanka. Clarke wrote many excellent books of which Childhood's End, Rendezvous with Rama, and of course 2001: a Space Odyssey are the most well known. Clarke was also responsible for coming up with the theory for determining how to put a communications network into the eponymous geosynchronous orbit 22,300 feet above the planet, which pretty much led the way to, well life as we currently know it. So, today when you use your cell phone, or the internet, or see a television remember that none of that would have been possible without Arthur C. Clarke science fiction author, futurist.

The way you look through me
So effortlessly
With just a glance and
A come hither look
From your big green
Half lidded wantonness
Just burns through my soul
Leaving embers dying in
Forest fire aftermath
Leaves me withered and charred
Ready for new growth
The way you look at me
Over the edge of your
Oh so sexy spectacles
Makes me yearn for you
To look at me at least
Just one more time
Like that
The way we look together
To the horizon sometimes
When your hand finds mine
Swaying lightly
Like palms on Ventura
Or bed sheets

Clouds drift by
Tumbleweeds
In a prairie of blue
Lazy like lovers
Languid after long laconic
Kisses of
Lips
Hands
Thighs
Mingling and joining
In harmony
Perfect like the way
Your hair frames your face
As we lay on the grass
The twilight reflects
Off the green in your
Yes oh so smoky gaze
Mixing with the reds and oranges
Of not quite yesterday

Tales of the counquering hero

Okay, so as referenced earlier, I knew I was going to be playing IG Hidden, in the City Championship. What I didn't know was that I wouldn't be able to find any of my Crime Syndicates or Flying Kicks which is of course ridiculous since I must have about 20 or so Flying Kicks. So after calling around and being able to secure at least the FK's Mike and I headed over to the shop. Regardless this is the pile I ended up playing...

Tot's

4 Catwoman
4 Johnny Quick
2 Superwoman
4 Owlman
2 Black Manta
4 Jemm
2 Ultraman
4 White Martian
2 Prometheus

Plots

4 Batzarro Beatdown
1 Savage Beatdown
1 Crime Syndicate
2 Pathetic Attempt
2 Hunte Castle
2 Lvl. 12 Intelligence
3 Flying Kick
4 Big Leagues
3 Skree
4 Secret Files
4 Blinding Rage

Total: 60

So after grabbing the three Flying Kicks from Adam and tossing them in my deck heading out for a quick smoke and BSing with the folks at the card shop we sit down to play there's 9 players there which is nice for what I considered pretty average prize support. I take a quick look at the meta for the tourney.

1 FF (Bonnie)
1 IG Hidden (yours truly)
1 Kree/VU (Adam)
1 Punisher (Abel)
1 Skrull/IH (Sean)
1 FF (Mike)
1 Hellboy/??? (Mikey)
1 IH Curve (Mik)
and
whatever Ryan was playing

Rounds are paired up, Sean has the bye.

Round 1 Abel (Punisher/FF)

Abel is a good player in our area and I knew he'd be playing Punisher since he's been playing it for a while. I win the roll and take evens.
Turn 1

Abel lays a resource and passes.

I drop Catwoman.

Life 52-48

Turn 2

I drop Superwoman. Abel plays Punisher hidden. I swing for 4. Abel powers Punisher up on his attack back

Life 51-46
Turn 3

Abel lays and plays out Thing ( the 6/5 one). I play Owlman, he swings for 9 to the face which I am of course forced to take. I play Skree on Punisher, swing Owlman through him then smash Superwoman into Thing, lastly I bring Catwoman across for the 5 point swing. Abel Ko's Punisher.

Life 42-34
Turn 4
I Lay a resource and play Jem, discarding Johnny Quick. Abel plays Punisher attaches a Desert Eagle to him flips a Baxter Building, draws, discards an Invisible Woman, draws again still can't find part of the Fate Suite and flips a Tower, discarding another FF character, finally going out to get the Helm. Raised eyebrow on my side. Combat ensues. I first attempt to Lvl. 12 away the eagle, he responds by calling my attempt Pathetic. So, I have Superwoman bravely fly over and smash punisher for 7 with the help of the Big Leagues. "I should have gotten the Cloak" Abel says. I then run Jem into Thing and Owlman smashes his face for 7. Abel keeps Punisher

Life 39-18
Turn 5

Abel plays Ghost Rider, with a Wheels of Vengance does more drawey-waey stuff with NBB, still can't find any stuff to put on Punisher and shakes his head. I play a White Martian. Abel went to scoop at this point, but we played it out anyway after his attack it was 6-18, after mine it was 6-(-12)

1-0

Game two I play Mike my roommate he's playing FF and just shakes his head. "You know that's a total pile you're playing right?" He says to me.
"Yup," I reply, "still gonna win."
"I know." He states glumly.
the game goes pretty much that way with me winning 32-(-2)

2-0

Game 3 I play Sean who is also playing a hidden deck. He sits presents his deck and says to me, "good luck," to which I reply in kind.

It pretty much goes as chalk with me playing my characters hidden and Sean moving his with Franklin Richards. We do an obscene amount of damage to each other due to the fact that he has no hidden hate and I can't find a Skree! Turn five we of course have complete boards, except for a three for me which I missed. He swings for like 38 taking me from 20 to -18, I look grimly at the fact that he has 16 and start doing math, eventually I figure it out and get him to -19 while I sit at -16 thanks to the +2 from Catwoman. I shake my head and Sean's hand and step outside for a much needed smoke.

3-0

Game 4 I play Mik. Mik is playing straight IH curve and poses no problem really as I finish him off on turn 5 11-(-18). This game was notable for being the only one of the four in which I didn't get Catwoman on 1.

4-0

I have to say the deck is phenomenally fast and strong, I can see why people were gaga over it at the modern tourney in LA. Even a sub-par build like this one was able to pretty much lay waste. There wasn't really a match that I felt pushed in, except for the one with Sean, and even in that game I never thought I was going to lose. That's not to say the other players played poorly, Just that the decks I faced couldn't get to the hidden area. If Adam had played the Wolverine deck then things probably would have been different, Wolverine pretty much eats Injustice Hidden alive. It's weird though, I'm a City Champion, I placed 2nd in the first CC, and yet I've bombed all the Elite Series and MW events I've attended...I'm not sure if that makes me a good player or just lucky in my meta choices. hmmm.

Saturday afternoon and all dressed up with no where to go...

So I've decided to play IG Hidden in the City Championship tomorrow. It's a relatively straight forward deck and it's been a while since I've played anything that was so viscerally straightforward. Hopefully I'll remember to take a notepad so that I can post a report over here.

We're the ones who have to suffer, we're the face of promises
Leaning on the railings of metaphoric precipices
Looking for meaning, looking for nascent symbolization
Two dimensional with no depth
Cardboard players on matte frames
Off with ere heads
And you're off to see the wizard
In your little black dress
With emerald eyes
And come
Fuck
Me
Pumps
And I can't find the whole
Just the segments of time
Slipping away til
I'm too late

what to wear....

So Saturday is the City Championship for Sacramento (which is where I live), for a Card Game I play called Vs. System, I think I have two or three options for decks, yet I have no idea what to play. the options are as follows: IG Hidden, SS Denial, and X-men Recovery, could also play IG X-Men Handflood/Burn. Any thoughts?

What's it say
That I'd rather spend my days
Writing these lines
Than what others might consider
More valid pursuits
What's it mean
That your approval
Says more than the plaudits
Of a dozen others
Damned with faintest praise
What to do
When the sounds I long to hear
Are the sounds you make
Close to my ear
Feeding my ego
What's the point
Is it mutual gratification
Or mutual aggravation
Continued appreciation
Or mutual reaffirmation

Death's so selfish
It cares not at all
What day of the week
It happens to visit
Like unwanted in-laws
That overstay their welcome
All it leaves are
The unwanted dishes and
The certainty of future visits
We cling to our own mortality
So viciously
Living vicariously through our decendents
So furiously
Visiting our sins on our daughters
So curiously
Why don't we ever grow up

Who are these people?

So I was looking at the cast for the new Star Trek movie on IMDB.com and while I'm sure other people could dissect this more efficiently than I can, I'm gonna give it a try regardless.

Kirk: Chris Pine. Pine is essentially a no name actor having appeared in two moderately successful films in supporting roles: Princess Diaries 2 and Smoking Aces. Nothing in his career has shown that he can play Kirk, of course nothing in his career has shown he can't play him either and Shatner was a no name when he took the role on too. I expect he'll play it more straight up, but without a more thorough filmography, it's impossible to say.

Spock: Zachary Quinto. Quinto is most known for his role as the supervillian Sylar on the hit TV show Heroes. Of the chosen actors he certainly is the one that most looks like his predecessor, he's also the one most familiar with fandom. I'm sure he appreciates the somberness neccesary to play the role effectively and unlike a lot of people the history that goes along with it.

Uhura: Zoe Saldana. Well, she's certainly hot. I've no idea what Abrams intends to do with Uhura I can't imagine that all he'll have her do is sit around and answer the space phone in the 21st century though. She played a minor part in the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, and that's the total of her filmography that I'm familiar with. That said her role in that movie was physical and comic, she should be fine.

McCoy: Karl Urban. Urban is the one I feel most comfortable with in his role even more so than Quinto or Cho. He's a good actor with an ability to subsume himself in his character. His background is filled with solid supporting parts, he can't seem to carry his own movie as evidenced by Pathfinder, but he does very well playing the second lead. I imagine that his McCoy will be a more physical presence than the Kelly one ever was since Deforest Kelly was roughly 145 years old when he got the part of McCoy.

Sulu: John Cho. Cho is most well known for his title role in the Harold and Kumar stoner comedies. Abrams and Cho seem to be sincere in their desire to portray the characters in the intent that they were originally written, as opposed to the more campy version that made it to tv screens in the 60's. Of course, we also live in a more congealed society than we did even 50 years ago.

Scotty: Simon Pegg. I don't get this. I like Pegg, Hot Fuzz might be one of the funniest movies made in the last decade at least, but I don't get him as the wily engineer. This may be more a failing on my part than the part of the actor though.

last we come to...

Checkov: Anton Yelchin. At least they got a Russian guy to play the Russian Ensign. Yelchin is in two movies that are on my to be watched list, Alpha Dog and Charlie Bartlett, however I've never heard of him before now. His part is probably the least important of the main characters, and as such it's not like he was Chris Pine.

Anyway that's the thoughts I have on the major cast member choices made in the new Star Trek movie outside of Eric Bana and Winona Ryder whom I believe are both decent actors, but whom comparisons can't be made about since their characters are all new.

I’ve come to miss your voice
With the twinkle snap of your eyes
The languidness of your lips
The pressure of your thighs

I’ve come to miss the glory
Of sunlight filtering your hair
Lips moist, voice smoky
Gazing through half lidded stare

I’ve come to miss the way
You would tousle my bangs
Or smile up at me
Just to bear your fangs

I’ve come to miss your voice
The suddenness of goodbye
The arch in your brow
Whispering why

So this will be the place with which the first step shall be taken. Inside will be found posts on poetry, pop culture, relationships and every other sort of geekery that infects our day to day lives with its wonderful sickly sweet smell. Enjoy.