Profile for Zeviz

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Modern day classics in General
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
Profile Homepage #82
quote:
Originally written by Siegfried der Waelsung:

Dame Annals writes:

"Russia is not Western by any standard? Uh, no, that's just wrong, sorry."

There are plenty of Russians who will be pleased to learn that they are now part of Western Europe. Similarly and for the same reasons, I am sure that V.S. Naipaul would be pleased if someone told him that he was a "Westerner." But it just ain't so.

You are mixing your terminology here. "Eastern Europe" v. "Western Europe" is a political distinction made during the Cold War.

Since we are talking about culture here, "West" and "East" refer to, for luck of better distinction, Chrisitian Europe that likes to derive its cultural heritage from the Greeks vs. Asian cultures. And in that distinction, Russians justifiably consider ourselves to be part of Western tradition.

Another way to see what is meant by "Western Canon" is to ask "what authors would a reasonably educated Western [however you define that term :) ] person be expected to know about". I mean people like Tolstoi and Shakespear, who have universal name recognition.

As for books that will survive the test of time, there are two categories: books that get included into school curriculum ("War and Peace", "Romeo and Juliet", etc.) and books that are widely read, despite being intended just for entertainment (Duma, Jules Vern, etc.) The authors you referred to are candidates for the first category of immortality, while the authors listed by most other people on this thread are candidates for the second category.

[ Friday, March 31, 2006 13:20: Message edited by: Zeviz ]

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
I've made a script / story in General
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
Profile Homepage #473
quote:
Originally written by Lazarus:

Where does the tradition of the fluffy turtles come from anyway? I've always just accepted that fluffy turltes and kittens are just a part of spiderweb canon, but this script made me wonder when and where they came from??
Room 3. (An AIM chatroom that preceded current "spidweb" chatroom.)

Their arrival was described by somebody before... (*goes to search*)... here: http://www.ironycentral.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=003219;p=4#000089

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
Anyone ever dared to write a book? in The Avernum Trilogy
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
Profile Homepage #42
quote:
Originally written by Lenar Labs:

For those who care:
I posted the next section.
Perhaps it will ease your concerns. Perhaps it will heighten them.
...

Very nice. I always wondered what it felt like for commanders of those fortresses my adventurers bravely stormed. And it's also good to see personalities of various officials who will be "bosses" in A2.

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
Anyone ever dared to write a book? in The Avernum Trilogy
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
Profile Homepage #39
quote:
Originally written by Whan Aprill with his shoures sote:

Haven't read the story yet, but I would like to add that combat is a very poor substitute for a real story. The less you use of it, the better.

Of course, philosophical musings are not much better.

Scenic description ranks a bit higher, and dialogue is probably the most important of them all.

You are right that action scenes can't substitute for a real story either. I guess I was seeing this as a BoE scenario script, rather than a novel. :)

However, I disagree that the less action the better. Most "classic" novels from War and Peace to LotR to Odysseus have plenty of action scenes. (Although I agree that they tend to open with dialogue, rather than action.)

[ Wednesday, March 29, 2006 21:19: Message edited by: Zeviz ]

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
On Thursday I Will Meet a Former KKK Imperial Wizard in General
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
Profile Homepage #10
quote:
Originally written by Ash Lael:

He has come and been. Nice guy.

I recorded the interview, if anyone's interested.
...

That would be interesting to listen to.

[ Wednesday, March 29, 2006 14:11: Message edited by: Zeviz ]

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
Anyone ever dared to write a book? in The Avernum Trilogy
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
Profile Homepage #36
The [first page of] your story is well-written, although a bit more action and a bit less philosophy would be much better for capturing reader's attention. Even Tolstoy starts War and Peace with a conversation at a social gathering and saves his pages of philosophical musings for middle of the book, when readers are sufficiently hooked not to mind it too much. If you replaced half of Erika's musings with interspersed scenes of adventurers fighting Emperor's guards, you'd catch attention of a lot more readers. Especially if you start with action, cut to Erika's tower, back to action, back to tower, etc.

[ Wednesday, March 29, 2006 13:52: Message edited by: Zeviz ]

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
The death of BoE forum in Blades of Exile
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
Profile Homepage #27
quote:
Originally written by rantalot:

speaking of purchasing BoE is it still 30$? I remember the demo was one of the first games i played when i came 2 US along with duke nuke em 3D....man that was one hell of a start
BoE price was recently decreased to 15$ (at least according to online Order Form). Considering the number and quality of scenarios available, that's a very good price.

Talking about price cuts, Exile Trilogy CD was finally reduced to 25$. Not sure if anybody is still buying Exiles, but at least they are now much cheaper than Avernums.

[ Tuesday, March 28, 2006 08:10: Message edited by: Zeviz ]

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
old vs new version in Nethergate
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
Profile Homepage #6
quote:
Originally written by Drakey:

Hm, odd they never made a sequel. Perhaps because it would destroy the significance of it. I hope they don't remake Exile graphics, that's the best of all Spiderweb's games in my opinion.
Considering that the whole point of Avernum was remaking of Exile with better graphics, I doubt Jeff will remake Exile again. Is anybody looking forward to Aabanum? :) (Since Avernum's name was likely selected to appear early in alpahabetical list of games, next logical step is Aabanum.)

PS Why does Shaper Lord's PDN appear as "Drakey" when quoted?

[ Tuesday, March 28, 2006 08:04: Message edited by: Zeviz ]

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
Rewards in Blades of Avernum Editor
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
Profile Homepage #5
Some scenarios (if I remember correctly, Apology is one of them) give you no traditional "reward" even if they have a lot of combat, because the party comes out of them too imbalanced. So you shouldn't feel bad about having a good story and fun gameplay be their own reward. That said, gameplay is more fun if characters get a stat boost, some custom spells, or other such things occasionally, especially if these things turn out to be useful afterwards. (Sure, a door might require 0 Tool Use to open, but that doesn't matter as long as the player thinks they were just able to pick the lock due to a technique their character learned earlier.)

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
Rewards in Blades of Avernum
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
Profile Homepage #5
Some scenarios (if I remember correctly, Apology is one of them) give you no traditional "reward" even if they have a lot of combat, because the party comes out of them too imbalanced. So you shouldn't feel bad about having a good story and fun gameplay be their own reward. That said, gameplay is more fun if characters get a stat boost, some custom spells, or other such things occasionally, especially if these things turn out to be useful afterwards. (Sure, a door might require 0 Tool Use to open, but that doesn't matter as long as the player thinks they were just able to pick the lock due to a technique their character learned earlier.)

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
The death of BoE forum in Blades of Exile
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
Profile Homepage #24
quote:
Originally written by Desert Pl@h:

And other people prefer to keep resurrection limited to Exile games, rather than the forums.
However, most people prefer to let moderators do their job without interference. Especially when somebody who has recently returned to the forums after long absence is adding relevant information to a thread which is still on page 1.

EDIT: It is particularly ironic to see this form of back-seat moderating on a topic complaining about low forum activity.

[ Monday, March 27, 2006 12:03: Message edited by: Zeviz ]

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
PDN? in General
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
Profile Homepage #25
My name started out as a Russian translation of Latin root of my real name, when I needed to name a computer game character. However, when I needed an online name, I realized that it would be always mispronounced, so I played around with letters until I got something that sounded good. (Although it's still mispronounced, because I forgot that 'e' in open syllible is pronounced differently than in closed syllable.)
quote:
Originally written by Dintiradan:

Mine's Sindarin.
...

What does your name mean? (For people who are less familiar with elven languages.)

PS Why do my replies start a new page so often?

[ Sunday, March 26, 2006 20:06: Message edited by: Zeviz ]

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
I've made a script / story in General
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
Profile Homepage #438
quote:
Originally written by Tyranicus:

...
quote:
Originally written by Wise Man:

Holy crap, now the admins are dead. Why does this seem suddenly similar to stuff that Yoshiyuki Tomino writes? O_o;
I was thinking George R.R. Martin, myself, but it amounts to the same thing.

It reminds me of Martin too. Especially the episodes when admins are killed just as they figure out how to win the war, because Aran dropped his key when he fought Spawner, while the newbies fooled by Spawner rebell, killing their commander.

Considering that there are only a couple forums left and at least 28 members left to kill, I suspect next few scenes will feature a couple huge explosions, followed by paragraph-long lists of names.

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
The Periodic Table of Spiderweb in General
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
Profile Homepage #23
So many people claiming dangerous substances... And I thought that Alkali and Halogens would be assigned to trolls and counter-flamers/one-liner-masters. (Either group can be damaging to living organisms and their combination is quite explosive.)

RW is obviously Ununoctium, a mysterious element that had not have been discovered a couple years ago, but perhaps will have been discovered then a few years later.

EDIT: About Spidweb being water, most Alkali metals react quite violently with water, so that would just be more reason to put flamers into that group.

[ Thursday, March 23, 2006 16:08: Message edited by: Zeviz ]

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
What's your dialect? in General
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
Profile Homepage #51
Is "schwa" a short silence? So you basically drop some unstressed vovels?

As for mutations, in Russian there are certain sound pairs that get mutated to one or the other depending on the dialect. For example, o/a pair. (Moskva vs. Maskva) (I mean "a" as in "cup".) A curious side effect is that it's impossible for me to pronounce "o" without either turning it into "a" or putting stress on it. However, there are no dropped vovels, so I assumed that Lennon/Lenin thing was an o/i mutation in English.

[ Wednesday, March 22, 2006 14:19: Message edited by: Zeviz ]

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
Project GFT Start! in General
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
Profile Homepage #39
quote:
Originally written by the fatman:

In a study by Donlad Brenneis and Ronald K S Macaulay on the use of various phonetic combinations over a period of ten years the rate of change was found to be between (much less than) 0.01% to 0.18%, per year.

Your patently false comment is, patently ridiculous.
...

The problem here is that such results can't be projected far beyond the boundaries of original study. I forgot the statistical term for it, but projecting a trend far beyond the data set for which it was established can lead to very misleading results. Your "5% change in 1000 years" is a classic example of this.

The 10 years analized in the study ignore dramatic events like revolutions and foreign invasions that cause massive changes in a few years.

You also assume that the rate of change of languages in modern world with standardizing influence of mass media and education is the same as it was in the past, when villages a few dozen kilometers apart could develop different dialects, because of lack of standardizing influences.

A third problem is how you count your changes. For example, one of the parts of language reform enacted after Russian Revolution removed the letter yat', which was used, among other places, on the end of every word that ended in in consonant. Do you count this as a 3% change (removing 1 out of 35 letters), or as a 50% change (modifying spelling of over 50% of words)?

PS Your posts would meet with far less aggressive replies if you toned down your own insults. Calling somebody's reply "patently rediculous" while claiming that Chauser's English is less than 4% different from our modern English doesn't look very good. For your reference, here is an example of fourteenth century English.

[ Wednesday, March 22, 2006 12:33: Message edited by: Zeviz ]

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
Posts from beyond the ban? in General
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
Profile Homepage #100
quote:
Originally written by Slartucker:

I can only imagine what would happen to the [i]HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA[/i]s if HTML were enabled. *shiver*
No need to imagine, when you can watch it happen: http://pied-piper.ermarian.net/archives/browse.php?action=topic&forum=6&topic=105
http://pied-piper.ermarian.net/archives/browse.php?action=topic&forum=6&topic=105&post=25

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
Project GFT Start! in General
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
Profile Homepage #29
quote:
Originally written by the fatman:

to undertake is a verb BUT undertaking is a noun

You used the word undertaking so in fact my point WAS correct. But, again I reiterate, language rules are rules of convention and will change with time.

Actaully, he said "is undertaking", which is a third person Present Continuous form of a verb "to undertake":

Infinitive - to undertake, to play
Simple Present - he undertakes, he plays
Present Continuous - he is undertaking, he is playing
Present Perfect - he has undertaken, he has played
Present Perfect Continuous - he has been undertaking, he has been playing

What is it with native speakers correcting others without knowing the rules of their own language. :P

EDIT: Added an example with a regular verb.

[ Wednesday, March 22, 2006 10:22: Message edited by: Zeviz ]

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
What's your dialect? in General
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
Profile Homepage #47
Some similarities might be due to the fact that people don't take "identical" literally. For example, I didn't realize that it's possible to drop initial 'h' in heat.

Talking about that, how can "Lennon" be identical to "Lenin"? Do people often say "i" instead of "o"?

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
Code for unlocking levels in SubTerra
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
Profile Homepage #11
quote:
Originally written by Shaper Lord:

Please, kids, on topic posts here. If this forum is to survive another day, then we need to abide by the rules. Pat pat.

I'll admit, everyone plays games for different reasons, I know that. It's just a mildly unpopular game, which few people seem interested. I'm sure under 10 people actually care about it anymore, and if the forum was deleted, this board wouldn't hurt.

Please, kids, on topic posts here. If this poster is to survive another day, then he needs to abide by the rules. Pat pat.

I'll admit, everyone posts here for different reasons, I know that. He's just a mildly unpopular poster, which few people seem interested. I'm sure under 10 people actually care about him anymore, and if the poster was banned, this board wouldn't hurt.

[ Wednesday, March 22, 2006 09:12: Message edited by: Zeviz ]

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
I've made a script / story in General
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
Profile Homepage #364
About realism, you do have a poetic lisense. Who says that in a universe where people live on a message board banning isn't as permanent as death is in our world? Your world doesn't even have the same laws of physics as ours. (As far as I know, living stick figures aren't very realistic either. :) ) Drakey banning himself was a pretty good scene and went well with the spirit of your script. I am not saying to switch it back, but for future reference, you don't have to change your script just because somebody thinks it's unrealistic.

EDIT: Says the person who edits every post he makes. :) (Although in 90% of cases it's just typos.)

[ Tuesday, March 21, 2006 17:21: Message edited by: Zeviz ]

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
UBB in General
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
Profile Homepage #5
You can't blame all bad programming on a single design decision. After all, databases and other software go directly to filesystem too. If creators of UBB wanted to make their own equivalent of a database system, they theoretically could have done as good a job as Oracle. :)

[ Tuesday, March 21, 2006 15:07: Message edited by: Zeviz ]

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
Slarty's Comic Strip in General
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
Profile Homepage #111
quote:
Originally written by spy-there:

...Wow, he endured six whole days at the boards. Ist that a record? Respectively: what was the shortest time ever that an un-banned member has been re-banned? ...
That's not even close to a record. :) Even if you don't count ban evasions, some trolls used up their second, third, whatever chances pretty quickly. I don't remember specific examples, but a couple people got banned by Drakey, complained to Spidweb, got unbanned, continued causing trouble and got re-banned within a few hours/days.

However, TM is getting close to record for total number of times banned. I think only shotts and a couple others good at begging for forgiveness got more second chances.

quote:

^_^ Slarty's parry is very funny with a high decency.
Hm .. "TM is psycopatic"? <reads the comic again> Now I'm confused. <googles psycopathic, finds hip hop music group> :eek:

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=psychopath

[ Tuesday, March 21, 2006 15:13: Message edited by: Zeviz ]

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
I've made a script / story in General
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
Profile Homepage #327
The story is still good, although you seem to be running out of members to kill. :)

About my character, he is always a mage. (Or at least a mage-theif dual class for one ill-fated DnD incarnation.) And if I stay quiet, I might survive until the last stand at the General forum.

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
New Moderator for General in General
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
Profile Homepage #49
Congratulations Aran.

I am sure those -7% who didn't vote for you will be found and "re-educated".

Now where is that melon sex topic, or whatever form of testing new mod's limits is popular now? :)

--------------------
Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00

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