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Beta call for "Where the rivers meet" in Blades of Avernum
Guardian
Member # 6670
Profile Homepage #84
I guess I didn't make myself clear a couple of months ago. I said (or meant to say) that I was dropping out of the beta for the current version. Since I'll have to start from scratch, I might as well wait for the next version to beta.

Short answer: Yes. Send me the most current version.

EDIT: To clarify further, send me the version coming out in three weeks. By then, I should be done beta testing Lazarus' (and maybe Nikki's) scenario.

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IF I EVER BECOME AN EVIL OVERLORD:
Before spending available funds on giant gargoyles, gothic arches, or other cosmetically intimidating pieces of architecture, I will see if there are any valid military expenditures that could use the extra budget.

[ Thursday, June 15, 2006 17:32: Message edited by: Dintiradan ]
Posts: 1509 | Registered: Tuesday, January 10 2006 08:00
You'd Beta Believe It... in Blades of Avernum
Guardian
Member # 6670
Profile Homepage #12
Aw, heck, why not. I found your alpha interesting.

I am taking part in Lazarus' beta, and should also be working on my own, so if you have enough people, don't feel compelled to include me (it seems you have enough, but I'll post anyway in case someone drops out).

E-Mail: dintiradan(at)yahoo(dot)ca
(Whew... got it right that time...)
OS: Windows 98
BoATC ID: dintiradan

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IF I EVER BECOME AN EVIL OVERLORD:
If I build a bomb, I will simply remember which wire to cut if it has to be deactivated and make every wire red.
Posts: 1509 | Registered: Tuesday, January 10 2006 08:00
I need your help! in Blades of Avernum
Guardian
Member # 6670
Profile Homepage #5
I've been working on my debut scenario since February. It has one outdoor section and five towns. And I'm still not done. Granted, work has eaten away most of my day, and I always sacrifice designing in favour of a social life, and I don't think I've worked on it for more than an hour at a time, but still...

The bottom line: if you don't eat, drink, breath, excrete, and dream about BoA, don't start big. If you still want to make your grand epic, I'd recommend making a small prelude first.

One important thing I'd like to point out is that your idea for a community effort works for small scenarios too. Out of ideas for a plot? Ask for advice. Need a script for your big baddie? Start a topic, detail the specs, and watch the help come pouring in (Yes, pouring in. The BoAEd forum is a lonely place.).

Anyway, good luck. Give me a shout if you need a script made; I was disappointed when I found out that my scenario only needed three complicated scripts.

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IF I EVER BECOME AN EVIL OVERLORD:
My doomsday machine will have a highly-advanced technological device called a capacitor in case someone inconveniently pulls the plug at the last second. (If I have access to REALLY advanced technology, I will include a back-up device known as a battery.)
Posts: 1509 | Registered: Tuesday, January 10 2006 08:00
Beta call for "Where the rivers meet" in Blades of Avernum
Guardian
Member # 6670
Profile Homepage #82
Um... why don't I get an e-mail?

Anyway, the situation is as before. My save is foobarred, so I'd have to start from scratch to begin beta-testing again. And if I was to begin beta-testing, I'd rather do it over with your new version than with the old one. You'll need someone to test the new version anyway.

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Foo. Bar. Baz.
Perl, anyone?
Posts: 1509 | Registered: Tuesday, January 10 2006 08:00
Beta check on aisle three in Blades of Avernum
Guardian
Member # 6670
Profile Homepage #22
Oh, crap. It's dintiradan(at)yahoo(dot)ca.

Above post has been changed.

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Sorry in triplicate.
Posts: 1509 | Registered: Tuesday, January 10 2006 08:00
The Mountain of Shadows RP in General
Guardian
Member # 6670
Profile Homepage #553
OOC: How about this: I post an IC, and you all tell me whether or not you want me to edit it out. Just remember: this ?character’ can’t fight, nor possess anyone (this post aside: as I describe later on, this is a one-time thing). Sorry if this post is overly oblique; Gnosis isn’t in the habit of explaining itself, and its way of viewing the world is different. Also, Gnosis will be fairly easy for everyone to incorporate into their posts, once they realize what it is. However, I’d like to handle at least part of the next contact with it.

Okay, this is going to take us back a ways.

And I’ve discovered writing in present tense is tough.

EDIT: Sorry FF. The mask has been removed.

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If it were possible for Gnosis to have a sense of time, it would have been puzzled by the number of years since the last contact. As it is, it only feels a faint sense of satisfaction as its awareness speeds to one of the outer libraries. Perhaps the conversation held with the wounded mage could be continued.

As always, the information flow jolts as the reader’s eyes met the page, and Gnosis begins its examination. It was not the mage, attempting to reestablish contact. Rather, it seems to be a female first-born, though not like any first-born that Gnosis has encountered before. Unfortunately, the reader does not appear to have sufficient mage-craft to be able to initiate contact.

Gnosis hesitates for an infinitesimal moment. It could use what remained of its energy reserves in its current fragmented state, and initiate contact itself. Such an action is not explicitly forbidden in the Precepts, and it had done so before with the mage. However, after doing so the Tainted Guardian had tracked down the physical and caused it that fatal wound. The mage had died before transmitting the majority of the information concerning the current state of the Mountain. The destruction of information is anathema to Gnosis. But if the possibility existed so that more information could be gained than lost…

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Strange. That thought must have come from the records of a conversation with a physical. Gnosis does not think along such lines.

Drawing into the energy from the fragmented energy reserves, Gnosis initiates contact with the reader. In this heightened state, it does not have to work with the reader to gain information; its energy just envelops the thought patterns of the physical. The primary information flows in. Harf’er’melora. A separated branch of the first-born that lived in caves. A quest to explore the Mountain.

Gnosis changes the focus of the probing to the underlying motivations of this ?drow’. Since the contact with the mage, Gnosis has pondered the importance of emotions to physicals, and so makes them a priority. A flood of primal, immediate urges. Lack of sleep. Pangs of hunger. A fading sense of adrenaline rush after a battle with a demon and a pack of wolves (Gnosis files this information away for further analysis). Gnosis probes deeper. The Nameless Ones in the deep caves. And a never-dying, insatiable thirst for information that nearly rivaled Gnosis’ own First Precept.

Gnosis is pondering this drive when it notices other insistent emotions. Compassion, concern; all direct towards a specific entity. Gnosis expands the link to include the physical’s senses. The reader appears to be in a smoldering library, and Gnosis immediately feels regret at the information irrevocably lost. After a few moments, the entity that the reader is focusing its emotions on is located: a comatose human male, severely wounded. By further expenditure of the energy reserves, Gnosis is able to direct the gaze of the physical, and more figures are seen. A figure stands looking at the reader. Gnosis tentatively labels it as a human male. Suddenly the figure turns around as another physical enters the room. Gnosis recognizes the familiar sight of a Tainted one. The two begin conversing, and Gnosis is unable to follow. The speech seems to be in an unknown tongue, and Gnosis files away the sounds for later study. Normally, the reader’s mind would translate the sounds, but since the reader didn’t initiate the contact, its thoughts are fragmented by Gnosis’ domineering presence. The demonic figure begins to advance towards the reader, and Gnosis worries for the book’s safety. Unfortunately, the only protections available are the reader itself… and the depleting energy reserves.

Awkwardly taking control of the reader’s body, Gnosis manipulates its vocal cords and begins the incantation of a spell. One to find information, not to harm: causing harm without making an informed decision is explicitly forbidden by the Precepts. In the time it takes for the spell to be prepared, the demonic physical advances to the reader, and even strikes it, though it does not cause serious harm. Other physicals enter the room: all human, two females and one male. They continue conversing in the strange language. Not wanting to expend a perfectly good spell, Gnosis begins examining the physicals in the room, beginning with the demonic one. Since none of them are in contact with the reader, Gnosis knows it will discover precious little, so it focuses on finding evidence of the Taint.

The demonic creature exudes the Taint, and moreover, the Taint seemed nearly identical to that of the Tainted Guardian. Next come the examinations of the masked physical and one of the human females, both which appear to be clean of the Taint. Passing over them quickly, Gnosis examines the human male. Old traces of the Taint are clearly evident, although of a slightly different sort than the type that affects the demonic physical. There also seems to be some sort of continuous magical effect on it, seemingly placed by some form of ritual. Gnosis examines this for so long that the physical topples over in exhaustion, a side effect of the spell. Next comes the other human female, which also seems to carry old traces of the Taint. Gnosis examines it for a while, but stops when it observes that this physical is about to succumb to exhaustion as well.

Gnosis pauses for a moment in consideration. There is no need to expend what remained of the dwindling energy reserves. Yet more information can be gained from this group. Moreover, if this group would be able to defeat the Tainted Guardian, defeat the Tainted Curator, perhaps the group would also be able to restore Gnosis back to its original state.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Gnosis comes to a decision. Having the reader begin a different spell, Gnosis turns its attention to the human male on the ground. Unsurprisingly, yet another form of the Taint is present in it. Once the spell is prepared, Gnosis initiates the healing of the physical, using the last of the energy reserves. At the same time, it begins imprinting on the subconscious of the reader the desire and ability to initiate contact using the book. The reader would be able to aid the other physicals in making contact, but with the reserves depleted, Gnosis would no longer be able to initiate contact on its own.

[ Monday, June 19, 2006 19:11: Message edited by: Dintiradan ]

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Beta Testers, UNITE!
Demetrius, Magister of the Dominion of the Learned:
( IC / OOC / SUMMARIES / ROSTER )
Gnosis knows.
(These links exist for my convenience, but it's rumoured clicking on them increases your sex appeal.)
Posts: 1509 | Registered: Tuesday, January 10 2006 08:00
The Mountain of Shadows RP in General
Guardian
Member # 6670
Profile Homepage #550
OOC: Wow. Twenty-two pages of good reading (the four-arm incident aside). I feel like I'm invading...

I'm just curious: is Orloki to be challenged immediately, or will this RP continue for a while? I just couldn't help but be struck with an idea for a... 'character'... of sorts. And yes, I know it's really, really late in the RP. This 'character's' main purpose would be to shed light on historic events surrounding the mountain and hasten character development, especially Aran's.

Anyway, if you don't want me in, don't be reluctant to tell me where to go and how to get there. I don't think what I have in mind will change the RP much at all, but if the FINAL SHOWDOWN is nearing, it will be redundant.

EDIT: ...And a twenty-third page of complete crap...

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Ummm... OOOOC?

[ Tuesday, June 13, 2006 17:50: Message edited by: Dintiradan ]

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Beta Testers, UNITE!
Demetrius, Magister of the Dominion of the Learned:
( IC / OOC / SUMMARIES / ROSTER )
Gnosis knows.
(These links exist for my convenience, but it's rumoured clicking on them increases your sex appeal.)
Posts: 1509 | Registered: Tuesday, January 10 2006 08:00
Beta check on aisle three in Blades of Avernum
Guardian
Member # 6670
Profile Homepage #18
Second Windows Tester! :cool: :P

E-mail: dintiradan(at)yahoo(dot)ca
OS: Windows 98
BoATC ID: dintiradan

Hopefully, it won't be me discovering all the lethal bugs again... and hopefully getting back to BoA after nearly a month of hiatus will kick me in the rear end so I that I'll finish my scenario. I just really, really hate the tedium of 'place a NPC, place another NPC, place some items...'

EDIT: Yeah! I forgot my nationality!

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Badgers... check.

[ Wednesday, June 14, 2006 19:48: Message edited by: Dintiradan ]
Posts: 1509 | Registered: Tuesday, January 10 2006 08:00
What's the best avernum? in The Avernum Trilogy
Guardian
Member # 6670
Profile Homepage #21
Apples and oranges. A1 is an open-ended CRPG big on atmosphere. The interweaving three quest threads are nice, but don't provide enough driving force to the game (personally, I found the Grah-Hoth quest gave the most drive to the game, even though it seemed underdeveloped).

A2, on the other hand, is highly linear. It even works under the chapter system, though it shifts to open-ended in the last chapter, with the same theme of three quest threads. The focus of this game is more on scripted encounters than on the ability to go anywhere at anytime, so the plot is stronger at the expense of choice.

A3 breaks the mold set by the previous two games. It features five mostly sequential quests, with one driving purpose behind the game, all taking place in an all-new open-ended world. Thus, a compromise of sorts. Of course, there is the plague ennui... maybe if there was more moral ambiguity as with the Troglodytes, and more 'side options' like the Anama...

BoA: All breadth, no depth.

So, yeah, a bit difficult to rank. By the way, is that Solberg the BoE designer?

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IF I EVER BECOME AN EVIL OVERLORD:
If I am escaping in a large truck and the hero is pursuing me in a small Italian sports car, I will not wait for the hero to pull up along side of me and try to force him off the road as he attempts to climb aboard. Instead I will slam on the brakes when he's directly behind me. (A rudimentary knowledge of physics can prove quite useful.)
Posts: 1509 | Registered: Tuesday, January 10 2006 08:00
Slithzerkai Sighting! in General
Guardian
Member # 6670
Profile Homepage #8
Abandoned Realms has a lot more to worry about than infringing on JV's product. Look at some of the possible races: drow, duegar, elemental giants; all of them just barely under the Open Gaming License. More importantly, one of the races is the Illithid, which is defined as D&D Product Identity under the OGL.

And does anyone else see a parallel between Abandoned Realms and Forgotten Realms?

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Aren't you a violation of a certain popular fantasy author's intellectual property?!?
- Vaarsuvius (OotS)
Posts: 1509 | Registered: Tuesday, January 10 2006 08:00
Hiking in General
Guardian
Member # 6670
Profile Homepage #18
By Ford Prefect:
quote:
Did you wake up yourself? I'm asking cause once we were waken by a pair of hunters. We didn't know about the snow outside and our tent was half buried in it. So those two found us and asked if we were still alive there. That was actually a horrible surprise to se the snow in late of May.
It was a class trip (Wildlife 30), so little chance of anything bad happening. We were doing a four-day hike in Kananaskis that we were hoping to compress into three days. About five hours in, we noticed it was snowing up at the pass. Seeing that we got about a foot and a half at the campsite, the pass would have been completely snowed in. All in all, though, a mostly fun trip, despite waiting half a day at a truck stop for a road to be cleared on the way back. Exactly a year ago tomorrow, I think.

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Welcome to the Great White North, eh.

[ Sunday, June 04, 2006 17:16: Message edited by: Dintiradan ]
Posts: 1509 | Registered: Tuesday, January 10 2006 08:00
Red Rain in India in General
Guardian
Member # 6670
Profile Homepage #15
From my quick once-over, it seems that the guy wanted to see extra-terrestrial cells, so extra-terrestrial cells is what he saw. Anyway, I say we give the ransom payments to the aliens so we can get Elvis back.

By Robinator:
quote:
that darn Mayan theory
Has someone been reading Steve Alten?

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Who's EyeStar?
Posts: 1509 | Registered: Tuesday, January 10 2006 08:00
Boa scenario's: what stage are they in now? in Blades of Avernum
Guardian
Member # 6670
Profile Homepage #43
One would assume that TM is working on something, seeing that he said progress is being made.

Let's see: all the terrain is placed, almost all the scripts are done (I'm going to make a pair of creature scripts, so that any PCs threatening a spellcasting NPC will be bullrushed by a melee NPC), and most of the message states are done. I've got about half of the NPC placement done, and I haven't started on dialog.

Since I started my summer job, progress has ground to a near halt. Still, I expect it to be done in a couple of months. Don't expect anything fancy from this one, other than the fact that it's possible to create a (small) scenario in thirty minute increments.

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IF I EVER BECOME AN EVIL OVERLORD:
If I find my beautiful consort with access to my fortress has been associating with the hero, I'll have her executed. It's regrettable, but new consorts are easier to get than new fortresses and maybe the next one will pay attention at the orientation meeting.
Posts: 1509 | Registered: Tuesday, January 10 2006 08:00
Avernum V ideas in Avernum 4
Guardian
Member # 6670
Profile Homepage #30
I don't know about Exile, but enemies did run away from you in some of the Avernums; BoA and A4, at the least.

Most of the time they ran away when severly wounded, or because they were scripted to. In BoA (and presumably in A4), there's the ability to manipulate a creature's 'courage' (change of running away). So it's possible to create a creature script which periodically checks the number of friendly and unfriendly creatures nearby, and alters its courage accordingly.

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IF I EVER BECOME AN EVIL OVERLORD:
Before appointing someone as my trusted lieutenant, I will conduct a thorough background investigation and security clearance.
Posts: 1509 | Registered: Tuesday, January 10 2006 08:00
In this topic, I celebrate my inability to shut up. in General
Guardian
Member # 6670
Profile Homepage #28
By Dikiyoba:
quote:
So, Dintiradan, are you going to be creating a celebratory topic at 500 posts? Er, at recruiting your 500th member in your Legion of Terror? It's only fair; since you've been celebrating your post count in everyone else's topic, it would be nice to be able to return the favor.

Besides, Dikiyoba has an idea that would fit perfectly, and it would be a shame to waste a perfectly-fitting idea.
No. I don't adhere to the practice of vigourously spamming to celebrate a post count that translates nicely into decimal. If I ever do create my own brag topic (which would probably be due to myself being inebriated), it would be to celebrate a count that looks nice in hex or binary.

At least this topic has some use. Curse you, Arancaytar! Curse all you self-adoring PDN changers! :P

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Hmmm... maybe a topic to celebrate a base-42 post count...

[ Saturday, June 03, 2006 09:58: Message edited by: Dintiradan ]
Posts: 1509 | Registered: Tuesday, January 10 2006 08:00
Hiking in General
Guardian
Member # 6670
Profile Homepage #11
Grrr. This reminds me of an aborted hike I took about a year ago. Waking up to a foot and a half of snow is not fun. Neither is wading in thigh-deep icemelt.

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Ecky-ecky-ecky-ecky-pikang-zoop-boing-goodem-zoo-owli-zhiv!
- The Knights who formerly said "Ni!"
Posts: 1509 | Registered: Tuesday, January 10 2006 08:00
Custom Names - images inside in General
Guardian
Member # 6670
Profile Homepage #45
By Cairo Jim:
quote:
Looks like my comic idea failed so far. Poetry doesn't sound too bad at the moment.
Just warning you: If you create a poetry topic, I will post more atrocious Perl poetry.

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If I say that grass is green,
People ask, "What do you mean?"
"That nature is ignorant," I reply,
"And on a deeper lever, death must die."
If I say that grass is red,
All understand what I have said.

- Dudek, but I could be wrong.
Posts: 1509 | Registered: Tuesday, January 10 2006 08:00
5160 in General
Guardian
Member # 6670
Profile Homepage #9
How much do I despise post brag threads? Let me count the ways...

Apologies to Shakespeare, who is probably spinning in his grave right now.

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IMAGE(http://www.airforce.forces.ca/hist/grfx/hist_400s/439.jpg)
Posts: 1509 | Registered: Tuesday, January 10 2006 08:00
A Whatchemadongle in General
Guardian
Member # 6670
Profile Homepage #15
Is it just me, or is there an eye in the middle of that spiderweb?

I guess Stareye isn't content with watching people solely through monitors anymore...

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IMAGE(http://www.f-106deltadart.com/patches/patches-fis/438.jpg)
Posts: 1509 | Registered: Tuesday, January 10 2006 08:00
In this topic, I celebrate my inability to shut up. in General
Guardian
Member # 6670
Profile Homepage #21
Putting text into 'code' forces it into fixed-width:
..._..............................................
...\\...................................../.......
.../\\...................................||.......
../..||........_..._.._...___.._..._.._._||_._..._
./___||/\/\__./.\/.\\/_\./__/./.\/.\\.\\_.._|.\//.
|....||.\/\_//|.||.||.||.||../|.||.||.||.||/|.|||.
|....||.||...||.||.||.||.||..||.||.||.||.| |||.|||.
|....||.||...|\.||.||.||.|\..|\.||.||.||.|||\.|||.
........\\....\/\\.//.//..\_/.\/\\.\_/\\.\\.\/\\|.
.......................................\\.........
...................________............||.........
......... _______./________\___________//.........
.........\_______/..........\__________/..........
EDIT: Images hate me.

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IMAGE(http://www.f-106deltadart.com/patches/patches-fis/437.jpg)

[ Wednesday, May 31, 2006 18:38: Message edited by: Dintiradan ]
Posts: 1509 | Registered: Tuesday, January 10 2006 08:00
Ghosts of Stalin in General
Guardian
Member # 6670
Profile Homepage #90
It's clear that avoiding bans and posting spam is increasing at a mind-boogling rate. We no longer have the mod-power to be able to combat this menace. Therefore, there is only one solution:

Legalize it.

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Oh yeah... :P

And I nominate Ed to be the next DikiScript villain.
Posts: 1509 | Registered: Tuesday, January 10 2006 08:00
My God can beat up your God! in General
Guardian
Member # 6670
Profile Homepage #153
Robinator: Elaborate for the unenlightened. Such as myself :) .

GJ: To be blunt, I don't think these boards are for you. From what I can extrapolate from your posts, you converted to Christianity after a series of very difficult personal experiences. Your posts might be appealing to someone with the same background as you. However, the vast majority of the members on these boards will not share your experiences. Describing your personal path to religion has been mostly ineffect.

Also, it seems that you stand against being a member of any sort of organized religion. Is this just me reading too much in your posts?

Infernal: Just curious: do Judaists today use terms such as Elohim, Elohay Marom, El Hakavod etc.? Apologies in advance if this is deemed an insult; it isn't meant to be.

EDIT: Thanks, Alorael. In my limited knowledge, I thought Jew refered to the ethnic group, and Judaist to the followers of Judaism.

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a.k.a. Elohay Kol Basar (an important to keep in mind).

[ Monday, May 29, 2006 19:45: Message edited by: Dintiradan ]
Posts: 1509 | Registered: Tuesday, January 10 2006 08:00
Ancient Mystery: Solved! in General
Guardian
Member # 6670
Profile Homepage #31
By Thin Air:
quote:
Exactly how much cynicism does it take to kill a horse?
6.53 kiloSarcals. Give or take about 35 Sarcals depending on the body mass of the horse and the volume of the cynic (if talking), or the font size of the cynic's writing. Proximity of certain forum members has also been observed to increase one's Sarcalic output.

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Hooray for metric!
Posts: 1509 | Registered: Tuesday, January 10 2006 08:00
A Thousand Words in General
Guardian
Member # 6670
Profile Homepage #0
If a painting could say just one thing, what would it be? The Da Vinci Code aside, what would Mona Lisa say if she could talk? "Dude, where's my eyebrows?" I'm sure Whistler's Mother has a few things to say to her son about being portrayed so unflatteringly. And what's that guy screaming anyway?

The Contest: find a well-known painting, and create a humourous caption for it (Yes, CoC still applies. Still, I'd advise the mods to watch this thread like hawks.). I'll start:

EDIT: Great. Now I see the fate of the last posting game.

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IMAGE(http://www.lancasterrcdiocese.org.uk/pictures/creation.jpg)
"Pull my finger."

[ Monday, May 29, 2006 19:09: Message edited by: Dintiradan ]
Posts: 1509 | Registered: Tuesday, January 10 2006 08:00
Custom Names - images inside in General
Guardian
Member # 6670
Profile Homepage #41
By Kingy:
quote:
I could really go for another picture topic. We just need an interesting topic for those pictures to be on. Ideas?
I got an idea... give me second, I'll post a link.

EDIT: Linked.

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Let the insanity begin!

[ Monday, May 29, 2006 18:05: Message edited by: Dintiradan ]
Posts: 1509 | Registered: Tuesday, January 10 2006 08:00

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