Ironik

Honestly, those shots do nothing for me. Looks borderline silly.

My DP/Energy Blaster. Cool in concept, terrible in execution.

My Kheldians. Again, cool concepts, but a completely un-fun powerset to play.

My Widow. Again, love the idea, the costume is excellent and I like the name I came up with, but dear lord do I loathe to play her.

The government in Starship Troopers (the book, not the travesty of a film) was kind of interesting.

You only get to participate in democracy by doing some sort of government service. In other words, you can only vote if you have served in the armed forces, peace corps, volunteered for medical experiments, etc. Whatever you can do, a place is found for you to serve. Social responsibility through self-sacrifice.

I'm not sure I entirely agree with it, but it's an interesting take on democracy.

Durakken,

There are a couple things that you're doing wrong, and changing them will result in weight loss and vastly improved health.

My background: my mother is a retired nurse, I have done volunteer work in hospitals, many of my relatives are in health care (as nurses, doctors and nutritionists) so I've gotten a lot of free professional information, my brother was a body builder and is a fitness nut, my wife used to weigh 350 pounds, at my worst I weighed 270 pounds (6'1").

I've been broke and without health insurance. All that said, here's knowledge I have that you can use:

Carbs and processed sugars

You need to eliminate them from your diet. Don't say, "Oh, I'll start my diet tomorrow/next Monday/the first of the month." Take the carbs in your house -- the bread, the pizza, the pasta, the cereal, the soda -- and throw it away today. Right now. Get up, put it all in the trash and take it outside where you can't get it. Or if they are still in unopened packages, donate it to a homeless shelter.

Carbs and sugars cause inflammation on the cellular level. You will not believe (and right now you cannot even conceive) how much better you'll feel once you've detoxed from them.

Smaller meals

Consuming most of your calories in one sitting is a terrible thing to do. It stresses your body. Also, by not eating regularly throughout the day, you've conditioned your body to go into "starvation mode." What happens is that your body goes into energy-saver mode, expending as few calories as possible. When you do eat, your body greedily holds on to every calorie you put into it. These are stored as fat.

Eating regularly retrains your body to expect food, so it no longer tries to save each tiny calorie it can. This has nothing to do with willpower, but is merely a biological fact. Never, ever "reward" yourself for "being good" with an ice cream sundae or any other sort of treat. To save your life you need to change your lifestyle.

Portion Control

You need to eat fewer calories, period. Even at 6'4" you do not need 2300 calories a day as a moderately active adult. If you want to weigh 200 pounds, you need to cut your calories.

Fruits & vegetables & proteins

If you replace your pasta with fruits and vegetables, it will seem like you are consuming more than you currently are. That's because fruits and vegetables have lower caloric density than processed foods like pasta. Also, the extra fiber will help stabilize your body in numerous ways.

Salads are important. Leafy greens and broccoli will work magic on your body. Go easy on the dressing. Less is better. Low fat is better still. By "less" I mean a single tea spoon's worth per salad. Twelve ounces of salad with 4 ounces of protein will seem like a huge amount of food. Yet the caloric intake will be nearly a wash once your body digests it. You'll feel full while at the same time losing weight.

Shop also for carrots, apples, strawberries, bananas, blueberries, tomatoes, red/green peppers, raspberries, celery, spinach, watermelon... whatever you like, so long as it is a fruit a or vegetable rather than a processed food. Apples, blueberries and watermelon are better for you than strawberries (because of the amount of sugar in them) but even strawberries are better than any pasta or bread.

Proteins should be consumed in moderation, but you do need them. Too much leads to kidney problems and issues like gout. Some protein sources are better than others. I would recommend the grain called quinoa (pronounced "KEEN-wah"). It has relatively high protein, because it is not a true cereal, and is easily the single best grain you can eat. (I recommend that anyone eat this, not just those who are overweight.) I've seen it in every health food store I've been to, but it's also available at chains like Trader Joe's (my favorite version), Kroger's and Shaws.

Quinoa is also ridiculously easy to cook: 1 cup of quinoa, 2 cups of water, bring it to a boil, then turn the stove to Low as soon as it boils and let it simmer for 15 minutes. Zoom, done, and you have enough for three or four meals. Lightly sautee some onions and red peppers in Extra Virgin Olive Oil for a couple minutes, mix it all together. Easy-peasy.

Overeaters Anonymous

Find a couple Overeaters Anonymous meetings in your area and go to them. Some meetings are better than others, obviously. The ones in the New England are the most progressive, but almost any of them will -- at the very least -- put you in touch with people who are going through (or have gone through) the exact same thing you are.

Also, they're free. Generally people donate a buck or two for the space (usually a church basement), but it's not required. No profits to be had means that people are only in it for the health.

Exercise

Exercise is important. You talk about your vertebrae rubbing together. If that's what is actually going on, then you need to see a doctor immediately. You are risking permanent paralysis and an even larger expense down the road.

Health Care Expenses

I understand what it's like to not have health insurance. I went 20 years without it, 14 while suffering from severe arthritis. If you call around, you can get free help from various sources. Many doctors have been understanding of my position and have cut the cost of their office visits (a couple even gave me free ones) and loaded me down with free samples when I needed medication. Believe me, a lot of doctors get it.

At the very least you need X-rays to show what's going on in your spine. You also need a full panel of blood work and a complete physical. Yes, these cost money, but you need to prioritize your life. You're paying to play a video game -- eliminate costs like this one for 6 months and you'll have plenty of money to get checked out. Cut out your internet, turn off your cable -- do what you have to. The library will entertain you plenty, trust me. Six months or a year from now, when your health is back on track, turn it all back on again.

I went 11 years without fixing the top of my convertible because I had to prioritize my expenses. After a while it wasn't that big a deal.

Medicine

There are some medications that I absolutely need to take because of my arthritis. Otherwise I couldn't function. While a couple are relatively cheap, most of them are incredibly expensive. Turns out that pharmaceutical companies have programs to get you medicine for little or no cost. Generally your doctor will sign you up for these programs, so you don't have to deal with the paperwork.

That said, all medicines have side effects. I was on a cholesterol medication that sent me into Acute Renal Failure and my kidneys started shutting down. Needless to say, that's potentially fatal. Fortunately, simply by not taking that med and exercising more, I was able to reverse it. Try to take as few medications as possible. Zero if you can get away with it.

Basic meal plan

This is the kind of thing and the way you should be eating:

Breakfast:

6 ounces of fruit
+ 6 ounces of low fat yogurt

*or*

6 ounces of fruit
+ 1 oz. hard cheese

*or*
6 ounces of fruit
+ 1 egg

Lunch:

12 ounces of salad
+ 1 tea spoon dressing *or* 2 tea spoon oil and vinegar
+ 4 ounces of vegetables
+ 4 ounces of protein (grilled chicken, grilled steak, grilled salmon -- nothing breaded or battered)

Afternoon snack:

4 ounces of carrots *or* broccoli *or* peppers
+ 2 ounces of low fat, low carb dip

Dinner:

4 ounces of starch (preferably quinoa, but also brown rice, potato or corn -- in that order of importance)
+ 4 ounces of protein
+ 4 ounces of vegetable (peppers, onions, snap peas)
+ 6 ounces of fruit

Easiest thing to do is stir-fry this. Even non-cooks can do stir-fry, because it only takes a few minutes.

Evening snack:

4 ounces of carrots *or* broccoli *or* peppers
+ 2 ounces of low fat, low carb dip

Drink water throughout the day.

Following this basic recipe, my wife lost 95 pounds in 9 months, with very little exercise. (She had both knees replaced, which you DO NOT want to have done, believe me.)

"Knockin' on Heaven's Door" for Blasters.

Sleep is easily the worst power of any kind in the game. When solo it is situational and may save your bacon every once in a while but on teams? I agree with the Controller who said it's useless. Because it *is* totally useless on teams. Better off taking Leadership or something instead.

Those are all cool, I must say.

404 three times in a row.

Scott Pilgrim suffers from one main issue: It doesn't answer "Why?"

That's what I keep hearing from people who've seen it, even from people who liked it. (My 73-year-old mom went with us to see it even though I warned her repeatedly that it definitely wasn't her kind of movie and she would hate it. It wasn't and she did. So she was asking, "Why did I go to that?" And I replied, "Why *did* you go to that?")

But seriously... people are asking, "WHY does he have to defeat her seven evil exxes?" The answer, of course, is, "Because he does." Most movies at least offer up a reason for the goings-on, no matter how slim that reason might be. Scott Pilgrim doesn't bother. It's meta-commentary on stories: things happen because things have to happen to get from point A to point B.

The secondary question does come back to Michael Cera and the character he plays: WHY are these girls so hung up on him? Again, there's no reason given; you're just supposed to accept that they are. The movie pushes minimalist storytelling beyond where it should be, jettisoning *reasons* for plot and character. Turns out you still need those things, no matter how sketchily drawn. Without that emotional hook, it becomes an exercise in the Rule of Cool and nothing else. The Rule of Cool will get you through the scene you're watching, but it's the emotional impact that'll keep you talking about the movie later... and generate buzz about the film. Scott Pilgrim doesn't have that. It's all flash and no substance. Sure, the flick is enjoyable on a superficial level, but it's no Three O'Clock High.

True popularity is when something appeals to the general public long after the original audience is dead. So "getting it" now depends on its universality and subsequent staying power.

I think shows like M*A*S*H and Batman will probably appeal in 50 years' time, whereas shows that surf the zeitgeist (Mary Tyler Moore, Who's The Boss, Diff'rent Strokes) can only be enjoyed by keeping in mind the era in which they were created.

Dead Can Dance