Rodoan

Just realized that after my return from a 10-month hiatus, I've never seen a mob follow the team down the elevators. I used to love this upgrade/surprise (in a grudging "should've considered that" kind of way) Did they remove the elevator ambushes?

I'm guessing Spad is right about the effort needed to create this for players.

However, I'd like to see this with some NPC's. It would come in handy for retro-tales involving the original Freedom Phalanx. One of the original Freedom Phalanx was in a wheelchair, as I recall: the brainy half of Vambrace. (the hero Vambrace was actually a team: one guy in the power suit, the other guy running the show)

I recall one day hearing the call for some races on the Freedom hoverboards. With all powers turned off but the 'boards, a well-mapped route through the city canyons with referees strategically placed might make for a good "Friday Night Fights" type weekly competition.

I've lived through a fire, multiple tornadoes (including 2 times having them leap over where I was living), multiple tropical storms, and now an earthquake. And I'm considered to be living in one of the safer parts of the country!

I think the sudden ones are the most terrifying. Earthquakes come out of the blue, and you lose precious seconds as your mind wraps around the idea of what is happening.

A lot of tornadoes strike in the night, and many times are not identified as a tornado for days while data is studied and compared. (not every one is as clear as Dorothy Gale's twister) Meanwhile houses are destroyed.

The fire can be disorienting. I was in a college dorm that caught on fire. By the time the alarm had sounded, the hall was full from 3 feet up with roiling black smoke. Until it poured in our door, we thought it a drill. There was that moment of frozen panic and then the moment deciding if I bolt for the door or is there something critical I need to do first? (it does happen, even after teaching yourself there's nothing more important than your life)

I would also point out that flood cannot be ruled out as a instant disaster. The town of Toccoa, GA, 1.5 hours from me had a earthen dam break a couple decades back, spilling instant death onto the college and neighborhoods below. There was no warning. Johnstown, PA suffered a similar fate.

Just got done reading Isaac's Storm, about the 1900 Galveston hurricane. The tragedy there played out because an awful lot of people, including many in the US weather service, refused to see a hurricane as a bonified threat to their lives. Also, some things often not considered with hurricanes were discussed. For example, the real monsters (Irene may be one, I'm not sure) have enough suction power to pull at the earth beneath them. The theory was that this effect was present at the Galveston hurricane, and may have increased the effects of the tsunami the storm created.

Sooner or later, well-meaning team members will try teleporting you without consent. It can be frustrating if you were in the middle of something, like training or buying. To avoid this there's a setting under Options that creates a prompt asking for permission to teleport.

Distance travel in the game can be very fast, rather then jumping on a hoofed or feathered friend and waiting 15 to 30 minutes to cross a continent. You should also consider that travel can be accomplished in a variety of ways, some faster than the train/ferry/helicopter. These include, but are not limited to, Pocket D doorways, the "O" portal, Wentworths/Black Market teleporters (earned from day jobs), and many supergroup bases.

The woods of Perez Park are a maze, and have been a point of frustration and defeat for many a hero. Rather than bread crumbs, consider utilizing Vidiotmaps.

If you venture on foot into the Hollows basin, and enemies are not grey yet, be aware that the ground around you may be alive...

Striga Island is a fun zone, but the access points are not always understood. Look on the maps of Talos Island and Independence Point for smuggler ships. The guarded doors on these ships will get you to Striga Island.

Many types of opponent mobs will have one special class that should be targeted for elimination before tackling the others, lest his special ability negate all your efforts. (healing, mesmorizing "mezzing", energy sapping, etc.) Many have been the teams that wiped for failing to recognize this.

If the door or contact on your map is at the location you are at, but you don't see them, try looking underground. Many zones have tunnels or other layers, and the access to these is not always right nearby. Some exploration may be necessary.

Hey! I liked Sky Captain! Well...mostly. The solution to the plot felt weak, but then it was faithful to the genre, and typical of the crazy plots of the 30s and 40s serials. Or comics for that matter. I've got an old Shadow comic somewhere in which the plot was that Shiwan Khan was going to take over the world riding what amounted to a 13-wheeled Segway. I can't make this stuff up! Anyway, Sky Captain was faithful to the style, perhaps too much so for the tastes of todays audiences.

this might just be the best fan flick I've ever seen. Thanks for posting it, Sho!

Although I personally liked its weird surrealism, I know I've heard a lot of hate for this next one.

I'll suggest Toys with Robin Williams, Michael Gambon, Donald O'Conner, Robin Wright Penn, and Joan Cusack. (alright, and LL Cool J, too. )

Reading out of sequence, but I'm reading Eliot Pattison's



Bone Rattler: A Mystery of Colonial America

and I just finished the sequel



Eye of the Raven: A Mystery of Colonial America

Both are kind of a blend of Last of the Mohicans, Bravehart, and CSI or Bones from TV. At first I didn't think studious medical forensics had any place in the time and events of the French and Indian War, especially at a time when the Humors were still considered proper science, but I'm pleased to say that the stories are quite immersive. Though both are connected, the second book was written so well, I first thought it was a stand-alone novel, rather than a sequel.

The only ones I'll admit to having not seen are E.T., Forbidden Planet, and Metropolis all of which I do intend to watch. Well,ok, on T.V. I've not seen Time Tunnel or Blake's 7, but that's because I've never had true access to the shows.

I have seen a lot of obscure and short-lived sci-fi. Anyone remember Project: UFO, Salvage 1, or The Powers of Matthew Starr? I do think someone needs to resurrect The Questor Tapes. That one had, IMHO, a lot of potential.

Its hard to compete with the combined talent of a dozen actors when trying to go for "best cast" but Independence Day should be in there somewhere.

courtesy of FirstShowing.Net:

Indie Steampunk film named "Thelomeris" by a Hungarian filmmaker. I was intrigued when I read this: