Not so much the Tangency-ish stuff that goes on here, which indeed is awesome (I may do something of the effect when Story Games turns One, but only if I can annihilate it after the week is done), but the effect of "Getting to really know the people behind the posts."

When you address someone regularly in a kind of formal environment of discourse, discussion and (of course, a little) argument, it's hard to get an idea of what they're all about. Especially if you don't post "fun stuff" or "let people in a little", etc.  Lack of empathy, IMO, is the termite that eats away at communities.  Anyway, I want you to all gorge on this bountiful yearly Forge Feast (as I will be), and revel in it, for with this forum you really get to meet your neighbors. Talk it up. Have fun.

And if you like what you see, feel free to stop by www.story-games.com as well. It's like the Forge minus the workshop, and RPGNet minus the... err... I'm still a fan and user of RPGNet so I'll stop there.

-Andy

Alright Andy, I guess I'll be the first to take a bite at this particular apple.  I'm not entirely certain, however, what the parameters are.  Are we just expected to share some things about ourselves that people might not otherwise know about us from reading our posts?

Okay, so here's something that happened to me recently that made me very happy and that might give you some sense of who I am.  Recently--to be precise, just yesterday--I got a letter from the Folger Institute in Washington, D.C. informing me that I had been admitted to their Mellon Summer Institute program in English paleography.  In case you're wondering what in the hell that is, it is a program for the study of handwriting styles as well as the letter-writing conventions of people in the early modern period (what we all used to call--and some of us still do call--the renaissance).  I was particularly pleased to get in because aside from the competition, believe it or not, being fairly stiff and this kind of wonkish technical skill being really useful for my work, I tickled me to think that I will probably be one of the few people in my field trained in both the western marxist and post-structuralist theoretical traditions AND this really old-school, wonky technical stuff.  Whether this will ultimately mark me as a desirable hire or simply a platypus-like oddball is a standing question.

So what else can I say?  I love films of almost all sorts, though I fear that with advancing age sentimentality is starting to set in.  I cried pathetically at the end of "Brokeback Mountain" imaging the pain of what it must have been like for someone to deny himself for decades a love like that. The film that sends me reaching for the Kleenex *every single time* is De Sica's "Umberto D."  I defy anyone to resist crying at the end of this movie.  You have to be made of stone not to break down.

If it is not already pretty obvious, I tend to post infrequently but at length when I do (apologies to everyone who has had to endure this).  And I never cease to be amazed at the incredible collective intelligence and generosity I find here.  I really mean that.  This is a truly special place.

Happy Birthday Forge!

Eric

I came for the cake.

What?  I heard that there was cake.  Mmmm.  Cake.

I think East Germans and other Third Way type folks in the eastern bloc got really badly screwed.

I think people's behavior, values, ethics, and general "people-ness" is easy to understand.

I think relying on Saudi oil reserves is moronic.

I think neither the Devil and True Love exist, but I love stories with them in there.

I think the definition of the Yuppie Nuremburg Defense in the movie "Thank You for Smoking" will haunt me forever

I think geeks become wonderful sexy people if they can avoid the Geek Fallacies as they grow up

I think my family ought to be dramatized in a TV mini-series

I think beef tongue is the most excellent awesomest meat anywhere, ever

I think The Shield is a startling artistic achievement that ought to spawn a new brand of television, if there's any justice

I think that everyone is very smart, and that everyone learns tremendously effectively if they can see why they should

I think cell phones are socially abusive far more than they are logistically useful

I think a bunch of other stuff too, but that's about as much tone-poem free-associating I can stand to do at one time.

Oh yeah, except that I also think ... no, on second thought, that's none of your business even though it's true.

Best, Ron

I think cell phones are socially abusive far more than they are logistically useful

Eric wrote:
Can I get an "Amen" somebody?

Eric wrote:
Alright Andy, I guess I'll be the first to take a bite at this particular apple.  I'm not entirely certain, however, what the parameters are.  Are we just expected to share some things about ourselves that people might not otherwise know about us from reading our posts?

Bah to all you fogies. Cell phones are perfectly legit.

Too legit to quit, even.

I've not posted here abouts in, well, possibly since the last Millenium.

But who could stay away from this great party?

I'll add an amen to the cell phone bit. Though I admit that (almost) every time I've travelled recently, I've wished I had one (my trip to Hungary and Romania last summer was an exception - but then I was travelling with a group - it was actually nice to really be out of touch with the rest of my world for 10 days). What I'd love to see (but I suspect we'll never see because cell phones are too common now) is places in the airport where you could rent a cell phone for like 20 bucks (plus perhaps 10 bucks a week past 7 days or something), with some modest number of minutes included.

Frank

Kester wrote:
I've not posted here abouts in, well, possibly since the last Millenium.

Hey, do I get an accordion? Huh? Huh? Do I?

Sorry, all we have left is this concertina.

Dammit! I'm always the last guy in line for these things!

talysman wrote: Welcome back to the Forge, Kester! Here's your accordion!

OMFGBBQ!!!11! Story-games is down.  Now where will I kibitz and waste away the afternoon?!?

Looks like the Forge Birthday is going to last all year.

All tangency, all the time!

Punch me now, mods.

NOT THERE!!