Current... Distractions.

[CrazyBernie]

Here's a list of things keeping me from writing fan fiction...

Games:

Warhammer: Dawn of War series - I've been trying to get through all of the Space Marine Campaign, but the so-so graphics and the lack of a decent amount of "zoom out" are making it a bit of a chore.

Battleforge: And here I thought I was done playing Magic: The Gathering style games years ago... but mix MtG card play with Warcraft style RTS gameplay... an addictive combination for sure. The game is now free to play, but you'll get hoodwinked into spending a little bit of cash to spice up your deck. If you can find a copy of the original game (they're as low as 20 bucks), it'll net you the best value in points to spend on card purchases (boxed game = 3000 points, where $20 will normally get you 2250 points). But it has some single player game play, and some cooperative gameplay in addition to the normal Player vs Player stuff.

Supreme Commander - Playing Co-op skirmishes with my dad (and occasionally a buddy several states away) against the computer.

Command and Conquer 3 - Same as above...

Command and Conquer 4 Multiplayer Open Beta: This game is... different. For those that have played the previous games in the series, be prepared to learn a completely different type of gameplay. There's no base building, and no resource gathering. I'm not really a PvP gamer, but so far it's been a lot of fun. So far it's been rock solid, and I've only noticed a few gameplay glitches. This game is likely to be at the top of my "To Get" list.

The Starcraft II Closed Beta launches this month. I've got my fingers crossed.... >.<

TV
I'm not really a TV person, most of my "show watching" comes in the form of subbed anime. However... here's a list of shows that I've recently aruied a taste for:

House - I friggin' love this show. House is my hero.

Fringe - It's like a modern, serialized Twilight Zone with almost-a-plot.

Stargate Universe - The special effects quality has finally gotten good enough for a Stargate series. I also like how they've put in a younger, more "current-events" cast. Watching the kiddies struggle is fun.

Ghost Hunters/Ghost Hunters International - I like poking fun at the evidence.

Heroes - It's all right... I mainly watch it 'cause my dad's a big fan.

Smallville - See Heroes entry.


So there you have it, all that in addition to reading books and watching anime is keeping me quite busy... 0_o

[BasiliskWrangler]

Supreme Commander - Playing Co-op skirmishes with my dad (and occasionally a buddy several states away) against the computer.

Is this as fun as "Total Annihilation" was?

House - I friggin' love this show. House is my hero.

House is good, but the diagnosis is always some strange infection. Doesn't matter what the symptoms are or what's going on with the plot, the end result is always "it's an infection."

Ghost Hunters/Ghost Hunters International - I like poking fun at the evidence.

I'm too much of a hardcore skeptic to even find the humor in this show.

[IJBall]

TV
I'm not really a TV person, most of my "show watching" comes in the form of subbed anime. However... here's a list of shows that I've recently aruied a taste for:

House - I friggin' love this show. House is my hero.
Fringe - It's like a modern, serialized Twilight Zone with almost-a-plot.
Stargate Universe - The special effects quality has finally gotten good enough for a Stargate series. I also like how they've put in a younger, more "current-events" cast. Watching the kiddies struggle is fun.
Ghost Hunters/Ghost Hunters International - I like poking fun at the evidence.
Heroes - It's all right... I mainly watch it 'cause my dad's a big fan.
Smallville - See Heroes entry.

Hmmm... I feel like there's something that's been... Lost... from this list...

[CrazyBernie]

Is this as fun as "Total Annihilation" was?

Well the campaign actually has a story behind it, which is pretty interesting. As far as gameplay, when my dad, myself, and my buddy are playing against a couple of computer opponents, it's a blast. The biggest issue is that my dad and buddy have machines that are a bit slow (Dad's computer is a P4 Extreme 3.2GHz... the single core kills game performance) so the game can get down to a crawl when the AI gets to expanding. The stand alone expansion - Forged Alliance - made a big difference in multiplayer games (performance-wise), but not quite enough. I might have to upgrade his computer for his 51st b-day if he doesn't get around to it. I've already hooked him up with a serious video card upgrade. (256MB ATI X800 to a 1GB HD4670)

What I'm really gearing up for is SupCom 2.... it's looking to be Amazing (that's right , a capital "A").

House is good, but the diagnosis is always some strange infection. Doesn't matter what the symptoms are or what's going on with the plot, the end result is always "it's an infection."

Huh? You watch it for the medical diagnosis??

Hmmm... I feel like there's something that's been... Lost... from this list...

Not at all... =P

[Dragonlady]

House is a pretty good show I watched from the beginning up until a year or two ago and got bored with it. Even got bored with the CSI shows! I've lately gotten hooked on "Castle" and a bunch of creative type show's like "Launch My LIne", "Project Runway" where people design clothing. I never miss "Bones"..actually prefer the books more than the show but it is still pretty good. Been watching a lot of History channel or others of its type with shows on archeology, especially those on Egyptian stuff or underground 'cities' of the past. etc.

[CrazyBernie]

I used to watch a lot of the History Channel, Nat Geo, and Discovery... but they seriously need some new material.

[CrazyBernie]

I just realized that both C&C4 and SupCom 2 are coming out next month... *sigh*

[Iane]

Well I was playing Dins curse for some time until bioshock 2 came out - got the special edition and gotta say love the game - so much so i'm playing it a second time around and that's rare for me once i've finished a game

[Evnissyen]

Call me a person who wishes for things, but sometimes I wish those TV documentaries would hike up their substance a little, even at the expense of some of their often silly and often ultimately useless and often way-too-long extraneous demonstrations for things we already understood when it was first explained to us... I mean, the documentaries are fun to watch, and that's good . . . but too often I tend to get the feeling I'm being talked down to. I don't like being talked down to. I want information! More and more information!

Anyhow, Bernie: just make sure you don't end up writing about being distracted from fanfiction by stuff you're a fan of. Bad, bad, bad!

Me, I'm distracted from my writing by anything I can possibly find.

[geishaboy]

I despise television. Well apart from a few comedy shows.

Mind you, between work and school I don't think I would have time to watch TV even if I wanted to

[King_ov_Death]

I primarily watch The Simpsons, El Chavo (a Mexican sitcom), the local news programmes, and a couple more local TV shows. I don't have cable TV...

[Evnissyen]

Well, who needs cable TV, anyway?

...So long as I can access movie streams of The Daily Show, The Rachel Maddow Show and occasionally Family Guy, I'm happy.

[Saxon1974]

I used to watch a lot of the History Channel, Nat Geo, and Discovery... but they seriously need some new material.

totally agree with you on this CrazyBernie.....

I used to watch International History and History channel all the time. But lately they have been running shows like "Ice Road Truckers" and now "Pawn Stars".....why do they think reality shows about pawn shops would work for a history crowd?

I used to love the shows on the roman empire, medieval england, ancient egypt etc....

Sure hope they improve.

[Saxon1974]

I keep getting sucked into Mount & Blade mods, been playing Europe 1200 lately....its similar to the original game but with all of Europe circa 1200 included...very awesome.

Oh yea and they have been running re-runs on the 80's tv Show "V" lately, god I loved that show.

[CrazyBernie]

Oh yea and they have been running re-runs on the 80's tv Show "V" lately, god I loved that show.

It's because of the new V series on ABC.