jossbo

Is 25 years old enough? Hope so!

Finally watched this a couple of days ago and wow, it's a ride.

The first act hits differently to how I imagine it did in 1998. At the time neo-nazis were much more fringe than they are now, so the first act took more time than I imagine they would now to humanise the characters a way that allows you to see how they encourage each other into escalating further and further. That said, there were times when it almost felt like the movie was on their side, particularly the triumphant strings during the basketball scene. I think I read at some point that neo nazis watch the 1st act as a celebration of their culture, and it kinda reads that way. It was uncomfortable, but maybe that was the point.

The second act does a good job of showing the process of radicalisation. The young Danny has been totally consumed by the skin head gang, and we see them coaching his speech, berating him for mis-speaking, pulling him away from friends, alienating him from school and sources of guidance.

The last act is satisfying and it wraps up well, but inwont spoil it.

There are some brutal scenes, with one particular moment that I won't spoil, but is infamous. I looked away at the moment it happened but I still saw too much for comfort and the image will stay with me.

A welcome surprise came in the form of Edward Furlong's voice-overs. They took me right back to watching Terminator 2 for the 1000th time when I was 11. His voice overs as John Conner are baked into my subconscious.

All in all, I think the movie is worth a watch, and has some good points and insight. It has some flaws, and I think it might miss the mark at times when viewed from a modern perspective. I suspect these things are mostly a result of the point of time it was made, so with that in mind I do recommend watching it. Just do it on a day when you're feeling thick skinned.

As a child, maybe about 7 or 8 years old, I woke up one morning to the sound of two people talking in the next room, with some laughter. Then all of a sudden two ghostly beings burst through the wall and rushed at me. The thing was, they were wearing underpants on their heads, and socks on their hands. It was clear that they were just being silly and scaring me for fun, which at the time felt like it made it all the more scary, cos it was just a joke to them. I was totally terrified, paralysed with fear.

Then I woke up again.

I'll go first. He's a reborn necromancer wizard, with a 1 level dip into death cleric.

His backstory comes with a clichénwarning for lost memories..

He lost his memory just before the start of the campaign. He was conducting a gruesome experiment on a dog, when something went wrong involving lightning. He died, but also didn't, and came to wandering around his lab years later, clutching the skull of the dog, which had rotted away to just bone.

He didn't have a name at the start of the campaign. I let a different player name him, as his character knew mine from before the accident. He came up with the truly awful name Melvin Kingston, which I've grown to love. He had a massive fear of death, having died once already, and was quite the coward in early levels.

His memories have been slowly returning, and he's had to come to terms with all the evil things he did in his previous life. I recently took a level in death domain cleric, cos we had no healer, and I found the god Jergal, Scribe of the Doomed, who is concerned only with documenting the dead in his great book. Melvin's faith has allowed him to come to terms with death, and accept it as a part of life. (His newfound ability ro wear medium armor has helped as well, lol). I love having 8 cantrips, and so so many spells to choose from. I have so many options!

I love playing him, and I'm loving the progression he's gone through. I have more planned for him.

Now your turn!