T w e n t y S i d e d

Interesting story behind that splash image at the top. I was pretty pleased with myself getting all the upgrades and repairs for the bathroom done, so I went looking for an image about “success.” The marquee ad for the 1923 Metro Pictures movie Success seemed the most appealing easily clippable Public Domain image on the first page of Wikimedia Images search. After editing, I figured I better look up the movie in case I was making a statement I didn’t want to support…I mean, the movie may have been about the rise of fascism or something. But believe it or not, it’s EVEN MORE applicable. Well, not the movie itself. I would call Success a twist on the famous and beloved Charlie Chaplin movie Limelight, except Success premiered in 1924 and Limelight appeared in 1952. But don’t get excited, Limelight is just one of the best-known versions of this type of story (and arguably is more of a “cousin” story). Actor is unable to deal with his phenomenal success, ruins his life with {insert here; drink in this case}, abandons his family including his young daughter Rose. Years later he tries to make a comeback, is hired as a dresser for the *big star,* his daughter Rose is the co-star and the subject of shenanigans, *big star* can’t perform, the has-been goes on stage and achieves wild “success”, a happy ending ensues for everyone.

But that’s not important. See at the top of the splash image, where it says the money man was Murray W. Garsson, Inc.? Murray Wolfe Garsson came to New York from England as a two-year-old in the 1880’s. He apparently achieved “success” in real estate and movies in the 1910s and 1920s, and got involved in the U.S. government in the 1930s, first in the Department of Labor and later as a civilian working for the House of Representatives. After the outbreak of World War II, Garsson and his brother used his government connections to secure munitions contracts for a non-existent company. After acquiring the contracts the Garssons partnered with two men who fabricated watch cases and compact mirrors to produce faulty mortar shells. Garsson’s inside man was Kentucky congress-person Andrew May, who just so happened to chair the extremely powerful and influential House Military Affairs Committee. May pressured dozens of government agencies and departments to throw business and other favors to the Garssons and their friends. The entire scandal was discovered after the war by a Senate committee investigating the fake munitions business due to the high failure rate of their product. May and both Garssons were sentenced to a few years in prison. Murray was flat-broke upon release, and died a few years later. His brother Henry lived until 1983 in obscurity. The crooked Congress-person served nine months while appealing his case all the way to the Supreme Court (which refused to hear his appeal). Despite this, he was still popular and influential in the Democrat Party, and President Truman issued a full pardon in 1952. Democrats *did* reject his attempts to re-enter politics, so he returned home and practiced law (he wasn’t disbarred or punished in any way for actually breaking the law) until his death in 1959, two years after Murray Garsson.

A very modern scandal, and at least May had a very modern success story. One that could be in the news today. Oh, and Murray’s first wife was named “Rose,” and I wonder if she was the namesake of the character “Rose” in Success. Which in turn makes me wonder how involved Garsson was with the production. I can’t find any information. But I didn’t come here to tell you any of that.

I had two major problems finishing the bathroom replacements. After installing the new tub drain and shower head, I discovered damage to the PVC pipes connected to the water control valve behind the handle. I decided to bring a plumber in to do this work, as I was hoping a plumber would be able to either repair the damage or replace anything necessary a lot easier than I would be able to. I was especially hoping they could do the work without having to cut into a wall opposite the plumbing. Unfortunately, that was the first thing they did. To be fair, it was necessary…they would not have been able to do the required work any other way. And they did it well. They kept the drywall in good condition and screwed the removed sections back in afterward. I will probably replace them with a custom wood panel with trim and latches in the future, but it’s fine for now.

The second problem was the new exhaust fan. While the instructions did actually start with “remove the current exhaust fan,” all subsequent instructions, and the design itself, made it clear this product is designed to be installed in a new build or remodel *before* the drywall is put up, or with access to the crawl space in the rafters. It is not possible to attach the new housing from the inside of the room. The old exhaust fan you could. The fan unit screwed into the housing. After removing  those screws, you gained access to not only the screws holding the housing to the appropriate ceiling joist, but the electrical connection. The new fan is a completely enclosed box. The wiring is run to outside the housing through one tiny hole. The brackets required for installation are mounted to the outside of the housing with no access from the inside. I was able to drill new holes in the housing to facilitate mounting it from the inside.

Thankfully, even though the design is meant to be connected to two ceiling joists, which was not possible in my particular situation, the new connection was solid enough that I have no doubts it will last. I did mistakenly mount the housing flush with the bottom of the joint based on the illustrations in the manual. The instructions actually say to mount the housing with the thickness of the wallboard allowed for (which, of course, reinforces the idea that you are meant to install this *before* the drywall is installed. The external cowl and light assembly has a lot of wiggle room; however. You don’t actually screw the cowl on, or snap it or rotate into tabs…it uses two “V”-spring assemblies. It is a bit awkward to try to hold these springs closed from the outside until you can slip them into their slots, at which point you can release them and they spring apart. Not only do they have a hook-type end to literally prevent them from just falling out, the sprung “V” shape actually pulls the cowl up against the ceiling. I would still have preferred the cowl be screwed in, but shockingly, it all worked as advertised. In addition to the fan, the assembly has an LED light of course, plus a dimmer function for that light; a separate night light and a Bluetooth speaker. Honestly, I was shocked everything worked after installation. And worked well, I must add. The brand is Homewerks, by the way.

I did not play any Tropico this week. Most likely I won’t be revisiting that game until I master getting 60 Overall Happiness consistently (currently topping out at 54-56). I strongly suspect if I can do that, every scenario will be beatable by either spam building to the win condition, or building to 60 Happiness which will actually cover every other form of Happiness, including Faction-pleasing. Some factions reach max satisfaction through accessibility to certain types of buildings, some by area-of-influence which is functionally the same, and a few by the presence of advanced, expensive building upgrades (like the Hospital being built in addition to Clinics; the College beyond High Schools, etc.). All I have to do is prove I’m right, or at least close-enough.

I also picked up Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic this week. *But* I must admit I have only installed it; I haven’t played it yet. I have also started working on Roland MT-32 emulation on Linux, for the purpose of revisiting classic Sierra On-Line adventure games. I am trying to get it out of my system before I give in to the urge to acquire a handful of retro gaming computers “for that authentic experience.” I’m kind of hankering for the classic Tandy 16-color experience, but I know I should be able to do much more with less through emulation. And without spending any money, for that matter.

My Nautolan Smuggler Nuleen finished Coruscant and Taris, the second and third planets in the Republic story, and on to Nar Shaddaa. The first chapter of the Smuggler story concerns the quest to retrieve your stolen starship from the con-man who stole it, then completing the string of deals *he* was doing in conjunction with an NPC you find on your ship when you get it back at the end of the Coruscant story. The first stop is Taris, a world introduced in the Knights of the Old Republic games. There you retrieve an old astrogation chart only rumored to exist, while being given very little reason to trust the NPC managing the quest, Risha. Nar Shaddaa is the next stop where you have to do numerous quests for a Hutt you were meant to deal with, who has decided to do very Hutt-like things and be irresponsible, deceitful, and obtuse.

While all eight base classes get access to some unique areas, I think the Smuggler may have the best Nar Shaddaa experience. The Hutt you’re doing quests for is based on his “pleasure barge,” which he orders moved after every encounter. His Twi’lek advisor conveniently docks the barge in whatever area you are meant to be questing in next. The *inconvenient* part is that the barge, which of course must be docked “outside,” is always reached through the furthest corner from the public entrance *you* have access to. But considering you get to see some unique areas, even if they are still themed to Nar Shaddaa’s overall aesthetic, I don’t mind that much. The deal you are supposed to complete with Drooga the Hutt is to swap a rare beast for a prototype starship engine Drooga just happened to acquire. Unfortunately, Drooga no longer wants the rare beast, because he was really only interested in having a breeding pair, and the half he already owned was stolen by S-P.E.T.A.: Space-People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Because Hutts are genetically related to the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal, if Drooga can’t see it, it doesn’t exist, and therefore he no longer needs the Rare Beast you have. Fortunately for us, his well-mannered advisor advises us to retrieve the *stolen* Rare Beast, which will renew Drooga’s interest in *our* Rare Beast. You know, because he can see it again. This, of course, leads us *all over* Nar Shaddaa.

Some of the locations I visited really showed of the amazing level design that can be found in this game. Large, multi-level rooms are simultaneously challenging/interesting to cross, but also fit the dense, planet-covering city of Nar Shaddaa. You can see some of this design in Coruscant as well, but I think Nar Shaddaa presents the idea more cohesively. Coruscant feels more “enclosed.” The area pictured below is entered through the opening you can see around the center-left of the image. I will note I’m using a stealth build, so I can actually creep around pretty effectively and only fight who I need to fight. Stealth is *great* for exploration.

I was surprised to come across this little static scene halfway through the Nar Shaddaa story. You won’t know the significance until you’ve completed the Smuggler story, and this is the first time I’ve played a Smuggler to this point in years. There are no labels on the characters and you can’t talk to them. But the Mon Calamari is actually Gus Tuno, a companion you pick up on Hoth later in the game. Gus is a failed Jedi Padawan, and a natural con-man. In this little scene, we are witnessing a point right around when he abandons his Jedi training. He is being chewed out by his current/former master (the hologram). My best guess is that his master sent a T4 droid to find him (the Jedi of this era seem to *love* keeping a T4 droid on staff) after Gus took off from Tython. Also, probably, has Gus seen his lightsaber? (Gus stole it.) The droid tracked Gus to the Red Light District on Nar Shaddaa. Gus took off soon after this encounter…as far as I remember we next see him on Hoth, when he can become a companion. But, again, that’s only a guess. I’ll update when I learn more…the situation may actually be fully explained.

I came close to finishing the Nar Shaddaa storyline last night. There’s only one more area to complete. This includes the main planetary storyline, which I’ve been doing as well. As mentioned, I haven’t played Smuggler or even a Republic character in quite a while, so there is a certain amount of “new-ness” going on. This final map, Network Access/Shadowtown, isn’t all that big at first, but connects to multiple areas, Heroic Instances, most of the planet’s Bonus Story; the World Boss is in this area, but it’s all through doors. The implication is that a lot of this map is on different levels, but it’s hard to depict that in a single picture. After completing the quests here, I can make the deal with Drooga and subsequently acquire a new companion along with the quest mcguffin. Bowdaar the Wookiee unfortunately has the exact same story most Wookiee characters have, but the Smuggler does get some good dialogue around him.

That’s it for this week, see you next time!

Paige Francis He/him