More of Jim Henson’s Labyrinth; on the significance of Jennifer Connelly (Part Two)

By Paige Francis Posted Monday Dec 2, 2024

Filed under: Epilogue, Paige Writes 5 comments

We left Labyrinth at what I described as a transition point in the movie. Sarah is now stuck at the bottom of an oubliette (one of many in the labyrinth, Hoggle will inform us shortly), although Jareth will continue to refer to “the” oubliette and “it” as if there is only one. Was it a script inconsistency, or an intentional reference to the fact that Hoggle is a product of the story while Jareth is the storyteller? Much like many insane Kubrickian hypothesis, I don’t think it matters. As far as the story goes, she *is* in *the* oubliette, and that’s all we need to know. The labyrinth is “full of them,” according to Hoggle, and considering Sarah is dealing with more significant matters than the pedantry of the Goblin Kingdom…it is, after all, only the setting…they may as well all be the same oubliette. And as we have seen, they *could* all be the same oubliette, all leading to same possible outcomes.

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “More of Jim Henson’s Labyrinth; on the significance of Jennifer Connelly (Part Two)”

 


 

DM of the Rings Remastered XCVIII: Ooooh! Shiny!

By Peter T Parker Posted Sunday Dec 1, 2024

Filed under: DM of the Rings Remaster 4 comments

Never share loot with NPCs. Their pack will always contain everything the DM wants them to have, so it’s a waste to give them anything more.

– Shamus, May 9, 2007

 


 

Wednesday Action Log 11-27-24

By Issac Young Posted Wednesday Nov 27, 2024

Filed under: Epilogue, Action Log 12 comments

This week I’ve done barely anything. In my free time I’ve been watching YouTube, but I’ve barely had enough time to commit games. Next week I should have more, so hopefully then I will have anything to talk about.

How’s everyone else this week?

 


 

DM of the Rings XCVII Remastered: Gets Me Right Here

By Peter T Parker Posted Tuesday Nov 26, 2024

Filed under: DM of the Rings Remaster 6 comments

The only way to keep players from doing something stupid is to Just Keep Talking.

Sadly, there is no way to keep the DM from doing something stupid, although offing one of his favorite NPCs might shut him up for a couple of minutes.

– Shamus, May 7 2007

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “DM of the Rings XCVII Remastered: Gets Me Right Here”

 


 

An Analysis of Jim Henson’s Labyrinth, or Why is Bowie so friggin’ sexy? (Part One)

By Paige Francis Posted Monday Nov 25, 2024

Filed under: Epilogue, Paige Writes 9 comments

I originally thought a post on Labyrinth would be pretty large; epic even. The more I worked it over in my mind,the concepts got simpler and simpler (famous last words). My original premise was based on the observation that most people remember Labyrinth for, well; David Bowie’s balls. And the skintight pants prominently displaying his equipment. We must be honest, as well; David Bowie is a pretty sexy fella and the entire presentation of Jareth the Goblin King does nothing but accentuate this idea. Sooo…that means Labyrinth is about growing into sexual maturity, right?

No, it’s not. That wasn’t the original idea, it’s not in the script, and it’s not explicitly in the movie. It’s just that everything related to the Goblin King, especially *in the second half of the movie* carries sexual overtones.

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “An Analysis of Jim Henson’s Labyrinth, or Why is Bowie so friggin’ sexy? (Part One)”

 


 

Wednesday Action Log 11-20-24

By Issac Young Posted Wednesday Nov 20, 2024

Filed under: Epilogue, Action Log 11 comments

This week I’ve been playing more Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord.

So far, I’ve learned that turning down the damage reduction really hurts. Last time I played I had damage reduction set to easy, so I was effectively invincible with heavy enough armor. But now I have to learn what it’s like to take damage.

Also, since I’m not making most of my money from smithing, I’m having to actually learn how trade caravans and workshops work, instead of making one really good sword and having enough money to pay an army for a year.

Anyway, what’s everyone else doing this week?

 


 

Delayed (big) post from Paige; other stuff

By Paige Francis Posted Monday Nov 18, 2024

Filed under: Epilogue, Paige Writes 5 comments

Hey, everyone. I hate to have another non-content day, especially with so many things actually in the works. I took a nap and planned to finish up my weekly post afterward. Instead I got hit with a lot of negative stimuli that sent me spiraling. Thankfully I noticed and arrested the fall, but now I have to re-organize and build myself back up.

I have an analysis of Labyrinth in the works, by the way. My spouse and I thoroughly discussed the overt narrative and distinguished that from the sexual overtones. After reaching our conclusions, I spent a bit of time researching to see how much was intentional…how the sexual stuff got in and related to the rest of it. You can step back and go cross-eyed and it all pretty neatly fits together as long as you can’t see the details that interconnect. And don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying it’s a problem or done poorly (not exactly). Just that there are really two stories, or a big story and a little story, that are complementary but don’t really intersect properly.

I have more Villagers & Heroes content, or at least I think I do. I’m not sure how far this stuff is going to play. The game is *fun,* but there’s also no way around the fact that you’re just playing an abstract version of World of Warcraft. Is there a place for that? I think so. I haven’t really made up my mind.

Star Wars: The Old Republic is testing texture updates for the player character models. Updated higher-resolution player characters have been requested for years, of course; but the reviews of the current efforts on the test server are NOT glowing. Everyone is saying (and showing in screenshots) that the cumulative effect of the update doesn’t really seem to do anything more than make almost every character look twenty years older. Now, if that was a *toggle* that you could flip to reflect that your character has aged that much from the beginning of the game, or maybe a character aging option, that would be fine. Neat, even. As the default? I’m not sure that’s the desired effect, and I have a hard time believing that was the intention for every texture. I mean, there *are* people just now coming to the game and starting out with their own twenty-year-old farm boys and girls, you know?

Connelly was cast at 14 years old to play a character listed, depending on the script you reference, as 13, 14, 15, or 16 years old. She was, of course, 16 when the film was released. Henson chose her after several script revisions, and one of three other actresses were on the short-list, none of whom were Connelly. While specific references are hard to find these days, Connelly was selected after Henson chose to bring out more of the sexual elements of the story (this was after David Bowie was brought on to play the Goblin King.) I can’t find the reference anymore, but Connelly’s rapidly maturing appearance when they started filming *was* noted, and it probably highlighted the sexual overtones a lot more than was originally intended. More on that…some other time.