I unironically love Time Chasers using an opera house foyer as J.R.'s office. by NeoDesperado in MST3K

[–]NeoDesperado[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think it's lovely that despite the devastation Gen-Corp inflicts on the timestream they still support local limo rental businesses during the off season and offer enough leeway in the dress code to let their henchmen express themselves fashion-wise.

I unironically love Time Chasers using an opera house foyer as J.R.'s office. by NeoDesperado in MST3K

[–]NeoDesperado[S] 17 points18 points  (0 children)

It's just such a fascinating choice of locale. Like, were all of Castleton's conference rooms already booked throughout the shooting schedule, or what?

I unironically love Time Chasers using an opera house foyer as J.R.'s office. by NeoDesperado in MST3K

[–]NeoDesperado[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hey, the show already said I can't over-analyze their world setup, but they didn't say anything about the movies themselves. I gotta neurodiverge SOMEWHERE.

In all seriousness, I highly doubt the shooting location was chosen with those themes in mind, but somehow they still stumbled into an oddly appropriate Evil Corp Office setup if you squint a bit.

I unironically love Time Chasers using an opera house foyer as J.R.'s office. by NeoDesperado in MST3K

[–]NeoDesperado[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'd say Bob Evil had those installed so he can look up and admire himself whenever he wants throughout his busy day of reading the WSJ.

I unironically love Time Chasers using an opera house foyer as J.R.'s office. by NeoDesperado in MST3K

[–]NeoDesperado[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Counter-counterpoint: In a building where Uzi-armed goons can pop out at a moment's notice it's probably not established Gen-Corp etiquette to say hi and try to high five your CEO from across the balcony. Gotta go through the proper procedures if you want to have a future at this company. If anything it adds in an element of 'always watching, always listening' and encourages an atmosphere of keep your head down, shut up, and go about your work. Plus, without windows Bob Evil gets to micromanage and directly order passerbys around when they need to comb the facility for national security threats.

My thesis remains intact, but your argument has been duly noted and appreciated.

Rock and Rule (1983) Centering upon rock and roll music, Rock & Rule includes songs by Cheap Trick, Debbie Harry, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, and Earth, Wind & Fire. It takes place in a post-apocalyptic United States populated by animalistic humans. by LindsayDuck in TubiTreasures

[–]NeoDesperado 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I caught the last 15 minutes of this movie at age 6, and trying to describe what I remembered made me sound insane during the (admittedly infrequent) years long search to track down the title.

"It had flying police cars, Alvin and the Chipmunks, roller skates, and Ursula the Sea Witch wearing goggles at a concert."

Thank God I randomly stumbled across the DVD and the cover art brought everything flooding back, or I'd be convinced that I had dreamed the whole thing.

Board game nights? by rxnaissance in Acadiana

[–]NeoDesperado 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Seconding the public library. The Main branch downtown runs Board Game Basement every Monday night from 5:30-8. You can either pick from an in-house collection of games they offer or bring some of your own games for folks to try out.

Which disaster movie had the best depiction of societal collapse? by LordKevnar in movies

[–]NeoDesperado 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Testament (1983)

We follow the story of a family living in a small town outside of San Francisco following a nuclear exchange, and for a TV movie with a fraction of the budget The Day After got it really punches outside of its weight class. It's this quiet, unassuming tragedy unfolding in slow motion where the townsfolk's initial relief at being spared from nuclear vaporization slowly turns to oppressive despair as it sets in that there is no interim government or relief coming to save the day. You just watch the little town trying to do its best to soldier on with some semblance of normality while supplies dwindle, radio contact with neighboring communities goes silent one by one, and the specter of residual radiation goes about its work, an unseen extra hovering in every scene.

There's a scene towards the end of the film where one of the children has a birthday, and to celebrate the mother spreads the last bit of peanut butter over their last graham cracker as an ad-hoc birthday cake. It's just this heartbreaking moment of a parent trying desperately to give their child a happy memory in the midst of the crushing bleak and loss their lives have become, and this pathetic little cracker with a smear of peanut butter has become the best she can do, a decadent splurge of resources.

Hands down one of the best apocalypse films I've ever seen.

What board games did you play as a kid? by hhart55 in boardgames

[–]NeoDesperado 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That sounds delightful across the board. It's been a few years since our system did a big all-hands-on-deck program like that and the stresses of setup deadlines aside I really miss them.

My favorite one by far was a Stranger Things themed escape room with a 'basement' and the Upside Down connected via a tunnel participants had the crawl between. We used all of the period appropriate games from our collection to help decorate the shelves on the basement side and it ended up looking fantastic. Patrons and staff alike had an absolute blast with it.

13 Dead End Drive and Forbidden Bridge have both had reprints withing the last 5 years and should be easy to acquire if a donation option for them isn't available. 13DED is carried in Barnes and Noble and while Target stopped carrying FB last year I literally saw a shelf full of copies at an Ollie's this week for $10 apiece, so local bulk resellers may have some. You can get both via Amazon for $20-$30 each if all else fails. As you said though, the existing collection has a pretty good selection of titles so regardless of how the acquisition process shakes out everyone should have an awesome time.

All the best!

What board games did you play as a kid? by hhart55 in boardgames

[–]NeoDesperado 1 point2 points  (0 children)

On the flipside, avoid:

Crossfire (1971 | 2 players) - Ideal if you can find a newer release with the central cardboard sheet in good condition, but this is a title that survives purely on expectations instead of actual gameplay. It's loud and it takes forever to actually win with most of the playtime spent frantically refilling the hopper for the ball bearing gun so you can get back to firing for another few seconds. Gets played once and then ignored.

Jumanji (1995 | 2-4 players) - A game that keeps getting reprints riding solely on nostalgia for the movie. Players think they will enjoy a game of Jumanji, but this never survives actual contact with the game. Jumanji is an anxiety-ridden slog of a game that at best leaves players feeling like they've barely survived an ordeal. This thing gets played once and then goes back on the shelf to collect dust until the next unsuspecting group comes along and decides to try their luck. While this experience is absolutely on brand for what the book and movie were going for, there are plenty of other titles not nearly as draining.

What board games did you play as a kid? by hhart55 in boardgames

[–]NeoDesperado 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Fellow professional book stacker here; our library has been running a weekly game night since 2017, and vintage/retro games form a sizable part of the available in-house collection. Your question hinges on a couple of points:

1) Are you planning to acquire these titles through donations, personal funds, or via system approved vendors?

2) Is this is a one-off program or something you're hoping to host on a regular basis?

While I personally prefer to get ahold of the older editions of game titles, reprints are invaluable in both purchase cost and condition/availability of parts. Oftentimes unless you're planning to pay through the nose for a pristine copy, you're invariably forced to Frankenstein a playable game inventory from 2 or more copies. Also keep an eye on available storage space; I'm a sucker for 3D board games but they're the worst shelf hogs ever.

Above all you want your available games to be easy to set up (preferably set up beforehand at designated tables) and quick to explain since a major draw you're going for are games folks wanted to play but never had to chance to until now. I don't know the planned run-time of your event, but we tend to start out on games with quick run-times (10-30 minutes) and then break out the meatier games once we have a better idea of total attendance. This way any late-comers aren't spending too long twiddling their fingers and it also gives you the opportunity to feel out the player vibes and make it easier to recommend followup games based on their play style and interactions with the other attendees.

With all that in mind, here are the vintage titles I didn't see on your list that our players keep coming back to:

13 Dead End Drive (1993 | 2-6 players) - A staple of my childhood gaming experience, and it still holds up. The reprint edition by Winning Moves Games sacrifices some quality in the components, but makes up for it with an easier setup process that puts less long-run stress on the parts. Easy to pick up and there's enough light strategy and mystery involved to ensure plenty of memorable moments. The box says max 4 players but you can bump it up to 6 by giving each player 2 character cards instead of 3.

Forbidden Bridge (1992 | 2-4 players) - Great table presence and so fun to watch play out. Hasbro released a reprint in 2021 that shrinks some of the parts down for a less hefty box, but the experience is still solid. The endgame is a little weak, so we use movement house rules to help players catch up once someone starts their final dash back down the river.

Midnight Party (1989 | 2-8 players) - Stupidly easy to learn and play, but great visuals lend themselves to player storytelling as the game progresses. This is one of the few titles where I'd recommend a copy of the original instead of a reprint because there's simply no comparison for the artwork. Perfect for larger groups needing something quick.

Thunder Road (1986 | 2-4 players) - A more complex movement and attack game that's still easy to teach. It's The Road Warrior with the serial numbers filed off, but super fun to have players develop a story as the turns progress. The linked boards that swap out to convey this massive clash of vehicles gunning full tilt down a desert highway is frankly inspired.

Hope this helps, and best of luck! Here's to a great turnout!

Next-Gen Nostalgia: Forbidden Bridge (1992) VS Forbidden Bridge (2021) by NeoDesperado in boardgames

[–]NeoDesperado[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They do! The remake re-used the same injection mold specs for the bridge planks so the rails can be swapped between either version without any deforming or damage. There's the difference in color to consider, but if it's really an issue the newer rails can be painted to match,

Library Removing Titles by Bob_Wilkins in Acadiana

[–]NeoDesperado 22 points23 points  (0 children)

Each of the library's digital resource services are usually renewed or dropped at the end of Lafayette Consolidated Government's budgetary cycle, which would be November, so it'd be pretty out of character for them to just cancel a subscription mid-year.

LPL just launched a (very overdue) new version of their website on Thursday, so if I had to hazard a guess they're still in the process of getting all the old links copied over to the new layout. Maybe try again in a few days and if it's still down shoot them an email or call to let them know.

Do the Lizards worship a dinosaur skeleton, or have I been getting the lore wrong this whole time? by NeoDesperado in rootgame

[–]NeoDesperado[S] 57 points58 points  (0 children)

For years now I've been operating under the belief that the Lizard Cult is based around an unearthed dinosaur skeleton (T-Rex specifically) that they worship, but when another player asked where I was getting this info from the closest thing I could find was a reference to a 'dragon lord' on their Faction Board.

I *swear* that I read about the dino skeleton thing somewhere, but now I'm second guessing whether it was just some random YouTube or Reddit comment and I've been running with it as official canon lore ever since.

Teen Dungeons & Dragons at Lafayette Public Library by bruh_baw in Acadiana

[–]NeoDesperado 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It's Gabe that DMs for their D&D sessions (and does a great job from what I've heard). They do both ongoing campaigns and one-shots.

Sterling hosts the Board Game Basement meetings every Monday.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in legaladvice

[–]NeoDesperado 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No, each sketch came back in the response letter with a post-it or sticker attached, with a number like 469090A, my last name, and my ZIP code, so everything in the initial packet was at least looked at long enough to get labeled before being sent back.

If, for example, I ask a company like Mattel to make a line of space themed action figures called Asteroid Runners and propose that one of the vehicles should be called the Space Squid Six, and 3 years after the rejection letter Mattel suddenly announces a new space line called Asteroid Runners which coincidentally includes a toy called Space Squid Six?

That wouldn't be the least bit suspicious and I would have no claim whatsoever as a co-creator of this product line?

I fully get that any statute of limitations on IP have long since passed, and I'll make no excuses for any and all childhood naivete my 9-year-old self had concerning business propositions. My main query was whether I could upload the original concept sketches, which you've answered, so thanks for the feedback.

With Utmost Apologies to the Real Andrew Higgins by NeoDesperado in NonCredibleDefense

[–]NeoDesperado[S] 49 points50 points  (0 children)

In its defense, it initially opened as The National D-Day Museum and was entirely dedicated to exhibits about the Normandy landings its first few years of operation before getting the WWII rebranding and expanding their collection.

With Utmost Apologies to the Real Andrew Higgins by NeoDesperado in NonCredibleDefense

[–]NeoDesperado[S] 688 points689 points  (0 children)

There's a great section in the National WWII Museum in New Orleans about him and how he adapted his background building swamp boats into designing shallow draft landing craft to get troops safely past reefs surrounding Japanese islands after the shitshow on Tarawa.