All right, listen up you fuckers. I'm sick of putting up with this shit. I used to like the blogs section of teamliquid. Now you've gone and made it your personal shithole. I may be exaggerating a bit. The blog section isn't all bad. People still post poems, creative stories, interesting tidbits, but now there are a few things that we see all too goddamn often. But then somehow, somewhere, it became okay to post about homework problems. And now it's a fad to post about your failures with women.
You know what your blog says to me?
You're too lazy to type out more than a few sentences.
You are too stupid to understand the complicated Google interface, or you just don't understand the concept of search engines.
You're so self-centered that you write pages upon pages about your absence of a love life and you actually expect people to be sympathetic.
You are unwilling to read your course textbook, and will go to great lengths to avoid so much as looking at it.
Your are unable to find any of the keys on the keyboard corresponding to punctuation marks.
You think whatever inane shit you have to say is important enough that it deserves a new topic on the subject.
This is where the average blog, and by extension, the entire the blog section is headed.
You know why we're going here? It's because you think the blog section is your personal shithole. You think that just one more bad blog won't hurt it any more than the blog section is already hurting. You think that the forum rules don't apply to the blog section, because it's more casual. It's only more casual because you make it that way.
Once upon a time, the blogs section was great. In the golden days of blogs, before Plexa was made staff, when crazie-penguin updated his blog once a day, a blog had meaning. Blogs weren't always one or two sentences pleas for help that would be better solved with a real search engine (or yahoo answers). Blogs used to be like the rest of the forum.
But it's not like that now. Now, we have to search for the gems among the filth. But no more I say! I won't stand for it! Take back the blogs section! Make your own blogs, and make them worthy of the name! Don't be satisfied with 3 sentence OP's, and don't encourage them! If the OP is unworthy, do not respond!
Take back the blogs!
Edit: Due to popular demand, I have added a spoiler for the picture.
7 lings for the photon cannons, under Aiur's sky 5 lings for the scouting zealot, with +1 attack 9 lings for the runby, doomed to die One ling for the scouting probe, trying to sneak in the back
In the land of Char, where the shadows lie One ling to scout them all, one ling to find them One ling to lure them all, and in the darkness flank them In the land of Char, where the shadows lie.
So, there I am, instead of going to bed because I have class tomorrow, I'm browsing addictinggames.com again looking for a time-waster. After a couple 30-second tries of boring-looking games, I settle on this:
It seems to have an ok premise, and not too involved, just right for casually playing. The premise of the game is that you're a getaway car driver. So, I look at the controls and since I don't have any money for upgrades just yet, I start the first mission. I start off in a 4-lane expressway. Most of the other cars are civilian vehicles. I try to avoid them, because I assume it's a bad thing to do. I think there was an instruction that popped up and told me to avoid them. I know there was one at some point, but I can't recall how soon it occurred, or the exact message it contained.
Anyway, I start driving along. Soon enough, I see a cop car. A new tip pops up that says I can smash into cop cars for extra points, which is the same as cash for upgrades. Sounds good to me. Also, the cop car tries to get in front of me, which only makes it easier for me to ram him. I ram him a few times, and move on. I do my best to avoid hitting the civilians, but a few minor accidents later, I've finished the mission damaging a whole lot more civvies than cop cars. Whatever. I look at the upgrades now available to me, and go for the next mission.
More of the same, but a few more cop cars. I start to notice things. Cop cars will turn towards my lane. Even if there's a civilian in the way. I also notice that there's a difference between blowing cars up and just ramming them. Cool. It also occurs to me that the premise is kind of silly. I'm no criminal, but in all the movies I've seen, you don't hire people to drive getaway cars. Hollywood would never lie, so I know this is the truth. Ocean's 11 (and sequels), The Italian Job, and one other one never had anything like this. I ponder the realism of this for a bit.
I imagine that some old crusty conservative person would complain that this game is teaching American children the wrong things about getaway car drivers. Is it right to tell children that blowing up cop cars nets them more money? But at least they don't kill the civilians.
Soon, as I drive faster and more recklessly, I'm blowing up cars left and right. When one car goes, others nearby can blow up too. I feel like I'm murdering dozens of people. At the end of my getaway, my body count (for civilians alone) is higher than a serial killer. As for the cop kills add up, I realize that I'm also murdering people who are supposed to serve and protect. And I just want more points.
The cops chase after me. As the missions progress, they swarm in thicker bunches. They ignore civilians, and move towards me, nudging the other cars in my direction, so they can't always be avoided. The cops are forcing me to kill innocents. I feel like a monster for murdering them all with no thought to their lives. Did the programmer program families? I even kill ice cream trucks. I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. I like ice cream too.
At some point, it occurs to me that I was wrong about a few things earlier. Hired crime drivers have been in a hollywood movie: 2 Fast 2 Furious. Also, I realize I'm on the left side of the road. All my conjecturing about what a crazy old person would think this game teaches american youth doesn't apply. Maybe it'll be the same in britain, and wherever else they drive on the left side though.
The police cars are killing people. It's their fault. It was all along. They drive the helpless into the path of my van, where I crush them under my front bumper. I can avoid the civilians sometimes. Sometimes I don't kill them. Some missions, I try to avoid everything. I'm afraid of hitting cop cars, because i'll knock them into innocents, and then when the cop car blows up, I'll be responsible for even more murders. It has to be the cops fault. They're trying to make me lose points.
At some point, I wonder about the physical mechanisms behind the game. Is the theory that when you run into a civilian car, some money leaks out the cracks in your van? That almost makes sense. Maybe I get a bonus from the crime lords when I kill a cop. I feel bad about it though. I don't want to kill anyone. I just want to drive the getaway car.
The cop cars are coming in thicker and thicker. Maybe if I get better at avoiding them, I can save a few of the civilians. As the cops crowd in ever thicker, I can't help but ram some of them. When they bounce off of the civilian cars, I know I'm murdering innocents. But what about when it's the cop's fault? Is it still morally my responsibility? More importantly, will I lose points?
Either way, my rule stands. Sometimes, I don't kill the civilians.
I was pretty surprised when I logged into TL and saw that I had 28 bets to make. It took me a few minutes to figure out what it was. I know absolutely nothing about the skills of respective European football teams, but like any good liquibetter, that doesn't stop me from boldly making predictions. I challenge anyone to defeat me in this round of liquibet. My guessing skills are the stuff of legend, passed on through generations.
I came across this interesting audio illusion recently, and I thought I'd share it with TL, although I'm sure some of you have already heard it. Anyway:
How to hear it -Put on headphones. This won't work at all without stero, and it'll just sound dumb -Close your eyes (not actually required, but it makes it more fun) -Watch the youtube video
I remember this one mostly because the bumper registered for TL (look at the join date) to post in a year-old thread about foods that give you diarrhea. O_o
On April 21 2008 14:40 Liquid`Nazgul wrote: sorry guys I give up, I had a small chance making it with python as motw but I've gone like 3-20 since the new motw's
Don't give up yet Nazgul. Give it one last shot, for the fans. For Teamliquid. We believe in you Nazgul. We want you to suceeed. We want to see you triumph. Yes, you're down a few points. Yes, you're running short on time. But you can do this. You are Nazgûl, one of the great Black Riders. You cannot be defeated by man. Please Nazgul, just try.
I'm no artist, but I tried. And it isn't so bad, even if it takes a second to appreciate it. I'm no expert Korean fangirl sign-maker, but I tried. Don't give up Nazgul. If NaDa can come back to win an OSL, you can come back and qualify for the Team Liquid Starleague. You won't let us down.
Okay teamliquid, here's the scoop. The other day, a friend of mine from high school were chatting on AIM. It turns out that he'd been introduced to the GSI, and was watching their VOD's. From there, I got him to watch a few more VOD's, introduced him to teamliquid, and now he's a starcraft fan (I think). Now, he and I are conspiring to get a mutual friend into starcraft.
My question to teamliquid is this: What are the best VOD's or FPVOD's to introduce someone to the world of professional starcraft? He isn't totally ignorant of starcraft, but he's never really seen it played at the pro level. It seems to me that it would be good to give him links to at least one of every MU, preferably commentated in English.
What are the best VOD's for something like that? We were thinking that some of the best would be:
GSI group A, round 1 (I'm only linking part 1 to TL, because I know you've seen the rest)
Also http://gsi.gomtv.com/vod/27 but the problem with that is the long intro. Is it worth it to make somebody who doesn't know what's going on suffer through the introduction, will that turn him off of starcraft?
It's an action packed game that features a great comeback, and some cool moves. As much as I hate to admit it, a random pubbie isn't likely to know savior, so he probably won't get upset by him losing like this (but I do get upset )
MSL semifinals, round 2 (again, only linking part 1 here, you've all seen this game)
That one is another action packed game, full of clashes everywhere on the map. Also, JD wins, so that's good too.
But that's only one MU. What would be a great PvZ to link? Jaedong vs. Bisu? It was certainly epic, but maybe there was one more epic. How about PFVOD's? I remember Plexa had a few excellent FPVOD's of Kingdom in his blog (but he has excellent VOD and FPVOD's of everybody). A lot of what I need is action-packed games, preferably by an english commentator, and I think it would help to have a FPVOD or two so he can see just how hard it is to play like that. Any suggestions?
Recently, it has become obvious to my eyes exactly why Blue Storm favors Z>T so much. The reason is clear enough: behind the natural, the cliff formation seriously favors mutalisk harass, and makes it quite hard to deal with. This is what's typically known as bloody obvious. However, for a while, It didn't really hit me just how exploitable it was.
A loyal friend of the Swarm
I think the first game where it really hit me was Flash vs. Jaedong in the MSL quarterfinals (shockingly, it's Blue Storm) + Show Spoiler [VOD] +
Being the idiot I am, previously I thought that this kind of non-stop mutalisk mayhem was just [insert zerg player here] being skilled with his muta micro. I can't believe it took me so long for it to really hit me just how awesome Blue Storm is for mutalisks. I am such a noob sometimes (okay, most of the time).
Anyway, the mutalisk harass here isn't perfect, but it's damn good. Flash is forced to spend over 1k minerals on turrets alone. Meanwhile, Jaedong takes a third gas, then a fourth, and then a fifth, and by the time Flash gg's out, Jaedong has 5 fully productive bases, and his sixth base is morphing his 6th gas. This is also the first instance where I noticed the guardian build, and associated it with Blue Storm.
In fact, the idea of using guardians on Blue Storm is older than that. After a bit of research, I discovered that in Blue Storm's very first televised ZvT, YellOw[ArnC] vs. Canata, Yarc gets guardians. Oh, it's not even close to the refined Blue Storm build we see today. But it's clear that even when Blue Storm was first introduced it occurred to zerg that the terrain around the natural was so favorable to harassment, that getting guardians was viable.
Clearly, this is not Jaedong's trademarked 3 hatch muta harass into 3rd gas into hive tech build. But it's pretty cool to see guardians come into play so early in the map's history. As far as I can tell, the first time this build really took off is when Jaedong used it to beat Flash in the MSL quarterfinals. Now, it is being frequently copied, and Terran has yet to find the best way of dealing with it.
The first attempted counter to this was 2-port wraiths, again Flash v Jaedong. While Flash lost that game, it's not really his fault, because he was really far behind on expos anyway. Later, in the group stages of the GSI, he played against Savior, who also tried the muta harass into guardian build. In a moment of inspiration, Flash redeveloped the "Eraser" (irradiating his own science vessels), and broke Savior's attack just when it looked like Savior had Flash dead to rights. Judging from this, it looks like early science vessels is the best counter to early guardians.
In short, mutalisks kick ass on Blue Storm. I told you I'd be stating the obvious.
Last night, I stayed up until 3:30 AM to watch the Jaedong vs. Flash BO5, even though I had class at 10:30. It was worth it. If you haven't watched those games, go watch them now + Show Spoiler [The games] +
So, Jaedong beat Flash 3:1 to advance to the semifinals. This was no one-sided beatdown however, These were some of the best ZvT's I've ever seen. Flash played excellently throughout all four of the games, from his initial mech build on Katrina, to his amazing defense against Jaedong's harass on Blue Storm, to his impressive showing on Loki II. In my opinion, only the last game didn't show his true skill, where he tried to bunker-rush JD, and was repelled. The liquibet for the game: Flash, this is how much we believe in you.
However, this matchup doesn't end here. In nine hours, JD and Flash will clash again, this time in the OSL. Flash will be out for blood, determined show Jaedong that he is no pushover. Jaedong will be looking to defend his OSL title. I think we can safely predict that at 18:30 KST, there will be epic gameplay, a clash of the titans.
No matter who wins this, it will start a new great progaming rivalry. If Flash wins, Jaedong will be out for blood, seeking to prove the fury of the swarm. If Jaedong wins, Flash will have been denied from both starleagues by the same man. With his gameplay, we can be sure that he won't take it lying down.
Finally, these two have a chance to meet yet again, in the GOM TV Star invitational. Right now, Jaedong is probably the favorite to advance 1st from his group. Flash is in a group with Savior, Anytime, and Mind. If he advances 2nd in his group, Flash will face Jaedong yet again, cementing the beginnings of their rivalry for a new era.
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