How to Spend a Saturday Afternoon

This past weekend my wife and I visited the Cincinnati Art Museum. She was there to see the What, Me Worry? The Art and Humor of MAD Magazine exhibit* and I was just there to enjoy the regular exhibit halls.

The view from the grand staircase to one of the
second floor alcoves. I just love the quirkiness
of the place. And yes, that's all marble.

The regular part of the Art Museum is free to all attendees, and has been free since 2003. So from my perspective there's almost no reason to not go, unless you're not really fond of art. 

***

One of the things that I've pondered while wandering the halls is what the subjects of the art were thinking about while the creation process unfolded. 

Now, admittedly the subjects of modern art don't necessarily need to be the center of attention for more than the minimal amount of time it takes to take plenty of snapshots, but in previous centuries, that was not the case. The subject of a painting or sculpture may have to pose for hours or days or more at a time before the artist no longer needed the subject, and in some of the paintings I wondered how on earth they kept the kids still, let alone the adults...

Self-portrait of Erasmus Quellinus
with his wife Catherina de Hemelaer
and son Jan Erasmus Quellinus.
Found in the Dutch Gallery at CAM.

Portrait of The Hodges Family, circa 1766,
by Nathaniel Dance-Holland.
Found in the British Gallery at CAM.

And then there are scenes from life, and I couldn't help but wonder how much of this was purely the vision in the artist's head and how much was something they saw that they wanted to capture...

The Music Party by Gerard ter Borch,
circa 1670. The young man's heart is in his eyes
while he watches the young woman playing.
Found in the Dutch Gallery at CAM.

Two Girls Fishing by John Singer Sargent, 1912.
Despite clothing definitely not suited toward
fishing (at least from today's eyes), the girls
are bound and determined to have a good time.
Found in one of the American Galleries at CAM.

The Italian Comedians, by Philip Mercier,
circa 1735-1740. And I have NO idea where
he's looking at... /snicker
I believe I found it in the French Gallery at CAM.

And then you get to some paintings that are just purely out of the mind of the artist. You can't say that and not pull out this Hogarth:

Southwick Fair by William Hogarth, 1733.
No, this is not the original, as it is supposedly
held in a private collection, but this is one of the
prints found here and at other major art institutions.
Found in the British Gallery at CAM.

***

Paintings are one thing, but sculpture? That's quite another. Sure, there's a vision in the marble that the artist wants to come out, but often there's also a model involved. 

Dour is a good description of this
bust of The Reverend Lyman A. Beecher
by Caroline Wilson (~1860). And yes, if that name
rings a bell, he was a prominent abolitionist
and the father of Harriet Beecher Stowe, who
wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin. Found in one of 
the CAM American Galleries.

When I think of Prosperine, the Roman
Goddess of the Underworld, I don't think
of such a thoughtful gaze as that found on
this bust by Hiram Powers (~1843).
Found in the Cincinnati Wing of CAM.

Eve Disconsolate, by Hiram Powers
(1858-1860). Given that the alternate
title is Paradise Lost, I get the reason for Eve's
expression, but when I gaze upon her I often
wonder what the model for this statue was
thinking when Hiram began his work.
Found in the Cincinnati Wing of CAM.

The Last Arrow by Randolph Rogers, (1879-1880).
There's also a casting at the Metropolitan Museum of
Art in New York City. Found in the American Wing of CAM.

***

But perhaps my single favorite piece of artwork found at the Cincinnati Art Museum is a rather unassuming still life painted by Pieter Claesz in 1641...

Still Life (Ontbijtstuk with Berkemeyer) by Pieter
Claesz (circa 1641). Found in the Dutch Gallery of CAM.

I mean, there's not a lot to the painting, but the simplicity of the still life says so much about Pieter. They could afford citrus fruits, as the lemon in front and the fruit in the cobbler can attest, and it just radiates a simple meal that one might enjoy on a Sunday for lunch. It's the sort of meal that someone could have even today and not feel out of place. 

***

I don't have the inspiration or talent that the artists whose work populates the Cincinnati Art Museum or any other innumerable galleries around the globe, but I can enjoy their work. Actively seeking it out brings a sort of exhilaration to me, that the fruits of inspiration are here for all to see. I also get such a rush from seeing live concerts or wandering parks and gardens, but there's a special place in my heart for an art museum. And there always will be.

*Growing up I didn't read MAD Magazine that much, but Cracked instead. At our Catholic grade school, copies of Cracked were passed around as if they were copies of Playboy. To be honest, from the nuns' perspective the subversiveness of both MAD and Cracked were just as dangerous as any copy of Playboy or Penthouse.

EtA: Corrected a misspelling and restored "young" to a description.

News and Notes From My Adventures

Alas, Quintalan's hardcore run on the Anniversary servers has come to an end.

RIP...

He made it within a half a level of 20, which exceeded the other two. I know he was in trouble when I had two Scourge from the Dead Scar on me and I missed 2-3 times in a row on attacks. For the record, the pair of baddies were lower level than me, but when you miss enough times in a row you're in trouble. I'd already used my "Get Out of Jail Free" ability, so when I was at 50% health I faced a decision to either cut and run or heal myself.

I tried healing myself, but I kept getting pushback while casting to the point where I had to try to bolt and run when I was at much lower health. And... that was that.

***

My Enhancement Shaman, Briganaa 2.0, continues to level much quicker than expected. 

That's all relative, of course, because if this were 2021 she'd already be in Outland, but compared to my experiences in the Vanilla version of Operation: Spread the Love she's positively rocketing forward at L36. Part of the reason why she's leveling so quickly is that she has absolutely no problems at all finding groups to get into dungeons with. That doesn't mean I'm leveling using dungeons, but I only consider it when I reach the correct level range for a dungeon and have done enough quests out in the world. Still, being an Enhance Shaman means that tanks love me for the bonuses I can bring to the team, and casters love the Mana Totems I can put down. 

And what's most important is that nobody bitches about whether I'm optimizing myself or not. 

From The O.C. (and Yarn) Remember that show?

***

When I'm not putzing around on the lowbie toons, I've been prepping the L60s for when they go to Outland.

How, you may ask?

Cue Theme from The Andy Griffith Show.

Or this...

Yes, doing quests that I'd left in my Quest Log.

Now, to be fair, I'd have put "Cooking" or "Leveling First Aid" here, but the "Person is Cooking" or "Making Bandages" animations don't look very exciting. (So, they are not here.)

I'm also trying to get all of my professions to their max level --okay, not Enchanting, because if I wanted to do that I'd be stuck in the Old World until November-- but everything else is fair game. Hmm... about Blacksmithing... Uh, yeah, maybe I'll add that to Enchanting.

It works for me, and keeps me from crossing the Dark Portal until I'm good and ready. 

***

As far as Retail goes, Stormwind on Moon Guard is still really empty...

As of last night.

But I did see this little item in my chat window, which amused me to no end...

Considering I was running from Goldshire to Stormwind, I had a good laugh. 

And let's just say that most of the Lion's Pride crowd must be at whatever the new max level is, as they were back. 

No, I didn't take a screenshot this time, and let's just leave it at that. There were... reasons... why I didn't take a screencap.

EtA: Corrected a formatting error.

Meme Monday: Min-Max Memes

The concept of min-maxing has been around as long as games have been around. Anybody wanting to get an edge over the competition will inevitably migrate toward getting the best gear and the best process to "win" most often. Sometimes the methodology of min-maxing is a specific strategy that must be adhered to at all costs, or a specific set of selections that provide the optimal output, and sometimes it's all about when your turn happens in a game.

In the Euro-boardgame Puerto Rico, for example, whether or not you'll win a game among expert players is completely decided before the game begins, when it's determined who starts first.

(Yeah, I don't play Puerto Rico for that reason. Why would I want to play a game where the veterans who play it are all whiny about who goes first?)

Of course, you also see min-maxers in tabletop RPGs and MMOs (well, any video game, but I'm most familiar with MMOs these days). So without further ado, here's some min-maxing memes...

I'm pretty sure that my wife would not find
this very amusing... From Twitter.

In case it's not been obvious over the years,
I'd be one of the people holding a sword.
From Reddit.

Absolutely the truth, and it can wreak havoc
in both tabletop RPGs and MMOs. From Reddit.

Yeah, when you encounter min-maxers
out and about who simply don't understand
that you aren't min-maxing.
From Facebooks My DnD group.

But if you keep min-maxing, the arms race has
begun. Happens in both WoW and tabletop
RPGs. From Reddit.

Even I will readily admit that some people
throw around the term "min-maxer" just
to avoid doing the bare minimum to play
their class/character properly. From Reddit.

Setting Expectations

If you want to know the difference between Retail and Classic in two screenshots, here you go:

Classic:

Note: I like the purple robe better. It harkens back to Dalaran
and the Royal Purple of the Mages of that City.

Retail:

The blue and white robe a Retail Mage starts with
is closer to the Blue and white robe a Priest starts with in Classic.

Both are a Blood Elf Mage with the same name (Drak -something, can't remember what it is offhand), and their respective starting zones. If I'd have chosen Sunstrider Isle for the Retail toon, it would have looked exactly like the Classic version, but the Exile's Reach intro area highlights the differences much better.

Yes, that's Thrall. You know, The Once and Semi-Future Warchief of the Horde. And there's two dragons (!) for escort. 

Of course, a new player won't know diddly about who Thrall is*, but this intro is all about setting expectations. You're on a ship with an Orc in charge, and there are dragons escorting the ship. If you're a recruit, that image implies that a) Orcs are in charge, b) creatures such as dragons are your friends, and b) this is normal.

The Classic intro, by comparison, shows the entire stretch of the Blood Elf starting zones and then centers upon you as a "recruit": a survivor trying to make sense of it all. No dragons, no orcs, just some fellow Blood Elf NPCs and a few other players** 

Like the Exiles' Reach intro, there are expectations set. This time, however, they are that a) you're pretty inconsequential, b) there are no gigantic fantastical creatures in your corner, and c) this is normal.

***

If you've played both the Draenei and the Blood Elf starting zones that were introduced in The Burning Crusade and remained largely unchanged over the years, there are two things that stand out between them:

The Draenei antagonists are the ecological disaster of their own making when The Exodar crash landed on Azuremyst and Bloodmyst Isles, and the Blood Elves themselves. Make no mistake, the Blood Elves are out to get them by any means necessary, and they're under the command of an Eredar named Sironas.

The Blood Elf antagonists are the Amani Trolls on the eastern borders of their lands, and the undead Scourge and the remnants of their homeland destroyed by Arthas Menethil before he became the Lich King.

The expectations are that Draenei will hate the Blood Elves and their Demonic masters, and that the Blood Elves will hate the Scourge and the non-Darkspear Trolls. It is by design that the Blood Elves never encounter a Draenei out in the Old World*** until they arrive in Outland and discover that the propaganda of Outland spread by their leadership to be a lie.

Neve: Paradise, my ass. What idiot do they take me for?
From April 2022.

Likewise, the Draenei don't re-encounter Blood Elves out in the wild**** until they also reach Outland, but they knew what they were getting into because they'd actually fled the damn place not so very long ago.

***

Now, why do I use TBC as a reference? Because this setting of expectations is very important. It gives you a chance to understand what you ought to care about, what is considered to be a normal baseline, and where do you go from here. 

Taking that comparison from TBC and applying it to Classic vs. Retail, the expectation is readily apparent: in one, while there are fantastical elements, the basics are pretty recognizable to anybody who has played a Medieval-based Fantasy RPG, read a Fantasy novel, or even watched a (relatively) low Fantasy television show or movie. You're starting at the bottom where things are more or less non-magical, and you're going to have to work your way up. In the other, the Fantasy elements are much higher, which might indicate you're of higher status than average, but if you're just a raw recruit then you have greater access to what is typically thought of as High Fantasy than your typical Fantasy novel.*****

If you'd not have looked at the title, you'd have thought they were two different games. And, for all intents and purposes, they are two separate games these days: while the art and class design are similar, they are distinct enough that a player won't confuse one with the other. The gameplay may superficially look similar, but the differences quickly become apparent once you begin to level a character.#

Is one better than the other? Despite my own personal preferences, not really. One is a refinement of the original MMO design that Everquest popularized, and the other is a lot closer to an Action RPG. In one you're a nobody, in the other you're the Champion of the World. In one you can have a house, in the other you have to make do with the occasional empty building. 

And in both, at the intersection of seediness and desire, lies Goldshire, the Fever Dream of Azeroth.

Or maybe Sanctuary, the city found in Thieves' World.
From Etsy, of all places, because I'm lazy
and don't want to hunt down my own copy.

*Okay, it's entirely possible they might have heard about it, especially from some friend who'd been trying to convince them to try WoW and peppered them with all sorts of lore as "enticement". Thankfully, when Souldat's wife convinced me to try the game back in 2009, she didn't have to twist my arm very much.

**The Exiles Reach boat I was on had literally no other players on it. So... I was the only person on Moon Guard taking the boat, I guess.

***As an NPC or an enemy, not a player, of course.

****Save for those old Blood Elf quests in Azshara, which actually date to Vanilla WoW and had nothing to do with the TBC expansion. In fact, those Blood Elves are hostile to both Horde and Alliance, and Blizz obviously didn't clean that up very much before TBC released back in the day.

*****Unless this is Pern. Or Navarre. Or the Alternate Europe from Naomi Novik's Temeraire series.

#When I encounter a Retail player who came back to try the Anniversary servers and they ask where a specific ability is, I have to explain that that ability or capability or whatnot was added in [insert expansion here] so instead you have to do [insert original design here].

The Effect of Retail Early Access on the... Activity... of Moon Guard (and Other Hot Takes)

I'd mentioned to Kurn's most recent post (yes, she's back!) about how I'm just an observer in Retail, and even then mostly on Moon Guard-US. I can now safely state that upon release of Early Access for the newest Retail expansion, the RP activity in The Lion's Pride Inn is at its lowest in quite a while. 

Other people noticed too...

Compare with just six days ago...

That was my cue to skidoo...

So yes, apparently the default state of Retail WoW is that most people bought Early Access. Don't be surprised if Blizzard eliminates the Basic purchase option and goes hard on the Maximum cost option, especially since AI Executive Asha Sharma is now in charge of XBox and will likely push for more AI usage in game creation and maximum profits. I'd simply ignore her first pronouncement that "As monetization and AI evolve and influence this future, we will not chase short-term efficiency or flood our ecosystem with soulless AI slop. Games are and always will be art, crafted by humans, and created with the most innovative technology provided by us."

My hot take: I don't buy her statement one effing bit. That's just said to placate the gamer base, who would likely leave en masse if she said "we're going hard on AI" in her first big statement, and it would be a dark spot on her resume if "Destroyer of XBox Games Division" was her legacy. 

My second hot take: Major Microsoft investors neither play video games nor give a shit about video games, only that "line go up", so they won't care if XBox goes away as long as that sweet sweet AI money keeps rolling in.

So... my third hot take is that Microsoft will sell off their XBox Games Division to a private equity firm. Who that is remains to be seen, but horrible options include an equity firm run by Bobby Kotick, The Embracer Group, or the Saudi Investment firm. Or, god forbid, Elon Musk, who already is on record wanting to create games exclusively using AI. Which begs the question: if AI makes the games and bots play them, does that means video games are no longer for humans?

A Compliment is Sometimes the Best Thing

There are days when you just feel too ordinary for an MMO...

Whether you're just wandering the streets...

Or maybe just speaking to an auctioneer...

Or maybe you're just not exotic enough in all the right wrong ways...

But sometimes, you get a compliment that makes your day.

Yes, that 'epic sham' is me. 

And yes, I'd been out of mana on that 4+ minute fight since about 40-45 seconds in. This was a fight nobody wanted, because we kept getting runners that kept pulling other mobs, and things got out of hand really fast. I'm still not sure how we made it through that one.

Considering I was merely doing my job and trying not to get killed in that dungeon*, it's nice to see that someone thought I did pretty good.

And before anybody asks, I'm doing fine leveling Briganaa. I'm not pushing myself at all: I'm just relaxing and leveling at my own pace, which has been faster than I expected, but I'm not letting that get to me.

*This was Razorfen Kraul, if you're interested. There are plenty of spots in that dungeon where things can get so spicy that you'd think there were ghost peppers in that salsa.

Meme Monday: Catch-Up Memes

I suppose when I say "Catch-Up", I could go in a ton of different directions. I could be talking about catching up with friends...

From makeameme.org.

Or maybe I should have said "NOT catching up with friends..."

I'm not a fan of the Duck Dynasty show (or the
people), but this meme is pretty much me.
From Pinterest.

I could also have meant catching up to what's going on in an MMO if you've been away for a while...

That's me in pretty much every MMO
these days... From Reddit.

Or when NPCs in game tell you something that
supposedly happened three expacs ago that you weren't
around for and had no idea you'd done.
From Facebook's FFXIV: A Meme Reborn group.

Or worse, things that make your brain freeze.
From swtor-life.

Or maybe, I'm talking about making sure I'm maintaining my health properly and it's been not a very kind winter...

No Cheetos here, honest! But I will admit I haven't
been eating salad as much this past winter as 
I ought to have... From Pleated Jeans.