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Showing posts from 2019

Conlanging

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** Editor's Note: This is the first article in a series of articles on conlanging. Our guest-writer works extensively with linguistics, in addition to years of conlanging as a hobby. Please enjoy and as always, comments are always welcome and encouraged! ** How to Make a Language Part 1 When I was growing up, my main hobby was world building. There are many different things involved in world building, but my favorite part was always creating languages. My first attempts at creating languages were languages for aliens from science-fiction stories I would make up. Learning about creating languages helped inspire an interest in language for that would eventually become of my profession. You don’t need to have a lot of linguistics knowledge to make your languages though. In this series of articles, I will introduce you to making your own languages. I will introduce some linguistics concepts as we go, but I will try not to go too far into the weeds… No promises though! After this

Star Wars Episode IX Trailer!

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Ready for the final chapter of the Skywalker saga? The final trailer for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker premiered this week, and it’s got everyone wondering what’s in store for a galaxy far, far away. Star Wars Episode IX is in an interesting state. Episode XIII: The Last Jedi proved to be a controversial movie with fans, leaving the fanbase split as to how they feel about the franchise and where it’s going under Disney’s wing. Perhaps that’s why trailers and advertising for the movie seemed to be on the light side the last few months. Even the trailer itself didn’t seem to give a whole lot away, leaving us to wait until December to find out how the Skywalker story ends. About a month or so ago, a potential plot leak showed up on Reddit. The leak was in three parts, covering the three acts of the movie. If true, the leaks have left some fans unhappy, with many feeling it is the wrong note to end the Skywalker saga on. Take the leaks with a grain of salt, of course, but they can

TV Recommendation: Grimm

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Soon it’ll be Friday, we’ll have made it through another week. Time to relax, recharge, and maybe watch something new. If you’re in the market for a new series to watch this weekend, why not go for something on the wild and spooky side. A series about dark folktales, monsters, grisly murders, and secret cabals. Grimm is just the series for you if you’re looking for some good Halloween-style binging. Grimm follows the adventures of Nick Burkhardt (David Giuntoli), a Portland detective who finds he is one of the last Grimms, a lineage of people who can see the monsters living among us, and keep the peace between humans and Wesen. With his partner, Hank Griffin (Russell Hornsby) and Monroe (Silas Weir Mitchell), a wolf-like Wesen (the creatures Nick can see) called a Blutbad, who helps them learn and maneuver the strange world of the Wesen, Nick must battle dark conspiracies and centuries-old rivalries while also combating the darkness arising on the streets of Portland. And boy, doe

New Sony/Disney Spider-Man Deal

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Looks like Peter Parker will still an Avenger at least for one more movie. Sony and Disney have agreed to a deal to do a third Spider-Man movie. The Hollywood Reporter reported earlier today about the deal . Earlier in August Sony and Disney went their separate ways after the successful debut of Spider-Man: Far From Home earlier in the summer. News and rumors had been flying back and forth since then, with fans hoping that something could be worked out to keep Spidey from having to say goodbye to the Avengers and everything else in the franchise owned by Disney. It arguably came at a bad time for Disney, just before the big D23 expo showcasing Disney’s new shows and movies for its existing franchises. Since August there’s been a roller-coaster of stories filled with drama and blame for who was behind the seemingly-acrimonious split The movie even has a tentative release date: July 16th, 2021. There’s also going to be another appearance by Spider-Man in another MCU movie, thought i

Battle for Azeroth Patch 8.2.5

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Today Blizzard released content patch 8.2.5 for World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth, and here’s a rundown of what you can find in the patch. SPOILER WARNING: There will be cinematics linked showing the conclusion of BfA’s war campaign, so if you haven’t finished yet and don’t want it spoiled, best stop here. First off, the patch brings the long-awaited updated models for Cataclysm’s Worgen and Goblin races. Show off your fierce new looks and winning smiles with the new models. This also includes revamped female Worgen models, aka the “angry chihuahuas” as many players referred to the old models as. The worgen running animations were also updated, giving them a more feral, loping run. In addition, the 15th anniversary events were in the patch, which will go live later in November as Blizzard celebrates a decade and a half of World of Warcraft. This will include the usual anniversary package in the mail that grants extra experience and reputation for the duration of the anniver

Movies to watch this Halloween part 2

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Time to delve into some more movies to watch during the spooktacular month of October. We already covered killer clowns, ghosts, possession, and aliens in part 1 . Join us as we know move into some zany movies for those who prefer more fun Halloween fare. First up we have Beetlejuice. Check out this classic movie about the worst tour guide the afterlife has to offer. Michael Keaton’s bio-exorcist antics trying to scare away the mortals living in a haunted house is some of Tim Burton’s best work. Beetlejuice is definitely worth a watch if you haven’t seen it before, and is a fun movie to rewatch if you have. Next up is Goosebumps and Goosebumps 2. Based off of R.L. Stine’s very popular children’s horror stories, both Goosebumps films follow youths trying to contain the monsters from escaping R. L. Stine’s lost manuscript. Adding to the zany fun of dozens of scary characters from Stine’s stories running amok is Jack Black as R. L. Stine himself. Both movies are fun, charming dives i

Movies to watch this Halloween season

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You can feel it in the air. That slight crispness. The sunlight changing slightly. Before we know it autumn will be upon us. And with that change a shadow will slowly spread over over our neighborhoods. No, it’s not winter that’s coming. It’s Halloween. In addition to the usual Halloween parties, decorations, haunted houses, and the like, another fun way to celebrate the spookiest month is with an October watch-list to let you watch a scary movie every night of October. There are lots of movies to choose from, and with decades of various genres, from classic monster movies, comedies, and even the odd alien abduction movie, here’s a list of suggestions to get your own 31 nights of frightening fun. First off, since It: Chapter 2 just came out, here’s a few scary clown movies to get us started. You can read our review of it: Chapter 2 as well. Our first recommendation would be, appropriately, It: Chapter 1. Find out where the clown carnage began with the Loser’s Club of Derry. You cou

Leak Season is Upon Us

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As the summer comes to an end, the cooling temperatures and shorter days all point to the changing of the seasons. And the season upon us now is leak season, for World of Warcraft players. With Blizzcon on November 1st, and Battle for Azeroth reaching its climax in the next couple of patches, players begin to eagerly wonder what’s next for the erstwhile heroes of Azeroth, Alliance and Horde. And with that eagerness comes a plethora of fake leaks. But in the past, expansions have been leaked early, leading to everyone now having a bit of a carnival of ideas as we wait for the official announcement. Here are just a couple of the more wide-spread rumors out there. Before we get into the two most widespread leaks, take a moment to read up on our previous coverage on the success of World of Warcraft Classic and find out what it could mean for Blizzard and the Warcraft franchise. Now, on with the show. Our first leak began making the rounds back in March this year. World of Warcraft: Aw