Today I have just some photos from this weekends convention. Report should follow later.
Photos from Comics Salon/Istrocon 2009
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Monday, September 14, 2009
Monday, September 7, 2009
Grand Prix Prague
This weekend many Magic: The Gathering players came to Prague to take part in a Grand Prix tournament in this game. This tournament is open to everyone. So anyone can come and play (if that person has a valid DCI number).
I decided to enter the main tournament myself mainly because I'm fed up with Alara block and it would be nice to play m10 once again. I also hoped that I would get some good cards but as usual it didn't work out THAT well.
On Friday I went to register for the tournament. When I arrived there weren't so many people. Few minutes later though many people came to stand in the line. After some time waiting someone announced that those who can pay in crowns can go there and pay. I payed and continued to the registration desk. There I forgot my DCI number so I spent about a minute trying to figure out what my number looks like. After figuring out that it starts with 1204 I entered the rest without a problem.
I entered the right wing of the Prumyslovy palac and took few photos. I noticed 3 shops (one of them being Cerny Rytir), demo stand, Duel of Planeswalkers stand, RYZWear showcased products and the artists corner. I met some fellow players and my schoolmate from FJFI.
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On Saturday the main event started so I prepared myself for the upcoming 9 rounds. It started as usual I opened a really good cards (for monowhite deck) and received something that was 3x times worse. It wasn't bad as I had lots flyers and removal but I wasn't lucky at drawing what I needed. It came down to this situation...
I've seen some funny stuff around. There was a player I met in third round (or somewhere around that)that had gorgon's flail, pyromancer and Siege-Gang Commander. I have to say that the "targeted deathtouch" wasn't funny at all. There was also one little kid who got a nice lifelink deck. He got soul wardens, dread warlocks, lifelink and other lifelink creatures. He was gaining a lot of life and got some tricks (oh that Death Mark hurt! Poor angel!). When I had three (for me) unblockable creatures on the table I was quite afraid of losing. Fortunately prized unicorn did its job this time and killed all those creatures and survived (giant growths helped).
Anyway at the event we could get our cards signed by John Avon (who had to sign thousands of cards...and I still wonder how come his hand is still capable of writing) and by Anthony S. Waters. I got Legacy Weapon, Obelisk of Alara and Jungle Basin signed in the first "round". His unhinged and DCI lands followed.
I've got some photos from the event but it's not much and won't probably tell you much about the atmosphere at the event.
Photos from GP Prague
I decided to enter the main tournament myself mainly because I'm fed up with Alara block and it would be nice to play m10 once again. I also hoped that I would get some good cards but as usual it didn't work out THAT well.
On Friday I went to register for the tournament. When I arrived there weren't so many people. Few minutes later though many people came to stand in the line. After some time waiting someone announced that those who can pay in crowns can go there and pay. I payed and continued to the registration desk. There I forgot my DCI number so I spent about a minute trying to figure out what my number looks like. After figuring out that it starts with 1204 I entered the rest without a problem.
I entered the right wing of the Prumyslovy palac and took few photos. I noticed 3 shops (one of them being Cerny Rytir), demo stand, Duel of Planeswalkers stand, RYZWear showcased products and the artists corner. I met some fellow players and my schoolmate from FJFI.
---------------------
On Saturday the main event started so I prepared myself for the upcoming 9 rounds. It started as usual I opened a really good cards (for monowhite deck) and received something that was 3x times worse. It wasn't bad as I had lots flyers and removal but I wasn't lucky at drawing what I needed. It came down to this situation...
I had lots of creatures on the table, my opponent as well. I couldn't attack with Serra angel as Deadly recluse would block her. All I needed was one of six cards that would decide the game (I had 3x doom blade, 1x prized unicorn, 1x excommunication, 1x pacifism). I did not have that many cards left in my library and I already took out most of the basics out. It looked like I had 10 cards left in the library. Last chance to draw and do something (the chances of drawing a doom blade were HIGH) => the drawn card was a swamp. You know my cards weren't that bad, it was a silly aggro but it should have been able to win at least half of the games played. I wasn't so unlucky like the guy who got 4x Mirror of Fate. Or the poor guy who's mulligans looked like: 1st mulligan - no lands, 2nd - all plains, 3rd all forests...
I've seen some funny stuff around. There was a player I met in third round (or somewhere around that)that had gorgon's flail, pyromancer and Siege-Gang Commander. I have to say that the "targeted deathtouch" wasn't funny at all. There was also one little kid who got a nice lifelink deck. He got soul wardens, dread warlocks, lifelink and other lifelink creatures. He was gaining a lot of life and got some tricks (oh that Death Mark hurt! Poor angel!). When I had three (for me) unblockable creatures on the table I was quite afraid of losing. Fortunately prized unicorn did its job this time and killed all those creatures and survived (giant growths helped).
Anyway at the event we could get our cards signed by John Avon (who had to sign thousands of cards...and I still wonder how come his hand is still capable of writing) and by Anthony S. Waters. I got Legacy Weapon, Obelisk of Alara and Jungle Basin signed in the first "round". His unhinged and DCI lands followed.
I've got some photos from the event but it's not much and won't probably tell you much about the atmosphere at the event.
Photos from GP Prague
Clovece, hraje se!
Metropole Zlicin a shopping mall in Prague hosted a game festival for kids this weekend (4-6/9).
The event was moderated by V. Krejci and was targeted at young children. There were mainly games from MindOK. Few from Jira's Games (Metropoly, Blabol) and Blackfire got there their TCG stand too (Magic The Gathering and Pokemon).
Special guest was Katerina Nemcova, European champion in chess who told us something about chess
in general and what it takes to be good at this game/sport. You could also play against her (and win some prizes^_~).
And now some photos...
Clovece, hraje se!
The event was moderated by V. Krejci and was targeted at young children. There were mainly games from MindOK. Few from Jira's Games (Metropoly, Blabol) and Blackfire got there their TCG stand too (Magic The Gathering and Pokemon).
Special guest was Katerina Nemcova, European champion in chess who told us something about chess
in general and what it takes to be good at this game/sport. You could also play against her (and win some prizes^_~).
And now some photos...
Clovece, hraje se!
Monday, August 31, 2009
T. Pratchett, I. Stewart & J. Cohen - The Globe
The Science of Discworld II: The Globe is another book that shows us evolution of the human race on planet Earth. The book is divided in two parts - the Discworld Pratchett's one and hard science one written by Stewart and Cohen. We can take Pratchett's wizards meddling as introduction to what is coming and also we can use it as analogy.
I've read this book twice and I have to admit that when I read it in 2002 I wasn't really much concerned by it. When I read it now it was much more appealing to me. Especially the part about "lies". In Physics we have models that simplify things. The models can be used under some circumstances. They can be used to better understand much more complex things etc. But this does not only work in Physics. Actually this is something that we use in everyday life. Everything that we start to learn are simplified untruths. I was often wondering how come that there are certain phonemes that we can here and produce and some that we just can't grasp. How come though that an adult person can still learn them? Where is the line that learning or teaching our brain something new becomes rather impossible?
Am I still capable of learning rhythm? To be able to reproduce and hear a certain rhythm? I should be able to get this ability if I'm capable of recognizing and reproducing phonemes that don't exist in our language or not?
And yes, how come we started to "imagine" things? Because all we could see around us was...well reality. How a human being/ape came to the idea that there can be something like a faerie? Or that human could cast spells etc? Was it the need to explain something that we couldn't understand? So we created something/someone that could make this happen? But how human actually started to visualize something like that?
Whatever I will probably think of this for some time. There are interesting facts and theories in this and the previous book. Now I'll probably try to find the Darwin's Watch and read it too (it seems that all the Pratchett's books displace on their own)
Personal Rating: 3/5
Conclusion: If you are not from scientific background or not used to be reading scientific texts it might be difficult to read the "scientific chapters". Even though the theories are explained in comprehensible way it still requires concentration. I also can't really imagine people who have never heard of this or that person read such a book (but other literature is your friend, just go and look it up). The wizard meddling story is nice and funny as usual^^ but it's not really about it... at least for me.
Also the style of the authors stays in the same lines which is good. (I remember books written by several authors were you can clearly distinguish who wrote which part - not that it would matter in this book though)
I've read this book twice and I have to admit that when I read it in 2002 I wasn't really much concerned by it. When I read it now it was much more appealing to me. Especially the part about "lies". In Physics we have models that simplify things. The models can be used under some circumstances. They can be used to better understand much more complex things etc. But this does not only work in Physics. Actually this is something that we use in everyday life. Everything that we start to learn are simplified untruths. I was often wondering how come that there are certain phonemes that we can here and produce and some that we just can't grasp. How come though that an adult person can still learn them? Where is the line that learning or teaching our brain something new becomes rather impossible?
Am I still capable of learning rhythm? To be able to reproduce and hear a certain rhythm? I should be able to get this ability if I'm capable of recognizing and reproducing phonemes that don't exist in our language or not?
And yes, how come we started to "imagine" things? Because all we could see around us was...well reality. How a human being/ape came to the idea that there can be something like a faerie? Or that human could cast spells etc? Was it the need to explain something that we couldn't understand? So we created something/someone that could make this happen? But how human actually started to visualize something like that?
Whatever I will probably think of this for some time. There are interesting facts and theories in this and the previous book. Now I'll probably try to find the Darwin's Watch and read it too (it seems that all the Pratchett's books displace on their own)
Personal Rating: 3/5
Conclusion: If you are not from scientific background or not used to be reading scientific texts it might be difficult to read the "scientific chapters". Even though the theories are explained in comprehensible way it still requires concentration. I also can't really imagine people who have never heard of this or that person read such a book (but other literature is your friend, just go and look it up). The wizard meddling story is nice and funny as usual^^ but it's not really about it... at least for me.
Also the style of the authors stays in the same lines which is good. (I remember books written by several authors were you can clearly distinguish who wrote which part - not that it would matter in this book though)
Orson Scott Card - Speaker for the Dead
I would like to write a short entry for this book too. It is a sequel to Ender's Game (which kind of feels like introduction for this book).
This book is one of the books that shocked me the most. This book made me thrill. It provoked such a strong fear that I had nightmares in my dreams. It made me laugh. It made me enjoy the smallest and simplest things you can experience. It made think of what humankind will be in the future. It made me think of what is the link between technology/progress and human race. I felt chill running down my spine...
3000 thousand years in the future everyone forgot what really happened when Ender won the war against the Formics. They consider him a mass murderer and think that he does not deserve a life.
On a planet called Lusitania which was colonized by Catholics a new sentient race is discovered. Humans don't want to make another mistake as they did with the Buggers. Thus they decide to study the race (without really interfering with them - Prime Directive anyone?). This brings Ender Wiggin (incognito as people don't realize that he could be possible alive after 3000 years) to the planet trying to figure out the mysterious of this pig-like race.
The book is rather an anthropological study than a science fiction novel. The book lacks any description of the technology and progress the human race made in those 3000 years. But the religious and piggies' rituals are described to its fullest. This makes quite a big line between these two aspects and is quite striking when reading the book.
The characters are much more developed in this book and we learn more about them from their own past and experiences (not situations that happen in the present).
Personal Rating: 4/5
Conclusion: This book is not so balanced as Ender's Game in terms of logic and story-telling but provokes really strong emotions that touch the very humanity of humankind. It is certainly a good experience to read this book and think about it.
This book is one of the books that shocked me the most. This book made me thrill. It provoked such a strong fear that I had nightmares in my dreams. It made me laugh. It made me enjoy the smallest and simplest things you can experience. It made think of what humankind will be in the future. It made me think of what is the link between technology/progress and human race. I felt chill running down my spine...
3000 thousand years in the future everyone forgot what really happened when Ender won the war against the Formics. They consider him a mass murderer and think that he does not deserve a life.
On a planet called Lusitania which was colonized by Catholics a new sentient race is discovered. Humans don't want to make another mistake as they did with the Buggers. Thus they decide to study the race (without really interfering with them - Prime Directive anyone?). This brings Ender Wiggin (incognito as people don't realize that he could be possible alive after 3000 years) to the planet trying to figure out the mysterious of this pig-like race.
The book is rather an anthropological study than a science fiction novel. The book lacks any description of the technology and progress the human race made in those 3000 years. But the religious and piggies' rituals are described to its fullest. This makes quite a big line between these two aspects and is quite striking when reading the book.
The characters are much more developed in this book and we learn more about them from their own past and experiences (not situations that happen in the present).
Personal Rating: 4/5
Conclusion: This book is not so balanced as Ender's Game in terms of logic and story-telling but provokes really strong emotions that touch the very humanity of humankind. It is certainly a good experience to read this book and think about it.
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