Graeme

Google is my friend Yes, the photos and author's notes did help. I don't think they were needed because I don't see that having this particular location well detailed is that important (unless it re-appears in a future scene, and I know CJ can't comment on that), but it certainly helped to visualise the situation. Neither sounded far-fetched. That's a part of the world where storms occur, and with a storm, there is storm damage. I wouldn't be surprised if the walkway washed away periodically. For tourism purposes, they'd want that to be as seldom as possible, but I can't see how they could stop it completely without spending a lot of money. As for the brick jetways, it took me a bit to understand what they were since that's not a termiology we use here. I think "air bridge" what we call them. Honestly, that's the sort of thing that authors don't make up. If they include it in a story, it's because it's real .

You mean this bit? I'm sorry, but I always had the impression that he was likely to be on the front cover of Rolling Stone. From what you've implied, he moght not have been, but probably will be now.

I'm wondering the same and my best guess is that it has something to do with being the lead singer. The lead singer is also often the spokesperson for the band, though that doesn't seem to be what they are implying. I think it has to do with the chase and arrest, or the subsequent "outing" to the media. For now, I suspect it'll be interview requests -- possibly live on TV. They don't want to scare him, so they're not telling him that that is what they expect to happen. I have to say that I'm slightly disappointed in CJ with Jerry's character. I know that there are a lot more gay dads out there than most people realise, but it's the coincidence of a gay dad being caught by his celebrity son who happens to be in a band with a gay guy. Unless it is critical to the later plot, I think all of that scene could have been managed equally well with just an estranged dad's concern for his son. The reason for estrangement didn't need to be stated -- it may have been that Jerry tried to be too controlling early on, since he's the one with the financial experience, and Joe pushed back. It could be that that Jerry being gay is needed for the story, but on first impression I didn't like it -- it felt too forced. Overall, though, it was a good chapter. I especially like the guys comments about the paparazzi. I got the impression that they didn't like them... The only thing missing was a bit of balance -- some of the paparazzi aren't that bad, even if there is a significant number of obnoxious ones. It would have been nice for one of the guys to have made a statement along those lines. However, since I've never been a victim of the paparazzi I'm not really in a position to comment.

I like the magic system in Mage, as well. Also the magic system in Ars Magica (another RPG) is one the best I've seen -- it gives a detailed basis for doing almost anything with magic, if you're good enough, but it in a balanced and 'realistic' way. In novels, Lyndon Hardy's Master of the Five Magics has a very good magic system, though I think, as a story, Lawrence Watt-Evans's With a Single Spell has to be one of the most enjoyable.

Do you accept Zimbabwean dollars?

He reminds me of Thirdeye in Florida A younger version. I'm not disagreeing

NO!!! Sleeping can be done anytime. You can sleep the rest of your life -- you probably be doing that part of the time, anyway -- but you only get one chance to edit chapter 9.

Blog, shmlog. All I care about is hearing from someone who's a great guy. Good luck with everything, Kevin!

Another Aaron -- The Mail Crew's Aaron's birthday is in October. Happy Birthday, Aaron!

Happy 40th Birthday, Dan! I hope you have a great day and a fantastic year ahead.

I believe the polling is over as soon as the Caprican's win....

G'day, Liddy! You're a true Domaholic -- you started there and only wandered out the rest of the forum after you've settled in Welcome to GA and I hope you have fun here.

I prefer stories where descriptions of characters aren't detailed. Just the basics (rough height, build, hair & eye colour at most). This allows my imagination to do the rest. I can picture my "adonis" the way I prefer him to be. Overall, it is the nature of the person -- their personality -- that makes them attractive. Since it is their nature that we "see" more in a story than their appearance, it is their nature that I connect to. I can't see that a story that consists of constantly describing a person's appearance to be very appealing, but a story that shows a person's character by constantly describing the way they interact with others -- that I can find very appealing. Because of this, a physical description of a character isn't that important to me, unless it is important to the story. Answering the second part, because of this the appearance of the character in the story is less important than their personality. To be honest, I'd probably ignore the author's description and use my own

Shorthand like that tends to annoy me, but not really that much. The easiest way to avoid it is to not treat it as dialogue, but use some narration. "X chuckled." "X snickered." "X laughed". "X smiled." "X was amused." etc.

Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday! (I thought you deserved more than just one Happy Birthday message )

I agree that number two is the most likely -- swimsuit interviews included (remember the photo shoot that's coming up?), though number one may also occur, if Lump is sufficiently stupid. Your post, up to this line, wasn't silly, but asking if your post wasn't silly, was a bit silly Sincerest apologies! Of course you can put your paw to the task

There are so many comments I could make in response to that post, but there are young people present and I probably shouldn't...

I won't bother quoting Kevin's post just to agree with it His point about assimilation is one that I have personally observed. It happened with the Greek and Italian migrants in Australia. Initially, they clung together, but their children played and grew up with their neighbour's childrens, and now you can find people of Greek and Italian descent throughout much of Australia. The same is beginning to happen with some of the Asian migrants here. It's a generational change -- not something that happens quickly. I have seen similar things with religion. While there are some extremist Muslims (and Christians) in Australia, there has also been a lot of work with opening up dialogue between Muslims, Christians and others. I can remember a recent newspaper series that served to educate other Australians on the Muslims who live here. It wasn't sensationalism -- just reporting the lives of everyday Muslims in the Australian community. Diversity is not something to be scared of. There are some things that can be taken too far (like banning nativity scenes because other religions may take offense), but overall diversity (in all its forms) increases the richness of the society.

I could call for a re-count. According to the poll results, there have been 28 votes, with a total of 13 votes for Caprican and 16 votes for The Herd. Since 13 + 16 = 29, this implies voting irregulatories and the whole poll should be called off. This is, of course, unless Caprican takes a winning position, in which case it's just a minor problem that has had no appreciable impact on the result....

There are a few possibilities: 1. A volcanic pit crater in Hawaii 2. The Devil's Throat Walkway, Iguazu Falls, Argentina 3. An underwater cave offshore of Cozumel 4. The Devil's Throat Cave in the Balkans Given the comment about a fear of heights, I'm tempted to say it's number two, but I can't see why they would go all the way to Argentina, so I suspect it is number four, in Bulgaria.

Caprican's can be sneaky and underhanded. What we need is a Caprican supporter with admin privileges to reset some of the voting flags so we can vote a second time...

We're now officially in silly post mode while we wait for the next chapter. In the meantime, I'm going to make some predictions on chapter 8: 1. It will contains words. 2. It will feature at least on scene involving Brandon. 3. Chase, Eric, Jon, Helen will almost certainly make an appearance. 4. Gabe will probably make an appearance. 5. At least one of the boys will end up no wearing a shirt. 6. Someone in the story won't be happy. 7. Someone in the story will be happy. 8. Brandon and Chase will still like each other at the end of the chapter. As it's only chapter 8, I think 8 predictions is enough. Anyone else wants to try their hand/hoof/talon/claw at second-guessing the goat?

A friend of mine tracked down the email and the quotes. As I expected, while the quote are accurate, they have been taken out of context and twisted to make them look like something they are not.

Happy Birthday!