Today, Tomorrow, the Future - an Update
Added 2026-02-07 17:43:41 +0000 UTCComments
Save your voice if you’d like — when I read this back over, I think I started rambling a bit. First, I’m super happy with the films, and I hop your new software works out. I took your “do something for a year” challenge to heart, and it got me back into making regular videos this year. Looking back over the year, I think I’ve gotten better — I still have a long way to go, and basically a minus-five-dollar budget to work with — but that’s part of the fun: finding ways to move forward, overcoming challenges, and making friends along the way. Between those videos and my run for mayor content, I’ve learned a lot. That’s led me to start planning some lore and in-universe battle report videos for my local BattleTech club’s upcoming Vandalia Miner Strike campaign, which takes place during the First Succession War. We’re in the WV Charleston / Hurricane / Teays Valley area (so you can see why I picked the planet Vandalia), and for a small-town area in West Virginia it’s shocking — we have three gaming stores within 30 minutes of each other, all with good-sized miniature wargaming communities. I keep seeing new people coming in to learn BattleTech, or players from other games asking about it and getting hooked on the lore. But again — thank you and your team for helping build a place for all nerds to hang out. I’ll see you on Space Man Saturday.
Dr Waffles
2026-02-13 04:38:16 +0000 UTCSave voice. Still here, just morally tired. I've lately had the existential horror of realizing that most of the new BT players I meet aren't old enough to be familiar with the mid-80s Warsaw Pact memes that inspired the Clans. I've spent a whole lot of time lately explaining that the Clans are literally a Soviet Republic, the castes are just the 80s America view of the "workers unions" of the USSR, Elementals are East German weight lifters, etc, etc. It's also been really rewarding to watch a few of them take that as a diving off point to start learning Cold War history. I would actually argue that you've sold me a great many things... you just haven't made a penny off of it. I've bought so many games because I watched you play them and thought "damn, that looks fun." Same with a few books Stay soupy.
They Call Me Soup Can
2026-02-12 19:10:48 +0000 UTCHT;SV They published a posthumous collection of Gene Wolfe stories, it wasn't well publicized so you may well have missed it. But in the introduction they mention an actual Gene Wolfe *poem* that I had never seen before, which I was thinking you might keep in mind for when you do poetry next. "A Sci Fi Poem No earth I own, No earth owns me, No Earth I own, Though here I be. My passport names another star, Where brothers not for burning are."
Berthold
2026-02-12 02:55:46 +0000 UTCKeep chugging! Learning hurts, but eventually the payoff to get away from $$$$$-dobe, will be worth it. Discord stuff, meh, but thats how I generally feel about discord. vehicle anthology? Heck yah!
Robert Lowe
2026-02-11 03:04:31 +0000 UTCHey Mr Tex sorry if this has been answered already. As a fellow privacy enthusiast myself, does the BPL have any alternatives in mind for discord? We’re moving into more and more invasive requests of discord getting thrown around such as the new requirements coming to be parts of public servers requiring Face ID and possibly uploading a government id to use public servers. I understand if there’s no plans to move because of cost or alienation of people in the community, but I’m curious if it’s been thought about. I’ll miss the aux and the coffee with Tex and crew but I’ll unfortunately have to miss you guys and the rest of the aux if these discord policies get rolled out.
Just Dandy
2026-02-09 18:50:29 +0000 UTCHey Tex again a big thanks to you and your team for all you guys do. Stuff comes out when stuff comes out. (Save voice as needed but I'm not your mom) I just wanted to say thanks as thanks to you and me being here I have made at least one video a week for the last year, just my game play no real editing. Now though I have for the last 3-4 weeks being using DeVinci Resolve to help as my voice recording and my game sound/friends in discord would be all over the place so now I record each as a separate track and can "adjust in post" This year I want to hit at least videos a week and I have been eyeballing doing a play through of a solo tabletop miniature game which will require actual editing not just rendering (and how hell render hell has to be real with what my simple videos are I can't imagine what yours are like). Anyways thank you for inspiring me to actually record videos and for name dropping DaVinci especially since their free stuff (from what research I have done) will do everything I need Also as it has been about 4 years since I inquired have you got to watch any Babalyon 5 episodes? Final request say a prayer for me as I voluntold to be in a Lean event next week for work. Keep swinging and take it one day at a time.
Czarvak
2026-02-09 11:16:47 +0000 UTCHey Tex! Hope you and the BPL are doing well? (Please save voice from here) I have been having a blast in the BPL14 server. One of my favorite depts to work in is Engineering (Not atmos though. All that piping and gas mixing stuff makes my head spin XD). During the beginning of one of our main shifts, after helping set things up in Engineering itself, I set out to have a look at the station Solar Arrays. On my way out though, I stopped to say "Hi" to the Sec Officer who was manning Engineering Security Check Point. After a brief conversation, I then said "Keep up the good work Cadet" (Cause he was wearing the standard Red of a Sec Cadet), he then defensively stated that he is "NOT" a "Cadet". Which proved to be a mistake for him, as I stopped, turned toward him, and started poking fun at him. Shortly after that started, fellow Engineers came out (off to do various jobs across the station) and started joining in, as we just kept calling him a "Cadet" or just saying that he "Certainly looks like a Cadet". The sight of a single Sec Officer being made fun of by a crowd of Engineers lives rent free in my head! Its little moments like that, that are the reason I love Space Station 14 <3 Because out of all the crazy stuff that can happen on Space Station 14. Small incidents like that, are just priceless.
Blazing Haze
2026-02-08 18:53:48 +0000 UTCRegarding Fallout 1 & 2 do yourselves a favor and do a play through with Luck 1.
Slightlylyons
2026-02-08 14:59:53 +0000 UTCMy dad uses Davinci to edit his car club track day / social event videos and swears by it. He's 75 and only started editing a few years ago. He also thinks adobe subscriptions are bullshit.
mclouj
2026-02-08 14:12:38 +0000 UTCHey Tex (long block of text warning) In the case of George Lucas it's not about ego, it's to do with the way the first movie was a near disaster. probably somewhere 2/3rds through, around the time when he believed he'd have a heart attack he started dissociating himself from the film, considering it a failure. And then in the end people like Marsha Lucas, Gary Kurtz, Allan Ladd jr and many on the team, pulled through and made it a massive hit. Because Lucas doesn't feel up to it, he asks his mentor Irwin Kershner to make the next film and it's a humiliating showcase of talent. If you listen to Lucas talking about the films, much of it is about his ideas, his themes, technical stuff, but almost never talks about the characters, the actors and directing them, at some point saying he kinda hates directing people. Kirshner is an actor's director and makes the characters shine. By the time of the third film he's hired Richard Marquand, a safe, utterly bland choice, he will make your film with minimal personal input. At the end of this Lucas still considers himself a failure. And he had a very bitter divorce with Marsha Lucas. Everyone considers him a genius (and to a certain degree he is, he's just a lousy storyteller and a half-decent director.) and he has a major case of imposter syndrome and a lot of heartache regarding the early films and everything he does from then on is trying to validate himself, by "fixing" the films and doing a whole new trilogy on his own, which showcases his strengths, but also his weaknesses. It's not about ego, it's trying to prove to himself he was really the storytelling genius he never quite was and overcome the heartache of having lost the people who made his film truly great and never quite managing this, possibly till today. Real ego is Ridley Scott who really believes he is a genius for coming up with a third rate Von Däniken (RIP) Chariots of the Gods ripoff, makes the mind blown gesture and believes he is bringing the light of Prometheus to the masses. His movies were much better when the mix of coke hubris and "it's good enough" effort made for that perfect "flou artistique" in which you could play with an interpretation of a story rather than have Moses Scott hit you over the head with his tables.
Nonkel Bob
2026-02-08 13:07:21 +0000 UTC
