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The whole thing with the quiet kid meeting a mysterious latino friend who gives him potatoes?  NapoleonDynamitesque.

Maybe.

Good call on the "maybe" there.  I'm not absolutely sure which would have come first...I wrote the story in the fall of 2004 and I THINK Napolean Dynamite was released after that (feel free to correct me on this).  One thing I do know is that I still, to this day, haven't seen that film, which would render any similarity irrelevant.

This isn't to say that the work itself isn't immune to homage...the entire thing is based on a direct mapping to the plot of The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway (I refer to the story, here...Andrew wisely separated his film from that work and based it entirely on my story), and there are certain lines and characters that are pulled from song lyrics...a list would probably bore you, but I'm sure it's rewarding to the few people who would actually recognize them...

I'm not against homage.  It's just that I tend to stick with literature and music when I work it into the world of my characters.  Television and film don't interest me nearly as much, and if Napolean Dynamite shared potatoes with a Latino, well, I admit, that's a pretty interesting coincidence.  But, like anything that is genuinely coincidental, you won't find much meaning in it.

Thanks for everyone's offers.  I'll link to the files that Scotch was wonderful enough to upload for me before I even had to ask him to later on tonight.  If you want a specific link back to your site in return, please let me know.

Furthermore:

Cpt Mostly:
I love and miss you very much.  Name our child Otis.

Rode:
Yeah, I wondered what happened.  I kind of figured you were angry with me or something...anyway, I have a potential project on the horizon that would be well-paying AND high-exposure.  Leave a comment on my site (www.phil-reed.com) so that I have your email address, I'd like to have you aboard.

Erwin:
I was one of the original signups for adventuredevelopers when it came about...but it wasn't very reliable and eventually all of my files just got erased...that's part of the reason I lost the trailer for LVII.  But I appreciate the offer.

Mods:
Do you still happen to have a copy of that interview we did about LV?  I'll need it if you do.

Bernie:
No.

Boris:
No.

Thanks, gents!

Wow, good to see some familiar faces posting. 

Thanks for all the help, everyone.  I guess there's no chance anyone out there still has the LVII teaser?

I'm on my way to work so if I don't reply to you personally it means I hate you.  I'm not kidding.  Your mother should die.

al_ninio:
Done.  And THANK YOU.

gilbot:
The resources, I'm nearly positive, still exist on my old harddrive.  If I could plug it into a working computer I can get them back.  Also, after I move (very soon) I'm considering getting a cheap Windows-based computer so that I can use AGS again and finish (or re-start) LVIII again.  Don't get your hopes up TOO high just yet, but it's a serious consideration.

stevemccrea:
See above.  I wouldn't have abandoned AGS except that I switch to the Macintosh platform...and I understand completely why Chris hasn't ported it.

jay:
Looking into it.  Thank you.

Helm:
moan.

Magintz:
Thanks very much for the offer.  The web address doesn't concern me too much because I'd just link to the files and provide a nice spiffy link to your site.  I'll let you know very soon.

Hello, all.  I had a quick browse around the forums and, sure enough, I'm afraid I don't recognize all of you.  Still, one of you may be able to help me.  I'm Phil Reed...creator of the Larry Vales series.

If you've gone to my website (www.phil-reed.com) you've probably noticed the Larry Vales section is a bit understocked.  Well...

1)  I will "need" somebody to host Larry Vales I and II, as my college account (within which they were formerly housed) has been deleted.  (Only because I graduated.  Selfish.)  This isn't so pressing because, if need be, I'll just link to the download page at The Underdogs.

2)  I need a copy of the Larry Vales III demo.  I don't have mine and haven't been able to find anywhere to download it...though I'm sure it's floating around out there somewhere.

3)  If at all possible, I'd also like the Larry Vales II "American Beauty" teaser I did.  That's something else I lost in my computer crash and I'd like to put that up for download as well.

If anybody can help, either contact me through my site (secure) or post here.  I'd very much appreciate it.

Look.  A Larry Vales smiley.  That wasn't here before.  It makes me feel very loved.

It's interesting to see how many people here don't enjoy the taste of beer.  I didn't used to, either.

In fact, if it weren't for my beloved CIDER, I would have spent my first 18 years sober!  

So if anyone here really can't stand beer but doesn't mind the taste of apple juice, give cider a go.  They also have pear flavor and stuch...but I can only vouch for the apple.

And you know how people will taste something new and then give it to you and say, "Here, you'll like this, you can hardly taste the alcohol..."?  And how it actually means, "here, this is only moderately horrible?"

Well, with cider, you really can't taste the alcohol.  And it has as much in it as a beer does...so you can blitz your gourd right along with everyone else.  

In conclusion, I like cider!

It's been a while since I've seen newbies trashed that way...but it does happen, sadly.  Well...not THAT way, it's an obvious exaggeration, but close.  I think it just has to do with peoples' moods at the time.  I won't name any names, mostly because I like everybody here, and any time someone has stepped out of line it's ended up being far our of character for them...and nobody's perfect.  I don't know, as long as people don't make a habit out of doing it (which so far they haven't), it's somewhat excusable...

...but it doesn't hurt to be a little more sensitive either.  Ah, I don't know.  I keep thinking back on a specific example, but it doesn't do any good to go dragging up old graves.  Point is that sometimes I think we let our "wit" or whatever get ahead of our brains and say things that really shouldn't be said outside of a comic strip.

Sue the doctors who delivered you for bringing you to life against your will.  And then sue the Catholic church because their God trapped you in a man's body when you are obviously so pleasantly feminine.  Then sue Andail for sending you to Yakutsk when you really wanted to go to Germany.  Then you can sue me for all this bad advice.

Yeah, I'm curious as well.

I think The Office is pretty amazing, if only for the acting.  A lot of shows have the ability to make their audience feel awkward, but The Office is the only one I've seen so far where the characters themselves are made convincingly awkward.

And how is Little Britain since you mentioned it?  The only real review I found for it called it "League Lite."  Which could be good, or bad.

Prostitute your body.

Not that I'd pay for it.

But I would.

Orgy--violence--destruction.  Three of my favorite words!  Well, orgy, anyway.  Whatever follows it is alright by me.

What time are you thinking?  Should I bring the wine?

I don't really think that it's so strange or offensive an occurance...I'm an American and therefore I'm sure a LOT of what I say is Americanized, but I don't do it to spite anyone or to leave out others on the board.  If anything, I want everybody to be able to read it and make fun of it in the way that is most personal to them.

But I don't think that inserting a thoughtless reference to Best Buy or to Stewart's Root Beer or something really happens to frustrate anybody reading it.  Either they know what I'm talking about or they don't...and the odds are that you can get by pretty well from context clues anyway.

The internet is a great thing in the way that we can have representatives from any country here to discuss whatever we like and get instant feedback from all of them.  Yet we have to expect that we are going to find unintentionally ethnocentric replies simply because we all have such varying backgrounds and there is no common, universal vocabulary or set of ideas from which we can all draw.  

So no harm done, I think.  We all come from diverse regions with different histories, and I'm sure if any of us has a specific question about anything else written, we can always just ask--no offense was intended.

You know, I realize now that pretty much everybody who posted here has said, "Yeah, I only really watch X, Y, and Z anymore..." and then possibly went on to list one or two other occasional shows.

You guys have given me a lot of hope.  You're not addicted to television like too many of my friends (and family members).  I guess it doesn't really matter what you watch, as long as you watch it because you like it and benefit in some way from it...and not just watch it because it exists.

Hm.  I learned something wonderful today, and this time it had nothing to do with an underage girl.

Can I just say that this is the greatest thread I've seen since I've come back to the boards?  As much as the Dec 25 joke is funny, the conflict in this post is just unbearably hilarious.

I love you, Ben, for having a 56k modem.  Don't ever change.  You and me = cable free.  It's actually quite romantic.

What part is the upside down cone?

I'm not trying to be wry, I really don't know.  I am a crappy artist.

Also, I'm afraid I might be missing a crucial part of my head.

* points and laughs continuously *

Somebody please post when it's time for me to stop.

To be honest, I've seen a lot of Six Feet Under, and it didn't really impress me.  It seemed pretty...heavy-handed.  I don't know...kind of a, "look at how weird this is!  Keep looking!  it's getting weirder!" sort of vibe.  It DOES have its moments...but I stopped watching after a bit of season 2.

And also Terran mentioned about how we don't need to relate to the characters if it's only entertainment...but for some people (and I may entirely be the odd man on this, which is fine   ) entertainment IS relating to characters.  Which is why great novels can be read over and over again...because you want to spend time inside these peoples' minds.  If it was just the plot, you'd never have to read a novel more than once.  Same for television...if you're just watching for the plot, or to see a coconut fall on Gilligan's head...you only need to watch once.  What really impresses me is a truly layered, complex character.

Which are difficult to write, especially in TV, I'm sure.  And difficult to act as well.  But that's why they're so rewarding to see when you do find them.  

Still haven't seen 24 or Scrubs, though.  I may well check them out.  On someone's advice I put on TV Land when I was going to sleep last night and it was an All in the Family marathon.  Now that was good timing.  

AGA--good point.  I expected that you must have a lot of junk too, but didn't want to admit it to myself.    But, the point about so much GOOD television filtering through just proves that you actually have good stuff to begin with!  We don't really have too much, sadly.  Nothing with any real...significance to it, you know?  Nothing doing anything really...daring.  Or...worth it.  

Like Mills says, American sitcoms are in a formula right now...and have been for some time.  Yeah, we do have Frasier, and Conan, and The Daily Show...which are great shows, don't get me wrong...but I think my frustration is that these are all old shows.  And...eventually they will be gone.  I wish we could keep moving ahead and stop relying on a few staggering greats to carry us through.  It's actually pretty sad.

And of course there's public television, which is (relatively) exempt from corporate meddling, so that's a nice change...ah, but I don't know.  

My big complaint, I guess, is one that's probably valid in every country.  Why the hell do we need hundreds of channels?  We don't even need hundreds of SHOWS, let alone a full cycle of shows for every one of these networks.  I'm just a big fan of the way the BBC works:  take your time, do episodes when you have good ideas, and not necessarily just when the summer is over.  Only have six good ideas?  Do six episodes...don't do twenty-eight episodes and spread out those six ideas all over a watered-down series.

God!  Why does this frustrate me so much?  AGS TV Network must be born.

See, the thing is, that I've always told people that I've given up television.  It's mindless, it's annoying.  It's like a big electronic bee that you pay to keep stinging you in the ear.  

Of course, there were a few shows that were very good...but they hardly outweighed the mass of junk, junk, junk surrounding them.  But I'd watch The Simpsons.  And Drew Carey.  And SNL, sometimes.  But then, it just wasn't worth it.  I disconnected my cable and lived on DVDs.

Anyway, it's about 2 years later now, and I swear to all you brits on this board, you are the luckiest bunch of clowns who ever sat in front of a TV screen.  Your television is remarkably sound, and I never ceased to be impressed.  While I've always loved certain shows (Fawlty Towers, Red Dwarf) I found a few over the past year that just truly blew me away.

I'm speaking specifically of Series 3 of The League of Gentlemen, and either series of The Office.  Truly beautiful, each honest in its own right, and so intellectually poignant that I can't help but be moved by the comedy.  And that's something American television just doesn't seem to have.  Emotion.  Real emotion.  The fact that I can sympathize more with Steve Pemberton dressed up like a 50 year old lesbian than with most American characters says a lot!

Ah, I don't know.  I'd like to think I'm just bitter...but I keep crawling back to American TV lately and it doesn't seem to be getting any better.  It bores me...and yet I could watch just about any episode of The Office or League over and over and laugh every time.  

If anybody knows of something particularly good that's been on TV over here, let me know...I'll give it a chance.  I actually feel a bit let down that there's nothing I want to watch.

And don't you dare mention the American version of The Office that premiers in February.  I'm trying to forget it already.

To be honest, when we do the real episodes (hopefully 10 minutes or more each) it'll have more of a story, more Guitarman charm...and actual proper voice acting.  For the shorts I'm doing, it's just my voice...and I'm no actor.  But I still thought I'd show you guys what's brewin'.  I still love you, Squinky.  Against your will.

And Chill, check out one of my above posts...the LV series will be resolved, but in a series of Flash cartoons, and not AGS.

There's a lot more to come, don't worry...I was just looking for general feedback so far...and it all looks good.  Thanks everyone.  And Captain Mostly, GET AIM.