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I am currently unable to start a new league, and am wondering when I will be able to do that.

Is the "buying movies" format being finalized? Will that replace the old method of drafting, or will it just be an additional option?

Also, in my current league "Rising Temperatures", the function where the studios are "sorted" from first to last does not seem to be functioning.

Please respond at your earliest convenience.

Thank you.

Yep, I'm looking forward to having a crack at the new system in the upcoming season too - bring it!

How about some of us regular posters set up a league among ourselves? It'd be cool to go head to head with all you guys!

Let's do it I say. I rather think that it would be famous sport! What Ho!

Sounds good to me. Plus, AndtheWinner, we'd be on even ground as we're both from Ireland and not as tuned in to the buzz in the US.

Very true, very true. I'll count you as numero uno so...

Any more takers?

I'm more than willing to be down with that....

Imagine this league:

AndTheWinnerIs
numbersix_99
Shryke42
tuan69
dranscht
friskytiger81
kid_icarus
A_Roode

Or, perhaps, Nico himself might be persuaded to join...

But that begs the question: Is there a vessel large enough to contain all our egos? Would victory in this league mean total dominion over all space and matter?

If the answer is yes, I say... bring it on, bitches. [Grin.]

P.S. Still waiting on an answer to my original query, Mr. Moderator Person.

Shryke42 wrote:

I'm more than willing to be down with that....

Imagine this league:

AndTheWinnerIs
numbersix_99
Shryke42
tuan69
dranscht
friskytiger81
kid_icarus
A_Roode

Or, perhaps, Nico himself might be persuaded to join...

But that begs the question: Is there a vessel large enough to contain all our egos? Would victory in this league mean total dominion over all space and matter?

If the answer is yes, I say... bring it on, bitches. [Grin.]

P.S. Still waiting on an answer to my original query, Mr. Moderator Person.

I don't post anywhere NEAR as much as all of you, (actually, it's only been a few times), but I read your stuff, I'm just as opinionated, and if I could, I would LOVE to bring my run of 1st/2nd place finishes against the Big Guns of Fantasy Moguls. Can I join in the reindeer games???

Shryke42 wrote:

I'm more than willing to be down with that....

Imagine this league:

AndTheWinnerIs
numbersix_99
Shryke42
tuan69
dranscht
friskytiger81
kid_icarus
A_Roode

I'd join a league like this, for sure.

From the brief conversations I had with Brenda when she sent that email about the changes to Moguls, I think she said the normal draft would still be an option, or if it weren't at first, they might re-add it. Also, I'm fairly sure you couldn't start new leagues until this week, perhaps today or tomorrow.

You guys are the best.

Yes, yes, yes, you eager beavers. We are still launching the new site today and you will be able to start setting up new leagues and picking your slates for the summer blockbuster season.

We're out here in the Pacific Time zone, so hang tight just little while longer. We're rolling out all the new stuff tonight after 5 pm PT.

To clarify, the draft will not be an option in the new game, at least not now--we are keeping a list of more advanced features that we may add as options later this summer, so definitely send us feedback on what you miss or would like to see.

We did find that the draft had some downsides in that it seemed to rely too much on the chance element of draft order--eg, whomoever got Pirates last summer would have had such a major advantage over everyone else that it wiped out some of the fun strategy. But the playing field is more level in a salary cap game where everyone is dealing with the same pool of options.

At any rate, we'll post more info tonight when the site rolls and let me know if you have other questions/thoughts.

I think the new regle du jeu will be an improvement. The draft game was partially based on luck, especially this season when whoever got first and choose 300 had an advantage. The new game eliminates all of this. Now the game will be solely about finding the smaller films that perform well, as we all know Pirates and Spidey 3's shall dominate the summer.

Gents (and ladies?), I'd love to take you all on in a summer league. And especially Nico, if he has the cojones

So here is how this "league" stands:

AndTheWinnerIs - accepted
numbersix_99 - accepted
Shryke42 - accepted
tuan69
dranscht - accepted
friskytiger81
kid_icarus
A_Roode
Nicodemus - acCEPted (and then some)

Bernox - waiting in the wings

Who would like to volunteer to set up this league? Do you need my e-mail address? (Is PMing even possible anymore?)

ETA: Holy God. My best friend went to VT. Will the madness never end...

LOL! Sorry, folks, I haven't been paying attention these last few hours -- my campus was one of, I'm sure, hundreds, if not thousands of colleges and universities that got the word about the Virginia Tech massacre and immediately initiated heightened security procedures. (Not that anyone really thought this madness would spread, but in moments like this people do what they are able to put a suddenly unrecognizeable world aright.) I was actually drafting a response in the "Spider-man 3 projections thread" when the news first came down about this senseless, stupefying act.

[Aside: Texans like myself are all too familiar with this sort of staggering, monstrous infamy. It was at the University of Texas at Austin that our state's second-most notorious "lone gunman," Charles Joseph Whitman -- a deeply disturbed young man who, as R. Lee Ermey reminded us in Full Metal Jacket, too learned his ultimate life's work in the Marines -- shot 46 students, campus workers and family members from the Texas Tower with an assortment of several hunting and automatic-fire rifles. (He was also armed with three handguns.) I am very familiar with the VaTech campus, tucked among the sprawling hills and forests overlooking the new-industry town of Blacksburg, "the most wired city in America." I cannot fathom the depths of sorrow, loss and shock that has descended upon that picturesque community and the wider, in fact global Hokie family, not to mention the friends, relatives, fellow scholars and coworkers of the victims of this appalling act. At this time I would like to ask any FM gamers or visitors reading this to send prayers, good thoughts or just spend a moment honoring this day's loved and lost. Thanks.]

On a brighter and more topical note, Shryke42 and Number Six, I'd love to throw down with you and tussle in a Summer league. ("Cojones"? Really? That's in doubt, now? Well, bring it on, Nancy-boy. I'll take you to school, rough you up under the monkey bars and steal your lunch money, stuff you in a gym locker, flirt with your litle girlfriend and have your mom bake me some of her famous Nestlé Toll House cookies. And all the while, no one will miss you, crammed unceremoniously into a tiny metal box like the Fruit of the Looms I wedgied into your scrawny, mewling, pimply punk a-- earlier today. No one, in fact, will notice you're gone at all. [Grin] All in good fun, of course, and no insult intended.) Spirited enough for ya, chum? Again I say: Bring it on. ("Oh, it's already been BROUGHTEN!")

Anyway, folks, thanks for the invite and the thought. E-mail me at nicodemus@fantasymoguls.com with details.

Shryke, I know I owe you a response to something, but it's been a day, today. Look for it tonight.

I remain, as always...

Nico.

Yep, I agree that the salary cap method is going to be superior to the draft. While it will take us all a while to adjust I'm sure that we'll see it's merits fairly quickly.

I also think its great that the powers that be (that means you moviebabe and movieguy) are so open and receptive to our feedback. It'll be interesting to see what kind of things we collectively miss from the old system and how they may be reintroduced. I think in an ideal world that having the option to choose between the two systems would be best but maybe we'll never look back once we've gotten into it.

As I've mentioned before on the old boards, I'd also really love to see the Over/Under game being somehow incorporated into the scoring system, maybe replacing the Top 5 Placement category? I think that Top 5 and Box Office are too closely related; when you get a box office dead cert you automatically get Top 5 points and vice versa.

I know that this could cause problems in terms of requiring too much attention for some players but I think something along these lines would contribute to a nice organic evolution of the game.

Thoughts?

Also, it's great to see that there's definite interest in what I am now dubbing:

"The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen"

and I hereby extend an official invitation to the bould Nicodemus the Sage to come out and play with all of us lesser mortals...

Being Irish, I'm reserving my God-given birth right to be highly offended if my invitation is refused. Us Paddy's are a vengeful lot.... Check out "The Magical Land of The Lepreuchans" if you don't believe me....

OK, so the invite was accepted while I was typing, thus averting a hissy-fit crisis of unimaginable magnitude. Great stuff!!

I think to be fair, we'll have to organise this over the next couple of days; not sure how easy it will be to get us all on terms with the new system by 5PM PST but we'll see.

"Lesser mortals": hah. ATWI, you honor me, but I am little more than a learner, myself, illusions (delusions?) of grandiloquent, gradiose, garish, gratuitous grandstanding notwithstanding.

I'm beginning to think I need to adopt yet another personality to cope with this newfound (and wholly undeserved) popularity; there's only so much Nicodemus to go around. Hmmm, Jonathan, perhaps? Or Templeton? Splinter, Rizzo, or Billy Costigan?

Just tell me what the rules are and what time to be there, and I'll show up. With bells on, or at least a Hartz Two-in-One collar with a little jingly thingy.

I remain, as always...

Nico.

Nicodemus wrote:

At this time I would like to ask any FM gamers or visitors reading this to send prayers, good thoughts or just spend a moment honoring this day's loved and lost.

I join you in this sentiment. Such senseless tragedy.

Regardless whether the campus authorities could have done more to avert the incident somewhat - as is now emerging from the media circus that is in full swing - "ShouldaWouldaCoulda" is of little consequence to the some 33 families (including that of the gunman) who have lost loved ones this morning and the many others who are injured and possibly fighting for their own lives.

Besides, when a person disturbed enough to carry out such an atrocity goes about it in such an unexpected and unnanounced fashion, one can hardly apportion blame on anyone other than the perpetrator.

Anyway, comfort will be scant in Virginia for many days to come; love and prayers for those involved needs to be collectively sent.

I for one send mine.

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