Strategic Pony

Time to roll out the big guns for this month. After four days of not posting anything decent in June, the tides turn and now... I strike the heart of monotony with my words... and my! Unholy! RANDOM! TAAAALENT!!! *cue overdramatic hammy acting*

Precarious for Black, is it not? If you don't think so, just wait 'til you see the rest of the board.

And now that the pieces are in position... let's play.





CURRENT MUSIC:
Bear McCreary - "Prelude to War"
Battlestar Galactica: Season 2 Original Soundtrack

"Prelude to War" has now been featured five times in the past on this blog. And now, it's being played a sixth time, because its message seems to be quite clear. Not only does it work great in conflicts and the events that lead up to said conflicts, but it also serves as a nice track to play if you're in a bit of a bind. Those drums (both the Western ones and the taiko) will definitely get your pulse flowing and your need to get things done faster working.

This also applies to driving. Even when going at the speed limit, this will make you seem like you're racing down whatever stretch of road you're on. Plus, if you have it blaring through your car speakers and have your windows rolled down, I'm pretty sure the other drivers around you will know to stay the frak away from you. The music means business, and so does your driving. *evil grin*





Afternoon, everyone! Welcome to June, and welcome to The White Knight Chronicles! I'm in a bit of a rush today, so pardon me for this quick introduction. I've got errands to run and I've got work tonight (wat), so I must get going! But first, let's talk about things I wanted to talk about.





Ponification
(n. the act of turning people, fictional characters or objects into a cartoon pony, mainly in the style of characters featured in the television series My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic)

Those of you who've known me for a while are probably familiar with the fact that I'm a brony. If the "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" tag or the card my friend made for me in 1000 Blank White Cards or the various pics of ponies plastered all over various entries didn't give it away, then I'm going to be sure that this segment will definitely drive the message home.

Anyway, back on Friday I was working when I get a call from the operator telling me to go to the fitting rooms (specifically the operator's kiosk) for a second or two. I looked around and saw that nobody was shopping (weird for a Friday night). This was around... let's say 1900ish or so. Since it was pretty slow out, I figured I'd have some time to check out what they needed me for. I walked over and marveled at the lack of guests in the store, and when I got to the fitting rooms, I was greeted...

Further proof that you have joined the herd: someone decides to make a pony version of you.

...by this little guy! Ain't he adorable? I mean, yes... this is pony!Josh we're talking about, and he carries the same amount of emotion and badassitude heartlessness personality as the jerk with a heart of gold in real life. And by that, I mean he looks like me!

This pony was created after one of my work friends got really bored one day. (At least that's the story she told me.) What really caught my attention was how much pony!Josh looks like me. He's wearing a red Haruhi armband much like how I wear one in real life all over the place. His hair's long enough to cover his face and in this particular photo was held back by a pair of sunglasses (blue ones on pony!Josh; whatever color my current pair is in real life). Plus, his expression... his glare... it kinda mimics my apparent lack of positive emotion at work (although I'm known to be quite jubilant - possibly even hammy). Really nice attention to detail here.

"A cutie mark appears on a pony's flank when he or she finds that certain something that makes them different from every other pony."
- Cheerilee (My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic S1E12: "Call of the Cutie")

As for my apparent cutie mark? Apparently it's still Target's bullseye logo. I'm not complaining, but I'm pretty sure "retail and sales" aren't my talents. Even if they were, I really can't picture myself staying in that field for-frakking-ever. But my guess is that my friend decided to base this pony on the picture from the card (sans the pink color - I think I told everyone who saw said card that pink wouldn't be my color), so that's justified.

All in all, I got a fun gift and a... figure? Toy? Plushie? Stuffed animal? I don't know what to classify him as. Regardless, I have someone to help decorate my future desk and what not! Thanks again!





Addressing Battle Plans
(Chess theorycraft time!)

It's been a long time since I've talked about anything chess-related on here. The last time any post had a "chess" tag was June 27, 2011 - nearly one year ago. Since then I've probably only mentioned the game twice (once when listing off the fictional books I made up for World of Warcraft roleplaying; once when mentioning personalities and hobbies of a certain aquatic Sailor Senshi).

Older readers may recall that entry the first link went to. This was at a time where I was attempting a rather strange project: "Josh Blanco vs. The World" - a chess challenge where I was to challenge a bunch of people online in a chess game. Naturally, since this was attempted on Facebook of all places, we all know what happened to that. (In case you don't know: it died out.) Honestly, it's probably due to a number of factors, including me promoting it in a poor fasion, and the world simply being uncivilized enough to not realize what the frak chess is. I'd like to start it up again, but I think it needs a bit more preparation before I bring it onto the world stage.

Anyway, digressing. So my job at Target got somewhat better about a week ago when the break room received a basic chess/checkers/backgammon set. Much to my dismay, however, there aren't that many people who work there that play - most everyone else either doesn't know how to play or apparently has a neanderthalic view on the turn-based strategy game. Of the team members that do, their skill levels weren't what I was hoping they'd be - and I immediately wiped the floor after each match. (I don't mean this to be an insult nor do I intend this to be self-glorifying. Let's be honest here - there's always someone better than you.) So, I sat there, somewhat distraught over how this chess set made me more sad than happy.

And just when I lost hope, I got to play a great game. It's not finished, yet.

That is, until Sunday night. One co-worker had heard of my interest in chess and informed me he hadn't played a decent game in a while. After telling me he was going on his break, I clocked out for my lunch and we sat down for a game. Now, to those of you who've played engaging games that require a good bit of thought, it's fair to say that fifteen minutes isn't long enough for a good chess game. (It is if you're playing speed chess, but this was more of a casual game as opposed to a tournament.) Needless to say... we didn't finish. However, I took a snapshot of the board in its current condition and we decided that the next time we worked together, we'd continue where we left off.

I didn't record the moves down, so I have no idea where we are. I'll just pretend we're on the 25^th turn.
25.e6! - Black to play

The above diagram is where the board was left at. I was White; he played Black. After playing 25.e6! he was stuck at a crossroads - and the fact that he had to go back to work didn't help any.

So let's analyze the situation here.

White's only offensive seems to be the recently-advanced pawn on the e-file and the queen on b6. From a defensive standpoint, his rooks aren't doing much (though the e-file rook seems to be doing its job), and the b2 bishop's fianchetto doesn't seem to be contributing too much.

Black also seems to have some problems. At first glance, any rookie player would think that the advanced knight and bishop (at g4 and h3 respectively) could do some good, but with White's king and rook positioned as they are, there's not much that can be accomplished with just the two of them. Black's other bishop (dark) hasn't even left home yet, and both of his rooks are about as active as White's.

Moreover: Black's king is in a very critical situation - one wrong move with it or his other pieces could spell doom for his game. I've been staring at this board for some time, trying to gauge Black's best move in this precarious position. While I don't know what that would be, I can see only one move that would cripple Black even more: 25...Rxe6. By doing so, the game will continue as:

25...Rxe6
26. Qd8+ Ka7
27. Bd4+ c5
28. Rxe6

Which makes the board look like...

After 28. Rxe6, Black's oulook dims.

...this. Black loses his only developed rook at the cost of one measly pawn, and White threatens to mate in two turns with the aid of the newly-positioned rook. Moreover, any hope of developing Black's bishop at f8 is destroyed as it's pinned down. (Moving it away would expose Black's other rook for capture and ultimately squash any hope of Black winning.)

So, what to do, what to do? I ultimately have no choice but to wait until the next time I play against him - then I'll see what path he chooses to walk. I'll respond in kind, and we'll just have to see what happens. Eventually, though... someone's going to lose...





That about wraps it up for today. If you'll excuse me, I have some lunch to eat and some errands to run before work. And if I don't run these errands, I might be saddened for the rest of my life. And if I don't eat, I'll be hungry. So, away I must go.

And pony!Josh is starving. Gotta feed him the good stuff, y'know?

So, until the 'morrow, everypony! Be sure to remember this day in history! I'll tell you why tomorrow if you don't know why today's so important!