Glittering prizes and endless compromises

Today in Blah, Blah, Blah

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:03:26 GMT

The fannish5 question of the week:

Five characters who could give a great speech.

John Sheridan: The captain of B5, president of the ISA, and leader of the Rangers (although never at once)could give great speeches. So great that it could often be hilarious, but when he chases the Shadows and Vorlons out of the galaxy by telling them so (His speech included the phrase "Get the hell out of our Galaxy!"), you know he had the power of speech-craft.

Jeff Winger:Winger's capacity to pacify his study group mates, who spent 90% of the time on the brink of homicide, is beyond belief. If I had access to YouTube, I'd link to the clip show where they cut a bunch of his speeches together.Instead, I post it, thanks to IMDB.
We've known each other for almost two years now. And yeah, in that time I've given a lot of speeches, but they all have one thing in common: they're all different. These drug runners aren't going to execute Pierce because he's racist. It's a locomotive that runs on US, and the only sharks in that water are the emotional ghosts that I like to call fear, anchovies, fear, and the dangers of ingesting mercury. Because the real bugs aren't the ones in those beds. And there's no such thing as a free Caesar salad and even if there were, The Cape might still find a second life on cable, and I'll tell you why: el corazon del agua es verdad. That water is a lie! Harrison Ford is irradiating our testicles with microwave satelite transmissions. So maybe we ARE caught in and endless cycle of screw ups and hurt feelings, but I choose to believe that this is just the universe's way of molding us into some kind of super group.

Captain America: Blah blah blah living legend of WW II,leader of the Avengers. Although I'm still working on forgiving Jim Shooter for the worst line in comics history from Secret Wars where he tells Mr. Fantastic "No wonder the name Reed Richards is synonymous with compassion." Seriously, Jim.
Let's forget "Surrender??!! You think this letter on my head stands for France?"

Aragorn son of Arathorn:
Sons of Gondor! Of Rohan! My brothers. I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of Men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of wolves and shattered shields when the Age of Men comes crashing down, but it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West!

Yeah, that's ok. .

King Hal:Come on, right? The best. Go here and look, it's huge.

I am Lord-ish of Waterdeep

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 14:50:01 GMT

Okay, so last night Cynra & I went to Black Oak Brewery to participate in their semi-regular board game night. I'm at most a casual beer aficionado, and Cyrna does not participate at all, but we do love board games.

I got Lords of Waterdeep (apologies for linking to BGG) for our anniversary. Well, I got a gift card and used it to buy LoW.

I was particularly impressed when I unboxed LoW last weekend because, and this is the stupidest thing I've ever placed in writing, the tray is so well put together. They actually give you instructions on how to place everything in the tray. Everything has a place, and it all fits together well, and I love it. The tray for Castle Ravenloft was almost completely useless, and I don't recall instructions on what went where. This is very well organized.

The game puts each player in the role of one of the eponymous Lords of Waterdeep, and they are seeking to gain influence over the city. It's a worker placement game where you put agents in play, and they gain you either adventurers (blocks!), gold, or control of buildings. The goal is to complete quests, which gain you victory points. End of game, you get bonus points for quests that fit your secret lord.

We were joined in the game by ghostwes which was odd because a couple days before I had been scrolling through old LJ posts and wondered "Whatever happened to him?" Tiny world, wouldn't want to mow it.

The game was a lot of fun. There are Intrigue cards that can be a little frustrating to play on others. For example, I played a Mandatory Quest on ghostwes as he was pulling ahead. This would, probably, have delayed him a few actions, but instead put the brakes on him for several rounds, as getting clerics was surprisingly difficult in the game. Only one base location lets you get a cleric (one, and he needed two), Cynra stole one of his, and it had to be his priority to get it done.

I actually had an intrigue card in my hand that would have slowed him down further, but that was just too dickish to play. It can encourage cutthroat play. I definitely want to play more of LoW. Fun game.

Allow me to tell you an Amusing Anecdote About my Day

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 15:16:47 GMT

So*. Yesterday I was, as is my usual routine (until the end of this week) I was on the 27 bus from Finch to Milton. I prefer to get off the 27 at Meadowvale and take the Milton train the rest of the way because it allows me an enjoyable last leg (the 27 takes a mazelike route out of Mississauga which tends to upset my tummy). It also saves me a few bucks; the cost of a direct 27 route from Finch station to Milton station is a couple bucks more than getting off at Meadowvale and taking the bus in. Don’t ask me, ask GO.

Yesterday, the bus was about 18 minutes behind schedule, which meant that it was three minutes after the scheduled arrival time for the Milton train. I still figured I’d take the train home. As we pull into the station, however, I saw that the Milton train was pulling in as well. Hey, I thought, I can catch this!

I strutted into the station, down the stairs, as fast as my stubby legs could carry me and not leave me an asthmatic wheezing wreck when I got onto the train (I’ll wheeze, but not asthmatically). I didn’t encounter any of the departing commuters until they were on their way down the stairs, and thankfully they hewed right enough to allow me up the stairs.

Of course, the lady who was galumphing across the platform, her nose buried in her book, didn’t notice my rapidly oncoming bulk, but a grunted “excuse me” cleared her out of the way, and I was home free. “The Doors are Now Closing” grunted the PA system as I leapt for the door, my feet finding purchase on the floor and momentum carrying me into the train until the door close onto my bag.

I’m not a physicist. I don’t know what happened to the momentum that my body possessed when the doors shut onto my bag. I do know that I am sore as fuck right now. Thankfully, a nice bottle of Life brand ASA (Thanks, kinra) has helped keep the pain at bay.

*I love starting a story with “So”. It allows me to leap into telling the story with a minimum of stage setting. “So” indicates that you’re continuing from where you left off, even if it’s from the title of the piece . As in this.

That's odd

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 11:18:46 GMT

I was watching the trailer for the upcoming Alison Brie (guest starring Jason Segel & Emily Blunt) romcom The Five Year Engagement.

There's a scene in the trailer that seems a like disjointed from the rest of the narrative it's trying to promote. In it, a small child is playing with a crossbow and pulls the trigger, and somebody gets shot in the leg. Ouchy!

But what it sounds like is they've punched up the scene by having the moppet say from offscreen "I'm Katniss!".

That's a strange little joke. Very current (what's the opposite of passé?), so much so it was looped in. But I'm not sure how big the intersection of "People who like/are aware of The Hunger Games " and "People who want to see a Jason Segel ~~penis~~ RomCom".

But, yeah, Alison Brie movies. I saw Scre4m, I'll see this.

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Nerdology

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 13:18:29 GMT

I was amused by the reactions on james_nicoll's lj about Christopher Priest's reaction to the nominations for the Clarke awards. What's amusing is that last night, en route to game, I stopped off at Bakka Books, where I got to paritipate in a nice game of "interrogate the Yank". "What's a two-four? What's a double double?" While I was browsing a guy came in and asked for one of the books Priest mentioned, Osama. He'd heard of it just because of the Priest column. The bookstore clerk hadn't heard of it as yet, but apparently it's not being carried by any of their distributors, and he hadn't taken the time to wade into the day's nerd net kerfuffle. Just nice to watch ripples, I guess.

So, yeah, I saw The Cabin in the Woods

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 16:09:15 GMT

Last Thursday, the hordes of people who'd wandered by the Alliance booth at Comic Con the prior weekend squeezed into a theatre at the Scotiabank theatre.

As always with preview films, it was overbooked, but we were five from the front so we got in.

The film was enjoyable, but as the director asked us to not discuss film details in advance of the release, I'll respect his wishes. It's a good horror flick, very much informed by the genre.

As I've said in the intervening week, it'll appeal to gorehounds, Whedonites & Tv Tropers.

That last bunch, btw, are gonna plotz.

I'm listening to the Comma Error podcast, and laughing at the host's factual errors.

Good film. Ignore trailers and just go.

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A little more than 50

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 11:26:37 GMT

So I'm about halfway done my co-op placement at the gub'mint. It's been a good place, although I feel as if my presence is occasionally forgotten, and I have to give my boss a prod to remind him I exist.

The staff I work with are good, with better than reverse Sturgeon. The location, next to a power corridor near Yonge & Finch, has proven to be a good one. There are parks nearby, which are good for visiting on lunch.

I don't suspect I'll be staying, but I've enjoyed being there. It's been good to exercise the skills I picked up at school.

The commute remains hellish. I find if I get to work by 8:30 I can grab the 4:40 bus home and be home by six-ish which makes my work day only 11 hours.

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

CanGames 2012

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 12:32:32 GMT

My plans for CanGames 2012 revolved primarily around playing some new and/or interesting games and helping oversee the Great Canadian Board Game Blitz event at that show. And possibly visiting Diamond Barbarella's.

The theme for the show is Flames Across the Border, in reference to the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812 ("The First Time we Beat the Yanks").

Until this morning, after reading multiplexer 's review, a couple synapses popped while I was in the shower, and now an idea is percolating:

President Osborn has discovered that several American heroes have sought refuge from the SHRA in Canada. Can Alpha Flight protect these refuges from Osborn's Dark Avengers and prevent an international incident?

Of course, I'd have to stat up The Flight and the various Dark Avengers (and, you know, buy the new Marvel game), but it would probably be fun.

I've got a few days to think about it, in any case.

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

Okay, that was creepy.

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 00:51:00 GMT

So last night, I strolled over to the library to return some media (a few books and a couple Breaking Bad dvds). It's a nice trip, in this weather.

So, I dropped off at around 11 pm or so. Came home and watched SNL (ah, Channing Tatum. Just shut up and look pretty).

So I decided to put in a hold request for the other two Breaking Bad dvds. I logged into the MPL web site, and entered my account.

So, at that moment I discovered that my books had somehow been checked back into the system. Between 11 pm and 1 am.

I'm hoping that there's some kind of automated scanning system in the return slot. Otherwise, the library has some kind of hunchback or something hanging out in the building after hours processing returns.

Oh, man, this is gonna be great

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 21:28:13 GMT

So this morning, DC announced they're gonna do Before Watchmen (which, duh, everyone already knew). So, yeah, mega splotch of talent there. They even got JMS on a couple books, so we can make jokes about him quitting halfway.

Amusingly enough, issue nine (?) of The Twelve came out today. Shame I no longer give a fuck. Seriously, I hit acceptance somewhere in 2009 and JMS can eat a bag of dicks. I got an email asking if I'd like to buy a copy of the B5 timeline, to which I said fuck no. Seriously, the only book they published I wanted was the one that you could only get if you bought 14 screenplay books.

Anyway, nerds are going bugfuck. There's angry posts on twitter, and on the blogosphere, and other people are going "Well, Moore based his work off other people's work, so why should he be upset, garble yarble dargle".

It's so great. I just want to sit in front of a bunch of computer screens and read all the blog posts and comments and tell my viet cong housemen how awesome it is.

Writer's Block: Doppelganger Week

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 21:23:01 GMT

Who is your look-alike?

View 639 Answers

Andy Kaufman.

Okay, when I had hair.

Now I look like a bald Andy Kaufman.

Kingston memories

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:57:45 GMT

I was looking for info on the time in the '80s when Afghan Mujahadeen were brought to Hotel Dieu in Kingston for medical treatment, but the only site I found was some horrid right wing thing.

That it happened was interesting; injured Mujahadeen came to Kingston, got medical treatment, and were shipped back to the 'Stan to keep doing what they were doing. I remember my friend Doug & I were in Gamekeeper, a local arcade on our lunch (don't tell my dad!) and we saw a couple of them playing Operation Wolf of all things.

It's like wandering into your arcade and seeing Tiger Woods playing a golf game. But it was strangely ironic to my teenage eyes; they were in Kingston for medical treatment and hopefully some R&R, and the one time I encountered one of them he was blowing up communist base in a video game.

Of course, it is less comfortable to think about the afterwards. The recovered mujahadeen were sent back to Afghanistan for more fighting, and even after the Soviets departed, things didn't quite get better.

I would have posted this earlier...

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 05:42:42 GMT

But I didn't. Anyway, it's 18 years since that one time I almost died. It's a good story, kids.

Wow

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 04:25:31 GMT

Today is the 10 year anniversary of this here LJ.

Back in the day when you needed an invite, pyat gave me one after I mentioned my interest in the platform during a ride back from D&D.

I'd been following eyebeams and shara for a while, and wanted to gie it a try.

It's been an interesting experience. I'll admit, I've done more at some times and less at others. But it's been good, overall.

Today in Skyrimming

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 00:42:48 GMT

Okay, so in spite of a slight interruption for FutureCon II, I managed to get some playing in on Skyrim.

It's loads of fun, and I'm enjoying it quite a bit. I'm actually thinking of re-starting it so I can play as a paladin, all heavy armour, restoration magic & speech.

I'm playing as a elven thief/magic user. It's fun. I've killed two dragons, but got smeared by a giant. I guess those Penny Arcade guys had a clue after all.

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Today in holiday festivities

Sun, 25 Dec 2011 00:58:33 GMT

Am at ACB w/ Cynra. Am enjoying new fez and old scotch. Happy holidays!

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It's raining

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 02:58:10 GMT

I guess I'm the next person to describe the weather this year as a bit disconcerting. It's raining again right now, and I find it more October than December.

I realized that I didn't arrange a game group dinner this year. I usually harangue the other players into getting together for a meal that's not part of game. It usually involves wonder at Paul's ability to ignore pretty much any concept of aesthetics in game and a variety of jokes passing around the table.

There are also sometimes tacos.

Ah, well. Next year. I need to figure out how game and co-op will coordinate in the new year. I'm contemplating driving in for one day each week.

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Today in Fincheresquesness

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 14:07:49 GMT

Okay, two things:

The idea of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo being adapted by the guy who made Se7en is enough to make me crawl into bed, duck under the covers & whimper for a cup of tea.

But I'm made of stronger stuff than that. And my wife has already left for work.

But, yes, the Swedish original is intense enough. I can imagine how Fincher's imagining will go. And it's moments like this where I wish Lovecraft was right.

Secondly, though, and this is more a matter of Mammon rather than Melpomene, this story is part one of a trilogy. The Swedish films covered all three. Is he locked in for the duration?

(Turning the page in the Wired article that inspired this post, I see the stars are signed for a trilogy, but Fincher is not.)

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Happy holiday

Sat, 17 Dec 2011 19:28:12 GMT

Class is done for the semester, so Cynra & I are having some people over for a holiday shindig. I'm currently in a long, immobile line at the post office to ship off the next/last batch of cards.

Seriously, I've been here for about 20 minutes, there's seven people ahead of me, but whatever the one person at the front of the line needs it's far beyond the ability of the staff to deliver.

Posted via m.livejournal.com.

Curtains

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 04:09:18 GMT

Tomorrow is the last session of robin_d_laws' Drama System playtest. At least the first series we're running using it.

Two of the players are leaving town, so rather than keep the game going without them we're going to wrap it up. Drama System is built for that sort of arc play.

I had a good moment in the last game. My character had been summoned to the King in the North to be pushed aside while his men eliminated the remnants of southern religion, and as that goes would go the last of southern culture.

Classic culture clash: monotheistic north and animist south. The horseheads worshipped the spirit horse, their allies the shit men had a dozen gods. The north just has "god".

Thickneck didn't want to be tangentially responsible for the slaughter of scores of priestesses and the death of the the spirit of the south. He'd been fighting that since it became obvious that the north had to be placated. "We'll have iron in 10 years!" is not the kind of thing you tell the chieftain of a barbarian tribe.

So he had a vision. God racing across the sky on the back of a magnificent spirit horse. As he passed over the south, his temples rose in each village, and in each village, a priest and a horsemaiden administering to the needs of the people.

All he had to do? Give up his crown and his wife. Two things he'd had slipping away in the first place.

Please don't throw me in the brer patch, Mr. Fox.

We'll see how it goes terribly awry tomorrow. I'm not ruling out character death!

Writer's Block: B.Y.O.B. Holidays

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 01:20:32 GMT

What is your must-see holiday movie?

One random answer will win a $50 Amazon gift card. [Details here]

View 1726 Answers

Die Hard.

This IS Christmas music!

Technology and me, sitting in a tree.

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 19:27:14 GMT

I’ve been a technophile for most of my life. My parents were both immigrants to Canada who’d managed to achieve a good life. They wanted their children to have the same fortune, and one of the methods they felt would help achieve that would be to help us would be ready access to and knowledge of technology.
I was sent to summer computer camp for several years, which had a curriculum that included Logo in the morning and A/V components in the afternoon. This could be something educational such as tvo’s Bits & Bytes or something more populist like Tron or Wargames or even, God forbid, Electric Dreams.
Summer camp was never the most intense of experiences.
As I’ve grown, I have never found technology to be something I feel uncomfortable with. I am not really an early adopter, primarily because I have no idea how those guys afford it. Plus, I’ve been burned once or twice by the fallibility of first generation technology. Let someone else do the public Beta testing and reap the benefits of their experience.
I’m very comfortable with technology right now, at least in terms of consumer electronics. I’ve had an iPhone for the past three years, and I can use the phrase “there’s an app for that” with barely a tinge of irony. I often will have an app or two that will be useful for whatever purpose we’re looking for.
I have never found it difficult to poke and prod within technological areas. I like trying high tech toys. I find it easy to acclimate to various web technologies. I’ve found it easy to become used to various publishing platforms, from a half dozen blogging services (my Livejournal turns ten next year!) to Twitter to various Wikis.
I am even a fan of technology news. I like listening to podcasts on technology, preferring the weekly shows from two public broadcasters, Spark from the CBC and Search Engine from tvo.
I like keeping up on news by my former Realms editor Pete Nowak. I’ve been reading Wired (intemittently) for the past two decades, although I tried to subscribe to it earlier this year and have been finding delivery to be erratic at best. That’s somewhat odd, since the magazine does work best in digital formats, but I’d still like the book to be delivered.
I find the world we live in a fascinating place. I know it’s a joke, but the hoary punchline about “where’s my jet pack/flying car?” is one I’ve tired of. Honestly, people can’t handle two dimensional travel, , much less navigate in three.
I’ve learned one thing over the past few decades; predicting where technology will go is a mug’s game, and one I’ll have no part of.
Moore’s law will likely remain a constant for the foreseeable future (it is apparently slowing down, which is not stopping), which will affect the technologies we have available.
Will we see nanotechnology start to fulfill the visions of Sci-fi writers? The non-apocalyptic ones, at least. What effect will 3D printing have, since we can produce products in our own homes? Will we be able to keep up with our energy needs, as the developing world continues to develop at breakneck speeds?
I have no idea. I do know that it’s going to be great watching it happen.

Today in Technical Communication

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 22:23:53 GMT

So, for the past four months I've been taking the Technical Communication program at Seneca.

As many of you know, this has been a goal of mine for a few years. Getting into the profession, that is. Not joining the program. That was my goal after I found out it existed and was co-op.

The program is a pretty intense one. We have a variety of classes, about 50% of which I thought were theoretical at the beginning of the semester, but which turned out to be pretty much all practical in various degrees.

The editing course was an interesting one, which used Technical Editing by Carolyn Rude as its core text. We've learned a lot in that course about copy editing, proof reading and comprehensive editing, and a chunk of our course load was preparing editing documents & check-lists and a kick ass style guide.

We also had a couple half semester courses. One of them was our co-op preparation course. It was a couple weeks late starting due to a strike, but a lot of the stuff on resume preparation and interviewing I got from Right Management after I got laid off.

The other was a course in FrameMaker. It was taught by Bernard Aschwenden, who knows a lot about the program.

We also had a matched pair of courses Technical Communication and The Technical Communicator. The Technical Communicator was taught by Anna Parker Richards. She and Bernard have something in common, both having been President of the local chapter of the Toronto branch of the STC.

The course has strongly encouraged us to participate in the STC, and I'm going to be joining them next year. Seneca hosted a career day for the STC, where we got interview and social media tips. I also won a Linked In consult from Hannah Morgan. I finally got her my info, so I'm going to get to update my LinkedIn soon and be all employable and stuff.

A little secret: I'm writing this post as a class assignment for our IT course, taught by Beth Agnew.

Writer's Block: B.Y.O.B. Holidays

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 18:01:49 GMT

What is on your holiday wish list this year?

One random answer will win a $50 Amazon gift card. [Details here]

View 1450 Answers

Honestly, with money so tight this semester, I'm keeping my head low asking for gifts and holding back on gifts for others. I got Cynra a gift (shhh), but otherwise it's just a few things for friends and family.

If you're looking for something for someone from a local small business, a friend of mine has a great variety of products available in the bath & body products field. Check out Mooka. There's candy cane soap available.

New Podcast Episode

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 00:49:28 GMT

kinra's and my podcast, Squideye and The Bitter Guy has posted our 24th episode! Admittedly, that's not quite the bi-weekly regularity we'd hoped for (and is just a bit short of monthly), but we'll see what we can do in the foreseeable.

In the meantime, listen to it, give it an iTunes rate, and share with us your love.