While I have the 2nd act written, i need to script the action sequences, which is harder than you'd expect because I'd like to make them actually interesting. That's hard to do in turn-based combat. I also want to do little stories for what happens to the characters in the year between, but I have those about half done. Oh, and I need to make the 3rd act interesting. It could be much better. But these things will hopefully be done one day, and then maybe sometime Bryan and Young will start calling me back, and then we can play. Maybe.
20061025
20061018
some things
It's pretty much officially autumn now - the leaves are dying, the crows are out in droves, and there's cold in the air. This is pretty much my favorite season, but it's too bad I don't really have anything to do on Halloween.
A quote from Jen Graves, Stranger art critic and guest speaker in my Contemporary Art class: "Richard Serra has stopped throwing molten lead."
Games I've been playing reviewed alongside girls from my classes:
Jade Empire: This game is very Americanized Chinese. I mean, ornithopers? Scantily-clad women? Come on. It's too bad the combat kind of sucks, too. Other than that, it's very very pretty and Bioware is still good at characterization. Although there isn't a single female character that I care about in the game, so it sucks being a male character.
Angela: A Chinese girl in my Japanese class who is cheerful and somewhat interesting. We have similar taste in cute things. Facebook tells me she is a conservative Christian.
Chrono Cross: The bad thing about hard bosses in RPGs is that, if you lose, you can't learn how to beat the boss like you could in an action game. No, you have to make your characters stronger. I don't like that.
I stumbled upon a ruined futuristic city, and I was all thinking "Wait, this is going to be another Miyazaki ripoff like FFX now, isn't it? Technology is evil and all that." But then the futuristic city turned out to actually be from the future. Bravo, Chrono Cross. I applaud your ingenuity.
Sarah: I'm just going to put an 'H' on her name because I don't know how she spells it. She's from my Native American Art History class and I pretty much like her. She's pretty cute, bright, and interesting, although I wish I knew more about her. She likes anime, I guess, and is a better artist than I am, although that's pretty much true of everybody. Unfortunately for me, she doesn't seem to have a lot of free time, but I think she might have my phone number. Not that she's called me, mind.
Time Spiral: This is a pretty fun set. The best part about the timeshifted cards is that I keep forgetting what's in them. It's like a surprise every time!
Nat: Another name I'm not sure how to spell. She's Sarah's friend, with a pretty nice dry wit. We seem to end up talking about slash fiction more than seems logical.
Dead Rising: This game is pretty much the most fun I can think of having on the Xbox 360. Beating zombies is fun. Beating zombies with pretty much anything you can find is even more fun. Taking pictures of them afterwards is pretty much the greatest.
Swan: She makes her own jewelry for a living and she's extremely friendly. She lives in Beacon Hill and it's too bad that she has a boyfriend. Oh well. She's from my Contemporary Art class.
Just Cause: I haven't actually played this game, but seeing how it's Grand Theft Auto meets CIA-sponsored regime change, with parachutes and grappling hooks, it's pretty fun to watch. Stealing helicopters in midair is excellent.
Nabe: A communications exchange student from Seoul, in my Contemporary Art class. Her English isn't necessarily the best, but she's really friendly. And she apparently lives in my building, five floors up. But she has a boyfriend too, of course.
Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Sticking it to the Man is fun. Spraying grafitti is fun. I just wish it were a better game.
Also: I've decided to update weekly now. Tell your friends! And be sure to punch me when I don't update.
A quote from Jen Graves, Stranger art critic and guest speaker in my Contemporary Art class: "Richard Serra has stopped throwing molten lead."
Games I've been playing reviewed alongside girls from my classes:
Jade Empire: This game is very Americanized Chinese. I mean, ornithopers? Scantily-clad women? Come on. It's too bad the combat kind of sucks, too. Other than that, it's very very pretty and Bioware is still good at characterization. Although there isn't a single female character that I care about in the game, so it sucks being a male character.
Angela: A Chinese girl in my Japanese class who is cheerful and somewhat interesting. We have similar taste in cute things. Facebook tells me she is a conservative Christian.
Chrono Cross: The bad thing about hard bosses in RPGs is that, if you lose, you can't learn how to beat the boss like you could in an action game. No, you have to make your characters stronger. I don't like that.
I stumbled upon a ruined futuristic city, and I was all thinking "Wait, this is going to be another Miyazaki ripoff like FFX now, isn't it? Technology is evil and all that." But then the futuristic city turned out to actually be from the future. Bravo, Chrono Cross. I applaud your ingenuity.
Sarah: I'm just going to put an 'H' on her name because I don't know how she spells it. She's from my Native American Art History class and I pretty much like her. She's pretty cute, bright, and interesting, although I wish I knew more about her. She likes anime, I guess, and is a better artist than I am, although that's pretty much true of everybody. Unfortunately for me, she doesn't seem to have a lot of free time, but I think she might have my phone number. Not that she's called me, mind.
Time Spiral: This is a pretty fun set. The best part about the timeshifted cards is that I keep forgetting what's in them. It's like a surprise every time!
Nat: Another name I'm not sure how to spell. She's Sarah's friend, with a pretty nice dry wit. We seem to end up talking about slash fiction more than seems logical.
Dead Rising: This game is pretty much the most fun I can think of having on the Xbox 360. Beating zombies is fun. Beating zombies with pretty much anything you can find is even more fun. Taking pictures of them afterwards is pretty much the greatest.
Swan: She makes her own jewelry for a living and she's extremely friendly. She lives in Beacon Hill and it's too bad that she has a boyfriend. Oh well. She's from my Contemporary Art class.
Just Cause: I haven't actually played this game, but seeing how it's Grand Theft Auto meets CIA-sponsored regime change, with parachutes and grappling hooks, it's pretty fun to watch. Stealing helicopters in midair is excellent.
Nabe: A communications exchange student from Seoul, in my Contemporary Art class. Her English isn't necessarily the best, but she's really friendly. And she apparently lives in my building, five floors up. But she has a boyfriend too, of course.
Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Sticking it to the Man is fun. Spraying grafitti is fun. I just wish it were a better game.
Also: I've decided to update weekly now. Tell your friends! And be sure to punch me when I don't update.
20060929
circumference
Last year, I decided to walk all the way around Lake Washington, a few hours at a time, using the bus to get back and pick up from last time. This weekend, I finished it. Here's the photos. Although I forgot my camera for some stretches, so you're out of luck there.
20060911
readership survey
So I would be interested in knowing just who reads this on a regular basis. Therefore, please comment and tell me who you are.
20060906
synopses of recent interesting dreams
Me and some other people are trapped by some invisible force or threat in a small group of buildings, one of which is a department store. The person preventing us from leaving is a man who resembles a creepy Steve Buscemi. Periodically, he invites us to his private office. People who go there disappear, and then reappear later, leading me to suspect that he is draining us of energy. He calls me into his office. Thinking fast, I compliment him on his abilities and wonder if I might become his apprentice, secretly plotting to use his powers to defeat him.
I am watching Aladdin fight a giant cyclops, or possibly two. He is very acrobatic, leaping and swinging around on the monster's body and using his scimitar to slash at vulnerable spots. Upon waking, I reflect that it was probably the Prince of Persia and not Aladdin, although I got the distinct impression that I was part of his crew, so it may have been Sinbad.
It is the end of the world. I am waiting at a bus stop. A bus pulls up to me, but there are no walls and no seats, just the skeletal metal frame. Later, I am on a beach. It is sunny and clear, but it seems cold. There are huge slabs of metal sticking out of the beach, apparently wreckage from some large vehicle or complex. They are painted a dull red. I am inside a ramshackle building. A line of large blue beetles flies past me, all chained together. The scientist tells my that these are souls, and that this island is set up to do experiments on people's souls.
My family (not my actual family, though) is being hunted by a giraffe with psychic powers. This is much more terrifying than it sounds because the giraffe is completely unstoppable. We drive down to the police station, but the police say they are powerless to stop it and we are inclined to agree when it blows a hole in the wall and stoops its neck to climb through. We drive back home and hide. I am looking out the window of my room when I notice a giant version of Darth Vader's face mask (without helmet) in the neighbors' yard. It turns around when it notices me, and summons a giant robot who immediately begins to punch through the side of the house. I consider fleeing across the lake in the kayak, but the robot (who is working for the giraffe) would more than likely notice me so I choose to wake up instead.
I am a prisoner on a strange prison in the middle of a cold, stormy sea. There are two towers, connected by a metal net with a walkway on top. The towers are shaped like screws, in that they flare up at the top to form a platform that is likely a helipad of sorts. There are no guards. A freight ship passes close and offers us (the prisoners) a chance to escape. We take it, and jump on board. We are soon enlisted in bailing out the ship, which is quickly filling up with water. We make it to a port, where gigantic cranes tower over the docks and there is a precariously high bridge connecting two cities over the water. When I wake up, I remember that this port has shown up in my dreams before.
Bonus Dream Links
Slow Wave
David Firth (Sock series)
I am watching Aladdin fight a giant cyclops, or possibly two. He is very acrobatic, leaping and swinging around on the monster's body and using his scimitar to slash at vulnerable spots. Upon waking, I reflect that it was probably the Prince of Persia and not Aladdin, although I got the distinct impression that I was part of his crew, so it may have been Sinbad.
It is the end of the world. I am waiting at a bus stop. A bus pulls up to me, but there are no walls and no seats, just the skeletal metal frame. Later, I am on a beach. It is sunny and clear, but it seems cold. There are huge slabs of metal sticking out of the beach, apparently wreckage from some large vehicle or complex. They are painted a dull red. I am inside a ramshackle building. A line of large blue beetles flies past me, all chained together. The scientist tells my that these are souls, and that this island is set up to do experiments on people's souls.
My family (not my actual family, though) is being hunted by a giraffe with psychic powers. This is much more terrifying than it sounds because the giraffe is completely unstoppable. We drive down to the police station, but the police say they are powerless to stop it and we are inclined to agree when it blows a hole in the wall and stoops its neck to climb through. We drive back home and hide. I am looking out the window of my room when I notice a giant version of Darth Vader's face mask (without helmet) in the neighbors' yard. It turns around when it notices me, and summons a giant robot who immediately begins to punch through the side of the house. I consider fleeing across the lake in the kayak, but the robot (who is working for the giraffe) would more than likely notice me so I choose to wake up instead.
I am a prisoner on a strange prison in the middle of a cold, stormy sea. There are two towers, connected by a metal net with a walkway on top. The towers are shaped like screws, in that they flare up at the top to form a platform that is likely a helipad of sorts. There are no guards. A freight ship passes close and offers us (the prisoners) a chance to escape. We take it, and jump on board. We are soon enlisted in bailing out the ship, which is quickly filling up with water. We make it to a port, where gigantic cranes tower over the docks and there is a precariously high bridge connecting two cities over the water. When I wake up, I remember that this port has shown up in my dreams before.
Bonus Dream Links
Slow Wave
David Firth (Sock series)
20060807
war of the worlds: a comparison
After watching Spielberg's version of War of the Worlds, I realized that the ending sucked, so I watched the old version to see if the ending was any better. Then I decided to read the original book, and I also realized I had a couple other alternate book versions of it lying around. So here's a comparison of five different versions of Martians kicking Earth's ass. Warning! Spoilers for a story over a hundred years old!
THE ORIGINAL
Its dry and unattached attitude is occasionally boring, but it's still extremely imaginative, given as it is pretty much the first novel to imagine alien invasion and all that. The devotion to telling the reader exactly where the Martians attacked would probably be better if the reader actually lived in England. My main complaint with this book is that The Time Machine is better.
THE BYRON HASKIN MOVIE
Much like Wells' novel set the standard for books, this movie set the standard for alien invasions. It deviates a lot from Wells' novel, making the main character a scientist who pretty much mostly just follows the military around, thus removing most of the tension of panicking humans and Martians terrorizing the countryside. Oh, and the special effects didn't support tripods back then, so the war machines are flying things that were modeled after swans. Seriously. Because when I think of horrible engines of destruction, I always imagine them as graceful swans. I'm willing to forgive their war machines for sucking, though, because their Martians actually look a lot better than Spielberg's, plus that sequence with the electronic eye gave me recurring nightmares as a kid.
The ending is much better than Spielberg's, too, possibly even better than Wells' ending. The main character, separated from his love interest in the mob fleeing Los Angeles, wanders through the deserted city while Martians destroy it, ultimately joining a group taking refuge in a church and singing hymns, waiting for the heat ray that never comes, because God saved them by killing off all the Martians with germs. Although God didn't save the minister that tried to make peace with the Martians earlier. No, God just let him get vaporized.
THE STEVEN SPIELBERG MOVIE
Apart from the opening and the main character, Spielberg's version is essentially true to the original, only adapted somewhat for the modern day. The Martians' hunting-horn? The red weed? The vampirism? The crazy guy? All from the book. Unlike the book, however, Spielberg puts a lot of emotion into his scenes. I really like the war machines in this one, because they're such efficient engines of destruction. Having to wash particles of carbonized human from your body is pretty neat from a horror standpoint, although I'm unsure why the heat ray doesn't work on hats. Must be using Krankorian technology.
The ending sucks, though, and it sucks hard. Martians killed by germs? How boring. At least Wells offered us an epilogue telling us of what happened after everything got cleaned up. This one just fades out on with Morgan Freeman telling us how great paramecium are.
THE "LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN" VERSION
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, volume two covers the Martian invasion of Earth, and Britain's secret efforts to destroy it. While the details of the story as Wells describes are included more or less accurately, right down to including the same lines of dialogue from the sequence at the first landing, there's much more liberty taken with the back end. The League is called upon to run around and do various errands: Hyde and Nemo to defend London, and Quatermain and Ms. Murray have to go pay a visit to Dr. Moreau to go retrieve one of his hybrids to fight the Martians. Oh, and the Invisible Man turns traitor and sells us out to the Martians. Because he's a bastard.
In this version, the Martians aren't even originally from Mars - they're a parasite-like race that set up camp on Mars, but were driven off with the combined forces of John Carter and Lieutenant Gulliver Jones, plus some of C.S. Lewis' Seroni. However, they had made plans to invade Earth. The tripods in League are probably the best-looking rendition, being very sinister and organic, true to the original. Ultimately, the Martians are killed off by germs again, but in this version, it's by Moreau's hybrid of anthrax and streptococcus used against them by the secret Freemason branch of the British army. And the League falls apart, because the Invisible Man and Mr. Hyde are dead and Nemo is really upset at the British for developing germ bombs. It's still kind of a disappointing ending, but at least there's finally another volume coming out next month.
"NIGHT OF THE COOTERS" BY HOWARD WALDROP
Howard Waldrop's stories are best described as "indescribably strange." This is a story about what happened to the Martians who invaded Texas. Spoilers: They were foiled by a sheriff who was intended to be played by Slim Pickens. There are a lot of stories like this, but Howard Waldrop's has Slim Pickens talking about how he had a dream where he was an Aztec warrior, so his is clearly the best. Texas should not be messed with, because they have cannons and they will shoot them at you.
THE ORSON WELLES MERCURY RADIO THEATER VERSION
Pretty much the best one as far as I'm concerned. Radio has a very compellingly hypnotic quality, and the realistic presentation of the first half combined with the vagueness of the description and the vaguely eulogistic tones of Welles' voice just really make this one work for me. It also has the black smoke and the Martians' efforts to build a flying machine, both of which get left out of most versions. The ending still sucks, but at least it's being read by Orson Welles.
SCORECARD:
Closest Adaptation: Either Welles or Spielberg.
Best War Machines: League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
Most Badass War Machines: Spielberg.
Best Martians: Byron Haskins. All other Martians suck by comparison. Why is that?
IN CONCLUSION
The Time Machine is a better novel, but not as popular for adaptations. The original movie is good too, but not the remake.
THE ORIGINAL
Its dry and unattached attitude is occasionally boring, but it's still extremely imaginative, given as it is pretty much the first novel to imagine alien invasion and all that. The devotion to telling the reader exactly where the Martians attacked would probably be better if the reader actually lived in England. My main complaint with this book is that The Time Machine is better.
THE BYRON HASKIN MOVIE
Much like Wells' novel set the standard for books, this movie set the standard for alien invasions. It deviates a lot from Wells' novel, making the main character a scientist who pretty much mostly just follows the military around, thus removing most of the tension of panicking humans and Martians terrorizing the countryside. Oh, and the special effects didn't support tripods back then, so the war machines are flying things that were modeled after swans. Seriously. Because when I think of horrible engines of destruction, I always imagine them as graceful swans. I'm willing to forgive their war machines for sucking, though, because their Martians actually look a lot better than Spielberg's, plus that sequence with the electronic eye gave me recurring nightmares as a kid.
The ending is much better than Spielberg's, too, possibly even better than Wells' ending. The main character, separated from his love interest in the mob fleeing Los Angeles, wanders through the deserted city while Martians destroy it, ultimately joining a group taking refuge in a church and singing hymns, waiting for the heat ray that never comes, because God saved them by killing off all the Martians with germs. Although God didn't save the minister that tried to make peace with the Martians earlier. No, God just let him get vaporized.
THE STEVEN SPIELBERG MOVIE
Apart from the opening and the main character, Spielberg's version is essentially true to the original, only adapted somewhat for the modern day. The Martians' hunting-horn? The red weed? The vampirism? The crazy guy? All from the book. Unlike the book, however, Spielberg puts a lot of emotion into his scenes. I really like the war machines in this one, because they're such efficient engines of destruction. Having to wash particles of carbonized human from your body is pretty neat from a horror standpoint, although I'm unsure why the heat ray doesn't work on hats. Must be using Krankorian technology.
The ending sucks, though, and it sucks hard. Martians killed by germs? How boring. At least Wells offered us an epilogue telling us of what happened after everything got cleaned up. This one just fades out on with Morgan Freeman telling us how great paramecium are.
THE "LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN" VERSION
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, volume two covers the Martian invasion of Earth, and Britain's secret efforts to destroy it. While the details of the story as Wells describes are included more or less accurately, right down to including the same lines of dialogue from the sequence at the first landing, there's much more liberty taken with the back end. The League is called upon to run around and do various errands: Hyde and Nemo to defend London, and Quatermain and Ms. Murray have to go pay a visit to Dr. Moreau to go retrieve one of his hybrids to fight the Martians. Oh, and the Invisible Man turns traitor and sells us out to the Martians. Because he's a bastard.
In this version, the Martians aren't even originally from Mars - they're a parasite-like race that set up camp on Mars, but were driven off with the combined forces of John Carter and Lieutenant Gulliver Jones, plus some of C.S. Lewis' Seroni. However, they had made plans to invade Earth. The tripods in League are probably the best-looking rendition, being very sinister and organic, true to the original. Ultimately, the Martians are killed off by germs again, but in this version, it's by Moreau's hybrid of anthrax and streptococcus used against them by the secret Freemason branch of the British army. And the League falls apart, because the Invisible Man and Mr. Hyde are dead and Nemo is really upset at the British for developing germ bombs. It's still kind of a disappointing ending, but at least there's finally another volume coming out next month.
"NIGHT OF THE COOTERS" BY HOWARD WALDROP
Howard Waldrop's stories are best described as "indescribably strange." This is a story about what happened to the Martians who invaded Texas. Spoilers: They were foiled by a sheriff who was intended to be played by Slim Pickens. There are a lot of stories like this, but Howard Waldrop's has Slim Pickens talking about how he had a dream where he was an Aztec warrior, so his is clearly the best. Texas should not be messed with, because they have cannons and they will shoot them at you.
THE ORSON WELLES MERCURY RADIO THEATER VERSION
Pretty much the best one as far as I'm concerned. Radio has a very compellingly hypnotic quality, and the realistic presentation of the first half combined with the vagueness of the description and the vaguely eulogistic tones of Welles' voice just really make this one work for me. It also has the black smoke and the Martians' efforts to build a flying machine, both of which get left out of most versions. The ending still sucks, but at least it's being read by Orson Welles.
SCORECARD:
Closest Adaptation: Either Welles or Spielberg.
Best War Machines: League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
Most Badass War Machines: Spielberg.
Best Martians: Byron Haskins. All other Martians suck by comparison. Why is that?
IN CONCLUSION
The Time Machine is a better novel, but not as popular for adaptations. The original movie is good too, but not the remake.
20060805
two wildly differing views on sex: linked from one a.m.
Perversion for Profit vs. Threesomes in a Christian Marriage
Now I'm mostly just confused. Stupid homosexuals and lesbians.
Now I'm mostly just confused. Stupid homosexuals and lesbians.
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