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You are viewing the most recent 20 entries February 3rd, 201010:27 am: A few minutes of micro-fame
Wow, I've been lax in posting this year. But here's a few tidbits: My Employers, as some of you will have heard, recently rebranded themselves as Irrational Games again. The relaunched website includes a monthly podcast. Since our current project is still Sooper Top Sekrit, the first batch of episodes talk about our past. In Episode 2, I can be heard talking about Thief, Freedom Force, and BioShock. There's also some writing from me in a related feature about Cut Features. On another front, Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos novel, Iorich is out. I had the pleasure of 'beta-reading' an earlier draft. One of the changes from the draft I saw to the print edition was the addition of one line to the Acknowledgments: "Finally, my thanks to Alexx Kay for continuity checking." Tags: bioshock, books, videogames
January 21st, 201005:09 pm: Praise from Ken Levine
Just had a meeting presenting a big section of the design for [censored] to my Big Boss, Ken Levine. Closing quote from him: "If all our design docs were this creative, this well thought out, this well thought *through*, we'd be done by now." He actually wants me to present it to the rest of the team as a good example. mood:  pleased January 20th, 201012:07 pm: The President's Analyst
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) kestrell and I watched this last weekend. It's a paranoid thriller/satire from 1967, written and directed by Theodore J. Flicker, and starring James Coburn and his excellent psychotic grin. Coburn plays a psychiatrist who gets hired to work for the President of the United States, to help relieve some of the man's psychic pressures. Coburn quickly finds that he no longer has any outlet for his *own* increasing pressures. He flees his job, pursued by agents of multiple countries who want the secrets inside his head. Wackiness ensues, including a delightful sequence where he takes refuge with some traveling hippie musicians. In the end, order is restored and goodness prevails... or does it? This was of my favorite movies as a young man, but I hadn't seen it fifteen or twenty years. It has dated in rather a surprising manner. I mean, I was expecting to see fashion, music, culture, and politics which reflected the period, all of which are definitely there. What I was *not* expecting was the way in which the satire has been rendered... pathetic. Various ideas which are presented in the story as insane exaggerations, beyond the realm of the possible, have passed into actual history years ago, or are poised to happen at any time now. Some kinds of humor are funny because they're true, but satire gets less funny the more literally true it becomes. A lot of the humor still works, thankfully, and I do still recommend the film. But it's definitely not the same film I saw back in the 80s... Tags: movies
January 8th, 201001:03 pm: Sleep No More on Facebook
Interesting fan discussion going on over at Facebook. The extended run has been sold out for a while, but it is still possible to get in on standby, if you're early and lucky. Tags: theater
December 31st, 200910:59 am: Decade thoughts
10 years ago today, I was still recovering from my breakup with Erin. One of the contributing factors to the breakup was my reluctance to help her cope with her disabilities; I swore to myself that my next girlfriend would be a perfect physical specimen. One of the downsides to living in a communal house is that exes don't necessarily move out -- I now had *two* ex-girlfriends living in the same house as me. Anyways, work was draining so much of my energy that I had no time for new romantic entanglements. A few months earlier, the household had taken in a homeless blind orphan. She was intelligent and attractive, but rather standoffish, and I hadn't really gotten to know her yet. It wasn't until months later that I first noticed her 'that way'. A few months later, I started courting her, in such a tentative fashion that I didn't even admit it to myself for some time. Early in 2000 (after Erin had finally moved out, reducing the embarrassment factor somewhat), I propositioned her. She turned me down, gently, but very absolutely. A month later, she changed her mind :-) In October 2001, we were married. I LOVE YOU, kestrell!!! Tags: diary, love
December 29th, 200911:31 am: Dark Glass carboys?
My friend at work wants more access to the knowledge-base of my friends :-) She sez: Hey everyone!
I’m on a majickal quest of collecting my own spring water and am in need of some large glass bottles/jugs/carboys 1/2 gallon or larger.
If any of you have said containers but have no use for them, let me know and we can work something out!
A couple of dark glass carboys would be absolutely PERFECT as well as some smaller units made of a similar dark glass! (Hopefully of the food grade and non-toxic composition. :P )
Thanks everyone :) Any brewers out there who can share sources?
11:20 am: Whose Body?
Forgot to mention that I finished _Whose Body?_ over Christmas. While I thought it had some structural problems, the characters were all thoroughly delightful, and I will definitely continue reading the series. I was struck by the oh-so-British politeness of it all. One of the tensest scenes is the Dowager Duchess attempting to remain the perfect hostess while covering for Lord Peter, with woefully imperfect information. And she pulls it off! The murderer twice attempts to kill one of the detectives pursuing him. Each time, the detective is aware of the attempt, and prevents it. Yet a third person in the room with them would never have even *noticed* the attempt! Unless he was a very keen observer of social nuances, this hypothetical observer would not have even detected any animosity between the two. Tags: books
December 28th, 200910:42 am: Christmas
Had a nice Christmas. Highlights of gifts received were a silly monster hat from Mara that I might actually wear, and a poster-collage of old family photos from Dad. As they say, 'tis better to give than to receive. The *real* highlight, preent-wise, was seeing the happiness in kestrell's face at getting a new ebook reader. Dinner was wonderful, which was no surprise, but remains well appreciated. The company was grand. I don't feel I held up my end of the conversation, and ended up going to bed early. I realized in the middle of the night that I was somewhat ill :( Nothing serious, mostly headache and muzzy-headed-ness, and it cleared up by late Saturday. Hopefully, I will be more party-enabled for New Years! On Boxing Day morning, Kes, negothick, and I watched one of Kes' presents, Lovecraft: Fear of the Unknown. Quite an excellent documentary. Of course, our version was enhanced by scholarly commentary (and gossip) from negothick :-) Spent most of the rest of the weekend alternating between helping Kes with computer maintenance, and becoming Loremaster of Kalimdor. Tags: diary
December 23rd, 200912:29 pm: Wimsey and Aymon
I am finally getting around to reading the Lord Peter Wimsey books by Dorothy L. Sayers. The main character endeared himself to me in the first few pages, and for a reason that I think would apply to very few other people. Many of my friends would appreciate the fact that Lord Peter is a lover of and collector of antiquarian books. But I was tickled that he was *particularly* interested in "The Four Sons of Aymon". "The Four Sons of Aymon" is a little-known entry in "The Matter of France", the tales of Charlemagne and his knights. It dates from the late 12th century, and was quite influential on the later entries in the cycle, such as the "Orlando Furioso". It was translated to English and published by William Caxton in the late 15th century, but its influence in this language has been slight. I xeroxed a copy from microfilm many years ago, and quite enjoyed it. It's more primitive than the later Orlando material, but quite powerful for all that. The anecdote of "death by chessboard" has entered my standard repertoire :-) Recommended to fans of that sort of thing, tamarinne, especially. After Caxton, it appears to have gone out of print for centuries. There were two Early English Text Society reprints, in 1884-5 and 1975. If you're affiliated with a subscribing college, you can find Caxton's version at Early English Books Online. Google Books has PDFs of the 19th century reprint here and here. Hmmm... must poke around a bit more in Google Books... Here's the EETS reprint of Huon of Bordeaux (here's my review of a retelling). And here's an EETS reprint of "Sir Ferumbras", of which I know nothing (yet). Yay Google Books! I hope they get more of this series on-line over time. Tags: books, orlando
December 21st, 200905:50 pm: Local seed sources?
A colleague at work is asking about local sources for good seeds to grow produce from. I figure a bunch of you reading this would have some recommendations. ?
03:28 pm: Bizarre yet insightful Star Wars criticism
Someone at my office sent around a link to this epic, 7-part YouTube 'review' of The Phantom Menace. It's a strange beast. On the one hand, full of insightful and devastating criticism. On the other hand, delivered 'humorously' in the character of a mumbling aging fanboy who has trouble pronouncing long words, and who is incidentally a psychotic serial killer. At any rate, I found it strangely compelling. Parts of it are probably NSFW. Only a small amount of it depends on the visuals, so it's largely blind-accessible. Tags: media studies
December 11th, 200903:53 pm: Sleep No More 3 (no spoilers)
Went to Sleep No More for a third visit last night. Again, saw about 80% new stuff (and some of the 20% I had new context to appreciate.) I still think there's at least 50% of the show that I haven't seen yet. I found out that the bar actually stays open for about an hour after the show. While the atmosphere is somewhat loud, and initially quite crowded, hanging out for a while can be a good way to decompress, and also avoid the huge line for the coat check. Also, some of the actors may come and hang out. I should modulate one of my caveats. I earlier said "don't go if you demand your entertainment be linear, or susceptible to easy interpretation". I should emphasize that this doesn't just mean "The story is confusing" -- it means "For most practical purposes, there IS NO STORY." I mean, there *is* story there, but uncovering it takes so much work (and multiple visits) that it is clearly not the point, nor should it be a big expectation if you go. I have tried to describe the show to many people who have not seen it, with remarkably poor success. There are so many things which one can say which are *true*, but nonetheless terribly misleading. A metaphor: A vaudeville fan of the 1880's is taken forward in time a century, and shown an evening's worth of MTV at its height. He is then returned to his own time, and tries to describe it to a fellow vaudeville fan. The one who hasn't seen it gets the impression that is kinda like updated vaudeville: it contains musical numbers from a variety of performers, there is a 'master of ceremonies' figure, there are pretty girls, there are comedic or dramatic interludes. All of this is true as far as it goes, but it doesn't go remotely far enough. In the same way, whatever you think SNM is like, well, it probably *is* like that technically, but it is really a New Thing. I honestly think that this could be a major new art form for the 21st century. More spoilers will be added to my earlier discussion soon. Tags: theater
November 24th, 200902:39 pm: Sleep No More Spoiler Discussion
Massive spoilers will be in the comments. I'll be gradually adding to this over the next while, as I get spare moments to write. Hopefully, other folks who've been will also comment! Tags: theater
02:37 pm: Sleep No More 2 (no spoilers)
On my second visit, about 80% of what I saw was new and different. Not sorry to have a third visit planned! I somehow missed the mob at the coat check the first time through. It can take quite a while to retrieve your stuff after the show. If you're driving, and the night is reasonably mild, consider leaving your coat in the car. If you happen to own two styles of corrective lenses, contacts may be a better idea than glasses for this show, given its... unusual seeing conditions. Tags: theater
November 18th, 200903:09 pm: I continue to shrink
The 36-inch-waist jeans started threatening to fall off, so I'm now down to a 34. Given how fast I went through 36, I only bought one pair. If I get down to 30, I will start thinking about changing my diet back towards something that keeps me stable :) It would be nice if the pot belly went away, too. I *think* it's shrinking, but it has a lot further to go than the waist... Tags: health
November 16th, 200901:40 pm: Prisoner thoughts
Caught the first two hours of the new version of The Prisoner on AMC last night. I enjoyed the callbacks to the original, but this is clearly *not* a remake, but a reimagining. I think it owes almost as much to Lost as to the original Prisoner. It also seems to be hitting on the allegory aspects much harder, and much sooner. Not sure I approve of the disjointed storytelling style. It fits with the more dream-like, drugged tone of the current version, but it frequently feels like narrative cheating. This village seems even less real than the original. The original series started with an assumption of normal physical reality, and only made you question that on rare occasions, mostly near the end of the series. This one *starts* by denying ordinary physical reality, and only gradually hints that there may be a 'mundane' explanation for what's going on. Ian McKellan is, of course, marvelous. I was dubious about having only one Number Two for the whole thing, but the difference in the background setup seems to naturally demand that. I am *so* not used to watching commercials. I can't just tune them out, but the breaks are too short to do more than a quick bathroom break. Also, Palm managed to erode all the Cool Points they earned for sponsoring this show by showing the *same* *damn* commercial *five* times. Also, is it now common practice to show previews, not just for the upcoming show, but the upcoming *act*? I found it all greatly distracting. I may wait and bittorrent the whole thing in a week or so, rather than sit through more of this aggravation. Definitely interesting enough for me to commit to four more hours of it (though not necessarily the accompanying nonsense). Withholding overall judgment until I see where they are going. Tags: prisoner, tv
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