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You are viewing the most recent 20 entries 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
November 10th, 200909:50 am: More No Sleep
Five nights later, and "Sleep No More" has largely receded from my dreams, having quite dominated them for the first few nights. I'll be going back to see it again in a few weeks, and further visits are far from out of the question. It seems that almost everyone who likes this show in the first place is eager to see it again. Therefore I amend my general recommendation that you see it to a recommendation that you see it *soon* -- so that you have sufficient time to see it again! My original post on the subject has been edited to add some general advice, so check it out again. If you think you might be able to see it twice, then I maintain my advice to know as little as possible before going in. If, however, logistics or financials will limit you to a single visit, then knowing a *little* bit more may help you get the most out of that visit: ( Read more... )4. Enjoy yourself. Try different approaches. If what you're doing at any given moment isn't working for you, try something else. (Hm. That is sufficiently vague and general advice that I will take it outside the cut.) Tags: theater
November 5th, 200911:37 pm: "Sleep No More"
Whoa. I don't know where to begin. I don't know *how* to begin. That was... whoa. None of the descriptions I have seen have done this show justice. Which is probably a combination of inevitabilty and spoiler avoidance. This show is far better experienced than described. And it is eminently worth experiencing. With some caveats. Firstly, don't go if you demand your entertainment be linear, or susceptible to easy interpretation. Don't expect Shakespeare's "Macbeth"; this tale has roots there, but is far more weird, allusive, and symbolic. In fact, I would hesitate to even call this Theater, though it is most certainly Art. Don't go if you're disabled. The show is a feast for all the senses except taste (maybe even that, if you buy a drink at the bar. To be blind or deaf would be to miss a huge amount of the show. Mobility impairments would also be a problem. The show runs three hours, and you will spend the vast majority of that time standing, walking, climbing stairs, and occasionally running. (There is an elevator, but this show is really not about accessibility, in any sense.) If these vague warnings intrigue, rather than scare you away, then by all means, go. It's running through January 3, six nights a week, so there are plenty of opportunities. (No matinees; this is a night-time show.) Tickets are pretty affordable, at $25. I think I'll stop here. I recommend not researching further; much of the value here is the joy of discovery. I will probably go again, as I know I didn't discover nearly everything my first time through. ETA (from comments): I would guess that the space was about 70 degrees; slightly chillier than my 'at rest' comfort zone, but perfectly ok given the amount of activity I was doing. Just after handing my coat to the coat check ($1), I was chilly for a bit, as people were still coming in and bringing outside air with them, but that was no more than a few minutes. Dress... to be comfortable, with the knowledge that you'll be on your feet for most of three hours, and moving around a lot. Some of the audience were wearing fancy-night-out clothes, but most weren't. I wouldn't wear anything with frills that might get caught on random objects. ETA: If you go with other people, I recommend not attempting to stay with them during the show. It'll slow you down, and you're not supposed to talk, anyways. Splitting up also gives better coverage of an experience too big for one person to see all of in one show! You can share stories after :)
Tags: art, theater
01:03 pm: Jeckyl and Hyde Thoughts
Inspired by the recent movie-viewing, I reread _The Strange Case of Doctor Jeckyl and Mister Hyde_. Some observations follow. None of the film adaptations have really portrayed the moral weakness of the character as written. Film Jeckyls are all basically working from good intentions, with the creation of Hyde being an unfortunate accident. In the book, Jeckyl deliberately sets out to unleash Hyde. If each, I told myself, could but be housed in separate identities, life would be relieved of all that was unbearable; the unjust might go his way, delivered from the aspirations and remorse of his more upright twin; and the just could walk steadfastly and securely on his upward path, doing the good things in which he found his pleasure, and no longer exposed to disgrace and penitence by the hands of this extraneous evil. (emphasis added) Ok, granted, he also wanted (or claimed to want) to create an angelic self -- but in this, he failed utterly, as he himself realizes. ...although I had now two characters as well as two appearances, one was wholly evil, and the other was still the old Henry Jekyll, that incongruous compound of whose reformation and improvement I had already learned to despair. The movement was thus wholly toward the worse. There is no mention of any further attempt to create an angel-self. Instead, Jeckyl indulges his Hyde-self to an ever-increasing degree. Unlike most movie versions, he does this while in full control of his faculties, and with each side having clear memories of the other's actions. Though he is thus fully culpable for Hyde, hear how he struggles, ineffectually, to distance himself from his own evil: When I would come back from these excursions, I was often plunged into a kind of wonder at my vicarious depravity. This familiar that I called out of my own soul, and sent forth to do his good pleasure, was a being inherently malign and villainous; his every act and thought centered on self; drinking pleasure with bestial avidity from one degree of torture to another; relentless like a man of stone. Henry Jekyll stood at times aghast before the acts of Edward Hyde; but the situation was apart from ordinary laws, and insidiously relaxed the grasp of conscience. It was Hyde, after all, and Hyde alone, that was guilty. Jekyll was no worse; he woke again to his good qualities seemingly unimpaired; he would even make haste, where it was possible, to undo the evil done by Hyde. And thus his conscience slumbered. I note that Jeckyl and Hyde are *very* physically distinct in the book, much moreso than could be portrayed by a single actor, no matter how much makeup he wears. (And there are definite thematic drawbacks to using two actors.) But we now have not just makeup, but CGI and motion-capture. It might be interesting if someone applied techniques such as those used in the last several Robert Zemeckis films to an adaptation of this story. One actor could provide voice and movement for both J&H, while being 'projected' into two radically different bodies. This line of thought is also inspired by the reactions everyone in the novel have to Hyde. Those reactions bear a strong resemblance to those caused by The Uncanny Valley. Of course, one would want the technical art to have progressed to the point that *only* Hyde was situated in that valley!
Tags: books, movies, philosophy
November 4th, 200903:28 pm: Borderlands: Five Words
I've been playing a lot of Borderlands lately. It's a new game from Gearbox, sort-of a cross between a First-Person Shooter, and RPG-lite; Diablo with Guns. There's a lot wrong with the game. It's buggy, multiplayer is a mess, the story is thin to the point of non-existence, the UI is embarrassingly awful, etc, etc. But what it gets right, it gets very right indeed, to the point that I'm finding it quite addictive. The basic cycle of "shoot, shoot, take their loot" is a classic, and the execution of the shooting, and of the loot itself, are both excellent. And though the story is non-existent, the game does manage a fun sense of style. The variety of loot is a big feature of the game. Almost all of it is guns, but there are zillions of different guns to find. Many of them are hand-crafted as plot rewards, but most are randomly generated out of a wonderfully rich set of variable factors. Many of these factors are straightforward: damage, accuracy, reload rate, etc. Some are a bit more exotic: extra damage when meleeing with this weapon, chance to set target on fire, and so on. And every so often, you'll find a weapon with a *really* unusual property. In my last play session, I discovered a gun that made me laugh out loud, and really sums up what kind of game this is. It was a Shotgun which also had the property, and I quote: "Holy crap! It shoots rockets!" As it happens, I didn't keep it long. While the hack value of such a gun is immense, its practicality was greatly lessened by the fact that it still *aimed* like a shotgun. I couldn't reliably hit with it, except at close range, at which point the splash damage hurt *me* significantly. Besides, if I really wanted to shoot rockets at my foes, I found this sweet Rocket Launcher that fires its entire barrel of five in about a tenth of a second. I don't use that one often, but when I really want overkill, it gets the job done :-) Tags: games
November 3rd, 200908:27 pm: Halloween Diary 2009
In the early afternoon, ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) kestrell and I went out to see "The Big Broadcast of 1938". They really went all-out to make us feel like we were the audience at a period live-radio broadcast. There were usherettes and cigarette girls (candy cigarettes, and other snacks appropriate to the period). Cast and crew were all in costume, and milling about the whole theatre, in character, from the moment they opened the house. They even had the MC and the band do some warming up of the audience before going on air, and they trained us on the use of the "APPLAUSE" sign. The first act was "The Frank Cyrano Byfar Hour", an adaptation of a Boston-based variety show that was once quite popular. The show itself was fairly meta, in that it depicted a group of actors rehearsing for a radio variety show. It alternated between skits, musical numbers, and ads. The ads were also period, and nifty, the primary sponsor being Beverly Beverages, hawking their Byfar Coffeemilk, a caffeine-free coffee-flavored syrup meant to be mixed with milk. The skits were generally amusing, including a running gag about whether or not the special Halloween guest star, Bela Lugosi, would actually appear. The swingin' music was excellent, and performed by Emperor Joshua Norton's Stationary Marching Band. After about an hour of this, there was a brief intermission. Then the variety show resumed, though it was soon interrupted by breaking news bulletins. It seems that some strange metal cylinders had fallen from space near Grovers Mill, New Jersey... And we're off! Into a fine adaptation of Orson Welles' "War of the Worlds", rewritten to show what the Martian invasion looked like from Boston. Act 2 was the invasion, and was the high point of the show. Excellent writing, heartfelt performances, skilled foley and music, and, of course, a truly harrowing tale. (I was very sad when they identified the charred corpse of .) After another intermission, Act 3 followed the adventures of an MIT engineer and a former gun moll, as they struggled to survive, and eventually fight back. With a tense alliance between the Italian and Irish mobsters, it seems that perhaps the resistance can win. But when treachery destroys that alliance, the day can only be saved by the most unexpected, tiny fighters imaginable. Overall, a most excellent show, though perhaps over-long (with intermissions, 3.5 hours). Then home, through the teeming hordes that filled Melville Avenue. herooftheage struggled manfully once again to last until eight, but the hordes overwhelmed even his liberality, and his supply of 1200 candy bars was exhausted at 7:16. Since he started at 5, I reckon that to be, on average, 1 every 6.8 seconds. Impressive! Kes and I hung out in front of the TV, rewatching the end of Val Lewton's excellent "Curse of the Cat People". Highly recommended, even if you don't like horror, and not at all what you might expect from the title. After that was the 1941 version of "Doctor Jeckyl and Mister Hyde", starring Spencer Tracy in the title role. Neither of us had seen this before, and it proved most excellent, probably the best version we have seen. Though there is some makeup involved (more as the film develops), Tracy carries off an impressive transformation via body language, facial expression, and vocal tone. The two ladies are played by Lana Turner and Ingrid Bergman -- though in the reverse of what you might expect, Turner is The Good Girl, and Bergman the Bad Girl! (The idea that this story should have one of each apparently originated with the Barrymore version, and has been near-universally adopted since.) Both actresses acquit themselves well, with the minor exception of Bergman's (thankfully rare) attempts at a Cockney accent. Her portrayal of a free-spirited woman who is turned into a quivering, PTSD wreck by Hyde's (mostly offscreen) abuse does a lot to sell the horror that is Hyde. This version is also of special interest to Alan Moore fans, as having seen it will add some... interesting emotional resonance to the climax of LoEG, v. 2. Highly recommended. Thus, having wrapped right back around to War of the Worlds, off to bed. Tags: diary, movies, theater
November 2nd, 200901:58 pm: Politics Fail
I've gotten a bunch of flyers in the mail endorsing various candidates in the upcoming Boston elections. John Connolly alone sent me 5 different flyers. The most recent one trumpets his concern for environmental issues. The irony is charming, but certainly isn't earning a vote from me. Tags: politics
October 21st, 200909:54 am: _XKCD, Volume 0_, by Randall Munroe
I recently received my copy of the first collection of the XKCD webcomic. Inevitably, it is numbered 'Volume 0'. The book is printed in black and white and red. It's not an archival style reprint, but a selection of his favorites in what appear to be a random order... though on second thought, it probably isn't. Strangely, the titles to the strips are not included, which in a few cases weakens the humor. The alt-text *is* included, at least in most cases, in a teeny-tiny font tucked in a gutter between panels. What's the added value, that might make you want to buy reprints of what is freely available online? Quite a bit, actually. An introduction by the author. Much silliness even in the fine print of the copyright page. Many of the strips have commentary, which is amusing, insightful, or quite literally puzzling. About half of the comments are written in obscure languages or actually *encrypted*, and no two of them seem to use the same method. There's even a puzzle of sorts in the page numbering. At first I thought, "Oh cute, he's numbering in binary." Then I noticed some 2s, and thought, "Ah, binary was insufficiently geeky, so he's using trinary." But then I noticed that there weren't *enough* 2s for it to be trinary. He's chosen (or perhaps invented) a numbering system obscure enough that I've never heard of it! This is easily the geekiest book I own. The only one I can think of which comes close is _House of Leaves_ (which, appropriately, is lovingly parodied in one of the strips reprinted here). Highly recommended.
Tags: books, comics, silliness
09:22 am: _On Killing_, by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman
A frustrating, but ultimately important work. ( Read more... )
Tags: books, games, psychology
October 12th, 200909:12 pm: Code Monkey: the musical
When I saw that Boston College had put together "Code Monkey: the musical", based on the music of Jonathan Coulton, I knew kestrell and I had to go. I expected a show with college-level writing, acting, and production values, but which would nonetheless be goofy fun. And that;'s more-or-less what we got. The first act exceeded expectations somewhat, but the second act pretty much fell apart. In order to arrive at something like a traditional happy ending, they had a surprise guest appearance by (spoiler alert!) Barack Obama, to mediate between the zombie hordes and the Freemason army. Favorite bit #1: Tom: Is that legal? Dr. Martin: It's *better* than legal; it's government-funded! Favorite bit #2: Scarface: I have a Yes Master's degree! Since it has now been demonstrated that one *can* make a (semi-)coherent musical plotline out of JoCo songs, I naturally want to make a better one. This may make less sense if you haven't seen the show. Or not :) ( Read more... )Tags: silliness, theater
07:13 pm: Review: _Talent is Overrated_, by Geoff Colvin
I was lent this book by a colleague, who desperately wanted someone to discuss it with. And indeed, there is much to discuss. I have returned the book, though, so this discussion is filtered through my faulty memory. The basic thesis of the book is that, as far as diligent scientific research can detect, there is no such thing as 'inborn talent'. Achievement of excellence, even at the very highest levels, comes from what he calls 'directed practice'. The more of this you do, the better you get, all the way up the scale, in every field of endeavor. ( Read more... )
Tags: books, psychology
October 1st, 200911:35 am: Korsakovia
Korsakovia is a Half-Life 2 mod developed by thechineseroom.com. It's an arty game, more about inducing emotion than interesting gameplay. The protagonist is "Christopher", who is (probably) suffering from Korsakoff's syndrome, which is a bit like the problem the protagonist of Memento has, only even more extreme/scary, with an extra dose of "trouble distinguishing reality from fantasy". I say that he is *probably* such a person, because Christopher's own point of view is very different, literally. The world he sees is not the world that his doctor describes -- she herself is never seen, but is only a voice in his head. Of course, the reason that he doesn't see her may be because he is actually blind, and just imagining what he sees. One of the early lines in the game, which is a good enough example of the atmosphere that they used it for a tagline on their website: "The paramedics report that they were unable to find his eyes. We think he may have eaten them." On an audio level, this mod is extremely good. Haunting music, and well-written and performed (and often post-processed) dialogue. In both themes and production values, this reminds me of The Path, and I would recommend it to the same audience. Unfortunately, audio is the only aspect that lives up to that standard. Level design is much less impressive. There are many repetitious and confusing areas. There are many repetitious and confusing areas. There are many repetitious and confusing areas -- though to some extent, this is clearly deliberately in support of the themes and emotions they are exploring. There is combat, some interesting, some infuriating. The primary enemies are floating balls of black smoke, which are very scary in both image and audio. They can be beaten to death, but only if you have a weapon -- which for long periods of the game you don't, so you run in terror. Sadly, there is a variant enemy which has the same creepy sounds -- but *no* visuals, and no apparent way to damage it. Invisible, unkillable enemies are Not Fun. The only way to deal with them is to move fast and far enough that they lose track of your location, which often conflicts with what you're trying to accomplish in a given level. One (net) positive gameplay aspect is the way the flashlight works. Much of the game is quite dark, and you need the flashlight to navigate. But it's not very reliable; frequently flickering and going out. It's trivial to relight it, but the momentary darkness is scary -- sometimes there's actually a monster in it, or the light fails in the middle of a combat. This adds to the atmosphere of fear and uncertainty. The visual art in general is quite poor. Many assets are clearly lifted directly from HL2. The narrative actually integrates this fairly cleverly, though. Christopher's mental illness seems to have incorporated a post-apocalyptic fantasy into his world-view, perhaps actually inspired by HL2. (Though he must have played a console version, since televisions are important symbols to him, while computer screens are not.) There are some areas of interest to the visuals. There are a number of things which would generally be considered rendering bugs, but which are deliberately used here in order to produce disorientation and alienation in the player. Observation: in the game universe, psychotic breaks are invariably accompanied by jumping puzzles. I don't know why this is so, but it is what I see. Max Payne, Batman: Arkham Asylum, American McGee's Alice, and now Korsakovia. The worst of these have jumping puzzles with moving parts under combat stress. Korsakovia goes even further, by making some of that combat stress be the aforementioned invisible, unkillable monsters. I resorted to cheats to get through several sections. Final analysis: If you're interested in arty games, or games which play with the player's perception and emotions, it's worth checking out the first level of this game, and perhaps going a small distance into the second. But the obnoxious gameplay prevents me from recommending going further. Tags: game design
September 28th, 200904:37 pm: Fun time at the Jonathan Coulton concert on Saturday.
JoCo (and Paul&Storm) is one of the few folks that introverts kestrell and I are willing to go out and see. Even so, the crowds and volume level can be a big strain. Next time we probably won't actually have dinner at the Paradise, but find somewhere quieter. Also, the wait staff was utterly overwhelmed by the crowd. The food *was* good, though. Chatted with juldea a bit while waiting for food, which was fun. Much comparison of which songs no longer sound like they have the 'right' lyrics, having been replaced in our brains by the Weird Al versions. Last time we went to the Paradise, helpful wait staff shooed us into the 'reserved' seating area on account of Kestrel's disability. Yay magic stick! We tried the same trick this time, and it sorta worked. *This* time, Judy's birthday party of doom quite overfilled the Reserved section. On the other hand, we got there first, and Judy quite gracefully let us stay. In fact, she even gave us glowing necklaces, so we would blend in with the rest of the party! Happy birthday, Judy! The sound people had the bass turned up to 'vibrate bones' level. Luckily, the actual performances didn't feature too much bass, except for the Zendrum on Mr. Fancy Pants. (Which song gets longer and stranger every year.) Paul&Storm had a new intro to their standard opener "Opening Band". This time they got 16 panties and a diaper ("That does *NOT* count!"). Much improv and audience interaction (heckling in both directions). Running gag of taking a random phrase that the other one said and saying "...that's the name of our (foo) band." When they sang a sad song, people not only lit up the 'lighter' app on their iPhones, but many Nintendo DSes were waved in the air as well. Mine had Scribblenauts on it, so I typed in "lighter" and waved that :) One person actually had a physical lighter, which greatly impressed the duo. The Captain's Wife's Lament (about a 2 minute song) ran 10 minutes with the audience interaction and general chaos. Very rowdy crowd. Kes and I wondered how/if JoCo would rein them in. To quote JoCo's blog from a different occasion: "Paul and Storm did their usual kick-ass job of warming up the crowd, then setting them on fire and burning them up until only ashes remain." What he did, and it worked pretty well, was to almost completely eschew patter, and just jump from one song, straight to another, giving very little opportunity for the audience to act up. I approve of this overall, as his songs are stronger than his patter (which is almost the reverse for Paul&Storm). It certainly seemed like he got to sing more songs by doing this, which I also think of as a Good Thing. He sang a song I hadn't previously heard, about the evils of Brookline. During "Re: Your Brains", in the audience participation bit, I did sing some of the zombie verses from the Plants vs Zombies theme song, but they were drowned out. Fun idea, but turned out not to work. The show ended a little after midnight, and Kes and I caught the last train home, getting home a bit before 2 AM. Next time, must consider whether it's worthwhile to just take a cab... Tags: diary, music
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