Remi's Bloglet - Thursday 29 November 2001

After much hoo-ha and delay, I have posted _
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04:32:29 PM, Thursday 29 November 2001

Scanner arrived. It's noisier than the other Umax, but it's so damn fast! Huge files scanned in under a minute! Woop! _
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12:28:45 PM, Thursday 29 November 2001

Oh man . . . I had forgotten how great multiplayer Myth could be. Anyone up for some free multiplayer fun? Moss needs someone to beat up on (The demo is out there for all platforms and works quite nicely, even on my 56k modem). _
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05:52:46 AM, Thursday 29 November 2001

Scanner arrived today, but they didn't call up, so I'll be picking it up tomorrow morning. Then . . . then good things will happen. Also, this weeks songfight is bizarrely appropriate for the mood I'm in. Get ready for a really bad Tom Waits impression, folks! _
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02:05:13 AM, Thursday 29 November 2001

I need to add an entry to update my sidebar, but I have nothing more to say. Oh, wait; I hate Tolkien Elves. _
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04:27:50 AM, Wednesday 28 November 2001

I think with the addition of three new blogs (four, now that Moira is commenting on one of the blogmass blogs) the SJC blogmass has become, officially, too big to read. It's a sort of weird feeling. But not a negative one. I've never seen the blogs as a place to carry on particularly deep discussions, but rather as a simple communication tool. Perhaps that makes it sound like a one-sided AIM conversation, but it has it's own charm. I like keeping a toe in the water and having my own place to jot down ideas, and the blogmass performs that function admirably. Are we a . . . 'community'? _
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04:20:07 AM, Wednesday 28 November 2001

Just finished playing through quite a few levels of Myth: The Fallen Lords. Suffice to say, it's a really good game, and I may devote some time to it. Hard to believe it's already four years old, and feels pretty dated. Back when Bungie could do no wrong _
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03:50:19 AM, Wednesday 28 November 2001

Where did the phrase "The information wants to be free" come from? Lenny Bruce said it in a bit he did at a show in Berkely in the sixties, and his use was exactly the same as the phrase is used today. _
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05:10:42 PM, Tuesday 27 November 2001

In theater, and perhaps art in general, I'd rather see someone fail spectacularly trying something new than watch a competent rehash. Now if only I could break my own barriers. _
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01:15:21 AM, Tuesday 27 November 2001

A question that arose from a line of thought drawn from Kerne's blog: Is there a traditional Jewish sport?

(The thought process involved my vision of God and heaven, and it involved Orthodox Jews in hobnailed boots stomping on things, which led to my question about uniquely Jewish sports.) _
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11:16:09 PM, Monday 26 November 2001

Man, we got to the airport at 7am yesterday, and stood in the security line for an hour. We made our flight, but I was hungry and there was no time for even a short stop to grab something. There were very few visible National Guard folks around, and I didn't see a single armed one in either airport (Atlanta or Pittsburgh). Even with the increased security, and the fact that we stood in our line so long thanks to Bobo the X-Ray Operating Monkey Boy, and the fact that I don't like flying, flying is still a preferable mode of transportation. _
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05:00:26 PM, Monday 26 November 2001

We saw Mike and Debbie and the whole Goodrum clan over the break, and that provided a welcome break from pure-family interaction. We went to a cool museum, and then they came over to my parents house and together we did the locusts on leftovers bit. I also finally got to show off my work on GURPS Atomic Horror to them, as I'd never explained terribly well exactly what I'd done at SJG. In all it was very nice. Friends are good things. _
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04:59:38 PM, Monday 26 November 2001

While in Pittsburgh my parents, Liz, and I decided to sample the P-burgh drama scene. We went and saw Squonk Opera's Burn. The musical/opera, by the afotementioned Squonkers, is their first production after bombing on Broadway with their earlier Bigsmorgasbordwunderwerk. It is loosely based on the Inferno, with the setting changed to Centrailia, PA, a town that was closed and removed from the map after mine fires made the area too dangerous to live in. It sounded like an idea that could really work.

The show began with, I believe, the stage manager coming out and explaining that the show was still in it's gestation and to forgive any technical screw-ups. This immediately put the audience on edge.

An hour and twenty minutes later I emerged from the theater, frustrated. The music was good, great in places, there was some cool staging, awesome puppets, and the show pulled me along for most of it's length. On the other hand, many of the special effects were overdone, the music was occasionally very repetitive, it dipped in avant garde pretention, and the acting was extremely amateurish by even King William's Players standards. It needed a good director, and an even better editor. But at the same time there was a core of very interesting things happening that in a more focused production would have made a great show. Thus my frustration. I cannot bring myself to like it, but I can't be apathetic about it either. Oh, and the CD for Bigsmorgasbordwunderwerk is quite good. _
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04:45:24 PM, Monday 26 November 2001

Too Fat to be a Rockstar Shrinky Dinks! Once a dream, now a reality. _
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12:16:01 AM, Saturday 24 November 2001

Going off to my parents house in Pittsburgh. Liz will be up in an hour, and we will be gone a half hour after that. I should have gone to sleep, but the desire just eluded me. Now I'm hella tired and have my days and nights all screwed up. Wonderful. Anyway, my dad has offered to help me playtest the game, so I should have a working ruleset by the time I get back. Also, a scanner is now in the definite future, so Too Fat will be back before the year gives it's last hurrah.

I have also started sketches for The Adventures of the Amazing Johnny Boy, and have found that I really don't like drawing people in hats. Their heads go all funny. I also found that my visual memory for mascots is woefully unprepared for the sheer volume presented in the story. BUT I have character designs I'm happy with for Johnny Boy, JB, Sir Mid-a-lot, the werewolf, and one of the robots. It's a fun project, and for some of the characters at least, it's nice to have a description to work off and not have to make up the visual. _
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03:06:49 AM, Wednesday 21 November 2001

If you're not clear on how the game is set-up, please download this jpeg to your harddrive to see a mock-up of what the is like at this stage. A couple things to note . . . the Movement islands (Nok, Tip, and Sky) defy the rules below by making their effect happen during the switch. Creation tiles (Gi, Bal, and Af) create only for the player moving, but Destruction tiles (Truk, Ven, and Plas) affect both players. Other than that, I feel that the rules are relatively clear, except, of course, for victory conditions. Pretty much you say what islands the Elemental Stones are going to be on, and where they'll be (N, S, E, W, NE, SE, NW, SW, or center), and try to get them there.

For example, I declare, at the beginning of the game, that I will have GiSW, Truk N, and Tip Center, and I must have a Elemental Stone (doesn't matter which one) on each of them when they're in that position to win. Elemental stones are placed by your opponent at the beginning of the game. _
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04:57:56 AM, Tuesday 20 November 2001

Boardgame Design Diary, entry one 11/20/01

Trying to design a boardgame to play with folks over AIM, because I can't program, but I think I have enough presence of mind to do design a board game.

Basic Design Needs:
-Relatively Fast Playing
-Errorchecking built-in
-Easy to communicate about boardplay
-Not 'Battleship' or something that feels like 'Go Fish'

Design Ideas and Rules:
-Played on a 3x3 grid with movable tiles. There will be counters representing pieces.
-Game is competitive, with each player hoping to specifically align the tiles and Permanent Counters (defined below) in a pre-determined pattern.
-The tiles are laid down randomly, the player who lays the tiles communicates which tiles are where.
-Each turn a player will switch two tiles positions in the grid, this will be referred to as tile movement or switching.
-Each tile represents a game area, the tiles are divided into three types.
-The three types of tiles: Production tiles, Movement Tiles, Destruction Tiles.
-Some counters will be produced by tiles, others the players will start with.
-Types of Counters: Permanent counters will be used to set up the winning patterns and cannot be destroyed. Manpower Counters are created by Production Tiles and will be used to move Permanent counters, but can be destroyed.
-Counters from each side may occupy the same tile, at a cost of one manpower counter per turn.
-Tile effects will be on each card and determined by which card is bordering it after a movement, i.e. if a Destruction Card states that it destroys one Manpower to the East, it will only do this after it is moved into position to do so. Effects are applied to both players. All tiles moved (because Movement tiles switch tiles) perform their effects, but only up to four effects per turn.
-Movement cards are the only cards through which manpower can move to another tile. Manpower can move through the movement card to their destination or wait within them if their destination is blocked or inaccessible. If all three movement cards are in a row or column (not diagonal) all manpower present on them is destroyed, unless they are with a Permanent counter in its winning position.
-Movement Tracking: Each card will have a Capitalized letter on it (A B C). Permanent markers will be denoted by lowercase letters (a b c). Manpower by numbers (1 2 3). Example
Aa1 B C2 D Eb1 F G Hc J4
means A has the first Permanent Counter and one manpower. B has nothing, C has two manpower, D has nothing, E has the second Permanent Counter and one manpower, F has nothing, G has nothing, H has the thir Permanent Counter and no manpower, J has four manpower.
-Movement Declaration: Because there are eight easy compass directions (No, So, Eas, We, NW, SW, NE, SE) and a Center Tile, that is how movement will be Declared. NE to SE, means the two tiles switch places.

Setting and Graphical ideas:
-The idea of the game is that the two players are wizards, competing to cast a spell. In order to do so, they must arrange the islands (tiles) and the three Elemental Stones (Permanent counters) in a formation declared at the beginning of the game. They then compete to do it first, creating Creatures (manpower) to move their Stones around the constantly shifting world.
-The three island types are Water (Movement), Earth (Production), and Fire (Destruction). Each will be marked with an arrow to indicate which direction their effect is applied.

Questions and Comments:
-Should Permanent Counters be movable by the opposing side? If so, under what conditions? I want to say that they can be moved, but only if there are no manpower counters of the opposing player on the tile.
-Does there need to be manpower near a Permanent counter to win? I'm leaning towards no, especially if the rule above is the one governing Permanent Counter movement.
-The reason I put the setting stuff at the bottom is that I sort wanted the mechanics of the game laid bare, apologies if it is too dense.

Comments and criticism is welcome. _
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03:54:00 AM, Tuesday 20 November 2001

It kinda sucks that the only Harry Potter character I ever looked a little like is Neville . . . _
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07:07:55 PM, Monday 19 November 2001

Mirabai, you have a message from Chris Gillen. (and yes, I suppose this does mean I'm done with quotes. More as they come to me.) _
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04:07:42 PM, Sunday 18 November 2001

This is too good not to post right now:
How to make Andrew dance!

Load his blog page. Click on the 'Who' button. Switch back and forth quickly between the two pages (I use the command arrow keys in Mac IE5). Look at the logo on the top left of the page. Dance, Andrew, Dance! _
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01:27:40 PM, Saturday 17 November 2001

"No! Nooo! I don't want to eat the toasty souls of the damned!"
"I thought we were having Stove Top? I want none of this soul-toast."
-Squee by Jhonen Vasquez _
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02:11:09 AM, Saturday 17 November 2001

"The fact that your mind is capable of taking a circle, two dots and a line and turning them into a face is nothing short of incredible! But still more incredible is the fact that you cannot avoid seeing a face here. Your mind won't let you!"
-Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud _
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02:10:51 AM, Saturday 17 November 2001

"There's no guarantees."

"Why's that?"

"Why? Why do you think, detective? Could it be that we might not be able to figure out how to break her skin to perform the autopsy? Could it be that we don't even know if she's biologically human?"
"Come on, we know she's human--"
"We do? How's that exactly? Can you fly around the room and throw cars across a parking lot? Take many bullets, do we? Well then, we shouldn't be so quick to slap labels on everything in this world, should we? Thing of it is-- I mean - I want to do my job. I want to look my friend Walker here in the face and be able to answer every question that could possibly pop into his thick cop-like head...the thing is I-I-I can't when it comes to stuff like this. There's no textbook. There's no manual. I have to retrain myself everyday. I might as well throw my M.D. in the garbage! It's worthless. Throw it out!! Bye Bye!! Do you have any idea what it's like every goddam day? What the FUCK? Fucking Space Lizards and Orangutans with laser guns!"
-Powers by Brian Michael Bendis, Michael Avon Oeming, and Pat Garrahy _
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02:09:58 AM, Saturday 17 November 2001

"You gave up being fed and pampered all day to clean and cap brood cells? Where's your sense of hedonism?"
-Clan Apis by Jay Hosler _
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02:09:15 AM, Saturday 17 November 2001

"Beetle-headed piratical simpletons! You have taken me to the wrong jungle, you lumpish cockamamie rattlepates!"
-Sock Monkey by Tony Millionaire _
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02:08:53 AM, Saturday 17 November 2001

"Could we at least get along on drinking pee for a couple days before you eat my ass, Dr. Lechter?"
-Barry Ween, Boy Genius by Judd Winnick _
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02:08:31 AM, Saturday 17 November 2001

It should not have happened to Frimme Hersh
because Frimme Hersh had a contract with God!
-A Contract With God by Will Eisner _
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02:08:09 AM, Saturday 17 November 2001

"Besides which: This is Anvard. It's said that getting lost is an integral part of the total philosophical experience."
-Finder by Carla 'Speed' McNeil _
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02:07:47 AM, Saturday 17 November 2001

"Paris!"
"Aeneas, there you are, ready to launch the ship?"
"First you tell me what's going on. Who is this woman? If you expect to pass her off as Hesione---"
"HESIONE!?!? HA HA HA HA! Tell me Aeneas . . . Does this look like someones aged aunt?"
-Age of Bronze by Eric Shanower _
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02:07:02 AM, Saturday 17 November 2001

Bottom of the World. Antarctica. The ice. No place to go but up. But when you hit the bottom, you can always start digging.
"Hell of a place to die, huh, Marshall?"
-Whiteout by Greg Rucka and Steve Leiber _
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02:06:14 AM, Saturday 17 November 2001

"Man, this place is somethin' else."
"So are you, kid."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, look at ya, yer pretty--like a movie star--bet ya even got a trust fund. So tell me . . . what's it like going through life with no friction?"
"It fuckin' rocks."
" . . . yeah . . . that's what I thought."
-100 Bullets by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso _
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12:22:18 AM, Saturday 17 November 2001

"I would hope that our relationship doesn't come down to that. Not after everything we've been through together . . . what we've meant to each other. You still wear my lily."
"Like a scar."
-Strangers in Paradise by Terry Moore _
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12:20:44 AM, Saturday 17 November 2001

"Later I'd look back nostalgically at the way my dad always took time to explain stuff to me in his fucked-up way."
-Stuck Rubber Baby by Howard Cruse _
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12:20:11 AM, Saturday 17 November 2001

"Hey! This is the rat that turned my family over to the Gestapo."

"He was shot!"

"But if he's dead, why are his eyes still wide open?"

"He was struggling to survive."

-Maus by Art Spiegelman _
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12:19:33 AM, Saturday 17 November 2001

"Wait! Wait a fuckin' minute! No! Gran'ma, wait! Stop him! I'm beggin' you, I'll do anything! STOP!! Jody, fuckin' drop it!"
"Can't I even kiss him goodbye?"
-Preacher by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon _
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12:18:35 AM, Saturday 17 November 2001

This next page will be quotes. All of these are from comics I like and think people should read. They will be attributed. None of this guessing game crap.

But before I get into that: I saw the Harry Potter movie and it ruled! It's not a totally faithful retelling of the book, but I wasn't asking for that. What it is, is an extremely effective telling of the story in film form. I have some quibbles with some of the things they left out (some of Dumbledores lines are missing, but replaced by great lines for Ron Weasley), but that's what they are, quibbles. Nothing major. Some of the CGI was a little rough, but nothing that was as eye-achingly bad as the stuff in The Mummy Returns, once again, quibbles. Heck, I even enjoyed the Quidditch match, which I was sure they would screw up. Heck, the best thing I can say about it is that it doesn't feel like a Chris Columbus movie at all. If you liked the books, go see it, if you haven't read the books, go see it, if you didn't like the books, you're a big poopy-head. _
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10:41:31 PM, Friday 16 November 2001

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