Unintelligent Designs

It's unfortunate when one of my favorite hobby sites is hit with something like this:

Jon Power's "Happy Newtonmas!" List

However, this being the intarweb, I suppose it's unavoidable. On many other sites, it would be deleted for yet another intarweb phenomenon, trolling.

What I believe is irrelevant. That list is simply a nice study in human nature. You might want to say Geek Nature to be specific, but the existence of a higher power is a very human argument. It's also a pretty worthless argument, since no one ever convinces anyone of anything different from what they believed going into the argument.

Each individual is a summation of his personal reality. His belief system is colored by his experiences. Thus, his belief in a higher power, or lack thereof, can be traced to his unique human makeup - natural intellect, upbringing, education, media influence, the stuff he eats for breakfast, and what brand of soap he uses (if any).

I've been on both sides of the fence in my thirty-odd years, though never quite as extreme to either end (assuming you condsider the two sides as opposites in terms of belief, which many do, but I'm not convinced that they are). I think I've found a happy medium, couched in human nature as I understand it. Some people find comfort in knowing that there is a higher power, something to look forward to after death, someone to turn to when there is no hope left. Others draw strength from certainty that this existence is all that there is, and there is little (if anything) that cannot be understood and/or influenced by humans (ie, themselves).

Both ways are fine, because people need different things.

The truth, if there is one, is irrelevant.

Merry Christmas Morning

I find it interesting that weblogging has become such as part of peoples' lives that making entries on significant days, like today, has become second nature. Yes, it's just an evolution of the diary, especially for weblogs such as this one which have no audience, but it's still interesting. Hopefully, the electrons will stay in place and these words will be preserved forever.

Merry Christmas, 2005. See you at the turn of the year.

Ballad Of The Times

Somehow I've run out of podcasts to listen to, so I've been able to get back to listening to music in the car for a spell. After playing the new CDs a few times, I'm running through my collection.

Eveything But the Girl has made a lot of great music over the years. I prefer their earlier acoustic, Tracey Thorn vocals-driven work compared to their later electronica-infested catalog. My favorite cut is a lesser-known tune called "Ballad of the Times". It's a track off their second album, the 1985 disc "Love not Money". (That's not my favorite album though - that honor goes to 1988's "Idlewild".)

Two Kinds of Writing

It's a curse.

I can write on a lot of things. 2,000 words on music? Easy. 3,000 words on a movie or book? Child's play. 4,000 words on a board, card or roleplaying game? No problem.

A 2,000 word contract for work? Stuck. Two weeks and counting. I start reading and editing and I zone out. I try to work it from a template and the words blur. I even tried to do it from scratch from an outline and my writing brain blanks. Holy shit, what's the deal? It's just a bit of legalese; I did this shit for 18 months in my last job and it didn't bother me, what the fuck is wrong now?

Sigh.

This writing thing is so fickle, which is why I always have serious doubts when I consider attempting writing for a living. My writing gene is unreliable. My writing soul is picky.

Tomorrow, there is no work. I will attempt the writing for work from a Starbucks with a steaming hot Peppermint Cafe Mocha on my left, and a nice ham and cheese croissant on my right. If that doesn't work... crap.

The Devil is in the Dust

I didn't really consider Bruce's last effort, The Rising, as a typical "Bruce album". It was full of 9/11 imagery and it was powerful and parts of it rocked hard, but it was off the beaten track for The Boss.

This is more like it.

Devils and Dust is back to the storytelling Bruce, the dark, quiet version that spawned the haunting Nebraska and the desolate The Ghost of Tom Joad. Devils isn't quite as sparse as the previous two CDs I mention, the former a renowned Boss classic, the latter a forgotten, underrated brilliant work. Its tunes are a bit more upbeat, its instrumentation a bit more robust, but the stories told are, if possible, even more depressing and desparate. Hookers, illegal immigrants, criminals - they're on Bruce's mind again, and they contribute to making this the best album he's made in a good long while.

In my part of the world we get two separate discs - the CD and the DVD with the 5.1 and videos aren't in the very strange "Dualdisc" format that seems to be de rigeur in North America. So, my wife can play the DVD at home while I play the CD in the car. Works for me. I haven't had the chance to take a look at the DVD contents. When I do, I'll post an update.

Back in the Saddle

The sad part about running three separate blogs compared to a single one with tags is that one or two might get neglected for a while. Sucks, but what can you do?

I've been meaning to post some thoughts on other media here (I'm not going into them deep enough to call them "reviews"), so I hope to eventually get there:

Kathleen Rowling's "Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince"
Neil Gaiman's "Anansi Boys"
Alan Moore's graphic novel "V for Vendetta"
Bruce Springsteen's new CD "Devils and Dust"
Robbie Williams's new CD "Intensive Care"
Madonna's new CD "Confessions on a Dance Floor"

I'm still reading George Martin's "A Feast for Crows" and Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs and Steel."

Unentertaining and unimpressive

In vivid contrast to the NBA, is there anything less exciting in the world of sports (okay - calling car racing a "sport" is a stretch) than NASCAR? I can understand F1, where the tracks make a difference, and cars have their individual strengths. But NASCAR? Racing in ovals? Zzzzzz...

Hoops Returns

The MLB World Series was interesting, but the personalities involved weren't all that compelling to me. Sure, it would have been nice to see Clemens get a hometown title, and the Killer B's finally win a title, but the White Sox? Bo-ring. It didn't help that we all knew the Astros were offensively inept. I called the White Sox in 5.

I enjoy watching the NFL games, but this is the time when the injuries build up (and there have been a LOT of them this year). There are no compelling NFL stories to date other than my forlorn Cincy Bungles growing up and becoming a decent team with young Carson Palmer at the helm. They won't win the Super Bowl, but it looks like they'll finally make the playoffs

I was pretty happy when pro hockey came back, depite never having laced on a pair of skates in my life, much less swung a hockey stick at someone's head. My fantasy hockey team is doing quite well, Keith Tkachunky's dead weight riding my bench notwithstanding.

But now the real entertainment is on hand.



The NBA starts up next week. My fantasy hoops draft with my buddies is tonight. Everything is right in the world.

Who goes first? Garnett, reduced to being the best player on a pretty crappy team? The boy wonder LBJ, with his newly-beefed up Cavaliers? The Dirk, he of German engineering?

Outside of fantasy, the league itself has a lot of intriguing subplots. Will the Spurs kill everyone en route to a third title? Will The Phil be able to take his pretty crappy LAL team to the playoffs? Will Yao finally become the best center in the NBA, never mind the best player on his own team? Will Shaq finally get that ring to validate his contention that Buss was stupid to trade him and not Bryant? Will Baron stay healthy enough to get the Warriors back to the playoffs? Will LBJ really make us forget about Jordan?

I like all four major leagues, but basketball is my first love, and will always being the most fun.

F**k You Canon. (Warning: Foul Language)

Before I buy stuff, I usually do research online. This applies to books, boardgames and especially pricey stuff like home appliances, electronics, and cars.

I remember spending a couple of weeks researching digital cameras before settling on the Canon A70. It had excellent reviews, great usability for a point-and-shoot, a fine lens, and used conventional AA batteries. So I plunked down my $300 and was happy.

A week ago, I turned it on and was greeted by a blank screen. No matter how I fiddled with the thing, the screen stayed blank and anything it shot was a black screen. Of course, that pointed to a CCD problem. Sheesh. I was hoping that it might be something else so I hit the web.

Lo and behold: it's a manufacturing defect.

Manufacturer's defect on the CCD for a whole range of Canon's products over the past two years. Holy shit. They're offering free repairs, so I call the local office. The lady says you have to bring the camera in for diagnostics, during working hours on a weekday. So that means I have to take a vacation day, which costs more than a new 3.2 megapixel camera at today's prices. Not only that, but it will take a minimum of two weeks to fix the camera, assuming they have the part in stock.

Knowing the range of products affected, and how many of these fucking things Canon has sold, the camera could fucking take months to repair. In the meantime, I'm fucking stuck without a camera, which is fucking annoying. Fuck you Canon. Fuck you and your crappy quality control, and your fucking customer service. Fuck you for making me look fucking stupid. I fucking research for two fucking weeks and get your fucking piece of shit camera and it turns out the fucking most important part of the fucking steaming pile of shit is fucked. Fuck you.

Of course I'll end up taking the camera in anyway, just because I want to be able to harangue them about it until they fucking get it fixed. But I also know that I'm never going to buy another fucking Canon product ever again.

There's a 3.2MP Kodak digital-for-dummies camera on sale. I just might go get one of those. But I have to do research first.

Fuck you Canon.

100 Good Books

A couple of critics from Time pick their 100 best English-language novels since 1923. There's a lot of good stuff on there, but the two big surprises for me were William Gibson's Neuromancer, and the Moore-penned graphic novel Watchmen. These two are mixed in with many of the usual suspects.

Neuromancer was influential and created a sub-genre of sci-fi, which many of us now call "cyberpunk." However, I would never hold it up as a bastion of well-constructed prose. I don't mind it being up there, but it's not really in the league of The Lord of the Rings, A Clockwork Orange and To Kill a Mockingbird.

Watchmen is the critics' validation of "the funnies" becoming serious literature, which many of my generation already acknowledge but the old stuffies try to ignore. Gaiman's Sandman probably trumps Watchmen in the quality of writing department, but I'm happy to accept the Moore opus as the representative of the genre.

Overall, if you only read 100 books in your lifetime and they were the ones on that list, I'd say that you did pretty well for yourself. I've read maybe a quarter of them, and these days I'm more interested in writing fiction rather than reading it, but it would be nice to get to every one of them before I depart this mortal coil.

Death by Technology

John August, screenwriter (Go, Big Fish, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), is also a geek. As a geek, he embraces the cutting edge of tech. He also shares on eof my sentiments - as tech makes it easier for those of us with the necessary knowledge and skills to get more things done, there are inevitably more things we discover that we want to do. Hence, we get overloaded with the plethora of choices in which we can invest our time.

I've been discovering that recently in my forced choices in consuming media. Podcasts have replaced music in my car during my daily commute. I now miss listening to my favorite CDs, and wish that I could pop Andrea or Vladimir back into the CD player. But that would entail falling behind one or more podcasts, and that would be very difficult. So I do without the music. I know that won't last.

I've also fallen far behind on my reading. It's amazing that I've had Anansi Boys at my disposal for over a week now, and I haven't read a single word. I'm stuck in the first third of Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs and Steel" which is a book I beleived I could not put down. A combination of the web, playing boardgames and dealing with my fantasy sports teams have sucked all that time up. Even on the plane, I'm forced to choose between catching up with the Wall Street Journal (I'm only five weeks behind) and seeing films that I missed at the theater, even if it means watching them on a 6"x4" screen. (I chose to see The Fantastic Four and Batman Begins.)

It's not humanly possible to consume all that media, work, sleep, spend time with your loved ones and do it all competently.

Thanks for the capability, tech, but we're all still human, and the day still has no more than 24 hours.

I Should Be Writing

Mur Lafferty does sound like one of those self-help motivational speakers. However, her message isn't that much different from the main book that I've been using over the year to spark the stories in my head: Julia Cameron's "The Artist's Way" and its sequels.

It's simple - write. That's why I titled this weblog as "Everyday Insight" - these were to be my morning pages. The mind dump at the top of the day, if you will. No matter what, a half hour at the beginning of the day just to get the words flowing.

Of course, as Mur says, it's easy to slack off. Very easy, especially with a regular (ok, not so regular) job and other distractions. Just don't blame anyone else, because writing is something that's all on you.

I still have my notebooks from that wondrous streak of flowing words I had a couple of years ago. Woke up bright and early at five in the morning. Wrote for half an hour, longhand. My longhand is absolutely awful but I did it because it's what Julia recommended - an organic connection to your words in an age of electrons. I think I've decided that organic isn't me. This is easier. Anyway, after than, an hour in the gym, then breakfast, then a shower, then off to work. It was a good rhythm - I was writing, doing well at work AND I was fit for the first time in a long damned time.

It all came crashing down about my ears when I was laid off and repatriated. So I'm back to square one.

Temporary setback. So I have three weblogs that I write in semi-regularly. I'll begin the long journey back to getting on the wagon completely right here. If it doesn't work, I'll only have myself to blame, eh?

Anne McCaffrey

I listen to the "Wingin' It" podcast done by Michael R. Mennenga, Evo Terra and the Kick Ass Mystic Ninjas (I have to agree, that's a fun name) over at The Dragon Page. This is usually a really geeky, freewheeling show that's fun and has no real agenda other than aimless rants and a couple of nice segments (Mur Lafferty's essay and A Different Point of View).

Anyway, I was initially bummed that there would be no "real" Wingin' It last week as the hosts were recovering from Dragon*Con. Instead, Michael aired the session of Anne and Todd McCaffrey (ok, it was mostly Anne) at Dragon*Con.

I'm not really a Pern reader, so I was prepared to skip over that segment. I was driving to game night at the time, so I let the show run while I jostled for room in crowded traffic. For once, I was glad for the traffic.

Anne is a gifted vocal storyteller. Not all writers have the gift of being able to speak as well as they write. Anne's 80 years old, but her voice is strong and clear, and she spoke without the ahhhs and errrrs that mar a lot of people's public speaking.

My takeaway, something I know I've heard before but forget quite a bit, is to write how you feel. Write from the heart. Anne was talking about the death of her father, a military man, and the emotion she felt looking at his coffin with the American flag laid over it. That emotion led to "The Ship Who Sang." She relates that she was usually unable to get through the book at public readings, because the emotion would overcome her, and the Todd would have to pick it up when that happened. At one reading, she saw that there was a camera crew, and she tried to hold back the emotion. Until she saw that the crew was crying.

Great story, related in a perfect voice.

One of those times that you're content to listen to someone related parts of her life, and live vicariously.

License to Drive

Took a day off from work today to get my driver's license renewed. I expected it to take some time considering the poor government processes.

I arrived at the East Avenue office at around 8:30 am. It was my first time getting a license there since we had moved in the three years that my last license was valid, so I asked around for instructions. Apparently I had to cross the street to what supposedly was a medical lab to get a medical certificate and a drug test. Heh.

I exited the LTO and was immediately approached by a guy who said he's point the way to where I needed to go. Since there were hordes of people and it was broad daylight I followed his lead. We crossed the street (no crosswalk!) and entered an area of ramshackle stalls. Among the stalls was a little wooden "office" where I sat down and filled out a few forms. I pissed into a cup, and in five minutes I got my clean drug test. Cost: P250.

My guide then reappeared and pointed the way to the "medical lab." It was nothing more than a room with a lady who sat you down and made you read from a standard optometrist's wall chart. I read just fine with my corrected sight, so I got my "medical clearance" in under five minutes. Cost: P50. (Incidentally, the guy opposite me was only able to read row 4 of the chart. He was given "medical clearance" as well. I hope I never meet him on the street.)

Back to the LTO. Filled up a form, turned in the papers along with my old license. Wait ten minutes. Have digital photo taken, and sign digital signature capture thingy. Wait another 20 minutes. Pay the cashier. Cost: Just under P300. Wait another 20 minutes. Get license card and receipt and I'm done.

Hop in a cab and I'm home before 10am. That was relatively painless, I must say. All I have to do next time is drink a bit more before going to facilitate the peeing into the cup. See them in three years!

Time to Recommit, and Kuala Lumpur

I'm overthinking this. All I have to do is write a couple of lines a day. Not much more than that. It's not like I have an audience here right?

I just arrived from a business trip to Kuala Lumpur. The city isn't much different from any Asian city. It's greener than Manila, cleaner than Jakarta, but less shiny than Singapore. It's got its share of nice malls.

I got to hook up with an old high school buddy who work with Shell in Malaysia. We had dinner and a couple of beers and talked about how life turns out for each of us. Neither of us was on the "most likely to succeed" list in high school, but having lived expat lives and having advanced a bit up the corporate ladder, we're not doing too bad. He's getting married soon, and I wish him all the best.

The Petronas Twin Towers looked very nice lighted up at night, but hey, they're just a couple of phallic buildings. The two sites I wanted to visit, the National Museum of Malaysia and the Royal Selangor Pewter Plant, I had no time for this trip. I'm still not sure I missed much, and the 10-hour trip via Singapore is more than enough to make the trip less that attractive next time around.

Work

Another day, 14 hours more, and another trip on the calendar. At least this time it's to Kuala Lumpur and not Singapore.

Who am I kidding? I would probably have preferred Singapore for its convenience. It's not like the distance changed.

At least I might get to hook up with Taga for a drink or three.

Nag nag nag nag Virus

This Zotob virus is really annoying. VirusShield is parrying it but it won't give up. I must have over a hundred messages saying that the virus was blocked.

Virus authors are morons.

Yet another trip

Wow, back to Singapore again next week. That's five times in just over three months.

I used to be happy to visit Singapore. It's a great city/country and it's got great people and great places to see and shop. But these short visits are quickly becoming murder. This time I fly in, work for one day, then fly out.

Why do I feel this won't be the last time this year?

If I annualize that's 20 foreign trips a year. Staggering.

Back in Flight

Well I'm back in Manila's crappy airport waiting for my flight. The same
flight as last time - and similarly late. Dunno why SQ's unable to get this
plane in on time.

The bad news - I'm coming off a touch of the flu over the weekend so the
recirculated cabin air is going to wreak holy havoc on my respiration. Gak.

Also, the film lineup is going to be the same as last time around (ditto for
the food) so I'm going to have to spend my time working. Not so bad,
there're some numbers I'm pretty interested in getting at.

Airport post

I'm standing here in Changi Airport in Singapore at a free internet terminal and making this post. I wish every airport would have something like this. I was able to make my moves on www.boiteajeux.net so my Torres games wouldn't be held up (best PBEM implementation around) and I got to check my webmail. Really nice. And of course I got to make this post.

I'm dead tired fromthis trip, but I'm going to be back here next week for more conferencing work - argh. I like Sing, but not so much that I'd voluntarily fly back here three times in five weeks. Oh well, it comes with the job. So, off to Times Newslink to see if they have anything new.

The Neil Gaiman Signing

The Big Event for fantasy lit fans hereabouts is Neil Gaiman's visit. My
buddy Frog just told me that our buddy Nix stood in line for ten hours
yesterday and didn't get to Neil. Apparently he showed up at Rockwell at
10am and found 500 people in front of him. The organizers capped the line at
700 people. The people Neil didn't get to will have the first shot today in
Greenhills. All reports say that Neil was living up to his rep - tireless,
friendly and attracts hordes of cute girls. I hope someone took pix.

Life in an Airport

The thing I hate most about travelling is the time you have to spend in
airports. In this new world of copious security measures, two to three hours
in an airport per flight is about the minimum you can expect. If your
destination is the United States, expect more time in security lines. So I
suppose I should be happy that I mostly fly around lower-security Southeast
Asia.

The Manila airport is pathetic. The food is awful, there's nowhere to jack
into the internet, and there are no decent bookstores. Even the seats are
uncomfortable. The Simgapore airport is far better. The HK airport is also
pretty nice, except that it's so big you need a rail to get to some parts of
it.

Oops we're doing it again

It's bizarrely appropriate that I'm using the title of a Britney Spears song to title this post about our ludicrous politicians and government. Yet again, this crazy country of morons (presently company sadly included) is thisclose to ejecting a President, threatening to turn our "democratic process" into one big fat joke. You know, with this kind of track record let's forget elections. Let's just agree that we install a President via one of our trademarked "People Power" (blech) movements, let that President keep going until we're tired of him, and then People Power him out of office and install a replacement. It'll save us a bundle of cash that can go to education and fighting corruption.

I'm no fan of Gloria, whose worst traits are that she's an influence peddler and she has a family that rivals Cory's in greed and dirt. However, she was "elected" in the last polls. Did she cheat? Probably. Did anyone else cheat? Probably, but that's irrelevant. Gloria was proclaimed the winner by Congress. That can only be undone by another act of Congress - impeachment. Unless Gloria steps down a-la Nixon, but that's not going to happen.

So, the economy kicks back into the dark ages, we have the specter of Noli freaking de Castro becoming President, and this country is almost all the way to shitsville. Whoopee.

Mobile nirvana?

This is a test post from a Blackberry mobile phone/email device. Remember when I was pining for a mobile electronic writing tool? It may have found its way to me. Now here's hoping that this post publishes correctly. Fingers crossed!

Away

I'm writing this with the final shreds of my purchased internet time here at the hotel. I'm in Singapore for a couple of corporate meetings. I never realized how much I missed being this involved with this kind of operation. It's so much more empowering than my last stop in Cubesville. Discussing strategy, mission, vision and values and then moving to translate them from strategy into tactics is the meat of what I do in the workplace. It's fun, it's interesting and best of all I'm damned good at it.

Once I'm able to absorb all the things about this business, it'll be that much more of a rush.

Yes, nothing yet on the hobbies, even if I did get to play Euphrat & Tigris and Bluff last Saturday. Actually, that was the previous Saturday. Last Saturday the group played Taj Mahal while I just hung around, wasted from the new job.

Lot sof movies to write up as well. I hope my memory holds out long enough for me to put text to white space.

A Stab from the Dark

Yes, yes, the truancy will all be explained. For now, I just wanted to capture this:

Top 10 Reasons Why Geeks Make the Best Mates

Amusingly, it's on a Geek matchmaking site. What a concept.

Be back soon. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. (Did I get that right?)

Vewy vewy quiet

Lots happening... and yeah no blogging. Can't really tell why.. maybe later.

Anyway, great link here from Matthew Monin.

Acts of Gord has stories of a video game store owner who has to deal with really stupid people. It's hilarious.

Back soon, hopefully with a lot more than I've had in the past two weeks.

Are you a Geek?

I've always identified with being a "Geek" due to association of interests. I'd object to the "social ineptness" factor in the definition, as that can be overcome. That doesn't prevent me from liking sci-fi and fantasy, or doing interesting stuff. Funny how this kind of label was applied to the kind of knowledge that everyday people don't subscribe to. Does that mean your normal person has a lack of imagination and/or intellect?

Anyway.

Take the Geek Test!

My score:

30.96647% - Total Geek

Lots of checks for sci-fi and fantasy interest and knowledge, doing well in science and math, enjoying tech and the web and being interested in "academic interests" in spare time.

Whoever made that test clearly wasn't a game geek though - not enough RPG or boardgame content. I scored no points since I have no love for Risk, Chess, Trivial Pursuit or the like. Scabble and other word games, yeah.

Jessica

Sometimes this is all you need to bring a smile to your face. :)

Boardgameblog Update: Game night and a review

Updated Boardgameblog with Saturday night gaming on 2 April, plus a review of Dragon Delta, which is in the running for worst game we've inflicted on ourselves this year.

Karol May 18,1920 - April 2, 2005

Dying Lights

Karol Wojtyla, John Paul II, the Pope in Rome for most of my life, lies on his deathbed. I've never been a devout Catholic, but there's always been a certain mystique around JPII. I saw him in person twice when he came to visit this country, the only predominantly Catholic one in Asia. He had the same aura that great leaders tend to have. He was a kindly man, who did far more for the Roman Catholic Church in terms of finding the line between keeping its traditions and changing to face the future than many will realize or admit. He also transcended his role as the leader of Catholicism, and was one world leader about whom no one had a negative thing to say. He was a good man. I think history will find him to be a great man. JP2 had one tough job. I think he did it well.

Thanks, Karol. Say hello to the Big G for all of us down here.

On Writing

I'll post this here because I keep referring back to it whenever I think that writing is just something I do when there's nothing better to do, or when I think that I should give it up and just do something regular and productive and common.

Neil Gaiman's "On Writing"

My favorite quote from the piece:

"Being a writer is a very peculiar sort of a job: it's always you versus a blank sheet of paper (or a blank screen) and quite often the blank piece of paper wins. It has no job security of any kind, and depends mostly on whether or not you can, like Scheherazade, tell the stories each night that'll keep you alive until tomorrow. There are undoubtedly hundreds of easier, less stressful, more straightforward jobs in the world."

Rather Insane Boardgameblog Update

I had a rather crazy last four days worth of gaming, so it resulted in a largish batch of review material. The first tranche has just been posted to Boardgameblog: Two games by James Ernest, Falling and Give Me the Brain!, Uwe Rosenberg's Mamma Mia!, Michael Schacht's Paris Paris, and the Leo Colovini/Alex Randolph collaboration Inkognito the Card Game.

Four day break coming up!

Religious holidays. We will mark them with some relaxation and some gaming.

Boardgameblog is updated with last Saturday's gaming.

Also have the poster of the upcoming Robert Rodriguez film "Sin City" up on Silver Screener. It looks really good. And it's got Jessica Alba in it as a stripper. Hubba hubba. Although I bet she'll do a Nat Portman and not actually strip. Hey, it's ok, it's all good! :)

Boardgameblog Update: Review of Elfenland and our March 12th Game Night

Now up on BGB, a review of Alan Moon's Spiel des Jahres-winning game Elfenland, and our last game night report.

Silver Screener Update - Cellular and The Village

Added reviews to The Silver Screener for the action flick Cellular and M. Night Shyamalan's latest "twist flick", The Village. Neither were memorable...

The Last Sandman

Michael Zulli, the artist for Neil Gaiman's The Wake, is doing his final portrait of Morpheus and documenting its progress here. It's so fascinating "watching" an artist work, and his commentary is intriguing.

Lots of updates for both sub-blogs, but haven't found the time to put them up yet. Will try to do later today...

Book Review: Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code

Yes, I read it.

I wasn't overly impressed.

Brown has an informal style that's not hard to read but is likely to drive sticklers for construction batty. The Da Vinci Code (TDVC) is essentially a conspiracy theory cum mystery thriller. Brown uses a fictitious secret society called the Priory of Sion and builds a mystery around it. It's not half as clever as it sounds, but Brown's efforts to weave in a lot of information on how Leonardo da Vinci's works tie in make the work intriguing to many who haven't heard of the book Holy Blood, Holy Grail (HBHG). HBHG was published in 1982, predating TDVC by 20 years, and it recounts the "history" surrounding the Priory of Sion.

Too bad the Priory thing was a complete hoax. (Follow the link to wikipedia.)

Anyway, TDVC's setup is more than competent. It builds on a bunch of "interesting" interpretations of Leonardo's works, and weaves in some more "facts" surrounding the Opus Dei, the de facto antagonists of the book. (Yes, yes, there is a twist somewhere in there.) The problem is that Brown loses his way in the middle, when the "interesting interpretations" lose their charm and the whole plot starts to lose steam.

The ending, well, sucks.

So, TDVC has a decent opening third, a mediocre middle third, and a subpar final third. Not a waste of time, but it's not something I'd go out of my way to look at.

The final note here is that while TDVC is certainly a work of fiction, or perhaps alternate history if you prefer, it does use a real-world setting. The Opus Dei does indeed exist, and a lot of people on the planet do believe that Jesus Christ was a god. The controversy potential of the book is so good that I'm not surprised it got published. I'm even more surprised that it's apparently flying under the radar in this country, which is partly controlled by the Roman Catholic Church and where the Opus Dei has a not-insignificant presence.

Will TDVC come and go quietly? I wouldn't bet on it.

VentiDecafNonfatMocha FrappucinoLessWhipPlease

Great post on Matt Baldwin's blog about Seattle's Starbucks Coffeespeak. The comments are hilarious.

Come to think of it, I'm hearing that sort of thing a lot more around here, in the upscale areas (the Starbucks in 6750 for one).

Boardgameblog Update - Game night and reviews of King's Breakfast, You're Bluffing, Bluff

Largish BGB update over the weekend. We had Saturday night dinner and games, in celebration of my friend Nix's birthday. Also posted reviews for three filler-type light games: King's Breakfast and You're Bluffing, two card games (okay, You're Bluffing isn't really a filler), and the 1993 Spiel des Jahres winner Bluff, which is a dice game with strong ties to the traditional game Liar's Dice.

Tala and Titus, if you're reading this send me the pix you took last Saturday!

Weekends

Sometimes I wonder about the utility of weekends. It’s a constant struggle between wanting to do stuff you have no time to do during the weekday due to work or school or whatever it is you do during the weekday if you’re an eight-to-fiver, or shutting down and recuperating from a crazy week in preparation for another crazy week. The compromise seems to be to spend a day out, and a day resting, but that’s seldom possible since there are so many demands upon your time. It’s personal time that’s usually sacrificed, the quiet moments that you try to take to reflect upon your direction in life and where you want to go. I guess that’s why so many people get stuck in cruise control, with little incentive to change directions because it would entail allocating a lot of time that you don’t seem to have. If your current situation drains away all your time such that you’re unable to find a quiet moment, how crazy would it get if you’re trying to get into something new? Opportunity costs are a real pain.

Uh-oh

Harry Potter fans, rejoice! J.K. Rowling has announced that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Book 6 in her wildly popular Harry Potter series, will be released July 16, 2005.

Megalomaniacs look here!

Ever wanted to be like Darth Vader and destroy the Earth? Well, you're going have to find a way to make a Death Star, because current means are unlikely to work. This article summarizes the ways that you can try to blow up Mother Earth, and why you'd fail miserably.

New Blog - Titus's Games

My friend and German game supplier Titus just started his own blog. Check it out at Titus's Games and Hobbies. If you're from around here and need a game fix you can visit his same site at Ubergames.

The Silver Screener Updated - Reviews of Sideways and Ray

Got to see Sideways and Ray leading up to the Oscars. Sideways was a good show all around. Ray was ok, but it had a big flaw.

Did pretty good on my Oscar picks, though Natalie Portman didn't win. It was a long shot anyway.

Boardgameblog Update - Blue Moon and Mexica Reviews and a Game Day Report

I just posted reviews of the Kramer/Kiesling game Mexica, the third of their Action POint-driven "Mask Trilogy", and Reiner Knizia's Blue Moon, a not-so-good attempt at a collectible card game without the collection but with "expansion".

We also had a good game day on February 26th.

Write on!

I should remember to resume my search for the ideal portable writing hardware solution. I’m sitting at a Starbucks writing this on my notebook, but this notebook is far from portable. It still requires a bag to carry around, it’s heavy, and it’s not exactly something that you can carry around with you wherever you go and pull out when an idea crosses your mind. I do still want something with a keyboard, as close to full-sized as possible. I know that there are folding keyboards that you can hook up to a pocket PC. It’s the pocket PC that I ultimately wasn’t enamored of after an initial love affair with the idea. They were too clunky and unstable to blow a wad of cash on, and they tried to do too many things that I didn’t care about.

If it exists out there, what I’d like is a mobile phone, say a stripped-down smart phone without video and whatever bells and whistles they’ stuck into them. Just a regular phone, with SMS and whatever, with a word processor – plain text is just fine - that you can hook into a folding portable keyboard that you can stick in your pocket. So when inspiration strikes you, you pull your phone out, unfold your keyboard, sit down and type.

I’m almost certain that there is something like this out there, probably a smart phone with some basic Wordpad app in it, that hooks up to a Targus or whatever folding keyboard. Assuming it all works, I wonder how much that’ll set me back.

Time to go Google or browse Engadget. I’m close to having the full amount needed for a 40GB iPod, but I’ll happily blow it on this writing instrument.

Memory

Memory is such a fragile thing. Unless there is something tangible to record events in the past – photographs, documents, books – we rely on memory. The old Chinese saying “the faintest ink is greater than the clearest memory” is right on the money. In a world so concerned with backups, it’s a wonder that people tend to rely on their memory far more than they should. This becomes a problem when an important even occurs, and no record of the proceedings is kept. When something needs to be recalled about that event, various participants in the proceedings have different recollections of the event. The more details you try to gather, the less coherence there tends to be among the participants.

In a world where technology is making it so easy to record information, how long before we each get a permanent record of every minute of our lives? Every conversation, every event, every transaction recorded indelibly and accurately. We’ll no longer have trouble remembering things – we won’t need to. We’ll just consult The Record when we need something recalled.

Of course, it’ll then be impossible to forget anything, even when we want to.

Boardgameblog Update - Review of Bruno Faidutti's Citadels

I don't usually go for Bruno Faidutti's trademark chaos and luck-infused designs. Citadels is the exception not because it has no luck and chaos (it does), but because the game is fast and fun. See my review for details.

Browsing.

I’ve always underestimated the joy of browsing, but now that I think back on it I’ve been an inveterate browser all my life. The earliest thing I can remember enjoying browsing is the supermarket. Aisles and aisles of stuff, mostly food, made my head swim and my mouth water when I was a kid. I was unhappy that my short little legs didn’t get me from place to place fast enough, so I’d break down and cry in the aisle until mom came and got me.

Later in life I took to haunting used book shops and music stores. When I was at university there were a lot of secondhand bookstores nearby. Between classes I’d head on over and spend hours poring over the books. I’d even buy a few once in a while. I don’t think I read half of what I bought, but since mom is a big reader too at least someone made use of some of the volumes that I didn’t get to.

Up to this day I like browsing, even if I don’t have any intention of purchasing anything. Some people get frustrated at that kind of activity, but it appeals to my planning nature. If I see something I like I can plan to purchase it in the future. In the intervening period I’ll do a bit of research to see if whatever it is is any good or if there’s something better out there for the same deal or better. Doesn’t really work for tech gadgets since they become obsolete so quickly. I put off buying a digital camera for so long because I wanted better resolution, more memory, more compact form factor, long battery life… and realized that the improvements would never end and I’d never but one. I finally bought my first camera in 2002.

The Silver Screener Updated - Training Day, Collateral, Closer

Posted three new reviews on The Silver Screener. The two "twisted buddy flicks" I was talking about, Training Day and Collateral come first. The third is the excellent Mike Nichols "love story" Closer.

I should have something on Academy Award nominee Sideways shortly. I'll also be making some Oscar guesses over at Silver Screener before the show on Monday, my time.

A Day Off...

Any day that you’re able to take a break from the rat race and devote a bit of time to your hobbies is a pretty good day. This is why I don’t advocate people being able to take sick or vacation days, blow them off and convert them to cash. People need days like these to breathe and reflect and recharge. Sometimes you underestimate how much a single day off from what you do everyday can improve your spirits and outlook in life.

I’m cooking as I write this. I miss having a lot of time to putter around in the kitchen. Cooking is something that I don’t really mind doing. It’s fun, and it’s useful as long as the output is edible. The cleaning up afterwards is the part I’m not so fond of, but it’s a necessary evil. The trick is to try to use as few pots and plates and utensils as possible, and to do partial cleanups during the “dead spots” when you’re waiting for the pan to heat up or for something to boil or simmer. Sure beats staring at a huge pile of stuff in the sink to tackle afterwards. That kind of sight can intimidate and generate procrastination. It’s never good to defer basic hygiene.

I got to see two films today. Eerily similar in theme: twisted buddy flicks. Training Day was more of the straightforward good cop bad cop show. Collateral had some interesting things to say, and had an interesting way of delivering the message. Cruise looked good in the salt-and-pepper style, and I thought he made a kickass assassin. Both were pretty good. I’ll write up more thoughts on Silver Screener soon.

Enjoying playing some of the discs I haven’t listened to in quite a while as I cook and write here. Mark O’Connor’s Fiddle Concerto is still one of the grandest pieces of music written for that instrument. It’s joyous and kinetic, if a bit mainstream and Baroque-ish. My complete Sibelius works haven’t gotten a lot of ear time since I moved back to Manila. They’re still some of my favorite orchestral pieces.

Boardgameblog Update: Review of Wolfgang Kramer & Michael Kiesling's Java

The latest boardgame to be reviewed on Boardgameblog is Java, by award-winning designers Wolfgang Kramer and Michael Kiesling.

Boardgameblog Update: Review of Reiner Knizia's Royal Turf

Updated BoardGameBlog with a review of Reiner Knizia's horseracing game, Royal Turf.

Superdickery

Back when being politically correct wasn't as insanely demanded and people didn't take offense at every off-color joke or comment, these were the comic book covers that were possible.

Check out some Superdickery!

The 100 Funniest Jokes of All Time (GQ)

The 100 Funniest Jokes of All Time as compiled by GQ magazine. I don't really get some of them, but since there's a lot of Woody Allen and such it's probably cultural.

BoardGameBlog Update - Review of Klaus-Jurgen Wrede's Carcassonne

Another review, this time of Klaus-Jurgen Wrede's smash hit Carcassonne. This game won both the SdJ and DSP awards, the most prestigious in the German game industry, in 2001.

Writing in electrons

It’s been cool in the evenings through the early mornings for the past few months. Even with the days and afternoons starting to become warmer, the evenings are still pleasantly cool. The night breeze here on the balcony is refreshing, and it’s been nice sitting out here and writing for the past few days. I only hope that it can last. This is so far the longest period that I’ve been constantly writing since those months in Jakarta, and it’s good knowing that I can still take my stream of thought and put it to paper. Well, I guess that’s the difference. I used to follow the suggestion of The Artist’s Way and handwrite my Morning Pages, but that no longer seems to be the way to do things. Since these passages are shorter and they will end up on my blog, writing with the Electron Pen is the way to do things now. I’ll forgive the book; the author, Julia Cameron, lived where there were no distractions out in the country and I guess notebook computers weren’t something she grew up with. I belong to Generation X, the first generation to have gone home to Commodores after school, when we were still in short pants. We were the first generation to have personal computers at home when we were in grade school, the first generation to play computer games on our IBM PC-XTs and Apple ][+’s and hand in papers on 5.25” floppy discs. I think the writing tradition will accept that some writers experience a renaissance writing on a word processor and posting the material on the world wide web.

Boardgameblog Update - Review of Reiner Knizia's Amun-Re

I just posted a review of one of my favorite boardgames for five players, Reiner Knizia's Amun-Re, over on BoardGameBlog.

Finding Happiness

My friends and I once had a discussion over soda, barbecue and beer. We discussed the purpose of life. The usual bullshit was put on the table, like how there is no purpose and this is all a random occurrence, to how there is a divine being or beings and there is an overall plan, to the idea that life on earth is a proving ground (I think that was stolen from Pierce Anthony) to how aliens set this all up as an experiment. Never mind all that.

The part I remember best is how we talked about how life is about finding happiness. The counterpoint to that was a question – what is happiness, and is it the same as contentment. When do you know you’re happy? When you have no more wants? Then there’ll be very few truly happy people. Contentment might be a bit better, because contentment is a state that one chooses to accept. You say, yeah, I might not have everything I could want, but what I have right now, and what I know I have coming, that’s pretty sweet and I’m ok with that. Problem there is that, will contentment with life wipe out ambition? In a sense, yeah, but it doesn’t eliminate the ability to continue to explore things. You many choose not to give a lot of weight to wanting stuff, but it doesn’t preclude trying out new things as you get the opportunity to.

Swing all the way that way and you have something like Buddhism and their state of detachment from the physical. That’s a cop out, as if you’re ignoring this existence and choose to sleepwalk through the damn thing. Or it could be that that Piers Anthony story was right and everything is just a temptation.

Interesting to think about these things once in a while, but in the end it’s pointless. Try not to take having and having not to seriously. It’s not good for your heart or your soul.

Whatever a soul really is.

Boardgameblog Update - Review of Ruediger Dorn's Goa

I posted a review of Ruediger Dorn's excellent game Goa.

Boardgameblog Update - Review of Wolfgang Kramer & Michael Kiesling's Tikal

I post a review of the 1999 Spiel des Jahres (German Game of the Year) winner Tikal.

Boardgameblog Update - Review of Milton Bradley's Jenga

I posted a review of the classic Milton Bradley dexterity game Jenga.

Took a quiz, got some results

Nothing unusual. Still INTP/J, as always.

Intrapersonal 100% Verbal/Linguistic 96% Visual/Spatial 75% Logical/Mathematical 68% Interpersonal 64% Bodily/Kinesthetic 54% Musical/Rhythmic 46% The Rogers Indicator of Multiple Intelligences created with QuizFarm.com

Fantasy Hoops - Trade Goes Down

( If you have no interest in the NBA or fantasy sports, you can skip this post. It won't make much sense to you.)

I recently finalized a deal in my Yahoo! Public league sending DEN G Andre Miller and WAS F Antawn Jamison to another team, and receiving SAC F Peja Stojakovic and MEM F Pau Gasol. I just got Jamison in a 3-for-3 deal where I shipped returning UTA F Andrei Kirilenko and two spare parts (Jim Jackson and Juan Dixon, if it matters) to another team for Jamison, POR G Damon Stoudamire, and MIA F Udonis Haslem. That's looking good since AK47 has been ineffective, thought that might change if Carlos Boozer is indeed shipped out.

I didn't like Miller losing shots and time to Boykins over in DEN since George Karl took over. He's been inconsistent since, and it's not looking to get any better. Miller isn't a SG, and I don't believe he'll flourish. Hurts to lose Jamison, who's a 20-10 guy, but that's all he is and Gasol can do that and add some blocks besides. I lose the occasional 3, though. Peja is the key to the trade. I'm betting one of two things happens - he gets traded (hopefully not to the Lakers), or Chris Webber gets traded. If one of those two things happens, I come out ahead. Peja and Pau both need to stay healthy though - they were both inured going into the All Star break.

Diaries and Weblogs

I suddenly remember a journal application that I was using way back in the early 90s. It was sort of a diary-like thing, where you made entries and could print them out. It was a simple little thing, and I’d print journal entries on my old Epson dot matrix printer. I still have some of the printouts back in my old desk. Probably fading though. Interesting that blogs have taken over from traditional diaries, and the intention is reversed. Whereas diaries are intended to be personal and secret, blogs are shared with people. In some cases, with the entire internet-going population of the world. When surfing random blogs, the content varies. Blogs like Slashdot and Engadget are informational, and these kinds of things aren’t in the usual diary vein. Many others ARE in the usual diary vein, and contain personal experiences, rants and raves. Some even contain real names, people and places. Reading those gives a peek into what people used to keep secret and personal. Strange that these things can be posted openly for everyone to see, perhaps even the people that the rants are all about.

Artists and "Artistas"

Last night was the "judgment night" of the local reality "artista" search show called "Starstruck". Over the course of several months, the show took a bunch of no-name, no training, no talent kids, spent a wad of cash on them and put them on television. Thus, they produced "artistas" in local parlance, or essentially media celebrities. These kids won't be known for much. They sing a little, dance a little, act even less. They're expected to show up on the vapid noontime shows and brainless soaps, look good and try not to fudge up their lines while "acting".

From accounts, the whole exercise was (again) successful. I suppose success in this case is "money generating" since people were called on to vote for their favorite Starstuck tool by SMSing. Bet they made a few million on that, from the C/D/E crowd that this sort of worthless programming usually appeals to.

But in the end, when the smoke clears, you're stuck with just that - four "artistas" with no real talent or ability, flashing on local television as long as the networks keep pumping thier media machines to try to make them appear relevant.

No actors, singers, dancers or real artists of any sort result from these shows. Indeed, they'll probably end up as part of something like this, fodder for the churning gossip mills that have inexplicably become the heart and soul of the entertainment industry. The culprit? The same networks that create the "artistas" make money off them yet again by destroying them with rumor and innuendo.

You reap what you sow.

The Silver Screener Update - Review of Antoine Fuqua's King Arthur

I posted a review of the Antoine Fuqua film King Arthur, a retelling (reimagining?) of the Arthurian legend. The film stars Clive Owen and Keira Knightley.

Boardgameblog Update - Review of Reiner Knizia's Taj Mahal

I posted a review of Reiner Knizia's astounding strategy boardgame Taj Mahal here. In Taj Mahal players assume the roles of Maharishis consolidating power in northern India after the collapse of the Grand Moguls.

Boardgameblog Update - Review of Leo Colovini's Clans

I posted a review of Leo Colvini's game Clans, which is about migration of tribes to form villages in the early days of civilization. Check it out here.

Boardgameblog Update - Review of Reiner Knizia's RA

I posted a review of Reiner Knizia's classic auction game RA here.