Tabula Rasa lj

New game gizmo uses mind control

Freaky dude. I am amused that this sort of thing is being brought in as game technology, which is undoubtedly much more commercial than, for example, disabled support services. I can certainly see it heading in that direction soon after. Paranoia may also point out that training a machine to basically read your mind might lead to all sorts of uncomfortable to scary lie-detector-type scenarios.

(Assuming it is not yet another over-hyped and under-researched article, but it looks more or less legit from this end.)

I bought an Xbox 360 recently, my first ever console. Assassin's Creed came as a freebie, and it's a beautiful thing -- how the story goes, we shall have to see. I've also played round with a couple of other game demos, and picked up Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic cheap (having familiarised myself with the backward compatibility list).

One very neat thing is that it streams avi video from my PC. Now, to try and stop Windows Media Centre updating itself halfway through an episode of something...

We saw the first ep of the Sarah Connor Chronicles (not to be confused with the Sarah Jane Adventures, though I'm suspicious of the dog). It was pretty good, though I guess I have to recallibrate down from the scale and detail of the movies. We shall keep watching.

I'm relatively sure the use of 1963 in their time travel plot was not an accident. It was a cute touch, and a lot more subtle than the episode of Dexter we saw prior, when we discover Dex uses the cover name Patrick Bateman. Maybe I'm just annoyed at the rather large logic hole in that ep, which I can't really describe without spoiler warnings.

Meanwhile I've been playing the new Dungeon Twister expansion, been thrashed at RoboRally, finished the Empire Strikes Back commentary, designed much of my next RPG character (not unrelated activities) and been told I belong on the crew of Deep Space Nine. I've never seen the show, but I will at least admit to recognising Summer Glau from that other space thing.

As a bit of a change, we went down to Melbourne this year to do the Christmas thing with my brother and his ever-burgeoning family. The day itself was very nice, and mostly spent playing Heroscape, which we gave to the nephews. It was declared the best game ever, and it did indeed work pretty well to these more jaded eyes, after a somewhat fiddly set-up (we safely escaped before anyone tried to put it away again).

They are also into train games (we played Ticket to Ride on Saturday), so we got them Transeuropa as well, thanks to a propitious sale at MilSims. No word on that as yet. There was also much spinning of nephews at high speed, and thwacking with cushions, which I'm sure was just as exciting.

Apart from that, we visited some friends, including artbroken, went off to the theatre, watched Ed Wood (is charming), received a Forgotten English desk calendar (looks good) and sat around reading stuff, so it was a good trip all up.

At Patrick's we played Vampire: Dark Influences, a more or less simpler version of Prince of the City, and I got walloped at Goth: The Game of Horror Trivia. Oops.

As for the theatre, we saw the mighty Spamalot. Despite all the love it gets, I wasn't quite as convinced -- there's quite a bit of it that relies on nostalgia rather than actual laughs. Recreating Monty Python sketches just isn't as funny as the original, especially when taken out of context (the fish-slapping dance and Always Look on the Bright Side of Life in particular). But I can't complain too much -- the extra songs and jokes did bind it all together, and we enjoyed it a lot.

I vaguely remember seeing something on tele, years ago, in which a cat follows an archbishop up the aisle during a high mass. It turns out the cat's name is Tom, he lives at Canterbury Cathedral, and is very friendly (or perhaps I am simply warmer than the surrounding environment).

England is good. I have been trying to avoid rushing around madly, but have strolled along the Dover cliffs, seen Les Mis, and played RoboRally with my gracious hosts.

It has been opined that my last entry may be entirely incomprehensible, so:

The Hitcher (1984) is double plus good -- though it occasionally gets a bit Dukes of Hazzard in the middle.

This also gives me the opportunity to quote this from the back cover of the R1 DVD:

Terror Alert: The Hitcher is a stretch for actress Jennifer Jason Leigh...

Ouch.

Meanwhile, we've spent the day at jack_ryder and murasaki_1966's, playing games. The Da Vinci Code (?), Masquerade (an interesting card game), The Fury of Dracula (a merry chase indeed) and Dungeoneer (a good dungeon bash simulation) was my lot I believe.

We tried to do our tax today, only to realise the documents we'd been sent weren't the right ones... Still, it was amusing to see the accountant telling us to lie be creative.

Speaking of odd documents, my sponsored child 'graduated' out of the program recently. I discovered this because I was sent an unexpected bill for my next payment, and had to ring up to ask why. I don't really mind, but it's not exactly how you would imagine this happy occasion unfolding.

We had a house inspection yesterday; voluntarily, if you'd believe it. This is in aid of nascent wanderlust, but nothing is likely to come of it for some time, I suspect.

I completed yesterday's DA cryptic crossword -- by no means the first time, but still a rarity. The theme was very sneaky, and managed to fit all sorts of interesting people in.

We've spent the evening playing Dungeoneer, since again we had too many absentees for Ravenloft. There was much chaos, but using two different levels (haunted forest and lich lord's tomb) worked well.

We found that new Dymocks store I mentioned, and grabbed some Ray Garton, which was a bit unexpected. Meanwhile, Storm Front is picking up nicely, just as I discovered the Dresden Files TV show has been cancelled.

I wondered today if I should get myself organised and head out to New York for World Fantasy, come November. On reflection, I suspect not. At least not without a complete manuscript, on the off chance an agent might wander up to me randomly.

Which brings me (thank God) to the point. I guess I need to start writing tomorrow. The course is over; I have a plan. Now I just need a dearth of distractions (all of the above notwithstanding), as well as a vibrant supporting cast, and words.

Despite the icon, there was no Ravenloft tonight. With two missing people, we played Vampire: Prince of the City instead, which confirmed its status as a game of nasty manoeuvring and backstabbing. Good stuff.

We also sort of had a discussion about trying to make the roleplaying flow better. It has been my experience that Meaningful Discussion always ends badly but, only halfway through the story of my life, we shall see.

Otherwise I've been, well, cataloguing. Eek.

This afternoon we saw an episode of Life on Mars (1.5) that only remotely made sense if all the characters were profoundly drunk -- and the writer too. But it was funny.

I haven't played World of Warcraft (more than 10 minutes, anyway), but here's an interesting article on gold farming (rego possibly reqd).

I bought Richard Flanagan's The Unknown Terrorist today, a book that has had a mixed reception, although some are very impressed. If anyone at Convergence thought I was crazed, yes, this is the book I called The Accidental Terrorist during one particular panel (that turns out to be somewhat different).

Hasn't terrorism done cheerful things to the horror genre?

In other news we watched the first episode of Special Unit 2, which is sort of X-Files on bad acid, and played the undead supplement of Dungeon Twister. All praise the Angel of Light, for she is a righteous bitch.

Had a good panel yesterday on Slipping the Liminal (some sort of South American dance, I believe), but mostly I was out playing games.

Caught up with the nephews and beheld (and held) my new-born niece, then got down to the serious business. Thanks to the nice people at Caterpillar Games, the presents went down very well. I got them The Black Pirate and Ticket to Ride (Europe) which were enthusiastically received (I think dad was rather fond of the train game as well).

Then it was off to artbroken's for some Dungeoneer which was fun. Sort of like Betrayal at House on the Hill with less cooperation and more monsters.

Also have been reading The Darkness Within. (It amuses me that the three guys in our heroine's life before the novel starts share the name of other Lothian authors -- Brett, Martin and David. It's like an augury caught in amber.)

Back to panels, it's a truism that those on similar topics become overly familiar year to year. This is not an unexpected or necessarily bad thing (insert another truism about us all being here for networking, those of us that can manage it). It's a pity I missed out on the Wild Palms panel, since I think that sort of specific topic is a good thing. Had I not been so disorganised this year, I should have tried to continue my already aborted series on horror directors. One day...

If I told you about the review I wrote today, for Rocky Wood's Stephen King: The Non-Fiction, would that be meta-meta-meta-non-fiction?

It's been a more or less productive weekend: more than usual, less than actually productive. Our Ravenloft game was scuttled by a combination of a medieval fair and food poisoning -- not experienced by the same person -- so we played Vampire: Prince of the City. Kyla's winning streak is becoming lengthy.

I've been updating the website for the new book (we have hit Copper status on rpgdrivethru, putting us in the top 7.5% of products, which seems good for a coupla days), and various comics, including the funky CAB: Collaborative Auto-Biography. My date for wrestling with myspace draws ever closer. First I might have to wrestle for the right not to be subjected to Nova FM at the office.

ETA: cashews! I have eaten my first nuts in 15 years. So far so good...

It has been a week for big boxes.

A while ago I ordered a book from another publisher through Cemetery Dance. They weren't able to supply it (apparently the first time an external arrangement fell through), so in recompense they gave me twice the value in credit. With that I ordered a grab bag, in this case 5 random books plus a magazine. It arrived today, and by chance or design, I got almost exactly what I would have ordered -- three books I was already considering buying (Development Hell, Prodigal Blues and The Long Last Call), plus Sinister Purposes, which looks interesting. Also yet another copy of The Road to the Dark Tower, but hey. All very nice.

Yesterday my order from MilSims arrived. Expedition to the Demonweb Pits (maybe by the time I get through Ravenloft, I'll have some idea how to run combat), and Vampire: Prince of the City (maybe this will stop the self-destructive urges to play the RPG. All those Kindred of the East books... shudder).

ETA: re Prince of the City. I was just about to sweep the city with my beneficent rule, when a Nosferatu came along and thumped me at precisely the wrong moment. Bugger.

ETFA: I guess I should add last week's booty as well. I entered a competition because of vague interest in the Spiderman 3 soundtrack, and ended up with the CD, a t-shirt and a cap... Since Spiderman 1 turned me off subsequent superhero movies (Batman Begins being an mostly honourable exception), this seems somewhat odd.

Thinks: after a seven-day week of heavy programming, RoboRally may not have been the best way to unwind.

It was a bastard of a game for everyone, but by the end I wasn't even counting squares properly. I managed to win Three Dragon Ante though, which is a weird but interesting game (this is what happened when I gave up looking for a tarokka deck).

Not much to report. Have been programming. Missed John Howard yesterday. There was a big function for the staff this week which I managed to get to, in which they smuggled in a professional comedian disguised as a visiting US professor come to address us.  It just got sillier and sillier, which was great.

Thinks: should go to bed now.

We started off by going over to jack_ryder and murasaki_1966's for Friday dinner, and playing some Inkognito and Dungeon Twister. I think in both cases they can be counted as introductory games to get us used to what is going on, but it was a good evening.

Saturday was the second session of my new Ravenloft game, using Expedition to Castle Ravenloft. As is entirely usual I am somewhat disappointed with my presentation of events, but I'm certainly not ready to abandon things either. Thus far our party of doughty (or at least pretty) adventurers have been attacked by a giant animated midden, received a desperate request for aid from Borovia (bearer of said message being displayed as a carnival freak by his brother — said brother dying soon afterwards), been attacked by an animated toll-bridge and ambushed by a psychotic dwarf. They have also spent an evening in Borovia, a rustic set of ruins in a mountain valley which was all very pleasant. (chainofsuns includes a journal of the adventure from one player.)

On Sunday we went to see The Fountain and Pan's Labyrinth, a somewhat thematic pair of movies. We were then considering Hannibal Rising for some light relief.

(Instead we came home and saw the Nikita episode where she is asked to kill Operations — her boss. One side claims he killed her father, the other that he is her father. As is the nature of things, both were lying.)

I also read the first of the Dark Tower comics. It was pretty good. Nothing new (with the exception of some information at the end of the story at the back), and the art didn't blow me away, but it all worked well enough.

Meanwhile it turns out I will indeed be in Melbourne on Wednesday, but it is there and back on the day, so there's no time to catch up with people.

OK, so perhaps I can confirm the existence of a certain t-shirt. And introduce my Second Life character as well.

( Cut in the hope no-one is watching )

Kyla has made me my very own cryptic crossword, with a hidden message and all. It looks a little something like this:

( Read more... )

How utterly fabulous.

I bought two packets of Perplex City cards, after receiving a freebie recently. I've never been into these collectable things — well, not since the Hellraiser cards (since they were released with the third movie I could probably track down a year for that, but I won't). This is for an entirely predictable reason — I have no-one to swap with.

But if anyone does want an unused #113, here I be.

Meanwhile, saw The Prestige. Somebody seems to have been arrested at the end of the movie (no, not on the screen).

I bought a Herald at the work cafeteria, only to later discover the Sudoku and comics have been torn out.

To the culprit: I have your number in the top left corner. Don't call the cops and no-one will get hurt.

(At least they left the DA crossword alone, or I'd be cross.)

Dungeon Twister is a very cool game, and the two expansions thus far both make it work in interesting new ways.

I shall retain some shred of dignity, however, by not giving you a blow by blow description of recent battles.

I've created another cryptic crossword for the AHWA: Horror Crossword #2. I'm rather proud of this one. It is a little more unified than #1 (which was itself pretty good, I think), and doesn't share the small but embarrassing flaw. It also requires a lot less knowledge of Australian horror in particular, for those elsewhere.

It's even somewhat topical, but to find out why you'll just have to give it a go.