Because I think anonymous comments are cowardly and create a built in dead end to any kind of dialogue, I’ve instituted comment moderation. Any post where the poster is unidentified/unfamiliar will just get deleted before it appears on my blog. The alternative is making all my friends sign up for an account here, but I don’t want to do that.
All posts in Geek
Since I Gave up Hope I Feel a Lot Better
I’ve been looking for a song to serve as a soundtrack for these musings, for this week. All the old standards just didn’t suffice. But then it came to me.
Here lies the answer and end to the quest.
Bad
-U2
If you twist and turn away
If you tear yourself in two again
If I could, yes I would
If I could, I would
Let it go
Surrender
Dislocate
If I could throw this
Lifeless lifeline to the wind
Leave this heart of clay
See you walk, walk away
Into the night
And through the rain
Into the half-light
And through the flame
If I could through myself
Set your spirit free
I’d lead your heart away
See you break, break away
Into the light
And to the day
To let it go
And so to fade away
To let it go
And so fade away
I’m wide awake
I’m wide awake
Wide awake
I’m not sleeping
Oh, no, no, no
If you should ask then maybe they’d
Tell you what I would say
True colors fly in blue and black
Bruised silken sky and burning flag
Colors crash, collide in blood shot eyes
If I could, you know I would
If I could, I would
Let it go…
This desperation
Dislocation
Separation
Condemnation
Revelation
In temptation
Isolation
Desolation
Let it go
And so fade away
To let it go
And so fade away
To let it go
And so to fade away
I’m wide awake
I’m wide awake
Wide awake
I’m not sleeping…
Narnia
I simply cannot be objective about this movie. I have *always* wanted to go to Narnia and those books are forever imprinted on me. They are important and formative works for me. Even as the opening credits started, my eyes were already welling with tears. As best as I can recollect, nothing was left out. Several dramatic sequences were added, but they seemed entirely appropriate. The movie took its time to tell the story. All the perfect, holy moments were unchanged. And there were gryphons! My heart filled to the brim with joy for the entire movie. At the end I had to go to the restroom to compose myself. And then Stavros asked me what I thought of it and I just started blubbering, unable to speak. I eventually managed to say, “I can’t talk about it right now, but it was perfect.”
The movie spoke to a part of me that doesn’t often get to come out so fully and express his deep childlike wonder and innocence.
RSS Feed
Special thanls to Dave at Chub Creek for pointing out that my RSS feed was broken. If you were subscribed that way, you haven’t been getting new posts for quite some time!
An extraordinary evening
The other night I went to this local board gaming group and had a completely unprecedented experience. First of all, this guy has a whole guesthouse just for games. His library contained pretty much every Euro game I had ever heard of. At least 150 games. Then he introduces me to one of their regular members, the owner of Rio Grande Games. I got to playtest two games, one that was a prototype, one that isn’t available here yet. They were really fun. There was also a stack of games that debuted at Essen (the big German game expo) that you can’t get here yet. Just sitting there!
And get this: when Jay, the owner of Rio Grande, found out I was a graphic artist, he asked me to bring him samples of my work next time because he needed a graphic artist for an upcoming game. It was like a weird dream. I didn’t even push for any of it to happen, he was just there and he asked if I did graphics for game design. I would not mind doing graphics for a board game that would be published by one of the most recognized publishers in the world.
Serenity
Thanks to a heads up from Stavros, I now hold a pass to the advance screening of Serenity on the 28th! Yes!
Everything’s Not Lost
Tonight I realized that, if I’m not careful, I start running a script in my head about how things “ought” to be in a given situation. Like at a concert, you’re supposed to do certain things, act a certain way. It’s game theory, really, the semi-conscious response to unwritten social rules. I find that when I obey the script and not my heart, I am very unhappy. The script said I needed to be at the concert with someone, perhaps a pretty girl. I was supposed to be a big fan and shiver in anticipation. I was supposed to jump around and be excited that someone was playing on the stage. I find that I can’t even walk straight when I’m going against my own path, let alone put on some facade of “thrilled concert goer.” As soon as I stopped scoping out women, stopped feeling sorry about the fact that I was there by myself, stopped being concerned about what I should do when the band was playing, I became supremely happy and at ease. It was perfectly okay to sit and write and occasionally remember that Coldplay was putting on a great show. I didn’t want my thoughts interrupted. I didn’t want to worry if some hypothetical date was having a good time. I didn’t want a script to interfere with my sense of self or my peace.
Inspiration
Sometimes I wonder why I find myself in certain situations, but then a magical catalyst of environment and circumstance gels together to inspire an idea. Tonight, at the excellent Coldplay concert, I was struck by an idea for House of Whack so brilliant that I impressed myself. I sat on the hillside of the Journal Pavilion, scribbling on my notepad while my muse played on stage, accompanied by some of the best visual effects I had seen at a concert.
In my own playtesting of version 2, I have been surprised at how much better the game is. I am rarely ecstatic about anything I’ve made, but I have to say that I’m feeling pretty clever lately. Version 2 is very, very good. But this epiphany I had tonight kicks the dial up to 11. I’ve devised something so astonishing and cool. It will demonstrate the power and flexibility of the Whack system. Yes, “system.” As in d20, as in GURPS.
On the other hand, I might be the only one interested in this idea at all, but we’ll see…