December 24, 2003
And goodnight...
Ok just about to finish work so this will have to be a quicky.
Good news for Planetary fans the game's afoot with issue 18, The Gun Club. All about the first moon mission back in the 19th Century, looking good from what I can see.
Christmas Flash nonsense with this paper snowflake maker. Quite fun to waste time if you're at work over christmas. (And Ed must post his chaver simulator on here soon btw).
Oh and briefly some topics I may return to, Man wins case to have unreal stolen property returned. Asian gamer who lost on-line items to hackers wins court case to have them re-created by the game designers.
And related the dark side of Alphaville and the Sims On-Line. Peter Ludlow, philosphy professor and author of the Alphaville Herald has been kicked off the Sims by Maxis after exposing some of the darker aspects of the Sims, Shadow Governments, The Mafia, the trade in on-line goods for real money and prostitution.
Peter Ludlow runs the Alphaville Herald as a way to research the emerging social structures in on-line games and I can't help wonder what he'd think of game's like Omega and Maelstrom.
Right I'm off to brave the rabid hoards of Oxford Street to hunt and gather a DVD for my mum's present, wish me luck against the shambling hoards.
Oh try picture number eight it funny.
Post-its
Haven't posted in a while. I've been horribly busy, and yet somehow, I still haven't found the time to write Time Of Legends.
In the New Year, I have a gloriously long post in the making, a fascinating tale of cities, monkeys, bad websites and how saying the word fuck to a workshy cretin can sometimes work to your advantage.
But for now, just have a Happy Christmas, and I'll bore you all with tales of my daring do in the New Year.
December 14, 2003
Scenes from the Underground
I'm sitting on a train on the District line, when a gentleman with a puffer jacket and short cropped hair comes on board. He is greeted by a gentlemen in similar attire with the words "Hey man when did you get out?".
"Last Week" He says.
"But I thought you had another 8 months to go?" The other gentlemen says.
"Nah".
"But man weren't you in for Manslaughter?"
I raise my eyebrows and re-arrange my reading material so they can't see the expression on my face.
"I don't want to talk about it."
"Come on. If you'd have said something I'd have come and met you. So what was it like inside?"
"Look I know you're one of my oldest mates and I've known you for ages but I don't want to talk about it."
"But what was it like?"
"Look mate If you don't stop I've got something in my fucking pocket for you".
"I'm just asking...so what was the food like?"
"Look mate I've got a knife in my pocket."
The train pulls into a station, I make exaggerated movements indicating that this is my stop and get off. I move up the platform and get back on the train. As I walk away the other gentleman is still saying, "I just want to know what it was like."
London it's a funny old place at times.
December 13, 2003
Got my groove back.
Pagga and Oblivion LRP mentioned in the Grauniard. Yay us.
Play god and terrorise some puny mortals
In a similar vein Bears?
Sonata for the Unaware lovely little musical experiment where the music is created by the movement of people through a station in Philidelphia, it's quite eerie at times. A warning though, you'll need a good internet connection for this one. Props to Flowers for the tip.
Oooh iDuck, it glows in the dark too.
Bacteria that eat RADIATION!, they apparently have the ability to manipulate electrons in metals and convert radioactive waste dissolved in water into solids. Theoretical uses include cleaning up contaminated land and being part of a biological battery. See kids science is cool.
Charley Says... The Best Public Information Films In The World, for students and everyone who misses the public information films of yesteryear. Includes the legendary "Lonely Water" and Tufty the Squirrel. [Thanks to robcee]
Working Title's website with pictures for the Shaun of the Dead, a zombie film from the team that brought you Spaced (click on work in progress and then click on those small circles under the main screen, you'll find it eventually...bloody badly deisgned flash sites). Also the new trailer for Thunderbirds if you can get it to work.
Nicholas Van Whatisface joins the Samaritans, a man who once described his tenants as 'Filth'. World stocks of irony were today described as 'dangerously low'.
And finally What Muppet are you?
December 11, 2003
Random Intarweb Tat
Mordant is having trouble wrangling her spirit guides. Not only have they demanded their own weblog but now they're just getting weird.
How much do you really know about London? Try testing your Knowledge. Or you could always go Underground
Mud Mosques Of Mali beautiful pictures of sacred sites the world over.
December 10, 2003
Reasons to be angry
I sed bad wurd. This is the story of a young kid who was disciplined for explaining to another child that his parents were lesbians and what exactly that meant.
This resulted in him being forced sign a behaviour contract and attend a special behavioural clinic at his school where he had to write “I will never use the word ‘gay’ in school again” repeatedly on the blackboard. The ACLU is, however cheerfully suing the school for breaching the child's rights, which is good.
But don't get too smug Kent Council want to Bring back Section 28 in this country.
Also in the news, War After The War an interesting article from the New Yorker which just about sums up many of my feeling about how America went to war with Iraq, more a matter of ideology than pragmatism. Oh and if you missed it, proof that there are still sane American's out there, almost the entire defence team of military laywers for the Guantanamo prisoners have resigned after protesting at the restrictions placed upon them by the defence department.
I've also just found out that Black Isle Studios is closing. This is the games studio that brought us Fallout, Fallout2 and possibly the best computer RPG ever Planescape: Torment.
I wasted a large amount of time on these three games in my misspent youth, mainly because they had something most computer games lack, a story. I still remember the ending in Fallout simply because of the pathos in it, you save your people and are exiled because you are now the danger to their society. And who'd have thought you could have become so attached to a small lump of pixels in the shape of a dog called Dogmeat.
And then there's Torment, this was a game which asked the question 'What can change the nature of a man' and tells the story of how a scarred amnesiac gradually comes to understand the answer to that question. Yes it's a D&D based computer game, but dear god did it have story and characterisation in spades. Did I mention the characters, your best buddy Morte is a floating skull who has a mean line in wise cracks not to mention the 'good' Succubi Falls from Grace, Annah the Tanari and all the rest. It has some of the best voice acting of any game and the dialog was not the cliched soap opera of Metal Gear Solid, it was good. And finally there was the world, Torment takes what to my mind is the best D&D world, Planescape, and brings it alive, Lady of Pain and all.
*sigh* RIP Black Isle, you made some damm fine wastes of time, games that were actually works of art.
And finally I stumbled into Fopp on Charing Cross Road on Tuesday after a traumatic encounter with a large number of rugby supporting males and found they had a large number of Gollancz SF Masterworks for only three pounds each (they're on the floor next to the counter). Lots of Phillip K Dick, John Wyndham, Robert A. Heinlein, Greg Bear, Michael Moorcock and many more. They also do some properly priced CD's, i.e. a tenner or less in many cases. Must ration my visits or this could get expensive.
Villains run free
This story about slum lord Nicholas Van Hoogstraten getting away scott-free has coloured my mood a lovely black.
It looks to me that Hoogstraten, (once immortalised in a Carter USM song), has got away with murder. (*)
When I was working for a London news website, the Hoogstraten case was one I helped report on, with the aid of many other fine journalists. Cases like this should be why people become reporters, and court work is the closest thing there is to pure, bias free news you can get.
My former employers had reams of stories on the bastard. I'm saddened to discover that there's not a whiff of it on their site, which is pity, because this should be a huge story for any London news group worth it's salt.
I know that it is better that the guilty walk free rather than allow an innocent man to be imprisoned, but this man is a monster straight out of Gotham, and I doubt that the justice system will be lucky enough to catch him out again.
In unrelated cheeriness (which I need right now, because I hate seeing the justice sytem fuck up.)
Of course, that's just how I see it. As far as the court is concerned he's innocent, yadda yadda. Really I've just stuck this here to piss of people looking for libel, not that anyone would want to sue Pagga :P
The threat of legal action, the last restort of a scumbag.
December 07, 2003
Childish things
Artificer creators Zephyrus 23, aka Kelly and Abigail have finally announced dates for their first game.
Sadly it isn't the rather excellent looking frock coats, intrigue and blackpowder game, Artificer, but rather Everichon, a Tribe-8 inspired piece of Sci-fi horror. Should be good. At it's at Middlewood scout camp in March, so it's not too far away.
Everything else is cunningly hidden:
Christ the hero
Very long Comics Round Up
Memes
the Super Christian is rather frightening, but has set me wondering if the Second Coming will involve a the messiah turning up in Spandex.
Talking of super heroes, I've just got a grab bag of comics in. Let's have a rummage:
New X-men no 149: Ascension of Mankind, Magneto goes nuts, evolutionary yadda yadda thingy. A filler issue whilst Morrison plugs plot gaps. If this doesn't end with a bang I shall be upset.
Promethea no 28: Fucking hell. Now that's how you fill in the plot gaps. Mr Morrison, go to the back of the class and learn from a master. If you haven't been following Alan Moores 'Book of Magic which is also a comic book tale' then I'm not going to ruin any of it by telling you the story, just go read.
But the next issue is called the Valley of The Dolls. Guess which villain is back?
Bear No 3: Aceness. The British answer to those tedious balck and white Goth comics that appeared when Johnny The Homicidal Maniac became popular. This month, the creators put a cute Teddy Bear in The Somme. And make it funny.
Hell Blazer no 190: For the love of fuck Keanu, read this comic. And realise that you could never play the role. Carey's run as been better than some, and he plays on the theme that Constantine is in his early forties now. He's getting old, and he's making more mistakes. And yes, the blonde bastards luck is finally running out. Good stuff, and almost a return to form for the horror comic that can't die.
1602 no 4: Neil Gaiman rewrites Marvel history, and sets it all in the dying days of the Gloriana. It's taken a couple of issues to get into it's stride, and Gaiman is still trying to squeeze in all the Marvel Icons into his tale, to the detriment of the story.
Hopefully, he's done with the introductions. I like his take on Nick Fury and Daredevil, but I can't help but wonder if the charcters work so well merely because they're classic Marvel characters, and not because of Gaiman's talent. I expect more from creative superstars than simple re-writes of classic characters.
The Ultimates no 12: If you haven't seen Brian Bendis's re-write of Marvel's Avengers, then do try and read the first book. Remarkably, it's the series that has made me care about that Capitialist running dog, Captain America, and makes the shape shifting super aliens, The Skrull, very scary indeed. Also, Bendis's Hulk is genius. Hulk smash Freddy Prinz Jnr indeed.
Thor: The Vikings: The whole run has been ace, a return to form for Garth Ennis, who's concentrated on telling a ghost story instead of stringing a series of fart gags together for a change. His take on Dr Strange (as a dapper piss-artist) works, and he keeps the war bollocks to a mimimum. Still, it could be better.
Avengers Vs JLA: Currently half way through it limited series run, and I'm bloody loving it. Sadly, this isn't an indication of my taste, more how much of sad fan boy I am. Obscure references to the tragedy of the Scarlett Witch's marriage anyone? Rarely seen cosmic artifacts and villians? Metron picking fights with Eternity? Only a fanboy should care. Brilliant, if you happen to be a geek, probably very tedious if you aren't.
Romantic movie! You probably won't star in a porno
anytime soon. You seem to be really into the
whole "love" thing...romantic sex
with perfumed sheets and candles all over the
place. You're probably a hopeless romantic. You
value sex and respect your partner too much to
do anything like porn. AWWWWWW! <3
What kind of porno would you star in?
brought to you by Quizilla
I'm a generally unfuckwitted, liberal, tight as fuck, relatively well adjusted human being!
See how compatible you are with me!
Brought to you by Rum and Monkey
December 05, 2003
Look at the time.
Just look.
I know no one will believe me otherwise. I've just finished work.
Arrgh, my aching mind.
06.09 as I type this.
And. I. can't. fucking. sleep. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHH!
FUUUUUUCK.
pop.
Iyam Legion. for we am wakey.
Share my pain damn you!
Bastards.
(Not directed at anyone specific. So I can say what I like...)
(Cuntstacks.)
December 01, 2003
Cats = Evil
Spent a fun weekend with Sarah moving Sam Lee up to his home town of Birmingham over the weekend and catching the GD AGM on the Saturday.
Sam has an impressive collection of games and books which we definately needed a van to shift. Didn't mind as driving a van is fun and his mum did us some very nice curry when we got there. Got to ogle Sam's family's immense collection of books as well, when I grow up I want a library just like that.
We all tromped off to the AGM the next day where I proceeded to get rather drunk, no idea why it just seemed like the thing to do. Don't think I was obnoxious apart from my habitual drunk apologies and I didn't walk around in my underware like certain larpers I know, which was good. Talked to about a third of the people I wanted to as both the refs and the Maelstrom posse were up early the next day. Hopefully I'll see more of the Brum crowd now that Sam's up there.
Oh there was a strange individual handing cards out about this game that looks kinda cool.
Oh and here and here are some articles telling how a common cat parasite is also present in about fifty per cent of the UK population's brains, possibly altering their behaviour. Now tell me which David Croneberg film I'm thinking of...
Rhythm Is A Dancer...
I know him, he lives in Clapham.
I'm unemployed and in Edinburgh. These are two marvelous feelings, I however ache like a violated pastry (yeah? well you don't know either.) owing to the seventeen hour day that was saturday.
The company were lovely, and bought me many fabulous gifts...
I am win.
I am also free of any contract to my former employers and back to freelancing around the big smoke that is London. (BTW if you know me and live near westbourne park, tell me.)
Spent a fun evening trying to look like I wasn't avoiding or following anyone (which sincerly I wasn't... Fine. Fuck you. ) whilst also doing card tricks in a bar called Beluga on chambers st. at Evil's birthday party (i'faith it was Evil, Nat and Vick who aged). I was required to wear something shiney, I had to use smarm.
There is no point to this whole tyrade, I never use them, they make me wheeze.
Feeling good about humanity as a whole, may go back to uni and get degree, then go work for BP, or the MOD as I've discovered I can. My word I'll have theatre as a fallback option.
That's dumb, right?
Other news, my freind Sam is especially loved up over her chap, Dan, and one really can't help but be cheery for her too.
Awww.
I have no idea what to do with myself till thursday, though I'm writing a pantomime tomorrow with two friends.
F... Y.. Y.. F...... F...
First to guess the mystery phrase above wins a seeeeecret prize.
Use the comments function, the winner will be notified with words, at some point. Probably by the 19th of december.
Pooki pooki pook?