There is much awesomeness in the new Doctor Who season 6 trailer!
Well, it's been more than year since my last post, and much has happened since then.
I've become more active on other blogs, we've moved to a different home, and the nature of my work has changed yet again.
Plus, I'm a year older and getting that feeling that I have to move faster to get things done.
I've become more active on other blogs, we've moved to a different home, and the nature of my work has changed yet again.
Plus, I'm a year older and getting that feeling that I have to move faster to get things done.
There's an upside: reduced traffic, seemingly fresher air, and a lot of quiet time -- I tend not to listen to the radio when driving these days. Also, there's a chance to alter my breakfast diet on these mornings; a chance I seldom take advantage of. And I get to work early, avoiding the morning elevator rush, and some time to do some early web surfing (hello Pet Society and Restaurant City!) before work.
But I miss having my wife beside me -- to chat with, to sing with, or to ride alongside with in silence -- on these mornings. And I miss the morning chance to play with my son and get lucky enough to see his toothy grin.
Star Trek - The Reboot
I know, it's not quite a reboot or a retcon. The time travel rationale (which has been used before in the Star Trek universe) that allows for this "alternate reality" Star Trek allows us to enjoy all the old Original Series episodes and Next Gen episodes along with whatever they're going to do with this rebooted franchise.
Still, this is done all the time in other media. When the venerable Gundam anime series had already established dozens of episodes in the original universe, all of a sudden: alternate Gundam universes starting popping up with similar characters and recognizable mecha designs -- the most successful of which was the Gundam Wing series. Interestingly enough, they still kept releasing shows set in the original universe -- sidestories involving new characters or adventures in the past or the future of the original series.
Comic books are notorious for retcons and reboots. Marvel has done their Ultimate version of their universe, where people swear and are nasty and betray one another and look a lot like well-known actors. Wait, that's the Ultimates. Ultimate Spider-man was actually pretty good as a reboot, getting back to the heart of the character and reinventing it for modern audiences. Before the Ultimate line, however, there was the short lived Heroes Reborn series of comics, which had mostly good art and hit-or-miss writing.
DC is the champion of the reboot, of course. They did the famous Crisis on Infinite Earths, allowing them to reboot everything -- condensing their multiverses into a single universe! And then just recently, they did Final Crisis, allowing them to bring back the multiverse (and all those alternate reality versions of their primary universe, of course).
There'll always be naysayers -- people unhappy with the latest incarnation of the characters and the storylines -- but if the stories are good, if the TV shows are good, if the movies are good, then the characters and the universes they inhabit should flourish as they attract more and more fans.
Starbursts, Cylons, Starkillers, and Fireflies – Oh My!
This first appeared on the New Worlds site, but I'm reposting it here for the heck of it.
Role Playing in Science Fiction’s Universes
Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) is not only the grand-daddy of all Role-Playing Games (RPGs), it’s also part of the mental image that most people associate have with the hobby: a handful of players sitting around a table, rolling dice, pretending they’re fighters, mages, thieves and clerics in a generic fantasy setting.
Nothing wrong with that, of course – many gamers have a fond memory of the time they triumphed over slavering hordes of orcs or vanquished an obscenely powerful dragon. It’s just that the vistas that are open to aficionados of RPGs include so many genres and subgenres of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror that RPG players often find it painful to explain their hobby as “Dungeons and Dragons, but with spaceships.” Furthermore, generic settings can sometimes lead to a desire to adventure in specific, familiar universe. Perhaps some would find it more satisfying to say: “We’re playing ex-Peacekeepers in the universe of Farscape”; or “we’re playing members of an anti-Cylon conspiracy”; or “we’re playing cash-hungry cutthroats on a Firefly-class ship”.
Generic Settings and Intellectual Property
Of course, it’s not the fault of D&D that it started the entire hobby, and it’s certainly not it’s fault that it has been labeled as “generic” despite a healthy run of novels set in its wildly successful Forgotten Realms fantasy universe. D&D carved out its mindshare across the decards despite early run-ins with the intellectual property police: some of its earliest races included hobbits, balrogs, and ents before they ran afoul of Tolkien’s estate and some of its earliest spell names were lifted from Jack Vance’s works, along with its famous “cast-and-forget” spell mechanic.
Learning lessons from D&D, some of the earliest forays into Science Fiction RPG settings had universes big enough to handle the Science Fiction novels and movies of the time: Traveller, Star Frontiers, and Space Opera allowed you to explore strange new worlds, engage in blaster duels in darkly lit space stations, and triumph over overwhelming numbers of starships in space dogfights.
Fortunately, because of the original Star Wars trilogy’s success with merchandising, RPGs have – at last – become acceptable forms of merchandise, allowing licensed RPGs to come out for a variety of popular movie and TV properties.
There were some early successes – the original Star Wars RPG by West End Games, along with some beloved also-rans (the Ghostbusters RPG and the Men in Black RPG, also by West End Games) – that helped spur on an ever-increasing number of Science Fiction universes into licensed RPG-dom.
If your taste of Science Fiction gravitates to playing rogues and criminal on the run, you may wish to try out either of the following RPGs:
In the Farscape Roleplaying Game, you get to adventure in the most dangerous region of populate space, playing battle-hardened Luxans, sly Nebari, or starlost humans, experiencing the thrill and terror of being pursued by relentless Peacekeepers. With D20 system stats for characters from the show, you can test your cunning against Scorpius, armwrestle D’Argo or race your own stolen leviathan against Talyn.
If you can’t find these games in print at local game stores, you might want to get them in PDF form from online stores like RPGNow (http://www.rpgnow.com/).
But hurry – if sales for an RPG dip low enough, the game publishers may not renew their license, or perhaps the owners of the intellectual property may wish to go with another publisher and another incarnation of the licensed RPG; this is what happened to Babylon 5 and its ill-fated RPG line.
Babylon 5 – Hope and Faith
In 1997, The Babylon Project was released – the first licensed Babylon 5 RPG, published by Chameleon Eclectic Entertainment. Sadly, due to insufficient support and financial problems, it failed.
In 2003, The Babylon 5 RPG came out, licensed by Mongoose Publishing. It was well-supported, with sourcebooks and adventure material churned out on a regular basis. Encouraged, Mongoose Publishing released a Second Edition of the Babylon 5 RPG, with rules additions and refinements designed to bring the game closer to the feel and scope of the epic TV series.
Sadly, in the absence of any new Babylon 5-related stories in the media, Mongoose Publishing has decided not to renew its license this year, meaning that at some point during 2009 available material for this game will just… stop.
But nothing is forever, so if you want a opportunity to adventure using official Babylon 5 RPG material (or any of the aforementioned RPGs) – get your copies now, while the game publishers still have the license.
Unless, of course, you believe that the current incarnations are not your last best hopes of adventuring in these universes, and that you have faith that something newer and better will appear some time in the future.
This first appeared on the New Worlds site, but I'm reposting it here for the heck of it.
Role Playing in Science Fiction’s UniversesDungeons and Dragons (D&D) is not only the grand-daddy of all Role-Playing Games (RPGs), it’s also part of the mental image that most people associate have with the hobby: a handful of players sitting around a table, rolling dice, pretending they’re fighters, mages, thieves and clerics in a generic fantasy setting.
Nothing wrong with that, of course – many gamers have a fond memory of the time they triumphed over slavering hordes of orcs or vanquished an obscenely powerful dragon. It’s just that the vistas that are open to aficionados of RPGs include so many genres and subgenres of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror that RPG players often find it painful to explain their hobby as “Dungeons and Dragons, but with spaceships.” Furthermore, generic settings can sometimes lead to a desire to adventure in specific, familiar universe. Perhaps some would find it more satisfying to say: “We’re playing ex-Peacekeepers in the universe of Farscape”; or “we’re playing members of an anti-Cylon conspiracy”; or “we’re playing cash-hungry cutthroats on a Firefly-class ship”.
Generic Settings and Intellectual Property
Of course, it’s not the fault of D&D that it started the entire hobby, and it’s certainly not it’s fault that it has been labeled as “generic” despite a healthy run of novels set in its wildly successful Forgotten Realms fantasy universe. D&D carved out its mindshare across the decards despite early run-ins with the intellectual property police: some of its earliest races included hobbits, balrogs, and ents before they ran afoul of Tolkien’s estate and some of its earliest spell names were lifted from Jack Vance’s works, along with its famous “cast-and-forget” spell mechanic.Learning lessons from D&D, some of the earliest forays into Science Fiction RPG settings had universes big enough to handle the Science Fiction novels and movies of the time: Traveller, Star Frontiers, and Space Opera allowed you to explore strange new worlds, engage in blaster duels in darkly lit space stations, and triumph over overwhelming numbers of starships in space dogfights.
Fortunately, because of the original Star Wars trilogy’s success with merchandising, RPGs have – at last – become acceptable forms of merchandise, allowing licensed RPGs to come out for a variety of popular movie and TV properties.
There were some early successes – the original Star Wars RPG by West End Games, along with some beloved also-rans (the Ghostbusters RPG and the Men in Black RPG, also by West End Games) – that helped spur on an ever-increasing number of Science Fiction universes into licensed RPG-dom.
If your taste of Science Fiction gravitates to playing rogues and criminal on the run, you may wish to try out either of the following RPGs:
In the Farscape Roleplaying Game, you get to adventure in the most dangerous region of populate space, playing battle-hardened Luxans, sly Nebari, or starlost humans, experiencing the thrill and terror of being pursued by relentless Peacekeepers. With D20 system stats for characters from the show, you can test your cunning against Scorpius, armwrestle D’Argo or race your own stolen leviathan against Talyn.
In the award-winning Serenity Role Playing Game you can carve out your own corner of Joss Whedon’s ‘Verse by taking on every paying job that a tough-talking, gun-slinging, silver-tongue ship crew can handle. Just be careful: there are dangers aplenty awaiting you – Alliance patrols, rival crews, thieves, assassins, and the much-reviled Reavers.
If you haven’t had your fill of terrible odds and difficult choices, you might want to try your hand at the Battlestar Galactica Role Playing Game! Try your hand at being one of the outgunned and outnumbered survivors of the Twelve Colonies struggling against their human-looking Cylon oppressors.
If you can’t find these games in print at local game stores, you might want to get them in PDF form from online stores like RPGNow (http://www.rpgnow.com/).
But hurry – if sales for an RPG dip low enough, the game publishers may not renew their license, or perhaps the owners of the intellectual property may wish to go with another publisher and another incarnation of the licensed RPG; this is what happened to Babylon 5 and its ill-fated RPG line.
Babylon 5 – Hope and FaithIn 1997, The Babylon Project was released – the first licensed Babylon 5 RPG, published by Chameleon Eclectic Entertainment. Sadly, due to insufficient support and financial problems, it failed.
In 2003, The Babylon 5 RPG came out, licensed by Mongoose Publishing. It was well-supported, with sourcebooks and adventure material churned out on a regular basis. Encouraged, Mongoose Publishing released a Second Edition of the Babylon 5 RPG, with rules additions and refinements designed to bring the game closer to the feel and scope of the epic TV series.
Sadly, in the absence of any new Babylon 5-related stories in the media, Mongoose Publishing has decided not to renew its license this year, meaning that at some point during 2009 available material for this game will just… stop.
But nothing is forever, so if you want a opportunity to adventure using official Babylon 5 RPG material (or any of the aforementioned RPGs) – get your copies now, while the game publishers still have the license.
Unless, of course, you believe that the current incarnations are not your last best hopes of adventuring in these universes, and that you have faith that something newer and better will appear some time in the future.
After all, it happened to Star Wars….
It's available on iTunes, y'all, but for those of you who aren't interested in buying it, you may wish to view the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aym8_S3BXKw
Go see Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.
Funny, touching, though Act III kinda startled me with the shift in the storytelling style. The casting of the primaries -- Dr. Horrible (Neil Patrick Harris), Captain Hammer (Nathan Fillion), and Penny (Felicia Day) -- is fantastic and I love the performances.
Here are the lyrics I could make out from one of the songs:
Funny, touching, though Act III kinda startled me with the shift in the storytelling style. The casting of the primaries -- Dr. Horrible (Neil Patrick Harris), Captain Hammer (Nathan Fillion), and Penny (Felicia Day) -- is fantastic and I love the performances.
Here are the lyrics I could make out from one of the songs:
Bad Horse, Bad Horse
Bad Horse, Bad Horse
He rides across the nation, the thoroughbred of sin
He got the application that you just sent in
It needs evaluation, so let the games begin
A heinous crime, a show of force
A murder would be nice of course
Bad Horse, Bad Horse
Bad Horse, He's bad
The Evil League of Evil is watching so beware
The grade that you receive will be the last we swear
So make the battle skillful, or He'll make you his mare
You're saddled up, there's no recourse
It's hi-yo Silver! Signed: Bad Horse
The Newborn Experience
It's wonderful to discover things about infants; every day we're learning something new about our son. Just to recap what we've gotten so far:
1. baby poop has no smell -- at first. It slowly acquires an interesting aroma as it shifts from its initial dark, dark green hue and annoyingly rubber cement-ish consistency to its mustard-and-sesame-seed incarnation (indicating a healthy supply of breastfeeding)
2. our generation is doomed. Those of us who were raised largely on formula are doomed, doomed, doomed, based on the insistent and sometimes downright dictatorial adherence that OB-GYNs and Pediatricians have had on the need to breastfeed. No formula, no bottles, just breastfeed. We understand that breastmilk helps pass on immunities and that it has antibacterial properties, but --
-- it's like we're being told to do something that's good for our son without being told the whole story, because it'll just worry us (neither my wife nor I were breastfed to a great degree, we're mostly formula babies). WHAT AREN'T THEY TELLING US?
3. diaper changing is all about timing: you have to change the diapers as soon as possible so that your child doesn't suffer diaper rash, but not TOO soon or you may discover that he wasn't quite finished. If you're lucky, you'll just have to change the diaper that you just changed. If you're not lucky, well... if it's number one, boys tend to arc their liquid waste. if it's number two, oh boy.
4. laundry load has increased substantially! Even with disposable diapers (sorry, mother earth!) we keep changing blankets, shirts, and sheets with astonishing frequency due to spilled milk, small regurgitated puddles of milk, and the afore-mentioned waste-related accidents associate with diaper changing
5. our child is brilliant! Yes, I'm sure most parents feel this way. I'm savoring the fact that I'm more tickled and proud than annoyed when
- our son wriggles his way out of the tightly-swaddled receiving blanket / straightjacket
- our son interrupts his crying with a patient smile when he thinks he's finally getting what he wanted in the first place (food / diaper change / temperature change)
- our son manages to force off his mittens using both hands
- our son manages to force off his mittens while wrapped ing the blanket / straightjacket
- our son manages to gum my finger off during a particularly alarming state of hunger through a surprising burst of coordination -- he launched himself from one end of the changing mat to the other using only his neck and back muscles (his arm control is still iffy, and his legs were being held because we were changing his diaper)
More news as it develops!
It's wonderful to discover things about infants; every day we're learning something new about our son. Just to recap what we've gotten so far:
1. baby poop has no smell -- at first. It slowly acquires an interesting aroma as it shifts from its initial dark, dark green hue and annoyingly rubber cement-ish consistency to its mustard-and-sesame-seed incarnation (indicating a healthy supply of breastfeeding)
2. our generation is doomed. Those of us who were raised largely on formula are doomed, doomed, doomed, based on the insistent and sometimes downright dictatorial adherence that OB-GYNs and Pediatricians have had on the need to breastfeed. No formula, no bottles, just breastfeed. We understand that breastmilk helps pass on immunities and that it has antibacterial properties, but --
-- it's like we're being told to do something that's good for our son without being told the whole story, because it'll just worry us (neither my wife nor I were breastfed to a great degree, we're mostly formula babies). WHAT AREN'T THEY TELLING US?
3. diaper changing is all about timing: you have to change the diapers as soon as possible so that your child doesn't suffer diaper rash, but not TOO soon or you may discover that he wasn't quite finished. If you're lucky, you'll just have to change the diaper that you just changed. If you're not lucky, well... if it's number one, boys tend to arc their liquid waste. if it's number two, oh boy.
4. laundry load has increased substantially! Even with disposable diapers (sorry, mother earth!) we keep changing blankets, shirts, and sheets with astonishing frequency due to spilled milk, small regurgitated puddles of milk, and the afore-mentioned waste-related accidents associate with diaper changing
5. our child is brilliant! Yes, I'm sure most parents feel this way. I'm savoring the fact that I'm more tickled and proud than annoyed when
- our son wriggles his way out of the tightly-swaddled receiving blanket / straightjacket
- our son interrupts his crying with a patient smile when he thinks he's finally getting what he wanted in the first place (food / diaper change / temperature change)
- our son manages to force off his mittens using both hands
- our son manages to force off his mittens while wrapped ing the blanket / straightjacket
- our son manages to gum my finger off during a particularly alarming state of hunger through a surprising burst of coordination -- he launched himself from one end of the changing mat to the other using only his neck and back muscles (his arm control is still iffy, and his legs were being held because we were changing his diaper)
More news as it develops!
A good friend of mine is fond of stories involving time travel. I enjoy the odd time travel story too, but it's difficult to pull off a time travel story that isn't a bad re-hash of something that's been done before, or something incredibly confusing involving paradoxes and multiple instances of the same person.
However, there is a fantastic game that bends your mind as far as thinking in terms of solving problems through time travel. It's called Chronotron.
Try it!
However, there is a fantastic game that bends your mind as far as thinking in terms of solving problems through time travel. It's called Chronotron.
Try it!
I was perusing the recent pvponline comics and ran across LOLBAT!
Pretty funny! I don't know if it has legs, but for a short strip, quite funny. It assumes that you're familiar with l33tsp3ak or whatever netslang is called.
Pretty funny! I don't know if it has legs, but for a short strip, quite funny. It assumes that you're familiar with l33tsp3ak or whatever netslang is called.
Prepping for a New Arrival
It's getting close to July and our preparations for our soon-to-be son are shifting into high gear. On the schedule for this weekend - clearing up and boxing books from the shelves, figuring out how to transfer two older shelves down to the storage room, and rescheduling the move of the computer table to my sister's room.
And then there's the baby stuff that needs to be bought, and the preparation of the emergency "we gotta go to the hospital NOW" plans and gear.
It's getting close to July and our preparations for our soon-to-be son are shifting into high gear. On the schedule for this weekend - clearing up and boxing books from the shelves, figuring out how to transfer two older shelves down to the storage room, and rescheduling the move of the computer table to my sister's room.
And then there's the baby stuff that needs to be bought, and the preparation of the emergency "we gotta go to the hospital NOW" plans and gear.
So if we look at Nikolai at http://www.behindthename.com/ we see that:
Russian and Bulgarian form of NICHOLAS. A notable bearer was Nikolai Gogol, a 19th-century Russian novelist.
Looking at Nicholas at the same link, we find:
From the Greek name Νικολαος (Nikolaos) which meant "victory of the people" from Greek νικη (nike) "victory" and λαος (laos) "people". Saint Nicholas was a 4th-century bishop from Anatolia who, according to legend, saved the daughters of a poor man from lives of prostitution. He is also known as Santa Claus (from Dutch Sinterklaas), the bringer of Christmas presents. He is the patron saint of children, sailors and merchants, and Greece and Russia. Nicholas was also the name of two czars of Russia and five popes.
When we check out Benjamin, we get:
From the Hebrew name בִנְיָמִין (Binyamin) which means "son of the south" or "son of the right hand". Benjamin in the Old Testament was the twelfth and youngest son of Jacob and the founder of one of the southern tribes of the Hebrews. This name was also borne by Benjamin Franklin, an American statesman, inventor, scientist and philosopher.
Russian and Bulgarian form of NICHOLAS. A notable bearer was Nikolai Gogol, a 19th-century Russian novelist.
Looking at Nicholas at the same link, we find:
From the Greek name Νικολαος (Nikolaos) which meant "victory of the people" from Greek νικη (nike) "victory" and λαος (laos) "people". Saint Nicholas was a 4th-century bishop from Anatolia who, according to legend, saved the daughters of a poor man from lives of prostitution. He is also known as Santa Claus (from Dutch Sinterklaas), the bringer of Christmas presents. He is the patron saint of children, sailors and merchants, and Greece and Russia. Nicholas was also the name of two czars of Russia and five popes.
When we check out Benjamin, we get:
From the Hebrew name בִנְיָמִין (Binyamin) which means "son of the south" or "son of the right hand". Benjamin in the Old Testament was the twelfth and youngest son of Jacob and the founder of one of the southern tribes of the Hebrews. This name was also borne by Benjamin Franklin, an American statesman, inventor, scientist and philosopher.
I've lost interest in Final Crisis because of most of the unintelligable and unengaging stuff going on in Countdown.But this news item sparked my interest.
Yes, Virginia, all the past Legions are now part of DC Continuity! And there's going to be a kick-@$$ story that's going to pit Superman and the heroes of the 31st Century against 'Superboy' and the villains of the 31st Century. Written by Geoff Johns, Art by George Perez.
Oh, I am so there.
I'm tickled to see people like Universo, Dr. Regulus, the Time Trapper, and Validus on this cover.
They're pulling out all the stops in this one, and the crumbling power battery may reveal what actually happens to Rond Vidar!
I got this from my sis, who got this from the following link:
The A-TEAM Movie
If you've been holding your breath for The A-Team movie, well, we feel sorry for you.
But help is on the way for you and your oxygen-deprived brain. So just hold on. Until June 12. Of next year. Feel better? You should, actually.
The release date, as reported by Variety, is the first for the long-discussed, long-suffering project.
John Singleton, who last yelled cut on Four Brothers, will direct; Michael Bandt and Derek Haas, who helped shoot the lights out with 3:10 to Yuma, are writing the screenplay.
As reported, the movie will follow the basic recipe of the 1983-87 TV series: Take four ex-military men; add one war crime they didn't commit; mix in chases, pursuits and more chases.
TubeWatch: 30 Rock
I follow the TV Show 30 Rock. It appeals to my sense of humor, and the characters are somehow both archetypal and unique. The situations usually start somewhat plausibly and in grand network TV tradition spiral into silliness without sacrificing my viewer engagement.
I also like the occasional breaking of the fourth wall to do some serious entertaining while still pushing the storylines forward.
Check out this YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uU8PED5JF8s
I follow the TV Show 30 Rock. It appeals to my sense of humor, and the characters are somehow both archetypal and unique. The situations usually start somewhat plausibly and in grand network TV tradition spiral into silliness without sacrificing my viewer engagement.
I also like the occasional breaking of the fourth wall to do some serious entertaining while still pushing the storylines forward.
Check out this YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uU8PED5JF8s
It's no secret that I'm a fan of the Hero System, especially the Champions super-heroic setting.
Recently, there have been two announcements that promise to shake up the Hero System fandom:
- Hero Games is coming out with a 6th Edition set of its rules in 2009;
- Cryptic Studios is coming out with an MMORPG based on the Champions setting in 2009.
"Cryptic bought the Champions and Dark Champions intellectual property from us — the characters, places, events, and so on — and licensed back to us the right to produce Champions RPG books."
Interestingly, the RULES of the Hero System still belong to Hero Games.
To me this implies that if things go all crappy down the line, Hero Games doesn't own the settings that they created in these genres, but still retain copyright on the ruleset. It also means that Hero Games can technically use all that nice art in their 6th Edition books.
The Cryptic Studios website has a link to the Champions Online MMORPG website and there you'll find the general level of art that I hope to see in the Hero Games books come 2009.
Those Awful Green Things...
Just recently, my wife and I found ourselves looking to overcome boredom (and a potential onset of pregnancy-fuelled nausea), and after enduring several card games that are somewhat boring with two players, I pulled out my copy of "The Awful Green Things from Outer Space."
This is a classic boardgame currently published by Steve Jackson Games, and is surprisingly fun.
The Awful Green Things (played by me) were ultimately defeated by the valiant crew of the ship ZNUTAR (played by my wife). The captain of the ship did extremely well, as did the Robot (before it was destroyed by three adult AGTs). One of the pilots managed to evade them until the showdown in one of the rooms, where he and his fellow pilot were finally eliminated.
Gameplay has interesting choices for the AGT side (which AGTs do I grow this round, and where do I place them) and for the Crew side (which weapons do I use/test, what crew members do I send out). The only problem we really had was handling the counters, which were small and tended to slide on the uneven bed.
Just recently, my wife and I found ourselves looking to overcome boredom (and a potential onset of pregnancy-fuelled nausea), and after enduring several card games that are somewhat boring with two players, I pulled out my copy of "The Awful Green Things from Outer Space."This is a classic boardgame currently published by Steve Jackson Games, and is surprisingly fun.
The Awful Green Things (played by me) were ultimately defeated by the valiant crew of the ship ZNUTAR (played by my wife). The captain of the ship did extremely well, as did the Robot (before it was destroyed by three adult AGTs). One of the pilots managed to evade them until the showdown in one of the rooms, where he and his fellow pilot were finally eliminated.
Gameplay has interesting choices for the AGT side (which AGTs do I grow this round, and where do I place them) and for the Crew side (which weapons do I use/test, what crew members do I send out). The only problem we really had was handling the counters, which were small and tended to slide on the uneven bed.
The Internet, Computers, College, and Guido
That's not his real name, but this guy's an old classmate and roomie of mine from college.
In fact, as on the occasions that we've briefly exchanged e-mail o'er the internet, I was reminded that my initiation to complex world of the Internet, electronics and computers began in those years.
I was, of course, a dabbler in computing - having cut my teeth on Basic and messing around with the old Apple II clones - but I was no where near the level of knowledge and sophistication of Guido. In fact, he introduced me to some of the folks at the Computer Engineering lab and we stomped around in MUDs and I slowly learned about TCP/IP and e-mail and the early HTML uses. I can still remember the lab TAs and some of the students discussing the performance of the early Mosaic browsers and how it compare to Lynx.
Now he's here, visiting along with his girlfriend, and I hope he enjoys his visit (and maybe we'll find a slice of time to meet up, even for a few hours at the airport)!
That's not his real name, but this guy's an old classmate and roomie of mine from college.
In fact, as on the occasions that we've briefly exchanged e-mail o'er the internet, I was reminded that my initiation to complex world of the Internet, electronics and computers began in those years.
I was, of course, a dabbler in computing - having cut my teeth on Basic and messing around with the old Apple II clones - but I was no where near the level of knowledge and sophistication of Guido. In fact, he introduced me to some of the folks at the Computer Engineering lab and we stomped around in MUDs and I slowly learned about TCP/IP and e-mail and the early HTML uses. I can still remember the lab TAs and some of the students discussing the performance of the early Mosaic browsers and how it compare to Lynx.
Now he's here, visiting along with his girlfriend, and I hope he enjoys his visit (and maybe we'll find a slice of time to meet up, even for a few hours at the airport)!
Philippine Speculative Fiction III Book Launch
My short story "The Death and Rebirth of Nathaniel Alan Sempio" appears in Philippine Speculative Fiction, Volume III. PSF III was launched last Friday, and pictured are the authors who attended and, of course, the editors and hosts of the event!Go out and buy a copy to see what all the fuss is about, hehe.
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