Senior officers to the Bridge
Paramount has released several stills from next year’s Star Trek movie. Of course, since I want everything on that big screen to be a surprise, I was able to resist checking them out…
… for all of about twenty seconds.
But I'm cutting it, since I love and respect you guys
Tiny tiny tsunami
Once again, utility appliances strike cruelly. Not an oil furnace this time, but my hot water heater, choosing to burst and fill the downstairs apartment with water at quarter-of-six this morning.
The maintenance person shut off and vacuumed up the water, and left to fetch a new heater. Wanting to stick around in case there were further issues, I called in to work and stretched out on the couch. I woke up on the couch at my mom’s house 300 miles away, very disoriented and wondering how the heck that had happened. Knowing I needed to head back to the apartment, I found my keys and wallet and went outside, but while there were strangely dozens of cars in front of the house, none of them were mine.
Then, of course, I woke up for real on the couch in my apartment, doubly disoriented for a few moments. The dream of being awake had been very convincing, even though my mom’s house hasn’t looked quite like that in years.
Shortly thereafter, they came back to work on the water heater some more. It’s noon, and I still have no hot water. Ahh, well.
Ludicrous Speed
Yeager crewmembers: on this day, 61 years ago, Air Force Captain “Chuck” Yeager flew the Bell X-1 in the first verified supersonic flight. Decades later, there are no civilian aircraft in service that attain this speed in normal flight.
Brief updates
- 17:25 Why is it that in every late-80s picture I have, I look disheveled? #
Sent subspace radio by LoudTwitter
Little powdery people
In case you hadn’t heard, we have indeed invented the Star Trek replicator. Of course, it’s expensive, slow, and only works on solid objects, plus the results are a bit fragile. But, one step at a time, right?
A company known as FigurePrints is using this first-generation technology to sell gamers unique figurines of their World of Warcraft characters. The service is so popular that they’ve had to establish a lottery for accepting orders, even with round-the-clock production. Customers dress their characters in their favorite gear and submit the orders; the figure company retrieves (with permission) 3-D model information from Blizzard, then does a little touchup to cover gaps and clipping artifacts. In a bath of extremely fine powder, something much like an inkjet printer head sprays layers of colored glue, and after some hours, the figure is gently removed from the bath and cleaned up a bit. The result looks like the picture on the right (click it to embiggen).
So, if you play WoW, would you pay $130 for one of these? Does your character have the outfit you’d want to see it in? Would you get one if it were available for another game? Would you get one when the technology gets a little better? Expound!
Time to update the firmware?
Speaking of gaming, the WWII superhero game is over in an appropriately cool Big Boss finale. Kudos to ptownhiker for running a great campaign! But he justifiably wants a break, so we tossed around some ideas.
Next game night we’ll be sticking to quick card and board games, but after that we want to start another RPG campaign, and because I’m a crazy crazy man, I volunteered to run some Shadowrun if people were interested. (After all, I ought to do something with all these gaming books, otherwise they’re just dust catchers. Someday I want to run more Paranoia and Deadlands as well.)
Several of our group liked the idea, so now I need to return to an earlier concern from my last failed campaign attempt: which edition should I use?
2nd edition pros: I have almost every sourcebook available. I know the system backwards and forward, and could practically run it in my sleep, plus I have a raft of adventure modules from which to steal elements. Cons: This edition is long out of print, and people would be dependent on my books. Hacker characters, an integral park of cyberpunk settings, are awkward to run.
4th edition pros: This edition’s currently in print, so people can acquire rulebooks and sourcebooks simply. Hacker characters are much better integrated. Cons: I have only the core book, and might desire to add sourcebooks (they’ve gotten more expensive). I have some issues with the new rule system, it’s a tiny bit less cinematic and flexible than it once was. (OTOH, perhaps I can house-rule that.)
Hmmm, decisions. I’m really glad to be back in a gaming group; I worry that I’m getting a bit anti-social these days, not because I dislike spending time with my crowd, but because it’s just easy to slip into a constant state of being tired and busy. I don’t want to go there; the best parts of my life have involved my friends. When I look back on all the crazy stuff I’ve done in fandom, the memories inspire me: I’m determined to keep making more!
Next box has the Ark of the Covenant
Local weather is trying to be obliging. “You don’t have a light jacket right now? Okay, we’ll just drop the morning temp to 45 degrees so you can wear your winter coat, does that help?”
Had a very weird dream the other night where I climbed down a narrow drainage pipe to find myself in a secret underground studio where they were filming the return of “Mystery Science Theater 3000” to the cable channels. I was privileged to sit in on one of the sessions where they watch the movie and write the jokes; I started ad-libbing along, and they hired me on the spot, causing me to draw the wrath of one of the other writers for some reason. Any dream interpreters wanna take a shot at that one?
In the ongoing Stuff Reduction Plan, I did some heavy game materials archaeology yesterday. I found my copy of Amber Diceless, a fascinating take on RPG mechanics that uses no random chance at all; Star Warriors, a fast-paced, careening tactical game of Star Wars fightercraft; and Ogre, light infantry and vehicles against a robot tank the size of a small city block. I’m keeping those. (Actually, I fear the Ogre set may belong to rattrap.)
Going away is the stack of official Star Trek fan magazines, which will be probably be trashed; and raininva has dibs on the bigger stack of West End Star Wars RPG and Indiana Jones RPG books. Battletech 3025 scenario and source- books are going; Battletech ‘Mech listing books are staying. I’m not sure whether I’m keeping Castle Falkenstein, or the hardcover first-edition copy of White Wolf Mage. (Starr, a onetime Vampire LARPer, may give me permission to keep that.) However, I will divest myself of the two Last Unicorn Star Trek RPG hardcovers, and the Traveller: A New Era core book. I have a lot of gaming stuff.
Last treasure unearthed: my Wireframe Babylon Project books and GM screen. The savvy fan will find the names of jsciv, yubbie, and impink within; and down in the playtesting credits, a listing for some doof that goes by mikailborg online. Yeah, I’m keeping that one.
No kidding this time
Here are some people with some advice about what you – yes, you – should be doing with your time this week, and the beginning of next month, if you’re an adult American.
You may have heard of some of these people. Some of the folks on my friends list may disagree with almost every word that comes out of their mouths. Ironically enough, that’s an excellent justification for doing exactly what the people on this video want you to do.
There’s some NSFW language, but if you can, watch this. Then, really: do what they say. We’ll all thank you.
Are You Experienced?
While installing OS X Leopard on a customer’s computer, we chatted about fine-scale modeling, digital video production, and modern professional typesetting. Suddenly, it struck me: I’m not making this stuff up, I actually can speak with some authority on these topics, cause I’ve done them, and made plenty of mistakes while I was at it!
Some facets of my life might have been easier had I been able to take a more direct path to where I am now. Thinking about that can sometimes disgruntle me a bit. It’s cheering to be reminded of how much I’ve managed to learn, and how much fun I’ve had on the way. When I look back to consider what I’ve actually done with my life, the answer turns out to be more than I thought at first glance; and that somehow makes me look forward to the future even more.
Nice when a bit of unexpected perspective is not bitter, but a treat!
Chilly elbows
Well, fall has arrived in Hampton Roads. We’re getting our usual ration of violent, brief evening thunderstorms; and the leaves are beginning to give up the struggle and drop from the trees. The change I found most notable is the 55-degree morning I walked out into; especially since my White Plectrum jacket has finally given up the ghost, and my Starfleet denim jacket isn’t quite what I want to wear to work. (Oh, and the Starfleet jacket’s falling apart too.) Looks like this weekend will include shopping for something to keep my arms warm.
After reading my tweet about last night’s dreaming, tango suggested a nice white canvas jacket with really long sleeves that buckle in the back. Sounds good for lots of reasons, but it would make the morning commute a bit trying if I had to steer with my teeth.
