Archive for 2005
Yeah, so I do this thing. Every time we get started on some new online game, I go completely stats hungry on it. Its just what I do. I’m a numbers freak. Games with more complexity in their stats and character information aren’t confusing or a ‘put off’, instead they appeal to me. Read more
So I observed, patiently, pH, KH, GH, NO2/3/4 testers in hand for the fishtank to go through its normal nitrogen cycle, get my bacteria going again, and stablize. Pop went the ammonia, then down they went. Up with the nitrates, down they went. Algae formed. Everything going according to plan. Read more
So I made mention awhile ago about wanting to revitalize our D&D campaign, and throwing some new ideas into the mix. Read more
After doing a fair amount of reading of other people’s blogs in the past few days, a few thoughts occur to me. Read more
Breathless
I was completely enthralled with this book pretty much from the very first page. The world it is set in, the races, character types and such were familiar. I had previously read Perdido Street Station, and so much of that was already well known to me. However, there was still the same salty air of unfamiliarity that made Perdido special.
The characters are rich, flawed, scarred, remade, emotional and emotionless. For every characterization or trait, there is almost always an opposite force. He’s able to take weaknesses in the human condition, and make them not just fine points of a character, like most authors do, but lynchpins of the story line. And he does it over and over, with almost infinite variety. Naivete, greed, desire, lust, love, passion, curiosity, masochism, pacifism, megalomania … each are strengths in one half the book, and someone else’s downfall in the other.
As with his other books, China’s command of language is phenomenal. I consider myself a seasoned reader of 35 years. Each book of his I read has me going to the dictionary at least a few times to understand a usage I’d never seen before or a new word outright. That sort of challenge is always welcome in my world. But it isn’t just vocabulary … he is able to describe scenes, characters and views in such a way that everything is completely vivid. Without giving anything (completely), the scene on the island of the mosquito-women where they first land is just awesome.
I would recommend reading Perdido before this, even though this book does completely stand on its own. The time spent in the first book describing many of the races and beings you’ll meet is not wasted in this one.
I fully intend to read everything this talented author puts out, and this one in particular is highly recommended. A true genius of this age.
[xrr rating=9.5/10]
I was pondering something yesterday, and it has continued being a background thread in my brain since then. It occurred to me that time tends to distort, and often completely obscure our ability to remember precise order of events, or specific memories. That’s all good. Expected and normal. Read more
And if any of you using WP are sick of how plain the admin interface is, just go here. Oh heavens, what an improvement.
Thanks Dar.
Note: default permissions in the zipfile are whacked (or were for me). chmod -R 644 * in the directory it unzips into, and its all good.
The fishtank is now clean, a few stubborn spots excepted. I’m watching it fill with water now, and there’s about an inch of substrate so far. I’m going to consider this the ‘base’ substrate, because in some areas of the tank, I plan to have 5-6 inches of substrate. Read more
Finally got my laptop working at home. And synergy is in full effect. If you haven’t yet found the beautiful thing that is Synergy, and you use more than one computer on any desk you work or play at, you need to stop what you’re doing, follow that link, and go get it. Clients for Mac, Unix and Windows. Trust me, you need this. Really.
Swashbuckletastic!
So I’m browsing through Best Buy, wondering if there’s anything new to get, and suddenly I turn a corner and walked right into a mysterious zone with noone else around, and everything freshly surrounded by an aura of wonder. Amidst all of this was one shining box, colored brightly and artistically displaying images of swords, parrots and eye-patch’ed scurvy bastards. Read more
