Miscellany

11:30 am - Lost Things

In lieu of a true trip report on Disneyland, I offer this in the spirit of light hearted frivolity.

You may or may not know that Tinkerbell is my favorite Disney character. This may not seem terribly butch, but bear with me. ( I think I can prove you wrong. )

Ahem. Anyway, I was more than a bit worried when I saw that Disney was making a direct to video Tinkerbell movie. (Actually, they've made two now.) The amount of crap sequels that Disney has been churning out lately would make Walt turn over in his grave. We caught it on tv after we got back from the park, and it turns out I needn't have been worried.

( Plot summary under here. )

So, did I like the film? Yeah, I did. It's totally a kids film, but it's not really written down too much, although I'm biased, because I love the character. There was even a point where I was thinking, "huh, so this must be the point where she just leaves to join Peter Pan."

Did they stay true to the character? Totally. If anything they made her cooler than before. She still has a quick, hot temper and there are a few times that you get the feeling that she's just had it and is going to beat the tar out of one of the other fae. I was worried that they gave her a voice, but it has precedent and the voice they chose was a good one. Also, Mad Scientist Pixie!

Did they stay true to fae lore or at least Peter Pan lore? Not really. They kinda ignored that whole seelie/unseelie thing, instead going with a single fairy queen and then four fae lords, one for each season--probably for simplicity sake. At first I thought they were making the queen far too nice, and then I realized that they had done something very subtle. As nice as she was, you could tell that each and every fae in Neverland was clearly scared shitless of the queen. Anyway, they didn't really explore Neverland, although there were a few cute references to the main story. The fairies also didn't create their own pixie dust, but rather got it from a well/spring/thing that pulled it in from the environment. Other than that, um, well, the music was all celtic inspired and the art was both beautiful and very reminiscent of early Disney films.

So, if you have younger kids, or like films about pixies, it's definitely worth a watch.

Current Mood: cheerful

04:58 pm - The Eagle Has Landed

The main writing phase of the LARPS book is done. If you were wondering why choruses of angels were singing and my feet are no longer touching the ground, there's the explanation.

Current Mood: ecstatic

03:34 pm - Ruh-oh

Forget Skynet, apparently those damn scientists have started making Rover.

Current Mood: worried

01:32 pm - Stranger Endorsements

In lieu of a real update (most of those are going to the fitgeeks group lately), I thought I'd tell you that the Stranger has posted their endorsements for the upcoming election. My favorite so far:

King County Council, District No. 9

Beverly Harison Tonda

Oh, Bev Tonda, flaxen Cleopatra of Maple Valley, coy queen of the Cedar River: How ardently, how loins-burstingly, we endorse thee. Woe betide the foes of Tonda—wastrels and heathens and pederasts all—when, wild of eye and foamy of mouth, army of loyal she-beavers at her back, Tonda bursts forth from her watery den to crush and sweep aside the enemy like a cleansing rain. In the name of all that is sacred twixt heav'n and earth, vote for motherfucking Bev Tonda. VOTE THE FUCKING SHIT OUT OF HER.

Current Mood: amused

09:12 am - Basil!

If anyone reading this in the local area needs basil, let me know. I've got a ton of the stuff and the weather may dip below freezing this week. When that happens, all the leaves turn black and fall off the plants. So, as to not let it go to waste, I thought I'd offer it up to the general populous (who reads my blog). I've already dried all I can, although I think I'm going to try and dry all the purple basil since there isn't that much of it and I don't have any already dried. Anyway, bunches and bunches of basil up for grabs.

Current Mood: busy

09:41 am - Escapist News Network

I've been a fan of Zero Punctuation for quite some time, but the Escapist has just come out with a new segment that promises to be quite good. The first Escapist News Network ("News You Can Watch") segment top story is of critical interest for those who recently went to PAX.



(Um, embedding appears to be broken for the moment, but this link should get you there.)

Current Mood: amused

04:42 pm - Request for Artists: Dreams of Deirdre, "LARPS" book

(Reposted from devonapple's journal.)

Dreams of Deirdre is entering the final stretch of publishing our rulebook for live-action role-playing games, entitled “L.A.R.P.S.” It is our hope to make this book available in time for presentation at DunDraCon in February 2010.

One important aspect with which we would like your help is artwork. Our artistic needs will be modest and many of the graphical elements related to rules can be produced in-house, but we would need to commission custom artwork to depict a variety of elements from a variety of settings (fantasy, science fiction, and more) associated with live-action role-playing. Our primary goal is to secure a handful of character depictions for the example characters in the book.

Unfortunately, we have no budget for artwork, and can provide little more than credit. We are prepared to offer services in trade, however, or (very) little cash compensation if you prefer. For details on what we are willing to barter, please email me at devonapple (at) gmail (dot) com.

If you are interested in working with us on this shoe string budget, please either
provide a link to your portfolio, or submit a sketch depicting one or more of the following example characters we have developed for the book:

- Tony Hart--a down-on-his-luck private eye, a la Humphrey Bogart (male)
- Jacqueline "Jack" Straw--the ghost of a teenage drifter (female/tomboy)
- Brock Nightly--a warrior from our Chrysalis world (male)
- Amethyst Archibald--a young student mage (female)
- Pelinor--an older thief who now teaches at the thieves' guild (male)
- Listrum Bonaparte Appleton, the Thirty-First--a down-on-his-luck noble who works as a scribe (male)
- Michael Porter--a werewolf warrior poet and commoner from our Chrysalis world) (male)

If you want an opportunity to increase your portfolio, and would benefit from credit and publication in an independently produced gaming product, we would appreciate the opportunity to work with you.

Thank you for your consideration,

(Edited, 8:28pm 9/17/09, to allow for submitting either a portfolio or a sketch)

Current Mood: busy

09:53 am - Mid Morning Oddness

My desk is a computer desk, and thus it really only has one drawer in it. It's a cavernous, box-like drawer that I rarely go into; lately I've only opened it to grab my checkbook, or a stamp, or to toss in a new number from a race. Well, after watching The Nostalgia Critic's review of Pokemon the Movie I had a hankering to check out some of my old Pokethulhu cards that devonapple made for our Pokethulhu LARP. It turns out, however, that the drawer had become like one of those Olde Curiosity Shoppes wherein strange and wondrous items are found. Except that they all related to my life.

Skipping over the letters from old girlfriends and the bundle of maps that I keep in the off chance that they'd be useful in a game, I came across long forgotten items. All of our cats' old tags, a nice advertisement from Campagne with beautifully drawn can-can dancers (complete with sparkling red shoes), a dot-matrix printout of humorous translations of RPG lingo, a stick of 512kb of memory, an sd card for my old palm pilot with Sonic the Hedgehog on it... The thing is, very little got thrown out. I just remembered that the stuff existed for a little while. I'm sure I'll forget soon.

I eventually found the cards. I'm not sure if it's a full deck, or if Devon kept those for himself. (A quick check of the Pokenomicon shows that I'm actually missing a ton of cards, including commons like the Deepami, Ghoulamon, Byakkisaur.) Either way, it's a nice selection. If anyone ever needs to trade for a Nyarlathozar, let me know. It's a rare, and I've got 4 of them.

Current Mood: curious

08:31 am - When does surreal become real?

I'm in Arkansas, which is not part of my normal world. This struck me as I was getting on to the first half of my flight and saw the sign at the boarding gate. "Denver?" I thought to myself, "I never go to Denver. Why on earth would I be going to Denver?" Denver, as it turns out, is not a concept that my brain was meant to handle. On my personal map, anything east of the Cascades and south of Portland is marked Here Be Dragons. The bay area, Napa, and Disneyland excepted, I suppose. And, as we all know, anything North of Vancouver is an icy wasteland best left to polar bears and yeti.

I have more to type about, but I have to meet some friends to do a bit of exploring around here and I haven't gotten down how long it takes to get places around here yet. Arkansas appears to work on a different scale than the places I'm used to.

Current Mood: indescribable

09:43 am - Aaaaannnnd I'm spent.

We got back on Monday night and I'm still exhausted. Lots of things that got put off last week still need doing, and we had a sick random_girl to boot. Both she and I get frustrated when our plans change, and the past couple of weeks have been nothing but plans constantly changing. Not to mention the emotional rollercoaster and the physical exertion of travel (and drinking with TV). Although, I've got to say, the exercise I've gotten in has felt good. Which is good, because I'm barely keeping my weight to even vaguely acceptable levels. But I digress.

Not too much else to report, just trying to dig my way out and try and keep enough energy for this weekend. (Yay, Arkansas! Feh.) We'll see how well that works, but I'm probably going to go back to too lazy to post mode for a bit. Somehow I think you'll survive without me.

Current Mood: exhausted

09:34 am - ADD Med Fail

Apparently my homemaker muscle is spasming. I had planned to work on the book yesterday, but after getting my hair cut (I have to look pretty for con) things took a weird turn. No, wait, they started the night before. I put a chicken in to brine and then put two pork tenderloins in to marinade for bbq pork (it takes 5 or so days to really get the right flavor). Oh, and marinated cucumbers (some from our garden).

Anyway, after getting home I figured I'd make another blackberry pie. I had leftover crust and almost enough leftover blackberries. So I got on my bike and rode around picking blackberries. For an hour or so. Realizing that I had far more blackberries than I needed for the pie, I decided to make jam with them. Heck, I'd even can them for the winter. People, I don't know how to make jam. I don't even know how to can.* I have no idea where this was coming from, but it gets worse.

See, before I left I rehydrated some cornmeal to make the bread I had promised random_girl we'd have with our roast chicken. Which means that yesterday I made: a blackberry pie, two loaves of bread, a roast chicken (done on the bbq), and 4 jars of blackberry jam. Plus the two pork tenderloins and cucumbers I put in the night before, the small berry salad made from the berries I picked from our back yard, and whipped cream for the pie. All this after picking about 8 cups of blackberries.

I honestly have no idea what's causing me to do this, other than my ADD is kicking in and getting me to avoid working on the book. Except I actually want to do that, and I'm supposed to be medicated. I need to find a new video game to obsess on before I blow our entire grocery budget.

Today I'm picking through the aftermath. The jam didn't set, so it's more of a thick blackberry sauce. This is because I watched the section of the AB episode where he said that blackberries had enough pectin to set before going to the store, but not the part where he said that he always added pectin anyway, just to be sure. On the bright side, pie and whipped cream for breakfast is one of the benefits of being an adult.



* I watched an Alton Brown episode on it before actually doing the canning, so we shouldn't have botulism.

Current Mood: confused

10:57 am - Weekend Update

I finished the 10k in much faster time than I anticipated (1:08ish as opposed to 1:14 which I had worried about). It's still my slowest official 10k time, but I felt really good running it. Well, up until the end when I was simultaneously sprinting and realizing that 0.2 miles is a lot longer than I remembered it being. That's when I got a wind splint. Side splint? I forget the term, but it's the one where you feel like you've been hit just below the ribs with a battering ram and are pretty sure that the lung on that side (and perhaps a few other choice organs) have first collapsed and then liquefied. That one.

Anyway, still haven't slept and am wide freaking awake. Tired, sure, but not in any way sleepy.

03:37 am - Can't sleep, etc, etc.

I went to bed at 10 pm since I have to get up at 6 am to get ready to run in a race. It's now 3:40am and I haven't slept yet. Not a wink. I'm not even especially tired right now.

I've never gone an entire night without sleeping, even when I was trying to, and lord knows I've tried every trick I can think of to sleep tonight. The only things I didn't do was take melatonin (we're out) or drink alcohol (I didn't want to before the race and by the time I figured that I might as well, I didn't want to have it still in my system when it was time to get up). Honestly, I'm not sure what to do now. I should go back to working on the book, but I don't think I can trust myself at this hour. Maybe I'll play some video games or something.

Edit: Yea, another 45 minutes in bed didn't fix anything and at this point if I did fall asleep I'd just be groggy when I woke up. I guess I'll try this whole sleeping thing another night.

Current Mood: frustrated

11:41 am - Best Chart Evar.

(from Chris Bodenner via Andrew Sullivan at the Daily Dish)

Current Mood: amused

05:12 pm - Bad David, no biscuit.

I'm working on the book and one of the complaints I've gotten is there's no straightforward blast spell. This, as it turns out, was a design decision I made, since I want mages to have to think about what they're doing rather than just throw bolts of energy around to solve their problems. Also, there are bolt spells, they just don't look like bolt spells, since they have restrictions, side effects, and other uses. That being the case, I've come to the conclusion that if I don't include something resembling a straightforward fireball type spell in this book, I'm never going to hear the end of it.

So I figure the least I can do is give it a decent name. So I look up synonyms for "Blast." Is it wrong of me that it took me five minutes to stop laughing maniacally when I realized that people will still take the spell if it has the word "Discharge" or "Ejaculation" in it?

04:24 pm - Coffee!

deirdremoon's most recent post mentioned costumed coffee and it reminded me of this trend going on here in the Northwest. Although, somehow I don't think it's what she had in mind.

"In this area, we all know how to make good coffee," said Barbara Record, who opened Bikini Espresso in Renton last month. The trick is to set your business apart, she said, and sex is one sure-fire way to do that."

Current Mood: amused

01:30 pm - Coming soon, to DDC

I think I have a tentative title for the LARP I'm working on: Two Million Leagues to Mars

Current Mood: creative

04:48 pm - A note of joy.

I know that many of my friends are having very grim days. Allow me then to inject this note of joy, however small: A brand new installation of Word '07 not only knows the word "phlogiston" but knows it well enough to auto-correct it. Ladies and gentlemen, even Microsoft has seen the future, and it's powered by steam.

Current Mood: amused

07:14 pm - I'm just talking about Shaft!

I can't believe I nearly forgot about this. When I was in Half Price Books yesterday, the guy in front of my was buying an 8 track cassette. And not just any 8 track, but the Shaft soundtrack.

"Yeah, we don't get much call for 8 tracks anymore."
"Well, if there's one 8 track to own, it should be the soundtrack to Shaft."

It cost him 11 cents. Damn right.

Current Mood: amused

01:07 pm - The Revolution Will Be Airconditioned

Gotta Love the Stranger's election coverage.

They're describing it as, "...the only candidate forum guaranteed to ply you with liquor..." and it has a talent portion.

Current Mood: amused