Miscellany

Lost Things

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:55:12 GMT

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 allay that concern, and here's my reasoning.

Not the typical Disney female of the era. She goes to rescue the boy, she fights pirates, and in general kicks some arse.
Her figure and motion were based on a swimsuit model. Ignoring the fact that she's six inches tall (and has wings) you've got to admit, she's got nice curves.
She's a fae, and acts appropriately. She thinks her friend Peter is going to betray her by hanging out with that skank Wendy? She sells him out to the pirates that want to kill him.
In spite of her vindictive acts, she's still one of the main emblems of the Disney company and regarded as a hero/princess. She's got her own spot at Disneyland, her own series of movies and books, and has most people believing that she's at worst "mischievous." Speaking as Mr. Sunday, that kind of crap ain't easy.
Also, vast, ill-defined magic powers. Can you make an entire pirate ship fly? She can. Also, according to lore, if she can get enough people believe in her, she can come back from the dead. Now, I'm not saying that Jesus was a pixie, I'm just saying that's a handy trick.
Screw you, I just like her, ok?

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.

The movie starts with the premise that the first time a baby laughs, a fairy is born. There's a nice sequence with the wind caused by the baby's laugh blowing a dandylion and we follow the seed all the way to Neverland, where the Fairy Queen sprinkles it with pixie dust, causing it to become a small, blond female fairy. The fairy then must discover what her talent is. Toadstools arise around her and the various kinds of fairies place symbols of their talents on it (the water fairies place a globe of water, light fairies place a glowing light, garden fairies place a seed, etc.) When she asks the fairy queen how she'll know which is her talent, she's just told that she'll know.

As she reaches to one after another of the symbols, they crumble to dust or just fade away--clearly not where her talents lie. She passes a crude hammer on her way to the air symbol and it rises up and begins to glow brightly, meaning that she's a tinker fairy. Several of the more senior fairies (more on that later) note that the hammer glowed more brightly than any they'd seen in a long time, meaning that she's likely got a powerful gift. The fairy queen names her Tinker Bell.

(As a side note, they did a great job explaining how she got her name, but oddly enough the other tinkers are called Clank and Bobble, not Tinker Clank or Tinker Bobble. Even the head of the tinkers is Fairy Mary. They also nickname her Tink, which seems a bit odd. It seems like that should be a common slang term for any tinker fairy, but she's the only one ever called that. There is a cute bit about why their pet/work animal mouse is named Cheese. Anyway, I digress.)

Anyway, she goes off with the other tinkers, who are all awkward geeks (and mostly boys), and is given her house and a warm welcome. She puts on the green outfit of the tinkers (did I mention that the fairies are all color coded?) modifying it from the oversized coverall it was to her typical green dress--more like the outfits the other female fairies were wearing. She's given the explanation that the tinkers are the fae that create the things that the other fairies need to do their jobs. As she starts creating things, her long hair gets into her eyes, so she puts it up, giving her the classic hairstyle.

I mention these things as background and to point out that they did a nice job explaining how she became the iconic figure we all know.

When she's out exploring she discovers some random bits of junk washed up on shore and the other tinkers explain that they're "lost things" from the land where the fairies go to create the seasons. She thinks that these things are great and gets so excited about the place that could have created them that she goes off to invent some items that will make the preparations for spring go along even better.

Yes, I said invent. Tinkerbell is a powerful tinkerer. Disney made Tinkerbell the fae version of a mad scientist. Like I already didn't like the character too much.

Anyway, her first inventions don't go so well, and when she's presenting them she's told by the fairy queen that no one has had the heart to tell her that tinker fairies don't get to go to the mainland. All their work is done in preparation, so there's no need for them to go. To top it all off, Fairy Mary tells her the lost things she found are junk that she shouldn't mess around with and to get them out of the workshop.

This bums Tink out so much that she sets out to change what kind of fairy she is. Hilarity ensues. To cut a long story short, she ends up irreparably ruining the preparations for spring. Or so it seems.

Needless to say, her friends (did I mention she has a quartet of friends, one of each of water, light, animal, and garden fairies?) convince her to be true to her talents and they say that the music box she rebuilt from the lost things she found is proof that she's a great tinkerer. She realizes that she can invent things to repair the damage she's done and save the day. It turns out that her talent isn't just tinkering, it's working with lost things (get the reference?). Which she does, saving the day and even getting to go to the mainland under orders of the Fairy Queen to return the music box. It's a Disney film, what do you expect?

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.

The Eagle Has Landed

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 00:00:24 GMT

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.

Ruh-oh

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 22:38:32 GMT

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

Stranger Endorsements

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:34:13 GMT

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.

Basil!

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 16:14:00 GMT

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.

Escapist News Network

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 16:47:20 GMT

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.)

Request for Artists: Dreams of Deirdre, "LARPS" book

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 23:43:33 GMT

(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)

Mid Morning Oddness

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 17:07:12 GMT

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.

When does surreal become real?

Sat, 12 Sep 2009 15:41:13 GMT

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.

Aaaaannnnd I'm spent.

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 16:51:22 GMT

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.

ADD Med Fail

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 16:49:49 GMT

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.

Weekend Update

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 18:01:18 GMT

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.

Can't sleep, etc, etc.

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 10:42:42 GMT

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.

Best Chart Evar.

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 18:43:20 GMT

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

Bad David, no biscuit.

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 00:19:37 GMT

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?

Coffee!

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 23:29:07 GMT

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."

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: this is Volare country.

Coming soon, to DDC

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 20:32:06 GMT

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

A note of joy.

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 23:51:02 GMT

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.

I'm just talking about Shaft!

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 02:17:39 GMT

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.

The Revolution Will Be Airconditioned

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 20:11:09 GMT

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.

Too darn hot...

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 00:28:19 GMT

It's hot, damn hot. It's the kinda hot that makes good men do bad things just to forget the sweat pouring down the back of their neck. It's the kinda hot that makes people talk like they're in some sort of Dashiell Hammett novel. Specifically, it's over 97 in the shade.

Things I learned while gardening today.

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 21:55:01 GMT

My lawn had at least two more 1.5'x3' slabs of concrete under it.
According to my heart rate monitor, gardening keeps me in the "fat burning" range of exertion unless I'm digging up or hauling said slabs of concrete, in which case my heart rate goes up somewhat.
My quince bush has at least one fruit on it, which I had heretofore thought impossible. Apparently I have powers that even I was unaware of.

One Team Volare party could get you from San Francisco to New York

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 18:10:03 GMT

In what is potentially the most interesting and most disgusting technological advancement in recent times, a researcher in Oregon has developed technology to turn piss into hydrogen. She predicts that we could have pee powered cars capable of getting 60 miles per gallon in a year. This would both help end dependence on fossil fuels and help clean our waste water stream. No word yet if the car will come with an optional tube connecting the driver's seat with the gas tank.

This just in...

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 15:56:20 GMT

Dachshund puppies contain nearly weaponizable levels of adorableness. That is all.

Coding Woes

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 18:32:54 GMT

It turns out that when you haven't coded in about 5 years--and were only a dilettante then--you tend to forget a few things. Like how to have your code recognize classes that are in different files in the same project. Mutter.

EDIT: Apparently I got an extra dose of the stupid this morning. C# is so picky about all the namespaces in the files being spelled the same...