Just Me and the Captain
Jun. 26th, 2008
12:11 am - 7 down, 0 to go
I accomplished one of my life goals today. Yes, I had to drag ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
kidsnide kicking and screaming to do it, but I achieved something only several thousand people on this planet ever do: I have been to every single continent on earth. No matter how you count them, I have been to them all. It´s been a process nearly 30 years in the making and, even if no one else cares, I consider that an accomplishment.
![[mood icon]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/classic/smile.gif){kind=small}
contentJun. 19th, 2008
07:13 pm - The rain in Spain...doesn´t exist!
It´s been an adventurous few days and I´m currently at an internet cafe in Cordoba. It´s relatively cool in here after all. Today was spent at the Mezquita (a former mosque-current cathedral), the local Al-Cazar (castle), one of only 3 medieval synagogues left in Spain. Yesterday was Seville and tomorrow will be Granada.
Traveling has always been a great way to provide stimulus for my creative juices. It might not have anything to do with the local environment, but the mere change in scenery is enough to get me thinking about new things. kidsnide has even come up with some interesting Quest ideas. Now I just have to remember them.
I might see some Flamenco tonight, but I should probably get going. I prefer to see Spain than spend time in front of a computer after all.
![[mood icon]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/classic/sad.gif){kind=small}
hotJun. 13th, 2008
12:18 pm - Off to Spain
Just so everyone knows, the reason I won't be answering e-mail or phone calls for the next two weeks is because I shall be in Spain with kidsnide and hca. Contrary to the rumor that is bound to start, it's not because I'm doing another reality show...yet. This is just a nice vacation courtesy of a small financial windfall I got a few months ago. And because kidsnide really wanted to go.
I'll be back in Boston on June 30. See you folks then.
Jun. 9th, 2008
10:38 am - Do not stray from the Shadowfell Part 3
Well, as bad as the beginning of my day was, I must say that I've had a fantastic weekend. Why? Fourth edition of Dungeons & Dragons was finally released! Despite playing with 4e rules for a couple of gaming sessions, I didn't really have access to them. But as of 11:00 PM on Thursday night, they were in my hands and thus the week became D&D week for me. I played nearly 20 hours of D&D in a period of 4 days which was pretty glorious.
I still haven't had the chance to read the rulebooks thoroughly yet, but I'm definitely getting the feel through actual gaming. And it seems to me that D&D has returned to its roots: miniatures wargaming. Fortunately for us, miniature games have also evolved since the 70's to the point where they no longer suck. As magustenebrarum has eloquently stated, the game is now more in actually playing the encounter instead of between sessions when you're looking to optimize your stats. Of course, if role-playing is more your thing, then min-maxing character abilities never held that much appeal to begin with as the stats were just a way to describe a character rather than figure out the best way to utilize him in a fight. But I'm okay with that. Encounters have become much more interesting than a repititious "I attack the monster in front of me again...miss." As such, I decided to go back and see how the game has evolved.
Of course, there have been far more than four editions to the game over 34 years. Arguably, the product that was just released is the tenth edition. And luckily for us, the internet has even provided us with some of the highlights of what's come before. (For those less interested in the details of the mechanics, I discovered an interesting narrative history of D&D when Gary Gygax died a couple of months ago.) It definitely makes you appreciate how game design has improved over the years. As part of my week of celebration, I even purchased and played an old (1981) solo adventure called Lathan's Gold which was surprisingly good. It had its weaknesses, and sure, D&D was never really meant to be played by yourself, but it was a great way to pass a Sunday afternoon when no one else was around.
Anyway, on to Friday's session of Keep on the Shadowfell.
( spoilers )
09:15 am - Sigh
Well, this was an inauspicious start to the week. After spending a restless night in my hot and muggy apartment only wanting to get to work where it's nice and air-conditioned, there was a fire in Porter Square this morning, necessitating me to walk part of the way. I walked to Mass Ave. hoping to take the 77 Bus and had one right in front of me, but it was full, so walking it was. And I was faster! In fact, walking was so much more efficient due to the traffic that I nearly caught up to the bus in front of me! But by the time I got to Porter, the trains were running again so I headed down to the sweet air-conditioned subway. I was late, of course, but I still made it in under an hour which is more than I can say for many other people even on a normal day, so I guess I can't complain too much.
hotJun. 6th, 2008
09:04 am - Bigger than the President
I think this link speaks pretty much for itself.
Jun. 3rd, 2008
09:09 pm - This is one of those times I really dislike copyright law
So I'm watching Beauty and the Geek this evening (sadly, I had nothing better to do) expecting to re-live past glory in a tear-jerking montage of emotions set to Suzie McNeil's Believe, and instead I get a strange, ersatz soundtrack which doesn't even come close. Believe it or not, they couldn't get the rights for the song for re-runs! The in-house composer tries really hard to replicate the chords without straight duplication, but it just doesn't have anywhere near the same impact as it did with the original song. The first time I saw it (and subsequent times too), I really did swell with emotion, mostly because I was remembering actual emotion (Amanda wasn't kidding: the tears are real), but partly because of the music, because this time, I just felt, "eh." Okay, I first felt discomfort that this wasn't right, followed by satisfaction at figuring out what happened, then anger that our legal system limits the quality art can attain (it is art, dammit!). I haven't been this disappointed since they cut Vincent Price singing You've Got a Friend from the first season DVD of The Muppet Show...for the same reason!
10:52 am - Summer's coming
Ah, June is finally here which means that summer is officially just around the corner. And that means a bit of a break. It's been a fun year, but I've kind of run myself ragged and it's good to be shedding some responsibility. I'm no longer chair of the Quest Board of Directors, and I think I've presided over my last meeting as Master of my Masonic Lodge (there's a June meeting, but I'll miss it on account of being in Europe). Things at work are calming down and I've actually been spending some evenings at home for a nice change of pace. Oh, I still have plenty of things going on to keep me from getting bored, but not as much as before. But I'm starting to get that most precious of commodities - time - back. Maybe I can use some of it to plan further than two weeks ahead. Maybe I'll try to re-enter the dating world (speed-dating seems to be quite the rage). Maybe I'll start work on a creative project...a mini tabletop campaign or a Quest game could be fun use of my energy. Or even something else entirely. I don't know why summer is generally acknowledged as a time to rest a bit, but I certainly could re-charge my batteries.
First things first: a bit of a vacation. I hear Spain is nice this time of year.
May. 27th, 2008
02:30 pm - Wesleyan's commencement
How cool is it that Barack Obama was Wesleyan's back-up speaker? I hate to admit it, but I've been skipping a number of the actual commencement ceremonies in recent years to either sleep in, hang out at the house, or leave early. But I clearly had to stay, even show up 3 hours early, this time.
I actually had one of the best places to view graduation since Amanda gave me her key to her dorm room since she was leaving for a wedding. It was on the third floor of Clark and overlooked Andrus field. Unfortunately, the Secret Service agreed and gave an ultimatum: we could stay and be locked-down for the duration of the ceremony or leave and not come back. But if we stayed, we had to stay away from the windows or be shot. Since that was a bit of a deal-breaker, I headed to Foss Hill with the masses.
The trip there was strange as it appeared I entered the mirror universe where Wesleyan was a police state. It looked like my old college, but it sure didn't feel like that with every form of security crawling around directing us where to go and turning what should be 45 second jaunt into a 5 minute out of the way trip. Yeah, not a big deal, but it just felt wrong.
There I heard perhaps the greatest disparity in speeches ever. The first was given by the class president which was (there's no way I can say this politely) absolutely awful. I actually felt embarrassed for my alma mater. If this was the best Wesleyan could provide in terms of oratory skills, we were clearly not a very good school. For awhile I thought she was being intentionally bad, but I couldn't figure out what purpose that served so I eventually concluded she was simply bad. I understand she was probably nervous, but the writing wasn't any better than the delivery.
No matter, the news crews weren't there to see her. In fact, neither was a quarter of the audience (probably around 12,000 people or so) based on the fact that they all walked out as soon as Obama was finished speaking. The presidential candidate was the main attraction and he lived up to his reputation by giving an awesome speech about service to one's community.
But you know what? I don't think Obama gave the best speech there that day. I think that honor belongs to Brother Michael Roth, in his first commencement as president of Wesleyan. He was truly inspiring suggesting that we keep our ideals instead of taking the easy route of being hip and ironic. Since I consider such attributes virtues, the criticism was meaningful. It is innocent enthusiasm which keeps cynicism at bay. It seemed to be a theme of the weekend for me.
I attended a variety of Weseminars as I usually do including a history of Wesleyan presidents, public perceptions of Muslims in a post 9-11 world, a Q&A with Akiva Goldsman (who, surprisingly admitted that he was essentially a hack), but the most interesting came from Chris Wink, one of the founders of Blue Man Group. He gave an interesting presentation about the modes of the performance which go beyond Blue Man into life. The scientist-shaman, group member-trickster, and innocent-hero dichotomies are the ones he talked about, and I found his thoughts on the role of the innocent modality to be congrugent with Roth's speech the next day. Always a time of learning at Reunion.
P.S. Apparently, if you include a postscript on fundraising mailings, it increases the return 20%. I told you I learn valuable things during these weekends.
11:12 am - Stay on the Shadowfell Part II
Since my 4th ed. D&D group had Memorial Day off (well, I had to disappear for two hours to conduct a Masonic meeting), we decided to honor our fallen service members with fictional combat scenerios against evil.
( spoilers )
May. 21st, 2008
11:34 am - Keep on the Shadowfell
As kidsnide pointed out, it's not a command, but an actual place. And, to further elaborate, it's not an actual actual place, but an actual fictional place. Yes, neoweasel, mentalapse, magustenebrarum, S., and I played the very first module of fourth edition Dungeons & Dragons with kidsnide DMing. We did it old school, with pizza and beer, and clichés galore. Boxed text was actually read word for word and we had to giggle a little at the bad writing. But this was a good old-fashioned trashy adventure we're talking about, not elaborate narratives that focus more on character and politics than raw combat. We had to work back to the tried and true mentality of killing them all and taking their stuff.
( spoilers )
May. 17th, 2008
03:56 pm - Midnight premiere!
So I just got my ticket to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull for the very first showing at the Somerville Theater (i.e. midnight on May 22nd, even though it says May 21st on the ticket). Who's crazy enough to join me?
May. 14th, 2008
10:32 am - Upfronts
I'm really glad to see that How I Met Your Mother has officially been renewed. Frankly, if given the choice between that and BATG, I would choose the former. Any series that goes to the trouble of creating real websites based upon a quick joke in the show is okay in my book. This week's entries bring us a very surreal site with photographs of a man next to a woman (presumably his wife) wearing a garbage bag with a bizarre song in French playing in the background. More exciting, however, is the other one where you can bid on actual props from the show for charity.
May. 13th, 2008
10:28 pm - Does anyone watch this show anymore?
I guess not, since it appears to be canceled (technically, we don't know for sure yet, but all signs are pointing that way).
Anyway, I just wanted to say
( Beauty_and_the_Geek_spoilers )
May. 9th, 2008
09:11 am - Survivor Strategy
So I've been watching this season's Survivor so I'm not totally clueless when I meet up with these folks in the very near future (I still need to watch about 14 other seasons to really catch up, though), but their strategic decisions confuse me. But in case anyone didn't watch last night's episode yet, I'll put spoilers beneath a
( cut )
Apr. 29th, 2008
01:29 pm - If I ran a social psychology department
Someone should do a study on whether Craig's List's "Missed Connections" generates more found connections or pranks. I'd totally read it.
Apr. 28th, 2008
10:34 am - John Archibald Wheeler
I was having an argument with stylesbitchly recently about the nature of FTL physics, and I suddenly remembered that John Wheeler died a couple of weeks ago and I felt compelled to say a few words about him.
Wheeler is my pedagogical grandfather, having taught my own special relativity professor, Professor Lindquist, as well as a few more famous physicists such as Richard Feynman and Kip Thorne. He was a contemporary of Einstein and where the latter dreamt up the theories of relativity, it was Wheeler who codified it into its textbook format. In fact, he wrote the book I used for Lindquist's course, Space-time Physics, which was a little unorthodox in its layout. An icon of Rodin's Thinker represented the student and kept positing these points that seemed to make sense, but then an icon of this bird would explain how the Thinker was just plain wrong. The bird was gentle at first, but the more the Thinker came up with a "gotcha" scenario, the bird would become more violent with a reaction of just "No!" It was by far the most entertaining physics textbook I read in college.
Wheeler was also famous for coining terms which have not only entered the physics lexicon, but have almost become central in the world of science-fiction such as "black hole" and "wormhole." I'm guessing that most non-scientists haven't heard of him, but he was really the last of the great physicists of the mid-twentieth century. Physically active until the very end, he was 96 years old when he died.
Apr. 25th, 2008
02:41 pm - Troubling dreams
I've been having troubling dreams lately. Nightmares almost, though I can't really remember the details of most of them. Though, I do remember that last night's imagery had me completely covered in ants. This is more troubling if anyone has ever read "Leiningen Versus the Ants," but the upside was it reminded me that I really like good short stories. Any recommendations?
Apr. 17th, 2008
03:13 pm - Headed to Jersey
I'm really tired of traveling. Don't get me wrong, I had a fantastic time in Middletown last weekend and Los Angeles the week before, but traveling to places is just an exhausting process, even if it means just sitting in a moving vehicle most of the time. Paradoxical, but true. Now, if someone could just develop the transporter, I'm sure it would at least cut down a lot on the stress factor.
Once again I'll be missing fun stuff like a rocking out in my own apartment on Saturday. But maybe I can do other fun stuff, like going to New York Comic-Con, even though I'll have to deal with the traffic caused by the pope's visit. If people are free in the New York metropolitan area this weekend, give me a call.
Apr. 15th, 2008
06:06 pm - An impossible request
So I have a friend who needs a crash course in sci-fi. Granted, I'm aware that there is no true consensus on the most important things in the genre he should be familiar with, but it might start an interesting discussion, especially among the collective wisdom of my friends who are so knowledgeable about such things. So I'm going to repeat his questions here and if you have any insight into a particular field, feel free to leave a comment.
1. Important people that have shaped sci-fi (assume that he knows nothing).
2. What sci-fi works deal specifically with man versus machine...especially....
3. Stuff that involves technology lovers versus "neo-ludittes" (VERY IMPORTANT ON THIS POINT)
4. What's hot/hip right now in sci-fi, and are there any web series he should be looking at?
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