So... From the uber-packed Wednesday "Preview Night" to today, I'd have to say the hilights have been: Pixar's WALL-E preview was my fav (see also: http://BuyNLarge.com for more Wall-E products!). Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian looks promising as well. Neil Gaiman's session was tops, captivating everyone with random annecdotes. I'm strongly biased towards sessions featuring writers... actors without scripts and artists in the spotlight are rarely as a writer rambling on about whatever.
I was disappointed to see so little mention of the in-the-works sequel "The Power of the Dark Crystal" and found rather less than usual in the way of independent and small press titles, and Colleen Doran (A Distant Soil) didn't seem to make it, but I did nab a copy of the next installment of "Girl Genius" by Phil Foglio, which is vivid, lively and fun.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Moral Relativism
I do not believe in absolute right or wrong, or good and evil.
Without context, there can be no meaning, comprehension or relevance.
Ideas can not stand alone. We can point with our monkey fingers at theories and grunt at the shadows and the depths our humble brains fill them with, but our minds are too small and finite to comprehend an 'absolute' anything. That elephant has more parts than our blind hands can touch.
Absolutes are irrelevant. Context gives things meaning and value. Consequence and intent determine tolerable acts from intolerable ones.
Without context... there is only nonsense.
Without context, there can be no meaning, comprehension or relevance.
Ideas can not stand alone. We can point with our monkey fingers at theories and grunt at the shadows and the depths our humble brains fill them with, but our minds are too small and finite to comprehend an 'absolute' anything. That elephant has more parts than our blind hands can touch.
Absolutes are irrelevant. Context gives things meaning and value. Consequence and intent determine tolerable acts from intolerable ones.
Without context... there is only nonsense.
Are single-player games doomed?
Saw a link to Are single-player games doomed? on one of my regular surfing stops, Penny Arcade.
The basic premise seems to be this: Historically people always played games together. Then computer games appeared, and became popular, but internet connectivity was scarce/non-existent. Now that the internet is nearly omnipresent, single-player games will soon become a thing of the past because only introverted social retards will play single-player games and no one is going to market to them. (Okay, so I'm paraphrasing and adding a lot of bias, deal with it.)
Anyway... I have one response to the idea that single-player games are "doomed": "So... iPods, car stereos and headphones are doomed because historically, people always listened to music together."
Duuuuh. Because they HAD to. Now, we can play games or music alone or together. Those options are not "doomed". Sheesh. What next? We've got book clubs and text messages now, so maybe "single-person reading" is doomed? (it may very well be... but blame YouTube for that. ;))
(is it just me... or is "will soon become a thing of the past" a very goofy bit of temporal semantic nonsense?)
The basic premise seems to be this: Historically people always played games together. Then computer games appeared, and became popular, but internet connectivity was scarce/non-existent. Now that the internet is nearly omnipresent, single-player games will soon become a thing of the past because only introverted social retards will play single-player games and no one is going to market to them. (Okay, so I'm paraphrasing and adding a lot of bias, deal with it.)
Anyway... I have one response to the idea that single-player games are "doomed": "So... iPods, car stereos and headphones are doomed because historically, people always listened to music together."
Duuuuh. Because they HAD to. Now, we can play games or music alone or together. Those options are not "doomed". Sheesh. What next? We've got book clubs and text messages now, so maybe "single-person reading" is doomed? (it may very well be... but blame YouTube for that. ;))
(is it just me... or is "will soon become a thing of the past" a very goofy bit of temporal semantic nonsense?)
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Writing and Karma
(unrelated thoughts)
On Writing: The quantity of people writing for others seems to have increased to the point where I suspect that there are new fewer avid readers than avid writers out there. The quality of much of that writing seems to reflect that shift. (and this is no exception!)
On Karma: My favorite spin to karma is this: Those annoying people that 'expect too much from others' are punished with constant unending disappointment. They deserve no better. ;)
On Writing: The quantity of people writing for others seems to have increased to the point where I suspect that there are new fewer avid readers than avid writers out there. The quality of much of that writing seems to reflect that shift. (and this is no exception!)
On Karma: My favorite spin to karma is this: Those annoying people that 'expect too much from others' are punished with constant unending disappointment. They deserve no better. ;)
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
On mortgages and movies...
The mortgage beast is slain! How am I going to celebrate?
A midnight showing of the new Harry Potter movie, of course.
(it officially opens tomorrow).
Saw "Transformers" last night... fun, but I didn't grow up with
those memes. I am, however, anxiously looking forward to
seeing "The Golden Compass". If you haven't seen the trailer
yet... do. The companion website is pretty slick as well. :)
A midnight showing of the new Harry Potter movie, of course.
(it officially opens tomorrow).
Saw "Transformers" last night... fun, but I didn't grow up with
those memes. I am, however, anxiously looking forward to
seeing "The Golden Compass". If you haven't seen the trailer
yet... do. The companion website is pretty slick as well. :)
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Two weeks of jury duty... finished just in time for Independence day... woot. All in all, a very interesting, informative and satisfying trial... though a bit on the "longer than necessary" side. It was a nice break from work, even though half of those days came out of my vacation time. Grr. At least, at the end of each day of jury duty I took a advantage of being downtown to watch many of the current movies... and had many of the theaters entirely to myself. Such bliss. :)
The weather is finally warm enough to keep me content, (and yet not too warm). Being the contrarian that I am, I Just finished reading "The Left Hand of Darkness"(1969) by Ursula K Le Guin... about a visitor to frozen planet populated by a very strange off-shoot of humanity. Delightful and bizarre book.
The weather is finally warm enough to keep me content, (and yet not too warm). Being the contrarian that I am, I Just finished reading "The Left Hand of Darkness"(1969) by Ursula K Le Guin... about a visitor to frozen planet populated by a very strange off-shoot of humanity. Delightful and bizarre book.
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