New Hobby

I have a new hobby, which should come as no surprise to anyone who knows me.

Check it out here.

Harry Potter part 2

I finished Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince earlier this week.

Wow.

I have to wait two years or more for the next book? Awwwwww man...

Harry Potter

I am a Harry Potter fan, but I'm not rabid about it.

I went to Borders to pick up my copy Saturday evening. It wasn't as busy as I thought it was going to be, but they did open at midnight. I figured I wouldn't have too many problems picking it up on Saturday.

They had all the Harry Potter books hidden behind the front desk. In order to pick up your copy, you had to go check in at the Harry Potter desk to get a ticket. You could then take the ticket to the checkout counter to pick up the book. When I came in, there were seats for two at the Harry Potter desk, but there was only one person there. There wasn't a line. The checkout counter was similarly deserted.

I was browsing the sf isle, looking for something to use the 25% off coupon on that I got when I per-ordered the book when the manager's voice came on over the PA system. He said, "Attention Borders customers. We have about 150 copies of Harry Potter available for anyone who didn't pre-order. If you'd like a copy of Harry Potter but didn't pre-order, come to the Harry Potter desk for a ticket."

Thirty seconds later, the manager came on the PA system again. "All available assistants please come to the registers."

I looked over at the checkout counter. There was a line that went all the way to the door.

New Goals (Offline post 3 of 3)

I want to get into writing again. Growing up I used to write a lot. I either wrote character histories or short stories based on games I was reading or playing. Once I started to write a novel. I never planned anything. I just had the urge to write, and whatever story came out, came out.

I miss that creative outlet, and I’d like to get it back.

So, the new goal is to write every day. I’m going to start at 1000 words and adjust from there. 1000 words a day, 5 days a week. I’ll give myself a couple of days off. I do need a solid number of days, preferably set days. I can’t say “as many days as I can” because I’ve been down that road before and it leads to no writing.

I can write more, as long as I hit my goal, but I can’t write less. However, if it turns out that I can’t consistently manager 1000 words a day I’ll knock it down to 500. I’ll have to try it out for a few weeks, especially once Eunice gets back.

And for the record, writing for this blog doesn’t count.

Today I hit more than 1000 words across three different files. I have started working on the background information for my Arcana Evolved game. I ultimately decided to switch from a handwritten journal to my PC for ease of editing. Unless I get extremely motivated and learn some mapping software I’ll do any maps by hand. Though I’m sure it is possible, doing maps in Microsoft Word sounds like negative fun.

I have had a few false starts before. The last real effort I made at writing was in 2002 when I banged out a short story. I’m not sure why I stopped writing at that point. I’m hoping that announcing my writing goal in a public forum will help keep me motivated.

My biggest hurdle will be, well, myself. I’m a perfectionist, and many times I let that stop me from starting something. I don’t want to do bad work in any arena, so many times I won’t start because I know the work won’t live up to my standards. I just need to remind myself that my standards are unreasonably high, and frankly, the first draft of anything isn't very good.

I will post campaign details as I can. As of this writing have decided I’ll use Ruins of Intrigue as the basis for the campaign, with some modification. Unfortunately I don’t yet have anything I can post. I want to do a player handout with house rules, character creation guidelines, and a mini-guide for Serran and The Diamond Throne.

I'd like to start the campaign in early August.

Now I just have to recruit players. Oh yeah, and do a whole lot more work on the game.

Thoughts

Last night the mail consisted entirely of a free newspaper.

I picked it up, thinking "Maybe I have been too hard on this publication. Perhaps it has something useful to say."

The first headline that I saw was:

"Take A Look At The Exciting World Of Stamped Concrete!"

...complete with the !

Reading List (offline post 2 of 3)

With the start of a new month and a new residence, I thought I’d start writing a semi-regular blurb here.

I read. A lot. Actually, sometimes, I don’t read that much –that is usually when I am most unhappy. I primarily read Fantasy and Science Fiction, as well as gaming related books.

I usually read one or two books at a time –one for pleasure and one for some form of self-improvement. The last three books I read were:

City of Towers, by Keith Baker.

The short version:
This is Keith Baker’s first novel, and it’s pretty good. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good read. The characters are cool (and likeable), and the action keeps moving. I know it was good because more than once I kept reading past my own personal deadline. Any book that will make me sacrifice sleep in order to find out what happens next is good.

As the back cover says, “Experience Eberron through the eyes of its creator!” I find Eberron to be interesting for many reasons, not the least of which is that it was the result of WotC’s setting search. They paid Keith approximately $110,000 to write Eberron up as a campaign world.

I haven’t read the campaign setting book, but from what I have skimmed and read elsewhere, Eberron has some very interesting things going for it. One thing I find very appealing is that most of the world is fairly low level, or uses NPC classes. That means that the PCs are special simply because they’re PCs. It also limits the use of higher-level spells. It’s difficult to get a True Resurrection when the highest level cleric in the known world is 17th level.

Anyway, I didn’t want to dive into the campaign setting itself for a variety of reasons. For one, I’m pretty much completely sold on Arcana Evolved, and the thought of going back to regular D&D is not terribly appealing. So, I picked up the fiction.

Mr. Baker’s first book is pretty good. There are one or two nits I’d pick with it, but overall I really enjoyed it, and I’m looking forward to the next two. The most glaring nit is one case of “as you know, Bob” syndrome. That’s where characters say stuff that they already know and would never discuss out loud, for the sole benefit of the reader.

For example (and this specific example is NOT found in City of Towers):
“As you know, Bob, we’re both Paladins; sworn to protect innocents and the realm. Our God helps us by granting us holy abilities. And I’m not wearing pants.”

Anyway, I really enjoyed the book, and recommend it to anyone who enjoys fantasy, or wants more information on Eberron itself.

Marked for Death, by Matt Forbeck
Short Version:
This is the second Eberron book, by veteran author Matt Forbeck. In some ways I wish I had read this one first. I’m not sure where I read this (it could have been Matt’s web page, or one of the blogs I check daily), but Mr. Forbeck said this book was basically a western. I used to be a big fan of Deadlands (which Matt also worked on), and the Western fantasy Genre, so this book seemed to be a no-brainer for me.

Like City of Towers, the action keeps this book moving along, and more than once I read past my self-imposed deadline. I give this book two big thumbs up. I will definitely be reading the next two books in this series.

If you’re really hurting for cash and you absolutely had to pick between City of Towers and Marked For Death, I’d recommend Marked. Otherwise, fantasy and Eberron fans should read them both.

The Dharma of Star Wars, by Matthew Bortolin
Short version:
As you can tell by the title, this isn’t a work of fiction. It’s a book about Buddhist themes in Star Wars. Some of my friends and family know that I’ve been quietly pursuing an interest in Buddhism, and this was the latest book in a short but growing line of books I’m read on the subject.

I particularly enjoyed the author’s writing style. It was very relaxed and conversational. He was able to explain some Buddhist concepts that I didn’t yet have a good handle on. I’d recommend this book for anyone with an interest in Buddhism, as well as anyone who ever really, really wanted to be a Jedi.

That’s it for this week’s book list. I will update the book list as often as it changes, which is usually not as often as I’d like. Sadly, I don’t read particularly quickly. Speed-reading is a skill I wish I had kept up with after I learned how to do it in High School.

Movie Reviews. Spoilers! (offline post 1 of 3)

The move is finished and my Internet connection is dead. Until I’ve got another live connection I’ll be updating this document, and later I’ll update the blog.

I’ve seen three movies in the past two weeks. Eunice and I saw Land of the Dead and Batman Begins together, and I saw War of the Worlds when she was away.

Spoilers ahead! Consider yourself warned.

The review of War of the Worlds holds the most detail because it is most fresh in my mind.

Land of the Dead was pretty good. Eunice and I have really taken a liking to zombie movies, and this one was directed by the master. It really made me want to see Romero’s other “Dead” films. I did wonder what a post-apocalyptic society needed paper money for. It had a good mix of horror and comedy. I don’t think that it’s one I’ll eventually own, but I wouldn’t mind seeing it again.

In my own fortress in a post-apocalyptic zombie-infested world, I will have tight security, multiple escape routes, and NOBODY will be allowed to bring the zombies inside. Everyone will get the food they need. There won’t be any of this have/have-not dichotomy. Sort of like my ideal world, only with brain-eating zombies.

Batman Begins was the best Batman movie in a long time. Possibly better than the first movie, but I’m not sure about that. They both felt very different. Batman Begins made Gotham feel like a real place. And best of all, there were no nipples on the bat suit.

War of the Worlds was ok. It was about what I expected from a summer blockbuster –a lot of special effects. The alien tripods were really cool. I have a lot of trouble believing some of the things that happened, like how the tripods were buried for a few million years. If they were here that long, and underneath big cities, why didn’t anyone ever dig one up?

Still, War of the Worlds was entertaining. The ending was disappointing, but Tom Cruise’s character did change from a self-centered ass-hat to a much more fatherly figure. Overall I’d say Signs was a much better alien invasion story.

As usual, there are a whole lot of interesting things that could happen in the aftermath of the invasion. What happens to all that alien technology that’s now just lying around? What about those freaky red plants? How does the rest of the world react? Especially in places where there isn’t really a strong government.

There are also lasting psychological and religious issues. What does Man do when presented with incontrovertible proof that he isn’t alone in the universe? How do various religions adapt? What new ones form? Lots of interesting stuff happens after the credits roll. This is also beyond the scope of the book, but it's the kind of thing I think about.

I live again!

The DSL connection is now on!

I did write a few updates for the last couple of weeks. I'll post one a day until they're all up.