Hello, my name is Guenhwyvar. I’m fairly young as those here in Azeroth go. I’ve spent much of the last few weeks visiting whatever towns I can reach, collecting Handful of Candy. This handful’s come from large Jack-O-Lantern buckets the every inn in all of Azeroth and even Outland where I would need to be very strong to be allowed.
In addition to collecting candy once an hour the inn keepers will accept a request of Trick or Treat. When I trick or treat they will give me a costume or an item and occasionally they will do a curse that for a full minute I become a frog, cat, or even a worm. The one thing that strikes me as odd about this situation is how when I trick or treat in an inn every inn keeper in the world seems to know.
The thing that I enjoy most during this Hallow’s End celebration is the collaboration required to thwart the constant threat of the Shade of the Horseman. Each time the Shade attacks the Matron of the local orphanage asks people to take up buckets of water and extinguish the fires set by the Shade. I have defeated several of these shades, though the only way to stop them would be to destroy the Headless Horseman at his grave. The horseman is far too strong for me, though I’ve seen powerful people take on the task and defeat him many times over. Yet, the attacks continue and it seems they will not pass until after Hallow’s End.
I’m an alchemist by profession. I go about the country side collecting plants to make potions. Generally I give my potions to friends, but sometimes I take my extra’s to the Auction House in Stormwind city to sell them to those that want them enough to bid or even buy out my auctions. There are many things to be found in the Auction House. People all over the world bring items of relative value, either created or more often found in Dungeons or while raiding small camps of hostile creatures.
Shop keepers will buy things but chances are other adventurers will pay more. There are many people who do little but shout in cities about their professions or wares and how they can serve you for a usually steep fee. More often than not wares sold this way are cheaper than at auction. I’ve collected a number of magic wands that disguise the target as things like Leper Gnomes, Skeletons, and Bats. There are those who will pay two gold or more for these wands to be used on them.
Sometimes someone will ask me to Duel them. I’ve only had a few duels, usually resulting in my opponent conceding victory to me. Us Druids often get together and transform into Bears. I’m not sure why but we enjoy dancing together as Bears or cats; it is quite a funny sight to see. There are many interactions in mmy world, though there isnt much room for originality in our animations such as dance moves. even with these few issues I think all told this is a world worth defending.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Thursday, October 16, 2008
A wishlist for a future not here
Few questions remain for me now that I’ve finished reading Diamond Age. I must say this world of feeds and or seeds seems like a world I would enjoy living in. Two different career paths are presented both extremely too my liking, those being Racting and Nanotech engineering.
As a Ractor I would seek roles that would allow a lot of improvising, though I also enjoy the structure of script and stage timing. I have most my life slipped in and out of several accents. I pick up accents simply being around them quite subconsciously. There have been times when while playing video games with friends we would take roles and voice act the game often causing laughter but always having fun. With my talent for accent, my range of funny and serious voices, and my ability to get into a role make Racting a desirable job.
Nanotech engineering holds an even greater place of interest for me. The ability to from the atomic level create an object, its power source, its function, its shape, and its weight is an incredible ability. I have thought up several inventions in my 22 years that would make my life easier or even more enjoyable but in most cases the market for these items is very small and specialized. Without any materials I could use to make these items I have always gone without. Nanotech would change that I could create something if only the materials from scratch and build to my every whim.
An observation of interest:
The Drummers seem to me to not have a true free will as their minds are clouded and supplemented. Even so I can see how some would choose such a life for themselves. There have been people throughout our planets history who live a life a prisoner some addictive substance or another. These people with their minds supplemented into the hive of the Drummers could easily cold turkey their addiction and live a life of bliss without worry or needs. I believe though these drummers are being taken advantage of as they do not all chose this way they merely come into contact with the nanosites and become Drummers.
As a Ractor I would seek roles that would allow a lot of improvising, though I also enjoy the structure of script and stage timing. I have most my life slipped in and out of several accents. I pick up accents simply being around them quite subconsciously. There have been times when while playing video games with friends we would take roles and voice act the game often causing laughter but always having fun. With my talent for accent, my range of funny and serious voices, and my ability to get into a role make Racting a desirable job.
Nanotech engineering holds an even greater place of interest for me. The ability to from the atomic level create an object, its power source, its function, its shape, and its weight is an incredible ability. I have thought up several inventions in my 22 years that would make my life easier or even more enjoyable but in most cases the market for these items is very small and specialized. Without any materials I could use to make these items I have always gone without. Nanotech would change that I could create something if only the materials from scratch and build to my every whim.
An observation of interest:
The Drummers seem to me to not have a true free will as their minds are clouded and supplemented. Even so I can see how some would choose such a life for themselves. There have been people throughout our planets history who live a life a prisoner some addictive substance or another. These people with their minds supplemented into the hive of the Drummers could easily cold turkey their addiction and live a life of bliss without worry or needs. I believe though these drummers are being taken advantage of as they do not all chose this way they merely come into contact with the nanosites and become Drummers.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
My Birth in Gaia
Otakon 2008: This is my fourth year attending Otakon. I’ve really gotten used to the activities available and layout of the convention center. During the first day of the week end me, and my friend Mark who was there with me, did an extensive search of the Dealers room. It was my intention to continue my tradition of purchasing a new hat each year at Otakon. As we searched I purchased a Holicxxx wall scroll and Mark bought a Yotsuba figurine. I wanted to get a mask but of the two we found neither was of decent quality. Finally I came a crossed a white hat with long wings on it that ended in gloves, I immediately decided this to be the years hat. In the lobby outside the Dealers room I opened my new hat and found on the tag that it was from a game called Gaia Online.
Mark was already a member and knew of an invitation bonus so I asked him to invite me to the game. Later that evening I dove headfirst into the world of Gaia. I began creating my character, with the obvious choice of male gender. Going for the darkest colored long-sleeved shirt, long pants, and boots available I tried my best to mimic my favorite items in my wardrobe. I had many years before made an Anime persona of myself with long straight blue hair pulled back in a ponytail so I took the longest hair available for my male avatar and colored it blue. I have grown attached to half closed eyes I was given in Animal Crossing and again in Animal Crossing Wild World which I often see staring back at me in the mirror, so I picked the only eyes of similar style available to beginners in Gaia.
I found myself now with no direction as to what to do next. With my character complete and account created, the only thing I could think to do was to seek out a way to meet Mark in the game. In Gaia it seemed everything centers on avatars and their various equips. Navigation seemed fairly intuitive as it was done through the websites navi-bar. I went to the My House tab and found that when I asked to place my own house I was placed into a Flash game where other player characters were wandering about witch I could do as well by clicking the place I wanted to move to. I soon discovered that like in Animal crossing I was able to shake trees, stones, and apparently bushes to make small amounts of money fall out that was placed in my inventory on its own. I could also collect bugs, dig up flowers, and pick up small odd colored rocks. I messaged mark on instant messenger and we fiddled with the zip codes that allow players to relocate themselves in “Towns” and after much frustration and about tree minuets we finally meet outside his in-game home.
After a short time of talking to each other here I went off in search of some form of entertainment. I looked through all the shops and found that my previous method of catching 1 of each bug was not going to cut it and the colored rocks where in fact crumpled paper and other bits of recyclable trash. I found that with fifty papers at one shop I could make hats and likewise 50 bugs at another shop could be turned in for ink usable at a tattoo parlor. All this was interesting but what consumed most of my time was one of the items in the Games section. Each “Game” has channels and rooms where players can chat with others there though hardly any of the games involved any more interaction than that. I found my self on a quest to complete each of over thirty "Jigsaw" puzzles on hard difficulty.
I spent some time collecting inks and money in “Towns” and discovered a fish tank which I have cared for carefully. It pained me to discover that evolving items as well as additional Aquarium items where only purchasable with real money converted into Gaia Cash. My aquarium has rewarded me for caring for it with a few rare items not findable in the shops, most of which I have equipped making my character quite a melting pot of strange items. My character, which I named Vulse after my usual internet persona, is now thirteen Days old with a collection of nearly a hundred fifty items most of witch obtained through “Towns” or “Jigsaw”.
Timeline - 1984
1980-1981
1982-1983
Films:
1982-1983
Films:
- The Terminator
- Runaway
Games:
- The Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy Text-based game
Books:
- So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
- Neuromancer
- Rock On
- The Big U
Stories:
- Till Human Voices Wake Us
Events:
- Gardner Dozois, reviewing "hot new writers" for Washington Post, refers to a group called "cyberpunks." The name sticks (Dec 30)
- Four separate instances of robot killings recorded in japan
- The first Robot Killing in the U.S. (July 21st)
- Anastasia Salter born
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Johnny Mnemonic
Writer William Gibson wrote many interesting short stories; his TV and film careers however have been met with decidedly less enthusiasm. With most professional reviewers looking down on the film rendition of his short story Johnny Mnemonic its small wonder his film career is not often seen in the spotlight.
“It looks as though Longo were trying to follow a generic recipe rather than his own narrative intuition. It makes you wish he had indulged the impulses toward fragmentation, layering and abstraction that shaped his gallery art as well as his nearly unintelligible but interesting Arena Brains.” Johnson’s review of the film focuses more closely director Robert Longo whom was at the time working on his first film. Though Longo expressed a wish to start with a low budget film, his working with Gibson attracted extra funding and unfortunately much higher expectations.
These expectations seem to be the source of the films overall pitiful review scores. Owen Gleiberman of entertainment weekly gave Jonny Mnemonic a C-, calling the film a Blade Runner knockoff with a lifted style and visual themes of your average B movie. This seems to be an aesthetic criticism and Gleiberman’s C- ranking seems rather generous for his relentless bashing in his review of the writing and especially the lead actor Keanu Reeves. With this observation of the scenery as B movie quality it only serves to show the influence of a starting director who intended to create a low budget film and managed to pull it off despite a larger than expected budget.
Christian Spotlight contributor Alex Yeoh was even more critical of the film with a rating of one and a half stars and going so far as to request readers: “Avoid it at all costs, and walk out if friends rent it out from the video store.” Yeoh of course writes from the point of view of a conservative and protective Christian parent (most writers on Christian Spotlight are either Parents or spiritual leaders.) He makes points of what he sees as unnecessary implants, lots of profanity, violence, and bad lines. Though he incorrectly claims the Street Preacher’s name is “Jesus” he is correct that the character misquotes scripture. This can be attributed however to the dystopian environment and the obviously demented individuals own interpretations of scripture.
The viewer response to this article, by Dave Clark, matches well to my own views of the movie. The viewer points out that the film was based on Gibson’s short stories a view of Jonny Mnemonic with inspirations pulled from Neuromancer, corrects Yeoh on the name of the Street Preacher. He makes the concession that this is obviously not your perfect Christian movie, “But appreciates art and script writing too.”
Richard Scheib gives a much more in-depth review going into the background of Gibson and even giving a look at what the film is often in competition with. It’s from this article that I learned about Gibson’s other contributions to the video medium. His work New Rose Hotel has been adapted by Abel Ferrara, and Gibson himself wrote two episodes for the well know television show The X Files. Gibson was also at one time attached to the writing for the movie Alien. I am inclined to agree with Scheib in that Jonny Mnemonic is a good movie.
Alex Yeoh: http://www.christiananswers.net/spotlight/movies/pre2000/rvu-mnemonic.html
Andrea Austin: http://www.erudit.org/revue/ron/2001/v/n21/005958ar.html
Ken Johnson: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1248/is_n10_v83/ai_17418128/pg_1?tag=artBody;col1
Owen Gleiberman: http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,297533,00.html
“It looks as though Longo were trying to follow a generic recipe rather than his own narrative intuition. It makes you wish he had indulged the impulses toward fragmentation, layering and abstraction that shaped his gallery art as well as his nearly unintelligible but interesting Arena Brains.” Johnson’s review of the film focuses more closely director Robert Longo whom was at the time working on his first film. Though Longo expressed a wish to start with a low budget film, his working with Gibson attracted extra funding and unfortunately much higher expectations.
These expectations seem to be the source of the films overall pitiful review scores. Owen Gleiberman of entertainment weekly gave Jonny Mnemonic a C-, calling the film a Blade Runner knockoff with a lifted style and visual themes of your average B movie. This seems to be an aesthetic criticism and Gleiberman’s C- ranking seems rather generous for his relentless bashing in his review of the writing and especially the lead actor Keanu Reeves. With this observation of the scenery as B movie quality it only serves to show the influence of a starting director who intended to create a low budget film and managed to pull it off despite a larger than expected budget.
Christian Spotlight contributor Alex Yeoh was even more critical of the film with a rating of one and a half stars and going so far as to request readers: “Avoid it at all costs, and walk out if friends rent it out from the video store.” Yeoh of course writes from the point of view of a conservative and protective Christian parent (most writers on Christian Spotlight are either Parents or spiritual leaders.) He makes points of what he sees as unnecessary implants, lots of profanity, violence, and bad lines. Though he incorrectly claims the Street Preacher’s name is “Jesus” he is correct that the character misquotes scripture. This can be attributed however to the dystopian environment and the obviously demented individuals own interpretations of scripture.
The viewer response to this article, by Dave Clark, matches well to my own views of the movie. The viewer points out that the film was based on Gibson’s short stories a view of Jonny Mnemonic with inspirations pulled from Neuromancer, corrects Yeoh on the name of the Street Preacher. He makes the concession that this is obviously not your perfect Christian movie, “But appreciates art and script writing too.”
Richard Scheib gives a much more in-depth review going into the background of Gibson and even giving a look at what the film is often in competition with. It’s from this article that I learned about Gibson’s other contributions to the video medium. His work New Rose Hotel has been adapted by Abel Ferrara, and Gibson himself wrote two episodes for the well know television show The X Files. Gibson was also at one time attached to the writing for the movie Alien. I am inclined to agree with Scheib in that Jonny Mnemonic is a good movie.
Sources
Alex Yeoh: http://www.christiananswers.net/spotlight/movies/pre2000/rvu-mnemonic.html
Andrea Austin: http://www.erudit.org/revue/ron/2001/v/n21/005958ar.html
Ken Johnson: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1248/is_n10_v83/ai_17418128/pg_1?tag=artBody;col1
Owen Gleiberman: http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,297533,00.html
Richard Scheib: http://www.moria.co.nz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2104Itemid=1
Red Star, Winter Orbit: Tech
The technology in William Gibson and Bruce Sterling’s collaborative short story “Red Star, Winter Orbit” brings meaning to the lives of some though to others it is mundane and unimportant. The three countries whose space programs are mentioned in this story have reached different views of technology. The Japanese have chosen the cheapest most efficient way of sending robots to space to mine resources, Russia seeing this as more effective is scrapping their long term manned space stations in favor of looking after their assets on earth, and the Americans have taken too living in solar power balloons and launching their ships from free-fall from these balloons.
Gibson and Sterling’s story is an overall hopeful view of the future from some stand points. This short story does not go into great detail as to how society and Earth in general is doing. It does however show the state of the space programs as well as how the governments and their respective Public sentiments are fairing.
This is a future in which the USSR was not dissolved but had taken control of the worlds oil supply and became the most powerful country on earth. As seen in USA in light of the Oil crisis only some choose to accept exists, it is the reaction of most Americans to pull back and focus on maintaining our way of life. To do this many push for local drilling but that can only do so much and not many companies are willing in this endeavor as it has little room for profit.
The solution many are seeing as a necessity now is the need for other sources of power. In this tale the Americans have done just that, they have placed their faith in solar power, by using giant reflective balloons. Many in this future live in these balloons dreaming of one day going higher. The Russians on the other hand have already been higher but have stagnated and don’t care anymore.
Cable is the prevailing remnant of the cyber world. It is not made clear if this is cable TV or internet, but at the time it was written one could assume TV. By intercepting American satellites the Russian space station manages to collect a decent amount of pornographic entertainment through apparently illegal means. This seems to be the primary means of occupying the free time of the crew.
Gibson and Sterling’s story is an overall hopeful view of the future from some stand points. This short story does not go into great detail as to how society and Earth in general is doing. It does however show the state of the space programs as well as how the governments and their respective Public sentiments are fairing.
This is a future in which the USSR was not dissolved but had taken control of the worlds oil supply and became the most powerful country on earth. As seen in USA in light of the Oil crisis only some choose to accept exists, it is the reaction of most Americans to pull back and focus on maintaining our way of life. To do this many push for local drilling but that can only do so much and not many companies are willing in this endeavor as it has little room for profit.
The solution many are seeing as a necessity now is the need for other sources of power. In this tale the Americans have done just that, they have placed their faith in solar power, by using giant reflective balloons. Many in this future live in these balloons dreaming of one day going higher. The Russians on the other hand have already been higher but have stagnated and don’t care anymore.
Cable is the prevailing remnant of the cyber world. It is not made clear if this is cable TV or internet, but at the time it was written one could assume TV. By intercepting American satellites the Russian space station manages to collect a decent amount of pornographic entertainment through apparently illegal means. This seems to be the primary means of occupying the free time of the crew.
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