Rosewar Chronicle

Posted on September 3, 2011 by bluedepth

LiveJournal 3/1/2003 –

I broke down and did it. I printed out the website for the Rosewar Chronicle, the Changeling Game that Scott is running and that will be playing later today. I’ve started with a highlighter and the NPC list and I’m carefully marking down key bits for my character to know and now I can put faces and names to what they did. However it does feel very much like an Agatha Christie novel, I keep on expecting a Trod to open up and Poirot to jump out with the stock phrase “I know the culprit!”. Of course that will never happen, Scott doesn’t make it *that* easy. I think that maybe this time if I know who is who and what everyone is referring to by being able to read it all up while we play I can be more “into” the game. I suppose all my years of regarding D&D players as unsociable pale number freaks will have to erode away – there is just some limits to how “into” the game I can get.

A movie quote has been bouncing around my head these past few weeks:

“Life is suffering your highness, anyone who says differently is selling something.” – The Princess Bride.

Anyhow, moving along, Ryan has to sleep and I can certainly understand, I’m the walking dead myself. Tomorrow will be great fun, here’s to early game starts and not passing out. Maybe I can wrest control of the entire party and exercise my early game playing will on them all. Hah, my character leading… terrifying.

That's not where you thought it was…

Posted on September 1, 2011 by bluedepth

Earlier this evening, after dinner, we went to see if Scotts newest find was still open. They closed at 9pm, so that was a little blah. As we were driving away I noticed that right next door was “Partners Ultra-Lounge” and I stopped the car and just gaped. I, for the past year or so thought erroneously that Partners was in =downtown Kalamazoo= not in PORTAGE! As I was gaping it hit me… This apparent “destination” that I now realize that I’ve never really known is part of a strip mall. A gay bar in a strip mall. I’ll just let that sink in.

I’m still quite a-gog about this. What a shock! Still have zero interest in exploring anything more about it, but surprised it was in Portage. Oh well… 🙂

Google Plus

Posted on July 28, 2011 by bluedepth

For the past few weeks, ever since it was closed to the majority of the public I’ve been toying around with Google Plus. At first I was hesitant to invest much energy in it because I got so burned with the boondoggle that was Google Wave. I immediately noticed that the user interface seemed oddly familiar, as it turns out one of the designers for Google Plus was an old Macintosh designer. Who couldn’t see that coming from miles away? The interface was clean, it didn’t have annoying Zynga games or any of the other dreck that Facebook has to contend with as part of it’s heritage of being a “College Kids Social Site”. Google Plus was something new.

After a time I started to think of Google Plus as a weapon Google designed and aimed directly at Facebook, as it seems that the two products are pretty much direct competitors to each other. I had this view for a few weeks until I saw a slide presentation that revealed that Google’s hubris was a lot larger than anyone had previously considered. Google doesn’t want to fight Facebook. Google wants to fight an entire computing paradigm. Currently the world is in the throes of migrating towards “thin clients” and “cloud services” and Google is angling to become the assumed foundation for that entire new world. There are balls, and then there are Google Balls. It’s not so much Facebook that Google Plus is fighting. It’s like an anonymous-but-incredibly-attractive man in a black leather jacket came into Facebook’s house and almost incidentally smothered Facebook with a giant pillow. You can see that he isn’t really holding the pillow but you can see that Facebook is struggling as if Googles entire weight was holding that pillow over Facebooks head. I’ve already left Facebook for nearly all intents and purposes. The only thing that Facebook retains that is still somewhat useful is their event subsystem, but I fully expect that one of the next steps that Google will take will be a new events system that leverages Google Calendar and Google Plus into a new product, maybe, called Google Events. Only time will tell on that one.

Using Google Plus is as I’ve said, a breath of fresh air. I love using it and I can’t really explain why that is. I think it’s because there are a lot of little things that all cluster together and when you add them up, Google Plus has some seriously powerful features. Instead of Facebook’s Like, you get a +1. At first this seemed rather like a feature-for-feature thing, until I noticed that every single item in a Google Search carried this shimmering (yes, it really shimmers) +1 button next to each item! So Google has found a way to instantly socialize search. Hah. Amongst all the other things, I learned by browsing the web that Google’s Picasa product, which quietly got a cloud-treatment called Web Picasa, that the service has a 1GB data storage cap, but that the cap only counts on files that are bigger than a certain very-large-value and that it’s unlimited storage just like it is on Facebook. Again, Hah. The best part of Google Plus, at least for me, is the Circles functionality. It’s very clean and very elegant. I have my Friends, my Family, Coworkers, Followers, Google+ New People… a circle for each of my social groups. I can control which Circle or set of Circles gets which updates right when I write the updates themselves. This is perfect for me as I’ve learned, in the crucible of Facebook, that sequestering certain individuals in my social life is essential. These people, in the past, have unilaterally demanded on censoring what I have to write, even if those things are my opinions and frankly are none of their business and if I were to be really picky, violate my First Amendment rights. With Google Plus I can make sure that they never see the things that would normally upset them and with one very elegant control choice, make sure that they will never have to be upset again by the things that I write. I marvel at this kind of structure that Google has provided people like me. Google Circles are a virtual representation of how I structure my life! There is Work Andy and Home Andy and Friend Andy and so many kinds of me, all configured specifically for that group. My friends wouldn’t recognize me at work, because I conduct myself far differently than I do anywhere else. Likewise my work acquaintances have never really met the real me. They are the Coworkers Circle, and that Google brought this to the forefront really appeals to me and gratifies me.

Google Plus has half of the keystone for get my full adoration. They submitted an iOS App for the iPhone and that was cleared by Apple and it sits on the second row on my home screen of my iPhone. The other half of the keystone will either make that iOS app they already have a Universal App, or come out with an app formatted for the iPad. Once that comes to pass there will be very little if any reason for me to ever return to Facebook. In many ways it’s almost an odd new competition between Google and Facebook. To see who can come out first with an iPad app. Facebook declared that an iPad is not a mobile device and so they were never going to make a Facebook app for the iPad. Then it was revealed on the web that Facebook did have an iPad app hidden in their iPhone app and once it was revealed Facebook did enough to show their hands as manipulative petulant assholes and immediately put the kibosh on that iPad app. It may not be ready and they may not want to release it because the app isn’t up to their standards, but that’s just a red herring. It would be such a deep coup if Google got it’s Google Plus iPad App approved before Facebook’s iPad app. It would be one more slap in the face to Facebook as Google actively ignores it and snuffs it out at the same time.

If you would like to join me on Google Plus, all you have to do is send me the email you would like to associate with Google Plus and I will send out an invite. I apparently have an inexhaustible supply of invites, so if you aren’t on Google Plus and you would like to see what all the hullabaloo is about, all you have to do is ask.

Bridesmaids

Posted on July 17, 2011 by bluedepth

Since we didn’t have any real supplies in the house and it was 7pm by the time Scott got out of the gym we decided to skip making dinner and just go out. On our way out we picked up Miah and went to Olde Peninsula. After our meal, and some rather dull cider (which was not their fault, but was a matter of trying something new that flopped) we decided to go see a movie. The movie Bridesmaids was playing at Rave and we all were able to catch it at the student rate, which is $5 per person.

We got to the theater and found seats, the previews came on and they were mostly forgettable. Then the movie started. On the whole the movie Bridesmaids has some very funny and touching moments, but underneath those moments there is a undercurrent of depression. Along with that darkness there is also a kind of black dread that fogs the movie, all the characters are like velveteen rabbits that have been soiled and left in a dumpster to be pecked to pieces by wildlife. It appears as though a movie these days cannot be considered hilarious unless the actors make complete social buffoons of themselves. Many of the sequences felt like elaborate jokes where the writers wanted to set-up the characters like dominoes and tip one over and watch the entire set collapse for the merriment of the audience. To make any of this believable you have to imagine that the people in this movie are at best contrived playthings and at worst, caricatures of truly horrible broken human beings. I laughed at many of the situations depicted in the movie, but afterwards I felt bad about what I laughed at. It felt a lot like standing in a mob and laughing at some poor wounded creature that was struggling for the side of the road so it wouldn’t be run over again. Nobody could put this movie out of it’s misery and so we had to sit through it. While I laughed at parts of this movie, I felt like I had been fleeced. The $5 per ticket price was actually too high for a movie as reprehensible as this one. The primary engine of “Bridesmaids” is the comedy of misery and it leaves you less of a person after you see it than you were when you walked in. The only saving grace is that the movie was a contrivance, that the actors really aren’t this way, that people aren’t trapped in misery that deep.

Bridesmaids is connected to Apatow, and so was The Anchorman, which had a very similar feel. Both movies are soiled productions that rely on the most piquant social awkwardness possible to jam the audience into a very uncomfortable position and then whip a gag out on them to make them laugh. People come away smiling and laughing but also hurt in the exchange.

After watching Bridesmaids, I am done with Mr. Judd Apatow. Much like I am done with “The Anchorman” Will Ferrell. I will not see any other movies with either of their names on it. I’m tired of being entertained in one move and abused in another.

Bridesmaids, Zero out of Ten Stars.

Family Recommendation: Avoid at all costs. Do not view, stream, or rent.

Green Lantern Review

Posted on June 17, 2011 by bluedepth

We just finished watching the opening night for Green Lantern at the Rave Theater in Kalamazoo Michigan. The movie was well constructed and delivered a good story and a wonderful summer movie-going experience. We had some problems with our local Rave Theater, their 3D projectors, Christie Projectors had some really awful color malfunctions throughout the previews but after “rebooting the projector” they got it working properly to display the movie, which we were all thankful for. In order to avoid spoiling the movie for anyone who hasn’t seen it, I’m going to place the rest of this review under a more break.

Continue reading →

Blessings

Posted on June 15, 2011 by bluedepth

I read a lot online. Mostly material curated by my friends and acquaintances. Sometimes I run into a thick vein of feel-good affirmations. About the nature of happiness and how to cultivate it in your life. All of this is good and wonderful and I value those friends that bring those things to light because they really do deserve saying and sharing.

One thing does get me though, and this came up with the notion that happiness is not bound by external situations. Are you sure? I think about all the people I read who are very loving, very expressive, and very positive people… how much of that output is supported by a comfortable life? What happens if you don’t have the blessings that come with a first world existence? What if the water that surrounds you is toxic and if you drank any of it would lead to a slow agonizing death? What if you were homeless? What if you were starving? What if life arranged to punish you at every turn and you could never catch a single break? How fluffy and positive would that poor person be?

Don’t get me wrong here, I think that these people are vital and what they share is wonderful and I’m glad they do so, but, all the advice in the world, all the love and fluffy feelings and rah-rah aphorisms, when they land on the ears of someone who is struggling for the most basic things in life – how is that person supposed to react? Do they react with anger? Upset that people who are blessed with comfort feel compelled to export super-fluff are somehow not getting the big picture?

I think quite often on the poor soul who can’t scrape together a meal today, who has no reliable potable water to rely upon for survival and has no idea if someone or something will end up trying to kill or nibble on them in the night. How would they react to being told that everyone is suffused with love and true happiness is all in your mind and how you perceive and approach the world? When I imagine myself in that condition the last thing I want to hear is someone expounding on the fluffy. I’d really like something to drink, something to eat, and maybe someone to watch over me as I collapse.

It isn’t until you get to writing how you feel that you find yourself tripping over the very core reason why your political views are formed the way they are. I think it’s this, this poor soul, a nameless faceless sufferer that compels me to be a liberal. To share what I have, (with hope that we share what we have) in order to ensure that this one poor soul never has to face such an empty existence. And I think it’s this poor person that I always think about when I walk into the voting booth, and when I look upon my paycheck and note how much FICA I’m paying, just to start. It’s something I cannot understand, and probably never ever will. Why people can be so cold and unfeeling, so unimaginative that they cannot comprehend someone to be in this suffering state. I think that’s one of the core reasons why I am filled with boiling waves of rage when I hear conservatives railing against social programs. How corrupt and alien would be our world if any one of us fell through the cracks and died while others did nothing. If you want to know evil, I think that’s the core of it. Not being violent or malicious, but being indifferent to suffering. By being indifferent, in some ways you are actively collaborating with suffering itself. It makes me feel wretched.

So, getting back to where we started, the central question remains. Is happiness bound by external things? I think it most certainly can be. People should not lose sight of that.

SUNY Buffalo

Posted on May 20, 2011 by bluedepth

Talk about a blast from the past! I noticed a few weeks ago @GenerationSUNY’s twitter feed talking about the SUNY report card being presented by Chancellor Zimpher and that reminded me about @ub_alumni. It’s a curious condition I’m in. I work for WMU’s Development and Alumni Relations department and here I am talking to my alma mater’s Alumni department. The things I’ve learned here at Western, things I never thought I’d actively use in pleasant conversation all of a sudden are now directly relevant.

So of course the nice people who staff the @ub_alumni account gave me a link to their Alumni connect website. This is exceptionally comic since the system I tried to get into is the same, at least thematically, that we are attempting to bring to WMU alums right here and now. So on I go. I know a few things, mostly my UB Person Number, when your grades are in a list and it’s sorted by this number, you know it. It’s a number that’s as with-me as my Social Security Number is. And I dimly remember my username that used to be on UB’s computer system, which as I remember was a Solaris Unix system. Ah, the geeky stuff you remember. And then I made contact with @ub_alumni on Twitter. They helped me remember my password to the UB Connect site and once I got in I remembered that many many months, maybe even years, yikes, I got a letter in the mail from UB offering UBMail, their email account they offered all alums through Google. This letter, as I remember, came hot on the heels of WMU’s decision to either go with Merit’s hosted Zimbra infrastructure or to go with Google’s infrastructure for email services for higher ed. There was something very deeply satisfying to know that my alma mater elected to go with Google, and that my arguments for Google and against Zimbra were at least backed up by my alma mater’s choice. I remember laughing heartily because my alma mater is nearly the same size, at least when it comes to students, as WMU is. Golly, if it works for Buffalo, maybe it’d work for Western?!? Bah, it’s all water under the bridge.

This left-field connection did get me to wander around SUNY Buffalo’s website, and I even looked at the Giving site and YES, I did think about giving. Before anyone gets all hot and bothered, I’ve given the last two times UB’s Annual Fund called me, my basic $35 donation, so keep your knickers on people. Jeesh. 🙂 But while I was looking at the site my mind started to wander and then I started to remember. At first it was funny odd little stories, things about South Campus, about the goofy city trolley that didn’t go all the way to North Campus because the rich, well-heeled slobs in Amherst couldn’t stand the idea of poor homeless people taking a trolley from the city up into their palatial bedroom community and reminding them about how hard life is, especially in Buffalo. Other memories too, from my house that I rented on Stockbridge Ave in Buffalo, with the people who I lived with, and regretted, it’s one of the few decisions that I made that was honestly really bad. And then the sillier stuff. Like being too drunk to drive, rather too drunk to walk even, and taking a cab from somewhere in the Red Jacket Quadrangle in Legoland all the way back to Clement Hall on South Campus and telling the cabbie that I didn’t have any cash. Then discovering that I had over $40 in quarters in my jeans pocket. That I couldn’t remember that little fact or the giant bulge of coinage in my pocket while the upset cabbie drove away was a memory that did stand out, and still does to this day. I also remember my classes, the halls, and as I continued to let my mind wander I realized just how much fun I had at UB. I met some of my best friends there, and at least one I still am friends with to this day. We met when I was 18, and now I’m almost 36. Oddly enough the funny memories are really quite embarrassing really. Like the rude knowledge of what the LGBT SA offices couch must have witnessed, to how many power tools were confiscated out of that office. Ahem. That sort of thing really stays with you. At least I can say that none of those drills, jigs, or saws were mine. And if you were wondering why such things were contraband, you are too pure and innocent to read any further. 🙂

After I graduated from UB I eventually ended up in Kalamazoo, Michigan and working for Western Michigan University. I couldn’t help but compare the two. One had a covered walkway system from one hall all the way across campus to the other end that kept you out of the weather. The other did not. Now that I look back, one of the smallest things that someone can remember really sticks out. Not having to trudge through a downpour or a blizzard as you walked the Spine really dwells quite prominently in my memory. But as much as WMU has foibles and shortcomings, at least both schools had some rather lame similarities. As you approach UB’s North Campus you see Cook and Hochstetter Halls, they look big and bold and grand and then… the rest of the campus. The two Universities look very much alike. Squat little brick buildings, most starting to age rather poorly. The one thing I do remember quite clearly, and why this sticks out does humor me, is that the chairs at UB were really really good. The chairs at Western are actually impossible to use, at least some of them in the very oldest of our buildings. It’s funny how the little things stick out in your memory like big sore thumbs.

So after I cleared up from my walk down memory lane I tried my hand at the UBMail thing again. That was just as impenetrable as it was the first time I tried to get into it, it’s one thing that UB really didn’t make easy, especially for alums who were out of contact for a good long while and forgot bits like usernames and passwords to student accounts the student didn’t think they’d ever need again. But all is not lost, I was able to contact the UB IT Help Desk and asked for a password reset. I have to admit to feeling quite awkward calling CIT’s Help Desk, only because contacting our own OIT is a fools errand and contacting the Help Desk here isn’t something that is done, really, ever. Oh well, what the hell, so I called the CIT Help Desk at my alma mater and talked to a nice fellow who asked me to scan and email some photo ID verifying my identity and to call back in half an hour. That was fine, and I was impressed, at least they knew what to ask for and used the phonetic alphabet when it was relevant. I wonder if the people who got my email at buffalo.edu notice the wmich.edu address. Yeah yeah yeah, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. 🙂 One thing I did notice was that the music on-hold was promotional material for UB and was designed to make you feel proud to have attended UB. Again I can’t help but compare…

All that’s old is new again. Maybe some day when I head back east to visit family in CNY I might make a stop or two on South Campus and North Campus and do a little wandering around. See what UB has done to itself in the intervening years that I’ve been away. Once I get free of my obligations, I’ll likely start giving to UB, at least more than the $35 hush-money I currently give them. *shrug* This is how it happens. Alums graduate and think nothing of where they came from until years and years later and all the good or funny things stick out in your memory while all the unpleasantness is forgotten. You get caught up in so much of those memories that you start to romanticize those memories, and before you know it, you’re writing $2000 checks to your alma mater without giving it a single thought. Huh.

C2E2 Friday 3/18/2011

Posted on March 19, 2011 by bluedepth

Yesterday we walked through McCormick Place on our way to C2E2. The start of the convention was a touch disorganized as there was very little in the way of a guide to where the holding queue line was supposed to be. Once we found it we queued up and bided our time. The convention started to concern me because there were sessions going from 11am and it was 12:45pm by the time our queue began to process. Scott informed me that we were in the cow-class and that VIP ticket holders could get in much earlier, and that it was meant for them, those early sessions.

Once we got in I immediately saw that this years exhibition hall was significantly bigger than last years c2e2 was. We started to browse the aisles. Scott took off like a shot for artists alley, Sean and Jeff and Chris took off for the line to get the con-special figurine. This year that figurine was a white-lantern Batman and a white-lantern Flash. They all were successful and I went to browse the vendors. The vendors are pretty much laid out in a standard convention format. You’ve got shirt-sellers, music producers, art studios, comic book sellers, and fake weapon smiths. A microcosm of the same exhibitor hall at San Diego Comic Con.

I immediately noticed Comixology there and chuckled at myself. My serious interest in the comics industry is in the realm of digital comics. I firmly believe that paper is dead, very 20th century. As I wandered the aisles I saw tons and tons of old paper for sale and thought to myself just how comical all this was, that it all could be reduced into a tiny little USB memory stick and sold for $10. The biggest thing is to have respect for the dead, even if they don’t know they are dead. It’s one thing to smile at the future you know and quite another to terrify those that either haven’t a clue or are willfully ignoring what is coming.

After we were done with the exhibition hall we attended some DC panels. The Green Lantern panel was all right, many of the panelists were artists and they did a good job of representing DC. Many of the fan questions however required the presence of a writer to answer. One funny thing to come out of this panel was the Green Lantern oath in other languages. Some of the DC artists are French, while their headliner is Portuguese. The artists tried their best to be affable and good hosts and were successful for the most part.

The other DC Panel was less useful. The biggest stumbling block we had was how DC has effectively buried one of their characters, Wally West, who played Flash after Barry Allen was removed from the storyline a while ago. Now that Barry Allen is back, Wally has faded away. This bothers Scott and I can commiserate a little bit in that my favorite character, Kyle Rayner is in a slightly similar predicament. Where Kyle gets some actual play in Green Lantern Corps comic Wally only shows up as Kid Flash in the Young Justice Animated TV Show. I am a little personally bent at the vendors, all the Green Lantern play is for Hal Jordan, which is a character I mildly appreciate but would much rather see MY favorite Lantern featured way more often. I suppose it’s that I identify closer to Kyle’s sensitivity and creativity than Hal’s brusque flyboy persona. Sometimes I get overwhelmed with Hal everywhere and I just want him to “Save The DC Universe” and die for it. Characters that die in that way never really stay dead, but it would be nice to see Kyle, Guy, and John get more showtime in Hal’s death-absence.

The disappearance of Wally West however *is* a serious problem for DC. I appreciate the Flash-verse almost as much as the Lantern one and I see a place for Barry, Wally, Bart and Irey. We’ll have to see how that works and see if DC gets with the program or not.

Assigning People to Music

Posted on February 15, 2011 by bluedepth

Here are my top ten played tracks on my iPod “Be A Jackass”:

Hero – The Verve Pipe
Homage to Patagonia – Lemon Jelly
Hooked on Bach – Hooked on Classics
Puttin’ on the Ritz – Taco
Would You…? – Touch and Go
Video Killed the Radio Star – Buggles
Some Fantastic – Barenaked Ladies
Hooked on Classics Part 3 – Hooked on Classics
Hooked on Mozart – Hooked on Classics
Hooked on Song – Hooked on Classics

The first track is easy, I’ve always associated that with Dennis Skinner. I don’t know why. As for the rest, I’m going to have to give them some serious listens in order to find where people belong. I really should find musical selections for every one of my friends and family. So far I’ve got my Mother, my Stepfather, and my Sister. I’ve got to assign music to:

Scott – Glee, Jonatha?
My Father – Something patriotic
Scott’s Mom – Something classical
My Boss – Dar Williams perhaps
Andy Med
Jeffery – Something from the 80’s
Sean – Star Trek Theme
Jeramiah – That section of remix in german
Justin – Maybe a section of Homage to Patagonia
Matt – “I Will Survive” perhaps
Max

And perhaps more people if they ended up calling me.

Being Without

Posted on February 14, 2011 by bluedepth

This past weekend I was without my Blackberry as the number port took through Verizon and the phone was in a box en-route to Kalamazoo through FedEx. It was an odd feeling, being potentially connected through the fail-a-licious Blackberry and then suddenly not having anything. No phone, no sms, no alerts, no twitter. It was rather humbling. There were some seriously good moments of comedy that I was going to share but couldn’t, some of them were:

At the GR B&N, they had a sign up for Black History Month and right underneath it a load of product from the BBC.
The Apple Store at Woodland Mall in GR, a packed madhouse! It was if it was a fresh release day and people were starving for the sleek and shiny.
Scott’s test drive of the car that has caught his eye, the Nissan Juke.
Browsing the Pioneer Wine Trail, which runs north and south of Jackson, MI.

Of course, throughout all of this I’ve been impatient for the delivery of my new iPhone. Waiting has been uniquely annoying, especially since FedEx doesn’t really update their package status as well as UPS does, so for the past few days the shipment has been cooling it’s heels in Grand Rapids, until just a few moments ago when it turned out to magically appear in Portage.

I did enjoy myself immensely this past weekend however, got in a lot of mallwalking, bought a few bottles of very good (and cheap!) wines from the Pioneer Trail region, saw the Juke which was exceptionally cute, and had a chance to spend time with friends.

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