|
July 10th, 2009
12:14 am - Dexcon 2009
Looks like i won't be going to Dexcon this weekend, after all. I had originally planned on it, but with it coming so close to my surprise attendence at Origins i don't think i'll be able to make it. Maybe next year i'll finally get to Jersey in the summer!
|
June 29th, 2009
02:20 pm - Back from Origins!
I'm back from Origins today (or really, late last night), which means i'm also back from my first real con. Not that the DEXcons aren't real cons, but i've only day tripped out to them - this was a week!
It was a great experience, all told, and i'd be glad of having the opportunity to do it again. I bought games, I played games, I taught games, and I demo'ed games for unwary passerbyes - all the same three games, actually, since i was there helping out Ad Astra Games.
I played two full games of Squadron Strike - the first in which my Star Destroyer had its "rudder" crippled, and was then finished off by a squadron of Rebel proton-torpedo corvettes, and the second in which my Federation CA (SFB, style) was disintegrated by a combination of a Gorn enveloping plasma torpedo and two full point-blank disrupter salvos from a Klingon D7 - and one full game of Attack Vector, where we playtested the "orbital mechanics made easy" rules via the crucible of a ballistic weapons duel in orbit of Alpha Mensae II. My Kuan Yin was hammered to pieces under the weight of the enemy Shoko's continuous high velocity fire, finally succumbing to 19 rocket hits when i failed to get enough thrust to dodge out of their way. I'm convinced the orbital mechanics rules got me killed - which is exactly what they were supposed to do!
I didn't do any scheduled events, but I did sit in on a couple of introductory games and demos: I got to see a couple of turns of Squadron Strike's sister game, Saganami Island Tactical Simulator, played through a challenging combat encounter using the crazy old-school rpg style WEGS rules, and was introduced to a brand new, very cool looking, Risk-style strategy boardgame called World War IV. I also caught a glimpse of the 3/d space-combat game With Hostile Intent's awesome new fighter rules, but didn't get to try them out.
However, I'm pretty sure spent most of my time at the con manning the Ad Astra demo table and helping out with introductory games of Squadron Strike. It was a great experience teaching people the game, and explaining it's principles.
The rest of the con was meeting people, and chatting about games and fiction, which never gets old.
|
June 20th, 2009
02:00 pm - So i'm going to Origins...
...courtesy of Ad Astra Games, the makers of Squadron Strike, SITS, & Attack Vector. I'm working for them as a volunteer GM and general game/demo minion - which is pretty much the only way i could ever get to go to one of these big industry cons. Should be quite the experience! (I'm a little nervous!)
There is a bunch of other game-related stuff i need to write about - including the long languisihing AP report for my last D&D game - but that's the big one.
|
May 17th, 2009
01:56 pm - Star Trek
I went to see J.J. Abrams's Star Trek yesterday, in an actual movie theater. It was good - very good, actually; Possibly the best of the movies.
I doubt they will do it, could do it, but I'd love to see the movie spun off into a modern TV serial - after seeing this movie i can imagine a Star Trek with all the life and power of Battlestar Galactica, or Firefly... or Fringe, JJ Abrams's other show, which i've enjoyed greatly. As far as i'm concerned, Buffy led the way fro an entirely new form of photoplay storytelling, which is really the only one i'm interested in, and i'd love to see it used to bring Star Trek to life again.
PS: Who else noticed that the plot was a variation on 20,000 Leauges under the Sea, complete with Maelstrom? ;)
|
May 14th, 2009
07:36 pm - 21st Century Government?
You know, this is not what i expect to see (in the good way) from the homepage of a high-level Minister! :)
|
April 29th, 2009
08:35 pm - "Diamond Age" anyone? ;)
This TED presentation (about institutional vs collaborative society) is a fascinating talk, especially at the end where he begins prognosticating about the shape of the near future's chaos. Of course, this ties into David Brin's idea of the "coming of the age of amatuers". (Um, not to mention Neal Stephenson's "phyles" vs nation-states.)
This talk (about military robotics) and this talk (about a plan to reshape the military to fight today's wars and the space around/before/after those wars) would seem to be something key to keep in mind for any military science fiction.
And for science fiction in general, you cannot miss this talk, focusing on the currently developing bio-medical technologies. And, if you have doubts about whether these sort of technologies will become commonplace, there is this answer.
|
April 24th, 2009
03:17 pm - Buffy is still my favourite series ;)
I just spent a big chunk of the week re-watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer on Hulu. (I'm up to season 3, so far.)
It's amazing how many little bits of foreshadowing (or threads that were introduced and later picked up) are present in the background from the very beginning. There are so many background characters - like Amy, Jonathan, Harmony, etc - who show up repeatedly, but sporadically.
It's also amazing, and a little horrifying, and a lot touching, when you look at the characters in light of the Joss Whedon Effect - it's much easier to try to give a list of main characters who *don't* die than those who do! (I'm thinking : Willow, Xander, Giles, Oz, and Amy, and Dawn, and Andrew, and Faith. Buffy dies at least twice, but comes back, as does Spike. It's strongly implied that Angel and his surviving crew (um, just Connor?) Fred and Wesley are already dead at that point) all go down fighting at the end of the series. Everyone else dies, pretty much! I love it.)
Anyway, why am i rewatching Buffy?
Sure, it is still my favourite show... but it's also research. Be afraid.
|
|
|
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
selentic's journal