Random Dialogue

I’m killing time at the moment, trying to congeal my 30-some hours of playtime with Oblivion into an understandable review. I’m really not sure how well it’s going to turn out … there’s just so much to the game.

Katie and I have had a wonderful week together, just spending some time with each other. I’ve been relaxing as much as I can, because I get on another plane on Sunday. We’ve spent a good amount of time talking future plans, and other serious matters. The takeaway we’ve had from our conversations is that we don’t really know what we’re doing after next year. :) We do know, however, that we’re going to be moving in August. We need more space, and a better way to use the space. Once I get back from Joe’s Bachelor Party we’re going to get on the trail to a new apartment.

We’ve been talking about a lot of things this week, and one things that’s featured heavily is our relationship. It’s been an experience for us, I think, over the last seven months to learn what being married means. When we initially got engaged, to a greater or lesser extent I viewed it as a formality. During the wedding planning process, the formality gained a gravity I hadn’t anticipated. The ‘ritual meant to symbolize our public declaration of commitment’ had become something a little bit more. The crystalizing moment, for me, was a really bad and overly dramatic experience we had with one of our ceremony vendors. It was, in point of fact, somewhat traumatizing. The upside to an otherwise bad situation was that our families rallied around us in a way that was … not unexpected per se, but very refreshing in its honesty and vigor. My mothers, my father, and Katie’s parents made it abundantly clear their feelings on the situation, and in doing so stated several times their confidence in us as a couple.

It was a … learning experience. What’s been interesting for me since then has been figuring out why they placed so much trust in us. That’s a little bit of what we’ve been doing for the past week. It’s been great thinking about what we mean to each other, while we’re making plans to help Abby and Joe do the celebration thing. Cuz, like, duh. If ever there was a couple that knew what they were about. :)

Anyway, less seriously, I’ve also been happily watching some new television. In particular, we’ve been watching episodes of a show on PBS entitled simply ‘Spy’. It’s a reality show, where ten regular folks get a crash course in some of the techniques that real intelligence officers use in the field. A lot of it is typical reality tv nonsense, but the ‘missions’ they’re sent on are tremendously entertaining. The last one involved sleazing their way into a business to get a photograph of a document in a private area. A pair had to come up with a cover story, get the photo, and get out. The businesses weren’t made aware of the exercise ahead of time, and if they were found out they’d be in quite real trouble. Good stuff.

Tomorrow, all things going well, should see my review of Oblivion on Slashdot. I’m hopping a plane for Boston this Sunday, for LinuxWorld, and next weekend is Joe’s Bachelor Party. Here’s hoping come April 9th, I’m still good for things like writing and talking. Blarg.

Last week went, on the whole, pretty damn well. I had more than a few frustrations on Thursday that sent me seeking sleep earlier than I would have liked. Wednesday and Friday, though, I had the chance to meet some very nice folks in person for the first or second time. I got to bump into Raph and Simon Carless again, sat through the Nintendo keynote with Alice (of Wonderland fame), wrote up the Sony keynote sitting between the Joystiq and Kotaku editors, and had lunch with Danc of Lost Garden and Grimwell of Grimwell Online. So, as I said last week, I basically won GDC. I even think the writeups were mostly well accepted.

That said, I’m so very glad to be home. I came home to find the following stack of games awaiting my ministrations: Ghost Recon Advanced Wars, Metroid Prime Hunters, Tetris DS, Burnout Revenge 360, and of course, Oblivion. The world of Tamriel, in Elder Scrolls IV, has seen the most play so far. I’m only about 10 hours into the staggeringly huge gameworld, but I’m well and truly hooked. It’s everything I loved about Morrowind, only better/tighter/more fun/simpler … That’s going to be a review for … Friday? Maybe? Burnout Revenge will be a quick and short piece, basically just talking about the experience as it is on the 360 as opposed to the Xbox. So, two pieces this week, assuming I can tear myself away from Oblivion enough to actually write about it.

Then I run into trouble. I’m heading to Boston on Sunday, so my hope is that by bringing along the DS and the games I have slated for that console I can keep up with this stack of gamery goodness on the road. I don’t know if that’s a realistic goal, but it’s a hope I have just the same.

Yesterday we wrapped up Chapter 5 of the Shackled City campaign, wandering into a no-man’s land that stretches between the early and mid-plot areas in the story. When we come back from the break in early May the players are going to have a nearly endless variety of options open to them, and it’s going to be interesting to see what plan they come up with over the break.

Ugh. Very, very tired but I had a quite successful day here. As most folks who know me in person would probably agree, I am something of a homebody. I like the peepuls, but I also like the quiet times. I put on my meeting people hat in a big way today, and got to talk to some really neat folks. My business card art is the result. (boring ones were left out of the picture)

I’d relate more, but I’m pretty tired and need to catch some sleep. Tomorrow’s Nintendo event will probably end up being the big news from this conference, so I’m looking forward to that. Here’s hoping it goes well. Luck to you.

Gaah. I don’t know what it was. Maybe as I’ve gotten older my appreciation for Nick Cage has dimmed. Maybe the pointless drug use and marital infidelity, atop the senseless violence, blinded me to any good elements the movie had to offer. Maybe I just resented the poor advertising for the film.

Whatever it was, I found this film alternating between boring, annoying, and disgusting.

Nicholas Cage stars as a gun-runner who sells guns. The film revolves around his rise to power in the marketplace, and his eventual achievement of an almost untouchable status. Beyond the bounds of the ATF, the character ruins the lives of his family, his wife and child, and ends the life of his junkie brother.

Look, I get that the U.S. does a lot of gun supplying to third-world nations. Having a crazy President of Liberia as an important character was not needed. The whole thing felt like an elaborate setup for a payoff that never happened.

As a morality play, I guess I understand it, but it was a morality play couched in Hollywood ‘bread and circuses’. The lesson may have been the cruelty of reality, but most moviegoers probably came away with how much more glam the life of a gun-runner is than their own.

Waste of a couple hours of my night, and a waste of a Netflix rental.

Andrew J. Robinson played the character Elim Garak on the Star Trek series Deep Space Nine. His dry, precise tones coupled with an acerbic attitude made the exiled Cardassian ‘tailor’ my favorite character on what is probably my favorite S/F show.

Little did I know, not only can he act but he can write too. ‘A Stitch in Time’ is the life story of the brave little tailor, told from the point of view of a series of letters to Julian Bashir. The book switches between elements from Elim’s past and the harsh reality of rebuilding Cardassia post-Dominion occupation.

I bought it expecting tripe, and was more than pleasantly surprised by what I found. The key, I think, is that I can hear every word spoken by Garak in Robinson’s dry voice. His understanding of Garak as a character from his portrayal has made Robinson the perfect chronicler of Elim’s past.

If you’re not a fan of Star Trek, no need to look here, but for folks who enjoyed the show it will not only provide a lot of answers to some tough questions. More than that, it paints a picture of a very emotionally complex man in a cold and unfeeling society. Elim does some terrible things in the course of his life, but in the end you’re left with the impression that he was a product of his society. Given the right circumstances (as shown in the show), he was able to contribute in a meaningful way to the betterment of the universe.

I greatly enjoyed this book, which was well worth the $2.57 (with shipping) that I paid for it.

I got to play about three hours worth of Oblivion yesterday before I hit the hay. I managed to make it through the intro dungeon, joined the Thieves Guild, and explored a small dungeon near the Imperial City.

I’m playing a Kajiit Assassin. The noble cat-people make excellent snipers and lockpickers, and for some reason in the wide-open freedom of the Elder Scrolls series that really appeals to me. Lockpicking is even a mini-game this time around, making it much more entertaining than a blind ‘try, fail, try, fail, try, succeed’ bonanza. There’s an ‘auto-complete’ too, if you’re not interested in playing the game.

To get into the Guild, I had to steal a diary from a well-to-do man in the Temple district before the other would-be padfoots did. I managed to make it to his house just as a fellow trial person did, but the guy apparently had company over? While my fellow trial person (a chubby elf) went for the diary downstairs, I found myself being yelled at by a guest upstairs. The guard was called, and I payed a fine.

Thankfully, even though I wasn’t allowed to kill her to get the diary I was allowed to steal from her. So I snuck into her room and stole it right out from under her nose. Now that I’m in the guild I can fence stolen goods. The more I fence, the higher my standing in the guild. Sweet stuff.

I never had the chance to give Morrowind all the attention it deserved. I know the same is going to be true for Oblivion, but I’m at least going to give it a shot.

My day on the road went surprisingly well. Both of my flights were very full, but I somehow managed to get an empty seat next to me. I never quite fell asleep, though, so I’m quite tired. I’m keeping myself awake with online reading and the prospect of watching a DVD. I brought ‘God of War’ and ‘Serenity’. I’m thinking some Nicholas Cage action, probably save Serenity for the long trip back.

I’m getting dinner from a place called ‘Pizza Lover’s/About the Food’, which appears to be some sort of super Glass Nickel. Not only do they offer hot sandwiches, pizza, and pasta like GN does, they also offer tacos, fajitas, rice bowls, ribs, and calamari. I’m starting off with some ‘Zaa tonight, because I want something simple. I was going to write something like “i might try more food from them later in the week”, but that’s probably a lie. The next two nights I expect to be hanging with some people in the evenings, and then Friday night I’ll probably grab a late dinner at the airport.

San Jose airport, if you’ve never been, is unique in my experience. I’m sure there are plenty of places that still do this, but this is the first airport I’ve been to where you actually walk out onto the tarmac from all of the flights. I’ve only previously done that with puddlejumpers out of Madison.

I’ve already finished one of my books today, the victim of a long day of travel and lots of time on a shuttle. Very glad I brought as much amusement as I did.

Update: The pizza was pretty good. I got a spicy chicken/peppers/onions combo thingie that was quite tasty. It wasn’t worth the outrageous price I paid for it, but that just makes me glad I’m not likely to be eating from there again this week.