Monday, August 23, 2004
Yesterday, I wrote 1,051 words on "Bradbury Weather." It's coming along quite nicely, I think. I've still found no way of reconciling the problematic first-person narrative, which, of course, is only problematic to me. But then, as the writer, my opinion is the only one that matters. Or. As the writer my opinion is the only one that doesn't matter.
Murder of Angels will be in stores in three weeks. I'm so not ready for that. Of course, my readiness or lack thereof is something else that doesn't matter. The book will be released, spend a few weeks on the trade paperback tables at the front of Borders and Barnes & Noble, then quietly take its place with my other books in the genre ghetto deep in the shadowy recesses of those same stores, and I'll still be trying to prepare myself for its release. That's the way it goes.
That $17 cheque from January 8th, the one I found when I cleaned my office a few weeks back, is still sitting here on my desk. I'm sure it thinks I don't love it, unless it thinks, instead, that I have an unnartural fondness for it, resulting in an unwillingness to set it free.
Yesterday, I left the house for the first time since Wednesday (August 18th). I'm not as bad about that as I used to be. I'd forgotten how strange the world out there looks when you haven't seen it for a few days. That's its real face, I believe. Familiarity hides the world's true nature. Oh, shut up, Caitlín.
Last night, I finished Crimson Skies by saving Chicago from the Die Spinne's monstrous tornado-generating zepplin. That was one of the most utterly frelling awesome gaming experiences of my life, and I can't believe I made it all the way through in the space of a one-week rental. It's a fairly short game, but I think everything else about it more than makes up for that. It kept me breathless and entertained and absorbed.
On the other hand, now I'm trying out Knights of the Old Republic, and I have to say that, so far, it's a gigantic, tedious disappointment. Right at the start, it gets a big black mark for not allowing you to play a non-human character when there are such marvelous alien races in the Star Wars mythos. Why would I want to be human when I could be a Wookie or a Twi'lek? The game seems to have a very steep learning curve and hits you with instructional overload right off in the form of an annoying orientation level. Blegh. But the worst thing so far is the fact that, mired in the d20 system utilized by D&D, KotOR randomly generates the results of your hostile encounters. If an enemy approaches, the game takes control of your character. There's no aiming, no shooting, just dull, helpless watching as it all becomes a spectator sport. Without a doubt, this has to be the lamest feature of any video game I've ever played. Ever. I know, the game's deciding how well you shoot, how hard you are to hit, etc., based on all those stats you distributed at the start, but, blegh. So far, this game has shown all the imagination and entertainment value of the last two Star Wars films. That's probably the worst insult I can think of, short of comparing it to an episode of Stargate: SG:1. Tedium, tedium, tedium. So far, thumbs down.
Okay. I have to work now and perpetuate the illusion that I'm something more than a gaming geek.
12:49 PM
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