Archive for November, 2009

Podsuming in Overtime

  1. White Wolf ICC Panels #3 – Geist Q&A Part 3
  2. White Wolf Episode #025 – Tying Up Your Players
  3. White Wolf ICC Panels #2 – Geist Q&A Part 2
  4. Down From Ten, Ep 15
  5. AISFP 86 – Eddie Schneider
  6. ISBW #136 For Parents/Triple Threat Interviews
  7. Variant Frequencies TITLE FIGHT: Round #10
  8. The Dead Robots Society Episode 108 – J.C. Hutchins Interview
  9. The Stolen Moon of Londor – Chapter 05: Ill News / Chapter 06: A True Fire – The White Shadow Saga: The Stolen Moon of Londor
  10. Beware the Hairy Mango Promo – First Try

30:24 | 34:21 | 27:22 | 7 hours of podsuming. Wowzers.

2009
11/29
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Podsuming for Turkey Days

  1. Second Shift s02e11: Revolution, Part 2
  2. White Wolf Blogcast ICC Panels #1 – Geist Q&A Part 1
  3. Touching the Monolith Episode 25-2 Getting Sonorous with Tee Morris!
  4. SeoulPodcast #77: Multiculturally Genderfied
  5. East Meets West 182 – It all comes down to 2012
  6. The Dreamer’s Thread episode 13
  7. Whispers at the Edge Show #29
  8. TWS140.5: Feedback From Futures Past
  9. HP Podcraft Episode 19 – Ex Oblivione and The Nameless City
  10. Guardians Production Update: 11.16.09
  11. Variant Frequencies Out of Time
  12. TrapCast Episode 40 – Touchy Subjects and Reflections
  13. Nina Kimberly the Merciless Episode 10
  14. Get Published Episode 18 – Discussion with K.A. Bedford
  15. The Sofanauts No 32
  16. Beware the Hairy Mango Episode 18 – The Solution
  17. Dave’s Psych Classes Psychology 1106 (Fall 09) – Learning 01
  18. Out of the Coffin Episode #53 – Lilith’s Love Outtakes
  19. The Nanomonkeys: Day 17
  20. The Nanomonkeys: Day 18

34:44 | 45:22 | 30:24 | 14:58 hours of podcasts consumed between this update and the prior one.

2009
11/27
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Mel’s Hair and Donuts

I had a dream. I don’t usually.

The family and I were walking along a series of store fronts that almost resembled the decaying facade of a carnival, with old custom signage and those massive glass light bulbs. Over our heads, an arch, with the sign hanging on our right, directly in front of the customer parking lot. Our son and three blond crew cut boys were bouncing large school ground balls between each other, off of the arch over head, and frequently losing control of them so that they would bounce off of the hood of one car, the top of another.

I confiscated at least one of the balls when it bounced off a bunch of the oversized bulbs and then dented in a roof. I made angry eyes at the boys but none of them really cared. They were too busy enjoying that game that children have of showing off how many buttons they can push, how they control the situation. Most children seem to do this when they bring guests home, so that they can display the amusing things that their parents do when angered.

My wife went into the shop at the end of the line of shops. She was going to get her hair cut and even though there was always a ridiculously long line, it was worth it. They cut hair quickly, correctly, and cheaply. A line of idling cars patiently puffed streams of exhaust beside the strip mall, going down the hill for a drive through of some sort.

The boys were playing tag on the asphalt, in between the parked cars. I went inside to wait for a bit. The line was even longer than I had thought. It snaked back and forth through the entrance room, a single file of people with obviously no concerns for personal space. I found enough space at the edge of the room to get into the next room. Here there were high backed deeply stained wooden benches at old Formica tables. I chose a seat and

[time passes]

heard my wife calling out from the next room, where the queue seemed to terminate. She wanted to know if I had heard that noise. I realized that I had heard the slowly growing noise, a noise that made me think of godzilla and metal being torn, ripped into pieces. As I listened to the noise, I marked the two giant donuts on the plate in front of me with a black magic marker. I didn’t want the wait staff to dispose of them while I was outside. My mouth watered just looking at those delicious donuts. My wife said I should find out what was going on, and I called back my agreement.

Back outside, I saw a skinny young boy, perhaps twelve, riding the archway like it was a library sliding ladder. He had a sledgehammer that was nearly as big as he was and he was slamming it into the second floor of the scaffolding-like arch as it slowly glided down the store fronts. He struck the floor and that metal tearing sound grated my ears. He struck the floor again. And again. The entire arch was vibrating and puffs of brick dust came out of the mortor. The second floor started to buck and the boy leaped forward onto the top of the arch. The floor dropped away and took the first floor of the skaffolding with it. He jumped again, and the arch began to tilt out, away from the store fronts, groaning. He jumped from another vantage point and landed lightly on the ground. The arch crashed down into the parking lot, smashing cars, breaking windshields. He dusted the heavy dust from his knees.

I shouted, “Aey!” and with a quick glance over his shoulder, he darted away in that wild knees akimbo way that children do.

I walked over to inspect the damage and looking up, saw that the metal flowers of the fire suppression system were arcing in electric blooms. The blue sparkle walked up and down the dangling wires that were ripped out by the arch’s fall.

I pulled a flip phone from one of my cargo pant pockets and flipped it open, trying to figure out how to dial my wife. I was going to have her get the hair cutter/donut place’s manager to call the facilities manager to call the firemen, police, electricians. I pushed buttons and then phone screen interrupted me saying it was my brother. I answered while sucking the flame into the tip of a clove cigarette.

He said that he needed my help. But I couldn’t hear him because the music in my right ear was too loud and the volume on the left, from the phone, was too quiet. I fumbled with holding the phone to my head, trying to get my hand into my pocket to turn off the MP3 player without dropping the cigeratte that was in my hand. As I tried to thumb the volume up on the phone it occurred to me to put it on speakerphone, but I didn’t know how.

I finally got the music turned off, the phone loud, and I stubbed the smoke out in the oddly shaped trash can lid. Covering one ear, I asked what was the problem and can it wait I have to call in a possible fire hazard.

Then I rolled over and woke up. Stressed.

2009
11/26
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Psychic

In April, 2007 the Sore Thumbs womic predicted that Bruce Campbell would play Mysterio in Spider-Man 4.

Two and a half years later, Access Hollywood reports rumors that Bruce Campbell will play Mysterio in Spider-Man 4.

That’s pretty darn close to confirmation. Creepy, huh?

2009
11/25
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Podsuming for more November

  1. Variant Frequencies TITLE FIGHT: Round #9
  2. Talking About Stuff #152
  3. Tangential Convergence Episode 19 – Lordy Lordy Look Who’s……
  4. The Nanomonkeys: Day 11
  5. Dead Robots’ Society Epsiode 107 – Two Interviews For The Price Of One
  6. Theme and Variation Anthology Episode 1: Prelude to a Theme by Dougie Franz, by Lon Prater
  7. Dave’s Psych Classes Psychology 1106 (Fall 09) – Consciousness 02
  8. 24. It’s All In How You Say It – Lessons From A Geek Fu Master
  9. The History of Rome 74- Friends, I Have Wasted a Day
  10. The Nanomonkeys: Day 13
  11. The Nanomonkeys: Day 15
  12. The Nanomonkeys: Day 14
  13. The Nanomonkeys: Day 12
  14. The Nanomonkeys: Day 16
  15. Touching the Monolith Episode 26 – The Lion, the Witch, and the Elgå
  16. Fourcast Podcast: America gives way to the first virtual nation – Ep. 6
  17. Tumbler Novel Episode 12 – The Last Episode – Is Live

34:57 | 41:14 | 34:44 | 6:30

2009
11/23
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Scry’s review of Tumbler

Tumbler: A novel by Brand Gamblin

Libby is pretty young when her life falls into utter chaos. Young enough that is doesn’t fully impact her, but old enough to realize she needs a plan. When she makes one, it is to head out into the asteroid fields to make a killing as a miner.

Things do not turn out how she anticipated. Almost from her first step off the transport vessel, things just keep going wrong for her. And the one thing that keeps her going is also the one thing that keeps derailing her; her stubborn insistence on doing it herself.

As a reader, this story did the same for me as it did for Libby. I never quite anticipated where things were going. It wasn’t the OMG of a thriller, but more a gentle sweeping tale that bounced around instead of just taking the straight path. For instance, at one point in the story Libby finds that she has a particular talent for, well, I don’t want to spoil it for anyone. So let’s just leave it at Libby has a special talent. At that point in the story, I fully expected that Tumbler would now revolve around Libby’s struggles to get her vision accepted and would save the day by being the greatest at this talent. It didn’t. Libby was “just” a little better at it, enough to help her see a better way. As an outsider, Libby would have had that necessary distance to see things from a different angle, so it fit perfectly for me.

And the whole story went like that. It was quite good, but it never fell into one of the grooves that we’ve all learned to recognize from years of reading stories. I felt that it was quite refreshing and I give Tumbler a strong B or roughly 36 out of 51 stars.

Speaking of stars, the podnovel was read by SVAllie in a halting and lyrical manner that perfectly befit Libby’s uncomfortable awkwardness and her unending stubbornness. Whether or not that is some reflection of SVAllie’s personal life, she was the perfect choice to read this story.

If it isn’t clearly obvious, I am looking forward to whatever Brand and Allie decide to release next. I hope they can continue to surprise me at every turn.

2009
11/21
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Podsuming for November X

  1. Writing Excuses 632: Time Travel – Uh. Huh.
  2. The 4th Age Podcast – Episode 61 – Knife of Dreams Recap Part 5 – Ch. 7-9 – I love these for their uber-in depth analysis. I wish this kind of thing was more common everywhere.
  3. RotO s07e02 Boo. Did we scare you? – Yup… My funny bone is still dead. I mourn its passing.
  4. Magic of Eyri 002-A Grand Adventure
  5. The Nanomonkeys: Day 10
  6. Goblin Market Episode 14
  7. Qattasverse The Incident at Station 23: Episode 4
  8. Fourcast Podcast Goodbye journalism and game consoles – Ep. 5
  9. SeoulPodcast Special Episode: Bill Kapoun’s Story
  10. East Meets West 181 – Hydroponic hysteria
  11. ISBW #135 – NaNoWriMo Extravaganzaaaaa – Baty, Lowell, Wilson interviews – Lowell is punishingly impressive. And I say that having only listened to episode one of Quarter Share.

28:26 | 40:48 | 34:57 | 5:51

2009
11/19
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JiffyCon Greenfield 11-14-09

Saturday morning @lordwardious and I went up to Greenfield for our first JiffyCon. Being the shy and reticent types that we are, we left really early so we could get there before the crowds. This allowed us to be the lobster in the boiling pot.

Well, that’s the fiction of it. We just misunderestimatatorized how long it would take to get there and ended up arriving a half hour early. That was cool because it did allow us to be the lobster. And we got to help set up the tables and chairs.

I like pretending that I’m useful, on occasion.

Another nice side effect of getting there before the rest of the crowd (perhaps 50 men, women, and children) was that when I saw a young man applying his name tag and I shockingly recognized his name, it was still quiet enough for me to actually talk to @tresi. I’d just run into him the other day because @stingray02 was trying to find some oddly particular information and while I failed to find what he needed, Tresi got it. So, speaking to him was very cool.

After we registered, Ward and I tried to decide what table we wanted to sit in on and I was leaning towards the paranoia game, but there was only one seat left and I would have felt bad if I ditched Ward, so I tried to push it on him. He was having none of my conniving ways. There were plenty of seats for Tales of the Fisherman’s Wife, but that one scares me. I’d want to sit far away and watch it carefully, to see if it bites, before attempting to participate. We ended up going with Mist-Robed Gate. Why? Well, because it sounded interesting and non-threatening.

That’s a good start, right?

Then I saw the Brilliant Gameologists and did my best impression of not staring. And not going “Hey I know you, I listened to all of the shows that you did months ago and I’m sorry about your dog and when are you coming back and I love what opinionated assholes you three are please don’t ever change that I said that first on your blog posting when someone made Josh say he was sorry for being an asshole and …” Yeah, I didn’t do that.

Ward pointed out that guy setting up milk crates of RP goodness was Jim, from the FLCBS Modern Myths. Considering the extensive selection of local/indie/story/small press games he had out, I am now interested in going to check out the shop. I know, I know, support the locals.

But see, they don’t support me. I’m a very proud third shifter. I work and live at night. I want to go to the comic book store and select comics and games and dice on MY schedule. And I do. At SciFiGenre.com. Not at any of the local FLCBSs. Because they all keep insane hours like 11am to 7pm. Also known as “when I am in bed!”

I think that deserves a second exclamation mark.  !! There, I feel (like, totally) vindicated now.

In an interesting turn of events it turned out that Jim was going to be the one presenting our game of Mist-Robed Gate. At our table were Matt, Chris, Elizabeth, Ward, the game’s creator Shreyas Sampat, and I. Wow! I’m not going to go into a full on blow by blow of the game (yet) but I do want to say that I had a lot of fun even though it wasn’t until yesterday that I finally realized why I (really) had a hard time playing MRG. And it wasn’t the reason I thought while sitting at the table, which is to say that I thought my problem was that I was having a hard time “controlling” the other peoples characters. I mean, that was a part of it, but not really.

Sadly, I am pretty sure I drug the game down a bit of the other players, just be being so stiff and uncomfortable. I really had a great time watching the others interact and invent, but kept freezing up on when I tried to interact. Of course, the third shift thing was kicking my butt too. Hard to be wildly fun while also trying not to nod off onto the table top.

We ended up leaving after the morning session, primarily because there is no way I could have handled making it past the 1pm ending of morning session.

All in all, it was pretty much everything that I had hoped for and my nervous “oh-my-god-real-physical-human-peoples” was laid to rest very early on. I hope that we can make it out the next time there is a JiffyCon in Western Mass.

Oh, and Robert Bohl was there. I had been intending to check out either shock or his Misspent Youth (I think I got that title right) but both were on the afternoon schedule. Next time! (Rob is scary looking. I didn’t say hi to him either. Hi Rob!)

2009
11/17
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Overdue podsuming update

  1. Celtic Myth Podshow  SP15 – Samhain 2009
  2. The Dead Robots’ Society Epsiode 106 – Prepare For A Triple Threat
  3. Cybrosis: Production Update for November 4, 2009
  4. White Wolf Blogcast Episode #024 – Preparation H
  5. The Nanomonkeys: Day 5
  6. The Secret Lair Special Episode: Dr. Cmar on H1N1
  7. Jack Mangan’s Deadpan: Really Big Unshow
  8. HP Podcraft Episode 18 – Nyarlathotep and The Crawling Chaos
  9. Beware the Hairy Mango Episode 17 – Tahiti Screams
  10. The Nanomonkeys: Day 6
  11. SeoulPodcast #75: Married… Now What?
  12. The D&D Podcast November 06, 2009: The Assassin and Primal Power
  13. The 4th Age Podcast – Episode 62 – The Gathering Storm – First Impressions
  14. Tekdiff 11/6/09 The Account: Relic Skies Pt 10 – The Conclusion – Very very impressive. Start from the beginning though, otherwise you won’t have the appropriate character arcs and it may seem a bit overwrought. This is not a ding, this is a reminder to read the beginning first and then ending last.
  15. The Sofanauts No 31
  16. 23. Gimmie – Lessons From A Geek Fu Master – Oddly enough, I’ve been thinking about this subject for the last little while.
  17. The Nanomonkeys: Day 7
  18. The Nanomonkeys: Day 8
  19. Touching the Monolith Episode 25 – Interview Time with P.J. Ballantine! – No bones about it, Lejon did an excellent job here. I feel like we were afforded a new, slightly different aspect of Pip.
  20. The Dreamer’s Thread episode 12
  21. Common Sense with Dan Carlin Show 163 – Blocking the Playmakers
  22. The Creative Penn Podcast: Mur Lafferty on Writing Novels and Top Tips for NaNoWriMo
  23. Nina Kimberly the Merciless Companion Ep 09 – Oh hey, that’s me! HI ELLIS! *cough*
  24. The Nanomonkeys: Day 9
  25. The TrapCast Episode 39 – Morality and Win Buttons
  26. The History of Rome 73- The Only Man Who Improved
  27. War Episode 20

29:39 | 43:18 | 27:07 | 16:11 hours of podsumated goodnessery. Made up words are fun.

2009
11/16
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NaNoDrums

Yeah, that title kinda blows. I was going for a clever version of NaNoWriMo Doldrums.

And now, onto the topic at hand.

A few days back I had a glitch and my main working file for this years project got corrupted. I had backups, but I assumed that some part of the reason that the file got messed up was that I simply had too much stuff in it. So as part of recovering my words I backed everything up to even more locations and I split my file. Now I have an older file that has the first 25-ish pages of The Just Desert and another file that I am currently working within. And somehow, I managed to make my word count anyhow.

Then I foolishly decided that if could recover from that and do my writing, I could work on getting a new episode of BrainWyrms up for the 13th and get my word count done. And maybe I could have if I hadn’t allowed myself to completely frog off all morning. I read womics for crying out loud! By the time I gave up, my eyes were crying and I hadn’t quite made my counts.

Yesterday, the 13th, I decided to stop being fancy with the BrainWyrms Show and did some nice work on it. I found the Time Shift tool, which has already proven to be AWESOME! But then my eyes started to hurt and I had to take out my contacts. I managed to finally break my beloved glasses this week, so once the contacts come out I am utterly blind. Even with the wee eee sitting on my chest, screen literally inches from my nose, I cannot see what I am doing well enough to do anything. So, the contacts came out and I had to go to bed with a grand and whopping total of 184 words. That hurt.

I also found out that I cannot use AbiWord on my thumbstick and transfer the file between Ubuntu and Windows XP and Windows 2002. I don’t know if it is the version differences. I don’t know if it is just my personal thumbdrive. I don’t even know if it somehow has to do with the way that I remove the drive when I am done with it. All I know is that I’ve lost my files three times. Each time it has happened, everything was great and then I switched computers. And then the files wouldn’t open and couldn’t be deleted. So now, instead of being able to run around with my files and just work from wherever I may be, I am going to keep them on Google Docs. At least I know I’ll have backups.

So, I’m sort of down in the dumps over my craptastic word count and I’m annoyed about my working solution turning out to be a failure.

In just a few hours I’ll be heading up to Greenfield, MA and attending the local “indie” games thing, JiffyCon. I can’t wait. I wanted to go to the two previous JiffyCons but various things came up and I simply wasn’t able to attend. This time, everything was planned out well in advance. Life tried to strike back and prevent me from going, but I persevered.  Just a few more hours.

And I’m suddenly doing my typical freak out. I don’t wanna go! What if I say stupid things and they all hate me and mommy I wanna go home!

Mix that together with how I’m feeling about NaNo and my increasing sleep debt and I’m a whining, tired, stupid Scry. Did I mention the audio hallucinations have started now? Yeah. Bugs. Crawling bugs in my headphones. I checked. There are no bugs. I can hear them crawling in my ear. I switch the left and right sides. The bugs switched too.

=D

2009
11/14
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