May 22nd, 2009:
It’s been forever since I updated
this. I’ll try to do better. In the meantime, here are some links to my
pages in a few web communities I frequent:
February 22nd, 2009:
Today is my sister's 37th birthday, which seems
impossible. Happy Birthday Diana!
- I am halfway through Japanese 101. It's fun, and I'm
learning: I was able to introduce myself to a couple of Japanese
co-workers who were visiting from Japan, and I understood a couple of
lines of dialog in a Japanese anime I was watching last week.
- Shira got me a Playstation
III for Christmas, along with a few games. We're using it as a Blu-ray DVD player. The picture is pretty incredible, we're having a hard time bringing ourselves
to watch normal DVDs anymore. In fact, last week Shira chose to
watch Men In Black on Blu-Ray
rather than Pride
& Prejudice on DVD, which if you know Shira is saying something.
- I have been getting up before 6am
most mornings to work out at the gym for an hour before going to
work. I've lost 4" from my waist in about 4 months.
Another 2" to go and I'll be back to the same size I was in college.
- Shira and I found a good place to eat Ramen: Samurai
Noodle. It's the closest I've come to the Ramen I had in Japan.
- Anime recommendation: The Stars saga, consisting of Crest of the Stars, Banner of the Stars, Banner of the Stars II, and Banner of the Stars III.
December 11th, 2008:
It's been a long time since the last update. I was
waiting until I got pictures of my trip to Japan, but the person that I went
with who took all the pictures still hasn't sent them to me a month later, so
I'm just going to go ahead and post an update without them.
- I spent a week in Japan, and I absolutely loved
it. In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I've been inspired to learn
Japanese. (So far, so good.) You can read my daily
letters from Japan here.
- My game was published, and is now available for
sale. You can see its page
on the publisher's website, or its entry
on BoardGameGeek, where the first review
is already up.
- I've watched a ton of anime in the last couple of
months:
- Ouran Koukou
Host Club. 26 episodes, 25 minutes
each. Very sweet and funny-- the perfect show to watch if you're in
need of a laugh or cheering up.
- Special A. 24 episodes, 25 minutes
each. A bit more silly than Ouran Koukou Host Club, but
still lots of fun.
- Aishiteru Baby. 26
episodes, 25 minutes each. Utterly
charming. I really loved this, and will probably watch the whole
series again sometime. Definitely one of my all time favorites.
- Eureka Seven. 50 episodes, 25 minutes each. Neat action/adventure coming of
age story. While I was watching it, I was completely engrossed, and
always wanted to watch the next episode as quickly as possible; but in
retrospect, I think it had a lot of flaws.
- Shira and I got a 46" flat screen HDTV last
week. I am already to the point where I can't imagine ever watching
a sporting event on regular television ever again. The quality is
just stunning.
- I had surgery to repair a hernia last week. It
went just fine, I was up and about and cleaning
out the garage two days later-- the marvels of modern medicine.
September 22nd, 2008:
There's no way I can remember all the stuff that has
happened or all the books I've wanted to recommend since the last entry.
I'm just going to pretend that I've been keeping this blog more or less up to
date, and mainly cover the last few weeks.
- Two months ago, I was elected President of the Board of
Directors of the Seattle
Go Center. One of the responsibilities of that position will
entail me going to Japan for a few days, probably at the end of
October. I'm looking forward to that.
- Shira and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary on
August 20th.
- Young adult books I recently read and enjoyed:
- Looking for Alaska, by John Green. A
bittersweet coming of age story, set in a co-ed
boarding school. Very well written.
- Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, by Rachel Cohn
and David Levithan. What a soothing, fun
way to spend an evening. Short enough that you can read it in one
sitting. It tells the story of a first date, with alternating chapters
told from each person's point of view. Rachel wrote the female
perspective, David the male. Gentle and funny, and maybe even
insightful. A movie adaption is coming out soon, and from the
trailer, it looks like the only relationship it has to the book is the
title.
- Sci-fi/Fantasy read and recommended:
- Succubus Blues and Succubus on Top, by Richelle
Mead. A guilty pleasure at its finest. Quite sexually
explicit (particularly the second), but the main characters are all
genuinely interesting. The two main love interests are both
particularly appealing. The plots are serviceable and move along at
a good clip. I would be tempted to describe them as sort of a Twilight
for adults.
- Anime viewed:
- Marmalade Boy. A clever set
up, but has twice as many episodes as it needed. After a while, the
machinations employed to separate the main couple just become ridiculous
and repetitive.
- Boys Over Flowers. Spends the
entire series wallowing in melodrama and angst, which hey, that can be
cathartic. It kept me watching. But then the last episode
ruins everything by having a silly, contrived, completely over the top
ending, totally out of keeping with the tone of the rest of the
series. I want my 17 hours back.
- The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.
This was showing at a local independent theater. I liked it a lot,
Shira didn't. A humorous, sometimes touching story of a girl
experiencing romantic feelings for the first time.
- 5 Centimeters Per Second.
Wow. Just... wow. A truly beautiful movie, which has moved me
both times I've seen it. Only an hour long, so if your video store
has it, check it out. PLEASE watch the original Japanese voice
actors with subtitles. The voice acting in the original is superb,
and conveys emotion and nuance so much better than the English dub.
July 8th, 2008:
- My in-laws came for a visit several weeks ago.
It was great having them in town, but I confess I feel a bit like a loser
when my father in law whips out the tools and starts fixing everything in
sight. Minor annoyances like broken or squeaky doors magically heal
themselves, and major projects like new shelving in the garage or laundry
room get accomplished over night. I may need to arrange for them to
catch a bad computer virus that needs cleaning up over Thanksgiving
vacation, just so I can feel like I'm contributing.
- I attended Origins, and had a lot of fun.
I stayed with my friend Bill, and spent a lot of time with Chad, Darwin, and
Niko from Your Move Games. This is the
worst Origins yet in terms of new, exciting games, though; I made only one
purchase, Warriors of God, which seems to be
quite good, though I'm not sure when I'll find the time to play.
- While I was at Origins, I got to visit some family as
well. I spent a day with my dad, and we did a driving tour of
various houses, apartments, and schools from my childhood. Even
though I was expecting it, I was still just stunned at how much smaller
everything was than I remembered it! Also,
I got to spend some time with my Aunt Janet, and my cousins Beth and
Katie. My cousins seem to remember me "tickling them until they
pee", which frankly I have no recollection of.
- This coming weekend Shira and I will be making our
annual pilgrimage to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
Then the weekend after that, I'll be going to San Francisco to play games
with my friend David and some of our other mutual friends. Then, the
weekend after that is the Olympic Music Festival.
Finally, a few weeks later, I'll be attending Gencon, where my game is being
launched. Quite a busy summer!
June 6th,
2008:
May 27, 2008:
- The
Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) started last weekend, and Shira
and I are going to try to catch a few movies this year. Also, I've
been watching quite a bit of anime lately. So, between the
two, I'll probably update this site a bit more often over the next month
or so, with reviews/recommendations/reactions to what I'm watching.
- Movies recently seen:
- Prince Caspian: Too long, very
boring. I read all of the Chronicles of Narnia books multiple
times as a child, and I liked the movie version of The Lion, the Witch, and The Wardrobe
pretty well, but this movie was pretty bad.
- The Fall: The first SIFF film
we went to this year, and a good start to the festival. This is the
new movie by Tarsem, the acclaimed music video
director whose first movie (The Cell) was such a bust that it's
taken him 8 years to make another one. This movie comes
frustratingly close to being Great (the premise is wonderful and the two
main actors are brilliant), but doesn't quite rise to that level, mainly
due to the over-the-top-silly nature of the story within a story being
portrayed. But it's worth your time and money to see when it opens
for general distribution.
- Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull:
Everything you feared about a new George Lucas movie. Just
bad. Of course, you're going to see it anyway, but don't say I
didn't warn you.
- Anime recently seen:
- Haibane Renmei: 13 episodes, 25
minutes each. Little action, almost no humor and almost no romance,
and a slowly unfolding story. Recipe for boredom? No, I had
to stay up until 3am and run late for work to watch the last few
episodes. This is a work of art. It's a story about
friendship, fear, loss, courage, and discovering who you are, with a
unique setting. Highly recommended.
- EF: A Tale of Memories: 12 episodes,
25 minutes each. If I hadn't watched Haibane Renmei with a
couple of days of this, I would have said this was the best coming of age
anime I had ever seen. It's astonishingly good. As with many
such entries in this field, it explores themes of alienation, and recalls
the pains and joys of adolescence. Two interlocking stories are
told, with roughly half of most episodes spent on each, and both of them
are very good. There are several gut-wrenching scenes that I know I
will watch over again in the future, even if I don't find the time to
watch the whole thing. The directing is incredible, and each episode
there are scenes that are presented in non-traditional ways that take my
breath away.
- Witch Hunter Robin: 26 episodes, 25
minutes each. A more traditional action/adventure/supernatural
anime, and the best of that genre I've seen since Cowboy Bebop, my long-time favorite
in this style. I just finished watching, so I'll need to give it a
couple of months before I have enough perspective to say whether it
surpasses Cowboy Bebop or not, but either way this is very good, very fun
entertainment. If you like film-noir detective stories (which this
isn't, but it's evocative of that style), or urban fantasy (which this
kind of, sort of is), give this one a shot.
- xxxHolic: 26 episodes per season, 25
minutes each, currently in season 2. I'm not
liking this one as much as most other folks seem to. I
adjusted to the oddly proportioned bodies pretty quickly, and I like all
of the supporting characters, but the main character is so annoying that
it is just continually getting in the way. Given how immature he
seems, and how silly he is when he gets angry, it's hard to see what the
other characters see in him. The supernatural mysteries that occur
in each episode are not strong enough on their own to keep you watching
if you're not identifying with the main character, I think. But
I'll probably give it a few more episodes (I'm currently about half way
through the first season).
- Air: 13 episodes, 25 minutes
each. I've watched the first three episodes, and I'm not sure this
one is going to be my cup of tea. There's an entire anime/manga subculture in Japan that revolves around the
concept of moe, and in particular around the
non-sexual idea of being sort of an older brother figure to cute
schoolgirls, and this title is generally regarded as the best of that type.
This anime is so highly regarded by so many different people that I'm
trying my level best to "get it", but so far, it's not
clicking. It's only 13 episodes, so I might just keep watching to
see if it ever clicks.
April 14th,
2008:
- I'm furious. Shira and I settled in to watch
the BBC's latest version of A Room with a View last night.
The script was written by Andrew Davies, who wrote the script for the
nearly-flawless BBC production of Pride and Prejudice. Mr. Davies
has apparently let his recent success go to his head, because he took the
monstrous liberty of completely changing the ending of the
story. The mind reels at the hubris required to make a major
change to this E. M. Forster classic. What's worse, the change
(which would have been unacceptable however it was executed) was handled
quite poorly; it was never foreshadowed, and it was completely out of
keeping with the tone of the rest of the movie. I stared in dumb
disbelief at the screen. Badly done, Mr. Davies; very badly done
indeed.
- I finished the "Chronicles of Chaos" trilogy.
Pretty good for the first 2.5 books, but as so often happens in this
genre, the ending was a muddle. I wouldn't want anyone to rush out
and buy them on my recommendation.
- I'll be in Las Vegas for 3 days next week, at the GAMA trade show. I'll be
helping my friends from Your Move Games run their booth,
trying to convince distributors to carry their games, which (not
incidentally) will include my own game that they'll be publishing later
this year.
March 27th,
2008:
- Shira
and I celebrated her birthday at Campagne, along with one of her best
friends, Roz. Then we saw Don Friesen at the Comedy Underground. It was a
great show, he's very polished and quite funny.
- I geeked out recently and
watched all 32 episodes of Death Note in less than a week.
I don't like most anime, but the stuff I do like, I just become obsessed
with. The best anime is an order of magnitude more interesting and
entertaining than any American television show I can think of. Death Note is incredibly well done,
and deeply disturbing. It's a supernatural cat and mouse detective
story, with an important twist: the main character is the serial killer,
instead of the detective. You don't root for the killer, yet at the
same time, you can't stop yourself from somehow taking an interest in his
affairs, since you're following him around everywhere, meeting his family,
and so on. Really top notch.
- I'm currently reading the first book in John C. Wright's
"Chronicles of Chaos" series. I'm really enjoying it so
far, it reminds me as much of Roger Zelazny as
anything has in a long time-- which is obviously a Good Thing.
March 11th, 2008:
February 25th, 2008:
- Almost all of my free time has been consumed by the game
I'm working on for Your Move Games. My playtest group is meeting every Sunday night, and
after every session I go home and have a bunch of notes about interactions
or features that I hadn't though of. Then
I make a new revision and send it to Rob in Boston, and he uses that
version for his Wednesday night playtest group
there. Then I get his feedback, and make a new revision in time for
my Sunday night. We're making progress, but it's of the "two
steps forward, one step back" variety: some of the changes I make
turn out to have their own set of problems. We're aiming to release
the game at Gencon this year, which is in August;
in order to do that, we'd need to have it sent to the printer by June 1st,
so the clock is definitely ticking.
- Since Chad has publicly mentioned it on several online
forums, I'll go ahead and reveal that the game I'm designing is a campaign
system for Battleground: Fantasy Warfare.
It allows 2 or more players to link together individual battles fought
using that game system into a weeks or months long story. Players
build their Kingdoms, recruit larger and better armies, and fight out a
series of scenarios that require a diverse set of strategies.
- Shira is going through a Crohn's flare-up the last month or
so. She's trying some new medication that we hope will help out with
the inflammation and make life a little less painful. As always,
she's maintaining good spirits.
January 9th, 2008:
- We had a
great Christmas. Shira cooked another amazing meal, and we spent the
day with good friends.
- I have a
group of people helping me playtest the game I'm
designing/developing for Your Move Games. We met for the
first time this past Sunday, and will be meeting every Sunday night for at
least the next couple of months. Many thanks to George, Jack, and
Justin.
- On
Jarrett's recommendation, we went to see Juno. Shira and I both adored
the movie, and recommend it without reservation.
- For the 2nd consecutive year, Ohio State got blown
out in the National Championship game. I'm not as sad this year as I
was last year, as this was supposed to be a rebuilding year anyway and I
didn't have any real expectations coming into the season. But
waiting 5 weeks between the end of the season and the actual championship
game is just stupid, and they need to fix that, either by moving to a
playoff or moving the championship game back to January 1st.