![[icon]](http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/110789896/425704) |
A Kjorteo draws near!
|
| What's that, you say? You want to give Moa more money because she deserves it for that glorious mental asylum of a game that I recently called the second-greatest ever made in video game history?
WELL GO DO IT THEN
Edit: Oh, I forgot I had a separate top five list specifically for most emotional games. Well, that sure as hell needs an update after all this. (Obviously this excludes ones I haven't played, which is why PMD1 is on it but PMD2 isn't even though everyone tells me that PMD2 is allegedly supposed to have somehow found a way to be even more heart-wrenching than 1.)
5. [NDS] Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations
4. [NDS] Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box
3. [NDS] Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team
2. [GBA] Mother 3
1. [PC] Hatoful Boyfriend
Displaced entries that I still want to include somewhere as honorable mentions:
* Pick a Breath of Fire, any Breath of Fire (but especially III)
* Cave Story | comments: 2 yips or Leave a yip   |
| Due to recent events, I find myself having to reevaluate what I would consider to be my personal top-ten list of all video games ever made of all time. It's now probably something like
10. [PSX] Breath of Fire III
9. [SNES] Final Fantasy III (rename of VI--the one with Kefka in it)
8. [PSX] Star Ocean: The Second Story
7. [NGC] Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
6. [GBA] Mother 3
5. [GB] Pokemon: Gold/Silver Version
4. [PC] The Longest Journey
3. [N64] Super Mario 64
2. [PC] Hatoful Boyfriend
1. [NDS] Retro Game Challenge | | comments: 11 yips or Leave a yip |
| ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=91.6) davidn decided that the best way to catch up on the Hatoful stream he missed yesterday was to do his own blind playthrough stream of the very same stretch of the game (I sent him a save.) So if you want to see if he handles ... what I've seen any better than I did, or just want to hear how he voices Pidgeworth or handles what to say for the "for those of you who aren't sure what a Hatoful Boyfriend is...." speech, now's your chance to see yesterday's stream again only with someone else doing it!
http://www.livestream.com/davidxn | | comments: 8 yips or Leave a yip |
| Syncing up everyone's schedules is really hard. Fortunately, there is a nonzero chance this will be the last-ever pigeon stream from me, so I might not have to worry about this anymore after today. (We are somewhat close to beating the game, to the point where it's kind of a tossup whether I can do it in one session or two. So this may be it, if we're fast!)
I wanted to get a stream at around 2:00 PM-ish Mountain time (here is where we stand right now, for those who need to convert) because that way we could get lupineangel in, but davidn does not appear to be online. I'm totally going to do this if he shows up at any point between now and then, but I kind of feel weird starting without him. Bah!
Edit: Stream happened. Got a little farther than halfway done (about 50-75% done with the fifth class, out of eight) so there will definitely be pigeons next week. Where we stand now: Oh my God. DavidN, I don't know if you want to watch this episode's recap or make your own one-off stream of you blind-LPing this part to counteract mine (again, it's from the first save point in BBL to about halfway or so into the fifth class) or what, but you totally need to get caught up one way or another because ajsdhgaldjfgh | | comments: 4 yips or Leave a yip |
| My Netflix subscription and "hey, I remember really liking this back when I was a kid, I wonder if it has aged well at all" curiosity has led me to rent G.I. Joe: The Movie. I suspect that this movie may have been a small part (among other influences, of course) of what got me started down the wrong path, considering the fact that Cobra Commander gets hit with a shot of mutagenic spores that slowly and gradually transform him into a feral snake, meaning that there are several choice shots along the way of him basically being a clothing damaged snake furry.
(Unfortunately, the transformation process doesn't stop there and eventually it gets to points like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PP4wNtNGfjA#t=7m20s , but it sure was fun while it lasted. Also, it ended up becoming the trope namer for http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WasOnceAMan so I guess it was kind of fun anyway, but you know.)
Seeing this whole process raised a question, though, and this is something I actually see kind of a lot in furry: why do anthro snakes have claws? When an anthro anything else has claws, it's assumed to just be from the animal side of the human/animal hybrid, but obviously snakes don't have claws, either.
Not that I'm complaining, mind you. I mean, I'm not going to lie; that's a rather nice look for him, as well as for all the other snake anthros I see out there. *Ahem* But I'm still curious! I mean, is it really just nothing more than rule of "this looks good so I'm throwing it in?" Because I'm totally okay with that. Just, you know, may as well check. | | comments: 2 yips or Leave a yip |
| Good news, everybirdy! Today is April Fool's Day, which I guess means that nothing from last night's stream actually happened and we're safe.
hahaha
haa | | comments: 7 yips or Leave a yip |
| Guys, I just made a new friend whom I am totally convinced is 100% real!
---
[7:58 PM] hotashlynn623@yahoo.com: hi
[8:05 PM] Kjorteo Kalante: hi there
[8:05 PM] hotashlynn623@yahoo.com: Hey whats up. 23 female here. You?
[8:05 PM] Kjorteo Kalante: Do I know you from somewhere?
[8:05 PM] hotashlynn623@yahoo.com: Miami
[Note: I meant, like, from FurAffinity or something. I've never been to Miami in my life.]
[8:06 PM] Kjorteo Kalante: Well that wasn't a suspicious answer or anything.
[8:06 PM] hotashlynn623@yahoo.com: No sorry not on here
[8:06 PM] Kjorteo Kalante: Is Cleverbot hitting on me?
[8:06 PM] hotashlynn623@yahoo.com: NO i am not a bot
[8:06 PM] Kjorteo Kalante: Uh huh.
[8:18 PM] Kjorteo Kalante: So, what brings you to me this evening?
[8:18 PM] hotashlynn623@yahoo.com: Oh ok. Sorry I wasnt sure. Anyways... Whats up?
[8:18 PM] Kjorteo Kalante: Oh, come on.
[8:20 PM] Kjorteo Kalante: Giving up again? You're not even trying, are you?
[8:23 PM] Kjorteo Kalante: So, what do you think about pigeons?
[8:24 PM] Kjorteo Kalante: Aw, I broke it. :(
---
[5:56 PM] hotashlynn623@yahoo.com: hi
[5:56 PM] Kjorteo Kalante: hi
[5:57 PM] hotashlynn623@yahoo.com: Hey whats up. 23 femaIe here. You?
[5:57 PM] Kjorteo Kalante: I'm a 4-year-old hermaphrodite.
[5:57 PM] hotashlynn623@yahoo.com: Hmmm. Have we taIked before?
[5:58 PM] Kjorteo Kalante: Yes. I was the one who asked what you thought about pigeons. This is critically important, you see.
[5:58 PM] hotashlynn623@yahoo.com: Oh ok. Sorry I wasnt sure. Anyways... Whats up?
[5:59 PM] Kjorteo Kalante: Oh, you know, just hanging around on the internet, being bored. If only a Turing-questionable stranger had links to hot amateur Russian dating sites I could view right now!!!!
[5:59 PM] hotashlynn623@yahoo.com: Im Iike sooo bored. There is nothing to do.
[5:59 PM] hotashlynn623@yahoo.com: Ohhh wait! I have GREAT idea. Have you ever watched a sexy girI Iike me strip Iive on a cam before?
[6:00 PM] Kjorteo Kalante: I'm four years old.
[6:00 PM] hotashlynn623@yahoo.com: WeII.... WouId you Iike to watch me strip?
[6:00 PM] Kjorteo Kalante: Can my friend Chris Hansen watch too?
[6:01 PM] hotashlynn623@yahoo.com: Ok weII my cam is Iinked through this website so I cant be recorded so you wiII have to sign up there
[6:01 PM] hotashlynn623@yahoo.com: But dont worry it onIy takes a minute and it is free. kk?
[6:01 PM] Kjorteo Kalante: This sounds totally legitimate!
[6:01 PM] hotashlynn623@yahoo.com: [Note: URL removed] Mmk go there then cIick on the goId Join Free button at the top
[6:01 PM] hotashlynn623@yahoo.com: Ok?
[6:02 PM] Kjorteo Kalante: I'M FOUR
[6:02 PM] hotashlynn623@yahoo.com: AIso it wiII ask for a credit card when you sign up but its just to keep the kids out. It dosent charge the card.
[6:02 PM] Kjorteo Kalante: Four-year-olds count as kids, don't they?
[6:03 PM] hotashlynn623@yahoo.com: I do have some toys i can pIay with but you wiII have to tip me some goId or join me in private to see those
[6:03 PM] Kjorteo Kalante: Wait, gold? Is this an in-game World of Warcraft brothel or something?
[6:03 PM] hotashlynn623@yahoo.com: Iets taIk on that site babe my messenger is messing up. Ok?
[6:03 PM] Kjorteo Kalante: Your messenger isn't the problem, I don't think. | | comments: 19 yips or Leave a yip |
| For six weeks, now, I have been doing a Let's Play-esque Livestream ... er, streaming of this completely demented bird photo dating sim, and saving the session videos in my Livestream library so anyone who wasn't there at the time can still catch them later.
http://www.livestream.com/kjorteo
Normally I'll just make a temporary post on a Friday or Saturday night about how it's pigeon time, which I will then delete when it's over. However, this one I'm going to leave up, because I want to give a very special thank-you to feralmuse for guest hosting this week. We had conspired to do this for some time, now, and I had very carefully refrained from saying anything so as to preserve maximum surprise when this week's episode started and we both started talking.
All in all, it was a tremendous success. feralmuse proved to be all kinds of awesome. Our exchange was great, and you can tell this because my "Kjorteo stopped and lost it and cracked up in the middle of reading a line" count/score was probably as high as ever this time, despite having absolutely zero lines that were absurd enough to do that to me with just the line itself. It was all her fault, you see.
While it will be back to business as usual for the upcoming weeks, this one was a special and unique treat, and on top of the usual thanks to everyone who watched (which remain as true as ever! I love you guys and your support and wouldn't have kept this going for nearly this long without this good of an audience,) I especially want to thank feralmuse for how awesome she made everything this week, as well.
I mean, I deliberately (I had seen this scene before and she hadn't so I steered her directly into it without her suspecting until it was much too late) tricked her into doing Okosan's solo recital, and she actually did it. That's just being a good sport, right there. <3 | | comments: 15 yips or Leave a yip |
| davidn has a habit of finding old notes he wrote to himself years ago and no longer having any clue whatsoever what in the world they mean or are talking about. Well, here's one for him!
I just found something very clearly and obviously in my handwriting on an index card right below some weaving notes (the weaving notes I recognize; that's not the issue.) It's rudimentary illustration of an eight-pointed asterisk (basically just lines going in the four directions and the four directions between those) with numbers at each direction. Clockwise from top:
N: 179
NE: 47
E: 196
SE: 92
S: 196 [I wrote 196 and then scribbled it out, and then changed it to] 179
SW: 47
W: 196
NW: 192
This probably has something to do with weaving, but God only knows what.
Edit: This has now been solved. Someone in the comments figured it out. You will not believe what it turned out to be. I still can't believe he actually figured it out. How do you ... how does your mind work to be able to see things like that? I have weird friends. | | comments: 9 yips or Leave a yip |
| http://livestream.com/kjorteo
Streaming a placeholder room while I wait for people to arrive for like 20 minutes or so (from when this journal was written) then playing Hatoful Boyfriend. There will be madness.
Well that was fun. Recap videos there, and yes, there was madness. | | comments: 21 yips or Leave a yip |
| Thanks to one of my favorite Lets Play threads in a while, I just bought the full version of Hatoful Boyfriend, which is ... well, basically you start with a dating sim starring Google Image Search stock photo birds (though sometimes they dress up in maid outfits and the like and yes this is a real screenshot from a real game) but once you can accept that totally sensible and logical premise, then things start to get weird from there. Like, this is already weird enough when you think you're just there to date stock photo birds, but ... well, let's just say that's not even what usually ends up happening.
(One of my favorite Let's Play threads ever if you want to see just how deep the madness runs. Suffice it to say that DLSite's product page rating it G is a dirty lie, unless that's a Japanese G, which presumably stands for Guro.)
Anyway, since I now have the full version, I did a playthrough Livestream last night. It was just a few friends and a few more people they invited, but an awesome and highly amusing time was had by all, even though that's not really to my credit--I basically just sat there and made the face you see in my icon while playing, and the absurdity of the game itself was where most of the humor arose. And that was one of the less weird paths, though some of the people who were there but didn't read the thread might not believe me on that. To that I say: just you wait.
So, since experiment one was such a success, I'm totally going to do this again. http://www.livestream.com/kjorteo , video recap of last night's session is there (skip to about 16:10 unless you're deeply fascinated with watching me struggle to get the audio and visual streaming working) and I'll be streaming again sometime next weekend, probably Saturday the 25th eveningish. We'll see, though. Anyway, hopefully everybirdy can make it! | | comments: 15 yips or Leave a yip |
| My Retrode came today. I've been busy dumping SRAM (that is, battery saves) of everything that hasn't died yet (which is, surprisingly, everything so far as of when I write this post, though I still have several to go.)
My Mario Paint file still exists.
After transferring it over to my computer, I opened it with an emulator and poked around to see what sort of madness I could have created back in the ChocoboKick era.
I apparently made this:
 | | comments: 14 yips or Leave a yip |
| I have spent ten years telling people that I'd love to go to a furry convention someday, but I have neither the free not-working time nor the finances to be able to do so. Were I still weaving, that would still be the case. My situation has changed (for the better, significantly) so I suddenly find myself able to revisit that stance. I'm actually able to afford things, now, and today I just put in the time off request and had it approved, so I guess it's as close to official as it can be without my having registered/bought plane tickets/rented a hotel yet.
I'm going to Furfright.
Yes, the one in October.
Yes, I am announcing this a full nine months in advance. This is because davidn has informed me that the main hotel is already full. You bunch of crazy overeager hyperactive furries have basically forced my hand in this.
I'll try to figure out the hotel thing later and don't even talk to me about the plane yet. I think that getting the vacation approved is enough for one day, considering that it's still January.
Anyway, this is going to be my first-ever con, so wish me luck. And also come join me, because the whole point of this exercise is rampant consex hanging out with all my internet friends. | | comments: 6 yips or Leave a yip |
| I just rewatched Muppet Treasure Island, which I had seen a very long time ago (long enough to forget most of the important details, including the fact that it has Tim Curry in it.)
I don't think I've ever seen a more obvious example of someone choosing a role based on how much fun he would have doing it. | | comments: 4 yips or Leave a yip |
| It's official: if I get to the transit center and then just jog home, rather than wait 25 minutes for the bus that goes home, not only do I get in fairly good exercise (2 miles/roughly half an hour-ish, while loaded up with gear), I actually somehow manage to get home about ten minutes sooner. And that's after counting the time it takes to change, stretch, and jog in place while waiting for crosswalk lights.
(Having to wash up as soon as I get through the door negates that ten-minute advantage, but even still, it's basically a free workout schedule-wise so why not.)
Of course, next time I say I just got home from work and I'm worn out, I probably actually really am.... | | comments: 3 yips or Leave a yip |
| So yeah, I've been a little reclusive lately and I said I'd explain myself here eventually. So here you go. It's been job stuff, mostly. Where did we last leave off on that, anyway? Last we heard, I was weaving, right? Goodness, this is going to be long.
Okay, well, strap yourselves in, because here comes an epic recap. Like, to those of you who read Homestuck, it's going to be one of those recaps.
How did it get to be this bad, where I fell this far behind on the news? Well, mostly, I blame my own personal reluctance to talk about it. For as much of an open book as I am in other areas, here is one where I just really would rather not say anything, especially if the news is bad and I'm struggling. I didn't want anyone to know I was looking for a new job until I actually had one. It was just too uncomfortable to think about too many people watching me as I struggled and floundered with it. Every time anyone heard that I had a promising lead, like an interview or something, and then I ultimately didn't get the position, then I had to tell them that, too. For whatever reason, that stung even more than the rejection itself did. It was much easier to just not say anything before, so I wouldn't have to say anything after. Do you have any idea how many near-misses I've had throughout this process? No, of course you don't, that's the point. And it's easier that way.
But now it appears to finally be over, the "I'll tell you that I was looking for a new job once I actually have it" point reached. The reason I disappeared these last two weeks or so is because I've been working. So, uh, I guess the time has finally come to bring you up to speed.
( Read more... ) | | comments: 11 yips or Leave a yip |
| I promise I'll make a gigantic tl;dr post about why I've been so scarce recently and what I've been up to and everything once I finally have a moment to catch my breath. Maybe this weekend.
For now, let's play a game. This is going to sound like a meme, and it probably is (just that it's off in some corner of the internet I haven't seen,) though I actually thought of this just now independently.
Step 1: Think of a relatively plain and common first name. Actually, think of several. For my example, let's say James.
Step 2: For each one you picked, quickly--very quickly slap a last name on it to make it some sort of public figure. Anyone, anyone at all, just so long as it's a recognizable name. I tried this, and for some reason, the first thing I thought of was Hetfield.
Step 3: Does the person you picked, or at least the type of figure they are (musician, actor, politician, etc.) say anything about you? In my case, I guess this betrays me as someone who's into metal, even though I would argue that Metallica only barely (if at all) counts anymore. Besides, I'm more into power/prog so you'd think I would have gone with LaBrie or something, but hey, that's the interesting thing about "quick, what's the first name that comes to mind" games, I guess.
Though I did confirm my niche a little more with Ben Sotto. As for David Cameron, I have no idea why I'm such a political nerd that I actually keep track even of other countries' leaders, at a time where distressingly few people are even aware of their own. | | comments: 19 yips or Leave a yip |
|
About three things I was absolutely positive: First, Edward was a vampire. Second, there was a part of him–and I didn’t know how dominant that part might be–that thirsted for my blood. And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.
Haha, no, just kidding.
My favorite book series is actually The Ghatti's Tale by Gayle Greeno, and the first sentence of the first book is as follows (and yes, I had to look this up, obviously it's a bit unwieldy to have memorized or anything):
The silver medallion with its eight faintly curved sides swayed from the chain around Vesey's neck, swung closer and closer to the baby's face as the boy leaned over Briony's cradle, his long, quick-bitten fingers trapping each side, halting the cradle's rocking.
The funny thing is that I still maintain that this is my favorite series, and it was hugely influential on my characterization-driven writing style, but ... well ... this particular line looks a bit different now that I've actually (almost, still editing) written a novel of my own. If this were my own first sentence, there is so much I would do to change it. It's kind of a mess as-is, especially for the importance of the first sentence.
But I swear it's still a good series. | | comments: 11 yips or Leave a yip |
|
If you're dating someone, haven't you kind of already committed? Unless you're asking about marriage or something, but that's kind of a whole other question. | | comments: 1 yip or Leave a yip |
|
Pretty much any Allen/Lande ballad is good for that.
I'm kind of a sucker for power ballads, you see, and I also pretty much automatically like anything Allen/Lande has ever done. It's a winning combination, really. | | comments: 1 yip or Leave a yip |
| Our Father overhaul done. Quick, to the checklist!
[X] Outlines for chapters 1-8
[X] Rough drafts for chapters 1-8
Major overhaul/editing/rewrite/etc. for:
[X] Chapter 1
[ ] Chapter 2
[ ] Chapter 3
[ ] Chapter 4
[ ] Chapter 5
[ ] Chapter 6
[ ] Chapter 7
[ ] Chapter 8
[ ] Release everything to family/friends/etc.
[ ] One more set of edits based on feedback I receive
[ ] Look into Kindle store or whatever other indie publication options
[ ] Finally take a step back and realize I've written a novel
God I am never going to be done help | | comments: Leave a yip |
| Apparently the secret to writing a good novel is that I'm no longer allowed to be any farther than six inches away from a grammar check tool ever again. OpenOffice's Language Tool extension became irreparably broken sometime ago, so I decided that I think I remember how to construct a proper sentence all by myself without injuring myself or others, and just did most of the chapter one editing/overhaul/rewrite without it. Finally, I got fed up with it bugging me about updates for extensions (which it would then fail to download and install properly if I let it try) every single time I launched the program, and on a whim and to escape the nagging, I dusted off and reinstalled my old copy of Office XP 2002. (I still have the CD that came with a Dell I once had that ... came with XP, presumably in 2002.) It still required product activation even though it was too old for any of the built-in registration channels it tried accessing to still work, and even solving that problem and getting something from that era working on 64-bit Windows 7 was easier than fixing OOo's damnable extensions.
Anyway, Word (the real Word) comes with a built-in grammar tool that was coded by paid software engineers rather than uptight hobbyists, so I tried feeding my chapter one rewrite to it. It took one look at my document and made this face, which is especially astonishing when you recall that this is a PC running 64-bit Windows 7. Apparently, my unaided writing is the most offensive thing I've done to my computer since that time I tried installing Horizons.
(All right, no, I'm exaggerating; there weren't any actual computer issues, just a lot of grammatical ones.)
After spending upwards of an hour fixing what I thought was supposed to be my fix, I think I learned my lesson and will likely be using Word henceforth. | | comments: 4 yips or Leave a yip |
| This was literally just going to be a reply to a comment davidn left in one of my other novel-related posts, but it blew way past the character limit. I also think (or at least hope) it's sufficiently interesting and informative to get this kind of insight into my editing process. This is the kind of thought process I'm employing while I go over my manuscript. Wish me luck.
---
"I never got the feeling that your writing at that stage was in need of fixing, but if you're finding so much to improve, it can only be that you yourselve have improved so much in the meantime :)"
I think it's mostly just that there's so much more I know now--both as far as writing rules (did you know that using present participles to combine actions--"she glanced at the door, waiting for him to arrive"--is something you're actually not supposed to excessively, ridiculously abuse? I learned that about three days ago :D) and character details that I had completely overlooked before. For example, in chapter 1, Celine's introduction when it's her turn to speak is now to briefly indulge her nervous tail habit (getting nervous or agitated makes it bristle, so she gives it a quick stroke to try to smooth it out again just as something for her hands to do, usually with audible static crackling) which completely did not exist until I somehow came up with it during her post-rough drafts character questionnaire thing.
Here's how the chapter one used to begin--this was the first passage in the entire novel:
The small, white mouse opened his mouth and attempted to speak, but nervousness prevented any words from emerging on his first attempt. He briefly looked down, then forced himself to try again. "I'm, uh... I'm not really sure where to start. I... I never know what to say at funerals."
It's okay, and I probably wouldn't hate it so much if I was looking at it from an outside perspective without knowing the inner workings and what I'm trying to bring out, sort of davidn's equivalent of being able to look at the actual Crystal Towers 2 code when all we see is the end result.
One major failing it had--and again, this might not be the sort of thing one notices until isolating and looking at it under a microscope like this, which is why others don't hate it as much as I do, but that kind of excessive examination is kind of my job at this point!--is an appalling lack of scene-setting description. This is the first passage in the entire novel. On top of introducing the story, it has the task of introducing what kind of story this even is. Unless one looks at the cover or reads the blurb on the back of the book or something, this passage is how one goes from literal nothingness to even knowing the genre, let alone the actual story. Consider the difference, even if this is literally all you know about the respective stories, between these two opening sentences:
The captain gave an annoyed sigh as the console beeped out an error code for at least the fifth time this cycle.
The warrior used the light of the campfire to clean the rest of the blood from his sword.
I belatedly realized that there is a lot more to introduce in my introduction than just the mouse, and so some work had to be done. And hell, even the mouse himself wasn't conveyed in perfect clarity last time, as the passage as it was written left the level of anthropomorphism completely unaddressed. It's a talking mouse, we know that much, but is this a furry webcomic, Watership Down, or something somewhere in between, like The Secret of NIMH? I realized that I had to establish very quickly, very early on, what kind of level of anthropomorphism we are dealing with by mentioning otherwise mutually exclusive traits (whiskers + pants, for example) that eliminate every interpretation except the correct one.
Also, I needed to set the scene itself a bit more; what I had before was kind of the equivalent of artists who draw pretty enough characters over completely blank white backgrounds.
So here's what I came up with for the new version of the introductory paragraph:
The mouse stood up, twitched his whiskers, and dusted off his pants. Dry leaves crunched under his shoes as he walked. He opened his mouth and attempted to speak, but he was too nervous to actually say anything on his first try. He stopped, looked down at the ground, took a deep breath, and looked up again. "I'm, uh... I'm not really sure where to start. I... I never know what to say at funerals."
It still leaves some details out--the references to him being small and white were actually moved to the next paragraph, and neither addresses absolute size (he's small, but are we talking small like 5'4", or small like he's a Smurf?) but it's at least a dramatic improvement in fixing all these issues you probably didn't even notice were there until I pointed them out just now, because you have the advantage of having seen the concept art.
And that's what I've been busy with these days! I realize I kind of went on at ridiculous length for one paragraph, but... I'm just trying to reveal a little about my process and the extent to which I examine things. Picture doing the same thing to the entire rest of the novel and you've more or less got it.
(Oh, and sometimes this sort of examination leads to more drastic changes like me cutting entire scenes when I finally realize how pointless they were, too. Just so you're aware.) | | comments: 2 yips or Leave a yip |
| I missed a rather important anniversary because I could have sworn it was on the 11th, but it was actually the 9th. Oops. Oh, well.
So, exactly two years ago today--and by today, I mean two days ago--I had a dream. Not a rhetorical dream about social progress or anything; an actual "so there I was, back in my old high school" style dream. However, unlike most dreams of that nature, the story this one presented was epic enough to intrigue me. I retained the idea, and after a few days of thinking about it, decided that I should do something with it. Now, two years (and two days) later, all eight chapters of The Afflicted, have been written. It was--and continues to be--a long and ever-changing process. I can't remember what it was like to go to bed without my Voyage 200 on top of the clock, within reach so I could write down all those ideas that always seemed to wait until the middle of the night to come to me. I always find myself kicking ideas around, like a mental rock tumbler, until they're polished and shiny enough to be presentable. The novel as it is written now bears very, very little resemblance to anything I saw in the dream, with the exception of the basic premise, one or two characters, and one scene.
I don't want to say a release is just around the corner, because editing is as long a process as it is hateful, but... I'm getting there. It only took a little over two years, but--if you're going by the existence of the rough drafts, at least--I have actually written a novel. Maybe someday, when I'm finally done with the editing, you will even get to read it. Goodness me. | | comments: 2 yips or Leave a yip |
| Good God, even if it's all part of the same novel, editing a chapter of anything I wrote two years ago is painful. Either I improved a lot more just in this one project than I thought I did or my self-confidence issues toward my older work are even stronger than I thought they were, because the "oh my God who wrote this crap" senses are overwhelming. Like, even more than I expected them to be. Not to worry, I'll fix it! I'll make this novel into something readable yet, just you wait!
Bad news for people anxiously awaiting chapter 8, since I firmly stand by my plan to edit the entire novel and release the entire thing all at once, and at this rate the edits are going to take a lot longer than I thought they would. The good news, though, is the much higher quality you can expect from me going to all this trouble. Unless I really am tearing myself apart more than I reasonably should (it's really hard to say, but I'm at least not the only person to notice how hateful the editing process is) then I feel like letting you see anything in this state would be like if davidn had said "good enough" and released Crystal Towers 2 when it still looked like this. Much like what CT2 looks like now, I have... significantly higher hopes for what The Afflicted will become after I actually fix it. Just... bear with me a while....
(Unrelated note: I mention CT2 because it's an awesome game with awesome music and everyone should check it out. My envy for davidn will likely continue not to know bounds until The Afflicted is actually done.) | | comments: 2 yips or Leave a yip |
| http://www.cracked.com/blog/how-to-become-author-in-5-incredibly-difficult-steps/
If you give a damn about the quality of the work at all, every other sentence means a pause for research. You write the word "steel" and then you have to stop, and wonder: "Is steel strong enough to do this? Wouldn't they have something better than steel in the future? Where is the future of the steel industry heading?" Six hours later, you're Googling "hardened mesh weaves" and "nano-tubes" just to finish the sentence: "Biff Largeblaster's sculpted cyborg abs glistened in the afterglow of the imploding time-vortex like a gargantuan bunch of manly ____ grapes."
Oh God, it's so true. :(
I wanted to come up with more definitive coat color layouts for Jonathan and Celine, and wanted Jonathan to be kind of orange, either solid or with extremely faint tabby stripes (God only knows why I associate the color orange with cats whose defining character trait is that they are old) and Celine to look more like a "standard" brown/gray/whatever-and-black striped tabby. Then I remembered that cats have all sorts of stupid rules for color genetics (for example: being calico requires two X chromosomes, so there are no male calicos except for 1-in-3,000 chromosomal anomalies like XXY) and I wanted to make sure I wasn't about to commit a Critical Research Failure and that the colors I wanted for them were genetically possible. Cue the Google spree (and some help from yiffyraptor)....
I think I've got it figured out, thanks to this chart I found. (Jonathan and Celine are not Persians, but I'm just going to act as though the same color rules apply because ARGH.) And yes, due to the lack of "kind of orange, either solid or with extremely faint tabby stripes" on that list, I did have to learn the actual cat breeder terms for all the colors just so I could read that. It turns out that Jonathan is a red tabby, what I wanted for Celine was brown tabby, and brown tabby is apparently not one of the possible things that female kittens can be with a red tabby sire, so it's a good thing I checked! (Because I'm sure all sorts of cat nerds were going to write in with angry letters pointing out this grievous error had I foolishly left it in. Yeah, I know. Shut up, let me pretend my research is actually important by pretending this is a legitimate problem I detected. ;_;) Brown patched tabbies are, though, and those are almost the same thing except a little bit redder and the stripes are a little thicker and more blotchy. So I guess I'm going with that.
And that only took three hours, thank you. | | comments: 2 yips or Leave a yip |
| I cooked up some more album covers. I kind of stopped doing that for a while after the last few batches, mostly because I didn't have any more ideas for new ones, but I guess I was inspired today!
( Read more... ) | | comments: 6 yips or Leave a yip |
| Trying to write from the perspective of a character whose education, vocabulary level, etc. are significantly below me, the author, is like trying to build a ship in a bottle while wearing boxing gloves.
What do you mean, I shouldn't have my lowborn street thug-type character call his rival "insufferable?" Anyone familiar with that word would find it absolutely perfect in that situation. But... he probably isn't. Sigh.
Although I guess the encouraging news is that it appears to at least be working. Before going back and revising my earlier chapters, I'm doing a sort of voice exercise where, in an attempt to distinguish the no less than eight narrators in this crazy ambitious structure of a novel, I'm writing out one- or two-page things where they each describe how and why they came to find themselves outside the city in their own words. According to http://www.online-utility.org/english/readability_test_and_improve.jsp and its Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level calculation, Keeper Edward's speech has an almost-eighth-grade reading level (well, 7.4) whereas Girard's is 3.97. Neat, I guess? | | comments: 2 yips or Leave a yip |
| There, chapter 8 rough is done.
The only reason I'm not really feeling the overwhelming sense of "oh my God, I just finished a novel" that I was expecting to is because I still know there's so much work to do with the revisions. I have no way of knowing the actual quality (as always, that's the readers' job) but this one at least felt to me while I was writing it like it a few parts here and there might have been a bit awkward, because I wanted to just get them out, get everything written, and polish later. I'll have to come back and see how bad the damage is. Also, there's the matter of fixing up every single other chapter to bring them up to current standards of polish... basically, what I'm saying is this might be stuck in the editing phase for a while. With any luck, I will more fully appreciate what I've managed to do here when it's actually done.
Meanwhile, let's see how badly I screwed up my projected word count goals! :D Keep in mind that these figures will probably change a lot as I revise/rewrite a bunch of everything, but as it stands right now....
You know, I remember when chapter 7 was done, and I was thinking that I might be able to bring the overall count back in line if chapter 8 turned out to be short. Um... oops.
(Thank goodness I'm considering independent publishing instead, etc.) | | comments: 6 yips or Leave a yip |
| PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT TIME: KJORTEO WANTS TO KEEP IT REAL ABOUT AIDS NETIQUETTE
Everyone, please, think carefully about what you say on the internet.
When characters that predate it find their way here, in the form of retro or nostalgic user icons and such, their old-fashioned sensibilities are sometimes unequipped to handle what they see.
That is all.
 | | comments: 24 yips or Leave a yip |
| How's this for an unusual film premise? I just watched an animated very-very-loosely-based-on-history film about the struggles (need to work on the book when others don't approve, keep it safe from invading armies, etc.) behind the creation of an ancient Irish Bible (well, the four Gospels, anyway) known mostly for its ornate calligraphy and illustrations.
Strangeness of the premise aside, go watch The Secret of Kells right now (Netflix has it on instant view,) because it is visually and musically amazing. You don't have to be religious--the book is usually just referred to as "The Book" rather than making a big deal about it being Christian or anything, and the point of the movie is more just about it being a masterwork of art. A point on which it actually delivers, amazingly enough. You wouldn't think it would be possible for any actual depiction of the book to live up to the way it's hyped and revered within the context of the story, but I swear the in-film version is even more beautiful than the actual Book of Kells. (And even before it gets to that point, it spends the entire rest of the time completely drowning viewers in gorgeous visuals, including but not limited to a fight with a dark deity of some sort that may or may not have been symbolic, maybe? but is striking and spectacular to behold nonetheless.)
Also, I know what the Book of Kells is and can make references to it to make a point, because the makers of this film showed their work enough that I learned something. Even though there's clearly a lot they just made up (I'm pretty sure that... thing I just linked to didn't actually happen in real life, for example,) it's close enough and sufficiently good with the history and culture that I was able to learn, at least after looking up some stuff. Which I was interested enough to do, which is another good thing. I've heard it argued that things like this are essentially good; if a certain company makes a massively popular game and names its main villain "Sephiroth," for example, and even if only a tiny fraction of players go look up what that's a reference to, then people are at least learning something, even if something specific like that. Now, I do believe there is a line beyond which the adaptation is just too ridiculous to be worth the increased awareness, but The Secret of Kells is at least extremely reverent in that regard and thus does not have that problem.
So yeah. Good movie. Very pretty. | | comments: Leave a yip |
| My good friend davidn has just completed his game, Crystal Towers 2, after a truly staggering amount of time in development.
Really, he was working on this thing when we first met, I don't think I've ever known him or seen him in a situation in which "working on Crystal Towers 2" wasn't just part of his basic personality/bio. If he were a character in a story, his gimmick would be that he's working on Crystal Towers 2. Until now! Truly this is a brave new world for us all.
Anyway, CT2 is a really fun (I helped play-test it a little) platform-ish game that's sort of a 2D Mario 64/some sort of Sonic hybrid, with magic, or something. I don't know, just go to the site and try it, there's a sizable free demo for you and everything.
http://crystaltowers2.com
And since it's davidn, it should go without saying that the music is amazing.
http://albion.bandcamp.com/album/crystal-towers-2
God knows I'm hoping my novel actually gets some attention when it's done and released for real, so now's your chance to give me some hope by giving him some love. Prove to me that if someone in my friend circle devotes years and years of their life to a really fine high-quality product and finally, finally completes it, it can get the support it deserves. Go play his game right now or you'll make us both sad.
(Bonus tip: it's even better with your favorite console-style controller! I use a Wii Classic Controller with GlovePIE, myself, but I'm sure there are plenty of options available in that regard.) | | comments: 9 yips or Leave a yip |
| So, about that goal I had of 120,000 words for the novel... I'm currently at 125,929, and that's with chapter 8 still in the "what I have so far" state, with about two and a half to three scenes or so that have yet to even be written.
Granted, the count's a little unstable anyway because I plan to give every single chapter at least one more revision after 8 is done but before the whole thing is released. Still, given the relative unlikelihood of me deciding to just slash another 10K out of any of them, I think I can already preemptively say "oops."
Good thing I was actually starting to think more seriously about self-publishing routes like the Kindle store or whatever anyway, I guess. | | comments: 9 yips or Leave a yip |
|
I actually have an entire series of special stuffed animals that span most of my life. Some I don't even know where I got them because I've had them literally as long as I can remember, while others I got for Christmas about half a year ago. The collection started as a sort of "best of my ____" theme where each one symbolized a particular aspect of my life depending on where, when, and how I acquired it, depending on whether I can remember--for example, I have a little gray dog I got from some "bring in your stuff and trade with each other, like a flea market but with more bartering" thing my 3rd or 4th or so grade class put on, so he became the best of school. Naturally, the husky ordered for me by some online friend I had around middle school and have long since lost touch with became the symbol for the best of my friends. Et cetera. However, some of the more recent acquisitions have become harder to categorize like that, so they're just part of a very special collection in some sort of ambiguous way.
One of them is Sara, though, I can tell you that much. (She's new, obviously.)
I still have the lot of them nearby, on a shelf in my bedroom, where I see to it that they are cared for and loved and such. I might talk to them sometimes (when no one's at home and can judge me for doing so) as though they were alive and they'd get lonely or feel abandoned or something if it's been too long since we last spoke. Seeing Toy Story 3 did not help with this.
I want to get a picture of them one of these days but my camera phone is terrible. I'll see if I can bug a certain someone I know who has a camera to do it for me one of these days. | | comments: Leave a yip |
| I always hate the whole "wasting their talent" argument when someone who's very good at something just happens to move in a direction you don't like. Artistic expression is a very individual thing, and it's entirely within the artist's rights to do whatever they want to do. There have even been some very successful cases in my preferred kind of music, such as Sonata Arctica (Unia was a bit hit or miss but The Days of Grays successfully ironed out the kinks while keeping the strengths of their progressive approach and is basically a masterpiece) and Avantasia (Angel of Babylon is one of my favorite albums ever, and may have worked in a Take That against the whole not-allowed-to-change thing while it was at it.)
However, I will at least admit to being a little sad when it doesn't work out to my tastes.
( lots of YouTube metal links ) | | comments: 4 yips or Leave a yip |
|
This is exactly what the inventors of music intended.
Thanks to davidn for making me aware of this... I think. | | comments: 8 yips or Leave a yip |
|
Oh God, there are so many.
I think I'm going to have to go with Hammerfall's exactly-what-it-says-on-the-tin "Hearts on Fire (Curling Version)" just on sheer principle....
...but of course, honorable mention goes to Limozeen's official "but they're in space!" video...
...as well as [pre-Of Fire] Rhapsody's "I swear to God this really is the actual official music video."
| | comments: 2 yips or Leave a yip |
| I have just finished writing the last scene of chapter 7 of my novel, The Afflicted. There are eight chapters in all, meaning that once chapter 7 is out, I will be one chapter away from finally finishing this damned thing. You may have seen chapters 1 through 6 in my FA gallery in placeholder form--not posting the actual chapters publicly because I want to at least try to get them published someday, but leaving the placeholders there so people I know well enough to show can leave feedback and such.
It usually takes me about half a week to a week from "I just barely finished the first rough draft" to actual release, so I'm posting this now so that some of you guys can get in on this in time for the inevitable pseudo-release in a few days.
Basically, if I know you, in that we've exchanged at least a few comments and you seem cool and such, then you're officially invited to be on the list of cool people who get to actually read my novel. (I was originally going to say that if you're reading this, that probably means you're +watching me which probably means you qualify, but I do have at least a few complete lurker watchers, sadly.) Leave me a note or something with your e-mail address, and I will add you to the mailing list and you'll get it when I send it out to everyone. (It's a very discreet mailing list, so don't worry about everyone seeing your address--I do it by putting my own address in the To field, sending it to myself, with a BCC to everyone else.)
If you need some more info before deciding whether you're interested/want to read it, the summary is as follows: The Afflicted is about eight nomadic outcasts banded together in a tribe, all cursed to wander the wilderness due to the deadly plague that is omnipresent outside the few remaining domed cities. The story sees them undertaking a lengthy migration while dealing with disease, wandering death squads tasked with purging the wilds in the name of fighting said disease, and even each other as factions and tensions rise and friendships fall. It's a bit dark. *cough*
If that sounds like your sort of thing, let me know, and I'll see about including you when chapter seven is out! (That would also include the first six chapters, too, naturally.) | | comments: 2 yips or Leave a yip |
| Everyone wish the resident floofbeast a happy birthday!
(Actually, basically everyone I know ever has a birthday somewhere around this time of year, and happy birthday to all you guys, too! But he gets special mention because he's trying to divert attention away from his birthday and toward mine, and we can't have that.) | | comments: 6 yips or Leave a yip |
| | Every great now and then, I'll write a passage that, when I go back and reread what I've just written, will make me think "wow, I have issues." | | comments: 29 yips or Leave a yip |
| Oh, hey, so this whole AZ trip wasn't just about eating at subpar imitations of New Mexican restaurants and visiting tourist traps. There was something about a race, too, right? And that was today? Oh, yeah....
So, I ran a half-marathon.
( Read more... ) | | comments: 16 yips or Leave a yip |
|
A Kjorteo draws near!
|
|
