Writing

No column from me today, apparently. I've yet to hear from Britney the answer as to why. Probably/hopefully just a delay that they neglected to tell me about.

So I'll just update you on a few writing related things, I suppose.

I went to a reading by Ron Carlson last night, which was pretty good. I was SUPPOSED to sit in on a class/workshop that he lead this morning, but this just had to be the one morning I somehow slept through the alarm that I was keeping right next to my head.

I had tried to set my body clock to wake me up no later than 9:30.

It woke me at exactly 10:30.

Apparently my body clock missed Daylight Savings Time or something.

While at the reading I finally met Stephen Graham Jones, who teaches here at Tech until the end of this semester. Seems like a super cool guy, and he agreed to meet with me sometime soon to talk. I want to ask him about writing and publishing, as he seems like he'd certainly know what he's talking about. Being nominated for the Bram Stoker award brings a certain amount of pedigree, you see.

Writing this semester has gone pretty well. I've made some serious progress on Tobias, which I should FINALLY be wrapping up in the near future. I also think I may have found a possible home for my short story Time Shop.

I'm also finally wrapping up the short story The Witch of Sheridan Peak, which will be sent who-knows-where.

After that? The Awakening, a new short story I'm about to start writing that will hopefully blow a mind or two. I intend for it to be my submission to Writer's of the Future. I think the writing of it could go fairly quickly.

In other news, to those who haven't been watching Lost: SHAME ON YOU! Last night's episode was fantastic.

Jimmy and Ben - Who Knew?

This video is so, so inappropriate, but so, so funny...

Mature Content Warning



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIQrBouWRiE

Featuring celebrities such as: Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Brad Pitt, Harrison Ford, Cameron Diaz, Robin Williams, Josh Groban, Dominic Monaghan and more!

GDC '08 Highlights - Part 2

- Too Human: I've been interested in this game for quite awhile now (though not it's entire, what? 10 year on/off development cycle?), and I'm extremely glad to see it finally coming together. Looks like it could be pretty awesome, with a pretty interesting Norse/Sci-fi storyline.

- Fable 2: It's Fable... #2. Mostly they announced an interesting co-op addition to the game, plus a gambling Xbox Live Arcade side game that will net you money in the real game. Neat idea, at the very least.

- Final Fantasy: My Life as King: One of the more interesting titles that will be downloadable via WiiWare at some point (I think March in Japan?), it's like Final Fantasy, but also like a strategy game... Or something. Sounds like it could be addicting for folks like me.

- Mario Kart Wii: It's Mario Kart... On the Wii! Lots of courses, online play, and bikes...

- Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rainslick Precipice of Darkness Episode 1: I really hope this game - with a mouthful of a name - isn't entirely bogged down with super crude language and content like the comics often are, because it looks like a ton of fun. Half point-and-click adventure game, half RPG, it's based on the extremely popular web comic. As I said, it looks great. I'm interested.

- House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return: Mostly this Wii game brings back great memories of beating House of the Dead and House of the Dead 2 and Nicklerama (the arcade where games were a NICKLE TO PLAY!)... I'd like to pick it up eventually and play through it again with some friends, but even the "budget" $30 price point may be too much for such short games.

I think that's pretty much it. GDC is over. Go get some fresh air or something.

GDC '08 Highlights - Part 1

- Even if you don't know the name Will Wright, you know his work. Sim City? His. The Sims? His. He's been an extremely influencial man in the video game industry. Well, he made a great speech the other night during GDC. Really, it's fantastic. He talks about stories in general, really, so you don't have to be a video game fan to get something out of it. You're likely to learn something about Gilligan's Island, James Bond, Legos, Star Wars, Battlestar Gallactica, Godzilla, or lunchboxes.

Seriously, he connects all of those. It's awesome. And his 'Russian Space Minute'? Fantastic.

- Puzzle Quest Galactrix was announced/shown. Seeing as how I'm biased towards Fantasy as opposed to Sci-fi, I may not enjoy this as much of the original Puzzle Quest... But man, I LOVE the original Puzzle Quest...

- Bionic Commando and Bionic Commando Rearmed. Both look very promising. Rearmed, the 2D remake, should be here around May, which should provide for a lot of fun times.

- Street Fighter IV is playable... And it looks great. Can't wait to try it myself.

- Gears of War 2 is announced, suprising no one in particular. Nothing else is really known, 'cept the idea of chainsaw duels. CHAINSAW DUELS! Maybe this game will actually have a story that is... you know, told?

More later, if something else from the show coverage really catches my eye.

Review of 'Professor Layton and the Curious Village' for the DS - La Vida

Review of 'Professor Layton and the Curious Village' for the DS - La Vida

I Have Odds, You Bring the Ends

- Earlier today I came up with a new short story idea that I kinda got excited about in a short amount of time. It may or may not be my first attempt at the "Horror" genre, depending on whether or not "The Witch of Sheridan Peak" counts or not. Regardless, I'll probably try to write that up in the near future (I need to write a short story for a class anyway. Perhaps that will suffice) and send it out to publishers. I've been on a real "get stories bought!" kick lately...

- ...which is why I picked up the 2007 Novel and Short Story Writer's Market at the library last week. I'm gonna find a home for Time Shop, dang it! Idealy, I'd like to have at least three short stories picked up this year. The book ("Tobias") may be a long shot, but I hope for that too.

- My DT review for this week is Professor Layton and the Curious Village. That will likely appear Friday, but if you want an early impression:











- I'm really sick of school, at which I learn little... I also need a new laptop really badly, and still kinda hate poetry, though I do have an odd sensation of fondness for the four poems I was forced to write this semester.

Those are my complaints for today.

- Yes, I bought the guitar pictured below. No, I don't know how to play. I'll start learning later this week when I have the time. I will devote my time to learning Johnny Cash songs for three reasons: 1) Johnny Cash is awesome. 2) The guitar is black, so... You know. 3) It will annoy my buddy Tim. For this reason (as well as reason #1, without the Johnny Cash part) Billy Ray Cyrus songs will also be learned.

- How much would you pay to download Bionic Commando Rearmed? The developers want to know! I personally told them $10, even though they may deserve $15, because this remake will likely be pretty radd (get it?!? Radd! Ha!), even if it doesn't have the exploding head of Adolf Hitler.

So, uh...

What do I do with this thing?

How I Spent My Valentine's Day

...other than writing. Matt and Bonnie had their oh-so-romantic Valentine's Day in... our dorm, where Viva Pinata: Party Animals was played, and everything evetually degraded into... this:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydlHprwB9XM

Nerf'd

Yes. That's a Nerf gun.

Yes. It is also a blaster shell for a Wii Remote.

It's BOTH.

Crazy? Maybe.

Will I buy it? Oh, totally.

I've been told there there are apparently Nerf-branded games on the way to the Wii as well, from EA. Should make things interesting.

Regardless, it could bring back great memories.

Vegas video game summit honors design developers - La Vida

Vegas video game summit honors design developers - La Vida

Yeah, my column was published early this week to fill in the empty "La Vida" section.

Frozen Grand Central

Maybe you've heard of Improv Everywhere... They've become pretty popular, especially lately, and many news sources (including the Associated Press) have covered their antics. Essentially, they're a group of people that collectively get together and pull huge pranks, causing scenes of "chaos and joy" in public places.

One of my favorite "missions" of their's (so far), I think, is when they infiltrated Best Buy wearing the traditional royal blue shirts and khaki pants. This was actually the first time I had really heard about them, and I laughed very hard at the videos and testimonies from their "agents". They've also looped time, which I imagine was great to watch.

Recently, they all decided to gather in Grand Central Station in New York, scatter, pretend to mind their own business, and then FREEZE all at the exact same moment, for the exact same amount of time.

The results, as expected, were hilarious.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwMj3PJDxuo

As usual, employees don't know what the heck to think, but I think my favorite part is the people that are almost freaking out, apparently wondering if space aliens invaded and decided to freeze half the population or something. Pure gold.

And cheering when they finished? Fantastic.

Anyway, check them out if you're into improv/humor. There's some great stuff on there.

High-definition formats: Does anyone really care? - Opinions

High-definition formats: Does anyone really care? - Opinions

Doings

- I think my DT column for next week will be about D.I.C.E.. Not the stuff you roll to see who conquers the world in Risk, but rather the game developers' summit.

- My column on Mass Effect and game ratings was named (by DT staff) the best column of that week. Who knew?

- I'm really, REALLY trying to resist the urge to buy Turok and Devil May Cry 4... Mostly DMC4. But I can't really justify the purchase right now, especially if I'm buying a new laptop in the near future (which I desperately need). But the Lost game on the 360/PS3 is coming soon, as well as Professor Layton on the DS... I kinda wanna check out Assassin's Creed on the DS as well, but I'll wait for reviews at least.

- Speaking of Lost, the new episode is on in 20 minutes. So I'm done here.

Ryan Davis Leaves GameSpot

For this blog entry, I could choose between the news of Bobby Knight resigning (which I heard about here on campus a couple of hours ago, when someone shouted over dinner, "BOBBY KNIGHT QUIT?!?"), or something I know a lot more about:

Ryan Davis has announced that he will be leaving GameSpot.com after January 14th ("Happy Valentimes!"). He follows Frank Provo and Alex Navarro in the wake of the extremely controversial firing of Jeff Gerstmann.

He's really the last of the greats over at GameSpot, in a way. I mean, Ricardo is way cool (and now in charge of more things), and Ryan Mcdonald is great... But a ton of the "fan favorites" are gone now. Greg at least left for greener pastures at EA, but with Jeff unfairly terminated and Alex and Ryan walking out in protest, we can't say the same for them.

Bye, Ryan. You'll be greatly missed. You AND Ron Graphite.

OK...

If American Idol hottie Katharine McPhee (age 23) can marry someone 19 years older than her (for those not good with the numbers, that makes him 42. FORTY TWO!), then surely Miley Cyrus won't blink an eye at being 4 years my junior, right?

That is all.

Bombs Away

Readers' copies of the first half of "Tobias" have been sent. Huge thanks to all the people who volunteered to read it.

Last night was mostly spent finishing that. Chapter 12 ended up being more mammoth than I had originally intended, making finishing it a 3,000 word task. It's been some time before I've written that much on one story in a short time span. But I have to say, it felt REALLY good.

Today has thus far been spent tweaking some stuff (Cassandra dialogue, mostly) before sending it out. I've also been reorganizing my notes for the trilogy... See, there are 41 pages of them (almost 20,000 words), so finding stuff was getting a little tricky. Reorganizing them by book/subject is proving a fair task.

Still to do today is to write my Daily Toreador column for this week, and I have NO idea what to do it over. While it's been a fair year for early calendar releases, it's still pretty slow for news and columns to talk about. I'll have to think of something.

And then... I don't know. Isn't there some football game or something on tonight? Some big thing? I don't know. The Cowboys aren't playing, thus I can't really say I care. Go Stars.

Back to Verana I go, I guess...

Readers Wanted

Some time today, I vow to finish chapter 12 of "Tobias", putting me somewhere around the halfway point of the (first draft of the) novel.

As such, I think it's time to get constructive critisism again, perhaps for the final time before the novel is finished entirely.

I can't just send it to anybody and everybody though. I need people I can trust in two main areas:

1) People that won't steal anything, because I'm sure you know that plagerism of fantasy novels by young, inexperienced and unproven writers who may or may not suck is a big thing right now.

2) People that can give me their honest, brutal opinion. This is EXTREMELY crucial. No one ever learned how to improve if everybody just said, "This is great! You rock!" Don't get me wrong, I love hearing you guys say you love my stuff, but if there's something, ANYTHING that doesn't agree with you. Point it out. Tell me it sucks. Tell me it needs to be scrapped. Not only can I take it, I need to hear it.

The manuscript will be around 40,000 words, which is admitedly a lot to ask people to read. Thus, you can take your time with it (though if you're going to read two chapters than stop for a few months, I'd at least like input on those chapters), or even request to wait until summer if you want. I'm hoping the whole book will be done by then, but I could still use the critique.

Of course, my goal is that the book is enjoyable enough that you want to read it, even if you're kinda busy. But I realize that this might not be the case.

So if you're interested in putting your name down for consideration as one of my esteemed "test readers", leave a comment or shoot me a message/e-mail. Be sure to give me your e-mail address if I don't have it.

Also, I'm pretty positive that this isn't an issue with any of the people reading this, but the novel - written in a very secular style and tone despite "hidden" Christian themes - has small amounts of mild language as well as intense scenes (hopefully) that deal with both violence and rather dark subject matter. So read at your own discretion.

Thanks, guys. The gates of Hell are opening, but this is the way it was meant to be.

- Britton

Advance Wars Days of Ruin - La Vida

Advance Wars Days of Ruin - La Vida

My review for Advance Wars: Days of Ruin on the DS. It's in the La Vida section (where things like movie reviews go) since, you know... It's not an Opinions column.