Today's fortune cookie reads: "You will always be surrounded by those who love you."
CIRCLE THE WAGONS, WE'RE SURROUNDED!
Bonus Grannyism: "Smile - it makes people wonder what you're up to."
Uh, thanks Sweet Leaf for that insight.
20110324
20110316
Today's Fortune: Adventure
Today's fortune cookie reads: "Get ready for a daring adventure."
The question is, will this be my adventure or am I one of the NPCs that says, "Welcome to our village!" no matter how many times you talk to them?
The question is, will this be my adventure or am I one of the NPCs that says, "Welcome to our village!" no matter how many times you talk to them?
20110308
20110303
20110224
Today's Fortune: Accomplishments
Today's fortune cookie reads: "You are admired for your accomplishments."
And here I thought I was admired for the stuff I hadn't accomplished.
And here I thought I was admired for the stuff I hadn't accomplished.
20110217
Today's Fortune: Pleasure
Today's fortune cookie reads: "Pleasure awaits your company."
This sounds less like a fortune and more like a bad advertisement for a gentleman's club.
This sounds less like a fortune and more like a bad advertisement for a gentleman's club.
20110215
20110210
Today's Fortune: Misunderstanding
Today's fortune cookie reads: "Avoid misunderstanding by keeping your ears open."
It's trying to be profound, but it ends up just coming across like a commercial for earwax removal.
It's trying to be profound, but it ends up just coming across like a commercial for earwax removal.
20110203
Today's Fortune: Attention
Today's fortune cookie reads: "You are the center of attention."
I don't care unless I am the center of a lady's attention.
I don't care unless I am the center of a lady's attention.
20110127
Today's Fortune: Direct
Today's fortune cookie reads: "The most direct approach isn't always the best."
And here I thought driving directly through other cars and red lights would get me home faster.
This one is actually close to real wisdom, which surprised me. It's fairly trite without context, but it's something you'd reasonably expect a parent to impart on their children in appropriate circumstances.
And here I thought driving directly through other cars and red lights would get me home faster.
This one is actually close to real wisdom, which surprised me. It's fairly trite without context, but it's something you'd reasonably expect a parent to impart on their children in appropriate circumstances.
20110120
Today's Fortune: Trivial
Today's fortune cookie reads: "Do not burden yourself with trivial matters."
This one confuses me. Normally when you hear a line like this you have one character freaking out about the details of various things and then their sensei or good friend says this and tries to calm them down. It usually ends with at least a glum, reluctant acceptance from the control freak or a complete breakdown.
So what, exactly, is the fortune cookie company expecting to happen while eating their food that warrants an intervention of this type?
This one confuses me. Normally when you hear a line like this you have one character freaking out about the details of various things and then their sensei or good friend says this and tries to calm them down. It usually ends with at least a glum, reluctant acceptance from the control freak or a complete breakdown.
So what, exactly, is the fortune cookie company expecting to happen while eating their food that warrants an intervention of this type?
20110119
On Paper
Nintendo: We're releasing our new 3DS this year!
Me: Ho hum.
Nintendo: It's got 3D! Real 3D!
Me: Yeah yeah, and I have a back-catalog of games to beat on my current DS. Call me when the 3DS actually merits me spending money.
Nintendo: Paper Mario.
Me: ... what?
Nintendo: You heard me.
Me: I don't care about some remake.
Nintendo: This is no remake, it's a sequel.
Me: Super Paper Mario sucked, why should I care about a sequel?
Nintendo: Oh we know it sucked, so we went back to basics. This is just like the first two games.
Me: You didn't.
Nintendo: Oh we did.
Me: ...
Nintendo: :)
Me: ...
Nintendo: :D
Me: ...
Nintendo: XD
Me: You know what you've done.
Nintendo: Yup, we know.
Me: Someday, someday when you're lounging on the heaps of cash that you siphon out of my lifeblood you'll feel a twinge of guilt.
Nintendo: You're welcome.
Me: Ho hum.
Nintendo: It's got 3D! Real 3D!
Me: Yeah yeah, and I have a back-catalog of games to beat on my current DS. Call me when the 3DS actually merits me spending money.
Nintendo: Paper Mario.
Me: ... what?
Nintendo: You heard me.
Me: I don't care about some remake.
Nintendo: This is no remake, it's a sequel.
Me: Super Paper Mario sucked, why should I care about a sequel?
Nintendo: Oh we know it sucked, so we went back to basics. This is just like the first two games.
Me: You didn't.
Nintendo: Oh we did.
Me: ...
Nintendo: :)
Me: ...
Nintendo: :D
Me: ...
Nintendo: XD
Me: You know what you've done.
Nintendo: Yup, we know.
Me: Someday, someday when you're lounging on the heaps of cash that you siphon out of my lifeblood you'll feel a twinge of guilt.
Nintendo: You're welcome.
20110113
Today's Fortune: Travel
Today's fortune cookie reads: "You are going to travel somewhere far away."
Note the complete lack of qualifiers dictating when this will happen, and the vagueness of "far away" as a term of distance.
Note the complete lack of qualifiers dictating when this will happen, and the vagueness of "far away" as a term of distance.
20110106
Today's Fortune: Love
Today's fortune cookie reads: "Someone loves you very much."
That's about as safe as fortune cookies get. I mean, everyone has a mom.
That's about as safe as fortune cookies get. I mean, everyone has a mom.
20101214
Grammar Crisis
I came across the following link, and now have a minor crisis because while the sentences in question are certainly meh, I don't understand how the diagrams prove in more explicit terms their mehness. This is a crisis because there are elements of those sentences which makes sense to me and I am afraid that this means I'm a terrible writer.
http://reasoningwithvampires.tumblr.com/post/2068786394
http://reasoningwithvampires.tumblr.com/post/2068786394
Cataclysm: Second Impressions
I've had more time with the expansion, a full week in fact, and some of my initial concerns have smoothed over significantly.
Since my previous entry on the subject I have come across a number of cases of simply good music which, though it wasn't always zone/area type specific, were memorable. While I feel a number of pieces remain below standards I'm much more willing to give them some grace as they constitute a lesser proportion of the game's music than I previously thought. It still stands that even though there is more good music than I supposed not all of it catches you in the moment the same way previous expansions have.
Archaeology as a profession is both mindless and addicting. My only frustrations with it so far have come from game glitches which have prevented me from pursuing it to my fullest abilities.
The greatest improvement and crowning achievement of the expansion, however, is that thus far the dungeon encounters have learned from all of the mistakes made in Wrath of the Lich King and offered an experience which is difficult in a way which rewards more than bigger numbers and optimizing spreadsheets.
The subtle difference in Cataclysm is that the challenges often require you to spend most of your time trying to squeeze your primary role in between other important actions. There are also a few straightforward numbers checks, but those are fine when they aren't the majority of encounters. Having to think on your feet, make decisions on priorities, and trust your own skills is extremely refreshing after two years of largely brainless play where failure means you should just come back later with different equipment.
We'll see if this bears out in the larger scale raids, but I'm very hopeful and optimistic.
Since my previous entry on the subject I have come across a number of cases of simply good music which, though it wasn't always zone/area type specific, were memorable. While I feel a number of pieces remain below standards I'm much more willing to give them some grace as they constitute a lesser proportion of the game's music than I previously thought. It still stands that even though there is more good music than I supposed not all of it catches you in the moment the same way previous expansions have.
Archaeology as a profession is both mindless and addicting. My only frustrations with it so far have come from game glitches which have prevented me from pursuing it to my fullest abilities.
The greatest improvement and crowning achievement of the expansion, however, is that thus far the dungeon encounters have learned from all of the mistakes made in Wrath of the Lich King and offered an experience which is difficult in a way which rewards more than bigger numbers and optimizing spreadsheets.
The subtle difference in Cataclysm is that the challenges often require you to spend most of your time trying to squeeze your primary role in between other important actions. There are also a few straightforward numbers checks, but those are fine when they aren't the majority of encounters. Having to think on your feet, make decisions on priorities, and trust your own skills is extremely refreshing after two years of largely brainless play where failure means you should just come back later with different equipment.
We'll see if this bears out in the larger scale raids, but I'm very hopeful and optimistic.
Raging in a Civilized Fashion
So one of my favorite games, League of Legends, was patched today and the community is reacting. That doesn't bother me; people will always have an immediate, visceral impression when encountering new information or changes to old information. What does bother me is:
I'm not sure this can be called language. Even if I inform you that "jungling" is a style of play within the game deciphering those two(?) sentences is mind bending.
Communicating an idea is easier when it doesn't require your audience to have repeated cranial encounters with a hard surface.
"If it kills jungling its 100% terrible patch the game seems incomplete without jungle serving a real purpose. + All the warding and map awareness crisis control etc that a jungler brings."
I'm not sure this can be called language. Even if I inform you that "jungling" is a style of play within the game deciphering those two(?) sentences is mind bending.
Communicating an idea is easier when it doesn't require your audience to have repeated cranial encounters with a hard surface.
20101208
Cataclysm: Launch and Initial Impressions
Cataclysm launched yesterday, an event I stayed home for. Both of the previous expansions drew me out of my hermetic cocoon to local video game emporiums in the dead of night. This latest installment offered a digital presale, allowing one to download the expansion ahead of time and be ready to play the moment it was all enabled at 12:01 PST on the 7th.
Well, in theory anyway. In actuality digital download combined with Blizzard's plan to delay the activation of Cataclysm content on all servers until 12:01 PST meant that rather than hourly waves of players shuffling in as their ability to race home from stores in their respective time zones allowed, the entire playerbase attempted to log on simultaneously.
The end result invites a host of titular puns relating to Blizzard's beleaguered login servers.
My first impression of Cataclysm is that the leveling experience is less immersive than was the case in Wrath of the Lich King. This impression is deeply colored as my first 24 hours of Cataclysm play all came in the first 24 hours of Cataclysm, whereas it took nearly a month for me to put a similar amount of time into its predecessor. Still, I can't shake the feeling that the Wrath of the Lich King leveling experience was more polished.
Oddly, I think geography is a major culprit. In previous expansions the high level zones were segregated from the old zones on a new continent. This empty slate made it easy to learn the new geography and feel a sense of progress as one essentially explored the uncharted land from end to end. It's an effortless process that happens naturally for everyone except those truly gifted at getting lost.
Cataclysm's content is completely different, scattered around the old world seemingly at random. At the same time, the expansion revamped old areas and essentially redrew the geographic map. The effect is essentially akin to dramatically altering the system of roads around your house and at the same time moving all the notable landmarks around, all overnight. It's a cartographic nightmare that creates the constant, inescapable feeling of being lost despite knowing exactly where you are.
That and trying to compete with a thousand other players for quest objectives makes it significantly harder to immerse oneself into a game.
As a final note, and pun, I'm less impressed with Cataclysm's music thus far compared to the previous expansions. The music in both Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King set tones and themes for each zone very effectively, with signature sounds for each. You could often tell simply by the music what zone you were in. Cataclysm has sadly been far more hit and miss, with the majority of music being at best nondescript.
Just so you don't get the wrong impression, it's been definitively enjoyable thus far. These are just the matters which stood out most in my mind initially.
Well, in theory anyway. In actuality digital download combined with Blizzard's plan to delay the activation of Cataclysm content on all servers until 12:01 PST meant that rather than hourly waves of players shuffling in as their ability to race home from stores in their respective time zones allowed, the entire playerbase attempted to log on simultaneously.
The end result invites a host of titular puns relating to Blizzard's beleaguered login servers.
My first impression of Cataclysm is that the leveling experience is less immersive than was the case in Wrath of the Lich King. This impression is deeply colored as my first 24 hours of Cataclysm play all came in the first 24 hours of Cataclysm, whereas it took nearly a month for me to put a similar amount of time into its predecessor. Still, I can't shake the feeling that the Wrath of the Lich King leveling experience was more polished.
Oddly, I think geography is a major culprit. In previous expansions the high level zones were segregated from the old zones on a new continent. This empty slate made it easy to learn the new geography and feel a sense of progress as one essentially explored the uncharted land from end to end. It's an effortless process that happens naturally for everyone except those truly gifted at getting lost.
Cataclysm's content is completely different, scattered around the old world seemingly at random. At the same time, the expansion revamped old areas and essentially redrew the geographic map. The effect is essentially akin to dramatically altering the system of roads around your house and at the same time moving all the notable landmarks around, all overnight. It's a cartographic nightmare that creates the constant, inescapable feeling of being lost despite knowing exactly where you are.
That and trying to compete with a thousand other players for quest objectives makes it significantly harder to immerse oneself into a game.
As a final note, and pun, I'm less impressed with Cataclysm's music thus far compared to the previous expansions. The music in both Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King set tones and themes for each zone very effectively, with signature sounds for each. You could often tell simply by the music what zone you were in. Cataclysm has sadly been far more hit and miss, with the majority of music being at best nondescript.
Just so you don't get the wrong impression, it's been definitively enjoyable thus far. These are just the matters which stood out most in my mind initially.
20101206
20101129
Grey Matter
Megamind is worth seeing. It's not particularly revolutionary, but it's funny, mildly inspiring, and well done. If your kids are very young there are definitely a number of scary moments.
That's my "yes I'm still alive, really" moment of the month.
That's my "yes I'm still alive, really" moment of the month.
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