Just spent about two hours searching every online repository I use, every writing program I use, every text file (all of which have bizarrely cryptic names) that might contain it, five different notebooks and even random scraps of paper. All to try to find an overly complete biography for a character I decided I didn’t want to use but have now changed my mind about. Of course I can’t find it. I did find a four line biography which now makes me suspect whether I actually wrote this thing in the first place. The real problem of course is that I probably shouldnt be checking around fifteen different places for material related to one project. So I bit the bullet and finally bought a copy of Scrivener. I’ve been half using demo versions on and off for the last three or four years but it feels like time I use something, anything, to keep everything related to individual projects in one place (of course I’m saving my files in my Dropbox folder, have to keep the glorious work safe for future generations). I’ll probably still use WriteMonkey for the actual writing as I really love its super minimalist approach. But at least now I know that organisational nirvana is only a quick copy and paste away. Continue reading…
Slammin’
I forgot to mention it in my last post but I read my first American comic in literally years. The recent IDW re-issue of the classic Star Slammers. I first came across Star Slammers in one of those compilation magazines Marvel UK used to put out, I don’t think it was Overkill which means it was the earlier one who’s name escapes me. Anyway, the relevant part of that memory is that I only ever read the first issue, which I really enjoyed but completely forgot about it until I came across the IDW re-issue last week (despite not reading American comics these days I like to keep up to date with the larger publishers, but I’d a year of unsorted shit to get through).
This desert life
My faux-Lenten retreat from the insidious snares of the online world has run into a few snags. Nothing apocalyptic but enough to besmirch the pure wall of restraint I was hoping to build. At least my few small indulgences were so replete with vestigial Catholic guilt that they didn’t absorb too much time. Which was the main thing I wanted to avoid. Continue reading…
Pillars of Eternity – Brief thoughts (Early AM ashcan edition)
Just finished it, all sidequests and whatnot wrapped up, played on hard, clocked in around forty five hours. Enjoyed my time with it but ultimately it feels like a good not great game. It’s early in the morning so this is a bit stream of consciousness (some of these I wrote as they occurred in play so some may be more strident due to that) There are less pros than cons. That’s because it’s generally easier to critique something than praise it. Don’t get me wrong. Pillars of Eternity is a good game. If you’re pining for an “old school” western computer RPG then spend your money freely secure in the knowledge you’re in for a good time. I enjoyed my time with it; after all I wouldn’t have put in nearly fifty hours (so far) if I didn’t. I’ll come back and tidy this up tomorrow when I’ve had some sleep. I dont think theres any real spoilers but youve been warned. Continue reading…
The trials and tribulations of book buying
Nearly two months ago I decided to complete my collection of Excel Saga which I’d been buying random volumes off every now and then as I’d heard very good things about it but never really fancied giving it a serious read. So I hunted down the volumes I was missing and ordered them. Eventually over the next month or so all of them arrived. I was only missing volume two and thirteen. I emailed the seller who said they couldnt/wouldnt do anything until forty-five business days had elapsed. Volume two eventually arrived but volume thirteen never did. I gave it an extra day or two to arrive and a full fifty days after I ordered it I got a refund for it. I waited before ordering a replacement copy. Till this bank holiday Monday evening in fact. So of course volume thirteen arrived in the post the next morning. Fair enough, it happens, it was an inconvenience but it just meant I had to send back the replacement. Continue reading…
The desert is full of sand
I presumed that once I had given up my main source of idle distraction that I would become some kind of creative powerhouse, pumping out dem phat words yo! Despite my obvious mastery of street patois that has yet to happen. I’m not sure I know how to live my life without making snide comments on it across various social media websites. I find myself constructing tweets in my head, tweets the world will never see, surely the saddest of tweets. Then again, what was really going to change over a long weekend? Continue reading…
Into the desert
Recently the amount of time I spend browsing the web has reached a level where its actively pissing me off. I’d put up with it if I was actually enjoying the time spent. But I dont think I am, it seems lately most of the time is spent in “vigorous” discussion about everything from water rates to (insert whatever stupid inane shit you correctly think of here). So I generally end up irritated because the two standard modes of internet discussion seem to be to simply scream your opinion at one another endlessley or engage in a giant circle-jerk (or echo chamber if you want a classier phrase) where even the mildest criticism is verboten. Both of them redolent with the implicit underlying sensation that no-one is treating anyone else in the discussion as a person as opposed to simply an anonymous source of distraction. Continue reading…
(Very) Brief thoughts on the upcoming Spring 2015 anime season
I dont really watch a lot of anime anymore. Well that isnt actually true, I still watch a fair bit I just dont watch it regularly. I tend to wait for a sesaon to complete and then binge for a month or so as I refuse to watch shows week to week. Still, I’d totally forgot about the upcoming season, clearly slipping. Continue reading…
Best of 2014 – Videogames
2014 felt like a very long year in terms of gaming, yet I didn’t really get through a whole pile of games. Perhaps my memory is going. What a sweet release. Or perhaps it was just that my pattern of play as it were changed quite a bit this year. I covered my thoughts on last year’s spending on games over here. I suppose one final note on that point was that I hit the deal hunter thing hard. Making solid use of sites like http://isthereanydeal.com/, http://www.cheapshark.com/, http://www.reddit.com/r/GameDeals/, etc. as well as (the now sadly neutered) Steam trading sites like http://dispenser.tf/ and http://www.tf2outpost.com/ and importing I got as much gaming bang for my buck as I possibly could. Continue reading…
Return to the Dungeon (Part 01)
Sorry to disappoint my more salacious readers, but while I can bust out a turtle binding with the best of them this is about Dungeons and Dragons, not BDSM. Specifically it’s about my thoughts on Dungeon & Dragons 5th edition as I read through the core books. Dungeons and Dragons was the first role-playing game I owned or ran. After reading the original Dragonlance trilogy in first year of secondary school a number of classmates and I pooled our money to purchase the basic D&D boxed set (from Toymasters in Newry). Not knowing of course that the Dragonlance campaign used AD&D (how embarrassing I know). Also now that I think about those fuckers never paid for their share. Bastards. Continue reading…