Archive for November, 2008
Monday Bulletin
A Mercy
Of note on this Monday morning, you can catch a review of Toni Morrison’s latest here. [via Barnes & Noble] I think I’ll be adding it to my library at the next available opportunity.
Revision Monday
Today I’m doing chemistry, which seems to be in a slight bit of trouble, but if there’s any consolation to be had, I still have a week or so to figure things out (actually, two weeks and slightly more), and after messing around with a couple of the other subjects, I have a fairly good idea of what I have to do, so at least the rest of the stuff should be fine. It’s just chemistry that disturbs me a bit.
Chessboxing?
Really?
Real-Life Solid Snake
A Turkish man sneaks out of prison in a cardboard box. [via Kotaku]
Formalhaut
This here is a picture of the first planets we’ve ever caught on optical images orbiting another star. [via APOD] It’s also so very beautiful.
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15th November 2008
That’s the date yesterday, and really, the only reason I’m putting it up here is that yesterday I began writing Singapura officially. Or semi-officially.
There’s a gigantic chance that it’s just a false start. In fact, I’m predicting that a couple months down the road, this will be recognised as a false start. But just in case, I’m putting a note here to remind myself of the date.
I really just have all of 300 words now. I haven’t added anything from the fragments I wrote before this (which are probably a few thousand words in length), and probably won’t do so for a while. Another thing is I’m starting from the middle, because I figured that this is structurally quite different from The River and writing in this way won’t hurt.
Interestingly, there’s no driving pressure to complete this urgently (as in The River). In fact, I have my deadline for a presentable draft in three years, so I’m quite sure I can take my time. I just want to go at a really relaxed pace this time and see how it pans out.
In summary, though, just don’t take this too seriously. I’m pretty sure it’s a false start. But just in case.
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Talking End Of Semester Blues
How Routine
Yesterday was the last day of lessons for me, so it’s merrily off to the exams we go. Except that it’s not so merry and something has in fact made me quite sad. What is curious is that this always occurs around this time, near the examinations. It’s like a cosine graph.
But I’ll be okay. Nothing to worry about.
First Laugh
In any case, the first thing that made me laugh ever since the depression set in was this. [via pictures for sad children]
Story
Read Jonathan Lethem’s Lostronaut. [via The New Yorker]
Flashy
There’s a Flash game of Mirror’s Edge that I found on Kotaku yesterday. [via Kotaku] Direct link. [via Borne Games] Certainly feels more fun than the actual game as described in the reviews.
Solitude
All right, I guess I better start on my revision in this little case of the blues.
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Wimpy Fallout 3 Adventures
As you must surely know, I’ve been spending a lot of time with Fallout 3. I’ve been enjoying my experience in it quite a bit. If comparisons must be drawn, then surely Fallout 3 has been the better playing experience for me. There’s not so much filler space, and in that sense it appears to resemble Morrowind a bit more.
I like that there’s no silly dialogue game. I like too that the combat is consistent and rarely annoying.
That said, I find my character dreading combat and more eager to pursue diplomatic resolutions. He’s not very good at fighting, but I suppose you do what you have to in order to survive in a nuclear wasteland. Just yesterday, I spotted a Super Mutant from afar, and he looked so gigantic and scary that I just ran and ran and never looked back.
Combat in general has been a matter of shooting a couple of times, running away to charge AP and shooting another few times. I imagine this isn’t the case for most people, but it’s the only way I survive, what with a weakling of a character.
The writing’s certainly not anywhere near as sharp as in Fallout and Fallout 2, but I think it’s adequate, and that’s good enough for me. I think dialogue in itself is a little weak, but the themes come through very strong, what with the not quite clear-cut morals and all. At times I think this isn’t going to work out very well with a Karma system (which is of course one-dimensional), but that’ll probably be clearer as I move along. In the meantime, I’m enjoying all the choices you’re forced to make.
Hmm, let’s see.
So far, the VATS system works great, except that sometimes it’s a little hard to select the body part that I’m targetting. It just hopes around sometimes when I’m trying to select head or tail or something, and isn’t exactly very friendly. Minor irritation, no doubt.
And I think the numerous bugs and glitches they’ve all been talking about will rear their ugly heads soon, but we’ll figure that out when we get there.
In the meantime, I think I’m almost enjoying this more than the first two games of the series.
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Metaphors On Monday
Metaphorical
My dad doesn’t get metaphors, I realise. Yesterday, he was watching a Taiwanese movie, and he attempted to describe it to me. It had some flashback mechanism (I didn’t watch it), and apparently at one point, the kid (who is a kid at the start of the show) lives to a happy old age of sixty-something and is confronted by his mother, who has not aged one bit.
He told me that he didn’t get it. At all. And he wasn’t going to try.
Oh well, you know, different strokes, different folks.
Muah Chee
There’s a new cat in the house.
We took her in on Friday because she did seem too friendly and wasn’t likely to survive very well outside. Her name is temporarily Muah Chee. We’re in fact looking for someone to adopt her, so do spread the word.
She’s less than a year old, I think, and we’ll be taking her to the vet on Wednesday. In the meantime, she’s a very quiet and placid tortoiseshell, and I’m sure she won’t be difficult to take care of.
Once again, do spread the word. Thanks.
Some Science
‘Junk’ DNA might prove useful after all. [via PhysOrg]
Also, scientists have discovered a fungus that naturally synthesises diesel from cellulose. [via Wired Science]
Harry Ransom Center
Images from the Harry Ransom Center, including Norman Mailer’s colourful plot document for Harlot’s Ghost. [via The Elegant Variation] Always interesting to see how differently writers work when compared with each other.
Pigeons
Someone get me this T-shirt. [via Topotaco]
Creepy Doll
Neil Gaiman performs Creepy Doll. [via YouTube]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mik4qw8Vbs0]
And Finally…
I was just trying to relax and read a photography article when, to my horror, I saw quantum physics. [via The Online Photographer] Can’t I take a break from the science for once, Mr. Heisenberg?
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Free On Friday
On Writing
All these differences come after the crucial task of sitting down at the table and patiently turning inwards. To write is to tuen this inward gaze into words, to study the world into which that person passes when he retires into himself, and to do so with patience, obstinacy and joy.
Orhan Pamuk, from his 2006 Nobel acceptance lecture.
Short Weeks
I’ve been having three-day or four-day weeks of usually few lessons recently. It’s made me feel a bit like an Arts student.
Of course, it’s also the sign that next week is in fact the last week of school. And just around the corner… exams. Oh how woefully exciting.
Plans For The Weekend
Nothing much, actually. I intend to start some writing soon, either on The River or fragments of Singapura, or maybe a completely unrelated side project. On the other hand, I will be on Fallout 3 and LittleBigPlanet, no doubt. As far as school work is concerned, I’ll be finishing up the last couple of tutorials and reading up on my last lab session. And I also plan to start on my readings so I don’t get overwhelmed closer to the exams. I’ll be converting more of my Japan photos from RAW to JPEG and putting them up on flickr too. And I suppose that’s about it.
So it’s all a bit of slowing down over the weekend, I guess.
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Quick Links
Tests! Many tests! Well, actually, only two, but it’s bad enough. That means that I’m kind of busy, but there are some links I want to put up.
Be Kind Rewind
Scientists have found an enzyme that reverses the unwinding of DNA (or, to be less fancy, rewinds strands of DNA). [via Science Daily] They call it an annealing helicase, and this basically opens up a whole new branch of enzymes for study.
Cow!
Cow Rilakkuma. [via poupéegirl]
New Decemberists Song
These are the lyrics to O New England, a new song by the Decemberists from their Always The Bridesmaid singles. [via LyricWiki] I found them quite beautiful.
David?
David Hasslehoff advertises for Red Alert 3. [via Conquer This Life] Hmm…
Ghost Dad
[via pictures for sad children]
Charts
Michael Lewy has produced some rather strange and depressing charts… [via io9]
You’ve Got Mail
New Gmail features. [via Gmail]
Gradius In LittleBigPlanet
Here:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wg0ZBHdz7wM]
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