5/02/08: My celebratory work of text-adventure tomfoolery has enjoyed a few surprises in its first few months of existence, including an very kind review by Emily Short (a celebrated champion of exactly the kind of intelligent, sensitive work that ToaSK isn't) and even an IF-community award nomination (on the scale of these things, this would have required only two ToaSK customers to vote for the nomination, but that's two more than I would have expected). Groovy!

On the personal front, Sandra and I are moving again ... but nothing interstate this time. We love Capitol Hill so much we were determined to stay in the neighborhood, so we're moving just one block south, to get a place with better air-conditioning (our current apartment is great, but the drawback of a 15-foot mountain-facing window is a devastating afternoon greenhouse effect, and 1942 tenement buildings don't have the best AC). Our new apartment was built a whole decade later and (more importantly) has windows almost entirely shielded from direct sun ...

On matters of general geekery, it's that time again, when the summer blockbusters start rolling out. We're heading out to see Iron Man tonight, which I look forward to with high hopes. I'm still a little uneasy about the new Indiana Jones flick, though. On the one hand, Raiders of the Lost Ark remains one of my favorite films of all time ... and readers of Warehouse 23 already know that I loves me some Crystal Skull ... but on the other hand, Indiana Jones sequels were dodgy affairs even in the 80s, and George Lucas' recent record of franchise revival hasn't been a good trip overall. I'll be there (probably six or seven times, again), ready to hear the old music and very very ready to see Harrison Ford back under a wool-felt fedora, but, for the record, I have an uneasy feeling. Still, we've got Wall-E on the way, too, to provide consolation if things don't go well.

On other work matters: everything's trucking along, though slower than I (and probably anyone else) would prefer. Such is the way, but things are starting to shape up into final states a few at a time, now, and I daresay, the wait will be worth it ...

Very Happy Holidays

12/27/07: Sandra and I have enjoyed a decade of great Christmases together, but this was the first time we got to enjoy a white Christmas as a couple. The snow (falling again as I write this) is proper Christmas snow, too ... white and fluffy and twirling gently. Just enough to cover the ground with a softly-crunching blanket of white, not so much that we couldn't head out on Christmas day to enjoy it. And we did ... and we also stayed snug inside to enjoy good food and each other's company. Caught Walk Hard later in the day. Goofy and clever.

Christmas was also a special day-of-rest for me. On Christmas Eve, I released the latest Cumberland title, which is (in many ways) the most ambitious (and risky) release I've ever had (ToaSK beats out GURPS Russia for wordcount, making it my largest published work, never to be trumped until Fly From Evil finally sees the light of day). Like all my Encounter Critical material, this new text-adventure is all heart and precious few brains, at least on the surface. Beneath that, there's a whole lot more ... but I'll leave that to those with the funky barbarian groove to discover it.

And that's most of the news, lately. Our friend Tim Driscoll was out to visit not too long ago, so it was nice showing Denver off (again, under some snow), and the new Doctor Who Christmas Special is the greatest thing since sliced fun, but apart from that it's just: snuggles continue. Hope the same is true for you.

Winner, Best Chase Scene

10/8/07: Another breath of cold air hit Denver today, inspiring Sandra and I to venture out a bit and get back over to the Denver Zoo (for our third visit). We got there a little late in the day, so it wasn't a long trip this time, but the highlight was watching a kangaroo chase an emu. The two animals move so very differently, it was like every radiant wave of physical comedy on the planet suddenly converged on the Denver Zoo at that moment. It helped, too, that the kangaroo (accidentally?) switched emu in mid-stride at one point, refreshing the chase with better-rested quarry.

If I were a kangaroo, I'd totally chase emu all day, now that I know how much it rocks.

Noticing the Internet

9/15/07: My life centers on two things: (A) snuggling, city-wandering and otherwise enjoying wedded bliss with Sandra and (B) getting bleary-eyed in front of my dusty old ThinkPad working on Cumberland Games stuff. It's fair to say that I feel a little rusty, some days, when it comes to the full depth of the Internet. I spend a couple of hours online a day, mind you - checking up on Google News and using the IMDb and dropping into DeviantArt and whatnot - but I don't read a single webcomic. I'm barely aware of the blogosphere. I don't Facebook or MySpace. Most of my attempts to listen to podcasts have resulted in something approaching tedium-induced coma. There are whole chunks of Net culture I take little advantage of, or find flat-out confusing or dull. Many of them would probably thrill me if I gave them the time, but see above about the (A) and the (B). Those two things keep me busy and very, very happy.

So I'm pleased to report on two recent things that have turned my head. One is a net-distributed fan film and the other is a nerdcore hip-hop music video. These things may be old news to you, but just in case ...

Sandra and I first heard about Star Trek: New Voyages from Walter Koenig, while we were chatting with him at a fan-swagfest in Dallas not long ago. He and many other Trek alumni, he explained, were pitching in on these fan-films. I took note, bookmarked the site when I got home, and then, due mostly to the Colorado move, forgot about it for a while.

This morning, Sandra and I watched the most recent episode, and ... it's really good. I mean, the acting is often fannish and uneven, and at first (of course) it's awkward accepting these new people as Kirk and company. And the introductory crisis could, for my tastes, rush through the technobabble a few minutes faster to get the story started. But once George Takei beams into shot, the story is started, and the story is good. It's a screenplay dusted off from the aborted Trek II TV series of the 1970s, and it's one well worth brushing off. Takei is marvelous and I had tears streaming by the end, but I'm a sap, so that happens. I've cried for McDonald's commercials. But only the Christmas ones.

Special notice goes to actress Christina Moses. I assumed that, like a handful of folks on the show, she was one of the experienced actors pitching in to help the fans. She's heartbreakingly sweet and grabs your attention like a pro. But it turns out she isn't a pro just yet ... This is her first thing (the IMDb credits her for a bit part in a TV movie 15 years ago, but I suspect it's a different actress with the same name). Christina Moses. Remember the name and wish her luck, because she rocks and she's a total sweetheart.

Okay, but as an established Trek fan it's not a huge stretch that I might watch a fan-film when Chekov tells me to. Right. But "nerdcore hip-hop?"

As friends know I'm a big admirer of the text-adventure games of the 1980s. I'm also busy writing one of my own - a fairly huge Uresia adventure to be released through Cumberland. I'm especially fond of the Infocom titles, and extra-especially fond of the works of Brian Moriarty (Beyond Zork, Wishbringer), Steve Meretsky (Leather Goddesses of Phobos, Planetfall) and Douglas Adams (Bureacracy, Hitchhiker's Guide). I never owned a computer in the 80s, so by the time I got truly hooked on them Infocom was dead and gone and I was already worshipping at the altar of Doom II, but genius is genius and they hooked me hard (as a teen, I'd "played" only a couple of them, by way of sitting behind friends, watching them type, and helping with the puzzles as a second pair of eyes).

So when I see notice that there's a new documentary in the works about them, and that there's a new hip-hop video attached to it ("It is Pitch Dark"), I download both. I'm already reasonably confident I'll be praising the documentary when the time comes. In the meantime I've been watching the video over and over, impressed and only mildly annoyed that I can't get the song unstuck from my head. But I'll cope. It's worth it. For both files (the Trek thing and the nerdcore) it might be easiest on everyone's bandwidth to crank up your favorite torrent client. And if you don't have one of those, you're even further out of the Internet loop than I am ...

Amusement and Meat

8/13/07: In regular enjoying-Denver news, Sandra and I finally gave Elitch Gardens a try, since it's just wrong to live within walking distance of roller coasters and never drop in to visit them! Pricey, as such places tend to be ($3.00 for a bottled water? gakkk), but as good a time as I've ever had at an amusement park. They've got the same rides as everyone, of course (Sandra and I had fun getting drenched on the raft ride, hooting on the big tilting boat thingy, etc) and some fun shows and food that - while not remarkably good food by any means - seems to have been formulated not to upset the tummy, which is a wise tactical move in the rollercoaster business. Made for a nice Saturday (and since my sleep is tilting again, drenching me on a raft-ride served as a handy way to keep me awake).

In Cumberland Games news, there's a new freebie in town, and it's a pretty odd one. Spider Meat (now available at the Free Stuff of the Moment page) was originally prepared for a Hurricane Katrina charity anthology, and now it's free for everyone, complete with a few updates and a new made-for-the-home-printer look. It's probably the most substantive Uresia freebie to date, so if you're curious about Uresia and the stuff on Blue Lamp Road didn't settle the matter, Spider Meat may ... Well, read it and see. I dare not suppose, honestly; 'cause Spider Meat is odd.