One Terrific Day

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T20:55:00.005Z

Our first Christmas in Vancouver, and our first Christmas ever away from home. I posted about the build-up to it last month, admitting that I wasn't sure how I'd actually feel on the morning of the 25th. But now that we're here, I feel great.

Of course it's not the same, but it's not depressingly lonely or anything. I rang home at 2am in the morning Vancouver time to say hi on the morning of their day. Then I staggered off to bed before rising seven hours later.

I found a store that sells Irish and UK goods yesterday, so I picked up some lovely apple and pork sausages, rashers, chocolate hob-nobs, custard and Christmas pudding, as well as a few other bits and pieces. I surprised Claire this morning with the breakfast and a genuine Irish Cadbury's selection box! She devoured the fudge bar immediately.

Claire and I just want to wish everyone that reads this a very Merry Christmas, and a safe and happy New Year. We hope 2012 is as special for you as 2011 was for us.

Missing you all, and holding you in our thoughts at this festive season.

Love,

Denis and Claire.

a.k.a. Santa Claus

2011-12-15T07:33:00.001Z

I haven't really been feeling in the festive mood recently. Or, to be exact, I have been feeling festive, just not as much as previous years. We went to see the Vancouver Christmas Parade, I've been to the wonderful German Christmas Market several times and the lights and seasonal music everywhere have been keeping me jolly and merry, humming tunes while reading in coffee shops.

But it's not the same as all those Christmas's back home. I don't have the same friends to share it all with. I'm not sitting in Gloria Jeans sipping coffee with Bob, dreading that the next song we hear might be "Fairytale of New York"[1], or walking through the brightly coloured evening streets with Jp, checking out those special offers in Game that crop up around this time of the year. I don't have the annual seasonal get-together with my friends from Early Childhood Studies that I never saw often enough while living in Cork, and certainly don't now. I can't make it to the Christmas party, with fine foods, rocking Rock Bands and awesome friends, or the New Years Eve house party, formal wear or otherwise.

It's not that I'm sitting at home feeling sorry for myself, I am having a good time and enjoying Christmas in Vancouver, it was just missing a little magic.

But today I got to be the magic. I got to be Santa Claus.

This morning I was working in a toddler room when the 3-5 supervisor arrived up. She spotted me and made a direct beeline across the room. She opened the conversation with "How would you like to make twenty-four children very happy" and I saw where this was going very quickly. I hesitantly accepted, hoping that she didn't notice that I was screaming and jumping with joy inside.

I had to wait the whole day, over seven hours between being asked and getting to try on the famous red suit. My heart was racing, and there were times I just had to stop doing whatever I was doing at the time and calm myself for a moment.

I put on the costume. It was really nice quality, even including a tummy padding, for us Santas a bit on the naturally slim side! Once everything else was in place, I put on my own leather gloves to almost finish it off, as the suit didn't include any. Then I carefully removed my glasses, putting them in a place even I, in my near blind state, could find them later, and put on the Santa glasses.

The transformation was complete, and I was ready for my grand entrance.

The children were amazed. As each one pressed forward to tell me about their day, or some other vitally important fact I should know according to their view on the current situation as it stands[2], all of them were stunned into silence when Santa addressed them by name! One little boy, the younger brother of a 3-5 made it to my seat and just starred up at me when I called him by name, as I exclaimed "Oh my! Is that really you? Look how tall you've gown. Last years you were this tall, now you're this tall! Goodness me."[3]

Everyone wanted a photo with me, and no matter how close they got, none of the 3-5 year olds seemed to have the slightest clue who was talking to them beneath the beard. Some of the older brothers that I know from the after-school program circled me like sharks for a few minutes, before sneaking up to my ear to whisper "I know you're not the real Santa. I know your name... Denis." When they did, I simply turned to them, smiled, winked and did the Kellogg's-Santa by-the-fire-who-has-been-spotted-by-the-little-girl-finger-to-lip-shhh, and they trotted off happy to have uncovered the truth.

Once I was done, and before I collapsed from heat-stroke (Santa's costume is designed for the North Pole, kiddies, not a crowded classroom), I headed back toward my secret lair (the office) to change back into Denis. On the way, I bumped into one of the toddlers that I had spent the whole day working with. I stopped to greet her by name and wish her a very merry Christmas and got a look of horror and loud screaming for my efforts[4]. In an attempt to make things right, and without any of the 3-5's around, I slipped off the beard and said "Look! It's me, Denis." The reaction was a moment of stunned silence punctured by a louder scream of "Noooooo!!", Darth Vader-style.

Back to normal, I stopped by the toddlers on my way home and found the friend I had upset still with a single tear on her cheek, but otherwise playing happily in the playroom. One of the staff told me they had comforted her by telling her that it was just Denis wearing dress-up clothes like the toddlers do in the home area, to which she had said "No Denis. Scary Santa." I asked her who she met downstairs to which she excitedly replied "Santa!" Then I asked her who was wearing the Santa dress-up clothes. She looked at me with the confused expression that means "Your question makes no sense" and returned to playing with friends. So long as she doesn't associate me with anything scary, I call that a win.

I stopped by a much emptier 3-5 room on my way out to thank the supervisor for allowing me to be a part for that magical moment for the children. I made sure to tell her that it was special for me too.

Today made my Christmas for 2011. I'll be sure to post again if something even more awesome happens, but to be honest, this has set the bar so ridiculously high, I just don't see that happening. It may not be the best Christmas I've ever had (1991, Lego Pirate ship), but it will forever be one that I will remember and cherish.

I can put up with never being wealthy or changing the whole world if I can make one child's world special now and then. Today, I did that twenty-four times over.

[1]- One of the greatest joys of my life here in Vancouver so far was discovering that no-one seems to recognise that song! It gets no playtime here. I may go the entire run up to Christmas without ever hearing it. If I make it, I'll try to remember to play it on the 25th to celebrate.
[2]- I was utterly amazed and impressed with how few of the children told me what they wanted, instead telling me about their day, their friends, or the songs they just sang. Material gifts were unimportant compared to the reason they were happy right this second. These kids are awesome!
[3]- I used that line on as many kids as I could get away with, and every one of them loved it, smiling in shocked silence at how Santa knew them by name and ever remembered them from last year!
[4]- To be fair, if a wild haired man with a crazy beard I've never seen before came up and talked to me using my name, I'd be pretty freaked out too. In hindsight, she was pretty justified in her reaction.

It Was Also Bravestarr's Horse

2011-12-01T03:13:00.000Z

I did it! Thirty posts in thirty days over the course of November. I didn't think I'd actually manage it, and only have done so through a slight bit of cheating and bending of the rules. I think the idea is to post daily, but I missed that on two occasions. Despite that, I did get in the thirty posts within the allotted month.

This only stands as a personal achievement. I didn't raise money for a cause or make anyone's lives better because of what I wrote (not that I'm aware of anyway). My friend Cian took part in Movember and raised money for prostate cancer awareness. His was a much better cause, all told. To alleviate my guilt, I donated to his cause. Also, he had a smashing 'tash.

But I'm proud of what I did. The quality of posts meandered a bit, sliding below the imaginary average level this blog aspires to maintain. There were funny posts, nostalgic posts and far too many posts about video games! It started with an angry letter to Google and finished with some thoughts on the value of living. But they were all fun to write. Once or twice I arrived home from work without a single idea on what to post that evening. I would just turn on the laptop and start typing. Those often turned out to be my favourites.

Now that it's all done, you might be interested in some facts:

I recorded 1,684 page views from November 1st to 30th across the entire blog, not all for the new material, but there was a marked jump from the 700 view per month I've been averaging since June.
Taken as they stand, my total word count is an astonishing 14,948 words, averaging just short of 500 words per post (498.26), peaking at 1,723 and dipping as low as 112.
If you removed the cut'n'pasted poem from my post on the 5th of November (which I obviously didn't write, nor had to retype) from the count, it stands at 14,873, or an average of 495.76 words per post, peaking at 1,723 and dipping as low as 37 in the altered post.
The median word count was 419.
There were 10 comments left.
Currently, the highest viewcount for a single post is 86, for the very first post. Second place has 32 views.
There are 22 images and one video.
The instances of blatant disregard toward the conventions for the proper use of italics and bolding must number somewhere in the hundreds.
Occurrences of spelling and grammatical errors are similarly numbered.

I had a lot of fun completing my 30/30 (now you should get the title's reference, if you hadn't before this). Hopefully I'll try it again next year and compare the results.

How were they to read? Generally boring? Too long? Painful to view on account of the previously mentioned disregard for literary conventions? Feel free to let me know in the comments.

And thanks for reading.

When You're Gone

2011-11-30T06:02:00.000Z

Life is a funny thing. For the vast majority of people, we have no concept of it ending. We see people die every day, yet a part of us always manages to convince the rest of our brain that it'll never happen to us.

But it does.

We don't know when, we don't know how. It's not biblical, just a fact.

When I leave this mortal body behind and finally learn what really happen afterwords, I hope I'll be leaving the world a better place. I hope that my actions here will make other lives a little brighter.

God forbid, if it happens tomorrow, I know that I'll miss what I have. I have the most amazing, loving, incredible wife I could ever have dreamed of. I have family that I love and miss dearly every day. I have friends that I hope to grow old with and laugh about our days in college together in fifty years time. I have a job that does make other peoples lives a little brighter, a little happier.

But I don't plan on giving it all up tomorrow, or the day after, or the next month, year or decade.

This isn't a post about death. It's about life. Live it as best you can. Be a positive influence in the stories of as many other people as you can, because when you go, that'll be the only thing that matters.

Make your world a little brighter.

Dear Xbox Three-Sixty

2011-11-29T23:54:00.000Z

You have suffered much in my hands.

Oh, sure. It started out all sunshine and roses, an easy life, living day to day with just a small handful of games, sharing my attention with the Wii. Life was easy. You were new and shiny, young and invincible.

But all that would change. I would taste the sweet nectar of Live. One free weekend for all Silver Members. So much changed in those few hours. I became addicted, needing more. I bought a One Year Gold subscription and dusted off my old games. I had never played the multiplayer stuff before, now it was all I yearned for. Like any good narcotic (or so I'm told), the more I played, the more I wanted.

But it was Burnout Paradise that got you all hot and bothered, and left me in the cold. At first, I thought it was a random glitch in the matrix, a graphical error that caused a console freeze. But I quickly learned the truth. You were dying inside. It was only a matter of time.

I sent you away. They told me they would make you better, return you to me as if it had never happened. And they did. I remember the day I got that phonecall that you were home. I opened the package to see you lying there. It was you, not a replacement. I could tell by your serial number.

We've had some great times since then. You were always good to me. You soldiered through long nights of Rock Band with friends, twelve hour marathon sessions of the newest release or hours upon hours of watching TV shows and movies. We reached over 30,000 Gamerscore together, just you and me, dozens of games, an internet connection, Xbox Live Gold, days and weeks of playtime... ok. Maybe a bit more than just you and me, but all through you.

I even brought you to Canada. After all those years, I could never dream of leaving you behind.

For a while, you sat there waiting. Waiting. Wondering when I would show you the same attention you had been used to. Then September 20th arrived and it was just like old times. I was running you through your paces again, every evening when I got home, long, intense sessions at the weekends, not only running the game, but sometimes hosting, Party chatting and downloading all at once.

It was to be expected, really. The first time I saw those two red segments light up your face, I paused. I refused to see the truth. I told myself that you just needed dusting. It didn't help. I moved you to a new, brighter location. It didn't help.

Now I have you sitting on my sill, beside an open window. You remain cool and comfortable, sucking in the Vancouver November air. For now.

But I know it's coming. I know our time runs short. Now I cherish every moment. I don't want to start playing a new game in case that will be the one that finishes it.

I just don't want it to end yet.

Your owner forever,

Denis.

Hair Today, Books Tomorrow

2011-11-28T20:15:00.000Z

I think I've mentioned this fact before, but I get most of my reading time on the bus either to or from work, or during my lunch break. This means that I rarely have the luxury of finishing up neatly at the start of a new chapter, or even at a convenient break within a chapter. The best I can often manage is furiously zipping through the last few lines of a paragraph and leaving it there. Sometimes I don't even manage that, looking up from the page to discover I'm already at my stop.

This means I had to get creative with bookmarks. My first attempt at tracking where I stopped was simply to position the end of the bookmark roughly around where I finished up. This never worked, as the marker slid from its placing as soon as I released it. Next, I attempted to macgyver a card with a slider that I could position at the point where I wanted to pick things up from, but this didn't really work either.

Finally, I hit on an ingenious idea, one so simple, I feel like I should have been using it for years.

Working in a daycare setting I'm often asked to hold on to hairclips for children that get too fed up of constantly replacing them during play. I usually clip them to my ID lanyard to remind myself to return them safely. More often than not, however, I end up finding them where I left them once I get home.

Thus I struck upon the idea of using hairclips as bookmarks. When I need to stop, I simply attach the clip to the page I'm on at the point that I've reached. Then, when I'm ready to read again, not only do I instantly know what page I finished on, but I know the exact line I read last. It works great, and even comes with its own secondary function.

I like to get immersed in a book. I fall head-over-heals into the world, and when things get tense, I get tense also. I fidget during the exciting moments, and having the hairclip conveniently to hand, I tend to snap it open and closed, back and forth in my fingers. I try to be discrete about it, muffling the snap in my hands, but I sometimes wonder if it gets incredibly annoying to people sitting nearby.

I also end up breaking the clips, like I did today to my current favourite bookmark. I may have to go shopping for hairclips tomorrow on my lunch break.

If anyone asks, they're for my wife.

Score One For Games

2011-11-27T18:25:00.000Z

Classical orchestral pieces have long been acknowledged as stunning examples of music, capable of taking the listener through ranges of emotions, all while really only interacting with a single sense.

Movie scores have shred some of that appreciation during the last few decades. Star Wars, Batman and Tron all have easily identifiable scores that have become classics in their own right. The names John Williams or Danny Elfman can be held up as modern equals to the greats of Beethoven or Mozart. Indeed, the work of John Williams has been a regular favourite of many great orchestras, especially the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

However, despite events such as Video Games Live or the very recently released CD from the London Philharmonic, The Greatest Video Game Music, there still isn't the same level of appreciation for video game scores, and it's a crying shame.

While cut-scenes play out like moments from a movie, unlike movies, video games include incidental music which can be presented as a dynamic addition to the scene or level, shifting tempo and volume according to the actions of the player. This reaction to the events onscreen can deeply effect the level of player immersion into the world. As the music swells in a tense moment, I can feel my pulse quicken, knowing that something is nearby, about to strike.

I'd love to start seeing video game sound tracks get more and more recognition. It's starting to happen now, as major composers are working on games and digital and CD sales of video game score continue to rise.

Several years ago, Claire and I once suggested to a friend that worked on a radio music program for Irish classical music station Lyric FM that they should do a special around video game scores, but we were informed that no-one in the entire station had access to any, so it wasn't going to happen.

Hopefully some day it will happen. Hopefully some day soon.

Weekend Work

2011-11-26T23:59:00.000Z

Most people enjoy their work-free weekends, going hiking, relaxing at home, or visiting family.

My weekends are usually filled with sleeping in late, going forwalks to Granville Island, or around the beautiful Lynn Valley, hanging out with friends, going for dinner with friends, watching movies or playing Xbox.

But I love getting woken up at 7:30 Saturday morning with a phone-call. It's happened four times in the last two months, and it's always the same.

"Hi Denis. Sorry to call you, but can you work for us this morning?"

Shower, shave and out the door for four hours of working with smallies and their parents on a Saturday morning. I love it.

When work isn't even work, it's easy to enjoy and look forward to. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Friday is my Monday. I look forward to Monday morning like most people look forward to Friday at 5pm.

From BC To QC

2011-11-25T18:48:00.000Z

Today we said good-bye to the first two friends we made on arrival in Vancouver.

Before we made the actual trip, we asked in the internet for tips about moving to the area. We used the best online forum community, RPG.Net to put the word out, and got loads of helpful advice and suggestions.

One user in particular informed us he was from Galway. He and his Canadian wife were living in Vancouver, and offered not only to show us around, but also to put us up for a while. At the time, we had already booked some time in a hostel, but happily did crash with them for several nights afterwords.

They recommended areas that were nice and things to look out for.

They made two Irish people very far from home feel welcome.

Tomorrow they travel across the continent to her parents in Quebec.

Claire and I will both miss them dearly.

Judgement Call

2011-11-24T21:41:00.000Z

On the way home from work today I sat in my usual spot, in the back half, near the exit door. I put my head down and opened my current read, Chasm City by Alastair Reynolds. The half hour it takes to get home speeds by incredibly fast every time I lose myself in the pages of a novel.

At some point, something caught my eye, a slightly flutter on the floor by the door, next to a lone standing passenger. It was a small slipcase, possibly for an iPod-like device, light fabric, more for style than protection. It was black with what appeared to be a white floral design.

I politely tapped the standing fellow on the shoulder and indicted the object, which I thought could have easily slipped from his pocket, backpack or hand.

"Is that yours? I think you dropped it."

He was well dressed, in his early twenties, I guessed. He picked up the item, offering it to me.

"Oh, no. It's not mine. I thought it might have been yours. I noticed it just now on the floor by your feet."

Without batting an eyelid, he looked at me and said "No. I'm not gay." Then dropped it on the floor again. I shrugged and turned back to my book, whereupon I heard him say "You'd have to be gay to own that. It's really gay."

Let me pause here and clarify something. While the case was not covered in images of naked women, bloodsplattered enemies, or soccer balls, it was hardly what I would describe as overly feminine. Sure, it was a floral pattern, but the black and white style was hardly an immediate indicator of anyone’s preferred sexual orientation.

I continued my reading momentarily, before being interrupted.

"What are you reading?"

I show him the cover. "It's science fiction."

"Are you a 70's?"

"Um... what?"

He looks at me like I've suddenly sprouted a second and possibly third head. "Do you live down near 70th?"

"Oh", I reply, understanding now. "Yes. On 71st."

"Thought so. You should read something about a dystopian future. I think that'd suit you better."

I try not to stare at him for more that a second, but it's difficult. This random guy has known me for, literally, less than 60 seconds. In that time he has decided that, based on where I live and what I read, I would be much better off reading about some end-of-the-world doom and gloom.

Without responding, I turn back to my book and continue reading, making a judgement call of my own.

Asshole.

Bringing Peace And Justice To All

2011-11-23T21:30:00.000Z

Growing up in rural Ireland, Sunday Mass was not an option, it was a ritual. Every Sunday we were woken up at 8:30am to have breakfast, as we couldn't eat an hour before Mass, according to some arcane tradition. At 9:50 we all bundled into the car and trundled up the road to the small local church dedicated to St. James.

And every Sunday at 9:59am, I prayed to God.

You see, the terrestrial Irish television station, RTÉ 2, loved to air children's programming while my family and I were at Mass. This was the reason we had to be almost dragged out the doors some mornings, as we just had to see the last few seconds of whatever show had started at 9:30. 10am was Sesame Street, so I never felt like we lost out on much.

But it was the show at 10:30 that had me kneeling in my pew, praying for a hasty conclusion to the weekly events. Everything rode on which priest walked through the door of the sacristy to deliver Mass. Most gave me a 50/50 chance of getting out on time, while the sight of a select few was met with joyous praise to the Allfather, as it guaranteed a short Mass, home well before the 10:30 deadline. But there was always the risk we had the one who loved his sermon’s, dragging them out to what I felt certain must surely constitute a war-crime against children, choosing the long form of the prayers, and refusing to read the clearly marked shorter version of the Gospel.

Of course, Sunday Mass was not just about sitting, kneeling or standing in church reciting prayers in a monotonous, hypnotic fashion. I also had to contend with the adults hanging around the church gate, catching up on the weeks gossip.

So what was it that had me so anxious? What show could have me praying to God to ensure the shortest possible devotion to that same deity? Only the best, most epic cartoon of it's time, one with a rock ballad opening score that still makes my heart jump to this day and floods my mind wit happy memories, dashing through the front door to turn on the TV and snuggle up by a fire for this weeks adventure.

The original, in all its glory, can be viewed here.

Going Live

2011-11-22T23:19:00.000Z

Since the move to Canada one of the most effective systems for keeping in touch with friends back home has been Xbox Live. It'd been great to just switch on and chat to Bob and Jp, whether playing a game or not.

But it's been even more important for keeping in contact with my brother. Stephen has spent a year in New Zealand and a year in Australia, and Xbox Live has allowed us to game together and stay in touch almost every week, across half a world.

Stephen is heading back to Ireland in a few weeks, and in preparation for his trip he posted home his Xbox today. We chatted for a bit yesterday before I went to bed, and I have to admit that I was starting to get a little choked up as we were saying good-bye.

I'll miss gaming with my brother over Live. It made me feel like we weren't so far apart.

Slightly Used, One Previous Owner

2011-11-21T22:23:00.000Z

I love the feel of a good book in my hand. I love rippling the pages and smelling the paper and ink. New books smell different to old ones, and both smell like adventure, as far as I'm concerned.

Most of the books I've bought since getting here have been second-hand. Apart from the first Dresden Files novel, Storm Front, the rest of the series was collected pre-loved. All of the Sigismondo series had to be gotten third- or possibly fourth-hand, as they have been long out of print. I don't mind. I actually like having a mismatch of covers on a shelf.

Toys are made to be played with, which is why I don't keep any "Mint In Box". Books are made to be read and reread. I love falling into the world created by the author, and I like to follow an author once I find that I enjoy his work.

Which is where my problem arises.

I do buy second-hand books. It makes financial sense for me. But I also regret that I'm not supporting the author. They get royalties from the original sale, but not the second-hand market. Jim Butcher and Cherie Priest are the only authors to get any money out for me since I got to Vancouver, and then only from one sale each.

I can't recall ever hearing an author complain about second-hand book stores or, unimaginably, a library. They just simply accept it as another chain of distribution and hope that people will move from there to the newest releases, I guess. It's a very different view to that taken by the video game industry, who are actively fighting the second-hand sales market, coming up with initiative after initiative to combat the loss of income from pre-owned game sales.

And that makes me want to support authors even more. They are aware of, or at least have grudgingly accepted, the positive effect of the pre-loved market. They hope that once they have captured your attention you'll feverishly purchase the new releases as they come out.

And for me, it's working. Because of when I like to read, I really only ever buy paperbacks, so I'm awaiting the trade paperback edition of the latest Harry Dresden casefile, Ghost Story, as well as his collection of short stories, Side Jobs, due out next month, I believe. And I can't wait for Wise Man's Fear to get a paperback edition! But there are over two dozen other titles from various authors that I love that I'd like to be able to say "Thank You" for in a way that doesn't affect how I choose to buy or read my books.

I like to support local business, and love chatting to the staff in my favourite second-hand book store. I'd just like to be able to share my appreciation with the original author as well.

Digital Mortality

2011-11-20T16:34:00.000Z

The general rule of video games seems to be that characters never ages. No matter how many adventures they have, their features remain frozen, ageless avatars, immune to the ravages of time. While their polygon count might rise and their appearances get updated, characters like Gears of War's Marcus and company, Mass Effect's Shepard and crew, even Mario and friends don't really grow old. In Lara Croft's case, the newest, upcoming release has her actually getting younger!

But rules were made to be broken, and Ubisoft decided to shatter them. After all, in video games, nothing is true, everything is permitted.

I have experienced so much of the life of Ezio Auditore da Firenze. Over the course of three games, I have been there for his birth and I have watched him grow from a carefree youth into a responsible adult. I shared the pain of his lose when his father and brothers were taken from him, and experienced the key moments in a life spanning decades as he sought his revenge. I was with him when he romanced Christina, and also when he accepted that the life he lead would keep them apart. I watched him build up a brotherhood of assassins, defending the people when no-one else would.

And now I bear witness to the closing act of his life. His hair is grey, his face covered in the marks and folds of a long life. In his actions, I can see the wisdom of decades; in his movements, the fatigue that those same years have brought. He is no longer the young man of previous games.

He has aged. Time has passed for him. He's not just the immortal avatar of a video game, but someone who has lead a full life, one that I know has to eventually, inevitably end in death, even if we don't see it onscreen in the game.

Ubisoft has crafted a story and a character spanning over three decades. It pains me that Revelations will be the final chapter in Ezio's story. But I love that it is. It has been a unique experience, one that I was honored to be a part of.

Addendum: At the time of writing this, I couldn't think of other examples of characters growing old over the course of a series of games, even though I knew there had to be others. Thanks to some friends, Solid Snake and Sam Fisher share that trait, suggesting that the stealth assassin industry is detrimental to you ability to remain youthful! Though not out yet, Max Payne appears to have aged also in his upcoming release.

I Got Nothing

2011-11-19T23:59:00.000Z

Ack. Oh well. I've been trying to do this whole November daily blogging thing, and I hoped that by not actually mentioning it or making a big deal of it I'd kind of sneak through the whole month without getting myself stressed about having to post every single day!

I've been kind of cheating anyway. For one, I had built up somewhat of a buffer, writing a few related posts together but saving the extra for the following week. I'm not too upset about that as I still had to write the posts.

My other sneaky method had only just paid off. I have my blogs date and time still set to GMT. I just never got around to updating it. So I've been able to post late in the evening Pacific time and have it appear as early the next day on my blog. This gave me a small amount of leeway in case I couldn't or forgot to post something. I could post the following Vancouver evening and justify to myself that I still managed a post per date, if not day.

Unfortunately, I missed Saturday both in Ireland and Vancouver. You see, I spent it entirely playing Assassin's Creed: Revelations. Well, almost entirely. I got up at 10am, played until about 3pm, took a walk and got some fresh fruit for a snack, played a short bit of Gears of War 3, went out for dinner with the lovely Claire, and then back to the world of Ezio Auditore da Firenze.

So here we are. An excuse post. I hate it as much as you. It's so late Claire is gone to bed, I've probably made a dozen typos I'll see in the morning and I'm too tired to even add relevant links.

But I have altered the date so that this appears to have been posted on Saturday. I'm still awake. My day hasn't ended yet. It counts, right?

EDIT: Fixed some typos.

What Might Have Been

2011-11-18T07:36:00.000Z

Spoiler Warning! ArrOOga, arrOOga! Spoiler Warning!

The body of this post discusses major plot points from Gears of War 3, in particular a characters fate toward the end of the game. Don't read the rest unless you have finished the game. You have been warned.

Previous posts in this series:
The Coalitions Finest
User, Why?
Brothers To At Least Act Three

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Still with me? At this point, I assume that either you've finished the game, or you don't care, but you're interested in seeing what I'm talking about anyway. The third possibility is that you saw that this post was related to Gears of War 3 and you never even clicked to read the rest, but if that's the case, you're not even reading this, so I don't know why I bothered.

At the end of Act 3 there is a climactic, edge-of-your-seat action moment, as six Gears face the combined might of the Locust forces, and then get ambushed by the malevolent Lambent creatures just as things are looking good. The action itself was tight and enjoyable, holding out on a rooftop, surrounded by enemies at all sides, unsure of how this was going to end.

Except that I was pretty damned sure I knew how this was going to end, cliched and melodramatically. In short, one of the characters we've known since the start of the first game leaps off the roof, blasts away half a dozen enemies, climbs into a truck and drives over more of them before ramming into a fuel tank, exploding in a ball of flame, sacrificing himself and killing all the bad guys, but leaving the fellow soldiers miraculously unscratched.

Doms death was laughably overblown and melodramatic. In attempting to make it action packed, they over played almost every aspect of it, turning it into a near comical farce. Worse still, it was telegraphed from hours before, arguably from his first appearance in the game.

It seemed so obvious that I almost thought it was going to be a misdirect. Make you believe they were going to kill Dom, then have someone else take the bullet. That would have been a much better idea, but alas, the writing staff didn't see it that way.

Here's how I would have done it, and why.

Play out the scene almost exactly as is, but replace one of the characters at the scene with Baird, the cocky, begoggled, blond asshole. Leave in all the moments with Dom, the awful, cheesy, cliched reflection at the gravestone, the handing off of his knife to Marcus, everything. Have it really look like he has given in to his fate.

But when the moment of crisis arrives, have Baird trigger a device, rig a pipeline, overload an engine, in short, let him do his thing. Let him go out being Baird, the mechanic, the tinkerer, the egotistical brains. He could even have taken and used one of the devices from earlier in the same Act, the bombs attached to the fuel lines.

Now I know what you're saying. Anyone who knows me knows I love Baird. I love his goggles, his cheeky dialogue, his smart-ass comments. Of course having him die is going to have a greater effect on me. But hear me out one second!

Throughout the series, the Baird/Cole relationship was the bright humour in every dark situation. No matter how crazy or impossible things got, Baird and Cole had a smart comment to keep everyone in check and push on to victory. They were best friends that loved to hate each other, constantly poking the other, annoying them, highlighting their flaws. And in the newest installment, Baird and Sam had a similar, if neonatal, version of that friendship. There is a moment at the end of Act 1 when, as they stare seemingly certain death in the face, Baird tells Sam "I know that at a time like this I'm supposed to tell you that I've always loved you. But I don't, I really, really don't." But he's a liar! He does love her, maybe not as a potential partner, but he respects and admires her, and knows that he'd always have his back in a firefight.

Doms death had little or no impact on the rest of the story. The person it should have affected most, Marcus, has always been an emotional deadzone anyway. He is the Master Chief or Gordon Freeman of the Gears series, a neutral character that the player can become for the purpose of the story. Admittedly, he has slightly more character than either having both a face and a voice, but in the end, he is portrayed as an emotionless husk. This is never more obvious when he shrugs of Doms death to push on with the mission, only mentioning him again before the ending when asking Anya "Are you ok?", to which she replies "No. And neither are you." Apart from a forgettable scene with an entirely forgettable and unnecessary support character a little earlier, that is the sum total of the effect that Doms death has on the characters prior to the final cutscene.

Bairds death at the end of Act 3 would have crushed Cole and Sam, and completely taken the wind out of everyone else for the final two Acts of the story. Had I written it, Sam would have been there to see Bairds last moments, roaring in anger and disbelief even as it happens. She would have screamed herself hoarse, the others having to drag her backwards across the dust as she fired into the remaining Locust crawling out of the wreckage of whatever Baird had enacted. The next Act would have her using new, harsher incidental dialogue, thirsty for blood, clearly unable or unwilling to push aside the emotions she is going through.

The game would progress similarly to how it actually does, until the team meets up with Cole again on the island of Azura, just before the final assault on the stronghold. Marcus would silently step forward to break the news, but Sam would step in. She would take Cole to one side, away from the others, out of earshot. The scene would be viewed from a distance, unable to hear what is being said. Only Coles reactions would be evident. He'd push her away. He'd grab his lancer and race away into the island. Sam would look back at the others before turning on her heals and following him. The whole scene would be played in silence, only the sad, beautiful score barely audible over the events.

Later in Act 5, just before the final battle, things would look grim for Delta Squad. The Locust on one side, the Lambent on the other, Marcus and Dom, Anya and Jace down to their last rounds. A huge explosion would blind everyone in fine dust before Sam and Cole charge in from the back, dramatically storming to the rescue. The final chapter would be played with Marcus and Dom, Sam and Cole, with Anya back in her support role, providing vital intel to the squad. Marcus and Dom would have their usual dialogue for combat, but the other two would have new lines added in, noticeably meaner in tone, more violent thoughts bubbling to the surface in battle.

Doms death was a throwaway, inconsequential event that really had little to no impact on the ending of the game. The Queen was going out one way or another, so adding Doms death didn't really change that. No-one on the team really showed any signs of being affected by the news of his passing, pressing on with the task at hand, and not even mentioning him. By killing Baird, the charm would be gone, the humourous quips in the heat of combat, noticeably absent. This wouldn't have been a bad thing, altering the whole tone of the ending to something much darker.

There would have been opportunity for Cole to evolve as a character, even if it is to a darker place than his happy-go-lucky attitude he had up to this point. In fact, there were several hints in the series that maybe Cole wasn't entirely right in the head to being with, especially the wonderful waking dream sequence in this latest game. Losing Baird would have thrown him headlong over that mental edge he seemed to be balancing on, making for a potentially much more dramatic finale. Similarly with Sam. Though players only know her from this game, she could have ended as a very different character to how she started out as.

As it was, no one really grew in the third Gears game. Cole, Baird, Sam, Jace and Anya didn't really show any signs of being affected by the untimely death of their teammate. One could argue that we don't know what happens tomorrow after the dust has settled, but that's not the point. There was no character development within the story of the game. Even Marcus doesn't really change, but then, I never expected him to. That's why I feel it would be better to put the strain on someone elses psych, put someone else through the emotional ringer.

There has been a lot of talk online about Doms death, the majority of it feeling that it was poorly done. Most seem to be disappointed with the over-the-top execution, as well as the choice of character. It felt like the attitude was that Doms story had been finished, and he was now expendable. His redemption would be in death. Dom became the Sirius Black of the Gears Universe. Once his story was told and the writers didn't know what else to do with him, off he trotted into the afterlife.

The worst thing however, is that I know Epic can do better. The reveal of Doms wife Maria in Gears of War 2 was incredible, and I still get a lump in my throat watching the cutscene where Dom and Maria are finally reunited after all his time searching for her. It was lowkey, intimate and understated. I didn't see the twist coming until it was too late, and by then I couldn't drag my slowly watering eyes away from the screen.

Go back and look to your own past, Epic. That is how you do death in a videogame.

Hidden Blade To The Cooling Fan

2011-11-17T06:55:00.001Z

I got a half day from work yesterday, so I was home early to relax and enjoy Assassins Creed: Revelations. Except my brother was also online, so we raced through Acts 3, 4 and 5 of Gears of War 3 in just short of three hours on Casual to get him his four-player co-op Achievement. It was insanely good fun, very frantic and a totally different experience from the cautious approach of Hardcore and beyond.

But once we had it wrapped up I had the evening free to enjoy the final chapter in Ezio Auditore da Firenze's life as a master assassin.

I eagerly jumped into it, having only played a short few minutes before bed the night before, and was completely engrossed in the world in moments.

I was ripped savagely out of it again when my Xbox 360 decided that it was feeling a bit hot under the collar and shut itself down, displaying a red semi-circle around the power button.

I've had the dreaded Red Ring Of Death before, and it's not fun. But my Xbox was running fine since I got it repaired, up until recently. I got this over-heating shutdown once about two weeks ago, but moved the powerbrick, cleaned the vents, did anything I could think of to help, and all seemed fine.

Today, it red-semi-circled on me three times.

Hoping that it is just a heating issue, we've moved it onto the main dinner table, next to a window we can leave open. There is a cool, early winter breeze blowing across the machine now, and I managed to get through a fair chunk of the game without any more failures.

Out house does get very warm. We have, at times, a laptop, a PC, an Xbox and the heating, which we can't adjust for our individual apartment because it's a whole building thingy, and then on top of all that we have cooking just adding to the rising heat. I find it stifling. Claire complains if I open a window. It's a definite impasse at times.

For now, the Xbox is going to live on the table. We'll have to see how long that lasts. Should it die, I'm going to either grab a second hand one on the cheap, or hold out for the matte black S model due next month and treat myself to a shiny (not gloss shiny, though) new Xbox 360.

Hopefully I won't have to choose. I really like my Xbox, and the thought of having to sort out data transfer and region coding just frustrates and confuses me.

Tuesday Night Attempted Gaming

2011-11-16T07:18:00.001Z

For the last few month I've been in a role-playing group every Tuesday evening after work. It started as my introduction to FATE 3.0 via Dreadnought and then on to my game based in the Dresden Files Universe version of Vancouver. Starting at seven players, my game swiftly dwindled to three regulars, then just those three, end of story.

I was kind of losing heart at this point, but one of our small number offered to run the FATE powered sci-fi game, Diaspora. I jumped at the chance to play rather than GM again, and we started character creation with five players. Before the first session, that dwindled to two players.

None-the-less, it has been an awesome amount of fun so far, but we've done nothing. We have brought a whole new meaning to the terms sidetracked, procrastinate and distractible. We only really get two hours on Tuesday evening to play, but that actually works out to less than an hour of playtime, with the remaining time made up of stories from our week, random stuff we read online, old TV shows, apt and hilarious quotations that then require explaining, discussions of what we're currently reading or playing and much, much more, all wrapped up in a tidy package of howling laughter.

We honestly get nothing done. In five weeks we've started one adventure, of which we have boarded a vessel, met the other passengers, found a ghost ship, went on board, investigated, had lunch, found something that shouldn't be. Only the last two points were performed yesterday.

I love it. I haven't had as much fun in a long time. Sometimes, gaming is just an excuse to meet up and hang out with people. Getting any progress in the story is secondary to the enjoyment of one anothers company.

Discussions Of An Abstract Nature

2011-11-15T06:04:00.001Z

Short one today, but here goes.

Yesterday I worked in the after school age program. It's a nice change of pace moving from the little ones up to a group consisting of six to eleven year olds. They are much more independent and capable, such that most of my day is really about just being there for ration and insurance purposes, but they rarely need me for anything specific.

The other major difference is the topics of conversation. Over the course of the day I discussed endangered species, hunting, conservation, Santa Claus, and eating bugs with one group, and later the formation and physics of black holes with a different child.

I love my job.

Dead Tree Appreciation Post

2011-11-14T05:51:00.001Z

When I was much younger, back in the days just after my parents generation had eradicated the last dinosaur and before we had civilisation and high speed internet, I used to read a lot. Like, even more than I used to watch TV. Well... maybe not that much, but reading came in a close second.

The first author whose name I learned to recognise was Roald Dahl. I don't remember what book I started on, but I have many fond memories of losing myself deep inside the worlds of his novels. I remember buying Charlie and the Chocolate Factory one Saturday morning while shopping with mum, coming home and going straight to my room. I pulled the covers off my bed, wrapped myself up on the floor and opened page one. I didn't leave the room until I finished it later that evening, forgoing dinner until I had learned all the secrets of the great factory. BFG is one of my favourites, Matilda is a beautiful story, with a wonderful movie adaptation, and George's Marvelous Medicine is still an all-time favourite, which I love to read every other year or so.

My first proper novel after Dahl was Jurassic Park, by the late, great Michael Crichton. My cousin lent it to me shortly after we saw the movie in theaters on release. Reading The Lost World followed swiftly afterwords. From there I tried my hand at John Grisham, but didn't last long, and a few others, before settling on Terry Pratchett. I started Pratchett with Mort before going back and reading the earlier stuff. I enjoyed what I read, but never got past book seven or eight, just losing interest and wandering away from reading in general for a while.

In college I read bits and pieces, but by then I was mostly into comics and graphic novels, starting what was to become a massive collection. Occasionally I would pick up a book or two on sale, fully intending to get back into reading novels that didn't have pictures of costumed heroes leaping about the place on every page. But I read far less than I didn't, never really finding a way to set aside enough time to get into the stories they were telling. I couldn't read in bed as I would inevitably fall asleep five minutes in, waking up to find my face stuck to the page. Reading by osmosis doesn't work.

I was infinitely jealous of Claires ability to read at lightning speed, while still taking everything in, or Jp's seemingly unending enthusiasm for the next book from a variety of authors. It honestly annoyed me that I couldn't seem to get myself to focus long enough to do something as simple as read a fucking book.

The Xbox 360 and high speed broadband at home was a big part of that. There was so many other things to do and see and read online that committing myself to a single novel, many of whom had teeny text just seemed beyond me.

So, upon arriving in Vancouver I swiftly realised two things: 1) I had no internet at home yet, and 2) despite bringing my Xbox, I had nothing to play it on, as the best I could manage was sharing it on Claires monitor, and she used that all the time. Grabbing this opportunity, I raced to the nearest bookstore in search of a good read.

Failing that, I picked up Frontier Earth, by Babylon 5 star Bruce Boxleitner, and actually rather enjoyed it. Nothing amazing, but a nice gentle book to get me back into the swing of things.

Once I started I knew I had to keep going without a break. My biggest worry was that I'd stall and go back to not reading again, so I picked up the first in the Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher, Storm Front. It immediately grabbed my attention, and I bought the next few books in the series before I had even finished the first.

As I got close to the end of Dresden Files, I was stuck. I didn't know where to go. Some of my friends in Vancouver had recommended a work by a first time author, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, by Susanna Clarke. It was huge and daunting to look at, but I jumped in feet first and couldn't drag myself back out. I needed to know what happened next at the end of every chapter, I couldn't put it down, reading it on the bus to work, on my lunch break, on the bus home, before, during and after dinner, every free moment I had. It was amazing!

After Jonathan Strange I felt I needed a break from magic, and started reading a series Claire and gotten hold of here in Vancouver. It's a series of six books set during the Italian Renaissance, following the adventures of a heroic mercenary, Sigismondo and his manservant, Benno. Written by a pair of authors under the pen name Elizabeth Eyre, the books are full of mystery and intrigue, with plots within plots and secret enemies within every palace. They are a fantastic read, and I'd urge anyone who is a fan of Assassins Creed, or Italy during the Renaissance to try them out. Funny, action packed, entertaining, but never complex or difficult to follow, I was sad to reach the final page of book six, knowing there was no more. And I don't understand why there isn't any more. Not to spoil anything, but at the end of Dirge for a Doge our two heroes are alive and well and continuing in their adventures. I can only guess that at the time they might not have sold well, and they've never been reprinted, so they are hard to find unless you order online. Pity, they really are fantastic.

My next adventure brought me back to Italy, in the year 1327. Umberto Eco's The Name Of The Rose is set in a monastery over the course of seven days as the two main protagonists attempt to uncover the truth behind a series of gruesome murders. It was an enjoyable read, and I did manage to finish it, but it was hard going. The novel is less interested in telling the story than in letting the tale become a frame upon which to mount a series of essays on the church and religion and learning and a number of other topics, as characters discuss at length these issues with one another. I did enjoy it, but there were times when I just wanted the net murder to occur and the adventure to push forward. That said, I do feel smarter for having finished it, and a little more knowledgeable about the history of the Roman Catholic church.

For a while I debated starting Foucault's Pendulum next, but decided against it right away. I needed something a little less cerebral than Eco, so of course I started a series by a physicist who has been involved with Cern and the European Space Agency. That was clever of me.

Thankfully, Alistair Reynolds is a riveting read. His writing style does favour large chunks of exposition and world-building, something he has been criticized for in reviews, but I enjoyed it. It felt at times like I was reading the completed text of a role-playing game and those parts were the GM bouncing in his chair, excitedly describing the newest cool thing his world has. Some of his players find it boring and amateurish, others accept those parts because the rest of the story is so enjoyable, and the last group, like myself, sit quietly in our seats, soaking the world into our imaginations, enriching the story. I've only read Revelation Space so far, and have started Chasm City, which I'm loving already.

Where to next? I'm not sure. There are too many choices, too many suggestions by friends whose opinions I trust. I'm delighted to be back into reading again, and I hope I never lapse again. The joy of reading is a gift I look forward to giving my children some day.

I think I'll start with Llama Llama Red Pajama, and onwards from there.

Brothers To At Least Act Three

2011-11-13T06:57:00.000Z

In my first post, in what has become a series related to the Gears of War franchise, I mentioned that my first experience of the games was through Horde Mode in Gears 2, and that I had ignored the story for some time even after I purchased it thinking I'd hate it. On the surface, it looked like everything I disliked about testosterone fueled war games turned up to eleven.

Turns out I was wrong, and right, in that order.

Make no mistake, the universe of Gears of War is a truly nightmarish place overpopulated with males who sport enormous muscles and necks that resemble tree-trunks, a thriving steroid manufacturing and distribution industry, and tech level beyond our own, while simultaneously never spotting the vast race of cave dwelling monsters that lived below their feet until they burst to the surface. There is so much wrong with the world of Sera that I find it hard to understand how it got past the design process.

I was right in thinking that I'd dislike that kind of game, I was just wrong in thinking that I already disliked the Gears series because of it.

You see for some reason, in this case, it works. It still has all those things I dislike about war games, but by turning them up to eleven, Epic managed to make them entertaining, poking fun at the absurdity of the tropes on display. It's an over-the-top universe of action and adventure, epic battles and heartbreaking personal moments. It has, in my opinion, some great incidental dialogue that characters shout in the heat of battle, fantastic characterizations, and an awesome array of enemies.

I ended up playing both the first and second games through with friends, both through the couch-sharing, split-screen mode and the Xbox Live full-screen version. In fact, now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever played any Gears of War story by myself, and I've finished the first game at least three times, and the second game more than that!

Through Horde Mode, my wonderful wife joined me on the world of Sera, at first watching me play through the story, enjoying the story together, before playing the game herself. She never got around to finishing her own run through, but she put in hours of combat training killing Locust in Horde.

On the release of Gears 3, I knew I wanted to experience the story together with Claire this time. We sat down and played through the entire campaign together over several nights. Our first run-though was even on Hardcore! The campaign allows for 4-player co-op, so we had two bots running and gunning along with us. In practice, this meant that they raced forward, took a tonne of fire, one went down, the other picked his fallen friend up, rinse, repeat, and Claire and I sat back picking everything off at a safe distance.

With our run-though complete, Claire and I joined Bob and Jp on Arcade Mode and played through it a second time in quick succession.

All in all, I can't say that I didn't enjoy the game. There were some spectacular scenes, loads of genuinely funny moments, fantastic dialogue, nice nods to the earlier games and some great easter eggs scattered throughout. The story moved along at a good pace, and while it clocked in at easily the longest in the series, it never once felt like that. The ending almost came too soon.

Playing it on Insane in the Arcade four-player co-op was tough. Instantly dieing instead of the usual safety net of Down But Not Out was at first frustrating, but once you adjusted to it, it simply made some scenes even more tense and nerve wracking. Adding Mutators, fun game changers such as infinite ammo, or bonus weapon damage, certainly made things more enjoyable, shifting the tone of combat from a defensive stance spending the majority of time behind cover regaining health, to a more proactive offensive ideology. There were still a number of really, really difficult-to-finish areas, but the ones we were dreading the most often proved to be the quickest to complete!

I have to say, I was well proud of our little band of heroes when we nailed the final boss without too much trouble. I want to say that we didn't even wipe out once, but I think we may have had to restart once or twice early on. But it was far less painful that certain earlier levels (I'm looking at you, Formers!). In the end, it was some awesome teamwork, combined with a sprint around the tower a few times while the three dead teammates rejoined the fight, that won the day!

Visually, the game is beautiful. The environments have a massive amount of variety, from battling in dark tunnels to stunning, sun drenched walkways. Even the darker sections of the game are brighter than most apocalyptic games, filled with torches, dynamic lighting effects and clever tricks to avoid having to play through an area with my screen brightness maxed out. The character models are crisp and incredibly detailed, with everything moving realistically, whether it's the faces as they talk and react or the solid plates on the armour.

It's also refreshing to see a game with several strong female characters, and even more refreshing to see them wearing much the same amour as the guys, instead of skimpy chainmail bikinis or a body armour that inexplicably leaves the midrift exposed! The girls are just as bad-ass as the guys here, and everything they do, say and wear reinforces that they are not just onscreen to look pretty and kiss the men on the way to battle, but could easily hold their own in any fight. The only thing I'm upset we never get to see is an all female chapter, where the girls have to defend or attack a key location while the boys are busy elsewhere. Admittedly, the main game only has three named female COG characters, so maybe I can suggest that idea for future DLC!

Story-wise, I was bitterly disappointed in some of the major choices made, especially towards the end. I'm not going to go into it here, as I'm going to leave my thoughts and ideas on that subject for another post, but suffice it to say, I still think Gears of War 2 is the stronger story, or at least the stronger resolution.

Gears of War 3 feels like the appropriate ending in the story for control of an entire planet. Unfortunately, it just seems to push itself over the thin line between "epic action adventure" into the field of "ridiculous nonsense" as it gets towards the end. There were several times I found myself close to screaming "WHY?!?" at the Xbox, and at least once when I did. Despite this, I enjoyed it then and still enjoy it now. I've played it through once on Hardcore and once on Insane in four-player co-op, yet I still enjoy joining friends games and playing through a few chapters when I have the time. There are some amazing climax moments, none better than the start of Act 3 where you have to defend a fort against a tidal wave of seemingly unending enemies. The dialogue and character interactions are funny and enjoyable, and once again the Baird/Cole buddy team-up steals the show for me.

A flawed but enjoyable masterpiece, the story of Gears 3 was enough for me to enjoy playing at least twice. While it won't keep me coming back like Horde mode does, it wasn't something I felt I could put off playing, as I had done in Gears 2. In fact, more than anything, playing the Gears 3 campaign has made me want to go back and play the story in Gears 2 again, and relive how an emotional moment in a game is done properly.

Previous posts in this series:
The Coalitions Finest
User, Why?
Still to come:
How I would have written things if I was in control (But with a much snappier title)

I'm Dreaming Of A Christmas, White Or Otherwise

2011-11-12T07:29:00.000Z

Recently I've started having some very odd dreams. I wouldn't call them nightmares or anything, but they're still the kind of thing that upsets me enough that my first thought on waking is "Thank God that wasn't real." I'm not one to spend much time on analyzing dreams and assigning them significant meaning, but I still feel that these are some for of anxiety dream.

There isn't much for me to be anxious about right now in my life. I love my job, Vancouver, my place in life right now. Of course, above and beyond all of that, I love Claire, and having her near me when I awake brings me right back to a calm state.

But I do think that there is some underlying, bubbling anxiety that has been causing this. Most of my dreams place me firmly back in Ireland. I recently had a dream where I was supposed to be at work for 9am, but it was approaching 10:15, and I was still in Killea, my home home as I still call it, trying to get to work any way possible. The fact that I needed to travel halfway across the world didn't seem to be an issue, I just needed to get a lift. Or the dream where I was back in Cork, about to board a flight to Vancouver, reliving all those upsetting emotions I had to go through almost a year ago,but in the wrong airport and with more than just my mum there. I'm pretty sure I woke up crying from that one, or at the very least, upset enough that all I wanted to do was curl up in a ball for a bit.

Not to mention all the dreams I still have where I'm hanging out with Bob, Jp and Noel, just messing about, doing nothing. Well, not always nothing. There was one dream recently where I vaguely recall being with a bunch of Irish friends and Noel getting up to something that was hilarious at the time, but which, as happens all too often with reams, I've completely forgotten about now. I woke from that one chucking to myself, before I realised where I really was again. Those ones are far from upsetting, but they do illustrate my point.

Christmas swiftly approaches. I got my work schedule for December on Thursday. More and more stores are putting up their decorations, and more and more homes are starting to have colourful displays of light in their windows. Not having and television or a radio has saved me from the inevitable advertisements and music of the season, but I'm sure they're in full swing too by now.

This will be my first Christmas ever away from home. Every year for the past 31 years, I have been home with my family on or before December 24th, and for more than the last decade I've been with my friends for New Years. This year will be dramatically different.

We don't have plans for Christmas yet. Claire and I haven't really talked about what to do. We have a few options, the obvious being staying here in Vancouver and doing something, and a nice offer from Cian also means we could spend it in Seattle. We could of course travel to other places, but budget concerns at a time when we need to renew our visas mean that money is far from no object, even with the tidy savings we currently have.

So I'm not sure how to feel. There is really no need for me to be lonely at Christmas. Regardless of what happens I'll be spending Christmas with family, as I'm going nowhere without Claire! I have the option to spend it with friends if I choose. I can always ring home, made even easier now that we have credit on Skype to make calls to Ireland for ridiculously cheap. I know I'll miss being home, but I'll be happy that my brother will be home from Australia by then, so hopefully mum won't spend too much time thinking about me on the day, or at least not being upset about it. I'm not currently feeling homesick, nor do I consciously think that I'll be too upset come the big day.

But I think my dreams do highlight that at least some part of me is willing to admit that I'll miss it more than I think I will. I know I've said on several occasions here that I miss my friends and family in Ireland, and I do. We never left because of the people, or even really because of the economy (though we are both happy to not be dealing with it right now). We left because we just wanted to see a bit more of the world, and experience a bit of what life is like outside of our tiny island.

Christmas away from home will just be another experience to add to that. I waited 31 years, and would have happily waited another 31, but never let it be said that I was afraid to try new things.

Not afraid. Just a little anxious.

We're Like The Postal Service In That Way

2011-11-11T08:15:00.001Z

Hail, rain or shine, we always take the children in the daycare outside every day, either for a walk around the community, or at the very least, to the program playground.

On the sunny or dry days, that just means wrapping them up against the seasonal temperatures, either layering on sunscreen, or sweaters and jackets.

But it's the wet days that are the most fun. Every child has boots in their cubby, but more importantly, they also have rainproof covering, affectionately called muddy buddies. These are, as seen at the link, one piece waterproofs, with elasticated wrists and ankles. They can be a bit of a pain to put on, especially if you have a group of eight children all asking for help, some having mastered putting on their boots, while others struggle valiantly to put their leg through their sleeve, a task that is as hilarious to watch as you can imagine. But once they are on and zipped up, once the ankle elastics are pulled over the boots to stop rainwater flooding their feet, they are awesome!

On my second day at work way back in May it rained the proverbial cats and dogs. My group were playing in the yard, all safely zipped up, splashing in puddles, riding trikes in the rain. They were also sitting in a pool of water about a foot deep. I wasn't quite sure what to make of this, but the other staff assured me they were fine. "The worst that can happen is that we change their clothes when we go back in. They all have spares. This is good for them." I was stunned, and impressed.

I've already seen some of the snowsuits that parents are starting to stock their little darlings cubby with. They look like the muddy buddies, but with a much thicker lining. I'm looking forward to seeing the toddlers struggling to play in the snow, their arms stuck straight out from their sides by multiple layers of insulating clothing, beads of sweat building on their little faces, as they slowly heat up from the inside. I've been assured that this too is just as funny as it sounds.

All this post was inspired because of something else we did today that I just could never imagine being let do back home in Ireland. As it was a beautiful, cool, dry autumn afternoon, we took the toddlers outside after snack time, and stayed out there as the evening light faded. In fact, by the time we came back in, it was after 5pm and it was as dark as it was going to get outside. The toddlers had been outside, enjoying fresh air in a playground lit by soft lighting long after sunset. They loved it, and so did I.

Explain to me why this is seemingly not possible under supposed health and safety regulations in Ireland. It makes no sense! You are making us worse, not better, HSE!

Google Reader Update

2011-11-10T07:45:00.000Z

Dear Google,

I have now been using the new, stripped down version of Google Reader for over a week. I admit that my initial comments were made in haste, written pretty much from first impressions, so in an effort at fair play, here is my thoughts a week in.

One of my biggest complaints about the new look was that I had to use two scroll bars to read some posts! I found a way around this quite by accident. It turns out hitting "F" enables a full-screen mode that utilizes the full width of my meager netbook monitor. This is good.

On the other hand, the menu now shrinks to a pop-down bar across the top of the page. Nice, except I have the same thing for my browser, again, in order to maximise the workspace on the netbook. When I try to highlight your menu to move to a new folder, all too often I drop the browser menu in too, and have to surgically edge my mouse pointer to the desired location without causing one or the other menus to disappear. This is frustrating.

I thought I had you beat in some small way when I remembered that I had the "Note In Reader" bookmark in my browser. Out of curiosity, I pressed it to see what would happen and a note appeared informing me that "This feature was no longer supported". Okay. Except there was no way to close it!! None. No little X to click and clicking around the page did nothing. Eventually I had to click to a new page entirely to make it go away. This too is frustrating.

Finally, I saw that I could still star items after the update, a feature I really only use so I can go back and read or watch articles and videos at a later date if I don't have time just then. Except when I came back to watch them I couldn't find the option to view my starred items! It took me a lot of searching through menu options, but I finally uncovered where it was hidden. It wasn't too difficult to uncover in the end, but it was, once again, frustrating.

And there we have it. New Google Reader. Three strikes and you're out.

I look forward to finding and using your replacement, of which Hive Mined is looking most promising.

So long, and thanks for all the fish. I'll swim away, never fully understanding why you stopped Feeding us.

Denis Ryan.

Love What You Do, Do What You Love

2011-11-09T07:26:00.000Z

There's an age old adage that says you should do what you love, but all too often in the world we live in, we are forced to take jobs that are less than ideal. I count myself as one of the lucky few that can honestly stand up and proclaim that I look forward to Monday mornings and the start of another week.

Back in Ireland my friend Aidan and I used to tease our other friends about how great our jobs were. He worked with animals, famously hand rearing a baby ostrich, while I worked with animals of a different type, preschool children, usually aged between three and five years. We both loved our respective jobs and were happy to tell anyone as much whenever we got together. There are few things better in life than absolutely enjoying your job and lording it over others who do not...

I've had my share of crappy jobs too.

I once got so sick of one particular job that I quit on the 23rd of December, right before the seasonal staff shortages. I had volunteered to work over New Years Eve and Day, as I don't drink and the worst I could be on January 1st was tired, a much better condition than many others. Of course I didn't know I'd be pushed to the point of quitting when I offered to cover those days in exchange for a few days immediately after Christmas.

But my shift on the 22nd pressed just the right combinations of emotional buttons to finally make me take the step of ending my time there after debating with myself for months if I should hand in my notice or not. I was scheduled to open on the morning of the 23rd, and I didn't want any of the staff to have to cover for me right away. Instead, I went to work, opened up as usual, wished everyone a "Merry Christmas" and rang my manager at 9am to tell him I was leaving in an hour and not coming back.

Probably not the best way to handle that situation in hindsight, but I hand no interest in working in that industry any longer, so I didn't need to worry about references or other technicalities.

And by God, it felt good.

Since then I've promised myself that I wouldn't stay somewhere I didn't like to be. That worked fine back in Ireland, but it caused me some apprehension during the move to Canada.

I knew I'd have to find a job from scratch. I realised that there was a legitimate possibility that I would have to work somewhere outside of childcare at first while things got settled, in a coffee shop or store. It was not something I looked forward to.

Turned out, I didn't need to worry.

While handing around resumes, one center pointed me to their governing organisation that looks after a large number of childcare centers in Vancouver. They talked to me, and very quickly I knew I wanted to work for them. Their ethos and mission statement sang to the very core of what I believed was an ideal setting to care for children. Plus, they would give me the opportunity to work with children in age groups beyond what I was used to in Ireland, starting from as young as six months, right through to eleven and twelve year olds, an exciting chance to expand my skills across a wider care base.

Thankfully, something about me assured them that they wanted me to work for them as well. I started the day after all my paperwork came through, and have been working every day since May, apart from a few days holidays I took while friends and family visited, or the trip to Seattle.

I love working for the organisation. I've gotten to work in all of their centers, working with probably over 600 different children, not to mention all the wonderful staff and parents as well!

I lucked out, big time. I know I did. I wake up every work morning, excited about what lies in store this day. I suffer from the "Monday Blues" on Friday, and proclaim with joy "Thank God it's Monday" once the weekend is over.

When you find something you love, you keep it safe. I hope to keep this for a very long time to come.

User, Why?

2011-11-08T07:25:00.000Z

If the internal workings of a computer are anything like in Reboot, my Xbox is developing a lasting hatred of me right now.

Gears of War 3 has a plethora of unlockables that you earn for completing set tasks, such as being awarded X number of one particular ribbon, getting X number of kills with a weapon, or playing X number of matches in each multiplayer game mode.

It's this last one that has caused me to start leaving my Xbox turned on for hours while I did other things. In order to unlock a particular character skin you need to play 300 matches of each of the six modes in competitive multiplayer. As I have no interest in actually doing any such thing, I have taken to setting up the game to play match after match after match against bots while my chosen character simply stands there and dies, hopefully as quickly as possible so that I can get through another match. This has been a slow process, but as I'm not actually playing, it doesn't effect me, apart from destroying my Win/Loss Ratio.

However, there is one game mode where this system has an unfortunate outcome for someone else. Wingman is all about teamwork. There are four teams of two, and the objective is to be the last man or team standing while scoring ten kills before another team does. Because of this, I have a fully active bot teammate with me during my attempt to clock up those 300 matches.

A fully active bot teammate who hates me.

Most of the time I'm not even paying attention to the screen while it runs through the matches. However, now and then, I do catch a glimpse of what's going on. Let me give you just two examples from the 300 matches that he helped me through.

In one game our team spawned in a nice open area with lots of nearby cover. My teammate, whom I lovingly nicknamed Private Bottington The 3rd, took cover at a nearby low wall, and watched as I was taken down by some dastardly villain. Bottington raced over, providing covering fire, picked me up and dashed back into cover. No sooner had he done so when I was dropped again. Like the true hero that he is, Bottington came to my rescue once again, and once again made it safely back into cover. From the safety behind the wall he turned to look at me. He silently implored me to move, to run, to hide behind something, anything. He watched in dismay as the bullets ripped through my armour one last time, dropping me, ragdoll-like to the ground. This time, there was no reviving me. In a fit of rage, Bottington went on to hunt down and execute my assailant, his teammate and two other bots, single-handedly scoring the highest point total that round.

Just a short few matches later, Bottington and I spawned in a nice, sunny area. Bottington ran about looking for the other teams, but always stayed relatively close by. A firefight broke out around me, and Bottington valiantly attempted to defend me. He raced across in front of me and had just left my field of vision when I saw his indicator change to the Down By Not Out circle. A moment later Bottington crawled back in from right of screen, a trail of blood smearing the dusty ground behind him. He dragged himself over to my feet, pleading to be picked up. I stood there, my only movements the involuntary flinches caused by stray bullet impacts. Bottington begged for help. I did not give it. An enemy rolled into view behind my teammate and stomped his head into the ground, before turning on me and blowing me into several gooey little pieces.

Long after I get my unlock, long after I have given up grinding out match after match for something that means so little, I will remember Bottington and his heroic actions.

And every time I play on a match where the opposing team has one bot to fill out their numbers, and that bot hunts me down and kills me, a little tear will well up in the corner of my eye, and I'll think to myself "Well played, Bottington, well played..."

Snapshot

2011-11-07T06:23:00.000Z

As some of you may have noticed I haven't really been posting anything to my Flickr account in a long time. In fact, it's been a very long time since I was posting regularly on it at all. It not that I haven't been doing anything. Far from it. I have tonnes of photos from June when we had visitors staying, as well as a bunch of other random photos I've taken, all waiting patiently to be uploaded when I see fit to commit to it.

I'd love to share some photos of the city as it shifts from summer to winter, but, unfortunately, I no longer have a camera. My much loved Canon Powershot died long before we made the trip to Canada, simply from massive overuse. The sensor just could not operate any longer, and with a heavy heart, I had to let it go[1]. For a while after we got here I was using Claire's old Samsung, but that too has decided to cease functioning.

I'm still trying to justify buying a Canon G12, but right now we really can't afford to spend that kind of money on what is, after all, a luxury item. I know there are alternatives to the G series, particularly the S series, which is apparently the same internals with a different body and slightly cheaper. But I like the look and feel of the G12, so that's definitely what I'm shooting for.

Admittedly, I'd happily consider a second hand G11 as well, but it would have to be in damn near mint condition, and significantly cheaper than a new G12 for me to think about taking it.

I'm not asking for much, just perfection. Like everything else in my life.

[1]- While looking up an appropriate site to link to about the A95 I discovered that that model was subject to a flaw in the sensor, resulting in distortions in the image... The exact distortions I was seeing. Canon would have repaired my beloved camera for free. Unfortunately, I no longer have it, as I sold it for €5. Shit.

I Have Blistas On My Fingas!

2011-11-06T05:02:00.000Z

Moving to Vancouver was always going to be tough. We left so much behind; family, friends, comics, books, boxes and boxes of action figures. But one of the things knew I'd miss most long before we set out on this great adventure was hanging out with friends.

Specifically, hanging out with friends playing Rock Band!

Yesterday I had the joy of playing a massive twelve song setlist with two friends from back home thanks to the glory of Xbox Live. Normally I play guitar or base, but as those were both claimed before I joined, I jumped onto drums for the first time in a long, long time. It was either that or vocals, and I didn't think either of the others had done anything to deserve hearing that while we played!

Twelve songs was not only the longest run I've had in Rock Band in some time, but also shattered any drum session length record I had previously set. I stayed on Easy, testing the waters of Normal for about 30 seconds at the start of the fifth track before I beat a hasty retreat back to the safety of Easy.

Playing Rock Band again with friends reminded me of all the great nights and afternoons we had back in Ireland, rocking out on plastic instruments, handing around the microphone to blast out our favourite tunes. I've brought my set to a wedding and several house parties, and every time it's been a huge hit.

I still buy new tracks that I like, but it's not the same playing by myself. Rock Band was never even really about playing the game. It was about relaxing in good company, chatting and enjoying a few snacks while listening to and interacting with some great music. Of course, it was also about jumping about and making somewhat of a fool of yourself in front of friends, acting out all those dreams of wanting to be on stage in front of a crowd of thousands of adoring fans. Playing it on a projector with surround sound certainly added to the experience.

I miss those days. I miss my friends.

I'm going to go and console myself with a few tracks on Rock Band. Guitar this time. That ring finger needs time to recover.

Why Gunpowder Treason

2011-11-05T07:43:00.004Z

It's that time of the year again! I should just schedule a bunch of these for the next few years so that I don't have to do this.

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I know of no reason
Why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t'was his intent
To blow up King and Parliament.
Three-score barrels of powder below
To prove old England's overthrow;
By God's providence he was catch'd
With a dark lantern and burning match.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, let the bells ring.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!

Dust off that copy V For Vendetta and enjoy!

It's Begining To Look A Lot Like November 4th

2011-11-04T07:28:00.000Z

Halloween is behind us. The little ones are still in a diabetic coma from all the sugar they managed to loot from their neighbours three days ago, and so it's a perfect time to begin looking to Christmas.

Yes, it's that time of the year again, November. This can only mean that shops have removed all their skeletons and cobwebs and replaced them with elves and fairy lights. I still there is money to be made in reversible decorations for these two holiday seasons. Think about it, on one side is a terrifying skull, rotting and empty eyed; then on November 1st you flip it over to reveal the rosy cheeked face of a man whose life goal is to sneak into the bedrooms of children across the world and leave them gifts. The perfect dichotomy.

Admittedly, certain stores need to start the push this early. If your sole purpose for existing it to sell Christmas decorations, or novelty Santa lawn gnomes, then your window of opportunity is pretty tight. You need to have your product out there for people to use as soon as they're ready to decorate their dwellings in the festive cheer.

But if you're a normal, everyday store, then do you really need to have the fir tree adorned with colourful lights and a star in your window before December 1st, or the last week in November at the earliest? Toy stores sell the same stuff at Christmas as they do the rest of the year, they just stock more around now. We don't need to have Let It Snow or some sickly rendition of Jingle Bells blaring into our ears at this stage.

Yesterday morning when I went to get a banana from Starbucks I was shocked to find their Christmas gift displays up already. In hindsight of course I shouldn't have been surprised at all, but it just reminded me that the most wonderful time of the year is fast approaching. Don't get me wrong, I do love Christmas. I can't wait to buy all the lights, a tree, random, brightly coloured decorations and put them everywhere in our apartment. I just want to enjoy Christmas at, you know, Christmas.

And I feel that Christmas starts on December 1st.

Red, Yellow, Brown

2011-11-03T06:40:00.000Z

Vancouver is beautiful in the autumn and early winter. Everywhere I walk is littered with the natural tones of the season, leaves piling high by drains, at corners, or beneath the trees they fell from.

For the most part, the skies are a crystal clear blue, sunlight falling onto the city, unobstructed by clouds. The air is crisp and clear, and in the early mornings, I can see my breath while waiting for the bus.

The city is dry, but the mountains, a mere half hour from Downtown by public transport, have already seen a light dusting of snowfall. Experts, or at least what passes for experts when it comes to predicting the weather, claim that this coming winter will be a particularly cold one. Thankfully, I still have my extra warm jumper and the only scarf I've ever owned, both of which were good-bye gifts from the children I used to teach back in Ireland.

I anxiously await my first snowfall of the year, not only because I love seeing everything covered in white, looking like the start of a fresh, new world, a world where anything is possible, but also because I have no idea how well the buses will run to get me to and from work.

That first morning when I open my curtains and look out on a sparkling white landscape is going to be fun.

The Coalitions Finest

2011-11-02T07:28:00.000Z

Gears of War 3 has taken up residence in my Xbox almost exclusively since it's launch in September. Apart from hacking and slashing my way through the dungeons of Torchlight and rocking out to the Coldplay pack for Rock Band 3, I've been investing an extraordinary amount of time in the third game in Epic Games' console flagship series.

My first experience of Gears of War was via the second installment. Aidan and Rob had bought the steroid abusing sci-fi action shooter and invited me to try out this new game mode called Horde.

From Wave one, I was hooked. Team based co-operative multiplayer with no competitive element! Wave after wave of inhuman enemies in steadily increasing numbers and difficulty, this was pure survival gameplay balancing edge-of-your-seat tension with frantic and cinematic firefights.

My love of Horde was so great in fact that I pointedly ignored what I thought was surely a terrible, machismo, testosterone filled, steroidal, brain dead campaign. By the time I did get around to playing it, I knew how to defeat every enemy it threw at me, apart from the bosses. This somewhat robbed me of experiencing the terror of the bullet absorbing Sires, as I already knew to simply walk around the area with my chainsaw permanently revved up!

Going into Gears 3, I promised myself that I'd get the campaign finished before trying out Horde 2.0 or the new mode, Beast. Once the surprises of the story were out of the way, I was eager to jump into my favourite gameplay mode in it's newest incarnation.

Horde has seen a vast and sweeping overhaul since it's appearance in the second game. Now you earn cash for kills, and can buy fortifications, ammo boxes or weapons across the map space. Way back when this was first announced I was a little apprehensive that they had messed with a good thing. Horde was great because it was so clean. Just you and up to four friends versus 50 waves of Locust creatures looking to decorate their fireplaces with your skulls. Nothing else.

But the new additions not only work, they work spectacularly. Earlier I called Horde Mode "pure survival gameplay balancing edge-of-your-seat tension with frantic and cinematic firefights". Horde 2.0 adds heart pounding building, repairing and upgrading of all too often meager defenses to help you survive the rising flood of enemies. The fortifications further encourage team-work, as people co-ordinate to maximise the work done in the short time they have between Waves. Players can even share cash with each other if they wish to, although while I have seen this used occasionally in private games with friends, I have yet to witness it during a random match-up over Xbox Live.

One of the best additions to Horde 2.0 however has to be the Wave 10 Bosses. Horde is still played as 50 Waves broken into five 10 Wave sets. In the first version, this meant that the number and difficulty of the enemies per Wave steadily increased up to Wave 10, where we were terrified of Bloodmounts, before resetting to the enemies of Wave 1 again for Wave 11, but making them tougher. Horde 2.0 makes that 10th Wave even more fun by giving it a random Boss, from a choice of about seven or eight. The bosses are usually bigger and badder than anything else in the mode, and standard tactics for almost every one of them is to take out all the regular enemies while avoiding the Boss characters until they are the only things left, and then combatting them. Standard tactics usually result in death. Non-standard tactics however, focusing fire on the Boss characters first and then the little guys, just results in additional iterations of the Boss character appearing. If there is anything worse than dealing with a Burmak, it's seeing its twin brother step out from the smoke of the exploding first one.

Horde kept me playing Gears of War 2 much longer than I have played any other shooter to date. Through it I made some great friends over Xbox Live, and enjoyed many frantic and hilarious moments of both victory and defeat. Horde 2.0 has successfully improved on the original design, and I know I'll be playing it for months, if not years, to come.

Fuck You, Google. Fugle.

2011-11-01T14:50:00.001Z

Dear Google.

In the past I have enjoyed your updates to my number one electronic mail service, Gmail, both on the cosmetic level and the features it supports. The most recent version of your email service is clean and effective, visually appealing and easy to find what I need. Features such as Priority Inbox, labeling, and custom skins are all available if I choose to use them, which, in most cases, I don't. I like the basic plain white template and I don't get enough emails to need to prioritize them. But that's ok. I'm not forced into using any of those features.

My blogging days began with this very site, some five and a half years ago! Since then I have posted almost 350 ramblings of varying interest. I have witnessed at least two major updates to the Blogger system. The first I adapted to quickly, considering it an improvement over the previous version, but the most recent I never really warmed to. The "Reading List" at the bottom of the Dashboard cannot be turned off from what I can see. The only thing I have in there is your own "Blogger Buzz", which I couldn't care less about, but I can't turn it off!! I get repeated errors while writing blogs as well, from my paragraph format screwing up when I add an image, to random double spaces, or errors when I hit Enter twice.

Wave was too confusing for me to understand, along with 95% of potential users it seems.

Buzz held absolutely no interest for me, a view I once again shared with 95% of potential users.

All this brings me to Google Reader.

When I was first shown Reader I was mildly impressed. I could read most of my favourite sites without having to have a million tabs open. It even removed the need to compulsively check if a site had updated yet. As more of my friends got into it, I realised that Reader wasn't just mildly impressive, it was freaking incredible!

Not only could I keep track of everything in one tab, I could read the best of what my friends were following when they shared items! My short list of sites grew swiftly, and soon I had to create multiple folders to keep everything in order. Many of the site I follow were suggested to me by items shared by friends. We could comment on the best, the weirdest, the cutest; sharing not only the article, but also our own thoughts and feelings related to it.

But all that is gone. Google Reader is dead. And you killed it. The latest update has, inexplicably, removed the best feature Reader held. Now it is just my sites, with none of the social interactions.

This, of course, is not just a random, insane move. You want me using Google+, sharing my finds there and commenting through the newest addition to House Google. But therein lies the problem. I couldn't give two fucks about Google+. Since it's release I can count on the fingers of two hands how often I have clicked over to it, in an attempt to see if anything of interest is being posted. Every time I close the tab, reminded why I not only dislike this new feature, but why I disliked it's predecessor, Facebook, as well.

And while I can sort my friends into varying sets, the default, which cannot be altered, shows me everything from everyone. If I could guarantee that people would only use Google+ to share articles in the style of Reader, I could just delete anyone that I didn't follow in Reader, and keep it to that small set of friends whose shared posts I enjoyed reading. But that is not how you want it to be, Google. For one thing, the full post doesn't even show up in the feed, just a preview. I have to click through to read more. You are making it harder for me to share with my friends!

But it's not just the whole push towards Google+ that has gotten me all hot and bothered! No. The new Reader doesn't even fit on my screen. I use a small netbook for my internet needs, and the old Reader worked perfectly fine on it, fitting articles into my screen size 95% of the time. The latest update has extended the width of the main area far beyond the right edge of my screen. To read anything I now have to scroll to the bottom, then use the horizontal scroll bar to move right to read the end of a sentence, the last panel of a webcomic, or see the other 33% of an image. And some images or comics require a second scroll bar within their own feed! Arg, Google! ARG! Text cannot describe how infuriated I am right now!

Gmail has all kinds of features, but it is my choice to use them or not. Blogger can switch back to the older style whenever I want, but for how long? Reader is a permanent, complete change, and I don't get a choice in the matter. It's your way or the highway.

You've crossed the line, Google. You're straying into Facebook, and more recently Netflix, territory, trying to force your users to adopt a new system that benefits you when they are more than happy with the previous one.

Tread carefully Google. You are opening yourself to a new start-up that can provide the same features as the old Reader that the fans loved. And when that happens, I for one will be dropping you like a hot rock and jumping on board.

Denis Ryan

So, This Is Happening

2011-10-17T07:08:00.000+01:00

Admittedly, we've all known it was going to happen since Lucas first tinkered with "improving" the originals back in the late 90's (Oh god... was it that long ago already?!?).

This reminds me of a scene from Father Ted.

Stop tapping it. It was done the day it hit the cinema screen for the first time. Leave it alone.

Mr Ryan Goes To PAX 2011

2011-09-04T08:41:00.000+01:00

Last weekend my wonderful wife and I took a bus south across the border to the city of Seattle for the best gaming convention in he world, Penny Arcade eXpo, or PAX. We headed down on Thursday and met up with some friends, one of whom lives in Seattle now and the other two traveled up from New Mexico for the convention as well! Our charming company was a welcome bonus!

This was our second time at PAX, the first being in 2008 at the end of our Epic Holiday[TM]. I never did get around to a write-up of that stop, but you can safely assume that it was incredible, and we couldn't wait to get back. This year I decided to step things up a bit by going in costume. Thanks to my amazing mum, I was able to get my Rocketeer helmet brought over from Ireland, and I already had the jacket with me. And so, for most of Friday and Saturday at PAX 2011, I could be seen wandering the many areas, slowly sweating to death in a heavy leather jacket, carrying a heavy, metal helmet[1].

A lot of the guests and exhibitors fist bump rather than shaking hands in order to avoid picking up nasty infections. This year I even saw the more extreme version, elbow bump, used by many. It certainly worked for me. I have not come down with any PAX crud as of yet, apart from being utterly exhausted for a few days after!

The whole event was awesome. We met so many incredibly nice people, and I got to talk to people I never expected, about interests I never expected to share with them. I got to meet AJ LoCascio, the voice of Marty McFly in the TellTale Games episodic Back to the Future video game! Not only was he probably the most down-to-earth, nice, honest-to-goodness coolest guy I met at PAX, but he's also a huge Rocketeer fan[2]! He was able to recognize that I was holding a Disney Master Replicas version of the helmet from across the booth, and he recognized the Wested jacket as well! If you can imagine how blown away I was by that much, I almost collapsed when he told me that he made his own Rocketeer helmet from fiberglass. We spent about ten minutes geeking out about the movie, the props and the awesomeness of the Replica Prop Forum.

The weekend was just chock full of amazing stories, though rather like Empire Strikes Back, I feel I opened on the best of them. My costume was a huge success, and I got stopped everywhere I went by other attendees, exhibitors and even a VIP or two as they gushed over the character and took photos. It was heart warming to see so many fans of Dave Stevens creation in attendance. For me, one of the things I enjoyed most was watching peoples eyes widen as I let them hold the helmet and even try it on. Unlike the more accurate fiberglass versions available, the metal Master Replica I have is far from fragile. It was nice to be a part of fullfilling a small number of peoples dreams to hold or wear such an iconic piece from a much loved classic.

Even queuing was a fun experience. Apart from playing games on iPads, Enforcers (the PAX volunteer force that help make everything run smoothly) were handing out bits and pieces to help us pass the time. While queuing for the Saturday night concert, we all got given brightly coloured pipe cleaners and instructions to "Be creative". This resulted in hats, flowers, Portal-themed wrist bracelets, stick figures fighting, a sniper with gun, and even a helicopter with rotating blades! From pipe cleaners, people!

But of course, PAX is ultimately all about the games. And we got to try loads of them!

Welcome to Serra.
Gears of War 3 is due for release on September 20th, and it had a large presence in the Xbox area. I expected longer lines, but compared to others games on display, the Gears line was tiny. I got to try out the updated Horde 2.0 on Friday and the brand new to the franchise Beast Mode on Saturday.

Horde: My biggest worry about Horde 2.0 was that they had gone and messed with a good thing. Horde is still the best of the endless-wave styles of game modes because it is so clean and simple. It threw out customization in favour of accessibility. Horde 2.0 adds to the basics by bringing in a cash-for-kills system for that can be used to buy stuff during a small window between waves, from ammo to laser defenses and beyond. And it works fantastically! It's fast, fun and doesn't stop the games flow. We got to play waves 8 to 10 allowing us a peek at what surprises the tenth waves hold. I'm not going to spoil it, but after the terrifying horror of seeing your first bloodmount in Gears 2, they've really outdone themselves for Gears 3. It's awesome!

Beast: This is a whole other kettle of fish. Trying Horde, I knew the basics. Waves of alien monsters that I need to kill before they kill me. Beast is a set number of COGs per level and you have a very tight time limit. You start with one minute on the clock and get more for every kill. You can play as a variety of Locust, starting as low as tickers or wretches, and going up from there. I'm not going to tell you what I saw or played as, but you can assume it was fun! The gameplay is very different, and I sucked during my quick trial. This is not Reverse Horde, it requires a totally new set of skills.

The Boardgame: Not on display at the Xbox booth, this was instead being demoed on a different floor, but I've included it here for completions sake. This looked very nice. Fantasy Flight Games were running demos all weekend long and the whole thing looked impressive. I didn't play myself, but I heard lots of good things from people that were trying it out. As expected from an FFG game, the production quality was through the roof. Cards, tokens and figure pieces were beautiful. The figure pieces were especially impressive, and looked like they should be a lot of fun to paint up.

But Gears was only a tiny area in a huge, multilevel convention. I got to see and play games that are coming out as soon as this month and as late as next year.

The Gunstringer is the first retail game from Twisted Pixel, the company behind Comic Jumper and 'Splosion Man. It's a Kinect game that makes clevel use of the technology and, more importantly, it's a load of fun to play. I don't own a Kinect. Yet. There was no reason to before I went to PAX. Now I'm tempted. I might even get one for this alone.

I got up on stage with three others and had a four-player dance-off in front of a large crowd playing Dance Central 2, also for Kinect. I found that it had very good motion tracking, more impressive for being able to track four uncoordinated male players gyrating wildly. I came first, despite never playing any of the dance games before, though that probably says more about how bad the others were than how good I was.

From the ridiculous length of the line all weekend long, it was clear that there was a lot of interest in the latest game in the Elder Scrolls series, Skyrim, but I could not have cared less. Not that I have anything against it, I'm just not interested in fantasy games. One of our friends stood in line for 3.5 hours to play the 15 minute demo and got a fuzzy hat for her troubles[3]. At one point while I was talking to her in the line, I looked up at a clip of a dragon in the trailer and jokingly said "Oh. Nice graphics. What's this game?" and 40 angry nerd heads swiveled in my direction.

Last, but by no means least, one of the booths that immediately caught my attention was the TellTale Games Jurassic Park area. Not only did they have a nice small-scale replica of the entrance gates into the park, and fencing with little flashing lights on top, but they had a fan-made reproduction of one of the park jeeps! I was a child all over again standing beside it. Instead of just reading my thoughts on this however, take a break from the text and look at a video blog TellTale Games staff did during the convention. Check out the eejit at the 1:25 mark, and again at the 2:30 mark. Yeesh. Fanboys. They were everywhere at PAX.

PAX wouldn't be PAX without free stuff. We came home with tonnes and tonnes of swag. I think I got 8 t-shirts, of which I only paid for one. Baseball hats, avatar items, lanyards, pins, even a very high quality hoodie! The whole weekend paid for itself in free stuff. Claire and our friends even got themselves free OnLive consoles! FREE. CONSOLES!!![4] Insane.

If we're still here next year we'll be going again, so I'll let people know in case anyone is interested in joining us for a crazy weekend of video games, boardgames, demos, t-shirts, freebies, music, costumes, celebrities and more in 2012! I honestly cannot recommend it enough. It's the best, friendliest, most community orientated convention I've ever been to.

Hopefully you can join us and share in the love that is PAX 2012.

[1]- On Saturday morning I woke up complains of an unusual pain in my right arm. I put it down to sleeping badly in the hotel bed, as I had no recollection of having injured it the day before. It wasn't until later that same day that I realised that the weight of the helmet was causing strain on my arm muscles! I didn't feel it while I was enjoying the convention. It was only once I relaxed that it all hit me!
[2]- The earlier part of this sentence should probably be noted as biased based on the latter part. But even then, AJ was very, very cool.
[3]- She did also get to meet and have her photo taken with Todd Howard while in the queue, which she excitedly told me later in the day. She was much distraught when I shrugged and told her I had no idea who that was. Still, that first 3.5 hours at PAX in a queue was pretty much the high point of her convention, I'm led to believe.
[4]- The catch of course is that OnLive is a subscription based service, so they're happy to give you the console for free to let you try out the service and hopefully sign up.

The Dead Pool

2011-08-14T19:37:00.000+01:00

I wrote this in response to an email I received from a good friend. His mail was written in a funny noir detective style, opening with the awesome line "I was sitting counting the doors in the office, there was only one but I couldn't be sure of that, I would have to recount". I responded in a similar style, but dropped the professional comedian level of humour that my friend had reached, knowing I could never best his effort.

Once finished, I actually quite liked what I'd written and thought I'd share. Remember, I wrote in just a few minutes, with no editing or rewrites. It's not perfect, but it is fun. Enjoy.

The sun dripped through the blinds like syrup, pooling on the office floor. My first thought was that I should mop that up before someone slips on it and sues. My second thought was that those drugs were really good...

She had slipped them into my drink when she leaned over to read the casefile. Other things had slipped too, probably why I didn't notice her dropping the white power in my bourbon. The last undissolved grains sat on the bottom of the tumbler, laughing at me. Literally. They had formed a tiny face and were mocking me with their tiny laughter. I tried to throw the tumbler across the room but my arm was jelly. Strawberry, I think.

Legs stood in the shadows near the huge plastic plant I like to have the intern water every morning. Her ruby red dress was swimming across her chest and thighs, running down her leg to mix with the golden pool on the floor. Somewhere far away a voice was confirming something. Probably hers. I didn't hear an answer, but that made sense. She was on the phone. My phone. I'll have to check my wire tap I installed on my own line last fall once my head clears. If I survive that long.

Vancouver's a helluva place. The streets are clean, the broads are hot and the cars are sexy. I thought there wasn't a dark patch within city limits. I was wrong. Everywhere Legs walks, shadows follow her.

A million miles away a door opens and closes. Footsteps ring though my body, each one it's own tiny explosion of ominous foreshadowing. The creek on the fifth footfall confirms my dreamy suspicions. Someone is coming up the stairs. Legs brushes past me, her golden hair melts down into the red dress and then into the pool on the ground. I'll really have to clean that up soon. It might stain and affect my damage deposit.

A movement of air on my face tells me that Legs opened the door to my office. For a moment, I curse myself that I didn't lock it before I left. Then I remember I'm sitting in my chair, inside the office.

My vision tries to clear and for a second I focus on the face in the door. It's not a face I was hoping to see. Instinctively my body shifts in the chair to get more comfortable. I'm going to be here a while.

Guess I'll just have to get the intern to clean that pool after the weekend. I should leave her a note...

Six Months On

2011-07-30T20:55:00.000+01:00

During this last week Claire and I hit the end of our sixth month here in Vancouver. I would have blogged on the day, but work has been keeping me busy and tired!

The longest time I've spend outside of Ireland apart from this was six weeks in America back in 2008. That was an incredible time, jam packed to bursting point with adventure after adventure, none greater than the start of our adventures into married life together.

Six months is also the longest time between visits home to see my family. When I first moved to Cork I went home every weekend, then every other weekend, then once a month. Soon everything I considered important to me apart from family was in Cork, and I went home only on occasion. But I was never away for a whole six months. I loved getting home to mums cooking, the beautiful views, the smiling faces of old friends. I loved relaxing and doing nothing, chatting to my family and playing with the dogs.

But now I'm on the other side of the planet. I can't grab a train home, or just go for the weekend. And where Cork was filled with all my friends, making trips home less important by virtue of how much it too was my home, Vancouver hasn't hit that point yet. It still feels like Cork did during my first year there. Sure, I have made some friends here and I'm busy from Monday to Friday, this time doing work I love rather than studying. But I still miss what I had.

All that aside, I still don't plan on running home to Ireland any time soon. Vancouver is an incredible place. Over the last few months I've had the chance to sample just a little of what this city and it's neighboring areas have to offer.

I can't get enough of the hiking, walking, and other outdoor activities that I can do from either own front door or after a short hop on the bus. I've worn t-shirts on top of snowy mountains in the middle of June, walked across shaky suspension bridges and around suspended cliffside walkways, I've walked to Downtown from my doorstep, traveled the edge of the local park, and sat out on the grass with 2,000 other people to watch one of my favourite movies played on a huge screen for all to enjoy.

These first six months have come and gone with surprising speed. I'm looking forward to more time spent exploring Vancouver over the next few months and, with luck, years.

Never Break The Law In Vancouver

2011-05-17T06:21:00.000+01:00

Got to see a funny thing happen today on the way home from work.

I took my usual bus back towards home along Granville, but got off for a pitstop early at West Broadway. I dropped into a few stores I like to browse and then hit Chapters bookstore for the newest paperback release in the Dresden Files series, Changes (no linky as even the blurb on the back of the book is pretty darn spoilery if you haven't read that far yet. Trust me. I know...). I'm flying through Turn Coat at a much faster pace than I have been reading some of the middle run of the series so far. I think starting work and having time to read on the bus has gotten me back into the flow. That, and I loved Small Favor, though possibly only because of Ivy and Kincaid.

The Number 10 bus picks up right outside Chapters, so I wandered out and waited, and had front row view in the hilarity that resulted just moments after I arrived.

Some Flashy Car pulled up right in the bus lane, directly in front of the No. 10. The bus beeped twice, but the car remained until the passenger got out and walked away. Flashy Car drove off, pulling close enough past me for me to clearly see Smug Driver inside.

The No. 10 then pulled up to the stop and all us waiting passengers politely stepped to one side as the passengers who needed to disembark via the front door due to the number of people on board did so. One of their number was dressed in a bright yellow and black rainproof jacket and matching pants, a radio mic clipped to her breast pocket, and holding an electronic pad of some sort. I didn't recognize what she was, but clearly some of the other would-be passengers had. One commented, jokingly, "Did you get his license plate number?"

The Vancouver Metropolitan Traffic Police Officer didn't even smile, but tapped something into her pad, glanced up and responded "Sure did".

Neutral Good Human Druid/Sorcerer

2011-05-15T06:44:00.002+01:00

One of my friends in Vancouver emailed me this. Apparently it's been doing the rounds for some time now, so you might already have seen it. It's a script to work out what DnD character you are, and it's well done. There are 130 questions, and not a single "In a fight would you use a) a sword, b) an ax, c) magic" style obvious one among them! Nice.

What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?

Ability Scores:
Strength-12
Dexterity-11
Constitution-12
Intelligence-12
Wisdom-13
Charisma-14

Alignment:
Neutral Good A neutral good character does the best that a good person can do. He is devoted to helping others. He works with kings and magistrates but does not feel beholden to them. Neutral good is the best alignment you can be because it means doing what is good without bias for or against order. However, neutral good can be a dangerous alignment because it advances mediocrity by limiting the actions of the truly capable.

Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.

Primary Class:
Druids gain power not by ruling nature but by being at one with it. They hate the unnatural, including aberrations or undead, and destroy them where possible. Druids receive divine spells from nature, not the gods, and can gain an array of powers as they gain experience, including the ability to take the shapes of animals. The weapons and armor of a druid are restricted by their traditional oaths, not simply training. A druid's Wisdom score should be high, as this determines the maximum spell level that they can cast.

Secondary Class:
Sorcerers are arcane spellcasters who manipulate magic energy with imagination and talent rather than studious discipline. They have no books, no mentors, no theories just raw power that they direct at will. Sorcerers know fewer spells than wizards do and acquire them more slowly, but they can cast individual spells more often and have no need to prepare their incantations ahead of time. Also unlike wizards, sorcerers cannot specialize in a school of magic. Since sorcerers gain their powers without undergoing the years of rigorous study that wizards go through, they have more time to learn fighting skills and are proficient with simple weapons. Charisma is very important for sorcerers; the higher their value in this ability, the higher the spell level they can cast.

Find out what kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character you are and feel free to share it in the comments. Just the title will be fine. Don't clog up my comments with the entire thing, please!!

Missing, Presumed Left Behind

2011-04-25T21:08:00.000+01:00

The last few days here in Vancouver have been glorious outside. The sun radiates warmly from bright, clear blue skies. Everyone is outside enjoying themselves and making the most of the early summer. From our apartment I can hear children playing in a nearby park, laughing and having fun.

So I went for a walk. A long walk.

I walked from where we live to Granville Street, putting me near the end of it, by 70th Avenue. I then walked straight up Granville as far as Granville Island. The last street number I passed before hitting the island was 4th Avenue. It took me about an hour. It was glorious. I wore my Rocketeer jacket because, despite it's weight, I was able to protect my neck from the sun beating down on my back the whole way up.

People have been telling me to visit Granville Island since I arrived, and I finally got to. The place was amazing. Markets of every kind sold everything I could need. There was delicious, ready to eat foods, fresh fruit and vegetables to take home, trinkets and kitschy junk to litter the house or send to friends.

There was an entire market called the Kids Market, filled with toy shops that sold all kinds of wondrous items. One sold the latest two Lego Mini-Figure series, from which I managed to get the pulp-era pilot and the awesome and much sought-after Hazmat guy thanks to the help of the staff. Another was filled floor to ceiling with puppets of every kind, from the simple finger puppet to the huge character puppets that made me long to have my Ernie to play with. They even had Fraggle Rock puppets! They had Mokey, Red, Wembley and Boober, but no Gobo. It took every ounce of will power not to buy any, especially Red or Wembley.

I dragged myself away from the Kids Market to explore the rest of the island, finding food and entertainment at every turn. By the time I decided to move on, I was completely lost and wandered in what I thought was the generally right direction until I found familiar territory again.

Getting back off Granville Island, I headed right looking for a popular gaming store, Drexoll Games. I wandered until I got to the end of the line of shops and decided I was on the wrong street (checking when I got home, I was). But it was the best mistake I ever made. Walking along what I later learned was 7th Avenue, I glanced down a side street at a crossing to check for traffic and my eyes popped. My brain misfired and a I stood motionless for a moment. This was parked just a few feet down the street.

Now, for those who may not be aware, "this" is a Ferrari F430. It is one of the most beautiful pieces of engineering and design in the world. As I fell in love with Vancouver thanks to MacGyver, I fell in love with the Ferrari brand around the same age thanks to Magnum P.I. I walked over to it, looking around to see if the owner was nearby and discovered it was parked outside a very nice car dealership. A very nice car dealership. I spent a good ten minutes walking around and admiring this dream machine, taking a handful of photographs and even a short video.

But I never touched it. Not a finger. I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Not that there were burly security men surrounding it, or staff from the dealership throwing me dirty looks. There weren't. I could have just reached out at any point and run my hand across the surface. But I didn't. Seeing it was special. Touching it was something beyond my comprehension. For me, that would be like touching the scales of a living dragon. This vehicle is a dream that I've had since I was a child. It held a magical place in my heart back then, and still does today.

So I just photographed it and walked away. Back out of the shade of the side street into the sun, now a little brighter, a little warmer, a little more awesome.

I headed south as far as Broadway and then walked that back as far as Granville. Once there, my legs finally gave up and screamed at me to take the bus home. I was honestly thinking of walking back still, but it was 6pm by now. I had been walking non-stop for five hours. The sun was still out, but low enough that cool shadows flooded the sidewalks. And so, a little reluctantly, I paid for the bus and headed home.

I got home and collapsed. I did laundry and started to organize my thought on my day and realized something.

Despite the sun, the markets, the toys and the car my day was missing something vital. Claire had stayed at home. I had no-one to share it with. I had no friends. No family. No-one that, in years to come, can say "Remember the day when we..." I miss my friends. I miss the times we shared. I miss barbeques on sunny days, walks in the park, coffee in town. I miss Sunday breakfast and hanging out.

Some days, I feel very alone.

Silence Is Golden

2011-04-21T09:52:00.002+01:00

Video gaming is a hobby that relies heavily on a combination of a number of key factors to produce a holistic experience that few other hobbies can match. In the modern era we have the visual graphics, the music, dialog and sound effects for our ears and even the tactile response of rumbling controllers in our hands. All these together pull us into the world that has been built within the game.

In the past, I've considered that a game should only be played when all those factors are present, with the possible exception of the force-feedback controllers. Image and sound go together to produce a complete package, and even as far back as Space Invaders and Pac-Man, the music and effects were important to the final product.

My gaming history has moved from the basic stereo sounds of a television set to a simple 2.1 sound system with an impressive bass speaker to a full 5.1 surround sound system that allows me to pinpoint the location of enemies breathing from anywhere in the room! Sound has been vital to my own personal experiences. I love the music of games, but even more so, I love the sound effects produced to compliment my actions.

The roar of an engine as your muscle car sprints off the mark. The crunch of leaves and twigs underfoot as you explore the ruined temple. The deep, throbbing hum of an enormous city-sized starship blasting through the void. The gentle whistle of air rushing by as you glide through the skies. And there are few things more gratifying in a computer game than revving a chainsaw and running screaming at an alien enemy, sawing him in half as blade meets muscle and bone, squealing and spluttering.

So when I first got the Xbox set up here in Vancouver, you can understand how anxious I was about playing it at first before I managed to organize a working sound system. As I had brought my VGA cable with me, I was able to plug the machine into Claires shiny PC monitor. Unfortunately, unlike TVs which have built-in sound systems, the monitor was silent. Claire had gotten a simple sound system for her PC, but the jack was incompatible with the current wiring connected to the Xbox.

Regardless, I still wanted to play my beloved games. I yearned to get all stabby-stabby in Assassins Creed: Brotherhood. I wanted to kick tiny villagers in World of Keflings. I wanted to play the latest tracks that I liked in Rock Band. How bad could it be. I'd give it a go.

And you know what, they weren't bad. I had played Brotherhood a lot at home, and I was only playing the multiplayer anyway, which doesn't have exposition dialog or anything. All the sound effects I needed were of the gurgling last rasps of your character as someone shoves a hidden blade through your spleen, and I could mimic them myself pretty well. The Keflings got kicked in silence. Rock Band wasn't attempted. That would just have been ridiculous, and I wasn't that desperate. Really. Honestly...

On the other hand, I had bought Bulletstorm shortly after arriving in Vancouver to guarantee my access into the Gears of War 3 Beta, so I thought I'd give it a go. I lasted all of one chapter in the first Act, and even then it was a struggle. The game is a first person shooter that relies heavily on dialog and sound effects to build the atmosphere of the setting, and I was missing all of that. It just wasn't fun.

All of this brings me to one last game, Split/Second: Velocity, a racing game from Disney. Its gimmick is that, along with racing, you can cause massive explosions that destroy the tack and wreck the opposition in your quest for victory. When it comes to cars and fast driving, they kind of all sound the same. I was able to hear the growl of the engine and the squeal of tires in my own head, and an explosion is an explosion, so I could imagine the booming chaos whenever I triggered a Course Change. It was great! The game was fun and the sound effects I imagined suited the onscreen carnage. Super.

Eventually, I did get sound. I kicked Keflings, and heard the little chirps of surprise. I fired up Rock Band and had some friends over for my first Plastic Instruments Appreciation session in Vancouver. I went back and played BulletStorm, a much more enjoyable experience with the added sound. I tried out Split/Second for the first time with the games original effects playing in my ears...

And I was disappointed. The explosions weren't as loud, or as meaty as I had imagined them. The cars didn't growl the way they did in my head. The commentator between seasons was annoying. I played a few tracks and put it to one side. I'm not sure if I'll go back.

Or, if I do, maybe I'll leave the sound off next time.

Conflict And Consequences

2011-04-20T10:01:00.002+01:00

Notice: As this is the final post in this series, why not catch up on the whole lot.
1 Writing The Dreadnought RPG
2 The Great And Terrible Engine
3 Mysteries And Machinations
4 Intrigue And Investigations

I arrived in the store at my usual early hour. In a break from tradition, I got food on the way as Claire went to a writing seminar on writing for video games in Downtown, so we didn't have dinner at home. I suppose we could have had an early dinner, but I was playing the Gears of War 3 Beta and food was not a priority.

For the final installment of the series we only had three available players. One of the missing was away on holidays and had informed me last week while the other was chipping away at a project he needed to finish. After the others arrived, there was a short discussion about the Gears of War series and Beta before we started into the big finale[1].

Skip to the end.

This week was almost entirely combat with roleplaying opportunities spread between bouts of conflict. I think I've mentioned before that combat is my weak point. I find it hard to make dice rolling exciting, which is why I tend to emphasize the roleplaying aspect of my games. But tonight worked out well. There was lots for people to do, and combat was brutal. I got to inflict a lot of damage on people, and cause quite a few Consequences.

By the end of the night the characters were all a little bloodied and beaten, the last secret of the Dreadnought remained a secret, and the various characters parted ways to continue their individual unwritten stories beyond the adventure.

One of the interesting features of this evenings game was that one of the players sent his character in a very different direction from the book, and almost got the character killed in the process. Last minute fortune kept peoples attention focused on bigger problems, but things could have been interesting. Afterwords, there was some discussion about Player versus Player conflict, and I was happy to find the while everyone was OK with the idea of it for a once-off, the upcoming campaign will not be suffering such difficulties[2].

I was glad to see that everyone enjoyed the extended combat. Next week we start the character generation for Dresden Files, and while I don't expect to be regularly dealing with combat scenarios involving the huge numbers of forces on both sides that tonight’s session included, it may well be something I might try as a "season finale", and I'm glad the players are comfortable with the idea.

After the game we all retired to a local bar that we've been enjoying after most of the sessions so far. I had to strongly resist the urge to head home and play the Beta, but I enjoy the conversations that we usually have when we're out, so I dropped my bags at home and headed out as well. This gave me an opportunity to inquire about what the players present liked and didn't like about the game. Thankfully, there was little to complain about, and the only major issue was a lack of complete comfort with the character players were playing, something that I admitted I expected even before the game began. These were pre-generated characters, with little input for the players that were playing them. For my following campaign, the players will be creating their own characters and that shouldn't be an issue.

As combat dominated the session, there wasn't as many opportunities for favourite moments, thought we did end the session on a note of hope for the characters and their world. As the session ended, one of the Player Characters turned to one of the Non-Player Characters from an opposing faction and shook hands, commenting "I hope we don't meet again before this war is over", to which the NPC replied, with the help of one of the other players at the table "I agree, and hope to see you again, soon."

Next week we meet to create the city and characters for my upcoming Dresden Files RPG. I can't wait to see what the players create. The last four weeks have been a wonderful experience for me as their GM. I can only imagine the amazing characters and world they will create themselves.

[1] Thanks to the Gears Beta, I didn't really prepare a snappy "Previously in Dreadnought", or any kind of opening in fact. So I started the game with "You all know where we stand, let's do this" and I feel the session suffered for it. I think players got into the game a lot faster the previous week and I feel we had a lot more energy from the moment the first scene began. Lesson learned: Always have a snappy opening.
[2] I realize some games work with Player versus Player conflict, but there is a reason I don't play them. PvP is something I don't enjoy, both as a GM and player. I like my party to work together as a unit. I actively discourage players from creating characters that have strongly opposing views or goals that are exclusive of each other. PvP tension is enjoyable and can really add to a game, but not all out conflict in my opinion.

Just Plain Talented

2011-04-19T00:20:00.004+01:00

After far too many months of waiting, Gears of War 3 took its first steps into the public light at 2am this morning, Vancouver time. Naturally, as a Gears fan since playing Horde mode for the first time at a friends house, I stayed up to get in on the action at the first opportunity. Equally as obvious, Claire stayed up with me to watch the first few minutes before tottering off to dreamland.

The Gears of War Beta allows us fans to experience an early build of the multiplayer, putting the maps and weapon balances to the test. It's only a Beta, so most of the final content that will appear on the disc is not available, and I'm not just referring to the single player campaign. My favorite more, the previously mentioned Horde Mode is not featured, nor is the new gameplay type I'm most looking forward to trying out, Beast Mode.

This first week is for BulletStorm owners and Epic Games friends and family only, and the options available are limited. Currently, there is only one game mode and two maps available, though more will be released over the course of the four weeks the Beta runs for. First up, the maps.

Checkout: This is set inside a ruined supermarket. It is very close quarters combat orientated, with lots of destructible cover and low walls to both crouch behind, but also mantel over and stomp enemies. The rows of shelving give loads of ways to get around opponents and create cross fire opportunities, as well as quickly splitting up uncoordinated teams. The lighting on this map is beautiful, with sunlight streaming through frosted of grimy glass, brightening everything. But we'll get back to that later.

Thrashball: Set in a destroyed thrashball arena from the pre-war days. This is a big, open central area with small side areas for bottlenecked combat. One major issue I have with this map is that it appears to be possible to spawn-camp a team - the spawn zone has one tunnel exit (like a team dressing room exit to the pitch) and if you get forced back to there you're pretty much boned. This happened once to my team last night. When that doesn't happen though, it's a great fun map. The grass and plant-life that has reclaimed the arena are bright and lush, a noticeable departure from the browns and grays more common in the previous games.

Play alternates between the two maps per match, not per round. As I stated earlier, currently there is only one game mode available. While Team Deathmatch is nothing new to shooters in general, it is new to the Gears franchise, and their version puts a Gears style spin on things. Each team has a pool of 15 respawns. The object of the lesson is to kill the enemy team enough times to deplete their pool, then eliminate them. This means that four great players stuck with one sucky player could lose if said sucky player dies a lot and runs though the pool[1]. It also means one player could potentially be the last remaining player on his team and still cream the enemy with skillful use of the shotgun, going on to win for his team[2].

My opinion on competitive multiplayer shooters in general: I play Gears for Horde. I love the cooperative gameplay, the team work, the shared joy of victory and the shared exhilaration of defeat. There are no hard feelings when we die to the Horde waves. No one calls "cheater" or, "unfair advantage". No one accuses the opponents of host advantage, or the game of having unbalanced weapons. But I've never played a competitive multiplayer session that lasted more than a few rounds before those accusations were flying across the chat channels. And the Beta was no different. When my team was winning, this was "the best game ever", and this map was "so balanced" and everything was "great". When same team was loosing, the other team was "clearly cheating" and the maps were "unfair" and the shotgun was "so overpowered" and yadda, yadda, yadda. Sigh. I miss Horde already.

Based on my brief trip so far, here are my two top Pro Tips for the Beta:
1- Stick together as a team!! We lost more rounds by splitting up and running every which way than by opposing skill.
2- Learn when to ignore the voices in your head. When they're being nice and coordinating the offensive, then stay in contact, work as a team. When they're being offensive and complaining about the game, shut up and don't join in. You're better than that, and must accept that chances are you'll lose more than you'll win, especially at the start. Just focus on getting a few kills per game and you'll be fine.

Graphically, the game is beautiful, vivid and lush, with gorgeous lighting. One of the promises was to make everything brighter, and they have. Vivid colours, streaming sunshine. Everything looks amazing. From what I've seen, character models look nice too, but usually they're running about or getting stomped on, so it's hard to tell for sure. If you've played Enslaved, the Thrashball arena especially reminds me of those bright post-apocalyptic areas from that game (also built on the Unreal 3 engine), and the Checkout map reminds me of a brighter, easier to navigate and more interesting version of the supermarkets in Fallout 3.

Here are some stats from my first night playing. This might be especially useful for those of you interested in hoping to unlock the Beta exclusive Gold Lancer and Trashball Cole skins.

10 matches of Team Deathmatch took me approximately 2 hours and netted me 24 Rounds played, and a total of 22 kills with the Lancer alone (the required stat to watch for the Gold Lancer retail unlock), and many more kills in total. I unlocked a bunch of stuff, including weapon skins and Anya as a playable character for just playing the 10 matches.

I originally thought the retail unlock Gold Lancer requirements (Complete 90 matches in any game type to unlock for the Beta period. To permanently unlock, score 100 kills with the Gold-Plated Retro Lancer during the Beta period) were tough, but they seem like something that is going to happen anyway over the course of 4 weeks. Even over the 3 weeks most people have. Kill stealing is a bitch, but I've given as much as been taken, so it all balances out, right? Also, I'm generally ignoring Executions in favour of laying a few more rounds in my target to guarantee no-one else gets to him first.

And finally, the weapons. I'm gonna make this fast, as Claire just hit the shower, so I have access to the PC monitor the Xbox is currently plugged into. Here goes:

Lancer is lancer, gnasher shotgun is broken, retro lancer seems ridiculously inefficient compared to the modern version (terrible recoil, massive footprint), new shotgun is crazy powerful but takes an eon to reload, incendiary grenades are hilarious (melting surfaces), flash bang grenades cause stun, blinding white light and just seem more useful, new digger weapon (tunnels underground and past cover) is cool to see in action but I haven't had a chance to try it yet, mortar is the usual splash damage hilarity, grinder is same as always, and I haven't gotten my hands on the sniper rifle yet.

All in all, I'm loving the chance to get my hands on the game this early. The game modes that will be available over the course of the Beta period are not why I am even remotely interested in the final retail game, but they give me the opportunity to see some of the maps, weapons and gameplay tweaks that is ahead of me. I'll be playing as much of it as possible, all the while yearning for the peace and man-love happy times that is Horde mode, now with female skins![3]

[1] Me.
[2] Not me.
[3] Despite female playable characters, Claire has made it very clear that she will be remaining with Marcus as her ingame avatar of death-by-sniper. Can't blame her. Even after all these years, my man-crush on Baird remains as powerful as the first day I laid eyes on his goggles.

Intrigue And Investigations

2011-04-13T08:59:00.000+01:00

Notice: I've had an unexpected number of requests for more details on the events of the story itself, or the possibility of posting my notes somewhere[1]. As I've stated before, this is an RPG game for personal use based on the copyrighted works of Cherie Priest. In respect of her work, I am purposely avoiding revealing plot points from the story, instead focusing these Actual Play posts on the session gameplay itself. If you enjoy these posts, perhaps you should think of picking up Dreadnought or Boneshaker by Cherie Priest from your local book store, or at any number of locations online.

Once more I arrived at The Connection full on the fabulous foodening provided by my wonderful wife. I'm starting to see a trend in my meals before my GM sessions. Last week was pork mince with sloppy joe mix and salad on toasted buns, this week was the same mince mix and salad but in tacos. Next week I intend to try the same mix and salad combo in tortilla wraps! Nom-nom-nom.

One of the players actually beat me to the store this week, so we chatted and discussed our weekends as the rest of the gang arrived over the following 45 minutes. By 7pm we had the full table, the first game with five players present!

I opened the game a little differently this week, trying something humorous. I did a "Previously, in Dreadnought"[2] recap as if it was a TV show, throwing out a string of sound bites, dialogue from various characters, both PCs and NPCs, hitting all the major revelations and facts from the previous two sessions. I think it worked really well to focus the players on the game, and I loved doing it. Definitely something I'll use again.

The game opened with some opportunity for investigation, roleplay and interparty conversation that allowed the players figure out a little more of what was going on. It also was the first point in the story that I got to play with my train, losing some carriages and introducing one new piece, as in the original text. Great fun was had by all.

Then the train started out on the final leg of its journey.

Skip to the end.

Once again my players never cease to amaze me. There were many, many awesome moments, but if I had to pick just two, they would be as follows:

The first was right at the start, before they had even left the station, when one player decided to investigate one of the more interesting carriages of the train by approaching it in exactly the same manner as the same character in the novel. I awarded the player a FATE point for that, though I guess I should have awarded it to Cherie Priest for writing a character that follows her nature and acts exactly as she should in a given situation!

The other involved a great example of how Aspects can be used. The Aspect "I'm not here to fight you" was meant as a Trouble, allowing me to Compel him into not getting violent. Instead, the player suggested that he could use it to gain a bonus on his Gun skill as he was using it to disarm the opponent, not inflict damage. In other words, he was removing the opponent as a threat, thus not having to fight him. I totally loved this idea, and the player invoked the Aspect to get a +2 to a roll, giving him a success, shooting the gun from the NPCs hand, and removing him from combat without inflicting damage.

There was a brief moment where there was a very real threat that the party might get totally split up due to decisions made for the protection of the passengers. Luckily, it was decided at the eleventh hour to keep the civilians together and thus the party remained in the same general location. I'm not sure how I would have handled the endgame had the players actually decided to split themselves up, but thankfully it's not something I had to deal with tonight.

Suffice it to say, if the players had come up with a plausible explanation to split the party at this stage, I would be writing an angry letter to the author reclaiming my previously awarded FATE point and pointing out the massive plot hole in her story. However, the varied excuses of weather, raiders and a three-day delay for the passengers in getting to their connecting trains (a fate worse than the threat of death that accompanied remaining on board the Dreadnought, apparently) justified keeping everyone on the moving train.

While one of the trains two main secrets were revealed this week, the other remains under lock and key, mainly due to some fantastic gaming by the player in charge of said secret. We'll see if this comes to light before the end of our story next week, but I remain open to the possibility that it won't.

All in all, once again, a great game. My players are, each and every one of them, awesome. We have a great time, loads of laughs and some great gaming too. We're the only group in the store on a Tuesday evening, which is lucky. I think anyone else who could be there might get annoyed at the constant interruptions by howls of laughter every few minutes.

I thought two hours would be awfully short to play a story driven game, but at three sessions in, I'm noticing that we're all pretty focused on the game from the opening scenes. While there is still the usual tangential tales and side stories about the cute things we saw on YouTube this week, they take up less time than I've experienced with other groups. It seems to be working well so far. The only thing I can say is that it might end up making my upcoming Dresden Files games into a series of two-parters rather than the episodic style of one night, one story. That's not a problem, just an observation.

Next week, Dreadnought wraps up with a final massive combat session and then some! I aim to do some serious harm to my PCs. So far, these games have introduced the players to all the basics of FATE 3.0, from Fudge dice to FATE points, and Aspects to Stunts. Now it's time to teach them about pain and suffering, and the Consequences thereof!

[1] My notes were never meant to be read by anyone apart from myself anyway, so even if I did post them, they wouldn't be much use to anyone. Buy the book, bullet point the key events from the moment Mercy boards the Dreadnought to the moment she changes transport and you have what I wrote.
[2] I always loved hearing Goliath intone "Previous, in Gargoyles" at the start of an episode of the Disney cartoon from the 90's. Any time I hear or say "Previously, in..." I hear it in my head being said by Keith David. If I could get any celebrity to record my phone answering message, it would be him.

Mysteries And Machinations

2011-04-06T09:22:00.004+01:00

Notice: This posting is about the second session of an RPG game for personal use based on the copyrighted works of Cherie Priest. The caveat from the first post continues to apply, namely that I will continue to avoid revealing plot points from the story, instead focusing this post on the gameplay itself. If you enjoy these Actual Play posts, perhaps you should think of picking up Dreadnought or Boneshaker by Cherie Priest from your local book store, or at any number of locations online.

I arrived at The Connection on Cambie nice and early to get set up. Thanks to my wonderful wife, I was full up on a delicious dinner and ready to game. Due to unavoidable circumstances, one of my players from last weeks game was absent. However, during the week, we picked up another player, so we had four regardless. Despite this, I played the missing players Player Character, and the new entry to our ranks was given a new PC.

The previous session had ended at the first station stop on the journey, and anyone who has read the books knows that a few new characters board the train at this point. So when another player told me he would be free and interested in joining, I honestly couldn't believe my luck. This was too perfect. He'd just play one of the new characters that would otherwise have been an Non-Player Character. Honestly, I couldn't have planned this if I had tried. That said, I would have preferred to not have one of the starting players miss the game, but nothing could be done, so we motored on regardless.

After our new player had a chance to read over his character, and some brief questions about FATE were asked, the game got going at around 7:15pm.

Where the first session opened with an opportunity for everyone to introduce themselves, this week opened with some conversations on the stations platform before the whistle blew and everyone boarded. After that, we had a long roleplaying session where mysteries were raised, everyone learned a little more about each others motivations, and uneasy allegiances were formed between Player Characters. This brought us right up to 8pm, and the next station.

A quick stop, some new passengers, a few more questions between players, and we had our combat of the evening. That ran up to and beyond 9pm, but the staff at the store are super awesome, and we were let run a little late to wrap things up. Combat over, one more revelation with an NPC, and I called it for the evening. My watch was just rolling on to 9:20pm.

So, how did the evening go? Pretty good, I think. Let's review.

It opened with some fantastic roleplaying from everyone. More silly accents, more hilarity, more intrigue. Facts were doled out in tiny bites, and players fished for clues in everything that was said. In fact, I was worried that it was too slow, and used my power lent to me as the controller of what had once been a PC to move things along once. I'm not sure if that was great idea, but I felt that we were tight on time, and some of the players had to spend more in the scene time listening than interacting due to the character, so I felt it was worth the risk. It's not something I wanted to do, as I love letting players converse back and forth with each other at leisure. Regardless, most of the facts were laid out by the end, which was the important thing.

Combat was once again the slow point for me. I think this is something I need to work on. For something that is supposed to represent a fast, frantic event, I find combat in most games to be slow and boring. I tried to liven it up with dramatic descriptions, but in the end, it's going to be "I rolled one Plus overall, giving me Great Guns", "They rolled only Fair on their Drive, so you do 2 Stress". Still, we had some fun moments, like one player spending a FATE Point to make a Declaration that the carriages were steam heated and so had bags of coal stored away somewhere, then using that coal to help take out an opponent! Or another player using Investigate to discover a weak point, making that a tagable Aspect.

The game ended with one last round of roleplay, and, just before everyone relaxed, the arrival of something far in the distance.

One of the things I'm enjoying from the game is watching how the players and dice cause the story to divert from the book. Upholding my self-imposed ban on spoilers, all I'll say is that, by now, in the book Mercy was aware of one of the major secrets the Dreadnought held. Try as I might, I could not force the events of the book to play out in the game. The dice constantly rolled against me. I love that! There is every chance this secret will never come to light, and if that is the resolution, then so be it. I'm not going to press the matter. It's my game, based on Cherie Priests work, but this version of it is the players story. Kind of like a Marvel "What If..." Except without the Watcher.

I still didn't really Compel any Aspects, unfortunately. That is really something I need to work on. It's a core mechanic of the system, and I'm pretty weak at it. Granted, combat didn't really need any, but there must have been a moment or two where I could have pressed the players one way or another during the earlier scenes.

So there we have it. More adventure, more mystery, and more interparty conflict! Next week may or may not wrap everything up. There is a chance that we'll run for a fourth week. Tune in again to find out!

The Great And Terrible Engine

2011-03-31T02:25:00.004+01:00

Notice: This posting is about the first session of an RPG game for personal use based on the copyrighted works of Cherie Priest. The caveat from the previous post continues to apply, namely that I will continue to avoid revealing plot points from the story, instead focusing this post on the gameplay itself. If you enjoy these Actual Play posts, perhaps you should think of picking up Dreadnought or Boneshaker by Cherie Priest from your local book store, or at any number of locations online.

I arrived my local gaming store early to allow me to set out my bits and pieces, as well as giving me a few minutes to relax and center myself before the players showed up. I chose not to lay out the train in advance, as some of the characters would only just be arriving to the station. I left the character sheets face down in the center of the table, and placed the adventure notes to one side at the head of the table, where I would be sitting.

Once the players arrived, we chatted for a bit and I gave them my best "FATE 3.0 in a nutshell" speech. Of the four players, one has read Spirit of the Century, Starblazer Adventures and Diaspora, but has never played or GMed a game using the system, while the other three were completely new to Fudge and FATE. That took all of about fifteen to twenty minutes, questions included.

At this point it was just past 7pm. The store closes at 9pm, and one of the things I was interested in seeing was how much gaming we could get done within that given time. It's only two hours, and seems awfully short for a story driven game not based around one combat encounter after the next. Just like in the book, all the characters have their own motivations and stories, and they would need time to chat among themselves and get to know their travel companions. With time ticking by, I dived right in and sorted out the characters.

There are two male and two female Player Characters. One of the players requested a male, while the others didn't express a preference. With that sorted, I sat back for the next fifteen or so minutes as the players read over everything and asked questions about Aspects, Stunts or general descriptions. The Skill tree was only filled in from Great to Fair, giving everyone six Skills each. Everything else would be rolled at Mediocre, but the Average line was blank if players wanted to promote a Skill that they thought would be useful for the version of the character they were playing. Similarly, there was space in the Aspects for players to personalize the characters themselves.

With all that out of the way, the game began. By now it was 7:20pm. I had a little over 90 minutes.

As I described the station and the train, I laid out my little rectangles of acetate. The players were wonderful, jumping at the chance to talk about the unusual engine and the many cars it pulled, questioning station staff about some of the more unexpected elements, and finally boarding. Most of the players decided to all stay in one carriage (much to my relief), and the train chugged out of the station.

Skip to the end.

By nine o'clock we had gotten in a lot of revealing conversation, some clever and hilarious use of Aspects, aided by some equally hilarious roleplaying, an unending string of silly voices; started by me in the guise of the various NPCs, but picked up by all the players; and the first tentative spending of Fate Points. There was even a little hint of distrust among the PCs, something I didn't even have to encourage, but definitely hoped for! I never had the opportunity to invoke any obvious Compels, or I missed them if I did, but that's OK. It was only the first session, and I have a few bullet-points in my notes where some choice Compels will make things exciting later.

The game ended with everyone arriving at the first stop on the journey for an unexpected over-night stay and one of the characters uncovering yet another mystery.

All the players had a great time, and the feedback was jolly and positive. I had an absolute blast, and loved getting back into the GM seat after several months away. Everything ran smoothly, and the players claimed that they didn't feel too railroaded in their actions, pun entirely intended. While they were on board a train and reacting to outside forces on occasion, the freedom offered by the dependance on conversation and investigation offset any feelings that they didn't have control over where the story went to next.

I have two favorite moments from the first session.

The first happened shorty after boarding, one of the female PCs attempted to seduce one of the NPCs into revealing a little something about one of the mysteries on board. The player rolled well, but I miraculously rolled a full set of Pluses (I don't use GM screens, so the reaction from the players was immediate and comical)! The NPC coughed once, dragged his eyes from the heaving chest and returned to whatever he was doing at the time.

The second came later, just after a moment of excitement on board the train. Two of the Player Characters faced off against each other momentarily, each just making sure the other knew where they stood. As they relaxed, one turned to the other and said "I've got my eye on you, X", a line directly from the novel itself! And, while it was said in the novel by one of the other characters, in both cases it was said to the same character! I must have done something right in his description that the player played him just like the book writes him! I laughed out loud.

All in all, a great first session. We got a surprising amount done, and next week we'll have even longer, not losing out on the first half hour like we did this week due to reading over the characters. I can't think of anything that needs to be improved yet. This was was very much an introductory session, so things went smoothly. Maybe just keep a watchful eye out for those Compelling moments.

Writing The Dreadnought RPG

2011-03-30T10:29:00.009+01:00

Notice: This posting is about the creation of an RPG game for personal use based on the copyrighted works of Cherie Priest. I do not have permission from the author, and as such I am taking some polite efforts to protect her works. I will avoid revealing actual details of the story, including most character names and specific outcomes of events portrayed in the novel Dreadnought. Most of what I do reveal is the stuff you could learn about by reading the blurb on the back of the book. Instead, this post is mainly concerned with the work I put into creating a game scenario based on a novel. If you are interested in learning the full story, I suggest asking your local book store to order it, or purchase it from any number of retailers online. I loved it. You probably will too.

Months ago I finally got my hands on Boneshaker, by Cherie Priest. A steampunk action adventure set in an alternate history Seattle I loved the setting and world created in the story, from the cool drilling machine of the title to the great walled city of Seattle. It was a world crying out to be expanded upon and realized through the joy of collaborative story-telling that is roleplaying games. More importantly, it was perfect for my favourite system, FATE 3.0. It had magnificent airships, heroic figures, dastardly villains and terrifying zombies. Awesome!

But building a whole game world is a daunting affair, especially when you're playing in another persons sandbox. Stay around Seattle and tell stories there? Explore further afield? Retell the adventure from the novel? The last option was favorable, if only because it was less work. But Boneshaker follows the adventures of Briar Wilkes and her son, mostly separated, and usually each alone. That does not a good RPG make.

And then along came Dreadnought. Also part of the Clockwork Century series, Dreadnought plays out most of its action on board a train pulled by the massive war-engine of the title. The start of the book follows the singular travels of the novels lead hero, Mrs. Mercy Lynch, as she travels to visit her sick father on the far side of the American continent. However, on reaching the Dreadnought, she is placed in an environment where she can repeatedly interact with a number of recurring characters, many of whom are fleshed out and developed over the course of the adventure[1].

My brain started firing on all cylinders! This was perfect. I could take Mercy and some of her traveling companions and make them the Player Characters. Some additional backgrounds might be needed for one or two, but most were well realized in the novel itself and needed very little additional work. In no time at all, I decided who would be good as PCs and who would work as important NPCs.

I laid out party of four Player Characters using the most recent iteration of the FATE 3.0 rules from The Dresden Files RPG. I had fun with the Aspects, taking quotes from the novel for some, and wording others in as humorous as manner as I could manage. Some examples include "Knowledge of the law... and lawless", "Blue or grey, they all bleed red", "I can be a hometown sweetheart... when it suits me" and "Competent officers are never given enough information to work with."[2]

As the train itself was an important character in the novel, I gave the Dreadnought her own set of Aspects, including my two favorite, "An armored tank, bound to the rails" and "Huge mass, unstoppable momentum".

Once I had the train speced up, I realized that she truly was important to the story. More than just a location for the action to happen on, she was even changing, and developed just like the named character aboard her. With this in mind I decided that I should have her represented on the game table. I drew each of the carriages on acetate, cutting them into separate cars so that over the course of the the game they can be removed, as in the story itself. The train ended up being huge, almost four feet in length! There are also a few mysteries on board, so I drew them onto separate acetates that I cut to allow me to drop onto the train as they become revealed[3].

Then I wrote up a total of five "At the mention of X, you recall the following" notes. These represent world knowledge that the characters have that the players themselves don't have. In particular, it is knowledge that would not make sense to have in the character descriptions without revealing a plot twist or interesting development. I also wrote a separate note for a telegraph one character accidentally reads.

With all that done, I then just needed to plot the adventure. Having read the book once, I went back and went through the story from the point that Mercy boards the Dreadnought pulled train. I made a bullet-point list of everything that happens, from subtle character development to the action set-pieces. NPCs were noted, and the important ones given a handful of Aspects and important Skills.

Finally, I printed out a map of the American States with their names, as well as a smaller map showing which states were with the Union and the Confederates during the Civil War. The latter may never be important, just adding knowledge and flavor but I used the labeled map to plot the journey of the characters, Indiana Jones style!

All the preparation was complete. The train was placed in one small envelope, while all the extra bits I didn't want the players to see right away were placed in the other. These two envelopes were then placed, along with the bullet-pointed adventure, the character sheets and backgrounds, the maps and any other bits I thought I might need, into a larger cardboard envelope for secure transport to my local gaming store.

And then I introduced Dreadnought to my players.

[1] Not that the supporting characters in Boneshaker weren't fleshed out, but few of them formed a party with either of the main characters for long enough that it was easy to decide who should be a Player Character.
[2] Pop quiz for those readers who have read Dreadnought: Which Aspect belongs to which character from the novel?
[3] My one mistake so far. I made the train out of acetate. It doesn't need to be transparent, in fact, it's harder to see because it is. The items to be placed on top later are perfect on an acetate, but the train should have been on white card. I think I'll get some modeling paint and paint the backs of the train acetates before next week.

Two Months

2011-03-29T08:00:00.000+01:00

A Comment On Twitter

2011-03-29T00:37:00.000+01:00

With thanks to Wil Wheaton (@wilw) and friends.

Applied Correctly, It Could Move The World

2011-03-12T02:10:00.004Z

A few months back I read this webcomic about an agency to assist the dearly departed who have left something unresolved in this life. I made an off-hand comment that I thought it would make for a great RPG concept: A party of supernaturally sensitive friends that have a Private Investigation firm that caters for the deceased, helping to complete whatever is making their eternal rest restless. The hook was that each week one party member would allow their body to be "rented" by the ghost, becoming a "ghost host" if you will. That player would get to put their normal character sheet to one side and play as someone completely different.

This off-hand comment planted itself in my mind and sprouted roots, slowly growing until I knew I had to do something with it. Originally, I had planned on using my system of choice, FATE 3.0 for the game, but on outlining my ideas to a friend, I was pointed towards something that might work better. The ghost would need some help to find who murdered him, or protect his family now that he's gone. Perhaps someone is messing with an artifact connected to the spirit, or one of his descendants has become a dick and needs to be taught a lesson. In short, the adventures were not going to be straight up hack'n'slash affairs. The ghost needed a team that could function without brute force. He needed someone that could provide Leverage.

The Client
Leverage The Roleplaying Game is based, unsurprisingly, on Leverage the hit series from TNT. I had been a fan of the show since the pilot, instantly hooked on the its unique blend of humour, heist and heat-pounding action. The series follows the adventures of a band of ex-criminals and their leader as they try to make the world a better place one problem at a time. The episodes usually open with a Client explaining why she needs their help, which the Crew succeed at through a heist or caper that inevitably requires last minute tweaking, adjusting or all out replanning to overcome unforeseen obstacles.

The roleplaying game follows this mechanic, allowing the players to put together a Crew of skilled experts to solve a myriad of problems that the GM, or Fixer, will throw at them over the course of a session.

The following review is based solely on the book itself and my impressions from reading it. I have yet to play it, so I'll try to avoid making judgements related to actual play here. It's also worth mentioning now that I have never actually played anything using the Cortex or Cortex Plus systems, the later of which is the system Leverage is built on. With that out of the way, on to the meat of our story.

The Caper
The Visuals: The first thing that is obvious about the Leverage RPG is how pretty it is. Everything is clean and bright and I was particularly taken with the choice of blue print on a white background as the primary colour scheme throughout. It's clean, effective and eye-catching. That's just a personal thing. Blue is my favourite colour, and I think plain white backgrounds work well enough that they should be left alone. Photos and screen shots from the series are used extensively throughout the book, breaking up long blocks of text and keeping things interesting.

The System: Prior to reading Leverage I was not familiar with the Cortex or Cortex Plus systems in any way. Years ago, a friend had bought me the Serenity RPG as a gift, but I never really read it or tried it out. I love the Firefly, the series it is based on, but had no real interest in reading the RPG. As it turns out, Cortex Plus is my kind of system!

Like FATE 3.0, Cortex Plus is, at it's core, a system for telling stories and having a good time. It is reasonably light on mechanics, instead allowing players and GMs to focus on the collaborative story-telling side of RPGs than the combat focused, hack'n'slash of other systems. There is no rule for moving 6 squares in order to flank an opponent, but there is nothing stopping you from describing how you managed to use the crates in the warehouse to sneak around him and FLANKED d6 him.

Characters are equally clean, maintaining the tight focus on story driven, rather than dice controlled, adventures. There are six Attributes, five Traits and a handful of Distinctions and Talents, giving you an absolute minimum of things to keep track of and allowing you to concentrate on the task at hand, ruining the baddies day. There are no lists of skills covering most of the page, no weapon bonus' or damage modifiers, there isn't even a health track!

The play mechanics are blissfully simple. Regardless of what you do, you always role at least two dice, one for the Attribute you're using, the other for the Trait. You can role more if the scene allows and players are encouraged to elaborate on the scene for additional dice,like in the FLANKED d6 example above. Regardless of how many dice you role, you only total the highest two in most cases.

Things get interesting, but not complicated, when you start including Assets and Complications and spending Plot Points to effect the scene, but basically the Cortex Plus system is designed to keep everything flowing along and the players having a good time.

So far so good. The system takes the gameplay I enjoy and runs with it. But there's one key element still to come, one unique feature that sets it apart from other games.

In any good caper, and all RPG adventures, nothing goes according to plan. The Crew must think on their feet to solve complications as they arise, avoiding the FBI that just appeared on the scene; dealing with the armed mercenaries that everyone had previously thought were just gym-enthusiast office workers or by-passing the biometric lock on the safe that they were told had been installed in the 1930's!

In great capers, like Leverage or Oceans 11, the seemingly unexpected situation was planned for all along. The Crew had called the FBI to arrest the bad-guys in the act; the lunch everyone saw the office workers enjoying had been laced with a sleep inducing (but not dangerous. We are good guys after all!) narcotic; and the Hacker had uncovered the invoice for the new safe while reading the bad guys private emails, equipping the Thief with the appropriate gear.[1] Events like this are usually explained in TV and cinema through the magic of the Flashback. Now, you can too!

The Hook: When the Crew is stuck in a difficult situation, with the enemy closing in all around, sometimes things just seem hopeless. That's exactly the moment when the Mastermind smiles, looks the baddie in the eye and throws in a new, unforeseen Plot Point. The baddie swings around and, expecting his own band of highly expensive thugs to be at his back, is dismayed to find himself looking down the barrel at a HIGHLY TRAINED d8 POLICE OFFICER d6. Turning back to the Crew, his jaw drops. Where the cornered heroes once sat is the supposedly disposed of crate of baby milk formula containing unlicensed cheap ingredients that have caused nothing but harm to hundreds of babies in the poorer district of the city. The Crew themselves are nowhere to be seen.

How did all this happen? That's what Flashbacks are for. Flashbacks are the Hook that Leverage uses to reel in its players. Linking in to events in the adventure, Flashbacks allow players to go back in time and alter or add to a scene that occurred previously. Remember when the Hitter took out those thugs in the garage earlier? They happened to be the ones tasked with disposing of the evidence. Or how about the start of the previous scene when the baddie walked in on the Grifter talking on the phone. Thought she was talking to the rest of the Crew, didn't you? Nope. Calling in a tip to the local authorities regarding some unscrupulous dealings.

Flashbacks give the players a level of control over the outcome of events that seemingly go against them. Leverage is an RPG where success is always the only option. The question is, how interesting and exciting can you make the journey toward that destination be for yourself and your Crew mates? As in the series, Flashbacks allow you to establish character traits from events that occurred at an earlier point, sometimes earlier that day, sometimes in your characters life before the game, or even as far back as her childhood! Similarly, they allow the players to wrap up loose ends after the Job is completed. How did the Thief know that the head body-guard was sleeping with the baddies wife? These things are story elements that make the game fun and exciting, and very similar to the show.

Again, so far so good. Everything about the game seems to be geared toward my preferred play-style. The new elements that the game uses to distinguish itself against the competition read well and seem to be enjoyable Assets. But, in the world of Leverage, where there are Assets, there are Complications.

The Twist
Leverage The Roleplaying Game is based on the hit series from TNT. This is important, and bares repeating here upfront. Not only does it give the RPG an immediate audience of fans who enjoy the show and RPGs, but it also means that there are probably a few sales that will go to fans of the series that have never owned, seen or played in an RPG. This in turn lends itself to my first and biggest problem with the book.

As an experienced role-player, I am familiar with how to read RPG books and how such books are laid out. While I never hold issue with seeing "What is a Role-Playing Game" on one of the first pages in any RPG (in fact, I love reading how different authors try to explain the basics in a single paragraph to people who have possibly never heard of such a thing. Always amusing), I don't feel I need to be hand-held throughout the text. I'm an adult reader, and consider myself smart enough to figure some things out alone. There are several moments in the book where the author stops to explain who "you" is referring to in this section. Other times, I almost feel like I'm being talked down to, having basic concepts over explained, in overly simplified terms. The whole thing comes off rather amateurish feeling at times. It feels like this is written by a fan of the series as a home-brew game, rather than what it is; a thoroughly play-tested, proof-read, professionally designed, published document. There are moments when the author is chatting to the reader in an informal, friendly fashion that make those sections sound like a blog posting.

Should I blame the author for this? Or marketing? Actually, I've chosen neither. I don't particularly like it, but I have to look at it in the light of what this is. A licensed product that needs to appeal to everything from non-role-players, through first-time GMs, to experienced veterans (for the record, I fall somewhere between the latter two).

The other fault I have with the book is related to content, and, like the language used, is a by-product of something else. Leverage The Roleplaying Game is clean, clear and concise, thanks to it's use to the Cortex Plus system. It forgoes detailed charts and situation modifiers for story-telling and genuine thrills. The downside of all of this is that it's surprisingly easy to explain everything in a short amount of time, or in this case, ink.

The Leverage RPG book comes in at just over 200 pages thick. Less than Dungeons and Dragons Dungeon Masters Guide at 224 pages and half of either Spirit of the Century or the recently released Dresden Files RPG, both of which clock up over 400 pages! This is great, right? Yes, and no.

Even at a paltry 200 pages, Leverage has an unprecedented amount of filler. The whole last chapter, The Record, is a synopsis of every episode from the first two seasons in game terms. It is filler of the highest order. It still doesn't beat the Stargate SG-1 RPG level of filler where they produced game supplement books of the series episodes in seasons, but it's pretty close. Add to this seven pages of examples of locations that seem to be just stating the obvious, and you have over 30 pages of material that I don't need for any game I run myself. Not just don't need, I don't have to read over or even look at them!

The question then becomes, should they have printed a book of only 170 pages? The problem is that the less you print, the less you can justify charging, and the less buyers will be willing to pay. At some point you have to charge enough to cover the costs of printing, or cut the quality of printing to match the cut in price. Given the high quality of printing on show in the book, maybe having that filler is a necessary evil (there's a villain for a Leverage game: A company deforesting whole areas just to print books twice as big as they need to be so they can charge more and increase profits!).

The Mark[2]
Having read through the book, I find that Leverage The Roleplaying Game stands as a wonderful, beautiful introduction to the world of criminals, capers and roleplaying games. It has it's flaws, but nothing is ever perfect, and the flaws seem to be easily ignored, or simply don't do much to effect the overall quality of the product. The system is a joy to read and learn about, even if I haven't had the opportunity to actually playtest it myself yet. I look forward to using it either in a game based in the Leverage setting, or in my own world of body renting ghost detectives. If you like telling a great, fast paced, rules light, collaborative story where it can be more important to be cool and funny that effective, then Leverage The Roleplaying Game is for you. Like the show, the book is great fun to look at and belongs on any gamers shelf that enjoys story driven games like Spirit of the Century, Dresden Files and Doctor Who.

The Flashback
Over the course of this review I have mentioned things like FATE 3.0, Spirit of the Century and Dresden Files. FATE 3.0 is the system that runs Spirit of the Century (SotC), the only game I've ever successfully run a full campaign in. I have long been a fan of the system and associated games, owning the limited edition hardback print of SotC, as well as having preordered and purchased the enormous Starblazer Adventures, a book big and heavy enough to kill someone with, and most recently picking up the Dresden Files RPG (DFRPG), the most recent iteration of the FATE 3.0 rules system. FATE, SotC and DFRPG are all by Evil Hat Productions, and I had long been aware of the names associated with them. Fred Hicks, Rob Donoghue and Ryan Macklin are three of the very short list of games designers whose names I would recognise[3].

I purchased Leverage The Roleplaying Game, got home and started reading through it. As is usual, I skipped the credits page and skipped right to the good stuff. It was only after I was most of the way through the book before one of my friends pointed out the crossover in creative minds between Evil Hat and Leverage. I was stunned I had never heard about it before, but there you have it. Sometimes, it's not what you like, but who you like[4]!

[1] - In terrible capers, it is revealed that all the supposed complications and bad luck and events that went against the team were entirely planned and nothing was accidental and the Crew perfectly predicted exactly how the baddie would act, such as Ocean 12. Don't do this.
[2] - See what I did there? The final mark for the review. The Mark. Gettit? Yeah, it was a terrible pun, but I couldn't resist.
[3] - Before anyone says anything, yes, I know there are a lot more people involved in the making of an RPG, but they're just the names that stick out to me. Sorry if you feel left out. Console yourself in the knowledge that even if I didn't name you, I am eternally grateful for the amazing job you did on my favourite games.
[4] - Huge shoutout to the design lead and author of Leverage The Roleplaying Game, Cam Banks. Great job, man! Hope you're not too hurt by my negatives toward your work. Just remember, don't get mad, GET EVEN d10.

It's Been One Month

2011-03-04T19:15:00.000Z

I totally forgot to link this here when I posted it to YouTube! Anyway, this was recorded on the 28th of February and uploaded a few days after.

In other news, we now have, finally, gotten internet sorted in the apartment. Should be getting some blogging, Flickring and general online socializing done soon enough.

On Writing And Reading

2011-02-19T02:32:00.000Z

A new Video Blog. This one ponders my lack of 21st Century luxuries in this new land I'm in and the lengths I have to go to to entertain myself.

Love And Other Things

2011-02-14T23:15:00.001Z

New video blog, for the day that's in it!

Hello From VC, BC!

2011-02-13T20:20:00.000Z

My second video blog. My first one, the tour of our apartment, was done in one take. This one took several, over the course of two hours or so before i was happy with the final result. Mostly it was a case of trimming the length and content to keep it flowing. Enjoy!

Welcome To No. 6

2011-02-13T19:55:00.000Z

My first video blog, a quick video tour of our new place, now mostly furnished.

Fully Automatic Friend Mode

2011-02-08T23:45:00.000Z

I've been told more than once that I can make friends anywhere I go. It comes naturally to me. It's not a talent I had to work at to perfect, but it has always seemed odd to me that other people find it so hard to do. The question has also crossed my mind as to how fast I am at doing it. How long does it take me before I make a new friend in a place I've never been?

The answer, apparently is about 10 to 15 seconds.

On arriving at the SameSun Nations hostel in downtown Vancouver, Claire just wanted to drop the luggage and crash out for the night. At this point is was some time after 9pm local time and we had been up since 6am Irish time, some 32 hours previous according to our bodies. I had napped briefly on the plane, but Claire hadn't, so we got the key to our shared room, shifted several large bags up two flights of stairs and barged in on the current occupants.

It was at this point that Claire and I did two very different things. Claire said a quick hello to the others in the room, three guys of varying nationality, and left to seek out the bathroom, equipped with a random assortment of toiletries. I, on the other hand, camped out on the top bunk and turned my mouth and vocal cords to full auto.

By the time Claire returned, I knew who was in the room by name, where they were from and whether they were staying or leaving soon. The guy on the top bunk across from me was Will from Sydney and was just on the last leg of a trip around the US. He was flying out of Vancouver tomorrow for LA and then on to Sydney after a short stopover. Below his bunk was Jeon from China who had very little English, referred to Claire as my "honey" and grew stranger and stranger over the following days, much to the amusement of myself and third guy in the room.

Sam had just arrived from the UK the same day, but on a different flight. Like us, he was staying for a year and hoping to find work in or around the city. We got chatting for a bit and when Claire decided that she couldn't stay awake any longer, the three English speaking guys headed downstairs to the bar to continue our conversation. I bought the first round of drinks, which ended up being a glass of water for Will, who was travelling early the next day and still recovering from his last night out in Vancouver, a 7-Up for Sam and a coke for myself. Seriously. What are the chances that me, being a lifelong teetotaler would happen upon two guys that, at least for that evening, were staying on the soft stuff as well?!? Insane! Sam offered to buy the next round, before we discovered that we get free refills on minerals, and at that hour, two large glass fulls were enough. He promised to make it up to me the following evening.

We wandered back up to the room shortly before midnight, snuck in as quietly as possible and drifted off to sleep.

The next morning all three of us were downstairs enjoying breakfast, and letting Will fill us in on things to do in Vancouver.

I miss Ireland. I miss my friends terribly. The first Sunday here was particularly hard as I realised I couldn't be at our weekly breakfast meet-up, or hang out and chat about the stuff we watched, or read online, or whatever. But I love making new friends, and I know I have the chance to make loads here. After I finish writing this, I'm heading to our local gaming store just a few blocks away to join in their boardgame night and hopefully make even more. I've already spent over an hour chatting with the staff about games and comics.

I think I'm going to be alright.

Chasing The Setting Sun

2011-02-08T23:34:00.001Z

Leaving Ireland was never going to be easy, but boarding the British Airways flight direct to Vancouver was less daunting a task that I had built it up to be. My mind was on other things than the adventure that lay ahead.

It was my first time traveling through Heathrow Airport that I can recall, and all the warnings and stories of long walks between terminals had been forgotten about thanks to a speedy and clear internal transport system that got us from place to place with time to spare. Thankfully, that allowed us to enjoy the sushi restaurant we stumbled upon after clearing customs and we boarded our flight with full stomachs and happy thoughts.

On boarding, Claire and I discovered that we were seated in separate rows, but thanks to a lovely fellow traveler, I was able to move forward and join Claire before take-off. The sun was setting slowly over London, and the sky was still bright and blue with just the subtle hint of approaching dusk.

The flight was entirely uneventful. I played my DS, Super Scribblenauts helping the hours pass until my battery finally gave out and I was left alone. Claire typed on her laptop, listening to music or somesuch on her headphones. The rest of the journey was passed either watching parts of movies on the in-flight entertainment system, or catching a quick nap, wrapped in my warm jumper, my head resting on a kindly gifted cushion of air.

As the end of our nine and a half hours in the air drew near, the plane banked softly and we were met with a brilliant orange, red and yellow. We had raced the sun across the Atlantic, and the winner was undecided. At 33,000 feet, we could still see witness the setting sun, but on the ground it was probably dark already.

Regardless, our two hours standing in the line for immigration and customs meant it was well past sunset by the time we got outside. A taxi took us through thick fog, across the bridge into downtown, and we were greeted with our first glimpse of Vancouver. Towering skyscrapers glowed orange behind the fog, and here and there we got a break that opened up a wondrous view. Soon we were in the heart of downtown and unloading our bags at the hostel.

We had arrived. And we were too tired to start panicking now.

The Last Post

2011-01-26T02:33:00.001Z

Closing a decade long chapter in our lives, Claire and I have had to face a lot of final moments over the last few days and weeks. Everything from seeing friends before we leave, to going somewhere we haven't been in a while. Work and play all have their share of closures, some easier than others.

The last week at work. I hated it. Not because I didn't want to be there. I very much did. I love my job, and just didn't want to have a "last week", or, worse, a "last day". I could feel this growing sense of gloom with each passing hour. Once the dreaded day arrived, I managed to hold back the tears amid repeated reminders of why I love my work, from my co-workers, other teachers, parents, and most of all, the kids themselves. I finished my day at noon, but left some time after half two. I dragged out the last moments as far as I could. But still the time came. As I walked out of the gates for the last time, my body cracked and my breathing shuddered, and I finally cried.

The last time with friends was never going to be easy, but I am so lucky to have so many, I was fooled into thinking it wasn't all that painful after all. Saying good-bye at our going away party was fine. I knew I'd be seeing a lot of my friends between then and now. Saying good-bye to my Early Childhood Studies friends was slightly more painful as I really was the last time we'd all be together as this group. It was numbed by speedy departures, avoiding long good-byes and leaving that clutching feeling you get in your chest until after the fact. I also avoided going back as far as any of their cars in an effort to escape the inevitable, final flood of emotions. And there was always the chance I'd see any of them before I left. I still had days to go before the flight! I was still in Ireland, still in Cork. It wasn't time yet.

Time.

The last time eating in Puccinos, where we had breakfast almost every Sunday for five years. The last time we celebrate New Years together. The last time walking around UCC. The last time wandering aimlessly into Other Realms. The last time I go to the weekly Sunday morning breakfast. The last meal from Lennox's. The last time playing BattleStar Galactica. The last time gaming online in the same time zone. The last time hanging out and just chatting. The last time we'll ever just be together as one group, one fellowship, one amazing collection of the best people anyone could wish to call friends.

The last day. Time was starting to run out.

I chat to Kris. I hand him my keys. I say my good-byes. I feel my eyes water, my mouth turn dry and my voice shake. I want to stay longer, but I can't. I don't have time.

I hug Ashka. Claire puts her in her carry case and we pack her stuff into the car. All the way to Cork I rest my hand on her. She doesn't complain like she usually does when she is locked up in that small box. She just sits quietly while I cry. The city lights are ahead. It's almost time to let go.

I stand outside in the night air. All around me are people that have written in the chapter of my life I am closing tonight. There isn't anything I can say to tell them how important they are to me. Instead we just joke and smile and fight back the tears. My voice shudders briefly. Time to go.

I sit on the step of the stairs. Ashka purrs softly on my lap, and I feel those tears returning. She's our baby, our child that we've raised and loved. She's staying with the best people we could hope her to be with until she can come back to us, but we'll miss her terribly. I hold her tightly and whisper things she doesn't understand. Time to leave.

I try to say something. The words stumble out. I hug them both and step outside. The door clicks behind me and I turn to Claire. "You ok?" I ask. ""Yeah. You?" "No. Let's go home. We have too much to do and too little time."

The "You're Almost Finally Rid Of Us" Party Details

2011-01-12T18:00:00.002Z

As the vast majority of you know, Claire and I have been planning our trip to Canada for some time now. For those that don't know, here's the cliff notes:

I've always wanted to live in Canada since I was a kid. MacGyver seemed to like it, and I liked MacGyver, so it was a match made in heaven. A few years ago Claire and I talked about it and slowly started the ball rolling. Finally, last September we applied through USIT and booked flights for the 27th of January, 2011. Well, after a delay with my Visa application on account of needing a full medical, our Visas have arrived and we're good to go. While the initial Visas are for only 12 months, we are looking into all the options open to us to stay longer.

And so, we need a party to thank you all for being the best friends anyone could hope for! You lot have been great. I've been in Cork 12 years and Claire 11 for , and we've both made far more friends here than back home, and much better one's too. If that's the case, then why, you may ask, are we leaving? It's not you, it's us. We want to try something new, somewhere new. We want to explore our horizons while we still can, and find what's out there. We're still (relatively) young and free to travel. We don't have kids yet, though we do have Ashka, our beloved cat. Thankfully, it's easier to leave a cat with some friends than it is to leave a child, though in the absence of any kids of our own, we're going to miss her terribly until we get her shipped over once we settle down.

Anyway, enough of that. Suffice it to say, we'll miss you all, and you're more than welcome to come visit. But before then, party!

When: This Saturday, 15th of January
Where: Food in Wagamamas from 6:30pm then on to the Franciscan Well for the night, probably around 8 or a little after. Whenever food is finished.

Wagamamas is not a booking. As far as I know from past experiences, they don't take bookings. So the plan is to turn up and try to get everyone sitting reasonably close together. Alternatively, if people let me know before tomorrow if they'll be there, I'll try to use my pull with the manager to get us a bench. I'll need to know how many to expect though, so if you're interested in food, RSVP.

And that's it. I've tried to email everyone I can think of, or at least everyone I have an email from. I'll also be txting my entire phonebook, so some of you might be getting the important details twice. Three times if you got my email, read my text and have my blog bookmarked or in a Reader Feed! But I'm not going to be able to reach everyone, so spread the word. Everyone is welcome. This is a chance for us to say "thank you" to you guys. If someone that knows us hasn't heard about all this, then tell them. They haven't not been invited, we just don't have contact details for them. Please. Everyone is invited to come along. It's open to everyone from my best friend (You da man, Ted!!!!!) to my worst enemy (I HATE YOU TED!!!!!!!!! (But, in the spirit of leaving the country, even you, Ted, oh nemesis of mine, is invited to the Well for drinks. But no food. No food for you. Thankfully we're eating in Wagamamas and I know how you're allergic to wooden benches, glass paneling and the public)).

See you all on Saturday!

Monday Musing

2011-01-10T22:57:00.000Z

Recently I've been enjoying the stabby-stabby fun of Ubisofts latest offering, Assassins Creed: Brotherhood, which I got from my wonderful brother for Christmas. As is the norm for me, I started up the single player game and utterly ignored the multiplayer aspect until I finished the campaign and learned what fate had befallen my hero of Renaissance Rome, Ezio Auditore da Firenze.

Upon venturing into the online portion of the game just this last weekend, I was stunned by how much I enjoyed it. I was so taken, in fact, that I was compelled to write to Monday Musing, a weekly section of the UK Xbox Dashboard. Here is what I sent them last Saturday:

I've hunted Aliens through the deepest, darkest jungles. I've gone one on one against Locust Drones in dark, underground caverns. I've battled Spitters and Tanks among abandoned streets. I've fought the worst of the worst, the stuff nightmares are made from, in games spawned from the darkest, most twisted minds. Despite all this, my heart has never raced as fast as it does after a game of Ubisofts latest offering, Assassins Creed: Brotherhood.

Like most players, I played through the single player campaign first, relishing the fantastic story laid out before me, as well as the beauty of Renaissance Rome. The multiplayer sat on my menu options, untouched. Only once I had exhausted Ezios story did I venture into the world of Abstergos recruits.

And what a world they have crafted! Brotherhoods multiplayer experience is easily one of the most fun aspects of any game I have played in years. Nailing that precision kill and vanishing into a crowd is thrilling. Stalking your prey through busy streets, finger poised over the X button, about to do the deed when suddenly...BAM! Someone shoves a hidden blade deep into your back, and the world spins slowly as your own intended victim walks away, probably none-the-wiser about how close he was to death.

Congratulations to Ubisoft for crafting the most heart-pounding game I have ever played, without the need for scare tactics or shock-horror moments. No monsters, no demons, just other humans that could be as deadly as you hope you are. I'll send you my medical bill when my heart inevitably explodes.

This evening I got home from work to discover that I had 93 messages in my Xbox 360 Inbox, several of which were Friend Invites! Amazingly, the good guys at the Xbox UK offices thought my meager Musing was fit for publication on the Xbox Dashboard! Every Xbox registered to Ireland or the UK could see my thoughts on Assassins Creed: Brotherhood! I was popular!

Thankfully, my faith in humanity was upheld by the generally fantastic Xbox Live community. The vast, vast majority of messages were positive and polite. Some disagreed with my opinions, but thanked me for sharing my thoughts, one gamer summing it up nicely as "To each their own". In the minority by a long shot were those with nothing useful to add to the conversation beyond one-word insults or, in one case "Do you work for Microsoft. If so, why did I get banned?" If you're reading this, I don't know mate. I wish I worked for Microsoft so I could get all the Arcade games I wanted, but I don't, so I can't!

I've been trying to respond to as many of the nicer comments as possible, mostly just thanking them for their comment in a cut and paste format. Those who disagreed in a polite fashion got a response thanking them as well. People of all ages took the time to say hi, so I'm trying to return the favour. There have been a handful of voice messages, which have been odd to listen to. They're all nice, but range from really young kids asking me questions as if I'm some new god, to older gamers who didn't feel the need to fumble over the onscreen keyboard.

This whole strange event has happened at the start of my last week in school before we make the big move to Canada. At least I'll have an interesting story to tell people I meet when we arrive. This, and that time last week when we had dinner in the same restaurant as Dominic Monaghan and Elijah Wood, but that's a story for another post.

On The First Day Of Gearsmas Epic Gave To Me

2010-12-21T21:13:00.001Z

All together now!

"On the first day of Gearsmas Epic gave to me, a concussion from a smoke grenade." Bringing the concuss back for day - Dec 22
2 Flaming Bloodmounts (2 Bloodmounts with Flamethrowers every wave) - Dec 23
3 Extra Clips (3 extra clips of ammo in every weapon) - Dec 24
4 Frag grenades (Frag grenade pickups have 4) - Dec 25
5 Torque Bow Tags (Many rifle creatures carry Torque Bows in Horde) - Dec 26
6 Melee Monsters (All melee creatures Horde) - Dec 27
7 Sires a storming - Dec 28
8 Old School Gears Heads (4 v 4 MP) - Dec 29
9 Boomers Booming (Boomer squads on every wave) - Dec 30
10 Waves of Tickers (all Ticker Horde) - Dec 31
11 Wretches Wretching (Wretches with Shotguns) - Jan 1
Some of the above (1, 3, 4, 8, 10) - Jan

That's 12 days of epic epicness from Epic starting tomorrow! This list was posted on the official forums, so it's not some random guesswork. On top of all this, everyone gets Golden Lancers and Hammerbursts for the duration of the event, which would matter to Claire and I if we didn't already have Gold Lancers thanks to the awesome Stacey (@iFlak) on Twitter. What does interest me is the XP bonus. Starting at 12x and going up one every day to 23x on day 12. Sweet. The last two Achievements I have left to bag in Gears of War 2 are Seriously 2.0 which requires me to kill 100,000 enemies and Veteran Gear, which requires me to hit Level 100. Seriously can be boosted in single player, so I'll get it eventually regardless. But Levels only count in Multiplayer, so XP events are a big thing to me at the moment.

I'm on somewhere around the 30,000 kill mark, but only at Level 77. Hopefully the coming days will boost that a bit closer to the magical 100, and I can earn my wings!

I'm going to be clocking in a lot of time online over the holiday season. Surely the best way to spent the cold winter nights.

Not Getting To Say Thanks

2010-11-25T23:19:00.001Z

In my life, there have been three people I have loved unconditionally. Wait. Let me clarify that. There have been three women that I have loved unconditionally. If we include men in the list, I guest my dad and MacGyver would have to be added to the number.

From the moment I was born, my mom loved me unconditionally. I was the first, so I got it all. For three whole years before my brother arrived I had uncontested motherly love, and even after Philip arrived, mom just found a new supply of love for him, and I still got all the attention and affection I could ever want.

Eleven years ago, I met Claire, and I knew she was something extraordinary. When we started dating a year after that, I knew my life had changed. My love for her has never stalled or diminished in the intervening ten years. Instead it continues to grow and grow and I can't imagine a world without her.

But between mom and Claire, there was another.

When I was still just developing my personality, I spent the first early years of formal education in the town nearest my home. I don't remember much about those years. I hazily recall playing A-Team on the slide with my cousin and some friends. I remember colours and shapes. But most of all I remember feelings. I remember a warmth and a love. I remember being safe, and happy. I felt that I was special, even among all these other kids. I wasn't the fastest, or the strongest. I couldn't paint as well as the others boys, or build as high a block tower. But she still told me I was important. She hugged me if I fell, wiped my tears if I cried and celebrated with me in my victories. She gave me the freedom and the confidence to be myself.

That one teacher helped set me on the path to become who I am today. I cannot even physically describe her in any way right now, even though her smile is burnt into my minds eye. She had an amazing smile. She was my first crush. I loved her her. And she loved me.

I grew up wanting to be a teacher from a very young age. I wanted to give back a little of what I was given. I wanted to make people unsure of themselves feel better about who they are. I wanted to make a positive mark on someones life.

Every day I go to work I think of how much I remember how I felt when I was in preschool and the early years of my schooling. I think of my responsibility to the children I interact with and the influence I am having on their young minds. I try to make every moment a positive one that they can tell their parents when they go home. In decades to came I want them to remember their time in school as a favourable chapter in their lives.

The teacher that influenced who I am today, and the career I have chosen, passed away a few years ago. I remember my mom telling me over the phone. I remember crying. But most of all, I remember an enormous pain in my chest, as if someone was squeezing my heart, because I knew I could never tell her what she meant to me.

I could never say "Thanks".

Things To Be Thankful For

2010-11-25T22:01:00.000Z

On this cold winter night in East Cork, there is really only one thing I need be thankful for.

Friends. Without them, nothing else really matters.

I kind of wanted to leave that post there. End it with that one line. But I can't.

In two short months, Claire and I fly out to the unknown land of Canada.The undiscovered country of the future is one populated with no small amount of apprehension and fear, but also a lot of anticipation and excitement. Before us lies unlimited potential. But behind us lies all the friends we have in Ireland.

My friends have always been important to me. As a Gemini, I'm supposed to be my own best friend, capable of entertaining myself when alone. And my hyperactive imagination and ability to MacGyver toys out of any old rubbish means that generally I can. But I don't like to. I prefer to be around other people. I love being in the company of my friends. As much as I enjoy my job, my favourite day of the week is Sunday, when I get to hang out with everyone for a few hours.

Leaving them all behind is going to hurt. A lot. I know I'm going to miss my mom. I know I'll be homesick as soon as we touchdown in Vancouver, if not as soon as we lift off from Dublin! I know the thought of being so far away will be both thrilling and terrifying. But I know more than that that I will be sick with grief over leaving my friends. No Sunday breakfast, no Rock Band 3 parties, no boardgame afternoons.

And so, I cease waffling on and give thanks to you, the people who put up with me. You've made my 12 years in Cork a wonderful chapter of my life that I will never forget. You've been part of my life for almost half of my time on this earth.

Thanks.

I Know Of No Reason

2010-11-05T21:53:00.000Z

Continuing my tradition in celebration of a man who tried to blow up the British Parliment.

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I know of no reason
Why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t'was his intentTo blow up King and Parliament.
Three-score barrels of powder below
To prove old England's overthrow;
By God's providence he was catch'd
With a dark lantern and burning match.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, let the bells ring.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!

One Decade

2010-10-21T22:55:00.002+01:00

Ten years ago today, Claire made me the happiest person on the planet, and by some miracle I've managed to lie, cheat and steal my way past her better senses and keep her to myself all this time! I don't have access to any photos from back then (I don't think compact, portable photography devices existed back then. We were still battling dinosaurs and zeppelins!), but here's a select few from over the years. Special thanks to Jp's Flickr account for sharing the first one and Karens account for sharing the second. We'd been together a year already at the time the first one was taken. Goes to show how important having a camera is. So many incredible memories, lost forever. So many others captured in time.

Aw... Ain't she amazing?

Oh god! Oh god, my ears! Do they still look like that! Oh God! I'm never going out without a hat again. We look so young. Claire looks incredible! Whatever did she see in me?

She has always been there for me when I most needed a shoulder to lean on...

How we broke the news to Claire parents. Subtle like a brick.

Our special day. We robbed our friends of so much partying by eloping, but we really had a wedding we'll never forget, even if no-one else got to share the memory.

I find it difficult to comprehend the fact that it's been ten years. I lived them, with Claire, and I still have difficulty thinking about how long that is. It doesn't feel like that. I doesn't feel like I've spent one third of my existence with her. It feels like things have only just begun. Every morning I wake up and thank God I have her. She's the only one that would put up with me.

I love you, Claire Ryan. Always.

Update: Read Claire's side of the story here!

How Far Is Too Far?

2010-08-18T16:37:00.001+01:00

I'm playing catchup today with Star Wars: The Clone Wars, the CG cartoon series due to start it's third season soon. I loved the first season, chewing through the entire set in a matter of days, but I waited until season two was finished before really starting in on that one.

I have to say I love the clones! Every one of them is voiced by Dee Bradley Baker (met him once), and every one of them is awesome. I've always been a fan of the clone armour designs. I love the addition of colour to the otherwise stark white body suits of the galaxies elite troopers. Having an entire series that uses clones in almost every episode is just too much fun for me to watch.

The action in this version of the Star Wars universe is a pleasant trade-off between what we see the live action actors do in the movies and the crazy, super over-the-top antics of the earlier Clone Wars animated series by Genndy Tartakovsky. I never really got into that series. It was just too crazy and far from what we had seen in the movies. But this CG version has fantastic moments of action and combat, stunning lightsabre duels and mesmerising space battles, without sacrificing the impression that these warrior monks could really do this.

And it's surprisingly dark at times. People die, and not just the unnamed clones. Jedi are electrocuted to death, colonies are wiped out by the Trade Federation and, in the episode I have on while writing this, we see flame-throwers being used on sentient bug creatures. Evil, Separatist bug people, but sentient none-the-less.

Which brings me to why I started this, all to show off this one, 60 second scene. In the Star Wars universe, I have always gotten the impression that the Jedi were just good. Through and through. They would never sacrifice their ideals to achieve a goal. The Sith and bad, the Jedi are good. Sith use Force Lightning, Jedi use Force Push. That kind of thing. And it is why I absolutely love this series. Here, even the Jedi are not beyond forcing information out of a prisoner of war to get what they need.

A Sketchy Post

2010-07-24T16:31:00.001+01:00

Two weeks ago I finally got to put up all my sketches from Comic Con 2008. My awesome sketchbook is one of my most prized possessions, and filled with incredible art and signatures from the most amazing people. As well as the complete Flickr Set, I also created a nifty video showcasing the sketches, for my own pleasure.

Maulers And Grinders And Butchers, Oh My!

2010-07-24T10:41:00.002+01:00

Last week I saw the movie of the year, if not decade. Inception is simply a stunning piece of work that will be debated for years to come. I think anyone coming out of the cinema were wondering what kind of strange and unusual dreams they would be having that night. I for one, had a normal, peaceful nights sleep.

Last night, however, I did have a wacky dream, but it was not because of a movie.

San Diego Comic Con is running this weekend. You may remember me freaking out over it two years ago as I was there myself. However, I can't be there this year, and the creators of the Gears of War series decided to cheer me up while I sat at home. While SDCC is running all modes in Gears of War 2 have a twenty XP multiplier!! Nice, but not the best thing.

Horde mode has long been my favourite thing about Gears 2. It was the first game to popularise the concept of a team of players up against waves of AI enemies, and still remains my favourite. I love getting a group of friends together to stomp some tickers, drones and friends. Except this weekend, things are different.

Waves one through nine are the sole territory of the Boomer Family, a terrifying collection of Maulers, Grinders, Boomshots, Butchers and Flamers, and even then I think I might have left out one. Wave ten is left to the terrifying power of the blood thirsty Bloodmounts, which are hard enough to kill in a normal game and damn near pants-wettingly impossible in the numbers onscreen this weekend.

All this results in a lot of frantic screaming and running from the players and a lot more laughing and having a good time. It also caused me to have a nightmare last night. As is usual, I remember only snippets of it, but I do remember running through a large room in a mansion (not the Mansion map in the game), ducking behind chairs to avoid the Grinder in the room. Man, those things are huge.

Anyway, thanks Epic Games. You've crafted a wonderful experience made better by a terrifying weekend of pain and suffering and bursts of adrenalin. I don't know if my heart can take much more, but I'm off to find out. If I don't blog again in a week, tell my wife I love her and that I'm probably not faking this time, so move me off the couch before I start to smell.

When Last We Left Our Heroes

2010-07-22T12:46:00.001+01:00

After much soul searching and internal monologuing, with a heavy heart I have come to the decision to Fox my Monday Night RPG (To Fox: Verb, to bring to an abrupt stop usually without resolution). In all honesty, this has been coming a while now. I just haven't been feeling the love for the game that I want to as a GM. Where I used to look forward to Monday nights and gaming, it has been a chore for too long. This has nothing to do with my players. It's not you, it's me.

I've been reading a book from my hero, Sir Ken Robinson, called The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything. In it, Sir Ken makes the point that when you are doing something you love, then there is no "work" involved, time passes at a different pace, you can adapt and manage change within whatever you are doing with ease and nothing seems impossible. You are in your Element.

All this made me realise that GMing is not fun for me right now. I am not in my Element. In my last Spirit of the Century game I looked forward to each game night. My brain was filled with ideas and I relished the opportunity to be actively creative and exercise my mind on the go as the players repeatedly screwed up my perfectly laid plans. I didn't know what was going to happen next week, but it didn't bother me. The players controlled the flow of the game to some extent, and I simply had to come up with the connecting pieces to join the end of one game to the start of the next.

With my current game, I just don't feel the same ability within myself. I find myself "sending in the ninjas" far too often just to stall things, or to drag out the evening until people go home. I've always enjoyed out-of-game conversations at the gaming table, as I feel that game night is as much a chance for people to get out and hang with friends as it is for them to solve the latest adventure. But when I'm looking forward to just hanging out with my players and having those out-of-game conversations over playing the actual game, I know that something is not right.

In my previous campaign I was happy with the twists and turns I had the story take. I never second guessed myself about how I did something in a game. In this game, I am constantly regretting how I played a scene. "Oh, I should have done this, I should have used him, I could have made them appear, I shouldn't have played it like that." I don't feel the same confidence in my own abilities.

Maybe I made my world too big? In my previous campaign it was just 1920's Earth. Here we have eight other planets and various hidden locations. I had this grand idea for each planet, a system for travelling between them (robbed wholesale from a sci-fi series), at least two important NPCs on each world, and even some threads of what each NPC might want. But it was too much. I didn't know how to handle it, or, maybe, I did, but I just lost interest. I hadn't enough of it written down, or solidly plotted out. But then, I had virtually nothing written down in my first campaign, just single word ideas, a sentence here or there and some stuff bookmarked in Firefox.

In the end, all that matters is that I'm not happy with the level of quality I'm bringing to the table as GM. I hereby hand off our own little Monday Night Gaming to anyone that wants it. We have a set of enthusiastic players who deserve a GM to match.

Right now, I need a cookie.

And so, we end tonights final episode of "Across The Stars" as our heroes dangle precariously from the edge of the asteroid with the villainous Dr. Apathy sneering overhead. From everyone here at KWRYN, we thank you for listening, and remember, always "Shoot for the stars!"

A Story From Two Years Ago

2010-07-09T02:56:00.003+01:00

This story actually starts almost three years in 2007. Mike Wieringos sudden and tragic death in August of that year was a shock to me. I was a huge fan of his work and followed his blog which he updated regularly. He had posted on a Friday, wishing everyone a good weekend, and no-one knew that he'd be gone from us before he could post again.

Through his good friend and regular collaborator Todd Dezago I had managed to get hold of a commemorative sketchbook done for Mike, which arrived just a week or two before I left for the US.

Flashforward to the Friday evening of SDCC 2008. It's 5:30 and people are starting to pack up as the hall closed at 6. I ask Claire to just take one more walk through Artists Alley before we leave while it's nice and quiet.

Wandering through I happen onto a table with some very nice art laid out, and the artist is relaxing behind it all chatting to a girl.

"I know it's late" I said, "but I was wondering if I could buy one of your sketchbooks and get a quick sketch." That was how I got a lot of my sketches. Most of the artists had sketchbooks for sale and if you bought one there was a page at the back for a quick sketch. I asked them to do the sketch into my sketchbook instead, which was roughly the same size, not some huge A4 monstrosity.

"No problem! I'd love to. Who do you want?"
"Oh, it's late, and I'm sure you're tired. Pick someone you enjoy drawing and can sketch without too much work."
"Fair enough," he replied, checking out the cover. "You like Marvel then? I've always been a fan of Juggernaut. Is he ok with you?"
"Perfect."

And so James "Bukshot" Bukauskas started on his quick pencil sketch of Cain Marko's super powered alter ego. Claire marveled at his work that was on the table and I started to leaf through his sketchbook.

"Cool. Ninja Turtle. Ha! Thundercats. Woah. G.I. Joe Dreadnok." And then I turned a page and went silent. Claire spotted the change first.
"What is it" she asked.
"This sketch. I know this. I got this just before we left in a book for Mike Wieringo."

James looked up from his sketch.

"Yeah. I don't generally draw stuff for things like that, but Mike was a nice guy. He was a great artist. I wish I'd met him."

I'm not ashamed to say that my eyes started to water up a little looking at that sketch. It was a black and white piece with Spider-Man crouched atop a No. 2 HB pencil saying "Thanks Mike". James and I got talking about Mike then, and our conversation just ran on.

Somehow we got on to happier subjects and we mentioned that after San Diego we were heading to Las Vegas to get married. James looked at the girl behind the table and they both laughed! Turned out the girl was his girlfriend, and they were planning on getting married in Las Vegas later that year!

By the time Claire and I said our good-byes, I felt like we were long time friends. James and his girlfriend were so incredibly nice, and the short, quick, easy five minute sketch of Juggernaut that James had started turned into my favourite sketch in the entire book, not only because of how awesome it is, but also because of the story that goes with it.

If you ever see this James, I hope you and your wife are having a wonderful life together, and I want you to know that I will always be eternally grateful for the time you gave to Claire and I on that Friday of Comic Con in 2008. You deserve every happiness and success. God bless you.

Meet Ashka

2010-06-30T11:47:00.001+01:00

This is Ashka. Her likes include getting brushed with her favourite comb, getting petted and rubbed, falling asleep in my lap, playing with pieces of denim, getting attention. Her dislikes are seemingly limited to fleas and having to take showers with me.

She is as adorable as her photographs make her out to be, and since her shower and flea treatment, she is looking much cleaner and healthier than when we first got her. We bathed her in the sink on her first night here, and it helped, but not by much. Yesterday morning I got some kitty-friendly shampoo and decided to give her a shower to really clean her. Thinking ahead, I put on a pair of my lifeguard swim shorts and then, thinking a bit more about those kitty claws, I added a t-shirt to my shower-wear.

She cried the entire time, and I know she felt suddenly betrayed. I had to hold her several times to lather in the shampoo, and then to rinse her off with the shower head. She climbed around my t-shirt onto my shoulder and back, mewing in my ear "Why? Why are you doing this? What did I do?" I felt so sorry for her. Her wet fur made her look miserable, and she was noticeably shivering, even in the warm shower water. I made it as fast as possible, then dried her off. Once I had myself dried as well, I took her into the living room, cradled her in my lap and combed her until she was dry and warm. It took a while to get her to her fluffy self, but a lot less just to get her purring. She was still shivering when she started to purr and fall asleep.

She's forgiven me since. When she wants attention, she will pester me until I let her sit in my lap. She's not allowed in the living room if we're not there, so at night and when we're shopping, Ashkas territory is the hallway and bathroom. When she does get to stay in the living room, she loves sleeping behind my PC, as in the second photo above, and she seems to really enjoy the keyboard. Regardless of where I leave it, she'll walk on it, sit on it, scratch herself on it, purr and mew for attention on it. She's been typing messages to Claire, and teaching me all the shortcut keys.

Right this second she's lying in my lap, clawing at my arm, so I'm going to finish up here and give her some love and attention and get a pack of band-aids for my wrist. Later.

The Differences Between Cats And Dogs

2010-06-29T12:38:00.000+01:00

When you tell a dog to stop doing something, eventually he will learn not to do that.

When you tell a cat not to do something, eventually she will learn not to do that while you're watching.

In Response To Your Question...

2010-06-28T01:54:00.003+01:00

My taste in music has never been in line with the other kids of my social circle. In secondary school I enjoyed the musical stylings of Garth Brooks and Bryan Adams. The second through seventh CDs I ever bought were Garth Brooks. It was a box set. The first had been the soundtrack to Grosse Pointe Blank.

Anyway, the point is, I've always enjoyed music that isn't exactly topping the charts in Ireland. I don't think "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" counts, as even Bryan Adams hates that song now from what I've heard.

A while ago I discussed my amazing discovery that the Xbox 360 is female. This accurate assumption is based on the fact that she can multitask, playing games and music at the same time! While describing the life changing effects this revelation had on me, I casually mentioned that I was now used to playing games listening to such artists as Chesney Hawkes and Hanson. Amongst the hundreds of comments that followed this controversial and groundbreaking blog post, my good friend Lynn questioned "Hanson AND Chesney Hawkes? Did you buy them ironically". I shall now explain.

Chesney Hawkes is easy. "I Am The One And Only" is a guilty love of mine. At home, when Claire is still at work, I love singing Chesneys one hit wonder at the top of my lungs... or, at least, slightly above an inaudible murmur.

Hanson is a little more difficult. For well over a decade I joined any sane minded individual in cringing at the sound of an "mmm-bop" or the sight of a pack of long, blond haired males. The mere mention of Hanson was enough to make me laugh. And Claire agreed with me.

Until last year when someone mentioned them in one of the many, many blogs she reads. More specifically, they mentioned a particular documentary series made by the band themselves called Strong Enough To Break. The entire thing is up on YouTube by the boys themselves in an epic series of 12 posts! It is well worth watching, telling the story of how Hanson evolved from the teenyboppers they were at the time of their breakout number one hit to the pop rock grownups they are today.

Claire spent a fair length of time telling me and anyone who would listen how cool Hanson suddenly were, but we all ignored her. Then she got hold of the latest two albums, 2004's Underneath, and 2007's The Walk and got them onto her iPod. Thus followed an unavoidable exposure to the works of Hanson on any car journey that lasted longer than three minutes.

Not that it actually took that long. I found myself humming along to the tracks before we had left city limits. Penny and Me quickly became one of my favourite tracks to listen to while walking, cooking, or, yes, even playing Xbox. Crazy Beautiful, Misery and Georgia are also fantastic tracks, but honestly, it's just trying to pick from an incredible bunch. There are few artists, Messers Brooks and Adams included, that have entire albums that I enjoy listening to. Hanson almost has two. I leave out the last track from Underneath as it includes a hidden track, causing it to also include five minutes of silence. Annoying if you have your iPod in your back pocket and would rather not have to fish it out to move onto the next track.

In the end, music is for your soul. It needs to be felt within you, not just listened to. As much as MMMBop reminds me of teeny-boppers and terrible taste, Hanson makes me smile, hum, sing, and dance (when no-one's looking). Their stuff won't be for everyone, but it deserves to be heard by a lot more people than it is currently. Give them a chance. Listen to their most recent works. If you don't like them, that's fine. Just don't ignore them based on a single from 1997. Instead, try out their latest single "Thinking 'Bout Somethin'" from their newest, just released album, Shout It Out.

I have no excuse for Chesney Hawkes. Sorry.

Secrets Revealed

2010-06-24T10:17:00.002+01:00

For weeks everyone knew. But no-one told me. No-one let it slip, or even drop a vague hint that suggested what the big secret might have been. After, everyone asked if I knew, if I even could have guessed. I really didn't. I knew it must have been amazing if everyone was so paranoid about spoiling it for me. Plus, I had been told that the "wrath of Claire" would be great on he who so much as hinted towards what it might be.

When the day finally rolled around, I was impressed to see how many people turned up. Were they here for me, or to finally see whatever this thing was? Probably a bit of both, but more of the latter! Honestly, I was distracted by babies for the afternoon to care. My day was already looking terrific before most people had even turned up!

Claire arrived home and bundled something into the spare room, causing everyone to head in that direction one by one. They all returned to the room smiling broadly, telling me I was going to "freak" when I saw it.

At some arbitrary time of her choosing, when the majority of people were in attendance, Claire made me face away from the door and brought in my birthday present. The following is a video account of my speechless reaction.

Special thanks to Quinn for recording that moment.

I was truly awed. Never in a million tries would I have guessed this. Ok, maybe a million. After exhausting "A comic-book Spider-Man costume" and "a six pack of Vanilla Coke", I might have stumbled onto this as a possibility. But I certainly didn't think of it before my birthday. In the past, Claire had talked about upgrading my digital camera, but I had that guess shot down when one person who knew the details told me she had to look up what the gift was because she hadn't a clue if it was cool or not. While she may not be the most technologically minded of people, I was pretty confident that she knew what a digital camera was.

But this?!? This was amazing! The Master Replicas Rocketeer Helmet, licenced by Disney and limited to 2000 pieces. I have number 243. It is better than anything I could have imagined, though a six pack of Vanilla Coke does come a close second.

So many people chipped in to get me this. I don't even know who exactly, but if you're reading this, then "Thank You!" You made my 30th birthday a very memorable one. I have no idea how I'm going to get the thing to Canada, but it sure ain't staying here stored away in some wardrobe!

Finally, if anyone has photos from the evening, I'd really like to post them on my Flickr account to share them with everyone. I'd really appreciate if you emailed them to me, or gave me them next time we meet. Thanks. You guys are the best!

Thank Ya Kindly, Ma'am

2010-06-24T00:56:00.002+01:00

Let me tell you the tale of the Ryan Family Kids.

It all started way back in the halcyon days of 1998 when the eldest Ryan, young, dashing Denis moved to Cork to attend college. Instead of returning home once his education had been completed, he remained there for the next twelve years, finding a lovely Limerick girl that didn't stab him and "hooking up with her", as the kids call it today. And so began what would be called in the family history books as "The Great Exodus". In 2001, his brother Philip moved to college in Limerick. He then fled to the great land down under, Australia in 2006 or so, from where he has yet to return. The youngest of the Ryans wished to work with animals, and so, following her dream, Margaret-Ann moved to England to study in Bristol. Stephen, the youngest of the three brothers, finding himself at home with nothing to do, decided that the best thing for him was to pack up his Xbox and move to New Zealand, the land of grass and sheep. So, rather like home then.

Suddenly realising he was the only one of the Ryan Kids left in Ireland, Denis looked at where he was. He had a job he loved, but the pay wasn't great. He had, without a shadow of a doubt, the best friends in the entire world. But the itchy feet that had befallen his younger siblings had now afflicted him. Denis' wife too, the fair and beautiful Claire, had an urge to travel, brought on by a combination of poor management at work and poorer management in the nations government. Together, they made a pact. Canada would be their destination. A land rich in many things, but three above all others: opportunity, trees and endless wilderness to dispose of the bodies of their enemies.

Back on the family land in Killea, the people of the village jokingly questioned of the Ryan Kids mother. "What did you do Kathleen? They've all left". Smiling, she shook her head and claimed she did not know. But she did know. She had taught them love and care, compassion and courage, faith and the belief in a better world. She had shown them glimpses of how incredible that world can be, and encouraged them to be free, to live and to explore.

And so, one by one, they traveled to the four corners of the globe to spread her lessons to everyone they met.

And the world lived happily ever after.

Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Look!

2010-06-23T23:24:00.012+01:00

A few weeks ago I was enjoying a cheese burger and chips in Supermac's when a father and daughter came in and ordered.The father then picked up the free newspaper from the counter and sat in the kiddies section, opening the paper and reading up on the latest reasons why we are all doomed to a meaningless existence void of any hope or joy.

The daughter decided that sitting down to wait for food was much too boring and looked around for something to amuse herself. She was only two or three years old, and it didn't take long for her eyes to fall on Supermac's attractive looking wet floor signage. Google has failed me. I cannot find an image that even resembles the signs Supermac's uses. So here's a quick sketch:

That's a terrible picture. Blurry, poorly lit,
out of focus, asymetrical and the wrong colour.
But it does have the important details.
Edit: Dave found it-
http://bit.ly/bd75Gq

This little girl stood in front of the sign for a few moments before her eyes lit up. She turned, putting her back against the sign, spreading her legs apart and stretching her arms out sideways from her body, mimicking the plastic man. But she still wasn't happy. She looked side to side at each of her arms, then turned her neck further to look at the yellow sign behind her. Realizing what she needed to do, she pointed her right index finger up and her left index finger down. Smiling brightly, she looked at her arms and the sign again, now happy with her work.

Turning, she called her father: "Daddy, daddy, daddy! Look! Look what I did! Dad! Daddy. Daddy. Dad."

Without looking up from his paper, her father replied dismissively: "That's lovely dear."

The little girl put put her arms down and returned to the table to start eating the chips that had just arrived.

I pray that, when I have kids, no matter how busy I am, I will never ignore my childrens calls for my attention. Those moments are fleeting, and will never happen again. They are unique and special, and as a parent, they are all yours if you want to enjoy them.

Preschool Teacher By Day, Movie Editor By Night

2010-06-23T22:49:00.003+01:00

As we reach the end of another school year, I find myself once more stressing out over things I know will be fine and work out easily in the end. Mostly, it's the video we put together using all the photos we took during the year to show parents all the work their kids did and how utterly adorable they are. Except... well... go back and read the last sentence, starting at "mostly" and replace "we" with "I".

I've done this every year that I've been working in the preschool, and every year I run into new problems. The first year it was all the teething issues. Video files not playing nice with the software, having to find appropriate codex's to edit proprietary video camera movie files (oh, while I'm on that subject: Fuck you Sony), recording too much background noise and then having to try to clean up the audio as best I could, and many, many more. The second year was more of the same, but with the added stress of having to one-up myself from the previous year, coupled with how attached to the group I had gotten. It was the first time I had to let go kids I had been teaching for two years, and they were an amazing bunch of kids.

This years problems started and finished with Windows Movie Maker. In past years I have had the luxury of using advanced, expensive, professional and complicated software to help edit or re-encode the video. This year, however, may be the last year that I do this, if plans fall into place (See future blog), and the preschool manager wants to be able to do this herself next year. The preschool manager is, however, very computer illiterate, and advanced, expensive, professional and complicated software to help edit or re-encode the video is far, far beyond her abilities.

So I decided to limit myself to three programs. The bulk of the work was done between Movie Maker, Windows free built-in basic movie editing tool, and Picasa, the awesome, free and simple-to-use photo editing tool. Let it be said here that I love Picasa. It is far from a professional tool, but it's great for the amateur photographer who doesn't really care too much about the final product. And it can produce very slick looking video compilations of your photos in a widely accepted format with zero hassle. But enough ass-kissing, back to the point. The third and final program was a simple and free video converter program I needed to convert the video files we shot using the camcorder from a proprietary video format to a Movie Maker readable format (once again: Fuck you Sony).

I could do everything I needed to do, and in record time, using only these three programs. AVC would re-encode what I needed to, Picasa would put each sections set of photographs together into a beautifully presented clip, and then Movie Maker would add the soundtrack and produce a single, 12 minute long movie to be shown on this Friday. Except... It didn't.

No matter how often I tried, Movie Maker would not produce a movie. It got to 25% every time and then froze, the "Estimated time remaining" figure slowly climbing upwards as no further progress was had. After three failed attempts at getting it to work, I eventually produced each section individually. Picasa had produced three photo compilations for me, and those, along with the video segment of the children talking about what they want to be when they grow up, meant I had four sections that needed a music track. So I produced four segments of photos with soundtrack in Movie Maker, each one working perfectly, then I put them all together and produced a completed movie. I have no idea why Movie Maker refused to edit the segments together and put the soundtrack on at the same time, but happily edit the four segments with the soundtrack pre-attached without complaint.

Either way, it's all done. I set the whole thing up and showed it to the preschool manager today and we both got all teary-eyed. That's why I don't have my projector or Xbox here tonight and instead I have time to blog. They're in school waiting for Friday. I would normally wait until Thursday to bring all that stuff up, but I'm going to a friends wedding tomorrow instead. Two days left in school, and I take one off! Ha!

To Blog Or Not To Blog

2010-06-23T21:57:00.000+01:00

The last few weeks have been kind of busy for me, not all productive though. Red Dead Redemption has eaten up a lot of time I hadn't allocated to gaming thanks to it's surprisingly great gameplay and amazing story. I've been meaning to blog about lots of things. Short posts on random observations, reviews of games and most importantly, a proper blog about my birthday that I promised over a month ago. I've wanted to give that one the care and attention it deserves, not for me, but for all the people that made it so damn awesome!

Tonight I have no projector, and no Xbox. Expect to be blog-bombed.

Movie Night: The Thomas Crown Affair

2010-06-09T17:50:00.000+01:00

In honor of the astonishingly low tech theft of up to $1.27 million worth of paintings from the Paris Museum of Modern Art, we're showing the 1999 remake of The Thomas Crown Affair starring Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo. While Mr. Crown only steals Monets "San Giorgio Maggiore at dusk", the actual heist two weeks ago got away with five paintings by Picasso, Matisse, and Braque!

One Awesome Day

2010-05-29T03:10:00.000+01:00

Thanks to a lot of amazing friends, I had an unforgettable birthday. How awesome was it? It started at 5pm Friday evening when the first guests arrived and ended just minutes ago, at 3am Saturday morning.

Longer post to follow. For now, bed.

Three Hundred And Thirty

2010-05-22T12:12:00.006+01:00

Happy anniversary to me!! No. Not "Denis me"; "One Terrific Day me"! My blog turns 300 with this post.

Three hundred posts. Wow. I never thought I'd do it. And in a fraction over four years as well. Not bad. It's nice to think I stuck with this thing, and continue to do so. I've had a good time, and had a lot of readers. My Google Analytics stats tell me that there are loads of people all over the world stumbling into my little piece of the world wide web. Here are some interesting facts from Google about my blog:

I average around 20 page visits per day, peaking in the last 30 days with 31 views in a single day.
As I write this, there have been 699 page views, which suggests that the first person to read this on the site could be the 700th viewer! Congratulations, whoever you may be.
The vast majority of visitors are from the United States, at 180 visits. Ireland comes second, at 62, almost a third of the US! Inexplicably, India, Brazil and Germany are in my top ten! Hi there countries I've never been to or written about!
For the longest time my post titled "I Miss World Of Warcraft" was at the top of the pageviews leader board, but my recent review of Splinter Cell: Convictions co-op story mode has blasted to the top and seems to be gaining speed. The single player review is also ahead of WoW already. I should do more game reviews. Apparently, they make good reading.
Google sends me almost 50% of my total traffic. Thanks Google. Thoogle.

Interesting and true!

This all happens at an oddly appropriate time as well. Next Friday, just six days after One Terrific Day turned 300, its writer turns 30. I am living my last week in my 20's. Am I worried? No. I don't feel 30. I certainly don't act 30. The friends I have are the best I've ever had. I love my job. I am married to the most extraordinary person on the planet, and the only one that will have me. I am healthy, happy and hungry... oh. I should probably get some food.

Before I go, there will be fun and games at my place next Friday, the 28th. Of this I am aware. As the 28th is the actual date of my arrival to this pitiful planet, it will probably involve cake and lots of Rock Band. Everyone is invited. Everyone. Bring friends. I don't care if I don't know them. If they can 100% the guitar solo in The Final Countdown on Expert, then they're welcome. It should be a blast.

What I am not aware of is what will be happening on Saturday, the 29th. There will be something. Claire has been organizing it. You will have to contact her or any of the people she has informed for further details. Do not ask me. All I know is that a small amount of driving will be involved, though there should be lots of room for car-pooling.

See you all soon!

Movie Night Returns

2010-05-19T20:10:00.000+01:00

Movie Night is back!! Iron Man and Batman team up in a story of sex, murder and mystery. Thursday, 20th May, from 7:30pm. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is one of my favourite movies. Join us if you're around and interested.

And the Cow Goes Moo! And The Bird Goes...

2010-05-08T21:15:00.000+01:00

Tweet.

@quaidrayn now exists on Twitter. You can choose to follow me, but really, I can't imagine I'll be updating often. It was really just to follow what Claire is saying about me behind my back. I've posted three times already, but that may well be it for the year.

Speaking of Claire, my wonderful wife is, as some of you know, a writer of large chunks of text without drawings to illustrate the physical action. I think they still call them novels. She has had a blog about writing and all sorts of things that interest her for some time now, but only recently decided to open it to anyone to read.

Taleweaving is a much more cerebral that my effort at contributing toward the unified intelligence of the internet. Her breath of knowledge and interests in topics that include politics and technology are clear in her writings, far flung from my bashing at the keyboard about video games and comic book characters.

Eduard Khil

2010-05-08T18:49:00.000+01:00

Most of you may not recognize the name, but I'd take a fair guess that if you spend a resonable amount of time surfing the information super highway, you've heard his voice by now. Eduard is the man responsible for this music video, from way back in 1976!

I learned about this through following the exploits of geek superstar Wil Wheaton, who enjoyed performing a reenactment of the video onstage in front of PAX East with fellow geeks Paul and Storm.The homage was funny, but the original was hilarious. I don't mean to suggest I'm laughing at Eduard. He has a stunning vocal range, but, after 34 years the video has an old-world quirkiness to it that seems to make everyone that sees it smile.

But the story continues. Eduard has now put forward a challenge to the Internet! He asks everyone watching to... well, just see:

Now before I get complaints, I know the subtitles claim the recording was from 1966, not '76, but Wikipedia says '76, and I've seen that in a few other places as well related to the video. Besides, it looks like something from the 70's anyway.

So will you be joining him? Will any of my readers take up the challenge and write lyrics to the tune? Even just a verse? I think it would be hilarious to be part of this. It's the newest internet meme, fast becoming as widespread as Rickrolling. Be a part of history.

A Machine Full Of Surprises

2010-05-08T18:20:00.000+01:00

Claire was on a serious cleaning buzz this morning and we spent a good deal of the day tidying the spare room, throwing out a bag or two of waste paper, as well as sorting out a bunch of stuff that just needs to be gotten rid of, preferably for a small monetary exchange. I have boxes of comics that I don't need, mostly random single issues or stories I didn't like. We both have more books than we need. Most of the DVDs in my substantial collection are just gathering dust thanks to living in the 21st Century, and the joy of a broadband connection. Incredible!

But after hoovering the house, we were done and dusted by half three. I sat back, flicked on the Xbox and started shifting about in the menus. My 360 has been networked to my PC for years now. It's how I watch a lot of my media, on our projector screen through the Xbox rather than on the relatively tiny PC monitor. Enormous!

But today I clicked into the Music tab on the dashboard. I expected it to be empty. I have a lot of media shared to the Video tab, but I don't remember sharing any music. Instead, I found my entire collection there, as well as any Playlists I had set from the PC. This probably comes as no surprise to the majority of you, but it was a shock to me. I could suddenly play what little amount of music I do have on my PC through my 5.1 surround sound speakers. Amazing!

After spending a stupid length of time playing with the visualizer (like, more than one song!) I decided to test firing up a game to see what happens. As soon as the game started to load, the music cut out. Ah well. Fair eno- But wait! The music came back! And when I tried to load from the menu into the game, the music stopped again, but came back once the level had loaded! Fantastic!

Suddenly, much to my delight and Claires amusement, I was playing Splinter Cell: Conviction with Hanson providing the soundtrack. I was killing terrorist scum to the tune of "Penny and Me". I think the most appropriate song to pop up on the playlist while I ran a level has to be a toss-up between Chesney Hawks "I Am The One And Only" and Foo Fighters "DOA". Surreal!

Even after owning an Xbox 360 for over three years, it still manages to surprise me. Penis!