this time in the form of a full survey
plus, there's the ongoing discussion of Why Uru over here
Monday, August 18, 2008
Thursday, August 07, 2008
Getting grilled by a constituent.
So, Mr. Maybe President! What's your policy on recess? What are you going to do about school lunches? And I think every little girl should get a pony!
Thursday, July 31, 2008
pulled from My Mysterium
since My Mysterium is misbehaving...
This was a triumph!
I'm making a note here:
"HUGE SUCCESS!!"
It's hard to overstate
my satisfaction.
Yeah, that. I haven't got the mental fortitude at the moment to express just how much GLORY AND WIN (as the kiddies say) this Mysterium was made of. But, I wanted to get a few thank-yous out before I turned anymore jelloy.
LaReh is my new Favorite Burger King Delivery Man. thank you so much for looking after me.
Many many thanks to KonDor for his kind words and support during my Saturday afternoon emotional reboot.
Simon Bitiddle is the Eleri Peanut Gallery. Witty, clever, an UTTER smartass (There is proof!) And one of the most selfless, generous, caring people I have ever had the honor of meeting. Thank you so much, hon.
Wolfie, for watching over us and giving us beautiful weather for the weekend.
EricL, as always, a snugglebunny and dear, dear friend.
Al's little bro, for his beautiful singing... even if he did try to put my teeth out in the pool.
Seekrit message for Odo: Silly Grin, heeheehee!
River, you rock my socks in more ways than I can count.
Memiki for being a beautiful person, full of wonderful hugs, and a warm heart. And cookies!
For the long-suffering Oscy, much love.
For 'nat. Dude. (Do0od!) You rock. We rock. Yup, we're not married!
For my beloved ozho, my Blade...for staying home with the Mousie, even though we both deeply, deeply wanted you there.
The Melting Pot in Burlington may NEVER BE THE SAME!!! We love them.
Ari, for being the mail box. Him and Keshwyn for shelter and taxiing.
For EVERYONE, thank you for enduring me, for looking after me, for being amazing, wonderful, fun people who came all the way to Boston, just to hang out with 50+ other Myst geeks. This is Uru.
I miss you all. See you next year in SPOKANE!!!
This was a triumph!
I'm making a note here:
"HUGE SUCCESS!!"
It's hard to overstate
my satisfaction.
Yeah, that. I haven't got the mental fortitude at the moment to express just how much GLORY AND WIN (as the kiddies say) this Mysterium was made of. But, I wanted to get a few thank-yous out before I turned anymore jelloy.
LaReh is my new Favorite Burger King Delivery Man. thank you so much for looking after me.
Many many thanks to KonDor for his kind words and support during my Saturday afternoon emotional reboot.
Simon Bitiddle is the Eleri Peanut Gallery. Witty, clever, an UTTER smartass (There is proof!) And one of the most selfless, generous, caring people I have ever had the honor of meeting. Thank you so much, hon.
Wolfie, for watching over us and giving us beautiful weather for the weekend.
EricL, as always, a snugglebunny and dear, dear friend.
Al's little bro, for his beautiful singing... even if he did try to put my teeth out in the pool.
Seekrit message for Odo: Silly Grin, heeheehee!
River, you rock my socks in more ways than I can count.
Memiki for being a beautiful person, full of wonderful hugs, and a warm heart. And cookies!
For the long-suffering Oscy, much love.
For 'nat. Dude. (Do0od!) You rock. We rock. Yup, we're not married!
For my beloved ozho, my Blade...for staying home with the Mousie, even though we both deeply, deeply wanted you there.
The Melting Pot in Burlington may NEVER BE THE SAME!!! We love them.
Ari, for being the mail box. Him and Keshwyn for shelter and taxiing.
For EVERYONE, thank you for enduring me, for looking after me, for being amazing, wonderful, fun people who came all the way to Boston, just to hang out with 50+ other Myst geeks. This is Uru.
I miss you all. See you next year in SPOKANE!!!
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
O.M.G.
US Department of Health and Human Services moves to declare some forms of birth control as 'abortions'.
So, in order to support that Abortion is Bad... they're talking about taking away the ability of women to KEEP FROM GETTING PREGNANT in the first place.
Just...just... AUGH!. There's NO science to support this, no viable evidence for this position, just religious extremism. Good grief, this could have been written by the POPE, rather than a branch of the US Government!
Whatever your views on abortion itself are, the ability of women to control their capacity for pregnancy is a hallmark of society. It gave women the ability to do something else besides spend their lives barefoot and pregnant. To quote a friend:
So, in order to support that Abortion is Bad... they're talking about taking away the ability of women to KEEP FROM GETTING PREGNANT in the first place.
Just...just... AUGH!. There's NO science to support this, no viable evidence for this position, just religious extremism. Good grief, this could have been written by the POPE, rather than a branch of the US Government!
Whatever your views on abortion itself are, the ability of women to control their capacity for pregnancy is a hallmark of society. It gave women the ability to do something else besides spend their lives barefoot and pregnant. To quote a friend:
It's widely accepted that the single most powerful driving force in the liberation of women from thousands of years of being confined to home-and-hearth was the advent of reliable forms of birth control. For the first time in human history, women were able to make their own reasoned choices about when or whether to have children, and that gave them the freedom to do, well, everything else.We've seen the pattern repeat itself all over the world: If you want to empower women, first give them control over their own reproductive choices, then give them access to education - then stand back and watch them bloom.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Ohnoes! An Unpopular Suggestion!
Yours Truly said:
the reply was:
No. Cause there's already two big huge problems in this community; the perception of people having Power Over Others, and Us vs Them. Even in a situation where QA would be appropriate, like a publicly accessable Age, those two problems would come screaming to the fore were there to be a named group of people playing Wonka's Trained Squirels, sorting out the bad nuts.
"Who gave them that authority, what gives them the right, how dare they stifle creativity", and so on; followed by "Well of *course* Harry rejected that Age! Snape built it, and you know Harry just can't be objective there..."
The whole community would descend into the mess. So, if it ever gets to the point that Cyan has to control the 'quality' of what's coming in, and if they needed to 'outsource' that work. Don't let us know who's doing it.
Build some damn good strictures, so people know what's being looked at, even allowing for objectivity, establish an iron clad appeals procedure, but don't paint the targets on people's backs.
balance balance balance balance. At some point, Cyan will have to either supervise themselves, or vest into a group (and dear Maker, may it be an anonymous group of people, known only to Cyan, otherwise the power paranoia will fly) the need to keep crappy Ages and Edits from their IP. Now, what constitutes crap will be up to them, but it'll have to happen.
the reply was:
Oh goodness no. Not another secret group. Wont the crappy accused have the right to know who their crappy accuser is?
No. Cause there's already two big huge problems in this community; the perception of people having Power Over Others, and Us vs Them. Even in a situation where QA would be appropriate, like a publicly accessable Age, those two problems would come screaming to the fore were there to be a named group of people playing Wonka's Trained Squirels, sorting out the bad nuts.
"Who gave them that authority, what gives them the right, how dare they stifle creativity", and so on; followed by "Well of *course* Harry rejected that Age! Snape built it, and you know Harry just can't be objective there..."
The whole community would descend into the mess. So, if it ever gets to the point that Cyan has to control the 'quality' of what's coming in, and if they needed to 'outsource' that work. Don't let us know who's doing it.
Build some damn good strictures, so people know what's being looked at, even allowing for objectivity, establish an iron clad appeals procedure, but don't paint the targets on people's backs.
Parrallel Cautious Optimism
In a large bit of squeeing this morning, I found the news that The ElfQuest Movie is being picked up by Warner. This news makes me howl with glee, havening been an EQ fan for 2 decades now. I met the Elves before I met the D'ni. They have seniority. And I used to pour as much heart into the World of Two Moons as I do Myst now.
The Pinis have been working on the Elfquest Movie for what 10? 12? Many? years now. There's been treatments done, talks of TV, even a Saturday morning cartoon. It's been picked up, and then lost in mergers, and then dusted off a dozen times.
Man, where have we heard that before?
This announcement about EQ, aside from making me happydance around the room, also made me fire off an email to our beloved Mysteriacs, Adrian and Patrick. There is always room for hope. If it takes a decade for some studio to finally see the Myst Movie as worth making, then we'll wait that long.
The Pinis have been working on the Elfquest Movie for what 10? 12? Many? years now. There's been treatments done, talks of TV, even a Saturday morning cartoon. It's been picked up, and then lost in mergers, and then dusted off a dozen times.
Man, where have we heard that before?
This announcement about EQ, aside from making me happydance around the room, also made me fire off an email to our beloved Mysteriacs, Adrian and Patrick. There is always room for hope. If it takes a decade for some studio to finally see the Myst Movie as worth making, then we'll wait that long.
Saturday, July 05, 2008
John McCain- PTSD?
From Sailor Jim:
There's MORE AT THE LINK. It brings up some interesting questions, just about how that generation views mental health in general, let alone the mental health of VietNam veterans.
Should presidential candidates be required to prove mental health, in addition to physical health? At what point would something raise red flags? Would we have caught Reagan's Alzheimer's early then? McCain seems to have been mentally stable through out his political career, but we're also talking about a man who would be the oldest person elected president. Things break as you get older, and mental stability can be a first casualty.
When we learn McCain's running mate, the question of 'do we want #2 running the country' becomes more acute, and not just an abstract, when #1 would be 72 at the time of inauguration.
Okay …. republican presidential candidate John McCain was a POW for five and a half years, enduring - as he’s described it - “brutal torture” that was so horrific that he “broke” and attempted to kill himself. He even has put this in political ads.
Sooooooo, no post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) resulted due to this? Vietnam, shot down, tortured for over five years, attempted suicide, and none of it affected him beyond that? He’s never stated that he ever suffered from (or is still suffering from) PTSD and, as near as I can tell, not one print or broadcast reporter has called him on it. They’ve gone rabidly after politicians for depression, alcohol, drugs, infidelity, illegal immigrant house staff, and stuff they did or said in their high school years, but McCain possibly having a fairly severe emotional disorder is being given a pass?
Somebody get Tom Brocaw down here for me to bitch slap, okay?
There's MORE AT THE LINK. It brings up some interesting questions, just about how that generation views mental health in general, let alone the mental health of VietNam veterans.
Should presidential candidates be required to prove mental health, in addition to physical health? At what point would something raise red flags? Would we have caught Reagan's Alzheimer's early then? McCain seems to have been mentally stable through out his political career, but we're also talking about a man who would be the oldest person elected president. Things break as you get older, and mental stability can be a first casualty.
When we learn McCain's running mate, the question of 'do we want #2 running the country' becomes more acute, and not just an abstract, when #1 would be 72 at the time of inauguration.
Thursday, July 03, 2008
Why?
Why do we fight so hard for Uru?
It can't be just the modeling & sandboxing, there's tons of places to do that.
And it can't be just the social aspect, there's millions of sources for social interaction.
So, with all the other outlets, what is it that makes us grab on to Uru and hold on with the tenacity of homesteaders?
If you had to think of the one core thing, that makes you want to be a part of Uru, and not any of the other MMOs or Virtual Worlds, what is it? What's the seed of the Uru community?
(Discalimer & request: I am using this conversation as seed material for my presentation at the Austin Game Designer's Conference. Please indicate if I have your permission to quote you.)
It can't be just the modeling & sandboxing, there's tons of places to do that.
And it can't be just the social aspect, there's millions of sources for social interaction.
So, with all the other outlets, what is it that makes us grab on to Uru and hold on with the tenacity of homesteaders?
If you had to think of the one core thing, that makes you want to be a part of Uru, and not any of the other MMOs or Virtual Worlds, what is it? What's the seed of the Uru community?
(Discalimer & request: I am using this conversation as seed material for my presentation at the Austin Game Designer's Conference. Please indicate if I have your permission to quote you.)
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Another bit of Wisdom of the Blade
I really think the community needs to embrace The Great Tree of Possibilities 2.0 (like Web 2.0 but different). We need to look at Uru as everything that happens in the community - age creation, fan-fiction, Cyan content, Mysterium, the forums, the websites, etc. Hopefully the official use of the Guilds (Cyan seems to have finally learned that lesson!) will make part of it about the fans as much as the fiction.
It's time for each of us to be the Grower. And I'm happy to browse other people's gardens
Yeahthat. Uru is, always has been, more than a game. It is a 'game' that brings the parts together, but Uru is the gathering of people together.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Is it November Yet?
I've ganked this commentarry, whole cloth, from Blade, because he said exactly what I would have:
This following clip about the place of religion in America from Barack Obama exemplifies why I support Obama and am genuinely excited about him being president. Even if it's just election rhetoric, the fact that the point is being made is absolutely critical.
Here are some choice quotes:
"Democracy demands that the religiously motivated translate their concerns into Universal rather than religion-specific values."
"No matter how religious they may be or not be, people are tired of seeing faith used as a tool of attack."
While some people think this is a secular position, I disagree. This is a truly American position (in the best sense of 'American'), one based off of the fact that the United States is a pluralist society, and that in a pluralist society, every faith matters (even humanism, secularism and atheism), not just one.
And this is a position that is easily born of faith, be it Christian or not.
Watch the video.
This following clip about the place of religion in America from Barack Obama exemplifies why I support Obama and am genuinely excited about him being president. Even if it's just election rhetoric, the fact that the point is being made is absolutely critical.
Here are some choice quotes:
"Democracy demands that the religiously motivated translate their concerns into Universal rather than religion-specific values."
"No matter how religious they may be or not be, people are tired of seeing faith used as a tool of attack."
While some people think this is a secular position, I disagree. This is a truly American position (in the best sense of 'American'), one based off of the fact that the United States is a pluralist society, and that in a pluralist society, every faith matters (even humanism, secularism and atheism), not just one.
And this is a position that is easily born of faith, be it Christian or not.
Watch the video.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
pocket of crisis un-management
I have been remaining mostly calm and collected with answering questions about Wolfie's passing.
Here is what my internal reaction is:
)&(@$^(*Y(_*6(*&^(_@*#$&(_@^$(&%^)GODDAMMIT*@&#^+)
(&@$)(&_(@*$^_(*^@$(_*^@#(_*^(_^$@()&(@#$*^()%#^*
&%@!*SONOFA)&^R$_@(*^_(*^@$(_*^+_@!(&_(*$^*(^*)%@!#_
(*^+)(&*$+)(&(^(^$@)(*^(@$_^BLOODYFUCKINGHELL!)
(&@$)(*&(_@$*&(*_^@#$*(&^@$(_*^(_*@#
we now return you to your regularly scheduled Eleri.
Here is what my internal reaction is:
)&(@$^(*Y(_*6(*&^(_@*#$&(_@^$(&%^)GODDAMMIT*@&#^+)
(&@$)(&_(@*$^_(*^@$(_*^@#(_*^(_^$@()&(@#$*^()%#^*
&%@!*SONOFA)&^R$_@(*^_(*^@$(_*^+_@!(&_(*$^*(^*)%@!#_
(*^+)(&*$+)(&(^(^$@)(*^(@$_^BLOODYFUCKINGHELL!)
(&@$)(*&(_@$*&(*_^@#$*(&^@$(_*^(_*@#
we now return you to your regularly scheduled Eleri.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Monday, June 09, 2008
Realization
None of my accomplishments as an 'adult' has ever been worth the celebration of my family.
This is depressing.
This is depressing.
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Friday, May 30, 2008
Cool Photography, Hawt Photagrapher
Can't get a much better combo than that. GO and check out Joe Decker, then give him shiny stars at the bottom of the page.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Write!
Someone on LJ was inspired by this picture to maybe write something. So I thought, why not put it out there to tickle everyone's brain?
There's the photo... go and write! Get other people to write!
There's the photo... go and write! Get other people to write!
Friday, May 16, 2008
Uru and User Created Content
There is both a legal and a practical issue Cyan would like to resolve in regaing the rights. As Tony Fryman, Cyan Worlds' CEO put it, "Turner holds the rights to the game. Because of that I can't turn these guys (the fans) loose to do their own thing."
After listening to the interview with Miller, we contacted Ricardo Sanchez, VP of Content and Creative Director of GameTap. He sent back (by email from Wendy.Rutherford@turner.com) this reply:
"We have been in discussions with Cyan about the future of Myst Online: Uru Live, and selling the rights back to Cyan is definitely an option.
While there isn't a set dollar amount for this to happen, any agreement would need to be mutually beneficial for both companies."
Fryman said the rights remain with Turner for another two years.
So, this brings up a very important question for the Guild of Writers, and other age builders: Can you wait two years?
If, in two years, the rights revert back to Cyan, they can "let you guys loose" then... or, they can spend a potentially not insignificant amount of money so that UCC can happen sooner.
Which is a harder pill to swallow? Cyan stretching themselves financially at a time that finances are snug, for UCC; or having to keep the UCC 'underground' alive for two years until Cyan has full control?
Is there a legal solution that allows the fan side of UCC to financially contribute to the purchase of rights, while still allowing Cyan to retain the majority of control over UCC?
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