Wanted Readership… I got this…

I’ve been writing in this thing for two odd years I think… I have no readership. I think I’d like to have a readership but I’m even conflicted about this, I don’t know how I’d feel about just anyone stumbling upon what I’ve written, and I definitely don’t need or want their random, illogical, poorly thought out comments. I pretty much know personally everyone who reads this blog… Until a few days ago. I wrote a small blurb on the latest book I had finished, in this case it was Zecharia Sitchins’ second book, if you scroll down you can read the post. Isn’t it minuscule? That post required no thought whatsoever to construct and put up, yet that happens to be the one that grabbed some strangers attention, grabbed it enough that they had to comment on it… Read their comment. Apparently, and this is just a guess, it took them even less thought to reply to my original post than I put into it, no easy feat. Anyone want to coach me on how I respond to it? What do I say? What can I say?

I wanted readers, I didn’t know that to get them I’d have to attack their pet delusions in an off hand manner…

Thoughts on Steampunk

Steampunk is one of those underground genres, it’s like cyberpunk in the early 80’s before Gibson came along and made it mainstream with Neuromancer. It is basically the same ideas as cyberpunk as well except instead of looking into the near dystopic future, it gazes longingly on a a past that never happened. Steampunk is revival Victorian Science fiction, it’s the world of Verne and Wells but with 20/20 hindsight. It’s how luddites wished the future would have happened as opposed to how it did, it’s capping technology with steam engines and early electrick works… It’s very much in its infancy a genre still trying to find its way.

I’ve taken somewhat of a liking to it, I’ve been reading articles on, short stories in it, submerge myself in it on occasions. I haven’t been able to write anything though that could be construed as belonging to the genre… A few times I thought I had something, but no, I worry that the confines of the genre are too limiting for good storytelling. All pieces of the genre I’ve read have been poor things or have reached outside the genre to legitimize themselves (if you can call what some of them have done legitimizing).

If you’re curios to know more just Google the word or you could check out Steampunk Magazine, and e-zine that is specializing in the genre. Brass Goggles is a blog that concerns itself solely with the genre as well. So there you go, knock yourself out

Rocket Slime!

A few days ago I beat SquareEnix’s Rocket Slime, there is more I could do, but I’ve rescued every villager, defeated every tank, and completed the storyline. According to GameFAQs there is more I could do but I’ve never really played video games for the highest score or to get every prize, award, or doo-dad it might offer. I used to ask why this was the case, why the score never bothered me much… I’ve been reading some of the articles over at GameSutra, one specifically is about game design and difficulty, the article opens with a disclaimer about how gaming has changed from it’s beginning, how games were made to eat quarters, lots of them. This is not so much the case anymore as players want to have an experience, more like going to see a movie as opposed to playing a game of pick-up ball with your friends. The list is mostly old arcade games which makes sense as those are the ones that were found in arcades and bars, where people would funnel in coin after coin, there are a few computer games, old CRPGs. The funny thing is I never played an arcade game, for me that was never gaming, story has always been an integral part of gaming for me. The first games I remember playing and truly enjoying were adventure games on the PC, for me gaming has always been about story, about experience. Sure, Sierra and Lucasarts games had scores up on the corner, but they weren’t important. The story was, so when the story ends I’m done…

So what about Rocket Slime? It is a lot of fun. Simple controls, addictive gameplay, and cute endearing graphics, my favorite part? Tank battles where you can shoot yourself and your enemies out of cannons and such, it’s all very silly, and fun. A game I wish I had someone to play it with… You can find it cheap on Ebay, so go get it!

Finished the second Earth Chronicles book

You have to feel sorry for Zecharia Sitchin. I choose to do so at least, because if the man is not overly earnest than he is a charlatan. I’m trying to be optimistic right now so, I’m going with earnest, naive, and uneducated. This is generous on my part, as the man has been uneducated for over 30 years and shows no signs of wanting to correct himself, or reading any of the formal criticism he has received from academics in the fields of linguistics, ancient Egypt, ancient Mesopotamia, physics, astro-physics, I’m not going to keep listing them, it goes on for a while. It took me less than 2 minutes to find Mr. Sitchin’s site and several other sites that debunk his work. I looked at some of them and they have raised real issues that if Sitchin is serious about his work and critical of it he should be answering, of course this isn’t going to happen, as the man is most likely a snake oil salesmen… Wow, it took me only a couple of sentences to get from being sorry for a naive man to cursing the lying scumbag. I’m just like every politician in the entire world, I’ve flip-flopped on an issue, unlike them though I’ve admitted it!

I was skeptical from the beginning, I’d just like to know why the man tried to pass it off as factual, it’d make for great fiction all he had to do was some character development… Maybe it’s either to fleece people when you pretend you’re the keeper of a great secret. What bugs me the most is that his 12 planet was suppose to cross the Earth’s orbit in May of 2003… I don’t recall seeing that in the sky, or the news, or anywhere. Oh, and no advanced aliens either… No comment from him or any of his supporters, hmmmmm….. strange, I’m sure he has some fancy reason why to and that he’ll continue to market his books and ill formed ideas… *le sigh*

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