RPG Called Life

An Into the Woods Movie?

2012-01-31T07:00:00.000-10:00

I recently saw this post on io9 saying that Disney is developing a film adaptation of the musical Into the Woods:

"Disney Bringing Sondheim's Revisionist Fairy Tale to the Big Screen"

I LOVE this musical. I fell in love with it in high school when my brother rented the video recording of the original Broadway cast from our local library (free rental, so we took it out many times). I was slightly obsessed; I wrote a paper on the Baker's Wife for an assignment my senior year. I memorized almost all of the songs (it's a lot of words, believe me). Some time in college, I found the video on DVD and promptly bought it for myself.

The original cast is fabulous. Bernadette Peters and Joanna Gleason are my particular favorites. Seeing the musical live is great, of course (I saw a college production of it, which was pretty good), but if you can find it, I highly recommend the recording of the original Broadway cast. It's just the actors on stage in front of a live audience. No re-staging or anything. But even in that form, it still makes for great viewing on the small screen.

I am mostly happy to hear that they're planning on bringing the musical to the big screen. It's such a great story, with brilliant writing, delightful songs, and hilarious characters, it deserves to reach a larger audience. But I'm also nervous. Some recent stage-musical-to-big-screen adaptations (Chicago, Hairspray) have gone better than others (The Producers, Rent). The director attached to the project is Rob Marshall, who did Chicago, so that's promising. Fingers crossed that he can turn this one into a great success, as well.

If not... At least I can always retreat back to my original cast DVD.

Shit Geeky Girls Say...

2012-01-30T10:34:00.004-10:00

Last week, I came across this awesome video in which Toria (The Toria Show) tells us all the shit geek girls say. It's hilariously true.

She explains that this is all stuff she says, but she assumes other geeky girls may say similar things. She's right. I don't partake in all the realms of geekdom that she references (e.g. comic books, Doctor Who), but enough of these resonated for me that I was laughing very hard.

Yes, female armor is so much skimpier than male armor! I couldn't believe it in SWTOR when my Jedi had heavy armor that left her with a bare midriff. Ridiculous! Then there's the slave girl outfit (luckily only counts as light armor). Obligatory, I suppose. But I've yet to find the slave male outfit.

Picard, hands down!

RPG > FPS.

I'm usually pretty decisive about hair color, but the eye spacing... That's a tricky one. You don't want to spend the whole game thinking "I should have gone one tick closer" every time you see your character's face!

In Baldur's Gate, I definitely did give my fighter/thief more charisma than she needed. I wanted people to like me! What's wrong with that?

I showed this video to my boyfriend, to get a sense of what I really do say vs. just think silently to myself. He laughed particularly hard at the "My character is awesome!" line, and when she sings the Lord of the Rings Shire theme, plus the bit from "Still Alive". I sing those a LOT.

The funniest bit for me, though, came right at the beginning. "Did I ever tell you I speak Elvish?" The day I saw this video, earlier that morning I had just told a friend of mine that I speak (a little) Elvish. GET OUT OF MY HEAD, TORIA!

My blog's first GIVEAWAY!

2012-01-25T10:21:00.006-10:00

On most days, Commander Shepard doesn't have time for jewelry. An array of guns strapped to her back are all the accessories she needs. But occasionally she'll find herself on a mission where she has to dress up--in the Afterlife VIP lounge, or an extravagant party on Bekenstein, for example. That's why I made this N7 bracelet: because even in formal wear, Shepard deserves to be recognized for the elite special forces marine* she is.

I made one of these beaded bracelets for myself last summer, and now, in honor of the upcoming release of Mass Effect 3, I'm giving one away! Yes, the release of Mass Effect 3 is still over a month away (March 6 or thereabouts, depending on your location), but I want to make sure I have enough time for people to enter the giveaway and for me to make and mail the bracelet so that it arrives in time for the big day.

This bracelet is made with tiny glass seed beads. The black ones are glossy and opaque. The red and white ones are translucent and silver-lined (shiny silver around the inside hole of the bead). The silver-lined beads have just enough shine and sparkle to pop out as a design, but not so much that they seem too glittery. The overall look is really quite sleek.

WHAT'S BEING GIVEN AWAY

A beaded N7 bracelet!

WHO CAN ENTER

Anyone can enter! I am willing to ship internationally. Hopefully that won't bite me in the ***, but I think with a small, light package, it shouldn't cost me too much.

Now, I know this giveaway favors the girls, and I'm sorry about that. If you're a guy, you're welcome to enter to win a bracelet (maybe you have a girl you want to give it to, or maybe you want it for yourself--that's cool). I could also attach the beaded design to a key chain instead of bracelet clasps... Or if you have other ideas for how I could turn the beads into something suitable for a guy, I'm willing to hear.

HOW TO ENTER

First, leave a comment below telling me you want to be entered in the giveaway, and let me know who your favorite Mass Effect character is. If you can't choose just one, then give me a list, that's fine :) This will earn you one entry for the giveaway. This step is important, so I know you really want to be entered, and aren't just following me because you like my tweets or tweeting about the giveaway to spread the word.

After you've done that, you can earn up to three additional entries in the giveaway for each of the following:
1. Follow me (@EleniRPG) on Twitter (if you already follow me, this counts).
2. Tweet about this giveaway on Twitter, with a link to this post and a mention of me (@EleniRPG). You can tweet about it as many times as you want, but I'll only count it as one entry ;)
3. Follow my blog (if you already do, that counts).
Important: Once you've completed any of the above, please leave a comment below to make sure I noticed (I'd hate to miss something). Also, if your Twitter handle isn't obvious from the way you identify yourself below in the comments, tell me your Twitter handle so I can correctly match you to the tweet/follow.
Additionally, if you're not following me on Twitter (in which case I can direct message you), give me an email address so I can contact you if you win!

WINNER SELECTION

The deadline for entries is Monday, February 6 at 11:59pm Honolulu time (5 hours behind East Coast time...you'll have to figure out the rest for yourselves). I'll be selecting the winner randomly from a list of names. The number of times your name appears on the list depends on the number of entries you earned (up to four). I'll post the winner on this blog, but also contact the winner for details (address, wrist size, metal allergies, etc.).

Good luck!

* For those who don't know, N7 is the emblem on Commander Shepard's armor. N designates special forces, while the 7 indicates the highest level of proficiency.

MAYBE ANOTHER GIVEAWAY?

I know that not everyone who reads my blog plays Mass Effect (But you should! It's such a great series!), so I feel a little bad that my first giveaway on this blog leaves those people out. I have made a few beaded bracelet designs that are not related to Mass Effect, and if there seems to be enough interest, I could do a giveaway for one of them. So, whether or not you want to enter the N7 giveaway, leave me a comment telling me if you'd be interested in a giveaway for one of the following:

R2-D2

I'd probably change the background beads if I made another of these, since the teal blends too well with the blue on top of R2's head. Also, the teal beads were ever so slightly skinnier than the other beads, giving the bracelet an uneven width. But who doesn't love R2-D2?

Space Invaders!

This is for the old-school gamers. Thanks to Mariel who suggested this one--the 8-bit style works very well for bead weaving. The aliens are made with silver-lined beads, so they stand out well.

I also have a Battlestar Galactica Cylon head design (old-school Cylons--the horizontal visor looks MUCH better with the beading constraints than the newer V-shaped visor) which I think will look really good: five Cylon heads go around the bracelet, but in each one the red light (done with a silver-lined red bead, of course) is in a different position.

Happy New Year!

2012-01-06T09:39:00.002-10:00

Happy New Year, everyone!

I've been a bit absent from this blog lately. Blame it on SWTOR. Actually, most of the blame goes to my spending two weeks of winter break at my parents' house in Massachusetts. I was hoping to get my yearly dose of snow, but no luck this year. Aside from the lightest of light snow for maybe 15 minutes on Christmas morning (enough isolated snowflakes so you're pretty sure it's snow instead of ash or pollen, but not any more than that), and one similarly brief though slightly heavier flurry another evening, the Boston area was snow free for those two weeks. A couple of the days were even surprisingly warm (50s F, 10-15 C)--though still freezing by Hawaii standards, I suppose. I thought maybe we'd spend New Year's on the mountain in Vermont, where there is more reliably snow (see my sledding video from two years ago), but we decided our 15 1/2-year-old dog wouldn't be able to make it up to my uncle's cabin.

Even without snow, I had a great time. I get along really well with my brothers, who were both there. We played a lot of board games, actually: Battlestar Galactica, Dominion with both the Intrigue and Prosperity expansions, 7 Wonders, and Pandemic. All fun and different games. I was new to 7 Wonders (each player gets to be a civilization responsible for one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, gathering and trading resources, building their cities and their Wonder to earn points) and Pandemic (cooperative game in which each player has a special role in a team fighting the outbreak of four highly contagious diseases around the world), and I'd never played Dominion with any expansions, so it was challenging but exciting to learn new games.

We also watched the entire first season of Community, which I'd never seen before. I'm not a fan of Chevy Chase, but luckily he's not exactly a likeable character on the show, so I didn't mind it so much. And the paintball episode is EPIC! So awesome. I hear there are some other epic episodes in Season 2, so I'm looking forward to catching up on those.

I have been playing a fair bit of SWTOR, though I'm switching between two mains (a Sage and a Guardian), which is slowing me down. It makes sense because I wanted one character that I could pair with my brother's Gunslinger and one that I could solo, but it hasn't exactly worked as smoothly as I'd hoped. But I'm settling into the characters now. Once we finish the main stories with our first characters, we'll start with Imperial characters--I have an Inquisitor and Agent ready to go. There are just too many good choices to stick with just one.

I'm back in Hawaii, now, and enjoying the warm weather. I like having some winter, but it's nice to have fresh air and birdsong coming through the windows, the warm breeze carrying scents of tropical flowers. Nice until I have to go back into work.

I'm planning on holding a giveaway soon! Though I'm still caught up in SWTOR, I can't forget that Mass Effect 3 is only a couple months away. So I'll be doing a giveaway of one of my N7 bracelets. For non-Mass Effect fans, I'll probably do a giveaway of a beaded bracelet with one of my other designs (e.g. R2-D2). For the guys who don't want a bracelet...I'll have to work on that. Anyway, keep an eye out for the giveaway, it'll probably be up in the next week or two once I get it all organized.

In the meantime, I hope your new year has started off well. Best wishes for a happy and complete (...not apocalyptic) 2012!

My Saga Begins!!!

2011-12-13T10:04:00.003-10:00

5:25 am, I got my invite to early game access in Star Wars: The Old Republic! Good thing I woke up a bit early so I could play before work. Work really is going to get in the way of my adventuring. Such a nuisance.

I've decided to start with a Jedi Consular, and I'll choose Sage as her advanced class. But I've already created eight characters, so I have many to choose from and switch between. Once my brother gets into the game (he didn't pre-order until some time in the past month, so he'll be getting in later), then I'll be playing other characters with him.

Fun times...

I heart Jiminy

2011-12-12T09:00:00.001-10:00

I'm a fan of ABC's new show Once Upon a Time. It's one of my favorite new shows this season. Now, Prince Charming is very handsome, dashing, and, well, charming, yet I find myself crushing on Archie Hopper aka Jiminy Cricket. It's all BioWare's fault, training me to fall for his sweet, soft, smoky voice. Oh Jiminy, come whisper softly in my ear. Be my conscience--or better yet, cozy on up and let's forget about our conscience for a little while.

That is all.

To Read or Not To Read: Revan

2011-12-10T22:49:00.003-10:00

Last month, the Star Wars novel Revan by Drew Karpyshyn, set in the era of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, was released. I am torn about whether or not I want to read it. I love KotOR, and I really want to know Revan's story. But at the same time, I'm not sure I could stand to read this book.

The rest of this post will contain MAJOR SPOILERS to the video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. If you haven't played it already, you're probably never planning on playing it, since it's old. Even so, you should stop reading this post and play it now. It's awesome, and holds a special place in my heart. So go. OK, if you're really sure you don't mind being spoiled, read on, but really, I'm talking about what is one of my all-time favorite plot twists, so I am loathe to spoil it for anyone. Last warning. All right, here we go.

In KotOR, I became very attached to my player character. I imagined an entire origin story for her, building on the meager class-based background provided, which was that she had been a smuggler but was now a soldier for the Republic. My imagined back story basically amounted to the worst kind of trope-filled fan fiction, but I liked it. So, when that fateful moment came on board the Leviathan, and I realized that my imagined back story was just that--imagined--that my character was actually the one-time Darth Revan, her true memories wiped and rewritten by the Jedi, I felt her devastation. My slave-to-smuggler-to-soldier-to-Jedi memories were a sham. I wasn't the noble Jedi I thought I was. The trusting relationships I'd developed with my party members were built on lies. I wasn't sure which was worse--the fact that I had once fallen to the Dark Side and was responsible for a terrible war, or that my present self was a half-fake person, programmed by the Jedi to be their puppet.

At this point in the game, I was so taken aback that I literally stepped back from my computer. My heart was racing and my face was flushed. The metaphysical questions that buzzed through my head right then, and over the course of the next few days, were what made the gaming experience so amazing. Who am I? Am I Revan? Is Revan still a part of my psychology? If I'm not Revan, then who am I? Just a person the Jedi made up? My experiences are programmed--is my behavior programmed, too? Am I any better than a droid? Struggling to answer these questions bonded me with my character. Regardless of whether she was Revan or the the name that I had chosen at character creation or both, I felt a connection with her that is hard to come across in games.

Knights of the Old Republic 2, which featured a different protagonist (known as "the Exile"), left Revan's fate a mystery. Revan went off into the Unknown Regions of the galaxy in search of something that would be a great danger to the galaxy. Did she ever find it? Did she ever return? For a while, I hoped for a KotOR3 to round out the story. Eventually it became apparent that KotOR3 would never happen, as BioWare was planning an MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic, which would take place a few hundred years later. The MMO is awesome, but it's not the conclusion to Revan's story that I was hoping for. So along comes the novel Revan, written by none other than the lead writer on KotOR, promising me the insight into Revan's fate that I so crave. There's only one problem: In the novel, Revan is a man.

Yes, I've known this for a while, but "canonically", Revan is a man. Typical. It's no secret that most video games (the ones that don't have pink covers) are targeted towards young men. Games have male protagonists far more often than female protagonists, so in the cases where the protagonist's gender is chosen by the player, it should only be expected that the "canon" or "default" gender would be male. In the Baldur's Gate novels, Gorion's Ward is a man. Default Shepard and Hawke for the Mass Effect series and Dragon Age 2, respectively, are male; they're the ones featured in the trailers and posters and other promotional materials. It should be no surprise, then, that the person standing front and center on the SWTOR cover is a male Jedi (Note: It may turn out that he's actually an NPC in the game--I haven't played it all yet--but I interpret him to be the hero into whose shoes you the potential buyer are supposed to imagine stepping). I love your female protagonists, BioWare! You should let them out more.

To be fair, the Exile of KotOR2 is actually canonically female. This doesn't make me feel much better for two reasons. First, KotOR2 wasn't BioWare, it was Obsidian, so BioWare--you're still not off the hook. Second, the Exile in the game was constructed in a strange way so that she the character knew things--important things about her past that had major effects on the game's main plot--that I the player did not know. I had to wait for a big reveal towards the end of the game to have someone else tell me what my player character had known all along. Though she was a fascinating character (it turned out, once those NPCs told me), I never was able to connect with her because I felt like I didn't know her. Strangely enough (or not so strangely), KotOR2 is the only game I've ever chosen to play through with a male character (on my second play through). I think it was because of the disconnect that I felt with the protagonist that I was finally able to let go and not have to see myself in the player character.

But it's not just me feeling neglect on behalf of my female Revan (and all those other female protagonists) that makes me wish that Revan had been made canonically female. I actually think it makes the better story. In canon, the male Revan develops a romantic relationship with the Jedi party member Bastila. No offense to anyone who played that romance and liked it--it's your game, after all--but I find that love story totally sketchy. Three reasons why Bastila would not have fallen for the player character:
1) She knew you were Revan. Sure, that means she knows that you were once a great Jedi and a brilliant general, but you also were weak enough to fall to the Dark Side, and once there did terrible things (e.g. started a war against the Republic that has claimed countless lives), before being defeated by the Jedi.
2) Even if she believed that you were different from Revan, that you were changed and a better person now, she'd know that it was all because of how she and the other Jedi had designed you. She'd see you as a sort of fascinating construct. It takes a twisted mind to fall in love with her own creation.
3) She's a Jedi. She was raised to be a Jedi from a very young age. She's lived by the Jedi Code for as long as she can remember. She's always known that love is not in the cards for her. If there was any reason to resist falling in love with someone (see points 1 and 2), she would have every reason to resist.
OK, so maybe Bastila was weak (I don't think that's fair to her character, though), or maybe your player character is just that damn charming. I admit that I never played this romance, so maybe they wrote it in a way that it worked--BioWare does understand good character development, after all. But I think it's a stretch: a good way to feed the fantasies of the players, but not the best story.

Now let's consider the romance that a female Revan has with pilot Carth Onasi. He doesn't know that you're Revan, or a "made-up" person, until you do (actually, a few minutes before you do, but who's counting?). He's not a Jedi, he's single, and he has a tortured past. Prime romance material, with none of the deterrents Bastila had. You have two thirds of the game to develop your relationship with him--mostly just a strong, trusting friendship, with a little flirting sprinkled in--before the bomb is dropped on it. How my character's relationship with Carth progressed after her true identity was revealed (both with in game dialogue and my own dialogue-in-my-head) was another important part of what made the gaming experience so amazing. Of all your party members, Carth takes learning your identity the hardest; after all, he lost his family--and entire home planet--to the war you started as Revan. But ultimately he learns to forgive you, to see you for who you are now, not who you were--even if you can't. The romance is never "consummated" in the game, not even with a kiss, but when he says "I think I could love you," it's enough.

Even if the Bastila romance isn't as sketchy as I tried to make it seem, it can't have the same depth that the Carth romance has. Once you realize your true identity, Bastila disappears from your party until the end of the game. If you manage to win her back, you only get that one conversation of reconciliation before you have to move on alone towards the final battle. The Carth romance just makes the stronger, truer, more dynamic story. That is why I so passionately wish that Revan had been made female in canon.

My love for the character of Revan makes me want to read the Revan novel. But my love is in no small part specifically for my Revan, a female Light Side Revan, which makes me not want to read the Revan novel. It's not just fans of female Revan, though, who will feel alienated by the Revan of the novel; anyone who played the protagonist with Dark Side choices will find the Light Side hero at odds with the Revan they know and love. The great defining characteristic of games--the beauty of interactivity and player choice--is inevitably lost when the story is translated to another medium (Revan as a choose-your-own-adventure book...that would have been awkward). A male Light Side Revan likely satisfies a plurality of players, possibly even a majority, so it's probably the smart choice for canon and for the novel. But it's not the best choice.

Will I read the book? Maybe eventually. Maybe I'll just read a summary of it, so I can know what happened. Maybe playing SWTOR will give me enough answers. To BioWare's credit, as far as I got in the SWTOR beta, they made it clear that while Revan is generally believed to have been male, Revan's gender is in fact not entirely certain. A bit hard to believe that in a technologically advanced society, 300 years would be enough time to forget a historical figure's gender, but it's explained that the Sith (and maybe Jedi as well) tried to downplay Revan's story and importance. Well, that's BioWare throwing us female-Revan KotOR players a bone. A small bone with little meat, but I'll take what I can get.

My weekend as a Sith Sorcerer

2011-11-30T15:00:00.001-10:00

This past weekend I was lucky enough to participate in another weekend beta stress test of Star Wars: The Old Republic. It. Was. Amazing. So amazing that by Sunday night, my boyfriend had declared "I hate SWTOR". I made him take it back, but I can understand why he was jealous of the love and attention I had lavished on SWTOR over the three days prior. While I enjoyed my first SWTOR beta test weekend, this one really got me hooked.

There were two main differences that made this weekend better. One was the simple fact that I had more time. The first weekend, I'd only been able to play Saturday and Sunday. This past weekend I had access from Friday morning until Monday evening--and Friday was a holiday. With more time, I was able to get one of my characters much further in the game than on my first weekend. This meant I had more skills, making the gameplay itself much more fun. I also got to see more of my character's storyline, which in typical BioWare fashion was intriguing, exciting, and entertaining. The other difference was that this weekend, I finally played SWTOR as the multiplayer game that it's made to be. My brother also got into the beta weekend, so we teamed up and adventured together. The first beta weekend, I played alone, as I am used to doing with BioWare games. And it's fine that way. But this weekend, I came to appreciate how great it is to enjoy a BioWare game with friends. Really, really great.

This past beta weekend had staggered start times, so while I got in on Friday, my brother didn't get in until Saturday morning. This was perfect, though, because it would give me time to catch my Jedi Consular up to the point in the game where his Smuggler from the previous beta weekend was. By Friday night, I had a Jedi Shadow waiting in the space station, all ready to team up with his Gunslinger (these are Consular and Smuggler advanced classes, respectively).

But the universe had other, more sinister plans for us. A bug with the beta made it so some characters created in previous beta weekends couldn't sign in anymore, and his Gunslinger was one of the casualties. Luckily, the other character he'd started, a Sith Warrior, was pretty close to the point in the game where my Sith Inquisitor was. Because they start on the same home worlds, we were able to team them up together immediately. And so I began my weekend as a Sith Inquisitor.

The Sith Inquisitor is awesome. If you get the game, I highly recommend this class. I said in my previous post that the Inquisitor storyline was addicting because you are repeatedly told how worthless you are and how you're going to fail and die, fueling your anger and making you more determined to succeed. This eventually gives way (not-so-suprising spoiler) to you becoming Lord Zash's apprentice. Lord Zash is intriguing as the most...amiable...Sith Lord I've come across. Evil and conniving, to be sure, but really quite pleasant and charming. She may try to kill me at some point, but for now, I'm just enjoying training under the coolest Sith master. I want to be just like her some day.

The Inquisitor gameplay was also really fun, particularly once I got my Advanced Class (this happens as soon as you leave your starting planet). Sith Inquisitors can choose to become Sith Assassins, using double-bladed lightsabers and stealth, or Sith Sorcerers, who can heal and make a whole lot of lightning. I chose to become a Sorcerer, and I don't regret it. As soon as I became a Sorcerer, my Whirlwind ability (which traps an enemy in a whirlwind) was extended from a measly 8-second duration to a whole minute, and my ranged spells were extended from 10 m to 30 m (a huge difference). Not only is a 30-m range much more convenient than 10 m, but it also means a lot more eye-candy lightning lancing across the screen. I didn't make it far enough in the game for my specialization in the Sorcerer's Lightning skill tree to become very significant, so I was also a relatively capable healer for my level, which was nice as well. A double-bladed lightsaber and invisibility would have been cool, too, but I really loved my Sorcerer abilities.

Playing alongside my brother's Sith Warrior, I was actually able to witness his class's storyline as well. You're allowed to accompany group members on their class quests, as long as your characters are not the same class (this avoids story inconsistencies: Wait, I thought I was Lord Zash's apprentice!). When you're in someone else's class quest area, you become a "spectator", meaning that you can't participate in any of the conversations or make any decisions. But you can participate in the battles. There are some situations where you may feel a bit like an intruder (as Lord Zash reveals some secret plan to me, she doesn't blink at the fact that someone is there eavesdropping), but seeing another storyline--and having someone else see your own story--really enhanced the experience, in my opinion.

All of the side quests are open to all classes (within a given alignment--Empire or Republic--of course). Conversations related to these quests become multiplayer conversations if you are in a group: each person selects a response, and invisible dice are rolled to determine whose response is spoken. This can be potentially contentious in situations where you're making decisions--to kill or not to kill a captive, for example--but you just have to put up with luck not always going your way. At least the game knows your intentions, so even if your group ends up killing the captive, if you had wanted to save him, you earn Light Side instead of Dark Side points. It's all worth it, because the conversations are more fun with more voices. It gives you something to think about, hoping that your own response is the one chosen, or nodding in appreciation when a companion says something witty or cool.

The truth is, my brother and I made terrible Sith. I would sometimes choose cruel, evil-sounding dialogue, but when it came down to it, we were both softies and almost always made Light Side choices when such situations arose. That's a nice thing about SWTOR. You can be a good person working for the Empire, or a bad person working for the Republic--whatever you want (though you're never allowed to switch sides entirely). And the plot is structured so it still works: At least as far as I got in the game, no plot line was ever derailed because I was too nice or merciful--just shifted, perhaps. This is the great thing about BioWare games in general: having plot choices. Even a person like me, who hates being mean in video games, can find a place in the Empire.

At the very end of the weekend, my brother and I earned our own personal star ships. It was extremely satisfying. Now I can't wait for the game to be released (December 20!!!) so I can get back there, and see what comes next. As much as I love the Inquisitor, though, I still really want to have a Jedi Knight, and Jedi Consular, and Imperial Agent, and Smuggler... There are so many good choices in SWTOR, really anyone can find a place--or multiple places--in the Star Wars galaxy.

My weekend with SWTOR

2011-11-14T15:17:00.005-10:00

I had a fantastic weekend playing in a beta test of Star Wars: The Old Republic, but alas, it was all too short. I'm kind of going through withdrawal now. I cannot wait to go back, whether for another beta test or for the official launch of the game next month (less than a month now!).

There are eight different character classes to choose from in SWTOR--four on the Republic side, four on the Empire side--and they each have different personal stories. I ended up starting five different characters, though that spread me thin and I didn't make it very far in each of their stories. Here are some brief thoughts on each one:

Jedi Consular - This one had a sort of typical prologue story, as far as I got, in that I was a promising young Padawan going through trials to become a Jedi. The tests, though, were atypical--rather than something out of a Jedi textbook, the Force was "guiding" my trials; that is, the plot kept thickening and my master would continue to send me out pursuing new leads. The gameplay was fun, but I did end up dying a number of times. This was the first character I played, and I played solo, so I guess dying happens. At least the penalty for death didn't seem so bad.

Jedi Knight - I made this character but didn't play her more than five minutes--enough to be given my first quest, but not enough to complete it. It was mainly interesting to see how her prologue fit alongside the Jedi Consular's. See, each character class shares an origin world with one other character class: Jedi Knights with Consulars on Tython, Smugglers with Troopers on Ord Mantell, Sith Warriors with Inquisitors on Korriban, and Imperial Agents with Bounty Hunters on Nal Hutta. That means that at the beginning of the game, you can only team up with one other class type. From my brief experience with the Jedi Knight, I saw how this works: Side quests generally are shared by both classes, so you can team up for those, but the main quests remain different. The main quests are structured, however, so their locations are similar, making it convenient to accompany someone on their main quest because you can probably complete your own without going much out of their way. At least, that was what I was able to gather with this short experience.

Smuggler - Basically, I was a female Han Solo. I felt pretty cool, and man did I look good in those striped pants. The smuggler also had the most enjoyable recovery skill--while the Consular, for instance, stood there meditating for a few seconds to recover health and energy, the Smuggler would do a variety of things like spin her pistol, throw and shoot a coin, etc.

Sith Inquisitor - I found this one's story to be the most addicting, because the guy giving you orders keeps telling you how worthless you are, how you'll never become a Sith apprentice, you're going to die because you're a weakling, etc. You can feel that good old Sith anger seethe inside you: Just you wait, I'll complete this task, and the next, I'll become an apprentice, and then I'll be a Sith Lord and make you sorry! Very fun.

Imperial Agent - This one has a very cool story from the start, where you're basically going under cover as a pirate, changing accents and manipulating people for the good of the Empire, kind of like some shady CIA agent. You also sound rather like Lady Hawke (Jo Wyatt). I'd known that the Republic Trooper voice was done by Jennifer Hale, but the familiar voice coming out of the Imperial Agent was a pleasant surprise.

One thing that I hadn't realized until I played my multiple characters in the Beta weekend was how closely classes from the two different alignments mirror each other. I knew the classes kind of matched up (Trooper-Bounty Hunter, Smuggler-Agent, Knight-Warrior, Consular-Inquisitor), but I didn't know that most of the skills themselves, even if they have different names, match up as well. Who knew that hurling a series of rocks at an opponent using the Force (Consular) had the same effect as Force Lightning (Inquisitor)? I guess it makes sense from a game perspective, giving you the freedom to choose your side regardless of what kind of play style you enjoy, but it was a bit unexpected.

I don't think I'll say any more, other than that I had a really fun time playing and my quick sampling of five of the different characters has not helped me decide which one I'll start with when the game officially launches. I have received an email saying that I'll be invited to another beta test some time. Next time, I hope to team up with someone, because that's kind of the point of an MMO, right?

I'll leave you with one image I came across in the game:

My character (blue hair), some guy I'm talking to, and a couple bystanders.

Edit 11/22: I just got another testing invite. Not sure of the dates, but possibly for this weekend. I'm so ecstatic that I get another fix! It's already an addiction...

Guess who's a SWTOR tester now?!!!

2011-11-11T09:00:00.001-10:00

Yesterday morning, I got the email I'd long been waiting for:

You Have Been Selected to Test Star Wars: The Old Republic!

Eeeeeee!!!!! Following a brief squee, I suddenly became worried that this email had been sent out by accident, after an incident a month ago or so when I panicked upon receiving an email asking for my feedback on testing thus far. Frantic spam box searching occurred before I took to Twitter and discovered that there were a lot of other people having the same issue. The SWTOR team sent out an apology email a day or two later.

But this new email was an invite, not some strange message implying that I should already be testing the game. I quickly followed the link to confirm my place in the testing, and to assure myself that it was a real invite. I'm in. Turns out, the testing I've been invited to is just for this weekend. Yes, we're only a little over a month away from the game being officially released, and yes, it's only for one weekend, but still I'M SO EXCITED!!!!

I downloaded the game, and hopefully everything will run smoothly enough. If all goes well, I will be lost to the real world, in a galaxy far, far away, as of 1:00 PM Hawaii time today. See you all on Monday.

Fall 2011 TV series

2011-11-09T16:24:00.001-10:00

In past years, I've done posts on which shows I plan to watch in the new TV season. I never did that this fall. Now it's November, and basically everything that's going to air this fall has already started. So, I figured I'd do a post on what I think of the shows that I've watched. Some I've been keeping up with religiously, watching the first night it's available online. Other shows I've seen a few episodes of, and may watch more if I find the time. Others I may give up on. Mostly, I've been a bit disappointed with this year's freshman shows. We'll start with those.

******

New Shows

Pan Am
I love this show. I'm a couple episodes behind, but only because it's not a show the Housemate watches (loser). See, most of my TV-watching time is during dinner (and lunch on the weekends) which I have with the Housemate, so any show that he's not interested in gets pushed aside, and I have to find my own time to watch it.

Pan Am is probably my favorite new show this season. I love the period setting, the world travel, the glamour of it all, even if it is exaggerated (I don't care). Of the six main characters, I loved about half of them right from the start, and the rest I've warmed up to in recent episodes. The show is funny and fun, but can also be surprisingly moving, as I found myself tearing up a bit on behalf of Colette in the Berlin episode. Anyway, if you're at all inclined to watch this sort of show but haven't given it a try, I highly recommend you check it out.

Terra Nova
I so wanted this to be good. I still do. It's just they keep being stupid about it. I'm no writer, I don't know how to fix it, but I can spot bad choices when I see them. First, they chickened out in the pilot by tacking on an awkward scene in which Mira (Christine Adams) and some other Sixer discuss Taylor's son, basically saying "See? We already have answers to our mysterious mythology, we promise." But that scene somehow managed to make the mystery both less mysterious and more confusing at the same time. Then you had that terrible conversation between Mira, the evil(?) Sixer leader(?) and hero Jim (Jason O'Mara) that went something like this:
Mira: You seem useful. Be on the right side of history. Make the smart choice. Join us.
Jim: But I like Terra Nova. It's a new beginning, and all that good idealistic stuff.
Mira: You're naive if you think that's really what Terra Nova is about.
Jim: OK, I'm listening then. What is it really about?
Mira: You know, you'd think I'd tell you because I'm trying to convince you my side is the smart choice, but the writers are telling me we can't give away too much of the mystery yet, so instead I'll just say, "You'll see."
Inexplicable. Side plots have been pretty lame, too, perhaps reaching a new low as Jim and littlest daughter Zoe spend the whole episode trying to get out of what is essentially a personal theater room. Why does that room only have an emergency door release on the outside? Is it a prison cell or something? I've been in walk-in fridge rooms, and they have emergency releases on the inside, because that is the more awkward of the two sides to get stuck on. And why would someone construct an access shaft that's only large enough for a small child to fit through? Did Hobbits build the place? And how many different scene cuts do you need to spend on these people figuring out how to escape that room? The only thing that could have made their plotline exciting would have been if there were ACTUAL spiders in there, trying to attack them.

OK, I should have saved my Terra Nova rant for its own separate post. Contrary to how it may sound at this point, I'm still enjoying the show, and I watch it every week. But I do so hoping that it will suddenly get better. They have a beautiful, interesting world to explore and some good characters. They just need to figure out what they're doing and use them intelligently.

Person of Interest
I like this show. I don't love it as much as I'd hoped, but I think they've been doing a pretty good job with it. I think my main issue is the cool, detached manner that Jim Caviezel gives hero Reese. It makes scenes with him that don't have any action a little...boring. Without more passion, I find it hard to really become attached to the character or the story. But I'll keep tuning in for now.

The New Girl
I really wanted to love this one, but after three episodes, I've just been a bit disappointed. There have been some good laughs, and I like some of the characters sometimes, but just not enough. Only if I find myself with a lot of free time, or hear that it's gotten much better, will I catch up with this one. I think Zooey Deschanel is a talented, funny actress. I just wish the material she got were better.

Revenge
I started this one late, but now I've seen three episodes and I have to admit, it's totally a guilty pleasure show. Watch beautiful people live extravagant, glamorous lives, and see the nasty ones take nasty falls. Like Pan Am, the Housemate doesn't watch this one, so I have to find time to catch episodes on my own. I may watch some more episodes at some point, but only if I'm caught up with everything else.

Once Upon a Time
I wasn't entirely sold after watching the pilot, but after watching the second and third episodes, I'm loving it. If any show challenges Pan Am as my favorite new show of the season, it's this one. The characters are fun (especially the Evil Queen), and the fairytale premise is intriguing. I just wonder how they can keep the plot going. I guess time will tell.

Grimm
Another disappointment. It's not bad, but it does suffer from characters being unbelievably stupid from time to time. It's also a bit hard to believe how many fairytale-creature cases Nick and his partner pick up. Does this reflect a universal percentage of perpetrators who are actually fairytale monsters? If only a Grimm is well suited to take out these creatures, does that mean that the rest of them, who get other detectives assigned to their cases, go free? It's one thing when a certain detective is well known for being good at "these sorts of cases", and gets called in from around the city or state to investigate. Alternatively, they could explain that this city is a fairytale monster haven. But they need some sort of explanation, because at the moment, it just doesn't make sense. There have only been two episodes, so I'm willing to give it some more time. If it gets better, great. If it gets worse, I may start tuning out.

Returning Shows

Fringe
Favorite show on TV right now. It's a bit frustrating at the moment (vague SPOILERS) with the new altered storyline, but things are definitely progressing in an exciting way. I love it.

Nikita
This was my favorite new show of last fall, and I think it's still going strong. The formula has changed a lot since the first season, and that took some getting used to, but change is good. It keeps things interesting.

How I Met Your Mother
Fun, lovable characters, and I've been enjoying Kal Penn's recurring guest star role this season. And, as I've already explained, I really liked their Ewok episode. Ted can take as long as he wants to find their mother.

Big Bang Theory
The other of the two sitcoms I watch. It's light and amusing, and I like the characters. They've had a couple good cameos so far this season, and they FINALLY admitted that maybe, just maybe, there might be one or two women out there who actually like comic books. Progress.

Glee
I think I've only watched the first episode, maybe two, from this season. The Housemate has given up on it, so I find it's a good one to catch a couple episodes of while I'm beading, since it doesn't exactly require my undivided attention. I'll have to see more before I decide what I think about this season.

Merlin
Yes, the Housemate and I are still hooked on Merlin. It alternates between painfully silly and surprisingly grim, and I really wish the characters would learn to recognize traitors (Look! He's smirking! All the time when bad things are happening! Why doesn't anybody see?????), but somehow I love it still. I like fantasy and Arthurian legend (even perversions of it), and I've fallen for the characters. Also, James Callis was in an episode this season. Oh, how I miss Baltar.

Walking Dead
This is a good show, but it's also distressing and depressing. If the Housemate weren't such a big zombie fan, honestly, I might drop it. It just never leaves me feeling good. At least it's staying interesting.

Chuck
This is Chuck's last season. We were lucky we got it this long, seeing as it was renewed only by the skin of its teeth the past couple seasons. I'm finding the current plot very frustrating. I understand why they wanted to switch up the Intersect a bit, keep it fresh, and didn't want to make things too easy for them, but it still pains me. Still, I've been with the show long enough that I'll see it through till the end, which I trust them to wrap up in a satisfying way, given that they have advance notice of the series finale.

Covert Affairs
I'm so glad we didn't have to wait until next summer to see more of this show. I love it so much. Annie, Auggie, and Joan are great, and the filming on location that Annie gets to do is beautiful and refreshing. So many shows try to make L.A. look like other cities in the world, who can blame the Covert Affairs folks for rubbing it in: "See? We really went to Paris! Not a set! And this? Yeah, we went to Venice. For real!" Fun, delightful show, and lighter and more realistic than my other two returning favorites, Fringe and Nikita.

******

Well, I think those are all the shows that I've seen this TV season. Any other shows I need to pick up this fall before I fall too far behind?

How I Met Your Mother and Ewok Appreciation

2011-10-28T14:41:00.001-10:00

There are two sitcoms that I watch on CBS: How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory. Between the two of them, there's no question which is geekier. In fact, I think it's pretty safe to say that Big Bang Theory is the geekiest, nerdiest sitcom on television. Now, I love BBT's constant mentions of Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, the Justice League, Game of Thrones, etc. (by the way, Leonard was right to bargain down Stuart for Longclaw in a recent episode--his initial quote of $250 is $10 above the current price on Amazon). But Leonard, Sheldon, Howard, and Raj's nerdiness is kind of the main point of the show. The geeky references are expected.

The five friends on How I Met Your Mother, on the other hand, are not so obviously geeky. They have a wide range of professions: teacher, lawyer, architect, reporter, and whatever it is Barney does for Goliath National Bank. They spend a good chunk of their free time socializing at a local bar. The three who aren't married have a steady stream of relationships (though the frequency of romantic partners varies wildly). They seem like fairly normal people (except for Barney) that you might expect to meet in NYC. They'd be a really cool group of friends to hang out with.

That's why I love it so much when HIMYM lets its geekiness shine through. Ted is the only one of the bunch with a classically nerdy job, as the enthusiastic architect who perhaps overestimates architecture's universal appeal. It's a position I appreciate and relate to. I saw right through the joke when Ted, in response to Robin's question of what famous people would be at the architect's gala he was attending, answered "Lenny Kravitz. He's a rock star." (After an excited Robin manages to weasel her way in, it turns out he was actually referring to Leonard Kravitz, some wizened old--but famous in the architecture world, we are assured--guy). Yeah, we have our own "rock stars" in oceanography. You haven't heard of them.

Ted and Marshall both have strong geeky streaks. They have been known to hold the occasional sword fight, and to play with an Indiana Jones whip. In a recent episode, a photo of Marshall, Lily, and Ted dressed for Halloween as C-3PO, R2-D2, and "the robot Luke's Uncle almost bought from the Jawas", respectively, highlighted Ted's role as third wheel. There have been other Star Wars references before--I recall Ted calling "dibs" on a girl who compared the snowstorm outside to Hoth. Star Wars is, I suppose, a popular enough franchise to be only borderline geeky, though I'd say dressing as an obscure Star Wars character or naming any Star Wars planet crosses the line into true geek territory. Still, I don't think there have been any geeky references as ongoing and central to a HIMYM episode as in the recent "Field Trip", (Episode 7.5--I'm a couple weeks behind, I know).

It all starts when environmental lawyer Marshall complains that his boss seems to be going soft...like a teddy bear. Ted proposes that maybe his boss is being like an Ewok: "Cute and cuddly around the village but once the battle starts it'll smash in your metal skull with giant swinging logs." Barney's new girlfriend Nora enters to hear mention of Ewoks and declares her distaste for them, which leads Barney to conclude he can't date her anymore. This culminates in a slide show that Barney prepared all about Ewoks (anatomy, culture, etc.), ending with a graph explaining why he can't date someone who doesn't love Ewoks:
Return of the Jedi came out in 1983. Anyone older than 10 at the time found them overly cute and cloying. Anyone under 10 at the time loved them because they reminded them of their teddy bears. Thus, given Nora's hatred of Ewoks, she must be over 37, a far cry from the 29 she claimed to be, not to mention a bit old for Barney's tastes. Barney's Ewok Line slide:

As it turned out, Nora was in fact 29, she was just a latecomer to Star Wars, having not watched it until the previous year. So really, Barney's Ewok Appreciation Rule should be amended to account for this:
Anyone who dislikes Ewoks must have been over 10 years old when they first saw Return of the Jedi.
I wonder how often this actually holds up. I have certainly encountered both Ewok-hating and Ewok-loving people. Whatever their reasons for loving or hating them, I'm curious how many of them fit this rule of age when first introduced to Ewoks.

I certainly fit the rule. I've always loved Ewoks. I don't know exactly how old I was the first time I watched Return of the Jedi, but I was definitely a well-established fan by the time I went to Disney World at age 7 and rode on Star Tours (I remember posing for photos with someone dressed as Wicket, and my younger brother bought an Ewok stuffed animal). So I was at most 6 the first time my parents let me watch it.

What about everyone else? Maybe I should set up a poll, but at least sound off in the comments where you fall in the Ewok debate, and let me know whether you fit Barney's Ewok Appreciation Rule.

As an extra Easter egg for us Star Wars fans, there was also a scene in which Marshall's co-workers can be heard singing "Yub Nub" in the background during an office party. I laughed pretty hard when I recognized it. And here's a video of Barney's full Ewok slide show. During the episode he just clicks through most of it, but the kind folks at CBS put the full size images into a clip for your viewing pleasure:

I particularly like the "Ewok Styles" slide (some of them look familiar...), and the "Ewok Diet" slide, showing Han Solo. Also, apparently their average weight is 50 kg, but their average fecal deposit is 49 kg. Lovely.

Joss Whedon and Much Ado About Nothing

2011-10-24T16:27:00.002-10:00

Some time in the past couple days, news broke that Joss Whedon is working on a film version of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing and has, in fact, already finished principal photography for it. Being the busy guy he is, it was surprising that he had time for another project. Also somewhat surprising was the fact that no one knew about it yet. We did know, at least, that he is a fan of Shakespeare, having held the occasional Shakespeare reading at his home.

Amy Acker and Alexis Denisof receive top billing as Beatrice and Benedick, respectively, and the film is filled with actors we know and love from all corners of the Whedonverse: Nathan Fillion (Dogberry), Sean Maher (Don John), Fran Kranz (Claudio), Reed Diamond (Don Pedro), Tom Lenk (Verges), and Clark Gregg (Leonarto). But beyond the full cast list, we know very few details.

I'm sorry to say I've never read the play Much Ado About Nothing, I've just seen the movie version with Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh. But I'm very interested to see how Joss Whedon's version comes out. The one image on the website certainly has me intrigued. See the movie website here:
http://muchadothemovie.com/

and read about this news at Entertainment Weekly here:
http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/10/24/joss-whedon-much-ado-about-nothing/

I'll have to keep my eye on this one.

The coolest thing at the SOEST Open House

2011-10-24T16:04:00.001-10:00

This past weekend was extremely busy for me, between two barbecues, the Hellrush event in Hellgate, and, most importantly, the SOEST (School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology) Open House. As a graduate student in the Oceanography Department, I was obligated to help out with this biennial extravaganza in which professors and lab groups in SOEST set up displays, demonstrations, and interactive exhibits catered to the general public both inside and outside a cluster of ocean- and Earth science-related buildings on campus. Some local organizations (e.g. Waikiki Aquarium, Bishop Museum) join in the fun by setting up their own tents, and thousands of people attend. Friday is mostly groups of school children K-12, with more family crowds on Saturday.

Open House is nuts, but it's pretty fun. I bounced back and forth between my own lab group's exhibit (a wave tank demonstration) and helping out with that of another lab group that I frequently associate with (density demonstration--how a glider controls its own density--and internal wave tank). I was also able to see some of the other exhibits--more than I saw at the Open House two years ago. There was fish painting and other cute little crafts. There was a demonstration of the effects of pressure, where you use a syringe-type mechanism to pump air out of a little chamber with three or four mini marshmallows in it: they get noticeably bigger, which is pretty cool. The flashiest exhibit was the Explosive Volcano demonstration, where they explain how gas coming out of rising magma builds up pressure under the surface of the Earth until it's great enough to burst out (this is how Krakatoa and Mount St. Helen erupted, but not the way that the volcanoes on the Big Island are erupting). For the demonstration, they poured liquid nitrogen into a plastic water bottle, capped it, then quickly duct-taped it to two bricks, dropped it in a plastic trash barrel partially filled with water, put a beach ball on top for good measure, then gave it some space. We covered our ears, and about 10 seconds later BOOOOOM!!! Water splashes out of the barrel, beach ball flies up a couple stories, sound is heard across a large part of campus, and they show us the mangled remains of the water (nitrogen) bottle. Fun stuff.

Still, the COOLEST thing at the SOEST Open House 2011 had to be the remote-controlled fish balloons. I'd never seen one before, but the moment I laid eyes on the big, cute clownfish balloon swimming down the hallway, it was like Where have you been all my life? On Saturday, I tracked down the exhibit where the fish was living (apparently the dean had bought them, so they didn't actually belong to just one lab group), and I had my turn flying it around the room. It was so fun, and the novelty never wore off. Sadly, I didn't have my camera, so I have no video footage of my flying fish balloon encounter. So I'll give you this video from the fish balloon website so you know what I'm talking about:

Apparently they're called "Air Swimmers", which seems pretty appropriate. The balloons are filled with helium, but given the weight of the items attached to them they are very nearly neutrally buoyant. Ah, the magic of neutral buoyancy. With the remote control, you can make it flap its tail left and right to propel itself forward, or make it turn right or left with a single flap right or left, respectively. A weighted device on the underside of the fish slides forward and back, also controlled by remote, to make the fish tip forward or up, allowing you to make it "swim" down or up. And with that, you have a simple yet ingenious and fascinating toy that swims through the air.

They do have a few limitations. First, they'll deflate after a while (their makers claim they'll stay inflated maybe two weeks), though you can just get them refilled, I suppose. If they pop, you'll have to buy a replacement balloon. Also, they don't compete well with any sort of breeze. They're probably best indoors in places with high ceilings and lots of space to move around.

Seriously, everyone loved these balloons. Children, adults, visitors and scientists. In the short time that I spent with the balloon, I heard several children suggest they wanted one for Christmas--and several scientists say they wanted one too. I was one of them. They're available on Amazon for $39.99 (both the clownfish and shark designs), but so far I've refrained. I'm still trying to picture how well it would work in my own house, which isn't very big and doesn't have high ceilings. But I'm very tempted. I swear I'm not affiliated with Air Swimmers and do not mean this to be an advertisement for their product but... these are so AWESOME! Everyone should have one! That is all.

Dragon Age: Redemption - Episode 2

2011-10-18T21:18:00.003-10:00

I promise I won't be posting all six episodes of Felicia Day's Dragon Age: Redemption here--you can find them elsewhere--but I got so excited with this second episode that I have to post it, too. OK, so the first episode was a little slow, setting up the main storyline, introducing the main players. But in this episode they get to the fun stuff: main characters interacting, plus a visit to a Dalish village. Rather than read my description, why not just watch it?

See it on Felicia Day's blog here. She offers some commentary about the actors and the filming.

I really like Tallis's developing relationship with Cairn. We get a much better sense of their personalities in this episode than we got with just those brief glimpses in the first. Seeing what the phylacteries the Templar use to track escaped mages look like was nice as well, since we don't see them in use during the games, to my knowledge. But Josmael, the Dalish First, was my favorite. Apparently not so great at protecting, but he really wants to prove himself. And you know he's a mage all along, but when he shows off a little magic at the end, I have to admit that I kind of squeed. So cute. Though you know Cairn isn't going to like it...

Can't wait for the next episode!

Happy Dragon Age: Redemption Day!

2011-10-11T10:50:00.004-10:00

We've waited a long time for this, but it's finally here. The first episode in Dragon Age: Redemption, Felicia Day's six-part web series set in BioWare's Dragon Age universe, was released today!

First, I'll link the trailer, which actually came out last week:

A fan of the Dragon Age games herself, Felicia Day was understandably thrilled when she got a call from BioWare asking her to write and star in a live action Dragon Age web series. And those of us who are fans of Felicia Day and Dragon Age (there are quite a lot of us) were thrilled as well. There's even downloadable content--Dragon Age 2: Mark of the Assassin--starring her character Tallis available starting today. She gets to be in a video game! How awesome is that? (Yes, I'm getting a bit of vicarious geek pleasure out of the whole thing.)

They got some great people to work on the project (Doug Jones!), and considering the shoestring budget they had, the costumes, makeup, and sets look amazing. The episode is frustratingly short, as is too often the case with web series. I can't wait for the second episode to come out next week!

The story and setting will be more familiar if you've played Dragon Age 2, but it's not required--a few screens of text at the beginning tell you what you need to know about the world. Well, without further ado, here's the episode:

Click through to the YouTube page to show your support and "Like" the video.

Willow's Guide to Pottermore Potions: Video tutorials

2011-10-08T11:00:00.005-10:00

Happy Ada Lovelace Day!

2011-10-07T11:15:00.002-10:00

I'm not sure who organized it or why this date was chosen, but I learned through ThinkGeek that today is Ada Lovelace Day, in celebration of achievements of women in science and technology. Ada Lovelace is often considered the first computer programmer. Her notes on Charles Babbage's proposed Analytical Engine in the 1840s contained what is recognized as the first computer program, an algorithm intended to be processed by a machine.

I'm wearing my Ada Lovelace t-shirt from ThinkGeek in honor of the occasion:

Also keeping with the theme of the day, here's the code that I've recently written and will be debugging today:

In case you're curious, it's a third order upwind horizontal advection scheme to be used with POM (Princeton Ocean Model). At the moment, it runs but after a few hours in simulation time starts churning out completely unrealistic values. I don't know why. Hopefully some good programming mojo for Ada Lovelace Day will rub off on me, and I'll fix it today. Though I should probably stop blogging and start coding if I want that to happen.

Happy Ada Lovelace Day!

Update: Pottermore, Hellgate, camera, SWTOR

2011-09-27T15:44:00.004-10:00

Sorry I've been quiet for the last couple weeks. I've been busy at work, and I have several other diversions that have been occupying my free moments, instead of this blog.

As you may have guessed by the extensive Pottermore potions guide I posted two weeks ago, I've been spending a fair amount of time on Pottermore, honing my potion brewing skills, mainly. Dueling still seems to be down, so potions are the only way to earn House Points at the moment. I now have about 140 potions. While they take a long time to brew (the shortest one has to stew for 80 minutes), they don't require very long periods of active attention (maybe 3-4 minutes each). Still, if you add it all up, I've spent a fair amount of time brewing potions...and even more time in the Ravenclaw common room message boards, giving potion advice, general encouragement, and answering (and asking) some riddles. They could use some changes to the site (especially a REPLY option to comments, so we could find responses to our questions), but I still think it's a lot of fun.

My four-year-old laptop PC broke down in August, but two weeks ago I finally managed to install Windows on the MacBook Pro I use for work. My games are all on an external hard drive, so I can't play them from my office (definitely a good thing). I have to take the laptop home, boot it up in Windows, and plug in the external. It's been working pretty well so far.

At the moment, I'm using it to play an old-ish game: Hellgate. Two and a half years after I mourned the loss of Hellgate: London, it has come back from the dead, having lost the "London" from the title (but not its setting). It is largely the same in its undead form, slightly Asian-ified, less silly, a few poor translations here and there, but most significantly it has new locations...which I haven't reached yet (still too low level). I could go on about Hellgate, but this subject deserves its own post.

In other news, I finally got my new camera! My old camera, a Panasonic Lumix TS2, which at just over one year wasn't actually old at all, broke while I was scuba diving on the Big Island. Yes, I broke a lot of expensive things this summer (spent $700 repairing my car, too). The great tragedy in the camera breaking was that I didn't get any photos from my otherwise perfect and amazing birthday (dolphins and manta rays came to my party!). On the bright side, though, I'd bought the extended 2-year accidental damage warranty (phew!), and it was totally covered. I mailed it in to the Panasonic Customer Care people, they (eventually) called to tell me they couldn't get a replacement (the camera has been discontinued, I guess), so they'd be sending me a check for the full amount I'd paid for the camera last year! I was shocked. I'd been prepared to argue with them to convince them it was covered in the first place, and at best I'd have expected to be refunded the current market value of the camera. This was pretty ideal. I turned around and used that check to buy this year's model, the Panasonic Lumix TS3, which I found for less than the price of the TS2 last year. In addition to having higher quality video and a greater underwater depth limit (40 feet) than the TS2, it also has a GPS. In case, you know, you go hiking in the jungle and want to know the exact spot that you found a certain banyan tree. Or whatever. Hopefully I'll have some nice new pics with the new camera soon.

Last but not least, I was thrilled at the big announcement of the past week: The release date for Star Wars: The Old Republic is set for December 20, 2011. I'm so excited! I've already pre-ordered my copy, and I'm still hoping I'll somehow get in early for testing. On the Imperial side, I'm most interested in the Sith Inquisitor and the Imperial Agent. On the Republic Side, I'm most interested in the Smuggler and the Jedi Knight. And the Jedi Consular. And the Trooper (mainly because of Jennifer Hale). Oh dear, but they all sound so good! I think it'll come down to me starting the characters and seeing which ones draw me in to their stories and make me fall in love with their NPCs. Knowing BioWare, though, that's likely to be all of them. Yes, I'm in trouble. But it's a good kind of trouble I can't wait to get into.

Willow's Guide to Pottermore Potions: Cost/Benefit Analysis

2011-09-13T10:28:00.004-10:00

Willow's Guide to Pottermore Potions: Walkthrough

2011-09-13T10:27:00.021-10:00

Willow's Guide to Pottermore Potions

My Pottermore username is WitchWillow140 (friend me, but let me know here what your username is), so I take that to mean I'm a witch named Willow (how very Buffy). And this is my potion brewing guide, complete with a cost and time analysis in light of the recent changes to the points system. It turned out quite a bit longer than I'd originally envisioned. I don't intend anyone to read it in its entirety, but hopefully if you have questions or are experiencing some issue or other, you can find the necessary answer. If you find any mistakes, or things that have been changed, let me know.

This guide is broken into the following sections:
1. The Basics - If you've never brewed a potion, read here what it's all about.
2. The Ingredients - Where to find all the ingredients used in the 6 potions currently available.
3. General Tips - Advice that could be useful on any or all of the potions.
4. Potions Walkthrough - What you need to know to get you through the brewing of each potion.
5. Potions Cost/Benefit Analysis - OK, so which potions should you brew? I do a simple mathematical analysis to determine which potions give you the most bang for your buck--or for your time.
6. Video Tutorials - I've started doing screen captures of my potion brewing, narrating with helpful tips. If you want to see rather than just read, check these out.

Potions Walkthrough
Before brewing a given potion for the first time, I was very nervous not knowing what it would ask me to do. For each of the potions, I've offered a summary of the directions so you can get an idea of what you're getting into, as well as my tips. I won't give word-for-word directions, just what you need to know to make the potion (the in-game thermometer and timer, for example, should guide you when you're heating the cauldron).

Refer to the General Tips for more detail on some of the actions you'll need to perform. The potion book will show you what each of the ingredients looks like, so don't worry if you don't know Lavender from Valerian.

Cure for Boils
You can practice this one without any risk of losing points or wasting ingredients or cauldrons, so hopefully it's not a big deal.
-Add 6 Snake Fangs to mortar. Each pinch of Snake Fangs has 3 fangs, so you only drag and drop twice.
-Crush ingredients.
-Transfer 4 measures from mortar to cauldron.
-Heat to the target temperature range for 10 seconds. You'll definitely want to use High to get it to the target range. As soon as the thermometer turns green, turn it to Low. This one doesn't take fine control--just let it heat on Low until the 10 seconds are up, then turn it Off.
Note: I hadn't brewed this potion in a long time, but I just tried it again in the practice mode, and it seems that the effect of the heat settings has changed. Now, you have to keep it on High in order to maintain the high temperature needed. If it gets too high, turn it to Low or Off to bring it back down. I haven't confirmed this in the non-practice setting, but I assume it's the same. I swear this used to work--I have 24 Cure for Boils potions to prove it.
-Wave wand.
Brew for 80 minutes.
-Add 4 Horned Slugs to the cauldron.
-Add 2 Porcupine Quills to the cauldron. You can position these horizontally over the mouth of the cauldron so they fall in more quickly, though you're unlikely to run out of time on this step.
-Stir 5 times clockwise.
-Wave wand.

Antidote to Common Poisons
This was my favorite until they changed the points system (they used to all be worth 5 points), probably because the short heating time makes it very quick to brew. I think it's possibly easier than Cure for Boils, but the Unicorn Horn does seem like a steep investment.
-1 Bezoar to mortar. Make sure it counts the 1 added before moving on to next step.
-Crush.
-4 measures from mortar to cauldron.
-2 measures Standard Ingredient to cauldron.
-Heat in target range for 5 seconds. So short you don't need to go back and forth. Use High to get it to the range, switch to Low, and once it approaches that top bar, turn it Off. It'll be done before it leaves the temperature range.
-Wave wand.
Brew 85 minutes.
-1 pinch Unicorn Horn to cauldron. Take the pinch by grabbing from the narrow tip of the Unicorn Horn on the left. Once I grabbed from the thick base end and it thought I clicked my wand, which was hidden behind the horn. It ruined my potion. Very inconvenient.
-Stir 2 times clockwise.
-2 mistletoe berries to cauldron. These are bottled but easier than liquids, because you can clearly see each one falling out, and they don't fall out too fast. Tip over the cauldron edge and watch them drop.
-Stir 2 times anti-clockwise.
-Wave wand.

Forgetfulness Potion
-2 drops Lethe River Water to cauldron. It comes out smoothly, so it shouldn't be too hard to measure, as long as you hold it from the top and watch the counter. Happens quickly, though.
-Heat for 20 seconds. This is on gentle heat, and a very small range at that, so you'll have to switch between Low and Off every three seconds or so.
-2 Valerian Sprigs to cauldron.
-Stir 3 times, clockwise.
-Wave wand.
Brew 95 minutes.
-2 measures Standard Ingredient to mortar.
-4 Mistletoe Berries to the mortar. I find it easiest to rest the bottom of the bottle on the cauldron and tip the top of the bottle over the mortar, then stop once you've seen four berries fall (rather than bringing it all the way down to the mortar). The trick is making sure you don't accidentally drop any into the cauldron while you're carrying the bottle over it.
-Crush.
-2 pinches from mortar to cauldron.
-Stir 5 times, anti-clockwise.
-Wave wand.
Fun fact: The River Lethe (pronounced "Lee-Thee") is from Greek Mythology, one of the five rivers of Hades. Any who drank its waters would experience forgetfulness. "Lethe" means "oblivion", or "forgetfulness".

Herbicide
This may be my least favorite potion, because not only do you have to buy all three ingredients, but the second stage (after you've spent so much time brewing) is tricky; it's the only one where you have to add an ingredient while the cauldron is heated.
-4 Lionfish Spines to mortar. These are in a bottle, but you can count how many are falling out. They come out faster than Mistletoe Berries, though. Be careful to hold the bottle steady as you move it over the cauldron so that you don't spill any into it by accident (frustratingly easy to do).
-Crush.
-2 measures Standard Ingredient to mortar.
-Crush some more.
-3 measures from mortar to cauldron.
-Wave Wand.
Brew 95 minutes.
-2 measures Horklump Juice to cauldron. This bottle has a tippy bottom, so put it back on the table carefully.
-Heat for 10 seconds.
-2 blobs Flobberworm Mucus to cauldron "while it's still on the heat". I hate this step the most of all the potions. Flobberworm Mucus is the worst, it comes out in little globs that may or may not count as 1 measure (maybe this was a bug they'll fix?), so you just have to watch the counter. And it's kind of slow. Plus, you have to add it while it's still on the heat??? When the heat timer is finished, get the temperature to the highest within the target range. Turn off the heat, grab the bottle, and tip over the edge of the cauldron. I interpreted the directions to mean that it still needs to be in the target heat range when they're added, but I think that as long as there's ANY heat (the thermometer is still showing), the potion will work.
-Stir 4 times clockwise.
-Wave wand.

Sleeping Draught
The second stage of this potion brewing is hard because you have to heat for one minute, meaning you're likely to be crunched for time at the end. This was the first "real" potion I attempted (not counting the practice Cure for Boils). I panicked at the end because I was running out of time and apparently didn't stir it correctly. Fail.
***I've encountered a glitch a few times in this one where the Flobberworm Mucus does not move--you can't pick it up, as if it isn't there. Each time that happened, I'd accidentally picked up (then immediately dropped) some of the crushed ingredients in the mortar, though I'm not sure if that's a trigger for the glitch or not. In any case, to avoid this problem, this is the one time that I'll recommend doing things out of order (I promise it works, at least for now): Try adding the 2 blobs of Flobberworm Mucus to the cauldron FIRST. Then do the rest of the steps in order (skipping the Flobberworm step, since you've already done it). Glitch avoided.***
-4 sprigs of Lavender to mortar. Make sure to position these so that no part of the Lavender is hanging over the edge of the mortar (they're very long). If too much falls outside the mortar when you let go, it won't count. Try dropping it in when it's aligned vertically.
-2 measures Standard Ingredient to mortar.
-Crush.
-2 blobs of Flobberworm Mucus to cauldron. I usually find that 3 or 4 drips need to fall before it counts as 2 blobs.
-2 measures Standard Ingredient to cauldron.
-Heat 30 seconds. Another one with a small heat range, so you'll have to switch back and forth between Low and Off about every two seconds or so. It's annoying, just be patient.
-3 measures from mortar to cauldron.
-Wave wand.
Brew 100 minutes.
-2 measures Standard Ingredient to cauldron.
-Heat for 1 minute. Definitely blast this one on High so it can reach the high temperature it needs to cook at as fast as possible, then turn to Low as soon as the thermometer turns green. You don't have to switch back and forth between Low and Off too often, but it is for a whole minute, so you have to pay attention. I recommend trying to time it so that at the end of the 1 minute, the temperature is near the bottom of the target range; the faster the steam dies down the better, since it can make things a little laggier. Also try to time it so that for the last three seconds, you can just let the temperature fall and remain in the target range, so that you can have a Valerian Sprig in your hand ready to drop in when the timer disappears.
-4 Valerian Sprigs to cauldron. Fast. The low sand in the hourglass might be making you nervous at this point, but keep with it.
-Stir 7 times clockwise. You may have in your mind that cauldrons should be stirred slowly, like they always seem to be in the movies (Double, double toil and trouble...). Now's not the time for such sentiments. 1234567 quick! Just make sure the stir counter registers it. If you're about to run out of time, a 10 second counter will pop up. So you're not really in trouble until that happens, but it should be enough time to finish stirring.
-Wave wand. As long as you click on the wand before the time is up, I think it should work.
***If you're still having trouble completing the potion on time, try adding the Valerian Sprigs and even stirring while the cauldron is heating. Make sure it doesn't over/under-heat still, but as long as the thermometer doesn't turn red again, you should be fine.***

Wideye or Awakening Potion
The first stage of brewing this potion has a lot of steps, but at least the second stage is very quick. If you're going to mess up one stage, might as well be the first, before you've wasted all that time brewing.
-6 Snake Fangs to mortar. Each grab from the fang bag is 3 fangs, so only drag and drop twice.
-4 Standard Ingredient to mortar.
-6 Dried Billywig Stings to cauldron. Why does it dribble out of a bottle if its dried? It's a mystery. This can come out fast (the steeper you tip it, the faster). Make sure you're tipping it over the cauldron lip and have control, so you can yank it away as soon as you need to. Hold it steady as it drips so you can watch the counter steadily approach 6, then remove it as soon as it gets there.
-Heat for 30 seconds.
-Crush stuff in mortar.
-4 measures from mortar to cauldron.
-Stir 3 times clockwise.
-Wave wand.
Brew 95 minutes.
-2 sprigs Wolfsbane to cauldron. Fastest if you hold them horizontally across the top before letting go of them.
-Stir 3 times anti-clockwise.
-Wave wand.
See video tutorial here.

Willow's Guide to Pottermore Potions: General Tips

2011-09-13T10:26:00.017-10:00

Willow's Guide to Pottermore Potions

My Pottermore username is WitchWillow140 (friend me, but let me know here what your username is), so I take that to mean I'm a witch named Willow (how very Buffy). And this is my potion brewing guide, complete with a cost and time analysis in light of the recent changes to the points system. It turned out quite a bit longer than I'd originally envisioned. I don't intend anyone to read it in its entirety, but hopefully if you have questions or are experiencing some issue or other, you can find the necessary answer. If you find any mistakes, or things that have been changed, let me know.

This guide is broken into the following sections:
1. The Basics - If you've never brewed a potion, read here what it's all about.
2. The Ingredients - Where to find all the ingredients used in the 6 potions currently available.
3. General Tips - Advice that could be useful on any or all of the potions.
4. Potions Walkthrough - What you need to know to get you through the brewing of each potion.
5. Potions Cost/Benefit Analysis - OK, so which potions should you brew? I do a simple mathematical analysis to determine which potions give you the most bang for your buck--or for your time.
6. Video Tutorials - I've started doing screen captures of my potion brewing, narrating with helpful tips. If you want to see rather than just read, check these out.

General Tips
So now you have all the ingredients. What do you need to know about brewing?

When you choose to brew a potion, your potion book will give you the directions for it. You must follow them precisely, in exactly the right order (there's some rumor that certain steps can be switched in order without messing up the potion...but I say, don't chance it). Some of the steps can be tricky, though, and there's always a timer running, so you have to be efficient. If you find you have trouble with any particular type of step, here's my advice on each thing that the potion directions might ask you to do.

Adding ingredients
As I see it, ingredients can be separated into two categories that affect how they're added: "bottled" or "handled".

Handled
Includes: Unicorn Horn, Snake Fangs, Porcupine Quills, Valerian Sprigs, Lavender, Bezoar, Horned Slugs, Wolfsbane
Handled ingredients are the most straightforward: You see the item on the table, you grab some with your cursor, drag, and drop into the mortar or cauldron as directed. Be aware, though, that they drop slowly, so you might run out of time if you drop them from far above the mortar or cauldron. Let go of them as close to the top of the mortar/cauldron as you can. The other thing to be careful about is making sure the added ingredient is counted before you proceed with the next step (because the ingredients take time to fall). Watch the counter next to the mortar/cauldron, or check that the step is crossed off in your potions book before moving on if you want to be extra cautious.

Bottled
These are trickier, because you have to pick up the bottle and pour. Hold the bottle by the top so it's easier to control, catch the lower portion of the bottle on the outside of the cauldron/mortar lip, and tip it over the edge into the cauldron/mortar (see following picture). Watch the counter that pops up to the left of the cauldron/mortar, get a sense for how quickly the counter is going up, and pull back as soon as you've poured enough. Be steady with the bottle as you place it back on the table (if you move too fast, it could start spinning and spewing its contents all over).

Crushing Ingredients
This is one of the easiest steps, but since time is of the essence, it pays to be efficient. I recommend holding your cursor just above the back lip of the mortar, in the center (the pestle should also be behind the cursor here). Then click like a madman. Stop as soon as the "fineness meter" turns green. There's no reason to crush beyond that, even though it gives you a little leeway if you feel like clicking a bit more.

Heating the Cauldron
You get three buttons: Off (blue), Low (orange), and High (red). They all respond quickly, so don't worry about it heating up more after you've pressed the Off button (as those of us with electric stoves may have found frustrating in real life). When a cauldron is heated, a thermometer pops up to the right. Two horizontal bars on the thermometer indicate the range (min and max) that you must heat the cauldron to. Once the temperature reaches this range, the thermometer turns green and a counter starts, showing how many more seconds you need to keep the temperature within this range.

In the interest of time, I recommend you always start by heating the cauldron on High, as it takes a long time to increase the cauldron's temperature when it's on Low. As soon as the thermometer turns green, switch to Low. As the temperature is about to reach the top bar of the target temperature range, switch it to Off. Once the temperature is about to reach the bottom bar of the range, switch it to Low again. Repeat as necessary until the temperature timer goes away (indicating you've heated it long enough).

DON'T let the cauldron heat up ABOVE the temperature range after the timer has stopped (and obviously not during, either, or you've ruined the potion). This is especially important if you're about to wave your wand, because while it's waving, you can't change anything. Overheating can blow up your cauldron, causing you to lose 5 House Points AND the cauldron itself! Just remember to make sure the heat is Off when you've finished with the heating step.

Stirring the Cauldron
This is also pretty straightforward, provided that you can keep clockwise and anti-clockwise (aka counterclockwise) straight. The spoon starts on the left, so you've completed a stir once you return it to the left side of the cauldron. A counter also pops up to keep track of your progress. It can seem a little odd trying to stir something that's horizontal in a 2D image (you'd have to stir into the page to do it properly), but just click the spoon handle, then make smooth clockwise or anti-clockwise circles (in the 2D plane of your screen) around the cauldron edge (you don't have to be exact--I usually make circles as big as the whole cauldron), and you'll be fine.

Edit: I haven't confirmed this, but it seems some people get a stirring glitch and have found that when doing anti-clockwise stirring, the spoon needs to start on the right side of the cauldron. If you're getting errors in stirring you don't understand, you might want to give this a try. Move the spoon to the right, and then start your stirring.

Wave the Wand
Easiest step of all, which always happens right before the end of both the first and second stages of the potion brewing. Click the wand lying on the table (you can always find the tip of it all the way to the right), and it'll wave itself for you. Just don't let the cauldron heat be on when you're doing it.

Leave the Potion to Brew
After you wave your wand the first time, it tells you to leave the potion to brew for X minutes. You MUST return between X and 2X minutes from then, or your potion will be wasted. For example, if it says come back in 80 minutes, you must wait at least 80 minutes to finish it, but if you don't come back before 160 minutes are up, the potion will have failed (you will get 0 points for your time, effort, and resources).

A Note about Cauldrons
The shop says that different types of cauldrons are supposed to brew at different speeds. Last time I checked, this difference had not yet been implemented. For now, save your Galleons and stick to pewter, they're all the same.

Edit: Based on some comments in the Pottermore message boards, I think the difference in cauldrons might not be in brewing speed, but in heating speed. I'll need to investigate this, but I don't see why that would be hugely helpful. Save you a couple seconds at the most...

Consult the Book
It took me a couple potions to realize that I could reopen the potion directions by clicking the book on the table. Be careful with this, though, because the timer does NOT stop while you're reading the book (even though the timer doesn't START until after you click out of the book at the beginning of the potion brewing). Still, it's a good way to make sure that a certain step registered correctly; once completed, the step will be crossed out in the book. It's also good if you've forgotten your next step. Professor Snape wouldn't have to refer to the book more than once, but you can use it as you need to ;)

If You Mess Up
If you make mistakes while brewing, then when you wave your wand the potion will start to emit green smoke, and it will tell you you've failed. The same happens if you run out of time. You'll get 0 House Points and lose those ingredients that the potion called for, even if you didn't get to the step where you were supposed to add that ingredient. It's sad. If you mess up very badly (I hear overheating the cauldron does this), you may blow up your cauldron, losing it (have to buy a new one) and 5 House Points. That's very sad.

If you know you've messed up your potion, you may be tempted simply to close the window, or click away to the comfort of your Common Room. This isn't a bad thing, but you should know what it does. The short story is that you lose the potion. You get 0 House Points, though no Owl notification about it. If you were in danger of exploding your cauldron and losing 5 House Points, then this is definitely preferable. However, Pottermore will still think you are brewing that potion. If you go to the Potion book tab, you'll see the "Brewing" button next to that potion. If you go to the Cauldrons tab, you'll see the "This potion requires your attention" link. Click on either (button or link), and it will take you back to your potion table, and force you to start that same potion over again. If you meant to give that potion another try, then great, but if you wanted to give up on that potion and try a different one, you'll have to let the potion game get to the point that it tells you formally that your potion brewing failed (quickest way to fail, I think, is to wave the wand without having done anything).

The slight exploit in this occurs if you've just run out of one of the ingredients in that potion. When you return to give the potion a second try, it will remove one of each of the three ingredients from your ingredient inventory again, UNLESS there is no more of that ingredient to remove. Under normal circumstances, it wouldn't let you try to brew that potion without replenishing that ingredient, but since it thinks you're ALREADY brewing the potion, it's not going to stop you. For example, say I use my last Valerian Sprig while trying to brew a Sleeping Draught. I accidentally add too much Flobberworm Mucus to the cauldron, so in frustration I navigate away. When I return to the Cauldrons tab and click "This potion requires your attention", it makes me start the potion over, removing one more Flobberworm Mucus and one more Lavender from my inventory. But it doesn't take any more Valerian Sprigs.

This isn't a hugely useful exploit, and it may be a glitch they'll fix in the near future. I'll update if I ever learn this has changed.

Note: Refreshing the page while brewing because you made a mistake does the same as clicking back, then returning to the potion: You get to start all over, but you lose ingredients again.

If Pottermore Messes Up
At the time of writing this, Pottermore has been a bit buggy. Sometimes when it has told me I finished the first stage successfully and now I should leave it to brew, when I click "Come back later", the Cauldron page tells me that the potion requires my attention, and I have to start it all over again. Sometimes for whatever reason it doesn't let me click on the Flobberworm Mucus--it was as if it wasn't there. The other glitch I've seen happens when I accidentally click on the mortar powder instead of the pestle multiple times, which freezes up the pestle, spoon, and wand graphics. If you just pretend they're still working and click in the right places, though, you can still get the potion done. And sometimes it says I've done something wrong that I really know I didn't (such as adding an ingredient to the wrong container--usually a pretty noticeable mistake). Other people have experienced their own problems. All I can say is, be patient. Hopefully they'll fix the glitches soon.

Willow's Guide to Pottermore Potions: Ingredients

2011-09-13T10:25:00.010-10:00

Willow's Guide to Pottermore Potions: The Basics

2011-09-13T10:00:00.005-10:00

I was lucky enough to get into Pottermore early, but I wasn't quite early enough to catch the Wizard's Duel before they shut it down to make improvements. At the time of writing this post, dueling is still down. That means that after collecting all the chocolate frog cards, books, potion ingredients, and objects in the chapters of Philosopher's Stone (the only book open for now), the only way to win House Points is to brew potions. And even once dueling is open again, potions will still be a delightful little mini-game that can win you points without the stress of competing against other people.

Willow's Guide to Pottermore Potions

My Pottermore username is WitchWillow140 (friend me, but let me know here what your username is), so I take that to mean I'm a witch named Willow (how very Buffy). And this is my potion brewing guide, complete with a cost and time analysis in light of the recent changes to the points system. It turned out quite a bit longer than I'd originally envisioned. I don't intend anyone to read it in its entirety, but hopefully if you have questions or are experiencing some issue or other, you can find the necessary answer. If you find any mistakes, or things that have been changed, let me know.

This guide is broken into the following sections:
1. The Basics - If you've never brewed a potion, read here what it's all about.
2. The Ingredients - Where to find all the ingredients used in the 6 potions currently available.
3. General Tips - Advice that could be useful on any or all of the potions.
4. Potions Walkthrough - What you need to know to get you through the brewing of each potion.
5. Potions Cost/Benefit Analysis - OK, so which potions should you brew? I do a simple mathematical analysis to determine which potions give you the most bang for your buck--or for your time.
6. Video Tutorials - I've started doing screen captures of my potion brewing, narrating with helpful tips. If you want to see rather than just read, check these out.

The Basics
When brewing a potion, your table will look something like this:

All potions require three different ingredients, though some also use an additional fourth "Standard Ingredient" (see Ingredients section for details). Potion brewing always follows this basic structure:
1. Do stuff*
2. Wave wand
3. Leave for a while (always at least 80 minutes)
4. Return and do more stuff*
5. Wave wand
6. Profit!**

* "Do stuff" can include any combination of:
-Adding a number of ingredients to either the mortar or the cauldron
-Crushing ingredients to a certain fineness in the mortar
-Heating the cauldron to a certain temperature for a certain amount of time
-Stirring the cauldron a certain number of times in a certain direction
See General Tips for details on how to deal with each of these types of steps.

** You don't actually gain Galleons for this, but you do win House Points, which are incentive enough. Also, you get a nice potion for your collection. At present, though, potions don't have any use other than as potential gifts for friends.

You have a limited amount of time to complete all of those steps. The hourglass shows your remaining time. An additional timer will pop up if you're down to the last 10 seconds. If you mess up any of the steps (add too much of an ingredient, stir the wrong way, etc.), or if you run out of time, then the potion fails, and you get 0 House Points. If you fail really badly, the cauldron may explode! If that happens, you lose the cauldron, and 5 House Points.

You can only brew one potion at a time, so choose wisely.

Terminator the Second: Coming this October!

2011-09-12T07:00:00.001-10:00

Last spring, a project seeking funding on Kickstarter caught my eye: Terminator the Second, a live theater production Shakespeare-esque retelling of Terminator 2. The genius of it was that it wasn't just taking the Terminator 2 script and adjusting its lines into mock-Shakespeare language (Verily, I shall return anon). It was taking actual lines from many of Shakespeare's plays, switching out the few necessary nouns and pronouns here and there, and using them to build its entire script. This sample, posted on their Kickstarter site, takes place after the Terminator first rescues John:
(Click for larger view.)

I loved the idea--the Bard does sci-fi!!!--and happily threw in some money to fund the project. As it turned out, it was such a successful Kickstarter project that not only did they reach the $3000 they'd originally set as a goal to fund the project, but they made a new goal for $10,000 and passed that, too! A bigger budget means better costumes, props, sets, and equipment, and hopefully a better show.

Well, the show is a go. William Shakespeare presents Terminator the Second, a Husky Jackal Theater Production, premiering at the Nashville School of the Arts, October 14th-17th. Tickets are $15. You can find more details on their lovely website.

Unfortunately, Nashville is a long way from where I am, so I won't be making the trip to see it. But if any of you are in the area, or happen to be going there in mid October, I highly recommend you check it out. And spread the word to anyone you know in the area. I think it's really going to be epic. If you like Terminator 2, or Shakespeare, or--even better--both (and I really can't see why you wouldn't like both), this show is for you. I excitedly await my copy of the DVD.

Where I was

2011-09-11T10:36:00.001-10:00

Yes, the obligatory 10th anniversary of 9/11 post. I don't have anything profound to say. No astute observations, no personal losses, no hopes for the future beyond the usual platitudes. But recounting the story of what I did that day, unremarkable as it is, will be my way of remembering the tragedy and honoring the victims and the heroes from 9/11.

At the time of the 9/11 attacks, I'd never been to New York City. I had, however, driven past The City just a few days earlier--if I recall correctly, it was the weekend right before 9/11. My whole family had piled into the car as we drove my older brother off to his first year in college. On the car ride back, I remember looking from I-95 right toward the famous skyline of the city I'd never been to. I remember seeing the twin towers. How could I miss them? They were the tallest buildings, and there were two of them. Who could have known, then, that just a few days later, the skyline would never look the same?

It was a Tuesday. Everyone knows the date 9/11, and probably most people know it was in 2001. I remember it being a Tuesday as clear as anything, but I wonder whether kids too young to remember the attacks--or born afterwards--would have any idea what day of the week it was. I was a junior in high school at the time. Strange to realize that I was already a junior in high school ten years ago... Or is it strange to think I was that young only ten years ago? I can never decide. My best friend, a senior, was celebrating her 18th birthday. We hung out in the hallway as usual, in front of the lockers near the bottom of the stairs in the lower A Wing, waiting for first period to start. It was a perfectly pleasant morning.

During second period, I was in English class, and we were in the library. I don't remember what we were doing there--researching for some class project, I guess. I was sitting at one of the big tables in the middle of the library when our teacher, Ms. DeGuzman, told all of us that there was some sort of attack on the World Trade Center in New York. A bombing, or something? She was particularly upset, because she'd lived in New York City for a significant part of her life.

The librarian wheeled out the TV, and turned it on. Both towers had already been struck by this point, and they were showing replays of the second plane. As they showed footage of the towers, the voiceover featured a reporter interviewing someone answering questions from the Pentagon. Then, a crash. The reporter, knowing the sound was on the Pentagon end, asked if everything was all right. The guy answered that it sounded like a bomb went off or something--and went to stick his head out in the hallway, see if anyone knew what was going on. We'd find out soon, of course, that a third plane had struck the Pentagon.

During the passing time between second and third period, the hallways buzzed with the news. Did you guys hear what happened? Not many classrooms had TVs, and not all teachers were willing to stall their lesson plans to watch the news. In between classes, those who were in the dark got filled in with what they'd missed. My band class proceeded as usual, and it was in the hallways afterwards that I learned that the twin towers had collapsed. My friend exclaimed in disbelief, "Why is this happening on my birthday???" She didn't really mean it that way--as if it shouldn't be happening in particular on her birthday--she just didn't know what to make of it. It shouldn't have been happening at all. It's true, though, that now her birthday will long be associated with the tragedy.

The only other class that day in which I remember watching the news was physics. Mr. Bradford's physics class piled into the adjacent classroom, also a physics class, where one of the TVs was set up, and we just watched the news coverage: replays of the towers collapsing, and updates as more information became available. My greatest shame from that day is what went through my mind that period: No new lesson in physics today means no homework tonight! Score! I still didn't truly understand the enormity of what was happening. I had vague memories of the Oklahoma City bombing, which was a horrible tragedy, but I didn't really remember any terrible repercussions from it. I was too naive to see yet that this was different. That it was bigger and scarier and would have a profound influence on the country for years to come.

When I got home, I learned that my two cousins in New York City were fine. One was teaching a few blocks from the World Trace Center when it was hit. Close enough to witness the chaos, but far enough to be safe. The other was even farther away from the attack (I don't know where, though). Thank goodness, both were safe. I don't directly know anyone who died in the attack. I was lucky.

By that evening, it had finally sunk in that these events were a really big effing deal, and I felt horrible that as thousands of innocent people were dying, I had been thinking about a homework-free night. I tried to erase that thought from my memory, pretend it didn't happen, but obviously it didn't work. I still feel awful about it.

That night, we all watched as President Bush addressed the nation. Listening to him, I felt nothing but support. The American people were all united; everyone was a patriot, and no one was accusing anyone of being otherwise. Even other nations were with us, offering support and condemning the attacks. After our high school football games that fall (which I was forced to attend as part of the pep band, a requirement of people taking honors band), they would play "God Bless the USA" over the loud speakers, and everyone would join in singing, passionately, even earnestly, how "Proud to be an American" we each were.

It's odd thinking back to that moment, when we were all united. When I could listen to Bush speak without feeling any derision or embarrassment. Ah, how times would change. Bin Laden is dead now, but that's little comfort in a world where the sentiment that led to these attacks remains strong in the minds of a tiny but determined subset of the population. Plenty of mistakes have been made since the events of 9/11. I'm not an expert. I can't say what was a mistake vs. a blatant bad decision vs. an unfortunate necessity vs. making the best of a bad situation. But that's not the point of today.

On the anniversary, the only point is to remember and honor. Remember the tragedy, the people who died in the airplanes, in the towers, in the collapse, in the rescue efforts (and continue to die from health problems traced back to the rescue efforts in the rubble). Honor those who gave their lives, or risked their lives, to save as many as they could. Honor the people in United Flight 93 who managed to keep their plane from reaching its target and taking more lives than their own. Honor those who have been made to give their lives in wars meant to keep such a tragedy from happening again.

For today, I lay aside all the bitterness that has accumulated in the ten years since the attacks. I return to the purity of that day, and the unity, sympathy, and the pride I felt.

Rest in peace. God bless America.

I got into Pottermore!!!

2011-08-30T23:03:00.002-10:00

Tuesday morning, I received my highly anticipated early invite to Pottermore. Pottermore, if you haven't heard, is the new Harry Potter website with exclusive content and extra insight into the wizarding world, some of which is written by J. K. Rowling herself. It opens to the public in October, but from July 31 to August 6, fans were given the opportunity to win early access to the Beta. I was lucky enough to register on the second day, but wasn't actually allowed into the site until this morning.

I wasn't really sure what to expect. I knew the site would have extra details on the Harry Potter universe that weren't provided in the books, and that we'd be sorted into one of the Hogwarts houses, but I didn't know how it would be organized, or what there would be to do at the site. I'm still in the early stages and have much to explore, but I have to say I'm pleasantly impressed.

It starts out a bit slow. Pottermore follows the path of the books; it's nicely configured to be a companion to the books as you read through them. Chapter by chapter, it takes you to various key scenes (arrival at Privet Drive, the zoo, meeting Hagrid, etc.), allowing you to click around to explore each scene. If you click the right place, you can unlock some of the exclusive info, and you can also collect various items from the scenes, which I guess will have a purpose at some point. The images are lovely, but there doesn't seem to be that much to do in each scene, and you find yourself mousing around a lot, feeling like you must have missed something somewhere.

But things finally pick up when you get to Diagon Alley. There, you discover that you have a Gringotts vault stocked with Galleons, and you get to go shopping! You collect the supplies that you'll need for your first year of school, and you select a pet to take with you. I agonized over the pet choice, which also becomes your avatar. I knew I didn't want a toad, but choosing between the various varieties of owls and cats was hard. I had to walk away and come back a couple hours later before I was able to make the decision. In the end, I chose a black cat. When I first got there, I felt sure I'd buy an owl, because they're awesome as well as useful. But when I thought about it, the owls sit up in the owlery. If I want a pet to sit on my lap while I study in the dormitory common room, I need a cat.

The last step at Diagon Alley is to buy your wand. After a series of questions, none of which seem related to wands or wand materials, Ollivander declares what kind of wand has chosen you. Mine? Elm with unicorn core, ten and three quarter inches, unyielding. I have to say, I was unimpressed at first. I'm fine with unicorn hair, but elm seems a little uninteresting and I have no idea what I did to merit an unyielding wand. But really, I don't know what kind of wand I thought I should have instead. Oh well.

My first day in Pottermore ended with the Sorting Hat ceremony. I was very nervous, because I've long thought I'd be in Ravenclaw. I even have a sweet Ravenclaw Quidditch t-shirt. Gryffindor would be fine, too, but the others just didn't fit with how I see myself. The Sorting Hat asked a series of questions, but compared to other Sorting Hat quizzes I've seen online, it was much harder to tell how some of the answers would point you towards one house over another. That's a good thing, I think, because it discourages answering questions certain ways just to get into a certain house. After I'd answered a handful of questions, it suddenly declared RAVENCLAW! I was so happy and relieved.

I can't wait to explore more of Pottermore. Now that I have a house, I can try to learn spells and make potions to win points for my house. If you're in Pottermore, let me know your username so we can "friend" each other. Mine is WitchWillow140 (for those who don't know, they give you maybe five usernames to choose from when you register, so you don't get much freedom, though I like my name's association with Buffy the Vampire Slayer). I'm not sure what one does with friends on Pottermore other than track their progress, but seeing as I have none at the moment, I'd really like to find out!

Go Ravenclaw!

Looky! I made a (geeky) PRETTY!!

2011-08-29T12:48:00.004-10:00

A few weeks ago, I got bitten by a crafting bug. I was itching to make something. Something geeky and pretty that I could wear. And now I've actually done it.

When I was eleven, I learned how to weave beads. First, I made a small sample for a school project. I then wove myself a Christmas-themed choker (Christmas trees, presents, candles, and a star), which I was quite proud of at the time but now seems a bit rudimentary. After that, I made grand plans for a small wall decoration featuring swimming sea otters, bought the beads required for my pattern, then got distracted with other things before it was ever made. A shame, really.

Anyway, partly inspired by seeing so many cool geeky things on Etsy, I decided I wanted to start weaving beads again. I plotted out a few fun designs in an Excel spreadsheet (there must be better software for this purpose, but it worked well enough). I went to a couple bead stores in Honolulu, spent at least half an hour in each one looking at their seed bead offerings, then went home and bought a bunch of seed beads online. As I eagerly waited for the beads to arrive in the mail, I constructed a makeshift beading loom out of boxes from Costco (beefsteak tomatoes and Häagen-Dazs ice cream bars). The beads arrived over the course of last week. And so, this past weekend I made my first (and hopefully not last) geeky woven bracelet:

It's the Mass Effect N7 emblem that appears on Commander Shepard's armor (the N designates special forces, while the 7 indicates the highest level of proficiency), modeled here with my matching Asari tee.

I made it using glass TOHO size 15 seed beads, with the colors opaque jet (the black background), silver-lined crystal, and silver-lined ruby.

When I made the choker in middle school, I was using the larger size 11 beads, and they were all opaque. The smaller beads give a finer, more delicate design (the image doesn't look as coarse as with size 11), and the design can be more complicated without the bracelet becoming too large. The transparent silver-lined beads pop out and add a bit of sparkle and shine. It came out better than I had expected. Yeah, I'm really quite pleased with myself.

So what else am I planning on making? Given the rectangular nature of the medium, excessively round images don't work very well, and things that look good short and squat fit better on a reasonably thin bracelet (though if I go for a wider cuff look, I could make a taller image). R2-D2 and Yoda are thus high on my list, and maybe the Companion Cube. Bead weaving is particularly well suited for 8-bit images, but I haven't really been inspired by anything yet. Any suggestions?

What's wrong with giving fans the FemShep they envisioned?

2011-08-23T22:16:00.000-10:00

At the beginning of the month, I wrote a post defending both the apparent winner for the new default FemShep appearance (whom I called BlondeShep) as well as the vote for FemShep's appearance itself. If you're unfamiliar with the situation, you can see my summary as well as commentary here.

To summarize my commentary, I liked that they were giving us fans, who already have our own idea of what FemShep should look like, a chance to help decide the new default FemShep look. The original default was disappointing, and I had hoped that they would redesign her now that they were giving her a turn in the spotlight with her own cover art and trailer. I actually tweeted at the time:

In ME1&2, default MaleShep looked much cooler than default FemShep (modeled after an actual model). Hope they'll improve for #3.
13 Jun

Yes, the default male Shepard appearance was designed after a gorgeous male model because, being the Shepard used in all the trailers, covers, and promotional materials, he was the face of Mass Effect. I thought maybe they'd redesign FemShep after a model or actress. When they came out with the six images to vote on, I figured it was too much trouble/time/money to design her after a face model. But also, at this point we've already played as FemShep and designed her as we saw fit. BioWare is making the FemShep trailer and cover art because the fans want it. Why not let the fans give input on how they imagine her?

As it turned out, the vote may not have been decided by the passionate FemShep players but by the majority Mass Effect demographic of young men voting for the Shepard they thought looked the hottest. Disappointing, but what can you do? A lot of people complained about the apparent winner being the blonde, but I argued that the blonde still looks badass--even with loose hair. I did have one complaint about the vote, though: While I wanted FemShep to have brown hair (like me!), I had to agree that the blonde's hairstyle was the most flattering. It wasn't fair. Had they given the blonde a tight bun, and had the longer wispy hair style in black, brown, or red, would the blonde still have won? Did she win because of her coloring, or because of the style? I wondered.

In the week or so after I wrote my post, things seemed to be settling down. The vote was over, and people accepted that the blonde still made a cool FemShep (as illustrated in this Penny Arcade comic). And then came Round 2 of voting.

Apparently I wasn't the only one who liked the blonde's hair style but wished it were a different color. The folks at BioWare noticed these comments and organized Round 2, which took the BlondeShep design but offered it in four different hair colors. Having accepted the blonde already, I was slightly weary of the whole ordeal at the time this second vote came up, but it was, after all, what I'd wished for. I voted for the brunette, then decided I really liked how the hair style and eye color looked with the black hair, and voted for her too. It looks like the redhead is going to win, but I'm fully satisfied at this point. Done.

But the controversy is not done. I'm still reading things that I feel the need to respond to. In her post at The Mary Sue, Becky Chambers criticizes the FemShep redesign and vote. It's clear that she liked the original default FemShep; I didn't, but there's nothing to be done about opinion. Still, she specifically complains about the six FemShep appearances offered in the first round of voting, calling them "foxier", saying that they look too young, and supposing that the type of person who would like them is the type who would obsess over FemShep's lipstick color.

I can address these concerns. "Foxy" is not the first thing that came to my mind when I saw the FemShep designs. Determined, strong, confident, defiant, and--sure--pretty are what I see in them. Becky says she imagines Shepard in her thirties, but one doesn't have to imagine Shepard in her thirties. Shepard was born in 2154; the events of Mass Effect take place in 2183; Mass Effect 2 takes place in 2185. If she is 31, that makes her the same age as...Katee Sackhoff. A year older than Summer Glau. Two years younger than Zoe Saldana. Now, maybe my problem is that I'm bad at determining the apparent age of animated characters, but the FemSheps don't look out of line for 31. She also says she imagines FemShep with the "practical" hair of the original default, in contrast with BlondeShep's loose shoulder-length locks. But if you look at the original's hair style, she has loose chin-length locks. They are just as likely to get in her eyes as shoulder-length hair, if not more, since it's hard to tuck those front hairs behind the ears. And lastly, no, I didn't obsess over FemShep's lipstick color. I chose my FemShep's lip color to look like she wasn't wearing any lipstick. But that doesn't mean I can't like the way she looks with mascara. If Shepard has time to solve random domestic disputes around the citadel, she can put on a little mascara in the morning.

At the end of the post, Becky finally throws up her hands with an "Oh, for fuck's sake" at the idea of the second round of voting. I've already done what I can to defend, justify, and praise the new designs and BioWare's decision to let us vote on them. My defense of the second round of voting is basically the same as that of the first round. Let me put it this way:

I love Mass Effect. This makes my 45th post discussing Mass Effect on my blog (I'm kind of stunned to notice this, but that is over 10% of my total number of posts). I always play as FemShep--I don't even use the term FemShep outside of this specific topic because to me, she is simply Shepard. I gave her the longest hair that the designers offered, with little to no makeup (you can see my ME1 Shepard in the middle of my title banner). I did not like the default Shepard in Mass Effect or Mass Effect 2. I thought her face was bland and unmemorable, even with that scar, far below the standard of the default male Shepard and similar in quality to any bit player NPC. I wanted a new default FemShep. I liked being able to vote on her appearance to make her look how I envisioned her. I liked the long hair style--no, tousled hair does not get in Commander Shepard's way--but wanted to see it in different colors. BioWare delivered. The vote may not have gone as I wanted, but that's what happens when you don't share the most popular opinion. I accept that.

I see FemShep as a feminist icon, a paragon of female video game characters (whether you play her as a paragon or a renegade). I'm thrilled she's getting her own promotional material, and I'm grateful for what BioWare has done making a FemShep to please fans and to stand proudly opposite MaleShep. The vote is fitting, not ridiculous. I am a FemShep fan, and I am happy. What else is there to say?

Big Island Trip: Waikoloa

2011-08-23T07:00:00.000-10:00

The last day of our Big Island trip, the Housemate and I went with his brother's family to the Waikoloa Beach Marriott Resort. In addition to the beach (which we didn't actually swim at), there is an easy hike to a petroglyph field and a nice walk along ancient fish ponds.

The petroglyphs, while old, aren't ancient by some standards--I think they date back to the 16th Century--but being a legacy of the Hawaiian people pre-European influence, they're a great piece of Hawaiian cultural history. We didn't go too far down the trail because we had the kids with us--and we were really hot on that hike--but we did see a few petroglyphs.

The Housemate snapped this shot.

The Housemate took this photo of a bird looking for lunch in one of the fish ponds.

Then I got a hold of the camera. Here's a view of one of the fish ponds.

View from the beach.

The Housemate's brother and niece found a turtle!

Sleepy turtle.

A tree trunk in a fish pond.

That's it! I hope you enjoyed my photos of the Big Island. If you ever make your way to Hawaii, I highly recommend you check out the Big Island. Much less populated than O'ahu (which has the state capital Honolulu), it's younger, more pristine land, with better diving and, of course, still active volcanoes (we visited Hawaii Volcanoes National Park last year).

Back to Big Island Trip master link page

Big Island Trip: Hanaunau diving

2011-08-22T07:00:00.002-10:00

I've already documented the sad tale of the breaking of my camera during our first dive on this trip to the Big Island. The good news is that there's a good probability that the warranty people will replace the camera (maybe even in the beautiful turquoise blue that my original camera was), as they told me they would and had me mail it in and everything. The bad news was that I didn't get photos of my two amazing dives with dolphins and manta rays the next day.

The photos I did take at Hanaunau (as a snorkel/dive spot, sometimes referred to as "Two-Step") before my camera flooded weren't great. The camera broke about 20 minutes into the dive, and we seemed to see a lot less in that time than we'd seen the previous year while snorkeling. Besides, it was a cloudy afternoon; less light to begin with means less light--and less color--underwater. Still, I feel I owe it to my lovely camera to share the photos it so valiantly took on its last expedition.

This is a lower resolution photo because it's actually a still from a video I took. It just gives a nice picture of just how much live coral there is at this spot, and how many textures it has.

That's a moray! The Housemate snapped this photo.

Just because it amuses me, I have to include the Angry Mermaid photo again.

I was trying to tell the Housemate to stop taking photos of me while I was clearing my mask of water. I wasn't THAT angry, but it did scare him, poor guy.

Here's a much friendlier mermaid.

And another photo of fish and coral.

That's it. Soon after that photo was taken, the camera started vibrating in my hands, and the screen started fuzzing out. We swam the camera into shore and handed it off to the Housemate's brother on the beach. Fortunately, the photos that were already taken remained intact.

Last but not least: See photos from Waikoloa, a beach resort that also happens to have a petroglyph field. Seeing as my camera was broken, those photos are all taken with the Housemate's camera.

Back to Big Island Trip master link page

Big Island Trip: Waipio Valley beach

2011-08-20T07:00:00.012-10:00

After the hot, tiring hike down into Waipio Valley, we were relieved to spend an hour or so relaxing on the gorgeous black sand beach.

The weather was pretty perfect that day. The Housemate enjoyed checking out the waves. Farther down the beach, there was a wave suitable for surfing.

The Housemate's brother and niece walk down to a part of the beach that isn't quite so pebbly.

The nephew plays in the waves at the shoreline, as he is wont to do.

The effect of the black sand under the water was rather enchanting.

When I realized that a thin film of water left by a recently receded wave created a mirror over the black sand, I went a little crazy with the camera. I can't decide which photo I like the best, so I'll just throw a bunch at you. Click for larger versions.

The choppy water here is from the river outflow over the beach.

Rock, clouds, approaching wave.

I love the patterns created in the sand by water running around rocks.

Good thing there were lots of fluffy clouds that day.

A bunch of rocks with sand wake patterns.

Sky, cliff, ocean, and black-sand mirror.

Help me out: Which of the "mirror" photos do you like the best?

Edit: OK, here's two more. It's actually the same photo, but cropped differently...

Meteorites...

Coming up next: The few diving photos I managed to get before my camera broke.

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Big Island Trip: Waipio Valley hike

2011-08-19T07:00:00.006-10:00

The Housemate's brother had heard about a hike down into Waipio Valley from a friend of his. A steep road descends into a secluded valley on the Big Island's north shore. Most of the valley is private property. At the head of the valley is the tallest waterfall on the island. At the other end, a black sand beach. The hike wasn't supposed to be very long, maybe an hour. Sounded like a good idea at the time.

The hike descends from the ridge into the valley 1000 feet below in the span of a mile. While that's not a long hike, the often 45-degree slope is pretty brutal, especially in the hot sun. Going down into the valley, you have to be careful not to start running down the slope, because you could get out of control and take a tumble. The walk is jarring to the joints. Coming out, it's like hiking up a mile-long staircase. We went down with the whole family. The Housemate's brother had the little girl in a child backpack. The Housemate carried the four-year-old in his arms for part of the way. Going down it was manageable (if somewhat painful for certain people involved), but I don't know how we would have made it out if the Housemate's brother, sister-in-law, niece, and nephew hadn't hitched a ride with the cars driving up out of the valley. Yes, it was a road we were hiking down into the valley, but because of the steepness of the slope, only four-wheel-drive vehicles can drive down. The Housemate and I hiked the whole way, and I was pretty red faced by the end. Now that I've done it once, I'd be happy to rent a Jeep next time. If you want to go with young children, a four-wheel-drive vehicle is a must.

That said, I'm really glad we did the hike, because it was gorgeous! This was the view of the valley and beach from the ridge, where we ate our lunch.

From the hike down into the valley. I'm not sure you can tell just how steep it is from the picture, but it was intense. Back in the valley, you can see some small taro farms.

The opposite ridge, and some nice marshy vegetation.

Before we saw where it was (it wasn't visible from the ridge lookout), we'd planned to go all the way to the waterfall. But that is a long way, and involves a lot of hiking through private property. Once down in the valley, we passed some hikers who described the path their friends were taking to the waterfall: Follow the stream, you'll have to wade waist-deep in the stream for a hundred yards or so, then you'll see where you climb out over the rocks on the other side... Basically, it was totally infeasible with the children, and probably not what we wanted even if it had just been the adults. We enjoyed the view of the waterfall from the valley road.

It's kind of interesting how there's clearly a second waterfall path carved out of the rock. I wondered whether it would sometimes have two waterfalls if there was enough rainfall, or if the second was just an older path and the river had for whatever reason been slightly diverted from it.

Since we couldn't go all the way to the waterfall, at least we could go to the beach! It was a beautiful black sand beach, the nicest one I've been to, with soft sand and very few people (given the remote location, that was to be expected). I think the Housemate took this shot.

I took a LOT of photos on the beach, so I'll make them a separate post.

After the strenuous hike out of the valley, the Housemate and I were rewarded with a beautiful view of the valley, a bit before sunset.

The Housemate took a photo of it with his camera:

Next: Photos from the Waipio black sand beach.

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Big Island Trip: Banyans, Kua Bay, and Mauna Kea

2011-08-18T15:30:00.005-10:00

The Housemate and I took a week-long summer vacation on the Big Island in July. We stayed with his brother, who lives in Kailua-Kona with his wife and two little children.

Our first day there, the swell was good, so the Housemate took the opportunity to go surfing with his brother. The beach wasn't good for swimming, though, so the rest of us just hung out on the beach under a shady tree.

The Housemate's four-year-old nephew collects rocks and coral bits by the water.

A turtle! Shame it didn't put its head above the water, but I think it's still recognizable.

The second day, we went to a beach that was great for swimming: Kua Bay Beach Park. The sand is soft and light, and the water is the perfect, glittering, crystal-clear green the brochures tell you it's supposed to be.

While the Housemate's nephew liked to stay on the beach, running in and out of the gently crashing waves, his 18-month-old niece LOVED boogie boarding with her father.

She was having a great time there.

That night, we went to the Mauna Kea Observatory Visitor Center. On top of the 14,000-ft (4200-m) volcano sits a collection of powerful telescopes that capture important astronomical images. Those telescopes, though, don't have eyepieces and instead feed directly into computers. So aside from appreciating how large the telescopes are, there isn't much to see at the peak. Furthermore, at 14,000 ft, people acclimated to sea level would likely find themselves impaired by the thin air--not able to see straight, feeling ill, and such. Thus, the visitor center sits down the mountain at a comfortable 9000 ft.

9000 ft (2750 m) is still quite high. While at sea level in Kona the temperature was around 80F (27C), at the Visitor Center it was about 49F (9C). This is REALLY cold by Hawaii standards--in Honolulu, a day that doesn't pass 75F is cold, and a night that dips below 65F is downright freezing. Luckily we'd seen on their website how cold it would be, and I wore the warmest clothes I'd brought: a light sweatshirt and jeans. I would have preferred a fleece jacket. Needless to say, the gift shop there made an absolute killing on Cup O'Noodles and hot chocolate mix.

The presentation someone made (armed with powerful laser pointer) was a bit disappointing, concentrating on pointing out the constellations in the zodiac rather than providing interesting astronomical information (the one exception: an explanation of Omega Centauri). But they had about a dozen telescopes set up and focused on various interesting things in the night sky. I tried to snap a few photos with my camera, but given the difficulty of lining up the shots, and the fact that there were often people waiting in a line behind me, I didn't get that many. Here are a couple:

Guess which planet this is. Through the telescope, we could see maybe four of its moons, but the camera only got the rings. Still recognizable, though.

Moon so bright.

Less exposed, so you can see the detail a bit better.

I'm not sure I'm anxious to go back to the Mauna Kea Observatory, but I'm glad I went. I wish that the staff there were a bit more knowledgeable, but I saw some cool things, and they had interesting videos playing inside the building. It makes a good evening trip.

Coming up next: The best photos from our trip, which came the next day when we hiked into Waipio Valley.

Back to Big Island Trip master link page

My trip to the Big Island, 2011

2011-08-18T15:00:00.007-10:00

I've already published a few posts on my trip to the Big Island (aka Hawai'i) last month, and I'm about to do more (with photos!), so this will just be a hub--a table of contents, I suppose--of the posts related to that trip.

Just after arriving:
I'm in Kona!

My Most Amazing Birthday:
Part 1 - Surprise party...with dolphins!
Part 2 - Spectacular dive with manta rays (the highlight of the day, which is really saying something)
Part 3 - Malassadas, and being 1000

Now, for the photos (all taken not on my birthday):
Banyans, Kua Bay Beach Park, and Mauna Kea
Waipio part 1 - the hike
Waipio part 2 - the beach
Hanaunau - before the (camera) flooding
Waikoloa Beach Marriott Resort

NPR's Top 100 Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books

2011-08-14T07:00:00.001-10:00

NPR recently published its list of the Top 100 Science-Fiction and Fantasy Books, as nominated by fans, weeded through by experts, then voted on by fans. It's a great list, though I should note that they left off all young adult sci-fi and fantasy (no Harry Potter or Narnia). They promised a separate list for the young adult books in future summers.

I'm sorry to say that I have only read a handful of the books that made the list*. Here are the ones I've read (if I've read at least one complete book in a listed series, I count that), with the brief description from the NPR list and my commentary:

#1 The Lord of the Rings, J. R. R. Tolkien

Tolkien's seminal three-volume epic chronicles the War of the Ring, in which Frodo the hobbit and his companions set out to destroy the evil Ring of Power and restore peace to Middle-earth. The beloved trilogy still casts a long shadow, having established some of the most familiar and enduring tropes in fantasy literature.

I actually didn't read this book/trilogy until shortly before the movies started coming out, and I have only read them through the one time. It's the movies that I have watched over and over; while Tolkien created this marvelous world, Jackson et al. may have had more...narrative finesse. But I still consider myself a huge fan of the books. I can speak a bit of Quenya, after all.

#2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams

In the first, hilarious volume of Adams' Hitchhiker's series, reluctant galactic traveler Arthur Dent gets swept up in some literally Earth-shattering events involving aliens, sperm whales, a depressed robot, mice who are more than they seem, and some really, really bad poetry.

I finally got around to reading this one in college and found it absolutely delightful. The dolphins, the petunias, the galactic battle fleet swallowed by a small dog. It's a fun, fast read. The movie doesn't do it justice, but it does have some good bits (Alan Rickman is enjoyable, as always). The book is the first in a series, but the NPR list only credits this first one.

#5 A Song of Ice and Fire, George R. R. Martin
Ummm, this description might count as spoilers (though ones you probably expected) if you've only read the first book/seen the first season. I'll let you highlight to read.

As the Seven Kingdoms face a generation-long winter, the royal Stark family confronts the poisonous plots of the rival Lannisters, the emergence of the Neverborn demons, the arrival of barbarian hordes, and other threats.

What is it about having two "R" initials in the middle of your name? (Martin has often been compared to Tolkien.) I read the first book in Martin's epic series, A Game of Thrones, a few years ago. Much darker than the fantasy I was used to, I liked it enough to buy the rest of the books, but at the time wasn't ready to dive into the second book. But this summer's excellent HBO show, Game of Thrones, brought me back to the series, giving me renewed appreciation for the world Martin created and strengthening my affection for his characters. As the first season of Game of Thrones conveniently covered the events of the first book, I'm now perfectly poised to start book 2, A Clash of Kings.

#7 Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury

A totalitarian regime has ordered all books to be destroyed, but one of the book burners suddenly realizes their merit, in a chilling novel of a frightening near-future world.

Sadly, that summary is about all I remember of the book, beyond vague images of scenes and feelings I associate with it. I read this one in high school, and while I appreciated it for being a "great" book, I guess it didn't engross me enough to leave a lasting impression.

#9 Brave New World, Aldous Huxley

Huxley's classic prophetic novel describes the socialized horrors of a futuristic utopia devoid of individual freedom.

I read this one in high school as well, but somehow I felt far more engaged with the dystopian world it imagined and the characters who populated it than with Fahrenheit 451. "Ending is better than mending," "I'm so glad I'm a beta," horror at the idea of someone being a mother... I liked this one but it also disturbed me, which I think is why it has stuck with me so well.

#12 Wheel of Time, Robert Jordan

At 13 volumes and counting, this sweeping — some would say sprawling – richly imagined epic chronicles the struggle between servants of the Dark One and those of the champion of light known as the Dragon Reborn.

I've talked about this series on this blog before (I chose one of its heroines as a Character I'd Like To Be), as it's easily the series for which I've read the greatest number of pages (each book is about 1000 pages in paperback form). My mom somewhat randomly gave me the first in the series, Eye of the World, before one of our trips to Hawaii when I was 15. By the end of our trip, I had finished the third book. While I've taken issue with some of the plot points, and I recognize how the series started dragging on...and on (I don't recall anything happening in book 10, except maybe Mat going shopping for silks--seriously), I still adore this series. I've been immersed in its world so long, seen the characters through so much, I can't help but feel attached. And Jordan did create a beautiful, complex story that is brilliant in its own way. Book 11 really picked up again, and now the end is in sight. Though Jordan passed away, he left enough notes for Brandon Sanderson to finish it up. I'll definitely see it through.

#13 Animal Farm, George Orwell

Farm animals overthrow their human owners and set up their own deeply (and familiarly) flawed government. Orwell's mordant satire of totalitarianism is still a mainstay of ninth-grade reading lists.

This is another one I read in high school that I barely remember. It's not that I didn't like it, I just didn't love it enough for it to stick. Sort of sad realizing how much of my education I've lost. I can't even remember which year I read this one...

#15 Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons

As former members of a disbanded group of superheroes called the Crimebusters start turning up dead, the remaining members of the group try to discover the identity of the murderer before they, too, are killed. A graphic novel.

I'm a geek, I used to watch loads of cartoons based on comics (Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, X-Men, Fantastic Four), and I love comics-based movies, but I'm not actually a comics reader. One week, my Entertainment Weekly had on its cover a collection of people who were clearly superheroes...but I didn't have a clue who they were. Nerd shame! Well, I quickly ordered Watchmen off Amazon and got caught up. This is the one graphic novel I've read, but it's a really, really great one. The movie doesn't do it justice at all. You just have to read it.

#32 Watership Down, Richard Adams

An allegorical tale of survival about a band of wild rabbits who leave their ancestral home to build a more humane society chronicles their adventures as they search for a safe place to establish a new warren where they can live in peace.

My dad regrets not reading Lord of the Rings to me as he did to my brothers when they were young, but he did at least read me Watership Down as a bedtime story. I was seven at the time, and it was the longest book I'd ever encountered. But I loved it: the rabbits, their world--especially the exciting section about Efrafa. Perhaps foreshadowing my future Quenya studies, I pored over the Lapine glossary at the back of the book--hardly a developed language, but fun nonetheless. It was my love of Watership Down that attracted me to the Redwall books three years later, and these were the books that really sucked me into the fantasy genre. So, even if my dad didn't read me LotR, he guided me in the right direction.

#66 The Riftwar Saga, Raymond E. Feist

Evil entities have opened a rift in the fabric of space-time, plunging the world of Medkemia into peril. As the battle between Order and Chaos threatens to engulf everything, reluctant wizard Pug is the only hope of a thousand worlds.

My sophomore year in high school, one of my older brother's friends (a senior, like him) founded a school club he called the Fantasy Reader's Guild. We didn't actually read anything together, it was just an excuse for students to get together and geek out. After they graduated I became the "president" of the club, and following the suggestion of our club's faculty advisor, everyone in the club read Magician (in two parts: Apprentice and Master). In case anyone out there was doubting whether women ever read fantasy books willingly in their book clubs, I'm living proof the answer is yes.

#67 Sword of Shannara Trilogy, Terry Brooks

Over the course of three novels, several generations of the Ohmsford family find themselves retrieving magical artifacts in the desperate hope to fight evil.

This was the next fantasy series I tackled after Redwall, when Sword of Shannara was on my summer reading list going into 9th grade. Sword (the first book in the trilogy) is a blatant ripoff of Lord of the Rings, but Brooks does manage to one-up Tolkien in one way: Sword of Shannara has even fewer women than Lord of the Rings! That said, at the time I was blissfully unaware of the many, many parallels between LotR and Sword (I hadn't read LotR yet) and didn't care about the lack of women. I was just sucked into this exciting, complex world of magic and battles. The second in the trilogy, Elfstones of Shannara, was much more original and--what'd'ya know--featured several important female characters (one of whom went on my list of Characters I'd Like To Be). I am very fond of that book. The third in the trilogy, Wishsong of Shannara, was also good, and different, but Elfstones remains my favorite in the series.

I'd like to note that I've also read parts of two more books on the list:
#46 The Silmarillion, J. R. R. Tolkien
I wrote a paper in college on the story of Beren and Lúthien.

#47 The Once and Future King, T. H. White
I read The Sword in the Stone in seventh grade.

Looking at the NPR list, I realize how much reading I have to do. The Mists of Avalon (#42, Marion Zimmer Bradley) sits on my bookshelf, as does the rest of the Song of Ice and Fire series. I've wanted to read Neil Gaimon and Terry Prachett for years, now. And some day I'll read all of The Silmarillion, I promise!

If you're looking for something to read, this list is a great reference (at least, if you're looking for something sci-fi or fantasy--if you're not, then I doubt you'll have read down to this point in the post ;). And if there's anything else that I should add to my list, let me know!

* To be fair, while I've only read entire books from 11 of the 100 publications listed, by some counts that would come to 28 books encompassed by the list. Not too shabby.

Angry Birds

2011-08-12T23:01:00.003-10:00

At a family dinner party tonight, I had the pleasure of playing Angry Birds for the first time. It began when I saw my 12-year-old second cousin playing on an iPod (or something iPod-like) and asked him what game it was. When he told me it was Angry Birds, I said I'd heard of it but had never played it.

12-year-old cousin upon learning I'd never played Angry Birds:
"Oh, you've never played before? It's so fun, but so addicting. Here, try it--see? This is how it works..."
12-year-old cousin after I totally botch a level and lament my lack of talent:
"It's OK, it's OK, it's just a game. You can do it again--here. I don't like the fail screen, so you can just go here and press that before it comes up and start the level over again that way."

At this point, we've caught the attention of my 21-year-old cousin, so he comes to see what we're doing.

21-year-old cousin upon learning I'd never played Angry Birds:
"What?! How have you never played Angry Birds before?!! You can play it on a computer! Or don't you have a friend with an iPad or iPhone? You must have a friend with an iPad or an iPhone, and if they have it, they must have Angry Birds! *Shakes head* Never played Angry Birds!"
21-year-old cousin after I totally botch a level and lament my lack of talent:
"You're terrible at this! That's shameful. Here, let me do it, it's so easy, see, you just go like this...."

Is it just me, or does something seem a little backwards in attitude and maturity level between my two cousins?

Anyway, now I've been introduced to Angry Birds, and also to some other game that involved feeding candy to a little green monster while collecting stars. I tried to explain the two games to my mom on the car ride back, but as I was describing them it occurred to me that they don't actually make sense: "You slingshot these birds, so they...blow stuff up. The red ones are regular, but the blue ones, if you click again, then they, uh, split into three birds. Yeah." "You have a little green monster and you have to feed him this candy. But you do it by cutting certain strings so it swings the right way, and sometimes you get it caught in a bubble so it starts to float."

Well, they don't have to make sense to be fun. I can see how they might become addicting if I used a handheld device that ran it, but as it is...I'll stick to my RPGs.

Least believable screen couples

2011-08-09T13:37:00.002-10:00

The staff at A.V. Club recently offered their answers to this question:

Whenever I would sit on a flight with my family and be forced to watch "King of Queens" for in-flight entertainment, my mom would always comment on how unrealistic it is for Kevin James, an overweight UPS worker, to be married to Leah Remini.* This got me thinking about who would be the least believable couples in movies and television based on attractiveness, career success, etc. (all the superficial things people look at when comparing people in a relationship). Who would you say are the most unrealistic matches? —Jordan

Unrealistic pairings, apparently, are not uncommon, as most of the thirteen A.V. Club writers who responded came up with several different examples each. The glaring pattern one notices reading their responses is that the vast majority of the "unrealistic matches" pair a gorgeous, hot young woman with a less-than-handsome and/or far-too-old man. The rare exceptions to this featured two attractive people who didn't seem to fit together due to either lack of chemistry or clashing character personalities (I saw three such examples on the list: Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman, Amy Poehler and Adam Scott, Jodie Foster and Matthew McConaughey).

Why are there so many more examples of hot women paired with not-so-hot men than the other way around? There are likely many reasons, but two come to mind at the moment:

1. Wish fulfillment and male predominance. Most TV and movie writers (and producers, and studio execs) are men, so it makes sense for them to write themselves a bit of wish fulfillment and pair an ordinary-looking guy like themselves with a gorgeous actress (a serial example of this is Woody Allen). Most star comedians are also men, so it makes sense for their producers to ensure that even if their star isn't eye candy, their romantic lead is (e.g. "King of Queens"). That point about comedians has a counter example, however, as unlike Kevin James, Jim Belushi, Mark Addy, or Ray Romano, Roseanne was not paired with a hotter mate but with John Goodman (not that I criticize that decision--just pointing out the difference).

If that's not enough, it's a well-known fact that the majority of TV and movies are primarily marketed toward men, who are apparently pickier and less tolerant of media perceived as being "for women" than women are of media perceived as being "for men". This means that it's not just male writers and producers writing their own wish fulfillment, it's show creators creating wish fulfillment for their primary target audience.

2. Overall lower tolerance for unattractive women than unattractive men. Studies have shown (I don't have any sources to cite...this is just what I remember learning in college classes) that in determining how attractive a member of the opposite sex is, men place a higher value on appearance than women do, while women more highly value the ability to provide (i.e. earn money). This may make sense from an evolutionary standpoint (man needs woman who is young and fertile, woman needs man who can protect and provide for her and her children), but it is interesting to see how such a primitive instinct may contribute to what we see on screen. Not only do men have a higher preference for beauty in their mates, but they have a higher preference for beauty in women they see on screen, particularly in the romantic pairings that they see in those media. There is not an obviously intuitive connection between the two. On the flip side, I don't see how women can go about demanding that their actors be better able to provide for their families--would this be demanded of the characters (that's the writer's domain) or the actors themselves (not something evident on screen)? Thus actors are relieved of any corresponding unequal expectations when it comes to casting.

Perhaps this all ties into the generalization that men can make it in show business if they're talented, while women can make it if they're beautiful and talented. I suppose some women find success simply by being beautiful, but eventually people start to catch on (e.g. Megan Fox). There are exceptions to every rule, of course, but it's enough to be a rule...

Anyway, this is getting into deeper, more complicated issues than I intended to with this post. What I really want to know is, since the A.V. Club failed to come up with any, can you think of any examples of unrealistic screen couples in which the man is blatantly younger or more gorgeous than the woman?

The example I can think of is Diane Keaton and Keanu Reeves in Something's Gotta Give; she's 18 years his senior. Of course, (spoiler alert) she ends up with Jack Nicholson in the end, who is 9 years her senior. A much more acceptable pairing, no?

Anyone else?

* It's an interesting example, because I remember seeing an ad for that show based entirely on this point. The promo went something like, "How did THIS guy [shot of Kevin James looking fat and lazy on the couch] score THIS girl [shot of Leah Remini looking hot]? Find out on 'The King of Queens'!"

Random photos from around the island

2011-08-07T10:47:00.002-10:00

I'm still sorting through my photos from the Big Island, but in the meanwhile, here are some random photos from O'ahu.

This was taken at White Plains beach park, west of Honolulu. The beach is very nice, but it was the sky that impressed me that day.

These are a couple views of the Waikiki skyline as seen from our house, during two different sunsets. I love how that one building catches the light when the sun gets low.

The Housemate and I visited a friend of his who was staying at the Ko Olina Resort at the beginning of the summer. We got a nice tour of the area at sunset. While walking on the beach, I also got to meet the tiniest puppy (like six inches long--it could have been kidnapped by a squirrel). It was so cute and fluffy, and it licked my hand with its tiny tongue, but somehow I didn't snap a picture of it, which I still regret. The sunset was beautiful, though.

Belated Third Blogiversary!

2011-08-04T12:00:00.003-10:00

My third blogiversary was actually last month, but that was right after my birthday, in the midst of my amazing Big Island vacation, shortly followed by my family coming to town (they're still here). As often happens, Real Life takes over and I fall behind on my blog. Anyway, I've done posts for both of my previous blogiversaries (bringing you my otter stuffed animal collection, and the ear snap), so I can't miss this one, late as I may be.

When I started this blog, I was quite naive and wasn't really sure the extent to which I wanted to stay anonymous. I made up names, used photos that didn't show my face (still have that Blogger profile picture on the left), and was vague on places I'd lived, gone to school, and worked. Before long, I started posting photos with my face, but always wearing sunglasses (except for photos of me when I was little). It became kind of a joke, I guess, and was even easier to keep up when I moved to Hawaii, since I'm always wearing sunglasses when I'm outside, where most of my worthwhile photos are taken. Well, I'm not as concerned anymore about anonymity and mystery. For my third blogiversary post, I'll share some facts about me that I've only beaten around before, and I'll share a photo of me that includes my eyes. They aren't facts that come up very often, but I might as well get them out in the open here.

I usually say that I'm from New England, but at least once in the comments on this blog I admitted to growing up in Massachusetts. Specifically, I'm from Natick, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston known for its shopping mall (locally known, at least), army labs (Ben Affleck has been there, really!), and Doug Flutie (recently retired NFL player, raises money for autism). It's also home to the corporate headquarters of Matlab producer MathWorks, Inc. (nerd cred!) and was featured in Family Guy episode "Da Boom" as the town with the Twinkie factory where the family sought food and new residence after nuclear disaster.

For college, I went to Princeton University, which is in New Jersey. It was with the Princeton University Chapel Choir that I was lucky enough to sing in Carnegie Hall one night, which was amazing. We also got paid (very little) in the choir: How can you get college students to wake up early every Sunday morning? Bribe them with money and bagels. Hence my boasts in that one post of having once been a professional singer.

After graduating, I got a job at Horn Point Laboratory, a lab facility in Cambridge, Maryland for the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. Cambridge, MD is a very small, remote town, and I complained a lot about how little there was to do there. But it was lovely living and working on a tiny campus right on the wide Choptank River.

And now, without further ado, a recent photo of me, including my eyes:

I call it my "angry mermaid" photo. My mask was leaking and I was working on clearing it, and then I looked up to discover that the Housemate was apparently taking photos of me. I shot him this angry look to tell him not to take photos of me clearing my mask. I wasn't actually that mad, there just aren't many ways to say "Please stop pointing that camera at me while I try to clear my mask of water" when you're scuba diving. Afterwards, the Housemate admitted that I'd scared him, and he'd been afraid to take photos of me after that. Mission accomplished, sort of. This was taken on the Big Island last month, and I promise I'll share more photos of that trip soon.

Thanks to everyone for reading! I love having this blog as a way to document and share my thoughts, my interests, my exciting experiences, and my worries. I really appreciate everyone who reads and those who comment. Even though I haven't met any of you in person, I value the friendships I've made online through this blog.

Follow-up on BlondeShep

2011-08-03T10:22:00.002-10:00

I saw this new comic on Penny Arcade and figured I'd include it, to go along with yesterday's post:

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2011/8/3/

Give BlondeShep a break

2011-08-02T15:43:00.005-10:00

I was going to tweet about this at first, but I soon realized that I had more to say than would fit conveniently on Twitter. Then it ballooned into a much longer discussion.

Since the start of BioWare's Mass Effect franchise, the third and final installment of which is coming out March 2012, all promotional materials for Mass Effect have featured a single default male Commander Shepard, in spite of the fact that the game's protagonist can be customized by the player in appearance and gender. Commander Shepard's appearance has no bearing whatsoever on the game aside from the player's aesthetic satisfaction (though wouldn't it be funny if Shepard could be rejected by Miranda for being too ugly, or by Jack for being too pretty?). Shepard's gender, on the other hand, does affect the game, notably through a different set of romance experiences and through a different actor providing Shepard's voice; male Shepard is voiced by Mark Meer, while female Shepard (affectionately called "FemShep") is voiced by Jennifer Hale.

From a marketing standpoint, it made sense to advertise Mass Effect to the world using only one Commander Shepard. For people unfamiliar with the franchise, it needed to be apparent who the protagonist was, so the potential player could know what role he or she could step into. But now, BioWare has decided that the franchise is known well enough and FemShep has enough loyal fans that it is finally time to give FemShep a little love. They announced this summer that FemShep would receive some public promotion through 1) a picture on the case of the Mass Effect 3 Collector's Edition (I'm guessing MaleShep on the front, FemShep on the back, or something like that), and 2) her own trailer.

This was a triumph. FemShep fans around the globe--I among them--rejoiced. For years I'd felt the Mass Effect I knew and loved had been marginalized, hidden away as if it didn't matter. People who had only seen the trailers and never played the game would assume that everyone played as that default male Shepard. They'd never know that FemShep was just as competent at saving the galaxy as her male counterpart, or how excellent a job Jennifer Hale did giving Shepard a voice. Just the week before I learned of BioWare's announcement, I had lamented on Twitter:

#ME3 Collector's Edition: "case featuring...artwork of Commander Shepard." NO. That's NOT Commander Shepard, just some guy in her armor.
6 Jun

Thanks to BioWare's timely announcement, I was forced to write a follow-up tweet:

I have to retract my tweet from last week. ME3 Collector's Edition will have FemShep cover art as well. Yay!
13 Jun

But this brought up the pressing question: What will the FemShep used for these promotional materials look like? Of the various options available to them, BioWare decided to reveal six options for FemShep's appearance and allow people to vote on them via Facebook. From the beginning, #5--the pale, blue-eyed Shepard with battle-tousled, shoulder-length blond hair--has been the clear frontrunner by a large margin. The whole voting situation has brought up considerable controversy, and it is on these issues that I would like to comment.

Niall Slater in BitMob criticized the whole voting process and wondered why BioWare didn't just use the "iconic" default FemShep appearance that was selectable in the character design menus in Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2. I have an easy answer for that last part: she wasn't iconic and she didn't look very cool. Absent from any promotional materials, not only was she not iconic, she was invisible to those who had never clicked on the "Female" button in the game's character creation menu. Even I, having started at least a dozen FemSheps in Mass Effect 1 and 2, never looked at the default FemShep for more than a few seconds. I read somewhere recently that she was a redhead; honestly, I didn't know. The reason I'd never given her a second look was that not only do I prefer customizing my characters' appearances when all else is equal, but it wasn't hard to come up with a face that I thought looked better than the default. My brother once pointed to this as an advantage to playing as FemShep: with MaleShep he was always disappointed, by feeling either too generic (with the default face) or simply inferior (with a custom face).

The reason for this disparity in quality between the default male and female Shepard appearances was the very fact that the male was used for the public promotions. Knowing that MaleShep would be the face of the franchise, BioWare hired a very attractive real-life model (Mark Vanderloo) to act as a face model for MaleShep. FemShep was designed without a real-life model, probably the same way any walk-on NPC was designed. There is something inherently superior to the Mass Effect faces modeled after real people. No matter how much I liked the way I had customized my FemShep's face, Miranda (Yvonne Strahovski) and Samara (Rana McAnear) always put me to shame. When I first learned that BioWare would make a trailer and cover art with FemShep, my hope was that they would design her after a real person. They did not. I assume this is because it would take too much time, effort, and other resources for it to be worth it at this point. It would have been nice, but I remain grateful that they're promoting FemShep and working to give her a new face worthy of that attention.

In his article, Slater criticizes the fact that FemShep's appearance is being decided by a vote. He says that putting her appearance up to a popular vote goes against her status as a feminist icon. I don't mean to pick on Slater, his is just one of the few full articles I've read on the matter (as opposed to many short tweets). But others have also argued that choosing FemShep's look in a beauty pageant, thus opening her appearance up to such scrutiny--scrutiny to which MaleShep was never exposed--is sexist. I have three things to say to this line of argument.

First, they miss the point that MaleShep was designed after a male model. He was already guaranteed to be gorgeous. If I'd gotten my way and they'd designed the new FemShep after a similarly good-looking woman, say, Piper Perabo, people probably would have complained about her being too pretty for the feminist icon that is FemShep. But if MaleShep is pretty, why is it sexist to make FemShep pretty?

Second, the Mark Vanderloo MaleShep was designed before players had any opinion of Commander Shepard. In a way, he became established as "The Real Shepard" before anyone had even played the game. Of course his appearance was never voted on. FemShep is finally getting her own promotional material because her fans demanded it. The FemShep trailer will exist because BioWare listens to their fans' opinions. Why then is it sexist for them to listen to their fans' opinions here?

Third, the vote didn't have to turn into a beauty pageant. People were voting on what they wanted the FemShep in the trailer and cover art to look like. For some, it was the one who looked closest to the Shepards they'd played in ME1 and ME2. For others, it was the one they felt most embodied how they'd always imagined FemShep, or who best fit Jennifer Hale's voice acting. And for some, it was the prettiest one. Because the sole blonde won, it is easy to accuse people of simply voting for the prettiest (assuming the blonde is the prettiest...). It is especially frustrating for those of us who have always loved FemShep not to get our way if the vote was decided by the stereotypical horny teenage boys who just wanted to see yet another hot blonde, and who probably won't even play as FemShep. This may be what happened, but that is not the fault of the vote, but of the voters.

And so I defend the choices BioWare made to orchestrate the vote and arrive at the #5 BlondeShep winner. If there is sexism here, it comes from the early Mass Effect marketing being solely for males that led us to this situation, not from these late attempts by BioWare to make amends.

That is not to say I am completely happy with the results. I voted for #3, the brunette (yes, I am terribly biased). Actually, I liked #5's hairstyle the best. Impractical as untied long hair may be for battle (though at least her vision looks less obscured than #4's), the perfectly messy, brushed aside look seemed to fit a soldier emerging from battle. It is well established that most men generally prefer women with long hair to women with short hair. Offering that hairstyle in blond but not black, brown, or red seemed unfair to me. Had they given the blonde a tight bun or the short boy-cut, and had the longer wispy hair style in black, brown, or red, would the blonde still have won? Basically, did she win because of her coloring, or because of the style?

See the six FemShep choices here

I wish the choices had been different, but I don't mind that the blond FemShep won out. People have derided her as being a "Barbie doll," but she looks like a pretty bad-ass Barbie to me. I do hope, though, that in the character creation screen in Mass Effect 3, we'll be able to use that hairstyle with a different hair color.

Addendum: You can see my Shepard here and here.

Edit 8/17/11: They have now opened up a second round of voting for FemShep. Apparently I wasn't the only one who preferred the hair style but not the color. Now we can vote whether her hair should be black, blonde, brown, or red, though her skin color is set (there may be a few freckles on the redhead option). I think this voting is supposed to last a week.
Vote here!

Blog on Fire Award!

2011-07-30T10:38:00.003-10:00

Thanks to Kathy at Life As I Know It, who just gave me a Blog on Fire Award! She's an awesome blogger I recently discovered who eerily reminds me of myself: a gamer and Harry Potter fan who loves math, used to dance, and works at a zoo (well, I volunteered at an aquarium, but there's some similarity there).

For this award, I'm supposed to share seven things about myself. OK, let's see what random facts come to mind this morning...

1. I weighed 8 lbs, 8 oz when I was born--the chunkiest of my siblings.
2. For the rest of my childhood, though, I was extremely skinny.
3. I was baptized at age 14 with water brought in a bottle straight from the River Jordan. It was my confirmation class's Confirmation day, but since two of us had never been baptized in the first place, we got baptized that day. The parents of one of our classmates had just come back from a trip to Israel and had brought with them the symbolically significant water, which they kindly donated to our baptism.
4. I'm not really religious anymore, though I still treasure certain mementos from my time in Confirmation.
5. Perhaps my biggest claim to fame in college was as one of the Chapel Choir's kite flyers. During the big Opening Exercises and Baccalaureate ceremonies, three or four of us got to wave poles with large hand-painted silk kites on the end (wings and streamers--picture Japanese-style kites), leading processions, welcoming all the incoming students, or hailing the graduating seniors. No one was actually certain what the kites symbolized (we called them simply "spirit kites"), but most agreed they were beautiful and fun and added to the celebratory atmosphere.
6. I hate mayonnaise and mustard.
7. I don't drink alcohol. I'm like a little kid, still--I think it tastes yucky :-/

Hmm, those are some pretty random facts, though you can see certain trains of thought there.

Now I'm supposed to pass this blog award on to other deserving bloggers. To the recipients: Don't worry about accepting or not accepting the blog award, I have no expectations and don't care if you don't want to follow any or all of the supposed rules for the award.

Mariel of more than
Out of Sync of Reminiscing is a dangerous thing.
Angela of Lariats and Lavender
Ray J of Point Me to the Sky Above
Tabs A. Geek of Geeky Ambiguous Me
Kimolisa of Kimolisa Was Here
RachelLynn of stuff i think about

The most amazing birthday (Part 3)

2011-07-16T16:56:00.001-10:00

Tuesday the 12th was my birthday, but I didn't celebrate it as I normally do on this blog. In the two previous years, I've done special posts on my birthday where I share baby pictures of myself. This year, however, I was too busy to write up such a post (or, more importantly, to scan in old photos) on my birthday, because I was on vacation. The Housemate and I were on the Big Island for a week, staying at his brother's house in Kona.

I had an amazing birthday this year, with two of the most spectacular experiences of my life. But in addition to my adventures swimming with dolphins and night-diving with manta rays (which I've already described in detail in those previous posts), the day was pretty great all around.

First of all, in the morning, I forgot how old I was. The Housemate's four-year-old nephew had been told that it was my birthday, but he was trying to guess how old I was.
"Um, ten?"
"No, older than that..."
"One thousand?"
"Ah, no, ten was closer. Let's try 'warmer, colder'."
"Twelve?"
"Warmer."
"Eight?"
"Colder."
"Six?"
It was clear this method wasn't working. "Why don't you start at one and count up, and I'll stop you when you get to my age."

That worked better. Aside from a nearly skipped number 15 and an attempt at an "eleventeen", he knew his numbers pretty well. Then he got to "24. 25..." I panicked at "26", whacking the Housemate on the arm and saying "Help, how old am I?" I did the quick subtraction in my head (2011 - 1985 = 26) and yelled "Stop, I'm 26!" by the time the nephew got to "27". Oh dear. Am I finally old enough that I have to keep track of my age by subtracting my birth year from the current year? That's how I figure out how old my parents are. I think I've got it now--just takes a little getting used the first day--but I had myself scared there.

After that, the Housemate and I picked up malasadas (Portuguese donuts) for breakfast. We actually took a long time to find the place because we were looking on the wrong road. The sad thing was that we'd both been to the malasada place the day before, in the car with the Housemate's brother, wife, and two little children, and the shop wasn't even very far from their house. We'd just been...distracted. His brother's car has a little TV screen viewable from the back seats, and both the Housemate and I had been oblivious to the path we took to get to the malasada restaurant because we were so mesmerized by an episode of... "The Backyardigans." Delightful kids' program where colorful anthropomorphic animals make-believe exciting stories in their backyards, complete with singing and dancing in a style distinctive to each episode. Yes, that is why we got lost on the morning of my birthday trying to find the place we'd been the morning before.

When we got to the malasada place, we had an amusing exchange with the lady at the register--one of those "Do I live in a sitcom?" moments--but to explain I'll have to back track to the previous morning.

Malasada shop, Monday morning

Lady at register: Hi, what can I do for you?
Me: Uh, we'd like four malasadas--two plain, one mango, and one guava, please.
Lady: OK, so that's two plain, one mango, and one lemon?
Me: No, one mango, one guava.
Lady: One guava, one lemon.
Me: Mango and guava.
Lady: I'm sorry, I don't know why I was stuck on the lemon...

The Housemate and I thought it was pretty funny how determined she seemed to give us a malasada with lemon filling. That brings me to my birthday, the next day...

Malasada shop, the next morning

The same lady: Hi, can I help you?
Me: Yes, we'd like three plain malasadas, two mango, one guava, and one pineapple, please.
Lady: That's three plain, two mango, one guava, and one lemon.
Me: No lemon! Two mango, one guava, one pineapple.

She got it right then, but afterwards the Housemate and I laughed pretty hard about the fact that, yet again, she was trying to push the lemon-filled malasadas on us. Maybe they were her favorite?

Anyway, the malasadas were delicious and filling. After our morning dive with the dolphins, we had a quiet afternoon at home. The Housemate's sister-in-law made a nice lunch of some saucy beef with rice dish, and I had various phone calls and emails from friends and family wishing me a happy birthday. I even got a Twitter "Happy Birthday" from Bonnie Burton which made me squee a little bit.

The dive with the manta rays that night was fabulous. Between that and the red-hot lava I saw last year, it seems that some of the most magnificent sights in the world can be seen on the Big Island after dark. We got back home very late, after the kids had already gone to bed, and ate some homemade pizza leftovers for dinner. Afterwards, when I thought the brother and sister-in-law had already gone to bed, they came out with a cake, full with 26 candles. They'd gotten it at a very nice bakery, and it was a delicious chocolate-raspberry, with light whipped cream icing (which I much prefer to heavy butter cream). It was perfect.

After that, we went to sleep. I was fully content. I can only wish that every birthday is half as wonderful as this one.

Back to Big Island Trip master link page

Now, I feel like I have to include at least one photo of me as a young 'un, to celebrate how far I've come. My photo collection here in Hawaii is basically the photos that my parents either had extras of, or didn't like enough to put in their own photo albums. So I don't have the best selection. I'm all out of baby pictures, but here's one of me with my brothers when I was seven. We'd hiked to get to that waterfall, and my dad was darned if he wasn't going to get a photo of the three of us in it, no matter how cold the water was in early summer in New England. My little brother's face here is priceless. My swim suit, on the other hand...not so much.

The most amazing birthday (Part 2) - Manta rays!

2011-07-15T18:15:00.003-10:00

The one dive that all my diving friends had repeatedly told me to do was the nighttime manta ray dive off of Kona. The boat charter for the dive, however, costs $100 per person through a dive shop. Between, me, the Housemate, and his brother, that adds up to quite a steep price. Luckily, the Housemate's brother works at a company that happens to be right next to the cove where the boat charters go to see the mantas, allowing us to drive in through their gates at night and park our car right near the shoreline. Boat charters are expensive, but shore diving is free.

As the sun set, we scouted out the black lava rock shoreline and moved our gear next to what looked to be the most promising entry point. The rocks were jagged, but more importantly slippery where wet, so it wasn't going to be the easiest shore dive. Still, it seemed manageable. About seven or eight boats were clustered at the mouth of the cove, much closer to shore than I'd expected. That meant that once we got in the water, we wouldn't have to swim far to get to whatever point they were sending their divers. The sunset was a lovely pinky orange--sunsets in Kona tend to be colorful, I believe thanks to the vog (volcanic fog)--but a few low clouds eliminated any green flash we might have had a chance to see otherwise. By the time the sun set, we were ready to start assembling our gear.

From the shore, we could see the spot where the bright lights on the seafloor were shining up. It's the bright lights that attract the plankton on which the manta rays feed. Snorkelers were already floating on the surface, though I wasn't paying close enough attention to tell when the divers from the boats jumped in. As it got dark, we heard the first wave of delighted screams from the snorkelers out in the bay. Clearly, the manta rays had begun to arrive. We hurried to finish putting our gear together, now in the darkness, lit by the underwater flashlights we'd rented. We also had glow sticks to attach to the top of our air tanks to make it easier to see one another, but one of the three sticks turned out to be a dud. The Housemate opted to go without one; we had flashlights, and it was a simple dive (swim out to the mantas, sit there, then swim back), so it didn't seem too bad to go without a glow stick. Then we were all geared up, and it was time to get into the water.

The Housemate's brother went first. I watched him climb down from above, shining my flashlight to light his way, with the Housemate assisting next to him. I was surprised at how long it took him to get in the water--as with the dolphins that morning, I was growing impatient. But once it was my turn to get into the water, I saw how complicated it actually was. Stepping down large, slippery rocks with 50-60 lbs of gear on your back is pretty scary. I started to see why the $100 for the boat charter might be worth it...I could just picture one of us getting injured with a medical bill over $300, and then we'd wish we'd gone with the boat. But I was so close at this point, I couldn't turn back. Finding stable places to put my feet was almost as tricky as finding ways to position my overloaded torso so that my hands could be planted in useful places. At least I had rubber-soled booties, so I could climb down without either flip-flopping in my fins or cutting my bare feet on the sharp rocks. I used to think the one-piece fins were more convenient, but now I really appreciate the benefit of having open-heeled fins with separate boots. The swell was small, so fortunately the waves weren't particularly threatening once I got to the water level. If the waves had been larger, this entry would have been impossible.

After much encouragement from the Housemate and his brother, and no small amount of cursing on my part, I was finally in the water. Thank goodness for the wetsuit, which made the entry into the dark water quite comfortable. I pulled on my fins and swam clear of the rocks near the shore. The Housemate had an easier time entering the water, having the longest legs of the three of us, but it still took him a couple minutes. We shined our flashlights as well as we could to light his way, but from the water level it was hard to light the top of the rocks onto which he was stepping down. Before long, though, we were all in the water.

We had left our snorkels on shore, as we'd learned that was the protocol put in place to avoid scraping the underbellies of the manta rays swimming too close overhead. Thus, I suggested we "otter paddle" out to where the manta rays were (on our backs, kicking our fins) to conserve air. It was only a three or four minute swim, and we could still hear snorkelers calling out in joy, so we knew we hadn't missed the mantas. Once we were maybe 50 feet from the snorkelers, we decided to go down and swim the rest of the way underwater. We gave the signal to submerge, then sank under the black water, our flashlights illuminating the rocky, pebbly floor. It was really shallow, probably between 30 and 40 feet, so we didn't have to go down far. Then we continued swimming in the direction of the snorkelers and the light.

As we swam along, what had started as a fuzzy glow in the distance began to resolve itself out of the veil of visibility. A cluster of four bright spotlights sat on the ocean bottom, shining up toward the surface. All around it in a circle knelt about forty divers, each holding their own flashlight and pointing it upwards. It looked a bit like some sort of mysterious pagan ritual in a movie: hooded beings kneeling around a fire, holding candles and chanting, to summon the great beasts out of the darkness.

And what magnificent beasts they were! Massive and solid, with 10-foot wingspans, they danced in the beams of light that attracted clouds of their tiny food. We hastened to take our places, kneeling on the seafloor at the outer edge of the circle, shining our own flashlights to the surface. I counted eight or nine of the giant rays. I found out later that we were pretty lucky to see that many; sometimes there are only maybe three, or none at all (in which case I hope the boat charters give people their money back!). Someone at the dive shop told us that the mantas were really "going off" this week. There's even a chance there was more than nine--it was difficult to count the mantas with them darting in and out of the light.

I was in awe. They looked so unlike anything we see on land, they seemed almost alien. Wide, gaping mouths with flaps on the side, which you can see right into as they approach. One expects to see darkness when looking into a creature's mouth, signifying the gullet leading down to the stomach, but the mantas' mouths were like sterile, empty, echoing chambers which you could fully illuminate with a flashlight. Five gill slits sat on each side of their white but spotted underbellies, and at the right angle we could see the feathery flesh hidden inside the gills. Their topsides were dark; such "counter-shading"--dark on top and light on bottom--is quite common in the ocean. Their large, circular eyes watched us, seemingly with knowing and understanding, though that was probably just my imagination--they are fish, after all (cartilaginous fish, related to sharks). Still, I found myself wondering what they thought of the whole ordeal, and of us, their odd, noisy spectators. What are you crazy people doing down here? perhaps, or maybe Thanks for all the zooplankton! Maybe just Mmmmm. If I did that dive often enough, I could probably learn to identify the different mantas. The spots on their bellies were all distinctive, and some had distinguishing characteristics--one was missing its tail, one was missing half a tail, and another had a fish hook stuck on its "lip". They weren't all the same size, either, though all of them were pretty huge.

The mantas soared and swirled above us, flying through the water, graceful and perfect. Sometimes, two would be about to swim into each other head on, but then both would do a back-flip to avoid crashing. They'd swoop down right over our heads. Had I not known that they had neither the desire nor the capacity to eat me, it would have been quite terrifying seeing a giant creature swim straight towards my head with an open mouth. Mostly, they were very good at calculating exactly how low they could go and still avoid hitting us, but a couple times we had to duck. Whenever one swam right above my head, missing by just an inch, I'd let out a high-pitched squeal of excitement until it had passed. It was all I could do to keep from reaching out and touching the lovely beast, as such behavior would be frowned upon. I could hear the Housemate let out a low laugh when he had to duck from an approaching manta. And the close encounters didn't get old--each time one narrowly missed the top of my head, it was a thrilling experience.

Time seemed to stop down there with the manta rays. The mantas weren't in a hurry. They just had to fly and flip, moving and eating and breathing all in the same motion. At one point I stopped to examine this manta food that was swimming in my flashlight beam. Tiny little zooplankton in constant motion, swimming and drifting at once, with no idea they had been lured into a trap. But I left the identification to the Housemate, the biological oceanographer. I was there for the mantas. The darkness surrounding us, the bright lights in the circle, and the steady, beautiful mantas combined to create a mesmerizing, otherworldly experience.

Sadly, the moment couldn't last forever. We were intruders to that realm, with a limited air supply. Maybe half an hour after we got there (it was hard to tell time, remember), a diver went over and turned off the bright lights in the center of the circle. The divers with the boat charters, who had been in the water longer than we had, began to trickle up to the surface as they ran low on air. As more people left, and fewer lights remained to attract the mantas and their prey, more of the mantas decided their meal was finished and swam off. It also became harder to see the mantas that remained. Soon there were only a couple clusters of divers left, and three or four manta rays. Then it was only the three of us.

We clustered together to shine our flashlights alongside each other, hoping that the single brighter beam would keep the manta rays coming back. One manta ray came by for one last swirl through the beam of light. It passed through the beam, then turned around to swim through again, clipping me with its wing on the left side of my head from behind. A firm, blunt, but harmless clunk. It did one more back-flip through the flashlight beam, mouth open, catching what plankton were there. Then it was gone.

We looked around for a couple minutes longer, but it was clear that the mantas had all moved on. A couple of red-orange squirrelfish (or something similar) swam by, but there wasn't much else to see on the coarse sand and rocky bottom. We swam back in the direction of the shore, this time underwater using our remaining air, as we still had plenty (more than a third of the tank).

It took us a little time to find the spot on shore where we'd entered; we decided next time we'd bring an extra glow stick to mark our entry and exit point. Still, once we found it, getting out was much easier than getting in. The Housemate's brother got out first, clambered up the rocks, and took off his gear, followed by the Housemate, who did the same. Once I got onto the rocky ledge, I stood up with the water just at my ankles, and the Housemate was able to reach down and lift my scuba gear up off of me. Climbing up without gear was a lot simpler than climbing down with gear.

As we packed up our equipment, we excitedly talked about the dive. We laughed a bit, mentioning our close calls and crashes, discussing how the mantas would do back-flips to avoid crashing, comparing the details about the mantas that we'd noticed, guessing at plankton species. But it was hard to put into words just how we were feeling. It's an elation that comes from experiencing something more beautiful, mystical, serene, and wild than you'd ever expected. That morning, I got to swim with dolphins for the first time ever--a lifelong dream come true. Swimming with the manta rays, however, was an experience truly beyond my wildest dreams.

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The most amazing birthday (Part 1) - Dolphins!

2011-07-14T11:06:00.006-10:00

Tuesday was my birthday, and I had two of the most amazing experiences in my life. It would have been the perfect day, had it not been for the one glaring flaw that my camera was broken. But there's nothing I can do about that now; all I can do here is try my best to capture the experiences with words.

After our disastrous (for my camera) dive at Hanaunau the afternoon before, the Housemate and I decided to go back to Hanaunau in the morning. That area tends to be sunny in the morning, then cloudy and drizzly later in the afternoon, so while the afternoon the previous day had been a bit drab, we hoped the morning would have nicer weather. This time, we went diving with the Housemate's brother as well.

Once we got all our gear to the beach, we noticed that there was a pod of dolphins in the cove. A sign on the beach mentioned that it was not an uncommon hangout for spinner dolphins and warned us not to touch them--marine mammal protection laws, blah blah. This was the perfect birthday present! It was truly a life-long dream of mine to swim with dolphins. I fell in love with the ocean after watching The Little Mermaid at age four, and my love of dolphins was cemented when I saw them at Sea Life Park at age five. Though replaced by sea otters as my "favorite animal" when I was seven, they still held my fascination and respect. All the better to swim with them in the wild, where they are free, happy, and natural.

It took an excruciatingly long time to get our equipment set up (attach the BC, put in the weights, attach the regulator, clip into the BC, turn on the air, check the air, defogger on the mask, put on the wet suit, the boots, the mask and snorkel), especially because the Housemate's brother hadn't been diving in over 10 years, so he needed considerable help remembering how to do everything. I was a bit impatient, I must admit, because I really didn't want to be standing on the shore while the dolphins decided they'd spent enough time in the cove and moved out to sea.

But finally we were in the water. I suggested we snorkel over to where the dolphins were, since it's easier to keep track of distance and direction when you can look up from the water, and also so we could conserve air. We made a bee-line for the cluster of snorkelers that signified the dolphins' general location. As we got close to the snorkelers, though, they seemed to be less clustered--maybe four here, three over there--and I started to despair that we'd missed the dolphins. Then, suddenly, there they were, emerging from the darkness of the water, swimming across in front of us, maybe 20 feet down. Finally, for the first time, I was swimming with dolphins!

I was so excited, I immediately signaled to my two dive buddies to go down. They nodded and returned the go underwater signal, and I started letting air out of my BCD (inflatable/deflatable vest-like "buoyancy control device"). As soon as I was submerged, I realized I wasn't getting any air when I inhaled. In my rush to get underwater to see the dolphins, I'd forgotten to switch from my snorkel to the regulator! Uh, oops. I was lucky my snorkel closes when it's underwater, so instead of a mouthful of saltwater I just got nothing. I was still only about three feet under, so I easily surfaced and got it all sorted out. Going under, take two...

Now I was sinking, equalizing my ears, equalizing my mask, getting down to the level of the dolphins. This was hard, of course, because the dolphins weren't staying at the same level. The water was probably about 100 feet deep at that location, and they could easily move between the surface and the bottom in maybe half a minute or less. Hovering around 40 feet seemed to be the most reliable way to see them, but we actually did a lot of rising and falling. Distracted by the dolphins, we weren't paying too much attention to staying neutrally buoyant, plus our only visual references for location were each other and the dolphins themselves...not exactly stationary objects. Without visible reef or nearby seafloor, it was easy to change depth without knowing. At one point near the beginning we sank to over 70 feet, but after that we were a bit better and stayed in the 30-50 foot range. Luckily we had dive computers to recalculate our "no decompression dive" minutes remaining based on whatever depth we went to, so we didn't have to worry too much.

Hovering in the water, we could see the dolphins swim all around us. At first there were eight, but after a few minutes the pod got back together and there were 16 swimming together. Two of them looked like juveniles, not tiny but maybe 3/4 the size of the adults, and always swimming close by mommy. Some of the dolphins had a strange wound on their side, the size of a golf ball or tennis ball, perfectly round. They were cookie cutter shark bites--the sharks ambush their targets and scoop a round ball of flesh out of their sides. Pretty nasty, but at least the dolphins are large enough to survive such wounds (in smaller fish, the cookie cutter bites may be fatal).

The dolphins weren't directly interacting with us, but they were probably checking us out--goofy humans wearing 60lbs of equipment just to be underwater. A few times I thought I heard them making squeaky dolphin sounds, but they didn't seem to be talking to each other that much. Or maybe their squeaks were just too high pitched for my ears. We watched them swim over us, as they touched the surface for air and entertained the snorkelers. We watched them swim below us, circling in the depths, swimming on their backs sometimes when the mood struck them. We watched them swim around us, in perfect formation, so graceful, at ease, at home. They weren't hunting (there were only a few fish around, and they were left alone). They were just enjoying a nice swim around the cove on a pleasant morning. I wanted to be a dolphin and swim around all day. They just looked so happy.

At one point we lost sight of them for a minute or two. We signaled to each other to surface, as we could spend the rest of our air looking at the beautiful reef and reef fish. But then the dolphins were back, and we stayed to watch them longer, mesmerized by their graceful dancing.

After maybe forty minutes, we decided to move on. We still had enough air for a short dive around the reef. As we approached the shallow reef, I thought I saw another dolphin--something long, thin and dark. But then I saw it...unfurl. "Looks like a blanket," I thought to myself. I had just enough time for my eyes to resolve the shape as a manta ray before it disappeared beyond the range of visibility in the water. Foreshadowing for my upcoming dive that night...

We didn't see anything on the reef that I hadn't seen before. It was the dolphins that were clearly the highlight of the dive. The best dive I'd ever had, though I suppose that's not saying too much when I've only been on seven other dives. Back on shore, we were all in awe of our experience with the dolphins. It was the perfect birthday gift for me--a memory I will always treasure. I thought I'd never have a better dive than that dive with dolphins on my birthday. But it only took until that night to prove me wrong.

Back to Big Island Trip master link page

First, the bad news (the good news is in next post)...

2011-07-13T14:00:00.002-10:00

My camera is broken. It's actually a little more complicated than that--let me explain so I can get it all off my chest.

I have a camera that can go underwater up to 10m/33ft. That's deeper than I'd swim while snorkeling, but not deep enough for most scuba dives. Since the Housemate and I were planning on doing a lot of diving on our Big Island vacation this week, I ordered a waterproof housing for the camera that's designed to go to 200 ft--deeper than I ever plan to scuba dive. According to the shipping estimate, though, the camera housing might not arrive before we left for the Big Island. So I just had it shipped to the Housemate's brother's house, where we are staying on the Big Island. It would arrive some time in the first half of our week-long vacation.

For our first few days on the Big Island, we didn't go diving at all, because we figured we'd wait for the camera housing to arrive. But when the camera housing still hadn't arrived halfway through our vacation, we realized we'd better go diving with or without the camera, or we'd miss our chance. For our first dive, we decided to do a shallow dive, no deeper than 30 feet, so we could bring the camera with us--we didn't need the housing if we kept it shallow. We went to Hanaunau, where we'd had a great time snorkeling last summer. It was late in the afternoon by that point, though, and the weather was cloudy and slightly drizzly on and off, so the colors weren't as bright underwater as they were last year.

About half an hour into our dive, my camera suddenly started...vibrating. It was buzzing. It was very weird. I was confused at first what was going on, but then the screen started fuzzing out a little bit, and I knew that it must have flooded partially. I surfaced (we were shallow, so it didn't take much time), and brought the camera in to shore. But I don't know why it broke! We were diving for 28 minutes and went no deeper than 26 feet (with our dive computers, it's easy to keep track of these things). I didn't break any of the rules. I just broke the camera.

I hoped that if I dried it out then maybe it would work again. But after leaving it open overnight, it still buzzed when I turned it on in the morning. It doesn't have a problem showing previous photos taken, and it still takes pictures, but they come out as fuzzy and off-color as the screen display shows. It's broken. Once I go home I can see whether the camera is still under warranty, but for now there's nothing I can do for it.

So that's why I didn't have my camera with me while diving the next day, my birthday, when I saw two of the most amazing things I've ever seen in my life. I can blame it on the broken camera, but really I would have needed the camera housing anyway, because we went deeper than 30 feet. Basically, this tragedy is all due to the fact that the housing didn't arrive on time. If it had arrived on time, I wouldn't have taken the camera diving without the housing, and it wouldn't have gotten flooded. It would have been working on my birthday, I would have taken photos and video of the amazing things I saw, and I wouldn't be typing this sad blog post today.

It breaks my heart that I don't have photos or video to remember what I saw yesterday by. I know that in the old days, people never had photos or video, but I have become quite reliant on it. Yes, I have memories, but I don't have a perfect memory. Can I really picture the scene exactly as it happened? I'm already forgetting specifics, patching in things that I think might have happened where I can't remember what really happened. I truly treasure the lava video I took last summer. I can always watch it to remember an exact moment, and to prove to myself that I was really there. Photos are truly the best souvenirs. Without photos or video, I feel empty. A day later, and the experience already feels a little less real, like maybe it was just a dream. It's like the moment is dead; all I have left are memories.

The housing still hasn't arrived. I just hope it arrives before the end of our vacation, so the Housemate's brother doesn't have to ship it to us. Stay tuned for my next post, where I will try my best to do justice to the spectacular things we saw while diving on my birthday.

I'm in Kona!

2011-07-09T15:45:00.003-10:00

Here, they just call it coffee.

Actually I've still heard people call it Kona coffee here, but it seems like it should be that way. Yesterday had quite a lot of vog--that is, fog from the volcanoes--but the weather was nice. The Housemate and I are visiting his brother, who lives in Kailua-Kona with his wife and two kids. The kids are adorable, though the 4-year-old son is a bit of a handful. We've been eating very, very well. I'm kind of in heaven...the wife cooks a lot. She's Indonesian, so she cooks great Indonesian food, but we've also had homemade pizza, beef stew, and crepes every morning.

I had an amazing time here on the Big Island last summer. I'll be taking tons of photos again, but this time I'll also be scuba diving, now that I have my certification. Hopefully that means I'll have even better underwater pics to share from my underwater camera. But I'm pretty busy until I get back late next week, so probably no posts until next weekend. Aloha!

Back to Big Island Trip master link page

My odd Fourth of July

2011-07-05T09:28:00.003-10:00

I had a largely uneventful 4th of July yesterday. No parades, no barbecues. The most patriotic thing I did all day was take the "American History Quiz for July 4th" on The Daily Beast (got 20 out of 22--I was fairly pleased). Last year, the Housemate and I had gone down to Ala Moana beach park to see the fireworks. This year, we made no such plans--he actually worked most of the day. Luckily, though, we had a nice view of the fireworks from our living room. It was much better than the weekly Friday fireworks in Waikiki, which are in a different location about two-thirds obscured by tall buildings. It was a good show, and there were some new fireworks designs that I hadn't seen before: multiplying tiny points of light that burst and hang in the sky looking fuzzy like impressionist paintings; half spheres with streamers coming out the other side, a bit like jellyfish. I think it might be fun to design new fireworks. Where can I get that job?

After the fireworks show, we watched the movie Princess Ka'iulani (pronounce each vowel individually, with an "uh-oh" like glottal stop at the '). Based on Hawaiian history, it was a movie we'd considered seeing in theaters, so we were excited when we noticed earlier in the day that it was available to stream instantly on Netflix. It's not a great movie--the pacing is weird--but there are some good scenes, especially towards the end. Mostly, though, it's just not a good movie to see on the 4th of July. Doesn't instill any sense of American pride and makes you feel bad about what happened to the Hawaiian people. In the late 1800s, under the influence of some rich white businessmen, the U.S. aided in the deposition of the Hawaiian monarchy and finally annexed the Kingdom of Hawaii as a U.S territory. It wasn't until 1993 that Congress issued a formal apology to the native Hawaiian people for this illegal violation of the nation's sovereign rights. Add to these events the fact that Princess Ka'iulani died of illness at age 23 a year after the annexation, and the movie was a really big Independence Day downer. The timing of our Netflix browsing couldn't have been much worse.

It's good to remember history, especially to learn from our mistakes, but we can feel guilty about what our nation has done and is doing the whole rest of the year. On the Fourth of July, we should celebrate what America has gotten right and the good we've achieved. Next year I'll remember to stick to Will Smith and Independence Day.

Evangeline Lilly joins The Hobbit cast

2011-06-25T10:46:00.005-10:00

Last week, Peter Jackson announced two new cast members for The Hobbit. Barry Humphries will play the Goblin King, who will be a CGI character, and Lost star Evangeline Lilly will play a woodland elf created for the movie named "Tauriel," which Jackson says means "daughter of Mirkwood." (theonering.net)

No. "Tauriel" does not mean "daughter of Mirkwood." It means "daughter of the forest". "Taur" is a generic term for forest, and "-iel" is a generic female name ending, usually translated as "maiden of" or "daughter of". This name is so generic that it's actually the name I made up when I was 17 to use to sign my Quenya poems. (This was before I chose the name "Eleni", which is equally generic but has the advantage of looking like a real-person name.)

Hobbit purists can debate the wisdom of adding yet another character who wasn't in the original book. I will reserve judgment until I see the film; Peter Jackson has earned my trust. And I don't really mind made up characters getting generic names easily constructed from a few minutes with an English-to-Elvish glossary (for example, the one in this book). But at least be honest and translate the name correctly. Claiming "Tauriel" means something more specific than it does comes off as pretentious. "Mirkwood", by the way, would be "Taur e-Ndaedelos". Hmm, "Tauriel e-Ndaedelos"... I guess that's a bit of a mouthful.

P.S. The second thing that went through my mind upon hearing this news, after my disdain over the name "Tauriel", was "Lord of the Rings--Dominic Monaghan--Lost--Evangeline Lilly--The Hobbit--squeeee!"

Ghost Stories board game

2011-06-15T07:00:00.005-10:00

Ah yes, there are more types of games than video games. I sometimes forget this.

After getting hooked on Dominion over Christmas break this past year, I was excited to remember how fun it can be to play games that aren't on a computer screen. Lucky for me, I soon found out that a new friend from school was an avid board game player (board gamer?). We bonded over our February research cruise, during which we played many rounds of Dominion. Since classes have ended, we've started to have occasional gaming parties.

It was at one such party that I was introduced to a game called Ghost Stories. It's a cooperative game in which the players (four seemed the ideal number) are Taoist monks with kick-ass fighting skills who must defend their village from invading monsters led by Wu-Feng, Lord of the Nine Hells. The design of the game is of Oriental influence, which was a refreshing change after the medieval Europe flavor of Dominion. And though we lost to the monsters in both of the rounds we played, I still had a lot of fun.

Here's the gist of how the game works: An unseen Wu-Feng card is selected out of the Wu-Feng deck (so you get a random "boss" monster for each game), and placed near the bottom of the normal monster deck (there are quite a lot of them). At the beginning of each player's turn, a monster card is drawn and placed in a spot around the edge of the board, which consists of nine tiles arranged in a 3x3 square. To defeat a monster, a player must move her monk to the tile adjacent to the monster, then roll three dice that have a different color on each side. The monster card indicates how many of which color the player needs to roll to defeat it, though there are colored tokens a player can acquire that may be spent to augment an insufficient roll. Each player has a unique power, such as rolling an extra die, or selecting a colored token each turn. The monsters too have special powers, such as forcing players to use one less die while the monster's in play, or introducing the dreaded ghosts that begin to move across the board to "haunt" tiles. Each of the nine tiles has a special ability, such as granting extra tokens, reviving a fallen teammate, or killing a monster in exchange for a point of health, which players can use on their turns in lieu of attacking. If a tile gets haunted, though, the ability is no longer available, and if too many tiles get haunted then the players lose the game. Players win by defeating Wu-Feng, but lose if they all die (obviously) or if the monster deck is used up before Wu-Feng is vanquished.

The monsters start coming out really fast (some monsters' special power is to make you draw another monster immediately), and some are very tough. Things are complicated by a Curse die that you have to roll in various situations to get a random disadvantage, such as losing a point of health (you start with 4). The game is stressful, but that makes it exciting. The game is also really hard; we never even made it to the Wu-Feng card, as Wu-Feng's minions finished us off first. I think we were even playing with the "easy" version of the rules. Ouch. But I still had a great time.

I like the cooperative gameplay style, where everyone is working together and rooting for each other. When I play multiplayer video games, I prefer PvE to PvP, so I guess this is the equivalent of that. It keeps a friendly environment.

I've never played Arkham Horror, but I understand this game is similar, but simpler and shorter (the game takes about an hour--maybe less, if you die fast like we did ;). If you like board games, I highly recommend Ghost Stories. The game is challenging, the atmosphere is ominous (best played after dark), and any progress made is highly satisfying. But not as satisfying as defeating Wu-Feng will be. I'm ready for a rematch.

Mathematical Monday: The Monty Hall Problem, Star Wars style

2011-06-13T07:00:00.011-10:00

Probability and statistics were just about my least favorite math topics in school (give me some calculus, any day), but this is one probability problem I learned in my statistics class that I LOVED. It's just so counter-intuitive, yet so elegant and relatively simple. It's called the "Monty Hall problem" because it's based on a game show that was hosted by Monty Hall, called "Let's Make a Deal" (though I don't know how close the problem is to the actual rules of the game show). If you haven't heard it before, you need to know this one. It's makes GREAT dinner party conversation. The classic problem involves Monty, a new car, and two goats, but I've changed the language here to be a bit more accessible to my likely audience.

You're on a game show in Cloud City, and host Lando Calrissian is giving you a chance to win one of the starships in his lot on Nar Shaddaa. There are three closed doors on stage. Lando explains that behind one of them is his marker for one of his starships, while behind each of the other two doors is a womp rat. Whichever door you choose to open, you win the prize behind it. Lando asks you to choose one of the three doors. You do. But before you open that door, Lando says he'll help you out by opening one of the two OTHER doors. He opens one, revealing a womp rat. (He knows what lies behind each door, so he will always choose to reveal a womp rat; if both of the OTHER doors have womp rats, he will choose one to open at random.) He now gives you a choice: Do you want to open the door you originally chose--the SELECTED door--or switch to the other closed door--the REMAINING door?

Maybe you're very attached to the door you chose at the beginning, but ultimately the question is, What is your chance of winning if you stick with the SELECTED door, and what is your chance of winning if you switch to the REMAINING door? Take some time to think about it.

The intuitive answer is that it's 50-50 either way. There are two closed doors at this point. One has the ship, one has the second womp rat, so there is clearly a 50% chance the starship voucher is behind either door. Right? Wrong (you saw that coming). In fact, you have a 1/3 chance of winning the ship if you stick to the SELECTED door but a 2/3 chance of winning the ship if you switch to the REMAINING door. Switching doubles your chances of winning, so that is the better bet to make.

What I love about the problem is how easy it is to be fooled by this question. It blew my mind the first time I learned it. When the question was presented and correctly answered in Parade magazine's Ask Marilyn column in 1990, about 10,000 readers including, apparently, nearly 1000 with PhDs wrote in arguing that her solution was wrong--that there was a 50-50 chance and thus no advantage to switching. There was some ambiguity in the phrasing of the problem as presented in the magazine (basically the details that I put in parentheses were left out), which would affect the answer. But most people assume those details, anyway, and barely any of her critics noted that ambiguity. She defended her answer, and others jumped in to defend her as well (NYT article). They prevailed: the better choice is to switch.

Here's what I think is the easiest way to understand the solution. There are two situations that you can find yourself in:

Your SELECTED door has the starship voucher behind it. If that happens, Lando will open one of the two womp rat doors. Keeping the SELECTED door wins you the ship, while switching to the REMAINING door gives you a womp rat.
Your SELECTED door has a womp rat behind it. If that happens, Lando will open the other door with a womp rat. Keeping the SELECTED door gives you a womp rat, while switching to the REMAINING door wins you the starship.

Because you have a 1/3 chance of choosing the starship door at the beginning, there's only a 1/3 chance that you'll find yourself in Situation 1, where you win by keeping the SELECTED door. You're twice as likely to choose a womp rat door at the beginning, putting you in Situation 2. Therefore, you're twice as likely to win the starship by switching to the REMAINING door. In other words, switching only loses if you originally pick the starship door, but this only happens with a 1/3 chance. So switching loses with a 1/3 chance, and thus wins with a 2/3 chance.

Want an explanation that doesn't involve counting up possible outcomes? When you choose the door at the beginning, there is a 1/3 chance that the ship voucher is behind that SELECTED door. The two OTHER doors together have a 2/3 chance of having the starship. But Lando makes sure that you can only open one of those two OTHER doors (you can't open the one he's already opened to reveal a womp rat). Thus, if the ship voucher was behind either of those two doors (2/3 chance of this), it will be behind the REMAINING door. This means that there is a 2/3 chance that the starship voucher is behind the REMAINING door.

Pretty cool, right? I'm telling you, people at parties love this stuff. Well, particularly if they're nerds.

Further analysis, explanations, and variations of this problem can be found on the Monty Hall Problem Wikipedia page.

The PHD Movie!

2011-06-11T07:00:00.007-10:00

I love PHD Comics. It's sort of a must for grad students. Grad school is a crazy time of working really hard but making no progress, slacking off and surfing the internet when no one's looking, hiding from your advisor, and generally feeling overwhelmed and undervalued. We who choose this path are a crazy bunch. We work full time for half-time pay, earning less with a college degree than most people can earn with a high school diploma. And for what? A PhD? The promise of getting the title "Dr." before our names, and, if we're lucky, the ability to be professors, a profession of grant-writing and minimal glory, earning surprisingly little on average compared to people with similarly advanced degrees (e.g. medical doctors).

PHD (Piled Higher and Deeper) Comics finds the humor in the absurdity. With its main characters in varying stages of never-ending graduate programs, as well as an accurate collection of supporting characters (the sugar mama, various flavors of infuriating advisors), we see ourselves and our lives in its comics. Sometimes it encourages me, knowing that what I'm experiencing is something every grad student experiences. Sometimes it depresses me, knowing that the misery is inevitable. But it always makes me laugh.

The comics are all done by Jorge Cham, who did manage to complete his PhD and now tours the country giving lectures on the virtues of procrastination. Sometimes he takes suggestions for strips from grad students who write in from across the country. Lately, though, the comic has been publishing less frequently than normal, because he has been working on a live action movie based on the comics. And now there's a trailer!

See the website for the movie here.

I love it. I'm not really active in, well, any organization at my university, but I hope I can get someone to sponsor a screening on campus. It would be so much fun, as well as a great way to procrastinate.

If you're looking to procrastinate, here are some of my favorite PHD comics:

Bright and early Happens more often than I'll admit
Why? Why? This past Wednesday for me, just about
Dork Barrel Spending
A tranquilizer with graphs in it Best way to fall asleep
We're all doomed
You know you've been grading too long when... My office mate says this has happened to her.
Extraneous
Incoming freshmen So true. I know maybe 6 buildings on campus.
Things to do...
The Economic Meltdown
How Grad School is just like Kindergarten
If TV Science was more like REAL Science

E3 2011: BioWare, and the others

2011-06-10T16:00:00.007-10:00

E3, the video game industry's big annual expo, was held this week in L.A. Upcoming games were presented, new hardware was introduced, and there were tons of press conferences, interviews, Q&A's, and demos.

Some of the biggest reveals at this year's E3 are things I don't really care about. I'm always behind the times in terms of smart phones and tablets, so whatever Apple was talking about on Monday won't directly affect me in the near future. I haven't played consoles since the original PlayStation, and I don't have the need for a portable console at this point, so it's highly unlikely I'll get a Wii U or PlayStation Vita. I was mostly interested in the games. And of the games, I was mostly interested in BioWare. That's just my taste.

Star Wars: The Old Republic
I've been excited about this game since the summer of 2008, when EA announced that they were working with BioWare and LucasArts on an MMORPG sequel to the two Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic games. I adored KotOR and KotORII, which take place approximately 4,000 years before the rise of Darth Vader, and I was a bit disappointed that they weren't making a straight single-player sequel to finish out the series. But the more I learn about the MMO--personal ships! different companions for each class! fully voiced PC's and multiplayer conversations!--the more excited I get about it. This year at E3, they showed a kick-ass new trailer that has me squeeing.

See on the SWTOR website here.

The SWTOR team showed off Tattooine in their demo at E3, allowing people to explore the iconic planet. This video gives an idea of the gameplay, player companions, types of choices made on quests, and multiplayer conversations.

See on the SWTOR website here.
I find the speeder bike a little goofy, only because the companion disappears as it appears, making it almost seem as if the companion transforms into the bike. Oh well. More videos and info can be found on the SWTOR website, which is updated quite frequently with new reveals. The game is expected later this year, but no date has been announced.

Mass Effect 3
This is the climactic final installment of the epic Mass Effect trilogy, and it's promising to be the best of the three. Throughout Shepard's quest, the Council has dismissed her warnings about the looming Reaper attack, in which an unbelievably ancient and powerful race of machines will attempt to destroy all sentient organic life in the galaxy. Now, as the Reapers launch their attack, it falls to Shepard to rally the galaxy and lead the races to war.

For their E3 press conference, EA debuted a live action trailer for Mass Effect 3. The coolest part about it? Holly Conrad and Crabcat Industries (whom I've mentioned before on this blog), made costumes and the husks for the video! They did an awesome job.

Rumors had been flying for the past week or two that Mass Effect 3 would be Kinect compatible (for the Xbox 360 version only, of course), but this was finally explained at E3. There will not be any motion control, but the game will make use of the Kinect's voice recognition capabilities. Players will be able to select dialogue choices from the dialogue wheel with their voices as well as deliver voice commands to their companions in combat. Check out this demonstration:

Tags: GameTrailers.com, E3 2011: Microsoft Press Con Kinect Walkthrough (Stream), PC Games, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

Personally, I think that the use of voice commands in the dialogue is a bit redundant. First you say one thing out loud, then Shepard in the game says a different line with similar meaning. I'd rather just hear each idea expressed once. But the voice commands in combat are pretty sweet. That's how the commands would be delivered in the battlefield (not with clicks), and the thought that your companions are responding directly to your voice increases the immersion. Chances are I won't ever get to play the Kinect version, but it's fun to see anyway.

Mass Effect 3 is scheduled for release on March 6, 2012. Find more details about Mass Effect 3 and SWTOR at E3, with interviews, demos, and Q&A's, on BioWare TV:
http://www.masseffect.com/me3/game/biowaretv/

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
I played Morrowind, but skipped Oblivion. The games are beautiful, with vast continuous worlds to explore, and Skyrim looks to be more beautiful and more vast than the previous games in the series. I'm undecided whether I'll get this game or not. It's all well and good to be able to explore, but it's also nice to feel like I have a purpose. In Morrowind, I found myself doing quests for umpteen guilds because they were there, and not because I cared about them or what they stood for. That gets boring after a while. There are many merits to the Elder Scrolls style of games, I just have a preference for BioWare-style dialogue, stories, and NPCs. Still, I have little doubt Skyrim will be a great game. It has big frakking DRAGONS! See a gameplay demo here:
http://www.g4tv.com/videos/53441/The-Elder-Scrolls-V-Skyrim-E3-Gameplay-Demo/
Skyrim will be released on 11-11-11.

Tomb Raider reboot
I never played any of the original Tomb Raider games, and I know very little about this newly announced reboot, other than that it's an origin story. But I'm intrigued because the trailer looks so cool.

Kinect Star Wars
Check out this trailer:

I love the idea of a Star Wars Kinect game. I want to be a Jedi, wielding my lightsaber and tossing enemies around with the Force. But while the Kinect has much to offer in terms of delivering an immersive Star Wars experience, it also has limitations. The problem is traveling. You the player can only move across the space of a few square feet in front of your TV, so how do you get your character to travel more than that? The solution in Kinect Star Wars is that the game moves your character "on rails"--as if you're on a big moving sidewalk that controls where you go--and you just control the character's combat as the game scoots you around. The game may still be fun, but this lack of control could be annoying, and may negatively affect the immersion of the game.

I don't know a good solution to this travel problem. Bend forward slightly to make the character walk forward? That's just asking for back pain. Use a small Nunchuk-like joystick in the left hand to control your walking while the rest of the body is left available to control the character's motion? The point of the Kinect is that you don't need a controller--your body is the controller. Voice commands? Tedious, unwieldy. DDR-style directional pad on the ground to direct travel? That probably would be complicated and tiring. For every idea I come up with, I can think of a reason it won't work. I guess it's up to the developers to solve this conundrum. Once they do, they can finally start making for the Kinect the types of exploration games I love to play.

So I don't leave you on a downer, how about a short little clip of Felicia Day playing Kinect Star Wars?
http://www.viddy.co/feliciaday/video/playing-star-wars-kinect

I didn't follow E3 that closely, since I was working all week, so I know I missed a lot. Let me know of any other awesome games I need to check out!

Default Geek

2011-06-08T12:30:00.008-10:00

Joey Heflich, aka @MrBalls, just published the results from a survey he put together to investigate a certain gender issue in geek culture. But before I discuss that survey and its topic, let me give the background behind the survey, at least as I understand it.

Last week, I saw a link from @TheNerdyBird to a recent post by Joey Heflich on Guerrilla Geek, titled "Not all geeks are misogynists". In it, he discusses some issues on the perception of women in geek culture.

Recently a lot of words have been thrown back and forth between people debating whether or not women are accepted in geek culture. Some say that male geeks tend to create hostile environments unwelcome to women. Some say that beautiful women dressing up as Wonder Woman aren’t really geeks and are only pandering to us. Others say that being a geek girl means being subjected to a lot of undue prejudice. Almost no one is saying that we’re all equals. It’s all a lot of ugliness, something not normally associated with our culture and it has to stop.

Given some controversies that have broken out in the geek online community in recent months regarding geek girls, this is a topic worth discussing, and the post received many thoughtful comments. One commenter pointed out that the use of the term "geek girls" where there is no male counterpart (few ever refer to themselves as "geek guys") may "invite some of the unwanted attention that some female geeks receive". This is a valid point--that when we use the term "geek girls" we necessarily set ourselves apart from geek non-girls--and the commenter recognized that the attention gained this way is unfair. I bear him no ill will. However, I was inspired to respond to the comment in an attempt to defend the use of the term "geek girl". It's not a term that I really used until I started making friends in the online geek girl community. Now I embrace the term, as I associate it with all the friendly, awesome, and geeky ladies I've met through these social channels.

My response to the comment wasn't the tightest argument ever*, but one of my points was that in the current culture, the word "geek" defaults to male. Thus, some may use the term "geek girl" as a necessary clarification. From my comment:

I was on the subway** this morning and there was this huge geek explaining to a friend what the “Han shot first” debate is and how it’s actually a bit of a misnomer.

Can you picture the scene? What does it look like? Is the geek a guy or a girl? I’m going to go out on a limb and say that most likely, you’re picturing a guy. Heck, I’m even picturing a guy, and I’ve had this conversation myself in a public place. My point is that males are widely perceived as the “default” for geeks.

This leads me to the survey I mentioned, which Joey put together in part to investigate this hypothesis of the "default male geek". He presented a situation with two geeks (Geek A and Geek B) described in gender-neutral terms, and asked survey-takers to indicate which gender they thought each geek described was. See the survey questions and results here. The survey was written fashioning Geek A after a male geek and Geek B after a female geek. The vast majority of respondents (86 to 10) identified Geek A as a male, but about half (49 to 47) identified Geek B as a male as well. This is in spite of only 3 of the 93 survey takers claiming that being a geek is a "guy thing".

Now, Joey admitted that this survey is informal and unscientific. I'm no sociologist, but I imagine it would be difficult to draw any strong conclusions from this study. Still, it's a good start, and there's at least enough in the results to provoke a conversation. The respondents to the survey, all geeks themselves (56:44 male:female), tended to assume that a geek, without any gender-specific information, was a male. Of course, it may be that the majority of geeks are male, so people who guessed that both Geek A and Geek B were male were just making the safest bet given the odds (not that there was a "right" answer in the survey). But it's one thing to recognize a majority and another to ignore the minority to the point of feeling comfortable assuming a default gender. If such a default gender is assumed, then perhaps it is appropriate for female geeks to clarify their gender with the term "geek girl".

Looking at the survey, there are a few issues I'd be interested to see investigated further:
1) What would happen if more geeks were described (in separate questions, in separate situations), with some fashioned after male geeks, some after female geeks, and some meant to be entirely ambiguous?
2) What if survey takers were not asked directly what gender they believed the geek to be (which may make them second guess their initial assumption)? This might be achieved by instead asking survey takers to write four complete sentences about, for instance, what Geek A did for breakfast that morning. Since it is remarkably hard to write multiple sentences in the third-person without using gender-specific pronouns, this could reveal which gender respondents pictured the geek to be without asking.
3) How geeky do survey respondents think a person is given their gender? For example, "At a con, Geek A is dressed as Han Solo. Geek B, his wife, is dressed as slave Leia. How many times do you think Geek A has seen Return of the Jedi? How many times do you think Geek B has seen it?" or something to that effect. Basically, is there a perception that he's the geek and she's just wearing the costume to make him happy? Or does anyone think it's the other way around?

Here I am asking a lot of questions, but I do want to put forth another question along with my hypothesis and some reasoning behind it. All of the people who took Joey's survey identify themselves as geeks. That is what the survey was made for: to look at gender perceptions within the geek community. What would the survey results be if the questions were posed to the general public, non-geeks included? I hypothesize that the geek community is much more aware than the non-geek community of the presence of female geeks. If you've been to a con, you've seen plenty of geeky women there as well as men. If you read gaming, comics, sci-fi, or fantasy websites, you've read columns written by women. But I think many people outside the geek community*** see geeks as much more stereotypically male.

I like to bring up the example of "The Big Bang Theory". It is one of the most popular sitcoms on television right now, an accomplishment it couldn't achieve by having only geek viewers. Four of the show's five main characters are true and total geeks. They are also men. Leonard, Sheldon, Howard, and Raj are nerdy, dorky scientists who love video games, comics, science fiction, and fantasy. The fifth lead of the show is Penny, an aspiring actress who never really understood these geeky interests of theirs (she prefers shoes). In seasons 3 and 4, the show has introduced two regular guest stars who are both female scientists, showing that indeed women can be nerdy science lovers as well (though in biological sciences--leave the engineering and physics to the men). Still, who's at the comics shop every Wednesday? Maybe I missed it, but I have not noticed these ladies geeking out about comics, sci-fi, gaming, or any of the common geeky subjects that the men of the show love to gush about. This, dear readers, is the general public's weekly dose of geek culture, their window into the geek world. As much as I love the show and hope that it's helping non-geeks appreciate how lovable geeks can be, I wish they'd gone a step further to make one of their girls a geek. Who knows? Maybe Bernadette speaks Quenya, or Amy likes to cosplay as Zatanna. I guess there's still time to find out.

geek, geek, non-geek, geek, geek

* Have you ever found yourself typing a response online only to discover that what should have been a 15-minute internet-surfing break has blossomed into a forty-five-minute essay-writing session and you should probably get back to work before your advisor comes by and learns you still haven't made any progress? Happens more often than I'd like my advisor to find out. Also, see http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=813

** Not sure why I chose the subway--we don't even have a subway in Honolulu. Oh well.

*** People like Ginia Bellafante

My Hawaiian research cruise: Sunrise vs. Sunset

2011-05-27T07:00:00.006-10:00

Some people have strong opinions of whether they prefer sunsets or sunrises, but I've always liked both. Truth is, though, I see a lot more sunsets than sunrises; I'm not usually awake before the sun comes up. On the research cruise, however, my midnight to noon shift forced me to be awake--and usually out on deck--during the sunrise. Sunset was right after dinner, so I'd always catch it as well. And I always had my camera on hand.

In this post, my photos of sunrises and sunsets face off against each other. I had some photos in previous posts of Moloka'i at sunrise, the Big Island at sunset, etc., but the photos here must have the sky at sunrise or sunset as their primary subject and purpose.

Which one will win? Sunrise, or sunset?

Round 1:

Sunrise

Sunset

Round 2:

Sunrise

Sunset

Round 3:

Sunrise

Sunset

Round 4:

Sunrise

Sunset

Round 5:

Sunrise

Sunset

So who won (either round-by-round, or overall)? Tell me what you think in the comments!

My Hawaiian research cruise: Moloka'i

2011-05-26T07:00:00.003-10:00

This was undoubtedly the most beautiful of the places we saw on our cruise: the sea cliffs on the north shore of Moloka'i. They're the highest sea cliffs in the world, rising 2000 feet above the water. The coastline isolated by those cliffs has been home to a leper colony, but I'm not sure exactly where it is along the coast.

We got there around sunrise, which meant that I was up for my shift. The cliffs are gorgeous and majestic, decorated with varying clouds, and there were whales near shore. We were even close enough at our initial location that we could smell the pleasant mulch-y aroma of the jungle. We noticed one house situated on those cliffs, visible through binoculars. I don't know how the residents get there--I understand you can get to that shore from the rest of Moloka'i either by boat or by mule.

Well, without further ado, here are my photos of the sea cliffs of Moloka'i.

Cute little island in front of the cliffs, at sunrise

Another shot of the same. I couldn't decide which I liked better. Opinions?

Valley between the cliffs, a little after sunrise

The sea cliffs, now fully illuminated by the sun

The cliffs stretched as far along the island as I could see.

That little island in front of the cliffs again

Same but in portrait

Valley between the cliffs at sunset

Lovely sunset over the far cliffs. We've moved farther from shore at this point.

Another shot of the same, with some spray from a wave crashing on the distant rocks

If you like the sunrise and sunset photos, tomorrow, my photos of sunrises and sunsets face off against each other. Who will win?

My Hawaiian research cruise: Big Island

2011-05-25T07:00:00.003-10:00

The second day of our cruise brought us through the Alenuihaha channel between the Big Island (aka Hawai'i) and Maui. I think this is the Big Island, but there's a chance it might be Maui. It's at sunset.

Much of the time we were pretty far from land (see above photo), so I didn't get that many good photos of the Big Island, either.

That night, we could see about seven specks of lava spotting the coastline in the distance. It was nothing compared to what I saw on the Big Island last August, but it was still nice.

The Big Island is the newest Hawaiian island, and the one with still very active volcanoes. A month after our cruise, the activity went up considerably. Shame we missed that.

The most frustrating part was that we couldn't take good photos with long exposures because the ship was moving, so they'd just come out blurry. Here, you can kind of make out a plume of smoke illuminated red by glowing lava beneath it. There were several of these we saw on the crest of the land.

The morning was more scenic. Here's a little rain at sunrise on the coast of the Big Island.

I loved how some of the splotches of black hardened lava flows looked like someone had taken a big bucket of black paint and tossed it on the green hillside. The light wasn't very good for my photos, but you might be able to see better if you click on this one to zoom in.

I promise that my photos of Moloka'i tomorrow will be much more spectacular.

My Hawaiian research cruise: O'ahu

2011-05-24T07:00:00.004-10:00

Our research cruise started and ended in Honolulu, and our first and last destinations were the underwater canyons off of Kaneohe on O'ahu's east shore. My photos of O'ahu aren't that impressive. Since it's the island I live on, I was less excited about the scenery here than I was at the other islands.

Downtown Honolulu

Me, excited to be heading out of the harbor

Islands off a point near Kaneohe, first day of our cruise

Same islands from a different angle, when we went back to Kaneohe at the end of our cruise

Kaneohe (or thereabouts), on the afternoon of our last full day of the cruise.

Tomorrow: photos of the Big Island

My Hawaiian research cruise: For Science!

2011-05-23T07:01:00.008-10:00

On the first day of the cruise, my research group put out a wave buoy and a current mooring off of Kaneohe on the east shore of O'ahu (the island with Honolulu, where we started from).

Wave buoy making a splash. This is one of the buoys surfers can use to get a sense of the swell coming in.

There was a lot of downtime while we waited for the ship to move to the right position, or for the line to be let out a couple thousand meters, etc.

This is what my main job was on the ship: hold the line to steady the CTD sensors as they were lowered in and taken out of the water. This morning off of Moloka'i we had some beautiful scenery--photos of that will come later.

That's me on the right. I tie my own bowline knot.

Here's the computer lab, monitoring everything about the ship. That big screen in the center is what I was there to read. Looks kind of unintelligible at first, but it's actually pretty simple: how close the black lines are together corresponds to how close the CTD is to the ocean bottom. Time is on the x-axis, with current time at the right side, and the y-axis is milliseconds for a ping from the pinger attached to the CTD to reach the ship. One black line is the ping that reaches the ship directly, the other is the ping that bounces off the bottom then reaches the ship. The closer the lines are to each other, the closer the sensor is to the bottom.

Arguably the most exciting research project on our ship was this one guy taking some sort of atmospheric data with a bright green laser. Mostly he pointed it up at the sky, but he'd sometimes do sweeps down to the horizon. It's not eye safe for a few miles, so whenever it was on, someone would have to stand watch for airplanes and turn it off if it looked like it might fry the eyes of someone looking down from an airplane window. But it was a great show at night. Also, it was kind of cool to say that I was on a ship that shoots dangerous lasers at airplanes (well, it could).

Here's the laser-shooting apparatus.

And here's the laser, shooting off toward the water.

Pew pew!

Tomorrow: photos of O'ahu from the ship.

My Hawaiian research cruise

2011-05-23T07:00:00.014-10:00

I announced on this blog in January that I was going on a research cruise around the Hawaiian islands at the beginning of February. One of the perks of being an oceanography grad student is that we are required to spend some time working at sea. I promised I would share photos from my cruise...and then got distracted. On our 10-day cruise, I took about 1000 photos. I went kind of crazy. The task of sorting through them all to find the best ones to share seemed overwhelming. So I put it off. But now that my classes are over and it's summer, I've finally put them online and will share some of my favorites with you.

The story behind this cruise: A labmate and I applied for a student cruise to gather data for our own research projects, and we were lucky enough to be granted some ship time on the Kilo Moana. The best part was that we were able to merge our ship time with that of a few other research groups, giving us more time on the ship (10 days instead of 5 or 6), more sites to see, and a good amount of downtime while the other groups did their research.

The Kilo Moana is a great ship. A twin-hull, 186'-long research vessel, it's very stable. Granted, I was playing it safe and taking "less drowsy" Dramamine most of the cruise, but I never felt sick. The ship also has a reputation among the research fleet as having really great food. I have to say, I was impressed. Ten days of all-you-can-eat, already prepared, delicious free food is a grad student's dream.

The cruise was amazing. I had about three days of pure pleasure cruising. I spent my free time taking lots of photos (obviously), looking for whales (we saw a few, though I missed the dolphins playing in the bow wake at one point), enjoying the ship's outstanding food, watching DVDs from the impressive collection in their TV room, playing a lot of Dominion (I brought it along and taught about eight people to play) and a game called The Resistance (a bit like Mafia), and even taking a couple martial arts workshops (one of the ship's crew is also an instructor of a certain type of kung fu).

It wasn't all fun and games, though. The least fun part of the cruise was that when we were working, I had the midnight to noon shift. Ugh. Waking up at midnight without a real breakfast was especially rough. The first time I had that shift, off of the Big Island, I somehow got it right and slept for a good amount of time the afternoon and evening before (I woke up for dinner--I didn't want to miss a single meal!) so that I felt fine through the whole shift. But every other time it just didn't work, and it kind of sucked. On the bright side, I did get to see both sunrise (because of my shift) and sunset (because it was right after dinner) every day. When I was working, I wasn't working very hard, but I'd have about 5 minutes of activity every 20 minutes or so, so it wasn't like I ever had a good chunk of time to get something else done, or to take a nap.

Our cruise left from the harbor in Honolulu, and our first destination was the underwater canyons off of Kaneohe on the east shore of O'ahu. Our cruise then went south between O'ahu and Moloka'i, then up through the Alenuihaha channel between Maui and the Big Island, around the Big Island and up through the channel again, then to the north shore of Moloka'i, back to Kaneohe, and counterclockwise around O'ahu to return to the harbor. To the right is a very rough approximation of our route. Color changes from red (start of cruise) to orange (end) to distinguish between earlier and later paths.

I've divided my photos from the cruise into five groups. They will be posted from Monday to Friday this week, one each day.
For Science!
O'ahu
Big Island
Moloka'i
Sunrise vs. Sunset

If you missed them but are interested, here are some of the tweets I made while on the ship, giving (almost) real-time reports of my thoughts. A large portion of them are about food.

1 Feb:

Whee! I'm on a boat. I haven't been online since 6:30 this morning. What did I miss, Twitter?

So far OK for seasickness. "Less drowsy" Dramamine it is. But tomorrow we zigzag through the Alenuihaha--a very windy channel. We'll see.

The food is amazing! Dinner was shrimp scampi, fettuccine alfredo, a great salad (with raspberries), and chocolate-covered strawberries. Mm.

Was less of a scientist today and more of an artist. My labmates put wave, current, temp sensors out while I took photos of them. Fun times!

Slightly disillusioned with how long stuff takes. I was on the deck from 1-8:30ish, and we put out 2 moorings. A lot of hurry up and wait.

We saw a whale! It was far away, and mostly what I saw was its spouting. But it's a good season to see humpbacks, so I'm hoping for more.

I should get more free time in the next week. I have reading, there's a big TV room with lots of DVDs, and I packed Dominion :)

2 Feb:

Overheard a conversation on another deck "blah blah blah ice cream sandwiches blah blah..." I made a bee line to the mess hall. Amazing.

Rockin' and rollin', but still feeling OK. Alenuihaha (haha!) channel didn't turn out so bad (though I don't want to speak too soon).

The sensor we just launched has an iridium beacon. I feel like I'm in Mass Effect.

4 Feb:

So much for my 3-day pleasure cruise. Midnight to noon shift tonight. Science is hard work! (Though much of the 12 hrs will be waiting...)

But on the bright side, we may be able to see lava from the boat tonight. Sweet.

Also: Our ship shoots a serious laser. We have to turn it off if an airplane flies by. Yeah we're pretty cool. I'll have pics to share soon.

Baked Alaska

5 Feb:

Midnight to noon shift. Basically pretending I'm on Buenos Aires time. Not very happy about it, but we can see lava glowing in the distance.

Finished my shift at noon, ate lunch, then took a NAP. Trying to decide whether to stay on weird schedule (work resumes in 2 days) or not.

Midnight lava was cool but too far away for good pics. Long exposure just blurred everything because of the ship's movement.

Sunrise was beautiful, though. The coast of the island is gorgeous and unique: gentle green slopes splashed with the black of cooled lava.

7 Feb:

Holy frak, we have the most gorgeous view right now. Highest sea cliffs in the world on Molokai. Whales. Sunrise was beautiful.

After our stunning sunrise this morning, we had a gorgeous pink sunset. Perfect beginning and ending to the day. Molokai is breath-taking.

8 Feb:

Oh my God, pumpkin muffins, fresh out of the oven and still warm. So delicious. I'm so going to miss having a cook when I leave this ship.

9 Feb:

Surf & turf: king crab and filet mignon for dinner. Deliciously smooth chocolate cream pie. I'm going to miss this boat.

10 Feb:

Back in port waiting to unload and disembark. I'm looking forward to my own bed and shower, but I'm going to miss having food cooked for me.

Finished Dragon Age 2 again

2011-05-21T18:41:00.011-10:00

I just finished my second playthrough of Dragon Age 2, with a dual-wielding duelist/assassin rogue. FPS FTW. I'm hesitant to say this, but I may have enjoyed playing her more than I liked playing as a mage. Part of it may be that I was just better at it this time, though. I played my rogue with a humorous/charming personality, while my first character was diplomatic. Here are a few screen shots, plus a lot of quotes that I painstakingly recorded, mostly for my own benefit and that of other people who have played the game. It's nice to remember some of the good ones. See a few of my favorite quotes I caught on my first playthrough here.

Note: Some of these may contain minor spoilers (not really plot points, but character appearances/cameos).

Isabela: I'm more likely to be shanked in a bar than eaten by an abomination. You can hear those coming a mile away. "Grr. Argh." "Oh, is that an abomination coming to eat us? We should get out of here!"
Anders: Abominations don't go "Grr, argh."
Isabela: They don't? Hmn, I should rethink the whole thing then.

Sarebaas: [explaining why he has to kill himself] I was outside my Karataam. I may be corrupted. I cannot know. How I return is my choice.
Anders: Of all the ridiculous, spineless, mind-controlled senseless piece of shit arguments I've ever heard!
Sarebaas: What comfort has freedom brought you, mage? You would have more if you submitted to the Qun.

Fenris: So this relic you mentioned losing...
Isabela: You have pretty eyes.
Fenris: I...have pretty...eyes.?

Hawke: Carry on. I love to eavesdrop.

Isabela: I enjoy a man with markings like that.
Fenris: You enjoy many men.
Isabela: Where I come from, they're called "tattoos." Sailors get them all the time.
Fenris: Not made of lyrium, I'd imagine.
Isabela: Not a one. And the pictures are different. Usually breasts.
Fenris: I suppose a pair of lyrium breasts tattooed onto my chest would make things better.
Isabela: That's me--I'm a helper.

Fenris: I thought all dwarves had beards. Where's yours?
Varric: I misplaced it along with my sense of dwarven pride, and my gold-plated noble caste pin.
Fenris: I thought maybe it had fallen onto your chest.
Varric: Oho! The broody elf tells a joke!
Fenris: I don't brood.
Varric: Friend, if your brooding were any more impressive, women would swoon as you passed, and they'd have broody babies in your honor.
Fenris: You're a very odd dwarf.
Varric: And you thought I was joking about the pin!

Mine worker: You should leave, too. But don't go that way. There's this huge dragon!
Merrill: Oh, are we going to go that way? I've never seen a huge dragon before.

Actually, this is a huger dragon than the one that guy was talking about.

Seneschal Bran: It's clear the City Guard has no excuse for allowing this, unless they were involved.
Aveline: Have any failed to report?
Bran: Several. You should start with one of them. Although where you find a swordsman so eager to sell his honor and duty, I'm sure I don't know.
Anders (interchangeable): The Hanged Man.
Aveline: The Hanged Man.
Sebastian: Even I know that.

Merrill: Don't be silly. A dowry would only matter if you were courting him.
Aveline: Merrill...
Merrill: (Gasp!) You're courting him!

Hawke: Well well well. I never thought you were they type, Varric. I'm flattered.
Varric: It's the chest hair, isn't it? Women can never resist my chest hair. Unfortunately, it's not to be. I'm spoken for.
Hawke: Ah, Bianca [that is, his crossbow] stands in my way again, does she?
Varric: What can I say? She's the jealous type.

Anders: Just mix the ingredients up and boom! Justice and I are free.
Very funny, Anders.

Sketch: Take my advice, friend: Stay away from storytellers. Never know what they'll say.

Aveline: I don't think I've asked to be the butt of your jokes.
Hawke: Donnic.
Aveline: OK, sometimes I have asked for it.

Fenris: [bitingly angry] I didn't realize you were in the market for a slave.
Hawke: I gave her a job, Fenris.
Fenris: Ah...then...that's good. My apologies.

Brittle + upgraded assassinate + Low Blade = Arcane Horror dead several times over.

Isabela: I like big boats. I cannot lie.

Varric: [to Sebastian] You can't even pretend to be interesting, can you?

Anders: [expressing surprise] Well, put me in a dress and call me a templar!

Varric: [about Aveline] She's a woman-shaped battering ram.

Grand Cleric Elthina: [to Meredith] Go back to the Gallows and calm down. Like a good girl.

Aveline: [having learned that Donnic plays cards at Fenris's mansion] What? Why am I not invited to these games?
Fenris: He says you get angry when you lose.
Aveline: I do not!
Varric: Yes, you do.
Aveline: All right, perhaps I do.

This conversation is conditional on Hawke having a rival relationship with Fenris.
Fenris: I am alone.
Hawke: You have friends.
Fenris: [caustic] Oh? And who would those be? You?
Anders: It sure isn't me.
Varric: Hey now, you could do worse.

Anders: Now that I'm living here, there isn't room for you in the bed. Do you understand?
Dog: Awhoooooooo!
Anders: That won't work on me. I'm a cat person.

Isabela: Step 1 - We go to Velasco. Step 2 - Something exciting happens. Step 3 - Profit!

Maker help the mister who comes between me and my sister...

Varric: You know, you play Diamond Back better than my cousin Vedar. You wag your tail whenever you have a good hand, though. Might want to watch that.
Dog: (Barks)
Hawke: Is it brilliant or horrible that you play Diamond Back with my dog?
Varric: All I'm saying is he'd be up more than two Sovereigns if he watched his tells. My uncle Emmit has a whole pack of rat terriers who play every week. They're a cutthroat bunch. You've got a long way to go to be their quality.
Dog: (Growls)
Varric: Now don't take it bad. You're still better than Anders.
Dog: (Happy bark)
Varric: Coming to The Hanged Man later?
Dog: (Barks)

Fenris: Fish, fish, and more fish! Bluch! Let's look for those crates.
I don't know why I thought this one was funny. I guess he's usually complaining about mages, it was funny to hear him complain about something like fish.

Hawke: [about Gamlen's daughter] She looks nothing like you. Thank the Maker for small miracles, hmm?
Gamlen: Really! I--...Hey!

Hawke is amused

Anders: [compared to the Kirkwall Circle] The Ferelden Circle's more fun. Everyone was kissing everyone.

I thought this little conversation was very interesting. I assume it only triggers if you initially "consummate" your romance with Fenris, but then switch to the Anders romance.
Fenris: You, uh, living with Hawke now?
Anders: What's it to you?
Fenris: Be good to her. Break her heart, and I will kill you.

Hubert: The only survivor was the horse, and it cannot speak! Town full of rotten mages, and not one can get answers from a horse!

Zevran: Why they insist on thinking they can kill people like you and the Warden, I will never guess.
Hawke: Let me tell you, it's a burden I bear on a daily basis.

Hawke: Did you really escape the Circle so you could kiss a girl?
Emile: Well, not just that. I've read so much about the other things you can do with girls.
Isabela: Aw, he's like you were. Do you remember, Aveline, when you were stupid over Donnic.
Aveline: Yes, I remember, thank you.

Aveline: You didn't come to my Solstice dinner party.
Isabela: Look at you! Dinner parties. Cooking. Do you have a lace apron yet, or should I get one for you?
Aveline: Don't change the subject. I sent you an invitation and you didn't show up.
Isabela: I thought it would be...I mean, I don't know. I just don't do family gatherings. Besides, one day you and Donnic will have children and I'll be the last person you want around there. Imagine all the awkward questions you'd have to answer. "Mother, what's a slattern?"
Aveline: I'll just point at you and say, "That's a slattern."

Anders: There is justice in the world.
Isabela: Is there? You want to free the mages. Let's say you do, but to get there, you kill a bunch of innocent people. What about them? Don't they then deserve justice?
Anders: Yes.
Isabela: And then what? When does it end? It's like a bar brawl. People are continuously pulled into the fray, and nobody remembers why it started! Justice is an idea. It makes sense in a world of ideas, but not in our world.

Teagan: Well we won't let them swoop down on us.
Alistair: That's right. Swooping is bad.

Varric: So, I've known you for three years now. I give up. You beat me. What is it? You like boys? Sheep? You slept with your sister?
Sebastian: What are you talking about?
Varric: What are you hiding? Nobody's this bloody clean. After you leave the Chantry you get drunk at The Hanged Man and walk around in women's clothes.
Isabela: Not that I've seen...unfortunately.
Sebastian: I've been honest with you and Hawke.
Varric: Liar.
Sebastian: Lying is a sin.

Anders: [at the end of the quest A New Path] That was the noblest thing I've ever seen anyone do. The world is poorer for having you in it instead of her.
Fenris: For once we agree on something.

Grand Cleric Elthina: [to Anders] Your soul is troubled, child. I hope you found a balm for it here.
This wasn't funny until the second playthrough.

Hawke headed toward the final showdown, looking very grim

Hawke: "Death is never justice"--those are the words of Elthina herself, Sebastian. By doing this, you shame her.
OK, that's definitely not a quote from the game, but I so wish it was! If you've finished the game, you know what moment I'm talking about.

This week has been so totally I don't know

2011-05-20T09:18:00.005-10:00

It has been a relaxing but emotionally draining week. With my advisor out of town, I spent the week "working at home", taking the time to think about what my Plan is for grad school. Laying out all the facts, all my doubts, all my certainties, and looking at my position rationally, I concluded that the best thing for me to do at this point is to pursue a master's degree. Once that's done I can choose where to go from there, be it a PhD, oceanographic work, or something else entirely. But it still doesn't leave me feeling great. Sometimes there is no wonderful, happy choice. And I give no promises--I could still change my mind at any minute.

Thanks for everyone who offered me advice and support this past week. It's been interesting to see what I can do with this blog that I can't do in real life. First, without people here who know me in person, I feel unburdened by expectation and more free to say whatever I feel like saying. And second, I get to put everything down in writing and organize my thoughts without anyone cutting in, in a way that is difficult to do in person, where everything is verbal, improvised, with real-time feedback. Well, it's an interesting study in blogs and online relations, at least.

Sorry it's been a bit of a heavy week here on my blog. Next week, I have some lighter posts planned, all about the happier side of my experience here in grad school. Yes, I'll finally share photos from my research cruise. It's hard to believe it was over 3 months ago, but I haven't forgotten my promise to post about it. Make sure to check out next Thursday's photos of Moloka'i. I was stunned by the beauty of the island's northern coast. And if you like sunsets and/or sunrises, I'll have a post on Friday in which the sunrises and sunsets I saw on the cruise will face off against each other.

Have a nice weekend!