Random Things

So now that I've had plenty of time to come down from the rush of this past semester, I've been slowly getting a move on things I'd been putting off.

I was WAY too happy when I migrated my music/iTunes directories on my main HDD into a single iTunes directory on my second HDD in my huge gaming laptop and pared it all down from 80GB to 50GB. I moved the .xml files and everything without having a single issue, which I was VERY happy with. I wanted to high-five myself, then hand myself a beer. If you had any interest in doing this yourself, I found a GREAT walkthrough here.

I'm also WAY too pumped for the Nook I'm getting tomorrow. Acquisition Day is always a reason for joy, but I'm a junkie for gadgets, and I think that ebooks are a great thing. Cutting down on paper consumption is a great way to reduce the number of trees that are cut down, which also has the benefit of angering pro-hate terrorist zealots.

Plus, being able to take my collection of books down from something that nearly fills a huge basement to the something that fits onto the Nook is very appealing. 

I've been using the B&N ereader on my netbook for a while, and while I've really enjoyed that, I'm pumped to have a super-thin, super-light device that specializes in the ebook stuff.

Additionally, since I can import .pdf files into it, I've been prepping .pdf versions of a lot of the strategy guides I've purchased in the past so that I can load them on it for easy access. I've also been doing the same with a lot of the novels I've purchased in the past. Additionally, I've been buying ebooks from the B&N store for a while, so it'll be cool to load all those on there, as well, which will be easily accomplished via the persistent 3G connection.

I'll be getting some Blu-Rays, as well. I'm hoping and praying for the Battlestar Galactica Blu-Ray set, but we'll see.

I'm not expecting anything on the gaming front, since I never really ask for them, since any game worth owning is already in my position.

Anyway, I want everyone to have a great Acquisition Day, and while you're getting sick of your family, be sure to check out our new gaming, Untitled Gaming, and be sure to check out the new podcast when it goes out this weekend on the blog!

-Blaine

Alright, alright

And, I'm back. The semester is wrapped up, I get to take a few weeks and focus on work & projects, I get to soak up college basketball, I get mock the BCS for a few more weeks, I get to work on the new book a bit, and I get to launch a new gaming blog with Tony!

Click on the link, read up, and please help us start building our base! Those of you who followed the podcast will know what to expect, and for everyone else, it's going to be a repository for our random opinions, reviews, commentaries, and all gaming-related crap we're known to squeeze out, but in handy literary form! The podcast is going on, and will be returning this weekend, when we start our 'Best of the Decade' and 'Best of 2009!' Go over to the new blog, read our entries, and help us pick our top ten of the decade!

Otherwise, I saw Avatar and Julie & Julia over the weekend, and really enjoyed both.

I took in the 3D Avatar experience, and MAN, was it an experience. Everything about that film just works, and my only complaint about it was about the medium itself, which is the limited scope of film (as opposed to a game or television series.) I had some minor gripes ('unobtanium?'), but it was the most I've enjoyed a theatrical experience in a long time.

What's great about the 3D is that it's subtle. It's immediately noticeable, no doubt, but instead of being distracting and a pure gimmick, it really brings the film to life in an amazing and seamless way. There are moments that I can't imagine quite work in 2D, plus the 3D really helps bring a sense of HUGENESS to the film.

Avatar is a truly great film, and one that easily tops anything else James Cameron has accomplished to this date, and that is saying a hell of a lot. Aliens, Terminator, Terminator 2, & the Abyss rank among my favorite films, and this film feels like the next step in that progression.

Julie & Julia is a really interesting film about author Julie Powell and the famous chef Julia Child, and intertwines their respective rises to fame. It's directed by Nora Ephron, and really flows much better than I'd expected two separate time lines would. To see how Powell draws from Child's evolution to inform her own evolution was very cool, especially from a writer's perspective. It was very interesting for me, personally, to get perspective on someone who'd tried to be a writer but had given up, and then let themselves get pulled back in. Plus, I'm a closet cook, so the film was nearly pornographic (for me, who LOVES food) in some parts.

At first glance, it's a chick flick, but it's a good film for anyone who's chosen the generic life in favor of the dream life.

Otherwise, it's nice to finally chill for a little bit. I got a little overwhelmed with a lot of things going on this past Saturday, and had to just let myself implode and pare things down a bit. I'm not normally like that, but I sometimes forget how much pressure I put on myself to not fuck up everything in my life. Granted, the pressure is there for a reason.

What's tough is that I cut myself off from much of my social life this semester to really focus on things, and now I feel like I've been a shit friend, but there's also this phenomenon in which my wife works whenever I'm not at work, so I never see her, so I want to see her when she is around, but that's also the only time I can go out, since I'm home alone with my son all the other times. Thus, I'm still a shitty friend.

So, yeah, enough bitching and moaning.

All I wanna do this break is work, write, and record. It makes me chuckle that I think of 'only work' as 'vacation.' I also wanna not be exhausted all the time.

I am also keenly anticipating the acquisition of my Nook on Friday.

Anyway...
 - don't forget to comment on the 'Best of the Decade' posts over @ Untitled Gaming
 - don't forget that we're podcasting this weekend!
 - what do you got going on this week?
 - what's tops on your Xmas wish list?

-Blaine

2009 is ending...as is the decade...

...I've been a bad bloggist because it's difficult for me to devote time and energy to this blog when so many other things are going on. In my current day-to-day structure, if I'm attending class full-time, I do not have time to blog, ever. I have a wife, son, job, real writing, and I'm into games and sports, so this blog is easily cast aside, which sucks. I want to do this M-F, but it's just not working out w/ my school aspirations.

I'll try to find a way to change that. I'd toyed with the idea of writing several posts at a time over the weekend, but the fact is that there are other ways I'd like to spend my weekend. I may give that another shot, but we'll see.

Either way, since I have no classes for the next month, I'm back.

It's an exciting time to be me, though. I've got some things cooking, on a few different professional fronts, as well as some collaborative work that may happen, and I'm pretty pumped. I'm also pleased to report that sales of my book have increased with the holiday season, which shocked me quite a bit. I guess that some feel that Christmas is the best time to read about God betraying man. Who knows? Either way, thanks, and GO BUY ANOTHER NOW!!! It's available in both book form ($15) and ebook ($1.25).

I don't have a ton of time today, but I wanted to remind people that I wrote a reasonably decent novel, and Tony and I have a couple podcasts coming up. We're recording the first one next weekend, the day after Xmas. We'll do a little 'what's new?' followed by a ton of discussion about the best games of 2009, and close with the best games of the 00s (the 'aughts,' as we're supposed to call this clusterfuck of a decade.) We are soliciting nominations, so please, either leave 'em in the comments of this post or any next week, or hit me up with 'em on Twitter!

The day after New Year, we'll be recording a 2010 preview, and I'm asking for the same info, though not just yet.

Anyway, I'll be back with a lot more next week, but lemme know what were your best games of 2009 were, as well as what were your best of the 2000s!

-Blaine

I've been Dragon Aged

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

This is Monday

First, we're deviating a bit from my appointed scheme to do something a little different this week. I'm slowly ramping up the pace at which I'm working on the second novel in the Endless Wars series, as I'm starting to really get a better feel for how rough and raw this book is going to be, and I'm getting a creative boner for it. Like massively. Hawt,

Anyway, I'm actually going to post the first three major sections of the original on here this week, so that you all can be bribed with a free taste into buying a book. I tried to write the story I'd always wanted to read, and I'd like to share it with as many people as possible, and try to see if I can do this for a living some day.


Untitled Podcast
Before we get to that, though, there is the matter of the podcast. Tony and I sat down together and yammered incessantly about games we don't own for nearly three hours. And some people like that. Fascinating.

We do appreciate that, so here is the podcast page. Please enjoy, and we'll be returning to the mics in a little less than three months.


Regular Programming
I'll be getting back to the regular posts in a week or two. I'm going to focus on Endless Wars for a week or two, not only to try and properly convey what it is to those who haven't grabbed it already, but to get myself in the right mindset while I work on the next book in the series.

Also, for anyone who's read it, lemme know if ya have any questions about it. I'd love to talk with existing readers and see what they thought, as well as answer any questions they might have.


Big Thanks
Just wanted to give a public 'thanks' to both Laurance and Cody, who are both great artists, allies, and friends. Cody did a lot of the art for the Untitled Podcast in the past. He also writes rather well about games, and has one of the last good gaming blogs out there.

Laurance, and his company, Physical City, did a gorgeous fucking banner for my book, and all the free prostitutes in the world wouldn't be a big enough 'thank you' to him. Whether it's a banner, a graphic for a page, a book cover, a billboard, a buttocks tattoo, a comic book, whatever, make goddam sure you chat w/ the dudes over at Physical City for any and all art needs. No shit. Do it. Now.


The Endless Wars: The Descent (section 1)
Here we go, and please note the nice-ass banner made up by the above-mentioned Physical City.



begin section one of the Endless Wars: the Descent

I: Curtain
November, 2001

Dark, ominous clouds. Lightning. A flood of
rain pouring down. Decaying, long dead buildings.
Streets that look like they haven’t been repaved since
the rule of Louis XVI. A cop substation in the
distance. More rain.

That was the landscape that was sucked into
Taran’s eyes. His view shifted around, as if he was
desperately trying to find something not dying, not
gray, at which to stare. He could feel the
lifelessness infecting him.

Taran Walker was twenty three years young, and
possessed the body of a man. His height and build were
just about average (roughly 5’8, with a fair amount of
muscle.) His dark brown hair and brown eyes added to
his almost average appearance. His face was adorned
with a beard that circled his mouth, and his eyes
contained a coldness that looked very heavy.

His room was covered in dirty laundry, various
magazines and books, boxes of CDs and other belongings,
empty beer bottles and cigarette packs everywhere. A
bare mattress was in the corner, with an ashtray and a
digital alarm clock next to it. The walls had probably
once been white, but those days were long since gone.

Of course he loved her. Of course he did. Not
“in love,” mind you. But he did love her. How could
he not? An inch shorter than him, red hair, green
eyes, tiny waist, perfect curvy body, and that weird
Jedi Mind control over guys. She was one of those
girls that was great at convincing you that you needed
her above all else, and by the time you realized that
you didn’t, you had already wrecked your life so badly
that your best strategy was to cower in her shadow
until you thought of some really clever escape plan.

Rosaline was really something.

But, Taran had learned. About four months prior,
she had cheated on him and dumped him for a military
school cadet three years his junior. After four years
of something that almost reminded him of perfection.

So, there she stood. Fighting and pleading to be
taken back.

“I’m done with you.” Taran said, surprisingly
calmly, though he let out several ragged breaths after-
wards

“I can’t fucking believe you. It’s really
interesting, really, really interesting, Taran, how
this ‘honor’ that you always talk about comes and goes
whenever it’s convenient for you! Isn’t ‘forgiveness’
included in your little ‘code of conduct?’” she paused,
inhaled a sniffle, “Taran, listen to me. Please. I’m
standing here telling you that I love you.”

Taran’s mind raced, trying to decipher her tactic.
He had known her for a long time, and knew
that every single word that left her beautiful, pale
lips was part of a larger strategy. She never did or
said anything unless she was going to gain something
from it. He had been brilliantly manipulated by her
over the last year, and was done with it. Just done
with it.

First, it had been the gaps in her schedule.

Hours of time that were missing in her life that she
would claim had been used for napping, which she never
did, or extra homework, which was also unusual. She
always plowed through her homework in a very short
time, a testament to her intelligence. Sometimes, she
would even manufacture reasons to explode at him, so as
to avoid him for the hours it took to be with her
lover.

Then, Taran had caught them.

Rosaline arched her back and touched her breasts
in a way she NEVER did with Taran...she bounced up and
down on him [GRINGO] in a way she never had with
Taran...her gasps and [FAKED] orgasms sounded much more
violent, more felt, more appreciated than they ever had
with Taran...Taran moved away from the doorway...wished
he had been noticed by them...

She had claimed that not only was Taran losing
“it,” but so was their relationship. She had said that
things hadn’t been the same since...

She saw Taran lying bloody on his couch, shards
of glass embedded in his face...white powder caked
under his nose...she knew he was supposed to be dead...

He figured that she, being only 19, had gotten
bored and curious. He had been warned that she had
been too young when they started dating, and here he
stood, the biggest goddam fool in the world.

He continued to stare out the window and absorb
the rather depressing landscape. He took another drag
off his cigarette, exhaled, and turned to face her. He
hated this moment. The moment after you’ve been facing
away from a lover or an ex you’ve been fighting with
and then, suddenly you turn, look at them, and remember
why you were facing away. They’re the most beautiful
individual in the world.

He very calmly approached her. He caressed her
cheek with his hand and smiled at her.

“I will always love you, I’m sure. I just don’t
ever want to see you again,” he whispered, his smile
trembling, “and please, just let me go. Please. I
can’t-“

“Taran, I left you for Johnny Gringo. Another
guy. You are not the first person this has happened
to. You’re acting like this is some horrible new
problem in the world. It happens all the fucking
time.”

He pulled away from her, his unstable smile
dissolving into a sigh. His eyes rolled as he threw
his hands up in the air.

“Ya know, Roz, there was a time when I thought
you might actually be capable of feeling guilty for
something, or actually really, truly loving someone. I
suspected you were incapable of having a shred of
humanity a year ago, and now, I’m sure of it.”

Rosaline looked away from him, her green eyes
flicking all over the place. She bit her lip and
nodded her head.

“Taran,” she began, her voice quieter and
sweeter, “Can we just...start over, or something.
Please? I-“

“NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!” Taran exploded,
slapping a beer bottle off of his window sill and into
a wall. Rosaline jumped away from the glass shards
that sprayed out.

“Calm down!” she yelled, pointing a long,
perfectly sculpted finger at him. The red nail shined
from the light of the street lamp outside.

“Then stop! It’s like you can’t decide if you
want me back so that you can torture me some more or
because you actually do love me. Just leave! Go!”

“Taran, stop it. Look, let’s calm down and just
talk, okay? No more yelling, okay? Let’s just relax
and talk this out.” Rosaline offered, almost speaking
in a whisper.

“No.” Taran grunted through gritted teeth. He
turned and stared at the dying night through his window
again.

Rosaline’s voice cracked as she spoke.

“Don’t you understand? I made a mistake. If I
wounded you, I-“

Taran whirled to face her, smashing his cigarette
into the ashtray as he turned.

“Some wounds heal and some wounds scar. Do you
know what it means to be wounded? Do you know what
it’s like when that wound comes from someone you love?
When that wound is accidentally inflicted, that is
easily forgivable. When that wound is intentional, it
is not. When it is intentional and repeatedly fucking
inflicted, it goes into a realm beyond hatred and
sadness. I believe the term ‘inhuman’ was fashioned
for just this kind of act. You have never loved me and
are incapable of doing so. Leave now.”

He turned back to the window. Tears dripped off
of his rough cheeks and into the ashtray, extinguishing
the burning remains of the cigarette.
Rosaline stared at him for a few moments, then
finally spoke in a choked voice.

“What happened to you? You used to be...”
Still staring out the window, never turning to
look at her, Taran responded.

“Never mind what I used to be. It’s no concern
of yours any longer. You will never have to worry
about it again. I’ve relieved you of that. Good bye.”

All Rosaline could do was stare. Or, at least
attempt to. The tears were flowing so heavily she had
to repeatedly blink. He was gone for good this time.
Forever. And, yet, there he was. Standing maybe a
foot away. He was right in front of her! She could
reach out to touch him. One last time. Her last
memory of him could be the feeling of their skin
touching.

However, she was convinced this would not be
their last shared memory.

She bent down, picked up her purse, walked out of
the room, and began to head down the stairs.

For whatever reason, he didn’t feel that great
sense of victory he had expected.

Taran stared out of his window, his hands clasped
behind his back, and watched her exit the building and
run to her car. Rosaline was gone.

The dying city lay before him, waiting.

end of the first section of the Endless Wars: the Descent

So, that's the first part of the book. I'll post more of it tomorrow, and the following day, and then we'll see what we do with the rest of the week. I'll also answer some of last week's 'Writing Wednesday' questions.

Now, when it comes to buying the actual book, there are two options:

Buy a real book for $15.42!

Buy an ebook for $1.25!

The choice is yours, and I make the same $1 off of it either way, so please just buy the version that makes it easier for you to read it!

The long-term goal is make enough to buy my own ISBN, so any help you can contribute is very, very appreciated.

See ya tomorrow.

-Blaine

Manly Monday (round 2)

Whew. Hell of a week last week, followed by an interesting weekend. As you can gather from my deadpanned previous (Friday) post, I got a little beat-up, but managed to put some alcohol on it Friday night & Saturday night, which helped tremendously.

Friday, I hooked up w/ my old drummer for the first time in about 10 years ('hooked up' as in we went our for beers, not me unlocking his anus w/ my dick-key). We caught up, slowly got over the shock of sitting at a table together, and talked about what it means to be in your thirties with no clear direction in your professional life. I was glad that someone else thinks about that, too.

Saturday, I went to an all-day Driver Improvement Program for my 52-in-a-30 speeding ticket, and found myself simultaneously fascinated and nauseated by the fact that I was literally twice the age of the average attendant. Good times. I then went and podcasted with Tony. It was rad. I would say that this is the best podcast we've done in months. It's also the best TGS podcast we've done in about a year.

We, will, of course, be doing our Holiday Preview this Saturday, and are still gathering up all the games that you wanna hear about. If you're on the fence about something, want to learn more about a holiday release, or just wanna hear that game that you can't live without talked up some more, drop your list here. We'll take the most popular and the most interesting and then drone on about our tedious lives for two and a half hours while casually mentioning something that is very important to you.

Also, don't forget that tomorrow marks the first new Alice in Chains release in fourteen years. I've been listening to my review disc, and I gotta say that several of the tracks are pretty memorable, in a good way, and die-hard fans are going to be rewarded. It's got enough familiarity to it that you instantly recognize the band, but enough has changed that it stays interesting from start to finish.



I also snagged the new Star Trek Blu-Ray sets, Star Trek Season 2 Remastered and the Star Trek: the Next Generation films. Star Trek s2 includes the DS9 tribble episode, so it'll be the first time I've gotten to see Deep Space Nine in HD. DS9 has long been my favorite of all the Star Trek series, so it'll be a real treat to gaze lovingly upon it as my eyes are masturbated by the 1080p-ness of it all. I also just love any and all Star Trek in HD.

Anyway...



Manly Monday
In keeping with today's reader question, I wanted to direct this one to the ladies a bit.

It's pretty simple. Really.

Whether you mean to or not, you train your man. You do. It may not be obvious, but your man behaves and treats you in the way that you've taught him is acceptable.

Look, we men are simple creatures. We like food, competition, sex, and power. Manipulate those basic concepts, and you can train your man. Don't believe me? Read up on B.F. Skinner. Seriously.

A good man doesn't want to waste your time with needless discussion, and he's too focused on the simple things he can control to pick up on your 'signals,' so your best bet is too just implement your own schedule of reinforcement for him.

Now, before I continue, this is all based on a few assumptions. One, that this, in fact, a loving relationship and that you two desire nothing less than both partners succeeding and being happy people, two, that your man is a good man but still a man and therefore a basic primate, and three, he is not a paranoid schizophrenic.

Additionally, none of this is meant for serious issues. This is for those annoying 'little things' that he does (or doesn't do).

So, let's cover some basic concepts. One, the behavior that you want to encourage and see more of is rewarded by you. Two, the behavior that you wish to get rid of is punished. I know that these seem kind of like 'duh' sort of things, but you'd be amazed how easily these things can get lost in a relationship. After just a couple years of marriage, great things about your partner will be taken for granted by you, and vice versa. Don't believe me? Go out with couples that you're friendly with, and you'll see just how fucking awful your marriage could be. It happens to us all the time.

Hopefully, the first thing that happens when you start thinking about existing behaviors that you want reinforced is that you start to realize that, in at least some ways, you have it good with your man. If not, it may be time to trade him in to the dealer.

Odds are, though, that there is some existing negative behavior that has led you to the point of considering training your mate like he was a dog.

Don't feel bad, though. Men need this. You know how you have that one female friend that lets her man get away with anything and everything? Do you want to be her? No, I didn't think so.

And that's the thing. Don't we unconsciously train our friends and lovers? We react with laughter and smiles and affection when they do something to earn that from us, and we do quite the opposite when they earn our ire, as well.

So, this is just like that, but on a more precise level.

Let's take something simple. Let's say he leaves his dirty socks all over the house.

First, give him a chance. Ask him once. If you're the one that does the laundry in the relationship, tell him it makes things much easier for you if all the dirty laundry is in one place.

He now knows that there is an expectation. From there, you now stringently live in the boundaries that you verbally outlined for him. If he lives his shit lying around, you don't need to be a bitch about it, but you can smile a little when he's out of clean socks. If he says something about it, tell him you'd be happy to help him remedy the issue if he could take a moment, go around the house, and then deposit them in the designated location, and do so in a kind manner. Mean it when you say it.

Now, let's say he starts to actually correct his behavior over the next few weeks. Let's say he starts being a little neater in general. When you see him doing something right in regards to his neatness, give him a little extra lovin'. Or, let's say he goes out of his way to try and impress you by starting to do the laundry himself or maybe he tries to have the place looking a little nicer for you. Make damn sure you reward him, in whatever way you see fit.

What'll probably happen, if he starts catching on, is that he'll unconsciously try to slack off a little, and get back to a comfortable, lazy place. Ease off on the 'rewarding' a bit, but then reinforce good behavior as soon as you can. Of course, communicating straight-up in these situations helps quite a bit, too, but he should make a point of knowing your expectation.

Also, be sure to tie the reward/punishment directly to whatever behavior you're targeting. Mete out the feedback as quickly as you can, even if it's doing a little playful teasing at that moment, with the potential to follow up later.

Speaking as a well-trained husband who's training is ever-continuing, I can assure that clear, literal communication, coupled with the above conditioning parameters can smooth your marriage considerably.

Lastly, speaking as a man, all of this works wonders in bed, as well. We love nothing more than knowing that we're rocking your world, or not. Exaggerate your breathing or noises a little when we're doing something that you want more of, and use subtle silence to get us to move on to something else if what we're doing is quite what ya need. Afterward, bring it up, and couch it in terms of 'THAT one thing was AWESOME, and maybe you could linger on THAT instead of doing THAT OTHER THING.' We want little more in life than knowing that we're the guy who does it for ya better than anyone else has ever even dreamed.

Reader Questions
This one comes from Tami in Maine. She asks,

Dear Blaine,
How do I ask my much-loved but oh-so-manly guy to do something around the house and make it sound like I'm not nagging? I don't want to nag, I just want to be able to vaccuum behind the fridge without an avalanche of stuff (not mine) falling on my head when I pull the damn thing away from the wall.

signed,
Sick of listening to the fridge run non-stop

I've been noticing lately that I know a lot of women who don't want to sound like they're nagging, but fear that they may be compelled to do so if their man doesn't get on something STAT.

What's sad is that my wife has been there before, with me, and still runs into this with me.

I suggest trying one of the following.

First, the simplest and best thing for everyone involved is saying, 'Can you take care of [X] for me? It'd mean a lot to me so that I can [do Y].' Now, if he's anything like me, he'll smile, assure that it's not a problem, advise you that he'll get to it later, and that never quite find that right moment in which to do it.

Second, you could try a simple barter. Make it into something interesting. Offer something he would value in exchange for his compliance with your directive. My wife has used everything from food to being willing to sit through an action/horror flicks with me to foot massages to more suggestive propositions, and that's worked nicely, though she does point out that I should just get off my ass and do it, in order to be an equal partner in our fortress of love.

Third, you do live in Maine, where it's always winter, and where Stephen King's monsters are running. You could just wait 'til he's in undies, then shove him outside, barricade the door, and tell him that the only way in is through the fridge, so if he'll just agree to do something about all of his shit there, you'd be glad to let him back in, before he dies of exposure or by being eaten by a terrible hell-demon.

Fourth, and this just occurred to me, wait 'til he's chilling, then start doing your vacuuming, and when you get to that moment, ask him to give you a hand with the fridge. Put him on the spot. Or tell him as soon as you start vacuuming, and say 'in 5 minutes, I'm gonna move that fridge, and you're going to help me.'

Hey, fellow men, any other thoughts on this? What have your wives/girlfriends/partners done to 'train you,' or get your motivated in some way?

Ladies, what tricks work for you?

I'll feature the best stuff in next week's Manly Monday!

Need some input on that once white-hot relationship turned festering marriage? Lemme know! I have a hot, happy wife, so I'm an expert!

-Blaine

Tomorrow: Tech Tuesday. We're talkin' games tomorrow, kids!

It's time to fuck off

Sorry about not posting yesterday, but until you cats start mailing me cash, I need to yield my time to my actual 'job' job. I was running all over campus all day yesterday, so time was rather pinched. It was good to actually move around a lot and get a bit of a work-out.

Anyway, I've also been devoting a lot of time to prepping for tomorrow's podcast. We'll be rampaging through all the non-shit games from Tokyo Game Show, and very generously sharing our unfiltered opinions. We'll be taking any requests for games to include until Saturday evening.

I am horribly tired right now, so I'm not going to post a ton today. It's been a brutally busy week, and I've been running myself ragged.

So, what's been going on? Well, I had some really tough exams Monday & Wednesday, I was sick Tuesday, then ran my ass off for work yesterday. I've also not been sleeping much, and dieting does weird things to my brain. If I sound like I'm whining, I'm not, and you're retarded. I'm just trying give a proper context for my utter inability to post 5 times in a week.

Anyway, I need to stop trying so hard to make a point of enjoying myself each day, and just sleep more. I'll feel much better, physically, each day if I can do that.

Blah. Time to get the hell over it.

Anyway, I'll post either Saturday or Sunday on here, when the podcast is up.

So, in the meantime, please let me know what games ya wanna hear about.

Also, Monday is 'Manly Monday' again, so hit me up with any man advice, love advice, anything pertaining to being a man or about your man. I'm here for you. Kinda.

For now, I'm going to wrap up my work day, then crawl into a hole at home for a few hours before going out with some of my bandmates. Should be an interesting evening. We'll be @ the Pink Galleon @ Olive & Fee-Fee tonight if anyone wants to come out and stand near us while we consume alcohol.

-Blaine

Writing Wednesday #2: Continuing the Story

The only thing harder than starting something new is finishing it. Whether it be playing a Japanese RPG, reading one of my books, bringing a woman to orgasm, or writing your own fiction, it can be tremendously hard to finish something you started.

Have no fear, though. I can at least help you with the writing bit. And I do know my way around a few JRPGs.

So, you've got a solid idea, you have some idea about the execution, you've gotten a bit of it hammered out, and now it's the next day. Or the next week. Maybe even a year later, and you kinda beat yourself up over letting that once-grand story just sit and fester. Sometimes you load it up, stare at it, maybe add a sentence or so, then shut it down in frustration.

That's totally normal. I honestly believe that this is the fate of most stories.

When I was initially writing the first Endless Wars book, I had more than a few moments like that. Sometimes, I was able to get past it by simply leaning back, sucking down a drink, and puffing down a smoke. It was a matter of just getting into the right head space.

That was sometimes. More often that not, though, that didn't put me into the right mental space.

I'm a firm believer in warming up. Whether it be athletics, programming, mathematics, sex, or writing, I need to get the engines revved first.

With writing, I like to go back to everything I wrote in the previous session, and start really editing it. By doing that, I find that my mind starts to re-shape itself into what it needs to be for that story. Every story has its own distinct personality, and it's important to get back in touch with that before banging out new ideas. Now, if you're writing on it every day, this may be less needed, but if you're coming back to something for the first time in a while, it's almost required, just so you know what the hell is going on in your story, if nothing else.

Even when I'm writing on something every day, I find that this helps me not only get my mind right, but it also allows me to take a more critical eye to the previous day's work, since I'm not totally into that space yet. You want as many different perspectives on your own work as possible, and since I generally don't share works in progress with others, this lets me act as my own on-the-fly editor, at least until I'm done.

If you're a persistent drunk, this is almost necessary, since a) you may or may not remember the actual events that transpired in your story the night before, and b) you may also have some rather egregious issues in your spelling and grammar.

Oh, and you know how some things seem like a great idea when you're drunk (climbing on your roof, knife-throwing contests, eating White Castle, sharing your true feelings with your boss via email, waking your wife up for drunk sex @ 6AM, etc.), but make you want to move to a remote part of the Yukon the next day? Well, the same applies to your book, so you may want to take a peek at how melodramatic and annoying you made your main character the night before.

Back to general editing, though, what I like most about this is that not only do I get pulled back into my book this way, but I get excited about banging out new material, so that when I'm done editing the last session, I hit the ground running, and I'm fired up about my new ideas.

Additionally, if I think about the current project while I'm in the shower, just after waking, I find that a lot of good ideas come to me then. Sometimes, I'll write them down, or I'll just salivate over them the rest of the day, and find myself chomping at the bit to get moving on the book again.

Another important key is building a process, especially if you're not the most practiced writer. Find a space in which you like to write, as well as the right music, and maybe even time of day. Sometimes there's a particular daily activity that, if you follow it immediately with writing, you churn out good work.

When I wrote the bulk of my book, I used to do it immediately after work, at around 3 or 4 in the afternoon (I would get up at the ass-crack of dawn to rip the guts out of chicken and then marinate them by the the hundreds all day), with music on and a movie on. I needed as much chaos as possible at that time. I would usually drink and chain-smoke, too. I would do that for about an hour or two each day. I cranked out the majority of my book doing that.

Now, if you start to really get somewhere as a writer, don't become a slave to your process. I know that this flies in the face of what most other writers will tell you, but they're cowardly pussies who like to make excuses for the lack of challenge they give themselves. Own your process and writing talent, and make them both work for you.

Additionally, when I was still in a band, most of my great song ideas would come to me while I was driving. It was a bit annoying, since guitar riffs are hard to preserve in your head for as long as I needed them to, sometimes. I think some of my best songs came from cruising the dirty city streets in my 1991 Pontiac Transport minivan back when I was a teenager. Make note of when your best ideas come to you, and what you're doing at those moments.

Nowadays, my biggest hurdle is just time. I'm actually trying to build a more consistent day-to-day schedule, so that I can get way too many things done. I'll admit that I don't crank on the fiction like I used to, but that's changing. The second Endless Wars book has a very solid beginning, and my G-doc project is still rattling in my brain, daring me to fail.

Really, time is a bitch, and is probably the greatest enemy of any unaccomplished writer. I know that I certainly don't have the time I'd like for my fiction, especially when I'm cranking out blogs like this, but it'll come. I know what I had to do to write that first book, I'm applying lessons learned from that to the second book, but I'm also learning what unique demands this book is making.

The bottom line, though, for any serious writer is the following: a page a day. Period. Even if it's crap. A page a day will get you to the point where your biggest worry is finding an agent and having a finished novel that you want to publish.

So, to recap:
- start out by editing the previous session's work; get yourself a running start into the new material; you will also see things that need to be addressed NOW, which is a bonus
- develop a process; discover the right location, music, habits, lighting, time of day, etc. that help you succeed as a writer
- A page a day. Seriously. A page a day. Do it. A page a day.

In Other News

- don't forget that Tony and I are returning to the mics these next two weekends, to record two new episodes of Untitled Podcast: Collector's Edition. We'll be rapping about Tokyo Game Show this weekend and doing a full-on Holiday Preview the following weekend. Have any games you just gotta hear about? Drop 'em here!

- Any current events you wanna hear about tomorrow? It'll be Thopical Thursday (a terrible attempt at a pun, I know, but just play along), so I'll be grabbing some poor, defenseless recent topic and beating the shit out of it. I'm thinking about addressing people's obsession with weird, unimportant shit like Kanye (the brand of a product) interrupting another brand's product placement award, to express dissatisfaction that a different ad hadn't been selected as 'the best' at selling products. I dunno. I sometimes feel like in a science fiction world where the advertisement has become more important than the actual product. Yes, this does sound like a great topic.

- I mentioned the Bodybugg on Monday, and I've now lost 4 pounds in the first 6 days. I don't expect that pace to continue, given the way weight loss works, but it is pleasing in the short term. I have a fuck-ton more weight to drop before I can make non-crazy people accept that a classy chick like my wife would actually copulate with me.

I believe that is all for now.

How is your writing going? Or any other creative project you may be taking on? Any advice you wanna contribute to those having trouble continuing to work on a creative project? Are you seeking any advice? Post it in the comments below!

-Blaine

Techie Tuesday #1

I had a few different versions of today's post I was working on and kicking around, but then Adam, in his comment yesterday, asked me what RSS is. It dawned me then that I'm one of the only people I know who use RSS, and this is a great thing to share with anyone who uses the internet as a news and info-gathering source.

First, what is RSS?

RSS stands for 'Really Simple Syndication.' Basically, it's a way to deliver new content to 'subscribers' of sites. Every site worth a shit offers a means of aggregating their updates nowadays.

For example, when pearljam.com updates, the new item on the site shows up in my Google Reader. Instead of having to waste an hour or more 'surfing' the net, hitting all my regular sites, I just comb through my Google Reader and get caught up on what I care about.

Okay, so what is Google Reader?

Google Reader is my preferred RSS reader. It acts as a hub for all your feeds, and lets you organize them as you'd like. It can also be accessed through your phone, or you can use Prism (or a little know-how) to make it its own pseudo-stand-alone app on your machine.

There's some other more advanced 'sharing' stuff you can do with G-Reader, but we'll save that for another post. Seriously, it's one of my favorite web-apps out there.

Fine. So how do I go about adding feeds to my Google Reader?

First, log into Google Reader with your Google account, and make sure your login is cool.

Then, start hitting your favorite sites. Like this one.

Let's pretend you have excellent taste, and want to know the moment I update my blog.

To do this, scroll down to just above my graveyard of embedded shit (the ESPN scores, XBox Live Gamercard, etc.) and look for 'Subscribe to: Posts (Atom), then click on it. It should flip to a page either asking what kind of app you want to use to subscribe to this feed, or it'll take you to a Google page asking if you want this in your Reader or Google home page. You want it in your Reader.

If for some reason you don't get either of those, you can right-click on the Atom link and 'save target as,' then paste that directly into Google Reader by clicking on 'Add a subscription' in the top left of the page.

Additionally, a lotta sites, like this one, will show this symbol in the URL bar:

If you click on that, it'll either have the same functionality as the above, or it'll give you a few choices as to what kind of subscription you want. I always default to the highest version of RSS, if possible, or Atom.

Okay, that's all done, so now what?

We'll talk more in the future about the deeper features of Google Reader, but know that you can create embeddable objects (like I have) for your blogs and pages that show your latest 'shared' items (sharing is located at the bottom of each item in your feed), you can network w/ folks who have similar tastes using the 'like' option at the bottom of each feed item (which you can use to push your own shit), and you can customize and organize your news any way you want. I break mine into sub-categories, but usually tackle the whole mess (I have about 200 unique feeds in mine) twice a day in chronological order.

Among my favorite feeds:

Laurance's blog

St. Louis Post-Dispatch Rams blog

Ars Technica (techie stuff)

Bernie Miklasz's blog

Bioware blog

Bird Land

Iris's blog

Cody's gaming blog

Jorge Garcia's blog

EFF

ESPN - MLB

Felicia Day's blog

Gamasutra (game industry news)

Jeff Green's blog

Hot Stove League (Cardinals blog)

Jono Bacon's blog (Ubuntu)

Mozilla Labs

Penny Arcade

rwnin infosec blog

slashdot

STL Sports Nation

St. Louis Post-Dispatch Cardinals' coverage

St. Louis Post-Dispatch Mizzou coverage

St. Louis Post-Dispatch Rams' coverage

Stop All Monsters

Hollywood Reporter - Film

Hollywood Reporter - TV

1UP Gaming News

The Onion

Tipsheet

Ubuntu News

Untitled Podcast: Collector's Edition

Aaand, that's probably way more than enough.


In Other News

- don't forget that Tony and I are returning to the mics these next two weekends, to record two new episodes of Untitled Podcast: Collector's Edition. We'll be rapping about Tokyo Game Show this weekend and doing a full-on Holiday Preview the following weekend. Have any games you just gotta hear about? Drop 'em here!

- tonight is the season finale for Warehouse 13, which has undergone an amazing transformation. It started out as one of the worst shows I'd ever seen, but I hung in there because of the concept, and was rewarded by some dramatic improvements to the show. I wanted nothing more than the two leads to die slowly at first, but after about 5 or 6 episodes, I stopped hating them, and I actually kinda liked them a bit. Now, it's actually a really fun show, and I urge you to go back and give it a shot.

- still loving the new Pearl Jam, Backspacer. If you stupidly walked away from them a few years ago because they had expanded beyond what your tiny mind can handle, give them a listen now.

- tomorrow is Writing Wednesday, and I'll be talking about how to come back to that piece that ya started in earnest, then never quite got back to. It happens to all of us, but I have a few tricks for getting that spark and drive back. I'm also taking any and all writing-related questions, so post 'em in the comments if ya got 'em!

Lemme know about anything you wanna hear about in:

Manly Mondays
Techie Tuesdays
Writing Wednesdays
Thopical Thursdays (current events, sorta)
Fuck-Off Fridays

I'm taking any and all advice questions or topic suggestions, so HIT ME!

-Blaine

It's Monday and I'm Manly, or so I'm made to think

When I was in the conceptual stage for the new blog format, this was the first idea I had.

I've always wanted to pen an advice column, since there are few joys in this world greater than telling someone else they're doing something wrong since they're not doing it the way I do it.

That being said, you may be wanting to ask for my credentials. Why am I qualified to write this weekly advice-giving wankfest? Because my marriage is not in a shambolic state, which instantly separates from nearly everyone I know.

Let's get to it, shall we?

The first thing I want to address is something that I think is causing many of the problems in today's American marriages, and that is modern men confusing the fad of being a 'sensitive man' with being a whiny, self-obsessed emotional deadweight.

When I was younger, I fully embraced being a sensitive man, to the point that I must have been the single most obnoxious creature in my friends' lives. In relationships, it was especially problematic, because I was never someone that my female counterpart could count on to be someone she could lean on. Looking back, I'm shocked that I was shocked when some of my old girlfriends wanted nothing more than to start fucking someone else. Anyone else.

Nowadays, I feel like I've found a balance. I still try to be sensitive to my wife's emotions (though, to her credit, she makes it very easy, as she's more balanced than most women when it comes to emotionalism and pragmatism) without letting my own spill out on her in a cascade of savage attention-getting. I'll try to relate to her and sympathize when needed, and I've found that by keeping myself more reserved and not blabbing incessantly about things that bother me, it's more impactful when I save those things for the moments when she needs me to empathize.

I've adopted a system in which I don't bother those around me with my problems unless it's something I absolutely need to, and I've benefited from it tremendously. I draw self-esteem from knowing that my friends and loved ones feel that they can count on me, and they feel like they can come to me with their problems without me hijacking the spotlight, as so many of today's whiny fucks masquerading in man clothes are prone to do.

To be fair, there are moments when I need external input. While I prefer the appearance of self-sufficiency (if I don't know, I'd rather research independently than let you know that I don't know something), there are moments in which it is clearly wisest to seek advice, and that is why I've surrounded myself with some amazing people, like my wife and closest friends, and I've been blessed with good, wise parents, as well.

I don't need to know everything, but I do need to know how to find all the answers on my own. I believe this to be the simplest separation between those who are competent and those who aren't.

However, I very much try to limit those moments, and ask myself, 'Do you really need to bother them?' Usually, when I think about it logically, the answer is a clear 'NO.'

Additionally, it helps a lot if you make good decisions. That way, you have less need to bother people with things weighing on your mind.

In short, I suck it up and act like a fucking man. There is no greater honor for a man than to be known as one who can be counted on by his wife, his children, his parents and siblings, his friends, and his coworkers. I learned a lot of this from other men who are older, more experienced, smarter, and better leaders than I am, at least at present.

Cut down on the problems in your life, and when something's bother you, run it through a filter and ask yourself if this something you can manage on your own. If so, move on. If not, then try to be concise and not the waste the other person's time with it for too long. Also, limit the number of people you bother with it. Everyone around you will thank you with their implicit trust and respect, whether they consciously realize it or not.

When you go home tonight, promise yourself that you're going to be the man that your wife and children deserve. She married you for a reason, and you have a duty to validate her decision.

Remember: she can always do better. No matter what man you are, or what woman she is, she can always do better than you.

Now go be a humble bad-ass.

Questions
Last week, I solicited questions from you all for Manly Monday, and I got two very good ones from ya'll.

The first one comes from JT in Chicago, and he asks:

I guess my only issue these days is trying to get back in shape. I dropped 20 pounds last year, but gained 7 or 8 back in the past couple of months. I know you struggle with that as well at times, so do you ever worry how weight gain could potentially affect your relationship?

Well, JT, first, lemme thank you for the question. It's no secret that many men succumb to weight gain once they commit to the mono-nail, and I think it's something that bothers those of us that are smart enough to recognize that it can have serious repercussions. Not only does being fat make you unfit to be a role model to your children, but it can kill you, and most lethally, it can lead your wife to desire someone who is not a disgusting butter ball of husky fail.

I worry about that shit all the time. I've recently started the Bodybugg program, and thus far, it's been going well. The main thing about it is that gives me a clear, concise interface for calories burned versus calories consumed. The device attaches to your arm, tracks your calories burnt, as well as when they were burnt, etc, so you can see what activities from which you're most benefiting. There's also an LCD wristband you can get that lets you see where you are in terms of what you need to burn in real-time, so you can adjust your caloric intake on the fly. You need to self-report on what you're eating, but there's a super-easy interface for entering existing foods, plus you can create new entries and store them for re-entering later. You plug in the device via USB, and it provides you with a great UI for analyzing your data. It's a great way for tech-heads like us to de-fatten.

Additionally, I've used it as something with which to partner with my wife. Even if your wife is nice and skinny, she can tone up while you drop your weight to something reasonable for a man that she might sully herself by sleeping with. Not only is it great to have someone you trust watching your back, but it can be fun and competitive.

Now, if you are staunchly opposed to losing weight (which I know you're not, but some idiots might be), here are some alternatives for you.

1 - Get so fat that they have to knock down a wall to airlift you out, and you can end up on a talk show.
2 - Tell your wife that you're just trying to make her feel better about her own weight.
3 - Remind your wife that if you crash on an island, mathematically, you can live the longest without food.
4 - Buy a girdle.

Hopefully, all that helps.

NEXT QUESTION!

This next one is from Adam in Minnesota (somewhere near the Twin Cities.)

I use a loofah and body wash in the shower. Do I need to hand over my testicles or can I still be considered a man? (p.s. I drive a Mini Cooper, in case that helps you decide.)

I don't know what a loofah is, but if you prefer to overpay for soap, please feel free. I pay less than a buck per bar of soap and less than a buck per bottle of shampoo, but this only means that I am better than you.

When it comes to shower maintenance, really, I rarely criticize other men, unless they're not getting clean enough (meaning your scent is offensive). While I don't spend a lot of money on my showering needs (because, ya know, I'm not a woman), I am rather obsessive about hygiene. And if wasting a bunch of money on feminine products gets ya as clean as I am, then...okay.

Now, let's see what a loofah is. Hang on.

Ah. I see.



Never mind. You're clearly gay, but chicks dig that.

Truth be told, every time my wife turns her nose up at videogames and sports, a little part of me wishes I was gay. How rad would it be to live with someone who shared my rampant appetite for games, sports, and fucking? Of course, I'm not terribly enthused about the actual gay sex, but if he had a lot of money, we might be able to find a compromise.

Of course, I like that my wife and I have about a 50/50 overlap, in which we cross over in about half of our own tastes, and then each have another 50% that is just each our own. It helps reinforce a lot of the themes of our marriage.

Anyway, Adam, I'd say Aymee probably married you for the man you are, and your closet homosexuality is clearly something that she embraces and loves about you.

In Other News

- don't forget that Tony and I are returning to the mics these next two weekends, to record two new episodes of Untitled Podcast: Collector's Edition. We'll be rapping about Tokyo Game Show this weekend and doing a full-on Holiday Preview the following weekend. Have any games you just gotta hear about? Drop 'em here!

- I've been rawking the new Pearl Jam album, Backspacer, which came out yesterday. Goddam, am I loving it. It's their most straight-forward, unforced album in years. It's my favorite since Binaural, and the first one that I can listen to all the way through since Yield. It's fan-fucking-tastic, and the best rock record that's been released this decade.

- tonight marks the return of Heroes and Castle. I must say that while I have issues with both, I'm eagerly looking forward to both. Castle had a reasonably decent first season, and I dig the concept (a writer assists a cop in murder investigations), so I'm eager to see what's in store this year. Heroes...hmm...it had that magical first season, issue-laden second season, and the third season was better than the second, but definitely lacked the spark of the first. If the trend of improvement persists into this season, I'm all in.

- tomorrow will be 'Techie Tuesday,' so ask away about anything even remotely tech-related, from computers to TVs to vibrators. Though you'd be better for it, I promise I won't post about Linux. The first time. I can promise there will be first-impressions on Ubuntu 9.10 when it hits next month, but for now, I won't bore you with things like Linux that will only improve your rather mundane existence. Maybe I'll talk shit about obnoxious fucking Mac users. We'll see. What do you wanna hear about from the tech column?

Lemme know about anything you wanna hear about in:

Manly Mondays
Techie Tuesdays
Writing Wednesdays
Thopical Thursdays (current events, sorta)
Fuck-Off Fridays

I'm taking any and all advice questions or topic suggestions, so HIT ME!

-Blaine

Thopical Thursday #1

That's 'thopical,' pronounced 'topical.' I had to think of something for Thursdays, and I knew I wanted to do at least one post per week that addressed 'current events.' Anyway...

Announcements

Podcast Tony and I are still taking requests for our upcoming TGS & Holiday Preview shows!


That Health Care Thing

So, you may have heard that we Americans have manufactured a new problem that allows to all hate each other even more. Remember when we could all get along and pretend like Ronald Reagan was actually a decent human being?* Those were good times. As long as you were on cocaine but still JUST SAYING NO.

* - Reagan was actually a reprehensible creature who ate Joe McCarthy's cock for breakfast and lied about his military service on the campaign trail; FYI

I remember rolling my eyes when Ken Starr became obsessed with Bill Clinton's penis and the Republicans all feigned indignation at President Clinton's preferred method of cigar storage. I was a teenager, and it was the first time I realized that politicians were grabbing onto something (in this case, the Presidential Wang) and bouncing up and down on it for political purposes, and none other. None of them gave a shit about his marriage. They just knew that there are millions of Americans who sit in front of their TVs, watching cable news, and await instructions.

Whether or not the President fucks his wife or another woman is none of my business, and it's none of yours. If you're eager to play the 'role model' card, don't. If you want your children to look up to career politicians as role models, you are one sick fuck, and probably shouldn't have reproduced.

And then there was that Bush problem. The guy was appointed to the presidency, instead of being elected (then, he was elected the second time, thanks to you assholes.)

What was most upsetting about the Bush presidency, aside from all the war crimes, the lack of open bidding on middle east construction contracts, the blending of religion and politics, the rape of civil rights, and having a mentally retarded monkey as president was the weakness of the Democrats.

Again, the Democratic politicians were almost as bad as their Republican counterparts. They lacked the outrage of the citizens they represented. So what did we all do? We were all so upset about having a war criminal as president that we all stood, up, raised our fists, and then sat right fucking back down again. We were so sickened by his behavior, and we were so clearly a majority that we rallied together, and put the career politicians right back in office. Great job, guys.

With Obama, we actually made a little progress. Getting McCain to opt out of his own values (he was once a pretty decent guy) was a genius move by the pig-fucking Republicans, but then they added Palin to the ticket, which pretty much delivered the middle-road conservatives to the Obama ticket.

So, Obama won, and the extremely vocal pro-hate minority went ape-shit. They clamored for ANYTHING, ANYTHING to scream about. Months went by, and they tried to blame him for the Dubya Depression. That didn't stick, since he wasn't in office the prior eight years, the eight years that had been preceded by Clinton & co. balancing the budget and fixing the economy (just sayin'). Then, it was Fannie Mae. That didn't stick. During all this, Obama decided to step up and actually do something GOOD with the presidency. The guy decided everyone should have health care.

I'm willing to bet that most conservatives won't openly advocate killing all the poor people. Not openly. Let me paint a picture for you, though.

People are willing to pay anything to keep living. -> The sky is the limit, therefore, when it comes to profiting off of the misery of others.

Medical industry makes HUGE money, doesn't want it to stop. -> They pressure the media folks they sponsor to rally the under-educated, anti-intellectual crowd, using buzzwords. In this case, they replaced 'terr-ist' with 'socialist.'

Fundamentalists and others with severe beliefs are instructed by their televisions to avoid intelligent debate at all costs, to merely shout rhetoric at Town Hall Meetings -> The motivated morons have no idea that there is no actual 'threat' of socialism, but they know they hate 'them thar queer inta-lek-shals who voted fer that thar black guy.' Sometimes, they don't say 'black guy.'

Democratic voters and Obama supporters are being bludgeoned on all sides by the same people they battled in message boards for the last 8 years -> They fall into the same trap as their retarded brethren, and get wrapped up in hurting the opponent, rather than addressing the issues.

This health care debate isn't at all about health care. It's about Bush and Obama, and the rift caused by the Republicans in 2000 & 2004.

Wrapping up, I want to point one thing out. There are some conservatives who don't hate poor people, who are asking the exact right question which is, 'Yes, health care is a good thing, but how are we going to pay for national health care?'

That is the only question we should be discussing right now. Why can't we all agree that we need to take care of each other, set our minds to it, and make it happen. We can do it, and it would've helped if a) we hadn't invaded Iraq and instead focused on catching Bin Laden (remember him?) and b) if we hadn't bailed out failing companies.

Anyway, just something to think about. Lemme know what you think.

-Blaine

The Filthy Writer Blog Relaunch

So, I've been meaning, for weeks now, to get back to posting nearly every weekday, but I've been too busy with all kindsa bullshit, but that's trickled down to a nearly-manageable level now.

Things have finally quieted down somewhat @ work, and I think I'm now ready to resume the blog. Thank the maker. I actually like posting here.

Announcements

- Untitled Podcast: Tony and I will be recording shows on 9/26 & 10/3. On 9/26, we'll be talking all things TGS, as well as catching up on our usual bullshit. On 10/3, it'll be our Holiday Preview, and we need YOU to tell us what YOU want to hear about! Comment on our 1UP blog with the games you want us to talk about, and we'll be sure to include most of them! Those shows will be hit the feeds, iTunes & otherwise, by 9/28 & 10/5, respectively.

- Also, I'm adding themes to each day on here. The goal is to post M-F on here, with the following themes: 'Manly Mondays,' 'Tech Tuesdays,' 'Writing Wednesday,' 'Topical Thursdays,' and 'Fuck Off Fridays.' Here's the breakdown:

Manly Mondays - This will be a short post, consisting of relationship advice for manly men. It's my opinion that modern men have lost their way, and turned into a generation of whiny bitches that don't grasp basic things like being consistent rocks for their families to rely on. I will singlehandedly save MAN-kind with this weekly entry. I will also answer any reader questions that I have pertaining to this topic.

Tech Tuesdays - This will be a little longer, and will be a rundown of cool tech stuff I've been playing with, and an explanation of the various crazy configurations I use for stuff, from Ubuntu customizations, to paring down your Vista startup, to Firefox configs, etc, as well as cool gaming stuff.

Writing Wednesdays - Another short post in which I rap for a while about writing, or answer reader questions.

Topical Thursdays - A longer post in which I pick a current topic, and break it down for everyone.

Fuck Off Fridays - This could go several ways.

- Writing: Online writing! I've started an interesting experiment. I'm writing an entire novel on Google Docs, and slowly sharing it with more and more people, the further in I get. Right now, it's only shared with three unlucky souls, but I plan on it expanding it further. If you have any interest in seeing my new book get written, lemme know, and I'll add you in at some point. It's somewhat of a chronicle of my years being a poor writer in dirty-ass Chicago.

- Writing: Don't forget, my new book is still for sale! LET YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY KNOW HOW SMART AND SEXY YOU ARE BY BUYING MY BOOK! E-Book is only $1.25, and dead tree version is $15.42!

- Writing: Also, if you've been kind enough to buy and read my book, I really, really need some reviews posted on Lulu. If you've read it, and can spare a few minutes, that would be a huge help.

Since it's Wednesday, let's get this thing started...

On Writing
Since this is my first 'Writing Wednesday' post, let's talk about the most important part of your story, the beginning. This is where 99% of all stories die.

Why?

I think it's because of confidence and commitment. If you don't believe in yourself, believe in your story, and make a commitment to that story, then you may as well just visit the Story Abortion Clinic, sign in, and take a seat.

Being a writer means putting yourself and your ego second. When working on a story, everything you do must serve the story. It doesn't matter if you're peppering the description in a scene in a book, storyboarding FX scenes in a film, or fluffing the lead in Bobby Batters Becky's Bottom. Everything must serve the story, or be exorcised. If your main goal is deliver a message, then write a fucking pamphlet. If you wanna see shit blow up, join the Army. The only thing that matters when constructing a narrative that you intend to deliver is serving the story. Put all agendas aside, and just write.

When I write, I'm not actually doing anything other than acting as a conduit. I just relax, re-read the previous day's work, touch it up a little, then free my mind, and let the words take control.

Also, I don't overthink it until I'm done with a section. Don't think until it's time to edit.

When you sit down to write something new, that blank page is scary. It's like looking over a great distance, and realizing that you can't even see where you're supposed to go, because it's so far away.

How do I overcome it? Easy. Alcohol.

I'm not saying 'get wasted,' but pour yourself a drink, whether it be a Merlot, or rum n' coke, or a beer, or whatever. Have a drink without looking at that page, think about what you wanna write, get yourself pumped, then, on the second drink, put on some music, and start hammering those keyboard keys. Start writing the thing. You may pleasantly surprise yourself.

Quick note, though - never write drunk. You may produce the best stuff of your life a handful of times, but you run into two dangers. One, you're training your mind to only function that way when it's inebriated, and two, you might come to believe that you can only write while under the influence.

Like I said, if ya have jitters, give yourself some liquid courage, but be smart about it.

Next week, we'll talk about how to keep that book going, how to actually come back to it.

Also, please let me know if you have any questions about anything! Oh, and if you're a writer, what are your greatest challenges?

Thanks!

-Blaine

The Weekend Cometh (all over your face!)

Tonight marks the first night of our Ballroom Dancing class. We are definitely a married couple, but I'm actually looking forward to it. My wife's a fun gal, and any excuse to engage with her is one I'll take.

With any luck, this will lead to a fun night, in which we dance, have some dinner, and then totally have lots of sex. That would be ideal. Of course, it depends on what our 3-year old allows to happen, but I have a good feeling about all this.

Podcasting
The post-E3 Untitled Podcast is getting recorded either tomorrow evening or Sunday during the day. I'm still waiting to hear back from Tony on what works best for him, but we'll see. We both have some pretty strong opinions, and I'm really stoked to get behind the mic for this one. We're gonna do four categories: 'What Ya Loved,' 'What Could Go Either Way,' 'What Needs Work,' and 'What Wasn't There.' We'll be talking about games, services, and hardware, so anything is open game.

Saturday
My street is having its first annual block party, and I'm really looking forward to getting loaded with my neighbors, and finding out what the deal is with the people that own and live in 'the Lot that Time Forgot,' as it's astonishing to see such a terrible homeowner in my neck of the woods, but I'm thankful for them, since people are gawking at their dilapidated shit instead of mine.

I also like the concept of having a tight neighborhood that can band together and stand against things that are bad, like Wal-Mart and drunk drivers.

Sunday
'Get shit done Day,' as it's become for me, tends to start with an explosion of hard labor in the yard during the AM hours, followed by a shower and relaxation, and probably some gaming.

Next Week
Next week is my last week before classes resume, and while my time off hasn't been nearly as productive as I'd like, it's sure been relaxing and soul-mending. I let the world make me its bitch over the last 10 or so months, and I let people drag me down to their level, and I'm done with that shit. It's funny that lessons we learned so long ago need to be reinforced every so often. I really let myself slip, as a person, and let baby shit like school interfere become an issue for me, which I can promise you was endlessly humiliating.

So, I'm eager to get back in the saddle and make these classes my bitch. What's nice, too, is that I've worked out a good schedule for myself for this summer, and I'll have a nice balance between work, creative work, and play.

Also, next Sunday (6/14, in case you're a moron and don't understand what 'next Sunday' means) is the return of True Blood, the best show I've seen since Battlestar Galactica or Firefly. If you haven't watched it up to this point, a) you're a sad individual and b) it's out on Blu-Ray (and DVD for you cavemen.)

Either way, it's an amazing show, and I hope you're watching it, too.

On Writing
Been working on old shit so much lately that I'm now dying to break out and work on something new. Thinking about writing my first 'real world' book, with no fantastical elements. Yeah, I know, I think that shit tends to be pretty boring, too, but I wanna take a stab at making it interesting. I've always kicked around this idea about a guy who's beating it one night and finds his girlfriend in pictures on a hardcore site, and the subsequent journey he undertakes. We'll see. If it's not my main series, I tend to be pretty flighty with my projects.

Peace Out
That's probably enough for now.

Quick question, for the podcast: who won the Press Conference Battle? Microsoft, Nintendo, or Sony? Why do you think so?

Have a great weekend, and I'll post the podcast link this weekend!

-Blaine

The return of Untitled Podcast and E3!

First, please watch this.



I love that kinda shit. Now, to set the tone for E3, lemme continue an annual tradition. Please watch this next.



I love that even more.

Now, onto business.

UNTITLED PODCAST: E3 EDITION
Three or four of you were utterly heartbroken when we put Untitled Podcast on indefinite hiatus. I've already talked that point to death, so I won't waste your time with any more rambling on how weird my life is.

Anyway, it had occurred to me more than once over the last couple weeks that we should sit down for 2 episodes and do 'pre' and 'post' E3 shows. I approached Tony about it yesterday, and after a few long conversations, we agreed on some details and hashed out a rough schedule.

The 'PRE3' show is set to record tomorrow night, and the 'post-E3' show will record next weekend.

For the 'PRE3' episode, we'll do a quick 'what's new?' segment, then jump right into talking shit about various games and vaporware and hardware and whatever the hell we feel like talking about. And, yeah, it'll be around 2-3 hours.

Right now, I'm thinking we'll go Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony, and 'third party,' in that order, with each company being divided into games/hardware that we know will be there and rumored games/hardware that will be there. For the confirmed stuff, I think we'll just kinda throw out every game we or you care about, and then we'll sift through that, and comment on the stuff we wanna comment on.

For the second part, we'll each make some predictions, and then make fun of stupid annual rumors (M$'s mythical motion-controller.)

We'll bring our usual shit-talking cynicism, as well as genuine enthusiasm about the good games.

Of course, the most exciting stuff is always the surprise announcements (when they're both exciting and surprising, that is.) I'm kinda curious about this year, as I keep being told that Sony is gonna melt the brains of anyone that cares about games with some announcement that's even more staggering than the launch price of PlayStation 3. Right. We'll see.

I'd considered skipping Nintendo's press conference altogether this year, but my eyes need some exercise, and watching Iwata-san jerk himself off onto the faces of the screaming throng in the 'games press' corp is always interesting. And, against my advice, they're trotting out Cammie Dunaway again, so we get to hear about what middle-aged soccer moms like to do with vibrating phalluses for the second year in a row.

I, also, never miss a chance to watch Reggie Fils-Aime talk. I love that guy. He's the best thing about modern Nintendo, and M$/Sony need to have their talking heads watch how this guy does his thing, 'cause he's the best in terms of all the console execs that do E3 presentations. Once Peter Moore went to EA Sports, the mantle went to Reggie.

Oh no. I just realized I'm probably gonna have to sit through Jack Tretton (Sony) and Don Mattrick (M$) again. Boooring. Well, their presentations should, at least, be better than last year's. I have no idea why, but that's my belief. Sony should just have David Jaffe do theirs and M$ should just publicly execute all those douchebags with the 'cheater' mark on their gamercards. That would make for an exciting show.

I'm also looking forward to all of gametrailers.com's horrible off-screen shaky video of the games that, until I saw horrible off-screen shaky video of them, I was excited about. Oh, and I love the interviews with PR people having to scream so loud over the noise that they go hoarse in the course of the interview.

Actually, I'll be using a few sources to figure out where to focus my attention, aside from having some idea of what developers can be counted on to show a solid product. I'll be watching the aforementioned gametrailers.com, 1up.com, g4tv.com, and giantbomb.com to see what's what each day.

Anyway, so yeah, before we record tomorrow night, drop me a line here if you have anything in particular you wanna hear about, or anything you wanna comment on in advance about E3 in general or a particular game/company/whatever.

Infamous
I snagged Infamous yesterday, and it rocks. It's similar, mechanically, to Crackdown, but has Force powers and story, two big plusses.

I've played it quite a bit the last two days (Infamous and podcast prep are pretty much why I didn't post yesterday), and I really, really like it. It's sort of like a 'summer blockbuster' kinda game. It has a story, though it's not the deepest, it's VERY heavy on the action, it's got some amazingly thrilling moments, and big explosions. It's one of those games that, with its sandbox nature, you're able to make your own amazingly thrilling moments.

My only gripe so far is that while it's very forgiving in terms of death and allowing you to keep XP and all that, you die way too often. Maybe it's the way I play, but I've gotten very conservative in my approach to most shootouts (of course, I have lightning bolts instead of a gun), to minimize the the number of times that I make the jog that I know I'll have to make in order to get back to where I need to wipe out 20 dudes and three truck-mounted machine guns.

Also, there is nothing like kicking an annoying machine gunner in the crotch so hard that he goes flying off the top of the 20-story building you're fighting on top of.

Overall, though, this game kinda replaces Crackdown for me, at least until Crackdown 2 comes out (assuming it's better than the first.) I'll also be keeping an eye on APB (from the Crackdown devs) this E3, as well.

Lemme know what ya wanna hear about Friday night!

-Blaine