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Life is like a grapefruit

A fantastic reinterpretation of Little Red Riding Hood.

Slagsmålsklubben – Sponsored by destiny on Vimeo (via Vimeo)

Posted on 2009/03/26 by dominic in personal | Tagged reblog | Leave a comment

The cliché

Fantasy gaming is rife with clichés from the bumbling human wizard and the gruff dwarf fighter to the kid with a birthmark who turns out to be the rightful heir to the kingdom. Searching the web for clichés in fantasy, it’s easy to find plenty of articles on how to avoid them. However, is that really necessary? Clichés are clichés for a reason: They work as motivations and personalities that resonate with us.

So where did these clichés come from? What makes one idea from fantasy resonate to the extent that it becomes a cliché? And what can a writer or designer do to use those clichés that will work for them while avoiding those that will come across as ham-fisted?

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Posted on 2009/03/24 by dominic in the written word | Tagged Writing | 3 Comments

Let’s get physical

Burpees.

The other day, I saw this followed shortly after by this. I felt inspired: here is an exercise routine that I can do without gadgets, without a gym, without memorising weights and rep counts.

So I started two days ago to just do a few every day and see what happens.

Day 1: Two burpees in I realised just how hard they are to do (insert caveat about my fitness level here). I made it to 35 total over four sets.

Day 2: I expected it to get easier for some reason, but I’m in pain. I have muscles aching that have clearly never been used in my day-to-day life sitting at a desk typing. Should I be surprised? I made it to 40 total over four sets, but it HURT.

I don’t think I have the right form as I’m just not strong or fit enough, but I think that will come as I continue to do them. I just have to keep pushing myself to try to do them ‘right’.

Posted on 2009/03/20 by dominic in personal | Tagged burpee, exercise | Leave a comment

The written word

Through all fantasy games, single- and multi-player, virtual or table-top, runs a common thread: The writing. It has been argued many times, and reasonably successfully, that the history of fantasy gaming was born of the ground-breaking work of Tolkien, however it is more correct to say that he was the great populariser of a genre that has been with us for hundreds of years. The archetypes that exist in his work still inhabit the games we play today: Orcs, Dwar(f|ve)s, Elves, Trolls, etc.

The images that those names invoke, and that are visualised in modern MMOs, aren’t too far from the descriptions found throughout fantasy literature. So what of the state of writing in fantasy games themselves?

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Posted on 2009/03/16 by dominic in the written word | Tagged dnd, MMO, MUD, Writing | 2 Comments

Player vs Character

The separation between player and character is at the core of the role-playing experience which is what separates DnD, MUDs and MMOs from other multiplayer games. By definition, when you’re playing a role it’s assumed that the role is not that of “person playing a role-playing game”. Aside from the physical and sociological differences between the player and character, how is this split realised in the game? And how has the separation between player and character developed from DnD through MUDs and through to MMOs?

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Posted on 2009/03/10 by dominic in at the table, character development | Tagged Character, D&D, MMO, MUD, Player, role-playing | Leave a comment

Homeward bound part 2

[A continuation of Homeward bound]

We pick Eddie up tomorrow morning.

Posted on 2009/03/08 by dominic in personal | Tagged pooch | 1 Comment

Homeward bound

After a late night with the Watchmen last night (I won’t bore you with another review, but it was everything I hoped it would be) we woke late in a mad panic to get to the vet appointment we’d booked foolishly early. Oliver’s all good, but has an ear infection that needs to be monitored.

While we were waiting for results to come back for a swab, a young man came in with a beautiful fluffy pup. The pup looked like a healthy young thing so it was a surprise to learn that he was fifteen. His owner went to speak to one of the vets in attendance. I didn’t hear what he said, but the vet stated clearly “I can’t do that.”

Myself and Mirto looked at each other as we’d both heard it, and had reached the same conclusion: Had the owner just asked for this sweet, healthy looking pup to be euthanised? Our fears were realised when the owner left without the pooch some minutes later.

Mirto was brave enough to ask after the pooch, and indeed that’s what the owner had asked. Apparently, the reasoning is that he has a tendency to pee in the house. Now I don’t know about you, but that made me surprisingly angry. I can’t presume to know the full background to this family’s story, and I must hope that the decision was not taken lightly, but when that’s the reason you give, I’m glad that you’re handing the dog over to someone else. I’m also cheered that we have a vetwho is unwilling to euthanise and instead had decided to contact rescue services to try to find a willing new owner to take care of this distinguished little man.

We talked and made it clear to the staff that we’d be interested in taking on the challenge of fostering and possibly adopting Eddie the PBGV. We’re now awaiting the tests that are being done to ensure that he’s not seriously ill, and might have a new addition to the family this week.

To be clear, this is not something that we’re entering into lightly. We’ve talked about fostering and adopting a pup who needs our love for a while, and this just seems to be a great opportunity to give a home to someone who needs one. We’ll find out in the next couple of days if Eddie will be homeward bound.

Posted on 2009/03/07 by dominic in personal | Tagged pooch | Leave a comment

Saturday Morning Watchmen

Link: Saturday Morning Watchmen

I’m having flashbacks to my youth…

Posted on 2009/03/05 by dominic in personal | Leave a comment

Here’s a potentially very silly, but also very fun, way to make fake album covers for fictional bands. Here’s my first effort. Actually, I like this so much I’m going to keep it for when I’m a rock star!

Courtesy of @RonKJeffries. Picture courtesy of Rachel Lake.

Posted on 2009/02/24 by dominic in personal | Leave a comment

I love a sausage

One thing about moving countries that is often overlooked is the problem of finding new versions of home comforts. Whether it’s the channel that shows the rugby (or where to find it online) or where to find the best pizza, these are the things that make your new life in your new country easier and better.

After many years of moving around, I’ve realised that my most important home comfort is vegetarian sausages. Now, this may be because I was spoiled for choice in London. From a supermarket I could get these Lincolnshire sausages made from tofu from a company named Cauldron Foods. They were wonderfully seasoned with all the right herbs, and the consistency was not too meaty, and not to obviously veggie. I should note here that I’m incredibly picky with my sausages; if they’re too reminiscent of a meat sausage in terms of texture, I’m not interested.

If I wanted to get something a little more special, while living in London, i had only to pop over to Greenwich, home of the National Maritime Museum, the Meridian Line, Henry VIII’s tournament grounds, the Cutty Sark, and the finest sausage stall known to man. The market that housed the miraculous sausage stall also was the place to go for fresh tea, home-made caribbean hot sauce and jerk seasoning, and the finest selection of cheese known to man. The sausage stall stocked sublime meat sausages but I would obviously skip those and head straight for the mushroom and tarragon, or spinach and feta, or one of the other delectable delights on offer. They were loosely bound, i.e., they had no skin, but had chunks of ingredients and were freshly made. They were never oily, but unlike many vegetarian sausages, they were never too dry either. As the ones with cheese cooked, the cheese would melt inside to form little pools of hot deliciousness…

Excuse me, I need to take a break to wipe the drool from my chin.

Ok, so what happened when I moved to Canada? Well, I had hoped that being on the West Coast, the liberal side, as it were, that I would find all manner of exciting new vegetarian sausage options. Sadly, I was very mistaken: The only options I could find were frankfurter type affairs.

We shall skip over that sad, sad episode and move on to the Singapore portion of the search for vegetarian sausages. Here I had high hopes once more, as Singapore seemed to be far more conscious of the vegetarian lifestyle (no, not yoga, incense and tie-dye, just not eating meat) than the great white north had been. I was once again disappointed for the first few months, until I found something marketed as breakfast links. They weren’t up to those ambrosia-filled heavenly packages from Greenwich market, but they tasted great in sandwiches. The only down-side was their size. I prefer my sausages to be, well, substantial; to have one or two fill a sandwich at most. It took five or six of these things to fill a sandwich and I often ended up just cooking the whole packet, which made me feel like a terrible glutton. Still, one has to do what one must when desperate times are abound.

Finally, we come to the last stage of this great tale of longing and desperation: The return to North America, this time to the sandwich filling of the great Western continent, and specifically to the liberal, healthy-living, pilates-loving California. Here, surely, there must be vegetarian sausages to rival those of Greenwich! Here, surely, there must be riots when vegetarian sausage quality drops or supplies run low! Here, surely, I will find a sausage worthy of fulfilling my Sunday morning craving!

After nearly four months, I was once again ready to give up. Then, just the other day, I spotted some succulent little buggers all wrapped up with “Spinach and Feta” proudly proclaimed on their packaging. Could it be? Could I have found them? Well, no. They turned out to be chicken, written on the packet in criminally small type. My wife, the carnivore, thought they looked delicious, much to my chagrin.

But what’s this? What are these just next to the deceptive bastard chicken sausages? Italian flavour vegetarian sausages… Apple, sage and onion flavour vegetarian sausages! Come to my arms, my beamish boy! O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! 

I think I yelled “SUCCESS!” as I brandished the fruits of my long, globe-spanning search to all who came near.

For those still with me, the brand is Field Roast and while taste trials are continuing, we appear to have a winner.

Posted on 2009/02/24 by dominic in personal | Tagged food | Leave a comment

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