Some things

The webcomics seem to be going to war. Not, sadly, over the whole Whacko Jacko thing, (mostly because Penny Arcade don't seem to want to join in), but in World of Warcraft. Firstly, PvP makes a Horde guild for its members, practically a declaration of war for Mike "Gabe" Krahulik, and so Penny Arcade made an Alliance guild in response. And when that was full they made another. And another. And another. And with the Horde hopelessely outnumbered, Ctrl-Alt-Del joined in the fray on their side. VG Cats made a guild, but don't want to get involved in any pvp shenannigans. Wusses. And of course the Slackers over at Machall have been in that biz for ages now.

The more I learn about WoW, the less interesting it seems. The huge eternal war between Alliance and Horde has become purely recreational: people will slaughter one another just to pass the time, or to show off their power-levelling. Nothing is ever achieved. This is in contrast to, say, Eve where the struggle of human against human is how the entire game works. You never hear of anyone going off doing quests for npcs in Eve (though I'm assured they do exist).

Also, yeah, I've not updated in ages, have I? Surprisingly, this is because I've had more time on my hands. I tend to blog and write interesting stuff as an alternative to doing any work, so with no work to be doing, I've got nothing to avoid doing. But! Recently things have changed. I've been doing a travelogue of Second Life for Always_Black's website, and the first part went up recently. It's nice to actually be writing to a purpose again. I'd be loading them up here as well, but AB's sponsoring me in-game, so it's only fair to keep it web-exclusive.

Transport for Gentlemen

I mentioned my Twindola the other day. This is why I love it.

Getting around in Second Life is incredibly easy, possibly the easiest part of playing, barring having buildings appear around you as you go. You can walk and run, sure. But considering the often vertical nature of the world, you are also capable of flight, allowing every single avatar to soar around as steel-bikini-wearing superheroes, if they so desire.

However, in a short space of time, I've come to realise just how undignified it is to do so, which is why I use the Twindola to get about whenever I can. Or, if I feel like a change, I use Smugglesome, my tame giant spider. It's not a matter of cash; the Twindola cost a mere $150. It is purely dignity. Only the lower classes fly themselves. If I take to this exploration gig properly, there isn't a chance in hell I'm doing it without a pair of helium-filled balloons above me and a nice, comfy chair below.

Eventually, I'm going to make my own personal aircraft, but I'm taking only the tiniest of baby-steps with regards to crafting, so the Twindola will suffice for now. I realised just how much I'd come to depend on it when I actually managed to lose it yesterday. It had one of its episodes, and plummeted through the ground, which are reasonably common, and usually result in the craft just snapping back to where it should be. This time however, it continued to fall through the ground, but I didn't, and was trapped in the sitting position among some unsightly rocks, unable to move, and unable to locate the Twindola. So for the rest of the day I had to go without. Flying long distances without an aircraft just felt so... undignified, I swore I'd never do so again.

Second Life - 2 days

Coming back in sight of the _Blacklibrary, I took the Twindola (a small dirigible-type aircraft) to a lower altitude, to see if anyone was around. Through the large windows, Always Black was beavering away at his infonet terminal. I greeted him with a typically salty "Ahoy!". As I came around the side towards the entrance, I watched him scurry out, gazing up at my airship in wonder.

"AWESOME" he typed. I had to concur.

My first experience of Second Life actually took place over a year ago, whilst on a work experience placement at PC Gamer magazine. Before leaving for the evening, Tim Edwards brought us all round to see SL in action. Buildings were appearing from nowhere, and a huge purple squirrel was racing about on a scooter.

It would take thirteen months for me to express, in-game, what I'd felt when watching that. "SL IS DRUGS" I blurted out*. I still hold to that, but at least now I'm getting to grips with it. It takes surrealism in its stride, something that is helped along by the many (many) fringe cultures that invariably end up in things like this. While the world of SL is divided into zones which are rated for content (PG, Mature etc.) these are not grouped by rating, so you can go from a pleasant japanese-themed garden and padoga straight into the jaws of a gothic bondage whore-house and casino.

At the moment, I'm utterly enthralled, I have to say. I adore my Twindola, despite it being somewhat unstable and prone to having entire sections vanish and plummeting through the ground. I love that I am dressed as an 18th-century customs and excise officer**. I especially love buzzing past people in their houses in my Twindola, going "Yarr!" and flying off. I love that gal that helped me work out how to actually fly the damn thing.

Will I love it in a week? Maybe not. But it's a brave new world, and right now, I'm going to milk it for all it's worth.

*note: I was sitting on a slice of watermelon one meter in diameter at the time
**Everyone keeps calling me a pirate. I don't think a pirate would dress so dapper. Or have the wiggidy cloak of mine.

My brother

The kitchen flooded today. While I was brushing my teeth. I take this as a warning from the Almighty against dental hygiene, which is confusing, because right now I don't think I could get enough of that. Anywaah, crisis averted (my Canute-esque commanding of the waters not especially helpful) and apart from having no water, we're okay.

Meanwhile, my bro is now on MSN (or there abouts) which means a resumption* of this kind of conversation:

PhilB {Fully Convergent} says:
Problem: I really like the powermaster/headmaster/targetmaster/minicon gimmick, but where would I get a little buddy of my own, that could connect somehow and unlock hidden features?

Bobsy says:
I think midgets could be the way forward.

Bobsy says:
Or, ah, downward.

Bobsy says:
(tee-hee)

PhilB {Fully Convergent} says:
I don't want to stick a midget to myself though, that would be wierd.

Bobsy says:
Exactly!

Bobsy says:
All them transformers are going to the pub or something, and one of them says to the other, "Dude, you've totally got a guy stuck to your chest"

Bobsy says:
And the other is all like "For your information, this guy UNLOCKS MY SECRET POWERS"

PhilB {Fully Convergent} says:
Ah yes, I'd forgotten the Breastmasters.

Bobsy says:
And the first guy's like all "Pfft. What-EVER, loser." And goes to the prom, and is elected prom queen. And the Fonz is there too.

Bobsy says:
Um. That'd be better than most transformers episodes, I think

PhilB {Fully Convergent} says:
I dunno, have you seen ALL of them?

PhilB {Fully Convergent} says:
I have.

We're so cool.

In other (read: more important) news, I haven't forgotten how to write stuff. I just can't be bothered right now. I have one thing to finish off, and another that I might start (but might not) and a bunch of other bits that I really ought to be doing as well. But... R:TW has eaten my life utterly this week, and the promise of Half-Life 2 at long last doesn't bode well for getting anything creative done for a while yet.

*if that's not a word, it bloody well ought to be.

NTL in "don't-totally-suck" shocker!

NTL do usually suck, mostly in customer services. Their set-top box for cable TV is a big bag of shite that hardly ever works, and frequently suffers spr0k attacks whenever you're really getting into something. But things have changed. Not much, but enough.

The pay-per-view service has been revamped. Now you can select a film or TV program (we'll get back to that in a sec) from a massively expanded library, and just watch it whenever you like, as much as you like, within a 24 hour period.

• You can pause, fast-forward, rewind, or just stop and pick it up again later. Watch half a film in the evening, the other half the next morning.
• If the NTL box has one of its "episodes" and breaks down, you won't have lost the money you paid for the film.
• There's a hell of a lot to choose from. Hero's really good.
• It's not just films: a selection of BBC programs are available, free, for seven days after broadcast. Today I watched an edition of Little Britain, just like that, because there was nothing else on.

It's not the future. It's not the way TV will eventally turn out (probably). But it's a considerable step in the right direction. Apart from the set-top box's innate craptitude at doing pretty much anything, the selection of normal telly programs is still too lacking for it to be truly great. But! It's still great enough for me to announce my love.

But before we wrap up here, a question: is this an actual advancement, or is NTL playing catch-up? Like, what do Sky, Sky+ and that other cable service offer like this? Better, worse, or the same?

Just five more minutes...

Yeah, so I have no excuse for the lack of updates. Exams are well over, results are in (I got a 2-1, by the way) and by all rights I should be writing like stink right now. Clearly I'm not.

While there is no excuse there is a reason.



Fuck yeah.

I said fuck YEAH

Computer (used) from Nick Berry: £500

Rome: Total War, Half-Life 2, SoaD: Mesmerize: £46.94

The knowledge that the torpor of staid, emotionless boredom will be lifted in 5-7 days: priceless.