All entries for July 2004

I love the smell of blogs in the morning …

Blogging is a great way to begin the work day. It's nice to just plonk yourself into your seat in the early morning and catch up on what's been said, maybe make a comment or two or maybe write an entry….Cracking way to ease oneself into the more taxing things. New working cultural practice? I think so. Much more interesting than email.

I think I'll start doing a series of "Useless Trivia Knowledge" in my blogs every now and then….

What was the name of Robert Duval's character in Apocolypse Now (I play on his phrase in the entry title)?

Joanna Jameson : 16 Jul 2004 09:20 |  Comments (9) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Round buying etiquette

Reading The Guardian today, I came across this:

Don't be a cheap shot

On Tuesday, a man named David Walker was jailed for five years for shooting himself in the testicles. It was an accident, goddammit! Sure, had he not shot himself he would probably have gone on with his original plan of shooting his best friend, but still, the phrase, "punished enough" springs forcefully to mind.

The short article goes on to bemoan the tactics of those who try to dodge their turn at buying a round in the pub (this, apparently was the cause of Mr. Walker wanting to shoot his friend). A very funny read, which ends with a rant of how women sometimes think they are excused from buying a round if their boyfriends buy one:

At least, though, they boldly sit there, and don't engage in the grim raft of male anti-round techniques, which include: drinking normally until the last inch, then drinking really, criminally slowly; going to the loo at strategic times; ditto taking/making phone calls and hiding. Insufferably, these people often think they're being clever, when their behaviour is as utterly transparent as the glass whose contents they lack the humanity to replace

Too funny…..

_

Joanna Jameson : 15 Jul 2004 13:36 |  Comments (2) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Thief: Deadly Shadows (PC)

I'm just experimenting with this entry so I used the DVD reviewer with the choice of "no linked DVD" to do this review so I could get a star rating for this game….Almost worked except for the graphic positioning…

Any-hoo: Thief: Deadly Shadows is the third installment in the Thief computer game series by Eidos. If you played Thief 1 and/or 2, then you won't be disappointed with the newest release. The atmosphere is predictably Gothic and immersive and the plot is engrossing. You get to creep around, steal loot, pick locks, use a whole lot of cool thief tools, ambush people and raid rich stashes while uncovering a much larger, scarier story.

It's fully supported in both first and third person views and it's just my opinion but I find that the guards, soldiers and other characters in this installment to be more life-like, with better AI (searching techniques and suspisciousness) and much more real time dialogue. I'm quite a ways from finishing but I think it's just as good, if not better than Thief 2, which was nominated for an interactive BAFTA award. I love this franchise but it looses a star because I find it irritating that they stuck a "back" button in the bottom corner of the menu screen where it's not in the line of sight and that the missions can be quite tricky from the second mission instead of a gradual increase in difficulty. But it's so fun, who cares??

Joanna Jameson : 12 Jul 2004 13:40 |  Tags: Games PC |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

My Blogging Alter–Ego

I was thinking for a few days about issues of authorship and the writer's subjectivity in relation to blogs, when someone in my office remarked how strange it is when you first become aware that people unknown to you are reading your writing. I can remember having that same feeling when someone outside the university community first commented on one of my blog entries.

Even though we do have control over viewing permissions, I happen to think that blogs create a sort of schizophrenic existence for the writer (not necessarily a negative one). On one hand, blogs are used for private, personal comtemplation but on the other hand they can also be for a very public readership. Juggling your private "self" with the public one can be a tight-rope walk sometimes. Not only that but you have a blogging alter ego in the sense that people may feel they know you quite well through reading your blog and you may feel you know those frequent commentators on your blog, when really, you wouldn't know them if you fell over them in the street.

These sorts of thoughts bring up interesting issues of voice and tone in written entries. We do construct certain masks for ouselves through writing because it always involves some sort of creativity on some level (okay, maybe this is a bit deep). Maybe it will be less of an issue for students but for those in a work environment it really does enable people to be viewed as being much more multi-dimensional. I wonder how big of an impact on subjectivity blogs will have a few years down the line when they become second nature in educational institutions and workplaces?

Joanna Jameson : 09 Jul 2004 12:36 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Trackbacks (2) |  Report a problem

Man, I hate oversleeping!

Amazing as it may sound, my whole house overslept by almost an hour this morning. Even the baby!! It's a sad thing when you have to wake a nine-month-old up from a deep sleep only to drag her out in this weather.

Abby is usually our alarm clock but she let the side down this morning. Everything seems a bit off-centered for the whole day when you sleep-in. I just can't seem to get my act together but maybe the day will improve as it goes on.

Joanna Jameson : 08 Jul 2004 08:50 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

My Favourite Book…Ever

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is my absolute, all-time favourite read, ever. If you read it when you were a child, take the chance to reread it as an adult. You will be happily reminded why you enjoyed it so much and another plus is that you can regress to your childhood, at least for a little while.

In my opinion, there is no story -teller better than Dahl. The fact that a grown man can pinpoint exactly what elements in a story excite and inspire children and is then able to write so uncondescendingly for a young audience, is amazing. He is truly a master at his craft. He constructs wonderful stories with perfect plot control and an uncanny knack for progression, momentum and causality.

I've spent many years of my adult life being told what is and is not a good piece of writing and why, studying literature and reading hundreds of novels, but to tell you the truth, the books I remember and love the best are the ones I read when I was eight. There are no better remembered scenes than Peter, Edmund, Lucy and Susan emerging from the wardrobe into Narnia or (and especially) Charlie Bucket unwrapping his Wonka bar and finding the last golden ticket.

Joanna Jameson : 05 Jul 2004 12:10 |  Tags: Vcb Very Cool Books |  Comments (2) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

The Fellowship of the Ring: Worth the read?

Okay, I'm still trying to read a bunch of books that I have always wished I'd read and have never gotten around to. I've just finished The Fellowship of the Ring, the first of the three volumes of The Lord of the Rings trilogy and I thought it was an absolutely fantastic read. Often, criticisms are leveled at Tolkien for his prose being overly descriptive or dense or needlessly meandering. These criticisms overlook the fact that even though Tolkien is a twentieth century author, he definitely rises out of the nineteenth century novel writing tradition. This book is a Novel with a capital "N" and is something to really sink your teeth into. It creates its own mythology, history and geography and gives the reader the feeling that he or she is peeking into a whole other universe.

If you've both read this novel and seen the film adaptation, you can see how Peter Jackson stayed true to the narrative and the spirit of the tale even in the areas where it was necessary to contract the length of time in the plot. For instance, Frodo in the novel, actually stays at Bag End for years and years before Gandalf tells him the story of the Ring and he's in his fifties when he sets out on the journey. The relationship between Arwen and Aragorn is never mentioned in the text (it is only slightly implied at the House of Elrond) but Jackson had to deal with it in the film in order to set up the next film. Minor characters are either exchanged for major ones or taken out of the film all together and this does not hamper the tale at all. For instance, Tom Bombadill is excluded from the film and the elf who saves Frodo from the Ringwraiths by horse across the river is not Arwen in the novel but an elven guard.

All in all, I wish I had read The Fellowship before watching Jackson's film but it still held my attention and turned out to be a completely immersive read. I recommend it to anyone wanting a real meaty epic with amazing atmosphere. I can now begin to see why The Lord of the Rings was recently voted Britian's favourite read (on channel Four I think). It certainly does deserve a place somewhere at the top of a list of great British novels.

Joanna Jameson : 05 Jul 2004 09:09 |  Tags: Cult Classics Lit |  Comments (4) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Abby Victoriana

Could she be any more cute if she tried?!

For more, see her Victoriana Gallery!

Joanna Jameson : 04 Jul 2004 08:54 |  Tags: All Things Abby |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

WoW European Beta Trials

Writing about web page http://www.blizzard.co.uk/wow/

Okay, does anyone care that the World of Warcraft European Beta sign ups are starting on July 5th?? I've been waiting for this for like two years. No kidding. It'll be one of the greatest MMORPGs ever. Although EverQuest 2 is in the pipeline as well, I can't see myself bowing to the EverQuest God just yet (but it does sound like it also has some cracking gameplay design)...

Joanna Jameson : 02 Jul 2004 08:39 |  Tags: Games PC |  Comments (4) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Note on Canada Day

Follow-up to Canada Day! from The Pale Cast of Thought

Canada Day was started in 1867 but it was called Dominion Day up until 1982. In 1867 it was put into legisaltion that we should celebrate the fact that in Charlottetown, P.E.I., the Federation Fathers signed the documents that created the Dominion of Canada, independant from Great Britain.

Ok, all we did was ask nicely and got independance. But the Americans couldn't do that could they? Oh no, they had to be all wild and have a big Boston Tea Party and then have a bloody revolutionary war. See where being impolite gets you?? Hee hee hee…

Joanna Jameson : 01 Jul 2004 19:42 |  Tags: Canadiana |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem