Month: April 2005

Xenocide

Posted on by Nimgimli

XenocideWell, against all odds I actually finished a book: Orson Scott Card’s Xenocide. So what can I say about this book that hasn’t been said a zillion times before? Probably nothing.

OK, backing up, this is the third book in Card’s series about Ender Wiggins. The series started in Ender’s Game and Speaker for the Dead and ends in Children of the Mind. Then there are the ‘parallel’ books starting with Ender’s Shadow and, gosh, I could go on all day. Just head over to The Official Web Site of Orson Scott Card and click on OSC Library.

So what to say about it. It took me a LONG time to read. I kept putting it down and going on to something else. I’m not sure why that is. Well… I ‘read’ the first two books in audiobook format and I wonder if that caused some kind of ‘culture shock’ when I transitioned to actually reading it myself. Or maybe its because each book gets…deeper? More contemplative? Ender’s Game was flat out fun stuff. Lots of motion. Speaker for the Dead got a bit more…still, but there was still some amazing character development. Xenocide was really compact, and almost sessile. It just felt a bit too long for the story, or something…

But anyway, now I’ve finished it and I have to say, the ending was a dissapointment. There were some rather deus ex machina events that felt like they existed only to give Card an avenue for sequels. And the ending didn’t end. Which is ok for me since Children of the Mind is on my ToBeRead pile, but I wasn’t expecting it. I remember the first two books having a complete ending.

Ah well. None of this is to say I didn’t like the book, and aside from the nits picked above, the second half was good stuff (once I got to about the half-way point, I read the rest straight through). If you haven’t read the first two books, do so. I really, highly, super-ultra recommend Ender’s Game in particular (and I guess they’re finally making a movie version, so hurry and read it before Hollywood rips its soul out). And if you’ve read the first two books, plot them on a graph with ‘fun’ on one axis amd ‘contemplative’ on the other, and understand that Xenocide follows that curve. If the curve is heading in a direction you’re comfortable with, then the book is worth picking up. 🙂

Blog changes

Posted on by Nimgimli

Hello, faithful readers! *waits for the shouts back, frowns at the silence and continues*

I just wanted to note a few changes to the blog. First, I’ve cleaned up my book list. I’m no longer listing everything that happens to be laying on my bedside table. Just the stuff that I’m actually reading.

Second, I won’t be talking much about games here anymore, since I’m starting a new site for that. The Games Roundtable is a place that, I hope, myself and some old friends will talk about games, post reviews and news, and that kind of thing. There’s a forum there too. So in a way, The Games Roundtable combines the games-related posts from here, and the discussion board from Jaded’s Pub, which after, what? eight years? I’m finally closing down.

Since a LOT of the content here was games-focused, it means I’m either going to have to think more, or post less. 🙂 Let’s hope the former turns out to be true, since I can hardly post less than I have been lately.

Another death in the family

Posted on by Nimgimli

Yeah, I’m playing fast and loose with the word ‘family’ but in some senses I think of the denizens of online role-playing environments as a big, somewhat dysfunctional family. Or club maybe…dare I say cult?

Anyway, I never met Candace Bolter, to the best of my knowledge, but she seems to have been a very nice person. More importantly to me, is the fact that people who never met her face-to-face liked her, and now miss her and remember her fondly. Its so easy to write off ‘in-game’ friendships as somehow no more real than our avatars…easy, that is, until we lose someone, and know we’ve lost them.

How many other virtual friends have slipped away with us assuming they just got tired of playing? Its a disturbing thought, isn’t it?

In Memory of Candace Bolter, aka Kale

Gamers are such a classy bunch

Posted on by Nimgimli

So for some reason I was over at 1UP.COM and I decided to read some of their message boards. I’m digging my PSP like nobody’s business so that was the section I made a beeline for.

The very first thread on the board was: ATTN: Trolls, Flamers, Fantards, Et Al.

Now I’m not in public relations, but is that really the right way to welcome new users to your site? This was posted by the kid (please god let it be a kid) that moderates that section. Beyond the tone, the term Fantard seems awfully…ick, to me. But maybe its just me. I guesss we’re moving away from “gay” being the ultimate put-down and moving on to “retarded.” I dunno, maybe its a good thing. The folks who’re mentally handicapped are probably less likely to be spending their time on gaming boards than folks who’re attracted to people of their own gender…

Anyway, for grins I clicked on the “report abuse” link in the message. No doubt the kid who moderates the board will just call me a fucktard and move on…

I am a l33t v1d30 pir8

Posted on by Nimgimli

After several nights, two operating systems and $125 I finally burned a DVD that will play in a DVD player. What a pain!

It all started when I found a website that hosted fan-subtitled episodes of a Xenosaga anime that isn’t available in the US or for Region 1 DVD players. As a fan of Xenosaga I really wanted to watch them, but wasn’t interested in doing so on my PC.
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