homewardbounder
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Below are the 10 most recent journal entries recorded in the "homewardbounder" journal:[<< Previous 10 entries]
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10:11 pm
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Is there room for a sandbox boardgame?
I re-read this journal occasionally to remind me why I update. So then just to jog my memory: Sandbox boardgames? I recall an article that the Tony Hawk's skate games were so popular in the '90s was that they were not immediately perceivable as competitive. I'll clarify: there were points on offer, for sure, but performing individual tricks and not concentrating the overarching goal was part of the appeal.
Non-competitive boardgaming? Sounds dubious, but hang on. What about if pulling off spectacular combos in a game were a winning strategy? Isn't there a whole load of folks out there that don't play competitive CCGs because their crazy trick decks don't work? Trick decks inspiring trick decks...? Give me that one :)
Solo play seems to be a necessity with something like this and the 'thing' you pull off has to be pretty attention catching. It needs to be something really brash and outlandish that could, just maybe, make you pull of a crazy win.
Current Music: Something Fast, The Sisters of Mercy
Tags: games, still posting
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11:54 pm
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Openings again
Grit lorry.
Damnit.
If riding at 80 in a freezing grey January haze isn't sufficently soul-destroying for your tastes then getting your legs grit blasted through denim is enough to make you want to turn into the nearest car dealership and end the self-inflicted pain there and then.
I licked my lips inside the padded confines of my crash helmet and tasted road salt and mucus. It was bitterly cold.
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08:03 pm
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It started out with a kiss
It didn't end up too badly. It's hard to break free of a 'grass is greener' mindset sometimes though.
Just been looking up "accoustic" on YouTube and seeing what interesting stuff I recognise on there. Brilliant. I thoroughly recommend it. Evanessence (who I previously thought were struggling to break average) turn out to be really entertaining without masses of production and electronica behind them. The Killers: Brandon Flowers can sing pretty well, The Ting Tings: very good indeed.
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08:25 pm
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On purity of thought and deed
I have a 'thing' about purity. Purity of pursuit. I envy mathematicians badly, they have real purity with what they do: black or white answers and equations describe the behaviour of numbers with elegance. I love seeing anyone do something amazing- just being really, really good at whatever it is. Good writers, good mathematicians good trials bike riders or amazing gymnasts I like to think that I can appreciate the dedication in their pursuits.
Equally it frustrates me to see people not using talents or gifts they do have. There are so many thing to fill your time with though, I think the world can have specialists in just about every niche ability.
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10:23 pm
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The art of science
Is it possible to express yourself creatively in a scientistic role? I know that computer programmers can see beaty in code and appriciate stylish execution when they see it, is it the same for experimental design (say)? Do scientists look at others' work and admire the way in which the results were obtained or the particularly satisfying way in which the data proves the hypothesis, or not?
Would you put good experimental design in a gallery? Would folk gather round a paper and whistle appriciatively?
XKCD gets close in that it sees good science as something to appriciate in a beauty-of-numbers kind of way. If art is clarity in the expession of thought, then there is no difference as science is nothing is nothing without communication. Equally, bad art has nothing to communicate by some definitions, surely.
Tags: drinking, up late, watching pearl jam on vh1
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02:50 pm
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Opening Paragraphs #3, #4 and #5
“Speak.”
“We- I, I have a problem.”
The seated man’s eyes flicked up from his desk. Most would have read his face for annoyance, although Marc had never been convinced. The way the old director’s pupils dilated to focus on his made him wonder if such problems were ever completely unanticipated by the canny old coffin-dodger.
~
"How about this one on Clifton Street?"
"It's a bit 'fags and pushchairs' round there though isn't it?"
Kate, smiling now: "A bit 'tracksuits'?"
"Yeah, you know, local pastimes include extensive car modification and soap opera appriciation"
"I see. And motorcycle modification and Amercian drama apprecation would irreconcilably set us apart from the local demographic?"
"It would."
~
It's not about violence. It doesn't matter how you want to wrap it up, it's more than guys who are not pretending to be guys that are. There's more to it. It doesn't work the other way round, you don't have the option of pretending to be smart when you are not. You can't. you're not smart enough to imagine it and see the benefit. You will exist only to entertain others, as a monkey-boy.
Monkey-boys pull in some good money these day, as it transpires.
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09:37 pm
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On Dominion
I played Dominion (fantasy card game with fixed decks of cards) for the first time the other week. What exactly is the hype about again? It's like the entire CCG generation have been bypassed for their opinion. It's Magic: The Gathering only with less options and more shuffling. The mechanics are obvious and the palyer interaction minimal at best. I don't see it.
It's no Agricola, which does actually live up to teh hype, mostly, i think, because it draws people in froma variety of equally decent 'lifestyle' type games. By which I point to the similarities between Peurto Rico, elements of Magic and the basic principles of Caylus. Agricola executes these design elements very well it must be said which to my mind is why it has sold so well. Maybe that's it: if an idea can't be original it can be successful by cannibalising the marketplace really effectively.
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10:29 pm
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Alright, back in.
Here we go again. Not quitting, just slow.
Later.
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10:27 pm
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Not dead
[Revival of abandoned draft follows:]
At least not yet. Still here and still writing. The job is settling down and there are holes appearing where I can to a computer without interuption.
Which is all good.
So I finally got around to starting A Game of Thones because I was trapped in an airport for 6 hours and was on company time. Essentially I had to be paid and in a foreign airport with nothing to do for it to seem like a plan. It's pretty good so far, I have to admit, but equally it is reading more or less like I thought it would. It's a hard series to avoid and, unlike The Wheel of Time, there are significantly fewer people telling you not to bother with them.
I have read the first book of The Wheel of Time years upon years ago and filed it under 'meh'.
[draft ends]
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10:48 pm
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Making up for lost time
Two posts in two days: I'm spoiling you mystery blog reader.
So this new job I'm starting next month: it's corporate. By which I mean Corporate. They've sent me a book that's just a typical airport management help tome. The sort of thing that should, by rights, have a small number of Kleenex in a fold-out pocket in the back to allow the purchaser to bring himself to climax should he read a particularly erotic piece of corporate verb splattered spurt-prose.
I worry about my future at this establishment. I can only incentivize so many paradigms.
"So... thanks for filling in that online self appraisal, I hope you found the 10 ways to actualize your talents useful...?"
No, I was laughing so hard I nearly burst my fucking spleen.
"Yes, thanks for that, I found it pretty useful and accurate"
"Good, good, so I see that you're an 'Actualizer', a 'Communicator' and 'Evidence minded'
Yup, now shut the hell up, were wasting time. Leave me alone and I wont hurt you. I'll lie to your face and, when threatened, crush your arguments with hard fact. You will be left crying.
"Seems so, yes, I think that's a fair appraisal and I was quietly pleased about that selection as it seems to fit the role"
"Yes! Excellent I'm glad you got that from it. Now we both have to work to find to manage you and for the best ways for you to be managed"
I will destroy you.
Current Music: Young Parisians featuring Ben Lost - Jump the Next Train
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