Diary of a Wolfeman

Here’s an interesting concept: what if someone invented a Hyperdrive? What if they put the plans out on the internet?

What if you could build one yourself for a few hundred dollars out of commonly available parts, get control software off the ‘net, and turn your pickup into a space-faring camper?

In Jerry Oltion’s Anywhere But Here, lead characters Trent and Donna Stinson do just that, and take off for a little vacation around the galaxy.

Now, the Stinsons have ample reason for wanting to take this little jaunt. We come into their story some time after the invention of the Hyperdrive, and things aren’t going so well in their small Colorado town. The American government and economy are in the shitter, the Stinsons are both out of work, and things are just generally lousy. Those with the brains and wherewithal have been building personal spacecraft and leaving the country at the least, if not the planet. Off-world colonies are recruiting, and the U.S. has banned personal ownership of hyperdrives, going so far as to shoot down anyone attempting a landing over U.S. soil.

For the second time this year, I have read a really good Sci-Fi novel packed with political dissent. The first one was a cop-out in that the main characters pulled up and left. Here, the characters eventually come home to fight for what they believe in – but only after their government tries to kill them three times.

Cowboys are apparently a stubborn sort.

While being well-written and a fun read, Oltion takes a little artistic license with science in a few places other than the hyperdrive. While having a decent grasp on orbital mechanics, I don’t really think he understands the concept of air pressure very well, unless I have entirely misjudged the difference in volume between a big off-ride tire and the cab of a pickup. Or how quickly heat bleeds off in space.

Still, it’s a damn good book that I had a hard time putting down. Go see for yourself.

Review of Mindscan by Robert J. sawyer

My girlfriend complains about not knowing what I’m thinking most of the time, but still has the ability to find me damn good stuff to read.

Mindscan is built on a classic Sci-Fi premise: what happens when the machines decide they want citizenship? In this case, he puts a slight spin on it – the brains of willing individuals have been copied into these androids, and the human counterparts have gone to the moon to live out the rest of their (mostly short) lifespans, removing themselves from public life so their android selves can continue on with their lives.

The problem arises when one android’s son sues his mother for his inheritance after he learns of the biological bodies’ death. Which is the real person – the android copy, whom the biological willingly signed power of attorney to, or the biological who went off to the moon to die? They both have the exact same memories up to the point of upload, the same mannerisms, the same feelings and ideals. Where exactly does personhood begin and end?

The book is set in a mix of Canada and the States in 2045. The USA has slid to the far right of the political scale, and Pat Buchanan is a recently deceased President. (Shudder!) Canada becomes the land of the free, which works out ok, since global warming has left the Southern U.S. mostly unlivable. (Detroit actually has a decent climate now.) The law having slid so far to the right is the cause of the major problems the characters encounter.

The author’s style strikes me as a mix of many old favorites – Asimov and Heinlein come mostly to mind, with maybe a touch of Spider Robinson. The book moves along at a steady pace throughout, and I never managed to completely guess where he was headed next.

The main character is a bit hard to truly bond with. He’s got inherited money, and is constantly asking people to explain historical references to him because he spent his youth screwing off. On the for side of that, though, he has a very good understanding of physics because of the time he spent in college with nothing better to do than take classes. A very strange mix.

In conclusion, you have a very entertaining read, with some insights and good social comentary. Highly recommended!

Who’d a thunk it…

While digging around the forums and bashing my head against a wall trying to get my D-Link DWL-650 wifi card to work, I ran across a blurb saying that Slack comes stock with an Orinoco driver already installed. It just so happens that the roomie has one of these lying around, so we popped it in here and (sound of minor tweaking) Poof! I now have working wifi access under Slackware on my laptop!

I can now happily compute in a completely Windows-free manner wherever I go! Yay!!

This is a happy ending to a happy weekend for me.

With all the crap that went down with my daughter during the week, things got off to a slightly rocky start with my girlfriend, but smoothed out after some booze and silly movies. We watched Catwoman first.

The overall plot of the movie was fairly well laid out, and the dialog wasn’t all that bad. Unfortunately, the movie was completely over-CGI’d, and would have been much better had the director opted to actually train Halle Berry to do some stunts. Of all the Catwomen over the years, she is the only one who did not have to do any real stunt work, and the movie suffered badly for it. They also opted to use fast camera moves to simulate fast actor moves, and once again the movie suffers. To top it all off, they cast Sharon Stone as the villainess, which I don’t list as a positive. General rating: Blah.

We followed that up with Resident Evil: Appacolypse, which was a much better movie. Not a real thinker, but a good fun zombie movie with Mila Jojovich kicking some zombie ass. Highly recommended.

Saturday night, I finally watched Moulin Rouge, a movie I basically knew nothing about. What is it with John Leguizamo getting the really bizarre roles?

Anyway, I actually liked the movie, despite the fact that the creative team behind it has done waaaaaaaaaaaay too many halucinagens in recent years. The hardest part of the movie is not letting your head get stuck with any one song, because they switch songs fast and often, mostly transposing pop hits from the last couple decades into something else. When the narcoleptic Argentinian busts out with Roxanne I damn near bust a gut laughing, and to see the show’s manager singing Like a Virgin is…disturbing to say the least.

So, I think I’m ready to face the week now, with the happy prospect of being able to be in the new shop – at least for Monday, anyway (wink). Knowing my luck, they’ll find a reason to keep me West after the meeting on Tuesday, but I’m suppoesd to open the East store Monday morning. And there is work waiting for me, as well as computer that needs to be picked up and paid for.

That’s enough for now, kids.

Since Greyduck beat me to the short version, I’ll have to be windier to justify dragging you here.

In short, this is the best movie I have seen this year, and you bet your bunny I will be buying the DVD as soon as the widescreen version hits the shelves.

The animation on this film is absolutely spectacular. Pixar just keeps getting better. Every character is an individual, clothing has wrinkles, hair moves and gets mussed, and the characters actually move correctly across the background – a footstep travels the expected distance, something alot of animation studios miss.

Writing and Directing: There is simply not a bad line anywhere in this movie. The characters have depth and emotion, and the plot ticks right along without moving too quickly or glossing over chances to develop the characters. The jokes span all ages, and there’s a couple spots where you might be reaching for a tissue. These parts don’t drag on though, so your kids won’t get bored with it.

Spoilers ahead… Read the rest of this entry »

What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon than blasting your buddies to smithereens with massive weapons?

Today the boys and I sat down to a happy little fragfest in Mechwarrior: Mercenaries. The title is a stand-alone release that plays alongside Mechwarrior 4: Vengeance – you can load this game all on it’s own, or if you have any of the other MW titles installed, it will import your pilots and mech designs. (Including the Mech Pack expansions.)

The game includes the usual gamut of new mechs and new weapons over the original, and also cleans up some of the game play errors from earlier iterations of the game. Mission play is entertaining, of course, with the background story here being…oh, who am I kidding? The real reason to buy this game is to hear the sound of your pal’s bacon frying when you blast him with a PPC.

Now, to get the absolute most out of this game, you want to download the official patch from Microsoft, then go and download the unofficial patch from MekTek. These guys took it upon themselves to fix all of the little things they knew MS would never get around to, and expand the game to their own tastes. They know how to twiddle bits, and they think just like I do when it comes to this game: give me bigger, badder weapons and mechs with which to blow up my buddies.

The MekTek patch provides new maps, weapons and new mechs, as well as goes through the existing batch to fix problems with game balance. As a bonus, many of the ‘new’ mechs are just updated versions of older ones that MS retired for whatever idiocy. All are welcome additions to this favorite title, and give you a vast choice in arsenal and style. From teensy a 20-ton scout that goes 170 kph up to 100-ton behemoth weapons platforms that barely manage a jog (but carry enough firepower to level Tokyo in seconds).

Best of all, the prices of the game have dropped again. You can now go out and pick up a MW4: Vengeance / MW4: Black Knight / MW4: Mercenaries boxed set for $20 at your local retailer. For another $30, you can grab both of the Mech Pack Expansions, and the MekTek downloads are free. So, for the same price as a new-release game, you can get an entire universe of toys with which to wreak mayhem upon your friends and co-workers. If they don’t play, there are always games running on-line for you to join.

And if you ever get pummelled by Gauss Rifle rounds while you’re jump-sniping over a ridge, it was me :)

I went to see Pure Gold Baby Friday night, a delightfully seedy play set in a strip club “somewhere in the United States, NOT Portland”. I went mainly because one of the actresses is a friend of mine, but it is well worth watching on it’s own merits.

Welcome to Sasha’s Hotbox, the sexiest, most scintillating strip club in town! Get real and get off as stereotypes collide with reality in the netherworld of exotic dancing. Follow Melissa as she enters a world where power, money, poetry, and desire make the rules and no one emerges unchanged.

As you walk into the theater, you are immersed into “Sasha’s Hotbox”, a dive strip-club. The lights are dim everywhere but the stage, the music is loud, and there is a real live girl on stage taking it off. A sign on the wall next to the stage boldly proclaims “Dancers work for tips ONLY”, and you ARE expected to tip the dancers during the show. Bring lots of singles, or change is available at the door.

While you are at Sasha’s, you will meet the full gamut of the stripper world – the Scumbag Boss, the Bitch who runs the show, the Ingenue, her Devil-May-Care roomate, the Mother, the Dominatrix, the Junkie, the Pro, and the Poet. Oh, and don’t forget that guy that lives down on Gynecology Row.

In the play, we follow along as Melissa goes from being the girl-next-door to Persephone the Stripper, and we all learn a few things about how the world works along the way.

As a guy who has been to several strip clubs around the U.S., I can tell you that the actresses have studied well for their parts, and a couple of them could really be making some serious cash on stage in Las Vegas. It doesn’t stop there, though. The acting is very good, and all the girls are well-worth the tips you leave them.

I was particularly impressed with Ayanna Berkshire’s performance as Sophie, the poet of the troupe, who does an excellent scene that starts out as a cold poetry reading and ends in a very well-done strip. Greg Bigoni’s performance as Lexi, the scumbag boss is one of the better parts of the play – it has to be hard to portray that big of a jerk convincingly. Greg and Amelia Dalton (Summer) do a very funny bit while they are both on the phone – only Amelia is on stage and supposed to be stripping at the time. And let’s not forget Nancy Rene’ Harbick (Hattie) in her inverted pole routine.

For the rest, you’re just going to have to go see the show. Tickets are $25 advanced reservation, $30 at the door. And remember to tip your dancers!

For those of you cartoon fans out there, I watched the new WB cartoon series The Batman this morning. It has it’s good points and it’s bad points…

The Batarang went this way… Read the rest of this entry »