The Long Road

Archives: January 2005

Sunday, January 30, 2005

I’m attempting to write this while slightly (and I use that term VERY loosely) intoxicated. Hopefully, this will be coherent regardless…at least MS Word will help me from being TOO bad.

When one is involved in a niche market, there is a natural desire to see that market grow and reach the largest audience it possibly can. Witness all the ravings that comic blogs expunge when some graphic novel is praised by Entertainment Weekly, or the New York Times. Obviously, there’s a desire to share whatever it is you’re enjoying; I’d love it if I could discuss the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen graphic novel with actual people instead of some randoms on the net – but going mainstream, trying to appeal to the broadest audience possible, is not the answer.

Some examples then.

First, video games. Back in the day of Nintendo VS Sega, the industry was “pure” and it was niche; it was about trying to make the best, and most fun game possible but all that change when Sony came in with the Playstation and proved that there were billions to be made. Suddenly games all became derivative of the last major hits, all the game designers and programmers work on major titles while the true pioneers of the field toil away at products that only capture such a small share of the market that they can no longer sustain themselves in the face of multi-million dollar productions.

Star Trek. The original series and TNG were both series whose major focus were the philosophical questions that arose from scenarios possible only in science fiction. They treated the subject matter seriously and intellectually. However, when TNG went to the movies, they completely tried to go mainstream. In an effort to make money and appeal to the American public, the movies tried to incorporate action, and humour to a level the series never intended to sustain. Some characters became two-dimensional jokes and the whole thing became a joke onto itself.

Somehow I’m supposed to tie this all back to comic books, a currently very niche market, before going to bed. I used to think it would be cool if everyone read comics. It’d no longer be this strange medium that’s looked down upon by the general American populace, but the price of acceptance is whoring out. Originality is no longer the driving force, it is instead replaced by homogenization towards appeal for the lowest common denominator.

Okay, no more sweeping generalizations, bedtime!

Posted by Rayne @ 04:36 AM EST [Link] [11 comments]

Wednesday, January 26, 2005

I’m trying to think of all the ways that Aliens could communicate differently from us. Visually, perhaps they can see our same visual spectrum, or maybe their eyes are totally different and they see well into the infrared or ultraviolet ends. Similarly, its possible aliens can only hear in the microwave or radio wave frequencies, maybe they only communicate in those ranges and there’s no natural way for us to hear them. Perhaps they communicate by emitting light, or they pass along complex molecules to each other that have meaning to them, maybe they excrete chemicals, or have developed amazingly complex body language. There’s always the possibility of telepathy, or they could be like the Founders on DS9 where they’d only have to touch each other to share everything. Maybe they can control their skin pigmentation and communicate through drawing moving pictures on their own bodies.

It's possible they even have speech, but their language could be so insanely different that humans would have no way at all of understanding it and they ours, or they can make sounds that we can hear but can't reproduce, or they can make sounds that we can't hear properly (like how Ls and Rs sound the same to people who know only chinese).

On a bit of a tangent, it could be that aliens are used to a completely different gravitational pull or atmospheric pressure and would either explode or be crushed if they landed on Earth. Maybe if they landed on Earth and accidentally brought along their version of the common cold it would wipe out our entire species (very possible, like the natives and the...flu?). Heh, maybe friggen oxygen is poisonous to them.

Anyways, I’m sure there’re a great many more possibilities…

Posted by Rayne @ 03:23 PM EST [Link] [2 comments]

Tuesday, January 25, 2005

I want to tell you all about Skype! For those who don't know, skype is an instant messaging client that allows for voice over IP calls. Basically, MSN Messenger with the added functionality of crystal clear, real-time, voice conversations using your pc mic and speakers. It is damn cool.

With Skype, you can call up anyone who is using their client and converse to them for free no matter where they are in the world! That's right, free long distance calls! FREE!! Skype costs you nothing to download, install, sign up, and use. The ONLY downside is that calls to real phones (instead of others using Skype) actually costs money, about 1 cent a minute. To anywhere in the world! There is no reason not to use this. NONE!

Without an ground line this term, Skype will come in really handy if I want to actually talk to people while not wanting to burn a hole in my wallet with cellphone bills. There is no way that traditional phone carriers will be able to compete with Voice Over IP if this kind of thing really takes off, it is better in every way, except that you don't have to hold on to a phone...if you're into that kind of thing.

Anyways, everyone should give it a try, I highly recommend a looksee. And if you don't like it, I'll...I dunno...have a nice long msn conversation with you or something.

Posted by Rayne @ 01:38 AM EST [Link] [10 comments]

Friday, January 21, 2005

Dates: My mom bought some over the x-mas break, I tried one and then had like 10. These things are amazing! Sweet, juicy and very textured. Soon to rival my love of avocadoes. A bit expensive though, 8$/pound, but worth it if you don’t accidentally bite into the seed. Ouch.

Hime Brand Ice Cream: First I bought a tub of Red Bean flavoured stuff. While it was delicious, the ice cream was…frosty. So it was a little bit sketchy but still good. I got some Ginger Ice Cream yesterday and as strange as it may sound I think it’s probably the best ice cream flavour I’ve ever had. It has sweet, sweet chunks of ginger in it!

All You Can Eat Sushi: Better than all you can eat Korean bbq and even…all you can eat hot pot! Though it’s not really all you can eat sushi, you can order anything from the menu of Japanese foods including various beef and chicken dishes. A bit expensive (20$) compared to hot pot but they do have to prepare the food so it’s understandable. I had not been satisfied by a meal like that in a long time.

Soft Shell Crab: My mind was going crazy over this…you eat the crab AND the shell. Total insanity. After looking it up online, I understand why the shell is soft but good grief was I ever confused at first. I really enjoyed it though; it was juicy, soft, crunchy, and…tasty.

Next Wednesday is 2-for-1 oyster night…that’s going to be FUN.

Posted by Rayne @ 01:21 PM EST [Link] [15 comments]

Monday, January 17, 2005

Human culture of the far future is sometimes depicted as a homogeneous society, a global culture. The immense diversity present in today’s world is all but gone. Is it possible that in a few centuries, our cultures will all be merged into one?

I think it seems likely. Cultural borders are coming down a little more every day with media from any country being available in its non-native land. A few closed minded people aside, I think one day we’ll all be reading the same books and watching the same TV shows as people in Asia, Africa, and South America. I also think that it’s likely everyone will move to a democratic political system and that places like Africa will eventually move out of the stone age and catch up to the modern world; I mean, it’s not like they can stay this way forever right?

In most of Star Trek (in particular) everyone seems like they’re American or at least have American values. Which makes sense since it’s an American produced show watched by Americans. It’s also easier to totally Americanize humans and then contrast against the classic trek aliens, which are basically humans with 1 exaggerated trait. But how would a race ever get over itself and become space-born and explore the universe if their driving emotion is violence, or greed, or suspicion?

One of my favorite parts in all of Farscape was when Aeryn was being interviewed about the differences between humans and aliens and she answered that most races in the universe were pretty much the same; we all had the same wants and needs, the same disagreements and squabbles. The only differences were level of technological advancement which could lead to refocused societies (ie: why have war if you’re advanced enough that your technology could produce anything you dreamt of).

The statement somehow seemed right to me, or at the very least, refreshing against the usual “flawed humans” version of aliens.

Posted by Rayne @ 10:18 PM EST [Link] [2 comments]

Thursday, January 13, 2005

Just downloaded and watched a bunch of tsunami videos. I don't have any tv to watch so this was the first time I saw this thing in action. After watching them, it's easy to understand how a lot of people were caught in the water. When the wave's out in the water, it doesn't look intimidating at all, there's nothing to contrast its size to; many people were just standing gawking and not realizing the danger they were in. Not until the waves splash down do you get an idea of how much force and volume they exert. Even the cameramen who're on third and fourth floors and see the waves tearing down trees and washing away cars comment about the crazyness of it but still stand there until the waters surprisingly manage to reach them and they start to panic, there were a few such moments that actually got laughs from me.

Whenever I'm about to watch disturbing things like this, I always go in thinking that I may not be able to handle it but that's never the case. I was eating lunch while watching people carrying away washed up carcasses and it didn't really phase me. I think it surprises me how desensitized I've become to blood and gore and death; I've watched episodes of Trauma where they open up chest cavities and show you pulsing lungs without flinching. Where does this desensitisation come from? I'm not totally sure but I think anime has a hand in it, particularly Neon Genesis: Evangelion.

Posted by Rayne @ 07:07 PM EST [Link] [4 comments]

Wednesday, January 12, 2005

Based on what you see of yourself at this moment and looking at the person you want to be, rank these things in order of importance to yourself in terms of what you’re trying to acquire the most of in life.

Stuff: Materialism; books, movies, CDs, computers, clothes, STUFF.

Experiences: Trying new things; climbing a mountain, going to the opera, traveling.

Knowledge: Finding out how things work in the world and why they are the way they are.

Bonds: Building relationships with people; making friends, meeting (wo)men.

Skills: Being able to do new things; carving wood, singing, drawing, splitting atoms.

From the way I spend my free time and the kinds of conversations I have with people, I think that’s the order I would put things in. Though I’m a bit sketchy about the arrangement of the last two.

Posted by Rayne @ 01:14 AM EST [Link] [20 comments]

Friday, January 7, 2005

I’m thinking of Enterprise in particular for this entry but a ton of sci-fi succumbs to this problem. The issue being that humans are presented as something special in the universe, as the ones with all the answers, and that “human spirit” will always win out the day no matter the odds. Even if Earth is destroyed and remnants of humanity are scattered across the cosmos, humanity will, through this miraculous property that is lacking in every other race in existence, find a way to overcome superior number, technology, and culture. It is the biggest cliché in sci-fi.

Whenever an alien comments on the resiliency of humanity, or how humans always manage to be unpredictable, or some other such purple prose, it is a huge turn-off. I can’t exactly pinpoint why it bugs me, there’s just something wrong when other races acknowledge that humans are destined to be the greatest race the universe has ever seen. Who knows, maybe we will be but I don’t see it.

Even comics (some of them are sci-fi =P) get into the act. I cannot count the amount of times an alien empire which presides over entire galaxies and rules billions of planets look at Earth and decide that humans are a threat because of the “potential of humanity”. Isn’t that just a little presumptuous?

I think one of the reasons why this is so prevalent is that we tend to like stories with likeable heroes who will win in the end; in stories featuring many alien races, the audience is obviously going to attach itself to and want the humans to win, to be the “better” race. We want US to be the heroes.

Perhaps it is an extension of human rhetoric. We try so hard to convince kids and each other that each and everyone of us is special and unique and destined for greatness that we just can’t stand it if the same did not apply to our species as a whole.

Maybe one day we’ll fly off into space and meet plenty of other races and realize that we’re no more and no less special than any other race, just another cog in the intergalactic wheel. I’d probably find some kind of weird satisfaction in that.

Posted by Rayne @ 01:55 AM EST [Link] [6 comments]

Wednesday, January 5, 2005

Well, not EXACTLY my dream job, but I wouldn't mind doing what Whitney Matheson does at USA Today's website. From what I can tell, she keeps a daily "entertainment blog", where she just links to pop culture items throughout the day while snarking at the obvious, and safe, targets (duff, lohan, et al.), writes a weekly column about some entertainment topic and has a daily chat with her readers.

Or, if I were in resume writing mode:

But like...I DO ALL THAT ALREADY!! She gets paid to do it..how unfair. She also gets to do the whole socialite thing when she gets sent around to awards shows, she even gets to go to comicbook conventions as part of her work...damnit.

Posted by Rayne @ 01:08 AM EST [Link] [2 comments]

Tuesday, January 4, 2005

Once again in Waterloo. Very much looking forward to my last school term. This term's going to be quite different for me, for one the classes I've chosen are a bit different from what you'd expect from a CS student; they include Social Implications of Computer Science, and Philosophy through Science Fiction. Yeah. Second thing is that I'm living somewhere different after having spent 3 years living in the same place, new setting and roomates should make for something at least a little interesting.

The christmas break was good, but too short - only 1 week. It felt like a very extended period of waiting time; which sort of goes with the territory, being the week dangling between living in one place and another. I read 3 books and many comics, saw lots of people, partied, played games, had a good time, but dind't do anything productive at all, even blogging seemed like too much work for some reason.

Here are some pictures of my room. I especially like the two facing tables. I thought a while about a way of arranging it to maximize space. As always, the position of window and heater always limit the options available when I'm looking to layout a room, but whatever. I like this a lot better than my previous desk arrangement; besides, feng shui says you should always have a wall at your back to support you in life.

Regular blogging resumes today.

Posted by Rayne @ 12:49 AM EST [Link] [12 comments]

Saturday, January 1, 2005

sitting on a tree.

dAN...lying on the couch....

Posted by Rayne @ 03:57 AM EST [Link] [7 comments]

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