Tomorrow could be boring

iGoogle dragon theme!

Last week, I downloaded a trial version of Corel Painter 11. It's a little buggy, but I am still lusting after it. I was on holiday, so had a few days to mess around. I ended up designing a dragon theme for iGoogle. You can add it to your Google home page from here (and please do add your comments and ratings! I believe they might help improve the ranking of the theme, which in turn would get it in front of more people).

I'm still using the same old Wacom tablet I've had for years and it's doing fine. With Painter, I found that the pencil tools were convincing enough within the programme so I didn't need to do what I normally do (which is to draw with pencils first, scan the result and continue digitally).

There is no way I can afford (or even properly run) Painter just now, but I will budget for it once I upgrade my desktop PC. Maybe next year. My desktop PC is also getting on a bit and unlike the Wacom tablet, this is starting to be a problem.

(Cross-posted from the portfolio blog).

On geeks, categorising and marketing

"The more I think about it, the more geeky I realise I am," I said to Timo today. Having just returned from Eastercon, it's no wonder I've not floated down to "somewhat normal"  yet.

"What, you're surprised by that?" Timo replied.

"No, what I mean is that there are a few things I'd always taken to be my little quirks, which I now realise are traits shared with many others. This sounds so naive, but I really didn't think that there'd be so many people for whom having complete sets of things, or having such sets categorised and organised in some specific way would be as important."

I'm not a collector; not exactly. There are very narrow areas in which I'd say it's important to have the set for its own sake. Mostly that happens to me with books.

Today, whilst dusting the shelves (and looking for Timo's copy of Coraline, which Neil Gaiman's comments during the Darker than Potter panel made me want to read), I spotted a pattern.

The book series for non-SF/Fantasy fiction, say, by a Finnish crime publishing house, are uniform in colour and typeface, but don't have numbers on the spines. Same goes for "modern classics" and, upon further inspection, all other mainstream fiction series we have knocking around. Hmm.

Whereas - most of the SF/Fantasy book series are numbered. Even "...best new SF" uses this device, even though it might have made sense to print the actual year for which these are meant to be the "best" collections for. Instead they've sequenced using numbers. And the numbers are big on the spine too; it'll be really obvious if you've missed one.

I wonder if this is a deliberate attempt by marketing departments to tap into the geeky tendencies of the target audience for these books. If it is, it's working and I'm impressed.

Something else that's impressed me - Neil's business sense and his ability to use it in subtle and effective ways. Coraline did get mentioned rather a lot during the con and what do you know; it's due to be released as a film soon.  And if you're quick, you can still download a free copy of  American Gods from his website (but expect to feel the urge to buy it afterwards - the sales of this book have gone up significantly since the freebie offer).

Someone asked Neil: "Since you record and sell audio books, does it bother you that these have been made illegally available via peer-to-peer download services?"

He replied by asking how many people in the audience had found their favourite author by buying a book they knew nothing about, apart from the blurb on the cover. Some hands went up. He then asked: "How many of you found your favourite author for free; through borrowing a book, or by some other means?" A forest of arms shot up.

"See?" said Neil.

By doing this sort of thing, he is clever on so many levels. Instead of demonising potential fans, he works with them. Instead of struggling upstream against the inevitable changes in how the market and technology is evolving, he swims with the current and uses it to his advantage.

I've got into the habit of listening to podcasts and audio books whilst sat at airports waiting for delayed flights, or trying to relax in uncomfortable hotel rooms. I found Stardust as an audio book on iTunes, narrated by Neil - and am now tempted to buy it. Can't decide whether it would be silly, considering I have it as an actual book (now also autographed; thank you very much!).

There is no way I'd use a peer-to-peer service, just in case you're wondering.

Orbital2008 (That's how we're tagging it)

This year's Eastercon was the best one I'd been to. Orbital 2008 was held at the Radison Edwardian hotel, Heathrow and I went for the whole weekend with my husband Timo. Didn't think anything would beat the 2002 con in Jersey, but I was wrong. Not that I'm a seasoned con-goer and a fan, unlike the veterans celebrating their 40th Eastercon, but nevertheless, measuring by my own tiny scale, this one tops the lot.

Turns out the Chinese invented Breakdance

Shaolin Monks was great. A mixture between Martial arts prowess, energetic dance and stagemanship; it was a Martial arts circus. Definitely something to see (I could add the nauseating: for the whole family). There were spectacular shows of well-practiced moves, the circus-element of brick-breaking and balancing on sharp spikes seemed to appeal to the younger audience and there were moments when the cartwheels and rolling on stage held a striking resemblance to Breakdance.

The highlight of the show was a double-act by two very young boys - they looked like they were under 7 years old, but their size might have been misleading. They effortlessly sparred, skipped and hopped through complicated Kung-Fu moves with the sort of ease that usually follows years and years of tireless practice. Watching them was like an optical illusion that made the audience gasp time and time again; it was like watching miniature adults.

We did notice one thing - the audience was completely different from the last Sadler's Wells production we went to see. Yes, lots of families, but also people who looked like they'd never set foot in the theatre before. Many people arriving really late. Or talking during the performance. I don't care if it's your first time when you're 48 years old, but you could at least observe some polite common sense rules on how to conduct yourself.

Heheh. I know. I can be so snooty. But seriously. Granted, not everyone was taken to their first concert/opera/theatre performance at under 5 years old, taught to sit still and focus, taught to figure out the plot of an opera sung in another language from looking through the programme booklet, but I do idly wonder whether common sense about certain things has to be taught too. Is common sense something you can, or have to teach?

It seems that many Finns still value opera, classical music and the theatre in the sort of way I was used to. In that you don't have to be wealthy, or in any kind of particular social category to take yourself (and your kids) off to see the latest production of The Magic Flute. At least that's the impression I get from the delightful film "Pelikaanimies" (Pelican Man), a film we watched yesterday. I bought it on our Finnish trip this summer, but we hadn't got around to watching it until now. Pelican Man is a simple, but delightful fantasy aimed at children, but entirely watchable by adults. One day a pelican decides to turn himself into a human by landing on a beach and putting on human clothes. The film explores human perception, what it's like to be an adult and what it's like to be a little boy whose parents have just divorced. There is lovely Finnish scenery and a beautiful feel to the whole film.

I'm going to head into work soon. It'll be a late night (stocktake). Tomorrow I'm partly working in store, partly from home. I need to finalise Christmas rotas for the store, as well as complete a number of forms and other paperwork. So far, this retail Christmas has been vastly different from the previous ones I've had as a store manager. I feel like everything is ticking along well without becoming a big burden. I reserve the right to change my mind in December.

In a couple of weeks I will be taking another work-related trip. After that it'll be more or less a straight run through to Christmas without stopping.

My chocobo caught the bug

When I'm not at work, or doing work-related activities at home (so, about 2 hours every day, give or take), I sometimes take my mind off things by playing Final Fantasy Online. It's a MMORPG based on the Japanese Final Fantasy series.

Both Timo and I have been playing this game for about two years, but we haven't even got a single "job" to the top level. To do that, you'd need a lot more free time than we have. I've managed to do a fair bit of levelling (collecting experience points through fighting monsters in parties with other characters, thus advancing your character's skills further and unlocking more abilities and options in the game). At the stage I'm at now, I would have to be able to play 6-8 hours uninterrupted to get anywhere in an experience party setting. I can't remember the last time I did that. Must have been when I was recovering from my op last year. That sort of immobalised me a bit.

Luckily, there are activities that you can participate in even if you don't have lots of time to play. You can develop crafting and job skills, manufacture items, harvest raw materials and now, with the latest expansion and update, you can grow your own chocobo. Chocobos are giant chicken-like creatures that are used as mounts in the Final Fantasy universe.

In an older incarnation of the game series, you could breed your own chocobo varieties, race them against oneanother and even attempt to breed the "ultimate" chocobo that could reach areas in the game world that others could not. I really enjoyed all that back then (and yes, I am really quite a nerd).

So when the chocobo eggs went on sale in Final Fantasy Online, I was sure to be one of the first people in the queue! It took four real-life days to hatch and you then have to "look after it"; it's a bit like a Tamagotchi - a virtual pet. You have to feed it a special diet depending on what kinds of abilities you'd like for it to develop, you have to take it out for walks, watch over it and design a care schedule that will be used in your absence (as you are unlikely to be there for your little chocobo chick for 24 hours a day!).

I'm a sucker for things like that! And for the first few days, everything went smoothly, until the chocobo first "got ill". The only medicine that would cure it, apparently, was a special type of wildgrass. There turned out to be a small design flaw in how the supply and demand of this grass was handled. The grass was selling at ludicrous prices in the game's Auction House system and was not obtainable through any kind of quest, or harvesting activity; it could only be grown through a process called gardening. So the people who suddenly realised they had the only units of this special grass in their inventories, pushed up the price to as high as it would go and ripped off the poor chocobo breeders who only wanted to make their little virtual chick better again. Awwww.

Then, a software bug was found in the chocobo raising system. If your care plan included "rest", your chocobo would just sleep and sleep for days, instead of the time period you'd specified. While asleep, it can't be fed, you can't look after it (and these two activities increase the chick's affection towards the owner and prevent it from growing into a moody bird that will just run away at the first opportunity). Of course my choco fell victim to this bug and for the last whole week, I've been coming home, checking its status and finding it still asleep, with its affection for me ever depleting... heart breaking! And the messages that kept coming up were awful: "It's starving". "It seems to be able to tolerate your company." Ouch.

Yesterday evening, my chocobo finally woke up. It has lost all its affection for me, it was starving, but at least - so far - it hasn't run away.

There have been hundreds of times in the past few months when I've thought: "why the HELL am I paying a monthly fee for a game that resembles real life a bit too much with all its ups and downs, chores, lack of money, worries, everything!"

The cleverness of the game is, of course, that it does just that. To quit would be like killing off a real part of your life, however virtual.

I want more FlyFly

Timo played a really cruel trick on me recently.

He bought FireFly and Serenity on DVD and made me (yes, forced me!) to start watching. He thought I might like them. Well, he was wrong.

I fell in love with them instead.

The fucker! After getting caught up in the characteristic Joss Whedon layers of emerging and intriguing stories, ready to bubble into the surface... I get told, sorry, you'll never find out how they'll develop. Will they, won't they? Does River lose it completely, or will she now become the best pilot in the known universe? What was all that about Book's past? How... when... who?

We watched couple of episodes a night, finally finishing with the film yesterday evening, and then, it was all over. I sat on the floor, forlorn, repeatedly mewling: I want more FlyFly.

This is indeed, a cruel and hard world. And there are too many moronic American TV executives who should have their innards fed to them in some peppery sauce.

Theme from Firefly

Take my love.
Take my land.
Take me where I cannot stand.
I don’t care, I’m still free.
You can’t take the sky from me.

Take me out
to the black.
Tell ‘em I ain’t comin’ back.
Burn the land and boil the sea.
You can’t take the sky from me.

Have no place
I can be
Since I found Serenity.
But you can’t take the sky from me.

Words & Music by Joss Whedon
Performed by Sonny Rhodes.

Greetings from Middle Earth

Went into hospital on Sunday. Operation was on Monday. Out of hospital on Tuesday.

When detailed like that, it all sounds so matter-of-fact. I think I will file the experience in that manner; matter-of-factly. There is no need to dwell on any of the unpleasantness. Most people wouldn't dwell. I am just an over-sensitive nut sometimes.

Let's just summarise by saying that the operation took place without any complication, the hospital stay was over quickly, though felt particularly unplesant (especially since they moved me from one ward to the other just after my operation, when I was still woozy and out of it - and didn't help me get set up at the new bed, so I couldn't get to any of my stuff... they didn't answer my calls to go to the bathroom, they lost the flowers Timo brought for me and on discharge, they lost all my own medicines so Timo had to drive back there the next day to argue with them).

Oops. I dwelled.

I am so glad I didn't have to stay there longer. I have always hated hospitals. Now I hate them even more.

The UPside: my gallbladder is out. They managed to do it laprascopically (keyhole surgery), which means I have five small wounds over my belly instead of one big gash. The extra hole is for an extra camera they put in, just to check for other problems.

Fandom in small doses (or a post in which Pia uses Far Too Many Capital Letters)

I only became familiar with the concept of science fiction Fandom a few years ago. It's a curious Land in which The Fans exist on nourishment of genre lit and entertainment, conversations embroiled in endless inside joke filled punnery and the occasional social gathering that inevitably involves copious amounts of food, filking and fantastical costumes (the latter often put together in situ, from old stockings and bottle tops).

The Creators (writers, artists, media types) on the Other Side of Fandom sometimes grace these gatherings with their presence, imparting words of wisdom, but most importantly, autographs and photo opportunities.

Homework

Back in 2002, I was lucky enough to attend a kaffeeklatch with the author China Miéville. This took place during the annual British science fiction convention (Eastercon) in Jersey. I'd just read Perdido Street Station and had fallen in love with it.