![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
greygirlbeastHere in Providence, we've leapfrogged from April, way back on Wednesday, to June. And, actually, four days ago, I had to run the space heater in my office. So! Everything normal here in New England. Last night, at three ayem, the humidity was 100%.
As birthdays go, or, rather, as my birthdays go, yesterday was probably ahead of the curve. I have a Magical Birthday Curse of Doom. Last year, for example, we were supposed to be in Boston, but the car died, it was 90 million degrees (and we still haven't invented AC in Rhode Island, probably never will), and I was a sick as a dog from one of my meds. Sure, last year's birthday began with Garrison Kiellor profiling me on NPR. And that was cool, in the most surreal of ways. If not for Garrison Kiellor, last year's birthday would have scored about 5% on the Birthday-o-Meter®. I give yesterday a 50%. So, yeah. Better.
Truthfully, any birthday that includes watching a school of mermaids drag a pirate ship into the briny deep can't be all bad.
Which is to say, Spooky's birthday present to me was a matinée showing of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. In 2-D, thank you. It was fun, and the mermaids were spectacular.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sovay would approve. And Ian McShane was awesome, but it was obvious he was on a short leash. Ian McShane is a goddamn force of Nature, but he must be free to say cocksucker as many times as is necessary. On Stranger Tides could have used about fifty uses of cocksucker. Jack Sparrow is definitely a cocksucker. Anyway, yeah. Fun and pretty movie. Great cast. But this needs to be the last of the series. Time to move on.
As for the rest of the day, well...there was floor cake. Floor cake sort of sums up everything not good about yesterday. But, we had pizza from Fellini's, just like last year. I sat on College Hill, watching the fog roll in from the bay. We played Rift (more on that in a moment). I did not write. There were some marvelous gifts, and my gargantuan thanks to everyone who went to that much trouble and expense. Truly. On Facebook, far more than 200 people wished me a happy birthday (only 32 on LJ, and only 8 on Twitter, and I find this all significant; oh, butrozk wrote me a wonderful birthday poem she posted to LJ). Late, I lay on the floor and watched two episodes of Firefly ("Trash" and "War Stories"), because Firefly on your birthday helps, like washing down a bitter pill with something sweet. This paragraph is horrid, but there you go. Spooky read me If I Ran the Zoo, before the insomnia struck (despite my Good-Worker-Bee Pill), and I couldn't get to sleep until after dawn
---
I have spent so much time singing the praises of Rift, that I almost (almost) feel obligated to write about its shortcomings. Which is sort of silly, as Rift at its worst still makes WoW look like the sad mess it is. But. Even so. If you visit Telara, and happen to find yourself in the region known as the Droughtlands, and it feels oddly familiar...well, if you've ever been on Azeroth, in Desolace, that explains the déjà vu. Truly, Trion photocopied Desolace, rendered it a thousand times better, and changed the name to the Droughtlands. You even get the fucking centaurs. Also, Trion does so much right, couldn't they have devised names for regions that weren't all two-word combinations: Freemarch, Moonshade, Iron Pine, Scarwood, Shimmersand, and Silverwood, and etc.? Come on, guys. This is airy-fairy billshit, possessed of all the imagination of a dead mouse. And the yetis? I know, Iron Pine Peak is cold and snowy...but yetis? That's the best you could come up with? As kids these days would say, "falcepalm."
You're awfully fine, Rift, but you could be so much more.
And now...fuck it. Sweat and write.
As birthdays go, or, rather, as my birthdays go, yesterday was probably ahead of the curve. I have a Magical Birthday Curse of Doom. Last year, for example, we were supposed to be in Boston, but the car died, it was 90 million degrees (and we still haven't invented AC in Rhode Island, probably never will), and I was a sick as a dog from one of my meds. Sure, last year's birthday began with Garrison Kiellor profiling me on NPR. And that was cool, in the most surreal of ways. If not for Garrison Kiellor, last year's birthday would have scored about 5% on the Birthday-o-Meter®. I give yesterday a 50%. So, yeah. Better.
Truthfully, any birthday that includes watching a school of mermaids drag a pirate ship into the briny deep can't be all bad.
Which is to say, Spooky's birthday present to me was a matinée showing of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. In 2-D, thank you. It was fun, and the mermaids were spectacular.
sovay would approve. And Ian McShane was awesome, but it was obvious he was on a short leash. Ian McShane is a goddamn force of Nature, but he must be free to say cocksucker as many times as is necessary. On Stranger Tides could have used about fifty uses of cocksucker. Jack Sparrow is definitely a cocksucker. Anyway, yeah. Fun and pretty movie. Great cast. But this needs to be the last of the series. Time to move on.As for the rest of the day, well...there was floor cake. Floor cake sort of sums up everything not good about yesterday. But, we had pizza from Fellini's, just like last year. I sat on College Hill, watching the fog roll in from the bay. We played Rift (more on that in a moment). I did not write. There were some marvelous gifts, and my gargantuan thanks to everyone who went to that much trouble and expense. Truly. On Facebook, far more than 200 people wished me a happy birthday (only 32 on LJ, and only 8 on Twitter, and I find this all significant; oh, but
rozk wrote me a wonderful birthday poem she posted to LJ). Late, I lay on the floor and watched two episodes of Firefly ("Trash" and "War Stories"), because Firefly on your birthday helps, like washing down a bitter pill with something sweet. This paragraph is horrid, but there you go. Spooky read me If I Ran the Zoo, before the insomnia struck (despite my Good-Worker-Bee Pill), and I couldn't get to sleep until after dawn---
I have spent so much time singing the praises of Rift, that I almost (almost) feel obligated to write about its shortcomings. Which is sort of silly, as Rift at its worst still makes WoW look like the sad mess it is. But. Even so. If you visit Telara, and happen to find yourself in the region known as the Droughtlands, and it feels oddly familiar...well, if you've ever been on Azeroth, in Desolace, that explains the déjà vu. Truly, Trion photocopied Desolace, rendered it a thousand times better, and changed the name to the Droughtlands. You even get the fucking centaurs. Also, Trion does so much right, couldn't they have devised names for regions that weren't all two-word combinations: Freemarch, Moonshade, Iron Pine, Scarwood, Shimmersand, and Silverwood, and etc.? Come on, guys. This is airy-fairy billshit, possessed of all the imagination of a dead mouse. And the yetis? I know, Iron Pine Peak is cold and snowy...but yetis? That's the best you could come up with? As kids these days would say, "falcepalm."
You're awfully fine, Rift, but you could be so much more.
And now...fuck it. Sweat and write.
Tags:
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-05-27 05:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-27 06:03 pm (UTC)Yeah. I know Facebook gives prompts. But I was impressed that most of the birthday wishes were obviously personalized.
And I don't need to be convinced that, as a medium, LJ is far superior to FB (or that Twitter is almost useless). But LJ continues to dwindle. Birthday wishes are a sort of bellwether, or gauge, I think.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-27 06:04 pm (UTC)I wonder if that would be anything like Almodovar quiche.
Personally, I feel like a Hitchcocksucker.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-27 06:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-27 06:10 pm (UTC)Yep. We had a pizzaria called Fellini's in Atlanta, and there's also one in Providence. Two different, unrelated restaurants.
Personally, I feel like a Hitchcocksucker.
Cute.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-27 06:16 pm (UTC)I do have to approve of that.
Also, that is a pretty smoking poem
no subject
Date: 2011-05-27 06:59 pm (UTC)Yes, great poem. And you'd truly love the mermaids. Toothsome.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-27 08:45 pm (UTC)Is it worth seeing in theaters for them, or should I wait until it comes out on DVD and I can just watch those scenes over and over?
no subject
Date: 2011-05-27 09:57 pm (UTC)Well, that's up to you. But seeing it over and over on DVD would be fine. I'm hoping there will be a release of the four films as a boxed set.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-27 06:38 pm (UTC)I've had a thing about Ian McShane since Lovejoy. Did you see that odd series he did called "Kings"? It's too based on biblical myths for me, but he kicked arse in that.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-27 07:00 pm (UTC)Sorry I had to wish you a happy birthday (belated raise of the bottle to you, btw) on facebook. My laptop died, and the net's been shite on this phone too. I've missed this blog.
No apology necessary! I was very happy for my FB well wishes.
I've had a thing about Ian McShane since Lovejoy. Did you see that odd series he did called "Kings"? It's too based on biblical myths for me, but he kicked arse in that.
Haven't seen either of those.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-27 07:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-27 08:19 pm (UTC)I'll have a look at both.
Old Testament bs. New Testament bs. It's all the same to me.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-27 07:32 pm (UTC)So say we all.
...couldn't they have devised names for regions that weren't all two-word combinations: Freemarch, Moonshade, Iron Pine, Scarwood, Shimmersand, and Silverwood...
I've actually gotten the impression that except for a few of these, the names are sort of revised from earlier in-game regional names. Scarwood would not have actually been considered a scar of anything before the Guardians ripped down all the woods. The Droughtlands was once the ancient capitol of the nation of Eth. Freemarch might not have been called that before the Wardens took over.
Anyway. Sorry about the floor-cake. Was anything salvageable?
I cleared some of the Fed Ex Quests I had lingering from Droughtlands and poked my head in Shimmersand and Stillmoor. Celinn might have a hard time keeping up with Iron Pine since Shimmersands are thick with the cult that has her special attention (the Golden Maw), and Stillmoor is apparently what used to be the Mathosian kingdom (now overrun by the Endless Court), and includes the spot where Aedraxis and Regulos merged (as seen in the Guardian starting area). Celinn has a compelling urge to check that out. It's going to be difficult for her to keep her attention on IPP for the moment.
It's dumb, and you'll hate this, but I sorta had a heartwarming moment when I found a undead-plagued city in Stillmoor called "Belmont" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castlevania).
no subject
Date: 2011-05-27 08:21 pm (UTC)I've actually gotten the impression that except for a few of these, the names are sort of revised from earlier in-game regional names. Scarwood would not have actually been considered a scar of anything before the Guardians ripped down all the woods. The Droughtlands was once the ancient capitol of the nation of Eth. Freemarch might not have been called that before the Wardens took over.
This is no excuse, but only points to other weaknesses.
Anyway. Sorry about the floor-cake. Was anything salvageable?
Sort of. Kind of.
IPP?
It's dumb, and you'll hate this
Yep.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-27 10:54 pm (UTC)In regard to the rest, I regret that I am full of disappointing statements.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-27 08:10 pm (UTC)I think yours are the nicest words I've read about the new Pirates of the Caribbbean. Maybe I'll check it out, after all, once it's in less-expensive second run. I understand that the 5th movie is already being worked on. Too bad, I say.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-27 09:58 pm (UTC)I understand that the 5th movie is already being worked on. Too bad, I say.
I find it hard to believe Depp would sign on for a 5th film.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-27 10:00 pm (UTC)And, in fact, hasn't said for sure that he would. To quote movie line, "Johnny Depp has said that he would reprise his role as the charming pirate depending on the 'story, script and filmmaker.'"
no subject
Date: 2011-05-27 10:55 pm (UTC)Belated Birthday Blessings By Buoyant Batrachian Behemoths Beneath.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-27 11:33 pm (UTC)Went to see the new Pirates earlier today, was fun and pretty and very little to do with On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers.
I'd not read the book.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-28 01:01 am (UTC)I didn't wish you a happy birthday on the day, but I wish you much happiness in the year ahead.
And I've been having waffling thoughts about pushing a present on you, but it would involve picking out a short bit of poetry or lyric or text and that's a sticking point. Sticky waffling. Feh.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-27 10:56 pm (UTC)I'm waiting with bated breath for both the Ravens and the new subpress collection, and the bits you're posting about the current work sound wonderful.
Happy Birthday!
Date: 2011-05-28 07:02 am (UTC)Keep taking Rift. I doubt I'll join, but I may look it up... and from there, who knows? You could totally go into sales, y'know, if you didn't have standards. Or wait -- are the Rift people paying for viral marketing stuff? Totally oughta.
K.
Re: Happy Birthday!
Date: 2011-05-28 07:37 am (UTC)