"They won't follow me. Shadows, they fear the sun."

[greygirlbeast]

Here 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. 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.

Comments

[kylecassidy.livejournal.com]

facebook has the little thingie saying "GGBs birthday is today" hanging on the side of the screen. as a delivery vehicle for birthday wishes, facebook is the superior engine, but it's never going to beat livejournal for doing what you did right here, and for allowing substantive discussions to go on in blog comments.....

[egologic.livejournal.com]

Fellini pizza? Interesting.

I wonder if that would be anything like Almodovar quiche.

Personally, I feel like a Hitchcocksucker.

[sovay]

Truthfully, any birthday that includes watching a school of mermaids drag a pirate ship into the briny deep can't be all bad.

I do have to approve of that.

Also, that is a pretty smoking poem rozk wrote.

[ashlyme.livejournal.com]

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.

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.

[ashlyme.livejournal.com]

Lovejoy was a BBC crime/comedy series about a "lovable rogue" (wince) antique dealer. Kings is based on the story of King David, but set modern-day. McShane played a very ambivalent patriarch in it. He was superb, but most of the other characters were cookie-cutter types. It was 'interesting', kind of slipstream, ran to thirteen episodes. I wouldn't recommend it except for him. Too much Old Testament bs.

[stsisyphus.livejournal.com]

Ian McShane is a goddamn force of Nature, but he must be free to say cocksucker as many times as is necessary.

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).

[lois2037.livejournal.com]

Glad this year's birthday was so much better, in spite of floor cake.

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.

[jessamyg.livejournal.com]

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 watch another one, and do look forward to getting a box set with all 4 films.

Belated Birthday Blessings By Buoyant Batrachian Behemoths Beneath.

[alumiere.livejournal.com]

Happy belated birthday; I'm still reading, but travel has me offline pretty regularly til next week. Then I have to catch back up on life and will still be behind on LJ.

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!

[fusijui.livejournal.com]

Belatedly. Hope it isn't just lame and irritating to keep hearing it at this point. Sorry I didn't get you anything... though for some reason I don't actually mind so much if _that_ irritates you.

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.