Caitlín R. Kiernan (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
greygirlbeast) wrote2011-11-12 12:52 pm
greygirlbeast) wrote2011-11-12 12:52 pm
Entry tags:
"You've told your last white lie. Everything is not alright."
Until fifteen minutes ago I'd never even heard of QR Code, but I just read an article about how it's probably on its way out. This is life inside our tiny house, mostly insulated from the baffling and pointless press of current events and so-called innovations. We have always lived in the castle.
Speaking of techie stuff (right, LJ can spell "techie"), I remain entirely unimpressed by the clips I've seen from Skyrim. Looks to me like the game is suffering from the same fundamental problem it had way back with Morrowind, when I complained endlessly about how stiff the characters looked, how few "points of articulation" they seemed to possess. There is very little fluidity to the animation of Skyrim, in part because it's trying to be photorealistic (but LJ can't spell "photorealistic") and, in so doing, has entered that Uncanny Valley where animated films directed by Robert Zemeckis go to die. I saw a clip of mammoths. No, I don't know why fantasy games are so fond of mammoths...or yetis...but that's not the point. These mammoths were so almost-but-not-quite-real it hurt to look at them. And their fur looked like they used far too much product in those shaggy manes. WoW avoids the Uncanny Valley problem by wisely opting to steer far, far away from photorealism, and Rift treads a fine line. Rift looks fantastic, but one step nearer photorealism, and the illusion would collapse. Those poor Skyrim mammoths, I just want to wash their fur, and don't even get me started on how silly the first-person mode looks (I actually "laughed out loud"). And the Skyrim animation is almost as jerky as the old Morrowind animation, ten years back.
---
Yesterday, I wrote a very respectable 1,602 words on "Ex Libris." It should surprise no one this is a story about malign books. No. That's wrong. About how women and men shape, wield, and bend books for malign purposes. Meanwhile, Spooky read, line by line (x2) the galleys of The Drowning Girl: A Memoir, finding the mysterious changes to the text. It would drive me to stab myself in the face with a fork, what Spooky's doing; she's made it through the first three chapters (out of ten). She may be finished by Monday evening. Late yesterday, I picked the cover layout that will be used on Confessions of a Five-Chambered Heart, and talked with Bill Schafer at Subterranean Press about the cover design for The Yellow Book hardback. I have to find just the right shade of yellow. I wanted to begin the introduction I'm writing for Confessions of a Five-Chambered Heart, which I'm calling "Sexing the Weird," and which I've actually outlined (unlike fiction, nonfiction is amenable to outlines). But I was too tired from all that writing. Instead, I had a hot bath, a fifteen minute nap, Chinese takeout, and a cup of coffee.
---
Last night, we watched the last three episodes of Torchwood: Miracle Day. When I first said that we were watching it, there were people who warned me it started off great, but fell apart somewhere in the middle. But I saw nothing of the sort. Quite the contrary. Every episode grew stronger, and Miracle Day is definitely the best Torchwood we've seen so far, in every way. Gwen truly has come into her own. I recall the first episode of the show, back in 2006, how much I hated her. Now, I adore her. That mousey little policewoman has become a bloody force of nature. I'd love to see her paired with the Ninth Doctor. Could do without the dopey husband, but I figure if she sees something in him, I ought give him the benefit of the doubt. Anyway, yes. I highly recommend Torchwood: Miracle Day – great storytelling, characterization, visuals (thank you, better production values), and so forth. I cheered. I cringed. I laughed. I almost cried. It was very, very fine.
By the way, I am beginning to believe that the old episodic nature of a lot of "television" series is changing. I tried to imagine having to watch Torchwood: Miracle Day broken up into episodes, one every week or two, broadcast over an hour and subdivided by insufferable commercials. We watched the series over three nights, all ten episodes. It's hard to believe the punch wouldn't have been lost if we'd been forced to watch it over the two-month span of its original broadcast. It makes me think that maybe some "television" producers and directors are getting wise to how many people wait for the DVDs, Hulu, or Netflix, then watch the whole thing at once.
Wake up. Time to write.
Burning with the Fires of Orc,
Aunt Beast
Speaking of techie stuff (right, LJ can spell "techie"), I remain entirely unimpressed by the clips I've seen from Skyrim. Looks to me like the game is suffering from the same fundamental problem it had way back with Morrowind, when I complained endlessly about how stiff the characters looked, how few "points of articulation" they seemed to possess. There is very little fluidity to the animation of Skyrim, in part because it's trying to be photorealistic (but LJ can't spell "photorealistic") and, in so doing, has entered that Uncanny Valley where animated films directed by Robert Zemeckis go to die. I saw a clip of mammoths. No, I don't know why fantasy games are so fond of mammoths...or yetis...but that's not the point. These mammoths were so almost-but-not-quite-real it hurt to look at them. And their fur looked like they used far too much product in those shaggy manes. WoW avoids the Uncanny Valley problem by wisely opting to steer far, far away from photorealism, and Rift treads a fine line. Rift looks fantastic, but one step nearer photorealism, and the illusion would collapse. Those poor Skyrim mammoths, I just want to wash their fur, and don't even get me started on how silly the first-person mode looks (I actually "laughed out loud"). And the Skyrim animation is almost as jerky as the old Morrowind animation, ten years back.
---
Yesterday, I wrote a very respectable 1,602 words on "Ex Libris." It should surprise no one this is a story about malign books. No. That's wrong. About how women and men shape, wield, and bend books for malign purposes. Meanwhile, Spooky read, line by line (x2) the galleys of The Drowning Girl: A Memoir, finding the mysterious changes to the text. It would drive me to stab myself in the face with a fork, what Spooky's doing; she's made it through the first three chapters (out of ten). She may be finished by Monday evening. Late yesterday, I picked the cover layout that will be used on Confessions of a Five-Chambered Heart, and talked with Bill Schafer at Subterranean Press about the cover design for The Yellow Book hardback. I have to find just the right shade of yellow. I wanted to begin the introduction I'm writing for Confessions of a Five-Chambered Heart, which I'm calling "Sexing the Weird," and which I've actually outlined (unlike fiction, nonfiction is amenable to outlines). But I was too tired from all that writing. Instead, I had a hot bath, a fifteen minute nap, Chinese takeout, and a cup of coffee.
---
Last night, we watched the last three episodes of Torchwood: Miracle Day. When I first said that we were watching it, there were people who warned me it started off great, but fell apart somewhere in the middle. But I saw nothing of the sort. Quite the contrary. Every episode grew stronger, and Miracle Day is definitely the best Torchwood we've seen so far, in every way. Gwen truly has come into her own. I recall the first episode of the show, back in 2006, how much I hated her. Now, I adore her. That mousey little policewoman has become a bloody force of nature. I'd love to see her paired with the Ninth Doctor. Could do without the dopey husband, but I figure if she sees something in him, I ought give him the benefit of the doubt. Anyway, yes. I highly recommend Torchwood: Miracle Day – great storytelling, characterization, visuals (thank you, better production values), and so forth. I cheered. I cringed. I laughed. I almost cried. It was very, very fine.
By the way, I am beginning to believe that the old episodic nature of a lot of "television" series is changing. I tried to imagine having to watch Torchwood: Miracle Day broken up into episodes, one every week or two, broadcast over an hour and subdivided by insufferable commercials. We watched the series over three nights, all ten episodes. It's hard to believe the punch wouldn't have been lost if we'd been forced to watch it over the two-month span of its original broadcast. It makes me think that maybe some "television" producers and directors are getting wise to how many people wait for the DVDs, Hulu, or Netflix, then watch the whole thing at once.
Wake up. Time to write.
Burning with the Fires of Orc,
Aunt Beast
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I still think it had lots of promise, but failed to deliver.
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I still think it had lots of promise, but failed to deliver.
And I must, as I already have, respectfully insist you could not be more wrong. I never felt a moment of flabby pacing.
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Also, have you read this essay (http://www.urbanomic.com/Publications/Collapse-4/PDFs/C4_China_Mieville.pdf) by China Mieville on the ghost story/weird tale dyad? As anything written by him, it's worth a look.
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I really couldn't stand Rex at all.
I found him rather endearing.
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Anyways, my limited edition of Two Worlds and In Between arrived today and it has that wonderful new book smell, which always makes me very happy. My book is number 281 and I live in Gettysburg, PA.
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My book is number 281 and I live in Gettysburg, PA.
I love these declarations.
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You should start making a map.
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I have book 316 in Delta, Ohio.
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That would be absolutely bloody friggin' brilliant to see.
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That would be absolutely bloody friggin' brilliant to see.
Wouldn't it, though?
Uncanny Valley.
LotRo suffers slightly from this as well. Ugly elves, impossible anatomy for humans, spears held the wrong way. It's far better than anything by Bethesda though.
I've seen many people pick up on this sort of thing where games are discussed. Very early in the process, game developers should use some sort of quality control group with demonstrated good taste, discernment, and understanding of artistic anatomy.
Re: Uncanny Valley.
Ugly models, bad animation. Such a wasted opportunity.
Yep.
LotRo suffers slightly from this as well. Ugly elves, impossible anatomy for humans, spears held the wrong way. It's far better than anything by Bethesda though.
I'd have to say LotRO suffers from the same problem more than a little. It seems very, very stiff after having played WoW for three years. But yeah, better than Bethesda.
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We watched Torchwood: Miracle Day in its original form, every week, and I think the punch was actually stronger that way. Being on pay cable there were NO commercials, and I agree that cutting away to sell deodorant or worse would have been horrible. If it's ever broadcast on a commercial channel, I probably won't watch.
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He supports her and Torchwood
I think the supporting Torchwood part is open to debate. Seems to me he reluctantly backs up Gwen's efforts, having no other choice.
oor Rhys! Everyone seems to wish he weren't around,
Maybe were he even the least bit interesting, and not such a lump.
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So that avoided when SciFi first aired the episode of Battlestar Galactica that opened the show's final half-season. A bad gun shot happens, blood splatters, characters understandably freak, the screen cuts to black...and then there was A TOMATO SOUP COMMERCIAL with a cracker splashing into the soup. I saw that in a theater screening with 650 other people. A lot of us started screaming, too. Bad, bad, bad.
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Were you in the Bagdad, too? It didn't help that a lot of us hadn't quite yet figured out that we'd just seen a character commit suicide; a lot of us were still Wait, what happened, and why is Gaeta kneeling so awkwardly screaming for a medic and OHSHIT SOMEONE'S DEAD -- and THEN that damned ad!
I got to all of those Bagdad screenings of Battlestar, including the night that Mark Verheiden spoke and the night Katee Sackhoff was the guest! Good, if sometimes insane, times.
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The Crimson Alphabet came out fucking beautiful too!
I was rather pleased with it myself.
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I cannot disapprove of that idea.
I have to find just the right shade of yellow.
Is it the color of the house?
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Could Confessions of a Five-Chambered Heart get any more boss?!? If I could pre-order the limited edition this instant I would. With all the wild success of Two Worlds And In Between & the Dark Horse Alabaster news I predict it'll be your fastest selling collection to date. Reading the recent NY Times article made those of us who have been devoted to your work for years go "UH YEAH, ya' don't say..."
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I think, in some ways, Rhys gives her the impetus to do her superGwen stuff. She Knows all this stuff, and he reminds her of her life before she was exposed to it, and even if she can't spare him the full compliment of horrors and secret wars, which I think was what she originally tried to do, then at least she knows why she's fighting. He's not a complete muppet, and in some ways his muppetishness is the product of her earlier attempts to shelter him. Without settling into the ignorance is bliss fallacy and staying there, which is shite, there are some things we can afford to spare the ones we love, if we have been irreversibly exposed to them ourselves, things which don't necessarily make us stronger and more competent in the face of the unknown. If Rhys understood the full extent of Gwen's job and what it entails, I think it would be detrimental to both of them. He gives her a perspective essential to her maintaining her sense of compassion and purpose.
Referring to our previous conversations about letting people run havoc through your imagination, I posted yesterday about Bast's funeral (http://opalblack.livejournal.com/126959.html) and today about Cat Mythscapes (and some other crap) (http://opalblack.livejournal.com/127108.html), which may go a way towards explaining what I'm going to do next. It will not involve talking cats. That's just silly.