Baxil [bakh-HEEL'], n.

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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in the "Baxil" journal:

[<< Previous 20 entries]

September 28th, 2007
02:51 am [Link]	WUTNWHWL! Sorry for my silence lately -- been getting distracted with offline things such as Go, video games (Shadow Hearts: From The New World is my latest timesuck) and writing. Yep, writing. Still making slow by steady progress on the Ambitious Cat tales ... I just seem to have a knack for transforming tiny scene sketches into multi-thousand-word monsters. While the latest story (which stars both Kiasu and the Redeemers -- and a great deal of subsequent fireworks) is still very much In Progress, I ran across a snippet in my old notes tonight that is ready to see the light of day. (For some value of "ready" that includes both "demented but hilarious" and "cringe-inducing," anyway.) It ... well, um, I think I'll just have to let it speak for itself. So. Never-before-seen SONG LYRICS! (A catchy rock riff introduces an upbeat tune of the sort played by quirky yet talented college bands across the nation.) This singles bar is getting old. I don't know why I came. You look bored too. May I be bold And ask you for your name? Me? I'm a creature of the night A real moonlight child. You seem like the adventurous type -- Wanna go play ... doggy style? We can -- (Suddenly, with no warning, POWER CHORDS! And DRUM FLAILING! The ENTIRE BAND sings in ALMOST-HARMONY! With WOLVES HOWLING! And maybe a banjo, or a theremin, or something!) WAKE UP THE NEIGHBORS! WAKE UP THE NEIGHBORS! WAKE UP THE NEIGHBORS! WAKE UP THE NEIGHBORS! With ... HOT WEREWOLF LUUUV! (Back to the normal instrumentation, but more animated this time, and with 82% fewer pretensions of taking this seriously) You know, you're right, my line lacked taste I'm grateful for the clue You bit me with such canine grace And fur is just so you. Another wolf out cruising bars! I can't believe my luck! To celebrate this find of ours Let's go out back and -- (POWER CHORDS again! Of course.) WAKE UP THE NEIGHBORS! WAKE UP THE NEIGHBORS! WAKE UP THE NEIGHBORS! WAKE UP THE NEIGHBORS! With ... HOT WEREWOLF LUUUV!! I know you're mad, but hear me out This meeting must be fate All these little signs -- like just now, when you threw me through that plate-glass window? I LIKE that in a mate! (BRIDGE! Instrumental n' shit!** A drum solo in the finest tradition of epileptic seizures! Wolf howls! Ambulance sirens! Thrills!) You're right, I just can't take a no But still, you can't disguise Your tail wagging to and fro The interest in your lovely eyes I like your style -- hey, there's that smile! C'mon, I'll take you home Why, sure -- we'll chase sticks for a while Before we bury some bones As we WAKE UP THE NEIGHBORS! WAKE UP THE NEIGHBORS! WAKE UP THE NEIGHBORS! WAKE UP THE NEIGHBORS! With ... HOT WEREWOLF LUUUV!! Yip! Yip! Yip! Yip! AROOOOOOOO!!! (instrumental thrashing and howling, out) Anyway: This shamelessly silly TTU song is called HOT WEREWOLF LUUUV Written by The Howl in 1997, for their eponymous first album*** -- * This note left intentionally blank. Yes, this is how I wrote it out in the original scribbled lyrics page. * But, of course, out here in the non-TTU world it was really written by me.** Oh, shit! I probably didn't want to admit that. Current Location: ~/laptop Current Music: Yip yip yip AROOOO! Tags:** lyrics, my brain now hurts, ttu, writing (24 comments \| Leave a comment)
July 16th, 2007
09:58 am [Link]	New TTU story! A little something to liven up your Monday morning. And a long one, too -- just over 6,000 words: Finders Keepers Its wiki page is up as well. This was meant to be an Ambitious Cat project, but got a little too ... um ... ambitious, and took on a life of its own. After I take care of a few chores I've been procrastinating on, I'll wrap up the microstories and start seriously adding content to the wiki again. Current Location: ~yuba Current Mood: working Current Music: Bach, "Allegro - Brandenburg Concerto No. 2" Tags: ttu, writing (Leave a comment)
June 8th, 2007
02:04 am [Link]	The write stuff Alright, time for a break from the unintentional morbidity ... It's time for ~~ART~~ TTU WRITING MEME! To quote summer_jackel: You give me a brief idea, scenario or just a word, and [optionally] specify which character(s). I will come back with a quick ~~sketch~~ ficbit. The characters you can use are listed below. ... I will take the first 10 or so, or until I get tired of it. I don't insist on meme spreadage, but if you're an artist/writer and want to, pass it on. If you include it, let me know so I can tag you back. :) ( Further details ) ( character minutiae ) Current Location: ~/brainstorm Current Mood: calm Current Music: POTUSA, "Peaches" Tags: ask me a question, ttu, writing (12 comments \| Leave a comment)
01:59 am [Link]	TTU ficbit: Sara and Alex And to kick off the TTU writing meme, Sara and Alex's first meeting. He was sitting on the patio in the cold, ears pointed low, arms crossed against the damp wind, staring vacantly at the city lights cupped in the hands of San Francisco's hills. At the sliding of the glass door, his whiskers straightened and his ears swiveled, though his muzzle didn't turn. ( She stepped out into the night ... ) Current Location: ~/brainstorm Current Mood: creative Current Music: Ian Moore, "Us/Them" Tags: ttu, writing (1 comment \| Leave a comment)
February 1st, 2007
03:20 am [Link]	TWO new TTU stories! Hey, y'all remember that whole Tomorrowlands Universe thing? The one with the wiki that's been eating my brain for a month and a half? Turns out someone finally remembered its purpose in the first place: A setting for stories. Stories! Fancy that. So without further ado, let us present the tale of Smith, who ... um ... "stars" in a drama in two short, interchangeable acts: Ascension \| Declination Read them in either order. Many thanks to roaminrob for the inspiration -- and for letting me name his story "Ascension" so I could dig for the pun. Thanks also to my muse for forcing me to write "Declination" in response, a 600-word conversation with 19 words of dialogue. Current Location: ~/computer_desk Current Mood: accomplished Current Music: Royan Crown Revue, "Deadly Nightcall" Tags: ttu, writing (Leave a comment)
January 16th, 2007
03:25 am [Link]	Much dragon wuv Looks like I'm a bit slow on the draw for Trogday. TROOOOOOOOGDAY! TROOOOOOOGDAY! Birthdaynating the countryside, birthdaynating the peasants ... On the other hand, I'm writing this post just in time to point out Appreciate a Dragon Day. Yay! (via xydexx) Of course, it's possible you don't have enough dragons in your life to appreciate. So I decided to offer you my assistance in locating one. A broad and rigorous selection process was undertaken, at the end of which your humble author was surprised to find that he was the chosen candidate. So surprised, in fact, that he lapsed into third person for two sentences before clearing his throat and moving on to the point. If you want to help a dragon out today, I can't imagine anything I'd appreciate more than a few pictures for the TTU Wiki.* One of my goals for the place is to start accumulating spot art to give important pages a little visual zest. For example, wouldn't the page on The First Sighting be more vivid if there was a picture of the video footage to go along with the story excerpts? Or the Los Angeles Riots? In return for my request of creativity, I've been adding story pages and world background to the wiki; CategoryStories now has summaries and pointers for some 15 short stories that few people have read since 2003, the era timeline sketches out history and WikiNews summarizes the work in progress. The place is taking shape, slowly but surely. -- * To be specific, simple ones. Line art (or even a finished-looking sketch) is quite sufficient, and what I embed on the page would be 200-300 pixels wide (though it could link to a higher-resolution version). All art would be fully and gratefully credited. Current Location: ~/computer_desk Current Mood: draconic Current Music: The Infinity Project, "Cybertropic" Tags: draconity, requests, ttu (3 comments \| Leave a comment)
January 14th, 2007
03:00 pm [Link]	Holy shit ... Google gets cooler every day While writing the above post, I did some quick Google research for the origins of the D&D magic system ... only to discover a surprising quirk of their search engine. Check out this Google search for "dungeons dragons." Notice anything odd? ... Notice how the context highlighting matches the input phrase dungeons dragons to the page phrase D&D? (Based on my prior search, this is true even for pages on which the words "dungeons" and "dragons" don't appear.) Maybe I wasn't forward-thinking enough when I created DWIM for the TTU setting. Earth web searches might get there yet, magic or no. Current Location: ~calorg Current Mood: surprised Current Music: The Bee Gees, "Tragedy" Tags: geekery, roleplaying, ttu (10 comments \| Leave a comment)
December 18th, 2006
02:50 am [Link]	Ten years ago today ... ... the world suddenly and irrevocably Changed. Ten years ago today, that first dragon to walk the earth sent shockwaves through reality that we are feeling still. Ten years ago today, magic returned. It's been a great ten years. So, happy birthday, The Tomorrowlands Universe. I got you a present. I am happy to announce that I have just opened the doors on the new TTU Wiki. As I and others have written almost a decade's worth of stories, the universe information keeps getting more and more scattered; it's time to start condensing that, and to make TTU what it was meant to be from the beginning -- a vibrant shared setting that a group of writers continuously draws upon and expands. If you're interested in The Tomorrowlands Universe -- as a writer, reader, or otherwise -- come join the wiki. Add and discuss ideas. Help make it your universe too. Don't worry if you don't know much about the story setting yet -- this is the best possible time to jump in. It's a new community, there will be plenty of energy and plenty of explanations, and we can answer your questions quickly and vividly. There's even (separate) plans brewing for online roleplaying. Hope to see you there. (Just be warned that the wiki is still very thin. The software's been polished and tested, but I had planned to give myself another week or two to build up the content there. Then I realized the timing of the anniversary was an opportunity I had to seize.) Edited to add: Comment here with your wiki username and I'll toss you editing privileges straight away. :) Current Location: ~/computer_desk Current Mood: accomplished Current Music: "10 Years On The Inside," Dwayne Ford Tags: tlands, ttu (9 comments \| Leave a comment)
December 14th, 2006
12:21 am [Link]	Notes on the run In case you somehow blinked and missed the news, Science* has spoken: soybeans make you gay. (I'd include a punchline here, but I'm getting post-traumatic stress flashbacks to Orson Scott Card's latest novel. Maybe there was tofu in Malich's MRE that morning ...?) In entirely unrelated news, elynne is brewing up some plans for a " LJ-based, freestyle, write-your-own-adventure Tomorrowlands roleplaying game." If people are interested in this, I'm willing to put on my Wise Universe Moderator shoes and help out. So, as the famous bloggers say, "follow the link." -- * Science, as in, science with an asterisk (and maybe a few pairs of "ironic quotes"). You know. Kind of like Barry Bonds' "home-run record" . Current Location: ~/computer_desk Current Mood: amused Current Music: "Divine Moments of Truth," Shpongle Tags: politics, ttu (2 comments \| Leave a comment)
December 13th, 2006
04:45 am [Link]	BaMoTTuStoTTwo wrap-up November's now behind us, and it's all over but the voting. I refer, of course, to BaMoTTuStoTTwo (my second Month of TTU Stories). It was a nice challenge. This year's 18,500 words didn't quite meet the prolificity standard set by the first attempt's 40,532, but I'm proud with what came out. Part of that pride is that I tried something I hadn't done with TTU yet: Write stories in its present day. Virtually all of my offerings have been set within a year or two after the Changes. Leapfrogging forward to the era of New Atlantis' raising, and taking a look at a time when therianthropy is fading into uneasy acceptance, was a good way to stretch the world's boundaries. Another part of my pride is that I also made good on my choice to go all-culturalia this year. (For you readers who haven't been here a while, "culturalia" is the term I've coined to describe my occasional artifacts-from-a-parallel-universe. Fictional non-fiction.) Not only did I produce eight slices of TTU life rather than "stories", I wove them together in a single strand. I mention this because it's worth marveling at how these things can flow out when you find your creative groove. Anyway, I'm going to take a cue from last time, and give y'all a chance to weigh in on the BaMoTTuStories ...: Poll #887897 Pick a winner or three Open to: All, results viewable to: All Pick up to three of November's offerings that you think were this year's best. View Answers Scary Stories - The decade-old article that gets Fang's nostalgia running. 0 (0.0%) DWIM - Introducing magitech Web search technology. 2 (33.3%) Dangerous Waters - On board the New Atlantis Project's flagship. 5 (83.3%) Fire Flies - Magic in the movies. 1 (16.7%) Exploding the Conspiracy - Dark hints of intrigue behind an international standoff. 1 (16.7%) A dwivination Discovery - Explaining some novel applications of magisearch. 2 (33.3%) Still Crazy After All These Years* - Two old friends' e-mail conversation builds to an uneasy climax. 0 (0.0%) Elements - Rules for a real-time card-game mages' duel. 1 (16.7%) * (You can read the e-mail conversation mentioned above, and all of the other stories along the way, by following these links in order: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]. Non-convo posts: [8] [dwivinations]; [9] [Elements].) Additionally, I'd love to hear any random feedback below. (And/or egoboo -- it's no big sin to have Praise Whore Moments once in a while.) It'll help keep my enthusiasm buzz at a nice high while I lay the groundwork for the TTU wiki. ... Oops, was that my outside voice? :) Current Location: ~/computer_desk Current Mood: happy Current Music: "Don't You Forget About Me," Simple Minds Tags: bamottustottwo, ttu, writing (1 comment \| Leave a comment)
November 30th, 2006
11:59 pm [Link]	Chapter 7: In which a crazy idea gets taken a little too far `To: "CB Fox" <cbf@feralnet.net> From: "claw n fang" <redwolves@therimail.com> Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2006, 22:22:23 GMT -0800 Subject: Re: Getting some DWIM answers` Lucky me, I can't sleep. :-( At least this means I was up to receive both your letters. Might as well respond to them right away and see if that gets me any closer to shut-eye. ( The e-mail exchange draws to a close ...: ) Current Location: ~/computer_desk Current Mood: finished Tags: bamottustottwo, ttu, writing (Leave a comment)
November 29th, 2006
04:42 pm [Link]	The search for search answers (1 of 2) `To: "Fang, Claw N" <redwolves@therimail.com> From: "Technical Support - FeralNet" <cbf@feralnet.net> Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2006, 21:53:17 GMT -0800 Subject: Getting some DWIM answers` Yay new magitech! Hee hee ... sorry to laugh at your frustration with 3T, but you have to admit that's funny :-D As for the search. Whoah. Let's see if I can explain this. First of all, I passed it on to Geo, who gave me the dwim lead in the first place. You and Claw met him last year at Jen's wedding. He's on the dwim development team. They love little mysteries like this. Don't worry, I didn't mention the Gold search. I'm not stupid ;-) He's getting back to me with what he finds out. I'll pass that on probably later tonight. But he did explain to me a little about what they call "dwivinations." It's only a few searches that can turn up freaky results like that. If there's too little information available on the web, it will say essentially "I don't know", like with the Discovery location. If there's a lot of information available, it will go for the most reliable, like with the Gold murders. So basically neither of those is going to turn up different results than you got, no matter how you word it. Unless new facts come up and get made public. btw, my search results for the government search thing were the same. So it wasn't just you. I also tried out the search you suggested, about latitude and longitude. What it gave me was totp://dwim.mag/search?type=saved&user=justthefox&id=f6aAqj38CehS4b&authas=redwolves, the coordinates of the island the vacation pictures you mentioned were taken on. Those pictures were the first result in the plus sign. So I got a more specific answer but based on the same info. Hehehe ... I guess your search with the Pacific map shows dwim has a sense of humor :) As for Claw ... I don't know. :( I'm worried too but I'm worried for both of you. You guys have been with each other a long time ... please don't let this hurt you, ok? He owes you an explanation but you don't even know he was involved with whatever happened. Don't assume he lied until you have a chance to talk. If you think it would be easier maybe I can ask him. Let me know. And look ... I hate seeing you like this. Maybe it would help to come over on Saturday and we can spend the night? I know it's been a while ... I don't want this to be awkward, I never did. But you've been having some rough times. I'd hate myself if I couldn't make the offer. Getting some of this off your chest or maybe getting a little distracted might do you good? Love you, wuffie. Things will be ok. `## ## ## CB Fox, Systems Analyst and Senior Technical Support ## ## ## Phone (510) 555-HOWL ext. 144; cbf@feralnet.net; on-call 9am-9pm Mon-Sat # FeralNet - The nation's first theri-run ISP, serving the S.F. Bay Area Open to all * Quality service * Dial-up, ISDN, DSL. http://feralnet.net` Current Location: ~calorg Current Mood: writiful Current Music: Moonman, "Galaxia (Solar Stone remix)" Tags: bamottustottwo, ttu, writing (Leave a comment)
04:36 pm [Link]	The search for search answers (2 of 2) `To: "Fang, Claw N" <redwolves@therimail.com> From: "Technical Support - FeralNet" <cbf@feralnet.net> Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2006, 21:54:02 GMT -0800 Subject: FWD: Re: That search we were talking about` And here it is. -- Forwarded Message ------------------------------------- `To: "CB Fox (Feralnet)" <cbf@feralnet.net> From: "George Sinclair" <geosincronous@dwimail.com> Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2006, 18:16:34 GMT -0800 Subject: Re: That search we were talking about` > > A mystery indeed! Do you mind if I do a > > little digging and blog about your friend's > > search? > > Should be alright :) But just in case, maybe you > should take his name out of it entirely, and any > context for the search? I know he wants his > privacy. Fair enough. Here's what I posted. Subject: A dwivination Discovery Tags: dwivination, tinfoil hat, current events Regular readers of our dev-team blog already know that one of our favorite games here at bwim is trying to puzzle out "dwivinations," those search results that are so counterintuitive or bizarre that even magic seems insufficient to explain them. Another stellar example comes to us today by way of a friend of mine who just got hired to dwim-dev. (Congratulations, and see you in the office!) He related to me a search that someone shared with him regarding the New Atlantis Project's recent run-ins with the U.S. government. Take a look at totp://dwim.mag/search?type=saved&user=geosincronous&id=f55HX2aOTp95dB and tell me that didn't send your jaw to the floor. For those of you following along without magitech or who are too lazy to click on the link, that would be a dwiv for "Why isn't the government magically searching for the Discovery?" (the Discovery being the NAP's flagship on their island-raising mission; great reading on them in the current Vanity Parade.) The top link goes to www.annapolis-usna.edu/journal/archive/2006-09-27/06jackson.html (subscription wall; BugMeNot). In a nutshell, a September news brief about a history professor being injured in a natural gas leak. As others have written here, us non-digital beings can easily create ways to link two seemingly unrelated events -- albeit implausible and/or uncomfortable ways. We just don't expect our computers to have that same power. And they don't; search results follow a strictly logical and verifiable process. While DWIM's searches are based on proprietary magical technology, that magic serves exactly two well-defined purposes: Organizing the end user's thoughts, to distill vague desire for knowledge into a coherent question with a coherent answer; and comparing that question against a database of human-generated knowledge. It can't know anything we don't already know; it can't play the what-if games that lead us into conspiracy theories. It can only search for and connect public facts. The chain that DWIM follows unrolls from question to partial answer to refined question to better answer, etc. It can't go anywhere the facts don't lead. So how did it make the seemingly conspiratorial link between the continuing inaction of the world's most powerful government and a single barely notable pipe failure? As usual, the results of dev-team research are below the fold, to give readers a chance to scour the Web themselves before seeing the "official" conclusions. ( Read more ... ) Readers, feel free to flesh out the research or post questions below. As always, we welcome your dwivination submissions at dwim_dev@dwimail.com. - geo Current Location: ~calorg Current Mood: writeiful Current Music: "Secrets," Mike Oldfield Tags: bamottustottwo, ttu, writing (2 comments \| Leave a comment)
November 27th, 2006
02:34 am [Link]	The dark side of magical search `To: "CB Fox" <cbf@feralnet.net> From: "claw n fang" <redwolves@therimail.com> Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2006, 16:07:46 GMT -0800 Subject: Meanwhile, with my new DWIM membership` Hey, vix! Sorry I haven't gotten back to you -- I got unexpectedly busy. I've been falling a little behind in my Search & Rescue qualifications. I kept meaning to take care of that, but Kev finally managed to corner me about it, and I couldn't put it off any longer. I've just spent most of the last two days on my WFR re-cert, (because if I did it next week like I was planning I'd have to miss the glacier refresher). In the meantime, the MagiTech Input Sphere (tm) I ordered on Sunday arrived! I didn't get a chance to set it up until this afternoon, (blew off work for an extra day, since if I'd hit the office this morning I would have been a zombie), but I've been playing with it for a few hours, and it's an incredible piece of technology. ( Thought-to-text translation, a DWIM test drive, and the disturbing relevance of the following article: ) Naval Academy Journal Annapolis, Md. September 24, 2006 Professor Injured In Weekend Explosion Journal Staff Report A freak accident on Saturday in Washington, D.C. left nine people injured, including an Academy naval history professor. Cmdr. Ryan Jackson was taken to the hospital in serious condition after what the Defense Department described as a "natural gas explosion" in the Douglas MacArthur Memorial Building in Washington, D.C. Jackson suffered second- and third-degree burns over large areas of his body, broke three fingers, and fractured a rib. He was released from the hospital on Monday evening. Defense spokesman Tim Adrian said that an underground gas line apparently was leaking into a room where Jackson and others were holding a private meeting on the Academy's 2007 outreach programs. "We did detect the leak, closed off the pipe, and were taking steps to evacuate the area for safety," Adrian said. "Unfortunately, something sparked off the gas that had already been released. The whole department's thoughts are with those injured in the incident." Jackson teaches post-WWII history, post-Changes history and the interdepartmental class "The Changing Face of The Navy." He was chair of the school's Department of Magical Studies in 2003 before the short-lived department was closed. Jackson assured students he would be back in the classroom by the end of the week. Substitutes will handle his lectures until then. Current Mood: writiful Current Music: Groove Armada, "Edge Hill" Tags: bamottustottwo, ttu, writing (Leave a comment)
November 22nd, 2006
05:20 am [Link]	Hey, and about that movie ... `To: "Fang, Claw N" <redwolves@therimail.com> From: "Technical Support - FeralNet" <cbf@feralnet.net> Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2006, 09:41:04 GMT -0800 Subject: Re: Well, THIS sure takes me back` On Sun, 22 Oct 2006, Claw N Fang wrote: > We should get together sometime. Want to jump up here next weekend? Silly wuff! I haven't seen your new place yet. You'd have to come get me, but as long as you're visiting anyway, let's hit the Cineplex near my apartment. I like their popcorn. > We could hang out in the UDist some and then catch a movie. _Holding Fire_ just started. Oooh! New Kat Crowne movie! I love love love Kat!!! She reminds me so much of who I wanted to be. She makes it look so easy. Of course, the high lasts for maybe ten minutes after the movie. Then I remember how it all came crashing down for us ... yeah. So, yeah, I guess I'm just trying to say, I'm sorry about Claw. How can he go back to that? But at the same time I hope it works out. Somebody needs to have that dream. ... I don't mean to get all depressing on ya, pal. I also wanted to remind you how lucky you are to live in Seattle. You get to read V&V in the paper instead of online. BOTH of them are worshipping _Holding Fire_ this week. So it really MUST be good .... hehehe. Sunday work for the movie? We can meet for Indian lunch buffet first and maybe hit that arcade in Santa Clara? `## ## ## CB Fox, Systems Analyst and Senior Technical Support ## ## ## Phone (510) 555-HOWL ext. 144; cbf@feralnet.net; on-call 9am-9pm Mon-Sat # FeralNet - The nation's first theri-run ISP, serving the S.F. Bay Area Open to all * Quality service * Dial-up, ISDN, DSL. http://feralnet.net` ( Pretend this is you clicking your bookmark to the Strange City's Movie Reviews section. ) Current Location: ~/computer_desk Current Mood: writeiful Current Music: Phish, "Wolfman's Brother" Tags: bamottustottwo, ttu, writing (3 comments \| Leave a comment)
November 20th, 2006
03:08 am [Link]	It is done! And so back to the shorter stuff ... `To: "CB Fox" <cbf@feralnet.net> From: "claw n fang" <redwolves@therimail.com> Date: Sun, 22 Oct 2006, 04:13:44 GMT -0800 Subject: Re: Well, THIS sure takes me back` Good to hear from you too, vixy. ;-) We should get together sometime. Want to jump up here next weekend? We could hang out in the UDist some and then catch a movie. _Holding Fire_ just started. On Fri, 20 Oct 2006, cbf@feralnet.net wrote: > How's Claw? Is he still overseas on that Atlantis project? They're going to be out there for ... I don't know. Years, probably. :-( He comes home every time the boat hits port, but things are getting kind of dicey out there and they're spending a lot more time holed up at sea. I see the weariness in his eyes more and more every time he returns and I just don't know what to do. Claw keeps trying to convince me to go along -- I always was the better mage, and he just doesn't think he's doing a good enough job. But it scares me to see where this is going. I read things like that big feature Vanity Parade just ran (copy attached -- Claw's even in the story; he's "Ben") and the secrecy and paranoia give me flashbacks. This is a dream he needs to follow. I can't and won't stop him. But after all we've been through, I just want some peace and quiet. Is that so wrong? - Fang p.s. Re the job - oh my GODS is that cool. Magically assisted Web searches? Time for me to get a trial subscription. Hee hee ... maybe that'll even help us track down Kiasu for you. ;-) ( Attached file: 'dangerouswaters.htm' type:text/html size:42kb ) Current Location: ~/computer_desk Current Mood: accomplished Tags: bamottustottwo, best of baxil, ttu, writing (1 comment \| Leave a comment)
November 3rd, 2006
02:41 am [Link]	(There's a theme building here ...) Hey, wuffie, good to hear from you again. How's Claw? Is he still overseas on that Atlantis project? On Fri, 20 Oct 2006, crimsonfang@seattle.net wrote: > Found this while sifting ... That article does take me back. Speaking of which, what ever happened to Kiasu? There's a face I haven't seen in forever. Hehehe ... maybe I shouldn't push my luck by asking. It's sort of cool being one of the few mages that's ever met him without getting an ass-kicking. I haven't heard a final word back on the job yet, but I'm hoping. It would be really awesome. Dwim is still determined to push at the bleeding edge of magitech and it's good money. I could use some steady cash. I just wish I felt more secure about my chances. I tested really well, but my resume is crap. For obvious reasons I can't tell them about my practical magic experience, so all I've got is skill. Every time we group-interview I'm up against suits with red-hot degrees. We all know who the recruiters love to pick. I'll let you know how it goes ... in the meantime, because of the NDAs I can't talk much about the projects they'd have me work on, but here's a link to their investor relations page, which sums it up. http://dwim.mag/about/investor/ `## ## ## CB Fox, Systems Analyst and Senior Technical Support ## ## ## Phone (510) 555-HOWL ext. 144; cbf@feralnet.net; on-call 9am-9pm Mon-Sat # FeralNet - The nation's first theri-run ISP, serving the S.F. Bay Area Open to all * Quality service * Dial-up, ISDN, DSL. http://feralnet.net` Current Mood: writeiful Current Music: "Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," U2 Tags: bamottustottwo, ttu, writing (Leave a comment)
November 2nd, 2006
05:29 am [Link]	Transcribed for your enjoyment CB - Found this while sifting through some decade-old magazines at the pagan bookstore. It's kind of interesting seeing how things look in hindsight. Hell, some of this stuff I never even heard about at the time. p.s. I hope you got the job. I got a call yesterday checking your references and I gave you the most glowing review I could. - Fang SCARY STORIES By columnist Tor Torkleson From _Aquarius Ascended: A Journal of Real Magic_, vol. 27, No. 10 (Nov. 1997) It's our November issue, which means that by the time you get this, you'll be experiencing one of the only three certain things in life: Christmas advertising. But I'm sitting here writing this article on the evening before Halloween. My partner is preparing our costumes, the veil between the worlds is still drawing back, and I can't help but think of ghost stories. Except in this case, I don't think what's sticking in my brain is actually a story about a ghost. You all remember Killington Hall, right? The vengeful spirit of the "Killington knifer" that got some serious media attention three months ago after that spooky murder? Then other near-victims of the ghost came forward into the media blitz, then a few big inconsistencies started popping up, and then ... well, Valdine and Gold robbed all the headlines. (We ourselves wrote about Killington back in Issue 27:7, but due to its timing we could only pass on some of the earliest reports, and by the time we started writing 27:8, we had a lot of other things on our minds.) Now the truth is coming out: The police have been working quietly behind the scenes, with some good old-fashioned detective work, and they say they've unearthed the murder weapon, a knife with some good old-fashioned human fingerprints on the handle. As it happens, I have some friends in Florida, so I've been following the story pretty closely -- and the evidence that this was just good old-fashioned criminal malfeasance seems convincing. But as I write this, it's been three or four days since the police press conference. They didn't name names and they said they weren't in a position yet to make any arrests. So the news was barely a blip, and nobody seems interested in following this up. Unless a big development happens between now and when our magazine's published, this will probably be the first you've heard of it, and I wonder whether the rest of the world is ever going to hear about it at all. Killington Hall wasn't exactly a high point for magic in the media. And ... well. If it was just a single harmless ghost story gone bad, maybe it wouldn't bug me so much. But it's just one in a long string of events that have really started to make me wonder. Who doesn't hate mages and magic these days? Where aren't we under attack? I guess bad media attention is the fourth certain thing in life, so Killington shouldn't have surprised me. Political backlash like ATPA and Matt's Act was probably inevitable. But what's up with the commercial market for mages -- which at the beginning of the year was so hot that a company like Logos Dei could become a Wall Street darling out of nowhere -- sliding down and starting to tank? Why is technology so inexplicably hostile to magic, with reliable thaumometers selling like candy but magic foci and boosters being entirely the realm of snake-oil hucksters? Some days, it even seems like magic itself is starting to work against us. Let's take teleportation as an example, since Vick Tannigan's recent cover story about it in a Boston alt-weekly is starting to get some wider attention. (See our "Magic in the News" article, p.6.) Vick makes much of his lament that safety issues have for all practical purposes ended the use of teleportation. I find it interesting, though, that neither Vick nor anyone else who writes about the subject ever mentions one odd fact: There WERE no safety issues until that first accident report in late January. It's inconceivable to me that in all of the thousands of teleportations necessary to arrange Dennis Redwing's big meeting, there wasn't a single incident of the now-infamous "ping timeouts." No mages teleporting into trees. Why, then, are these such real threats now? I hate to start throwing accusations around, but I don't even think all of these attacks on magic can be blamed on external factors. Dennis Redwing's "use this safe thing with caution" was vastly idiotic, as his many critics are right to point out, but we need to wonder whether there was more to it than that. How could a warning that obviously hypocritical have been anything but intentional? The man who personally oversaw the biggest orgy of teleportation the world has ever seen, now warning people not to do as he did? But wait! Conveniently, the rules of magic seem to shift in just the way he's talking about! Okay ... this is starting to sound like a conspiracy theory, and I'm not getting paid to spout off wild-eyed ravings. Despite the weird rumors and the fact of him being the first one to change, I don't really believe our dragon all-star has the power to change the world's rules, and I don't think you should either. But there is something fishy there -- an honest whiff of behind-the-scenes maneuvering. I wish I knew enough to tell you why. Just like any good conspiracy theory, any one element by itself seems too implausible to take seriously, but once they start to add up, you start seeing patterns that make you stay awake nights. Take another random example, which (I hope) is completely unrelated: The odd unicorn theri who calls himself Kiasu (see article in 27:4 and our "Duelist Watch" in every issue since). In a nutshell, here is a completely unknown mage who has made seemingly random visits to mages around the world, challenged them to magical duels, and beaten the snot out of them. Every one. (Those who have loudly claimed otherwise have been, shall we say, rather publically refuted; one such rare Kiasu sighting is discussed on p.12.) Usually alone, sometimes in groups, his victims all describe one thing in common: Being exponentially outmatched. Here, again, is a case of someone not obeying the rules that us merely mortal mages suffer through. What's going on? Are these people the public face of some force behind the scenes yanking our chain? In the absence of some rational explanation, a conspiracy seems like the most sane solution to the puzzle. Of course, that's what deceased scumbag Matthew Gold thought -- if his filing cabinets are any indication. And it's possible reaching that conclusion got a whole houseful of people graphically murdered. I really wish the big media hadn't so completely overlooked the plain fact of a folder being stolen from his cabinet by the killers (as we, among a few others, reported in 27:8). He knew something we aren't supposed to. Given the manner of the killings, it probably has nothing to do with our magical conundrums, but the bottom line is that we just don't know. There's a lot that we just don't know. Another example: I haven't heard a single good theory about the two-thirds of a second that astronomers have confirmed Earth is missing. It's scary to think that every spell I cast might be working only because the Earth hiccuped ten months ago. But look -- I've been telling ghost stories after all. Ghosts of explanations, shadows of conspiracies. And even a few scary twists to boot. Looks like I did get into the spirit of the season after all. I hope you had a happy Halloween, and I hope that maybe this winter will bring a few more answers than this year has. Current Mood: writeariffic Current Music: Jars of Clay, "Faith Like a Child" Tags: bamottustottwo, ttu, writing (Leave a comment)
September 4th, 2006
04:48 am [Link]	Having fun with the novel-to-be Reason #3,263.a. to love my subconscious I just got to write the line of dialogue: "I don't expect that you fear me most, only that you fear me enough," Mallory said smoothly. "Your unreasoning panic at my arrival was quite sufficient." Reason #3,263.b. to hate my subconscious This particular character is not actually named Mallory. "The Archon," as I refer to him elsewhere, drops by Earth for a friendly visit with one of his charges and takes the form of a policeman seen in one of the other plotlines. I needed a throwaway name for the policeman today and my subconscious helpfully supplied one. About an hour later, my conscious brain finished a long, slow double-take and said "Waaaaaait!" Backstory: The Archon is a character that in his original incarnation in my brain was inspired by the Fisher King from the graphic novel "Mage: The Hero Discovered." Which is an adapted retelling of "Le Morte d'Arthur." Which was written by ... Thomas Malory. And so we come full circle. Current Location: 18,000 words Current Mood: satisfied Current Music: "Secrets," Mike Oldfield Tags: ttu, wordplay, writing (5 comments \| Leave a comment)
February 3rd, 2006
02:04 am [Link]	Roleplaying your world Elsethread, gavinfox asks me, "I'm interested in running a Tomorrowlands [Universe] RPG sometime, what would you suggest would be a good system to base it on?" Although TTU -- an urban fantasy setting, based on a modern Earth where magic and creatures of fantasy/myth/anthropomorphics suddenly turn up after a dragon walks through a news broadcast in the closing days of 1996 -- is of interest mainly to me and my fellow universe collaborators, I think the broader question is a pretty interesting one in general. When you're pulling a world setting into a role-playing game, what system works best, and why?* This is obviously going to be very different for different worlds. A superhero setting, a cyberpunk setting, a horror setting are all going to have very divergent focuses, and the roleplaying genres built up around each theme tailor themselves to those themes in ways that help create expectations and a mood. It was with this in mind that I tried to dig down to the foundations of the question. ( More on such ) -- * Amusingly, I tackled the reverse question -- putting a role-playing game into a world setting -- long before I thought about this. TTU has its own imaginary roleplaying system, "Age of Ascension," which some people might say is cribbed from a very similarly titled game but I have no idea what they're talking about. innocent look It's got a standard high-fantasy genre setting, uses buckets of six-sided dice, and is set in an era where humanity is growing into its power and seizing the reins of magic in order to tip the balance from being minority-race-in-threatening-world to dominant-powers-threatening-extinction-of-myth. Unfortunately, I haven't put the game system together beyond the basics required to have people in-story talk about it. (You may recall a BaMoTTuSto story in which people were live-actioning it; also, the Redeemers -- the paramilitary group headed by these blokes -- have a campaign going.) Current Mood: getting to sleep now, really Current Music: "El Timbre" - Fledgling feat. Kat Biel Tags: roleplaying, ttu (3 comments \| Leave a comment)

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