Musicals

For over a half-hour last night, Mike and I sang everything we said to one another, as though we were in an opera or musical. It was amazing. If you need some laughs, and don't care if strangers stare at you, go sing. Sing everything. It doesn't matter if you can't sing (like me), just do it, and you'll have fun. Have conversations with people in song. Sing about ANYTHING that is going on. I promise you will have fun.

Unfortunately we didn't have a video camera, or I would have shared with you some of our classics such as: "This is the First Time I've Worn Jeans Since 8th Grade," "Is it OK if We're Late to this Party?" "Why Did You Carry This Tree Around?" and finally, "It is Hard to Sing at this Fast Waltz Tempo"

JAPAN! Part ni

This place doesn`t believe in air conditioning. Everyone sits and complains atsui da ne! (it`s so hot!) but then they just sit there with the air conditioner, off, right next to them. It`s hilarious. In the car, at school, at home, it`s all the same. And it`s hot. It hit 35 degrees!

RL: The Game

I will be reviewing perhaps the most hyped up game ever to be released.
It is fully worthy of all the hype. This is RL.

First of all, I would like to simply say that this is the most beautiful game my eyes have ever beheld. Absolutely stunning. The graphical quality is superb. Some in-game screenshots are available throughout the review--I had to lower the resolution. Once you see those, you will know for a fact that there is no way that any game could ever approach the immense quality seen in this world. While looking through your avatar's eyes, the graphics are in such High Definition that you will never see a pixel, or "jaggies" or a low-quality texture on anything. EVER. There is no limit to the draw-distance. No objects "pop-in" as you approach them. The only limits to the distance of your vision are your character's vision rating (on a confusing scale of fractions over 20), the weather, and (obviously) objects in the way.

You have not seen weather like this in a game before

Speaking of weather. Wow. The physics engine in this world is astounding. The amount of time and brain power invested in creating this world is absolutely mind-boggling. Most games' physics stop at making things fall realistically, or crash realistically. Not so here. Each sub-microscopic piece of matter is meticulously detailed and can be observed indirectly through experiments and electron microscopes and all sorts of fantastic things. The world spins around an unimaginably large ball of burning gases hundreds of thousands of miles away. And around the world on which your avatar resides, another near-sphere orbits. As night progresses, this sphere, known as "Moon" will realistically move from one side of the planet to the other. The clouds and wind and rain and all weather effects are superbly done with never a glitch or faulty detail. Such detail is unprecedented in any setting. Clouds float and change, you can activate an in-game computer or television and find out what sort of weather will come soon, or see what weather you slept through (I'll explain sleep later). I could go on and on explaining and praising the amazing physical detail, but you should buy the game yourself and experience it firsthand. One more thing about physics here. Water. [jaw drops]

You've seen pretty water in games before (see Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Half-Life 2, Crysis) but you have not seen it like this. Light reflects, and bounces, and filters through dirty water (and any other liquids--acids, drinks, everything!) Water flows from high to low and is absorbed by certain substances and not others. Absolutely amazing is the work that went into the creation of this world's water effects. Screenshots speak for themselves.

Artificial Intelligence. The AI in RL: The Game is fantastic. People and animals react in realistic ways to every action performed. You push a cat, he'll either run away, or bite back or just fall over, it will depend on that cat's personality. Every NPC (non-player-character, for the uninitiated) has his or her own distinct personality. Reactions to other actions all depend on a massive list of various factors including (but not limited to): mood, personality, time of month, friendship status, time of day, exhaustion level, laws, social standards/norms (which differ in various parts of the world), political views of the individual, and other events going on at the time. Occasionally, a reaction to a joke or physical act will be unexpected, but that is part of the fun. Don't break these laws.

You never know about all of the other circumstances in an NPC's life. So what may seem to you an over-reaction may be simply a result of a bad time frame. Maybe the NPC's grandmother just died. Maybe he or she failed a test. You never know. The variety of people and personalities is so vast that you will never meet a copy of a character you've met before (except in a few small instances, where you may meet one who looks almost identical to another, but they will generally have very different personalities. These are known as twins--even rarer are triplets or quadruplets and occasionally even higher numbers. Those psuedo-clones approach non-existence with their low population numbers.) Currently, there are over 6 and a half BILLION players in the world, and the number is ever-rising at a current rate of around 1 percent a year. Try to wrap your head around those numbers. Here, I'll show you 6.5 billion. 6500000000. Look at all those zeros. You know your computer screen? You know those little dots that make up the image? If you're running at 1024x768 resolution (pretty standard) that's only 786432 dots. And you can hardly see those on your monitor. Multiply that by more than 8000 and you'll get the amount of dots to be around the number of players. That's a lot.

Look at the amazing flora

Each action you make has realistic and meaningful consequences. There is a realistic decision-making mechanism, and with each decision you make you affect many around you. You may be punished by law-enforcers for making poor decisions and you will actually have to endure your punishment (unlike Oblivion, wherein you can simply skip through your sentences), which provides ample reason to not break the law. So yes, you can do whatever you want, but punishments will follow. Similarly, you can also say whatever you want to people, or do whatever, but you will suffer consequences for it. If you build up a strong friendship and one day feel like terrorizing that character, he or she may never talk to you again. You have to be willing to deal with the consequences of your actions. This is not Grand Theft Auto. On the same token, when you die, you die. There are no "Continues" or "Extra-lives" or anything of the sort. There are no spawn points (unless you count the hospital where new characters are brought into the world, after having been created about 9 months earlier by combining half of two character's traits (randomly chosen by a complex algorithm)). When you die, there is no more playing in RL. However, there is a hidden Second Portion (SP) to RL: The Game. Everyone's having too much fun (or everyone's too scared) to go try it out, as it's only accessible after closing your account in RL proper. Also, as no one comes back into RL after going to the SP, no one knows what SP is like.

Beautiful tree images

Related to the SP is the topic of theology. In the game world, you may choose any theology you like (not completely dissimilar to Civilization IV's religion mechanic) and each comes with various positive and/or negative effects. I don't know if they should be called positive or negative, because perception of these effects is all subjective. For instance, there may be rules you are to follow in your religion (which some may view as a negative effect) but there may be positive consequences for following those rules, such as longer life, better health and opportunities to meet nice people. Your character may be raised in one religion, but you are permitted to change your religion as you see fit (of course there will be positive and negative consequences of this as well--maybe your family is composed of devout members of one church, but you don't believe in it? Do you risk ostracism? Or is your family kind and loving enough that they would love you and accept you even if you left? Decisions are yours!) Almost all Theologies come with some perception of the SP, and it is up to you to decide what you believe. Effects in the SP of the Theology you chose in RL proper are still unknown.

Look at the incredibly contrast ratio and the colors and the light filtering through leaves.

As I promised I would mention it earlier, here is the section on Sleep. While you sleep, to recharge you exhaustion level (or avoid troubles or speed through boredom) there's a mini-game for you to play. When you sleep, your character enters into the "Dream" mini-game. "Dreams" vary widely and are described/created by an algorithm factoring all sorts of variables including mood, how recently you ate, recent in-game-movies you've seen, exhaustion level, current game-world events, among other things. These mini-games can be anything from a fun jaunt along the beach (with no real goal) to a fast and intense race from an alien monster (with the goal being survival (in Dream, deaths only result in a new mini-game to play, or consciousness)).

Your character has a huge list of stats, and you have to decide which to increase through practice or training. Some stats start higher than others. Those "knacks" are generally decided by the traits passed from your character's predecessors. All stats can be trained to "master level" but some will be more difficult for your character to increase. Others you will find increase in level rapidly. The list of these statistics is so immense that it would be foolish of me to list them all, so here is a very very small sample: Amiability, Emotional Control, Musical Skill (General), Musical Skill (Specific Instruments), Mathematic Skills (General), Mathematic/Science Skill (Specific Area), Alertness (Of the wellness of others), Alertness (Of Danger), Fashion Sense, Laziness, Sports Ability (General), Sports Ability (Specific Sport), Hunting (Bows), Hunting (Firearms), Cooking (General), Cooking (Specific Style)... et cetera. The list is nearly infinitely long. You are also permitted to increase as many of those skills as you can find time to do. Within those "Specific" subsets of skills are lists of various more specific subjects, and you can choose many different ones, so you aren't prevented from only learning one sport, for example, or one cooking style. As long as your character has time, he or she can increase skills in as many areas as you want.

This only covers a tiny tiny tiny tiny tiny miniscule portion of RL: The Game, but I hope that it gives you a glimpse of the perfection that is RL, and an appreciation for the Head Programmer.

An explorable barn

A grove with a small creek at the bottom. Look at the quality of the reflections!

Gorgeous lake with spectacular reflection. The birds had flown away as I moved my character too close. Note that no objects are missing in the distance.

U.S.A

America according to Cameron:

Receipts keep growing

Unison

Has anyone else noticed that if giant groups of people start chanting stuff in unison is sounds really scary after a few repetitions? It's like one giant zombie voice all moaning the same thing, and no one's doing anything else. Sometimes it really creeps me out. It's mindless and I think the power of the mindless masses is a scary thing. Haha. Anything from the Pledge of Alliegiance in a giant group to an inductance ceremony to fans chanting, "Go [insert team name here]!" can sound scary if you pay attention. Try it next time you're with a bunch of people saying the same thing.


Or, maybe I'm just weird.

Macbeth Act III part ii

Despite having as much anger welled up inside them as they did, and despite the fact that Macbeth sent a third murderer to ensure that the deed was done, the murderers only succeeded in extinguishing Steeva. Steeva's son Fleance fled and found safety from the foolish murders in the darkness.

The celebratory feast was arranged to begin at twelve o'clock midnight on the anniversary of Macbeth's becoming president, not even an hour after the murderers' evil deed.

The feast began and an honored guest, Banquo, was no where to be found. The seat to the president's right was left unoccupied, as all sat in their seats, according to rank. Shortly after the meal began, and while the guests shared stories among themselves, one of the three murderers entered—blood speckling his face—and whispered into the master's ear. “Banquo is dispatched, but his son has 'scaped,” he said. Macbeth's face darkened, and his features sunk, as though suddenly infected with a deep depression. He sent the murderer away. The Lady informed Macbeth that he was definitely not helping entertain the guests with a look like that. Most of the guests were not accustomed to being at such a high-class dinner and had no preconceptions about their head of state. They soon formulated undesirable opinions of their president.

Macbeth ejaculated “Sweet remembrancer!” A man, bloodied and battered, sat at the right hand of President Macbeth. Pretending the corpse was not there, Macbeth expressed his faux regret at the disappearance of Banquo. “If only our friend Steeva Banquo were here to celebrate this wondrous feast!” In his hysteria, he forgot what he was pretending and complained, “But the table is full!” People were now thoroughly confused: one moment he announces a missing person and the next moment he proclaims the seat is full! One head of a department pointed to the newly-filled seat and informed the president of its vacancy. The occupant's bruised face turned to Macbeth, eyes staring where they had been staring. Shortly the hollow eyes followed the dead face. With a deep blank stare, looking beyond Jason, the eyes revealed the identity of this beaten body: Banquo. Macbeth would not believe that no one else saw the unbreathing body. “Which of you have done this?” he inquired. The air became thick. A crimson-covered hand raised and pointed its finger at Macbeth. All were nervous. None knew how to react to his bizarre behavior. “Don't point your mutilated finger at me! I did nothing!” The leader commanded the empty seat. All movement in the room ceased.

One commander suggested the congregation leave, due to the president's apparent illness.

“Sit!” Lady Macbeth ordered. She thought quickly and fabricated a history about the president's ailments. She explained to the group that he often acted thus and that if they left, they would offend him when he came to. She instructed them to eat and disregard his hysteria. She then turned from the guests, and tried discreetly to knock sense into her husband. “O proper stuff! This is the very painting of your fear. This is the air-drawn dagger which, you said, led you to Duncan. O, these flaws and starts, would have made excellent wives' tales. Nothing you see is true! There is no one here.” Her hand passed through the body.

Calmed by her proof of the phantom's nonexistence, Macbeth relaxed some, and sat. Juliee, glad that she could calm him informed her husband, “You are frightening our guests.” Jason conferred with his wife for a moment and excused his symptoms as his wife had. “It is merely a strange infirmity, which is nothing to those that know me well,” he explained. Following his short speech, Macbeth again expressed his sadness that Banquo could not come.

But Banquo had come, as promised. And came again.

Macbeth tried to restrain himself, but was unable. He shouted at the phantom hysterically. “Why do you haunt me? You are dead!”

Seeing nothing of the ghost, the guests slowly filed out, hoping to be as unseen to Banquo as the phantom guest was to them. The fit lasted several minutes. Lady eventually convinced her husband to leave, and go off to bed.

Again, he did not sleep.

The following day, Macduff, whose seat at the previous night's feast was also empty, left Olympus's top ring, and visited the lower rings to meet with the small rebel government that had organized itself to keep order and provide for those the president ignored.. The president was so inadequate, that even the poor and uneducated arranged a more-successful government.

Macduff overheard two witnesses to the night before's madness speak. Macduff laughed at the tyrant's mental instability. So many, including the witnesses, had worked so hard to maintain order in their upper rings. Now, many figured it was all for naught and fled to the lower rings. From there, they could only pray that Macduff's leadership and the spreading stories of Macbeth's madness could inspire the lower ring's rulers to aid the higher society.

Surreal

Cellophane trumpets blast.

The stuttering rhythms burn through the soul. All is being lost.

Nobody knows you. I don't know you. I fall through you

there is no feeling—just a falling sensation. forever

and ever.

paint splatters against the walls—creating swirled and mindconfounding designs, vaguely familiar, yet

unknown.

Swirling in a syphon of despair the sun sets... rises. and rises again, bringing new light to a lost world.

Hearts swell.

they crawl out of their owners—no pain. no feeling.

the hearts wish to enjoy the soft warmth, unhindered by opaque clay bodies

a heartwarming sight.

smiling faces stare into the sun.

their hearts bask in its warmth and feel the glory.

the sun smiles back down.

A new world—lost, disattached from the grey world of modern man

visions ballet and war through the processors of those in somnium

faded

jaded

a blurred pandemonic garble of not-needed excesses

mesh messes clean the world of hopes for creation of new

swarles wage battles for themselves and for clearance of individs

nay.

a hole of life

hope

love

appears.

it beckons calls begs pleads invites all who want

Here

-i answer-

here

let me in.