Lost In Translation

Last week, while browsing in secondhand bookshops for fodder for my book addiction, I found a copy of Lost in Translation and snapped it up. I’ve always loved that movie. I’m fascinated by Japan and Japanese culture, and a movie about Westerners’ reactions to Japan, and the dislocation caused by two very different cultures, interests me.

I have a hard time watching Scarlett Johansson, though – especially in earlier movies, she looks almost exactly like my daughter Morgaine. Scarlett is glossier now, and quite beautiful. But in her early films, such as The Horse Whisperer, they are almost identical. The actress is broader across the cheekbones, and Morgaine has a longer face and stronger chin. But the eyes, the mouth, the nose are identical. Even the voice is almost the same. I can’t watch The Horse Whisperer without sobbing, even though I have seen it so many times – I can’t separate the two people, and it’s like watching traumatic events happening to my daughter.

Anyway, despite Scarlett making me cry because she looks so much like Morgie and I miss her so much, I loved Lost in Translation. It’s a subtle movie in a lot of ways, and could have gone very wrong if their relationship went any farther than it did…but it was handled perfectly, down to the final scene where he whispers in her ear and you are left to decide for yourself how the story ends. It’s a lovely film.

I so want to visit Japan. I want to have the time and the money to spend an extended period of time there, to fully experience everything from karaoke to decorer girls to to mountain temples. I want to have time to explore cities as well as the countryside.  It won’t happen this year, by any means. But someday…someday I’m going.

Dragon Age

…has been downloaded via Steam and is now in the house! I’m not playing it yet, however, since we just bought one copy.  Hhhmmph.

MBACD: give just a little

As I was waiting for the last few minutes before 5:00 to tick down (I have become a fervent clock watcher in this job), saw this on Stylish Corpse:

The holidays are almost upon us again and this year the MMO Blogging Alliance wants to help ensure a good season for all! We’ve decide to pull together and encourage our readers to donate to those less fortunate. It has been a tough year for many families across the world and a little boost can go a long way. Please consider donating to one of the many charities that we recommend or one you select on your own. If you’re a blogger and would like to participate in our drive it is as easy as writing a post, including this at the top, linking to the other posts, and picking a charity to donate to. Let’s show everyone that in 2009 the MMO community can make a positive difference in the world!

This is something that I’ve been thinking about a lot. No matter how short you are on money, each of us should be able to give something to the world, to organisations or charities that do good work. I’d thought about some kind of Facebook group for it, but this is perfect. Feel free to pass it on!

The charities that I will donate to this year (however unimpressive my donations may be) are:

Médecins Sans Frontières, because they do amazing good work in places which really need it. I once worked with a brilliant developer who was originally from DR Congo, and he said that this charity, above all, makes donations work to actually help the people that they are intended for. Whether it is famine, or child soldiers, or rape or the spread of HIV that make you tear up, this is one of the parts of the world that really needs all the help it can get.

The ALS Association, in honor of my mother, who is one of the bravest people I know. ALS,  Lou Gherig’s Disease, or Motor Neuron Disease (as it’s known in the UK), is an extremely cruel disease. As nerves and muscles fail, the sufferer is gradually locked inside a nonfunctional body. It’s been some time since I’ve been able to talk with my mother on the phone without my father to translate for her, which is doubly tough since I live so far away. She’s braver and much more cheerful than I could ever manage if I was unable to talk, unable to eat, and increasingly unable to take care of myself. It’s an evil disease, and we need to find a cure.

So those are my tiny contributions. I hope that posts like this can convince others to add a tiny bit of charity to a season of consumerism. The links below can give you an idea of some worthy places to send a few bucks to:

Stylish Corpse

Epic Slant

Brian “Psychochild” Green

Spinksville

Echoes of Nonsense

MultiPlaying

StabbedUp

Syp at BioBreak

Nerf the Cat

Incoming Pull

Kestraal Through the Dark Portal

My baby paladin managed to struggle through the last levels before 58, and then hit Outland. I’m ok once I can do that, it’s the old areas that I really struggle with. Starting areas are great, and sometimes when I’m very stressed I’ll start a character just to play the starting areas. But pretty much the whole middle area between starting and hitting Outland is a struggle for me (after so many characters).

That’s pretty much the only thing I did this weekend – I had a major case of the blues and didn’t feel like doing anything. I spent hours curled up in front of the fire, reading a book, with a cat at my side. Although not exciting, it sure is theraputic.

I couldn’t get rid of the mental countdown: “it’s Saturday night, only one more day and then I have to go back to work”. “It’s Sunday afternoon, and Monday is almost here”. It’s terrible to spend an entire weekend with a sense of impending doom ruining your free time.

Fallen Earth

I’ve been thinking about trying Fallen Earth. I’m playing Warcraft very casually, but I’ve seen all of the content so many times that I simply cannot do it again, or at least spend a lot of time doing the same quests. I’m still playing Aion, and without the pressure to level it’s much better, but I know the wall is there and quite honestly that bothers me. And other MMOs? Well…

Warhammer is a consideration. I’ve always had a ton of fun there. I just wish that I could convince friends and family to give it a try.  :(

EVE Online is another option…I may re-sub, but if I don’t do any PvP I’m kind of faced with mining and missions and ….well, meh.

If the new expansion was live for Age of Conan, I’d definitely re-sub. I think it sounds awesome.

No release date on Star Trek yet. If it’s reasonably soon, then that’s the decision made right there.  :)

LotRO calls, but each time I’ve played it I’ve been left rather cold.

Darkfall? No way…I’m too much of a weenie. Kill me and take all my toys away and I’m likely to cry like a little girl.

Hmmnn…..anyway, Fallen Earth. I like the idea of sandbox-type games, as long as you don’t find yourself wandering aimlessly for ages without being able to find anything to do – which I understand is an issue with Fallen Earth. I don’t need my hand held, but if I somehow manage to miss all the content, I’m not going to sub. But it would be nice to have a change from fantasy-based games.

Decisions, decisions.  :D

evil grapes

I have this weird phobia about fruit. I like it, but it has to be absolutely pristine: no bruises, no odd shapes, and it has to be crispy and not soft at all. It’s the only thing that I’m like that about – I can cut mold off cheese and eat it without a qualm, I can even pick moldy bits off bread if I’m starving and there’s nothing else in the house, but I cannot eat a slightly overripe piece of fruit. I get a queasy feeling if I even think about eating it.

I’m writing about this because I’m staring at a half-eaten bunch of grapes on my desk. They were gorgeous yesterday, all crispy and cold and lovely, the best fruit ever. But this morning, after sitting on my desk overnight (wrapped in a plastic bag), they are warm and I cannot eat them. We can’t keep anything in the refrigerator at work, because of all the containers of milk for tea…enough to make tea for everyone in China. Surely this is more milk than fifty people could use in half a week. But what do I know? Anyway, my grapes are warm. And some of them have bruises now. And (after eating all the perfect ones yesterday) the remaining ones aren’t the supermodels of the grape world – they are odd shapes and sizes. They have no place in my orderly fascist world of perfect fruit.

I just wrapped them up and threw them in the bin, guilty about binning what is probably perfectly good fruit for most people, people who aren’t as paranoid about evil misshapen fruit. But in the bin they went, like misshapen children thrown out to die on their own.

Evil grapes.

Aion: Slowing Down

Tonight I’m handing over the legion leadership to another member, who is well-liked and will no doubt do a very good job (probably better than I have, to be honest). Ravven is 35, and it was damned hard doing that. Many of our members are looking at 40, and I just don’t play enough to keep up. I could do, of course…but it’s reaching the point where it’s not fun. So I am in danger of burning out, and by handing over leadership to a more active player, it will be better for the legion and better for me. But I do feel a little sad…we’ve built a very good group here.

This image from Aion’s Issues at MMORPG.com made me a bit apprehensive:

That is one steep curve. So far, to be fair, I’m not really running out of content, although I am doing a fair amount of non-quest grinding for XP. I do hear about higher-level players, though, doing their handful of quests at the start of each new level and then feeling horror at the site of that long XP bar. I would feel the same.

Am I still having fun?  Decidedly yes. Is it becoming a grind? To be honest…yes. It’s hard to deny.

Return of Alice

Ooh, shiny…

Aion: First Fortress Run

I have to qualify this by saying that another legion had already taken the fortress, so we just kind of went in impromptu and did the run to see what it was like. The two that we did were timed, which was quite interesting because we didn’t have a hope of getting all the chests in the time allowed.  One was tank-n-spank, then split up to do the wings which are filled with non-elites – quite easy. The other involved running the circumfrence of a circle, opening chests as we went, which tons of elites strolling around in twos and threes. That one was problematic, as it was very easy to pull additional mobs in from the side and wipe.

Overall, though, it was a lot of fun, and I look forward to doing more of these. Due to the timer, they’re quick, so you’re not looking at a several-hour dungeon crawl. Nice.

Love at First Sight: Two Pints

I was looking for some representative Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps episodes to show my family back home (they’re quite representative of our part of the country), and I found a song from the musical episode that had always amused me: Love at First Sight Reprise.

(If you haven’t seen this, it’s worth looking up all sections of it on YouTube – awesome stuff)