Good morning, Readers.

This is a visual pun. It will make sense in just a bit.

I'm talking about this because I CANNOT DEAL WITH 2016 ANYMORE.

Sorry.  There are just too many deaths, and too much shit to dig through right now, and I just CAN'T at the moment.

So I'm going to talk about frivolities and things that don't really matter for a bit. M'kay?

To that end, for my birthday this year, my little brother gave me the gift of a console.  I had wanted one of the next generation consoles for a while, not least of all to play some of the games my little brother had a hand in creating (he works for Ubi Soft and easily outearns me by a factor of three (technically more than that, but I can't be arsed to do the math to find the exact number.  It's probably a factor of five at this point)).  I decided on a PS4, because I really wanted to try my hand at some of the PS4 exclusives.

One of the features of the PS4 is a direct from console to livestream on various platforms including Twitch and YouTube.  I figured why not show the world how terrible I am at gaming... live!  So, I created a Twitch account.

If you are also on Twitch and would like to friend/follow me there, here's the link to my profile.

I ran a livestream last night just to test out the feature.  The console came with a copy of Uncharted 4: A Thieve's End.  Thank goodness, or I'd have had no game to stream.  I was joined by my friend, who goes by the Twitch user name Jagtress, who kept me company while I failed repeatedly at gaming.

According to her, everything was working, if a little laggy.

It was stupid fun.

I genuinely had a blast playing (and dying) while Jagtress chatted to me via the chat function.  And the game! OMG THIS GAME!  It's amazing!  I can't wait to play more!  This is actually the first of the Uncharted games I've ever played - or seen - and I am a huge fan after only playing the intro.

It was so much fun that I ended up playing a full hour and half, despite intending only to do the test for a half hour or so.

So I have decided that, whenever possible, I'll stream the game on Twitch Monday nights 'round about 7pm until 8:30 or 9:00pm or so until the game is done.

You can watch the stream on my Twitch profile.  These videos only stay up for a fortnight, though (that's two weeks, for my North American friends), so there's only a limited time to view the stream.  That said, I'll be making a highlights reel for my YouTube channel, which will be up permanently.

So now on my wishlist is a PS4 camera because the ending of the intro sequence to Uncharted 4 left me speechless, with my jaw hanging open. It's hard to communicate such non-verbal responses to story elements without a camera, really.

For my my livestreams will have to do without one.

It was so nice, despite the shittiness of the past few days, to relax and have some fun.

Thanks, little brother, for an awesome birthday gift.  Thanks to Jagtress for keeping me company.  And thank to you lot for reading this nonsense.

I have much work to be getting on with.

Have as good a day as possible.
​
Ciao!

Good morning, Readers.

Since I last ws here in this space, 2016 has taken George Michaels and Carrie Fisher.

The death of George Michaels was sad, more for others than it was for me.  I was very young when Mr. Michaels was very big, and he didn't really feature at all in my development as a young person.

In truth, neither did Carrie Fisher.  I didn't watch Star Wars as a child.  I was almost an adult when I saw them.  In my unpopular opinion, they're not great movies.  I wasn't a fan.  I did greatly enjoy The Force Awakens, though, even though it was basically A New Hope all over again (just better acted and directed).  I'm also really looking forward to Rogue One.  I must be one of the only people left in the country that hasn't seen it.

Fisher's contribution to the person I am came much later.

It came in her frank discussions of her own life struggles, and her advocacy for mental health. I watched interview after interview in which she discussed openly addiction, bi polar disorder and sexism.  She did it all with such grace and frankness, and was humorous besides.

I admired her a great deal.  Carrie Fisher didn't run from life.  She embraced it, rolled with it, and stood up to it.

She trolled trolls like a pro.

I have no words, really, to explain this weird feeling that has come over me.  It is at times deep sadness, and at other times a strange detachedness from emotion.  Often it is both simultaneously.

Instead, I raise my glass to Carrie Fisher.  She was a princess to most.

She was General to me.

A fighter, right to the end.

I'll miss her a great deal.

Rest in peace, Carrie.

Good morning, Readers!

So I may have overextened myself last night, food wise.  My tummy is extra sensitive today. Whatever. It was worth it.

Because food.

Now I just want to curl up in bed and sleep.

I have nothing really of note to talk about today, by which I mean there is a lot to talk about, but I just don't have the energy to tackle the issues currently.  I blame the lack of food.

Instead, I'd like to just write a quick thank you.  This is the last blog post until after Christmas (my return to blogging will happen Wednesday for a couple of days, and then it's another break for New Years).

So, quickly, thank you so much for reading my blog and joining in the conversations on my various social media platforms.  You're the best readers a writer could ask for.  So, thank you!

I know 2016 was a really rough year, and it's looking like the next four are going to unpleasant as well.  I just want you to know that you are deeply appreciated, and you are greatly needed.

Have a wonderful holiday season.

​Ciao!

Good morning, Readers!

So, I'm slowly recovering from being violently ill.  When I say violently ill, I really mean it.  I will spare you the details, but it was not pretty.

It started very suddenly on Monday, in the early afternoon.  Strangely enough, other than my stomach, I was fine.  I had no fever, no headache, no joint pain.  Everything was a-okay.  Except my stomach, which began rejecting life with the force of a demon mid-exorcism.

How's that for imagery?

I was very fortunate to have a friend to come to my rescue and take me home (thanks, Bill!), were I spent the rest of my time until about 1:00 yesterday morning, losing an astounding volume of fluid.

Then I slept... surprisingly well, all things considered.

I spent the majority of yesterday in bed with horrific stomach cramps, but again, no fever, chills, or body aches.  I did develop a terrible headache, but I think that was because I had spent all day in bed, and my spine was not happy with me.

Feeling that, since I hadn't been ill in a fair number of hours, I should at least attempt to nourish myself, I ordered some pho (Vietnamese noodle soup), hoping that the lightness would make it easier to digest.  I wasn't hungry, per se, but I thought that maybe the stomach craps were related to hunger.

Nope.

I could not handle the actual food part of the pho.  I could barely even handle the broth.  I did force myself to drink the broth, though.  It was full of stuff I needed - salt, fat and vitamin B.  Though my stomach was not thrilled with the food, I did manage to keep it down.

Then I slept some more.

Until this morning, when I got up and went to work.  I knew that I wouldn't be able to handle breakfast, but I attempted it anyway, settling in with some very watery fruit (mostly watermelon).  So far, so good. My stomach has not been complaining over much about it.

Now I'm brewing some tea in the hopes that I can continue to rehydrate myself.

I don't know what hit me Monday, but it was hell.  I would not wish this on anyone!

The worst part is, it put a stop to all my plans.  There is a gift I needed to get, and now I'm not sure I'll get it in time.  The place where I get it from is not answering their phone, and I'm getting stressed out about it.  ARGH!

Anyway, today is the office party, so I have to go make preparations for that.  I hope everyone is well.

Ciao!

Good morning, Readers!

I had the opportunity to get away from the city this weekend just past, to spend time with family at our annual greater family gathering.

My Canadian family is genuinely wonderful; warm and hilarious.  I always have a lot of fun with them.  I always feel better when they're around.  And it was indeed a great time, filled with laughter and love and so much fun.  We played games, told stories, and danced.  We gathered outside around a fire as the snow fell.  We sang.

I am not a religious person, so Christmas for me is about family gatherings and recconection.

Growing up in Australia, Christmases were hot and humid, filled with pool parties and cold cut lunches.That is also wonderful fun, but there is just something about the cold and snow on the ground and silent mornings that I find spectacularly appealing.  I love winter.  It is my second favourite season, autumn being the absolutel favourite (the changing colours, cooler weather, watching the rain with a cup of hot tea....  Ahhhh.... bliss). 

This winter has been spectacular for snow lovers so far.

Yes, yes, I know it's not technically winter yet.  There's plenty of snow here, though, so I'm calling it winter.

Also, getting out of the city did wonders for me.  It seems that I'm easily overstimulated, and I find living in the city a little difficult.  It seems that I forget how tense it makes me until I head out to the cottages.  It strikes me as odd that I don't realise how high my shoulders have risen until the calm of life away from the city lowers them again.

Though it was a very brief stint out of the city, it did spectacular things for me.

We were up well past my bedtime on Saturday.  Even still, I could not miss the opportunity to get away from the house in the quiet early morning Sunday and go for a walk in the woods.  It was not cold, being only around -8 or so.  Snow was falling.  It was quiet.  There were no cars, no skidoos, no people.  There was just me, the dim light, and the snow.

It was so magical.  I took a fair number of photos.  You can see them here if you're interested.

Coming back to town was rough.  Though the cats were wonderful to cuddle, I fell asleep to the sound of sirens and traffic.  The neighbours were having an argument.

I need to win the lotto or something, so I can get my house in the country.  There is a lot to be said for it.

And now I have to go write.

​Ciao!

Good morning, Readers!

So I have daydreams of appearing on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.  Which is weird, because nothing terrifies me more that being in a room full of people I don't know, let alone being in front of them.  I am also of becoming recognisably famous.  I adore walking down the street without interruption.  I don't want people I don't know running up to me outside of times when I could reasonably expect that (coventions etc).

I like the idea of being widely read.  Not keen on being widely recognised.

So I greatly suspect that behind these daydreams of appearing on late night talk shows is the desire for my work to be impactful enough to warrant my presence on these types of shows.  Because speculative fiction matters.

"Yes, yes," say (some) people.  "Sometimes an escape is sorely needed."

But there is more to speculative fiction than a mere escape.

If any of you have been reading my blog for a while, you will know I've written on this before, but speculative fiction is more than just a fun.  It's more than just an escape.

So much more.

Certainly, escapism is part of it, but it is not the totality of it.  Through stories, we can explore the world around us, face evil, and overcome it.  We can be shown new ways of resolving problems, learn to understand the other, see the world through different eyes.  We can broaden our horizons, find a common path, learn the value of reaching out and learning that we needn't fear.  We can band together.  We can learn to identify evil.  And it can give us the courage and inspiration to defeat it when we see it in the real world.

That is why the recent retraction of the statement that Star Wars is anti-facist, changed to "Star Wars is not political" by the chief of Disney made me so angry.  Of course Star Wars is anti-facist.  Anyone who cannot see it is prehaps in need of taking some art-centric classes to improve their critical thinking.  But there was backlash to that statement. The Nazis in the west claimed the movie was "anti-Trump" and "feminist propoganda."  They threatened a boycott.

*snort*

But instead of standing up to these ridiculous statements, instead of looking evil in the face and defying it, Disney backtracked.

Since when is it wrong to be anti-facist?  Since when did the Nazis become a demographic we have to coddle?

Of course Star Wars is political! It always has been.

More to the point, it has an obligation to be.

With the media normalising Nazi perspective, turning something horrific into something to consider, it is up to us, the artists and storytellers, to redress that.

That is the value of speculative fiction.  That is what I hope my stories do.

In Skylark, for example, the main group of characters meet the alien race that annexed much of Canada for the first time since the war.  And they discover that these aliens are really just people; who love and want and feel.  Years of hatred and misinformation is overcome.  If humanity did not get over this fear of the other, then all would have been lost.  Humanity would have been enslaved or wiped out by another alient threat.

And there are still people in Skylark who cannot let go of their hatred and their fear, who actively try and destroy the fragile alliance that is formed, even though being successful in this regard would surely doom humanity.

In Daughters of Britain, the heroine learns that not everyone who is not a Briton is evil.  She never loses sight of her dream of seeing her country free from Roman occupation, but she learns the difference between empire and people, and even learns to love those she once called enemy.

Anyway, this turned into a random, ranty sort of post.  I guess what I'm trying to say, more to my fellow writers than anyone, is this:  Write.  Write well.  Write diversely.  Understand that your powers are needed for good.  The empire is gathering its forces.  So must we.

Now I have to go and try and be productive today.

Ciao.

This game was given to my by a friend for my new-to-me PS3 after my Xbox broke (by which I mean I spilled wine all over my Xbox.  I'm cool like that.  Don't drink and game, people.  Or if you do, have your console somewhere the alcohol won't reach ('cause who am I kidding, I will continue to drink and game)).

This game is clearly designed to be enjoyable for children, so there is no disclaimer before we get started on the review.  Okay, here we go!

Character Design
Omigosh this is so cute.  It's Harry, Ron, and Hermione (and Snape, and Hagrid, and the TROLL! TROLL IN THE DUNGEON!), but as lego pieces.

There really isn't too much to say about it.  It's adorable, as I'm sure it's meant to be.  The animations are appropriately Lego-ish, and even managed some individualisation between characters.

Hagrid's gait, for example, cracked me up so much.  It looked like the skip of a little girl who is excited to be going to town to visit her favourite aunt.

I cannot comment on the voice acting, there was so little of it.  Words were never uttered, it was more grunts and growls.  Still, it all got the point across.  If characters where angry or upset, it was easy to tell without the use of actual speech.

Game Play
This game was fun, but not that challenging.  It shouldn't have been, really, considering that this game was intended to be playable for the very young.  The puzzles were barely puzzling (and really just consisted of blowing up everything around you that can be blown up), as the game pretty much holds your hand the entire way.  Again, I can't really complain about this because of the audience age bracket.

I really enjoyed being able to switch between characters to solve certain puzzles.  This game would be stupid fun to play co-op with someone.

There was plenty of story, of course, though none of it was particularly surprising.  It's not an original, after all.  There were some very cute changes to some of the story, however, no doubt to make it a little less dark than the actual story.  You don't want to terrify the young kids who are playing, after all, and the tone of the game as a whole is very cutesy.  Staying strickly true to the events would probably mess up the overall tone of the game.

I do have a small gripe, however.  The levels are all designed in such a way as to permit the player to go back through them once they've finished the playthrough to go pick up anything they missed.  That said, it's almost impossible to go about exploring as each level, if played on free play mode, doesn't permit the player to explore as much.  I would have loved the option of exploring Hogwarts and surrounds when all is said and done they way I was permitted to run around The Leaky Cauldron and Diagon Ally (and Nocturn Ally).

I couldn't do that in this game, or, at least, I couldn't figure out how to do it in the game as a free play.

Music
In an unsurprising move, the music for the game was pulled straight from the movies.  At first, it filld me with nostalgia, and made me want to pop on the films with some popcorn and wine.  It became a little annoying after a while, before fading to the background and having little impact at all.

Final Boss
This installment of the Lego Harry Potter games ends, unsurprisingly, with the fist confrontation betweeen Voldermort and Harry in the graveyeard following the Tri-Wizard Tournament.  As a final boss, he's not that difficult, especially since (in the free play, at least), your companion character keeps zapping the deatheaters that show up.

In truth, I found the demontor boss much more challenging, particularly since your companion did jack all when the other demontors showed up, and there were many more steps to take to get the boss' health down.

Ending
​... Is not really the ending.  It is only years 1 - 4, after all.  There's more to the story.  Still, it's considerably still a lighter ending than either the films or the books at the end of the fourth year.

If you've read the books or watched the film, none of it will come as a surprise.

Overall Impression
This game was very cute, not that challenging (if a little frustrating.  Repeating the levels to get all the things is a little meh), but still very fun.

If you're looking for a distraction that'll put a smile on your face, this is a great option.  I had a lot of fun... except when the cat tried to jump all over me while I was playing, which resulted in a lot of unnecessary dying... Damned cats.

​Have you played this? What did you think of it?