[ frimlin - wizard, reflected ~ ]
The Fantastical Voyages of Wizard Frimlin, continued...
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Wednesday, October 29, 2003 |
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At 9:10 PM, Frimlin posted this:
Nothing to say? no.
Nothing much to say... Or...
Just generally busy with work at the moment. We're trying to produce a demo version of the game as it is now. So that means polishing up our favourite scenes -- making them just that little bit better. It's looking great!
I mooched around home most of the weekend. But on Saturday I went into work at 5pm and was there, working, till 11:30. Nice way to spend your Saturday evening! Very social! But it had to be done. And I definitely needed my Sunday just to chill out, in preparation for the week ahead.
Nigel popped over on Sunday evening, and I showed him the Children of Dune trilogy -- it wasn't two part as I had first thought! I surprised myself by finding the third disc and suddenly the story seemed so much more complete -- more as I remembered it from the books. I've read all the Dune series, twice. And no doubt will read it twice again, and then some, before I depart. I love it! Such an epic tale.
I'm really looking forward to seeing a TV or film adaption of the later Dune books -- which feature the Sisterhood of the Bene Gesserit so much more -- especially Darwi Odrade, an Atreides-line ancestor. Hrrmm I'm feeling itches to read those books again!
I've recently aquired R.E.M.'s new DVD of music videos, "The Best of R.E.M. In View 1988-2003." It's brilliant! Well, if you like R.E.M.'s more recent work, as I do. I'm watching it right now. I love that Imitation of Life video -- so well choreographed.
We've got a new Scene Designer on our team, at work -- a guy called Rob. He's coming along really well, which is good. So soon there'll be four of us creating scenes for the game, and then very shortly, six! We'll really be pumping them out by then -- it's great!
I've found it really hard to watch over all the recruiting, though. It's been a new experience for me, but I've got into it quite readily. The biggest problem has just been how much it detracts me from doing all the scene work I'm also supposed to be doing at the same time. But it's all good -- it's all working out. We had to get new people aboard, so once it's all done it'll be worth it. I'm loving the experience, though. Despite feeling sometimes like a fickle father choosing the best puppy in the litter. If Frimlin had it all his way, all the puppies would be coming home. Unfortunately this cannot be.
I just love feeling like I'm actually making a significant contribution -- that it's all completely relevant, and important. And not just something on the sideline, or something that's never destined to be much more than an interesting concept that never really grabbed the gaming mob's attention. Let's not beat about the bush too much -- I loved Creatures and this is not debatable, however I was very keenly aware that it needed to be changed to bring in the crowds it really desperately deserved.
And I felt it, deeply. It really effected me, because Creatures was so close to my heart by then. And I felt there was so much that could be done with it. Yet I felt like everywhere I was running, there were walls. And slowly, slowly the walls of the closet of condemnation were moving ever inwards.
But no more. I don't feel that with The Movies at all. It feels all good, and all on track. It feels well poised and ready for the pounce. And I feel like I'm in there, in the brain and the balls, ready to pounce with it. It's a nice feeling. It's a warming feeling. It restores faith and exhonerates past frustration, allowing it to lift away, or simply lessen in significance.
A few months ago now, I was pleased to be able to sit down and think for a bit, and decide that all was well and that I was happy. There were no reasons for worry. No reasons for anguish. No reason to feel insecure about my housing or finances, and certainly no reason to worry about my job. Money is still an issue, but the NatWest online bank's financial planner has predicted I have a light at the end of the overdraft tunnel, that in time I will enjoy. I just have to clamp down on spending on unnecessaries. Not too much of a problem!
Anyhow, I've gone on much longer than I intended. I honestly started this post with it having the subject line "Nothing to say" -- but I've had to edit that somewhat! Oops. :-)
Love and light to you, my lovely blog readers! :-) And hey, thanks for those of you who are bothering to actually visit my blog, and leave a comment rather than those of you who only ever read through via the email you get from my Yahoo! group. Just so you know, there is now a little link after each post I make (it says "comments") which allows you to leave a comment on what I write. Please try to leave one! I'd be most grateful.
It makes the place seem a bit busier. It's felt a bit lonely switching from having the "most popular Creatures site in the world" in 1998, to running the entire Creature Labs web presence, and then suddenly having a little-visted blog on the backstreets of the UK blogging culture.
Poor ickle me. *Frimlin tickles self* :-)
Frimlin
(Posted at 9:10 PM)
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[6 comments]
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Friday, October 24, 2003 |
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At 12:08 AM, Frimlin posted this:
Movies recently viewed
- Kill Bill -- excellent little film out now at the UK theatres, featuring Uma Thurman and Lucy Liu, amongst others.
- 2001: A Space Odyssey -- an old favourite which I now finally own on DVD.
- The Princess Bride -- once again, for it has a good little storyline and I'm a sucker for the idea of true love.
- Hannibal -- do not like brain scene. :-(
- Austin Powers 3: Goldmember twice, and enjoyed it both times.
- Cleopatra -- with Liz Taylor. Brilliant. And what a good Cleopatra she makes!
- Edward Scissorhands -- featuring Johnny Depp. Very good film, which I never saw when it came out.
- Frank Herbert's Children of Dune -- with Alice Krige (the Star Trek Borg Queen), Susan Sarandon. Despite it being a completely different style from David Lynch's Dune of 1984, I think this two-part Dune adaption is still of a very high quality -- one which Dune fans should encourage rather than criticise. Excellent acting from Alice Krige -- though it was always weird seeing her with hair. And the portrayal of Alia, Paul's sister, was very well done -- especially with her possession by the "voice" of her paternal grandfather, the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen. Recommended -- might watch it again tonight before bed, actually!
- Metropolis -- a very old silent sci-fi film from the 1920s (1925?). Interesting, educational, but mostly it just showed me how far we've progressed with Movie-making since then!
- Loads of others, that I now, unfortunately, cannot remember readily. But enjoyed thoroughly all the same.
Frimlin
(Posted at 12:08 AM)
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[1 comment]
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Saturday, October 18, 2003 |
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At 12:36 AM, Frimlin posted this:
Life's river flowing up-hill, for a change
I don't want to go on about it, but I was promoted to Lead Scene Designer at work, earlier this week.
I am now lead of a group of (very soon to be) five Scene Designers on The Movies development team.
It's very good news, in case you're not really a fan of computer and console games. It's not the news that'll solve my bank overdraft problem in any way, any time soon, but it's good news for so many other reasons that it doesn't matter.
Other than that, no news... just wanted to say it and get it over with. Enjoy your weekends, folks.
Frimlin
(Posted at 12:36 AM)
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[6 comments]
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At 12:21 AM, Frimlin posted this:
Put the jacket down, and walk away
Turqoise is lovely. But not in a jacket! And not on a man. Well, not outside the 80s.
I'm sorry, OLLi, but it just doesn't suit you. The brown one is really good, though. Stick with that one.
Please. I really don't want to have to take drastic action in the form of flammable liquids, for example.
Yours sincerely,
Fasion Police
Frimlin
(Posted at 12:21 AM)
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Thursday, October 16, 2003 |
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At 10:14 PM, Frimlin posted this:
Early night, methinks
After the nightmare that was this morning, I am now planning ahead for an early night tonight. So more like 1am than 2:30am, for instance. Nothing drastic, of course!
I didn't call the landlord because I couldn't find his phone number! But my housemate went over to his place to talk to him. No news as yet what the outcome is. I still think a little bit of warning would have been at least nice, if not necessary by my rental contract.
But the workmen have left stuff all over the lawn outside my window, so I can only assume they plan to come back tomorrow morning. So I'll be sure to set my alarm for 7:30 so I can get up, drown in a caffeine cup, and prepare the loud music to accompany the arrival of their ear-splitting drill bit.
Of course I'll be so sorry if they don't appreciate my taste in music...
So now I'm going to watch the end of Dances with Wolves, which I've enjoyed a lot more than I did when watching it as it was first released. But without a shadow of a doubt, I could definitely improve upon that script! Though I'm not 100% sure or not if it's the direction I've got more of a problem with, rather than the script.
I have to defend my fellow writers!
Frimlin
(Posted at 10:14 PM)
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At 8:45 AM, Frimlin posted this:
Eight oh WHAT?!
You work a 12 hour day. You come home and watch a DVD till 2:30, knowing that you can get up as normal at 8:45, like you do every day, ready to start work at 10 again.
And what happens? Three bl**dy construction men start constructing, or rather deconstructing, literally right outside your bedroom window -- without any prior notification from the landlords -- at 8:05 in the morning!!
I need every half hour of my sleep. I need it very much, especially with the long work days. This is not the image of a happy Frimlin. Just as soon a I manage to get my sleep-starved and caffeine-needy brain to locate my landlord's phone number, they're going to have some explaining to do!
Yes, after all these years you can see even the Wizard Frimlin gets fits of uncontrollable rage!
A little bit of notification would have been nice. At least then I would have known not to stay up so late. Grrr.
Frimlin
(Posted at 8:45 AM)
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[2 comments]
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Wednesday, October 15, 2003 |
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At 11:32 PM, Frimlin posted this:
Addicted to group hug confessions
I'm addicted to group hug. I got home from work last night at 10 something, and sat down for my usual quick check through my favourite sites.
I loaded up group hug because I wanted to see if they'd approved my confession yet. I trawled through page after page. I was trying to skim read but I just got lost in the words! It's fascinating the things people confess to doing or thinking. I knew humanity was wonderfully varied, both warmly positive and terrorfyingly negative. But the detail itself, raw from the hearts of the Online Mob, is undeniably addictive in it's complexity.
Apparently the submissions can take up to a week to be approved. I was up till 1:30 last night reading the site, and I'm loathe to do it again but it's already taken the last twenty minutes from me. And here I was hoping to watch Dances with Wolves before I finally submitted to slumber!
I've been trying to watch at least one movie a night, to educate me further in the realm of moviedom. But I'm never going to be able to continue this film-a-thon with sites like group hug getting in the way.
Frimlin
(Posted at 11:32 PM)
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Tuesday, October 14, 2003 |
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At 11:51 PM, Frimlin posted this:
The Greek behind our English proverbs
Mark Dragoumis writes that many common English phrases translated almost exactly from Greek origins -- though many now have a distinctly English twist.
Despite the similarities, the differences are just as interesting as they give you an insight into what things the Greeks and English prefer to avoid or admire in particular.
In parting, never forget the wise Greek proverb, "an eagle never dies like a chicken." I think that teaches us all something. I'm not sure exactly what yet. But something.
Frimlin
(Posted at 11:51 PM)
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Monday, October 13, 2003 |
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At 9:30 PM, Frimlin posted this:
Cows of desire four.
I found this neat site called lost in translation where you can enter in a sentance in English, and have it translated over and over again into various other languages. You end up with a mixed-up version of what you originally typed. I figured I'd test out a theory that some of the most simple sentances would translate the best, especially sentances relating to direct trade and the needs of a merchant. Nice theory, but not sure of the results...
Original English Text:
Hello! Six sheep for sale. Want four cows. Have gold. Need bed for night.
Translated to French:
Bonjour ! Six moutons à vendre. Voulez quatre vaches. Ayez l'or. Ayez besoin du lit pour la nuit.
Translated back to English:
Hello! Six sheep to be sold. Want four cows. Have gold. Need the bed for the night.
Translated to German:
Hallo! Sechs verkauft zu werden Schafe. Wünschen Sie vier Kühe. Haben Sie Gold. Benötigen Sie das Bett für die Nacht.
Translated back to English:
Hello! Six to be sold sheep. Wish four cows. Have gold. Need the bed for the night.
Translated to Italian:
Ciao! Sei da essere pecore vendute. Mucche di desiderio quattro. Abbia oro. Abbia bisogno della base per la notte.
Translated back to English:
Hello! Six to be sold sheep. Cows of desire four. It has gold. It has need of the base for the night.
Translated to Portuguese:
Hello! Seis a ser carneiros vendidos. Vacas do desejo quatro. Tem o ouro. Tem a necessidade da base para a noite.
Translated back to English:
Hello! Six to be vendidos sheep. Cows of desire four. It has the gold. It has the necessity of the base for the night.
Translated to Spanish:
¡Hola! Seises a ser ovejas de los vendidos. Vacas del deseo cuatro. Tiene el oro. Tiene la necesidad de la base para la noche.
Translated back to English:
Hello! Seises to be ewes of the sold ones. Cows of desire four. It has gold. It has the necessity of the base for the night.
Frimlin
(Posted at 9:30 PM)
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Friday, October 10, 2003 |
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At 5:01 PM, Frimlin posted this:
Anonymous confessions from the online mob...
Up for a laugh? Check out this site!
Add your own -- go on, I dare you!
Frimlin
(Posted at 5:01 PM)
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Thursday, October 02, 2003 |
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At 1:58 PM, Frimlin posted this:
Rainy
It's rainy here in Guildford. Was rainy yesterday too. And my shoes have holes in their soles, so I'm getting soggy socks. Not good.
Oh to be back in sunny Barcelona or Lisbon! But I digress. I know you're sick of hearing what lovely places I've been going to! ;)
I almost got my photos developed today. A colleague, Mike Movel, was going to go into town at lunch. But in the end he didn't. So the plan is I'm taking them in on Saturday now, for one-hour processing. I can't wait! It'll be good to have something fun to put up on my photo blog.
Wish I had something interesting to say. Can't even think of an interesting title for this post, let alone actually fill the post with text worth reading!
But despite the weather, and my tone... things are looking up. :)
Frimlin
(Posted at 1:58 PM)
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~ ash's personal diary blog -- frimlin closer
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