That’s not code or a euphemism or anything. Sorry. I just hate puzzles.
Screw you, Sudoku, and the horse you rode in on.
Why that should be I’ve no damned idea. In general I really love figuring things out. But as for puzzles per se, I suppose my attitude is, Oh, fucking get on with it.
If anyone can offer any suggestions as to why that might be so, I’d love to read them. Other than concluding I’m a pernicious featherhead and not worth bothering with any more. The only thing noteworthy about that being, why did it take you so long?
And remember: I never promised you profound.
On other topics: tonight I hie myself off to the Albuquerque Science Fiction Society monthly meeting at 7:30 PM at Some Stuff by Huff Studio, 5900 Domingo Rd, NE, Turkey-burg. Our feature for this evening will be Albuquerque’s own John Miller, or John Jos. Miller, as he styles himself these days to avoid confusion with all those other John Millers. He’ll be talking about, and if we’re luckier than we deserve reading from, his novel-in-progress, Black Train Coming.
It’s a wonderfully cool and original idea about Depression-era coal miners oppressed by vampires. I believe the vampire mine owners possess, yes, a black train. As naturally they would. Anyway I’m excited about it, and I’m pretty confident it’ll be huge, if he can just get himself to finish the damned thing.
(This isn’t something I’d know anything about – he said to rumbustious laughter from all those many fans and friends who’ve been listening to me promise to finish The Dinosaur Lords Any Day Now for the last six and a half years. Well, you’ll be laughing out the other side of your face soon – warning: don’t actually try to envision this; it’s gross – and I’ll shortly be able to provide a good example to Mr. John Jos. Miller. How’s that for out of character?)
Also, the people are fun, smart, and cool. If you’re in the Burque area you really might give a thought to falling by. If you’re not in the Burque area … well, you gotta sort out your own priorities.
And if you’re in the Burque area and thinking of dropping by my house to rip me off (talk about the game not being worth the candle!) – well, Emma Dog would be really, really happy to see you.
Especially the Chinese Monster Dog half of her.
Catch you tonight or catch you later! Peace out.
Oh – and a Happy Friday the 13th to all! That’s the kind of holiday we roll with here. Heck with that Hallmark Card thing tomorrow.
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I’m the same way about puzzles. Particularly the puzzles that they seem self-obliged to incorporate into what would otherwise be a perfectly kickass RA&KT (Run Around & Kill Things) computer game. Of all the things I LOVED about the original “System Shock” (there’s another game that’d make a good movie, IMAO), the one thing I hated was the puzzles. I didn’t mind the “scavenger hunts.” I didn’t even mind the hokey “cyberspace combat” so much. But the puzzles… If it would have worked, I’d have been inclined to solve them in much the same way as Alexander was alleged to have “untied” the Gordian Knot.
M. \”/
Yeah, the intrusion of puzzles into move-&-murder games is one of the things that irks me most about puzzles. It’s not that they require me to think. It’s that they require me to think according to someone else’s pattern. I love to improvise, an approach puzzles punish far more often than they reward.
System Shock was a good game. IIRC it was the puzzles that caused me to give up and move on to the recently-released Crusader: No Remorse. Which, really, I’d been playing a bargain-bin copy of SS in lieu of in the first place…
Which reminds me, I need to get back to playing the awesome No One Lives Forever. I moved away from it because I got stuck on the boss battle with that Fat Bastard Scots guy. (And not because of any natural sympathy for fat bastards.)
“recently-released Crusader: No Remorse.”
Recently-released? I’ve been playing that for years. Or had been, until the CD drive got uncooperative on the even-more-of-a-computersaur (running on Win 3.1 and DOS 6). Has it been re-released? I’ve been wanting to find a copy of the sequel, “Crusader: No Regret” for… ever & ever, amen. I’ve heard hints at a third volume: Crusader: No Mercy.
My favorite living character actor is in some of the “cutscenes” of Cru No Rem – his name is Marco Perella. Works mostly in movies shot in Texas or Louisiana. You HAVE seen him, but most of his jobs are “don’t blink” roles.
- M. \”/
“Recently-released” at the time.
Crusader: No Mercy, eh? Hadn’t heard of that. It seems to’ve been canceled, although sometimes these projects can resurrect, as Fallout 3 proves.
I’d certainly like to play Crusader: No Mercy. As it is, I’m still waiting for Duke Nukem 3D.
Then again, I haven’t done Fallout 3 yet. It’ll likely have to wait till I can afford an Xbox 360, since even if it comes out for PC my own less venerable computersauruses won’t handle the demands of a modern game of any pretension.
Oh – turns out I meant Crusader: No Regret. That was the sequel I was waiting on while I played System Shock. I thought it was the name of the original, and was mistaken.
Re: Cru No Rem/ Cru No Reg – I can’t keep them straight either – I have to dig up the disk and check every time I make a reference to either game.
Marco Perella was “Weasel.” Though it was implied (but not clearly shown) that he was a casualty of the slaughter at the rebel base, I choose to believe he survived.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0673260/
He appears together with Alex Morris (Col. Ely) in a scene near the beginning of “The Chase.”
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109402/
and with Suzanne Savoy (Maj. Vargas) in “Cohen and Tate”
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097074/
He’s said that, in most of his movies, his character gets killed within the first 10 minutes of the film.
And he’s the author of “Adventures of a No Name Actor.” I’ve read it – it’s a hoot.
- M. \”/