Everything’s better with zombies – so goes the theme for this year’s Bubonicon. I’d argue everything goes better with dinosaurs, myself.
Because I like Triceratops, okay?
Saturday night brought a party at Ty and Jayné Franck‘s house for Jayné’s birthday (she totally doesn’t look her age.) Also in attendance were Patricia Rogers, Walter Jon Williams and his wife Kathy, Daniel and Kat Abraham and their daughter Scarlet (who’s almost three), Chip Wideman, Sage Walker and Hank Greenberg, Melinda Snodgrass, Ian Tregillis, George RR Martin, and Ty’s Canadian friends Raja and Liza. (If I left you out, sorry. It’s late.)
Good people all, and mightily entertaining. A very pleasant evening, all told.
One high point, if we can call it that, came whilst Ian was enthusiastically describing a web site called Dinosaurs Fucking Robots (no, I’m not linking to it. They may be debased, but I have standards.) He was telling how they have fan submitted art garnished with quotations from noted philosophers. “So you may have Bertrand Russell above a picture of a Tyrannosaurus rex getting busy with a robot,” he said with unholy relish. (Which goes well on pumpernickel.)
And Melinda, who’d been sitting peacefully on the couch nearby trying to follow another conversation, yipped, “What?”
Then Ian and I began regaling the group with a description of the website Cats That Look Like Hitler!. Think I’m kidding? So did Liza, who whipped out her iPhone and brought up the site, to general amazement.
By now you’re probably saying, “Yeah, yeah. But what about the zombies.” Well, zombies there were, if not in the (rotting) flesh, thereby avoiding complications with the Health Dept.
By popular demand, Ty brought out his XBox 360 and with Raja demonstrated the game Left 4 Dead
It was a hoot to watch. They played through a whole scenario, which the game calls a “movie,” while we watched and kibitzed. Then they got some other pople to play. Eventually they even overcame my original demurral and talked me into giving it a try. With Ty, Jayné, Liza, and Raja tutoring me, with one or another patiently partnering me, I was able to learn enough almost to be a net asset.
Anyway, it’s a highly gripping and entertaining game. I look forward to playing again. Maybe I won’t shoot my own teammates quite so much.
(Oh – along with zombies, we enjoyed a variety of delicious New Mexican-type snacks, plus ice cream cake. Which tasted much better than zombies. I’m just sure.)
And if you’d like to meet and hang out with people like that, drop by our Wild Cards: Busted Flush signing next Saturday from 4-6:00 PM at Page One in Albuquerque. Most of us’ll be there. Plus a bunch of other cool writer-types who couldn’t make it. It’ll be swell!
Popularity: 5% [?]
“…everything goes better with…”
I’m with you on this one. Cadillacs optional.
And (turbulent segué – fasten your seat belts, ladies & gentlemen) while we’re on the subject of Wild Cards:
http://www.polyvore.com/joker_barbie_with_des_snotman/set?id=6077070
- M. \”/
Glad to hear that the discourse at the party was kept at the high level we’ve come to expect.
Hey, rewinder! Good to see you here. Welcome aboard.
Naw, it was worse. You know from the list Danny’s been made a judge for the Philip K. Dick awards. He was wearing a “riot nrrd” tee-shirt; I asked if he wanted one that said, “Dick Judge”?
He laughed and said he thought he needed that. I think we totally need to chip in and buy him one.
I’m gonna conspire with Ty about this.
BTW:
http://www.dukecityfix.com/events/zombie-crawl-zombie-prom
BRAAAIiiiiinnnnssss!!!!!
Thanks for coming and hanging out, Vic.
See? We totally didn’t murder you, so dodging all those prior invitations was totally not necessary.
Come shoot zombies any time. Also, if you wish, evil Mexicans. (The badguys in the Tom Clancy Ghost Recon game are evil Mexicans.)
No. No you didn’t. To think of all that paranoia – wasted!
I’ll take you up on the zombie-shooting. As for “evil Mexicans,” I’d just as soon shoot self-proclaimed Minutemen. But Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, a sprite’s a sprite, so ¡vamos a matar!*
Wait! I thought PC had compelled them to switch the phonetic-alphabet “W” to “Waco!” Still “Whiskey”? Cool.
Anyway … hope Jayné enjoyed her birthday half as much as I did. Thanks again.
*That may look like an italicized “i.” But it’s a proper upside-down exclamation point. Srsly.
As an evil (part)Mexican, I appreciate your restraint.
I must admit, though, when shooting my brothers south of the border is that much fun, I just can’t resist.
A while back I scored a demo disc of “Quake (I)” and a few days ago I invested in the full “Quake II” (both thrift shop finds – QII set me back a whole buck – definitely cost-effective!). Yeah, I know, I’m SO behind the times. I think QII is going to become my primary psych/emo depressurization therapy. Unless serendipity sends a thrift store X-Box my way…
Last week my nephew dropped by with his X-Box and the (disc? cartridge?) of “HALO (I)” – we played the first level of that in co-op mode. Derek observed that I was “very careful.” Well, yeah – between being unfamiliar with the controller, and my opinion that “friendly fire” incidents are a serious buzzkill, caution was my watchword in that gaming session.
Derek also observed that I wasn’t talking much – he was concerned that I wasn’t enjoying the game. I reassured him that I was; it’s just that I was concentrating so much on the game (and trying to remember which part of the split screen was my POV), I didn’t have much “wet processor” power to allocate to conversation.
- M. \”/
Here’s an interesting thing that dropped into my email inbox a couple of days ago:
ESPERANTO phonetic alphabet
Asfalto Barbaro Centimetro \^Cefo Doktoro Elemento Fabriko
Gumo \^Girafo Hotelo \^Haoso Insekto Jubileo \^Jurnalo
Kilogramo Legendo Ma\^sino Naturo Oktobro Papero Rekordo
Salato \^Silingo Triumfo Universo Universo-hoko Vulkano
Zinko
( Q, W, X or Y not used in Esperanto?)
- M. \”/
?efo, ?irafo, ?aoso, ?urnalo, Ma?ino, ?ilingo, (?) – damn, WordPress won’t show the diacriticals. Haven’t they heard of Unicode?
For a descent to the Ninth Circle of Nerd Hell, check this out. Yes, it’s a table for translating Tengwar, the script JRR Tolkien (the British George RR Martin) made up for Middle Earth, into Esperanto. Quiver.
I’m too terrified to Google for “Esperanto” and “Klingon.” Don’t you dare post links for that here. I mean it.
“WordPress won’t show the diacriticals.”
Is that what the \^ were? I was baffled about that. Cefo, Girafo, Haoso, Jurnalo, (I’m guessing) Masino, Silingo. I have no idea what sort of diacriticals belong on those words.
“Don’t you dare post links for that here. I mean it.”
chora’; vIlob. Oops -I mean: Roger, wilco.
But I will recommend (for comic relief, if nothing else) for your occasional movie parties, a 1965 film directed by Leslie Stevens called “Incubus,” starring a pre-Trek William Shatner. It may be available through Netflix – or if you happen to be shopping at the right dollar store at the right time. it sometimes crops up in such places (that’s how I got my copy).
- M. \”/