Recently watched: Stargate

Back in 1994 when the movie Stargate was first released, I remember watching it in the theater and liking it much more than most of the reviews at the time suggested.

I watched it again on DVD a couple years ago, and that time I didn't like it as much. The pacing seemed off, the plot a little silly, and I think I couldn't get past a couple inconsistencies with the Stargate SG-1 TV series that I had watched quite a bit of in the preceding years.

I watched it again a couple of days ago, and this time I enjoyed it immensely. The pacing was good, the ideas and universe created were interesting and detailed, and I saw more ideas that were well integrated into the TV series than I saw inconsistencies.

I think maybe it's one of those movies you have to be in the right mood to watch. There are so many cool ideas in it, from a "hidden history" on Earth to traveling to another world. I think I've always appreciated movies like that, but somehow the presentation in this one falls flat for some people. The immense success of the TV series probably demonstrates that well.

Banning Books

So, apparently there are still people who think that banning books is perfectly reasonable.

To summarize:

"Robert Edwards, who launched a formal complaint about the Canadian novel, says the foul language, anti-Christian overtones, violence and sexual degradation probably violate the Toronto board’s policies of respect and tolerance."

Fine then, how about we remove the Bible from all school libraries, for it's violence, sexual degradation, incest, murder, genocide, and what I would expect is a clear violation of the Toronto board's policies of respect and tolerance?

You know what? Reading stuff that makes you uncomfortable is good for you. Reading about nasty stuff does not imply its endorsement, it offers and opportunity to discuss how it could happen and how never to let it happen.

Zzzzzzzzzz

Yes, I haven't been writing recently. Between finalling a game, Christmas and generally not being very worked up about anything, I haven't written for much too long. Even my plan of fictional writing hasn't panned out because I was doing more of that in a directly work-related fashion, which obviously isn't really able to be shared here.

I came across this site: http://whywontgodhealamputees.com/ (via Pharyngula). That pretty much sums up the majority of thoughts I've had on the topic of prayer/miracles.

In case you don't want to read all that though: Miracles are things that God does that violate the laws of physics. God never performs miracles that clearly violate the laws of physics, or even fall outside of statistical expectations. That is to say, without a lot of fudging around the definition of "miracle," it's pretty safe to say that there have been none in modern times and prayer is utterly ineffective in causing them to happen.

In other news, I just recently had two wisdom teeth out. "Fun" is not a word I would use to describe it, but having had kidney stones, I would like to mention that any pain is nothing compared to that.

Work is going well. Our game is approved and on the way to store shelves (and Steam)! I'm moving from Rendering to Gameplay on the next project, which is both a little disconcerting, since I have a proven track record in rendering, but haven't done much specific gameplay programming for quite a while. I've always railed against being pigeonholed, but having done rendering for several years I may have done it to myself. This will be a good change. My main goal is always to Make A Difference, and that's where I'm needed more at the moment.

In other other news, the snow is finally melting in Vancouver. This is the most snow I've seen out here in 10 years, and it's sticking around much longer than I've ever seen too. After a pretty cold summer, I was hoping for a mild winter. Oh well, maybe next year. And maybe the fog will go away - it's been foggy day and night for the past three days at least, and for a good portion of the last week. Other than that, it's been cloudy. I think we had a few hours of sun a couple weeks ago... My astronomical observation plans have not gone well over the last few months. Every time I think about buying a semi-decent telescope, I wonder if it's even worth it, living in Light Pollution Hell and all. Of course, some day it will clear up and I'll regret not being prepared.

Random stuff

Wow, it's been a rather long time since I vowed to try writing more. Yeah, that worked out about as well as expected. Too much work. The game is almost done though.

I was going to try to do some astrophotography some time in the last week. Then Vancouver weather happened, which has basically consisted of: clouds, fog, clouds, light rain, heavy rain. I keep thinking I should buy a telescope, but I usually think about this during the winter when there isn't much point.

And that's about all the time I have to write today.

Writing (condensed)

1. I like writing stuff
2. I hate posting stuff I don't think is done
3. I'm a perfectionist - nothing is ever done
4. I'm going to try to post more half-baked stuff, despite the inevitable criticism, and not feel too bad about editing and re-posting better versions later.

See? Much better. :-)

Writing

I like writing. I'm always coming up with plot lines and dialogue in my head. It's just that every time it comes to write something down, it gets a little difficult to actually get everything down the way I was thinking about it, without things going off in weird directions.

The story I just posted could be considered one such thing. This post is another.

What I really wanted to say was, I'd post more stuff like the story below, except I have a problem with "releasing stuff into the wild" if I don't think it's done yet. I'm unfortunately also a perfectionist, and I tend do abandon things before I consider them done.

Part of the point of this blog was to create a place to store all of the thoughts that I was storing on my PDA, but that other people might find at least remotely interesting.

Another point was to explore trying to say things a succinctly as possible. That would effectively require me to take old posts, trim the fluff or things that don't make sense or are blatantly wrong, in an effort to find perfection. I believe this is called "editing," which is something that doesn't happen easily online it seems.

So, I hope to write more, and more importantly, revisit and edit earlier thoughts at some point. Once I find the time. (Everyone say, "good luck with that last part.")

A Story

Once upon a time, in the Kingdom of Fa, there lived a kind but stubborn king. Through the length of this kingdom ran the river Ga. It flowed from the mountains, passed through the plains, and then passed between two great hills before making its way to the sea. Upon the tallest of these hills was perched an enormous boulder.

During the summer months, the river provided food and water for the people, however, during the winter it would freeze solid or run dry. Winters were very hard, and many people would die of thirst.

One day, one of the king's advisers came to him with a plan. "We will roll that giant boulder down the hill into the valley, creating a dam on the river Ga. This will create a lake, whose water will sustain us through the winter!"

So the king and all of his advisers climbed the hill and tried to push the boulder down the hill. They pushed and they strained. But they could not move the boulder.

The wise adviser suggested, "Perhaps if we dig under the boulder, it will begin to roll down the hill." But the king said, "No! It might crush you, and I can not put any of you in danger."

So they called all of the men of the kingdom to help. They pushed and they strained. They huffed and they grunted. But they could not make the boulder move either.

The adviser suggested again, "Perhaps if we dig under the boulder just a little bit, just to get it started." But the king said, "No! It might crush you, and I can not put any of you in danger."

So they called all of the women and children to help. They pushed and they strained. They huffed and they grunted. They groaned and they moaned. But even with every person in the kingdom to help, they could not make the boulder move.

Finally the adviser said, "Allow me to dig under the boulder. I am willing to take the risk, and my personal safety is a small price to pay for the benefit of the entire kingdom." But the king said, "No! It might crush you, and I can not put any of you in danger."

So the people of the Kingdom of Fa did not get their dam, and there were many more hard years for the small kingdom.

The moral of the story? There is no Ga Dam Fa King way.