The 12th Post: Warbreaker

As far as total posts and reading responses go, this is not the 12th post for either.

I never made a response to it back while I was reading it, I didn't get to far in either, but I would like to talke about Warbreaker.

I had started reading it, better late than never, but I didn't continue to read as the week progressed. I would like to return to it over the summer perhaps.

But what struck home for me, and what drew me in was this: the currency system Breath and how it would show through colors and auras.

So I thought to myself while reading it, "you can make a game out of this!". You have warring nations, an easy base for any story or game. You have a unique spell currency system: breath, working as tradable currency as well as s spell casters "mana". And a tiered level system, the Heightening's, to boot!

I would see it as a mmorpg. The real problem behind the idea would be, even though you could pitch Warbreaker and it's unique selling points, the subscription based mmo market is smaller and much harder to become successful in. Ultimately you have to beat WoW, while there are games that claimed to be a WoW killer before they were released, they ended up not doing so. The other alternative is the free to play mmo with a type of item shop that links real world currency with game currency. This would work well for Warbreaker (buy +10 breath for 30 days), but the free to play market is flooded with games and it continues to grow. You would also have to compete with the huge international and most of all asian free to play markets. Not directly of course, but their games that are hosted on US servers.

There would be a large barrier to entry without a strong promise of returns. I like the idea though, just my thoughts.

Response to: I Think We're All Bozo's on this Bus

I'm not entirely sure what I just listed to. Recalling past experiences with radio it would seem I process their data better when they are the primary influence over my senses. As an example: riding as a passenger in a car and listening to the radio.

In this case, I was multi-tasking, making an attempt to get some work done. That process required physical and visual interaction with my laptop, out numbering the audio requirement of the Bozo's.

That would be to say, I'm better at watching a movie and doing another task than lightening to something and multitasking.

It's a learning experience.

TiMER (2009)

Well, I was surprised by the end. I expected blondie to ignore her timer and marry lover boy instead of tall and handsome. I guess the movie was ok.

TiMER, or the idea of having a timer that goes off when you meet your perfect match seems a wonderful and potentially terrible idea. The reassurance of at least knowing could be a benefit if not for the fact that you could be waiting half of your entire life. You could get lucky, some people do, and find your match within days of getting your timer. Though, even that possibility would be disappointing to some people.

Response to: Bloodchild

Reading this I pictured T'Gatoi and her race as something like the Hutta race from StarWars but with rows of bug like arms. Googling her yielded the smallest bit of information to this end. Perhaps she was more of a centipede like creature. Whatever the case, they were something around that I think.

I would almost assume that another group of humans would come after the group living with the aliens. Perhaps something like this was address and I skimmed over it. If more humans were to come this would be a problem. The aliens would have to switch to an alternative method of growing their young.

The solution would be simple. Rather than forcing upon a family to carry eggs, a human would be able to sell their body. The humans then being on an equal seating with the aliens instead of being their subordinates.

Much as there is a market for egg and sperm donors, and surrogate mothers, there would be a market for this type of process. In most cases there are not complications, but when there are you get your insides eaten out. What's the worst that could happen?

Response to: Lilith's Brood, Dawn

Definitely an interesting read, not the standard alien encounter.

The interesting train of thought I was having through reading this is: how would I respond in the same situation?

I like to think I am a calm and composed person who can be quite objective. I have not been in a circumstance where my liberty has been taken out of my control so I can't really be empathetic with Lilith. What on Earth could prepare someone to interact with a completely alien species? Especially one who is holding yourself and others captive for the good of our own sake while refreshing out planet.

Returning to the question of how I would respond, we know that others responded well and integrated into the alien society but still remained alien to them. Fukumoto and other human doctor who had passed away while Lilith was just making baby steps towards a functional life with the aliens. They, if I recall correctly, did make the transition more easily but there were others who did not.

I only ended up making it about half way through, given time, and perhaps over the summer I'll go back and finish it.

(1984) The Brother From Another Planet

It was interesting, to say the least. I'm glad to know that raptor aliens who have human forms with the exception of their feet still basically behave the same way as their earthly counterparts.

Though I should say that, I realize the movie has a deeper meaning to it.

Response to: Leviathan

Why steampunk? Simple: my preproduction pitch that I will be pushing to senior thesis is steampunk. At least, it's as steampunk as Leviathan is; same time period different circumstances.

I should also note I did happen across Leviathan while fishing for reference imagery. My Drawing for Games teacher showed me an artist who did some work for the books.

Perhaps I should have taken this opportunity to read Mortal Engines, it might be more cyberpunk but it was recommended to me in regards to my thesis pitch.

On to Leviathan, a young adult novel, not that I would care I'm a light reader anyway. Though for what I read of it the characters felt more like tweens. I didn't end up finishing it due to time constraints.

I picked up reading it for the Clankers, but (for what I did read) continued reading it for the Darwinists. Both factions, rather, lifestyles were fairly interesting. I don't presume to have anything profound to say about it so I'll leave it at that.

Fahrenheit 451 (1966)

Adapted from the book of the same title. My initial thoughts were that is was based in George Orwells 1984 as sort of a clone. While I was wrong in that, I think it could be fair to say that the events in 451 are ones that could prelude the circumstances of 1984 for the fact that totalitarianism doesn't happen over night.

Serenity (2005)

I watched it.

Being John Malkovich (1999)

"Malkovich, malkovich malkovich."

Netflix gave this 3.5 stars for me, I'll say that's close. It was an interesting film. I assume it was meant to be a comedy, though it felt as if it took to long to conjure up a chuckle from within me.

I wouldn't want to be John Malkovich, that is the answer to the obvious question one should be asking after watching this. I'm quite comfortable here in my own mind, but it is an interesting concept: physical portals into an other beings mind.

Response to: Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone

I remember back when the Harry Potter books had just come out. I never read them; I didn’t do a lot of reading as a child. That would be why I read Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone for this past week. It’s not that I never really got into Harry Potter, after the fourth of so movie I began to go out of my way to watch those. I would say that I do enjoy that fantasy world, and that story.

Having first seen the movies, it would be impossible not to read the book from that lens. That is to say, every character or scene in the two media that are similar or similar enough would be viewed as a memory of the movie. So while reading I felt as though I was moving from clip to clip from the movie.

I didn’t finish the book, it’s bookmarked and I’d like to revisit it sometime. I found it to be sort of a casual read; it felt like a scholastic book. At the same time, though, it did have a compelling nature, but that could just be my potterhead friend’s sublime influence over me.

On another note, as it was within the discussion during the class: The Chronicles of Narnia. I had read the series before the disney movies began coming out. The books were easily better than the movies, especially Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Thank you Disney for that let down, it was one of my favorites from the series. The Horse and His Boy was perhaps my most favorite from the series. What I had liked about it the most that book was it pulled you out and away from the Narnia that you had been reading about, you were in the same world but you became exposed to a completely different story and area of the world, also the Main Four of the children where only minor characters in that. Comparing that Harry Potter where you follow the same group through seven books, back to Chronicles of Narnia where you keep meeting new characters with new stories across seven books. Two interesting approaches, I think, to each his own.

Labyrinth (1986)

80's music...

*shudders*

A small world, actually, this film was brought up in a class of mine this morning.

The special effects were quite spectacular at some points. Overall, I enjoyed it.

Response to: The Hobbit

The Lord of the Rings has been on my list of things to read for some time now, well a year or so. I had starting reading some of the World of Warcraft books when I realized reading is fun, and that's how LotR landed a spot on the list. Of course I had seen the movies, who hasn't? As for the Hobbit, I have seen part of the animated movie or series or whichever it was, but all that was revealed to me was Bilbo finding the ring, and we all know that from watching the trilogy don't we?

So! Reading the Hobbit was a fairly delightful and fun experience. It's interesting to me how it's described to the reader as something we almost should know about but require reminders about such things as hobbits and the holes that they live in. Of course I already knew about hobbits and their holes, affinity for gardening, smoking, and big hairy feet. The clever little songs that appear throughout the text are also quite fun. Though it did surprise me when the elves frolicked and sung, they always seemed so sober in the the trilogy, then it again it was only the end of the world.

Time Bandits (1981)

This movie was recommended to me once by a former teacher, now, I can see why. It was having to do with the absurdity of the movie. Time Bandits was not the best film to come out of the 80's, but it is certainly not the worst.

Response to: Interview with the Vampire

While it is impossible to be unfamiliar with the vampire within our culture; the place I pulled most of my knowledge of how the vampire should be from Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Not that I had much of a standard from that; I had seen the movie about two years ago and I remember that it was fairly fantastic. Had you asked me to recall much from the movie it wouldn’t be much, but having read Interview with the Vampire I feel that there is the are similarities: from the time period of the stories and the fanciness of the vampires. I will need to re-watch that.

But about Interview with the Vampire, I enjoyed it. At times I felt it to be very slow at some points but equally forced me to read on. When Louis and Claudia went to Europe was a very exciting portion. When they finally reached a village where they saw evidence of other vampires only to be let down time and time again by lowly creatures that were only hollow shells of what Louis and the others were.

I remember knowing time and time again that Lestat had not been killed, as Louis said he assumed Lestat was dead, but didn’t know for certain, this foreshadowed it. It certainly didn’t surprise me when he showed up in Paris.

Well, the characters were developed quite well. All being unique and dependent on each other in some part, whether or not they liked it.

What I did notice, and what was mentioned in class: was the sexual neutrality that flows within the story. While I could regurgitate what was said in class, I put off writing this for to long. What I noticed as far as the vampires sexual life was the master slave relationships they had or described. Lestat being on top, and Louis in the only other spot left; but the vampire would seem to lack most sexual desire, replacing them with blood sucking. That is not to say it’s still a curious notion to some of them, especially if the died at the age of five and never experienced sexual interaction of any sort. Claudia asked Louis once on the matter when they were in Paris, mentally she was well along in her adult life, naturally she would want to know but she can’t find out for herself.

Love triangles, Louis is the damsel in distress, the other two points are divided at times between Lestat, Claudia, and what’s his name the leader of the vampires in Paris. Immortality is complicated I guess.

Audition (1999)

I enjoyed it. It took its time to get to the thrill of the film.

The Lost Boys (1987)

Watched it, vampires, 80's movie...

Not that I don't like 80's movies, Surf Nazi's Must Die is a classic.

I think campy is the work I'm looking for.

Night of the Living Dead

As the title suggests, I have finished watching it.

Once, last year, on a netflix or hulu zombie movie binge I had started it, never finished. I can check it off the list. As far as other zombie movies worth watching, I've seen half of them on that list now.

Response to: Monster Island

Monster Island was an incredible story. If I described myself as not being a fan of the zombi-apocalypse I probably would be lying to myself. I have seen a wide range of what pop-culture has to offer as far as movies and games go, so the general plot line of Monster Island wasn't anything new to me.

What was new to me, and what excited me the most was Gary. That is not to say that one person in un-life controlling the undead is anything new to the multiverse that zombies exist in. Gary's entry into un-life, for this story, brought an opportunity to explain most of the behavior of the zombies in Monster Island. In my experience, most stories don't and can't go into the psyche of zombies because zombies are stupid in almost all cases. You certainly don't normally have a main character be a zombie (at least not for the whole story, they should all be zombies in the end or at least zombie food).

I did read all of it, and I enjoyed all of it. I’m not sure what I have to say about it, but I’d like to try to relate it to what I know. Gary reminds me of Arthas for the Warcraft universe, there, I said it. Mael is Ner’zul, the warlock/lich mentor who calls Arthas. The two eventually merge, Arthas becomes the lich king and Gary becomes not only the smartest zombie but also the leader of all the zombies in New York. When Arthas/Gary dies, Bolvar/Dekalb takes their place. Last but not least, everybody else things that Bolvar/Dekalb died, but they didn’t they are both in un-death.

That is what I was thinking while reading Monster Island, I was thinking about Warcraft. Rightfully so, both have amazing stories with amazing characters. Both have undead, and close enough for compassion plotlines.

The last of the last things I can think to comment about is this: the Egyptian mummies? Maybe I missed it somehow, but I don’t get why they got thrown into the mix. I would guess they are only there because Mael is there, and he was a mummy as well. I almost feel it could have worked well without the mummies, but I guess, who would have held off the undead throngs while the survivors escaped? /shrug

Conventions of Horror

night time setting; lightning; creepy caretaker; nightmares; mysterious noise; secret rooms; protagonist and female accomplice; crazed individuals; monster or monsters; death; living dead; no escape, quarantined, cut off; laboratory; castles, churches, or graveyards; crazed science, science gone wrong; BRAINS!

A New Post

I had a class back in freshmen year with Dr. Steiling, here's to this one being just as good! *toasts*