|| Silhoulettes v4 × Master & Servant × But who is the master? ||

Saturday, September 07, 2002

Luigi's Mansion update: Fired it up for the first time in months. Boolossus was defeated on the second try. Yay! Am now exploring area 4 of the mansion, on my way to taking King Boo down. I will beat this game this weekend, I think. Hopefully.
This just in. Bird-sama is spiffy, scrumptious, and has nifty hands.

Posted by Poe at 9:19 PM

Friday, September 06, 2002

When the day gets dark
Over a thousand streets
And you feel your heart
Is a living beat

When you're all alone
And you close your eyes
Naked to the bone
The dream comes alive

Do you get excited
When I touch you in the night?
My oh my...
Do you get excited
When I meet you every night?
You won't let the night pass you by

When your body's hot
The window's open wide
This moment's all you got
In this race of life

When you feel the fire
Is getting close to you
Hey baby, you know
I'm lonely too

Do you get excited
When I touch you in the night?
My oh my...
Do you get excited
When I meet you every night?
You won't let the night pass you by

I wanna know

I gotta know

Roxette - (Do You Get) Excited?

Posted by Poe at 6:55 PM

Rain.

It was always raining. No matter when, what season, or time of day, it always rained. Winter would see rain instead of snow. Dark and cold, the sky bleak with clouds, standing ready to unleash its burden on the earth below. But only rain came. Spring saw yet more rain, the sun occasionally peeking out behind the grey mass that covered the space above us. But still, only rain came. Summer, also, saw only rain. The skies cleared often, but still the rain came, the heat pounding at the back of your neck while a downpour drenched you. And finally, Autumn. The colors darkening as winter draws nigh, and still, the rain came.

It was one of those rare moments when it didn't rain, he thought, suppressing a shiver as a trickle of runoff from a roof ran down the back of his neck. Such moments were never good signs, the break in the rain's hold over sky and air usually a precursor to something more unpleasant. No one could remember when the last instance of the rain stopping had occurred, but, due to some instinct, all feared it.

They were places, the elders would say, beyond here, where it did not always rain. A few dared to believe those tales; to try and leave. They were never seen again. Or they were found dead in an alleyway, an expression of such fear on their face that it discouraged any from trying again. Yet still, the tale-tellers, those who told of the places where it did not rain - they remained, and continued to tell their tales. He had always found that odd. But then, he had always been here, as far as he could remember. He'd seen people come... and people go. Seldom was either occurence pleasant.

Posted by Poe at 1:19 AM

*writes on something* Hm. Perhaps I shall allow you all a sneak peek in a bit.
*wonders where people are*

Posted by Poe at 1:13 AM

Wednesday, September 04, 2002

So now then, it is time that I rant on the issue of whether or not digital art is really art. And upon the opinions of certain people who, while I enjoy their art & writing, have wildly different & close-minded opinions on this issue.

As I commented below, Mary Anne attended a debate panel on Sunday that Janny Wurts was at(this was the one that I avoided due to seeking food and stuff). Janny is a painter as well as a writer, she does her own covers to her novels, and does a great deal of that, if not all, traditionally, with brushes & the like. I do not disparage this. It works for her, and she produces some gorgeous work. However, I must take issue with her opinion that Digital Art is not really Art at all.

From what we gathered, she had a project that she needed to do something to a picture using digital tools(bearing in mind that this was a piece of work that had been done already on canvas). She could not get it to work, even with, as she said, someone showing her what to do. And thus, she determined that Digital Art is not art because the computer prevents one from putting your soul into your work.

While I can understand the method of using a computer to create art not working for her, I cannot agree with her opinion that it is automatically invalid and not a form of art at all. A computer is nothing more than a tool. Yes, a piece of art created by hand and then scanned in will suffer some loss of what the artist put into it, but if the computer is the tool used in the first place, it is NO different than a paintbrush, or a pencil, or what have you. The method by which you create the art is irrelevant. It is the intent that matters. And perhaps the methods don't work for everyone. Otherwise we would not have diversity in art.

But to assume that because a method failed to work for you it is automatically implausible is pretentious, arrogant, and the mark of a closed mind. I accept that the experience did not go well for her when she tried to work with a computer, but I cannot condone or agree with that point of view. That it would not work for her and thus she does not approve, yes, but to declare it nothing more than drivel because of that, that is just plain wrong.

This concludes my rant about digital art and people's opinions on it. Comments are appreciated, and encouraged.

Posted by Poe at 10:32 PM

My Dragon*Con report:

Friday: Went to signing by Janny Wurts. Got hardcover of Peril's Gate signed. Was able to avoid being a gibbering fanboy, but didn't make much effort in actually talking to her then. Didn't have a great deal to do for the remainder of the day, so pretty much just walked around & people-watched through the evening until late, then crashed.

Saturday: Got up around 9:30ish to get ready for first panel of the day, about dialogue in fantasy. Unfortunately, Janny wasn't there, and after about 10 minutes, I quietly left the room and went back to the hotel room. Had some proper breakfast, then wandered around until 2:30, wherein I attended another panel about Breaking into the Mainstream(it was mostly artist related though).
Didn't attend the 5:30 panel, sought food. Prowled the Dealer's Room & then went to the 10pm panel on building a religion in fantasy. Was VERY fascinating. Prowled some more after that, and generally had fun.

Sunday: Got up & went to the Reading by the aforementioned Ms. Wurts. Was an utter blast. ^^ She read a segment from her next novel, To Ride Hell's Chasm, and then, as we wanted more, she read a segment from her draft of Stormed Fortress. THAT was hilarious. Much enjoyment was had. Succeeded in talking to her after the panel this time. Went on & prowled the Dealer's Room once more, having already acquired a Transformers Armada Starscream due to the one I sought not being available. Spotted a G1 Fortress Maximus for sale, was boggled by the price. 1100.00 for it.(it was MISB.) Moved on since I didn't have that much money(nor would I pay that).

Did not attend the 1:00pm panel about Whether Digital Art is really Art. A good thing too, as Mary Anne was disappointed, and from what she said, I likely would have been as well. More to come on that later. Made it to the 2:30 panel about Women in Fantasy. it was decent, but nothing spectacular. Zipped from that to the main hall in the Hyatt to acquire seats for various performances. Welcome Back, Potter was very amusing. Sped to the hotel room with Marshall to acquire snacks for the next things, those being the Atlanta Radio Theater Company's performance of Special Order, based on the Cthulhu mythos. That was a blast, though the sound guy had issues.(what sort of jackass runs sound with EARPLUGS?!?! How can you tell if the sound is right if you can't HEAR it? Dumbass.) Then attended the Masquerade, which was held in the same room. It was fun. Their were less sucky costumes than last year, but also, less really spectacular ones. They were all decent, however. The Nightmare Before Christmas costumes were superb.

Leaving that, we people-watched for the remainder of the night, then attended the Buffy Musical Karaoke in the Hyatt. THAT was a great deal of fun. After that, Mary Anne, Joe, Sarah and I all played Fluxx, while checking out the Drum Circle and people playing Limbo. Mary Anne won the first hand, then the second, followed by Sarah winning the third. After that, we returned to our separate rooms and slept.

Monday: Checked out the Art Show & Dealer's Rooms again, which was fun. Spoke with Janny's husband, Don Maitz, about the issue above and learned that my guess was more or less correct, even though I still found the answers unsatisfactory. After that, and some picture taking, we left. Had lunch at the Georgia Dinner with Marshall, Sarah, Mary-Anne, Mel & Alan, then stopped at the walmart where I dispensed with the final bits of my cash for two more Armada figures. The Street Action MiniCon team, and Demolisher. This leaves Optimus Prime and others who are unavailable as of yet to acquire.

I'm still looking for Scourge of RiD. If anyone wants to contribute, then hop over to my Amazon list over on the sidebar. ^_^
All in all, Dragon*Con 2002 was great fun, and I'm glad I attended it. ^_^ Will definitely be there next year, hopefully with a costume. Hee hee.
Oh, and for those interested... you may view Dragon*Con pictures that we took Here. The link's on the front page. Enjoy.

Posted by Poe at 10:09 PM

I intend to cosplay at Dragon*Con next year. I must carefully decide on what my costume will be. Any suggestions, children?

Posted by Poe at 9:38 PM

I took pity and opened the screen.
The wasp left.

Posted by Poe at 6:58 PM

And if anyone's wondering, right now I'm thinking about how long it's going to take that wasp to die because it can't figure out how to get out from between the screen & glass.

Posted by Poe at 6:16 PM

There are moments when I wonder what my dreams are trying to tell me. Whether it's something important, or just the product of my twisted mind overworking itself. I'm always thinking. It may not be on the most deep or thoughtful things, but not a moment goes by that I'm not contemplating something. And much of that carries over into my sleep and produces some seriously fucked up dreams that are probably best left unsaid as to the content. And then I wonder whether or not... *pauses to watch a wasp crawl between the window & screen looking for a way out* Ah yes, where was I. And then I wonder whether or not this life is going anywhere. I have ambitions, but often question whether I have the drive to carry them out. I suppose only time will tell....
Oh yes, and there may be blog changes coming. Beware of falling blocks.

Posted by Poe at 6:06 PM

Monday, September 02, 2002

Back from DragonCon. It was a blast. Got toyz. Had fun. Am tired. The end.
*hugs to Bird*

Posted by Poe at 10:09 PM