pedanther

The Man from Mukinupin opened this week. Audience feedback has been good so far.

In another week or two, I may have enough free brainpower back to start interacting properly again. (justice_turtle, if you see this: though I haven't been managing to find anything to say, I have been reading all your recent posts with interest.)

1. As one of the people who felt Jim Kirk got handed his captaincy at the end of the last film without either earning it or showing any sign he could be trusted with it, I was pleased to see that addressed in Star Trek Into Darkness.

On the other hand, there's that thing you may have heard about already, which is a thing. (I came up with at least four possible patches for it before the movie was over, and was faintly surprised that the movie hadn't tried to use at least one.)

Also, I'm still not sure it's proper Star Trek, for all that it has a lot of moments intended to remind you of things that Star Trek did before. And it's not really doing itself any favours reminding you; putting people in mind of some of those old scenes (especially that one) is not a good idea unless you're going to go them one better, and I don't think it did. Bigger, faster, and shinier, yes. Better? No.

But for a big, fast, shiny action movie, it's a reasonably entertaining way to spend a couple of hours.


2. Though I was tempted to say that my favourite part of seeing Star Trek Into Darkness was actually the trailer for Pacific Rim they showed before it, in which a computer unexpectedly spoke with the distinctive voice of Ellen McLain.


3. Signal boost: Humble Bundle is a web site that offers limited-time bundles of small-press and indie computer games, DRM-free, for a variety of platforms, for the low, low price of Whatever You Feel Like Paying.

The current bundle features the work of Double Fine Productions, an adventure game company founded by people who had previously worked on LucasArts games like The Secret of Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, and Grim Fandango. None of those are in the bundle, of course, but it does feature Double Fine's flagship title, Psychonauts, which concerns the adventures of a young psychic and features sections set inside the minds of the other characters. Another of their better-known titles, Brütal Legend, which features the voice of Jack Black and a setting that mixes quest fantasy with heavy metal stylings, is the bonus game that will be thrown in if you pay more than the average of everyone before you. At the time of writing, that average is less than ten dollars.


4. In other news, work continues on rehearsals for The Man from Mukinupin. We recently did our first run-through of the first act.


5. The last week or so has been unusually productive and able-to-concentrate-y. I just wish I knew what happened, so I could keep doing it.

(One possible suspect: This started about the time I had a run of days where I was running late so I skipped my usual breakfast and grabbed a meat pie on the way in to work. Since I noticed that, it's occurred to me that I really don't eat much red meat in the usual run of things. But I don't know enough about diet to know what kind of effect to expect from that.)

1. I'm going to be away from the internet for about a week. (You probably won't even notice I'm gone.) This year the National Band Championships are going to eat most of the weekend, though I still intend to get to as much of Swancon as I can, even if that turns out to be only Monday afternoon. Then I'll be staying in town for a few days to catch up with some people and get in the annual shopping spree before heading home.

For the first time since I got it, I won't be taking my favourite gadget with me. Another thing that reminds me that, while it's still my favourite gadget, as time passes it's gradually becoming less and less actually useful and relevant.


2. I have been cast in the Rep Club's next play, Dorothy Hewett's The Man From Mukinupin, just in time to miss the first week of rehearsals. I'm not sure what to make of the play yet, except that one way or another it's definitely going to be an experience.


3. For the list of things I have now done and don't need ever to do again: At the community fair this year, I let myself get talked into going on one of the Rides That Go Around Very Fast. (This one, to be specific, although that's a different fairground.) It... wasn't too bad, actually. At least it wasn't one of the Rides That Go Around Very Fast And Suddenly Turn You Upside-Down.


4. A fanfic recommendation: Victory Bonds, by copperbadge, is a tale of the Justice League set in the 1940s. It features the best Clark Kent and Lois Lane I've encountered anywhere in quite some time. Clark narrates.

It wasn't easy, trying to be a reporter and a hero. The number of times I had to beg off a dinner or apologize for being late to work...well, it's a good thing reporters don't keep normal hours, or I'd have been fired many times over. As it was, Perry sometimes put me on garbage stories to punish me for disappearing on him. Some of them turned out to be gems in disguise, but the little scoreboard Jimmy kept showed Lois was clearly winning in the "probably going to win a Pulitzer" competition.

Bruce Wayne was one of my punishments.


5. Probably anyone on my friendslist who'd be interested has heard already, but just in case: Agent of Change, the first Liaden novel by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, is now a member of the Baen Free Library.