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From The West Wing, Season 2, Episode 22 (Two Cathedrals), as said by President Bartlett while he’s walking to the altar, alone, inside the empty cathedral during the funeral… he was speaking to God…

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You’re a son of a bitch, you know that?

She bought her first new car and you hit her with a drunk driver. What, was that supposed to be funny?

“You can’t conceive, nor can I, the appalling strangeness of the mercy of God,” says Graham Greene.  I don’t know whose ass he was kissing there ’cause I think you’re just vindictive. What was Josh Lyman? A warning shot? That was my son. What did I ever do to yours but praise his glory and praise his name?

There’s a tropical storm that’s gaining speed and power. They say we haven’t had a storm this bad since you took out that tender ship of mine in the north Atlantic last year… 68 crew.  You know what a tender ship does?  Fixes the other ships.  Doesn’t even carry guns.  Just goes around, fixes the other ships and delivers that mail.  That’s all it can do.

Gratias tibi ago, domine. Yes, I lied.  It was a sin.  I’ve committed many sins.  Have I displeased you, you feckless thug?   3.8 million new jobs, that wasn’t good?  Bailed out Mexico, increased foreign trade, 30 million new acres of land for conservation, put Mendoza on the bench, we’re not fighting a war, I’ve raised three children…

That’s not enough to buy me out of the doghouse?

Haec credam a deo pio? A deo iusto? A deo scito?
Cruciatus in crucem!
Tuus in terra servus nuntius fui officium perfeci.
Cruciatus in crucem.  Eas in crucem!

Click to translate »

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(Bartlet turns away in anger. He descends to the lower sanctuary and lights a cigarette. He takes a single puff, drops the butt to the floor, and grinds it defiantly with his shoe…)

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Technorati: 22, bartlett, book, cathedrals, dolores, episode, funeral, job, landingham, of, president, quotes, season, two, west, wing

Okay, so I went to Target with Terrie yesterday and after about an hour of browsing around, I picked up two things that I could’ve gotten elsewhere – a big bag of Sun Chips (French Onion), and the latest book in the Wheel of Time saga, The Gathering Storm.

I’ve known about the book’s impending release for a few months now, but when it was finally released last week, I had a somewhat lukewarm enthusiasm to run out to the nearest bookstore and buy it.  This was a far cry from several years ago, when I was even waiting for the bookstore to open so I can be one of the first to read it.  A lot of it stems from the way the series has progressed in the last three to four books.  The pace had slowed down to a crawl, there were more characters being introduced that it almost rivalled War and Peace, and the “beginning of the end” was nowhere in sight.  While I appreciate long, rich tales like The Lord of the Rings, The Sword of Truth and The Dark Tower series, I somehow felt that more than ten books and almost twenty years of telling that single story is really pushing it…  

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The Eye of the World

I started reading The Wheel of Time in my second year of college in the Philippines (1992), and back then I had to take a long, hard commute to National Bookstore in Baclaran, which was the closest bookstore that carried fantasy books.  Back then I was deeply immersed in the works of Stephen King, Clive Barker, Dan Simmons and Brian Lumley (to name a few), and the only “hard” fantasy fiction I have encountered was Tolkien’s Lord the Rings and Joel Rosenberg’s Sleeping Dragon.  Being someone who liked tales that spanned more than one book, I quickly took notice of a group of paperbacks at the bottom of the fantasy/horror shelf that had very interesting cover art. 

The three books that I saw were The Eye of the World, The Great Hunt, and The Dragon Reborn – the first three books of the Wheel of Time series, written by someone called Robert Jordan.  Thinking that it was a trilogy a’la LoTR, I read the synopsis at the back, found it interesting, and quickly grabbed those three books and headed for the cashier.  When I got back to my dormitory in Cavite more than two hours later, just in time for dinner, I wolfed down my “college dinner”, quickly nabbed the first book, lay down my bed, and started reading… and reading… and I continued to read until I saw that the clock on the wall was telling me it was already 3am in the morning.  So I guess it would be an understatement to say that I was hooked – like a bad habit.

Suffice to say, I finished all three books in less than a week, and I had mixed feelings of fear and anticipation when I discovered that it was not really a trilogy, but instead the beginning of what would be a long, arduous journey into a fantasy world where magic, love, history, politics and war are the norm.  I waited later that year for the fourth one to come out, The Shadow Rising, and the following year, I was at the bookstore twice a week checking if the fifth book, The Fires of Heaven, is out on paperback yet…

(You would have to understand that I almost never bought hardcover books in college, mostly because [a] the bookstore only had fantasy fiction available on paperback and [b] even if they were available, I would have to use up a couple day’s worth of my measly college allowance just to be able to afford it… and I also had no way of knowing when a book I wanted to read will be coming out, coz there were no newsletters, and there was no Internet.)

By the time I graduated college in 1996, I had added Lord of Chaos to my collection, racking up the total to six WoT books in my ever-increasing shelf of fantasy/horror fiction (which included all, yes, ALL of Stephen King’s novels and story collections, about six of Clive Barker’s, and a whole cacophony of other books written by fiction writers that are too many (and some, too obscure) to mention.  Lord of Chaos is still one of my favorite WoT books, because that was when all hell started breaking loose, and that’s when the shit started hitting the fan.

And that was also the time when Robert Jordan’s “one-book-a-year” rule started flying out the window…

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A Crown of Swords

When I worked for the Philippine Daily Inquirer in mid-1996, I was lucky to find out that there was a specialty bookstore just a couple miles from work.  And lo and behold, in one of the shelves, there was a hardcover book with the familiar cover art style, and it said A Crown of Swords.  That seventh book was the first fantasy hardcover book I ever bought, and since I was already working, I can now afford it… barely.  And when the paperback came out later that year, I also bought it, coz that hardcover book didn’t fit very well with the whole army of paperbacks it was bookending.

I moved to the United States the following year, and in 1998, A Path of Daggers, the eighth book, came out.  And bookstores in California were like restaurants in the Philippines – they were everywhere.  So I easily found the hardcover and continued reading about the lives of Rand Al’Thor, Perrin Aybara, Mat Cauthon, and the rest of the characters.  And that’s when I noticed the drastic change in pace… the story was starting to really slow down, and by the time I bought the ninth book, A Winter’s Heart, I realized that either Robert Jordan is at the mercy of his greedy publishers, or he doesn’t know how he’s gonna end his story and get out of the hundreds of holes he dug for himself.  Even though there were a series of huge events near the end of the book, it was almost not enough to compensate for the “drudgery” that peppered 90% of it.

But I continued reading, because like everyone else who still followed the series, I wanted to know how it’s gonna end.  I actually bought A Winter’s Heart during a book signing in a fantasy bookstore in Santa Monica, along with the first book so I can have Mister Jordan sign it for me.  He and his wife were sitting behind a long table, signing books and talking with the many fans who attended the event (the line was so long that it was threatening to round the whole block where that bookstore was).

When it was my turn, I asked Mister Jordan to sign my two books, and then I asked him the question that he has probably heard a thousand times already:  ”Mister Jordan, when will we see the end?”

He smiled, and his wife laughed beside him.  After signing my books, he shook my hand and said, “I don’t know, but it will…”

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The snail-like pace of The Wheel of Time series didn’t improve with the 2003 release of the tenth book, Crossroads of Twilight.  For the first time since I started reading The Wheel of Time, I was getting bored, annoyed and indifferent to the story.  I wanted it to end right then and there.  I was sick of reading about the PMS-like outbursts of the Aes Sedai, the dozens of subplots spanning dozens of chapters, and the lack of focus on the main protagonist himself, Rand Al’Thor.  I was compelled to skip chapters, skim through dialogues and sometimes peek at the end.  It was worse than pulling teeth or watching paint dry.  Robert Jordan seemed lost, and it showed in his story.

(Heck, he even wrote a prequel, A New Spring.  As if he isn’t busy enough already with the present, existing ones…)

I felt that there needed to be a fresh approach to the story, coz it appeared to me that Mister Jordan waded in too deep and was having a hard time swimming back, hence he was too busy tying off subplots instead of resolving the main plot itself.  And introducing NEW subplots didn’t help, either.  This was why, when I bought the eleventh book, Knife of Dreams, I didn’t get past the first three chapters.

Yeah, for the first time, I couldn’t finish a Wheel of Time book.  It was just too convoluted for me.  So I sat there, an unfinished hardcover on my lap, wondering when, or if, I should read it again.  I vowed that it was gonna be the last WoT book I’ll buy and read if the trend continues.

And then, last year, Robert Jordan died… and when I read the news, I can almost hear a million voices suddenly crying out in frustration and resignation, and suddenly silenced…

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The Gathering Storm

So how do you finish a story that was nowhere near to being finished after its writer dies?  You either write off the series as one of the most colossal disappointments in fantasy literature, or you get a new writer to continue it.

Robert Jordan’s widow chose the latter, entrusting the continuation to a little-heard writer named Brandon Sanderson.  And the poor guy is now thrust into the shoulders of the 800-pound gorilla – how do you finish a story that even the original writer doesn’t want to finish?  Luckily, Jordan left behind some notes on his thoughts about how the story should end, a compilation named “A Memory of Light”, and from this resource, Mister Sanderson began the craft the beginning of the end… at long last.  The fresh approach has finally arrived, albeit under inopportune circumstances.

Because of the sheer size of the reference material, the last book was split into three, with the first one being named The Gathering Storm, the second one tentatively named Towers of Midnight, and the last one tentatively named A Memory of Light – all scheduled to be released one year after the other.  Like the old times.

(Kinda funny that most disgruntled fans have said that the world would end sooner than the Wheel of Time saga…  since the last book is slated for a 2011 release, it would beat the doomsayers’ predictions.  That is, if you believe the world would end on 2012…)

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So ultimately, Tarmon Gaidon, the final battle, will commence and end in three books.  Three last books that I’ll be reading with the same excitement that I had when I read the first three books in the series, almost thirteen years ago.  My experience with The Wheel of Time will (appropriately) come full circle. ..

So, as I hold The Gathering Storm in my hand, I am filled with excitement and anxiety.  The longest story I have ever read will finally come to an end two years from now.  The satisfaction and contentment I had after I finished Stephen King’s last Dark Tower book, or the anti-climax I experienced when I finished the last book of the Sword of Truth series, will be brought to bear on the last three books of Robert Jordan’s magnum opus…

The storm is finally gathering, and I can’t wait till it’s finally done…

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Technorati: book, brandon, eye, gathering, jordan, light, of, robert, sanderson, storm, terrie, the, time, twelve, wheel, world

Interesting little article… got it from the usual “spam” I get from LegalZoom, but this one bears some reading, especially in my profession right now…

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Blogger Busted by Courts
Author:  Michelle Fabio, Esq 

While we can be thankful that the right to freedom of speech allows us to share our opinions through blogging, we may not have the luxury of doing so anonymously. Until recently, many bloggers and blog commenters assumed that if they wrote under an alias or anonymity, their comments couldn’t be traced to them. In light of recent court rulings though, bloggers should think twice about how they exercise their perceived freedom of speech.

As with many developing areas of law, there is no consensus on how anonymous bloggers should be treated in the legal system. Up until a few months ago, though, most requests to reveal sources of anonymous online writings were denied. Indeed, the Supreme Court had ruled that the right to anonymous free speech was squarely protected by the First Amendment, namely in the 1995 McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission decision:

“Protections for anonymous speech are vital to democratic discourse. Allowing dissenters to shield their identities frees them to express critical, minority views…Anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority…It thus exemplifies the purpose behind the Bill of Rights, and of the First Amendment in particular: to protect unpopular individuals from retaliation…at the hand of an intolerant society..”

Blogger Unmasked in Model Case

Despite the 1995 ruling, two recent cases show courts will not always defer to anonymity regarding online communications. In August 2009, we saw the case of Liskula Cohen, a 37-year-old model who found herself being called “skank” and “ho,” among other derogatory descriptions, in anonymous blog posts. Cohen decided to sue the blogger for defamation, but before she could do so, she needed to know who to sue. So her attorneys filed a motion to compel Google, operator of the Blogger.com site that housed the blog in question, to reveal the identity of the blog author.

The New York Supreme Court found that Cohen had indeed “established the merits” of a defamation action in that the statements on the blog contained assertions of objective fact, in particular suggesting Cohen was sexually promiscuous, that could form the basis of a defamation claim.

Regarding the balancing of First Amendment rights with the importance of anonymity in the exercise of the freedom of speech, the court quoted a 2001 Virginia Circuit Court case:

“In that the Internet provides a virtually unlimited, inexpensive, and almost immediate means of communication with tens, if not hundreds, of millions of people, the dangers of its misuse cannot be ignored. The protection of the right to communicate anonymously must be balanced against the need to assure that those persons who choose to abuse the opportunities presented by this medium can be made to answer for such transgressions. Those who suffer damages as a result of tortious or other actionable communications on the Internet should be able to seek appropriate redress by preventing the wrongdoers from hiding behind an illusory shield of purported First Amendment rights.”

The New York Supreme Court explicitly rejected the argument that the Internet should be judged as a place where statements “cannot be reasonably understood as factual assertions.” That is, the court declared that users should face legal consequences for defamatory statements and ordered Google to reveal the identity of the blogger to Cohen.

Nuanced Approach in Chang case

A California Superior Court judge took a slightly different approach to a similar question in the case of Calvin Chang, a former police officer who had sued the University of California on various claims, including breach of a settlement agreement. When the case was discussed on the Google-hosted blog People’s Vanguard of Davis, seven comments (five anonymous, two under a screen name) appeared, which Chang believed were made by university managers-in violation of the settlement agreement.

Accordingly, Chang subpoenaed Google to produce the IP addresses of those commenters; the People’s Vanguard of Davis and its owner moved to quash the records subpoena. On that motion, the judge accepted Chang’s assertion that the revelation of the names “appears reasonably calculated to lead to admissible evidence.”

Also weighing in Chang’s favor was that he had offered specific reasons as to why he thought the posts had been made by university managers.

Allowing for the possibility, though, that the posts were not made by university employees, the judge crafted a unique compromise in Internet anonymity law: the identities of the commenters would be revealed to an independent third-party investigator, privately retained by Chang. If shown that the commenters were indeed university employees, their names would be revealed; otherwise, they would remain unnamed.

Matt Zimmerman of the Electronic Frontier Foundation says this nuanced approach has a better result than if the judge had simply ordered the information turned over. “The court was willing to think of the big picture here,” he says.

Looking Toward the Future

So what is the future of anonymous blogging? Well, if these two decisions mark the beginning of a new trend regarding anonymous Internet communications, the overriding rule must be “Blogger Beware.”

You’ll still be free to express your opinions on blogs and through online communications, but remember that just because the medium has changed doesn’t mean the laws of defamation have. Or, in other words, don’t post things that could be actionable in a court of law-because even if you think you’re writing anonymously, they still may be actionable.

And by the way, the unmasked blogger in the Cohen case, Rosemary Port, has now sued Google for $15 million for revealing her identity, so it seems like this issue is far from settled. Stay tuned.

For more information visit:
“Court Compromises on Request to Unmask Blogger” by Wendy Davis, September 16, 2009
Citizen Media Law Project
Electronic Frontier Foundation

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Technorati: article, blogger, busted, court, free, google, legalzoom, of, speech

Random shit that I think about as I sit here at the office waiting for something to happen…

I would have to say that this recent episode of Southpark’s 10th season was one of the best and funniest episodes I’ve ever watched… well, not mainly coz of the sick humor, but rather due to the subject matter they tackled – which was the wildly popular MMORPG World of Warcraft.

Even if you’re not into WoW, I am sure you would appreciate the sick satire portrayed in that episode. I myself have been playing WoW on and off since late 2004, and the inside jokes really had me rolling on the floor. Granted some of the game elements they portrayed were flawed – Stan’s dad said he was a “hunter”, but his character had a “shield”? Or how just killing boars in Elwynn Forest for a few weeks will get you up by fifty levels? Or how a seemingly legendary weapon isn’t “bind on pickup” or “bind on equip”? And they conveniently left out the idea of “respawning” after a character death…

Meh…

But really, flawed facts aside, it was a very funny episode. Kinda gives creedence to how World of Warcraft has now become well-known even in showbiz – it’s no longer just a geek thing! (I think)

The three best lines in the episode:

“Mom! More HOT-POCKETS!”
“Mom! BATHROOOM!!!”
“Oh no, not the Sword of a Thousand Truths?!”

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Speaking of World of Warcraft, I think I may have fallen back into that obsessive game once again… As Al Pacino would say, “Just when I thought that I was out they pull me back in!”

For those who are reading this (the three of you, haha!), I am currently playing on the Executus PvP (US) server, for the Horde. I currently have a level 49 Tauren warrior there named Aethercharge. I would’ve probably been level 55 by now, but I’ve been spending most of my time there doing Battlegrounds to up my rank (my primary objective is to reach rank 11 and get my sweet Black War Kodo!).

My other characters are scattered in the other realms – I have one level 60 Tauren warrior in Mal’Ganis, and one level 60 Night Elf priest in Bonechewer. It’s been ages since I touched those characters and I found that it gets really boring after you reach 60, unless you’re one of those who enjoy a 4-8 hour session with a raid group of 40+ people trying to kill one bigass, badass dragon…

The damn game is a time sink, but I keep getting sucked back in… maybe it’s high time I uninstall the game from my computer. Easier said than done, of course.

So if you are bored with your level 60 character as well, join me in Executus. I’ll twink ya. I’ll run you through quests. I’ll even dance for you, the way only a Tauren can… Peanut butter jelly time…

FOR THE HORDE!!!

Technorati: bonechewer, executus, love, make, mal'ganis, mmorpg, not, of, realm, server, southpark, warcraft, world

That’s what I get asked by some of my friends, after they had a rude awakening at seeing that my blog spam is back…  Yeah, instead of saying “Nice! Good to see you writing again!” or “Welcome back! Long time, no spam!” or even “Oh, it’s you again… oh joy…”, what some of them asked me was “Is your tagalog words coming back?”

Of course, I was initially confused by the question because I my brain didn’t register the context of it, and I wanted to reply, “Aking minamahal na kaibigan, hindi maibsan ang aking lubos na kaligayahan na dulot ng iyong katanungan, at ikinagagalak kong ipahiwatig sa iyo na ang aking gunita ay patuloy na pinupunan ng ating minamahal na wika, at ang sinumang bumulwag ng aking mariing katapatan ay aking isasalya sa pangpang at ipupukol sa madilim at maruming karagatan bago ako humimlay sa aking silid tulugan…”

(My dear friend, my extreme happiness cannot be sated due to your question, and I’m happy to tell you that my thoughts are always filled by our beloved language, and anyone who tries to tear down my intense resolve will be slammed at the seashore and then thrown into the murky, dark ocean before I sleep in my bedroom…)

It took a few moments and a generous amount of thinking (which is always painful for me) before I realized that they were asking whether I would be bringing back my regular feature called “Tagalog Word of the Day”.   I didn’t want to give out an answer yet, coz it was kinda hard getting back into the regular blogging mood, and my friends have enjoyed several months of tranquility due to the apparent absence of the blog email notification spam.

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Back then, I tried my best to post a new Tagalog word everyday, much to the chagrin of the people in my friends list who were probably rolling their eyes and saying “oh great, another blog post from Tolitz…”  But being the person that I am, I thought, “This is the consequence of being a friend of Tolitz, so suck it up soldier!  Muahahaha!”  Yeah, that laugh in the end was part of my thoughts, too…

Thankfully, only a couple people removed themselves from my friends list… and I couldn’t even remember who they were anymore

Anyway, I was thinking, that the best solution to solve my problem – with either running out of words or running out of interest for it – is to not post a “Tagalog Word of the Day” everyday.  Sure, it’s called “Tagalog Word of the Day” but it isn’t called “The Daily Tagalog Word”.

So I finally had a convenient alibi by turning semantics into a scapegoat… Go me!

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That doesn’t mean I’ll be posting a “Tagalog Word of the Day” in this blog, regardless of my alibi.  But now that I think I’m back into the groove, I am very, VERY confident that I can now give an answer.

Am I bringing it back?  Is it making a return? Is the “Tagalog Word of the Day?” gonna rise from the ashes and once again wreak havoc on virgin sensibilities and educate the ignorant foreigners about the intricacies of the mutt language?

With firm resolve, I have made up my mind… and my decision is….

………

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Technorati: comeback, day, of, return, tagalog, the, word

Sometimes they come back… (Imagine me saying this in a low, raspy voice with a faint hint of phlegm dribbling around in my throat, with the cold wind blowing outside, and a faint wolf howl in the distance, while…)

Okay, maybe that’s going a little overboard

Anyway, are you prepared for one of the looooongest weblog entries I have ever made? Are you prepared to be overcome by an onslaught of incoherent musings while being drowned in a deluge of half-pondered thoughts that would violate your virginal sensibilities?

Hmmm… (checking thesaurus to see if I used any words out of context)

Anyway (again), I guess you’re probably wondering what the hell happened to this site after November of last year? I would have been glad to say that the new world order – I mean – the Bush government ordered me to do it because of potential sedition and insurrection, but sometimes you can’t have what you wish for. For those who have seen this site before, you know my weblog habit by now – prolific posting for about a couple of weeks, then drop out of the face of the planet for a few months. That’s coz I’m a chronic dilettante – someone who obsesses over an activity for a specified amount of time, and when something else catches his fancy, pursues it and drops whatever he is doing… finished or not finished. A quick way to become a jack of all trades but master of none. Almost like having Attention Deficit Disorder. Always finding something else interesting in mid-thought as I…

… oh hey, I just noticed my keyboard letters are starting to be worn off… I can’t even see the letter A in the keyboard anymore…

*cough* Anyway (third time), what have I been doing in the last seven or so months since I wrote my last entry? All kinds of things, I guess. And I’m gonna write a synopsis of several hundred words to let you know. And wouldn’t it be funny if there was a blackout just before I finish… (feels a cold shiver down my back) Well, I guess it can’t be helped. No one ever reads these things anyway (except a person or two who is still interested at what I’m doing, or the occasional stalker who thinks I’m worthy).

Honestly, I have sorta lost faith in the American system after that idiot got reelected. Who ever thought that religion would be the deciding factor. I didn’t see it coming – I thought this country was more intelligent than that. Unpleasant surprise for me. The angst has become real. I don’t know how the fuck I’m gonna be able to think of this country the same. Maybe I should go ahead and rethink my earlier decision to move to Canada. But then I have to learn French. Damn.

Anyway (fourth time), I’ll split the recaps into easy, understandable parts, and use very small words. I’ll even pitch in a few visual aids. Make sure to keep up…

Recap One: The Lord of Terror

So late last year I finished the game module I was working on for Neverwinter Nights. It was a remake of one of my favorite games, Diablo, and it was intuitively titled “The Lord of Terror”. I had been working on the damn thing for almost 8 months, starting January last year. I finally finished it in September, and submitted it at the Neverwinter Vault.

And yeah, it was a hit. I knew it was gonna be popular, but I never thought it’d get to the Hall of Fame in so short a time. In less than three months it got more than 20,000 downloads, and to this day it still has a pretty high 9.72 average rating. Damn, I guess I’m good, having my very first module get to Hall of Fame. Now, excuse me while I fondle myself…

Recap Two: The World of Warcraft

A few weeks after I finished working on my NWN module, the long-awaited MMORPG World of Warcraft came out. I initially planned to just play a couple of hours a day on it, but the game sucked me in, and there were times when I was playing it for more than 8-10 hours, often extending into the early morning hours.

I eventually started a guild consisting of people who visit my tech support site, plus other people who just wanted a guild to be in. My race of choice was Tauren, and I got my druid to level 30 in just over a week. Afterwards I started a Tauren warrior, and got him to level 58 in less than a couple months, two levels shy of the threshold level 60.

But as usual, it was a doomed cause as well, as another adjacent interest started to sprout on the side, and some responsibilities in real life began to surface. So my prolific WoW slid down the totem pole and thus another addiction began to rear its ugly head…

Recap Three: The Anime Attack

I have been using the Netflix online DVD rental service for more than two years now, and up to a certain point, I was content with renting 2 DVDs at a time, except when I wanted to finish some TV series like 24, The West Wing and the Star Trek series DS-9 and Voyager. But when I ran out of TV series to rent, and new movies to watch, I had to look at other genres. I came upon an anime site, AnimeOnDVD, that had detailed reviews of tons of anime DVDs. Until that point, the last anime DVD I had watched was the Tenchi in Tokyo series, which was middle of last year. Having found an interest in romance comedies (eww, don’t tell other people about this, okay!), I began searching for similar genres, and found a good review/recommendation for a series called Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou (His and Her Circumstances, to the Japanese-challenged folks out there). So I queued it up on Netflix and when they arrived, watched it with no high expectations.

It was either the best or worst mistake of the year, depending on how you looked at it. I was hooked – bigtime. After watching the first two DVDs, I returned them immediately and couldn’t wait to get the next few DVDs in the series – to the point that I increased my DVD rental limit to the “8 DVDs out at a time” plan… Goodbye $50…

From that point on, 99% of all my DVD rentals had been anime – and not just feature films, but most of them were full-blown series, from 10-episode ones to 26-episode ones. I’ve also started splurging on eBay for import anime DVDs (okay, maybe a few of em are bootlegs, but don’t sweat the little things, okay?). I think I’ve spent more than $300 in DVDs in the last couple of months. Damn.

So anyway (fifth time), I’ve developed a really annoying attachment to this genre that I have lost my taste for “regular” live action DVDs in my collection. The other day, I ran out of new anime to watch, so I popped in a Babylon 5 season 2 DVD into my PS2 and started to watch. I had to eject the DVD after less than 30 minutes because I couldn’t stand it anymore. So yeah, I replaced it with a DVD of Onegai Teacher (it’s anime, in case you didn’t get it), and was finally able to watch something that interested me.

So yeah, I sometimes have anime withdrawals on those boring nights when I run out of things to watch. I think I’ve watched the Love Hina series about 4 times already, and it isn’t even “that” good, either. Maybe it’s a new psychological sickness, enjoying moving artwork as opposed to moving pictures. Is there a psychiatrist out there who can comment on this? A comedian, maybe?

Recap Three Interlude: The Anime Fansub Torrent Syndrome

Did I mention that I run through anime DVDs like cigarettes? Well, that always leaves me with a day or two of “downtime” as I wait for my next rental DVDs to come to me. So what was my solution? Torrent files of Fansubbed anime. (I’d like to give a primer on what “torrent” and “fansub” means to those among you who are clueless, but I’ll let mister Google handle it)

Anyway (sixth time), I came across a huge variety of torrent files for various fansubbed anime – specifically, shows that just aired in Japan less than a year ago, and some ongoing ones as well. And here I am, with a broadband connection, actually salivating at the chance.

So what was a poor bored guy supposed to do?

Unfortunately, most of the fansubs I downloaded were anime versions of H-games. What’s an H-game? Well… most are adult games, and some are mere dating sims played on consoles like PS2. I was a bit intrigued coz I never played any game like that before (that is, if you don’t include the Leisure Suit Larry series). Most of them were surprisingly good, if not a tad ridiculous and out of this world.

But hey, whatever quenches my need for anime, right?

Right now, this is still my current obsession, until the dilettante in me decides to stalk some other hobby. I think I’ve been more exposed to anime in the last 2-3 months than I’ve been for my entire video viewing life. Does that mean I am on my way to be an otaku? I dunno. I don’t think so, but then again, who knows. Let me ask Pikachu…

(What’s otaku? Ask mister Google)

Recap Four: The Financial Services Surprise

Reading all this, do you think I’ve been wasting my time all day doing all sorts of lazy hobbies? Not exactly.

I’ve also began getting into financial services. What financial services? Insurance, annuities, securities, mortgages, etc. I have been hearing that financial services will be the next big thing in the next few years, what with the baby boomers fast reaching their compensation period.

So I’ve been trying to study for state exams and getting my license(s). I just recently passed the Life Agent exam, which means I can now legally sell life insurance in the state of California. Next thing I’m doing is studying for the Securities exam.

I heard a funny anecdote about people lambasting the insurance business. Someone even said “Are you that desperate for money that you wanna sell insurance?” I guess I wasn’t surprised that the someone” who said it was earning minimum wage.

Maybe later in my journal I’ll discuss why financial services is a very important business to get into nowadays. Then I’ll email it to that guy and attach a trojan virus in a file attachment that says “EARN MONEY WHILE YOU SLEEP”.

Final Recap

So, that’s basically what I’ve been doing since November last year. Lots of things have changed, but then lots of things also haven’t changed… I still smoke. I’m still a bit overweight. I still clean my room once in several months. I still haven’t gotten a haircut. I still don’t have a girlfriend. And I still don’t go to church.

So with all that, I guess I could say that … it’s the same old shit, only with newer nuggets… If you read this far, I guess you really like what I write…

…and I guess I should be afraid, or something…

Technorati: anime, campaign, diablo, fansub, financial, karekano, license, life, lord of terror, module, muyo, netflix, neverwinter, nights, nwn, of, recap, services, tenchi, torrent, warcraft, wfg, world

In 2004, I created a custom module for the game Neverwinter Nights, and what I made was a reimagining of Blizzard Entertainment’s blockbuster game, Diablo.  I submitted it to the NeverWinter Vault that year, and it turned out to be a big hit in the Neverwinter Nights community.  My custom module achieved Hall of Fame status after only a short time, reaching more than 20,000 downloads after only being available less than three months.

As with all Hall of Fame inductees, I was interviewed by the folks at NWVault, and the interview itself is located here.

Below is the full interview, which I put here just in case the article or the site itself gets nuked for some reason.  Enjoy

* * * * *

 Hall of Fame Interview With Tolitz Rosel
(The Lord of Terror – The Diablo Campaign)

Tonight we interview Tolitz Rosel whose module The Lord of Terror – The Diablo Campaign was recently inducted into the Hall of Fame in our efforts to expand it beyond just modules. Topics of the interview include his background, some of his team members, the world itself, activities in the world, his plans, and more. – (Jan. 26th 2005)

1.) Could you give our readers some personal background on yourself?

My name is Tolitz Rosel, and I am a 31-year-old web developer in Los Angeles, California. I mostly work at home as a consultant and designer, and I fiddle with games and computers on my free time.

I also run a free technical support site (plugging www.opentechsupport.net, hehe). The site itself was spawned from a channel we hang out from in Battle.net, while playing – you guessed it – Diablo. I am a big RPG fan, and that includes all types (action, hybrid, etc). I have played several CRPGs based on the Forgotten Realms, from Pool of Radiance to Baldur’s Gate, and when Neverwinter Nights came out, I was very glad to finally find a game that came with the necessary tools I needed to recreate the game that got me into computer RPGs – Diablo.
 

2.) Your module, “The Lord of Terror – The Diablo Campaign”, which has over 20000 downloads and has recently been inducted into our Hall of Fame. Could you tell our readers what the module is about?

The Lord of Terror is a remake (or more rightly, a restoration) of the original Blizzard game, Diablo.  The module is set in the world of Sanctuary, which had experienced a brutal war between angels and demons thousands of years ago. The forces of light prevailed, thanks to the efforts of the angels in the High Heavens and a group of mortal magi named the Horadrim, who had imprisoned the rulers of Hell in magical devices and paved the way to a seeming end to the great war.

Your character is thrown into a time when evil is beginning to resurface in Sanctuary. Your adventure begins as you find yourself drawn back to the land of your birth, a small town in Khanduras called Tristram, where you will face the evil beneath the desecrated church – and your ultimate destiny.

The Lord of Terror is my first (and hopefully not my last) NWN module.
 

3.) How close is this module to the original game? Did you have to make any compromises?

Honestly, the idea to make this module was spawned by someone else’s own Diablo “remake” that did not satisfy me when I played it. It didn’t have heart and was merely a brick-by-brick translation of the original game (y’know, a module with 16 dungeon areas and one town area, etc)…

In this module, I have tried my best to capture the spirit of the original game, attempting to put a lot of attention to the nooks and crannies of Diablo. I would say that it was a painstaking process trying to adapt a game that only had three classes into D&D format that can be played with several more classes. Those who played the original will recognize a huge load of similarities, and then some.

You see, Blizzard tried to get the original game out as soon as possible, and in the process they did not complete several quests that were supposed to be there, either due to time constraints or due to game balance. Fortunately, most of this content was in the Diablo CD, which I extracted and restored as full-fledged quests in addition to the old ones. Diablo fanatics will recognize them right away, while those who only played it casually will welcome the added content. I also tried my best to use the original music and wav files, as well as add all new music for the new areas and quests, courtesy of community content, etc. So all in all, I think this module is more enjoyable than the original game in terms of scope and breadth.

Of course, lots of compromises were made so that it can be translated properly into a D&D based game. Diablo incorporated random dungeons and spawns, and with the NWN engine it was next to impossible to achieve this. I was not very well versed in NWN scripting when I started this module, so finding a way to generate random dungeons is beyond my abilities – not to mention the added areas this would entail (imagine creating 4-6 versions of the same area, then multiply it with the number of areas within the module – with the module already having almost 70 non-dynamic areas, that could be a lot of work and might even exceed the specs of a full-blown persistent world with hundreds of areas – not a good thing for a one-shot module).

There were also quests I wanted to restore that were impossible for me based on my limited scripting knowledge. The Map of the Stars, for example, is a popular incomplete quest in the original, and it entailed a time limit to destroy the Lord of Terror. Obviously I couldn’t work that in at the time. This also goes for a couple other quests, like Grimspike and various fetch-it quests.

All in all, I believe that the Lord of Terror has done justice to the original game, and even enhanced it in terms of story. I hope the ones who played it think the same.
 

4.) If someone has played the original Diablo game, will they find any surprises in your remake?

Absolutely. The new forest areas and dungeon instances should be a treat, as well as the additional monsters and NPCs. Not only did I include the original items from Diablo 1, but I also included items from its sequel, Diablo 2, which should be great for those treasure hunters. The new quests should also be a pleasant surprise to players, and they can take part more in the Diablo lore than the original game ever mustered.

Players would also be treated to some twists to the old quests, as well as a few Easter eggs they would hopefully enjoy.

Also evident in this module is the enhanced atmosphere once can experience courtesy of the new custom music, most of which have been gathered from community contributions at the Vault. One of the most favorable feedback i have gotten for the module was the background music and overall ambience.
 

5.) Was there any aspect when you were creating this module that posed an obstacle? If so, how did you overcome it?

There were several problems I encountered when I made the module. One of the most difficult things I had to do was balance it for both melee and non-melee. Diablo was a heavily combat-oriented game, and trying to translate that to D&D rules was hard. Support classes like rogues and bards, and most spellcasters, will most likely find the module difficult if they want to go at it alone. I therefore included optional henchmen for those who want some help getting past the dungeon areas.

Another thing I had to deal with was to make each area different from each other. The original game generated random dungeons that all looked essentially the same. I just settled on creating each area as uniquely as possible.

One of the other bigger difficulties I had was translating item and creature appearance/stats into a D&D environment. This required a lot of custom content and in the end I am satisfied with the outcome.

Of course, making the module as enjoyable as possible without being too monotonous. The variety of creatures I remade/created was daunting, bt in the end, I think I created enough of a variety for players to face and obtain.

Lastly, trying to keep the module as small as possible (including its haks) was a challenge. I don’t think I achieved much in reducing the overall file size, so I decided to split up the required files to allow people with slower connections to have the opportunity to download what they can muster.
 

6.) Do you have any tips or suggestions for other authors?

I guess being a first-time module maker, I can only say that you should work on something you yourself want to play, and not just think of what other people want. I was intrigued by the Diablo lore, and it made it easier to create the module if you like recreating one of your favorite games. The fun you have in making the module will also rub off on those who play it, as they will notice the care and artistry you put into your work.

I can also suggest taking feedback as much as possible. Whether it is constructive or not, authors should take the feedback seriously and try to find a way to satisfy their target audience in a way that doesn’t compromise their own vision. Make the feedback work for your module, and don’t think of it as an affront or a demand to change it. I feel that I am successful for the most part in making compromises to user feedback that did not affect how I wanted the module to be.
 

7.) Do you have any other projects you are working on?

I was intrigued by the world of Sanctuary and wanted to create additional modules based on it. I am planning a “prequel” of sorts to Diablo, which is set during the Great Conflict, back when Sanctuary was engulfed in an all-out battle between the angels of the High Heavens and the demons of the Burning Hells, and also the Sin War, where mortals began taking part in this great battle. This is also planned to be a trilogy, as it follow’s the player’s role in helping shape the outcome of the Sin War and possible repercussions that will affect the world of Sanctuary leading to the events that transpired in The Lord of Terror. This will be a totally original story, but will remain faithful to the Diablo lore and serve as an interesting backstory to the Diablo saga. It is also planned to be an epic-level module, which will allow players who went through The Lord of Terror to use their characters.

Unfortunately, real life has not been very kind as of late, hence I have temporarily stopped development of this new NWN project. But I am optimistic that I can resume development of this in the next month or so…
 

8.) What custom content did you use?

I have utilized a huge amount of community content in making this module, notable of which is the Community Expansion Pack (CEP). The CEP has contributed greatly to the variety and quality of the custom content within this module, especially with creatures, items and placeables. I have also made use of several other works of community contributors, too numerous to mention, but you can check out the readme of the module for credits to their work.

I also used several musical contributions from the Vault that helped enhance the mood of gameplay. Lastly, I have made use of a whole gamut of custom scripting that helped make the quests and other activities within the module work as I wanted them to. Special kudos to Lilac Soul’s script generator for allowing a non-scriptor like me achieve what I wanted for this module.
 

9.) Have you played another other fan modules that you enjoyed?

I have not played very many of the modules out there, but the ones that I particularly enjoyed were the works of Rick Burton (Midnight), Akkei (Orcs) and Adam Miller (Dreamcatcher). I also enjoyed playing the excellently scripted Good vs. Evil module by John “Gestalt” Bye and I am even planning to incorporate his newest version it into my upcoming project.

I have not played much of the newer ones because of my preoccupation with development of The Lord of Terror, but I intend to try them out during my free time this year
 

10.) Have you played any of the official campaigns and what do you think of them?

I have played all three of the official campaigns, and like most people, my favorite is the Hordes of the Underdark, due to its compelling story and creative gameplay. I liked the original NWN campaign but wasn’t satisfied with its ending. Shadows of Undrentide was sadly the runt of the litter as it didn’t seem like a worthwhile expansion, but that’s just me.
 

11.) What are you thoughts on the toolset and what things would you like to see improved?

I like the NWN toolset very much for the fact that it allowed me to remake one of my favorite games in a very user-friendly interface. As for improvements, the only two things I can suggest (or hope for) is an easy cutscene wizard, and an integrated scripting wizard in the same vein as Lilac Soul’s script generator. This would allow more people to make their visions come to life easier and better.
 

12.) What are thoughts on NWN and the community?

I have to admit that NWN is past its prime, but I salute all the developers and programmers who continue to support it and issue those patches well beyond the product’s prime shelf life. Bioware has always made games I like, dating back from Baldur’s Gate, and I am happy to see that their pursuit for quality is still in the top bracket of the game industry.

The NWN community is awesome, and is a big part of why NWN is still alive and kicking. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a game with this much custom content, and most of it quality content at that, and I hope that the NWN community will continue to share their work and know-how to the rest of us who enjoy a good game.
 

13.) Anything else you’d like to add?

Well, I would just like to thank everyone who played The Lord of Terror and gave it a chance. I would have to say that I was a bit hesitant at releasing this at the vault because I expected a lot of hate from the “non-action” RPG crowd, mostly from people who would say that I am riding on an old game’s reputation and taking advantage of nostalgia to market my work. So I was very happy that the module got as much acceptance as it did, and from the emails I have received, I can say that I did not do such a bad job after all.

With action and “hack-and-slash” modules being given the short end of the stick more often than not, I hope that people will take them more seriously and not skip potentially enjoyable ones. While I enjoy a good story as much as the next person, there are also times that I want to lay back and just kill bad things. Lots of dialogue or cutscenes are not the only things that make an enjoyable module – as long as players have fun playing your work and are engulfed in your custom world, it makes module making worthwhile

We’d like to thank Tolitz Rosel for taking the time to answer our questions.

* * * * *

You can download the module from the NWVault page here.  And if you play it and enjoy it, please let me know by posting here.  Thanks!

Technorati: blizzard, diablo, fame, hall, interview, lord, module, neverwinter, nights, nwn, nwvault, of, terror

I had to spend the last two days feverishly updating my module for Neverwinter Nights and pushing for a weekend release of the new version to the NWVault. I’ve gotten some fresh new comments and suggestions, and I’m trying to see which ones I can put into the module.

This has led me to think of my possible future in module making. The Lord of Terror module has eaten up more than 8 months of my life this year. I have since broken up with my fiancee along the way (well, the module wasn’t really the reason for that, but it was a catalyst of sorts). Thankfully, all the time and effort I put into the module has translated well to the people who played it, who could see the fruits of such dedication.

But this pleasant feedback has inadvertantly motivated me to plan future modules for Neverwinter Nights – a game that is more than two years old and is on its last legs, relatively speaking. I know for a fact that my next modules will be drastically better, both in quality and in scope, than my fledgeling efforts on the Lord of Terror, but it also means that I have to once again devote time to module-making – probably for a length of time longer than the 8 months I spent creating my first module.

Hence, I am hesitant. I like to create visual stories that other people can appreciate. Storytelling has been a strong point of mine since high school, and with Neverwinter Nights I could create these stories in a very fun medium. But the time it takes to complete a module is immense. One cannot just whip up a fun module in less than three months and expect it to be any good. Even the best module makers spend more than six months just creating short modules.

And my ideas for my next possible modules are by no means short.

I think the best motivation for a module maker in NWN is the postivie comments and praises by their peers. I know that I created a fun module, but it was still surprising to see the overwhelming reception it got. It was very encouraging.

So right now, I’m thinking… should I continue to make modules for a game that is past its prime? Or should I move on with another hobby that is less time-consuming, even if it’s less satisfying?

Maybe a weekend’s worth of sleep will work wonders…

Technorati: campaign, diablo, lord, module, neverwinter, nights, nwn, nwvault, of, terror, vault

Several times have the Diablo saga been attempted to be translated to NWN, but none have done it justice… until now!

The Lord of Terror is the Diablo saga remade, reimagined, and enhanced – with all the original quests, plus several new ones!  Quests that were removed from the original game due to time constraints have now been restored into this NWN conversion.

Play with one of four optional henchmen – the warrior, the rogue, the sorcerer or the monk?  You choose! All unique equipment from Diablo and more, as well as unique bosses that pervade each dungeon level.

Experience more than 70 areas to explore, and more than 30 quests and side quests to undertake. Hundreds of unique armor and weapons can be attained.

Experience it in single player, or cooperate to fight the evil in multiplayer.  Experience Diablo like never before in the Neverwinter Nights module – The Lord of Terror…

Relive the action… Relive the terror…

The Lord of Terror - The Diablo Campaign

Download it now at the Neverwinter Vault!

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Technorati: conversion, diablo, download, lord, module, neverwinter, nights, nwn, nwvault, of, reimagining, remake, terror, vault

Whoa, I dropped off the face of the planet again!

Anyway, I have spent the last few weeks reading (or rather, RE-reading) the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. I have just finished Book 5 (Fires of Heaven) and I will be starting on Book 6 (Lord of Chaos) tomorrow. So far, the series has reached its tenth book and the eleventh is rumored to be released in 2005. So I’m basically just keeping myself abreast of the story.

The last book that I read from this series was Book 8, Path of Daggers (back in 1998), and the book had been so awfully uneventful and dragging that I had to put it down, and I haven’t read the series again until now. Why did I suddenly regain the interest to read it at this time? I dunno … boredom maybe … or probably because I haven’t read a book that is not related to computing and web design for almost 4 years.

Back in high school, I used up about six library cards, because I kept taking home book after book and finishing it in one or two days. I consider myself a pretty fast reader, but I also devote a lot of time on the books, sometimes reading it for seven or eight hours straight. Back then, I considered sleeping and eating a distraction when I’m reading a pretty involving book – I could finish a 700-page book in one day if I’m not doing anything significant.

In college, I was obsessed with Stephen King. My bookshelf at home was full of paperbacks of all his novels, from Carrie to Rose Madder, and my college thesis was actually a content analysis of a few of his books. Joel Rosenberg’s “The Sleeping Dragon” introduced me to escapist fiction, which then led to my obsession with horror fiction, collecting books by King, Clive Barker, Dan Simmons, Dean Koontz and Brian Lumley. Fantasy fiction then came next – I never read Lord of the Rings until I was already in 3rd year college, and I have been aware of that series since grade school. I have always been a sucker for epic fantasy, and that’s where it led me to Robert Jordan.

I consider the Wheel of Time series an excellent epic, but there are times when I feel that Mr. Jordan does not know how to end the story arc. After ten books, Tarmon Gaidon (the final battle) is nowhere in sight, and I can’t blame some of his ardent readers for abandoning the series entirely because of impatience and frustration. The long, drawn-out descriptions in the latter books do not help, as well as the introduction of more new characters and the recycling of dead ones. I mean, it seemed that 80% of Book 8 was conversations, with just a bit of action thrown in as filler. This was what discouraged me from finishing it in the first place.

So why am I pursuing the series again. I’m not sure. Maybe I just want to regain the feeling of wonder and excitement back when I was still a rabid fantasy reader. Maybe I just want to be reminded of how much I loved reading these kinds of books. Or maybe because the world has become so cynic and depressing that reading books that transport me to a world where good and evil are clearly marked has helped in making the waking world more bearable.

Or maybe, as I said, I just got so fuckin’ bored

Technorati: jordan, of, robert, time, wheel