Catalyst Castle

Last night I watched The Big Bang Theory and Heroes (Spoilers Ahead!).

The Big Bang Theory was pretty funny. Leonard tries dating Leslie again, but they finally break up over a difference of scientific theory. Leslie is a hilarious guest star with almost Sheldon-level nerdiness. Her "Call me." line was perfect.

Heroes delivered even more surprises, just as I expected. I was waiting to see how they would explain Niki's escape from the exploding building at the end of season 2. Surprise! She didn't. Makes me wonder if we'll see more "Nikis" as the season progresses, and how many. It also raises a question of why one family got two (Niki and Jessica)?

So, Peter got out of the body of Jesse. I wondered how long that might last. Sylar is working for the company now. 3 of the 12 bad guys have been brought back in, and 1 of them has been killed. I didn't expect that to happen so quickly. Who is Daphne working for? Will she become a love interest for Hiro? The questions continue to mount.

For a while now I've been writing a Star Wars fan novel called Star Wars: Aspirations. Recently, I've been thinking about my reasons for writing this story. I've decided that their are a few.

First, they say that you should write what you know. I definitely know Star Wars inside and out. I love the Star Wars universe as well. It is an exciting place full of action and adventure, where good battles evil on an epic scale. The Star Wars stories have always entertained me, and I hope my story will provide some entertainment for others.

Second, and perhaps more importantly, I think I'm writing this story because I need to write it. If you've read any of my novel thus far, you probably realize that it deals with some pretty heavy themes and subject matter. The most obvious of these is how society devalues human (or alien) life through slavery and violence, and how it makes women into sexual objects. It explores the effects that being a victim of such a society could have on a young woman. Such themes and subject matter is made relevant by the fact that, underneath the the sci-fi tropes, the Star Wars universe is much like our own, riddled with corruption and evil. In spite of these dark themes, Aspirations will also address what I believe to be a universal truth - that people are ultimately redeemable.

Now, I'll admit that these themes are pretty heavy, and maybe not appropriate for "entertainment". I, myself, certainly do not find them entertaining. I do, however, feel that I need to write about these things in order to get them off my chest, so to speak. Incorporating them into a story based in my favorite fictional universe makes it a little bit easier for me to write about them. Here is where storytelling becomes a form of self-expression.

I've started a new project to examine how I spend my time and hopefully evaluate how I can use it more productively. I'm also trying to become more balanced in how much time I spend on various activities. I started this project last Monday and tracked my activities through Sunday. Here's some interesting numbers from my log:

I spent 56 hours sleeping. That's an average of 8 hours a day. It's nice to know that I seem to be getting a healthy amount of sleep while not oversleeping.

My second biggest activity beyond sleeping was working. I only spent 16 hours working, so I was kind of surprised that it ranked second. Apparently my activities are pretty diverse. My work hours should ramp up during October, and then stay pretty high through November and December. After the first of the year I'm going to get a full time job.

My third biggest activity was reading. There is no surprise here. This was mostly informational reading. I spend quite a bit of time online, reading up on game design and the like.

Another big one was movies and shows. I was worried about this. I think I may spend too much time on entertainment, but at only 8 hours throughout the week it might not be too bad.

I spent 6 hours on RPG prep, and 3 hours on RPG play. Actually, I didn't have any prep to do for the RPG I played. I was preparing for an RPG I'd like to run in the future.

The most discouraging thing is that I only spent 12 hours on meeting prep, meeting attendance, and field service combined. My goal is to make my time spent on theocratic activities at least third under sleep and work.

Probably the worst thing is that I had 45 hours unaccounted for on my log. That means I spent those hours peddling around doing relatively nothing. It's funny how we never seem to have enough time in the day, and yet we waste so much of our time.

So that's it for last week. I'm logging my time again this week, and trying to make some adjustments.

I just finished watching the anime Ergo Proxy. So here's my review:

Ergo Proxy is a science fiction suspense anime television series, featuring a beautiful combination of 2D digital animation and 3D computer effects. The series focuses heavily on the psychology and mentality of its protagonists. I might would describe it as a cross between Kino's Journey and Wolf's Rain.

The story takes place in a futuristic, post-apocolyptic world where the invironment has been ruined and most humans live inside of large domed cities. Only the outcasts of society live outside. The story follows two main characters, an internal security agent named Re-I Mayer and an imigrant from another city named Vincent Law. It isn't long before they get caught up in an intrecate conspiracy involving robots that have been infected with a computer virus, and a mysterious monster called a Proxy. Their actions lead them into trouble, and they eventually embark on a journey across the ruined landscape searching for answers.

The characters are the focus of the show. They are interesting and well developed, with compelling motivations. The plot is a little hard to follow at times, but just when you think you're totally lost, the story usually comes around and explains itself. The ending is where a lot of animes seem to falter. Ergo Proxy's ending was satisfying, though a bit vauge. It delivers mostly half answers, but it provides all of the most important explainations. While it ends with a note of finality, it also leaves me thinking that there could be more to tell about these characters and this world.

All-in-all, I would probably rate it 4 stars out of 5. The complete collection is a bit pricy at around $60, but I might would buy it if it was on sale.

I just saw the season premiers of The Big Bang Theory and The Office.

The Big Bang Theory centered around Sheldon trying to keep a secret from Leonard that was imposed upon him by Penny. It was pretty funny. Sheldon is the funniest character, in my opinion, so I always enjoy episodes that center around him.

The Office involved a company-wide contest between branches to see which branch could lose the most weight in a three month period. It had some funny moments, but it certainly wasn't their funniest episode. While I still enjoy The Office, I found the humor very hit-and-miss last season, and it looks like it may be the same this season.

Seeing the season premier of Heroes got me think about the various degrees of abilities that different characters exhibit. For example, Peter Petrelli is unquestionably more powerful than his brother Nathan. So I thought it might be fun to rank every Heroes character (the ones with powers anyway) by "Power Level".

I came up with three power levels. Level 1 characters have powers that amount to "tricks". They're cool, and somewhat useful, but these characters aren't likely to have any considerable impact on history by virtue of their powers. Level 2 characters have "considerable" powers. They are nearly immortal, can wipe out entire towns or cities, manipulate other people, or manifest multiple powers. Level 3 characters are nigh "unstoppable". While they may at some point be permanently defeated, it is presently uncertain how this could be accomplished.

So here below is the list of all the evolved humans by rank. I used the Heroes Wiki as a reference (http://heroeswiki.com/Main_Page).

Level 1 “Tricks”

• Abu Aswan
• Alejandro Herrera
• Angela Petrelli
• Au Co
• Benjamin Franklin
• Bianca Karina
• Bob Bishop
• Brendan Lewis
• Brian Davis
• Bridget Bailey
  
• Candice Willmer
• Charlie Andrews
• Claude Rains
• Connie Logan
• D.L. Hawkins
• Dale Smither
• Daniel Linderman
• Donna Dunlap
• Echo DeMille
• Elle Bishop
• Felicia Brooks
• Hana Gitelman
• Howard Grigsby
• Ida May Walker
• Isaac Mendez
• Khufu
• Leonard Cushing
• Liquid Man
• Lukas Bahn
• Manual Garcia
• Maarten
• Marcus
• Matt Neuenberg
• Meredith Gordon
• Micah Sanders
• Mohinder Suresh
• Molly Walker
• Monica Dawson
• Nathan Petrelli
• Paul Harding
• Piper
• Richard Drucker
• Robert Ferguson
• Sanjog Iyer
• Sebastian Shell
• The Constrictor
• The German
• Tracy Chobham
• Traveler
• Usutu
• West Rosen
• Zayne Taylor

Level 2 “Considerable”

• Adam Monroe
• Albert Rossling
• Claire Bennet
• Eden McCain
• Evan
• Guillame
• Hiro Nakamura
• Julien Dumont
• Linda Tavara
• Manhattan Target
• Matt Parkman
• Maury Parkman
• Maya Herrera
• Niki Sanders/Jessica Sanders/Tracy Strauss
• Theodore “Ted” Sprague
• The Croatian
• The Haitian

Level 3 “Unstoppable”

• Peter Petrelli
• Sylar

So tell me what you think. Does ranking characters this way make sense? Did I rank any incorrectly?

I just saw the premier this morning on NBC.com. There certainly were a lot of surprises.

Overall, the feel of the show was really great. It was very exciting and moved at a nice pace. The scene where Sylar attacked Claire in her house was definitely one of the most intense moments ever in the series. There was a lot of intrigue going on, as we've all come to expect from the show.

Now, I'll just comment on a few of the surprises (Spoiler Warning!!):


Future Peter shot Nathan. This surprise was somewhat spoiled by the fact that I read a rumor to this effect somewhere online about a month ago. It was still an interesting plot twist, and I wouldn't have seen it coming if not for that spoiler. It's interesting how much Future Peter remained involved in the story for the rest of the premier, essentially replacing the regular Peter in the present day while the regular Peter is trapped elsewhere. I wonder how long that will continue. Having two Peters around is just more of good thing in my opinion.

I liked the whole "butterfly effect" idea, and I think they did a good job of showing how that played out with Claire. They also seemed to confirm that time travel in Heroes works much like it does in the X-Men comics, that is, traveling to the past to change the future creates an alternate universe with a different future. I say this because Future Peter demonstrates no knowledge of how his actions in the present/past have impacted the future until someone else points out the repercussions of his actions to him, implying that according to his knowledge nothing in the future has changed. This seems consistent with the events of season 1.

Nathan got religious. Who saw that coming? It seems kind of weird, but I guess dying might do that to you. And now he has Linderman in his head. I wonder how that will play out.

Mohinder was kind of weird in this episode. I had to laugh when he became Spider-man. Apparently he's a venom-enhanced Spider-man, though, as his behavior has become more, er, aggresive. I'm enterested to see where they're going with this, but right now it almost feels like a bad joke. Are they ententionally making fun of Spider-man 3? I think Ando having powers in the future is supposed to be a result of Mohinder's serum and/or the formula Hiro's trying to protect.

Speaking of Hiro, that first scene of him in his office was hilarious. What would it be like to have so much time on your hands, literally? Imagine if you get tired in the middle of the day, you could sleep for an hour and then just rewind time so that you didn't lose any. That would really reduce stress. Hiro letting his victories go to his head and wanting another quest to pursue seemed in character. Although, he did seem a little too reckless in light of his past experiences. He seemed very serious at the end of season 2.

Niki/Tracy was interresting. Are they emplying now that she manifests different powers with each of her split personalities? It seems like that could be the case, although she was able to use her super-strength as both Niki and Jessica. Perhaps her Niki personality will eventually be able to access all of her super powers, whatever they may end up being, turning her into another character on the same power level as Peter and Sylar.

So, Angela Petrelli is Sylar's mother? I guess that makes Sylar a half-brother to Nathan and Peter. Could be interesting.

I finally saw the movie Star Wars: The Clone Wars a few days ago. I went into the movie with only moderate expectations, and it definitely exceeded those expectations.

I knew I was in for something a little bit different right away. As soon as the title faded away on the screen, the movie skipped the traditional "opening crawl" that every other Star Wars movie has had and jumped right into the action, with a brief introduction spoken by a narrator over scenes of the war between the Republic and the Separatists being waged across the galaxy. It was a little spooky, to be honest, but it told me right from the start that I better be prepared for a fast ride.

Some people have expressed dissapointment with the quality of the animation. While it is not photorealistic, it is obvious that they were going for a particular style and they pulled it off well. The animation did not hinder my enjoyment of the film in the least. Also, it seems like an odd thing to pick up on, but I really enjoyed the music in this film. It had some of the classic Star Wars themes while at the same time incorporating some fresh, new, more modern sounding tracks.

It is said that George Lucas's favorite admonition to give as a director is "faster, more intense", and that spirit holds true in The Clone Wars. The movie lacks the occasional slow expositions that gave Attack of the Clones a halt-and-go feel. The story only slows down long enough to change directions once or twice before racing forward again at light speed. And the action is terrific. The lightsaber battle between Obi-wan and Asajj Ventress was deffinately a highlight. It made me wonder if the choriographers enjoyed a new freedom from working with digital models instead of live actors, and yet the action was never so far out there that it seemed cartoonish. Despite the focus on fast-paced action, the movie still had a decent plot that was more than one-demensional, and it even managed to squeeze in a little character development.

One of the things I enjoyed about the film was the attention it gave to the clone soldiers. Star Wars films have always been about a few exceptional heroes saving the galaxy, and while armies have always been present, they've never served much of a purpose other than to provide a backdrop to the real action. In The Clone Wars they did a good job of giving the clones personality, and making their actions actually seem heroic, rather than relegating them to the role of canonfodder. The movie features a number of creative battle scenes, such as the clone army exchanging fire with Separatist battle droids as they scale a cliff. The large-scale battles were also made interresting by the presence of interresting objectives, rather than just "shoot down everything that moves".

I know I've taken a while to get to this, but the biggest highlight of the film was probably a couple of the new characters. Anakin's new padawan, Ahsoka Tano, was awesome. I was affraid she would be kind of annoying, but she wasn't in the least. Though, I have to admit that I have a soft spot for spunky little girls. Ahsoka definately fits the bill, with a lot of attitude in a small package. Captain Rex was also a cool new character. He typifies what I wrote above about making the clones heroic and injecting them with some personality.

OK, so here's what I didn't like: Ziro the Hutt. They very clearly establish this new Hutt character as a male, and yet his voice resembles that of a slightly high-strung, southern, black woman. Why? Seriously, why??? Also the battle droids were exceptionally stupid in this movie. I liked them in Revenge of the Sith, where they had some personality that made them a bit of a comic relief in a rather grim movie, but I think they over did it a little bit in The Clone Wars.

So, my final word on Star Wars: The Clone Wars is that it was great. It exceeded my expectations, and I look forward to seeing it again. I hope I get a chance to see the follow-up TV series that begins airing this fall, and I hope that the Star Wars series continues to pursue this fresh new aproach.

So, I've tried my hand at having a website where I could talk about whatever is on my mind. Doing my own design and html made it a pain to update it though. I'm hoping that using a pre-fab blog will make it easier.

Why am I doing this?

I already have a wiki (Gamers Realm) where I can write about, and keep track of, my various games and other projects. This blog isn't going to replace that. I'd like to keep the information on Gamers Realm on topic and organized. This blog is just for me to write about whatever random subject I feel like. For instance, if I just want to blab about a movie I saw recently, that's kind of out of place on Gamers Realm.

I don't know why, but I like to pretend that somebody, somewhere, might be interested in just knowing what I think about any random topic. Since there are a lot of thoughts I have that I never get a chance to share with friends in person, it feels nice to just be able to write them out. The truth is I just like to listen to myself talk, but I realize that not everybody else does. So, by writing a blog I can throw my words out into the void and no one has to hear them unless they want to. ^_^ Hopefully someone will enjoy reading them.

So here goes...