June 28, 2003
Jade Cocoon mini-review
(I found this review sitting on my Palm for some reason, so I might as well edit it a bit and post it here)
Jade Cocoon is an old PSX game that was created in part by Hayao Miyazaki. It's... different. Of course, being a Miyazaki creation, it's also very good.
Imagine Pokemon. Only instead of cute little fuzzballs, you summon misshapen demons from the Abyss. And, instead of beeing a cheerful plucky little kid out to prove himself, you are son of a traitor, an outcast, hated by all. And, instead of acquiring happy-shiny travelling companions, you were forced to marry a girl whose very body (and, some say, soul) rots away as she attempts to purify the demons that you subdue. And, instead of travelling a world full of color-coded cities and perky nurses, you wander the ruins of the ancient civilization destroyed by the gods; a living testament to the fact that your soul, and the souls of every human villager that still lives, are forfeit and damned forever. So, it's kind of like Pokemon, if it were written by Raziel.
The theme of the game is,
"We are the beasts of knowledge.
Our path is darkness and ruin.
Our hands are quick to spill blood.
Our mouths are cursed with bitterness."
In other words, it's my kind of game. The wonderful art and the excellent English voice acting (an amazing feat for a PSX game) are just icing on the cake.
CSS Sucks
June 27, 2003
Spam Filters
Black Coffee has a post about some clever spam, and a follow-up on Bayesian spam filters. So, I thought that I might as well throw in my 2 cents about PopFile, a "naive Bayesian" proxy implementation of the concept.
The reason I like PopFile is because it's so simple. PopFile is just a mail proxy, which means that it sits between the mailserver and your mail client, like this:
[mail.provider.com] <--- [ PopFile <--- Mail Client ]
This means that you can use PopFile with any mail client, not just Outlook Express. You train PopFile by telling it which emails are spam; it then looks at the words in the emails and assigns them some weighted probabilty of being evil. Part of what makes PopFile good is the fact that it looks at the entire message, headers and all, not just the body; and it can also decode MIME-encoded data and look inside there.
PopFile does take a bit of training (about 100 messages or more), but the process is actually enjoyable. Before I installed PopFile, each spam message felt as though it was hitting me directly in the face with a baseball bat. After I installed PopFile, spam messages began to feel like phasor hits must feel to the Borg: inconsequential and ultimately beneficial. When PopFile finally gets going, it acts like a Borg shield or a Vorlon hull: it absorbs each hit from the spammers, and uses it to strenghten the defences. Whatever does not kill it, makes it stronger.
As far as I can tell, the words in emails that PopFile classifies can be broken down into three main categories:
- Blacklist. These words are in fact spam domains, such as "colonize.com". These domains are used solely to send out spam, and thus any message coming from them is very likely to be spam.
- Keywords. Words like "unsubscribe", "penis", "viagra", etc., which are often found in spam but not in regular correspondence.
- Whitelist. Email addresses of my friends and family, which have a history of sending out non-spam messages. Any message coming from these addresses has a good chance of being legitimate.
Bear in mind that the above is just my interpretation of the results. PopFile does not assign any categories to the words in its spam corpus -- it only assigns probabilities. All words are on equal footing in this regard: the word "colonize.com" may have a higher spam probability than the word "therefore", but that's the only difference between them.
I think this is why I prefer PopFile to other similar programs, such as SpamAssassin. PopFile is nice and simple, and I can sort of fugure out what it's thinking. I can't even figure out how to install SpamAssassin properly, let alone comprehend its results. I guess I am just not smart enough to use it.
However, PopFile and other Bayesian filters are not foolproof. In my experience, PopFile can be overwhelmed in two and a half different ways:
- Sending out a GIF (JPEG, whatever) image with the spam in it. Since there's just the one image and no message text, PopFile can't do much about it, unless the message comes from a "blacklisted" address (as described above). Since spammers can just commandeer a new domain when they feel like it, the spam usually goes straight through like a proton torpedo.
- Sending out a huge message with some bogus story which is multiple pages long. Even though the message contains the same evil keywords ("viagra", "enlargement", etc.) as the regular spam, it also contains a host of acceptable words, which dilute the spam probability. I actually believe that Slater's "Turing Spam" fits into this category.
- Sending a "Turing Spam", a message that is tailored to look like something you'd be interested in. This is theoretically possible, and has been implemented in practice as Slater reports. However, the message still has to contain the actual spam in some form, and thus messages of this sort are still not immune to filtering. As I said, I think that the sheer size of the message may have more effect on the shields than any kind of clever composition.
I think that at least some of these problems (in particular #2 and #3) can be fixed by moving to a true Bayesian implementation, sort of like Markov Chains in reverse. Thus, the words "special" and "offer" may have a low spam probability, but the word pair "special offer" will have a high spam probability. This feature will make it a lot easier to deal with shield overloading, since suddenly the spammy word combos will become a lot more relevant than anything else in the message. Unfortunately, I can't come up with a good countermeasure for the #1 tactic above -- sending bitmaps as spam. I could simply ban the <img> tag, of course, but that is probably too limiting in the long run.
Anyway, despite its shortcomings, PopFile is great. It's easy to use, it's very compatible, and I can actually comprehend what it's doing. It cut down my spam from dozens of messages a day to about one per week. And I don't even mind that one spam message anymore, because I can click that "reclassify as spam" button and imagine that I am hitting the spammers directly in the face with a spiked club. It's a great feeling.
June 26, 2003
Webcomics in Review
Kuro5hin has a semi-comprehensive article that reviews several prominent webcomics. While I do not agree with all of the author's ratings, the article is worth checking out nonetheless. Inevitably, of course, it misses several excellent webcomics (there are just... too... many of them !), so I might as well add some blurbs for them below.
Before posting all these links, I should mention that most of these webcomics have a continuous story; this means that you will have to read them from the very beginning in order to understand anything. You have been warned.
Schlock Mercenary: Sort of like Reservour Dogs meets O'Henry meets hard SF in the future. This is a very funny comic in a satisfying kind of way: most of the humor is derived from the neat, mind-twisting pranks that the characters pull on each other. Sometimes, the pranks end up destroying entire planets. And, of course, there's Schlock the amorph who looks like a pile of dog doo-doo with a plasma cannon... The art is not that great, but the story makes up for it. 5 stars.
Errant Story: A fantasy (well... sort of) comic about Meji, a psychotic half-elven mage girl on a quest for the ultimate power just so that she can finish her school project and graduate from the mage college. I started reading the comic regularly when I saw one of the supporting characters call Meji a "Kefka wannabe". The art is really good, but the story and humor so far have not been as memorable as other comics. 4 Stars.
Nukees: The life and times of Gav, a megalomaniacal nuclear engineering major at U.C. Berkeley. Giant nuclear-powered robotic ants, psychotic girlfriends, homicidal rogue AIs, and lots of beer. The fact that everything the comic says about Berkeley is true is just icing on the cake, though I suppose some of the jokes have a certain "you had to be there" feel to them -- non-Berkeley graduates might not get them. Also, it feels as though the comic has been slowing down lately; IMO, it was really interesting in the beginning, but has been declining a bit lately. 3 stars, 4 stars if you're a former Berkeley student like me.
Freefall: The story of Sam Starfall, a hideous alien thing in a non-threatening-looking environment suit, and his quest to cheat everyone else out of their money, material goods, and dignity. A few panels in, Sam steals Florence -- a pathologically honest and moral engineer -- because he needs his ship fixed, and he is obviously not going to actually pay for it. His naive robot sidekick Helix persists in calling Florence "Doggy !!!" because she is a Bowman's Wolf, a tailor-made bioengineered species. This comic is similar in feel to Schlock Mercenary, only without all the random violence. 3 stars, because I feel as though it has been slowing down lately, as well.
Acid Reflux: An excellent comic about God, a litte girl deity who inherits the universe from her teenaged (well... by divine standards) older sister. God's sister neglected the universe for 1000 years because she got bored with it, and besides her parents gave her a new one. God is eager to fix things and make Irving (that's the Universe's name) all better, but, being a young child who is only a millenium old, she is not very good at it. God manages to acidentally fall into Erwin, where she meets up with Anathus the shy mage and Roxie the raging Amazon, who are on the run from The Banana Slug Liberation Front. The entire comic is very preposterous and very funny; it also contains multiple parodies of anime, various religions, movies, etc. -- in fact, it feels somewhat like The Fifth Element, only in fantasy setting. For example, one of the major parts of the comic is an extended Fight Club parody, which is actually integrated into the story... The comic is worth reading just for that. Unfortunately, it appears as though the author has moved on to other things, and the comic will never be updated again, which is a crying shame. 5 stars nonetheless.
Well, this should be enough for now... I would type more blurbs, but I have some webcomics to read.
June 25, 2003
Visual Plug
The time has come once again to plug Roger's blog. But this time, I get to do it... with pictures !
The Meaning of Life FAQ
That's right. All the questions about the meaning of life that have plagued humanity for millenia -- finally answered in one easy-to-read FAQ. Who says the Internet is only good for pr0n ?
Ok, I have to admit, I didn't read the FAQ in its entirety. It still seems interesting, however. Unfortunately (or, perhaps, fortunately), I cannot quite bring myself to take the author's claims about The Singularity seriously. I think I mentioned this before in my post about the Simulation Argument. Sure, it would be cool if computing power increased indefinitely, and humans eventually became some sort of transhuman crystalline entities -- but, right now, it's not really clear how likely that is to happen. Furthermore, even if the Singularity people turn out to be right, the resulting world will be so different from ours that it might as well be completely alien. Our usual notions of right, wrong, good, bad, etc. won't even apply.
Those are just some of the reasons that I think the whole Singularity thing is a bit silly. Though I suppose it's no worse than any other religion, and certainly better than some...
June 24, 2003
New Photos
New images posted to the JAlbum-generated gallery. Mostly of pretty flowers and filthy humans.
June 23, 2003
Son of Photo Disappointment
I am still not sure which software would be best for photo publishing. So far, I have settled on two possible solutions: Fotki, an online photo gallery site, and JAlbum, a client-side photo publishing program written in Java which I tested out on my gallery.
As I mentioned before, Fotki has a kickass file uploading interface, and it allows comments as well as some metadata. It also allows me to rearrange the photos in any order I like, and has nifty integration for ordering prints. And it's clearly made by Russian programmers, which is always a good thing. Unfortunately, it costs $30/year, and it does not allow custom styling (from what I can tell).
Unlike Fotki, JAlbum is a client-side app, which means that all the photos are stored locally, and all JAlbum does is create HTML and upload it to the server. This is both good and bad, in a way. Good because all the code is local -- I just need some simple webspace on the server, no PHP or that chmod 777 crap. Bad because all the metadata has to be stored on the filesystem somehow, which means that certain things are excessively annoying to do -- like ordering photos in a custom way, or setting custom labels for each photo. And of course, since the files on the server are just dumb html, I would need to do some extra work to integrate the album with my blog or to provide per-photo comments.
Of course, one advantage to JAlbum is that I can make the resulting HTML pages look the way I want (well, or I theoretically could if I had mad CSS sk33lz). However, I am not sure how much of an advantage this really is.
So, I thus come to you, my loyal blog readers (yes, all three of you). What do you prefer ? Do you prefer the flexibility of Fotki, or the custom look of JAlbum ? Or would you prefer me to shut up already ? I think I can guess what your answer will be, but feel free to post your comments anyway.
June 20, 2003
Photo Disappointment II
Frustrated (I mean, inspired) by my lack of photo publishing options, I turned the previous comment into a story submission on kuro5hin. And, incredibly enough, it got voted up to section. Whoo ! I feel so proud. Or something. In any case, there are some informative user comments that list alternatives to Gallery, which I will explore shortly.
June 18, 2003
Photo Disappointment
Well, after a few days of searching, I have determined one thing: there is no good way to publish your photos on the Web. But there are several sub-optimal ones. I finally settled on Fotki, but this is only a temporary measure.
All I wanted was to upload some of my photos to somewhere where people can view them and comment on them. Sounds simple, right ? Unfortunately, nothing in life is really simple, as I have found out.
My first attempt at this actually took place about a year ago, when I opened an account on photo.net. Unfortunately, on top of their other problems (such as being built by a loser on obscure and obsolete software), photo.net has this to say about Photoshop:
As of Photoshop 7, Adobe started using the JPEG profiles to record an XML-encoded "preview" of the JPEG image. PS 7 does this by default when the "Save..." option is selected. These JPEG files, when downloaded by some versions of Internet Explorer, will render the browser completely incapable of downloading images...
...Which is why they disallow any images with this EXIF metadata. Now, I use Photoshop for all my work with graphics. I have never had any problem with opening those images in MSIE (in fact, I am looking at one now). And I am certainly not going to convert all my images just to appease some crappy website.
My next attempt was to use Gallery, an open-source package written in PHP. It certainly seemed like the ideal choice: I'd get to administer it myself, it allows image uploads through ftp, it will automatically parse EXIF metadata, etc. Unfortunately, the reality was, as usual, a bit different from the ad. While Gallery allows you to customize the colors of the pages, the general layout can only be customized by hacking their HTML files (no, they don't use CSS). There are no per-album settings, of course -- the settings are global to the entire gallery. What's worse is that, in order to function, Gallery requires you to have chmod 777 directories under your webserver. That's right ! World-writable directories accessible to your webserver are a must. This little security hole (that you can drive the Starship Enterprise through), combined with the cumbersome UI and non-working upload options, ruled out Gallery as a viable choice for me.
My next attempt was to try Zope, an open-source content management system. Zope looks really cool. Everything can be customized right there in the admin interface, including scripts and templates (similar to how MovableType works). The scripting language is Python, and the templating system is simple and intuitive. And installing Zope was as easy as unpacking the tarball and running a single script. I feel confident that I could create a kick-ass photo gallery package based on Zope; however, I simply don't have the time to do that right now. There is no default gallery package for it, and none of the user-written packages worked for me (without having to install weird third-party modules). Of course, the fact that I don't know Python at all was also a huge limiting factor.
My next step was to try PhotoSIG, a site where photos can be critiqued (put your black berets on everyone) by other photographers. Unfortunately, PhotoSIG has this to say in their Terms of Service:
8. By submitting any contribution to photoSIG, you grant us a non-exclusive, perpetual right to reproduce that contribution on photoSIG and to edit or alter it as needed. You also grant us a non-exclusive, perpetual right to reproduce such contribution on other sites on the World Wide Web for the purpose of promoting photoSIG. You retain the copyrights for all contributions.
I am not quite sure what this means, but it looks like they will use my photos to spam people. This normally wouldn't be too bad, even though I am scared of all the "perpetual right" type of language. However, on top of the scary legalese, PhotoSig only allows photos of a certain size; limits you to 3 uploads in 72 hours, and costs money. Unfortunately, PhotoSig is not for me.
Fortunately (well... sort of), however, PhotoSig had a link to Fotki, which is a sort of "photo.net lite" site. It does not parse EXIF metadata, it does not allow photo ratings, and you cannot customize its layout. However, it does automatically create thumbnails and provide basic commenting functionality, which by this time I was content with... And their layout is not too odious.
So, for now, I uploaded some of my photos there. However, I am merely tolerant of this solution -- I am not happy with it. I think that, ultimately, something like Gallery is what I need, only with more customization options and less security holes. Does anyone know of such a package ?
Re-Plug
Gusher Hero, aka Roger, has upgraded the site to MT 2.6.4. The unstoppable river of progress marches on. Mixed metaphors are fun.
June 17, 2003
The Bug mini-review
The Bug, a book by ellen Ullman, is to books kind of what Pi is to movies. However, unlike Pi, The Bug is frighteningly realistic. The insanity is not supernatural -- it is mundane, commonplace and unavoidable.
The Bug is the first creative work (as in, a book, a movie, etc.) which accurately portrays the world of programming -- not merely from a technical standpoint, but from the psychological standpoint as well. As the Salon review says,
[Ellen Ullman] does full justice to the highs and lows of the programming life -- as both an unnatural punishment for the human organism and an invigorating challenge to the human brain.
The book does more than that, however. It lets you, the reader, truly get inside the mind of a programmer, and to understand how programming feels. In fact, the book accomplishes this twice.
There are two main characters in the book -- Ethan Levin, a "star" programmer, and Berta, a QA tester. Both characters have given up a piece of their soul to get to where they are today -- developing GUI for a start-up company. However, their experiences are somewhat different.
Berta originally thinks of programmers as sub-human pond scum (for reasons which are mostly valid). She cannot imagine why anyone would slave hours on end in front of a blinking terminal. However, when she is forced to learn how to program by her employers, she discovers that appearances can be deceiving. The flash of understanding, the feeling of unchained power, the joy of building something that works -- coding can be all these things, and more.
Ethan, on the other hand, is an experienced programmer. For him, coding is not a hobby, or a tool -- it is who he is. It's personal. When the mysterious bug begins to ravage the system he has worked so hard to build, Ethan feels as though his very dignity and honor are being undermined. With each line of broken code, he descends a bit deeper into himself. His personal life is falling apart, and his sanity is unraveling, but he doesn't care. Fixing the bug is the only thing that can validate his existence.
Somehow, Ellen Ullman manages to make the reader actually experience these mental states, as opposed to merely describing them (and there is no shortage of books that do just that). Of course, my opinion is biased, because I am a programmer myself. I have been where Berta is -- creating "thoughts that work" -- but I have also been where Ethan is: stepping through the program line by line, racing against the clock, hoping that the next line will finally prove to me that I am still worth something, feeling the buzz of the fluorescent light drill into my skull...
The book actually made me fear for my own sanity. I don't think I can produce a higher endorsement than that. You shouldn't be reading my crappy review; you should be reading The Bug.
Xenosaga mini-review
Xenogears was an RPG for the original Playstation which excelled in almost every area. The graphics were true 3d (even if a bit jaggy), the art was well thought-out, the music was top-notch (it is still being remixed by fans today), and -- most importantly -- the story was great, and the characters were likable. The anime FMVs were icing on the cake. In short, Xenogears is probably my favorite Playstation RPG.
Xenosaga is the polar opposite of Xenogears.
The first thing that grabs you about any game is the graphics. When Xenogears was created, PS1 was the top-notch console. This means that the 3d graphics would be jaggy, low-poly and low-res. PS2, on the other hand, has no such limitations. Unfortunately, there must be some hidden cap on texture memory for the PS2, because Xenosaga uses two types of textures almost exclusively: a) solid white, and b) transparent glass. I realize that the game takes place mostly on sterile corporate spaceships, but this is hardly an excuse. The Xenogears artists managed to overcome the techincal limitations of the console by creativity and sheer force of will; the Xenosaga artists just go with the flow.
The music follows the theme of "bland, generic ambience". It alternates between annoying and forgettable, and I am honestly not sure which one I'd prefer. I suppose some kind soul will eventually remix it and make it memorable; until that happens, you might as well turn the music off.
There are no FMVs in Xenosaga, which actually could have been a good thing -- the animes in Xenogears sometimes felt like they clashed with the rest of the game. Unfortunately, the "bland, generic, corporate-lackey-generated" theme continues here as well. The Xenosaga intros suffer from what I call the "Hack Sign Syndrome". They consist mostly of still shots of boring characters talking about pointless trivia which interests no one. Don't get me wrong -- I actually like in-game movies. I loved Metal Gear Solid, for example. However, the key point here is that the movies have to actually be interesting. I don't care how many polys per second you can render. If you have nothing interesting to say, don't even try.
Which brings me to the next point -- the story. Oh wait, there isn't one. Events happen one after another for no discernible reason. New characters keep getting introduced with mechanical regularity. Presumably, we are supposed to care for them. Unfortunately, without a coherent plot, there is no reason to do so. The game keeps hinting at major factions in opposition, political machinations behind the scenes, cosmic forces of literally Apocalyptic proportions gathering behind the horizon... But that's all we get. Hints. As soon as it looks like some coherent story fragment is about to form, the game launches into another one of those three-hour-long intros, and then switches to a totally different topic. Gotta keep those new characters coming, right ?
So far, what I have described is merely a below-average game, not an abysmal one. Oh sure, there are many other annoying details -- mecha in high heels, drawn-out special move animations, bad voice acting, etc. -- but they could potentially be tolerable. However, the makers of the game must have felt true contempt for the player; and, early on, they eagerly demonstrate this.
You see, your main character has a futuristic PDA with her, which she carries everywhere. The PDA is mail-capable. Which means that the character receives e-mail, about half of which gives you useful information. The other half is spam from Namco, cramming their other games down your throat.
You heard me. The game actually spams you, the paying customer, just to inform you of many other valuable product offerings from the parent corporation. As I see it, this behavior is simply inexcusable. It is one thing to use product placement (an annoying practice in and of itself); it is a wholly different thing to overtly inslut the player with intersticial commercials. I get enough spam in physical and e-mail forms; I don't need it on my console on top of everything else.
Now, I will come clean: I did not finish Xenosaga. Perhaps it gets better. Perhaps the spam disappears, the story picks up, the annoying characters get shot, and the artists finally realize that texture mapping was developed back in the 286 days. Perhaps. However, I simply do not have the patience to sit through hours upon hours of walking down long, boring corridors; of fighting the same monsters over and over; and of listening to in-game movies which are 15 minutes long but feel like 15 years of lost time. I could do something more exciting with my life, such as watching grass grow.
As a parting note, I must also point out that Xenosaga is episode 1 of 6. That's right. There will be 5 more of these things. If nothing else, this cements my opinion of the game: it was made not by artists, programmers or storytellers. It was made by marketing flacks who are incapable of thinking of anything other than maximizing the shareholder value -- which, in turn, involves milking you for every last dollar as efficiently as possible.
I think I will go back and play Xenogears again, just to help me forget Xenosaga for good.
June 11, 2003
The Matrix Has You
Are you living in a computer simulation ? The linked article says that it's very likely, or else the human race is doomed. Of course, the entire article hinges on the premise that some future super-entity would want to simulate the little ol' you, so its conclusion is pretty arbitrary. Still, their calculations of the computing power of future civilizations are interesting.
June 09, 2003
Intellectual Property at a Glance
An excellent philosophical treatise on the problem of music piracy (in three parts), courtesy of MacHall. The Sony (tm) mecha is especially poignant. Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.
Thanks to Jason for introducing me to the site.
June 08, 2003
Total Information Thong
I know it's called Terrorist Information Awareness now (you know, because renaming the agency makes it all ok), but still -- for a limited time, you too can purchase this fine Total Information Awareness thong ! Big Brother is watching. Now he is watching pr0n, apparently.
June 07, 2003
God Wrote in Lisp
Beautiful. Simply beautiful. Also probably completely obscure unless you know Lisp. You can get the song at mp3.com, it's titled The Eternal Flame. Note that everything the song mentions is completely true. Well, as far as computer languages are concerned, anyway.
June 05, 2003
Naruto mini-review
I originally wrote this review for AnimeTempy, but Tempy only accepts reviews from people who have seen a series in its entirety. Since Naruto will never actually be finished, Tempy will probably never accept a review for it... Which is probably for the best.
Man, talk about wasted potential. The show had everything going for it: great presmise, great characters, good art... And they threw it all away.
The show starts off by introducing Naruto, a young kid out to prove himself in his ninja-village -- by becoming the best ninja in the land. Unfortunately, his skills leave a lot to be desired -- pretty much the only technique he knows is "sexy no jutsu". Through a lucky (which is to say, harrowing) turn of events, Naruto passes his graduation exam, and goes on to train as part of a three-person team. There is great chemistry between the characters -- Naruto likes Sakura-chan (a somewhat shy ninja girl with a violent "inner Sakura" side), Sakura-chan likes Satsuke (one of the best ninja students in the school), and Satsuke likes to brood and glare. Naruto starts off his ninja career by ambushing his teacher with the classic "eraser on top of the door" trap.
Unfortunately, the show goes straight down the crapper from there. Instead of quirky character chemistry and ninja pranks, we have the super-powered enemy, who spends 3 episodes talking about how cool he is, then 10 more episodes fighting the other combatants, then bragging for a few more episodes... If this pattern seems familiar, it should -- it's Dragonball Z all over again. Of course, eventually the big bad boss hurts Naruto, who develops some special powers on the spot, and dispatches the enemy... And after a short intermission, our heroes are off to fight big bad monster #2, who is at least 10x more powerful than big bad monster #1. And takes twice as long to kill (about 10 episodes and counting).
Just to add insult to injury, Naruto creators saw it fit to construct each episode in such a way that OVER HALF of the footage is recap. That's right. Each episode consists mostly of pointless re-telling of the previous episode. And then we're out of time... And then it's time to preview the next episode.
With some creative editing (namely, the removal of 75% of the useless filler material and boss monster fights), Naruto could have become an excellent show. As things stand, however, it is merely Dragonball Z with better graphics. I should mention that the show is currently playing in Japan; there have been at least 34 episodes so far, and I am sure there will be many, many more. Even though there is, theoretically, some chance that the show might improve, I am not holding my breath.
Plug
Ok, lest I anger the gods who hold root on these servers: the friend who finally pushed me over the edge into the morass of blogging was no other than Gusher Hero, sometimes also known as Roger. Roger was kind enough to provide me with an account on his servers, so, really, I had no choice but to start the blog. Well played, Roger.
Sorry, Owen, but badgering alone was not enough -- Roger was kind enough to create my account on his vast and mysterious PHP servers. So, the plug space is rightfully his. Although, I must admit, I was tempted to start my own journal on k5 just to counteract your ultra-right-wing Republican rantings. Not that I disagree with all of them, mind you.
June 04, 2003
Tesla !
Tesla is one of my favorite physicists of all time... There are so many rumors about him that I don't even know what to believe. I mean, he actually almost pulled off a plan to distribute electric power to the entire planet... for free... using induction from hell ! Anyway, localroger's story has some more info.
(oh, and I am also testing the calendar feature)
June 03, 2003
Lain mini-review
(Ask and ye shall receive... also, I am testing the different entry formats on MT)
Most people hate this anime; a few (such as myself, for example) love it with all their hearts. Lain is one of those series that is really hard to describe, because any description will probably render it meaningless. Those of you who play "Mage: The Ascension" might understand what I mean when I say "Lain is an anime created jointly by Virtual Adepts and the Celestial Chorus which the two Traditions use to Awaken people". For the rest of you, this description probably sounds like gibberish... Lain is like that.
The first four or so episodes of this 13-episode series are very hard to understand. That is because they are not designed to be understood. They are designed to hardwire neural pathways in your brain, which will fire with the intensity of lightning when you watch the rest of the show. The themes of consensual reality, religion, communication, omniscience, morality, humanity, etc. will seep into your mind like Terminator-grade quicksilver. When the barriers that separate realities start to break down in Lain's world, you will feel the echoes in yours.
In other words, this anime will warp your mind. I can name at most one or two other movies (in any medium) which have affected me as profoundly as Lain has.
The series derives a major portion of its power from its main character, a young girl (well... sort of) named Lain. There is something about the way Lain is animated and voiced that makes you want to empathize with her. As the viewer, you want her life to work out for the better, and you want her to be happy. Something about Lain's eyes just draws you in. Alas, this series is not exactly cheerful, so those who look for a happy end in everything may be disappointed.
Another thing I like about the series is the feeling that the events it describes are just beyound humanity's reach. Perhaps, if we were to just stretch out our hand, we could also merge our minds with the Wired, communicate with others in a shared consensual hallucination, and infuse our souls with the collective consciousness, breaking down the mind/body/spirit barriers... Other animes, such as Ghost in the Shell, merely posit this possibility and explore some the implications. Lain does all that, but it also makes you EXPERIENCE what it would be like. And it suggests communication in our own world may have already reached this critical mass. Numerous hidden (as well as overt) computer history references throughout the movie -- BeOs, NeXt, Apple, TCP/IP -- help accent this feeling. Religious overtones provide the final flash of inspiration.
I should also mention that, in order to fully grok the series, you will probably have to watch it at least twice. The information you are presented with at the end really helps put the events which are shown at the beginning in a new light; Lain is similar to the live-action movie The Sixth Sense in this matter. Some people complain that nothing in the series really gets explained. I have not found this to be the case; however, I have found that other people's interepretations of the events often differ from mine. I suppose it all depends on your mindset.
In any case, I would recommend this series to everyone. If you hate Serial Experiments Lain, I can understand... but there is no excuse for not watching it. And remember: we are all connected...