Someone remind me of this next Spring, please?

I could be tempted to dust off my corset and rapier!

Thanks to Randy for the link.

End of an Era

Your game account for City of Villains has expired due to payment failure or cancellation.

Still, we'll always have Paragon City.

Brain fart

Like you, no doubt, I do a lot of my blog reading on Google Reader. All hail Google! So I catch up with my friends, with design blogs, with the entertainment news, and with wedding planning stuff all in the same place.

So my little head, slightly overwhelmed with the amount of information percolating around in it right now, decided to combine two posts -- one on Weddingbee about cake toppers, and another from a friends about epic mounts in World of Warcraft. Doyce, don't get any ideas, but yes, I totally just pictured a three-tiered wedding cake topped with a lizard and a cat wearing saddles.

Sigh.

For the next round of revisions on HtDaS

I must remember this article on gaming with your SO. Also, I need to make Doyce decide which duo we're playing tonight in LOTRO -- our dwarf guardian/elf hunter, or human captain/human hunter. Both sets are around 24, trying to hit different quests -- because I get bored doing the same stuff over and over again.

Weekend Adventuring

Spent several happy hours over the course of the weekend adventuring in Middle-Earth with my hobbit burglar Tirra, human captain Tirawyn, and elven hunter Tiranor. Tiranor, who just hit 17, is the lowest level and is reserved exclusively for times when Doyce and I are on together. Tirra and Tirawyn (level 19 and 20, respectively) are both good for soloing, although they too have level mates among Doyce's stable of alts. I'm subverting the completionist part of my personality a bit, not doing everything on everyone, but rather picking and choosing the quests that are most entertaining, or which I know move the story along, and skipping some of the random "kill 20 bears" stuff. Nothing against bears! I have one on my hat!

What I like about LOTRO, compared only against CoH, is that there is a Epic thread which is the driving storyline. If you do nothing else, completing the epic quests will, presumably, get you to the end game. (I guess, if only because I'm only up to Book 1, Chapter 11, and there's something like 11 Books so far.) You can use the other quests to fill in the time between chapters -- for instance, when the epic quests jump from level 13 to level 19, and you need to do SOMETHING to raise your level. I'm struggling a bit with feeling overwhelmed with the sheer number of quests you can have -- 40's the cap -- but find that breaking them down into specific areas helps immensely. So, that's fun!

I also adventured out into the wilds of Forest Hills to attend a Halloween Party with the roomie and his gal pal, both dressed as pirates. Also in attendance at the soiree: Buster Keaton, one of his anonymous starlet costars, Bjork, a shadow ninja, some completely normal guy named Brian, a couple of Hogwarts students, a child molester, and the designer of the RPG we're playing on Thursday. That last one's for real, not a costume. I don't want to give away my costume yet, since I'm pulling it out again on Wednesday to head out to New Jersey and go trick-or-treating with my niece and nephew. Pictures to follow!

Changing of the guard?

So Doyce gave me a trial game code the last time I was out in Denver, for ten free days of Lord of the Rings Online. I brought the disk home and set it on my dresser, doing nothing further with it. I have CoH, I told myself. That's enough. Two weeks ago when he was out for the engagement party, he found the disk and installed it on my computer, making sure the game ran fine, and telling me again how I should sign up, so we could have a game we could play together, and both start out on the same page, so to speak.

(He conveniently skipped over the part when he could recite the entire mythology and history of Middle Earth. I'm marrying a total GEEK.)

Well, I gave it a try, and it's very different than CoH, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy it. I do -- I made a hobbit, and an elf, and a human -- and while there's times certain aspects of the game go against the kind of straight-forward play I know and enjoy, there is a lot of fun to be had in our being able to explore this world together, neither one of us always the lead character, showing the other around.

In CoH, I feel like I reached the end-game -- months ago, if I'm being honest. We still have fun when we play together, but I'm long past the time when I had to get on and see what new part of the game I could discover next. The lower-level character version of Noelle that I run around with the tank version of Hang-Time is mostly just so we have a game we can play together when we're 1600 miles apart.

So, I'm thinking...

I think that's going to be LOTRO for a while. My CoH account is paid up until January, unless I can figure out a way to put it on hold, so I may still find myself being a hero now and then. Especially if a group of people I know and love want to get on and be silly Hostess Heroes. But since I'm only getting on to spend time with my honey, we thought it'd be fun to do something different.

It's a big change. I've got something like 3 years and 8 months of time invested in the game (which is crazy long when I think of it), and I just did an interview with a writer about meeting my fiance through an online game. Not even mentioning the book I was going to write, which has been collecting dust for months. But Doyce is right. It's nice to have something that's just ours, not something with a ton of history for either of us.

It's been great visiting Paragon City, but I think I ought to move on now, or I may never leave. And I have other things I want to do with my time.

Weekend Wrap-Up

Sad news, shoe-philes. I took a trip Saturday morning down to a bridal store a couple of miles away from our shore house in New Jersey, to look at the Salon Shoes I liked and to try to get a sense of sizing. Which I did, but unfortunately, I also discovered that the plum color I hoped would be a match for my purple was in fact the wrong shade. Poppycock!!

Still, reading this renewed my hope. And I still have to brave the Herald Square crowd to check out Macy's, where the Monkey Queen said she saw some possibilities for me. And there's always DSW.

Anyway, it was a disappointing weekend. Saturday was a nice beach day, but I think I did something funny to my back on Friday, carrying my weekend bag (or maybe the five books I brought down to read over the weekend), so after a couple of hours sitting on the beach, I had to go home and take a hot shower and some ibuprofen. And Sunday was drizzly and overcast, so I came home early -- at least Doyce and I were able to get some playtime in for the Brightsides, who are up to level 20 and have swanky new business suits.

Anyway, 4 days til Denver.

3 Days / 3 Games

So last night marked my third tabletop RPG session in as many days. Have I gone over to the dark side of geekery? Well, maybe, but consider it a special occasion. Or series of occasions, as the case may be.

• Sunday. Primetime Adventures with Doyce and Margie and Dave, a new series we're calling "Ill Met By Gaslight," in which yours truly plays young London aristocrat Lady Octavia Debenham. Her fiance having mysteriously disappeared several years ago, just after the first Fae crossed over into Victorian England, she's spent the time since searching for answers -- and finding something, at least, in the lavishly appointed bedchamber of Winterstone, a Fae prince. On his advice, she meets Avebury and the rest of what will become Dept. M, as she uses her social contacts in the ton to find clues. Stay tuned!
• Monday. A D&D campaign run by Keeley that now finds our intrepid band of adventurers (Diggle's Trading Company Escort & Killing Service, perhaps?) aboard the Sea Wyvern, fighting off frogmen, doppelgangers, and finding ancient ruined statues, while my half-elven druid Terrami Orcaan cavorts in the sea with her pet shark Jules, occasionally turning into a shark herself, or bopping people on the head with a shilleagh.
• Tuesday. Tombstone with Jay, a special event marked by my new character Carey Boudreuil's unexpected survival. One tries not to get too attached, but it's hard not to love a twin pistoleer hitting on a 8 (on a deck of cards), nearly criting her paid man, and still managing to appear as the heroine of the piece, rescuing her baby nephew from some filthy, filthy Injuns. Oh yeah, did I mention she's a prejudiced Lost Sheep Southern Methodist with nocturnalism, claws, fangs, an inability to cast a reflection, and supernatural movement and senses? The fall of Atlanta was hard for this poor Southern belle!

Which is quite enough for me for now, I have to say! I prefer my games a little more spread out.

In any case, this weekend finds this erstwhile geek at the Jersey Shore with a pile of manuscripts to read, possibly running a 5 mile race, and looking forward to getting some sleep. Yay!

CoH Update

I should be working on HtDaS, but instead have spent a lovely amount of time here in Colorado playing CoH with Doyce's characters, as well as soloing some of my own while he played some WoW. Yes, we're geeks. Anyway, having never ever really done a round-up of my characters (mostly because for two years I only had one) I thought it would be a hoot to start the New Year off with a list:

ktbuffy's CoH/CoV toons
On Champion
Noelle Frost, my level 50 ice/force field controller. For ages, my only toon. Doyce and I were discussing just last night how she was my window into CoH, and to the extent that she's the only toon I really care about doing all the content, she remains so. Since I hit level 50 though, there's less to do with her, so I made
The DeepFreeze Debutante, currently a level 11 ice/ice blaster. RP-wise, she's an older Noelle Frost, who's spent several years elsewhere (off-world, or just out of Paragon. I'm still undecided) working with her powers, now more offensive than defensive. Must be a reason for that, I imagine...
On the evil side of Champion, there's
Shadowslip, a level 28 ninja/ninjitsu stalker. Decided not to go through the fitness power pool for her, and thus plan never to take stamina, since her character is more about quick strikes from the shadows and then disappearing. OOC-wise, though, she teams a lot with Markov Chain, who lends her quite a bit of endurance and speed and health.
On Freedom
Ginger-Snap is my Hostess Hero, a level 28 electrical blast/energy manipulation blaster. Aside from costume misssions and special events, Ginger's never taken a mission of her own. Hooray for the Monday Munchies! She also doesn't have any travel powewr, except for three-slotted swift and two-slotted sprint. But she can run invisible!
On Virtue
Lady Optimism, my level 15 Radiation Blast/Thermal Radiation Corruptor. The cheeriest villain in the Rogue Isles, based on and costumed as a cheerleader gone ever so slightly off. Her husband and partner in gleeful crime is Mister Brightside.
And finally, on Victory
Sophie MacIntyre. My Slayer. A level 15 Martial Arts/Invulnerability scrapper. Leader of The Scooby Gang, of course, though the gang has contracted in size since it was first created. Originally created to play with a set group of people, now just fun to play whenever.

And that's all of 'em. And having talked about them now, I think I'm going to play for a bit. For those of you looking for me in the real world, I'll be back in NYC tomorrow night. Cheers!

The Lost Room

Writers Group was cancelled last night, so I was able to go directly home from work, with only a brief stop at the grocery store for some necessities, and after putting the apartment back together after tropical storm Kaylee, I watched the conclusion to SciFi's miniseries "The Lost Room," which aired last week.

I think they did some really interesting things -- the idea of a series of objects with magical properties randomly appearing or being passed around the country is similar to our idea for the third Storyball (still unfinished), and Peter Krause played a father searching for his daughter very well, his determination to use any means necessary to get her back from the titular room very believable. The filmmakers set up a lot of backstory, and more cabals and consortitums working together and against each other than I was easily able to keep track of, but I was ultimately unsatisfied.

Yes, of course he gets his daughter back (Spoiler, but do you really think a Fanning will die? Not a chance). But do we actually learn what happened? What event in the room created the objects, including the Prime Object (still being somewhat spoiler-free for those who want to see it)? No, we don't. We're left with almost more questions than we had at the beginning, and unlike the cliffhanger ending of last week's BSG, I don't know when, if ever, we'll learn more.

Maybe that's the point. The reason Krause's Joe Miller was able to use the objects so well, to find the Prime Object, wasn't because he had some grand theory he wanted to test, some reality-bending experiment he wanted to prove, but because he had a simple, straightforward will: find his daughter, bring her back. The Legion, the Cabal, the other Object holders -- they all wanted much more. (Except for the guy with the bus ticket. He was pretty simple, and I liked him.)

Anyway, I'm sure SciFi will be rerunning it over the holidays if you missed it. And if you saw it, I look forward to hearing what you think! Here's Entertainment Weekly's review, which, looking over again after seeing the miniseries, I almost entirely agree with. You?

I am BUSTIN' out!

With holiday cheer, that is!

Got some Christmas tunes on my iPod, a gorgeous tree in my living room bestrewn with lights (no ornaments yet, since I had a minor light kerfluffle that took more time than I'd planned), presents wrapped and beribboned on my coffee table, all my cards out, and happy CoH-themed holiday goodies on at least one toon, with more to come. Doyce and Kaylee arrive this afternoon, and we have plans to check out the Fifth Avenue holiday window displays, go see the big tree in Rockefeller Center, the snowflake at 57th and 5th, and FAO Schwartz, as well as visiting friends and family. All good stuff!

As the song says, "It's the most wonderful time of the year." Also...

They've got jellybeans and coconut with little hats
Candy rats, chocolate bats, it's a wonderland of sweets

No, wait. That may be a different song.

Go Hiro!

So, the Golden Globes were announced this morning, and adorable Hiro Nakamura from Heroes got himself a nomination. Yay for Masi Oka! Heroes also got a nom for best TV drama, while I was amused to see the Best Actor in a TV comedy series almost completely dominated by NBC's Thursday night lineup.

TV-wise, I'm a little disappointed not to see some love for Battlestar Galactica, but I'll live. (Also, I'm seeing that they got some noms for the WGAs, so that's something, I guess.) As for the movies, I'm seeing a long list of nominated movies I have yet to see. I should probably sign up for Netflix, now that I don't have a video store conveniently located on my corner, huh?

Tourist in NYC

So Doyce is in town again, which is delightful, and today we headed downtown via four subway trains and a bus to the Staten Island Ferry, where I was heartily disappointed on the ride OUT to Staten Island not to be able to stand outside, along a rail, buffeted by the wind with a warm cup of hot chocolate in my hand as we watched the Statue of Liberty appear and disappear along the starboard side of the ferry. I moped almost the whole way out to Staten Island, that it wasn't a real boat ride if you couldn't be out by the waves, merely a water bus. (Imagine that said with a high degree of disdain.) When we docked, we ran through the ferry terminal (as there's not good reason I can think of to actually stay in Staten Island) and caught the next ferry going BACK to Manhattan, which, thankfully, fulfilled all my rail-standing, wind-buffeted needs. Even though I finished my hot chocolate on the way out. And Doyce threw his against the glass in the ferry terminal before we even got on a boat. And so I took this picture.

Stopped by my sister's Tribeca apartment on the way home for a bathroom break and a couple of beers, then had a three-subway train trip home ("police investigation" at 28th Street caused honking long delay), and had yummy home-cooked dinner.

Tonight -- Doctor Who! Or another movie (watched Slither last night). Or Veronica Mars. The one thing I know is, there WILL be ice cream. And, as Martha would say, that's a good thing.

Blogfuel issues

Having issues with the "Recent Reads" section over on the sidebar there. Yesterday I noticed that instead of showing the ten most recent books I've read, from an Amazon list I made just for the purpose of keeping track of what I've read, it went back and started showing the first ten books I put up on the list. So the list as it's showing now is about 7 months out-of-date. I've got a question in to the blogfuel peoples, but as the website hasn't been updated in two years, who knows if they'll ever get back to me. Which I guess has me asking again if anyone knows other ways of keeping a booklist on your blog? Throwing the floor open for responses!

Not Dead Yet!

Good news for Aaron Sorkin fans!

Kevin Reilly, president of the [NBC] network, says he's 100% behind the show -- that's probably not exactly true, either, but he's sure putting his money where his mouth is: Studio 60's on every Monday during November sweeps.

Popwatch has the full story, with lots of links and snarkiness.

What other shows am I watching this season? Veronica Mars, Battlestar Galactica, Doctor Who, Lost, Heroes, Gilmore Girls, Ugly Betty, 30 Rock, My Name is Earl, and ER. Which went and changed its theme music on me. As did Veronica Mars, actually. Has anyone else noticed this? Does anyone else care? No? Just me, then.

Even MORE Prague!

Ok, Doyce managed to get all his notes up from our trip. Go check out Days Four, Five, and the Long Trip Home. What have I been doing, you ask? Finishing up all my notes from Frankfurt, reading manuscripts, and finally getting all caught up on the tv I missed. Oh, Veronica Mars, how I missed you so! There was a great song featured on the last episode I saw, and I really like it. You can check it out by going to the singer's MySpace page, and watching the video. I'm off to download it from iTunes.

Back in the saddle again

Back to work today, and trying to tackle the large piles of books and emails that have piled up while I was gone. I think I have a system under control, though, so I'm giving myself a blog-break.

We landed back at JFK on Saturday afternoon, and got through customs and baggage claim and passport control without too much hassle (comparatively), met with our driver, then headed back to the glorious comforts of my apartment, and the stuffed DVR. Enjoyed my first American meal in weeks (yum, chicken roll!) and watched the season premiere of "Battlestar Galactica" before collapsing into insensibility at 10pm Eastern, or about 4am, according to my body's clock.

Sunday, though, we were up bright and early, had a giant delicious diner breakfast, and watched another episode of BSG before I took Doyce off to the airport for his trip home to Denver. And then I collapsed on the couch for the remainder of the afternoon watching "Heroes," "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," "Ugly Betty," "Gilmore Girls," "30 Rock," and "My Name is Earl." Much more still to see. There's a lot of tv on in two weeks, especially at this time of year. I'm also saving "Veronica Mars" for last, since those, alone among everything else I taped, I'll save even after I watch them. At least until the Season 3 DVD is released.

Today, my body still not adjusted properly, I woke up early (!) for work, got all gussied up in my favorite new suit, and spent a busy morning going through the above-mentioned piles. Hit my Weight Watchers meeting at lunchtime, and was highly gratified to learn that not only didn't I GAIN any weight while I was off in Europe, and not being as exact about counting points, but I went down another 3.8 pounds! Total weight lost so far: 34.4 pounds. Woot!

Still, no time to rest on my laurels, smaller though they may be. Back to work! When I get home again later and have time to put up a fuller photographic essay, I will do so!

Ready to go!

The bags are packed and standing by my door, I have a sandwich for on the plane, got all my toiletries, left out-of-office messages on my email and phones, and I'm just waiting for the car to pick me up and take me to the airport. Now if only I could get through this annoying part of Prince of Persia before I go, I will feel so satisfied!!

It totally counts

As blogging if I quote someone else, right? Via Matt, who used to be Blatantly Obvious, and now just sits at home and writes novels, a link to a speech Clive Barker gave on "genre" at FantasyCon 2006, which was mentioned at last night's Neil Gaiman/John Hodgman nerdfest (I jest, but I'm oh-so-very sad to have missed it). My favorite part:

I think we should cancel the word genre, I think we should throw the word genre out. We are not a genre, which suggests a small or perhaps even somewhat besieged condition -- we are a continent and, actually most of the smaller things which came along afterwards like naturalism, realism, these things are a mere 200 years old, to pick up Ramsey's word, they are striplings. How long has naturalistic fiction been around -- maybe 300 years?

We are in a tradition which began, we may assume, around campfires as stories were told and gods were made and goddesses were worshipped and the fundamentals, the primal concerns of human beings, were laid out. Fuck genre -- this isn't about genre, this is about the fact that we are writing and painting and making in film form expressions of the profoundest issues of the human heart!

Go read the whole thing, and then, if you're looking for more to read, go read John Hodgman's blog. You'll thank me.

As for me, I'm heading out tonight to Astoria to try to sneak up on Costas again, and have dinner (and eyebrow plucking) with Famous Author Friend MJ. Tomorrow I attempt to pack... then unpack when I realize there's NO WAY I will fit everything into my bags, then repack again.

Oh, and watch Ugly Betty. Apparently, it's pretty good.

On Dorks and Dorkiness

OK, I will admit that I referenced the recent Time Out NY cover article on "New Dork City" to the editor reading my HtDaS proposal, although I did not read the piece itself. I did, however, read this, which is the kind of smart rebuttal I wish I'd written. I so need to get her to write a blurb for HtDaS when it comes out! (When it gets sold... when it gets written...)

Because, for me, it comes down to the fact that dorkiness, or nerdiness, or whatever term you want to use, isn't a trend. Calling it a state of mind instead seems rather overly grand, but I think it's possible to dork out about anything -- even if it's something "cool" like Italian film or Kate Spade [or shoes! - ktbuffy]-- because it's that idea of looking to that thing, that signifier, to let you belong because that thing belongs to you, horses, baseball, Broadway, Harry Potter, Risk, loving it as though it will love you back, without apologizing for it or winking at anyone who might be watching you. This is what makes Max Fischer a great character -- that the movie he's in is like, "Look what you can accomplish if you don't care who knows how much it means to you."