Catchup
Last weekend was Arisia. It was a new convention for me. It was also odd because I went by myself. At Origins and Technicon, I am literally surrounded by people I know, at least some of whom I'm friendly with. When I went to Balticon several years ago, it was with rislyn. I decided to skip Friday night, partially because I was feeling tired Friday, and partially because I wasn't in a big hurry to get to the con in the first place.
When I arrived Saturday noonish, I was quickly reminded how odd I tend to feel in social environments without a wingman of some kind. I got there just in time for a zyxwvut panel, but after that, I just sort of floated around, peaking in the game and space now and then to see if I recognized anyone. Then I followed zyxwvut around as he did Guest of Honor stuff. I wandered off to what I thought would be dinner, and ended up having a long conversation on a bus with another con-goer, ending up back at the con an hour later.
I ignored my stomach, walked back in, and met back up with zyxwvut, who was on his elevator set. Thus, I got interviewed as the author of It's Not Sexual Harassment If They Like Me... Why Don't They Ever Like Me?. I don't think he make up that title for me, but it was the one he picked for me. I think I did okay, although I had nagging desires to do pick up shots... which makes me wonder whether Improv would ever be a satisfactory place for me. I suspect I'd like the movie improv, where you're allowed to explore, but have multiple takes in which to refine it.
Hanging around the set led to meeting secondhandwhore and friends, which whom I talked for a while. That then led to conversations with several other folk sitting in the area, one of whom, we established, I'd probably talked to in the past over IM. That led to a trip upstairs to put one of the trio in a corset, which was met with approval from all of us.
After that, I finally did give in to my stomach for dinner, so I headed up to Chipotle in Davis Square. I was planning to just head home after dinner, but it refreshed me, and I figured I'd head back and watch Eric's night time filming.
At the Central Square stop (where the con shuttle was picking up), there was a gaggle of loud, hyper con girls (yeah, you know the type). I ended up being drawn into conversation, and then deciding that getting them all into corsets would be my gift to mankind for the weekend. Thus, four women, a girl, a boyfriend, and I headed back up to the friendly con corseter, with me explaining that having met many in my life, I was beginning to think that corseters all went to the same school, because they all had basically the same corset-selling shtick, complete with the same jokes. One even bought a corset, which is good, because otherwise I would've felt I was wasting the poor gentleman's time.
I headed out around midnight to walk back across the Charles and catch a train home.
Sunday, I arrived, watched the crowds, and then played a bit of Volcano down with zxywvut. Then the gaggle of con girls reappeared, and I ended up playing a very aged copy of the Great Dalmuti. I did relatively well. Then there were some panels (a rather disappointing one on the attraction of evil, where the panel-goers mostly couldn't decide whether evil was a matter of action or intent, couldn't explain why fictitious evil was cool but historical evil wasn't but serial killers were, and tended to shout down the one gentleman who argued quite eloquently on how evil didn't exist, and was just a shorthand way of saying you strongly didn't like someone's behavior. Then there was wandering, and I taught the gaggle Volcano, and then watched Labyrinth for the first time in years. (And it was the first time for several in the gaggle... shame!) Then was dinner at Asgard, then more panels, then more Eric filming.
I ended up realizing that I didn't feel like leaving in time to make the trains. I figured I'd catch a taxi. When I finally left, sometime after 0200, there wasn't a handy taxi in front of the hotel, so I thought I'd walk across the river and catch one around BU. Then I realized that walking at my pace didn't mesh well with flagging down a taxi. I just kept finding excuses to not do so, and finally, a couple of hours and eight miles later, arrived at my house. I believe that's the longest below-freezing walk I've ever taken. It had several interesting psysiological effects. One was that the cold had soaked into my body (and especially my legs) enough that after I was under several blankets that night, it took me at least a half hour to warm back up... I didn't shiver when I was out walking, but I definitely did under several layers of fleece. Another was that my lips got oddly chapped: the top corners, but nothing else. It wasn't even painful (just oddly crispy) until I smiled incorrectly a couple of days afterward.
While Arisia was a four-day convention, upon waking up with too little sleep Monday morning, with feet that were still displeased, I decided it probably wasn't worth the effort, so I stayed home and rested.
All in all, I enjoyed the con... but I wouldn't have if I hadn't glommed onto a group. This has implications on the idea of going down to CarolinasCon with vilejynx and vileone... if I didn't just stick with them the entire con, would I have a pleasant con?
Around the same time as Arisia, I decided to buy a copy of "The Orange Box" from Steam. This contains copies of several Valve games, all based on the Half-Life 2 engine. (I also tried to pick back up Half-Life 1, but I found the controls annoying, and the monsters oddly disturbing.)
The first game of the set I played was Portal. From just about the first moments on, it was a long series of "Wow". I kept thinking "this is practically a jumping puzzle; I should hate it". But it was so much more. It was a game where the 3D was important, rather than just being bells and whistles. It was a FPS where you never shot an enemy, and only rarely *faced* an enemy. It had a really, really cool antagonist, who was really, really well voiced. And, at the end, it had a *song*. Heck, not *a* song... it had a song that was beautiful and wonderful and fun and so matched the style of the game. As the end credits rolled, I was fumbling for my phone, calling mrstickman, because Portal was a game made for him/us... I was sad that he hadn't already played it, because I wanted to gush, but to do so to the uninitiated would be to rob them of the beauty of coming to the game fresh.
But wait, there's more! Portal has developer commentary. They discuss level design, the mechanics of their game mechanics and how they interact with the game engine, the voice actress talks about her work... for me, the fact that the developers were interested in adding such a thing in (and not feeling the need to charge for it) just added to the level of wonderfulness the game contained. The game also has a developer with a name that rivals Moxie Crimefighter Jilette for best name EVAR: Realm Lovejoy.
Many reviews complain that Portal is short. To me, this is like complaining that a stunningly done 30-minute TV program is inherently inferior to a stunningly done 120-minute one, or that the Ramones should've learned to lengthen their tracks... shouldn't great art leave you thirsting for me?
So, to all of you, I say: if you have not already, go play Portal. Right now. No, seriously. I'll wait. It is a puzzle game disguised as a FPS, it is beautiful, and it is wonderful.