mikailborg: I can't even remember what event I was attending, but I must have been taking it seriously. (passing)
"Very much what I imagine a small college town with crappy weather would be like, back on old Earth." - Captain Vanderdecken, Space Rogues

Yes, we've got nice thick fog, accompanied with that fine, voluminous rain that coldly soaks everything in no time.

I may not find my way to the con without leaning out the car window and yelping sonar pings into the blankness.

At least I feel pretty decent this morning. Yay getting up just before the end of the continental breakfast.
mikailborg: I can't even remember what event I was attending, but I must have been taking it seriously. (flying_gif)
This morning I found a hotel cardkey from a 2007 con in my stuff. I'd feel guilty, except I know they churn these keys out by the millions, and since the whole thing is computer-controlled, they've already invalidated the darn thing. So now it's a memento.

What got me thinking, though, is the memory of when hotels actually handed out metal keys, usually on large plastic keychains with the room number embossed on them. Yes, those were simpler times.

[Poll #1128647]

Oh, when I say "enter hotel rooms," I mean one that you or a roommate have paid for. Room parties, rooms that you're only responsible for as an event organizer, etc. don't count.

(Yes, I know. "Auhorized" is a Space Rogues in-joke.)
mikailborg: I can't even remember what event I was attending, but I must have been taking it seriously. (whovian)
While watching the 2005 season finale of Doctor Who with Rain the other day, something struck me. The Doctor carries a tool he calls a "sonic screwdriver". About the size of a regular screwdriver, this tool emits sonic (and perhaps other) waves which can manipulate small mechanical and electronic objects. It's most commonly used as a lockpick, but it's been shown as a welder / unwelder, circuit modifier, computer reprogrammer, medical scanner, and (on rare occasions) a screwdriver.

He started using it in the Sixties, in his second incarnation, and continued well into the Eighties, when it was destroyed by an enemy of the Fifth Doctor. Sources in the BBC production team revealed that the device was causing the writers trouble when they wanted the Doctor locked up or otherwise frustrated by mechanisms. While I can't remember if the Eighth Doctor used one during his movie, the Ninth and Tenth do so regularly, and I think with good reason. Someone at the BBC seems to have realized a fact:

Locked doors are boring story telling.

The sonic screwdriver is in fact a boon to the program: when there's only 45 minutes of story, it's a wise move to get past the locked doors and computer codes, and move on to the part where the Doctor must deal with other people and nasty decisions.

Besides, since the tool's never too clearly explained, you can always have the door that the sonic screwdriver just won't open.

(Brion Fields of Space Rogues keeps a sonic screwdriver in a pocket of his jumpsuit. Where he got it, I don't know; and it was intended to be a subtle in-joke, not fill half the frame in an early scene.)
mikailborg: I can't even remember what event I was attending, but I must have been taking it seriously. (flying_gif)
Phew. Still a little tired from the accumulated 12 hours of driving this weekend. I had a great time in Riner, it was good to catch up with folks. Ironically, I had to drive back to the B-burg area to see some people who live here on the Virginia coast :p By the end of the evening, I was on the floor of the guest house with a bunch of buzzed people working out the "King James ending" of Space Rogues. Turns out that the cat is more important than you can imagine!

[livejournal.com profile] rattrap and [livejournal.com profile] rubinpdf helped me with my HeroClix issues, and that was much appreciated. Told several people about the portfolio review - hope they get in and get to draw a card or two!

Thanks again to [livejournal.com profile] calandra for a great afternoon and evening!
mikailborg: I can't even remember what event I was attending, but I must have been taking it seriously. (slaine)
Mirage crew

All three completed Space Rogues episodes, plus the blooper reel, have now been posted on the movies page of my website. Yes, they are QuickTime, and yes, they are huge files so you'll need broadband. I tried MPEGing them and DivXing them, and they didn't get smaller either way. One day, I hope to generate new movies from cleaner originals.

I've only been meaning to post these for years.
mikailborg: I can't even remember what event I was attending, but I must have been taking it seriously. (menace)
From the useless-but-cool department...

You can now watch your movie files in ASCII in the Terminal application of MacOS 10.2!

Here's some shots from a certain video - each image links to a larger version:





Space Rogues logo
Brion (Me)



Extra ([livejournal.com profile] ypawtows) and Kat ([livejournal.com profile] snidegrrl)




So I don't bore everyone: if you want to know how to do this, leave a comment and I'll reply.
mikailborg: I can't even remember what event I was attending, but I must have been taking it seriously. (space_tech)
Researchers at IBM have developed technology which uses dents in thin plastic film to store information. It's a bit like the punch cards of computing history, except the dents are 10 nanometers in width. (A nanometer is one-millionth of the width of a piece of paper-clip wire.)

The researchers estimate that with this technology in practical use, a common multifunction digital wristwatch could contain 15 gigabytes of data... that's about 23 CDs, or 2 or 3 DVD movie discs.

"I've backed up the ship's computer core in this small MDM memory chip!" Brion Fields, Space Rogues
mikailborg: Chris drew this picture of my first Starfleet character for a newsletter cover, years ago. (kriet)
Technicon starts a week from tomorrow, and they've posted an early version of the schedule. I do realize that con schedules are subject to complete revision until late Sunday afternoon, but I couldn't help noticing a few things.

The first thing is that my sweetie and I are involved in one of the Live-Action Role Playing games, and that at least one (possibly both) of the games starts Friday night at 8:00. So we may miss [livejournal.com profile] meiran's Women in SF panel :( I've enjoyed representing the Liberated Male there in the past, and I'd be sorry to miss this one.

Another scheduled LARP event (if it's for the one I'm in) may cause me to miss the first half of the Amateur Film panel, which would be a shame. We don't have a submission this year like we were going to, but it's fun to see what others bring and comment on it.

(2 years ago: "Are you sure you want me as a panelist? I haven't actually been involved in anything since Space Rogues - all I can talk about is the several projects I hope to start work on sometime soon."

"Amateur shmamateur, that makes you a Hollywood professional!")

The person I will be playing in the LARP is a major Russian political figure, I haven't decided whether my accent should be "Boris Badenov" or Connery's "Alexsandr Ramius" (i.e. Moscow by way of Scotland).

This year's midnight discussions include the SW Virginia Spiritual Alliance (a pagan group), Polyamory 101, and a BDSM demonstration / panel. Who says science fiction fans never do anything but watch their Trek videos?
mikailborg: I can't even remember what event I was attending, but I must have been taking it seriously. (slaine)
For those who wanted to know, the online version of the first episode of Space Rogues can be found on my Movies page.

It's in two parts which add up to 90 megs of Quicktime, so don't try this on your 28.8 modem.



Which Space Rogues Character Are You?
mikailborg: I can't even remember what event I was attending, but I must have been taking it seriously. (Default)
Which Space Rogues Character Are You?
Cmdr. Brion Fields

December 2018

S M T W T F S
      1
23 45678
91011121314 15
16171819202122
23242526272829
3031     

Syndicate

RSS Atom

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags