Obdormio.com

Life, lately, has devolved into getting up in the middle of the day, going to work, coming home, and then not moving for several hours until I fall asleep. Writing it out, that seems far from healthy, but I find it satisfies my innate laziness.

Since my last post (in MAY? Good grief! Loki is right to complain!) I don’t feel like I have really done much worth talking about. School’s obviously been out for the summer (and is actually soon to start up again, but let’s gloss over that little tidbit), and I’m back at my parent’s house, not being very useful. Despite swearing that I would never touch a lawn mower again, I am once more mowing graveyards. The equipment and lack of communication with management is just as bad as last year, and just to make it all perfect, I seem to have developed allergies to grass. Definitely not applying for this job next year.

I am also making a bit of money by cleaning the doctor’s and dentist’s offices on weekdays. Basically I have the job of the Janitor from Scrubs. (Well, except for all the fixing and handyman duties, I just clean, so it’s not really like that job at all, but any analogy that compares me with Neil Flynn is worth including.)

I spent a week in Fredrikstad, on the Oase festival, but a writeup of that wouldn’t be very interesting. There are only so many ways to say “sang and prayed a lot” before it gets boring.

I have bought a new computer, one running this fancy-pants Vista stuff. Help Desk speaks truth, and they’ve sucked all the fun out of Solitaire and Minesweeper (I liked them because they were simple, now they’re a chore!), but other than that, all is well. Mainly because it can run URU!

I’ve been aching to play Uru again for some time now, and now I finally can! I never want to leave my room ever again! And yet I keep having to anyway! Curses! Exclamation points!

This is the main reason for my slack updating, to be honest. Uru Live is very definitely pretty much at the top of my list of Most Awesome Games Ever, narrowly beaten by Riven, possibly sharing second place with The Longest Journey. Explanations can’t do it justice, go get one of the free visitor’s accounts and have a look around it for yourself. It helps to have played the rest of the Myst games, but it isn’t necessary. Or even better, get a paid account, so you can actually see the game, not just the visitor approved areas. August is right around the corner, sign up on the first. It’s 99 cents for the first month, so that gives you plenty of time to get hooked decide if you like it or not.

Another thing I’ve been doing a little bit of is reading, so I’ll do a quick little mini-review-list:

Swamp Thing - I bought all the volumes containing Alan Moore’s run (and when he left it ended! LALALALA THERE IS NO MORE AFTER THAT!). This was very good, I can definitely see why it became so popular. I’ve read them twice since buying them, and will probably end up reading them again before going back to school.

Hellblazer - I bought Original Sins and Dangerous Habits, which the lie-list at the store said were the two containing the earliest stories. Wikipedia tells me there are two volumes in between, though, so I guess I know where next month’s comic budget is going. Original Sins was ok, but nothing spectacular, but I really loved Dangerous Habits, which seems to be where the movie pilfered all it’s best bits. I really didn’t need to get hooked on an expense like this now, but I’m much to weak to resist, so I guess I’ll be buying new shelves soon.

The Lies of Locke Lamora and Red Seas under Red Skies - Oh man! I bought Lies some time ago, on sale, and it’s just been sitting in my shelf ever since waiting for me to find the time to read it. Luckily for me, that time arrived at the same time as the sequel, so I didn’t have to grind my teeth and wring my hands waiting for more. At least not until I finished Seas. These books were good. These books were very good. Who doesn’t love con men and capers? And pirates? And it’s in a good fantasy setting to boot. Locke Lamora is hereby officially one of my favorite fictional characters.

Renegade’s Magic - the end of Robin Hobb’s Soldier Son trilogy, and what an end! Seriously, the end took be completely by surprise, especially considering her other work. Like all her books, this was a fantastic story, well worth the read.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - I’m not even going to bother. Either you’ve read it, or you intend to read it, or you hate it without having read it, or you just don’t care. I thought it was good, and I’ll leave it at that.

I think that’s it. I make no guarantees for continued activity, not with Uru installed, but I somehow suspect that I’ll be more tempted to blog once school starts again and I have other things to do.

I just wish it to be known that I in no way have part in the horrific lie that is the word “progress” in the sentence beneath this page’s header, and I do indeed take grave umbrage from the use of the word.

Thank you for your attention.

_{Oh, and since I’m posting here anyway, if someone doesn’t get their rear end in gear soon, you can all look forward to (or possibly dread) a randomly fake post describing Obdormio’s recent stay at Camp Christianity in view of his return home a few days past. Toodles!}

Happily ignoring the fact that I haven’t written anything for a month, I thought I’d ponder the Web Cartoonist’s Choice Awards a bit.

The nominations for the 2007 WCCA was supposed to start yesterday, but it has apparently been delayed for a week. The plus side of this is that it gives people some time to brush up on the past year to find who they want to nominate.

I’m not allowed to actually nominate anybody, since I’m not involved in the making of a webcomic. Actually, I am involved in the making of what can be called a webcomic, but I doubt it would get me past the WCCA bouncer. It certainly wouldn’t if I was the WCCA bouncer. Anyways, even though I can’t actually nominate anybody, here’s a little list of comics I’d like to see on the ballot this year.

I’ll start with the small print categories, first of all Outstanding Superhero/Action Comic. I can only think of one comic I read that might fit into this category. Fortunately, it’s a very good one that definitely deserves some recognition, namely The Adventures of Dr. McNinja. It isn’t really what I normally think of as a superhero or action comic, that sends my mind more towards Superman and The Phantom. Dr. McNinja is first and foremost hilarious, but a ninja (an especially a McNinja) is just as good as any superhero, and there is most definitely plenty of awesome action.

For Outstanding Science Fiction Comic, Starslip Crisis springs instantly to mind. In the last year, we’ve had fun interludes with the Chronomantic and Vore and Zillion, both of which are obviously building up to something awesome, met the fantastic villain Obdrath von Lucifuge, encountered the crisis, lost Jovia, lost Cirbozoid, and seen a ghost that wasn’t a ghost. It’s been exciting, thrilling, sad and extremely funny. I read a few other sci-fi strips, but this year Starslip has definitely been the best of them.

I think I’ll skip Outstanding Romantic Comic, can’t think of any to nominate for that, and move on to Outstanding Slice-of-Life Comic. Real Life. Easily. Real Life was actually the first webcomic I ever read, and it’s still one of my favorites. It’s changed a lot over the years, but it has always been funny. Without doing any real research, I think it’s actually moved more towards the realistic and autobiographical side, and away from the time machines and parallel universes in later years. There’s still the occasional space station, but that’s the exception rather than the rule, I think. I can think of a few other comics that might be nominated here, but Real Life deserves to beat them all.

In Outstanding Gaming Comic, The Order of the Stick is the only choice for me. It is one of the funniest comics I know of, and it also has a fantastic story, with excellent RPG jokes sprinkled on top.

With Outstanding Fantasy Comic, we reach the first category where I’m torn. People can nominate up to three comics for each category, but obviously only one of them can win, and I’m not sure which of my two candidates deserve that more. The first is The Gods of Arr-Kelaan which has had a good year, especially since the new Consequences story started. The other is The Knights of Dor, one of my favorite fantasy stories in general, not just in comics.

For Outstanding Anthropomorphic Comic, I’ll say Kevin and Kell, as it is the only one I can think of where the fact that the characters are animals serves a purpose.

Moving on to the writing awards, for Outstanding Dramatic Comic I’m not sure who I’d nominate. Starslip Crisis has certainly had some great dramatic moments with the death of Jovia, the unveiling of the crisis and the war with Katarakis, so I think I’ll go with that.

For Outstanding Comedic Comic, Get Medieval. Get Medieval is one of the most consistently funny strips I know, with great gags, funny stories and humorous characters. This year it has had such high points as siege by bees, Georges le Gai, the tournament and of course the pilgrimage.

I don’t think I read any single panel comic regularly, so I’ll skip that, and go to Outstanding Short Form Comic. I’d nominate Count Your Sheep, which come to think of it has very little story or continuity between individuals strips. That amazing mix of sad, cute and funny definitely deserves an award of some sort, and seeing as how it does all this in self-contained strips, this would be a good one.

For Outstanding Long Form Comic, I have a problem. Starslip Crisis, The Gods of Arr-Kelaan, Get Medieval, The Order of the Stick, Narbonic and Cheshire Crossing are all comics I feel have had awesome stories this year, and I have no idea how to choose between them. If it comes to it, I guess Starslip, The Order of the Stick and Narbonic would be my three nominees.

Moving on, Outstanding Character Writing. I have no idea. What comes to mind is Vanderbeam revealing new sides of himself at the death of Jovia. And the promotion of Cutter. And the war over Cirbozoid. Not to mention Cutter’s growth in the promotion to captain. And the recent fiasco at command school. Yeah, you know what, Starslip Crisis. Also coming to mind is Narbonic, with Dave’s dismissal and descent into madness, and the effect of this on all the characters, so two nominees here.

Then for the main writing award, Outstanding Writer. I’d nominate Kristofer Straub (of Starslip Crisis), Irony Chan (of Get Medieval) and Shaenon Garrity (of Narbonic). All three write fantastic comics, that are funny and have exiting stories. Actually, I think I’ll reread them all after I finish this.

Now, for the art awards… I’m going to skip these. They deal with areas I don’t feel very confident commenting on. In general, the writing is much more crucial to whether or not I’ll like a comic than the art.

Come to think of it, though, Starslip Crisis should be nominated for Outstanding Website Design, for the very handy save place function and the extremely nifty Exhibition Mode.

Skipping the art, and saving the best for last, we come to Outstanding Newcomer. Here, I’d nominate Cheshire Crossing, which is Awesome with capital A, and Home on the Strange, which is good geeky fun. In the end Cheshire would probably get the vote from me if they both ended on the ballot, but Home on the Strange should be there as well.

Then the grand finale, Outstanding Comic. I’m really glad I can’t vote, as there is no way I can decide which of these has been the greatest this year. Narbonic and Get Medieval. I cannot set one over the other. They both ruled supremely in my reading list this year, with Starslip Crisis a close second.

And that’s it. If I were giving awards, those listed here would be the ones getting them.

Well, my reading list sure filled up. See you in another month.

Obdormio is currently unavailable for posting here, as he is watching a lot of “Babylon 5″.

And by “a lot”, I do mean “all”.

(He’s also occasionally showering and digesting foodstuffs, but I’m suspecting he would be able to post here despite doing those things, and thus I won’t mention them.

Outside these parentheses, anyway.)

It isn’t easy, especially when you have friends clearly set out to sabotage your academic development in any way possible - by, say, lending you five seasons of quality television-series mere days before you need to really start writing your assignment. Or lending you even better books, mere days before that. Or nagging you into joining a board game taking up one of your precious set-off-for-writing-afternoons. Get the picture? ‘Cause Obdormio sure has.

That’s right folks, your one and only beloved GUEST-BLOGGER is back, and I’m here to tell you, our gracious host simply doesn’t have the time to stop by and complain about how he doesn’t have time to stop by and complain.

Thus, I’ll do it for him, despite having tons of stuff to do myself, because that’s just how nice a guy I am.

WAAAAH, I DON’T HAVE TIIIIIME!

There, now that that’s over and done with, what has Obdormiboy been up to lately? Well, aside from his compulsive just-one-more-episode-habit of watching ”Babylon 5″, he’s been writing his assignment in ”Academic Writing”,
a compulsory introductory-course in Norwegian universities. Booh-yeah, right? No problem for good ol’ Dormie?

WROOOONG!

He’s struggling, people! Struggling! He needs all the help he can get, and that’s not all - he needs MORE help than he can get, which might be the problem.

You see, he can’t get his summary summarized enough. Mind-shattering, I know, but the man turns out not to be perfect after all. While the rest of us are now no doubt sighing as one in unison relief, we have to be understanding if Obdormio doesn’t join in. He is, after all, way too busy with shortening down his summary. Something which presents quite the challange, considering his working-schedule opens for maximum four minutes work per episode of B5, and that DOES include mentally preparing oneself for working, a ritual which has been known to take at least five minutes.

In other words, our boy is in a dire mess. We should help him out. I should help him out. I don’t have time, though, because the only spare time I had today has been used up writing this post. But at least I got his weblog active again. I’m sure he’ll be ever so pleased. :D

Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

What? So I’m taking Roman History this term. Sheeesh.

Dear Discovery Channel. Or possibly Discovery Channel Norway, or Scandinavia or whatever.

What the hell?! You’re replacing Mythbusters with Brainiac in the eight o’ clock timeslot? Braniac?! What’s wrong with you? Mythbusters wipes the floor with Brainiac!

Now, I’ve watched those re-runs five times, and you know damn well that I’d watch them five more. Why on Earth take them away for something as insipid as Brainiac?

I’m all for phasing out American culture, but we have to face facts here! What we have here is an American show that is better than the British replacement. Swallow the bile, and put it back on! If you can’t find it in your hearts to do this, perhaps a worthy British version of Mythbusters could be made. They took Scrapheap Challenge, so they probably owe you. I have my doubts, but it might work, if you put Robert Llewellyn and some other charismatic fellows in it.

Still, that should be “Plan B”. “Plan A”, simpler and probably cheaper, is GIVE ME BACK THE MYTHBUSTERS, DAMMIT!

Yours truly,
Obdormio.

You know what I want to see? Or rather, hear? An a capella orchestra.

I think that would be seven shades of cool, hearing classical music made for symphonies preformed a capella. Think about it, if you got together a sufficiently large group of good voices, and had them all produce the sounds the different instruments would have made, it would sound awesome.

The “Four Seasons” sung by well trained voices. “Jeux d’enfants”, hummed. The “1812 Overture” preformed without instruments. They could do the cannon by jumping simultaneously or something. If they all had tap-dancing shoes.

All right, there might be a few kinks to work out, but even so, seven shades of cool!

I’m really jazzed about this idea now. A capella symphony! I can’t believe it hasn’t been done yet! Maybe it has been. It should have been. And I should get to listen to it.

Do you know the definition of the word ‘fluent’? I’m fairly certain that you do. Even if you don’t know the exact wording of the dictionary, you know the meaning. You should, anyway.

The particular meaning I’m after here is the one which applies to languages, the one you use when you say “I’m fluent in English”. For the record, here’s the definition from answers.com:

Able to express oneself readily and effortlessly.

Despite evidence to the contrary, most people I’ve met on the Internet have claimed fluency in English. Several people I’ve met in real life have claimed fluency in English and other languages. I don’t agree with them.

One of my teachers once said that if you can’t describe every single detail of the room you’re sitting in without having to get help translating, you’re not fluent. That’s a test I like. It tells me I’m far from as fluent in English as I sometimes like to think.

Let me take an example of a Norwegian word I don’t know how to translate, and I doubt many do. It appears to have no English equivalent at all. The word is “saft”.

Now, one, absolutely correct, way to translate that would be “juice”, which is the word all dictionaries I’ve seen give. But that only applies when “saft” is used in that particular context, e.g. the juice of an apple. That context is easy, but the other (in my experience more common) use is harder.

A glass of undiluted … thingy.

There exists a certain beverage we name “saft”. Depending on the brand, it is either made from mixed fruit extracts or synthetically. It usually contains heaploads of sugar. It is concentrated, and has to be mixed with water before drinking.

No, it isn’t “lemonade”, that word is too narrow.

Diluted saft. Tasty.

Now where did I leave my point? I’m sure I had one. Oh, wait, look, there it is:

If somebody was to put me in a room with a glass of the stuff, I would fail the fluency test. I’m not fluent in English. I suspect most people who claim to be aren’t. The word “fluent” is overused.

And it bugs me.