Seriously. This software is just...annoying. I dislike having to either log in or try to make the Games for Windows Live overlay go away when I'm trying to play a game like Fallout 3 or GTA IV. I'm already playing it in Steam (which I can tolerate because Valve has some idea of how not to make stuff intrusive), I don't want yet another (totally unncessary) piece of software slowing down the time between me wanting to play a game and me getting to play it.
The other thing I hate about Windows Live is Hotmail. Some time ago I (foolishly) used my Windows Live email as the email attached to my Battle.net account...This led to me losing control of that account since Hotmail is apparently ridiculously easy to hack.
It also means that people on my MSN Messenger contacts list gets to get fucked up spam from me, and my hotmail apparently being used to send out spam to other unsuspecting people.
I really don't see how Microsoft can defend software that is either needlessly intrusive (Why force it on us when we're already in Steam?) or downright dangerous to our online presence.
I'm looking forward to getting an answer to the ridiculously unsafe Hotmail (I tagged along on another person's complaint to Windows on why spam keeps being sent from our emails), and hope that it'll either lead to some sort of solution, or being allowed to use my safe (Non-Microsoft) email for my Xbox Live account.
-Barl0we.
Monday, August 8, 2011
Monday, July 25, 2011
The need to create
For years now, I've felt the need to create something.
I think I can safely say that this has been with me for a loooong time.
At first I tried my hand at music. I used to play in a rock band (I play the guitar), which I was happy to do until artistic differences (mostly concerning the style of music) forced me to retire from that. I've thought of doing some solo singer / songwriter stuff, but without a band, the will to do so has been kind of lacking.
Then I thought of writing fiction - my first real venue for that was writing stories based on roleplaying done in World of Warcraft. I enjoyed doing that for maybe a year or so- and the fact that I've lost all the texts I wrote due to different issues (Such as my computer at the time having died) kind of pisses me off. Because - with the fact that they were based not only on stuff I thought up, but also that it was "only" WoW fanfiction, in its essence- they were also good stories.
I don't want to brag, but when I posted stories from RP events in-game, I mostly garnered positive feedback. Issues relating to server drama (about the guild I was a part of, though not due to events which I'd personally participated in), the guild fell apart. After that, I lost the will to do serious roleplaying (and consequently writing) because the greatest community, with some of my best online friends completely fell apart.
Since then, I've kind of had my creative urges tuned down. I've written on my own website - www.gamers-inc.dk <-- (Go there! :D) about video games. Recently I've also taken up reviewing games for www.eurogamer.dk (under my real name) in Danish, as well as translating articles and reviews from www.eurogamer.net (The english / international version of Eurogamer).
Lately, I've taken up painting miniatures in connection with a great little board game I play with my friends-" Zombies!!!!"
As a way of relaxing, I bought a newbie's paint kit and a little group of Warhammer 40k Spaez Marinez...Painting them was more enjoyable than I'd thought it would be. Since then I've also painted a few of the Zombies from the board game, to spice up the gameplay a little bit (It's boring to just kill grey painted miniatures...Pimping 'em up with paint makes the little immersion that game offers that much more effective ).
Though I'm enjoying the gig reviewing games, I've kinda thought about taking up either music or writing (fiction) again. I can't decide on which it should be, however, since I have some ideas for both that might work - but not all that much spare time away from my work & studies to spare for it.
-B
I think I can safely say that this has been with me for a loooong time.
At first I tried my hand at music. I used to play in a rock band (I play the guitar), which I was happy to do until artistic differences (mostly concerning the style of music) forced me to retire from that. I've thought of doing some solo singer / songwriter stuff, but without a band, the will to do so has been kind of lacking.
Then I thought of writing fiction - my first real venue for that was writing stories based on roleplaying done in World of Warcraft. I enjoyed doing that for maybe a year or so- and the fact that I've lost all the texts I wrote due to different issues (Such as my computer at the time having died) kind of pisses me off. Because - with the fact that they were based not only on stuff I thought up, but also that it was "only" WoW fanfiction, in its essence- they were also good stories.
I don't want to brag, but when I posted stories from RP events in-game, I mostly garnered positive feedback. Issues relating to server drama (about the guild I was a part of, though not due to events which I'd personally participated in), the guild fell apart. After that, I lost the will to do serious roleplaying (and consequently writing) because the greatest community, with some of my best online friends completely fell apart.
Since then, I've kind of had my creative urges tuned down. I've written on my own website - www.gamers-inc.dk <-- (Go there! :D) about video games. Recently I've also taken up reviewing games for www.eurogamer.dk (under my real name) in Danish, as well as translating articles and reviews from www.eurogamer.net (The english / international version of Eurogamer).
Lately, I've taken up painting miniatures in connection with a great little board game I play with my friends-" Zombies!!!!"
As a way of relaxing, I bought a newbie's paint kit and a little group of Warhammer 40k Spaez Marinez...Painting them was more enjoyable than I'd thought it would be. Since then I've also painted a few of the Zombies from the board game, to spice up the gameplay a little bit (It's boring to just kill grey painted miniatures...Pimping 'em up with paint makes the little immersion that game offers that much more effective ).
Though I'm enjoying the gig reviewing games, I've kinda thought about taking up either music or writing (fiction) again. I can't decide on which it should be, however, since I have some ideas for both that might work - but not all that much spare time away from my work & studies to spare for it.
-B
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Book Review: "Seed" by Ania Ahlborn.
I just finished reading the gem of an e-book "Seed" by Ania Ahlborn.
The book, about Jack Winter and the cursed life of his family (past and present), really sucked me in from the first page. Ania has a great grasp on the English language. The fact that this is the first book written by the author makes it all the more impressive.
The story of Jack Winter (and his family) is split into the childhood of the main character and the adult life of the same. The effect of this is quite nice, seeing the way Jack's parents react, and the way Jack himself reacts to the things they are subjected to works really well.
Apart from being well-written and having a worthwhile story, Seed also gives tantalising views of the South of the US (A theme which we'll hopefully see Ania explore more in the future).
If you own a Kindle, or have the Kindle app on one of the devices which allows for that, I really suggest you go out and buy Seed. At the quality you get for the price, you'd be dumb not to buy Seed, if you like horror stories.
I do have a few points of criticism for the book, but since they are spoiler-tastic, I'd suggest you go buy the book first (what criticism I do have is minor), and read it. The criticism will come after my signature.
-Barl0we
The book, about Jack Winter and the cursed life of his family (past and present), really sucked me in from the first page. Ania has a great grasp on the English language. The fact that this is the first book written by the author makes it all the more impressive.
The story of Jack Winter (and his family) is split into the childhood of the main character and the adult life of the same. The effect of this is quite nice, seeing the way Jack's parents react, and the way Jack himself reacts to the things they are subjected to works really well.
Apart from being well-written and having a worthwhile story, Seed also gives tantalising views of the South of the US (A theme which we'll hopefully see Ania explore more in the future).
If you own a Kindle, or have the Kindle app on one of the devices which allows for that, I really suggest you go out and buy Seed. At the quality you get for the price, you'd be dumb not to buy Seed, if you like horror stories.
I do have a few points of criticism for the book, but since they are spoiler-tastic, I'd suggest you go buy the book first (what criticism I do have is minor), and read it. The criticism will come after my signature.
-Barl0we
Right, you HAVE read the book before reading this, right?
It's your own damn fault if not. Don't tell me I didn't warn you about spoilers.
Right, on to the criticism.
First off, there are a few passages which feel rushed - from the point we learn that the Devil is after Jack's daughter Charlie, and to the point in whicht is obvious that she's been taken over could have been longer. Ania Ahlborn has a great written English, and I certainly suggest letting her flesh out parts like that in future work, since her writing can certainly bear longer texts.
The same is true for a few other parts of Seed- most notably the part from where Jack comes home after learning that Charlie has taken Abby away into parts unknown and until he finds her. With the great writing style of Ania Ahlborn, the nervewracking hunt for Jack's daughters would've been just as enjoyable to read as the rest of the book.
On a personal note, I think that in general, the book could've been longer. But that's just me...I'm a fiend for books, and I might go through 3-4 books a week, so any good book always has the catch for me that it ended too soon :P
That being said, I would gladly have paid triple the price of Seed (even as an e-book) for the entertainment value I got from reading it. I know that this'll stay on my Kindle forever, and I'll read it plenty more times over the years to come.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
The joys of working retail.
Since the fall of 2008, I've been working retail here in Copenhagen. I work at a costume store, reminiscent of the Halloween Adventure / New York Costumes in NYC.
Working retail is routinely boring, frustrating, annoying...But sometimes also rewarding. Every day isn't "Not Always Right" day, though there are a lot of those days.
I'd like to share my two favorite stories from working retail with the internet.
Working in a store that not only sells costumes, but also decorations and assorted party items, I had a female customer in one day. She was pretty timid, but needed some help getting some stuff for a surprise party for her boyfriend. She told me she was looking for some stuff to give her boyfriend's apartment a hawaiian feel, and I helped her out with more stuff than she'd hoped to find.
After finding a lot of stuff (much of it cheap, to boot) she told me that she was very, very happy with coming into our store...She admitted that she and her boyfriend were both pretty much broke, and that he suffered from a depression. They'd both wanted a tropical vacation, but had no real hopes of getting one anytime soon, but that she was sure that the stuff I'd helped her find would cheer him up. She was almost in tears by this time, and I have to admit that I was pretty touched too.
Grateful customers are not as rare as some people working retail might want you to believe...But genuinely so happy that they're almost crying, that is pretty rare. It totally made my day, week and month. I know that working retail (now as a part time job since I'm studying at the Copenhagen Business School as well), I don't make that huge an impact on anyone's lives...But making that customer so happy really made me happy as well.
The other story was a day in the early autumn last year, I was helping out a couple of the, erhm...White trash persuasion. I don't like to admit it, but I am pretty judgemental (even if I don't say stuff to / about people out loud). I do try to give everyone the same attention and level of professionality, though.
I helped out this couple, and after having helped them find costumes and accessories for the party they were going to, they were both just positively happy. I'd helped them find just the right things, and even though they didn't say it, I could really feel that they weren't used to being given the kind of help I'd given them. The guy ended up shaking my hand (Which I feel kinda freaked out by...It's not often that I get my hand shaken in the line of duty at work, and even rarer from people that close to my own age :D).
I was ashamed of my own presumptions that they'd be an annoying, ungrateful pair of customers...But really happy that I'd helped them get a good experience.
On a slightly related note, I do get the impression that people (Around here in Copenhagen, at least) aren't really used to getting treated well by people in retail...I don't know if that's because so many people who work retail pre-emptively are agressive, or if there's some other factor I haven't noticed. But even then, as my boss usually says after we've had a crappy customer...Most people would probably be better people if they'd had a job either waiting tables or working retail.
In the end, I try to help out people the best I can, and I'm happy if I get to do that. When I get a crappy customer, most of the times I can just shrug it off (though sometimes, the sheer audacity of people's schemes, and lies, overwhelm me...But that's a wall o' text for another day).
-Barl0we
Working retail is routinely boring, frustrating, annoying...But sometimes also rewarding. Every day isn't "Not Always Right" day, though there are a lot of those days.
I'd like to share my two favorite stories from working retail with the internet.
Working in a store that not only sells costumes, but also decorations and assorted party items, I had a female customer in one day. She was pretty timid, but needed some help getting some stuff for a surprise party for her boyfriend. She told me she was looking for some stuff to give her boyfriend's apartment a hawaiian feel, and I helped her out with more stuff than she'd hoped to find.
After finding a lot of stuff (much of it cheap, to boot) she told me that she was very, very happy with coming into our store...She admitted that she and her boyfriend were both pretty much broke, and that he suffered from a depression. They'd both wanted a tropical vacation, but had no real hopes of getting one anytime soon, but that she was sure that the stuff I'd helped her find would cheer him up. She was almost in tears by this time, and I have to admit that I was pretty touched too.
Grateful customers are not as rare as some people working retail might want you to believe...But genuinely so happy that they're almost crying, that is pretty rare. It totally made my day, week and month. I know that working retail (now as a part time job since I'm studying at the Copenhagen Business School as well), I don't make that huge an impact on anyone's lives...But making that customer so happy really made me happy as well.
The other story was a day in the early autumn last year, I was helping out a couple of the, erhm...White trash persuasion. I don't like to admit it, but I am pretty judgemental (even if I don't say stuff to / about people out loud). I do try to give everyone the same attention and level of professionality, though.
I helped out this couple, and after having helped them find costumes and accessories for the party they were going to, they were both just positively happy. I'd helped them find just the right things, and even though they didn't say it, I could really feel that they weren't used to being given the kind of help I'd given them. The guy ended up shaking my hand (Which I feel kinda freaked out by...It's not often that I get my hand shaken in the line of duty at work, and even rarer from people that close to my own age :D).
I was ashamed of my own presumptions that they'd be an annoying, ungrateful pair of customers...But really happy that I'd helped them get a good experience.
On a slightly related note, I do get the impression that people (Around here in Copenhagen, at least) aren't really used to getting treated well by people in retail...I don't know if that's because so many people who work retail pre-emptively are agressive, or if there's some other factor I haven't noticed. But even then, as my boss usually says after we've had a crappy customer...Most people would probably be better people if they'd had a job either waiting tables or working retail.
In the end, I try to help out people the best I can, and I'm happy if I get to do that. When I get a crappy customer, most of the times I can just shrug it off (though sometimes, the sheer audacity of people's schemes, and lies, overwhelm me...But that's a wall o' text for another day).
-Barl0we
Religion, freedom of speech, other mixed goods.
I was raised in a very atheist home. I think I met the first openly Christian person at the tender age of 15, which I guess doesn't happen anywhere near as late in a place like the USA as it does in Denmark. Many in Denmark may profess Christianity around the age of 13 for their confirmation ( Not really sure it's the same expression in English as in Danish -> The kids get baptized and when the priest asks them if they believe in God, they answer yes. Afterwards they get a party thrown in their favor by their family and gets lots of gifts).
When I was 13, my Mom told me I had a choice of three things:
1. Getting my confirmation
2. Getting a computer
3. Getting a trip with her to Florida.
Already at the age of 13, I knew that I wasn't Christian (and that getting the confirmation would be a fraud, since even if I did say I believed in God, it'd be a lie). I really had to consider whether to get a computer, or taking the trip to Florida. I ended up taking the trip, which turned out to be freakin' awesome.
On a semi-related note, this is when I really started loving the idea of America. During this trip I went to Disneyland (Or World, I always get those mixed up. The one in Florida), Universal Studios and went to the Florida Keys and saw Hemingway's home.
That was kind of a side track...But to get back on the topic of religion:
I'm kind of terrified of people who express religious fervor, whether it be Christians, Muslims or whichever other religion the people in question believe in. I got my first good taste of that when I commented on an episode of the Penn Point on Youtube about an American cartoonist being taken underground by an American security agency because he / she drew Mohammed drawings, just like that fool here in Denmark did.
The thing about the Mohammed drawings is this: They were brought in a right-wing Danish newspaper, and most likely to just provoke reactions from the Muslim world (And boy did we ever get what that damned newspaper bargained for).
Now, I'm all for freedom of speech, and I don't think that anyone should be punished for expressing that freedom. But the thing is, people have to own their mistakes...And drawing Mohammed in various disrespectful ways (and most importantly as a terrorist figure) is just. plain. stupid!
I posted on the Penn Point video on the subject something along the lines that with freedom of speech comes the responsibility to use it right, and that the American cartoonist was silly for doing it, when the reactions towards the Danish cartoonist has been so negative as it has.
I still occasionally get hateful responses to that comment on youtube, and many of them freak me the hell out. Mostly because I just don't care about religion, as long as people don't try to shove it down my throat. Let people believe what they believe, as long as it doesn't hurt or otherwise adversely affect others. But some people just don't feel that way, I guess.
/rant.
When I was 13, my Mom told me I had a choice of three things:
1. Getting my confirmation
2. Getting a computer
3. Getting a trip with her to Florida.
Already at the age of 13, I knew that I wasn't Christian (and that getting the confirmation would be a fraud, since even if I did say I believed in God, it'd be a lie). I really had to consider whether to get a computer, or taking the trip to Florida. I ended up taking the trip, which turned out to be freakin' awesome.
On a semi-related note, this is when I really started loving the idea of America. During this trip I went to Disneyland (Or World, I always get those mixed up. The one in Florida), Universal Studios and went to the Florida Keys and saw Hemingway's home.
That was kind of a side track...But to get back on the topic of religion:
I'm kind of terrified of people who express religious fervor, whether it be Christians, Muslims or whichever other religion the people in question believe in. I got my first good taste of that when I commented on an episode of the Penn Point on Youtube about an American cartoonist being taken underground by an American security agency because he / she drew Mohammed drawings, just like that fool here in Denmark did.
The thing about the Mohammed drawings is this: They were brought in a right-wing Danish newspaper, and most likely to just provoke reactions from the Muslim world (And boy did we ever get what that damned newspaper bargained for).
Now, I'm all for freedom of speech, and I don't think that anyone should be punished for expressing that freedom. But the thing is, people have to own their mistakes...And drawing Mohammed in various disrespectful ways (and most importantly as a terrorist figure) is just. plain. stupid!
I posted on the Penn Point video on the subject something along the lines that with freedom of speech comes the responsibility to use it right, and that the American cartoonist was silly for doing it, when the reactions towards the Danish cartoonist has been so negative as it has.
I still occasionally get hateful responses to that comment on youtube, and many of them freak me the hell out. Mostly because I just don't care about religion, as long as people don't try to shove it down my throat. Let people believe what they believe, as long as it doesn't hurt or otherwise adversely affect others. But some people just don't feel that way, I guess.
/rant.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Why do I love scary books?
One of my favorite authors, Stephen King, often talks of why we like scary stories. I was reminded of this a couple weeks ago, while I was trying to explain to my mom on the phone why a) I was looking forward to playing Amnesia: Dark Descent and b) Why, and how, I can stand watching horror movies alone, and reading horror novels just before going to bed.
Truth be told, my fascination with horror started out when I started reading books for pleasure at the age of 13(ish). Fantasy was alright, and I'd read a few crime books, but horror just had some sort of primal hold over my imagination already at that point.
Stephen King has said that we like horror because it is life-affirming; We come face-to-face with the ultimate horror, and as readers we escape the final horror which may or may not befall the characters. I guess that some of that is part of why I love reading scary stories (Or watching them, or playing them as games).
I can't exactly pinpoint what it IS about horror stories that keeps me coming back - maybe it's the thrills, maybe it's the settings whether they be of the Lovecraftian persuasion, or the Stephen King kind. I was stumped for an answer that my mom didn't ridicule on the phone (but lovingly), and I could just hear her marking that up in her mind as a win for her.
I've always read a lot - not just horror novels. I love Sci-fi and Fantasy books as well, and many, many other kinds. I'll read a book for the story, or an author's new take on a known concept in horror stories, but I won't hold out on reading most anything else, either.
One of my favorite books in recent years was Laird Barron's "The Imago Sequence" which I ended up reading in a fevery haze, since I fell ill with a nasty flu shortly after buying the Imago book. It ended up being one of the most horrifying experiences for me, mostly because the fever gave the whole book an extra feeling of unreality.
That might be one of the draws to horror for me, after all; The unreal. Supernatural. The Thing That Should Not Be...I was raised in an atheist home, and most of Denmark is actually atheist (or doesn't really observe their christianity except for in the comfort of their own homes).
I would love to believe in something more than the life we have, some sort of afterlife; Or the existance of paranormal events outside the brains of loonies or drunk / high people, but I simply don't.
That doesn't mean I don't enjoy pop culture of any kind including the paranormal, though.
Wow, this turned out wall 'o text'y O_o
-Barl0we
Truth be told, my fascination with horror started out when I started reading books for pleasure at the age of 13(ish). Fantasy was alright, and I'd read a few crime books, but horror just had some sort of primal hold over my imagination already at that point.
Stephen King has said that we like horror because it is life-affirming; We come face-to-face with the ultimate horror, and as readers we escape the final horror which may or may not befall the characters. I guess that some of that is part of why I love reading scary stories (Or watching them, or playing them as games).
I can't exactly pinpoint what it IS about horror stories that keeps me coming back - maybe it's the thrills, maybe it's the settings whether they be of the Lovecraftian persuasion, or the Stephen King kind. I was stumped for an answer that my mom didn't ridicule on the phone (but lovingly), and I could just hear her marking that up in her mind as a win for her.
I've always read a lot - not just horror novels. I love Sci-fi and Fantasy books as well, and many, many other kinds. I'll read a book for the story, or an author's new take on a known concept in horror stories, but I won't hold out on reading most anything else, either.
One of my favorite books in recent years was Laird Barron's "The Imago Sequence" which I ended up reading in a fevery haze, since I fell ill with a nasty flu shortly after buying the Imago book. It ended up being one of the most horrifying experiences for me, mostly because the fever gave the whole book an extra feeling of unreality.
That might be one of the draws to horror for me, after all; The unreal. Supernatural. The Thing That Should Not Be...I was raised in an atheist home, and most of Denmark is actually atheist (or doesn't really observe their christianity except for in the comfort of their own homes).
I would love to believe in something more than the life we have, some sort of afterlife; Or the existance of paranormal events outside the brains of loonies or drunk / high people, but I simply don't.
That doesn't mean I don't enjoy pop culture of any kind including the paranormal, though.
Wow, this turned out wall 'o text'y O_o
-Barl0we
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