Monthly Archives: May 2007

Albuquerque

Sandia Peak is one of the last mountains in the Rocky Mountain system and is Albuquerque’s most visible geological landmark.

My wife and I got to go back to Albuquerque for a few days this past weekend. It was a family get-together for her dad’s side of the family, and overall it was a _highly_ enjoyable weekend.

The flight down took us to Atlanta, GA for a 2.5-hour layover. It was my second time in that airport, and I’d forgotten just how far apart the concourses are. I also noticed that the trams that connect the concourses move _a lot_ faster than they used to. From Atlanta it was a 3.5-hour flight to Albuquerque, with _Catch & Release_ being the entertainment along the way.

It was fantastic being back in Albuquerque, though. I love the Southwest and beauty of the desert. I don’t know if I could ever actually live there, but I do know I won’t mind being able to visit there as often as is possible.

One of Old Town’s biggest tourist traps.

No trip to Albuquerque would ever be complete without a quick stop by Historic Old Town – the site of the city’s original mission. Unfortunately, like most places with history, Old Town has become little more than a large tourist trap, but you can sense some of the past in the old mission and in many of the buildings around it. It _is_ kind of fun to walk around a bit, though, and look through the shops.

Of course, my sister-in-law and I had to get at least one silly picture in. I’m just kind of surprised we didn’t take more than we did. That is one thing that Old Town is good for, though – picture-taking. We all took quite a few, and every other for the next month, I’ll be posting up a number of the pictures I took on my “photoblog”:http://photos.shamuswrites.com. So, feel free to check in there and subscribe to the feed if you’re interested. And also feel free to leave comments for each picture. I’d love to hear feedback on what you like and don’t like about the pictures. All the photos I took using my sister-in-law’s digital camera, so I’m not really sure what the specs are on that. I’ll see if I can land those sometime in the near future.

I felt like the whole weekend was a run from one big feast to another, though. We did Village Inn for breakfast two days, Indian for dinner one evening, Garduno’s for dinner on another, and large lunches most days. Plus, sopaipillas were had in great abundance – and if you’ve never had a sopaipillas, then you’re missing out, my friend.

The weekend went by much too quickly, and the flight to Denver and then from Denver back to Indy passed even more quickly. I definitely think I could have taken another few days before coming back home. But such is life, and no vacation can last forever, I suppose. Hopefully, we’ll get to go back again in another couple of years and spent a full week this time. I’d love to check out Albuquerque’s zoo and aquarium on the next trip and spend a little time exploring the wilderness with a camera. Maybe by then I’ll even have a quality digital SLR to play with.

Home Again

Halo 3 Beta Reviews: Maps

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I’m going to try to run a series of Halo 3 Beta reviews starting today that examine a number of elements from the game. This first entry in the series is going to look at the new maps.

*Valhalla*

Valhalla is far and away my favorite map of the three. It’s a roughly symmetrical map set in a valley with a base at each end. A small stream flows through middle, bisecting the map and giving a little visual interest. And let me just say that the water effects are stunning!

My favorite new thing here is the man-cannon – grav lifts tilted to a 45-degree angle so as to launch your avatar into the map. Each base has two man-cannons, one of which shoots you straight to the middle of the map and one that shoots you 30-degrees off to one side. Your gametype strategy will often determine if you use one of these and which direction you wish to launch.

Each base also hold a variety of weapons, two Mongooses, and a Warthog – the latter of which now features a pumped-up chain gun that will quickly lay waste to almost all opposition.

There are all kinds of great locations on this map for various strategic maneuvers. Commanding the knolls in the middle, though, is often the best spot for controlling the map. A sniper rifle or Spartan laser based here can kill just about anything that moves. But watch out for that ‘Hog and gunner because they can drive over that hill before you realize you’ve even been gunned down. So far, my favorite gametypes for this map are Team Slayer and Territories. I’ve yet to play a CTF game, so I don’t really know how the dynamics play out here.

*High Ground*

High Ground is just that – a ruined base sitting at the top of the hill that must be defended (or stormed) at all costs. Access can be gained through a portable grav lift over the wall on the left side, through the bunker at the base of the wall, through the main gate (that first has to be opened from _inside_ the base, by a stairwell on the right side, or through a short tunnel off the staircase. Despite these access points, the defense can quickly force a chokehold on access, making it very difficult to secure those territories, grab the flag, or plant the bomb.

Weapons litter the map, and two new action items – the bubble shield and the power drain – grace this map with their presence, affecting the dynamics of battle in new and interesting ways.

Oh, and watch out for those spike grenades. They stick to whatever surface they strike and throw shrapnel every which-way. They’re only instantly deadly is they get stuck to you, but they’ll take your shields down in an instant, if you happen to get caught in the blast cone.

Storm the base, take the High Ground. That’s what this map’s all about.

*Snowbound*

Snowbound is my least favorite map at the moment, but it’s growing on me the more I play it. This map features two bases in a winter landscape. The bases are connected by an underground tunnel, and there are a series of force-fields in each. Players can pass through, but weapons-fire and grenades cannot – you might just find yourself with a face full of explodey if you’re not careful.

Be careful not to walk outside the perimeter of the map – there are cannons lined up for the sole purpose of blasting your sorry butt back _onto_ the map. So, no straying!

Ghosts are the vehicles of choice on Snowbound. After all, anything with wheels simply won’t roll well on this terrain. Oh, and grenades don’t bounce on the snow, either. Remember that.

All in all I’m loving the Halo 3 Beta. The visuals are fabulous, taking advantage of the greater processing power of the Xbox 360 and launching the Halo experience to the next level. I can’t wait to see what multiplayer maps get released in the final version in September!

Self-Publishing

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Fred over at “The Truth About Writing”:http://fredquattrone.com/thetruth/?p=32 has written his opinion on the merits of self-publishing – and he raises a good point. Here’s my take on the subject:

The biggest detractor I’ve heard about self-publishing is the fact that 90% of self-published authors are hacks – folks who really don’t know how to write to save their lives. The rubber really meets the road when a lot of these authors are some of the most arrogant folks you’ll ever meet who think their novel is the best thing since sliced bread – and who will ridicule and berate you for not agreeing.

Personally, I’ve always been pretty split on self-publishing. On the one hand, it’s true that a lot of folks who probably shouldn’t be published because they actually can’t write go this route, making for a lot of terrible books to weed through. But on the other hand, I don’t see why self-publishing can’t be used as a viable alternative to getting books published, if you can write something that’s quality and that readers will actually enjoy. In those cases, the biggest advantage to going through a “traditional” publishing house is that they do all the publishing and promotion legwork for you. But if you don’t mind do a lot of your own sweat-work, then self-publishing certainly seems like a viable alternative.

What are your thoughts on the topic?

‘Hogged

Heroes: Season One in Review

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Well, Season One of _Heroes_ is now complete, and to be honest, I’m not sure I’ll even bother tuning in for Season Two. Tim Kring has me _that_ upset with his piss-poor writing. _I_ could have written a better show here, and I’ve been tempted to draft a couple of sample scripts for episodes myself just to prove that I can. Mind you, I don’t want an _X-Men_ knock-off here. That’s been done already, and by much better writers than Kring. But Kring’s premise for the show was fabulous. In the _X-Men_ series, you have mutants who effectively become larger than life. In _Heroes_ you have regular people coming into their abilities who just want to continue being regular people. Kring tried to tackle this subject – and failed. Miserably. What he ended up with were weak, pathetic people who were never really able to get a handle on who they were now. His characters all felt watered-down and washed out.

The moral of the show came out in the final monologue – the hero’s true values are not the powers he possesses but the people he comes into contact with and loves – but I suspect that moral will have gotten lost in the absolutely terrible way the show ended. I can even see how Kring _tried_ to demonstrate this moral in each of his characters’ development throughout the season, but I think it could have been done _much_ better.

Kring can write drama (albeit, not well), and he can certainly handle suspense (he had me on the edge of my seat more often than not this season) – but I’m convinced that Kring has no clue how to write conflict. Every single instance of conflict in every episode was like a flashbang – loud and noisy but ultimately causing no real damage. For instance, the first fight with Peter and Sylar was over before it even began. Peter hardly put up a real fight and then somehow (conveniently) ended up with his back to Sylar. Likewise, the final battle with Sylar was sloppy and chaotic. Niki had one solid strike in, and Peter, who supposedly has all this power and great ability, opts to use his frickin’ fists on Sylar’s face? Remember? The guy with the great telekinetic ability? And of course Hiro’s little jab was cheesy and completely unbelievable. But there are others, as well. Niki’s physical attacks were always one strike, and then it was either the victim was rendered unconscious or Kring decided it was to cut to another scene. See? Even he realized he had no grasp on writing conflict. Turns out, it was just easier for him to change the subject rather than let us see that too soon. But he couldn’t avoid that in the final battle, and there we got to see what a hack he truly is.

I’m disappointed in the lack of real character development in this season. It’s my opinion that Kring set too high a goal by creating so many characters for himself. Some TV writers could have developed whole, well-rounded characters that only got richer and fuller as the season went on (see: Joss Whedon). Kring’s characters, if anything, seemed to become more shallow and faded the closer to the finale we got. I don’t feel like any of them really grew or developed all that much, mostly because they simply continued to react to events around them rather than becoming stronger and taking a more proactive stance. Sure, there were many feints and attempts at action – Hiro’s first attempt to destroy Sylar, Peter and Claire searching New York, Parkman and Bennett going after Molly – but mostly everyone seemed to be trying to run away.

Conspiracies were revealed, and only some of the answers were given. This part I’m fine with – I like a little suspense. But the pacing was all wrong. I could deal with the first half dozen episodes kind of dragging out answers for us, but they never really seemed to gather any steam from there. Kring knew he had a good thing with the cliffhanger, but then couldn’t seem to find the courage to move behind the cliffhanger and give us some real action. All these characters had such great potential to become true superheroes, to develop and become true forces for good. Sadly, I think he mostly ended up with superflops, and this is why this former fan may not be able to stomach tuning in for Season Two next fall.

I loved the principle of this show. I think it had merit. Frankly, I think it still does. But I think Kring needs to concede control of the writing to someone else, someone who can actually write for TV and do these characters justice. They have the potential to be inspiring, engaging, and interesting. Right now, they’re… not. I think I’m almost sorry now I even got hooked on this show. It certainly didn’t meet my expectations in the end.

Heroes: How To Stop An Exploding Man

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I’ve little good to say about this season finale. To say it was anti-climactic would be a major understatement. It was simply terrible.

Sure, Kring tied up most of his loose ends – Claire found her adoptive father again, Niki finally banished the demon of Jessica and reunited with Micah and D.L., Hiro fulfilled his fate and saved Ando at the same time, Parkman did his part to stop Sylar (albeit ending up in critical condition), Mohinder has a new cause, and Peter and Nathan saved the world – or at least, New York City. Kring also managed to open some new doors, alluding to a villain worse than Sylar who can see Molly when she thinks about him. Sylar, of course, isn’t dead, but we knew this would be the case. Questions were raised about Simone’s father, questions that I suspect will forever go unanswered; I simply don’t think we’ll ever really get to see much about this elusive and shadowy group of which Linderman, Peter’s mom, and Simone’s father were all a part, let alone what made them special to begin with.

There was so much bad writing in this episode that I hardly know where to begin. Niki and Candace’s face-off was weak and pathetic – a couple of punches thrown, and it was all over. And somehow that was Niki’s catalyst for putting Jessica behind her. Somehow.

Nathan’s inner dilemma was there, but if you weren’t paying attention, you could almost miss it completely. In fact, had it not been for his mother saying something to him (“I know what you’re thinking, Nathan – don’t do it.”), it’s likely that it _would_ have gone completely unnoticed. Shoddy writing, to be sure.

And what was up with that “fight” with Sylar at the end? I use the word “fight” loosely here, because there really wasn’t much of a fight at all. Sylar shows up, puts Peter in a choke he can’t break (even though he was put in a very similar choke hold by the invisible man during his training which he broke free of just fine there), and then gets knocked down by Niki. Fine, I can accept that he might have gotten blindsided there. But then Peter tells Niki to go to her family and get them out of there, which she does – without argument. And then she doesn’t get her family away. What?! Niki, are you feeling alright?

Then, Sylar is able to stop Peter cold in his tracks, even stops bullets from Parkman’s gun (and throws them back at him), but he gives Hiro a 10-foot running start at him and doesn’t prevent him from running him through?! I don’t get what Kring was going for here. Any moron can see that this sequence of events just completely breaks the suspension of disbelief. I’m sorry, sir – I’m not buying anything today. You’re going to have to do _much_ better than that to convince me that Sylar didn’t see that one coming. It would have been much more convincing if Hiro had teleported around Sylar several times, keeping him on his toes, then appearing suddenly in front him with the instant fatal jab through the chest. Instead, we got a paltry running Japanese man that anyone would have had time to sidestep to let him fall flat on his face. And Sylar wouldn’t have had to work _that_ hard at it.

And the final _coup de grac_ on this whole fiasco – Nathan and Peter doing the noble thing and sacrificing themselves for the world (or at least, New York City). I hate to break it to you, Mr. Kring, there was no victory in this, no triumph, no glory. Only pathetic writing that says to me that you didn’t know what the heck it was you intended to do here. Peter overcame nothing, learned nothing, mastered nothing. Nathan’s sudden appearance to save the day was cheap and flimsy, unsurprising insofar as it went – he was never more than a paper character to begin with. And instead of having the cheerleader truly save the world by being the one to help Peter control his nuclear ability, she stood by helplessly while _Heroes_ went to hell because the most powerful hero of them all couldn’t even save himself.

Peter may not be truly dead, of course – his ability to heal will likely have saved him from that fate. But Nathan is almost certainly gone, and maybe Season 2 will be the stronger for it. When all is said and done, though, I think this was probably the single worst episode of the entire season. I was expecting some huge climactic event to happen here. The entire season was building toward one – or at least _trying_ to, if Kring hadn’t kept getting in the way. If nothing else, the final battle with Sylar should have been _huge_, epic, and nearly apocalyptic. But no – like everything else about this show, it fizzled, turning _Heroes_ into a 23-episode fart.

Thanks very much, Mr. Kring. You’ve just ensured that I will never watch anything you write or produce ever again.

Truth

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