Blackmoor Vituperative

Note to self: Don’t write blogs at four in the morning when you are so drunk you can barely stand.

I filled in on this panel at the last minute. Susan and I did run a LARP at SheVaCon back in 2003 or so that went really well: “The Hotel On Haunted Hill”. It’s where we met our friend Bob. But I am hardly an expert or anything, and honestly I did not expect the panel to be interesting at all. I was wrong about that: it was very entertaining, and packed with people.

This is my second “podcast”: myself, Rod Belcher, Bob Flack, Dave Lystlund, Owen Anderson, and Jestin Jeffries, on the Running a LARP panel at MystiCon 2011, 2011-02-26 @ 13:00.

Running a LARP podcast (mp3, 50 MB)

I had another panel at 15:00, on Game Publishing, but no one showed up. It was just me, Greg Porter, and John Meagher. John and Greg chatted about fonts and pull quotes for a bit, then I took off. I did not bother recording it.

RSS podcast feed

Oh, I nearly forgot: I was interviewed for a few minutes last night by Bethany Halle, of “Fire of Fantasy and Darkness with host Bethany Halle”. I am not sure why she thought I would be interesting, but since she appeared to be having technical difficulties (did I mention how badly the internet at this hotel sucks?), there probably wasn’t much harm in interviewing me rather than someone genuinely interesting.

My portion of the interview starts at one hour and twenty-five minutes (1:25) into the podcast:

The Fire of Fantasy and Darkness with host Bethany Halle – Highlighting the World of Fantasy

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The last few panels have been really interesting. One was “Costuming on a budget”, which was fun and interesting. The other was not really a panel, but rather a Q&A with the guest of honor, Brinke Stevens. She was really interesting. She had a perspective on the changes in the film industry wrought by technology in the past several decades, and some insightful observations about how the business of selling movies has shifted in response to changes in technology. That was an unexpectedly interesting discussion, and I rather wish I had recorded it. Then she went on to talk about her current work, books she is writing, her interest in the environment (she has a masters in marine biology, was on track to study dolphin communication as she was working on her doctorate before she got into films). The whole science-environment part of her talk was fascinating.

I am really glad that we got to meet her: she is genuinely interesting. I bought one of her DVDs in the dealer room, Dead Clowns. She autographed it for me. 🙂

I am at Mysticon, listening to a panel on costuming photography. One of the panelists is a photographer — an evil photographer. She went on and on about copyright, and how the people she photographs have the gall to think that they have some right to the photos of them.

Then she turned around and talked about having models sign releases, so that in case the photographer asks them to stand on a glass table, and the table collapses, cutting the model to ribbons, that the photographer won’t have any responsibility. That was her example: a real model really got cut up because a photographer had her stand on a glass table, which broke.

While I was typing this, she started in again on the copyright thing.

I don’t care if she is right or wrong about the letter of the law. It’s disgusting.

My first “podcast”: myself, Greg Porter, and John Meagher, on the Game Development panel at MystiCon 2011, 2011-02-25 @ 20:00.

Game Development podcast (mp3, 51 MB)

I really hate my voice.

I have been invited to be a guest at MystiCon 2011. It’s this weekend. Here is my schedule, in the unlikely event anyone wants to seek me out and listen to me blather.

• Game Development, Friday, 20:00
• Running a LARP, Saturday, 13:00
• Game Publishing, Saturday, 15:00
• A Unique Magic System – Can It Be Done, Sunday, 11:00

Avast has come out with a new version of their antivirus and security software. I use Avast antivirus, and I recommend it to everyone. CNet has a review.

I am not a terribly interesting person. At best I am “a character”, but I haven’t actually done much worth talking about. However, I have the good fortune to know some genuinely interesting people. For example, Tee Morris.

I know Tee through RavenCon, a science fiction convention in Virginia which he and I had a part in founding in 2006 (my part in that being a bit smaller than his). He is also the author of a number of books, the most well-known of which is probably MOREVI. He also happens to be one of the authors of Podcasting for Dummies. In this case, I am the eponymous dummy.

Here’s the deal: I wanted to record our Friday night superhero game, because I think it’s going really well. I tried using a PC microphone I have had rattling around in a drawer since 1995. The results were not satisfactory. I went to H. H. Gregg and Best Buy and looked for an omnidirectional microphone, but they didn’t have them. I searched online for “omnidirectional microphone”, and all I really found was a Blue Snowball. Was this microphone good? Bad? Indifferent? Hell if I knew. So I called Tee and asked for advice, and now I am passing that advice on to you.

First off, he said the best choice for microphones for what I was doing is the Rode Podcaster. The Rode Podcaster is $230, though, which is way more than I wanted to spend.

A decent second choice, according to Tee, is the Samson CO1U. It’s $100, which, while more than I would like to spend, is not out of the question. So that was a strong contender.

However, Tee asked if I ever planned on recording on the go — recording a panel at a convention (MystiCon, for example, where I am appearing as a guest). It really hadn’t occurred to me, but you know, that might actually be pretty cool. His suggestion, in that case, was the Zoom H2 portable stereo recorder. Tee himself has the Zoom H4, which he loves, but he said that the H2 was much easier to use, that it has great sound fidelity, and that it also doubles as a USB microphone.

I read up on all three of Tee’s suggestions, reading reviews online on various web sites. I dithered a bit, but eventually went with the Zoom H2. It should arrive in a couple of days, and I plan to take it with me to MystiCon.

Thanks, Tee! I hope I haven’t grievously misrepresented you.

A week or so after I mention that Adrianne Palicki is my new favorite, I hear that she is pegged to play Wonder Woman in the new TV reboot of the classic Linda Carter series.

Based on looks alone, I think Megan Fox would make a better Wonder Woman, but based on her comments about the character, I am glad that she wasn’t cast in the part.

I wish Ms. Palicki the best of luck. I hope her show does better than the Bionic Woman reboot (which I liked, but which suffered from producer interference that ultimately killed the show).