Stefan Gagne (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} twoflower) wrote,@ 2008-04-08 09:51:00 |
|
The Upside
As much as I may rage in this journal about technical glitches and software engineers who couldn't SELECT their own ass even if you INSERTed a primary key straight up their index table, it's important to know that I am, in theory, happy.
I tend to be very focused on 'the present'. And by 'the present' I mean 'the last three hours or so'. So if you catch me when I'm fresh off a couple frustrations, I am rather pissy. If I had some time to relax and play some Rock Band or watch a good movie, I am rather cheerful. Any ranting I do is really just venting, getting the steam out, not declaring my entire life to be a succession of failure and horror. (That was 2006, thanks.)
In the LONG RUN, on the WHOLE, OVERALL, and other CAPITAL LETTERS, things are going great. I'm a successful indie game developer who got bumped into a higher tax bracket this year (yay, grumble), who has the hearts and minds of the fans despite the technical hurdles (yay, grumble), and so on. But the grumbles are just grumbles. The yay is good, solid yay.
So, that said, last night I gave up on SL and waited for it to stabilize while I went and watched the Series 4 opener of Doctor Who. It was a fun little romp, and I'm intrigued at the idea of a companion who does not want to have sex with the Doctor, for a change. (Remember when that was the standard, not the exception to the rule..?) I am a bit concerned at the generic action packed slapstick kiddy nature of things, but I was concerned at the start of Series 3 and then it coughed up awesomeness like Blink, so I'll wait and see. Same with Torchwood Series 2 ending with a good portion of the cast dead and industry rumors it's going to be retooled to be a kid's show.
(This is a classic problem with scifi/comics/etc. on television, I've noticed. They start out aimed at kids with simple stories and simple villains, they get popular with young adults and yuppies, they get a 'retooling' to be more sophisticated, then promptly get dumped one or two seasons later because they aren't hitting the marketable kiddie demographic anymore. Sometimes the inverse happens, and they get dumped because they aren't hitting the marketable young adult demographic anymore. I wish the shows I love would just pick a niche and run with it, honestly. See also: League, Justice -- Superheroes, Legion Of -- and Titans, Teen, to an extent.)
Also watched a visually stunning but completely predictable french CG movie called Renaissance. Really amazingly well done, but anybody who's read TV Tropes for more than ten minutes could call the game by the first quarter. Still, enjoyable.
Anyway, the point is, the end result of media wackiness? I felt much better by the time I went to bed despite earlier RAGE. Like I said... very focused on the present.
And there's even some upshot in the SLaverse, too -- early work on the HTTP based communications methods for 7Seas is promising. I think it's going to remove one of the two points of failure in our system, namely llEmail. I can't do anything about SL's transaction server being made of ass and poo but at least the bit we CAN control will be fixed and gear delivery problems will be a thing of the past. I probably won't use this for the actual catching of fish; a 5% failure rate's not so bad there (we can supply missing fish) and the existing system will be faster, more immediate-gratification. But we CAN use it for fish at some point if it just gets too weird out there.
Also, I'm likely gonna resume my Twitter account to help with my SL projects, notably trivia. Feel free to friend me, or follow me, or whatever term you crazy kids use with twitter.
As much as I may rage in this journal about technical glitches and software engineers who couldn't SELECT their own ass even if you INSERTed a primary key straight up their index table, it's important to know that I am, in theory, happy.
I tend to be very focused on 'the present'. And by 'the present' I mean 'the last three hours or so'. So if you catch me when I'm fresh off a couple frustrations, I am rather pissy. If I had some time to relax and play some Rock Band or watch a good movie, I am rather cheerful. Any ranting I do is really just venting, getting the steam out, not declaring my entire life to be a succession of failure and horror. (That was 2006, thanks.)
In the LONG RUN, on the WHOLE, OVERALL, and other CAPITAL LETTERS, things are going great. I'm a successful indie game developer who got bumped into a higher tax bracket this year (yay, grumble), who has the hearts and minds of the fans despite the technical hurdles (yay, grumble), and so on. But the grumbles are just grumbles. The yay is good, solid yay.
So, that said, last night I gave up on SL and waited for it to stabilize while I went and watched the Series 4 opener of Doctor Who. It was a fun little romp, and I'm intrigued at the idea of a companion who does not want to have sex with the Doctor, for a change. (Remember when that was the standard, not the exception to the rule..?) I am a bit concerned at the generic action packed slapstick kiddy nature of things, but I was concerned at the start of Series 3 and then it coughed up awesomeness like Blink, so I'll wait and see. Same with Torchwood Series 2 ending with a good portion of the cast dead and industry rumors it's going to be retooled to be a kid's show.
(This is a classic problem with scifi/comics/etc. on television, I've noticed. They start out aimed at kids with simple stories and simple villains, they get popular with young adults and yuppies, they get a 'retooling' to be more sophisticated, then promptly get dumped one or two seasons later because they aren't hitting the marketable kiddie demographic anymore. Sometimes the inverse happens, and they get dumped because they aren't hitting the marketable young adult demographic anymore. I wish the shows I love would just pick a niche and run with it, honestly. See also: League, Justice -- Superheroes, Legion Of -- and Titans, Teen, to an extent.)
Also watched a visually stunning but completely predictable french CG movie called Renaissance. Really amazingly well done, but anybody who's read TV Tropes for more than ten minutes could call the game by the first quarter. Still, enjoyable.
Anyway, the point is, the end result of media wackiness? I felt much better by the time I went to bed despite earlier RAGE. Like I said... very focused on the present.
And there's even some upshot in the SLaverse, too -- early work on the HTTP based communications methods for 7Seas is promising. I think it's going to remove one of the two points of failure in our system, namely llEmail. I can't do anything about SL's transaction server being made of ass and poo but at least the bit we CAN control will be fixed and gear delivery problems will be a thing of the past. I probably won't use this for the actual catching of fish; a 5% failure rate's not so bad there (we can supply missing fish) and the existing system will be faster, more immediate-gratification. But we CAN use it for fish at some point if it just gets too weird out there.
Also, I'm likely gonna resume my Twitter account to help with my SL projects, notably trivia. Feel free to friend me, or follow me, or whatever term you crazy kids use with twitter.
