I wonder how many readers realize I borrowed the title of this and the previous post from an issue of “Transmetropolitan,” where Spider Jerusalem does a travelogue of The City and all the crazy hobos who lives there (actually issue 41, February 2001, if you want to look it up.) There is a reason, he concludes, for their bizarre perception of the world around them and the conclusions they draw.

I often wonder how crazy I sound, to readers as well as to myself, including my past and future selves. I get over it pretty quick, though, as I’d much rather sound crazy than boring.

I said there was another reason I don’t write so much here anymore. I may as well say what it is.

Continue reading There is a reason, part 2…

I have not, as some people might well think, been slacking off.

It’s not just the clutch of internal excuses and traps that Jay Smooth calls the little hater. It’s not just that I have very little say to my dwindling local audience that I’ve largely turned my back on, most of whom are still friends of mine and who I can pester through other Internet media all I want.

Those are the obvious reasons. There are others not everyone knows about. Here’s one. Not promising I’ll make it to part 2.

Continue reading There is a reason…

I ran into Gordon Walton recently. You might have heard of him, he’s kind of a big-deal guy around town, especially in my circles.

We asked each other how things were going. We’re both busy, though him arguably far more than me. Not much to complain about.

He asked if I was still writing.

I said, not really.

He said, “At least I know I’m not missing anything.”

Totally happened.

So tomorrow I plan to catch Wolverine at a midnight show, then on Saturday see The Tempest played live (it’s like “LOST” by Shakespeare!) and then catch mc chris make fun of Bill & Ted on Sunday.

I’m living it large, and hopefully this will show up on Facebook.

A new President, the end of conventional broadcast television, ongoing crises of government, economics and security, and endless possibility.

I have hard cider and beer and Fallout 3. I shall not be without enjoyment. Be safe, everyone.

Just before I went to watch Rodney Gibbs test-drive his latest speech about creative productivity at ACC, I looked at my phone and noticed my dad had called me. My dad, who has a Facebook account now (one I’m really using a whole lot more than this site, just so everyone knows,) wanted to know my thoughts about Election Day and the upcoming presidency of Barack Obama.

So I told him. What follows is not exactly what I said, but it’s close.

Continue reading It happened in Kansas…

Tuesday morning I spent at a restaurant in north Austin called Chez Zee, for a panel discussion about the use of technology in current political campaigning, co-sponsored by Leadership Austin and the Digital Media Council. The panel moderator was Rodney Gibbs, head of the local game development studio previously and recently rechristened Fizz Factor.

I probably wouldn’t have gone had Rodney not asked me. But it was informed and informing, the panelists were fun and engaging and I got some useful perspective as well as a handy list of polling sites for Travis County (though I live north of the county line in Williamson County, so I had to find that other list.)

Starting to feel like a man about town, I am. It was useful to note that there were other people who are as excited about the presidential election as I am, living around me, and a stark reminder for me about how I need to read up on the other local candidates. It’s going to be more than just Obama and McCain on the ballot.

I also met two UT grad students, Jessica Mullen and Kelly Cree. Note in the picture linked on Jessica’s site, they’re the ones with laptops and minicameras out, covering the event, and I’m sitting back just listening, trusting they’ve got everything covered.

Yeah, that seems about right. Let the hungry kids be the reporters. I’m old and lazy now. And I was part of the majority, as Kelly pointed out, of people in attendance at a discussion called “Twittering to the Ballot Box” that does not have a Twitter account, and I’ve long been on the habit of obscuring my real name on this site and my other Internet habits. Sigh. Yeah, I’ll work on that.

Plus, the food on the bar was high on quality but low on quantity. It was 7:30 in the morning, I wanted biscuits and gravy. I ate a lot of honeydew and mini-muffins. I feel fat.

Do not solicit me to post stuff on this blog unless we’re friends who speak regularly. You will be spamfiltered.

The opinions expressed on this blog do not necessarily represent those of my employer that I like a big huggy bunch.

I really couldn’t care less about Warhammer Online.

Will be out of pocket for anyone Internet related who needs me for at least through the weekend, except by non-Internet means.

Oh yeah, a lot happened in the past six weeks. Tell you about it later.

Ghostfire has updated their site with all kinds of stuff about Helix, the game I tested last week in Austin. Simon Says-style dancing with a robot, DDR with your hands, Rez retooled, that’s all probably fair to say. It’s got a bunch of techno music from artists you’ve probably never heard of, too.