Tabula Rasa
This entry I wrote while in San Diego last week. There's also a bonus round for this entry, which I will write as the next entry.
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So, I haven’t done anything with this site for a while. To be honest with you, I really haven’t been motivated to do any writing at all since I finally got my new desktop built, which I guess can be attributed to the fact that I had a large number of PC games that I either purchased and was unable to fulfill the requirements for, or were gifted to me without my computer specs being known by the purchaser. Regardless, I haven’t done lately some of the things i usually enjoy, such as writing for this site.
Tabula rasa, in Latin, means 'clean slate'. In my mind, my thought process works in two different ways when I’m developing ideas: I either directly focus on letting the story in question develop, or I run a story that basically just happens as it comes to me, and I take whatever works and apply it elsewhere and toss the rest. Skewed used to be my storyline for this method until I started planning it out in cards and finished the storyline to the end, at which point it had no further development use to me, and so I wiped it from the slate. Hehehee The Story was also such a platform, and it’s premature end led to me starting the Red Ice series to continue some of the ideas I was playing with there.
Perhaps its no coincidence that these platforms are all essentially fanfics: I particularly do it that way because I don’t have to spend a lot of time coming up with new characters (which, as I have mentioned before, are all in the names). Coincidentally enough, my current platform started in the exact place I’m writing this entry now: 2 years ago, here in San Diego. It shouldn’t be of any surprise to certain people that know me well that the platform is the Touhou indie game series, which, back then in the last San Diego visit, I had just been getting into, and couldn’t tear myself away from reading practically the entire Touhou wiki (wikis do that of course).
Now while I don’t particularly intend to share any of the storylines of what’s grown on that platform over the last 2 years, but I will share a point I have found interesting for it: tabula rasa is easy to apply. There have been multiple times where I’ve run up to a brick wall in where the story has gone, some within days and some much longer, but due to some unique properties in the way Zun has presented the series, I have multiple entry points to work with, so can just wipe the slate and go again whenever I have no more room. Over the last years, its ended up wi1h be having an overall story made of about 7 or 8 different major arcs that could be tied together into the main overall story of the platform, and a bunch of smaller independent pieces. Oddly enough, the story isn’t even anywhere close to Touhou canon anymore, having become in the most recent major arc a strange amalgam of Touhou, Fallout, Stargate, my Spiral Island series, and FFXI, with Gensokyo itself destroyed and the main characters of the arc living above the earth in a ship which I named, appropriately, the Tabula Rasa.
Although now even that’s running into a wall. So I’m hoping this trip back to its source will once again inspire me with a new seed, and I can wipe clean and start fresh once more.
Date posted: 21 August, 2011Tags: names personal writing
The Water
It was just about time. The man stood in the darkened room, waiting patiently for the last person to arrive. Behind him was his associate, Air, standing next to the young woman they had captured, Earth, who was now bound to a chair and gagged. Their preparations were complete, and everything was now in its place. All they had to do now was wait.
The wait wasn't long, as they soon heard distinctive sound of their target entering through the front door. A slow, rapping walk along the metal floor toward them, and he began to smile. He was happy, he was excited. There was no reason to try and hide it, he had been waiting for this moment for years.
"Welcome," he said, as the door opened. In through it stepped a young man, brandishing a flashlight in one hand, which he shone in at him at the sound. "We have been waiting for you for a long time, Fire."
He raised his hand as the young man stepped fully into the door, and snapped his fingers. Lights in the room burst to life at the sound, bringing spotlights onto the four of them. At the sight of it, the young man dropped the flashlight, and ran in toward the girl on the chair. But he stopped, as a sudden, fierce gust of wind blew against him, causing him to lose his balance and topple to the ground.
"Now, now," Air said, smiling. "Let's not get too hasty, you just stay over there for now." Cautiously, the young man stood up, and took a few steps back.
"Let her go," he said, to which was met laighter from the two of them. Water stepped to the side, walking over to the other side of the young woman bound to the chair.
"Why should I," he asked with a smile. The young man started to say something, but he held up his hand to stop him. "You don't even know this girl, yet you came all the way here to rescue her. Why?"
"Because," the young man stammered. "Because I-"
He snapped his fingers again, and the lights in the room pulsed brighter. "No, you came here because the Bearer TOLD you to. Becaue he told you that you had to, or the world would be destroyed. You came because he told you he had no choice!"
The young man scowled, and held up his hand toward him. From it shot a burst of flames, but he simply laughed and returned the gesture, shooting forth a wave of water and completely drenching the young man, and putting out the flame. Air chuckled, and the man simply clicked his tongue a few times.
"Now just wait," he said, stepping forward toward the young man. "Before you go galavanting to the whims of the game, perhaps you should hear what I have to say first."
Crossly, the young man glared at him. "Why should I care?"
"Because," the man said with a laugh, as he put his hand on the young man's shoulder, "I have been in your shoes." He turned to the woman and nodded, and she untied the girl from the chair and removed the gag. "Both Air and I have."
Coughing a couple times, the young woman spoke, voice raspy as the gag had dried out her mouth. "What do you mean?" The man turned toward her, and walked over to her, motioning her off the chair. She stood up as directed, and he sat down.
"It was..." he sarted, then stopped in thought. "Fifteen... years ago now, I think?" He looked up at his companion, who nodded. "Yes, fifteen years ago. The first time we became involved in this deadly game. At that time, so long ago, she was the Water, and I was the Earth."
"Impossible," the young woman said, as Fire walked up next to her, still dripping with water. "There's no way, you never would have made it through-"
He held up his hand, and she stopped. "This was before your company took over its operation, and before the Bearer came into play. Back while the Grand Game was still active, she and I had unwittingly found the Cube in a building while our grade school class was on a field trip in the mountains. Back then, the game truly was wild, and the world was very near destroyed."
He looked at the young man. "Nowadays, I should tell you, the game is regulated. The elements are used by a shadow company, of which she is part of, and their disasters are controlled to manipulate market resources, simply to lead to a profit. It's a deal, you see, they made with the Cube."
The young man turned to look at the girl in surprise, and she turned her face away in shame. "Wait," he said, turning back to the chair, "with the cube? With that old man, you mean?"
They both shook their heads, leading to only a confused look from the young man. "No," Air said with a serious tone. "Not with the bearer, he's a new element trying to make the game wild again. No, I mean with the Cube itself." He turned from her to look towards Water, but he just nodded his head in agreement, and the young mans face began to turn to horror.
"The Cube," Water said, "is alive. And that malicious spirit derives pleasure from making us play this cruel game."
Date posted: 10 April, 2011Tags: dream regularspelling the_grand_game writing
Movie Mini-Review Roundup I
So for some background, over on the AnacondaSoftware forums, there's a thread about movies that's become basically a roundup of mini-reviews of various movies kept over time. I've decided to start cross-posting these here as well, so here's my newest one, which will be the first one on this site.
the wicker man
Film staring Nicholas Cage, which is a remake of an earlier film I guess. I thought it was pretty interesting. and I must have been off my game that day or something, because I didn't see the ending coming.
prince of persia
I didn't really have much inclination to see this myself, my roommate had me rent it and we watched it with another friend. was kind of okay, I guess, but Prince of Persia had never been that interesting to me in the first place, to be honest with you
teeth
this was supposed to be a horror, I guess? well, whatever it was supposed to, it ended up being laughably pretty bad. don't even know why I watched it all, except I really had nothing else to do at the time
the illustrated man
this is basically a very weakly assembled collection of a few Ray Bradbury stories. the stories themselves are good, and I've heard them adapted to radio plays on Dimension X before, but the attempt at stitching them together in a film wasn't that great.
the substitute
the substitute was a pretty interesting film, about a covert military officer that goes into a corrupt high school after some students injure his girlfriend (a teacher at the high school) to find out what is going on. I thought it was pretty good, and apparently it did well enough that it got a few sequels.
ponyo
at first I sat there wondering whether Fujimoto was a guy or a girl. then once Liam Neeson spoke his first few opening lines, I found I was suddenly watching Taken. overall, great movie
the horseman
speaking of Taken, this Austrailian film reminded me of that, except that his daughter was already dead. and he has a different set of skills acquired over his career, although no less dangerous. I thought this was pretty good
world trade center
another one starring Nicholas Cage from this set, this drama retells the stories of a group of rescue workers who were there on 9-11. there were a few inaccuracies compared to what actually happened, but overall a good adapatation, and a pretty gripping tale
the omega man
Charlton Heston stars in this second adaptation of I Am Legend. as with the third adaptation with Will Smith, this one differs from the book, in some ways even more so than I Am Legend did. it was pretty interesting to watch, though.
suspect zero
the description of the film on Netflix didn't mention anything about the psi-ops angle to the film. i had started it just kind of interested, but when that came into the picture it made my interest go way up.
ichi
Ichi is about a blind samurai, and an offshoot of the Zatoichi series (which itself had 26 films made). it was kind of an interesting film, and I may have to look up the other films
premonition
Premonition is about a newspaper that shows the future, which is the evil twin of the Early Edition. very intriguing, but it started getting very weird at the end and im still not quite sure what I was watching...
unthinkable
thriller starring Samuel L. Jackson, this movie was direct-to-video apparently and never appeared in theatres, although I thought I remembered seeing a trailer for it at the theatre once. nonetheless, I thought this was pretty good
sorcerer's apprentice
Hey, another Nicholas Cage movie. I had originally planned on seeing this in theatre, but I ended up being too busy to because that was around when I started working my new job. I thought it was going to be only a mediocre film, it actually proved to be a lot better than I was expecting, and plan on buying it on Blu-ray once I get my PS3 fixed.
mad max
the launch of Mel Gibson's career, as well as a major influence for both the Fallout video game series and the Saw film series (in addition to its own sequels), I thought this was a good movie.
silence of the lambs
it was actually pretty staggering for me how young both Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins looked in this film, especially since Anthony Hopkins was in his 50s at this time. i rather enjoyed watching this film, about Jodie trying to track down a serial killer by fishing for clues from the convicted psychologist Hannibal Lecter.
cypher
Cypher's an earlier film directed by Vincenzo Natali (Cube, Splice). I really enjoyed this sci-fi movie about corporate espionage. also, perhaps because I couldn't really pick him out until I started watching Stargate: Atlantis, I didn't realize until this that David Hewlett has been in most every film that Natali has done (since they went to high school together)
next
Another Nicholas Cage movie, and now he has the ability to see the future. I have actually seen this once before, and had thought I had written about it in one of these before, but couldn't find it. rewatched it with my friends after we saw Sorcerer's Apprentice based on a comment that was made while watching that.
equilibrium
my exact statement on facebook was "is watching The Matrix starring Batman. I mean Equilibrium starring Christian Bale.". however, a more accurate description would be Matrix + Batman + 1984.
donnie darko
something convinced me that I needed to watch this movie, but I don't remember where or what it is. whatever it was, it was well worth the watch, even more so for the time travel (which I wasnt aware of).
tron legacy
not much to say about this, this movie was awesome
red
The best description I can come up with this one is Die Hard + Ocean's 11. movie was absolutely hilarious.
faster
Faster caught my eye in the Redbox because it had Dwayne Johnson and Billy Bob Thorton as the main billing, and Dwayne out on a manhunt. turned out to be pretty good.
jonas hex
Jonas Hex I remember seeing the trailer for in theatres, but then I don't remember hearing of it ever again. apparently it bombed. a shame, too, because I really enjoyed the movie.
Tags: movies
The Air
The woman walked slowly into the bleak, concrete room, and flopped down on a ragged, worn out couch. The ruse was beginning to wear on her, and she didn't know how much longer she would be able to hold it. The acting, the deception, that wasn't all that was wearing on her, their location itself was beginning to get to her. They had been hiding in that old, abandoned warehouse for too long now, she wanted to go back to the warm, welcome feeling of their condo.
"Water," she said, looking over at the man. He was sitting in a chair, ruffling through a pile of maps and checking them against information displayed on a computer screen next to him. He didn't seem to notice her call, so she sighed, wishing she could do more to help. He always was much better then her at putting the evidence together, and she would have never been able to get to where they were now without him.
She stood up, and walked over to him to get a closer look at what he was doing, but getting closer didn't help. He was figuring paths and weather patterns to take, locations that needed to be acted upon. He was the scientist, not her, and she could do nothing but lend him her support for that matter. "Hey," she said, resting an arm on his shoulder, "do you need anything?"
"Other than Fire to finally show up at the location?" He replied to her without turning his head, although after a few moments he finally shook it in the negative. "No, we're good for now." She turned to walk away, but then stopped as he spoke again. "What about the others? Have they caught on to us yet?"
"Not yet," she said, and walked over to a table to pick up a few papers sitting there. "For the moment, they still think we're all acting according to plan." She chuckled, then walked over to hand him the papers. "It seems that the Bearer told Fire what we were doing, but is keeping them in the dark." They had that working for them still, at least.
As she began to sit back on the couch, the ring of a telephone from another room gave her pause, and then she slowly smiled. She lifted herself back up and walked out of the room, picking up pace as she walked toward the sound. It continued as she hurried: five, six, seven times, and she hurried to grab the phone before the eighth time would send the call to voicemail.
"HellO?" she said, and then listened carefully, a smile brewing on her face as each minute passed. The voice on the other end was giving her good news, and now it was her turn to act. She hung up the phone after the report was finished, not saying anything back to the person on the other end, and headed back into the other room. Her earlier tiredness was gone, she was now excited, and a spring was in her step.
"Water!" she called over to him, as she hurried over to a door in the wall. She opened it, revealing a small closet, and pulled from it two winter coats and put one on. The other she tossed over to him, who had stood up and caught it mid-air as it flew. "Time for us to move, the next phase is ready."
"That was pretty fast," he said, surprise in his voice, as he folded up a couple of the maps and put them into the coat. He then closed up his computer, and picked up a long chain with a key on it. "Faster than I was expecting. And you're sure this information is correct?"
"Oh yeah," she said with a grin, bearing her teeth at him in mocking."It was all there, eveyrthing is now in place." He tossed the chain to her, and she fumbled trying to catch it, dropping it to the ground. "In fact," she said as she bent over to retrieve it, "if we don't hurry then Fire will arrive there before we do." She picked up the chain, and started out of the room toward the prison cell.
"Well get her ready, then," Water called out after her as she headed through the hall. "We still have some setting up to do there, before we're ready to receive him." She didn't call back to acknowledge, because she knew that already. And he was just being cautious, in her opinion, because most of the work was already in place. There wasn't that much left that had to be done. Fire would soon be theirs.
Date posted: 22 March, 2011Tags: dream regularspelling the_grand_game writing
Say What Again
So is the fact that the RSS keeps refreshing and reposting on my Facebook and Google Reader supposed to be a subtle hint from the site that I need to post more? I mean seriously, thats like the third time its done it in the last few weeks, and it’s never done it before. What the heck?
Date posted: 23 February, 2011Tags: regularspelling