Auspicious Decembersday, Everyone!

That means you!

In other news: The Quick & The Dead is still the greatest movie ever. Nothing captures the spirit of the holiday season like Mortal Kombat done as a Western.

Catch you after all the seasonal celebration.

TV Failure

I am making a very sad face, because my TV has gone and died on me.

It's an LG 26LC2R, and the problem is that upon power-on it takes about five times as long as usual to power up the screen, during power on the power light flashes constantly (it normally flashes three times before the screen illuminates) and then once the screen is illuminated it displays no picture (not even the "no signal" message). I can't access the system menu either. I have checked all connections, tried removing all external inputs, and tried removing power from the remote control. No joy.

If anyone either (a) has a solution, (b) wants to come round and fix it, or (c) wants to buy me a new TV, let me know. In the mean time I no can haz XBox, Wii or PS2.

Greg Tannahill For Canberra

It's been a poorly-kept secret in other forums that I've had something big cooking over recent weeks. Those with eyes and with ears have probably already deduced the relevant facts for themselves.

The time of speculation is at an end. I am incredibly proud to announce that I have received pre-selection as the ACT Democrats candidate for the electorate of Molonglo at the upcoming Australian Capital Territory election this October. I'm campaigning for the ACT Legislative Assembly, with the aim of restoring accountability and democracy to Territory politics and helping to create the better Canberra that its citizens deserve.

Those who regularly visit this site will know that I'm a vocal campaigner when it comes to the politics of video gaming. I've said often that Australia needs action at both Territory and Federal levels to implement an R18+ classification for videogames. I've spoken many times against the poorly-informed and reactive way in which politicians approach the growing gaming community. And I've made it clear that the ACT Government needs to seize opportunities to make Canberra a national leader in an industry that turns over more money than Hollywood.

But beyond all those issues, Canberra is a city I'm very honored to live in, and running for office is my way of standing up for those things I love about my home. Canberra was designed from the ground up to be the City of Tomorrow, but under a long string of lackluster governments it seems that Tomorrow has never really come.

I have to ask: Where is the efficient, affordable housing that we imagined? Where are the state of the art public schools that we were promised? Where is the world-class public transport system that we deserve? From my perspective our politicians have stopped building the future and just settled for the mediocre present.

I would hope that readers here would support me in my campaign. If you live in the Molonglo electorate of the ACT, vote for me in the ungrouped column on October 18, and tell those you know to do likewise. If you're not able to vote for me, then you can still help through word of mouth. Blog about me, link to posts, and join my Facebook group. The key is to let everyone know that this October they don't have to keep digging the same hole, that they don't have to keep accepting more of the same. Let them know they don't have to select from two equally bad columns. To those with eyes and with ears, be vocal. Let them know that there is an alternative.

- Greg Tannahill
O'Connor, ACT

Marcus Kemp

Marcus Kemp was born Monday 2 June at 4.52 pm to Julia Burns and Matt Kemp.

Having been at the hospital most of yesterday, there was hence no blogging. Regular service to resume shortly.

UPDATE: xkcd is always creepily topical.

Swancon 2008

Swancon 2008 was a great steaming rancid sack full of fun. Oh such fun. The convention went down to the Fun River and hauled up some giant buckets full of win, and then made from them a crude soup flavoured generously with awesome.

A heapin' helpin' of masquerade photos are up at www.lympago.com; Craig also has a gallery on Facebook.

Regular flow of news-n-reviews will resume shortly; stand by for violent abuse of the phrase "nun-punching".

Go Camel Photography

To veer sharply off topic for a moment, and advertise for a friend, can I recommend Go Camel Photography, who are putting all sorts of cool images on pretty much every sort of surface you can think of, specifically in order to fulfill your consumerist fantasies?

Check out the site and if you like it drop a link to it somewhere for Google to notice.

Perth Travel Dates

For those who are interested:

I leave Canberra 9.15 am, Friday 14 March 2008.
I arrive Melbourne 10.20 am, Friday 14 March 2008.

I am in Melbourne 14-16 March to see Little Birdy.

I leave Melbourne 7.40 pm, Sunday 16 March 2008.
I arrive Perth 9.40 pm, Sunday 16 March 2008.

I am in Perth 16 March - 2 April for Swancon and general holiday.

I leave Perth 3.25 pm, Wednesday 2 April 2008.
I arrive Canberra 10.25 pm, Wednesday 2 April 2008.

Postcard from Egypt

Today I got in the mail an awesome postcard from Egypt postmarked 20 Feb 08. It's addressed to "GregT" and describes someone's trip to the Great Pyramid.

I have no idea who it's from. I can't read the signature. Anyone want to own up to it, because you rock?

EDIT: Mystery is now solved, see comments.

Tokyo Game Show 2008?

Does anyone know of firm dates for the 2008 Tokyo Game Show? “Second week in October” just isn’t good enough to plan an international trip around.

Some acquaintances and I are thinking of possibly maybe going, providing that the dollar signs are in alignment. 2006 TGS was a blast and the only thing that could make that sweaty melange of gaming magic more entertaining is sharing it with friends. Plus that sort of thing gets cheaper when you have people to split accommodation costs with. If I can get a lock on a specific calendar window I’ll try and post some prices up here in case you want to join our oriental electrosafari.

I’ll likely do the same thing I did last time I went, which is to say totally scam my way into the business day and avoid the horrible tourist crowds. Also, in case anyone asks, this is a professional game news site, I’m an accredited journalist, and my requirement for free samples and press kits in order to properly prosecute my Pullitzer-winning brand of hard-hitting prose is so powerful as to have inspired no less than three strikingly emotional human interest documentaries. Try practicing that sentence a few times right now; it’ll make it easier to say with a straight face later.

Blue Wizard Needs Sleep Badly

Sweet jeebers I need sleep. Red Bull is not the answer. Or rather it is the answer to a point, and then after that point you will find me in the lounge room at 3 am playing Bioshock on the hardest difficulty and attempting to finish the whole thing within ninety minutes “because angels don’t wait for slowpokes”. There will be uncontrolled twitching.

If anyone sees that parasite who invented daylight saving and then forcibly applied it to the Australian Capital Territory, would you kindly beat him to death with a golfclub for me?

In Perth

I'm in Perth from today (4 October) to about noon on Monday (8 October). If you want to catch up and you haven't already got in touch with me, you can attempt to cut into my busy schedule by ringing or SMSing me. If you don't have those numbers, I'm staying with Wuffie and you can probably contact me through her. I won't be checking this blog or my email. See you soon!

At Convergence

So I'm at Convergence 2007, and I guess it's a pretty good convention. I mean, I haven't really been to any of the panels, or any of the scheduled programming, but my hotel room is nice. If by nice I mean "carpeted". Because it has carpet.

It's not the fault of the panels. Really, it's me. If I was publishing a book, or, um, publishing a book, then every last panel would be hitting right on target, and it would be like I was in some kind of book-publishing heaven where sweet nectar flows from every faucet. The wish to engage with science fiction on a level beyond "how to write it" is clearly a defect in my personality that can only be cured through the judicious application of electricity.

Non-concession entry at the gate was $260, which it is pleasing to know has funded free alcohol at each of several book launches. There's no gaming stream or media stream or masquerade, but I do have the distinct pleasure of standing around at these launches and picturing how much fun I would be having if I enjoyed champagne. In my mind I'm drinking champagne while surrounded by fine ladies and dancing a saucy jig. Yes sir, it sure is a noteworthy jig.

It turns out that bringing my DS was a good plan. (That's the only system I brought; as always, VG Cats turns out to be topical in this regard.) Getting to the Hard Rock difficulty in Elite Beat Agents unlocks not only the Elite Beat Divas but also this character who has the head of a cat, which I've been deploying in multiplayer to pwn fellow Elite Beaters right in the face. Good times.

Tonight I'm off to the Crown Casino in company. I'm making tentative enquiries as to exactly how much money one has to spend at the roulette table to unlock bonus content or at least some kind of Pokemon but as yet replies are slow in forthcoming.

Regular gaming related bloggings will resume once I'm off this merry-go-round of gambling and sub-par convention programming. Keep your RSS readers tuned for further details.

Convergence 2007, Melbourne

By the way, I'll be part of the non-writer's-guild Canberra posse attending this year's national science fiction convention in Melbourne this coming weekend. I fly in Friday early afternoon and leave late Monday, and I'm staying at the Rydges for the intervening period. Guests include Megatokyo's Fred Gallagher, writer Isobel Carmody, and... well, me. (Note: I am not an officially sanctioned guest. Possibly because the organisers thought they couldn't get me.)

It's all taking place over the Greg's Birthday Long Weekend, a public holiday which I happen to share with Her Majesty the Queen. Celebrations will occur at some point on the weekend, likely accompanied by alcohol.

If you're also attending, drop me a comment.

The Monstrosity

I got my new computer delivered today; the beast I call the Monstrosity. It's a new Dell XPS M1710 gaming thingy, with completely ludicrous "extreme red running lights". Most importantly, it's put me back online.

Now I need to go install things on the Monstrosity. Pretty, pretty things. I'll be back

Brief Update

Home from Perth and Swancon (back in Canberra). Still no computer. I've ordered myself a new notebook with technical specs of such awesome magnitude as to rival those of Deep Thought. Unfortunately it'll be 2 to 3 weeks till the machine I dubb The Monstrosity arrives so in the mean time still no blogging.

Thanks to everyone who was awesome in Perth; this time I give particular note to Wuffie, Wendy, Mel, Gilligan, Rick, Kandace, John, Jo, Fru, Caris, David, Jocelyn, Kirsten, and pretty much all the Pauls. Plus anyone I've forgotten.

The plan is to be at Convergence over the Greg's Birthday Long Weekend in June. Y'all should come.

If I'm lucky I'll be getting the Wii back online tonight so that should alleviate the internet drought some until the antichrist of laptops is constructed.

God Hates Bloggers

Yesterday my laptop died. It unfortunately suffered one more consecutive power surge in a short period than its surge protection could handle, and somewhere inside it some sort of vital memory component died. Now it boots up but can't actually run any applications, much like a digital Forest Gump.

So (a) I have to get a new laptop, (b) I get to find out whether I'm covered by insurance, (c) I have to rescue the old hard drive, and most importantly, (d) blogging will be back to intermittent until I get regular computer coverage again. This also means my personal email is offline so ifyou need me you'll have to beg, borrow or steal my phone number...

... which, by the way, might die soon because my contract with Telstra is about to expire and I haven't yet lined up a new network. Sigh.

You'll Have To Speak Up, I'm Wearing A Towel

[News]

If you're speaking to me on the phone, I'm probably nude.... er, if I lived in the UK.

Also, it's very important that you don't confuse this blog with a similarly titled one at Livejournal. That's not me, people! Actually, I hope it would be fairly clear from the text that it's not me, but, well, you never know.

I'm RPG-ing today; maybe more updates tonight, with (gasp) actual content. Keep your fingers crossed.