One awesome thing

Cellphone photos, displaying how shaky my hands are.

One of the great things about working where I work is that each week we buckle down and produce a newspaper.  We spend an entire week gathering news, making advertisements, taking photographs, scanning photos, taking emails and putting it altogether.  The incredible thing is, we get a lot of help from the community.  That doesn’t happen 100% of the time, but we do get a lot of help from people in the area, such as our local community correspondents in places like Glenside, Conquest, Macrorie, Dinsmore, Lucky Lake, Elbow, Strongfield, Hawarden, Loreburn, and Milden.  We even have people from the local care facilities for the elderly, along with the community hall here in Outlook as well as the local schools (Outlook High School, LCBI, Loreburn School) send their news and happenings to us.  This helps bring about an aspect of community to the weekly newspaper.

On top of that, there is the news that’s gathered by our news reporter, who writes not only about news, but also agriculture, sports, and other human interest stories.  In the winter, we’re kind of lucky to get the results from two of the area hockey teams with the Outlook Ice Hawks and the Conquest Merchants.  Our news reporter lives in Conquest and I volunteer for the Ice Hawks public address during home games, so I also take photos (or sometimes give the camera to someone I trust) and keep track of the game and write it up for later.

One thing our news reporter has also done is read and write book reviews about books and authors who are in the area (this has included both of the books I have written).  On top of that, we sell books by local authors at the place where I work, and from time to time, there are a good number of people who stop in and pick up a book or two (today someone came in just before closing and bought three, all new on our shelves).

It’s a rare thing to have authors from an area like this get exposure, and more than likely this is one of the only places that they do get exposure.  One of the more prolific writers we have is Larry Warwaruk, who has written a good number of books, the latest being a young adult novel called Brovko’s Journey.  There’s even a very prolific NaNoWriMo author in the Beechy area who has many of her books in our shelves.  That being T. L. Wiens (I only wish I could hit the 87,000 words in a month as easy as she does).  There are other authors who have just written their first novel as well.  Some who wrote their novel based on night time stories they’d tell their children about fantastic worlds and a fight of good versus evil.  Others wrote their novel because they like maps at the front of books.  There are other novels that are much more true to life; life as a fighter pilot during the Second World War, or how life dealing with a loved one who is suffering from schizophrenia.

Each story that’s written by these novelists in this area are very different and each story is very different.

But it’s incredible that we’re able to offer so many local authors the opportunity to get their story out there, even if it’s only to a very small population like ours in the Lake Diefenbaker region.

Shamless Self Promotion

It’s time for another round of shameless self promotion.  There’s nothing wrong with it, after all.  I didn’t write a book to be humble about it.  I’m humbled by the process, but not be the result.

From time to time I’ll post up information about the first book I’ve written, called the Adventures of Black Mask & Pale Rider.  Here’s a little synopsis about the book, which is a western/fantasy.

Elven magic meets gunslinger grit. What happens when two elven travellers find themselves in the United States in the middle of the Civil War? The Adventures of Black Mask and Pale Rider tells the story of two elven women who’s curiosity gets the better of them.

The wild ride takes them from the Union to the Confederacy and back again. Along the way they make enemies and friends and learn a little bit about this world, and about themselves. An adventure of six guns and sorcery.

The Adventures of Black Mask & Pale Rider isn’t the only book I’ve written, Canyons of Steel is also available.  Here’s a quick synopsis.

What happens when an old gun hand makes a decision to turn his life around and set a new course? In Canyons of Steel, Johnathon Tiberius Walker makes the choice of turning his back on the underground military of the Red Hand and try to make right his own sins. All because he wants his daughter to live in a better world than he does.

Both my first book, Black Mask & Pale Rider, and my second book, Canyons of Steel, are available for purchase online through many different online book sellers.

Lulu.com (where both books were published)

1. Tim Holtorf Author Spotlight the front page store for my books on lulu.com.

Amazon.com (both in paperback and in kindle versions)

1. The Adventures of Black Mask & Pale Rider
2. Canyons of Steel

Amazon.co.uk (both in paperback and in kindle versions)

1. The Adventures of Black Mask & Pale Rider
2. Canyons of Steel

Amazon.ca (price not listed and currently out of stock)

1. Canyons of Steel

Barnes & Noble (for the Nook)

1. The Adventures of Black Mask & Pale Rider

iTunes iBook store

The Adventures of Black Mask & Pale Rider

Seven editing questions to make work sparkle

While scrolling through tumblr’s dashboard, in the writing tag (this is a thing I do early in the morning with a cup of coffee) I discovered this interesting set of rules when writing.

thepalaceofawesomestories:

Writers rarely like to revise, but revision is a reality of the writing process—and more important than the initial draft. Without revision, you can’t realize the true potential of the story you envisioned, and it will likely never be published. Here are seven self-editing questions to ask as you begin revising your short story or novel:

1. Where does the story really begin? Reread the first two to three pages of your story carefully. Where does the action start? A major fault with many first drafts (mine included!) is too much background material at the beginning, before the conflict is introduced and the characters finally take over the story.

In my case, I can almost bet that my story doesn’t really begin until about halfway down page 3, so out go the first two pages. If the material I have cut is essential for the reader to know, I find ways, through dialogue or my characters’ thoughts, to get the information to the reader later. The late additions are never as long as the original two and a half pages, and the story gains needed speed.

2. Is this adverb necessary? Chances are, if you are using a lot of adverbs, you are telling and not showing. Think about the character that has just won the lottery. Rather than have her yell “joyfully,” why not have her jump up and down screaming so loudly that her cat runs under the bed in terror, and it takes her 20 minutes to get it out? Maybe she runs to her closet and throws all of her old clothes in the garbage while blasting “If I Had a Million Dollars” on her CD player. Both of those pictures show how the character reacts instead of telling, and they are certainly livelier than the word “joyfully.”

3. Is this adjective doing its job? Look for empty adjectives and replace them. Instead of relying on “amazing,” “interesting,” “exciting,” “awful,” “ugly,” “beautiful,” “nice,” “scary” and other similar adjectives, use sensory details that bring to life what you are describing. Find places to get the readers’ senses working; it means you are making the story real for them.

4. Whose problem is it? Your main character has the primary problem at the center of your story, and your main character needs to solve it. Make sure that your protagonist remains the chief actor in the story and doesn’t become solely the reactor to another character’s influence. Sometimes, in longer pieces, characters other than your lead can nab your attention and your imagination; this can be especially true of villains and comic sidekicks. Be careful that these characters don’t become so charming that they threaten to steal the book from your hero or heroine.

5. Are the grammar and spelling perfect? Yes, I mean perfect. Your story will compete with a host of other stories, so don’t blow your chance with poor spelling and grammar. Of course, publishers have editors who will help polish your copy, but you need to show your best work up front.

6. Have I read my story aloud? One of your best proofreading tools is the sound of your own voice. Reading your story aloud is a great way to find awkward or incomplete sentences, clumsy phrasing, and inconsistencies in verb tenses and pronoun agreement. If you hesitate when you are reading, or if you have to reread a sentence or phrase, then you may need to rewrite that part of your story.

7. Have I applied the Stephen King rule? In Stephen King’s On Writing, he shows a before-and-after example of how editing can improve a story. His revision rule is:

2nd Draft = 1st Draft – 10%

We have a tendency, as writers, to believe that every word we write is precious, and we are reluctant to cut our material—after all, we remember how hard it was to get it down on paper. However, editing is about making our prose lean and exciting, and compelling the reader to turn the page. See what you can do with 10 percent fewer words.

Finally, consider revision a reward. Remember that if you are revising, you have finished a project—how neat is that? Try these seven questions to kick-start your editing and begin your pursuit of a great final product.

I’m most likely going to add a bunch in the second draft, and then subtract even more in the third draft, mostly because after rereading what I’ve done there’s some elements and characters that need a bit of explaining.  So in second draft, I’ll put that in, rearrange the chapters a bit, flesh out some characters a bit more, and fix a few things (such as Felanus has changed to Felanar and the RVAF Tritan has changed to the RVAF Osprey).  Once third draft hits, I’ll be subtracting a lot of stuff, useless words, long convoluted sentences, cleaning up grammar.  I already think it was a better idea to just write “Senia speaks with a lisp” instead of displaying that lisp every time she talks.

I want the work of Rocket Fox to come about better than Black Mask & Pale Rider (even though I still love that book).  So the amount of work I have ahead of me is a lot, but it’s something that has to be done.

A couple of random things

I’ve been thinking about two things a lot lately, and decided I’d do a little writing about them.  The first involves language, the second involves writing and how to approach death, especially when it comes to killing a character.

Swearing.  Whether we admit it or not (or just cuss like a sailor) we all do it.  I’ve dropped more than my fair share of F-Bombs in my day.  I’ve called out bullshit, taken the piss out of someone, pointed out how much of a dick a person is, and even heard an ex-girlfriend shout out “what is this, cunts only lane” while driving.  They’re words, rather harsh words, that can be taken as an insult or as something rather rebellious and carefree (especially when you’re six and you say fuck for the first time).

Some of the rather vulgar terms, as my mother calls them, are really unnecessary.  It’s become a lot clearer lately that there are certain words that are just unacceptable no matter the situation.  And there are others that are completely mind boggling.  A few I’m talking about with the latter happen to be “pussy”, “cunt”, “you act like a girl” (not really a swear, but the terms fit), and anything referring to the female genitals.  The end result of the insult is that by calling someone one of those names is to equate that person to something feminine and therefore weak.  Seriously?  You think a cunt is weak, especially when it can squeeze something the size of a football through a hole the size of a golf ball and still manage to retain it’s shape.  That’s not weak, my friend.  Now balls, that’s weak.  Ball (and the accompanying dick) happen to be strategically placed in such a way that one graze can incapacitate a man.  Even the mere thought of possible violent contact to the family jewels is enough to make a man clutch his groin and roll onto the floor into the fetal position.  As a comedian once said, there’s even nice bumper rails set up so that if one does go to kick a guy in the balls, there’s no chance of missing.

But there’s other words that are used which are really hurtful, and they come from two different places.  One is from racist imperialism and colonialism that began the slave trade.  The other comes from sexism that for years saw women as property and not human beings.  The latter is bitch.  The former is the N-word (I can’t even bring myself to write it, the word is so vile, also, I’m white, I really don’t have any attachment to the word and really shouldn’t).  Both are used to degrade and dehumanize different aspects of our society (just think about how bad it must be for black women with regard to those two words).  In some corners, those words are being reclaimed for the appropriate portions of society.  This sudden reclamation does not mean it’s okay for the rest of us to start using them.  For example I’m a white dude, and the use of the word bitch and n****r coming from me would not only sound weird but really offensive.

As to the other words, like fuck, shit, dick, asshole (it’s okay to use that, ’cause everyone has an asshole), and my personal favourite, douche-canoe… it’s said that someone who swears a lot lacks intelligence.  I tend to disagree.  I believe that someone who swears at appropriate times is actually a lot happier and a lot (mentally) healthier.  Granted, there’s more to good mental health than swearing (because if that was it, I’d be the most mentally healthy fuckin’ person on the planet).

Now, with all of this, one has to remember, there’s a time and a place for a good swear.  Just as Simon in Firefly stated “there is an appropriate time to swear”.  Don’t just drop an F-Bomb for the sake of dropping one (though, at times, it feels really good).

When killing off a character

This has taken place a few times in different forms of entertainment media.  Just ask George R. R. Martin.  He’s probably killed more (fictitious) people than most mass murderers (with the exception of a few megalomaniacs and dictators).  Naturally, though, there is a time and a place for a character to die.  Often, that is done with great fan fare and suspense.  Just look to the Death of Superman for that proof.

There’s been two deaths recently in comics that have had two very different reactions.  Both came from DC Comics, both came from the Bat-verse.  The first was Damian Wayne, the son of Bruce Wayne (please don’t get me to explain all of the ins and outs of how Bruce has a son with Talia Al Gul, it’ll give us both a headache).  I never read the issue, but I read enough of the reaction.  According to the bio for Damian Wayne (who is/was the current Robin) he was 12 years old.  Which is already very problematic for having a 30-something adult male taking a preteen out in full costume to beat up very dangerous criminals.  But the uproar was huge both before and after the issue came out.

The second death was Catwoman.  Yeah, you heard right.  There was no pre fan fare announcing it either (which leads me to believe that the “Catwoman” that was killed off was not Selina Kyle).  Her death was really problematic, because it’s a continued aspect which really supports violence against women in media.  Catwoman was tied up in a chair, and shot in the head by the Joker.  Which is another of the many times a woman has been killed in a submissive manner, or killed off camera and her body found in a stereotypically traditional female area of a house (the kitchen, for those who are scratching their heads).  It’s called fridging, and it began with an issue of Green Lantern, when then Green Lantern Kyle Rayner returned home to find his girlfriend killed and stuffed into his refrigerator.

Death is a really difficult thing to deal with, because it’s (supposed to be) permanent.  Take a look at the deaths in the Harry Potter series.  This was a book that was geared for kids and young adults and it dealt with death a lot.  Harry’s parents death, Dumbledore’s death, all of the students who died in the battle at Hogwarts.  Another example of a series dealing with a lot of death is Star Wars.  Hell “War” is a word in the title, so you kind of expect a lot of death.  One thing I liked about Harry Potter, was how death was handled.  When Lily was killed, she was killed protecting her son, which is a far cry better than when most of the female characters in comics (both Marvel and DC) have been treated.

Yes, I know, a lot of male characters die too.  But there’s a difference in how it’s presented.  Superman died fighting Doomsday.  Batman died fighting to the bitter end (pre DC Nu 52).  Even when Batman had his back broken by Bane he was fighting right to the end.  As was Damian Wayne.  On the other side, when a woman is killed it’s usually in a position of submission or placed in an area that is stereotypical.  Big Barda, killed in a kitchen off camera.  Kyle Rayner’s girlfriend, killed off camera and put in a refrigerator.  Catwoman, bound to a chair and shot in the head.  Barbara Gordon, paralyzed after being shot just for answering the door.  The only exception to this rule might be Flamebird from the recent Batwoman series.  Bette Kane went off in costume, defying her cousin, Kate Kane’s warnings, Bette got jumped, overpowered, and put in the hospital.  But she was fighting.

Too often, death is portrayed very differently for men as it is for women.  And people often wonder why there’s so much violence against women in the world.  If you don’t think media has any influence on that, you’re wrong.  Media is a mirror of what our world is.

Rocket Fox: The Series So Far

I haven’t promoted this in a while.  The entire series of Rocket Fox to date, including the Appendix that has detailed descriptions of the world these characters live in, and the original series that started it all, Rocket Fox: The Barrow’s Revenge.  These are all in handy PDF Files that you can download and read on whatever device you wish.

EDIT: Rocket Fox: The Barrow’s Revenge is NOT in PDF Format and leads back to my orignial posts where each part is posted as a blog post.  There are previous and next links at the end of each part, however.  The story also contains elements of the universe of Rocket Fox that no longer exist.  For example, the original work was set in one star system, now there are many different star systems and it involves a sector of space.  As well, Pau Theta II used to be a moon of Vulpinia Prime.  Now it’s the second planet in the Vulpine Star System.  Still, it is the original work and it’s an interesting look at how things changed.

Rocket Fox: Flight of the Nighthawk by Tim Holtorf is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada License.
Based on a work at http://taholtorf.wordpress.com/thebarrowsrevenge/.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://taholtorf.wordpress.com.

Vulpinia Prime.  A utopian paradise on the edge of the Lupine Sector of Space.  The third planet of the Vulpine Star System, her inhabitants take to heart their age old adage that they are meant to protect the sector from any and all threats.  For many, it is an honour to be chosen to attend the many Academies of science, engineering, mathematics and even the famed military colleges that dot the planet.  Rarely has there been a serious threat which the Royal Vulpine Armada has had need to deal with.  But Article 16 of the Space Exploration Charter is there for a reason.  And for many of the cadets at the Chattingham Academy, they are soon going to find out why.

Rocket Fox – Chapter One | Rocket Fox – Chapter Two | Rocket Fox – Chapter Three

Rocket Fox – Chapter Four | Rocket Fox – Chapter Five | Rocket Fox – Chapter Six

Rocket Fox – Chapter Seven | Rocket Fox – Chapter Eight | Rocket Fox – Chapter Nine

Rocket Fox – Chapter Ten | Rocket Fox – Chapter Eleven | Rocket Fox – Chapter Twelve

Rocket Fox – Chapter Thirteen | Rocket Fox – Chapter Fourteen | Rocket Fox – Chapter Fifteen

Rocket Fox – Chapter Sixteen | Rocket Fox – Chapter Seventeen | Rocket Fox – Chapter Eighteen

The Full Series - Rocket Fox – Flight of the Nighthawk

The Barrow’s Revenge by Tim Holtorf is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada License.
Based on a work at taholtorf.wordpress.com.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://taholtorf.wordpress.com.

Prologue One | Prologue Two

Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five | Part Six

Part Seven | Part Eight | Part Nine | Part Ten | Part Eleven | Part Twelve

Part Thirteen | Part Fourteen | Part Fifteen | Part Sixteen | Part Seventeen

Part Eighteen | Part Nineteen | Part Twenty | Part Twenty-one

Part Twenty-two | Part Twenty-three | Part Twenty-four | Part Twenty-five

Part Twenty-six | Part Twenty-seven | Part Twenty-eight | Part Twenty-nine

Part Thirty | Part Thirty-one | Part Thirty-two | Part Thirty-three

Part Thirty-four | Part Thirty-five | Part Thirty-six | Part Thirty-seven

Part Thirty-eight | Part Thirty-nine | Part Forty | Part Forty-one

Rocket Fox – Appendix One | Rocket Fox – Appendix Two | Rocket Fox – Appendix Three

Rocket Fox – Appendix Four | Rocket Fox – Appendix Five

Fandoms

This has been going around Tumblr recently.  Not the whole image, but each part of the image as different representations of each fandom.  There’s a lot more, and if you’d like to check it out, click here.  It’s okay, I can wait while you look it all over.

Done now?  Alright, excellent!

This is something that makes me smile from time to time.  Fandoms.  People who really like stuff and rally around liking that stuff.  And while doing fan art or writing fan fiction or cosplaying or going to conventions may be the dream of most fans, it’s not what all fans do.  You can be a fan of something, and just watch the TV show, movies, or read the book (or in the case of music, listen to the music).  There’s no difference between just liking something or surrounding your spare time in your life with something.  There’s no difference in the level of appreciation a person has for something whether they collect it obsessively or if they just enjoy it from time to time.

As an example, I really love the Firefly series.  I’ve got it on DVD and I watch it from time to time.  I will chuckle at quotes from the show and there are characters I really like.  But that’s it.  Is my love of Firefly any different than someone who dresses like Mal Reynolds (aside from having more creative time than I do)?  Or someone who draws fan art of the ship and crew (aside from having better art talent than I do)?  Or someone who writes fan fiction (I’m still working on Rocket Fox, I have an excuse!)?  I’d say not.

You can crank that up a notch with Tomb Raider.  I’ve played most of the games, I’ve watched and own DVDs of all the movies.  I used to collect the monthly comic, and now have the complete Tomb Raider omnibus sitting on my book shelf.  I have action figures, I have posters.  Okay, I don’t cosplay Laura Croft, I’m not sure I could pull it off (though, I think my hair is long enough).

I’m also a big fan of Star Trek.  I have each series (except for the original series) on DVD, and yes that includes the animated series.  All the movies.  Several books, most written by Peter David, including the New Frontier series.  I’ve played Star Trey Voyager: Elite Force and Star Trek Elite Force II.  I’ve played Deep Space Nine The Fallen.  And I currently play Star Trek Online.  Yet, there’s still people out there who write fan fiction (okay, I did, I just have to find it, it’s a Star Trek/Hawkworld crossover), do fan art, cosplay and even those who do fan films (check Youtube someday).

The point I’m making can lead back to another point I made about fandoms, but this one surrounding the mythical “fake geek girl”.  That girl or woman who reads or is into a comic of series to the point of dressing up as their favourite character.  Yet, those examples are often called out as being fake by fanboys who bemoan the fact there’s hardly any women in comics (I wonder why!).  The main point is that no matter how much of a fan you are of something, whether you just read the books, watch the movies, whatever, or if you go all out and research the backstories and the merchandise and all of the things you can find, you’re still a fan.  One person’s love of a thing is no better or bigger than another person’s love of a thing.

For writers, artists and creators it must be pretty flattering to have that kind of attention.  On the one hand, I’d love it, but on the other I’d be slightly embarrassed and rather shocked.  Still, it’d be cool if some day, I could see this…

Customer Service

At one time, not long ago, a company would bend over backwards in order to make sure the customer was happy.  Because if the customer was happy, it was a guarantee for the company that customer would repeat business with that company.  That ideology has changed a lot in recent years.

This is especially prevalent in the video game industry.  The video game industry already has a huge number of problems, the first and foremost being a long list of -isms that it doesn’t really seem to be able to figure out how to solve, or simply doesn’t realize it’s a problem.  That aside (and it’s difficult to set that aside, because that’s a huge elephant in the room), the video game industry has another problem.

I know I’ve gone over time and time again about my enjoyment of one particular video game, and I honestly don’t wish to name drop and point fingers, but there are times when a company has to be held accountable.  That company in this case is Cryptic Studios.  They aren’t alone in this, as people have had massive issues with EA in the past and many other game publishers and studios.  Granted, Cryptic is merely the game developer owned by Perfect World Entertainment.  I can tell you, it’s not such a perfect world.

Cryptic has four games under their belt, all within the MMO market.  They developed and launched City of Heroes, then sold off their share to NCSoft and the studio Paragon Studios handled development.  Since then, City of Heroes has had life support cut by NCSoft.  It was a good game, don’t get me wrong, it had a lot of loyal fans which a small amount of searching will show.  But Cryptic struck off to do their own thing which was develop their own game (sort of).  With the licensed product of Hero Games’ Champions pen and paper game, Cryptic went ahead and began working on their second super hero MMO.  Which went fine.  Later, they acquired the rights to produce a Star Trek MMO.  Currently, they have launched a Dungeons and Dragons MMO called Neverwinter, which initially gave many players warm feelings about Neverwinter Nights, developed by Bioware.

Before I go on, I need to say this right here and now.  I do enjoy Star Trek Online.  But you can enjoy something and still be aware of how problematic that thing is, or how problematic the group or company who owns/distributes/creates that thing is.  People can enjoy a television show while still recognizing that it’s incredibly misogynistic (Game of Thrones, for example), racist, homophobic and so on.  Or even how misogynistic, racist or homophobic the developing team/creative department is.  And that’s where I sit; I really enjoy Star Trek, but Cryptic Studios is the worst company.

In defense of Cryptic, I don’t accuse them of being misogynistic, racist or homophobic.  I’ve never heard devs or artists or management within Cryptic say anything like that.  They are, however, horrible when it comes to customer service.  At present, they are running three MMOs; Champions, Star Trek and Neverwinter.  Two of those IPs (initial properties) are much bigger and have a bigger fan base than one of the others.  No offense to Champions, but it has a long way to go to eclipse either Neverwinter or Star Trek.  Because of that, new development in Champions has laxed a lot.  The driving force of a game, especially an online game, is more content at a reasonable time frame.  Champions (or Cryptic’s) idea of new content is small alerts that take no more than fifteen to twenty minutes and have no repeat value except for grinding to get more loot.  There’s been no additional story content since they made major changes to the Westside arc which happens to be low level content.  So Champions has basically been kept on the back burner with a large group of players who are feeling rather left out in the cold.

This began when Star Trek launched.  Cryptic released content for Champions and then began their focus on Star Trek Online.  And it’s been that way even when they launched Neverwinter.  When you’ve got two really good stallions in the stable, why do you pay attention to the mule in the corner.  I can’t say much about Neverwinter, except what I’ve mentioned in a review before.  I played the game for all of two days and then became extremely bored with it.  However, this discussion has less to do with the content of a game, and more to do with those who maintain it.

Since beta testing and launch of Neverwinter, the servers for Cryptic have been, at best, mediocre.  There have been constant crashes and near daily emergency service patches to each game.  Since Legacy of Romulus came down, it hasn’t gotten any better.  The three games are set up on their own servers, however, there’s only one gateway to get into those servers.  Think of it like a shopping mall with three really big brand name stores, all three are popular, and all three have good layouts, lots of lighting and decent areas to find what you need.  The only problem being is that all three stores have only one door to get into all of them.  Just one door.  No double doors, no bank of doors that might have three pairs of doors.  Just one.  When people flock to these stores, they run into the problem of getting inside.  And once they’re inside, there’s still more problems.  The lights flicker in certain areas, there’s no proper labeling on some of the merchandise, there’s no staff to help customers.  This is what Star Trek Online is like, and lately it hasn’t been once in a while, it’s been so common you could set your watch to it.

Easy solution, right.  Get the problems fixed and move on, right?  You’d think that would be the solution, but it’s not.  During these outages (some scheduled, many more not) emergency patches are released that are often 130 meg in size.  And the things that were broken before the game crashed, well they’re still broken.

The common feeling among the player base is that Cryptic, and Perfect World, just doesn’t care.  They’ve got the customer’s money, and that’s all that matters.  They don’t care about helping the player base.  Especially the player base that are lifetime subscribers or monthly subscribers.  They’re more content with just taking the money, and if anyone disagrees with them and the way they operate, then they don’t care.  The Better Business Bureau has even given Cryptic Studios an F out of the usual A+ to F system.  The BBB does note that Cryptic Studios is not an accredited business and is under no obligation to become an accredited business.  Since 2010, however, the BBB has listed 49 complaints that have been filed with them, and of those only 9 resolutions to complaints.

Yet, it seems Cryptic Studios, and to an extent Perfect World, really doesn’t care.  As a side note, Perfect World Entertainment, which is the parent of Cryptic Studios, was also given an F by the Better Business Bureau.  Perfect World is also not accredited by the BBB, and is under no obligation to do so.

I’ll more than likely still play Star Trek Online and Champions Online.  I’ve got memberships with both, and both lifetime, so no more need to pay more money.  I just feel like Cryptic took my money and then didn’t care about giving proper customer service.

What are you talking about

This is more a rant about comments that people make about one thing regarding a choice I’ve made in my life.  That choice is that I’ve let my hair grow long.

Really long.

I think I’m shedding.

I’m often told that how I’ll be viewed is going to come off negatively because of the fact I have long hair.  Either a “tree hugging hippie” or as a “stoner metal head”.  Of which, both descriptions are very stereotypical and incredibly ignorant.  Seriously, I know some hippies with short hair, and I know some stoner metal heads that can discuss the Doppler Effect until they’re blue in the face.

What do you mean long hair on guys doesn’t look good? I’m fucking fabulous!

How one wears their hair is their own business.  Not unlike how one decides to dress.  It’s no one else’s business how one decides to dress, wear their hair, or how they look.  Body policing is really a crock of shit.  Each of us has our own individual way of dressing and living our lives, so it shouldn’t be someone else’s decision how we choose to live it.

Besides, I keep my hair neat and clean and in a pony tail so it’s not blowing wildly in the wind. Although, that imagery may arouse some. If it’s a bit too much, just take a long walk until the feeling passes.

My parents, especially my mom, would always cut my hair once a month on the button.  But since I have moved out of the house (I am 42 after all, and living on my own for 25 years), I’ve let it go every so often.  When I visit my parents, my mom likes to comment on how long and full bodied it is.  She appreciates the decision I’ve made and isn’t hell bent on getting me into a barber’s chair.

So, as of now, I no longer am going to use the excuse “I’m growing my hair long to donate to the Canadian Cancer Society for use to make wigs for cancer patients”.  No, the only thing I will say is “Yeah, so what?  Don’t like it, just deal with it.”

 

Star Trek Online and the hat tips

Star Trek Online released the Legacy of Romulus pack for the MMO.  I’ve played through it, and it’s actually quite good.  There are some issues, and some things that I think Cryptic went a bit over board with.  Before going through some of it, however, there’s one thing I wanted to mention about the game that’s really quite good.

The developers of Star Trek Online have done an excellent job of giving homage to what has come before.  They’ve taken into account that Romulus was destroyed in the 2008 movie, and have used that to weave an interesting world (or universe).  From the fact that Leonard Nimoy does some of the voice over as you cruise from sector of space to sector of space, to the fact Denise Crosby was brought back to reprise her role as Sela (and Natasha Yar in one mission).  They aren’t the only ones, mind you.  Chase Masterson also reprises the role of Leeta, mind you as a hologram that hosts the Dabo tables as a part of Dabo from Quark Enterprises.  From Deep Space Nine to Drozana Station, Leeta can be found with a Dabo wheel.

It’s not just the actors reprising roles.  It’s also the characters that are mentioned.  Worf is standing in the courtyard of the First City on Qo’nos   The character of D’Tan is the new political head of the Romulan Republic, and D’Tan was a character in Season Five of The Next Generation, the very well known two parter that saw Spock going to Romulus to discuss and investigate Reunification.  D’Tan showed Spock a book and a set of toys with the Vulcan language written on the sides.  There’s even a mission which has Bones and another that has Scotty, both in the past on an old Drozana Station.

But that’s not the end of it.

Many of the accolades that players can get point to many different famous lines throughout Trek.  He’s Dead Jim.  Crossing the line.  Neutral no more.  And many other accolades that call back to every single episode of Trek.

Now, with the introduction of the Legacy of Romulus, there’s more.

As a Romulan, the player is introduced to a population trying to find a new home after the destruction of their homeworld.  These are the surivors of that catastrophe.  But they won’t be so fortunate as they are hounded by Empress Sela and the Tal Shiar, who believe what they are doing is the best for the Romulan people.  The player plays as a Romulan who is thrust into the conflict, and must make certain choices, even going so far as to align themselves with the Klingons or the Federation.

Right from the get go, there’s a major difference, as this new Romulan Republic has shrugged off the old uniforms of the past and taken up a fresh start.  The player’s ship can even have Remen crew members aboard (and, players can also play as a Remen).  The missions are interesting, which follows a conspiracy that the Tal Shiar is leading.  Even to the point where the player is indoctrinated by the Tal Shiar and Empress Sela (one of the accolades for completion is called “There Are Four Lights” which harkens back to the TNG episode where Picard was held captive by Cardassians).

There are a great number of episode missions that the players can go through, before they embark on the episodes that are based on their alignment.  Romulans who ally themselves with the Federation go through the usual Federation missions, and Romulans who ally themselves with the Klingons will go through the Klingon set (in some cases, they are the same, such as the missions set on Deep Space Nine and the ones on Defera).

Just like the ships available to Klingon and Federation players, many of the Romulan ships are familiar.  From the old warbirds from the original series, to the massive D’Deridex Warbirds seen in the Next Generation, along with some new designs based on what has come before.  Sadly, there is only one bridge option at present for the Romulan ships, something that may change in the future.

There’s a few more updates as well.  Players who want a Klingon Defense Force character will now get the option to play from level 1 instead of level 20 as before.  This opens up a few more mission possibilities.  There’s also new UI updates, which make the game look a lot cleaner than it did before.

Plus, there’s promises of more of the same in the future, with the opening of the Cait homeowlr (home to the feline like Caitians as seen in the animated Star Trek series, when they introduced M’Ress), as well as the Trill homeworld, and even making the faction for the Cardassians available.

With all of this coming out, Star Trek Online is in good shape.

Now, it’s only hopeful that Cryptic can treat its other properties in Champions Online and Neverwinter just as well.

Star Trek: Into Darkness

I recently saw the latest in the alternate universe that is J.J. Abrams Star Trek series.

Action packed and a fun ride, but filled with problems.

There was a lot of references to Wrath of Khan.  A lot.  And before I go on, I’m gonna warn you now, there’s a few spoilers.

For spoilers, nothing to do with DC Comics (though the pic is cool).

Star Trek into Darkness deals with a lot of very close to home issues, that being terrorism.  We see London attacked in the movie and a madman leading the charge to destroy as much as he can on his way to proving himself superior to Starfleet and the rest of the world.  He’s introduced as John Harrison, but we later learn his real name is Khan Noonien Singh.  We’re also introduced to Carol Marcus, who will be notable as being Captain Kirk’s ex-wife as introduced in Wrath of Khan.

Two major problems arise with this movie (and these don’t include the plot points of having Kirk die and brought back to life and Spock shouting KHAAAAAAN!).  The first is the casting of Benedict Cumberbatch as Khan.  Khan’s name is very South West Asian, and to be more to the point, very East Indian.  Yet, here’s a Whitey McWhiterson cast as the role, only because Cumberbatch is really big in television and movies right now.  Seriously, couldn’t have found an actual man of colour to play the role?  Worried that it might have insulted sensibilities because a man of colour is playing the role of a villain?  Or just white washing a role that is known so well in Star Trek universe?  To be fair, the original Khan was played by Ricardo Montalbán, a Mexican radio and television star.  He wasn’t East Indian either, but during the time of the 60′s when the original series aired, there was a lot of racist actions that appeared in television (the “chop suey” accent of Chinese characters, and let’s not go into how Nichelle Nichols was paid as a day worker, and the execs tried hard to limit her time, thankfully the writers ignored that).  Still, we live in the 21st Century (or at least we’re supposed to) so how hard is it to put in the casting call “East Indian decent” for the role of Khan?

The second is the treatment of Carol Marcus in the movie.  She’s a brilliant scientist but as soon as we see her, she’s objectified by Kirk.  Spock makes mention that the Enterprise already has a science officer, which is odd, considering the crew compliment of the ship (seriously Spock, do you do all the science?).

But let’s skip past that.

Obviously, it’s a bit of a setup (and shout out) to events in Wrath of Khan where we learn Carol Marcus and Kirk used to be married and they have a son.  However, it’s done rather cheap, like a last second thought.  And the scene where Carol changes in front of Kirk so the audience has a shot of her in her undies…

What was the point of that scene?  Really?  It was obviously gratuitous, and objectifying of the character of Carol Marcus.  And before someone says “but she’s beautiful”, please note that she’s also pretty hot FULLY CLOTHED!  The scene had nothing to do with the plot except satisfy the perverted fantasies of a bunch of fanboys who wanted a bit of on screen wank time for themselves.  If it doesn’t have anything to do with the plot, then toss it out.  Was there a purpose that she had to change in front of Kirk?  Not really, she probably could have found a small change room and change just as easily.  If it was purely to have some form of nudity in Star Trek, then that’s stretching it.  I really adhere to the Alfred Hitchcock school of nudity; showing less is showing more.  That scene, if it really needed to be in the movie, could have been done with Carol Marcus seen in head and shoulder view on the screen standing behind a divider from Kirk.

Abrams has taken Star Trek and gone astray from what it originally was.  Philosophical exploration was just as much a part of the franchise as was the action involved.  The movies before Abrams came along even explored this concept, and they managed to do it in the heat of battle.  In Generations the main point brought up is that time is the enemy with teeth that stalks her prey.  Voyage Home was a big eco film, displaying that shit gets real if we keep screwing over the planet.  Undiscovered Country was about change and that some people are very resistant to change.  Those bits of philosophy were still able to breathe in the movie along with all of the action.

As for the current run of Star Trek films, they’re action filled and fun, but they are a far cry from Star Trek films and television shows of the past.