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AGM MOTHER 3 Translation Interview

A few years back I was asked to do an interview for Active Gaming Media, which focuses a lot on game localization. It was kind of surprising since it seemed to focus on the professional side of things, but I was asked to discuss the MOTHER 3 fan translation. Not only did they post the interview, they had it professionally translated into Japanese for Japanese readers to check out 😯

In the past few years since, the site has gone through changes and that old interview is gone. I managed to track down a copy of the English one on here, but I’ve included it below for easy reading.

(start of article)

Japan-only titles fail to carry the air of mystery that they once did. Games which once existed in gamers’ imaginations as only the rough scans offered by the popular game publications of the 80’s and 90’s can now most likely be viewed in full video with the help of no more than a PC and a search engine, rather standard tools nowadays in most gaming households.

Which is why a game like Mother 3 is such a special case. A frustratingly special case. EarthBound, the series’ second installment and the only game in the series to be released outside of Japan (for the Super NES), back in its day seemed to come and go with little fanfare or recognition despite a reasonable marketing push on Nintendo’s part. Yet as time passed, both the game and the series have grown to be regarded as truly special titles which are held dearly by a passionate fan base, which arguably goes unrivaled in terms of “dedication” when held up against nearly any other game or game series. However despite passion and petitions, Mother 3 ended up as one game that seemed destined to find its audience with the third installment but was never given the chance to shine on Western store shelves.

That is until Clyde Mandelin, likely better known by the Mother 3 fan community as Tomato, took responsibility into his own hands, setting out to bring, while technically “unofficial”, one of the most highly praised and appreciated game translations in the medium’s history.

In the following interview, Clyde shares with AGM what he’s learned from working on Mother 3, his general philosophies on translation and localization, some of the technical details related to working on a fan-translation as opposed to something commissioned officially, discusses his personal relationship with the popular series, and tells us why localizing from Japanese to English is like reproducing the Mona Lisa with broken crayons.

AGM: It’s unquestionably your work on the Mother 3 translation patch that has garnered you a great deal of well-deserved attention from throughout the game community, which is what I’d like to focus on, but first would you mind giving just a brief background about your work in translation/localization leading up to your work on Mother 3? What sorts of projects have you worked on and in what capacity?

Clyde Mandelin: Prior to Mother 3, I’d worked on many unofficial game translation projects, many of which were console RPGs that came with all of their unique quirks and challenges. A few of the more well-known ones were 16-bit games like Star Ocean, Bahamut Lagoon, and Live-A-Live. I did the majority of this translation work on the side during college, partly out of love for the old classics and partly to gain real translation experience. I also studied computer science for a few years during college, which comes in handy from time to time to this day.

Once I was out of college, I was able to use that experience to translate for a living, mostly working on Japanese anime but with an occasional game here and there. I’ve been lucky and honored to work as the translator on some pretty popular series, things like Dragon Ball, One Piece, Tenchi Muyo!, and Crayon Shin-chan. Naturally, each series brings its own set of challenges to wrestle with, and with each passing project I feel almost like I’ve “leveled up” as a translator. The kinds of things I work on now, I’d never have been able to do when I first started out, for example. It’s usually tough work, but it’s also gratifying with each passing project.

AGM: What from those previous experiences did you take with you which you feel lent to you being able to produce the quality of end product that Mother 3 turned out to be?

Mandelin: My experience with the long, complicated process of fan translating RPGs definitely helped out with Mother 3. I knew what needed to be done on both the translation side and the programming side, and how it should and shouldn’t be handled. Being able to handle a lot of the programming myself also meant I could be extra-picky with the presentation side of things.

Through my professional work, I learned how to multitask between multiple projects and between different parts of individual projects. This helped me a lot with Mother 3, where I was constantly juggling translation, programming, and localization duties all at once. Also, most of my professional work involves subtitles, which requires trying to pack as much meaning and information into as few words as possible, which is something Shigesato Itoi is famous for.

Most importantly, I learned – through both fan translation experience and professional experience – how to work effectively in a team environment, something that’s usually pretty tough over the Internet. The Mother 3 translation project was basically a result of good teamwork and love for the series.

I also had a lot of experience with the Mother / EarthBound series prior to translating Mother 3. I helped found Starmen.Net and I’d translated news updates about Mother 3 for years. I had dug into the Japanese versions of the Mother games and compared them in detail to the English versions. I had also translated Mr. Itoi’s interviews and articles from long before Mother 3’s cancellation and followed along every step of the way, up to the Mother 3’s GBA release. I think all of that insight together lent the final English translation an extra spark.

AGM: What variety of material have you worked on for translation outside of games and game-related media? Is there anything in particular that you’ve gained from grappling with another form of content that you feel really helped you with working on games, or maybe changed your approach to working on games? In your personal opinion, what sorts of experiences do you think translators/localizers of games and gaming media should have in order to help them become better at their craft?

Mandelin: Like I mentioned before, the majority of my professional work is with things like Japanese anime and movies, translating scripts and doing subtitles. Subtitles have their own limitations that need to be worked with, namely the length of time a subtitle can appear and the amount of space a subtitle can take up on the screen. Games have different constraints, like memory usage and programming limitations. Sometimes limitations are shared between mediums; both subtitle text and video game text have screen space limitations, for example. Learning to work with different constraints has made me more flexible as a translator and made it easier to handle new constraints I run into.

Besides the obvious skill of being able to translate, I think good game translators need good writing skills in the target language, a respect for and an understanding of the source material, a respect for the audience, lots of creativity, the ability to be detail-oriented, and most of all, patience. Most of those skills come over time, with experience and maturity.

Localizers need much of the same. They need to be able to write in the target language much better than translators. They also need heavy-duty reading comprehension skills – it’s all too easy to gloss over or change an important nuance because you weren’t reading the raw translation closely enough.

Sometimes the translator is the localizer too. Translator-localizers need all the above, but they also need courage – the courage to take the text beyond a super-literal translation. It sounds kind of dumb, but I find it’s actually tough to do in practice – a translator is supposed to recreate text, but a localizer is supposed to make changes to text. But those who’re able to pull it off make some of the best game translations out there.

For aspiring translators, I’d recommend trying to translate all kinds of different media. Try translating books, comics, films, games, radio programs, TV programs, articles, interviews, and anything else you can find. Try to do as many different things as you can. Try to do localization too, whenever you can. Try to pull your text away from a super-literal translation and give it life. If you can do that, you’ll be a success at this!

AGM: How did working on Mother 3, something done on your own time as a labor of love as opposed to being a contracted project, change how you approached handling the localization? What was your strategy for tackling a project of that scale on your own?

Mandelin: The most obvious difference with Mother 3 was that I wasn’t bound by a deadline – this meant I could spend a lot more time on the translation and localization, and could work at more or less my own pace. Of course, that pace was still pretty quick because of fan demand, but it gave me a lot more freedom.

Being able to work on the game in this setting also let me get around some of the red tape that comes with professional work. Names and terminology is probably the biggest example of this. With professional work, you often have to get every single name and term approved by many different people who often work in completely different companies. Or sometimes you’ll be given a list of names and terms at the very start. But in both cases, you’ll almost always find all kinds of mistakes and problems with the names, and it causes a lot of headache trying to get things fixed – which you often can’t. With Mother 3, I was able to bypass these sorts of bureaucratic obstacles.

For Mother 3 in particular, I used a combination of methods from fan translating and professional translating to speed up the process and to improve text quality. One example being a custom text editor my partner Jeff put together. This was far more useful than the Excel spreadsheets most professional game translations are done on – it was a snap to navigate between text from different parts of the game, it allowed me to change multiple instances of text throughout the entire script in just a few clicks, it let me track my progress, and it let me preview in real-time the text as it would appear in-game. It had many more features, too. It’s really useful and I wish I could use it in all my professional work!

What was cool was that whenever I needed a new feature of some sort, Jeff would implement it in almost no time. We had really good tools and really good teamwork. It almost reminds me of the really top-notch translation teams that do everything in-house.

Without the luxury of all of this, it would’ve taken a LOT longer to localize Mother 3. I almost cringe at the idea of having to translate the entire thing in a spreadsheet, which is kind of funny now that I think about it, since apparently Mr. Itoi typed all the lines into a spreadsheet when writing the game.

AGM: According to the Mother 3 fan translation site, translations of the game are currently at various stages of progress in 7 different languages (9 if you include the multiple Spanish and Portuguese versions). What kind of involvement have you had in organizing these works, if any? Have you been in communication with the people working on these and has it been a collaborative effort? Have you been a “project manager” of sorts as well? Are all of the translators working from the original Japanese text, or are some of them working off of your English translation?

Mandelin: Surprisingly, the Mother series has a very international audience. So we specifically designed our tools and our files with multilingual translations in mind. I posted about this on the project’s site one day, and before we knew it we had dozens of people eager to localize the game into their native language.

I waited until after the release of the English version to really coordinate the other translations. It was easier this way and it gave the other translators a chance to really dig into the game and understand everything. After that, I assigned a project manager for each language team and let them have the necessary tools and files to work on their own. Jeff and I interact with the project managers whenever questions or issues come up, but for the most part we let the translation teams manage themselves.

The other translators are working off of the English script, so it is a translation of a translation. That’s always a wary prospect, so I left notes in the script for the other translators while I was translating the Japanese script into English. Every so often they’ll ask for clarification about lines, too. I think these things will help improve the quality somewhat. One team did ask to work off of the Japanese script at first I think, but then decided to go with the English one. I’m not sure why.

AGM: The caliber of writing in the Mother games is something special, something entirely unique compared to the offerings found in many other Japanese RPGs (or other games in general), and is an essential element conveying the game’s charm and lending to its appeal. What’s your personal view on narrative in games and how do you perceive and engage with the narrative of Mother 3?

Mandelin: I do think most games – and most entertainment – has pretty generic writing. I’m not a writer myself, so I’m in no position to complain. But it usually feels like game text is purely functional – like the generic RPG townsperson who stands in one spot and tells you the name of the town; or like filler text – “Okay, we have some characters in this part of the game, we need to make them say something now.” It’s hard to find REAL writing in games.

Sometimes it’s hard to explain what that means, but it’s kind of like acting (and voice acting) in games – it’s usually not very good, and if a movie or a play used that same level of acting they’d be ridiculed to no end. Game writing is a lot like that, it’s just not as obvious and most of the time it doesn’t matter, unless a game is purposefully text-heavy. Action games don’t need good writing, for example.

With Mother 3, it’s hard to find purely functional or filler dialogue. Almost every character in the game – even the non-playable townsfolk – has a back story and many changes throughout the game, to the point that each character can have a timeline written up for them. They all have their unique qualities to them too – from their names, their speech styles, and even to their different bleep-bloop “voices”.

Even when Mother 3’s gameplay does call for purely functional text, Mr. Itoi approaches it in an unusual way. For example, there’s a point near the end of the game where the player is supposed to be blocked off from going to certain areas. Mr. Itoi accomplishes this by putting crowds of people in the way and giving them EXTREMELY filler text. Things like, “Blah blah.” and “Uh oh.” It’s like he’s saying, “You know what this really is and I know what this really is, so let’s not patronize each other.”

More than anything though, the writing in the game feels real – apparently Mr. Itoi would actually say every line aloud until he was happy with it, which is also why the Mother series is primarily kana only. To the dismay of his colleagues, Mr. Itoi wouldn’t hesitate to throw out entire blocks of text later on if he wasn’t happy with it – he was very picky about what people said in the game and how it was said. The end result was a very polished script, though.

AGM: One main reason that I’m interested in your answer to the previous question (above) is because translation is very much a writing skill, something more than just a translation skill. I would think that your feelings about the game’s narrative would impact how you approached the game’s localization. Can you elaborate on that idea? Is it something that you were conscious of and paid attention to? Why do you feel that this is significant (if you do)?

Mandelin: Shigesato Itoi is well-known as a creative writer, but I’m very much NOT a writer. So my strategy was to first approach the text the way I would work with most everything else, as a sort of first draft. After this, I put the translation aside for many months (a time which I used to work on the reprogramming) and then returned to it with fresh eyes. I was actually surprised, because for the most part, Mr. Itoi’s writing still shined through – the “what” of the text was still there and very charming in its own way, it was the “how” of the text that was missing.

Since I have so much familiarity with the games and with how EarthBound (Mother 2) was localized, I was able to use that to polish the script into a second draft. This put a lot of that style back into the text.

I did have a third draft planned, where a much more skilled writer would go in and spice my writing up, but there was a conflict of schedules and in the end only a few key lines got the third draft treatment. In the end though, I think this approach, together with the presentation side of things, helped the game’s script feel a lot like the official EarthBound localization.

AGM: Was there any area of the project where, prior to beginning work on Mother 3, you had decided that you were going to work on the localization differently than you would have if, say, it had been a project assigned? Naturally there was no deadline or paycheck, but was there any element of the process where you consciously said to yourself, “I’m going to do it this way because it’s in the best interest of the final product, and I can do that because it’s a luxury that I have given my situation,” or something along those lines?

Mandelin: The biggest example I can think of is with naming. It turns out the official EarthBound localization used some wrong name romanizations, though no one found out for sure until 10 years after EarthBound’s release. This caused the dilemma, “Should I use the names fans know and love, or should I use the correct name that the creator intended?”

In a professional setting I probably wouldn’t have been able to make that choice, but for Mother 3 I was able to say, “Okay! I’m going to do it this way!”

There was also the issue of, “Should I localize some of these new names?” Being able to go in and say, “We’re doing this!” was nice.

Basically, whenever the question of, “Should we try this?” came up, we tried it because we were able to. We even added many things to the game that Japanese players didn’t get.

AGM: To say that the Mother/Earthbound series has a passionate fan-base would be something of an understatement. Most official localizations are handled under a rather thick veil of anonymity from the end-user, but not Mother 3. Did you feel a different sort of pressure as a result? How did you cope with it? What kind of pressure, if any, do you feel when working on something of less notoriety or outside of the public eye?

Mandelin: As far as unofficial translations go, I don’t think there’s really a thick veil of anonymity, just obscurity. Most projects ARE right out there in the open, usually on message boards and small blogs. Usually the more popular games will get their own project sites, as Mother 3 did.
Mother 3 was the first time I’d done such a big “see inside the localization’s on-going development” project. What I found was that the expectation of regular updates got me to work on it even harder than I normally would have. The pressure to have constant, large-scale progress was tough. Looking back, that was probably one of the biggest factors in the project’s success.

When I work on less popular projects out of the spotlight, there’s very little pressure. I get all the time I want, and I don’t even have to produce a final product in the end if I decide not to. But sometimes projects I leave alone for too long start piling up, which can result in a different kind of pressure.

AGM: Would you say that your work on Mother 3 is, from a quality standpoint, the product that you’re most proud of? If not, what would it be? What is it that you feel most lends itself to contributing to the production a quality translation or localization?

Mandelin: Yes, but probably only because it’s the most recent large-scale project I’ve worked on. I’m definitely proud of my earlier projects, it’s just that my skills weren’t as honed when I worked on them. That, and I put in a lot of extra time with the localization and the reprogramming for Mother 3.

I’d say I’m probably only 70% happy with the final result – the writing could still be improved a lot and there are various reprogramming issues that could be fixed. But with stuff like this it’s pretty much impossible to ever be 100% happy. It’s important to know when to say, “Okay, that’s enough.” for things like this.

In the end, the audience is what matters most to me. Does the player like the text? The text isn’t pulling the player out of the game due to awkwardness, is it? How obvious is it to the player that this wasn’t written in English originally? Does the localization accomplish what the original text was intended to do? Things like that are important to localization quality.

AGM: Do you feel that translation/localization is an art? A skill? A craft? How do you view and define it? Why?

Mandelin: This is always a tricky question. My opinion is that translation is a craft or skill, and localization is an art.

When I translate a sentence, I see the original sentence almost as a painting that the mind creates as the sentence progresses. The most important parts of the sentences – usually facts, nouns, or the point of a sentence – have an emphasis in the painting. Things like tone of speech and nuances add little flairs to the painting too as the sentence goes along. There’s probably also a layer of feelings and thoughts in there that we can’t express easily in words. All together, a sentence of text has a detailed, flowing, painting-like quality to it.

From that view, I see translators as people who take these paintings and try to recreate them as closely as possible, using different tools than the original. Some languages are very similar, so the “brushes” are similar, meaning the translations will be pretty close to the original. Some languages are very different, so their brushes will be very different. So translating something from Spanish to English might be like painting a copy of the Mona Lisa with watercolor paints, but translating the same thing from Japanese to English might be like trying to draw a copy of the Mona Lisa with crayons.

Besides the tool differences, the skill of the translator/copy painter is also important. This is why I feel translation is a craft, but not necessarily an art form.

Localization, on the other hand, requires the creativity to create something new. So even if you’re stuck trying to draw the Mona Lisa with a broken crayon, you can use some creativity to get a better result than you would have otherwise. I would say that act of creating something new is an art form.

AGM: Could you explain a bit your attachment to Mother 3 and the Mother/EarthBound series in general? I think that it’s rather unique and significant and really may help to frame the context within which you worked on this product.

Mandelin: I bought EarthBound when it was released in 1995, and I liked it a lot. A few years later, I helped start EarthBound.Net, now Starmen.Net. I did all sorts of things there, from article and interview translations to reprogramming the games. Basically, I happened to know a lot about the series and I had done fan translations in the past, so it was a good match.

AGM: Can you share a bit about the technical side of Mother 3’s localization/translation? What sorts of tools, software or resources did you use? What was the process and sort of general work flow of translating, getting the text in, doing text debugs, etc.? Did you make any alterations aside from just the text? What were some areas that you struggled with?

Mandelin: Almost everything we did was custom-made from scratch. The text editor, the text convertors, the text inserters, the voice clip editor… One team member even wrote a THUMB assembler from scratch to help organize and speed up the project!

Basically, the entire process was something like this:

  • We got the text out of the game and put together our text editor
  • I spent about a month translating the text into its first draft
  • We spent many months learning how to reprogram Game Boy Advance games and then applying that knowledge
  • I spent another month on the second draft of the text
  • I spent a couple weeks playing through the game with the text, polishing things up and tweaking things here and there
  • We did last-minute programming fixes
  • Final testing
  • Release

Our text editor had a real-time preview function, so that saved us a lot of time with text formatting. When we needed to test text in-game, we just needed to run the text inserter utility and then start the game. Luckily for us, the original programmers created a “debug room” that allowed us to jump to any point in the game. We used it religiously.

Besides the text, we also altered some graphics. Some of this was graphical text, and some of it meant to mimic the way Mother 2 had been officially localized into EarthBound. For example, In Mother 2, there was a building with the name “MONOTOLY” written on it, but it was changed to say “MONOTOLI” in EarthBound. The same building makes a cameo in Mother 3, so we went in and changed it to say “MONOTOLI”.

We also replaced two very short Japanese audio clips into English, un-dummied some old content, added a few simple extras to the gameplay, and things of that sort.

By far the most difficult task was reprogramming the game. It became clear very early on that localization hadn’t been on the mind when Brownie Brown programmed the game. It didn’t help that practically every system in the game had been written by a different programmer. We pretty much had to fight every step of the way for more memory and more space on the screen to achieve something akin to a professional release.

The online readme file has a lot more details:

AGM: How would you like to see the craft of localization evolve in the near future so that more players in more regions can experience more games in a way closer to the original intentions of the creators?

Mandelin: In terms of professional localization, the easiest answer to this would be to get developers to design games with localization in mind from the very start. This includes things like allocating enough memory and being able to utilize screen space effectively. Translation-wise, things like notes from the writers and developers are always extremely useful to have.

In terms of unofficial localization, it’s probably naïve to expect game companies to specifically design games to be easier for fans to translate themselves. In fact, it’s probably becoming even more difficult thanks to DRM and other lock-out mechanisms.

AGM: Lastly, upon the final release of the Mother 3 patch, you were able to have a kind of communication with a very grateful collection of players worldwide who have been playing and enjoying the game that you worked on in a much more personal way than most localizers may ever get to experience. How has that experience been?

Mandelin: It’s been very nice, and the positive response has been amazing. It was an awesome feeling seeing a topic on a message board called, “Post your favorite quotes from Mother 3!” and then seeing so many people posting lines that made them laugh and cry. I wasn’t the game’s writer, but there’s still a lot of joy in seeing that the game could still touch people like that, even after crossing the language barrier.

It’s also been neat in that people can send in bug reports and typo reports and we can respond to them personally if we need more clarification. We still get reports all the time, almost two years later! We’ve also held contests and done a lot of polls after the translation’s release, and the response there has been great too.

A couple people have also contacted me since the translation’s release, saying that they’ve gotten into translation or gotten into programming after watching the project come together. It’s a really nice feeling hearing that. Who knows, if a Mother 4 is ever released and it’s another Japan-only game, maybe one of those people will be responsible for fan-translating it. Or if it DOES get an official translation, maybe they’ll be the ones who translate it!

AGM would like to thank Mr. Mandelin (Tomato) for taking the time work with us on this special interview. Those interested in playing Mother 3 in their native language are highly encouraged to visit the Mother 3 Translation Site and to acquire an original Japanese version of the Game Boy Advance title as well. Fans of all-things-Mother/EarthBound should also visit Starment.Net and EarthBound Central.

(Yep, they called it Starment.Net! Seems like everyone gets it wrong in unique new ways all the time 😛 )

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3 Responses to “AGM MOTHER 3 Translation Interview”

  1. Scottt says:

    Very interesting. I have to say that as a player, I’m much more than 70% happy with the final product!

    Where are the English audio clips, and who provided them? I don’t seem to remember that.

    • Mato says:

      I don’t have the English clips handy (I’ll probably post them in an upcoming post) but they were “Ready, set, go!” and “Look over there!”

      I had Reid, Meeellla, and Plo record a whole bunch of takes and then I chose one to use for each clip. It looks like I posted about it on the dev blog but only slightly because I was expecting backlash from sub/dub arguments:

  2. […] usually translate stuff from Japanese to English, so it was an odd feeling when a few years back an interview I did about the MOTHER 3 translation was translated into Japanese! What was even more interesting was that the translator had contacted […]

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Friday, May 28, 2010

Teeny Update

I was able to gather the necessary funds to atleast go ahead and purchase a new laptop. Over the last couple of days I've been spending time updating Windows 7 and all the junk that comes with it. Not to mention adding some familiar software like Adobe and Firefox! As with all new systems there are somethings that it can do that the old PC Lappy couldn't but at the same time there are huge holes in its updating that causes unnecessary bugs with flash players and the like I didnt have with the other. Thankfully I am technically minded to add patches, updates and to google to resolve these problems. Some people arent so lucky!

Since losing the Laptop over the weekend I've been perusing the local computer stores, and after much deliberation I settled on a HP Pavillion Notebook dv6-2120TX which was as cheap as I could afford went in store to check out the laptops before finalising and an old guy approached me and asked where the box was?? Box? I replied yeah the computer bits where are they? I laughed and said "under the keyboard!!" Well what will they think of next?" he said. anyway I thought it was funny!

Some of the Specs, 15.6” High-Definition LED BrightView Infinity Widescreen display.
  • Processor Type: Core i5
  • Processor Speed (Ghz): 2.26
  • Installed RAM (GB): 4
  • Hard Drive Size: 500GB
People have asked if I'm a mac person but I'm more PC, I've worked with both however I like the PC interface plus the software for it is more easily and readily available for it than a Mac.

So now all there is now to do is to make it my own much like I did the last and I need to by some more stickers for the cover.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Dust To Dust

My Beloved Laptop has finally bitten its last Gigabyte. So what does this mean well Spy-Girl will only be available through redbubble since all my work files have been lost but they can still print a pristine print. Thankfully I had the majority of my more important work copied over to an external hard drive and all the Dreamworks stuff had already been sent to the Printer.

This Stuff Happens, and theres no point crying over it. Until everything is back to normal and I have a replacement Laptop then I will be on and off. My apologies to those who have asked me to work with them. Its Winter here and I'll just have to go outside Yuck!

Also the readership of my Imagine Daily interview has done really well, with over a 100 views a day. Thanks again for the support.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Spy Girl

Its Been awhile, but at last theres some new art available to buy on Redbubble from me. If you have been unable to afford the recent Dreamwork Licensed art (sorry have no control over the price) then perhaps this is the way to go. I am Offering a cheaper alternative to everyone to pick up a piece of my art at a very affordable $75.00 AU it works out even cheaper if you are in the US and Overseas right now too, so get in quick and help support your local artist!

Monday, May 10, 2010

Death of Frank

Frank Frazetta has passed away at the age of 82, he accomplished so much over his lifetime something I have yet to even start! I have his Icon book, this was released before his children got all greedy and began to systematically destroy all of his lifes work and him. Its an interesting read!

Monday, May 3, 2010

Imagine Daily Interview

A little while ago I was approached about doing an interview to talk about my art for an Online Magazine thats primarily Artist based. The magazine is called Imagine Daily and the Interview can be found HERE

If you read my regular postings you know how I hate the Limelight. I'd rather just create, make some money and not think about any attention that my art brings I'm so not a fan of Tooting my own Horn I've seen what it has done to most in the industry. Anyway after some thought I decided to do it, just so atleast its out there. I really didn't know what to take from the whole experience I was given some great advice to 'let it be all about myself' so thats what I hope was eventually conveyed.

I didn't want it to be a 'I am a SUPERSTAR' slap on the back. But just show about who I am, what I have done so far and what I hope to still accomplish in the small time I have left. I often get comments that 'Oh wow you've made it' but I havent........ not yet. Maybe I won't, Its still a long LONG way to go. I hope no one envies me theres nothing to be envious of!

But when I do finally get that job at PIXAR I'll be sure to let you know and then we can all go celebrate.

Anyway I hope you get something from the interview, any questions you would like to ask me please feel free!

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Monday, February 27, 2012

Emperor Underway

The Graphic Novel 'Lord Fancy' is Still Happening, Since I haven't shown anything in a while heres a look at a Villain I created but won't use in the first book. I envisioned him as a Short Statured actor Terry-Thomas type ex-Lord Underway whos ambition is to remove the Queen and become Emperor of Great Britain.

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Tuesday, December 1

Semi-intellectual rumination.

An anchor on CNN this morning was ruminating, in their typically middle-brow fashion, on the fact that December is the "final month of the decade," completely ignoring that the actual final month of the decade is next December (if one is speaking of the First Decade of the 21st Century, as opposed to the Decade of Double-Aughts), but who's counting. Other than me. As Fox Mulder once trenchantly observed, "Nobody likes a math geek, Scully."

It did, however, occasion a comparison with December of 2000. Does anyone remember the burning political question (other than whether the US Supreme Court should have stolen a presidential election) of the day?

It was whether we should use the Federal budget surplus to fully fund Medicare and Social Security, or use it to pay down the national debt.

Option three was apparently (as was actually accomplished, of course) to spray rich people with honey and let them run naked through the US Treasury.

mos said...

That makes me depressed.

pws said...

Hilarious and infuriating, all at once. Linked.

Knightfall1138 said...

Oh, the memories.

We did derail a little bit back then, but we're slowly getting back on track, gaining steam everyday.

Any of these train analogies doing anything for anybody?

Matt, I would love to hear what you have to say on the current administration someday. Very interested, in fact.

HitokiriJine said...

Wow... that is really hard to believe. It has been a long time since I have heard budget surplus.

Guy said...

I remember somewhere it being said at the time that if this was kept up, within the decade we would be debt free. Music to my frugal ears.

Of course, if the feds had stuck to their stated jobs and not stuck their damned nose everywhere they possibly could--no matter who was in office or who held Congress--we never would have had these problems in the first place, but hey, whatcha gonna do?

MWS said...

Welll . . .

There are a number of inarguably legitimate reasons for a strong central government, unless you want to go back and re-fight the Civil War.

There are also some persuasive examples of the opposite -- laboratories of democracy, as was once used to idealize the "State's Rights" theory of federalism.

Let's see . . . we're looking for

1) a large, culturally diverse nation with virtually no central government, and

2) a large, culturally diverse nation with a functionally weak central government.

Hmmm . . .

Oh yeah, I've got it.

#1: Somalia

#2: Afghanistan

Anarchists and Libertarians, unite! You have nothing to lose but your brains!

Guy said...

There are absolutely a number of reasons for a strong central government, and we have an absolutely legitimate claim to secure one. Article 1, section 8 of the Constitution.

So, we're looking for:

A large, varied, culturally diverse nation of relatively independent states protected and managed by a strong central government.

But no. Lets bully every state until they're exactly the same.

I'm not arguing for a weak central government. I'm all for it; so much so that I spent a few years playing around with nuclear reactors in the Navy.

But where is a strong central government in forcing the drinking age to be 21 in every state? Where is it in making prostitution illegal in ever state save for a handful of districts in Nevada?* Where is a strong central government in starting the stupidest, largest, most expensive and unobtainable war effort in the history of the entire world? One that makes Iraq look like chump change.

Where have these done anything but waste time and resources and more money than anyone can comprehend?

*The Bunny Ranch--owned by a fairly famous man, and brother to a fairly famous man in the motorcycle community who was held captive by guerrilla forces in Colombia for several weeks--is so rich off their little business that the proprietor is building up an industrial district. Amazingly, there are no pimps, no murders, and little crime in this business where there's security, regular medical checkups, and safety in that a legal business allows patrons and employees to get help from the cops in a problem.

MWS said...

Guy. Dude.

First, are you sure there's a Federal anti-prostitution statute? I seem to recall the Federal laws related to prostitution are aimed at human trafficking across state lines or national borders, and the individual states are responsible for everything else.

Second . . . what exactly are you complaining about? That brothels are legal in (some counties of) Nevada, or that they're not legal everywhere else?

Third, the Federal Government does not mandate a national drinking age, to be best of my knowledge. For the purpose of curbing underage alcohol-related car accidents, President Reagan (and his allies in Congress) decided that states which did not conform to the 21-year-old drinking law would be punished only by the withholding of 5% (it's not a typo: five percent) of their federal highway subsidy.

For example, here in Wisconsin, it is not a crime for a person under the age of 21 to consume alcohol if that person is accompanied by a parent, guardian or spouse of "legal drinking age" -- that is, over 21.

This, by the way, did not result in a denial of that 5% -- since Reagan's intent was traffic-related, the Federal Government concluded that the "accompanied by" provision was sufficient to meet the Federal standard.

And starting the "stupidest, largest, most expensive and unobtainable war effort in the history of the entire world" nothing the United States has done is even remotely in any of those categories, and one does not even have to be a serious student of history to know it.

Ever hear of the Thirty Years' War? How about the Hundred Years' War? Are you familiar with the Peloponnesian War (431 to 404 BC)? While we're in Greece, how about the Greco-Persian Wars? Hmm, let's see . . . China has the Warring States Period (as an unfortunate consequence of not having . . . wait for it . . . a strong central government!) -- that's 476 BC to 221 BC, which beats the pants off even the Hundred Years' War.

Expensive . . . hmm. How high was the total tab, as a percentage of GDP, was WWII for Germany? For Japan? The Spanish Armada? Kublai Khan's TWO failed invasions of Japan?

Guy, you know I love you, and I appreciate your support and your comments, but seriously, man, turn off Limbaugh and O'Reilly and read a book.

turtlewoman said...

Damn! And here I tought the surplus was used to make that fancy toilet paper used in office buildings - you know the kind - really thin and kinda useless. Learn something new every day.

Shane said...

Not to quibble, but I believe the withholding was 10%, not five. And while this is still a small-ish looking number, it's worth noting that it did manage to get all fifty states to comply with the bill very quickly, even those who clearly didn't seem to want to. Louisiana comes to mind.

Mind you, I'm all for the drinking age being what it is, and I don't even have a problem with the Federal Government mandating it, but I don't think the distinction you're trying to make here between official mandates and hard coercion is a particularly useful one.

Guy said...

Dammit Matt, I saids it once and I'll says it again: I ain't so stinkin' Republican! :P

Yes, there are anti-prostitution statutes in Federal Law. There are, in fact, several, and illegal trafficking is only a percentage of them.

The same way there are several Federal Laws against Cannabis (ironically, the Feds provide, for free, marijuana to a handful of people). Can't grow it, can't manufacture goods from it...but we can import hemp products.

And the...whatever it was called with Reagan, the Highway Act of the Road to Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions, limited federal funding by 10%. There are layers of fucked up in that alone. And even if it had been 5%, you don't see a serious problem with that? You don't see a serious problem in the federal government forcing adults to have their hands held by someone 3 years older so they can drink?

War. We could talk war all day. From Ramses II to Huangdi to that lovable little scamp Napoleon (bless his heart, he tried so hard). We could run from Africa to all of Europe and Asia and across the ocean to all of the Americas. We could talk about the constant wars of the Greeks to the constant wars of the Romans and the Irish and British and Byzantium and Spain and China and Japan and (it's more awesome when Japan invades China rather than the other way around). We could talk about how tiny little Japan whooped the shit out of Russia and lead to the birth of our modern naval fleet. On and on and on.

And all of that pales in comparison to the War on Drugs, which started before even Nixon.

This is my complaint: because of an overabundance of federal laws, and federal agencies, in areas they have no Constitutional authority to pursue, we have a weaker central government than we should. We have less freedoms than we should. Were it simply a problem of one state having more stupid laws over another state, it would be a different matter entirely. You could move. There's no freedom from federal influence.

I am Dr. Krog said...

I hate it when you guys distract MWS from writing novels. This is not Chicago crime fiction (which I am in the mood for!), Overworld, or a nuanced view of the Force. Damn it.

MWS said...

Thanks, Dr. K.

But Guy is the only outspoken libertarian type who tosses political hand grenades into this party; he's officially an endangered species, so I have a moral obligation to keep him going.

And Guy --

I absolutely agree that the War on Drugs was a shitty idea, and it's a terrible policy that is not improving with age. However, I'm not sure how it is properly called unconstitutional.

Guy said...

Woohoo, endangered species! I wonder how much money I could sucker out of Greenpeace with that line...

14th Ammendment:

...nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Article 1, Section 8:

The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

To borrow money on the credit of the United States;

To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;

To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;

To establish Post Offices and Post Roads;

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;

To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;

To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offenses against the Law of Nations;

To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

To provide and maintain a Navy;

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings; And

To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

Amazingly, nowhere in the DoI or Constitution does it say "The Congress or States shall impose a mandatory Temperance (except for, y'know, when it did...which itself was? Unconstitutional. But that's what happens when you let religion butt in. Irony.) on all its Citizens for their own damn good, and prohibit the growth of any flora, Liberty be damned."

I said before a person could move if a state made an unconstitutional law, and I don't know why; the Constitution trumps all.

Cy-Raxx said...

Hi Mr. Stover,

I'm a long-time blog reader and first time commenter (yeah, one of those lurky types) who considers you one of the better things to ever happen to the Star Wars EU, and I was wondering if you'd heard about Celebration V and/or were interested in appearing at the convention.

MWS said...

Cy-Raxx --

I haven't been thinking about Celebration. I've been to only one (III) and had a great time, as EpIII was fresh and hundreds of people lined up for my signings, which is always good for an author's ego.

I'm open to the idea of attending another, whether V or VI or whatever; but attendance to such events is contingent on a variety of uncertain financial and professional considerations (in other words, whether I have both money and non-deadline-killing free time).

Guy --

Welll . . . Prohibition was installed by the 18th Amendment (and repealed by the 21st), both ratified by the requisite 2/3 of the States (the 21st, apparently, by even more) -- which made it Constitutional by definition ; arguing that a Constituional amendment is "unconstitutional" is for ass-hats and freak-balls like the people who still refuse to pay income tax on the grounds that it's "unconstitutional," regardless of the 16th Amendment.

I believe that at least theoretically, Federal drug laws are made under the authority of "provide for . . . general welfare" clause of Article 8 paragraph 1.

Again, like I said: that doesn't stop it from being bad policy, but (though fully researching this would take more time than I have available) I seem to recall that the Supreme Court has several times affirmed the constitutionality of Federal drug laws.

This is not to say the Supremes can't be wrong (see Bush v. Gore), but it strikes me that the only way to change the situation is to vote for people who are willing to stand up and say it's bad policy, then get to work on a better one.

Joe said...

I agree with the rest of what Matt's been saying, but I'm pretty sure nothing gets upheld by the courts under "general welfare," otherwise pretty much nothing would be reserved for state governments. Drug law (and probably most of the rest of federal spending and regulation) is allowed under the interstate commerce clause. Note that when you're dealing with drugs or other contraband, it doesn't have to cross state lines to be considered to affect interstate commerce. Ever since the New Deal the Supreme Court has been interpreting this very broadly. In theory any economic activity could be interstate commerce. There have been a couple of cases in the last twenty years where they said things went to far, but it's still seen as a very broadly construed provision.

I could be wrong about some of this though, it's been a couple years since my Constitutional Law class. Stuff changes and people forget.

Grey Starr said...

Classic - That's the kind of media mistake I enjoy catching... and I am certain a lot of people caught on. Wonder how many e-mails they received correcting them.

Guy said...

The Congress nor the States are allowed to pass laws depriving someone of life, liberty, or property unless they've broken a law, or by eminent domain. So they create a self-serving loophole by making a liberty or property itself illegal so they can charge you for doing something that's illegal for the sole sake of it being illegal? Yeah, that's unconstitutional as it gets, doesn't matter where you write it down.

But hell, that's only one (although one of the most expensive--so far) of the areas they're siphoning money off where they have no right to. The Patriot Act, NASA, NASCAR, SS, the Federal Reserve Bank, Boy Scouts, SS, Medicare, CHIP, universities, foreign nations (Obama promising, what, $2.8 billion to Muslims around the world, and all the presidents before who've done the same) et al. Our government is allowed to regulate foreign and domestic commerce, not to promote it. The framers knew the damn difference, since two clauses later it specifically talks about promoting certain things via patents.

In what ways do we have a weaker central government by sticking to the enumerated powers? Your argument presupposes the assumption* that a tightly focused central government is a weak central government.

On another topic, since you're a fan of crime fiction and like Robert Downey Jr., are you going to see Sherlock Holmes?

*Oh yeah, I totally just took that from you. Next step in IP theft: a Barra and Kierendal slash fanfic. It's coming.

Guy said...

Well, I was totally talking out of my ass about Obama. $2.8 billion for Afghanistan, $7.5 billion for Pakistan, untold millions or billion elsewhere, and I jumbled it all together and mis-misquoted/remembered:

"On science and technology, we will launch a new fund to support technological development in Muslim—majority countries"

MWS said...

While I thank everyone who wrote in to correct my number of 5% penalty to Federal highway funds . . . you're all wrong. Sort of.

Excerpted from Brief 95-3 of the Wisconsin Legistative Refence Bureau:

"1986 — Drinking Age Increased to 21

On July 17, 1984, President Ronald Reagan signed P.L. 98–363, which required states to conform to a national minimum drinking age (NMDA) of 21. States that did not prohibit the “purchase and public possession” of alcohol-containing beverages by persons under age 21 by October 1, 1986, would lose 5% of their highway aid allocation during the first year of noncompliance and 10% in the second year."

"So they create a self-serving loophole by making a liberty or property itself illegal so they can charge you for doing something that's illegal for the sole sake of it being illegal? Yeah, that's unconstitutional as it gets, doesn't matter where you write it down."

This, my friend, is simply asinine. The power to determine what is or is not legal is vested in the Congress and the Federal judiciary. There are VAST REAMS of what was once presumed to be "liberty and property" that are VERY PROPERLY illegal. For example, the "liberty" (once cherished in this country) to undertake a duel to defend a supposed slight upon one's honor, o that of family and friends.

A form of traditional "property" that was constitutionally outlawed is chattel slavery. It was, after all, it was defending the Sacred Liberty to Own Brown People that the Confederacy fought the Civil War for.

[on a side note: one fellow from Mississippi and I had a conversation of this sort, and he -- as most hard-core revisionists do -- insisted that the Civil War was fought not over slavery, but in an attempt to defend "States' Rights", to which I replied: "the only actual right they were defending was the right to own slaves, so just shut the fuck up." Being a decent guy, despite his revisionist leanings, he did.]

I understand that these are extreme examples, but both fall under your rubric of taking a liberty or a property and making it illegal.

Further: you'll have to define your terms for us to get into the details of "tightly focused," as regards "weak," and "strong" central governments.

And yes, I am definitely going to see SHERLOCK HOLMES.

And I recommend against any Barra/Kierendal stuff. Barra is based on -- and, in fact, created by -- the Fabulous Robyn, and she might be inclined to take that shit personally.

And before you snicker, I should remind you that Robyn is a former competitive savateur (which is kind of like MMA, except with less rules), and she has received extensive training in Brazilian jujitsu, capoeira, and kali. She also did her KA-BAR live blade training with the international grandmaster of bando. And that with her Witness Elite Match 10mm, she can shoot the eyes out of a teddy bear at twenty-five yards.

And I'm not kidding about how good she is: the very first round she put through that pistol was into a tactical target at fifteen yards, and it was dead center of the 10-ring, which is a circle about the size of a silver dollar centered on the target's upper lip.

Also, she was raised on a corn, beef and pork farm, which means she and her family would regularly slaughter and eat her pets.

And she likes cows more than she does people.

So everybody take this as a word to the wise. Don't fuck around with Barra, because you might not get another warning.

Guy said...

Slavery violates rights to life and liberty and property, and as such by definition cannot be unwilling property. They unfucked themselves eventually from the retardedness of their own hypocrisy. Such un-fucking-believable stupidity.

It's interesting that you chose those two examples. Slavery and murder both directly harm other people. There are plenty of laws about intentionally indirectly harming other people as well. "We have to protect you from yourself" has done little but deprive people of liberties that do neither.

Tightly focused: Congress sticks to the enumerated powers. It collects enough taxes to pay off its debt and hire enough people, and to train those people very well, to enforce its authority and to carry out its duties.

Congress should be kicking ass and taking names with the absolute shit that so many consumer contracts are (which Obama started to do with credit cards), breaking the monopolies that companies have over health insurance (which the administration is doing the exact opposite of) and paying off the debt instead of trying to double it. Or hey, bring back usury laws. Or beating people over the head with their own half-assed legislation that's so vague that not even the lawyers understand it, let alone a layman. That would be so much more effective that worrying about some stoner cradling his pound of dope and watching the pretty pretty lights, or that or who two consensual adults want to fuck or marry, with or without exchanging money, or making golf clubs stronger while trying to kill people with radiation...I mean, sending them to Mars.

But look, I feel like shit about making such a bad joke. I didn't think it would be taken as anything but a joke. I really wasn't trying to offend. I am sorry.

WarlordGrego said...

If The Fabulous Robyn ever dumps you...let her know that I think she's really neat.

But don't make me sound like a tool, because...well, she could totally break me like a pencil.

I do have Karate, MMA, and Army Combatives experience...and I do shoot, but DAMN! I'm impressed.

Guy said...

The Fabulous Robyn is definitely someone to have your back in the coming zombie apocalypse.

MWS said...

Guy -- don't sweat it. The threat (on behalf of Robyn) was intended in the same spirit as your original comment.

As Robyn herself might put it: "Let's make a deal. First, you agree to never write slashfic about Barra, and in return, I agree to not kill you in some painful and humiliating fashion. Today."

Oh, and one more thing: her hobby is competitive triathlon, which means you're not sitting in something gasoline-powered, she can catch you. Not to mention -- and I shit you not -- she has studied Apache tracking with an honest-to-crap Apache tracker.

I have never used her in a book simply because the truth of her is more implausible than the fictions of Barra or Caine.

Greg --

The creepy thing about Robyn's skill with a handgun is that she's only been to the range a total of four or five times. The very first time we went, she was using my Kimber 1911 and thoroughly embarrassing me. Her FIRST CLIP EVER put 6 out of 8 rounds in that same 10-ring, and the other rwo just barely outside it. At fifteen yards, which as a shooter you know is harder than it sounds. When she starts in with the Witness, people shooting on the rest of the range stop and gape in awe. It's that uncanny.

It also helps that the Witness is a real 10 mm, not a .40 S&W -- which means its ballistics are roughly equal to the .41 Remington Magnum cartridge, so it's about half again as loud as the Kimber.

And finally, Gy again:

Robyn was BORN for the coming Zombie Apocalypse. Her legend lives on . . .

Guy said...

Ha! I have a motorcycle, which means I can escape both Robyn and the zombies! Or negotiate safe passage for her in exchange for not getting killed until I died from it. Options.

I'm part Apache. And Irish and German. Oh yeah. I have befriended bears and wolves. I have been shot and stabbed and thrown and fallen from great heights. I have broken bones with my bare hands. I have been called The Sly Fox by an old Indian guide whom I surprised with my cunning, and have been taught to hide my tracks by the same. I have been treated to daily reflex training from a young age, so that mine are nearly prescient. I insulted a Master Chief and lived to tell the tale. I have disappeared from under watchful eyes in closed rooms. I got cut off from drinking in a bowling alley. I am: Internet Tough Guy!

That would have been so much cooler with a special effects

I guess this all means I'll have to save the line "Nice ears. Wanna fuck?" for some other time...

WarlordGrego said...

Robyn is badass. Dude. Seriously.

Speaking of Zombie Apocalypse, have you read any good zombie fiction? I've read World War Z, Dying to Live, and Day by Day Armageddon. They were all really good, with Dying to Live being the weakest showing of the three. DbDA has a sequel coming out soon. If you like survival horror (even if you don't, I'm not a big fan of the genre), you should pick up these books.

Kimber 1911 is an awesome weapon. I've head several chances to fire one, and it was by far the nicest shooting .45 I've ever used.

Since ammo is so expensive these days, I've been keeping to shooting my little SIG mosquito .22 pistol. Its pretty good.

People laugh at my little .22 pistol, but then I tell them that the Ft. Hood shooter was using two .22s, and they shut the fuck up.

MWS said...

Guy --

And this is why I love you.

Greg --

The FH guy was using .22s? An initial report said he was using 5.7mm pistols, but I've been unable to confirm. This is a point of mild curiosity to me because when Robyn was picking out her pistol, it came down to a choice between the Witness and an FN 5-7 (which fires the same 5.7x28mm cartridge as the P-90). She went for the Witness because it makes a Big Boom, which scares the crap out of people, and because it has a stainless slide so that -- *ahem* -- nobody has to squint to see that she's got a handful of Big Fucking Gun.

Kimber, btw, makes a conversion kit that lets your 1911 fire .22 Long. The kit ain't cheap -- between $225 and $275 -- but it's pretty nifty.

Guy said...

He used a FN Herstal 5.7. The news wants to wet itself because it keeps calling it the 'cop killer gun.' Anything they can get hysterical over.

MWS said...

Well, to be fair, the 5.7mm FMJ cartridge was specifically designed to penetrate light body armor. That round is not available to civilians, but, y'know, he wasn't a civilian.

We're not interested in its AP characteristics, we're interested in its high muzzle velocity and flat trajectory, because we're target-types. It is reputed to be exceedingly accurate for timed fire, due to low recoil.

Guy said...

He wasn't a civilian, but I don't think individual military members get to go out and buy AP rounds. Perhaps unless they're specifically force protection or MP types.

WarlordGrego said...

Matt, you're right about the round. I had heard it was a 5mm round (which is .22)

Anyways, military can't buy anything that a regular civilian can't. We don't get access to AP round or anything like that, just get what uncle sam gives us (which is either a 9mm pistol round, or a 5.56 rifle round)

In the military we cannot use personally bought rounds, weapons, or armor. This guy was not able to aquire this stuff because of his military status.

WarlordGrego said...

Also, I don't own the Kimber. My brother in law does...but since we're neighbors, I can shoot it anytime I want. He is trying to get his wife to let him buy the .22 conversion kit, but he got laid off at work.

I am Dr. Krog said...

I was thinking about Robyn's preternatural skill with the handgun. It makes some sense, with all that sensitivity based martial arts training, control and understanding of lines/angles should translate over to what is essentially another martial art.

I think it's like when the master (who has 4-5 disciplines under the belt) and the average Joe both go to learn a new martial art neither has ever done before, and that neither has a physical advantage for, the master usually picks it up exponentially quicker. At this point she would probably have advantages for learning any 'real' martial art.

As opposed to the one style dabbler who has just enough training for it to mess up learning anything else (“Thanks, but we used to do it like X in Sifu Joe’s academy” haven’t we all heard that?”). It’s awesome on a lot of levels to have trained partner (mutual respect, self defense, etc.).

Who else following here fights?

WarlordGrego said...

I don't fight, really.

I mean, I spar in my combatives class, and I love a good scrap...I'm pretty good for a guy my size (150 lbs, I usually spar guys that are at least 200 lbs)

I wouldn't ever consider fighting professionally though.

I have experience with Chito-ryu (Okinawan) and a few mixed martial arts classes.

Army combatives is essentially BJJ with striking, btw.

MWS said...

I haven't been in a ring since 2004, I think. I was kind of the opposite of the Warlord -- I'm 6'1" and I went around 210 - 215, and I mostly had to fight guys much, much smaller and much, much faster, except when I was actually in a match, which somehow I always ended up (being a super-heavy) giving up 50 or 60 pounds. I can testify that being labeled by a well-trained fighter who outweighs you by 60 pounds is not a great deal of fun.

He did not, however, hit as hard as one of my instructors, who fought at 175#. I had to spar with this individual fairly regularly. This particular guy retired as a muay Thai slash International Rules kickboxer with a record of 24-1, because no one else in the Midwest would fight him, so at the age of 33 or 34 he became a professional super-middleweight boxer, from which he recently retired with a record, if memory serves, of 37-3.

He liked to spar with me because I was big enough to suck up a lot of hurt -- and even so, I was in headgear and he was wearing 18 oz gloves, which are basically leather pillows, and he would regularly tag me hard enough to buckle my knees.

I think it was the second time I sparred with him, I discovered that my height and reach advantage (he was only about 5'7") let me hit him pretty solidly with my lead jab (a punch with which I am fairly proficient, have used it to deliver a couple of standing 8s in my day) to snap his head back and keep him at bay.

However, every time I followed with a cross, he'd whack me in the eye with a left hook that made fireworks inside my brain. It took me only three attempts before I realized I had no chance of stopping that hook, so I spent the rest of the round using my right only to block.

After class, he says, "Hey, you got the jab in pretty good, but you only threw your right hand three times." I said, "No kidding. One or two more of those hooks and I would have been face down on the canvas." He clapped me on the shoulder and said, "Oh, it was strategy? Well, okay then."

As you might imagine, I loved the guy, and he was one of my favorite instructors in a wide variety of arts -- boxing, muay thai, savate, capoeira (he was Robyn's capoeira instructor), stick fighting, knives, submission grappling . . . the guy was a monster. By the time I moved out of Chicago he was the head instructor of the Academy (which had about 1100 students).

Those were the days, my friends.

For many years, the only actual fun I had was found in learning how to beat someone to death.

MWS said...

Oh, and Doc?

Robyn actually picked up martial arts with the same uncanny ease. Her only organized physical training prior to the Degerberg was ballet -- though she grew up on a farm, so she was already stronger than most men in her weight class.

For glove-testing in savate, the technical part of the test is a series of drills performed with a parter, most of them involving some 10 to 15 strikes back and forther between the partners (each of which would be met with the appropriate defense and a counterstrike, then there's the counter-counterstrike, and the counter-counter-counter . . . but you get the idea).

Robyn could do any of the technical aspects after seeing it once.

When someone would ask her how she could do that kind of thing without the need to practice, she'd shrug and say, "It's just choreography. Until somebody draws blood, it's all just choreography."

Guy said...

Oh Robyn this. Oh Robyn that. Robyn's just sooooooo great. God, you think you were madly in love with her or something. Jeez.

Dornicus said...

Are you sure Robyn isn't an alias for River Tam?

Just a thought.

By the way, at 6'8" and 230lbs, I feel your pain in terms of many people being smaller and faster than you in the ring.

And, really, outside the ring, except in a dead run.

Not that I won't still kick Grego's ass all over town any day of the week, naturally.

Just sayin'.

MWS said...

No shit?

Y'know, I met a guy in Costa Rica last year -- a kung fu guy (Shaolin? I disremember) who turned into a competitive full-contact kickboxer; he, too, is 6'8" and about 230, and For about ten months now I've been trying to figure a way to get to the East Coast so that I can get in a ring with him. If I ever manage to get out that way, maybe I should put you and Grego on the list.

I am Dr. Krog said...

Cool. Sounds like Robyn is a true outlier, huh? Gifted on a lot of dimensions. Lucky you!

I was actually first introduced to Heroes Die through my Jeet Kune Do instructor. It was a homework assignment. He used to come up with cool ways to expand your training indirectly like that.

After that was boxing, and I also left the ring in 2004. Now I train cage fighters and regular joes in BJJ. I have to say, I like it better, clinching and staying close to you big gorillas, using in fighting and dominant positional striking instead of getting hit with twice my mass during exchanges. Cause yeah that sux. I am 6 foot, but only 165. To me, you guys might as well be monsters in a striking contest. At 165 sure you might have some speed, but you sure can't afford to take too much damage...

My wife (a lurker around these parts) is more into muay thai. I've tried to get her to cross train with some grappling too, but she only wanted to roll around on the ground with me. Go figure. I guess that's good!

Matt, I know what you mean about times in your life when the only joy is learning/practicing to beat people to death. The first times I sparred/fought all out, I found I could take off my impression management, my work mask, and be my true self. There is no impression management when someone is trying to beat you unconscious. The language of violence is 100% authentic, no bs. Very, very liberating. If you're used to wearing a mask, as most of us have to, you don't realize how much effort you spend keeping up appearances for corporate life, or whoever controls you, until you take it off. That's why Acts of Caine resonates so well with a lot of folks. Those of us who train don't get to go to Overworld (where 'actors' are their true or preferred selves), but sometimes if we're lucky, we get little tastes of it. And fighting, even facing loss can be delicious. Know what I mean? That sweet spot of feeling alive?

Dornicus said...

East Coast?

Shit, I'm in Iowa City 8 months out of the year (except around Christmas and over the summer); if you're still in Chicago, I'm sure I could find the time to hit the ring when I'm in town visiting some friends of mine. If I remember right, the drive to downtown is just about 3 and a half hours.

WarlordGrego said...

For the record, Dornicus is freakishly tall, yet he whimpers like a girl :D

Anyways, Mikey, we should totally spar next time you're in town. I will pwn you.

One time I was sparring my combatives instructor. This guy is a 6'3 250 lbs guy, solid muscle...that was an awesome fight. I lost, but it was the first time I actually made a name for myself inside my class.

Mainly they call me "Spider Monkey" or "That idiot who is too stupid to give up"

The guy didn't make me submit. He essentially just laid a knee into my chest and put all his weight on it. I tried to resist for a minute, but its hard to win a fight when you're nearly unconcious from lack of air :D

Tim said...

I am now thoroughly terrified of the people in this thread.

Also, of Robyn. Let me never run into her in even a somewhat dim alleyway, because I might just shit myself and spare anyone the shame of dealing with me.

MWS said...

Be not afraid.

In fact, you should be LESS afraid of the recreational fighters than the other guys (not Guy, though he scares me too -- people who get cut off drinking in a bowling alley are NOT to be fucked with).

The interesting thing about martial arts is that the more you know -- and especially the more years you spend in training, the less likely it is that you'll ever be in a street fight. You don't start fights, and the kind of people that do, well . . . they tend to edge away without making eye contact; they're looking for victims, not opponents.

It was almost 10 years ago when I had the sudden and startling insight that I would never -- NEVER -- have to actually fight someone who knew more about fighting than I did.

I'm not a soldier or a police officer, and people who know more martial arts than I do almost never start a fight themselves (the 'almost' is in there because there is always the possibility of the occasional whacko). Since I knew I would never start a fight, the chances of finding myself in actual combat with someone who knew more than me were literally infinitesimal . . . quod erat demonstrandum.

Which is really pretty cool.

Doc --

HEROES DIE as JKD homework? Man, you just made my year.

Dornie (and Doc) --

I think we should start an SF-and-whipass convention. (StoverCon?). There are an ASTONISHING number of SF and fantasy writers who are recreational martial artists -- Steve Donaldson is an umpteenth-dan black belt in Karate, Greg Keyes is a smallsword fencer, Troy Denning does judo and jujitsu, Bob Salvatore was a hockey player . . . not to mention all the ex-(and current) military types who lap this shit up.

Sparring during the day, seminars on different styles (doing karate with Stephen R Friggin' DONALDSON? How cool would THAT be?), then SF panels, readings and drunkenness at night.

Sounds like heaven to me.

Guy said...

I'd buy 50 tickets. One for myself and the rest to sop up some of the unfiltered AWESOME that would be floating around.

Guy said...

"The interesting thing about martial arts is that the more you know -- and especially the more years you spend in training, the less likely it is that you'll ever be in a street fight. You don't start fights, and the kind of people that do, well . . . they tend to edge away without making eye contact; they're looking for victims, not opponents."

Like these two guys. This shit is hilarious. Starts at 1:15

Knightfall1138 said...

I would attend Stovercon. It's not too often that you can hear an author speak about the state of the science-fiction genre, followed up by someone getting punched the fuck out.

I bet it would be as unpredictable as it sounds. =O

I am Dr. Krog said...

Ok, super nerd alert, but I bet someone on here will have some thoughts on this.

I was watching Star War Episode 4 today with my 3 year old. She asked if Han Solo was a Jedi. It occured to me, that throughout the Expanded Universe Han is decidedly not force sensitive. And yet, I have the feeling he uses the force, the same as the jedi. He's just not conscious of it. He's got their luck and starship skills. Impactful, but not sensitive maybe?

His kids are also just as strong as Luke and Anakin. He didn't seem to water them down with his genes. I wonder why I've never seen it considered.

I mean, if on Han's last adventure, when he dies, if he disappeared, that would be pretty wild. Throw people for a loop...

Dornicus said...

I'm in. Just give me the when and where and I'm all over it.

Same goes for me and Grego taking turns whoopin' up on ya.


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Filming Opportunities

In addition to sporting and concert events the Maverik Center can provide a variety of options as a location for film, television and commercial production.  With its main arena that can seat as many as 12,000 to the more than 10,000 sq feet of meeting space with additional hallways, restaurant and grand staircase the Maverik Center can resemble many different types of locations all in one stop.  Whether you are looking for the traditional sports arena and concert venue or if you are looking for a glass office building exterior, hospital, morgue, restaurant, locker room, high tech military facility, warehouse, tunnels or  a huge parking lot with 2200 spaces the Maverik Center is the place to start your scouting.
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Sunday, December 26, 2010

Rainforest Mural: Macaw Exhibit at the Aquarium of the Americas

This past September, while simultaneously serving jury duty in Criminal District Court, I completed and installed this mural for the Macaw Exhibit in the Rainforest Area of Audubon Institute's Aquarium of the Americas. Like the exterior one for the Zoo's "Dinosaur Adventure" exhibit, it was executed using exterior latex paint on vinyl billboard material to withstand the constant moisture and weekly hosing of the painting.

I think it is one of my best works, especially considering I only spent a week to complete and install it. I can only post photos of sections and not a photo of the mural in its entirety due to the mural's size, my inability to photograph it from a distance, and my lack of a wide angle lens.


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Ted Baker Lip Balm Trio

Lip balm is a necessity and I'm sure you would find one floating around in every girls handbag. So it's good to know which ones to avoid or which ones are worth a try with such an essential product.
Today I have a trio of Ted baker lip balms to share with you.
Now first things first.....Helloooo super duper cute packaging! Ted, you and your amazingly beautiful prints have done it again. This time it's covering a little cardboard box, which inside house a trio of fruity scented lip balms.
The three balms are each lightly scented & apply easily to the lip. They have the same type of moisture that I would compare to an EOS balm, with slightly more thickness, which in my books is a good thing.
I've been a devout blistex/calmex lip balm user for years and in comparison no they do not have the same topical scent or thin application but in my opinion they moisturize my lips equally the same. Over the past few months I've been feeling that my lips have just had an overload of topical ingredients and for some reason I felt this made my lips even drier.
I was honestly dubious on trying the Ted Baker balms, as they're not exactly a brand known for there lip products, but I have been seriously impressed. And let me tell you that these are the only balms I've been using for over a month now and my lips are very happy, no cracks or dryness at all. Plus I now have a cute little box to display on my vanity table.

What is your go to lip balm?

£10 available at Boots.com

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  1. YAY Im so glad to see a new post on my feed from u doll! Ive missed u!!! These are gorgeously packaged for sure. We don't have this brand or boots here. (Darn U.S) but if we did I sure would love to try these!!!!!

  2. Your photos are just SO good! xx

    1. I've been really trying to improve my photography so that means a lot thank you Hannah xx

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    Mascara & Maltesers

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    Shree | PorcelainShree | A Charming Beauty & Lifestyle Blog

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Thursday, September 15, 2011

Long Vacations (aka Excuses, Excuses)

Though I consider myself an avid blogger, most of the blogging I do is held on a private site, and for purposes of journaling the experiences of myself and my family. (I also consider my private blog a sort of digital scrapbook, as I'm not very creative with scissors and pretty paper, and therefore usually don't bother with the other type).

Even though I sign into my blogger account several times a week, I try to cover the part of the screen that links to this blog, and the blaring announcement that it has been over nine months since my last post, of which there aren't very many to begin with.

I tell myself, "Hey, I'm on vacation." which really means I have a thousand excuses for why I am not working on my writing. Some of the excuses are legitimate. In the past year, I have done all of the following:

  1. Had a beautiful baby boy

  2. Endured some minor health difficulties related to this miraculous event

  3. Thanksgiving, Halloween, and Christmas with three small children (enough said, right?)

  4. Directed a high school musical play (what was I thinking?) - which was a phenomenal, though busy, experience!

  5. Helped my husband job search

  6. Helped my husband apply to school

  7. Accepted the fact that we were going back to student life

  8. Started the process of opening an accredited preschool dayhome

  9. Soccer, swimming lessons, YW camp and other summer sports and activities

  10. Moved my entire family 6 hours away! Ahhhh!

Even looking over this list again, I realize how crazy busy my past year seems. Whether the excuses are legitimate or not, the point is I was not making room, even in small increments, for something I consider equally important - writing.

It's time to turn the car around. It's time to get back to the writing. It's time to get organized.

I need it more than it needs me. Even if I only get 10 minutes in at the end of the day, writing is what allows me to keep my sanity.

Vacation's over - No more excuses!

1 comment:

  1. Glad to hear it. I can't wait to read what you've been writing.

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Saturday, January 15, 2011

Saturday morning finds, I had to find these in extreme heat, what martyr I am

the scarf was so pretty I put it in twice, ok I'm useless

5 hand painted glasses, I really love them for some reason can't resist
very pretty scarf, my favourite colours
two retro sheets, quilt backing I think
I'm in love with Flosmaron, and I know nothing about it except it's beautiful
cute little jam dish
Gorgeous Alfred Meakin platter
A vase I bought yesterday

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Español (spanish formal Internacional)English (United Kingdom)

Charla "Anytime ontology alignment in opportunistic environments" de Valentina Tamma el 9 de febrero

El próximo 9 de febrero a las 10:00 horas Valentina Tamma impartirá la charla "Anytime ontology alignment in opportunistic environments" en la sala H1003 del bloque 1 de la Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Informáticos (ETSII) de la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM).

Aquí puede leer el abstract de la charla: "The problem of translating or mapping one schema / ontology in another one has received wide attention in the area of ontology engineering, and many alignment approaches exist. However, these approaches make strong constraints on the availability of knowledge and are usually performed offline, prior to any form of interaction, and often in a centralised fashion.
Less attention has been given to the problem of aligning ontologies on an anytime basis, where only the necessary knowledge is translated and exchanged, and possibly taking into account the preferences of the parties involved. This problem is particularly relevant in situation where partial disclosure of the ontological knowledge is desirable, either because part of the ontologies represent proprietary or commercially sensitive knowledge, or in order to focus the alignment process only on the entities that are essential in order to satisfy a query.

This talk introduces the notion of anytime alignment that can be applied both to the problem of alignment generation and alignment aggregation.  It identifies a number of issues related to determining an alignment through a collaborative decentralised process during opportunistic interactions, that do not presuppose the full disclosure of the relevant ontologies and / or correspondences previously used. Furthermore, we explore issues of: 1) optimality of the solutions when determining an injective alignment; and 2) the use of approximations to determine suitable sub-optimal solutions that satisfy certain conditions and, most importantly, do not violate the consistency and conservativity properties of the ontologies."

Dr Valentina Tamma works in the Robotics & Autonomous Systems and in the KR group, within the Department of Computer Science at the University of Liverpool. Her research interests lie in ontology engineering within open, dynamic environments, and in particular her research has focussed on the design, development and application of ontologies for modelling knowledge in opportunistic environments. Much of her research in recent years has focussed on the problem of aligning ontologies dynamically and under specific conditions, e.g. partial knowledge disclosure.

She has authored several conference papers and journal articles on the subject, and she has been involved in the organisation of a number of relevant events, such as ESWC 2005, the AAAI 05 symposium on agents and the semantic web, and the ISWC 2004 and ECAI 06 workshops on semantic web technology for mobile and ubiquitous applications. She is a member of the Ontology OWL: Experiences and Directions (OWLED) Workshop Steering committee, and she served as Programme chair (OWLED 2014) and General Chair (OWLED 2015) of the OWLED workshop. Dr Tamma served on several  Programme Committees for various Artificial Intelligence, Agents and Semantic Web Conferences and she has been principal and co investigator in several EU and UK funded projects.

Created under Creative Commons License - 2015 OEG.


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