Contents
Reading
Playing
alChandler's Halls
Spreading joy since 1999.
Deathloop
Deathloop is a very good game and if you've never played it you can get it for free from the Epic Store until 6/12.June 7, 2025
The Blue Danube
I've always been a fan of the space program. I've also been a fan of 2001: A Space Odyssey so when I found a nine minute clip of a Soyuz capsule docking with the ISS and found a performance of the Blue Danube that was almost as long, I added it to the video. And I never bothered to upload it to YouTube. Today I posted it, so there you go.
By the way, the original video was speeded up considerably.
June 3, 2025
Finished Oblivion
I've played remakes before but never actually finished one until now. I'm toying with the idea of reinstalling the System Shock remake. Oblivion was a 19 year old game, System Shock is 31. And yet the System Shock remake feels more modern then the Oblivion remake. Oblivion was made by Bethesda, and I don't think of Bethesda as an innovative company. System Shock was made by Looking Glass and they were an innovative company.
At any rate, armed only with strawberry and guava gummies, I'll take another shot at finishing System Shock.
June 2, 2025
Miscellaneous Stuff
I'm in the endgame section of Oblivion. Before I left for New York I got frustrated with closing the Oblivion Gates, uninstalled the game and reinstalled the game the next day. Same thing after I got home. So that's what's happening game wise.
***
New York was fun. Among other things, Donna and I saw Sinners. I thought it was good but not great. If it comes out on a service I subscribe to I'll watch it a second time but it's not a movie I'm going to buy. And a lot of movies don't get that far with me, Last night I saw Captain America: Brave New World and it's not getting a second watch.
***
And speaking of Captain America: Brave New World, I thought Harrison Ford looked a bit too frail to play Thaddeus Ross.
***
Finally, I'm rereading Stephen King's book If it Bleeds. It's a collection of four novellas and one of them is called The Life of Chuck. The movie based on the novella comes out next month and while I probably won't be motivated to see it in the theater, I definitely want to see it at some point. And who knows, maybe sometime in June I'll be bored and I'll check it out.
***
And by the way, I resisted the temptation to say anything about King's novella. Points to me for that.May 29, 2025
Oblivion Update
After 72 Hours in the game I'm level 20 and I decided to trigger the end game. I'm having a good time but I have fond memories of the original game which probably colors my opinion. Hell, I have the map from 2006 on the wall in the office.
Oblivion was an early example of an open world game, and sometimes it can surprise you. At one point I wandered into the Shrine of Vaermina. Vaermina is a Daedra, essentially an evil god, and when her followers wanted me to go on a fetch quest for her I didn't take their quest. I generally play good characters and Vaermina is pretty sketchy. Time passed and the other day I wandered into a place called Arkved's Rending Halls. It was a genuinely surrealistic place and eventually I found Arkved in a coma and when I searched his room I found the Orb of Vaermina on a table. Just to see what would happen I went back to the shrine where the acolytes started pressing me to accept their quest. At that point Vaermina turned up, talked some trash about Arkved and even though I never took the quest, she rewarded me with the Skull of Corruption. I may running a good character but when an evil god thanks you and gives you a gift, you take it.
On Thursday I'm heading for New York City so the big finish will have to wait until after Memorial Day.
May 21, 2025
He's Not Running Anymore
(It's a real movie)
May 20, 2025
Gestapo
You know, if your agents are being routinely compared to the Gestapo it's because of what they're doing. Instead of whining about it why not tell them to turn down the fascist thug shit?
May 19, 2025
Books
I finished the first two books in Alex Pheby's Cities of the Weft Trilogy. I just started the finale, Waterblack.
I have no idea if Pheby has read Mervyn Peake's novels but there's a strong Peake aroma there, as well as China Miéville. Unlike Tolkien, who included a detailed description of the calendar used in the Shire, Pheby (along with Peake and Miéville) doesn't give you 6,000 years of history. All three writers create worlds that hang together well enough but you don't need to know if they're using the Gregorian calendar, or if they're even on Earth (almost certainly not in some of Miéville's books). To be honest, while I'm curious about things like the History of Gormenghast Castle, I'm glad that Peake never bothered with it. I enjoy the mystery.
Waterblack and the previous two books, aren't as accessible as The Lord of the Rings but I'm into books like that. The setup is that Nathan Treeves, is a child living in the slums of Mordew, a city run by a fellow called the Master of Mordew. A long time ago the Master, along with a few other people, killed God. God's corpse is ensconced under the city, and is prize in a tontine. The last one living among the original killers get God's powers. But as the centuries dragged on folks are getting tired of waiting.
And that's enough to go on I think.
May 19, 2025
Oblivion Gate
I thought this particular gate was procedurally generated but as it turns out it wasn't. I was curious about that because in the other gates I closed it was a straight path to the fortress. This one was not and it took me a long time to reach the fortress. That's why I recorded the last three minutes, as a reward to myself.
May 15, 2025
WWII Veteran vs. a Tesla
May 7, 2025
ChatGPT and the Alzabo
Our mental models for AIs come from television and movies. We think of HAL, Data or Samantha, all three are sentient. But programs like ChatGPT are more comparable to the alzabo in Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun series.
The alazbo is a large predator, kind of a cross between a hyena and a bear. Brought to Urth from another planet it can absorb bits of knowledge from the brains of its prey and use that to aid it in future hunts. In the book Severian encounters an alzabo in the mountains while staying with a family. There's Casdoe, her son (also named Severian) and her father in law. Her husband, Becan, has gone missing. As it turns out Becan is dead, killed and eaten by the alzabo.
The alzabo goes to the cabin at night and runs the Becan program. So Casdoe hears her husband's voice asking her to come out and join him in the alzabo. The alzabo is not sentient and Becan is not alive in the alzabo's brain (some folks may disagree with me on that) but the beast can use bits and pieces of Becan's knowledge to make its hunt easier. As the family huddles in their attic, Severian and the alzabo talk:
"In a watch or two then, I will kill you or you will kill me. Or we will destroy each other. If I turn now and go out into the night and the rain will you hunt me down when Urth turns toward the light once more? Or remain here to keep me from the woman and the child that are mine?"
"No," I said.
The alzabo without understanding of the nuance of the conversation is using what's left of Becan to determine if it has to fight for its next meal or if Severian (and his big ass sword) can be persuaded to leave. And since Severian is leaving, it can come back later and kill the rest of the family without too much fuss.
No real understanding of the conversation, but it can indeed hold a conversation, not unlike Chat GPT. ChatGPT isn't HAL or Data, it's an alzabo.
By the way, if Severian seems like a shit for cutting a deal with the alzabo, he had his reasons.
May 7, 2025
New Phone
My current phone is a Pixel 7a and it's the most reliable phone I ever owned. It hasn't given me a day's worth of trouble in three years and the battery is still going strong. And still, yesterday I ordered a Pixel 9a.
In the past my phones had a tendency to crash and burn at or near the three year mark. As I said, the 7a hasn't show nay sign of aging. But three years is three years and I don't want to have my phone die with Trump's tariffs in place. The 9a which cost me $600 yesterday will probably cost me $1200+ by the end of the year, that's because Trump is an idiot.
There's more I could say here but it would quickly devolve into a FUCK EVERYBODY rant.
May 6, 2025
Harry Potter
When Donna Lea's daughter was young she read the fist book in the Harry Potter series, then Donna read it and she passed it to me and insisted I read it. I gave it my best shot but gave up after about 30 pages. I'm afraid it just wasn't for me. I saw one of the movies, the one that tied up all the loose ends. I think it turned out at Snape, the bad guy, was really a good guy. He was working against the real bad guy, the bald dude with the fucked up nose. Or something.
But I haven't heard anything bad about the movies, which is why I don't understand why Max is making a Harry Potter series. Especially with the the whole J.K. Rowling thing. Rowling is virulently transphobic and Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint have called her out for her views. And Rowling has an executive producer gig with the new series.
So Max is getting a lot of pushback before the series has even started filming. Casey Bloys, the compny's CEO is getting rather defensive about the whole thing:
"I've said this before, but the decision to be in business with J.K. Rowling is not new for us. We've been in business for 25 years. We already have a show on HBO from J.K. Rowling called 'C.B. Strike' that we do with the BBC. I think it's pretty clear those are her personal political views. She's entitled to them. 'Harry Potter' is not being secretly infused with anything, and she's entitled to those views and I think people are pretty clear that she's entitled to them, and if you want to debate her, you can go on Twitter."
And yes, she is entitled to them, but that doesn't mean you have to give a transphobic billionaire any more of your money. And now the story isn't how cool, a Harry Potter series and is now, why are you working with this awful person. But that's Max's problem.
May 6, 2025
A Blast from the past
I knew I had the box somewhere in the closet of wonders. I probably have the manual too but trying to find it would take longer then it took Frodo to get to Mordor.
May 5, 2025
Happy Star Wars Day
May 4, 2025
Elder Scrolls: Oblivion
After 186 hours it's time to put Assassin's Creed Shadows out to pasture for a bit. I assume there's going to be a couple of expansions and I'll play then when they're released. In the meantime I decided to pick up the remaster of Elder Scrolls: Oblivion. I almost never replay games I've finished but almost is not the same as never. I did replay all three Mass Effect games when the Legendary Edition was released. And after 19 years my memories of the original Oblivion are faint enough to almost make it a new game for me.
That's Clem, standing outside of what's left of Kvatch after a daedric invasion. Daedras are demons breaking out of the hellplane of Oblivion to trouble Cyrodiil. I'm sure there's a reason for the invasion but after 19 years I've long since forgotten it. So I'll find out what's going on by playing, the same as I did in 2006.
For the rest, it's a remaster, not a remake so by today's standards the world is underpopulated, the cities are small and some of them load by sections. But I'm having fun, but hanging over that fun is the knowledge that I beat the game once and so I feel I have to beat it a second time, lest I be disgraced.
May 4, 2025
Victory
I'm still playing ACS but the main plot is over. There are a few things to tidy up but 16th century Japan has been squared away. I enjoyed the adventure, but of Ubisoft's four role playing games set in the Assassin's universe, this one comes in fourth. If you're interested:
1. Assassin's Creed Odyssey
2. Assassin's Creed Origins
3. Assassin's Creed Valhalla
4. Assassin's Creed Shadows
Which is not to say that ACS is bad, I had a good time, but I have no real grasp about what's going on other then assassins are the good guys. And that goes for the other three games too. I suppose I could find out the convoluted back story from the net but what the hell, who cares when you can play with Sword Hulk and Samurai Black Widow.
Right now there are three games I'm interested in, there's an expansion for Star Wars Outlaws dropping in May, there's a remake of Elder Scrolls Oblivion out and finally there's a Fallout/Stalker type game set in Britain called Atomfall. I'm not sure which one will get the nod, so ACS will get to hang around for another week or two.
April 28, 2025
Boss Fight
I just finished a difficult boss fight in Assassin's Creed Shadows, it was my second attempt to kill this bastard and after half an hour and much dying I finally got him. Go Team alChandler.
When You encounter this guy there's the usual dick waving prick fight before it begins.
Boss: You are weak and I will destroy you.
Yasuke: No, you're weak and I'll destroy you.
Boss: I want what's best for Japan.
Yasuke: No! you're evil!
Boss: I know you are but what am I?
We've all encountered this and I don't mind it but after my first death it would have been nice if the game plonked me back into the start of the fight. Instead it drops me outside the door to the boss' ultmate sanctum and I have to go through the same conversation over (and over) again. Toward the end I hated the boss and Yasuke.
Now that I've gotten that out of my system, here's a picture of Yasuke on his truly bad ass horse.
April 24, 2025
This Is Still My Favorite Nerd Thing Ever
April 22, 2025
Andor: Revolution Is not a Dinner Party
That's a quote from Mao Zedong and it sums up my reasons for not watching Andor. Andor is probably the best Star Wars show ever made and I concede that by not watching it I'm missing something special. Last night I tried picking up on episode 7 and only got half an hour in before I turned it off and went back to reading Tamsin on my Kindle.
The rebels do terrible things in their fight against the Empire, perhaps not as bad as what the Empire does to hold power but it's not a question of the rebellion's ethics, they just don't have the Empire's reach. And I concede that the goals of the rebels are laudable; the Empire is run sort of like the Trump administration, only they're competent. But I simply can't watch it and I know it's my loss.
This isn't the first time this happened, In season 2 of Star Trek Voyager a transporter accident merged Lieutenant Tuvok and Neelix into one being who called himself Tuvix. After a lot of angst, Captain Janeway decided to kill Tuvix by having the transporter sperate him back into Tuvok and Nelix again. After that episode I stopped watching the show, although I did watch the series finale.
Anyway, Andor is well worth your time.
April 22, 2025
This has been a Whenpigsfly production.
Any questions or comments can be directed to kaliban13@comcast.net.
Logo courtesy of Mrs. Silverman.