Whoa.

 And now, without further ado, the final movie in the Bill and Ted trilogy:  

It's been a long time coming, in more ways than one - and I'm pleased to say that I found it well worth the wait. 

The movie starts with Bill and Ted speaking at the wedding of Missy and Ted's younger brother Deacon (I was SO CLOSE when I predicted in my previous posting that it would be a good plot hook if she married Ted) and then performing their latest failed attempt at writing the song which is going to unite the world. It appears that their (most) triumphant performance at the end of Bogus Journey was not that song, and since then Wyld Stallyns has been fruitlessly attempting to write it.

After Ted's father literally pulls the plug on their performance and berates the duo for wasting 35 years, Ted admits to Bill that he's thinking of giving up. At which point, they are dragged off to the future by Rufus' daughter Kelly, where they are informed that the song is more important than expected:  if it is not performed at exactly 7:17 on that date in the past, all of reality will be destroyed.  Time and space have already begun to unravel, with historical figures and artifacts like George Washington, Christ and the Pyramids of Cheops being pulled from their own times.  They have 77 minutes to write the song that they have been unable to complete in almost 35 years.

The duo remains unchanged in their desire for easy solutions: in this case, they plan to use the vintage phone booth time machine to visit their future selves and acquire the song after it has been written.

 

Meanwhile, their daughters, Theo and Billie, take advantage of Kelly's return to 2020 and borrow her time machine to begin putting together the ultimate band to back up their fathers' fateful performance. Full marks to Brigitte Lundy-Paine and Samara Weaving as Wilhelmina "Billie" Logan and Theodora "Theo" Preston, who manage to match Reeves and Winter in their deadpan dedication as they recruit Jimmy Hendrix, Louis Armstrong, and Mozart - along with legendary Chinese flautist Ling Lun and prehistoric drummer Grom.

 

No spoilers, but I don't think it's a shock to discover that the song is performed, reality is saved, and the future remains the future - except for the bad parts involving the princesses, Open Mike Night, Dave Grohl, and prison, which probably don't happen.  Bill and Ted profess their love for their wives, Ted's father apologizes for doubting them, Death is welcomed back into the band, and Kid Cudi says "Station".

Through it all, the movie remains completely true to its origins.

It's not sarcastic, it's not cringey**, it's just silly fun, delivered in the most earnest fashion imaginable, and Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves never wink, smirk or nudge - they ARE Bill and Ted, and they portray them with the gravity and respect that they deserve, with all their doubts and honesty and love and determination - two men who will die and go to Hell to find their daughters and make everything right.

And, to quote the late Rufus: "Sometimes things don't make sense until the end of the story."

- Sid

* It's actually kind of odd to see Keanu Reeves return to the innocence of Theodore "Ted" Logan after three blood-soaked John Wick movies - you have to wonder if he found it to be a relief.

** I love Tina Fey, but I can't watch her movies because of the cringe factor. 

"It's time to be the hero..."

"Time is in chaos...
the fate of earth hangs by a thread...
and you are our only hope...
It's time to be the hero."

Project Time Vortex

"Did you get my shoe?"

The Doctor

The universe is in danger, and the Doctor needs your help.

In fact, several Doctors, based on video logs from a former UNIT* Black Site. The site is built around a time anomaly known as the Time Fracture, which has been under study by UNIT scientists for 14,682 days (I'll save you finding a calculator - just over 40 years).  

After years without change, chronon and artron energy levels from the Fracture have unexpectedly spiked, accompanied by the arrival of an enigmatic artifact - okay, it's a shoe, very much in the style of the 10th Doctor.**

The changes in the Fracture have resulted in additional time anomalies being reported from around the world, and allowing alien incursions by Time Lords, Daleks and Cybermen, incursions which are quickly dealt with by security forces.

In an attempt to determine the cause of the changes in the long-dormant anomaly, former UNIT Sergeant Robert Dudley is sent in investigate the interior of the Fracture. A massive energy surge drags him in and severs his lifeline - the Sergeant is lost.

An additional video log from the black site reports that one of the UNIT scientists has come up with a plan to build a portal stabilization gateway based on technology from a vortex manipulator from the Black Archive.  The PSG would balance the artron and chronon energies to allow someone to safely enter the fracture, but they need volunteers, volunteers who understand the dangers that they will face.

"On who those volunteers should be, well, someone has a suggestion."

Following the loss of Sergeant Dudley, another piece of footwear has come through the fracture - this time strongly reminiscent of the current Doctor's boots - after which Doctor's private communication channel becomes active, first confirming receipt of the shoe, then followed by a list of hundreds and hundreds of names.

"Which brings us to you."

The video then switches to former UNIT chief scientist Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, who violates security protocols to deliver the astonishing news that one of the names on the list is yours, and earnestly suggests that this is your time to join the fight. "Consider this your invitation to step up and save the universe.  I know you won't let us down."

And so, the scene is set for the next Doctor Who Experience - Time Fracture, an immersive, interactive experience that spans time and space as you attempt to save the universe.

Time Fracture was announced on August 18th, and tickets went on sale two days later for a start date of February 17th, 2021, with performances available through to the 11th of April 2021.  Participants will also be able to add an exclusive merchandise package to their ticket, which includes a UNIT t-shirt, a UNIT pin, and an event poster.  (Sadly, the merch package is apparently only available on site - "for collection after your chosen performance.")

As part of my 50th birthday trip to Europe in 2011, I attended the first Doctor Who experience,which I found to be excellent fun for a Doctor Who fan, and there would be a kind of symmetry in attending another immersive experience for my 60th birthday.

As such, under normal circumstances I'd be gently lobbying for Karli and I to do a return trip to England early in 2021, but even if we both felt comfortable with international travel right now (which we don't), under the current restrictions it's just not practical.  We might well be called upon to self-isolate for 14 days at either or both ends of the trip, and let's face it, that's just not feasible.

But, in the famous words of baseball coach Yogi Berra, it ain't over till it's over.  The Time Fracture experience is on until almost May, there's been a lot of talk about vaccines, Trump** keeps saying the whole thing will just go away*** - anything could happen in the next few months.

To use an even older quote, who knows, the horse may learn to sing.

- Sid

* Originally the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce, now the UNified Intelligence Taskforce, UNIT has been a mainstay of the Doctor Who universe since 1968, but apparently UNIT operations were suspended in 2019 due to lack of government funding, which is presumably why everyone refers to themselves as "former" UNIT operatives.  This begs the question of how the black site has remained in operation.

** It says a great deal when you can recognize a shoe based on the character who wore it.

*** You know you're desperate when you start to quote Donald Trump as support.

**** As, hopefully, will Trump himself. 

Rivendell.

‘Rivendell!’ said Frodo. ‘Very good: I will go east, and I will make for Rivendell. I will take Sam to visit the Elves; he will be delighted.’ He spoke lightly; but his heart was moved suddenly with a desire to see the house of Elrond Halfelven, and breathe the air of that deep valley where many of the Fair Folk still dwelt in peace.

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

Sid: Hang on, I have to take a picture.
Karli: Blog posting?
Sid: Yep.

For our anniversary this year, Karli and I decided to spend a few days on Bowen Island, located a brief 20 minute ferry ride west of Vancouver's Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal. We stayed at a pleasant lower-level Airbnb apartment conveniently located near Snug Cove - an Airbnb, which, to my intense satisfaction, was located more or less at the corner of Elrond and Rivendell.  

For those of you not in on the joke, we first meet the seemingly ageless Elrond Half-Elven at his home of Rivendell in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, but it's not until The Lord of the Rings that we learn his full story, and of his involvement in the first War of the Ring.

The face of Elrond was ageless, neither old nor young, though in it was written the memory of many things both glad and sorrowful. His hair was dark as the shadows of twilight, and upon it was set a circlet of silver; his eyes were grey as a clear evening, and in them was a light like the light of stars. Venerable he seemed as a king crowned with many winters, and yet hale as a tried warrior in the fulness of his strength. He was the Lord of Rivendell and mighty among both Elves and Men.

Fans of both the books or the movies will recall that it is at the Council of Elrond* that Frodo volunteers to take the ring to Mordor, though he does not know the way.

I actually spent about an hour one morning** searching through the internet for some clue as to who the fantasy fan in the Bowen Island Planning department might be, without any luck.  Whoever was responsible, I can see why you made your decision: after four days of exploring the deep valleys and dark forests of Bowen Island, it's easy to imagine stumbling across a hidden mountain fastness, surrounded by trees and waterfalls, where Men and Elves rest and take council.

- Sid

P.S. In our travels we also discovered Eowyn Lane, but I'm not certain that it's part of the official street system.

* The council is being held at the court of Elrond - as per the sign, Elrond's Court.

** I often get up earlier than Karli, and it seemed like a quiet way to pass the time while I drank my tea.

"You faded into the Long Dark."

“On a long enough time line, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.”  

― Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club

In spite of preparing to move to a new apartment last month, I managed to find time to complete the Winter's Embrace gaming challenge in The Long Dark by surviving for 25 days, but couldn't dedicate the time to earn the achievement badge for eating 25 bags of Ketchup Chips and 25 bottles of Maple Syrup before the time ran out.

Since then, I've taken the occasional break from unpacking to try playing The Long Dark at the aptly named Interloper level, the most challenging option in terms of game play: the player starts with a minimal set of resources, and must craft almost all the essential tools for continued survival instead of salvaging them from the wreckage of civilization, with the environment becoming progressively more hostile as time goes on.

To illustrate the relative level of difficulty, until now I've only played at the second level, the Voyageur setting.  As a Voyageur, my longest run in the game has been close to 180 days. At the Interloper setting, I have yet to survive longer than eight days, and there have been lots of attempts where I haven't even made it through the first day without dying.

It's not an accident that all the locations on Great Bear Island where you can forge knives, hatchets and arrowheads are exposed to the elements to a greater or lesser extent, which has made the simple task of equipping myself for survival a fatal one in all of the attempts to date  - when I've managed to get that far, that is.

Karli asked me how much longer this would continue to be fun, and I can see her point: part of the enjoyment of gaming is in overcoming the challenges offered by the game, and if that challenge is insurmountable, why bother? There are a couple of games in my past that I abandoned because of exactly that problem: for example, I never did manage to defeat General Deathshead in the final boss fight of Wolfenstein: The New Order, and I finally got tired of trying.  However, I haven't reached that point yet as an Interloper.

In fact, I'd actually like to see the Fallout series introduce a similarly grueling option. The Survival setting in Fallout 4 is initially demanding, but after the player levels up a few times, it becomes easier and easier to stay alive, and ultimately ends up being very similar to the standard gameplay, whereas the Interloper option in The Long Dark is unrelenting in its assault, requiring constant planning, ingenuity and determination on the part of the player as weather conditions become worse and worse, and resources more and more rare.

Eating ketchup chips was a lot easier.

- Sid

UPDATE: After 30 attempts, I managed to stay on my feet long enough to successfully complete the trip across the challenging Forlorn Muskeg map through a howling blizzard to the Old Spence Family Homestead, survive the 24 hour hypothermia attack that resulted, forge a hatchet, knife, and four arrowheads, and return to the Camp Office beside the lake in the Mystery Lake map, one of the more forgiving locations in the game. Now I can finally harvest the maple sapling required to build a survival bow - provided I can stay alive for the six days that it takes for the wood to dry out first...

 

Perseverance II: Explorers

NASA's press release for the Perseverance launch mentioned something that I’d forgotten about completely - this was the mission that would take my name to Mars, etched by electron beam onto three silicon chips along with the names of 10.9 million people.  It's both surprising and gratifying that so many people would have discovered an obscure link to an odd opportunity, and then decided that they wanted to be involved in a trip to Mars - fellow explorers, I greet you.

Just out of curiousity*, I clicked on the link from my previous posting to see if the sign-up site was still live (and to see if there were any other opportunities to add to my travel reward points).

I was pleased to see that, in an admirable demonstration of attention to detail, NASA had updated my boarding pass to say NOW BOARDING:

The joke is that. what with the current situation, this is as close as I'm going to get to travelling abroad for quite a while.  The good news is that it certainly looks like we** have seats with a view for when we make our landing.

- Sid

* No Martian rover pun intended.

** Yes, we - because Karli is coming too!

Perseverance I: Liftoff.

At the start of 2021, the robotic population of Mars will increase by one.* The Perseverance rover launched early this morning from Cape Canaveral, and is scheduled to land at Jezero Crater next year on February 18th. 

However, this mission is a little different than its predecessors.  In addition to the same kind of physical exploration performed by other rovers, the newest citizen of the Red Planet is acting as a scout for future manned missions to Mars:  testing technologies for extracting oxygen from the thin Martian atmosphere, identifying crucial resources such as subterranean water, trialing new landing procedures, and analyzing environmental conditions to allow future explorers to better predict dangerous weather.

Perseverance has also been tasked with searching for microbial life forms, in hopes of answering the ongoing question as to whether or not there is any sort of life on the surface of Mars, and whether or not there may have been life in the past.

Perseverance will be the first rover equipped to store drilled core samples for eventual collection.  It's an important development - in spite of all the robotic exploration and experimentation which has taken place on the surface of Mars, no samples have been returned to Earth for further study and research, and this change in sampling strategy is part of the planning for astronauts to visit Mars.

To be completely accurate, I should have started by saying that the populations of Mars will increase by two.  Perseverance isn't alone on its mission - it has a companion called Ingenuity,  a lightweight autonomous*** solar-powered helicopter drone which will hopefully perform the first powered flight on Mars, thereby opening a completely new door for rapidly exploring the planet's surface.

The atmosphere of Mars is about 1% the density of Earth's, which makes powered flight a definite challenge, but on the plus side, the gravity is only 1/3 that of Earth.  I'm confident that the science behind Ingenuity is sound, which means we're going to see some spectacular drone shots of Mars.

Building on the unexpected longevity of previous rovers like Curiousity and Opportunity, the mission duration for Ingenuity and Perseverance is a Martian year, or sol, which is about 687 Earth days.  We wish you both a good trip and a safe landing - and hey, be careful up there, it's dangerous.

- Sid

* Unfortunately, we don’t have enough AI in place yet** on Mars for the kind of Darwinian self-replicating robotic evolution that pops up now and then in science fiction. Recommended reading would be Code of the Lifemaker by James P. Hogan, A Circus of Hells, by Poul Anderson, and innumerable short stories. (To a lesser extent, Gregory Benford’s Galactic Center series fall under this category as well.)

** Yet.

*** Autonomous is the key word here.  The worst-case 40 minute round-trip lag in transmission time  to Mars makes direct control impractical. Imagine trying to drive to work if you could only hit the brakes 20 minutes after you saw the light go red - with another 20 minute delay before your car stopped.  The good news is that there isn't anything else flying around for Ingenuity to hit - other than dust.

It IS the final frontier, after all.

Our thanks to Karli's sister Stefanie for a very on brand card for our move!  (Well, on brand for me, at least ... on brand for Karli is more likely to involve furry woodland creatures.) 

- Sid

Shelfish.

And, finally, Moving Day to our new apartment - a qualified disaster if I've ever experienced one.  

The moving company double-booked for our morning time slot, and decided to go with the people they'd booked after us instead - apparently first come is not first served. We spent the morning sitting impatiently in the middle of our packed possessions, receiving revised ETA after revised ETA, until a truck finally pulled up in our alley a full five and a half hours after the original arrival time that Ty, the owner, had promised us, and the moving process began to lurch painfully and slowly forward. 

We had one experienced mover, and two new hires - one who had been brought into the company a couple of months back, and one who had three whole days of experience.  Astonishingly, the other two found it necessary to repeatedly explain the most fundamental aspect of moving to this 17-year old neophyte: CARRY THINGS TO THE TRUCK - which you would think that almost anyone in the North American continent would already know.  

They ignored our request to have our furniture disassembled, but were kind enough to give me the tools to do their job for them, and decided that they didn't need to use the mattress bag that we'd also requested, cheerfully informing me that they wouldn't charge for it if they didn't use it (after dragging our mattress across the dirty floor of the truck).

As if to put icing on the cake, one of the movers - the 17-year old - quit his job between our old place and the new apartment, leading me to pitch in for the final stages of the move.  (What is the point of hiring movers if you have to carry boxes yourself?)

Since Karli had gone back to the old place to reassure a frightened Jaq the Cat, who had spent the first half of the move apprehensively locked in the bathroom, there was no one to direct the movers as to appropriate destinations for a lot of the items, leading to an incoherent mess of boxes and furniture.

The circus and its clown act finally left town, cash in hand, leaving me to assemble the bed so that we would at least have a place to sleep that night.  (The good news was that, since I'd taken the bed apart myself,  at least I knew where all the hardware was and how to put it back together.)

We spent the next few days feverishly emptying boxes, assembling furniture, and otherwise trying to get things sorted out before we had to go back to work.  Because we've both been working from home during the pandemic, it was more important than usual to get desks assembled and computers connected, which meant organizing the study sooner rather than later.

The good news is that, generally, shelving books is a quick unpacking activity, although I was operating under a bit of a handicap based on the complete chaos of the moving process.  I'm a methodical person, and I'd labelled the boxes alphabetically in order to make the process as seamless as possible.  In that scenario, I'd start with A for Abercrombie  and work my way through to Zelazny (or perhaps Zetlow, but you get the idea.)

In the real world, I had no idea when the A box was, and as such was forced to start with whatever letter of the alphabet came first to hand, which turned out to be H. We'd changed the configuration of the study from the old apartment, so I took my best guess, hoped for the best, and started dumping books onto shelves.

That being said, it was actually not too bad.  I did end up having to move a lot of books from shelf to shelf, but years of handing books has given me the ability to pick up an 18 or 24 inch spread of books and slide them onto a shelf, rather like someone playing an accordion made out of science fiction paperbacks.  It's fast and effective, but I have to say, don't try this at home unless you have a reasonable amount of forearm strength, it makes a bit of a mess if you can't maintain your grip.

Sad to say, I couldn't help but think that this would be the last time that I would move some of these books.  I can see retirement somewhere in the next decade, and unless circumstances change before then, we could easily stay in our new location that long.  But, when the time comes, we'll be downsizing to accommodate a reduced income, and a room full of books just won't be practical any more.

Although, I'm sure I'll keep a few, right?

Just a few...you know, the good ones, the ones I like.

- Sid

* The Infinite Revolution does NOT recommend Home Run Moving.  NOT.  NOT NOT NOT.  Zero stars.  No thumbs up.  0/10, would not use again.  And Ty?  You should be ashamed of yourself for how you handled things.

"I find myself alone on a strange world..."

There probably isn't a worse time to buy an complex open-world computer game set in near-infinite space than the middle of moving to a new apartment.  Nonetheless, Steam had one on sale, an ex-coworker had raved about the game in question, and after all, it's not like it was going to disappear if I didn't play it right away.

All that taken into account, I decided to go ahead, and invested $33.24 CAD in No Man's Sky, a combination survival simulation/space exploration game first released by indie developer Hello Games in 2016.

No Man's Sky relies upon an elaborate procedural generation algorithm that has the capability to create over 28 quintillion unique planets, each with its own unique ecosystem and environment.  (Presumably the algorithm also has the capacity to name them all.)  Apparently players operate in a shared universe, although with that many planets available, it's difficult to imagine that you would ever stumble across another explorer. Through the course of the game, players survive, explore, trade, and, when necessary, fight for their lives.

In some ways, the initial portion of the game is reminiscent of The Long Dark in that your character, the Traveller, is introduced into a hostile environment where they must locate the resources necessary to stay alive as their oxygen supply creeps downward and their exosuit's armour and shielding degrades under the assault of corrosive gases, radiation, storms, and predatory wildlife.  Robotic Sentinels, large or small, may also assault the Traveller in order to protect the planet's resources from their depredations.

However, the initial survival-oriented gameplay is just a gateway into a larger experience.  Once the Traveller has located and repaired their damaged starship using local resources and salvaged technology, they can leave the planet and begin to explore the universe.

Each solar system has a space station, where the Traveller can upgrade their equipment by trading for additional technology and blueprints, and interact with the three main alien races that share the universe:  the Vy'Keen, the Gex, and the Korvax.  Unfortunately, the Traveller must first learn to communicate with the aliens in order to avoid misunderstandings and possible attacks in transit by aliens fleets. 

In addition to trade, credits can be earned by exploring planets and uploading the results to the Atlas, an enigmatic cosmic entity with interfaces scattered through the universe.

Alien bases, either occupied or abandoned, may also be discovered on planetary surfaces, and players can build their own base, giving them a secure location from which to operate.

After downloading the game, I took a break from packing boxes in order to quickly try it out, and quite liked the look and feel of the game, although it took me some time and experimentation to determine how to make use of the interface.  I also realized immediately that the complexity of the game would require more of an investment of time than a quick visit - there are a lot of options and capabilities available to the player. 

To be honest, I actually feel more than a little overwhelmed by the possibilities presented by No Man's Sky. Faced with infinity, where do you begin?

- Sid

Legendary Face Mask - ADDED TO INVENTORY.

As it turned out, following my previous posting I broke under the pressure and placed an online order for the Storm Crow Legendary Face Mask.  I also decided to buy a Storm Crow Alliance t-shirt - for a long time, they weren't available online, but when I saw that they were now in stock on their site, I jumped at the chance to add one to my wardrobe.

I received my shipment today, and I have mixed reviews for the mask.  On the plus side, I like the adjustable earpieces - on the minus side, it's not a perfect fit for my face (Not to mention that nagging typo, which I hope they fix in future print runs.) However, I may try it out with a clip connecting the two earpieces rather than looping them over my ears, they're quite long and that may work out more efficiently.

The t-shirt is excellent quality and and a perfect fit, I'm pleased that I decided to get one when I had the chance. (I'd also like to think that hopefully I'll be wearing that t-shirt long after the mask has become an odd collectable rather than a daily necessity.)

Regarding packaging for the t-shirt, full points to the Storm Crow for their strong awareness of what it's like right now to receive a delivery.

- Sid

Joy.

DOCTOR: Thank you. Thank you so much. 

(He kisses Missy gently.) 

DOCTOR: I really didn't know. I wasn't sure. You lose sight sometimes. Thank you!

Death in Heaven, Doctor Who

Having finally found a new place to live, Karli and I are faced with the consequences:  boxing up all of our earthly possessions and either moving them ourselves or leaving them for the movers.

Packing is always an opportunity to purge, and if something has languished untouched and unneeded in storage for over a decade, the decision to sell it, donate it to a good cause, or trash it is an easy one to make.

However, some of those decisions are more of a challenge than others.  As per Marie Kondo, sometimes the question is whether or not the object sparks joy - or, more accurately, whether it still does so.

I haven't been consciously conducting this kind of analysis, but there have been things that I looked at and wondered if I only kept them out of habit, rather than any actual continued interest.  For example, I have a shoebox full of postcards from all over the world - my mother's relatives in England would send her postcards, and when they found out that the 8-year-old me kept them, they began sending them to me directly. 

Over the years, I've continued to collect post cards, asking people I knew socially or professionally to send me one when they travelled, and faithfully adding the ones I received to my little collection.  When I got to that point in the packing process, I took a long, long look at that shoebox. 

In the short term, I found a place for it, but it was a near thing.  Not all my possessions were so lucky - it was a little surprising, not to mention liberating, to see how many things failed the test.

The good news? My books spark joy.

It's more of a relief than you would think. As the 12th Doctor so aptly puts it, you lose sight sometimes. It's easy to take things for granted, but as I've started to pack up my little library of science fiction and fantasy, book after book has made me stop and smile appreciatively.

In many ways, my humble collection of dog-eared newsprint and worn 4-colour covers is my life.

It has been my inspiration, my teacher, my doorway into a more enlightened point of view, and, more times than I care to think, it's been my final refuge from the challenges and disappointments of the real world.

In fact, when I think about it, joy hardly seems to be a strong enough word.

- Sid

Legendary Face Mask.

Courtesy of the only place in Vancouver that's worried about your hit points:

I won't lie, I'm a bit tempted.  Hopefully they fixed the typo in the last line for the production version...

- Sid

P.S.  In case this speaks to your inner adventurer as well, the masks are available at:

https://shop.stormcrow.com/products/storm-crow-legendary-face-mask

“Mon pays ce n'est pas un pays, c'est l'hiver.”

For the next five weeks, Vancouver-based game developers Hinterland have introduced a special event for The Long Dark, their quietly apocalyptic winter survival game.  The harsh Winter's Embrace option lowers the already fatally cold outdoor temperatures in the game by an average of 10 degrees Celsius, reduces the indoor temperatures by the same amount, and makes the game's deadly blizzards longer and more frequent.  Players who manage to survive for 25 days will unlock a special achievement badge to acknowledge the extent of their frost-bitten survival skills.

However, it's not all bad news.  Since Canada Day takes place during the event, Hinterland has added a special Canadian twist to things with the addition of two new food items:  Maple Syrup and Ketchup Potato Chips.*  Players are challenged to consume 25 bottles of syrup and 25 bags of chips to receive another achievement badge.

As a final salute to Canada, the game now has a Heritage filter which gives the game a kind of 70s National Film Board feel, if you can imagine such a thing.**   I haven't tried that out yet, but so far I've survived for ten days and eight hours, found and eaten five bags of chips, and drank six bottles of maple syrup.  The tricky part is that I've pretty much cleaned out the local supply, and now I need to make the challenging trip to a new map, rather than hunker down and ride out the storms.  Wish me luck...

Happy Canada Day, everyone!   Be kind, be calm and be safe.

- Sid

* The apocalyptic nature of the game precludes poutine, unfortunately.

** There's also a Noir filter which makes the game monochromatic, but there's nothing particularly Canadian about it.

Packing for Mars.

Impressive book collection, and not intimidating at all so long as you keep them to sturdy small and medium sized boxes.

Moving company response to apartment photos

Good news, everyone, Karli and I are moving to a new apartment!  It's very close to being the perfect place:  a spacious 900 square feet two bedroom condo in a quiet neighbourhood that's close to shopping and restaurants, complete with free underground parking, en suite laundry, dishwasher, fireplace and balcony - and 1.5 bathrooms.  We're giving up our view of the mountains, but after 16 years here for me and five for Karli, we're willing to trade that for a nicer apartment.

As always, my book collection represents the most significant part of the move, at least from the perspective of the movers.  The good news is that, due to their consistent rectangular shape and relative immunity to breakage, books are a quick pack.  The bad news is, of course, they're heavy - and I've got a lot of them.

With that on the table, we've got a convenient two week overlap between the two places, and at $145 an hour for the movers, I am happy, HAPPY to invest some time and perspiration into transporting as many boxes of books as possible before Moving Day.  To quote the Solomon Kane movie, "It is a price I shall gladly pay."

- Sid