John Nugent’s Blog

oh yeah! I have a blog!

Wow.  Amazing how one’s outlook on the world can change in on day…or really…a mere handful of minutes.  Take a look at the two pictures below, both of New Zealand newspapers.  It’s a good good day that is dawning.

I have a lot more I want to say but unlike most of my posts I’d like to write it and proofread it first.  :)

Happy Day!

Hi. I’m still here. There ha been a lot going on lately some of it more fin the other parts. All ha worked just fine though and I’m happy.

A small chunk of my time has been eaten up by World of Warcraft. I’ve reached 70 and have a flying mount. Life us good. I also joined an awesome guild which has been lots of fun.

Sorry I don’t have more to say after a long absence. Buy more is coming.

…may in fact be growing on me.  Maybe.

After much poking around I resorted to…yes I did, I’m embarrassed to say…the online help.  I have now FINALLY figured out how to access not only my groups I’m a member of but also pages I’m “A Fan” of.  Also found out I can create pages.  That’s kind of neat, though technically not a feature of “new” Facebook.  So al in all, it’s here to stay so I suppose I must accept that which has happened and embrace the new Facebook.  Oh well.  The Facebook guys win.

You knew they would of course…right?

Sunday…I don’t want it to be Monday but, looking at the clock, I see that it is most definitely Monday and I haven’t yet slept.

As a side note…for those of you who know what it means (in other words you play World of Warcraft)…I decided to align myself with the Scryers today.  I had some good advice which makes good sense.  Seems the Scryers are the better deal.

Well…this is coming, again, later than I would have liked but my writing computer had a small software meltdown and resulted in my switching from windows to Ubuntu, a variant of Linux.  I was really hesitant to take that leap.  It seemed like there’d be so much overhead, learning curve, plus a certain aversion to Linux I’ve had for a long time.  As it turns out though, my fears were not reasonable ones at all.  What I have on my writing computer now is a faster, leaner, meaner operating system that is a MUCH better pairing for my beloved MacBook.  In a way it feels like having OS X on my little writing PC.  It’s pretty darn cool.

Yes there were a few days of learning the ropes and becoming self sufficient (my mum and sister are the linux people) but it took way less effort than I thought and now I’m thrilled to be both free of windows, which made a less than impressive entrance into my life when I got this computer, and have what is essentially a computer reborn.

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Sanctuary.  Don’t know what to say.  After a year of waiting I’m stunned by the show’s awesomeness.  Much like my writing computer, the show has been turned into a lean mean, monster protecting machine.  It’s been polished to a shine and the look and feel of the show make it obvious why the premiere had 2.7 million viewers.  The latest episode, the second so far, was just as good if not better.  There was action, plot, and character development in 43 minutes that went by like 5.  Can’t wait ’till next Friday.

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Big Buck Bunny…this is the latest project, developed under a Creative Commons Liscense, by the Project Orange team.  This computer animated film is free to download along with all the source files, which weigh in at a healthy 200gb.  It’s a brilliant 10 minute film that is every bit the joy to watch that every Pixar endeavor is.  Check it out.  Click the picture below.

Awesomely, Cool, Computer Animated Short

Well it’s been a little bit, but I’m hopping back on the wagon, I promise.

There’s been some unavoidable things lately keeping me from blogging.  I had a rather major meltdown working on my book.  A story hole, turned into a sink hole, and then very rapidly into a black hole…

…however!  I was able to right my ship with the help of my intrepid advisors and am now on solid ground chugging away.

Magic Whispers is WAY behind you say?  Well yeah…thing is these stories are also part of a larger work and that larger work has need…well…work.  So, yeah…Magic Whispers is behind but I’m ahead of the game in total.

Also, I’m pleased to say my sister is PERFECTLY healthy!  She got the results of a bone scan back and there was nothing to report!  w00t!!  No doubt waiting for those results and the preoccupation that goes along with that waiting has been occupying my mind in a large way.

That’s where I am at the moment.  I’ll have some photos and something more interesting to say tomorrow.  :)

At the risk of seeming ignorant and like I don’t know what I’m talking about, I need to complain about a trend I’m noticing lately around the internet that Americans might not even me aware of. More and more I’m noticing sites regionalizing their sites so that there is the one (usually cool one) the US sees and then the one that we, being people elsewhere in the world get to see.
I noticed this with tv.com. Whereas I was once able to view the US and, I assumed, only version of the site, I am now only able view the Australian version. There’s mo option to change back, only the one with australian specific content. This site, as opposed to the other, is frequently broken, the information is way more difficult to get at.
YouTube now forces me to go to nz.YouTube.com so my start page defaults to New Zealand content. Again, no choice. I can choose a worldwide setting as opposed to New Zealand but it still localizes the content.
Then there is the issue of multimedia resources being so treated. I’ve been unable to view any of the promotional content on many sites in the US. While I understand the market driven reasons for this I still find the practice to be stratifying in a very negative way.
I believe there is a real chance for this practice to simply continue the global system of haves and have nots rather than the Internet being the globalising, unifying force it can and should be.
All this also fails to recognize the danger of the controling of information. Right now it is being used in a purely economic and market based way, but what prevents this practices from being used to further isolate people, and prevent the spread of information. I thought sharing information was what the internet was all about.
Make this an issue you care about. Talk to your friends about it. Make people aware.

“informal speach”

yes, apparently if you search on “informal speach” you will somehow be linked to my blog.  Very strange.  Perhaps it’s because I write sort of, ya know, conversationally.  Of course it is most likely the fact that somewhere in my blog I used the word, informal, and then some other time used the word, speach.  Wow, I’ll be very embarrassed if I used the word phrase, informal speach, at some point in the last month or so and don’t remember it.  I’ll be even more embarrassed if I wrote an entry about informal speach.  Ack!  Now I feel like going back and checking.  Ah well.

Magic Whispers is ticking along but has ended up being a much more difficult and lenghty story than I’d intended.  Damn.

See, the individual stories will make up a coherent whole, ultimately painting a much larger picture, even though I intend each to be enjoyed more or less seperately.  Those of you that have known me long enough to have heard about or maybe even read what I had completed of The White Dragon, will be happy to know that you didn’t waste the eye effort.  The White Dragon is very much alive and is going to be the basis for either the story directly following Magic Whispers or the one after.  I haven’t decided yet.

Things are clipping along nicely though, wrote another 2,000 words yesterday.  That’s a really nice number.  If I can get that done in a day I’m very happy.

ok…I’m really not sure what to think of this show.  The pilot back in February was pretty darn good.  It was certainly no Stargate, Lost, Firefly, or Fringe…but it was certainly not wretched.

The season opener on the hand was…OK…but only ok.  There was some significantly cheesy aspects of this show that could almost make me not want to watch it.  Some of the banter certainly needs to go away.  I mean, that stuff was just silly and pushed humor too far in my opinion.

I also felt that several of the characters suffered some distinct character changes between the pilot and the first episode that really have the opportunity to make or break the character.

I certainly will watch a few more episodes…but my fingers are crossed tightly.

…I officially approve. While it’s true that the group has a different sound in some ways I think that they have a significantly more Queen feel, than if they had brought someone in who could simply be Freddie. Paul Rodgers has a clear distinct voice and melds well with Queen.
It’s one thing to judge how the group performs the Queen standards…buy quite another to judge how the group seems to work in collaboration on new material. Their new album The Cosmos Rocks…well…rocks. The group is fresh, vibrant, and meaningful. It’s an awesome album that wouldn’t be possible with someone who was simply a Freddie stand in like Robbie Williams might have been. It’s one thing to be able to capture a sound, but quite another to duplicate a sense of group. In this way Queen + Paul Rodgers is every bit the Queen I’ve always loved! Sounds change but what is essential is the spirit remaining the same and I really feel that this is the case. Once I realized that I suddenly realized that…wow!…they DO still sound like Queen! Yay!

The Cosmos Rocks and so does Queen + Paul Rodgers.