Ancient Stone Structure Beneath Sea of Galilee

Posted: April 12, 2013 in History, World Building
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As a history buff, this is the kind of thing I find interesting – beneath the Sea of Galilee in Israel, a massive, mysterious stone structure has been found, and no one is exactly sure as to its purpose.

It is also big – 70 metres across and 10 metres high. It was first spotted by sonar scan in 2003, and even a dive on the site hasn’t really worked out much about it, who made it, its age or purpose.

The full write up is available in the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology.

As a writer, I like scattering such unknowns around my worlds, random monuments to past ages and cultures that remain mysterious and unexplained.

Short Film – The Reward

Posted: April 9, 2013 in General
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The following is a short animated film, around 9 minutes in length, about a pair of unlikely adventurers. It is very much in the heroic fantasy style of adventuring (think Conan) than the high fantasy style.

There is also a kickstarter project to turn it into a series.

For such a short film, it packs quite a tale into it.

Mars Colonisation Simulator

Posted: April 5, 2013 in Games, Space
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I have mentioned before how much I’d enjoy to explore a new world, where none had set foot before, and how it was unlikely to happen in my lifetime.

There is of course Mars One and its plans to sent one way colonisers to Mars by 2023, but I doubt it will happen, and even if it did, the fiance would never agree to it. if not for those two facts, I’d probably jump at it, even if in effect it is a suicide mission. It’d give me plenty of time to write, for starters.

The closest I think I will come is a Mars colonisation simulator I found yesterday, called Mars Colony Challenger – I haven’t tried it out yet and it is still in alpha, so there are still probably bugs to iron out.

It is also a simulator, not a game.  As such, you are trying to establish your base and keep it running, to find water, grow food and the like.    It can be played multiplayer, and you can even take the rover out for a spin to explore the surface of mars – just watch out for storms and don’t forget to keep it charged.

When I have a moment I will have to grab a copy of the demo and give it a whirl – sounds like the kind of thing that might interest me.

Cyberpunk 2077

Posted: April 4, 2013 in Games
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One of my all time favourite movies is Blade Runner, perhaps the quintessential movie of the cyberpunk style and theme.  For those unfamiliar with cyberpunk – and who haven’t seen Blade Runner – it is a dystopian sci-fi genre, one of high-tech and low society.  Governments are generally weak and/or corrupt, while power lies in the hands of megacorporations, ones with their own private armies, who have been known to go to war with each other.  The street is a dirty, crowded place, where many cultures and ideas meet in a vast melting pot, and where people upgrade their bodies with cybernetic and genetic augmentations.  It also is always raining.

The cyberpunk genre had its height in the 80s and 90s, with various books, games and movies, and though its popularity has waned, it has not completely gone away.

One example of that is the upcoming Cyberpunk 2077 computer game, by Polish company CD Projekt Red, not due out until 2015 at the earliest, alas.  It is based on the old classic pen and paper Cyberpunk 2020 RPG.  A few details have been revealed over on its website, as well as the first trailer.  I haven’t played any of their games, but they have a good reputation, and if they can pull off what they state they want to do, it should be a great game.

And for a teaser of what we can expect, here is the trailer.

Castle/Firefly TV Intro Mashup

Posted: April 3, 2013 in General, tv shows
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I saw the following video yesterday, a mash up of two of my favourite shows – Castle and Firefly.  (Both, oddly, starring Nathan Fillion.)

It takes the theme and style of Firefly and uses the cast of Castle.  And its great.

PJ’s Sneak Peek at The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Posted: April 2, 2013 in Movies
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For those that bought The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, they were given access to a special to a special live online event which featured the first look at the second part, The Desolation of Smaug, due in December.

For those who didn’t get to see it, Peter Jackson has released a short 6 minute excerpt to whet our appetites.

Raiders of the Lost Ark Writing Process

Posted: March 31, 2013 in General, Movies, writing
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Back in 1978, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg sat down to brainstorm out the script for Raiders of the Lost Ark.  The whole process was taped, and those taped have now been transcribed into a PDF.  At 90 pages long, it isn’t a short read, but its is an intriguing look into how to the movie script came about, and escpecially for those of us who are writers.

The whole PDF can be viewed here.

A New Project – Of Dust and Gold

Posted: March 28, 2013 in steampunk, writing, writing update
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The first annoucement that is coming out of the changes previously announced is a new blog – Of Dust and Gold.  This is a collaborative project between my fiance and I, based on a steampunk setting we are planning to write in.

The website is still in the very early stages of construction, but will be regularly update, wtih a serialised story starting to appear soon, we hope.

Of Dust and Gold centres around an old tramp freighter airship, Aria, and her eccletic crew, as they travel a region modelled on the Colonial Australia gold-rushes, with a steampunk flavour to it.  Hence why I found the old gold rush photos so interesting, and relevant.

We hope to give it a really Australian feel, which is somewhat different to most current steampunk.

A Fascinating View Of A Past Era

Posted: March 26, 2013 in General, History
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As someone with a bit of a historical bent, I found the following most fascinating.

In 1951, a collection of 3500 glass plate negatives from the nineteenth century were found.  Digitally scanned, they can now be viewed and give glimpsed of what life was like back in 1872 and in the Gold Rush towns of Australia.

They can be viewed here, and a video about them viewed here.

The timing of finding this is rather intriguing, as there is a project I am working on that touches on aspects of this, and one of the characters just happens to be interested in photography, and would be using similar devices as took these photos.

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Dr Who Prequel

Posted: March 24, 2013 in tv shows
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With one week before Doctor Who starts up again, a short prequel to the first episode, The Bells of Saint John, has been released.

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