All posts by The Plaid Mentat

Gaming

Stellaris

A few of my friends have been raving about Stellaris for a while now, so when the new expansion launched, and it was on sale, I decided I would pick it up.  I’ve been playing it for about two weeks now, typically in the evenings, with a couple of longer games on the weekends.  Even still, I have yet to complete a game, and while my opinion of the game is still open, there are some things that I feel confident saying I like, and some other things I can say I dislike about the game. Continue reading Stellaris →

Books

Children of the Lens

(or The Boskonian War is over.)

I’ve now completed Children of the Lens, and I must admit to really enjoying the ride.  This book focuses on Kimball and Clarissa Kinnison’s five children, one boy and two pairs of twin girls, as they figure out how to complete the true objective of the Galactic Patrol – to take out the Eddorans.

Some spoilers and my thoughts after the jump. Continue reading Children of the Lens →

Pseudorandom

Taking a Week Off

Hey all – I have no backlog, and I’ve been doing so much writing for work that I’m a little burned out at the moment.  I’m taking the week to build up a backlog and enjoy the writing I’m doing rather than jumping off the bus on Tuesdays and Thursdays to post something to my blog.  Until next week…

…Have Fun!

Movies

Krull

I recently bought a new TV, and decided it was time to watch Krull again.  Most people who know me well know that Krull is my favorite movie of all time.  To some, it may only be the run-of-the-mill fantasy-action schlock, but as I’ve experienced this adventure a number of times (both the movie and the book), I can’t help but attribute a certain amount of depth to the story, as every time I experience it, I notice more and different things.

After the jump, a few of my own thoughts as I watched it most recently. Continue reading Krull →

Movies

Arrival

This weekend, I watched Arrival and I really enjoyed it.  I keep trying to call it The Arrival, but that’s a different movie (with Charlie Sheen, and aliens with inverted knees.)  Aside from that, Arrival was a great movie, and one I really enjoyed watching – a large part of it was the philosophy of the piece (which was downplayed a bit in the movie), but I also appreciated that it was willing to tell a sci-fi story without it being “action packed!”  Pretty major spoilers as I delve into philosophy after the jump. Continue reading Arrival →

Programming

New Dice Roller Updates

At the request of my cousin, I recently added the ability to roll the narrative dice from Fantasy Flight’s Edge of the Empire system to my dice roller.  After putting this off for quite a while, I sat down and powered through it over the course of a couple of evenings.  As expected, the hard part was really getting the iconography together, organized, and displayed in a way that looked good, while the plugin system I developed for my dice roller really made the coding very easy. Continue reading New Dice Roller Updates →

Books

Second Stage Lensmen

So, if you’ve read any post on my blog with “Lens” in the title over the last year, you know what this one is about – I recently finished Second Stage Lensmen by E. E. “Doc” Smith.   Though the title is plural, the story really focuses on Second Stage Lensman Kimball Kinnison, though, to be fair, Worsel and Nadrek both have their part to play (I can’t remember Tegonsee making an appearance at all, however.)   A bit of a summary below the fold. Continue reading Second Stage Lensmen →