The Archiver Project, teaser 1

So here's a teaser for one of the short stories I'm planning for my upcoming fiction project, The Archiver Project. TAP is going to consist of a ton of fiction, potentially art, podcasts and bundles of fun in one :P The first teaser is from a short story, about two guys living in Japan in this futuristic world. There will be plenty of things unexplained, but it should be easy enough to follow. Note that this is in no way final either, just something that will hopefully catch some people's interest as I work on it.

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Jin walked into his room and sat at the edge of his bed. His father wouldn’t be home for another hour, so at least he could meet up with Terry on time. Jin flopped backwards, and closed his eyes.

“Computer, connect to Nexus,” he said aloud, for no other reason than to break the silence in his room. The nanomachine in his brain buzzed for a split second, something he had never been able to get used to.

Instantly, he was at a bridge overlooking a steam, in his mind’s eye. The place was distinctly Japanese, though Jin doubted the actual Nexus point was anywhere near his home. Evidence came from the overabundant sakura, something Westerners had grown far too fond of, regardless of how much it showed in traditional culture.

Terry was already there, in his typical hoodie and slicked-back hair.

“Nice, you could make it out here this time.”

“It’s not like we’re actually anywhere, Terry.”

“Looks like it, feels like it…”

Jin walked over to the railing leaning over it. He conjured some bread crumbs to feed the koi below. “Things are getting bad at the house. Ridiculous bad.”

“The sterility thing is really driving the family nuts huh?” Terry said casually, as he eyed a woman walking past.

“My parents have girls lined up and staying in the house now.”

Terry gave Jin a nudge, grinning. “Every twenty-year-old’s dream, nice!”

“They kidnapped them, Terry. It’s not that nice.”

At that, Terry stopped grinning. “Physically?”

“Not everything happens on the Nexus, Terry. They got the guys to go around the own, looking for any and every female. They’re still not convinced it might be me, like all the news has been saying about all the men.”

“Well, the NET is taking out women too…”

Jin glared at Terry. “That doesn’t mean my family has any place kidnapping them and taking them out of their homes! I need some way out of there, before they actually start forcing me to have sex.”

“Your hips are still your own, you know.”

“It’s family, Terry. I’m not going to be able to say no forever.”

“Then just stay here, on the Nexus.”

Jin turned around, putting his back on the railing. In the corner of his eye he saw Terry staring at his shoes.

“I’ve already been here for five days straight. It’s no so bad if you schedule the feeding and stuff—”

“You’re kidding.”

“I have no reason to stay home, Jin. No reason to stick to that idiot physical world. Here, my body still works, and here, I don’t have to look at an empty house. My family went down to Tensho last week.”

Jin shook his head. “They participated in the social suicide?”

“Yeah.”

“Were you there?”

“Yeah. The last fucking one standing. 199 people dead at the same time, by their own hand.” Terry pulled his hood up, and kept staring at his shoes.
...read on...

The Archiver, revised post!

Kind of. Basically, I kind of screwed up with posting something like that about the project so early, as things have changed (again). Maybe some more credible, make-sense info will be out next time :P


...read on...

Brian's To-Do List!

Damn, 3 months without a post. My Technorati score must've been destroyed!!!! :P Since my last post, I've gotten my degree, entered the unemployed world, watched the Lakers win a title!, gone back to school, and started a few projects. So, my update list is gonna be interesting and fun, tempered by the fact that I still need to find a job.

The List

• Learn C++: So, this one started right after school ended, and then I realized I knew most of what I needed to already, from the most general sense. I just needed exposure and a reason to write another line of "Hello World" so the schooling actually helped here, I guess.




What most people think coding is like, and why proggers get so annoyed >:O
(image courtesy of Web Standards)



• Learn PHP/SQL: This one started last month, after a discussion with some friends and a lot of job hunting showed that I might be better off learning some of the web stuff. So, I set up a couple projects for myself, and got started with the learning. PHP surprised me by its simplicity and syntax. SQL just required relearning. In the end, I think I have some basics down even though I don't yet have a complete project. Chalk this one up for In Progress


• Ditch my moral compass: This one's been tough. It's countered by my upbringing, but I'm trying to get rid of a lot of the things that just aren't worth my time, like the sociology class I'm taking but don't really care about (I got a post one that coming up soon). Staying in school might help me out in the long run, but I don't know if the things I need to take are necessarily going to teach me jack shit (again, like the soc class). The four hours I spend in there might be better off getting some writing or programming done, for example, or just not dealing with a shitton of hormonal teens.


• CROmagnon: My game project, intended for the web in some kind of ethereal idea. More information about it will be forthcoming... I already have design down, what needs to happen now is the coding. Unfortunately that task #2 directly impacts that progress, so I'm not going to be working on this coding wise for a bit. Basically, it'll be a board-game version of Warhammer and Tactics Ogre, or its more familiar successor, Final Fantasy Tactics. It's fast-paced, highly terrain dependent so the maps matter, and each of the three races have nifty synergy. The game will be web-based and account-based so that stats and stuff can be tracked online. It'll be cool, just wait for the info ;)




The best tactical RPG ever, still, in my opinion



• The Archiver: A new story project. Details on this are also forthcoming, but it should be fun. I might go viral for this one, try to make what fun of it I can... Basically, I was looking at the progression of information technology (the concept, not the profession), and seeing where I could push the idea next. The idea was NET, trasmitter molecules that allow people to send their brainwaves/commands to a server and access information live. There are some side-effects that end up sterilizing humanity, so they leave robots out there to maintain things until things are "returned to order". One type of robot is an archiver of memories, and the story revolves around a glitched one. More details on this tomorrow, for sure ;)

And there you have all my insanity for the past and next month or so, minus the video game crazies (Blazblue, MGS4, and Castle Crashers really). The last two have me the most excited, but it all should offer some new things to talk about around here, at least until the Lakers start playing again ;)

UPDATE: Looks like my blog layout code is pretty disgusting too. Mark that down for another project... ...read on...

Zombies, Dreams, Chainsaws, and MadWorld

So a couple nights ago I had a ridiculous dream (not the craziest by many standards) that I just had to share. It was too vivid, too funny to pass up, so after I woke up I made sure to keep it in mind, remember as much as possible. I've already told this to a couple people, and as is the habit with all storytelling, some details may be a little more embellished than you remember... but hey, that's what makes it fun :) The entire thing took place May 7th, 2009 from 8:20 to 8:30AM.

So, without further ado...

(Do me a favor and actually start the song as you prepare to read this. I promise it'll make it much funnier, plus it'll give you a taste of why I love MadWorld's music. And you probably want to hit the repeat button 'cause the stories longer than 2:38. AND FACEBOOKERS, CLICK HERE FOR THE MUSIC. Also, if I tagged you... you might not be in it, I just thought you might want a laugh for the weekend, so feel free to question my judgment/sanity :D )

I'm in this room, with two guys, Eric and Victor. I don't know anyone like this Eric and Victor; they're characters in this dream, and hell, I don't even know if it's me that I'm seeing this through. No one ever mentions my name.

Anyway, the three of us are hanging out, when me and Victor notice some weird sounds coming from outside the room. The room's got two doors, one to the left of us, and another on the right, both leading to hallways. We take the left one, and lo and behold, there's a Zombie ambling towards us! Imagine a Resident Evil zombie, but moving at the speed of 28 Days Later's Enraged.

So what do we do? Because this is a dream, I have a gun automagically appear in my hand, of course. I take my shots, but they don't do anything to it. This entire time, Victor's paralyzed in fear. In a couple seconds, the Zombie's in melee range, so I do the natural thing: flip the gun in full stylish flair, and suddenly it's a combat knife! I attempt to cut it, struggle a bit and manage to get it off me, but the thing's still not down! I make a quick turn (no, not RE style), and get back into the room. I call out to Victor, but it's too late: the Zombie's making a feast of him, so in my panic I just close the door and prop it with a chair.

Over the next four days, Victor's become a defacto leader of a Zombie troupe. This left door is now a wall with a window to the outside (for the family who knows, the room's basically turned into Peter's bedroom--I have too many dreams at his house), and from it, me and Eric can see them building and planning something. There are also 4 guards that are just sitting there watching the building we're in.

At one point, me and Eric decide it's time to wait for them to make their move. I no longer have my gun (go figure), but we're now at the front door (again, in Peter's house). We take our positions around the door. Two Guard Zombies bust down the door, and let out a hail of bullets for a few seconds. Then, they make their approach.

At just the right moment, me and Eric spring from our positions, and wrest the guns away from the enemies. We make short work of them, pumping them full of lead, before retreating back into cover. Our video game experience tells us to wait for the grenades to fly -- and we weren't wrong. Two more GZs are outside, taking their own cover behind a car. We hear the clink of the grenade, and the explosion rocks the house. We then pop out of cover, and pop the Zombies as best we can from here. This pattern repeats a couple times, before suddenly, we hear chainsaws revving. Taking a peek, we see the Zombies moving towards the house, with their rifles now adorned with a chainsaw attachments!

I look down at my own rifle, and notice that it too has this LEGO-post-hole contraption for a chainsaw, sitting to the right of the muzzle! Instinctively I reach down with my right hand, and find a chainsaw ready to go. I pop it into the chamber, and think I'm good, when I realize... I don't know how to start the thing! Of course, the Zombies are past the front door now.

I fumble around the rifle, when I finally see it: a rip cord, akin to a lawn mower. I pull it, 3 times before the hum of the chainsaw finally ripples through my hands. I quickly turn and slash down with it, ripping through undead flesh as I do. However, it's then that I realize I don't hear Eric. I turn to my left, and see that he never got the chainsaw started, and now, the other Zombie was feasting on him. My heart sinks, when suddenly, Ominous-British-Lady-Voice (tm) begins to speak through my mind.

"You poor soul. The two of you should have ran when you had a chance. Now, the Zombies will be unstoppable... Victor didn't quite work out, but Eric, now he is a perfect specimen for leadership. I really should thank you, for playing right into our hands!"

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And then, I woke up. Interpretations, anyone? I think on the most shallow level, I was just keeping myself entertained as I hit the snooze button... but then again there's this tie with my strange desire to play Bioshock (full of crazy people), and my fear of touching Resident Evil 5 again...
...read on...

State of the Game

In the midst of the NBA playoffs, the need to be playing games is less. Unfortunately I still find myself really really jonesing for something to play, but what I want is a few weeks off from now. Of course, there's one thing coming this week I'm excited for...



Long names do rock harder: Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs King Abbadon! The thing is that... THEY'RE NUMBERED!!!!! That's how limited the release is... so I will probably open it but not without a huge mountain of guilt. :/ Then there's Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, Flower Sun and Rain, King of Fighters XII, and most of all Blazblue, all being released within 2 weeks of each other!

At the same time why the hell do I feel so bored with the games I do have? I think a part of me is struggling for some interesting story, otherwise I'd actually make RE5 push its worth (I haven't touched the game since finishing the campaign the first time!) as well as pull out some other games I have yet to finish. I'm trying to save up on buying new games for a good reason, but sticking to any one game for more than half an hour is getting tough for some reason.

I need a change of mindset soon. ...read on...