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Dawn's funeral last week was - and this does sound strange - was the best I have been to. The modest chapel was overflowing with people, the speeches were sincere, heartfeld, and moving. Unlike some other funerals I have been too, nobody tried to impose a sectarian religious doctrine on the affair either. A wake was held at the Essendon Gem Club, where David and Dawn were members. On other existential matters, attended the Unitarian service on Sunday where Helena Wagowska, a survivor of the Auschwitz and Stutthof concentration camps, gave an excellent "testimony" which included a surprising amount of humour. Which is fortunate because immediately afterwards I was leading the Philosophy Forum to discuss the important subject of Wine and Philosophy. Next Sunday, I am giving an address at said locale on "The Book of Amos and the Arab Spring".

This week also witnessed the (late again) release of RPG Review. The sixteenth issue, includes an interview with Marc W. Miller, reviews of Dark Heresy, A|State, conversion notes for Savage Worlds with Skyrealms of Jorune, expanding Ringworld's root/branck skills, Mass Effecting the Thousand Suns, a movie review of Prometheus, and much more. It also includes the review I did on RPG.net for Space Opera and Eclipse Phase. On Thursday we finished our Space 1889 game, which is a great setting, but a messy system, and on Sunday played Dark Heresy. Currently making preparations for Call of Cthulhu Masks of Nyarlathotep and Horror on the Orient Express at the asylum - a matter of which I had much opportunity to discuss with some at the most excellent 29th+ birthday party at the home of [livejournal.com profile] sebastianne on Saturday.

A personal treat in the last week was purchasing an 1897 Longines watch, originally from the Brussels World's Fair. Surprisingly, it still keeps reasonably good time. Whilst it is an object of great beauty, but has reminded me what a peculiar mental admixture I can be, which is hardly unique - someone who has been heavily influenced by the cyberpunk subculture (what the cool kids call transhumanism these days), along with the sublime Gothic romanticism and the French enlightenment, along with the whole range of the world's mythologies. I both embrace the most serious of "big science" technologies in my work, and stubbornly resist consumer gadgets at home - case in point, it is only today that I switched on and started using an e-Reader (an original Kobo). What am I reading on it? War and Peace of course...

Date: 2012-08-06 04:05 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tzunder.livejournal.com
You know, I find it very difficult to find the RPG Review download page/link.
Can you help?

Date: 2012-08-06 06:56 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tcpip.livejournal.com
It's active on the page under the words "sixteenth issue" in the different font weighting.

A direct link is:

http://rpgreview.net/files/rpgreview_16.pdf

Date: 2012-08-06 10:55 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tcpip.livejournal.com
Yeah, you're not the first person who has said that. I'll have a play with the stylesheet and see what I can come up with,

Date: 2012-08-06 09:29 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tcpip.livejournal.com
Apropos you may wish to join the very low-volume subscribers list...

http://rpgreview.net/mailman/listinfo/announce_rpgreview.net

Date: 2012-08-06 09:09 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] notthebuddha.livejournal.com
Dawn's funeral last week was - and this does sound strange - was the best I have been to.

I have also noticed that the advent of multimedia has lead to funerals being much leas of a dread chore for me, or even grievous ordeal in the case of personal loved ones. It has become more like screening a short biopic, and the speakers seem to pick up on this and play along.

Date: 2012-08-06 10:56 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tcpip.livejournal.com
Multimedia funerals? I am yet to encounter on myself, except the occasional murder mystery on TV... So you've been to a few that have such technology?

Date: 2012-08-06 01:59 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] notthebuddha.livejournal.com
It's mostly along the lines of a Powerpoint slideshow of family pictures, but some of them get fairly elaborate esp one for the mother of an IT guy/DJ friend of mine who had lots of time during her final illness. More chapels and churches here are investing in concert-quality sound and projection systems, too.

The Christmas after my stepmom passed, Dad reran her memorial video on the portable dvd player I'd gotten her for the previous Christmas, set up on the mantlepiece. It took some getting used to, but then it was like any other picture or decoration associated with a deceased relative, and I kind of miss seeing it now that he's remarried.

Date: 2012-08-06 11:01 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tcpip.livejournal.com
Actually, the more I think about the more I realise have already such events are multi-media presentations because so much of our normal experiences these days are technologically mediated. As you say, "concert-quality" sound systems are examples of such media.

I do recall about a dozen years ago an email going around about a salaryman who person who had a Presentation for the passing of their mother. At the time it was considered gauche. Today, not so much at all.

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