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Another week has somehow managed to go by and when I look back it there has been quite a lot going on. Today I am very pleased to announce that author and anthologist Sarena Ulibarri will be speaking at the Cyberpunk 2020 conference, specifically on the technology panel and with an emphasis on solarpunk; "the future is so bright, you'll have to wear shades". It fitted in well with virtual attendance of at the Cyberpunk Cinema that Travis Johnson had organised as part of the Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival, and, I do suppose also matched with watching Black Mirror: Bandersnatch last night. Goodness there was a lot of association with my own teenaged-years in that semi-interactive film, right down to the Thompson Twins and the use of a Sinclair Spectrum (a 16K computer that I could carry in my coat pocket, "A computer in your pocket? Ridiculous!").
I've spent a bit of time in the evenings over the past several days working on a review of LexOccultum which, coming in two large books, still isn't quite finished yet, but will be published in the next edition of RPG Review, which will be out by the end of the week. It's quite an evocative game in a good setting (a fantasy version of 18thC France), but the game system is a little painful at times. Played our regular session of Cyberspace on Thursday night, which was largely a firefight in the Zone which was pretty sharp and bloody, as such things are in a Rolemaster-based combat system with firearms. Our GM has been pretty good with a style of session write-ups, which give the impression of speedy jump-cuts, which fits the genre. Finally, decided to offload a collection of Avalon Hill boardgames and RPGs this afternoon; within a couple of hours, nearly everything was sold.
There is, as always, many issues to report on about politics and in an Australian context the recent disclosure of war crimes being committed by Australian soldiers in Afghanistan is being described as "possibly the most disgraceful episode in Australia's military history". On completely different tangents, I spent part of Wednesday night attending the annual general meeting of the Proportional Representation Society; a fair attendance, but an organisation lacking leadership, direction, and flexibility. Finally, whilst doing some basic econometrics studies, I decided to compare income inequality with the total proportion of tax to GDP in OECD countries. Guess what? The higher the tax rate, the less inequality (many caveats stated, of course).
I've spent a bit of time in the evenings over the past several days working on a review of LexOccultum which, coming in two large books, still isn't quite finished yet, but will be published in the next edition of RPG Review, which will be out by the end of the week. It's quite an evocative game in a good setting (a fantasy version of 18thC France), but the game system is a little painful at times. Played our regular session of Cyberspace on Thursday night, which was largely a firefight in the Zone which was pretty sharp and bloody, as such things are in a Rolemaster-based combat system with firearms. Our GM has been pretty good with a style of session write-ups, which give the impression of speedy jump-cuts, which fits the genre. Finally, decided to offload a collection of Avalon Hill boardgames and RPGs this afternoon; within a couple of hours, nearly everything was sold.
There is, as always, many issues to report on about politics and in an Australian context the recent disclosure of war crimes being committed by Australian soldiers in Afghanistan is being described as "possibly the most disgraceful episode in Australia's military history". On completely different tangents, I spent part of Wednesday night attending the annual general meeting of the Proportional Representation Society; a fair attendance, but an organisation lacking leadership, direction, and flexibility. Finally, whilst doing some basic econometrics studies, I decided to compare income inequality with the total proportion of tax to GDP in OECD countries. Guess what? The higher the tax rate, the less inequality (many caveats stated, of course).
