posted by Anonymous at 11:06   permalink comment? e-mail lynda@okalrel.org 0 comments

 

Early Doodle for Project Idea

In the "explain the ORU department" I came up with the idea of illustrating the variations between different houses on a variety of topics by creating a Flash animation with multiple draggable symbols one could move over color blocks or symbols for each house, to get a revised message. This is a doodle on the concept. No ETA for completion, just a "relaxing before bed" sort of priority. :-)

screen1.swf

posted by Lynda at 10:09   permalink comment? e-mail lynda@okalrel.org 0 comments

 
Reading Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities and Software by Steven Johnson, I came across the tantalizing statement: "Parsing the complex sexual codes of thirteenth-century Florence from a modern perspective would be a daunting task indeed." Such things always make me think about source material for Okal Rel Universe anthropology, since variations on sexual norms is one of the most alien features of the series for many readers. So I did a web search. Female penitential orders might be one useful outcome, as research for the novella Never Again, in which Amel stops over in an Okal Lumens Abby on a backwater Demish world while trying to do decide whether to go back to court to face the music over kidnapping his infant brother, the Throne Price. Found other things, as well, such as the article linked above on the complexities of relationships with wives and mistresses. This sort of material strikes a resonance for me with Demish culture. Like Medieval Florence, Demish culture juxtaposes virginal brides with other arrangements that are tolerated and even important without being approved of in a open way. Of course the differences are also as profound as the differences between Christianity and Okal Lumens, and Sevolites and humans. While as capable of hypocrisy as any human male, Demish are more chivalrous and romantic—on average—than the natural variety, particularly the Golden Demish sort. For the Vrellish, my best real-life model still remains Bonobo apes … on steroids.
posted by Lynda at 09:49   permalink comment? e-mail lynda@okalrel.org 0 comments

 

No particular location in mind: it's the mist that I was going after. This is the one that has been sort of salvaged after the mysterious appearance of a monolith in the midst of the lake: the file became corrupted, with a large persistent white fleck on the terrain file. As white signifies elevation, this was a problem. I could not, for the life of me, export the terrain file in a form that any of my image editing software would recognize. Lynda suggested taking a screenshot. I did that, tinkered with it, put it back into Terragen, and discovered that my scale had all somehow gone to pot and my crater lake was a rather grungy puddle. So went back into Terragen, took the smallest terrain tool and leaned on it until I had sunk the monolith into an abyss. The only problem is, every time I reopen the file, the monolith pops up again. Any suggestions, anyone? How does one read an 8-bit raw file exported from Terragen on Mac software?
posted by Anonymous at 18:27   permalink comment? e-mail lynda@okalrel.org 0 comments

 
Thought I'd whip up a little more interest, hopefully.
Windstorm Creative is asking about a reference guide to the Okal Rel Universe. I'm asking for public input. What types of things would you like covered in this book? Are there areas of interest, or points that you feel need to be clarified? Please use the forum thread that's started here (ORU Reference Guide) to share your ideas!

Virginia
posted by Anonymous at 13:25   permalink comment? e-mail lynda@okalrel.org 0 comments

 
I mentioned (on the phone) to Lynda, the following, from CJ Cherryh's Progress Report (actually of her last book, not her current):

Y'know, writers are strange people. We can't tell a non-writer why we're glum (story isn't happening) or in a wonderful mood (it's ripping along.) No wonder there are so many divorces when a person suddenly becomes a writer and launches into that lifestyle bigtime. No wonder writer-types don't correspond or return phone calls for months, and then suffer guilt and further procrastination. But right just above [she was writing about declining a party invitation because of the havoc it would wreak with the book], you have the whole tale of the reasons why. We're not manic-depressive. But we sure look like it. And a person who isn't self-confident and self-entertaining with a lot of personal passions and distractions, particularly one who begins to feel neglected and resentful when a writer-spouse is locked in story, is in trouble. If you've ever wondered why writers and artists tend to domicile together, here you have it. One of us emerges from quarters in the morning, snaps: "Don't talk to me," walks to the kitchen, gets a drink, and dives back into own room: is that a fight? A snit? No, not at all. The other one thinks, Oh, how wonderful. Story's going. And says not a word and is only envious.

posted by Anonymous at 23:10   permalink comment? e-mail lynda@okalrel.org 0 comments

 
Congrats to the staff of Neo-opsis Magazine! Lynda and I had the pleasure of meeting editor Karl and artist Stephanie at V-Con this past fall. They are publishing a new science fiction magazine, based in Victoria. They have just printed Issue #2, which includes an ad for the ORU writing contest. I look forward to receiving my copy!!

Virginia

posted by Anonymous at 22:07   permalink comment? e-mail lynda@okalrel.org 0 comments

 
Cory Doctorow has posted the text of a talk he has given at the very recent O'Reilly Emerging Technologies Conference, covering at a clip the past and future state of the written word (very healthy - but on-screen), the ever-evolving relationship of writer, publisher, and readership, and his experiences in electronic publishing.
posted by Anonymous at 18:35   permalink comment? e-mail lynda@okalrel.org 0 comments

 
Very cool project at the Faculty of Arts Instructional Support web site, above, which allows one to create a timeline in Flash Animation by filling in an online form and uploading data to decorate it. I had a go at making a rudimentary Okal Rel Universe timeline with preiods: Earth, Lorel Dominance, Golden Age, Nesak Reign, Puppet Masters, Killing War and Second Contact which succeeded to some extent. I got a code for editing it and all. But I didn't get it to run at the URL provided. :-(
posted by Lynda at 10:23   permalink comment? e-mail lynda@okalrel.org 0 comments