A Failure of Tone in Mass Effect 3’s Citadel

by | Oct 1, 2013 | Game/Writing

I can’t bear to think about the disfunction in Washington and the nihilism and lack of empathy of the Republicans so instead I’ll go back to game world, and bring up a point that occurred to me about the jarring tone set by Citadel when it has to fall in the middle of this life and death battle for the galaxy.  There is a brief interaction with Zaeed (one of my favorite characters) where he is cursing a blue streak as he tries to win a stuffed toy for a little boy who is crying....

Mean to the Bone

by | Sep 30, 2013 | Blog

Is it a lack of empathy?   An inability to ever put yourself in another person’s place?  Fear?  I’m trying to understand the actions of the Republican party.  The food stamp vote was breathtaking in its pettiness and cruelty.  Yes, there are a few cheaters, but the majority of people on food assistance are children.  You’re going to take food out of the mouths of hungry children?  Really?  The other large block of people are the elderly.  Talk about letting Granny die.  And...

Help to Enroll in the ACA

by | Sep 17, 2013 | Blog

As some of you may know I had major surgery last week.  There was a strong possibility that I had cancer and the only way to be sure (an attempt to do a biopsy had failed) was to remove the offending organ from the body.  I spent a night in the hospital, and I have very good insurance through the Writer’s Guild of America.  But I started getting letters already from the insurance company trying to weasel out of covering me.  I’m grateful I’ve got what I have, and that I have...

Games and The Madonna & Whore Problem

by | Sep 15, 2013 | Blog

My friend Eric Kelley came out to N.M. to visit and to attend Bubonicon.  He’s a very fine writer, but also a gaming geek and fellow Mass Effect fanatic.  He’s the Garrus to my Shepard, and a real BFF.  While he was visiting he played through part of Citadel and that spawned an interesting discussion and Google search to compare notes on the romances we had selected.  Eric romanced Ashley, and said that there is very little interaction with her aboard the Normandy.  She holds...