JetFable’s Gamer Writer’s Block

Here is a must-read theory for “Lost” fans, and it touched on a lot of concepts about quantum mechanics which I have mentioned before. I guess even if you haven’t watched Lost (where have you been?), you should read it for kicks anyway.

Slashdot linked to an article about the 25 most censored stories of 2007, turns out #18 is Physicist challenges official 9-11 story. I am sure last year the video “Loose Change” made quite an impact, a conspiracy theory of the US government orchestrating the event, and then there were numerous other videos that came to disprove the rebuttal of 9-11, and it was soon dismissed as another conspiracy theory. Why would the US government do such things? So many people are dead. Well all theories and circumstantial evidence have some truth to it. Twin tower debris does show that it was caused by inside demolition, as the physicists are trying to prove. Even if the government did not architect such plans, maybe someone did. If you played Metal Gear Solid, you know who the Patriots, or the Philosophers are, or even if you watched 24. Highly suspicous, many people can benefit from war and 911. That includes Arms dealer, the bush administration, billionares that continues to make billions by shorting airline stocks prior to 911, or even the twin tower owner who got insurance money prior to its destruction. Just who’s in on it? Who knows. Some things are better off not knowing.

The Game, written by Neil Strauss, an enjoyable book which I read recently, about a writer who penetrated the society of pick-up artists and became a guru himself. Its an interesting read even if you dont want to learn about how to attract women, but these people are the authority on seduction. You’d think that it’s ridiculous that people who ask women “Do you think magic spell really works?” could get anywhere, but you’d be suprirsed. It’s all about confidence, or as I would put it in my own words, the aura (yes, like samurai who reads each other’s murderous intents). These people broke down attraction into a science. And regardless, the book is well-written, and an interesting study of social dynamics.

I guess there’s some similarity to attraction and conning people (look at most marriage), Liar Game is a japanese drama based on manga thats about the ultimate con artist tournament. It’s one of the smartest stories ever written lately. The part about the minority game is my favorite. 22 people, each given a million dollars, in a room where they vote on “yes” or “no”, and the majority is eliminated, and when eliminated you owe the million dollar that is given to the victor(s). Turns out there’s a perfect solution to ensure a win-win situation. Yes, the show is a must-watch.

 

Ever wonder what causes homosexuality? Here is a good clip from 60 minutes that explore that. Identical twins that grew up in the same home actually have opposite sexual orientation. I didn’t think that was possible until I saw it. It proves that is neither genetic or nurture (not directly anyway), but the degrees of hormones that the fetus is exposed to in the womb. Scientists performed hormones manipulation tests in mice fetus and they successfully created gay mice (well not really gay mice, but mice that lacked male characteristics)

And more things to add from my previous Rabbit Hole post, ever heard about the experiment where the human mind can affect a randomly generated set of numbers (0 or 1). I wonder if this actually work in the casino, and I highly doubt it, because there are many other minds affecting it, but if you keep on thinking 1 the machine will give you more 1 than 0. But it turns out, the experiment work even in reverse of time. Basically I create this set of numbers with the machines and lock it into a box without ever looking at it (is that the Pandora Box), then I give it to you, you think about 1 or 0. Then you open the box, and will get more of the number you thought. This further proves the observer effect and time is not really a straight flowing line, and it seems nothing is what it seems. Like I said, this page is not even here until u see it.

The last season of anime shows have been exceptional, all three shows that I want to talk about are alternate history dramas that have been really creative and well written. My favorite is Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto (幕末機関説), it is set in the final periods of the shogunate and reminds me a lot about Kenshin. The story involves the unending conflict bewteen the Head of the Conquerer (覇者の首)and the Eternal Assasin (永遠の刺客). The head is basically a supernatural being left from the Qin dynasty (is it the head of the Early Emperor?), traveled with the 3000 golden boys/girls to the islands of Japan, which possess figureheads throughout history and causes major conflicts, whoever wields Getsuruitō (月涙刀) is the Eternal Assasin, destined to hunt and seal the evil Head. The story’s most ingeneious character, also my favorite character ever, is neither the 2 protagonist or the main villain, but the anatagonist, a clever playwright for a travelling troupee who influences history with his scripts, and the brilliant part of the story tells of how the playwright manipulated the conflict of the assasin and the head to change the history of Japan, turning every scheme into an performance. Got to love the ultimate mastermind writer character who stands on shades of grey and recognizes the neccesity of means to an end. “The curtain falls on the play crafted by Ibaragi Soutetsu” — the end.

The next show is Le Chevalier D’Eon, based on Tow Ubukata’s historical fantasy novel of the same title, which takes place in the 18th Century, on the eve of the French Revolution. The protagnoist is based on a real historical figure D’Eon de Beaumont (1728-1810), who lived in the middle of 18th Century pre-revolution Versailles under the reign of Louis XV, a member of the secret police and is investigating the mystery of a series of disappearance of young women. Now his sister has become one of the victims, and her soul became trapped inside D’Eon’s body (and yes, this metrosexual guy can sometimes turn into his sister). And as D’Eon goes after the case, a history of taboos opens its door to the political conspiracies behind the throne. Upon some research on the net, D’Eon de Beaumont is actually one of the best-documented transvestites of the eighteenth century, In 1755 he was sent to Russia disguised as Mademoiselle Lia de Beaumont, where he became a confidant to Empress Elizabeth. Lia was a fake character in the story, but I guess in actual history, she’s the alter ego of the real D’Eon. Fetishly Intriguing.

The next show Ayakashi Ayashi (天保異聞 妖奇士, Tenpō Ibun Ayakashi Ayashi), possibly the least well written and classy of the 3, but is much more action oriented and at times exciting. In 1843, the fourteenth year of the Tenpo Era, members of the Bansha Aratamesho, called the Ayashi, are assembled to fight against demons called Yōi (妖) attacking Edo. The protangonist Ryūdō Yukiatsu (竜導往壓, Ryūdō Yukiatsu) , a 39 year-old vagrant who has claimed to have visited the otherwold and returned, has a mysterious power to draw the name out of men and objects alike. What shines in this story is exactly the innovative magic system, which Ryudo wields. If you don’t know chinese or any kanjji at all, the show is not as fun for you. Because Ryudo can break down the root of the words and draw out the real meanings of names, and use it to defend himself, or interact with the environment. The show’s creator’s innovativeness does get my applause. I couldn’t help buy think if Ryudo draws the name out of me, what would it be, could he get the beans growing all the way up the sky, or a rabbit paddling a boat across the river?

I rarely recommend any documentaries but here’s an interesting one: What the Bleep! Down the Rabbit Hole. It’s basically both a drama and documentary of quantum physics with a lot of flashy visulation for the laymen. I once said that this page doesn’t even exist until you visit it, and I talked about parallel worlds in time travel. Quantum physics explain all that, and its quite interesting if you’ve never heard such theories. A simple experiment of demonstrating how light going through a “double slit” experiment, proves that infinite possibilities exist, and nothing is real until we see it. You shoot electron particles through a double slit plate and you end up with an interferance pattern at the other end, which can only be produced by waves, an impossibilty deemed by classical physcis. In order to prove the improbable, probable, scientist sets up a camera in front of the slits trying to film the particle splitting in 2 direction, but when a camera is set up, the particle only goes through one slit and fails to generate a inteference pattern. This phenomenon is called the observer interference. The moral of the story, basically nothing is real when we’re not looking at it. We see the world the way it is because that’s the way we understand it, the same as if we were pixels living on a flat computer screen, we would not understand when 3D beings tell us they are watching us from above, because to us height is not in our dictionary, same analogy can be pointed to 4D beings who watch us from forward or backward in time, and can our mind understand such impossibilities? There was one experiment that suggested our brain signals actually travel back in time when we feel pain. In the experiment, a patient’s brain is opened up and connected to some electronic equipment, a doctor produced a reaction from knockig on the patient’s hand and get a instant signal from that part of the brain. Yet if the doctor were to generate that signal from that same part of the brain, the patient’s do not feel it until fractions of seconds later, and the show suggested the brain actually anticipated when the moment of the strike occurs, sent the signal of pain back in time so that we can feel it the moment it occurs. Have a headache yet? I know I did. Basically, what quantum theory says is that fundamental particles are empty of inherent existence and exist in an undefined state of potentialities. They have no inherent existence from their own side and do not become ‘real’ until a mind interacts with them and gives them meaning. Whenever and wherever there is no mind there is no meaning and no reality. I read somewhere that is similar to the teachings of Mahayana Buddhist (or the oracle in Matrix). The ultimate manifestation of quantum sunyata is when quantum theory is applied to the entire universe. According to some cosmologists, the universe began as a quantum fluctuation in the limitless Void (Hartle-Hawking hypothesis). The universe remained as a huge quantum superposition of all possible states until the first primordial mind observed it, causing it to collapse into one actuality (The Particpatory Anthropic Principle).

I held out on getting a new console for the longest time and finally I succumbed to the temptation, and the reason of choosing the xbox 360 than the other two are many, one of them my dedicate following of Bioware’s work and then the Live Arcade, which I think its the platform of the future, which microsoft network groundwork is way ahead of sony and nintendo. In any case, I tried to sign on to live arcade for the first time last night, and I tried to pick my unique screename, JetFable, to no avail, it was already taken. I tried many other combination of the word, trying to insert my last name in the bank, a series of 6s (my favorite number) in the front and end, but I couldnt not find one that was not used. I was enraged, afterall, I did create the damn word, it took me 5 minutes, but yes I am the creator of the word, and I own it, it is like the name Google already taken from its creaters before it became mainstream. Luckily I still do own the domain name. How dare someone take it?

Well I own the word (in the spiritual sense) becuase it means a whole lot to me, for I created the name out of wanting to market my book via the web, well that hasn’t happened it, and it became some sort of screename I use everywhere. I guess to me, the word means fast moving story that tells some kind of moral, a fable that moves like a jetstream. Of course the initial J and F also comes from my own name and my ex-best friend’s name, which were also two characters that I used in my first story when I began to write. After that I tried to stay within this rule, the protagonist of a book I write always will have a first name that begin with J or F, and there will be an antagonist, villain, sidekick, 2nd main character, or love interest that have the other initial. In any case, thats what the name means to me, thus I was enraged not being able to use it. After 30 min of trying out different combinations, I gave up and picked the word “Thornmage”, which was a name also created by me, but luckily this time, nobody owned it.

I downloaded a trial version of the Settlers of Catan, a pretty famous board game that originated from germany, and through some kind of divine intervention, resulted as a live arcade game. I tried it out for 10 minutes, not because I was sick of it, but because that’s all the time I had. I played with 3 other computer controlled characters in the tutorial mode. After 10 minutes I had somewhat an overall understanding of the rules but not a firm grasp of strategy, but so far my experince is positive. Though I do admit that playing it online does not recreate the feeling of playing it with a group of friends in a room, even though I have yet to try it with real people via the headset (which means you can actually cuss at people). Catan relies heavily on trading, thus it does have need of banter and skills of persuation, which is missing from playing the AI. Catan’s trading mechanics reminds me the days of playing Civilization the board game back in college, which we played for the whole night till dawn, and those were some good times. Like Max would say, my short-term memory makes me impervous to nostalgia, if only that were true. Unfortunately my long term memory is sharper than a katana so I do fondly remember the good old days. Can the Xbox live arcade replace that experience? Probably not. But busy schedules and people living far apart makes it much harder nowadays for people to get together for hours to play a board game. Catan on live arcade is definitely going towards a right direction, and I guess whether its success can pave the way for other board games, thats really up to us.

What sparked me to write about this is after watching the recent episode of Heroes, I feel that most writers out there have no clue how to write consistent time travelling in a story. I have often said this, this first rule of writing science fiction is, you establish your rule the rule of the world you are writing, but you should never break it, you can go back 100 pages and change the physics, but you dont break your own rule, never. A good story with bad writing is medicore literature, but even a well-written story filled with plot holes is still a waste of my time. If you can’t write time travel, don’t even attempt, paradoxes are nasty, and will tear apart your plot in all imaginable ways possible
(think ancient torture methods, tie horses to a person’s limb, and then use your imagination). In any case, if you do write it, here are the 3 basic time travel theory and you absolutely must adhere to one of them:

1) Time is a single thread, a forward moving straight line. You cannot change the events of the past, even if you are to travel to the past, you are fulfilling your role in history.

2) Choices create multiple parallel dimensions. Every different choice someone make will create a different possible future outcome. If the past is change, a different future is created, but the original unchanged future still exists as a different dimension.

3) Time is a straight line that one can move back and forth on it. Changes in the past reflect instantly in the future, which shifts around to accomodate the events occured in the past.

OK, you dumbos didn’t understand that, in layman’s term, I will use a scenario of you going back in time to kill your best friend’s mom (or is that your worst enemy? oh who cares) to explain the 3 theories:

1) You return to the past and confront your best friend’s mom, a lot of things may happen, you may kill the woman who you think is your best friend’s mom, but hay, you kill the wrong woman. Or, it turns out, you are your best friend’s dad. In other words, you cannot change the past, you become part of history.

2) You kill your best friend’s mom and sucessfully create a seperate future where your best friend doesn’t exist, which has not happened yet, you cannot go to that future, but return to your own where nothing has changed. Yes, you still have to suffer your best friend’s incessant yammering.

3) You kill your best friend’s mom, and the future changes, your best friend disappear, but who knows, you may too, the cascade of events you may cause is, where, unfathomable.

Examples used in movies in #1is the Terminator series, for #2, Dragon Ball is the only thing I can think of, #3 is the most common but my least favorite theories, used in the Time Machine, Back to the Future, Butterfly Effect, Frequency… etc. And that leads me to talk about writers who break the rules, Heroes just broke the rules big time, you either are in the changed future, or not, you need to make up your mind, did the cheerleader already die, or did she not, the timeline become so messy I don’t want to get into it, hopefully the ending can salvage it, and hopefully there will be an ending because I don’t want to wait for the next season. The ultimate rule breaker is Deja Vu, which was an excellent script for the first 85 minutes and then the ending got me to drop multiple F bombs (Spoilers below, be warned). Through two thirds of the movie the script adheres to rule #1, where the timeline cannot be changed, the main protagonist experience after events of the meddling of his original self, and then bam, he changes everything at the end, saves the day, get the girl, and suddenly time travel rule #3. And people bought this? Well I guess most people who go to watch movies are stupid. Well, don’t forget, write by the rules, and until next time, I am still the authority.