AUT Activist Academy

Had a great weekend before the Aimee Mann gig in Lemmington Spa at the AUT Activist Academy. This is an event hosting by the Association of University Teachers and aimed at bringing together younger and older members of the union with an eye to providing them with training in union matters. My girlfriend and I are both divisional representatives, and our LA president suggested we might find it worthwhile.

First of all, it was hot. Insanely hot. Boil the fillings out of your teeth hot. The grounds were lovely though - it was a very relaxing place to spend time, even if the itinerary was very full.

We spent the weekend discussing a huge number of issues, from Fixed Term contracts to personal case work to getting people involved in the union. I met a lot of interesting people there, and got quite inspired to become more involved in union work. I got an email the other day asking if they could quote some of us on their promotional literature, which I was very pleased about.

I discussed the current situation at Abertay (more on this later) with a lot of people, including the out-going union president. The treatment that fixed-term staff get was roundly considered to be shocking. However, some of the things going on at other institutions are even more shocking and I'm resolved to spend time fighting for the AUT in whatever capacity I can. Viva la revolution!

Aimee Mann

Unsurprisingly[1], I am a big fan of Aimee Mann, and the girlfriend and I had a chance to see her live on the 14th of July.

She was a little rigid at the beginning, and didn't have the same stage presence as Suzanne Vega, but eventually she warmed up and it was fantastic. There was a lot of material from her new album (which I hadn't heard), but also a lot of her better known stuff. Once she'd gotten into her stride, she was very entertaining and also quite funny at times. Upon receiving an audience request for the song 'Susan', she first tried to ignore it until it became overwhelming, and then confessed that she didn't think she'd remember it.

Nonetheless, game little soldier that she was, she attempted it (and forgot the words at one point), much to the delight of the crowd. In another song, she fluffed a chord and then said 'Hey, give me a break - it needs four fingers for that one!'.

All of that aside, I thoroughly enjoyed the show and bought her live DVD on the way out. Aimee Mann is one of the few artists who still release music on an independent label, so I can buy her stuff without having to worry about funding the RIAA monster. Good news all around!

[1] I've been told that I have a lesbian's taste in music.

Lazy Boy - Wacraft

Bing!

I've gotten out of the habit of updating this blog - it was only to be expected really, but I'm still going to make an effort to post something every now and again.

Lot of stuff has been happening over the past few months - some of which I can write about (and will) and some of it I can't yet (but will when I can). Suffice to say that Abertay can go fuck itself.[1]

Anyway, on the Warcraft front I think I've finally managed to shake its hold on me. Alas, this wasn't through any Herculean feat of willpower, but simply due to the fact I finally hit level 60 and currently can't bear the thought of grinding for days until I get my epic mount. So for now, it's on the back-burner. There's a hell of a lot of game in there - it's well worth both the front-up fee and the monthly charge - but once you hit the level cap it all suddenly seems to futile. All that's left to do is continually run instances until you have all the best gear, and I get easily bored. I have a few other alts, but none of these interest me the way that my Druid does, and so I'm finding time to do more productive things.

I've been thinking about what it is that has attracted me for so long to Warcraft - partially it's because I have an addictive personality (anything I like, I do to excess), but I think it's largely to do with how inversive the game world is. When I started on Discworld MUD, I spent a month or game time playing before I decided to go creator - on Warcraft I don't find myself with much of an urge to develop (even if that was an avenue available to me). Blizzard have done an excellent job of providing a very well balanced and enjoyable game - it's just a shame it doesn't have more depth.

Things I would like to see would be: A guild system that wasn't idiotic, a crafts system that allows for genuine customisation of crafted objects, and an inversive world-system that allows for players to take on epic roles within the game world.

The guilds system is very primitive - compared to Discworld, it's a shadow of a system that really doesn't deserve the prominence it gets.

The crafts system is fun, but it's pretty dull that people keep creating the same things over and over again - what would be fantastic would be a system that lets you provide a basic shape for an item (a sword, a jacket, a pair of frilly panties) and then provides an opportunity to change the basic shape through a simple interface (we'll make the collar a little thicker and lined with fur, and the cuffs should be lined with diamonds). This unique shape would then dictate the material requirements. Dyes could then be used to change the colour to whatever was desired, and then special materials could be introduced to add the magical bonuses up to the craft person's skill levels. Now that's a system I could climb on board with - I hate the fact that items that have the bonuses I want end up looking like they were stitched by idiots. I'm currently wearing a pair of trousers that make me look like a damn boy scout because they are, in fact, short shorts.

There really isn't anything special to do once you've attained level 60 - I'd like to see a system that allowed for players to take on the roles of statesmen and politicians, as well as own their own shops and player houses (and guild houses).

All of these things are needed to make Wacraft a longer term investment in time than it currently is - but I have to say, I'm kind of glad that it isn't at the moment.

[1] I will expand on this point in future posts, undoubtedly.