Monthly Archives: September 2008

Choosing the Right Idea

Posted on September 30, 2008 by midiguru

Last night I happened to be poking around in the interactive fiction database, and found a couple of very flattering reviews of two of my games (“Lydia’s Heart” and “Not Just an Ordinary Ballerina”). This gives my spirits a lift. It … Continue reading →

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(A Bit) More on Inform

Posted on September 25, 2008 by midiguru

Still plugging away at my entirely absurd text game, learning Inform 7 as I go. Making a little progress, encountering a few perplexities. Inform very deliberately uses the text name of a room as its code name (or vice-versa, depending … Continue reading →

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Finger in the Socket

Posted on September 23, 2008 by midiguru

Sitting here listening to music on Pandora.com. Created a new “station” (all Pandora stations are personalized) — Frank Zappa, Meat Beat Manifesto, Skinny Puppy, Cabaret Voltaire — and Pandora serves up wonderful tracks by Front 242, Wumpscut, and OMD. This is … Continue reading →

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Product Review Madness

Posted on September 23, 2008 by midiguru

I can’t prove any of the guesses I’m about to make. Please bear that in mind. I may be entirely wrong. But… Last night I finished writing a review of the Roland Fantom-G keyboard for Electronic Musician. Having no particular … Continue reading →

Posted in music, technology | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

UPS: No Thumbs

Posted on September 22, 2008 by midiguru

So what is it about UPS drivers, anyhow? Are they all morons? Because I’m self-employed as a freelance writer, and because I write reviews of software and hardware, I occasionally have packages delivered to my home. What I have found … Continue reading →

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Inform-Al

Posted on September 20, 2008 by midiguru

I think I’m about ready to give up on Inform 7 yet again. I hate to do it, both because the IDE (integrated development environment) is extremely nice, and because it’s such a popular authoring system for interactive fiction. But … Continue reading →

Posted in Interactive Fiction, writing | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Are We Having Fun Yet?

Posted on September 19, 2008 by midiguru

I write a fair number of product reviews of music software and hardware. I get paid for writing them. In the main, it’s an irritating chore. I’ve been trying to remember the last time I actually had fun writing a … Continue reading →

Posted in music, technology, writing | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Freelance Blues

Posted on September 19, 2008 by midiguru

For the last six years, I’ve been freelancing. The income isn’t great, but my expenses have been very modest. So I’ve been able to manage. But this too shall pass, as they say. I took the plunge and rented a … Continue reading →

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Inform Work Notes

Posted on September 17, 2008 by midiguru

I’ve looked at Inform 7 two or three times in the past two years, each time devoting several days to it and then saying, “Nahhh.” After poking around for a few hours over the past couple of days with the … Continue reading →

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Informed

Posted on September 17, 2008 by midiguru

In theory, I want to write some new music. In theory, I love writing music. But when I sit down at the computer after dinner, I find that I don’t want to work that hard. I want to do something … Continue reading →

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