Monday, April 15, 2013

A-Z Geek (M): Embracing the Geek

During the April A-Z Challenge, I’m posting six days a week, following the letters of the alphabet. I will share all the movies, books and games I watched, read and played--all the influences that turned me into the geeky person and writer I am today.

BOOKS
Magician by Raymond E Feist (1982). Epics never scared me. I didn’t shy away from lengthy novels. However, this one had its rambling moments that could’ve been tightened. And I noticed this long before my inner editor woke up and became annoying.

MOVIES
The Matrix (1999). I loved the concept of this movie and the ‘cool factor’ brought it home for me.

Men In Black (1997). Lots of fun.

GAMES
Myst (1993) One of the first games released on CD Rom, this game spoke to the artist side of me, along with the puzzling-solving side. For a long time I wanted to create a game like this. I even learnt how to program a game like this, but at the time I didn’t have access to the programs to create digital art of this quality (by today's standards it might look a little dodgey, but at the time it was incredible).

Years later, I taught myself to use 3D Studio MAX, a 3D art/animation program which could generate images similar to those found in Myst. I ended up in a successful animation job. I also got a few stills published and won some competitions.

Magic: The Gathering (1993): This is a geeky card game where you build your own decks, creating an army to attack your opponent. I made a squirrel deck which generated hundreds of level 1 squirrels to overwhelm everyone. People fled in terror from my squirrels.

What are some of your ‘M’ favourites?

#AtoZChallenge

46 comments:

Nancy Thompson said...

Loved The Matrix! So original & very cool. And who doesn't love Keanu?!!!

DWei said...

Mass Effect 1 and 2. I refuse to get #3 because I would need to get EA's terrible version of Steam.

Sheena-kay Graham said...

Matrix, no question. Men in Black is very good too.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Know all of those except the book. (Yes, I know the program and how to work it.)

Miss Cole said...

The original Matrix was so awesome. The sequels DO NOT EXIST.

Old Kitty said...

MIB - totally lots of fun, especially the first one!! And Matrix too - well the first one!

Take care
x

Unknown said...

Matrix was fantastic, and when released was so unique! I liked Men in Black, too!

Charity Bradford said...

My brother and I would sit and play Myst for hours. Did you know there was a trilogy based on the Myst game? It starts with The Book of Atrus by Rand Miller, Robyn Miller and David Wingrove.

Unknown said...

Wow, that's amazing about the game you created. It speaks a lot about you. You decided to do it, educated yourself, and just did it.

Suzy, The Grey Brunette said...

I loved The Matrix and Men in Black! Both awesome movies. As for the others, I've never read Magician and I don't play games (I'm too useless at them!) so I've never heard of Myst. I've listed some of my favourite music (M) today!
Suzy Turner, YA Author

Unknown said...

Oh, I used to play all the Myst games. I loved them because they made you think and solve puzzles. And you know how much I love to solve puzzles.

DEZMOND said...

MATRIX only the first one, the other two were godawful!

Meradeth Houston said...

Myst! I was just thinking about this game the other day--it was really quite cool in its day (though I'm still not sure I totally figured it all out!). I had no idea you programmed like that--awesome!

mooderino said...

Magician was a good story (for all its faults) but the sequels got progressively worse. Actually, same could be said of the Matrix movies.


mood
Moody Writing

Michael Di Gesu said...

OOOOOoo, Scary ... terror squirrels. LOL. Great fun!

Love 3-d animation. How difficult was it to teach yourself? I had purchased Poserpro a few years back and I still have a rough time figuring it out.... What's your secret, Lynda? LOl.

Arlee Bird said...

Love The Matrix series, have only heard of "Myst", and don't know about the other two. Great job A to Z'ing!

Lee
An A to Z Co-Host
Tossing It Out

Loree Huebner said...

Monopoly!

Suze said...

'And I noticed this long before my inner editor woke up and became annoying.'

I am sooo grateful for your inner editor. To anyone who might happen to read this, you CANNOT find a better beta reader than Lynnie Young.

Kittie Howard said...

There was a time when I was a Monopoly freak! And Scrabble! But, hmm, think that's about it. I sometimes wish I were more of a games person.

Your inner editor is a treasure!

Sherry Ellis said...

The Matrix is definitely one of my "M" favorites!

Nana Prah said...

I LOVE the Matrix. In my opinion it is one of the best movies ever created. Not just for the action, which was hot, but because of all the concepts in the movie. Great M word!

Julie Flanders said...

I'm going to be singing Here Comes the Men in Black in my head now. That movie always reminds me of a vacation I went on during that summer and that song was on the radio CONSTANTLY. My niece and nephew loved it and were happy, I didn't exactly feel the same way LOL.

nutschell said...

never heard of the magician but I'll have to read it now. I loooved the Matrix! Enjoyed it so much i wanted to have my own cool shades and long coat :)

Nutschell
www.thewritingnut.com

Mark said...

Awesome embrace of being geekish:) Myst, Matrix, Magic...these are somewhat known to me;) Although I haven't read Magician...maybe I should.

Kern Windwraith said...

The Matrix was a terrific film--too bad the sequels didn't measure up. I love the idea of Magic: The Card Game and your army of squirrels! I'm going to have to look into that.

That inner editor really can be a pest under certain circumstances, but it sounds from the comments above that yours is much in demand!

Nick Wilford said...

I love the idea of an army of squirrels! I imagine they could be vicious en masse.

I remember an RPG called Myth that was probably released around the same time as Myst. It featured, well, lots of cool Greek myths.

The Matrix Part 2 is one of three movies I've walked out on. OK, I had to get a train and I'd misjudged times, but would have walked out anyway!

Neurotic Workaholic said...

I never played Myst, but I heard of it. The only game I can remember playing on CD-ROM was Where in the World is Carmen San Diego, I think. I saw the first two Matrix movies; I thought they were pretty good. It's interesting how several movies and shows from the 90s expressed people's fears and concerns about technology, maybe because we weren't as "connected" back then as we are now.

cleemckenzie said...

I have to say that Men in Black had me in stitches. I love a good laugh when I go to the movies.

Carol Kilgore said...

Men in Black is one of my favorite movies! Also Mystic Pizza.

Unknown said...

Monopoly!!!!!

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

My hubby got into Mass Effect. I don't know why I didn't. Think I was playing other games at the time.

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

wow, I'm totally surprised you don't know the book. That was staple reading in the 80s and 90s.
I also suspect you knew MAX.

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

I enjoyed #2 because of all the potential and the amount of discussion it generated, but #3 failed to reach that potential so it made both 2 and 3 flop.

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

yes! But I couldn't get my hands on the trilogy in Australia.

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

yes indeedy, I do :)

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

It's such a shame too! So much potential lost.

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

I loved Myst so much I actually completed it without looking up the cheat notes (took a while)

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

It helps to have an artistic background so I knew what I wanted the program to do for me. It was just a matter of working out how. My secret? Time and determination.

I used to use Poser as well, but found that one more limited for the kind of things I wanted to achieve.

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

aw, you're making me blush, Suze :)

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

oh yes! I'd totally forgotten about Monopoly! My brother always won that one.

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

Gotta 'love' it when a song gets stuck ;)

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

ha! I remember Where in the World is Carmen San Diego. I wasn't very good at that one.

Trisha said...

Still have not read any Feist at all. Love those two movies, esp. the Matrix.

Al Diaz said...

Loved the Matrix!

Anonymous said...

I loved The Matrix and Men in Black.

Michael Di Gesu said...

Thanks Lynda,

I will definitely check out 3D studio max. I might like it better.