I realize several things in parallel: in addition to the aforementioned, when I type something in my blog editor (usually Writely), it looks much smaller than it does on the printed page. In part, because of the spacing style I've put between lines to make them look uncrampy, and also, because the readable entry width is shorter due to the right sidebar.

Okay then.

If you want to come with me into the labyrinth of my mind, do you remember Psykosonik? I used to listen to them a lot—not as much as I did as when I "rediscovered" them post-Power of Seven's music in Marathon. I've never played the open-source Aleph One, but part of me, stringing back to Spectre VR, is jonesin' for it. I'm not alone, and since Brilliant Bytes is programming Virtua Combat inspired by SVR—I haven't tried it out yet—it's clear, like rabbits-a-multiplyin', how many heads this hydra has.

Now, back to Psykosonik (briefly mentioned before): they had a great webpage which I reckon I heard of via CNET, which is still around (!). I used to watch CNET TV on the Sci-Fi channel. Desmond Crisis rocked, and since that time I've liked blue hair. Last night, I was trying to download one of their early, and non-multiplayer virtual realities, ROMPE.The page's music samples work, but the installer was broken for me. I'll attempt again.

So if every story has a beginning, middle, and end, that's near the beginning of my interest in online worlds. Which leads up to the present today in Second Life. Which is why if I pine on and on about something, like unfurling ribbons out of a magician's hat, yup, there's a meaningful history, there's reason(s) why.

(Aesthetics vary across blog entries: presentation matters, as does diversity. Adaptation of the typographical MC. Flare+Flare=?)

I realize there's a lot of interest in creating pixelart and 8-bit, aliased, palette-crushed joy o' wonders like eBoy does so well, something personal and deep from my own experiences happens to be somewhat later: 256 colors on a Macintosh and not nearly enough to show smooth, gradiated shades, so dithering was used. I don't usually go for a speckled, mottled aesthetic, but I remember having a startup screen that was… ray-traced, reflecting spheres, pre-rendered, and very much dithered down. Same with games like Myst (long before any "masterpiece" edition), and if I can find some of those old gems, I'd like to share 'em.

Weekends are awesome for rediscovering the past!