"There is a lie."

Oooh - vote for me! Or someone else. I don't care.

Okay. I do care. Vote for me, and me alone. I might get a raise. That would be nice.

(I am, of course, kidding. I won't get a raise. But vote for me still.)

What the heck am I talking about? Check out Just Adventure's latest poll - left side, just below the 'News' button - and vote for your favourite adventure game developer. Unfortunately, my favourite adventure game developers are nowhere in sight. And that's not slighting any of those other guys in the poll - it's just that it's hard to beat Tim Schafer, Ron Gilbert, Jane Jensen, Al Lowe, Hal Barwood, Steve Meretzky, and all those other guys and gals who made the genre. Just because Schafer is making action-adventures, and all the rest are, uh, doing something else, doesn't mean they shouldn't be remembered and recognised for doing so much more for adventures than that "Ragnar Tornquist" guy.

Still, though - vote for me! If I "win", I'll make sure to mention all those people who should have won the poll in my, uh, acceptance speech. Yes.  ¶ 23:19   

  "From the writer of."

Here's Martin:

Do you know your website is down?

And do you know that as it is 3.30 p.m. now, and 3:30 p.m. is the Check-Ragnar-Tornquist's-Site-For-Updates time in my daily routine, you are completely messing up my schedule?!

Bring the darn thing back! I'm waiting for new blog entries!

I did notice that my site was down, yes, but aside from raising my fist to the heavens and shouting "why God, why?", there's not much I can do about it. I could send off an irate e-mail, but that never seems to accomplish anything. My provider does maintenance, apparently. It shuts things down. Go figure.

And, yes, I realise that 3:30 PM is the check-Ragnar-Tornquist-dot-com-for-updates time in everyone's daily routine. Too bad there ain't no updates. Except for this one. Which is being written...now.

Why have I been so quiet? Because, dear readers, we're getting close to E3. And E3 is known as Busy Time for me, especially this year, with two projects in the pipeline. Meetings are being booked, material is being prepared, and deadlines are looming. Also, I'm sick. Which is very convenient. Luckily, tomorrow's an official day off - May 1st, the socialist holiday to beat all socialist holidays - which will give me time to recover. Hopefully. Tomorrow I'm also seeing X-Men 2 (or X2, or X2:X-Men United - whatever they're choosing to call it today). Hurray! Really looking forward to that one. Maybe it'll wash the bad taste of Daredevil from my mouth. Full report on Friday. But expect an update tomorrow...before 3:30 PM, mind you.  ¶ 17:32   

  "Michael Bolton"

So Paris was nice. The little I got to see of it. There were meetings and lots of driving and walking around to get to meetings. I got to see some sights...from a distance. And I ate at several really bad cafés and restaurants. I've been to Paris before, but it seems that I never have the opportunity to really see Paris. Maybe next time. Oh, and maybe I'll post some pictures tomorrow. Of interesting sights. Far away from me.

Everything went really well, however, and it was a very good trip.

Rainy and slightly chilly day today. I just spent some time at a big street market just ten minutes from my apartment. I didn't know it was there, I just happened across it on my way elsewhere. I love markets, even though I rarely find anything I want to buy - I just love the crowds, the noise, and the organic, energetic nature of thousands of people milling about on the street, walking from booth to booth, vendors crying out for attention. Very lively. And very old fashioned, in a good way. The drizzle put a slight damper on things, but not too much. I was actually heading over to a mobile phone store to check out a one-day sale - my phone is, unfortunately, not very good. But it'll have to wait. I'm currently (and for the forseeable future) a very poor man.

I have to stop by work today, though only for a brief while, to check my e-mail and prepare a few things for Monday. My next trip is only two weeks away, and this time I'm staying away for twelve days, so there's much to be done before then.  ¶ 17:26   

  "Like butter on a hot muffin."

Yeah, so I didn't post anything more last night. Wanna make something of it? Instead, I played Zelda. I didn't intend to play for more than twenty or thirty minutes. I ended up playing for more than two hours. It ain't 'alf bad. There. That's my review.

I saw Bowling for Columbine the other night - finally! - and aside from Michael Moore's somewhat suspect journalism (his films are more like essays than documentaries - he's making a point, arguing a personal theory, and he's not unwilling to manipulate the facts to reach foregone conclusions), it's very, very good. On one level, despite the subject, it's just supremely entertaining, and funny. On another level, it's an extremely important and topical look at violence in America, and the film raises a number of very interesting issues - especially regarding USA's culture of fear. There's a very powerful sequence about halfway through, where security camera recordings of Columbine high-school are accompanied by phone-calls made to 911 that same morning. Moore's films are often more about the director and his political convictions than about his subjects, and as such they can be a bit self-indulgent, especially if you don't happen to agree with him. I do, most of the time, and so I liked it. You might not.  ¶ 13:29   

  "Sticks and stones."

Just finished reading Chuck Palahniuk's latest novel, lullaby, and I can wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who fancies a different sort of supernatural tale. It's refreshing and a bit pretentious. Jolly good stuff.

(No, it's not April 18th anymore - but that's when I started writing this post. In the meantime, I've started reading Don DeLillo's Cosmopolis, which is a rather more difficult, though rewarding, novel.)

Sorry for being AWOL for a week, but it was my holiday, the weather was awesome - t-shirt all the way, baby - and I had so much relaxing to catch up on. I didn't want to waste it on my PC. I was also able to finally catch up with the latest episodes of 24, Buffy, and Angel. TV goodness all the way. Watching three episodes of 24 in a row, late at night, is pure bliss. So much better than being tied down to inconvenient airing times. VCD is the way to go.

Thursday morning I'm off to Paris, so after tomorrow there won't be any updates until the weekend. Unfortunately, it'll be a very short trip to France - back on Friday - so there won't be much time for enjoying the city. Then, in a few weeks, I'm off to L.A. Busy, busy, busy.

More later tonight. Promise.  ¶ 18:18   

  "Summer, summer, summertiiime!"

Oh sweet, precious summer! (Or as near to it as you could wish for in April.) Time to sit back and unwind. Yeah. With the barbecue. If only I had a garden.

Putting up some new shelves in the bedroom today, finally clearing away some of the junk that's been accumulating on the floor and in the corners and closets of my too-small apartment. It's actually not too small, my apartment - it's just the right size, especially when it's time to vacuum - but I haven't been very creative with the furnishing or storage space. Getting better now. The biggest problem (aside from time) is money: if I had tons, I could afford to be more creative and make my apartment look very spiffy. Yes, spiffy. It is a good word. But I don't have tons of money. In fact, money is surprisingly scarce these days.

I'd better get my act together and make a hit. Something, anything, as long as it makes me a lot of money. Am I selling out? I sold out a decade ago, baby.  ¶ 15:50   

  "That'll do, pig."

My cat Felix just found her favourite movie. When I came home from work this evening, I switched the TV on and went to make myself a chicken sandwich. When I came back she sat as though transfixed one foot away from the screen, watching attentively. I'd never seen her like that before. The movie? Do you even have to ask? One of my all-time favourites, actually. A movie about a very special pig.

Oh, come on. Read the headline. It's obvious, isn't it?

Yes, that's right: Babe. A beautiful movie - now with a stamp of approval from my cat, the critic. Hey, it runs in the family.

So my holiday officially started a few hours ago. I'm a free man - until next Tuesday. A week of late evenings and even later mornings awaits me. Even better, the weather has improved. Today it was quite warm. Hopefully, it'll remain spring-y through this week and next. And, hey, until summer. That'd be nice.  ¶ 22:18   

  "Maybe not so much for you with the talking."

Regarding length. (You know, it's girth that really matters. Honestly.)

In a recent "interview" with the Divide, I stated that the next The Longest Journey game (it's becoming really difficult to not name it by name (that's one of many, many Big Secrets), but I can't very well call it "TLJ2" or "the sequel to TLJ" either - because it ain't. It's...the next chapter in the saga. Not a sequel) would be shorter than the first one.

And the mail started pouring in.

Let me clarify: The next Journey will be shorter.

Let me clarify even further: The next Journey will be shorter for some.

I think length (not girth) has been one of those topics where people's opinions diverge to an amazing degree. In the past, I've seen comments and received mail with complaints about the game being both too short and too long. Yeah, a lot of people thought the game was too long, and I really get that. When you want to play through the entire story, but it takes you thirty, forty, fifty hours to do so, it can be frustrating. On the flip side, there are those who loved the game, and who are skilled adventurers, and they may have played through TLJ in twenty hours (tough, but it can be done) over one weekend, and wanted more.

How to achieve balance between the two? You can't really. So instead of trying to please everyone all the time, we're going to make a compromise that first and foremost will benefit the game. By shortening the playing time - and by "shortening", we don't mean "short"; we're still talking maybe twenty hours of gameplay - we can put a lot more effort into what's on the screen. There will be fewer locations, but the locations will be bigger and more detailed. The story will be deeper, more mature, with lots of twists and surprises. The interaction with the environment, world objects, and characters will be much more complex. The puzzles will be a lot more inventive, a lot more logical, and much less frustrating (no silly rubber ducky). And the gameplay overall will be more varied. Most importantly, we're opening up for more replayability, as well as additional quests that the player isn't required to complete.

Keep in mind that none of this is official yet. I'm merely stating my own point of view of - and vision for - what the game will be like. My vision for the game is to have less "dead space", less aimless running about; conversations that are more focused, more interesting; locations that contain a huge amount of interactive elements, not just pretty things to look at; graphics and animations that surpass the original's in every way; and a story that takes the saga to a whole new level. We're putting as much, probably more, passion and hard work into this one as we did the last one, but with a slightly narrower focus, to ensure that every second of the player's experience is fun. So, yeah, it may be a little shorter, but it'll be a heck of a lot better.

Here's a question from Sebastian:

I think some people from Divide-board are interested in taking part as a voice actor if it's possible. Your answear appeared very common to me in this case. Maybe you could give them a chance of proofing themselfes somehow? Where they can send some examples of there voice in or something like that.

When the time comes to cast actors for the game, we will do so through professional agencies, and - for various reasons - we'll only be using union actors. I'm sure that some fans would love to play a character in the game, and if you are a professional union voice-actor with an agent, then hey, sure, nothing wrong with submitting your bio. Like I said, though, casting is a looong way off, and we're probably going to listen to dozens - usually more - of actors for every single role in the game. And, for returning characters, in most cases we'll probably also be going back to the original actors.

If TLJ 2 is online-only, subscription-based MMOG, it will fail. Please do not allow Funcom to kill the TLJ franchise in this manner.

No one's planning to make the next TLJ an online game, so don't worry. The game will be a single-player adventure for the PC and consoles, sold in stores in a nice and sturdy box, for a one-time charge with no subscription fee. You won't even need an Internet connection to play it. All right?  ¶ 11:19   

  "I'm not afraid of heights. I'm afraid of falling."

So Daredevil was a disappointment. A big one. And I'm being really nice here.

I wanted to like it. I really did. I tried. There were some good scenes. The actors were - for the most part - right for their parts. The effects were okay. The story was, of course, good. After all, it's based on one of the best storylines in a comic-book ever. But the writing and the direction...oooh boy. Mark Steven Johnson wrote the Grumpy Old Men movies. Maybe he should've stuck with what he knew "best".

I'm not being completely fair. I admire the guy for securing a deal to write and direct an adaptation of his favourite comic-book, especially with his background - mostly comedies - and the movie did pull in a hundred million dollars in U.S. box office...although that's not exactly a home run by Marvel standards. In fact, considering the movie's budget, it's not that much at all. But that's not the point. The point is, the movie just wasn't very good. It could have been good. It should have been good. With another director - a better director - it would have been good. They had the actors, the story, the money...it really ought to have been a lot better than it was.

When you sit in the theatre and think to yourself, "boy, I could have handled that scene much better", you know the movie is in trouble. After all, how many feature-length comic-book adaptations have I directed? None. That's how many.  ¶ 22:05   

  "You know what's happening tonight? The world in which I'm confident is running right smack into the world in which I'm not."

The quotes are getting longer. It's a disturbing trend. And no, I'm not making them up as I go along. The one above is from Sports Night, while the previous entry's headline is taken from The West Wing. What do they have in common? Aaron Sorkin.

For my money, Aaron Sorkin is one of the most brilliant writers around, and, with Joss Whedon, the undisputed Kings of the Teleplay. Whatever I can glean from these guys, I glean hungrily. Unfortunately, their shows aren't faring too well. Firefly was recently cancelled, Buffy is ending after its seventh season in May, and Angel may not be renewed for next season. That would leave us Whedon-less for the upcoming season, and that's a complete disaster. Similarly, while The West Wing will probably be back for another season, it may not last very long. The ratings are down, especially with a USA that's more conservative than ever (at least since the 80s). Martin Sheen's President Bartlet is a democrat through and through, and Sheen's even spoken out (intelligently and correctly) against the war. Combined with the show's intelligence (a sure-fire way to alienate a stupid audience), the future may prove bleak for The West Wing. So let's enjoy it while we can - the amazing wordcraft of Sorkin and Whedon - work that, in my view, beats pretty much anything and everything out there: TV shows, films, even most novels. Yeah...they're that good.

(Heck, even my parents get how good The West Wing is, and they're not exactly avid TV viewers. But come Sunday night, they're glued to the screen.)

Leaving soon, and looking forward to seeing the Affleck don that red leather suit...no, not in that way. I'll get my kicks watching Jennifer Garner's Electra, thank you very much. But I'm derided the Afflect so many times in the past, it'd be nice if he redeemed himself with this role. In a few hours, I'll know.

Oh, by the way, NTB (Norwegian Telegram Bureau - they gather and sell news to various media outlets) visited yesterday, and was given a brief glimpse of the next The Longest Journey game, as well as some juicy tidbits from yours truly. I don't know where it'll end up being printed, but keep your eyes open. I didn't reveal much, but there are certainly some intriguing new information regarding the game...including the heroine's name, and how April Ryan fits into it all...  ¶ 19:53   

  "There are two things in the world you never want people to see how you make them: laws and sausages. "

Waiting for my laundry to be done. A Saturday ritual. I'm waiting on my laundry, because I need to put in a second load before I leave the apartment. If I don't - no clean clothes next week. And that just...won't do.

My life is filled with wonders and delights of a heavenly nature. And also laundry.

Yeah, I was planning on taking all of next week off, but now I do have to go into the office on Monday, so there goes my holiday plans. Well, no, not really. I'm staying in and near the city anyway, so it doesn't really make much of a difference, aside from the fact that: a) I have to get up early; and b) I have to get dressed. See, if I wasn't going to work on Monday, I would probably wear boxers and a t-shirt half the day. This is why I'm waiting on the laundry (see above).

I'm catching Daredevil tonight, and I'm curious to see how good (or bad) it is. I've heard everything from praise to derision for this movie, and I have absolutely no clue what to expect. I remain cautiously optimistic, as always. I used to read the comic-book a long, long time ago (back in the Frank Miller days), so while I'm certainly no DD expert - or huge fan - I do have a vision of the characters that I hope the movie stays true to. But we'll see. Full report tomorrow. I'm sure it'll be fun.  ¶ 14:52   

  "If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure."

(That would be Mr. George Dubya Bush. He's a golden well of quotes.)

Cold day today. After weeks of sunny, blue skies, it actually started snowing this evening, and the chilly wind whipped me homewards after Spanish class. How's that going, you ask. Not so much, no, says I.

I think I forgot to mention that I recently did an informal (and very, very short) interview with The Divide, a great The Longest Journey fansite. I don't say much about the next TLJ game. At all. But there's this bit about bikinis...

(And for crying out loud, people - that's obviously a joke! There will be no bikinis. Except maybe a few.)

Easter vacation coming up. I'm not sure yet whether or not I'm taking all of next week off, but, worst case scenario, we're looking at a good five days of re-lax-ation. I'll be hanging around the apartment most of the time, doing whatever it is that I haven't had time to do since Christmas. The city is a great place to be during holidays. It's quieter, you can always get a table at restaurants and cafés, the movie shows aren't sold out, and there are no long lines in the stores. Sweet.  ¶ 21:49   

  "I soiled myself during some turbulence."

(No, I didn't. I really didn't. It's a bloody quote.)

RPG Vault posted the third part of the online worlds roundtable on story that I recently participated in. Read it. Come on. It's got Cool Stuff in it, including some really, really vague clues about the top secret online game I'm working on.

There's another roundtable coming up real soon, with a somewhat controversial topic. And I'm being particularly controversive. So look out for that one.

What else is going on? Lots. Really. I'm living the grand life. Yes.  ¶ 23:01   

  "Solutions are not the answer."

(Richard Nixon said that. Honest.)

I have nothing interesting to say today. My head hurts, and I'm stuffed. The cat's asleep, the apartment's too warm, and I'm bored. No, wait, I don't get bored. There's always too much to do. Can you possibly get bored from having too much to do? Boredom is a luxury, I think, reserved for those who have time for it.

Sundays are a blur. I always have big plans for Sundays, because they're all mine, and there's precious little that I have to do. I can improvise. Relationships are great, but they put a serious strain on your Sundays. You're expected to be romantic on Sundays - eat lunch together, go for a walk, see a movie, have dinner... All well and good, but it leaves very little room for anything else.

Right, yes, I'm trying to feel good about being alone. But, honestly, it does have its advantages! Honestly.

Sundays, then, are usually filled with Big Plans, but they often come to naught, because I'm usually dead exhausted, and I end up doing very little at all. Today, for example, I was supposed to write. This, now, is the sum total of my writing. Sad, really. Granted, it was a nice day, and I spent large chunks of it under a blue sky, but still.

It's not over yet - this Sunday - so I'll click post & publish, and get cracking. Really, I will.  ¶ 22:41   

  "A voyage to Mars."

Damn! Used to be you could do a search for the words "voyage to mars" and get this page as one of the top alternatives, but no more. We've dropped in importance. This cannot be. When people out there search for a "voyage to mars", they should get this journal. After all, isn't that what it's all about - a voyage to Mars? I think so. The voyage to Mars aspect of this journal cannot be neglected. It's a voyage. To Mars. I'll say it again: A voyage to Mars. A voyage to Mars, man! To Mars! A voyage! A voyage to Mars!

Do you think it'll help if I write "voyage to Mars" about a gazillion times? Voyage to Mars, voyage to Mars, voyage to- Oh God, I'm bored.

VOYAGE TO MARS, dude!

(If it's a voyage to Mars you want, this, my friends, is it. In all its voyage to Mars glory.)

(Voyage to Mars.)  ¶ 22:52   

  "Twinkle, twinkle, little star."

Just got home. Listening to David Bowie. I think heathen is his best album in years - also one of his most nostalgic. I love the fact that Bowie's not afraid to experiment, but it's good having him back making the sort of music he's best at: Smart pop. He's definitely aging well.

Nice day today. Intermittent sun, but when it was out, it was big and warm and comforting, like a giant ball of fire. Surprisingly enough.

I'm probably going to Paris in a few weeks, and then - of course - to L.A., and I have to admit that I'm a tiny bit worried about travelling. Not so much that I'd consider cancelling, mind, but still...I guarantee you that if someone coughs on board the plane, I'll be imagining the worst. There have been pandemics before, but now there are a lot more people, and it's so much easier to travel quickly anywhere, that diseases spread much faster than at any other point in history. So far, SARS only appears to have a 3% fatality rate, and many, many more people die every week of the regular flu than they do of this new disease, but the uncertainty of it is still worrying. And I've always believed that our biggest worry isn't nuclear annihilation, but a tiny, undetectable virus...

...but I'm quite certain that we'll pull through this like we've pulled through everything else. And we're better equipped to fight something like this now than we've ever been before. So - no worries. Or not too many, at least. It's prudent to worry, as long as it doesn't get in the way of living.

Right then, better get cracking on the writing.  ¶ 22:16   

  "Arrr."

Yay! Pirates!

(And now, back to enjoying my evening. Thanks and good night!)  ¶ 20:42   

  "No, your other right!"

T-shirt weather today. Beautifully sunny and warm. I'm heading out early today, to catch as much sun as possible. So - not writing any more. Nope. Enjoy your Fridays, people! :)  ¶ 17:09   

  Watching TV, reading newspapers, you can't help but feel that the world is coming to an end. It's enough to get you down, really. I mean, we're facing the possibility of a world war, and there's a killer virus that may be airborne spreading rapidly across Asia - maybe even the rest of the world - as we speak.

Like I said, with this sort of stuff going on, it's no wonder that I'm feeling a bit blue. There are other reasons, too, but I won't get into that. "World war" and "killer virus" is enough for now.

Don't you wish for happier times...like 2002? Boy, remember that year? Nothing got blown up (well...), and no one died (not that I know of). There weren't any wars (that I remember), and when you caught a cold you didn't immediately think "SARS!" (unless that word means "my throat's sore" in your language). Why can't 2003 be more like 2002? Or, for that sake, 2000? 1999 wasn't a bad year either. Nor 1998. In fact, I'll take any of the 90-something years instead of '03.

I keep saying that I won't use this journal to preach politics. I won't. Promise. But it's hard to focus on the work I'm doing when there's so much going on in the world around us. After all, I make games. I write. I create fantasies. I don't save lives. I don't do anything that has any relevance to anyone, aside from simply entertaining people. Of course, entertainment is somewhat important, because it's a break from reality. Which, at times, can be a good thing. But not always. I think a lot of people spend too much of their time away from reality - away from the important reality, at least. Reality shows on TV do not count.

Anyways. Not trying to get anyone else down. I'll feel better tomorrow. Really, I will. I always do.  ¶ 22:48   

  "No, I was the writer."

Just read a really, really funny account of what it's like to attend the Academy Awards, win an Oscar, and stare at Jennifer Garner's breasts from the writer of The Chubb Chubbs - the winner in the Best Animated Short Film category. Check it out.  ¶ 10:05   

  "The rare valid point."

I've been sleeping badly the last few weeks. I have no idea why, but I blame the cat. She insists on a very disturbing pattern that never wavers. Every morning at around five, she insists on moving from the right side of the bed (where she spends most of the night), to the left side of the bed (where I sleep). She has to curl up next to me, even though it means that I have to move to accommodate her. And I always wake up.

Of course, she's been doing this for a lot longer than two weeks, so there must be something else going on. Maybe it's the weather. Maybe I'm just so happy it's no longer winter, that I can't waste my time sleeping.

Still, it means that I'm sleepy most of the day, until I have to go to bed, when I'm wide awake. It's not a very helpful pattern, I have to say.

I was going to post something useful and interesting, but now I forgot, so I'll mention instead that I saw the third season finale of The West Wing yesterday, and it was quite epic. In a good way. Excellent ending. Some great writing (as usual). And I await the fourth season with baited breath (although I don't really have to: I can get it on VCD any time I want to).

I think that's about all I have to say. If any of you are waiting for: a) Information about the next Journey; or b) Juicy gossip about my personal life - well, you've come to the wrong place. There is absolutely no way that I'll ever release any information about any game in the The Longest Journey saga. Ever. It just won't happen. And if you want gossip, I'd point you to one of the many, many rumour sites exclusively dedicated to my incredibly interesting private escapades. You may have to look hard, but I'm sure there are some out there. If not - what are you waiting for? Go ahead. Make one. I'll send you some Juicy Gossip if you do...promise.  ¶ 23:39