David Barr Kirtley

Science fiction author and podcaster

Archives for April 2010

The Adventures of Trotter, Marmaduke, Bingo, and Bladderthin

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There’s a really interesting lecture by Michael Drout on the 4/16/10 iTunes feed for The Tolkien Professor podcast. Here’s a sample:

Strider, who became Aragorn, was originally a hobbit named “Trotter,” who wore wooden shoes or had wooden feet even. (He’d been tortured by the Dark Lord and so had to wear shoes, or maybe even have prosthetic wooden feet.) And “Trotter” persisted forever. Meriadoc’s name was “Marmaduke.” And my favorite one is that Frodo was “Bingo” — for a long time, I mean, like, multiple drafts. So what I tell my students is: revise, revise, revise … Or actually, the other one is that in The Hobbit, Gandalf’s original name was “Bladderthin.” And again that persisted through whole drafts.

Phantasie Heroes of the Lance Rings of Zilfin Game CGA

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John Joseph Adams and I were just recording some material for Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy in which we briefly discuss the horror that was CGA graphics. You kids today with your “Halo” and your “Super Mario Galaxy” will never understand what we went through. Not only did we only have FOUR colors to look at, but they were the four goddamn ugliest colors ever dreamt up in the twisted imagination of some sadistic dark god of color-blind computer engineers. Here are some screenshots to show you what I mean. Keep in mind that I spent literally HUNDREDS (possibly thousands) of hours playing these three games.

Heroes of the Lance game CGA

OH MY GOD MY EYES!!! This is Heroes of the Lance, a Dragonlance tie-in game.

Phantasie game town CGA

This is Phantasie, the first computer RPG I ever played all the way through. Man, when it comes to flooring, you just can’t beat cyan and magenta checkerboard. (Also read my retrospective on this game.)

Rings of Zilfin game CGA

This is Rings of Zilfin. The graphics in this game are so ugly that I literally cried the first time I saw them, especially considering that the evil lying game box had led me to believe that the graphics would look like this. “Sham”? Yeah, you got that right.

“Sorcerer” Faces Imminent Death in Saudi Arabia

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Wow, remind me never to travel to Saudi Arabia:

“Sorcerer” Faces Imminent Death in Saudi Arabia

Ali Sabat was the host of a popular Lebanese TV show in which he predicted the future and gave advice. He was arrested by religious police on sorcery charges while on a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia in 2008. His lawyer, May el-Khansa, says she has been told Mr Sabat is due to be executed this week … Many Saudi executions are beheadings by the sword in public places.

Roger Barr

My grandfather Roger Barr passed away early this morning at the age of 98. He was my mom’s father, and was my last surviving grandparent. He was being cared for by my uncle Steve (his son) and aunt Denice — both medical professionals — and was still sharp and good-humored in his final days. Yesterday […]

David Barr Kirtley

David Barr Kirtley is the host of the Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast, for which he’s interviewed over four hundred guests, including George R. R. Martin, Richard Dawkins, Paul Krugman, Simon Pegg, Margaret Atwood, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Ursula K. Le Guin. His short fiction appears in the book Save Me Plz and Other Stories.