Troy Dennison's Blog, page 16

The Friday Fun Five # Musicals

I've worked on a lot of music productions over the years – and I have to admit that I do love a bit of musical theatre. So if I was stranded on my favourite desert island (and had enough fellow castaways, costumes and instruments to do this) which five musical would I love to stage?

 Little Shop of Horrors

I love everything about this production from the songs to the characters to the big-ass talking plant hell bent on world domination. There's a delightful sense of fun about this throwback to '50's Americana and the awesome B movies of that era. From the opening notes of Skid Row to the final strains of Don't Feed the Plants the songs are amazing. My personal favourite being Dentist and I do have a terrible fondness for Mean Green Mother from Outer Space – but that song only appears in the film so I'd have to cheat a little to get it included. The tremendously downbeat ending (well it's a bugger for the human race but not so much for plant-kind) does give the production a bitter finish but I still love the show no end. You really can't go wrong with a homicidal talking plant, a sadistic dentist, a few sweet souls in Seymour and Audrey and some great songs.

The character I'd like to play: Orin Scrivello DDS

 

The Rocky Horror (Picture) Show

Another stage show that became a movie and has its roots firmly in the films of the 50's. Rocky Horror has its kink proudly on display and wears a subversive smile on its face as it lures you into its dark, sensual world of depravity. From the opening of Science Fiction Double Feature that literally pays lip service to some classic sci-fi movies to the reprise at the end the songs are quirky and fun. Eddies Teddy, Timewarp and Sweet Transvestite are my favourites from the great score. The story of a wholesome all American couple losing their innocence to the transvestite alien scientist Frankenfurter and his creation Rocky is all kinds of mad fun. Throw in a groupie, a creepy manservant and his sister (and their decidedly dodgy sibling attraction) and a few quirky twists and turns and you have an enduring classic. I just hope I can get enough rice and water pistols for the wedding and the walk in the rain!

The character I'd like to play: Riff Raff

 

Return to the Forbidden Planet

This is the only musical on my list that hasn't been made into a movie – but it does owe its genesis to one. Taking elements from the great sci-fi movie and borrowing heavily from Shakespeare and pop culture this is a cracking tale of love with a touch of megalomania thrown in for good measure. The songs are Rock 'n' Roll classics taken from the 50's and 60's, melded into the story and peppered with pop culture references. Favourite songs include Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood, Young Girl and She's Not There. There's a wonderful sense of humour to the script and like Rocky Horror there is a great element of audience participation – the Polarity Reversal drill.

The character I'd like to play: Prospero

 

The Wizard of Oz

This is one of the all time feel good movies for me and as a sometimes stage show it's allowed to make my list. From the opening song Over the Rainbow to the closing If I were King of the Forest the music is timeless. The story of Dorothy Gale's adventure in the land of Oz after being transported there via tornado is pure joy. The characters she befriends and the journey they take is magical and filled with hope. With the Wicked Witch of the West and her army of flying monkeys (Flying Monkeys!!!) making brilliant adversaries for the ragtag band as they each seek their hearts desire it's a fabulous spectacle.

The character I'd like to play: Scarecrow

 

Cabaret

This little gem has a long history of adaptation and tells the story of cabaret performer Sally Bowles at the seedy Kit Kat klub set against the backdrop of the rise to power of the National Socialist party in 1930's Germany. The opening song Willkommen sets the tone right up until the jawdropping title number. There have been various adaptations that have upped the raunch factor somewhat – and for a tale that was cheerfully sleazy in a charming way already it can sometimes leave little to the imagination. It does give a great insight into the way people act and react as their world transforms around them. My favourite numbers are Cabaret, The Money Song (from the newer revivals) and the beauty and horror of Tomorrow Belongs to Me.

The character I'd like to play: Emcee

 

And there you have it; my five favourite musicals that I'd love to perform if I was stranded on a desert island. All I need are another dozen or so singer/dancer/actors, a handful of musicians and an audience…

Sunday Scares

It's a beautiful sunny Spring day outside so naturaly my thoughts are turning to something dark. As a sometimes horror writer I was thinking about what scares me and why. Other than some of the more obvious – death, heights and running out of toilet paper (don't ask) the one thing guaranteed to scare me is werewolves. I suppose it's a little odd because I have a werewolf in one of my stories and I do love werewolf movies. It doesn't change the fact that they can and do still scare me something rotten.

The genesis of this comes in two parts; one from my early childhood and one from my teen years. Turn back the clock to the 1970′s and in the UK there was an early evening news show called Nationwide. One night they were doing a piece on the Hexham Heads – purportedly haunted artifacts that could summon up the spectral image of a wolflike man. They did a lovely recreation of a young kid around my age going home, opening the door and being confronte dby the werewolf on the staircase.

It scared the living daylights out of me! Nightmares ensued and unfortunately for a kid with an overactive imagination I could dream up some delightfully scary stuff about werewolves.

The second element of this particular trauma turned up some years later in the form of An American Werewolf in London. I absolutely adore Landis' movie – it's darkly funny, Rick Bakers effects are incredible, Jenny Agutter is stunning and even today it stands up well. It's one of my favourite films of all time, but it also has one of the scariest scenes in a film ever – the one set in the underground with the lone businessman. I touched on this in Last Train Home – how unnerving it can be to be alone on a train platform at night.

The scene (and the film) filmly set in stone how scary werewolves are for me – The Howling didn't help matters either!  I've written about werewolves, I've painted and drawn them; but they still scare me on some deeply primal level. Don't get me wrong; I love werewolf movies – The classic The Wolfman is briliant and there are so many others over the years. I enjoy watching them knowing that I'm going to get a genuine scare and some potentially unsettling dreams that night.

I do try not to watch werewolf movies late at night, alone with the lights out though!

The Friday Fun Five # Music

I'm sitting sipping chilli coffee – Guatemalan Santa Rosa brewed with a slice of Scotch Bonnet chilli in it – and contemplating an idea for a wee bit of semi-irregular fun. The concept is simple; it's Friday, I'm about to be stranded on a desert island with five related items of my chosing and I'm going to cheerfully try to explain my five choices. It's loosely in the tradition of the classic Desert Island Discs and with that in mind I've decided to base this first TFFF on music – five albums I would chose for being stranded on a desert island. Pull off your shoes, crack open a coconut and sit on the shore under palm trees for a while with me…

 

Iron Maiden – Number of the Beast

A long time ago I was fourteen years old and going through the second phase of my library fad. The first phase had involved reading just about anything I could get my hands on, while the second was about listening to new music. Loaning music from the library was a new experience for me and I loved the novelt of lending an album for two weeks. Back then of course it was albums; proper records – big, black chunks of vinyl with awesome covers. That was one of the things that drew me to Number of the Beast – the crazed monster Eddie the 'Ead using the devil as a puppet.

I'd already heard Run to the Hills – a song about genocide and I was eager to hear the rest. I remember the day was sunny, it was late afternoon and I slipped the record out of its protetective inner sleeve and onto my stereo. From the opening of Invaders I was riveted and I sat there listening to the tracks until the thundering 22 Acacia Avenue had finished – the I had to turn the record over to be treated to the title track. I honestly don't think there's a bad track on there; Invaders and Gangland are probably the weakest, The Prisoner has the awesome Patrick McGoohan linking it to the TV show. The standout tracks for me are Number, 22 Acacia Avenue and my personal favourite Hallowed Be Thy Name. I listened to Hallowed again recently and it still has the same amazing sweep and scope that I loved initially. A classic rock album by any standard.

Greenday – American Idiot

Let's start with the basic fact that I love Greeday to bits from their early punk roots to the stadium filling tours of today. As much as I like Dookie as an album I'm torn between 20th Century Breakdown and American Idiot – both tell a story with one song flowing to the next. While both are ostensibly concept albums, 20th Century has a more political disenfranchised tone to it while American Idiot feels like a smaller, more personal story. American Idiot is one of those albums that comes along once in a blue moon; every single track is brilliant on its own, but as a whole, played one after another tell a gripping and powerful story. From the opening of the title track to the final strains of Watsername you're swept up and carried along. My favourite track has to be Jesus of Suberbia with its intricate arangement and changes, with When September Ends and Holiday following hot onits heels. Armstrong, Dirnt and Cool have created a monster album that opens hard and never quits until the last note.

Jeff Wayne's musical version of War of the Worlds

At my middle school we were ushered into assembly to the strains of music playing. Most of the time it was classical music but now and then there was something different; War of the Worlds. This was another library lend for me and I loved the design and artwork of the double album. I knew the story because I'd read HG's brilliant book years before but there was something majestic about hearing Richard Burton uttering that opening line "Noone would have believed…" That leads into the thundering opening which still gives me shivers to this day.

It's a fantastic adaptation of Wells' story and you can get swept up in it so very easily. Back in those days you had to flip over each album to hear the B side whic gave three breaks in the running time. I spent so many happy hours listening to that music. Standouts for me are The Eve of the War,  Thunderchild, Forever Autumn and my personal favourite The Spirit of Man. I was a huge Thin Lizzy fan, so hearing Phil Lynott as Parson Nathaniel was an absolute treat. There's something about the combination of prog-rock, narration/acting and orchestral composition that's almost hypnotic. My only dislike is the little epilogue; which dovetails the story nicely but for me is an intrusion that doesn't really detract from the overall awesomeness.

My Chemical Romance – Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys

I do love a bit of MCR and I enjoy seeing them evolve from one album to the next. Danger Days is another one of those brilliant pieces of music that I have to listen to in track order – start at the start and work my way through to the end. It crystalises the fact that Gerard Way is a damn good writer and it's unadulterated fun from start to finish. Looking from one perspective Danger Days could almost be a concept album as it crafts a story of a post-apocalyptic dystopian future punctuated by the semi-narration of Dr Death Defying's radio broadcasts. Bulletproof Heart is probably my favourite track with Sing, S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W and Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na) following hot on its heels. It's a fun filled hour of music that begs you to crank the volume up to eleven and sing along.

Nirvana – MTV Unplugged

Now here's an oddity with a bit of a twist – a live album. There are a lot of live albums I love – AC/DC, Greenday, Thin Lizzy, Tina Turner, the list goes on. I loved MTV back in its heyday when it was the cool kid on the block; and nothing said cool better than getting an established band to perform an acoustic set. Normall the band would play their hits, but when Nirvana took to the stage they did something a little bit different. I watched it the first time it aired in the UK and I was glued to the performance, loved the songs (some of which I'd never heard of) and was blown away by Kurt Cobain's vocals and passion.

I snared the album when it was realeased after Kurt's death and it's fair to say that it's probably my alltime favourite album and certainly one of the all-time great live performances by a band. Knowing the tensions that surrounded the recording of the session makes it even more special for me in many way. Standout tracks are About a Girl, Lake of Fire and Jesus Don't Want me for a Sunbeam, but in all honesty they're all pretty damn awesome.

*****

and there you have it – the five albums I'd cheerfully be happy to be stranded on a desert island with.

Buggerered if I know how I'll play them mind you…

Suprises and updates

This may turn into a slight ramble so I appologise beforehand if it does. Just sit back, indulge me for a while and let's see what happens eh?

Suprises

I'm constantly suprised and amazed that people read my work. That may sound a bit odd but bear with me for a moment or three. When I write I craft stories that I know I would enjoy reading and because I have a tale to tell. Some of them have sub-text and a message to get across but for the most part I'm just trying to entertain. When I started self-publishing I had no real expectations; it really was a case of getting the stories out there and waiting to see what happened next.

Some people like them, some loathe them. The important thing though is that people are reading them. That's incredibly gratifying (and one of the things that suprises me). Peple take the time to review them – and trust me when I tell you a thick skin is required when reading reviews of your work! In some ways it's a lot like having someone criticise your child. People even add my work to their personal online libraries and reading lists and that astounds me.

Seeing my stories available on Barnes & Noble and Borders et al is rather gratifying, but when they surface on more obscure websites, online shops and blogs it makes my day every single time. Each time I look at the figures and try to wrap my head around how many thousands of people have taken the time to download my work and read it – that's mind melting.

I'm no Grisham, King or Rowling but people do read my work and that makes it worthwhile. For every person who has taken the time and effort to review, critique or share my stories – thank you. Good or bad, positive or negative, the fact that you took the time means a lot to me.

Updates

Since the release of my newest short story The Implant I'm currently focusing all my energy into my second novel After Dark.

After Dark is set in the Staffordshire town of Wood Slade. Following a brutal murder DI Jason Tate and his team race against time to catch the killer before they strike again. It's a complete change of both pace and genre from Hunters and it's chewing up a lot of time and effort at the moment. The hardest part (other than ensuring I have all the Police proceedure correct) is establishing the timeline of events and tying that into the investigation, linking each lead and each supspect in a logical, progressive manner. It's also damn good fun and I love the characters to bits.

My plan is to hammer away at After Dark until it's completed and not allow myself to get distracted by anything else. Good plan. Great plan. I've currently got a 5 foot long board plastered with notes and scribbles, a large map of the area and three notepads of scrawl on the go – it's more of a dis-organisation methodology for writing, but it seems to be working so far!

Aaand that's about it for now. I'm off into town to get some more fresh avocados – I've become mildly addicted to my home made guacamole salsa this week. Yum!

Free stuff!!!

Read an Ebook Week begins today and for my part I'm offering the opportunity of a free read for everyone:

Hunters

A deadly weaponised virus has been unleashed. GX-135 is incurable, highly infectious and reduces its victims to a state of mindless savagery. Victims of the virus – the Infected, are driven by only two basic animalistic urges; to kill and to spread the disease.

In a global effort to combat the epidemic a programme of quarantine and eradication is established. Each outbreak site is cordoned off and a highly trained team of military personnel – the Hunters are sent in to eradicate every living being in the Quarantine Zone. To offset the vast expense of these operations they are televised in real time; the ultimate reality TV experience. The Hunters television show has become the highest rated piece of broadcast media on the planet with the Hunters celebrated as superstars.

In the wake of an outbreak in London the Hunters team is sent into the established Quarantine Zone to eradicate the Infected. The mission is routine; the Hunters have dealt with this a hundred times before. This time however things will be different, and suddenly the Hunters find they are alone and embattled in the deserted city fighting for their lives. It is a fight that some of them will not survive, and as the tragedy unfolds it is being transmitted across the globe in all its high-definition glory.

Just click on the cover above and use the coupon code:  VE93U

I'm also offering the Nico Servis erotica story Groupies :

Life on the road for a touring rock band is hard work. Endless travel, gigging each night and after the show it's time to meet the fans, let your hair down and party all night long…

Just click on the cover above and use the coupon code: RE100

If you do choose to read one of these stories please feel free to leave a review. They're both available in Kindle, Nook and a wide variety of other digital formats.

I am Spartacus – a confession (of sorts)

Not so long ago I wrote a piece about writing outside your comfort zone. There was a very, very good reason for the article; I was writing so far outside my comfort zone that it was scaring me.

How far you ask?

Well…I write horror and science fiction, fantasy and thrillers. Anything beyond that would be considered strange waters for me to navigate. That didn't stop me from a little experiment though – for the longest time (years, possibly decades) I've joked about writing romance.

Romance sells; there's a built in market.

I sort of kinda leaned more towards the erotica side of romance which has fewer flowers and sighs and lots more hardcore tripple x rated action. Stop judging me! I figured that if Philip Jose Farmer could get away with it…

But I wanted to separate myself from this new direction and so Nico Servis was born. Nico likes to jet ski (as do I) he loves Wales and visits as often as he can (and so do I) and he likes the darker, kinkier side of life (*gulp*).

Nico's first short story did very well indeed and prompted a second. He had a Twitter, a blog and a FaceBook…and he was getting on my nerves. I liked the seperation of my genres but trying to maintain two distinct and self defined entities was exhausting.

The bottom line of was that I just plain gave up trying. Nico is still a law unto himself (my dark, kinky alter-ego if you like) and he will contnue to write and publish stories that will tantalise and titilate you. Watch this space if you dare.

At the end of the day – I AM Spartacus, I am Nico Servis.

Print is Dead – Rest in Peace

Print books are a dead medium.

I guess we see something along those lines a lot these days – declaiming that the era of the print book is at an end. But is it?

I love books – the feel of them, the weight in your hand, the smell that a brand new book has. As a kid I couldn't get enough of libraries, charity shops and second hand book stalls on markets. I adored books, couldn't wait to get my hands on a brand new, dog eared copy of something I've never previously read. My actual library (if you can call it that) has well over a thousand books in it – that's honest to gosh, REAL books. And boy do they take up a lot of space!

Now, back to my early question – I think it's less a case a print being dead and more a case of format shifting and accessibility. Electronic media has (have?) opened up the world of reading to people that would never normally pick up a book. Likewise it's given avenues of exposure to the short format writing medium – flash fiction and short stories. There are more ways to find what you want as a reader and more avenues of exposure as an author than were ever possible when it was merely print media that was available.

There was a degree of elitism to being an author in previous decades – they earned their right to be printed, fought and bled for it. And it was the lucky few that got the privilege of seing their stories marketed and sold to the world. Now of course just about anyone can claim to be an author because there are so many more ways to get your written work out there. I guess in some ways that makes it easier and harder to be a writer.

Don't get me wrong – I honestly think that people like King, Grisham and Pratchett deserve every inch of their success. They worked HARD for what they achieved and gained the recognition they deserved the hard way. I think they are amazing and knowing how hard they fought to bring their stories to the world only serves to make this topic a little bitter sweet.

Paper books will always be with us – I honestly believe that. Just because eReaders are the new kid on the block with the cool trainers and designer gear doesn't mean that the old skool paper based medium is dead. In fact I think it actually makes it just that little bit more precious. In a day and age when anyone with a half baked idea and computer access can throw down a few thousand words and have them in front of an audience by the end of the day it makes the paper book author a precious commodity indeed.

Most eAuthors don't have editors and they pretty much have full control of whatever content they put out there – I know, I'm that way myself. And sadly there is a glut on the eBook market – if you listen carefully you can probably hear it creaking and groaning under the strain. So yes, electronic media has opened up a new pathway to people that would previously have only ever dreamed of having their words read. But it's also opened the floodgates and the casual reader and the discerning reader both have the same problem facing them – how to choose what to read.

My only real concern here is that the reader will become jaded with the new eBook medium. If so much middle of the road, sub-par content is out there will people still want to spend the time sorting the wheat from the chaff? Why bother wasting your time wading through thousands of unknown commodities when you can just dial up one of the big names? I do hope that doesn't happen and that people will embrace the opportunity to discover great new authors that they previously would never have considered.

Print isn't dead and it isn't going away. There will always be a market for it and I'm rather grateful for that in a lot of ways. Sure the common or garden book store is slowly becoming a rare commodity and that's a sad thing, but print books, REAL books are here to stay. There may be fewer produced in the future – but that could be a good thing because it can promote quality over quantity.

In the end I suppose in some ways I'm an oddity because I yearn for the day when I can walk into a charity shop and pick up a battered second hand copy of something I've written.

I should be that lucky…

Retail Therapy

A fun little bit of flash fiction to help you through the start of the week*

They say that retail therapy is good for you.

I suppose that at some point in their lives everyone has mindlessly indulged in a spending spree with the sole purpose of self gratification. For a few brief moments they allow themselves to go a little crazy with no regard for the consequences. They spend the rent, or the weekly shopping money or some other sum of cash that was earmarked for something important. Just for that chance to forget about their worries and woes they splurge and consequences be damned.

It saved my last relationship you know.

Honestly, I'm not lying.

There was a girl; isn't that how all the best stories start? We were young and foolish and in love and in the beginning everything was perfect.

But then something changed.

Maybe it was her, maybe it was me, or perhaps it was the world around us. I'm not sure really how it happened; only that it did. There was no single moment or event that you could point your finger at and say "That's when it all went wrong" it was a gradual process. We went from happy to complacent to miserable; one state of being flowing effortlessly into another. I used to argue with her all the time; about my hair, my weight, my lack of a job, anything and everything would set her off on another endless rant. Nothing I did was good enough, everyone else she knew was better than me. That sort of thing can get you down, especially if it begins when you wake up and rarely slows down until you fall asleep again at night.

So I indulged myself and went on a shopping spree.

Of course the shiny new shovel I brought set her off on another lengthy tirade. She went on and on and on, her voice rising and falling like the swells of the ocean, reaching an almost tsunami like state of verbal abuse. Right up until I hit her in the head with my recent purchase; clang, thud, argument over. Then I used the shovel to bury her in the basement; problem solved.

We almost never argue any more, and when we do she very rarely wins.

 

 

 

*Retail Therapy may have previously seen the light of day via Tumblr

 

Time Travelling

A long time ago…

I wrote a story – Monsters was originally published in October 2007 in 13 Human Souls Ezine as a piece of flash fiction.

It had its birth as a combination of two things – the UK media climate at the time,  the persecution and outing of paedophiles, and the fact that I was doing jury service on a case that upset me an incredible amount.

Driving home along the motorway after a long day in court I started thinking and by the time I reached home I hit the computer and started writing.

Monsters was the final result.

There's a funny thing about the story that people miss on their first reading – it's nasty and the obvious villain gets his just deserts.

However on closer study something else becomes apparent…the story it told in first person and the only viewpoint we get is that of the narrator. In the final summation is what he percieves the truth? If so then our villain is trully caught. But what if the narrator is himself deluded and the person he persecutes is an innocent?

More pointedly is the notion that even IF the villain of the piece IS the monster the narrator describes – does he deserve the fate he meets? And who in the end is the bigger monster?

It's meant to make you think, it's meant to have a duality to the narrative and above all it is meant to make you question where the boundary lies between justice and barbarity.

go give it a read and see for yourself – it's cheerfully free and available in all major digital eBook formats.

It's all in the game

I just saw an amazing eBook for sale over on Smashwords. It retails for $9.99 and purports to explain to women just exactly why men like to play video games.

The idea intrigued me so I took a quick look at it and walked away again scratching my head at the guy's audacity for trying to make money off the book and also for a complete and utter lack of

a) understanding of the genre and phenomena as a whole

b) respect for his readers

I'm a gamer.

Let's start with that. I've been playing video games since I was nine years old and was exposed to Space Invaders for the first time. I can still clock up an easy quarter mill on a single credit (10p in old money!) and yes, for my sins I'm a rather competitive gamer. Heck once upon a time I was ranked number 55 in the world on Space Harrier! Now for me that was an achievement, but in all seriousness there honestly aren't many people who will ever actually care about it. Over the years I've played on multiple gaming formats and multiple gaming genres from sports to FPS and RPG. I've been an early adoptor and picked up stuff off the grey import market. Some people would consider me a hardcore gamer, but for me I play for the challenge and I play for fun.

I love games. I've spent the last few days hammering away on Dead Space 2 – a nice horror/sci-fi crossover with an intriguing storyline, some gross out visuals and a few quality jump out of your seat moments. I love it! In the book I took a look at the author relates a story about playing a game of Madden (American football) and his girl rings him. He then relates how disgruntled he is to have recieved the call while he was playing and how he dismissed her so he could carry on playing.

I found that interesting because I could relate – when my girlfriend phoned me last night I was mid-game on Dead Space, slaughtering evil mutated critters left right and centre. I didn't dismiss her, I didn't hang up the phone; I talked to her for an hour and a half and THEN went back to playing my game. I have proiorities you see and I can differentiated between what is and is not important. The game can be played any time, that conversation will NEVER happen again. Like I said; priorities.

The other thing I noted about the guy's book was that he claimed to have all the answers for his readers and yet in his opening he states that he has never played a First Person Shooter and proceeds to make several assumptions about the genre and the people that play it. How can he provide an answer to something he has NO experience of? The things that would draw someone to playing a sports sim may not be the same factors that draw someone to a driving game or RPG or FPS. Hell I've nailed each Call of Duty and HALO game I've ever played on the hardest difficulty setting simply for the personal challenge of kicking arse and knowing I was a decent gamer.

My eldest loves RPG's – he can reel off stats and hitpoint modifiers til the cows come home. Now I like an good RPG myself and Final Fantasy is one of my favourite gaming series. For me it's less about the stats and more about imersing myself in the storyline and the world. But all the time I'm aware that it IS a game, it's NOT as important as real life and that people in the real world should come first.

I don't have to be standing in a midnight queue for the latest release or go crazy if I can't get a new map pack or add-on straight away. I can wait, I have patience (and a limited disposable income!). That isn't me, but I'm happy to invest hours of my life in hammering away at something for fun, for the challenge, to succeed. I suppose that's what it comes down to for most people who game; not just men, but the girl gamers out there too. And make no mistake, there are girls out there that are as good as and in some cases better than their male contemporaries. My daughter is the one person I will always team up with for a Legendary co-op game of HALO because she kicks arse on it!

At the end of the day we  play for the challenge, we play for the cameraderie and trash talking friendship of an online match, we play for personal satisfaction, but above and beyond those things we play for fun!