November 22nd, 2006
Kvetha Fricaya. Greetings Friends.
Today is my birthday. Thank you to all who sent me their well-wishes.
And today is also the first day the various Eragon video games are available in
stores. Vivendi sent me copies of them a few days ago, and I've been having fun
playing the Xbox 360 version.
I have to admit, having an Eragon game is pretty cool. Over the past
day-and-a-half, I ran straight through the game with one of my friends, playing
in co-op mode. We beat every level and found all the hidden dragon eggs, which
unlock extra content. One of the things that impressed me is just how much work
the folks at Vivendi and Stormfront studios put into the game—from the orchestra
they hired to record the music to the in-depth interviews they included. I
usually played as Eragon, but I also spent time as Brom and Murtagh, both of
whom have their own unique strengths in battle.
The Xbox 360 game has two extra levels. One is set in the ruins of the dwarf
city Orthíad, and it contains a version of the star rose sapphire, Isidar
Mithrim, and the central chamber of Tronjheim. This is one of the gamemakers'
tributes to the book, and it gave me chills when I saw it. The chamber isn't a
mile high, but it's pretty tall nevertheless. Who knows, perhaps the dwarves
constructed a practice version of Tronjheim in Orthíad, their old capital,
before moving to Farthen Dûr. . . .
I checked The Fortunes of Captain Blood, by Rafael Sabatini, out of the library
yesterday. Sabatini also wrote Scaramouche, which was turned into two different
movies of the same name. The first was silent. The second, with sound and color,
contains one of the greatest swordfights in film history. It's right up there
with the duel from The Princess Bride.
Here's the opening line from Scaramouche: "He was born with the gift of
laughter, and a sense that the world was mad."
"Wind howled through the night, . . ."
The high winds that our area is famous for have come back full force. We've had
gusts of sixty-eight miles per hour, and the steady freight train of wind has
blown for the past two weeks. Trees, signs, and tractor-trailers blown over,
power lines down. Snow blankets the mountains. Winter has arrived.
All the best. And may your swords stay sharp!
Christopher Paolini
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