Random Access

Thursday – 13 September 2007
A new NBN Thursday begins.

Last night was a lazy, do-a-lot-of-nothing kind of night. And you’ll hear no complaints from me about that. I got home, figured out what to do about dinner and just… hung out. And, I talked (actual vox) with . Twas fun. The conversation ranged from silly to serious, with quite a few stops everywhere in between.

This morning, I actually did something that I haven’t done in a very long time: I wrote a letter. A real-life, honest-to-God, pen-and-paper letter. Not an email. Not a few lines on a greeting card. A letter. Granted, it was a bit short, but that’s not the point here. The point is: I wrote a letter. Not only that, I folded it, put it into an envelope, sealed, stamped and addressed it and put it in the mailbox.

City of Heroes/Villains: The Hand of Nefer-Tem
Since it had been a few days, I decided to do some crime-fighting in Paragon City. I logged in right as a Rikti invasion fleet was attacking the zone where I usually park my characters. So, I joined the fray. I was invited to join an invasion team and we started beating on things. After that portion of the invasion was repulsed, we went to another part of town to fight. After the invasions broke off, the team broke up.

A short while later, a member of my supergroup messaged me and asked if I wanted to join a team and run a few missions… some of my missions, at that. Hm… let me think about that… I joined. I had a few Devouring Earth missions to run. The first one kicked our collective asses eight ways from Sunday. After numerous deaths and some team restructuring, we muddled our way through it. We ran another D.E. mission, after that; it wasn’t nearly as disastrous.

Stray Toasters

• Aside from a little congestion – and a little frog in my throat – I am pretty much done with this whole cold thing.
• How to Survive a Horror Movie
• Have I mentioned how much I like this whole “Save and Continue Editing” feature? Lots.
• And, in continuing coverage from our “Tony Stark Is a Dick” file comes this gem, by way of Wizard:
  

  TONY’S TOY COLLECTION
  Unimpressed by G.W. Bridge’s houseboat, Stark feels the need to run down the inventory of his garage, which includes a boat, some planes, a spaceship and a flying submarine. Arrogant as always, he does, to his credit, segue very awkwardly from his brag session into his real business with Bridge. It’s hard to understand where Bridge’s reluctance comes from with a proposal that begins like this.

  

• By way of contrast: From the “Before Tony Stark was a complete dick” file: the Iron Man movie trailer.
• And, from the trailer: Would the Iron Man (Mark I) suit qualify as “steampunk?”
• By way of : IKEA room planners
• For the Bruce Campbell fans out there, Comics 2 Film is having a The Man with the Screaming Brain giveaway.
• For : Morris Day and The Time – 777-9311 and Color of Success
• From NPR: John Ridley’s Visible Man – Life After the NF-Hell
• 
• Apple, AT&T: Bosom buddies or odd couple?
• Jake, a coworker and workout partner, came over to ask a question about work and noticed that I have a Green Lantern figure on my desk. He asked if that was my inspiration/goal for working out. I looked at it and told him, “No, but I would have filled out my Hallowe’en costume a lot better if it had been!”

And, that’s a wrap.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 12 September 2007
Two down, three to go… with one in the chamber.

Yesterday’s workout was good. I opted out of going for 300 pounds again. I just wasn’t feeling it. I did get in three sets of 215 pounds, though. The last few of the third set were not pretty. The rest of the workout was good – I even managed to pull off two sets of unassisted pull-ups before moving to the assisted dip/pull-up machine.

Last night’s “Game Night” was more “Night” than anything. We talked about possibly wrapping up the All Flesh/40K game and moving on to something else. Then, we watched Doctor Strange. I picked up on a couple of things that I had missed when I first watched it. And it was just as enjoyable this time as it was the first time.

This morning, I woke up “remembering” that I had an odd stay in The Dreaming… but the details were dodgy.

Stray Toasters

• Just for the record: I don’t think that barley was ever intended for use as a nasal projectile.
• Angular momentum.
• “Triangle…” whoWHA?!
• The next contestant on The Price Is Right large-sized HeroClix figure is… this.
• 
• Collector’s Edition Slinky
• …which, of course, reminded me of this:

  

• AMD or Intel? What’s your weapon of choice? I’ve had Intel chips before, but I prefer AMD.
• 
• By way of : Superhero Supply Store.

I’m doing something that, for whatever reason(s), I haven’t done before: I came home for lunch. It makes sense to do it, I just… haven’t. I might just make a trend of this.

Namaste.

Tyranist and I were talking about books…

…and that led to library software…

…and that led to software that will catalog any/all media…

…which, somehow, led to talking about Heaven.
(I was there and I’m not even sure how we took that turn.)

That reminded me of my post about who would be in my Heaven, which I then showed him. When he hit the part of who would be my Judas Iscariot, Tyranist tried to recall what movie it was that portrayed – or alluded to – Judas as the first vampire. A couple of clicks on IMDb brought us to John Carpenter’s Vampires; he thinks that’s the correct film.

It would have been fine… had we stopped there. But, talk of Judas and his betrayal of Christ reminded me of this: Party Up – Jesus Christ Superstar.

He made it through about a minute or so of the video before he pulled of the headphones.

Handbasket? Check.
Road paved with good intentions? Check.
All I need is to find my gasoline drawers and I’m set.

Monday: Coda
The Ravens lost to the Bengals.

Okay. There. I said it. And with that, I’d like to offer a hearty “congratulations” to .

It was a “good” loss, though… despite some craptacular calls in the first quarter. And that’s not just my opinion: thought so, too. Some of the calls made us wonder what game the refs were watching. *shrug* Oh, well.

I don’t know who was suited up in the first quarter, but I don’t think that they were pro players. They couldn’t have been, given some of the mistakes they made. Both Nox and I were flummoxed by some of the blatant errors. Fortunately, the Ravens seemed to find their key players in the second quarter.

I’m going to armchair QB for a moment and say that I disagree with Brian Billick’s decision to keep Steve McNair in the game as long as he did… and then throw Kyle Boller in, with about five minutes to go, to try and pull it out. To his credit, Boller did a good job. He was shaky for about two plays and then settled in…

…but it was a bit late at that point. Granted, he engineered a good drive and some nice plays, but at the end, he was still “too fresh” on the field and fired a rocket shot at TE Todd Heap – at short range – that just bounced off Heap’s hands.

Oh, well. It’s the first game of the season. There are still 15 more to play.

Nox and I watched the game at Fiddler’s Elbow. Decent food. Good service. And, a decent crowd. Not too rowdy. Non-smoking. And just all-round “good.” Along with Guiness (on tap, no less) I tried their Cajun Chicken Sandwich. It was rather tasty. I tried their buffalo wings and barbecue wings, as an appetizer. They weren’t bad, but they weren’t quite as good as the ones at Moab Brewery.

Stray Toasters

• I messaged Kris, to see if she was watching the game. She wasn’t (she was in class), but she was recording it.
• Joust gets movie, graphic novel treatment… wait, what?
• 
• Batgirl concept, for .
• …speaking of whom, I talked with her for a little bit this afternoon. It was a pleasant surprise.
• “In the year 2000…”
• I’m not sure whether or not I want to give 300 pounds a shot tomorrow.
• Cogito Ergo Zoom

And now, to find some trouble to get into.
Or maybe I’ll just watch a movie.

Namaste.

Tuesday: Coda / Wednesday – 05 September 2007
The post-work day has been… a bit… interesting.

I went to dinner with and a few of his friends and family. In and of itself, that’s not a bad thing. The problem was the storm that rolled in just as we were getting to the restaurant: Lightning. Thunder. Rain. Wind. Mayhem.

The mayhem came in the form of a blown transformer that took out power on 33rd South from just shy of 7th East almost all the way to State Street. So… dark restaurant. No food. Yay! We regrouped at one of the local Lone Star Restaurants. I haven’t eaten in a Lone Star in a couple of years – something about my aversion to what refers to as “cat in a dryer” (i.e.: “country”) music tends to keep me at bay. But, in the company of friends, what the Hell?! Why not? The food was good, as was the company.

From there, and I headed to Casa de for Game Night. Well, not really Game Night, per se, but we talked about where we’d like to go from this point (since we kind of, sort of killed/dispersed the major antagonist of the campaign). Nox has some ideas and we’re going to venture forth in two weeks.

Four-Color Coverage: Animated Edition
I borrowed the new Doctor Strange DVD (IMDb page) from Perry the other day. The good doctor has never been one of my A-list favorites, but I haven’t turned a title or story down just because he’s in it. I know the basics of his back story and that he’s Marvel’s Sorceror Supreme (read: “He’s the Grand Poobah of Magical Mojo in the Marvel Universe”). He’s been a part of the latest incarnation of The New Avengers, The Defenders… and he’s also part of Marvel’s Illuminati.

With that knowledge in mind, I sat down to watch the new release from Lionsgate and Marvel Entertainment.

The Stephen Strange to whom viewers are introduced is a brilliant neurosurgeon… who just happens to be aloof, arrogant and an all-around ass, quite frankly. He doesn’t have time to be “bothered” with things that aren’t going to bring a healthy fee and/or notoriety. He’s the walking epitome of hubris.Soon, he has a horrible automobile accident and loses the fine motor control of his hands, spelling the end to his career as a surgeon. From there, viewers see his descent into a broken man with no hope.

Enter: Wong, a disciple of a mystic known only as “The Ancient One.” With him, Wong brings the promise of healing for the former doctor. And hope.

And, from that point, the journey of Doctor Strange begins.

I have to admit that I was rather impressed. This movie, though given a PG-13 rating, wasn’t dumbed down. It was well-written, well-voiced and (with a couple of brief exceptions) well-animated. With the exception of young children, I’d say that this feature is something that the entire family could enjoy.

Stray Toasters

• I believe that I want to see Across the Universe.
• The word of the day, heard on Tuesday morning’s commute, is: “Superfunkycalifragisexy.”
• One of the ‘Little Rock Nine’ Looks Back
• When worlds collide, by way of Real Life Comics:

  

• Meat and greet – all the president’s lunch, by way of lj user=”dmmaus”
• “Mischief managed” and “Danger averted.”
• I believe in what I see
  I believe in what I hear
  I believe that what I’m feeling
  Changes how the world appears
• “Nucular toonami!”
• 
• Not one to avoid controversy, Whoopi Goldberg defends Vick’s dog-fighting role
• I noticed that the calendar in the… hmm, I can’t call it the HALO Command Center, as my Xbox is in the living room… “office” – a Marvel 2007 calendar, chock full o’ superhero goodness and given to me by Acolyte Derek – has September 11, 2007 noted as “Patriot Day.” I’m not going to go into my usual “Why the day shouldn’t be called that” rant here… but I thought about it.
• One of my KVMs is acting up; I can’t find all of the cords for the other one. *sigh*

It’s early and I have to get up later.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 28 August 2007
Waking up wasn’t quite as hellish as I had expected, especially considering the time that I finally wound down enough to attempt sleeping. It was “You-should-have-been-in-bed-long-ago o’clock” when I hit the rack.

It was raining on the way to Happy Valley this morning. It started at Point of the Mountain and wrapped up by the time I passed the first Lehi exit. That’s about… six-and-a-half miles. In that span, it went from drizzle to nearly-torrential downpour to “What rain?” Traffic slowed to a crawl. To be honest, I was surprised to see that – it’s not often that the road monkeys figure out: “Hmm… these may be less than ideal driving conditions; maybe I should slow down.” I wanted to give them all cookies. Then I had a couple of lyrics run through my head:

The first was Sting’s Desert Rose:

I dream of rain
I dream of gardens in the desert sand

The other was Everything but the Girl’s Missing:

And I miss you
(Like the deserts miss the rain)

The former was amusing because it came to mind as I was passing Thanksgiving Point… which has a rather large and elaborate garden… in the middle of the desert. The latter always strikes me as funny because I never really think of deserts “missing” rain.

Today’s workout was good. I discovered something: 300 pounds is heavy. VERY heavy. Eric and I decided to give it a shot… just to see if we could; Eric did it once back in February. We couldn’t today. But, we did get 275 again. I was good with that. I wasn’t sure that I’d be able to press 300, but I wanted to try. I was able to lower it slowly and get it (just barely) off my chest; I couldn’t make the transition from there, though. Oh, well. That just gives me something to work up to.

City of Heroes/Villains
The Hand of Nefer-Tem.
Security Level 34.
Boo-yah.

Stray Toasters

• I completely forgot about last night’s eclipse.
• Doesn’t this look like an out-take from Dragon’s Lair? It’s not. It’s a picture of DC Comics’ Shining Knight.
• Psychology of risk-taking
• 
• Chaos Computer Club Congress goes steampunk
• Although not necessarily “dystopian,” would the upcoming Bionic Woman series be considered cyberpunk?
• It’s gonna be the future soon
  I won’t always be this way
  When the things that make me weak and strange
  Get engineered away
• At the risk of losing a lot of cool points: I like the music of Jim Croce and Gordon Lightfoot.  Both men do/did some very nice guitar work… even though Mr. Lightfoot wrote what I consider one of the most depressing songs ever: The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
• 
• I want to build… something… out of LEGO. I might even break out the Rokenbok, too.
• Tyranist, I need some feedback on this: Gore Is Less – Videogames Bake Better Horror Than Hollywood
• A little while ago, our Director of Operations and the Operations Manager asked me if I’m getting bigger (bulking up)… separately, but within five to ten minutes of each other.  I’m not working out for others’ recognition, but it’s nice that it’s noticeable.  It was amusing to see their expressions when they asked if I was taking any supplements or doing anything else to aid in the development and I told them “No.”

Namaste.

Monday – 27 August 2007
Another work week begins.

Yesterday, I saw The Bourne Witch Project
The Blair Witch Ultimatum
I mean The Bourne Ultimatum. with . It was a good movie, but damn-and-a-half…. someone needs to buy Paul Greengrass a Steadi-Cam mount. Hell, buy him two, just in case one of them breaks.

Post-movie, we stopped in to say hi Kate, Perry and the kids. One thing about playing with the kids: I don’t need to worry about needing a workout – they keep me pretty busy. (Not a bad thing at all.) From there, it was on to ‘ place for a cookout. Mmm, pork loin.

I also framed the tourbooks for R30 and Snakes and Arrows yesterday afternoon. In “an unfortunate mishap,” I managed to break the glass in the frame for Roll the Bones. Yep, two great glass events in three weeks. I’m batting 1.000. Fortunately, the glass didn’t shatter; it just fractured into large, easy-to-clean-up pieces. I still need to hang the books. Maybe I’ll do that tonight.

Four-Color Coverage / Reeling by on Celluloid
I’m not sure exactly where this fits best, as it covers both categories. Rather than try to sort it out, I’ll just make it a combined entry.

Code Monkey BB and I went for a constitutional Friday afternoon and a snake was slithered across the walkway.

I’m not a fan of snakes.

After it had gone on its merry way and we continued walking, an odd thought crossed my mind: Would Indiana Jones have made a good Green Lantern?

I’m not saying that the erstwhile Dr. Jones was a slouch in the bravery department, but let’s face it: Most of the time, he was probably either dusting off artifacts on a dig of fending off the advances of a co-ed during a lecture. Neither of those is the most courage-consuming of tasks. (Well, I guess that depends on the co-ed, really.) But, I digress…

Fairly early in Raiders of the Lost Ark, we discover that Indy is afraid of snakes. We see it again, when he drops into the Well of Souls… next to a cobra and its friends. In Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, we learn the origins of his phobia.

Green Lanterns derive their power from their willpower, as channeled through their rings. The reason that rookie Lanterns are still affected by “the yellow impurity” is their inability to overcome fear. Once their fear has been overcome, their constructs are only limited by their willpower and imagination.

I posed the Indy/Lantern question to lj user=”everydave” Friday night. He pondered it for a moment and noted that in the scene where Indy and Jock are taking-off after Jones’ daring escape from the Aztec (or was it Mayan?) temple:

Indiana: There’s a big snake in the plane, Jock.
Jock: Oh, that’s just my pet snake Reggie.
Indiana: I hate snakes, Jock. I hate ’em.
Jock: C’mon, show a little backbone, will ya?

‘s point was: He apparently was able to overcome his fear, in that he dealt with the fact that the snake was in the cockpit rather than leap out of the plane.

Then there’s the scene in the Well of Souls:

[Upon opening the Well of the Souls and peering down into it]
Sallah: Indy, why does the floor move?
Indiana: Give me your torch.
[Sallah does, and Indy drops it in]
Indiana: Snakes. Why’d it have to be snakes?
Sallah: Asps. Very dangerous. You go first.

…and he did.

So… I guess that Dr. Henry “Indiana” Jones, Jr. would have made a potentially good Green Lantern.

City of Heroes/Villains: The Scales of Justice
The Hand of Nefer-Tem made the rounds in Paragon City last night. I teamed with some upper 40s and 50s on a couple of Praetorian missions. By the end of the night, I was about a bubble-and-a-half away from Security Level 34.

Stray Toasters

• NX Server. I like.
• Comics Should Be Good’s Top 100 Marvel and DC Characters
• Jeff: I’m going to be sitting there, trying to convince them that I’m a safe choice for Senior Accountant… and suddenly, I’m a naked man saying, “Vulva!”
  Steve: You’re just going to sit on a chair and talk. It’s not difficult.
  Jeff: Not diffi… not difficult?! I’ve got accidental words to worry about… thanks to Patrick here, I’ve got nudity projection. And there’s the giggle loop, of course.
• Original Haunted Mansion documentation
• “plot synopsis”
• By way of Dwim: Nixon-Peabody’s ego masturbation (click on the “MP3” link) *shakes head*
• Sad news for denizens of The Dreaming…
  

  I understand that, to celebrate Sandman’s 20th Anniversary, Neil Gaiman was to write a “Sandman” mini-series. However, recently the project was pulled.

  When asked, Neil told me, “We couldn’t come to an agreement that would allow me to do a new six issue Sandman story for DC, and many people at DC and my agent tried hard to make it happen. Pity.”

  I understand that certain people at DC are quite upset – though not with Neil or his agent. Given the performance of the “Endless” hardcover volume, this could have been expected to be a No.1 best seller in the direct market for all six months and the No.1 in the bookstore bestseller lists.

• 
• Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak LEGO playset
• Patrick: What’s the matter?
  Jeff: I can’t turn off the naked people.
• 
• Michael Vick (finally) plead “guilty” to federal charges. Great. Can we move on to other news now? PLEASE?!
• Steampunk in the Boston Globe

Namaste.

Sunday – 19 August 2007
So far, today has been extraordinarily lazy. I’m not saying that it is a “good” or “bad” thing; it simply… is. The most productive things I’ve done so far are:

• Got out of bed.
• Dealt with some of the hygiene rituals.
• Installed Empire Earth, Locomotion and Railroad Tycoon II on ‘Nine.
• Finished reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

I’m still in need of food and coffee. And a shave. And did I mention coffee? I did? Okay, good.

My company’s summer party was yesterday. It was a decent affair, but there wasn’t as much… punch… to it as last year’s event. I still had a bit of fun and it was a decent way to spend a couple of hours. And I still have two bags of cotton candy to show for it!

Four-Color Coverage
I was watching one of my favorite parts of Superman: Last Son of Krypton (the three-part beginning of Superman: The Animated Series) a few days ago and realized something: All of the modern (since 1978) major introductions of the character have involved a sequence involving the saving of an airplane/space shuttle:

• Superman: the Movie (movie, 1978)- Air Force One is struck by lightning, losing an engine and part of the port wing.
• The Man of Steel (comic, 1986) – The Space Shuttle Constitution experiences a system failure and is about to crash-land in Metropolis.
• Superman: The Animated Series (television, 1996) – A commercial airliner is struck by an errant missile while Superman is attempting to apprehend four criminals who have hijacked an experimental LexCorp aircraft.
• Superman Returns (movie, 2006) – The launch of an experimental space shuttle, being piggy-backed on a Boeing 777, proves nearly disastrous after Lex Luthor conducts an experiment with Krpytonian crystal shards. The shuttle’s engines engage – while it is still docked to the jet – melting off the tail.

My theory on this is: You’re dealing with a character “…with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men,” one of which is flight. Sure, you could have him stopping a runaway bus (just think of how much shorter Speed would have been…) or stopping a train, but an airplane? It just seems… more natural. For, you know… a… flying guy.

Something that I really like about the saves from S:TAS and Returns is that Superman doesn’t always come up with the “right answer” right off the bat. In fact, in both cases, his first attempt seems to do more harm than good. Thus, he has to deduce a better method for saving the passengers and bystanders… in a hurry. And since we’re talking about Superman…

They say that Superman is one bad…
Shut yo’ mouth!
I’m just talkin’ about Superman.
We can dig it.

…you know that he’ll figure something out.

Stray Toasters

• I found a very simple recipe for Jambalaya a little while ago. I might have to try it this week.
• The Ravens have a preseason game tonight. I believe that I shall have to watch it.
• Girls at risk amid India’s prosperity
• The DCAU
• 
• Lethal blaze at Twin Towers site
• From boingboing.net (and the “Too Much Free Time” file): Alien made of vegetables
• Missile dumped at US gun amnesty
• 
• From BBC News and the “Too Strange to Make Up” file: Beijing’s penis emporium
• Sony plans to recycle electronics for free

“I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.”

Namaste.

Friday – 17 August 2007
Yesterday morning’s monkeydom was punctuated nicely by more simian antics on the way home. As much as I wish that I could say that they ended at the county line… I can’t. They carried on all the way until I got to 90th South. So many monkeys, so little ammunition.

I stopped in to see Perry and the kids for a bit. And rifle through his plastic crack collection. And stuff.

Reeling by on Celluloid: Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead
Satire.

Pronunciation:

\ˈsa-ˌtī(-ə)r\

Function:

noun

Etymology:

Middle French or Latin; Middle French, from Latin satura, satira, perhaps from (lanx) satura dish of mixed ingredients, from feminine of satur well-fed; akin to Latin satis enough — more at sad

Date:

1501

1 : a literary work holding up human vices and follies to ridicule or scorn
2 : trenchant wit, irony, or sarcasm used to expose and discredit vice or folly

synonyms see: wit

I took an elective English class on Satire in 10th Grade, from a teacher of whom I was not fond. (Some of you may have heard the “mastication” story. Yeah, that guy.) In fact, I didn’t think that he was all that great of a teacher, but what do I know…? I mean, it’s not like I have any teachers in the family or anything. </sarcasm> If he spent as much time on curriculum as he spent on trying to look or “be” cool, he could have actually been a decent educator. But, we learn different things from all experiences.

Unfortunately, I didn’t learn much about satire from him.

But, I’m not here to talk about him.

Instead, I am going to talk about a couple of movies that I watched at the behest of Tyranist: Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz.

Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright “get” satire. They also know where the fine line between “funny” and “absurdity” is… and they trample on it mercilessly.

Hot Fuzz tells the story of Nicholas Angel, a London police officer who was good at his job. Very good. Too good. And, as a reward for his performance, he was shipped off to a sleepy little town in the English countryside. Quaint. Quiet. Peaceful. And that’s when the real fun begins. On the surface, the movie seems little more than a funny buddy cop movie. To be honest, when I saw trailers for it, that’s exactly what I had taken for granted… and what eventually made me decide not to see it. I had decided that if I wanted a funny buddy cop movie, I would watch Beverly Hills Cop or Rush Hour. I did the movie a horrible disservice in brushing it aside in such a cavalier manner. It was funny, surprising and very well-written.

Shaun of the Dead is… well… a zombie movie. Whoops, I just said the “zed word.” Sorry. But, let’s face it: That’s what it is. And it’s funny. Beyond that, it is a buddy movie. And a movie about family – the one you’re born into and the one(s) you choose. And, it’s a movie about the sometimes too grey world in which we live – the one that we trudge through, day after day, moving forward as simple creatures of habit. And what happens when we wake up one morning to find that things have changed. Again, I was surprised to discover how sharp a movie it was. (Yeah, yeah… three years after pretty much everyone else figured it out, but I got there. Finally.)

I also made a comment to Tyranist about how Simon Pegg and Nick Frost – the male leads in both movies – in their own ways reminded me of Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. Not so much in their acting styles, but in the way that you can tell through the on-screen chemistry that you’re watching a couple of friends having a good time hanging out with each other… while there happens to be a camera recording the whole thing.

These movies may not necessarily be considered “family fare,” and they may not be everyone’s cup of tea (U.K. films… tea… Oh, Hell, if I have to do all the work for you, what’s the point?!) , but they are good pieces of entertainment. And, thanks to these movies, I will never listen to Queen or the phrase “By the power of Greyskull…” in the same way. Ever again.

I give both movies enthusiastic “thumbs up with an okay.”

Stray Toasters

• I’m still a bit jazzed about yesterday’s 275.
• : You need to click here.
• I still love this:
  
  … and there’s a (not small) part of me that thinks that it would be fun to actually do!
• Dungeons & Dragons 4^th Edition Announced
• Three words (well, one of them is a compound word): Black Cherry Kool-Aid.
• I’m not a fan of so-called “reality television.” That said, I watched Who Wants to Be a Superhero? while hanging out with Perry. Amusing, a little hokey, but… I have to admit it was fairly entertaining. And it had Stan Lee.
• Plain soap as effective as antibacterial but without the risk
• Tom Cruise… as Capt. Christopher Pike? *shudder*
• When I look at the first and fourth panels of this picture (possibly NSFW), I think that Pam Anderson might make an interesting Power Girl. (I dont know who Alex Ross uses as his model for P.G.)
• NASA has opted not to repair Endeavour‘s heat shield tiles. I hope this doesn’t turn into a total cock-up and come back to bite them in the ass.
• UCF physicist says Hollywood movies hurt students’ understanding of science

And off to work!

Namaste.

Wednesday – 15 August 2007
Two down, three to go.

Last night, I met the group (formerly ?) known as Black & Tan for coffee with Sara, who’s in town for a few days. She’s, in her own words, “Fabulous.” And, it was nice to spend a few hours with the former Monday night (ir)regulars. Cocoa Caffe had been chosen as the venue, but their “summer hours” have them closing at 8:00 PM. Right. Instead, we wound up at Salt Lake Roasting Company. It was a good alternative.

Hours later, I came home and decided to go adventuring in Paragon City. I was invited to join a team that included at least three people with whom I’ve been on a team in the past few days. As I joined the team, I caught the very tail end of a conversation wherein someone was complaining that I teleport team members “too often without warning/asking.” Um… no. She was just “a bit” touchy because there was a bit of miscommunication between us – two days ago – on the one time that I ‘ported her before she was done selling items. Did I mention that this is a game?! No? Well, I’m Ivory Soap sure that you were pretty much able to deduce that on your own. *shrug* The sticks in some peoples’ asses…

Stray Toasters

• I found the rules to the ST:TNG Drinking Game while looking for some files last night. It amused me.
• Pasties and tassels and hammocks… Oh, my!
• I started watching Hot Fuzz, but I didn’t finish it. I will most likely do so this evening. Funny movie.
• They have remade 3:10 to Yuma. Hm.
• 
• Phil Rizzuto, Yankee Shortstop, Dies at 89 – Mr. Rizzuto had stopped playing ball LONG before I was born; but I think that I played a few games of Earl Weaver Baseball on my college roommate’s Amiga with “him” in the game. I do remember him as the pitch man for The Money Store, though.
• 
• I’ve exchanged a few emails with Matt Silady, the writer of The Homeless Channel. He seems rather personable. I will have to try to pick up the book this weekend.
• 3

Attack the day, like birds of prey…
(I just like the sound of that, in the sense of “Carpe Diem!”)

Namaste.

Monday – 13 August 2007
The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.

This morning’s good intention was to get up (relatively) early and get a jump on the day. I reconsidered, however, when the alarm and iPod went off. Three-and-a-half hours of sleep is usually not bad… but having capped the night off with a tall glass of Merlot (and a Sam’s Summer Ale) made an extended stay in The Dreaming a very pleasant thing, indeed. And, I was still in the office at a decent time, so I’m good with having caught a few extra ZZZs this morning.

Last night, post-movie, I stopped by to see Kate, Perry and the kids. The kids crack me up. Pure, straight-up comedy.

Scales of Justice
When I got home, I decided to take a side-trip to Paragon City. As soon as I logged in, I was invited to join a team. No waiting. No muss, no fuss. I accepted.

Then, I noticed who was on the team: The same tank who got us killed (repeatedly) on Saturday. *grblsnrkx*

And, guess what…

The team mortality rate was fairly high. Until he quit the team. After that, no problems. Go figure.

And now, The Hand of Nefer-Tem is knocking on the door of Security Level 32.

Stray Toasters

• I had a corned beef sandwich for lunch. And you didn’t.
• Mike Wieringo Passes Away
• Merv Griffin dead at 82
  • It’s pretty well-known that Mr. Griffin created Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! What’s not quite as well-known is that he wrote the theme for Jeopardy!, the music that they play when contestants are considering their answers for “Final Jeopardy.” Most people refer to the song as “The Jeopardy! Theme” or even “Think Music;” but he originally wrote that song as a lullaby for his son, Anthony, and it was originally named “Time for Tony.”
• Beheaded snake sends man to hospital
• I received a friendly, neighborhood reminder about registering my copy of Eudora a few days ago. It actually made me laugh:
  

  Please register your copy of Eudora.

  Registration will enable us to provide you better service when you contact us for technical support and it comes with these benefits.

  — list of benefits —

  We’ll also erect a giant statue in your image on the front lawn of our corporate headquarters.* How cool is that? C’mon, register! It’s easy and it’ll stop this stupid box from popping up!

  *Giant statue offer void to Eudora users living on the planet.

• From the “Holy crap! Who’d’ve thought it was possible” file: Girl overdoses on espresso
• 
• There are a couple of articles floating around the Interweb that basically say “NASA considering repairs to gouge in shuttle heat shield.” *blink blink* Let’s look at the basic math and physics behind this:
  • The shuttle orbits Earth at a little over 17,000 mph (nearly 28,000 kph)
  • It re-enters the atmosphere at roughly Mach 25 (~ 5.3 miles per second or almost 9 kilometers per second).
  • The heat shield endures temperatures over 2700° F (1500° C).
  • The gouge in the heat shield is 3½” long and goes ALL THE WAY THROUGH the thermal shielding.

  “Considering?” Hi. I’m sorry… I’m thinking that Mr. Goodwrench better be well past the “considering” stage and on his way – tools in hand – to get the job done.

• I read this Real Life Comics strip… and immediately was reminded of this movie clip.
• Steampunk cloque

Namaste.

*EDIT:  Went back to correct the math on the re-entry speed.  It’s MUCH faster than I had originally posted.

Stardust

Based on the novel of the same name by Neil Gaiman, this is another story that comes under the heading of “modern fairy tale.”

The movie tells the story of Tristan Thorn and his quest to bring home a fallen star to win the heart and hand of his beloved.  I know that this is going to sound like a bit of a cop-out… but to tell you much more about the story beyond what I stated above would be telling too much.

I can say that the story – and the way that it was presented – was quite simply… magic.  The acting, the casting, the costuming, the sets and scenery… all of it… was great.  Charlie Cox did an excellent job of bringing Tristan to life.  Claire Danes was great as Yvaine, the fallen star.  Michelle Pfeiffer was delightful as the witch, Lamia.   And then there’s Robert DeNiro, with a little bit of what you expect… and a lot of what you never saw coming.

I will most likely see this again in the theatre… and will definitely be adding it to the DVD collection, when it is released.

All-in-all, I can’t recommend this movie enough.  Go see it.  Take friends.  Take family.

But most of all… enjoy.

Sunday – 12 August 2007
Quiet day around the ranch, so far. I should do some cleaning, but I’m just not feeling it. Which is all the more reason to just do it and get it over with. There’s not really that much that needs to be done. So, it’s not like it’s some daunting task. I do believe that this comes under the heading of: “I have caught a case of the Lazies.”

The Scales of Justice
Last night, I decided to do my part to fight crime in Paragon City. I logged on and discovered that most of the members of my supergroup were on, but were in the middle of a task force – a series of missions that usually take a few hours to run. The drawbacks to TFs are:

• You can’t “save” a TF – once you start it… you’re pretty much in it until it’s done.
• Once it has started, others can’t join the group.
• If you quit a TF, you don’t get credit for the portion you’ve run. That’s right: You get to do it ALL over again.

On the “plus” side, however, you typically earn a few goodies for the investment of time and effort.

However, I wanted to get in and play, so I looked for a team. I wound up having to start one. We were small, and ragtag, but we seemed like we had a good build.

If only that was true.

Our Tanker, the one who was supposed to keep the bad guys occupied so that we could beat on them from a relatively safe distance, embodied the philosophy of “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.” I believe that he, singlehandedly, caused our party to die at least twice. *sigh* He quit shortly. Selah. I rebuilt the team.

Better.
Stronger.
Faster at kicking ass.

I got lucky and found one Hell of a good Defender for our healer; she stayed right on top of things and didn’t miss a beat. We also picked up a Scrapper, Blaster, and another (BETTER) Tanker. And we went through three missions like a hot knife through butter.

Stray Toasters

• There are about seventy-leven reasons that is one of my favorite people, but among the top reasons is because he sent me this little gem: Eddie Izzard – Death Star Canteen… in LEGO!
• “With a name like ‘Smuckers,’ it has to be good!”
• Impossible Mission. Ah, nostalgia.
• Prophet 60091…
• I found this design, from 2Warped.com, to be rather amusing:
  
• Jackie Cane
• , what do you make of this? v6?
• From Wizard World Chicago: Toys! Toys! Toys! (I still want one’a those John Stewart GLs from the DC Super Friends collection.)

Looks like has come up with a viable option for the afternoon: Catching a movie. Now, I just have to choose between The Bourne Ultimatum or Stardust.

Namaste.

Friday – 10 August 2007
Last night, I finished Discs 3 and 4 of Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles. It was a series, based on the movie Starship Troopers, which in turn was based on a book of the same name, by Robert A. Heinlein. The movie was of the “check your brain at the door” type; the book on which it was (loosely) based, however, was brilliant… even more so when you consider when it was written. The series was intended to have a 40-episode run, but due to production issues, ended after only 36 episodes. Like the book, the series follows the members of the Mobile Infantry under the command of Lt. Jean Rasczak/Razak, most importantly: Juan (Johnny) Rico. We follow Rico’s rise from student to enlistee to non-com-to lieutenant over the course of seven campaigns. The series loosely followed the movie, but differed in a few details. All-in-all, I enjoyed the series – and even the late-90s CGI that it employed.

Today has been a decent day. Nothing too bad… other than an IT task for Monkey #2. Really, it’s a no-brainer. And I had to work on a system that used to belong to the Monkey Formerly Known as Monkey #1. (I have since moved the former Monkey #5 into the #1 spot.)

Stray Toasters

• I found a quote from a review of a Star Trek: TNG episode, “Coming of Age,” on Wikipedia that I found interesting:
  

  Worf (to Wesley Crusher): “Only fools have no fear.”

  It made me think of both the Green Lantern Corps and Daredevil. It brought the Corps to mind because, in order to be a ring-bearer, one “…must have the ability to overcome great fear.” I think that Geoff Johns has done a good job of portraying this in the way that rookies are still susceptible to “the yellow impurity,” which was how The Guardians explained away the taint of Parallax, the embodiment of fear, in the Central Power Battery. Once they master their fear, they have no problem in handling things colored yellow – the one thing that a power ring has been unable to deal with according to GL canon… until Green Lantern: Rebirth.

  Daredevil came to mind as he is called “The Man Without Fear.” While Matt Murdock has done a number of foolish and/or foolhardy things, I doubt that he could truly be called a fool.

• Giant LEGO man found in Dutch sea
• Maybe it’s just me, but how difficult is it to wipe the countertop around the sink if you splash inordinate amounts of water on it? If I were to gauge by the amount of water left sitting on the counter over the course of the day in the AF office, it’s apparently a nigh-Herculean task.
• Hot Stormtroopers in love
• The Hardest Bosses of All Time (I didn’t make up the title, I just find it amusing…)
• I was humming IKEA the other day when it occurred to me that there was a flaw in the lyrics:
  

  Ikea: just some oak and some pine and a handful of Norsemen

  Um… there’s a reason I call it “the Garden of Sweden” and not “the Garden of Norway.” Sure, they’re both Scandinavian, and “…a handful of Swede-men” doesn’t roll easily off the tongue, but come on. *shrug* Oh, well.

• Steampunk maker Datamancer video
• 
• Big Man on Mulberry Street
• mayhem
• “GOD BLESS AMERICA! WOOOOOO!!!”
  “Um… they’re Canadian.”

And that’s that.

Namaste.

Thursday – 09 August 2007
Three down, one in the chamber and one to go.

I ran out of coffee creamer last week and neglected to pick some up. But, I’m trying something (again) that I haven’t done in a while: using ice cream instead of milk. I like it. I still need to find the right blend, but it seems like two(-ish) tablespoons do the job nicely for my travel mug.

She Talks to Angels is nearing completion. Thank God. (No pun intended.) I have a little more detail work to do and it should be pretty much good to go. I’m also deciding whether I want to color the piece or just color selected parts of it. I’m also thinking about how I want to do Ed’s Song. The content will remain as I planned, but I may go for more of a sketch style than a detailed drawing.

The Best: Pink Cadillac
Bruce Springsteen vs. Natalie Cole

The Boss’ version is a hard-driving (again, no pun intended), almost-garage band sounding song about a guy’s love for his ride. (As much as I hate to make the comparison, it’s kind of like the way Danny Zuko sings about Greased Lightning in Grease.) Ms. Cole’s version has much more of an R&B feel and swing to it… but it just doesn’t handle the curves quite as well as the original.

This one goes to Springsteen.

The Scales of Justice
I found my way to Paragon City last night. A few members of my SG and my coalition were on, but they were already involved in teams and/or missions. After some aimless wandering, I decided to hop the train to Brickstown. A little more wandering, but I did find some bad guys in need of a beat down. I headed back to Talos Island and was invited to join a team… in Brickstown. I joined the team and got back on the train. We went up against The Council. In the words of Dr. Peter Venkman: “We came, we saw, we kicked their asses.” After a couple of missions, I decided to call it a night.

Stray Toasters

• I discovered Matt Silady’s The Homeless Channel last night, while cruising boingboing.net. Very interesting premise. I will have to add this to my next order at Dr. Volt’s. I signed up for the THC GoogleGroup last night. At the bottom of the sign-up page was a section for comments, so I left one. Less than an hour later, I received confirmation of my acceptance to the group… and a brief “thank you” message from Matt.
• Stardust opens this weekend. I need to see it. I also need to get in a viewing of The Bourne Ultimatum.
• And, speaking of Mr. Gaiman’s work, from the movie Mirrormask: Close to You
• In further efforts to bend my brain, sent me a link to this post. I told him that it was both awesome and scary… at the same time.
• Yep… more things to add to the Covet List. (, you might want to check this out, too.)
• You just don’t get it
  What it is … well, you’re not really sure
  You move like you’re walking on this ice
  Talking like you’re still insecureTime is a spiral – Space is a curve
  I know you get dizzy, but try not to lose your nerve
  Life is a diamond you turn into dust
  Waiting for rescue, and I know you just
  Don’t get it
  You just don’t get it
• I know that there is a Speed Racer project in development; I loved the cartoon as a kid, but I’m only *ehn* about the prospect of a live-action movie. But… Warner Brothers is now talking about making a Jonny Quest movie. This piques my curiosity quite a bit. Hopefully, they won’t dumb it down; the 60s series was pretty well-written, even if some of the episodes’ content would be dated today; the 80s/90s series also had intermittent glimmers of greatness.
• , you should click here.
• 
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” File: American Red Cross Sued for Using a Red Cross
• Wizards of the Coast has made a lot of their D&D content available for download. Geeks…? Online..?!? Who’d’ve thunk it?!
• A Million U.S. Idiots

Namaste.