Random Access

Sunday: Coda
Well… after I managed to pry myself from the sofa and actually get moving, I had a fun evening.

I headed downtown to check out the Utah Arts Festival, as I mentioned earlier. I went with a little trepidation: Last year’s festival seemed dull and unexciting, with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band providing the event’s only saving grace. OnlyAly, and went Saturday afternoon and said that it was good, but still…

I got to Library Square a little after 6:00. There seemed to be a good mix of exhibitors in the area between the library and The Leonardo. That was a hopeful sign. I browsed through a number of the booths. I next checked out the ones on the southeast side of the City and County Building. Again, good selections. Checking the time, I found that I still had time to spare before Desert Gypsy went on…. so, I wandered through some of the booths set up along 2nd East. Some of the artists whose work caught my eye included:

• Kenny Tong
• Greg Gawlowski
• Julie Stutznegger
• Penelope Moore
• Brett Varney
• Daniel Ng
• Mason Fetze
• J.P. Jespersen
• Whit Bronaugh and
• Bruce Reinfeld

I headed back over to the City and County Building to watch Desert Gypsy; my friend, Georgia, dances in one of their troupes and I told her that I would come down and check out her performance. It was fun. You could tell that the dancers – and the audience – were enjoying themselves. When they were finished, I hung around for a few minutes to talk with Georgia before she went to get changed.

Next up, I checked out the Salt Lake Alternative Jazz Orchestra. They were fun. I missed out on seeing them last year. I’ll be on the lookout for them from now on, though. When they were done, I headed back over to Library Square, with the intent on checking out Samba Fogo. Unfortunately, the best spots had already been taken. So, I headed up to the walkway that overlooked the square. Not much better; I could only see the tops of the dancers’ heads. But, I was in a good spot to watch MASS Ensemble‘s performance… with their 700’-long “Earth Harp” – stretched between the library and the Amphitheatre Stage.

There is a marked difference between “watching” a performance and “hearing” it. Let me narrow that down a bit: I saw and heard Mass Ensemble; what I did not hear was the harp. Hopefully people who were sitting/standing directly under the strings could hear them. I did enjoy Mass Ensemble’s performance otherwise.

Another band kicked off at 10:00 on the Park Stage, so I wandered over that way. The band was Way Way East Bay, a funk band (with horns!) from Logan, UT. That’s right, I used the words “funk band” and “Logan” and “Utah” in the same sentence. They were pretty good. They did some covers (including Tower of Power’s Dont Change Horses (in the Middle of the Stream) and Delbert McClinton’s Standing on Shaky Ground) as well as some original songs. They were having a good time and they sounded good, too. The crowd wasn’t large (most were still watching the MASS Ensemble performance), but it was of a decent size and they seemed to enjoy the music.

Around 10:30, I’d had my fill of the festival and decided to call it a night. But, the overall experience far exceeded last year’s disappointment.

On the way home, I dropped in and chatted with for a bit.

Stray Toasters

• Ten months
• , I was sorry to hear about the fire/water damage, but glad to hear that you and the Mrs. are okay.
• This still makes me grin:



• , I think that you’ll like this. (Let me know if the link doesn’t work for you…)
• I need to allocate some time for watching Space: Above and Beyond.
• Earth-D
• Eridani Light Horse

Methinks, that’s good for now.

Being done with the work week is a nice thing.
Lunch at Jitterbug == good

Stray Toasters

• By way of Indexed: “On roads and online forums”



• Thanks to for pointing out Giant LEGO Storage Buildings: 65-foot-high LEGO Cathedrals Store 19 Billion Pieces a Year
• I caught myself whistling You’re the One That I Want, from Grease, a little while ago. I was about ready to shoot myself when I realized it.
• Happy 90th Birthday to Nelson Mandela



• Mandela != Madonna
• 
• Two cards down, two to go.

Pow!

Today’s sushi was good. Tony even threw in a couple of extra nigiri for us to try; I had albacore. Not bad.

Before lunch, I finally picked up my guitar from Acoustic Music. I’m a bit anxious to play. And, speaking of play, I’ve realized something: I want to play some of my older XBox games. Just because. Like X-Men: Legends and X-Men: The Next Dimension… and even X2: Wolverine’s Revenge and Spider-Man.

Stray Toasters

• For Derek:



• Pop culture + bukkake + macaques = ???
  (And I’m not really sure that we really want to know, either.)
• What Would Barack Obama Do Listen To? Wired took a few guesses… check out how they did.
• The Artist Formerly Known As The Fresh Prince (not to be confused with “just” Prince) backs Barack, too. BBC News has the skinny. Will Smith has been on The Late Show and The Colbert Report over the past couple of days, both interviews were entertaining.
• Mayor Mick’s bike returned
  (Did this kind of thing ever happen to Rocky Anderson? Richard Daley? Ed Koch?)
• 
• Orwell’s 1984 as a pulp novel

*voop*

Thursday – 26 June 2008
Last night was a relaxed night. After work, I headed to Dr. Volt’s to pick up this week’s comics. Home. Dinner. City of Heroes. I was invited to join a team for some Tsoo missions and nearly tacked on two levels before logging off. And, in an unusual turn, I felt tired fairly early – so early that I was showered and in bed a little after 12:30.

When the alarm went off this morning, I wasn’t quite ready to roll out of bed and face the morning, so I laid in bed for a few minutes… which turned into me falling asleep again. I woke up when alarm 2.0 went off. After staring at the ceiling and walls for a few, I got up, got ready and got under way.

Of course, I didn’t notice that I had left The Leash at home until I got to the office. Fortunately, the monitoring/notification software that sends alerts to the pager has a web interface. So, really, I’m just cutting out the middle man, not to be confused with The Middleman.

I need to decide whether today is a sushi day or a workout day. Bah.

Stray Toasters

• I got another package from my father yesterday: The 47 currently released state quarters.
• SaraRules has updated the Aspen section of her site with a couple of recent goings-on.
• Dave Koz: You Make Me Smile

• MarknTyme: Fix your GoogleTalk settings – you keep bouncing on/off.
• By way of : Christopher Titus Apologizes

• The 10 Best Fan-Made Hip-Hop Videos with The Sims
• DNS & BIND == *bleh*
• Brothel bus makes last stop in Miami Beach
• 

It’s a sushi day.
Decision: Rendered.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 24 June 2008
After work, I headed home to figure out what to do with my evening. I decided that I’d watch The Middleman and then head to the grocery store to pick up a few things for dinner. Turned out that the 8:00 episode was a rebroadcast of the pilot. So, I went to the store first. Came home, started dinner and watched The Middleman. I had another thought on how to “define” it. Somewhat. It’s The X-Files meets Men in Black, leaning most heavily towards MiB.

After a little channel surfing (including a 45-second delay on Boomerang – man, Super Friends really did blow), I found the second hour of Beverly Hills Cop on Bravo. And there I sat. I haven’t watched BHC in years… and I have somehow not purchased it yet.

After ‘Cop and The Late Show (featuring a really funny Will Smith interview), I decided to call it an early night.

Stray Toasters

• I am working on a few new ‘Clix cards for Chris. It’s… oddly fun and the “worst” part is trying to come up with some of the quotes – I still need to find something for Superman (Icons, veteran) that works for his “Ranged Combat Expert” ability.
• Thanks to MarknTyme for pointing me in the direction of DC Elseworlds
  

(Click image for site)

• By way of SaraRules: Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra (Part I)

• “whiffy”
• Uptown got its hustlers
  Bowery got its bums
  42nd Street got Big Jim Walker
  He’s a pool-shootin’ son of a gun
• With the disclaimers of: 1) I’m a guy and 2) I don’t have kids, I have a question: Is there something offensive about the cover of the July 2008 issue of GQ?

  

  The reason that I ask is this: I was in Target last night and there were copies of this issue in the news rack next to the candy and gum. Something that I’ve noticed here in Utah – and it may exist in other places, but I haven’t noticed it – is that when a magazine cover is deemed “too racy,” they put an opaque plastic insert in front of the magazine, so that only the title shows. And, lo and behold, this issue was one of them.

• And, since we’re already talking GQ: 2008 Fall Preview: Reinvent Yourself
  

Namaste.

Monday – 23 June 2008
Three hours’ sleep? Check.
Frozen caffeine? Check.
In the office just after 8:00? Check.

You would think that with a four-mile commute, my road monkey-to-miles ratio would be slim to nil. This morning proved that to be untrue. I even encountered one of them when I was parked. If my math is correct, I actually had a 1:1 ratio today. Four. Miles. Unglaublich!

Stray Toasters

• Shirley Bassey to miss Mandela concert in London
  And… just in case the name doesn’t ring a bell:
  • Diamonds Are Forever
  • History Repeating
• I find it odd, amusing (and a little scary) that I found these two articles within a couple minutes of each other:
  • Portable Karaoke Machine for Singing on the Fly
  • Brando’s Portable Disco Lights Do It Psychedelically with Lasers
• What do you get when you cross Fargo with snowglobes? Something along the lines of this, I’d guess.
• 750,000-brick Kennedy Space Center Is the Mother of All LEGO Models
• They’re… um… “rebooting” ReBoot. For more info, click here.

Let’s get this show on the road.

Saturday: Coda
It’s been a rather full day.

I left the apartment a little later than I had planned, but I didn’t let that deter me from stopping to get a cup of caffeinated frozen joy. With that done, I was ready to face the world… or at least my opponents in the HeroClix tournament.

I took Galactus with me. Just because. There was a very slim chance that I would use him in the game (at his “Hungry” level) along with Phoenix (at her rookie level). But that was a VERY slim chance, indeed. I walked in with Galactus in my hands. The looks of “Oh… my… GOD…” from some of the other players were pretty priceless. When Keith (the judge) announced today’s tournament as “1,000 points and unrestricted”, Chris and I both decided to pull some of our big and/or colossal figures out of the mothballs. We expected everyone else to do the same. With one exception – someone brought World’s Finest –

My final decision was to go with an X-Men themed team:

• Bishop
• Gambit
• Phoenix
• Professor X
• Rogue
• Soldier X (Cable) and
• Wolverine

I lost the first match, but won the next two games. I’m not about to complain about those results. I played pretty well, despite some craptacular dice rolls. And, I think that Phoenix presented my opponents with both a “Take that thing out of the game quickly” challenge, while still being something that they didn’t want to get too close to. Either way, I’m not complaining.

After the games, I headed to Larryland: Central to see The Incredible Hulk. It was fun and is an excellent summer movie. It paid homage not only to the comics, but to the TV show. The cameos (Lou Ferrigno, Stan Lee and Robert Downey, Jr.) were fun to watch. There as even an old Bill Bixby clip. Edward Norton did a great job of portraying Bruce Banner as a man trying to control the beast within him. Liv Tyler did a smash-up job as Banner’s love interest, Betty Ross. William Hurt did an excellent job of bringing Betty’s father – and Banner’s main pursuer – Gen. “Thunderbolt” Ross. The turn that they took with Tim Roth’s Emil Blonsky/The Abomination was an interesting one: A career special forces operative who is realizing that while he’s still at the top of his game, mentally, his body is eventually going to slow down… something that he doesn’t want to deal with. Roth did a good job of portraying this. People said that Ang Lee’s Hulk was too slow and that it took too long to see Old Jade Jaws. I don’t think that they can make those same complaints about this movie. Louis Leterrier has done a good job of bringing the Hulk, as a property, to destructive live. I give this movie an enthusiastic thumbs-up.

After the movie, I headed back to Chris and Mary’s for this week’s Dark Heresy game. So far, no one on our team has died or done anything to get their character instantly – or even slowly – killed.

Post-game, it was time for breakfast with the usual suspects. Tonight’s people watching was choice, too.

Stray Toasters

• now has a box of Butterscotch Krimpets
• I ran into , Josh and Christine at the theatre this afternoon.
• Annie Lennox’ Diva is a good CD.
• I’m Ivory Soap sure that I wanted to add something here… but I don’t recall “what.”

Quote of the Day
Today’s nugget of joy was heard at breakfast:

Pat: “Swiss Army Dick.”

And with that… bon soir.

Saturday – 21 June 2008
This morning’s title ran – actually, it was more of a “casual stroll” – through my head as I was typing the day/date for this post. I took it as an omen and just went with it. The line was from a commercial bump between Saturday morning cartoons… back when NBC actually showed cartoons, way back in the day.

Yesterday, I rolled out of work at 2:00. I have to say: It was nice to be done for the week that early. I’m going to shoot for it again next week. I left the office and headed to Dr. Volt’s to pick up two weeks’ worth of four-color goodness. Next on the docket: Lunch. I headed to Jitterbug; and her brother joined me.

From there, I headed home for a few before heading back out for coffee and dinner.

This morning, I was up (slightly) before the alarm went off. I think I have a handle on my team for today’s games… but I still want to find a backup. Just in case. Either way, I need to find pieces that I will be happy with for all three rounds.

Stray Toasters

• Today is also Free RPG Day.
• The Violent Femmes (Blister in the Sun) have done a cover of Gnarls Barkley’s Crazy… and it’s pretty good. Check it out here.
• 
• Everyone has a little secret he keeps
  I light the fires while the city sleeps

Time to get a move on.

Namaste.

SaraRules just reminded me that today is the first day of Summer.

With that in mind, I give you DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince:

Groove on, brothers and sisters. Groove on.

Friday – 20 June 2008
The end of the work week is at hand. Thanks to putting in a few extra hours, I’m done and gone at 1:30 today. That’s worth skipping lunch for. I’m going to run a few errands and enjoy the early start to the weekend.

Last night, I watched Fear Itself, the new anthology horror/suspense summer series on NBC. Thirteen episodes, each done by different directors. Last night’s episode was “The Family Man.”

Family Man – A likeable family man switches bodies with a serial killer during a near-death experience. Now he must keep his loved ones from being added to the long list of the killer’s victims.

It wasn’t bad; it reminded me of a modern Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits. I’m going to have to investigate the previous three episodes.

I also listened to the new Duffy CD, Rockferry. You may remember that I posted the video to Mercy a few weeks back:

The whole CD is good. It has a definite British soul feel, with a number of songs making nods to the 60s style of Brit soul/pop. I give it an enthusiastic thumbs-up.

Stray Toasters

• I chatted with a little while ago, he has left Nepal and is currently enjoying a layover in Bangkok. He should be home tomorrow evening. More on his travel adventures below.
• After sending her a link to zombie drawings on DrawerGeeks, I just typed “Zombees!” to SaraRules… which made me think “zombie bees.”
• By way of BBC News: One tonne ‘Baby’ marks its birth
• Drawn! (Which I had once again forgotten about…)
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: The Baby Borrowers
• Sailors fighting in the dance hall
  Oh man! Look at those cavemen go
  It’s the freakiest show
  Take a look at the Lawman
  Beating up the wrong guy
  Oh man! Wonder if he’ll ever know
  He’s in the best selling show
  Is there life ice on Mars?
• I found this by way of DeviantArt:


(click for more work by DarkAngelDTB)

• Auto Test Tracks Revealed From Above
• 
• Puzzle Calendar Is Not LEGO Compatible
• …however, this is pretty cool: LEGO Employees Have Minifigs As Business Card
• I think I’ll treat myself to either The Incredible Hulk or Get Smart after tomorrow’s ‘Clix game.

Quote of the Day

From this morning’s conversation with …
He was telling me about an email that he sent to Bot and a couple of his brothers:

I had to go through multiple roadblocks, burning tires, and brick throwers to get to the airport this morning. Today’s asshole Kathmandu protest is brought to you by students, who are demanding that fuel prices come down. Took us 90 minutes to get to the airport.

At one intersection, the driver just hit the gas and drive around the tire. A dude threw a brick at us (missed by a mile) and called me “a mother beetches son.” Best insult EVER.

Anyway, I’m here, I’m in the Thai Airways lounge, and all is well. See you soon…

Then he added:

I almost went with the sesame street theme and said “today’s asshole kathmandu protest is brought to you by the letters AMF” but i think only andrew would’ve understood it

…where “AMF” stands for “Adios, motherfucker.”

I think that he should have added it.

And that’s a wrap.

Namaste.

Thursday – 19 June 2008
Today is Juneteenth.
It’s also NBN Thursday.
And possibly Sushi ‘Wednesday.’
(I’m still deciding if it’s going to be New Comics Day…)

Last night, while watching TV, I put together a card to go with my Phoenix ‘Clix:

I’m thinking of using it in this weekend’s tourney, and find that character cards make remembering what powers are available at a given time much easier.

Last night’s episode of JLU was “Far From Home,” the episode that featured the Legion, so I happily watched it while tinkering away on the card.

Last night’s sleep was broken by a lovely bout of acid reflux (or the closest analogue).  Blah.  I wasn’t awake for long, but it was enough to break up what was an otherwise decent night’s sleep.  So, I decided to hang in bed for an extra half-hour this morning.  While in the shower, I had the Spider-Man Theme – as done by The Ramones – stuck in my head.  When I got to the…

Wealth and fame he’s ignored
Action is his reward!

…part, I got stuck.  On ‘Action is.”  Except, in my head, it was “Action Isz,” (1, 2) like from The Maxx… but more heroic.  (Although, not necessarily in a cape or tights way.)  And, for some reason, the Action Isz looked like Rikti Monkeys (1, 2).  Bizarre.

And I was still in the office a few minutes after 8:00… including a stop for some frozen mocha refreshment.

And now… I’m in (yet another) meeting.
Yay.

Actress and singer Cyd Charisse has died; she was 86 years old. She is best known for performing in a number of movies with Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire…

…but my recollections of her come mostly from the video for Janet Jackson’s Alright, in which she dances briefly with Janet (around the 3:00 mark):

Obituary, by way of BBC News

Monday – 16 June 2008
Mondays, simply by virtue of being “Monday,” are wide open to being… odd. This morning was no exception:

While in a half-awake state, between exiting The Dreaming and entering The Waking World, I had a dream that featured Dick Van Dyke (as Bert the chimney sweep), singing Chim Chim Cher-ee, from Mary Poppins.

It was a childhood favorite movie (and song), so I don’t find that part too terribly weird.

The weirdness came as the song reached a chorus…
Bert opened his mouth…

…and instead of lyrics, out came the sound of my alarm.

“It’s so bizarre,” as Dr. Rosenblatt would say.
And it was rather amusing, as well.

Good morning.

Sunday – 15 June 2008
Happy Father’s Day

This morning started lazily. SaraRules made sauteed spaghetti and coffee for breakfast. (By the way: Drew, I did get the recipe.) Rachel hung out through breakfast and then went out for a hike. Next up: Hygiene rituals and a spot of laundry.

I’ll be heading west again in a couple of hours. It has been a good (though brief) trip – it was nice to see SaraRules and some of the places that she has talked about for the past few weeks. I’m going to try and get back out here sometime next month, God willing and the creek don’t rise.

A couple of shots from the front porch of the condo:

(click for larger versions)

Stray Toasters

• Last night, we watched Across the Universe again. We’ve been trying to see this for a couple of months. I love the arrangements of the songs… and I had forgotten how much I liked the arrangement of Let It Be. And the visuals are great, as well. If you have somehow not seen this movie, I strongly recommend renting it. Soon.
• Congrats to and Team Chalk-o-Licious for winning “Best of Festival” at this year’s Chalk Art Festival.
• The Things That Carried Him – This is a story that I first heard about on RadioWest a few months ago. It tells the story of a U.S. soldier’s final journey – the journey home to be buried. It’s a pretty amazing story. Hearing the interview with the author, Chris Jones, made me look forward to getting that issue of Esquire.
• This American Hero Wins Machinima Contest
• By way of BBC News: The United States of Advertising
• What the iPhone 3G Is Still Missing
• I’m not going to get my entry for “Superman: Man of Style” done in time to submit it to Project: Rooftop… but I’m going to keep working on it. Because I can. And because it’s been pretty fun.
• William Katt: The Hero Guest Stars on Heroes

And that’s a wrap.

Namaste.

Saturday – 14 June 2008
It’s clear and sunny out; hopefully, it will be a little warmer than yesterday.

This day started with a good morning ping from , not a bad way to start the day. He pointed me in the direction of this article from John Scalzi’s Whatever blog. I don’t suppose that I should have read the NPR article, Obama’s VP Search: Avoiding Party’s Past Mistakes, because about the time I hit the third sentence in the section entitled “Handicapping the VP Short List,” I was done. “Gracious exit…!?” My ass. That exit was to “gracious” as Utah’s Black population is to the state total population. (Translation: “Not very.”)

Quick note for those of you in the SLC metro area: The Utah Foster Care Foundation Chalk Art Festival continues today. Go down and cheer on/vote for and Team Chalk-O-Licious. Here’s their work-in-progress:

(click for ‘s (quick) post about this piece)

SaraRules and I are going to head into Aspen in a little while. That should be fun and interesting.

Stray Toasters

• From NPR: Songs for Dad: Father’s Day Jazz
• Men in Black is still fun – and funny – movie.
• By way of Wired: Coolest Movie Metamorphoses – From Wolf-Man to Hulk
• USA Today has a poll asking how readers would feel about an Obama/Powell or McCain/Powell ticket.
• I skipped “Blog Like It’s the End of the World Day” – not for lack of ideas, I just couldn’t get into it.
• Worthplaying.com takes a look at LEGO Batman

Quote of the Day
“Football (soccer) is like chess, only without the dice.” – Lukas Podolski

Up out.