The inbound commute was relatively painless. There was a PoW monkey that I got stuck behind from Lehi to just shy of my exit, but she was able to intermittently find the skinny vertical pedal with her right foot, so I didn’t have to run her off the road. (Although the temptation was there a couple of times…)

Stray Toasters

• Happy Birthday to

  

• By way of : “Sabbasattā bhavantu sukhitattā” — May all beings without exception be happy — Metta Sutta
• By way of : World Clock – “…shows current statistical figures for world population, births, deaths, deforestation, and much more.”
• NASA’s Dawn takes off for asteroid belt
• By way of Eric: Picture of the Day
• Happy SGN Thursday to !
• From the “Nucular Toonami” file: First New Nuclear Power Plant in US in 30 Years
• 
• I’m sorry, but whenever I think about this article, my first thoughts are either:
  • Take the Lobster-heads Bowling
  • Take the Skin-suits Bowling
• LEGO Millennium Falcon goes on sale

Quote of the Day
The following was sent to me in a text message, it was the perfect way to start an NBN Thursday:

May the crabs of a thousand whores infest the crotch of the person who fucks up your day and may their arms be too short to scratch.

Namaste.

Wednesday: Coda / Thursday – 27 September 2007
Three down, two to go.

I cleared – or at least did some damage to – a few items on my task list today. Productivity = good. I had lunch with Jason (coworker) and Perry at Tres Hombres. It was a little more than I had planned on spending for lunch… especially since I had taken a lunch with me today, but it was good.

As I was winding up the day, Land called and asked if I was free this evening. I was, and told him to swing by the apartment and we could go in search of food-type items. We wound up at Cafe Rio. Dinner and a good conversation later, I wandered over to Office Depot to replace my broken architect’s scale. And then, on to Barnes & Noble, to introduce Land to Way of the Peaceful Warrior. He had heard of, but not seen, the movie; I told him that it was worth the price to purchase the book. He did. Mission: Accomplished.

When I checked the mail, there was a package from my father. Ô.õ I opened it to find sections from The Baltimore Sun about Cal Ripken, Jr.’s induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame. There was also a letter in the package. An old letter. 30+ years-old old. And some note card-sized sketches. I didn’t quite get the gist of what they were for… so I called home. Dad said that they were ideas that he and a former coworker of my mother’s had come up with as a proposal for a set of stationery/seals with patriotic themes. They never really did anything with them, but he thought that I might be able to find a use for them. How cool is that?

Stray Toasters

• I still have four bags of cotton candy.
• A word and a movie
• 50 Years of ‘West Side Story’
• 26
• Titan missile silo for sale
• Wizard First Look: Millar and Hitch’s Fantastic Four
  
• 
• Why women read more than men
• A year of following all the rules in The Bible
• From the “Things We Don’t Need” file: NBC Revs Up New Knight
• Kurt Busiek on “The Third Kryptonian” and more
• …and, since we’re on the topic of Superman: Incoming: All-Star DC figures

And, with that… bed.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 25 September 2007
Last night, I stopped by to hang out with Perry and the kids. We watched Jeff Dunham: Spark of Insanity. Very funny.

called and asked if I had plans for the evening. She invited me to join her and Pat at Jitterbug for coffee.

Sidebar: I’m going to take a moment to toss out a/yet another friendly word out Jitterbug:

Jitterbug Coffee Hop
1855 South 700 East
SLC, UT 84105

Stop in, say hi to Bruce and get a cup of coffee, chai or a smoothie.
Have a sandwich, while you’re at it.

You can check out the menu here.

I told her I’d be there. The three of us sat around and shot the bull for a couple of hours… including an hour and change past the shop’s closing. Bruce came over and chatted with us for about the last hour-and-a-half.

Home again, home again. Jiggety-jig. I put together the second nightstand. It went considerably faster than the first one. While assembling it, I kept thinking: “I have a drill; why do I need a screwdriver?!”

Stray Toasters

• I have five bags of cotton candy.
• It’s 33° outside. Thirty-three. I call “bullshit.”
• Semaphore
• It’s Clobberin’ Time!
• From Wired‘s Games Without Frontiers: Halo 3 Balances Hot New Guns, Old-School Cool
• 
• Jonathan Coulton: Zombie-Fighting Troubadour
• What is your favorite article of clothing that you own?
• Steam-Driven Dreams: The Wondrously Whimsical World of Steampunk
• Steampunk Magazine #3
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: Furries vs. Klingons bowling tournament this Saturday in Atlanta.

Time to hit the road and face the day.

Namaste.

Sunday – 23 September 2007
Another weekend draws to a close.

Sara got here as I was winding down cleaning mode yesterday. I finished up and we hung out for a bit before heading to and onlyaly’s, where I met (again, I think) ‘s mom, a very nice woman. I watched as introduced Chris to the joys of the liquor cabinet; I wonder what his head felt like this morning or if she was kind enough to tell him to drink lots of water before hitting the rack. All-in-all, ’twas a good bit of fun. By the way, : Who made that Merlot and the Shiraz?

This morning started lazily, as any good Sunday should. I called Perry to see what he and the family-unit were up to and tossed out the idea of meeting for coffee; he liked the idea and the day was set in motion. Introduced Sara to Perry, Kate and company. It was amusing to watch as the baby nearly leaped out of her high chair to jump into Sara’s lap. Followed very shortly thereafter by the middle boy. We hung out and chatted for a while…

…and when we left, I decided that it was time for a trip to CompUSAirways. I walked out empty-handed, although I was tempted to pick up a few items. One of the items was new memory for Intrepid, since I lobotomized it to up ‘Nine‘s memory. Something told me to hold off a bit, so I did. Then I saw the recently-reduced-in-price Mac mini. Mmmmm, Apple-y goodness. Again, I resisted. I also held off on a set of PC speakers and a secondary iPod speaker system.

From there, it was off to see if one of the seventy-leven area Barnes & Noble stores had a copy of The Prophet of Akhrahn. They didn’t have it. *shakes fist* I know that I saw it in one of their local stores around, I just have to remember which one it was.

Next on the docket: Follow-up ride up Emigration Canyon to see the foliage. There were more hints of reddish tones, but it still hasn’t changed much. It might be a little more vibrant in another week or so. Back down Parley’s and on to Jitterbug for lunch…. where we ran into Spydr and Uriah. Pleasant surprise, that.

Back home. I asked Sara’s opinion on the frames from yesterday’s Garden of Sweden excursion, since I was 50-50 on the matter. She thought the black one looked good with the pictures. I’ll probably wind up exchanging the silver frame for another black one. (And I still need to assemble the bedside tables.) Since, as lj user=”everydave” is fond of saying, I have the metabolism of a ferret on crack, I started getting hungry a short while later, so I started cooking dinner. And, I went at it in a two-birds-one-stone fashion: I grilled chicken thighs and then added some stir-fry vegetables to the pan and fixed rice in chicken broth, while I baked a couple of chicken breasts. Dinner. Lunch. Dinner(s) later in the week. Hoo-AH! Sara headed back to Cedar shortly after dinner…. and the bedside tables have still not taken the initiative to magically assemble themselves.

Football Update

• – Beat the Cardinals. At home. Selah.
• – Took it to the Hawks… in Atlanta.
• – Beat down the Lions. ‘Grats, !
• – Dropped one to the Sea-chickens.
• – Lost to the Raiders. The Raiders! C’mon, , what’s up with that?!
• – Lost to the Chiefs. Sorry, .
• – Scalped the Redskins. ‘Grats, !

Stray Toasters

• I just made a pretty damned good coffee milkshake. Then I spilled it all over the kitchen counter. *grblsnrkx*
• I just made another pretty damned good coffee milkshake. I did not spill this one all over the kitchen counter.
• “Madlessly.” I think this is my new favorite word.
• 
• Dr Volt’s is now open… on… Sunday?!
• “What’s a Nubian?” (NSFW)
• “Shower foul.”
• Someone with way too much free time compiled a list of Legion Action Figures., including HeroClix… although not all of the ‘Clix have been added, yet.
• Naomi Wolf on Colbert Report: 10 Steps to Fascism
• 
• From Worth 1000: Fake It Till You Make It
• HOW TO: Bleach-Stencil a Shirt
• Tyranist: Shaun of the Dead will be The Tower’s midnight movie on 12-13 October 2007.

Since the bedside tables don’t have the gumption to assemble themselves, I guess I’m going to have to do it.

Namaste.

Sweet, sweet plastic goodness…

Wait…

Sweet, sweet, expensive plastic goodness…

Yes. Much better.

• Motorized Walking AT-AT
• Ultimate Collector’s Millennium Falcon
• Imperial Star Destroyer
  

Yes, they would go nicely on the Covet List.

Thursday: 20 September 2007
After work and after picking up the car, I decided to treat myself to a trip to Best Buy to acquire a copy of Superman: Doomsday. Not only was I successful in getting that, but I also picked up Scent of a Woman and S.W.A.T.

Last night, I slept pretty well. That, to some degree, makes up for Tuesday night’s poor sleep.

Four-Color Coverage: Animated Edition
I watched Superman: Doomsday knowing that it was adapted from the “Death of Superman” storyline from the early 90s. I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect from it, but I knew that they couldn’t do the whole story as it was presented in comic format. I remember being impressed with how well Batman: Mask of the Phantasm was executed; likewise, I was stunned with the job that Marvel and Lionsgate did with Doctor Strange… but, I still have a bad aftertaste from the abomination that was Superman: Brainiac Attacks. So, I was curious to see what they could/would do.

I wasn’t disappointed.

In fact, I was rather surprised at how well they told the story. In fact, this version exceeded my expectations quite a bit. While this movie isn’t canon, it draws on things from both the comics as well as something that I took as a nod to the “Legacy” (1, 2) of Superman: The Animated Series. And it blends them together nicely. They didn’t pull any punches (no pun intended) in telling stories revolving around:

• Superman and Lois’ relationships, personal and professional
• Lex Luthor’s genius…
• …and his desire to be the man at the top of the food chain – at any cost
• … and his ruthlessness
• Superman’s devotion to protect the people of Metropolis

The movie isn’t “dumbed down” to make it more palatable for younger audiences; it is rated PG-13. In my opinion, it earned that rating. It seems as though the writers, directors and producers came together to tell a story and, rather than churn out 70 minutes of pablum, went the opposite direction and brought their A-game to the table.

My one gripe – and it’s not a big one – is that the characters’ faces seem a little “too” angular, at least when compared to S:TAS and Justice League/Unlimited. The voice actors did a good job of bringing the characters to animated life. Adam Baldwin did a good job as Clark Kent/Superman, Anne Heche did well as Lois Lane and James Marsters turned in a nice performance as Lex Luthor.

I’m sure that I’ll be watching this again, looking for the little details that I may have missed in the first viewing. I recommend it to fans of the comic, the animated series and the Superman mythos in general.

Stray Toasters

• I had a cold glass of chocolate milk before bed.
• “I’d say, “Bunnies,” Raist…”
• Hmm… Doomsday vs. The Juggernaut.
• Preview of Justice League of America #13 – , you might want to check it out.
• “Thanks” to Acolyte Derek for pointing out this Playstation 2… made of LEGO
• posted a quiz. I took it. This was my result:
  

  Your home is a Philanthropic Gamer’s Mansion Your kitchen is stocked with chips, dips, and assorted caffeinated beverages. There’s a pantry with emergency backup caffeinated beverages. You also have some breakfast cereals in there, but you haven’t had breakfast since last Spring. Your master bedroom has blankets printed with images of Mario and Link. Your study includes unread copies of various gamer magazines, each purchased for the free demo CDs. One of your garages holds your collection of ferraris, and is measured in acreage.Your home also includes a guest wing and private quarters for your servants. Your guests enjoy your collection of every console and associated game ever made. Except the Intellivision — those controllers drive them NUTS. Outside is your hedge maze and gardens, meticulously tended by a team of world-class botanists. Below is a snippet of the blueprints:

  Find YOUR Dream Home!

This is probably the point where I should finish getting ready for work…

Namaste.

Wednesday – 19 September 2007
Ugh.

I had to take the car in to have some service work done. That, in and of itself, isn’t so bad. My appointment was for 7:00 AM. Again, not so bad.

The problem, however, came in not sleeping very well last night. I don’t know if it was a subconscious fear of oversleeping or what. Whatever the problem, my journey through The Dreaming was troubled. I am hoping that by thinning out the blood in my caffeinestream, I can find a modicum of sanity… or at least enough mental stability to make it through the day without painting the walls red. It is Talk Like a Pirate Day, after all; why stop at just talking like a pirate? lj user=”asdf_cat” and I have been upholding the pirate talk… at least through IM.

::: meeting break :::

And, we’re back. On a plus note, Wes was in the office today. This is the first time I’ve seen him since he went out for his surgery a couple of months ago. He looks good. And he says that he feels much better and that he’s improving daily. That’s good to hear.

Stray Toasters

• I need many of these for the office. Both offices.
• Cats Harbor Sercet Plan to Turn Us Into Litter-Scooping Robots

  

  

• I don’t know how I missed this story over the past few days.
• 
• Report: Insiders cause more computer security problems than viruses
• By way of lj user=”ferriludant”: So by now, you know all know about the meteorite in Peru…
• 
• The Hypertext d20 SRD
• From boingboing.net: Home Inspection Nightmares from This Old House

Namaste.

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.

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.

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.

Thursday – 16 August 2007
Another day of bliss in Happy Valley.

Today’s big news: I tried a new max weight on bench press – 275 pounds.

I managed to do two reps at that weight. The first one was slow, but steady… the second one was wobbly. I tried 300 pounds. The operative word in that sentence is “tried.” The bar just hovered (BARELY) a couple of inches above my chest. I’ll get there someday.

But, I got the 275.
1.71 times my body weight.
And that is chock full of awesomeness.

That even makes up for the plethora of road monkeys that I had to deal with this morning.

The Best: Hungry Like the Wolf
Duran Duran (video) vs. Bruce Campbell (video)

Bruce Campbell. No contest.

The Scales of Justice
Last night found the Hand of Nefer-Tem in Paragon City, once again. I teamed up with members of my supergroup… kind of. Two of them were running characters who had “aged out” of the primary group and have since been moved to the senior group – kind of like graduating from the Teen Titans to the Justice League… or from the New Mutants to the X-Men. We were up against The Carnival of Shadows. There was much dying and resurrecting and/or hospital-going. But the experience, even despite the XP debt, was good; I’m roughly 60% of the way through Security Level 32.

Stray Toasters

• sent me a link to this. *blink blink* How she found it, I don’t know. WHY she found it, I do not know. What possessed someone to try this in the first place…? Let’s go for the hat trick: I don’t know that, either.
• TV’s Uhura joining Heroes
• Dolores O’Riodan: Life After The Cranberries
• 
• US schools ask 14-year-olds to declare a major
• Turtle cheesecake.
• Action Figure Modders
• From NPR: It’s Easy to Miss the Memo on Recalled Products
• SR-71. No, not this one (this time)… this one.
  

Namaste.

Stray Toasters

• The car looks great. was right about this place: They do good work. I dropped it off at 9:30 and it was done around 3:00. When I went to pick it up, Brian – the guy who worked on it – came out to say that he was “done,” but asked if I could possibly wait a bit because he wanted to try and remove some residue. I told him that was fine… and ten minutes later, I was on my way.
• We went on an away mission before lunch today.
  And I found a new toy/hobby shop.
  All in one stop.
• I talked with for a few minutes this afternoon. She seems well. Busy, but well.
• Too bad dark languages rarely survive.
• Steampunk monocycle on eBay
• And out of nowhere comes a craving for sushi.
• Covet!
• I’ve got the acumen of a seasoned pro
  I’ve got the legacy of a billion souls
• Wearing your anatomy on your skin: The Anatomy Tattoo Gallery
• 
  I’ve made no bones about how much I enjoy the Evil Inc. webcomic. I’ve suggested that many of you – okay… all of you – read it, too. A year-long story arc just wrapped and Brad Guigar, the webcomic’s is about to give new readers a jump-in point. From his blog:

  In a story arc that started the day Evil Atom was forced out of the company he single-handedly created, the new CEO of Evil Inc — a superHERO — has had to grapple with making the company profitable.
  
  Failure would cause the demise of the Legion of Justice — which invested heavily in Evil Inc.But success would, of course, mean aiding and abetting super-criminals.

  Last week ended with a mysterious explosion and this week began with an equally mysterious memorial service. The next nine days are not to be missed.

  If you’re not a regular reader of “Evil Inc,” there’s no better time to start. Jump in here — and buckle your seat belts.

• Atomic Madhouse (t-shirts)

Namaste.

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.

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.