Random Access

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.

Tuesday – 07 August 2007
First off: The Rush concert was fun. My one gripe would lie in the hands of their sound engineer: He couldn’t seem to find the right balance of treble and bass… and wound up cranking the treble WAY up. Vapor Trails up. But, other than that, I had a blast! I was surprised at the range of ages present, but they were (more or less) all into it. The set list featured a nice mix of the old and the new, including a few surprises. They were surprises to me, as I had avoided seeing/hearing about the set list. I was also surprised to discover that the Maytag dryers were no longer part of the stage equipment. But, what they were replaced with made me laugh, especially when I finally sussed out exactly what they were. AND, they were a recurring gag throughout the show. But, one of the best surprises of the night was this. All-in-all, it was a great way to kick off the week.

Today has been… not bad. The workout was decent, but I had problems on the flat bench – I couldn’t get my 3rd set at 205 pounds. So, I did six reps of 205 and five reps of 185. But, after the rest of the workout was done, I went back and banged out three more reps at 205… and a slightly less-impressive fourth rep. But, I got all ten reps in. And that made me feel better.

Tonight is D&D night. I will finally get a chance to play after… a month away, I think. Holidays and other things and whatnot. We’re still at a bit of a crossroads as to what to do. And I think that at least one of us may/will die. But, as the song says:

Why are we here?
Because we’re here.
Roll the bones.

And that’s just what we’re gonna do.

Stray Toasters

• Turtle cheesecake. I had some. It was tasty.
• Isn’t she just terminally cute? I must have her.
• Civil War mail art: envelope illustrations from mid-1800s
• It’s been 10 years since Lady Lara Croft first graced videogame screens. Gametap is celebrating this with Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – Gametap Collection. Check out the Re\Visioned animated shorts. The first three episode arc, “Keys to the Kingdom,” by Peter Chung, is good. The fourth episode, “Revenge of the Aztec Mummy,” by Brian Pulido, is weak – both in writing and animation. The fifth and sixth episodes, “Angel Spit (Parts I & II)” were written by Warren Ellis… and are good. The seventh episode, “Legacy,” also written by Brian Pulido had a pulp feel… and was not only MUCH better than “Revenge,” but might have even made up for it.
• How to make Windows XP work for the next seven years.
• reminded me of this comic from VG Cats. It makes us laugh.
• I’m still chugging along through Deathly Hallows.
• Penny Arcade + Empire Earth II = this.
• I know it’s not quite time for them, but I am craving pomegranates.
• Pencil removed from woman’s head 55 years after accident

This post was brought to you by the letter “E,” the number “4” and the Omega Concern.
(c) 2007 – National Midnight Star

Namaste.

Saturday – 04 August 2007
Despite oversleeping this morning, it’s been a good – and nominally productive day. I don’t know what it was, but after Clitorati, I came home and was ready to hit the rack within an hour. Which put quite a damper on any thoughts I may have had about visiting Paragon City. I was up shortly before 7:00, but saw the error of my ways and returned to The Dreaming.

Once I got up and dealt with the necessary hygiene rituals, I met Perry and the boys for coffee. When they left, I did some more work on She Talks to Angels. I’m rather pleased with the way the angel has turned out, but a little less enthusiastic about the figure that’s supposed to look like my grandmother. Which means that I need to do more portrait work. My other big concern with this piece is/was: Fabric. It folds and twists and billows. Depicting that isn’t exactly my strong suit, but I am happy with the way it looks.

dropped by for a bit, to say “Hello,” so I chatted with her for a while until I got a message from Chris (we’re going to have to start numbering Chrises now, too) asking if I was still interested in going to the gym. I was. We did. I got there before him, so I spent 10 minutes on the recumbent bike. I haven’t done that in a long time; it was good. Chris showed up and it was game time. I wasn’t paying attention when I set up the weights for my bench press and wound up doing 225 pounds on my first set. Brilliant, I am. Not easy, but I did it. I dropped it back down to 205 pounds for the second and third sets, although I had to do the last 5 reps of the third set at 185. Today also saw a lot more presses than I have done (in one workout) in a long time: Flat bench, incline and decline.

Back home for a much-needed and very refreshing shower and a late lunch. And to kill some time. Tonight, I’m going to the Rita Coolidge concert at the Sandy Amphitheatre, thanks to Kate. I asked her to find out about tickets and a couple of days later, she presented me with one. I should send her a fruit basket. (Bonus points for knowing where that came from.) I think that I would really like to take a nap, but I have a few things that I should take care of before heading to the concert. *sigh* No rest for the wicked, I guess.

…and I still need to make (another) trip to the Garden of Sweden, which I most definitely will not get around to tonight.

Stray Toasters

• I have been craving chocolate milk like a madman, lately.
• From Real Tech News: MP3-Eating Worm on the Loose
• Blood, Sweat and Cheers! – Five little-known facts about 300.
• “Are you Lutheran vegansexual?”
  
• And I must have missed a memo about last week being “Bag on Vegans Week,” because I just saw this in Crtl+Alt+Del:
  
• The Best Super-Pregnancies (No, I didn’t make that title up.)
• WizKids will be adding a “Heroes” line – based on the television series – to HeroClix.
• When Amber met Amber
• – Play Infocom Hitchhiker’s text adventure by IM
• The Weird Things People Eat Around the World
• , I saw these and thought of you when I got to the pair in the lower-left corner.

I should finish getting ready and get out of here…

Namaste.

Thursday – 02 August 2007
The back half of yesterday was good. Jason and I went to lunch at La Puente; Perry met us there. After lunch, we paid a visit to the good Doctor’s, where I fed my four-color fever. Then it was back to the workday grind for a few more hours.

I started to watch Dark City last night. For the first time. Interesting movie. Unfortunately, I started it far too late in the evening and wound up nodding off about 30 minutes into it. I will finish it tonight or tomorrow.

This morning, I slept in. A bit unintentional, but it was nice, all the same. And, once I finally got in gear, I was able to have a brief conversation with , which is never a bad way to start the day.

Unfortunately, one of the code monkeys didn’t get the memo about today being NBN Thursday. I walked into the office to find that this person decided to do something stupid. Actually, it was a couple of things, but we can lump them all together into one homogeneous item for this case. (A coworker pointed out that the issue in question happened on Wednesday, so it’s not really a Thursday problem and I can still enjoy the rest of NBN Thursday.) And, apparently, the person-in-question had asked other people about the same issue before deciding to take matters into his own hands. And, I just found out that the person was told where to look to resolve the problem… which means that he either ignored the person who told him that and/or is a complete idiotstick. After talking with a few others about this person, I’m going with Option 2.

Today’s workout went well: Three sets of 205 pounds on the bench press (10 reps/set) followed by 2½ reps of 250 pounds. Apparently, Tuesday’s warm-up set – and the extra weight on the first set – just took any extra UMPH I may have had… and let it dribble out of my ears.

Four-Color Coverage

• Action Comics #853 – Countdown tie-in issue. This issue was another Jimmy Olsen issue, showing him – as Mister Action – going up against The Kryptonite Man. And, Superman does put in an appearance or two in this issue.
• Astro City: The Dark Age – Book 2 #3 – This issue continues the story of Charlie and Royal Williams, two men whose parents were killed during a superhero/villain battle. Charlie became a police officer; Royal a criminal. The series looks at Astro City through their eyes… and their estranged relationship.
• Avengers: The Initiative #4 – “World War Hulk” tie-in issue. Justice and Cloud 9 go on a field trip. Hardball is… moonlighting? And, what happens when you throw heroes-in-training up against Ol’ Jade-jaws and his extraplanetary band of rebels? Um… hello?! You did catch the “World War HULK,” up there, right? Do the math. I also have to give Marvel credit for something: They have brought back a few teen characters that had fallen off the map in recent years. In fact, one of the characters, Ultragirl (1, 2), had her own mini-series about… ten years ago… only to completely disappear until Civil Bore War.
• Countdown: 39 – Karate Kid and Una (the former Triplicate Girl/Duo Damsel) want an audience with Oracle. Oracle is a bit busy and doesn’t want visitors. The Legionnaires don’t think that “Come back later” is an acceptable response. Throw in a few pages of the new Suicide Squad, Batwoman and The (new) Question and you have a full issue.
• Justice Society of America #8 – “Bells & Whistles” This issue fleshes out the backstory of Jesse Chambers,the new Liberty Belle. Most of the issue is done in flashbacks, showing her as a young girl and a fledgling heroine. But that’s not where the issue shines. It shines when we see a modern ‘Belle acting as negotiator to Damage, who has Hutner Zolomon – better known as Zoom, the Reverse Flash – hostage… and is looking for a little payback.
• The New Avengers: Illuminati #3 and #4 – The behind-the-scenes powers-that-be shaping the Marvel Universe for a better tomorrow. First, they go up against The Beyonder – think Star Trek: TNG‘s Q, but without the impish qualities – who is apparently undergoing a retcon. *sigh* And then, they take on Kree hothead, Noh-Varr, would-be world conqueror… and Namor whoops his ass a time or three… and, then they make Noh-Varr a proposition.
• Supergirl #20 – We have finally moved past “Finding My Way” Kara and on to “Taking a Stand” Kara in this “Amazons Attack” tie-in issue. And we get to see “Getting My Butt Kicked” Kara, as an added bonus! While I enjoyed the writing – and it’s notably darker-than-usual tone – I wasn’t terribly enamored with Renato Guedes’ interior artwork when I first read through this… but I went back and looked at it again, later. Some of it may seem… simplistic… but there is a lot that is conveyed in the body language. And, some of the close-up shots convey emotion very well: Anger. Pain – physical and emotional. Anguish. Determination. All-in-all, a very solid issue.
• Uncanny X-Men #489 – What happens when the news gets out that a band of mutants is attacking and disfiguring people in the general populace? Oh, and while they may live in the tunnels and sewers beneath New York, they aren’t technophobes – they harness the power of the Internet and “We2UBE” to spread their message of hatred. Yep, the flames of mistrust and hatred just got fanned. And, let me just say that Salvador Larroca can draw Storm any day of the week – and twice on Sunday – as far as I’m concerned.
• World War III #1 – #4 – I finally got around to reading “Black Adam vs. the DCU.” After reading it, I’m not sure that I really needed to spend the money on it, but the deed’s done.
• X-Men: First Class #8 of 8 (limited) – The X-kids go on safari! Their quarry: Professor X. Their guide: Ken Hale, Gorilla Man. Hilarity ensues. (No, really… it does, at times.)
• X-Men: First Class #2 (ongoing) – The X-Kids go up against the rather carnivorous flora and fauna of… Island X.
• X-Men: First Class Special #1 – This book contained three short stories, featuring the fledgling X-Men. The best of the stories was “A Girl and Her Dragon,” a story told by Scott Summers to Kitty Pryde and Lockheed. It started with Kitty chasing Lockheed through the mansion and running into Scott. He then tells her that she is not “the first mutant girl with dragon” and recounts a story about Jean Grey and (the retconned history of) Dragon Man.

Stray Toasters

• Last night, I not only enjoyed a Samuel Adams Summer Ale (Thanks, !), but I drank it from my Samuel Adams pint glass that I acquired from J. Butler’s many moons past.
• pointed me in the direction of this site. Cool stuff.
• “trans-orbital trailer home”
• Brain-injured man speaks after 6 years
• Ass-hats and ignoramuses.
• Wow… Firefox didn’t try to correct my spelling on any of the above words.
• 
• For the Whovians – not to be confused with Whoville-ians – Doctor Who Action Figure with R/C K9
• Are people more polite in virtual worlds?
• Dwim: In light of your “Magneto goes where he will!” post, I offer up this: “Magneto goes when he will!”
• Pope Stumpy
• Apple iPhone getting pwn3d in Wired’s Greatest Gadget Tourney
• “You’re naked all of the time. Aren’t you?”
  
• Need something new and different for your walls? Try Tonky Wall Stickers.

/lunch

Namaste.

Today’s workout started on the flat bench again.

• Set 1 – 200 pounds/10 reps
• Set 2 – 200 pounds/10 reps
• Set 3 – 200 pounds/10 reps
• “Set 4” – 220 pounds/3 reps
• “Set 5” – 250 pounds/2 reps

Sure the last “sets” weren’t full sets, but that’s not what I was going for. I just wanted to see if, especially after doing three full sets of 200 pounds, I could do anything else.

Apparently, I could.

AND… I made it through the rest of today’s routine, too.

Did I mention: 250 pounds? That. Kicks. Ass.

BooYAH!

Thursday – 19 July 2007
So far, it’s been a fairly decent day. The worst thing, so far, was the collection of monkeys on the road during the morning commute. Slow-in-the-fast-lane monkeys, truck-driving monkeys, monkeys who didn’t know how to merge when an opening was presented. Monkeys. But, I managed to make it down to AF without having to unload the disruptor cannons.

I had another good – and tiring – day at the gym. Today’s bench presses were:

• Set 1: 205 pounds/10 reps
• Set 2: 205 pounds/10 reps
• Set 3: 200 pounds/8 reps and 3 (slow and painful) reverse reps – instead of pushing the bar up, I had to allow it to/make it slowly descend

So, I’m pretty jazzed about that. Now, it’s just a matter of continuing to move that weight… and eventually see how much I can increase beyond 200 pounds.

The Best
I’ve been a fan of the song Tempted, by Squeeze, for many moons.
I’m also a fan of the Rockapella cover.

I’m a bit torn over which version is “The Best,” but I think that the Rockapella version edges out the original, ever so slightly… because of the harmonies that the group added.

Stray Toasters

• I’m not sure why continues to try to kill me… but she does. Although, today’s attempt was far less painful than last week’s. In fact, I even found this one entertaining and amusing.
• Seems as though Carmen and (and a few other family-types) may be in the area next month. If the timing is right, I may be able to kill multiple avians with a single piece of silicate.
• By way of : Messner ‘in God’s hands’
• Moab Brewery. (Damn you, !)
• That’s it. I’m moving to Sweden. Not (just) because of the Garden of Sweden, but because of this: Swedish woman gets superfast Internet.
• : Based on your comment, as we were leaving Clitorati last week, I think that I’ve found a theme that works: Parisien du Nord (instrumental), by Cheb Mami and K-Mel. This isn’t to say that I won’t change my mind at some later date, but this works pretty well for now.

Namaste.