The Droid Whisperer

And Done.

2010-08-27T10:41:00.000-07:00

The Wordpress site is running well enough now, so I'm going to call it live. All new blogging will be here from now on.

Transitioning

2010-08-25T23:29:00.000-07:00

A new laptop has come into my life, so communication will be more frequent. Just not here. I'll be transitioning over to Wordpress in the next week. More soon.

Done & Done

2010-08-07T20:06:00.000-07:00

So we are indeed married now. It's been great. We have a lot of fun calling each other husband & wife and have been slowly doing all the legal name change stuff as we get to it (Oregon has some stupid hoops).

We've got a house guest, and he brought dogs.

Big dogs.

Great Fucking Danes.

I'm usually pretty nervous about big dogs, but these two are gentile beings, perhaps two of the best behaved dogs I've ever encountered. Their person has done a fine job in taking care of them and training them.

More later.

Stress Eating Brain

2010-07-17T09:34:00.000-07:00

I'm getting married in 5 days, and the stress is wearing me down. I can't wait until it's over.

This seems appropriate, and entertains the hell out of me.

The Gift.

2010-04-10T11:40:00.000-07:00

A short by Ridley Scott protege Carl Erik Rinsch. Pretty awesome.

Update: ok, that's not working right and I don't have time to fix it. Watch the link here.

Ancient Web

2010-04-05T00:06:00.000-07:00

I found an old website for Sarah & I. It's full of broken links and memories.

We are getting Married.

2010-03-18T07:00:00.000-07:00

Sarah & I are getting married, probably this summer. We've been together 8 years, and we've stalled long enough.

Our wedding will be non-traditional, and a hell of a party.

More to follow.

No Comment.

2010-02-06T21:58:00.000-08:00

Just watch it. it's weird.

Faded Angel with Ragged Wings

2010-01-14T11:58:00.000-08:00

When we got home on Monday night, we thought she was going to die on us right there. She was old, and had not been in the best of health in the last year or so, so I can't say it was a shock, but when you're used to being greeted at the door by a high pitched meow, and you come home to silence it's unnerving.

We spent the next couple of days making sure one of us was home at all times, never leaving her alone. She kept fading away, but never quite came to the end. She had just enough strength to drink a bit of water. Food was out of the question.

This morning, her hind legs all but useless, and her front legs having no fine motor control left, we had the hard talk.

It was time.

After a bit of discussion, we decided to try to have it done at home. I found Dr. Lori Gibson on line and asked her to come and put my cat to sleep. It took all I had to not start bawling over the phone as I made arrangements.

I took Sarah to work and returned home quickly, spending most of the time petting Percy, telling her that she was a good kitty. At about 10:30 Dr. Gibson came in and did what had to be done. She was courteous, compassionate, and excellent at her job. I hope no one reading this has need for her services any time soon, but if you do I highly recommend her.

Right after the vet left I called Sarah and started bawling as soon as I heard her voice. We talked for a few minutes, and then I hid in our bedroom and sobbed uncontrollably for awhile. After that, I went outside, and dug a grave.

It's weird digging a grave. I dug one for a fish when I was about seven, but that doesn't count so much I think (three scoops with a hand trowel, and I was done). This was frelling work, but work mixed up with a weird numbness that made it seem remote.

After that was done, I wrapped Percy up in an old towel, and placed the mouse that died on our back porch this morning in with her.

The mouse was weird. It wasn't there last night when I was taking garbage out, but there it was this morning. It's as if nature was presenting a gift for the once mighty hunter. I don't believe in the supernatural, but rather then tempt fate, I placed the offering with the body, and reverently placed the bundle in the grave.

Burying takes a lot less time then digging, so my work was short. I used an old cement porch support as a grave marker, and surrounded the grave with stones. I don't know why, it just seemed like the thing to do.

I now have to adjust to life post cat. Aside from my first nine months in Portland, I've never not had a pet. We're going to wait a while before we get another cat, to let Percy be mourned properly. It's going to be hard, but we'll make it.

Good, Good, and where the fuck did I put that thing?

2009-12-26T21:05:00.000-08:00

I seem to have misplaced my copy of The Flaming Lips The Soft Bulletin. In my fervor to find it I found a mound of other CDs that I've been missing, my MP3 archive from when I left my old job (including just about every David Bowie song up to Tin Machine), and some other odds and ends that I've been looking for.

Still can't find my Flaming Lips CD, but I suppose I can live with that. For now.

20 year old head scar

2009-12-11T08:00:00.000-08:00

Today, December 11th, is the twentieth anniversary of my brain surgery. I won't bore you with details of what was wrong with me, but it was life changing none the less.

I marked the tenth anniversary of this event by completely flipping out & finding religion, which I found to be of little use, so I put it back where I found it.

I'm better equipped for the twenty year mark. I like my job rather than hating the one I had. I have an admittedly messy house, rather than a rented third of a triplex. Most importantly I have Sarah, instead of nothing at all.

It could also just be that I'm more on the grown up side of the Playing Grown Up/Actually Grown Up Scale. Whatever it is, I don't need to make any radical life changing decisions based on an arbitrary life event that happened twenty years ago, no matter how monumental it was.

So, this time, rather than latch on to a religious doctrine that was holy incompatible with my life as it was (and is now), I got a hair cut and spent a little extra on a hair product I really like rather than buying the cheap shit. I'll probably feel a lot better about that decision when year 30 comes (although I will probably be missing my hair at that point).

Exciting Update.

2009-12-02T08:47:00.000-08:00

Things are pretty sedate at casa de Droid Whisperer. My lap top died a few weeks ago, which goes part of the way in explaining my lack of posting (if I can't write from my recliner while watching bad movies I seem to be less motivated).

I just noticed that I got my first spam comment on that Sarah Silverman video I posted a while ago. Penis sized & potency seemed to be involved, I didn't look that closely, and I'm going to go delete it shortly.

My sister is one of the masterminds behind 30 Hour Day. Go check it out.

Also of interest is Fictional Film Club by my friend The Legendary Black Marquis. The Marquis writes real reviews for non existent films, an idea that as soon as I heard it I kicked myself for not having. He does it better than I would though, so the world is a richer place.

I am also currently running for reelection to the Burnside Chief Steward position at Local 5. Wish me luck, and if you are a fellow Local 5 member, I would greatly appreciate your vote.

Sell the Vatican, feed the world

2009-10-10T22:09:00.000-07:00

Sarah Silverman occasionally throws me off a bit, but this is one of the funniest damn things I've seen in a while.

Off I go to log into Youtube and report the antisemitic posts that people are putting up in response to the video.

tee-hee

2009-10-06T11:34:00.000-07:00

DOOM!!!

2009-09-18T21:55:00.000-07:00

I couldn't stop laughing at this

crunch

2009-09-12T20:49:00.000-07:00

So I'm sitting in my car fiddling with my bag when all of a sudden I hear a crunch, and get jarred over a foot. I whip my head around in time to see and feel a big white POS disentangling it's self from the side of my car.

OK, so I'm a little pissed. I get out of the car and inspect the damage while the other driver finishes parking (badly I might add), and find that the lower part of my rear passenger door is partially caved in and pretty scratched up.

I knew immediately that I wasn't going to file a claim. The $300 dollars or so I would get to fix the door (or buy a Wii, lets be realistic) would be quickly erased by the fact that my insurance would go up by $25 a month.

The other driver finished her inexpert parking and brought out her insurance papers and asked if I wanted to trade info. I said no, and told her that it would just fuck up my insurance,but If she wanted to give me something to help compensate for the damage that would be great. I let her know I wasn't very happy about the side of my car looking like shit, but there wasn't much I could do about it.

She then proceeded to put her info back in the car, gather up the other people in her car and leave. She did not apologize, did not say another word just walked away, glaring at me.

It's not liked I yelled, it's not like I called her any names. I swore a little, and showed that I was unhappy. She just slinked away like a fucking coward. If I wasn't in the car, I'm fairly sure she would have took off with out leaving a note.

Bunch of fucking savages in this town.

Summer Ends.

2009-09-08T09:55:00.000-07:00

Summer ends at BLB the day after Labor Day, or to be more specific, at about 6 pm on Labor Day. The tourists are gone, everybody else has gone home to get ready for school, and we the BLB employees can relax, get some work done, and go out drinking when it's over.

Went to Roadside Attraction & then Basement Pub for post work beverages with Sadimac & a couple of friends. I think both bars will get repeat visits, although I wish I had found Roadside at the beginning of summer rather than the end. The elaborate warren that serves as this joint's patio would be a great warm weather hang out, but with winter coming on, it's not going to work so well.

Basement Pub is a great little place. It's been there for years, and I just never made it there as it's not in my neighborhood. But, since it's an easy place to get to from work, and on the way home it'll do nicely.

Vertigo on Hawthorne will remain my personal go to though. Sure, the Nickleback people descend on it every once in a while, but we just slide out on to the patio and wait them out.

Venture Season 4 will own me.

2009-08-20T12:21:00.000-07:00

November seems so far away now...

This has to be better than the Movie

2009-08-11T11:24:00.000-07:00

The Ballad of G.I. Joe from Olivia Wilde

Alan Tudyk as Shipwreck.
Alan Tudyk as Shipwreck!
ALAN TUDYK AS SHIPWRECK!

Comedy gold. I want them to take this cast and make a good movie.

Make Shit Up

2009-08-10T09:31:00.000-07:00

Okay, so with the exceptions of the Drag Me To Hell and the upcoming District 9, it seems like all of this summer's sci-fi type entertainment have been re imaginings, remakes, sequels, interpretations of a toy based marketing opportunity, or some combination there of.

Don't get me wrong, I like some of this stuff (new Star Trek was awesome, and I'm sure the new Harry Potter is just fine), but how about a little bit of originality? Or, filming a book who's themes haven't been done to death? Let The Right One In & True Blood are great and all, but they are still vampire stories.

Of course a lot of this stuff is drek. The Transformers sequel was stunningly bad, and my expectations were pretty low. Between the racist caricatures in robot form, testicle jokes, rampant sexism, nonsensical & self contradictory metaphysical mumbo-jumbo, and the most obvious McGuffin in the history of McGuffins, I'm surprised it wasn't a George Lucas film (Okay, that's not fair, Lucas doesn't do testicle jokes). You will of course have to drag me kicking and screaming into the GI Joe movie. If I am to be forced to watch it, I must be made pliant with alcohol before, during, and after the film.

I see that Joe Haldeman's Forever War is in the planning stages with Ridley Scott attached, and that's promising. However: he has now signed to do an Alien prequel. I'll probably like it (anything is an improvement over AvP: Requiem), but it's ground that's been covered.

District 9 does look good though. It's plot sounds engaging, it has power armor/mechs, and Peter Jackson's involvement is usually a good sign. Beyond that we have 9, which could be great, or a big build up to nothing. It's premise is interesting and it's voice cast impressive, but it's produced by Tim Burton and I hope he kept his grubby little hands out of the visual design.

Do not go see Transformers

2009-06-26T08:51:00.000-07:00

Do not watch Transformers: ROTF. It's really as loud, dumb, long and offensive as the critics say.

Instead, go see a Serenity Charity Screening. You'll feel better, really.

Sigh Postponement

2009-06-10T11:47:00.000-07:00

A decision has been made to postpone the tattoo. While the money situation is set to slightly improve soon, we're going to have to put it off until we can better afford the work.

If any one wants to pay for my tattoo, I'm game though.

More ships

2009-06-09T22:14:00.000-07:00

The Voot Cruiser from Invader Zim, and Futurama's Planet Express Ship (which was on an early version of the list but some how fell off), are on the official list.

While I appreciate the enthusiasm, I had thought of, and dismissed the Spaceballs Winnebago previously. Nice try.

I now return to my full weekend with Sadimac.

Tattoo Me

2009-06-03T21:45:00.000-07:00

I've spoken with the artist of my choice, Jesse Carr of Blackbird Tattoo, and he's keen on my idea. I'll be going in on Tuesday for a consultation, and work should start not to long after that.

Here's the current list of ships:
Serenity
Moya
TARDIS
Enterprise (TOS)
Klingon Bird of Prey (TNG)
Viper Mark II
Cylon Raider (old style)
Discovery One
Saucer from The Day the Earth Stood Still
Slave-1 (very small)
Challenger

Maybe:
I want something from Babylon 5, just not sure what.
Any body seen any art work based on the Templer Trees from Hyperion?

Still open to other suggestions...

In which I actually post an update to my Blog

2009-05-27T09:32:00.000-07:00

Lots going on.

I am now a chief steward for ILWU Local 5 (please excuse the rough web site, we had to switch hosting on short notice), and things at BLB01 are going about as well as can be expected in these brutal economic times.

On the other hand, Percey the cat is not doing so hot. She has another round of dental problems and various other health issues, that for her comfort and quality of life we have decided not to treat. We'll be going on a track of some antibiotics and enough painkillers to keep her comfortable, and we're going to let her live out her last year or so in relative comfort. No more traumatic day long vet stays or surgery that she's always scared and miserable after, and as little poking and prodding as we can manage. There's no sense in having her live in fear.

I have come to a tattooing decision. I've always wanted to get one nice, fairly ambitious tattoo, and the decision has been made as to what & where: A collage of starships (no, not Jefferson Starship) will be somewhere on my body (I will reveal where when work has begun). Here's the list of what I'm planning on including so far

Definitley:
Serenity (Firefly/Serenity)
Enterprise (TOS)
The TARDIS (Dr Who)
a Viper (New BSG)
a Raider (Old BSG)
Moira (Farscape)
Challenger (the space shuttle)
Klingon Bird of Prey (not sure which one)
Saucer from the original The Day the Earth Stood Still
Discovery One (2001 ASO)

Maybe:
SDF 1 (Robotech)
The Phoenix (Battle of the Planets/Gatchamon)
The ARK [Transformers (80's Cartoon)]

I'm also looking for other ships, be they from old Amazing covers, obvious things I haven't thought of yet, etc. So send me links and scans, I've got some flesh to fill!

My next step is to talk to a tattoo artist, and my dear sister has provided what I think will be the right path.

I am aware that there are no Star Wars ships on the list above, and it is intentional. There will be one Star Wars vessel, either an X-Wing or Slave-1. We have been betrayed, and my anger runs deep.

Sparks

2009-02-09T21:54:00.001-08:00

Why was I not informed about this before?

We now interupt our hiatus for roboerotic violence.

2009-02-01T09:52:00.000-08:00

Ravage! SQEEEE!

I know, I'm a proponent of the laws of robotics, I shouldn't like this stuff. But come on, giant construction equipment that turns into killer robots? I'm there.

Update: The bastards took it off line. I shall attempt to find it again.

Next update. Go here to see it in all it's 'splodey glory

Coming to you irregularly from the snowpocolypse

2008-12-24T14:09:00.000-08:00

Merry Kwahanimas to all (I refuse to acknowledge festivus)!

We're snowed up to the gills here, and hoping that Santa brings us temperatures in the 40s and enough rain to wash the foul white stuff away.

Sadimac and I have trudged over to her mom's for christmas eve, where we will exchange good tidings & presents, eat homemade chicken pot pies, and play munchkin. It will be grand, but due to the snowy hell that nature/a vengeful god has thrust upon us, probably the only such activity we'll have in a timely matter this holiday season.

I wish the same good feelings & fun to you all (although not the weather), and a new year that was better than the last

-Xithor

Killer Robot Future

2008-11-24T21:17:00.000-08:00

A NY times published an article on the idea of autonomous lethal combat robots, with the idea that they will be more ethical in combat situations than flesh & blood humans.

They're a long way away, but it's my personal plea, and desperate hope that who ever succeeds at creating intelligent robot or other artificial life that they have read Issac Asimov, & Phillip K. Dick, and watched Bladerunner.

These things are of course, entertainments. But, if we do not heed their lessons, we will morally doom ourselves as a species. If the first intelligent created life is enslaved and made to kill, we'll be placing ourselves in dire peril.

So please, engineers and roboticists of the world, I know you're not going to listen to little old me, but please, listen to this:

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

2. A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Job Rating

2008-11-16T21:05:00.000-08:00

Cons:
Money could be better
Lack of days off with Sadimac

Pros:
I "have" to read sci-fi novels
Io9.com now a work resource
20 years of playing RPGs makes me a valuable employee
General geekery considered to be an important job skill
Union

Job is pretty good.

Sci-Fi A-E

2008-11-08T20:33:00.000-08:00

It seems that

Adams
Asimov
Bear
Bradbury
Brin
Butcher
Butler
Card
Delany
DeLint
Dick
Donaldson

and others will be my responsibilities.

I twot I saw Twitter phat

2008-11-06T14:10:00.000-08:00

Now occasionally posting to Twitter for your enjoyment and my own blathering.

Election Night: Beer Four, Shot One

2008-11-04T21:54:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been a good night so far. I'm a little worried about 64, Merkley, and measure 8 in California. Hoping for the best.

Mood: Tired, but good

Inebreation: Pleasently Drunk

Election Night: Beer Three, Shot One

2008-11-04T20:04:00.000-08:00

Love John Stewart. Feeling the booze.

We won.

Mood: Estatic

Ineibreation: Lightly drunk.

Election Night: Beer Three

2008-11-04T18:44:00.000-08:00

I'm settling into my third beer now, and am eyeballing the bottle of Bushmills. I'm starting to feel the drink, and thanks to twitter am thinking of, and missing Hunter S. Thompson.

The math looks good. McCain has to pull multiple rabbits out of his ass to win. Looks good.

Mood: Whistful, happy, and Hunter S. Thompsonish

Inebreation: Safe to operate a microwave, but should probably stay away from the car.

Election Night: Beer Two

2008-11-04T17:32:00.000-08:00

Beer two, doing well. Joined Twitter, and discovered that some one else is already xithor, so I'm droidwhisperer instead.

Elizabeth Dole lost her seat, how glorious.

Mood: Good, but want to hunt & kill the usuper of my name.

Inebreation (man that's hard to spell): Feeling fine

Election Night: Beer One

2008-11-04T16:53:00.000-08:00

It's early. I'm half way through my first beer (Newcastle: A British beer for an American election).

A bottle of Bushmills and a shot glass lie in wait for celebration and/or wallowing in sorrow.

Look to others for results, come here to gauge my mood and inebreation level.

Mood: Optomistic, but wary

Inebreation: Minimal

Everything's gone Gold

2008-11-01T19:24:00.000-07:00

First off watch this:

We love Amanda Palmer.

Now for the good news: BLB01 has deemed me worthy of the Gold Room. I will be working the Sci-Fi section full time in about two weeks. The year of Generalist was enjoyable, but I was ready to settle into a section and Gold was the room I wanted, and what I'm best suited for, so we all win.

Both of us also went through steward training, and pending approval by the Executive Board, I will be a shop steward in short order.

t-minus 3 days till election. Vote damnit

Hiatus

2008-10-21T08:09:00.000-07:00

As you could probably tell, I'm on Hiatus. Maybe a few news posts here and there for awhile, but I don't think there will be much until the new year

Spiders and their webs

2008-09-09T09:39:00.000-07:00

Spiders get a lot of leeway around here. We don't use poisons of any type, so they are our primary form of insect pest control (rodents stay away because of the cat, but I doubt she could effectively catch one anymore). The yard is pretty much free reign for them, and the non aggressive ones are welcome in the house as well.

There have been a few times when they've had to go. We've had a couple of hunter spiders charge us (despite the fact that were about 50 thousand times bigger then they are), and we shuffle those off this mortal coil. What is more frequent is the comedy and tragedy of web placement mishaps.

My favorite was the web built between the trees next to our driveway and the car from a few weeks ago. Some spider had spent the sixteen or so hours between my parking the car and driving the car away building a fairly intricate web, and I'm sure it was a great place to catch bugs, both coming off the trees and flying around the car. I'm sure the spider worked very hard, and maybe she was crest fallen when this indestructible force of nature (or giant web wrecking yokel, or whatever else spiders perceive us as) came along and nonchalantly backed the car out of the driveway to run out for cat food.

Bad web placement happens all the time: Across the back door, between the garbage can and the posts on the porch, on ceiling fans, on lawn mower blades, and hundreds of other tragic and/or hilarious circumstances. They should hold web building seminars, so thousands of lives can be spared, and millions more insect pests can meet their spidery doom.

A meditation on film, or, burn in hell Cameron Crowe

2008-09-06T21:19:00.000-07:00

Let us take a moment from our stresses, and reflect upon the films of Cameron Crowe.

His films vary wildly in quality, from entertaining diversion (Fast Times at Ridgemont High), to self indulgent blow jobs (Vanilla Sky). Let us review them one by one, in order of release:

Fast Times at Ridgemont High: One of the three films on this list I would actually say is worth watching: its got it's moments, but ultimately becomes a meandering series of interwoven sketches. His career could have gone either way at this point. It is to be noted that he wrote, but did not direct this one, so it doesn't show him in the full light.

The Wild Life: The only Crowe movie I have not seen. Boasted as "from the creators of Fast Times at Ridgemont High", and has a middle of the road IMDB raiting. Take it as you will.

Say Anything...: The second worthwhile movie on the list, as long as you've just graduated from high school. It's sort of like a John Hughes movie with a male lead, and slightly more realistic characters. It has not aged well as a film, but can still be enjoyed if just for it's place in thrusting John Cusack into the lime light.

Singles: And here our true troubles begin. A framework for a grunge soundtrack with a maudlin collection of stories about people in lousy relationships. Unwatchable clap trap.

Jerry McGuire: One of the worst movies I have ever seen. Predicable, sappy vehicle for a collection of catch phrases. Add in a cute kid, Rene Zelwigger, and Cuba Gooding Jr. screaming his head off in one of the most puzzling Oscar awarded performances of the last twenty years, and you've got a simply terrible movie. It didn't help that I kept having to hear SHOW ME THE MONEY!! bellowed from my roommates, who did not agree with my assessment of the film, for several weeks following it's release.

Almost Famous: The third and final decent movie on the list. While a little sappy, it has a good heart. It's music fits the film, & the time period, though the ending seems a bit hooky. The typical Croweisms were there, but were tolerable. I started to forgive Crowe for his missteps...

Vanilla Sky: Until I saw this maudlin, nonsensical piece of shit. I refuse to dwell on it, other than to ponder this: When a perfectly good foreign film is made (The Wings of Desire), why do we, as Americans, remake them as far inferior vehicles for our lesser stars (City of Angles staring Meg Ryan)?

Elizabethtown: Say Anything... only with a dull story and twenty somethings at a funeral. Retreading your previous material does not make for a good thing Mister Crowe.

While some films suffer from it more than others, all of them feel like a series of events strung together to form a whole rather than a cohesive story. Its like watching a series of SNL skits with connectors to make them seem like an actual narrative. I'm done with him, and bored to tears with his shitty movies. I'd rather watch a Uwe Boll film. At least he knows what he is: a hack.

(Thank you Holly for giving me the nudge to get blogging again)

Death of a Henchman (oh how we shall miss thee)

2008-08-26T09:11:00.000-07:00

Do not watch this if you don't want to be spoiled for the entire Venture Brothers season:

Oh how we shall miss thee henchfriend. Your well foreshadowed demise was shocking, and hillarius to see. Our loss leaves us poorer in Venture characters, but richer in comedy gold. Rest well animated friend, rest well.

Cameron Crowe is a Maudlin Hack, and other Pointless Bitching & Moaning

2008-08-06T21:23:00.000-07:00

So I've been on a self imposed hiatus for a month. I've been stressed about car and money issues, and have found myself unable to write. The starter went out on the car, and since the economy is shit everything is more expensive.

On the plus side, I do have a loving girlfriend, a good job, and great friends & family. We were able to borrow a car for a few days (again, thank you Erich & Sara), and I found a box of old rail car blueprints that I've been wanting to sell on eBay that should drum up a few bucks to beat back some of the bills.

Our Pathfinder/D&D campaign has also been going quite well, in fact we didn't play this week so I find myself not quite knowing what to do with my tonight. But, I'm watching a new episode of Mythbusters (Exploding Meat!), so that's keeping me entertained.

We should probably return to regular blogging from this point forward.

One less spot in the pit

2008-07-04T12:33:00.000-07:00

I usually don't revel in the death of those with whom I disagree, but this time, I'll make an exception.

Yes, I'm sure he did some nice things and had a sense of humor, but his views on choice, gay rights, and the Arts were abhorrent. His contribution to the rise of Regan doesn't exactly win him points with me either

R.I.H Jessie, R.I.H

A Year? Really?

2008-07-02T09:37:00.000-07:00

So I noticed yesterday that today is the 1st anniversary of this blog.

(Cue the streamers, noise and party hats)

It's only been 93 posts now, which means I'm not quite posting a third of the time. Here's to trying to post more!

Mini of the week: Dromal

2008-07-01T08:11:00.000-07:00

Ladies & Gents, Meet Dromal

Dromal was a particularly nasty nemesis that I used back when I was still DMing. He had once been a good guy, but while on a deep cover mission his motives began to shift and he slipped into evil.

Other than cleaning some casting debris, this mini was unmodified. I only used eight paint colors on this one, which is a little low for me (I usually average about twelve or so), but I'm still happy with the results.

This was defiantly a case of the mini driving the character: after painting this on a lark I knew I had to use him. Even some of his magic items (armor that granted a stealth bonus, and an automatically returning dagger) were designed around the look of the mini.

A single, bright red cherry

2008-06-28T21:18:00.000-07:00

Last year, our cat Murphy died of stomach cancer. She had been with me since I was 18, and she was completely devoted to both Sadimac and I. It was a long and difficult passing, and when she was gone, we decided to plant a tree in her memory. A cherry tree.

To say that Murphy was difficult is an understatement. She could be mean as a snake when she wanted, giving out affection to pretty much only me, Sadimac, Capn Zippy, and my Mom. All others were to be ignored, or tormented (she and my sister did not get along).

This morning while I was watering in the backyard, I looked up at Murphy's tree, and say a lone bright red cherry. I didn't think to go grab a camera, I just walked over and picked it. I washed it off, and brought it to Sadimac on the front porch. We savored it together, and I can easily say that it was the best cherry I've ever eaten.

Murphy's tree, at least this year, gave just as she did in life: only a couple of people were allowed to enjoy to sweetness, but my oh my, how marvelous it was

Info Moments

2008-06-25T09:45:00.000-07:00

"Do you have any adult magazines here?"

no, I'm afraid we don't

"Well then where's your gun books?"

************

A black plastic bag containing the following was turned in to lost & found:

2 AA batteries
a package of rolling tobacco
a copy of Pink Floyd's The Wall on CD

************

"Where's your Dungeons & Dragons stuff?"

Straight ahead in the Gold Room. You looking for 4th Edition?

"Ugh, no I just need a new 3.5 Players"

Wise choice.

"Thank You."

************

"Do you know when that was written?"

Sorry, I don't have that information in front of me.

"OK, well I'll stop by and let you know what it is on the way out."

************

"I'm looking for books on pirates"

In the Rose Room, right by the nautical books

"No, I mean real pirates"

Back when I watched basketball

2008-06-18T08:22:00.000-07:00

When I was a young, I loved basketball. We're talking Larry Bird, Danny Hale, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar era basketball here. The 80's to early 90's.

I remember my enjoyment of the sport drifting away about the same time Jordan began to fade. He was the best, of course, and had a good team to play around him. They played as a team, not as a group of individuals just supporting Jordan.

A few years after I lost interest the NBA seemed to fall on bad times. Players started to get a sense of entitlement, and a slew of arrests and other pretty rotten stuff was floating around (an era when our Trailblazers were rechristened the "Jailblazers"

It all culminated with the Kobe Bryant Colorado incident (no matter what really happened in that hotel room, we can know for sure that Bryant is a pretty terrible person), and at that point the league seemed say "Okay, out of the Pool."

A lot of the bad off court things started to dry up, but there was still the one man team problem, with Bryant again being the poster boy for the way he forced Shaquille O'Neal off the Lakers. To many teams are either dominated by these huge egos (Bryant & the Lakers), or the team it's self puts all it's eggs in one basket and doesn't give their top player enough (LeBron James & the Cavs).

Reenter the Celtics

They built a team of three top guns: while no one of them as good as Kobe Bryant, as a unit they were tough to beat. The remaining starters and the bench were no cut rate rejects, they trained and acquired their way to a top notch team. They had unity, they had ubuntu, and now that have a shiny trophy, rings, and have reawakened the interest in the game for at least one former fan.

let's see what next year brings.

Go Celtics (and, okay, I'll root for the 'Blazers as well)

Mini of the Week: Ogrhel

2008-06-16T11:15:00.000-07:00

I've got a ton of fantasy minis that I've painted over the years, and although I'm not an expert, I feel that I do a fairly good job with them, and am quite proud of many of those that I've done.

So, until I run out, I'll be posting pictures of one mini a week or so. I've decided to start with the mini I'm currently using for D&D, Ogrhel.

Ogrhel is a half-orc barbarian that was left to die by the orc tribe that raised him when he refused to take part in a raid on an defenseless village. He survived, scrounged some equipment from the post battle refuse, and made his way to civilization.

The mini as manufactured had a dagger in one hand and an axe in the other. I chopped he dagger and made it into a bottle of rotgut. I also re based him, and added a shield (and accompanying strap) to his back. (I'll post a photo of his back later, I seem to have misplaced the one I had)

Slow Burn Maddness

2008-06-14T13:24:00.001-07:00

My best friend is in the hospital at the moment and I have no idea why. I got a brief email about it this morning from his wife, and a post to a message board that we all frequent. He can't walk without a great deal of pain, and that's all I know. I'm hoping for the best, imagining the worst, and thinking about him and his family constantly.

The worry is making me basically useless at work. I'm going to go and attempt to get some more things done.

6:04 PM
He's ok folks. He's back home and resting, seems he has a particularly bad muscle pull/tear.

Whew.

Serenity Now Equality Now Tickets on Sale!

2008-06-11T13:59:00.000-07:00

The title says it all folks! Here's a link directly to our ticket sales, and then here's another that goes to our exciting podcast!

Don't forget to to check out our official event site, and our regular every day site as well.

Buy tickets, buy shirts, re-post this in your blog! Help us raise money so Equality Now & The Women's Film Initiative can keep doing their good works!

Car Decor

2008-06-10T07:59:00.000-07:00

I'm not able to leave a car unadorned.

I don't think I've ever not had a bumper sticker or decal of some sort. From my VW that had Dead Kennedys and Ministry decals, to the Hyndai that had about 12 things on it ranging from a Jack Kirby sticker to a Darwin fish, to the dead blue hulk out front that has Browncoat decals, a Red Sox sticker (might try and save that one, it being the official 2007 pre-season sticker), and other assorted bits and bobs.

This new car will be no exception. An order was placed last night with Dagon Industries for the following two items:

They should get here in about a week or so, and will be on the car within minutes of being received.

The shocking part of this is that the Cthulhu Fish wasn't even my idea. My ever patient and loving partner suggested I get one, and once I figured out who was selling them, it was all over but the waiting. The Miskatonic plate frame on the other hand, was pure impulse.

We'll need to decorate a bit more I think. Any suggestions?

Vroom

2008-06-06T11:12:00.000-07:00

Our new car:

As our best friends said when they saw it, "It's like a squished version of your old car, only brown"

Revel in it's fuel efficient glory. Now I just need to get used to driving a stick again.

Keep your psuedopods crossed

2008-06-05T12:19:00.000-07:00

A car might have been found. 1990 Honda Civic 4 door wagon. It seems to be in good shape, but I'm taking it to my mechanic in an hour or so to have him take a look at it. More info soon

More info: NOW!

We are the proud owners of the car mentioned above. Photos and more tomorrow.

Obamarama

2008-06-04T17:35:00.000-07:00

So it's official, Obama v. McCain in the big smackdown of November '08.

I don't share my sister's hope in this matter. I'm a bit more pragmatic about these things, and I want Obama to win to protect some of our basic fucking liberties.

Do I think he's the second coming of FDR? No, but he's less likely to appoint Supreme Court Justices that are going to strip away our reproductive rights, or be outright hostile to our civil liberties.

He won't do much for gay rights (I don't think he'll do anything against them either, but I want progress, not stagnation), and I'm pessimistic on what can be done to end the ~~clusterfuck~~ war that we've been illegally drawn into.

It's also a bit of basic math: President Obama will probably do about one to four things in a month that I'm not crazy about, and will really piss me off about three or four times a year. President McCain will do about four things a week that really piss me off.

As a comparison, when Dubya opens his mouth and says anything at all, I get really pissed off.

So this is June

2008-06-03T06:48:00.000-07:00

It's June 3rd, pouring rain, and I'm fighting a particularly nasty battle with the flu.

I'm usually all for the rain and cloudy weather, but this is getting a little ridiculous.

Venture: NOW!

2008-05-30T19:50:00.000-07:00

http://www.adultswim.com/video/?episodeID=8a25c3921a33e870011a35f406440069

I'll be watching as soon as I get home.

It's a go for TV on Sunday night, but who can wait that long?

Not me.

New Glasses

2008-05-30T10:50:00.000-07:00

Finally:

Now if I could just find a new (to us) car. Anybody got a good used Honda they'd care to part with for around 2 grand?

The Machine Jihad

2008-05-24T23:30:00.000-07:00

Our machines have turned against us.

You all know our tale of major appliance woe from the last couple of months, but now there is more.

It started a few days ago when the lawn mower just up and died. No warning, just stopped. No big deal, we just borrowed the neighbor's for the time being and moved on with our lives.

Today, the car died, and not just the little deaths that cars sometimes have and recover from, but a big scary death with gushing oil, smoke and what is most likely a cracked block. We can not afford to buy a car, but we must have a car. It is a conundrum, to say the least.

We do have temporary transportation for a couple of days (thank you, thank you, thank you Erich & Sara), but we need to figure out what's next beyond that.

This many things going belly up in the last two months can only mean one thing: Jihad.

The mower was only two years old and showed no hint that it was about to fail. The car, while a bit past it's prime, has given us no trouble. It was a bit overdue for an oil change, it's true, but no lights came on, no warning was issued, it just blew. Thankfully we where pulling up to a friend's house when it went south so we were in no real danger, but that doesn't change the fact that we now have no car.

The machines are out to get us in some Matrix/Terminatoresque fashion. Fear for us, and for yourselves, for they will strike when you least expect it.

Forward Glare + Headphones = No

2008-05-23T14:55:00.000-07:00

The simple mathematical formula above is something that I post for the benefit of the "political panhandlers" of our fair city.

Now, don't get me wrong, I actually support, and in fact donate a small amount to some of these organizations (ACLU, Greenpeace, etc) , but the standing on the corner with a clipboard and a windbreaker method of drumming up donations has got to stop.

They often stand in front of BLB01 (they've been banned them from the porch), pull guilt trips about pandas, and basically get in the way. There has got to be a better way to reach the common man than hiring pushy kids with boundary issues to harass people on the street.

So remember canvassers, when I'm walking to work with my head phones and a distant forward glare: I don't want to stop and talk about pandas, I don't want to give you my credit card number, and I don't want to listen to your guilt trip. When you have to lean over and wave frantically in front of me to get my attention, I have probably seen you, and am ignoring you on purpose.

Shouting at me and sticking your hand in front of my chest as I attempt to walk by is a good damn way to get yelled at, and if you have a problem with that, you need to get tough, or get a different job.

Political Endorsements

2008-05-18T08:49:00.000-07:00

American politics is often like watching a Dennis Hopper movie. You know that you'll either hate it, or enjoy it despite the feeling that something is eating away at your soul.

Keeping this in mind, I hereby endorse Barak Obama for President.

Will this make a difference to anyone? No. He's not a perfect candidate (I don't like his stand on same sex partner marriage, and I don't think he'll go far enough on health care), but he's better than the alternative (she's great and all, but she there's to much baggage, she plays fast and loose with the rules, and we don't need another political dynasty) , or the unthinkable (McCain? Does any one really think that's a good idea?).

For Senate I endorse Steve Novick, because his politics are pretty good, and what better way to say fuck you to the Republicans by replacing Gordon Smith with a four foot tall liberal with a hook for a hand.

The Big Reveal

2008-05-13T19:16:00.000-07:00

And now, what you've all bee waiting anxiously for since yesterday (except for my sister, who called and asked due to her lack of desire to wait). The Big Reveal:

It's good, really.

Is the suspense getting to you yet?

Ok, enough fraking around, I can only keep this up for so long.

Sadimac has been offered (and has accepted) a position at BLB01 in the Rose Room, which is no easy feat, as it's borderline impossible to get hired straight into a section position. She's given notice at Old Job, and will start in two weeks time. I'm really proud of her, the process was hard on her, but she weathered it like a champ. It's going to mean a much less stressful life for her (and by extension me), and a safe, functional place to work.

Everyone join me in applauding my beloved, as she moves on to a better thing.

I love you Sadimac.

Podcasts, Good News, and General Excitement

2008-05-12T20:03:00.000-07:00

Well, lots going on.

The podcast Sadimac & I recorded with my sister is up, so please, listen and enjoy. We had a lot of fun, and hope to do it again sometime, and other than calling the Guild of Calamitous Intent the Guild of Malicious Intent I feel we had a pretty good showing.

Sadimac has had a lot of excitement of her own. There's some stuff that she won't want me to go into, but let's just say that something really wonderful happened today, and things will be coming up roses very soon. I'll announce the excitement in a couple of days when the details are more public (no, we are not having a baby).

Hopefully we'll catch up on Doctor Who and Battlestar in the next week or two, so I can feel normal again.

Oh, and I will no longer be working regular cashier shifts at BLB01, as I am now finally a full time Generalist. Good bye 5 hour till shift on Saturday afternoon. I will not miss you.

The Most Important Video You Will Watch In The Next Five Minutes

2008-05-04T20:37:00.000-07:00

Birthday Roundup

2008-04-21T09:51:00.001-07:00

So, despite working for eight hours, I had a good birthday. I got a couple of photos of my maternal Grandfather, who was long gone by the time I was born, some games, an Aqua Teen Hunger Force DVD, a Rush cd (the fantastic band, not the evil talkshow host), some money towards my glasses, a water filter, and some presents to be named later.

We went out to dinner at a fish place, went home, watched some Aqua Teen and fell asleep. My Sister's house is flu ridden, so dinner over there and the Podcast has been postponed for a couple of weeks.

More later, I have to get to work.

Fear the Hammer

2008-04-18T08:49:00.000-07:00

So, the drums have begun.

Among a group of folks that Sadimac is working with to bring goodness and entertainment to the good people of Portland, the following has happened: Parental death, job loss, impending job loss, a "difficult housing issue", and a relationship ending.

So, to Gallumbits, ShinyFab, and Artemis, the ones untouched by crazy so far, I say to you be careful my dear friends, something wicked is haunting us.

The Other Side of Unemployment

2008-04-16T21:20:00.000-07:00

So, Old Job is getting ready to close it's doors, which means Sadimac is on full burn job search. She's doing the full Craig's List thing right now, and I've primed BLB01 for any future applications she might be turning in.

We knew this was coming, although it's a little earlier than we were expecting. The hope is to get her up and out of old job before the bitter end comes. With Sadimac's experience and tenacity,
I pretty confident that she'll be in a new job before long.

In other news, as last week was Sadimac's 3xth birthday, and yesterday was fraking tax day, that means that my birthday is fast approaching, this Saturday in fact.

In celebration, we will be going to my sister's place, eating a good dinner, drinking some good drinks, and at least I will be a special guest on my sister's pod cast. We will be discussing Orycon, Browncoats, and other general geekery.

New Furnace, but...

2008-04-11T15:51:00.000-07:00

A nice, new super efficient furnace is resting in our basement, taking the chill out of the house as we speak. The rub is, that apparently, gas appliances have empathy or each other.

It seems that as the old furnace breathed it's last, it's dear friend the water heater couldn't take the loneliness, and went into renal failure. It's not dead yet, but it doesn't have long. We're hoping to send it to be with it's friend before it has a stroke and gives up the ghost entirely.

Cracked What?

2008-04-09T09:15:00.000-07:00

So the furnace began acting up a few day ago, and stopped giving us wonderful, soothing heat. At first we just put it off, figuring warm weather was just around the corner. But, then it got colder, so we said to hell with this, and called the repair guy.

The furnace is pretty new, just installed in '95, so I was thinking the problem was nothing major: a bad thermostat, a sensor on the fritz, or something else low impact that would wind up costing a hundred bucks and we'd go back to our not so chilly business.

I know nothing about furnaces, the guy could have told me it needs a kidney transplant and I wouldn't know the difference, but the words "Cracked Heat Exchanger" sound ominous. Indeed it is, as apparently that is a fatal condition for gas furnaces.

We get to be cold for a little bit longer while things get sorted out, but at least it's not the dead of winter.

Update 4/10 @ 11:40 am:

Tomorrow morning the furnace will be replaced, so our time of cold is coming to an end. Even the cat was cold this morning, so we're glad that this is almost done with.

Forgotten Sci-Fi: Enemy Mine

2008-04-03T10:05:00.000-07:00

Breaks over, time to get back to it.

Enemy Mine is on the TV right now. For those that aren't familiar with what I consider to be one of the best Sci-Fi films of the 80's, it goes like this: the it's the late 21st century Humans have finally made peace with each other, and while exploring the galaxy came upon a race of advanced sentient reptiles known as the Drac.

Being Humans, we went to war. With the conflict in full swing a Human and a Drac crash land their respective fighters on a barely hospitable planet. To survive, they must rely on each other.

It's a deeply moral tale of the value of tolerance, friendship, and acceptance. Strictly speaking, it's a story that didn't have to be told with a science fiction setting, and in a way that's what made it so good.

It has an elegant simplicity. There were special effects to be sure (decent, although not great ones for the period), and the Drac makeup was excellent, but they didn't overwhelm the rest of what was going on. The actors (Dennis Quaid, Lou Gosset Jr., and the always menacing, but dearly missed Brion James) didn't let the fantastic setting throw them, and delivered genuine performances. Gosset is particularly good as Jeriba, the Drac. He's portraying a completely alien being, dramatically different, yet very much like a human.

Netflix it. You won't be disappointed.

Gamestorm, Snow, and D&D 4E

2008-03-28T09:23:00.000-07:00

So D&D 4E was.... good.

I'm loathe to admit it, but they designed a good system, and it plays really, really well. I can't speak to the character creation process, but actual play is quick, smooth, and makes sense. Capn zip & I wanted to hate it, we did, but we both thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Zip is going to play another session today to get more of a feel (I am otherwise occupied sadly).

They also changed one of the most annoying things they were planning on doing (something to do with the online functionality of the game I really don't feel like getting in to), which softens some of Sadimac's outrage at WotC.

It was snowing this morning when I got up. I looked outside, saw the snow, and my brain said:

"That is an optical illusion caused by just waking up. Ignore it and make coffee"

But no, it was snow. In late March.

We got to the con just fine though, and now here I sit at the PDX Browncoats fan table, having already confirmed that we are indeed NOT the check in for Gamestorm.

More soon!

Gamestorm!

2008-03-26T22:40:00.000-07:00

Sadimac and I will be at Gamestorm all weekend. I'll try to do some posting at the con, but I might not be doing anything here until Monday.

There's a 4E D&D game that Captain Zippy and I are taking part in. I'll be doing a write up of that, and any other experiences worth mentioning.

See everyone soon! If you're bored, go to io9.com, where there is a wonderful fountain of some pretty smart geekery flowing.

Paizo: The Golem's Got It (Right)

2008-03-22T20:14:00.000-07:00

Over at Paizo, they haven't given up on Dungeons & Dragons 3.5.

They used to be the publisher of Dragon and Dungeon Magazines before Wizards pulled the license and moved them to online only (as I griped about last year), although thankfully they had expanded to selling all manner of games and accessories online, as well as some publishing of their own.

When the magazines folded their tents, Paizo announced the Pathfinder monthly supplement, and while it was too rich for my blood ($20 a month), I was glad to see them doing something with their staff rather than laying them off. I was also pleased that they did not immediately jump on to the 4E bandwagon, and said they would bide their time and make their decision on which way to go later.

They've made their call, and they've decided to stick with their 3.5 guns. They've announced the Pathfinder RPG, which is a backwards compatible tweak of 3.5, rather than the complete overhaul that is 4E.

The really good thing about this though, is they're showing their hand. They've released a free PDF of their alpha, invited the public to play test it, and give feedback. The final release date is a full year and a half off (August 09), so lots of time to play around before the final hits the street.

I hope our group decides to use the new Pathfinder rules. That fighter I've been wanting to play suddenly seems a lot more playable...

So ends an era, or Dubya killed my comics

2008-03-20T08:05:00.000-07:00

In another couple of months, I'll be canceling my comic box.

The plan is to let the current Serenity series run down, then shutter the box and just wait for the much more cost effective (especially with BLB discount) trade paprbacks to come out. I'll also be selling about 90% of my collection, as everything I care about I have in TPB, so I can go back and read them again and again with out damaging the issues.

For DC and Marvel, this is pretty much goodbye. I'll pick up trades of anything by Joss Whedon they publish, but that's about it. There are several Dark Horse titles I will be picking up TPBs for (Buffy, Serenity, Hellboy, Star Wars: Legacy, Usagi Yojimbo, etc), so my relationship with and enjoyment of them will continue. The smaller companies are a mixed bag, and will probably only have the odd Whedon on my shelf from now on.

It's sad, but with the cost of living these days, somethings have to go by the wayside. I blame the president.

That's right, I blame George W. Bush. If we weren't at war, and taking every step necessary to raise the price of oil through the roof, I could afford to spend 20 odd dollars a month on my comics. I also wouldn't need to sell of my old ones to help make ends meet. Chances are that I'd get more for them under, say, a Gore administration that would have placed more value on education than murdering scary off-white people for their oil, and for Dubya's handlers' ideas about how they could rebuild a nation better than FDR did (which they obviously can't).

That was completely off topic, but a nice stress release. Goodbye little comic box, I'll miss you.

Paid Vacation

2008-03-19T07:34:00.000-07:00

I'll be taking my first paid time off in about eight years so I can actually enjoy Gamestorm this year. Drinking beer, rolling dice, trashing D&D 4E, all on BLB01's dime. I couldn't be happier.

Turns out that BLB is pretty generous with the paid vacation (Union!), and I've already accrued more than 63 hours of it. Between additional time earned and what I have in the bank, I should easily be able to take the time I need for SN/EN in June and Orycon in the Fall.

The last time I took paid time was when I spent a week in 2000 to basically goof off at home. I drank a little (OK, a lot of) beer, hung out with my neighbors, and did nothing. My only goals were to have fun, and not drive the car for at least a 24 hour period (I managed to go 36 or so before I realized that I would need to make a beer run).

I don't think I'll have a vacation quite like that again. While it was fun and all, I find myself craving events with a few beers rather than sloth with an astounding amount of beer.

I'm not saying that I won't be the floor show again (any one who saw me Friday night at last years Orycon knows what I'm talking about), but I prefer a coherent memory of the good times over a dull sense of having had fun the night before coupled with a hangover

Ad Man

2008-03-16T09:03:00.000-07:00

I've put an Google ad on the blog here, just as an experiment. It's at the bottom for now, but I'll be futzing with it as I fine tune things some more.

All part of my effort to make this a place people come to visit: If I have an ad, I can make a few bones. But, I need to be disciplined and write more. We all win

The Great Theatre Flood of '08

2008-03-13T19:34:00.000-07:00

So Sadimac's show opens tomorrow night, and last night they had the prerequisite last minute disaster.

One of the final set pieces was being screwed into a wall, and instead of wall, the screw hit a pipe. The kind that water flows through.

What started as an aggressive drip soon became what Sadimac describes as "Unreal, like something out of a movie," with water roaring out (a cartoonish BOOSH! sound effect was used for emphasis) at wildly varying temperatures. A reported 30 or more buckets or water were bailed as the crew kept turns trying to control the water coming out of the pipe, and keeping it away from the set.

Eventually a plumber came in and stopped the water, and victory over The Great Theatre Flood of '08 was achieved. My sweetie was soaking wet, and needed a drink. I'm immensely proud of her, and the show has been disaster proofed.

Let the show go on!

Baseball is coming: Some news and thoughts on my Sox

2008-03-13T13:08:00.000-07:00

The season is creeping up on us, and the Red Sox have made some moves.

The two most notable item are the release of Doug Mirabelli and Curt Shilling's placement on the 60 day DL

The Shilling move is not a surprise. His right shoulder is in bad shape, and he hasn't been able to throw in awhile. The best case scenario is a return somewhere around the All-Star break, but I think that likely won't happen. He's been dodging surgery and trying to physical therapy his way out of the problem, and it doesn't seem to be working. In this fan's opinion, it's time for Shill to retire.

He's had a hell of a run, won a ton of games, and helped bring 2 rings to Boston. It's been a great career, and while the Cy Young award has eluded him, he should have little trouble reaching the hall of fame when the time comes (plenty more room now since Clemons pissed away his chance of ever getting in).

The Mirabelli move, while not expected, isn't all that shocking if you think about it. He's been Wake's personal back stop for the better part of 5 seasons, and while he's a damn fine catcher, his offense has really suffered the last couple of years. It looks like Kevin Cash will fill in the Wakefield/Backup spot at least for the time being. I wish Mirabelli the best, and you never know, we might have another miracle reacquisition like there was back in early 06.

Bad Mike Myers, Bad!

2008-03-12T16:46:00.000-07:00

In the course of my busy day, I stopped to think about Mike Myers, and how much I hate his movies. The Wayne's World movies and How I Married An Axe Murderer were okay, but all the Austin Powers movies and the abomination that was Cat In The Hat overshadow those. The AP movies are just a long series of shit jokes that show a shocking level of sexism and cruelty, while The Cat In The Hat suffers from being a movie based on a Dr. Seuss, which suffer from a perfect fail rate.

I thought about how he had not haunted our land with bad movies in awhile (I'm not counting the Shrek movies here, his voice work is fine), so I popped over to IMDB to see what he was up to. While he has a few things in the works, he has this coming later in the year. Click through, look at the premise and the cast list. You should most likely shudder in horror

I now have an early pick for what the worst movie in the year is! Although to be fair, I haven't checked on what Eddie Murphy is up to yet.

Update:
Eddie Murphy will be in this sure to be classic. The Love Guru now seems slightly less bad, but still pretty awful none the less

The show must go on, and man am I lonely

2008-03-10T13:57:00.000-07:00

So Sadimac is stage managing a show that opens this Friday. It's called Star of Hope, and it seems to incorperate bulima, chidbirth, cheese head hats, guns, and a buch of stuff from our house. It's running for about a month at the Back Door Theatre behind the Common Grounds Coffee Shop on Hawthorne (I'll post show times later).

Now that I've shamelessly plugged the show, I have to say, I miss my girlfriend. She's working at the theatre most every night, and when she is home, she spends most of her time working on the show. Conversation about anything but the show has become sparse, and while she's still her same sweet self, the preoccupation has left me feeling a bit lonely.

I know that when the show opens, we'll have more time. I just need to wait it out, that's all.

The Good Doctor(s)

2008-03-09T13:10:00.000-07:00

I am a fairly big Doctor Who geek. My Ipod has random tracks of the Tardis engine noise, K9, Daleks, the scream effect and various versions of the theme song. The Think Geek (birthday in April: hint hint) catalog we have is particularly worn on the Sonic Screwdriver page (it WILL be mine), and the pair of glasses I'm going to get are the spitting image of the ones that the 10th Doctor wears.

All that's stopped me from building a Tardis in the back yard is lack of carpentry skill (idea: ask if I can paint the shed), and the only thing that keeps me from buying crazy things like the Tardis USB hub and remote control Dalek is a lack of funds.

The new season starts soon, and I am as giddy as a very nerdy school girl over it. Battlestar Galactica also starts soon (April 4th), so I'm going to have a very geeky April. Oh, how I love it.

Weirdness, Death, and Change.

2008-03-08T20:09:00.000-08:00

So, E. Gary Gygax died on Tuesday, which was the beginning of the oddness.

Gary Gygax was, for those that don't know, was one of the creators of Dungeons & Dragons. He built the platform that my imagination has been using as a spring board since the 80's, and while he hasn't worked on D&D in quite some time, he was still the grandfather that all RPG players and designers paid respect too. I shall miss his presence, regret the fact that I never got to meet him, and always remember him fondly.

My father used to joke that I was putting his kids through college. In a way I suppose I did, me and a million other starry eyed little geeks out there who loved to get away from reality a few hours at a time.

Goodbye Gary. We'll miss you.

In other news, my work schedule has changed. I no longer work until 10 on Fridays, and 11 on Saturdays. I'm opening both days now, which requires a whole new sleep schedule, learning a new bus schedule, and so on. It's worth it though. More time awake at home, and only one night a week of making arrangements to feed the cat.

The crazy was provided by some of the customers at BLB01 in the last couple of days. Some examples:

A woman approached me at the info station and said she had just finished Three Cups of Tea, and said she was looking for something inspiring. Now, I haven't read the book, and am not likely to. It's not my cup of tea, if you will excuse the pun. She kept grilling me though, expecting me to magically pull a book title out of my ass based on no information. When I tried to pawn her off on the Red Room info desk, at which point she got snappy, and said "You don't read much do you?" I resisted saying "I do ma'am, just not the boring shit that you read", and pointed her in the direction of Eat, Pray, Love, and helped the next customer.

The guy who bought $47 dollars worth of books with $2 bills

The nearly falling over drunk guy asking for books in Spanish

The woman who put what looked to be a sack of garbage in the bag check

The two guys who came in to sell books that came in the wrong door, opted for an escort instead of going around, and when I did escort them, thought it was a good idea to leave a box right in front of the elevator doors so they could go back for it

And of course, the woman who when given directions to the elevator, said "What the hell is a mezzanine?"

Tagged, or, why does the penis get all the press?

2008-02-27T21:02:00.000-08:00

It seems I've been tagged. That's the phenomenon in which blogger post some sort of assignment, and then asks X number of other bloggers to perform the task as well.

My Dad, in his wisdom, has chosen me for the following tag:

1. Pick up the nearest book ( of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people & post a comment on your taggers blog so they can go see.

I'm game for steps 1-4, but I'll skip 5, just because I'm obstinate.

1. Okay, nearest book is Pastorlia by George Saunders (a great book of short stories that I heartily recommend)

2. Page 123, which lands toward the end of the short story Sea Oak

3. Fifth sentence...Okay, 1,2,3,4,5. I suppose the California School system was good for something.

4. Here goes:

"I don't know" I say

"Show your cock," she says, and dies again.

We stand there looking down at the pile of parts.

Now, out of context, that just seems weird. In context, it's simultaneously weird, horrifying, unsettling, and kind of sweet. Read the book it's really good.

Good times and mildly broke

2008-02-15T12:23:00.000-08:00

Things have been busy, but pretty good. Sadimac's been working on about five different things, and I'm still doing well at BLB01. Our only boondoggle is our bank accounts.

Through a combination of some vet bills, my brief unemployment, then part time employment and other factors have left us kind of broke. With the economy as it is, we're far from alone in this, but it still makes me cringe when I have to pay the bills every month.

In the spirit of this, I would like to get a different car. The Volvo, while safe and mostly dependable, is a bit of a gas hog. This clashes both with my environmental concerns, and my desire to spend less money on gas. We're getting about 18 to 22 mpg right now, and that burns to much dinosaur and money for my taste.

Since we're broke, does anybody have a gas efficient four door they want get rid of?

The Joker's First Human Victim

2008-01-23T13:23:00.000-08:00

So as I'm sure you've all heard, Heath Ledger was found dead yesterday. He finished playing the Joker in the upcoming Batman film, The Dark Knight, and was apparenly suffering from insomnia as a side effect of playing what he had refered to as "He's just out of control -- no empathy, he's a sociopath, uh, a psychotic, mass-murdering clown"

They found some sleeping pills with the body. It seems he really wanted to sleep

I wonder what the expression on his face was.

Bigotry wins again (for now)

2008-01-02T13:29:00.001-08:00

It seems that the United Bigots of Tennessee have hoodwinked a Judge into issuing a restraining order against the Oregon Equality Act.

Today, people should have been celebrating their union are instead stuck with a candlelight vigil and another round of frustration.

The good news is, it's a TRO, so this mess could all mercifully end on February 1st. The bad news is if the judge rules that indeed signing a petition carries the same weight as voting, then we'll have to wait even longer for an election to get this decided, and the bad guys might win.

The guns....they've stopped, the wussification of childhood threats, and the last post on the decay of Star Wars

2007-12-27T16:00:00.000-08:00

The presents are opened, and the insanity at BLB01 should be down to a dull roar.

As a result, my mind has returned to think of the normal things that rattle around in my head, specifically, Star Wars.

I received a "Darth Tater" Mr. Potato Head from my former boss, and it sits next to my head in the living room (Sadimac: don't worry I have no intention of leaving it there). It's been the trigger of a train of thought I've been playing with all day: Lucas, in his finite wisdom, has made Darth Vader as wuss.

I think the wussification of Vader began before the prequels, with the Energizer Bunny commercial where Vader faced off against the EB, only to have his lightsaber fritz out due to inferior batteries.

I remember being pissed about that when it came out. Vader was supposed to be the personification of menace, evil, and (a clunky, nonsensical, & hamfisted) redemption: not a shill to sell frelling batteries.

Not so long after that, the "Special Edition" of the original trilogy came out. With new special effects, and some tweeks, most importantly Greedo shooting first. Any one who knows me, or has seen my "Han Shot First" shirt knows how I feel about that. Lucas claims that the films were never how he wanted them, and all of the changes he made were just stuff he could only do with current SFX technology. Both you and I know that he's lying, so we won't get into that. What really chaifed me was his assertation that it was his right as the creator to go back and "fix" his own work.

Now some films are ok to go back and re-cut. What Blade Runner is supposed to be has always been controversial, all the way back to it's original release, so Ridley Scott making changes to that is fine. Releasing an "extended cut" or "unrated" DVD of a recent film is fine too, as we're talking about a 6 to nine month period between theatrical and DVD release, so it's not really something that's in the cultural consciousness yet. Then, some things are specifically designed to be added to and extended (such as Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings), and that causes little or no pain, as we know it's coming.

What Lucas did could be compared to Jackson Pollack walking into a museum, pulling one of his works that had been there 20 years off the wall, and making changes (note: I am not saying that Star Wars is equal in artistic merit to a Pollack painting)

Of course then, years later, the prequels hit. They were riddled with problems. They over reached (Anakin as immaculate conception), pandered (Jar Jar Binks), and were, frankly, down right racist (Watto, the Neimoidians, and Jar-Jar again), sexist (Amadala's transformation from forceful, wise ruler to trembling waif who just couldn't go on living, only about seven or so women in the whole thing have speaking roles.

These three films, all of them bad and with few redeeming qualities, actually make the original trilogy look almost as bad. This religion and order of knights that Luke worked so hard to restore was corrupt, archaic, and badly needed to go down. Only a precious few Jedi had it right (Qui-Gon, to a certain extent Obi-Wan, Shaak-Ti, and in the comics Quinlan Vos and Tholme), and most were pretty awful (Mace Windu, Ki Adi Mundi, and the wise old one who's advice was always bad, Yoda). They, and the republic needed to go down, and be replaced: the empire was a piss poor replacement of course, but one lousy system being replaced with another is par for the course...

I've vented enough though. This was, if you will, the last great public complaint on Star Wars. I'll always have my opinions, and I'll likely mention them from time to time, but this is the clear out. There's plenty of good Sci-Fi to talk about (Doctor Who, Firefly, Battlestar Galactica, etc), and I'm tired of it wasting my thoughts on this thing I can do nothing about but whine.

I hear by resolve to stop beating this dead horse. It is the Sci-Fi of childhood, and the more sophisticated things I enjoy deserve my attention, and praise, rather than my continued scorn of what was lost by the actions a sad little rich fat man with a god complex.

I know....

2007-12-18T13:45:00.000-08:00

I know it's been awhile. Holidays are keeping us busy, and work's been very crazy. I'll post, and send quiche recipes as soon as I can.

Oh, and for the love of all that is holy, some one please buy me this. We can't afford it right now, and It will be hard to find later.

Short Sick List

2007-12-04T08:15:00.000-08:00

So the flu came to our house. Sadimac caught it first a few days before Orycon, and it looked like it was going to be a really quick cold when it faded in time for the Con.

A few days later it hit her again and she stayed sick for nearly two weeks after that. I held out until last Sunday, then the walls came tumbling down. We lived off of OJ, Nyquil and hot fluids for the most part, and neither one of us thought it would ever end.

So in dedication to the horrible illness that had befallen us, I present a list of films and shows that really hit the spot when I'm sick

Bloodsport (which as fate would have it, I was watching when the idea for this entry popped into my head): Probably the ultimate Jean-Claude Van Damme movie. Complete with violence, multiple bad 80's music montages, the feisty ~~piece of ass~~ romantic interest, that guy who played Ogre in Revenge of the Nerds, and for some reason Forrest Whitaker. As an added bonus, Sadimac loves this movie, and enjoys most fight movies (although I don't think she's seen Street Fighter *shudder*)

Pitch Black: I like SciFi, and when I'm sick I especially like violence. What I don't want is exposition. Pitch Black starts with bang, has a nice lull as the characters find out just how screwed they are, then continues with another series of bangs. Vin Diesel is a guilty pleasure of mine, Claudia Black's a Farscape vet so that's always good, and you can not go wrong with Keith David.

The Venture Brothers: Violence? Check. SciFi? Check. David Bowie references? Check. Funny? Check.

Tombstone: Violent Kurt Russel infused western. Long, but with so few pauses in the action it holds the sick and drug addled attention well. Raimi's The Quick in the Dead, with it's trick camera work, frenetic pace, and Keith David presence works well too.

Princes Bride: a movie I know word for word, and familiarity is a comforting thing when you're coughing up a lung.

Any other favorite sick time entertainment out there?

Off to Orycon

2007-11-16T09:00:00.000-08:00

Sadimac and I are off to Orycon this weekend, so There'll be nothing new here until Monday or Tuesday. Have a good weekend all.

Anger is like a soul that gets things accomplished

2007-11-14T22:37:00.000-08:00

(Title cribbed off of a Diesel Sweeties comic from a few years back)

So I brought Percy our diabetic cat to the vet today for her glucose curve to determine her correct insulin dosage.

I called at about five to see if she was ready to be picked up, and was told by the vet that her blood sugar levels were extremely high. While I was prepared for that, I wasn't ready for them to tell me I had, on the order of the Percy's doctor, been using the wrong syringes for about the last two and a half years.

At this point, I yelled at the vet for a few minutes. You see, originally, I ordered syringes from the vet, but I was told that they would no longer be ordering them a while back, and the vet wrote a prescription for syringes I could pick up at a pharmacy.

Turns out that not only did she get the prescription wrong, but also you can't even get the correct prescription from a regular pharmacy.

Additionally, Percy has gone in for more than one appointment where she had to stay the day, and I had to leave some syringes there for her injections. The problem was staring then in the face for quite a while, and no one noticed until today. Because Percy's regular vet was out, her boss was doing the procedure instead, it got caught.

In short, she's been receiving half the dose of insulin she should have been for quite awhile. It's likely that the painful and expensive dental work she had to have earlier this year would not have happened if the insulin dosage had not been so grossly mismanaged.

They wound up not charging me for today's procedure, and provided free (correct) syringes and a bag of food as well. While that was appreciated, it still doesn't change the fact that someone being too lazy to order a box of syringes has placed Percy’s health and life in danger.

Shortly after that, I also had to yell at my credit card company, but that got resolved quickly. Apparently, on occasion anger works, although that's probably the wrong lesson to take from this experience.

D&D 4E, or why I stopped giving WoTC my money

2007-11-12T20:21:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned previously, D&D 4th Edition is coming out next year. Now that I know a little bit more about it, I feel comfortable putting some of my concerns/bitter hatred in a more cogent form.

It seems that the mechanics of the new Star Wars RPG is pretty close to what we can expect from 4E, and I've reviewed some of that material in the last couple of weeks. I am not impressed.

Some of the ideas are fine and good, and might even find themselves house ruled into our game (Combining all of the sneaking skills into a single skill is okay, being able to spend skill points to improve initiative is long overdue in my mind, and nobody can argue with more stat bumps), a lot of them are just a mess (starting first level with 30+ hit points is excessive, I think the combining of skills went to far: Bluff, Diplomacy and Intimidate are not the same thing, neither are Spot and Sense Motive, and eliminating Saving Throws in favor of three different AC's is just going to breed confusion).

These things could have been released as an alternate rule book (Unearthed Arcana II or whatever) and priced at $25 to $30 bucks. About 50 to 80% of players would pick it up and use about 20 to 30% of the book. Everyone would use a different 20 to 30% (except for the initiative as a skill and extra Stat bumps: everyone would use those), and we'd all be happy.

But no, they have to make 4E to try and sell us three $40 dollar books, and render the rest of our collection obsolete. Frak that.

Then there is the online component. Not so long ago D&D had an ad campaign encouraging gamers to leave their basements and play in a social setting. The new business model trashes that and tries to chase everyone back to their computers. You can play entirely on line (if you pay the ridiculous $10 to $15 a month fee) if you like, there fore crippling the vital social interaction aspect of the game. WotC claims that the game will still primarily meant to be played at the kitchen table, but this is largely bullshit. So much of the game is now tied up with the online aspect that it just encourages people to stay locked up in their homes. They are trying to emulate the WoW model, and they will fail.

Oh, and if you have a Mac you're apparently not part of WotC's glorious vision of the future. The key elements of the online D&D experience will only run on a PC, with the informational stuff being all that a Mac user can access. More short sighted mistakes that will cost them a lot of players in the future.

I will continue to enjoy my 3.5 D&D, thank you very much. I won't cry too much when this grand experiment that WotC is embarking on fails.

Promotional Material

2007-11-09T10:32:00.000-08:00

I started at BLB01 on October 9th, a month ago today. On November 5th, I managed to get myself promoted. I went from Cashier to Generalist, a regular full time position with more responsibility and a higher pay scale (I don't get a raise immediately, as I'm still in my probationary period).

This is in stark contrast to Previous Job, where promotion is an unknown word and I got two meager raises in a six year period.

I got this because I'm experienced, like my job, and I work my ass off when I'm there. At Previous Job, I was experienced, hated my job, and didn't exactly give it my all anymore, as my enthusiasm had been pretty much beaten out of me.

I have done a lot in a month, and can look forward to other goals, like getting to know the layout of BLB01 better, and getting Sadimac , as well as the one true b!x (maybe BLB will want to collect the whole Previous Job set), under the BLB employment tent with me. They'll both be good for the company of course, but more importantly, I want to do what I can to take care of my own.

WotC:Why are you doing this?

2007-11-06T13:43:00.000-08:00

Oh, look a new Dungeons & Dragons product release.

It's to bad they don't, say, have an inexpensive monthly publication that people subscribed to that some one who was mildly interested in could read these essays in. Something, say around 100 pages that they charged about $35 a year for?

Oh wait, they had that. It was popular and people liked it, but it wasn't fitting in with their "new product model"

So now, all these essays (which I'm thinking might have been written with this "magazine" in mind, have to make some money, so they'll publish them in an expensive book no one will buy!

Isn't this kind of like the death of TSR?

Look in the rear view WotC. That bump was he other end of the ramp, and you can probably see still see the shark.

WGA on strike. Solidarity Baby!

2007-11-05T08:05:00.000-08:00

So the talks failed, and WGA has taken up the picket line. Good on them.

The writer gets about 4 cents for each DVD package sold in residuals, be it a 9.95 bargain disc by the register at Fred Meyer, or a $60 six disc set of a TV show. No difference between the two at all. The writers aren't even asking to fix that. They basically want 8 cents per unit instead, and considering how the current numbers were devised in 1984 when VHS and Beta were still slugging it out, I think that a 4 cent raise is a reasonable request.

They also want a piece of internet revenue. The studios say "it's to new, untested, and not yet profitable" which is basically the same line they used to give as little as possible to the writers on home video in the first place.

This isn't just one group of rich assholes picketing another for spite. A lot of these guys are the working stiffs of the industry, pulling in $30,000 to $45,000 a year (which in LA will allow you to afford a lovely one bedroom apartment in Compton). These negotiations will also affect the director's and actor's union negotiations next year: they get the same cut from home video as the writers, and they'll rightfully want their share.

The studios will make noise about how this is "irresponsible", which every company being striked against says any how. They'll also try to tell us that this will force the price of DVDs to go up, which is most likely bullshit. They've found a price point that works, and they know it will substantially hurt their bottom line if they add $2 to the price of every DVD.

There's not much we as consumers can do to help right now, aside from not buying DVDs (Doctor Who is okay, as it's BBC) or internet content until the strike is over. We can however, write about it, and spread the word. The studios make 150 billion + off of the home video market, which is more than what they pull in off of theatres nowadays. It's time they paid their fair share.

Report from the field

2007-10-27T13:46:00.000-07:00

BLB01 lets us use a specified bank of computers for pretty much whatever we want (I think we all know the kind of things they don't allow) with during breaks.

This includes of course writing on any blogs we may or may not have, so I'm writing from work today. It's Saturday, heavy crazy Saturday. It's been slow so far, but as the MOD I spoke with pointed out, I'll likely bring the crazy along with me.

Well, It's ten till. I should probably gird my loins and clock in.

Sadimac goes to Jury Duty and the deconstruction of the Colorado Rockies

2007-10-25T07:27:00.000-07:00

Sadimac has been chosen to sit for jury duty, and she couldn't be more delighted, or filled with dread. She wants desperately to talk about the trial, but can't, and won't as she's a responsible person and upstanding citizen. So, she's instead talking about the boredom of waiting in the jury pool, and the defence lawyer she encountered who looks disturbingly like Max Headroom.

Side note: Will some one please put out a non-pirated Max Headroom DVD set of the series? I know, I know it's subversive, and completely called what corporate media was going to turn into 10+ years before it happened, and no large company in it's right mind would touch it in the current climate, but the pirated versions are apparently really bad. Criterion Collection? Anchor Bay? Come on, any of you small guys could do this some justice!

We went back to the New Old Lompoc for game one of the Series. I almost feel bad for the Rockies, but not really. 13-1 is not pretty, especially when three of those runs came off of consecutive bases loaded walks. Ouch.

Hatchets!

2007-10-24T13:15:00.000-07:00

Last night a street kid came into BLB01 and checked his bag. I grabbed the bag and started to move towards the bag check shelves when he stopped me and pulled two hand axes from under his coat and placed them in his bag.

"last time I came in with these they said I need to check them"

I immediately thought to my self "You had fucking better check those things" followed quickly by "You're not a construction worker. Why the hell do you have a pair of fucking hatchets on your person?"

I just said "perhaps that's a good idea" and then asked him to turn his headphones down.

It was soon determined by Security and the MOD that he would no longer be allowed check his weapons in, or even set foot in BLB01 while carrying his precious hatchets.

Laptop makes couple happier! Batboy and Space Aliens endorse Obama!

2007-10-23T07:03:00.000-07:00

The freedom of not having to sit in my office to write is, well, freeing. I'm currently on the porch with Sadimac, giving her the security of having me near by. Meanwhile I am able to not only be with her, but I'm also sit down and write something (I'm ruined for writing on paper nowadays: It's the computer screen or nothing).

So, every once in a while, we all obtain an object that actually improves our lives rather than making them more complicated. What then, dear readers, out of what I'm sure is the flotsam of technological junk at your collective disposal, has actually made your life tangibly better?