Monday, February 28, 2011

Frakkin' awesome



It's wrong in so many ways, yet oh-so-right.

(via Fashionably Geek)

This rocks


(found on rpg.net)

Friday, February 25, 2011

Sticking it to us

I love living in California, for the most part. It's an insane state, but given how utterly batshit nuts the rest of the country is, it's an insanity I'm used to.

Plus I love the weather here.

One bad part is the fact that sword canes are illegal here. You can't own 'em. Period. Sometime in the mid-1990's, some jackasses made 'em completely illegal.

Oh sure, you can open carry firearms in parts of the state, but sword canes? Not allowed. Not at all.

Which is a shame, 'cause I really want one of these.

It would be the perfect addition to my super-villain wardrobe.

sigh

Thursday, February 24, 2011

A Few Things

1) More proof that Patrick Rothfuss is a god (BUY HIS BOOKS!)

I'm now going to need to get multiple copies of "A Wise Man's Fear".

2) Apparently it might snow in the Bay Area tomorrow. I'll believe it if I see it.

3) So apparently Aliens vs Ninja is now out on DVD. (trailer)

My excitement knows no bounds. Order placed yesterday.

Yeah that exhausts my list of remotely interesting things to share with the Internet.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Shock, Surprise, and Nostalgic Terror

My good friend Erik is scanning old, old photos of eons past.

He had a moment of sadism by forwarding me one such photo of myself dated from our college days.

His wife's observation of said photo of me was quite amusing. Then I took a look and realized I didn't recognize myself.

Sweet bejebus, was I really that thin? Good lord, did I really own that t-shirt? Was I stoned when he took the photo? Is that really my hair or is that a clever photoshop?

Ah memories. Some are best kept in a blazing hot furnace until they are reduced to their component atoms and scattered across the known universe.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Bullet Time

Had a health scare over the weekend. Okay, it was going on longer than the weekend, but I got scared over the weekend.

Took the day yesterday to do the doctor's visit thing.

I have to say, there's few things in life that provide a sense of relief and joy than your doctor saying things are not what you think and all is well.

Also: never use Google to self-diagnose. There lies dragons and insanity.

Though, to be fair, dragons are cool.

Got more news this early morning (despite everything, I did not sleep well last night) and the news went from good to far better than expected.

Life is fairly awesome.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Walk Like an...

Interesting times in Egypt. Mubarak has stepped down .

The military is in charge, apparently. Oddly enough, nobody seems too alarmed by that. I guess the folks there are okay with that.

Observation

I'm not saying Black Blood of the Earth is a cure for having a zombie affliction.

I am saying that - after a BBotE breakfast - I'm not craving brains this fine Friday morning.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Target lost

Argh. I just finished watching the season finale to "Human Target".

Bleah.

Now I'm praying they don't renew the series. Better it go quickly then another season of that crap.

Memes

It's no secret to anyone who knows me that I'm a long-time fan of "Dr. Who".

And I'm talkin' old school fan. Tom Baker era, baby! 1979-1980 I was watching some of Baker's stuff on PBS.

I love the new stuff too. I especially love Steven Moffatt's stuff with Matt Smith's Doctor. I admit I fancy Karen Gillan quite a bit in addition to loving the story-writing, but that's kind of beside the point.

In discussing the Doctor's latest companions: Amy Pond and Rory Williams, a friend and I concluded that the two characters fit a certain archetype I've noted in a number of relationships friends have.

To the uninitiated, Amy Pond's introduction had her appearing as a "Kiss-o-gram policewoman" (read: costume fetish policewoman in a short skirt). Rory's big costume is when he was dressed as a Roman Centurion.

Many fans love the costumes, for the obvious reasons. Folks who fancy Ms. Gillan like the short-skirted policewoman outfit. Folks who fancy Arthur Darvill like him in his toga-esque Centurion garb.

There's more to it, though. Both costumes really indicate a lot about the characters. Amy's "Kiss-o-gram policewoman" outfit is a good indication of the character's flirty and dominant nature (authority figure, has handcuffs, need I go on?). Rory's "Centurion" outfit is a good indicator of his character's loyal, obedient, and fearless persona.

The two characters are a couple in the series. As such, they serve as a great meme for several relationships I know where one partner in a relationship is more... ah... in-charge than the other.

I can see it now:

"Wow, she's a real kiss-o-gram cop."

"Man, he's really the centurion in that relationship."

"Wow, dude. You're really her kiss-o-gram cop."

"Great job! You're really his centurion."

Or maybe not.

OH. MY. GOD.


The awesome. It burns.

(spotted on Nerd Approved)

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Surprising Perverts

Cracked did an article on artists who were perverts.

Huh.

Shocked? I can't say I am.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Fun

Four websites I've tried to access this windy morning have failed. One of those websites is what I use to access my personal email.

This does not bode well for the day.

Reorienting my Disorientation

Nothing says fun on a Tuesday morning like waking from a dream that is so vivid that one wakes not knowing where one is or which is real: the dream or what one sees when (allegedly) awake.

Sort of like after night of heavy drinking only without the pain.

Though I guess last night's martial arts class helped deliver its own dose of pain.

In other news, it's rather windy this morning.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Weekend Recap

* Drinks (five pints of Death & Taxes in a short span of time)

* Getting obliterated in two games of pool (only tangentially-related to the above point)

* Presenting a Stein of Science as a birthday present

* calling 9-1-1 in response to someone's cry for help and never learning what that was about

* Finishing season one of "Arrested Development" (finally)

* Finding the local, unseasonably warm, weather to be uncomfortable (but it sure beats ten inches or more of snow)

* Enjoying experimental rum drinks with family

All-in-all, good times.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Um... wow



Two reactions:

1) The dork is STRONG in these ones!

2) This is really some insanely-spectacular work!

Bonus: this is really funny

新年快乐

I'm told 新年快乐 translates to "Happy New Year" in a mix of traditional and simplified Chinese.

I certainly hope it says that. My source is a bit untrustworthy and this might actually say something extremely unflattering as to my character.

Um... yeah. So... carrying on.

Hoppy... um... happy Year of the Rabbit, to those who observe such things.

[Edit] I've been told by a more reliable source that it's better to use this text:

新年快樂 [/Edit]

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Hitting the Target

I've been musing on comments re: the "Human Target" series for a while.

Then I saw Salon's review of this season and I decided this covers it better (and far nicer) than I could ever express my take on this latest season.

Matt Soller Seitz does an excellent job covering the basics. I have to agree with his take on things. Specifically:

* The plots for season two have just been really, really bad.
* Chance has been... less... somehow. His character just isn't the same wry, funny, super-competent character he was in season one.
* Winston has just become whiny.
* Guerrero has become a joke.
* Ames is losing the charm she added to the show (her marriage subplot was so stupid that I wonder what the writers were smoking).
* Ilsa Pucci has yet to develop any charm at all. Her character is tiresome, shrewish, judgmental, and devoid of any value to the overall story.
* The quasi-romantic leanings the writers are trying to do with Chance and Ilsa feel contrived and really wrong.
* The music is crap, especially when compared with Bear McCreary's stirring scores from season one.

It feels like a completely different show using several of the same actors. It's amazing how season one could be so utterly awesome and season two could just turn into epic trash.

I agree with Seitz that the show could still be salvaged, but I don't have any hopes that FOX will take the steps to do so. Season one was solid and very good. Someone in the higher echelon of FOX's dysfunctional management felt that formula was a mistake and had to piss in it.

No reason to think they'll try to fix it at this point.