Monkeys of chaos

• The Bay Bridge is closed for the next few days. Let chaos reign!
• The more I think on The World's End the more disappointed I feel in the film not living up to its potential. After Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, I expected more. To date, nothing tops Pacific Rim for awesome in 2013.
• I see meeting conflicts abounding on the calendars today. I expect amusement.
• Goddamn air conditioning doesn't seem to be working. Never have I been so glad for this relaxed dress code.
• Salonpas is awesome.
• You know what's awesome? Taking a shirt you're pretty certain is stained to the dry cleaners, then getting it back and finding the stain is gone! That's pretty damn awesome. Plus it's already ironed! WIN!
• Black Blood of the Earth refills are beyond awesome and into divine territory.
• I think Neosporin happened when someone tried to create a Dungeons and Dragons healing potion. Go science!
• My apartment smells of homemade pasta sauce. Or, as I call it, pseudo-Italian air freshener!

This concludes today's incoherent ramblings and cacophonic mutterings.

Review: The World's End

I saw the latest Simon Pegg movie, The World's End. Set with the recurring themes found in Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, The World's End completes the sort-of-trilogy Pegg and Nick Frost have done.

Weird-ass movie. It's about five guys who, twenty years later, try to complete "the Golden Mile", a pub crawl in their hometown that covers twelve pubs including one known as "The World's End".

And then the shit gets weird.

While The World's End is billed as a comedy, I wouldn't describe it as such. It has funny scenes and moments, but the story is overshadowed with themes of depression, maturity, substance abuse, and other solemn topics that make it more dramatic and less funny.

Still, I found it enjoyable enough. Not as good as Shaun of the Dead or Hot Fuzz but entertaining enough that I don't regret the ticket price.

The Right Priorities

At this fine establishment in Eugene, OR, I had a couple of pints of Rogue's Hazelnut Brown Nectar ale. Delicious stuff and very smooth. While buying a few bottles for later consumption, I was introduced to what the staff call a "Snickers":

A glass of the Hazelnut Brown Nectar with a splash (or, more like 1/4 to 1/8th of the glass) of the Rogue Chocolate Stout.

I dunno if it tastes like Snickers so much as it tastes like victory.

Welcome Home

Aaaah... there's just something about early-morning police activity as I'm riding my bike to work that really lifts that whole vacation fog, y'know?.

TFSMIF.

Salt Mining

Back to the office. Wow. So this is what work feels like?

Where did all this email come from? Madness. IT'S MADNESS, I TELL YOU!

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Started reading "The Alloy of Law" by Brandon Sanderson (a Powell's purchase). Loving it. Damn but Sanderson is awesome!

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A contribution from a reader. I have readers? WTF? I feel I should apologize for the banality and general poor writing I provide.

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On the topic of banality, I have gotten handy popping the tires off of my bike, stripping them off, and reinflating them as needs be. Why? Oh, the last flat I got (a torn valve stem) has me paranoid so every time my valves in my tires bend, I deflate 'em, pop 'em off, re-adjust 'em, and re-inflate 'em. It's dirty work but it sure makes for a smoother ride. My bacon-and-beer fattened self rode a smooth ride into the office today.

Mmm... bacon...

Seven Days - part two

Forgot to mention my trek to Powell's Books in Portland. Some eight-something dollars later, I had many a book. Over the seven days I read a couple of "Doctor Who" novelizations and Neil Gaiman's "The Ocean at the End of the Lane". All were thoroughly-enjoyable. If you're a Gaiman fan, I recommend picking up that book. It's a quick read and typical Gaiman-weird.

Seven Days

Seven days of driving up and down Hwy 5. From the Bay Area to Seattle and back. Oh sure, it could be done in a shorter time, but there were complications that made it nigh-impossible for me to drive longer than 5 hours at a pop.

Saw Ashland for the first time ever. Neat town.

Saw Mt. Shasta City. I heard someone earnestly extol the virtues of certain crystals when channeling one's chi.

I drank at many an Oregon brewery.

I compared California, Washington, and Oregon rest stops (California has - hands down - the worst).

I rode in a ferry across Puget Sound to an island then went along befuddling roads to a hidden location along a dirt road.

As trips go, I found myself quite enjoying it.

Except for all the driving. That is a HELL of a lot of driving.

True terror

There is nothing more terrifying than children.

Don't believe me?

Enjoy.

If anyone needs me, I'll be hiding somewhere very, very clever for a nice, long time.

what in the Monday hell now?

Lovely weekend. Just lovely.

• Saw the original 1954 version of Godzilla with a couple of friends who were either incredibly tolerant of my being a mental vegetable or just didn't notice. I don't want to know the truth there.
• After said lovely viewing of said delightful film (there must be a rule that every kaiju film has to have bad acting) I enjoyed a crushingly-packed ride on BART back home filled with Oakland Raiders fans. I am being sarcastic when I say I enjoyed this. I'm clarifying 'cause I really did enjoy the elements of my first bullet point.
• Saturday was monthly gaming. Two months (give or take) of prep work went into a fairly small game in terms of players, but seemed to go fairly-well.
• The hosts for said game (I opted not to subject them to my apartment) have a pair of cats. One is quite social, the other a skittish little ninja shadow. I experienced a strange moment of sublime pleasure when skittish ninja shadow cat let me pet him (and purred as I did so). I am - per one of my friends - the first person skittish ninja cat has let pet him aside from the couple who actually own/serve said feline overlords. I am clearly being set up as a sacrifice to the cat gods.
• I slept so much over this weekend that I'm actually wondering if I'm fighting a bug.

Oh please! Oh please! Oh PLEEEEEEASE!!!

It makes me a bad, bad man to want this to be how Series Eight goes.

I can live with that. I'm already a bad, bad man...

Things to make a Tuesday less Tuesdayish

• On the topic of Peter Capaldi and profanity...
• Ghost music serenade this fine morning. I'll try to take this as a positive omen.
• BAD! WRONG! BAD!
• Hobbit-a-licious Win!
• A few things to leave you in stitches (yes, I went there)
• RAmen!

Thoughts on Peter Capaldi

Since the announcement that Peter Capaldi will be the 12th (13th?) Doctor, I've perused the comments at io9 a bit.

I'm not surprised at the stuff I'm reading. A lot of it is supportive, but there's the obligatory "Oh it's another white British guy, why can't they have someone of color or a woman this time?"

Folks are entitled to their opinions and desires. I've already expressed my thoughts on part of that topic. I certainly was pulling for Chiwetel Ejiofor as the next Doctor, but Peter Capaldi... I mean... goddamn. I think about how Capaldi made "In the Thick of It" just work. He WAS that show! I mean there was awesome stuff going on and great actors, but when Malcolm Tucker (Capaldi) came on-screen, it was the Peter Capaldi show and you'd best get used to it.

And the profanity was fairly epic. I've met people with Tourette's who would blush...

I'll be curious to see where Capaldi takes "his" Doctor. Will he use any particular past Doctor as inspiration or will he strike out into his own territory and go completely original?

I gotta say I'm a little excited. I'd be more excited if Moffatt's run at the second half of Series Seven wasn't such utter crap...

Randall Munroe for the win

The backstory for the xkcd "Time" sequence.

The level of nerd here is beyond epic.

Bow down nerds and geeks and behold your god.

You. Are. F*cking. Kidding. Me.

Peter Capaldi is the next Doctor.

Fucking hell. For anyone who has seen his foul-mouthed Scotsman politician in "In the Thick of It" this is... mind-boggling.

AND GODDAMN BRILLIANT!!!!

Best. Advice. Ever.

Today's "Worst Case Scenario" calendar offers a tip I feel all of us should pay heed:

How to Survive If There Are Children in Your Corn

1. Cull.
   Widen your rows so that the children are more visible as they wander among the corn.
   
2. Spray.
   Liberally hose the cornfield with holy water, which has a proven effectiveness against demon children.
   
3. Fence the perimeter.
   Enclose the perimeter of the field with barbed-wire fencing, topped with crosses to repulse further infestation.
   
4. Raze the fields.
   Burn the existing stalks and let the field lie fallow for a season. When replanting, rotate the crop of corn with soybeans instead; resume planting corn the following season.
   
5. Flee.
   If children reappear when you next grow corn, immediately abandon your field, your home, and your town, leaving behind half-drunk cups of coffee, open magazines, and tumbleweeds slowly spinning through the dusty streets.
   

My own editorial to this important advice: substititue your own symbols of faith, as needed. The soybeans really ought to drive out most demonic infestations. Demon kids hate soy. You might consider liberally adding in some broccoli as well.

Another Weekend

Friday arrives at last. Oh-so-welcome. Oh-so-necessary.

Damn but there are a lot of people out-and-about in the wee-hours of this morning.

Already?

Welcome August. May you be a far-sight better than the shitstorm that was July.

Though with a pending second BART strike, you're not looking very promising.