An interesting evening

Last night I met up with a couple of my high school buddies and hit the town.

Ow.

No hitting.

Seriously, though. It was fun. We met at 21st Amendment and, for possibly the first time in history, I was the last to arrive. Given the mob that was at the bar, I was not at a disadvantage for beer consumption.

Instead, we migrated to other watering holes for a pint here and a pint there. Some delicious Guinness stew at a pub helped line the stomach and fortify us for the walk in the breezy evening to the real eye-opener for the evening: Bourbon & Branch.

I'd read about the speakeasy bars in the City, but until last night I'd never been to one.

It's a trip. A knock and a press of the buzzer at an unmarked door prompted a rather lovely young lady to ask us for the password (we didn't have one). It was early still, so she let us enter anyway.

The staff were all done up like a scene from a gangster flick. It was awesome. Nice lighting and tasteful decor matched the exquisite drinks and extremely able staff. Watching the bartenders make the drinks was like watching artists at work. I tried a "blackberry bramble" which was damn tasty but probably a bad mix with the beers I'd had earlier.

The menus had wood-carved motifs on the covers and their drink list was unbelievable. They had within the establishment's rules, which included certain rules of expected behavior (no standing at the bar... you sit or you're not there, no photos, show patience when ordering your drinks, etc.).

It was quite impressive. I'd like to go back, but I think I need to upgrade my wardrobe a bit first.

To go or not to go

I'm feeling the need to see Indy IV again, just to get an uninterrupted view and a second impression.

Do I want to take a Saturday, hit a theater, shell out an outrageous admission price, and suffer through the usual buffoons in order to scratch this itch?

I dunno. I asked one of my friends but no luck.

I can think about this over beers tonight.

I had Mongolian beef for lunch today. It's settling poorly.

Add a dash of strange

Got an email from one of my friends overseas this morning. The weird thing: the timestamp of the mail is April 4.

I've since gotten other mail from her to bring me up to speed on events. So what the hell is up with Hotmail (or my ISP) that it took nearly two months for the email to get to me?

It's just really damn weird.

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Got "The Dresden Files: Welcome to the Jungle" #1 in the mail yesterday. Geeky joy abounded. Everything Jim Butcher touches turns to gold. "Midas" Butcher should be his name. Sounds odd, but that's how life is.
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The "Lost" finale was last night. I haven't had time to watch much of my tape beyond confirming I got the whole two hours recorded. It will be fun viewing as I kill time between end-of-work today and drinks tonight.
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So the next game my group has is coming up in June and I'm back in the GM's seat. What a lovely time to get hit with writer's block.

I had an outline. I really did. Then I read it and realized that I hadn't planned beyond one point that's probably going to get resolved awfully-quickly.

And I need to write this so it seques into Erik taking over for the subsequent session.

Yes, I'm whining about how complicated it is to play a role-playing game. No, wait. That's not it. I'm whining about my obsessive-compulsive disorder and my anal-retentive need to have continuity that flows properly.

Does coffee count as meds?
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So in current news, the toilet on the International Space Station broke.

First off, why is there only one toilet on the ISS? Seriously. One? All those billions of dollars invested and they have one friggin' toilet???

Secondly, what the hell do they do in the meantime? I mean, they have to wait for a replacement to be shipped up via a Russian rocket ('cause God forbid the U.S. has a working replacement for the Space Shuttles). Bare-minimum, that's going to be a bit of a wait...
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This is kind of cool. I'd buy this.
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I'm filled with payday joy, but May is pretty much over.

What the hell happened to this year? 2008 is almost half-gone! WTF???

Televisionaryism

Yes, I know that's not a word. I just wanted to see how it looked in print.

Looks pretty scary.

So tonight is the two-hour finale for "Lost". I feel like I'm on the far end of a yo-yo with this show. They go from utter shit to completely awesome so fast that I get dizzy. The finale is supposed to be pretty intense and off some regulars. io9 claims Emilie de Ravan is "confused" about what's up with her character, Claire. She ain't alone.

The producers are on record as saying the next two seasons will be "slower". More proof that TV execs are actually more stupid than politicans. And that's saying something.

BSG spoilers also made it on to io9. Since I'm addicted to spoilers, I read them.

If they're true, then BSG has stopped circling the toilet bowl and gotten into that handbasket. What the hell happened to that show? BSG was one of the best things on television and then it's like it suddenly melted. The show started to collapse under their mystical crap. It's a goddamn science-fiction show! What's with the portents, visions, and superstition?

Or is it that I always assumed it was a science-fiction show and I've just been wrong all this time? Alas, that's probably more-likely. It seems American sci-fi just can't get away from the superstitious bullshit.

At least on television, anyway.

Indiana Jones trivia

I discovered this by mistake:

10 Awesome Indiana Jones Facts

Indiana Jones and the Monkey King would have been awesome. Can you imagine Harrison Ford vs. Jet Li?

That would've been good times.

Short fight, but still.

JOY!!!!!

io9 has delivered fantastic news!!!

I'm so very excited!

Perhaps this is an indication of how badly I need a life? Eh. Whatever. I'm still pretty thrilled by this.

Pics 'n stuff

I finally uploaded my pics from the Carnivale parade to my Flickr account.

I managed to get a movie too: