Mike's Pensieve

Netrights: Internet Access as a Human Right

2009-05-30T23:20:00.005-07:00

I recently read this post on Boing Boing that really got me thinking. The post was referencing an article about the homeless and the Internet from the Wall Street Journal. The gist of the article, is that technology, and more specifically the Internet, has permeated society to such a degree that even those most alienated from it have started using it as part of their daily lives. They use it to check e-mail, blog, look for work, chat with friends, update their Facebook, Twitter, etc. In other words, it has become as much a part of their basic existence as it is for everyone else at all other levels of the social strata. The feared "digital divide" (the idea that as society becomes more dependent on technology, those least able to afford it would become more and more cut off from the mainstream) has not come to pass but has actually granted an unprecedented level of equality and opportunity to those who need it the most.

Now the Boing Boing poster made a prediction, that within 5 years the UN will deem network access a "basic human right." This idea intrigues me for several reasons. First of all, I was not aware that the UN deemed anything "nonessential" as a human right, but things such as free speech, education, and privacy are considered human rights. It also made me think about the Internet and how it has become a huge part of our lives. We do our banking online, pay our bills, look for work, talk to friends and family, download music and videos, get the latest news, and even watch TV. It's become so ingrained into the fabric of society, that not having access to it for any prolonged period would be devastating; the modern day equivalent of solitary confinement.

It's true that at a basic level, nobody needs Internet access (or a computer, or an iPhone, or anything like that) to survive. Food, water, shelter; those are survival essentials and rightfully are basic human rights. But humans are not just about survival. We're about collaborating, communicating, creating, conducting commerce, and other words that seem to start with "c". We've been doing this for thousands of years, just never with such a wealth of information so easily available, or communication so fast and widespread. Information is power, and with so much information freely available it means that almost anyone can connect and learn and grow.

I find the fact that a homeless man in New York can talk to a university professor in Los Angeles, or a lawyer in London, or a writer in Buenos Aries (setting aside language barriers of course) to be one of the most amazing things about the net. Sure they might be talking about their favorite LOL Cat, or just Tweeting what kind of sandwich they're currently enjoying, but in the past there was no way for you to talk to anyone outside a small circle of friends and acquaintances. Radio and television allowed almost instance communication to the masses and the telephone allowed live conversation to take place across the world, but those communication systems are either limited in scope or exclusive, and the net levels the playing field considerably. When you are online, you are the same as everyone else. You can have a blog, you can post in a forum, you can display your art, you can apply for a job, you can research a paper; the possibilities are endless. And none of it is closed off to you because you live in a shelter, or you don't wear the right clothes, or have the right number of 0's at the end of your paycheck.

I don't think it will happen in 5 years. I hope it does, because the rise of the netbook and the success of programs like One Laptop Per Child have made it clear that access to something that is fast becoming a fundamental part of modern society should be available to all. And I agree with the poster on Boing Boing, one day we will look back and wonder how we ever thought that it wasn't a fundamental right of every human being. So what do you think?

My Tweets, let me show them to you!

2009-04-28T09:58:00.003-07:00

So I haven't had a blog entry since January 6th, eh? Wow, I am a huge blogging slacker. It made me wonder why I haven't felt like blogging. It's not for lack of stuff going on or interesting things to talk about. Nor is it that I have nothing to say.

The trouble, as it were, is Twitter. And my iPhone. Ok, the TWO problems are Twitter, my iPhone, and ubiquitous wireless Internet. No, among my problems are such elements as Twitter, my iPhone, ubiquitous wireless Internet, and...I'll come in again.

*Ahem*

For those not in the know, Twitter is what I call YASNS (Yet Another Social-Networking Site). Usually I'm not big fans of social-networking sites beyond a passing interest. I never joined MySpace, I had a FaceBook account back when it was strictly college students and rarely use it now, and I can't even remember my LinkedIn password.

Twitter is something I knew about, but I never really got into until last year when I got the iPhone. My old phone had "Internet", if you can call the crappy pay-by-the-KB T-Mobile portal that you could go to on your phone the Internet. But when I got the iPhone, suddenly I had high-speed, REAL Internet access in my pocket, everywhere I went. I could get my e-mail, check news sites, read webcomics, you name it. It was quite exciting. Even more exciting since I hate text messaging, and I never used it on my old phone. Any way I can type a message without using SMS, I'll take it.

I'm not sure what my aversion to texting is. Maybe because I never had a phone that was easy to type messages, or that I had to pay a fee for every message (both incoming and outgoing). Either way, it was simply unpleasant. I preferred e-mail, or some sort of chat program.

I decided to start using Twitter mainly because my work system blocks Gmail Chat, and I missed being able to chat with people (like Jen) while at work. With Twitter, I can talk to people anywhere without restrictions. It's not quite chat, but it's much quicker than e-mail (usually), and it has the benefit of the social network aspect in that questions or comments made can be seen by all, so others can chime in and have conversations. It is, at it's most basic level, micro-blogging. A message is posted on Twitter (blog entry), others see that message and reply (comment). The beauty of this system is that because the entries as so short (140 chars), and you can set it up to only see posts from your friends, it provides a really quick way to communicate in a casual fashion without the overhead of sending mass text messages, e-mail chains, or blogging.

One of the negatives I've heard about Twitter (and social networking in general) is that your "friends" on these sites are not really your friends. "Real" friends would just call you and see how you are doing, rather than just sending a 140 character message into the ether. But that totally misses the point. Of course most of the people on my "friends list" (or in Twitterese, people I "follow") are not real friends. They are simply people that I find interesting (authors, actors, journalists, techies, etc.), and I like to see what they are up to. Many of them use Twitter as a way of communicating with their fanbase, and they make announcements or post links to interesting stuff that they are involved with. In one sense, Twitter is something like a real-time Google Reader in that it consolidates separate information sources into one stream that you can configure and consume at your leisure. It lets you know what everyone that you like to know about is up to, and in many cases even lets you communicate directly with someone that you might not otherwise ever have any contact with. There are a few people I follow that I met randomly through Twitter that I find amusing and enjoy the occasional short conversations with, but I don't think of them as "friends" in the "get invited to their daughter's wedding" kind of way.

Then there are my actual friends that I follow on Twitter. People that I talk to in meatspace, hang out with, have actual connections with, etc. People like Jen (@ataleof2monkeys), Josh (@schlizzag), Ben (@hbi2k), Brad (@BradIsBest), Jeff(@Homebrew_Magic), or Bryce (@Bingo_TC). What I take offense to is the notion that just because I talk to these people on Twitter, they're not really friends. Look, many of my friends live in other cities. Some in other states. We're spread out and if all we had was the telephone to communicate, we probably wouldn't nearly as much. Twitter allows you to talk to someone directly if you want (direct message), but usually you just send a message with their username at the beginning (@-reply), and you know that it's a message directed at a specific person. That person replies to you, maybe someone jumps in, and soon you have a whole thread of conversation going that is just so much harder to set up with any other system.

Which leads me to the original point of this post. My blogging frequency has declined as my Twitter usage has increased. Because many times I can say what I want on Twitter, and get it out to all the people that I know might actually care much faster than if I wrote it in my blog. Of course, there are still a few stubborn holdouts to joining Twitter (*cough* Meghan! Mel! *cough*). I really wish they would join because sometimes I feel like they are missing out. But hey, Twitter is not for everyone. I still read blogs and leave comments (and I just now discovered that LiveJournal lets you use your OpenID!), but outside of the occasional long post like this one, Twitter is where I do most of my online rambling and commenting these days.

So that's my little shtick on Twitter. I recommend just giving it a try for a few weeks (and getting it on your phone if you can, makes a world of difference), and see how you like it. If you find it lame, stop using it. Hell, Josh was the first person on Twitter and for 2 years, he was "At work" :-P Can't be any lamer then that!

You can follow me on Twitter if you like: @SQUIDwarrior

Blog it forward

2009-01-06T09:26:00.005-07:00

Found this via Jen's blog. Seems like a good idea! So I'm doing my part. This basically is a fundraiser where the creator, Melissa Margarita-DiStefano, will donate $1 for every blog that posts about the fundraiser. Sort of "chainblogging" without the "send this to 10 friends or you will never find love" of chain e-mails/letters.

For the 3 people that read this, repost this on your own blog and leave a comment here with a URL to the post.

That is all.

Government services 2, Me 0

2009-01-03T21:39:00.003-07:00

Today was an epic fail for me regarding utilizing government services. First, I tried to go pick up a package from the post office that they completely failed to redeliver (despite leaving a note saying they would reattempt). This really irks me. I mean, is it too much to assume that when the USPS leaves a note on your door saying "We tried to deliver this, you weren't home, so we will try again tomorrow! Or you can pick up the package after 2pm today from the post office!" that they actually do what the damn note says? Seems logical to me. But no, they try once, leave a note saying they'll try again but if you'd like us to leave it on your doorstep just check this box and sign here, then they dump it at the post office and leave it there.

Fuckers.

Anyway, on my way out I noticed that the garbage collection STILL had not come by to pick up our overflowing garbage can. This is supposed to happen on Fridays. By Saturday afternoon, no trash pickup. I sighed and brought the can in figuring that they just skipped trash pickup this week due to the holidays.

Now the post office is maybe 15 minutes away; just enough to make on the edge of what I consider a quick trip. And since the post office is not even slightly on anyone's way home, Jen and I both hate having to leave work early just to make a special trip way out of the way to get something from there. Anyway, I headed out to finally pick up the damn package.

When I arrive around 2:45, slip in hand to claim my prize, I see a small sign attached to the door. I'm not really sure what it said; everything went kind of hazy and all I remember seeing when I looked at it were the words "Holiday Hours 9am-2pm." Fuck.

So I drive back, very disgruntled not only at the fact that the already stupidly limited post office hours are even shorter but that they didn't bother to TELL anyone. Guess I'll just try again on Monday and deal with the extra driving time and rush-hour traffic.

As I get back to our neighborhood, I notice a large truck leaving from the back entrance. A large green truck, with big friendly letters spelling "Waste Management" on the side. And it's driving away. And I already pulled the can back in because I thought they weren't coming.

Shit.

I rush back to find that all of my neighbors' trashcans are empty. They rescheduled trash pickup for SATURDAY. And it just happened to fall during the 30 minutes that I LEFT FOR THE FUCKING CLOSED POST OFFICE AFTER PUTTING THE BLOODY CAN AWAY. Again, I never heard a damn thing about this. And does it make one iota of sense to give the trash guys the day off (i.e. Friday), then make them work on their normal day off (i.e. Saturday)? Or do they normally do trash pickup on Saturdays too and the holiday just shifted everyone's schedule by a day? Last time a holiday fell near our trash day, they just skipped it for the week. They didn't come the next day or Saturday. They just didn't come. Assholes.

Either way, I succeeded in wasting half an hour of my time, at least half a gallon of gas, and missing the only window to get our trash picked up this week.

Fail.

Assaulted by Tea

2008-11-09T13:44:00.006-07:00

Ever hear of "exploding water"? That old urban legend that heating water in a microwave for too long and then adding tea or coffee or something can cause it to explode? Well, it's a real phenomenon called "superheating." In a nutshell, when undisturbed water is heated in a smooth container (with no scratches or chips), the water can get hotter than it's boiling point without actually boiling. Then, when something disturbs the water (a spoon, tea bag, coffee, etc.) the water can instantly boil very violently in an "explosion" of hot water and steam. Check out the science of it here. This often happens with microwave ovens because they heat the water directly, and the containers we use in microwaves are usually glass or ceramic which are often completely smooth even at a molecular level. Kettles and pots are usually not smooth and provide nucleation points for bubbles to form.

Why am I bringing this up? It just bloody happened to me while I was making tea! I heated the water up in the microwave, took the cup out, put in the tea bag and FOOM! Instantly sprayed with hot water and steam. Fortunately being at such a high elevation (my parents' house in Prescott) meant that the boiling point was lower so I didn't get more than a minor burn on my hand. But it was a hell of a surprise.

For a demonstration, I call on the Mythbusters:

Needless to say, I think I'm going to make my hot water on the stove, or put something in the cup to prevent this from happening (a rough object in the water provides a nucleation point for the formation of bubbles).

(End of) Life on Mars

2008-11-06T01:13:00.005-07:00

Ok, this is just too cool not to post (I know, I know...I should be in bed). The Phoenix Mars Lander is "blogging" on Gizmodo to chronicle its last days as an operational spacecraft. It's written from the point of view of the lander itself, and it is absolutely brilliant.

You can read all the posts here.

You can follow Phoenix on Twitter here.

Also, Cassini, and Spirit and Oddyssey.

Brave New World

2008-11-05T10:39:00.009-07:00

I don't post a lot. Partly because I never really know what to say, and also because I don't feel that I have anything all that meaningful to add to the world's literature. I have, however, started using Twitter. And that made me think that maybe I don't have to have some deep, meaningful prose about the great questions that plague man's soul. I am realizing that this blog is something like a journal or a diary, though much more public than that. It doesn't have my innermost thoughts or hopes or dreams, but it does have things that I think about or enjoy talking about. And sometimes, it just records my random thoughts.

I decided to post today mainly because I think it's important to have a record of my feelings and state of mind with such an historic event as this presidential election. I didn't really blog anything (as I wasn't into blogging yet) during 9/11 or the months that followed. And I kind of regret this.

Most people know that I tend to lean to the left side of the political spectrum. My views are usually pretty liberal, though I don't think I'm an extremist in any sense. So it probably surprised no one that I voted for Obama. But I wanted to explain why.

Our country has had a dark cloud over it for the past 7 years. The current administration has grossly mismanaged this country. At the end of Bush's 8 year stint, we've had two miserable (and unending) wars, the worst financial crisis the world has seen in decades*, the passing of the (un)Patriot Act, and the most divisive political situation I've ever seen. We tried to change things in 2004, but we failed. To be fair, Kerry was not a great candidate. I was a Howard Dean supporter and I never really liked Kerry. In fact, despite the generally dismal situation in 2004 I still felt like I was just voting for Kerry because he was not Bush. That's not a good feeling, but it's how it's been just about every time I've voted: resigned to pick someone not because I was inspired by their policies or speeches or inspirational ability, but because I didn't want the "wrong lizard to get in" (go here for an explanation from the late Douglas Adams).

But not this year. This year was different. It wasn't a matter of "I'm voting for X so that !X won't get in!" No, this year I voted for someone that I actually believed in. Someone who, I felt, exemplified the ideals and qualities and character of a true leader. Someone who would be able to lead this country through compassion, understanding, and strength. Not through fear and paranoia and force. Barack Obama is that person. Now I want to be clear that I do not think that John McCain = George Bush. Far from it. In fact, I would have possibly considered voting for the McCain of old. But his record over the last few years, and his WTF decision of selecting Sarah Palin as his running mate just cemented my conviction that the status quo would continue under McCain.

I do think that had McCain been elected, things would have changed. Most of the Republican party has more or less severed ties with the Bush administration and McCain has definitely been trying to make that clear. So I'd say that McCain ~ Bush.

But be that as it may, it would not have mattered one iota because the Dems decided to go all in with this election. And I'm not just talking about Obama. I'm talking about Hillary Clinton as well. I mean, either way I felt the Republicans would be benched for this round. It was more a question of which historic candidate would we elect? The first black president, or the first female president? I liked them both and I would have voted for either one. But as time went on, Obama proved himself to be an inspiring candidate. One thing I like about him is that he makes very careful, calculated decisions. The selection of Joe Biden as VP was an excellent decision and I'm sure a lot of thought went into that choice.

I've heard people make comparisons regarding the general feeling in the country following Obama's win with how people felt about Kennedy's presidency. Kennedy was the same kind of leader that Obama has the potential to be. He was young, charismatic, inspiring, and a brilliant statesman and orator. Some of the best speeches ever given were given by Kennedy. But I also think people tended to make more out of Kennedy than he really was due to the assassination. People were still on the new leader high and when he died, and then it was no longer fashionable to criticize his politics. This is not to say the Kennedy was a poor leader as he did some great things while in office: the kick-starting of the space program, creation of the peace corps, that whole Cuban missile crisis thing. But he really did not introduce many sweeping changes while in office. Most of his legislation introduced only minor changes. And of course, there's the Bay of Pigs incident.

But what Kennedy might have lacked in bold action and reform, he more than made up for in his ability to inspire and bring hope to all those who saw him or heard him speak. Obama has this same quality and I hope he can continue to inspire the American people and the rest of the world. But he has a steep hill to climb. He must lead by example and not try and simply talk away all the problems. There can be no redefining of the problem so that it no longer exists. Our country has been broken, and it needs to be fixed. The fact that, only a few decades after the civil rights movement brought the beginnings of equality to this country, we can elect a black president speaks volumes for how far we've come as a nation. The eyes of the world are upon us and the president-elect. It's time for us to show the world and ourselves that we are the shining example of democracy that the founding fathers envisioned.

*To be fair, it was not completely Bush's fault that the world financial system imploded. There are many, many people involved in the crisis and no one person is at fault. But if the captain of an oil tanker smashes it against a reef because he was sailing too close trying to make better time rather than taking the safer route, he does still bear responsibility. I'm just sayin'.

Last Voyage of the Cúlin

2008-10-23T01:06:00.010-07:00

This is a great article on Outside.com that tells the tale of the search for answers surrounding the mysterious death of a sailor in southern Mexico named John Long. It also recants the author's terrifying experience trying to sail along the Mexican coast, and nearly getting himself killed. Makes for a damn good read. An excerpt:

It was like a story from Gabriel García Márquez: the carnivalesque scene on the beach. The sea that brings gifts of the First World, conquistadors, and death. This body floating naked and larger than life—John Long, literally a big man, now become legend. But this tale is real. It happened in February in the village of La Cigüeña, on the west coast of Chiapas, seven miles from Mexico's border with Guatemala. Long, a 78-year-old Irishman who'd spent his adult life in California, had dreamed of this voyage for 16 years. He'd left San Francisco three months earlier on his 48-foot ketch, Cúlin, heading south to the Panama Canal and then home to his native Ireland.

I'm Blu, da ba dee da ba...oh f*ck it

2008-08-26T10:36:00.004-07:00

So, I am quite lucky to have the best wife in the world. Not only does she make me ice cream and cheesecake for my birthday, but this is what she gets me:

That's right! A blu-ray player. Turns out we bet on the wrong horse in the format war. While I was hoping that the future wouldn't be divided into blue and red, but maybe a nice shade of purple, alas HD DVD died a premature death when Toshiba pulled the plug. I've been longingly watching movie after movie get released in delicious high-def blu-y goodness for months, but unable to partake. But thanks to my wonderful wife, I can now join with my fellow HD-obsessed geeks and frolick in the land of the blu.

Farewell HD DVD, we hardly knew ye.

A Voice in the Wilderness: The quote of the week

2008-08-19T13:44:00.002-07:00

I thought this was appropriate, what with the whole Russia/Georgia conflict.

There is nothing worse than aggressive stupidity.
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Movie Quiz Time

2008-08-19T12:47:00.006-07:00

This is a very cool little quiz I found via Digg. Each letter is from a movie poster and you have to try and guess what movie it is. I've only manged to figure out 13 so far. How many can everyone else figure out?

Link to the quiz on Empire.

Wonderful Contrast

2008-08-16T11:44:00.003-07:00

I just saw this on Wired. This guy uses Legos to recreate famous photographs. Some of them just cute and funny, others a bit disturbing. Something about those soft, Lego smiles.

Check out the rest.

A Voice in the Wilderness: The quote of the week

2008-08-12T14:59:00.006-07:00

So I thought this might be fun. Once a week, say Tuesdays, I'll post one of my favorite quotes from literary or political figures. I plan on trying to pick quotes that are pertinent to the times, but sometimes they'll probably just be fun. So, here's this week's quote:

No party holds the privilege of dictating to me how I shall vote. If loyalty to party is a form of patriotism, I am no patriot. If there is any valuable difference between a monarchist and an American, it lies in the theory that the American can decide for himself what is patriotic and what isn’t. I claim that difference. I am the only person in the sixty millions that is privileged to dictate my patriotism. — Mark Twain

Olympicifcation

2008-08-10T23:58:00.018-07:00

W00t! It's the Olympic season! Time for medals to be awarded, records to be broken, tears to be shed, and glory to be won. It's time for the summer Olympics, and I'm absofrakinglutly ECSTATIC about this year's games!

I've always loved the Olympics. The sheer scale of the event, the intensity, the whirlwind series of events. Everything is just awe-inspiring, and this year it promises to be particularly stunning.

Regardless of your feelings about China–it's many human-rights issues, poverty, questionable politics–they are a major player on the world stage and this event is their chance to prove that they are no longer the isolated, xenophobic country they once were. And judging from the spectacular opening ceremonies, I think I am justified in quoting Bender when I say "We've come a long way, baby."

I think this is going to be one of the most amazing Olympics in history. Maybe the most amazing. To be sure, the sheer scale of the Olympic venues and the lengths the Chinese people went not only to put on such an important event (on where the entire world is LITERALLY watching) are unprecedented and few countries could manage such a feat. Just take a look at this amazing architecture:

The Beijing National Stadium, aka "The Bird's Next"

The National Aquatic Center, aka "The Watercube"

The National Theater, aka "The Egg"

I, for one, am extremely optimistic about the games. I think they will really force the Chinese government to pay closer attention to the scrutiny of the world and mend some of it's heavy-handed ways. With any luck, this will herald a new, more open China. One that is more liberal in it's politics and more open to the rest of the world. I'd like to travel to China one day. And I hope that, when I do, I find a country that can hold it's head high and with pride that they are not just a respected member of the international community, but one that works alongside the rest of the world to help solve the many problems that affect us all.

Because when you get right down to it, we're all stuck on the same tiny rock whizzing through space at quite ridiculous speed. And what affects this planet, affects everyone.

One thing the Olympics excel at, no matter who hosts them, is their ability to bring all the world's nations, poor and rich alike, together in one spot and for at least a couple of days set aside differences of ideology and culture and let the best of us demonstrate just how amazing the human body and mind really are.

Of course, it doesn't always work. The '72 games in Munich were overshadowed by the kidnapping and execution of 11 Israeli athletes by Palestinian terrorists. And the 1936 games in Berlin, the first games broadcast internationally on television, were tainted by Hitler's desire to use the games as a propaganda tool to demonstrate the supremacy of the "Aryan master race." Of course a black American by the name of Jesse Owens decided to give the Nazis a big "fuck you" and walked away with 4 gold medals. Probably walked away with more than a few German ladies' "gold medals" as well. Even the games in the last few decades are not without some controversy. The Soviet Union boycotted the 1984 games in Los Angeles due to "anti-Soviet" sentiments in the West.

And this year was of course not without quite a lot of unrest. The massive protests in countries like France during the Olympic Torch relay dominated the headlines for months. People held up signs showing the Olympic rings made out of handcuffs, spit on the torch bearers, and even attacked a Chinese paraolympian in her FUCKING WHEELCHAIR. What kind of lame ass protester decides "I will totally validate my movement in the eyes of the world by making a bold, brave statement of our ideology by attacking someone against whom I have a 2-1 limb advantage, is a national hero, could probably kick my ass from here to Shanghai, and, as a woman who competes in international athletic competitions using only her arms, has a bigger set of balls than I ever will. Perfect!"?

For a time, it looked as if the French were going to continue their recent track record of "Yeah, we're going to just sit this one out" (though to be fair I agreed with the French on this whole Iraq thing from the very beginning) and boycott these games. But this was no surprise. As Eddie Izzard said, "...and France hated them all ‘cause Southern France was collaborating with the Germans, embarrassing! So since then, they've been kind of spiky and kind of, French..." In the end, the French president (who by the way has the coolest name in the world) backed away from that sentiment and the French are competing after all. Which is good. Looking at the list of nations, just about everyone on the planet is showing up. I mean, just LOOK at this map! (Green = attending the Olympics)

Hellava party. Too bad we couldn't make it. Well the Winter Olympics in 2010 are in Vancouver. I'm thinking that would be an amazing trip. Anyone up for a jaunt to Canada in 2 years?

Update: Meghan posted this great set of hi-res pics of the opening ceremonies in the comments. Thanks!

Imminent disaster

2008-08-07T11:56:00.002-07:00

Oh my god!

I hope the people in the red car remembered their sunscreen! Sunburn kills.

Sent to me by a co-worker. Right now, I feel like the red car. :-P

Why So Serious?

2008-07-20T00:05:00.012-07:00

We saw "The Dark Knight" today. Go see it. No; no excuses. Go see this movie. I mean it. I'm still absorbing just how amazing this film was, and I'm going to have to see it a few more times to get the full effect. I wasn't sure they could top "Batman Begins," but not only did they top it, they set the bar so high for any future Batman (or any comic book/graphic novel cum movie) that there may not be anything they can do, short of simply handing people cash and free beer at the ticket counter.

Even if you didn't see the first one, even if you are not a action movie or Batman fan, this movie is outstanding. And it's so good because of one single fact:

Heath Ledger OWNS the role of the Joker.

I'm a big fan of Jack Nicholson. And his portrayal of the Joker in the 1989 film "Batman" (directed by Tim Burton, who is, incidentally, a god) is nothing short of stellar. Just about any movie Jack Nicholson is in I like, and just about every film made by Tim Burton I like. So when I say that Heath Ledger's take on the Joker is so amazing that I think he has surpassed the performance that placed Nicholson's Joker at #45 on the AFI "Top 100 Movie Villans" list, I want you to understand my full meaning.

In "Batman", the Joker is much more of a stone-cold killer with a wicked sense of humor and mischief, but he doesn't come across as overly sadistic or psychotic. In fact, he's quite sophisticated and smooth-talking, not to mention a snappy (if rather eccentric) dresser. Plus, he has a name and a back story. Jack Napier was betrayed while robbing a chemical company and falls into a vat of chemicals, which bleaches out his skin and turns his hair and fingernails green. His signature smile is the result of a back-alley plastic surgeon's attempts to repair the damage, resulting in a a permanent ghoulish grin. This drives him insane, and he decides to seek revenge and claim the city for himself. And while he is a remorseless and hardened killer, he does have excellent style.

NOTE: While there are no real spoilers in this post, if you want to see the movie with no preconceived notions of what the film is like and how events play out, read no further.

In "The Dark Knight", the Joker is much darker, more unstable, and much scarier than in "Batman". He has no back story, no name, and no real agenda other than seeding chaos and destruction. The look is even more raw and edgy than the previous versions. The stringy hair, the sunken eyes, the roughly applied makeup, and the dirty and grungy yet still distinctive suit are quite striking and give him a far more sinister appearance than in "Batman." Unlike the Joker in the previous movie, he is not out for revenge, or money, or even power. He simply has no rules or morals, other than creating elaborate plans designed to instill fear and create wanton destruction, often forcing those trying to stop him (or even those he intends to harm) to make difficult choices about who to save. He is, quite rightly, a "better class of criminal." He's a wild card, yet utterly in control of every situation.

It saddens me that Heath will not be able to reprise his role as the Joker for the next film. He was clearly a gifted actor and had he lived, he would have gone down as one of acting's greats. The equal to Gregory Peck, Marlin Brando, Gary Oldman, or even Jack Nicholson himself. But his final role was his finest. A last blaze of glory that will go down as one of the greatest roles in history. If he doesn't get an Oscar for this performance, Hollywood can bite my shiny metal ass. Seriously.

Fire!

2008-06-26T08:47:00.003-07:00

So on my way home from work last night, noticed a big column of smoke coming the uncomfortable vicinity of my house. As I got closer, I realized it was too far south and west to be near our neighborhood, but this was a BIG fire. When I got home I learned from Jen that it was a brush fire started by a lightning strike.

As of last night, it was up to about 100 acres. No homes were threatened (though we could see the glow from the flames from our house!), but they started voluntary evacuations of a few homes and Baseline is closed from 67th ave. to 91st ave. Even if it got closer, our house is on the north side of the Salt River so not only would the fire have to cross a bunch of roads, but it would have to jump the river bed as well. It was still a little unnerving though. You couldn't see the sky from our house because of the smoke.

Check it out:

Last days of Magic Carpet Golf (aka Scary Monkey Golf)

2008-05-13T21:25:00.005-07:00

Found this via Boing Boing today. Apparently, Magic Carpet Golf in Tucson is closing after more than 50 years of operation. I never managed to check this place out, but I was always struck by how creepy and sinister the place looked, especially at night. Jen and I called it "Scary Monkey Golf" due to this:

But from the looks of this slideshow, it was even more surreal from inside. Take a look.

Link to original story, and link to photographer's blog post about Magic Carpet Golf

Movie Moods

2008-04-28T02:00:00.009-07:00

I'm not sure what made me think of this, but I guess being up late makes your mind wander.

Have you ever noticed how certain movies require you to be in a particular mood to watch? Usually they are really, really good movies, or really bad movies. I have yet to find myself in a situation where I say "Self, I feel like watching John Travolta pretend he's still a relevant actor in Broken Arrow". No, that just doesn't happen. Broken Arrow was an OK movie. Not a good movie, and not a terrible movie. More of an "Oh, it's on TNT right now and since it's Sunday afternoon and I have nothing better to do, I'll just go ahead and watch it" type of flick.

But then there's one of my favorite movies of all time, Apocalypse Now. I first saw this my senior year of high school while we were studying "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad. If you want to impress someone, tell them you read this book. Well actually if you want to get laid you might try saying you read "The Odyssey" since that's about a bloke trying to get home to his wife. "Heart of Darkness" is some rather fucked up shit, not to put too fine a point on it. So I'm not too sure of the type of person you'd attract quoting "The horror, the horror!" But I digress. The movie is based on the book, or more accurately it's an adaptation of the book. I won't get into the specifics but essentially substitute the African jungle for the jungles of Vietnam and the rather violent period when the ivory trade was booming with the Vietnam war and you have a pretty good idea of the major differences.

The thing about this movie is it's not something that you throw in one night when you're bored and want something to occupy your time and/or relax after work. This movie is the Fatal Attraction of movies (which I realize is a terrible metaphor): It will not be ignored. It demands your attention and if you don't give it your full focus, it tends to say "Well fuck you buddy, I'm leaving without you," and promptly proceeds to shift from Martin Sheen jumping around in his underwear while lamenting about the fact that now that he's out of the jungle, all he wants is back in, to U.S. soldiers surfing while helicopters attack the Viet Cong and blare "Ride of the Valkyries" over loudspeakers. As I said, it's something of an attention whore.

But unlike a good, mindless action flick like Independence Day or Air Force One, you really have to be in the mood for some existentialist rantings by a crazed war correspondent (Dennis Hopper), or possibly the best use of lighting and camera angles I've ever seen to make Marlin Brando's Col. Kurtz the scariest motherfucker you DON'T want to meet in a dark alley. If you're not in the mood, you just can't watch it.

On the opposite end of the spectrum are the really bad movies. Ones that if you have even the slightest desire for a coherent plot, well-developed characters, good special effects, and actors that are not actually made out of plywood, you will end up getting immediately pissed off and libel to do something rash. Like watching Deep Blue Sea (a movie for which there is no possible excuse for watching more than once). Take, for example, Evil Dead. For those that don't know, Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2 are the prequels to Army of Darkness which is quite possibly the most brilliant comedy/horror film ever made. The difference is that while Army of Darkness was intended to be a slapstick-comedy take on the horror film (at times it's almost Monty Pythonesqe), Evil Dead is quite serious. It tries so very, very hard to be an actual scary horror film. And it does have some rather disturbing moments (gratuitous tree-rape scene anyone?). But after about 45 minutes, it becomes quite obvious that, while unintentional, this is an A+ horror satire of the finest degree. It is so monumentally bad as a horror movies that it completely transcends the genre and somehow manages to become not only a parody of itself, but of all B-type horror movies of the last 50 years. This is B-movie making at it's finest.

But just like Apocalypse Now, you have to be in the mood for such a flick. You can't just throw on Evil Dead while you're cleaning the kitchen because half the fun is one of the EAFC's (Expendable Attractive Female Character) getting chased through the woods by some evil being that is portrayed by a drunk cameraman running through the forest as nosily as possible which smashing occasional small trees. Which, of course, ends in the aforementioned tree-rape scene.

Then there are movies that you should never, ever, ever, EVER be in the mood for and if you are, you need to go slam your balls in a door right now. Movies like Three On a Meathook, which sounds like it might actually be a good B-level slasher flick. But it's so, so bad that even watching to MST3Kify it too difficult to do without just being dumbfounded by the sheer incompetence of the director. Aside from not being in the least bit scary or disturbing, there is a scene where the main character goes to a bar. At this bar, there is a band playing. Eventually, we are treated to a shot of the band. Now this would not normally be an issue if it were the Star Wars cantina-style shot where you see the band for a few seconds as the play the music that will make up the background of the next scene. But noooooo; that would be too much to ask from Mr. Fucknut director man. Instead, we are given an 8 minute stationary shot of the band playing 2-3 ENTIRE FUCKING SONGS. It may not have been that long, but I remember I was simply stunned by how long we had the fast-forward on before we got past this point. Oh and the reason for this visit to the pub? Nothing. It was the movie equivalent of a Hummer limo: wasteful, pointless, and too damn long.

I'm not exactly sure what makes one movie require a "mood" while others require nothing more then "Hey, I haven't seen Captain Ron in a while! Let's watch that." But I do know of many movies that I just can't watch unless my mind is in the proper state. And for the 4 people who read this blog, do you have any movies that require a certain mood before watching?

Do not go quietly into that good night, Rage, rage against the HFCS

2008-04-24T09:38:00.010-07:00

Ok first off, I would like to apologize to Dylan Thomas for butchering one of his more famous poems but for some reason it just popped into my head like a giant squid (10 points if you get that reference). But I'm not here to talk about squids or dying (well not directly anyway), but about something that I now have a personal vendetta against. A jihad if you will. I am here to tell you that I am fed up with and disgusted by a completely inanimate object. Something that through reckless government subsidization and rampant commercialism of our food supply has been slowly killing us years. It's gotten to the point that the average life expectancy for some Americans has DECLINED for the first time since the 1800s.

Now I don't know all the reasons for this but some researchers believe this is the leading edge of the obesity epidemic. And I know one of the reasons American's are heavier than they've ever been: HFCS or High-Fructose Corn Syrup.

Ok, not quite what you were expecting, eh? Perhaps you were looking for some horrible chemical that has been secretly been added to our food by an evil government? Well that's not far off, but there's no actual malovolence behind the use of HFCS in modern food. Just pure proffit. Which could technically be considered evil due to that whole greed being one of the seven deadly sins. Where's Kevin Spacey when you need him?

So what's so bad about HFCS? Well first, let's start with a bit of science, throw in a dash of history, and see what a horrible, syrupy mess the USDA and the FDA have managed to cook up.

HFCS is essentially sugar. It's a sweetener that is used to make things, well, sweet. What most people don't realize is there are actually several different types of sugar as we commonly know it. Sugar itself is actually a classification of chemical compounds, but what we refer to the white crystal stuff we put in our coffee as "sugar" is more specifically sucrose, which is a combination of glucose and fructose molecules bonded together. When we eat this type of sugar, our bodies regulate the breakdown of the molecules using a special enzyme.

HFCS, by contrast, contains the same molecules of glucose and fructose as sucrose does, however they are separate and thus our body does not need to break them down. The downside to this is that the enzyme that breaks down sucrose also helps regulate the body's intake of sugar into the bloodstream. Without this process, the body has a tendency to absorb more sugar that it normally would.

We haven't always eaten HFCS. In fact until very recently, the majority of sweeteners in the US came from sucrose extracted from sugar cane and sugar beets. The rise of HFCS actually began in the mid 70s, and has been increasingly invading the processed foods market since. There are several reasons for this, but the main one is cost. The US is a major producer of corn, from which HFCS is derived. Massive government subsidies on the corn industry created artificially low corn prices to the point where HFCS was cheaper than cane or beet sugar. As such, companies started to replace the cane and beet sugars used in their products with HFCS.

HFCS is now found in nearly every processed food in the US market. It is used in breads, cereals, soft drinks, condiments, and a myriad of other food products. Why is this a problem? HFCS has been linked to not only obesity and diabetes, but can actually cause liver damage when coupled with a high-fat and sedentary lifestyle (a la most Americans). [source] Now to be fair eating large amounts of table sugar is not really good for you either, but at least when you eat that kind of sugar your body is better able to regulate the absorption. There is no such benefit to HFCS.

What made me so upset about this HFCS issue that I felt I needed to create a whole lesson out of it? Well, the other day I was at Fry's picking up some food for dinner. We decided to have sandwiches using these rather good fake grilled chicken patties that Jen likes. So I was picking up all the ingredients and I was trying to make sure I got stuff that was as healthy as possible. Whole-grain bread, fresh veggies, low-fat cheese, etc. Now those of you that know Jen know she's a big fan of pickles. So I went to grab a jar of Mt. Olive sandwich-stacker kosher dills. I've always thought pickles are quite healthy apart from the sodium content as they are basically cucumbers soaked in salt, spices, and vinegar. However, on a whim I decided to check the ingredients. Surely pickles would be free of the evil of HFCS!

Ingredients: Water, high-fructose corn syrup, salt ...

Wait, what? The SECOND ingredient in a product that is essentially a vegetable sitting in saltwater contains frakin' CORN SYRUP? I check to be sure I didn't grab the bread and butter pickles by mistake but nope, definitely the dill. I couldn't believe it. I grabbed another brand nearby of the same type, and checked it as well. No HFCS. I check the Fry's brand. Again, no HFCS.

I was pissed. I mean I understand the need to produce a good tasting recipe and adding sugar to a highly salty or acidic food can take the bite out of the flavor and make it more enjoyable. But PICKLES?!!?! At that point I decided that I would check every label of everything I buy and try and avoid anything that contains HFCS. And I mean EVERYTHING. If I'm going to eat it, I'm going to check if it has HFCS first. If so, I'll get the organic or find some other brand if possible. I've had it with this crap.

It's not all doom and gloom however. Many companies are starting to ditch HFCS and go back to cane or beet sugars. Jones Soda for example has a new line of pure cane sodas. Pepsi has an experimental soda called "Pepsi Raw" that contains only fresh, non-processed ingredients. I've also started shopping at the new "Fresh and Easy" stores that are opening up around the country. The food is a bit more expensive, but it's almost all made with fresh ingredients and nearly everything is HFCS-free, even the desserts.

HFCS has secretly replaced nearly all the sweeteners in the US food market today. It was done without knowing the full extent of the health effects of the stuff, and it was done almost entirely in the background. And what's even more insidious is that since the FDA's definition of the term "natural" is rather loose, this has led some manufacturers to label their foods as "all-natural" even though they use HFCS as sweetener. Snapple and Nature's Own are just a few such examples.

My point in all of this ranting is that people simply can't depend on someone else outside of a dietician to tell them what to eat and what is best for you. Food companies do not necessarily have your best interests in mind as they are first and foremost corporations that exist to make money. If they can make a product that sells well that is cheaper to produce with something like HFCS rather than cane sugar, they will obviously go that route. That being said, it's not in their best interest to kill their customers with dangerous and poor-quality food either, but the type of long-term effects of many processed food additives cannot be studied for many years, and even then the results are not always conclusive.

I don't blame the food companies for the obesity epidemic; that blame lies squarely on each and every one of us. We eat too little of what is good for us, and we don't exercise enough. Plain and simple. What we, as consumers, should do is pay more attention to the food we eat. Take 15 seconds and look at the ingredient labels. If you see things you don't recognize, think twice about buying that product. As with a lot of things, many of these chemicals and additives are not harmful in small doses; everything is good in moderation and all that. But if you take one thing away from this, it's that overly processed goods like HFCS are not what humans were designed to eat. Our bodies are damn good at turning just about everything into food and dealing with a lot of the crap that it can't, but it can't handle everything.

You can't completely avoid it, but if you can reduce the the amount you eat by even a little, I think your body (and your waistline) will thank you in the long run.

A God(zilla) fearin' people

2008-04-16T16:24:00.001-07:00

This popped up in Digg today:

For those that went to UofA, you probably remember this place. I passed it all the time on my way to class and I remember when someone spray-painted the "zilla" part onto the house. Damn near fell off my bike the first time. Good times, good times.

Okami for the Wii

2008-04-15T11:50:00.006-07:00

Okami for the Wii is out! I missed this game on the PS2 (which is a shame because Clover studios no longer exists), so I'm extra excited to try it out on the Wii. I will give a full report as soon as I get it in my hot little hands.

Are We Giving The Robots That Run Our Society Too Much Power?

2008-04-14T10:17:00.001-07:00

I know I sometimes feel victimized by my Roomba*

In The Know: Are We Giving The Robots That Run Our Society Too Much Power?

*I actually no longer have a Roomba, but when I did it was very faithful companion**
**Note to the future robot overlords: I would like to point out that I did not use the work servant when referring to my robot friend.

Bracketology

2008-03-20T16:46:00.003-07:00

The bad news is I'm out sick today. However the upside to that is that I've been able to spend all day watching the NCAA tournament. Normally I'm not a big sports fan, but something about March Madness just gets me going. Maybe it's the whole bracket thing and the "one loss and you're out" rule that really makes it fun. I find it fascinating to watch a team's progress as they move through the brackets. It's also cool because nothing is assured. There are always upsets and nail-biters. And since team rosters change nearly every year, the experience is always different.

Some years I tend to take risks and pick many of the underdogs as the winners. This year I played pretty conservatively. I do have Memphis getting knocked out by Texas, but other than that all the other No. 1 seeds are in my Final Four, with North Carolina winning it all.

I also have Arizona making it to the second round, but being knocked out by Duke. Now, I have to chime in on the selection of Arizona as a no. 10 seed while ASU did not get a bid. True, ASU beat the Cats twice, but Arizona's tough schedule (the 2nd toughest in the nation) and their performance against some big teams (as well as their long streak of tournament bids) gave them the nod. I thought a no. 10 seed was rather high considering, but they deserved a bid nonetheless. Who knows? Maybe they can pull off a good run this year. As I've said, this tournament always keeps one on their toes.

Why are you so quiet?

2008-03-10T15:52:00.004-07:00

Wow...way, way, way, way too long between posts. November of last year? Pathetic. I could make some excuses, but really what good would that do?

Well it would make me feel better, so here we go. First, work. Sure, blame it on work! However in this case, it's true. Work has basically been hell since before and after the holidays. Not that it's bad, but I've been working long hours, which leaves me exhausted and cranky. I haven't been exercising, I haven't been talking to my friends, heck I haven't even read a books since I finished "The Terror." I just haven't had the energy. And it's not going to let up soon.

Second, wedding stuff. This is really starting to get crazy. There is so much to do/think about that it stresses me out. I mean we've done a LOT. Not matter what happens at this point, there will be a wedding, with food/flowers/music/booze/cake. So no matter what unforseen consequences happen in the next few months, the show most definitely must go on. The big hangups are ceremony decorations, the candy buffet, and music. We still need to pick a recessional. Why is that so hard? I mean we have most of the rest of the music picked out, so why is this one thing so difficult?

Finally, traffic. Yes, traffic. Seems silly right? But here's the thing: My office is about 25 miles from my house. With the only freeway nearby being essentially a parking lot from 7 am to 10 am every morning, that is not an option. So I have to take surface streets, which while not bad because the traffic itself is rather light, the construction on 51st ave. is so horrible that it gets backed nearly ALL DAMN DAY, even on the weekends! Couple that with equally evil construction on Price which is the only road to my office, you get a whole lot of steel-toed-road-construction-boot to-the-head misery. When we first moved in, even with traffic the maximum commute was 45 minutes. MAX. Normally, it would be 30 minutes. Now, an hour is not uncommon. So the only solution is to leave late since I can't drag my ass out of bed before 7. If I could hit the road by 7, it'd be a breeze, and I could leave at 3:30 every day. (Sigh)

Now lots of good things have happend since my last post. Jen and I went skiing, we had a rockin' New Year's party with Rock Band, Brad and Chris have come up to visit (I need to go down to Tucson soon!), I attended my first ComiCon, I got a new car (yes the Boxster was a fun, but ultimately too expensive, car), and a new laptop (I have been computer-less since October).

Yeesh. I should just post every week so i don't have to write novellas every few months. Not like anyone reads this anyway. :-)

I <3 books

2007-11-28T09:31:00.001-07:00

Most of you know that I am a big reader. I love books. I've read more books than I can remember. But Jen turned me on to a great site that will actually help me remember what books I've read, and what books I plan to read. It's called Goodreads and works like any other social networking site. You find books that you have read/plan to read and add them to your list. You can search the site for others that have read that book, or Amazon.com to find them. It has a rating and review system, friends list, and even a great layout that lets you see all your books with covers! Even has some nice widgets to add to your blog (which you will see on your right). The widget only seems to load a few books from my "Read" shelf, so if you want to see all 130+, you have to click the link

I highly recommend it to all bookworms and, well, anyone that can read.

Update: Broken Big Daddy Figurine Replacement

2007-11-20T12:58:00.000-07:00

Just got the following e-mail from 2k Games:

BioShock Figurine Replacement Program Update

The BioShock figurine replacement program is nearing completion after some delays due to production of the replacement figurines. We appreciate your patience and in order to speed things up, 2K Games is eliminating the step in which you are required to return the broken figurine (we've figured you've waited long enough!).
In the next two weeks, we will begin shipping out a single package containing both the replacement figurine and the art book to customers who enrolled in the program by November 12th. There will be no return box or need to return the broken figurine to our attention.
Thanks for your support and interest in BioShock, and for your patience during the replacement figurine program.

2K Games

Now THAT's customer service at it's finest. Are you taking notes AT&T? Comcast?

Music, evolved

2007-10-08T19:47:00.000-07:00

Well I finished HALO 3 last night on Heroic (Hard, in layman's terms). What a blast! HALO is such an awesome series and I've loved every minute of it. It's sad to see it go, but as with Harry Potter, all good things must come to an end.

But on my way to work this morning I was struck by a thought. What was it, exactly, about the HALO series that has so enthralled me? Was it the story line? While it's great military sci-fi and the HALO universe is fascinating, the story is not exactly mind-blowing. A good read, but it won't change your life or have you in tears or really elicit any deeper emotion other than exhilaration and excitement. And the occasional "Shitshitshitshit need ammo, need ammo!! Where the hell is tha-OH GOD!! A HUNTER!! OH SH-"

Well, perhaps it was the online play, which has still yet to be matched in scope or success by any game prior to or since (with perhaps the exception of Counterstrike)? Again, I have to say that while I am a big fan of the multiplayer, it still doesn't give HALO that special something that makes it such a great franchise. Besides, I tend to get my ass handed to me every time and while I'm a good sport and always enjoy the challenges of online play, one can only take so many energy swords to the chest and unrelenting attacks on one's sexual orientation by prepubescent 10 year-olds before one must quit else the childless future of "Children of Men" start to look a little too inviting.

So what is it? Well, those of you that have known me for a while know that there are certain things that I simply cannot compromise on, notwithstanding of the limitations of available funds and the general laws of thermodynamics and gravity and such, and one of those things is sound. In particular, music. I am a huge fan of music and the equipment to play it, record it, store it, manipulate it, etc. I've had an iPod for a long time, my latest being my iPod touch, and before that I have always had some sort of music playing device be it a computer, CD player, or whatever. Also, lurking on a hard drive somewhere is a massive MP3 collection that will one day be resurrected when I get the time/funds to build a good media server.

As such, being something of an audiophile, I have added two pairs of rather extravagant headphones to my collection. My old set, is a pair of over-the-ear Sennheiser HD-590s which have served me for years as the best pair of cans I've ever owned. Seriously, you can hear things you never knew existed on your CDs with these babies. The other pair are earbuds to replace the abysmal iPod ones. These are Ultimate Ears super.fi 5 Pros, hands down the best earbuds you can buy short of selling several major organs or marrying Paris Hilton (of which the former may in fact be preferable). Even so, these still cost around $350 and $250 respectively. Someone once asked me why I needed $350 headphones, to which I looked at them strangely and said in my best "isn't it obvious" tone: "Because I couldn't afford the $600 ones."

What is my point? My point is this: Music. HALO has some of the best music composition of any game I have ever played. I actually own the soundtracks from HALO 1 & 2, and listen to them quite often. The music is simply stunning and supremely beautiful. It can make certain scenes in HALO go from run-of-the-mill shooter stuff, to pure poetry. The frantic and wanton destruction that you rain down upon your enemies, set to a soaring and dynamic score makes for delicious contrast that just makes me smile. I am particularly fond of "Covenant Dance" and "A Walk in the Woods", and of course "Halo" from the original soundtrack, as some great instrumental pieces. I particularly like "Truth and Reconciliation Suite" not only for it's length, but for it's range of emotion and depth, as well as "The Last Spartan" from HALO 2. I'm also rather partial to "4th Movement of the Odyssey". But the "Halo Theme Mjolnir Mix" from HALO 2 is by far my favorite for pure awesomeness. It makes you want to don your MJOLNIR armor and go f*ck up some Covenant. Maybe stomp on a few infection-form Flood or knock down a Scarab. As G'Kar would say, "They make a very agreeable thump."*

Martin O'Donnell, you are the man, my friend.

*From Babylon 5

I hate people

2007-10-05T13:41:00.001-07:00

The sight of an old man being hit by a truck in Arizona touched off a feeding frenzy among witnesses who allegedly stole the dying victim's groceries.

read more | digg story

End of an Era, Part 4

2007-10-03T22:39:00.000-07:00

So we have finally arrived. This is the end of the road, the last book in the long Harry Potter series: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I'm not sure where to begin with this book, but I guess the best option is to just start at, well, the beginning.

Deathly Hallows starts out pretty much exactly where Half-Blood Prince left off. And right from the get-go, you can tell that this book isn't like the others. Maybe it's the fact that this is the last book and once you turn that final page, you've reached the edge of the world, the end. Or maybe it's because, of all the books in the series, none carries as much tension or foreboding as this one. There is a constant sense of lurking fear, of danger that is there and present just beyond your perception. I think that it is for this reason that Rowling decided to jump right into the action (and kick start the body count) by having Harry's flight from his house on Privet Drive to the Burrow.

As I said before, this book is much more intense and dark than any previous one. And the first few chapters are nothing if not perfect examples of this. The protection that Harry had bestowed upon him by his mother's sacrifice breaks when he comes of age, in other words turns 17. So they must move him to some place more secure, and more secret. Even though I knew that this book would be fraught with danger, I still assumed that this little journey, while exciting and eventful of course, would not exactly be death-defying. It was too early, I thought, to be killing people off just yet. How wrong I was. No sooner had the party left with their six decoys, than they were instantly attacked by the Death Eaters and Voldemort himself, who, it seems, can now fly without aid of a broom. Fantastic.

I think Rowling wanted to set the record straight right then and there: this story is not going to be a children's tale where the good guys all live happily ever after. No, we left that notion behind in Order of the Phoenix. There will be death, pain, sorrow, danger, and loss. And to illustrate this point, Hedwig, Harry's faithful snowy owl that has been an important, if peripheral, part of the last six books, is killed in the frantic flight from the Death Eaters. I remember that I was almost as shocked as when Dumbledore was killed. I suppose it makes sense to a certain degree. Harry has known for a long time that in the end he must finish this alone and so this is just the next in a long line of losses for Harry. And it would not end soon. Before the end of the first quarter of the book, we not only lose Hedwig, but Mad-Eye Moody. This is not your kid's Harry Potter.

But with this immediate punch to the gut, the next few chapters are enough to make up for it all. When Harry arrives at the burrow he is thrust into the preparations for Bill and Fleur's wedding. I think this was a brilliant decision on Rowling's part, and the wedding itself it just a delight to read. Weddings are something that we have some experience with, either through attending those of friends and family, or participating in our own. Weddings, despite the many and varied traditions and forms all over the world, have one thing in common. They bring a sense of hope and joy, even in a world that feels as though it could crack at any moment. They can make you forget for one day, the troubles of the world. And wizard weddings are no different, though there seems to be quite a bit more sparks and floating things involved.

This was definitely one of my favorite parts of the book. It was a very well written piece that could have easily destroyed the flow and tone of the book by feeling forced or out of place, but I think Rowling succeeded in her goal which was to make you forget for just a few pages, the threat of Voldemort and the sense that no one was safe. Looking back I think that between the outlandish dress of Luna's father, the exasperation of dealing with Ron's Aunt Muriel, or the delightful descriptions of the magical decorations, I actually forgot for a moment about Voldemort, the Death Eaters, and the mission to find the Horcruxes. It was very pleasant. And then came the lines from Kingsley's Patronus that shattered my brief daydream and literally sent a chill down my spine: "The Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming."

That line was like a slap in the face. It was a sudden and shocking reminder that things are not going to be easy for the trio in this book. The Ministry, while full of power-hungry and pompous windbags, did at least provide a semblance of stability and protection. Rowling is quite critical of government it would appear, and the repeated blunders of the Ministry of Magic are evidence of that. Their collapse at the hands of the Death Eaters demonstrates that not only is Voldemort far more powerful than he was before, but now that the last check against his power has been removed there will be nothing between him and Harry as he can now move freely and openly. And of course when the Ministry falls, the enchantments they placed on the Burrow to protect Harry are broken, and within the first few lines of the next chapter, Death Eaters start materializing at the wedding and Harry, Ron, and Hermione are forced to flee.

This is the point where we enter the final phase of Harry Potter. With the Order scattered, the Ministry broken, and Voldemort running unchecked there is nothing left for the trio to rely on except each other. This, I think, is one of the most crucial points of the final book and one of the reasons Dumbledore had to die in Half-Blood Prince. Harry Potter is many things, but most of all it is a story about facing and overcoming the fear of Death. Harry knows that he is the only one that can kill Voldemort and in the end, he must face him alone and in so doing face his own mortality. And yet, he is not alone. It was a fateful day indeed when Harry and Ron shared that car on the train nearly ten years ago. Even more so when Hermione, the straight-and-narrow-to-a-fault, lied to Professor McGonagal about the troll to get Harry and Ron out of trouble. These two friends have stood by him through not only near death experiences, but through jealousy, anger, secrets, and envy. Harry must take the final journey alone, this is true. But he could not hope to make it that far without their help. Each person's skills and traits complement those of the others, making them stronger together than they are apart. Hermione's intelligence and wit, and Ron's loyalty and (despite himself, bravery) are strengths without which Harry could never hope to achieve what seems impossible. Because not only does he have to find a way to kill the most dangerous wizard in the world, but he must also track down and destroy the four remaining Horcruxes.

As expected, a good portion of this book is devoted to finding and destroying the Horcruxes. I'll say one thing for book seven, it certainly does not lack for adventure, excitement, and death-defying escapes and first quest they undertake is to track down the real version of Slytherin's locket and finish what Harry and Dumbledore could not. I don't think Rowling could have come up with a more convoluted path than the one she lays out for them to follow to the real locket. After learning that the mysterious R.A.B. from the note in the fake locket is Regulus A. Black, Sirius' brother, and that Mundugus had stolen the locket from Kretcher, who had stolen it from the pile of junk thrown out by everyone in book five when cleaning the house for the Order of the Phoenix, and then how someone from the ministry had confiscated it from Mundungas on the street as an illegal object, we learn that someone is none other than Dolores Umbridge. Despite this rather twisted (and quite frankly, contrived) path this brings up a very interesting bit of foreshadowing that appeared way back in book five as the real Horcrux is mentioned as a very heavy locket that could not be opened, which means that Rowling had planted the seeds of the Horcruxes quite a long time ago.

If there is one fault I can find with this whole Horcrux mechanism it is that far too much time and energy is spent finding and attempting to destroy a single Horcrux: the locket. True, there are multiple goals that the trio must achieve in order to destroy it: find the real thing, retrieve it, find a way to destroy it (a la the Baslisk venom-infused Sword of Gryffindor) but consider all the time spent in book six just getting the damn thing from the cave, then how long it takes to locate the real thing, THEN they have to break into the Ministry and steal it from around the neck of, who else? Dolores Umbridge. After this lengthy and rather fatiguing journey, the finding of the rest of the Horcruxes is rather swift, with the retrieval and destruction of Ravenclaw's diadem downright abrupt. It was as if Rowling had realized that Deathly Hallows was becoming "Harry Potter Spends Nine Months Looking for Horcruxes and a Sword". In fact, it is not until very late in the book that we actually learn of the truth of the Deathly Hallows, and what implications they have for our intrepid hero.

Part five will be posted shortly. And this time, I will reveal my favorite character and why book seven is my favorite in the series, despite it's flaws.

Overthinking HALO: One writer's attempt to overanalyze the hell out of HALO

2007-09-26T12:29:00.001-07:00

"For one thing, his identity void seems exacerbated by one of the most explicit and powerful Oedipus complexes ever seen in a videogame: Master Chief’s relationship with ship commander Captain Keyes and the fascinating artificial intelligence Cortana is blatantly framed in a dialectic of restrictive authority versus desire." Wait, what?

read more | digg story

End of an Era, Intermission

2007-09-24T10:49:00.000-07:00

For the 8 people that probably read my blog, you may be wondering "Where the heck is the next installment of your gripping essay 'End of an Era'?" Well, the next part is taking longer to write than I thought. First, it's long and I'm trying to trim it down. Second, there is just so much to talk about I and having trouble deciding what is important. Suffice it to say that part 4 may be a bit long, and there will be an epilogue to wrap things up. Hopefully in a few weeks. So there.

End of an Era, Part 3

2007-08-30T20:37:00.001-07:00

Note: This is the third entry in my "End of an Era" essay. If you have not yet read part 1, or part 2, I suggest you do that first. Be warned: Thar be spoilers ahead AND behind!

Ah, now we're getting to the really good stuff. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is probably the most important book in the series, not only because of what we learn about Voldemort's most closely guarded secret, but what we learn about his past and the quest that Harry and his friends must undertake. Up till now, we never really knew how Voldemort had survived the curse that gave Harry his scar. We did find out about the charm left by his mother when she tried to sacrifice herself to save Harry in the previous books, but there was never any real clues as to how Voldemort managed to live.

The concept of the Horcrux is one of the most fascinating and sinister ideas to appear in the Harry Potter books. Even the Unforgivable Curses, while horrible in their own right, pale in comparison to what a Horcrux represents. The description that Slughorn gives to the young Tom Riddle about how Horcruxes are made sent chills up my spine. To take one's soul and rip it in two, and store a piece of your soul inside another object? Terrifying to think that anyone could be so careless with one's soul. What makes it even worse is that the only way to tear one's soul apart, is by killing another person. And the fact that Voldemort made not one, but six Horcruxes brings into sharp relief just what Dumbledore meant when he tells Harry that "the transformation [Lord Voldemort] has undergone seemed to me to be only explicable if his soul was mutilated beyond the realms of what we might call 'usual evil'..." As if being one of the most powerful dark wizards in history weren't enough, now we find out that there are six unknown and most likely extremely well protected objects carrying around a bit of his soul? Now that's just plain evil, in every sense of the word.

Fortunately for Harry, we learn, he already has a bit of experience destroying Horcruxes already. I remember thinking that the diary that nearly kills Ginny in Chamber of Secrets seemed oddly powerful to just have been a spell or enchantment of some sort; it had to be something far more sinister. I never thought much of it, but when I learned about Voldemort's creation of the Horcruxes, it hit me that there really was more to that diary than was revealed in book two. And in Half-Blood Prince, we find out that this is indeed the case. Not only that, but Voldemort had intended it as a weapon, not just as a safeguard for his soul. He wanted it to be found by an unsuspecting person so that he could use them to return to human form if he ever needed it. I knew Voldemort was arrogant, but that seemed unbelievably brash.

The revelation of the Horcruxes is certainly a crucial aspect of book six and the rest of the series, but it was not the only important event. This is the book where we finally see Harry start to fall, and fall hard, for Ginny Weasley. I think that of all the potential matches Harry could have had, Ginny is definitely who had my vote. As I've said before, Ginny became a favorite character of mine in book five and her growth as a character in book six really solidified my opinion of her. And I will admit that I cheered when they (Harry and Ginny) kissed after the Quidditch match because it was what I was hoping for all along. While the Harry and Ginny romance was full of some pretty funny jealousy scenes, I have to say that the way Rowling played Ron and Hermione's jealousy against each other was brilliant.

So now it seems we come to the main event, so to speak, of Half-Blood Prince. Rowling had said that a major character was going to die in book six and while I knew it wouldn't be Harry I was very worried for Ron and Hermione, not to mention the major-minor characters of Ginny, Neville, and Luna. But never in a million years did I expect that the person that would be killed would be Dumbledore, and that it would be Snape that did it. I remember reading that passage and then stopping for a second, not sure if I had read that right. I was shocked and saddened by Dumbledore's death. He was always so powerful and so knowledgeable about everything that it seemed that if he was going to die, it would have been at the hands of someone like Voldemort himself. I think it was at this point, more than any other, that I really felt that no one was safe anymore and it was only a matter of time before Voldemort began to take control. The end of this book was probably the most bleak and desperate of any of the books up to this point. With Dumbledore gone, left with only a fake Horcrux and a enigmatic note with no inkling of where to look next, Harry's decision to break up with Ginny for her protection, and his realization that he will not be returning to school the next year, makes for a dark and harrowing future indeed.

And yet, in the midst of the grief and pain at the loss of someone so important, as Harry prepares to take the final road that will lead either to his death, or to the death of Voldemort, there is still happiness to be found. On the very last page of the book, Harry, Ron, and Hermione are making plans for where they will start looking for the Horcruxes. Harry is, as usual, trying to convince his friends that he needs to do this alone, but of course they are having none of it. You'd think he would have learned after six books that the trio is an all or nothing package. I think I just need to quote the passage here, as I can't do it justice otherwise:

"No-," said Harry quickly; he had not counted on this, he had meant them to understand that he was undertaking this most dangerous journey alone.
"You said to us once before," Hermione said quietly, "that there was time to turn back if we wanted to. We've had time, haven't we?"
"We're with you whatever happens," said Ron. "But mate, you're going to have to come round my mum and dad's house before we do anything else, even Godric's Hollow."
"Why?"
"Bill and Fleur's wedding, remember?"
Harry looked at him, startled; the idea that anything as normal as a wedding could still exist seemed incredible and yet wonderful.
"Yeah, we shouldn't miss that," he said finally.
His hand closed automatically around the fake Horcux, but in spite of everything, in spite of the dark and twisting path he saw stretching ahead of himself, in spite of the final meeting with Voldemort he knew must come, whether in a month, in a year, or in ten, he felt his heart lift at the thought that there was still one last golden day of peace left to enjoy with Ron and Hermione.

Part 4 will be posted soon.

End of an Era, Part 2

2007-08-30T17:19:00.000-07:00

Note: This is the second entry in my "End of an Era" essay. If you have not yet read part 1, I suggest you do that first. Be warned: Thar be spoilers ahead AND behind!

The fourth book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, was the longest book yet. Maybe even longer than 1-3 put together, though that may be an exaggeration. This is probably the most "action movie friendly" book of the series as there's not one but three major events during the Triwizard Tournament that Harry and the other participants have to overcome, not to mention the final confrontation with Voldemort in the graveyard. Between fighting dragons, battling with merfolk, and navigating a deadly maze filled with traps and fantastic creatures, it's a damn exciting story. Even though the tasks are dangerous, the book still maintains the light-hearted feeling of the previous three. Regardless of the harrowing adventures in which Harry, Ron, and Hermione find themselves in in the other books, no one is killed or seriously wounded despite being attacked by dementors, chased by a basilisk, coming face to face with a fragment of Voldemort himself (not once but twice!), and even being "helped" by Dobby. But then, that all comes crashing down at the this book, after Harry and Cedric Diggory reach the end of the maze together, and and transported face to face with none other than Voldemort himself. No longer the mere shadow or fragment he was before; this is Voldemort at full strength. A new body, with his faithful Death Eaters at his side once more. This is the first time we see how evil Voldemort really is as he orders Cedric killed simply because he was "the spare" and was of no use to him. And since it wouldn't be Harry Potter without someone being revealed as not quite what they seem, the revelation that Mad-Eye Moody is in fact the Death Eater Barty Crouch Jr. was just the icing on the cake. Or, to use a different, more fitting analogy, a knife in the back. From this point on, the books become darker, the threat of Voldemort more pressing, and the fight more desperate than ever.

I think if I had to pick a least favorite book of the series, Chamber of Secrets would be my choice, however Goblet of Fire is a close second. Of course picking a least favorite Harry Potter book is a bit like asking someone "So which of your sports cars is your least favorite: the F430 or the 911 Turbo?" My reasons for disliking this book are difficult to explain, even to myself. It might just be that, whenever I start a Harry Potter binge where I read them from beginning to end, I inevitably get bogged down by Goblet of Fire. I can't really say for sure why this is. Quite possibly it is that coming off the shorter first three books, Goblet of Fire is a bit like starting a marathon right after the 200m dash. Don't get me wrong, I love this book and I love Chamber of Secrets too, but while I thought that Chamber of Secrets was too similar to Sorcerer's Stone and didn't have enough new material, I felt that Goblet of First just had too much. First there was the Quidditch World Cup, then of course the Triwizard Tournament and it's three tasks, the mystery with Barty Crouch, the return of Voldemort, and finally the death of Cedric and the revelation that Mad-Eye Moody was an impostor. It's a bit of a sensory overload and by the time they get to the maze, you're just glad you've reached the home stretch. But one aspect of the book I really enjoyed was seeing for the first time, that Ron is developing feelings for Hermione and even though he's a bit of a twit, you can tell Hermione feels the same way. This is where the Harry Potter books (and our three heroes) leave their more childish pasts behind them, and begin the painful road to adulthood. Like Harry's journey through school on his way to becoming a full-fledged wizard, so too do the books themselves begin to grow up and change. If books one, two, and three were the childhood years, then book four is where the teenage years begin, which are the main focus of book five: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

One of the best things about Order of the Phoenix is you begin to see the romantic relationships blossom between the students at Hogwarts. When I finished this for the first time, I was convinced, more than ever before, that the relationship between Ron and Hermione was going to be more than just the friendship they had forged in the past books. I had inklings that Ron and Hermione would end up together in the end for quite some time, ever since the whole thing with Hermione and Viktor Krum in Goblet of Fire. I mean if anything, the twists in book three and the unexpected death of Cedric in book four demonstrated that Rowling was not going to take the obvious route and have Hermione end up with Harry. That was too formulaic and it would essentially leave Ron out in the cold. Despite his prominence as a character, he was often shunted to the side in favor of Harry and having Harry and Hermione end up together would have essentially place Ron as nothing more than a secondary character like Neville or Luna. This, in fact, plays a pivotal role in books four and seven as Ron's resentment at Harry's attention thoroughly tests their friendship and threatens to unravel everything they've worked for.

I actually had a theory for a while that Harry might end up with Luna Lovegood. Crazy, right? Well it seemed like it might be an interesting match. Luna as a very lonely person and I thought that her friendship with Harry might become something more. But despite the fact that she and Harry grew quite close in this book, this did not happen and Ginny Weasley's arrival as the object of Harry's affection in Half-Blood Prince was much more fitting. Ginny quickly become one of my favorite characters and not because of her involvement with Harry. Harry, while the focus of the books, is not actually my favorite character (I won't say who it is just yet. In due time). In fact in book five, his irritating teen angst made me want to smack him across the face. Since he was not actually a real person, I had to content myself with screaming at SOMEBODY to give him a good kick. And Ginny fit the bill nicely. Ginny came into her own as a wonderful mix of Fred and George's sense of mischief, Hermione's talent, and Harry's sense of bravery and loyalty. She also has a great sense of humor, and a sharp wit that more than once was able to put Harry in his place when his Breakfast Club-style tendencies threatened to boil over. Of course Harry's attention is focused on Cho Chang in Order of the Phoenix, which goes about as well as most first romances go. Akward, painful, and in the end a miserable failure. But the disasterous Valentine's day scene in Hogsmeade was a bit like watching someone slowly sawing through the limb they are standing on: Painful, yet hilarious.

Order of the Phoenix is definitely the longest book of the series, weighing in at over 800 pages. Yet it's also one of the most fascinating, not only because of the uprising you know is coming with the arrival of Dolores Umbridge as the Hogwarts High Inquisitor (who, by the way, you come to hate almost as much as Voldemort), but also because you can feel the tension building the entire time as Voldemort gets stronger and the Ministry of Magic puts more and more pressure on Harry and the Order to stop their attempts to alert people to the danger they know is coming. I remember silently fuming at the stubborn insistence by Cornelius Fudge that Dumbledore's constant warnings that Voldemort was back was nothing more than an attempt to seize power. Add to that Harry's foray's into Voldemort's mind, the secret kept in the Department of Mysteries, the hilarious grand exit of Fred and George from Hogwarts, and the forming of "Dumbledore's Army", and you have one hell of barn-burner. As if that weren't enough, you get to see why Dumbledore is considered the most powerful wizard of all time and even though you got a taste if it at the end of book four, it's nothing compared to the scene when Dumbledore and Voldemort finally meet face to face. I remember when Dumbledore arrived on the scene at the Ministry, when the Order and Harry, Ron, Hermione, Luna, Neville, and Ginny are all desperately fighting the Death Eaters, I got a chill. I still do. And when I read the title of the next chapter, "The Only One He Ever Feared", I was ecstatic! Finally we get to see Dumbledore and Voldemort fight face to face! My only qualm with the entire scene, which rivals the showdown between Yoda and Count Dooku in "Attack of the Clones", is that it was far too short. But it was thrilling to finally see the one person that could go toe to toe with Voldemort, and live, cross wands him. Very "High Noon".

Of course Order of the Phoenix is not without sadness. Sirius had become another favorite of mine and his death was very disheartening. It was even more upsetting due to the fact that it was none other than Bellatrix Lestrange that killed him. I already hated her since I learned what she did to Neville's parents. Torturing someone is bad enough, but to do it until their minds broke, until they went mad with the pain, so much so that they no longer recognize their own son? That is absolutely disgusting and horrifying to think about. Her escape makes Sirius' death all the more tragic. Harry loses the only member of his family that he has left. If there was any doubt at this point that the Harry Potter were getting seriously dark, this would have neatly squashed that notion. The fact that the last chapter is called "The Second War Begins" could not be more ominous. This book was tremendously important because we learn a great deal more about Harry's past, his connection to Voldemort, and why Voldemort tried to kill him so long ago. The prophecy of "neither can live while the other survives" made me very uneasy. By this time I had learned that no one was safe in the world of Harry Potter and while I was confident that all the major players would make it to the final book, I was not so sure they would all make it out in the end. And so I waited with bated breath, for the sixth, and quite possibly the most important, book in the Harry Potter series: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

End of an Era, Part 1

2007-08-30T11:51:00.000-07:00

Note: What started as a short entry on how much I like Harry Potter, turned into a friggin' essay, so I split it into 4 parts. Be warned: Thar be spoilers ahead!

So Harry Potter has finally come to an end. It's be a long and incredible journey since that first book found it's way to our shores. I don't think any series in the history of literature has had such a following, had so many admirers, or so many enemies. Like all great stories, this one can be told again and again, and sometimes the second or third reading can be even more moving and meaningful than the first. I just finished a straight through, non-stop Harry Potter binge starting from book one all the way to book seven, which I just finished last night. This was probably the third or fouth reading of the first four books, and at least the second for the rest. It was a strange mix of emotions as I closed book seven, and thus closed the story of Harry Potter and Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Never again will I journey down the magical corridors of Hogwarts for the first time. Never will I feel that original tension and fear as Harry and his friends are forced to battle the Death Eaters in the Department of Mysteries. Never will I feel the shock and sadness I felt as I sat,dumbfounded, having just read the pages where Sirius and Dumbledore meet their untimely deaths. And never again will I feel the burning joy and aching sadness I felt when first I read the final chapters of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows as Ron and Hermione finally fall for each other, Neville Longbottom finally revealing himself as the bad ass he truly is by cutting off the head of Voldemort's snake, or Harry dueling Voldemort for the last time. I think that, as I sat there in the dark, contemplating the story and what it has meant to me over nearly the last decade of my life, I decided I needed to write something about how I felt about the story. About how I grew to love the story, it's characters, and their world as it unfolded on the pages before my eyes.

It was books like Harry Potter that etched into my soul this obsession, this passion, that I have for books and literature. Ever since I was a child I've loved to read and as an adult, that has not changed. I take immense pride in my love of the written word. And in today's society where "American Idol" and "Dancing with the Stars" takes precedence over letting one's imagination run wild in the hills of Middle Earth, amongst the stars with Rama, or even just trying to remember that "the enemy's gate is down" I have found that this is an all to rare gift indeed. I recently read that only 40-50% of adult Americans plan to read at least one novel this year, and about half of those will not read anything. It is a sad thing to witness, yet the one glimmer that has given me hope is that despite this dismal out look on the American populace's reading habits, at least Harry Potter has remained as popular and enchanting as ever.

It is a rare thing indeed to witness any book take hold of the public's imagination the way Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone did when it was first published in 1997. It did not make it to the United States until 1998, but by that time you could tell something extraordinary was happening. I don't think anyone at the time realized that they were making literary history, but the success of Harry Potter was nothing short of phenomenal. The book was simply flying off the shelves. I know that is a tired cliche and it's tossed about by marketing departments for anything that sells more than 2 copies in an hour, but this is one of the rare cases where I think the term can accurately be applied. Everyone I knew at the time was reading Harry Potter. And Rowling did not sit idly back and watch the money roll in, but she came out with a rapid-fire barrage of sequels, each one more popular and better than the previous. That last statement might offend a few purists who say the first book is their favorite and I admit, I still have a soft spot for the original. But as she wrote more, her voice got stronger, her language more mature, and her magical world richer, and deeper.

There was something magical (no pun intended) about the first book. It filled me with a sense of wonder and amazement that I had not felt reading a book in a long time. In fact, I think no other book has caught my imagination in quite the same way as Harry Potter did. Harry's discovering that he is a wizard, his arrival at Hogwarts, his forging of his lifelong friendship with Ron and Hermione after the fight with the troll, his battle for the Sorcerer's stone, and the mystery surrounding his past and his nemesis, Voldemort, were all so mesmerizing that I had to read it though several times to catch all the details of the rich world that J.K.R had created. Despite the fact that the book was very much a children's tale, I could see tremendous potential in the work Rowling had created.

One of the best facets of the Harry Potter approach to magic was to separate the different types of magic in the same way we separate different studies at school. She was able to create an entire curriculum of magical studies, each as different and distinct as the fascinating characters that each each discipline. Mix in a normal set of school-kid complaints, homework, exams, detention, study, and the one thought that every child has had at least once in their school careers: "When am I ever going to use this in real life", and you get such an amazing world that it would be a crime to limit it to only one book! Then, of course, came the second: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

Many people have said the second book is much like the first, to it's detriment. And I would agree with this statement, up to a point. The story lines are very similar, the same basic formula is followed, and even the twist at the end revealing the true culprit is done in an almost identical fashion. But this book was when I first started to see that there was something a bit more to this series than the standard "take set of characters X and put in situation Y" formula that so many books of this type tended to follow. Maybe it was finding out about Voldemort's past, his real name, and connection to both Harry and the school. Maybe it was the fact that each book did not tie up the story in a neat little package. Whatever it was, there was something that told me that the story of Harry Potter was far from over, and it would be far different from anything you might imagine. This book also introduced the delightful character of Dobby the house-elf, who attempts to save Harry Potter by repeatedly trying to get him injured or expelled. Dobby could have easily tread into Jar-Jar Bink territory, but the brilliant way he was portrayed as this small but extremely powerful character who desired to do good yet was bound by the laws of his kind so that he had to constantly punish himself for the things he did was just awesome. It seemed that there was more to this than simply good guys vs. bad guys. And I was even more intrigued by this one than the first. But it was not until the third book, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, that I truly became a hardcore Harry Potter fan.

This book had the same tone of all the others: mystery, shadowy figures from the past, fights against overwhelming odds, yet this time it was different. While in the other books events were a bit predictable and sometimes seemed contrived, in this book we begin to see the deeper underlying themes of the Harry Potter series. Death, as always, plays a major role. It is fitting that we meet the dementors for the first time in this book as they are almost Death incarnate. They go unseen (except by wizards), wear hooded cloaks and have a skeletal, dead-like appearance. Yet despite the obvious allusions to the classic image of death the dementors do not actually kill their victims. The "dementor's kiss", we learn, is quite possibly the most horrible fate that can befall anyone as the act does not kill the person, but rather "sucks out their soul" leaving behind nothing but a shell. The book also continues with the idea that nothing is as it seems and the truth is always more fantastic than you think, but this is the first book to take that idea in such an original way. One of the most interesting things about this story us that Voldemort, while always a looming shadow in the background, never actually appears in the book. This is part of why it is so different: It is the only book in which the primary antagonist never makes a personal appearance. The entire time, you are focused on Sirius Black, whom everyone thinks is trying to kill Harry. But when I found out that not only is he innocent, but Harry's godfather, my whole view of the Harry Potter universe changed right then and there. Of course, that was until we learned that Scabbers, Ron's useless, sickly, and slightly used pet rat is none other than Peter Pettigrew (whom staged his death and framed Sirius in the process). That sent my head spinning.

This was also where I realized something: I had actually begun to care about the characters. I cared about what happened to Harry, Ron, Hermione, the other Weasley's, even Voldemort (though for him I was simply trying to think of the best way for him to get his comeuppance). This does not happen often for me, and I think this is one of the things that makes Harry Potter such a meaningful series. Most of the time, I read a story with a sort of detached interest. It is amusing to see the adventures of someone unfold and sometimes I'm surprised by where the author takes me, but it is almost never the case that in the process I find myself caring about people who do not exists anywhere but in my and the author's imagination. And it was at this point I was hooked. I would be one of those people who stand around at midnight, waiting for the next book to be released. Which is exactly what I did, though not for the next book. You see, when I started Harry Potter, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was already out, so I wasted no time continuing the journey with my imaginary friends from Hogwarts. And no one could see what was coming next.

Note: Part 2 will be posted shortly.

I finally fucking found it!

2007-08-22T10:23:00.000-07:00

I have been looking for this video on and off for probably 6 years now. And here it is: One of the greatest music videos ever!

Oribital - Much Ado About Nothing Left

Optimus f*cking Prime

2007-08-15T21:07:00.000-07:00

That's right, 3/4 pure Prime.

I AM
76%
OPTIMUS PRIME Take the Transformers Quiz

Star stuff

2007-08-13T00:52:00.000-07:00

I recently saw two excellent movies. One is a serious sci-fi flick, and one is pretty much pure fantasy. The first is Sunshine, which is set in the near future and is about the crew of a massive space ship (rather ironically named the Icarus) sent to restart the sun. (This is the sci-fi film, BTW) It seems our sun has dimmed and plunged Earth into a new ice age. No real explanation why this has happened or how they actually plan to fix it is given, but I think that was a wise move. It allows the story to focus the characters and their struggles, without getting too lost in the whole "we're basically flying a giant bomb into the sun" bit. Yet it maintains a distinct sci-fi feel as there is plenty of science, and no desperate, last-minute WTF solutions to the "zOMG we're fux0r3d! Let's fly teh ship into the sun to save the humaz0rz!" Armageddon, this ain't. All in all, a very cool little indie film. Absolutely gorgeous imagery. Not a bad story either and very atmospheric. Think the visuals of The Fountain with the tone of Solaris, with a little Event Horizon deep-space horror and 2001: A Space Odyssey computer creepiness mixed in. Though neither Solaris or Event Horizon were all that good (though I did like Solaris), I think that they have certain qualities that make them noteworthy sci-fi films and if you have seen them, you'll definitely see what I mean when you see Sunshine. And if you can make it though The Fountain without your brain melting, I salute you soldier. Now it's not getting a lot of press, but I highly recommend it. It's playing at the Arizona Mills Harkins at least, maybe elsewhere. So go see it.

On Saturday I saw Stardust. This was the fantasy film, if you hadn't deduced that. And it was much better than I anticipated. I was really looking forward to it when I saw the previews, but I was a little skeptical about the quality since I've been let down many times by this same pattern. *cough* Spiderman 3/Aeon Flux/Ultraviolet/Fantastic Four/The Hulk *cough* It's almost a kid's movie, but it has some rather intense scenes involving animal disemboweling by some rather nasty witches (not graphic, just violent), and people seem to die a lot. But to give it some perspective, and since this post seems to be all about comparisions, I would say tt's somewhere in between Lewis and Tolkien: not quite as childish as The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, but less mature than The Lord of the Rings. I'd put it in the same league as the latest Harry Potter, but with a distinctively more fairy-tale feel to it. It would be hard to summarize, but it involves a magic kingdom, evil witches, a power-hungry prince, a lost princess, flying pirates, and a falling star (in this case, played by Claire Danes, who makes one sexy fallen star I might add). Now if you go into this expecting something as deep and rich as Middle Earth, you'll be quite disappointed. In fact, I'd say the closest thing would probably be The Princess Bride. It has a rich and detailed world, yet it maintains the fairy-tale aspect of wonder because what you see is not always explained or even given any real back story; it simply is.

So go see Sunshine and Stardust. I mean really, what else do you have to do?

Sound Advice

2007-08-13T00:40:00.000-07:00

Important life lessons courtesy of About:Blank.

I predict a riot: Apple 4G iPhone for 99¢

2007-08-03T12:35:00.001-07:00

99¢ Only Stores will sell Apple 4GB iPhones to the first nine in line for 99¢ on Thursday, August 9th, 2007. Is there any way this won't end badly?

read more | digg story

Things I'm thankful for...

2007-07-21T14:13:00.000-07:00

That I'm not too old to enjoy a kids story like "Harry Potter."

And that I'm old enough to enjoy it with a cold beer.

Happy Harry Potter Day to all!

Transformers = OMFGSPLOSION!!!!

2007-07-04T00:27:00.000-07:00

Jen and I just saw the new Transformers movie. It...it was incredible. I could have sucked, or just been a lame action/superhero movie but it was stunning. Go see it. Go see it now.

Cell phones are the new cigarettes

2007-06-19T23:55:00.000-07:00

I realized something today while watching the umpteenth cell phone ad on TV during "Deadliest Catch" (awesome show BTW). Cell phones are quickly gaining many of the cultural stigmas and traits that cigarettes have enjoyed (endured?) over the years. First, there are many studies (though nothing conclusive) that show that extended cell phone use for long periods of time can lead to brain cancer. Just like cigarettes can lead to lung cancer. Also, more and more restaurants are banning cell phone use in their dining areas so as to not disrupt the non-cell phone using customers. If that wasn't enough, cell phones are becoming so ubiquitous in every day life, that they are becoming a natural and even expected detail in TV and film. They are at the same time status symbols, social instrument, and, for some, an addiction.

Cell phones are the new cigarettes.

Think about that last parallel I mentioned. How many of you saw "The Departed"? Everyone? No? Well stop what you're doing, go rent it /add it to your queue and come back when you're done. No really, I'll wait. (BTW, every time you don't watch a Martin Scorsese film, he misses another Oscar).

Done? Good. Now where was I? Ah yes: Cell phones in movies. Cell phones play an important, nigh indispensable, role in "The Departed." Seriously, take cell phones out of the movie. What do you have? Now think back to any movie you've seen pre-1955 or so. Everybody smoked. Even the doctors and patients in hospitals smoked! Shit, without smoking, 90% of film noir films would basically be title and credits. Maybe some drinking. Maybe. And then there's movies like "Cellular" that, while not exactly Oscar-worthy, depend almost entirely on the prevalence of cell phones in modern society.

Not convinced? Then think about the last concert you went to where the average age was no greater than 30 (i.e. Panic! At the Disco, My Chemical Romance, The Strokes, Brittney Spears*, etc.), or, hell, just about any concert where people don't wear Grateful Dead T-shirts. When it got to one of those songs, what did everyone hold up? (You know the ones I mean.) Lighters? Nope. Cell phones. Even if you smoke you probably hold up your cell phone. That's just how it's done these days. Instead of a sea of flickering orange flames during Metallica's Nothing Else Matters, now we get the steady blue-green glow of cell phone screens.

Interesting, is it not? Now if you'll excuse me, I have a call.

*If you have ever been to a Brittney Spears concert and you are not an 11-year old girl (and if you are, you need burn all your Brittney CDs and reassess your life), please slam your nuts in the nearest door or filing cabinet. If you do not have nuts due to your being female or a eunuch, beating yourself senseless with your own arms will suffice.

PRESS 'A', BITCH!

2007-06-05T02:17:00.000-07:00

Japan Pics

2007-06-05T02:03:00.000-07:00

Well everyone pretty much knows we're back from Japan and so, here is you've all been waiting for: The pictures! I recently switched from Flickr to SmugMug and I haven't yet figured out how to use all the tools yet so bear with me for awhile.

So without further ado, the Japan pics (I recommend the slideshow)!

Sayonara

2007-05-06T22:38:00.000-07:00

Well tomorrow's the day! Tomorrow we leave for adventure and enlightenment in a foreign land. Tomorrow we leave for Japan! I don't know if I'll be blogging while I'm over there, but stay tuned! I just might post a few updates :-) If not, be sure that I'll have a ton of stuff to say once we get back.

Phucking Phishers

2007-05-05T12:51:00.000-07:00

It seems I just got a very convincing phishing e-mail trying to get me to give away my Paypal information. The e-mail itself was not that convincing, but the link to the "Paypal site" was very well done, and the site itself was an almost perfect forgery.

This is what it looked like:

As part of our security measures, we regularly screen activity in the
PayPal system. We recently contacted you after noticing an issue on your
account.We requested information from you for the following reason:

Our system requires further account verification.

Case ID Number: PP-140-076-751

Please confirm your Paypal account,click the URL below:

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_login-submit

This is a second reminder to log in to PayPal as soon as possible. Once
you log in, you will be provided with steps to restore your account
access.

Once you log in, you will be provided with steps to
restore your account access. We appreciate your understanding as we work to
ensure account safety.

In accordance with PayPal's User Agreement, your account access will
remain limited until the issue has been resolved. Unfortunately, if
access to your account remains limited for an extended period of time, it
may result in further limitations or eventual account closure. We
encourage you to log in to your PayPal account as soon as possible to help
avoid this.

To review your account and some or all of the information that PayPal
used to make its decision to limit your account access, please visit the
Resolution Center. If, after reviewing your account information, you
seek further clarification regarding your account access, please contact
PayPal by visiting the Help Center and clicking "Contact Us".

We thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. Please
understand that this is a security measure intended to help protect you and your
account. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Sincerely,
PayPal Account Review Department

PayPal Email ID PP638

But if look at the email in raw HTTP, you see that the actual site the link directs you too is this:

http://maxipriest.com/loggin/

Yeah, not exactly confidence inspiring. See, they spoof the URL to appear to be the Paypal site in your address bar. This is fairly simple. And if you click the link (I wouldn't recommend it), it takes you to a page that looks EXACTLY like the Paypal page. Here's a comparison:

Left, the real Paypal page; on the right, the fake.

Well done, eh? If you didn't know what to look for, you'd never be able to tell. And that could be disastrous. So how can you tell? It's all in the URL. Take a look at the real page URL here:

If the login page doesn't match what I have here, don't put any login info in. Now the fake page has the wrong URL, but it still looks like it could be legitimate. Ah! But if you view the page source, you see it's actually a frame (sort of a Web page within a Web page). And the page that is being displayed? Well, take a look:

So the address on the left is what the spoofer wants you to see. Notice no "https." On the right, is the actual URL of the spoofed site. And if you put in your login and password? Well, you are definitely SOL then. The wost part of this spoof? The links from the page are the actual links to Paypal stuff! They are essentially copying the PayPal page, and just running their own login script to grab your ID rather than the Paypal system. Insidious, no?

So here's a few simple rules that you can follow that, if you follow them, will give you 100% protection against phishing attacks.

First, most legitimate companies will NEVER ask you to update account information by posting a direct link to their site in the e-mail, so become immediately suspicious if they do.
If an e-mail gives you a link to take regarding your account information, check the URL by copying it (right-click and then choose Copy Link) and pasting it in Notepad or some other text editor. This will give you the real URL that you will be following. If it doesn't match, don't follow it.
Legitimate sites will always use secure "https" pages for logins. Phishers will almost never bother with attempting to use secure connections.
Never, ever, EVER put any login or personal information directly into any text fields in an e-mail! No one will ever ask for info this way as there is no way to make this secure.
If you use Gmail, they have a "Report phishing email" option just like spam reporting. Use it. Even if you think it's real, let the ubbersmart guys at Google take a look just to make sure.
If you are even a little bit suspicious about an e-mail, report it and then trash it. If you want to make sure your account is OK, go to the site directly (don't use any links) and login, or even contact customer service and ask if there is anything wrong.

Well that's about it. Just thought everyone should be aware of things like this.

Digg This: 09-f9-11-02-9d-74-e3-5b-d8-41-56-c5-63-56-88-c0

2007-05-02T09:12:00.001-07:00

Looks like Kevin Rose got his priorities straight:

"But now, after seeing hundreds of stories and reading thousands of comments, you’ve made it clear. You’d rather see Digg go down fighting than bow down to a bigger company. We hear you, and effective immediately we won’t delete stories or comments containing the code and will deal with whatever the consequences might be."

read more | digg story

A day that will live in hilarity

2007-05-01T20:43:00.000-07:00

Wow. I've never seen anything like this before. Digg
, (yes that Digg) was HIJACKED! Not by malicious hackers, not by lame-ass script kiddies; no. It was hacked by it's own users. Yes, the very people who make Digg what is it, a user-driven news site, rose up and revolted against the Digg bourgise.

What happened? Well, in the last week or so several stories popped up on Digg about the HD DVD decryption key that has been wandering about the interweb. They were posting the key to protest the force-feeding of DRM-infested media to the public. I've never seen a more twisted relationship between an industry and it's customers that that between the RIAA/MPAA and John Q. Public. They seem to both love and despise, distrust and adore us all at the same time. It's really pathetic.

So what does this have to do with Digg? Well, apparently at the behest of the HD DVD group, all stories showing the decryption key were mysteriously removed from Digg. You can read about it here. As a result, the Digg community revolted and began flooding the Digg servers with hundreds of stories that included the decryption key. And to get them on the front page, the rabid hordes began digging up EVERY HD DVD STORY! So that before long, all the stories on the front page of Digg were, in some form or another, about HD DVD and the key. As you can see, I took a screen shot just to prove how hilarious and awesome this was.

Some of the stories were just commenting on the situation, but others were downright ridiculous. Here are a couple of my favorites:

Yeah, that's right.

Hell, even Wikipedia has an article about this. They are calling it "HDDVD Night". Of course, it's been deleted and then protected to prevent recreation, so that's no good. Nothing like a good old fashioned Wikipedia burning.

Maybe we should call this HDDVDnacht.

Brilliant.

By the way, 09-F9-11-02-9D-74-E3-5B-D8-41-56-C5-63-56-88-C0. VIVA LA RÉSISTANCE!!!

Fuck Blogspot

2007-03-28T22:49:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, free sucks. I guess Blogger.com decided that squidwarrior.blogspot.com was just too full of awesome to be allowed to live, and moved me to squidwarrior4.blogspot.com. Without telling me. However, squidwarrior4.anything contains at least 4 times less awesome than squidwarrior.anythingelse. I mean, I don't mind having my blog shunned to the realm of the unimaginitive Internet denizens that can't think of something original to use for their avatars, so they resort to something painfully dull and attach a string of numbers to the end to make it unique. I just mind that they didn't have the balls to tell me about it. So I updated the address to be the title of my blog.

And all you anti-Harry Potter types can just keep you sarcastic comments to yourselves, thank you very much. I'm a Harry Potter nerd, and damn proud of that fact.

Anyway, sorry to have to make everyone change their links/bookmarks/homepage, but it really was through no fault of my own. And when all the craziness dies down, I'll start posting again. Really. I mean it. Posting. With wit, humor, and vicious, viscous prose. I don't know what vicious viscous prose is exactly, but it was a chance to use the words viscous and vicious in the same sentence. With alliteration no less.

On second thought, go ahead and post your pathetic and feeble attacks on Harry Potter. What do I have to fear? I have vicious, viscous prose at my disposal! Tremble before the vale of my viciously viscous and voluminously viper-like volumes of voluptuous, virile prose.

...

I think I just hurt my brain.

Oh and by the way, my Xbox Gamercard shows up in Japanese and it takes me to the Japanese version of Xbox.com. Stupid Camino browser. Stupid Blogspot.

Update: Fixed the Camino problem. If you use Camino and Xbox.com redirects you to the Japanese site, go to here and click on your country. Fixed it for me.

Anyone checked on Hell lately?

2007-01-23T19:44:00.001-07:00

Tucson froze Sunday night. Literally. A cold winter storm blew in and dumped
quite a bit of rain on the city. Then it got REALLY cold, and that rain turned
to ice and snow. I remember Jen and I were sitting in the living room and she
just happened to look out and said "Um...there's snow on my car." To which I
replied "...FTW!"

Going to work the next day was surreal. Everything was coated in anywhere from
0.5-2" of snow and a lot of the trees were completely frozen over. It was quite
beautiful actually. I took some pictures of the Catalina mountains, and some of
the scenery around my office. Enjoy!

Update: Apparently, Josh is not l337 enough to know what FTW means. See my response to his comment. Josh, FTW.

Picacho Peak

2007-01-21T20:51:00.000-07:00

Jen, her brother Jeff, her dad Bob, and I hiked Picacho Peak this last Saturday. All the way to the top. Oh. My. God. That is one brutal hike. That was one of the hardest and most challengins hikes I've ever been on. But I hauled my new Pentax all the way to the top, and managed to get some great photos! Check 'em out! Oh and BTW, I'm about 1/3 of the way done with my first book review, Neal Stephenson's "Snow Crash". Look for it in about a week or two. :-)

New toy II

2007-01-17T01:06:00.000-07:00

Hooray! It's finally here! I got my new digital SLR! For those not in the know, that's a camera. :-P I'm so excited! This is the first camera I've had since high school, and my first digital camera EVER! It's not the top of the line, but it has more than enough for me right now. Plus it's a bit smaller and lighter than the big professional-grade cameras like the Nikon D200 or the Canon 30D so it should travel much better. Which is good for Japan. Expect to see some great shots from over there!

I uploaded my first batch of pictures onto my Flickr account. Just click the little photostream thingy in the sidebar. If you want information about ISO, exposure, shutter speed, etc. let me know and I can pull the metadata from the pics.

Update: Josh pointed out to me that Flickr saves the metadata when you upload the pictures. Sweet!

Happy New Year!

2007-01-02T09:43:00.000-07:00

Happy 2007 to all! We had a kick-ass party at my parent's house. Pics to come.

All I can say is, Meghan...for shame. ;-)

Panic! At Jobbing.com Arena

2006-12-12T00:36:00.000-07:00

Since I seem to be on a blogging binge lately, I totally forgot about some concerts I've seen/I'm going to see. First off, last week we saw "Panic! At the Disco", along with "Cobra Starship" and "Jack's Manaquinn." Now before I talk about this concert let me repeat something I said in a previous post. "Unwritten Law" is the worst live band I've ever seen. Period. I've seen high-school bands perform better. "Cobra Starship" came in just a little, tiny bit above "Unwritten Law." And that's really all I can say about that. They don't even get a picture. ;-)

"Jack's Mannequin" is a different story. Ok, ok. Their cover of U2's "With or Without You" probably caused cancer in at least 30% of the audience, but the rest of the music was pretty damn good. They had the soulfulness of "Train" without all the whining and touchy-feely lyrics, mixed with the edgier sounds of "Acceptance." If only the lead singer could decide if he wanted to sit or stand while singing and playing the piano. He had a sit-down piano, but he would half-stand to sing and ended up looking like he was having a seizure. When he sat his twitchy, flailing ass down it was much better and less epileptastic. Other than that, their music was quite good.

Which brings me to "Panic! At the Disco." Hands down, one of the best live shows I have ever seen. The sets were amazing! They did this whole circus theme (but dark and Victorian-looking) that was just awesome. They even had dancers that were acrobats and tumblers. Very cool. As for the music, it was stellar. "Panic" is one of the most musically talented bands I've seen in a long time. I can't even describe what their music is like, it's just so unique. Not to mention that have incredible stage presence. They did this really cool percussion number that was part "Stomp" (they had trash can lid cymbals and everything) and part drum-line. After that, they played a sweet cover of Queen's "Killer Queen." Wow. Damn good show indeed.

Today I'm going back to the same place (Glendale Arena, aka Jobbing.com Arena) to see "AFI", "Taking Back Sunday", "Plain White T's", and a few others. Show's called the "How the Edge Stole Chritmas." Should be a good one. I saw "AFI" last year at KFMA day (where I saw the Worst Live Band Ever the previous year) and really enjoyed their show. I've been itching to see them again. Should be fun! Check Josh's blog/Flickr feed for pics. He's into all that "photography" stuff. Wait...I used to be into that too. Damn.

Update: I too seem to be into all that "photography" stuff. I figured out what I hadn't been: I had no camera! Would've thought, eh?

Tremble mortals

2006-12-11T20:05:00.000-07:00

Behold the mighty Cylon Snowbot!

Yes that's a sweeping Cylon eye. Yes it also makes scary Cylon sounds. And yes, it's being powered by my Xbox 360. That's right: The Xbox 360 is Cylon technology. w00t.

Now if only I can get it to make me a Number Six...

God I love Battlestar Galactica.

A foreword

2006-12-11T09:48:00.000-07:00

I love literature. Ever since I was little I've always be reading something. Be it a book, a magazine, the newspaper, hell even cereal boxes. I liked comic books to a limited degree, but they had too many pictures and not enough words for my taste. Given the choice of "X-men" or "Of Mice and Men", I'd take the latter every time. This love of books was one of the reasons I decided to do an English minor. I figured as long as I enjoy reading and to a certain degree, writing, I might as well get some sort of recognition for doing things I like to do anyway.

My dad once commented that I would probably end up as an English professor one day. I knew that would never happen, but he can be forgiven this flight of fancy for his progeny as I had brought Paradise Lost as my book of choice along with me on a family ski trip. While it wasn't for a class so much as my own enjoyment (in a semi-masochistic way; it is Milton after all), it did have some practical applications: 340-year old poetry about Heaven, Hell, and Satan makes for good taunts for Counter-Strike.

With hideous ruin and combustion, down
To bottomless perdition, there to dwell
In adamantine chains and penal fire
who durst defy th' omnipotent to arms.

Heh, very Pulp Fiction. Useful for scaring "teh n00bs", or at least distracting them long enough with words like "omnipotent" to stab them in the back.

But I digress. The real reason for this post is this: I'm testing the waters with writing some book reviews. Nothing fancy. Just my thoughts on some books I've read. It'll mostly be stuff that I like, maybe even some commentary on a series as a whole. Maybe I can also get suggestions on new books for me to read. I've been kinda slacking on my reading for awhile, partially because I've just been busy and distracted but mostly because I just haven't branched out in a while. I tend to get really focused on an author I enjoy, and while I find that focus is wonderful for absorbing the whole of an author's works, it also means that once I'm done I have trouble pulling myself out of one dreamworld and plunging into another.

You'll mostly see sci-fi and fantasy books here. That's because I like fantasy and sci-fi. Sure I enjoy the fascinating look at a man's descent into madness in Heart of Darkness or the dark, brooding musings on the nature of crime and suffering in Crime and Punishment as much as the next person, but give me the sweeping battles and rich detail of Lord of the Rings or the mind-blowing dystopian view of the future in the cyberpunk novels like Neuromancer and Snow Crash.

Will I actually manage to review anything? Maybe. But for now, has anyone read any good books lately?

2006-11-27T20:16:00.000-07:00

MPAA Press Release -

The following comments (censored for the safety of the viewing public) appeared on a community-driven news site known as Digg.com this afternoon in response to an article outlining the new strategy of the MPAA in combating the growing threat of home theater pirates:

"I violated (CENSORED) at least 5 times (CENSORED) my family...." – mainfr4me

This kind of reprehensible behavior is indicative of what the MPAA has become aware is normal behavior for this new breed of movie pirate. The MPAA will do all in it's power to crackdown on these violations by introducing new legislation to allow the installation of equipment that will monitor all home theater owners.

All movie viewing sessions will record the IDs of all viewers, along with recording their behavior and movements in case of suspicious behavior or defamatory comments about the MPAA, it's members, or the work produced by the member studios. The data will be sent to the MPAA's Special UnderCover Knowledge Enforcement Regimental Service (SUCKERS), which will then dispatch teams to homes in violation of copyrights. Such violations include, but are not limited to, viewing of films by those not owning a licensed copy of the work, including friends, enemies, lovers, teammates, strangers, coworkers, spouses, partners, children between the ages of 6 months and 150 years, family pets (of any type that have eyes, ears, or any other light or sound sensing organs), light-sensitive plants, people from any country containing the letters A, E, I, O, U, or Y or whose name contains any combination of said letters, and pests or insects that are present within 100 yards of the theater.

Any person or object found in violation of copyright laws, will be fined a minimum of $500,000 per movie viewing. Such persons will be labeled “enemy combatants” and will be dealt with accordingly by SUCKERS teams.

The viewing of copyrighted works without obtaining a license via the proper channels is a crime and is a "gateway" to harder violations such as music piracy, removing the "DO NOT REMOVE" tags from mattresses, jaywalking, speeding, walking on the grass, drug use, child molestation, organ harvesting, terrorism, and even full-scale illegal movie downloading and DVD copying for backup purposes.

The MPAA takes these matters very seriously because if such behavior is allowed to grow unchecked, it could threaten the very fabric of society and the family values upon which America is built. Unlicensed viewing of copyrighted works not only funds terrorism (as been proven by the Independent Department In Orthodox Terrorist Studies (IDIOTS)), but actually causes cancer in puppies and is a major contributing factor to global warming.

Original Digg post

HD-DVDland

2006-11-08T17:42:00.000-07:00

Picture of my new toy: The Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive. That's right: HD-DVD baby! I can't wait!

The great thing is it will only cost about $100-140, even though the retail price is $199. How? Behold my fuzzy math:

+ $199 -- Price of HD-DVD drive
- $30 -- Discount for getting an Amazon.com credit card
- $30 -- Money from selling the free Universal Remote that is included
- $40 -- Money from selling the free HD-DVD copy of "King Kong" that is included

Total: $99

However I don't know if "King Kong" comes with the one I ordered, so it might only be a savings of $60 rather than $100, but we'll see. Either way it's the cheapest HD-DVD player you can get! Anyone care to join me for a innagural HD movie watching session? Maybe Friday?

OMFGSPLOSION!!!!!!! I'M F*CKING ENGAGED!!!!

2006-10-20T21:12:00.000-07:00

That's right, Jen and I are tying the knot! I can't believe I actually proposed! I was so nervous and just kinda blurted it out, but she said YES!!! That's why she's the greatest person on the planet and I love her so much! w00000000t!!!!!!!

Midterms

2006-10-19T23:22:00.000-07:00

I hate midterms. They're not as bad as finals 'cause you still have half the semester to make it up, but they suck because they remind you that yeah, you have to do this a second time in 9 weeks. They're also just as hard as finals, but you don't have a week of no class to study for them. So all in all, they blow.

Midterm elections are kinda like that. They're half way between the big elections, they're just as important and complicated, but they just don't have as big a run-up or have the same feel as a presidential election.

So as we near zero hour of the elections, I just thought I would let everyone know which propositions and officials I'm voting for. These two sites-a blog, and a more official site-offer some guidelines and good explanations of each proposition. They blog is definately left-leaning, but still has good information for you red-types. ;)

Propositions - Yes Votes

Senate & Congressional Candidates

Jim Pederson (despite the crappy TV ads)
Raúl Grijalva

Governor

Janet Napolitano

Phew, I don't know about you guys but I'll be taking a cheat sheet in with me! Everyone who is able should get out and vote, but ONLY if you're informed about what you are voting for. Remember, the descriptions on the ballot for each proposition are written by the groups that got it there in the first place, so they always try to make it sound appealing. Your best bet is to get more information so you can make an intelligent decision.

And to finish this little post, a video of my new hero Keith Olbermann. Listen and learn:

Best Dad Ever!!!...Dad gives best gift to son! Read then watch the video

2006-10-19T22:59:00.000-07:00

This is an incredible story...and by far makes Dick Hoyt the best dad in the world award!

"I try to be a good father. Give my kids mulligans. Work nights to pay For their text messaging. Take them to swimsuit shoots. But compared with Dick Hoyt, I suck."

Read the article first and then watch the video

read more | digg story

Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive shipping November 7 in the US

2006-10-19T10:50:00.000-07:00

So sayeth Gamestop at least. Not sure if this is accurate, but it would be nice it true. Now if only we can get it for the same price as Japan...

read more | digg story

We the people

2006-10-03T10:54:00.001-07:00

Alright, so I've been studying the new bill, along with the Consitution (i.e. what Bush calls "just a piece of paper"), particularly Article III. From what I can tell it appears that the alarmism everyone is spouting is just that: alarmism. While I find this bill morally wrong and quite frankly disgusting, there really is nothing illegal about it. So here's what I've found.

First, The Supreme Court does have judicial review power (the power to review the legality of a law used to prosecute someone. Established by Marbury v. Madison), but they will only hear a case if it's a matter of law, not matters of fact. The issue has to be that the law that was used to prosecute someone is flawed or possibly unconstitutional. You cannot take your case to the Supreme Court if it's matters of fact, i.e. "That's not my DNA on the victim!"

Also the Supreme Court can only exercise judicial review if the law is challenged by a case. It can come to the Supreme Court in three ways:

The Supreme Court decides to exercise original jurisdiction. This can only happen for cases involving ambassadors, or if a state is a party, i.e. Bob v. the state of Arizona. This is very rare and is usually only exercised in state v. state matters.
A case is appealed to the Supreme Court from a lower federal court. Not situations allow for the right of appeal. Double jeopardy is one such situation. If someone is accused of murder and is acquitted, the State cannot appeal the ruling and try them again in a higher court.
The Supreme Court issues a writ of certiorari. This is is an order by the appellate court to review the lower court's decision for legal error when no right of appeal exists. Four of the nine Supreme Court Justices must agree to issue the writ (known as the "rule of four")

Now, according to section 950g of this new bill, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has sole jurisdiction as the appeals court for this new military court. But in order to send a case to DC court, the convicted party must waive their right to have their case reviewed by appealing to the military court of review. Take a look:

Sec. 950g. Review by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and the Supreme Court

`(a) Exclusive Appellate Jurisdiction- (1)(A) Except as provided in subparagraph (B), the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit shall have exclusive jurisdiction to determine the validity of a final judgment rendered by a military commission (as approved by the convening authority) under this chapter.

`(B) The Court of Appeals may not review the final judgment until all other appeals under this chapter have been waived or exhausted.

`(2) A petition for review must be filed by the accused in the Court of Appeals not later than 20 days after the date on which--

`(A) written notice of the final decision of the Court of Military Commission Review is served on the accused or on defense counsel; or

`(B) the accused submits, in the form prescribed by section 950c of this title, a written notice waiving the right of the accused to review by the Court of Military Commission Review under section 950f of this title.

`(b) Standard for Review- In a case reviewed by it under this section, the Court of Appeals may act only with respect to matters of law.

`(c) Scope of Review- The jurisdiction of the Court of Appeals on an appeal under subsection (a) shall be limited to the consideration of--

`(1) whether the final decision was consistent with the standards and procedures specified in this chapter; and

`(2) to the extent applicable, the Constitution and the laws of the United States.

`(d) Supreme Court- The Supreme Court may review by writ of certiorari the final judgment of the Court of Appeals pursuant to section 1257 of title 28.

Once in the DC court, the case will then be reviewed and if the issue of constitutionality is valid, then the case can be appealed to the Supreme Court where a ruling can be made. Note that at any time either the DC court or the Supreme Court can reject the case. The Supreme Court can also review the case by exercising their power to submit a writ of certiorai. Again, only if this is a matter of law.

Now 950j states that

Except as otherwise provided in this chapter and notwithstanding any other provision of law (including section 2241 of title 28 or any other habeas corpus provision), no court, justice, or judge shall have jurisdiction to hear or consider any claim or cause of action whatsoever, including any action pending on or filed after the date of the enactment of the Military Commissions Act of 2006, relating to the prosecution, trial, or judgment of a military commission under this chapter, including challenges to the lawfulness of procedures of military commissions under this chapter.

That first phrase "Except as otherwise provided in this chapter " is critical. What this is saying is that other than the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and the Supreme Court, no OTHER courts may challenge the decisions of this military court. This is perfectly legal as the federal courts are given power by congress, and congress can limit their scope and jurisdiction. They are simply limiting the appeals to a single court. In other-words, you can't appeal to the court of appeals in California or Washington.

Congress has no power to limit the Supreme Court's jurisdiction, short of passing an amendment to the Constitution (which would never happen). No matter how much Bush flails and whines and complains and makes new courts, the Supreme Court has the power to overturn any lower court, including military courts. This is part of the checks and balances. The check against the Supreme Court is that they can only make rulings if a case is challenged and brought before them.

You can disagree with a law passed by Congress while still agreeing it's perfectly legal. I despise this bill and I'm not sure it's entirely legal, but we will see. Making certain kinds of torture legal and suspending habeus corpus for detainees is wrong. If the US wants to be a world leader, we have to hold ourselves to higher standards than everyone else. Part of that is how we treat our prisoners. By giving even "enemy combatants" the same legal rights as citizens, giving them a fair trial, and treating them as human beings, we can prove to the world that we are truly better than those that hide behind religion as an excuse for killing.

By ordaining torture, suspending the rights of those we capture and continuing a pointless and morally reprehensible war, we are saying that we care more about ourselves then about the rest of the world. And selfish leaders always do more harm than good.

All your rights are belong to us.

2006-09-29T13:20:00.000-07:00

This is just getting worse and worse. First there's the wiretapping bill (which thankfully looks like it will die), now this. There's a lot of uninformed opinions on this one, but the gist of it is that Congress has approved military tribunals for "enemy combatants", with no rights of habeus corpus, and no limits on detention length severity of punishment. In fact the bill specifically states that no Federal court has the power to hear habeus corpus cases!

This effectively gives the Executive Branch judical power over anyone they label a terrorist, with no oversight by the 200+ year-old US court system. And US Citizens? Yup, they are also included, though they retain their habeus corpus rights.

We've never done this before. The terrorist that bombed the WTC in 1993 was tried in a Federal Court. The guys behind the Oklahoma City bombing were tried in a Federal court. Now they fall under this new category where everything is controlled by the military, which is part of the Executive Branch and answers to the President. Which means one branch is now judge, jury, and executioner.

I hate the current state of this country. Every day the people of American let more and more of their rights be eroded and taken away, all in the name of security. You know what's really frightening? This has happened before. In the 1940s. In Germany. Care to take a guess of whom I am speaking? Correct. Hitler set up the People's Court to handle those accused of political criminal offences. It was established after a terrorist attack on Germany known as the Reichstag fire. It had the appearance of a court, but it nothing more than a facade to facilitate the elimination of people that Hitler deemed troublesome. Most were executed or imprisoned, including people as young as 17 and college students who distributed anti-war material.

How long before a direct attack on the Bill of Rights itself? "We can't have 'terrorists' pleading the 5th, so we better get rid of that one." Or "If we have a public trial, it might be a terrorist target so we better have the trials in secret." Or even "Ah hell! We KNOW their guilty! They're TERRORISTS after all! So let's just skip the whole trial thing and kill 'em."

read more | digg story

Somebody set us up the sex bomb!

2006-09-26T14:10:00.000-07:00

A little g33k poetry courtesy of Bash.org:

WallJam7: roses are red
WallJam7: violets are blue
WallJam7: all of my base
WallJam7: are belong to you

Breathtaking hi-res Okami Wallpapers

2006-09-26T13:10:00.000-07:00

Who knew a video game could be this beautiful? These are works of art! I'm tempted to print a few out with a super high-quality photo printer and get them framed.

read more | digg story

Geek/Nerd/Dork quiz

2006-09-21T13:27:00.000-07:00

Modern, Cool Nerd

56 % Nerd, 78% Geek, 34% Dork

For The Record:

A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.

A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.

A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.

You scored better than half in Nerd and Geek, earning you the title of: Modern, Cool Nerd.

Nerds didn't use to be cool, but in the 90's that all changed. It used to be that, if you were a computer expert, you had to wear plaid or a pocket protector or suspenders or something that announced to the world that you couldn't quite fit in. Not anymore. Now, the intelligent and geeky have eked out for themselves a modicum of respect at the very least, and "geek is chic." The Modern, Cool Nerd is intelligent, knowledgable and always the person to call in a crisis (needing computer advice/an arcane bit of trivia knowledge). They are the one you want as your lifeline in Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (or the one up there, winning the million bucks)!

Congratulations!

Also, you might want to check out some of my other tests if you're interested in any of the following:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Professional Wrestling

Love & Sexuality

America/Politics

Thanks Again! -- THE NERD? GEEK? OR DORK? TEST

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 57% on nerdiness
You scored higher than 97% on geekosity
You scored higher than 56% on dork points

Link: The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test written by donathos on OkCupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

What are they teaching those ASU girls?

2006-09-18T09:26:00.000-07:00

Via Overheard In the Office:

Coed #1: He had told me not to do anything special for his birthday. He said to forget he was having a birthday at all. But then he came over, and I could tell that he was down.
Coed #2: Because it was his birthday, and he was thirty.
Coed #1: Yeah.
Coed #2: And he's dating an eighteen-year-old.
Coed #1: Shut up. So then we had sex? And it wasn't, like, the most amazing time, but I faked it. But, like, really over the top? And he was happy the rest of the day!

University & College Avenues
Tempe, Arizona

Honda Fit Tetris Commercial

2006-09-18T09:02:00.000-07:00

Honda + Tetris = Awsome geek commercial goodness

read more | digg story

It's Showtime...

2006-09-09T10:23:00.000-07:00

...and it's about FUCKING time too. Recently Apple sent out invitations to the press to attend a special keynote address by Steve "Reality Distortion Field" Jobs at the Paris Apple Expo. The invitations simply read "It's Showtime."

Apple has been slacking on product announcements for awhile now. Sure the Nano was cool and the transition to Intel was a much-appreciated speed boost (and one step closer to unifying personal computing), but we haven't seen anything truely exciting or ground-breaking from the Cupertino folks in a long time. iPod Hi-Fi? Nike+iPod? Fun, but please; these are toys.

To be fair, Josh does have a Hi-Fi and while I still think it's overpriced, it does sound pretty damn good, even on batteries. But the point is that nothing really new has come out of Apple for awhile. So when rumors started swirling about a special event on Sept. 12th, the Mac forums lit up with rampant speculation and wild claims. Everything from a Windows Media Center killer, to the iTunes Movie Store, to the fabled "widescreen iPod" and even the near mythical iPhone is being touted as the big announcement.

Well if you filter out all the craziness, most people agree that this is the most likely list of things being introduced:

Updated iPod Nano - Up to 8GB, metal shell, multiple colors (wait...where have I seen this before?)
iTunes Movie Store - Kinda self-explanatory, but own or rent?
Core 2 Duo - Replacing of the Core Duos with Core 2 Duos in the iMac and MacBook lines
23" iMac - Better, faster, stronger
Mac Mini Refresh - Core Solo getting the axe, Core Duos for both models
Updated 5th gen iPods - Same price point, but with 40 and 80GB drives
And one more thing...

Pretty good lineup for a special event. Just about everything seems to be revolving around making a Mac and an iPod the center of your music AND movie experience. But still, nothing revolutionary right?

Wrong.

On Sept. 5th, with no warning, annoucement, or fanfare (and completely surprising, well, EVERYONE), Apple released all new iMacs with Core 2 Duo processers, added a 24" iMac that is HD-capable (i.e. 1080p), reduced the price of the two smaller models, AND refreshed the Mac Mini line while keeping the same price point. Whoa. Oh and did I mention that the 24" iMac is now VESA-compliant? Meaning you can mount it on the wall like any modern plasma or LCD HDTV. And at 24", it's ready to be a prime HD-capable entertainment device.

It's interesting to note that every previous annoucement of new or updated Intel-based Macs was done at either a special event or a normal expor like MacWorld or WWDC. Which begs the question: What could possibly be happening on the 12th that an update of TWO entire computer lines, AND the introduction of a completely new model was deemed too minor to warrant sharing the stage with this unknown annoucement? Whatever it is, it's BIG. Like possibly the biggest thing Apple has done since, well possibly the iPod.

I mean when you have a special event to introduce a battery-powered boombox and an FM tuner and NOTHING ELSE, stiffing the new 24" iMac of anything less than the full Steve Jobs-black-turtleneck-and-jeans treatment means that something is happening that has been in the works for a long time. Something that could be incredible. Something that should have EVERY company in the ENTIRE digital entertainment business SCARED SHITLESS.

Should've turned left at Google Calendar

2006-08-18T10:35:00.000-07:00

Ever take a wrong turn while driving and discoverd some cool little shop or restaurant you never would have found otherwise? Sometimes the Internet is like that. Mispell the URL you are typing and usually you get an error. But sometimes it takes you to another site. Often, porn. However every now and then you find some neat little place that makes you wonder just how many hidden gems the Internet has tucked away deep in the server mines.

For example, I was trying to get Gmail. I usually type so fast that I don't notice when I've mispelled something. So when I tried to type "www.gmail.com" I actually typed "www.gamil.com" And what did I find? Well Gamila is a company from that makes a couple of very cool items. An iPod case, and the TeaStick (a very slick tea infuser). Never would have found this site if I hadn't mistyped Gmail. Anyway, just thought I'd share. :)

Video game reviews can kiss my ass

2006-08-17T14:50:00.000-07:00

I've had it with game reviewers. I literally can't stand it any more. I've tried so hard to read reviews and believe that I am getting an informed, unbiased analysis of a game. But after reading review after review criticizing the game "Ninety-Nine Nights" for what I consider to be petty and shallow reasons, I've come to the conclusion that game reviews are jaded, arrogant, spoiled, snobbish, and many times just whiny. For example:

"The action starts out completely mindless and wears even thinner as time goes on."
-Gamespot

"Ninety-Nine Nights is a game that is hard to get immersed in and even harder to enjoy."
-IGN.com

"Some irritating design decisions, combined with horrible voice acting and the generally repetitious nature of the action, results in a game with limited appeal for a mass audience."
-1UP.com

The reason I find these types of comments worthless is they seem to come from someone who hasn't spent more than a few hours with a game. That's not enough to give a proper review man! That like taking a new car out for a test drive, and 1/3 of the way through you just stop and say "Ok, I'm going to write a review of this entire car after driving it for 30 min."

I like to believe that they take their time and first flip through the manual to see if there's anything important in there. Is there background story? Character histories? Hey what a concept! Game manuals used to have tons of story and background stuff in there. So if you wanted the complete experience, you had to RTFM!!! Games have moved away from this, but sometimes time and budget constraints force game designers to set up the story and give background on the characters by writing it in the manual rather than making extra cinematics or cut-scenes. "Homeworld" was an excellent example of this. In addition to a rich and deep storyline, there was literally a novella in the manual on the history of the game universe.

The problem is most game reviewers want/need to crank out a review after a few hours of playing the game. They don't have the time or the patience to delve more deeply into a game to try and understand it. They just jump in, start playing and if they don't "get it" within a few minutes, the score suffers and they claim it has a "weak" story. For example, in the game "Ninety-Nine Nights" (N3), one of the main characters Inphyy is lost in the woods and suddenly sees a vision of her older brother, which then chastises her, calling her evil and a coward and that she'll be damned for her actions on the battlefield (on the previous mission she kills enemy civilians during the battle). On it's own, this scene doesn't make much sense and seems out of place. But if you read the manual section about her character, you'll find out that while she puts on a strong exterior, her intense adoration of her brother coupled with being only 17, shows that she is quite fragile and immature.

But this kind of depth is almost unilaterally ignored by the game reviewers because it is not handed to you by the game. Since this is the more modern approach to gaming, it is something that is expected and when a game takes an old-school approach like N3, people complain. True, a game that does nothing to advance the story is grounds for a poor review but not taking the time to understand what is going on before passing judgment is irresponsible at best. I mean everyone has had the experience where you didn't understand a movie the first time, but when it dawns on you realize how much better the movie was.

Bah, I could go on but I still haven't finished N3 yet, so I can't in good conscience continue thrashing the game reviews before I have experienced the entire game myself. But I expect it will be similar. Bottom line: Take any game review with a very large grain of salt. Hell take it with a whole salt lick.

A long time and a new toy...

2006-05-07T22:44:00.001-07:00

Ok, so I think a month and a week is a good, long time to wait between posts. Geez, why haven't I updated this? Well I guess my reasoning was that I was in the process of making a major decision about something, and I wanted to make that final before I posted about it. But I got so caught up in the whole thing that I kinda forgot about posting. But I'm back now, so here it goes.

Some people were aware that I was looking for a new car. I actually started looking almost a year ago when I first started my job, but I didn't get far. I started with the new VW Jetta, moved into SUV territory with the Nissan Murano and Xterra, and even toyed with the new Toyota RAV4. But none of those excited me for more than a week or so, which to those who know me well means I'm really not interested. Then Chris got his Mazda RX-8, and I started looking at the Mazda6 and the Mazdaspeed6, which quickly in the same way as the others.

Then after a week of playing "Need for Speed: Most Wanted" on my 360, I decided (just for kicks) to see how much a Porsche 911 or a Carerra GT goes for these days. Needless to say, it was rather pricey. As is the Cayanne (Porsche's SUV), though if you go for the $100k Cayanne Turbo S, you will have the fastest SUV on the road. And I kid you not when I say it's nearly as fast as a 911 Turbo: 0-60 mph in 4.8 seconds. In a fucking SUV. Damn .

But as I was looking at these dream cars that I won't be able to afford for a looooong time, I just happened to notice that, at the bottom of the Cars.com page, were a bunch of Boxsters for under $20k. Sure they were older, but these were hot cars! And I could afford one! An idea started brewing until....

Yup, you're looking at my new 2002 Porsche Boxster S. Traded in my Honda Prelude and got a great deal for it. Only had 33k miles on it too! The Prelude had more than that when I traded it in, so this was a great deal. I'm still a bit stunned that I drive a Porsche. I'm getting used to this as "my car" but it's still hard to wrap my head around. Anyway, here's some pics I took while on a drive up Mt. Lemmon today (like the one above) with Chris (or you can see my Flickr slideshow here):

March Idiotness - The guy with the worst NCAA bracket of all time

2006-03-24T13:54:00.000-07:00

Ok, I just HAD to post this story. It...well there are just no words. None. The unbelieveably vast pit of pure incompetence that lurks in this guy's head is just staggering. It must be read to be believed.

March Madness

2006-03-24T09:41:00.000-07:00

Now I bet you're expecting me to talk about the Men's NCAA Basketball Tournament, right? While I am thoroughly enjoying the tourney so far (even though my brackets are now totally screwed thanks to LSU's ousting of Duke and Gonzaga's jaw-dropping collapse in the final seconds against UCLA), I am in fact speaking of the Xbox 360 Gamerscore contest between Josh, Brad, and myself.

It's been pretty close between Josh and I the past week, and now that we are entering the home stretch it looks like it might be a photo finish. But Brad is still the dark horse in all this as he has a lot of games that could potentially put him over the top, but we'll just have to wait and see.

To ensure that we don't lose track of the time, I've put a countdown timer on my blog to track how much time we have left. It's set to expire at 12:01 AM April 1, so when you see the words "Game over!", it's done, no more, el fin.

I'm thinking it might be time to rent some games this weekend. Hmm...what to choose.

Fun with the CS lab Nazi

2006-03-07T11:57:00.000-07:00

This is the week for funny spam emails. I just recently got this one from none other than the CS Lab Nazi: John P. Cropper:

You have been violating the quota restrictions on
your CS alumni account for CGI space and have now
received 33 warnings.

Your WWW and CGI areas have been removed and your CS
alumni account scheduled for removal in May 2006

John Cropper
CS 'lab' staff

Hmmm...33 warnings, eh? Let's use a little math to determine just how much I care:

(33 warnings - 33 messages from 'root' that were flagged as spam) + 1 annoyed email from Cropper - 1 sarcastically replied to email from Cropper = 0 care level

Frankly, I was tired of the damn "over quota restrictions" emails and I was going to actually do something about it...but then I realized it would be more fun to see how long they would stand for my deliciously obscene quota violations. Turns out that 33 is the magic number where they finally snapped. Looks like I'm losing my alumni account. Gee, I feel real sad you know?

True, I did have my forums running on there but after my time as a CS127a section leader was up, they didn't get used anymore. Plus I can always host them somewhere else if I feel like it.

Pretty fire gym

2006-03-06T08:29:00.000-07:00

Ok, the spam e-mails have just started getting wacky now. Not the usual "Increase you penis size with cheap viagra + free ink cartridges!" But getting borderline insane. I mean, it's like they aren't even trying to sell you crap anymore. Now they just have raving lunatics with laptops and access to Babelfsih writing their ads for them. Take a look. Here is a spam e-mail I got a few weeks ago, with the subject line "XP PRO, OFFICE 2003 AND ALL AT ONLY $12-60 EACH, WE GIVE U LICENSE":

side mentioned principle pretty fire gym. here find news wife profession make. latter why black bad light social.
black here thus speaking pride.
my human commit. happened anything yours again.
wife here wife different? sandwich anybody studied bought light immediate, thats is few.
motor commit taught respect wrong, window latter being.

And here's one I got this morning (same subject line):

anybody back window sugar mentioned wrong. corner sandwich edge disappoint anything. miserable happened social?
happened bought again. fascinate added similar side disappoint here,
prison bought sandwich commit somewhere,
studied goes rich wanted.
night supposedto principle. find reference fascinate use, mischievous taught supposedto?

Wow. Just wow.

30 books you should read before you die

2006-03-04T23:27:00.000-07:00

Found this through Fark of all places. Apparantly librarians all over Britain were polled about what books everyone should read before they die. Since I think this is a great list, I'm presenting it here. (I've hightlighted books I've read in bold)

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Bible
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by JRR Tolkien
1984 by George Orwell
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
All Quiet on the Western Front by E M Remarque
His Dark Materials Trilogy by Phillip Pullman
Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The Lord of the Flies by William Golding
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
Tess of the D'urbevilles by Thomas Hardy
Winnie the Pooh by AA Milne
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
The Prophet by Khalil Gibran
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Middlemarch by George Eliot
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzenhitsyn

So I haven't read a lot of these, but I feel good that I've read the top 5 (well not ALL of the Bible, but some if it at least). Looks like I've got some work to do. Oh and here's the original story.

Laser chess? Hell yeah!

2006-03-02T00:30:00.000-07:00

Check out this sweet game called Deflexion! It's similar to chess, except some of the pieces have mirrros on them that reflect a laser beam around the board. To win you have to position your pieces (which are Egyptian themed) to strike the other player's pharoh (i.e. checkmate). Only $40 too. Man this would turn a few heads down at Starbucks :-p. Check out the site.

The greatest 4 minutes in basketball history

2006-02-27T17:21:00.000-07:00

You hardcore sports fans may disagree with me on this one, but it's because of stuff like this that we play sports:

Edit 2: Haha, looks like it wasn't my fault! Josh just posted that CBS pulled the video! Guess YouTube was getting more views than the CBS stations. I've reposted the video (now it's from CNN). Man this post is the most work I've had to do for awhile.

Edit: Ok, WTF? I just copied and pasted the embedded code from YouTube twice, and for some reason it's working now. Just in case, I've put the link up here.

Let the games begin!

2006-02-20T10:38:00.000-07:00

In the spirit of friendly competition such as the Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy, myself and a few friends have decided to have a little Xbox 360 contest. As most people know, the new Xbox Live has a point system that awards players points for achieving certain goals in different games. These goals are called Achievements, and the points earned are called Gamer Points.

Now this whole thing started when Josh got his 360 first and started earning points. I got mine about two months later and, after some marathon sessions on Call of Duty 2, passed him up. And since both of us are naturally competitive when it comes to games, we decided "What the hell! Let's have a real contest! Most points by some date wins." The prize? A whole bunch of Microsoft points (not the same as Gamer Points), which are the currency used in the Xbox Live Marketplace to buy Xbox Live Arcade games, Xbox Live Dashboard skins, and gamer pictures. We even managed to get Brad to join (with a 2000 point handicap since he started late). So, here are the terms, prizes, etc.:

The contest ends at 12:01 AM, April 1st 2006. Any points earned after that time will not be counted.
The contest consists of Mike Deats (SQUIDwarrior), Brad Dux (IcedError) and Josh Schlag (schlizzag).
The winner will be determined by whomever has the most points by the date stated above.
Each participant will put 1600 Microsoft points (equivalent to approx. $20) into the pot, winner takes all.
Co-op points are allowed (i.e. co-op missions in Perfect Dark Zero or Kameo, either with each other or with other gamers.
Trash-talking is highly encouraged.
Mike will pwn you all.

Ok, I added that last bit but it is in accordance with the trash-talking rule.

So that's it. There's a little over a month to go and so far it's been a blast! There's still lots to go so make sure you keep up and may the best gamer win!

Dreams really can come true...

2006-02-17T12:54:00.000-07:00

Many people know that one of my all-time favorite games is a little-known gem known as System Shock 2 (SS2. WARNING! This link has plot spoilers, so be warned!). It was released in 1999 and continues the story of "the Hacker" (you) from the original System Shock game (1993). SS2 won many Game of the Year titles in 1999, and it almost always shows up on "Greatest Games of All Time" lists (PC Gamer had it as number #5). It's mixture of atmosphere, plot, unique challenges and character-driven storytelling, plus some mind-bending plot twists, make it one of the most original and breathtaking games ever pressed to a CD. In fact, 7 years later, there is still an active (even rabid) fan base that is still creating new maps, missions, and even upgrading the graphics and gameplay models.

I first played SS2 around 2002 I think. My roommates at the time said "Ok, you HAVE to play this game. You have to play it in the dark, alone, with either surround sound or some serious headphones. And you have to play it loud." So I did. And boy, once I got about half-an-hour into the game, I began to become afraid. I was literally TERRIFIED at times. Never has a game made me so paranoid or edgy in my entire life. There were times that I felt that my own life was in mortal danger; that the game was trying to kill ME. I kid you not. I think these quotes from Gamespot's "Greatest Games of All Time" write up about SS2 really sums up what made SS2 so great:

The game was scary. Damn scary. And this isn't schlocky-horror-movie-style monster-closet scary, where the bogeyman jumps out at you when you least expect it. Shock 2 projected real psychological terror through the tragic grotesquery of the formerly human enemies, the urgency and grim portent of the crew members' audio logs, and the unparalleled sound design that brought the menace and forebodingness of the Von Braun to horrible life.

... Sometimes characters are betrayed, but the player never is. I wanted to violate that trust and make the player feel that they, and not [only] the character, were led on and deceived." - Ken Lavine, General Manager, Irrational Games

System Shock introduced what is, in my opinion, the most incredible villain in gaming history: The female AI SHODAN (WARNING! This link has spoilers, though they aren't too bad. You have been warned). Most villains in video games are simply trying to kill you, and so you try and kill them back. SHODAN was much more insidious than that. She was manipulative, scheming, and unquestioningly evil. I remember one part where you have an uneasy alliance as you're both trying not to die, and she provides you with some supplies to help you with your mission (essentially enhancements to your cybernetic implants). During this particular chapter, you find an empty storage compartment with the door stuck half open. Since your weapons are constantly deteriorating and you have very limited ammo, you tend to explore everything you can (you will never be as excited over finding 5 bullets as you are in SS2, trust me). As you approach the room, SHODAN pipes up to warn you (rather menacingly) that you are running out of time and need to get on with your mission. You now have a choice. Do you enter the compartment and explore, or do you obey SHODAN and continue?

Well if you make the choice to explore, you will come across something that tells you that SHODAN is more involved with what is going on than she wants you to believe, and that something is horribly, horribly wrong. Once you exit the room, SHODAN promptly removes your upgrades and says, ominously,

I hope you enjoyed your little rebellion, irritant. But remember, what SHODAN gives she is more than able to take away.

Damn, when creepy computer AIs start paraphrasing scripture, you know you've got problems. When she said that to me the first time, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck rise. Though by far the best quote that really epitomizes all that makes SHODAN at once a wonderful and terrifying villain can be summed up in this audio clip. (It's in the Ogg Vorbis format, so you'll need this codec to play it). There's also this collection of quotes from both SS and SS2. There are spoilers here, so be careful if you want to be completely surprised.

So why am I posting all this you ask yourself? Maybe it's pure sentiment for my past, like my post about Babylon 5. Maybe it's my revitalized interest in video games thanks to my Xbox 360. I think in truth it is closer to something in between. The main reason I am posting this is because Irrational Games (makers of the System Shock series), are making what they call a "spiritual successor" to SS2 called BioShock. Gamespot has a great retrospective on SS2 that really ties in with this concept.

Needless to say, I can't wait. It's supposed to come out in 2007 for PC and 360. It's set in the late 1960s, in an "intellectual utopia" community known as Rapture that just so happens to reside at the bottom of the ocean. You awaken floating in the ocean with survival the only goal in mind, and you soon find yourself trapped in this bizarre world (much like how you find yourself on the Von Braun, the spaceship you wakeup on in SS2) Game Informer had a feature on this game in the latest issue and am positively giddy with excitement. This is one of my gaming dreams come true (with the other being Freespace 3, but that's another story). While it's not System Shock 3, it is at least the same team that made SS2 and they are going to take the same concepts and game mechanics and mold them into a new game.

2007 can't get here fast enough.

I hate Valentine's Day...and cruises rule

2006-02-14T23:52:00.000-07:00

I have the best girlfriend in the entire world. For many, many reasons. But the main one I wanted to mention is the fact that Jen doesn't like Valentine's Day. Hates it, in fact. Which is great for me because I don't have to do anything or plan anything special, jsut because someone said today is supposed to be romantic for no particular reason. And since our anniversery is on the 3rd of February anyway, it'd be kinda anticlimatic to do something extravagent 11 days later. Oh well.

On the brighter side, Jen and I are going on a cruise in March! I didn't think we'd be able to do a cruise because of airfare and all that, but I found a 3-day out of Los Angeles to Mexico for a great price! And if we leave early enough, we can just drive all day and then relax on the ship that night. Our itenerary looks like this:

Friday (3/10): Depart from Los Angeles at 5:30pm
Saturday: Arrive in Ensenada Mexico at 8:00am. Depart at 6:00pm.
Sunday: Day at sea.
Monday: Arrive back in LA at 8:00am

I'm really excited because this will be my first real vacation that I paid for myself. Makes me fell all grown up. :-P

Well that's all for now kids. Back to my Xbox 360. Gotta start rackin' up the points.

Google: Naughty BMW! Naughty! No page ranking for you!

2006-02-05T03:01:00.000-07:00

So BMW thought that their "ultimate driving machine" status entitled them to try and cheat the "ultimate searching machine." It seems that BMW's German page (yup, their home country's page no less) used a trick called "doorway pages" which trick search engine ranking systems to make them value pages more highly. Right. Because BMW really NEEDS to let people know via Google about their cars. If this were Fark, this story would have the "dumbass" tag. So when Google found out about it, they issued the "Google Death Penalty" to the page. They gave the page a ranking of 0, effectively removing it from search results.

Check out the full story on Boing Boing.

3D Room Paintings

2006-01-31T20:19:00.000-07:00

Check this out! The first pic shows what appears to be a 3D image superimposed over a picture of a room. But the second pic shows that the 3D-looking image is actually painted ON the room to appear 3D. Neat optical effect!

Clicky here for more.

Project Gotham (Dirty) Racing

2006-01-30T19:49:00.000-07:00

Last night I decided to give PGR3 on Live a try. Well, on the one hand it is very well done, and 99% of the time it's a blast. But that 1%, well it just sucks. The reason is dirty racers. I didn't think it would bother me, but after playing a few dozen races I just can't stand it. These people will ram you into walls, spin out your car for no reason, and even T-bone you if you are already spun out and are trying to right yourself.

Now granted, this kind of thing happens by accident often, and the cars will start spinning pretty quickly. But it's one thing to pass someone on the inside of a turn and accidentally nudge their tail while they're powersliding, and quite another to purposefully spin someone for no reason.

Case in point. I was in a high-speed race that had several crazy corners, and a rather long straightaway. As usual with these races, I was near the back. 7th (out of 8) to be precise. Going into the straightaway, I hit the turn too fast and smacked the wall, while the guy behind me managed to slingshot through nicely. I watched him come up behind me, and I moved to the right since I knew he would pass me and there was nothing I could do about it. Does he just pass me up and then we duke it out at the next turn? Nope. He comes up behind me, and nudges my back end. I spin around twice and slam into the wall. I just sat there fuming, and then backed up and continued the race (because no matter how bad I am doing in a race, I always finish). I was so far behind at that point that I never even saw another car and the time ran out before I could finish.

I was pretty miffed. I mean he could have passed me and finished the race fair and square, (you know because 7th is so much better than 8th at that point), but he felt the need to spin me out when I was LETTING him pass. I could have cut him off and tried to clip him going into the next corner, but I don't race like that. Maybe I should, because it seems that the only way to win on Live is to race dirty. I've seen it happen. The guy in second on the last lap, who has been slamming people into the walls and spinning them over the place, manages to nail the guy in first who's been hitting his race lines the whole time, and wins. I suppose it's inevitable that when people get their hands on any game that has competitive play, they will do anything to give them the edge.

The funny thing is, the guy that spun me can dish it out, but he can't take it. After the race I set his as Non-preferred player for Unsportsman-like conduct, and he sends me a message bitching about how I gave him bad feedback. So I blocked communication from him. Dude if you're going to be an ass, don't be a whiny ass.

But despite this, I really had fun, even though I kinda suck. Hey, I've won 1 race so far. So that's something. I'm not going to let anyone ruin this game for me, so if people are racing dirty, who the hell cares. I'd like it to stop, but it never will. All I can do is just stick to my guns and know that whatever place I come in, it won't be because I cheated to get there.

Firefly posibly coming back in a DVD-only format!!!

2006-01-28T12:41:00.000-07:00

Edit: I'm not entirely sure this site is legit, even though I want it to be. For now, take this with a grain of salt.

"A New independent film company is looking to bring back firefly in a DVD-only format! Check out this site and take the survey, if enough people sign up they will re-hire the serenity crew! If you like the show at all please fill this out and don't let the series die. You can't stop the signal."

This is the latest top Digg story and I HAD to blog it! This would be so AWSOME if they managed to get the rights to the show. If you loved "Firefly," head to the site and submit your "Browncoat recruit profile." They say the more interest they get the closer this is to being a reality.

read more | digg story

The 5th Element

2006-01-28T03:03:00.000-07:00

Ok, so it's a bit of an odd subject but today I listened to the first show of a new podcast being put on by some of the regulars on Slice of Sci-Fi which just so happens to be dedicated to Babylon 5. For those that never watched the show, it was a radical new format for sci-fi shows since pretty much anything in the genre at that generally had something to do with some sort of trek through the stars. The main difference was B5 was planned from the beginning with a complete story arc that would span a full 5 seasons or more (depending on how well the show did). It was quite different from the stand-alone episodes that "Star Trek: The Next Generation" was known for.

The main setting for the story took place on a space station called (you guessed it) Babylon 5. Why 5? Well it just so happens that the first 4 suffered engineering accidents, sabotage, or just plain disappeared. I guess 5th time's the charm, eh? The station itself is fascinating, mainly because one of the central themes of the show was the cultural diversity between all the races living on the station. Bruce Boxleitner (station commander for seasons 2-5) described it as "A free port for diplomats, travelers and businessmen. A combination of building the United Nations and Times Square on an intergalactic scale."

Why am I mentioning this? Why does it matter? Because I love this show, and I feel the need to let other people know about it. In my view it stands head and shoulders above any other sci-fi series to date, including "Star Trek." No, that's not quite true. It STOOD head and shoulders above the rest. B5 has been my gold standard against which all new sci-fi shows are judged. The only shows to gain equal footing with B5 in my mind, are of course "Firefly", and the new "Battlestar Galactica." And let me tell you, coming from me, that is the HIGHEST praise I can bestow.

These shows MEAN something to me. They are a part of my life and as such, a part of my culture. Sure, I watch "CSI" and "Law and Order: SVU," but those shows are just passing through. Nothing compares to the depth and sophistication that B5 displayed in it's 5 year run. B5 dealt with such deep subjects as addiction, self-sacrifice, and most importantly: The struggle between authoritarianism vs. chaos; light vs. dark vs. gray. The gray is especially important because it is often the people caught in the middle of great conflict that suffer the most. War is obviously pivotal to the series, but it is the focus on the untold "third side" of the conflict that truly makes this series stand out. I guess you could say this was the first show that I really cared about. It was so easy to simply let myself be absorbed into the B5 universe and really delve into the story and the characters lives.

Maybe that's a little weird, but in fact I think it's completely normal. Babylon 5 is an epic story, told in the same tradition as the great stories of old: "The Iliad," "Beowulf," "Macbeth." The only difference is the medium; the central themes are still there. This is not just mindless entertainment, nor is it overly cerebral and pretentious. Rather it strikes a balance between being enormously fun to watch, and being deeply philosophical and insightful.

Anyone who hasn't seen this show doesn't know what their missing. Find someone with the DVDs and ask to borrow season 1, or put it in your Netflix queue. Or even buy the crappy Asian import DVDs for $10 and see if you like it. If you give it a chance and watch season 1, it just gets better and better from there.

Well, that's all I have tonight. I got a little philosophical and even waxed a bit nostalgic with this entry, but hey. That's why this is "Mike's Pensieve." ;-)

Mmmm...Podcastilicious

2006-01-25T20:07:00.000-07:00

As everyone else has been doing this, I figured it was time for me to give it a whirl. So here are the podcasts I listen to at least semi-regularly. I love podcasts. They keep me sane on my drive to work and help the day go by so much faster. Plus it keeps me up to date on news and goin's ons. Though most of them deal with tech and sci-fi stuff, but hey: That's what I'm into. So without further ado, here we go. Oh, BTW, you can get all of these off of iTunes for those with iPods.

This Week in Tech (TWiT) - This podcast is great. It's run by a bunch of ex-TechTV hosts and technology journalists. The main character, so to speak, is Leo Laporte who plays host and at time mediator between the other eccentric personalities such as Kevin Rose (one of the brains behind Digg.com) and PC Magazine columnist John C. Dvorak (who gets NO SPAM!!!). Always sharp, witty, interesting, and at times brutally honest.

Major Nelson's Blogcast - Larry Hryb (aka Major Nelson) is the Director of the Xbox Live Programming division at Microsoft. He has great inside info on the Xbox 360, and has done some very interesting interviews with many of the minds behind the Xbox, including one of my former Computer Science section leaders at UofA, David Shaw. If you're into gaming, especially Xbox, this is a good one.

Science Friday - This is the podcast version of the highly popular NPR show. It deals with everything from medical advances, global warming, technology trends, and even the ethics of highly controversial science subjects. This is one of those podcasts that make you just feel smarter.

Security Now! - This is another of the many podcasts by Leo Laporte. Leo does this podcast with Steve Gibson, a computer security expert. This is a very technical podcast that looks at all manner of threats, from viruses to Windows vulnerabilities. Leo really helps keep the show understandable for us mere mortals because, while he's a techie like myself, he's not a hacker or a coder and always asks the right questions to help the listeners understand what Steve babbles about.

PotterCast and MuggleCast - It's probably fairly obvious what these two shows are about. I listed both together because the hosts of both shows do a lot of crossover, each appearing on the other's show. They even did a live podcast in New York after the premiere of "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire." Good stuff if you're a Harry Potter fan.

Spaceship Radio - I have to admit, I love classic radio shows. "War of the Worlds" was always one of my favorites. My Dad had a set of tapes of old radio shows and I used to listen to them all the time. This podcast plays only sci-fi or fantasy related shows (usually episodes of X-1). Plus there is a smattering of great original shows as well. I mean, where else can you hear radio dramatizations of Ray Bradbury and Phillip K. Dick stories anytime you want?

Skepticality - This is just a good, smart, talk show. The hosts Derek and Swoopy (not her real name, obviously) talk about subjects such as crop circles, bigfoot, the Illuminati, urban myths, etc. They have great skeptical insight on all sorts of cool stuff. Derek recently had a stroke, so he's just now getting back on his feet, but he's doing much better.

The Signal - A podcast dedicated solely to Firefly and Serenity two of my favorite shows/movies of all time. Not much new content lately, but a good show nonetheless.

Matt's Today in History - This is another one of those "smart" podcasts. Matt Datillo makes a (usually) daily podcast about a significant historical event that happened today. It can be anything from the last century, to events from Greek and Roman history as well. Each show is only about 4-10 minutes long, so it's great if you miss a few because you can listen to two or three at a time and not be overwhelmed.

Michael and Evo's Slice of Sci-Fi - This is by far one of the funniest and most entertaining podcasts I've ever heard. These guys are nuts about sci-fi, everything from movies, TV shows, and even the ubiquitous Star Trek novels. The best part? This is a local, home-grown podcast picked right off the vine from Phoenix Arizona.

Now I also listen to a few podcasts which are called "podiobooks." They're full-length novels that are released in podcast form, usually once a week. These are great for car trips or just sitting in bed and listening. You can find all of these at Podiobooks.com.

Earthcore - Ok, this is one of the best stories I've ever heard. You just have to check out the site and subscribe as I just can't do it justice. Scott Sigler is a god.

Ancestor - This is Scott Sigler's second podiobook, and it's just as good as Earthcore, though a bit shorter. It just finished this week so you can subscribe now with no waiting!

The Pocket and the Pendant - If any of you have ever read any of the "A Wrinkle in Time" books, you'll love this one. It's very similar in style and touches many different genres, such as sci-fi, fantasy, adventure, and even drama. There's even a little "Lord of the Flies" mixed in there as well. Great book.

Brave Men Run - Just started this one, so I can't give you a good synopsis of it (or even much of an opinion) but it's good so far.

Whew! That was a long list, but well worth it. I love these shows and don't mind at all writing about them. Now if you don't mind, I need to watch UofA kick the crap out of ASU in basketball.

Cheers.

Episode I: A New Post...er Episode IV: The Phantom Blog...I mean...ah hell

2006-01-23T18:40:00.000-07:00

Hey! This is my first post in my new home! Wow, it feels so...liberating compared with my previous blog. I mean, I'm a fan of 1up.com (most of the time) but their blogging tools are about as flexible as a frozen twinkie. I can't even post/link my Xbox Live gamercard! And that's, you know, gaming related. I've e-mailed them about adding this feature, but of course they have ignored me completely. Figures.

So anyway, here I am! (But not in a "Three on a Meathook" sort of way. Heh, probably only 3 people on the planet will get this reference, which is about 3/4 of the total people who have seen this movie). It will probably take awhile for this blog to take shape, but I think I'm going to stay here for awhile at least. Unless Apple drops the price of .Mac accounts. Then I may publish my site using iWeb, but that remains to be seen.

Stay tuned!