Anime Girls

So why is it I've never seen a real Japanese girl with purple hair? They seem prevalent in anime

• Ninamori
• Faye Valentine
• Motoko Kusanagi, etc.

I suppose by that line of reasoning, they should have Giant Fighting Robots and wacky alien fighting monsters there too. Hmm, maybe they do. Maybe Nihon is like the Simpsons episode where the Simpsons go to Japan on vacation.

"Game shows are a little different here. Your shows reward knowledge. We punish ignorance."

Porno Blogs

So, it would seem, porn stars have online journals/blogs. I have read some. They seem ordinary enough, frequent deviant sex acts aside. Maybe (Chris posits) porn actors are just regular people with unusual jobs. Huh. What an idea.

Blues Night Out

Went out to B Street Billiards in San Mateo to represent my peep Aki who was laying down some mean harmonica with his band The Red White and Blues. I caught most of the show, despite getting out late and struggling with crappy downtown San Mateo traffic. What I saw was a great set. They are all talented musicians. Rolling and Tumbling was kickass. Had a little dinner with Rachel, Aki, and Apu afterward. Rachel has finally shed her crappy ass job. Maybe I should look into that. Then I made my way back home. Pretty fine evening, all things taken together.

Scratchy Throat

Got a sore throat. Hope I'm coming down with something. Wah.

Intro Song to GITS:SAC

Is called "Home Stay" and I really like it a lot. Who knew Russian could sound so good when sung? Actually, it's not all Russian, but some of it is (I think).

Ghost In the Shell 2: Innocence Trailer

The trailer for GITS 2 looks simply amazing. But don't take my word for it, check out the large trailer or the small trailer if you don't believe me. Those two are in Quicktime because I'm a QT snob. You can get WMV trailers from here.

Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. And since it's in theaters now (in Japan) it should be only a year or two before it makes its way to the states. Hmm, looks like it got invited to compete at Cannes this year. That bodes well also.


Oooooh, I just dug up the official website of the movie (released by Go Fish Pictures) and it looks like they're planning a mid-September release in the states. Just in time for my birthday! Yay! <happy dance>

Ghost In the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

Wow. I just got done watching the first four episodes of this show (based on the manga of Shirow Masamune) in my shiny, new special edition collection. I was a little worried because the trailer is all 3D and I was expecting and hoping for more traditionally drawn anime. Well, that's just the trailer. The show (for the most part, anyway) is not rendered. But it is extraordinary. The art is incredible. It appears to be done by Production IG who also did work on FLCL, a quirky little fave of mine. From the credits it also looks like ZRO Limit, who worked on the Cowboy Bebop series, did the translations. The incomparable Yoko Kanno has done the music, which from what I have heard so far is awesome. The stories are also super. Clever writing. Engrossing music. Top notch animation. I am so blissed out now. I can only hope the other episodes hold up as well. Oh, and the Dolby Digital audio imaging is some of the best I've ever heard. Oh, and after each episode they have a funny little bit with the Tachikomas (aka the Fuchikomas in the manga).

I think I may have some people over for anime night, if there is interest.

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Listening to: Home Stay from the album Stand Alone Complex O.S.T. by 菅野よう子

Comic Con 2004 Pics Are Up

After more processing than I really wanted to do, the pix I took from Comic-Con are up. Some notes:

• The X Wing is to scale, I hope you can get that from the picture.
• The Sky Captain robot statue is several stories high.
• Do I look happy to be getting hugged by Virginia Hey? :-)
• Brian Thompson was not really strangling me. :-)
• Don't even ask me about furries.
• The two pictures of the main floor on day five were intended to give a sense of scale of the show floor. The vantage point is roughly in the middle of the floor, looking down.

I'm Back!

Things seem mostly sane around here. Hope everyone is well. My kitties seem ok, although I am not sure they know who I am.

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Listening to: Gasoline from the album Audioslave by Audioslave

Comic-Con Day Five: And We're Out!

Didn't do a whole lot today. There were a couple of panels I went to: Comic Book Legal Defense Fund because I am interested in First Amendment cases and the Firefly: Serenity panel hosted by Joss Wheedon and the Firefly cast. I unfortunately dozed a bit in the latter panel, since I didn't get a lot of sleep the previous night. I have heard a lot about the show, but haven't actually caught any of the episodes. Guess I won't, either, since Fox cancelled the show after something like 7 episodes. Learned that besides the new Ghost In the Shell movie and video game, there's also going to be a series on Adult Swim's action lineup on Saturdays. Made a single pass of the entire show floor in about two hours. Fortunately, I had seen most of the booths there already, so I didn't have to spend too much time looking at things, or two hours would not have been sufficient. Crowds were a little lighter. On my way out I saw Phil Foglio sitting on the floor, sketching, so I went up introduced myself and said hello. Phil did the art in the Dark Horse graphic novel version of Another Fine Myth by Robert Asprin. Evidently Asprin is putting a new book in that series out in the fall, which is great news. I always loved those books. Went back to the hotel, finished up packing, dropped my extra stuff off with Noelle, and made my way back to the world. Whew! What a ride. A very entertaining week to be sure, but also draining. Now I need another vacation. ;-)

I liked San Diego. Never been there before. Interesting skyline. Seemed pretty laid back. Temperatures seemed reasonable with a nice sea breeze. A bit on the humid side. Not sure if that means it was really humid (like back home) or if I've just acclimated to San Jose's dryness.

I have pix from the con, which I will post as soon as I can.

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Listening to: One Of Our Submarines from the album The Golden Age Of Wireless by Thomas Dolby

Comic-Con Day Four: Back In the Saddle

I got my camera back! I went to the con in the morning with gloom in my heart and started retracing my steps. I knew that I had the camera up until at least about the last half hour of the previous day, so I went back to the last place I remember stopping: Conspiracy Production comics (makers of The Creep comic). And that's where I had left it! They told me they found it there the previous day and had turned it in to lost and found. A short trip to lost and found and a phone call to their storage center later and I had my Canon back in my hot little hands. I went back to Conspiracy Productions and bought some comics. I encourage you to do the same, or get a shirt or something! It was really encouraging to know that there are good people in the world and sometimes the system really does work. All of the tension of looking for the camera took a lot out of me, though, which was rough, because it was just the start of the day. Oh, the funniest thing was that when I went back to the CP booth, I left a new print and some recently purchased comics there again and had to rush back and retrieve them! Chris needs to keep things in bags, because if he sets things down when tired, he will forget them.

Saturday, from what I understand, is the busiest day of the con, and I can believe it. It was total bedlam inside the show floor. You could barely move in the aisles, especially towards the center of the hall. So I stayed mostly to the edges. Even more people in costume today. I got an autograph from Brian Thompson (aka the Schwarzen-alien bounty hunter on The X Files). He is a very large man. And from reading his bio, has done a lot of work. Didn't see Laurie Holden, who was supposed to be there. Picked up a sketch David Hahn did for me. He's the main (I think) artist in the comic Lucifer, which I like a lot. He drew me a picture of Lucifer and Mazikeen. I got some more interesting prints from some other folks and a lot of comics, posters, and miscellaneous tchotchkes. Thankfully, Noelle has offered (or I asked her, I forget) to cart my excess swag back to the Bay Area.

Caught most of the Simpsons panel. Matt Groening and company were pretty entertaining. Didn't really learn much other than starting with season four of the box set they are doing commentary tracks for each episode in the DVD box sets. Oh, I guess we can't expect to see too much more from Dinner Dog and Rich Uncle Skeleton.

The Farscape panel was awesome! Ben Browder snuck out into the crowd right before the panel to talk to some fans. David Kemper, Brian Henson, Rockne O'Bannon, Browder, and Claudia Black were all there along with some dude from the (grrr) Sci-Fi channel. They showed a preview for the Farscape: Peacekeeper Wars miniseries which is coming out soon (October 17 & 18). Actually, they showed it twice because the fans were so into it. Everyone on the panel was really intelligent sounding and funny. There was a lot of joking around and teasing the members of the panel. They were also quite happy to be there and see their crazy ass fans, who packed Hall 20 (which I heard somewhere has a seating capacity of 6500). Claudia Black got up on her chair and took pictures of the insanity. I guess last year they called her up on someone's cell phone so she could hear the fans. She is also very beautiful in person. There are evidently vague movie plans. Oh! I got the lowdown from the Watch Farscape booth that ADV has finally gotten off their asses and the season 3 box set will arrive in August. August 24, I believe. There was a funny moment during the Q&A where some guy got up and made some observations, including that he really didn't consider himself to be a fan. David Kemper said (paraphrasing): "You watched the show regularly, you came to the panel, you know the actors' names and their characters' names, you stopped to get an autograph, and you've taken the time to consider [some aspect of the show, I forget what the question/statement was about]. I'm sorry, you're a fan."

Went to Dark Horse's Conan panel, but I don't remember a lot about it other than the writer made a point of trying to remain true to the original Robert E. Howard source material (not so much fur diaper, I guess).

Caught the very end of the June Foray panel. She did the voices of Natasha and Rocky on the Rocky and Bullwinkle show. She (along with some other voice actors) were reading through an old Rocky and Bullwinkle script. Her voice still sounds great after all these years.

The Adult Swim panel was also a lot of fun. Panelists included Matt Maiellaro (creator of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, also of Space Ghost Coast to Coast fame, I believe), Dana Snyder (the voice of Master Shake on ATHF), MC Chris (plays Hesh ("Hesh wants sex!" of Sealab 2021), MC Peepants on ATHF), Kate Miller (white Debbie on Sealab), Matt Thompson (creator of Sealab), and Michael Cahill the guy who does the cards on AS. Oh yeah, Jason Publick III (the creator of the Venture Brothers) was there with one of the actors from the venture brothers. They had a clip of all of Michael's favorite cards ("The Cold War is Over... We Won!"). They showed a new clip for ATHF where Frylock explains to Meatwad what Standards and Practices is and why he can't say the J word. That one looks good. They showed a brief Squidbillies clip that wasn't that funny. They showed a longer clip of their new show Stroker and Hoop, about a couple of detectives and their talking car. Looks like it has potential. The car was on a talk radio show and one of them exclaims: "We have to get a FM radio, this AM stuff is poison!" They showed a brief preview of a new sealab episode. Periodically MC Chris would burst out ("Hesh wants sex!") and a fan goaded him into singing part of the I Want Candy rap. All in all, a great panel. Got autographs from Dana and Matt. Kate Miller is surprisingly hot for a voice actor. I was expecting someone normal looking. Woof!

Had to rush out after that panel because Noelle scored us tickets to the Masquerade, which is their funny little fan fashion show. Phil Foglio MC'd. It was kind of hit or miss. Some of the costumes were good, some were so-so. About four contestants in, they had a little kid in a Beast Boy (Teen Titans) costume and makeup get onstage and do a wacky, wacky dance routine. He instantly became the fan favorite. Every time after there was someone on that was remotely displeasing to the crowd, they'd start shouting "Beast Boy! Beast Boy!" Well, until they did a skit called "This is Not the Droid You're Looking For" which mixed the Futurama and Star Wars universes. Then, sometimes, they would shout "Bender! Bender!" Anyway, this silliness went on until around midnight which time Noelle, Carl, and I tooled back to the hotel, very tired. Beast Boy won a number of awards. The girl who dressed up as Harley Quinn and did the filk of the song from Little Shop of Horrors (A Place Somewhere Green?) also did pretty well.

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Listening to: Detachable Penis by King Missile

Comic-Con Day Three: Highs and Lows

Today I saw a lot of cool stuff. However, things have gone downhill as the day has progressed. More on that in a bit. Got started a bit late, so I skipped the first panel in favor of getting some autographs from a bunch of actors. I met

• Ernie Hudson, a very nice man
• Dean Haglund (aka Langley of the Lone Gunman)
• Erin Grey (aka Wilma from Buck Rodgers) who was businesslike but not unfriendly. She seemed a little cool, but I imagine she's met a lot of dickheads at various cons over the years. Interesting note: I asked her how difficult it was running in high heeled boots, which I noticed a couple of years ago watching a rerun of the show on the SciFi channel. She replied that that wasn't too bad in comparison with wearing the super tight, spandexy outfits they had her wear in the show. She mentioned that it if one pays attention, one might note that Wilma doesn't sit much on the show, because they had to practically pour her into the costumes.
• Reggie Bannister, who you might remember as Reggie, the guy driving the Hemi in the Phantasm movies. He also recently had a part in Bubba Ho Tep, which I confess I haven't seen. Reggie was very friendly and happy to talk about working on the Phantasm movies and new projects he has going.
• Marc Singer, whom I remember fondly from the TV show V, but also starred in the beastmaster movies. Marc was very friendly and nice.
• And finally: Virginia Hey (aka Zhaan on Farscape and the badass crossbow chick from The Road Warrior). Virginia was also a pleasure to meet. She seemed really pleased to meet the fans. I told her I was upset when they killed her character off in Farscape. She related that the blue makeup she wore in that show caused her kidneys to bleed, which she kind of ignored for a while, but eventually (as you might suspect) made her quite ill, necessitating her departure from the show.

I also had a lot of shots of me posing happily with said stars. I write had because right at the present, I don't know where my camera is. I can't begin to describe how pissed I am about this. I know for a fact that I had it right up until the end of the day at the con, because I remember stopping at the Dark Horse booth to get a shot of Shannon Wheeler. After that, I thought I had put it back in my bag, but I cannot find it there or anywhere else in my room. I will retrace my steps in the morning, but the fact is that I doubt that someone will have turned it in, if they found it. I am less upset about the camera (although I am upset about that, to be very sure) than the pictures in the camera which will probably not be possible to replace. Well, I guess this is what I get for being stupid. Unless this is some kind of karmic punishment for something I did. Which I think would be too bad, since I don't know what it would be that I would be punished for.

Let's see, what else was there? I saw a preview of Constantine, which looks like it'll probably be a respectable interpretation of the Hellblazer movies, although the director seemed like kind of an ass and they've mucked about with the story a bit. The preview for The Incredibles looks like it has great promise. And a super explanation of why superheroes shouldn't wear capes. :-) The Mirrormask panel was super cool. Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean were very entertaining, talking about the process of working together which was stressful, since their work styles are evidently quite disparate. The best part was the preview reel they had. It looks like a really beautiful and weird movie, which, if it lives up to its promise, would make me really happy. They are thinking it will have a limited run in Q1 2005. Oh, it appears that Death: The High Cost of Living has also been optioned for a movie version. Missed most of the Keenspot panel. :-(

Anyway, that was the con. After I had a quick infusion of greek food, I linked up with Noelle and Carl, and we made our way to the Oakenfold/Crystal Method show here in San Diego. I don't know how Noelle lucks into these things, but on the first day of the con she told me that she met some guy on the way down who told her that Oakenfold and TCM were playing a show here in San Diego. Wow! What awesome luck! Well, sort of. The venue itself seemed nice enough (Had a nice laugh over the sign outside asking people not to use GHB or special K so that the place wouldn't get closed down. Not sure who that is supposed to deter.), but the people were something else. It appears that the club kids all showed up, which I thought was a little strange, since the scene in the bay area is a bit different. We got there and there was practically no one on the floor. So we went right up front where there was a rail to lean against because, well, there was a rail to lean against. Slowly the kids started closing in. Well, no worries. My sweating, wildly gyrating body is usually more than enough to keep people at a respectable distance and it mostly worked except for the one chick who muscled her way to the front, started mashing her body up and down on the rail, and seemed nonplussed that I was in her space, for some reason. Noelle also had problems with the girls behind her yammering on about their shoes and how cute they were and where they had bought them, etc, etc. On the bright side, TCM was right in front of us. That was really cool. At one point Scott was screwing around with his keyboard and it fell off the stage in the no-mans-land in front of us. He suddenly got this oh-shit look on his face as if he were realizing that he needed to keep playing that thing, so he jumped offstage and started playing down low, visible to us, but out of sight to most of the audience. One of the keys was jammed though, so that kinda hosed things up. He got back onstage eventually and started playing some more, but the keyboard was pretty screwed. In frustration (I assume), her tore the jammed key off the keyboard and chucked it into the audience. And you thought breaking a string in concert was bad! They only played a couple more songs before closing. I thought it was a respectable set. I danced and jumped around so much (after a long day on my feet at the con) that my feet and legs are really, really sore now.

Anyway, we waited around for about an hour while they disassembled the set and reassembled it for Paul Oakenfold. He was visible backstage for a while, hamming it up and waving to the audience while they waited for him to come out. In the meantime they played the thud-thud-thud dance music they played before TCM. Finally, he comes out and starts his set. He is an actual DJ in that he just has a few turntables, as opposed to TCM, who have a lot of programmed stuff, but play it live in an organic fashion. So anyway, Oakenfold starts his set. I have heard a lot of his stuff, which is very interesting. This shit was not. It was essentially the same thud-thud-thud music they'd been playing for filler for the past hour. The club kids go wild! He spins some beat on the turntable. They go apeshit, as if he had invented fire or something. Did I mention that he seemed enormously pretentious in concert? And I mean Yanni pretentious: hamming it up and pointing at all the kids, like he was their oldest pal. I guess they were very enthusiastic. Anyway, I got tired of the obnoxious people shoving against me and the people around me and the general dreariness of the music, so I headed to the back of the hall. I linked up with Carl and Noelle, who had also moved out of the front. We hung out for a while, decided it was truly boring, and headed back to the hotel. Where I discovered just now that I don't know where my camera and photos are. :-( Ok, that's it for tonight.

Bugger. Bugger, bugger, bugger, bugger, bugger (to quote from Four Weddings and A Funeral).

Tomorrow (today, really): Adult Swim Panel and Farscape Panel.

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Listening to: There There (The Boney King Of Nowhere) from the album Hail To The Thief by Radiohead

Comic-Con Day Two:

Got a sketch from Aeire at the Keenspot booth. Got another sketch done for me by a guy named Anthony Waters of a shoggoth, which took all afternoon, but is really good. Donnie Darko panel was really cool, although I think the people were just rounded up by the studio to talk, because none of them seemed to have the slightest idea what to do there. The director Richard Kelly in particular looked like a deer in the headlights. Starting to see more people in costume. Noticed a lot of girls (and one guy!) in Alice costumes. The Lucasfilm people have an especially impressive booth complete with Storm Troopers, Boba Fett, and a full scale X-Wing. The Adult Swim panel on how to pitch shows to them was pretty entertaining (and packed). They mostly talked about what they did not want, which mostly consisted of shows they are already working on. They have a zombie show, Squidbillies (redneck squids in the mountains of Georgia?), a show called the Minori-team (where superheroes of different ethicities use ethnic stereotypes against their enemies), a barbarian/medieval show, and the guy who did Dr. Katz and does Home Movies was there because he has a new show they're working on called Lucyfer who is the daughter of the devil who lives in San Francisco, has a bad relationship with her father, and has some sort of relationship with a long haired hispanic DJ named Jesus. They talked about a few more shows, but I don't remember them. Got a lot of boodle on the show floor. Saw a Bill Plympton sketching panel that was pretty interesting. Also saw bits from a couple of pieces of work that Bill did: Hair High and a short about a dog that explains why those little yipper dogs are so excitable. I think it's called Guard Dog and I don't believe it's been shown elsewhere. Went with Kevin and caught the tail end of the Star Wars fan film awards. Catch Pink 5 Strikes Back, if you have a chance. That was pretty funny. The MC also does a one man show which is his interpretation of Star Wars, a la Five Minute Hamlet.

Today's highlight: Nail Gaiman & Dave McKean on the Mirrormask panel.

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Listening to: The Speed Of Pain from the album Mechanical Animals by Marilyn Manson

Comic-Con: Day One (Preview Night)

After a night of essentially no sleep, nipped off to the airport around 8am yesterday. This guy comes up behind me in line and proceeds to talk in a very loud voice about how "most of the company is underperforming. Anne is smart and runs her organization pretty well. Carly seems like a good person. The only group that's really performing well is the printing and imaging group. Dell is kicking their ass in the PC group." And on and on and on. He rambles on behind me for something like 20 minutes. I go to the end of the plane (it's SouthWest) to get away from him. He sits about two seats ahead of me. I have a very strong urge to shout: "Dude, the rest of us do not give a shit about HP's position in the market! Speak more quietly!" But somehow, I restrain myself (I am capable of restraint, despite what some people think). The plane takes off and I almost immediately fall asleep. Or pass out. However you want to look at it. I wake up just before the plane lands, ears ringing from equalizing on their own. San Diego is below us. An actual city, not like the giant burb I live in. I make my way to the Westin, which is one of the nicer hotels I've stayed in (They sell their beds, pillows, and bedding, if you like it enough. Beats the polyester blankets and pillowcases I'm used to.). They want to charge you for everything, though. Four bucks for a liter of water??? Insanity. Although, the water from the tap is really foul, almost like they want you to have to buy their diamond-water. Anyway, I crash for about three hours because I'm dead on my feet. Get up around 3:30, shower, and then mosey down to the convention center. It's big. Like they could lose an aircraft carrier in it big. And there's a line of people that goes practically to Tiajuana. This line is for people who have already registered and are just there to pick up their badges. Noelle and Carl meet me about a third of the way through after their trek by car from the northlands. We get inside and... more line! The line, in fact, doubles back on itself and eventually one gets to the badge printing area, which is roughly at the location I started, only transposed a few hundred yards. After getting badges we go... to get into another line! And Chris was like, WTF? We have registered, we have our badges, but we still can't just go right where we want to go. I don't get it. I guess it must either be a.) incompetence or b.) some creepy form of access control so the comic book nerds don't crush themselves to death trying to get inside. I hope it's a.), since that could theoretically be fixed. Anyway, after about 75 minutes, we finally get inside. It's Nerdvana! I can't really describe well the contents of the hall. Acres and acres of booths with comics, comic artists, toys, bootleg videos (I saw some VHS copies of weird old tv shows like Quark and the UFO Investigators), comic-related clothes, anime, manga, film cels (Carl scored another Akira cel for his collection. Seemed a bit pricey to me.) and the great unwashed (and I mean that in a tragically literal sense, kept hitting waves of man-funk) nerd masses. It was really hard to take in, especially since I was still really tired. I will have to go back on the floor some more, there was so much to see. And we only got through about half of the booths. Did see the the keenspot booth. I'll have to go there again tomorrow, since Aeire (Queen of Wands creator will be there doing sketches. High point of the evening: met Shannon Wheeler of Too Much Coffee Man fame. I adore that comic! And he signed three comics for me. And drew little pictures on them! Afterwards we met up with Kevin, Steph, and Nancy. Steph was nice enough to drive us to dinner (Flavor Thai) which was pretty good, especially after the cinnabon and two pluots which made up my food intake for the day. Then back to SD and bed. Now I have to get ready for Day Two and panels and artist sketches.

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Listening to: My Evil Twin from the album Apollo 18 by They Might Be Giants

Hello, I Must Be Going

Gonna be out of town for Comic-Con. I will be checking phone messages sporadically and e-mail as opportunity affords. Have a great week!

G power!

I was looking at this guitar tab the other day and I stumbled across the G Power Chord. Turn on the overdrive on the amp, slap that puppy out: so nasty, so right. Gots to learn some more of them.

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Listening to: Disconnected from the album Anima Animus by the creatures

Now Back to Our Regular Programming

Been in a weird space lately, so I haven't blogged much until this spurt this morning. Feeling better now.

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Listening to: Never Again from the album Silver Side Up by Nickelback

UMaine Building An XServe Cluster

I stumbled across the news in this article that my alma mater, the University of Maine is building a 256 node XServe G5 supercomputer cluster. Too bad they weren't doing anything that cool when I went there. Sigh.

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Listening to: Adrenalina Perpetua

Coke C2

i was in Target this weekend and grabbed a bottle of Coke's new low carb soda - C2. It still has about 90 calories so it's not that great for you healthwise, but it's about half the calories of the regular grade. They put sucralose in it which I believe is the same thing as Splenda. I don't think purists will care for it much, but I thought it was drinkable. Much better than the foulness that is Diet Coke.

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Listening to: Pseudo Suicide from the album The Grand Pecking Order by Oysterhead

Weekend Wrap Up

• got hair cut
• bought a bunch of stuff I need for the next week
• got the best $6 carwash I have ever gotten (Maybe Noelle told them I was coming ;-)
• cleaned the house a bit
• did semi-annual yard maintenance
• called my momma
• played a lot of unreal tournament 2004
• saw a movie
• slept a lot and somehow still...
• worked a few hours

I guess I can be productive in a crunch. :-)

Side note: Somehow, that little plant that started growing on my front lawn a couple years ago is now a huge bush about 10 feet tall. And hidden deep within it is my water meter. I got a stern reproach from the water meter reader last month about trimming the shubbery (Ni!) back a bit. I now have a large pile of branches on my front lawn.

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Listening to: The Last Remaining Light from the album Audioslave by Audioslave

Dodgeball

I went and saw the movie Dodgeball Saturday with Aki and Rachel. I thought it would be at least somewhat amusing. It turned out to be the funniest movie I've seen all year (with the possible exception of Van Helsing, and that was unintentionally funny). It's about this guy (Vince Vaugh) who runs a gym for Average Joes, who's nearly in default on his mortgage. His arch rival is richly overplayed owner of Globo Gym ("We're better than you - and we know it!") played by the expectedly over the top Ben Stiller. The deus ex machina in this flick is the world dodgeball championship with a prize exactly equal to the amount Average Joe's needs to get out of debt. Not great cinema. Very predictable. But still somehow really funny.

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Listening to: Head Creeps from the album Alice In Chains by Alice In Chains

Immersible

staring at the sea
will she come?
is there hope for me
after all is said and done
anything at any price
all of this for you
all the spoils of a wasted life
all of this for you
all the world has closed her eyes
tried faith all worn and thin
for all we could have done
and all that could have been

ocean pulls me close
and whispers in my ear
the destiny i've chose
all becoming clear
the currents have their say
the time is drawing near
washes me away
makes me disappear

i descend from grace
in arms of undertow
i will take my place
in the geat below

i can still feel you
even so far away

Communique

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see
All you life
You were only waiting for this moment to be free

Blackbird fly, blackbird fly
Into the light of the dark black night
Blackbird fly, blackbird fly
Into the light of the dark black night
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
You were only waiting for this moment to arise

Resonance

Clever got me this far
Then tricky got me in
Eye on what I'm after
I don't need another friend
Smile and drop the cliche
'Till you think I'm listening
I take just what I came for
Then I'm out the door again

Peripheral long the package
Don't care to settle in
Time to feed the monster
I don't need another friend
Comfort is a mystery
Crawling out of my own skin
Just give me what I came for, then I'm out the door again

Lie to get what I came for
Lie to get just what I need
Lie to get what I crave
Lie and smile to get what's mine

Eye on what I'm after
I don't need another friend
Nod and watch your lips move
If you need me to pretend
Because clever got me this far
Then tricky got me in
I'll take just what I came for
Then I'm out the door again

Lie to get what I came for
Lie to get what I need now
Lie to get what I'm craving
Lie and smile to get what's mine

Give this to me
Mine, mine, mine
Take what's mine
Mine, mine, mine
Take what's mine
Mine, mine, mine

Lie to get what I came for
Lie to get what I need now
Lie to get what I crave.
Lie to smile and get what's mine

Give this to me
Take what's mine
Mine, mine, mine
Take what's mine
Give this to me

Take what's mine, take what's mine, mine...
Take what's mine, take what's mine, take what's mine,
This is mine, mine, mine (whispered)

Comic-con info

Some people asked about it, so here's some more info to the upcoming Comic-Con in San Diego.

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Listening to: WHAT ACTULLY HAPPENED? from the album NERVE NET by Brian Eno

Lego Spider-Man

Don't remember where I got this amazing Lego video from. (WMV required)

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Listening to: Orange Wedge from the album Surrender by Chemical Brothers

The Truth About Sushi

Got this video clip from Aki. (QuickTime required) My suspicions are confirmed.

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Listening to: Post-Modern Sleaze from the album Becoming X by Sneaker Pimps

All the Other Kids Are Doing It, So Why Not Me?

Grabbed this quiz from some other blogs (Noelle, Dave), here's what I got:


Your soul is DARK. You aren't too happy with your
life, though you may feel you should be. You're
probably solitary, pessimistic, brooding,
possibly nocturnal, but mostly a general
unknown. You might have a hidden liking for
pain and destruction, but you're probably more
masochistic that sadistic if that's true. (look
it up if you don't know what they mean!) Those
that think they know you tend to place you
closer to evil on a scale of good and evil,
which might not be true. What people see may
not be who you actually are. Some people fear
you and others mock you. What isn't really
known, though, is that you're not pure evil.
You're just a mysterious, misunderstood - and
sadly, forsaken - soul.


What Is Your Soul's Trait?
brought to you by Quizilla

Hmm, that's surprising. I couldn't have anticipated that.

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Listening to: Until The End Of The World from the album Achtung Baby by U2

Yes! Comic-con Goodness!

The folks from Adult Swim will at Comic-con Saturday from 5:30-7:00. This is just about as good as the Farscape folks (also Saturday) from 2:00-3:30. Ahh, the world is good.

John Pinette

I saw John Pinette at the Improv last night with Aki and Rachel. Very funny stuff. You may remember him as the guy with the bit about making a breakout from the weight loss clinic and going off the wagon at the Chinese all you can eat buffet. "You go now! You been here four hour!" If you like comedy and you have nothing better to do (you are reading this blog, aren't you?) you might want to check out his show tonight.

Tickets Acquired: TMBG 8/14/04

Ok, so I have 2 tickets for Noelle and Zak, 2 tickets for Jon and I and 2 tickets for... Who are those other 2 tickets for? <scratches head> I had offered to get tickets for you, please let me know before I go off finding homes for them. They are for the 8/14/04 show at the Fillmore.

Ukrainian Chernobyl Motobiker Chick A Fake

Also on Neil's site I read that the chick who wrote about riding a motorcycle through Chernobyl is evidently a hoaxter. (A less revisionist version of the kiddofspeed.com site may be found here.) The LA Times has a story about it (login required, see bugmenot for a login/password if you don't want to register), evidently no one ever went riding through the Chernobyl on a motorcycle. The woman who is pictured on the kiddofspeed.com site evidently went on a tour to Chernobyl with her husband and they had the idea to cook up this site. Ah well, another good story spoiled. I guess I should have expected it.

Tired of Registration Required Sites? Try BugMeNot

I found out about BugMeNot from Neil Gaiman's website. This is a fabulous idea. I am so tired of making up fake addresses or sending junk to my dropbox to avoid spam, just so I can read some article.

Boaters Find Live Kitten Off FLA Coast

Holy Crap! We should all have the luck of this poor wittle kitten, who was picked up by boaters about three miles off the coast of Florida. It was described as "exhausted and stressed." I'll bet. That's a whole lot o' swimmin. [article]

Divine, Sublime

Saw Sarah McLachlan in concert tonight at the Arena. I do not have proper words to express the feelings I had there, but I will try in my imperfect way. Her voice is astonishingly good, even in an arena. (Brief aside: if I ever hear her in concert singing God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen as she did with The Barenaked Ladies for a Christmas album a few years back, I will probably pass out. Her voice in that song practically brings me to tears. Unlikely to happen, I know.) I have never seen anyone who looks so ecstatic while singing. And she is so fey and beautiful. I have no trouble believing her ancestors came from Britain.

I don't think I breathed much through the show. At one point in the show she did two songs in a row ("Hold On" and "Fear", I think) that so enraptured me that I felt kinda like I was having an endorphin rush and an asthma attack all at the same time. My heart was in a vise and I could feel my throat and sinuses seizing up like I was going to burst into tears at a funeral. But in a good way. I couldn't really clap afterward, I was so drained. I think that was the climax of the show, although it was a gradual comedown.

When she played "Possession" later in the evening, I practically snatched my friend Carl's binoculars out of his lap. It didn't grab me in quite the way her soaring voice had earlier, so I was able get on my feet and clap like a madman afterwards. I love the lyrics on that song so much. And I can still identify with them, though not as much as I did long ago. I still think of the person in question and this song from time to time (usually when I hear it).

They played a sweet version of "Blackbird" for the first encore of two. I guess McCartney was good for something, after all. :-)

Oh and in reference to a question someone asked earlier, she's married to her drummer, not her guitarist.

Man, what a good show. That's easily the high point of my month.

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Listening to: Sweet Surrender from the album Surfacing by Sarah McLachlan

Winnebago Man

My friend Manda clued me in to Winnebago Man. This isn't quite as famous as Casey Kasem blowing his top over snuggles or Orson Welles giving the sound engineers shit in an ad he's doing - Yes, always!, (Real Audio required) but it's still a real gem in my book.

Warning: bad language ahead. A lot of bad, bad language.

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Listening to: Fight from the album Oni Soundtrack by Power of Seven

New Foamy - Kevorkian Scarf

Oh, sad is the world,
but I have a Kevorkian scarf...

On my neck!

Such is the wisdom of Pilz-e!

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Listening to: Daisies Of The Galaxy from the album Daisies Of The Galaxy by Eels

Beautiful

Today's APOD is really gorgeous:

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Listening to: Out Of Control from the album Surrender by Chemical Brothers

Without A Paddle

So I won a pass to see Without A Paddle at the midnight movies trivia contest. Went to see it tonight with Jon. Stars Seth Green and Matthew Lillard and some people I don't recognize. Relatively amusing. Extremely predictable. Some friends go hunting for treasure down a river in rural Oregon as a tribute to a dead friend. Kinda reminded me of a grown up Goonies. Pretty good for a free movie. :-)

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Listening to: Last from the album Broken by Nine Inch Nails

Who Gave the Dems My Address?

I got a solicitation of sorts from the Dems today. Who gave them my address? Fess up. If it weren't for the fact that I would vote for a naked mole rat if he ran against Bush this year, I would be much less inclined to give them money.

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Listening to: Dreamscape Beta from the album Marathon Resurrection Soundtrack by Mark Sumner

Sensual Tech Support Revisited

Someone (I'm thinking the Randy Milholland of Something Positive has taken the time to parody Ask the Tech Girl with Nerdrotica. In case you don't get it, it's a joke, son.

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Listening to: I Am A Pig from the album Voyeurs by TWO

New York Post: Kerry Picks Gephardt?

According to this article, the New York Post ran an exclusive story detailing Kerry's selection of Dick Gephardt as VP candidate. Oops. (He picked John Edwards for those of you following along at home.) That reminds of this little chestnut: Klaus is a moron who only knows what he reads in the New York Post. (Top Secret!)

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Listening to: Big Man With A Gun from the album The Downward Spiral by Nine Inch Nails

Spiderman 2 Goofs

Props to Aki for pointing out this website which has all sorts of movie gaffes. Warning: this web site has a lot of plot points in it, so don't peek if you haven't seen it and you plan to. Particularly note the bit about the scarcity of tritium.

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Listening to: Hold On from the album Fumbling Towards Ecstasy by Sarah McLachlan

July 4th Rundown

Had a nice weekend for the fourth. Among other things I:

• saw the Crow at midnight at Camera 12. Quite possibly the worst print I've ever seen (they had to splice the film at one point) but still good fun. One of my favorites of all time, really.
• Went to Dave R's barbeque in Fremont. This year he had the good sense to not have the daquiri machine, so I managed to not get horribly sick. :-) Banana rum, yummy pulled pork, pinatas, and karaoke. Does anything say Fourth of July better than that? I think not.
• Played a whole lot of Deus Ex: Invisible War.
• Basically didn't leave the house much all weekend, except for the Crystal Springs walk/Palo Alto Gelato Run. And that's a good thing.

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Listening to: Master And Servant from the album Catching Up With by Depeche Mode

Shopping While Hungry

You know how they say don't go to the grocery store when you're hungry? This is very true for me. I guess this is how I wound up with a quart of ice cream and a tub of tapioca pudding. Sigh. Oh well, it's tasty. Kinda obviates the walk I took at Crystal Springs, though.

Spider Man 2

I thought it was ok. Kinda very slow in some parts. I don't know exactly how to compare it to the first movie, which I saw as an in flight movie a couple Christmases ago. Had some funny moments and the fight scenes were pretty decent. One of their major plot points is pretty scientifically flawed, which always annoys me.

Hello, I Must Be Going

I have had the strangest feeling since I woke up this afternoon that I am supposed to be going somewhere. I don't know where or for what though. If you were expecting me, I apologize, I didn't mean to flake on you.

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Listening to: Normal Like You from the album So Much For The Afterglow by Everclear

A Ghost Walked Over My Grave

I've been meaning to blog about this, but have been too tired or busy to do so until now. I went up to SF on Thursday to go to WWDC for for a day. I took one of the new "baby bullet" trains, less than an hour to the City and I don't have to deal with rush hour traffic, what a deal. So anyway, I'm in one of the passenger cars, really tired because I barely got any sleep the previous night (see previous blog) and people are boarding (don't remember which station) and this woman passes by who looks like a friend of mine. Similar dress, same smile I remember, body looks the same. I do a triple take though, because, you see, my friend Susan has been dead two and half years now. It was the creepiest feeling. And then I started wondering if she were really dead. I never saw her die. The funeral service I went to was after her burial back in New England, so I didn't see her there either. But that doesn't make much sense. Why would someone fake their own death and put so many people (there church I went to for the funeral service was packed) through so much pain? Is she in witness relocation? Or more likely my tired brain was just playing tricks on me. Anyway, I've had her on my mind a lot lately.

Wherever you are Sue, we miss you and haven't forgotten about you.

And On the Thirteenth Day He Rested

I have worked 12 days in a row, over 100 hours in the past two weeks. I'm bushed. And my sleep schedule is all messed up. I am feeling a little tired now, but that is a fairly recent development. Guess that has something to do with working all through last night and getting a nap at 9 in the morning. Anyway, after about 5 volumes of Hellblazer behind me, I think I'm ready for some more sleep. Mmmm, sweet delicious sleep.

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Listening to: Whistling in the Dark from the album Flood by They Might Be Giants