Holy crap, I'm doing LJ from a rest area in Genoa, Ohio. I love my new iPhone 3GS.

I have named her Mother Box. Now, I have a good reason to finally try to get the theme from RAVENOUS as my ringtone, because then, whenever someone calls, Mother Box will actually go "PING PING PING PING PING!"

I make no apologies for my geekiness. Maybe I would, once, not too long ago. But that was before Mother Box. I love her so.

Go see Bargain Basement Game Show.

It's a moral imperative.

I want to go see BBGS since it'll be the only one I have time to see. And I can only go tonight (apologies to the other beautiful hostesses of the mostesses. Anyone else who is not in the show going tonight?)

Do I show up at the venue and pay $20 (ticket plus button) and get in? Do I need to go somewhere else first to get a button? The website isn't real clear on the pay for cash option of picking it up at the venue and while it helpfully says i can pick up the button during box office hours, it does not actually tell me what those are. Can anyone help me out? I can't get anywhere until 8pm at the earliest.


I'm really tired so I'm a tad (ha!) whiny and I get that the whole point is to see a bunch of shows and not just the one your friends are in but meeeeh. Not clear directions for the "I don't wanna create an account to buy a $5 button on my credit card" sorts.

Editcalled the box office and she said that an hour before the show, we can buy tickets and buttons at the show.

Finally getting around to watching Scotland PA... I like it even better than 10 Things I Hate About You.

They had me at the stoner witches.

It's such a rare thing to find a truly great opponent for arguments.

Someone with whom you disagree, even fiercely so, up to the point of frustrated exasperation that such a person could even dare to think such wrong-headed foolishness! And yet, they back up their points with intelligent, reasoned examples rather without having to resort to cheap snark, name-calling, or other dismissive tactics. And in doing so, they get you to reconsider your own views, which is always a good thing to have done every now and again.

It's why Rachel Maddow has Pat Buchanan on her show so often. Because while they don't agree on a damn thing, they share a mutual respect, and she knows he will always be a great sparring partner in him.

It's hard enough to find those kinds of people in politics, but it's even harder to find one in fandom, where blind geek passion often rules over sensible reason of our nerd brethren.

One reason I love scans_daily is that it's the very best online comics forum I've ever seen, simply because I know I could usually find at least somebody to share discussion. I'm not talking about debate nor argument, mind you, but geek discussion with like-minded peers. After the meltdown/shutdown, people would say, "Well, scans_daily deserved to get shut down! Not just because of the comic scans, but there people there were always hateful and wanky! My god, did you hear, one of their members told someone to--gasp--Die In A Fire! Never have I ever heard such vitriol on the internet!"

...

Bear with me, I'm going on a tangent for a bit. I do that sometimes.

First of all, "Die in a Fire?" What, if I were to tell that same offended person to "Go to hell," would they think I literally meant that I wanted them to be condemned for all eternity to burn in the lake of fire and become Satan's hand-puppet?

More to the point, uh... have you people ever been on the internet before? Have you seen what else is out there for geeks? Honestly, this article NAILS the kind of fucktardery that goes on at all other major online fan communities. In fact, I'm gonna just rip off box_in_the_box's favorite quotes for your own reading pleasure:

( Cut for your protection. Namely, those of pure hearts and souls who have never braved the message boards at Newsarama or DCComics.com... )

And the fact that scans_daily got/gets a rep for wankery--even from people who frequent those very communities!--it just boggles the mind. Because scans_daily gave (and to some degree, still gives, but the two spin-off communities just aren't the same, man) me the best geek community I've ever seen. Period.

But even they had a handful of exceptions. Not just trolls--they were rather good at banning trolls--but folks one or two steps above trolls: the asshats. Sadly, you can't ban asshats just for being asshats. I'd name names, but I'm sure a couple of you have them on your flists. Maybe they're totally cool people IRL, but online, the asshattery abounded.

I remember back when I posted by epic "Why THE LONG HALLOWEEN sucks big floppy donkey dick (in relation to Gilda Dent, whose subplot makes no fucking sense if you'd actually stop to think about it, Christ!)" essay, a couple folks disagreed with me, shooting off a couple dismissive remarks and personal insults. When I responded rather reasonably, inviting them to actually tell me why they disagreed, to start a discussion, they flaked off and never responded. That's what really got me: they weren't willing to stand up for their points. They just wanted to dismiss, insult, and run.

I haven't seen those guys around much at nu!scans_daily, but there is this one guy... hoo, man, over the past couple of weeks, the things he's been saying have been red flags, little things here and there that rubbed me the wrong way. But it wasn't until he started voicing certain opinions on Paul Dini's writing that all the alarms went blaring off in my head: "WARNING! WARNING! AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!! DO NOT ENGAGE THE ASSHAT!"

So I didn't. Unfortunately, that didn't stop him from engaging me. For once I posted the image of that seriously stupid Bat!Harvey comic cover, the suspected-asshat took issue with my rants, and once it came out that he not only disliked Paul Dini and LOVED Tony Daniel's insipid artwork, but that he thought Grant Morrison's take on the Joker is the most inspired and chilling the character has been in decades, much much better than Dini's ever was, oh motherfucker it was ON.

I was up until three in the morning sparring with this guy. His every response filled me with glowing, exasperated horror that I could have found someone so completely counter to seemingly everything I hold worthwhile and true about Batman comics, and I kept waiting for him to play the typical asshat move like the others, ending this discussion with me fuming at his idiocy and once again taking only the meager consolation prize of righteous geek indignation.

But then a funny thing happened: once he remarked that we actually reached common ground on an issue (the lack of Harvey depictions that play up his internal duality, in favor of just making him a cheap gimmick villain), I felt a sudden rush of exhilaration. Because I realized that he wasn't just another asshat. No, I'd finally found a Pat Buchanan to my Rachel Maddow! A Stephen Colbert to my Stephen Colbert!

It has been remarked that one can actually feel the energy flying off that thread between us, and I get a wee thrill just thinking about it now. My own views remain mostly unchanged from what I can tell, but I have a greater appreciation and understanding for his, particularly once I realized so much of it stemmed from a common place. If only there were more debates like this in political, religious, and social forums, but such a thing doesn't come by often. It's a partnership, in some ways. A give and take between two people on the same wavelength, even if it's on the complete opposite ends.

Ultimately, when he offered an e-handshake on the grounds of agreeing to disagree, I kinda wish I could have been there to give it to him in person. I look forward to seeing him around in the future, and if we do end up crossing swords again, I can only hope we are able to maintain our civility and respect as before as we launch into another heated debate.

Because asshats come and asshats go, but formidable opponents? Those are rare and precious things indeed.








He's still wrong, of course.

"Paul Dini writes formulaic and forgettable Joker stories" my ASS...

( cut for your avoidy convenience )

I'm going to need tech operators (sounds and light) for Two Gentlemen of Verona, September 4-19 in Greenbelt.  We can probably make do with one person, but audio is going to be tight: there's a sound-effects laden fight near the end.

It shouldn't be hard to learn, and if you're not previously familiar with tech, it would be a great opportunity to learn.  (And if you ARE already familiar with tech, so much the better.)

I took my shoes off as I sat outside on my lunchbreak today. Rested my bare feet on the sun-warmed cement in front of my bench as I ate my sandwich and read my book. It felt great.

Life has been . . . inconsistent lately. In that my work hours alternate between boredom and annoyance and anxiety, while my off hours alternate between fun busy and quietly relaxing.

My Independence Day long weekend was fantastic. Friday, I was productive with errands and cleaning, followed by happy hour with a guy Sharif knows from work and a few of his friends. Saturday, the Fourth, I spent mostly outside with a beer and a book. It was a perfect day for it. Sharif slow-cooked some ribs, I made potato salad, and Lacey provided the corn on the cob. We went to the Catonsville fireworks for the first time, which were awesome. We were approximately 100 yards away from where they were setting the things off. Sunday was Sharif's father's birthday, so there was a family gathering for dim sum. Afterwards, Sharif and I hopped on the Metro into DC, where we exited the Smithsonian station into a surprise (to us) Folklife Festival. We wandered through there for a bit, but our destination was the Native American museum, which neither of us had visited yet. It was very interesting, and I love the building itself. All curves. We finished off the day with about an hour at the Air & Space, including a Planetarium show. Where it was dark, and we were reclined, and I nearly fell asleep to the soothing sounds of Liam Neeson talking about black holes.

I bought Sharif a rather complicated card game for his birthday- Race for the Galaxy, and its first expansion. We've been playing that a lot. I'm currently the two-day, five-game champion. This is exciting, as it's rare for me to do better than Sharif at much of anything. (Aside from Super Mario Brothers. And ovulating.)

...

...

ha.

ha ha ha.

*ffnk*

Ahoo. Ahoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo.

ehrrraaAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAokay I'm good.

No, no, seriously, I love it. The pale skin. The gold eyes. All that's missing are the sparkles and it's perfect. I just hope to hell it tricks TWILIGHT fans into checking it out and inadvertently seeing one of the best vampire movies ever made. If you've never seen it, well here's the most famous part:



I'm telling you, evil trashy redneck vampire Bishop, Vasquez, and Hudson could kick Pattison's ass any day.

Seriously. Dying here. That's one of the most hilarious shameless cash-in redo of a DVD box I've ever seen. Well done! Now, if we can just get the TWILIGHT fans to see LET THE RIGHT ONE IN as well, we'll be solid...

Via ferventsquirrel, whose internet carpet I will now vacuum free of charge in perpetuity, I bring you:

NCBI ROFL

NCBI is the major database for biology/medicine papers, just by way of a bit of explanation. I love science. Though I clearly need to change the focus of my research.

Holy hell, am I becoming one of those people who has so much shit going on in their lives that they just don't have time for LJ anymore? FUCK THAT.

I've also just been majorly stressed for Winnipeg. This will be the biggest Fringe yet, where I'll either make some actual money or I'll be totally lost in the shuffle. To make matters worse, I've been increasingly worried about how culture clash, and how certain themes or styles of humor may mean rather less to a Canadian audience. One reason Montreal was so difficult for me was that they don't have the same culture of arms-flailing neurotic introspective angst humor. Unlike, say, New York City, where I got great reviews.

The problem with being a niche performer is that you have to get comfortable with the reality of performing for people who will not get what you're doing, in real time. I'm still trying to get comfortable with that. All that matters is that I find the people who do get it, that I find my audience and work to improve for their tastes in a way that's most fulfilling to myself as an artist.

...

Oh hell, this is getting too angsty. Let's shift gears to outright nerd rage, shall we?




I can only respond to this image with the following gif:




...

...

AUGH.

I could explain context, but it really, really wouldn't help. I need to end this post on a much more positive note, with the original art from BOOK OF FATE # 4 (the misbegotten 90's-tastic idea to turn Dr. Fate into a gritty Lobo style antihero), by a guy named Ron Wagner. I've never seen his art anywhere else, and it's a damn shame. His work is sorta like of Trevor Von Eeden and Klaus Janson had a kid. But more to the point, he draws one of my favorite Harvey Dent images ever:



God, I love it.

I ain't much better, but it's a start.

For thirdbase, because...

Anyone out there with non-profit organization knowledge? i.e setting one up, pros and cons etc. ?

I need guidance and would really appreciate any directions or thoughts. I've done some general research through google but would like to talk with someone with experience.

Basically, we are considering setting Probonafide up as either a legal non profit or other entity but not sure if our services will legally be considered charity since it's indirect support-- a lot different than owning a soup kitchen.

Thanks in advance.

I told my dad and Ben last night that this weather is our reward for electing the guy from Chicago instead of the one from Arizona.

The whole attic has been insulated. I'd say "more insulated" but the fact that there was daylight come through, and everytime I'd swing my foot through, I'd kick an entire layer of blown insulation away from the moisture barrier, I don't think it counts. I expect to see savings, like, tomorrow. $300, all tax credit, and I expect more than that in savings over the rest of the year.

The plumber is coming today, since he wasn't able to make it yesterday. I'll have a working garbage disposal and a working dishwasher, both new. Very excited.

The glazier came yesterday, looked at the window that needed to be replaced, put one hand on the box containing the new glass, and declared the contents broken. The glass had been shipped to me under warranty since the window was less than 5 years old when it started fogging up. So now I need to go through another several week process to get more glass. Going to wind up likely getting a new patio door through this guy anyways, since in building the deck, we found the wood supporting the door has completely rotted away.

The deck: beautiful. My boy is wonderful. We'll likely finish the walkway tonight and there's one more piece of wood we need to keep animals out from under the deck (the kind of animals that have kittens under people's decks, not the lizards & toads). The kicker now is going to be hauling away the old deck. We're kind of on a very tight turn around for it.

teamtechgoddess:All in all, the most exhausting weekend I've had in ...ever. I went way over my points on July 4 and pretty over my points on July 5th and didn't bother to count them yesterday, but I also expended way more calories than I took in. But I did stay within the point on the first 2 days, so there's that.

Grillin' Love soon. But not too too soon.

In tribute, if you have not seen it, put "Fog of War" in your Netflix.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0317910/

You can thank me later.

Not a hero, not a villain. Just a flawed man, like the rest of us. Only on the fulcrum of history.

Has anyone read it yet? I know we discussed it previously.

I must say, I think I have to get the audio book, it's hysterical hearing it read aloud . . .

Friday: Research on lumber and dishwashers. Bought circular saw after consulting with woodworking buddy. Went back to Lowe's and bought the dishwasher and the garbage disposal. The current deal at Lowe's is every purchase of at least $1 gives you a $10 Off coupon for your next purchase over $50. I've had them ring up everything separately all weekend, but have saved $80 over the course of the weekend. Arranged for Sunday drop off and take-away, and called the plumber to arrange for Monday installation. Bought insulation for the attic.

Made steak for Ben and pokeyburro (thank you!!) after we tore up the deck. No lizards, and only one frog displaced. The deck was completely rotted and rarely need any effort to come apart. It was really amazing that we've been walking on that crap.

Saturday: Up early and into the attic with the bike helmet to keep my head from hitting the nails. The secret is to come back out the way you came in and never let your back get higher than your bike helmet. I got 1 package (11 24x48" battes) in, constituting 1/4 of the raftered attic area, and I think 2 more packages will cover the center area. I should see energy savings almost immediately, and it's all a tax credit.

Off to 84 Lumber to get the 20' pressure treated boards, and then Lowe's for bricks for the base, the rest of the lumber, brackets and nails. Carried in the lumber, left the bricks in the car. Holy tired muscles.

Took the rest of the day to go out on a boat, go kneeboarding, grilling and fireworking. I took 2 naps.

Sunday: slept in, made pancakes, unhooked dishwasher, did not kill Ben (who cut the hose to the dishwashers, causing water to go everywhere but it neither occurred to him to clean up the water OR mention that there was water going everywhere. water mopped up and fan going, hoping it'll dry overnight) got dishwasher delivered, engaged in discussion about the best way to decide that the deck was level. Decided that Ben should go to Annapolis to borrow the laser level and that I should go to Lowe's for the balance of the insulation. Waiting for him to get back with level and lunch and resting muscles.

Expect to spend the rest of the afternoon getting a level foundation for the deck and maybe putting in first boards (fingers crossed!!).

Tomorrow morning will be early rising so we can work together to get the insulation in before the window replacement guy (thanks starfyrone) gets here by 9:30, and build the deck tomorrow, getting most of it done before the plumber shows up in the afternoon and I have to go to a 5pm riding lesson where I'm not convinced my muscles will keep me on the horse.

Here's hoping... I think we can both ditch work a little early Tues if we've got anything left to do. I have awesome steaks already purchased, so we need to finish so we can eat them.

Very expensive but fulfilling weekend at Nauset Heights. Good investments. Grillin' Love goodness.

Happy Fourth, weirdos!

H/T to cousin-in-law Carly, who posts all the best Muppety goodness!

So at tazira's birthday party, I demonstrated my characteristic wit and dazzling conversational skills by asking where the nearest computer was so I should show people crap on the internet.

No, wait, this was important! I needed to show these people in particular the photoshop work of MightyGodKing.com. So here, for those who wanted to bookmark those pages and for the rest who need to see these, are the links with example images.

It all started with a box of old Steve Jackson/Ian Livingstone FIGHTING FANTASY gamebooks, which such new, improved covers as:





Followed by his epic three part series of Sci-Fi and Fantasy novels, both famous and infamous:





And part two:





Aaaaaaand part the third:





But wait wait wait, he wasn't done yet. There was one more topic left to be covered. A... FINAL frontier, if you will...





It was hard to choose one from each to post here. I laugh my ass off at most of them, even if I only get about 40% of the material they reference. That's comedy excellence right there.

(Snagged from Torberg's FB post.)

I want this.



Not because of the "bike lane" aspect, cars tend to ignore those or use them for passing lanes anyway. No, I love this idea because it gives the driver of a car an actual idea of the real space the cyclist needs. Most drivers only see the wheels touching the ground, they don't take into account the biker's body or the handlebars. From my perspective this is about visibility and obstacle avoidance, not "right to the road". (Because, unfortunately, there really are some asshole cyclists out there giving the rest of us a bad name.)

In the prototype video it needs a little bit more refinement, and you only see one car actually passing the cyclist, but it looks like a really REALLY good idea.

http://www.lightlanebike.com/prototpye_video.html