On Monday I went to see Goodnight and Good Luck with Stephane at the VanEast Theater. Stephane runs their website so he gets to see movies for free (and a friend too). It was pretty interesting and well done. It wasnt mind-blowing or anything but its worth seeing. Its all about McCarthyism and the media, its in black and white, and its got the crazy dad from Twin Peaks (and George Clooney). I took Stephane to a falafel place down the street, he had never had one, nor had he had a shawarma (which I now prefer over falafel). Now he is a shawarma convert. I think the meal that most satisfies me is a good shawarma and a taro bubble tea (milkshake/slush). I got my drink (apple juice) at the theater, however, because I wanted to support the theater (seeing as I was getting in free and all). Its an independently run theater and they do have some good films from time to time (our asses were too sore from the seats, however, to stay for Capote).
Three short news items
In Oklahoma City an anti-gay activist Baptist pastor and member of the Southern Baptist Convention’s executive committee was arrested after he propositioned a male undercover policeman for sex.
A man in Fort Sumner, New Mexico, caught a mouse and threw it into a pile of burning leaves; the mouse, on fire, ran back into the man’s house, which then burned down.
A woman in Vancouver, British Columbia, pleaded guilty to poisoning the trees in front of her condominium to improve her view of the ocean. [My dad used to just cut them down the old fashioned way]
Living in our age of digital downloads…
Someone asked this question:
“What would it take for you to put out your next album as officially mastered files (mp3, ogg, etc) that anyone could freely download or share across P2P networks? Basically, if someone was to approach you with a check that was cashable as soon as you released those files to the public, what would the amount on it have to be? What other considerations would need to be made? I understand that Divine Industries owns all the “mechanical” rights to your songs, and this would not preclude them from pressing and selling physical albums. It would also not interfere with any royalties you receive for song use, as you could retain control over all “commercial” use rights.”
I’m interested in getting input, feedback, yelling, about this idea. I mean besides “yeah that would be rad”, I’m interested in if anyone has any insight as to the pitfalls and perks of this kind of a deal in our modern age of digital downloads….
I love this link is called "French Complaints"
http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/01/06/french-complaints060106.html
Oh those crazy French! Now I can be a language snob at times (its cool not kewl, and its you are not UR, and dont even get me started on l33t), and I do appreciate the way things used to be in terms of language. I like using old words and old phrases because its romantic and/or entertaining. But, like Marlo says, languages evolve, and you cant stop it. You can slow it down, but its just delaying the inevitable. Language is obviously tied in with every other human interaction and if youre going to restrict yourself with language, youre going to restrict yourself with business and every other kind of growth. Well maybe thats what Quebec wants, and if so keep up the good work.
Yummy Asian Candies
Marlo brought a number of exotic treats back from China for me. Some of them were gruesome, but some of them were wonderful and the best candies Ive ever had! Lots of jelly/gummy treats including some that were packaged in tiny little balloons tied with a rubber band, some very good quality chocolates, and a candy that seemed to be hard crystallized honey with a liquid honey center. There were also marshmallow discs with various pudding, chocolate or fruit jelly centers. Im going to have to look for my favourites next time Im at T&T. There was one brand of little cubes of various flavours that were covered in chocolate powder and they were m good.
Thank you Sean Brothers
On the topic of D&D, Ive been playing Icewind Dale II on my computer, which is fun and addictive. I should be working on my one art job instead but Ill start that this weekend if things go as planned. I made up versions of the characters from my regular D&D group (as noted earlier, the now-defunct one) and thats fun and also educational. I get to play my players characters and I can see tactical angles they havent used (for example, the monk/rogue can use her stunning fist and then get sneak attacks in on the stunned target). Last night, after getting all the characters up to about ninth level, I decided to swap out the wizard. My original wizard specialized in summoning. My tactic in most of these games (Baldurs Gate etc) is to send the rogue scouting ahead invisibly (maxing out her sneak skills) and then summon a line of creatures/undead in between the rest of the party and the enemies. I typically stand behind the line of summoned fodder and unleash with ranged attacks and spells. There are two down sides to this. 1. In Icewind Dale the monsters are very focused once they see one character they will generally attack just that one guy, moving around everyone else even if it means taking a long way around. 2. If a wizard specializes in summoning spells, they cant cast evocation spells, which are old favourites like fireball and magic missile. So that was getting me down and I realized that since my bard and my cleric can both cast lots of summoning spells, I figured it was time to get rid of the wizard and get another one one that specializes in evocation! The bad news is, the new guy starts at 1st level while the others are 9th. So I just have to keep him in the back and see how that works out for now. Wish me luck!
Things I learned about D&D
I learned some things about running a D&D campaign. If you run a game for too long, people get tired and cranky about it. My regular gaming group broke up last night. Weve been having trouble for a couple months. Originally I expected the game to last about a year but its been over two years now. Some of the chapters were received well by some and others were not (by some). Some went way longer than I had planned. Plus some of the players have conflicting styles (some love to hack and slash, others like to roleplay) which is always difficult for a DM to balance. I felt that enthusiasm has been waning for a little while now, and Ive tried to salvage the campaign using different methods but when the most recent player dropped out I initiated a discussion about whether or not we should continue playing. We wont at least not as we have been. As Paul said, it seems weve been playing just to keep the momentum going after having invested so much into the story and characters not because we were actually looking forward to the game itself. So the end result is that weve decided to take a couple weeks hiatus and decide if we want to run some other kind of campaign or even a whole different game altogether for a month or two. And if not, thats okay too. But I have been daydreaming about Dragon Fist/Oriental Adventures in between my Mutants & Masterminds and Spaceship Zero schemes.
Penguins is practically chickens…
I got two volumes of the Loonie Tunes Classic Collection on DVD for Christmas. One from Marlo, and the second from The Woods (exchanged from volume 3 of Home Movies which MarMar ALSO got me for hexmas!). Theyre providing hours and hours of entertainment and I love them. The audio commentaries, most of which are provided by a cartoon historian, are very interesting. One thing that bugs me about them is that they each have four discs. The first is Bugs Bunny, the other may be something like Porky Pig & Daffy, Sylvester & Tweety, all-stars, or whatever. I get the feeling WB knows that if they released one dvd set with just Bugs Bunny and another one with just Wile E Coyote and the roadrunner they wouldnt make as much money. Its okay though, there are a few gems in with the boring Tweety Bird episodes. And they do slip in some Bugs Bunny and other good ones in with the all stars. Super fun!
Kentucky Fried Cruelty.com
A Norfolk, Virginia, man changed his name to Kentucky Fried Cruelty.com.
U.S. financial giant Citigroup was attempting to purchase about 85 percent of the state-owned Guangdong Development Bank of China. Wives in China were suing their husbands’ mistresses to reclaim gifts the mistresses had received from the husbands.
The New Year was postponed by one second to accommodate for the slowing rotation of the earth.
Twenty Sudanese migrants, protesting their treatment in Egypt, were killed by Egyptian police.
A police officer in Fremont, California, was attacked by a pack of chihuahuas and was later treated for ankle bites.
An airplane flying from England to Spain made an unscheduled stop in Porto Santo, a 10-mile-long, three-mile-wide island, to eject a disruptive passenger.
A British woman married an Israeli dolphin after fifteen years of courtship. I am just waiting for everyone to leave, said the woman, so we can have a private moment.
In Utah a 13-year-old girl who became pregnant by her 12-year-old boyfriend was ruled a sex offender. The 12-year-old boy was also ruled a sex offender. It’s a paradox, said the girl’s attorney.
In Florida a 16-year-old named Farris Hassan decided to complete a school project on the Iraq war by going to Iraq; he made it to Baghdad, and was sent back to Florida by United States authorities. A U.S. National Guardsman who served in Iraq was sentenced to 25 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to shooting an Iraqi soldier with whom he had had consensual gay sex.
U.S. school buses were increasingly being plastered with advertisements, and the University of Michigan was boycotting Coca-Cola products because of Coca-Cola’s human rights policies.
A woman in New York City was under investigation for putting her dead husband in a suitcase and leaving him there until neighbors complained of the smell. She wanted to take him to Arizona to be buried, explained a detective.
Hunters in Spain were killing 50,000 hunting greyhounds each year by drowning, poisoning, and hanging them; those greyhounds that humiliate their owners by failing to win races or catch hares are often hanged in such a way that their paws barely touch the ground, and as they struggle against the noose, the dogs’ nails make a clacking noise. This is known as the typewriting death.
The Senate, with Dick Cheney casting the deciding vote, cut $40 billion in funding for foster care, child support, and student loans. It was also reported that the NSA had, with Presidential approval but without warrants, spied on much more Internet and phone traffic than was previously acknowledged.
Authorities in Vienna, Austria, determined that people dressed as devils can legally smack the rear ends of strangers on Christmas.
In South Africa a mugger running from security guards fled into a tiger enclosure, where he was mauled to death.
Prebiotic organic molecules–which are found in DNA–were discovered in constellation Ophiuchus, 375 light-years from earth. New rings were found around Uranus.
Scientists in Mauritius discovered the bones of 20 dodos.
The Pope was worried that “intellectual and technical achievements” were leading to “spiritual barrenness and emptiness of heart.”
His beady eyes were too big for his stomach
Too bad this photo wasn’t around when my Mom was trying to keep me from stuffing myself.
So this whole thing about the chimeras…with the human/rabbit embryos…and whether or not such creatures should have human rights is the perfect example of human arrogance. I mean, come on…don’t you think the rabbits are asking the same question? Seriously, though – specieist christian nonsense. Might has always made rights.