Toren Atkinson

Busy as a wasp.

I have been quiet over the weekend. Busy working. Sometimes these things must be done. What did I do? Played Call of Cthulhu for the first time in a long time. My character has an insanity, the details of which are unknown to the other players, though they know I’ve got something. It’s hard to work it into the game, however, without constantly derailing the “mission” – which is to stop a film from being premiered.

Everyone’s busy. Busy busy busy. I’m busy too. I wanted to go see The Cremator today, but nobody took me up on the e-offer. We didn’t play D&D on Sunday yet again because we didn’t have enough people to play – everyone’s busy, I reiterate. Depressing.

Day 2988: Spam still plaguing inbox

Today I met in person a gal I met on one of those awful online dating services quite a while ago. She (Rhonda) has been living in Yellowknife. We chat on MSN from time to time. We went to City Square mall (Cambie & 12th) and tried out India’s Flavour. It’s a new joint in that mall, as Stephane pointed out on Friday on our way back from Costco. Speaking of which – more Hot Chocolate was acquired thereat. Digressor, I, again. They have India’s Flavour in the food court at Tinseltown so by proxy I now have warm feelings for City Square. Then we browsed a couple stores in the mall, did some shopping at Safeway, then I gave her the grand tour of the apartment and introduced her to Kodos and Stewie. We played cards and I lost almost all the games. Through the course of the afternoon, however, I became reacquainted with an old friend – The Werner Universal Educator: A Manual of General Information and Complete Cyclopedia of Reference Historical, Biographical, Scientific and Statistical Embracing the Most Improved and Simple Methods of Self-Instruction in All Branches of Popular Education (New Revised Edition). This is a massive tome that was published in 1901 (yes, 1901). It’s got a chapter on phrenology, another chapter on etiquette – it’s quite fantastic, actually. You can teach yourself German, and learn history from the pre-world war(s) perspective. I’ve had this book for years – I think I picked it up while I was working at The Book Man in Chilliwack. We used it to look up the rules for poker. It would be a great book to fall asleep with if it weren’t for the chance of being crushed under it’s ponderous weight (both literal and literary – haha). After the card games and chitchat Rhonda took off so I could get some work done. I’ve been drawing all night, and I was hoping to get some writing (not counting this) done, but no such luck.

I’ve been thinking about throwing a Christmas Party, but I’m worried that as soon as I announce one, I’ll get an email from a friend about their hexmas party happening on the same day, and I’ll have to miss it, because I’ll be here. I’d rather go to someone else’s Christ o’ Mas party, because then I could leave whenever I wanted. That’s only a half-joke. And it’s the bottom half. All the parties I’ve been to lately have been my own. I am, after all, a party animal.

For American Thanksgiving: I’m thankful I live in a time when messy hair is considered stylish.

It is my policy, and I think it should be everyone’s policy, to ask questions. Particularly if you’re having a conversation with someone and they use a word or a term that you haven’t heard of, or don’t know the definition of. I don’t mind seeming foolish and ignorant – I spend all day doing it. I like words, and I use them because I like them, not to appear pretentious (though sometimes I’m sure I do) or superior (though I do have a book called The Superior Person’s Book of Words). I like reading new words and hearing them. I like to assimilate them into my vocabularium. So I’ll make you a deal – please don’t smile, nod, and pretend you know what a word means – ask for clarification. I’ll do the same, and the world will be a better place for it.

Speaking of asking questions – what is the preferred salutation on Remembrance Day? You don’t say “happy Remembrance Day” do you? Because really, what’s there to be happy about? I’m curious about this.

Next trivia question: What is the Kuiper Belt?

You got your Sendak in my Lovecraft! You got your Lovecraft in my Sendak!
Several years ago I did this homage to both Maurice Sendak and H.P. Lovecraft. I call it Where the Great Old Ones Are.

(click here for a bigger version)

Timothy Emrick recently took it a step further and made fantastic felt dolls based up on it.

Neat, huh? To see more pics you’ll have to go to the Thickets yahoogroup.

Congrats to Sid for being a smarty pants. Next question (related): what’s an aphelion?

Trivia: What is an Oort Cloud?
No looking it up.

Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath is up on imdb.com now http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0384057/combined
If you’ve seen it – vote!

Matrix vs. Frenchies

Based on some of the reviews I’ve read and heard of Matrix: Revolutions, I probably won’t see it in the theater. However, starting next week at the Pacific Cinematheque there’s a French animation festivule. I intend on seeing as much as possible. But oh – the seats! Maybe I’ll bring my own.

More computer animation, please.

I watched a lot of TV today while I was sketching. I am really disappointed in TLC and the Discovery Channel. I thought the idea was supposed to be educational programs. What’s educational about watching mechanics trick out a SUV on Monster Garage, or teams of insipid yuppies redecorating other people’s houses on Trading Spaces? Just tell me why sharks don’t get cancer, and what the moons of Jupiter are composed of. Is that too much to ask?

More TV Reflections

For reasons too ethereal to speculate, I had a hankerin’ for sleestaks and incredibly un-PC racial stereotypes, so I put in some Land of the Lost and Tex Avery cartoons, respectively. Funny for different reasons, and all the wrong ones….

Thank you for your kind offer.

Stewey offered to treat me to a matinee of Matrix: Revolutions today. I declined. Not because I’m boycotting it – that’s Kill Bill. You know all aboot that. They (he & Darcy) went to Burnaby to see it. I had stuff to get done; phone calls to make during the day. Also: I generally avoid seeing movies on opening day. Too crowded, oftentimes. I like to wait a week or two for the noisy bastards to get it through their system, then I’ll take in a matinee where it’s just me, whoever I’m with, and the other scant misanthropes. (Also, waiting a week for others to see it increases the chance of being warned away from a crap film.) Scant Misanthropes, that’s a good name for a band. Digressor, I. Lastly, since I was planning on seeing Valerie and Her Week of Wonders in the evening, I figured one movie out was enough. Unfortunately, Valerie was a mess. I’m glad I couldn’t find anyone to drag to it because I would have felt bad. Also I would have felt bad for keeping them in those wicked, inhumane Pacific Cinematheque seats for 2 hours. Speaking of feeling bad…

I got a kid sent to prison during college because when I called the police about a noise violation, they showed up and found him dealing cocaine in his room. So I’ve ruined at least one person’s life.

when i was in 6th grade, i used to go to the bus stop early everyday so i could go to the store, steal candy, and then sell it on the bus…i made a lot of money

Last year I went on my friend’s PC while he was in the shower. Ebay and Paypal were still logged in, as he had just been paying for some auctions. I decided to buy him some worn panties, which only had a few minutes left on the auction. I paid through Paypal, and deleted as much evidence of the transaction as I could. A week or so later he told me that some woman had posted her underwear to him, along with a saucy note which his girlfriend of 18 months had opened and read to him. Being the faithful type, he had no idea how this came about, but she got her stuff and left him anyway. To this day I have never told another soul, and he never figured out how this came about.

Once i said that the BeeGees were not the best band ever, when clearly they are

Newsvember:

President Bush denied that his political operatives had been responsible for the erection of the “Mission Accomplished” banner that flew behind him on the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln on May 1, when he dressed up like a fighter pilot and declared victory in Iraq. He said that his advance men “weren’t that ingenious” and that the banner was put up by crew members, “saying that their mission was accomplished.” Scott McClellan, the president’s press secretary, later admitted that the banner was in fact created by the White House. American scientists deliberately engineered a new extra-deadly form of mousepox; much the same thing has been done with cowpox and rabbitpox. Historians were upset that the Smithsonian Institution’s new exhibit of the Enola Gay bomber fails to mention that the B-29 dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The CIA celebrated the 40th anniversary of its Directorate of Science and Technology by exhibiting such devices as a mechanical dragonfly listening device and a 24-inch-long artificial catfish; the exhibit was not open to the public. The French government unveiled a plan to make the French more European. A gang of Catholic schoolgirls chased down and pummeled a flasher in Philadelphia. A clown robbed a bank in Virginia. A new study from the Center for Public Integrity revealed that the 70 companies that have benefited the most from $8 billion in government contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan collectively contributed more than $500,000 to President Bush’s 2000 presidential campaign. The Food and Drug Administration issued a preliminary conclusion that clones are safe to eat; it was noted that some companies plan to use clones’ milk to manufacture pharmaceuticals. The Episcopal Church consecrated its first openly gay bishop. Neuroscientists determined that motherhood makes female rats smarter, calmer, and more courageous.

I’ve added new links to the left. Chris and Nicole are Green Ronin Publishing. They pay my rent. They are the unapologetic shit-disturbing consciences of the RPG world, and I love them dearly. I don’t see them often enough. Nicole’s kid is cute when I’m not making her cry.

Uh…so…you’ve seen the commercial for Pepsi Vanilla? If not:

A Vanilla Coke truck pulls up to a stop light.
A Pepsi Vanilla (Notice they put the Vanilla after the Pepsi in this case) truck pulls up beside it.
The Coke truck driver turns his stereo up.
The Pepsi driver presses a button, and doors on the side of his truck slide up to reveal big speakers, and then the truck does that thing where it bounces on the front wheels – I’m sure there’s a name for that but I’m not cool enough to know what it is. And all the homies on the sidewalk say “woo” and “yeah” in approval. And that’s the commercial.

So, if I understand this correctly, the message is I am supposed to choose Pepsi over Coke because the truck has a better sound system? Is that right?

Chris Gibbins gets the honor of being called “Chris” because he took these photos.
I finally saw Finding Nemo last night, with Anghold.
I got her a Scrabble Board of her very own. Soon I will have mine, too. I feel it in the wind.

My hard drive became full today. All 4 gigs. Yup.
I put up my review of Forbidden Planet in the writing section of my web page. That will alleviate a few kb.