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December 10th, 2009
 | 02:27 pm - Happy Hogswatch It's almost Hogswatch, and you know what that means! You all must watch Hogfather, the best winter holiday movie ever made. I have provided links to make it easier.
Amazon
Netflix
BitTorrent
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September 6th, 2009
 | 03:31 pm She's taking her own sweet time being born, that's for sure. Victoria is getting antsy. She's a week and two days overdue. I told her to go make an apple tart to take her mind off of things. mmmmm She's good.
We just watched G.I. Joe. I guess it was alright. It had lots of explosions at least.
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September 3rd, 2009
 | 07:46 am

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April 1st, 2009
 | 09:32 am Pigasus Awards for 2008 Written by Phil Plait
Every year, on the appropriate date of April 1, the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) gives out the Pigasus Awards, a dubious honor to people or organizations that have done their best in the past year to snuff out science and promote irrationality. The award is named after the beloved mascot of the JREF because, after all, when paranormal powers are proven, pigs will fly.
The five categories of the Pigasus Award are: 1. To the Scientist who said or did the silliest thing relating to parapsychology in the preceding twelve months. 2. To the Funding Organization that supports the most useless parapsychological study during the year. 3. To the Media outlet that reported as fact the most outrageous paranormal claim. 4. To the "Psychic" performer who fools the greatest number of people with the least effort in that twelve-month period. 5. For the most persistent refusal to face reality.
This year's (dis)honorees are: 1) Dr. Colin Ross, who can shoot electromagnetic radiation from his eyes; 2) The Producers of the movie "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed"; 3) Late night cable TV stations; 4) Jenny McCarthy; who has written books and appeared on countless TV shows promoting measles; and 5) Kevin Trudeau; who sold quack books even after the government fined him for it.
Details of these prestigious prestidigitators are below. They receive no actual trophy, no prize money, no plaque; just the publicity they generally seek, though perhaps not in the way they want it.
Pigasus Awards for 2008
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December 3rd, 2008
 | 10:49 pm Roger Ebert reviews Ben Stein's piece of crap Expelled
This film is cheerfully ignorant, manipulative, slanted, cherry-picks quotations, draws unwarranted conclusions, makes outrageous juxtapositions (Soviet marching troops representing opponents of ID), pussy-foots around religion (not a single identified believer among the ID people), segues between quotes that are not about the same thing, tells bald-faced lies, and makes a completely baseless association between freedom of speech and freedom to teach religion in a university class that is not about religion.
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April 25th, 2008
 | 12:09 pm News for the day:
After Near Extinction, Humans Split Into Isolated Bands
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/04/080424-humans-extinct.html
About 150,000 years ago, humankind split into small groups—living apart for a hundred thousand years before "reuniting" and migrating out of Africa, a new gene study says.
The Future of Sports
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/080425-space-station-sports.html
Astronauts, by necessity, work hard in space. But during their precious time off aboard the International Space Station (ISS), some spaceflyers are picking their brains to come up with the future of space sports.
I started to watch Caligula, the one with Malcolm McDowell, and realized I was no where near stoned enough. Have you seen this? I'm definitely sitting down next weekend and watching it.
Brand names 'as old as civilisation itself'
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/core/Content/displayPrintable.jhtml;jsessionid=0LECYUVDXYG0NQFIQMFCFGGAVCBQYIV0?xml=/earth/2008/04/23/scibrand123.xml&site=30&page=0
Bottle stops used five millennia ago in ancient Mesopotamia (today's Iraq), the birthplace of cities and writing, carried symbols that marked them out as the earliest evidence of branded goods.
nite nite
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April 16th, 2008
 | 01:55 am $312.48 at King Soopers today. That's a new record.
So apparently Expelled is more of a crock of falsifications and outright lies than even Bowling for Columbine was or government anti-drug propaganda is. Looking at this might be helpful before watching it. Granted, if you already want to see it, you're likely either already laughing or for some reason take it seriously, so getting the truth up front probably won't be much of a help.
Hooray for weekends. Mine started off with a kiss from my beautiful wife and a breakfast of steak and shrimp. I'm kinda almost out of pot, though. I have some, but it's not a lot. I waited too long to Make The Call. I do that about every other time.
Like a balloon, and something bad happens.
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August 27th, 2007
 | 05:37 am Not only are they telling us we have to wear something, now they're trying to tell us what to wear.
Baggy trousers that hang way below the belt and expose what the wearer has on underneath could soon be banned in the southern US city of Atlanta, a city council spokesman said Friday.
“Many youngsters are walking around with their pants way, way below their waists, and you can see everything. Some people call it a fad or a fashion statement but it is simple indecency,” Dexter Chambers, the communications director at Atlanta City Council, told AFP by phone.
“A proposal to change the city code in terms of indecency will go before the public safety legal administrative committee on Tuesday for discussion,” he said.
( Read Full Story )
We tried to see Superbad yesterday. It was horrible. We walked out 20 minutes into it. That was only the second movie I've ever walked out on. I don't recall what the other one was. It was so bad I actually thought about demanding my money back, but it's not the theater's fault that whoever decided to write, direct, and/or produce this movie made the mistake of thinking they could. It was utterly boring.
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August 13th, 2007
 | 11:24 pm When did we make the transition from "mixed tape" to "mix tape."? I didn't notice it happening. I just looked up one day and realized all the net kids were saying "mix." Then everyone else was doing it. ninvampiress has not seen Shaolin Soccer, so we're going to watch that tomorrow. I'm off for the next two nights. Woot. I'll probably be up all night too, so yall message me.
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February 16th, 2007
January 16th, 2007
 | 11:03 am There's no better present than the future.
I downloaded Hogfather last week. We've watched it 4 or 5 times by now. We're in love with Susan.
Bogey Man: What are you, a witch or something? Susan: I'm just... something.

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December 31st, 2005
 | 12:02 pm We're watching Dungeons and Dragons 2. ninvampiress says, "now Damodar is going to go home and write in his livejournal:
I never get what I want. Everybody's always mean to me. I tried really hard this time. But now I'm going to go watch the 2nd season of 24."
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July 1st, 2005
 | 08:25 pm I saw Van Helsing the other day. As it turns out, it's not a comedy, which means it just sucked on its own. Or rather, the part I watched sucked. I couldn't finish it.
I dislike the idea of taking several barely related concepts and shoving them into the same movie, and that's precisely what this was. They took all the classic gothic horror movie antagonists and put them in the same script. Although I didn't see any ghosts, I didn't finish the movie so there might have been. I also dislike having comedy relief multiple times in every single scene in an otherwise dramatic movie.
And someone please enlighten me as to why someone whose sole purpose in life is to fight vampires chose to wear high-heeled boots.
2 stars, max, and that's only for the hot vampiresses.
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May 29th, 2005
 | 09:25 am my haul from the $1 bin at Wal Mart:
Hercules Against the Moon Men Night of the Living Dead The Giant of Marathon The Sword of Lancelot Bowery at Midnight Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla
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May 25th, 2005
 | 08:43 pm
ninvampiress bought me the Holy Trilogy for our anniversary. She must think I've been a good boy or something. I love her.
Thanks honey *smooch*
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May 9th, 2005
 | 09:48 am During the previews before the Hitch Hiker's Guide was a movie that had some youngish girl kicking everybody's ass. Do any of you know which movie that is? Neither of us can recall what it was, and we both wanted to see it.
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July 18th, 2002
 | 07:36 am I can't believe in anything sacred when I don't believe in anything.
I have several things to post. They may or may not be separated into neat, clean sections. I will make an attempt to make them so.
Reign of Fire
I went to see this movie tonight. I give it not more than three stars. It was good, mostly because of the, albeit limited, special effects. But it certainly wasn't worth the $7.50 I paid to get in. If you can find it at a matinee it would be worth your time. Otherwise I suggest waiting until it comes out as a rental.
The Red Violin
I bought this movie a few weeks ago because a girl I am interested in said it was great, and that she would watch it with me at some point. Since she has been unavailable to watch it, probably due to a lack of interest in watching it with me, I decided to watch it tonight. Fucking great movie. For those of you who may not know of this movie, I will give a brief synopsis. Nicolo Bussotti, in the 17th century, crafted the perfect violin for his as yet unborn son. His wife died in childbirth, along with their son, and he varnished the violin with his deceased wife's blood, in a mixture with legitimate varnish. The movie is the tale of the violin's life, from Austria to England to China, winding up on an auction block in Montreal. 95% of you will not understand or enjoy this movie. The remaining five per cent of you with a brain, a clue, and an interest in romantic epics will thoroughly enjoy this movie as I did. Yes, I am saying that 19 of 20 of you are idiots. This is about par.
I long for romance
It occurred to me tonight, mostly during the previously mentioned movie The Red Violin that I have absolutely no romance in my life. This is extremely disturbing because the only thing I live for is fun and romance. I'm not religious in the least, so there is nothing for me to look forward to in the way of an "afterlife." I haven't much hope for mankind in the long run. Based on the Copernican theory of arbitrarily determining the life expectancy of a given thing, mankind has not more than, what was it, 1.8 million years to go, we won't be around forever. According to J. Richard Gott, our only hope for long term survival is to colonize anywhere else, such at the moon or Mars, if not another planetary system altogether. And in light of George W. "I'm a fucking idiot" Bush's recent attempts to cut funding for NASA's program for exploring the solar system, Pluto especially, I just don't think we'll do it. Part of Gott's prediction is that there is a limited window in which any given task can be done. Take, for example, the race to the moon. The only real reason we, the USA, went was to one-up the Soviet Union. We, at least those in charge, didn't care about exploring the moon or expanding our horizons. The Soviets were going and we were damned determined to get there first. There is no more Soviet Union, and unless there is someone else around to prompt us into action, I fear we won't have the urge to actually do anything. If we miss our window, then what? H.G. Wells painted a grim picture of our future in The Time Machine. The human race was degenerated to a dual nature of predator/prey, in which the working class was driven underground by the aristocracy and, as a result, came to view the surface dwellers, what used to be the "upper class" as cattle. Except for the fact that we were feeding on each other, I didn't think this result of humanity was such a bad thing. The surface dwellers, the Eloi, were a simple people who frolicked in the woods and sniffed flowers for a living, to put it briefly. The time traveller in the story, who saw only these Eloi at first, thought this wasn't such a bad thing. Then he discovered the Morlocks, the underground race who fed on the surface people, and realized that we were heading down a road onto which we would probably rather not trod. If we don't start looking at the earth as a whole unit, not as a conglomeration of countries and cultures, we are doomed.
And I realized I've gotten side tracked. I was talking about romance, and the lack thereof in my life. There is absolutely no romance in my life. None. I wake up. I go to work. I talk to people, most of them idiots, some of them cool, a very few of them have potential to be significant parts of my life. I come home. I go to bed. Occasionaly in intermissions I post, talk to my friends online, and watch movies that remind me of what I am missing. It's mostly the movies... and books and television shows and dreams. There is no one in my life, barring my immediate family - I'm aware that some of you don't even have that and I truely feel for you - that is affected one way or the other by my existance. To be sure, I realize that I affect everyone I come in contact with in some small way. But no one truely cares whether or not I had a bad day, or bought "that movie" I've been talking about for a week, or will cook pork fried rice for dinner. I have my roommates, who couldn't care less past whether or not I pay my rent, cook something, or burn the house down in a fit of rage for, to them, no reason at all. In The Red Violin, Senior Bussotti told his servants to leave the room so that he could speak to his wife, and they left, and the two of them had an important conversation afterwards. This doesn't happen in my life. In Reign of Fire Alex chooses to go to London to hunt the great male dragon. Quinn is visibly affected by this. Quinn's adopted son chooses to go also. Quinn is also affected by this, to the point to where he attempts to stop him. This doesn't happen in my life. In one episode of That '80s Show that sticks in my mind, Corey invites Tuesday to "the club" to hang out, and, after much thought and discussion with their mutual friend/boss, goes. This doesn't happen in my life. I guess I feel that I'm just living the life I've been dealt because I happen to have become aware in my present body, and that there's nothing significant about it. This is the proper view for an atheist. But I'm not satisfied with this. Purpose or not, I want to force my life to have some meaning. One thing I'm so incredibly tired of hearing is that one doesn't "need" love or a significant other to "be." Whether or not this is true, I want it for my existance, and in light of the fact that my existance has absolutely no purpose other than which I give it, I goddamned well want and expect to get what I want, and most of that expectation revolves around being something to someone. Basically it just comes down to that I want to come home from work and have someone there who wants to hear about my day, will be affected, preferably in a positive way, by my very existance, will realize that I am affected by their life - since I'm a heterosexual male, I'll presume that this will be a heterosexual female - and, basically, give a rat's ass that I'm around.
I'm not one for dating. I can never figure out the rules, and since they change from day to day, I doubt I ever will. I've never subscribed to the concept of just hanging out and "eventually" falling in love with someone. I'm far too imaginative and inspired for any of that. I want to happen upon someone in some dire circumstance and instantly fall in love. Some of you may claim that this only happens in movies and stories, but something sure as hell inspired those movies and stories, and I want that.
A friend commented on my "assessment" of The Red Violin just after I had rattled off a random Budgie quote - "I was born yesterday. Trouble seemed so far away." - and, even if it wasn't what he was commenting on, seems to fit. Not only the movie, but my life. I never thought, when I was young, that life would be as empty as it is.
I hunger for the fullness that others have. Current Music: Stabbing Westward - Why
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July 6th, 2002
 | 07:34 am Hi. It's me again. So much hasn't happened lately to tell you about, so I'll tell you about the piddly useless things that have happened so you won't think I've forgotten about you.
I've been playing X-Wing Alliance a lot lately. Apparently the Viraxo, my family's arch enemy in the shipping business, has killed my father and uncle and some other people. Sniff sniff. My sister, Aeron, has a sexy little voice, but there isn't any choice in what happens, so I can't, for example, fuck the Alliance and run off with my sister to make two-headed babies or anything. Rebel craft suck. The A-Wing, the fastest and most maneuverable ship in the fleet, is barely a match for the TIE Interceptor, which is only the next step up from a TIE Fighter. The A-Wing has shields, but Interceptor doesn't. But the TIE Advanced does, and it's even quicker than the Interceptor. All things being equal, an Advanced will whip an A-Wing. Then there's the TIE Defender, which is a souped up Advanced. The only equalizing factor is that, assuming you're good, you're better than the computer at its best. But go head to head with another real person and the guy flying an Imperial ship is going to win.
I introduced a guy on #drunk[1] to Nano Tank. He's already hooked after 15 minutes.
Melissa, the one I've mentioned before, but not in a while, has been around a lot lately. I still like her, and she seems to like me lately. She quit her Taco Bell job because, in short, she was being shat on because she doesn't speak Spanish, and almost everyone else there does. Funny thing is her first couple of days the manager was going on about how great an employee she is. She's got another thing lined up for Monday for an interview. Not sure where, though. I hope she gets something soon. She's got to get car insurance and a new plate and an emissions sticker. I got her a licence last week, so that was a start. Long story short, she's allergic to employment. Now she's realizing that she can't just not work unless she wins the lotto.
I watched Sling Blade for the first time the other day. One of the better movies I've seen.
I can't find episode 13 - nevermind anything after that - of "That '80s Show". I've been looking on Kazaa and WinMX for like two weeks now. I'm sure I'll eventually find it. Bah.
I didn't go out on the 4th. Being a Thursday, I normally would have, but I decided I didn't want to 1) get killed by a drunk driver 2) drive home after having one too many and/or 3) get stopped while legally intoxicated but still well within my driving limits. So Bill and Lisa came over, smoked a joint with me, and watched Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.
So anyway, that's it.
[1] Unless otherwise specified, any IRC channel I mention is going to be on Undernet. Current Music: Les Miserables - Complete Symphonic Recording
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June 17th, 2002
 | 08:34 am Yesterday I was futzing around with my Logitech Wingman Extreme 3D. I've been trying to get it to work for about a year and a half off and on, because I love TIE Fighter. It's the best PC game I've ever had. My friend Mark K. introduced me to X-Wing back at Ole Miss in 1994. When TIE Fighter came out I bought it and fell in love. Anyway, I've got TIE Fighter, X-Wing, X-Wing vs TIE Fighter, and Rebel Alliance - Mike bought them for me one birthday - and haven't been able to play them because my fucking joystick wouldn't work. You can't play with a gamepad, which does work, and you can't play with a mouse. Oh, you can play it, but that would be like trying to masturbate in a body cast... with your feet... asleep... So I decided to try yet again. I downloaded the newest drivers as usual, and it fucking worked. I couldn't believe it. I was so excited that I forgot to actually play the game. I sat in the calibration window for 15 minutes just marvelling at the fact that things were moving. I also was stoned. This may have had something to do with my absentmindedness. At any rate, I can play THE GAME again. Now I just need to buy Alex a computer so I can beat the shit out of him.
I was just directed to this site. It's funny as fuck.
Erica told me about The Red Violin, a movie about the life of a violin painted with blood to mourn the death of the creator's wife and child. So I ran out and ordered it so we can watch it. It sounds groovy.
That's it for now. Back to killing rebel scum. Current Music: Ramones - The Shape of Things To Come
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June 16th, 2002
 | 08:17 am Last night was just another normal night: kicked half a dozen drunks out, called the cops on a few others, had two cases of beer stolen, etc.
My flatmate informed me that last night while Stephen King's Cat's Eye was on television, Jaz was curled in the chair, watching it, from beginning to end. Current Music: Electric Hellfire Club - South of Heaven
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