Birther Island!

<flyover shot of Hawaii>
Someone's birth certificate is missing.  One man journeys to a mysterious island to find out the truth.

SCENE
WOMAN: Yeah, he's my baby. I had him...in HELL!

SCENE
MAN: This document is a forgery. Look, there's a misspelling here. A smudge of guacamole there. If you flip it over, it's clear that this was a coupon for Chili's. I want answers!

SCENE
MYSTERY WOMAN: The prophecy says one will rise up from the island and gain power over the United States of America.
MYSTERY WOMAN: Does it say if he'll get a second term?
MYSTERY WOMAN: The prophecy does not specify.

SCENE
MAN: It's...you.
MYSTERIOUS PRESIDENTIAL MAN: I just wanted to clear this matter up...by sending you back to where you came from!
MAN: Newark? Kenya? Sorry, I'm a little confused here.
MYSTERIOUS PRESIDENTIAL MAN: I meant that I was going to kill you.

SCENE
MAN: Damn you, Birther Islaaaaaaand!!!

Posted on: May 14, 2010 8:21am. Permalink

Gmail allows sending mail from your own SMTP server

I use my Gmail account to send and receive from all of my other email accounts (bradsimpson.com, swashbucklerinteractive.com).  Previously, it would display (in email apps like Outlook) that the email was sent "on behalf of" my Gmail account.  Now, you can change your account settings to send mail from your domain's outgoing mail server.  Nice one, Gmail.

Gmail Blog:
Send mail from another address without "on behalf of."

Posted on: Aug 18, 2009 8:34am. Permalink

Thank You, Wii Virtual Console!

The Wii Virtual Console is everything I'd ever hoped for in a virtual console.  Large library of old school video games.  Games from multiple consoles, not just various flavors of past Nintendo machines (crap, they have the Commodore 64 Summer Games available now).  My favorite part may be the "save anywhere" feature, though.  Back in the day, games didn't have fancy "save" features (well, only the expensive games like The Legend of Zelda).  And passcodes were nice, but, meh, too many damn characters to write down and type in.  Now, with the glory that is the virtual console, you can save anywhere in the game in any game.  No longer do you have to stay up all night trying and failing to beat Dracula in the first NES Castlevania.  Now, if you can actually get to Dracula, you can save it right on that level and stay up all night failing to beat him.  BUT, when you wake up dreary-eyed the next morning, you'll be able to continue not beating him at the point where you threw your wiimote across the room the previous night!

Ok, I'll stop being modest.  I finally beat Dracula.  It took me a couple days / weeks / months, but that's exactly the point.  And it counts, yes, it does.  I'm adding a Castlevania notch to my belt.  I also beat Ninja Gaiden for the NES, a game that haunted me in my dreams for years and years (and, really, it was one of the hardest, and, in my opinions, most unfair games of all time).

So, goodbye ninja nightmares.  Dracula has been slain.  Maybe I'll go for the gold in C64 Summer Games.  Anything's possible in this brave, new, world.

Posted on: Jul 14, 2009 5:27pm. Permalink

Inland Hurricane

From the Southern Illinoisan's web site:

On the afternoon of May 8, 2009 a storm unlike many had ever seen struck Southern Illinois and parts of southeast Missouri.

The National Weather Service in Paducah, Ky. recorded peak wind gusts at more than 80 miles per hour in Marion and Carbondale, with sustained winds blowing at 68 mph. One observer at the Southern Illinois Airport in Carbondale saw an anemometer record a gust as high as 106 mph. Radar images taken at 1:28 p.m. show an “eye” feature that had developed north of Carbondale and moved over Murphysboro. Isolated embedded tornados were also recorded. All told, the destruction to towns, neighborhoods and homes was significant.

Luckily, nobody I knew was hurt, but everybody had damage in some form or another, whether it was fallen trees or a roof that blew off.  Read more and check out some photos at the Southern Illinoisan web site.

Posted on: May 20, 2009 7:07am. Permalink

Moved In

Officially moved into our new house in Durham yesterday.  Body aching.  Tired.  So tired.

Posted on: Apr 10, 2009 6:13am. Permalink

Durham

So, looks like we're moving to Durham, assuming all the inspections turn out fine.  We considered staying in Raleigh, but we would have wanted to be close to downtown and probably couldn't have afforded it.  The house we're (hopefully) buying is 1-2 miles away from all the good stuff in downtown Durham, so we can walk on a nice day (unlike today, as we're buried in snow -- c'mon.  snow in march?  what the hell?).  The house is over 100 years old and is part of the historical society, so I assume we'll be bumping into the ghosts of old dead Durham people all the time.  Hey, we need to make some friends here anyway.

Now, the only problem is finding good pizza in Durham.  Yeah, we've been to Satisfaction a couple times and Pop's Restaurant was good (although the atmosphere is a little fancy-schmancy for my taste in pizza parlors).  We love Lynnwood Grill and Lilly's in Raleigh, but we haven't found anything like that in Durham.  In Tallahassee, our favorite pizza place was Decent Pizza, so that's pretty much what we're looking for.  Cool, grungy atmosphere.  Overwhelming smell of pizza ovens.  Unnecessarily loud indie music.  Ironic posters of breakfast specials on the walls.  Why is that so hard to find here?

Posted on: Mar 03, 2009 7:16am. Permalink

Inauguration

So, being in D.C. for Obama's Inauguration was awesome.  Can't say I'll be in a crowd of millions again anytime soon.  We're going to see Norm MacDonald this weekend in Raleigh, but, let me think.  No, probably won't be a crowd of millions there.  Maybe pushing a couple hundred.  Probably won't be in the presence of so many celebrities ever again either, my stint as an intern on Politically Incorrect aside.  I mean, I did get to meet a lot of celebrities during that summer: Mark Hamill, Howie Mandell, Bob AND David on separate occasions, although I didn't know who they were at the time because I didn't have HBO or friends who watched Mr. Show.  Yes, I'm still kicking myself.  I mean, I walked Bob Odenkirk from the green room to his limo and didn't have any idea who the man was.  Bob.  David!

Anywho...  Lots of hopes and dreams in D.C. last week.  Kelle and I were glad to be a part of it (and glad our friends Debby and Justin would put us up for a few days -- we weren't particularly excited about paying a couple hundred bucks to camp on somebody's front lawn in the freezing cold).  Now, we just have to hope that Obama fixes everything asap.  So, hopefully he gets on that.  With the fixing.  Of things.  As soon as possible.  Or as is convenient.

Posted on: Jan 26, 2009 8:18pm. Permalink

Wrasslin'

Wow, The Wrestler looks really, really good. I'm not sure if it's because of Darren Aronofsky, Mickey Rourke's Oscar-buzzed performance, or the subject matter (I was a big WWF nerd in the 80s), but I really want to see this. I heard it made "Rowdy" Roddy Piper cry or something.  That's good enough for me.  I hope this comes to Raleigh soon, because I'd actually leave my house to (gasp!) see this movie in the theater. I'm also curious about Valkyrie, the Bryan Singer Nazi movie, although I don't know why Tom Cruise can't pretend to have a German accent. Seems like him sounding like a regular, old American would shatter the suspension of disbelief I'm supposed to have about him being a Nazi. If he couldn't handle the accent, why didn't they get another actor? Like, maybe a German actor who speaks German. Ok, maybe this movie doesn't look so hot. I'll just go watch The Pianist again instead.

Posted on: Dec 17, 2008 2:01pm. Permalink

Swashbuckler Interactive Is Live

Finally got the site up for my freelance web design company, Swashbuckler Interactive LLC. I started the company back in January 2007, but haven't had a chance to get a site together. Too busy working on client work, which is a good thing. I had been updating my portfolio on this site, but I figure all new stuff will go on my official company's site. Now, I just need to get some business cards made...

Posted on: Nov 21, 2008 9:28am. Permalink

Live Chat Is Dead To Me

So, I spent half an hour today in an online chat session with Earthlink tech support. Sometimes with online support chat, it seems that the operator is actually a chatbot. I type in my question, then they parse out the keywords and send useless "helpful" links back to me.

Me: "I think your installation of PHPMyAdmin is broken. It's generating bad queries."
Them: "Visit this link to learn how to form correct MySQL queries."
Me: "No, please listen to what I'm saying. I'm not writing any MySQL queries. All of my queries are awesome. The problem is with PHPMyAdmin, which you guys installed."
Them: "Visit this link to learn how to use PHPMyAdmin."
Me: "I hate you."

So, after thirty minutes of this, I ask to speak to somebody who knows what they're talking about. He (or it?) gives me the tech support phone number, and I solve my problem in about five minutes. Turns out, there's a server-wide problem on Earthlink's end that they're going to have to fix. So, there. Was that so hard, chatbot? Why don't you go back to moderating gaming chat rooms and leave the tech support to people who know what they're talking about.

Okay, done ranting.

Posted on: Oct 22, 2008 6:22pm. Permalink

Stereolab at Cat's Cradle

Taking a break from obsessing over TV On The Radio's new album Dear Science, we caught Stereolab last night at Cat's Cradle in Carrboro. The last time I caught them was in Chicago during their 1999 tour for Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage In the Milky Night. I seriously don't remember them rocking as hard as they did last night. For a band known for their atmospheric, "space-age bachelor pad" sound, they can really pound out the songs on stage. Most of the songs they played were new (I have yet to get their new album Chemical Chords, although I may be purchasing it today), but they performed plenty of classics, including the final song in which Bradford Cox of Atlas Sound joined in. Well worth the 35 minute drive from Raleigh, although it really does take an amazing band like Stereolab to get me out to a 9pm weekday show. The last show we saw was Iron & Wine at The Moon in Tallahassee, and this is our first time in Cat's Cradle since moving here 6 months ago. It was definitely a much smaller venue than, say, The Moon, but that just added to it's intimacy and powerful acoustics. I mean, how can you not love a venue with an old-school arcade (although they need to get Double Dragon working again - please get on that pronto).

Here are photos from Stereolab's Athens show on Saturday. Just pretend Laetitia is wearing a purple dress and there's not a sign for 40 Watt Club in the background.

Posted on: Sep 30, 2008 7:01am. Permalink

Summer!

First day of summer. Sold a house today. Finished a book (Stephen King's It). Moved my biz to North Carolina. Crazy day. Jam packed full of stuff.

Posted on: Jun 20, 2008 4:04pm. Permalink

Goodbye, Tallahassee!

It's been fun. But, the pollen. It's a bit much, don't you think?

Posted on: Apr 17, 2008 12:00am. Permalink

70% Chance Of Smoke

It's weird when you wake up and the weather forecast for the day is "smoky." Not "Smoky Mountains" smoky, but more like "wildfires burning in the area that fill the air with smoke" smoky. It's been like this for a few weeks now, as we've had a major drought and Northern Florida / Southern Georgia has been burning down around us.

So, remember, kids. Only you can prevent forest fires. Well, and God, with the lightning and the lack of rain making everything as dry as a bowl of shredded wheat (sans milk). Okay, there's actually nothing you can do. Just remember to wear a face mask when you go outside and try not to breathe too much.

Posted on: May 25, 2007 6:46am. Permalink

Kelle Barrick, “Student Star”

Kelle's "FSU Featured Student" write-up was just posted on the FSU site. She and only 9 other students were chosen out of over 2000 graduate and undergraduate candidates. Yay, Kelle!

Posted on: May 01, 2007 1:45pm. Permalink

A Nielsen Family At Last

Well, we're officially a Nielsen family for one week. Finally, I can tell somebody about what TV shows I'm obsessed with, and they?ll actually listen to me! I get to help promote stuff like the video game shows on G4 (but not the crappy non-video games shows like Cheaters or that racing show... blech!), the new horror channel "Chiller" (Alfred Hitchcock Presents - prepare to get an increase in ad revenue), the uncensored movies on Fox Movie Channel (take that family values), and Lost (hey, some of us still watch it). I've been waiting for this glorious moment since I was ten years old.

It's funny, but now I feel compelled to watch TV constantly so as to not miss a golden opportunity to plug one of my favorite shows. That's probably not how you're supposed to do it, so hopefully the Nielsen people aren't reading my blog. It's weird that they keep track of pre-recorded shows that you watch later on your DVR, because (I assume) people don't actually watch the commercials when they can fast-forward through them. Of course, the future will bring us lots of product placement and annoying in-show pop-up banners, so I guess that's why they?re bothering.

Anyway, time to go write the Daily Show in my TV Viewing Diary (and probably watch it, too).

Posted on: Apr 26, 2007 8:18pm. Permalink

Decemberists & Tool

Finally, some shows coming to Tallahassee that aren't country music or blue collar comedy. In April, we're seeing The Decemberists at The Moon and, if we can get tickets, Tool at the civic center. Kelle's more the Toolhead and I'm more the Decemberista, so it works out nicely. The Decemberists tickets were free for students, too, so Kelle got a sweet deal.

Update: An hour after I posted this, I found out that the Tool concert will be rescheduled due to an injury to the drummer. I think Kelle jinxed it. The show was to happen on the day after her birthday, and the last time we were going to see a show for her birthday the main act died.

Posted on: Feb 22, 2007 7:42am. Permalink

Steve Jobs Advocates Abolishing Digital Rights Management

Yesterday, Steve Jobs wrote on Apple's web site that he would support selling DRM-free music on the iTunes Music Store. The reason? It's not stopping piracy, iPod sales won't suffer, and it makes for a happier consumer. He's also attempting to redirect the heat from angry Europeans to where it belongs—the recording industry.

I'm all for it. DRM just makes consumers frustrated and spiteful, encouraging them to pirate more. Besides, users can already swap music ripped from their CDs. There's also a misconception that iPods only play music bought from Apple's online store. Jobs said that, on average, a meager 3% of a typical iPod user's music library is from the store, so the other 97% is already unprotected anyway.

In any case, we'll see how the recording industry reacts. I'm not getting my hopes up, though, since greed and paranoia have traditionally kept them from embracing a changing market and adapting to the demands of their consumers.

Read Jobs' Thoughts on Music.

Posted on: Feb 07, 2007 9:07am. Permalink

Three Weeks Later...

Today is the first day since I was laid off that I haven't been insanely busy. It was kinda nice. Did a little work this morning. Listened to my new TV On The Radio album (damn, “Wolf Like Me” is such an infectious song...). Caught up on some reading. Very relaxing.

A little backstory: three weeks ago the entire development team at Evolution Multimedia was laid off. I'd been there for seven and a half years, so it was quite a shock. Since then, I've decided (at least for now) to try freelancing full-time. I've picked up a good amount of work since that fateful day, so it's looking promising. Of course, I'd feel more at ease about my little career experiment if Kelle was finished up at FSU and had a full-time job. In any case, I'm still applying at places here in town that I'd like to work at, so if a great full-time job comes around, I'll be inclined to snatch it up.

Finally got around to seeing Pan's Labyrinth this weekend. Very dark and depressing but really amazing. It was actually as much of a political / military / historical film as it was a fantasy / horror film. After that, we had a cheesy 80s fantasy film fest and watched Labyrinth (not as darkly complex as Pan, but it does have David Bowie), Willow, and The Secret of Nimh. The Neverending Story almost made the cut, but we were all falling asleep by that point. The next day was Super Bowl Sunday, so we celebrated traditionally by playing video games, watching movies, and basically doing anything un-football. Kinda sucks that the Bears lost, since they're from my home state, but I'll be more emotionally affected if Scorsese doesn't win Best Director this year at the Oscar's.

Posted on: Feb 06, 2007 4:53pm. Permalink

Opera On Wii

Well, the Opera browser for Wii finally came out last Friday. I've spent some time with it since then and, while I really enjoy it for watching YouTube videos and playing Flash games, there are definitely some things that could be improved. I'll cut Opera some slack, though, since this is just a 'trial' version and they admit that this installment is limited in features. In any case, here are my personal pros and cons:

The Pros:

• Great for viewing Flash videos. And since YouTube converts all their videos to Flash 7 format, you'll be spending a lot of time there. Perfect for when you have people over and everyone can't fit around your laptop screen.
• Great for playing some Flash games. There are web sites now, like www.wiicade.com, that round up some of the best Wii-friendly Flash games on the net (i.e. games that primarily use pointing and clicking).
• Easy to disable CSS, thus making sites easier to read on your low-resolution TV. Sites that have a good conformance to modern web standards adapt nicely.
• Nice method of zooming in on areas of a web page, although zoom levels could be improved.
• Surfing from your couch with only your remote. A lazy internet surfer's dream.

The Cons:

• No way to view your history. There is a back button, but that's all you get.
• No way to view the address bar, so you never really know where you're at.
• No playback of Quicktime, Windows Media, or MP3 (among other file formats). It'd be nice if we lived in a world where everyone stuck their digital media in a nice Flash wrapper, but that's currently not the case. Which brings me to...
• No Flash 8. Okay, at least they use Flash 7. They claim that it has something to do with Adobe's refusal to release Flash 8 for systems that they don't support or blah blah. At least most sites are still using Flash 7 or lower.
• Difficulty in typing long blocks of text with the Wii keyboard. Try leaving a comment on a web site. I dare you.
• Several sites crash the browser, like gmail.com and pandora.com. I hope it's just something those particular sites can fix, because I'm dying to have internet radio in my living room courtesy of pandora.com.

Anyway, all negatives aside, I still have a lot of fun with it. Okay, 95% of that time is spent on YouTube, but I still think it'd be worth the $5 when the final version is released.

Hope everyone had a great holiday season. We spent Christmas on the beach at St. George Island. Very relaxing.

Posted on: Dec 29, 2006 1:52pm. Permalink

The Wii Is Mine!

Finally got mii a wii (ha, mii). We stood in line Sunday morning at Toys R Us for a little over an hour. I thought I was making a big effort to get there an hour early, but apparently some people in line at Circuit City had tents. When I got there, I counted up the number of people in front of me and found that I was the 21st person in line. I started feeling kinda hopeless, though, since I assumed the number of wii units they'd have would be 15 or 20. But, luckily, that number turned out to be 21, and I got the very last console they had in stock. It was a glorious day. Still waiting to buy a 2nd controller, though. Why Nintendo didn't ship an equal (or greater) number of controllers to accompany the consoles is still a mystery.

In any case, I've been having a blast with Wii Sports and Super Monkey Ball (and the NES Legend Of Zelda which I bought on the Shopping Channel last night). The controller is super intuitive, and, in the case of Wii Sports, can actually be quite a workout (you can play most games with a flick of your wrist, but half the fun for me is pretending you're swinging a baseball bat or throwing a bowling ball. Yes, I'm a geek...). I'm looking forward to surfing the internet on my Wii when their Opera browser is released. Watching bizarre YouTube videos from my couch will be an amazing thing.

Posted on: Dec 06, 2006 6:25am. Permalink

Wii Pre-Order Blues

Why didn't I pre-order a Wii before Sunday? What the hell was I thinking? I figured the PS3s would be sold out, but I didn't realize how fast the Wiis would move off the shelves. Now, I wouldn't be surprised if I can't get one until after Christmas. Ack.

So, Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh are now off The Hobbit project. New Line informed them that their services would not be required and that they were actively seeking a new director. Apparently, it all stems from their unwillingness to commit to the project while New Line and Wingnut Films were in the middle of a lawsuit. New Line wanted a commitment to give them leverage with the lawsuit and Jackson did not want to make the movie on the grounds of it being a "business convenience." Well, nuts to that. Jackson clearly wanted to make The Hobbit, as was the wish of most fans of the LOTR movies. New Line has made a big mistake with this. They'll probably get some hack director like Brett Ratner or Michael Bay who'll take The Hobbit "to the next level." Ah, you gotta love Hollywood execs. Or actually you don't. You can hate them like I do. Hate hate hate. Full story

Friday night, we saw Stephen Colbert at the FSU PowWow. This was his first big speaking engagement since his wonderful oratory at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. As expected, he was hilarious. He even did "The Word" segment from his Comedy Central show. I didn't feel worthy to be in his presence.

Posted on: Nov 20, 2006 6:17am. Permalink

2006 Midterm Election Results

Dems regain control of House, may regain control of Senate. Yay.

Posted on: Nov 08, 2006 7:43am. Permalink

Cracked

Have you seen Cracked Magazine lately? Holy crap! When did they get funny? I used to love Cracked as a kid, even though I knew it was pale in comparison to Mad magazine. Now, they have contributers like Mystery Science Theater 3000's Mike Nelson, Michael Ian Black, and members of the Daily Show staff. Funny!

Posted on: Oct 08, 2006 2:07pm. Permalink

Orlando Fun

My birthday weekend was awesome. Kelle took me to Orlando for water slides and roller coasters. Ever since we'd moved to Tallahassee three years ago, I'd been complaining about not having been to Orlando, so this made me very happy. Islands Of Adventure was awesome, especially Seuss Landing and The Lost Continent. The best ride there, though, was The Hulk, even though it gave us shaken baby syndrome. Wet N' Wild rocked, too. They have a slide called Disco H2O, where riders swirl around an enclosed room full of flashing disco lights and disco music. Very discoey. At night, we went to the City Walk outside of the Universal parks. We thought about dining at Emeril's, but the reservation situation and price tag made us change our minds. We ended up hanging out at Pat O' Brien's both nights, the second night for their "Halfway To St. Patty's Day" event. It was oddly similar to the New Orleans piano bar of the same name, although it was missing that quaint stench of rancid hedonism. We still managed to get blitzed on hurricanes, though.

Horror Film Night tonight at our house. Tonight's showing: Shaun Of The Dead.

Posted on: Oct 01, 2006 3:14pm. Permalink

Dirty Thirty

Kelle's taking me on a surprise trip this weekend for my 30th birthday. All I know is that it's somewhere within driving distance of Tallahassee and that it doesn't involve any embarrassing live tv moments. So, listen up, weather. I don't want to see any hurricanes, tropical storms, or anything else that might hinder me from having my best 30th birthday ever.

For my birthday present to myself, I'm buying a 2007 Toyota Matrix. Good gas mileage, more room for the dogs to frolic, and, according to their promotional materials, it's like a rave on wheels. Ecstacy not included.

So, am I freaking out about turning 30? Nope. It seems just like another birthday, aside from the fact that everybody keeps asking me if I'm "freaking out". Anyway, sixty is the new forty, so, by that rationale, thirty is the new twenty. Damn, I can't even have a drink on my birthday yet.

Posted on: Sep 13, 2006 12:40pm. Permalink

Back From The Rockies

Back from Colorado. It's so beautiful there. So dry, too, unlike the suffocating humidity of Tallahassee. We stayed in a cabin on Fall River in Estes Park. The first morning we awoke to an elk grazing in the front yard. So surreal. The cabin was a few miles down from the Stanley Hotel, which was where Stephen King was inspired to write The Shining. In fact, we caught the Netflix screening of Kubrick's The Shining in front of the Stanley (thanks to Justin for letting me know about it). Besides that, we did a lot of hiking and relaxing. We unintentionally hiked 7 miles one day to a waterfall after getting lost on the trail. Went whitewater rafting on a Class 4+ river and got thrown out on the fiercest rapid. I have some nice scabs to prove it. We drove the entire trip, which ended up being around 4000 total miles and 60+ hours. Thankfully, we had the iPod and tons of podcasts to keep us busy.

So, now it's back to the daily grind. At least my birthday is coming up on the 14th, so that's something to look forward to (although it's the big 3-0).

Posted on: Sep 06, 2006 7:01am. Permalink

MTV

Slowly chipping away at my TiVo recording of MTV Day 1 on VH1 Classic. Six hours of cheesy music from MTV's first day in 1981. I need to finish it to make room for more Campus Ladies and Pee-Wee`s Playhouses.

So, apparently, people in 1981 listened to a lot of Rod Stewart. It's about every third video in this show. I was only 5, so you can't blame me. Kelle didn't have cable as a child, so she was curious about what the big deal was. Thankfully, not having been exposed to many R.E.O. Speedwagon videos doesn't qualify you as being culturally handicapped.

As bad as the videos are (I'm lookin at you, "Hold On To The Night" by Bootcamp), it's still refreshing to see actual music videos on MTV as opposed to bad reality shows. You know the world has gone terribly wrong when you're wishing for a little more Stewart.

Posted on: Aug 10, 2006 7:26pm. Permalink

Vacation's A-Comin'

We've almost made it to vacation. The past couple weeks we've been painting maniacally, trying to finish up the house before we leave. Kelle's been grading papers and wrapping up projects. Last minute packing and making arrangements. Almost there. Before we know it, we'll be relaxing in our cabin near a cool mountain stream in Colorado. It'll all be worth it.

In any case, we'll both be without email or internet access until August 27th. Yes, it'll be great.

Posted on: Aug 09, 2006 7:22am. Permalink

Will Somebody Please Take This Game Away From Me?

I see its shadows in my dreams. I smell its scent walking through the woods (ok, that's not true, since I never go outside). The Elder Scrolls IV : Oblivion, the greatest RPG ever made, is my obsession.

Seriously, though, this game is amazing. Intricately detailed landscapes, highly believable characters and storylines, flawless fighting system. “Oblivious”, as my girlfriend calls it, is the reason why I stay up until two o'clock in the morning while mistakenly assuming it's around eightish.

If you have a history of RPG abuse, do not get this game. Not everybody can handle a game this ridiculously fun. Now, I promised some guys I'd help save their town from monsters, so I gotta go. Please heed my words. Thy fate is in thy hands.

For a game that even the most serious RPG addicts can safely handle, check out Thy Dungeonman 3: Behold Thy Graphics!! Text adventure fun only to be appreciated by seasoned, old school gamers. Enjoy!

Posted on: Jul 14, 2006 3:52pm. Permalink

Lost Season Finale

Very happy with the Lost season finale. Crucial questions were answered (why did the plane crash, is pushing the button pointless, does Desmond prefer drinking his juice from a glass or straight from the bottle, etc). We didn't find out much more about the others, the smoke monster, or the power of the island (well, other than electromagnetic power), but I wasn't really bothered. After all, they have to stretch out the story for 4 more seasons.

So, now what to do with the rest of my summer? No new Office. No new Lost. I could always do something outside (shudder). Oh, wait. Half-Life 2 Episode 1 comes out June 1. And the DS Lite is released June 11. I'm set. Woo hoo!

Update Not related to Lost or anything of any interest to non-Tallahasseans, but I have to mention that our trip to check out Old Mexico's new deck last weekend was a bust. Apparently, they don't open it up until 6, which puts a damper on any afternoon margarita drinking plans you may have. We ended up having to go to La Fiesta, whose deck is much better but whose food has something to be desired.

Posted on: May 25, 2006 3:06pm. Permalink

Tim & Eric, Old Mexico, and Dancing Pants-Less

New stuff I found out about this week / last week:

• The Tim & Eric podcast (of "Tom Goes To The Mayor" fame)
• Old Mexico has a newly enhanced deck. Because what good is a Mexican restaurant without a cool deck to drink margaritas on, even if they have the best Mexican food in town?
• The Nintendo Wii is going to rock! Previously, I was going to buy a PS3 and a Wii. Now, it's all about the Wii. I'll also be diverting my PS3 funds into beefing up my computer for gaming.
• Pants-Off Dance-Off! It's lewd, nude, and brilliant! (nudity not included)

Now, off to help Old Mexico pay for their new deck on this fine, sunny Saturday afternoon...

Posted on: May 20, 2006 11:49am. Permalink

Weekend fun

This weekend was a hoot. Finally got Kelle to swing a golf club at the Cross Creek driving range. And the verdict is...she liked it! So, now, I can only assume we'll start a new, golf-filled life together and have many exciting golf-related adventures, possibly involving perilous situations where we accidentally swap our golf bags with those of a couple of bungling Romanian hitmen and they spend the rest of the day trying to get their bags back because they contain Atari 2600 Cloak & Dagger cartridges with top secret blueprints hidden in the programming. Wait, I'm dating myself. They would clearly be PlayStation 2 Metal Gear Solid 3 CDs. Duh.

We also went to the Tallahassee Museum, which is not really so much like a museum at all. It's more like a zoo, with alligators, black bears, turtles, and panthers. They had a section set up with a plantation house and slave quarters, which I guess was more of the "museum" part of it. The slave quarters were super depressing, and it's hard to think that people were actually treated that badly at one point in American history, but then we went to the petting zoo and pet goats and oxen and that made it all better.

Posted on: May 16, 2006 7:30pm. Permalink

Nintendo Wii?!

Nintendo has changed the name of their new Revolution console to "Wii", pronounced like "we." Yeah. That's what I thought, too.

From the web site: "While the code-name 'Revolution' expressed our direction, Wii represents the answer. Wii will break down that wall that separates game players from everybody else. Wii will put people more in touch with their games...and each other."

I hope they really have a game plan for attracting new and casual gamers, because the coveted frat boy market won't be caught dead buying something called a "Wii." Not saying that they have to testosterone out with a name like "Xbox," but why couldn't they have just stuck with "Revolution"? I thought it had a nice ring to it.

Anyway, check out these interesting Wii opinions over at GameSpot.com.

Posted on: May 02, 2006 9:08pm. Permalink

Back From JazzFest

Back from New Orleans Jazz Fest. Food? Good. Dylan? Incomprehensible, but good. Huge ass beers? Still huge ass.

The initial line for tickets at Jazz Fest was insane (see diagram). I've never seen such chaos, with the line spontaneously snaking into crazy, fractalesque spirals. The dazed looks on people's faces as they tried to find the end of the line were priceless. The festival workers seemed more interested in chatting with each other than trying to get the situation under control. Disorganization and poor planning seems to be a common theme in New Orleans. But once we got in, all was well.

On a depressing note, we saw the hurricane devastation first hand. I'm surprised how completely destroyed parts of New Orleans still are, eight months after Katrina. Some neighborhoods looked, to borrow an overused media phrase, like a war zone. Blue tarps and caved in roofs everywhere. Entire buildings gutted from fires. Giant piles of debris in the streets (well, other than the usual French Quarter debris of discarded hand grenade cups and party-soaked clothing). One of the most chilling sights were the x's painted on some of the houses, indicating that they'd been inspected for survivors or bodies. Spray-painted messages on houses like '2 dogs dead' were not uncommon.

But, now we're back in Tallahassee. Next weekend, we're staying in a beach house on St. George Island, which should be the perfect cooldown after a weekend in New Orleans.

Posted on: May 02, 2006 12:00am. Permalink

Off To JazzFest

Leaving for New Orleans Jazz Fest tomorrow morning. Too bad we'll miss Meg's going away party. But, we'll be gorging on cajun food and drowning in huge "ass beers", so it'll all be good.

Posted on: Apr 26, 2006 12:00am. Permalink

Wonder Showzen Season 2

New Wonder Showzen tonight, March 31st, at 9:30pm EST, thus starting season 2. Also, check out this Salon article profiling the New York art group PFFR, the geniuses behind the show.

Posted on: Mar 31, 2006 12:00am. Permalink

Alan Moore

Wikipedia is funny. Somehow, I got from Alan Moore to Bayesian spam filtering (Alan Moore > influenced by Nicholas Roeg > who used Cut-up technique > which is used by spammers to thwart Bayesian spam filtering ). I love Wiki, even if it is a wild west, anarchic version of Encyclopedia Brittanica. I guess that's what makes it so endearing...

Speaking of Alan Moore, we saw V For Vendetta this weekend. I thought it did a surprisingly good job of adapting the original graphic novel. Very timely, too, which reminds me I need to reread 1984 again (coincidentally, John Hurt starred in both V For Vendetta and the 1984 film version of, er, 1984). I'm currently reading Moore's Promethea, which will also probably someday be made into a film that Moore will hate.

Posted on: Mar 19, 2006 12:00am. Permalink

The Revolution Is Coming

Great article at IGN on why Nintendo's Revolution will be the one console to rule them all. Not graphics-wise, but in every other way. $150-$200 price tag. Revolutionary controller. Focus on gameplay, not fancy-shmancy polygon counts and high-def texture mapping. Read it here.

Posted on: Mar 10, 2006 12:00am. Permalink

Babies, babies, babies

The SIH Baby Central Playroom (programmed, designed, and animated by yours truly @ Evolution Multimedia) has finally launched. Visit the site if you're aching for some cuddly, interactive goodness.

Posted on: Mar 08, 2006 12:00am. Permalink

New Orleans Jazz Fest!!

Ok. Now, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival includes BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN in it's lineup. Granted, I'm not the biggest Springsteen fan, but c'mon--he's the friggin BOSS! So, now the lineup includes Bob Dylan, Dave Matthews, Paul Simon, Elvis Costello, and The Boss. You can't not go to this festival.

Speaking of festivals, I really really wanted to go to Bonnaroo, but I just don't think it's happening. It's going to be hard to miss Tom Petty, Ben Folds, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Radiohead, Beck, and I'd better stop myself before I start packing my bags for three days of nonshowering, Woodstock-like fun.

Posted on: Mar 08, 2006 12:00am. Permalink

They're BOTH Asian

No new episode of The Office tonight and no new Lost last night. But you can read Dwight Schrute's opinions on The Dharma Initiative and have the best of both worlds.

Posted on: Feb 23, 2006 12:00am. Permalink

WarioWare addiction

WarioWare Twisted! is the best game ever, aside from maybe the original WarioWare Inc which Kelle got me for Valentine's Day. These games are so unique and addictive (and just plain odd), and you can play for 2 minutes or 2 hours. This is direction Nintendo is trying to take gaming: targeting the casual gamer who doesn't have hours to invest in learning how to play a game. I mean, come on. How can you beat a game that involves shaving a guy's face and doing the dishes?

Posted on: Feb 23, 2006 12:00am. Permalink

Gator spotted

We saw an alligator 1.5 miles from our house this weekend at Piney-Z Lake. We'd seen them at Wakulla Springs before, but not ever this close to our house. The one we saw was a shorty, maybe 3-4 feet long. Just hangin' out on a log. Being a gator. I'll post a picture or two soon.

Update: Here's a photo of Kelle and the gator.

Posted on: Jan 31, 2006 12:00am. Permalink

Lost Fix

Ahhh. Got my fix of Lost last night after the winter break. It feels so goooooood...

Posted on: Jan 12, 2006 12:00am. Permalink

Macs for all!

The MacBook Pro was a nice surprise on Tuesday. I may have to make my first Mac purchase ever, after I break down and buy an iPod, of course. I'm excited about the whole potential to run Windows on it without using any of that virtual pc garbage. That's been my big holdup over the years-not being able to run many Windows-only programs. Ok, I admit it. It's all about gaming. The Mac, she have no games. But now it could all change.

I'm not sure how I feel about one new feature of the MacBook , though-the built in webcam. The iSight is really cool for people who are into webcamming it up. But, now, people who own a MacBook won't have an excuse to avoid video conferencing. I'll have to start wearing pants or something. I mean, "people" will have to start wearing pants.

Posted on: Jan 11, 2006 12:00am. Permalink

A Generic, Mid-November Post

Wow, it's been awhile since my last post. Me am lazy.

Well, Kelle is due back from Toronto early this evening. Sounds like both of her presentations at ASC went well. Tonight, she's taking me out to dinner at Kool Beanz as a reward for helping her with her poster session. Mmm. Expensive bohemian food.

I finally finished Metroid Prime 2 last night. Apparently, most gamers don't actually finish games. But, I figure, it's an investment. If you spend hours upon hours playing a game, just go the distance and finish it. Of course, with Metroid, I'd been putting off finishing it due to a frustrating final boss battle (read this interview with the developers). But now, I'm off to blowing zombie's heads off in Resident Evil 4.

Speaking of zombies, I was a zombie for Halloween and Kelle was a vam-pirate (half vampire / half pirate). My costume was a tad bit on the generic side, so next year I have to come up with something amazing. Maybe a vam-politician or zom-beekeeper? I'll work on it.

Posted on: Nov 18, 2005 12:00am. Permalink

I've Got Worms!

No, I didn't catch something nasty from one of our dogs. I'm talking about Worms 4 : Mayhem, the latest in the popular online multiplayer worm-killin' game.

The new version is a whole lotta fun, with new weapons, game styles, and customization options. Drop exploding cows on your opponents from a high-flying plane. Try to destroy the other team's castles ala Atari 2600's Warlords. It's good stuff.

My main complaint about the game involves the poor network programming with regard to how difficult it is to play a game online. First off, they require users to open up a set of ports in their firewalls (not easy to do for most users, in my humble opinion). Secondly, even if your ports are all open, you may still experience connection problems. Sometimes I wait for almost an hour before I can get into a game.

Still, it's mega fun. Buy it now for Windows! Play with me!

Now, back to watching Hurricane Katrina on CNN. Poor New Orleans. What did it do to deserve this?

Posted on: Aug 28, 2005 12:00am. Permalink

Flash 8 = Awesomeness

Yes, it appears that the new release of Flash 8 will, in fact, be awesome. This is a proven fact, and I can provide the statistics to anybody who questions this.

Why is it going to be so awesome, you ask? Well, let's see. Filter effects like Drop Shadow, Bevel, Color Adjust, Glow, and Blur. Blend modes, like Multiply, Screen, and Overlay. Custom easing with a visual graph editor to adjust scale, rotation, and other properties. Alpha channels in video. Cue points in video that can trigger Actionscript events. Yeah. Lots of good stuff.

Look for it's release in mid-September.

Posted on: Aug 16, 2005 12:00am. Permalink

Hurricane Schmurricane

Forget Hurricane Dennis. We're dogsitting our friends' mutt this week. Three dogs. One small townhouse apartment. Let the devastation begin.

Seriously, though, Dennis didn't hit us very hard. St. Marks, a small fishing town we bike to and home of “Posey’s Oyster Bar”, was flooded with about 3-4 feet of water throughout the whole town. Mostly, we just got some strong winds, downed limbs, and a few power outages. Power outages are a good excuse to stop working and read comics, though.

Posted on: Jul 12, 2005 12:00am. Permalink

The Greatest Concert Ever

The Live 8 concerts were incredible. Pink Floyd back together, U2, Coldplay, and many other top notch performers. We had a dual screen sorta thing set up to see as much of it as possible. On the left, the “old school” MTV / VH1 broadcast on our tv. On the right, the AOL feeds on our laptop. Aside from having to tweak my connection preferences a few times due to high volumes of traffic, the internet viewing was totally the way to go. There were no annoying tv commentators or commercials and you could pick any of the 10 cities you wanted to see (Salon article).

Now that the show's over, we just have to hope that the message of debt relief and aid to Africa will be heard by the G8 summit leaders.

Posted on: Jul 03, 2005 12:00am. Permalink

Me Likey Batman Begins

My, oh, my. Batman Begins was so awesome. Katie Holmes aside, this was a spectacular movie. I even got past the monster truck Batmobile. Christian Bale could definitely pull off a better Bruce Wayne than Michael Keaton. And as great as Tim Burton's Batman was, Goyer & Nolan's Batman was much truer to the overall tone of the comic book, or at least the tone once the book fell into the magical hands of Alan Moore and Frank Miller. In any case, I can't wait for the sequel. Spoiler! So, who will play the lead villain in the next one? If you've seen Begins, you'll know who I'm referring to. I'm voting for Crispin Glover or Alan Cumming. I hope a lot of The Killing Joke makes it into the script, too, particularly in regards to his origin.

Posted on: Jun 25, 2005 12:00am. Permalink

Back From The Keys… Unfortunately

Got back Saturday night from a pleasant week-long journey to Key West and Key Largo. Very refreshing, but too short as all vacations seem to be. A European-style, government mandated 5-week holiday would do a better job of resetting my system.

The Keys were not what I expected, but beautiful nonetheless. I was envisioning miles of white sand, but most of the beaches were small, private, and man-made. However, our journey to the Dry Tortugas via a 5 hour round-trip boat ride gave me the tropical fix that I craved (along with a torturous case of sea sickness...).

Key West resembled the New Orleans French Quarter in more ways than I would have imagined. I could almost hear the jazz in the air with it's classic architecture, touristy t-shirt shops, street hot dog vendors, and ubiquitous alcohol stands. Key Largo was much quieter and less dense with resorts spread out all along the stretch of sunny U.S. 1. We snorkelled amongst huge baracuda, kayaked through tiny canals enclosed by creepy twisted tree roots, ate lots of delicious seafood, saw a few historic sites like an old residence of Ernest Hemingway's, and caught up on reading while sipping ice-cold margaritas by the sea. Now that we're back, my suntan resembles the prized catch in Hemingway's The Old Man And The Sea — peeling away piece by piece much like the old man's fish was devoured by sharks bite by tragic bite.

And now it's back to the daily grind. Time to start planning next year's vacation. I'm thinking something very un-Florida like. Colorado perhaps? Alaska? Europe?

Check back soon for photos!

Posted on: Jun 07, 2005 12:00am. Permalink

Yet Another Post On The Wonders Of Google Maps

Google maps is so friggin cool! I found my house here in Tallahassee and, by exploring the area with Google's easy 'draggable' navigation system, found some freaky places nearby that I didn't even know about. It's amazing how a satellite map can bring back so many memories, too. I found my alma mater (SIU Carbondale -- you can even see the words 'Salukis' on the football field). I found where I interned in LA in 1998 (CBS Television City) and the apartment complex where I lived (I could even see the specific pool / hot tub where we hung out almost every night.)

As cool as it is, I'll think twice about sunbathing in the nude in my backyard from now on. Not that I do that sort of thing. Heh. At least our neighborhood is mostly covered by trees. Seriously, though, I wonder how far these photos will go? Will we eventually be able to read the headline on a sunday paper lying in someone's driveway? If they zoom in any further, privacy will become a very real and frightening issue. Of course, who says they're not recording everything from the heavens as we speak and just not making it available to the public? They're out of control. It's a conspiracy, man!

Oh, well. Technology in the wrong hands can, as always, be dangerous. In any case, I'm going to go catch some rays in my backyard. Please don't look me up on Google maps in the next thirty minutes.

UPDATE: Just when you thought Google Maps was the coolest thing ever, they come up with Google Earth (Windows only). What will they come up with next? Google Universe? Ha! You could totally not see that joke coming.

Posted on: Apr 13, 2005 12:00am. Permalink

Mitch Hedberg (1968 - 2005)

Sadly, Mitch Hedberg, one of the absolute funniest comics of our time, has passed away. Me and Kelle had tickets to a show he would have performed in Jacksonville in May. It would have been our first time seeing him.

Here are a few reports of his death, as sent to me by Lee Allen:

• Dispatches From The Culture Wars
• Howard Stern
• Shecky Magazine

Here are a few Mitch quotes.

Posted on: Apr 01, 2005 12:00am. Permalink

How Do You Say ‘Fish & Chips’ In American?

The U.S. version of BBC′s The Office premiered last Thursday on NBC. It was hip, funny, and edgy, but so is the original. The casting was appropriate, with Steve Carell doing a decent job of playing Office creator Ricky Gervais′ lead role. Still, I just can′t help but ask “why does this show need to be Americanized?” It′s not like the original series was produced in ancient Greece (although that was a golden age of Greek sitcoms).

Believe it or not, it is totally possible for Americans to get British humor. Hollywood feels compelled to shield Americans from any outside cultural influences, like an overprotective mother covering her child′s eyes from the immoral horrors of Spongebob Squarepants′ alternative lifestyle. I′m surprised Shaun Of The Dead appeared on DVD in the U.S. before having American actors dubbed in so that we could understand their crazy accents.

Inevitably, any American translation of a foreign show, as good as it is, will be compared to the original. The ‘American’ Office is still a really funny show, although I feel the need to cleanse my palette with a viewing of the original afterwards.

Posted on: Mar 30, 2005 12:00am. Permalink

Half Life 2, Daiquiris And Such...

Kelle′s parents left this morning after a week-long visit. Going to miss the nightly dinners out. We'll actually have to start cooking again. Weird. I'll have to say, though, it was hard having to work all day while Kelle and her parents frolicked around St. George Island. It was so not fair.

Speaking of beaches, we found a closer and still pretty cool beach outside of Tallahassee. I'm sure the locals know all about it. In fact, somebody we met at Leon Pub recommended it to us. Alligator Point is about half the distance from Tallahassee as St. George Island. I think we drove there in about 30-45 minutes. White sand (unlike the brown, muckiness of Shell Point), no crowds, short drive. Plus, we could bring our dogs. If you can live without having a daiquiri bar nearby, it's a swell place.

Speaking of daiquiri bars, um, okay that transition didn't work. Anyway, I finished the single-player mode of Half-Life 2 last week. My god, that game is amazing. The physics are so accurate. The characters′ facial expressions are eerily realistic. The level design provides much to explore. Lots of unique vehicles to drive. Good variety of gameplay. The game is just simply fun as hell to play. The ending (spoiler!! sort of...) left a lot of unanswered questions, though. We still don't find out who the G-Man really is or what the hell exactly Gordon is doing. (eo spoiler) My complaints about the game are very minor, though, like not being able to lean around corners or use your flashlight and gun at the same time (oh, wait... that was Doom III. btw, do not put HL2 and Doom 3 in the same room. HL2 will devour Doom 3 and ask for seconds.). I have to mention that the multiplayer mode could use something in the realm of level design. The maps are kind of small and boring. On the plus side, nothing's better than creaming some shmoe with a crappy car via the gravity gun.

But, anyway, it's Friday. Going to go get some grub at Decent Pizza. I suggest everybody listen to Arling & Cameron's "W.E.E.K.E.N.D." if you're reading this on a Friday. It's the perfect tune to bring in a great weekend.

Posted on: Mar 11, 2005 12:00am. Permalink

What Exactly Is The Bottom Line?

Lately on the WB, Seinfeld and other shows have seen the introduction of a new feature — the Bottom Line. Basically, trivia related to the show (sometimes very loosely related) pops up at the bottom of the screen from time to time. It's origins lie with shows like VH1′s Pop-Up Video, so the overall concept is nothing really new.

Being the pop culture geek that I am, I enjoy learning about how the real life Kramer became independently wealthy from selling electronic disco jewelry or that the ‘Soup Nazi’ is based on the real life owner of Soup Kitchen International in New York City. However, sometimes the trivia is annoyingly irrelevant, like mentioning pirates used to wear real puffy shirts in combat. Another thing that bothers me are the ‘alerts’ that pop up and tell you what′s about to happen, usually with a 3-2-1 countdown. It′s fine on a show like ‘Blind Date’ where the plot really doesn′t matter since you′re only half-assedly watching it anyway. But in a comedy, timing is everything. So, when you get a 3-second ‘Kramer Alert’, you′re not going to be surprised when he spontaneously bursts into Jerry′s apartment. You know it′s coming. The spontaneity is dead as disco (which, the Bottom Line would tell you, reached it′s peak in 1979 with hits like ‘I Will Survive’ and ‘In The Navy’).

So, what is the bottom line of the Bottom Line? Is it a way to tempt viewers away from other channels showing the same syndicated shows by giving them an extra bay leaf in their mulligatawny? Perhaps. My girlfriend and I, skeptics that we are, think that it′s also to get people used to having crap lingering around the bottom of your TV screen. We′ve all gotten used to station ID perma-logos that infest one of the bottom corners of your screen, even when it blatantly covers up actual TV content. We′ve also gotten used to being rudely interrupted when some actor pops up at the bottom to plug their new show (‘Coming up next at 8:30 -- The Real Gilligan′s Island. Don′t miss it!!!’). With the growing popularity of TiVo and other digital video recorders, ad revenue is dropping as viewers can easily skip commercials with the press of a button. To keep their stuffed pockets overflowing, TV execs are forced to come up with some brilliant new idea to keep their sponsors happy. Why not put a sponsor logo at the bottom of the screen during any given show? Why not put two? Why not fill the entire bottom third of the screen with crap that that the station's trying to peddle? But why stop there? Let′s fill up the top third, too. And the sides. That′s just wasted space for TV content. Pretty soon, viewers will all be watching half-hour segments of full-screen corporate logos broken up by 2 and a half minute intervals of commercials. On the bright side, maybe we′ll at least be treated to fun trivia about the sponsors. Miller Lite′s corporate owner Miller Brewing Company was started in 1855 and is now the second largest brewery in the United States. Wow, how interesting! Look out. It′s a “Viagra Alert.” 3…2…1. Eh. No surprises there.

Posted on: Feb 26, 2005 12:00am. Permalink

Hunter S. Thompson (1937 - 2005)

Monday mornings are bad enough without waking up to hear that one of your favorite counterculture heroes has committed suicide. Regardless, the uncompromising reign of gonzo journalism that is Dr. Hunter S. Thompson has come to an end.

So, pay your respects in your own way. Pull one of his books off the shelf, pop in the Terry Gilliam dvd, make a stiff drink, or blast away at something in your backyard. We′ll all try to keep America as insane as possible without him.

Posted on: Feb 21, 2005 12:00am. Permalink

On To 2005...

2004 is finally almost over. We spent the early part of New Year′s Eve putting up blinds and trying to find the owners for two lost dogs in our neighborhood (it all turned out good in the end). Tonight, it's dinner at Nino′s -- a fancy shmancy German / Italian restaurant near our house.

I usually don′t do this, but I thought I′d toss out a few New Year′s resolutions for the Year Of The Cock (or Rooster, depending on your interpretation of the Chinese Lunar Zodiac Calendar). Here goes:

• Drink more green tea, less coffee.
• Eat more vegetable stir fry, less bacon (and I can never cook bacon-wrapped sausage again).
• More hiking and biking, less video gaming (okay, who am I kidding on this one?)
• Read more (I have David Foster Wallace, Kurt Vonnegut, and Joseph Heller in my sights)
• Watch more Cartoon Network, less CNN.

So, there goes. We'll see which ones I stick to. In any case, hope everyone has a great New Year's!

Posted on: Dec 31, 2004 12:00am. Permalink

Least Metal Blog Moment

Ok, it′s time to confess. I once bought a Michael Bolton album. I was young and naive. I think it was due to peer pressure or temporary insanity. But, there it is. Now, you know. It was one of the least metal things I′ve ever done.

Actually, I was reminded of this dark moment in my music history after finding out from VH1′s 40 Least Metal Moments that Michael Bolton started out his career as a headbanger in the band Blackjack (well, as much as you can bang a head with that ridiculous mop of hair). I′m totally hooked on these VH1 shows, though. You know, the kind where they get a group of B-List or lower celebrities together to yuk it up about memorable moments from entertainment′s past: I Love The 80s, I Love The 90s (although it′s hard to be nostalgic about 1999′s The Matrix), etc. These shows are friggin hilarious, due in part to the clever editing and even more clever commentators like Donal Logue and Michael Ian Black. If they come out with I Love The 00s, I'll watch it because I'm that kind of guy. Woo-hoo!

Posted on: Dec 09, 2004 12:00am. Permalink

Halloween as Ali G and Mia Wallace

Halloween was so much fun! We went to an Adult Swim-sponosored Halloween party at Floyd's Music Store here in Tallahassee. I was Ali G and Kelle was Mia Wallace (Pulp Fiction). Our friend Dave was Carl from Aqua Teen Hunger Force (the only Adult Swim costume I saw there) and his girlfriend Mickey was Princess Leia. I got some shout-outs from the dueling piano players on stage, and I′ve already agreed to sell my costume to some guy that I met at the bar. Kelle met some dude who didn't know if she was his ex-girlfriend or not. He came as Hunter S. Thompson, so I think it was just a matter of alternate realities crossing over, considering that I was H.S.T. back in 1998. Or maybe I've been reading too much Dark Tower lately.

Now, I′m going to go have a mini-election party with Kelle. Hopefully, the beer will keep me from completely gnawing my fingernails off as the night progresses.

Posted on: Nov 02, 2004 12:00am. Permalink

Florida Voting Insanity

We're voting early tomorrow. Florida is only one of 4 states in the country to allow early voting. Of course, Jeb Bush has probably already arranged to disqualify every registered democrat on the basis of being a felon. I knew that bank heist would come back and bite me in the ass someday.

Anyway, Floridians can find out information at Florida Dems. And don′t vote for Buchanan this time.

Posted on: Oct 18, 2004 12:00am. Permalink

Birthdays & Hurricanes

Well, today′s my birthday, and so far it′s been about as exciting as a birthday can be on a Tuesday work day. At least I get to open presents from Kelle later tonight.

My birthday may be a little more exciting than was hoped for if Hurricane Ivan hits us. Right now, it looks like it's going more toward Mississippi, but we could still get a slew of bad wind, flooding, and possibly tornados. Frankly, I have hurricane fatigue. First, there was Charley. Then, came Frances. Neither was very interesting to us (we had a few limbs down and some mild rain), so I'm hoping to get some action from Ivan. I don't want any of that South Florida kind of destruction, but a nice storm strong enough to knock out the power and force us to drink a few bottles of wine by candlelight could be fun. Plus, power outages mean that I can't work, which is always a welcoming bonus.

In any case, I don′t think we're going to prepare too much for Ivan (famous last words?). For Frances, we waited 3 hours in line for 13 sandbags, which we′ve used to block the flooding that is prone to happen near our front door. We also had stocked up on bottled water, bought lots of extra batteries and dried foods (the hurricanes are the best thing to happen to Wal-Mart in a long time), and rearranged some of the rooms for possible window breakage or flooding. This time, we′re just going to sit back and go about our normal routine, although we may turn out all the lights, light some candles, and drink a bottle of wine just for fun.

Posted on: Sep 14, 2004 12:00am. Permalink

Vacation In Helen Georgia

We're back from vacation, and it was too short as always. Helen was a lot of fun. We went hiking, tubing, whitewater rafting, ate at lots of good restaurants (our fav was the Nacoochee Grill), and caught up on some reading. Helen's a small, German-themed mountain town located close to where they filmed Deliverance. It's similar to Gatlinburg, Tennessee but not as mega-touristy (although I can see it growing that direction in the coming years). Maybe for next year's vacation, we'll go to the real Germany, which Kelle's already visited. I wonder if they have German versions of hillbillies?

Check out the photos!

Posted on: Aug 20, 2004 12:00am. Permalink

Crazy Dog Lady & Copycat Scammers

The other day, my girlfriend Kelle got into a conversation with some people at the dog park. They were telling her about a lady that frequents the park often. Somehow, she's come to the conclusion that people are trying to steal her dog from her apartment. She's so convinced of this, that she takes her dog to work with her everyday. Now, this in itself is fine, as long as it doesn't bother the other employees. However, in this case, she doesn't bring her dog inside with her. She leaves the dog in her car all day long with a bowl of water and the windows cracked. Not only is this odd, but it's extremely cruel to the animal. She shouldn't be surprised if she finds her dog dead in her car one day. But, hey, I guess it's better than having CIA ops break into her apartment and steal her dog to retrieve the secret microfilm embedded in it's collar.

I had two eerily similar experiences in Tallahassee recently. I was at the BP getting some beer when a lady approaches me, waving wildly. She says she's embarrassed, but both she and her husband are A. out of money, B. have lost their ATM cards, and C. are two hours from home in Georgia. She asked if I could spare any money for gas. She looked like an "honest" person (of course, what does that really look like anyway?), so I gave her some change. So, a few days later, I get the same routine at Wal-Mart from some crusty guy with his kids, hanging out in a dinged up black van. I would have believed them if I hadn't heard the same spiel a few days earlier. Needless to say, I gave them some change just in case they weren't lying. I'm a sucker, I know. But the weird thing is that it's possible (okay, probable) that both of these parties were scammers. Where did they pick up the idea for this scam at? Was it 'Scam-Of-The-Month' in Scammer's Monthly? In any case, I'm sure I've been duped (rhymes with 'stupid', or at least it should).

Anyway, we're leaving tomorrow for a vacation retreat to Helen, Georgia. Hopefully, we don't encounter any copycat scammers or crazy dog ladies.

Posted on: Aug 05, 2004 12:00am. Permalink

Official Site Launch

After over a year of procrastination, I am finally officially launching this site. And after looking at the same design for over a year, I'm ready to completely redesign it. Maybe a retro 80's look, circa 1982. Or maybe something with pirates. Or leprechauns. Or pirate leprechauns.

Anyway, enjoy the site. You'll find a lot of personal photos as well as examples of my web and multimedia work. If you have any comments, critiques, recipes, conspiracy theories, screenplay drafts, or anything else, please email me.

Posted on: Jun 27, 2004 12:00am. Permalink

New Puppy

Biting. Chewing. Non-stop carpet accidents. Early mornings. That pretty much sums it all up. But she is so cute.

Posted on: Jun 04, 2004 12:00am. Permalink