Tuesday, November 29, 2005
12:02 AM
Kitty brother-love, Chinese buffet and Sunday Breakfast.
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Monday, November 28, 2005
8:05 PM
I've watched a few movies recently and planned to get something posted about them, but I don't have a long post in me tonight so I'll just quickly mention a fun martial arts movie I saw over the weekend called Ong Bak The Thai Warrior.
If you follow that link you'll see a series of pictures from the first "fight scene" starring the titular character, a young Muay Thai devotee who has come to the big bad city of Bankok to find the stolen head of his small village's temple statue of Buddha. Before the temple is violated we see the young man (Ting) running through his martial arts exercises, practicing moves with exotic names like "Knight Catching Monkeys" and "Snake Chasing Lizard," before his master, the local monk, comes out to gently admonish him, "I have taught you Muay Thai, now I ask you to never use it." He doesn't want to see Ting get into trouble or have to kill anyone with his skill. Of course, it would be a very different movie if Ting had managed to follow his master's guidance, but the Buddha's head is stolen, which in turn brings a drought upon the village, and so Ting is sent to recover it in Bankok. Alas, Bankok isn't a friendly place, and he soon finds himself taken advantage of and winds up in a fight club (surprise, surprise).
And this leads me to the fight scene I screen-grabbed and linked above. The scene shows various tough-guys fighting brutally one by one before our protag shows up, just to make sure you get the idea that this is one tough dive bar. When Ting steps into the ring it's not to fight but because he's innocently taken a wrong step, but there's no avoiding it; he has to fight. So when the pugilist who's just beaten another fighter to a pulp puffs up his muscles and charges at Ting, Ting responds by slamming his knee into his jaw, soundly knocking him out. And in case that doesn't sound impressive, go ahead and try to swing your knee above shoulder level. I can't do it, anyway.
The rest of the plot isn't worth going into, except to say that there's some cool chase scenes on foot where Tony Jaa, the guy playing Ting, gives Jackie Chan a run for his money in the clever/dangerous stunts category, jumping between sheets of glass and through tight rings of barbed wire and such, all with a similar sense of humor. Whenever Jaa does something particularly interesting (say, leaping across the shoulders of his opponents) the stunt is repeated a couple times from different angles, negating the need to rewind to see it again.
One of the nice touches of the film comes when Ting is fighting a big western, Dee Snider look-alike who's particularly insulting to Thai culture in general and Thai boxing specifically. An old man watching as Ting reluctantly takes up the fight watches meekly from the back of the room, softly saying the names of the moves he recognizes Ting performing on his fierce opponent: "Hanuman visits Lanka!"
The movie kinda breaks down after a while and becomes just another fight flick, but even so it's impressive to see the body skill Jaa brings to the screen. I'll probably end up catching more of his flicks in the future.
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Sunday, November 27, 2005
2:24 PM
John Dehner and The Enthusiasts CD release party at the Bluebird.
Had a really nice time Friday night. I'd taken the day after Thanksgiving off in part so that I'd have the day free in case we needed to do anything for this show. Turns out we didn't, but I'm still glad I had the day off. We picked up my drumkit from Josh's house (aka "Angus Heartburn's Practice Space") and trundled them off to Smokey Lung Studios, only to find that Dehner's drummer Daniel had offered to let me use his kit. So we didn't need to bring them afterall, which is nice (cause loading my drums in and out is a hassle, and my kit is in rough shape anyway).
We drove past a packed Max's Place, where Dehner was having a free all-ages show before the Bluebird gig. Apparently it was packed. The Bluebird, on the other hand, was pretty much empty when we got there (par for the course for sound-checks). The crowd became more respectible as the night went on, mostly folks there to see Dehner and Gentleman Caller, I assume. Leo had laid out a nice spread in the bandroom. I always feel like I'm an imposter at such backstage things, but not so much that I didn't grab my share of free goodies. JD & the E's were sound-checking when we got there, but their drummer hadn't yet arrived, so I sat in with them for a number to get some levels. It was then that I realized just how lucky I was to be playing Daniel's drums; he keeps a nice kit and its a different world from the drums I'm used to playing. (Later when I thanked him for letting me play them, he said he wished he'd been at sound-check to tune up his floor tom - he tuned it for me after their set though - so you get an idea about how much of a treat this was for me, who hasn't put new heads on my drums since they lived in the Scum House basement).
First up was a one-woman act I hadn't seen before named Madeline. Not knowing many female singer/songwriters to compare her to, I'd say she reminded me of Lisa Loeb with just an accoustic guitar, and looked a little like Parker Posey. So yes, I was pretty quickly smitten. I'd brought along my camera to take a few snaps, but as always happens, I felt incredibly self-conscious pulling out a camera to take pictures. It didn't help that when I took my first shot Madeline, in Jimmy's words, "threw a look" at me. I took a couple more pix without the flash, but they didn't come out very well. Jennifer bought her CD, which came in a home-made felt sleeve, but I haven't heard it yet. I was afraid to go up to buy a CD, thinking she'd glare at me and say, "hey, are you the jerk who was taking flash pictures?" But I did run into her and her boyfriend in the bandroom at one point, when they were going outside for a smoke, and she didn't snarl at me or anything (more on this later).
Up next came John Dehner and The Enthusiasts, the main attraction. I only seem to run into John and Amber every six months or so, so I can't really say I know them well, but inasmuch as I do know them, I've known them for a long time (going back to Scum House days I guess, so over ten years at this point). My chronology on such things is fuzzy, but I have memories of Kate moving into John's old room at the top of the stairs years ago. Anyway, I've always liked John's songwriting, and it was again good to see him play live, this time with Sophia on keyboards, Merrie Sloan (from Crooked County) on bass, and Daniel on drums. Just an all-around good set of music. I recognized a couple of the tunes, but many were new to my ears. I picked up a CD that night, though I haven't cracked it open yet (probably after I finish typing this).
And the came Gentleman Caller. It'd been a while since I'd seen these guys too. In fact, I suspected that I hadn't seen them since Freeda started playing standing up, but Shari later pointed out that she was standing at the Crazy Horse gig. In any event, it felt like seeing them for the first time in a long time, and was fun; lots of energy. Funny banter included Kenny asking Derek what song he wanted to play next, Derek shouting out a song name, and Kenny turning to the audience to say they were playing a different tune. I never feared that Jimmy might bounce off the stage (as others did), but I was impressed with Kenny's sense of balance while contorting and grooving in a wash of feedback. Good stuff.
And then, just like that, it was time for Basic Ultra Lights to play, which meant that it was time for me to get up behind the drums and play.
We played a couple songs at a slower tempo than we usually do, and it wasn't a stellar performance on my part, but I had fun and I think the other BUL's did too.
And then the show was over. In the words of Andy, I felt grateful. We broke down and loaded out. Josh was determined to continue the evening across the street at the Vid. Through a combination of carefully orchestrated finagling and dumb luck Jimmy and I convinced Jennifer to come back to the Vid so we could finish the evening out. We sat around a crowded table with Derek's buddy Jeremy and hashed over the ins and outs of playing music, and whatever else. I saw that Madeline had also come to the Vid and decided to find out for sure if my flash photography was really bothersome, and she assured me that she found it flattering, a small personal victory for me (the only kind I allow myself these days).
I ended up sleeping most of the day away on Saturday, but it was worth it. And as we dropped Josh off at his house on the way home, he asked us to wait until he got to the door and turned on the porch light, which we did, so we were treated to the site of his mooning us goodnight. So I got that going for me. All the pix I took that night are here.
There's a Brando show coming up in the next week or so. I think Basic Ultra Lights is playing a gig this New Year's in Indy (more details to follow).
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Thursday, November 24, 2005
1:09 PM
Out of the oven -- I am sooooo hungry right now!
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Now we play the waiting game; potatoes are boiling, sweet potatoes and extra stuffing are in the oven, and I'm salivating.
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11:52 AM
Forth Basting ... from here on out we're cooking without foil. Time to start on the potatoes...
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7:57 AM
"...man must be prepared to accept notions of the cosmos, and of his own place in the seething vortex of time, whose merest mention is paralysing."
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6:30 AM
First round of Thanksgiving pix. Had to get up early to get a 20 pound turkey cooking. And since it involves food, I had to take some pictures.
More here. Happy Thanksgiving everybody.
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Wednesday, November 23, 2005
6:23 AM
Okay, if you're gonna be in town this Friday, be aware that there's a rock and/or roll show at Bloomington's own Bluebird nightclub featuring the musical stylings of
a) The Gentleman Caller Feel-Good Combo
b) The John Dehner Feel-Good Combo
c) The Madeline Feel-Good Combo, and
d) The Basic Ultra Lights Feel-Good Review.
(Okay, for the record, none of the bands are really called "the feel-good combo," I'm just trying to punch up the copy a bit -- though The Basic Ultra Lights Feel-Good Review has a nice ring to it, don't you think?)
This'll be the first showing of nascent rock dieties BUL, and promises to blow you clean out of the water like a mallard on the wrong end of a Scalia/Cheney hunting trip. Seriously. Josh nearly killed us all last night with his fire-breathing pants trick.
--+--
Viva Venezuela:
Officials from Venezuela and Massachusetts have signed a deal to provide cheap heating oil to low-income homes in the US state. [...] The fuel will be sold at about 40% below market prices to thousands of homes over the winter months. [...] The deal involves shipping some 45m litres of heating oil from Venezuela to Massachusetts at a discounted rate via Citgo Petroleum, a US-based subsidiary of the Venezuelan state-owned oil company. [...] Talks are under way to agree a similar deal to provide discounted heating oil from Venezuela to low-income residents in New York's Bronx district. [BBC link]
Hugo continues to hold my interest. I admit that this sort of thing strikes me as more of a PR deal than anything else, but hey, this is my kinda PR deal.
-- + --
Because you knew more were coming, basic lunch pix:
- - + - -
In the category of "I'm not a woman, but if I were this thing would never go near my privates," this from China:
Dubbed the Nanometer-silver Cryptomorphic Condom (NCC), it's designed for female rather than male usage. The condom-in-a-can is essentially an antiseptic foam spray that the manufacturer claims forms a physical membrane inside the vagina, protecting it from infection, acting as a barrier to pregnancy and providing a lubricating effect. [link]
---+---
I hadn't planned on asking off for this Friday (the library is only closed on Thursday for Thanksgiving), but I changed my mind and opted for a nice long weekend. I have a stack of books from the library to dig into. I have a couple of books I've recently finished I'd like to post a bit about. I also picked up a stack of movies at Movie Gallery last night (I gotta say, I like that video store -- it's not as hip as Plan Nine, mind you, but P9 only has overnight rentals for new releases). And I have some recent movies I've been meaning to mention online as well.
Shari's family is having Thanksgiving dinner with us, so we'll have a pretty full house tomorrow. There's a 20 pound free-range bird chillin' in the fridge right now. Expect plenty of pix in the near future. Afterward I plan on doing a whole lotta nothing. Becky and John are having an open house (thanks for the invite!) but I don't plan on leaving the house, much less the sofa. Mmmm, mashed potatoes....
Oh, and there's a light dusting of snow this morning.
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Saturday, November 19, 2005
Sweet gum tree seeds
6:40 PM
They turn into trees under the right circumstances.
Otherworldly looking seeds...
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5:41 AM
Playing around with Spab's photos...
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New posts from Heidi (hang in there) Becky, Licia and Justine! WooHoo!
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Wednesday, November 16, 2005
10:30 PM
The Hippy Gourmet's online Kale recipe (along with other recipes) here (via Google Video Blog). I can't say I'm too knocked out by what little I've seen of this online cooking show; the episode I just linked to took over ten minutes (in a 20-something minute show) to get to actual food being made, and even then it didn't really do it for me. Plus there were no zombies.
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1:09 PM
Eddie and Amy's Teriyaki Rice/Veggie/Tofu bowl.
and
- -+- -
More pix from Musical Family Tree shows here.
-- -- --
I know my life is easy, but I'm ready for a vacation about now. The vacation I have in mind would last for around 80 years or so, during which I would still receive paychecks.
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Monday, November 14, 2005
3:53 AM
Saturday night was a hoot. Sunday was pretty much a day of recovery and recooperation.
- - - - -
- + -
Tuesday night is the next meeting of the Bloomington Linux Users Group, and while I don't currently use Linux, I'd like to get Gentoo installed on my machine and get back into it. And I'd like to use it more at the library.
- + - + -
And for all you whiny teachers who don't want military recruiters in the schools, let me just give you some words of wisdom from Mr. Sexual Harassment himself:
I don’t think they like the country. I don’t think these people like the country. They feel that we’re the problem, we’re the evildoers, that al Qaeda is created because of us. That’s the hallmark of the radical left. It’s always America’s fault. We’re the bad country, and the enlightened citizens of San Francisco, we’re not going to be a part of it. We’re gonna separate out. We’re gonna ban military recruiting. Number one, that’s a fascist act. I mean, you’re making a decision that your citizens can’t hear of an opportunity they may want to hear about. [link]
See, if you don't want military recruiters in the schools you're a facist.
-- + --
And, just cause I was thinking about it this weekend: Holy Fucking Shit -- The Onion's response to 9-11.
According to House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL), the congressional move enables the president to declare war, "to the extent that war can realistically be declared on, like, maybe three or four Egyptian guys, an Algerian, and this other guy who kind of looks Lebanese but could be Syrian. Or whoever else it might have been. Because it might not have been them." In addition to those responsible for the Sept. 11 attack, the U.S. is determined to exact revenge upon any nation found to have harbored the perpetrators. "Should we determine that a nation has been giving refuge to this fiend—or fiends, as the case may be—we will effectively be at war with that nation," Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) said. "Then again, what if we declared war on Afghanistan and they didn't send anyone to fight us? It's plausible that we could declare war on them, but they wouldn't go to war with us, since they weren't the ones who actually attacked us. Who would our soldiers even shoot?" U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), one of Congress' decorated war veterans, tried to steel the nation for the possibility of a long and confusing conflict. "America faces a long road ahead," McCain said. "We do not yet know the nature of 21st-century warfare. We do not yet know how to fight this sort of fight. And I'll be damned if one of us has an inkling who we will be fighting against. With any luck, they've got uniforms of some sort." "Christ," McCain continued, "what if the terrorists' base of operation turns out to be Detroit? Would we declare war on the state of Michigan? I suppose we'd have to."
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Thursday, November 10, 2005
9:43 PM
MySpace has incredibly long, annoying URLs, but I like reading Josh's posts so much that I'm willing to put up with them.
I got out from underneath my sink. I still had my wrench in my hand. I still had my watch on, keeping perfect time. I noticed my reflection in my glass porch door. I asked myself, “Am I going to throw this wrench through the door?” I didn’t. [Josh]
I added a link to Josh's MySpace blog on the tanque links page a short while ago. I haven't yet added a couple more, but I intend to. Actually, I intend to put more links on the front tanque.org page and add some tanque feeds and whatnot too. Maybe this weekend. Maybe not. My lame work in progress is up here. Don't expect much. Feel free to offer suggestions.
-+---
How to Make a No-Budget Film in Bloomington: Your Guide to Local Filmmaking Resources
-+---
Give advice to yourself in the past. Okay, here goes, to myself in junior high: Don't worry about how you look or what people think of you. Concentrate on what it means to be a good person. Seriously. Stand up for what's right, don't stand for what's wrong; behave as if you are a superhero, because that's a good habit to cultivate. Treat people better than they deserve and don't expect anything in return. Don't let being horny cloud your perspective. And don't be a jerk. I know the instructions say be specific, but we both know what I'm talking about. And relax. Trust me, you're never going to get beat up. Pay attention. Read more, even if it's just the daily newspaper. Keep a journal, anything, even if it's just a little bit here and there. Stop watching TV all the time; it's okay as far as it goes, but you're not gonna miss anything. Ask your parents more questions. Buy comix and save them in mylar. Whenever Mom and Dad give you money, turn around and buy stock in Microsoft, and when you run out of money, get a paper route and put it all into Microsoft. Seriously. Also, don't be such a baby and quit your piano lessons. They suck now, but you'll be glad you stuck with it later on. (Okay, I know you quit your piano lessons like a whiny little baby long before junior high, but it's never too late to make amends. At least pick up guitar lessons or something. I'm not saying don't take the drum lessons - lord knows you need to meet Mr. Nearpass, your drum teacher, but branch out a little why don't ya?) And ask for Spanish lessons. Actually, go back in time and ask for Spanish lessons when you're 5 or 6. Supposedly it's easier to pick up languages when you're young. It's kinda daunting when you're in your late 30's. Also, later, when you're in high school and standing around in downtown Indy beside your friend's mini-van and your friends are going on about how they don't want to know what time it is because they're trying to get away from time (or something like that) and a guy comes up and asks for some money, instead of declining and hearing him say "aren't you gonna help me out?" you should open up your wallet and give him everything you have; it's not gonna make any difference in the big picture, but it'll make a better anecdote later. Back to junior high: walk home from school. Do it all the time, especially when it's warm out. You live barely a mile away from the junior high, go ahead and carve that much freedom out of your life and just walk home. Cut through the quarries; they'll be gone in a few years and you'll have missed an opportunity to really see them more than once. It's okay if you get busted for crossing through them, no one really cares if a junior high kid tresspasses through there. And here's a really important one: when Marnie asks if you want to "go together" don't turn her down. You're going to have a huge crush on her less than a year later and you'll kick yourself for this mistake everytime you run into her, even years and years later when you run into her at college. Don't beat yourself up about it if it doesn't work out, but jeeze, man, give yourself a chance. Also, hang onto the silly little 16mm films you make in the basement and backyard with Gregg, cause it would be really nice to be able to see them again when you're older. Um, okay, I guess that's all I have. Don't forget to buy that Microsoft stock, though. Seriously.
-+---
Yes, I have a million pix of Lunch at Bombay House. And there are more on their way:
-+---
Tried out the Bloomington Sandwich Co. today. (update: here's a favorable review from Bloomington's own CybrCaf) They're in the location Subway used to occupy on the square. I liked almost everything about the place: small, friendly, family-owned atmosphere, tasty food, nice ambiance, &etc. I'll be back.
-+---
Watched Land of the Dead. Kinda disappointed, but there were aspects of it I liked okay. Not breaking any new ground with the Zombie genre (like Shawn of the Dead did), but at least it wasn't just a run-of-the-mill zombie flick; it tried to explore how people might realistically end up stratifying themselves based on social classes even in a zombie-filled world. Ultimately unsatisfying, but perhaps in part because Dawn was such a fine zombie flick. ZombieDiary.com is, as far as I can tell, still available.
-+--+---
Jesus is Magic looks pretty interesting to me. (JimR, I'm looking at you)
I'll miss the first night of Musical Family Tree stuff, but I'll be there Saturday night -- should be fun. The library's closed on Friday. Friday is Veteran's Day. Today (11/10/2005) marks the 230th birthday of the USMC (GoDaddy.com has a long flash movie to commemorate the occassion here). Elsewhere, Conservatives End 55-Year-Old Practice of Hearings for Vet Groups.
From the lap of luxury, Peace.
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12:46 AM
Messing around with candles and exposure time...
More here.
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Wednesday, November 09, 2005
12:00 AM
Hey, is it just me or does the new anti-Wal-Mart movie seem pretty interesting? I'll probably end up getting a copy, just not tonight.
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+-----+
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Tuesday, November 08, 2005
1:39 AM
In case you haven't seen it yet via crooksandliars.com, this Daily Show clip on gay marriage is really worth checking out.
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Monday, November 07, 2005
3:13 PM
Quick question: Anyone out there download podcasts on a regular basis? Or even on an irregular basis? I suspect they're only good if you've got a commute, but I may just be resistant to a new technology (since I don't listen to stuff much at home).
--+--
More Bombay House, plus breakfast at the Uptown
--+-+-+--
More Flickr stuff: Okay, so now you've joined Flickr and you want to know how you can start cluttering up your blog with pictures of your lunch, just like your favorite internet personality? It's easy!
Or here's what I do, anyway. I don't really care for the way Flickr handles pix when you use it's "blog this feature." There's nothing wrong with it -- it's actually pretty slick -- but I prefer a simpler presentation. Here's a sample flickr post:
Here's the text of my post if I'm using Flickr's "blog this" function. It works just fine, but it's not exactly what I'm looking for.
I like the use of CSS positioning (and plan to emulate steal it one of these days), and it's a good thing to source other people's pix, but for mine I'd rather just have pix by themselves. To do this I go to the pic I want to publish and choose "all sizes," then "thumbnail" (or whatever size strikes my fancy at the time). Then I take the code they give you for posting to another website, add border="0" (to get rid of the link border) and put it between some {center}{/center} tags. Not very slick html, but it works.
--+--
Nothing political today, maybe tomorrow.
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Saturday, November 05, 2005
8:47 AM
Jennifer expressed displeasure at not being able to see all my pictures on flickr because she wasn't signed in. I tried to assure her that getting a flickr account is really easy and quick. Here's the three step process:
- Go to flickr.com
- Get prompted for your yahoo account info (oh yeah, yahoo bought flickr, so they use yahoo accounts now. i have a flickr account, and they used to give you a choice, but i guess that's changed. so start a new flickr account, or tie it to an existing yahoo account, whichever floats your boat. enough of my jabbering.)
- now that you're signed in, go to my flickr page and add me as a contact (i'll add you right back, assuming i recognize who you are).
There's not a whole lot more to see, really, but there's some.
---+---
Shari's neice is with us this weekend, which meant that I was half-awake this morning at 5:30am, listening to them puttering about, only a few hours after re-watching Episode III with Jimmy and Chris (have to come up with a nickname to distinguish him from Huffy). E3 held up perhaps a little better than I might have expected. Some of the scenes are gorgeous, I will admit, even as the movie used special effects like a crutch for it's lack of character development. At one point Jimmy and I agreed that Hayden may or may not be a good actor, but the material he had to work with sucked. Huge plot flaws were just as apparent this time around as on my initial viewing. The overall sense of a lost opportunity still clouded the entire affair. I've told myself that I just need to explore my feelings about the new movies, and that I must follow my heart and search deep inside myself, and all the other cliches a second-rate greeting card hack would be too embarrassed to repeat. But for all that, it still packed a bit of punch here and there, hamfisted though it might be. I think it might be interesting to have gone straight into Episode IV and see how the two movies synced up. But alas, I was much too drowsy at that point.
No more Farmer's Market this year, so I don't know what's on the agenda for today. In theory, I'll be doing yard work ahead of any weekend rain. We'll see what happens.
--+--
Last night also marked the end of the weeklong celebration of Jimmah's birthday. I was soundly trounced by Dani in pool at two separate locations. It was good to see them, and we were lucky to run into some of the other usual suspects later on (though we ended up calling it a night before they did - for all I know that crazy crew is still out there). I haven't yet figured out how to take good pictures in low light settings. Jimmah and Paul tried to explain to me how a character's skill in gambling could translate into actual results in a card game played in a role playing setting. I still don't understand, but I'm taking them at their word. Jimmah will be demo-ing "Magic: The Gathering" (or a similar game) at Avalon (on the east side near putt-putt) Tuesday night next week starting at 5:30.
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Friday, November 04, 2005
1:03 PM
Blogger is really cool when it works (most of the time) but sometimes it sucks (like yesterday). Looks like it's back to being cool.
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Thursday, November 03, 2005
7:22 PM
Phone spam. I hate it. I just hung up on a recorded message asking me some questions about I don't-know-what since I wasn't about to give them another instant of my attention. It's kindof a bummer that the phone system is going the way of email. I'd estimate that over half of the calls that come to my house now are garbage. We get called nearly every day by fax machines. So when you call my number and get the answering machine, go ahead and identify yourself because I pretty much screen most of my calls at this point. I've been thinking about what my dream solution to this might be, and while I'm too lazy to follow up on it, I think what I'd ultimately want is something that takes any call that doesn't identify itself (I can rarely *69 the faxers or telemarketers) and just dump them into a voice mail system so the phone never rings.
But I don't want to pay for this, and I don't have voice mail, so I don't see this getting better anytime soon. (I've also considered getting a new number, but again, I'm pretty lazy when it comes to that.)
--+--
Yacht Rock V! The "scary" episode.
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My Pet Zombie (via boingboing).
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Wednesday, November 02, 2005
11:54 PM
Lunch at Esan Thai.
When I took these pix at lunch today I was sure I was repeating pix I'd already posted. But it turns out I don't think I have. Num Tok is this spicy pork dish that's become my guilty pleasure; guilty because I doubt the pork is humainly raised, but I love this dish. I've tried the tofu version and it's just not the same. So I'm part of the problem. I need to try a different dish one of these days, 'cause they have plenty of veggie options on the menu. I asked for this to be spiced "medium-hot" (3 out of 5 stars), and had to get up twice to go blow my nose in the restroom and towel down my sweaty cranium. Good stuff.
Useful Thai Phrases - listen to the proper pronunciation online.
---+-+-+---
I hadn't heard about the Paris riots before today; crazy. Unhappy crazy, that is.
"Unrest flared in Clichy after two teenage boys were electrocuted on Thursday at an electricity sub-station.
"Local people insist they were fleeing from police and scrambled in to hide. Police say they were not chasing the boys.
"An official investigation is under way."
--+--
What is Windows Live? I smell hype designed to combat Google's popularity. I'd like to check out their webmail client, but you have to have a hotmail account, and I don't feel like lookiing mine up.
-+-
"The CIA is running a network of secret prison facilities around the world to hold high-profile terror suspects, according to a US newspaper report.
Such prisons are, or have been, located in Eastern Europe, Afghanistan and Thailand, the Washington Post claims.
It says more than 100 people have been sent to the facilities, known as "black sites", since they were set up in the wake of the 11 September attacks. [BBC link] - [WaPo link]
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I like Chavez, but even I question the utility of baiting the US like this. I've said it before; he's got a target on his back. I'm just glad the Bush admin is on the ropes to such an extent that they don't seem to be paying him much attention. Anger over Mugabe tirade in Rome - Chavez moves against US preachers.
-+++-++-+++-
I had the pleasure of seeing Heather tonight, and her buddy Steph. I'd planned to take pictures, but failed miserably in that regard. Irregardless, I'm really glad she stopped by. And now I'm sleepy.
Goodnight.
Happiness is never having to worry about how your hair looks.
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Tuesday, November 01, 2005
8:52 AM
Some pix I've been meaning to put up, nothing too exciting.
Another bit of ramen soupery. I'm kinda on a dumpling binge at this point; it's so easy to just drop a few into my noodles, why would I ever not have them? I still plan to steam some one of these days, though.
Half the fun of carving pumpkins for me is roasting the seeds afterward. Or rather, eating the roasted seeds. Maybe one of these days I'll get around to actually doing something with the pumpkin innards beside extracting the seeds, but for this year I was just happy I went to the trouble to save them. I didn't get them roasted in time for the party, though. Also, they don't seem to agree with at least one of the cats, who left three of them mostly undigested in a small glob on Clint's old chair. Mental reminder to self: don't leave the pumpkin seeds out where the cats might eat them.
--+--
I mentioned upcoming music in my last post. Of course the big show coming up in December is Winterfest, Scott's annual musical gathering of the usual suspects and then some. It's still in the planning stages, but I'm looking forward to it. I'll post about it more in the coming weeks as the evening's line-up solidifies.
But before then check out the line up for the Musical Family Tree shows. MFT is a site I keep meaning to spend and evening (or two) leaching completely, and I'm tickled to see that a weekend of music is being put together around that fine collection of local talent. So anyway, that's coming up in a couple weekends (November 11th in Indy, 12th in Bloomington). I know I'll be at the Bloomington shows, but I'm also interested in getting up to New Prague to see the Friday night shows. We'll see what happens.
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