It's an annual tradition since the advent of DVD. Usually it had been confined to box sets of films ("Back To The Future" trilogy, Indiana Jones trilogy, "Scream" trilogy) or TV sets ("Sopranos" season 1, the "Monty Python" complete series megaset). This year, it's a new thing.
It was basically your average "you pick, I pick" home entertainment film festival. The chick picked the first film, I picked the next, and so forth. We're going from 2pm - 2am. Here's the lineup, with write-ups snagged from the backs of the DVDs themselves:
"The Royal Tenenbaums"
Royal Tenenbaum (Gene Hackman) and his wife Etheline (Anjelica Huston) had three children-Chas, Margot, and Richie-and then they separated. Chas (Ben Stiller) started buying real estate in his early teens and seemed to have an almost preternatural understanding of international finance. Margot (Gwyneth Paltrow) was a playwright and received a Braverman Grant of $50,000 in the ninth grade. Richie (Luke Wilson) was a junior champion tennis player and won the U.S. Nationals three years in a row. Virtually all memory of the brilliance of the young Tenenbaums was subsequently erased by two decades of betrayal, failure, and disaster. The Criterion Collection is proud to present Wes Anderson's hilarious, touching, and brilliantly stylized study of melancholy and redemption.
"Hercules In The Haunted World"
Hercules (Reg Park) must battle a monster made of stone, retrieve a golden apple from the tree of Hesperides, and brave the horrors of Hades to rescue his beloved from the clutches of the evil Lyco (Christopher Lee). Oracles, witches, and vampires abound in this delirious blend of sword and sandal adventure, horror, and psychedelia. Maestro Mario Bava's first color film is awash in a sea of primary hues, creepy atmosphere, and eye-popping imagery. Fantoma is very proud to present the original European cut of this widescreen wonder for the first time in the U.S.
"Lady Snowblood"
Her father, a schoolteacher, is brutally murdered. Her mother is beaten, raped, and forced into prostitution to survive, only to die giving her life. From her dying mother's lips comes her only reason for living ... bloody revenge! Trained in the arts of death by the priest who adopts her, Yuki sets out to find the four villains who destroyed her family. But when the secret of her bloody mission is uncovered by a well-meaning journalist, the tables are turned and evil finds the one weapon that can pierce the heart of the woman known to all of Japan as: Lady Snowblood!
"Payback"
Mel Gibson "gives one of his strongest performances," teaming with his co-screenwriter Brian Helgeland and a superb supporting cast to ignite PAYBACK's explosive mix of story, stars and style. The dynamic superstar portrays Porter, a career criminal bent on revenge after his partners in a street heist pump metal into him and take off with his $70,000 cut. Bad move, thugs. Because if you plan to double-cross Porter, you'd better make sure he's dead. Porter resurfaces, wading into a lurid urban underworld of syndicate kingpins, cops on the take, sniveling informants and deadly gangs. Porter wants his money back. And the way he sets out to get it assures that, from beginning to heartpounding end, PAYBACK pays off big.
"Sin City: Recut & Extended"
An amazing cast of big-screen favorites is directed by Robert Rodriguez (Desperado, From Dusk Till Dawn), Frank Miller - and special guest director Quentin Tarantino (Kill Bill 1 & 2, Pulp Fiction) - in an acclaimed and visually stunning hit that's the coolest movie of the year! Straight from the pages of Miller's hip series of Sin City graphic novels, Bruce Willis stars as a cop with a bum ticker and a vow to protect a sexy stripper (Jessica Alba - Fantastic Four); Mickey Rourke (Man On Fire) as an outcast misanthrope on a mission to avenge the death of his one true love (Jaime King - Pearl Harbor); and Clive Owen (King Arthur) as Dwight, the clandestine love of Shellie (Brittany Murphy - Little Black Book), who spends his night defending Gail ( Rosaio Dawson - The Devil's Rejects) and her Old Town girls (Devon Aoki and Alexi Blede) from a tough guy (Benicio Del Toro - 21 Grams) with a penchant for violence. Also starring Elijah Wood, Nick Stahl, Michael Madsen, Carla Gugino and Michael Clarke Duncan.
"Mr. Sardonicus"
Desperate to retrieve a winning lottery ticket, a greedy baron unearths his father's corpse. An enourmous jackpot is his reward, but not without a price: his face is frozen permanently into a hideous grin. He enlists his fiendish one-eyed servant to help him lift this horrible curse, but their schemes fail. Finally, he turns to a noted neurosurgeon, and his wife's former lover, to cure him. This creepy horror classic is based on a novella by screenwriter Ray Russell, and is brought to life by William Castle, master of terror!
"Shaun Of The Dead"
Get ready for a gut-busting, bone-mashing good time in the hilarious horror comedy, "Shaun of the Dead." There comes a day in every man's life when he has to get off the couch ... and kill some zombies. When flesh-eating zombies are on the hunt for a bite to eat, it's up to slacker Shaun (Simon Pegg) and his best pal Ed to save their friends and family from becoming the next entree. Satisfy your bloodthirsty appetite with the movie that masters of horror and film critics alike are hailing as the funniest and scariest movie of the year. Novelist Stephen King gushes "it's a 10 on the fun meter and destined to be a cult classic" and Devin Gordon at Newsweek calls "Shaun of the Dead" "a bloody hoot!" It's a screamingly funny outrageous Zomedy that will have you dying with laughter.
"The Postman Always Rings Twice" (1946)
The sign outside the roadside diner says "Man Wanted." Drifter Frank Chambers knows the sign has more thanone meaning when he eyes pouty, luminous Cora, the much-younger bride of the diner's proprietor.Based on the same titled novel by James M. Cain, this quintessential film-noir classic combines studio-system gloss with Cain's hard-bitten tale of murderous attractions.John Garfield and Lana Turner give career-benchmark performances as Frank and Cora, illicity lovers who botch a first attempt to bump off Cora's hubby, pull it off, betray each other at trial and yet wriggle free. But their volatile tale does not end there. As the film's metaphorical title indicates, fate is sure to ring again.
"Henry"
James Stewart gives one of his finest performances in this lighthearted film, based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play. Stewart stars as the good-natured Elwood P. Dowd, whose constant companion is Harvey, a six-foot tall rabbit that only he can see.To his sister, Veta Louise, Elwood s obsession with Harvey has been a thorn in the side of her plans to marry off her daughter. But when Veta Louise decides to put Elwood in a mental hospital, a hilarious mix-up occurs and she finds herself committed instead.It s up to Elwood to straighten out the mess with his kindly philosophy, and his imaginary friend, in this popular classic that features a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award-wining performance by Josephine Hull.
"Undisputed"
Two of Hollywood's hottest stars -- Wesley Snipes (BLADE 1&2, PASSENGER 57) and Ving Rhames (PULP FICTION, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 1&2) -- go head-to-head in this explosive crime thriller! When the world's heavyweight champion (Rhames) is sent to prison, everything points to an inevitable showdown with the penitentiary's undefeated champ (Snipes). But to make sure the meeting will happen, a former mob boss (Peter Falk -- TV's COLUMBO, CORKY ROMANO) must call in favors from the outside world. Then the battle is on ... and the action, adrenaline, and intensity switch into high gear! Also featuring Master P (RHYME & REASON, I GOT THE HOOK-UP) and Ed Lover (RIDE) -- this powerfully entertaining motion picture is another crowd-pleaser from the hit-making director of 48 HRS., ANOTHER 48 HRS., and LAST MAN STANDING!
See you at two, ya'll. Happy new year.
Sunday, December 31, 2006
The New Year's Eve Movie Funkfest
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Friday, December 29, 2006
Another thing to think about while doing your year end awards
Let's have another contest. Who can come up with the best definition of....
Wikipedia.
Mine is "An internet site written by computer geeks who think they own knowledge."
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Christmas Swag - The Thread!
I've been meaning to kick this off for a couple of days now. No big take this year, but one of the Christmas traditions of the family is that giving tends to go mostly toward the younguns, meaning that my niece and nephew make out like fucking bandits.
I did come away with a 512MB stick of RAM for the ol' PC (which, given the age of the rig I own, is like putting drag slicks on an '93 Tercel); "Deadwood: Stories of the Black Hills," a companion book for HBO's "Deadwood;" Family Guy DVD Vol. 4; a handheld NFL trivia game; a pair of pants, a sweater and a Robert Graham button up shirt that I couldn't describe if my life depended on it, but it's pretty slick; the Far Side 2007 daily calender; and $60 is American cash money, $20 of which was spent on "Clerks 2." As an aside, Clerks 2 turned out far better than I expected although that may be the soft bigotry of low expectations.
It is official!
It is officially 12 degrees in the Panera Bread Company in Johnson City
Ha ha. You clicked read more but there isn't more to read. Ha ha.
Update!
Ok, the new new address for the blog is http://blog.sciencegonemad.com. The dot-com is your standard index site with a link to the blog at this time.
Unfortunately, activating the web hosting that I got with the domain name made the dot-com redirect stop working, which I hope to fix soon. Until then, you can use the new address or the old address (http://sciencegonemad.blogspot.com). I'm still in Christmas hangover mode, so I'm only accomplishing a little bit at a time. Once everything is sorted out, I can create FTP logins for the hosting if y'all want. Nate, I sent you an email, so check your spam folder. If you didn't get it, holla.
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Why Wikipedia Sucks reason number 3,465,789
Go to Wikipedia. Go to the page for Kingsport, Tennessee, and look at the history page. Look at what I have had to go through to get Tom Bettini (former bassist of Jackyl) and Edward L. Ayers (Bancroft-prize winning historian and 9th president of the university of Richmond) listed as residents of Kingsport. I swear, I thought democratizing knowledge was to share knowledge, not to make people jump through hoops to post common facts.
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Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Random thought for today
(Hidden for your welfare ... make sure the kids or the parents or the boss isn't around, because I'll be talking about vajayjay in here.)
When Britney Spears first hit and started growing up & out, I thought, "Wow, now there's a young woman who's vagina I wouldn't mind seeing." But now that there's about 20 different places that her vagina has made public appearances - along with plenty of pictures thereof - it just isn't the same anymore. But you know, I'm surprised that 2006 resolution just barely squeaked by.
The verdict is in (Podcast vs. Flash radio)
Podcast wins by a vote of 3-0. That's fine with me, since I think podcasts will be much easier to accomplish, especially since I downloaded this fine audio editing utility called Audacity ... I've spent the past 15 minutes listening to the guitar hook of "Hurt" played over the drumtrack from "So What'cha Sayin'," and I'll freely tell you, that's the hot ish, right there.
So, podcasts it is. Look for numeral uno in January.
Monday, December 25, 2006
I wish
I wish you could watch tv without paying a cable bill.
I wish you could drive a car without having to buy gas.
I wish their was a 24 hour wrestling channel.
I wish the weekends started on Thursday and ended on Tuesday.
I wish my favorite tv shows would not air reruns during the summer.
I wish you did not have to take out a loan to go see a movie.
What are some things you wish for?
Merry Christmas!!
I just wanted to wish you all a MErry Christmas. Enjoy the time off work!!!! Hope you got what you all wanted!!!!
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
The poll that's up
Here's what I'm thinking:
I could do one of two things for 2007.
I could make and upload a podcast mp3 for download. I'm estimating an approximate hour of audio "stuff" that would could be burned to CD or uploaded to an mp3 player (if anyone has one).
Ooor ... I could develop an approximate 6 song Flash-based radio that could potentially be opened to a new window, that way enabling you (the reader) to listen to the music no matter what other sites you visit.
So, let me know something, ya'll.
When Zombies Attack #10 -- Cracker Barrel
The first in a sporadic ongoing series.
As someone who is always prepared for the worst, I have recently been searching for the best places to be when zombies attack. This is not an attempt to recreate the "How to Survive a Zombie Attack" phenomenon that hit a few years ago. As far as I am concerned, everyone knows how to survive a zombie attack (i.e. stay inside, don't have sex, and shoot for the head). Rather, this project is a list of the best places to survive a zombie attack. The places on this list have chosen tactical advantages and resources necessary to beat back an invading zombie army.
Cracker Barrel country store and restaurant is number 10 on the list of best places to be when zombies attack. By its very design (which is identical no matter which Cracker Barrel you are in), the place is an impregnible fortress against the living dead. Let's look at the advantages:
1. Food. You are in a restaurant for crying out loud! This is where you want to be if you have to buckle down for a month or so and wait out an unholy apocalypse. Assuming the power stays on, you should have a good supply of deep fried chicken, deep fried fish, deep fried potatoes, and deep fried salads to provide nourishment. If the power is out, the country store part has enough nonperishable candy to keep you on a sugar high for a good three weeks. Next to a grocery store, this is the place to be if you are hungry for something other than brains.
2. The Country Store. Since Cracker Barrel's entire premise is designed to appeal to the lowest common denominator, the country store would serve as a good distraction to the zombies who have managed to make it through the front door. All one needs to do is turn on some of the electronic wind-up crap they sell and place it near the door to keep the mindless victims of the netherworld amused for a good five hours. I'm convinced that the zombie attention span is about 10 times longer than that of a standard-issue mindless human, so this will buy you time to find another strategy for survival.
3. Access to weapons. Based on my experiences at the Cracker Barrel, there is no other place on the planet besides an army surplus store that has as many shotguns and hunting rifles as a Cracker Barrel parking lot. While getting them will involve leaving the safety of the main building, you are guaranteed to find numerous firearms within 30 feet of the back door. This will make your journey easier if you lose your appetite for fried foods on day 60 of the zombie siege.
The potential downsides to being in a Cracker Barrel do not outweigh the positives. For example, all Cracker Barrels have windows throughout, but most of these have shades that can easily be pulled. Since they don't have tablecloths, it will be more difficult to have things to douse in gas and light on fire to distract the zombies, but since the country store sells crappy quilts, this is not an issue. The only way that Cracker Barrel would be a bad place is if the zombies are all from the South. At that point, experts say, their only words would be "GRITS......NEED MORE.....GRITS!" Then, you would be totally screwed.
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
I was in your neck of the woods.
I just got back from Vacation with my wife and her family. We went to Pigeon Forge. We did have fun but Damn you got some windy roads there. Anyway, I found it interesting that there was not much to do but shop and go putt putt. We could have went to Dollywood but no thanks.
We also went in to Seviereville ( not sure about spelling). We just messed around there and again shopping. We were going to go to a movie and the only one we could find was on Hwy 66 behind a Buddy's Barbecue. IT had a sign on the door do not leave valuables in car and cops all over the place. We did not see the movie.
All in all, I did have fun and would go back. We saw signs for Newport which Nate and Sma are from. I was tempted to go and see if I could find their houses but I knew I probably could not.
Where are the rest of you from? I know Nate's wife Libby is from Kingsport and Sam's wife Sarah is from Blountville.
Miss USA in trouble-who cares she's hot!!!
In the midst of everything that is going on in the world, I turn on the TV and gasp find out that the new Miss USA could lose her crown. Apparently she is a partier and hooked on Grandma's cough medicine- so, she truly represents the USA.
Have you seen this girl? She is hot. Maybe in a couple of weeks/years whatever you can see her swinging on a pole and give her a dollar.
Monday, December 18, 2006
I say that ish ain't got nothing on Jing Wu.
Southernfried ... we leave, and now it comes with 80% *more* inappropriateness!
Yep, no sign-in requirements needed there, no siree. Nope, can't give that password to people who might actually work on keeping it an open forum ... why is that important?
Saturday, December 16, 2006
New addition: SGM on AIM
Down in the lower right section, underneath the SGM Travel Guide, I added a new section: SGM on AIM. By editing the code that AOL provides for AIM Remote email footer text links, I devised a way to place a link on the blog to send an IM along with an online/offline indicator AIM icon. It's not terribly innovative, but the AIM Remote that AOL provides for websites is a huge, ugly, pervasive button that would not fit here. I'd like to figure out a way to put that icon beside our names in the contributors list with the icon being the link, but that is far beyond my scope of knowledge. If anyone wants to have their AIM linked, let me know and I'll add it.
Friday, December 15, 2006
200 Movies of 2006
On the year end tip, I did a little investigating on what all films had seen a 2006 release. And, in the off-chance we do a "Movie" category, or just for the sake of trivia, here's the entire list.
(Of note, this list includes some films yet to be released, and three movies for which Lewis Black should be shot due to his involvement.)
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Here is a question
Since there are only four of us posting on this site, do we want to have a small "Year End Awards" thread? Maybe we submit categories by Sunday and vote/post/nominate by Christmas day?
[Type rest of the post here]
PHX against MIA
What I thought would be a damn fine game ended up being a very unpleasant experience.
It's 3:04 left in the first, and the audio goes out almost every other minute, which makes it sound as if one of the announcers has Tourette's, and he keeps screaming profanity that has to be omitted. "Nash going up for th ... bound, and Phoenix is back in con ... f the ball." That shit's giving me a headache.
And I'll share another observation: With Shaq sidelined this long, consider Miami's weaknesses EXPOSED~!
Peter Boyle Dead at 71
I have a lot of respect for Peter Boyle. The man, in my opinion, made "Everybody Loves Raymond". Who can forget his betrayal as the monster in "Young Frnakenstein". He will be missed.
People Kill Me
As someone who studies politics professionally (somewhat), I should no longer be shocked at the ignorance of people. However, I routinely am. The case in point in today's post is the city of Kingsport and its denial of a beer permit to the new Club Lime Light.
Club Lime Light has apparently been open since August. For those of you familiar with the Model City, it is located on Stone Drive across from Putt-Putt in the building that used to house Gator's Shuck and Jive and about 400 other restaurants that have came and gone, usually in 1-3 months time. The location has obviously been permitted to serve beer before, but the city has recently denied the latest request. Why, you ask? Because the new owners, the Swafford family, have a history in Kingsport
The Swaffords have been enterprising people since I was in high school in 1992. The first establishment they owned (at least in my recollection) was Sarge's Place. It was located in the Riverview section of town and was notable for its advertisement in the Dobyns-Bennett High School basketball program. The tagline they used? "You don't need no teeth to eat my beef." That in and of itself was criminal, but since the place was a restaurant and not a club, it went unpunished.
From then on, the Swaffords owned a few places in the same building. The most recent was Club 229 (229 is the telephone prefix/exchange for Eastman Chemical Company, located a couple of block from the club), a nightclub/restaurant that had its beer license pulled earlier this year due to the high number of calls received by police. According to the Kingsport Times-News, the club had "33 complaints over three years concerning the Swaffords' former business; including two reports of shots fired, five shootings, one rape, seven assaults, seven disturbances and three reports of disorderly conduct. " Clearly a pinnacle of virtue in the community.
When the Swaffords applied to get a beer permit for their new club, they were rejected, and rightly so. Anyone who has lax security that allows these things to happen should not be allowed to distribute alcohol. Of course, the Swaffords are challenging the decision in court on the grounds that the city is discriminating on the basis of race. They claim that they have increased security by hiring a former KPD officer to be Chief of Security (i.e. Mr. Worf from Star Trek), but the KPD says the joint is being managed the way Club 229 was. There is nothing to prove this claim, and the city denied the permit on the track record of the owner which, in my opinion, is valid grounds for denial.
While none of this is shocking so far, with the possible exception that the city actually did something right, the most disturbing part comes from the comments section of the Kingsport Times-News website. A number of posters are decrying the city's actions because, as they put it, there is no guarantee that the Swaffords will misbehave again. This is patently absurd. Everyone deserves a second chance to a degree, but these people have a long history of mismanagement and poor customer safety. Their businesses have been magnets for crime. The people leaving comments believe that the city should not take any prior history into account. This, coupled with the asinine claims of racial discrimination, are downright scary. When the judge throws out the lawsuit for lack of evidence, I wonder what direction the Swafford's will go?
Monday, December 11, 2006
Expandable post summaries!
In an exciting development, based on instructions found here, we now have expandable post summaries, for those posts which are going to be fucking long. (Click the link below!)
It is, of course, optional to use this feature, and I'll explain a little bit about it so you can use it in the future. When you post at SGM, the text box will include this text:
[Type your summary here]
< span id="fullpost" >
[Type rest of the post here]
< /span >
Replace [Type your summary here] with the part of your post that you want to display above the expansion link. Replace [Type rest of the post here] with the remainder of the post, which will be hidden until the expansion link is clicked. Obviously this will not be necessary for short posts, but we can use this for anything longer than five or six paragraphs to keep older posts from being shoved down the page. You can see the difference on my "Wikipedia Rules" post, which I edited to include the expansion.
If you don't want to bother with all this, just remove all of the text and post as usual.
An important point: unless you're going to remove all of the text and not use the post expansion, DO NOT ALTER THE < span > TAGS. I will be happy to edit anyone's posts to fix any errors if they occur.
The only drawback so far is that posts that do not use the expansion tags will not show a useless "read more" link unless you access them via the "Older posts" link at the bottom of the page.
Also, we can change "Read more..." to "Chew the fat" for a more "old school" feel.
Nate, you should probably check that above link to see how this works, and there are a bunch of people that have already been hard at work getting old tricks to work on the new beta Blogger. You might find an explanation to fix the random background issue.
Who should I blame?
http://www.wwe.com/inside/news/3835548
This is ridiculous. Hey I am going to blame you for what I have done. I cannot take responsibility for my own actions. What does the game have to do with murdering a homeless man?
A question, thanks to Beta Blogger
In September 2005, Nate was teaching a course on death and dying. He asked a question about death rituals in ancient Greece and posted the following answer: "I die and then I am taken to a place where my loved ones can view me and say their goodbyes. After my funeral I will be buried in a cemetary where my body will rest. My soul will be in Heaven until Jesus comes back to earth."
He then asked: (When I give her zero credit for this answer, does that mean I'll go to hell?)
My question: What happened when you gave this answer 0 points?
Sunday, December 10, 2006
So, who is tired
I see we have moved and we have all our boxes unpacked and are ready to enjoy our new blogger home. It took me a while to find how to do it but I am here.
Wrestling--I am enjoying although I wish we had more than DX against Edge and Orton going on. I mean Umaga and John Cena--I really do not care about that one. Hardy Boys back together again is cool, but it is still the been there done that feel like DX. We need something new in wrestling.
TNA-- I have watched a few shows as of late and I am starting to become a fan even though it is hard to get into it. Kurt Angle and Samoa Joe is a great match, at least I guess it was I did not actually see it but I would think it would be. They did bring back Tyson Tomko to be with Christian which is okay but Tomko really has no talent in the ring. He reminds me a lot of Bull Buchanan. Anyway, you cannot help but like Sting being back in the ring.
Video Games--I bought the Smackdown vs. Raw 2007 and I like it but I am not a big fan of the new grappling system using the anolog sticks. I also purchased Evil Dead regeneration from Circuit City for like $7 and it is a really fun game. I am a little bummed that the PS 3 is out because games for PS 2 will become obsolete. I mean who has $500-$600 for a PS3? Oh well, what can I do?
Movies-- I want to see Rocky 6. Don't laugh, you do too. I mean I have always been a fan of those movies. I enjoyed the Prestige even though it was really long it was a good movie. I am ready for Spiderman 3 next year, and Sin City 2. OF course, I am ready for Tarintino' s Grindhouse and Planet Terror. Good stuff.
DVDS- I just got Back to Future trilogy--good, fun stuff. I am hoping for a new edition of Kill Bill combining both movies--any word on if that is coming out?
TV- Heroes is a good show, Of course Lost but it is on hiatus until February. Masters of Horror on Showtime is good.
Comics- I have all issues of the new Justice League of America. I want to get all issues of 52, even though I am way behind.
Magazine subscriptions- Wizard (great magazine), Entertainment Weekly, and Popular Mechanics . I love magazines. Oh yeah PSM, which I will not renew since I have no PS3. What magazines do you like?
I will try to post and respond more regularly. Good job Nate on what you have done with the blog.
Ah! Life in North Central Florida
http://forums.gainesville.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/6211034465/m/6221033885/p/1
Yeah. Its worth reading just for the title alone.
Alright ... Beta Blogger update
It would appear we are now operating at max capacity again, as far as our full contingent of colleagues is concerned. I was very happy to see Will's name return to the contributor list.
Still no definite solution to the rotating background images puzzle, but until such time as that's solved, I will probably just do monthly bgs in add'n to monthly banners, like I used to get no appreciation for at That Other SiteTM. Until then (or until Jan 1, whichever), enjoy the Shining tribute bg.
During the week, I'll probably be adding tags to posts of yore, so that they'll fit nice & snug into the labels that we are blessed with. I'm certain I might have some behind the scenes help in the form of Joshua, who added some topics & labels already. And feel free to add labels when you post, too.
So far, this has worked out pretty well. SGM v2.0 is apparently full-effecting. And 2007 will hopefully bring on even more of the new.
Random commercial thought
I'm willing to bet that the least enjoyed game in the Activities Room of the VA is Uno Attack.
Saturday, December 09, 2006
A Random Update Post
Here is an update from Gainesville.
-- It is around 40 degrees outside. Inside the Panera Bread Company, it is 12 degrees. This place is a bit excessive when it comes to air conditioning.
-- A prediction: Expect in the next 3-5 years the University of Florida to have athletic discipline problems that are close to, but not as bad as, the University of Miami's.
-- Two job interviews so far for the upcoming conference season. Don't want to publicly say the schools (lest I get Googled), but one is in AL and one is in MD. Still have 16 applications out.
-- So the Democrats held on to the Mark Foley e-mails until the election season. Who would have thought that such a principled institution would hold on to information about possible child molestation for political gain? While the GOP really, really screwed-up on this one, the holier-than-thou stuff coming from Pelosi needs to stop and stop soon.
-- St. Thomas Aquinas is still dead.
-- A 42 inch flat panel TV would look really nice in my living room.
-- West Ham United now has the captain of the Israeli national team, the captain of England's Under-21 team, the former captain of the Scottish national team, two Argentinian national players, and at least 2 former England players, and is currently sitting in 18th place in the EPL. Talk about wasted talent.
-- The New York Review of Books = my favorite magazine.
-- I haven't watched one second of professional wrestling since the summer. Not even a pause on Smackdown when I flip through the channels on Friday night if I am home (which has been kinda rare lately). I have to say that, if I turned it on this Monday, I would probably be able to pick up right where I left off. Opiate for the masses I suppose.
-- I wonder if the producers of 1 vs. 100 would let someone with a Bachelor's degree be a contestant? They obviously choose the dumbest people in America to take on 100 seemingly intelligent people. Last night, the 30+ year old bank employee who lives at home with her parents (conviently in the audience) could not answer the question "Which of these animals has the fewest cells." Choice C was an amoeba. She had to use one of her "helps" to answer it. Should she really be rewarded with $167,000, as she was? The nation is getting stupider and stupider every day.
Friday, December 08, 2006
"Good news, everyone!" - Prof Farnsworth, Futurama
Apparently our little forum has been transferred to the Beta format, so we can now organize stuff better.
So, if you see this option in your dashboards, please sign on for it. Just know, apparently your email is your log-in name is your email. Took me a while to figure that out, for some reason.
And, Rockstar, I lost your email. Hook me up with that, please.
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Wikipedia rules!
For those of you who are gay and don't follow college football this may not make a lot of sense to you, but as the communal editing practices of Wikipedia has been a subject of discussion previously here at Scienticians Gone Maniacal, I thought I'd toss this out with an explanation. One of the components of the BCS system used to rank college football teams for the purpose of determining who will play in the Nat'l Championship game is the Harris Interactive Poll, voted on by a number of people of varying relationships to college football, ranging from former coaches and players to avid viewers. With Ohio State being the lone undefeated team from a major conference and solidly ranked first, the second spot was going to either Michigan or Florida, depending on the final voting Sunday. In order to boost Florida's position in the Harris Interactive Poll, and therefore the BCS standings, voter Jim Walden ranked Florida first (12-1, lucky the SEC sucked this year) ahead of Ohio State (12-0, will kill Florida and pee on their corpses), being the only voter in the three major polls (AP, Coaches, Harris) to give Florida a first-place vote.
Walden, being a former head coach at Washington State and Iowa State, has just enough notability to warrant a Wikipedia entry, created in September of 2006 and finalized in November:
"Jim Walden (born ca. 1938 in Aberdeen, Mississippi) was the head football coach at Washington State University from 1978 to 1986. During his tenure there, he compiled a 44-52-4 record. At Washington State, he coached the 1981 team to the school's first bowl appearance in 51 years. At one point he had also won three of the last five Apple Cups against the University of Washington. In 1981, he also earned the title of Pac Ten Coach of the Year. He also served as the head coach at Iowa State University where he compiled a 28-57-3 record. Since retiring from Iowa State, Walden served as a radio color commentator, first for the Iowa Barnstormers of Arena Football and later for Washington State football. He still hosts a Sunday evening radio show in Iowa on WHO called 'Two Guys Named Jim.'"
Within hours of national recognition for his decision to rank Florida ahead of Ohio State, people with far more free time on their hands than I have (which is saying a lot) went to work on Walden's Wikipedia entry. An anonymous contributor added this:
"He must die for picking Florida 1st.
Kill him Kill Him Kill Him"
Two minutes later, the vandalism was removed. Four minutes after the correction, this appeared:
"Somehow, this idiot thought it was a good idea to vote a 1 loss Florida team over an undefeated Ohio State team in an attempt to get Flordia into the national championship game. The old Southern coot got his wish, as he screwed over Michigan."
Over the next 20 hours, over 100 edits and revisions would occur before the entry was finally locked. Some highlights:
"Being born in Mississippi accounts for him being retarded." Truly.
"Jim Walden is actually an insane old coot, possibly even older and cootier than Ted Stevens." Cootier? Awesome.
He still hosts a Sunday evening radio show in Iowa on WHO called "Two Guys Named Jim," or what some may call "One Guy Named Jim and One Guy Named Urban Meyer's Bitch!" An alternate title was suggested as "Two Guys Named Mo and Ron."
"Jim Walden is a good man with a mind for rational thought. He realizes that the SEC is tougher than the Little-10. Michigan fans are like double-pronged dildos." I don't know how Michigan fans are like double-pronged dildos. I'm not going to try to figure it out, either.
Mr. Walden most likely sits down to go number one and two. In fact, when arranging his final Harris poll ballot, Mr/s Walden inexplicably tucked his genitals between his legs as if to say, "Hey, look at me, now my man boobs don't look so out of place! Did I mention I hate Michigan?" That's...fucked up.
You can see the entire history here, although most of the other edits are just reposting the same changes which were quickly reverted to the original entry.
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Today's Comics Ain't Shit
(or, "Use Your Illusion, II," Track 1)
I was reading an issue of a book called "Jack Cross," written by Warren Ellis. And it starts very high-spirited, like comics should, like Ellis stories should. This was issue four. Issue four of this "ongoing monthly book" was its last.
So, bored, I picked up JLA #3. Now, for those unaware, this is the third (or fourth, depending on how you look at it) incarnation of the JLA series. But that's not counting the ongoing "JLA: Classified" series that's out there. Or the "Justice" mini that's being done by Alex Ross. Or that "Formerly Known As The Justice League" abortion that crops up from time to time.
Part of the way through, I realized, "You know, fuck this." Comics today can eat a dick, straight up.
I used to really enjoy the Avengers when I was younger. Loved 'em; the stories, the art, fucking fantastic. Then they made the West Coast Avengers. Actually, that I didn't mind. Then they moved the Avengers off to some pocket universe (i.e. marketing ploy) where Rob Liefield reigned supreme ... until his books were late as shit and Marvel realized why they canned his ass in the first place. (But, Liefield is comicdom's Scott Hall; he always shows up when you least expect it, and things always end up the same.) So then the Avengers get their own revamped book ... and it's pretty tight. Then, Brian Michael Bendis fucks up continuity, kills Hawkeye (who's back, by the way), and revamps the Avengers again. Just in time for "Civil War."
I thought about this today, perusing my comic stash from Planet Comics in Anderson. "Powers," Vol 2, issue #lackadaisical storyline. "Ninja Scroll" #2, but already I've heard that this book is slated for shutdown 'cause the creators have other obligations, so there's a storyline I can't bother getting into. Punisher & Punisher War Journal, vol's 6 & 2, respectively (if you count each relaunch as a volume). And one of the Civil War spinoffs, "Frontline," with multiple storylines moving slower than a slug's bowels.
I picked up some fantastic reading, in the form of collected volumes of fringe or vintage reprints. Here's some of the better stuff I've picked up recently:
"Y: The Last Man" - All men on Earth die except one. Hilarity ensues. No words I have can do what I've read so far justice. I'm plenty impressed with it, and I'm just on the third collection. Expect more than a few lesbian characters and gratuitous titty shots. It's a very tightly paced road story, with many, logical reasons made available for these characters to be traveling across country.
"Walking Dead" - Imagine a zombie movie that never ends. Character development and story are the key here. Similar to "Y," you see how life evolves in the aftermath of mass tragedy. And trust me, it's hard to tell who gets squirrellier by their circumstances, a planet occupied by only women or a world where the dead feast on the flesh of the living.
"Marvel Essentials" - Oh my, yes. Throw me some vintage "Defenders," please. Think I'll have a taste of "Tomb of Dracula," too. Hey, who brought the "Super Villain Team-Up?" Love it! And someone's bringing "Power Man & Iron Fist" over? Superb!
I've pretty much had it with what's passing for sequential art entertainment nowadays. There's too many fucking creators thinking that their latest recycled concept of our favorite characters is worth a shit, only to find that no one gives a shit, but without closing storylines, they up and leave a once-worthwhile title floundering, until some new shithead decides to pitch a whole new idea, buuut ... it might require a relaunch. So comic shops are littered with tons of #1 issues, but very few #100s, and more "innovative" (read: hacked out) relaunches & new titles coming out every week.
Seriously, do we need: yet another Aquaman series (newsflash: Fishman doesn't fucking sell!); another Green Lantern; Warlord(!); Iron Fist; another Punisher; Jonah Hex; Ant-Man(!!); and another Dr. Strange (newsflash: Rabbit Out Of A Hat Man doesn't fucking sell!). Shit, JSA #1 comes out next week, and that shit was out in the 1950's!.
And this list is what's coming out in the next two weeks. The above represent titles that were in print, in the 100s or 200s issues, when my age was a single digit. Now? Warlord #10; Iron Fist #1; Jonah Hex #14, and so on.
I think comic books as serialized entertainment are done. Now, we just need self-contained mini- or maxi-series, because, unless it's something along the lines of a "Y," "Preacher," "Walking Dead," or something equally spectacular. I'm also fond of the Essential series, and I'd love to see a day that the Essentials come out in color rather than black and white, for the same low price that they go for now.
But, in closing, the thing that bothers me the most is that, of all the titles that get the relaunch/revision treatment, no one has looked at the easiest, most compelling title of them all: "House of Mystery." A horror anthology, with a host and segues and an opportunity for multiples of creators to really shine. And with horror (and pseudo-horror) entertainment on the rise, there's no reason it wouldn't sell.
But hey, what do I know? I read funnybooks.
Friday, December 01, 2006
Totally random thought
I'm watching Smackdown! (if "watching" = "listening to it while I read stuff online & browse for Christmas presents"), and I look up just in time to see Regal & Taylor run in against Kendrick & London, and Regal's bent over in front of the camera. On the back of his tights reads: "villian" (sic).
The word, I believe, is "villain."
But that's okay. A man's ass isn't equipped with a spell checker.
