Wednesday, December 31, 2003

Happy zNew Yeat!

I spent from 8:30pm last night till about 8 in the morning today puking and pissing out of my ass. So fun. I went and got a sandwitch at Gelson's Super Market, and I guess something in it was a little "off." So, I won't be doing anything for new years tonight. I feel like shit.

I want this shirt:

It's only 10 bucks - I saw it in the LA Weekly - They got a bunch of cool shirts, and they're actually silkscreened as opposed to the cafepress method. COOL!
www.yque.com
BTW, they also sell Sea Monkeys!
"This is your chance to play god -- mean, old testament god. Create life by following four easy directions, and then take that life away by losing interest in it soon after it has begun. Teach your children the facts of life with these wily sea primates." Sounds good to me!

Tuesday, December 30, 2003

boring postscript to enron.

It's true, Mac file sizes are just smaller. I copied a 64 kb file from my old hd and it became 36 kb. I think I need to start keeping my penis in PC format.
Star Wars Episode III: Attack of the Clones 2

So yeah, I ended up buying the HD enclosure. In the end I realized that I have a 40 gig drive sitting in my old ocmputer collecting dust, and by putting it in the enclosure, I effectively bought myself a portable HD for $70! Brilliant.

Anyway, Eric, you will not regret having me housesit one bit. No, when you come home from your tropical holiday and see the beautiful orange flames licking at the side of your abode, you will realize that you made a great choice. Ask the Ziskins: I've burned down their house twice.

Burn 'em, Ralphie! Burn 'em all!
Hard Drive Enclosure: The Vengeance

So sometimes I do work for this lady with a rickety old Windows ME machine. It's a pretty important computer because she runs her business off it. (She runs a Nigerian spam fraud ring.) Well, a few days ago the thing totally crapped out and now it crashes every time you go to the desktop, even in Safe Mode. I can only boot into DOS. Tried reinstalling ME, it freezes up at 80%. Her recovery discs won't work because they are Windows 98 (she later used an Upgrade disc). When she got the computer she bought one of those service plans that everybody tells you aren't worth the money. Guess what? They aren't worth the money.

ME: So the lady needs to fix the machine but keep her data.
CUSTOMER SERVICE GUY: Oh, we can fix the machine, but her data will DIE!!

So I guess the next step is reformat and start over. So I guess I have the following options to transfer her data:

1. Get the DOS drivers for her Zip 100 drive and enough Zip discs to store ~6 gigs of data.
2. Set up some kind of FTP between her DOS machine and my Mac. What teh fuck. I'm researching this but am not sure this is going to be an easy solution.
3. Take her hard drive somewheres with a CD burner and burn all teh shits.
4. The Aaron supersolution: Buy a hard drive enclosure, put her hard drive in it, and transfer her sh1t to my computer using supar-fast f1r3w1r3!11!.

I'm trying to figure out a way to do #2 (har, har) and will probably harangue my new alter ego Elrock to see if there's an EZ-R way to do it. #3 is not a great option because most people I know with CD burners are either out of town or their burner doesn't work. (Including me.) Also I want to finish this shit by late afternoon and not worry about it anymore and 3 would add a lot of time to the process. So I'm leaning towards #4 again.

That's my story!!!1
I am grateful and interested

Thanks for house sitting John Peterson, at least I take the last blog as a "yes!", and if you are just fucking with me, Torengo. And I never said anything about you having rights to use my beach or my Goal-A-Minute Soccer game, so you better get that straight.

Details to follow.

Also, what is this about HD enclosures and burning software and crosses?
Full Throttle

As acting agent for the Elrock Estate and his daily affairs, yes you will have to work his job. You get 1/2 of the net, the rest goes to Elrock. Please come prepared to work it at the corner of Sunset and Fairfax. Bring the proceeds back to me and I will cut you your percentage.

Bummer about the drive. They are really cool to have from a geeky stand point. I still want one.

Enron Joberflyingtonless III
special message to Enron

I went to Fry's, almost bought the hard drive enclosure, but it was about $10 more than I was willing to spend, so I didn't. I'll just either find a PC w/ a burner or connect to a PC w/ Win XP, then connect my Mac to that PC and burn from there. Awesomeage.

another special message to Enron

Yo mama!
Hmm, let's see, if I were house-sitting I would have Internet access, beach access, close proximity to La Penita ("the small cock"), and access to Goal-A-Minute Soccer?

Sounds good!

Would I have to go to your job?

Monday, December 29, 2003

Its a Carnivale, the finest TV money can buy.

Elrock, are you going to dress up the house for Jon. You know, Carnival tent style exterior. Jon, don't mind the fumes. Also, Jon you will have to brush up on your grape peeling, hand-feeding skills. Asshole -> Me!

Elrock, what fine destination are you spending your Honeymoon in?

There is always, the Sorny, Panaphonics, and Magnetbox options.
I need house sitting from Jon

Jon, I understand you are the man to talk to about house sitting? So me and this chick are getting married and we are going to be on our honeymoon from wed 7th of January until saturday the 17th of january. This poses a problem for us and our two cats, they will starve to death while we are gone unless someone saves them! SO I thought that perhaps you would want to stay at our house while we were gone and take care of the cats and have the run of the house with FULL refrigerator, strand cruiser, computer, Halo, porn collection, AND Kings jersey rights while you are there. Sound like maybe a plan?

If not, anyone want to help my cats survive my honeymoon?
The two games I want to play zis year are the new Zelda and Knights of the Old Republic, so my alternate console sexuality is working for now. Although I wouldn't be too surprised if Knights came out on the PS2 as well.

I went and saw Big Fish yesterday... it was really good! The attention to design wasn't as extreme as in some of T. Burton's other films. I got the impression that he was consciously focusing more on the characters and less on the scenery. Anyway, the movie is sort of a tear-jerker towards the end. There were tons of people sniffling in the theater.
PS2 for you

Rudy: I heard the same rumor around september about the $99 PS2. The problem, as you ponited out, is PS2s are still selling very well. Sony may do a price drop, but certainly not to $99. Maybe $149. Xbox is still $179 too. Game cube is selling well, but I think the way Sony sees it is the longer they can keep the price up and still sell a good number of units they will. I am really looking forward to GT4. GT3 is so good. As much as I like Halo, I would rather have a PS2 than Xbox. Most of the games I would on the Xbox are games that I can get similar or the same games on PC.

Ja -eL: GTA is Grand Theft Auto. In particular reference to GTA3 and GTA Vice City (3.5?). They are third person driving/shooting/havoc inducing games. Great stuff.

Jon: You still havent beat space ace? I watch you get pretty far a couple times only to succumb to anger. That game is pretty frustrating. Job search.... Burnt to a Criss. Stupid holiday season is not where it is at for hiring.

Warthog Delivery Service agent, level 7
grand theft auto, silly goose! i gave America's Army a chance awhile back but I couldn't get too into it. I'm not big on the one-life kinda games (like counter strike.) If i was better maybe id like it more, but naaaah.

i really might get a ps2 soon cuz im dying to get the Karaoke Revolution game (u actually sing into a mic, rad!) and the new DDR and the new Gran Turismo game which comes out sometime next year. I got that funny quote looking thru amazon reviews for the different consoles. Supposedly Sony was gonna have another price drop - maybe to $99 because the gamecube price drop has been such a huge sucess - i doubt itll be ANYTIME soon though- i think they still sold the most amount of consoles this x-mas! (NE1 WANNA SELL ME THEIRS LEMME KNOW MMMMMMMMMMMMMMK THX]

saw pirates of the caribbean the other night - i liked it. pretty cool flick. watched a little bit of "big fish" at work last week - it was pretty good! wanna see the whole pic.

bye

Sunday, December 28, 2003

Madness

I'm not quite sure what GTA is (a first person shooter is what i'm thinking), but if you have the system speed get America's Army. OMFG. the game is addictive. I have been playing all christmas. It's like snowing M16 bullets and rocket propelled grenades. I may just have to kiss a girl under a rain of mortar fire. There are a few reasons that makes this dynamic game stand out amongst other 1st person shooters. First, it's developement including programming, testing, game developement is supported by none other than our governments military budget. Our governement and its vast monetary and human resource allows an unbelievable amount of money spent in the games developement. The game has over 20 multiplayer maps; compared to MOHAA which had 6, training modules, dedicated online servers, and an honor point system. The honor point system is equivalent to experience points, the more you get, the higher your ratings. A feeling a accomplishement is derived from the honor points system, but that is beside the point.
Secondly, the game engine is equally good compared to any other 1st person shooter game out in the market. There are over 1.5 million registered players, that attests to the games resounding success. I can be somewhat confident to say that that number of players is one of the most for public games, free or not and one of the largest online community.
Thirdly, the continual developement of this game can be assured. The game is without a doubt a success, for the army and as a propaghandist utility. Therefore one can look forward to an evoluting game with new materials. This will ensure it's following, if not make it even more attractive. Instead of buying a 60 dollar game like MOHAA which in one years time will die, AA will not.

Jael
Heh.

Well, now that GTA 3 and 4 are available for the Xbox, it's a lot easier to like... but the hours I've put in on Halo (even if most of them haven't been on my -particular- machine) easily justify the $199 bux... IMO.

Video games. Ah yes, video games. For those of you who may have somehow forgotten, January 1st marks the official end of my self-imposed exile from "alone time" video games. Therefore, upon the stroke of midnight, I am once again free to waste as many hours as I'd like moving pixelized characters to and fro. I think I've learned about using my time better this year.

But for now, fuck life lessons. Once January hits, I'm going to thoroughly enjoy Legend of Zelda for the 'Cube, which I bought used today for $24.99. Yes sirs, I will provide updates upon finding each segment of the Triforce '04 (or whatever it's called nowadays), as well as upon getting the slingshot and boomerang!

I'm also going to goddamn well beat my DVD version of Space Ace. It's just been sitting on my shelf, taunting me, for the whole year.

Saturday, December 27, 2003

I use computer very often . Since i remember myself i had a conputer, that's why i know a lot about this subject. As a gamer for years i start looking for the perfect game machine and i realised that the best , according to the price and the games that it offers , XBOX is much better than ps2 . Everyone i ask for his opinion tell me that he would buy the ps2 because its the console that the most of people have. THAT'S BULL'SIT man.Is MICROSOFT THE BIGGEST COMPANY IN THE WORLD OR WHAT. It's unbelievable that some people try to get you the message that ps2 is the best cosole when in the same time you can a perfect unique game machine in which exists an PENTIUM 3 PROCC. , GE-FORCE 3(ARE YOU CRAZY WEEE AREEEE TAAALKING ABOOOUT THE BEST VIDEO CARD HAVE EVER BEEN MADE BY HUMMANS.) , A 5.1 SOUNDBLASTER CARD ( WHICH SUPPORTS AN AWSOME SOUND ) , DVD PLAYER , AN 8 GB HARD DISK ,etc. AND ALL THIS IN THE ABSOLUTE MACHINE . Please be smart and do not try to compare this thinks.
- derkas_111

Thursday, December 25, 2003

Hey guys, merry Xmas. I'm pretty sure I'll be busy tomorrow but will any of you guys be free Sunday? It'd be good to have a get-together....

Hey Enron, how's the job search going? Has anything come up lately? If not you should hang around here more!
monkey nutz

Dont let all these granola smoking monkeys convince you that I dont like Xmas. I love Xmas. Yeah the shopping is stressful and the people you have to deal with on the streets and in malls suck sometimes, but mostly you have to realize everyone else is in the same boat as you. Looking for the gift for that one person. Anyway, Christmas Eve and day is a great day for me. My family is all together, everyone is in a good mood. Even Carrie and David mostly put there shit aside. Anyway I like Xmas, even though the marketing world has perverted it a bit.

Tomarrow I will be around. Anyone want to hang? Call me on my cell since I may not get access to theactionteam. If you dont have my cell call 1-800-vikings and he will give you the four11.

K BUB I
Happy X-Treme X-Mass!

At my work x-mas party yesterday I won a $40 gift card to Honey Baked Ham. That'll almost get me a ham. Im glad I won, but other peeps won $100 Best Buy gift cards, and CASH, and X-Box, and a big screen TV. Bah. Least I can almost get a ham !

Rain don't stop - f-ing A! Alright, have a safe and sane x-mas and see u soon! buy my cdeez for xmas!
Santa says, "Hello!"

So, I met the guy earlier tonight as he was coming down the chimney here at my aunt's in Santa Barbara. She lives right off Santa Claus Lane, which apparently is where Santa summers, he owns a little surf shop, but that is neither here nor there. Anyway, he wishes you all a Merry Xmas and Happy Holidays, even if you are a bunch of fucking jerks who apparently don't know the meaning of Christmas. Santa can be blunt, but he is also forgiving.

Merry XXXmas to all and to all a good night!

Tuesday, December 23, 2003

Don Quixote; knight errant

will rescue everyone from the land of the wind and the ghosts. blech.. Actually, the book was somewhat lack-luster. The author had quite a powerful vocabulary for a crazy convict. I kept on waiting for some sudden heroic episode, but it was all just crazy talk. In the beginning, the incidences were funny but then it became merely pathetic and sadness. What a sad sad book.

Did you know that the El Presidente of Taiwan cancelled the Christmas holdiay? Talk about a Grinch who stole christmas. Asians never really celebrated christmas anyways. I consider myself a Catholic, but I don't think Jesus and the apostles sat around a decorated pine wood tree, drank alchoholic egg nog, and sang "rudolph the red nose raindeer" (which Aaron the Grinchonovich claims is all a marketing scam). jk! i love christmas! =D





Damn. Where is everyone?

It's quiet around here, has everyone been banished to the land of wind and ghosts?

I'm trying to finish up the last of my Christmas shitz0r. The worst part still has to be done, which is that for some reason my extended family has decided that we should all buy each other gifts from the $.99 store this year. I think that sometimes I would be into this kind of thing, but I'm kind of resentful about it right now. "Here's a pair of shitty scissors." "Oh, thanks." I think what it boils down to is I'm sitting here looking at literally a roomful of junk. I don't want anymore.

Actually, I'm excited for Christmas to be over, now that I think about it. I think it's a lot of fun for the kids, kind of stressful for everyone else.

Geez, what a grinch. I promise to learn about the meaning of Christmas soon!

Friday, December 19, 2003

Jon, Son of Dean

So... I'm going (a-going, even) to see Return of the King on Sunday, is the reason I won't be around on Sunday. Any of you guys seen it yet besides Johnny? (By the way, I sure hope there's someone loudly hitting on a girl when I watch the movie! But oh well, I guess you gotta take your chances where you can get 'em.) Anyway, I thought I was going to be busy tomorrow as well, but upon further examination, my schedule is clear until about 5:30 or 6:00. Also upon closer examination, these are loafers. Any chance you'll make it down tomorrow Rude?

I'm glad a good time was had by all. I'm not sure that I was the organizer, unless the rule is that whoever gets the beer is the de facto organizer. Everybody made valuable contributions, including my father for stepping in when I freaked out and hid in the bathroom, and also Torengo Mfg. Co. for sponsoring the event with fine snacks.

If the Romans had d20s it was probably to stick up each others' asses, so I think I'll keep my eighteen thousand dollars.
Happy Festivus to all.

Ya! Sorry I didn't get to see any of you guys at the convention - believe it or not, I had left Saturday open for it but OHHHHH i'm just an asshole like that. :( I wanna see strippers!!!

My cell phone number again: 3 two 3 eight 4 juan 6 se7en 6 seven. My old phone is LONG dead - so, update if u plz. I still need updated cellys from some of j00z.

I've been working a lot - lots of overtime - couple of 14 hour days every week- its a fucking drain. I wanna see you guys - are any of you meeting this sunday? i'll be seeing my folks and my buddy dore on sunday, so ill be in the neighborhood mostly, so maybe i can take the scion down there for a bit.

good luck with the ladee jahknee! thatd be cool if u could hook that up.

whatever happened to the pyramid scheme erlock was talking about? i want info! maybe if i meet up with some of u - my company was offering employees stock at 20% off up until today - they just went public or something. they (Thomson Group) are a mega-corp, so i dont really know if its worth buying stock in a big ass company like that. help me out PLZ.

new drink: Morroccan Mint Tea from Coffee Bean - its pretty good. Its like a mocha but feels less "heavy" (its green tea instead of cafe w/ chocolate.) I've also been drinking a shitload of Chai - mmm. My girlfriend makes it every morning - rad!

- c u l8rz al-e-gay-torz

PS Initial D is gooood. If you like weird racing cartoons.
Yay! kudos to Peter Adkinson, possibly the greatest gamer CEO of all.

If gencon so cal had stocks, I probably still wouldn't buy it, seeing that the ROI is so horrid. But it's all a labor of love.
More GenCon info...

Peter Adkinson's writeup of the con can be found right here.

cool

Also, check out this pretty cool NOFX song. (For Windows Media Player.)
Funnee how one meets people at the oddest of times

Met this girl who is a friend of a friend, and I lek her a lot. It seems the relationship bug is going around. I have to quickly shed this single stigma as I think I am the only pathetic soul in The Dating Action Team that is still single. So she is nice. and she's going to FUCLA. We talked throughout the movie and although I felt I may have been inconsiderate talking so much, i had to capitalize on the opportunity. So... she gave me a big hug at the end. I'll probably call her later. yah! she is a girl I would consider dating, my friends. Eric, if this succeeds you will HAVE to allow one more to your wedding party!

NEXT issues -

*LOTR III was good.

*Roman dice is a good opportunity. specially if we create a whole set, d4, d6, d8, d7, d5 etc

*Kublacon is next! Peanuts, Burgers, Big beerskis, Lots of good miniature gaming!

*Jon was a fucko for not attending bachelor con. Dean however, was one slick dude. I vote we send jon to boot hill, and straddle dean in the saddle.

Night!

Thursday, December 18, 2003

Fucker Jon

At least his father is a real man. Cowboy hat, moustache, accent and all. None of that city slicker bull. He sure knows how to rock the casbah.

Now that I have alittle extra time on my hands I am learning the ways of Cascading Style Sheets. I had know how to hack at it, but now I am learning the ins and outs. Good stuff. Well.. At least Elrock will know what I am talking about.

Man one glass of wine and I am toast. Damn fly weight anymore.

Chopper, suck ballz
Man, You're right!

I'm actually a little pissed at Jon for not showing up, or rather conveniently getting lost in the bathroom. Having Dean around did ease the pain of Jon's rejection, but still, it hurts a little bit. That Dean is quite a guy. He must have had quite a life growing up a Texan in South Carolina, but more power to him!
Good idea Elrock.

18K? Damn. I want one still. Mike, go steal one at the next dig. I am sure there is one just waiting for our personal use. In other notes... Jon? Jon didnt go to the Bachelor party remember? I think Dean organized things. Stupid Jon got lost in the bathroom or something. Twas a good time had by all. I am glad that you enjoyed your eve of debauchery.

5100 ppl. That sounds about right, but still was well under the anticipated amound of 13K. At least that was a rumor around our group as to the expected turnout. Hopefully the GenCon SoCal will fill out in years to come and the Union will not scare away the vendors. Bastages. Speaking of which I would not be surprised if the union workers dont get screwed out of the Vons deal. In a city like LA, companies just do not have issues with hiring scabs. Go Union Bloat.

More notes/comments on GenCon:

+ The con did seem a tad heavy on cards, but the dealer-room-onovich didnt seem to reflect that. There were only a few tables. However, I was very disappointed at the lack of representation of minitures games. There are by far more at Strategicon events.

+ Speaking of... Do you think GenCon will have an effect on Strategicon events? I would hope it would have a positive effect on the event by bringing gaming back to the attention californian gamers. Yet, I am still fearful that it will not have any effect.

+ True Dungeon was definately a great event. How many years have any of us dreamed of a real life dungeon crawl like that. Kudos to mike for getting the tickets. Kudos for whoever discovered the event.

+ The Ripley Quote, Priceless. "Ease back Ripley, Thou art only grinding upon metal. Thou hast broken thine transaxle." Or something to that effect. Gotta love JP in his element.

+ Carrie, my sister. Dancing? Yeah... All of you... Assholes! But funny assholes.

sidenote: KublaCon this next May 28-31? Johnny and I are interested. Takers? For those of you who are not Elrock, Ja-eL, or I: KublaCon was very fun last year. Mo Betta than Strategicon.

OhshitnowImbooooored!
Note

From SJGames: "Remember that Roman 20-sided die? It was auctioned on Dec. 11, and according to the Christie's website, it went for $17,925."

We need to make and market replicas of this fine die. A small (VERY small) fortune is waiting for us there.
Sheesh, what a jerk

I just realized that I never thanked you guys formally for a rootin', tootin', good tyme bachelor party! Thank you all! I had a blast! So, thank you, Jon in particular (I think he was the organization guy?), for the night of fun.

Wednesday, December 17, 2003

Yarr?

I'm going to run a short (2-4 session) 50 Fathoms campaign for me, Eric, n' Denis' group. Mike and Rudy, if you guys want to join in the fun you're more than welcome... I'm not 100% sure when we'll start it. Sunday, possibly? If not, then probably the following weekend.

I've got plenty of stuff to run, actually. That Deadlands adventure I converted for GenCon, and also a pretty cool pulp-style adventure. Either of these would be good for one-shots.

Unfortunately, I don't have too much free time on Saturday. Maybe enough time for an early 3rd Planet run or something. I don't know what Sunday is like yet.

Starting Monday, I will have tons o' free time as Panasonic is closed from the 22nd-4th. If people have free time during the week, I would love, love, love to do some gaming.

By the way, I noticed that the Firefly box set is out. I really liked this show. I don't recommend buying a $60 box set without knowing if you like the show or not, but for those of you with Netflix or something, I'd definitely recommend checking it out.

Tuesday, December 16, 2003

ohshitnowhesmaaadd!!

5100 is a lot of people. That is a lot of gamers to be in one place. Understandably we are somewhat jaded in our views of what a GenCon should be since we have sexperienced Milwaukee. Of course it sounds like Indy eclipsed even the amounts of people in Milwaukee, but still, I think it was impressive when we were there. That being said, I think that GenConSoCal should be classified as a success. 5100 is still a nice number, and my thinking is that Peter Atkinson is a competent businesman and probably would not have sunk his new GenCon, LLC venture into the ground by funding a crappy, unsuccessful convention. I'm sure the numbers will grow over the years as word gets out, the only major hurdle is that attendees are still in school at the time of the con and thursday and friday attendance will be weak.

Thoughts and fave memories:

- I think the con was very CCG oriented. The main room was for the CCG tournaments, and there were a lot of card dealers throughout the hall. I don't know if this was representative of the current gaming climate or what, but not having GW there to represent the miniatures for the kids, and almost NO historical wargames, the CCG took over.

- Strange to be missing WizKids and Games Workshop from the dealer room.

- WTF were the guys selling computer parts doing there? Do you think ANYONE bought a MOBO while there were at GenCon?

- True Dungeon ruled. So many great things about it to mention. It was definately a top 3 highlight of the weekend, and my idea of what could be done with it in the future is exciting. I'm glad we did it, kudos to Mike for getting the tickets! It's one of those, "man, why didn't we do this before?" type things, you know?

- Eric's Best Purchase of the Con: Either the True Dungeon Tokens or the ClawGame stuffed Christmas ornament (though I didn't actually even use my own quarters for the clawgame!)

- Eric's Worst Purchase of the Con: Nothing! I love the few things I bought! Maybe the 7-11 coffee the first night.

- Eric's Greastest Missed Opportunity of the Con: Either not going to the Masks of Nyarlathotep seminar on saturday, or NOT buying the amazing Master Maze opportunity (their entire display consisting of roughly 700-900 dollars worth of goods) for 500, though with some bargain skill and my high charisma, maybe een 450.

- Strangest Con Moment: Twighlight Imperium @ 3am in and empty convention hall.

Anyone up for some Call of Cthulhu this weekend? I am home alone!


5100

Apparently, 5100 people made it to GenCon.

Oh shit, people are coming and I'm at work!

Monday, December 15, 2003

I was saying "boo-jon"

I have to make a big public apology to Rudy... sorry I forgot to email you man... I thought your cell number was the same as before and we had no Internet this weekend. :( Anyway, I figured you either had or could get Eric's cell if you really wanted to come by but still, I feel like a total flake. Sorry man!

Friday, December 12, 2003

http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail58.html

super funny -

HEY - whats the info for the con? I wanna go visit saturday night/afternoon but i have no current cellys for anyone. call me! three two three eight four one six seven six seven - rad idear!


:(

Thursday, December 11, 2003

I'm packing up and driving to the con after work.

So, I'll be out of work around 4:30, home from work and the store around 5:30, out of the house around 6:30, and hopefully at the con by 8:00 or so.

I've got the cell numbers of Celsius and Halfling (Eric's new nickname, I don't know why). I'll call sometime late tomorow afternoon to figure out the dealie-o.

Doo de do doo do!

Wednesday, December 10, 2003

Motorbykal will get a call from Enron and Ja-el in the morning.

So there you have it. Then call me and tell me what up. I think I am picking up Denis on the way from Beverly Hills, and then Con ho!
PLEASE CALL ME!!!

Ok, here's the deal. I have the tickets, but I don't have a ride as my car just crapped out a mile from home after the 4 hour adventure that Carrie and I endured that was getting the tickets. I also don't have anyone's numbers as Erics seem to have changed entirely (all three of the ones I had) and I've never had Aaron's or Jon's. Please call me, I need a lift. I assume that you all have my number (which hasn't changed) but in case you don't it's five four five, nine eight two seven. This message will self destruct in two seconds.

M


Great!

The UI for posting blogs on Apple and older PC based browsers stink. Maybe Camino is okay, I have not tried it. ANyway... I will be picking up Ice Lee at LBC. After that if any monkeys want to cheel, give me a call. If you do not have my number, give Elrock or Oetersen a call they can give you the four11. ALso anyone that wants to car pool it tomarrow, give me or Johnny a jingle. Futbol or Jahn O-eater-sun?

BTW the Apple powerbook is sweet. Really nice machine, except the 'Caps Lock' key. Picked one up for the Pops. That and an iPod, another sweet device.

Yo Joe.
So Who's hanging out on wednesday night?!!!?!

HOTEL INFORMATION: (Important:!!)

MOTEL 8
Just look for any room. We will be in very close proximity to the convention, by helicopter.

ha-ha

just kidding

The actual hotel information is

JW MARRIOTT

but it really doesn't matter because until I check in, no one else can. So, aaron and I will call everyone and leave the information. We'll arrive early Thursday morning. The mariott shouldn't be hard to find. It should be right next to the Khanvenshun. (Directions) ----> Go to convenstion in anaheim. See Mariott. (/End Directions.)

Anyone up to hang out on wednesday night though? for dinner or something?

Jael
Here is my itinerary

Thursday -
8.30am: Wake up, go to breakfast with Leslie.
11.00am: Meeting in Beverly Hills.
12.00pm: Go to convention

Friday, Saturday, Sunday:

Game


So there you have it. But it doesn't look like I can drive anyone seeing as I will be heading to Anaslime via Beverly Hills. Also, Johnny, where are we staying? When are you checking in? WTF am I doing/going/etc?

Gaming goodness!

Also Mike, are you going to be able to get to buy some tickets tonight, I can't get out of work...

Tuesday, December 09, 2003

Aghhh..

Aright, first things fucking first. Sorry I have not blogged. Today is the first day I have checked the blog or my email in a week. I would have done it sooner but I got good and sick last wednesday and was not better until monday. I am fine now, but was not up to driving to the office, the nearest I-net connection. In fact I dont think I left the bed but to eat, pee, shit and get water. Suck. Anyway, now that that is out of the way, here is a my summarized posting to the past week of blogs.

Celsius? Huh? Ahhh, sure why not. Investments idea... Sounds good, only I dont have shit for money right now. No Job = Just enough money to keep myself afloat through the joyous expenditures of December. I will not be the Girl for you pervs. I will play the bitch healer, the wimpy wiz-azz, the trap testing cannon fodder or some other part, but not U-man. Fuggers... Just because I am the last to post on it does not mean I get the short end of the stick. As far as Elrock having the so called "Community College" degree, you went to Irvine Juggolo. In fact upon thinking more about it, I have the lowest degree of the group... AKA CSU. All you other GenCon gamin' bastards are UC and beyond (Motorbyke). Getting back to the subject, Let us just hope this event does not turn into one Dark Carnival. And piss on you all about my bladder. You make me the bitch and I will pee in your backpacks for spite.

Anyway I am picking up the Jaw-Knee Khan Late at the airport in LB tomarrow at 6:45. I donno what is going on tomarrow? Give me a heads up! Jon, do you still need to use the plotter? I am assuming no since I have not heard from you so far. When/how is everyone getting to the Con. WHat is the plan Stan?

Sister's stupid computer died and guess who gets to fix it. Rule. If you need to get a hold of me, call me at me Cellulose Phone.

Celsius.
Roll Call

Okay, roll call day before the day before:

- Eric: Maybe I can go wednesday night, though I doubt it, otherwise, thursday morning for tickets! Two Blood Bowl teams painted, lots of useless WWII terrain waiting to not be used or transported, gaming goodness is overtaking me!

- Jon: No wednesday, Thursday?

- Enron: No idea what this guy is doing.

- Johnny: on a flight tomorrow and will arrive at 6:45pm or something, then thursday gaming goodness!

- Mike: Probably either sleeping right now, or on a flight. But this guy is our wednesday night savior! God save the Mike and his providence!

- Denis: No wednesday, but I think Thursday - Sunday!

As far as characters go for the dungeon game, we are given all six characters on the spot when the game starts and we split them up there, same characters for every game, so there is no thinking for you Mike, just get some tickets!!!!

Peace in the Middle Ea(rth)st

Sunday, December 07, 2003

Sure.

Hey man, you don't need alcohol to have fun with your friends....

I've been busy doing prep work for my (most likely not-going-to-happen) GMing stint at GenCon. I'll have two things prepped. Since I'm concentrating on learning the Savage Worlds system right now, I'll probably run both things with that. I hope people don't think they suck.

One is an SW conversion of a classic Deadlands adventure, "Night Train." I fully expect everyone to die except for Aaron, who will be paralyzed but rewarded by grateful townspeople with a wheelchair built of railroad ties and Indian skulls, while being knighted by Pliny the Edgar.

The other is a combat-intensive sci-fi scenario. This will be a good "play if we have time, who cares if people drop in and out" game.

From the depths of rpgnet...

I found the following post amusing, in a thread about bad GM's (slightly edited):

Well, I've seen a lot of people list 'Pet NPC' as the biggest peeve of theirs. My problem with it came when the GM's PNPC staked me in the final confrontation between my character and a corrupt Elder in our four month Vampire game. Then the NPC diablerized him (for non-vampire players, it's when a vamp kills another vamp and drains his power)

That wasn't the worst part, though. I can have my character be betrayed and suffer downfall as long as it's dramatic or partially logical and this was, for the most part. No, the worst thing about it was when our ST stood up to get snacks and we noticed his blatantly visible erection. ... I drew my own conclusions and left about six minutes later.
A few notes of interest

- I am too old to drink heavily anymore. My body just can't handle it.

- I pooped and chucked at the same time last night, fortunately I was in the downstairs bathroom so that while I was sitting on the crapper, it wasn't too tough to sit up and chuck in the sink 4 times....

- My vomit had the consistency of soft cat food, which I did not eat, but I did eat meatloaf.

- Please, for the love of all that is good and holy, please don't make me drink much more than 4 beers and two shots, that's all I am good for any more these days.

Saturday, December 06, 2003

Sweet, sweet Ja-el

It looks like the fate of you all lies with me... I do not believe that this is chance... when I see, one objective... one free action team member... having arrived just in time... I do not see coincidence... I see providence! Ok. I think I should be able to do it. However, someone needs to explain to me how we get characters and stuff because I don't have time to search through the website before I leave on Monday. I get to be the paladin -- tap tap not playing a girl! (Aaron?)

Good Rowing News: I know you all probably don't care, but we came in second place in the big race of the term yesterday... very exciting, and will lead to much drinking tonight at the Boat Club dinner = fun packing tomorrow with bad hangover!

See you all soon!

Mykal (the last incarnation of my name was in fact, my anime persona Myka-choo, like Pica-choo!)


Friday, December 05, 2003

hmm.

I finally checked out the website for this... definitely looks like a hoot! As far as ticket acquisition, I'm working on Wednesday. I guess in theory I could make it down to Anaheim by 8 pm if I left right after work, but it would be a lot, lot better if Mike could make the run... I'll do it if that's the only option though.
but, Oh my god!

That is totally totally out of the question! Celsius and I have to do our nails~ Seriously, my flight won't be arriving until 6:45 and therefore we won't be able to make it on wednesday. Jon... you are the man.

Also, I don't know HOW we are going to fake this, but since my natural charisma is 18, by my good-looks and all, it's unfortunate you fellas get handed the hand your dealt with. Eh... but C'est la vie! hehe.
I'm jubilant about this whole dungeon jaunt.

- I vote we don't screw the party. Plus we're gonna get the 1000 bucks. It goes into our Action investment team fund. Therefore, the goal is to finish!

- Also, Jon and Aaron needs to live the longest granted, save for bladder implosions. Eric is the lovely network admisistrator in case theres a technical issue. Fair Mykal needs to live because he's the only one that can spout "We are victorious"" in a decent english accent, plus he also says "ikki ikki ikki ikki" fairly well. Unfortunately, I, with my good-looks, am the only one that is truly expendable. =( However, I can fight and take damage!


Change of plans we're going to Girl Talk

Okay, so I emailed the True Dungeon coordinator and he said that at SoCal there would be no generic tickets and that we had to buy an actual event ticket, which also go on sale at 5pm Wednesday night. I am almost certain I won't be able to get there to buy any as I am working on wednesday, but for those of you that are not working, we should press gang a group of you to go down there and get in line and get us some tickets! Football? Celsius (Enron's new name)? Johnny? John Peterson?

The good news is that I checked to online registration and most of the slots (which are NUMEROUS) are either completely open or have one or two players signed up.

Also, the "Jug of Holding" is a good idea, however foul it may be. I know one person that has to go potty every 5 minutes in this adventuring party....

Also also, we need to decide if we are in it to win it, or to have fun, i.e. do we take the free "I screwed my party for this T-Shirt" or do we heal the party 2 HP's? That sort of thing.

Also also also I think we need to keep Jon alive the longest 'cause he knows those word problem things and Celsius knows those math problem things... I will exist only to soak damage cause I went to Junior College... unless of course I get offered the T-Shirt, then things will change.....

no potty breaks

Since there's no bathroom breaks in the midst of the game, we can carry an emergency urination can, or AKA Magical Bag of Holding, just in case someone has to go, especially aaron who has a tiny bladder. Can't have the cleric/thief dropping out because he can't hold natures urges.

just a thought

j
Gesundheit!

Is that a cold Mike or is that your Rugby nickname?
I'm with you too!

If we each had a single representative item telling which class we were, then it would kind of be like the old D&D cartoon! I approve of that. Sounds great, Let's DO it! Can't wait to come home and see you all... only 400 things to do between now and Monday morning! YIKES!

Mykachoo!


Thursday, December 04, 2003

I'm in... sounds like a hoot!

I propose we all bring a prop, ie cloak for thief, staff for wizard, sword for fighter ect. We don't have to all dress up, just an item to look authentic...

Also did you guys see the clip on LARP? looked pretty cool when the knight smite the guy from Tech TV.

http://www.techtv.com/xplay/features/story/0,24330,3494821,00.html

Wednesday, December 03, 2003

dk roolz

omg, dark castle was a pretty sick ass game! i remember those things that went "NEE NEE"- i think they looked like bats kinda.

how much money would it take to join that investment thing? im all for making some money.

im going to vegas this weekend and plan on winning quite a bundle, so wish me luck thx.
True Dungeon Manicans

Did you notice that the Manicans used in the true dungeon website looks very similar to the Realistic blow up sex dolls that I referred to you guys a while back? The truth is that big breasts would be quite a hinderance in combat. Amazon warriors used to cut off one of their breasts so that they can shoot bows better. Saw that on a discovery show. Did you see the cost anywhere? How much are six tickets?

Count me in on the Good Returns Action Investment Team (GRAIT). The acronym needs some work, but we gotta have a cool name. I for one am already doing investments. I started approximately 1 and 1/2 month ago. The first month I broke even. November I made around 3500 dollars, which is not very good. I was a little cautious and undersold a lot of my stocks. My potential gains should have been around 6 grand.

- Discount brokers are a great starting point. The cost per trade is cheap, doesn't offer advanced features such as shorting, options and financial advisors. I use Datek, or AKA Ameritrade which is around $10 dollars a trade, plus a 2.00 transaction fee. There is a company that is offering 8 dollars a trade, but I think they have a limit on the number of shares capped. Ameritrade allows trades up to 100,000 shares, which we won't have to worry about anytime soon.

- Since we shouldn't be daytrading and our objective should be Long Term with less risk, I would suggest diversifying our portfolios in less riskier stocks. But that's always objective and can change as we valuate our risk adversity.

On a side note - I was doing some statistical research on the Super California Lottery. I'll show you guys my statistical charts at Gencon. Mike, maybe you'd be interested a dissertation on this. hehe.

J.
True Dungeon

I also think that true dungeon will be awesome! Just no one go crazy and stab anyone on the subway. The story behind the true dungeon is pretty cool too, tre nerdy, but very cool. Check it out!

True Dungeon Website

EDIT: Okay, after reading Jolly Blackburns review and seeing some video of a True Dungeon event, we HAVE to do it. We can't buy any event tickets anymore, the registration is closed. The GenCon Indy even sold out immediately, so we have some work to do. Here is what I am thinking, we can buy tickets beginning at 5pm on the 10th on site, the event takes 10 generic tickets each person, or $15 but they don't take cash. Anyway, so we need someone (probably me) to get all the tickets, and then we need to get in line EARLY (3rd floor in Room 303) the next morning to sign up for the event. I really want to do this, it seems like fun and it takes over 2 hours to complete! Read Jolly's review for some kick-ass inspiration!

Page One | Page Two
The Action Investment Team

We should start an investment club. Seriously. I'm working on the details right now (research) but loosely it would be as follows:

- A fee to buy in for each member which is then used as the working capital for the club.
- A monthly due per meeting to be used to buy more stocks, or if we can't decide on a new stock, to be put in the cash account for later use.
- Monthly meetings, one way or another, ICQ, conference call for those of us out of town, face to face, whatever.
- Each meeting one or two members decides on a stock they think is strong and offers it to the club. Then we vote to either buy or not.
- Then we get some money (I haven't read about that part just yet, meaning I don't know how the profits are distributed, tax issues, law crap, etc.)
- The goal being an education for everyone one the topic of money as well as experience with making money and creating a nice nest egg for everyone.

I think we would be good at it and it would be fun. No, it would NOT be a get rich quick way of investing but it would be a good way to learn the stock market, which is one of the main reasons people get in these clubs, most are trading neophytes. We have such a diverse set of skills and interests I think we would compliment each other well.

I'm dead serious about this. Thoughts?

Feel free to shoot it down, I think those that don't immediately crap on it and think on it will profit from it and have a good time doing it!
Aaron also likes gerbals...

woops, did i let that one out the bag? My mistake. Okay, so aaron, my confirmed flight is at 5:45pm and will arrive instantaneously at 6:45. Umm.... Long beach airport, Jet blue and you know the rest.

There is a "live dungeon" featured at Gen Con. It would be interesting to see how well we fare, our teamwork, puzzle solving. Its not LARP, (according to the website) but I can't imagine it being much different. Purportedly there is also a cost. Think we should all balls up, and Sally forth into the dungeon.

J

Tuesday, December 02, 2003

Aaron likes computer research projects

And since he likes them so much, I would like to send him on the adventure of a lifetime. Aaron, your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to find me a ROM of Dark Castle for the Mac. I have, what I believe, is a Mac emulator all I need now is a ROM of the game and I am ready to revisit one of the greastest games ever made. I am salivating over the idea of chucking endless rocks at the Nyah-Nyah's (SP).

Alternatively, you could write me a floppy disk driver for a Unix system from scratch. Your choice.

Maybe Jon knows something of said game being available for the Mac in some form?

Also, we would easily be THE coolest gaming group if we had a Roman D20 in our possession. And even cooler if we brought it to GenCon and used it...
Cool But...

That would be an awesome bit of gaming history to own. However, I dont think Leslie would let us back in the house if we bought Elrock a 4 to 6 thousand dollar die. Myke, why dont you change your disertation mid-stream? I mean it shouldnt be too much work right?

Back to work for me...
Cool Beans


Hmmm. Didn't know about the polyhedron dice, knew the Romans had normal D6's but, well, you learn something new every day. Crazy symbols -- wish I'd known about them before, I could have done my dissertation on them instead! Do you think we could get it for Aeryk and Leslie's wedding? Comeon, we could all chip in, it would only be about a grand a piece - that's cheap for 2nd c. AD gaming stuff?

Well, I DON'T have me badge yet, but I assume that's because it's at home. I hope so anyway! Getting excited about the Con too, and about coming home and seeing all of you! (I know its only been a year, but it seems like forever!) Trying to get things sorted here. Applied for my first accademic job two days ago (was THAT ever fun -- imagine writing about the work you are doing -- and are tired of for that matter -- about 20 different ways having to emphasize why it is cool and worth money). What a waste of time. Anyway, its over now for a couple of minutes, and so now I'm trying to get everything in order before I leave on Monday. Whoohoo! Can't wait to be home!

Bus ride from Cambridge to Heathrow...2.5 hours! Flight from Heathrow to LA...10.5 hours! I think I WIN! Doh!

Monday, December 01, 2003

D20

Appearently the Romans were AD&D fiends. Or something. This is pretty wild. Christies is autioning off a Roman era (Circa 2nd Century AD) Glass D20. Damn that is cool. Too bad it will be going for an estimated $4-6k. Futball, why didnt you tell us the Romans were geeks too.

Drive from LA to SF.... 8.5 hours! Rule!
Man, I hated that guy Ethan Hawke

But that doesn't apply to anything that I have to say right now. So fun was had by all this weekend. I enjoyed some turkey and fixin's, a night of trivia and alchohol, surfed a bit, ate like a pig all weekend, drank a lot of coffee and coffee based beverages, played multiplayer Halo and Crimson Skies, a few one sided BB games as well as The Fall Classic: The Dragon Company vs. R Dub Cubs. If anyone cares to check out the replay of the BB game, it's here (http://fumbbl.com/FUMBBL.php?page=match&op=view&id=180131), it was a GREAT game.

So, I had a successful weekend and look forward to GenCon; I got my badge finally!

Mike?

Saturday, November 29, 2003

Ah, pumpkin pie and coffee for breakfast

That's the life!

I can't believe the con is almost upon us. I got my badge yesterday. Now I'm mega-psyched for teh games and Anaheim hoox0rs. Anyone else got theirs yet?

Maybe I'll go to the website and see if there are any actual events I'm interested in... and damn, I gotta start getting ready if I'm going to run anything....

Mike, when are you in town?
Thanksgiving Movie Fest Reviews

Happy T-day! I pity the foo !

Timeline - Decent flick. Certainly ranks at least two times higher than Knights Tale (BTW that is not too difficult!). Knights Tale = Teh Suck! But Timeline had realistic armor, weaponry, and the epic siege was a nice touch. The plot could be remolded a little. Movies that deal with time traveling are so flawed. I guess these type of movies come in cycles. Remember Back to the future? Well this is back to the future except with said horses and trebuchets instead of skateboards and dalorians.

Missing - If you are expecting a scary movie, think again. I was a bit dissapointed with the movie, as the trailer made the movie sound mysterious. The trailer talked about a mystical being/demon, and young women dissappearing. (Not to spoil it for anyone) so I won't say what it was, but let's just say it was nothing extraordinary. The movie turned out nothing more than a western shootout drama. Having said that, the movie wasn't terrible. Had I had a different expectation going in, the movie would have been a little better.

SO whens the gaming? Perhaps I can join in and play a little Over the computer BB or medal of honor or something.

Thursday, November 27, 2003

happy thanksgiving guys! hope you have fun and are safe!!!
Post-Family Pox Giving Day Drink-a-thon

Anyone up for a little post turkey drinking at the ole homestead? I think Ryan is in, and I think Jon is available, anyone else? Mike?

Wednesday, November 26, 2003

Whatup Lee

Getting a little late, so I'll just try to give you a call tomorrow. Happy Thanksgiving everybody!
lame chain letters

What's the point of making bogus stories up like that? Someone must have lots of time on their hands when it's free from masturbation. Do us all a favor, chain letter writers: keep your hands on your nutsack and go back jacking off!!!


Seriously, what's the gain? To see the letter sent all over the internet, to see the frequency the letter can make it's way back? Honest...


This is true though... this morning i followed this stock that grew 44% in the wee morning hours. Had I decided to invest at that moment, the stock ended up 87% gain for the day.

Yowsers. 40k ivestment would have given me 19k back. Too bad I didn't invest

Jael
Wow

That is some insane revenge. If that is true that has got to be the most outrageous thing I have heard in a while. How ever it is not a true story. Several variations of this story have been floating around since 1985. It made a resurgence in 1995 and again recent. Each time with more embellishments, most recently with the "Priceless" moment theme. Many media forms have been used, radio, faxes and the I-net. Boooo!

Jon: Big Adam's Apples suck. Trust me I know. Especially if it gets shot while paint balling.

Back to work Jerk.
Hoody hoo!

Hey jon, I tried calling you at home, but I figured you went to work. Talked to your pops for a bit. Hey so anyhow, i didn't want to hassle you at work, so whenever you get this blog, call me on my cell! Aight gangsta,

Cool Story:

So I get this email telling a story on this guy. Here's the cut-and paste
>>>>this is a true story about a recent wedding
that took place at Clemson University. It was in the local newspaper and
even Jay Leno mentioned it. It was a huge wedding with about 300 guests.

After the wedding at the reception, the groom got up on stage with a
microphone to talk to the crowd. He said he wanted to thank everyone for
coming, many from long distances, to support them at their wedding. He
especially wanted to thank the bride's and his family and to thank his
new father-in-law for providing such a lavish reception.
As a token of his deep appreciation he said he wanted to give everyone a
special gift just from him. So taped to the bottom of everyone's chair,
including the wedding party, was a manila envelope. He said this was his
gift to everyone, and asked them to open their envelope. Inside each
manila envelope was an 8x10 glossy of his bride having sex with
the best man.
The groom had gotten suspicious of them weeks earlier and had hired a
private detective to tail them. After just
standing there, just watching the guests' reactions for a couple of
minutes, he turned to the best man and said, "F--- you!". Then he turned
to his bride and said, "F---you!". Then he turned to the dumbfounded
crowd and said, "I'm outta here." He had the marriage annulled first
thing in the morning. While most people would have canceled the wedding
immediately after finding out about the affair, this guy goes through with
the charade, as if nothing were wrong. His revenge.. .making the bride's
parents pay over $32,000 for a 300 guest wedding and reception, and best of

all, trashing the bride's and best man's reputations in front of 300
friends and family members. This guy has balls the size of church bells.
Do you think we might get a MasterCard "priceless" commercial out of
this?
Elegant wedding reception for 300 family members and
friends......................................$32,000.
Wedding photographs commemorating the
occasion..........................................................$3,000.
Deluxe two week honeymoon accommodations in
Maui...................................................$8,500.
The look on everyone's face when they see the 8x10 glossy
of the bride humping the best
man...............................................................Priceless.

There are some things money can't buy, for everything else there's
................. MASTERCARD.

>>>

Jael.

fuck

I wish I had an Adam's Apple. Right now I got nothin'. In fact, I wish I had a huge Adam's Apple that looked like a big dick, hanging off my neck.
Hey oon, bad reception, that's whatsup

for some reason AT&T doesn't give messages on time. Sometimes it can take up to a fucking day or two to get messages. I didn't get your sunday message, i guess till now. Anyhow, I'll pop you a call tomorrow morning.

Your voice is sexy though. You should go into voice modeling. It's like feet modeling except they take snapshots of your adams apple as it contracts and expands while creating your melodious voice. Much money can be made.

Johnny

Tuesday, November 25, 2003

fuckin' ashton kucher

First Dan Savage thinks he's all hot, now he's ripping off my story ideas. Philosophically, probably most any time-travel idea has been written about somewhere. I mean Groundhog Day deals with repetition and consequences, Blinx the Time Cat deals with fast forward/rewind in a platform jumping environment, and Peggy Sue Got Married (and like two shows from last season, I understand) deals with going back in time to school. So, that's cool. Anyway I bet my getting-strangled-by-a-drug-dealing-pedophile scene is way better than Kucher's.

Speaking of that guy, have you guys tried to watch that show Punk'd? That shit is unwatchable. The camera moves every 36 frames, exactly. It's like the Ring.

We had some slow time at work today so I pulled Godfather Part III out of the vault. Holy fuck, that shit was worse than Punk'd. The plot, dialogue, and acting were all so corny and derivative. What happened to Al Pacino? At least the Devil's Advocate was good.

You know what I like? Music. And Amoeba Records. Those are two good things. I picked up the new Frank Black album... pretty cool! The lyrics are more straightforward and raw than usual. Most of the songs are about divorce and depression... good stuff.
clone warez

I had never seen this (dont have cable) but u can watch em on the net - cool! clone wars cartoons by the samurai jack animator. i like it better than the movie.

http://www.starwars.com/clonewars/microseries/chapter/archive.html

yarz
the eye spy

the whole premise for the eye is pretty darned cool, and the look of the film is nice - its VERY sharp and clear and I assume digital. BUT, its just fucking boring. I want scary movies that are MEAN. As flawed as The Ring is, at least its MEAN. Gothika had a bunch of those cheap scares in it, but without giving away anything, it is at its heart a NICE movie like "what lies beneath." FUCKING BULLSHIT! Fuckin' weak ass horror/thriller movies.

I think there are some cultural things in the eye that bug me too, like the music. Whenever theres some sappy love shit going on, its THE WORST music you've ever heard. I dunno - they just have a different aesthetic with some of their shit i guess. YUCK!

Saw some decent previews though. ACTUALLY, there's a new Ashton Kutcher movie that looked kind of cool and it TOTALLY LOOKS LIKE THEY RIPPED OFF JON! Its about this guy who discovers a way to go back in his past. He can pause time, rewind, or whatever. So, he goes back to change something. Then other shit goes wrong. So he keeps going back and shit gets worse and worse. Looks pretty rad. I can't tell for sure, but it looks like in one scene he does some REALLY violent shit, and then rewinds- yeah, probably all weaker than JONS story is/was/coulda/woulda been, but still neat.

-gorble gorble gorble
9PM EH? Hmmm... I donno...

That may be a bit late. I would actually love to leave late, but that will only make my life miserable. I am thinking more along the lines of early after noon. 2pm or so. Otherwise it will be too painful to imagine. Thursday we are eating dinner early to mid-eve, although there are talks of going and grabbing a few drinks with Pat and Carrie since they both will not see me the rest of the weekend. You are all welcome to come and drink it up. DOnt worry it wont be a heavy drink fest. Otherwise, I will be free friday and saturday so far as I know.

Yeah the Eye has a few really creepy scenes. I would mantion a few but they may ruin the "Suplise!"

I am stoked on hanging out this weekend. Rule!
Hey... that was old enough for our forefathers in Vietnam, who are we to be picky??

I heard there's some kind of good elevator scene in The Eye, but I don't know anything else about it.

So, are people busy on Thursday night? My family always does the Thanksgiving thing early... by 7:00 or so I've usually shaken off my trytophan hangover and am ready to rock, at a moderate level. I also have Friday free during the day, and all day Saturday and Sunday. Aaron you're not leaving until 9:00 PM on Sunday. It Is Deicided. Eric, you should run WFRP or something!

Monday, November 24, 2003

Ja -eL, I like your math

I got a jolly snort out of your figures for how much he made on those games. That som' bitch had a decent idea that would barely had paid for itself if it wasnt for his book and some crazy followers. Its good to hear that you have made it back to the states in one piece. How do you like the fine warm weather you have returned to? It was colder on Saturday. 38 in Fremont during the night, 39 in SF. Sprinkle in some strong winds from the north and instant cold. Blah!

Did you guys see that someone actually was able to cross bread tomatoes and tobacco to make
"Tomaco"? The plant actually has nicoten in the fruit produced by the abomination. Pretty funny.

"Daddy, these tomatoes taste like grandma"

PS, I saw this on Slashdot...

"LA County has banned the use of the terms 'Master/Slave' (commonly used to denote hard drive arrangements.) According to Snopes.com, 'someone within the County bureaucracy... had taken offense at 'master/slave'"
Hooxorz, Lots of

Came back to see a flurry of blogs which was exciting because the blog has been deadzorz for quite some time now. Unfortunately the only thing I didn't get to do on this trip is getting some hooxorz. I DID get a massage for an hour, but to my dismay, this was at one of those "professional" joints where they only have sad endings. El-cheapo though compared to the full service massage places here. The dillio only cost me 1000 NT or 35 dollars equivalent. Don't see why people are so into massages though. This was my first time getting a full back massage and IT WAS HORRIBLE. At times they kneeded with so much pressure, I felt like crying. I had to convince myself that the money spent made the pain good... Good pain.

Cashflow 101 and 202 eh? Kudos to erick for buying both of them. How much did your coworker part it for? It's a good game if you can obtain it at a decent price. I doubt there is a lot of copies floating around. Based on simple mathematics, if he sold 1000 copies, he has already made 190,000 deducting the 5000 dollars it takes to make the game.

Jael
Hmmm...

I thought The Eye was pretty descent. Huh? ALthough it was not a horror movie, but a thriller. It is a bit slow...

I tried blogging the other night from the exercise bike at the gym last night but I failed. The bike had an Internet connection as long as you peddle. As soon as you stop though it cuts you off. Anyway the touch screen for inputting text was just to had to work with and I could not get a message off. So much for that.

There was an article in sfgate about a pitbull that attacked a police horse in Golden Gate park. Crazy ass dog. Pit Bull.. Go figure. Still a horse is huge. In the end the police officer, the owner, the pitbull, and the horse all ended up injured. Check it out here.

Sneezy
don't see THE EYE. omg, it was SO BAD. The guy who told me it was scary must be on crack, because that shit was SO BORING. if i had gone in with NO expectations - maybe i'd think it was pretty bad. NOW, im like "this movie is teh worst!

elrick - what color is your truck? i was down in MB today and i saw a guy in a truck that looked like u and i started honkign and he looked at me all crazy.

Sunday, November 23, 2003

I meant to say ORIENTAL MOVIE!

PS - Both my cds are available for ordering ONLINe and its NOT from CafePress - besides being way overpriced, they kept fucking up my cds, so i switched. I'm using an SF based company - $10 bucks each plus shipping (its like 2 or 3 bucks.) DO IT!


cafebeats.com
Latex Pants

Went to a pretty huge party last night. A friend of ours invited us and we thought it was going to be a small little social gathering, 20 maybe 30 people. Instead we got there and some 2 to 3 hundred people were milling about the place. It was a theme party: Fancy Pants. On your way in a sign outside the courtyard stated, "Fancy pants or no pants." People had the wildest pants on. Mine were kinda boring, but it was the best I could do for a last minute event. I had a pair of Khaki's that had been painted with glossy interior household latex paint. "Sticky Pants" made great fart sounds when I slid in and out of a seat. Too much smoking though. All my clothing still stinks. The party reminded me of the SDSU parties, but older. 30s instead of 20s. I am glad I dont frequent that scene, it gets old fast. I guess I hate the small talk and bullshit.

Rude: The Eye is actually a hong kong production filmed partly in Kong Hong and partly in Thailand. It is a pretty cool movie except the last five minutes. The "extra" ending could have been done without. Fun though.

Rock on.
"Don't be a pedophile, touch all the little kids!" - BR

Comeon dude - watchin' 13 year olds dance around - ehhhh.

I've been busy with work mostly - we're making ALL the Academy Award screeners (VHS this year) and its a 24/7 project thats gonna go on till mid December. Because of all the super-fear of piracy, here's how it works. I'll use the movie 13 as an example.

We make 1 dvd of the movie Thirteen with an individual barcode.
With that 1 dvd, we copy it to 1 VHS tape with another individual barcode.
The dvd and tape are scanned together so they know exactly what dvd made what tape.
We then destroy the original dvd with this pretty cool dvd/cd "shredder" kind of machine.
The lucky academy member gets the vhs tape in the mail.
I think there's something like 130,000 tapes that need to be made by mid-december.

I left out a LOT of scanning. Seriously, you scan EVERYTHING all the time. There's a security guard that pats you down whenever you leave the CAGED work area that has been dubbed "Thunderdome." Pretty crazy. LOTS of fucking overtime (and double-time), so even though the work is total Gungo-Ho: The Movie style car-plant stylee, its worth it for all the extra cheese.

My Scion is still fun to ride. Also still liking my girlfriend. I was SO into BB but then people stopped playing and I never reinstalled it on my new computer. Saw Gothika last night and it was Suckitha. Heard about this Japanese horror movie called "The Eye" which sounds FREAKY! Wanna see that.

JAEL - Don't get no h00x0rz!


Saturday, November 22, 2003

Yeah! 195!

Its 195 for about the same goodies you get in say monopoly. Well you get less pamns and pieces. What a bargin. As far as a realism level, it is pretty hig. It is cool, but not 195 cool. Eric you will love it. Or not. Maybe we ought to throw in a fight to the death in the end in which you had to outfit your guy with gear purchased with all your wealth gained from the first portion of the game. Maybe even a talisman dragon end.

Rock on Mo Fo's
God damn 195 dollars games!?

Sorry, I lost my capacity to speak English.

I went down to Brookblurst today (didn't buy anything). Then I went to Little Saigon and walked around in this Vietnamese mall they have there. It had a very different vibe than say the Manhattan Village. They actually had an arcade, which is pretty cool. They had one Japanese Capcom game called "Ninja Baseball Bat Man." It was a side-scrolling fighter (like Double Dragon) where the players are robots with baseball bats and the enemies are walking baseball gloves.

The best part was watching these two eleven-year-old girls playing Dance Dance Revolution. Holy fuck. They were selecting these songs that were about 120 beats per minute with half-steps and all kinds of multiple arrow hitting and changes, hitting 50-string combos with no problems. I watched one girl's feet and they were almost blurring. I would have stayed and watched longer except I think I would have started to feel kind of creepy.
I Now Own Both Cashflow 101 and 202

I got them for a deal from someone at work. Now we can all try and learn to take over the world the Rich/Poor Dad way! Abstract economic games are not my fancy, they are close enough to "real" economics to make me think I get them, yet far enough away that what it takes to win any particular model for any particular game, seems strange and wrong to me, hence my attempt at destroying Giganten and yet in the end winning the game. What feels right, and what I can apply from my limited real world knowledge of economics is typically wrong, and frustrates me. Then I want to kill everyone, but I can't cause there is no warfare in the game.

So there you have it.

PS Aaron blogs alot now.
Puerto Rico Suave

I got a basic impression of the game while I was getting the game explained to me and what little game play I was involved in. It seemed pretty cool and based on your description, it seems to play out well. What is it with Eric and economic games? Oh well.. I guess it will join the ranks with giganten and Aquire. I guess we all have our favorite hated gametype.

Did Johnny and I tell you about the 195 dollar game we played a few weeks ago? It was a basic business game, sort of like Life with finance and accounting. It was made by the gent who wrote the book Rich Dad, Poor Dad. It was a pretty cool game, the premise was to get the most money through investments/risks. It is a circular set of inner and outer tracks your pawn travels on, like Talisman. Die roll based movement. It was fun, but the production values on the game set it probably in the 35-40 dollar range. Basic board, paper money, player sheets, dice, and three types of card stacks. But $195? Damn.... I guess the Rich Dad, Poor Dad writer needs to milk his Fans (Cultists?) for more money. A little L Ron-ish if you ask me. Too bad it was pretty fun.

Enron Butterflyington III
Puerto Rico is fun.

The rules are very quick and elegant but the gameplay seems to have lots of strategic depth. I'm pretty sure you and Jael would like it. The rules are pretty different than anything else, but at their heart they involve everybody taking roles as nation-builders. Every turn each player takes a different role. Taking a role allows everybody to perform an action, but you get some kind of edge for initiating the action. For example being the Builder lets everybody build, but you build first and get a discount. There are economic incentives to take the roles that haven't been used in a while so sooner or later everything gets done. There's lots of balancing and lots of paths to win. Good stuff.

(Not for everybody of course. When I tried it w/ Eric, Laurie, and Denis, Eric said, "Because this is an economic game, I will probably never play it again." Oh well.)
Its cold!

Damn cold front from the north came in yesterday midday. It went from cool to very cold in a hurry. 43 degrees right now. Suck. Stupid cold. Anyway...

Bummer on the D&D, but I am not set on D&D, although fantasy would be cool. But to be honest I just want some RPG, as long as it is not LARPS or ahhhhhhh..... Black Gloves.... Ahhhhhhh... You find Three Sun Blades..... Deck of Many things, Deck of many things. I would pretty much be open to anything, although CoC, WHFRP, or D&D are at the top o' da list.

Good news its 45 degrees now. Its sizzlin'. I love the weathermen, they predicted rain for every day this week and everyday halfway through the day they would revise it and push the rain back another day. All the way until we never had any rain. So I carried my umbrella around for a week for nothing.

Jhan: How is Puerto Rico? I started playing it once but only got a couple rounds in before we were interrupted. It looked like it was going to be cool.

Jerks are lame
Its cold!

Damn cold front from the north came in yesterday midday. It went from cool to very cold in a hurry. 43 degrees right now. Suck. Stupid cold. Anyway...

Bummer on the D&D, but I am not set on D&D, although fantasy would be cool. But to be honest I just want some RPG, as long as it is not LARPS or ahhhhhhh..... Black Gloves.... Ahhhhhhh... You find Three Sun Blades..... Deck of Many things, Deck of many things. I would pretty much be open to anything, although CoC, WHFRP, or D&D are at the top o' da list.

Good news its 45 degrees now. Its sizzlin'. I love the weathermen, they predicted rain for every day this week and everyday halfway through the day they would revise it and push the rain back another day. All the way until we never had any rain. So I carried my umbrella around for a week for nothing.

Jhan: How is Puerto Rico? I started playing it once but only got a couple rounds in before we were interrupted. It looked like it was going to be cool.

Jerks are lame
Hey Aaron, guess I never answered your GenCon RPG query a while back, so here’s a long post about gaming.

I’ve been thinking that GenCon would be a good time to haul out some of the cool games that we’ve never played. I’ve decided against running D&D for three reasons. First of all, we don’t know what player availability is going to be like, and I don’t want to worry about either being short (of players) or of having to exclude people that weren’t in the original gruppe. Second, I’m burnt-out on D&D. Third, I’ve run ten billion fantasy games and, while I love playing and running fantasy game, I’d like to stretch out my GM chops a little.

I think that I will come to GenCon prepared to run two or three things and realistically plan on running between 0-2 of them. Right off the bat, I have two things I’d like to play. The first is a classic Deadlands adventure that seems perfect for a one-shot. (Deadlands == Western + horror. It’s what the Doomtown card game was based on.) The second is an Unknown Armies one-off. (Unknown Armies == modern occult conspiracy--sometimes horror, sometimes not, but always dangerous.) Both of these are fine with 3-4 players but also have a “more the merrier” element.

Is there anything else people want to play? If anyone has a strong request for something that I have a good one-off for, I can try it....

Speaking of WFRP, funnily enough Aeryk and I have been talking about it a lot recently. We’re getting rather burnt out on D&D and are trying to convince the group to try either WFRP or a piratey game that I’ve recently become enamored with. So I’m into playing WFRP and might soon get a shot at it. But I’m sure that it would also be popular with the boys at GenCon and definitely would scratch that fantasy itch. Whaddya say Aeryk?

I’m also looking forward to board gaming (I recently got Puerto Rico, which I really like, and I have an urge to play Evo and Battle Cry). And of course general hanging out, checking out the dealer room, and whatever debauchery we put our poor bridegroom through. Yee-haw!

Friday, November 21, 2003

R Dub has beaten my ass

R Dub's humans (R Dub Cubs) have trounced Eric's Dwarven team (The Dragon Company) 2-0. One of us is sad, the other, happy!
Duck, Duck, Goose...

Was I that bad of a tactitian? I have probably played more blood bowl games than anyone else aside from Elrock, yet I never managed a win.

I wish I could sleep right now. I just want to crawl under my desk and sleep.

Blah
Speaking of Rudy

Let's not forget the destruction that was the Lil' Lebowski Urban Achievers vs. Slitherin Dynamo...

Rudy took his slightly experienced Norse team and beat the hell out of my Lizardman team. I actually retired the team after their first game. I think two players were going to miss the next game, one player had a movement loss due to getting his ass kicked and the team recieved little to no SPP's, and I didn't keep any cash back for reserves to buy replacement players.... smooth move. So I think I prematurely retired the team, and should have stuck it out, but eh.
Virtual Cyber Crime on the Information Superhighway.

Ashcroft is an idiot, and so are most of Bush's other cronies. 'Nuff said. Personally I could slap Al Gore everytime I hear that Highway reference. Then I remember that he lost his home state in the presidential election and I want tslap him more. Why couldnt we have him as a pres and not the current yokel from Texass. Fuggers

Yeah, where has everyone been? Normally I am one of the laggers, but everyone seems to have been on posting-light mode. Jon are you going to be around T-Day weekend aside from meixco on the 27th? Eric I think I heard you say you will be around. Switching gears... At GenCon I know Jon you had been talking about running an RPG. Is that still the case? I am desperate for an RPG. I need my fix. I am almost desperate enough to try and run one, but then I remember that it would be lame. Butter, the Bane of my brief DM existence.

Giznad the Brilliant
Isn't this a wee bit 1994?

This quote is taken in regards to the Feds cracking down on "Cybercrime".

"The information superhighway should be a conduit for communication, information and commerce, not an expressway for crime," Ashcroft said Thursday.

You would think that SOMEONE on his staff would realize that the term is outdated and do something to stop him from sounding more like an idiot, but apparently that is just not the case. Of course if you take out the references to places that cars can drive on, Ashcroft's metaphor falls flat.

I hate our government.

PS Where is Rudy? I think there has been more posting by MIKE and RYAN than by Rudy as of late...


Thanksgiving

The latest word on the street is that we're not going to El Mexico. Instead, we're going to Glendale. So come if you want, it's no big deal either way.
So let it be heard, so let it be done...

Ja -eL, I sort of expected that you were not going to be making the trip down. Speaking of trips, I will need to talk to you about GenCon travel days etc... On a different note, congrats to you for the victory againts the Evil-rick, the tyrant of BB. Also, I will be nice and leave the sphinctor comment alone.

Well I finally joined a gym and now I am working out and feelin' sore. After noticing a bit of a pot developing I decided I better get my ass back in shape. Besides I always seem to have more energy when I am working out regularly. Pretty sweet.

Elrich: Who would have though the Kings could be playing as decent as they are with so many injuries? You can never predict that teams success. Hooray for Zoidberg!

Back to work... If you can call it that.
I have defeated the great Elrock!

=D hazzah! Although we never quite finished the game. There are two turns left but not enough time for an Erick comeback victory. I doubt we'll ever finish that game but not forgotten! Welcome aboard Ryan. How goes your roommate situation?

So this is the last post i'll be making in Taiwan until I return. I won't be paying for the internet broadband connection in the hotel anymore, which has so far cost around 500 nt per day or roughly 15 dollars US. I was using it to trade in the US markets, which hasn't been too gentle for my sphincter. A little too much Greenspan rapage.

That"s too bad about your company aron. I'm surprised they didn't keep anyone from your company, instead of laying everyone off. They'll probably be candidates for BK pretty soon too.

Food, Sex and Ewe is extremely cheap here. Drinks however, are outrageous. My entire 3 meal dinner at the mall cost me 99 NT or 3 dollars. My Boba drink cost 70. Its been a really great experience for me so far. You can eat like a king here, if you can find somewhere to live. The amount of living space in the city is so lacking that the cost per square footage is worst than SF.

Alright fellas,
Talk to you guys next week,
Jael

P.S

Enron - I probably won't be going to LA afterall, seeing that Jon might be going to the Mexico's.

Wednesday, November 19, 2003

WOrse than mine?

That is a bad lot if R Dub's rolling is worse than mine. I feel for you Ry. Has anyone managed to defeat the great Elrock? I never did. I was able to pull a couple draws along with some really miserable defeats. But never a victory. Ahhh the shame. I think Elrick killed two guys and seriously injured or otherwise removed 5 guys one time.

You know it is really interesting? Watching the company I am working for slowly get cannibalized by the purchasing companies. From what I can see and what I garner from the manager, the company that is taking over operations is just setting themselves up for one disaster after another. ANyone who knows anything or is a valuable asset in any of the three companies being formed into this mega beast is jumping ship or has jumped ship already. Ugly. Really quite a view from a someone with no vested interest in the company. The new company sounds like a total office space environment.

I like Green, or so I hear
Another Member of the Faithful

That's right kids, R Dub is now a member of FUMBBL and has two teams, one Norse and one Human. So far I have been teaching him the game we have only played two official matches because of the can't play each other more than one time in a row, rule. I foolishl created a dwarf team to play against his humans and the block skill was a bit too effective.... not to mention R Dub has had the WORST luck I have seen. Pitch invasion, throw a rock, double skulls dice rolls, the list goes on. The part is that he is trekking along and still has not lost his interest though we have played 4 (unofficial) games and he has yet to score a touchdown, but he has killed one of my players!

Long live BB!

Tuesday, November 18, 2003

A hoot..

If you want a quick laugh try the Snoot.org Recipe Book!. If the first one isnt funny try the next. At least one out of every four is just so bizarre it is great. Pay close attention to the ingredients.

Back to work Jerk
Paid Time Off

I may actually have the entire week of the 8th through the 12th off with pay in addition to the month severence. Rule! At least if I am going to be unemployed soon, it wont hurt so bad. No job on the horizon though.

ROck on boyz

Monday, November 17, 2003

[vent] Vent alert...

[rant type="computer cases"]Why must all computer cases for PCs be so fucking ugly. Jesus you would think one of the mother fuckers out there could pay a dime or two for a real designer instead of these idiots that think PC design has to be either a beige box, a beige box with curves, or be eXtreme (aka lets shit on a shingle, paint it colors, throw some flair and a window on it and then call it a day). Grrrrrrr... The only one that I found that looks cool and simple is a Home Theatre PC Case manufacturer. Too bad they make nice desktop cases, but then only make towers that look like option number three of the designer case styles, aka aSStreme. I even found one case at another manufacturer I could tolerate. It was basic with a simple designed and not beige. Minimal design (Black/Silver), straight lines, etc.. Then they had to throw on the bubbly curvy air vent/usb and audio interface module at the top of the case. I almost didnt see it, all the photos hid it by virtue of camera angles except one. It was like a child pushed three weeks worth of crap under the bed to hide the evil sins. WHY? Fuckers.[/rant]

[rant type="fitness gyms"]While I am on a roll, I figure I would go on my other pet peeve of the week. Fitness Gyms are bastages. 24 whore fitness, Club One, and Ballys all do not post prices. If you look on site or online they dont have any price listings anywhere. If you go to the gyms, they have no paper work. If you want to look at the gym you have to fill out paper work, aka advertising fodder for your mailbox. Then you have to listen to a 'fitness specialist', aptly named since he probably doesnt know a barbell from his asshole. These 'fitness specialist' aka sales reps are worse than used car salesman. Its like a telemarketer in your house. They give you a long shpeal while they try and rape your entire wallet right out of your ass through trickery and in some cases insults. Fuckers. To really make sure they have you grabbing your bootstraps for optimum theft, these companies hire secret shoppers and if they staff is caught giving advice good for the customer, like which is really the best deal, instead of robbing you blind, they can be fired. Commission, commission, commission. Nice. 220 dollars just to sign up? Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! fingers, so sore... From typing... So many letters in that last app... Gotta charge 220 to ease the pain. WHORES. I love big companies. No not really.[/rant]

On a side note my hard drive seems to have come out unscathed. It hasnt replicated that error. Sweet. On the other side of the coin my UPS battery needs replaed. damn thing beeps loud for 30 seconds every few hours to remind me. Fitty bucks. D'oh.

I Feel better. What a woman I am.[/vent]

[vent type="lastOneISwear]P.S. Stupid Blogger wont let me use PsudoTags aka < and >.[/vent]

Saturday, November 15, 2003

Yo Jael!

The reason the machines or the Architect can not kill Agent Smiths process is that he is like a virus. Virii or rogue programs by their very nature incapacitate systems often requiring another third party or external process to neutralize it. Speaking of which this is a hot shirt.

If the Ice Cream cones are that cheap I suggest you do this Jael: buy about a thousand of them and stick them in your suitcase in the freezer. Then just before you get on the plane pull them out. You can make a mint. Plus the proceeds will pay for our own hedonistic consumption of a large percentage of them.

Suck it Trebek
Greetings from the Games workshop in HK!

I should have taken a picture, but it's merely just to show what expansive reach GW has touched every poorred (was rich) child of every nation with their miniatures. The craze here is the LOTR theme. That's all they had and of course expensive GW paint to paint the LOTR miniatures with. There were a few other brands of games. I did not see Blood Bowl, sadly. Football is just not a big pastime here.

Mcdonalds has corn soup and the ice cream cone is 2 HK dollars which is approx 20 cents US! wow! Everything else is overpriced.

Interesting that Mike mentioned the God of the machines. Why did it have to have neil destroy the rogue program? Why couldn't it do it itself? It was a cool Meek vs God, Meek is triumphant ending, but that's about it.

Anyhow it's been really fun, just saying hi!

Jael

Friday, November 14, 2003

Short But Sweet

I have not heard the term "agency" tossed around so casually as Mike did since my days long ago in Art school! Refreshing!

Work is crap.
I've now spent most of the day watching a computer think...


Oh the fun of watching a little bar get filled up to 100 percent and then starting over again at 0. That has been my life today. At least I can breathe properly for now -- been fighting a cold forever now. (What a surprise!) Anyway, the Matrix Revolutions: I thought it was an appropriate ending for the saga, and suppose that I feel the whole three movies centred on 'choice' and 'agency' as their moving aspect, rather than good character development -- obviously. The point is that the people in Zion are just as much controlled by their worlds as those in the Matrix, and that, in essence, it really doesn't matter that much. At least that was how it seemed to me. 'We're all here to do what we're all here to do.' Neo does that, and fulfils the systemic needs of the Matrix. Did you notice the name of the big thing at the end that Neo talks to? (Trying not to ruin it if someone hasn't seen it yet.) Deus ex Machina == the god from the machine. Interesting. I guess I found all of that so interesting that the CGI heavy, acting poor, storyline weird aspect of the last two movies hasn't bothered me that much.


Anyway, those are my two cents.


Myke

Thursday, November 13, 2003

I'm old!

I think I'm getting old because I just don't enjoy cinematic type films as much as I used to. Or is it that I've seen too many movies of the same type? Perhaps I will see only romantic comedies from here on out. I hear "Love, Actually" is a good one.

Anyway... yeah, saw Matrix. I guess interesting characters are obsolete now that you can have fifteen mechas on the screen firing at two thousand robots.

A cat just dug a claw into me and it broke the skin. Do you think I should be worried about infections!?
Viva Las Vega

Well nothing too exciting happened while I was in ye olde vegas. However, I did get the ire of several friends and family members when I stuck my head in the lions mouth at the Sigfreid and Roy monument / temporary mourning spot. Even got a photo taken. Aside from that, a lot of gambling, eating, drinking, and shopping.

Well like I said I will be around Thanksgiving weekend, so hopefully we can game/goof around. Johnny, you are still welcome to join on the trip down. On a side note, Jon give WHFRP a chance. Im telling you, you may not like the GW world setting, but the system is pretty cool and much more lethal than D&D. There is good reason that Elrock and I still love the game all these years later.

Oi, dat's me leg...

Wednesday, November 12, 2003

Indian giving... at least it's appropriate to the holiday

Yo Lee, I may have been too hasty in offering you the gift of a Very Petersen Thanksgiving because we might be trucking down to Mexico for turkey day this year. It's still up for debate. Email me if you're seriously interested in coming down and I'll keep you informed.

Even if we do go to Mexico, I know everybody else is going to be around and I'd like to hang out... so I'll probably just go down Wednesday-Thursday and come back up Friday morning.

Hey Enron, I never asked... how did Las Vegas go the other month? Any good tales to tell?
Mushy Boba

Good Stuff! I'll be going to the Land of BobaS! Sorry fellas I can't bring any back, but they come in nice 1LB packages at the asian supermarket. One of these days you guys should try brewing your own. It's like beer except faster. And it's fun!
Also you should try the little bobas, the little white ones.... Those are good too next to the fruit drinks.

So just in case anyone wants to know, here's my cool itinerary! I'll be leaving for Taiwan tonight! Won't be back till the 23rd or something. I'll still have access to the blogger and I'll blog if something interesting comes up, but for the most part, PEACE NiGGas! I'll see you all after!

First Taiwan---
Then Hong Kong---
Then THE WORLD ---!

Jael

P.S Aaron, work the backup dude!
Truly Brillant Strip

Virulent Laugh Pathogen

Stuff
Primary Slave Hard Disk Fail

In my continuing saga of computer difficulties this year, my other harddrive seems to have failed. AT least that is how it looks at first glimpse this morning during boot-up. This time my Maxtor drive ate it. I guess that one is getting old, a little over three years. What sucks is, that is the drive that has ALL of my mp3s I have burned from my collection and downloaded over the past 5 years. All told, about 12 gigs worth. D'oh!

Elrick: What system is Call of Duty for? Boba rule. What is funny is nobody advertises it as Boba here. It is just called Tapioca drinks here. Yet if I go into a place and say I want a Boba, they will look at me funny, but then they figure it out after a few seconds. My fave: Taro Tea. FOr the Intro I think we should have our own celebrity writer Mr Oetersen create us something. He could write Fuck Duex, a post humorous analysis and expansion of the 'great' Fuck! A discog would be cool, but what would we put in it, and in what medium?

I am already bored at work and I have only been here for 35 minutes. Stale. As the end grows near, more and more our job becomes Hurry up wait. With wait becoming the more dominate of the two.

Hard Drive, Suck Ballz

Tuesday, November 11, 2003

Items of Note

- Life is hectic right now, and I am sure that it is not going to get any better in the near future as the wedding draws nearer.
- Call of Duty is THE sweetest game right now, if you ahve the means, I highly suggest you pick up a copy. I bought one today, and have played all of about 15 min, but it is still fun!
- Boba is the greastest drink known to man. Tomorrow if I have time I'm going to get a barley milk tea! Anyone had one of those?
- I love having my truck back (finally).
- Who, or what, should we have write the introduction to the Action Team book? Someone real? Fake? Of mythical proportions? Also, Ry and I were thinking of having a section in the book resembling a discography of everything that we have all done in the past, audio, video, published, whatever. Thought it would be fun to look back on for posterity sake.
- Gotta go to bed now, more tomorrow if I have time...
Hobbling Along

In the continuing Nexpoint.net saga... Nexpoint thinks that finally have all the issues resolved for studio9one2.com. However it will take them 12 hours to propagate the data to the DNS servers. Nice job. Right on the ball, 96 hours later.

In other news I saw Matrix, Reconstitution with Ice Lee this past sunday. All in all, better than the second one. The fight scenes were pretty long but not as ludicrous as the freeway scene and Agent Smith scenes of the previous one. As Jon suggested, I am going to have to go back and look at the second one again on DVD. I thought the plot was a bit weak at spots and a lot of the potential mind fucks they had set up in the second one were not capitalized. Bummer. Unfortunate, There was great potential for this series and I think the spirit of the first one got lost somewhere in the middle. Even so it was a fun movie. Can not wait for LotR: RotK. Rule!

Memop