Back from Hiatus
Okay, well it has been an eventful week or so. I moved last weekend and spent most of the previous week trying to get that to happen. Been a bit crazy up there. To make a long story short I spent all of last weekends waking hours packing, moving, eating, or shitting. Fun stuff. I no longer have Internet access and I do not know when I will. It may be a few weeks so my email/blogging will be a bit erratic. Anyway I am down in LA right now until sunday evening. I will give you guys more gory details later. I just do not feel like typing it up. I will be around.
Yo Momma
Wednesday, December 25, 2002
Leonardo De Suckio
Went to watch the Gangs of New York last night. Theatre was mostly empty as people are probably out somewhere skiing or having Christmas celebrations at anywhere but here. The movie itself had less than 20 spectators, most of whom probably had nowhere exciting to go either. The movie followed with the mood of the entire evening: unorgasmic.
As a child, Leonardo's character was born in the life of 19th century brooklyn ghettos, AKA 5 points, was populated mostly by poor irish immigrants that flooded the ports of New York. While Ireland was plagued by the potato famine, the Irish came to the US in Hordes, seeking of a better life. The portrayal of life in the 5 points was quite shocking and pictured fairly well. Living in the ghetto, money was scarce, your life would have been one born into a local gang and your daily occupation was to be a hooker, thief, or murderer. Death... it seemed was almost welcomed and accepted as much as living. One can get robbed at any corner, killed for a dollar, or murdered by one of the local gangs. Life was cheap. You got a feeling that life was almost meaningless and wondered how these people maintained their sanity.
That was pretty much the only good part of the movie. I'm not going any more into detail, incase some of you might actually go watch the movie. However, be warned, this movie served better as a documentary of life in 19th century new york/brooklyn, than anything to do with gangs or mafias. It was a far cry short of movies such as The Godfather. A lot of grotesque scenes (butchery, murders, fights) and a lot of nudity (Nude tits). Very inappropriate for children.
Final Grade: B-
Also finished up the book, Kingdoms for Sale, by Terry brooks. The plot of the book was interesting. In a department store catalog, much like the one's you'd find at Ross or Macy's, was advertised a kingdom for sale for 1 million dollars. Why or How that land became for sale, you'll have to read the book. But basically the Protagonist of the book, Ben Holliday, a successful but lackluster lawyer, purchased the mythical land, and became it's king. However, he later finds that all was not as seemed as written in the Ad. He inherits a crumbling castle, with no retainers, no army and no money. He has a few followers, a court magician, 2 kobold cooks, and a dog as a court writer. On top of that, a demon vyes for the throne. Will he succeed in bring peace to this mythical land or would he pay the ultimate price, his life, in his attempt at kingship?
Read the book and find out...
Kingdoms for sale: A-
Went to watch the Gangs of New York last night. Theatre was mostly empty as people are probably out somewhere skiing or having Christmas celebrations at anywhere but here. The movie itself had less than 20 spectators, most of whom probably had nowhere exciting to go either. The movie followed with the mood of the entire evening: unorgasmic.
As a child, Leonardo's character was born in the life of 19th century brooklyn ghettos, AKA 5 points, was populated mostly by poor irish immigrants that flooded the ports of New York. While Ireland was plagued by the potato famine, the Irish came to the US in Hordes, seeking of a better life. The portrayal of life in the 5 points was quite shocking and pictured fairly well. Living in the ghetto, money was scarce, your life would have been one born into a local gang and your daily occupation was to be a hooker, thief, or murderer. Death... it seemed was almost welcomed and accepted as much as living. One can get robbed at any corner, killed for a dollar, or murdered by one of the local gangs. Life was cheap. You got a feeling that life was almost meaningless and wondered how these people maintained their sanity.
That was pretty much the only good part of the movie. I'm not going any more into detail, incase some of you might actually go watch the movie. However, be warned, this movie served better as a documentary of life in 19th century new york/brooklyn, than anything to do with gangs or mafias. It was a far cry short of movies such as The Godfather. A lot of grotesque scenes (butchery, murders, fights) and a lot of nudity (Nude tits). Very inappropriate for children.
Final Grade: B-
Also finished up the book, Kingdoms for Sale, by Terry brooks. The plot of the book was interesting. In a department store catalog, much like the one's you'd find at Ross or Macy's, was advertised a kingdom for sale for 1 million dollars. Why or How that land became for sale, you'll have to read the book. But basically the Protagonist of the book, Ben Holliday, a successful but lackluster lawyer, purchased the mythical land, and became it's king. However, he later finds that all was not as seemed as written in the Ad. He inherits a crumbling castle, with no retainers, no army and no money. He has a few followers, a court magician, 2 kobold cooks, and a dog as a court writer. On top of that, a demon vyes for the throne. Will he succeed in bring peace to this mythical land or would he pay the ultimate price, his life, in his attempt at kingship?
Read the book and find out...
Kingdoms for sale: A-
Tuesday, December 24, 2002
Move to where they got the best ****
Fuck Minosota . Move somewhere cool Jael!
Anyways: I just got a new vid-card. Not much- an older Voodoo3 - anyways- disabled my onboard crappy card and made this one the primary (in the bios) but somewhere in the process, my computer doesn't see my cd drives (F and E) !!! WTF!?!? Any ideas? I'm kinda stoaked right now cuz I'm getting some good frame-rates, whatever, but I'd like to eventually get access to my cd drives again. Don't see them at all in the Device Manager- when I boot- it looks like windows is seeing them, but it also looks a little off (like the id numbers its givving them looks generic) once Windows is up, I can't find those 2 drives to save my life. I hate computers.. :\
HAPPY X-MAS AGAIN!
Fuck Minosota . Move somewhere cool Jael!
Anyways: I just got a new vid-card. Not much- an older Voodoo3 - anyways- disabled my onboard crappy card and made this one the primary (in the bios) but somewhere in the process, my computer doesn't see my cd drives (F and E) !!! WTF!?!? Any ideas? I'm kinda stoaked right now cuz I'm getting some good frame-rates, whatever, but I'd like to eventually get access to my cd drives again. Don't see them at all in the Device Manager- when I boot- it looks like windows is seeing them, but it also looks a little off (like the id numbers its givving them looks generic) once Windows is up, I can't find those 2 drives to save my life. I hate computers.. :\
HAPPY X-MAS AGAIN!
Actionteam Gang
Jon, I have a proposal. You need a roomate in Minnesota or whereever the fuck your going? I need to get away from it all. Fuck parents that treat me like a 10 year old. It's time that I made it on my own. It's time that I flew this crazy coop. I don't know if job's going to be a problem. I'm sure I can leverage something.
Johnny
Jon, I have a proposal. You need a roomate in Minnesota or whereever the fuck your going? I need to get away from it all. Fuck parents that treat me like a 10 year old. It's time that I made it on my own. It's time that I flew this crazy coop. I don't know if job's going to be a problem. I'm sure I can leverage something.
Johnny
Monday, December 23, 2002
Congrats!
Good job on getting that Zombie short story submitted. You said it was the third book right? So I'll pass by the ol barny an boobs, and get a copy. Hey man, it's a start. You got to write some fantasy novels like the pervert pierce anthony. Some stuff about virgin sex and underaged love. Be sure to include lots of random races so that you can explore that incestual side of the characters. And then you can lieu that into their human side so that you can insinuate that the characters were actually like us, so the "young adults" can get a kick out of it. See? It's a book already! You can throw a couple of Thai Hookers in there just for twists. haha! D'oh.
Got 2 books at the library. I haven't read any novels since last year. That's a pretty long time. Anyways, I wondered if my library card still worked or if I had like a million dollar fine from a book I don't even remember being checked out. Turned out uneventful. Checked out a book "kindoms for sale" by terry brooks. Terry is a good writer? I don't remember much from sword of shannara. We'll see. Libraries are cool. There are now software, videos, cd's, DVD's that you can rent. I remember perusing the library over at redondo and they had a huge selection of Vtapes. Anyways, I rented this really cool video on Ukelales and it's awesome! I'm going to go buy a ukelale. It only has 4 strings so the playability is more like a solo instrument! yah!
Wish you all a Merry Christmas! Aaron did you trek down yet? Did you end up taking the Grey Hound like you were saying? Let me know! If you don't respond in 3 days, I'm presuming your missing somewhere on the 5 freeway chopped up so I'll call the cops. Mykel! Hee' ey!! How are things now in the archeological digs? I hope things are better with that ex bizzatch/supervisor issue. Hopefully you can come up with Jon, Eric and Rudy when they come and visit. (key note: when) =)
Happy Holidays!
Jael
Good job on getting that Zombie short story submitted. You said it was the third book right? So I'll pass by the ol barny an boobs, and get a copy. Hey man, it's a start. You got to write some fantasy novels like the pervert pierce anthony. Some stuff about virgin sex and underaged love. Be sure to include lots of random races so that you can explore that incestual side of the characters. And then you can lieu that into their human side so that you can insinuate that the characters were actually like us, so the "young adults" can get a kick out of it. See? It's a book already! You can throw a couple of Thai Hookers in there just for twists. haha! D'oh.
Got 2 books at the library. I haven't read any novels since last year. That's a pretty long time. Anyways, I wondered if my library card still worked or if I had like a million dollar fine from a book I don't even remember being checked out. Turned out uneventful. Checked out a book "kindoms for sale" by terry brooks. Terry is a good writer? I don't remember much from sword of shannara. We'll see. Libraries are cool. There are now software, videos, cd's, DVD's that you can rent. I remember perusing the library over at redondo and they had a huge selection of Vtapes. Anyways, I rented this really cool video on Ukelales and it's awesome! I'm going to go buy a ukelale. It only has 4 strings so the playability is more like a solo instrument! yah!
Wish you all a Merry Christmas! Aaron did you trek down yet? Did you end up taking the Grey Hound like you were saying? Let me know! If you don't respond in 3 days, I'm presuming your missing somewhere on the 5 freeway chopped up so I'll call the cops. Mykel! Hee' ey!! How are things now in the archeological digs? I hope things are better with that ex bizzatch/supervisor issue. Hopefully you can come up with Jon, Eric and Rudy when they come and visit. (key note: when) =)
Happy Holidays!
Jael
Sunday, December 22, 2002
Writing at $2/hour
Yeah... you get paid diddly-squat for short stories. They aren't a way to make money, at all. Typically you are paid a flat rate (usually a few cents per word) rather than any sort of royalty agreement (like you might find in the music biz). The only places that pay anything like a good price for shorts are the top-notch magazines like Playboy, and those usually only publish one piece of fiction per issue. Obviously even a very very good writer's chances of getting published in the upper-tier magazines is so close to nil that it's foolish to assume you'll profit from it. In the old days guys like HP Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard could eke out a living on short stories alone, but sadly those days are gone. Instead the goal with short stories is not to make money off of those alone, but to a) use them as practice for something more profitable (ie, a novel) and/or b) write enough good-quality ones that you can publish a book of them.
Writing's a pretty tough business.
Hey Ja-el, come down and you can be a member of my family for Xmas!
Ohhh... starting with this camping trip last weekend, I've been eating so much that I feel totally bloated. How did I used to eat this much on a regular basis? Come the New Year it's time to take a few pounds back off, methinks. I learned this new way to do it... what you do is you don't eat for two days, and then on the third you eat a ton, but you throw it all back up and eat like a piece of toast or something. It's really healthy and supposedly it really works!
I finally played Upwords today. Twice. It has truly been a day to remember!!!!!!!!!!!!!
burnt
Yeah... you get paid diddly-squat for short stories. They aren't a way to make money, at all. Typically you are paid a flat rate (usually a few cents per word) rather than any sort of royalty agreement (like you might find in the music biz). The only places that pay anything like a good price for shorts are the top-notch magazines like Playboy, and those usually only publish one piece of fiction per issue. Obviously even a very very good writer's chances of getting published in the upper-tier magazines is so close to nil that it's foolish to assume you'll profit from it. In the old days guys like HP Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard could eke out a living on short stories alone, but sadly those days are gone. Instead the goal with short stories is not to make money off of those alone, but to a) use them as practice for something more profitable (ie, a novel) and/or b) write enough good-quality ones that you can publish a book of them.
Writing's a pretty tough business.
Hey Ja-el, come down and you can be a member of my family for Xmas!
Ohhh... starting with this camping trip last weekend, I've been eating so much that I feel totally bloated. How did I used to eat this much on a regular basis? Come the New Year it's time to take a few pounds back off, methinks. I learned this new way to do it... what you do is you don't eat for two days, and then on the third you eat a ton, but you throw it all back up and eat like a piece of toast or something. It's really healthy and supposedly it really works!
I finally played Upwords today. Twice. It has truly been a day to remember!!!!!!!!!!!!!
burnt
"LARPing brings out those raw emotions that have driven people to greatness."
There's a pretty cool site at http://www.legendsroleplaying.com/Gallery.html Plus they're located in central Massachussetts so I'll have some pals when I move!
$174 closer to fame and fortune
It looks like your boasting at JP's art party was not in vain Rudy. Pending their acceptance of the final revision, it looks like my cannibal/zombie story will be published in Eden Studio's "Book of Final Flesh" anthology of zombie stories. Eden Studios is the publisher of "All Flesh Must Be Eaten." I've never seen either of the first two anthologies anywhere (Book of Flesh and Book of More Flesh), but then I don't usually peruse the undead section of Barnes & Noble.
Anyway I do want to hang out with you guys, when is a good day? Sunday isn't so hot for me but most other days are pretty good. Aaron, Johnny, are you guys home yet?
There's a pretty cool site at http://www.legendsroleplaying.com/Gallery.html Plus they're located in central Massachussetts so I'll have some pals when I move!
$174 closer to fame and fortune
It looks like your boasting at JP's art party was not in vain Rudy. Pending their acceptance of the final revision, it looks like my cannibal/zombie story will be published in Eden Studio's "Book of Final Flesh" anthology of zombie stories. Eden Studios is the publisher of "All Flesh Must Be Eaten." I've never seen either of the first two anthologies anywhere (Book of Flesh and Book of More Flesh), but then I don't usually peruse the undead section of Barnes & Noble.
Anyway I do want to hang out with you guys, when is a good day? Sunday isn't so hot for me but most other days are pretty good. Aaron, Johnny, are you guys home yet?
Saturday, December 21, 2002
Long Live The Queen!
Hey, welcome back mike! How was blood bowl? Honestly, I think its an OK game- i just gotta be in the mood (or be "prepared") - If Im in video-game mode, its real hard for me to down-shift for some blood bowl hell. Hey Eric: Just thought you were trying to avoid me! Sorry dude! I was afraid to email you again or call! I'll be at my folks house on sunday if you've got a little free time- email me!. Jon- yeah, loving the flash movie- keep it up. Jael: You're my true dog. RUFF! I'm pretty much healthy now- little bit of gunk in teh fhroat, but thats all! Well- let me know when to hang out!
Hey, welcome back mike! How was blood bowl? Honestly, I think its an OK game- i just gotta be in the mood (or be "prepared") - If Im in video-game mode, its real hard for me to down-shift for some blood bowl hell. Hey Eric: Just thought you were trying to avoid me! Sorry dude! I was afraid to email you again or call! I'll be at my folks house on sunday if you've got a little free time- email me!. Jon- yeah, loving the flash movie- keep it up. Jael: You're my true dog. RUFF! I'm pretty much healthy now- little bit of gunk in teh fhroat, but thats all! Well- let me know when to hang out!
Friday, December 20, 2002
Return of the King
Er... or not! Ok, ok, ok, I'm lame, I suck, I'm gay, I'm a re-tard, I know I know I KNOW! Sorry for the lack of contact over the last couple of months, and for not managing to get in touch since I've been back. I could give lots of excuses like how much the term has sucked or whatever, but as I know they will only inspire further derision, I'll save the the bytes, and just apologize, and hope that you all still kinda love me at least, and that I get to see some or all of you over the next couple of weeks and spend a lot of time together making up for lost communication. Oh, and sorry Eric, I discovered that I changed my login and password to one of my standard fall backs, so you won't be able to add a message from me... or WILL you?
I'm totally there for Blood Bowl, so hopefully others will come too. Other than that, we should go out for a few drinks or something soon. This is, of course, assuming that I haven't hung myself in the Venetian blind pulls by this evening due to the onslaught of hate emails and blogs that are coming my way! But even if that happens, you should get together and hold a seance, conjure my freshly departed spirit and contain it in an old Ragu sauce jar or something. Then, I'll be able to always be there for conventions and gamer fun! See you all soon (I hope!)
Er... or not! Ok, ok, ok, I'm lame, I suck, I'm gay, I'm a re-tard, I know I know I KNOW! Sorry for the lack of contact over the last couple of months, and for not managing to get in touch since I've been back. I could give lots of excuses like how much the term has sucked or whatever, but as I know they will only inspire further derision, I'll save the the bytes, and just apologize, and hope that you all still kinda love me at least, and that I get to see some or all of you over the next couple of weeks and spend a lot of time together making up for lost communication. Oh, and sorry Eric, I discovered that I changed my login and password to one of my standard fall backs, so you won't be able to add a message from me... or WILL you?
I'm totally there for Blood Bowl, so hopefully others will come too. Other than that, we should go out for a few drinks or something soon. This is, of course, assuming that I haven't hung myself in the Venetian blind pulls by this evening due to the onslaught of hate emails and blogs that are coming my way! But even if that happens, you should get together and hold a seance, conjure my freshly departed spirit and contain it in an old Ragu sauce jar or something. Then, I'll be able to always be there for conventions and gamer fun! See you all soon (I hope!)
Some Thoughts
- Perhaps Mike went back to the UK already? He called me the first day, and I was at work til late, then went to the gym and didn't call him until the next day. I got his mom on the phone and she said that he would be back the following afternoon. So I called then and left a message with lots of Mmmmmmike's, and yeah, is this, uh, Mmike?! Haven't heard from him since. I think he is here for Christmas, though maybe he just decide to give up and leave already.....
- Denis and (Mike) and I are hopefully playing Blood Bowl tonight (friday), if anyone else wants to come along, heh heh.
- Rudy: Sorry about last week, I honestly did not check my email until yesterday for the past week. I have been so busy and tired from work, sorry. Maybe Sunday?
- At an installation in Marina del Rey yesterday, I saw the bass player from the Monkees, I think his name was Mike Nesmith. Whatever. He was with what looked like a 23 year old. Hopefully, for his sake, not just his daughter...
- I like most of 2Towers. More on that later. Back to work.
- Perhaps Mike went back to the UK already? He called me the first day, and I was at work til late, then went to the gym and didn't call him until the next day. I got his mom on the phone and she said that he would be back the following afternoon. So I called then and left a message with lots of Mmmmmmike's, and yeah, is this, uh, Mmike?! Haven't heard from him since. I think he is here for Christmas, though maybe he just decide to give up and leave already.....
- Denis and (Mike) and I are hopefully playing Blood Bowl tonight (friday), if anyone else wants to come along, heh heh.
- Rudy: Sorry about last week, I honestly did not check my email until yesterday for the past week. I have been so busy and tired from work, sorry. Maybe Sunday?
- At an installation in Marina del Rey yesterday, I saw the bass player from the Monkees, I think his name was Mike Nesmith. Whatever. He was with what looked like a 23 year old. Hopefully, for his sake, not just his daughter...
- I like most of 2Towers. More on that later. Back to work.
Thursday, December 19, 2002
Mickey D's Hack N Slash Franchise
Hey yall! Jon Oetersen beat me to the punch on the Rings Kings, so I'm just going to add to his review. Overall it was a good movie! It's not surprising that Mr. Oeteropers agrees with me on this movie just because D&D seems to be our mutual nerdy curse. So perhaps this is one of the few exceptions.
Anyhow moving on, Gollum was ok... I didnt' like the fact that his accent reminded me of Jar Jar Binks (Jamaican accent). It gave me the nauseating shiver all over again, but gollum played out fairly well and it was good. But throughout gollums entire appearance, I was kept at the edge of my seat fearing "will he begin sounding like Jar Jar". It was uneasy to say the least.
For Fight fans, D&D raves, and Special Effect geeks, this is the perfect combination of all three. Most of the combat scenes were obviously done with Digital Graphics. Wished there were a little more realism there, (like Excalibur) but I guess with the attempt to cinematically make the movie with Epic army proportions, it would have been expensive and difficult proposition.
The movie went a lot faster than the first one, with much less character developement and frugal love scenes. There were constant fighting one scene after the other, which was tied in fairly well with some plot developement.
Good good good, movie set in medieval times!
Jael
Hey yall! Jon Oetersen beat me to the punch on the Rings Kings, so I'm just going to add to his review. Overall it was a good movie! It's not surprising that Mr. Oeteropers agrees with me on this movie just because D&D seems to be our mutual nerdy curse. So perhaps this is one of the few exceptions.
Anyhow moving on, Gollum was ok... I didnt' like the fact that his accent reminded me of Jar Jar Binks (Jamaican accent). It gave me the nauseating shiver all over again, but gollum played out fairly well and it was good. But throughout gollums entire appearance, I was kept at the edge of my seat fearing "will he begin sounding like Jar Jar". It was uneasy to say the least.
For Fight fans, D&D raves, and Special Effect geeks, this is the perfect combination of all three. Most of the combat scenes were obviously done with Digital Graphics. Wished there were a little more realism there, (like Excalibur) but I guess with the attempt to cinematically make the movie with Epic army proportions, it would have been expensive and difficult proposition.
The movie went a lot faster than the first one, with much less character developement and frugal love scenes. There were constant fighting one scene after the other, which was tied in fairly well with some plot developement.
Good good good, movie set in medieval times!
Jael
Smorgasborg of the Rings
Hey, that was a good movie! I liked it quite a better than the first one. Quicker, less confusing (obviously I understand everything from the books, but I felt like this one did a good job of explaining some things in the last movie which would be confusing to a first-timer), Gollum was good, ents were good, fun fight scenes. Gandalf was cool. There are a couple of moments in the first movie which make me cringe (three shots of Sam "drowning," pointlessly argumentative Council scene, confusing Bree scene), and there were no moments like that in this movie. I do think they could have pulled this one a little shorter, buuuut it was good stuff. I was sad that Gimli is the butt of so many jokes though. Lots of differences from the book but I think they were justifiable. Holding back some good stuff for the third book. That's cool.
Hey, that was a good movie! I liked it quite a better than the first one. Quicker, less confusing (obviously I understand everything from the books, but I felt like this one did a good job of explaining some things in the last movie which would be confusing to a first-timer), Gollum was good, ents were good, fun fight scenes. Gandalf was cool. There are a couple of moments in the first movie which make me cringe (three shots of Sam "drowning," pointlessly argumentative Council scene, confusing Bree scene), and there were no moments like that in this movie. I do think they could have pulled this one a little shorter, buuuut it was good stuff. I was sad that Gimli is the butt of so many jokes though. Lots of differences from the book but I think they were justifiable. Holding back some good stuff for the third book. That's cool.
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