Peter, Puck and Mxy

"Immigrant Song"

2012-01-20T21:03:00.000-05:00

So I watched The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo with some friends on Tuesday. Let me say that it was a very good movie, I enjoyed the cast, and director David Fincher made a lot of great decisions that really made me feel for certain characters, and made me fear for others. He does tension very well. He also made decisions that make me very sure I can never watch the film again. The sexual abuse suffered and inflicted by the title character is so intense, and the camera just doesn't pan away. Good film, mostly great acting, but some of those scenes are just not going to leave me any time soon. The actress playing that main role really underwent a dramatic appearance change, it's outstanding how "in" the character she is. The song playing in most of the trailers, and over the title credits is a cover of Led Zeppelin's Immigrant Song by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross with vocals by Karen O of The Yeah Yeah Yeahs. When it finished, one of my friends leaned over and said, "now I really want a new Yeah Yeah Yeahs album". I said I wanted Reznor and friends to do a new version of Another Brick in the Wall (Part II). Oh, almost forgot: it will change the way you hear Orinoco Flow like American Psycho changed the way you heard Hip to Be Square.

"100 Days, 100 Nights"

2011-11-08T18:03:00.003-05:00

One hundred days worth of posts over at 1001 Days of Music.

Technically 102 posts, but two of those are just "upkeep" posts. So...

Go Me! I'm 1/10th of the way there!

"Fly Like an Eagle"

2011-11-03T16:04:00.001-04:00

Watched the new Justin Timberlake/Cillian Murphy/Amanda Seyfried movie In Time last night. It has a really neat premise that I don't think has been done before. It also contains aspects (good aspects) of Bonnie & Clyde and Les Misérables. It tells the class warfare story well, and the actors in it were all great. That being said, it wasn't as good as the sum of its parts. Partially for me this was due to a number of things "pulling me out" of the experience.

Right at the beginning, the voice over before the movie really begins was a giant hand wave. "We don't really know how to explain the science part of our sci-fi premise, so just go along with us here." Setting up the whole no one ages after 25 and time is money thing is important, but don't try to tell me that there is a scientific explanation, but we're just not going to tell you, because our narrator doesn't know. Just set up and move on. Everyone stops aging at 25 gives us the amusing visual of Olivia Wilde as Justin's Mom. I thought that would be a distraction, and at first it was, but she turns in a hell of a performance.

For a movie that should have been stocked with people in their mid 20s, one of the things that really pulled me out of the experience was how old some of the actors looked. Cillian Murphy was great in his role as a Time Keeper, but he's 35 and looked it. At first it worked, he's a senior cop, so having some gravitas helps, but that's not the premise that they set up. no one is supposed to age outwardly, hard life or not. The cars are all classic sports cars and muscle cars from the 20th century, which is cool, we've made cool cars over the years, but they all 'sound future-y'. Again, its distracting to hear the Star-Trek door hiss sound every time someone opens a car door in this movie.

Andrew Niccol always gives us a good premise, but sometimes his execution is better than others. It's fairly heavy handed against the rich, but I think this one is worth checking out if you've got the chance.

"I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter"

2011-10-20T14:21:00.002-04:00

#whyiwrite

The National Council of Teachers of English started The National Day on Writing in 2009 in an attempt to focus attention on how important writing is in our lives. The U.S. Senate passed a resolution declaring today to be The National Day on Writing. So why do you write? Not 'why is it important that people write so I have something to read', but why do you write?

I write because I want to be a writer. I write because I set a goal for myself to write something everyday and I haven't missed a day since I started my new blog August 1st. I write because in an interview, Neil Gaiman said don't wait for inspiration, write something every day; otherwise you may write a half decent poem one day, but you'll never write a good book. I write because on days I don't look for a job, or exercise, I can still feel like I deserve some of the love and support I get because 'I wrote something today'. I write because sometimes I treat myself to coffee out if I've been good. I write because otherwise all I'd do on the computer is work and Reddit. I write because I have stories in my head and I want other people to hear them. I write because my friends give me suggestions and because I've had an idea rolling around in my head since high school. I write because it is the best part of my day.

Why do you write?

"This is How I Roll"

2011-09-19T10:00:00.000-04:00

Busy weekend. Hung out with friend I haven't seen in years who just got back from England. Also took a Londoner to his first live baseball game. Played board games at a potluck with friends, and also spent hours at Denny's with yet other friends. But the funniest part of the weekend was going to the movies Friday night.

Horrible Bosses was three times funnier than I expected. It is vulgar, slightly violent, and more than slightly dirty, but if you have not seen it yet, get it on Netflix or hit the second run theater near you.

"Because the Night"

2011-09-17T12:50:00.001-04:00

Virgin Free Fest was last weekend and it was awesome, just like last year. I didn't get to go to as many concerts this summer as I did last summer, but I'm in a better place this summer, so you get details.

Once again, tickets were free (you could pay $50 to get a bag, with a poster, cups and other stuff; plus early entry) on the web or you could volunteer your time to get them. Kevin and I went last year, so we got first dibs on tickets this year and took advantage. Once again, like last year, no one wanted to go with us bad enough to volunteer, so we went just the two of us. The entry line was long, but once they opened it up it moved quickly. I had a pretty good sized bag with me because it was hot and sunny, but it had rained 3 days prior, and it was supposed to rain later that day; so I had extra shoes, rain gear, a jacket, a hat, water bottles etc. I was an Eagle Scout. When I got to the front of the line, bag open and ready to take 5 minutes with some gruff security guy checking every little zipper pocket, I was surprised to find a 18 year old kid checking us in on my row. No pat down and a glance towards my bag was all I got. I could have snuck in my half my weight in Turkish hash if I wanted to.

We walked the whole venue first off, noticing that the dance pavilion had moved since last time, and the the second stage smelled unmistakably of manure. We walked back to the main stage and sat down under the pavilion just in time to see Bombay Bicycle Club hit the stage. They are a four piece modern British guitar driven indie rock band. They were who we thought they were to steal a phrase, and after half way though their set, we walked back to the second stage to see Two Door Cinema Club. They are a three piece Irish guitar driven indie rock band. After joking with each other that they insisted upon being very upbeat we decided the stage area smelled really bad and so we went back to the pavilion stage. We decided to get under the actual pavilion and take a break from the sun. We sat down for Okkervil River with no expectations.

Holy crap they really hit a home run. "River" is a indie/alt-country band out of Austin Texas. They were a six piece band I think, and had a trumpet of all things. Really good sound out of all members, but special mention has to go to their guitar player. That woman can shred. Plus she whipped out a little slide guitar action on stage in a skirt no less. After their set, we were about ready to stand up and head for the other stage to hear Big Sean, but something awesome happened. Merriweather post pavilion began to live cast the other stage on the big screen TVs. We stayed put, listened to a few tracks, and realized we were better off staying where we were. That changed our whole concert experience. We moved to good seats with a clear view of the stage and didn't move for the rest of the day.

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals are not a Wizard Rock band despite the fact that they sound like cousins of Harry and the Potters. Okkervil River were such a huge success in my head, the bar was set very high. Well Grace Potter leapt over that bar and turned a somersault over it just for fun. The band is hard to nail down completely. They have country influences, and real classic rock influences as well. Sometimes they sound like The Band, and sometimes they sound like Led Zepplin, but they always sound like they are fronted by Janis Joplin. They were rockin', they were funky, they were sweet, and everyone fell a little bit in love with them. After a straight up blistering set I looked at Kevin and told him I would pay good money for a Janis Joplin bio pic staring Grace, and The Nocturnals as Big Brother and the Holding Company. The big hits off the most recent albums have videos on YouTube. Do not watch them. They suck. they make her out to be the only member of the band (Gwen Stefani anyone?) and so vanilla. Like a county tinged Jessica Simpson or something. Just barely any hint of the awesome that this band is. check out Sugar, Goodbye Kiss, Medicine or anything they play live.

Patti Smith is a legend, and she had a lot of fans at the show. She is still a proud punk/social justice/spiritual person, and she can rile a crowd of teenagers-grandparents up like very few 60 somethings can. After Patti Smith, the venue put Cee-Lo Green on the TVs and he was not in any kind of costume, so once again, I feel like we made a good decision staying at the main pavilion.

Kevin had tried to introduce me to TV On The Radio for a few years and every time I liked them, but not enough to rush out and declare for them. This concert changed all of that. There were like 6 guys on stage, and they kept mentioning that the bass player was playing his first night with the band (their bass player died of lung cancer in April) but he sounded tight to me. The waves of sound were enough to push me back into my chair. And not like My Bloody Valentine or other shoegaze bands, but real depth with a lot going on. The crowd stood all concert long and the band filled us all with energy. The rocked hard and left everyone excited for closing act The Black Keys.

One of the best "moments" of the show was while waiting for The Black Keys to start they were playing old soul and blues over the pavilion sound system; they started playing The Beatles: I Want You. The entire pavilion, and I'm sure most of the lawn seats began to sing along. We were polite but clear. They should come out right now.

The Black Keys were amazing. They played like six songs from the as yet unreleased album due out near the end of the year. They played their biggest hits. Thy played a few covers. [Side note, more bands should play covers in concert. It makes everyone in the audience happy. That is all.] All in all, they were the hand-clappingist kick ass part of a great day.

We left without going to checkout Deadmou5 because we were rocked out, and because we are a little old. Judge us not too harshly, it was a long long day of awesome.

"Busted"

2011-09-08T10:00:00.000-04:00

Well, I just got my first real rejection letter Tuesday. It was from the anthology The Way We Sleep. I had submitted two things to them a month ago, and I heard back on the flash fiction piece I wrote. The very brief letter said thank you, but it's not a good fit. They didn't say yet about the comic that Kevin and I did together. It's only about 1200 words, so if you want to read it, here; with very little further ado is:

The Skittering Spiders from Beyond Saturn

My goal was to submit something on time that I liked. I succeeded in that goal, so I'm happy. Published comes later. More writing comes first.

"1001"

2011-09-01T17:00:00.000-04:00

As mentioned before in this space, I've been working on some new projects. I'm ready to share one of them today. So I started a new blog a month ago. I didn't say anything because I wanted to make sure that I was actually going to do it. So far, looking good.

1001 Days of Music is me taking a crack at the door-stopper 1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die. At my current rate of one song reviewed every day it will take me 3 years give or take. I might not make it. I could die. The world could end and we could all die. I might start hating music. I might get depressed and not do anything for a while.

But for the time being, I have hope.

I started with the first five songs in the book chronologically. After listening to the advice of friends and family, I switched it up and now I am pulling songs basically randomly-ish. I have known most of the songs and most of the artists, but not all of them. I have liked most of the songs, but not quite all of them. I am leaving comments on for all previous posts for now, because I honestly expect very few readers, but I'm proud of something, so I'm sharing. I hope that I will have something else to share in another month.

"I Like Beer"

2011-08-31T12:36:00.002-04:00

Last night there was a foray into beer country. Lost Dog Cafe in Arlington has literally hundreds of beers available at any given time. About a dozen or so on draft, another dozen "seasonal bottles" and so many many more bottles and cans in the coolers. You want to pick some up for home consumption? They can do that. You want a few short pours instead of pints off the taps so you can taste more? They can do that. They've got pizza, sandwiches, great french fries, and did I mention the beer? They've got wine too. Only thing I wouldn't order again is the onion rings, they were kind of limp, not really my style. The service was top shelf. Our server knew her beer, and only dropped in when it really looked like we needed another drink.

Four beers worth talking about that we tried last night. Franziskaner Weissbier is a German wheat beer. Really nice finish, good taste, solid summer beer. We tried two imperial stouts from Southern Tier Brewing Company: Jah*va and Mokah. You can guess that one is a coffee and the other a coffee and chocolate stout. They were both excellent; very tasty, low carbonation, and not overly sweet. You don't need a full pour of either, they were heavy. I also tried the Woodchuck cider Fall edition. It is like drinking cold mulled cider. I could drink a six and not know I was drinking alcohol until I tried to stand up. So glad to have found a new seasonal at the beginning of the season instead of at the end like I usually do.

Thanks to Kevin for helping me move a piece of office equipment for my boss, which is why we had money for drinking.

"Batdance"

2011-08-17T10:00:00.000-04:00

About a hundred years ago, or last September depending on how you view the time-stream, friend Jeff issued a writing challenge. A few people accepted. In fact, a little bird told me that the first submitter has worked a novel out of their idea. Congrats! But I digress. I wrote a brief short that I liked and a few people read. Then I spent a little while trying to figure out how to turn it into a script. Then I tore my life apart. A few months ago, one of the pieces I decided to stitch back together was this Batman of the Middle East thing. Yesterday I finished my first draft of a "full script" of my story. It's 48 pages, and needs copious editing, but it's mine and damn it I love it.

"Muppet Show Theme Song"

2011-08-16T19:10:00.001-04:00

So I've begun to work on a couple of projects, none of which are really ready to come out of the box yet, but one of which involves reviewing music. It's in a very specific vein though, so when I decided to talk about this new album I decided to do it here.

A new collection of covers called "Muppets: The Green Album" is due out Aug 23rd and NPR is streaming it right now. I've listened to the whole thing, and just wanted to get some ideas out there.

Muppet Show Theme Song by OK Go. This is an amazing track. I never would have guessed it was OK Go (not that I'm the world's biggest fan) it's so very original and unlike any band I know. It's electronic without being obnoxious, had a GREAT beat, and some almost haunting opening vocals. Do not miss the great guitar solo that leads into a ?electric piano? doing a "tunetastic" run up into the huge ending.

Rainbow Connection by Weezer (featuring Hayley Williams) Fairly straightforward cover, with River doing his earnest best to sound emotionally vulnerable (he's so good at that). Then Hayley Williams comes in. Not that I hate Paramore, but she is not utilizing her voice on anything of theirs I have heard. Her voice is so warm and rich. They harmonize so well. Underneath the harmony is a really odd collection of sounds, I'd love to read producers notes. I think I'm hearing low electric brass, low electric stings, lots of crunchy reverb and muted feedback, a sighing angelic chorus, a sound I equate with an aboriginal "bullroarer", high electric piano, and a trumpet.

Mahna Mahna by The Fray Great production, the piano sounds great, the drums are tight and never quit. The "Doot Doot" part is great. The Mahna guy is not really up to snuff. He just doesn't sound free enough.

Movin' Right Along by Alkaline Trio Nothing wrong with this cover. But really, if you wanted a safe punk light version of a song, couldn't you have called Me First and the Gimme Gimmes? It's kind of their thing.

Our World by My Morning Jacket This one is from Emmit Otter's Jug Band Christmas. I like it. It's got some odd stereo choices. There was one line where every other word went back and forth in my headphones. I like the banjo, I like the lead singers voice, I like all the big harmonies. Near the end, the starkness of the drums and the lyrics kind of made me think of an 80s style relief song.

Mr. Bassman by Sondre Lerche More banjo. I don't really see the point in such a straight ahead cover. The singer sounds nice enough, and the Bass vocals are again, nice but not really special. I like the intro, it makes it sound like they are going a different direction. There's some discordant guitar halfway though that seems really tacked on, until you hear the space effects that follow it and you realize, oh no, that's really tacked on. Then a full on hoedown banjo with space effects outro. By the end, I guess I liked it well enough for a straight ahead cover.

Halfway Down the Stairs by Amy Lee This is electronic near it's annoying peak. Computer blips? Really? A poem written by A.A Milne and known to Muppet lovers as a Robin song and you felt the need to give it a hard hitting beat and electric buzzing? This is the worst song on the album bar none. Her voice is nice, I just think the producer did her no favors.

Wishing Song by The Airborne Toxic Event A downright poignant song that is almost ruined by over electronic drums and sound effects. The main singers voice and the chorus and the strings at the end are nice. This is kind of a heavy song, sort of a song for the depressed kid, and I think the singer gets it.

Night Life by Brandon Saller Yes, this is what I am talking about. Great cover that takes the original idea (70s funk inspired Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem) and goes in a different direction (80s hair band/metal) and doesn't cover up the idea of the song just in an attempt to do a "modern" take. Great guitar licks, amazing drum solo, and just in case you are wondering, no, I don't like Atreyu or 80s hair metal bands, I just think the song is really well done.

Bein' Green by Andrew Bird I love this song. This guy does a nice job with it. Very nice vocals. You don't often hear the song sung, more sing talked like Kermit did, but this guy does a nice job. From what I read about him, he's most likely the whistling, the violin, guitars, and possibly even the drums. The multi-instrumental bridge therefore is a little showing off, but it really adds something, making the song's happy underpinning more obvious.

I Hope That Something Better Comes Along by Matt Nathanson Good choice keeping it simple with just the piano and a little church organ. The harmony vocals are really nice as well. The singer has a good read on the song, it's a little melancholy but not too much, I mean the lyrics are intentionally punny. I would have liked a duet, but then it would have been an even more standard cover, and I've already knocked on that.

I'm Going to Go Back There Someday by Rachel Yamagata "There's not a word yet, for old friends that just met" Great lyric. The singer is my age, (and from close enough to my hometown to warrant a shout out) but her voice is so full of experience. The song has a really interesting intro featuring an acapella group. You know, the Muppets have more than a few poignant songs. The backing instrumentation is perfect through the whole song, uplifting where it needs to be, sorrowful in other places. There is a great flute solo after the bridge. The producer clearly remembers it from Muppets From Space rather than The Muppet Movie, as there is no hint of the campfire harmonica vibe, and there is a humming whistle thing that sounds like a 50s flying saucer. I think it's a beautiful version of the song.

So what have we learned? Davey doesn't really like the new music. I'm kinda sentimental for the Muppets. And ultimately, I love music and want to listen to more.

"Wicked as it Seems"

2011-08-13T16:58:00.003-04:00

Just finished a Christmas present book. Life, which is the autobiography of Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones. It was wonderful. I like the brutal honesty you can find in an 'ography; I'm a Studs Terkel fan. This is really cut down to the bone honest. Yes, it's got colored glasses on such that if you are not a Mick fan you really wont be by the end of it, but I got so much more out of it. The early discussion of how Little Richard would get ready to perform is worth the price of admission. Keith's take on Marianne Faithful, the tax exile years, receiving knighthoods, the death of Brain Jones, Altamont, and more just give you more reasons to read it.

The stuff with Mick seemed like it got blown up out of proportion to me. Yes, he says, they don't talk anymore, and even collaborating on new music is done thru a 3rd party, and he lays a lot of it on Mick, even when he's blaming his own part of the problem on drugs, and then Mick taking advantage of that. But throughout all of it, he points out time and time again, that while they might not exactly be friends anymore, they're mates; brothers. They are about to celebrate 50 years of being in a band together. A band that has taken some breaks, suffered some losses, and may not have the same relevancy on popular culture as it used to, but still a Rock and Roll band of the old school.

"Want You Gone"

2011-08-09T10:00:00.002-04:00

My Dad and I finished Portal 2 co-op last night. It was fun, it was challenging, it was a long time coming. About 3 or 4 months after the Orange Box came out, I discovered Portal. Kevin and Russell introduced me. I loved it. But I didn't have it, so it was almost a year until I played again, finishing it as fast as I could solve the puzzles. I decided right then and there that my Dad would love the game. So 2 years later I finally made sure he had some way of playing it, and that I would be around enough to coach him through some things. It's a first person shooter style puzzle game, and the last game my dad played was probably Sierra computer game from the 90s.

He did love it, and we loved to talk about it. Soon after Dad was really into it, news was out that a sequel was planned. After a long wait, we got the Portal 2 when it came out back in April. We both worked on single player, and also worked on the co-op campaign together. Eventually I told him that he had to finish the single player before we could go any farther on the co-op so he could enjoy certain game mechanics the first time at his pace. He finished single player around a month ago, and I was there to watch. Then I got really busy with trying to write. Finally, a couple of days ago we got back into it. We had some rust to shake off, but we really enjoyed the game and ultimately we saved science together.

Playing the game with my Father was awesome. Most of the time, I would run on ahead, and he would work his way through the room slowly, I'd figure out most of the puzzles and then we'd work together to get them done. He's solve stuff as he found it, and everything was great. Occasionally we would get frustrated with each other or the system, but that was few and far between. But the best times... The best times were when I would search and scratch and claw and finally figure out something that might work if I used every bit of twitchy hand eye coordination I had and if he timed everything right, but most likely not, but it was all I could think of,; and my Dad would just look around the room again for the millionth time and say "no, we need to do it this way" and as soon as he said it, the light-bulb went off and I saw the beauty and simplicity in the solution he found.

My Dad is in no way a gamer as the term is now used. He's played some Rock Band, and now finished Portal and Portal 2 and I hope more developers make games for us to play together. Great challenging games are still what some of us are looking for, even if it does take us a while to finish them.

" I Wished On The Moon"

2011-08-04T13:41:00.002-04:00

My friend Kevin Jones and I submitted a second piece to the anthology The Way We Sleep last night. It took a little longer than we planned, but we did get it in, and a big thank you to the editors for giving us a break on the deadline.

We called it

Norwich: A Field Study
or
The Man in the Moon Came Down Too Soon.

I've never written a comic before, never lettered one, and never combined the lettering with the art in Photoshop before, but I have done all of these things now. It was awesome. And hard. Good feeling. We are hopeful that we can start working on something else this month for the web in general. I'll let you know.

"Dream Weaver"

2011-08-01T15:20:00.000-04:00

I just went and re-read a few posts on Jeff's blog about his Third Life(c) concept. It popped into my head while I was at my therapist appointment this week. We were talking about balance. When I was working full time at a job I didn't like, I gave myself no time for creative stuff. When I lost that job, and had nothing to do for weeks and months on end, I still did nothing creatively. This month I worked on balance. Work both part time jobs, come home and work on something creative. I think I was successful.

If I've got it right, Jeff's idea of the Third Life(c) is the part of one's life that an artist spends on his art. A life lived outside of the norms of home and work. I think I'm living outside of the norm right now... kinda wish I was a little more norm, but still. But for the first time I think I've been paying attention to the time an artist spends on art. Neil Gaiman gave an interview recently mentioning that if you wanted to be a writer, you have to write every day. If you wait for inspiration you are doing it wrong.

That Third Life(c) time has to be exercised. You gotta take it on long walks, and on sprints. It wants to be good, but if you only take it out once in a while it gets cramps really easy.

I'm happy to say that I submitted something to an anthology today. This was my goal. Not get published, or even, get read and then rejected. Just submit. I hope to submit another one tomorrow.

What are you going to do with your Third Life today?

"Tear in Your Hand"

2011-07-13T13:14:00.003-04:00

Jeff pointed me to the fact that Neil Gaiman was recently a guest on the Nerdist Podcast. Neil mentions a story about Adam Savage and some tampons backstage at w00stock. He also mentions it during this interview and gets Adam to re-enact that magical moment. Pure Awesomeness. But back to the point. At some point late in the interview, when giving tips on how to be a writer Neil says that you must write all the time. Not just when you are feeling inspired. If you write when you are feeling inspired, you might end up as a half decent poet; but you will never be a novelist. So I'm writing this little entry, and then it's back to the editing desk to work on a stream of consciousness piece about dreams that I am trying to turn into something readable. Wish me luck.

May the Hodgman be with you.

And also with you.

"Firework"

2011-07-05T13:27:00.002-04:00

Last summer I watched the fireworks from small town PA. They were launched above Lake Wallenpaupak. This year I watched the display above Fairfax High School close to home. They were both much bigger and better displays than I would have guessed. By the end of both, I was actually clapping, and amazed at the volume and total awesomeatude. I thought that I would be jaded by my years of watching the Capitol Fourth display over the Washington Monument. Turns out that explosions in the sky are awesome. Mark that down as a lesson learned I guess. Another lesson: when you are close enough to get ash falling on you, you are close enough.

"Kashmir"

2011-06-24T14:25:00.002-04:00

Last night I was a guest of Ambassador Husain Haqqani at his residence in Washington DC. There were about 300-350 guests at a BBQ thrown by the ambassador from Pakistan and his wife. I've lived in DC for most of my life, and this is my first embassy related party. I need to go to more of these things. I hope my connections "On The Hill" lead to more of these type of things this summer.

The food was great, but that almost goes without saying. The beef and chicken were delicious, but let me say that if a Pakistani ever offers you lamb... just start planning on how you are going to get more. I wish that carry out bags were available.

As per my usual, I feel uncomfortable talking to grownups with real jobs, so I didn't meet and greet too many people, though the hill staffer who invited me, and his father, both talked to a lot of very interesting people. I on the other hand talked to the catering staff, and in a complete accident, ended up having a great conversation with a group of interns from the Embassy. They are American college kids with a Pakistani background.

My biggest surprise was that there was alcohol served. Beer, wine and hard liquor. Now, I would have expected that at an event hosted by the British ambassador, or Mexican, French, Chinese, in fact, most of them. But a majority Muslim nation? Turns out that "when in Rome" is in full effect. Not that I saw any embassy personnel drinking, just that it is expected that alcohol will be served at a reception.

Long story short: I had a good time, I did not cause an international indecent, and Pakistani food is great.

"Blue in Green"

2010-10-07T17:08:00.000-04:00

*

So this was supposed to be a posting months and months ago about A Monster's Notes by Laurie
Sheck and The Man who was Thursday by Chesterton. But I put it off for so long that I now remember very little of either, just general senses of both. Also, for the first time, I don't know why I have titled the post the way I did. From the beginning I have attempted to make the title of the post be a song that connects with the post in some way; but even though I saved this title and noted to myself that it was supposed to be about those two books, I am without a thought as to why. So have fun with it. At least it's a classic of the genre.

A Monster's Notes was really challenging. I loved it, but it was hard. It made me work. It reminded me of the hardest parts of The Sound and The Fury. What if The Monster was real and it visited Mary Shelly in her youth? And It didn't really like the way it was portrayed in her book? And it was all written in letters and poems? Really a tough one for me, but I appreciated the challenge.

The Man Who Was Thursday was awesome. I don't remember specifically why I think that, other than I loved the story and the characters. It would make an interesting play or film I think. It is very short, and well worth a borrow from the library if not a purchase from a used book store.

No promises as to what the next post will be, or when, I have a bad track record when I say I'm going to do something. So see you soon. Maybe.

"For Whom The Bell Tolls"

2010-10-03T22:00:00.003-04:00

Have you ever struggled through a book? What about a classic? I can only name two books that I have started and been unable to finish. One I am embarrassed to admit is a Terry Pratchett; the only author I have read as much as Heinlein. Maurice and His Educated Rodents was not the right book for me at the time I guess. I can’t really say why. That was recent, within the last year. More than 15 years ago I picked up a book by L. Ron Hubbard and found it to be so not my idea of science fiction that I only managed to get to chapter five.

Typically, I read so fast that even a bad start is behind me before I put the book down to go to bed. I have read a lot of books in these last few years of effective unemployment, but the one that took me the longest was For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway. I finished it last week or so, and so I now feel removed enough to be able to talk about it.

As I read the book I asked a lot of people what they thought of it. Multiple college educated people, including two with English degrees all told me the same thing: “I didn’t read that one, is it any good”? I’m not claiming to know a wide swath of America, but I do not a lot of smart people, and not one of them had read this classic. In fact, most people I talked to had only read one Hemingway; The Old Man in the Sea and told me that they had b/c it was the shortest book that was on the reading list for that particular assignment or another. Now my friend Russel has read Hemingway, and even took a class on Hemingway and Fitzgerald, but even he hadn’t read Bell. I think I have a reason for this lack of reading of this so called classic.

It is the worst book I have every finished.

OK that is a little harsh. The first four fifth’s of this book are the worst book I have ever read, but the last fifth is interesting enough to make a hell of a good short story. I don’t want to give anything away here for the billions of you who haven’t read this book (or to think of it another way, the five of you who might see this) but in the end… It Tolls for Thee… It Tolls for Thee…

"A Simple Desultory Philippic (or How I Was Robert McNamara'd into Submission)"

2010-05-06T00:21:00.004-04:00

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A quick update on words and stories that have entered my brain through the ocular nerve.

Confessions of a Blabbermouth by Mike and Louise Carey with art by Aaron Alexovich was very British. Louise is Mike's daughter, and the book was written for DC's very limited Minx imprint that targeted teenage girls. I learned teenage British slang that was popular in 2007 and therefore completely worthless to anyone at the current time, as it was no doubt hopelessly out of date before it hit the publisher. Not my favorite comic I read last week.

A. Lee Martinez seems to have written Monster specifically for me, or perhaps Lykaon. And I thank him for it. A fast paced easy read of a novel about a man who captures cryptobiologicals for the City. There's some big picture universe plot type stuff in there as well, but that's not the interesting part of the book. I liked the paper gnome Chester the best, and I liked the main character's name the least. It is Monster; and his job is to collect Monsters... I get it, I just don't get why his editor said "yes, that sounds good, people will dig that". All in all, a fun book, and really quick read,perfect for a few evenings at Denny's.

Speaking of short reads, I read two books from my childhood that I only vaguely remembered: From the Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankwiler and The Girl who Owned a City. The Collected Works of T.S. Spivet actually mentioned FTMUFOMBEF and so I picked that one up the next day and really enjoyed it. It won the Newbery that year, and while I'm not worthy to judge that award, I will say it kept my attention even though I sort of remembered where the whole thing was leading. It's in that fun mini-genre of children's fiction that deals with urban survival by hiding from the grownups. I remember reading one about kids hiding in a shopping mall, and I know I've seen at least two Simpson's episodes that deal with running away and hiding in a large urban building. After that, I decided to re-read a book I loved as a kid: The Girl who Owned a City. I'm just going to say that it was hard to go home again. It took me about 75 minutes to read and I almost fell asleep/zoned out on multiple occasions. Maybe I remembered it too well and so there were no plot points that kept me going, or maybe after all this time I finally realized that the author is writing as an Ayn Rand apologist. OK I didn't really recognize that, but the Internet told me its true so I'm putting it out there.

I also finished off the most recent trade of Buffy Season 8. Well, most recent that the library has purchased. That puts me about a year behind the comic if I was reading it monthly, but that's good enough for me. It's a good comic if you miss Buffy and the art really really really captures the gang in a way a T.V. show or movie reunion now never could (stupid Ravages of Time!)

I have picked up two more books this week. One I grabbed on premise alone ( I love a good retelling of a well known story from a different point of view) but after giving it 50 pages I may have picked up the most challenging thing I've read since college. So to give myself a break every few chapters, I went back to the library and grabbed The Man who was Thursday; a book I have been meaning to read for a good three or more years it seems like. I'll let you know how it all turns out.

"Maps"

2010-04-23T14:32:00.004-04:00

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So I finished The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet today. Much like the freight train that T.S. rides out of Montana, the pace at the beginning was languid and by the end it was so fast I thought I must be skipping pages the tale was streaking so fast. By the end, the story had become that of a 12 year old boy in so deep over his head he doesn't really know which way is up. What had been a story about a young man with a gift for illustrating and mapping everything he came into contact with had added a brief flirting with science fiction, and with a century old club of scientists who like to keep their eyes on everything. Also there are big breaks in the middle where we learn about his great grandmother. All this crammed into a book that starts as a boy traveling to D.C. from Montana. I liked the book as fiction, but as a book it is even better.

This is what annotated reading should be like. This is how reading on the Internet should/will be. Like 80% of the pages have small illustrations and notes. There are simple to follow arrows leading out from the body of text when the illustration should be noticed. You can read them right then, wait until the end of the paragraph, the end of the page, or ignore them if the topic doesn't appeal to you. I want more books like this. Reif Larsen is a first time author living in Brooklyn. So look him up and tell him to write me something else when you have the time. Or you could just read his book instead, you know, if you're not into accosting people.

I was not in any of the crowd shots for the The Yeah Yeah Yeah's video above, but...at @ 5:04 in this video
* "...I see you was holdin' me down A homeboy you know all the lyrics I appreciate you, you with the W..." He was talking to Kevin. I was standing next to Kevin hitting him yelling "you, he's talking to you" just in case he wasn't aware that J was talking to him.

"On the Atchison Topeka and the Santa Fe"

2010-04-22T09:00:00.000-04:00

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Last week I finished reading a graphic novel last week by Jim Vance and Dan Burr. It's called Kings in Disguise. It is an award winning piece about the Great Depression and specifically about a young man riding the rails. It is also one of the more depressing things I've read of late. The amount of horrible that can and did happen during the Depression, viewed through the eyes of this boy is enough to make you quit, just give up and quit. So I read it, and it was good, but I don't think I'll read it again any time soon.

In a total coincidence, I also picked up from the library The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet. It also has a young male protagonist who packs a bag and hops a freight train, but in this case the year is 2007. I'm about half way though this one, and I don't want to say too much so that I don't spoil it for myself, but the book itself, the design of the book itself is so cool, so right, I don't know why it has taken so long for me to find a book like this.

Stay tuned, I'm sure I'll finish it in a hurry.

"Oh What a Beautiful Morning"

2010-04-21T09:00:00.001-04:00

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There's an old webcomic that finished a few years back. It's called Breakfast of the Gods and it's about the cereal mascots you remember from your childhood, and older. I just found out about it and read it in about an hour or so. When you get a chance you should check it out. It's dark, and bloody, not at all for the kiddies, but it's well done.

The navigation can be a little wonky. But at the top of each page is the pull-down to go to the start of each book and at the bottom is one to go to each page in a given book. The one on top is out of order, so don't read book three before book two.

Enjoy

"Land Down Under"

2010-04-20T15:00:00.000-04:00

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I promise this post will have nothing to do with Vegemite.

I finished The Vondish Ambassador by Lawrence Watt-Evans earlier today. I picked it up from the library b/c it was in the new release section. I read about half of it, and was enjoying it, then made the mistake of looking it up online. Lawrence Watt-Evans is a fantasy author who has been turning out novels for thirty years. The Vondish Ambassador is the latest in his Legends of Ethshar series. It is currently ten novels long with almost as many tie in short stories. This man cranks out books like he is drowning in words and trying to save himself. Wikipedia lists him as having authored more than forty books and a hundred short stories. It tuns out I could have been reading this one for free online. He serialized it on his website using a pledge system when his publisher told him no more Ethshar books and his public said more please. It's not up anymore since it was picked up and published, but it must have been thrilling for his fans to read a new chapter every few weeks. He apparently sent copies of the book to people who contributed a significant about while it was being serialized. I wish I had picked up an earlier book int he series to get started, but there you go.

The book is about the Ambasador from Vond, a empire to the south of the Hegemony of the Three Ethshars where the novel takes place. He finds a local guide who is our point of view character. There are assassination attempts, and spies, and other political machinations, and then the end happened rather quickly and left me and our P.O.V. character so out of the loop that I could see the tags still on the deus ex machina. Ethshar seems like a great world, very in depth, lots of kingdoms to explore, but I don't think I'm looking for a new fantasy series right now. There's also like a dozen different types of magic in the universe. Don't get me wrong, I like worlds with multiple magic sources: Discworld has Mages, Witches, Gods and Sorcery; Mistborn has Allmancy, Feruchemy and Hemalurgy. But more than ten types of magic seems a little much to me. Part of why I stopped playing Rifts was how many types of magic there was. It's hard to balance, hard to keep track of, and ultimately seemed to take away from story and focus more on keeping facts straight.

Anyway, it was a great day to sit outside and finish this 200 or so page novel.

"Unwritten"

2010-04-18T20:32:00.000-04:00

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Just finished the first trade of The Unwritten by Mike Carey and Peter Gross. The concept for the main character appears to be what if Christoper Robin Milne had been written into a Harry Potter universe instead of a young children's animal fantasy series. Tom Taylor is the son of Wilson Taylor, creator of the incredibly popular and famous Tommy Taylor series of 13 books about a boy wizard. Wilson Taylor disappeared 10 years ago, and Tom has been making the rounds of the literary and fantasy conventions signing books he "starred in" in order to make ends meet. Someone in a panel audience points out that his National Insurance Number used to belong to someone else and other inconsistencies in his life. The story gets really weird from here.

Is Tom really Tommy, brought into this world by a magic acrostic written by his father? Is he the son of eastern European immigrants on permanent loan to help an old man sell books? Is he the new Messiah? The first trade answers none of these questions, and makes me want to pick up the next one as soon as I can. The only complaint I have is that as a Mike Carey and Peter Gross book, it feels like a subplot in a Lucifer book. I keep expecting to see Lucifer pop out and use Tom to his own advantage.

"No More Mr. Nice Guy"

2010-04-17T19:39:00.004-04:00

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Today I helped my sister move, accidentally wandered into a Ferrari show, and watched the Nationals stomp the Brewers at Nationals Park. Good day. Good day.

"Sugar, Sugar"

2010-04-16T13:38:00.004-04:00

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So it's been about a month and I've cut back my aspartame intake to virtually none. I don't know if it's really healthy, or one of those crackpot things you hear about on the internet, but I figure I might as well put fewer chemicals into my system.

Also, because I gave up sugared drinks years back ( my dentist informed me that I had the teeth of a 70 year old) I have been drinking a lot of water. Any better ideas? I'm just so bored of water.

"The Pied Piper"

2010-04-15T09:03:00.000-04:00

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Bill Willingham writes comics. He also writes short novels set in the continuity he created within his comics. My friend Russell first introduced me to Bill Willingham with Proposition Player, an all to brief look at a all myths/gods are true version of the afterlife and what Las Vegas has to do with it. Then I happened upon his very brief addition to the Sandman continuity with his Thessaly story in The Sandman Presents:. He is now world famous for his creation Fables and the various spin offs. If you don't know Fables, then here's the short version. All stories are real (notice a pattern?) and many of them are now living incognito in NYC. At the start of the series Old King Cole is mayor, Snow White is deputy mayor and the Big Bad Wolf is the sheriff. It's been running since 2002 and you should pick it up.

"But Davey!" you may be saying "...that is a whole lot of comic to pick up in one go, what if I don't like it?" Well then, this little book review is for you.

Peter and Max is a fairly short novel, under 400 pages, that takes place in the world of Fables. It takes place in two different time lines, well I guess three, but that's like two chapters at most so I'm not really counting it. I don't think you need to know the series to enjoy it, in fact it contains some spoilers for the comic (kind of hard to leave 7 plus years of continuity on the cutting room floor). There is even a short comic story after the prose story to give you an idea of what reading the comic is like. In a perfect world of plenty of time and money, I think you should read the whole series from the start and not read the book until after issue 75. But that's asking a lot, so let's start with the novel and hope you love it.

First off, it's a story of brothers. Good and Evil, Cain and Abel on steroids kind of brothers. It's also a Bildungsroman for both brothers. There's a love interest angle that is very cute. And it's full of references to children's stories. How many "Peter" nursery stories do you remember? Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater; Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers; Peter and the Wolf, yeah, all the same guy.

Check the book out from the library or pick it up used. It won't take you long to finish, and you'll like it. Got questions about it? I'm here. Oh yeah, if one of your questions is how kid friendly is it, I'll tell you right now not really. There is death and dismemberment, and in the comic it can get a little graphic. There are a few free chapter previews online here.

One more quick note, if you are more of an audio book person then I hope you like Wesley Crusher.

"For Noone"

2010-04-14T10:11:00.001-04:00

This guy makes a great point and draws really funny. I recommend him alot.

"The Candy Man"

2010-04-13T09:31:00.000-04:00

Visited Pennsylvania this weekend. We did a cemetery visit and then drove into nearby Hershey PA "the sweetest place on earth". The weather was great, the traffic left much to be desired. We really wanted to eat at someplace kind of nice, but we didn't know the area, so I remembered that most if not all of the non-chain places in Hershey were located as something called the Hotel Hershey.

We parked, took in the awesome view of the park and chocolate factory in the valley and checked out the hundreds of tulips on display before we headed inside. We walked into the second floor right into the tiled fountain lobby. So much cooler than the lame normal lobby we found later downstairs. We were a little under-dressed, but not too bad. As we started looking for restaurants, Colleen looked the hotel up on her phone (An act I still think of as vaguely magic and wonder how much it costs her per second). I found a place that was billed as American casual right as Colleen informed me that we were in a Forbes four star, AAA 4 diamond resort. We almost backed out being light on funds but decided to splurge and have fun.

After an excruciatingly long 45 minute wait, where we were not offered the suggestion of the bar or the adult game room with pool tables, we were seated. The tables were close together and the volume was high for a place with no perceivable music playing. Our server was fantastic though and made the evening. We each ordered a drink, and settled on entrees. I was having steak and Colleen salmon. When they arrived I was blown away by how great everything was on my plate; steak, mashed potatoes, onion rings, sauteed mushrooms, it was perfect. After two or three minutes of rapture I finally dug my head out of my... potatoes and realized Colleen was not enjoying her meal.

So we switched! She was right, her salmon was weak sauce, but I ate it. It wasn't bad, just not fancy dinner out good you know? So she finished my meal and I hers. Then we heroically decided to each order a dessert and share them. We both each of them, but the chocolate pie with a caramel smear was the standout.

So if you find yourself in Amish country, or nearby and want to have a fancy meal but not white table cloth fancy, in a family friendly atmosphere, then by all means: Harvest at the Hotel Hershey. Get the hanger steak, the chicken wings looked good too but we didn't partake, the rye bread made with maple syrup was nice, and finish it off with the chocolate pie.

"You and Your Perfect Life"

2010-04-12T14:59:00.003-04:00

I've been reading Nick Hornby lately. About five years ago I read three of his books. I enjoyed About a Boy, really liked High Fidelity, and devoured Fever Pitch. So it's no wonder I waited such a short period of time before reading more. This month I finished Slam, am struggling through A Long Way Down, and was really pleased with Juliet, Naked. So that's what book I'm going to talk about today.

A description of the plot would not do it justice, suffice it to say it made me pick up my Dylan albums again, specifically Blood on the Tracks. Not that it is about Dylan, or even a Captain Ersatz of Dylan; the musician in the book is an 80's singer songwriter. But it still feels like it's somehow about Dylan.

The musician interacts with family and strangers after a 20 year reclusive span. There you go, that's the simple plot right there I guess. But to me it's really not about Tucker Crowe and where he's been for so long. I cared more about Annie.

Nick Hornby is getting older. And so are his characters, older and frailer. But the depth he brings to Annie, a curator at a small museum in a small seaside town in North East England is almost painful it feels so true. I'm not saying that Annie having to reassess her life will make you take a look at yours. I'm just saying it made me look at mine.

"Won't Get Fooled Again"

2010-04-11T10:30:00.000-04:00

I like this small sample of a comic, don't get me wrong; but shouldn't it be Einstein, or Bohr, or Schrodinger? I mean, it's a quantum joke right, not a cosmology joke? Or am I confusing myself?

"Ma Belle Evangeline"

2010-04-10T14:11:00.002-04:00

Watched The Princess and the Frog last weekend. I'm sure plenty has been written about the new princess being black, and about the princess working towards a goal, and not just hoping for her prince to come. I just wanted to tell you that the music was great, the art was fun, and all the callbacks to the earlier movies in the Disney cannon were great. I enjoyed Keith David as the bad guy, and John Goodman in a supporting role, and didn't notice Oprah, Terrence Howard, or anyone else I was supposed to.

Honestly the music was my favorite part. I know that people were disappointed that Alan Menken (The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast etc.) was pulled off the soundtrack, but Randy Newman goes great with the New Orleans and Cajun sound.

I'd give it a thumbs up. It swings for the fences and gets so close you want to give it to them. Old Disney style, with talking animals, great songs, and classic character looks. I'm looking forward to Tangled.

"The Boilerplate Rag"

2010-04-09T14:30:00.001-04:00

Have you ever wondered what would happen if Steampunk met Forrest Gump? If so, you really should check out "Boilerplate * History's Mechanical Marvel*" by Paul Guinan and Anina Bennett.

A mechanical man, built in 1893 comes into contact with major historical figures though the first World War. That's kind of an understatement. He was created with the help of Tesla, unveiled at the Chicago World's fair, inspired Baum to create the Tin Man, befriends the last queen of Hawai'i, got involved in the Pullman strike, reached the South Pole 16 years before Amundsen, built railroads in Africa, panned for gold in the Klondike, dug the panama canal, sailed around the world on the White Fleet, boxed with Jack Johnson, rode with the Rough Riders, fought in the Philippine engagement, met Mark Twain and Jack London, fought against the Boxer Rebellion, witnessed an early Russo-Japanese war battle, rode with Pancho Villa (don't worry, he was embedded), rode the deserts with Lawrence of Arabia, and disappeared while fighting for the Americans in the Hundred Days Offensive; he was most likely captured by the Germans, the result of which was their amazing technological advancement during WWII.

The premise, I must admit, grows wearisome by the end. As a self proclaimed coffee table book, then I can see its merits: you take it in small doses. But I sat and read the book from start to finish and grew tired. The best part is the outstanding research done for this book. I'm not kidding, I spent months researching Sri Lankan culture and history for a game and this team makes me look like an amateur (which I am, so that's cool). From the start, the genius inventor, Archibald Campion is given reason to want to create a mechanical soldier. His sisters fiance is killed in a little known Korean conflict in 1871. Guinan and Bennett tell us his name is Lt. Hugh McKee. I looked him up online. He was one of three Americans killed during this early Korean conflict. This level of detail continues through the book. On page 138 a small picture references "The Boilerplate Rag" as a song written in 1903 about the mechanical man. If you look carefully at the picture, you can see the composers name is Mark Nuismer. I looked him up, expecting at best a friend of the authors. Nope, this guy was a minor Ragtime composer at the turn of the century who wrote a song called... Boilerplate.

The book is not for everyone, but if your library has a copy I suggest checking it out for a few weeks. just take your time with it.

"Love Will Tear us Apart"

2010-04-08T10:48:00.004-04:00

Watched The Time Traveler's Wife last weekend. Two of us had read the book and one hadn't. The two who had read the book agreed that the book was better, but that the movie was enjoyable and really couldn't do exactly what the book had done due to media shifts. The person who hadn't read the book liked it and wanted to read the book. As to audience complaints that it was confusing, she merely stated "the title of the movie tells you all you need to know not to be confused. If you come in thinking time travel and you still get confused then you are easily confused, and I'm sorry."

They didn't deviate much from the story, though they did cut out a bunch. I think they should have done more to show age changes, but what they did was good, I just think a little more would have been helpful sometimes. Rachel McAadams was great, Eric Bana is Australian but I forgot, and Brooklynn Proulx is a pretty good child actor with a ridiculous name. Ron Livingston deserves more work. He was a good lead in Music Within and of course he's famous for Band of Brothers and Office Space, but I think he should be more of a household name. Then again, maybe he's just a good actor, not a great actor, I don't know. I think he's great. But what do I know.

See the movie if you have the time. Read the book for sure. And watch something with Ron Livingston in it and tell a friend. The man needs some exposure.

Miles from Nowhere

2010-04-07T23:37:00.003-04:00

Just watched The Brothers Bloom.

First of all, great music. Cat Stevens, Bob Dylan, and the Small Faces just to start. Cast is perfect, Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo, Robbie Coltrane, all perfect; Rachel Weisz was quirky without being annoying. The movie is about telling stories and the truth, so it has that going for it. And cinematically I loved it. Little moments with the camera, and the director making us aware of the uncomfortable silences and letting them build.

It wasn't perfect. But it was good.

"Leave the Bourbon on the Shelf"

2009-01-30T22:00:00.002-05:00

So now I've been to Kentucky.

Colleen has a number of cousins in Kentucky, one of whom turned 30. The family had planned a surprise get together for her; and Colleen drug me 500 miles to meet people that she hadn't seen in years. The Birthday surprise was in three parts. One: Birthday Girl was sent to the airport to pick up a missionary from India; who turned out to be her cousin from Pennsylvania. Two: Colleen was staying at the same bed and breakfast as the now surprised Birthday Girl and mutual cousin, so we would surprise them at Breakfast. Three: about 30 family members from PA, KY and VA were in town to celebrate, and Birthday Girl didn't have a clue. I am so glad we went.

Colleen and I left on Friday and about two hours after we left her neighborhood, finally hit the highway. We had some errands to run. And we are slow people. But our trek began nonetheless. Google was our guide, and suggested we hit Frederick MD by way of US15 and then head West to Hagerstown and follow 68 along the MD PA border. After crossing into WV we got on 79 and stayed on it until Charleston. Then 64 west into Kentucky. We took an extra long dinner, and got lost, so we were on the road for about 12 hours. Thankfully, the innkeepers at the Bed and Breakfast we were staying at were very cool about our after 9pm arrival. They showed us to our room and we collapsed on the comfortable bed.

The next day at Breakfast (sweet potato pancakes, IHOP eat your heart out) Colleen's cousins came down and their was much squealing and catching up as part two of the surprise was sprung. We headed out after breakfast, got lost again, and finally arrived at the location for the surprise.

Now let me be brutally honest here. I liked this family, I liked their house. It was great, and they were hospitable, so the next thing I have to say should not be seen as mean spirited, it is just so that you may get a glimpse into my mind. We visited people who live past the middle of nowhere. I mean if you go through the middle of nowhere, turn right, and go another hour, you get to the far end of nowhere, keep going a little ways and you can get to their house. On the plus side, these are some of the views off of their property.

Gorgeous right? And that's in January folks. Those of us who rarely leave the coasts save for vacations often forget how big the country is.

Anyway, we got to the party, and I met cousins and Aunt's and Uncles and Second Cousins and babies and dogs and all in all had a great time. We ate well, talked a lot, and celebrated with Birthday cake and presents. I also got to pick a little banjo, and let me say that I am not naturally talented at that particular instrument.

We got back late that night, and I went to bed an hour or so later. Colleen and Birthday Cousin and surprise number one cousin from PA stayed up until close to five AM. We got up, had breakfast (individual quiches no cheese on mine thank you very much), took some pictures and headed east.

The trip back let us see more of Kentucky during the day. We drove through Bourbon County on the way back, but I saw no distillery tour signs. I almost ran us out of gas in West Virginia, and we didn't see traffic until we were north of Harrisonburg on 81.

Another long trip for us, and we enjoyed it, so expect more travelogues once it warms up and we have money.

"Theme From a Summer Place"

2009-01-22T12:43:00.002-05:00

I really want a Better Blue than Red shirt.

"Kokomo"

2009-01-20T16:08:00.002-05:00

I've seen two new commercials for tourism in Aruba. They feature Lewis Black. Apparently there are nine new videos. I wish I was going on vacation soon, I'd go to Aruba just because they hired Lewis Black.

"Welcome Home"

2008-12-31T18:50:00.003-05:00

The Acadmey Award nominated short film 9 is being adapted as a feature length film. The trailer hit on Christmas Day.

It's been so long since I've done his, I forget how to embed videos. But it's worth taking a second to check out the links.

"Baby Elephant Walk"

2008-06-19T08:30:00.001-04:00

It was funnier when I wrote it.

Once Again, Pop Candy Gives me an idea, and I run with it. Not very far mind you, but still.

Jaman.com I don't know what they do, but I wasted an hour on the site.

"Tanti Auguri "

2008-06-09T16:52:00.003-04:00

Happy Birthday Jeff. I know you won't read this for a while, but Happy Birthday anyway.

I'm OK with 4.0, there is a lot to read over, but what I am happiest about is the fact that I was able to reuse the end of the Pirate Joke strip as the end of this strip!

"I Keep it Under My Hat"

2008-06-02T17:30:00.001-04:00

Thank you all for playing. Fantastic answers from everyone.

1 is a Bearskin, way to go Dave. Called a Bearskin because that is what they are actually made of to this day. There have been calls for changing to something other than bear skins for over 100 years, but nothing has been done so far. I can find only apocryphal trivia as to why the hat is shaped the way it is, but I like it, so I'll allow it. People say, that the hat was designed like it is, so that elite foot soldiers like grenadiers and fusiliers had some protection against the swords of mounted cavalry.

2 is indeed a top hat. Top hats are now made of silk, but used to be made of felt. They were made of felt because it was close to the feel of beaver pelts, which is what the previously popular hat style: the Beaver Hat, was made out of. They are virtually identical visually.

3 is a Kippah or Yarmulke. Kippah is the Hebrew word for dome, and Yarmulke is the Yiddish word for cap. Way to go everyone.

4 is a Fez. Originally worn in Ancient Greece, their use spread to what was the Ottoman empire. The Fez became part of the uniform of the "Shriner" since the organization's inception in the 1870s. The group was an offshoot of Freemasons that took a Middle Eastern theme, and the red Fez continues to be part of their image today.

5 is a Deerstalker, thank you Dave! The hat was an outdoorsmen hat, used by hunters and the like. The original Holmes stories do not mention a deerstalker at all, but early illustrations put him in one. In fact, Holmes never would have worn a deerstalker hat in the city, only in the country, but modern takes on the legend always include the hat, and the wearing of it, regardless of the setting.

6 is a Pork Pie Hat, way to go Jeff. The Pork pie hat is like a Fedora, but with a flat top. Often associated with jazz music, there is a great Charles Mingus tune called "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat" that is dedicated to Lester Young

7 is a Boater, also called a Skimmer or Basher. These hats are made of straw, but a "straw hat" is not really a kind of hat. It's like saying a "felt hat" or "leather hat". Straw is just a material, not a style in this case. Like I said, nowadays you only see the cheap ones at conventions, but I think I want to get one of these for the summer. Apparently the were almost "uniform" for the FBI in the days before WWII. Mush like our next hat after the war.

8 is a Fedora. Related to the Trilby and the Homburg, this classic hat is made of felt, other styles made of other materials are technically not Fedoras, we just call them that. Apparently, Jughead from Archie comics, and Goober Pyle on The Andy Griffith Show are wearing a modified Fedora style that was popular among young boys between the wars.

9 is a Bowler hat. It's also called a Derby hat. I can't find evidence to claim that they are different hats. Hard topped hats, with enough shape to give a little protection, they were popular in cities across England and America.

10 is a Kepi. Dave got real close with Shako, but they are taller. Still full points for naming a French Military hat with similar style! Mark also came close, but Bell Boy hats do not have brims. The current US Army Patrol Cap is most likely a direct decedent of the French Kepi.

11 is a Tam O'shanter. They sold them by the bucket at the Highland Games.

12 is a Campaign Hat. Ranger hat is another name for them, much like drill instructor hat, but if you want the quartermaster to sit up and take notice when you order one, call it a Campaign Hat.

13 is an Ushanka. OK that was a little hard, sorry! I had to look that one up myself, I always called them ear flap hats.

14 is a Chupalla. They are from Chile. Flat top, made of straw, wide brim.

15 Correct answers! Yeah, you can call them Newsboy caps, Gatsby caps, Fisherman's caps... I think we call them Newsie caps b/c Jeff's sister watched that movie so much it was on all the time when we came over to visit.

16 is a Montera or Bull Fighters hat. I can find no etymology for the word. I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's a region of Spain, but I've got nothing to back this up. Multiple sites agree that it is called a Montera hat, but none say why.

17 is a Beret. Good job everyone.

18 is a Trucker Hat. I just finished William Gibson's All Tomorrow's Parties. The people of that America use the slang term meshback instead of redneck. It all stems from their hats.

19 is a Toque Blanche. Yeah, I know, it means white hat. Still, it's got a certain... I don't know what, wouldn't you say?

20 is a Pith Helmet.

Thank you everyone, nice job Jeff and hemisphire getting answers done within 30 minutes of each other, and within 2 hours of my posting. Thanks go to Dave for finishing up many of the missing pieces. Mark made me laugh during a long day at work with his answers, so my thanks to him as well.

Hope you all had a great weekend, I hope I'll have pictures of mine soon.

"You Can Leave Your Hat On"

2008-05-29T13:45:00.000-04:00

So here's a picture quiz for you all to work on for a few days. All hats. More specifically, all men's hats. You will find no pillbox or sun bonnet here. I chose 20, some are easy, some are hard. Between all of you, I bet you can get them all.

1.) As you can see, this hat plays an important part of the uniform of a number of military units of Great Britain.

2.) Once a common hat style among proper gentlemen, now only the rare few can rock this hat.

3.) There's often a small container of these near the entrance to Synagogue.

4.) Traditional headware all over the middle east, and often seen on old men in little tiny cars as well.

5.) Sherlock Holmes hat is not the answer.

6.) This is Buster Keaton. He became associated with this style of hat, and in fact, used to make his own.

7.) Most often seen on Barbershop quartets, and at political conventions, this hat used to be very popular in America.

8.) A very common hat style. You saw Harrison Ford in at least two different ones this past weekend.

9.) It's got a couple of different names. Mxy is quite fond of them.

10.) Very French military. This picture is from Casablanca.

11.) Scottish, Irish, or just plain going for that outlandish golfer look. The Pom pom on top is not strictly necessary, but it really does make a great conversation starter.

12.) Yes yes, I call them Smokey the Bear hats too. Also, Drill Instructor hats. But what is it really called?

13.) Ear flaps go up, ear flaps go down, ear flaps go up, ear flaps go down.

In Soviet Russia you cover hat's ears.

14.) The top of this hat is flat. Also, this one is a little large. Clint Eastwood wears a nontraditional one in The Good The Bad and The Ugly. Traditional ones are made of straw.

15.) Sort of like the golfing hat above, but with a brim. Also, a button instead of a Pom Pom

16.) Well? Anybody know what it's called? I'm putting money on Dave knowing.

17.) The Military of many nations wear these, but I'm partial to the kind this man is wearing.

18.) Yes, but what kind specifically. Don't just tell me baseball cap.

19.) Alright, another one I had to look up. Here's a hint: it's French.

20.) Dr. Livingstone I presume?

"People in Your Neighborhood"

2008-05-28T17:39:00.000-04:00

"Careless Whisper"

2008-05-28T16:30:00.000-04:00

In honor of Disco's score of George Michael tickets, I've named this quicky after a song of his about loose lips, rumors, and, well, yeah, it doesn't really hang together well, but I'll be damned if I name a post Rumors now that I know that Lindsey Lohan has a song by that name.

OK, OK, focus.

So about a month ago I mentioned that The Hobbit was coming, and that there would be two films. Apparently, they are not splitting it. The are doing a interstitial film. This transcript from Guillermo and Peter is a dull read in my opinion, but it is clear that they plan on doing something based in the time period between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. They've mentioned following Gandalf during his time apart from Bilbo and the Dwarves; following Gollum as he travels to Mordor, is captured and released, or doing something else that just ties all the movies together.

I'm worried. I mean, I love these guys and the work that they do, but if the last film out of 5 is not epic, that might be really upsetting to the fans. For now, I'm happy to see that they are putting a lot of thought and time into everything.

"Blow The Man Down"

2008-05-27T16:56:00.000-04:00

"Decoration Day"

2008-05-27T15:21:00.004-04:00

Memorial Day weekend went by in a blur. I had a visitor from up north, and another from points south. I grilled out a couple of meals, and I popped my brand new tire on my car. I saw Indy 4 this weekend and I will say that I enjoyed it while I watched it, but that the moment the lights were up, I was tearing it to pieces.

Also this weekend I was told by someone who has played the game Mark and I ran, and watched National Treasure 2 that there are at least 4 plot points of various importance that match between the two. I think this means that Mark and I should write a spec script for 3

"We're In The Money"

2008-05-23T15:35:00.005-04:00

OK,

Great answers, and even the jokes were funny. Thanks to everyone for playing.

1.) The Photo is called Migrant Mother. Dorothea Lange took it. The woman in the picture is 32. Nice job Melissa. I can't believe no one even tried to guess the age.

2.) October 29th 1929 9/29/29 Hemisphire got the year right, and Jeff... tried really hard.

3.) President Herbert "I am not related to that damned vacuum cleaner salesman" Hoover another point for Hemisphire

4.) Jeff is correct, the FTC was not created during The Depression, it was created before it. The SEC and the FCC were created in 1934

5.) Jeff was barking up a slightly correct tree, and hemisphire got it spot on; the 21st Amendment repealed the 18th, ending prohibition. The 20th was more complex, stating the exact dates for the end of Presidential and Congressional terms of office, and spelling out what should happen if someone died before they could take their seat.

6.) FDR was elected to 4 terms. He died very soon after being elected the fourth time.

7.) Cedric Gibbons did not pose for the Oscar, but that is so close I may have to award partial credit to Hemisphire. Cedric Gibbons designed the Oscar Statue.

8.) Bob hope it was. The man hosted so many times... you would think there would be a funny punchline here.

9.) Melissa is correct, "The Royals" both played piano, and Goodman played Clarinet.

10.) Of Mice and Men is correct. The third novel he wrote during the Depression, about the Depression is called In Dubious Battle.

11.) The fictional town of Maycomb is in Alabama.

12.) "As Maine goes, so goes Vermont."

Hope you all had a good Memorial Day Weekend.

"White & Nerdy"

2008-05-22T12:02:00.003-04:00

Please do my Depression quiz? Don't let Rob win my default! Jeff, Dave, Dad, come on, I know you know some of these. If no one else guesses, I'm gonna tell my Papa about this blog and let his Depression surviving self answer them all. ;-)

"As Long As He Needs Me (Reprise)"

2008-05-21T16:15:00.000-04:00

Finished a book today at lunch called Brother Cain. It has been far to long since I was in an English class, because I'm not 100% sure why the book is called Brother Cain. It's by British author Simon Raven and I seemed to have been reading a first printing. It has a pasted in erratum on the title page.

Simon Raven seems to be a rather interesting author. Born in 1927 he went to school at Charterhouse but was expelled for homosexual activities. I presume this does not mean he was expelled for decorating his room with impeccable taste and knowing how to ballroom dance. Later he dropped out of King's College, Cambridge due to a lack of funds brought on by an extravagant lifestyle. He joined the army, served in India, Kenya, and elsewhere, then left due to heavy gambling debts that would dishonor the regiment.

The protagonist of Brother Cain is one Jacinth Crewe. Expelled from his school because he pursued a homosexual affair with a younger student, he later left Cambridge for undisclosed reasons. When the book opens, he is being pushed out the door of his regiment so that his gambling debts do not embarrass the Army.

It is here that the stories of Simon Raven and Jacinth Crewe diverge. Mr. Raven went on to a long successful writing career. Writing at least two dozen novels and many essays and short stories. He got some TV writing credits, and even has a film credit for additional dialogue in On her Majesty's Secret Service. He continued writing into the 90s before dying in 2001. Jacinth Crewe on the other hand gets selected to join a secret quasi government organization and begins his training in Rome.

I would really hesitate to call it a good book. The twists are broadcast a little early, and the writing has some dry moments that made me skip a few pages every once in a while. On the other hand, Jacinth Crewe is a very interesting character. He cares for the idea of personal honor, even when those around him tell him that he should have none and move on, it would be easier on them all. He likes older woman and younger men; gambling, and has expensive tastes. Like James Bond, but more perverted, and ultimately, without the heart necessary to kill.

I don't think that Raven ever went back to Crewe as Fleming did to Bond, but they make for an interesting counterpoint. Considering the popularity of the Bond novels at the time, and the fact that studios were fighting over the movie rights in the late 50s (Brother Cain was published in 1959) it is possible that the book is meant as a playful homage/parody. But I found virtually nothing on the book itself online, just a few sites that want to sell me "antique" versions, and one with a very brief description.

I was wondering if anyone had heard of Simon Raven, read anything of his. Is it worth tracking down anymore of his novels? Also, anybody got any other examples of authors who clearly base their lead characters on themselves?

"Kodachrome"

2008-05-21T11:45:00.005-04:00

Nerdly 6 The Bonus Round:

I found some pictures that you might find interesting.

These were the nice people who's names I forgot that were playing Mythos Hunter Zero with Dave, Eric, Mark and myself. They are called John and Terry.

This is our bunk mate Dave, who put up with a lot of our noise, and as it happens, looks a lot like what I imagine my father looked like at that age.

This is Eric, our fearless leader. I don't know what exactly he's doing in the Kitchen. Looks like he's unpacking.

First game! Mark is in this picture playing some D&D. Can you find him? I'll give you a hint: He is not the girl.

Jeff at his first game of the weekend. Agon! Also, my ear is itchy.

Mark, swaggering about with his water bottle.

Jeff is doing that smile where you don't show anyone your bottom teeth.

The three of us, plus Clinton, listen to Jason as we prepare to murder Hitler.

BATTLE! I couldn't look less happy. In fact, all of us playing the game have a grim look. This is because it is awesome, and we do not want you to join in our awesome, because we are greedy. Go away Joshua Newman! You and your hat are unwanted here! Oh, wait, you're evil! I'm going to allow it. Newman can stay.

There we have it. Pictures from the weekend.

Of course, that was last weekend. The most recent weekend, my girlfriend's parents came up to visit and met my parents. There are no pictures of this occasion, but it went well. Hope you enjoyed the Nerdly updates. That should be it.

Don't forget to give the Depression quiz your best shot. There's only 12 questions!

"Closing Time"

2008-05-20T18:30:00.000-04:00

Nerdly 5

I was remiss in my last Nerdly post. I did not mention the cobbler. I will not describe it here, to keep you, who were not there, from crying over not having tasted its splendor. Know this: it was there, it was magnificent, and now, it is gone.

So I mentioned that we were going to sleep late on Sunday morning, but alas, this was not to be.

We instead were awoken my an enthusiastic male voice (I think it was Eric) telling each cabin that it was breakfast time. Breakfast was supposed to be cold and simple, but lots of leftover fajitas meant that we were instead treated to breakfast burritos. By the time we got there they were almost gone, and cold, but delicious nonetheless.

Mark, Jeff and I had no real plans for the morning session. I was signed up to play In a Wicked Age, but I really wanted to do something with my buddies. The facilitator for Wicked asked if I was still interested in playing. I could see in her eyes that she had too many players, and so I told her that I would love to play, but that if she had need of my spot, I would gladly give it up. She politely said that she was over booked, but that since I signed up on the wiki, I was guaranteed a spot. I told her to take it, and wandered over to the board game table. During our late night Waffle House conversation we had mentioned playing the WWII game that Jeff and I had played. The board game table was fairly picked clean, and it turned out that Clinton had left already, so no chance to say so long, or play any of his awesome games. We three decided on a game none of us had played called Zendo. We had no clue what we were doing and were planning on talking through most of it.

Jeff has already said better than I could about what happened during Zendo, and he did it using both monkeys and poop, so I will not try to better that description here. I enjoyed myself, and when I stopped to look around and start cleaning at the approved time, I found that the cleaning was almost complete. Jeff and I did some last minute sweeps through the cabins, and in a short while we were saying our goodbyes, recording a few movies, and packing up to leave.

I'll be back next year. And while I can't promise to run anything like Jeff does (I might, just no promises) I do promise to do everything I can to roll deep. I will dedicate myself to getting more of my friends to show for this event.

"Hello"

2008-05-20T15:45:00.003-04:00

"Brother Can You Spare a Dime"

2008-05-20T13:20:00.001-04:00

I've just finished the Studs Terkel book on the Depression I mentioned earlier. This period of American history has greatly changed the modern American landscape, from welfare to civil rights; but this is not that type of blog. This is the kind of blog that doesn't give up on the idea of posting quizzes!

1.) The picture to the right is one of the most iconic in the milieu of Depression era photography. Tell me who took it, or what it's called, or how old the woman in the picture is.

2.) "Black Tuesday" is considered the start of the Great Depression. What was the day, month and year?

3.) FDR is the President most associated with the Depression, but what President was in the hot seat when it started?

4.) The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) are all independent agencies of the United States Government . Two of them were founded during the Depression. Which two?

5.) Two amendments to the Constitution were passed during the Depression, the 20th and 21st. What did they do?

6.) The 22nd amendment set term limits for President of the United States. Before this time, all former Presidents had followed the tradition of George Washington and only held two terms in office. FDR broke this tradition and was elected to how many terms?

7.) The first Academy Awards after the Depression hit was the 2nd Academy Awards in April of 1930. Cedric Gibbons won for Best Art Direction. What did he do for the Academy in 1928, well before the first awards show?

8.) The 12th Academy Awards was held in February of 1940 for films of 1939. Gone with the Wind was a major winner. The event was the first to have the rights sold to be filmed, when the stars found out, they all showed up in very formal gowns and jewelry; a trend that continues today. Mr. Smith goes to Washington opened in October, and was in line to win almost everything, but Gone with the Wind opened in December and swept up. Creative teams still release "Oscar Worthy" films in December. Another tradition started on this night. A 36 year old English born comedian hosted for the first time. He hosted 18 times in total from 1940 to 1978. Name that comedian.

9.) Right in the middle of the Depression, music styles underwent a shift that we ignore today. Before 1935, the popular music was called jazz, but modern musicians call it "sweet jazz": Irving Berlin, Rogers and Hart, Ray Noble, Johnny Mercer, and Cole Porter. As the Depression continued, what was called "race music" started to blend with the "sweet jazz" and we get Swing Music. Swing was controversial (as all good music is) as it crossed racial lines, and poverty lines. Benny Goodman popularized the style that continued to dominate popular music into the 40s and 50s. Count Basie and Duke Ellington were major influences on the Swing era. What instruments did the Count, the Duke, and Goodman play in their respective bands?

10.) John Steinbeck was a prominent writer during the Depression and beyond. He wrote at least three novels during the Depression that were about the Depression. Everyone remembers Grapes of Wrath. Name one of the others.

11.) One of America's favorite books: To Kill A Mockingbird is set during the Depression. It all takes place in the fictional town of Maycomb. What State is Maycomb in?

12.) "As Maine goes, so goes the nation" was a political phrase that meant that Maine was a Bellwether of the nation's political state of mind. The voted for Governor, and Congressional delegation in September, and for many years, had accurately predicted who was going to win the Presidential Election. In 1936 they elected Republicans across the state, and Republican presidential candidate Alf Landon was exuberant. Two months later however, FDR proved victorious at the polls, and Landon only took 2 states and 8 electoral college votes, against Roosevelt's 46 and 523. A Democratic strategist flipped the phrase on its ear after his candidates stunning victory. What was the new phrase?

"Centerfield"

2008-05-20T10:44:00.003-04:00

Shoe Money Tonight!

There is good news on the horizon my friends. Good news indeed. I'm not talkin' 'bout my car. It cost me $1,200 I could scarce afford, and now doesn't start all the time. I'm not talkin' 'bout my health. I still haven't scheduled a date for my surgery. I'm not talkin' 'bout my game. It looks like I'm bleeding players and desperately need an infusion. I'm not even talkin' 'bout my country. The Democrats can't field a team, and the Republicans seem happy to provide more of the same ol' thing they've been pitching since St. Reagan came on the mound.

No my friends I'm talkin' 'bout Sports Night. September 30th a tenth anniversary edition DVD hits the shelves. I love this show. I watched it with my parents every week for the two seasons it was on ABC. Then when it moved to Comedy Central, and I moved to Richmond, it was like a call from home every time it came on. I loved it.

Check out that cast. From the left, that's Peter Krause pre Six Feet Under and Dirty Sexy Money. Felicity Huffman pre Transamerica and Desperate Housewives. Josh Charles before In Treatment. Robert Guillaume, who needs no introduction. Sabrina Lloyd, a local Fairfax Virginia born woman who has worked on Sliders, Ed, and Numb3rs. And finally, that's Josh Malina, before he spent 4 seasons on The West Wing, and became a producer of Celebrity Poker Showdown.

It's an Aaron Sorkin show. That's really all you need to know.

Favorite moment in the show? Well, of course I love the shoe money tonight chant, Dan's on air apology to his brother Sam, Issac's editorial comments on the sixth southern gentlemen from Tennessee, the horribly painful reveal in the episode "Sally". But all of these fall aside as I remember Dana (Huffman) complaining about having to go to a Broadway show, then finding out that Lion King is sold out, then suddenly getting tickets. It is a episode long build to the moment when she comes back, breathlessly extolling the virtues of Broadway, and The Lion King in specific, which she proceeds to describe in wonder as a voice calling all the animals to appear and honor the new born baby lion, and then the animals appear! It's really quite a nice moment. Particularly, because her boss, who got her the tickets, is Issac (Guillaume) who played Rafiki in the movie The Lion King. You know, the one who held up the baby lion and asked all the animals to honor it? I died laughing. Such a great meta-moment.

"Flash"

2008-05-19T12:55:00.003-04:00

Nerdly 4

So, last Nerdly update brought us to Dinner, and let me say that dinner was the finest meal yet.

(It helps, in this next line, if you were think of yourself as Willem Dafoe's character in The Boondock Saints. Are you ready? OK, here it is: )

THERE WAS FAJITAS!!

Really, they were quite epic for camp food. There were caramelized onions, peppers and onions, fresh guacamole, the most perfectly cooked chicken, tofu, cheese, sourcream, salsa... it was an experience. And no one went hungry. There was enough food for another 30 Owlbears. I was so fricken' glad I wasn't on cleanup that I had two more fajitas to celebrate. I proceeded to waddle over to the table where I was supposed to game.

Mythos Hunters Zero was a great game. I can't wait to play it again. I may not do it justice in my description, but to be sure, it was a good time. I must admit, that I forge the names of two of the people who were part of the team. I feel bad. They were nice, had creative ideas, and one of them was such an effective role player, that I felt the need to strangle his character on a regular basis. Also playing was Eric "top dog" Provost, and Dave, the bunk mate who had to put up with my terrible threesomes late night ways. He was a pleasure to game with, and I was disappointed that he lived in NJ, far outside of what could be considered easy driving for a quick game.

Let me try to describe the game for you. It's like X-men in the 30s. There, I think that does it. We were given pre-generated characters, and they ran the gamut as far as powers and abilities went. The system is designed for over the top combat and play, so we went with it. We had a ridiculously prim and proper lady, with magical powers at her command, who wanted to kill any other magus she met; an eleven year old who could summon things from beyond, just like her parents and grandparents had, before she was orphaned by a mysterious southern gentleman who wanted to adopt her; an immortal woman with a forgotten path, who may have been worshiped as a Sumerian goddess, but was now spending time on the American Carnival circus as a strong woman and psychic; and a young soldier who had undergone severe experimentation to become a clockwork tech cyborg. And then there was my character. I was an operative of a secret non governmental agency from the future. And by "the future" I mean new years eve 1999 when the place known as R'yleh arose from the Pacific, and the dread thing waiting there stopped dreaming. I went through a portal that sent me back to the 1920s. As a result of this, I founded the very organisation that would later employ me; and all of this was in the preamble!

The system was easy to learn. The bad guys were things even older than gods, and the people they dominated into working for them. My team was a powerful group, dedicated to making sure the earth was safe. Not quite as cool a mission statement as keeping the world strange, but it'll do in a pinch. Mark Causey was our GM, and he was on his toes the whole night. We stayed up late, and threw some creative things at us, and he threw some right back.

Our game ended after all of the others, but it was well worth staying to the end. The moon is a prison, the immortal woman seems to be related to the dark old ones, but on our side, and somehow, in another time skip, my character was destined to go further back in time, found another organization, and send my current past self a working patchwork computer. Is it any wonder that I had my character go by the nom de guerre Cable?

My only complaint was one of logistics. We set up in the mess hall, and within 15 minutes, the only other game in the mess hall set up... right next to us. Now, I understand, it was cold, and we were next to a fireplace, but still, the fun going on at the other game was a wee bit louder than our game, and kind of broke the mood a few times. But it was all good. It was fun sounds, and that was the point of the weekend.

So later that night, Mark, Jeff and I hit up the Waffle House again. The cook and servers were the same people. The service was less than half as good. Say La V.

We got back late, decided that since we had no chore and no game planed for Sunday that we would sleep in a little. Dave endured our clomping in late night one last time, and we slept the sleep of the victorious.

"Political Scientist"

2008-05-16T11:42:00.005-04:00

Last night, hanging out at Denny's I was trying to talk to Mark, but the two tables near us were talking so loudly it was hard to hear. The were talking politics. I couldn't have had a bigger smile on my face.

I don't care what your politics are. No honestly I don't. I like to talk about politics with intelligent people who agree and disagree with me. Just ask my girlfriend, the right wing/wants to get married in the church/still talking about joining the military/daughter of a Coastie/granddaughter of a career Army officer/The Korean war is still ongoing/FDR was one of the worst things to happen to the US kind of conservative. Or you can talk to my best friend, the Obama loving/current president mocking/agnostic for socialised medicine.

Now the vast majority of you, my tiny tiny readership is currently based, or has been based in the DC area. Many of you have traveled, or are living elsewhere. Different cities, some in different countries... so really, I'm asking what you think about the level of political discourse where you are, or have been, compares with DC.

I lived in Richmond VA during the time period that Rudy McCollum was mayor. You may remember him as "that guy between current Governor Tim Kaine, and current Mayor and previous Governor Doug Wilder". You may also know him as "the four year mayor of Richmond with a smaller wikipeida entry than many swed ish deathmetal albu ms released on ind ependant labels an d handed out in malls". Suffice to say, that Richmond, particularly at that time, was not too big on talking about national politics. Everyone I knew hated the PATRIOT ACT yet didn't care enough to do anything about it.

Here people talk politics on the Metro, around the water cooler, and obviously, at Denny's. It helps that our local sports teams are all choking dogs and we all know that if they make the playoffs, they ain't makin' in past the first round; so people rarely pay attention. Except the Washington football franchise. People would sell their children for the chance to sit on the 50 yard line and watch them lose. Which they do. A lot.

So politics becomes something that the local guy can talk about. The two free papers that are handed out on the Metro come from the Post and the Times. So everyone who walks past or uses a Metro station has no excuse not to be up to date.

Do you talk politics with your family? With your friends? Do people in your city/town talk local/state politics, or national politics; both, neither?

"The Book Report"

2008-05-16T11:00:00.004-04:00

So I don't want to talk about what I'm doing, because if I do, I may not do it. I'm not nearly as comfortable talking about creative endeavours as Jeff.

But I do have some questions that I'd love opinionated answers too.

Historical fiction: Do you read/watch? Why or why not? How close do you want it to stick to the source material. I mean, is it OK if they stray from facts? What about dialogue? Do you like a third person narrator? Is it important that you have a P.O.V. character? If it ties in with themes of today, does that make it better, or stretching itself?

Basically I've got an idea based on a minor story in American history, and I'd love some opinions before I get started.

Oh yeah, and anyone who noticed the post "Hello" in an RSS feed, but didn't see it. Sorry about that. I was trying to play with this web comic creator thing but it's giving me too much grief at work.

"Masters of War"

2008-05-15T10:36:00.004-04:00

Nerdly 3

Lunch was the only disappointment I had as far as meals go. Grilled sandwiches should be hot, or at least warm. Not a huge deal. I ate some lunch then headed to the kitchen to clean up... where I found a team of wild cleaning monkeys already on the case! Everywhere I looked, someone was cleaning a surface. I started finishing little tasks like "find the mayo lid" and "good god what is that under the coffee grinder"; then I gathered the team together for a final push. As I saw it, all that needed to be done was mop the floors, finish dishes, and clean the grill. A girl whose name I unfortunately don't remember volunteered Travis for the grill job. Travis face was clear as a bell, this task was not his cup of tea. Travis had been a fellow Agon party member, so I claimed grill cleaning duties as captain's rights. He looked happy, and I don't mind cleaning greasy grills. We cleaned well, we cleaned quickly, and we were out to game in record time.

I was set to play War of the Ring, an epic battle board game pitting the forces of Saurun against the forces of light. I played the armies of Sauroman, and James "Their Forces Shall Scatter Before Us" Jeffers played Sauron. Two other guys played the good guys. This is not their story.

I'm kidding, we all had a great time, Clinton and Shane were a good match for James and I. There was much ribbing over "wasting" dice and whether the ring bearers were going to spend the whole damn war in Rivendale; we had a blast. I had a few choice moves, including sending an army up the coast in boats, and James was hammering away some of their major strong holds while I pincered in and headed for victory in the Shire.

Do you remember my last post? Where at the end I mentioned that a completely accidental misreading of the rule by Clinton almost led to the defeat of my (and Jeff's) Nazi's? Well get ready to slap yourself in the foreheads again folks. Clinton read through all the rules for us, and we seemed to understand them all just fine, but a couple of miss cues sent us back to the rule book. Most were minor (really minor) and affected both sides... but one of them...

The unending forces of darkness should be unending. When we ran out of reinforcements, we were out. When our forces died, they were dead. They should have been brought back as reinforcements! We did not know this until a spectator pointed it out, after the game had been won. We were about 2 rounds away from victory. We were short on men. The side of light came in and took a position that had no defences. Now, I'm not begrudging them that. It was a brilliant plan, and Clinton pulled it right under our noses; but, and mind you, I say this in the spirit of good sportsmanship: LAME!!!!!! Our forces were deprived of a necessary tactic throughout the game! The good guys only need 4 points to win in battle, and the bad guys need 10+ (I forget the specifics) It's supposed to balance!

Anyway, not bitter really, just playing. James and I had a great time playing bad guys, and all four of us played a kick ass game. It ran right up until dinner, and Clinton had cleaned up before I got back to ask if he needed help. I did help set up the board before lunch, but I wanted to put my little soldiers to sleep knowing THAT THEY HAD FAILED ME, AND WOULD FOREVER BASTE IN THE FIRES OF...

Sorry, not bitter right?

"Walkürenritt"

2008-05-14T10:01:00.004-04:00

Nerdly part two.

Early on Saturday morning, Jeff's alarm went off. If was about 10 minutes before mine, so I wasn't upset or anything. Mark started hollering at me to shut it off. I told him it wasn't mine it was Jeff's. He crawled out of bed, turned it off and headed for the shower. A few minutes later, Jeff's alarm went off again, but he was already in the shower. While cursing his name, I got up, shur off the alarm for good and then got dressed and headed up for breakfast.

Again there was no skim milk. And again I began to question what kind of food planers we had. Then the rest of the food smells made me realise that cold cereal was not in the cards for me. We had oatmeal and omelets and bacon, and we had the greatest vegan muffins ever. The muffins were pineapple and blueberry, and they were so popular that Derek, our fearless chef, had to make an announcement to the vegans in the house that we were running low so get off your bony anemic asses and come get some. OK, I might have added the last part in my head.

Mark had cleanup duty Saturday morning and was the first of my little group to realise that the cleanup standards were being set very high. We had to wait around 20-30 minutes for him before we could start our next game:

Valkyrie was a play test of a game by Jason Morningstar. Clinton, Mark, Jeff, and I enjoyed a game of tense intrigue as we planned on assassinating Hitler. The game as written takes about two hours or so. It lacked a strong role playing element, and was in fact more of a strategy war board game without the board. I had fun, and Mark had fun. I don't really think it was Jeff's cup of tea, but he seemed to dig it well enough. The fact that it was only two hours really helped. Jason told us that his company was contacted by the marketing arm of the film and asked if they could do up a game. The film is in the can now, and they keep moving back the date, so who knows if the game will ever get to see the light of day. (Hours later at Nerdly, I was approached with the idea that Jason may have been pulling an elaborate prank on all of us, and that he was never contacted to work on a game for the film.)

Jason explained the rules clearly, and then stepped back and only facilitated as needed. The rule system seemed to be a little confusing, but they were in fact really simple, I just tend to need to read rules before completely understanding. Every round, each of the conspirators (us the players) could choose to 1.) erode the confidence of one of the groups of power (military, civilians, or elite) 2.) recruit a new conspirator 3.) get more resources or 4.) "pull the trigger" and kill Hitler. The game had a really interesting concept wherein whatever you decided to do, you could not help yourself with your hard fought resources. Your teammates had to help you. So we plotted and planned and then went into action. We lost at least 4 conspirators to the SS. And Frelling Eva Braun cost us a good man and a wealth of resources, plus she was still around to defend Hitler at the end. She was absolutely the nemeses of the crew. But in the end, we killed Hitler, and marshalled our forces to win the coup afterwords!

After we finished the game, I found Jeff and Clinton preparing to reenact the battle for the beaches at Normandy. I sided with Jeff, because he was zee Germans, and I was going to need practice playing the bad guy for my after lunch game.

A ridiculously well played match between an old hand and two noobs. The battle came down to the wire, with both sides needing just one more victory point. Clinton had a strategy, and we had nothing. The luck of the cards gave us air power enough to defeat one of his tank units, and victory was ours, by the skin of our teeth. Later upon closer reading of the rules we realised that we (Jeff and I) were playing at a disadvantage. So there was some snags in the rules that almost caused us to lose. Remember that would you, until my next Nerdly update!

"Time of the Season"

2008-05-13T15:17:00.004-04:00

I finished reading World War Z yesterday. I think to be honest, I finished it twice. It's the kind of book that makes you go back and re-read parts of it again because you know you missed something.

If you have read it, you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, then I'm not sure I can do the book justice. It is fiction. It is a collection of interviews with survivors. Survivors of a global zombie apocalypse. The style is hands down the most interesting take on zombies I have ever read. Max Brooks, the son of Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft (seriously) has written a book that will make you alternatively cry, stand up and cheer, and just sit and stare at the wall until it passes.

The audio book apparently has voice work by the author, Mark Hamill, Henry Rollins, Rob and Carl Reiner, John Turturro, and Allan Alda.

It's being made into a movie. Brad Pitt's production company won a bidding war against Leonardo DiCaprio's company. I hope they do it right.

The style is so gripping, I looked it up. It's sort of considered an offshoot of the Epistolary style which you can read more about here. Basically it is a novel told through the use of letters, or, in this case interviews. The author credits Studs Terkel for giving him the idea. So I just picked up Studs Terkel's Hard Times. It's about the Great Depression. I wouldn't normally read a non fiction book on the Depression, as its not really in my field of interest, but again, the style has really sucked me in.

On a completely unrelated note, I just received a memo from the President of the company I work for on "facilitating payments" to foreign nationals overseas. In other words: bribing the locals.

"Bat Out of Hell"

2008-05-13T14:40:00.003-04:00

This past weekend I attended Camp Nerdly. A 40-50 person camp out with a role playing game theme. So I'm going to devote a few posts to the weekend, the games, the food, and the whatnot.

Traffic down was bad. Nerdly was at Prince William Forest Park, so it should have been like 45 minutes tops and was more like 90 minutes. I'm not complaining really, because I think that means I spent less time on the road than anyone. Mark and I drove together, and arrived around 4pm. We signed in, set up our bunks and then had nothing to do for two hours. We ended up cleaning our cabin because the layer of tree pollen was so thick it was causing us both to sneeze with thunderous power and regularity.

By six o'clock there were enough people there to say hi to, and the vibe was very friendly. I got in on plenty of conversations by dropping Dave's name and/or smiling. Our friend Jeff showed later that evening, and the guy who drove him down (another Dave) ended up bunking in our little side of the cabin. I think he regretted his decision later in the night, but only because he was good people, and we are louts.

Food Friday night was a mildly disappointing spread of cold cuts, veggies and dip, hummus and pita, etc. I mean, logistically I understand: People were arriving all through the night, and a sit down dinner would have been poorly attended. But we arrived at 4:00 pm, and were supposed to arrive at 3:00. No real dinner at all was a wee bit lame. The late night oatmeal raisin cookies more than made up for it. The lack of any milk other than whole or half and half was an odd thing to see in 2008.

My first game was supposed to be AGONY, and super villain style "hack" of Agon. Instead, the GM cancelled with like two days notice, and then pulled a standard Agon game out of his hat at the last minute. It was great. Five players, some with lots of experience, and some with none. We played a escape from Hades campaign. As with almost all of the games I played this weekend, the GM was top notch, at least one of the players annoyed me to no end, and at least one of the players I wanted to take home and replace a member of my own crew. Remi had a fun game planned out, that we messed with and tried to make him change on the fly. He rolled with it like a champ. The only quibble I had was with a couple of his Greek mythology mistakes.

We had a huge idiot bruiser, a blind archer, a singer, an orator, and an old man. I played the old man who had been around the block. I was certainly not the leader, but my wits and tactics did keep some of the other players alive. Plus I was pretty good with a bow. That's not to far outside of my comfort zone, and I wish I had played something more challenging for me.

In the end, the player keeping track of the score had me in second while I had myself tied for first. Later detailed counting would revel that I was fully ahead on points, but that's not really important. The game was fun, we connected as a group of mostly strangers and trusted in each other to help provide a good time. It was a great game to start the weekend.

Later that evening Jeff, Mark and I went to Waffle House. Apparently we had crossed the mythic divide where Denny's cease to be the primary late night 24 hour coffee stop, and Waffle House is King. I knew it was in Virginia, I just didn't realize how close to the line I lived. We stayed up way to late catching up, and drove back at around 1:30 AM. Our fourth bunk mate was already asleep, and we tried to be quiet, but like I said, we were louts. At least one back pack got knocked over, all of our boots came off loudly, and the flashlights didn't quite go dim as quickly as they should have.

This hat is the best thing I bought for the weekend. Hands free flashlight all night long.

More to come soon!

"Tales of Brave Ulysses"

2008-05-12T14:20:00.003-04:00

I bet you thought this post was going to be about Agon didn't you?

This is just another quickie link post. I'm sure many of you have already seen this, because it was linked from Penny Arcade, or you are just cooler than I am. but in case you have not...

This the web page of a man who is writing a short story a day. Monday though Friday. Hard enough as it is, but he has limited himself to the use of 101 words per story. There are some masterpieces in there, you've got to read them to believe it.

"I Can See for Miles"

2008-05-12T11:44:00.004-04:00

Answers to the product placement quiz!

1.) E.T. got drunk on Coors Beer.

2.) Tom Hanks character worked for FedEx, and of course, his best friend was a volleyball named: WILSON!!!!!!!

3.) "Dear Eight Pound, Six Ounce, Newborn Baby Jesus, don’t even know a word yet, just a little infant, so cuddly, but still omnipotent. We’d just like to thank you for all the races I’ve won and the $21.2 million, LOVE THAT MONEY! That I have accrued over this past season. Also due to a binding endorsement contract that stipulates I mention PowerAde at each grace, I just wanna say that PowerAde is delicious and it cools you off on a hot summer day and we look forward to PowerAde’s release of mystic mountain blueberry. Thank you, for all your power and your grace, Dear Baby God, Amen"

4.) Fred, Wilma and Barney all smoked Winston Cigarettes. I have found no proof that Betty ever indulged.

5.) Through some odd chess like metaphor, the scientists of Evolution discovered that since humans were killed by arsenic, the aliens could be killed with selenium, an ingredient in many dandruff shampoos, including Head and Shoulders.

6.) Ah the Back to the Future movies. How many of us have sat down and watched most, or even all of them when TBS or TNT or USA have shown them all in a marathon. We can mention the Tab/Pepsi Free joke in the diner during the first movie; or the self tying Nike's during the second. But my favorites/most notables are: In 1 calling him Calvin Klein because it's written "all over your underwear". In 2 (and 3) the many many shots of the Mattel brand hover board. And in 3 the Frisbie pie company.

7.) Taco Bell won the franchise wars. Which considering that Pepsi owns them, makes for good news for you fans of Taco Bell, KFC, and Pizza Hut when considering your future eating needs.

8.) Pepsi payed Madonna lots of money, and then pulled the video. Noticing a pattern here? Yes, that's right, Pepsi has money, lots of it.

9.) The 1932 Ford Model B was the topic of the Beach Boys 1963 hit.

10.) Guinness and American Express billboards both directly communicated with Tom Cruise's character. Other people were accosted by Coca-cola and Gap ads.

11.) "Converse Vintage 2004"

12.) Pontiac Trans Am is the only proper answer. The new KITT has yet to prove itself.

13.) Domino's is correct. The delivery man gets a lot of screen time.

14.) Apple computers. Is there anything they can't do?

15.) The Wizard. This movie was terrible. And I didn't own a Nintendo. And I didn't watch The Wonder Years. I have no idea why I've seen it.

"Alley-Oop"

2008-05-01T14:16:00.003-04:00

I've found a few links that I can only classify as odd mutations of classic comic strips. There has to be a "sexier" or marketable way to say that, but odd comics is what I've found, so odd comics is what you get:

First we'll start with one you've almost for sure heard of. It's been around since at least early 2006, making it ancient in Internet terms. Take the thought and word bubbles out of Garfield comics, and what do you get? An oddly surreal, and somewhat sad portrait of a man and his cat. There are pages of them here, but they are not all strictly in the same vein.

Along a similar line, we get this: Garfield minus Garfield. Talk about sad. Jon Arbuckle becomes a almost tragic figure and I find it hard to read more than a few of these without really feeling sad for the man.

My newest favorite is Marmaduke Explained. It needs no further explanation, which is part of its charm. Be careful, there's some dirty words on this one.

The best, and most time wasting by far is The Nietzsche Family Circus. Revel in the randomness. Spend hours wondering if it is secretly planned, or truly as random as they say.

There's still a quiz down below, get on it people! I want answers!

"This Note's for You"

2008-04-29T14:49:00.001-04:00

Let's talk product placement. In movies, in music, it has been around for all of our lives, so I decided what could be better than to devote a quiz to it?

1.) Everybody knows that E.T. ate Reese's Pieces candy, but what beer did he drink?

2.) Name a company closely associated with the Tom Hanks film Castaway.

3) Name the product mentioned during prayer in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.

4.) The first season of The Flintstones was sponsored by what cigarette company?

5.) In the movie Evolution (It's about an alien species that imagine this evolves) David Duchovny, Julieanne Moore, Orlando Jones, and Seann William Scott take on the invading horde with what hair care product?

6.) Not counting the car... name at least three prominently displayed products in the Back to the Future trilogy.

7.) What company won the Franchise Wars in Demolition Man?

8.) It's February 1989 and Madonna was about to release the video to "Like a Prayer" What drink company payed her 5 million dollars to star in a commercial that was pulled from the airwaves almost before it aired?

9.) What make and model is a "Little Deuce Coupe" that the Beach Boys sing about?

10.) Minority Report included eye scanning advertising that spoke to you; directly. Name a company that addressed Tom Cruise's character.

11.) What kind of shoe does Will Smith wear in I, Robot?

12.) What kind of car is K.I.T.T. ?

13.) What Brand of Pizza do the Turtles eat in the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie?

14.) What brand of computer helped save the world in Independence Day?

15.) And finally... What movie was essentially an hour and a half long commercial for Nintendo, specifically Super Mario Brothers 3?

Did I miss any of your favorites? Let me know!

"The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins"

2008-04-25T15:00:00.001-04:00

UPDATED BELOW

In the category of things I am late to the party of finding out about, this is surely not the worst, and yet is the most recent.

Guillermo Del Toro is going to direct the Hobbit and apparently a sequel as well. Does this mean they are splitting the book into two films?

Peter Jackson and therefore by extension, we must presume WETA is still involved. That being said, I ask for opinions. Will the Hobbit be the greatest summer movie of the year it is released; or will it be the greatest movie of the year it is released?

UPDATE:
For those of you who know Dave, but do not regularly read his family's various blogs, I would just like to point on that picture #6 on his sister's post: Found an Old Photo Album contains a look into our friend's past. I was going to say something about how I won't be able to go to sleep tonight because I'm afraid he's going to come through my monitor and eat my children, but I didn't want to bias your opinion of the picture. So I wont.

"Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye"

2008-04-25T09:54:00.004-04:00

Steampunk Volume Two: a little bit farther from the core world.

First things first, I called the last Steampunk post Mad Dogs and Englishmen because that is the title of the issue of The Invisibles that the picture I used is the cover for. That sentence was the sentence of the most poor construction ever seen on this blog; until the one following it.

It's also a song title, so I get to use it and not break my naming convention. The cover is sort of "on the line" Steampunk, and so is the issue. A rebel cell leader from our time (which was the 90s) sends an astral projection of himself into the 1920s to meet with a rebel cell of that time. What makes it sort of Steampunk is that even though it is the 20s, the bad guys have rayguns and cloning, and enjoy a little gas mask fashion.

Not Steampunk enough for you huh? Well then you are going to hate this post. Like I said in the last volume, I feel that Steampunk is less of a strict setting, and more of a flexible genre. It is about the aesthetic look, and also the rebellion. There is an interesting forum thread over on Story Games if you're interested in what a dozen or so gamers think. One of the things that comes up a few times is the Star Wars crossover appeal. This is a world where the decadence of the republic, lead to a takeover by a powerful empire, which now must be brought down by a plucky group of heroes with little more than their wits, their growing faith in a hero, and some sweet gear.

I've found some great Star Wars meets Steampunk stuff:

This guy has put some extraordinary thought into creating action figures in the Steampunk setting. He's done Justice League and The Avengers, but his Star Wars stuff seems to get the most linkage.

This fellow has done some drawings that really help imagine Star Wars differently. My clear favorite is his Han and Chewie.

The best Star Wars/Steampunk site though is this one. The Grainy quality of the pictures and the overall feel of this site is great. Sort of a what if Star Wars universe had been interacting with ours since the 1800s and particularly since the second world war.

Along with that World War theme, keep scrolling down this page. You'll see some great stuff that covers all types of Steampunk designs, and then, near the bottom, you'll find the horrors that would have awaited us had Nazi scientists been more devoted to Steampunk style transformers, rather than rockets.

So what happens when you follow a timeline forward that started with Steampunk? Well that last link gives you an idea. You get kind of a retro futurist thing going on. Like the Jetsons, or Warren Ellis' Ministry of Space, or this cool t-shirt site. Alternative history is a favorite of mine. My friend Mark and I will regularly play the For Want of a Nail game at Denny's. Alternative history and Stampunk are compatible genres, as long as you keep that whole small group against the oppressor mindset.

This site is dedicated to people in the past's view of the future. Is it strictly Steampunk? No, but it is a great way to look for ideas to set your next Steampunk-ish story.

Well that's all the time I have today...

Did I promise you Rayguns? [checking] I did. Oh well! Watch out for Volume Three: Things that make you go poof!

"Bottle of Wine"

2008-04-24T11:40:00.000-04:00

Back to the grape again!

In what will no doubt be a continuing trend on this blog, I bring you pictures of a trip to a winery. We went Saturday to the low mountains of Leesburg Virginia, and brought some friends. They were doing a fondue tasting event with The Melting Pot. The wine was alright, the place was packed and in general we all felt a little rushed.

As you can see below, the view was extraordinary.

Some @$$ wouldn't shut up out how pretty it was, dragging everyone down to look at the view

Seriously though, isn't it gorgeous?

Yeah, so that's me with the hat, and the beard, and the ponytail. I don't know exactly what you'd call my current style, but I think my Dad would describe it as "unemployable"

I love you Dad!

Here's a few of our friends, we're all getting a little hungry, and we lost one of the group, so we sent her Husband to go find her.

Found her!

All together again, we decided to buy a few bottles, head for Wegmans and then home, for a little afternoon of food and wine. Plus we played with a crossbow. But that's not really part of this story.

What's that you say? You don't see the girl in the purple top and the black skirt? Why she's hiding behind my enormous gut! Also, pay close attention, I can't promise, but this might be the only time you can see my legs in a picture all year. I don't rock the short pants that often.

We'll probably go wine tasting again all during the rest of the Spring and Summer. I don't really like wine, but I do like hanging out with my friends in the outdoors. Plus picnics! I've already got at least one on my calender, and knowing my girlfriend, once she realizes there's a free, unscheduled weekend in June, she will fill it with a trip to a winery.

I think I need to start looking for a whatdoyoucall it... not a brewery... distillery! That's it! I've heard that Mount Vernon can now make and sell whisky based on George Washington's recipe. I should go try that out. It seems that as far as wine's go I have an interesting palate. I like really really bold reds. Spicy smoky, whatever, just so long as your average new wine drinker says "whoa nelly"; then that's the wine for me. But whiskey? Man I'll try anything once.

Here's to the weather being great for us all. Get outside! Walk around! It's Spring!

"Mad Dogs and Englishmen"

2008-04-23T09:21:00.007-04:00

Steampunk Volume One: The stuff you know.

My friends Jeff and Dave have begun discussing Steampunk more often. Steampunk, for those of you that don't know, is a media genre. It shows up in TV, movies, novels, games, comics, and more. Basically you can describe it as science fiction set in the 19th century, but it is much more than that. Some purists will claim that in fact steam must play a role, or that the setting must be British, during the time of Queen Victoria. But as a genre I find to be more inclusive than dismissive. If you want to wear a bowler hat, a leather apron, and build musical instruments that run on the power provided by a bicycle; or strap on a jet pack and fight the Nazis; or build an airship and help Watson and Holmes then dammit, I say good on you. Steampunk can be set in the modern world, the future, or even farther in the past, before the steam engine.

One of the basic themes of the genre seems to be the triumph, or downfall, of man. That's lowercase on purpose. One man, whose life is changed by the Steampunk devices he creates/carries, faces off against adversaries, who normally outnumber him, and at least conventionally "out gun" him. These adversaries are almost always in a secret society who mean to keep mankind down. Our hero then faces off against them and depending on the story; triumphs, with the help of his own sweat and blood (and his raygun) or fails, crushed beneath the weight of the oppressive secret oligarchy. But in the epilogue, somehow manages to pass his secret knowledge, and possibly a treasured device, on to the next generation.

The works of H.G. Wells, and Lovecraft often find their way into the background, if not the foreground of many modern Steampunk stories. In fact, the unnamed Time Traveler, from H.G. Wells The Time Machine is about as perfect a template for a Steampunk "hero" as you can get. He is smart, an inventor or scientist, and yet still an amateur at such pursuits. He is impulsive, inquisitive, and likely to get in trouble for a woman. When he returns from his first adventure, he writes everything up, like a good scientist, and then, alone, but better prepared, he begins another adventure.

I dig on Steampunk, and have been thinking about it a lot this last week because of this post over at the Aviary. So without further ado, I give you, the first batch of links!

Of course, Wikipedia is a great source of information on Steampunk but I've also found...

Now Dave already mentioned this one in the comments of Jeff's post.

Some Steampunk enthusiasts like the technology side of a little more than the fashion. They have formed a different live journal community: The Clockworkers Guild.

Another handy group here at The Steampunk Workshop.

If you needed any ideas for the look of you robots, cars, or odd alien races, you could do a lot worse than to take a peek at Stephane Halleux and crib from the best!

A great overall blog, covering film, creations, art, and whatnot is Brass Goggles. He's looking for help running the site if anyone catches the bug!

I've got more for later, including some ray gun stuff, some alternate timeline stuff, and hopefully some more on the literature that started this trend in the first place.

BTW, the song title and picture today are a little more obscure than usual. I'll fill you in next Steampunk post.

"Smells Like Teen Spirit"

2008-04-22T10:45:00.003-04:00

Sorry for the pun.

In case you haven't seen it yet...

Looks a lot like Sin City to me, but looks like fun.

I haven't read enough of The Spirit. But I've read enough to know I wouldn't trust most directors to do it right. Of course, this is Frank Miller we're talking about, so I think I'm gonna give him a little room.

"Bluddle-Uddle-Um-Dum"

2008-04-18T20:14:00.000-04:00

Great answers everyone, thanks for playing along.

1.) A dream is a wish your heart makes, specifically, when you're fast asleep. Which is how I wish I still was. Friday mornings are no place for civilized people.

2.) The human male lead in 101 Dalmatians was not, as Dave guessed, a chimney sweep, but good guess. It would be three more years before Disney glorified the humble sweep in Mary Poppins. Roger Radcliffe was a songwriter, and makes some good money as the writer of the song "Cruella de Vil" (...if she doesn't scare you, no evil thing will.)

3.) Bambi! That is correct. I had to check and re-check this quote. In my head it was always you can call me Flower... but every page I found had it sourced as he can call me Flower... . Gotta go with the internet. It has a much better memory than I do.

4.) As a lover of jazz music, I always enjoyed The Aristocrats. Scatman Crothers played a cat called Scat Cat, not the most original naming, but some good fun jazz sounds: "... everybody wants to be a cat, because a cat's the only cat, that knows where it's at..."

5.) Melissa, never put salt in your eye... and never second guess yourself! "Some Day My Prince Will Come" is from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

6.) Maleficent is the Big Bad in many if not all of the Kingdom Hearts games (I've never played them either.) If you haven't seen Sleeping Beauty recently, re watch the end, where Maleficent grows to building size, and morphs into a dragon. For my money, its still a scary scene.

7.) Dave is sort of right, in that it doesn't have a strict meaning , but come on! It's obviously an exclamation of joy! Go and make yourself a wooden sword. Then, raise it in the air, shout "Oo-De-Lally!" and chase after something, like a spouse, a cat, or a child. I guarantee your life just got a little bit better. A pox on the phony King of England! Oo-De-Lally!

8.) Full points and the bonus ball to Maren, who not only knew the specific Cocker Spaniel, but managed to quote the film as well.

9.) Piiiii Nocchio! Melissa is correct. For all you super trivia nerds, J. Worthington "Honest John" Foulfellow, is the character's name. He sings "Hi Diddle Dee Dee" with an all but mute partner, a cat called Gideon, who doesn't manage more than a hiccup. The man voicing that hiccup? Mel Blanc

10.) Alright, credit where it is due, Dave got the general idea correct. Merlin defeats Madame Mimm by turning into a germ, but lets not be pedantic. I always liked this often overlooked Disney film. None of the songs turned into classics, and the characters never really got merchandised, but it's a alright film, with a funny villain.

11.) Dumbo's mother is called Jumbo! Nice play from the left fielder, skipping the cutoff man and throwing straight for home.

12.) The Darling children fly off to Neverland, nice memory Melissa, but how Dave remembered that their mothers name is Mary is anyone's guess.

13.) AAAAA very merry Unbirthday to you (to you) a very merry unbirthday to you (to me?)
this classic scene is taking place between The Mad Hatter, the March Hare, and the much put upon Dormouse. (Remember... what the Dormouse said...) Alice shows up and they continue, until they are interrupted by the White Rabbit, whereupon Alice leaves the other three to their merrymaking.

14.) The Jungle Book. Another great one.

Thank you all for playing. Hope you enjoyed the quiz.
I've got fun plans this weekend, so if we're lucky, I'll have pictures next week.

"Tradition"

2008-04-18T10:59:00.002-04:00

Real quick.

You must read this.

Must.

"Iron Man"

2008-04-17T15:40:00.003-04:00

I'll try to post answers to the quiz tomorrow, so post your answers if you haven't. Come on! Guess! You've seen most of them! It's classic Disney!

So, in the last- call it- 3 weeks, I have read four works by Orson Scott Card. Those of you who are not sci-fi readers may not know the name, but you should have heard of his classic: Ender's Game. I am a 31 year old fairly well read sci-fi and fantasy geek. I fully admit to you my tiny readership, that I first read Ender's game this month.

I know. It's like finding out a movie buff hasn't seen Star Wars. Or The Godfather. Like finding out your comparative religion professor doesn't know the difference between Christian Science, and Scientology.

I can only say, in my defense, that I had it described to me, and it sounded lame. Having now read it, I enjoyed it, and the sequels Speaker for the Dead and Xenocide. According to wikipedia, Orson Scott Card invented the word Xenocide, meaning the total destruction of an alien race. I find it hard to believe. The word itself is a basic one stemming from Latin roots, but I digress.

I enjoyed the books. I know there are more, and I will read them, but I think Ender's Game was so very different from the other two, and I liked it better, I thought that maybe I didn't like his more mature writing. Then I picked up Ultimate Iron Man. The cover to the collected first few issues should tell you that Marvel knew it had snagged a really big name. I loved the comic. It was a great re-imagining of the origin of one of the Marvel Universe's most intelligent, and flawed superheroes. Plus it lets Orson Scott Card do what I think he does best.: write about really smart kids.

One of the fun side effects of reading the first three books in the Ender series is that certain web comics now make sense. Also I think I found the germ of the character that became Miko in The Giant's Order of the Stick in Xenocide's Gloriously Bright.

Quiz answers tomorrow! Place your bets! Someone take away my exclamation mark button! Please!

"Heigh-Ho"

2008-04-15T16:41:00.005-04:00

Alright, well, I thought I'd go back to my classic grab bag and post a little quiz.

The topic of the quiz shall be Disney animated feature films made before I was born. Only the full length animated films in the Disney Cannon from 1937 until my birth. As I am a fan of the music and the movies, questions will include music from the films, plot elements of the films, that sort of thing. Don't expect questions on directors names or production notes. Have a good time!

1.) In Cinderella, what is a dream...?

2.) Pongo was the first Dalmatian in 101 Dalmatians. What job did his "pet" Roger Radcliffe do for a living.

3.) "...he can call me Flower, if he wants to." So says this little Skunk in what film?

4.) In The Aristocats, why does everybody want to be a cat?

5.) The song "Some Day my Prince will Come" has become a jazz standard, covered by Buddy Rich, Miles Davis, etc. What film does it come from?

6.) In the video game series Kingdom Hearts, based on the Final Fantasy and Disney worlds, one of the Big Bads is the evil witch from Sleeping Beauty. What is her name?

7.) In Robin Hood, what does Oo-De-Lally mean?

8.) What type of dog is Lady in Lady and the Tramp?

9.) What movie sees an anthropomorphous fox sing "Hi-Diddle-Dee-Dee (An Actor's Life for Me)?

10.) In The Sword and the Stone, Merlin and Mad Madame Mim engage in a wizards duel. At the climax of the battle, Mim turns into a giant purple dragon. How does Merlin defeat her?

11.) What is Dumbo's mother named?

12.) Wendy, John and Michael from Peter Pan... what is their last name?

13.) Who is present at the Unbirthday Party in Alice in Wonderland?

14.) The Beatles were the inspiration for the sound and appearance of the four vultures in this film?

Well that's it. There were 7 films that were "package films" made up of shorter subjects, and there were 6 films that had a blend of animation and live action that were released before I was born, but those are going to have to be for another time!

"End of the Line"

2008-04-14T11:18:00.006-04:00

Well readers, I missed Christmas, Easter, and my Birthday. I can only hope that you'll forgive your wayward step dad. :-)

To make up for it, here is a shiny new dime!

Because no one has asked for it: commuting in and around Rosslyn. A tragedy in multiple scenes.

A young man leaves his house in Herndon, right off the Fairfax County Parkway. He does not have red hair, nor is his boyfriend going to be killed if he doesn't have the money, but besides that, it is just like Run Lola Run.

First Scene, Driving all the way. Make a left on the parkway, drive a couple of lights, get on the toll road. 50 cents to get on. Traffic can make your speed anywhere from 5 to 25 miles an hour along the toll road until you get to the second toll plaza. 75 cents. No matter what speed you were doing before, you are now going 11 miles an hour. Just until you get past the exit for the Beltway. Now your are free and clear, but unfortunately, you are getting off at the next exit. Rt.123 If you miss this exit, you will be merging with 66 and getting a ticket for HOV violations.
Rt. 123 is full of traffic lights and cars, you are traveling about 4 miles. It will take you quite a long time. But then you will get on the GW Parkway. Travel on the GW Parkway for a while, get caught up in traffic for people trying to get on Rt.50. Once you arrive in Rosslyn, $10 parking is normal. Total time spent 2 hours 10 minutes round trip. $12.50 bucks in parking and tolls, and lots of wear and tear on your car, and your nerves.

Scene two. Drive to the Metro Station. Turn right on Fairfax county Parkway, get off on Rt. 50 to take a short cut down to Rt. 66 Get on 66 west. Hope you brought a pack of cards. You are travelling less than 4 miles on 66, but you will be on this road for 30 minutes average. That's 8 miles an hour for those of you playing at home. Parking at the Metro can be... problematic at best. The Orange Line starts at Vienna, so at least you get a seat. 30 minutes later (give or take) and you are in Rosslyn. 2 hours 40 minutes round trip. $11.90 total including parking and round trip travel. Much less wear and tear on you car, and lots of companies have Metro Benefits. Mine pays for the whole thing, saving me close to 3 grand a year.

Scene three. No car at all. The bus comes to the end of my street. Catch the bus, use SmarTrip card, not cash. Sleep till Vienna, get off, get on the Metro. If you use SmarTrip, the bus costs 35 cents each way; its $1.35 if you pay cash. $8.10 round trip with SmarTrip, no wear and tear on your car. 3 hours plus round trip. I gave up on this months ago: 3 hours round trip means almost two extra workdays spent in transit over the course of a week.

I guess the moral of the story is: If you are moving to the D.C. area, as some of you are, and some of you may be... your commute is a serious thing to consider. I know many of you are from the Big City, and D.C. seems like it shouldn't be any bigger a deal, but let me be clear: The traffic here is not to be trifled with.

"Summertime in England"

2008-04-11T11:51:00.004-04:00

So, without fanfare, or explanation I return in some small way.

Why did I go away? Do I only post in Ordinary Time? Have the heartfelt expressions of interest from friends finally cracked my frozen exterior? Am I just really bored at work?

Oi! Didn't you read the clause in the first sentence that said no explanation!?

Today, or perhaps yesterday, Dave arrives in England. His wonderful family around him, I wish him the best. He'll be gone for a couple of years. Based on my understanding of my own future plans, I will not be in this area when he gets back. I love the Internet. Dave moves away, but I'll still read his blog, he'll still read mine, and gmail will always allow us to talk.

I guess this is a transitional period for my friends. Some are buying houses, some are moving, some are getting married. I feel like a caterpillar who realises that not only are his friends all butterflies already, but he kinda missed the boat on the whole chrysalis thing. Ah, too depressing to think about really.

Time to clear the dust out on this thing. I can feel the sunlight hitting corners. Let's see what she can do!

"Family Affair"

2007-11-18T16:35:00.000-05:00

So I've been away.

It turns out there is more wrong with me than my gall bladder. I don't really want to get into it here. But suffice it to say, that my gall bladder is one of three organs with problems.

I've been in a funk for a while now. There is a laundry list of things that I can't eat, and it's all stuff I like. Mainly cheese. How am I supposed to give up cheese?

So for now, I'm doing my best. Not eating anything with fat, and waiting to hear from the doctor on all the blood work that he did.

I'm in Florida for the week. So envy my warm weather, even as you pity my poor diet.

"Here for the Party"

2007-11-18T14:44:00.000-05:00

Alright, sorry it took so long. These are from the Halloween party.

The party was at Mark and Lori's house

They had a good time decorating, and I got to help a little. I watched Mark carve a pumpkin and then helped set up a huge inflatable haunted castle thing. We didn't take a picture, but here's one I found online.

This Picture does not do it justice. The thing was over 10' tall and took us over an hour to set up. But it looked cool.

The party was a big success, with multiple floors of crazy happenings, and both the front a back porches getting plenty of use.

Two of the people in this picture are men.

That's Nathan as Maid Marion in the back, his falsies were one of the hits of the night. I think everyone managed to find an excuse to cop a feel.

So I told you my buddies from Richmond Kevin and Russell showed up:

Kevin came as "Kung Pow Chicken"

I know, I know....

Russell could not stop posing all night. Either like this, or the classic hands on waist pose, or something like it. He said you couldn't help yourself.

Lot's of people grabbed his falsies too.

This was one of my favorite costumes of the night.

Really nice looking Jesus, with a collapsible cross.

The cross was put to good use later in the night.

There were a lot of cool costumes.

Here's a crowd shot to give you an idea of a few of the various costumes.

While looking through the pictures I just noticed something.

See if you can spot the trend.

How 'bout now?

That's right, there was a lot of flannel in the house. Normally there is a lot of sexy in the house.

Well there was a stripper pole set up in the basement.

I don't know if you all are ready for this picture.

Are you sure?

Alright, don't say I didn't warn you:

Work that pole Mark!

Yes indeed, it was that kind of party.

Woah!

Even Russell can't believe his eyes.

Check out these good looking sisters.

Princess Leah made a lot of friends that night.

Bad Jesus!

This was my favorite "accidental picture" of the night. I almost deleted it, until I realized how creepy it looked.

Right after this picture I took another of the zombie.

Patrick gonna die!!!!

Presidential candidate Stephen Colbert kept bothering this sweet young girl all night.

Eventually she took to pretending to pass out so she wouldn't have to speak to him. It didn't work, he just grabbed her and pulled her into every picture.

Alright, I promised you a picture of me.

Here we go, me and my girlfriend in the costumes we picked up at Target at the last minute and became a hit at two parties with.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures. I'll try to update a little more often from here on.

"So Much Pain"

2007-11-05T10:22:00.001-05:00

Alright, enough already, I promise, I'm working on getting pictures from the party up. But for now, cut me some slack. I'm at work today, and in a lot of pain. I think it's gall bladder related, and ultimately, I think I would kill someone for a shot of morphine. Maybe not kill, its not as bad as the pain has been, but maim... yes, I'd definitely maim someone for some morphine.

"Ever the Same"

2007-10-30T22:49:00.001-04:00

So you've probably seen the trailers for the new Beowulf movie. I can't find the one I've seen most often, But I did find this one that has the line I'm looking for. Watch till the end, past the CGI naked Angelina Jolie.

So you've heard him say/shout " I am Beowulf" now right? Did it remind you of anything?

This is Sparta indeed.

So, I guess my questions is: did the creative team behind Beowulf add this in to try to belatedly jump on the "This is Sparta" internet Meme, or are the trying to tell be that all ancient peoples, from mid fifth century BC Greeks, to mid sixth century AD Danes; spoke in the same shouty way?

"You'll Have Time"

2007-10-30T09:56:00.000-04:00

This weekend was a party. I will post more on the party itself once I get more pictures from the party sent my way.

So at this party, two of my good friends from Richmond showed up. My old roommate Kevin, and Russell. Between the three of us, we have more facial hair than any four of you. Also, our collective media collection will smother yours with its vastness. It is also fair to say, that we will actually make you pee your pants you will laugh so hard. That is to say, when we are all "on". This party was a little more hanging out for the three of us; rather than trying to entertain everyone. It was nice. I did a little time behind the bar, and walked around, but generally, I talked to my friends. I hadn't seen Russel in many months, and so we did a lot of catching up. It was good to talk to Russ. When I talk to most people up here about creative ideas, it mostly comes in the form of Role Playing games, mostly. When I talk to Russ, it could be a play, a comic, a series of novels, or a TV show.

Speaking of TV shows, I'm not sure ( OK, I am sure, but I want to hold out hope) but I'm fairly certain that none of you know anyone at CBS. This is too bad. Because if CBS wanted to throw money at people to do a show about vampires, Russel and I had a great idea that was not a direct rip off of Angel. I'm looking at you soon to be cancelled Moonlight! Plus it is set in Las Vegas, similarly to CBS's already cancelled Viva Laughlin. For the price of these two shows, Russ and I would have created a wicked sweet show. To bad CBS, I'm sure you'll throw good money after bad and let some other duo with things like "guild cards" and "a track record", and "already written scripts" take a chance instead of two barely employed nobodies from the East Coast with a great idea and half a pilot written.

I almost made Kevin cry with joy. This may have been due in some small part to the alcohol, but also because I gave him his birthday present. A wicked cool knife unlike any I had ever seen. Kevin named it one of the five greatest presents ever, which he had to scale back a bit after I reminded him that he had probably received sex as a present many times. So he then declared it in the five greatest non sexual gifts of all time and proceeded to hold it close to his bosom for the duration of the party

For those living in the Richmond area, I am afraid that I may have given him the impression that, like the blades in many video games, his will gain power when it sucks your soul. I am sorry for any inconvenience this may cause you. On the plus side, I did tell him that you had to take 5 souls in quick succession to activate the blade, so if you are traveling alone or in a small agile group, you should be fine. If you are part of a large slow moving band of travelers, well I've already apologized, nothing more I can really say.

What else happened this weekend? Well, I got to start my game, which went well. The players nearly died in what ended up revealing itself as a live fire exercise. I loved the reveal there. I made it through the entire weekend without a stomach pain attack. I had a real serious conversation with my girlfriend about religion, its place in our lives and on the lives of the children we have both talked about having one day. We were both raised Catholic and find ourselves lapsed, so you would think that we would have a lot of common ground, but we really don't. I swear if I didn't love this girl I don't even know if I could talk to her! We come from a different point of view on almost every subject, and yet we seem to be able to make things work. The Sox swept the series. Stupid Rockies! You were supposed to use a slingshot!

While I've been writing this, I received some pictures and promises of more, so tonight or tomorrow should be party picture time.

"Shout"

2007-10-29T16:37:00.000-04:00

Hahahahahaha

GMs, I know this one will get you.

So freakin' busy today, no time for postings, but there will be much musings later on a weekend party, and reconnecting with friends.

"Centerfield"

2007-10-26T11:25:00.000-04:00

Two games into a fairly resounding beat down by the Boston Red Socks, the Colorado Rockies are still the team I want to see win the series. Doesn't look like that's going to happen though. It also looks like I may not want to blog about baseball for too much longer. Based on comments, I'm glad I didn't start talking baseball back during the wild card race.

For those who didn't recognize the anonymous poster giving most of the answers, I'd like to welcome my Dad to the ranks of those who have played along at home.

So here are the answers to the previous quiz.

1. The Boys of Summer is a phrase that is many sports writers use to encompass all ball players. But a book by that name focuses on what team? The Brooklyn Dodgers is correct. Before these Bums packed up and left for L.A., they were the focus of a young man's dreams, not to mention every waking moment, in the well regarded book by Roger Kahn

2. What park is the home of the Green Monster? Fenway Park, where the first two games of the World Series was played this year.

3. The 1919 World Series will go down in history as "The Black Sox Scandal" where 8 members of the Chicago White Sox were accused of throwing the series. What was the other team in the series? The Cincinnati Reds is correct. They went by the name Red Stockings way back in the day, and during the "red scare" of the 50s and 60s went by Redlegs.

4. Which President threw out the first ceremonial first pitch? Hint: it was at a Senators game. It was indeed Taft, in 1910.

5. What team's ballpark was home to Roseanne's infamous rendition of the Star Spangled Banner? It was July of 1990, in Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, current home of refugees of the fires in California.

6. The 2002 film The Rookie, starring Dennis Quaid is based on the true story of Jim Morris, who at 35 years old, played in his rookie season for what team? The Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

7. An easy one for fans from my neck of the woods: Where did the Washington Nationals play before they moved here? Montreal Expos is correct, now all we have to do is get the Blue Jays to leave Toronto.

8. What state has the most MLB teams, how many teams is that, and what league has the majority of those teams? Dad is correct with the National League having 3 of the 5 California teams.

9. Match the well known player with the team he his best known for playing for.
------A.Ty Cobb----------3 Detroit Tigers
------B. Pete Rose--------5 Cincinnati Reds
------C.Hank Aaron-------2. Atlanta (formerly Milwaukee) Braves
------D.Yogi Berra---------1. New York Yankees
------E.Ted Williams-------4. Boston Red Socks

10. OK, we're talkin' baseball... Who are/were Willy, Mickey and the Duke? Willy Mays, Mickey Mantle and Duke Snider, they were the center fielders of the three New York teams at the time, The Giants, The Yankees, and the Dodgers. What about the Mets you may ask? They weren't around yet.

11. Not strictly a baseball question, but... what ball park did the Beatles play their last concert at? It was in 1966. Candlestick Park, where the Giants played, and the 49ers still do.

12. In 1962, the otherwise unremarkable Harry Chiti entered baseball history when he was traded for a "player to be named later". Who was that player? Harry Chiti. That's right, he was traded for himself. The Indians traded him to the Mets, and 20 days later, the Mets sent him back.

13. The Cleavland Indians team is the focus of the first two Major League films. What major league team, and their minor league affiliate the South Carolina Buzz are the focus of Major League: Back to the Minors? The Minnesota Twins.

14. What team has picked up the nickname "The Twinkies" The Minnesota Twins! Again! I was not running out of questions damn it!

15. Name any of "Mighty Casey"'s teammates on "The Mudville Nine" Cooney and Barrows both died at first, Flynn got a base hit, and Jimmy/Johnnie Blake got a double. Which led to Casey taking the plate.

Alright, no more Baseball, but I tell you what, you guys are missing a great game!

"The Boys of Summer"

2007-10-22T22:14:00.000-04:00

Late October, and baseball once again rests on the minds of men and women across the country. The Red Socks have once again snatched victory from the jaws of defeat to win the American League Pennant, while in Colorado, the Rockies have a perfect post season on their hands.

I like Baseball. I do not love Baseball, but I like it. I do not follow a particular team. When pressed, I do profess to enjoying the Yankees, the Dodgers, the Mets, and the Cardinals. I also enjoy watching certain teams loose, like the Blue Jays, the Orioles, and the Angels. Once the Yankees were out this year, I wanted the Sox to go out as well, but it looks like they might have the grit to go up against the grenade tossing "David" of Colorado, for you must admit, the Boston Red Sox are the Goliath in this example.

Most of what I like about baseball are the traditions, the chants, the superstitions, and what not, so in that vein, I present a little baseball quiz for you all.

1. The Boys of Summer is a phrase that is many sports writers use to encompass all ball players. But a book by that name focuses on what team?

2. What park is the home of the Green Monster?

3. The 1919 World Series will go down in history as "The Black Sox Scandal" where 8 members of the Chicago White Sox were accused of throwing the series. What was the other team in the series?

4. Which President threw out the first ceremonial first pitch? Hint: it was at a Senators game.

5. What team's ballpark was home to Roseanne's infamous rendition of the Star Spangled Banner?

6. The 2002 film The Rookie, starring Dennis Quaid is based on the true story of Jim Morris, who at 35 years old, played in his rookie season for what team?

7. An easy one for fans from my neck of the woods: Where did the Washington Nationals play before they moved here?

8. What state has the most MLB teams, how many teams is that, and what league has the majority of those teams?

9. Match the well known player with the team he his best known for playing for.
------A.Ty Cobb----------1.New York Yankees
------B. Pete Rose--------2.Atlanta Braves
------C.Hank Aaron-------3. Detroit Tigers
------D.Yogi Berra---------4.Boston Red Sox
------E.Ted Williams-------5.Cincinnati Reds

10. OK, we're talkin' baseball... Who are/were Willy, Mickey and the Duke?

11. Not strictly a baseball question, but... what ball park did the Beatles play their last concert at? It was in 1966.

12. In 1962, the otherwise unremarkable Harry Chiti entered baseball history when he was traded for a "player to be named later". Who was that player?

13. The Cleavland Indians team is the focus of the first two Major League films. What major league team, and their minor league affiliate the South Carolina Buzz are the focus of Major League: Back to the Minors?

14. What team has picked up the nickname "The Twinkies"

15. Name any of "Mighty Casey"'s teammates on "The Mudville Nine"

"You Were Meant For Me"

2007-10-22T12:28:00.000-04:00

What a crappy weekend.

I spent a good portion of Friday night, all through Saturday morning in intense indigestion style pain. About 12 hours straight. No kidding. So then, when I finally passed out at 11:00 in the morning on Saturday, I wasted the entire day by not waking up until that evening.

I was supposed to go to a Halloween party Saturday night, I had a costume idea all ready, and only needed a few cheap accessories from Wall Mart to finish it off. Then right after I woke up, my costume partner had to back out of the party. So my girlfriend came over to the house, picked me up and we drove to Fair Oaks Mall. Hours later, we left and still did not have costumes. In desperation I headed to Target. The Halloween costume section of the store looked like a tornado had hit, and no one had cleaned up. The 75% off Clearance section of the Woman's department looked like it might have some ideas, but nothing good materialized. We were about to head to the party (only 2 hours late, OK more like 3) sans costume when my girlfriend said something about a robe and slippers. So we grabbed some slippers and snatched a few cheap robes off the racks. We were ready to roll. Then we found the pajamas.

Now I won't try to describe them here. Someone at the party took pictures, and when I get those I will let the cuteness speak for itself. For now, I'll just say that we were a hit.

The party was good, but lasted way into the next morning. In fact, our hostess was pretty much asleep on her feet by the time we left, the poor girl. Sunday was a wasted day for getting anything done, and at the end of the night, we didn't even get to kill our players!

A real let down for a weekend that was supposed to include a beer festival, but that's what I get for being old: indigestion.

I've got nothing on tap as far as trivia, quizzes, or anything goes. Guess I need to get cracking! Rarely visited bogs don't write themselves!

"In The Garage"

2007-10-19T16:29:00.000-04:00

Yes folks, it's another gaming post.

Currently, I'm co running a game, and playing in another quasi/semi regularly. The game that I'm co running has a really high likelihood of ending this session. If it does not, it will almost certainly end the next. The game I'm playing only meets about once a month or so. I should be working on props for the game I'm co running, but with the ultimate demise of the team so readily apparent, I find myself focusing on the future instead.

For the last few months, I've been working on a new White Wolf: Old World of Darkness game setting. Set on an Island on the other side of the world, I have found a wealth of information on Youtube, and on Wikipedia. But not just the main pages of Wikipedia, no; in fact it is the discussion pages that show some of the true nature of how people really feel. If you have never read a discussion page, I encourage you to do so. But be prepared for long rants on topics that are barely understood by the people that post about them. These Wikipedians will throw rule after rule to back up their claim, and will often just graze the line of decency, in the hopes that their opponent will cross it, and then be banned. Great stuff.

So anyway, like I was saying, Sri Lanka. Shadow government run by vampires. Not really breaking the bank with the basic concept, but I have been studying native music and religious culture to ad to the mix, and overall I'm having a good time. But I'm trying to make sure I reign myself in. My friend Mark and I have talked quite extensively on the problems we ran into in our game.

Basically, if you put too much time and effort into a world, your players will invariably not dig deep enough to notice your subtle clues. If you don't put enough time into your world, your players will invariably find the plot hole. Push them gently in a direction, and you are railroading them, yet leave them be for a session, and they get bored. These are my friends mind you, people I like, and whose opinions I care about. Creating a world for a game is frustrating and ultimately only as fulfilling as your friends make it. I can spend the next few months creating a world, but until I drop my friends in the middle of it, it hasn't moved. It's like a PC game with a sandbox style scenario editor. I can create a government, fill it with Lords spiritual and temporal, and ministers out the wazoo, but until the players start there is no intrigue; just the idea of intrigues future.

This weekend I'm not sure what I'm doing, plans seem to shift all the time, but be assured that I will spend far to much time worrying about a game that I will ultimately find a little disappointing, but that my friends will find so dense and confusing that I have to end it early.

"Baby Don't Forget My Number"

2007-10-16T08:00:00.000-04:00

Thank you all for playing, here are the eagerly anticipated answers to the "Don't Lose My Number" post last week. I got this as a spreadsheet, so I was able to plug something in and see if it was correct.

1. 26 L of the A -- hemisphire starting things out right with 26 letters of the Alphabet

2. 7 D of the W --7 Days of the week, another one picked up by

3. 7 W of the W--7 Wonders of the World, Melissa very nicely picking up the pass

4. 12 S of the Z--12 signs of the zodiac is correct

5. 52 C in a D (WJs)--52 cards in a deck (Without Jokers) Melissa pulls this one out, Jokers, not Jacks

6. 13 S in the USF--13 stripes in the USF is correct. One of the ones I did not include was 13=UFS which was supposedly 13 is unlucky for some. Lame.

7. 18 H on a G C--18 Holes on a Golf Course, correct

8. 5 T on a F--5 Toes on a Foot, it took me days to get this one, nice one Melissa

9. 90 D in a R A--90 Degrees in a Right Angle, Nice one Maren, it took me a while to get this one as well.

10. 3 B M ( S H T R)--Maren's placeholder is not as close as she hopes :-) 3 Blind Mice (See How They Run) I did not get this one until I was asking my father for the answer. As I said " I still don't get 3 B M" I suddenly got it. See, say it out loud works!

11. 32 is the T in D F at which W F--32 is the temperature in Degrees Fahrenheit at which water freezes. Another correct one for hemisphire. Anyone else have a science teacher who claimed we would never have to teach this to our children because within 20 years or so, everything would be metric? Oh naive science teacher of my youth, never overlook the blind stubborn aversion to change of the American People.

12. 15 P on a R T--I admit, I only got this by shear blind luck of a guess. 15 Players on a Rugby Team.

13. 3 W on a T--3 Wheels on a Tricycle, nice one Melissa, another one I admit took me days. My Dad kept calling me and saying "3 W on a T , come on!" But I couldn't do it until I took the weekend off.

14. 11 P on a F (S) T--This is the one I got that helped me guess the Rugby one. 11 Players on a Football (Soccer) Team

15. 12 M in a Y--Twelve Months in a Year is Correct

16. 8 T on an O--8 Tentacles on an Octopus. Good one Maren, I was particularly pleased when I got this one after only briefly trying to spell angles with a silent T at the beginning "8 Tangles on a Octagon" was not a correct answer.

17. 29 D in F on a L Y--29 Days in February on a Leap Year. Nice going.

18. 365 D in a Y--365 Days in a Year, another gimme

19. 13 L in a B D--13 Loaves in a Bakers Dozen. Maren sweeps up another one.

20. 52 W in a Y--52 Weeks in a Year

21. 9 L of a C-- Kind of surprised no one got this one. Maren's answer made me question her sanity until I read that it was a place holder, not a guess. Then I read it again and laughed out loud. 9 Legs on a Camel? No Maren, 9 Lives of a Cat

22. 60 M in a H--60 Minutes in an hour, correct again.

23. 23 P of C in the HB--23 Pairs of Chromosomes in the Human Body. Nice one Melissa. I got this one eventually, but only after trying to remember how many Pictures of Christ were in the Holy Bible. Or Persons of Color, or Presents of Christmas, or People of Chinese. I finally realised it wasn't Holy Bible after exhausting all of my options.

24. 64 S on a C B--Nobody? 64 squares on a Chess (or you could say checkers) Board.

25. 9 P in S A-- Best wrong answer that sounds perfectly plausible goes to Maren for 9 Pronouns in Standard Arabic. I myself kept trying to make it about South America there are 13 countries, but I was guessing ( Presidents of South America, nine Parliaments of South America. This is one of the really hard ones I left in. 9 Provinces in South Africa

26. 6 B to an O in C--Again, no one should have gotten this one. I came close ( I guessed C was Cricket, that's close right?) 6 Balls to an Over in Cricket

27. 1000 Y in a M--1000 Years in a Millennium

28. 15 M on a D M C--I'm guessing Maren deserves partial credit for this one, but every Pirate I know sings it as 15 Men on a Dead Man's Chest. But I do like Monkeys, so partial credit.

Bonus: I already told you about the stupid Unlucky for some one I left out. the others were

66 B of the B
27 B in the NT
39 B of the OT

Now with all three together, you might get these. I did, but not all faiths count them the same.
66 Books of the Bible
27 Books of the New Testament
39 Books of the Old Testament

and the one no one I know got: 100 C in a R

Hope you all enjoyed the quiz. If you are interested in taking some of the other parts, here is a link to a site. If you want to go to the Mensa sight and do their "workout" here is the link for that.

"Goober Peas"

2007-10-15T13:11:00.000-04:00

"These folks come for the Festival" indeed.

I have been to the Suffolk, and I have seen the Peanut, and let me tell you, he comes for you and for me my brothers and sisters, uh yes he does.

Weekend 6 of 8 in a row is done. The Suffolk Peanut Fest was not exactly what I expected. I'll give you a run down a little further in the post, but for those of you without patience let me say, I liked it better than my weekend I had to work all week, but not as much as the Highland Games weekend. Not to say it wasn't fun, but I've had some pretty good weekends to compare with!

It started with the drive down. We were on the road for close to four hours. Traffic was bad, and there was a cat in the car. In case I have not made my feelings on cats known (and I know I have), I hate them. In general that is. In specific, I have made allowances for the cat I live with, and the cat that owns my girlfriend. I am ambivalent towards them. This means that when I see them and I am in the presence of humans who love them, I treat them as pets, when their humans are gone I ignore them and they ignore me. Cats are smart, I understand this now. I used to think cats were dumb, what with the pooing in the house and tearing furniture and clothes willy nilly. But I see now that they are smart. Dogs have to go outside in the elements to do their business; cats stay warm and dry. Dogs ruin something and they are swatted and told they are bad; cats have humans that blame themselves for the cat destroying things. But I, as usual, digress.

My girlfriends cat was a little noisy on the way down, not bad really, just a little to much with the whining sounds. We got into her folks house in Suffolk after midnight. The four of us stayed up for a few hours over drinks and then we headed off to bed. I slept in the pop up camper this time. With my recent back injuries and the general out of shape mushiness that is my body, I woke up with a neck cramp and back pains after sleeping too long. Thus began the day that should have been better, but was not so much my best day.

I popped a pain killer and a muscle relaxer before we hit the road. I haven't taken both at the same time since I came back to work after throwing out my back. We brought along my girlfriend's sister, but her brother wanted to stay at home so it was just the three of us. Like I said, it was a late start and that coupled with our slow pace around the festival meant we took a while to get around the whole thing. There was food out the wazoo, various people dressed up in costumes, a fair, two stages of entertainment, and some arts and crafts vendors in a big tent. But you know what they didn't have? Peanut stuff! Now sure, there was peanuts for free around the place, and a vendor selling peanuts and peanut butter, but nothing like I expected. I thought this would be a one stop shop for all my peanut themed Christmas giving needs. No peanut throws and wall hangings, no peanut earrings, no peanut quilts or t shirts or hats. Of course, I might have missed some things, I was pretty doped up by then. :0)

Late afternoon we met up with a couple of friends of mine who were also major players in the Festival hierarchy. We had a good time walking around with people who knew the game and how it was played, and because of them I tried this:

It's called a Bar-b-que Sundae. Baked beans, cole slaw and pulled pork in a cup. They put the coleslaw on the bottom on mine, and thank goodness, because it gave me someplace to hold the plastic cup without burning my hand. The amazing concoction was brought to me by Wood Chick's BBQ, a local South Eastern VA joint run by women. They are a fairly recent entry to the world of BBQ, but I would have gone back for seconds if we had stayed all day. In fact, we ended up missing most of what would have made the Festival cool for me.

We had to head back to do a birthday dinner for my girlfriend, and it was great. Fondue is a rare treat at her house, and even rare-er at mine, so I enjoyed myself. We did not make it back to the festival in time to see the two big name bands or the fireworks, but I hear they were great. Poco and Pure Prairie League are both well known southern rock bands that I would love to have seen, on the other hand; fondue rocks. We stayed up to watch the Indians and the Sox, but started passing out during the 9th inning. So back to sleep out in the pop up.

We did not see the rock bands play, or the high school bands play. We missed the demolition derby, and the Motorcycles. We missed the blues music and Jr. Walker's all stars. We also did not get a chance to ride death defying rides run by real life carnies! I'm sure the Fest was cooler for those people who got to spend a couple of days at it, and who were not doped to the gills.

The next day I woke up to a great bacon and eggs breakfast, and we packed up for the drive back. My girlfriend's parents had given her a GPS thing, so we played with it on the way back. The cat was more annoying than anything had a right to be. I didn't have pets growing up, and made what turned out to be some fairly inconsiderate comments about the cat and so the drive back up was... chilly. Not cold, b/c the trip had gone well, but still not the best weekend we had spent together as a couple.

We finished the weekend with my folks, grilling steaks and watching the Patriots dominate the over filled Cowboys. FSU also lost this weekend, not a good week for football for my Dad. Fortunately, he only really likes football, and is not one of those rabid fans who talk about "we just need to" or "I can't believe we". Dad will go to work this morning and be fine. Many other men I know who's Alma matter and favorite pro team lost this weekend will be grouches today. Notice to these people: go outside and read a book to your child. Also, stop refereing to your favorite team as "we". Unless you are on the payroll, stop talking as if Dan Snyder or Jim Tressel takes your calls.

It might seem odd to some of you out there that after a C+/B- weekend with my girlfriend, that included time with her folks; I would want to finish it out with my own. My parents are like my battery charger. No, that makes them sound boring. My parents are like my alternator. No, not enough people will get that. They are my rock makes it sound too religious, or alternately, too much like that Bob Seeger song that sells trucks. But I think I've made my point. Your weekend should fill you with energy enough to get you through the week. My weekend was fun, but a little tiring and straining to get me through all five days. Enter my parents; watching football, listening to new stories about old friends, grilling out with Dad, and Mom pushing home cooked food on me as I walk out the door. That's good for a least three or four days.

Answers to the last quiz later today or tomorrow!

"Don't Lose My Number"

2007-10-12T15:59:00.000-04:00

Maren posted a quiz that really took me out of my safe zone and I loved it. I did not under any circumstances win, but I learned a bunch and had a good time. My father sent me a quiz as a spreadsheet last week that I really enjoyed wrapping my brain around. It claimed (as many online quizzes do) to be associated with MENSA, but to the best of my limited research, actually has nothing to do with it at all.

Still, it was fun, and since I'm going to be gone all weekend again, (Suffolk Peanut Festival for those keeping track) I thought I'd leave you with another hard one, but not for the usual reasons.

I do have a tendency to post quizzes about pop culture, this is because I tend to think of it as non exclusionary. If I did a quiz on theater terms, role playing tropes, or my girlfriend, I would be excluding people. But if I talk about movies, TV and music... well, lets face it, if you have an internet connection you have sufficient exposure to pop culture to guess.

But I went back over some of those quizzes and realised "wow, these are 'ef-ing' hard". And mostly because they are obscure. So the quiz below is hard, (at least I found it a challenge to get them all right [full disclosure I never did figure out three of them, I had to ask for the answer] though many of them came to me within minutes of starting, others took days to gestate in my head) but the knowledge is not too obscure. The version I took had 33 questions, and is in fact part one of 4 I found online later. I have trimmed it down to 28 because quite frankly, some of them were lame, and others are not true depending on your faith.

Here are a couple of tips, I've "spoiler tagged" them, just highlight if you want a little leg up.

A. Ignore the letters. Focus on the number.

B. Forget the number, focus on the letters.

C. Say it out loud. Again. Again. See?

So here we go. The first one I've solved for you as an example

0. 24 H in a D 24 Hours in a Day

1. 26 L of the A

2. 7 D of the W

3. 7 W of the W

4. 12 S of the Z

5. 52 C in a D (WJs)

6. 13 S in the USF

7. 18 H on a G C

8. 5 T on a F

9. 90 D in a R A

10. 3 B M ( S H T R)

11. 32 is the T in D F at which W F

12. 15 P on a R T

13. 3 W on a T

14. 11 P on a F (S) T

15. 12 M in a Y

16. 8 T on an O

17. 29 D in F on a L Y

18. 365 D in a Y

19. 13 L in a B D

20. 52 W in a Y

21. 9 L of a C

22. 60 M in a H

23. 23 P of C in the HB

24. 64 S on a C B

25. 9 P in S A

26. 6 B to an O in C

27. 1000 Y in a M

28. 15 M on a D M C

Like I said, my Dad sent this one to me, and he liked it, and I liked it, so I figure, you'll like it. Warning: this is not an "American" test, nor is it a "British" test. It is an international test in English. Have a good time, I'll be back with answers after the weekend.

"Rocket"

2007-10-10T14:21:00.000-04:00

So we had some good guesses, but fewer people than I thought. Guess this one was a little hard. Or maybe just not interesting enough. I tried to stray from the music quizzes a little, and the next quiz is also not music related. In addition, the next quiz I was going to do is fairly hard (I think) so maybe I'll put it on the back burner. Take a break from the quizzes, see if I can fill my blog with something else for a while. Random trivia, or a play by play on updating my resume.

Enough of that. On to the answers.

1. I like rich people. I like the way they live. I like the way I live when I'm with them. This is Richard Haydn as Max Detweiler in The Sound of Music. He's the weaselly but nice about it manager/kindly uncle.

2. We're all going to die and they're never going to give me my license! E.T. The older brother says it about the feds chasing them.

3. I can do anything, I'm the chief of police. Fletch was a good guess, I can almost hear Chevy Chase saying it, but it is from Jaws.

4. Angel, ha! She's a female! And all females is poison! They're full of wicked wiles! "What's a wile" "I don't know, but I'm agin' 'em". Oh Grumpy, one day you'll warm up to women. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

5. That's a pie crust promise. Easily made, easily broken. Julie Andrews movie number 2: Mary Poppins. Way to go Melissa.

6. Her dream had come true. She was a folk singer. Not as obscure a quote as I thought, Forest Gump it is. Big pat on the back for everyone, unless you pictured Buttercup naked in which case you are dirty. Bad readers! Hee Hee, now you're all doing it.

7. Kids, we're gonna have to eat this cake by ourselves. Your Uncle Joey didn't make parole again. Back to the Future it is, with Lea Thompson in some really great fat/age make-up.

8. I don't want to play the gender card right now. You want to play a card, let's play the "let's not die" card. I didn't expect anyone to get this. It's from Nemo! Marlin is talking to Dory about not asking for directions, then Dory speaks whale remember? Man I've watched that movie too many times for a thirty year old without kids.

9. Do you know why the number two hundred is so vitally descriptive to both you and me? It's your weight and my I.Q. Oscar winner Gene Hackman in the role I remember him best for: Lex Luthor in the first Superman film. He's bitching out his hired help Otis (Ned Beatty) in this line. Way to go Lex, biggest brain on the planet, rip on a guy for being fat.

10.When you grow up, your heart dies. Melissa is right on with Breakfast Club.

11.I want him manning a radar tower in Alaska by the end of the day. Just mail him his clothes. Ominous line from the first Mission Impossible movie.

12.Wonderful girl! Either I'm going to kill her or I'm beginning to like her. Han Solo will hunt down those of you who did not know this and revoke your geek card. Of course Lykaon gave his up of his own free will earlier this month.

13. Both hands on the wheel, Mr. Jones, I'm a very nervous passenger. Sean Connery as James Bond in Dr. No. Dude picks him up from the airport, and Bond knows its a setup the whole time.

14.This is the cleanest and nicest police car I've ever been in my life. This thing is nicer than my apartment. Axel! Eddie Murphy in the first Beverly Hills Cop. It's from earlier in the film, before they realise he's a cop.

15. Flying a plane is no different from riding a bicycle; it's just a lot harder to put baseball cards in the spokes. And last is Airplane! Melissa got this one too.

Hope everyone enjoyed this little walk down memory lane. Sorry I didn't include pics or videos, but I actually have work to do at work today! Stupid work, making Davey's few loyal readers have to stare at boring text.

"Rare Old Mountain Dew"

2007-10-09T10:02:00.000-04:00

Just a few pictures that my cailin deas took of the grounds during the wine tasting this weekend.

Cool rolling hills we wished we had brought a blanket to sit on.

Our cheese and wine break.

The vineyards.

Good view of the hills to the North East

Last picture of our trip to the winery.

Alright, I'm going to put up the answers to the last quiz tonight or tomorrow, so tell your friends and family to get their guesses in! I thought maybe you all could use some help. Two of the quotes are in movies staring Julie Andrews. Two of the quotes come from animated films. Eight of the quotes come from films that have sequels. Only one of the guesses so far is wrong.

"Lilac Wine"

2007-10-08T10:31:00.000-04:00

Another weekend, another cool travel story.

This time I didn't really go far, but did have a great time. This weekend was a double birthday weekend; my sister and my girlfriend. Actually, it was also the birthday weekend of an aunt in Florida and a cousin in the Southwest. But we're not here to talk about them.

Friday night got to a late start and didn't really perk up. In fact, due to general bad feelings all around, and a tendency not to want to fight in public, my girlfriend and I drove south on 28 for a while. A good long while. Eventually we talked, turned the car around, and ate "dinner" late at Denny's in Fairfax. I don't know exactly when we left, but it was well past the witching hour. Heck, we didn't even get back to the Fairfax area until close to 1:00 AM. But all was well in the world and we were planning on an "early" (for us that means 10:00 AM) start Saturday morning.

I'll spare you the details, but I was up by 6:30 in the morning and in lots of pain. I should not eat greasy breakfast food and drink coffee at 1:00 in the morning and expect to be cool like I was at twenty. So by the time I talked to my girlfriend, I was tired and in pain and ready to bail, except that it was her birthday so... I bucked up and got in the car and drove. It was the right decision, I felt fine throughout the day. I'm really glad I didn't wuss out.

So I told her to dress for outdoors in the sun, comfortable clothes and good shoes for walking. I still hadn't told her what I was doing for her birthday. Hee hee! I love surprises. Clarification: I love surprises when they are not on me. Note to others, I hate surprises on me. When she got in the car she was on the phone with her godmother. Later I would learn that she had been on that call for an hour. So we got in my car and drove west on 50. When we passed the Loudon County Parkway I looked over, and gave her a slightly peevish look. She made her apologies, hung up the phone and I wished her Happy Birthday. She had been on the phone for 94 minutes. With one person. I don't know how girls do that. After refusing to tell her where I was taking her, she got on the phone with her folks and they wished her a happy birthday. I could hear her telling them that I was taking her somewhere and she didn't know where. She began to look around and declared it "bupkis Virginia". That's when we passed Gilbert's Corner. That's the corner of 50 and 15 by the way. So, not really bupkis, in fact, not even Middleburg yet, but because we live in NoVa, we get really used to seeing a Starbucks every block or two. US 50 just gets rural really fast. Take a look at Google Maps and see how dense the suburbia is on 50 to the east of Dulles Airport, and notice how fast it changes when you go west.

Anyway... after Gilbert's Corner comes this tiny town called Aldie. From the road, Aldie appears to support itself by being quaint. They had signs for various fall festivals, an old mill you could tour and take pictures of, and more antique shops than any person could reasonably visit in one day. Even the closed gas station looked more like a set piece than an actually out of business company. Just past Albie we made a left onto Champe Ford Road. Calling it a road is a bit generous. It was not only not paved, it wasn't even graveled. So we drove about a mile and a half down a dirt/mud/gravel path that was wide enough for two cars except when it wasn't. Finally we found it: Chrysalis Vineyards .

There's a little lake, and fields of grapes, and it was beautiful. They were throwing a wine tasting and bluegrass festival. The bluegrass was fun, they did some good traditional pieces, and a great cover of "Don't Let Me Down". I think it was the same band for the whole time we were there, just taking some breaks. We tried nine wines at the tasting, and another two or three at various points during the day. The food was really nice, and the people were smart and friendly. The festival was to celebrate and focus on the Norton grape, an American grape (most wine is made from European grapes even here in America) said to resemble a blueberry. The winery is really proud of it's Norton grape wines, and all of its reds. I do not drink wine. But may I just say, I liked the whites, and could not finish many of the reds. Less than an ounce of wine and I was still passing it to my girlfriend. Oh well, I'm not a wine snob. Maybe the reds were just above my palate.

We stayed for a few hours, generally having a great time. She bought some wine, I bought some candy (a truer insight into our vices has never been put to paper) and we headed back to Reston. She changed clothes and then I gave her her present, a pair of earrings that I had bought at the Highland Games while she was distracted. I was particularly proud of both the purchase and the giving, but neither story writes well. You'll have to trust me that I tell I very humorus version of how I bought the earings right under her nose. They look like this but silver, and on her ears. Then we drove to my place, and I changed clothes.

We went to Coastal Flats in Fairfax. Good stuff. Same family of restaurants as Silverado, Sweetwater, Mike's and the rest. We were seated quickly and our server was a very easy to relate to guy. We had an appetizer that ultimately I would not order again. It was a crab imperial with what amounted to pita chips. I forget how much it was, but it was "OK". The entrees however were great. On my suggestion, my girlfriend got the Sauteed Shrimp & Creamy Grit Cake. I really dig this dish, but it is a little salty. She enjoyed it. I tried something new, the Short Smoked Salmon Fillet. Great fish. It was cheap considering the rest of the menu, and really good. The flavor was like it was right off a wood fire, and it flaked in large pieces perfect for my fork. The side was mashed cauliflower. Let's face it, it was cauliflower. I am not a fan. But mashed was something new, so I ate it, and it's better for me than mashed potatoes. We passed on dessert and walked around Fairfax Corner. They are not done with the construction of the water fountain no mater what the website says. We had a good time just walking and talking, dipping into stores to look for something for my sister the next day, and then headed to Ben and Jerry's for ice cream.

Ultimately I did I good job on the birthday planning thing, and am really glad she had a good time. She is one of those people always cursed with crummy birthdays; but we're all about breaking trends.

The next morning she helped me pick out a gift for my sister and we were at my folks for birthday appetizers and dessert. This is kind of a Cruz favorite. We all love a nice spaghetti dinner, or taco night, or what have you, but we are also fans of the Americanized version of tapas. We had cracked pepper cheese slices on bread slices, fresh guacamole, port wine cheese spread on crackers, hummus on bagel chips, POCs with dip, and then grilled a couple of brats and Italian hot sausages with sauteed peppers and onions. With the almost record high temperatures it really felt like summer rather than the first week of October. So of course the really cool winter cape I gave my sister is going to sit in the closet for weeks. But she liked it so I'm happy. For desert we did ice cream sundaes.

We left soon after, and my girlfriend went back to her place, and I went to game. Great weekend, and next weekend I'm headed to the Peanut Festival! We did take some pictures, and I'll try to get them up soon.

Don't forget the quiz in the post below this one. Three brave souls so far!

"Rocket Queen"

2007-10-05T16:14:00.000-04:00

There are movies that you have watched time and time again. Movies that you would swear you could quote every line of, right along with it. But could you really? What if someone gave you a line completely out of context? I'm sure we all could do "Anybody want a peanut?" or "As you wish!" But how many of us can do "I'm not saying I'd like to build a summer home here, but the trees are actually quite lovely"?

OK,that one was a little easy with the build up from the other quotes, but you see what I mean. So here is the idea. Quotes from some of the biggest and best movies of all time. The chances that you have seen these movies is very high, but do you remember them all? Let me give an example. The quote that gave me the idea for this is "It rains because you're sad baby." Remember it? It's from Men in Black 2. I'm not including it in the quiz because it is not a well known enough movie. I mean, it was big, but it wasn't HUGE. The movies these quotes come from are HUGE. Either enormous blockbusters, or movies that touched our national conscience or both.

Oh yeah, and bonus points for the title of the post. It's a song I picked special for someone who hasn't posted here in a long time. Someone who just may get Dutch-balled if she doesn't play.

1. I like rich people. I like the way they live. I like the way I live when I'm with them.

2. We're all going to die and they're never going to give me my license!

3. I can do anything, I'm the chief of police.

4. Angel, ha! She's a female! And all females is poison! They're full of wicked wiles!

5. That's a pie crust promise. Easily made, easily broken.

6. Her dream had come true. She was a folk singer.

7. Kids, we're gonna have to eat this cake by ourselves. Your Uncle Joey didn't make parole again.

8. I don't want to play the gender card right now. You want to play a card, let's play the "let's not die" card.

9. Do you know why the number two hundred is so vitally descriptive to both you and me? It's your weight and my I.Q.

10.When you grow up, your heart dies.

11.I want him manning a radar tower in Alaska by the end of the day. Just mail him his clothes.

12.Wonderful girl! Either I'm going to kill her or I'm beginning to like her.

13. Both hands on the wheel, Mr. Jones, I'm a very nervous passenger.

14.This is the cleanest and nicest police car I've ever been in my life. This thing is nicer than my apartment.

15. Flying a plane is no different from riding a bicycle; it's just a lot harder to put baseball cards in the spokes.

"Iran So Far"

2007-10-04T21:25:00.001-04:00

Andy Samberg with Andy Levin of Maroon 5.

Anything else I say would take away from the genius.

"Spelling Bee"

2007-10-03T12:32:00.000-04:00

So the post below is chock full of spelling errors. I hit "publish post" instead of "save now" and it posted, I can't edit it because the stupid map seems to make editing it impossible.

Forgive my awful unchecked self.

"My Old School"

2007-10-03T12:21:00.000-04:00

This past weekend, my girlfriend and I packed up and headed to Williamsburg. We left the NoVa area a little late, and stopped for dinner, and so ended up hitting Williamsburg around 1:15 AM. I got out, shook hands with her parents for the first time, and went to bed an hour later. Her parents were very nice, but it was very late so I don't even remember what was said other than " I hope you brought earplugs".

We stayed at Anvil Camprgrounds in Williamsburg.

View Larger Map

Notice the train tracks convieniently located only 50 yards away? No matter how much warning you give yourself, or how deep your earplugs are in, when the train comes at 4:30 in the morning, the animal part of your brain starts screaming:

"Run!!!!"
The rational part of your brain responds with:
"Where are we, why are we awake?"

"Run away!"

"We are naked in a tent, why should we run and what is that noise anyway?"

"Death!!!!!! Run!!!"

"OK, that's the train they were telling us about, we should lie back down and get in the sleeping bag, it is very loud but it can't hurt us."

"Loud Death, Run Now!!!!!"

"Seriously, I'm already back in the bag, and the train is passing now, it did not hit us, let's sleep now."

"Run!!!!"

It seriously was scary as hell.

We all woke up a little groggy, had a cup of coffee, brushed our teeth, and talked small talk for a brief 2 and a half hours until someone fianly said "Let's go"

Let's go ment IHOP, and then finally the Highland Games. I was excited, but worried that we would miss all the games. But, even though we did not get to the Games until 1:00 PM on the second of two days, we did still get to see a few events, plenty of pipers, and lots of cool vendors.

In fact, about 15 minutes after we arrived, they set up for the event I wanted to see the most, the Caber Toss.

In Caber tossing, an otherwise normal man picks up an 18 foot telephone pole weghing roughly 100 pounds and throws it end over end, trying to get it to land at a "12:00" angle from where he is standing. Distance does not matter, but you have to be a strong son of a gun to flip the dang thing. [all pictures taken by my girlfriend]

Caber catchers push the Caber to a standing position for a contestent.

A large man in a kilt picks up a tree, and after balancing it, runs a few steps.

He then plants his feet and pushes.

The Caber is away!

These guys are bringing it back to start again, pictures of a tossed Caber look like a log on the ground, so I skipped those.

We wandered all over, and drank some cool beer, ate homemade icecream, avioded the Haggis vendor like the plague, and bought stuff. Later they threw a sack over a goal post with a pitch fork, but we missed most of that. Then for the last event, they brough out a 50 pound weight. The men had to throw it up over a bar, and perhaps most importnatly, not get hit by it when it came back down.

Gearing up for a throw.

Aww crap I lost it in the su...

My girlfriend and her sister saw these scetchy people all over the games. Not even one of them in a kilt, or plaid at all. (Hint, I'm the one with the most hair.)

We left as it was closing down, a great time being had by all. I had drank a few beers, comletly forgetting that I was on my back pain meds b/c I had been sleeping in a tent. Appaeerntly I was drunk by the end, and yet managed to not tip my hand to the 'rents.

Back at the campsite by the tracks, we told stories, grilled sausages and made Smores. We also substitued Reeses cups for Hershey Bars on some of them. Smores are awesome, but my beard ate most of mine.

We went to bed late that night, the trains did not come, and after waking up to another beautiful day, I went to Dunkin for breakfast. We finished packing up the campsite and rolled out at 11:00.

I really enjoyed meeting my girlfriend's parents and sister ( I already met her brother) but this was a weekend for us as well, so we headed for The College and CW.

I walked for 5 hours on Sunday; around William and Mary, and all over Colonial Williamsburg. If you have never been, I am sure it was nice, but I was really dissapointed. Big name stores have taken over much of the small town feel of Colonial Williamsburg. the Drugstore, where grilled cheese and sundaes were top notch and cheep, and the location where I became aquainted with cigars, has become a William Sonoma. I like William Sonoma, but who would come to CW for a trip and then buy a melon baller? Across DOG street from William Sonoma was a Talbots. Lots of places were still there though, and we had a great time.

Statue in William and Mary. She's reading a note from a boy asking her not to forget him while she's away at college.

Crim Dell Bridge.

Then we drove back up, and made good time eating fudge from the candy shop.

Next weekend there are birthdays, and the weekend after that, back to southern Virginia.

"Son of a Gun (I Betcha Think This Song Is About You)"

2007-10-03T10:23:00.000-04:00

First, I'm sorry it took song long to get these up here, but it sounds like most of you knew a lot of them anyway.

1. "American Pie" does mention characters that people have asserted are representative of Elvis, The Stones, etc. The song is about "The Day the Music Died" and is therefore about Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and the Big Bopper. Dion of Dion and the Belmonts turned down the chance to get on the plane, and Waylon Jennings, who was playing in Buddy Holly's band, gave up his seat to the Big Bopper.

2. Marilyn Monroe is the answer, the song's opening line "Goodbye Norma Jean" references her real name.

3. Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, whose story was spread even farther when Denzel Washington starred in a movie about him.

4. Marvin Gaye is one, and Jackie Wilson is the other. This song was the first hit for the Commodores after Lionel Richie went solo.

5. Aisha Morris is indeed Stevie Wonder's "less than one minute old" daughter.

6. Andy Kaufman is also right, sort of a gimmie what with the movie and all.

7. Shots rang out... MLK Jr. is right again. Hemisphire is rolling.

8. Patrick got this one right, it is about Don Mclean.

9. Pattie Boyd, one of the most interesting love triangles in Classic Rock

10. Poor Tony Kanal, everyone knows you broke Gwen's heart, no one remembers your name.

11. Joan Baez is said to have wrote this song about her relationship with Bob Dylan. Think Mitch and Mickey.

12. This song is supposed to be a about Leonard Cohen.

13. "Ring of Fire" was written by June Carter, about Johnny Cash. Did nobody watch Walk the Line?

14. Christopher Wallace, a.k.a. The Notorious B.I.G,. a.k.a Biggie Smalls, a.k.a. Big Poppa, a.k.a. Frank White.

15. Jackie Onassis indeed.

Dave Coulier from Full House is indeed the leading candidate for "You Oughta Know" and the man wearing the apricot scarf in "You're So Vain" will always be Beatty in my head.

Congrats to Hemisphire for mopping up, Lykaon for getting in first, and Patrick for adding one of the missing ones. thank you all for playing.