|
Miss Bonnie Delight, Burlesque Star!
|
|
|
| Oh yeah, and... |
[Aug. 7th, 2008|03:35 pm] |
There's still no progress on restoring Bonnie Delight's account on Facebook. If you feel like writing a letter in support of reinstating her, we could use the help.
Despite yesterday's aggravations, I went with Doctor Ray, Casket Girl and Andre, and Shad0 to the Edison to see the Lucent Dossier Vaudeville Circus show. (We missed Miss Brazelton and her Hoopmon due to a last-minute emergency.) The venue was splendid as always, the troupe was great as ever, and the company was delightful. We were among the most appropriately dressed in the place (1850-1950 is the range, IMO) and enjoyed ourselves immensely... I particularly had fun ordering milk and cookies, just to be perverse. (And they're *good* milk and cookies!) I saw someone I've not seen in years, and never met in person, and that was cool, too.
What more can I say? Oh, I'll think of something down the line... |
|
|
| |
[Aug. 7th, 2008|11:35 pm] |
Whats with everything only working on Firefox now? I don't want Firefox, I am perfectly happy with IE. For petes sake! |
|
|
| Wanna go with me to a medieval wedding? |
[Aug. 7th, 2008|03:28 pm] |
My traveling/dining companion for a medieval-themed wedding in the Westwood area has proven unable to attend, so next Saturday I'll either end up going solo or -- if you're interested -- I'll go with you, O lucky reader.
It's not a date, so as long as we're friends, it's really all the same who you are -- again, assuming I know you. You just have to be willing to go to a really fun costumed wedding, dress up for it, and of course... drive me there and back!
Don't everybody jump up at once... |
|
|
| The Willows Magazine |
[Aug. 7th, 2010|03:21 pm] |
|
|
|
|
| Licenses... |
[Aug. 7th, 2008|11:09 pm] |
There are great licenses, there are good licenses, there are bad licenses and then there are licenses that YOU REALLY WANT!
When a license YOU REALLY WANT suddenly and unexpectedly comes into the equasion I've discovered you get quite distracted with the possibility and want to go back and watch the films/read the book/watch the TV series/read the comic (delete as applicable).
It also brings a big smile to your face.
Of course it actually means nothing because just coming into the equasion means diddly squat. It all means diddly squat until the ink has dried on the dotted lines - and that's a long way off even if both parties talk and it falls into the 'affordable' category. Plus we have lots to be keeping ourselves busy with anyway.
Talking of which, I have to really find out if our BIG announcement is taking place next week or not... :p |
|
|
| Mmmm, beer... |
[Aug. 7th, 2008|10:59 pm] |
|
I have missed the Great British Beer Festival, which means that my current advanced state of confusion is due to the Tun alone. |
|
|
| Recommended: Masters of Doom by David Kushner |
[Aug. 7th, 2008|04:34 pm] |
Holy crap, this is a cool book. I can't remember the last time I was so sucked in by a story, and I took only one quick break (to sleep) between starting and finishing it, which is unusual for me. (I'm typically in the process of reading 10-20 things at any given time, so it often takes me a while to actually finish anything.) Game Informer magazine rated this the #1 video game book of all time, and the book has also been optioned for film, and it's easy to see why. This is the gripping story of how John Romero and John Carmack, two troubled young men, turned their love of computers, science fiction novels, Dungeons & Dragons, and horror movies into a piece of software, the game Doom, that became colossally popular -- more widely installed than Microsoft Windows -- and of how their long, fruitful collaboration imploded in the face of money, ego, and "artistic differences." The book doesn't exactly gloss over anyone's faults, but it does bend over backward to provide context and explanation, so I came out of it a bit more sympathetic than I had been to Romero, which actually isn't saying all that much.
When I was in high school, my best friend was a guy named Pete. Freshman year we had sat at the same table in the lunchroom -- the table of kids who spent the lunch period drawing illustrations -- but at that time Pete didn't speak much English (he's Russian), so I didn't get to know him all that well. A year or two later he heard that I could program computer games, and he sought me out and asked if I could teach him, which I did. While that was going on, Doom came out. It was, of course, the coolest thing that anyone had ever seen. The README file seemed to claim that you could play the game multiplayer, but it was absurdly difficult to set up. First of all you had to have two computers in the same place that could both run Doom, which was not all that common, then you had to have a special piece of equipment called a serial cable that no one had ever heard of, then you had to futz around with command line crap to initialize different COM ports and who knows what else. I hadn't seen anyone do it, or even heard of anyone doing it. But Pete insisted we try, so we spent a lot of time and finally got it to work. From that point on we were hooked. I remember once my mom came back from a business trip and found me and Pete playing Doom against each other, and she said, "Wow, you're both sitting in exactly the same places you were when I left four days ago," and I said, "We haven't moved." I was joking, but just barely. Pete and I got insanely good at Doom. To brainstorm new tactics, I read book after book with titles like Case Studies in Special Operations Warfare and SWAT: Everything You Need to Train and Equip Your Team. I started building my own Doom levels, including a prison full of buttons and doors, in which the strategy revolved around sealing off different areas and ultimately locking your opponent in one of the many cells, where he could be disposed of at leisure.
Then, like a fool, I gave all that up and went off to college. By that point, John Romero, one of the creators of Doom, had left id software, the company that made the game, and was starting up his own studio, Ion Storm. Pete planned to apply for a job as a concept artist. I thought that was ridiculous. Why would a company hire some kid just out of high school when they could easily afford to hire professional comic book artists? But I kept my mouth shut, and Pete applied for the job, and got hired, not as a concept artist (for which the company did in fact hire a professional comic book artist) but as a 3D modeler. For months after Pete told me this I was half-convinced that he was pulling my leg. Why would a company offer a job to some kid just out of high school who had no experience in 3D modeling? Well, it was a weird time. John Romero had tons of venture capital money, and he was trying to throw together several massive development teams all at once. His split with id software had centered partly around the issue of whether he was spending too much time playing games instead of working, or whether his coworkers were spending too much time working rather than playing games. He was determined to staff his new company with people who were gamers first and foremost, and to that end the job interview revolved primarily around whether or not you could beat him at Doom. Pete did, handily, and therefore got a job. Obviously I was insanely jealous ... especially since I had always been way better at Doom than Pete.
During spring break of my freshman year of college I went to visit Pete at Ion Storm. Pete, who had always been mild-mannered and exceedingly deferential, now lived in a mansion, wore designer clothes, and when he opened his mouth a nonstop stream of profanity flowed forth. The Ion Storm offices, on the top floors of the tallest skyscraper in Dallas, were grandiose, with arcade machines, ping pong tables, a movie theater, a motion-capture studio, and over a hundred employees, almost all of them under 30. I was introduced to John Romero, which was a terrible letdown. Pete and I had practically worshiped him as a sort of demented, iconoclastic genius, and he had positioned himself as a rock star/god of the video game world. In person he was short, kind of funny-looking, and had the personality of a hyperactive 8-year-old. His laugh, which he deployed subsequent to saying anything at all, was a piercing hyena-like cackle. I immediately got the strong impression that no one at his own company could stand him, and I heard employees grumbling that instead of working he spent all day on eBay bidding on memorabilia about himself. We went out to dinner, in his fancy sports car (of which he owned something like eight), and he kind of acted like an arrogant jackass the whole time, irritating waiters and other restaurant patrons who had no idea who he was. He swore constantly, ceaselessly, relentlessly, and it seemed as if his whole nascent company had become a mirror of his own personality, with every employee screwing around and playing games and constantly trash talking. The most common salutation among employees was, "Hey, faggot." It was like Pleasure Island, except with 20-somethings rather than children. After just a few days there I thought: Oh my god. If I had to spend more than a week here I would absolutely blow my brains out. And I saw then that Pete had adapted in the only way that he could: If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.
Ion Storm was working on a game called Daikatana. I had seen a top secret design doc, which looked awesome, and I was dying to play the game. Pete had described to me the incredible AI -- the fiendishly clever monsters who would hound the player over fields of boulders, or through underwater caverns. When I arrived, I said, "Okay, let me see Daikatana!" Pete didn't seem too enthused. He explained "We're shifting over to a new engine, so there's not all that much working right now, but ... here, I think there's one level you can play." He loaded up a level, which was nothing special. And there were no enemies, no weapons, no game at all, really. I said, "This is all you have?" Pete said, "Yeah." I said, "Isn't this game supposed to be out for Christmas?" Pete said, "Uh, that's not going to happen." In fact it was years before the game actually came out, by which point the game would have been obsolete even if it had worked, which it didn't. The awesome AI that Pete had raved about was gone. The teammates who were supposed to follow you everywhere could barely navigate around corners or up ladders, which made the game basically unplayable. Apparently the guy who had programmed the awesome AI quit, and his replacement couldn't figure out his code, so the company had to scrap that whole module and start over from scratch. Turnover was a huge problem at Ion Storm. At one point basically the whole development team quit en masse and left to start their own company. People in the industry used to joke that everyone who works in video games quit Ion Storm at some point.
So anyway, I know Doom really well, and I've met some of the people described in this book, but even if I hadn't I think I'd really enjoy it, because it's just so full of wacky characters, crazy stories, and most of all because it really captures the exhilaration of being absolutely and totally focused on a creative project and knowing that it's going to be great. (By which I mean Doom, obviously, not Daikatana.) The book really immerses you in a magical-seeming world where everyone reads fantasy & science fiction, everyone plays Dungeons & Dragons, and everyone is creative and obsessed. And as I mentioned at the start, I am a bit more favorably inclined toward Romero after reading this book. Doom definitely wouldn't have been the game it was without his unique personality, much as I found that personality grating at close proximity. (Though who knows how much the money & fame had contributed to it by that point.) Romero was the guy who really liked to play games. Carmack was the workaholic who really liked the abstract challenge of programming. Without Carmack, Romero spent all his time playing games and fell way behind the technological curve. But without Romero, Carmack has released a string of technologically superb games that don't really innovate and aren't really all that much fun. It's an interesting dynamic. Anyway, it's all in the book. |
|
|
| Recommended Reading |
[Aug. 7th, 2008|02:35 pm] |
|
http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2008_08_07.html#015626 Farhad Manjoo reviews the growing conspiracy theories regarding the post-9/11 anthrax attacks. For what it's worth, I am not a big believer in most conspiracy theories. I'm convinced Lee Harvey Oswald was a lone gunman. I'm convinced O.J. Simpson was... |
|
|
| |
[Aug. 7th, 2008|11:45 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  amused | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Men at work - Down under | ] |
This Family Guy joke made me laugh really hard.
|
|
|
| Fall Pumpkin spice and I am making soap |
[Aug. 7th, 2008|02:23 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  contemplative | ] |
| [ | music |
| | The Fall | ] |
So by accident I started making soap again. My mom asked me to make a batch for a wedding which I did .Then some I started making some by requests and well before you know it..here I am.
I am only going to be making in small batches though and not selling to stores like I was before since it gets a little hetic .
Also I made this mold for a hearse soap..still needs work but is there any interest in hearse soaps to begin with? If not then I wont buy any mold making stuff
I reopened the little Etsy shop
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=24219
and will be adding clothes for purchase .
I am going to make a Fall Harvest pack for soap and offer for sale. And yes I am still redesigning my website.
Until then please vote for your favorite Fall frangrance so I know which ones to buy:
Red Apple
Chocolate Espresso
Almond Biscotti
Pumpkin Spice
Buttercream and Snickerdoodle
Almond
Chai Tea
Ginger Soufflé
Turkish Mocha
Oatmeal, Milk and Honey
Plum Spice
Woodland Pear
Rum Nut Cake |
|
|
| |
[Aug. 8th, 2008|09:24 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | climbing, fitness | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Sonata Vigesima Sesta sopra La Prosperina - Marco Uccellini | ] |
last night, climbing was good ... except the bit where i was maneuvering a small overhang, slipped and banged up my knee and shin.
no particularly challenging climbs. just enough to remind myself how this is done, and that i enjoy it.
and that i'm a bit out of practice.
i suspect that i'll have to buy myself some shoes (and possibly a harness) at some point |
|
|
| Movie Review: Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut |
[Aug. 7th, 2008|04:23 pm] |
Superman: The Movie and Superman II were originally concieved as two parts of the same story and to that end, they were filmed at the same time under the direction of Richard Donner. However, due to disputes with the producers over budget concerns, Donner was taken off Superman II after the completion of Superman: The Movie and a new director, Richard Lester, was brought in to finish the sequel. In order to get directorial credit on the film, Lester would have to ditch most of Donner's Superman II footage and shot fresh footage for more than half the film, all the while complying with the producer's wishes that things be finished quickly and cheaply, as well as making it more "campy." The result was a horribly uneven film where any good moments found within were cheapened by the presence of some of the must utterly attrocious comedy I've had the displeasure of seeing.
However, since Superman II's release, there has been a strong desire among the fans of the original film for the "real" Superman II to see the light of day. That chance came with the arrival of Bryan Singer's Superman Returns, as Warner Bros. rereleased all previous Superman films on DVD. Old footage that Richard Donner shot was brought out of storage and with the help of editor and project leader Michael Thau, restored and cut together with whatever material they could find, which included a minimal amount of Lester's footage as well as footage of stars Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder's screen tests.
The result? It's an improvement.
But not perfect. While not the schizophrenic mess that Lester's version was, The Richard Donner Cut does have some rather significant flaws. Chief among them is the films first hour which is hobbled by choppy editing as it jumps from one plot thread to another without really trying at any point to make the transition between them feel in any way cohesive. The other sticking point with me about the first hour is the plot thread that follows Lex Luthor as he makes his way towards Superman's Fortress of Solitude. While Luthor's portrayl in the live action films as a comical criminal mastermind rather than the dangerous megalomaniac of the comics has been a bone of contention for comic fans, I can honestly say I don't really have much of a problem with it. I had always found that Gene Hackman was a good enough actor to take the material he was given and make that version of the character fun to watch. What WAS, however, a sticking point with me was the comic relief henchmen he gave them. The scenes of "hilarious" bickering between them always threw off the first movie's momentum and rather than correct that problem in this version, they give us more. Granted, the bumbling nitwit Otis is written out pretty quickly but Miss Teschmacher sticks around so she and Lex can continue their schtick for a good long while, the whole thing culminating in a gag that every bit as bad as some of the stuff found in the theatrical version of Superman II.
Thankfully, it's the other two threads that keep you interested. The Kryptonian criminal's rampage across the country as they head toward's Washington D.C. provides some action along the way, even if a few of those special effects haven't aged that well over the years. And then there's what really works, which are the scenes between Reeve and Kidder. Reeve is Superman as far as I'm concerned and the snappy way of talking and sassy confidence that Kidder brought to the role of Lois Lane is how I've always pictured the character. There's no better demonstration of just how good these two were in those roles than the scene where Lois tricks Clark into revealing his true identity. Despite being coobled together from old footage of the two's (different) screen tests and how jarring it is to see Reeve's hair, glasses and weight change between shots, it still ends up being a great scene because their performances are so good.
Thankfully, holding on through the first hour does pay off and the three different threads come together in decent enough fashion, streamlining the overall story and building up a good bit of steam as it towards its conclusion. The wacky hijinx that screwed with the tone of the later scenes in the movie are gone, meaning that the feel remains consistant for most of the latter half of the film. And while some of the effects work during the battle in Metropolis hasn't aged very well, some of it still impresses, especially the cars that are being thrown around during the scene where the Kryptonian criminals create a windstorm. Those weren't miniatures.
The goofy product placement is still there, though, so you can still guffaw at seeing Zod get chucked into a gigantic Coca-Cola sign or Superman and Zod duking it out next to a Marlboro truck.
The added footage in the second half of the movie is another thing that works in the second half's favor. Footage of Marlon Brando as Jor-El, not used in the theatrical cut to keep the films cost down, is added back into the film, and his presence, though minimal, adds a touch of class to things. They also added back in some wonderful scenes between Reeve and Kidder after the Kryptonian criminals are defeated. These "new" scenes are a major improvement over the equivalent featured in the theatrical cut since Reeve and Kidder aren't being saddled with doing reshoots with weaker material. Their romantic chemsitry is stronger and rather than become a whiner like she did in the end of the theatrical cut, Lois remains the strong character that Donner's vision of the film intended her to be.
Shame they replaced that great "General, would you care to step outside?" line with a pretty weak one-liner.
If there was one real complaint that I had about the second half of the movie it would be the ending. Remember the ending to the original Superman movie, where Superman turns back time by flying around the world really fast? It was pretty ridiculous and never really made any sense to me. However, in that case, I could forgive because the climax of that movie featured some of Reeve's best, most emotional moments in the role. Well, here, it's repeated again and its use here makes even less sense. Not to mention when you take into account what Superman does at the very end of the movie and really think about it, it really makes him look like a dick, even more so than in the theatrical cut. I think the only thing that kept me from being pissed off by this turn of events is that I knew about it going in.
Still, I can't deny that more Marlon Brando and less wacky hijinx in a windstorm makes a good bit of difference in this version of Superman II. The original Superman: The Movie is a favorite of mine. It's not perfect but I believe that it truly nailed the character and feel of the character. In fact, one could argue that it was the only live action superhero film that really managed to do that prior to the X-Men and Spider-Man films. (I don't believe Tim Burton's Batman did, for reasons that I will get into when I review that movie.) And while this version of Superman II does have quite a few problems, I can forgive them because finally, this movie feels like an actual contination of Richard Donner's original movie and is a much more satisfactory viewing experience because of it.
However, one thing does really disappoint me about this movie and that is the fact that we are really only catching a glimpse of the movie that Richard Donner intended to make. Watching this film and listening to Donner's comments in the supplementary materials on the DVD leave you wondering what it would have been like had the producers had sense to leave a good thing be.
I think it could have been spectactular. |
|
|
| Massive Website Update! |
[Aug. 7th, 2008|02:16 pm] |
Even though I typically keep pretty current with my MySpace and FLICKR pages, I've been neglecting my poor website lately.
As of today it's had a massive update with all my new work.
Go! Look! Masturbate furiously!
http://www.digitalapocalypse.com |
|
|
| Flesh for Fantasy |
[Aug. 7th, 2008|02:14 pm] |
None of you know just how many of my fetish buttons this image hits:
 |
|
|
| Worldcon - Day One |
[Aug. 7th, 2008|01:47 pm] |
A pretty low-key day really. Registration was the slowest I've ever seen at a Worldcon. Worldcons generally are exceptionally well run, so I was dismayed to see hundreds of people in lines for 45+ minutes. We gave it up and came back later, getting to the front in 20 minutes or so. I guess we're spoiled and have become used to Worldcon registration being efficient, as in lines hardly exist most years.
It's also somewhat hot in the convention centre, so I'm hot much of the time. I have not done any panels today and I'm writing this while waiting for the opening ceremonies to start. There was a panel ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) agrathea and I were interested in, but it was full when we got there.
We've done plenty of socializing (as always, the company is stellar!) and we wandered through the dealers' room, where I bought 2 new t-shirts and agrathea bought... nothing. That's never happened before. Oh wait, she bought a bead for a friend. So that streak is still going ;).
Okay, getting back to this on Thursday. The opening ceremonies were pretty dull, dullest I can recall. Or maybe the UK guys got us to expect more. There was some acting by folks reading from scripts who had not rehearsed... and it showed. It was a pity because the MC was a natural and quite funny while he spoke. To me, things like this should be done with 100% effort, or not at all.
After that I got to my first panel in the evening, in a nearby hotel. agrathea joined me there , maybe 40 minutes late. She was delayed by a tornado warning no less, but still arrived just a few minutes late for the part that affects us, namely that I was put in charge of a committee who will be responsible for redoing worldcon.org, wsfs.org and nasfic.org. w00t! I'm now also on a committee responsible for, essentially creating branding the Hugo award. So I'm volunteering again, but this is stuff that means a lot to me... well, except for the NASFiC part. This is work that's well overdue, means a helluva lot to us... and we'll rock it. Watch this space. Very exciting stuff.
We then headed over to the ConSuite and the parties. It was a quiet night, maybe just 9 or 10 parties, but it will only ramp up from here on out. The ConSuite is a large hall filled with couches and tables, with snacks and sodas, and they've done a great job creating a welcoming social space that will encourage conversations and new friendships. Best ConSuite since Boston, I think. Good food too. Job well done.
There were also some great parties, including a hoax bid for 2010 for the planet Xerps (climate adjustment symbiotic included) and a hoax bid for Chernobyl in 2011, filled with black humor. We had a great time, saw many friends and made a few more. In fact I'd go as far as to say the evening turned the whole day around for us and we ended up having a fantastic time. I think the altitude and heat have taken a bit out of me, so it'll get better by the day.
But yes, having some fun. More soon! I'll edit to add pictures a little later. |
|
|
| Last Minute Ticket Sale! |
[Aug. 7th, 2008|04:31 pm] |
Hello!!
I have with me, ONE extra ticket to this year's Burning Man!! I am selling it for exactly what I paid for it $240 (ticket+shipping). I can either meet you anywhere in NYC, or CT to give it to you, or I can ship it certified mail with tracking number and confirmation for an additional $10. Let me know if you or someone you know may be interested!!
Thanks!
Holly
 |
|
|
| Oversleeping and interviews don't mix. |
[Aug. 7th, 2008|04:23 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  amused | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Guns n Roses: Patience | ] |
Woke up with two messages from potential roommates today. Woke up an hour later than usual actually. Ever have one of those dreams that are so cool you just don't wanna wake up and you actually manage to keep yourself asleep for a while? Yeah that was cool.
First of the callers came over and it went ok, guys not getting the apartment but at least he's not an idiot like we've been getting.
Later
Cuddles |
|
|
| navigation |
| [ |
viewing |
| |
most recent entries |
] |
| [ |
go |
| |
earlier |
] |
| |
|
|
annoyed
good
