Defeating the Brand

Remember when a cable channel's brand used to mean that they played programming surrounding that brand? Right now on the Biography Channel they're playing 'Murder She Wrote'. Monday on G4, a channel that used to be all about video games and technology, they had an 'Arrested Development' marathon. The best one I've seen of late was a few weeks ago. Bravo, the channel that for ages raced A&E for snootest channel out there, ran 'Friday the 13th: Part VII - Jason Takes Manhattan'. Bravo played a slasher film and not even a very good one.

Now, apart from the Bravo item that I still don't understand, the basic idea is obvious. The channels in question aren't programming towards the brand of the channel or, if you will, the concept behind the channel, but they are programming towards the demographic they expect to be watching the channel. Both channels, and I'm sure they're not the only ones, no doubt have survey information handy that shows what demographic is primarily watching their channel and the other interests that demographic has. Presumably swerving from the brand in this way just increases the amount of time that demographic stays on the channel.

I still think it's a dumb idea. There are plenty of more 'generic' channels out there that can do this sort of thing. However, if you've done all this work to generate a specific brand identity, why throw it away? This would be like Spike, the 'Man' Channel, showing 'chick flicks' or Sci-Fi playing a Masterpiece Theatre period piece that lacks aliens in it. Or the NFL network showing a hockey game. It defeats the purpose. By making themselves more generic they make themselves more disposable and more easily replaceable.

And why would they want that?

Geekisode - Afterword

About halfway through writing the Crisis, I considered what I was doing and all the characters I was dusting off to play with again. It seemed weird to do this much revival for no reason but, to be fair, it is the sort of thing that I would do. Still, could I put a date to it? Or a reason? It would be a nice ‘cherry’ to top the sundae.

The beginning of the ‘Season’ Doctor Who series? That started in 1994 I believe. It’s the twelfth anniversary of that but, to be fair, I really didn’t produce that many stories in that series: only seven full stories, two side stories and a short story. The short story was published by another fan group but it’s still not that much to celebrate.

How about the beginning of the ‘Teen’ Doctor series? That started in 1990, right? So it’s the sixteenth anniversary of that series. More to celebrate from a completion standpoint but still, not quite right.

My mind clicked back even further, the time when my desire to write something went from a desire to an achievement for the first time. That was when I was in the sixth grade and when I wrote that first ‘Doctor What’ story for English class (as well as a two part ‘Sherluck Phones’ story, all truly rubbish). I would have been about twelve then. Now I’m thirty-two.

I’ve been writing for twenty years now.

Welcome to my twentieth anniversary story!

You would think I’d have gotten the hang of this by now.

Thank you. For everything.

Now I have another novel to work on. Excuse me.

-SMW 11/28/2006 (And lets ignore the possibility that I could have been eleven when I wrote those stories, hmm?)

Geekisode 6

The sky grew dark. It was as if it had reacted to recent events, darkening to reflect the danger involved. Clouds formed. It began to look like rain.

The Purge not only had prisoners but a headquarters to which to take them. While it crowed with joy, those prisoners were transported to said headquarters via Dalek transport. Daleks lined the streets, shouting insults and cheers. It reminded the Doctor of the French Revolution, like noblemen being taken to the guillotine. That had been one of the Doctor’s favourite periods of human history at one point. Not so much now.


- The preceding is a preview of the novelization of ‘Compound Geeks’ episode ‘CoNIS Part Five’, which is scheduled to appear on the KTNE forums on 25-Dec-2006. -

Sick on vacation not sick of vacation

Been sick this week. It's one of those colds that started off slow as a weird sore throat and has mutated into a normal stuffy head, runny nose, sore throat sort of cold. Ya know, the sort of thing that most people call the flu now. I still don't understand that. When I was younger, a cold was what I just described and the flu was an illness that affected your stomach in some way. If there was vomiting involved at some point, then it was the flu. I'm not quite sure when that changed but it does seem to have done so. Maybe 'I've got the flu' still sounds better than 'I've got a really bad cold' when you call into work sick?

I didn't have to call into work sick. I've been on vacation all week. Yup, spending vacation sick. Feels great. On the plus side, I've got more time off coming so I should be able to enjoy some of that time. I had two weeks of vacation to burn up before the end of the year and we shut down for the last week of the year so I was scheduled to work for very little of December eitherway.

The goal for this time off was to get the Archive in shape again or at least a little bit organized again. One of the problems with having such a diverse set of interests is that I collect stuff from all over. It doesn't take long for this sort of thing to get out of control. On the plus side, finding stuff I forgot I own is fun. Found a neat Optimus Prime from 2001, stamp releases signed by Tom Baker (the Fourth Doctor) and Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith), a recording of the Dave Letterman show from about ten years ago with special guest Brett Favre right after the Packers won the Super Bowl and a NES Advantage controller, amongst other things.

Things could be better but I'm glad that they're not worse.

Geekisode 5

In the beginning, there was nothing.

Well, not exactly nothing, not nothing at all. It was just mostly nothing. A few people, a box and nothing else but white. It looked like nothing, nothing much anyway.

So, in the beginning, there wasn’t much of anything.

Then, there was a thought. It wasn’t much of a thought but, under the circumstances, it was the best thought available. “All this white is a bit on the annoying side,” the thought went, “shouldn’t there be something?” The land agreed with the thought. It filled in something from the brain that generated the thought, writing the something that he knew, something familiar. Slowly the nothing, the blinding white, faded, replaced by Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA.

The city formed. The box was now on a street corner. The people were on the street near it. The city existed but was inhabited by just a few. For the moment.

- The preceding is a preview of the novelization of ‘Compound Geeks’ episode ‘CoNIS Part Four’, which is scheduled to appear on the KTNE forums on 18-Dec-2006. -

Life Lesson Learned

I believe that every day we learn something new. It may not be something life altering or anything of that scope. It may even be that we don't realize what we've learned that day but we are always learning something.

Yesterday I learned that mixing brandy and wine in the same glass is a prescription for a tummy-ache.

Ouch.

Geekisode 4

The weak image in the television screen flickered before altering into the image of the upper section of the Dalek Supreme. The iris of its eyestalk rotated as it worked to focus.

“PEOPLE OF EARTH!” it grated. “MANY CLAIM TO RULE THE WORLD. THEY LIE! THE DALEKS ARE YOUR RULERS. ALL OPPOSITION WILL BE REMOVED!

“PEOPLE OF EARTH! EMERGE FROM YOUR HIDING PLACES. YOU WILL BE FED. YOU WILL BE GIVEN WORK. THOSE THAT CONTINUE TO RESIST WE BE EXTERMINATED!

“PEOPLE OF EARTH! WE ARE THE RULERS OF EARTH! NOW AND FOREVER YOU ARE LIVING UNDER THE LAW OF THE DALEKS!”


- The preceding is a preview of the novelization of ‘Compound Geeks’ episode ‘CoNIS Part Three’, which is scheduled to appear on the KTNE forums on 11-Dec-2006. -

Not-so-Special Editions

Have you ever re-bought some piece of entertainment? A CD or a DVD or what have you? I’m not talking about upgrading; when you replace a VHS tape version of something with a DVD version or replacing a cassette tape with a CD. That’s a totally different concept which, while still considered abnormal by some people, is reasonable to the average collector. What I’m here discussing is the rebuying of an item that you already have because a ‘better’ or ‘special’ version gets released.

Sometimes this makes sense, well, as much sense as anyone with the collector disease can make. Some movies were released early in the days of DVD and weren’t in the correct ratio or weren’t remastered or weren’t restored in any way or had no extra features or I’ve used 'or' too many times in one sentence. The same goes for some CDs. There are a few bands that had their albums released early in the days of CDs. Those CDs were poorly mastered and have never been revisited. The first two examples that spring to mind are the works of the Beatles and Anthrax. Neither sound as good as they should.

Just as often a movie is re-released on DVD just ‘cause. The release isn’t to ‘fix’ any earlier failings but it probably has some new extra features to encourage the ‘need’ to get this new release. Generally there is a logic behind the re-release; a reason for the new version beyond just releasing it for the money. Sometimes the new version is released to help promote the sequel to the original movie and the new DVD has a few seconds of the new movie on it. Sometimes the entire series of a film series is being re-released and this allows the studio to commonalize the packaging.

Why did I start this again? Oh yeah. I’ve gotten better at not automatically re-buying things. The re-release of ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail’? Left it on the shelf. That new ‘The Punisher: Special Edition’? Didn’t even get near the store when it came out. And so on.

With that said, there are some things that I’d gladly re-buy if it were remastered or fixed. I mentioned the Beatles and Anthrax albums previously. There’s a rumour from Britain that work is being done on the ‘Monty Python’s Flying Circus’ television show to get it remastered and restored to it’s original edit as well as including some non aired sketches. That would please me.

I seem to have forgotten the point of this discussion. Perhaps it was just to mention the Python rumour. Isn’t that enough?

Geekisode 3

The creature lowered its eyes. “Oh Guardian of darkness, hear my plea if it does please you. I well know that you are not allowed to interfere with events directly. Yet I know of your desire for chaos and you know of my desire to achieve your desires. Assist me please in locating the devices I require to do your will more fully. If you provide a hint, it will be well worth the investment. As you will so shall it be done.”

This done, the Purge smiled. “Excellent.” Having been granted the information it required, it faded from view, off to achieve its new goal.


- The preceding is a preview of the novelization of ‘Compound Geeks’ episode ‘CoNIS Part Two’, which is scheduled to appear on the KTNE forums on 4-Dec-2006. -

Comedy is...

Comedy is going to a ‘Toys R Us’ the evening of Black Friday and acquiring an empty PlayStation 3 box. Then, after getting said box, walking around the store while George holds the box, occasionally looking at it, and Chad and I act like nothing is special about the item in his hands. The comedy comes with watching at least a good 75% of the customers immediately find an employee so that they can ask if there are more in stock, only to be told that it was an empty box. Best yet, having an old lady get grumpy about it but not want to confront us as we sat outside the store for a moment, so she spoke up as she complained about us to her family, like we cared.

People are fun.

We still have the box.

Geekisode 2

Insanity.

They had just defeated the tyranny of the Golden Monkey Mob for hopefully the last time when it appeared from nowhere. Tired from the long battle, they were no match for the creature. Freeze Pop had fallen first, knocked to the side with a minimum of effort by the thing. He had checked on Pop right away, concerned by the way he’d fallen.

Freeze Pop was dead. Despite all the arguments and the fighting amongst themselves, he hadn’t wanted that.

Chaos Fist had grown quite angry upon hearing the news. Rapidly he attacked, charging the explosive blasts from his hand and driving them directly into the creature. The blasts knocked it back for the moment and he’d added his own bioelectricity to the mix. For a few moments, he was angry, looking for revenge on the creature that had killed his friend.

Then, the tide turned again. The creature gritted its teeth and viciously backhanded Chaos Fist. He flew back sharply, snapping his head against the wall. The creature stabbed him for good measure but he knew Chaos Fist was already dead.

Under the circumstances, he did what was most logical: he ran. The events of the last few minutes made no sense to him. They couldn’t have been real, could they?

It was all madness.


- The preceding is a preview of the novelization of ‘Compound Geeks’ episode ‘CoNIS Part One’, which is scheduled to appear on the KTNE forums on 27-Nov-2006. -

One wonderful morning

As I drove to work this morning, I was briefly distracted by the rising of the sun. The partly cloudy sky was tinted red and looked amazing. I sought to describe it, for the practice if nothing else. Was it a cranberry colour? No, the red wasn’t deep enough. A cranberry spritzer colour? Sure, with a splash of ginger ale that would be about right…

That’s when it hit me. As I inhaled I smelled skunk. The choked expression on my face must have been entertaining but there was no one else around to laugh. I quickly started breathing through my mouth. One of the worst things about the scent of a skunk is that it seems to stick with you forever. Miles away I still wasn’t safe from the odor. It drove the beautiful mental picture of that sky away from me.

I’m sure there’s a metaphor about life or love in there somewhere but I’m feeling too lazy to find it right now. Maybe later.

Book at Bedtime

Last night I was editing on the story I’ve been working on for months. I have the first half of the story completed and the second half is a few scenes shy of completion. Since I wanted to start releasing the story next Monday, I decided I should do some editing.

This is more work than I normally get to put into a release. The last few things I’ve written I’ve dumped out to whatever public will have them as soon as the typing is complete. Some of these have been shorter works and not needed any real work to shine them up. Some were written sequentially and I jumped each part out as soon as it was completed rather than finishing the story and tightening it up. All these are interesting ways to get a freshness from the text but it can lead to a lot of scrambling and wrong word choices and unintentional repetition and bad spelling and too many uses of the word ‘and’ in a sentence.

For this, the ‘finish’ story, I wanted it all done (or mostly all done) before I started releasing it. Not only would it let me polish it up like I’m doing but it would prevent a cliffhanger from sitting out there for months until the next part is done, a problem I had with ‘Hell Comes to Irish Fest’. Waiting for a month or more on a story like this can allow the interest to cool too much.

A problem that I have when it comes to editing or even just proofreading is that I read very fast. As a result, I tend to see what I expect to see in a sentence, not what is actually on the page. In order to slow down my pace and see the errors, I read the first half of the story out loud to myself.

This is not the first time I’ve read aloud to myself. Sometimes I do it to see if a sentence flows the way I expect it or if it sounds right coming from a specific character. Sometimes I do it for the entertainment value. I think this is the first time I’ve even done it to this degree and for this reason. It helped. I noticed a lot of simple little typo errors that the spell checker wouldn’t catch for me as they were misspelled to other words. I added some words and I deleted some words. I questioned the flow of the first episode yet again and noted a couple areas I might still need to tinker with. All in all it went well. It also tempted me to do an audio book version of the story but that won’t happen. I do enjoy reading aloud.

I’m looking forward to reading aloud the second half of the story. I wonder when I’ll have time…

Geekisode 1

The parking lot was noisy as the people cheerfully exited their cars. It watched as they walked, giggled, carried, played and entered the hotel. Once they were inside, it was quiet again.

It stayed in the bushes. Now was not the time. Now there was too much chaos, bad chaos. Soon there would be chaos but good chaos. It would generate this chaos.

Then things would be better. Understanding would be returned. Happiness would come with it.

Now was not the time. Soon. For the moment it stayed in the bushes. Waiting.

- The preceding is a preview of the novelization of ‘Compound Geeks’ episode ‘Wilderness’, which is scheduled to appear on the KTNE forums on 20-Nov-2006. -

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Confused by the text located above? You can be less so. The approaching story is the last in a trilogy that is a sequel to another trilogy.

First came the ‘Notes from Japan’ stories: ‘Go Go Godzilla’, ‘By a Waterfall’ and ‘Monsters of the Daleks’ are all available on the Python Lord website at www.spectraldesign.com/pythl

The second set of stories begins with ‘Hell Comes to Irish Fest’ and continued with ‘The Scasnyville Horror’, both of which are available at ‘Steve’s Cozy Literary Folder’ found on the KTNE.com forum (www.ktne.com/forum). This is where ‘Wilderness’ is scheduled to appear on 20-Nov-2006. The remainder of the story is scheduled to appear each Monday after that until all six episodes have been ‘broadcast’.

There’s a Crisis coming…

But what does it mean?

On one wall of my living room I have posters of the animated cast of the Simpsons (as of 1999), two related to beer, one for the first full length album from the band Therapy? and a poster for the Dave Clark Five.

Apparently, I like to listen to music while drinking and watching cartoons.

Or is there another way to interpret this? It didn't seem weird until I looked at it last night and this wall has been like this for years.

Perhaps it's a sign that I don't like redecorating...

'Then there’s the blood…'

‘The Monster Club’ is an old style horror anthology movie. The extras are proud to note that it was old style when it was made in 1980. It lacks nudity, sex and gore. It does not lack suspense or atmosphere.

The framing sequence concerns Vincent Price’s vampire character and John Carradine’s author. They bump into each other and Carradine is invited to the Club of the title to hear some stories. And listen to some music. And watch some people in rubber masks dance badly.

The first story involves a Shadmock, a creature with a sonic whistle of mighty power. This particular individual looks like John Schuck (it isn’t) dressed like the Phantom of the Opera. He’s not very monstrous. Mostly he’s lonely. When a team of con artists try to rip the rich monster off, it doesn’t go well for anyone. Effects are minimal but when flesh melts like a marshmallow it does look good.

The second story is much more amusing: the tale of a boy and his parents. His dad just happens to be a vampire, a count from the old country. When the boy gets followed home by the anti-vampire squad, things don’t go well… for awhile at least. It’s a fun little story with a couple of good twists in it.

Traditionally the last story in the anthology should be the best and this movie is no different. A movie director looking for a location to film at comes across a deserted village bound by a strange mist. The creatures inside the mist leer and pull at him. They are ghouls and they feed on flesh, dead human flesh when they can get it…

It’s the matter-of-fact quality to this last story that makes it so eerie to me. It’s not so much the ghouls, although their makeup is good (Patrick Magee took out his false teeth to play the Innkeeper, now that’s dedication to a role!). They drag themselves along and scramble as necessary. It’s the director’s interaction with the young girl, the humegoo (human and ghoul) that has never lived a life other than this one, that makes this work so well for me. When she speaks brightly and cheerfully about everything coming from boxes: clothes, wood, food and you realize the boxes are coffins, it’s a quality moment.

All three stories work. Even when meant to be silly, these are taken seriously. The framing sequences are less so and therefore don’t always play out well. The cheap rubber masks look even cheaper with the clarity of DVD. The musical acts are okay but don’t add much of anything to the film. They’re fun and make the place feel more like a club I suppose but I’d rather have had another story.

The framing sequences, even when they don’t work, are fun. Price and Carradine appear to be having a good time and, as a fan of their work, I enjoyed watching them be amused. With the movie’s style and relative innocence, it comes across as a good natured coda on a style of movies that would never be made again. It’s scary but not scary scary. It’s the sort of creeped out that you could enjoy being as a kid. You know, when the Frankenstein monster was the coolest thing. Not that he’s not anymore.

It’s not the best movie in the world but I like it.

Creatures of the Night

I dreamt of the ghouls last night.

Ashen faced, clothing tattered, dusty and wounded. The ghouls were everywhere, seeking human flesh to feed their need. They may be slow, unable to take full strides to catch you, but they are everywhere. There is no rest, no hiding place, from the ghouls.

They ooze from the shadows, their eyes dead, their bodies dead but yet they stumble about, seeking the warm flesh I possess. I fight them, push them down, do my best to trap them but they continue to find me, wherever I go. Their hands reach out with their last bits of strength, seeking to pull me down and make me one of them.

I dreamt of the ghouls last night.

Steve: Barrow Killer

Time for a little catch-up. How’ve you been? Excellent!/Sorry to hear that. (Delete as applicable)

Concrete work on Saturday went well. It rained before and after the project but not during. This was nice as it means I didn’t get soaked while toting and lifting. It was bad because it meant that the backyard was nice and slippery.

We had a number of different wheelbarrows that our buddy had brought over for use. Somehow in the rotation I ended up with the one wheeled barrow, as opposed to the rest that all had two wheels. It got filled a little too full from the truck. I started off having a hard time balancing it, hit a bump heading into the backyard, lost the balance of it, regained the balance of it, hit and bump as well as a muddy patch and lost it, spilling concrete onto the lawn. This was more of an annoyance than anything else, apart from my concern that I’d pulled something while trying to keep the wheelbarrow from falling.

I cleaned up the spill as best I could and then had a little sit-down. I removed my hat to cool off. Once the cool October air had a chance to hit my warm head I started sweating madly. It also made my hat cold when I put it back on. This was pleasantly weird.

I continued on. Nearer the end I started pushing the two-wheeler I was then using into the backyard. I got it in there fine, made the turn and then it became difficult to push. Very quickly it became impossible for me to push. As it turned out, I wasn’t tired; one of the tyres had popped. We scooped most of the concrete out until I could shift it again. After that, I was done with wheelbarrowing. I made myself a scraper instead.

The slab turned out nice in the end.

Even fun work can be work

At the moment I’m in the middle of at least three projects, four if you count my fight to stop starting messages with the word ‘so’.

There’s the ‘assisting with the patio’ project for my parents which involves toting and lifting, both tasks that my body is telling me I don’t do often enough. The plan is to pour concrete this Saturday so hopefully that’s almost done.

Then there’s the ‘old series’ informational section I’ve been working on for the web page. It’s an attempt to go back to the ‘Doctor Who’ fan fiction I created during and just after high school, summarizing the stories and commenting upon them. I think it’ll be an interesting addition to the text already on the ‘Python Lord’ site.

Not to forget the new story I’ve been working on that appears to be hitting the home stretch. It’s hard to judge exactly how much I have left to write page wise (despite the fact that I keep trying) but I have a feel for how many scenes I have left to write. It’s getting close. Fun time is about to start! 

The problem with getting near the end of a project is that I want to kick everything up a gear to get them done. I don’t know if I have three gears but I’m trying. So, if it gets a little quiet around here for the next week or two, that is probably why. I’m gear kicking to at least get a couple of these off my plate (that and the toting and lifting will probably knock me out for most of the rest of the weekend). To put this in some sort of perspective, Chad ‘twisted’ my arm into going out for a couple drinks last night after picking up my comics. I had a good time but I was annoyed at the same time because I felt I should have been using that time to type.

For a lazy bum, I seem to be getting a lot done. That can’t be right.

Bringer of joy?

It’s nice to be able to make people happy just my being around.

I was at Chad N’s concerts Saturday night and my presence to the end made him happy.

I was at the Compound on Sunday and it made two-year old Kara pleased enough for kisses.

I’m at work at my temp site and I’m told it would be cool if I could stick around by those that are assigned here, not that they feel they have that much to say about it.

I must be doing something right. Maybe I’m just not doing something wrong at the moment…

So, do I bury it in the backyard or flush it?

I believe my iPod is dead.

I bought an iPod Shuffle, the 1GB size, when they were first released. It isn’t an item I use constantly but it is certainly something I’ve used regularly since I bought it. It is the awesome.

A week or two ago I went to use it and nothing happened; no lights flickered, no music played, nothing. I figured that the battery wasn’t charged and placed it on its USB cable to do so. When I came back later, the battery light flashed red at me and nothing more. Crap.

I checked into battery replacement with Apple. It turns out that replacing a Shuffle battery costs about as much as a new Shuffle. Crap.

I think my iPod is dead. I really didn’t want any incentive to look at a shiny 80GB video iPod. Unfortunately, now I have a little of such incentive. 80GB still isn’t enough to hold my entire iTunes library, so what’s the point?

Still against it

I got so excited there, I forgot the point of my rant! So, to quote the Cos, I told ya that story to tell you this one.

My more recent 'anti' Lucas conversations surround a proposed movie: 'Indiana Jones 4'. For some time now I've been of the opinion that this movie will never get made or if it does Harrison Ford won't be in it (he is a little old now, he won't last forever). Some retort that the movie is greenlit and that means it'll get made. I recall hearing that the movie was greenlit in 2000 and it would be released in 2001. So, it being greenlit doesn't phase me.

Last week I read a clip from an interview with George Lucas where he noted that he and Steven Spielberg were still working on getting a script in place. To be fair, this could have been a misquote or it might have been old information resurfacing again but, most everytime I see a quote about Indy 4, it's followed with 'we're still looking for an idea'.

Don't get me wrong here. They should take their time if they need it. Movies can be expensive and the last thing I think they should do (or should have done) is to crank out movies for the sake of cranking out movies. My attitude here is not 'you guys stink and should never make another movie' but is rather 'make a movie when you're ready but if you're not ready, don't'. I'd rather there be no Indiana Jones 4 than have another movie emerge from George Lucas that is received poorly. Of course, I'm not that big an Indiana Jones fan either so I guess it's no skin off my nose in that respect either.

The problem with George Lucas now is that people have expectations. With the original 'Star Wars', there were no expectations. Everything was bright and shiny and new. Then he waited. And waited. Books sprang up and comics and games and cartoons and people had time to figure out what 'Star Wars' was so that, when he did say 'It's time' people had expectations of what was going to happen. They'd dissected the movies, determined the history, they 'knew' what had happened and what they were going to see.

And it wasn't what they'd expected.

Whether it was good or not beyond the expectations, well, I've already said I thought they were 'okay' and Pete's all for 'great' but a surprisingly high number of my 'Star Wars' friends turned on Lucas for some period of time. They found fault, they found hypocrisy but, more often than not, they didn't find the joy they wanted. The joy they expected.

Many of those who turned away turned back for 'Revenge of the Sith'. I remember discussing the third movie as it approached and one of Henry's friends, Chris I think, likened the situation to a physically abusive relationship. 'Maybe this time the movie'll be good' he said, comparing that statement to 'Maybe he won't hit me this time'. Over the top? Certainly. Did it have some truth in it? I think so, maybe just a little.

So, George Lucas, don't rush Indiana Jones 4 just to make another movie. Wait until it seems right, feels right, comes together like it should. If it doesn't, don't continue.

...and if you don't start making it by the end of 2007, I'll win my bet with Dave and he'll owe me dinner. Take your time George! :)

I'm against it

Despite the ‘power’ of my geekdom, it’s directed in some, what could be called, non-standard directions, especially for an American geek. I have a deep fascination with British television; not everything generated in Britain obviously, but much of the humour and telefantasy certainly. I’m big on Godzilla and other kaiju movies. Comics are a big thing for me. I tend to gravitate towards older American drive-in movies, the ‘B’ or ‘Z’ pictures rather than the normal Hollywood product. None of this is too far out really. There is one area that tends to separate me from the rest of my fellow geek friends; a topic that occasionally causes some deep trauma for us.

I’m not a fan of George Lucas or of the ‘Star Wars’ cycle.

Occasionally this is a problem. My buddy Pete is a big ‘Star Wars’ guy and he is prone to comment that my lack of interest really bothers him at times. Brett took it upon himself to make sure that I went to the Special Editions when they were released in the theatres to see if that would change my opinions. For that matter, Brett made me watch the original trilogy because it bothered him that I had never seen them all.

I saw ‘Return of the Jedi’ at a friend’s house when I was twelve. I’d been watching ‘Doctor Who’ on and off for four years by this point. As a twelve year old, I thought ‘Jedi’ was dumb and it killed any interest I might have had to see the other two movies. Brett was having people over to watch the trilogy and ‘made’ me come and join them. I was 21 at the time.

See, that’s the thing. I have no nostalgia at all to associate with these movies. They don’t take me back to a warm place in my childhood like they do for millions of other geeks. To me, they’re just movies and, as a whole, I don’t think they’re very good either. As a whole, I think the writing is poor, I don’t like Lucas’ direction and that the special effects weren’t so much revolutionary as they had some money and time to actually have special effects (they weren’t ‘new’ effects as what ‘old’ effects should look like if you’re spending more than $5 and 5 minutes on them). I like ‘The Empire Strikes Back’. That’s about it. To be fair, I haven’t seen all of ‘Attack of the Clones’ yet and I’m in no hurry to fix that problem.

I went with the Edge Geeks – North Chapter (v2) to see ‘Revenge of the Sith’ on opening night. I was curious to see what it would be like. It felt strange not to be that guy, the guy that knows everything and is excited to see it and all that. For once I was the geek outsider and that was interesting. The movie was okay, enjoyable for what it is. I don’t plan to ever see it again. Which is the same reaction I had to ‘The Phantom Menace’ now that I think about it.

I believe ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ is my favourite of the bunch since it seems to have the least Lucas influence. The dialog is better than ‘Star Wars’… sorry, ‘A New Hope’ (I’m not used to the name change and don’t really care either) and it just felt less like a movie and more like a loose collection of ideas.

My distaste for Lucas’ writing and directing was much more revolutionary before the release of ‘The Phantom Menace’. For some reason, people started arguing with me less after that. Except the aforementioned Pete. He’s fond of them all. I think Lucas is a great ideas man and producer. He can merchandize like nobody’s business. I just think he’s better at the idea generation than he is the idea execution.

But that’s my opinion. And oddly enough, I love the Lego Star Wars games. So much fun! So cute!

I stayed up late for that?

There are a lot of things that I have an interest in but, when it comes right down to it, only know so much about them because I don’t do them. I have an interest in how movies and television shows are made. I’ve read books, I’ve watched ‘behind the screens’ specials but I’ve never been involved in the creation of a television show so I really don’t know what it takes to do so. I’ve been on television once or twice in the background of shots but that’s not the same.

Hang on, maybe I was on television. Mark! Did that interview ever air or was it just for your class?

Anyway, I’m straying from my point. My point was football. I’ve watched football for years. I’ve played football video games. I’ve even occasionally participated in playing football with my friends. Do I know what it takes to be a professional football player or coach? Heck no.

That said, if I feel that, as a consumer, I can express my opinion regarding movies and television shows I’ve watched, despite never having professionally having done those jobs, I don’t see why I can’t express my opinions on football in the same manner.

The Packers played a very decent first half against the Eagles last night. Pity they had to play two halves.

Ahman Green may be a nice guy but he’s an injury prone player. I was for him getting dropped last year and I find myself having to repeat the request now. He fumbles regularly, is injured regularly and, when he’s not doing those things, plays well. Not well enough to make up for the injuries and fumbles in my opinion.

Ahman Carroll still isn’t getting the hang of his job. Al Harris seems to understand his job but doesn’t do it well. The Packers need corners and these guys ain’t them.

Is Charles Woodson officially a bust yet?

It’s gonna be a long season…

You have Memory!

I moved into my current work department about a year and a quarter ago. I have a habit of humming or making noise when I’m thinking and I made a conscious effort to stop that when going into this department as I would be around people much more often and I didn’t want to annoy anyone. On and off for the first few months, I had a habit of humming a specific song to myself. I didn’t notice it at first and then I realized it was a real song and not some ideal tune that I was generating on the fly. I grew annoyed once I realized what the song was: ‘If I only had a brain’ from the Wizard of Oz.

I’m not sure why that memory popped back into my head today but it did. It’s the sort of thing that keeps you humble.

Stuff

- Got the new ‘Weird’ Al Yankovic album on Tuesday when it came out. I’m a fan of his in general and I’m not disappointed in what I got. It’s a Weird Al album. There’s nothing shockingly different about this album and, to be honest, I wouldn’t have expected that. Al makes fun of newer songs. That’s his thing. It works and I like it. The closest thing to ‘shocking’ is the Weasel stomping song which has noises of weasels being stomped in it; sort of a pained ‘squeee!’ noise. The album has a 10 minute track which is the story of himself and his wife going to the drive-thru for dinner. It’s an anal-retentive explanation of the situation that’s much funnier than it should be. Best yet, it doesn’t feel like it runs for ten minutes, which is probably the best compliment I can give it. While I got the Dual-Disc, I haven’t had a chance to observe the DVD extras. So far, thumbs up.
- Haven’t mentioned comics much in here yet, have I? Ultimates 2 - #12 – All big action movie style sequences. The entire chapter of this book is boiling down to this issue and the next and it feels great. I read it in the store and kept making noise throughout. Neat! Ultimate Spider-Man #100 – Well, I didn’t see that coming but I probably should have. Oddly enough, that’s been my response to the last few issues of this book. I consider that a good thing.
- Wrestling: I think Kurt Angle in TNA is a good thing. Will it get me to pay them any more attention than before? Probably not. I realized recently that I’m way burned out on wrestling. I’m still paying attention to the news and that but I don’t have the desire to watch any of it at the moment, not even the stuff like TNA that I have been enjoying to some degree. These interests are cyclical to me so I’m sure something will get my attention and I’ll dive back in soon enough. The dip in my wrestling interest is also possibly due to the steady increase in my ‘Doctor Who’ related interest. Neither has ever gone away but my attention to Who has been much increased of late. I’m still reading the old magazines I mentioned the other week. I just got to the issue that announces the recommissioning of the show. I’m only three years behind now!
- As a FYI, I tinkered with a setting on the blog last week. Previously, only registered users of blogspot could post responses. I changed a setting and now anyone should be able to post. Due to the individual that requested the change having been busy, I have yet to test this theory. So, if anyone has a moment, feel free to test it for me!

'Thrilling' Eye-wear Update

Finally removed the set of contacts I complained about earlier this month. I popped them out on Saturday because I couldn't, well, see anymore. Not literally but close enough. The old spectacles came out for Sunday.

See, I'd called last week to order new contacts. I had a set left but I don't like leaving it for the last minute. It's one of those things that I'm actually somewhat grown-up about. They said I needed an eye exam to reorder on my insurance. So the plan was: make contacts survive to Saturday night, remove them, rest my eyes a bit, get an exam on Sunday while not watching the Packers lose, bung in new contacts and return to enjoying life in clear vision.

By the time I reached the store in the mall on Sunday, they were booked for the rest of the day. I made an appointment for Monday and went home. While I drove home, the Packers managed to not lose. Evidently, the key to their success is my not watching the game.

Suffered with my glasses all day today. I can't help but feel them on me all the time now. My vision is less crisp. They're heavy. My nose hurts. I fidgeted with them all day.

Passed my eye exam with minor changes. Got trial pair of contacts (ooo, forgot about that) and was encouraged to bung them in straight away. I don't like doing this sort of thing in public, mainly because it breaks my concentration and I'm sure I look dumber than normal. Managed to do it relatively quickly and look like I sorta knew what I was doing. My insurance paid for everything. Hooray!

Watched 99.9% of 'Heroes' tonight. Loved it. Please give it a try. I'd like to know what they're planning on leading up to for the finale and would hate to see it cancelled midway through.

Cleaning on the Archive

One of the awkward things about having all the stuff that I do is that it doesn't take much for it to get out of control. A few years ago I bought a little cabinet to help corral some of my papers. I promptly piled items in front of it and I've been unable to access it for most of the time it's been in use.

Today I decided I needed to accomplish something and weeding through the creeping pile in front of this cabinet was the thing to do. In so doing, I found an item or two I'd forgotten I'd owned (an event similar to one I experienced a week or two before when I was discussing a book with a couple of my friends and I couldn't remember if I owned it or not; tidying up proved that I did indeed own the book in question). Finally I could open the cabinet again, dumped a bunch of stuff inside and blocked it off again, just not as badly.

I did find some items inside the cabinet that I was wondering about. I found some Doctor Who fanzines (one of which has a rather rubbish story of my own in it), some of the drafts of my stories from a few years ago, text from the novel I wrote that still needs editing and some documents that, luckily, I've not needed of late. Most importantly to me, I found a note pad with a couple of scenes written on it. They were for another novel idea I had awhile ago that I have been seriously considering fleshing out. On and off, I've been looking for this note pad for a couple months. So yay for that! I wonder if any of those scenes are worth keeping...

It's going well. Perhaps too well...

When I started in my ‘new digs’ at work, I was told that it might take a little time for people to warm to me. It was nothing against me personally; it was just that the culture of the site was a little different. People would be polite to start and would warm to me after they got used to me and I’d been able to help a few out. Basically, they’d like me once I’d proved myself a little.

It’s been almost a month now. I’m starting to feel the luv. I left yesterday with a shower of enthusiastic ‘thanks’ and waving from user’s I’d helped that day. To be honest, most of the stuff I’d done for them was all goofy stuff, stuff I normally wouldn’t have done but, out here, I’ve got the time and I did. People seem happier to see me now. My supervisor buddy is pleased that I’m fitting into this situation so well.

Something is bound to go wrong. I can feel it.

What if El Hombre de Silla 'really' wrote this blog?

Rough day today.

Broke up three muggings, destroyed the robot of a mad scientist and still had to take part in a tag-team tournament as part of my ‘day’ job. My legs are killing me, my hands feel like meat and I have this wicked bruise on my side from where the robot caught me.

Tomorrow will probably be just as fun.

In brief

- Watched ‘The Brain That Wouldn’t Die’ on Friday as part of my effort to watch DVDs that I bought three years ago. It’s a rather snappy film for being … 47(?) years old. I thought it was fun as well, playful at times. It was a MST3K movie that I didn’t need the jokes to enjoy.
- I’ve watched two Packer games this season (of two) and neither provided me with much hope. There are brief moments of happiness that get washed away in a sea of pain and misery. Steve’s depressed prediction: Packers go 0-16, Brett Favre ‘retires’ as a Packer to play with the Seahawks and Mike Holmgren again. Favre wins two Super Bowls in Seattle and retires. I’d be happy for him but jealous that it didn’t happen in Green Bay.
- Missed part of ‘Simpsons’. Enjoyed this week’s ‘Family Guy’ and ‘American Dad’ moreso than last week’s.

Last week's new theory, which, I guess, means it's not so new anymore

My Dad was adopted when he was about one. He was born during World War II (or, if you prefer, World War – Part II) and most of my theories surrounding his being put up for adoption involve the War. My guess is that his birth father was a soldier and killed in action, perhaps even before Dad was born. Unable to deal with a child on her own, or deal with another child in the family or perhaps unable to deal with this reminder of her dead husband, his birth mother put Dad up for adoption. The fact that Dad had a bad neck at birth may have also contributed to this decision. We have a picture of him as a toddler, looking cheerful as can be, but unable to lift his head. Surgery fixed that soon enough and he’s been as well as can be expected since.

Dad has long expressed a disinterest in finding out any information about his birth parents. They didn’t want him and that’s fine because Grandma and Grandpa did. He considered them his parents and that was that. The birth certificate we have for him lists his birth name as one of the spelling variations of the German version of ‘Smith’ (I forget which and don’t feel like guessing today). As a result, we’ve always just generically taken our heritage from Dad to be solid German because really we don’t know. (Hey, maybe his parents were spies for the German government during the War and were caught and executed and that’s why Dad was up for adoption. That would be interesting! Not very cool really but certainly interesting!)

Last week while we were chit-chatting amongst us, I came to a different conclusion. Since we didn’t know what background Dad is really, that meant, instead of just being one heritage, it could be all of them! I mean, genetically all humans are essentially the same. The divisions amongst humans have been created by humans, not by whatever being or process started humans in general (and belief in what being or process is certainly one of those divisions!). So, while I already believed that all humans are just one big race of people anyway, this decision just made me feel more connected to everyone a little bit more. Which was nice.

It also fed nicely into one of my other beliefs. Why dislike someone based on the colour of their skin or their country of origin? That’s silly. When you get to know people, getting beyond all those surface things, there’s often perfectly good personal reasons you can find to dislike them.

… You can smile at that you know. It was a joke. Relax a little…

New theory

I’ve been fighting off tired for most of the last week or so now. Not consistently mind you, just more often that not. At first I was of the opinion, as I noted here, that I just wasn’t sleeping properly. That started to mutate into me blaming it on the weather. What I didn’t like about that theory was that I don’t like the idea of my being affected by the weather. So what if it’s been cloudy and raining for the past week? Generally I enjoy that to some degree. Tuesday doesn’t count, that was a downpour for most of the day. I think someone lifted up Lake Michigan and dumped it on us.

Anyway, my theory changed again today. A number of people in the office are coming down with colds. My new theory is that I’m fighting off this cold and that’s why I’m tired. It makes as much sense as the other theories.

Most importantly, I’m still writing.

What I did with my Monday

Rather than talk to you lot yesterday I cleaned out my closet. This was one of those relatively simple projects that I’ve been meaning to do since, apparently, high school. I saw clothes that I didn’t think I owned anymore. I definitely didn’t fit into a lot of them. There was an entertainment value to it but it took a couple hours to sort through everything. Technically I’m not done yet. This was just my ‘good’ clothes. I still have jeans and stuff to check on. Still, it’s clean now. It should last for a week or so.

It Must Be Fall

It's a rather blustery day in Wisconsin. I am fond of the word 'blustery', in part because I learned it while still in the single digits of age. I learnt it from a Winnie the Pooh record. It's a lovely word and doesn't get used nearly enough as far as I'm concerned. Blustery. I wonder if I've misspelt it?

At any rate, the temperature is not what leads me to my conclusion in regards to the season. No, the amount of Packers shirt and jackets and jerseys I saw in a brief trip to the grocery store did that for me. The NFL regular season starts today. I know, I know, the first game of the season was Thursday but that didn't really count. Sunday is professional football 'day' despite all attempts to spread games out during the week. Therefore, the season starts today.

All over the nation fans are hoping that this season will be a little better to their team than the last one was to them. Personally I hold no great expectations for this year's Packers team. I'll be happy if Brett Favre manages to survive the season with the ability to still function normally. The offensive line has much to prove and, to put it bluntly, I'll be happy if Brett doesn't die, literally or figuratively.

Go Pack!

Tired

I don't think it's fair. Last night I dreamt I was being chased. I escaped from a house and ran through a backyard then through a schoolyard and was suddenly driving a car down city streets before turning into a deserted section of a shopping mall pushing a cart with someone (one of my brothers?) in it. We strolled into the active part of the mall, apparently safe from whomever was pursuing me. After all this 'exercise' I woke up tired, about as tired as I was when I went to sleep. The tired has hung with me all day. I don't think it's fair.

I got a haircut yesterday so you could also look at my head and think it's not hair.

Sometimes I miss the Lucha

By 'lucha' I don't so much mean 'lucha libre', translated from the Spanish as 'free fight', as I mean, well, 'fight'. On and off for about a year or so, some of my friends and I played at being wrestlers. The goal was not to hurt each other ala the 'backyard' wrestlers of that era but just to goof around, have fun and have it look like professional wrestling.

This is where the character of 'El Hombre de Silla' was born, slowly and painfully in performance. His name changed a bit here and there but not as much as the accent I thought he needed at first. I have NO clue what I was going for there. He slowly grew into That Guy, the cheerful good natured fellow that tried to fight fair and shook hands with his opponent. He was a nice guy, a hero. In fact, in the last event we performed, that's really all El Hombre gets to do. He has no grand storyline, no mountains to climb; he fights a 'jobber' (generic) wrestler, wins, shakes hands and waves a lot. He's probably smiling but you can't see his mouth throught the mask.

At the time, I developed the theory that El Hombre had three 'personas'; not so much personalities but ways of acting in public. The 'in-ring' El Hombre was the character as already discussed. The 'movie' El Hombre (which, despite my desires, has yet to be developed) is a strange non-super super-hero in the mold of El Santo. The 'real' El Hombre is the character that has appeared in a text story or two. He has no life to speak of, he's paranoid, he fights crime (cheerfully, like his ring character) and does nothing but fight. He knows nothing else. He also never takes his mask off. Never? Well, hardly ever.

I miss the performing aspect of 'being' El Hombre. I miss developing that version of the character. To be honest, I mostly miss hitting guys with a chest chop. It can be very carthartic.

Milwaukee: The Biggest Small Town There Is

So Friday I'm at work chit-chatting with the intern that's training me in my temporary new job. We'd already decided we have similiar interests (he reacted very positively to the Doctor Who ringtone on my cell phone) and I was heading down the path of comfortable stories and complaints that I tell new people that I'm becoming friendly with. I was heading into mid-nineties Best Buy (when CDs were $10 and it encouraged experimenting) and had noted that this was also the period where I knew 'half' the store. He checked which Best Buy I was referring to: Northridge. He also had some friends that worked there at the time.

This made my Spidey-sense tingle. As a test, I continued the story, using my long neglected pal Chuck's name. "Chuck who?" he questioned raising his eyebrow. When I told him, he laughed as it's the same Chuck he hangs out with twice a week.

Neat how things come together like that.

Labor Dabor Day

I feel it's important to know when you're being an idiot. One of the advantages to this is that it won't be a surprise if someone points it out to you. It also gives you a chance to have a 'reason' ready when someone does point it out to you and, chances are, someone will.

For the past week I've been an idiot. Why? Because I'm pig-headed.

I'm generally very easy going but, in certain circumstances, I'm very stubborn. This is particularly true when it comes to my job and my health. If I'm feeling a tad under the weather, I still go to work. I'll push myself through projects, sometimes working harder because the opportunity to work smarter has yet to present itself. I tend to get wrapped up in projects and forget to eat. I tend to kick my own butt a lot.

Last Monday I went to sleep feeling just fine. Tuesday I woke up with my left eye feeling a little sore, slightly irritated. This is not so abnormal for right away in the morning and I figured it would work itself out. Over the course of Tuesday, my eye's irritation level rose and fell like a roller coaster. I had my eye drops with me and flushed my eye out in the morning, hoping that would help. I did, for a few minutes anyway. Then it got worse again. In the afternoon, I hit myself with the eyedrops again and that took care of whatever was irritating my eye. Of course, by then, it had been a few hours and my left eye was highly annoyed. Not the best conditions under which to be learning new tasks at work.

Here's where the pig-headedness surfaces. The smart thing to do would be to go home, take out my contacts and rest my eyes until Wednesday. By the time I got home, my eye was relaxing. Instead of removing my contacts, I left them in. This was a problem as I couldn't ready do anything with my eyes for very long. I kept shutting off the lights in my room because it preventing me from looking at things. Watching, Reading and Looking are three of my favourite things so this made most of Tuesday a rather miserable day and night.

Wednesday, I felt a little better. My face looked like someone had punched me in the eye. With a wrench. Still too pig-headed to take out my contacts.

Thursday things continued to improve and I started to feel a little less stupid.

Friday my left contact kept blurring on me. I started to wonder if it had been scratched, in which case, I should have taken it out ages ago. My plan became to remove them Sunday night and replace them Monday morning, taking advantage of Labor Day.

Saturday it felt better. I started to see clearly again although my eye was still a little annoyed.

Sunday I had problems seeing in the morning and I couldn't wait to remove those contacts. By the afternoon, I was fine and was seeing better than I had in days. By the evening I was starting to question the need to remove them. I wasn't in any pain anymore and my eyes weren't irritated. Of course, that could be the beer talking. I ended up leaving them in.

They're still in now. My ability to focus fades occasionally but not for very long. Really, I should change them. I expect to be getting my eyes checked soon and I expect to have to remove them for that check-up. I'd really rather kill two birds with one stone.

Cause I'm an idiot.

Normal service will be restored. Thank you for your patience.

Be back soon

Having some (hopefully) minor vision issues. Be back soon when I can, well, see properly again. I'll explain later.

Or, to put it another way: MY VIS-ION IS IM-PAR-ED!!! MY VIS-ION IS IM-PAR-ED!!! EX-TER-MIN-ATE!

Or something.

Nothing like a project

The PC I normally use to access the internet is all full at the moment. By full, I mean low disk space. In addition to that, I need to reinstall XP on it and it's all clogged up with junk anyway. So I have another in a long line of at home projects working. I mostly finished one of my work projects just in time to get temporarily transfered to one of our other sites. It's been one of those fun little sudden busy times.

I got Simpsons Season Eight last week. I'm having fun remembering where a good chunk of my vocabulary comes from. The first Season of 'The Tick' and the third (and final) Season of 'Arrested Development' come out this week. In other words, I'll be swimming in TV DVDs for another couple days anyway. Mmm...

If I can't educate, I'm willing to entertain

So I'm at work today. Work Eric and I are having a bit of a chit-chat while we let the video conference we just got working sit for a minute. It had shown itself to be a little unstable and Work Eric's logic was that, if we went off and did other things, it would fail again and cause us trouble. However, if we stuck around for a while, it would be fine. His logic worked.

I was finishing up my lukewarm coffee when the urge to cough became sudden and strong. This wasn't a slight tickle at the back of my throat that I could resist until I swallowed, this was a sudden, urgent, unexpected need to cough. My attempt to reach my wastebasket failed. I coughed coffee all over my cubicle.

Work Eric did the most reasonable thing he could under the circumstances: he broke up laughing.

Once he wiped the tears from his eyes and I'd mocked myself a bit, he found me a bunch of napkins and helped me clean up. It must have been hilarious to see. I wish I'd have seen it.

I still smell like coffee.

Vworp Vworp

Over the past few years I've been filling the gaps in my Doctor Who Weekly/Monthly/Magazine collection. The big rush started after I bought about thirty of the Weekly and early Monthly mags for about a quarter apiece (this included the first issue, in a very nice condition with the original transfers included, such a deal!). After that wave subsided, I slowly filled in more of the gaps and now there are only a handful left for me to find. As a collector, gaps are bad.

A couple weeks ago I was suddenly drawn to the shelf where a good forty or fifty of these collected magazines sat. They hadn't been read yet and, therefore, couldn't be filed away with the others just yet. Afterall, what's the point in buying them if I'm not going to read them? It takes all the fun out of having a twenty-five year old magazine if you're not going to look at it at all.

So I started reading them. Few of these were consecutive as I was just filling gaps. The earliest of these issues still had Tom Baker as the Doctor (to put this in perspective for the unfamiliar, he left that job in 1981).

I rather expected to find these to be rather boring. Afterall, the news would be dated, I'd seen most of the comic strips before, the research would get better with time, what would there be to see?

It got very interesting. I time travelled.

Peter Davison became the Doctor and we loved him although he wasn't the same as Tom. Sometimes he was very good though. Colin Baker came along and we loved him and hated him and occasionally loved to hate him. The cancellation scare was suddenly upon us in the mid-80s and then was gone. The show was back with Sylvester McCoy and was rubbish and brilliant at the same time. Some argued that the show was being killed by the BBC, that ever since the scare that they'd wanted it gone. That couldn't be true though; this was Doctor Who! Didn't everyone know about it and love it in some way? Tradition, right? And the audience grew smaller and smaller.

And then in 1990, it was gone. There were promises that it was 'resting', just like the last time, in the 80's, but in the 80's there had been a definite restart date. There was no date this time. The show was 'resting' just as John Cleese's parrot had been.

And then my collection jumped ten years worth of issues. I time travelled into the future, despite still being in the past. Videos! DVDs! Audio Adventures! Books! Everything you could want out of Who!... except the return of the show. In early 2001 there was no reason to believe the show would ever return so we loved what we HAD or, if we didn't love what we had, we made what we loved. Fan videos and fan fiction magazines were peaking around this time. I was in there, muddling about a bit, writing things.

I'm just finishing up issue Doctor Who Magazine #299, cover dated 10-Jan-2001. That's over five years ago already. Five years. Two formerly missing episodes from the 60's were yet to come home. More DVDs. Better ways to restore the old episodes, to make them shiner, easier to watch. Might as well take the time and do it right. We had to watch something, right? It's not like that tv movie in 1996 did anything. Heck, it was five years ago already. Five years. If the BBC wanted Doctor Who back, they'd have done something about it by now, right?

I guess I'll find out in issue #336 (12-Nov-2003). It says something about a New Series on the front. Or I suppose, if I can't wait, I can set the TARDIS controls and just read it now...

One last day of Festing

- Three days at the Fest! A new personal record!

- 'Breakfast' for Eric and myself (Katy having had to leave town for work) was a Guinness cheesecake at the tea room. Brilliant! (and then I remember the adverts and leave my reaction in anyway)

- There was a lot of wandering around for us. As much as I love Irish Fest, by day three (it opened on Thursday so it was day four of the Fest) I was a bit tired. I did not seem to be the only one having that problem. As much as I liked some of the bands we visited, by Sunday, standing for a hour and a half set was no longer a viable option.

- I feel like I've been on the Crusher diet: beer, sausage, walking, more beer. I feel very fit from all the activity, despite the rich food I ate and all the beer I drank.

- The only music I know that involves more clapping than Irish music is the music of the planet Alflakaka which requires not only yourself clapping in order to hear the music properly but that of your clone and at least one version of yourself from an alternate dimension. For some reason it HAD to be an alternate dimension as opposed to an older or younger version of yourself from the same timeline. I've yet to get it to work. A weekend's of Irish music has left my hands quite sore from clapping.

- Ended the music appreciation with a performance by Richard Thompson. His name was familiar to me but I couldn't recall why. One man, one voice, one guitar, one brilliant show. Seriously, a great storyteller and I wasn't for a second disappointed that I'd been talked into sitting there for him, not even when Eric's mum spilled beer on me. It turned out that the beer was for me and that she hadn't really spilt all that much of it so no harm was done at all. Except, perhaps, for the damage to my liver but I'd been punishing that all weekend already.

- Shirt I wanted to get for my youngest brother Joe: Caution - Irish temper and German stubborness.

- 'When there's no more room in Hell, the dead will walk the Earth' I wore my 'Dawn of the Dead' shirt on Sunday because, in my mind, zombies and Irish Fest go together like peanut butter and jelly, salt and pepper, Guinness and... more Guinness. You know, natural combinations.

- It feels weird to not have Irish Fest to go to today. At least I don't have to go back to work straight away like Eric did. Of course, he and his family are headed to Ireland on Thursday so my sympathy is somewhat reduced. Till next year!

More Fest

- Went and saw the Kinsella Irish Dancers to start off yesterday. This was the group that I'd been requested to see as both Eric's younger sisters are part of said group. All in all it was great. I've come to the conclusion that Irish dance is one part tap dancing and one part Ministry of Silly Walks which may well explain it's hypnotic affect upon me. The fancier outfits that some of the dancers wear are earned after winning a championship tournament. Some of these dresses shimmer and glow, brilliant works of art on silk, no two the same in the world. It was also neat to see young kids, kids that may not have seen the other side of the millennium, that can dance better than I ever will.

- Wandered over to the cultural area a lot yesterday as its an area I don't often frequent. I think in an effort to get more traffic they've put more beer over there. I peeked my head into a lecture regarding the potato famine and got hooked for 45 minutes. Interesting stuff. I'm learning!

- Saw Gaelic Storm again yesterday. Brilliant energetic band. Not too folky but not too rock and roll either. They're just a lot of fun to listen to and be part of the crowd. Saw a bit of Quagmyre again and continued to like them. They're more folk music played at a rock n' roll speed and then occasionally taking a breath at a slower pace. The Young Dubliners are a rock n' roll band playing some fiddle and such. Caught a glimpse of Enter the Haggis which was almost punk folk at times. I didn't know the bagpipes could be played at such a speed!

- Drank more beer. Plan to drink even more beer.

- Zombie alert levels were briefly increased from mauve to deep purple yesterday. The first siting turned out to be a bird and the second 'zombie' was a log after closer inspection. Still, I'm keeping a close eye on the lake...

Oh, and...

- Finished my work project up Friday afternoon just before heading to the Fest. I completed the bits I needed to do on Thursday and left the completion to the 'minions' (a term I've decided I prefer over 'interns'). They didn't let me down.

- Irish Fest Zombie outlook: all signs still point to 'safe'. Further monitoring of the situation is necessary.

A few words on the Fest

- It drizzled for the first hour or so I was at Irish Fest yesterday. In general, I didn't mind. I got a beer and walked around. Lather, rinse, repeat for that hour or so. Great start to the day! The only downside was that my original plan was to get a drink, a little something to eat and find a place off to the side a bit so I could do a little writing while feeding off the energy of the crowd. Perhaps I'll get a chance to do so today.

- Got the joy of hearing the closing announcements for another year in a row. I know they are all official and polite 'please assist our security by heading for the exits' type speech. In my head I hear a heavily accented voice going 'Would ye please leave already? We love ya but go and come back tomorrow whilst ye? We've gotta clean up after you lot now.'

- Got an Irish Fest hat that mimics the Guinness style. I've very happy about that and the Pogues CD I found: a best of collection as well as a live concert from 2001. Woo-hoo!

- The Fest reopens at noon which is, like, now. So I'll get there later this afternoon I suppose. KTNE won't be there until sevenish anyway. I've been asked to be present for the viewing of some dancing earlier than that so I suppose I'll be there sooner than later.

Nearly there

Irish Fest is this weekend and with it comes the end of my busy period. For the last month and a half (or so) I've been out of town three weekends and had all sorts of things to attend. Irish Fest is the last of that run. Luckily it brings together a number of things I love: relaxing, good music and beer. This should be fun as long as there are no zombies.

I took Friday off to be able to enjoy more of the Fest than I normally do this year. So what happens? I get a project at work that's due by the weekend. So I'll have to have it done by Thursday before I leave.

I can do that. For beer, oh I can really do that...

(ps. it's really good beer. and really good music. and really good... relaxing. You should go too.)

Deconstruction is more fun than Construction

Black ooze bled from the machine, dripping down onto the pock-marked pavement. The grease quickly mixed with the dust and disappeared from sight as the machine continued to drive a groove in the pavement. I held on to the jackhammer for dear life, not wanting it to perforate my person, merely the patio.

The cement patio at the rear of my parents' house has been cracked since they bought it. It only really started to look bad in the last couple years. This year my Dad decided it was time to do something about it. Friday he borrowed a jackhammer from a friend of ours. Yesterday we worked on tearing up the slab. We finally figured out how to utilize it properly about fifteen minutes before the owner of said jackhammer showed up to assist. He blitzed through it like butter. We had been much less effective but were still able to tear it up and start dragging it away. It was tiring work and I am quite sore from assisting.

We haven't started on the replacement slab yet. It was obvious as we destroyed the previous slab that it had not been generated properly. It was uneven, had air pockets and was attached to the house, all of which nearly guaranteed it would crack. Laying the replacement will be tricker work than removing the damaged one.

Criticism is the same way. It's easier to rip apart a movie or a book we don't care for than it is to create one of our own. This is not to say that people shouldn't have opinions on things, we should, or that we shouldn't be demanding of the quality of our entertainment, we should. Some people don't seem to love anything rather than deconstructing things, taking them apart to see only the flaws, and explaining why your opinion is dumb. Some of these people, somehow, even get paid to not enjoy things and then explain to us why we shouldn't enjoy them either.

Some people can do. Some people can't do but can teach others how to do. Those who can't do and can't teach, write manuals to explain how to do. The people that can't even do that criticize the way the manuals are written.

Do yourself a favour: find someone whose opinion you agree with on movies, tv shows etc. It might be a friend or a writer on a web site or a blogger, someone who shares their opinion out of the joy of doing so, not because they went to film school twenty years ago, flunked out and became a critic instead. You've got a better chance of getting a reasonable opinion on things that way.

So, why now?

I spend a lot of time in my own head, bouncing around and trying to figure myself out. I don’t consider this time wasted because I’ve decided that the better I understand my own motivations, the more likely I am to understand someone else’s motivations. So, the better I understand myself, the better I can understand other people. So, when I do something and I can’t understand why, it does confuse me. I am comfortable with my ‘gut reactions’ to events and they have saved me more than not. Still, as a writer, I try to have motivations for characters so it seems weird to not have clear motivations for myself.

So, why did I turn down a free lunch on Wednesday?

It was pizza for our group at work, a ‘celebration’ of a job well done. It wasn’t for a specific achievement but was more of a general ‘thanks for staying on track’ sort of thing. I slipped in, listened to the thank you speech and slipped back out of the room, choosing to walk a couple laps around the parking lot rather than stay. I spent most of the time walking trying to decide why I was walking rather than eating. Was it the lack of accomplishment in the hour before the luncheon? The individual from another site that showed up just for the free lunch? The mishandling of the lunch order that made it late? Nothing stuck out. When I was asked what happened, I could do nothing but be honest. I don’t know.

Thursday, while at lunch ironically enough, I may have figured it out. Off handedly I said something about my blood sugar must have been low and that felt right. I was getting annoyed leading up to the lunch and it was late, although not as late as I often have lunch, it was scheduled for a specific time. Expectation and activity would have affected me. Also, as I started my walk, I slammed down a candy bar. Perhaps that is what made me feel better more than the walk.

Now I have motivation. Hooray!

How to go from hero to villain in Fifteen Minutes

Monday was another day of vacation for me. I made my way to West Bend around noon-time in order to search out some toys that I'd seen at Wizard World but was unwilling to pay those prices for. I see no need to pay $30 for something when there's still a chance I can find it in a store for $8.

Anyway, upon departing the store, I took a chance and called Chad. After his confusion regarding my location had been dealt with, I asked if he had eaten yet. Chad was in Eric's office and could confirm that neither of them had eaten lunch as of yet. Should I stop my and have lunch? Yes indeed.

Fifteen minutes later I was at their place of work in Jackson and was made aware of the fact that I had saved them from a lunch provided by vending machines. I was their hero. Woo-hoo!

While we stood in Chad's office preparing to leave, Eric suddenly pressed his phone to my ear, indicating that I should say hello. I figured that it was most likely his wife Katy on the other end of the phone and I figured right. My voice confused her. "Is this Eric?" she questioned. "Not exactly," was my illuminating response. We talked for a few moments and she remained puzzled the entire time. Teasingly I responded to her query of "Where is Eric?" with "Lying on the floor in a pool of blood, I just grabbed his phone."

I figured she had recognized my voice and knew it was me on the phone and I figured wrong.

Katy freaked out a little and my confused response to her concern must have triggered something in her brain. "Is this Steve?" she checked. "Yeah. You didn't know that?" She sounded pained. "No." I did my best to sound soothing. "Would you like to talk to Eric now?" I received a "Yes please" in response. I handed the phone to Eric and off he went.

Once their conversation was complete, I filled him in on her not understanding it was me when I spoke of the violence. He laughed heartily. He also noted that he would apologize to her later. I frowned. "Don't you mean I should apologize to her later?" I checked. "No," he confirmed. "You did exactly what you were supposed to do."

Hero to villain in fifteen minutes: a heel turn that WCW would be proud of.

I'm a lazy sod

Ended up not returning to the con Sunday. My reasons, if you are so interested, are these: (1) it was pouring yesterday morning and I didn't want to potentially drive in the pouring rain for two hours (2) I knew I'd need to fill up on gas and suddenly decided I didn't want to do that (3) I didn't get home from Saturday's wedding fun until two Sunday morning.

Ah yes, the wedding.

My buddy TJ got married on Saturday. TJ was an intern at my workplace for about a year and while I wouldn't (shouldn't?) say we are the best of friends we get along very well for work buddies and have had a fine ol' time outside the workplace on a few occasions. I was quite honoured to be invited as he didn't invite many people from his old workplace, just myself and another buddy Mike. Mike was smart enough to bring another of our mutual friends, Callie (her blog link is to your right), along. I was not and was alone, well, alone apart from hanging out with them.

The wedding itself was interesting. The actual ceremony part, the part I generally enjoy and get misty-eyed during, was relatively brief. As it was a Catholic do, the entire ceremony ran about an hour and a quarter. It was interesting to observe but, not being Catholic, was a little creepy to be a part of it. If you are used to such things I'm sure it's much less creepy.

The reception was in downtown Milwaukee, in a ballroom at the college both TJ and his new bride Kathy had attended. We three collected at Callie's downtown apartment and took a cab over to the reception. This turned out to be an excellent decision as there was an open bar for about five hours at the reception. While you may pooh-pooh this next statement, it is my contention that I was never really sauced during this time period and therefore could have driven back and forth to the event. At the same time, I'm glad I didn't have to and that we could cab back to Callie's place to watch X-Games footage with her husband Cale for awhile before driving home. 'Ah ha!' says the observer. 'Not sauced indeed! You must have been because you danced and dancing is not something you do.' I did indeed dance. I can sorta slow dance and make it look okay if I have too do so. I did not slow dance at this wedding; I went out and got all silly to some hip-hop song. While I don't dance, I am generally willing to make a fool of myself for other people's entertainment. When I turned and saw the fascinated expression of joy on Mike and Callie's faces, I was pleased. That's all it took.

So anyway, a good time was had by all. I didn't sleep well and just didn't have the energy or motivation (despite knowing there was a Godzilla panel at the con Sunday, blast!) to return to Chicago on Sunday. Instead I sat around and wanted to take a nap but couldn't fall asleep. I'm mostly better now. I should go do stuff.

Comics! Godzilla! Stuff!

Went to the Comi-c..., er Wizard World Chicago yesterday as planned. All went well. I didn't have a big plan going into the day and all that did was make it easier to successfully enjoy myself. Even better, I didn't spend a lot of money while I was there. Since I'm still planning on going back Sunday, I suppose I still have time to screw that up.

Bought my copy of 'Brandon's Little Problem', the comic from Kevin and Kurt, yesterday. Kurt signed it in a manner that caused his wife to give him grief. I laughed. No, I won't repeat it. My work buddy Travis (who went with me) and Kurt had met before regarding a mini-con at MSOE (Milwaukee School of Engineering) so there's talk of the guys attending that as well.

I have read the book and enjoyed it. It's funny and I enjoyed the art. There's a great sense of comidic timing to the book which I've decided is a combination of the writing and the art. Thumbs up, recommended!

Went to a panel for the first time at this con. That was fun. It was interesting watching professional geeks deal with geeks in a civilized fashion.

Spike TV had a booth with TNA wrestlers doing signings. I hadn't expected that at all. The autographs were free, as opposed to most of the autographs that are offered at the con. That was extra nice.

Classic Media has a booth promoting the upcoming DVD release of Gojira/Godzilla King of the Monsters. I already watched the sampler DVD they handed out. I am well pleased. The two versions of the first Godzilla movie are very different. If you've only ever seen the King of Monsters version of this movie, the original is a treat. For what kaiju films came to be, this movie is strangely serious and unnerving. Try it, you'll like it.

Going to a wedding today. I should probably start getting cleaned up. These things take time.

Failure

Failure interests me. I learn from failure. Even better, I like learning from other peoples' failures. I like learning from other peoples' failures so that I can succeed. I'm not fond of failure; it just interests me.

This is part of the reason I watch 'bad' movies. Quite often the movies are failures but not total failures. Often there is some plot point, some storyline device, that I see used in a unique way and I catalog it for future reference. Sometimes I learn how not to do something from a storytelling perspective. Sometimes you run into a movie like 'Gore-Met, Zombie Chef from Hell' and you learn that anything can get released. Did anybody ever make any money from that 'film'? It's... rough.

This interest in failure is why I bothered to post yesterday. I felt reassured that the post wasn't going to work but I felt the need to try. If I failed, perhaps I could learn something from it. If nothing else, perhaps I'd learn to listen to the voice in my head that says 'That's dumb; don't post that.'

You never know if you don't try.

Experiment

The rain poured today. Thick and heavy, it scrubbed at the land. When it left, the heat remained. Humidity came to choke the land.

The weather sucks. It's my excuse for not being funny today.

I'm going to bed.

It was bound to happen: wrestle talk

I enjoy the work of wrestler CM Punk. CM Punk is straight edge meaning that he does no drugs, drinks no alcohol and smokes no… smokes. With that in mind, is it wrong for me to be drinking schnapps while I watch him wrestle?

CM Punk is ECW. If he’s given the chance, I believe he’s the future of wrestling. He’s muscular without looking unreal. He has a unique look with all his tattoos (including a Cobra symbol tat!) and piercings. Most importantly, he can wrestle and sell convincingly (meaning he looks like he’s actually fighting).

The revived ECW has a lot of things going against it. One of my biggest concerns has been the amount of WWE talent that has moved over to ECW, evidently in order to provide ‘star power’. The reigning ECW champion, the Big Show, has defended his belt every week against invaders from ‘RAW’ and ‘Smackdown!’, not against fellow ECW wrestlers. Many of the storylines have been derailed but that’s not all the fault of the bookers as there have been a number of things they’ve had to deal with and adjust to, such as, oh, arrests. It’s also been awkward watching the ECW alumni jobbing to wrestlers who, until recently were WWE superstars as it makes them look weak.

Of course, there have been positives. Joey Styles is one of the best wrestling announcers of all time. He calls holds, he tells stories and gets emotion over. Tazz is a fun counterpart for him. The Big Show, while he may not have been the planned champ, has done an admirable job with his revised character and wrestling in the hardcore style. Balls Mahoney getting over last week was reassuring as it showed, given a chance, that the crazy old ECW guys could still get that kind of reaction. This is especially true of Sabu, the suicidal, homicidal, genocidal madman seems energized by the revived ECW has is getting quite the reaction.

It looks like ECW got picked up. I’m glad. If nothing else, go CM Punk!

Enough excitement for one evening

Twas a busy weekend. For now, I tell a story near its end.

I ran by Chad's house last night as I craved a boon. With all my recent cable related issues I realized I had ended up missing an episode of 'Hell's Kitchen'. Hoping he had a copy of the episode that wouldn't be replayed tonight and hoping that I could be caught up before that airing, I called to see if I could get a copy of any copy he might have. He's been having computer troubles but thought he could help. Hooray!

He said to stop my his mother's house rather than his own. The difference is but a block. He was assisting his niece Amanda and her roommate Beth (I think I have that right) in packing furniture into a van. I assisted by running my mouth and distracting the dog: two things I'm quite good at doing. None of this took very long, Chad handed over a disk holding the episode that he hoped would work and we were ready to go.

Suddenly, from the alley about a block away, lept a gray vehicle. Sparks flew as it sped across the street and into the next alley. A police car quickly followed suit. It also kicked up sparks. Tires squealed in the distance. The young ladies were keen to depart and Chad strongly discouraged that departure. The streets were not safe.

Moments later, the battered and heavily stickered gray Subaru sped past on the street alongside the house. Sparks flew again is it bounced through the intersection. The police car soon followed, still in hot pursuit. Chad noted the street they were heading down was a dead end. We waited for the sound of a crash but none came.

There was a moment of peace. I took advantage of that moment to get my car off the street. Just in case.

Neighbors emerged from their homes. We were told there had been a road block near the dead end street but the car had escaped it somehow. After a few minutes of silence, we could hear sirens in the distance again, in the residental area across the nearby major street. I pointed out police lights and we saw a couple of squad cars manuvering in that area. The sounds faded into the southeast.

We took the opportunity to get out of Dodge. I checked the paper today for details but didn't see a story on it. As a result, I currently have no ending to the story.

It was... interesting. Oh and Chad's disk proved to be unreadable. Blast!

Good and Bad

One of my favourite things about writing is that moment when the quiet guy in the back of my head speaks up. When I'm writing sometimes there are a lot of voices in my head, all looking to be heard, as if a group of people are in a room shooting out ideas. In that group, there's always a quiet guy that waits until everyone else is done and says one line that blows everyone away. This morning while I was driving, the quiet guy spoke up. I think what he said will work for the character involved and is incredibly clever.

One of my least favourite things about writing is that I want to tell someone else this clever idea but I don't want to spoil any future stories for them. Additionally, this twist isn't something I can use straight away; it might take years for it to be the right time.

It's no fun being clever if you can't tell anyone that you're clever...

Almost forgot...

The cable tech came today and replaced the cable from the house to the pole. Apparently there were signs of squirrel related damage. I now have FOX again. Hooray for the cable company!

I'll try to explain but it might not work

I own 'The Horror of Party Beach' on DVD. Allow me to try to explain why that means something to me.

When I was a child, I spent most of my summer vacations going to the library and getting books to read. I love reading. I also love movies. As a result, I liked getting books about movies, mostly horror movies and the history of horror movies. For whatever reason, this stuff fascinates me. As a child, I never expected to be able to see most of the movies I read about. I didn't get a VCR until high school and cable TV came after that. The only hope I had to see movies was on TV and I didn't expect that most of the movies I read about would ever be on normal TV.

Now, with DVD, most of the movies I read about as a kid are available to buy or will be soon, often remastered and with extras, treated more lovingly that they were upon release decades ago. This is one of the reasons I love life.

To return to my point, 'The Horror of Party Beach' was one of those movies I read about as a kid. Despite never having seen it, the concept stayed with me. I based part of one of my stories on that movie. Now, I own a copy.

I first read about this movie because it was one of the world's 'worst' movies. An interview with the director on the DVD notes that this movie was a parody of beach and horror films. If true, it's another reason why the book in question is inaccurate and has been since it was published.

Anyway, owning a copy of 'The Horror of Party Beach' makes me feel like part of my childhood has been returned to me.

I guess I'll have to find the time to watch it, hmm?

Please pardon the pimping as it is not for me

I do things out of order at times. I mentioned Kurt and Kevin's comic in the last entry before I checked my email and, behold!, a link to their website mentioning the same book:

http://www.imaginarytales.com/

Go. There isn't much on the site but what is there is fun. I'm sure the book will be as well. If you're going to Wizard World Chicago, go buy a couple copies.

I'll try to refrain from doing the whole 'pimp' thing a lot in the future. This was something of a special occasion. I'm all excited and stuff...

Pardon the brevity

Missed a day so there is slight guilt. Tired, late, this is what I got for you.

I called the cable company Monday night and went through the 'leave your number' thing again. This time they called back so I'm of the opinion I did screw up on Sunday. My work and home exchanges are off by one number so I do mix them up regularly. Any way, they decided something's wrong with the box so a tech is coming to look at it tomorrow.

Kurt and Kevin's comic is printed up and ready for next week's Comi-con. Pete bought the first copy today and hopefully I got a picture of it. I'll find out once the film is developed because that picture was either the last one on the roll or that picture the camera half takes at the end of a roll.

Yes, I still have a film camera and the pictures need developing. Oh really? Well, if all you can do is taunt me for not having a digital camera yet then I'm done for today.

Why again?

So last night I check my cable for FOX again. Now it's completely black, not even a hint of trying to connect, even after unplugging the cable box for a half-hour. I call up for service. If I don't want to hang on the phone, I'm given the option to leave my number and they'll call me back in '33 to 34' minutes. So I gave that a shot. I'm pretty sure I inputted the number correctly but I may have failed. That was about twenty after eight.

An hour later they've not called back. I call again. I receive the option to leave my number again and this time the wait is about a quarter of an hour. I don't bother.

Fifteen minutes later I call back. The wait is now 9 minutes. I go to bed instead.

I wonder if there was only one person answering the phones last night. Could be. If so, I feel bad for him/her because I've been in that position before. Still, I've now called in four times and never spoken to a person. Not cool.

Round three tonight...

That settles that

I ordered my pass for the upcoming Wizard World Chicago (an event I continue to refer to as the Chicago Comi-con for some reason) so I guess I'm going. I've talked myself out of going the last year or two but have been very looking forward to this year's event for some reason. It should be fun. Currently I'm planning to go on Friday and Sunday (I've a wedding to go to on Saturday).

I like looking at the tv and movie stars that will be attending as it amuses me to get autographs at these events. Some of the names made sense to me: Dirk Benedict ('Battlestar Galactica' and 'The A-Team') and Richard Kiel (Jaws from the Bond films) for example. Joyce DeWitt and Pricilla Barnes from 'Three's Company' confused me a bit. Pricilla (I know I must be spelling that incorrectly) at least was in 'Mallrats' so there's a geek connection there but otherwise, huh? Thomas Jane is scheduled to be there as well. I generally don't like queueing up at the Comi-con but, if I'm going for two days, perhaps I will in order to meet the Punisher.

Decisions, Decisions...

Movie Review: 'Clerks II'

'Clerks II' (2006)

The QuickStop, long-time place of employment for Dante and Randal, has burned down. Both find employment at a Mooby restuarant and, after a year, many things remain the same in their lives. However, one massive thing HAS changed; Dante is engaged and is planning to move to Florida, leaving New Jersey and Randal behind forever. As the bulk of the movie starts, it's Dante's last day at Mooby's before moving away. In many ways, it's just like every other day.

In a lot of ways, 'Clerks II' is the same movie as 'Clerks' but in just as many other ways, it isn't. The bits that 'isn't' are the important ones. The original movie takes place in the space of one 24 hour period. In the sequel, the bulk of the action takes place in one 24 hour period but there is also an intro piece set a year before the main action and a coda that takes place months after the main action. In the original, the Clerks close the store to attend a funeral. Here, it's to go ride go-karts. Both movies have scenes set on the roof of the store but only one of those is set to a Jackson 5 song. The sequel manages to follow many of the same storyline beats as the original without following it completely and becoming the exact same movie.

Underneath all the crudeness and geek language is a point. The point is: be yourself. Find out what you want to do with your life and do it. Don't strive for something that other people want you to be when you can be yourself and be happy. Oddly enough, Randal had this figured out in the original 'Clerks' and is why, despite his complaining, he is so upbeat throughout the movie. He is happy. He gets to watch movies all day and his best friend is just next door. This is all he desires from life and, for the longest time, he gets it.

As with all Kevin Smith movies, I tend not to recommend them to people who don't like Kevin Smith movies. They are crude and this one is certainly no exception to that rule. Before spending a pile of cash to see this one in the theatre, rent the original 'Clerks' or one of Kevin's other films (apart from 'Jersey Girl' which is another style altogether) and see if you like that first. If you are already a fan of Kevin's work, then you should enjoy this movie as well.

Daily you say?

I have no real format planned for this thing and I rather prefer that to having a format. I have so many diverse interests that segmenting this blog to one of them would probably kill any writing momentum I might start.

That said, if there are any requests for specific topics of discussion you’d like me to, well, discuss or any stories you’d like me to tell here, feel free to make those suggestions. I’m not adverse to input from the readership.

Whatdaya mean it sounds like I’ve already run out of ideas? Poppycock! Rot! Drivel! I’ve just run out of ideas for today is all…

Drink, Gurls, Feck

Every once in a while I grow particularly philosophical. When in that mode I attempt to understand the basic things of life; those things that most people never even question. One topic I often enjoy considering is: why do I find the female form attractive? What is it about that general arrangement of flesh, bone, muscle and fat that appeals to me so deeply?

To date I have yet to figure it out. Perhaps someday I shall figure it out. Perhaps not. In the meantime, I suppose I will have to continue observing the variations in the female form as part of my ongoing research.

This is not the toughest assignment I’ve ever had in life.

Remind me again?

Monday night I sat down to watch ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ because I enjoy Gordon Ramsey’s intensity. His desire to help people make quality food via screaming is impressive to me as is his ability to swear fluently. Fox was not coming in properly on my cable. It appeared to be the only channel thusly affected. I rebooted my cable box and waited for a few minutes. No change. I hopped on the phone to give the cable company a call as maybe it was just a problem on Fox’s end of things. I waited on hold for over twenty minutes. I never spoke to a person. Once the episode that was new for this week started, I gave up on the phone as it wasn’t worth the effort anymore.

Why am I paying for cable again?

Preapology

One problem I've already noticed with doing this blog type thing is that I have all sorts of ideas on what to ramble about... until I have my computer in front of me. At that point, all those ideas just disappear on me. So, I'm working on fixing that already.

Baby steps.

I start a blog and immediately had to go on vacation

So this past weekend I visited my friends in Stevens Point that I haven’t seen in years. I had a good time and, as I tend to prefer while on vacation, accomplished very little. We hung out, chatted a lot and watched movies. I’m looking forward to doing it again soon.

I don’t like overly complicated vacations. I got to go to Japan a couple years ago and there was this concern on the part of the friends I was meeting there that they wouldn’t have enough for me to do. I didn’t need much. I spent a couple hours one morning just sitting outside the train station, having something to eat and watching people go by. It was awesome.

One item of interest regarding the Point trip was that the path that I take to get there had changed for the better. The highway into town had been more or less extended to the freeway. This meant that I arrived in Point about an hour earlier than expected. I was pleased.

There was a bit of a wrinkle upon my attempt to return home to Milwaukee. I was barely out of town when police cars flew past me. My forward motion was soon ended by the same cars. An accident spread across the road and prevented any further progress in this specific direction. I was forced to return to town. The upside to this is that there is another highway that goes through Point. The downside to this alternate path is that it is a longer route so I had to drive for about three hours instead of about two. I hope no one was seriously hurt in the accident. It looked complicated from a distance.

I wish there was something more exciting to report from my trip but, apart from the joy in seeing my friends again, nothing all that exciting happened. Perhaps next time.

Well, I guess it's a start

As some people say, greetings and salutations!

I've had it expressed to me that I am skilled at rambling, so skilled in fact that I should go about rambling while on the Internet, for all to see!

Me, I'm of the opinion I'll grow to regret this. Until then, welcome!