See there’s this dickhole convention down the street from me (anti-war protest). They are all carrying the moron-signs that come from Moron Sign Printing Central. You know: “End Bush League Diplomacy” “Follow the $$$ and arms” and so forth. I think i may crash it.

I have all this spraypaint and plywood. I think that “Bush stole the Election! That’s my argument!” might win friends and influence people. Of course Treacher has plenty of other ideas.

Other than that it’s been a normal week. I got a new car. Ask me about my new car and i’ll give you an entry tomorrow about it.

Or hell those with my phone number can call my slap happy ass. I should be free after i start a fight with a hippie and before i hit kung fu. See there’s all this Witch Hunter Robin and Jennifer Government doesn’t read itself.

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So yeah, the Mac in question turns out to be a Perfroma 6100/66 with the DOS daughtercard. Yes, i said DOS. It is not going to live at my house, as it would possibly take space away from a good Mac one day. I could upgrade it, but after i spend $20 for Cache memory, $400 for RAM, and $200 for a G4 upgrade card then i might as well have bought a damn Cube. I would have gotten a cooler box and i wouldn’t have to worry about having something that was brand new to me but at the ass end of its product life.

Also, i got my copy of the “30 Days of Night” compliation. I have to say that despite my girl’s comments to the contrary its one hell of a series. I’m entirely unsurprised that it is becoming a movie, actually. I await it with baited breath. And i’m still trying to talk myself out of buying “CVO: Covert Vampiric Operatives.”

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Well, reports of my death were not actually too far off the mark. See i’ve never shifted metaphorical gears really well between seasons. I usually have this really shitty hay feaver every spring and fall, and this year was no exception. Only this weekend i thought “Hey, lets try histamine-blocking Benadryl, that should help me out lots.” Turns out that yes, it makes all the symptoms go away but then i shut down completely. It was actually quite good that nobody came down this weekend, as they would have found me entirely incaplable of moving or accomplishing much of anything.

I found a Mac at one of my schools though, and while it looks rather old it may be in good enough shape to do something useful for me (Like play EV:O).

And something i didn’t mention last time i talked about comics is that i bought the most recent issue of “The Red Star” and i have to say that it is hella kickass. The storyline has finally assembled itself into something resembling coherance, and that’s always fun. I may have to go hunt down the hardbacks and see if Volume 2 features the same level of badass plot in addition to the badass backdround flavor.

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“Fukui-san?”

“Yes, Ota?”

“Yes, i just talked to the challenger and it seems his strategy is to throw everthing into the pot and hope for the best. When i asked him what exactly he was trying to accomplish with that he politely told me to do something anatomically impossible. Back to you.”

So yeah, i had the girl and my parents over to the house last night and i cooked them food. It was supposibly paella, and i succeeded mostly. I didn’t add enough rice, and the end result was more than a little brothy. I basically ended up with more of a spicy chicken stew than a real paella. Ah well, i suppose this means that i’ll get to polish this with time.

So i’ve moved over to a Linux box here at work, and i have to say that apparently nobody designs their pages to work with Phoenix on RedHat. Oh well, i can’t say that’s a surprise.

And the whole Yokohama thing has been postponed. I will be needing to renew my passport for one thing (i got it too long ago, and i was too young at the time to have it remain valid). For another both my parents and my girlfriend seem to be concerned about Lil’ Kim in South Korea trying to blow me up. See i can only see that ending with them starting an open call for a young man with a video game habit to jump into their giant robot and use it to protect Japan.

Today was ersatz comic book day for the last month, and lord does Powers rule. Seriously, Bendis and Oeming are some kind of comics gods in human form. I get chills when i think about re-reading this month’s issue. On the other hand, Image’s Shadows and the new Alone in the Dark are both really crappy. I’m going to give Shadows two more issues for these people to get the kinks out, but right now both of them fail to maintain constant plotting: there are areas where i’m left going “How did the characters get there? What the hell is going on?” Powers and Hellboy never leave me in the lurch like that, and i’m eternally grateful for that.

Now back to seeing if i can get this Linux thing working. I wonder how easily i could sneak RO on here to see if i can run it through Wine.

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So i’m heading up to Florence in about an hour, so i’ll see you guys there around 6. I’d like to hit the Books-a-Million because they further adventures of the w00t-w00t train is out. According to TokyoPop, that is.

And i’ll bring the first volume of the Megatokyo manga as well. It is very creepy to hold in your hand, i have to say.

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I keep doing that. I type up a long ass ramble and because i set it to “draft” to make sure i don’t lose a big part of it in a 500 internal server error, i forget to set it to “publish” when i’m done. My fault, i guess. So read the last entry and this one.

Kristi build “Willard” last night, so i watched it. It left me with three hours of sleep only, but i did actually enjoy the movie. Its a very solid “B” movie. It doesn’t really go anywhere that movies haven’t gone before, and it doesn’t really bring much to the table, but it is an enjoyable watch. It has some stop motion in the beginning too, and that’s just gravy (the shortest way to my heart is through stop motion.)

Also R. Lee Ermey is an excellent angry boss. I’ve never seen him without the drill-sergent hat, and it is a surreal experience, i have to say. Still he shouts remarkably well, and i have to say that being his child would be something of an experience. You sure wouldn’t want to make dad mad. Crispin Glover is also one hell of a psychopath. Really did look nustso the entire movie.

The whole thing looks really like they managed to take Tim Burton and use his powers for good rather than boredom. Sorry, i’ve just never been able to be truely interested in anything he did more than design work for with the exception of Edward Scissorhands, and only becuse i love the “outcast comes to live with normal people and gets cast back out” story. I’m a diehard devotee of “The Iron Giant” for instance. Anyway, it had a good creepy vibe, but wasn’t a slasher flick.

I didn’t like the death of the cat though. Sorry, it seemed a superfluous just to have the rats kill something to easy listening music. It really didn’t go anywhere or emphasize anything in particular except “i’m not afraid to write random animal death into a movie.” But then i’m a wuss and would never stoop to killing the dog in an action movie, so i guess that’s just me.

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So i was running past a Blockbuster yesterday and i thought “Hey, lets go rent ‘The Ring’ and see if it stands up to watching on a little tv.” As the DVD is well and truely lame. For over $20, i would expect more extras than it gives. It giving no extras other than a short film by the director and alternate languages. See, to me any DVD should (must) contain four things: Director/Producer/Screenwriter commentary (aiming the camera, why certain shots were done, etc.), Actor commentary (how it felt to be in the shots, if you had an inkling of how the effects shots would look, so forth), Still/Production galleries (with options to download if played on a computer), all (and i mean all) posters and lobby art pieces, and all trailers/tv spots. Optional extras can include: wallpapers in common sizes (800×600, 1024×768, and 1200×1024), screensavers (Samara climbing the well?), interviews with cast members (how did that girl feel about being zombified), short bloody films, and so forth. Deleted scenes and alternate angles are gravy, frankly and always appreciated.

Wow i got off on a tangent there. Anyway, instead of renting “The Ring” i grabbed the original Japanese version that they are calling “Ringu” to avoid the inevitable confusion. And i am afraid to say that it is crummy. Just really a stinker. This will probably annoy a few nipponophiles that i talk to, but it has to be said.

First off, the effects are really dog-ugly. I don’t know if this is something that is part and parcel of the format switch from japanese PAL tapes to NTSC or whatever, but i think the print has been over-sharpened. It has the same degrading effect that the old un-remastered version of Star Wars had with the effects just not fitting.

I liked the really messed up faces of the dead in the American version. I hate to say it, but i think that it really added something to the terror. In the Japanese version they just had big screaming faces. Not very terrifiying.

In the Japanese version everbody had psychic powers. This took away from the “everyman” thing that the American version had. Naomi Wats was overly normal, and the husband guy was just a typical guy. They weren’t clairvoyants with constand ESP flashbacks. The fact that just normal people got caught up in the curse really added something, i thought.

They left a few things unanswered, or atleast left up to the audience. For instance, in the Japanese version, they actually do start pontificating as to who the well-girl’s father is. They actually do ask if he really was human, or what.

The whole movie was overly bright as well. I don’t know if this is a thing with the transfer of formats or what, but the American version was muted and dark, while this one had a light and airy cabin with an demi-Miami Vice feel.

Then everything that my girl didn’t like about the American version was there in spades. The overwrought music cues were even more overwrought. The reporter and her husband try to bail out the well for God’s sake. They try to remove the water with buckets!

They did a few things really right though. First that comes to mind is when she watches the video for the first time and cuts the TV off, the warped reflection on the then-black screen looked like Sadako was standing behind her. Incredibly good jump moment. Also the final line in the movie is quite good. Not worth waiting through, but actually a really good touch.

Just so you don’t think i hated it or anything. I just didn’t enjoy it as much as the American version. As for Ring, i will be buying it, when it comes out with extras that are worth a damn.

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I went outside to check on my laundry, right? What should happen but the only light that casts illumination on my backyard goes out, plunging me directly into wooded darkness. Then at the same time somebody in the distance starts playing “Taps” on perhaps the scratchy-est record player known to man while the breeze kicks the neighbor’s wind chimes into full on ghostly mode.

For one second i reached for my gun before i realized that it was in the house. And then after that second of wierd pseudo-panic i realized that not only do the dead stay buried around here but my gun is a toy replica.

Thank god for that. Otherwise we’d have ventilated raccoons.

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EXTENDED BODY:

Everything that has ever been important about the internet has been written down. If if didn’t violate the whole point of the piece, i would print it out and start taping it to phone poles.

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So yeah, sometime last week i was captured by nazi zombie ninjas and made to do their fendish bidding. I only just escaped and barely by the skin of my teeth. The story of my horrible capitivity and escape would surely turn your hair white and harrow your very soul.

So i’ll just leave it at that and plow on as i had planned last week before i was cruelly interrupted by capture and bondage to their hideous giant-brain overlord. But then i’ve said too much.

Work on the Puncholye continues apace. This is probably the most interesting and addictive RO build i’ve played with to date. The facination inherant in beating baby birds about the head and face with only your bare hands is beyond facinating. Eventually i’ll start posting build-updated along and along. Eventually. Lets just say that a good start is the most powerful armour you can afford and as much agility as you can spare. About 35 appears to be a good buffer zone before you start working on Strength. We’ll see if more strength increases damage enough.

Other than that, always (and i do mean always) carry one wand-type weapon. Even if you don’t agree with the normally-weak attack power, the +15 to your Magic Attack stat gives you a boost to any magic cast. This means your heal is more powerful, and as an Acolyte, more healing is always good.

I need to check with Rama if Magnum Break can be used unarmed. If so then i could possibly start trying to save up for a Blast Clip and see if tossing off exploding punches is a possibility.

That would rule.

The Linux experiment continues apace, and one day i may even give over to the OS whole-heartedly. I do love the UI quite a bit better than Windows. And as i’ve said before, i really do think that it would increase my pretension atleast 10-fold.

Oh well, have fun, i may just be able to keep up with updating this week. That is if i can drag myself away from Hwang Hung Lo, puncholyte in training.

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