Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Ping.

This is a test to make sure my login still works. wow 5 years.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Really infrequent

You may have noticed it's been nearly a year since the last post. Likely that isn't going to change.

I'm not pulling down the blog - I did that once before and regretted it, but I am not likely to post to it again... not for a while anyway (years).

So this is mostly a "it's been fun while it lasted" post.

See ya on the flipside.

Monday, August 31, 2009

Disney buys Marvel Comics.

Yep, that is right, Disney is buying Marvel.

I'm sure it's just to get access to the characters, movies and games. But I hope they take some editorial control of the actual comics, and kick Joe Q to the curb.

I've not often been a big fan of the "Disneyfication" of other source material, but to be honest, I can't see how anything they could do would be worse than what has been done to the Marvel U for the last 4 or 5 years: Avengers Dissembled, The mutant eraser, Illuminati, Civil War, Skrull invasion, Spiderman: One more Day - the list of shame goes on.

It would be nice to read Marvel comics again. Not this twisted parody of what they once were.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

On Movies

Partly to make sure my really negate post about Father's Day is moved down, and inspired by seeing Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen (and the critical response to it).... a post on movies.

First off, I loved Transformers 2 (I want to abbreviate it T2 but that is taken). I really enjoyed the first movie, and pretty much knew I'd be getting more of the same. It was a great ride, had some really cool visuals, some great lines, and a plot that was serviceable. Was it worth the 12 bucks it cost to see it - absolutely. But then it is a Micheal Bay movie, and I've loved every one of his films I've seen. (And as a note to Joe, should he read this - I love Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin too. :) )

I work at Blockbuster part time. I hear a lot of opinions of movies. And stuff like this gets trashed talked a lot. By critics too. And it annoys me to some extent - yeah the movie isn't the end of the world, but so what. I see a movie for entertainment... not for some searching for "art" that may or may not exist. For example, the only movie Woody Allen was involved in that I actually liked was Antz. I don't watch a lot of serious dramas either - as I said I watch movies to be entertained and and hour and a half or two or someone else's angst isn't that entertaining to me (with a few exceptions).

I don't mind formula movies (I'm a huge fan of sports movies, and enjoy romantic comedies... probably the two most formulaic genres in film). I love SF of any stripe (fantasy, Science Fiction or related). I admit I am very picky about the comedies I watch, and I tend to think of animated movies as a lesser art form than live action... so I only watch animated stuff I'm pretty sure I will enjoy based on previews and such.

Just because a movie is made for the masses, doesn't make it bad. I love the fact that Transformers is raking in the money when it is sitting at 20% as Rotten Tomatoes (whereas Up is at 97%, and I won't bother with that 'till it hits DVD).

The other movies I plan on seeing in a theater this year - GI Joe, Harry Potter and New Moon.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Fuck Father's Day

It's father's day.

I hate it.

Why you may ask.

2 reasons – my father and my lack of children.

Father's day is to remember your father. I don't like to. I have no really good memories of him. I have a bunch of the other kind.

Mocking me saying that I should drop out of choir because I couldn't sing “You don't have any fucking talent”.

I was 8 or 9, and my room wasn't clean to his specifications – so he swept everything I had on dresser or table tops on the floor, emptied every drawer I had into a pile on the floor, and knocked over every dresser (breaking one of them). I was told to have it perfect in two hours or else.

Giving me heatstroke because I accidentally hit a sprinkler head mowing the lawn, and didn't notice. So I dumped the bag into our little area between the garage and fence (when had been dumping grass clippings all year). So I was told I had to find it before I could come inside. I dug through that grass for 2 hours and couldn't find it (in the sun in June). I was not let in to get a drink or shower for another 4 hours, because I couldn't find the broken sprinkler head.

I had an open wound on my shin – cut open from a fall. My father made me crawl around in the lawn working on things while secondary water was being used to water the lawn (secondary water isn't purified or filtered like culinary water is – you never drink it, because it is unhealthy). A few days after this he was working on the roof and my leg felt funny (it was weak and it hurt), and I didn't want to climb the ladder – of course I was called a “Fucking Pussy” for that. My mom took a look at my leg and it was really swollen. I was taken to the emergency room by my mother (after a two hour argument from my dad who didn't think I was really sick); I had staff infection from crawling in the secondary water and the doctor told my mom that if I had been in the next day, I would have died, as it would have been too advanced to treat.

I got pushed, and subtly physically abused. I was called worthless all of my life. I was mocked because I could not do sports, and the things I was good at (intellectual pursuits mostly, and really good grades) were worthless and unimportant.

After my mother and I moved out on him (I was 18), he showed up and pulled a gun on my mother. I knocked his arm aside.

So you know what – let's ignore any memories of my father. Nothing good there.

But father's day is also a day to celebrate being a father right?

I'm 42. Due to medical situations, the wife and I have not yet had any children. I want them. Time is running short. I may never be a father.

So on that aspect I really have no interest in celebrating a state of being (fatherhood) that I may never have, and fell profound loss because of it.

So, to re-iterate the title of this post -

Fuck Father's Day.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Taking some time off

As you may have noticed I'm not posting much - I tend to go in cycles like that. So this is just a formal notification of things that have been going on. I'll not be posting for while.

I'm not having fun with the memes things (my position, not that they have gotten worse), and well, my life situations hasn't changed much, so I don't see much point in commenting on the same things over and over. I will be posting on my Video Game Blog and as a member of Army of Dorkness though, so I won't be completely absent from the blogsphere.

See ya on the flipside.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Music of Your Life

From the Music Memiors


Music of your life:

Pick one album you remember the most about every 5 years of your life and tell us why its important to you.

Mickey and the Beanstalk. I was a little kid,It was a Disney kid's album that had the story, music, sound effects. I had a cheap little kids turntable to play it on. It was the first album I can ever remember having owned.

Shaun Cassidy - Self Titled. The first non-kids album I ever had, I was about 10. Parents bought it for me. I listened to it to death. Da do Run run run. That's Rock and Roll. When I met the lady who became my wife, she only had about 20 albums (I have 400 or so). She also had this one. It's something of a special album for us because of that. :)

Queen - A night at the Opera. The first album I ever bought with my own money. I was 13 or so? It's what started me on my path of loving and acquiring music - as well as showing (or teaching) me a preference for intricate, experimental music rather than simplistic pop (which is okay, but not my main course or music - more a side dish). Oh yeah, and a lifelong love of Queen. Still my favorite band after all these years.

Return to Forever - Romantic Warrior. I was about 17 or 18. I had been asking friends for recommendations for music, and this was one. I got it, not knowing what it really was. I got it home and was blown away. Now I had been listening to light jazz and new age already (mostly from stuff I taped from the library records), but this was so unique and so good, that for instrumental music, it shaped what I listened to for the rest of my life. It is still my favorite Jazz album of all time. And like Queen - this is experimental and really unusual.

Venice - Venice. The first album by the california band - I was 23, it was 1990, and they didn't release another album for almost 10 years (grunge took over the airwaves). It was a really nice find of regular rock, around all the pop and hair metal (I love Hair metal, but hey, you need other stuff too).

Two way tie for the next one - Todd Snider - Songs for the Daily Planet, Young Dubliners - Breathe. It was mid nineties, Grunge had taken over the airwaves and I despaired. (I like Grunge, but hey, you need other stuff too). Then there was a station here that was a AAA (Adult Album Alternity). By this point in my life I really studied music, and knew lots about lots of bands - and this station played music I'd never heard of. It was a complete breath of fresh air. I discovered 10 or more bands from the stuff they played - the two listed are the ones I liked the most. It helped open me up to blues more, and I really found there were some other stuff out there. And that radio actually didn't suck. Other bands they played (some I knew, some I didn't) - John Hyatt, Crash Test Dummies, a lot of the Lilith Fair women singer songwriters, k d lang, bb King. In fact what sold me on the station was when they played a three song set - k d lang to B B King to Nirvana (unplugged). Any station with that variety was one I had to listen to.
Sadly it went out of business about 3 years later.


Big Bad Voodoo Daddy Self titles
- Grunge was done, and music was dominated by boy bands and pop tarts. So I ignored pop/rock and dove into Neo-swing. This was among the best of the bunch. By this point in my life I don't listen to albums anymore, I listened to discographies and genres. :) I still love the stuff.

Rocket Scientists - Brutal Architecture This only a few years after the above, but it is important. I love Progressive rock. I love Progressive Metal. But All I had was the stuff from the 70s (Yes, Asia, King Crimson, Floyd ect). I knew it all. I had found mp3.com, when they sold music by up and coming artists with no record contract. Found some decent prog there. I also saw an ad in Guitar Player magazine for a prog label (Magna Carta IIRC). So I thought.. "Maybe there is some prog hiding on the internet". I went looking. Found a prog label Kenesis. One of the bands had the name Rocket Scientists, which I thought funny, and just took a chance and ordered their second CD. I got some other stuff to, sound unheard. I get it, and it is amazing - so I immediately ordered the rest of their stuff. This opened me to the thriving world of progressive rock that I still enjoy, and is probably the largest single subgenre of music I own. The Rocket Scientists are nestled nicely right behind Queen for my second favorite band. :)

Big and Rich - Horse of a Different Color. This album showed me that modern country wasn't just pop/rock with a country key that was what dominated the 90s. We had honest to goodness fiddles, artists bending genres (like Cowboy Troy) and really opened modern country (and later Alt-country) to me.

Rock Band. I know, not really an album, but it has had as much influence on me and how I view and listen to music as anything else, and so I am including it. One - I got to "play" the music. Yeah, I know, not really, but still fun. Playing drums or bass really let me start to hear individual parts of a song much much better, and so I can appreciate this aspect more than I used to. Two - Play list. There is a large cross section of music, and a lot of bands I never really listened to, as well as some I'd never heard of. I have bought more music based on what I have heard from rock band than anything else other than my prog and the Mountain (that radio station above). It has really opened my eyes to music I never had exposure to.