Coincidence?
I was sitting in class not two hours ago thinking about how cool it would be to see an Alien vs. Predator movie. I come home, and
what do I find?Cooooool. Although, the director's pedigree is spotty (Soldier, RE, MK)... We'll see.
I need crash course in English
Just to let everyone know, I am applying into Berkeley's MUSE (Multicultural Urban Secondary English) Credential and Master's Program. After the first year, I can get a teacher's credential in English and ESL for grades 6-12. Before I even get that far, though, I need to pass the GRE, CBEST and CSET. It is the CSET (Cal Subject Exam for Teachers: single subject English) that is worrying me the most because, as an English competency test, I need to have the equivalent of 54 units of English Literature. So I'm wondering, could Martin pass as a Juanita and take this test for me? (By the way, it's a five-hour test).
On a serious note, can anyone (meaning you, Martin) suggest any literary text that gives a crash course on literary styles from all periods? For example, one of the M/C questions asked about the definition of formalism as a literary criticism. I had no idea what that was. So, any help will be appreciated.
Hey, this is the longest post ever for me!
Plans for November 15th
I looked at Palomino's online reservation thing, and there are no tables for a large group at dinner on the 15th, so if that's where we want to go, it has to be for lunch. My sister and a friend are coming down to see Cowboy Mouth with Kim and I, so there's four people right there. Right now, they have openings at 11:45 and 1:30 for a group of 10, and I can't see us having any more than that (my 4, Martin, Sean, Andrea, Chris, Jua, Jeff), unless I'm missing someone. Within the next few days, let's figure out who's in and we can make the reservation.
A quick reminder of my Cowboy Mouth-related info for the evening of the 15th:
In-store appearance: Tower Records, 6pm, free(!!)
Concert:
Bimbo's 365 Club, 9pm, $25
If anyone really wants to go the show, talk to me soon. I might have an extra ticket that I can give you (free).
San Diego fires.
It's been one hell of a day. Just wanted to pop in and say that the Chula Vista area (Bryce and I) so far seems to be pretty safe for now -- the one fire that was threatening they think they have been able to control by burning a backfire to keep it away from all the housing around here.
The La Jolla area (Matt) is also safe as far as I know.
There's ash everywhere, though. Our cars are covered in it, and my eyes stung as I drove back home from Katie's house tonight and passed through downtown San Diego.
My brother's home is still at risk -- he and his wife are here with my niece. My sister-in-law's sister's home is even more at risk -- they were actually evacuated and a structure just down the street from her home was on fire last she knew. The only major freeway that's open right now is Interstate 5. The 67, 52, 163, 8 and 805 have all been closed in some areas all day long.
It's totally a nightmare. But we'll see what happens come later on this morning and the winds pick up again.
Right now I'm going to bed. My beautiful city is on fire, and I'm tired out from worrying about it all day long.
*sigh*
So, I sit down to watch a DVD on Friday, placing my food and drink on another table so I wouldn't get any near the computer. About twenty minutes in, I move the glass to my main table to refill it. I do so, and then promptly tip the entire goddamn thing over into my laptop. Sprite dripping from every crevice.
Well, it's totally fried, and I'm back to my desktop after the quick addition of a PCI wireless card. I'll call Toshiba tomorrow for a service center, but I'm guessing this bad boy is on its way out. On the plus side, I was able to pull the hard drive and stick it in an external USB/Firewire enclosure to get my data off, including about 40+ hours worth of un-backed-up work on theTombs. I'm hoping the 802.11g wireless card I added all of five days ago will still work, too.
The moral: SPRITE IS SATAN'S TASTY BEVERAGE OF CHOICE.
SomeOne is trying to tel Mel something...
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_831648.html?m...To summarize: The actor who plays Jesus in Mel Gibson's controversial "Passion of Christ" film has been struck by lightening TWICE during filming. ^_^
BMG
Fyi, BMG cd's for 6.99 straight off their site..
http://www.bmgmusic.com/entry/destination/10001.jh...Every CD is 6.99 there.. 2cd sets are 13.98.. etc. no weird plan to sign up for or anything.
edit: oh, no shipping or handling.
It took all of 2 Months to go through a vid card....
You know, I still have/use the Voodoo3 I got about 5 years ago...
Anyway, my new computer's video card went out last night. I'm bummed. Going through SWG withdrawals at present. I was told it would take days to process my 'order' then few more for shipping. I kindly asked to decrease the processing time and the rep said he'd see what he could do. Anyway, I'll let you know how it goes once I get the new card. It's an NVidia 5600 FX (IIRC, 256MB). Later.
How many more posts about Harry Potter before I get labeled "geek"?
http://www.mugglenet.com/pics/hairypotter.shtmlScariest thing I've ever seen. And if I'd said that before about
fairy boy, then I take it back.
New Weirdest Spam Ever
Title: RE: Your Platinum Card 4654
Sent to:
asdfd@mwoody.com (when would I have used this?)
Text: YXNkZmRAbXdvb2R5LmNvbQ== Then pulled the wagon to Mrs Widow Douglas's house. There they were ushered inside by the old Welshman.They were not mad though they were actually proud. His grandfather had told them everything and they understood.
Both of the boys got down on the floor and then they heard the voice again I sort of needed a little vacation.
---
WHAT THE #@$%@!#$!!? Since when do selected passages from Tom Sawyer convince me to buy a platinum card?
I guess maybe it's one of those "forward random text found on computer with virus attached" trojans, but there was neither an attachment nor a notification of virus removal. Odd.
Weird watches
I ran across this site yesterday for some unknown reason.. I must say the Japanese do have some rather unique watches..
http://www.tokyoflash.com/Also, Chris, they happen to have a $160 Citizen watch that has a slide rule :)
http://www.tokyoflash.com/Oxy_world_time_watches.h...Watch out, Florida!
California has regained our rightful title of "Nuttiest Political State Ever", and we're looking to extend our lead! The Washington Times says
Dennis Miller is thinking about running for Senate. The real Senate. Making laws.
The man seems confused lately. Alright, I'll give him Monday Night Football (I'm in a generous mood), despite some of the
ridiculous things he said. [Note: When I decided to give him Monday Night Football, I had no idea how bad it was. I really want to believe ESPN made all these up.] Football is one thing. If you screw up, the worst that happens is a bald man in his underwear yells "Hey, you mispronounced Grbac!" at you through his television. If you screw up as a senator, people in suits yell at you from
inside a television. That, and you can help Bush screw the American people a little bit more.
Already, the man has his enemies. No, not George Carlin. Elton John. You may remember him as the
inspiration for my new career (don't hold it against him). After Miller want on a pro-Bush rant (the only kind I've seen him go on lately) during his set at a charity event in Las Vegas, Elton John took the stage. Before performing, John said "This night is about charity - not washing your dirty political laundry. I love America, but if you want to know why the world hates America, I can give you two words: Dennis Miller."
Ouch.
Gamer Candy
Found a copy of X-Com designed to work under Windows. I even got it working, sound and all, under XP Pro. It's in the File Thingy.
If the video looks scrambled, run "dxdiag" and look in the display options for the button to turn off directdraw acceleration.
On a related note, I'm considering giving
Laser Squad Nemesis a shot. It's a play-by-email, PvP version of the old X-Com. Could be fun.
What a dork.
http://www.misshappy.net/monitor.htm..This is my new favorite thing in the world.
Look! A record exec with a clue!
In the October 30 issue of Rolling Stone, there's a quote about record sales being down from Antonio "LA" Reid, President and CEO of Arista. "People buy a CD when it's good, and they don't buy it when it's crappy. We've had bootlegging foverer in our industry. We have ourselves to blame, too. In the music business, we don't concern ourselves enough with value or quality. The reality is that we're suffering because we sell a lot of sh-t."
Then again, this is from the man who gave us Avril Lavigne. ;-)
Good Movie Alert
Just rented
Equilibrium. Very good flick. Imagine an arthouse flick with occasional action sequences that, despite a lesser budget, make the Matrix look like amateur night at the O.K.Corral, and you've got this movie.
I highly recommend it; although it takes itself too seriously at times, the action is hands-down more impressive - and, thanks to the gun-kata, more original - than anything I've ever seen in a movie. And it's fairly plot-hole free, which is a plus in sci fi these days.
Kids these days...
Child's PlayEGM gets a bunch of twelve-year-olds together and transcribes their observations on old games like pong, donkey kong, and space invaders. Actually pretty funny in spots; especially the last two lines in the article.
Happy Birthday Chris!
Yo, if I recall correctly, the 15th is Chris' birthday, so have a good one.
As a side note, it is also my step-mother's b-day and my grandparents' anniversary-- one popular day. :)
LOL...
One of the side effects of doing the polyglot thing with the titles:
http://www.whois.sc/morecooler.com..The website title - "MoreCooler: Č pių pių fresco con la cosa" - makes it look like a French website. ^_^
BTW, like that whois site. Especially the method of entering your search: whois.sc/nameofwebsite.com
Maniac Mansion
Chris- Thanks so much! This is awsome!!!!! Oh yeah, this is andrea typing...question though...is there sound? I'm not getting sound for the game on my computer and how do you save?
You are fantastic! Now I am going to spend all my free time on this game....and I thought I outgrew that :)
We should rename Morecooler
"All-Martin, all the time."
Do I just have more free time than everyone else?
Off-color but hilarious
http://wm.ifilm.na-central.speedera.net/wm.ifilm.n..Not worksafe, not PC, and more than a little disturbing. But absolutely hilarious. These sorts of "revenge" stories usually end with the guy getting the short end of the stick; good to see another side. ^_^
Supposedly based on actual events, too.
Masked Avenger needed
Met some of y'all (Brian, Chris, Jeff, Jua, Sean) at the career fair today, and the question came up: what is "wookie" called in my car? I can't come up with anything particularly clever; it was suggested that Bryce would be the mac-daddy for naming, and I'm inclined to agree.
Oh, and though it seems somewhat self-aggrandizing to post your own quote, I stumbled into what I think is an epiphany this afternoon, so I'm putting it in the quotes page.
@#%$#%#$@@#
One of the delightful new features of Flash MX 2004 is that sometimes it refuses to save all of a file. Says things are OK, gives no errors, but doesn't actually do anything. I keep opening files to find they're old version, with several hours worth of work lost.
I think I'm going to have to start hitting CTRL-S like six or seven times every minute.
God I hate this software. Every step forward is two steps back, and their IDE sucks so hard that they actually SUGGEST you use an external program like EditPad to deal with actionScript.
The only thing buggier is Java. :-P
Kazaa.
Oh, look. Kazaa wants to make up with the RIAA and the record companies, hold hands, and sing "We Are The World".
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/10/09/10656760.."No hard feelings, right guys? ...guys?"
Coupling taping
I went to a Coupling taping yesterday. I'd never been to a TV taping before, so it was kinda cool to see how it's done and all that. The only problem is that the audience warmer SUCKED. His job is to keep the audience entertained between takes and during set-ups and stuff. His overall plan seemed to be to systematically offend the entire audience. He kept asking where people were visiting from, and then he'd make fun of their people. He asked the people from Israel if they had gone to some deli in LA. He did an Apu-style accent to talk about the Indian people. I almost felt bad for him. Almost. The plus side was that it seems that if I can't work with my CSC degree, the standards for audience warmers isn't very high so maybe I could do that.
Oh, and also among the most annoyed in the audience was
Anthony Michael Hall or, as Katie now calls him, Tony Mike.
I'll be in SLO Sunday, Monday...
I'm helping to recruit for my company. So if anyone wants to hit the tech fair on Monday in SLO, that's where I'll be. =)
Clever, very clever.
http://www.gamespot.com/all/news/news_6076592.html..While I'm usually an opponent of any copy protection scheme, and I'm sure this will quite quickly be undone, it's still just clever enough to be admirable.
All Catholics Need to Curl Up Into Tiny Balls and Die
Vatican: Condoms Don't Stop AIDSThis is immoral on so many levels it's hard to comprehend that this crackhouse is supposed to be some sort of moral compass for millions of people. I guess maybe they had lots of eight year old boys in their congregations with the AIDS, and just assumed...
As for my title there, I'm trying to see what sort of referrer searches I can lead here. Just to, y'know, get a different crowd in here. ^_^
Something good: Me!
Sean, you said to tell you the next time something good is happening, so here it is! Kim and I are heading up to visit my folks from Nov. 13-16. Due to the cancellation of A Mighty Wind's show on the 13th, the only thing we have planned is to go see Cowboy Mouth in SF on the 15th.
Tickets are 25 bucks (and it looks like Cracker is headlining that night), and y'all are welcome to come with us to that. There's also a free in-store performance around 6pm at a Tower Records in SF that same day. Also, if anyone wants to get together at any other time while we're up there, let me know that too.
FYI
I'll be in Maui for a couple weeks or so starting yesterday. Just letting everyone know in case something's up. (Like Brian coming down, Coupling showing, Yellowstone blowing up, etc.)
Holy Fucking God
Ahunuld. We elected Ahnuld.
I'm leaving. No, I'm serious, I'm leaving California when I graduate. That its citizens held similar political beliefs to myself was the only thing the state had going for it, in my mind; I'm gone. Hand me a diploma, you crappy underfunded administration-happy state university, and kiss my ass so long.
Next Resident Evil Movie
http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/residentevilapo..Actually a pretty cool trailer, even if you're not a fan of the series (games or movies). Follow link and click "watch previews" to see. My comments inside (watch it first).
Smooth move by MP3.com
According to The Register, Steve Cox just saved MP3.com's ass. Their domain expired, and Cox (a musician who has some music on the site) called and renewed the domain for them on his credit card. I know Vivendi didn't hold the site in high regard, but you think they'd protect the domain a bit better. Still, what a loyal guy. Would any of you step up to renew this domain? I think not.
"They dyed me this color!"
Matt, Kim, Katie and I went to see
Bubba Ho-Tep tonight. Bruce Campbell was scheduled to do a Q&A session after one of the shows, but after getting the run-around about when tickets went on sale for that show, it was sold out. We ended up buying tickets to the next show, hoping he'd hang around, and we got lucky since he showed up for that showing as well, which was great.
He
IS Ash. Someone asked if he could give them a one-liner. "Give you a one-liner? If I was your little monkey, I could." Someone else asked if he was ever going to fight any non-undead evil, such as werewolves or Nazis. "Fight Nazis? You mean like your future governor? (A mix of applause and booing) I don't give a rat's ass, I live in Oregon." The guy behind us did a student film that his daughter was in, and he asked where it was from. "It's from UCSC." "UCSC? Uncle Charlie's Summer Camp? Why was she in it?" "It was a favor." "What did she do for you? No. Don't tell me."
The movie was pretty fun too. I love Ossie Davis. He's the best black JFK ever. Overall, it's probably not as good as
Army of Darkness, but you gotta love Elvis and JFK fighting a soul-sucking mummy. Find out
when it's playing near you and check it out if you get the chance. (Martin, it's worth the drive from SLO!)
Interesting...
http://www.boston.com/ae/music/articles/2003/10/04.."For the first time in the 50-year history of the Billboard charts, all Top 10 songs in the country this week are by black artists - signaling the culmination of hip-hop's ascent as the dominant force in popular music and culture."
Wow, I had no idea. No wonder I can't stand MTV these days (sorry, Sean).
Pardon my dust
I'm going to make some changes to the site's HTML markup, which will most likely cause some weird styling stuff to happen until I'm done and get to make the changes to the CSS files. It should remain readable, at least. =)
comment edit
maybe this should be under the bugs/features post, but I'm putting it on its own:
what the heck is with the "make brian look crazy" checkbox????
and why doesn't editing a comment convert line breaks to <br>?
Best Spam Title Ever
"Re: that problem with your ears"
Received this morning. Message was empty, which was greatly disappointing. Note that SpamAssassin doesn't thing this is Spam; I think I'll forgive this one.
...
Bryce went to install Norton on my computer. Then everything went a little hooey. My add/remove program options are simply gone. There's nothing in the box. He was like, "Well, that's not good..." We planned on doing a full wipe of my computer within the next week and just sorta shrugged.
Then I opened Outlook. See the comments for what happened -- I took a fun screenshot.
Chris
...please! ^_^
Chris, my address is in the "address book" thingy on the right. Please send me a check (and I imagine Matt and Sean would like one, too).
The amounts owed are:
c->m $479.80
c->w $921.00
c->s $101.90
Half Life 2 source leaked
Yes, looks like a version of the HL2 engine source code was leaked, as reported on /.
Who has a torrent link?
Colin is Sorry
http://www.22minutes.com/realwrapper.php?target=ap..Hilarious enough that I couldn't stand the thought of merely burying it in my links page. ^_^
