Zero Tolerance

This is a comment from the Discourser to my FAA post

"
The Discourser said...
Let the hatred flow through you! You are so angry! I love it... "

He's right.....and I thank him for the comment. Yes I do get angry, thus my handle of "The Ranter". I've always had zero tolerance for stupidity. Common sense is something that you are taught in school and something you aquire from the world around you; yet there are loads of folks who refuse to or are too lazy to use their God-given common sense. Darwin was half right, we have encoded in our DNA primitive urges from our early prehistoric ancestors. Fight of Flight....you've heard that term before. When confronted with danger human beings either become aggressive (fight) or passive (flight) and we react accordingly. We either meet danger head on, or run the Hell away. We've all experienced this, but honestly can you remember ever being taught how to react to danger? Possibly your parents told you to fear strangers when you were a child, but as you get older your attitude towards strangers changes. So where does the Fight or Flight come from? We are born with it, just like cats somehow know what a litter box is and what to do with it. Honestly, I've never had to train any of the cats I've owned to use a litter box. They just know. So there are all these things encoded into our psyche at the genetic level, but we often ignore them. This is what I mean by stupidity. When you were growing up, you were taught manners (I'm hoping you were...if not by your parents, then Grandparents, Sunday School Teacher, regular School Teacher, whomever), yet there are still adults out there who have no common courtesy for the other people in the world around them. Sometimes these people are just downright rude, other times they are too nice and end up holding up the works. Good examples of both. Rude people: At the Hollywood Video store there are several cashiers and usually one long line with folks going to whicheve cashier is open from the single cue. Now inevitably there is one to two groups of folks who will ignore the line and start their own, or just walk up to the first open cashier they see. They know the line is there, they choose to be ignorant of it's existence and therefore they cut in line. Here in Tennessee, folks are very nice and let idiots like this get away with it; not me. Someone tried that once and I basically told them "Excuse me, see this big line here behind me, you need to be in it. Preferably at the back of it." I was shot a look, but the persons moved. See...stupidity, I have zero tolerance for that. Or when you pull up to a parking space and you have your blinker on and are waiting for someone to come out. Inevitably someone scoots out of nowhere and jumps into the space, "oblivious" to your prescence. Sure they are. I usually tell these assholes off. They get indignant, and yes I don't get the parking spot, but it made me feel vindicated to inform Mr/Mrs Head up their ass that the reason they are alive is because it is simply illegal to kill them. Now for an example of too nice. Too nice, what's wrong with that? Plenty. There are certain times of the day and certain places where being too nice causes more problems with the people around you than it helps. Case in point. Traffic lights and signs are setup the way they are based on Civil Engineering Traffic Studies. Traffic flows heavier in one direction than it does others. The point of traffic signage, etc is to alleviate backups. Now, if every single driver drove like he/she was supposed to, these traffic flow models would work perfectly. Yeah right! There is one large intersection that crosses over Interstate 24. It's the exit I take off of the Interstate to go home. There are two turn lanes going left, and one going right. Most people go left. Alot of Semis go left as well.....there is a huge truck stop near one of the traffic lights down the way. Now there is a driveway that empties onto the main road (the one you are on when you turn left). This driveway has a stop sign and people coming out of the driveway are supposed to wait on the cross traffic. The cross traffic is very heavy (like I said most drivers turn left) and needs to flow smoothly through so the intersections will not become blocked. Well, along comes some "good intentioned" soul who stops to let some semi out of the parking lot (said semi has a stop sign and does not have the right of way). This "nice" person by their actions ends up backing up traffic all the way down to the Interstate. Oh yeah, and there are the idiots who think that just because the light is green they have to go through it...even if that means blocking the intersection. So this one "good intention" has done the following: Stopped the flow of traffic. Made people miss the traffic light cycle not once but twice. Cause other morons to block the intersections causing other backups on other feeder roads coming into this main road. The semi of course can't make it all the way across because traffic coming the other direction has had their lights cycle green so now we have the "good samaritan" plus a dozen or more cars behind them blocking intersections and missing traffic light cycles. The semi has blocke both forward lanes because it is a Ginormous Semi. The person was trying to be courteous, I will give them that, but they were stupid in the fact that they didn't stop to think what time of day it is (rush hour), they didn't stop to look in their rear view mirror to realize there is a line of cars behind them, didn't stop to think of the fact that instead of going on a gree light (which was their green light) they stopped to be courteous to a Semi (Semi drivers around Tennessee are the hugest assholes I've ever met). The operative word here is "think". They didn't use their common sense that if they had listened to it would have told them "Hey, this semi is never going to make it, you have a green light, they have a stop sign. There are a billion people behind you all in a big hurry to get home from 8 hours of Hell stuck in a cubicle somewhere so maybe you shouldn't stop in the middle of the road to let some asshole trucker through so he could block the road and cause road rage." Someone with common sense would have driven through the green light and not impeded the forward flow of traffic. Near my house they changed the roadway around a bit because of the strip mall they built. Where you used to be able to make a left turn into the Cracker Barrel parking lot, now you cannot. There is a huge sign that says "No Left Turn". There is a large "Do Not Enter" sign where the roadway in used to be. Inevitably there is an idiot that thinks the law doesn't apply to them and holds up traffic trying to make an illegal left turn. Now there is room on the right hand side of this idiot to go around. Do you think the average Middle Tennessee driver goes around? Do you think they honk their horn at the offender to try and get them to go straight? Hell no!!! These idiots sit in line behind this schmuck waiting!!!! One day Cat and I were driving up somewhere and got stuck behind one of these schmucks....we were blowing the horn and I was yelling "hey dork...see the big sign that says no left turn....". The person in front of us (not the dork but some other moron) got pissed at us. We sped around them all and I gave them a drive by universal finger gesture. I only wish I had an AK47 with a full mag. People don't want to make waves out here. Bullshit.....I like to cause tsunami's. I want to make a bunch of invitations that read "You are cordially invited to please remove yourself from the gene pool." and give them to these idiots. Lord save me from the terminally stupid.

The FAA Makes a Smart Decision

Finally the FAA has admitted that cell phones have no affect on the instruments in the cockpit.   We all knew that.  If radio waves affected airplane instrumentation, planes would have been dropping from the sky a long time ago.  The broadcast from radio, tv, satellite, and cell towers puts out so much radio activity that the sky is covered with it.  They finally admitted that the reason they don't want you to use your cell phone is because it is rude.  Yep, rude.   I applaud them for this.  One of the things I despise the most is people in restaurants, church, theaters, etc yakking away on their damn phones.  Yeah they are great devices (I have one).   When I stop by the grocery on my way home, I call Cat and ask if there is anything else she thinks we need.  Handy.  I don't walk around the store shopping and yakking at the same time, and I certainly don't continue yakking while making my purchase (another thing I hate).  People have lost all sense of manners lately.  In the past 7 years I'd say folks have forgot that there are other people in the world other than themselves.   Here's a good example.  BTW, this person should win the award for "worst mother of the year".  This young mother walks into Cracker Barrel with her two toddlers.  She looks barely 20 and the kids both look like they are 4 and 5 years old.  This chick has been yakking on her cell phone since she walked into the restaurant.  She parks her kids, points to the menu and indicates (not once stopping her conversation mind you) to the kids to pick what they want to eat, stands up, walks away from her children to tell one of the waitresses something (still talking on her cell mind you).  She is gone 5 minutes tops, now realize she has left two toddlers at a table by themselves (and they wonder why kids get snatched), comes back (still yakking on the phone), pauses long enough to order (the person is still on the phone with her) then goes back to yakking.  Meanwhile her kids are being ignored by her (something tells me this goes on alot with this bimbo) and they are bored so the start poking at each other, etc.  One gets up and wanders around, she ignores this and keeps yakking.  Finally her food comes and she rounds up the wanderer (still on the phone......) and they begin to eat.  Mind you even though she is now shoving food into her gob she is STILL YAKKING ON HER DAMN PHONE!!!!  Remember when you were kids and your friends called at dinner time?  What happened?  I know in my house the caller was told "we are eating dinner right now, he will call you when he is done."  I did that last night with my child's friend.  I told her Liv was sitting down to eat and would call when she was done.  Now I know why places like O'Charley's and Red Robin make their background noises loud.....it keeps the buzz of conversation going at a level loud enough to not be annoying, but loud enough to discourage any cell phone yakkers.  Then there are the texters.   What is so freaking important to say that you are willing to pay 10 bucks for a movie so you can ignore it and punch a text message into a cell phone????  I have thrown objects at cell phone offenders in theaters before.  Then there are the loud talkers.  You know these guys.  The encounter goes something like this: "WHAT!! OH YEAH SHE SAID....."  "I KNOW...HOLY SHIT..." Uh, Dude, I got my kid with me and frankly I don't want to hear about your girlfriend or what she said.  These people get into their own little freaking worlds and forget the simple fact of life: The universe doesn't revolve around you; no matter how much you think it does.  What gets me too is when you look at them with "THE LOOK" (you know the look that says "hey bonehead do you mind?") they give you the facial equivalent of the middle finger.   Like I'm in the wrong????  I read a comment to an article where someone said that a loud yakker had the audacity to tell the person "Do you mind not listening to my conversation.  Why don't you move and give me some privacy.".....the person moved (now that pisses me off) because they were so stunned at someone's rudeness that they didn't know what to do.   Oh....I dare someone to do that to me.  I will start talking loudly, getting into their face, and generally ruin their conversation to the point they will either go somewhere else, or give me a good reason to snatch the phone from their hands and hang up their call.   My point is, can you imagine what it would be like trapped in coach on a cross country flight with the loud yakker, the constant yakker, or the texter???  Can you????  God I think the Air Marshall would have to drag me off of someone as I was stuffing their phone down their throat.  Thank you FAA, thank you. 

Rant Coming!!!

Click on the blog entry to be taken to SF Gate.com to read an article on mall policies regarding unsupervised teens (16 and under) being barred from malls unless they have a parent present. I think it's a great freaking idea. A mall is a place to do commerce, ie SHOP!! It's not a place to hang out or roam around in packs causing trouble or doing stupid shit. Ready??? Rant time.

Okay so in the article it says Teens have huge buying power. Excuse me? With who's money? Their parents maybe, unless they are as lucky as the Perfect Line and get a job in Corporate America at age 16. Usually they are working retail or fast food and making just above minimum. Oh and these poor teens feel like they aren't getting good customer service because folks react to them differently when the come into a store unsupervised. Why is that I wonder? My Wife works at Ross. Two teen girls walked into the store intending to do some shopping. They were. Enter a pack of teen boys walking by who's only purpose was to go into the store and act up trying to impress the girls. The whole batch was asked to leave. Hmmm....so unfair....give me a break. One of the malls out here Hickory Hollow Mall used to be the mall to go to. Now it's the mall to go to if you want to get into a gang fight or get car jacked in the parking lot. Hmmmmm......yes we are so unfair to Teens. Do they pay taxes? No (most don't have taxes taken out because they make so little). Do they vote? Unless they are 18, hell no!! ( and sometimes even when they are 18 they don't bother). If you are truly in the mall to Shop, then why is being with your folks so wrong. It's your own damn fault kids. You and your generation of rude, disrespectful kids growing up with the attitude that everyone owes you. Yeah, we owe you...a kick in the ass is what we owe you. Everytime I read this I want to kick some punk in the ass so he gets the point. If the majority of teens acted in a civillized manner then there would be no need for this. When I was a teen, we didn't act like little assholes in the mall, the Security Guards would have kicked us out. Face it kids, you end up on Myspace hiding from your folks and going off to meet dirty old men for sex...why, because your bored!!!! The government made sure you were wrapped in bubble wrap and foam so you didn't get hurt. You grew up playing sports where "everyone is a winner". Your mediocrity was applauded. Hey you gave it a shot.....no you didn't, you expended the minimal effort and energy to get it done. You have everything you need at your fingertips and really haven't had to work hard for nothing. You get cruised through school. Hell sometimes they don't give you homework because its "not fair". All this is doing is ill preparing you for the real world. The real world is not a nice place. So when your parents drop you off at the mall and use it as a babysitter and you screw that up by being jerk offs, yeah we the Adults that run this world are going to fight back. You're rights end at your parents front door. If I am a store owner and you and a pack of thugs come into my store and I don't like the look of you, I'm calling the cops or chasing your asses out. You don't like it; then pull your damn pants up, ditch the giant gold chain and gold teeth covers, wear your damn ball cap the way it's supposed to be worn and stop trying to be 50 cent or Snoop Dogg. Simple. Dress like a human being, act like one and you will be treated like one. Act like a punk ass, and I will assume you are a punk ass. Simple. Girls, you are 15-16 years old. You aren't whores so stop dressing like you are. Liv may not be my biological daughter, but she goes out of the house looking like a tramp...I'll kill her. So if you want all of this to stop, start wising up and start learning to act like civilized people again. If you want respect, you have to earn it.

LARPers

Recently on the yahoo gaming group that the Discourser, Ntt, the Supergoober, the Perfect Line and Myself all belong to there has been many a post and discussion about the term LARPing. The Discourser has found many a video on Youtube regarding these pathetic individuals which has angered the Perfect Line into saying, and I quote loosely "F*** some people need to step up and let the world know that not ALL role players are the f***ing anal crust of the earth. I mean these people are the little balls of toilet paper that get stuck in your a** hair, they are the farts that stain your titey whities, ". Wow RB, tell us how you REALLY feel....LOL. It's true though. It's very scary. Now, LARPing for those that are fortunate to not know, stands for Live Action Role Playing. Basically what we gamers do but for real. Yep, instead of the character being on a piece of paper and rolling dice, etc, these freaks dress up in bad costumes and wield padded sticks that are covered in duct tape and "look" like swords, axes etc. Trust me, do a search on Youtube for "LARP" and you will get some of the most funniest, but scariest because they are true, videos of these "people". These guys go out to playgrounds, private homes, campsites, wherever and run around and hit each other with swords. Some of them play Wizards and throw little foam bolts of lightning shouting "Lightning bolt. Lightning bolt." It's very sad. Now I know what you may be thinking; but Steve, you used to do Ren Faire and Dickens Fair. Yep I did. The difference, I was performing for an audience. I didn't live the life of the characters I portrayed. When Fair was over, I changed into street clothes and became "Steve" again....actually most of the day I was "Steve playing a part in a performance". I never for once believed I was "Talon" the Pirate at Ren Faired. I knew that the "Cardiff Rose" wasn't a real Pirate Ship but a ficticious background story and setting that all of us who worked for Greg Pursley's Fencing Booth at Ren Faire shared so we could portray our characters better. It's like when the Royal Shakes puts on MacBeth.......everyone on stage pretends they are in Scotland, even though they are actually in a building in London. LARPers often times don't make the distinction between reality and fantasy. The majority of the LARPers I ran into at gaming conventions were the Vampire types. Oh they thought they were cool and mysterious. They weren't a part of the convention per se (kind of like Mickey Mouse is part of Disneyland so he/she has to be "Mickey Mouse" while out in the park) they are just participants like me and everyone else. They walk around all day though, even when not part of a game, pretending to be Vampires. I used to piss them off by giving them grief about being a vampire. I'd suggest that if they really were Vampires, they wouldn't be walking around a hotel lobby with lots of windows during the day. I'd also suggest they go outside and stand in the sun to prove that they were real vampires (hey if they were, then I'd be a hero by killing off the evil night creatures that they are........). Performing in costume is fun, but when the performance is done it's time to get back to the real world. Celebrities hate it when people ask them about episodes and stuff. Claudia Christen (of Babylon 5 fame) came to our fencing booth at Faire one year. Her friend John (not a celebrity) is a fencer and knows Greg and she wanted a fencing lesson. She was relieved that we weren't asking her a billion questions about the show. We as a group actually had a better time just hanging out and talking fencing with her. Celebrities don't remember how they "felt" when the aliens were attacking them. Most actors "feel" what the director tells them to "feel" when filming, and most "aliens" aren't even there when the episode is filmed. Oh yeah, and they often film stuff way out of sequence and edit it together later. Anyway, back on rant.......

LARPers are the kind of Geeks that real Geeks want to beat up. Now I will close because I've given them way more time than they deserve.

Won't someone shut her up?????

So you are going to get two today since I've been lax. The "her" I'm referring to is Rosie "I think I'm so damn clever and funny but really I'm just a grouchy burly mountain woman" O' Donnel. Yep, the queen of annoying herself. Number 1, let me just say that the show "The View" is the most annoying show on TV. You have a bunch of over-the-hill wenches whinning about everything and anything. To think I used to have respect for Barbara WaWa too.....jeez!!! Well first Grossie rags on The Donald.....he deserves it for he is an ass, but I digress......then she rags on other things, now she's making light of the Menu Foods pet food poisoning. She made some kind of remark about how 16 pets dying (I just read an article by on SFGate.com about how it's more like 8,000+ and rising and that Menu Foods tried to cover it up) makes the news but 29 soldiers dying in Iraq don't. Ummmmm Grossie, last time I checked, the news I watch and listen too and read always reports the death of soldiers. Stupid b***h!!! Shut the Hell up and keep you Politics to yourself. No one cares anymore. Just Shut up!!!! Bushco is going to keep those boys and girls there until he leaves office and we all know it. Short of impeaching the moron (trust me I'm not going to suggest shoot....Chaney would love that and then we'd all be screwed) there's nothing the Democratice majority can do to stop the Veto stamp. It's a shame really. Those troops need to start packing up and coming home......there is no way to stop terrorism or insurgency; none. Short of declaring the Country of Iraq the 51rst State, there is not way to stop it. The Discourser will agree with me about "The View".....he refers to it as the Unholy Tivo.

BSG

Remember way back when in the late 70's when a cheesy Sci Fi show aired on ABC? It was called "Battlestar Galactica" and it starred Mr. Cartwright, Lorne Greene as the leader of a warship that was leading the last remnants of humanity to a planet called Earth while being chased by shiny chrome plated robots with a red light for an eye that moved back and forth (KITT was a cylon too......). Well a few years ago some Lame Ass writer named Ronald Moore decided that this show needed to be resurrected and "re-imaged" (see my previous posts about Hollywood and it's lack of original ideas). At first I was skeptical......okay this guy would update it, not make it as cheesy as it was 20 or so years ago. Then he decided to change most of the lead characters into women???? I was confused by this. Dirk Benedict (Face Man from the A-Team) played Starbuck the hotshot pilot in the original series...Boomer was a very cool male character and the constant partner and wing man of Apollo, the son of the Commander. Well in Mr. Moore's (Lame Ass) update, he decided to make Starbuck a Female and Boomer as well. He made Apollo a whiny wuss and generally ruined the whole idea of a remake for me. Apparently he said there needed to be stronger female characters. Okay, I agree, but let's just make some up!!! Since you are arrogantly "re-imaging" someone elses' intellectual property why not add some original characters. (To his benefit, Lame Ass did add recurring characters in the form of deck crew and other support staff who were just listed as "crewman #5" in the old series). When fans of the original had an issue, the parties involved, Lame Ass and the actress playing Starbuck, copped big time attitudes in interviews, etc by basically saying "Too bad...this is how it is so piss off...". Kind of insulting really. Also were gone our favorite shiny chrome plated robot bad guys. Instead of them being created by an Alien race, Lame Ass used the tired and overused plot device of Machines created by humans as servants who became self aware and turned on their creators. Wow!!!! That's never been done before....(Terminator, I Robot, The Matrix......I can go on but won't). Gone is Gais Baltar the purposeful traitor in the original series replaced by the "accidental" traitor Dr. Gais Baltar in the new series. Also added, are Cylons who look like humans (Cyborgs basically). It was a blonde hottie version that caused Baltar to be a traitor (she hacked his security codes and shut down the planetary defenses). The machine like Cylons are still around, but they look different (and not as cool) from the chrome plated predecssors. So baring all this in mind, I decided to not watch this new reimaging, neither the original pilot movie, nor the first two seasons. But after hearing so much critical praise, and hearing from my friends how good it really was, I decided to jump on board this season. Wow, what a mistake. There are several things wrong with Lame Ass' writing. Number one: You had a thriving population of 10 billion on 12 planets. You are attacked during a celebration and all that manages to survive of 10 billion humans is 40,+ thousand!!! The military is part of that. In that situation the main Military commander (Admiral Adama) would have taken over and declared a state of Martial Law. Every able bodied person would be trained to fight, and tasks and resources would be divyed up with no questions asked. I mean if we in Modern day American can put up with 2 hour security lines at the airport because of 9/11 and not complain......these folks would be kissing the Military's butt for help. Number two: when you discover a planet that is habitable but you are only 3-5 weeks jump on the machines intent on destroying you, you would not stop at any cost and decide to colonize that planet. No. You'd keep on going until you got to the destination of Earth. There would be no elections, no free press, no laborers bitching about conditions....None of that would happen. (As a further note of how out of control the show has gotten, Glen A. Larson the original creator and writer of the show has been finally brought in as a consultant). Anyway, it's still an "okay" show, we will see if it gets better when it comes back in 2008.

Hollywood Strikes again

Today I read something that I just had to rant about.  New Line Cinema feels this need to do a remake of "Escape From New York".  You know, the great John Carpenter movie that helped Kurt Russel shed his Disney good boy image.   There is no other Snake Plisken than Kurt.  Period.  They are casting Gerard Butler from "300" as Snake.  No.  There is no need to remake that (or pretty much any) movie.  Remember the days when a "classic" film was a "classic"???  Now there is no such thing as you will have a choice between the original or the updated "hip" version.  It's also looking like my least favorite TV Genre is dying; Reality TV.  Yep.  Survivor has one year left, no one watches Big Brother anymore.  We've had no more versions of the Bachelor or Bachelorette.  The Apprentice has been tanking in the ratings...all in all a good thing.  The Serialized drama is the big thing now, and of all the ones (I believe a dozen) that started this Fall, only two remain:  Heroes and Jericho.   Now I've said before just how awesome Heroes is.  It's the kind of show that is so good, that you don't have to like Superheroes or comics to get into it.  Jericho on the other hand has reached it's "I ain't watching this anymore" level with me.  It started out good, but every episode after that had me screaming at the idiots on the show.  Your Country's been nuked.  You wouldn't be sitting around a bar playing pool and drinking, nor would you be safe.  Folks would load their guns and shoot to kill.  The stupid bitty running the General Store in town wouldn't expect people to pay her, she'd lock her doors and defend herself.  The Mayor would have mobilized the town, and deputized everyone and declared martial law.  All food would have been rationed as would have water.  Too bad guys, but the show is degenerating into the same old stupid Hollywood crap.  Too much focus on the love story and not enough survival.  It's become a chore to watch and that's when I stop.  Ask my buddy Mike about my take on Enterprise.

Movie Reviews

We recently rented three new ones. Going to watch the last one tonight and return all three.

First off we have "Flags of Our Fathers". Wow. Great movie about the truth behind the famous Iwo Jima flag raising photo. A movie that shows the sacrifice and horror of War and the political BS that is always behind it. It's told from the point of view of the son of one of the men in the photo, interviewing his Dad's old military buddies for a book he's writing. It's told in flashbacks from each man's point of view. I'm waiting for the companion piece "Letters from Iwo Jima" to come out on DVD soon. It's supposed to be a telling of the conflict from the Japanese side. Should be interesting.

Next we have "The Prestige". A movie about two rival Magicians in Victorian England. It's a movie about obsession mainly. About having that narrow focus that is so narrow that you forget there's other people in the world. Good cast. It's great to see Hugh Jackman doing everything he can to not get permanently type-cast as Wolverine for the rest of his career (although that might not be a bad thing with the Wolverine solo movie coming out soon.). Some of the stuff he's done has sucked, Swordfish and Van Helsing, but he's been good in them. Also stars Christian Bale (the new Batman) and David Bowie as Nikola Tesla. Michael Caine is in it as well (so you know it can't suck that bad....he's like Sean Connery. Put him in a movie and you will at least get a shining performance.) and Andy Serkis (better known as Gollum....or at least the voice and the body model for Gollum).

Lastly we have "Flushed Away". Very funny film. The singing slugs are the funniest part of the movie actually. It's like Shrek (hey it's from the same folks) in the way there are layers of humor.

No Pacman.com

Click on the title to be taken to the "No Pacman" website. Pacman Jones, for those that don't follow the NFL, is a "star" player who has been arrested on several occasions for being a Thug basically. The Titans need to get rid of this punk and now. He's as bad as TO and Moss.

Movie Reviews

Three this time.  First off, for you animation fans, there is the Hellboy animated series.  A bunch of one shot episodes about our favorite grumpy, redskinned hero.  If you like the movie, you will like the animated series as the voices of Hellboy and Abe and done by the same actors that played them in the movie.  Borat.  Oh Lord.  Pretty damn funny I must say.  A British Jew named Sasha Baron Cohen (who used to have a Cable mock talk show called "Da Ali G Show") plays a star reporter from a small village in Kazakhstan where their annual event is the Running of the Jew........the whole movie is a look at stereotypes and people's true beliefs when it comes to those stereotypes masked in a Mockumentary about a Kazakhstan Reporter trying to learn about the US.  The real people he interviews who have no idea he isn't who he says he is and their honest reactions to his behavior and questions show a scary side to our Country.  Lots of bathroom humor.  Not for most, but funny nonetheless.  Lastly we have "The Departed".  Holy crap what a great movie!!!  Mr. Scorsese makes a damn good film more times than not.  I've avoided anything with Leo Decaprio in it since I was forced to sit through his horrible performance in "Titanic" and the casting of him as the main character in "Man in the Iron Mask" which ruined what could have been a great remake (the cast who played the aging Musketeers was awesome).  Well Leo has developed into a good actor over the years and does a great job in "The Departed".  When the movie stars Jack Nicholson, Alec Baldwin, Martin Sheen, Mark Wahlberg, Matt Damon and Leo Decaprio....Holy Crap how can it be bad???

RPG Conventions

http://dansdiscourse.blogspot.com/2007/03/hotel-full-o-geeks.html

As ususal, Dan the Discourser presents a sad, but true look at the heart of Geekdom in his humorous and articulate style. Very funny.

OH NOES!!! IT'S Y2K PART 2!!!

So in 2005 some idiots in Congress (yeah I know, there are lots of idiots in Congress...like the whole thing....) decided that by starting Daylight Savings time 3 weeks earlier and ending it three weeks later would save fuel. Huh???????? They said people would use less energy because your lights would be on less, etc. Huh???? Now according to the weather guy on the local news channel, all we really are getting is 2-3 minutes of actual extra daylight a day. So we are saving fuel again how??? My Wife works from 8-1 ish usually. I work from 8-5. My Stepdaughter goes to school from 8-3. The amount of driving we do and energy we use will be the same now matter how light or dark it is outside. Period. I would believe that everyone else will be the same. So how are we saving fuel again??? Personally I think we should do away with the whole stupid affair. Arizona never changes their clocks, so why shouldn't the rest of us. It is my understanding that we are the only Country that has this stupid ritual. The reasons to keep doing have changed every year, but the reality of it is they are excuses. It was originally started so that farmers could have more daylight to plant and harvest in. Okay, made sense back then. Now farmers have huge combines with with halogen lights that make the field as bright as day. So they don't need that extra daylight now do they? But yet, when the question is broached every so often you hear excuses like "It makes it so kids don't have to walk home from school in the dark". It has never been dark at 3pm at any point in history that I am aware of. Most kids either take busses home (which drop them a block from or in front of their homes) or are picked up by a parent. So which kids need extra light to walk home in again???? Now Congress gave a year's reprieve on the change so folks could get their electronics fixed so the automatic daylight savings time change works on the new schedule. Of course you had your "experts" getting everyone freaked out (ala Y2K....remember that when the World was going to end because of lazy programmers hard coding 19 before the year field...oh yeah nothing happened did it....) saying "your PC won't change automatically, neither will your cell phones". HOLY CRAP!!!! EVERYONE PANIC!!!!! Bunch of lazy bastards can't take 15 seconds to double click the clock on their computer and change it manually or set up your cell phone clock to what it should be. I love how our Country panics over the stupidest things. OH GOD WE HAVE TO ACUTALLY DO SOMETHING MANUALLY!!!! Lord save us from our lazy selves. Oh, and just in case you haven't noticed, just like Y2K, nothing happened. That's right; NOTHING WHATSOEVER HAPPENED. The World still spins clockwise and gravity still works. Planes are still taking off and landing and I was still able to drive to work this morning. Oh yeah, and these here Interweb things still work. Allright almighty Media, when North Korean Nukes are on their way, then there will be something to panic about. Until that time, CALM THE HELL DOWN!!!! It is your job to inform us, not to cause panic. I think you have forgotten that.

Gamer's Anonymous-Part Deux

http://dansdiscourse.blogspot.com/2007/03/gamer-definitions-continued.html

In my previous post I explained what an RPG is. Click on the link above for the Discoursers hilarious, but sadly accurate, depiction of Gamers. And yes, I'm an Old School Gamer.

Gamer's Anonymous

Okay, since the Discourser and the Super Goober have finally outed themselves, I guess it's time for me to do so as well.  Hi, I'm Steve the Ranter and I'm a Gamer.  Yep, I'm one of those Geeks that roll many sided dice and have a piece of paper with stats on it in front of me that I call a "Character".  Like my two friends I started out with the "training" RPG (that's Role Playing Game for the uninitiated) Dungeons and Dragons.   Now for those that don't know what an RPG is, it's very simple.  Take your basic board game.  But instead of being confined to a linear path around a board, take that board and put it in your head.  Use your imagination (that's the important part of an RPG), now picture that board as another place.  Some other "World" with continents and oceans and rivers and cities and populated by people.  Now, still using the board game reference, take the little plastic pawns that come with the game.  You know, the non-descript multi-colored pawns that you use to represent you progress around the board.  Take that piece in your mind and flesh it out.  Make it male of female, give it hair, or not, eye color, etc.   Now give that fleshed out pawn (I will henceforth call it a "character") an occupation, a background (who are it's parents, where was it born?).  Now clothe it, and equip it for travel and adventure in the "World" that you will be playing in.   That's an RPG.  Depending on the criteria for character creation, your character can be human or non-human, male or female; it's up to you.  Now take your character and put him/her in a group of other character's.  This is called an Adventuring Party.  Here's where it gets different than a normal board game.   An RPG gets it's base nature from the aforementioned board game as far as guiding a pawn towards a goal; but that's it.  An RPG is more like an interactive story.  Your character is one of the characters in the story, and the things you do/say affect the outcome of the tale.  Your quest is guided by a Dungeon/Game Master, also known as the Storyteller.  The GM guides you through the tale (and in turn the "world") by giving you situations and awaiting your interaction.  Sample game:  The GM tells you that your character is sitting in a tavern/bar having a drink after answering an ad for someone to go check out the haunted house/scary hills/dark forest where monsters/bandits/ghosts are terrorizing/killing/kidnapping villagers.   There usually is some game hook to get all the folks at the table, the players, together.  After the meeting the next part usually goes something like this:

 

GM: Okay, you've gotten your assignment and need to leave soon.  What does everyone do?

Player 1: I get supplies.

Player 2: I gamble a bit, I'm already supplied plenty...

 

So depending on what the GM has in store, you may have an uneventful night, or something may occur to further the story along.  Sometimes you may have a character that chooses to do some research, the GM will have to decided just how much info to give that person.

 

Sounds complicated???  It's not really.  It's like life in a sense.  You are given choices, and make them for good or ill.  RPG's are popular with highly creative people.  A night's gaming is very social and brings a group together.  You learn to work as a team; essentially it's you and your fellow Players vs. the Storyteller. 

 

If you stick with gaming, you eventually branch out and play using other rule systems and worlds.   Some systems, like Hero, are generic enough that you can create any kind of character in any kind of genre you can think of.  Others are more restrictive: Legend of the 5 Rings (Feudal Japan) and Shadowrun (Future cybertech world) are two of those that come to mind.  An RPG is fun and entertaining.  If you've never played one, but are contemplating, I suggest you do so.  You won't be sorry you did. 

Captain America is Dead

Wow!!! Marvel actually kept this one a secret. But, you know comics....he won't stay dead for long.

Book Recommendation

So take Philip Marlowe's office, and his running narrative, mix that with the attitude of Beretta then take that guy and send him to Hogwarts and you've got Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden; Chicago's only practicing Wizard. Look him up he's in the book. Author Jim Butcher has created a fine character in Harry Dresden, star of the "Dresden Files" books. Harry is dishevled, unorganized but nonetheless a powerful Wizard. He has a 30 lb cat named Mister (who lost his tail in an accident). He wears a black duster and carries a Staff and a Wand (Blasting Rod he calls it) and causes high tech electronics to malfunction in his prescense. (Has to do with something about Magic vs Technology). Since he can't use a computer, Harry has his own version; Bob. Bob is an elemental Spirit of Air trapped in a skull. He's very "cheeky" and a bit of a pervert (Bob will stop in mid-sentence to check out a pretty client of Harry's). Yes, this is the same Dresden Files that SciFi has made a series out of. The series is okay, but the books are better. Now I'm only basing this off of reading the first book, but honestly they are good.

Had to add this. I've finished book 2 and I am working on book 3. So far they are great!

Movie Reviews

Cat and I just finished watching two new movies that I must tell you about. The first is "Man of the Year". I loved it. We do need a Comedian to win the Presidency......we need something. It's a humorous but true view of politics. The next one is "Stranger than Fiction". A very different movie that is pure fantasy. You never know why this particular author is writing about this real life person, nor do you know if she created him or he her. Matters not as that's not the point of the movie. I wonder myself sometimes if this happens to all of us. Haven't you ever felt like someone was narrating your life?

Movie Review plus Random Musings

We took Liv to see "Bridge to Terabithia" the other day.  Wow! Not what I expected, I was expecting a "Narnia" type of thing.  Not even close.  You will get misty eyed, I don't care who you are.  Not going to say much about it because it will spoil the movie.  It's one of those "sit down and discuss" movies for kids.  Now on to Random Musings.

 

Heroes.  Holy Crap can this show honestly get any better???  Network TV has a habit of ruining a good premise by dumbing it down too much.  "Jericho" is kind of getting there, although last weeks episode pulled it out of the Soap Opera quagmire it was slowly sinking into.  It still amazes me how a bunch of people still want to cling to the "old" ways when it's obvious the world is screwed.  You saw a mushroom cloud evaporate Wichita Kansas.......saw it!!!  Saw other clouds on TV, then the TV went dead.  You've seen a guy with radiation poisoning come crawling into town....but you still cop the attitude that all will be okay.  NO..it won't.   They need to put a big wall around their town and man the catwalks in shifts.  All food is to be divvyed up and rationed, same with water and other supplies.  Anyway....back to a show that is one of the best shows on Network TV.   Heroes isn't holding back.  They are plunging ahead and advancing their storyline while adding more twists and revelations that will continue to advance the whole show for a good long time.  The alignment (to use a Geek term) of the folks involved is blurring.  You aren't quite sure anymore who is a good guy and who is a bad guy.  The one "villain" ends up showing some humanity, the other is just nuts and an obviously evil man.  Surprises abound.  This is some good story telling. 

 

Books.  I'm almost done with the "Song of Fire and Ice" series that has been written to date.  There are three more books coming and that's it.  So far we have one Mother's stubborn recklessness causing an all out War.  Well it didn't really cause the War per se....it gave certain schemers the go ahead to kill the current King.  A nice hunting "accident" put blame on an evil "wild boar".  The Widowed Queen puts her spoiled, cruel son on the Throne which causes the Son of the Stubborn Mother to declare himself a King.  Then the two Brothers of the former King claim they have a right to the Throne.  A fifth faction makes a claim to the Throne as well, and the world erupts into War.  Meanwhile this Stubborn Mother has lost sight of her two Daughters, it's rumored that her two Younger sons are dead (the one who was the cause of her recklessness) and her son that declared himself King is betrayed and murdered.  As is she.  These books are great!!!  The flow of the storyline is well done to the point that the complicated and intricate plots do not get lost.  You can easily follow all the unraveling threads of the tale so far.  I'm also eagerly awaiting news of when they will start casting and filming the HBO Series based on these books.  Each book will be one season.   Trust me, at 1,000 pages average they will need to do one book per season.   Next on the agenda after "Feast of Crows" is "Storm Front" by Jim Butcher.  It's Book one of the "Dresden Files".  Yep the show that is currently on SciFi Channel.  The show is good, but from what I've been told the Books are far superior (isn't it always that way...).  This Series of books is about Harry Dresden who's office door says "Harry Dresden: Wizard".  He's the only Wizard listed in the Chicago Yellow Pages.  He's a PI who the Police go to when the case is "just too weird".  Can't wait to dive into that one.  I will need to pick up the other 5 books in the series so I can read them all.  After that is "Under the Black Flag" by David Corrdingly.  It is the true history of piracy.  Ah yeah.  Can't wait for that either.

The World We Live in

So we've all heard, ad nauseum, about Anna Nicole Smith. A human being died as a result of a tragic life. That's all the respect I will give. That's all the respect she deserves. NOT 24/7 reports of the "MacBethian" tragedy her life was. What we as human beings can derive from this circus is that we are a greedy, vile lot who often times care naught but for ourselves. Now on to JetBlue. A company that like most corporations is concerned with making a profit. But unlike most corporations who screw up, got down on their corporate hands and knees and begged the Country's forgiveness. They addressed a huge issue, resolved it in a quick fashion, then did the honorable thing and said "We screwed up and we are sorry. You deserve better for the money you pay us." WOW!!!! What's funny is the media should be covering this story 24/7, lauding the efforts of JetBlue.....but they don't. Who cares about that. "We" want to hear about the stripper/playmate who married an Old Oil Tycoon with one foot in the grave and where she's to be buried. Who cares!!!

Words or The Pen is Mightier than the Sword.

So last night on the Grammy Awards the "Dixie Chicks" won a crapload of awards.  Now if you remember correctly, 4 years ago these three Ladies were branded "terrorists", "communists", "traitors" etc all because of one member's political opinions.  Apparently after 9/11 it was deemed "traitorous" to speak ill of the Commander in Chief.  Hmmmm....I thought the First Amendment gave us the right to do that without persecution.  Now all Natalie Maines said was this: "We are embarrassed that the President is from Texas."  Now why she felt the need to say this before a song during their concert I don't know.  There is a time and place for Political Agendas, a concert shouldn't be one of them.  But, oh well.  What was so harsh about what she said?  Hell, I'm embarrassed he's my President.  Should people be making Death threats against me????  The problem with her statement, according to a vocal minority, is that she said it on Foreign Soil and just before we invaded Iraq the second time around.  Apparently it's "bad form" to speak ill of the CIC on Foreign Soil.  Huh??????  This lead to a huge backlash as Country Music fans everywhere were burning their CD's and they were being blackballed because of on stupid statement.  People wanted their heads; literally and figuratively.  Heck a co-worker today was making a comment about it and I looked at him and said "What did they do that was so bad?"  He mentioned "what they said about the troops" and they rank right up there with Hanoi Jane Fonda.  Not likely.  I went to wikipedia to see if they indeed said something about the troops.  They didn't.  Natalie Maine did say something about questioning the need to be Patriotic.  I am patriotic, because I love the Country I was born in; the US, but I always thought Patriotism was taken way too far after 9/11.  All of a sudden people are flying flags and sticking "United We Stand" stickers on their cars, etc.  It became trendy and cool to be Patriotic.  Someone was getting rich off of selling plastic flags and stickers manufactured in China and Mexico while Americans were becoming more paranoid and the Government was taking away more of your Civil Liberties in the name of "National Security" by adopting a "locking the barn door after the horse gets out" attitude.   I did find it very hypocritical to say the least.  There have been a number of 9/11 related movies out.  I've refused to see any of them because I don't think someone, anyone should get rich off of that tragedy.  I have come to the conclusion that Natalie Maine is a loud mouth with "little Chick" syndrome.  She reminds me of that girl that you are dating that gets you into fights at bars because she can't keep her mouth shut.  She loves to stir the crap and does it well.  I do find it amusing that they thought their fans would understand.  These are Country Music fans girls....Hello!!!!  Most true Country Fans come from the South, are Right Wing Conservative Christians and love W.  These are the same people that love Nascar too.  Nascar, where if you aren't from the South you are treated like you have two heads.....  These girls should have known too that in Country Music, if you aren't Texas or the South you are treated like the red headed step-child (just as Dwight Yokum....he's from Bakersfield, CA...).  If you are from those areas of the Country, you are expected to act a certain way. Looks like the Grammy's gave the finger to all the doubters last night.  These girls though should take a hint though.  Unless you are doing some kind of Political Cause concert (Farm Aid, etc) or you are singing at a fund raiser for a candidate, leave your Politics at the door, or put it in a song....at least if it's in a song, then you are expected to voice that opinion.   On that note I will leave you with some food for thought.

 

"People should not be afraid of their Government.  Government should be afraid of their people."

 

(quote from "V: for Vendetta")

 

"Those that would trade liberty for a bit of security deserve neither."

 

Ben Franklin

Movie Reviews

Two new ones.  We rented "Superman Returns" and "Flyboys".  Let's just say I'm pissed at Bryan Singer for deciding to make this movie before making X-Men 3 (which had another director that did okay).  Superman Returns was an okay movie, but I didn't understand why they did the whole "he left to investigate rumors of bits of the Planet Krypton" that still existed.  What the heck was that about?  I read they didn't want to do another "origin" story movie, but the did via flashbacks.  Lois Lane has a son that is Superman's child.  Okay, so let me get this straight.....you've slept with this guy, but yet you still don't see that Clark Kent and Superman are the same guy???????  Oh wait, he's wearing glasses and acting like a clutz....oh that's a good disguise.  That's like my Wife seeing me tripping down the sidewalk not wearing my glasses saying "Who's that guy?".   I did like Kevin Spacey as Luthor.  He was brilliantly cruel and evil.  Good casting job there.  I guess it's that I've never been a big fan of Superman.  I always thought he was kind of boring.  Why even bother to go up against this guy?  You can't kill him.  Lasers, nukes, guns, knives, etc....he can't be hurt by any conventional method.  Oh a "rare" glowing green rock that is a hunk of his planet is the only thing that can stop him.  Yeah, it's so "rare" that every other issue some Villan seems to have a chunk.  "Rare" my butt.  If you really are curious to see how it came out, then go ahead and rent it.  Honestly, this isn't a "must see" movie at all.   Flyboys, now that's a good movie.  You don't see many WWI movies and this one was well done.  Liked the characters and loved Jean Reno as the French Captain.  Great Dogfight scenes and the German Aces epitomized that era of fighter pilot.  Think the Red Baron.  Good movie.

End of an Era

Click on the blog title for the complete article. My friend Laura emailed me an article from the San Fran Examiner that has brought a tear to my eye. Our (me and my friends back home) version of the bar "Cheers" is closing it's doors after 36 years!!!! Yes, the home of the Habanero Hamburger and the Windsor Burger and the home of the best Fish and Chips in the area according to famed Columnist Herb Caen; the Prince of Wales Pub in San Mateo is closing it's doors. Apparently Jack Curry (the Pub's owner) doesn't own the building (I thought he did) and the owner of said property wants to open a bar of his own?????? WTF????? Number 1 it's not in the greatest of locations. The only thing that keeps it running in spite of it's bad location is the fact that the Prince of Wales is a San Mateo institution. The High Tech companies in the area; Oracle, EA, etc often initiate Noobs by bringing them to the POW for a Habanero Hamburger. I've been frequenting this establishment since the early Nineties. We used to have a Fencing class at the College of San Mateo and used to head to the POW afterwards for dinner. Jack knew your name when you walked through the door. I can't imagine someone wanting to throw away guaranteed rental income for the risk of running a business that no one will go to because you just took away their favorite place that was there. It's like closing down the best family run Italian restaurant so you can open your own. Ah well, such is the way of things. Jack will find a new location and this replacement bar will fail. Lot's of memories........

The Attack of the Mooninites!

Has it come to this???? Has our Government got us so scared of the "Terrorist Boogeyman" that people see a black sign that looks like a Lite Brite and think it's a bomb?!?!?!?!? Yes, the above picture is real. These little signs have been up in several major cities for 2-3 weeks now, and some yahoo in Boston yesterday sees one and freaks out. The police shut down interstates and bridges and go into Red Alert panic for the little thing you see the State Trooper holding in his hands. Look closely at it folks. We are a bunch of scared little freaks in this Country. These little signs were up in New York, LA, San Fran, Chicago and Boston. Boston is the only one that freaked out. For those that don't know what the image is, it's a character from the Adult Swim show "Aqua Teen Hunger Force". They are making a movie based on their cartoon and this was an advertising stunt. Of course Boston City officials are getting indignant about the whole situation "This is not amusing" harumph harumph. Basically they are pissed off at themselves for over-frickin-reacting!!!!! What idiots!!! Honestly how can you see a flashing led sign and say "Oh My God....it's a BOMB!!!!!!". I've said it before, the Terrorists don't need to attack us ever again; we've done their work for them.

OH NO IT'S SNOW!!!!!

Having come from a part of the Country where it doesn't snow, I find it hysterical to see and hear people's reactions to the snow we do get here in Tennessee.  In the SF Bay Area, it would sometimes get so cold that there would be frost on the lawn....little icy particles on the tips of your grass......that's it.  Here in Tennessee, we might get an inch or two, but it's usually all melted by the afternoon.  One time last year it hung around for 3 days but by the third day you could start to see it melting.  The slightest hint of "it might snow" out here and folks rush to the grocery store and buy up all the bread and bottled water, etc like it's the end of the world.  It's the attitude of "Oh MY God!!!!  We might be snowed in!!!!".  Yeah, snowed in overnight!!!!  Then in the morning all is well and it's like nothing happened.  I can remember my friend Jeff telling me about when he grew up in Detroit.  Now that's snow!!!!  He said you'd have to go outside and shovel off your car.  Start it up and wait an hour or two while it warmed up.   Meanwhile you were shoveling the driveway.  This three hour process was done so you could drive 25 minutes down the road to the store for food.  Nuts!!!!  The weather people out here always build it up.  "Oh no....look here's a cold front about to hit us!!!!"  It usually misses and goes to the South and all is well.  Yeah it snowed last night, and yeah there was still snow on the ground when I went out this morning.  But it was on the grass, not the sidewalks or my driveway.  It was a normal drive to work, actually a faster drive because of folks freaking out because of the big, ginormous dusting of snow we got.  Bet it's all gone by the time I get home tonight.  BTW, it's supposed to be sunny and almost 40 tomorrow.  So much for our "HUGE" snow storm.

Airsoft Whiners: Part Deux

I've explained my hobby of Airsoft here before so I won't go into that much detail as to what it is.  Go back and read Airsoft Whiners the first for the details.   Here in Middle Tennessee, we have one brick and mortar airsoft store called "Nashville Airsoft".  You would think a retail store would want to promote the sport as being a safe one, but all these guys seem to want to do is have a "mine is bigger than yours" contest.  They run games of their own at the Bad Karma Field where I play, but they don't use the Bad Karma rules (a big part of why I will never attend one of their games).  The speed and power of an airsoft gun is rated in FPS; or Feet Per Second.  A standard assault rifle AEG (airsoft electric gun) usually shoots around 285 fps to 330 fps out of the box.  These guns of course can be upgraded to shoot a bit faster.  People, wrongly, believe that faster means farther.  True, a .20 gram plastic bb traveling at 350 fps goes a bit farther than a bb traveling at 285 fps, but it still loses kinetic energy when it gets to it's destination.  Kinetic energy is what makes the target feel the bb hitting them and what makes them raise their hand calling themselves hit.  What will make the bb travel farther is a tightbore barrel.  Also a longer barrel.  A tightbore barrel gives the bb more spin (think the rifling in a regular firearm) thus more sustainable kinetic energy.  The longer barrel means it is sustaining this energy in a controlled space where it is kept constant for a much longer time, therefore it travels further because it has more "umph".   The standard rules on the BK Field are like every other field I've played on.  400 fps for regular riflemen with no range limit, 500 for snipers with a 100 foot limit (trust me at 500 fps, at 100 feet it will feel like 400 but still hit you) and SAW's at 410 fps (their high rate of fire causes the piston to lose some fps) with a 25 foot range.  These are good, safe distances and speeds and all that one needs honestly.  It is well known that every time you start to upgrade a regular AEG higher than say 415, it increases the risk of you frying the motor, striping or freezing the gears, etc, etc.  Basically crap starts to go wrong more often.  The guys that run this store, NA, have a no FPS limit at their game days.  Their whole deal is to see just how high they can upgrade a gun.  I've heard reports of people being called whiners because they lost it at an NA game by being shot point blank in the back of the neck with a gun shooting 600 fps?!?!?!  I'd be pissed too.  That's like getting slapped in the back of the neck with a bullwhip.   One of the many reasons I won't attend one of the games they run.   If that ever happened to me, it would go from guns shooting plastic bb's to me pinning the guy to the ground pounding his face in.  It's unsafe and uncalled for and it disgusts me that this is a retail store who's lively hood depends on the sport.  Idiots.  Now they have been having these delusions of starting an "Airsoft League" where teams take on other teams for bragging rights I guess.  Sorry man, this ain't paintball.  Alot of former paintballers play airsoft because they like the whole mission based objective style of play.  Not team A on this side of the field and team B on that side, ready, set, come out shooting.  It's stupid, and you might as well just go play paintball if that's what you want to do.  They have been making asses out of themselves "calling out" other teams.  The good teams: Bad Karma, OpForce and my own team The Order have ignored them.  We don't like that crap, and frankly we have nothing to prove.  It's a damn hobby.  We are out running around with realistic bb guns playing "army" for Christsake!!!!! 

Need to get HBO....or at least save up for the Box Sets.

Just announced to day on my favorite author's own webpage.....George R. R. Martin's "A Song of Fire and Ice"  books are being developed by HBO into a cable series.  Martin plans to write 7 novels in this series, and is currently working on the 5th.  So far we have "A Game of Thrones" "A Clash of Kings" "A Storm of Swords" and "A Feast for Crows" published and out in paperback.  He is currently working on "A Dance With Dragons".  I have talked about this particular author in the past (Cathy gets a bit bored with me when I do....since I have numerous times bent her ear over how great of an author I think he is).  According to the article in Variety, each 1,000 page novel will be filmed as an entire season of the show.  Martin's take on things (and I agree) is that his books are too complex to make into a single 2 + hour long movie for each one.  Characters and storylines would have to get cut or combined and it would lose something.  The way he writes his novels is episodic to begin with.  Each chapter is titled with the name of the character who it is about.  He will also be involved which is good because he won't let them screw it up.  Martin's credits included writing for the late 80's CBS version of "The Twilight Zone" and eventually co-producing it.  He knows television.  HBO has a history of taking it's time with series and making them worth waiting for.  Take "The Sopranos" for example.  One of the best Dramas on TV; period.  "Rome" is another as well as "Deadwood".  Both critically acclaimed and high rated TV Dramas.  HBO is a perfect venue as well because the novels are essentially "R" rated and the tone of them won't be lost.  For those that don't know Martin's works, he is (in my opinion) one of the bravest and truest authors out there.  "A Song of Fire and Ice" is set in a medieval world (think Lord of the Rings).  Instead of the definite good and bad presented in LOTR, we've got lot's of grey in Martin's world.   Action, political intrigue, wizardry, dragons, Knights, Kings, etc.  When I say "true" I mean he presents a real world view of the term "Heavy is the head that wears the crown".  When I say "brave" I'm referring to the fact that this man kills off characters right and left; or at the least has horrible things befall them.  His "heroes" die because they've tried to do the right thing but told the wrong person.  I think of it this way.  If every Bond villain would have just had Bond kneel before them then shot him in the back of the head; the movie would be over in the first half hour.  This is what Martin does.  His villains take captives and off them; simple.  They don't give grand speeches while the hero is strapped to a table.  Nope it's off with his head and it's done or throw him off the battlements.......he will anger you as a reader because just as you are starting to like a character; something has to happen to him/her.  Great reading that sucks you in from page 1 and I think the series will be that way too.  Suck you in from episode 1. 

Brian and Chrissy's new Venture.

My good friend Brian and his Wife Christina have always wanted a side business.  They have finally come up with a great idea.  She has been a photographer for a lot of years, professionally I might add, and is quite skilled at shooting weddings.  Brian decided to join the Universal Life Church (be a Reverend for 15 bucks....) and can now legally officiate a wedding ceremony.  They decided to combine these two things and start a business called "Sealed With a Kiss".  They offer wedding photography and officiating in one package.  Pretty cool.  Check out the link to their site in the Links section.

List from Cathy's Blog

I will highlight the one's I've done in blue.

 

How many have you done? Feel free to cut/paste onto your blog. Don’t forget to post a link so I can look at your list too.

1. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
2. Swam with wild dolphins
3. Climbed a mountain
4. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
5. Been inside the Great Pyramid
6. Held a tarantula
7. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
8. Said “I love you’ and meant it
9. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game (and survived the crush afterwards)
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Posed nude in front of strangers
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken (And I''m still married to her)
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Had a one-night stand
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children (or…raising children)
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds (cumulatively, if you count pregnancy! lol!)
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Petted a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Petted a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes … yum!
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life

How NOT to Run a Business

My wonderful Wife and I have had this discussion a time or two. We both have hobbies which have grown into "cottage industries" (think Beanie Babies and all the stores that opened up just to sell them awhile back). For me it's Airsoft and for Her it's Scrapbooking. Scrapbooks, for those that don't know, aren't what they used to be. It used to be you got a photo album and put clippings, pictures, etc in it so you could look back on it. Now a days they are more involved. You make pages with buttons, badges, bits and bobs, etc....oh and a picture too. In simple terms they are "fancy" photo albums. In the hands of creative folks like my Wife, they are works of art. Airsoft, for those that don't know, are 1:1 scale replicas of real steel firearms that shoot plastic 6mm BBs. We dress in military BDU(battle dress uniform, think basic Base fatigues) and run around wearing eye protection basically playing "Army" (like we did when we were young). Both hobbies have spawned numerous online and brick and mortar stores where folks are hoping to cash in on the trend. In the case of Airsoft, I have seen the demise of a number of brick and mortar stores. One in particular "GunKulture" in Millbrae California. When this store was run by the original owner Joe, it was a great store. You could go in, pick up and handle all models of guns and see what you liked. Joe was a great guy who was honest and helpful. He decided to get a "real" job after he realized that where his store was, he wasn't getting alot of business (he was also competing with Airsoft Extreme in San Jose which had a bigger customer base, and was in the area of the World where the games were usually played.) so he sold the store to his custom gun designer, Elias. This man could make some of the most awesome custom guns ever; but he couldn't run a store. When he was supposed to open the store at 11 am, he wouldn't get there until 1 pm. He didn't restock the shelves enough, etc etc..... He's out of business and has been for awhile. How NOT to run a business. Scrapbooking has the same problems. This one store in Hermitage, TN has just announced it was going out of business. If you have been to the store you aren't surprised by this news. The store was never packed, and they have a big store front. The stuff on the shelves was ancient and out of date, but they never had a clearance sale to get rid of it. If anything new came in, it was very few items and not a huge selection. No wonder you are out of business!!!!! People who go into these "cottage industry" businesses don't know the first thing about inventory control. First in, First out. In other words, your oldest inventory should be gone before your newest. Things depreciate. Why do you think Car Lots have "year end clearance" sales??? The '06's are depreciated now. The longer they have sat on the lot, the less they are worth. Therefore, discount the heck out of them and give them away. Look at Target and Joann's and other stores like that. If it doesn't sell at Target in 6 months....it's in the Clearance aisle. The scrapbook industry is like that. New items come out; make a splash, then fade away. If these are on the shelves of your store and they aren't selling immediately, then they need to be clearanced so you can at least break even on the items. The longer old inventory sits unsold on a shelf, the more it depreciates. It cost you 5 bucks to buy it. You sell it for say 10. Most items depreciate .50 to a dollar every month. In six months those items aren't worth the 5 bucks you paid for them any more. GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles, the governing body for Accountants everywhere) has lists of recommended depreciations schedules for most industries. It's funny how people don't know this. Take a simple accounting class and learn about Assests and Liabilities. Inventory is an Asset and a Liability. It's an asset in the fact that it generates potential revenue (ie Cash). It becomes a liability when it just sits and you don't recognize the revenue from the sale of it. Most retail establishments are modeled on the premise that the store buys goods from a manufacturer at a certain price, marks them up and resells them at a profit. Simple. Not really. Take a business class and an accounting class, or read some books before you get into business. You will run a better business if you do.

Happy New Year

I made it until exactly midnight, then it was bedtime for me. Cathy went to bed alot earlier. We have both been getting over colds, and she had to work two days of retail in a row......the boring stuff....usually she works in the stock room which makes the day go quick. Out here in Tennessee, people still don't get the whole don't drink and drive thing. I guess it's because they don't make the penalties as stiff as back home in California. In California, when all is said and done, a DUI will cost you 10,000. That includes fines, rehab (yes they make you go to rehab), classes, court costs, lawyer fees, etc. Then after you are done, you drive on a restricted licensce for a good while. Out here, some idiot teenage girl (19) t-boned a cop car while under the influence.......thank God everyone is okay, but it's just Karma biting this idiot in the ass. Anyway, all in all New Years Eve was uneventful. Here's hoping all my friends and family have a great 2007.

More Movie Reviews

So we finally watched "Little Miss Sunshine" and "Miami Vice". "Little Miss Sunshine" was like I predicted good odd. A quirky little movie about a dysfunctional family who come together in the end in their own true to form way. The little girl in it is adorable and her routine taught to her by her grumpy, hippy, coke snorting Grandpa is hysterical. "Miami Vice": SUCKS!!!! I should have known better, but I figured it was written and directed by Michael Mann the guy that created and directed the original series so it shouldn't be horrible??? Right???? Now I know why Colin Ferrel doesn't get too many jobs anymore; he can't act to save his life. His portrayal of Sonny Crockett just pissed me off. He muddled through his lines, half the time there was no emotion......he sucked. Jaime Foxx was good as Tubbs, but the direction wasn't there. Mann tried to make the plot twisty and unique, but it just became too complicated and too over twisted and implausible for it's own good. The tone and pacing of the movie was like sleep walking. I also rented "Clerks II" and "Ultimate Avengers II". "Ultimate Avengers II" is the second in a line of animated films by Marvel Comics. I stopped collecting comics near the end of the 90's (the era that will go down in history as the decaded that almost killed comics...even Stan Lee admits this....and takes part of the blame) so I missed the whole Marvel Ultimates stuff. Apparently they went back and updated a bunch of Origin stories and backgrounds of some of the most well known Marvel Characters. UAII was good. The animation was great and the storyline was good too. Not your Father's comics that's for sure. "Clerks II": what else can be said. It was as funny as anything Kevin Smith has done before. It was great to see that Dante and Randel haven't changed in 10 years....they just work at Mooby's now. Some funny crap.

2006: The Year in Review

Wow!!! Another year almost gone.  I swear they go quicker the older one gets.  This was my first official year living in my newly adopted State of Tennessee (I've already addressed this with humorous resulting comments in an earlier post).  So far most of my year was spent on various house projects.  Tile in the Master Bath, digging the Once and Future Pond (which is still a shallow hole in the ground), redoing the fence (still needs finishing), stripping wallpaper and painting (painted the living room, hall and part of the dining room) and that's it.  Wow....I'm truly a Homeowner.  Locally the housing development and retail center that were being built when we moved in is about done.  The retail, Providence Marketplace, has all of it's big anchor stores finished and opened.  The areas with the smaller stores are done, but all of the tenants have yet to move in.  There's about 25% of them in and open for business.  The restaurants that are there are all open now, so there is a choice other than Cracker Barrel, Ruby Tuesday or (Gaaahhhh!!!!) Waffle House.  We have Chik-Fil-A (I still haven't been), Wendy's, Red Robin (yay!!!), O'Charleys and Logans.  The housing portion is mostly done too.  We drove through there the other day and most of the neighborhoods are filled with residents.  All of these improvements have run some of the Rednecks out of town....darn.  There was a bar called "The Country Pub" which had the same 4 pickups parked outside of it all the time.  It's closed now.  The Music City Star, a commuter railway, stops in our City now on it's way to Nashville.  All these improvements make me glad we moved where we did.  All the Suburban sprawl makes me feel at home.  Statewide we had one of the nastiest Senate Races.  Both sides stooping to negative campaign ads just to make the other look the fool.  Nationwide the voters revolted and put the Democrats in power.  I guess even the staunchest Republicans couldn't stomach another year of a bunch of parrots.  Personally my relationship with my Step Kids has grown more solid.  My oldest has wonderful things to say about me; thank you Amanda.  My boy has become a good friend and I've become someone he can talk to.  My youngest is still my pal, even though she is 12 and her Mom and StepDad embarrass her now.  Cat and I have gotten into a wonderful routine in our lives, and we love it.  It's nice to be able to just sit with someone and talk about anything and nothing. My Grandson is getting bigger every day.  He's such a nut at 3.  My folks back home are doing good too.  Dad will be 68 come March, and the Doctors say he's as healthy as a horse.....makes me feel better.  Mom's doing well too.  Sis changed careers and is much happier and has less stress in her life than she did before.  My friends are doing great too.  Brian and Chrissy moved back to San Jose from Hawaii and Bri is going for his Phd in psychology.  Mike and Anne had their first child in August.  The GOG, as the Discourser likes to put it, is doing good too.  Except for Zeb who after only a month or two of marriage got a crappy surprise when he went home; the new wife took her crap and left leaving a lawyer bearing papers in her place.  Zeb seems to be doing okay though.  Jamie and Liz got married finally.  We always knew they would.  Duff is up in Oregon attending college trying to make something of his life...good for you Duff.  The GOG is still rolling dice every now and again, and I miss them.  Ah well.  The outlook for the new year seems to be on the upswing.  Cat is shooting for getting her Real Estate license soon and when we are able, we will be planning a trip out to Cali....I'll let you all know when I'm coming.

Movie Reviews

Time for the latest movie reviews.

1. Eragon.  A real good movie.  Lots of fun, and now my Step-Daughter and Wife want a pet Dragon.

2. Wickerman.  A cross between M. Night Shamalamadingdongs The Village, an Amazon Village, and a Lesbian Ren Faire.  I thought it was supposed to be a supernatural whodunit mystery thing.   Nope.  Don't bother it's just to odd, and not good odd but makes no sense odd.

3. Jet Li's Fearless.  Supposedly his last Martial Arts movie.  Real good.  Lots of action and Asian Mysticism.  Kind of a Hamletesque ending.  It's awesome watching Jet Li match his Wushu style against: bare knuckle boxing, saber fencing, English Pike, and a Samurai.  Great scene where he fights the Samurai with a three piece rod vs. a Katana.

 

We also rented "Little Miss Sunshine" and "Miami Vice".  From everything I've read about Little Miss Sunshine it's supposed to be good odd and very funny.  Miami Vice I will go into with low expectations......I like Jamie Foxx...he's gotten to be a good dramatic actor.

Christmas

Well Christmas is over.  We had a good one this year.  Cathy, Liv and I opened our gifts to each other on Christmas Eve morning then went to my In-Laws for dinner and to celebrate the season.  On Christmas Day, Liv's donor of genetic material was scheduled to have her for the day, plus the coming week because she is off of school.  We had a good Day all in all.  Liv was happy and excited as usual.  I understand now why my Folks never cared that we gave them anything at all for Christmas.  It's the joy of watching your Child's eyes light up as they open each gift and their stockings as well.  We got Liv so many stocking stuffers, she had to have two stockings this year!!  My Grandson was the funniest though.  He is three and he kept asking "Can I open my presents now?"  Even though he had been told that he had to wait for everyone to get there and until dinner was done.  His response to this "I don't want to wait."  He got more cars and trucks...just what he needs!!!  We got him some books and a set of magnetic building blocks....there are circles and straight posts that connect via magnet to each other......very cool.  The one gift I got for Cathy that I hoped would spark her creative side more did.  I got her a set of acrylic paints....she's very happy because now she can paint anywhere (as opposed to oil paints where you have to have a studio or paint outdoors because the fumes will kill you and everyone else around you.  I've seen a couple of her paintings and she is good.  I want to see more though.  I know it relaxes her and takes her mind off of the day's stressors.   Besides, we need some artwork to go over the mantel. 

So Long Joe we will miss you.

Joe Barbera has died at 95. The second half of Hanna-Barbera group that brought us some of the best cartoons in the world. The Flintsones, Scooby Doo, Tom and Jerry, Yogi Bear...the list goes on. We will miss you Joe.

High School Sports

I love sports as much as the next person, but don't believe that they should have such a high priority in our lives as they do.  Take some small Towns in this fine country of ours for example:  High School Football is THE biggest deal in these towns.   It's HUGE and everyone makes a big deal over it.  Why????  I can see if your kid is on the team, but half the time the people that crowd the stands don't have any kids.  What's the draw???  It's a bunch of teenagers playing football for Christ sake....big freaking deal!!!!  Sports is so popular, that some schools instead of cutting sports programs, cut the Arts and other such things that will actually help the Children later on it life when they get into the real world.   God forbid we cut the football team....let's get rid of the band.  Let's get rid of the drama class (which can help Children who go into the business world with public speaking, etc).  Unless you are phenomenal, being good at sports in High School gets you no where in the real world.  You don't hear "hey let's hire Billy for VP because he was the QB at is High School."  Sorry doesn't happen.  Out here in Tennessee it's a big deal.  I still don't get it.  I guess it's hard for me to see the importance coming from the San Francisco Bay Area.  We had 4-5 High Schools all within a few miles of each other.  Honestly,  no one cared.  And how can you care when you have the 49ers, the Raiders, the Giants, A's, Sharks, and the Warriors all within an hour from each other. 

 

 

 

Airsoft Whiners

As some of you may know, I am involved in a sport/hobby called Airsoft. We run around in camo with realistic looking bb guns shooting at each other. Kind of like playing "guns" when I was a kid except that our "guns" cost a lot more. I play at a field in Lebanon, TN called the Bad Karma Airsoft Field which is owned and operated by the Bad Karma Airsoft Team. A bunch of nice guys who are all honorable players; alot like the people I used to play with back home whenever Roundhouse had its "invite" only version of the public games they used to run. These guns are accurate up to a point. The bb's weigh anywhere from .20 grams to .25 grams and are made of plastic. They may travel at speeds up to 400 feet per second or more, but being made of plastic and weighing nothing they are subject to wind and other conditions. Our games are normally played without referees of any kind; it's the "honor" system. If you are hit, it is upon you to indicate you are struck by yelling hit, putting a red rag on your head, and either waiting for a "medic" or getting up and walking to a "respawn" point. At said "respawn" you are only there for 5 minutes then you can get back into the game. Unfortunately like in most sports (cough cough Baseball) you have cheaters. This is not a game you play for points or trophies, it is played for fun. There is a competitive aspect to the game, ie getting your mission completed, but it's generally considered okay if you really don't compete all that hard. Missions may include: search and destroy/rescue, base defense/offense, holding waypoints, etc. As you can see, competitive yes, but easy to be overtaken, shut out, etc, etc. Lately we have been having a few whiners on the field. At the all day game we had in September, I went off on the entire group of people in the one compound where a massive and intensive firefight was taking place. These guns have a motor that drives a piston in them. When one has them up to ones ear, as in the standard firing position for a rifle, then it is hard to hear someone you've just struck with a bb say in a normal tone of voice "hit". These people usually end up bitching and whining saying things like "Stop f**king hitting me I'm hit already!!". I know I usually scream "HIT!!!!" over and over again several times while waving my red rag above my head. The visual cue is what usually gets my opponent to stop shooting me. I heard so much of it I just had to tell the whiners to STFU!!!!! There are times you swear you hit somebody, but because of the above mentioned elements that affect bb flight, you are totally off target. Then there are times where you watch bbs bounce off of someone's goggles and they just ignore them. Not feeling the hit is also a common factor in not calling one's self out. BB's hurt less than paintballs and lose a lot of their kinetic energy over distances. You may be able to hit someone with your gun from 200 feet away, but when it gets to them it has slowed down considerably. Ah well, it's still a fun sport in spite of the whiny idiots we have to deal with.

The new addition has died

Yep, basically after two weeks the little Hamster Flara died. Kind of pisses me off. I mean I know they don't live very long, but 2 years as opposed to two weeks!!!! Apparently according to this Hamster Fanciers website hamsterific.com the bedding we bought from PetSmart may have killed her. I'm going to go visit PetSmart and ream them a new one. We will be burying the tiny critter in the yard.