Boston in Brief

An old favorite

2007-02-19T13:02:00.000-08:00

Us and Them
And after all we're only ordinary men
Me, and you
God only knows it's not what we would choose to do
Forward he cried from the rear
and the front rank died
And the General sat, as the lines on the map
moved from side to side
Black and Blue
And who knows which is which and who is who
Up and Down
And in the end it's only round and round and round
Haven't you heard it's a battle of words
the poster bearer cried
Listen son, said the man with the gun
There's room for you inside
Down and Out
It can't be helped but there's a lot of it about
With, without
And who'll deny that's what the fightings all about
Get out of the way, it's a busy day
And I've got things on my mind
For want of the price of tea and a slice
The old man died

Sunday Morning

2006-11-12T14:33:00.000-08:00

Old men appear
on foggy mornings,
their pipe smoke
entwining raindrops.

Worst Games Evar

2006-10-28T12:45:00.000-07:00

This is really quite funny.

VNES

2006-10-13T16:24:00.000-07:00

Oh, hell yes!

You Loved It...

2006-09-16T09:11:00.000-07:00

This gave me a laugh when I needed one.

How Succinct!

2006-09-09T15:33:00.000-07:00

"America is at that awkward stage. It's too late to work within the system, but too early to shoot the bastards."

~ Claire Wolfe

Game : Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

2006-08-23T16:39:00.000-07:00

Hi there, did anyone miss me?

I'm back today with a game review. I have been playing GTA:SA for quite awhile now. In fact, I started the doggone thing before I bought Oblivion, then ended up coming back to try to finish it afterI finished Oblivion, and still, I never saw the credits roll.

So, I figure it's about time to give it up and write a damn review.

All the GTA games have been terrific, and this one is no exception. It is the biggest, badest, and best GTA yet. The game spans three cities, clones of Los Angeles, San Fransisco and Las Vegas, and there is plenty of countryside in-between. Incredible. The simplicity that made the game fun to begin with is still there in complete and unabashed abundance: that is, driving around recklessly while listening to bangin' music. That really is the game, as far as I am concerned. Yes, SA includes (actually good) voice acting by our own Sam "SnakesOnAMuthaFuckinPlane" Jackson (did anyone get my call??) and the always magical James Woods. Yes, the series was an innovation of non-linear, sandbox world gameplay that spawned uncounted, unmentionable knock-offs. Yes, you run over hookers and shoot cops; or if you prefer, run over cops and shoot hookers. (The choice is yours!) But to me, the thrill of the game and the thing that kept me coming back for more, even after the game blue-screens on me twice, is that particular feeling you get when you are tearing down busy city streets, weaving between traffic and into wrong lanes and through stop lights and off cliff sides, and all to a great soundtrack, that makes it the polished genius that it is. The rest is just a colorful backdrop.

Now since I'm an opinionated li'l bastard, let me share my .02 about the whole damn mod scandal thing and the gratuitous violence that is destroying the children of America.

I don't deny that the game is violent. It is. You can and will kill all manners of people: hookers, hippies, cops, and gang bangers by the dozen. You will run red lights. You will make illegal left turns from the right lane. You will drive on the sidewalk. You will get into fender-benders and not stop to leave a note. For all these things, Rockstar should not apologize nor have its game or any game like it censored in any way. Because, besides being unconstitutional, if private interest groups had the ability to influence local or Federal governments to decide what could be published or not, this would not be a truly free society. The ability to write a racy novel, distribute a politically hostile movie, or produce a violent video game is part of what makes America great.

So, to all the lazy mothers out there who want the government to raise their child for them, here's my prescription: Take a tablespoon of tolerance in the morning and call me when your brain grows back...

...Or have you forgotten how much I have played this game? Because I will beat you to death with a dildo and then drive repeatedly over your bloody remains.

Sorry, couldn't resist. ;)

Siggraph

2006-08-02T16:02:00.000-07:00

Today I went to my very first industry convention -- Siggraph!

It was lots of fun. I took the purple line (commuter rail) in to South Station, walked .75 miles SE to the Westin Hotel, and breathed a sigh of relief as I entered the cool, crisp, oh so sweetly air conditioned lobby.

In the morning I went to a class on high resolution head modeling, which was mostly useless and completely boring. I am so glad I am not in school anymore! After that we headed over to the convention hall and walked about the exhibit. Our UI builder sort of accidentaly snuck into this 'art exhibit' area that normally costs more. He couldn't help but tell us over and over again how cool the live, interactive music show was, how soft the couches were, or how awesome hot the virtual reality japanese chick was.

The rest of us had to make due with the plain old exhibit halls, which were really fun anyways. Notable booths included LucasArts, which was showing off this new physics technology where Indie can be bombarded endlessly with falling stones and will react dynamically to each one. Sweet. We also saw a few demos; the demo we saw at the Massive booth (the technology behind all the orcses fighting it out in the LOTR movies) was enlightening, but my favorite was actually the ZBrush booth, where we got to see a cool demo of the new version's features. ZBrush is a high-poly modeling tool that is very intuitive and acts like you are sculpting clay. It was used to make Davey Jones (squid faced bad guy) in the new Pirates movie.

The last thing we did was go to a Google party upstairs, where I finally ate some food (good food, actually) and a had a Corona on a near empty and quite dehydrated stomach. It kind of messed me up. They demoed the features in Google Earth and talked about the philosophy behind it, which was cool to see, but by that time we were all tired so we scooted out early and headed back towards home.

Game : The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

2006-07-30T11:19:00.000-07:00

Good gravy, this game is _HUGE_. Where can I even begin?

I chose a dark elf thief/mage as my avatar. Being a dark elf meant that I got to summon an ancestral ghost once a day, and that I was mostly immune to fire. For my birth sign, I took the sign of the Mage, which granted me a bonus of 100 magic points at the expense of an increased sensitivity to magic. Since I was a thief/mage, I put all my skill points into agility, intelligence, speed, and wisdom. That being, I was a weakling who could barely carry his own armor, let alone lug around 20 freaking daedra hearts (2 feathers each!) just to make up for killing some stupid mages guild member. But that's okay, because being turned into a vampire had the side benefit of increased strength, never mind that it turned me into a nocturnal recluse who had trouble completing simple tasks because A) daylight would fry him to a crisp and B) because no one talks to a blood-starved husk of hideous skin anyway.

Ha ha ha. I hope you enjoyed that. I figure if I can spend 20 minutes per session arranging my character's inventory, you can handle just a sample. :)

Seriously though, this is the thing with this game. The ridiculous amount of detail in this game is both its blessing and its curse. It is an amazingly immersive world, filled with life, with countless stories, with tons of places to explore.. but sometimes, it all just got to be, well, too much. Because of this, I spent the last third of the game just trying to get through it, stubborn as I am, because while I enjoyed playing the game, I also wanted to move on to other things.

If anyone out there has played, I completed all four guild quest lines, the arena, the main storyline, and a shitload of the smaller stuff. Favorite item? Cowl of Nocturnal! Funniest item? Monkeypants!! (Find them in the general goods store in Bree; the stats are funny.)

This game is gorgeous. The flora, the textures (I hope you like normal maps), the skyscapes, the lighting, and the architecture are all top notch and will be memorable to me. If you are an RPG fan, do yourself a doggone favor and play this game. Yes, it will destroy your "normal" life. Yes, it may take freaking forever, through not if you just play the main story arc, but good luck with that. But despite all these things, I can say with confidense that Oblivion represents the culmination of all RPG history and is probably the best classic form RPG made to date. If you are a fantasy fan, play it. You'll have a blast!

Yuck

2006-07-30T11:16:00.000-07:00

Jenine is in Maine
My juice is brown and mushy
Sad summer Sunday

Book : Hyperspace

2006-07-30T10:15:00.000-07:00

The cover reads, "A Scientific Odyssey Through Parallel Universes, Time Warps, and the 10th Dimension." This is an apt, albeit understated, description of what goes on inside this book. The author, theoretical physicist Michio Kaku, does as a great job of explaining more than a few current theories all relating in some way to the larger picture of higher dimensions and the grand unification theory. He explains how Einstein's discovery of the theory of relativity leapfrogged over many (yet to be discovered) mathematical and physical sciences and that in many ways today's theoretical physicists and mathematicians are backtracking in an attempt to fill in that gap.

Reading this book was not unlike reading the technology tree for Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. For the uninitiated, SMAC, as it is often called, is a futuristic turn-based strategy game in which numerous factions vie for control of the first human colony in the Alpha Centauri star system. Terms like super string theory, Kaluza-Klein theory, and Condensed Yang-Mills Field litter the pages. While I did my best to absorb all of this, I couldn't help but feel like an intern on his first day who gets handed a stack of papers 18 inches tall; that is to say, a little overwhelmed.

You see, I spend my days drawing pictures and pushing vertices around. Much of my reading takes place in imaginary worlds where the effect of science (or magic) on society is important, not the details of the science itself. I stopped doing well in math after geometry; as a visual person, abstract numbers don't click together in my head very well. For me, understanding higher science is like trying to be an astonomer in the Los Angeles basin.

That's not to say I didn't gleam anything from this book. While I failed to retain most of the specifics covered (I would certainly fail a test on this book), I did gain some understanding into theoretical sciences as a whole. In a broader sense, I even learned how scientists think and process information a bit better.

Near the end of the book, Kaku spends two chapters discussing the fate of both humanity and the universe itself. This was my favorite part of the book. Here, he spoke broadly of overarching concepts, patterns, and principles which I absorbed easily enough. It was fascinating to read ideas about the possible future for our species, but also sobering to be reminded that unless we can start playing nice, we may never get there. This part, where science met and mingled with politics and philosophy, was a delight to read and I would recommend it to anyone.

As for recommending the book as a whole, well, if you have any desire to understand the details behind many theoretical technologies that we see in sci-fi movies and books (like the infinite universes in Jet Li's The One, the warp drives from Star Trek, or the shennanagins in Quantum Leap), grab it - you will certainly get your fill.

Tubes

2006-07-12T16:34:00.000-07:00

If you heard or read any part of Senator Tom Stevens' speech regarding the internet, you will enjoy the remixed version.

Here's the speech: http://www.chezlark.com/?p=666

And the remix: bhttp://alternet.org/blogs/peek/38797/

Karaoke

2006-07-09T14:27:00.000-07:00

This weekend. Our friends Angie and Josh drove up to visit us from New York. The main event was our trip to downtown Boston, where we followed the freedom trail from one graveyard to the next. Sobered by skulls and seraphim, we headed over to The Tap (our favorite Haymarket pub) for “a [singular] beer.” One pitcher turned into two, and while Josh and I were lost in Arcade Bowling (the AI cheats, I tells ya!), the barmaid decided to fetch us a third without our consent. (Question: There’s a cold pitcher of Sam Adams Cherry Wheat beer sitting in front of you. How do you send it back? Answer: You don’t. [Nyet would also be an acceptable answer.]) After that, we stumbled out into the early evening sunshine, already sloshed, and wondered what to do next. Historical sites were obviously out, and I was only getting worse at the Bowling game. Then Angie said the magic word: Karaoke. And who, if anyone, would know where to find Karaoke? Sasha! So we stumbled over to his place, pushed the buzzer until he came down, and forced him out the door and towards the nearest Karaoke joint. We ended up at Limelight, a slick place with modern décor and a huge songlist. We rented a room for an hour, which to me personally was the most fun, then hit a bar down the street for drinks before returning to play the main room. After an awful duet with Sasha of Depeche Mode’s People are People, where the only person who could sing couldn’t see the damn screen, we were pretty much finished and called it a night. There were too many hard acts to follow, so next time I’m sticking with the private booth. We made it home (before midnight!), looked at our crooked pictures, and finally ate some dinner. (Oops, wrong order.) Patches was not amused.

Caught making out in the cemetary! For shame!

I'm scared.

2cute

i want those shoes!

It's time to rock.

"Take it, Jenine."

Girls gone karaoke.

I'm so hungry and angry, I could eat this microphone!

"So a guy walks into a karaoke bar..."

Okay, now I'm scared.

Air keyboard!

Bump and grind.

Out there and loving every minute of it.

God help us.

People are people, so why should it be
that Dan can't sing and Sasha can't see?

Portland, Maine

2006-07-09T12:52:00.000-07:00

One week ago. Jenine and I took the Miata up to Maine to celebrate our birthdays in earnest. It was our first vacation since our 1-year anniversary, so we were very excited to go. Driving up with the top down was lots of fun, and cranking up the AC in the hotel room was possibly even better.

Welcome to Portland, Maine. Lobsters, as far as the eye can see. I swear there were a thousand if there was one. We spent much of our time lighthouse hunting, zipping through quaint coastal towns around Cape Elizabeth's vicinity. Other activities include driving past exactly 2-kabillion ice cream shops and, even more exciting, strawberry picking! What better way to spend your 1st-world vacation then by living the life of a 3rd-world migrant worker?! Experience back pain, repetitive stress injury, and sun-stroke, all without ever leaving the comfort of the field! Seriously, watch out for the kids, though. On exiting the labor camp, I mean, the field, I noted to the staff that they should weigh the children before and after they "pick" their strawberries, and then charge the parent for the weight difference. It's only fair.

But seriously, it was all very beautiful and relaxing, and we ended the day with a bottle of cheap champagne and a soak in the hot tub. When Dan needs his soak, ol' Bessie and the kids will have to wait.

On Sunday we drove into Portland proper (our hotel was actually at the airport, you know, because we like airports so much) and got a taste of real Maine hospitality. First we went to the center of downtown Portland, expecting to find a thriving community populated with summer tourists and all the associated trinket shops and restaurants. Using a hotel lobby trifold, we steered towards a cool looking place called Portland Public Market, a massive indoor market built with huge pine cross-beams.
The pictures sure looked festive, but, arriving at the scene, we wondered if we had stepped into a post-apocalyptic world devoid of law and life itself. Upon parking our car, we noticed three kindly gentlemen "casing" us as we walked several blocks to the market. Next we were greeted at the stoplight by a mentally disturbed man who was probably the victim of jungle warfare. Crossing the street, we gave our respects to a young lady who's physique and palor had certainly seen better days. (I'll refrain from the derogatory term because it made me sad.) Lastly, Jenine spied a group of three people passed out in the street. We gave each other looks and walked right back to our car, happy not to have been jacked and to be moving on.
Finally we made our way down to the Wharf section of downtown Portland, and it was made immediately clear that this is where all the action was to be had. Six square blocks or so were packed solid with friendly locals, tourists from distant lands, and many qualitie eateries and nonsensical shoppes. The whole scene was very much granola, hippie, free spirited, and internationally cultured. (I tried to think of a word that described all those things, and never could.) At the end of the day, we made our way to Ri-Ra, an Irish pub where we shared a Black & Tan over fish and chips and corned beer with mashed pototoes. Oh, how I love the corned beef.

The trip was lots of fun and a great getaway. I even bought a cap.

No lobsters were harmed in the filming of this trip:

Baghdad's Bananas

2006-07-09T12:32:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago. For my B-Day weekend, Jenine and I went ice skating at a local community rink. It was cold in there, on a hot day, and every part of me except for my right ankle bone had lots of fun.

Other activities included sandal shopping and chinese buffet. So good.

On Sunday, the one day a year where Jenine has to do exactly what I tell her to do, the two of us sat down to a game of multiplayer Civilization 4. Jenine had played the tutorial before, so she knew the ropes. Playing as the Greeks, she was the proud ruler of glorious Athens, a city of splendor and power: home to Stonehenge, The Pyramids, and The Oracle. As her weaker neighbor, my Egyptian cities found themselves plagued (literally) by an over-abundance of surrounding flood plains. Jenine propped us up long enough for me to assemble a decent army, and then we marched together against the neighbors who had so rudely boxed us into a corner. The foul Persians lost two cities within several turns of our attack, as our war elephants ran right over their pathetic defenses. Then all of a sudden it was 8:00 and we realized we needed to eat something. But to this day, Jenine shakes her fist at the sky and swears an oath to plunder Baghdad and take back the bananas for the motherland.

Game : New Super Mario Bros.

2006-07-07T18:32:00.000-07:00

Ah, what escapist fun the original SMB was. The newest iteration in the series, New Super Mario Bros., is actually a re-tooled version of the original! A simple rehash this is not. NSMB packs to the mustache tons of new features, including big Mario, small Mario, shell mario, giant monsters, and countless contraptions, all the while keeping faithful to the tried-and-true simple formula that made everyone love the original.

Jenine and I had a blast tearing through this game together, taking turns at beating on goombas, turtles and other fantastical beastiary while the other looked on. An excellent game, and a fabulously lazy time in bed. If you have a DS, you really should buy this one.

Book : Snowcrash

2006-06-20T19:35:00.000-07:00

I had the option, and I was lazy on this one. I listened to Snowcrash on CD. At work. Yes, the book deserves more. But to be fair, I did rewind the time slider on iTunes during exciting or especially amusing parts so that I could listen to them again. It did not go in one ear and out the other. Mr. narrator and his fun voices saw to that.

I'm not sure where to categorically place Snowcrash. Thinking about it now, I would describe it as fresh, crisp (read: relevant) sci-fi for a relatively broad audience. You don't have to like science fiction to enjoy this story. It extracts subtle humor from present day corporate politics, suburban America, and today's youth culture, throws in anime-influenced action, and drops it in a future landscape believable enough to be disturbingly close yet fantastical enough to engage your imagination.

I (just now) recall when David first told me about the book, and when he told me that there was an Inuit character with a nuclear bomb in his motercycle's side car. That was how he chose to describe the book to me, which I will not argue with. However, his description conjured up images of my unsuccessful attempt to enjoy reading a Hitchhiker's Guide novel, and so I forgot about it. The tidbit certainly is one of the memorable parts of the book, but Snowcrash does more than make you laugh; the author has used his understanding of contemporary (pop/youth/hacker/international/corporate) culture to almost nonchalantly discuss some very relevant issues.

Movie Review : Kundun

2006-06-20T19:12:00.000-07:00

Gorgeous, original, and great cinematography and my goodness, I could eat the first five minutes with a spoon!

This movie does a grand job of balancing landscape with history with religion with politics. It reached an emotional peak which left me depressed and detached from my immediate surroundings. Further research as a means to an answer to the question of who actually and rightly owns Tibet left me confused as well; I don't know the answer.

It is sad to think that His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso will one day pass and that, without a homeland, a rich, unarguably unique and in some ways fantastically progressive tradition may pass with him. Yet, perhaps the tradition will be adaptable enough to change and survive in the future.

Is Old Tyme Activism Dead?

2006-06-17T16:21:00.000-07:00

Whether you agree with author Tony Long or not, his recent article on activism (or lack thereof) in the United States was a concise, well written compilation of many things I now believe.

If one thinks that the average American is a concerned, informed, and socially conscious citizen, then one probably haven't heard that more of us are voting for American Idol candidates than Presidential ones. Even as a cynic of our bi-partisan system, this news depressed me.

Even more interesting to me than the article itself was the endless stream of reader comments that followed. It seemed like every possible stance was taken by one viewer or another, and this helped me get a rough sampling of what other people think about activism.

Some selected comments from viewers:

===
HAHA--Boy, i wished you stayed in Baseball, perhaps our society would have been better off without your mush brain and worthless--this is Vietnam crap!!
If you tried that crap in any other country except the US (sit ins,another name for pot smoking)you would be at worse dead or in some political prison. I cant help wonder if you realize it was your generation that removed religon from not only all public places, (forget the fact thats what our founding fathers were CHRISTIANS) but schools, and any other place it offends them. BAHH i wonder why i bother with liberal ex hippies trying to re live the glory years.....
===

===
What If They Gave A Protest .... ? Another possible point of view. The title of Tony's piece is a piece of leftover rhetoric from the 60's and to me, it's like the Hollerith code on the one computer card I own that also survived the 60's - quaintly interesting, but no longer functional. There are no computer card readers to interpret the little square holes in my Hollerith code, so no one knows what my card is saying. Without any communication on the receiving end, then, the data on my little rectangular card is meaningless. Given the depressed moaning I'm hearing in this forum that Tony's piece is falling on deaf ears, it would seem that Tony is also handing us data written in Hollerith code on an old outdated computer card that no longer works.
Tony's title is an echo of an antiwar slogan from the 60's - "What If They Gave A War and Nobody Came?" It was the sort of 60's stuff that passed for brilliant, insightful & socially relevant thinking at the time. But was it? It certainly seemed so to those who proffered it. The zeitgeist was that if you're not out agitated and agitating, then you're doing nothing. But what did the agitation really accomplish? What if it's not the people sitting at their IPODS who are self-absorbed? What if they're just doing something called "living their lives?" What if it was the 60's antiwar protesters with their inflamed passions who were self-absorbed? When I was a boy scout learning to build a campfire I learned that there are basically two kinds of firewood in the forest. There's pine, which is filled with rosin and burns quickly. Then there's hardwood, which burns much more slowly. If you build your cooking fire with pine, you won't have time to make your bacon do more than sizzle before the wood burns out. Build your cooking fire with oak or some other hardwood, and it'll burn for hours. That's what the "passion" of the 60's was like - a pine fire. It burned hot, the bacon sizzled a bit, and then it went out. I admire the hot flashes of fire in Tony's piece. But the question is, whatever came of it? Three decades of putting antiwar passion to work, and what do we have to show for it? Half-done bacon, served on very tarnished silver platters, listed on menus written in Hollerith code. No one gets it. Some few say, "Hey, boy, this bacon is delicious! Yummm! Boy it's too bad we don't get bacon like THIS in today's cafe's, yeah man!" And since the ancient Greek philosophers with their olive complexions are now according to properly faddish thinking classified along with Dead White Males, their admonitions are forgotten: "The Unexamined Life Is Not Worth Living." Tony's life sounds like an unexamined life. He gave up baseball? Wonderful! For what? Tony, along with every Tony Long in existence, lacks the courage to examine his life. It's much easier and less painful to fling angry rhetoric. And what does the Hollerith code on my antique 60's computer card say? "F*** off, buddy." What can I say? It seemed terribly clever at the time.
===

===
The hippies of the 60's are the reason the crime, drug are so entrenched in our society. They almost single handed destroy our nation , our traditions, our culture, that tooks the sacrifice of many generations, to allow this liberal miope to say what ever he thinks.
===

===
So what's the fuss about anyway? The "rebel" who did his part and gave up baseball in high school? Big deal. So now he's the Andy Rooney for a semi-hip technogossip sheet. I'm with the conservatives in these arguements but what's the point anyway? The "rebels" were all yap, yap, yap, then and now. You don't kick barking chihuahuas, you step pass them and shoot charging pit bulls. Tony Long and his friends are chihuahuas. The Jihadists are the pit bulls.
===

===
The revolution will not be televised...
As an english expat coming to America with perceptions of many countries and societal differences I was shocked at the prevailance of political and historical ignorance that passes in conversation as the foundation for individual opinion. This boards responses are disappointingly bereft of any social conscience or commitment to anything but individual prosperity, security and self righteousness. If America is failing it is because America no longer functions as a collective under such conditions. Federalism, once founded this great country, but now perhaps represents more of a threat to American ideals than it present a solution. Tony Long, if I causght his gist, is questioning our inability and unwillingness to question authority. This is what forged America in its revolution against English oppression. To state that this sentiment is 'Hippy clap trap' or suchlike only further illustrates his arguement, that the majority of Americans are self absorbed, self obsessed and self interested people who deserve to be treated with the contempt that the American Government has shown towards citizens and foreign nationals on occaisions too numerous to mention. It is the poor who die for freedom, not the wealthy. Where is Americas commitment to freedom charity, goodwill and social conscience? I for one am grateful Mr Long for asking. I am sorry that so many who reponded lack the forbarance and humility to introduce further intelligent debate to these pertainant questions about the social change, accountability and individual freedoms that allow Americans to speak as loudly and as brashly as do. As Mother no doubt said to you all. If you got nothing to say then say nothing at all.
===

===
I'm getting sick and tired of the ex-hippies/flower children/baby boomers talk about how great the 60's were. That they marched in the streets, protested the war, made love, etc. Anytime I hear about some group marching or holding a vigil or whatever, I want to puke. A lot of the crap going on nowadays is because of the baby boomer generation. Your parents suffered through the Great Depression AND World War II and decided to give you the world on a silver platter and you pissed on it. Politcal correctness? A boomer invention that has stifled free speech to the point that no one will say anything of any consequence because of fear that they will be labeled as a hatemonger. We do need a revolution. We need a revolution AGAINIST the boomer generation that has screwed up our government, school boards, etc. It's time that MY generation (labeled as Generation X by you idiots) stood up a set things right. And no, I don't mean conservative. I mean common sense right. How's about folks? What about a little common sense? I think the whole freakin' world could do with a dose of it.

Just a thought.....
===

===
Let's roll. I'm ready and I'm not afraid. Know what freedom is. Get out of debt, sell your shit and feel alive again. Become liquid. Stop being afraid and get ready to lose what little you really have left.
===

===
As often seems the case, the most pertinent, rational and thoughtful response, the one that responds in advance to the many of the cynics and blowhards posting below is found right up front and yet few people seem to have read or responded to it. leadott_man, your suggestions are noted and appreciated. Thank you for offering actionable advice instead of angry opinion

I might add to your suggestions: read Thomas Friedman's "The World is Flat" and then take stock of what you think about America, the world and your place in it.

Truly, I wonder what percentage of people posting here actually read, absorb and learn from all of these posts, and then return to them a week later to see the developments and track the responses to their own comments rather than simply using this as a static tool for deliving personal missives with no actual interest taking the time to observe and evaluate the arguments on different sides with a goal of further enlightenment.
===

As for myself, I am left wondering if the 60's version of the sit-in, march, and rally activism is truly dead, and if so, what will the next incarnation be and when will it be here?

David

2006-06-17T15:45:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we got to spend Sunday afternoon with David, who was in town for the Microsoft Developer's Conference. When he wasn't enjoying Microsoft branded water, food, beer and (presumably) air, he was touring the city with all his restless, urban curiosity.

We met downtown, walked around for a bit, and ended up at a pub called Beantown, right across from one of the more famous cemeteries, where we ate our french fries and caught up. After lunch we hung out at Boston Common, where we had the pleasure of watching street preachers tout fire and brimstone, a (again, presumably) homeless man enjoy a PBJ sandwhich, and untold numbers of pigeons go about their lazy routine. It was fun, although strange to meet someone in a new place, and of course it went way too fast. Thanks for visiting, David.

Movie Review Haiku : Sundance Triple-Header

2006-05-28T11:37:00.000-07:00

Clockwatchers

Parker drags Posey
across a morose palette;
My life seems brilliant.

Cherish

Poor Brynn skates, plays and
makes prison a fashion show;
The midget is down.

Tumbleweeds

Dumb mom and smart girl
tour America and
stress me out.

Movie Review Haiku : Brazil

2006-05-28T11:11:00.000-07:00

Brazil

Bleak future-past plays
Fast and raw senses indulge
A high camera.

:-O

2006-05-21T15:38:00.000-07:00

It's hailing right now.

Ecological Footprint

2006-05-12T17:16:00.000-07:00

Earth Day has come and gone, but here's a little quiz which, if you have a heart beating in your chest, should make that heart feel a li'l bit heavier...

http://www.myfootprint.org/

In other news, if I see one more SUV with a "Support Our Troops" ribbon, I swear I will personally sacrifice my ass-wagon in an attempt to run them off the road and end their poor, blissfully ignorant existence.

The Thin Red Line

2006-05-07T11:48:00.000-07:00

Follow the red brick line through Boston and you will reach the sugarcane palace where the wise wizard awaits paitently.

That's (more or less) what Jenine and I did yesterday. We toured downtown Boston by following the "Freedom Trail", a remarkably erratic red line that twists and turns its way through the hot-spots of downtown. From some old church to an old goverment building to another old church, the fun never stops.

Seriously though we had lots of fun, mostly because we were able to explore without actually getting lost as is our usual habit. If we took a wrong turn because some sweet delicacy was being vended most aromatically just around the corner, we could always run back to the safety of the red line and familiar territory.

We enjoyed italian ice that made our hands sticky, suckled sweet roasted peanuts, and finally stopped to watch street performers peddle their empty change bucket at the crowd.

That evening we saw Greece: Secrets of the Past at the Museum of Science's Omni theatre, where Leonard Nimoy sang, in 10-D sound, "Who put the ram in the ram-a-lam-a-ding-dong?" Following the relatively uninformative but visually beautiful film, we walked around Little Italy and past approximately two hundred fancy-pants Italian restaurants until we found Spagnuola's, a hole-in-the-wall Italian eatery which served the occassion well. After that it was time for wine and episodes of an old British comedy called Bottom, which is about two single guys utterly desperate to catch women, er, I mean birds.

Bottom

Some birds

Springtime at the Arb

2006-05-07T11:20:00.000-07:00

Spring has been sprunged! Jenine and I are having a great time watching the landscape change and grow, and I believe it is especially nice for j9 since she is just beginning her new life and the season is a nice visual reinforcement of that.

Here are some of the pictures we took a week or so back.

Ye Battle of Lexington

2006-04-17T09:44:00.000-07:00

It's Patriot's Day! What, you didn't know?!? Well, in fabulous New England it is. Today, on Patriot's Day, we celebrate the first colonial resistance against the foul British swine and their fancy pants and haughty hats.

I'm too lazy to tell you the story, so go read it here.

This morning, Jenine and I had the pleasure of waking up at 4am to drive up to Lexington to see the annual re-enactment of this important event. The battle, though important, was far from legendary in scope or brutality. Only eight minutemen were killed, which explains how the town of Lexington can afford the cost in lost human lives necessary to play out the scene accurately every year.

Jenine is now telling me that they don't actually fire real musketballs -- damn their trickery! I want my money back -- oh, wait...

Anyway, we slogged up to Lexington in those wee hours and then waited around for an hour, as the field of battle slowly lightened, only to have the eerie drum sounds of advancing Redcoats rudely interrupted by a news helicopter flying circles over our heads. (I'm pretty sure the helicopter wasn't part of the recreation, but maybe back then they had a news donkey, or something of that nature, circling the field instead.) Also getting directly in the way was a woman who was probably a good 4 inches taller than me.

The costumes were neat, as were the firing of muskets and the subsequently shrouded field. Pictures!

Our colonial rabble line up in shabby defiance.

A lesser known fact is the common use of the lightsaber during the revolutionary war.

Pretty good for 5am.

The giantess dwarfs us both (Note poor Jenine at far bottom).

How many furry forest creatures had to die to make these captains look pretty?

The better dressed (and fed) imperial troops prepare for the slaughter.

"Oh, it's already been broughted!"

The victorious British troops relax and wait for pancakes.

It's a hard life. Yarr.

The victors gloating over their spoils, which included a tree and a red pickup truck.

Way too nice to kill colonists.

Down with imperialism!

Together Again...

2006-04-15T12:10:00.000-07:00

...FOREVER! (mwa hahaha)

Seriously though it's great having the old lady back in town. On Wednesday we perused downtown Norwood (oh yeah baby); I got Jenine hooked on blueberry beer, and then we had a nice dinner at a Thai restaurant which left us both forking the last juices in our bowls to our mouths in flavor desperation.

Today we drove a guy from work to the airport in Providence, and though we were planning on seeing RISD and a submarine museum, my best friend in the whole world decided to hitch a ride as well, so we had to postpone the fun.

A this moment, two girls are napping on my couch in a sunbeam, and things are looking alright.

Spring

2006-04-09T10:19:00.002-07:00

It is finally here. My first spring in seven years! Although the temperature is still in the brisk fourties and fifties, the tender buds and subtle shoots are quietly announcing that a new season is upon us. If I only had my camera. The good news for my better half, however, is that the temperature is supposed to jump about 15 degrees between now and Wednesday, into the low 60s. Talk about impeccable timing.

My last weekend of bachelorhood, and I can't wait to get it over with and be back with my beautiful wife. I've got a ridiculously long list of things for us to do together back logged in my brain, so hopefully a fraction of those things will actually happen. First up on the list for this Thursday: Skydiving.

Ha. Not really.

In other Springtacular news, the E3 crunch is over and I am back to normal hours, which of course is nice timing. Plus, now an 8 hour day seems delightfully short. At work I have been tasked with redoing trees and shrubbery, and I am excited because they sincerely did need an overhall and if all goes well, it should be a huge facelift for the game.

I bought The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion on Friday. Haven't cracked the box yet, but it is getting phenomenal reviews and people at work are raving about it. I hope my computer runs it rather well.

Bye bye.

Time

2006-04-03T15:38:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness.

This coming Wednesday, at two minutes and three seconds after 1:00 a.m. & p.m. the time and date will be 01:02:03 04/05/06.

An orgy of celebration and debauchery is sure to follow. I'm pretty sure that Wednesday should be a millennial holiday for the entire planet. It would be if I was in charge. (Vote Haard/Patches '08)

Many Thanks

2006-03-28T17:20:00.000-08:00

What an exhausting weekend. Rewarding, but exhausting nonetheless. I need a vacation.

I want to say thanks to everyone who took time out of their busy schedules to hang out with me, and of course to everyone who came to support Jenine on Sunday. What an amazing show - I'm so, so, so proud of her!

I wish I could say the same for "The Power of the Penis". Unfortunately, empty angst and 20 boxes of Trojans does not an art show make.

Thanks to Jon for spending 5 hours cleaning out his garage so that we could play 3 measley hours (i'm crying inside - i need MORE!) of a short-but-oh-so-sweet game of poker with the coolest kids on the block. Thanks to Matt for actually coming.

Thanks to Grace and Jon for hosting the fun firepit-in-the-rain party on Saturday night. I had fun eating Jesse-grilled sausage, talking about pot and how much Canadians rule with Joanna, seeing Liz with TBD, and of course, passive-agressively drinking massive amounts of vodka out of innocent looking water bottles with Wes and Matt.

Thanks for Grace and Jon again, this time for helping Jenine and myself set up the infamous thesis show, and to Jon one last time for the death-defying acrobatics that erected a curtain and saved the show from disaster. If I had been up there my gangly, flailing limbs probably would have fallen to a grisly death between the wall boards, only to have my bones found years later by punk freshmen looking for a dark place to make out.

Now I am back, glad to be with the cat again, glad to be back at work, and anxiously awaiting the Muther Fucking Artist's arrival.

Level Up!

2006-03-10T22:46:00.000-08:00

I just got promoted to Staff Artist! I had reasons to believe that it was going to take muuuuch longer, but on Wednesday I was completely surprised with this good fortune. So tonight is a night of craziness and celebration. Patch and I have been rocking out hard and are halfway through our bottle of Boone's Farm Melon Ball. Oh, yes.

We are technically in crunch right now, but work has been going very well. I think I may be getting the hang of this veeeedeo game thing. And now that I am a staff artist my plans for world domination are one step closer to fruition. Which reminds me...

You can't get quality fruit out here. I try to juice, but it is not the same without Henry's. Even Albertsons had better produce that the junk out here. Enjoy it, people... while you can.

Hey, i'm looking forward to seeing you boys and girls in a few weeks. It will be a crazy busy weekend that will fly by, but I can't wait.

Hardwood floors + cat = hilarity

Dude I was talking to at work said that his cat sprained it's leg slipping on a hardwood floor and had to go to the hospital. Patch has yet to beef it that bad, and until then, we'll enjoy her crazy misadventures.

You know how there are a million and one "hospital" drama shows on the tee-vee these days? Where all the doctors date each other and the camera makes the most mundane quadrupal amputation seem positively gripping? Well I think that they should make a pet hospital show with all the bells and whistles. It could be called "Vet Center: Trauma Unit."

Episode One: A Paw of Passion

Nurse: "Doctor, we've got an alley fight victim with multiple scratch-wounds and a fractured whisker!"
{Dramatic camera work shows them wheeling the patient inside to the doctor}
Doctor: "Oh.... my.... gawd."
{Doctor looks away, stifles a gag}
Nurse: "Doctor, what are we going to do?"
Doctor: "Well, if you hadn't slept with Danny the intern, things might be different.. But now... everything's changed.."
Nurse: "Dammit, James, I meant about the cat!"
Doctor: "Of course. Give me 50 CCs of tuna, stat."
{Camera goes crazy while nurse gives anguished look showing the depth of their relationship and showing that there is more going on here than just a casual operation. Doctor wipes sweat from his brow}
Doctor: "Now, support the tail and apply a paw massage to increase circulation."
Nurse: "Doctor, we're losing him!"
Doctor: "No, dammit. I won't let this happen!"
{Dramatic music rolls and we see the patient's breathing slow.. All of a sudden the music becomes sad leading us, the hypnotized audience, to the obvious conclusion that the patient must be dead.}
Doctor: "No, I won't let this happen again! Dammit all!"
{Doctor kicks a bag of kibble over in anger. Nurse gives him a pained look}
Nurse: "Oh, James... I'm sorry. You did everything you could."
Doctor: "No, you're right Melena. I didn't do everything I could. Maybe we can give it a second chance."
{A lone tear rolls down nurse's cheek. Music rises to crecendo as Doctor kisses nurse passionatly.We see Danny the intern roll the now unmoving and therefore unimportant patient off-screen. Nurse and Doctor hold hands and walk towards the door as the camera fades slowly back}
Doctor: "He would have wanted us to adopt kittens..."
Nurse: "Oh, James. You're a humanitarian."
{Fade to credits}

Next week! Episode Two: The Fur and the Feather

Game : Dungeons & Dragons Online

2006-02-26T11:12:00.000-08:00

Friday saw the launch of a certain company's first new title in 4.5 years! I sure hope all those kiddies out there are buying this one up, stealing their parents' credit card or whatever it takes to pay that monthly fee. Homework sucks, anyway.

Amazingly enough, the game is actually fun! Yesterday my friend Jeremy and I launched an adventure together. Our characters, who I assure you were created quite independently, bear a strikingly similar resemblance to one another. Our main problem is that both our character classes (Bard and Sorcerer) require high Charisma scores, so we're both [numerically] scorching hot, but relatively worthless in a scuffle.

Don't mess with neutral-good sorcereresses.

Storm clouds brewing in Stormreach

Nose stud

Double-trouble

Lola & Ashira = BFF

Pale Thunder Rolls On

2006-02-12T10:37:00.000-08:00

Pale Thunder is no longer mine to ride. Last night I passed the reigns to another, may he brush her rusty coat and tend her soggy insides well and often. Alas, my days of panicking women and children into a desperate dash for the sidewalk are over. Days when the world reckoned with my coming. Now, I have a huge plastic ass to wrestle into the driveway, an engine that sounds like an old man's dying whisper, and a window sticker that says "Support Our Sheriffs." Jenine just needs to pop out a handful of kids and then we can move to New Jersey and end it.

Work is going well, and although i'd have to shoot you if I told you what I did all day, I can tell you that I spent hours last week modeling and texturing an old lady's sunken chest. Yowza!

Yesterday I went for a nice 2-hour power walk to the Arboretum and on to Wing's Kitchen for some tasty teriyaki chicken. ("Wing, you magnificant bastard, you've done it again!") I made it to some as of then unexplored Arboretum territory, where I danced between conifers and birch in the brisk 25 degree afternoon air. Today the storm hit (a blizzard in some areas) and I am enjoying the view of the swirling snow from my perch among the rooftops.

Movie : Max

2006-02-12T10:19:00.000-08:00

Max is an indie flick about a 1920's art dealer (John Cusack) and his somewhat twisted relationship with a young Adolf Hitler. Though it is a fictional story, it is nevertheless enlightening to see how the rejected young Hitler ends up on the political path. The tension between the two futures facing Hitler (art and politics) reaches its breaking point when he realizes that "art + politics = power", a remedial math equation that actually does a great job summing up the birth of propoganda.

While not an excellent film, I personally thought the film was very worthwhile as a means to humanize the man behind the Holocaust. It is worth seeing just for the sense of pity is invokes.

Cigar Masters

2006-02-12T10:00:00.000-08:00

This last week I went with some work buddies to Cigar Masters, a place for "Premium Tobacconist and Relaxation Enthusiasts." I smoked a Fuente while allowing the sofa to "engulf my body and unwind my soul." Not an exagerration -- the chairs were quite comfortable. The place was a bit small, however, and we were really very lucky to get seats at all. Some people were standing for hours, waiting for spots to open up. On the down side, their humidor was, for a place called Cigar Masters, rather small. On top of that, their beverage selection was extremely limited. Forget having bourbon, brandy, or benedictine with that cigar -- only beer, sherry, and wine is available. Now, if you'll excuse me, my soul is an unraveled mess and I have some serious winding to do.

Game : Silent Hill 3

2006-02-12T09:38:00.000-08:00

Scary, scary. The whole ten hours I spent playing SH3, I just wanted it to end. The game is stressful, and when I can't find the fucking rope which I need to climb down the elevator shaft, I want to toss myself down the shaft, sans-rope, and walk away from it forever. In other words, it does a great job of making you feel the protagonist's sanity slip away.

Graphically, the game is really slick. The sets are gorgeous. Konami did a great job of reusing the playing areas to differeing effects, just by switching the textures around. The only slightly creepy mental hospital you just explored suddenly becomes a portal to hell where everything is either dripping blood, on fire, or both. The characters look great, and the monsters are well devised. The story, however, is smoking some wacky-tobaccy, and becomes a convoluted mess by the end. But this game was like homework, and I'm just glad its over. I'll miss you, Heather!

luv the katana..

Book : Ilium

2006-02-12T09:20:00.000-08:00

Ilium is a science fiction novel by Dan Simmons. The main protagonist, Thomas Hockenberry, PhD., of twentieth century Indiana University, has been recreated from his ancient DNA by a race of post-humans turned Greek-gods to act as scholic witness to the gods' painstaking recreation of Homer's Iliad.

It is a unique blend of sci-fi and classic literature. It introduced me to Proust and even helped me to appreciate Shakespeare a bit more. He also milks the opportunity and manages to squeeze in more than several Helen of Troy lovemaking scenes. What the book does remarkably well, however, is bring the Iliad to life in a way which Homer's text never can. The author has taken ancient history and turned it into an engrossing story.

Book : The Worthing Saga

2006-01-30T16:27:00.000-08:00

The Worthing Saga took me by surprise. I had read Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game (highly recommended), but knew that WS was a very early work of his. Much of it smacked unabashedly of Asimov's Foundation -- though not a bad influence to have. There was also an obvious Mormon influence in the book.

WS is about freedom and, suprisingly, it gave me much pause to reflect on the war, which is so easily justified as the spreading of "freedom." The moral of the story (if one were to call it that) also had weighty spiritual and/or religious implications.

The general issue could be summed up as eastern versus western thought; specifically, Taoism versus Platonic idealism. While I am in fact married to a Greek, after reading this book I felt inclined to lean towards the Chinese concept of the ying and the yang -- the belief that there is no joy without pain.

After all, if you never had to go work, there would be no such thing as a weekend -- and that, dear reader, would be the biggest travesty of all.

Harvard Natural History Museum

2006-01-15T10:34:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Jenine and I trekked north to Cambridge, Mass., to visit Harvard Square and the Harvard Natural History Museum. Amazingly enough, we actually found our way there, and unscathed in my new (not really new) 1998 Saturn station wagon that drives all the honeys wild with desire.

The museum was an amazing place. For $7.50 a pop you can wander between endless display cases, housing hundreds if not thousands of stuffed specimens, from hummingbirds to dinosaurs to the most fearful of all, the dreaded Mongolian tiger! Needless to say we have a lot more respect for Patches now, lest she ever summon one of her big cousins to come rake our faces off.

But wait, there's more. Besides endless stuffed marvels, you can walk through the 'Hall of Bones' (not really called that), and see where horsies came from, as well as a giant sloth that could also rip your face off, though only in slow motion. Finally, there is an amazing collection of glass plants and flowers, created by a father and son who had perfected an art of glass crafting now lost to our barbaric age. The collection, while impressive in execution and attention to detail -- you can't even tell they're made of glass(!) -- was sensory overload for us at the end of a long day, and we had to flee the exhibit before our brains splattered all over the display cases which were, less remarkably, also made of glass.

After paying our $20 for parking (let no one call me cheap again!) we headed home and drank our 68 ounce growler of beer, putting Jenine to sleep and making me tired and surly. Patches, however, still seemed oblivious to the powerful allies she had at her call, so for another night we were spared and lived to see the morning.

Wedding = Family Overload

2006-01-15T10:17:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, Jenine and I drove down to the south side of Massachusetts (twice, actually) to see my cousin Peggy get married, and of course for the accompanying festivities as well.

On Saturday we sat around in the hotel lobby enjoying various continental breakfast remnants, and then proceeded to the late-afternoon ceremony. The wedding was, if I am right, Episcopalian in nature. My cousin Jamie, who is currently in seminary, gave a nice Homily. It was nice to be at a wedding but not in it for a change, because though I have certainly enjoyed the honor of participating in my friends' weddings, not having to worry about my performance was a pleasure.

The reception featured a fabulous array of food including, of course, great champagne and wine. My sister drove back with us that night to see our apartment and chat, and the next morning we all headed out for a delicious breakfast and more socializing. Finally, after a few more inevitable conversations on spirituality and the like, we headed home, glad to see all the family but mentally exhausted from all the social activity.

My parents stayed with us on Monday evening, and we all stuffed our faces with seafood at Legal Sea Foods for dinner, the key lime pie somehow sliding down my gullet into the last available nook, right between the lobster and the scallops.

Sleepy Hollow

2006-01-15T09:36:00.000-08:00

Two weeks ago, on New Year's Eve, Jenine and I drove down to New York state to visit friends. Halfway there a snowstorm made the drive extra adventurous but, with windows retracted for defogging and tempers high, we eventually slipped and slid to our destination.

Saturday night was for chatting, catching up, reading Calvin & Hobbes, and watching Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Eve Special move one more step towards the pale and the eventual Ryan Seacrest's Rockin' New Year's Eve Special overhaul.

What could be more fun than watching Hillary Duff magically change between 'glam' and 'sassy' outfits during commercial breaks? You guessed it! Graveyards!

On Sunday we drove to Sleepy Hollow, where apparantly, by law, every business must prefix its name with the town's infamous monicker or be shut down. We spent most of our time amidst tombstones, sarcophogi, and mausoleum. The earlier snowstorm meant that we were treated to a serene and quiet scene, the leafless trees and soft blankets of snow all echoing the peace of the grave.

Up to no good.

Not even the dead can escape the prying lens of my Olympus!

Is nothing sacred?!

Finally, before driving home on Sunday, we had a tasty lunch at a little Greek restaurant,where I got scowled at for knocking over a bottle of ketchup. Overall it was a lovely visit and a good time for catching up.

A Very Furry Christmas

2005-12-26T09:37:00.000-08:00

Jenine and I had a wonderful Xmus eve, complete with seasonal lighting, shinily (should be a word) wrapped presents, and two (that's correct, two) furry companions.

That's right, we're rabbit-sitting! For the next few weeks, we've been entrusted with an adorable, oh-so-cute lion head rabbit. Think 'wild 80's rocker hair' and you'll get the picture.

Speaking of pictures...

Ice Sledding

2005-12-25T09:20:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, Jenine and I bought some sleds, donned our hats and mittens, and went sledding. On ice.

We hiked over to the Arboretum and climbed the hill which looks out on downtown Boston. The previous weekend it had been busy with kids sledding merrily, but this weekend it was dead quiet, and for good reason. Ice sledding is quite different than the normal variant, which occurs on newly fallen snow. Having enough speed is never a problem when ice sledding. Instead, the emphasis is on stopping and not breaking anything.

So after one foolish start at the top of the hill, which ended in me bailing out at high speeds about halfway down the slope, we opted for a slightly less perilous height which would allow us to come to some sort of stop before we ate pavement.

All injuries told, my first run bruised my tailbone, and my last one send shockwaves up my spine as I used my boots and locked knees to brake myself. Jenine saved her spine by preferring the roll-out method, but subsequently picked up several bruises on her legs. But in the end nothing was broken and a good time was had by all.

Later that day we also saw Narnia (which was good but not as fun as sledding) and went to Legal Sea Foods, where I had the best Fish and Chips I've yet to taste. The bread and butter was fabulous as well. Even the water at Legal Sea Foods tasted delicious, although that may have to do with the fact that our own tap water fills our glasses as a murky soup.

Boston Duck Tours

2005-12-04T08:31:00.000-08:00

I just realized that I never reported on our (Jenine was in town for Thanksgiving) adventure in Boston. We took the T into the city and got off at the Museum of Science. We didn't have time to actually go to the museum, although we were inside for a bit amidst the throng of holiday family traffic. What we did do was go on a duck tour! You ride through the city in an old WW2 ambphibious vehicle, which actually drives out into Boston harbor. Jenine and I sat in the back, in the open air, and had the pleasure of watching a light snowfall. Afterwards we hopped back on the rail and went to Haymarket, which actually had no hay but lots of pubs.

Today it snowed hard for the first time. I just went for a nice walk to the arboretum and then downtown, which was exciting. Having to drive through the slush tomorrow on my way to work will be slightly less exciting.

Holiday Party

2005-12-03T21:02:00.000-08:00

Go-carts! I got to race in one of those cool, fast little go-carts where you get all suited up and have to obey tons of rules and stuff. The helmet that you wear tends to fog up on the visor, which wouldn't have been so bad except that my glasses also fogged up, and much worse, so I had a hard time with tighter turns. After the race I took my glasses off and there were pools of condensation on the lenses. I kept getting the "warning" flag (I really don't know what for) with a stripe on it and once they told me to go to the "sin bin" (penalty box) but the thought of stopping went against every grain of my being at the time. I got 1st in my race (8 drivers) and 4th place overall (about 9 races with 8 drivers each)!

The party was pretty cool though, all things considered. Free go-cart racing, good food, texas-hold 'em (which handed my ass to me on a platter) and Mr. Gin and his faithful sidekick, Tonic boy.

After that they gave away about a bajillion prizes and that was it. Twas fun, and I didn't even get lost trying to find the place.

CIV Knows All

2005-11-22T17:10:00.000-08:00

Also noted in that Wired article.. I swear I will move to Canada if this shit keeps happening. (Keep in mind this is an opinion article.)

On the other hand, maybe Bush and company have been playing some CIV. Check out these civic stats:

Police State
Upkeep: High (yup)
Requires: Fascism (check)
+25% military unit production; -50% war weariness (BINGO)

Kill Germans, Not Cops

2005-11-22T17:02:00.000-08:00

Quick read about violence in video games.

Ice Crystals on Your Windshield: Beautiful But Deadly

2005-11-19T09:38:00.000-08:00

My latest, craziest night to date out here was a night of soup, guitar hero, and the new harry potter movie at a theatre that was not near me. I also found out that I can't shoot pool worth shit unless I have at least one beer.

On the drive home at 2am there my windshield was covered in this amazing lattice of ice crystals. My eyes kept flickering from the background, the road (which was boring), to the foreground, the ice crystals (which were enchanting). Everytime I drove under a street light the cystals were set ablaze with light, mezmerizing me further and blocking those pesky road obstacles from my vision.

The movie was okay. The kids are all grown up now and are not nearly as cute. The orange haired kid (Weasle, or whatever his name is) was pouty and annoying. The effects were neat but nothing new. This (Goblet of Fire) was the last book in the series which I touched, and I got bored after reading about 50 pages. The film felt kind of the same. As new characters or plot twists were dragged onto the screen, I kept imagining the author, J.K. Rowling, tapping away at her laptop, smiling at her own fabulous wit. This sort of broke the spell, so to speak. It was still a well made movie, though, and definitely more aptly crafted for the screen.

Fourteen and feisty

Honest Game Titles

2005-11-15T18:15:00.000-08:00

Quite funny, if you've played any of them.

Apartment Hunting

2005-11-13T17:23:00.000-08:00

Is not fun. Although I have to say that as angry as I get when i'm lost, it was impossible to stay mad while getting lost in so many beautiful neighborhoods.

I realize that this is all out of order, but here are a few shots of Jenine and I getting lost, er, I mean, exploring Boston.

Sweet laptop, eh?

Patches attempts to flee the corporate housing

Arnold Arboretum

2005-11-13T17:09:00.000-08:00

Here is a gallery of shots taken at the deliciously nearby arboretum.

I should add that denizens of SmelLA should forget everything they know about parks (a plot of crab grass with a bench is not a park) - this place is HUGE!

Therapy

Mailing address

2005-11-13T14:37:00.000-08:00

Danny Boy
33 Farquhar Street #3
Roslindale, MA 02131

I expect a deluge of gifts to follow.

Guitar Hero

2005-11-13T14:31:00.000-08:00

If you have a PS2 this is pretty sick. Everyone at work is giddy about it, but apparantly Wes doesn't like big colorful plastic buttons on his instrument.

CIV

2005-11-13T14:30:00.000-08:00

Whoever you are, you ought to buy this game.

Internet!

2005-11-13T13:44:00.000-08:00

Sweet, sweet internet access. Now I can finally work from home! Oh, wait...

Anyway here are the apartment pictures that I promised people. I'll take some more shots once the place is up to par.

Cute and tired.

Flurries

2005-10-29T14:48:00.000-07:00

It is the saturday after my first week of work in Boston, and I finally now have gotten a chance to create the new blog. No pictures yet; I'll have to add those from home.

I really have no idea where to begin, since so much has happened since I left smelLA. This week of work was mostly spent getting up to speed on things, but since Thursday I have felt very comfortable with it. The co-workers (several of which are here at the office now for some crazy reason) are really cool. Working at a large company (200+ humans) is not as different as I imagined it, probably because my interaction is limited to a under a dozen people.

What else.. There is a coffee machine that does hot chocolate, and I am all over it. There is also a shower here, which is great since the morons at the gas company have yet to provide me with hot water. There is also a pool table, with felt considerably better than Old Slice's hopelessly undulating surface. Finally, right now the entire office is profusely covered by a mish-mash of various halloween decor.

My commute is about 20-30 minutes, and a good half of it is spend under a beautiful canopy of colored leaves. It is almost directly between Westwood (work) and Boston proper, so the apartment is only about 15 minutes from the city. Aside from airport runs, I haven't been downtown yet.

Our new apartment is quite a find; we were fortunate to steal a very unique 3rd story unit in a nice neighborhood. It is 2.5 bedrooms, has endless hardwood floors, and is always cold.

Patches spends most of the time in the furthest depths of my mummy bag, and I can't say I blame her. There's no heat in the apartment yet, there are lots of strange noises coming from outside, and there is a severe shortage of scratchable objects.

All for now.