A handy guide from The Bus Project detailing the ballot measures and the local media spin on them. Click on it to download a PDF. I only wish there was something like this for the lesser publicized seat fillers. Especially all those who are running unopposed. I am usually inclined to write in a name for those.
Just picked up copies of Little Big Planet and Lego Batman for the PS3. Any free time I may have had will now be squandered. Will still try to make it out for Last Thursday since the weather is supposed to be nice and my ankle is doing somewhat better.
As Halloween approaches, let us all remember that putting clothes on an animal for any reason other than protection is 100% immoral and flat out wrong. I would go so far as to say that putting costumes on an animal is a small step away from sexualizing them.
Besides, your faithful companions are humiliated by this. Exhibit A:
What if Sparky gets loose and hit by a car? Is this really how you want him going out? Dressed like a Spongebob bitch?
Exhibit B:
Cmon now! Goofy has spent his entire career carefully walking the line between canine and human. What does this say?! Does this clear up the issue? Does it out Goofy?
Finally, Exhibit C:
If I catch you dressing your dog like this, I will call the Humane Society and I will have CSI inspect your crotch for evidence of dog hair.
(inspired by this)
Terry Tate; Office Linebacker was a Rebok spokesman a few years back. Now he’s gotten political! Check out his site for new and old videos!
As the weather turns brisk, I figured it was time to start experimenting in the vodka lab again. Besides a couple of tried and true cinnamon vodkas, I am going to try some “unconventional” flavors.
First up, Spiced Cider Vodka. The good folks over at Infusions of Grandeur have already done the hard work on this one. It will definitely be my most involved creation, using 5 different flavors (apple, orange, cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg), all added at set times. I followed their recipes before, so I am sure it will all work out.
The other one…. well, here’s where we might guinea pig a few iterations. Reading this blog entry, inspired me to make Pumpkin Pie Vodka. Not just pumpkin, but pumpkin pie, with all the spices. The ratios given are far from exact, so I think I will start with a whole can, and back down from there on future batches if necessary. If anything this should be easy. Besides, my friends are all drunks, so even the bad batches usually get consumed. (OTOH, the Habañero vodka is slowly eating through the bottle on the top shelf)
Hopefully I can fine tune these and have some good gifts for this season’s holiday parties.
West Coast Kaiju Big Battel throwdown in full effect!
What is Kaiju Big Battel, you ask?
Kaiju Big Battel is a modern conflict of epic proportions. Scattered throughout the galaxy is a monstrous mob of Kaiju - maniacal villains, ominous alien beasts, and gigantic, city-crushing monsters who are fighting for control of the globe, their volatile tempers periodically detonating into bouts of intergalactic sparring and senseless acts of violence.
Basically, its GWAR, if they were Japanese, atomic, and didnt play instruments.
(for more info check out this or for the vanilla wiki version, look here)
Heading down to Los Angeles Thursday November 20th through Saturday the 22nd with some SpiceAliens to check out the carnage at the Mayan Theater.
A few weeks ago I celebrated(?) my 40th birthday. One of the best gifts I got was from my friend April. She went and rounded up 40 different beers. The great thing was that they weren’t local beers. Living in Portland, one gets kind of spoiled with the number of microbrews available at our local watering holes. April managed to round up beers from far flung locales such as Tahiti, India, Singapore, and the near mythical dark empire of Germany.
While a review of each beer would be unwieldy, most of the beers were quite good (or at least not heinous). Two stinkers do have to get called out. The Bard’s Tale sorghum beer was ass. I appreciate that there are people with gluten issues that may like this stuff. But let’s face it, its not beer. In that vein, the non-alcoholic Warsteiner stuck out like a sore thumb.
For those interested, here is the complete list:
The end credits for WKRP In Cincinnati contained a song whose lyrics were shrouded in mystery. Analyzed as much as Hotel California or American Pie, scholars thought the true meaning would be lost to the ages.
Until now.
(minor spoilers may be present - I’ll try to be vague in reference to specific events)
Finished up Neal Stephenson’s latest tome, Anathem, and at 980 pages and nearly 3 pounds, it was a hefty read. My thoughts and appreciation of the book changed rather dramatically over the course of reading it, so perhaps a chronological review is in order.
Pre-Purchase - I was hopeful this was going to be a good book. After loving a number of his novels, he lost me with the Baroque Cycle. While the content was interesting, I felt that the books could have been much shorter. I know others will disagree with me. They are wrong. I knew ahead of time that this was going to be a long book, so I hoped for the magic of Cryptonomicon to return.
First 40 pages - Egads… Is this is in english, latin, or hopelandic? Is it spec-fic, fantasy, or a manual on how to wind a clock in a monastery. Hopes for a good experience plummeting.
Pushing through to 150 pages or so - Ok. I’m getting into it. After the rush of the initial nelogisms, he’s calmed down and is actually telling a story.
Evocation - Aha! We have a plot - and a mystery! At this point, I was rather enjoying the book.
Road To Orithena - Hmm Valers? I get it. I liked them, but this is the first indication of a fairly unique variation on a concent. Nevertheless, travel adventures are usually fun. Considering the terrain was as foreign to the characters as it was for me, much was explained.
Orithena and the Laterran - Again, really interested still. Pacing was good.
Convox - Hmmm… again with the noncohesive mathic community. While I understand it and accept it, it seemed a little forced, perhaps so that the messalans could take place. So much time spent on the plurality issue. Perhaps that was just me though. As someone who already understands configuration space and the Wheeler Everett Graham model, it was overkill. On the other hand, for a layperson, trying to decipher it, while having to deal with “Procian” and “Halikaarnian” flavors of it, it may have been too cryptic. Regardless, still completely invested at this point.
Orbital Ballet - Zzz… wha?! oh, are they still out there? Ok, wake me when they land.
Contact - Can we get a couple dozen of the pages spent on explaining orbital calculations back to actually see more of this interaction. Perhaps all of the built up explanations of plurality can get a payoff here instead of a couple pages of lip service.
Resolution - Wait… the book is over? Whatchoo talkin’ bout, Erasmus?
Seriously, this book felt like it could have been twice as long or a third shorter. It felt like so much time was spent in world building and context, while major plot points were glossed over. Maybe I’ll throw Cryptonomicon back in the queue so I can regain some Stephenson love.
It was the size of a grapefruit. Now its the size of an orange. Unfortunately, no great story to go with this. I didn’t rescue a kitten from a tree. I didn’t kick anyone’s ass. I straight up tripped. Sheesh.
