The Philosopher

A friend of mine has a LOG of his musings on the WEB. It is hosted on BLOGGER but it's not a 'blog. It's just not, okay?!

All Opinions Are Not Equal

Stilt Beetle

King of Razors

It seems like I draw some variation of this little guy every day. My mind draws through the lines and I relax a bit - pencil zen.

This is the best one. I don't really know what all those things are floating around his head, but I draw that kinda stuff all the time too.

Metroid Prime: Retroview

If you wait 5 years to buy a game, you can get it pretty cheap.

Super Metroid was a classic. It took everything we loved about Metroid and brought it to the next level. Prime brings the series at least the same distance again. The first-person perspective takes a bit of getting used to, but before long you're trudging through the swamps of Talon IV like a pro.

Despite the radical departure from the "platform shooter" format, it stil feels like Metroid. The following things define and preserve the series:

• blowing a hole in a weak wall to find a secret missile expansion


• backtracking through areas I'd already explored because "now I have the Morph Ball"


• atmospheric music

…and they're all still here. Nintendo has added to that successful formula with a mysterious and developed story, and exploration in the third dimension. Prime is a worthy addition to the Metroid story - true to its roots, and treading new ground.

Why Sketch Baroque

The original intent when creating this '-blog' was to put up the little doodles I make when I'm thinking or bored. I just got a scanner for my birthday so the dream will finally be realized! BEHOLD!

Uneasy Sleeper

Sleep doesn't always come easy for me. The peace and quiet can actually be a distraction - with no external stimulus, my brain fills in the gaps with (gasp) thoughts. I don't NEED thoughts at 12:30 AM. I've been thinking about seeing a doctor to get some kind of sleep aid. Anything's got to be better than what I do now (allergy medication and tequila).

There have been many after-school specials about the dangers of sleeping pills, including a Punky Brewster episode I remember vividly, for some reason. She kept using the word "hooked" like the audience would never be able to understand anything else.

My biggest problem night is Sunday. It's hard because my wife works second shift, so on days we both work, I don't get to see her until 11:30. I need to get up at 7:30, so I should be in bed right about then. On Sunday night it's even worse, 'cause I've been staying up even later to spend more time with her.

My glass is almost empty now. Let's try another "good night." Good night.

The 5th Sentence on Page 123

This is the part where I copy what Chris did, who copied what somebody named shortcakegreen did.

1. Grab the nearest book.


2. Open the book to page 123.


3. Find the fifth sentence.


4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.


5. Don't search around and look for the coolest book you can find. Do what's actually next to you.

"Civilian activist groups sometimes protest the arming of these robots, as some models have demonstrated a lack of the judgement necessary to use weapons safely and responsibly."
- Dragonstar: Starfarer's Handbook

Terry Scott Taylor

While listening to a Christmas album the other day, eleven of my neurons fired with a nebulous recognition. The artist's voice was uncannily familiar, but where had I heard such tones before? I listened to the song again, and came to a tenuous conclusion. Could it be? A google search later, I discovered I was right!

The man who sings Holy Emmanuel on City on a Hill: It's Christmas Time is the same font of mirth who lent his voice to the Playstation game, Skullmonkeys.

Nero is a Piece of Crap

This is so bloody frustrating. I'm supposed to make a DVD of our wedding video in time for Christmas and the computer gremlins are doing all in their power to stop me. The program that came with the DVD burner is one of those "dumbed down" applications. You know the kind I mean: big friendly buttons, no menu bar (those are too advanced for you), and you can only work on one project at a time.

Oh, so you want to save it to come back and work on it later? Okay. We'll just save it for you, and then never let you open it again. How's that?

City of Heroes Screen Shots

On a totally unrelated note, here are some pictures of my City of Heroes characters.

• Grey Dog on the wrong side of the tracks. Note that his "cape" is actually just a bath towel.


• Grey Dog's alternate costume.


• Magmaroth is wreathed in flames.


• Magmaroth wields his firey sword.

Christmas Tree

We have our first Christmas tree as a family. At first, it wouldn't fit in the stand we got for it, so we ran out and bought a saw. Then it fit, but it was crooked, so we stuffed a couple towels under one side of the stand. After setting it up, we discovered that I'm allergic to pine. As long as I don't touch it, bad things don't happen.

Initially, we were worried the dog would eat the thing, or make a mess on it or something. So far the worst he did was try to drink the water out of the stand.

We're Married Now

That was the best week and a half of my life. The wedding was perfect, the reception was a blast, our honeymoon was so much fun!

The most nerve-wracking part was actually the rehearsal on Friday night. It just made it all a present reality instead of, "Oh, we're getting married in November. That's months away!"

Wedding Bands

We picked up our wedding bands yesterday. Mine is surprisingly heavy. It may be that, of all the transitions I will make when I am given "husband" status, the wearing a jewelry will take the most getting used to.

Also, we bought a camcorder. The bride-to-be wants to make a wedding/reception/Hawaii video. It should be noted that we do not have the correct cord to connect this thing to the computer, nor do we have a DVD burner. "Family Christmas Gift" here we come.

November Fifth Nears

I have never been more terrified in my entire life. A major milestone of life is coming up VERY soon and then it will pass. A chunk of my life will be over. Granted, a new one is beginning, and that's very exciting, but as change often is, it is freaking scary.

Good Movie, Bad Movie

Serenity is all it promises to be. It takes a series cut down before its time and makes it awesome again. Loose ends are tied, and those that aren't are simply cut off, so to speak. Joss reveals things fans of the series always wanted to know, and makes it a big deal.
This movie is good; intrinsically better than the Star Wars prequals (those have enough going for them that they don't need to be as good, unfortunately). It's better if you've seen the TV show. Knowing the characters intimately makes their changes and growth mean much more.

See this movie, or even better, watch the entire (14 episode) series, then see the movie.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy stinks. If you ever read the oft-quoted Slashdot review, its pretty much dead-on. Attempting to walk into this film with an open mind was difficult, having heard the things I have, but I did my best.
Rarely do I leave a movie unfinished, but I can add this one to that short list. The characters (and the story) meander about the galaxy with no purpose in mind. (They actually have a goal, or so they say, but it must not be terribly important or they would have tried to attain it.) Clever bits were altered to be less clever, and other things were intentionally changed so they made no sense.

Don't see this movie.

City of Villains Beta

The City of Villains beta non-disclosure agreement was lifted today. I am now allowed to tell cool things I've seen while testing the game.

Brute: Definitely my kinda guy. You smash things, and the faster you smash, and the more guys attacking you, the more damage you do (up to triple normal!)
Mastermind: You get henchman who do your bidding, including soldiers, zombies, robots, or ninjas. You get to name them and you can make 'em say stuff. I look forward to setting up complex macros of them arguing with each other, etc.

I've been doing this for two weeks and those are the only archtypes I've played. I've been trying to get up to the point where I can create my own Supergroup and build a base. Mission accomplished this evening. However, base editing is non-functional right now, so I can't play with it. Puh.

So, uh, yeah. I'm pretty sure I didn't mention anything that people didn't know before.

AirZooka update! My coworker did indeed make a working fanzooka out of a plastic disposable cup and a latex glove. Not as mighty as the trashcan-sized version, but cool nonetheless.

Airzooka

The art department where I work is a war zone. The two guys on either side of me are equipped with nurf suction-dart guns that they have modified to a frightening degree (extra rubberbands all over them, etc).

Out of place without a weapon, I purchased the AirZooka. Of course, the first thing they wanted to do when I brought it in was supe it up. We tried a number of modifications, but none increased the weapon's potency. One guy vowed to build his own from scratch this evening. I'll post updates on how that turns out.

The Beginning of the End

I write this thing for me, so I shouldn't feel guilty about not updating. I promised myself that I would never post about not having anything to post about. I also tried my very darndest to never start my opening sentances with the word "I."

That's three broken promises. That hurts, Dave.

Wookie, Firefly, Squid

We're baby-sitting a dog for a few days. He's obese, breathes laboriously all the time, stares obsessively at the guinea pig cage, and smells bad. Good ol' Wookie.

Firefly is a pretty good show. Jeff lent me the series on DVD. My favorite character is the real gruff mercenary guy. He's a total ass, but the ship just wouldn't be the same without him.

Somebody has finally done it! A giant squid has been successfully photographed in the wild. That should put a stop to the documentaries where they go looking and never find one.

Awesome Things

The following things are totally awesome.

Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children
and
Duck Doom Deluxe

I had the extreme pleasure to experience both this weekend. Advent Childen is all it promises to be and much more. I never really thought about it before, but every character in that game is a superhero in the truest sense of the word. They can all fly like in wire-fu films, except hundreds of feet more, and they fight and holy crap they're fighting on top of multiple really fast motorcycles and a giant monster is blowing crap up and Cloud is flying and there's awesome music and Vincent is being great and everybody's throwing things and people use limit breaks and explosions and things that are awesome and Final Fantasy and holy crap!

Dave takes this moment to change his pants and wipe the drool from his desk and keyboard. He then proceeds to relate an amusing comment from his watching of the film. "I baptize you in the name of Aeris, the Lifestream, and the Holy Materia." There was really no other way to interpret that scene, blasphemous as it was.

The Doom thing is really fun too. My high score was 450,100. My favorite part is when you kill the duck with the rocket launcher or the BFG 9000 the dog doesn't hold up its corpse. Hilariousnessicity. You'd think they would have let you shoot the stupid dog, but no. Not even when the dog turns into a monster.