been thinking about trying it.
Goe, thinks a lot.
12 October 2005
10 October 2005
Ebert & the skinny one
was flipping channels last night and caught their show. the skinny one didn't like the wererabbit. during the review of clooney's new film, the skinny one claimed that it was really about fox news bullying critics of the bush administration into silence. obviously if this is true they weren't doing a very good job because he was talking. and he forgot that MoveOn.org was created to bully critics of the Clinton administration into silence. they are neither silent nor were able to force anyone else into silence. the film in question is about edward r. murrow contribution to stopping the mccarthy hearings, leaving government employees free to support foreign genocidal dictatorships (mccarthy never investigated people who weren't government employees, and was pretty good at finding the communists thanks to actually having had a list of who they were. because clooney believes that if someone wants to kill you and your family and your friends and everyone you've met, they should be running a large government agency...
Goe, doesn't want to die.
Goe, doesn't want to die.
08 October 2005
06 October 2005
HSX
I played the hollywood stock exchange a lot about 6 years ago, and now I check it every few months. am still in the low 4000's. since they give you 'interest', once your fortune is big enough, you dont even have to play to stay semi-competitive.
Goe, wishes more things were that easy.
Goe, wishes more things were that easy.
04 October 2005
Day 127
of the missing teen in Aruba, and generalissimo franco is still dead. a "political consultant" was on local news saying that the supreme court will soon be making decisions on states rights vs federalism. apparently knowing what federalism is is not a requirement of being a political consultant. why don't these people have any pride in their work? why do they think it's fine to do such a crappy job?
Goe, wants to smack them with a large partially rotten fish.
Goe, wants to smack them with a large partially rotten fish.
02 October 2005
Wow
it turns out that Rumsfeld is an idiot. The army used to balance vehicles between firepower, speed/portability, and armor. Then, during the Clinton Administration, the Pentagon decided that they could have all three! Rumsfeld agreed and kept all the 'new' systems development that had all three while scrapping the 'older' designs that only had one or two. Turns out that the laws of phsyics trump Pentagon planning.
Reminds me that the lesson learned most when the military is testing vehicles or systems on one of the proving grounds is that water freezes at 32 degrees.
Goe, smarter than the pentagon.
Reminds me that the lesson learned most when the military is testing vehicles or systems on one of the proving grounds is that water freezes at 32 degrees.
Goe, smarter than the pentagon.
01 October 2005
M.I.T. loves genocide!
Instapundit linked a protest photo site. i poked around a bit, and found this (last picture and description). it seemed awfully wrong, but not beyong the capacity of the u.n. so i looked around some more, couldn't find any references to cambodia being kept out of the u.n., they were admitted with a bunch of other countries in 1955. so maybe the truth isn't there... but i did find something even better. a rebuttal of chomsky's support for murdering millions in the cause of 'social justice' or whatnot. the site is like a collection of all the stuff the museum of communism hasn't gotten around to putting up yet.
Goe, knows that most surviving khmer rouge leaders are still welcome the world over.
Goe, knows that most surviving khmer rouge leaders are still welcome the world over.
30 September 2005
A different sort of vampire
Mark was bored. He couldn't pinpoint when he became aware of it. The knowledge just slowly grew until he wasn't only sure of it, but positive that he somehow had always known.
He seemed to know when he lived in the old shelter. It didn't have a roof and he felt lucky to have the four walls and floor. He and Edgar lived there, with the thin walls seperating them from the bright nothingness beyond. Sometimes they would jump up into that nothingness, feel their flesh burna s moisture began to leave them, and then fall back to safety.
It was dangerous. They couldn't pinpoint when they figured it out. One day Edgar stopped mark from jumping, and neither had done it again. Their desire to survive was stronger than their curiosity or bravado.
Edgar had as little to do as Mark. Edgar wasn't aware of this because he was insane. His days were filled with trying to spot creatures out in the nothingness. He once told mark that there was a giant fanged beast, a hundred times their size, hidden in the nothingness just outside the shelter. Mark began ignoring him, and without noticing it, realized how bored he was.
The new shelter was nicer. It was larger than the old one and had more stuff in it. Mark couldn't remember leaving the old shelter, just fragments or noise, light, the burning sensation of moisture vaporizing into the nothingness, and then a bug-eyed monster. The monster was named Neil, and was very self-conscious of his bulging eyes. Those were common for his kind, of which he was the last in the shelter.
Neil showed Mark around. There wasn't much to see so Neil led him through the castle and around the plastic coral after each stop. The new shelter even had it's own roof, too high to keep out the nothingness, yet low enough to add it's own sting to any leap.
There were others in the shelter, most were long and spindly, some species Mark had never seen before. Mark didn't speak to them, and avoided Neil when he could, but Edgar spent a lot of time talking with them. Whoever they were, they had connections, they seemed to be regularly giving Edgar packages.
Edgar hid the packages under the giant diver statue. Mark didn't know why, as he and Neil were the only ones in the shelter who didn't know what Edgar was getting. Neither had any interest either, which made hiding them even stranger. Mark assumed that Edgar was just acting out his insanity, but one day he was drawn in as well.
Mark was hanging out at the castle when Edgar came up and asked for help. "Help with what," Mark asked.
"Digging. I'm going to dig down find a way out. I'd just like you to help me move the rocks."
Mark agreed, and spent several days moving around the rocks that lined the shelter floor. He didn't assume it would work, but it put a dent in the boredom. The others came to watch, except Neil who was worried they'd all die if the floor was breached. Edgar didn't care. His plan seemed to involve a long piece of rope, a plastic tarp, and several of the smaller rocks.
They had dug all day, narrowly escaping several cave-ins, when Mark decided to take a break. The others watched Edgar, except Neil who hid in the castle practicing holding his breath. Mark went to the statue, curious now about what Edgar's plan entailed. He began digging out Edgars supplies. It was mostly ropes and tarps, dozens of each. The only other thing buried there was a clear plastic cylinder with something grey inside it labelled 'duraskin'.
Mark had a pretty good idea that the duraskin was to protect against the nothingness. The shelter walls held up against it, so they could be safe. Edgar had obviously found something that he thought could work, and there was no ignoring that Edgar had put a lot of thought into this plan. Feeling excited for the first time in what seemed forever, Mark opened the cylinder.
It was a suit, a grey suit with a strange number and assortment of limbs, as though it were not intended for their species. It wouldn't fit anyone in the shelter properly, but it only needed to fit well enough. Edgar was going to escape. There was only one suit, which meant that he was going to be left behind. Mark didn't want to be left behind, but everyone would know it was Edgar's plan, and would keep him from escaping.
Mark wasn't sure what to do, so he stared at the suit. The suit seemed to be getting larger, and Mark began to hope that it would be big enough to hold two. He stared at it, trying to make mental note of reference points to measure it's size. It wasn't until the eyepieces blinked that he realized it was staring back.
Goe, letting you know this ties into this, but the title is from a different half-written story just to keep you on your fins.
He seemed to know when he lived in the old shelter. It didn't have a roof and he felt lucky to have the four walls and floor. He and Edgar lived there, with the thin walls seperating them from the bright nothingness beyond. Sometimes they would jump up into that nothingness, feel their flesh burna s moisture began to leave them, and then fall back to safety.
It was dangerous. They couldn't pinpoint when they figured it out. One day Edgar stopped mark from jumping, and neither had done it again. Their desire to survive was stronger than their curiosity or bravado.
Edgar had as little to do as Mark. Edgar wasn't aware of this because he was insane. His days were filled with trying to spot creatures out in the nothingness. He once told mark that there was a giant fanged beast, a hundred times their size, hidden in the nothingness just outside the shelter. Mark began ignoring him, and without noticing it, realized how bored he was.
The new shelter was nicer. It was larger than the old one and had more stuff in it. Mark couldn't remember leaving the old shelter, just fragments or noise, light, the burning sensation of moisture vaporizing into the nothingness, and then a bug-eyed monster. The monster was named Neil, and was very self-conscious of his bulging eyes. Those were common for his kind, of which he was the last in the shelter.
Neil showed Mark around. There wasn't much to see so Neil led him through the castle and around the plastic coral after each stop. The new shelter even had it's own roof, too high to keep out the nothingness, yet low enough to add it's own sting to any leap.
There were others in the shelter, most were long and spindly, some species Mark had never seen before. Mark didn't speak to them, and avoided Neil when he could, but Edgar spent a lot of time talking with them. Whoever they were, they had connections, they seemed to be regularly giving Edgar packages.
Edgar hid the packages under the giant diver statue. Mark didn't know why, as he and Neil were the only ones in the shelter who didn't know what Edgar was getting. Neither had any interest either, which made hiding them even stranger. Mark assumed that Edgar was just acting out his insanity, but one day he was drawn in as well.
Mark was hanging out at the castle when Edgar came up and asked for help. "Help with what," Mark asked.
"Digging. I'm going to dig down find a way out. I'd just like you to help me move the rocks."
Mark agreed, and spent several days moving around the rocks that lined the shelter floor. He didn't assume it would work, but it put a dent in the boredom. The others came to watch, except Neil who was worried they'd all die if the floor was breached. Edgar didn't care. His plan seemed to involve a long piece of rope, a plastic tarp, and several of the smaller rocks.
They had dug all day, narrowly escaping several cave-ins, when Mark decided to take a break. The others watched Edgar, except Neil who hid in the castle practicing holding his breath. Mark went to the statue, curious now about what Edgar's plan entailed. He began digging out Edgars supplies. It was mostly ropes and tarps, dozens of each. The only other thing buried there was a clear plastic cylinder with something grey inside it labelled 'duraskin'.
Mark had a pretty good idea that the duraskin was to protect against the nothingness. The shelter walls held up against it, so they could be safe. Edgar had obviously found something that he thought could work, and there was no ignoring that Edgar had put a lot of thought into this plan. Feeling excited for the first time in what seemed forever, Mark opened the cylinder.
It was a suit, a grey suit with a strange number and assortment of limbs, as though it were not intended for their species. It wouldn't fit anyone in the shelter properly, but it only needed to fit well enough. Edgar was going to escape. There was only one suit, which meant that he was going to be left behind. Mark didn't want to be left behind, but everyone would know it was Edgar's plan, and would keep him from escaping.
Mark wasn't sure what to do, so he stared at the suit. The suit seemed to be getting larger, and Mark began to hope that it would be big enough to hold two. He stared at it, trying to make mental note of reference points to measure it's size. It wasn't until the eyepieces blinked that he realized it was staring back.
Goe, letting you know this ties into this, but the title is from a different half-written story just to keep you on your fins.
29 September 2005
sitcom
I want to see a sitcom where the main character turns out to be a serial killer.
Goe, cause the ideas are the easy part.
Goe, cause the ideas are the easy part.
27 September 2005
yet another
impromptus up, this time with extra che!
Goe, cause che murdered thousands and all he got was a lousy t-shirt.
Goe, cause che murdered thousands and all he got was a lousy t-shirt.
Firefly
Been compelled by other people to watch the dvds of the show. i must confess it's growing on me even though the stories remain annoyingly predictable.
some carnival thingie is up.
and y'all should be in bed right now! what the hell is wrong with you?!
On another note. most of the first person shooter games now have 'neutral' characters that are just sort of there for atmosphere. whenever i'm playing an fps game and get to the part where you are shooting past guards in the evil villain's mad science lab, i always shoot the employees. always figure they should have known better than to facilitate evil villainous plots. am i being overly vengeant?
Goe, learned that you can't shoot the monkeys in 'no one lives forever'.
some carnival thingie is up.
and y'all should be in bed right now! what the hell is wrong with you?!
On another note. most of the first person shooter games now have 'neutral' characters that are just sort of there for atmosphere. whenever i'm playing an fps game and get to the part where you are shooting past guards in the evil villain's mad science lab, i always shoot the employees. always figure they should have known better than to facilitate evil villainous plots. am i being overly vengeant?
Goe, learned that you can't shoot the monkeys in 'no one lives forever'.
25 September 2005
Beating InstaBlender again!
Sometimes it's good to hit a subject before it hits 'mainstream' blogs. Everything non-feminine is decried as barbaric, and this isn't good. Some notice that USA Today has an article about it. An unhappy BBC employee complained about it months ago, not how it's affected educational outcomes, but how it affected everything in life. The BBC even celebrates over it's disparaging treatment of the non-femininegender.
Goe, apparently only good for looting and pillaging, needs viking helmet and axe.
Goe, apparently only good for looting and pillaging, needs viking helmet and axe.
24 September 2005
heh
good thing i dont have a lot of readers who demand constant entertainment. for the handful of people who do check in every now and again, instapundit links to protest babes.
Goe, not labelled for individual resale.
Goe, not labelled for individual resale.
been sick, not busy
getting better though. chilling out watching tv this afternoon, I watched 'Big Trouble', an awesomely funny film. It had both tricia mcmillan and goats.
very funny film and worth watching again.
And then the local news started. mostly hurricane related stuff, a bit on iraq... and then they talked about how the city was asking for volunteers to do weeding in city parks so that they could be 'pesticide free'. apparently knowing the difference between a pesticide and an herbicide is not important to either working in local news or running city parks. the 'local reservists return home' segment was started with the 'anti-war protest somewhere else' captions still up... the news is a fucking joke.
Goe, can't turn a can into a cane, nor a man into a mane.
very funny film and worth watching again.
And then the local news started. mostly hurricane related stuff, a bit on iraq... and then they talked about how the city was asking for volunteers to do weeding in city parks so that they could be 'pesticide free'. apparently knowing the difference between a pesticide and an herbicide is not important to either working in local news or running city parks. the 'local reservists return home' segment was started with the 'anti-war protest somewhere else' captions still up... the news is a fucking joke.
Goe, can't turn a can into a cane, nor a man into a mane.
21 September 2005
Instapuppydrinker
Misses a key strategy in fighting pork.
That $223 million dollar "bridge to nowhere" that goes to a local airport?
Don't ask the congressman who put that in to cut it, ask the rest to cut it. Some states benefit from pork more than others, and not many congressmen could defend spending X many dollars on their own pork projects when the bills that those projects are part of make a net loss for their state. if you only get 100 million from a bill that will cost you 500 million, you're giving away 400 million. demand a cut equal to what you're paying in or vote no. that'd kill more pork than just asking people to vote no, especially when bills hit the senate where large population states can't gang up on low population states.
Goe, being sneaky.
That $223 million dollar "bridge to nowhere" that goes to a local airport?
Don't ask the congressman who put that in to cut it, ask the rest to cut it. Some states benefit from pork more than others, and not many congressmen could defend spending X many dollars on their own pork projects when the bills that those projects are part of make a net loss for their state. if you only get 100 million from a bill that will cost you 500 million, you're giving away 400 million. demand a cut equal to what you're paying in or vote no. that'd kill more pork than just asking people to vote no, especially when bills hit the senate where large population states can't gang up on low population states.
Goe, being sneaky.
20 September 2005
Firefly & Serenity
While discussing the show and film with someone today, I realized what annoyed me so much about most shows on television. Firefly is the perfect example of most of them, from the stock sci-fi characters to the grand conspiracies dreamed up and run by people too stupid to run even the simplest tests to divert people who hate them from (or at least include a functional retraining program in) the "turn cute women into super duper bionic ninjas" program.
It's about as original as burnt toast, and about as palatable.
Something else that bugs me is what I've seen referred to as "oprahfication", the making of everyone into a victim. It annoys me that a show whose main characters are all desperately seeking to control their situation, in the "frontier" of space, can't just go 'fuck it' and take off to parts unknown. No, they have to stay around and whine about not being able to. If you have blasters, don't whine, blow something up and you'll feel better.
Shows are about characters. Stories have characters in them, so that we have something to relate to, but it's not that important that the story be about the characters. It used to be that the basic conflict of man vs nature, man vs man, and man vs self were the driving force behind stories. Take some people, put them into conflicts, see how they turn out. On a tv show, this could be repeated, with older shows suffering from Gilligan's Problem always leaving the characters the same at the end as at the beginning, with the conflict not really changing them. Newer shows borrowed everchanging characters from soap operas, where they've been a staple since before burnt toast.
But now the stories are character driven. Characters change and develop relationships in preset ways and the conflicts are only there to drag the show out past episode 4. Only sitcoms don't do this, and they still stick with the Gilligan's Problem format. Sitcoms exist mostly to be funny and retain unchanging characters to provide a pre-existing foundation for that episode's jokes, instead of establishing new characters/underlying motives every episode.
Gilligans Problem: The conflicts/problems of every/almost every episode stem from an overarching problem that is the premise for the series (the castaways were stuck on the island). Solving the overarching problem solves those issues and hence ends the series.
Firefly manages to do both, ongoing character development causing Gilligan's Problem. The overarching problem is that the characters are self-contradictory idiots. They want to be left alone, but can't stop themselves from helping everyone who crosses their path. The solution to their problems is to push the lot of them out of an airlock. Unfortunately, that's the general tone of sci-fi these days, the mindless pablum of Star Trek: 90210/Gilmore Girls in Space.
Goe, can barely stand to watch Battlestar: Galactica now.
It's about as original as burnt toast, and about as palatable.
Something else that bugs me is what I've seen referred to as "oprahfication", the making of everyone into a victim. It annoys me that a show whose main characters are all desperately seeking to control their situation, in the "frontier" of space, can't just go 'fuck it' and take off to parts unknown. No, they have to stay around and whine about not being able to. If you have blasters, don't whine, blow something up and you'll feel better.
Shows are about characters. Stories have characters in them, so that we have something to relate to, but it's not that important that the story be about the characters. It used to be that the basic conflict of man vs nature, man vs man, and man vs self were the driving force behind stories. Take some people, put them into conflicts, see how they turn out. On a tv show, this could be repeated, with older shows suffering from Gilligan's Problem always leaving the characters the same at the end as at the beginning, with the conflict not really changing them. Newer shows borrowed everchanging characters from soap operas, where they've been a staple since before burnt toast.
But now the stories are character driven. Characters change and develop relationships in preset ways and the conflicts are only there to drag the show out past episode 4. Only sitcoms don't do this, and they still stick with the Gilligan's Problem format. Sitcoms exist mostly to be funny and retain unchanging characters to provide a pre-existing foundation for that episode's jokes, instead of establishing new characters/underlying motives every episode.
Gilligans Problem: The conflicts/problems of every/almost every episode stem from an overarching problem that is the premise for the series (the castaways were stuck on the island). Solving the overarching problem solves those issues and hence ends the series.
Firefly manages to do both, ongoing character development causing Gilligan's Problem. The overarching problem is that the characters are self-contradictory idiots. They want to be left alone, but can't stop themselves from helping everyone who crosses their path. The solution to their problems is to push the lot of them out of an airlock. Unfortunately, that's the general tone of sci-fi these days, the mindless pablum of Star Trek: 90210/Gilmore Girls in Space.
Goe, can barely stand to watch Battlestar: Galactica now.
18 September 2005
Oh...
While I'm being all self-centered and stuff, I'd like to point out that Rachmeg, the regular reader, refers to this blog as "Bob's Forest". I haven't liked "This Space for Sublet" but couldn't think of anything better at the time. Been thinking about changing it to "A Forest for the Trees". Any opinion?
Goe, open to suggestions.
Goe, open to suggestions.
Horn tooting.
As I have mentioned before, I submitted a story to the Storyblogging Carnival. I've since submitted two more. The Administrator of the Storyblogging Carnival made a list of his personal favorite stories. As the title of this post may have given away, one of mine made the list.
Goe, waiting for lunchtime.
Goe, waiting for lunchtime.
15 September 2005
Right to be stupid
Apparently the right to be stupid is the most pressing concern for the puppydrinker. if he thinks the security of his pot stash is of more importance to the nation than say, the right to own a home that kelo overturned, then something has impaired his judgement. pot would be my guess.
Goe, supports zero tolerance.
Goe, supports zero tolerance.
Eric the half a post
One of the reasons I like impromptus so much is because he documents so much evidence of the evilness of the political left. Plus, it helps improve your grammar!
Goe, working stuff out.
Goe, working stuff out.
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