| Has anyone else noticed the parallels between Dune and A Game of Thrones? Perhaps there's a reason I like both so much.
Duke Leto and Ned Stark, specifically - very similar characters that fulfill very similar roles. One could also compare the feuding noble houses rife with intrigue, and even the mentats and maesters.
I've been told I should maybe look into writing a paper, but it's lacking a subject with weight to go along with it. Saying "gee, A Game of Thrones and Dune are very similar" seems a bit masturbatorial.
In other news, I was hit by actual inspiration today. Always a good thing - perhaps the first time in years that I can say "I really have an awesome idea and need to write this story." I'll be starting that this week.
Until then - AM | comments: Leave a comment   |
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Bioware is so awesome - as is the Dark Side, which I don't feel is given just treatment in the movies. But that's another post. Just revel in the awesomeness.
Until then - AM | | comments: 1 comment or Leave a comment |
| So, it's June 16, which must mean it's time for my first update in ages: woo!
Last Wednesday, Di and I went to see the NIN/JA concert at the Post-Gazette Pavilion. Bands playing:
Street Sweeper Social Club
Nine Inch Nails
Jane's Addiction
1. SSSC - Awesome. New group, with their first CD (self-titled) released today, actually! I bought it this morning before work, and have been listening to it all morning - good stuff.
Anyway, so SSSC knows how to rock the house. They're very Rage-Against-the-Machine-ish. Of course, I was suprised to learn midway through their set that their guitarist is... Tom Morello. Noted guitarist of... Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave, etc. (He's considered one of the best guitarists in the world, and showed off by playing his guitar over his head upside-down.) Anyway, so think Rage, but just an edge closer to hip-hop, but mostly heavy funk rock with social commentary. Boots, their frontman, is a delight to watch sing and dance around the stage and get the crowd excited.
2. NIN - Awesome. However, having seen them twice before, it was well, a NIN concert. Great music, great energy. It was odd to see them play before anyone else, though. This is definitely more of a summer tour for the sake of music, though - not nearly as much production work as the Lights in the Sky tour last year - which was just the most artistic, polished, effortful concert production I have ever seen or heard of.
3. JA - I'm not too familiar with Jane's Addiction. Evidently, I've heard a single or two back in the 90's. (They rejoined for this tour, but have been broken up for years.) They were pretty decent, but their lead singer suffers from having too distinctive a voice in too high a register. After hearing what sounded like the same song half a dozen times over, we decided to leave amidst the heavy rain and beat the traffic out of there. However, if you like Jane's Addiction, it was probably a good show.
The PGH Post-Gazette Pavilion - awesome venue. Amphitheater definitely made for big concerts. Wide seating area in front of the stage, covered with a roof high overhead. Behind is an expansive grass area that looked nice (save for the rain that started pouring down when JA took the stage).
Until then - AM | | comments: 3 comments or Leave a comment |
| | Subject: | WTF? | | Time: | 02:11 pm |
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| Jake Gyllenhaal as the Prince of Persia?
Nerd moment here: "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" was a cinematic masterpiece of a game. Great script and voice-acting, amazing visuals, and pretty damned cool action featuring command over the most acrobatic person ever and even time itself.
Now, evidently, they're making a movie coming out next year. I normally groan at video game movies, but making a movie out of the Sands of Time has promise, as the game itself already leaned toward being an awesome movie - if, you know, drawn out by an extra 10 hours of running, jumping, and fighting.
Now, I have no problem with Jake Gyllenhaal - he's a fine actor. But is Hollywood trying to tell us that there's no such thing as an attractive and athletic male lead of Middle Eastern descent? Or even someone Hispanic or not-white? (Antonio Banderas did a fine job in "The 13th Warrior" doing just that.)
Well, for those who are into that sort of thing, here's a shirtless Jake. I'm curious to hear opinions of ladies and PoP fans alike.
Until then - AM
P.S. Ben Kingsley plays his dad - now that's a fine casting choice. | | comments: 15 comments or Leave a comment |
| I wasn't sure it was him, so I didn't identify the feed's owner as more than "cwalken" - and sure enough, it seems to not be the Cristopher Walken, unfortunately.
http://www.thewrap.com/ind-column/2057
Still damned hilarious, though.
Until then - AM | | comments: Leave a comment |
| Twitter has its share of inanity, but it also has this:
http://twitter.com/cwalken
So, I never thought I'd say this, but thank you, Twitter, for bringing his words to the world.
Seriously. Read it.
Until then - AM
P.S. Special thanks to my friend Armin for pointing this out. | | comments: 2 comments or Leave a comment |
| The BSG finale was pretty lame, in my opinion. No spoilers, don't worry - I will put any such discussions behind a cut.
I'd endured entirely too much melodrama and mysticism in the last season to be not-paid-off with a satisfying ending... or a believable one.
Seasons 1 and 2 remain some of the best TV ever - do yourself a favor and watch them. And, even the beginning of Season 3 is amazing, if a bit spottier later on.
Season 4 had its moments, though they were few and far between. Gaeta? Hell yes.
Anyway, the show had two problems that contributed, I think: 1) Moore was admittedly flying by the seat of his pants in regards to the story. This had some good effects, and allowed for organic character and story development, even as nuances crept in while acting that couldn't be captured in the orginal script. It's this organicness that contributed to Helo even being on the show past the miniseries, which I'm grateful for. (He was brought into the show itself simply because he's an awesome actor that shone through his character in the miniseries. And that, in turn, led him to star in Dollhouse.) However, the bad side of this is that sometimes, the show took a turn it couldn't right itself from, and I feel the overall arc of the series suffered from that, especially in later seasons.
This, of course, is compounded by the baffling decision to cut BSG's run from five seasons down to four. With all fairness given to Ronald D. Moore and the show's creators and writers, it had to be super-difficult to wrap up the exquisitely tangled storyline in that last season, especially the last few episodes. Oh well, such is life. I'm disappointed, and RDM is no longer a god in my mind (he's human and flawed like his characters, and he made a mistake), but he's still frakking awesome, and I look forward to his next project.
Luckily, there is a new SF show that's caught my eye, though evidently it's hit-and-miss with some. I love it, though: Dollhouse.
Dollhouse is Joss Whedon's new project, and is very intriguing. And, bonus! It stars Tahmoh Penikett, aka Helo from BSG, as FBI agent Paul Ballard. And, cool-crazy lawyer from BSG, Romo, has a recurring role as a bastardious FBI agent that gets on Ballard's nerves, and vice-versa. Do yourself another favor and check it out - it's on Hulu (www.hulu.com) for free.
Until then - AM | | comments: 1 comment or Leave a comment |
| It's no secret that I love Jon Stewart - of course, I think it's a rare person that dislikes him. Last night, he did what he does best - exposing one of the great hypocrisies of our times.
Here's a great article on the leadup, thanks to ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) terriblyfamous : http://wonkette.com/406885/jim-cramer-joe-scarborough-have-had-enough-of-these-jon-stewart-lies
And here's the interview itself:
Jon Stewart's a small guy, but wow does he dominate this, turning Cramer into some sort of conciliatory snake. Very much worth watching - another very impactful moment where Stewart keen insight cuts through all the BS in a way that may have some large impact on CNBC (like when Stewart near-singlehandedly took "Crossfire" off-the-air a few years back).
Until then - AM
P.S. Sorry for the cockeyed window-thing, for some reason Comedy Central's html doesn't mesh well with LJ. | | comments: 4 comments or Leave a comment |
| I've been quiet recently - probably because there's not too much going on. Settling into my new work schedule, enjoying more time to spend with Diane, trying to work around that and be more productive in my new second job, etc.
And looking forward to March 5, when I go to Kansas. Always a good time - it's my chance to enjoy bars once every few months, great time out with the "guys" - regardless of gender, and a chance to showcase my latest Magic deck ideas and whatnot.
(I go into a Magic tangent until the next parenthetical paragraph - feel free to skip.)
So, my current project is to create a deck for most color combinations. Five colors in Magic: White, blUe, Black, Red, and Green. And so, I hope to make one for each two-color combination, three-color combination, and a five-color deck. (Four seems a bit silly, imo - you already have a greatly expanded manabase - why aren't you going for five? Also, the toll taken on my card collection would be extensive, and I'm trying to not have to shuffle cards between decks, which 4-color decks would necessitate.)
So, that's 10 2-color combinations, 10 3-color combinations, (5 4-color, which I'm not doing), and 1 5-color. Of course, this is a long-term project, so I'm not going to have all of the above probably for months or years.
I am aiming to have 10 total, though - I've built 8 so far:
RWU
GWR
WUB
UBR
RW
RU
RB
UB
Most of these have been seen before, or are modified versions of decks I've played in the past. Still struggling with the last 2, though (suggestions for color combos I've missed that I should do something with?)... I would give like, names or clues, but I encourage people to guess or wait and be surprised by my card hijinks.
(It's safe for you to read below, now.)
So, yeah. That's what I'm up to. Working out more regularly, though parodoxically not losing much weight. I seem to be losing a little bit of waistline, though, so that's something.
And, time for me to get off work!
Until then - AM | | comments: 3 comments or Leave a comment |
| To celebrate the occasion, here's a great sketch from Demetri Martin's new show, "Important Things with Demetri Martin."
Demetri's probably my favorite comedian ever. You may know him as the guy who did the "Trendspotting" segment from The Daily Show. (This is from well over 2 years ago, by the way.)
Anyway, worth checking out. His new show (just started last week!) airs at 10:30 pm Eastern on Comedy Central.
Until then - AM | | comments: 2 comments or Leave a comment |
| I miss Spanish architecture.
On the busride in this morning, I was riding through Oakland, and saw a house that looked INSANELY out-of-place. Why? Because it was in some sort of psuedo-Spanish style, surrounded by the region's more prevalent Victorian and German architecture.
Just a random observation - something that struck me pretty acutely (and randomly). Growing up, I was surrounded by Spanish architecture, in both Cali and Texas (look at Texas Tech's campus and its buildings, they're beautiful). Something I hadn't realized provided a sense of "home" and "comfort" until now.
What random aspects of "home" do you miss? | | comments: 4 comments or Leave a comment |
| So, I've trimmed down Obama's speech (which was excellent), to what stood out for me...
"The ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet...
We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories...
Without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control - and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous...
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals... Know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more...
For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus — and non-believers...
To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent... we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist...
And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect...
This is the price and the promise of citizenship."
What did he say to you? | | comments: 1 comment or Leave a comment |
| As I (the guy who spent most of his first 18 years in Texas and Southern California) was relieved that it was 15 degrees Fahrenheit when I got up this morning. Relieved.
In other news, PGH set a record for snow on yesterday's date. 4.75" of snow. Of course, it hasn't been above freezing in over a week, so that just piles on to everything else that's been sitting around. I'm quite tired of snow, and really looking forward to the day this melts. That will be a beautiful day.
Well, tomorrow will be quite beautiful - snow or no. :)
Until then - AM | | comments: Leave a comment |
| | Current Music: | "Charlene (I'm Right Behind You)" - Stephen and the Colberts | | Subject: | VAST, "Atlanta Nights" | | Time: | 09:03 am |
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| We're going to see VAST on Wednesday, May 13th in Cleveland! Anyone else want to come? (I'm serious. I'll buy you tickets.) *ETA - Tickets to the concert, not to Pittsburgh or Cleveland. Also, you must be a friend from not-Pittsburgh or not-Cleveland. No random schmucks I don't know or people who'd go anyway petitioning for tickets please.
Currently reading one of the best works of fiction ever to grace the English language. "Atlanta Nights" by Travis Tea. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.
Also, if you own Rock Band, be advised that "Charlene (I'm Right Behind You)" by Stephen and the Colberts is available for free download on XBox Live! Woot!
Until then - AM | | comments: 4 comments or Leave a comment |
| So, I spent the last two days at home with one of the worst colds of my life. I left work early on Tuesday, and am still a bit congested today. Unreal.
Anyway, so, I'm back at work. And what do I find? Not one, but THIRTEEN freaking emails about ONE email that I'm throwing together for a chapter to be sent out on Tuesday. The last note I received (which I feel is indicative of something), simply asks "Hey, did you get the last edit we sent you, which added the word "buffet"?
Mental Responses:
1. Yes.
or...
2. I'm not sure if I did, what with y'all's THIRTEEN FUCKING EMAILS (in less than 24 hours) about this one stupid event clogging my mailbox.
...both would be rude. I think I'm opting for no response. This is what happens when you have language approved by like, five people. (Something I would never try to do - give me one or two and I'm happy. To say nothing of the fact that my language - html and English - knowledge and experience outstrips, well, all of these people.)
Grr.
Until then - AM | | comments: 3 comments or Leave a comment |
| So, I turned around from my trip to Ft. Worth to go to Lawrence last week for New Year's. Special thanks to starstraf and Pooch for providing a wonderful home for a few days, and mckitterick and chernobylred for being wonderful social and/or gaming hosts.
Briefly saw terriblyfamous and spent tons of quality time with madmatmax, cba1282zyx, and hdorsettcase. Good times.
Locales: Harbour Lights, Mass St. Hookah, Jefferson's, Harbour Lights, McKitterick's. For the record, I have officially fallen in love with Jefferson's "Turbo" wings. They are by far the best tasting hottest-wings-at-a-venue I've ever had.
So, now it's back to work. :(
Until then - AM | | comments: 1 comment or Leave a comment |
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