Dream A Little (Girl) Dream...

Steve Den Beste's comment about the otaku's dream girl hits hard in many, many ways...

Mostly because he's described one of the problems of any otaku-getting women interested in him in a good way. Most otaku girls/women tend to have issues...and they tend to be interested in men that most otaku males are not.

Case in point, YaoiCon was held last weekend and the hotel was near San Francisco Japantown. The restaurant there I like to eat at when I can (sadly, not daily-long story) had a horde of fangirls. Most likely they were very young-high school to early college-due to the high amounts of giggles over sexual pairings and triplets and other odd combinations. The only series they talked about? Naruto. The proposed relationships? Let's just say that anybody that has had any idle fantasies of Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy slashfic would find the love geometry disturbing...

So, for the fan that isn't highly bishionen...you can see the issue. Or that don't have on their Character Sheet "Dark Flaw:Secretly Not Gay".

Also, the Otaku Dream Girl is interested in the main character because they like him. Not what they can do for them-get them beer, solve their problems, be their last-choice date because the guy they wanted to take out dumped them at the last minute. They realize that the character's heart is good, even if his efforts are at best bumbling...or naive. Or, better yet, they know the character is worthy...and is worth knowing better.

The main character knows where they stand with the Otaku Dream Girl. It's not a game of "emotional minesweeper", or the ever-popular "does this outfit make me look fat?" passive-aggressive BS that some women think is their due. Or wondering if the girl is hanging out with them because the main character can fix their computer/do magic/has wished for a girl like her to stay with him forever.

Sadly, that's why the Otaku Dream Girl is a fantasy-the attractive girls want to have Johnny Depp, or Orlando Bloom, or whatever androgynous male boy-toy that looks good in boxers is this year. That is "kind" and "sensitive" and can know their emotions. Oh, and dress well, too. The ugly girls want something that tends to validate that they are fucked up, and not worthwhile. And the guys? We're confused here.

Strikers Seven Issue 2 Up!

Just finished and posted the whole second episode of Strikers Seven. Characters revealed, powers found, and some nice big explosions, too.

Still looking for an artist. And, thinking about scripting out Ultimate Livewires. Yay, fun.

Gundam 00 and "Solution Unsatisfactory"

About 1940 or so (the question of exactly when the story was written is a bit in debate), Robert Heinlein wrote "Solution Unsatisfactory". This tale, which could be called the first of his "Patrol" stories, tells about how the development of a new technology (radioactive dust) forced the development of an organization that had to create peace at all costs, lest the weapons of war exterminate humanity. But, it ultimately falls onto the one man-whom could die tomorrow of a heart attack from his weak heart or from falling down stairs-to keep the whole mess from flying apart.

Which leads us to the newest Gundam series, Mobile Suit Gundam 00. I'm already on the second episode, and I've already begun to noticed that the guy behind the curtain is not doing a really good job of pulling the strings, running the console, and he's missing some of the notes.

Let's start with the premise-about 300 years from now, the Earth has pretty much flowed into three major governmental organizations, all of which control an orbital elevator that feeds their countries with energy (and presumably access to space, such as the Moon and the rest of the Solar System). Wars are still being fought, but they're mostly small, proxy wars that change very little. To this end, a mysterious organization called Celestial Being, using highly advanced technology in the form of the Gundam mobile suits, has sworn to end all wars between nations. Regardless of whom is the aggressor or the defender, Celestial Being will come down and destroy both sides.

This is a nice, lovely, Tranzi concept that is annoying as hell-probably the dream that a lot of European and such politicians have of the United Nations. But, the question becomes-if they are impartial to support either side in a war, does Celestial Being merely act as another way to preserve the status quo?

The first, real "mission" of Celestial Being is a battle in Sri Lanka, where the Human Reform League (which is China with other national bits) supports the government against the Tamil Tigers. In this battle, the Gundam pretty much exterminate the Human Reform League army and end the battle...and stops the Tamil Tigers from following up the battle. So, the HRL remains pretty much in control of Sri Lanka...and, while Celestial Being has stopped the "conventional" engagement of both sides, it hasn't prevented the Tamil Tigers, for example, from sneaking in somebody with a overcoat of Semtex. Hell, both sides are a hotbed of so many religious and ethnic messes, that maybe the presence of a foreign military is a good thing-it gives them all something to shoot at that isn't their own neighbors.

So, what is the ultimate goal of Celestial Being? Their avowed goal is to end all wars...how?

If a Shia wanders into a Shiite market and blows himself up with a Semtex overcoat, what does Celestial Being do? Hell, what will they do for a more conventional, infantry battle? Commit slaughter on the scale of the Soviet Union?

(Of course, the director of the series of Seiji Mizushima, whom directed Full Metal Alchemist. The series could be politically...quirky.)

Another factor I noticed was that nobody claims Africa...so, whom does claim Africa? Or have the powers of the world let Africa sink, rather than try and pour more treasure, lives, and time into that rat-hole?

I'm actually curious about how they'll solve the problems their plot makes for them. I have an idea of how I'd do it, and I wonder if our ideas will match at any point...

Need More Hours In The Day...

I so very do.

Finished up Ergo Proxy and Reideen. Both good, will write more formal reviews of 'em in a few days. I want to do it now, but have to do things that are important so I can afford anime, like work.

Short bits-Ergo Proxy feels like a longer, longer version of Serial Experiments Lain, but with the whole world as the laboratory. Characters were interesting, but occasional bits of the whole Refrigerator Problem shows up.

Reideen is what it is-a post-Evangelion, giant robot anime. More like RahXephon (which is not an insult, I like and still watch RahXephon, unlike Evangelion-which I watch when I need to suffer), Reideen's plot both moves fast and slow, and it is the synchronization of these plots (the plot about what Reideen is and why the aliens are after it is slow, the "robot stomping" plot is fast). Tho, the Really, Really Huge Sword at the end was a fun thing, too...

Recent Anime Watching Habits...

I haven't, sad to say, been seeing a lot of anime lately. Mostly due to work schedule, and there isn't a lot that I've been interested in. So...my very short list of series I've watched or been in the progress of watching...

• Ergo Proxy-This has been a good series, so far. Very much in the whole vein/genre of "giant conspiracies", some of the moves have been telegraphed miles away...but, damn it, I'm still watching.
• Grenadier-If there was any MORE fan service, they would have to cut into the plot...such as there is. Rushuna is most certainly doing cinematic gun shooting effects...
• Reideen-Apparently, this is a remake of a much older series. It isn't bad...just that the way it was written, there were so many opportunities for plot and character expansion.
• Bleach-I'm honestly watching it because the fights are good material for Exalted. I'm trying to figure out how to stat out the Ichigo/Kenpachi fight...
  

After Six Years Of War...

...I have to seriously wonder if Al Qaeda is the Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight...

Let's see. Osama tried to crash the American economy with the 9/11 attacks, and the American economy went up about the equivalent of five Saudi Arabias.

Iraq and Afghanistan are lurching towards something that can be called "reasonable" in a bad light. Considering where we're talking about in the world, that has to be progress.

There hasn't been a major terrorist attack outside of the Middle East in at least three years, unless you count the Keystone Kops attack in London with the flaming SUVs.

"But, other than that, how was the play Mrs. Lincoln?"

And, the response of the critics of the war is little children antics in Gen. Petraus' hearing.

I'm scared that our enemies may save our government because they just can't do anything right...it's like watching one of those sitcoms where the entire cast is made up of morons, with one token sane person.

Cat Herding, a'la Conventions...

Way back, oh, last year, I would watch Angela in action at SilCon 2006 meetings, and it was like watching a cat and dog fight...if she didn't get what she wanted, it was a Pain In The Ass...and I had to make it, somehow, work out right.

This year, I'm in charge of SilCon 2007's Staff Feed. And...the stress level is half that of SC2006.

Need to get chafing dishes instead of crock pots in place? Done.

The menu that has both a veggie and a meat option for three lunches and three dinners? Done.

Bringing up the three-body cooler for storing stuff? Done.

No stress. No drama. No "oh, I'm going to make it an issue to get my drama quotient up"...just professionals getting a job done.

Great times, and there will be some well-fed people.

If I Were A Terrorist, I Wouldn't Post At The New York Times

(Tho, considering some of the bone-headed things the NYT has done lately, I wouldn't be surprised...thanks to Michelle Malkin for finding this.)

Steven Levitt posted in his New York Times blog that he wanted people to make suggestions on how to attack the country. And, of course, he intended this as a purely thought exercise so that "we could defend against it". Of course, he covers his own ass with all sorts of statements that he intends for all of these thoughts to be used to build better defenses...

My God, is this stupid or what? You play the whole game of "oh, let's think up some ideas", in a public forum and people might look into it...and use them.

Hell, I could probably cripple a good bit of the economy with six panel trucks, enough ANFO, and five "willing martyrs". Of course, I'm not going to tell people HOW, especially in public.

Of course, the New York Times has done some seriously bone-headed things, turning the paper of record into a paper with a record-and a bad one that's getting worse. The Old Grey Lady may not be around much longer...and that might be a good thing.

The Long Review Of "Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows"

I promised a longer review, and with the availability of the plot synopsis on Wikipedia, I'm just going to concentrate on the highlights and the things that bothered the hell out of me about the series.

I've said before, and I'll say it again-of the seven books, Deathly Hollows was about second or third to the worst of the series (it depends upon if I count the second worse book-Order of the Phoenix-as a whole or only about a half or so of the book, with Chamber of Secrets being the worse). One of the biggest issues of the book is that the build up of Voldermort as the big villain, and that the response of the Ministry of Magic was so ineffective. My issues? There's a list, so you have been warned-

• After the last War with the Dark Lord, I would have been shocked if there hadn't been hordes of researchers trying to develop a way to detect if somebody was under the Imperious Curse-even if it was just the Aurtor's office and even if it kept giving back whole loads of false positive results to be investigated. We know-from at least from Half-Blooded Prince-that memory modifications can be detected and a powerful wizard can find the original memories. That Voldermort's minions went directly for the head of the Ministry of Magical Enforcement prior to the head of the Ministry itself was a brilliant move in one respects-but another that could have been a failure, as the department should have been primed for keeping an eye on people in their own section that would have acted improperly.
  
  Hell, considering how important the job is and how much of a threat it would be if the head of the Ministry of Magical Enforcement fell under somebody else's control, they would have done something like James Bond's "M"-there are all sorts of details that nobody knows or "everybody knows" that is wrong; all as a concealment for the real man (or woman) behind the curtain.
  
• That the head of the Ministry of Magic was assassinated was another one of those "brilliant moves" that could and would have backfired. Ignore the change in the Wizarding World that happened after the Minister's death...yes, probably there was a deep prejudice against non-pureblood wizards in the magical world, but to have a change and to see it happen so fast pushes the point too hard. Especially as probably many pure-blood families have at least one half-blood or "foundling" Muggle in their family tree, and probably recently. In addition, many would have found the sudden and total shifts in authority rules in the Ministry to have engendered a huge amount of hate in the various members of the Ministry that wern't willing to follow-and there would have been all sorts of passive resistance, "Ooops, sorry Miss Umbridge, the paperwork you requested was misfiled somewhere, should find it by the end of the month, sorry!"
  
  Once again, this falls into the level of "believability" in the plot. More interesting would have been splitting up this aspect of the plot between the last three books-the first having the Minister of Magic sacked and the new Minister seeming to be "effective" and dropping all sorts of new rules. By Half Blooded Prince, many suspect that he is at least sympathetic to Voldermort's aims, but has put himself in such a position of the old saw that "if this is the cure, give me the disease" is applicable. In Deathly Hallows, the new Minister of Magic can enforce his aims, which are for the "purification" of the Wizarding race.
• Oh, and don't tell me that if the Ministry of Magic in the UK had gone this bad, other Wizarding organizations wouldn't have started to pay attention-and planned on how to "clean up the mess" in Jolly Old England. The United States, at least, would have been planning something...

Another big issues is the Deathly Hallows themselves. For three of the most powerful magical items in existence, and one of them owned by the a Dark wizard whom was only second to Voldermort because he didn't have enough time to get really evil, there should have been many, many, many more hints scattered throughout the books. So, from my perspective, the hints could have been dropped like this-

• Hermione learns about the book of fairly tales during her research into the Sorcerer's Stone, thinking that the Resurrection Stone was another name or hint about the Sorcerer's Stone.
• In the second book, Gilderoy Lockhart would have been looking for anything to polish up his magical reputation, and a real Deathly Hallow in the form of Potter's invisibility cloak would have done wonders. Which would have dropped hints along the lines of "why are people so interested in this cloak?".
• By the third book, the first real seeds of the nature of the Deathly Hallows should have shown up when in an act of desperation, Harry uses the Invisibilty Cloak against the Dementors, even warned that they wouldn't be fooled by it...and they pass by without seeing him.
• Fourth book, we get to the wand. A small throw-away scene when Ollivander asks to look at Dumbledore's wand, and looks at the wand and Dumbedore in mixed amazement and lust and horror would have been very suitable indeed...
• Fifth book...hm, good question. We bring back the stone (in the form of the first hints of the Horacrux) and the duel between Dumbledore and Voldermort, we get hints that Dumbledore is getting older and not as good, but his skills aren't slipping as fast as they should...
• Sixth book is where we get a serious hint about the nature of at least one Deathly Hallow-why would Dumbledore even think about wearing such a powerful and dangerous cursed magical artifact? Unless there was another power behind it...that Dumbedore wanted to use.
  
• Finally, the seventh book is where all the items are brought together with each other.

I wonder, seriously, if the series is "as planned" out as Rowling has claimed it was. Oh, an author should be allowed some spontaneity in their plots, and occasionally a character can get away from the author...but, you don't just drop a powerful "gun" in the last part of a book, it feels too much like a deus ex machine. And, I still think that Harry should have kept the Elder Wand-after everything he faced, after everything he stood for, he earned the right to that wand.

Third problem is one of the characters that falls in the category of "love to hate" in the form of Serverus Snape-I kept thinking of him prior to Deathly Hallows in the same form as Kerr Avon, a character that has his own agenda and his own plans. That the question of "who is he loyal to", I've always held that the question of Snape's loyalty is simple-that he's loyal to Serverus Snape without exception. His working with Dumbledore to stop Voldermort is intended for the sole purpose of having both of them kill each other, so that Snape is on the top. Snape has demonstrated on several occasions that he is a highly competent wizard with a multitude of skills and ambition.

This version of Snape, the one that we see at the end of Deathly Hallows is one that bothers me because...hell, we should have gotten more hints about his lust/obsession/"I'm your greatest fan" aspect of the relationship between him and Lily Potter. That his sole reason for abandoning the Dark Lord was that he found out that Lily would have been killed by Voldermort. And, his hatred of Harry was based upon how much of James Potter was in Harry, but his defense of Harry out of his unrequited love of Lily lessens him. I could see seriously that he hated Harry because of him, Voldemort killed Lily, but he sees Harry as the tool to finally achieve his goals-of ending Voldermort after Voldermort takes out Dumbledore. And, quite frankly...after seeing most of the representations of James as a teenager, I wonder seriously how much of Snape's hate of James was justified, on the same plain as the hate of a goth nerd to the head of the football team that everybody liked because he knew who to suck up to and who to blow-and stole the love of his life from him.

Now, we get to Dumbledore-whom I have said was pulling off a pretty intricate Xanatos Roulette throughout the books-and this gets back to the "plotting and planning" of Rowling thing that I wonder she did. That Harry's only real father figure planned-from the start to the end-planned to feed into the meat grinder of Voldemort's war and have him killed so that Voldemort would finally be vulnerable to another, while all the time he was leading Harry to believe that he was the one that would stop Voldermort. And, Dumbledore's history-a nice counterpoint to Voldermort-would have been another thing to have all sorts of hints dropped into his life, rather than at the end. You knock a character like he was off of his pedestal carefully, or you crush a whole lot of plots-and he was just thrown off the pedestal really, really hard.

The last bit of my dislike of the series was that, to be frank, how much did Harry Potter change through the books? With the exception of a patch in Order of the Phoenix (which I see as kind of justified-throughout most of the book he was treated like a mushroom by most of his authority figures), Harry has always been a pretty decent, pretty good person. And, he has never been tempted by some of the deeper aspects of power in the Wizarding World...not even once. The nearest he has been tempted has been the Mirror of Erised to find the childhood that he wanted. Even when confronted with the last two of the Deathly Hallows, he chose to get rid of one of them-the one that the entire book seemed primed to give Harry in the form of the Elder Wand. Despite stories to the contrary, the Elder Wand is not the One Ring and Harry Potter has shown that he possessed strength of character to have held onto it. Of course, you have to wonder where that strength of character came from-inside himself, or the enchantment on his house that kept him safe from harm--which had to have included mental harm, as his treatment by the Dursleys damn near bordered on child abuse and would have made him a perfect Muggle hater.

It wasn't a bad book, it just wasn't a good book, and we were all primed for a good book. Tho, at the very least, it meant that people are reading more...and that is never a bad thing. I don't regret buying it, I don't regret reading it, I just regret it wasn't a better book.

My Short Review Of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows"

Okay, there's a short and a long review. The long review will be later.

My short review-

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows" is the last book in J.R. Rowling's famous series of books about the English Wizarding world, and it's title character, Harry Potter. While the series, from how it was written, tried to end with a bang; it instead ended with a whimper. The book suffers from several Xanatos Roulettes, not the least of which is the other title "character" of the book-the famed Deathly Hollows.

The plotting suffered...there were hints that should have been dropped in earlier books, and earlier portions of the book, that weren't.

At the end, you feel glad that it ended-because the book ended in a major deus ex machine...one that would frustrate many readers. It felt like Rowling changed the rules of how magic worked...just so she could get the ending she wanted. Add to that a series compression of how it should have ended...which would have been a great "travelogue" sort of book.

Add to that the final annoyance, in my mind-the treatement of Snape. Everything about him, up until the last book, was a character that was trying to build up his own abilities so that when Volermort and Dumbledore finally slag each other, he's at the top of the heap. I kept looking at the character's end as being one like Kerr Avon, smiling as both sides realized that he's set them both up to kill each other off...

I think that I won't be able to come back to this book for a bit. How bad was it? I got it Saturday and pulled it from my bag for work (I have usually two hardcover and two or three paperback books for reading on public transit) tonight. This is the shortest time that I've ever had a book in my bag, not even making it through the week. I don't think I'll be reading it, any time soon again. It bothered me that much...

Multi-Posting

Short posts today, just to get things off my chest. More details as I have time.

• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows? IMHO, the book was about second from the worst in the series (#5 aka Order of the Phoenix annoyed me to no end, until about the last third). And, you read it and go back through the other books...and Rowling really, really sucks when she tries to do plotting. I'll discuss this in more depth, but let's just say that if this is was qualifies as "good fiction", I should work harder on trying to do a Heinlien-esque juvenile/young adult book.
• I have dream of all the buses in San Francisco smelling like french fries. One of the biggest advantages of this would be that we'd be cutting off more of our dependence on foreign oil. So very much always a good thing.
• Another Harry Potter comment...I really, really, really hate how Serverus Snape died at the end of the series. Up until the end, I always kept viewing his character as more of a Avon-type character-ultimately his loyalties were to himself, and nobody else, and he was running the hell out of all the other people.
  
  Damn it, I'm talking more about this book than I want to right now.

Will have my much more complete and complicated review of the last Harry Potter book up either tomorrow or Thursday.

An Insult To Bottom Feeders

Let's see, Ted "I Never Met A Terrorist I Didn't Like" Rall is at it again.

I had to give it a day so I could think about keeping my temper. Not only is it a flat-out insult on American troops, it makes a direct comparison to American soldiers and Al-Qaeda "soldiers" and their ilk.

Last time I checked, America soldiers would use "hard" methods of interrogation, which we're allowed because many of these "insurgents"/terrorists are not protected by the Geneva Conventions up to about Article IV(which the US is not a signature of)-they are not a part of an organized military chain of command, openly wear their weapons and are identifiable as soldiers, make an effort to avoid civilian casualties, and several other factors.

We don't roast up the son of a local headman for dinner as a threat to remain "loyal" to the cause.

Nor do we just slaughter people and bury them in the groves. Even though I think many Iraqis wouldn't have a problem with us just stuffing many members of Al Qaeda in shallow graves coated with pig lard.

I really, really wonder what people like Ted Rall think. If they do "think". Do they believe because they're "progressive" and oh so socialist, they won't be touched by people like this?

Asshats.

The Big Easy Of The Big Easy

Just had this inspirational brainstorm. I was reading and thinking about "Life On Mars", and thought about this idea for a story...

Take a detective from New Orleans, who's partner just died. She's wanting to find out who killed him...and she has a new partner.

He's very much an "old school" cop. He dresses as much as you can, like he was from the '70s. He "interrogates" people in ways that a lot of cops aren't allowed these days. Has problems with cell phones and computers. Is a "bit" dirty (there's two scenes that reflects this-one is when she meets him, he's eating a meal, and the guy that owns the resturant won't take her money, cause "she's his friend". A second incident is when a guy tries to slip him a $100 to make a problem go away-he lights the bill on fire and stuffs it in the crook's pocket).

In short, he seems like he was resurrected from the '70s.

Which he was.

It turns out (we'll learn this as the series goes on) that he died in 1976, killed by six people-two he didn't know, his old partner, and three other people. All to keep the secret of a land deal that made them millions. When Hurricane Katrina hit...he came back from the dead.

By the end of first season, we learn that when he "brings to justice" the six that killed him, he gets to go on to Heaven. If he gets killed again (which can only happen if his head is cut off), he goes straight to Hell...

Interesting bits of drama, and there's also the whole "duck out of water" aspect to the story.

Stupid, Stupid Greens...

(Stolen from Steve DenBeste...)

I do have to admit, it's a good idea. A company in California is building a solar farm, and on the one hand, that's a good thing. Supplies eighty megawatts over 640 acres. Of course, this is during sunlight hours...

Also, if my math is right, you're getting about 0.125 megawatts per acre. And, probably subsiding the solar power panel industry, which really needs to spend more in research to make solar panels tougher, more capable, lighter, and cheaper. And, while it will make the heart of any tranzi whom could get cancer from a dosage of heavy metals in water that requires major effort to find happy, it is a waste-worse yet, it's an arrogant waste.

Let's see. If my math is right, the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant generates about 2.9 megawatts per acre. If you built the same facility on the same bit of ground as the solar plant, that would be 1856 megawatts-1.8 gigawatts, which is noticeable fraction of the State of California's power needs. Twenty nuclear power plants this size and you have the entire state's power needs and PG&E can get back into the buisness of selling power out of the state, which is why California's bills tended to be so low for so long.

(Yes, I know after deregulation that PG&E isn't in the power selling business-I think. Let me just use my ideas and thoughts here).

Of course, that would require us to build Evil Nuclear Reactors, which is kind of like invoking Satan to the Gaia-worshiping environmentalist Greens and Tranzis.

I wonder, seriously, how well this planet will work out in the end.

Happy 4th Of July...

For those of you that are outside the United States...happy Wednesday.

For American citizens...the nation has been crazy, but we're still here, and not leaving any time soon.

So, for all of you that want America to go away, you can all come and kiss my lovely ass.

Tales From The Side-SF Pride 2007

Today was the SF Pride Parade and I went, expecting to have a good, and busy time.

That I did, but I honestly didn't expect how busy....

First clue should have been on BART, when by the time I got to North Berkeley, I was packed into a train that resembled one from Japan than on a Sunday.

And, to the people that organized MUNI, when you have these kinds of crowds, you really, really need to have more trains. And this was to the Giants game. Maybe there should be a special "Sunday" schedule (which is pretty much a Saturday schedule), so that the massive, massive crowds can be accommodated. But, this is a good thing-at the very least, it means that that people will be spending money and making the world a better place, a bit at the time.



Of course, I didn't even make it to Pride to see something interesting. These two lovely ladies were a part of Azure Bellydance (sadly no website), and they had participated in the Pride parade. Great ladies, tired but very happy and highly professional about it.

It was a good sign, I think...they looked like that they had a wonderful, wonderful time.

I came into the show via the Civic Center MUNI station...and the whole party was going on, and it wasn't even NOON...I was amazed. And happy, because this year, I was getting my Utilikilt...something that I've wanted for a long, long while.

And, blessed be, the Utilikilt booth is right there, which is a good, good thing. I have the cash, I have the time, I'm going to get myself fitted, and have my own Utilikilt, something to wear that's all new for me.

I discover exactly what size I need...and they don't have any.

Damn. A great plan ruined. Oh, well.

I go forth, and explore the whole aspect of the Pride Parade, and I'm finding all sorts of neat people. For example...

These lovely and fascinating ladies were at SF Pride from Berkeley. Great people, and I think I should have chattered at them a bit more. Neat people, and very cute. I would love to run into them all again.



Ah yes, Honeybuns and Lola. Two other lovely ladies that I would love to meet again-and buy dinner, and wouldn't kick out of bed for eating crackers, unless they were very, very messy...











Some more people whom came to Pride, and looked like they were having loads of fun. Not the least of which is that the day was still young...




The lovely and loving ladies of The Sock Boutique. They were great with the schwag, and it made me a bit guilty that I wasn't able to really get anything they had offered to sell. Which was a shame, they have great stuff...









This was at 1:30...and it just kept getting busier and busier indeed...






And, yet again, we have the average and run-of-the-mill SF lunatic. It's always fun to see them....
















Happy, happy couples. You can't look at them, and not feel happy for them. Love is so very hard to find in this world indeed. We all need more love in this world.






Two very happy grey bears. I have to smile at them, at that age, they look happy and so much in love. You can't ask for more than that...and yes, I'm envious.












More ladies of Pride. I love the costumes, it feels so very much like a really, really good party at a sci-fi con with some of them.















Brekke of the Society of Janus, who is wearing such a lovely, lovely corset...

I love women in corsets, there are so many ways they are lovely indeed...
















Oh, did I mention this lovely lady. Her name is Jazz, a dear friend of mine, and I like her a lot. She wears a corset, and so very sadly, she's taken....

















...namely, to the guy on the left. Lucky man indeed.







By this time, it was nearly 2 pm, and the crowds were just packed...I realized that my hate of crowds would be kicking in like clockwork, and it was time for me to get out of there. I hate being packed in with people, it makes me feel like a sheep.

I hate feeling like a sheep. I'm very much a wolf.

On my way out, I ran into these lovely two ladies... The lady on the left is Artemis Chase, model and all-around cutie. Loved her friend, too. Two more lovely women to invite to dinner... (Edit: Her friend's name is Charisma Glitteratti.)

Second Test Drive Completed-"Full Metal Panic!-The Second Raid"

So, due to the fact that I'm looking at paying for school in about two months (donations to The Cause are always accepted...), I haven't had a chance to watch the series on DVD yet.

Warning, there are spoilers...

1)What I liked about the series was that we got a better sense of how MITHRIL relates to the rest of the world. Not the least of which is how Teresa keeps herself in charge-however hard it might be.
2)Emotional activities....you know what, I can really sypathize with Sousuke. He's discovering that he's not just a solider anymore, but has other parts of his life that he can do and explore. And, that he's in love with Kaname...
3)Of course, Kaname changes, too. She demonstrates an ability to defend herself, think quick, and work fast on her feet. Oh, and that she can wield a mean tazer.
4)I'm curious about the nature of the whole Amalgam/MITHRL relationship-is this a "secret war" aspect, a'la the whole SHIELD/AIM conflict in Marvel comic books? Or are the being used as proxy forces for world powers?
5)Of course, the series suffers from "Series Syndrome"-the main characters can't resolve their feeling for each other, not really...since that would mean the end of the series. Or, it would get rid of a lot of the comedic plot aspects of it.
6)I know there are several more books and such in the series...when will we see them animated and published, so I can see them? And read the original books...

Opinion? If you liked the first series, you'll like this one. If you didn't...don't expect this to change your mind. Nice mecha combat action, I liked it.

What's Going On Out There?

It's a serious question. On the Liberal side of the aisle, the insanity has hit the mainstream. By God, many of the so-called leaders have made sounds and chattered in ways that twenty years ago...hell, ten years ago would have had reasonable and total accusations of the world "treason" bandied about. Not the least of which is the whole "we want out of Iraq" chant from senior leadership of the Democratic party. They are willing to make the blood that American soldiers have shed, the work of thousands that have fought and stood by Iraqis that want a nation of laws, a nation where they know they won't be killed walking down the street because they believe in a slightly different version of God, all for domestic political points. DOMESTIC! POLITICAL! POINTS!

And, let's not ignore our so-called "conservative" and "Republican" friends on the other side of the street. EVERY SINGLE POLL that has checked on this subject has stated that people want a border wall and law enforcement first on the whole illegal immigration issue. Emphasis on the first part, before anything that looks like a guest worker program or amnesty. And enhanced enforcement of the laws-busting employers that knowingly use illegal immigrant labor, busting up gangs that get across the border to escape justice, and keeping people from coming here and using our laws to surf the welfare rolls. Instead, it's like the White House has been working with the Mexican goverment and given it everything they want...

And, the sides are crazy. Not even during the Clinton years did things get this crazy. I don't think any of us hated him in the same way the Left does with the BDS-we didn't like him, thought he was fool and a knave and an idiot...but we just wanted him to go away and join Jimmy Carter in peanut farming. To become a trivia question on Hollywood Squares. Not this outpouring of venom that is standard....I don't think even the Freepers were this insanely hateful of Clinton.

I wonder, seriously, what will happen in this upcoming election. It hasn't gotten serious yet, but when it does, it will be a messy election.

Back From The Educational Wars

Long few months, mostly the fun of learning how to work through the various Adobe programs. Still discovering new tricks for old monstrosities.

Will be blogging more in the next few months, and I have gotten a nice, new Nikon D70S (okay, used but in good shape) to play with. Expect photos, some of which might be NSFW (you'll be warned if there is such stuff).

The Plot Glut

Steve DenBeste was talking about how, once you boil it all down, a lot of the harem animes are the same. Worse yet, you need to be a CPM to really differentiate between some of the shows. And their greatest sin? They flunk the refrigerator test, even before you finish the show.

Does this tie into the glut of remakes? Let's see, Disturbia is a remake of one of the great classics (Rear Window), the swarm of TV shows being remade into movies (the person that does an A-Team remake will go on the same list at Uwe Boll as "people I'll feed into wood chipper, feet first"), and such.

Why? Quite frankly, we're running out of plots. It hasn't all been done before, but I'd say about 70-80% of it's all been done before. What's left is getting pretty esoteric, and pretty weird-and something off-the-wall and strange.

Some of the things that could be done...here's an idea. Try taking a trope, and subervting it.

I've been banging around this idea for a manga/anime seires. Take the Fushigi Yugi plot and mess around with it...

Our main character is accidentally summoned from our world to a Asian magical fantasy world to fulfill a prophesy. The Princess of Roses will marry the Dragon Prince, and will lead that world through it's next thousand years of what it becomes. As the time comes closer, the sixteen Dragon Princes (and Princesses) start appearing, eight bright and eight dark. Once the Dragons kill each other off, one will be left to marry the Princess. If a bright prince marries the Princess, "good" things happen. If a dark prince marries the Princess, "bad" things happen. Both for a given value of good and bad.

So, the "good" and "bad" guys are gathering up the Princes and Princesses to await the summoning of the Princess of Roses...

And this time, the summoned one is a guy. That has all the characteristics and rules of the marks the Princess of Roses should be. Whom is most certainly not a retiring and reticent type. He can make gunpowder and can do blacksmithing, and is a military and engineering otaku. He knows history. A few episodes along, he organizes a village into a small Roman legion with longbows for ranged weapons. He exists as a major change in the world...and there are people that don't want change.

Hilarity, death, romance, and comedy ensue from there.

Concealed Carry For California?

I need some help here.

According to this, there is a pretty set procedure for getting a proposition on the ballot.

After what happened today at Virgina Tech, I think it's time.

Hell, I think it's way past time.

Only one.

That's all that had to have been there. Only one with a gun. Only one that was willing to stand up and fight.

Highly Depressing...

Everybody has heard the news about the attacks on the Virgina Tech campus.

What makes it worse is that there was a major legislative proposal to allow concealed carry on campus. That it died on committee is something that people will be regretting.

My fears? I go to college, in the evenings. And, as you know God made little green apples, somebody is going to try and do better-and survive.

If it happens when I'm around...I live in California. Where the "right people" think we shouldn't be able to defend ourselves. Because if I could, I'd be carrying. Not because of this...because I believe I should be able to defend myself. And others. A state of affairs that somebody at work would have liked-she got robbed in San Francisco, in broad daylight, by a free-lance socialist. Shooting him a few times would have been a good thing, in my opinion...

Grr. I'm tired and long days...and the idiot count has gone up...

Saw "300" Again...

...and, damn if that isn't a powerful film.

It's the sort of film Hollywood should be making. The bad guys are bad guys, the good guys are good guys, the villains are nasty, and the moral is one that should be told, over and over and over again.

Hollywood won't make this kind of film, because it means they have to acknowledge that there is good and evil. Not just "a few points of view".

The bad guys commit horrible atrocities in the name of their god-king. Oh, did I mention that they consider civilians a "valid target"?

I wonder why Hollyweird wouldn't want to make heroes that fight this kind of evil...

First Test Drive Completed!

I got to watch Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, all thirteen episodes. God bless fansubs.

It's a fun, occasionally light, occasionally deep series. Fight choreography is much different, it does flow togeter a lot better. I did especially love the magic system...spells more as programs than arcane formulas. Interesting concept, I must think about it more...

I really wish the characters were older, Episode 5 left me feeling a bit icky, and Fate Testarossa was pushing about 1.2-1.3 reis (clone of the original girl and despised by her "mother", and used only to gather the Jewel Seeds needed to resurrect the original). It was a good story, tho the next series seems to be aiming at the whole shojo/blowing up Tokyo power levels. Not sure how that'll be...but we'll see.

Opinion? Worth watching if you're a big fan of the "magical girl" genre. The character youth should be carefully considered, but it's a good show.

This Looks Awfully Familiar...

This map is a map of the Internet, posted by somebody that logged IP connections. While looking at this, I pulled out my copy of the Ghost in The Shell manga, and turns out that the map that Shirow posted...looks an awful lot like about the map he had...and very much like a star cluster.

Hm...if Sword of the Stars could support it...run a map built like this. Or Starfire...GOD, the game would take few YEARS to go through. We'd need computer support just to track the production. And combat....I'm scared in so many ways. We could reach battles that would make ISW 4 seem tiny and puny. It could be fleets measured in thousands of ships. Hell, we might even have to make the game played so that whole TEAMS of players were playing the Emperor and Imperial governors of just one empire, as a part of an game that would take years to play through. It's scary on so many levels.

But, it's one of those things that should be tried. And played.

When I win the lottery...maybe.

Watching The Last Episode Of Battlestar Galactica Season Three... (Warning, Spoilers)

...and, I do have to say this.

What the motherfracking hell was going on?
(SPOILERS)
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Are they all toasters and just don't know it? We know that Laura Roslin, Caprica Six, and Athena are sharing the "imaging" of the Opera House with Baltar.

Which also leads to the next big question-what happens next? Galactica is facing off against a BIG Cylon fleet. Starbuck is back...and she says she knows how to get to Earth. Lee's in a Viper, and probably realized what he is-a pilot. We have the Final Five there...and that means that there are at least two hybrid Cylon/human children. And, what is their ultimate agenda? To finally end the war between Cylon and human?

And, there won't be new episodes until 2008.

Motherfrackers!

ADDITION-Friend of mine made a comment, and I have a scary theory.

Roslin is an early version of the human/Cylon hybrid. She had a vision of Leoben Convoy in Season One, not focused...but pretty specific. The drug she was taking for her cancer was causing hallucinations, not quite specific. This might have unlocked her latent ability to image. After she was injected with Hera's blood to cure her cancer...the hallucinations and dreams have been getting more and more specific.

All of her hallucinations that we see on-screen are of Cylons. Even the near-death hallucination she had in Epiphanines had Cylons in it, in one form or another.

That she's imaging with Hera/Athena is one thing. That they're sharing the imagery with Caprica Six is something...crazy. Does that make Baltar a Cylon? A hybrid that shares "imagry" with Caprica Six (their mutual hallucinations)?

And, what is the agenda of the Final Five? All of them are trusted people, having proven their loyalty time and time again, in blood and fire. Where does their agenda lead for all the sides?

BWAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHA!

You know, you look at this, and you realize that people are crazy in GOOD ways.

Somebody is going to do the stats in a game system, you know it. Probably Warhammer 40K.

And, you know somebody will make the miniatures.

And there will be the battle...

Damn it, I want this on a T-Shirt. And if it wasn't going to call down a Plague Of Lawyers...I'd make this T-shirt...

Anime Crash Test Dummy

I think this is going to be my big thing for the next few months. I'm going to be looking at various fansubs and seeing what's pretty cool and what sucks.

There will be much suckage, I'm fearing. I haven't seen a lot lately that has me impressed.

So, time to fire up the BitTorrent software and see what's up. Note, I'm going only to post complete series (just in case it's pretty decent at the end), so be warned.

Anime Frustration

I think that me and Steve DenBeste are in full agreement on this-the latest round of anime is kind of sucking.

Badly.

Worse, a lot of remakes, a sign of studios that are needing a serious creative boost (and I want to know whom thought it was a good idea to make a second season of Bokusatsu Tenshi Dokuro-chan, so I can whap them on the back of the head with a two stroke guitar). Those whom are "in the know"-what is the average age of directors and anime writers these days?

Sadly, even the fansubs are getting kind of dull. Let's see, what I got recently was Soko No Strain, in which the main female lead's best friend is a doll that she talks to and never responds, never acts, never does anything but sit there, the entire series. The mecha were too curved for my tastes, looking more like mobile statues than weapons, and the whole concept of a war that takes place at relativistic speed was done better by, oh, Gunbuster and The Forever War....

My theory? Two-fold. The first is the export market has finally caught up with Anime-they know that eventually something will be sold to America. And, they want the next Naruto, the next Cowboy Bebop, the next Evangelion-the mega hit that will make them millions in DVD sales, toys, models, look-alike cosmetic surgery, porn... And, if what I can see on TeeVee and in the stores is what "Americans" like to buy, we're buying a lot of yaoi, drama, shonen-ai faire, and similar. No big mecha stories or "deep" plots.

Oh, and porn, lots and lots of porn...

Second? The cost of investment in anime means that a lot fewer chances can be taken. Like movies, if you don't have a "name" (voice actor, director, studio, etc), fans won't go to see the movie/anime. This means that this is the time for the independent studios to start making products. I do think that the Internet will save anime-if only because within the decade, somebody will make a complete series, produce it, master it, press it on DVD...and only meet once for the release party.
(And, if there's any justice in the world, I'll be writing the scripts and directing...).

I'm a tad frustrated...and I hope to see more neat stuff, and soon.

Watching Gunbuster and Gunbuster 2

So, I just got Gunbuster on DVD, and watching Gunbuster 2 (Diebuster) via the ever-lovely and useful BitTorrent (I swear, I've saved more on getting BAD anime via download than all the reviews in the world). And, you know what? Gunbuster still holds up, despite being nearly twenty years old (yes, TWENTY years, that's scary...). My only complaint-if any-would have been that if there was a series that deserved a "reimaging" or at the very least bringing the animation quality up to "modern" standards, this is it.

And, despite the fact that GAINAX can't normally do a sequel to save their lives, Gunbuster 2 ties in a lot of the same themes. The same universe-and the way the story is told, it's more like a continuity of the original series. The series is a hell of a lot better than any of the "oh no, humanity sucks" tales of Evangelion (GOD, that series has gotten on my nerves lately, much better series are languishing in obscurity, yet the passive-aggressive Shinji and annoying company are going to have a new series made of their adventures...). I would love to know more about what happened before Gunbuster 2, why the Dix-Neuf had it's degeneracy reactor removed, why the defense system of Operation Galaxy Center Throw changed into the Space Monsters of the series, and why the Topless came about...a hell of a lot more than wanting to find Shinji Ikari and give him a beat-down that would make Camile Vidan go "damn, that boy has it rough".

Supposedly, Gunbuster 2 will be coming out on DVD. Will I get it? Do bears poop in the woods?

Random Week Notes

Haven't updated this in a week. It feels like a month, between work, school, and a social life that is just confusing the hell out of me.

But, for all of my fans (all three of you), here are some of the thoughts/things that my brain has been up to.

• Fate/stay night is just flat, like week-old opened soda. Solty Rei has been done before, and done better. And, this sucks...I'm looking through some of the anime I have, and there isn't much new stuff-fan or pro subbed-that is about as good as a lot of the stuff in my library that would be considered "classic" anime. I want new stuff, but a lot of what the market seems to be pushing out is...watered down? Dumbed down? As if they know they're aiming for the American domestic market.
  
  I just finished up the whole Full Metal Alchemist TV series, then watched the movie. I liked the note the TV series ended on. I hated the movie, if only because it felt way too much like they were trying to recycle the character models. At least this time (unlike way too much anime) the Nazis were bad guys...
  
• Everybody tells me that I need to do two things-get a Mac, and get a girlfriend. On the first, I like the big iron of my PC-okay, I might have to replace the mobo, I KNOW I'm going to have to replace the sound card...but, I can do that with my PC. Macs...once they get too far, it's time to buy a new one. Tho, upgrading the new Mac Pro with the heavy-duty Xeno processors (violating factory warentee!) and setting up my box as a dual-boot Windows/OSX system has a temptation to it.
  
  On the girlfriend issue? Working on it. So far, eighteen people have told me I need one since the start of the year. When I get to number twenty, I'm making them a plaque...
• Bring me the head of Bill Gates.
• I'm curious-how do most men learn how to date? 'Cause most "men's magazines" tend to be nearly usless on this subject. My female friends have suggested that I try a sneaking a look at Cosmo or Elle or such. At this point, it just might be worth trying...
• Fantasy books have been annoying the hell out of me. I personally found trying to read any of the Lord of the Rings trilogy to be an exercise in homework, which is one of the reasons why I'm reading something else. And, they keep using the same European models, or a Japanese model. I would find it awesome if somebody set a good novel in the Era of Warring States in China, or Byzantinum (the various tales of Bellasarius are good reads).

More thoughts as my brain hits them...

There Is Something Rotten in Redmond, WA.

My opinions of Microsoft are very...frustrating. Yes, they've probably done more to bring computers to people than any other company in the world (in the form of Windows 95), but damned if they aren't frustrating at times.

Case in point is my latest set of issues with my installation of Windows XP. Mind you, this is the Home edition, not the Professional one (and I wonder seriously why this is...), and I've just had to reinstall it after my computer went crazy lately. Every two or three days, the computer claims that it's missing a vital file in the setup folder. So, I boot up Windows from the CD and go to the recovery console.

Mind you, I do nothing else, just go to the recovery console DOS prompt, and exit and reboot the computer. Computer then works fine for about 2-3 days, without a hitch.

I wonder if this problem would mysteriously clear up if I either got Windows XP Professional, or bought Windows Vista. In which case, I'm going to be doing this for a while...there is no way I'm going anywhere NEAR Vista until the SP1 release on DVD. And I upgrade my motherboard and video card to handle the Aero interface. And pay for somebody to replace my cold, unfeeling mechanical heart.

Piss-Poor Excuse

Sad to say, I've been so busy with the rest of my life (namely school and work), I haven't blogged much.

But, seeing this article, I have to comment, even if it's pretty quickly. Why aren't more people going to the movies? When sixty percent of the poll respondents comment that they are avoiding the films because of issues that the studios are responsible for (cost and movies), and the major studios are blaming other factors (namely piracy), there is a serious disconnect.

Honestly, the last few years, most of the movies I've seen have been sausage-a product that is so heavily processed and heavily shaped and stuffed into a focus-group created casing. It takes a director with serious gravitas and authority, or probably kept the studio execs stoned and drunk, to make something that isn't sausage. Most of the nominees for this years Oscars are the "independent" films, not major studio productions. And, most of us don't want to spend $10 for sausage...

Don't know how to solve it. It feels an awful lot like the '70s, when older management in the top in Hollywood were unable to get "cool", and a new generation of directors fought them toot-and-nail to make the films they wanted. My question becomes...who becomes the creative souls needed?

Not Sure If I Should Be Happy Or Sad...

...that the UK foils a terror plot every six weeks.

Happy that the UK is keeping on top of this, that they're able to prevent terror plots like the soldier beheading attempt...it's like the gang that couldn't shoot straight. That the plots are so...amateur. Damn it, if you're the bad guys, you should have at least something that looks like a competent plot...

Sad that the UK-a major bastion of multi-culturalism and a definite effort by people to "get along"-has a terror plot that gets busted every six weeks. That there is such a flood of hate and anger against a nation that wishes them nothing but the best is scary...

I'm curious about what happens if this keeps up-how will England react? And, through England, the United States...

Poached Egg

How my brain feels right now.

There is, somewhere in there, a pretty sharp piece on Iraq...but, I know that if I write it now, and people could understand it...I think the advocacy of saturation nuclear bombardment would come through way too hard, when I think it's probably our last option.

Tomorrow, once the computer's working again (using a friend's laptop for the next day or so...), my brain should be able to write.

It's a neat article, I think.

Work Fun...

....just a crazy day at my job.

One day, I'll describe to you all how my job works out.

Let's just say that a lot of jobs I'm looking into are going to get me away from this...

Fried Brain

Brain fried.

Hardware going screwy.

Will post more tomorrow.

Hardware Woes

It's official.

I'm probably going to have to pull the HD from this computer and put a new one in...it's time. The drive is about four or so years old and probably should have been replaced a year ago.

If I have to do that, I will probably have a whole swapping out of the mobo, processor, and video card. New hardware, yay! Maybe even Vista-ready. Expensive, tho...about $500+, so if this computer can soldier on for a bit longer, it will.

My only issue? If the new mobo requires a SATA connection and can't take IDE, that means the nice, large 200+ gig HD that's my D: drive might have to be replaced...if there isn't a IDE/SATA card that I can use as a bridge.

Yay, the joys of playing with computers.

Finished Off...

....Full Metal Alchemist and Hand Maid May. Opinions?

FMA was tight, very much a story trying to tell a story. What is really scary is something that the story brought up-what truly powers our world? Or worlds?

Hand Maid May was a good fun harem anime. At the very least, it was a definitely an interesting take on the various tropes of time travel and androids...

Miniatures Wargaming Thoughts

Some of the random thoughts that I've had about any form of new miniature wargames. I'm thinking modern/future gaming-fantasy/historical would require some different concepts.

1. Fast, fast combat resolution. While it would be perfect if you could roll one die and both handle to-hit and damage, I can't think of an elegant way to do it.
2. A "realistic" system of morale. From what I've been reading, morale rarely just "breaks" in the sense of utter panic except under certian circumstances. Perahps a three or four-level gradiated system that confers different penalties (pinned means that a unit cannot advance towards the enemy, etc...)
3. Point-based build system, so you could build anything from a single soldier to a Terminator to battlefield monsters. It would let you settle the perrenial debate of "which sci-fi army could beat another sci-fi army".
4. Models for the "official" line would come as 35mm painted plastic ones (for grunt and some specialist units), and unassembled, unpainted metal ones (for "hero" and "elite" units).
   
5. Vehicles...there will be some. Enough rules to run a brigate-sized battle with mech infantry and tanks and walkers and artillery and worse...
6. All the things you need to play the game (unless there's a rule dispute) won't take up more than two pages of 8.5x11" paper.
7. Compelling backstory! There will be a compelling backstory...

More as I think of it.

Adobe

I'm about to play the fun game of "how does one use Adoble (insert program here)?" soon...

At least I was able to get it at academic rates.

So, if you see a lot of...strange pictures showing up, it's just me.

100 Ideas...

Actually, it's seven ideas.

I'm looking at all the social gathering/group sites, like Tribe.net, Friendster.com, and Myspace.com, and I'm thinking of how I could do it, and better.

Some of my ideas...

• Lots of tools for "who am I?"....picking "anime" could let you select a slider where you can say you love mecha anime, hate yaoi, and would be vulnerable to death by shonen-ai. Six levels of options above and below "neutral".
  
• Oh, and personal relations...you can pick six levels from "kinda know them" to "best friends forever". Or "don't really know them" to "despise them".
• The site will have two tiers-a "basic" site that will have ads, and a "preferred" one where people pay a small fee, don't get ads, and their profiles go up top. Oh, and for adult forums, you have to prove that you're an adult...by having a credit card in your name.
• Fun, fun tools of all sorts. We want this to be THE place for social networking...

Like a lot of my ideas...I can do it, I just need some point to get started in the right direction. Hell, I could probably get the servers off of eBay or a disposal company...

Dating Myself

I hate to say it, but Brett is partially right...KITT is a good Cylon, while KARR is the evil Cylon.

God, how many people would have gotten those references? Of course, I would want to jump a drawbridge with the Bluesmobile, or a hill with the General Lee...hell, travel through time with a DeLorean with a-grav and a time device to see how hot some of the ladies of fame are...

I'm feeling odd and old...

Wow...

Ergo Proxy has just been awesome, and I'm loving it.

I'll probably have to do a TMW on it...

Con's Over...

Yay, fun.

Having to deal with drama in all directions.

Yes, I like solving problems. But, whom helps to solve mine?

Con Excitment

Running any major portion of a fan convention has been aptly described as...chaotic.

Will tell the stories on Monday, when I'm home, safe and sound, and can think...

But, I can say this...there will be promotions.

Drunk...

...and not that all witty.

More tomorrow.

Smuggler's Blues

There's trouble on the streets tonight, I can feel it in my bones
I had a premonition, that he should not go alone
I knew the gun was loaded, but I didn't think he'd kill
Everything exploded and the blood began to spill

I'm starting to sober up from being very, profoundly drunk.

To understand my situation, the last...three hours, I've been charming, wittiy, and cuddly. And, working through at least two marguritas and a "phaser shot" and a dirty martini.

So baby, here's your ticket, put the suitcase in your hand
Here's a little money now, do it just the way we planned
You be cool for twenty hours and I'll pay you twenty grand

So, Johnny boy is drunk. And running on that odd place between sober and drunk, where my brain doesn't care, and I can write without fear, without soundng or seeming stupid.

I wonder if this is the state that authors aim for, the pure bliss of creation without the Critic behind them.

I'm sorry it went down like this,
And someone had to lose,
It's the nature of the business,
It's the smuggler's blues
Smuggler's blues

I'm starting to come back. Scary thoughts.

Starting to come back to the scary, scared human being that I am, sober and afraid. No wonder alcohol has been called "liquid courage". I'd like to think that the things that I've done, I'd do if I was sober...but I wonder, as my body starts to grow...dense.

The sailors and pilots, the soldiers and the law,
The pay-offs and the rip-offs, and the things nobody saw
No matter if it's heroin, cocaine, or hash,
You've got to carry weapons 'cause you always carry cash
There's lots of shady characters, lots of dirty deals
Every name's an alias in case somebody squeals
It's the lure of easy money, it's got a very strong appeal

Alcohol is easy. So are drugs-it's so easy to escape, to become what I am when I have nothing but reactions and responses-and that when I'm this way, it's excuseable.

Hell, I make my own beer....which I'm sharing tomorrow night.

Perhaps you'd understand it better
Standin' in my shoes
It's the ultimate enticement,
It's the smuggler's blues
Smuggler's blues

But, I wonder-the so very Scottish personality that comes out when I'm in that fuzzy land between drinking and drunk, whom has no fear.

Whom goes up to women that when sober, I'd be scare of. And wouldn't ask out, wouldn't touch, wouldn't ask if they wanted to be touched...

See it in the headlines, you hear it every day
They say they're gonna stop it but it doesn't go away
They move it through Miami, sell it in L.A.
They hide it up in Telluride, I mean it's here to stay
It's propping up the governments in Columbia and Peru,
You ask any DEA man, he'll say, "There's nothin' we can do"
From the office of the President, right down to me and you, me and you

I wonder...and fear. I need to know where this knife's edge is-tomorrow night, I come in kilt and boots, ready to drink and stand and fight without hesitation. To find my dream, that I will come home with someone to earn another tail at con...

It's a losing proposition,
But one you can't refuse
It's the politics of contraband,
It's the smuggler's blues
Smuggler's blues

We wil see.

Saturday comes up. My kilt remains unfolded.

And, if I am happy...I shall win.

We...will see.

First Day At Con...

...busy is the best term I can think of. VERY, very busy.

The usual last-minute disasters.

Running around to get stuff.

Oh, cute girls too...

Must get out of the room more...

Roasting Pork

Wow.

Fifteen pounds of pork takes about three or so hours to cook.

It's an interesting smell, one that I can enjoy a great deal.

The people at con will love the results, I bet...

The Cookie Blitz

(Imagine, "Weird Al" doing a parody of Ballroom Blitz)

One of the big things I do for conventions is bake cookies.

A LOT of cookies.

In about three days, I've gone through about sixteen sticks of butter, a pound bag of chocolate chips, half a pound of raisins, and a whole bunch of other stuff...all so that Staff Feed can eat well.

It's one of those strange jobs....it beats working, at least at where I work. And, I can nibble on cookie dough to my heart's content (it turns out to be small quantities...). And, it gives me more time to watch anime!

Sadly, the third DVD of HMLV was defective, so I'm waiting for a new one from Greencine.com. Did get to see UHF, and that movie was just plain crazy. And fun.

10 Away From 100

Coming up on my 100th post.

And, I'm thinking of a theme for it.

So far, I'm really, really getting off on this idea of doing a NSFW shoot of anime cosplayers in...interesting positions, costumed.

Either that, or go off on this massive screech/screed about what I think most network and movie execs should be dragged out into the street, and shot. Along with their lawyers.

Any ideas? Or should I just post all the "struggling Tifa" photos and get it over with?

Adopt Barbara Boxer!

Wow, they couldn't just wait for the end of the month to shoot themselves in the foot?

Barbra Boxer is complaining that since Condolizza Rice doesn't have children (whom will "pay the price" for her decisions), she doesn't have a right to make important decisions about the military of the nation.

Wow. Once again, the Demcrats prove that we need a drug plan, so I can GET the drugs these people are using. I want to be that disconnected from reality. Sadly, to get that way, it seems I need to read more Marx, DailyKOS, and consider Michael Moore a "serious" film maker. I'm not that insane yet.

However, I think the perfect solution has been hit upon. Condolizza Rice should adopt Barbra Boxer. It would solve everything!

Con Prep Notes

Anybody that ever has worked a convention can tell you-it's a lot of stress, no matter how well-run the con is.

Starting late tomorrow or early Monday, I'm going to be baking cookies. A lot and lot of cookies...

Baking roast pork and shredding it on early Thursday so I can put it in bags and toss it in a cooler, so I can take it for dinner on Friday.

Then, the Costco run...

Hard to be the bandleader, instead of the guy banging the big drum. But, damn it, I'm having fun!

Gaming Thoughts #3

For all the gamers out there, how many games have you bought because they're "cool" or "I like the rules", but have never played.

The short list (from memory)-

• New World Of Darkness (yet...)
• Exalted
• D&D 3.5
• Cyberpunk 20XX
• GURPS 4th Edition (yet...)

From what I can figure, a third of my games are "never played".

I want to play some more of these games....but, then again, I want the gaming group that I played with that scattered to the four winds about eight years ago. They were people with brains attached. Could completely derail the campaign...and then run as if this was all planned.

And, damn it, that I don't have them, the more I appreciate them in comparison to other GMs and groups...

Idea Chucking...

Working through some ideas tonight, so it'll be a pretty light posting.

• For anybody that has customer service experience, is there a technical term or condition that customers have, where they don't listen to what you've told them?
  
  We have that where I work-to get something done, we need items A, B, C, D, E, and F from them. They send us C and E. They claim that they don't need to send us A, they sent us B, D is going to be faxed to us in the morning (in Moscow) and F is still "being processed". And, oif course, they want miracles performed...
  
  I'm so tempted to charge my company an additional ID-10-T fee for each one of these customers...
• Does anybody know how to set up a Wiki? I'm thinking of creating a Wiki for a sci-fi TV series that doesn't exist yet (i.e. create a universe from scratch) and see what happens from there....
  

Blaugh, the brain feels like a limp noodle.

A Car Question

You get all sorts of complaints about how older cars are "gross polluters" that are out on the highways, contributing to the Greenhouse Effect (of course, most of the "greenhouse gases" are coming from cows in the form of methane, and you don't see them being tapped...), and generally a nusisance. Especially for older cars that are poorly maintained, but are still driven because they are the only cars somebody can afford to keep running.

My solution? On a state-by-state basis (depending upon the state, we'd have to check with them to work out the best way to do it per state), the federal government will match the Kelly Blue Book price of the car that is twenty years or older when it's being traded in-as long as there is a verifiable chain of custody to show that it's going to the junkyard. Double rates if the new car that is being bought is a hybrid.

This way, you get older cars off the road-and keep them off-and put newer cars on the road. Which will have better emissions controls, better fuel mileage, and better performance. I can't see where this would be a problem...tho somebody will complain, I promise.

An iPhone?!?!?

Oh, it's one of those "great ideas", but there are so many practical problems-

1. The last round of iPods had a reputation for their plastic developing scratches easily. The WHOLE FACE of the new iPhone is plastic.
2. There are no controls on the phone other than the touchscreen. If that breaks, you have to get a new phone.
3. The size of the drive is the same as the iPod Nano, and the iPhone has video capability. Video EATS up HD capacity, even the MPEG-4 format used for the iPod.
4. The phone is being offered as an exclusive through Cingular. I've heard mixed reviews of Cingular's service.
5. The cost...$600 for the largest size. Not a lot of difference in cost, easier to get the biggest...which will sell out the fastest.

Personally, I'm going to wait for the second generaton of the hardware, so that all the heatseekers can do the final beta test of the hardware. And, that means I have to get a camera phone, too...which presents so many difficulties. Namely when I get creative...

UPDATE-Oh, and add this.

You can't replace the battery. Which means when the battery wears out, you have to get a new phone. I've only had two cell phones over five years, and the only reason I changed phones was that the old phone's screen was dying.

Got Hanaukyo Maid Team La Verite #2 and #3.

I just love Green Cine....I just got the next two DVDs in the series and I'm working my way through them.

And, I've got a scary theory that's forming. If I'm right, and I hope to GOD I'm not, Taro is as much a victim of Grandfather's efforts as Mariel. And, Grandfather is not only a major-league pervert, he's a major manipulative bastard. And, I think that Taro was a pawn in the Hanaukyo family's rivalry with the Jihioh family, and he will be walking the primrose path that Grandfather has set up. Why? Because Taro is a decent human being, and will not walk away from this mess.

Random Note About The World #45

Cherish the people that work without ego, and without bullshit.

Having dealt with people that love petty power games more than getting the job done, I can fully love the feeling of dealing with proper professionals. Petty power games bore me, and get in the way of getting what I need done, done.

Things That I'm Looking Forward To Reading...

With the New Year coming up, I have a lot of books that I'm looking foward to reading, and enjoying. This doesn't count my reading of politics/current events (I consider that "work" to provide blog material) , and is mostly science-fiction/fantasy. I read voraciously-I can usually polish off a hardcover book in two weeks. This means that I tend to go through a lot of books fast, and I need more books to feed my reading habit. (Women, a perfume that smells of old books is always a turn-on for me...)

The books coming up are...

• 1634:The Baltic War by Eric Flint and David Weber-This is going to be fun. One of the best Alternate History timelines ever written, the 1632-verse has been one that is fast, well-paced, well-written, and has a wide variety of voices in it. It will be a GOOD time to see this book, esp. since a lot of the side plots are being dealt with in other books.
  
  And, why Henry Leffords is so infamous in his breakout efforts...
• Off Armageddon Reef by David Weber-I think this is going to be one of David Weber's big, successful, New York Times Best Seller books (lemme see, he's got at least two series that count for this...maybe three...). The concept is high and sounds well-done, and some of the bits I've read in other places is very "silly serious". It'll be good to read.
• Command Decison by Elizabeth Moon-A caviat...I think Elizabeth Moon has a tendencey of too much soap opera in her books. Bad soap opera. But, it's hard to put down this series...
• Yellow Eyes by John Ringo and Thomas Kratman-Lemme see, why wouldn't I like this? Two of my favorite authors (you must read Watch on the Rhine, and read it with an open mind...and understand that some people will do whatever is needed when the devil drives). And, it's set in the Posleenverse-which has a lot of stories to tell. The eARC on Webscriptions is great...and I just want to read this book. Openly. In San Francisco.
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.R. Rowling-I want to see this series end...the story will be worth reading. Rowling has created a deep and well-made universe, and she has earned every dollar that she has gotten. The last book will be a good read that I can use.

More stuff will be coming out...and when I find it, I'll let you all know.

Going Back To School

In about two weeks, I'm going back to school-San Francisco State University-and it means that I have to spend way too much time playing with the computers. Writing papers. Fixing documents.

It'll be...frustrating. Tiring, but frustrating. I think that a lot of college degrees are white-collar union cards-and I damn well want to earn my union job.

Watching Anime...

Greencine.com sent me the first DVD of Hand Maid May, and I'm pretty happy with it.

It's fun in an amusing sort of way, and it's a fun watch. It's got a good sort of silly fun to it, and I'm loving it-more harem animes need this kind of fun.

I'm playing around with Full Metal Panic!: The Second Raid, and I like it, tho I watch it and I realize that the characters subordinate common sense to plot (you only release hostages from bonds if there is a medical reason or once you've secured them away from the location...). I like the Arm Slaves-they are as close as you can get to a pretty "realistic" mecha-it's on the same size and scale as Labors, Gears, and VOTOMS.

Have to see more anime...

Brilliant Label Idea!

One of those ideas that just seems to run into you...I was thinking of making labels for the next batch of beer. Not much, just something neat.

I'm talking about this with a friend...and POW! I come up with our theme, lovely ladies gracing our beer bottle labels, with a suitable name to them.

A few of the ideas-
*Summer Honey-A Honey Wheat beer, with good flavor. Our lovely lady is a honey-skinned beauty with brown/blonde hair, wearing a very nice summer dress.
*Powerful Wenching-A Scottish ale, with a Scottish lady, well-endowed (she is NOT missing any meals) in Rennisance Faire garb, with long red hair and being so tempting in her appearance.
*Warm-Hearted Lady-A nut brown ale, with a warm, kind lady with dusky skin, a warm smile, delicious cheongsam that matches her skin.
*A Taste Of India-IPA, with a very attractive Hindu lady in a sari that is so very seductive...
*Season's Greetings!-A Celebration Ale with a lovely cinnamon taste, with a blonde bombshell in a great Santa suit.

If I ever decide to go pro, there will be a contest for models for the posters-we want great talent that has never been photographed before...

Work Ethic

I listen to NPR on occasion. Usually because the people in the office turn it on and it's the only station that can get in and through. One of the news stories was how a lot of resturants have problems finding legal labor-a place in Ohio said that they had an ad for a job, and they only got three people-one whom quit in two weeks, and two that were there only so that a manager could sign their unemployment papers.

One thing that really hit me was that the guy that ran the resturant said that one guy they hired for the night shift was trying to sneak out of work consistantly...and that the teenage help they had was getting their parents to call in sick for them, so they could go to concerts and such.

When I was a teenager-my parents would have been...resisant to call in sick for me unless I was puking.

I worked shit jobs-you work the shit jobs when you get started. You work the shit jobs because you need to have a job, so you can pay the bills. If I had to, I'd work at a pig rendering plant. I'm going to pay for my life.

And, I'm going to keep my job. I'm going to ask, going in, if a job might require me to work overtime. And schedule around it.

What really worries me-more than the bad work ethic of a lot of people-is that a lot of what we'd call "entry-level jobs" is being handled by illegal laborers. Whom are entirely dependent upon the protection of their employers to not be deported.

The term "serf" seems to apply here, so very well...and that is very, very bad for a democracy.

A Game Design Document...

I'm thinking about game concepts, and there's one that I've been working on for a while.

The game idea is for a starship game, where players get to command warships in battle, shooting at each other. It's how I think starship combat should be-ships shooting at each other at massive distances, not Star Trek "I can touch your hull!" combat. Torpeoes flying across the sky, right behind them is a storm of missile fire, as warships burn across the night.

There's another one that I'm working on, think of it as X-Com with giant robots. You build the robots, build up bases, and try and defend San Francisco (the sequel will be in Tokyo...).