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...