amazingadrian

Well this year's halloween was a little bit different, but I've gotten good at learning how to celebrate the holiday by myself. I went out on the town and had an impromptu lunch at this Mexican joint called the "El Patron", purchased the extended-cut boxed set of Hellboy and exchanged my "normal" double dvd edition of Hellboy for a Friday the 13th and Friday the 13th Part 2 double feature. Then I had pizza and beer while experiencing Halloween festivities in Second Life and later on I went to a local tour through the woods. In the past, you might recall that our college group used to visit Wompus Woods, which is supposedly one of the largest haunted tours in the state come Halloween time. Well, out here in the boondocks of Anderson, we have something called "Butcher Holler", and their woods are a lot more claustrophobic. They also aren't so heavily dependent on movie themes, so It is quite a bit more...invigorating. I jumped a few times. The atmosphere was perfect, with a light, sprinkling rain. Even better, the place is within walking distance from my house, so I should have no problem coming back another year. Got a handfull of candy...we never have trick-or-treaters out here, but the parents always get some, just in case. Too many years spent in suburbia, I guess, although I wouldn't have had it any other way.

I also splurged a bit and got S.T.A.L.K.E.R. on discount over Steam. It's a game about mutants coming out of Chernobyl in the year 2012. A first-person shooter with Oblivion style graphics. What I find most shocking is that my computer runs it perfectly. Even Oblivion is prone to slowdown sometimes, and this game seems more demanding. My computer can hardly run Half-Life: Episode 2 at all, and that came out before this game.

So, yeah. I had a good Halloween weekend, and it is now my birth month; November. Not used to it getting dark so early but I'm oh so grateful for the extra hour today. Looking forward to Rob Zombie's new album due out this month, other than that, it should be a relatively quiet month I think. At least, I hope. In a week or two, I should find out whether or not I make the grade at Walgreens.

My second review is for the movie Max Payne. Based off of the noir shooter video game of the same name, it's a gritty drama that is both predictable and confusing. It doesn't seem to want to know what to do with itself.

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Now playing: Men at Work - Blue for You
via FoxyTunes


Which electronics make the grade when it comes to saving energy?

Some careers are still strong, in spite of the economic downturn. Here's 6 of them.

Some money experts share the mistakes they've made in their careers. Don't fall for these!

Yeah, it's been about a week now since I started working cleaning up transmission fluid at this warehouse. It's not a bad job at all, though maybe I am just more tolerant of it than some people; I got a lot of sympathy comments from the coworkers my mom introduced me to. Speaking of which, working at the same place as one's parents is...interesting. I wouldn't recommend it, but it is nice sometimes to have an "insider hand" when you are new. Already had some interesting events happen. Like today, when I saved one of the company machines. There was a guy working on one and he was testing the hydraulic systems that lift the wheels up off the floor. One side of the system wasn't working so instead of lifting straight up, the machine started to topple over. I was mopping in the next lane and saw it, so I came over to hold the machine up so that the guy could stop the hydraulics. That thing was much heavier than a vending machine...It's a good thing I got to it before the machine's weight lifted it's legs off the floor. One of the senior cleaning guys tells me that they haven't been doing as much maintenance as they used to because the machines have all been running non-stop. I suppose they'll probably have to lose some equipment or have someone get injured before they'll fall back into their old routines again. The recession has had a lot of far-reaching effects like that.

It's nice to have money though. While most of it will be going into my student loans and toward a car, I do spend some occasionally on myself when I find a good deal. The Blockbuster at the old Wal-Mart plaza was going out of business, so I took advantage of some of their super last-minute specials to score three DVD's for the price of a single new one. None of the films are ones that I have seen before, so hopefully they will pan out ok. I got The Rocker, The Spirit, and the Max Paine film. They didn't have very many others that interested me; maybe only two or three more. They were about out of stuff by the time they put up these deals...I had checked on them one week earlier and even their markdowns were too expensive. What a difference a week makes, huh? I haven't seen any of them yet, and it will probably be a while before I do; I'm still writing reviews and I don't want to have a glut of nothing but reviews for movies over the rest of the month. Got to change things up every now and then. Speaking of which, my latest review for the computer game Half-Life is up.

I also got Journey's new Manila DVD, and let me tell you, it is freakin' awesome. They used a new technology to film it, so that it has the best resolution out of any film on the market right now. The audio is good too, although my hearing aids have been behaving strangely lately, so I can't really speak much on the quality of the sound. Lately it sounds like everything is being relayed to me through a CB Radio. They didn't start acting like this until I started going to work, but I don't think the environment is that hazardous. There isn't an excessive amount of moisture in the air, I'm careful not to touch them when my hands are greasy with transmission fluid, and there aren't any other ways they can be damaged. Noises in the factory are loud though, and frequently overload the sound dampeners so I am thinking that maybe the hearing aids are having a difficult time readjusting after coming out of all that noise. I've never been a fan of sound dampeners, but it seems like all the good hearing aids come with them automatically; ever since the late 90's. Yes, they protect you from getting smacked upside the head by loud noises, but they tend to mess up music, garble everything when there are too many sounds at once, and make inorganic speech like from the television ineligible.

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Now playing: Sonic Team - Sonic The Hedgehog: Green Hill Zone
via FoxyTunes

So apparently that Prince Of Persia film they had in the works will be out before too long. I wonder how that will go?

And you remember back when I said that I occasionally made predictions that came true? Well, do you also remember that dream I had for Pirates of the Caribbean 4? I was recently shown an announcement that the film is being made, and that it will involve elements of steampunk.

Oops! I know Texas is a pretty backwards place, but they haven't quite seceded yet. However, that didn't stop a flag manufacturer from sending a flag with only 43 stars to a location in San Antonio.

I hope you all had a happy and safe 4th of July holiday, for those of you who were able to celebrate it. I read in the news that many places in the states had to cancel their fireworks shows because of the depression. We were planning to go to one here in Anderson, but the parents got into another one of their moods in which they'll make plans for something and then not do it. Instead, we went down to Iva to buy fireworks of our own to shoot off, and got probably more than we ever have because they were so cheap. I was startled by how wildly the prices of fireworks varied this year. Earlier in the week, I was able to pick up a bargain bag at the fireworks stand in the Wal-Mart parking lot for $20. That same $20 got me a whole shrink wrapped set of various fireworks, and then some in Iva.  We had a lot of fun, and even the parents got involved in actually shooting off the fireworks, something they've been doing rather infrequently since my brother and I have gotten older. To help celebrate, we also saw the new Transformers movie, Revenge Of The Fallen.

Now, Revenge got lambasted by reviewers, globally. I do not think I can remember a film that was so universally hated by critics (I'm pretty sure that the Star-Wars prequels had some decent reviews, though it probably depended on where you looked). Honestly, I can see why the critics hated this film...but I still found the movie to be rather enjoyable. Micheal Bay makes some really odd, questionable directing decisions in this film, and they will be immediately obvious to anyone who takes their movies seriously. But if you can look past the editing decisions and other mistakes of filmmaking, it's still a pretty awesome sequel to a movie that blew all the expectations right out of the water. Transformers fans will probably love it, and casual viewers will most likely enjoy it too. Serious movie watchers, on the other hand, are probably better off seeing something else.

Oh, and by the way...Linkin Park? They're definitely going alternative.

Not sure if I mentioned it in a recent post, but I've been told that I can work at the Vocational Rehab indefinitely. This is good in the way that I'll be earning money until X time in the future. It's bad in the way that it isn't an actual job; no benefits, no vacation, not enough pay to really live on...Just enough to get me by. I really need to try and do better than this, but I don't have much of a choice right now.

And the depression just keeps getting worse. I'm hearing now that the US Postal Service will be the next business that we'll lose. They're closing thousands of post offices, and if Federal Express and other mail transport services can't shoulder the load, in the coming months we'll probably be looking at a shipping crisis. That'll be fun to live through. :/  You know, when I was a little kid, I once predicted that we'd have another Great Depression, although I never dreamed that it'd ever actually happen. Come to think of it, I did make other predictions too, which also came true, but none of those were of any great significance. In any case, I know that the one we're going through now is not on the same level as the first one was, if only because for having lived through the first one, we made legislation to prevent such a thing from happening at the same extent. The system may be horribly broken, but we've still got those safety nets.

Anyhow, I'm doing ok, and actually having some fun out here. The situation isn't progressing so much as it is changing. Things are changing. Hopefully for the eventual better.

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Now playing: Air Supply - The Vanishing Race
via FoxyTunes   

Rhode Island is getting ready to change its name because of slavery.

It's the bullet Americans never knew they dodged: How the transition to digital television nearly cost Americans their technological freedom. Big producers and studios were going to use it as an excuse to put DRM in everything...at least, until the government intervened.

Arizona lawmakers recently made an ammendment to existing law so that for the first time since the days of the old west, firearms will now be allowed inside of bars.

One of the oldest and largest furry sites on the web, FurNation, has ended today. I was never a part of it, but I used to always remember hearing something about it back when I was first looking into the fandom. I was given the impression that it was good at organizing events, always had a presence at most cons, acted as a publisher for comics or magazines at one point, and simply became one of the points around which the furry fandom gathered around. The website logo became distinctive and familiar. They had a presence in Second Life too, and were responsible for helping to create what has pretty much become the largest group of sims owned by furries.

Today I hung out in Second Life, on what would be FurNation Prime's final day. At around noon, a tour group went through the sim, going over all the establishments on the land. Then Nexxus Ambassador appeared along with the site owners, who stood at all of the places they owned. I stood with one of them and watched as Nexxus flew around the sim along with a small entourage of followers, returning everything on the land until there was nothing left. It was surreal. First the went the freaking Luxor Pyramid at the heart of FurNation worlds, and then the other establishments where pulled up in order from largest to smallest. Trees and paving where taken away too. It all took around a minute and then there was simply a wasteland, and nothing more. Then Nexxus Ambassador himself left for good; one of his friends told me he was going to stop using the account because of all the debt attached to it. FurNation Prime would be returned to the Lindens, and the server sold.

Fortunately Prime is the only sim that is closing down for now, otherwise it'd be the Second Life equivalent of having the furry home planet destroyed. There are other furry sims that are not attatched to FurNation, but FN is the largest furry owned landmass on the grid. Nexxuss himself only owned Prime, so that is the only one that is going. Heroes, Hell, Fusion, Gryphon, ect. will all remain. And the website itself, which has been running since around 1996, will also be taken down. Beyond Second Life, I never really took part in it. In the early days, the few times I'd go to look at it, the interface would be confusing or the site map wouldn't work or perhaps it just wasn't compatible with my browser at all. I eventually gave up on it, but FurNation Prime was one of the first places that I visited when I signed onto Second Life, and I'm a little sad to see it go.

So the recession claims two more losses. Chrysler and FurNation. Is the end in sight?

On Mother's day I saw Star Trek. You can read what I think of it here.

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Still don't believe in Global Warming? The World's Highest Ski Run has completely melted away.

Also, a discussion with a friend of mine recently turned up with this. Doesn't it bring back the memories? The Nineties really was the decade of awesome. Someone aught to petition Pepsi to bring this stuff back. I miss it as much as I miss Ghostbusters cereal-terribly. ;_;



Despite the fact that no one can deny that Global Warming is happening, there are still many debates as to the hows and whys. In fact, there is so much conflicting information that no one knows anything about what we can possibly do about it.  One of the theories is that the Earth warms and cools over natural, million-year cycles, and that we are experiencing the first one in human history. However, even this is complicated by the fact that such cycles are usually triggered by changes in the Earth's tilt, which isn't happening now.

Not much to write about today, other than the fact that I saw the movie this weekend. It was good. And more surprisingly, it was accurate (to a degree). Hugh Jackman has never looked better as Wolverine, and with this film, he puts himself up there with Christopher Reeve as "most appearances in film as a single character". I think they're both tied. Anyhow, early reports that the film sucked where largely overrated; I don't know about the unfinished bootleg, but the theatrical release was very entertaining. Also, I just got finished watching X2, and I was surprised to discover that there weren't any continuity conflicts! Yeah, that must be a first, especially for 20th Century Fox. Although I hear that this movie was put together by people who where fans of the comic, as opposed to people who where beholden to hollywood, so it didn't turn out nearly as bad as X-3 did. Anyhow, I wrote a full review of it here, and that's all I'm going to say about it.

I called into work this morning and was told that they didn't have any work in yet. He told me to call back tomorrow; apparently they need to go over the schedule and see when they are getting new shipments in. I'm hoping Walgreens is going to call this month; I'm not terribly concerned about there not being work at the Vocational Rehab...

It's just a blah day.

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Now playing: CasteVania: Symphony Of The Night OST - The Tragic Prince
via FoxyTunes

Apparently, there is another Spawn movie in the works.

During the Bush administration, most people where worried about government wiretapping. But the truth is, anyone can do it. This investigative report shows just how easy it is to wiretap any kind of cell phone, and what exactly can be done with them once they are bugged.

Oh yeah, and here's a 12 year old kid who can approach Steve Perry in his singing voice. Listen to him do "Don't Stop Believing".

I had a weird dream last night.

In it, I was in school again, and it was "Wear A Crazy Hat Day"...you know, one of those things they do for spirit week? I was wearing a sailor hat, but there where all kinds of students, some of which where even in full costume with chef hats, pirate hats, ect. After one of my classes, some students where handing out foam and plastic pirate hats, and I picked up a foam bandanna.

Now here's where it gets weird. In my class immediately after that, we had a special guest, who was showing us slides on a projector. One of the slides came across the screen and I recognized it immediately. It was an Ah-ha style sketch drawing of Brahma grappling with Radu-Radu, with the heads of Graveyard Greg, Radical, Lugzan, Tizak, and some others in the background. I said. "Hey, go back...isn't that graveyardgreg ?" and the mystery guest says "Why yes, it is!" And then the lights come on and the special guest was actually Brahma the minotaur.

I woke up just in time to see my alarm clock unplug itself from the wall. Was nearly 30 minutes behind because of that. I think I am going to be getting a new one soon; even when properly plugged in it does not work half the time. Fortunately, I have a really spastic internal clock, that wakes me up several times with full lucidity starting at least an hour before I actually need to be awake. :/

Also...you gotta check this out. (especially you, scltspider )




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Now playing: "Weird Al" Yankovic - The White Stuff
via FoxyTunes   


Check out this list of the 13 most iconic horror villains in film history.

After September 11th, there was much spectulation and rhetoric regarding when and where the terrorists would strike next. Another terrorist attack on the United States was not seen as a possibility, but an eventuality. But nothing happened, at least not on the scale promised by Osama Bin Laden. How come? Slate goes over the possibilities.

There is much debate regarding whether or not our country is in the grips of another depression. The problem is that there is no true definition for a depression as one is occuring now. There are no firm rules that state where a recession ends and when a depression begins.

So a friend of mine mentioned to me the other day that they where coming out with a new Street Fighter film. When I went to tell my other friends about it in Gaming Guardians chat to troll for opinions, I mentioned that I thought Street Fighter held a high rank on the list of candidates for "Worst Film Ever".

tahngarth was to give me a quick rebuke.

<Tellana> "Dünyayi Kurtaran Adam (The Man Who Saves the World) is a Turkish-made cult film commonly known as Turkish Star Wars because of its notorious use of stolen Star Wars footage worked into the film."
<Jennifer[Sith]> omg XD
<Tellana> "Dünyayi Kurtaran Adam was released in 1982 in the midst of massive political upheaval. As a result, American-made films weren't easily acquired and were often remade with a Turkish cast and setting. The four most notable films to be so bootlegged are Star Wars, The Wizard of Oz, The Exorcist and E.T., all of which have Turkish variations"

"The musical soundtrack is entirely lifted from Western film hits of the time, primarily using Raiders of the Lost Ark. There are also scenes incorporating the music of Moonraker, Flash Gordon, Battlestar Galactica, Planet of the Apes and Disney's The Black Hole. "

Ladies and gentlemen, this film has to be seen to be believed, so I have provided it below. Do not eat or drink and watch this film at the same time. Film best viewed drunk. If you have any problems with laughing too hard, please consult your doctor before you watch this film.
Also, be warned that at 1:30:41, the film is feature-length, so time will be needed to watch this. Film is probably PG-13; there's lots of violence, but it's so corny, you can't help but to laugh at it.



( For the time impaired...a review! )

So...This film is by far the worst film I have ever seen. It's more like a LARP of a fanfiction than a feature film. After watching this footage, I want you to name me a film worse than this.

( Watching movies on the computer...complaints about DJing )


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Now playing: Harold Faltermeyer - Axel F
via FoxyTunes    

Here's a website that proves that no matter how bad you've got it, someone's always got it worse than you.

For a brief period of time several days ago, Google's filters had a glitch that flagged every single website that came up in it's search as containing malware.

Here's a scary article. It says the US has already been using illegal cell phone jamming technology on the public. In fact, it's gotten to the point now that many other agencies want to get in on the technology, including local police agencies, prisons, and churches. As outlandish as this may sound, they used the technology in Washington during Obama's inaugeration, and have been utilizing it in volitile locations in the middle east to distrupt communications and signals that might be used to trigger bombs.  ETA: The article appears to have already been taken down...very suspicious...I wonder sometimes where this country is heading.

( Read more to find out about my move... )

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Stephen Colbert's becoming a Marvel character is old news by now, but whatever became of him? Apparently, after running for president, he lost to Barak Obama. Will this be the last we see of Stephen Colbert?

Scientists are attempting to make an ambituous census of the ocean, and are discovering loads of new wonders in the process.

2008 was, without question, a year of economic collapse. MSN takes a look back at the seven "deadly sins" we are paying for.

TALK LIKE DOOM DAY

Doom, has decided to grace his worthless subjects with a post! Bask in the glory of DOOM!

Today is the last day DOOM will spend in this miserable hovel, though it has served the plans of Doom handily these past two years. Thanks to that fool, Reed Richards, DOOM will now have to move to another location while gathering resources to build a new castle! Dare not make light of DOOM, lest you find yourself a pile of ash in the very chair on which you sit! DOOM would be pleased, in fact, if all you peasants worked overtime to make living in his own castle a reality! DOOM demands it!

Keeping the affairs of a kingdom in order is no easy task. Only fools think as such! But even monarchs such as DOOM need repast, and DOOM took one last night. DOOM chose to watch the film Breathing Room, and Doom reports to the world, here in this very journal, that it was not worth his time. Some peasants who think themselves wise say that "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery". Doom can tell his subjects from experience; as DOOM has had many imitators, that Imitations always fall short...Especially of the glory of DOOM! This insufferable film was little more than an imitation of Saw, which DOOM declares he enjoyed muchly. Those who have not seen the Saw films may yet derive some enjoyment from this miserable attempt at psychological suspense, but DOOM took no pleasure in this travesty. DOOM intends to punish the director once Richards is out of the way. Tremble in fear, for DOOM has spoken!

Now get back to work, citizens of the interwebs! You are charged with building DOOM a grand castle, and DOOM will not tolerate productivity less than 100%!

So Speaks
-DR. DOOM, Monarch of Lavertia
 Grand Enemy of the Fantastic Four
 Feared by all who stand in his way

Oh hell yes!!!

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Now playing: Ray Parker Jr. - Ghostbusters
via FoxyTunes

Scientists believe that a mutant breed of giant catfish has been eating people in India. Sounds like some kind of horror film premise, but it's the real deal. They think it developed a taste for human flesh feeding off corpses from Indian river funeral ceremonies.

How to survive the next Great Depression. Some practical tips for weathering a disaster-economy.

A town in Switzerland turned an unused military bunker into the world's first zero star hotel. The price for staying the night is estimated to be somewhere between $9 and $13. In compliance with Swiss Law, it can be converted back into a nuclear bunker within 24 hours in an emergency.

I've been having a few set-backs this week, but hopefully it won't lead to any major ones. Yesterday I was unable to go to school because my alarm clock didn't get me up, and the school is trying to cut back on emergency transportation. This also means I am going to have to take a zero in my deaf culture project, for not having any transportation to any events. Anyhow, this being my second "unexcused" absence, I'm now wondering if they are going to kick me out of tutoring. I desperately need it, but I am beginning to think that I am past the point where it will help me pass. I'm trying not to fret about it...It's only three years or so...And if I stick with Wal-Mart long enough, maybe I can get a better position than just cart pusher for the rest of my life.

So, at last summer's con in Chicago, I went back with scltspider  to see his hometown of Madison, Winsconsin, and the gaming store he worked at. At his recommendation, I purchased a copy of the Universalis game.  I finally got through the book.  Now, before I say anything, Universalis is not an RPG. At least, not in the conventional sense of the term. No, it is more like a loosely structured storytelling game in which everyone can contribute to the direction the game takes-there is no GM.  The rules are set up to allow the players access to a free environment without utterly breaking the flow of the game. You use "coins" to pay for concepts you want to introduce to the story, or for modifications to currently existing concepts. At any point, another player may challenge you if concepts you introduce seem to go against existing game tennants, and if enough players agree with the challenger, you will be unable to pay for what you want. In this way the story retains core concepts; a player cannot introduce something that contradicts something already established without having a good reason for it; otherwise he is likely to be challenged. To keep things unpredictable, players with coins can interrupt the narration to pay for complications, or conflict between some things in narrative. In normal RPGs, complications would be the combat rounds-rolling the dice and comparing the stats. In Universalis, you compare the traits currently purchased for the concepts in conflict and assign dice to a side's pool based on which traits can be said to help and hinder that side in the proposed situation. The side with the most successes gets to narrate the outcome of the conflict, while the losing side gets to narrate the aftermath. It is a really unique system, and scltspider  was right in calling it structured freeform. I imagine a game of Universalis may function similar to what we're doing in GamingGuardians, or in gebohq's Neverending Story thread.

I also got to see Ben Stiller's "A Night At The Museum", since my roommate had the DVD.  The film was pretty much exactly what I was expecting, but still very enjoyable as well as decently amusing. Ben Stiller plays a divorced father, a man with a lot of dreams, but not enough substance. After his latest attempt to make it big fails, he comes to realize that his son sees him as a joke, so he tries to get a more steady job. He ends up as the night watchman at the city museum, where a cursed artifact in one of the exhibits has the curious side effect of bringing all of the exhibits to life after sunset. The movie is about how Stiller's character must come to terms with himself to deal with this unexpected madness, and rise up to the challenge of staving off a threat to the museum from outside. It was a wonderful, feel-good film, and I thought it was worth it just to see Robin Williams as Theodore Rosevelt.

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Now playing: 2, The Ranting Gryphon - Coyena
via FoxyTunes    

Everyone knows PETA members are a few cards shy of a full deck, but it seems their organisation is guilty of the ultimate hypocrisy. The organisation famous for crusading for animal rights was forced to divulge their records recently, which show that they killed 90% of the animals left in their care during 2007, a record worse than the local animal shelter in PETA's home city, which managed to adopt out 70% of the animals in their care.

Speaking of animals, Dog Armor!

It's been 30 years since the biggest religiously led mass murder/suicide to ever grip the United States. As many as 900 people died during the Jonestown Massacre, but there were survivors, through happenstance and fate.  These are their stories.

So, it took me a lot longer than I intended, but I did manage to get a copy of those photos that were taken during the Fall Fest at my local college. Check it out:( pics from Halloween )

So today I watched the movie "Stay Alive". You know, the one about the video game that kills people? I went into it with a healthy dose of skepticism, but I was surprised at how well done the movie was.  For one thing, these people did their research. The video-game portions look like an actual video-game, not a series of CGI mash-ups like I was expecting. The acting was pretty good too; nobody felt flat. There was even an unexpected shout-out to Air Supply (which was really unexpected). In the movie, the protagonist's best friend is beta-testing a mysterious game, called "Stay Alive". After his friend's unexpected death, he comes into possession of his friend's games, including this mysterious title, which he decides to play in his friend's honor with a bunch of other gamer pals. As more deaths follow from people getting killed in the game, they realize there is more than just coincidence involved, and they find themselves having to work both in the game and in the real world to discover the shocking secret of the video game. It sounds corny, but the story is very well written, and the end result is more clever than corny (or at least I thought so. Your mileage may vary). If you are a gamer, I urge you to see this movie. it practically panders to our subculture; this is our film.  People who don't understand gaming will probably still enjoy it for its suspenseful moments and the interesting direction the story takes. Of the films I've watched in my roommate's cache, this is one of the few I've seen that I may wish to own myself.

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Now playing: Alex C - Du Hast Den Schonsten Arsch Der Welt (Basshunters Bass My Ass Mix)
via FoxyTunes   

Here's a story about a man who beat up a shark to save his dog.

The awesome extreme Jack o'Lantern.

Would you eat the Krispy Kreme Cheddar Bacon Cheeseburger of Delight?

So the party we were having was today, and it has been canceled. The other students failed to pay the prerequisite $5 for it, even if I would have (I didn't know it was today...I thought it was going to be this Friday).  So now I don't have any use for the costume I just bought except for attempting to win prizes at the Fall Fest...I think after the Fall Fest, I might just take it back to Party City and try to get my money back...

Today I watched Saw 2. The original psychological thriller was a one-of-a kind movie, and in my opinion, this sequel doesn't quite live up to the same standing, though it does come close. The twists in the plot weren't as surprising this time around, and there were a few plotholes that the movie sort of touched on, but didn't really tie together properly before the end. In the first movie, we are introduced to Jigsaw, the serial killer who locks victims inside twisted death traps with only one avenue of escape.  In this film, we see the man, behind the puppet, Jigsaw himself; an ailing cancer patient. A detective finally captures him, only to learn that Jigsaw allowed himself to be captured and that he is a part of Jigsaw's twisted game. The movie is about torture, and is not for the squemish. To Jigsaw, it is all just one big experiment to see what the human psyche will do to survive, and to make his victims come out with a new appreciation for life. The scenes between Jigsaw and the detective are well played, and we learn the truth behind his motives a lot better than in the first film. It's still worth a watch.

One thing I forgot to mention in my last post was that Sunday night featured our very first session of Jadeclaw. I am playing Coon there as a kuinoichi orphan, which was how I originally intended her. There are only three players including myself, but they are both really good, including one fellow who plays a well-spoken but squeamish and cowardly rat. His character is super awesome, and a lot of fun to be around, even if he tends to slow down the rest of the party. But that's all IC. x3

I lucked out in Second Life and found a whole bunch of freebies, including pumpkin hunt locations for several places. I'm debating sharing them with some of the second life communities I'm on. Definitely going to be adding the freebie blogs someone showed me to the sidebar.

Also, I went to get my hearing aids looked at today. Turns out they were malfunctioning. again. I hate this model.

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Now playing: Sir Nuts - Introduction to Heaven
via FoxyTunes   

They say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and that you should always eat it. But are most of your breakfast choices truly healthy? Here is an article that looks at some of the worst breakfast choices that are commonly made, and what you should eat instead.

A recent look at the list of jobs with the highest fatality rates, and what kills the people working in them.

The director makes excuses for Oh Chihuahua, the recent film about a Beverly Hills pet. They say the movie trailor was rife with scenes that were not even included in the movie. You know a movie is lame when you have to resort to false marketing to sell it.

I went home last weekend. Instead of going to the School for the Deaf and Blind's homecoming game for a possible grade in ASL class, I had to go home to drop off my DS so that I could get it fixed before my birthday. Knowing how things run, if I don't take care of it as soon as possible, I'd be better off just getting a new one.

So anyhow, instead of taking part in school festivities, I stayed home and watched Blood, The Last Vampire. I thought it would make suitable Halloween fare, but I don't recall ever being more dissapointed by an anime film before. The art is great for one thing, but the production is absolutely dismal. The entire film seems very half-assed. For one thing, only maybe four conversations total are captioned. Out of the entire movie. I've never seen such lazy production. Also, the film fails to account for any story. It is about this young girl, who happens to be the last original vampire, and her vendetta against modern vampires, which are different for some reason. All this information I got from the back of the box. We are never told why they are different, what the source of her vendetta is, any of the protagonist's backstory at all, what the modern vampires are trying to accomplish...nothing. All we know is that this girl is there to fight them, we see the fight, and then the movie ends. wut? It had such potential too, because unlike in so many other vampire films, the vampires in this one were actually creepy. They seemed much closer to Nosferatu than actual vampires in the traditional sense, which would probably explain the differences between this girl and them. But was that ever mentioned in the movie? No! In the end, we are left with a film that focuses on nothing but the (immediate) buildup to the confrontation, and then an abrubt ending when the fight is over. Lame! Even if you like anime, I suggest you pass on this one.

Aside from that, we ate dinner at Hooters. I made an interesting discovery: Their 25th anniversary is on my Birthday, and I will be turning 25 this year. I am literally the same age as this resteraunt. I suggested eating dinner there on my Birthday to my father; maybe they will give me a discount or some free merchandise because of this special coincidince? I think it is worth trying.

Also, this year I went and got a Halloween costume. Well, really, I already had one, but the other key component was still in storage, and my parents are too lazy to bother unpacking (dollars to doughnuts I'm going to have to unpack for them when I am forced to move back home after college, a fact that I am not happy about). Anyways, I got another afro wig and some "rock star" glasses to match my 70's tie-die shirt (which is a normal shirt, btw, it wasn't bought as part of a costume). I feel a little guilty about my purchases now, because I'm not sure how much mileage I'm actually going to be getting out of them. There is a "silly hat" contest going on at the school on Wednesday, which I had intended the costume for...I don't know if it will count though, since it does not seem to be a "costume" contest. I'd like to be eligible to win prizes, and I'm going to feel silly if I'm the only one there with a cohesive costume, especially if it isn't eligible. Blah. And that was $20 I didn't have to spend...

Also, my entire schooling is in jeapordy now, because my tutor broke his knee, and I am not doing very well in Statistics (I've got like a 64 as the total class grade right now, mid-semester). He's going to be out for the rest of the semester! I can't say I didn't try, but if I end up flunking out of college because Success Network for one course let me down, I am not going to be very happy. They did manage to find a replacement tutor, so I have no idea how that will go. If I don't do well on this upcoming test, desperation will set in. I need to somehow scrape by with a passing grade, but I've needed to re-take all my previous math classes. I cannot re-take this one if I fail, because I don't have enough money for food or housing for another semester. If I can get an extension on my student loan, there is a possibility...but that is pretty doubtful.

Time for me to step up my game.

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This happened a while ago, but apparently Apple CEO Steve Jobs had his obituary published early by Bloomberg News. It seems that at any given time, major news organizations have obituaries for important and famous people already written and ready to go. Does this seem at all creepy to you? According to this article, Mark Twain, Bob Hope, and Pope John Paul 2 were all able to see their obituaries before they died, thanks to publishing mishaps like this one.

So you say America is the land of plenty? Did you know that more than 1,000 species of food are on the verge of extinction, some of which are already gone? A century ago, Americans ate 15,000 named varieties of apples, for example. Today, there are maybe 1,500. Apples. We aren't talking about rare fruits here, people.

How to date when you live with your parents.

The second in a series. I need to work on making my speeches shorter. The teacher took off points on my last one because it was so long. No, I do not like making speeches, but when you set me up there behind the podium, I am going to give a speech; I am not there to mince words.
Made this one a lot shorter, but I still think it may not be short enough. Whatever.


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Now playing: Dschinghis Khan - Moskau
via FoxyTunes

Here's a list of the top 10 weakest superheroes. Now with more profanity!

Sign the petition! Stop Fox from releasing the DragonBall Z movie!

Also, here's a weird video of a prehistoric shark that was found alive off the coast of Japan. It's dead now though.

Prehistoric Shark Alive This bizarre-looking Goblin Shark was recently found off the coast of Japan. Also, I think I just lost my dinner.

http://community.livejournal.com/scans_daily/6163648.html?view=231922112#t231922112

That's it. I can no longer just sit here on my ass and just let them do this.

I'm going to start sending letters to Fox.

I'm going to do whatever it takes to get them to cancel this movie.

Who's with me? And furthermore...got any good ideas how to get to 'em?

It's the Labor Day Weekend here, which means I don't have school on Monday. Yay! This gives me an extra day to work on my homework, which is quite useful, since I've been using the extra time to slack off a little. :B

Yesterday evening, at around noon, we had a pizza delivery at our apartment. A woman representing Papa Johns was at the door with what looked like two pizzas and a bag of extra stuff. The odd part was that I had not ordered a pizza, and neither had my roommate. She asked if ours was the correct apartment, and it seemed as though she had been sent to the right address. Weird, huh? I wonder now if maybe she misheard the apartment number. Maybe it was 10 instead of 2?

Last night, my roommate left the television long enough for me to watch the movie he borrowed, Open Water. It's a movie about this couple of enterpreneurs who take a vacation to a tropical seaside place and get left behind while on a diving tour. Based on a true story, it gets pretty gripping at times. I do not envy the director, who's task here was basically to film a whole lot of nothing. He fills the spaces in between by getting different shots of the waves or the ever-changing sky, but out in the middle of the ocean, there really isn't much to see. The actors convey the desperation of their situation well, though the movie feels like a low-budget indy flick. A word of warning: This isn't the kind of film you want to see if you are seeking uplifted spirits. There's no message or reason behind this film, it's just a tale of life and how a young couple comes in danger of losing theirs.

I need to go grocery shopping, which I am dreading because of my lack of cash. I found out I'm only going to be getting $200 back from my student loan, and I need to somehow survive on that until December. Fortunately, I still have $900 left in my account, but my original estimates of being completely wiped once I get out of school seem to be proving correct. By the time I graduate, I'm wondering if I'll even have enough to my name to post bus fare. It doesn't help that small things keep adding up, like how this morning I opened the freezer door to find that my roomie had stuck my pitcher in there, full of water. The entire bottom end had busted open. I don't know why, but he likes to stick odd things in the freezer, as if to compound his desire to leave food sitting in the microwave or oven instead of refridgerating it. He's really not a bad roommate, he's just got these really odd habits...

---

A while back a story ran about a real life occurrence of the situation in Home Alone. A Jerusalem family accidentally left their youngest daughter at the airport while they took a flight to Paris. The family of five passed through the duty free, and nearly became late for their plane; The daughter was separated from her family and nobody realized it until they were already in the air. Fortunately, the staff were able to escort her on a separate plane back to Paris.

Spider-Man 4 is slated for release in 2011, but I hear tell they are also thinking about making a movie for Venom.

Researchers have discovered a way to keep solar energy working when the sun isn't out.

So instead, you all are going to get a brief run down of my weekend:

The Dark Knight Returns: Awesome movie. Any misgivings I initially had about their portrayal of the Joker were totally off-base. Heath Ledger did a great job making the Joker seem believable and creepy.  I'm very glad the director has chosen to take this Batman seriously. Batman actor was more menacing in this film, and Two Face actor played his roll with a lot of heart. It feels great to see the character in a film where he isn't treated as a clown. Gotham City seems as real as ever, and in spite of a few plot holes, the film really hits it off. Go see it.

Hellboy 2 - The Golden Army: Not a bad film, but I'm not sure if it was as good as the first one. This film is lacking a lot of the menace and sense of urgency, and the plot seems to ramble at some points. Great visual experience, good acting from the main characters. Hellboy seems to be moving in an unexpected direction in the movies, which makes me think that any third installment will run the risk of totally sucking.

My Mom has gone batshit. Usually an animal lover, she is thinking of putting the family cat down simply because she does not want to keep it any longer. I told her that there were all sorts of places that would take her, but she doesn't seem to think that Kadayshi would do very well in a shelter. Well, that does not include all the animal rescue organizations in South Carolina alone, not to mention North Carolina and Georgia. I did some research and gave her a whole list of web site links to these places. In the end, she only sent an e-mail to one of them, in Seneca.  She says if she doesnt' hear back from them in a week, she'll have the cat put down.  I told her if she goes through with it, I will do everything in my power to make sure she never got another pet as long as she lived.

PS: Livejournal fucking sucks sometimes.


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Now playing: Journey - Intro: Red 13 / State of Grace
via FoxyTunes  

A teenager used the internet to gather up a collaboration of people to make the world's largest peace sign.

Here's a look back at the storied history of Mega Man.

Scientists have recently made a breakthrough in Autism research, discovering new genes that may be responsible for the condition.