Naughty!

Oh, you know you were looking.

In other news (thanks to CJ for this one), the first Order of the Phoenix rumor: Imelda Staunton as Umbridge.

The picture in the article, I guess I can see it. But she looks too young. I still like my Dame Judi Dench casting.

Plenty of reviews of stuff this weekend. One movie, maybe two. Three Transformers, one awesome, one nice, one shit on a shingle.

Grrrr...

You know, I thought I had fixed my game. Turns out the big honkin scratch that was fixed wasn't enough to make my game better. *sigh* time to get a new copy.

Xenosaga, btw. Curses. Ah, well, I just started up on Dark Cloud 2 instead. Decent game for the little amount I've played. But it's throwing me, the main character is voiced by Scott Menville, who's the voice of Robin on Teen Titans. Cool, yet somewhat unnerving.

Serenity this weekend. W00t!

KNEEL BEFORE ZOD!

Wow, two cheesy 80's sci-fi movie references in one day. I'm on a ROLL!

Just watched the season premiere of Smallville. Two evil Kryptonians, with the reference to the third (KNEEL BEFORE ZOD!). Chloe finding out Clark's secret, Lana getting damn close. Lex appearing to get evil, finally. Clark loses his powers. And James Marsters forms from a pile of black goo in the last 2 seconds of the episode.

Must watch more Smallville. lol

Kaaaaaaaaaaahhhhnnn!!!!

That's kinda how I felt yesterday when I found out that Subway's dropped Cheddar cheese from their cheese selection. Provalone? Sure, why not, but drop pepper jack first. Grrrrr.

Minor complaint, yes. But it needed to be said.

I am at home today, because I had to officially get myself out of the apartment. Beat up some bedframes (awesome), did some vacuuming, and a final spot check. Then turned my key in, and I'm officially out.

Now its time to find a new place. Eventually. I'm a lazy bastard. We'll see how long it takes me to jump out a window here.

Before picking up some Chipotle for lunch, I made one final stop at my apartment's local Wal-Mart. And, whaddayaknow? Armorhide!

Armorhide's a scout figure from the Cybertron series. A more recent concept from Hasbro, Armorhide is the second of three figures designed by Hasbro for release in the US only, the first being Hardtop. The other figures for all other series are designed by Takara Japan, and released there a few months before they show up here.

I've been looking forward to this figure since I saw its design for the first time at the beginning of the summer. And I wasn't disappointed.


Armorhide's vehicle mode is a simple, colorful semi truck cab. It's a slightly different design for a cab than all the Optimus Primes of the world, with a windsheer roof (I think, no clue what they're actually called, but you know what I mean). The Earth Planet Key feature opens up a very cool missile launcher component.

When I had originally seen the design for the figure, I assumed the transformation would be your basic, again, Optimus transformation. Trailer hitch becomes the legs, arms come out the side, head flips up from the top. Simple and effective.

But the designers got creative. Armorhide takes the Optimus convention and literally flips it on it's head. Instead of the legs, the trailer hitch splits and flips to the side, becoming the arms. The legs are formed by the top of the cab, the windshield and the wind... sheer... thingy. Yeah.

The result is a reversed, but refreshing, truck figure.

The Planet Key, again, does the same thing as the vehicle mode, opening the chest to reveal a missile battery. But Hasbro added something that I'm surprised wasn't put on more figures: a storage space on the gun for the Key. No kibble!

More reviews to come this weekend. I ordered three figures on Amazon, using the buy-2-get-1 deal being run by TRU this week, and they should be arriving tomorrow or Monday.

Dunst Screws Up

So she accidentally let slip at an Elizabethtown press conference that Thomas Hayden Church is playing Sandman in the Spider-Man 3, and Topher Grace is playing Venom. Oops.

All I can say is that it's going to be weird. Green Goblin's movie origin of insanity through a steroid inhalant I could accept, Doc Ock's origin of a spinal fuse I could accept. How they're going to twist comic book history to make one man turn into living sand and give another an alien symbiote is beyond me.

And are they still going to bring in Black Cat, like originally rumored? Come on, Eliza Dushku in tight revealing black, please!

Last night was an adventure. Nothing like strapping a queensized bed and frame to the top of a van in the dark and driving it 10 miles.

Oh, and I took advantage of a 3-for-2 sale at toys r us, and ordered some toys from their website. Next week they shall be mine.

Wow

More ew.

Ummmm...

Ew.

Oh, Sweet Martha, NO!

Adam Sandler & Rob Schneider want to do a Gilligan's Island movie, with Sandler as Gilligan, Brian Dennehy as the Skipper, and Michael Caton as Thurston Howell. And Schneider as, I don't know, the "You can do it!" guy, or something.

In other words, the move is nearly complete. Due to weather, we weren't able to strap my bed to the van, but I have till Thursday to get it out of there.

Getting used to a few differences from my old place. High-Speed internet, awesome. Later leave and earlier arrival for work, awesome. Free food, no rent, no utilities, awesome.

Colder house, colder shower water, smaller bed, not awesome. Less privacy, Drive to the bus stop, not awesome. Also, longer drives to do Transformers shopping.

Otherwise, it kicks.

Speaking of, a few cool things happening around Transformers Geekdom.

The big Transformers convention, Botcon, occurred over the weekend in Texas. Lots of cool stuff was shown off, including an Optimus Prime Alternator that transforms into a Dodge Ram. Which I will definitely be buying.

Also, the announcement of the "filler" series between the end of Cybertron and the beginning of the movie promotions. G1 homages, including, for the first time since G1, Megatron turning into a gun. Due to American regulations, it became pretty much illegal to release a toy that transforms into a realistic looking gun, as the original Megatron. Since then, while Optimus has remained a truck for most of his career (except for Beast Wars when he was a monkey), Megatron has been, ummm, two tanks, a spaceship, a racecar/ship, a couple dragons, a dinosaur, and an alligator.

They'll apparently be releasing him in this new series, still un-named, as a futuristic, space-aged looking gun, thereby passing by government regulations. Can't wait.

Otherwise, just a ton of pictures of new products have been posted in the last few days, which you wouldn't have any interest in.

Anti-Climax

Today was supposed to be the last day I was to take the bus I've been riding for the last year. But, of course, Xcel hasn't taken away the power lines laying on the road. So the last day with my bus was on Wednesday, and the last two days I've had to catch the later bus at another stop.

And, yeah, I'm a loser for caring about these things.

This weekend's going to be hectic. Because of the loss of power Wednesday night I've had a few less nights than I had originally planned to clean. But I've already had two volunteers to help me clean up on Saturday.

As I tap my fingers together, Montgomery Burns style, and snicker evilly.

Tonight I get to deal with two major tasks. First off, cleaning off the couch and the space between the couch and the door. If everything goes according to plan, the couple from Free Market will be coming to get the couch tomorrow, so I want to make sure that things are relatively clear for them to get it out.

Second, clean and pack my bedroom, something that could easily be done tomorrow if not for my mom being one of the two volunteers to help clean. There's some stuff in the bedroom that you just don't want your mom to know you're in possession of, if you know what I mean.

Some random thoughts for ya:

- Joss Whedon is signed on to write and direct another movie after Wonder Woman, Goner. Yippee! But he's being vague about it. Boo. Here's his quote:

"It's the story of a young woman's journey that involves a great deal of horror and some heroics."

Hmmm... isn't that Buffy's story? And River's? And Wonder Woman's? And Ripley's? Here's hoping some specifics get laid out pretty soon. I love the man and everything he does, but it feels like he's just recycling the same old hash.

- I'm eating at Noodle's more often. I've been a fan of the place since it opened, but since there are none near me, I've been SOL for most of the time.

But, since last night was my last night in Maplewood for a while, I took advantage of the frequent buyer card I have been slowly filling up over the last few years.

I'm gonna have to fill that bad boy up more often. Free meal, plus two additions to it. That's like 8 or 9 dollars worth of food for nothing. And when I move home, I'll be a little closer to one. Still a decent distance, but closer than I currently am. Sweeeeet.

- I try to not get political on this blog, as I am often in the minority amongst my friends in a lot of my political views. But I just have to say something when lawmakers are working on a bill requiring FEMA to take household pets into account during disaster relief & recovery.

Now, don't get me wrong. I love animals. But there's more than a things that really bug me about this.

First off, as we saw with Katrina, and we will probably see with Rita, during a disaster, supplies can be scarce. If we pass a bill that force animals to be taken care of by the government, that's fewer supplies for others.

"Sorry, Timmy, I would have had water for you, but Mr. Dingles was thirsty. You understand, don't you?"

"Folks, the bus out of town is full. Janice has three St Bernards, and hot dang if they don't take up a ton of seating space."

Also, passing a bill like this can open up a whole can of worms. Some people love their pets. Some people love their Harley. Some people love their spoon collection. We make an exemption for the animal, someone will ultimately want a trailer on the departing buses for his Ski-Doo.

Some can argue that the main difference is that pets are living creatures. Fair argument. Then why aren't we bagging up the squirrels, the pidgeons, the bears and the cougars to get them away from the storm? Animals flying south for the winter will discover that their usual nesting ground is no longer there. Should we feel obligated to find a new place for them, too?

The people writing the bill argue that some people are refusing to leave because they don't want to leave their animals behind. This frustrates me to no end. One of the reasons why the rescue effort in New Orleans didn't go as well as it should have is because there were more than a few people who chose to stay behind. There are more than enough images of cars sitting in the streets of New Orleans.

These cars aren't there because the people who own them were too poor to leave, or too sick. These cars are there because people ignored multiple evacuation orders, believing that they could make it out of the storm alright.

Rescue operations after the levees broke had to not only save the people who couldn't leave, but also had to save those who wouldn't leave. People lost their lives because others who had the means to get out in time chose not to.

You want to stay behind because your hamster can't swim? Fine. But you shouldn't expect a government handout because your priorities are screwed up.

Okay, wow. See, this is why I tend to not get political here, because I rant a lot and end up somewhere away from my original point.

GoF Posters

Can I have them? Every single stinkin one of them?

Cedric, Cho, and the Third Challenge
Harry, Moody, and the First Challenge
Fleur, Ron, and the Beaubatons Carriage
Viktor, Hermione, and the Durmstrang Ship
International One-Sheet

The scar on Harry's cheek is a nice touch. All of these posters nicely parallel the relationships that are in the story, but they're all really dark, as they should be, considering the last few chapters.

Now if only I could find a way to get them. I've fallen away from buying posters, but, DAMN!

ToyFare by Candlelight

Well... that certainly was an interesting evening. Nothing compared to the folks in the Gulf, and nothing compared to people in the northwest suburbs, but still...

6 pm: After picking up Chipotle for dinner, I get home. The whole drive I wish that I had my sunglasses as it was so bright outside.

6:30: Looking outside I see that its dark and cloudy.

6:45: A friend online says that there's tornado sirens going off in downtown Minneapolis. At that time I decide its probably time to shut down. I gather a radio, flashlight, and a book, and head into the hallway.

7:00: Power goes out in the entire complex. The storm rumbles in soon after, blowing hard and raining hard.

An hour goes from bright and sunny to hard storming. Just, yeah, wow.

Spent the next few hours hanging in the hallway, talking to some neighbors and listening to 830. At about 10 pm the storm's more or less passed, but the power hasn't come back on. I returned to my room and read my magazine by candlelight, using some candles that an ex had left three years ago.

After going to sleep around 11:30 or midnight, I was woken up God knows when (no clocks except for my cellphone, which was near the point of death) to a booming noise. Looking out across the parking lot I see the box on a power pole sparking and flailing. The power's back on at that point, I see by looking at my PS2's little red light. After the sparking's done, however, the power goes out again.

I couldn't tell you if that last paragraph was a dream or not. Just an odd night overall.

Got up this morning with my cell's alarm clock, then with my mom calling to tell me that my cousin in Brooklyn Park was at home alone last night, and was freaking out of her mind, so my aunt & uncle called my folks to ask them to check her out. What's normally a 20 minute drive took them an hour because of fallen trees and power lines in the BP area.

After waiting at my bus stop, a Metro Transit minivan stopped and told me and the other guy at the stop that the bus wasn't coming around our loop. One side of the road was blocked by a downed power line, so we had to hoof it a half mile to get up to where the bus was picking up.

In the end, my area didn't get it as bad as Andover and Brooklyn Park, but we definitely got it worse than some of the areas I drove by on the way into downtown. Big trees downed all over, I guess a few windows got blown out in the complex, and as of 7 am this morning when I left for work I was still without power. So I'll probably be eating out for dinner a lot the next few days, as I don't necessarily trust stuff in a dead fridge for so long.

So that was my evening.

In COMPLETELY unrelated news, I found a link on Penny Arcade that linked me to this article about the new Nintendo controllers. Being surrounded by so many PlayStation and XBox lovers, Nintendo haters, the article put things into a different light, basically pointing out that Nintendo's focus, especially nowadays, is creating new genres and innovations over using the established ones like the other two do. Very interesting article, and points out a lot of things that are mainstream now, created originally by Nintendo.

Four More

- What if Augustus hadn't been an idiot to send Varus to govern the part of Germany that the Romans controlled? Rome may have completely overtaken the lands across the Rhine, destroying any last opposition on the European mainland.

- What if Rome had won vs. the Visigoths at Adrianople? Similar situation to above, Rome maintains its strength in Europe, broadening its borders possibly even to the New World.

- What if Abd Al-Rahman had defeated the Franks at Poitiers? Imagine a Muslim empire in Europe, eventually to the new world. In both cases, no fall of a major empire, no Dark Ages, no Rennaissance, Reformation, etc.

- What if Ogdai, Genghis Khan's son, had not died when he did? The Mongols would have continued their invasion of Europe past the East, fighting armies being lead under feuding kings, and would have wiped the floor with them.

I love this book...

Weeeelllllll

Kyle's mom's a bitch, she's a big fat bitch, She's the biggest bitch in the whole wide world,She's a stupid bitch, if there ever was a bitch,She's a bitch to all the boys and girls.On Monday she's a bitchOn Tuesday she's a bitch On Wednesday through Saturday she's a bitchThen on Sunday just to be different,Shes a super king kamaya mega bitach!Have you ever met my friend Kyle's mom,She's the biggest bitch in the whole wide world,She's a mean old bitch, she has stupid hair,She's a bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch, bitchBitch, bitch bitch bitch bitch bitch bitch She's a stupid bitch, Kyle's Mom's a bitch,And she's such a dirty bitch.

I blame the WB, and their ads on the radio. It's in my head and it won't get out!

In other news, jeezum crow, X3's just getting bigger. Because I don't feel like listing everyone, here's the IMDb listing for the cast so far. Add to THAT the announcement today that Charmed's Eric Dane is going to be playing Jamie Madrox, the Multiple Man, along with Omega Red & Gauntlet.

There is going to be absolutely NO storyline in this movie. And, you know what? I don't give a flying rat's ass, this thing's gonna be massive. Professor X has a faction, Magneto has a faction, the humans have a faction, Dark Phoenix is her own faction, and now I guess Omega Red's leading a group (unless he's considered the human faction, since he was a government creation in the comic). Big brainless mutant fighting for two hours, I can handle.

Also, in a movie that I'm surprised hasn't been done earlier, Harrison Ford will be starring in Manhunt. The movie focuses on the group of soldiers assigned to find John Wilkes Booth after the assassination of Abe Lincoln, a 12-day chase that ended with Booth dying in a barn fire. I will definitely be going to this movie when it's released.

Dat's What I'm Talking About

So, as many of you know, I'm a big fan of alternate reality writing. Despite dialogue that grinds my teeth, I grab the new Harry Turtledove book whenever it shows up at the library.

So it's refreshing to have found a book called What If?. Instead of making one coherant story, the book is a collection of essays by military historians, compiled by Robert Cowley, focusing on the history of the world if various battles had gone differently than they did.

The essays focus on major battles between 701 BC and the Cold War. While it's easy to look at major wars, the essays focus on small choices, and what effect these choices have had on the history of humanity.

So far I've read three essays, which are in the book in chronological order:

- What if Sennacherib had conquered Jerusalem instead of leaving when his warriors started getting sick? He came to Jerusalem during the time when the Jewish faith, centered in Jerusalem, was in it's infancy. The sickness and retreat were seen as a sign from God and fortified Judaism's following. Had he not retreated, Jahweh would have been blamed, Judaism doesn't exist, Christianity doesn't exist, Islam doesn't exist.

- What if Themistocles doesn't convince the Greeks to build up their Navy, or doesn't convince Xerxes that he's ready to give up during the Persian invasion of 480 BC? Persians take Greece before they get a chance to become the cultural center of the world. Hilarity ensues.

- What if Cleitus stumbles while trying to save Alexander from the second swing of Spithridates axe? Alexander dies 12 years before he does, never unifies the various empires on the Mediterranean. Athens & Carthage go to war, Romans join Carthage in the battle, consider Greece the enemy, absorb Persian culture instead of Greek, never expand because of that (it's explained in the essay, but its long and complex), the world becomes a much more isolated place.

Other stuff coming up deal with the Lost Orders in the Civil War, Pearl Harbor, and stuff like that. Never anything too detailed, but each essay lets the reader recognize the importance of otherwise minor events.

A great read, can't wait to finish it, and the sequel.

Buffy TV

Okay, yeah, so Buffy was on TV, but you'll see...

Today I post what's a very rare thing for me: TV reviews.

As many of you know, my television viewing is pretty limited nowadays. With a lack of cable, a lack of time, and a lack of interest in most shows, my television viewing in the past few years has dropped to PBS and DVD series.

But there's nothing quite like the return of three of my favorite TV actors to, temporarily, draw me back to the fold. I speak, of course, of the return of Buffy favorites Alyson "Willow" Hannigan, Nicholas "Xander" Brendon, and James "Spike" Marsters. There's a lot of others coming back, too, like David Boreanaz, Charisma Carpenter, and Amy Acker, but those are the three I really care about.

Alyson's How I Met Your Mother and Nick's Kitchen Confidential both premiered last night, with James' addition to Smallville starting next Thursday.

"Mother" is supposed to be the more critically-loved of the two new shows. Unfortunately, after watching it, I realized why I so rarely watch sitcoms anymore. Laugh tracks bug me. Laugh tracks that come on over other dialogue annoy me more. What I wonder is whose fault it is that this confustion occurred, especially with Alyson: the director for not telling them to pause? The editor for eliminating these pauses in order to fit in the copious amounts of commercials? Or Alyson for having spent the last eight years of her career working on a non-laugh track show like Buffy, as well as the laugh-track-free American Pie movies?

The show's concept itself attempts to be creative, with Bob Saget narrating to his children in the future how he met their mother. But in the end it just turns into the usual "relationship" sitcom. The humor's meh at best. Hannigan's character almost feels like it was written around her Band Girl character, the sweet but kinky girlfriend. Unfortunately, not exactly the stretch that she was allowed on Veronica Mars or during the later seasons of Buffy.

But she did get to dress up as season seven Xander for most of the episode, which is fun. Arrrr.

Speaking of Xander, Kitchen Confidential is a show I can see myself watching, if for no other reason than there's a lot of actors in the show that I like. My brain kept going back to the news that the show was originally supposed to be a David Fincher-directed movie starring Brad Pitt. I don't know how they would have handled that, but would definitely have been original.

Instead, they pulled together actors from Buffy, Alias, Freaks & Geeks, and Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle. It also stars That Creepy Guy from Dave and The Naked Blonde Girl from Sin City.

Decent show, the characters interact well, and there's no laugh track. We'll have to see what happens once they're forced to go beyond the "things are screwing up in the kitchen" storyline that's been done about a million times before, but for now it has potential. Nicholas seems to be the sort of character that should have a few episodes focused on him, but in this one he kind of became a bit player, as they established the lead and his relationships.

Next Thursday's the one I'm looking forward to, with James Marsters becoming Brainiac on Smallville.

It Must Be Said

One of the blogs I read decided to put up some boredom questions a few days ago, and here's my responses (thanks, trollprincess). Take the answers as you will, and try them yourself!

1. You only get to watch one movie for the rest of your life. Which one do you pick?

Pulp Fiction

2. You get to completely destroy and remove one movie from existence. Which one do you pick?

Batman & Robin (With Tomb Raider coming in second)

3. Which movie that doesn't get nearly enough play would you recommend to everybody?

The Dead Zone, original Walken version

4. Which as-yet-unreleased movie this year would you kill someone to see early?

Goblet of Fire! *stab stab stab* EDIT: Advent Children!

5. Which movie is the funniest movie you've ever seen?

When I was small, Airplane II. Now, Anchorman

6. Which movie has made you cry the hardest?

Someone shoot me, the Liv Tyler/Bruce Willis scene at the end of Armageddon. Or Transformers The Movie (Optimus, no!)

7. What's the best ending sequence to a movie that you've ever seen?

The Sixth Sense

8. What's the best opening sequence to a movie that you've ever seen?

Nightcrawler in X2

9. Who's your favorite movie character, and why?

I've always been a fan of Lance in Pulp Fiction. So laid back. Or any Jason Lee character in the View Askewniverse

10. Which movie character do you think has had the best entrance ever in a movie?

Colossus in X2

11. Which movie character do you think has had the best exit ever in a movie?

Henry Drummond in Inherit The Wind

12. Which supposedly good movie do you loathe?

There's Something About Mary, or Shrek

13. Which supposedly crappy movie do you love?

I'll always have a soft spot for Mystery Men

14. You get to kill one actor/actress and get away with it. Which one do you get rid of?

Angelina Jolie, then everyone will shut up about her!

15. Which supposedly bad actor do you actually like?

Heaven help me, I just don't hate Ben Affleck

16. Which supposedly good actor do you wish would just go away?

Sean Connery is NOT the best James Bond! (or, paraphrasing Andrew "Pierce Brosnan should win an Oscar & beat Sean Connery over the head with it!)

Vegas, Baby... VEGAS!

Yeah, so Jenn and I had been talking for a while about doing a Vegas trip after she turns 21. Now that she turns 21 in two weeks, the subject has been brought back to the table, and it's become stuck in my craw.

300 bucks each for airfare & 2 nights on the strip. No rent to pay for November, Dec, & January. 9 days of vacation days to kill between now and Dec 31st.

I'm liking those odds.

News From Before The Blog

Sarah Michelle Gellar's playing a porn star in her next movie, Southland Tales, by the guy who did Donnie Darko and also starring Seann William Scott & The Rock.

Probably not gonna be second Buffy star to be naked (Charisma), but it should still be interesting.

Stupid Dream

You know how you wake up from a dream and say "Hey, that made a lot of sense!" but as time goes by you realize more and more just how stupid your idea was?

I'm having that right now, I was going to write about this REALLY cool idea for an ad for Goblet of Fire, but now it's just, um, stupid. So, moving on...

While figuring out how the hell I was going to get rid of my big honkin couch, I came upon a website called twincitiesfreemarket.org, where you can post products that you're trying to get rid of, so others can take them before they hit the trash. I posted my couch, not expecting that big of a response. Since I posted Friday night, I've had, oh, 15 or 20 emails asking for it.

So, needless to say, I have someone to take my couch, and others lined up in case that falls through this week.

Made a trip to Rennaissance Festival this weekend. Nothing like free tickets to motivate. Good time, got in a few shows, had some food. Had my first full viewing of Vilification Tennis, which is, for all intents and purposes, a half hour of people hurling insults at each other. Good times.

Came home worn and weary, and then was talked into going out till 1 in the morning. Normally I would have said no, but since it was Jenn, who I probably wouldn't see again for another month or so, I was all for it.

Oh, and I watched about three quarters of the Vikings debacle before deciding "screw this, it's Xenosaga time!" Wow. Just, wow.

Finally, I had a fine power outage in my building for about an hour last night, so stumbling around in the dark was a good time.

A few randoms:

- Joss wants his Wonder Woman script to have the feel of Batman Begins, giving a plausible, realistic origin without completely re-inventing the character.

Good luck with that. Batman is a character based in reality. Wonder Woman uses a magic lasso, magic wristbands, and an invisible jet. She's also an Amazon who walks around in Stars & Stripes.

If anyone can pull it off, it's Joss, but still...

- Quality movies begin again this week with Corpse Bride, next week with Serenity. A History of Violence looks pretty good, too.

I was gonna throw up some more randoms, but, meh, there really aren't any.

Feel It In The Air Tonight

80's pop has reached new levels.

You're an adult male. Want to dress up this year for Halloween? How about as Crockett & Tubbs? Bo & Luke Duke? Magnum PI? Or, heaven help us, Michael Knight?

Head over to Target! 80's Man Perm wigs included!

Loss of Logic

Two bits of head-shaking today:

- Nintendo announces the controller for their new Revolution system. It's one-handed. They're in last place amongst game system developers, and it's almost like they enjoy being there.

- Torii Hunter on the trading block? Say it ain't so!

Crossroads & Crossroads

So I heard back from the guys at Bye Bye Birdie. They offered me the role of Maude, the bartender, but I decided it wasn't worth stuffing the rehearsals into my schedule, so I passed up on it.

Now the decision is, should I try to find another show that I want to stuff into my schedule, or work with my schedule as is, knowing that some days I'll be busy shopping for a new place to live, but other days wishing I could find some way to get out of the house?

I know I'm going to be auditioning for Secret Garden in November, but...

You know, yeah, I'm gonna wait for Garden. I figure if I can find a unit in October or early November, and set up a close in December or January, that's my best bet. Thanks for listening, everybody!

In other news, I'm a quitter. After working on Dark Cloud for the last month or so, I've decided that I'm gonna drop it in mid-stream for now. I seem to be doing that more lately with my games, mostly because I realize I don't have a full grasp of the various systems involved in them (like the weapons upgrade systems in DC) until its too late.

Same happened with Xenosaga. Fun game, but I realized too late that I had been spending half of my points on things that I shouldn't have been spending them on.

So right now I'm deciding if I should:

a) restart Xenosaga, as I bought the game over a year ago, and haven't beaten it yet,

or b) re-start Final Fantasy VII again, as all this talk of Advent Children and Dirge of Cerberus has me thinking I should probably beat the game again before AC comes out in November.

And, yes, I have no life, thank you very much.

Another Sign of Madness

I wanted to mention this yesterday, but forgot in my quest for all things Advent-ey.

Speaking of Advent, starwarsshop.com, the official website for Lucas-related merchandise, has just announced the release of there latest holiday-themed figure. Holiday Darth Vader features a red Vader, with a wreath-laden base and a cardstock of an Imperial flightdeck adorned in holiday spirit.

So, remember, good people of the Earth, nothing says Christmas cheer more than a red version of a character who slaughtered dozens of Sand People, a couple dozen Jedi children, and then blew up a planet.

Its official, George Lucas did sell his soul. This is what he's doing to pay back Satan.

GLEE!

New Potter Trailer!

VoldemortmermaidsBeaubatonscarriageDurmstrangshipkrumm
delacourdiggorymadeyeskeetergobletangrydumbledoredancelessons

*sigh* I could attempt to list off everything new in this trailer, but I'm running out of room on my page... just see it, already!

More to come...

Ugh

Anyone want to buy and sell music on interest free credit?

How about Brazilian Escorts in Atlanta?

Stupid Blog Spam...

What Is This Happy Crappy?

Okay, so a stop at EB Games says that Advent Children is coming out in November. A stop at Gamestop.com has the UMD (PlayStation Portable format) release as September 30th, with the DVD coming out January 2nd, 2006?!? Best Buy has the UMD release as tomorrow, with no release date for DVD?!?!? Amazon.com has the release date in the year 2025?!?!?

I want my Final Fantasy movie, I just wish I knew when I'd be getting it!

WHY AM I NOT TOLD THESE THINGS?!?!?!?!?!?

So, yeah, I knew that there was a new DVD being released based off the PlayStation game Final Fantasy VII. Final Fantasy: Advent Children is being released here in the US. Can't wait to see it, its a CG movie that takes place two years after the end of FFVII. But release dates are weirdly posted online, so I'm gonna take a look at EB Games today to get some answers.

Now I find out, NOW I find out, after I see that news has come around since at least, oh, May, that they're making a PS2 sequel to FFVII. Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus is apparently in the beta testing phase. Exact details yet to be released, but apparently Vincent Valentine & Cait Sith will be major characters, with other VII characters making appearances.

Thankfully it's a PS2 game, and not a PS3.

I have apparently become quite out of the loop. *sigh*

In other news, I auditioned for Bye Bye Birdie last night, with callbacks tonight. Basically decided that I'm going for the two lead males or nothing, as I'm going to have a pretty busy schedule. I'll find out later what the callback's looking like.

Brief notes:

- A new Playboy survey says that 57% of college females would want to have sex with Angelina Jolie. That's a higher percentage than would want to have sex with Brad Pitt.

Positive, it's fun to know that the majority of college girls have bisexual tendencies. Negative, as I've said in previous posts, I just don't get the world's fascination with Jolie. Maybe more women like her cuz she's more mannish than others.

- Keith Richards will NOT be playing Jack Sparrow's dad in the next PotC movie. Curses.

- They've found a director to, um, direct I Am Legend, a movie that's been in rumored production since I started paying attention to all this movie news crap. It's based off the novel of the same name by Richard Matheson, which has been made into a movie twice, once with 1964's The Last Man On Earth, and again in 1971's The Omega Man.

Basic premise is The Stand taken to the extreme, with a super virus mutating the entire population of Earth, except for one man. The book and previous attempts at movies were popular enough where The Simpsons spoofed it in a Treehouse of Horror episode. Another one of those books that I've been meaning to read, and am interested to see how the movie turns out.

- Garth of Dark Horizons has posted the first review I've seen so far of Serenity. A decidedly mixed review, but nothing said in it that will turn me away from the film on opening weekend.

For Carla

Nancy Drew has been cast.

Stupid Anonymous

Someone stop the blog spam!

Really Cool Comic

I have no idea if I've mentioned this on my blog before, but after reading it it must be repeated.

Doujinshi is a difficult term to define. Independent comics, fanfic comics, whatever.

One in particular I just read is really fun, EXTREMELY well drawn, and quite dark, considering its subject material.

The Powerpuff Girls Doujinshi, by Bleedman.

He takes a lot of characters from the Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon cartoon universes, as well as a few writer- and fan-created characters, and twines them both into one universe. Very well-done stuff, and he's not afraid of adding his own twists, like death & psychology, while still giving it a humorous edge.

If you've seen, or know of, these comics, you should check it out:

Powerpuff Girls
Dexter's Laboratory
Time Squad
Invader Zim
Samurai Jack
Courage the Cowardly Dog
Metabots
Fairly Oddparents
Megas XLR
Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy
Johnny Bravo

blank

Cuz, meh, don't really have a decent title.

I had myself a full weekend, by normal standards. Attended my first wedding in a few years, and my first wedding reception in even longer. Good times, it was for my theatre friends Kyle & Erin, and involved a two-hour drive to a cabin. So it was nice and low-key, but was fun.

Yesterday I got quite a bit done for a football season opener. Got to watch the Vikings game, plus had Wendy's, plus got some new toys, plus fixed my car, plus took all the stuff off my walls, which got to be a sweaty job in 90-degree heat.

Vikings lost, which was a shame. I blame the refs, they called some really questionable penalties that brought back touchdowns. And the offensive line stunk, too.

Our fantasy football team also stunk it up, but we're currently beating our opponents this week. Unfortunately that's because four of their players are playing tonight, including Michael Vick & Terrell Owens, so we're most likely going to get blown out of the water. It's never a good fantasy football week when your kicker is your highest scorer (our entire roster only had one touchdown. Ugh.).

Also, I've decided I'm going to audition for Bye Bye Birdie at Morris Park tomorrow, but probably just going to focus on the two leads, otherwise will move on to other theatres.

Oh, and I have a date tomorrow, so, huzzah!

So, yeah, the Transformers that I bought. I bought a Minicon team, the first to come out in a while.

For those who don't know and do care, Minicons were a new classification of Transformer that was introduced in the Armada line. When that line came out, all $7 packages were 3-packs of Minicons. Their basic premise was that they could attach to the regular TF's, giving them more power. There was a TON of potential when these figures were announced, with visions of weapon triple-changers, armor classes, and vehicles that would complement the look of a regular Transformer when attached.

Unfortunately, the less-than-Mini size of most of the Minicons tended to make them appear bulky on all but a few of the larger figures. Also, until the last two teams were released, the only "weapon" Minicons were combiner teams, forming weapons that ended up being way too large for the average TF.

In the end, the Minicon gimmick ended up having many more misses than hits.

Partially because of that, and partially because of a gimmick change, the Minicon releases for the Energon line were limited to remolds of Armada teams, or repaints packaged with repaints of Armada figures.

So I was more than a little surprised to see them returning to the Minicon factions in Cybertron, complete with new characters and molds. First was Safeguard, packaged with Vector Prime.

And now comes the first new Minicon team of the Cybertron era, the Recon Minicon Team. I was glad to see them, because they're, for the most part, upgrades to the original Minicon sets in terms of quality and flexibility.

Well, okay, ONE of the figures in the line is an upgrade. The other two are hit-and-miss.

First off is Jolt, who is the only figure in the pack to be an updated version of a previous Minicon. His vehicle mode is a helicopter. Pretty decent quality, has sort of an aquatic look to him, as opposed to the more sleek look of the original version.

His transformation to robot mode is a little awkward, as the blades get in the way of the legs that flip down. As a robot, his arms and legs aren't very articulated, but the cockpit gives a spacesuit look to him that's pretty original.

Overall, Jolt's a fun figure, but I prefer the Armada version that was packaged with Hot Shot. Less bulky, and just a more fun figure overall. Also, this was a rare Minicon that doesn't have a Powerlink junction on him, basically not allowing the figure to be attached to another.

Six Speed is another figure that could stand to have some more flexibility to him, and reminds me, more than any of the other figures, of the original Transformers Microbots.

His vehicle mode looks nice enough, as a green racecar. A little outdated, however, but it has Powerlink potential, which I might take advantage of once I get my figures back up and displayed again. The Minicon logo on the hood is a nice touch, as well.

As for his robot mode... well, what can be said, except that I'm not that big of a fan. It just feels like the designers got lazy with his limbs, giving him those huge flipping shoulders. I'm pretty much planning to keep this guy in vehicle or Powerlink mode at all times.

The main reason I wanted to get this set, however, is for the Minicon Reverb. Seeing the pictures got me excited to see a figure that had a pretty original form, at least as far as Minicons go.

His vehicle mode is pretty straightforward, a pickup truck. What I like is that it's small, probably the smallest Minicon figure aside from Tidal Wave's Ramjet, which allows for a decent Powerlink with most figures.

Robot mode, though, is what I'm a big fan of. The transformation process as it is is very original for a Minicon, and his robot mode displays a great paint scheme, with quite a bit of flexibility. By far the best Minicon I've seen in a long time. I'm going to have difficulty deciding where I put him, and in what mode.

There, that should do for now.

All I Want for Christmas

Well, okay, not ALL I want, but this is certainly going on my list:

Pure Ducky Goodness. A Sheldon collection. Best mainstream comic out there, and its their first collection.

The Journey Ahead

Oh, for the love of my friends...

I'm attending a wedding tomorrow that I just learned is 2 1/2 hours away. Googly Moogly.

Should be a good time, though. This'll be my first "theatre geek" wedding, so that should be a kick.

Nothing else much to report. I'm getting down to my last two weeks in the apartment, meaning I've hit a wall when it comes to figuring out what I should and shouldn't be buying, foodwise. Ah, well, I figure milk & butter are good things.

I'm also trying to contain myself, as I've heard that new Cybertron figures have hit the shelves here in Minnesota. Grrrrr....

Sucked In Again

You know, I don't know why I do it. Get going on a book that has a fantastic concept, get pissed off by the terrible writing involved, yet I continue to read the series, hoping it'll get better.

Harry Turtledove. Homeward Bound.

Turtledove is probably the best alternate historian out there. He comes up with some fun ideas for "what if?" and runs with it. He can take a question like "What if the Confederacy won the Civil War?" or "What if aliens land during World War II?" and can turn both ideas into book series a dozen novels long. Makes them all seem somewhat plausible, yet still parallels them to actual history (Confederacy 1930's equals Germany 1930's, alien race equals isolationist empire).

The man can plot out a timeline as well as anyone. But, damn, he can't write a story to save his life. He writes these huge series that could be half as long, if he could just trust his readers to remember what happened a few chapters ago. Every page has SOME sort of reminder about "yeah, this is what happened earlier." And each reminder is repeated about 30 times in each book. Irritating.

He doesn't know how to write dialogue. He has this need to clarify the meaning behind everything that is said by a character. He has every character, no matter what nationality, gender, or race, use the same phrases, phrases that I have NEVER heard before, nor would ever think to use in real life without sounding like an idiot. Can you tell me I'm wrong? You wish you could, but you can't.

But, of course, I'm going to get his next book when it comes out. *sigh* Duped again.

I know this is something that most authors would recoil in horror at, but I think a LOT of writers would be better storytellers if they hired someone else to actually tell their stories. So many mainstream writers, both in books and movies, get an idea in their head to tell, but can't write to save their life.

Turtledove suffers from what I've said above. Piers Anthony is a miserable conversationalist in his Incarnations series. Jerry Jenkins & Tim LaHaye took an always-fruitful concept like The Rapture, in the Left Behind series, and told a globe-spanning, world-changing story that only focused on four or five characters, all of them "good guys." George Lucas attempted to finish his Star Wars masterpiece without allowing one other person to touch his cringe-inducing romantic dialogue.

There are some people who come up with a cool story and say "Man, I want to tell that." Others say "Man, I wish someone would tell that story."

Some people think the first thing, but don't recognize that they should be saying the other.

Yet I keep getting pulled back for the story, even though I hate reading it.

Just Not Geek Enough

You know, one of these days I should REALLY get around to reading Lovecraft.

He seems to be popular amongst the geek set.

I had seen more Cthulhu references in other webcomics, but I can't find 'em again!

EDIT: I kept reading.

Lists Galore!

Since there's so much that I could write about, or mention in this blog, yet nothing too exciting for those outside of my world, I'm just gonna go listin:

My Fantasy Football Team

Quarterbacks:
Jake Plummer, DEN
Drew Brees, SD

Running Backs (our strength):
Willis McGahee, BUF
Clinton Portis, WAS
Kevan Barlow, SF
Travis Henry, TEN

Wide Reciever:
Donald Driver, GB (much to my dad's dismay)
Reggie Wayne, IND
Justin McCareins, NYJ

Tight End:
Tony Gonzalez, KC (Best in the draft, baby!)

Defense:
Baltimore (Best in the draft, baby!)

Kicker:
Shayne Graham, CIN (Best in the... oh, wait. Kicker. Never mind...)

Overall, I like our chances. Gonzalez and Baltimore were the consensus Tight End & defense in the draft by most experts, and our starting RB's are both pretty strong (as opposed to having one dominant and one "eh"). QB I'm a little concerned about, Plummer's streaky & Brees is coming off of a potential flash-in-the-pan season, but at their height they're both great. And Wide Reciever... well, neither of them are exactly Randy Moss or Terrell Owens, but they're strong, especially considering Wayne & Driver will be catching passes from Peyton Manning & Brett Favre.

Foods eaten at the Fair on Sunday

Pronto Pup: You just gotta. For those who have never been to a Minnesota State Fair, Pronto Pups are, in essence, corn dogs that use flour batter instead of corn batter.

Mini Cinnamon Rolls: Tasty, but kind of a ripoff, as you had to spend extra to get the cream cheese frosting on the side. Which I did not do.

Batteries: Ummm... not eaten, but bought for very cheap, 24 AAA for 4 bucks. Thank you, Northern Tool & Equipment!

Guacamole & Chips: I missed out on some fun with this one, as it's a booth in which local celebrities would make guac a few times a day. But it was still tasty, 5 bucks for a big pile of chips and a baseball-sized mound of guac. Best I've had in a long time.

Fudge Puppy: I try to get one every year, and despite the fact that I was ready to burst from the guac I had to get it. Chocolate-covered Belgian waffle on a stick, with whipped cream & sprinkles. Tastes even better than it sounds.

Sparkling Apple Cider Float: Since I'm probably going to be missing the Rennaissance Festival this year, this was my lone outlet for my favorite drink at Fest. It's exactly what it sounds like, sparkling apple cider with a scoop of ice cream.

Big Turkey Sandwich: Not exactly "Big", but still good. Plus I had a coupon for a free pop, so there ya go. Kind of a pot-roast turkey on a bun, with nothing else.

What can I say? There's a lot of food I wanted to eat on Sunday, but since I was by myself I was ready to explode by the time I was done with everything.

My Golf Outing:

I hit the ball crappy but straight. Which is much better than well but crooked. Crappy but straight means that the ball's about 50-75 yards away on the fairway. Well but crooked means its 150 yards away in the trees or the water. Well but crooked is a vast improvement for me over my last few outings.

New Web Comics I'll Be Linking Soon:

Staccato: College student animals with a conquest-loving server and an anthropomorphic basketball. More mainstream than it sounds, but still very good.

This Comic Sucks: Hmmm... nothing else much is needed to be said. Probably wouldn't appreciate comparisons to Penny Arcade & Ctrl Alt Del, but, hey, it's true. Quality stuff.

Mac Hall: Another college-themed comic, which seems to show up quite a bit. Slowly seems to be morphing into a VGCats style of art as time goes on, which is just fine with me. Highly amusing.

Oops

Wow... so I had a really busy weekend, with plenty of stuff to talk about. And was planning to put it on my blog today.

Now its almost 4 pm, and I'm heading out in 5 minutes. So, um, later later later.

A Little Less Ranty

Alright, I think I got some of that stuff out of my system from yesterday. It's just tough to NOT think about it, as it's everywhere. But in the end there's really not much to say that hasn't been said already. So I won't say it.

Quick donation thing, though, for those who are still looking: you can also donate to the United Way using your PayPal account. Yet another method of donation that's quicker, easier, and less tied-up than going directly through the charities sites and phone numbers, which are apparently all tied up currently. At the time I'm writing this, Amazon's collected almost $2 3/4 million dollars, and the number's rising every second. Definitely good that the money's going to the charities, here's hoping they can get to where its needed ASAP.

My sociology brain's been skimming through everything, and has come up with some thoughts, but I'll keep those to myself for now, and keep from annoying anyone who's reading this.

Okay, onto more lighthearted fare: Fair! I made my first of two trips to the Minnesota State Fair on Wednesday. My friend Jenn (who's more of a Festie) and I (more of a Fairie... wait a minute...) got in a lot of walking (my feets were numb after 5 hours), checked out about half of the fair (leaving the other half for this weekend) and ate about half of the food I wanted to eat (leaving the other half for this weekend... deja vu). Amongst the foods I ate:

1) Walleye sandwich: Haven't had any walleye yet this year, so it was very tasty. Especially with tartar sauce.

2) Sweet potato pie: I had this at the Fair for the first time last year, and it was the first thing I bought this year. Just tasty stuff.

3) Chocolate sandwich: One of the new items at the Fair this year, and definitely tasty. It's kind of a chocolate Monte Cristo, two slices of french toast with melted chocolate and raspberry in the middle.

4) Roasted Corn on the Cob: You just have to. Probably the only item I'll be getting twice.

5) Spaghetti & Meatball On A Stick: This year's Deep Fried Candy Bar, Macaroni & Cheese On A Stick, or Pizza On A Stick. The Hot New Item. I Need More Capital Letters. Ultimately Disappointing.

It kinda reminded me of a wild rice sausage or meatloaf. A regular-sized (not even very large) meatball, with a small amount of pasta within the meat, deep fried and dipped in spaghetti sauce. It was good, and all, but it was four dollars for a really small item. You could easily buy a plate of S&M somewhere at the fair for that price, and be more satisfied.

My big usuals (Sweet Martha Cookies, Fudge Puppies, Pronto Pup, more corn!) I'll be getting this weekend.

Small items for the geek in you:

- Get your first look at a Serenity Reaver. Just... creepy.

- A Sound of Thunder comes out this weekend. I had heard the concept of the Ray Bradbury short story years ago, and had always wanted to read it. But I never knew the title until now. Didn't even know the movie was coming out until today. Fantastic concept, one of the original "Time Travel Gone Wrong" storylines. damn shame they screwed it up so badly.

- Jessica Alba & Hayden Christensen come together in a psychological thriller. Now we see the true test of the man. Is he truly a terrible actor, or did George Lucas just make him look like one?

- Better-acted team-up: Paul Newman and Robert Redford, together again. If this happens, it should be fun.

Geez... you take one day off from your blog, and it turns out to be on Blog Day. Dang...

Anyway, yesterday was my day off of work, as previously mentioned in many articles. Spent a day alternating between a dentist's chair, the couch in front of a tv, and the streets of Falcon Heights.

Tough to drag myself away from watching all the stuff that's happening down south. Just incredible footage, and getting even more incredible by the hour. If anyone's looking for an easy place to donate money, there's the Red Cross site, of course, which is currently recieving a TON of traffic. Also, Amazon has an area where you can donate using your account, so you don't have to fill any application. Since its also a site that's built for a lot more traffic, its a safe bet. That's where I did my donating today. And eBay has a site set up where you can buy or sell in auctions in which some or all proceeds go to various relief organizations.

It's just really difficult to say anything about what's going on down there. Analyzing it, throwing blame around, just feels to me like demeaning the situation. Say what you will about the preparedness, the reactions, the evacuation efforts, but there's really no good way to prepare for what we're seeing. It's impossible to evacuate a city that size in that short of a time, period. Especially since this storm really wasn't that powerful until it hit the gulf, there were a lot of people who thought they could weather the storm out, evacuation announcement or not.

People in the south are doing the best that they can in a situation where an ocean just fell on their town. It doesn't matter how many police or National Guard are out there. Once the levees broke there was no way it could end well.

Like during 9/11, you're seeing the best and worst of people coming out in a situation like this. People are donating time, money, & supplies by the truckload. Trucks full of volunteers are driving down to the area.

Unfortunately, from what I've been reading, there's been a lot more bad happening. It's becoming a man v. nature fight down there. Rescue efforts have been hindered, even cancelled, because of violence. Evacuation of the Super Dome was put on hold because someone shot at the helicopter. Price gougers in Georgia area are charging 6 dollars a gallon for gas.

I don't know what I'm saying. I'm just trying to get feelings out on blog and it slowly turns into just ramblings. Sometimes my sociology brain perks up when it shouldn't, and starts taking another view of things.

I'll just shut up for now and come back when I'm a little more coherant.