Impulse

Is it considered an impulse buy if I impulsively decide to buy something in four weeks?

Ever since the trip's been off, I've been having an urge to buy something that I normally would say I couldn't afford. Since it'll still be cheaper than said trip, and since I haven't really done that for myself in, well, a very long time.

I think I've narrowed it down to either a Nintendo DS or a Game Boy SP.

Now I have to narrow it down, get some more info on both systems, and make the decision to get it as an after-Christmas sale, or something like that.

DS is a newer system, with wi-fi connection. I've heard a lot of good stuff about it, and some of the games that exist for it seem like addicting fun.

But it's more expensive, less available as a used system, and I'm not sure if it's backwards compatible or not.

Because I know right off the bat that there's games that I want for the SP (aka Game Boy Advance), and I'd rather not own both. Kingdom Hearts and Pokemon Red & Green are both on Advance, and if they can't be played on DS then I'm in a conundrum.

If anyone's reading this (which I doubt) and has any opinions or suggestions it'd be appreciated.

EDIT: DS is backwards compatible. I'm in.

Random Thoughts for Random People

- Tim Burton & Jim Carrey team up for the semi-biography of Robert Ripley. Sweet.

- Es Schneit.

- My Christmas shopping has begun. But I'm not saying what or for who, cuz that'd be cheating.

- The Gophers lose to a hyphen. Ha ha.

- And, lest I forget, I must remind myself that once again Amy Lee is hot.

- That is all.

- EDIT: That is not all. Kevin Smith thinking of following up his Clerks sequel with a Dogma sequel. Sweeeeeeet.

My Spinach Puffs!

Kronk's New Groove, the sequel to Emperor's New Groove. Dec 13th.

Focusing on Kronk.

Here's hoping there's a return of The Shoulder Angel.

Oh, yeah. It's all comin together.

Some Crap Averted

More still remains.

I found someone to take my Vegas tickets, should be rid of them by the end of the week, money paid by the New Years Day.

The personal stuff going on... well, who knows?

In other news, the Christmas Season has begun with two big individual traditional purchases: The Advent Calendar and the Pop Culture Ornament. Not my first choice in either case, but they're both decent, and, of course, tradition must be upheld.

I picked the both up in the evening during my also-ritual trip to the Mall of America. Having probably avoided the afternoon rush, it wasn't THAT bad. But it was still pretty damn crowded. I took the light rail, too, and I must tell ya, with the exception of the Airport terminal, it's an absolutely piss-poorly designed system. Having gone from one end of the line to the other I discovered that only one of the stops out of, oh, 20, are completely indoors.

Some stops are mind-numbingly inconvenient. The stop at the VA Hospital that's on the opposite side of the huge parking lot stands out. Since, you know, people who need to go to the hospital can DEFINITELY stand to walk across a huge parking lot in the middle of the winter. Builds character.

Others are just odd. The Mall of America stop, the End Of The Line, involves the train literally pulling into the parking ramp like a car, dropping you off in an area where you 1) cross another set of tracks, 2) cross a street made for buses, 3) enter a building and go up a flight of escalators 4) cross ANOTHER street, and 5) enter the Mall. With all the hoopla surrounding this stop, the final destination of the Much Touted and Much Paid For Light Rail, you would have at least thought they'd build a station that, you know, was ATTACHED TO THE MALL.

The light rail, as an idea, is a good idea. Execution, however, is another matter. If they had built a completely elevated or underground system, if they had built a system between Minneapolis & St Paul, or between the Twin Cities & St Cloud, then hear hear. This thing should be used for commuting purposes before anything. But the fact that they made it to get back and forth to tourist spots, despite the fact that the rail system in itself doesn't exactly draw people to the town.

Build a baseball stadium for half of the cost of the light rail and I guarantee tourism and tax revenues would increase more than from any lightrail to the Mall of America. But that's just me.

Wow, that got ranty.

Each year I seem to have fewer and fewer people to shop for, so money's not going to be that great of a concern. Especially since I'll have, you know, 800 dollars more than I had originally planned since the trip's off. So right now I'm shopping for five family members, two or three friends, and no significant other. But, meh, I'll still have a good time.

And now I stop.

Another Blog of Boredom

I usually don't post three times a day unless I have something worthwhile to say.

This week I couldn't decide if today was going to be busy at work (because everyone's cashing their paychecks for Black Monday) or slow.

I'm learning now.

BOREDOM!!

15 minutes I'm off to lunch and to pick up my copy of Lego Star Wars for the PS2. 18 bucks for, from what I've heard, a really fun game. I can handle that. I just have to control my impulse to buy anything else in the next few weeks.

Wax On Wax Off

Pat Morita, 1932-2005.

Obsolete Terms

I'm writing this while working in a bank the day after Thanksgiving. Hence much much boredom.

Much like VHS cassettes, check books, and the letter "c", in ten years the term "Bank Holiday" is going to cease to exist, to be replaced by the term "Corporate Holiday." I have many friends who work in other, non-financial cubicle jobs, and they're all sleeping in their warm beds right now.

Unfortunately, as more and more banks become more and more "convenient," they're going to find an opportunity to bring in more money on days like today. Other "Bank Holidays" like Veterans Day, Martin Luther King Day, & Columbus Day, corporations are closed while we bank folk continue to work.

Am I cheesed because I have to work today instead of being a sociology dork at the Mall of America? Yeah, just a touch.

Holiday Thoughts

- Watching Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. Am I the only one who thinks that Woodstock eating turkey is a little creepy?

- All major X-mas specials seem to be shoved into a small space. Nov 30 is Rudolph. Dec 2 is Santa Claus is Coming to Town. Dec 6th is Charlie Brown Xmas. Come on, people, give us some breathing room!

Early Holiday Tidings

Festivus Lives!

A personal top-five Seineld episode (The Contest is still my favorite) continues on in the living rooms of many.

Obsolete Clothing

It seems that this year I have some sort of jinx on sports teams. I own, let's see here, shirts for 4 or 5 teams that I wear on a consistent basis. In the past six months, two of them have announced plans to move. First the New Orleans/San Antonio/Los Angeles Saints.

Now the Florida Marlins are seeking to move, maybe to Las Vegas.

I have to avoid wearing my Twins jersey, or else I'll probably complete the trifecta.

Uncanny Valley

There's a lot I want to say right now. Things have gone from good to really, really bad here over the course of the weekend. But I'm not going to get into personal stuff here.

So I'll go with what I usually talk about.

The Uncanny Valley. Now I understand why The Polar Express creeped me out.

FUN WITH SHIPPING!

So this weekend:

- I discovered that a video game I purchased on eBay was shipped to my old address, despite me changing my address on there. Apparently they kept my old one on there, and gave it to my seller. Now it's floating in the postal ether between my old place and my new one, and I might not be playing Xenosaga Vol II again till next week.

Which means I've started playing the completist on Dark Cloud 2. What that means is that I sit down, crack open the strategy guide, and go nuts. After I beat a game once, I allow myself to cheat... more...

- I also sold two of my old games (Chrono Cross & FF Tactics, not my favorites) to a guy on eBay. In France. Adventures in International Postage ensued, culminating in the possibility of me getting my first negative rating on the site... *sigh*

- Got to see a production of Bye Bye Birdie over the weekend. The actors did a fine enough job, but the choreography was below sub-par, and the set was an eye-sore. Painted all yellow, with blue and red shapes, it reminded me of something out of Romper Room, a 1980's MTV studio, or an episode of Barney.

I would have gone to the cast party afterwards, but since I was too emotionally worn from an on-going dispute with a friend (and I will bless you all by not getting into it) I just came home and crashed.

- Fantasy Football culminates tonight. My team's down by 2 points (and was 2 yards (Tony G), 3 yards (Chicago D), and 5 yards (Clinton P) away from a 7-point lead), but tonight we have to players, Donald Driver & Mewelde Moore, playing, with our opponent's defense, Green Bay, on the field. Should be an interesting finish, we just need no stupid turnovers by Brad Johnson, and some points from either MM or DD to give us another win.

More Potter Goodness

This Comic Sucks.

More to come.

Fire! Fire! YYYYYYEEAH!!

Say it just like this.

I saw Goblet of Fire last night. I REALLY liked it, but I'm not sure what to say that's not going to be full of spoilers.

So I'll go with this for now:

Things I liked:

1) Neville
2) Beefed up challenges
3) Quidditch Cup
4) Mad Eye & The Weasel
5) No House Elves!
6) Narnia trailer

And, to go beyond the list, I liked the writing. I had a great time listening to the dialogue.

Things I didn't like:

1) Lack of Sirius (probably due to Batman Begins)
2) Lack of Fleur (definitely was the short-changed of all the champions)
3) Occasional over-dramatization, but I understood it considering what else they were trying to shove into the script
4) Still no mention of Moony, Padfoot, Wormtail, and Prongs. It will be in the fifth movie, if all things make sense.
5) Superman trailer (gave us more than a teaser would, but less than a trailer would give, which left it frustratingly middle. So we see the costume, but we don't see any of the action, or much of Lois, or none of Luthor.

Other thoughts:

- I don't know if I like Voldemort (not a spoiler, since it's mentioned in the trailer). As my friend CJ said (from a NYT article), "best performance by an actor without a nose." But you could still recognize that it was Ralph Fiennes. I would have liked to have seen him either less makeupey or more sinister-sounding. I still think Jeremy Irons or Rowan Atkinson would have made better choices.

- Introducing Barty Crouch so early was an interesting decision, but it makes sense. Piling too many questions on to pof each other is fine in books, but not in movies. Which is probably why the also got rid of so much Skeeter.

Also, Bart Crouch Sr looked extremely familiar, but I don't know why.

- The best thing I saw them do in the movie is NOT ignore Neville's backstory. That was one of my biggest fears about the film, but they gave Neville more screen time and story time than in all the other films combined. They also beefed Ginny up enough where they'll be ready for the Department in the next book (vague enough to not be a spoiler).

I have plenty of other stuff to talk bout (including three more reviews of toys) but I'll deal with those at another time.

Twist This

From this Pearls Before Swine:

How dare you bribe me with amenities like anime, Annie May, my sea anemone enemy?

Doctor's Appointment Tomorrow

Potter Tonight!

I think many of us are excited.

Here's hoping it's a good movie, because I've been wanting this one in the series since... well, since I read it in the first place. Unfortunately, after this it's all downhill, as I'm not as big of a fan of the next two in the series, and am not sure either of them are going to be as cool in translation.

Unless you're looking for death.

Or a fanboy waiting to see girls they've been fantasizing about start snogging.

Which still sounds dirtier than it is.

I also have a doctor's appointment tomorrow for, um, stuff that you probably don't want me to hear about. Nothing like, I don't know, private. Just not fit for public discussion, is all.

I think I'm gonna pick and choose and start copying some of these blogs over to my myspace account. If for no other reason than I'll probably have more readers over there. Picking and choosing because, with hopes of meeting someone from that area, Transformers reviews probably aren't the most attractive thing in the world.

I don't see myself stopping over here, though.

Winter

Today's another "Remember, you're in Minnesota" day.

The snow wasn't that bad. I scraped last night after callbacks and didn't have to scrape again this morning.

But, oh, the wind. It slices it dices makes thousands of julienne fries.

So, yes, callbacks were last night. The verdict is still out on how I did. Between me and one other guy, he nailed the song, I nailed the acting (nailed it more than he did, at least). So it's up in the air.

I'm feeling highly unmotivated to write anything today, so I'll just toss this out to ya.

The Email Time Capsule. Write your future self an email, and it will be sent to your address 1, 3, 5, 10, or 20 years in the future. Neat idea, but only if you keep your same address the whole time.

Oh, I can also mention that I FINALLY have Firefly coming my way. 40 dollars at Best Buy, deepdiscountdvd.com had it for less than 30, minus a 20% discount through a radio promotion (type "Jim" into the promo code section at checkout).

40 dollar DVD for 23. Me likey.

WHEN IS THIS BLEEPIN GAME?!?!?!?

I've been looking forward to Kingdom Hearts II since I finished the original. Then I saw on IMDb that Mulan was going to be a level in the game.

Now I've learned about two more levels.

Pirates of the Caribbean, complete with voices by Johnny, Orlando, Keira, and Geoffrey.

And Tron.

Friggin TRON!

This game must come to us soon.

For Lack Of A Better Title

- WE WON AGAIN! W00t! Ummm, for Fantasy Football.

- I saw The Weatherman over the weekend. Not the most depressing movie I've ever seen, but it definitely cracks the top 5 (Below About Schmidt, American Beauty, Schindler's List, and Batman & Robin).

- Finished Katamari Damacy over the weekend. There's still more I could probably do, but I started another one up (mentioned next). Always good to know that I beat the last level so hard that I made the King cry like a little baby. Finished with a Katamari about 850 meters across, picking up land mass, cloud formations, passing storm systems. Good times.

And, once again, I love how very few people reading this probably have no idea what I'm talking about.

- So, having finished Katamari, I have started up on Xenosaga, Vol. II. Bought it at GameStop, only to come home and discover that I still had a bid on eBay for it which I won for $11. So I'll play it for a few more days, return it on Friday, and hopefully my new game'll be here by then.

So far, it's fun. There's definitely a LOT of things to get used to, including a new combat system that relies heavily on boosts & combos. Complicated, I'm still having trouble figuring it out, as it becomes pretty button-intensive, as far as turnbased RPG's go. But it's a thrill when you finally figure out what you're doing and blast a boss for a chain that adds up to about 5ooo HP. Also, I guess the makers of the game assumed that, since you already beat Xenosaga I, you already know what you're doing. Therefore you're basically tossed to the wolves from the word "go".

And the skill education system's going to take a lot of getting used to, since you're basically given the option of learning, oh, 50 or so skills from the beginning, with more afterwards, and only a certain amount of points to learn them with. I'm afraid I'm gonna learn the wrong ones and be screwed for life.

There's definitely a lot of pluses to this game, though, most of which I haven't gotten to yet. Because I HAVE beaten the first Saga they give me some level bonuses at the beginning, as well as a Swimsuit for a few characters, which gives them some strength & Boost bonuses.

Also, it appears that the game is programmed to actually show costume changes for characters when they change equipment. The first level takes place almost immediately after the end of the first game, so they're still in their same gear as the original game. But they quickly change clothes.

Add to that the Swimsuits and there's a definite change. It's kinda necessary right now to keep the suits on these characters, as they do get all these bonuses. But I'm also not too difficult to look at KOS-MOS in a swimsuit.

The AGWS system, giant mechs, looks like it should be a hoot when I get there. They start you out in one, in a flashback sequence, and it reminds me a lot so far of the original Xenogears, with your AGWS becoming more of a part of your character than just a separate weapon. The two player, Double Dash style, pilot system is promising to be difficult.

Another system they're stealing from other games, which should be fun when it gets there, is the Double system, pretty much a clone of the Dual & Triple Techs of Chrono Trigger.

The game recognizes that you're playing in the same universe as the first, so it's refreshing to run through towns, buildings, and ships that are familiar enough from the original, but with increased graphics & processing ability, much more accessable.

I'm liking it. As you can see.

Auditions tonight for Secret Garden. More to come.

Strange Coincidence

Alex Ross Lithograph of Super Grover. Crazy world.

NO PROFIT!

Well, maybe a little...

This morning I chucked my spare change into the change machine here at work. About 76 dollars came out, along with a few extra non-changables. Amongst them, a penny from 1918.

I checked the coin seller nearby, and he said it's only worth 2 cents. But it's still 1) the oldest penny I've probably ever owned, and 2) PROFIT if I ever wanna trade it in. that's what I call doubling in value. ;) Plus they seem to be selling on eBay for more, so even if I get a quarter for it that's what I call 2400% profit!

God, it's slow here at work today. My usual e-mail buddy is out of the office because of Veteran's Day. I work at a bank, yet I don't get bank holidays off. Go figure... I just wanna go home, not talk, and make The Moon or The North Star on Katamari.

I love how that last statement makes no sense to most people reading this.

Last night I went to a show at the Old Log Theatre, one of the more prestigious theatres in the metro area. The show, Murder At The Howard Johnson's, was free through my realtor. Thank goodness I didn't pay for it.

I mean, the cast was fine, they did well with what they were given. But, bless em, the script just wasn't that good.

Because it's either this or math puzzles, I'm gonna bore you all with a little more review.

When images of Takara's Galaxy Force line started coming out of Japan, there was one figure in particular that I yearned for the second I saw it. And now, yippee skippee, I's gots it!

Sideways (Noisemaze in Japan, which is still a name I haven't quite figured out) is a character who has straddled the line in both Armada & Cybertron. At times he has been both an Autobot & a Decepticon, but has always had his own agenda, or followed the agenda of Unicron.

As an Armada figure, he was a cool motorcycle, a butt-ugly robot with an odd, even more butt-uglier, Mini-Con feature. In Cybertron, however, he's dark, demonic, and the most Japanese-looking figure I've seen in any of the Transformers lines.


Sideways alt-mode is difficult to describe. Kinda a space-ship, kinda a star fighter, kinda a stealth bomber, it follows along with the idea that the character comes from a different planet than, well, pretty much all of the other Transformers. A little bulgy, but still neat. His Planet Key function, which is a unique shape to all others, serves two purposes. One is to change his faction symbol from Autobot to Decepticon, and the other, if the turret is raised, is to spread out the orange energy blade things.

Robot mode is where this guy excels, however. The color scheme of black, silver, and orange is a rare thing to see in these figures. The turret hooked to his arm looks cool without impeding the figure (like on Thundercracker). The wings on his legs can be removed to create a huge twin blade, which, when placed along with the Planet Key feature, creates one of the coolest looks I've seen in a Cybertron figure.

And his face! This is where he becomes so Japanese. His head is a cross between Go Nagai's Devilman and an ancient Japanese demon mask. Just a huge gaping maw that I wouldn't wanna cross paths with.

For a ten-dollar figure, this guy's worth every penny.

I'm An American

You Passed the US Citizenship Test

Congratulations - you got 10 out of 10 correct!

Could You Pass the US Citizenship Test?

There, I'm an American...

I'm still sick over here. Now it's been reduced to just an extremely stuffy nose. I'd actually prefer the sore throat. At least then I could breathe.

Well, after a change of schedule last night that I won't get into, I ended up doing some driving around, with my usual shopping run.

I didn't find my Prowl.

I didn't find my Jetfire (at least not in the price range I'm looking for).

But I DID find something that makes me proud in an extremely geeky sorta way.

It's always nice to be the first on your message board to find the release of a new wave of figures. Last night at the Plymouth Target I found the new wave of Cybertron scouts. It's also nice to be the 5th person in the country to be able to say on a website that you've found figures in your area.

I left a few for others to buy, mostly because I'm not a fan of this wave as a whole. Mini-Cons I can do without. Backstop sucks. Brushguard's the first repaint to come out in the series.

But I did buy the third in the Hasbro-exclusive scout figures (the first two being Hardtop & Armorhide), a Jungle Planet figure, and not that bad of a toy.

Wreckloose has a very basic alt mode, a lizard... salamander... thing... The picture on the left doesn't show it off as well as this one, but he's actually a very realistic figure, in terms of design and coloration. The problem with looks arise when he is wearing the helmet-weapon-jigger. And the item that frightened a lot of collectors off in the first place is his Planet Key function, where Wreckloose develops a pair of antlers. Lizards with antlers makes a TON of sense, I know.

Basically my conundrum is showing off the figure as he should be, or the way that looks good but creates extra kibble...

His robot mode has a few creative points to it. The legs are created by the tail, which splits out (and the legs set on one side creates an original, asymmetrical look), and the head splits open at the neck to reveal the head. The helmet-weapon-jigger can be attached to the back, antlers spread, and actually looks pretty good. It can also be held as a weapon, which is not as good.

Overall, not a great figure, but not that bad for a scout. Like most scouts, his Planet Key function is pretty worthless, but doesn't get in the way of the overall character.

I still have yet to get to two more reviews, one of which is for a figure I've been looking forward to since I first saw a picture. But that could wait for another time.

I've Been Saying It For Years

Look it up in the dictionary.

Story Number One (Or Two)

Depending on where your count is starting.

The Blue Beast.

Enjoy the furr. Expect either purple gumdrops or top-hat-clad amphibians by the end of the week.

So I've been playing a LOT of Katamari Damacy the last few days. Dude! Not only is this the strangest game I've ever played, not only is it one of the most addicting games I've ever played, not only does The King of the Cosmos look like Chevy Chase...

But this game above all others makes me realize just how talented some programmers are, or just how powerful some computers are nowadays. This is a game where your character can run under a car, complete with a view of the axle & car parts, and, later in the game, pick up the SAME car. He can run around inside a house, and be able to pick up that same house later in the game. He can roll around a ball the size of the Metrodome, yet the computer can still say "that's a push pin you just picked up."

Boggles the mind, really...

Sickness, Sticky Balls, & Sequels

Colds suck. I took the day off of work today, and there's an outside shot I'll be out tomorrow, too.

Last night I started one video game, finished another.

First off, Xenosaga Vol I. This was one of the two games I bought when I first bought the PS2 (along with Kingdom Hearts), and I just now beat it last night. There's nothing quite like finishing a game after you discover a weapon that takes off 9999 hit points in every turn, and the final bosses are only 7000 and 14000 hp, respectively.

I'm very curious to see how the sequel works out. This is the first RPG I've ever played that has an honest-to-god sequel. As opposed to most games, like Final Fantasy, Dark Cloud, and Dragon Warrior, Xenosaga's sequel will continue where the first game left off. Same story, same characters. Yet somehow they'll have to explain how our heroes lost the weapon that takes off 9999 hit points. Etcetera. lol

Kingdom Hears II will also be a continuation, so that should pose the same problems.

And I started Katamari Damacy. Just as addicting as I heard it was. Basic premise, you run around rolling a ball and collecting items to make your ball bigger. Dumb premise when described, but it's just TOUGH.

My focus is enough where I'm probably not any more entertaining tonight. More tomorrow.

Broken

Well, upon further review of the article posted earlier (Lesbian Cheerleaders, not in porn) it appears that the absolute glut of people trying to find out about these two girls, and what they look like, has broken the Panthers website.

Here's all that's currently showing up at the time I write this post.

Highly amusing. Yet I still wanna see.

Another Site For The List

Do I have a list? Ah, well...

Here's Conan O' Brien Vs The Bear.

Fractyl Galore

- They just found the Holy Land's oldest church.

And it's near Megiddo.

Near Harmageddo.

AKA Armageddon.

Let the proselytizing begin.

- Two things I learned at the Vikings game yesterday:

- I'm never going to another Vikings game. Boring as dirt when you can't change the channel during commercial breaks.

- I'm never putting a Viking on my fantasy team again. Even if we win, I can't enjoy it if my guy's not getting any of the points.

Two Vikings running backs got touchdowns. One got over 100 yards.

Neither of them were Mewelde Moore.

Grrr...

- Serenity on DVD December 20th. Just in time for Xmas!

It's just a shame that Summer looks weird on the cover.

- Pirates. Arrr.

- Inmate escapes Death Row. Never tracks down the One-Armed Man.

Finally:

Cheerleaders partaking in lesbian sex that's not a porn film.

No, seriously.

I Think I'm Behind

The End Of The World. Funny.

Strange Pairings

A few months ago I posted my story for ithurtsmybrain's Pairing List. Basic premise being the author, trollprincess, has a couple thousand genre names placed in a hat, then draws them at random (or semi-random) to create pairings. Then you write a story based on some of these pairings.

Last year, despite wanting to do one with Devon & Slugworth, as well as Mal & The Joker, I ended up doing only one: Dr. Evil & Anya.

Here it is, for those who haven't read it.

The new list has been posted. Some odd ones are definitely there.

This year, here's what I'm looking at. First the potentials, and curse Blogspot for not letting me set these the way they look on this page:















Mr. Pink v Barbara Gordon. Probably not gonna happen, as I don't know either character well enough. But it definitely has potential from the crimefighter perspective. And could also be two different stories, depending on which point in Babs' history you want to go for: Batgirl v. Oracle.
















Rita Skeeter & Starfire. For those who have never seen Teen Titans, the best way to describe Starfire would be a bubblier, more chipper version of Anya. Very literal in her speech, very formal. She'd be a hoot of an interview, especially if Rita decided to start pushing for relationship stuff between her and Robin.














Mr. Furious v. Grimace. Because Grimace makes me furious.















Harmony v. Kelso. The two biggest airheads on their respective shows. It would be a pleasure to read, but I dont 'think I have the chops to write it.

Other ones that barely missed the cut included Leelu v. Beaker and Gollum v. Luna Lovegood, but I'll leave those to others.

So now the ones that I will probably (hopefully) write:
















Dawn Summers v. River Tam. Imagine what she says when another superpowered chick comes into the neighborhood. The big question will be how to get them together. I could also go slash on it, but I don't have the balls to pull that off. I think they're both legal...














Neville Longbottom v. Michigan J. Frog. Neville's my favorite HP character. And he has a frog. One that could potentially sing. This thing writes its damn self!

















Count Dooku v. Super Grover. Lightsaber meets flailing foam. Hilarity ensues.


At least ONE to come.

More (In)Famous Former Twins

Matt Lawton, a free agent, was suspended for steroid use.

Good job, boyo.

But in more positive Former Minnesotans news, Latrell Sprewell is no longer a Timberwolf. Hell, the BrokeAss Family Man isn't even in the league!

bwahahahahahahaha!

Rules Is Rules

I had gone into last night with the hope that it'd be relaxing. And that I wouldn't have to worry bout much of anything.

That's before I had to drive to two Best Buys and argued with customer service reps to get them to follow rules that they had written themselves.

An explanation. As I stated in a previous blog, the season of Eating began at the beginning of October with the McDonald's Monoply thing. I spent the last month eating more McD's than I normally would because I was able to collect "money" to use at Best Buy. I collected enough (out of 4 or 5 trips to McD) to get myself a good video game.

Upon arriving at Best Buy #1 (In Maple Grove, MN) I was told that the game I was purchasing, Katamari Damacy, could not be purchased because Best Buy's rules limit a $3 discount per CD and DVD. And, apparently, "We consider a PlayStation game a CD." So, in their minds, a Game Boy cartridge is a video game, but a PlayStation, XBox, Gamecube, or PC Game is a "CD". Too flummoxed to even argue, I left empty-handed.

Driving to Brooklyn Center's store, the floor employee and cashier said that it should be fine. The manager and the customer service rep, however, had a different idea. Even with the rules sitting in front of them, in writing, they continued to argue that "well, it says CD and DVD, but it means CD, DVD, and Video Game." After much arguing and circling, they relented and "would make an exception this time," and I left with my game.

I got the game I wanted. But the fact that I had to make an exception to a rule that doesn't even exist was... well... stupid. And frustrating.

This game had better be worth it.

More Alain & Cuthbert!

How this was announced without it appearing on any of my websites, I have no idea, but I now have something to look forward to in 06 even more than any big movies:

Roland's coming to Marvel.

The idea is to flesh out the Stephen King's Dark Tower universe, with a focus on the events both leading up to and following Book 4, Wizard & Glass. Many questions and events that were left unanswered, vaguely answered, or completely unexplored, could be answered during these series.

But as the title to this entry shows, what I'm looking forward to most is more Alain Johns & more Cuthbert Allgood, Roland's two childhood friends who only have any real face time in book four. The scene in Wizard & Glass with the two of them in the bar is still one of my favorite in the series.

Now, the question remains whether they'll tie DT to the Marvel Universe by making the 616 and Ultimate universes into two of the various realities of the Dark Tower? Would they have the balls to do that? And would that be a good thing or a bad thing? It would certainly be used in continuity for any intercompany crossovers for past and present.

Quiet Spooks

Halloween has come and gone. The Phase 3 candy has been stockpiled, and should probably last me until at least the end of November, maybe even till Christmas. We have plenty of Tootsie Rolls left, which will probably continue to be uneaten for months to come.

I thought 20 kids was pretty good, until my friend Sarah told me her parents had 145 rugrats. Yow.

Thoughts for next year for a costume:

-Johnny Cash
-Jayne or Mal
-Applegate
-A Piece of Work

Just in case I forget what I had thought of earlier.

Before I get too much farther, I gotta show this off. Someone with too much time on their hands, along with instructions that could easily be confused with nuclear physics:

Macross/Robotech/Transformers Origami

I could probably do a Transformers review right now, but I don't feel like it. Maybe tonight, when Sideways is sitting right in front of me...