100_5800 Verizon Truck, courtesy of rememberwhatgodhasdone
I’m sure many people are wondering where the heck I am these days. I’ve been unavailable by phone and severely limited in my online time since our ‘big move’ two weeks back.
Well, settle back, kids. I’ve got a story for you. In fact, I’ll let you read the letter I sent to the CEO of Verizon this Friday past – it sums it up pretty well. Continue reading
Back in July of 2007, one of my friends, Brian, organized (with the help of a couple others) an impromptu ‘East Coast Commandothon’ Battletech event up in Gaithersburg, MD. Originally I wasn’t able to go, but managed to swap schedules with my work and drive up to the store for six hours of hyperactive BattleTech action.
Even though I actually gave them the idea and outline of the game, I never imagined it to be so freakingly crazy. And awesome.
Basically, Chris – the Delaware Commando – pooled twenty of the most absolute worthless designs in the game for everyone to randomly pick and use. No cheesy, munchkiny stacked-to-the-gills heavy-gunned machines here, no way! All lights and low-end mediums (I don’t think it went above 45 tons), with the likes of Garms, Vulcans, Javelins, Assassins, Stillettos, Sentinels and so on ad nauseum.
Glorious, fast, light ‘Mech carnage.
Watched Red Dawn a while back. What of it? Just enough unbelievability in it to make it a less-than-serious movie, but a great mind-sink to just lay on the couch and wander. And as I half-watched, I realized why I kinda don’t like it. It’s not because of Patrick Swayze – though I will admit the ‘dislike’ factor there *is* coloring my judgment a little. It’s because that even if you suspend your disbelief and buy into the premise…..the movie is disjointed enough that it really doesn’t tell a good story. Or flesh out the characters enough so you’d actually care. It’s just a two-hour trip…..to nowhere, really. With a jacked-up quick-set epilogue to “make you feel better.”
I wonder how the novelization read / would read. Would it be as good as Orson Scott Card’s Empire, of which I am reading now? Or just as bad as Hubbard’s Battlefield: Earth?
Ugh. I need a shower now, and I suspect you do as well. We’ll reconvene here in a moment and switch to more…refined tastes.
Chateau D’if, courtesy of meuh
Finished the abridged Count of Monte Cristo not too long ago (abridged…yet still 600+ pages…and I’m flummoxed to find a complete unabridged work, as there are two major plot threads I remember that are missing…) and the following questions popped into my head, as I am wont to do after reading a novel and reflecting on it. Of course, it doesn’t help that this is one of my all-time favorite movies (the James Caviezel version) and I inevitably compare the two after every viewing.
Western literature begins (arguably) with the Iliad - your basic tale of revenge. It is continued in the Odyssey, which sees the revenge killing of over one hundred of Penelope’s suitors. Ok, so the theme of ‘revenge’ is popular in Western literature: it is found at the core of innumerable medieval romances and epics, Shakespearean plays, Elizabethan drama, and our aforementioned Dumas novel – from its inception to the latest NYT bestseller.
On the silver screen, film noir and westerns are notorious for this style of plot. So you have to ask…why is revenge so popular a plot? Is the avenger – in this case Edmond Dantes – a ‘stand-in’ for the reader, where Dantes avenges the slights and injuries we all suffer? If you hit the lottery for $100 million, would YOU avenge yourself against those who have harmed you?
Or…would having all that money – and the nascent power that comes with it – be its own revenge against whatever indignities you have suffered? Would it be enough to assauge all that pain?
If you had the resources, the means, and the will…would you follow the path of Edmond Dantes – and would you end up with his same fate? (Note that Dumas’ original work, Edmond’s fate is much different than that of the movie(s) – the ‘hero’ doesn’t actually ride off into the sunset with his reunited woman and boy. He actually loses Mercedes, though he is able to provide Maximillian Morrell – his old boss’s son – reclaimed wealth and his true love, but at cost to both.)
Anyway, something to think about. Most likely, I’ll be thinking on how to work this ‘timeless classic plot device’ into my next work somehow.
courtesy of swishphotos
My entertainment complex hasn’t changed all that much since my humble beginnings with the audio experience back when I was a teenager. (Isn’t that when most guys get involved?) Of course, by that time, I’d been “indoctrinated” with piano lessons since I was 5, impromptu drum lessons by my uncle when I was 11, clarinet when I was 12, and sax when I turned 16. Add in string bass at 17 and you’ve got the idea.
I was a band / music geek. I did concert / wind ensemble, marching band, jazz band, musicals. Name it, I played in it.
Ok, so when I turned 15, my parents bought me my first “cabinet stereo”. Up to that point, I’d been suffering with a cheap-o Sears boom box that had detachable speakers and a tape deck. The sound was horrid, but it was my first stereo. So I got really excited when I saw the size of the gift…I had done some research and wanted a Blaupunkt ensemble – the best there was at that time, in my opinion. Alas, no.
It was – yep – a Sears model cheap-o all-in-one cabinet stereo. With phonograph (no CD). And the speakers, again, sucked. Please note – I did NOT own any LPs at this time. Just tapes. Lots and lots of tapes.
Still, it was all I had.
I used that stereo (abused, is more like it) into my freshman year of college. Even saved up and bought a Sony CD player for it. And when the first stereo war erupted on the dormitory’s floor….I promptly lost. Badly. It was like a cricket playing at a Metallica concert.
I suffered shame and humiliation – and determined to junk that piece o’ crap first chance I had.
In the meantime, my dorm roommate (#2) introduced me to a wonderful little trademark called “Dolby” and a button called “surround sound”. I was enthralled. Never had Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader sounded so…so…COOL.
I added such distinctions to my wish list.
After Christmas of my sophomore year, I went audio shopping. I NEEDED something to play my tunes, and not the ancient system my parents guarded. So I ended up compromising for price and sound, and bought a Fisher receiver, with dual video, 5 aux, 300 watt internal amp and Dolby surround sound. Added two floor speakers, each rated at 150 watts (and I think, 8 ohms), a 200 watt sub woofer, and two 50 watt “front channel” side speakers.
Yes, I dominated stereo wars for the next year and a half, and I only made it to ’6′ on the volume dial. And *I* was the Resident Assistant! So we would borrow my setup for our weekly Floor Movie Night in the lounge….. Ahhhhh….. I should’ve charged admission…but my supervisor wouldn’t let me. So I settled for two cans of pop per person, which got put into a community ice tub for everyone to mooch off of.
That system traveled with me when I moved into the Real World and my wife “inherited” it on our wedding day. [Aside: She still kids that she married me more for my stuff at the time....] I kept all of it intact until the sub woofer finally failed in 1997, the side channel speakers in 1998, and we ‘traded’ the floor monsters to my father-in-law when we moved to D.C. He gave us his 250 watt custom-built shelf-mounted speakers instead, as they were more compact for our now-smaller living room. (Those are now residing with a friend as we ‘graduated’ to a full surround-sound setup.)
The Fisher got company in 1995, when I replaced the single-tray Sony CD player for a Pioneer 6-track cartridge one. Added a nice Sony VHS Hi-Fi that same year for a better “theater” sound (the mono-line RCA wasn’t cutting it anymore). Also dropped in a Panasonic dual cassette deck, at my wife’s insistence. Then added a Sony DVD player in 1999, but that failed in 2001, so it was replaced with a nice Toshiba model. An additional Allegra DVD/VHS component was added in 2003, though it split time between the bedroom TV and the main setup, for additional recording options (I was dabbling in video editing for a while).
Still have all of it, though we’ve since added a dual-tuner satellite DVR to the happy mix – and next week, we’ll add a HDVR. No matter what type of entertainment we want to watch or listen to, it all went through that reliable Fisher. I’ve never had to crank it past ’2′ on the volume dial in years.
When we moved ‘up’ to a full 5 speaker + sub surround system, I donated that venerable Fisher to a friend. As far as I know, it is still working…
The only thing missing is my PC hooked up to the whole shebang, but that’s a tad difficult, seeing as the PC is in another room. I did have them mated a long time ago and played the entire Doom game on it….talk about creepy! Best time I ever had at 3 in the morning. Well, almost….
I *do* listen to music a lot in the car as well, but sadly, I don’t spend as much time or energy on it as I do at home. Considering I’m not in the car as often…. Well, I *did* splurge and replace my VUE’s in-dash deck with a nice CD/mp3 radio. No need to replace the speakers, though – they sound just fine cranked up to 11.
So next time you guys visit, allow me to show you how the Memorex commercial REALLY works, okay?
On a recent drive to and from Pittsburgh, I’ve come to realize that residents of certain states have a typical driving style.
Illinois: Hell-bent on getting there as fast as possible. Adept at maneuvering in and out of lanes with scant clearance between cars. Able to dodge lane-changing trucks without incident and arrive at the nearest Starbucks ten minutes before time. [This form I am intimately familiar with, considering I grew up driving in Illinois....]
Florida: No concept of “fast lane.” Just as competent at going 40 mph in the left lanes as they are in the right, all while driving with one turn signal fused in the “on” position. Slow to change lanes and utterly scared of more than two semi-trucks in line-of-sight, prompting immediate pressing on the brakes and slowing down another 10 mph. Deathly afraid of hills and tunnels, often slowing down before entering and exiting. The mere hint of water on the roadway prompts nightmares of immediate skids ending in flaming wreckage.
Maryland: No regard for “safe car length distance”. Tailgating is a state sport, with the closer one gets, the more points they win on their license. (What exactly they win, I’ve no freaking clue.) “Speed limit” is a euphemism for “minimal safe speed.”
Virginia: Safe drivers, except when a Maryland plate is spotted. When an “enemy” plate is discovered, every attempt is made to block said car and make said driver’s life miserable. Has acute radar-detector envy, usually seen when drafting an out-of-state car going 20 mph above the speed limit, only to back off suddenly when state-implanted chip warns of VAHP vehicle / helicopter nearby. This move, incidentally, is called “sacrificing the out-of-state loser.”
Pennsylvania: See Florida, only younger. Because when they retire, they go to Florida. And then move back to PA when the heat and mosquitoes aggravate them.
So, I’m sure you all have some stereotype state drivers. Please, share. That way, I know what to expect when I see their plates on the road…
NYC 9/11 Memorial Field, Inwood Hill Park, courtesy of baslow
We ran a nice feature today on 9/11. Enjoy.
I’ll admit right off the bat this website is still in “toddler stages” as I get things up and going. Therefore, I encourage you to return often as the site will be continually updated as I have time. Being a full-time on-staff writer as well as a freelancer in the game industry does tend to suck up a lot of time; throw in a recently-purchased house and all that that entails and you may wonder when I actually sleep…
Meantimes, poke around and tell all your friends!
-BHR
