Oct 30, 2006

Digital Pumpkin Carving

Bit late on this one, but it's cool!

Mini Movie Reviews @ The Temple

Also known as I have too much time doing homework, so I get tons of movies watched.

The Lakehouse - A time traveling mailbox?!  SERIOUSLY?!

The Fast & The Furious 3 - HAHAHAHAHAHA

One Last Thing... - Surprisingly good.  If you are in the mood for it, pretty touching, slightly creepy.

Brick - Call it... film noir in a high school.  Or call it poop on a stick.  Both are applicable.

Rumor Has It - Interesting idea, especially the part where zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....

The Prestige - Surprise ending about as surprising as my F&F3 review.  Much suspension required.  Otherwise, pretty good.

Oct 29, 2006

MJ Fox Again

Okay, at this point, I am almost positive that the democrats paid Limbaugh to make a stink about this.  Michael J Fox has gotten an insane amount of press ever since, all of it favorable, all of it sympathetic, and all of it driving voters to finally feel the tiniest bit about how stem cell research might affect people.

Oct 28, 2006

Stay The Course

Hahaha, while I'm deciding what I think of Olbermann, this is positively Daily Show-esque.

Incidentally, I think it can be said that he is obviously not a newsman.

Chaos Faction

Twitch Game.  Don't play it, you'll just end up wanting to do the whole thing, and then you'll just end up punching your comptuer because it takes you 300 tries to beat that last guy.  Then again, maybe that's just me.

Oct 27, 2006

NBC/CW won't play Dixie Chicks Ad

Assholes.

Double Wires Game

It's not all politics here at the Temple, I swear!

Dave, no I mean Jeff

Hehe, why must you make it so easy?

Keith Olbermann

Looks like half my posts will be politics for the next 2 weeks, so next up, I can't decide what I think of Keith Olbermann.  I, as a rule, don't watch 24 hour cable networks.  I don't like what's become of them in the Fox era, and I generally choose not to support them (not that they know, but you know what I mean).  So I haven't seen a lot of Olbermann, never watched it on an actual TV, just links online.  He's a big critic of Bush'n'them, so obviously that's great.  But he comes across a little too rabid for me.  There is a vitriol in his mannerisms that weirds me out.  I mean, I'm with Bill Maher: "Where is the outrage?"  I want someone to be pissed, I want lots of people to be pissed.  Maybe online links have a selection effect that bias me, I'm not sure.  I guess I'll have to watch his actual show a couple of times to get a good measure.  Any thoughts?

Oh, I also think he as absolutely not earned rights to "Good Night and Good Luck"  Do I really have to quote Bentsen v Quayle here??

Michael J Fox

I sort of assume everyone has seen this, I always miss the big stories for that reason.  But just in case, quick recap: Michael J Fox did an ad for a senate race in Missouri, for the democratic candidate who supports stem cell research (as he obviously does).  The big hooplah came cuz Rush Limbaugh decided he was faking or purposefully slacked on medication to make the commercial more effective.  Even going so far as to mimic/mock Fox's motion.  Sadly, real life had to intrude.  Point is, if he had stopped his medication, he wouldn't be able to move at all.  Turns out it was an exess that produced those particular symptoms.  Is he using his celebrity and sad condition to push people into caring?  Umm...duh.  If I couldn't sit still for 2 seconds, if I didn't have control of my own body, I think I'd do whatever I had to to make people pay attention.  Another fun point, no conservatives complained when Fox used his celebrity for Arlen Specter in 2004!  Though I did find one blog post of liberals complaining how he's not even american, hahaha.  Careful liberals, a counter-asshole is still an asshole.

And on an even larger point, it's amazing that Rush Limbaugh can say mission accomplished!  We are spending more time talking about whether Fox was faking than about the actual issue!  And as much as folks like me are jumping up and down screaming that Limbaugh is EVIL, he is going to get away with it just fine.  He's not going to get Dixie Chick'd for saying such things, it's perfectly acceptable for a conservative to make amazingly outrageous claims and not even express remorse, let alone feel consequences!  Meanwhile the more official members of their cabal reap political capital from the whole event.

Then again, Fuck Limbaugh.

Oct 26, 2006

Rolling Stone's Worst Congress Ever

This is interesting, and looooong, but interesting.  Biased, of course.  Lots of numbers on what the republicans have or haven't done, some comparisons to the past, some suspiciously absent, some seeming to keep with the trend of american politics of the last 100 years.  If (pleeeease) the democrats really do get the houses back, we'll have to see if it really is a trend or not.

Oct 25, 2006

Boob Physics

Haha, wow.  When I first saw a post on this link, I thought "big deal, game makers focus on boobs, nothing new."  But holllly crap, it is absolutely ridiculous how those things move.  It's like they've got jello blobs glued to their chests, it's insane.

Btw, do I really have to say NSFW?  No one is reading or watching anything I post at work, I hope!

PS3 Ads

So these are interesting.

They are pretty talkative, and they claim a lot, w/o any real frame of reference.  I'm sure the antis would argue each point.  But more than that, the ads aren't cool.  Seems like Sony is going to have to figure that part out pretty soon.

That dogfight is nice though.

Oct 24, 2006

Brave New World

So, I finally finished Brave New World.  I'm gonna blab for a while here, just so yas know.  I gotta say, it didn't catch me like 1984 did.  In fact, I was not reading at all, so I had to download the ebook so I could listen on my walk to & fro work, which got me through it much quicker.  The thing was, it did not feel like the same type of book as 1984.  Maybe I should have known that ahead of time, not sure.  Somehow 1984 seemed grander, maybe because of it's correllaries to today, maybe because it felt more like the main charcter, though he was an individual, had a very common story.  This book felt more focused on Bernard, and then John, as if they were rarities.  It's easy to extrapolate that the events are commonplace, but it doesn't seem the point, maybe I got it wrong.

 

There's also some analysis of the nature of people I found interesting, in a very different way than 1984.  Somehow very interesting and fundamental, but does not feel epic like 1984 did.  Nonetheless, these three quotes are good ones:

"I'd rather be myself.  Myself and nasty.  Not somebody else, however jolly."  That one strikes me in a certain way.  In a way which I imagine only people from whom it rings true would get.

"Success went fizzily to Bernard's head, and in the process completely reconciled him (as any good intoxicant should do) to a world which, up till then, he had found very unsatisfactory." A sort of obvious one, I guess, but seems important to me.

"One of the principal functions of a friend is to suffer (in a milder and symbolic form) the punishments that we should like, but are unable, to inflict upon our enemies."  Yikes, eh?

 

The nature of the society only became very interesting toward the end when the Coordinater is explaining it all.  The first half is an almost insultingly basic "reveal" of how the society works, but the second part is legitamately interesting analysis of some aspects of the society.  I'd have to quote the whole chapter to discuss it here, and I'm sure you have all stopped reading already.  There is some of the natural utopian discussion.  If we are all happy but don't choose to be so, is that ok.  If you are given everything you could possibly want, there is no passion, so no instability.  Are we less for never having to deal with unhappiness.  There are also some very cool thoughts on the use of god(s) in society - that their presence was their purpose in older socities, but that their absence is their purpose in this one of permanent happiness.  Gah, it's too much to go into, but it is a great chapter.

Elsewhere in the book, though, there some other good passages:

Very early on, as we are introduced to this world, the Controller is explaining how history doesn't matter.  "He waved his hand; and it was as though, with an invisible feather whisk, he had brushed away a little dust, and the dust was Harappa, was Ur of the Chaldees; some spider webs, and they were Thebes and Babylon and Cnossos and Mycenae.  Whisk.  Whisk - and where was Odysseus, where was Job, where were Jupiter and Gotama and Jesus? ..."  That's a good one yeah?  Very similar to 1984, or rather 1984 similar to it.

In the foreward, some time is given to Huxley's own comments on the issues of the day.  Discussing overpopulation (a continually threatening, dramatized, reconciled, and again threatening circle we seem to deal with), and the international conflicts it would create, he says "Permanent crisis justifies permenant control of everybody and everything by the agencies of the central government."  Seen the latest Osama/Zarqawi/Bush ad?

 

So, obviously, it's still a very good book, just didn't have the impact on me as 1984.  I don't think I'll read Revisted, leastaways not right now, it doesn't seem to have been very well accepted.  I might take a break for a horror/scifi podcast novel by Scott Sigler real quick.  But then I'll have to get into We before I forget 1984 and ABNW (though I'm hoping these posts help with that)

Okay, /blabbing

Dilbert Blog

Some stories are just cool.

Rabbit

So I guess this is the thing of the moment?  Money = Bad.  Gotcha.

The Google

Seriously, you have to be trying to sound this dumb, yeah?

Engine Model

This is pretty cool.  You'll probably want to FFWD past some of the assembly, get's old, but seeing it work is neat.

Oct 23, 2006

Slow Motion Dragster

Woah, I didn't know tires could do that.

Mick B's Youtubers

Y'know, I can't decide if this is a really honest look at random people and random lives, or a sad self-obsessed signature of modern Warhol culture.  On the one hand, all these people put all these videos on youtube, somehow thinking anyone would find it interesting, which none of them are.  At the same time, this compilation is looking at these people from a step or two back, the kinds of people, where they come from, what they think is important, how unbearably common they (and we) are.  Can that be interesting without participating in the reality TV, look at me, I'm important circle of internet life?  I dunno.

Klingon Rap

Seriously. C'mon.  Don't you understand that the whole world can see you?!  C'MON!

Bush ignores Senate

Bush, however, I do not love.  Not even in a gay kissing way.

Gay Kissing in Bully

OH EM GEE!!!!  Rockstar, oh how I love thee - in a totally gay kissing way - let me count the ways!  One Kiss!  Two Kiss!  Three Kiss!  Ah Ah Ah!

Oct 22, 2006

Dem/Rep PC/Apple Ads

So, these aren't funny.  How come liberals can be smart (most college educated people, etc).  And liberals can be funny (most comedians/actors, etc).  But liberals have a terrible time being funny and smart/effective at the same time?  It's the whole bumper sticker debacle again!

BTW, I've made another ridiculous character in City of Villains.  A brawler named The Activist Judge! hahahaha!

Collection of Trompe Loeils

I think mea mater might like this one.

MIT Student Hacks Door Lock

Go Go Gadget Nerd!

Zune = Fuck

Hahahahaha

Oct 20, 2006

Less Than Three

Do you love eurodance?  No?  Well then I would advise strongly against clicking this.

Oct 18, 2006

Clinton @ Georgetown

Just to show I'm linkily (shut up, it's a word) dynamic, here is Clinton (the one who is still good) speaking at Georgetown.  Why oh why can't he still be president?  Imagine, a politician who ever says "on both sides" or "to be fair to them"

I don't love glib catch phrases, but obviously if we let them get away with Compassionate Conservative and They Hate Us For Our Freedom, we gotta do something.  "Common Good" ain't so bad, at least it's short, Kerry would have said the same thing in no less than 20 words :)

Bowling + Rollercoaster = Fun!

Hahaha, this is great.  That's a good TMBG song too.

Lightsaber Practice

This is dumb.  But it is also, and I'm sensing a theme here, not Zemax.

Arizona is the Dumbest State

I'm proud to be an Arizonan... where I barely know how to count to three...

Fare Thee Well, Habeas Corpus

Sigh.

Olbermann's take.

Via Kos.

And a 4 year old Onion article which is equal parts funny, depressing, and prophetic.

Oct 17, 2006

Bowmaster

What!  I did not play this game for like 2 hours.  Screw you!

Get's pretty boring by level 28, though, I had to stop.

Spamland

Holy crap this is awesome.  Someone animated one of those weird spams that seem to have random sentences in them.  Used to call it spam poetry, but this is even better!

McDonald's MP3 Players w/ Trojans

Yikes, that's no good.

EDIT: Apple too!

Food

An Internet Questionnaire, Twice Stolen, but which is most definitely not Zemax, which appeals to me at the moment.

 

1. What does a usual breakfast consist of for you?

Breakfast?  I think that's the thing that people have while I'm getting 15 extra minutes of sleep?

 

2. You are having dinner with your friends. What type of food do you usually decide on?

Thai!  No, indian!  Wait, I meant italian!  Or chinese .... slash pizza ... slash mexican.  Um... hows about "Yummy"?

 

3. What was/is for dinner tonight?

No idea, hopefully not chips.

 

4. What type of cake do you like best?

Carrot cake, or angelfood.  Made with organic, free-range angels, if possible.

 

5. What is your favorite flavour ice cream? Do you put anything extra on it?

Something minty.

 

6. What would go into your ideal stir fry?

Finally a question that coddles my indecisiveness!  Tofu, broccoli, spinach, tofu, bok choy, edamame, tofu, carrots, flat noodles, spicy sauce, green onions, crushed peanuts, and tofu.  And maybe tomatoes and peppers, chopped verrrry small, just so people don't look at me so weird.  And tofu.

 

7. Which take away/out place is the one you frequent the most?

Meh, Jack in the Box's breakfast sandwiches made w/o meat, or Del Taco's bean'n'cheese burritos.  But only to avoid #3.

William Shatner is Canadian

Hehe, via ellie222this is good.  Yay.  For.  Making.  Fun.  Of.  Yourself.

Oct 16, 2006

Oct 15, 2006

The Departed

I just saw the Scorsese movie The Departed.  I had heard it was very good, one of those epic classic cop/mob type movies.  Holy crap did I hear right, it was totally amazing.  2.5 hours and I loved almost every second of it.  The story, the humor, the acting, the editing it was all so good.  I do say almost every second, because there's one part, literally 5 seconds, that sorta messes everything up.  But if he'd just cut that bit out, it'd be a masterpiece!  Go see it!  Go now!

Oh, also saw the big screen version of the trailer for The 300 that I mentioned a few months ago.  Looks 3 times as good when its all huge and not crappy quality, I can't wait.

Chupacabra

Dios Mio!!  El es Diablo!!  Hehe.

Aurora Borealis Time Lapse

Oh em gee, so pretty.

Oct 11, 2006

Find 75 Bands

Finally!  It was requested I find another one of these Netherlandish Proverbs-like games (though this is obviously not that in style, more in the sense of visual metaphors, or whatever you would call it).  And I finally did!  See if you can find the 75 bands in this picture.

Post (has spoilers in the comments, so don't go here if you don't want to see answers).

Normal Size.

Uber Size.

Stop Motion

Back to links!  You can never have too much stop motion!  Leastaways, I can't.

Introducing... Andrew!!

Hey folks, more personal business today! I'd like to introduce you (and anyone you know who wants a terribly cute dog) to Andrew! I just got him, oh... 10 minutes ago :) I'm fostering him through CARA (same group as Goldie and Little Bear). He is a 2 year old poodle/terrier mix, freshly vaccinated, will get neutered next week. He is the cutest thing ever, I can't resist doggies with beards and eyebrows! He's a bit unhealthy at the moment, but I'll fix that up soon enough. So if ya'll know anyone who wants one of the cutest dogs ever (it's not like he can compete with Oregano, I mean, that's not even fair), let me know!



Draw Game

Waste some more time!

Wordy

Another word game, good for wasting 20 min.

QWERTY Monument

Well, that's fun.

Oct 10, 2006

Tango Fire

I don't usually post anything that doens't happen to me through an RSS feed, but I just saw Tango Fire at Centennial.  Holy shit!  It was so good!  I checked, and they aren't going to CO or WA, they've already done CA, and Mesa is tomorrow.  But... well... go see them somehow anyway!  So good!

Star Wars on Sesame Street

Whaaaaaaaaaaaattf.

Stickman Madness

Blood & Sticky Guts

 

get it?  sticky?  ehh?  ehhhhhh?

Just Pack a Gun

Cool idea for decreasing your chances of losing luggage w/ somethign expensive in it - just pack a starter pistol and declare it!

Of course, all the stats on how many weapons and such get through, the TSA isn't exactly the pinnacle of efficiency (though they do find EVERY sign calling Kip Hawley a clear plastic douchebaggy)

Inside Easy Cheese

Umm... yum? Or not.

Oct 8, 2006

"Full Surface Screen" Cellphone

Wow! That is effin' sexy.  Must be some sorta hard key lock, otherwise you could never put it anywhere, but that is nice.  I don't actually like touch screens practically, but they are very nice to look at :)

Simulation Whiteboard

Okay, this is super interesting, but I want to know more.  How did it know how the pendulum is anchored?  Is that the only way something that looks like that can work?  Does a circle around always mean select?  What if you want something to be in a circular container?  Maybe you have to draw it as a full thing, not a negative?  What if the selection is boxey?  What are the parameters on those springs?  Lots of cool ideas, but they are only good for a preplanned demo unless they are flexible.  Granted, the idea here isn't a finished product, but a concept for a design environment, as he puts it.  Still, it makes me feel as anxious as it does excited!  There are too many good ideas poorly implemented already!

Oct 6, 2006

Paths Flash Game

Too hard!  I got frustrated and quite on level 4!

Ruben's Tube

I'm pretty sure I've seen one of these IRL before, but this is still awesome.  I love physics!

Effin' GENIUS!

Now why didn't I think of this?

Water from air

This is cool, very... umm... what's those suits from Dune?  zoot suits?  no... uh.... you know what I mean, it's sorta like that.  Sorta.

My favorite line is "We figured out how to tap it in a very unique and proprietary way" (my emphasis)

HAHAHAHA.

Oct 4, 2006

Warthog Launch

 

Silly game.

Invitation to Hackers

See now, that's responsible and reasonable.  You know your stuff could be a big bad if it's easily hacked, so instead of locking it up in a closet and pretending that it's perfect and suing anyone who suggests otherwise, you actually ask people to try and hack it!  Pretty much everyone should do that with any OS level software they write :)

Bill O'Reilly labels Foley a Dem

Oh jeez, these assholes aren't even being subtle anymore.

Oct 3, 2006

Cornell Robot Chair

Y'know, I was gonna have ya'll over for dinner on saturday, but then I was like... *sigh*, I don't want to have to put together all my chairs myself... but wait!  What's this?!

Left Brain Right Brain

Things like this make me feel dumb!

Best Fight Scenes Ever

If by best, you mean worst.

Uno

Deux

Great Big Sea

Dude, these guys are awesome.

Just sayin'

Only through their latest album, but Captain Kidd is the greatest song ever.

Katie's Revenge

Holy crap.  No one feels even the tiniest bit bad for this guy.  But even still, woah!

Dominos

With Ipods

and

With Maxtors

Eat Poop You Cat

This looks fun!  Who wants to play?

Exploding Hello Kitty

HA!  I knew this crap was to be our doom!  This Is Only The Beginning.

Oct 2, 2006

Audrey Hepburn Gap

Wth? THE GAP?!  Have you seen this?  It's bullcrap.  Whether you love AC/DC, or you love Audrey Hepburn, this is an effin' abomination!

Windows Live Writer = Savior?

Okay, I've gone through like 5 blog clients, is this the one that will let me post to both blogs?? Test Link..

Meh

Well, it's close.  I have to make the post, publish it to one, switch accounts, and publish it to the other.  Not exactly convenient, but this is the only client so far that lets me even hold on to the post so I can push it to both platforms!  Someone save me from this crap?

-Red- Game

This is fun.

400 Pound NES

Ha!

Hogwarts Castle Made from Matchsticks

Uh....

Top 176 Star Wars Lines Improved By Replacing A Word With “Pants”

I find your lack of pants disturbing.

haha, that's really one of the only good ones, but click if you like.

test

test

A Brief History of Time

It's been published online. Is it really this short? Or has it been abridged? I read it once in HS and didn't understand half of it, then once in college and I think I got most of it. Maybe I should have read it online so I could google stuff I didn't understand. :)

DEFCON

This is fun, btw. It's basically Wargames, in clickable form :) I don't think I'm patient enough to learn to play it properly enough to, y'know, not die every time.

Mad TV - R&B Gamer

Rawfle.

Quote of the Day

Oh, silly silly man.

Pacman For Excel

I don't trust Random McGeocities enough to use it, but cool anyway :)

Bollywood Thriller

.... woah.

Oct 1, 2006

City of Villians

Oh em gee, tonight I used the City of Villians 2 week trial I got at PAX last month, it's so fun!! Ever since this comic, I've wanted to load it up and make something ridiculous. They Hate Us For Our Freedom didn't fit, bastards, but I thought up something better! My villian is a Mastermind called The Left Wing Conspiracy (it wouldn't fit with Vast in there), which is only pretty funny. But Masterminds have henchmen, in my case I have little robots who fight for me, so I'm naming them after left wingers! My first two robots are Nancy Pelosi and Howard Dean. hahahah! I can't wait to add Michael Moore, Cindy Sheehan, and Hilary Clinton to my stable ;)