HitsHerMark

PotC Bar painting

2006-12-01T12:41:00.000-08:00

PotC Bar painting
Originally uploaded by HitsHerMark.

In the Pirates of the Carribian ride, at the beginning where you see all the Skeletons and treasure, there's a bar scene on the right. There's a sign that says "Stow yer weapon" and some pirate skeletons hanging out drinking.

Behind the bar is this painting. You can also see this painting currently in the very last window display at the World of Disney store in Downtown Disney (farthest away from the parks).

coffeefedi has raised the interesting theory that this is a painting of "The Red Head" as she was some time after the auction. I am amused by this idea.

Anyway... You'd think, seeing as how they've put it in a window display, that a print, or lithograph, or something of this painting would be available... BUT NO.

It's not even available from the "Print On Demand" kiosk in the World of Disney store.

COME ON PEOPLE! PRINT ON DEMAND! ALMOST NO OVERHEAD!

How hard of a concept is this to grasp?

The nice people at the store said that there was a lot of interest in this picture and to give feedback at disney.com... But I don't see anywhere to flood with "WE WANTS THE READ HEAD!" emails.

*gets out cutlass and flintlocke*

Can anybody help me find where to make noise before I'm forced to do things my way?

Happy Bastille Day

2006-07-14T09:54:00.000-07:00

Happy Bastille Day
Originally uploaded by HitsHerMark.

So I haven't posted in over a month.

2006-02-09T02:23:00.000-08:00

And I'm posting now because I just have one thing to say.

Teigan's voice is, in fact, still sexy.

That is all.

Man.

Best Blond Joke EVAR.

2006-01-03T11:10:00.000-08:00

Complements of my friend Phaedra.

Enjoy!

Woof

2005-12-31T21:29:00.000-08:00

DOG - Your daemon may be a dog if you are loyal and
caring, and like to know what is expected of
you. You probably are very family oriented, and
have a small group of friends that you are very
close to, rather than a large group of
acquaintances. You dislike confrontation, but
you will stand up and fight for the people and
issues that you really care about. You may
prefer someone else to take the lead in a
situation, although you would rather take the
lead yourself than have the situation fall
apart. You probably enjoy routine and order,
but that doesn't mean you don't like to have
fun. If anything, your friends probably know
you for getting intense, child-like pleasure in
the small things in life.

What Is Your Daemon?
brought to you by Quizilla

Elvis!?

2005-12-24T06:54:00.000-08:00

Elvis!?
Originally uploaded by HitsHerMark.

Best name for a karaoke bar EVAR!

Oh yeah huh...

2005-12-22T17:05:00.000-08:00

Oh yeah huh
Originally uploaded by HitsHerMark.

Isn't it like... The first day of winter or something?

Hmmm, warm sunny sun rays on my face. :D

Hey look!

2005-12-20T19:53:00.000-08:00

This guy has the same Zelda jacket as Black Wing Bird!

Neet!

Hey B, if you're reading this, I think I saw a commercial for the website that had the booth you got the jacket from. Sadly it was on G4. (I've been TiVo'ing Xplay and Icons.) I'll see if I can find it on my TiVo and let you know the website.

A Traditional Holiday Meal...

2005-12-17T12:09:00.000-08:00

Traditional Christmas Mongolian Barbeque
Originally uploaded by HitsHerMark.

My team at work has decided to have a Traditional Christmass Mongolian Barbeque dinner together. We wanted to invite former members of the team.

This is something I whipped up by way of an invetation.

Here's a quarter little boy...

2005-12-17T09:05:00.000-08:00

Don't over analyse the painting!

Swiped from Boing Boing...
"Scientists used a new algorithm to analyze the emotion reflected in Mona Lisa's smile. New Scientist reports that the software, developed by the University of Amsterdam and University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, measures lip curvature and eye wrinkles and then rates the face based on six emotions. Apparently, Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa was 83 percent happy, 9 percent disgusted, 6 percent fearful and 2 percent angry."

I understand the desire to test out new technology by applying it to enduring icons of our collective culture. And the result can sometimes be quite cool... But the point of a "Mona Lisa Smile" is that it is MYSTERIOUS!

Okay, I don't get it...

2005-12-14T18:35:00.000-08:00

Little Dummy lounges in my purse
Originally uploaded by HitsHerMark.

I belong to a Flickr group called Traveling Picture Show.

Think like... The garden gnome in the movie Amilie (or however you spell it, I don't feel like checking.)

My little thingy that I take with me to snap pictures of is a small artist dummy.

This picture you see here has to be the least interesting picture I've taken of my little dummy... But it's been viewed over 600 times.

All my other little dummy pictures; 10... 30... 45...

This one? Six hundred.

What the hell?

It's my 6th "most viewed" picture and I don't understand why.

Sadly, Flickr doesn't tell you where the clicks are comming from. They just show you the tally.

There's no way to know, and it's driving me nuts.

Theories?

Look

2005-12-14T09:04:00.000-08:00

Look
Originally uploaded by HitsHerMark.

Coke - Yes
Diet Coke - Sure
Caffene Free Coke - I understand
Caffene Free Diet Coke - STOP DRINKING SODA!

Okay, so yeah... The whole "hat at Mann's thing".

2005-12-06T08:38:00.000-08:00

Such Tiny Feet
Originally uploaded by HitsHerMark.

For those of you who don't like to acutally click on a picture to read the story behind it...

The hat was for a game called "Last Call Poker", which was run by the same people who did "ilovebees" and "The Beast".

In the story was this guy named "Vic", who was murdered. The story of his murder included a description of how his hat blew away and was found buy a guy who decided that it was a lucky hat. (Not so lucky for Vic.) The finder of the had put it on and drove to Vegas and lost all of his money.

In the parking lot of the casino he takes it out on the hat and throws it into the bushes.

One of the players of Last Call, who lives in Vegas, decided on a whim to go to the parking lot where the story described the hat being disgarded... And found the hat right where the story said it would be.

This is that hat. It became something like the Traveling Garden Gnome (if you've seen "Amelie"). It went on a trip around the world and ended back with me in Southern California. So I took it to Mann's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

I love going to Mann's very very very late at night. It's very tranquil at 1AM dispite being in a place that is ALWAYS full of people and traffic.

Choices

2005-12-06T08:24:00.000-08:00

Choices
Originally uploaded by HitsHerMark.

Trying to choose between the two least expensive Disneyland Annual Passports.

The only difference between the Southern California "Select" and the Regular Southern California pass is that for $30 more you get 45 more available days... But they're mostly weekend days. Which for my purposes does me no good.

Hat at Mann's

2005-11-30T17:38:00.000-08:00

Hat at Mann's
Originally uploaded by HitsHerMark.

Sing it sister!

2005-11-12T07:21:00.000-08:00

I soooo identify with this!

Any time I get on Xbox Live with anybody but Beekeepers and Evade Evade Evade it's the same damn thing... "Whoa! HitsHerMark. You're like a chick?!"

just the two of us

2005-11-11T12:18:00.000-08:00

just the two of us
Originally uploaded by a nameless yeast.

We can make it if we try.

Just the two of us.

You and I.

I think...

2005-11-05T10:59:00.000-08:00

That I would prefer the cupcakes Adam. :)

The military applications of...

2005-11-05T07:58:00.000-08:00

... .

Brilliant! *hop*

I think we should all Stock up now.

Oh yeah, I guess some of you would care to know...

2005-11-01T11:30:00.000-08:00

I'm in.

Reptiles and Samurai

2005-11-01T08:08:00.000-08:00

Recently went to a concert with Johnny Vatos and three other members of Oingo Boingo.

If you didn’t know what Oingo Boingo was before I linked it above you need to get off my lawn you damn dirty kids!

Did you know that 4+ hours of really really loud music will f’up your inner ear so much that your equilibrium will be thrown off and it feels like you’ve downed 5 shots of Yegger in rapid sucession?

You have been warned.

I would also like to let you know that “Food For Feet” was the best name any band could have had E V A R.

If you ever get a chance to see even half, or less then half, or even a cover band of Oingo Boingo just do it. (Particularly if the front man of the cover band is "BT Fore".)

Halloween Celebration At Independent Coffee Shop

2005-10-31T15:46:00.000-08:00

http://www.boingboing.net/2005/10/31/indy_cafe_servers_dr.html

The employees at an independent Coffee Shop in San Francisco dressed up as Zombie Sarbucks Employees.

A number of years ago I was invited to a Halloween party with an "Dante's Inferno" theme.

Now I had already read the Inferno by then, but the invite described it as "Italian Hell" for those who had not.

So instead of dressing up as Cleopatra blown upon an eternal wind, I took an old Starbucks jacket I inherited from my sister (who worked at one of the first Starbucks in Southern CA back before they were the coffee juggernaught that opens Starbucks stores across the street from other Starbucks stores). I made myself up as a zombie much like the guy you see here... Only the trickle painted at the corner of my mouth was brown... Because, ya know... It was supposed to be coffee.

I figured if any place was hell for actual Italians, it would be Starbucks. Starbucks is everywhere, so of course there would be one in hell...

They probably have like five.

All next to eachother. :)

STOP KILLING US!

2005-10-29T12:15:00.000-07:00

There is no HitsHerMark

2005-10-23T23:37:00.000-07:00

There is no HitsHerMark
Originally uploaded by HitsHerMark.

There is only GMAT.

Except for a few hours out of each week and work this is pretty much what every other waking hour is about.

Please everybody help me to keep remembering that it's all worth it.

I only post about the good stuff. I think you all may have a distored view of my life. Getting to play poker with cool people is rather the exception then the rule.

Sitten' Around Playing Poker

2005-10-23T17:20:00.000-07:00

Yes. That's me....

Oh. And Wil Wheaton. :)

Don't make us roll initiative...

2005-10-20T12:07:00.000-07:00

Jack Tompson is a crackpot who is a discrase to the American Justice System. He is a lier, and a muckraker, a shameless vulture, and a snake oil salesman who keeps getting put on television because he spews his garbage with athority; he abuses his status as a "lawyer" to bully people who don't agree with him.

With any luck, he'll soon be an unlicenced crackpot.

GET LAMP

2005-10-20T07:38:00.000-07:00

Get Lamp is a new documentory project about Text Adventure computer games. (Like "Zork", or "Hollywood Hyjinks", or "Rendezvous with Rama", or ... "Zork II".)

I'll go off on this subject later.

Female Dwarf in female dwarf mask - front

2005-10-18T11:11:00.000-07:00

Female Dwarf in female dwarf mask - front
Originally uploaded by HitsHerMark.

Very excited today to go trick or treating at lunch on the Uther server... I play a Female Dwarf... I got a Female Dwarf mask...

Weeeeeee. :/

Wicked...

2005-10-14T19:13:00.000-07:00

A new Broadway Musical based on the book.

Considering my ongoing love for Into the Woods... (Little Red was the most fun I have EVER had on stage.) ... I should really be more excited about the prospect of this show coming to LA.

Both Bree and Tony and Mark and Lessa will likely go see it. In both cases where I was sitting in a movie theatre with Bree and then with Mark, they both turned to me when the promo for this show came up during "The 20" and said, do you want to go see this?

No, not really I'm sad to say.

My folks went on a trip to New York a while back and saw this on my suggestion because I had heard of the book from Lessa. They brought me back a soundtrack as per usual.

I was very excited and sat down to listen to it right away. It's a good musical, the songs are good and I can not for the life of me understand why, but it just doesn't grab me.

And that makes me sad.

I used to live for this stuff.

Cosplay... In spaaaaaaace!

2005-10-14T12:43:00.000-07:00

Friend of mine sent me this.

You read this and think, "Oh man that's sad."

But deep down inside...

You are sooooo jealous!

Okay, maybe it's just me.

I have this strange urge...

2005-10-13T18:31:00.000-07:00

... To go buy Dishrags, apples, eggs, milk, stockings, and real coffee.

Hmm.

:)

Quote of the day...

2005-10-12T10:50:00.000-07:00

Mike D chimes in on our plans to hang out Thursday...

"..If the Gnomish god of artillary, Elvish god of ambigiously gay dancing, and the Mythical Crones who spin the Afgan and Throw Pillows of Time conspire I could do that as well."

Will we be having an Caberet tonight?

2005-10-12T10:28:00.000-07:00

Observer: You're a wicked man.
Prisoner: Wicked?
Observer: You have no values.
Prisoner: Different values.
Observer: You won't be helped.
Prisoner: Destroyed.
Observer: You want to spoil things.
Prisoner: I won't be a goldfish in a bowl!

Quote of the day...

2005-10-08T14:39:00.000-07:00

"Who's your daddy?!"

"... Bruce."

Playing Tombstone Hold 'Em

2005-10-06T14:40:00.000-07:00

Playing Tombstone Hold 'Em
Originally uploaded by Avant Game.

Oh yeah. You know I'll be at the LA one.

In the news...

2005-10-05T10:28:00.000-07:00

I love GU.

Woody makes me laugh out loud all the time.

"LoL".

Mystery House

2005-10-05T08:41:00.000-07:00

Saw a link to this blog on Boing Boing.

The Winchester Mystery House was built by the Founder of the Winchester Gun Empire's Widow.

She was told by a psychic that the spirits of everybody killed with her dead husband's rifles was after her. So she built this house to confuse and please them.

Construction never stopped on the house until the day she died, litteraly, several shifts of carpenters and craftsmen worked around the clock at one point, or so I recall reading somewhere.

The house is incredible, beautiful, and has some very unusual features.

This person is or was a tourguide at the house, and has some wonderful pictures of places you normally wouldn't see on the tour.

Enjoy.

Mirror Mask

2005-10-04T22:25:00.000-07:00

Mirror Mask
Originally uploaded by HitsHerMark.

Go out. Find it. See it. Seriously.

Best movie of the year.

Go.

Now.

Quote of the day...

2005-10-04T07:43:00.000-07:00

"You sir, are a tool. Of course you consort with demons."

Making Friends?

2005-09-28T09:56:00.000-07:00

Making Friends?
Originally uploaded by Suze75.

Enjoy!

Live by the river...

2005-09-26T09:06:00.000-07:00

Die by the river...

Dear Blog spammers...

2005-09-25T15:55:00.000-07:00

I will hunt you down and make you pay for making me have to go through every post every day to get rid of your filth.

Nobody cares about your poker website, or your guitar lessons, or your Nigerian Finance Scams, least of all me.

Get a real job.

If only...

2005-09-25T11:39:00.000-07:00

... I can master this skill, then I will be cool.

Google Maps and Rita

2005-09-22T23:12:00.000-07:00

Some very cool applications of services on the web for tracking Rita.

My fellow Prisonerphile, Steve is stuck in Houston. So, I'm actively interested in how this one is going.

Steve is a very interesting kid. And the one thing that he appears to really focus on, Prisoner wise, is the concept of being "Unmutual". (As is evidenced by the name of his blog.) And that is very odd to me, because Steve is one of the most "mutual" people I have ever met.

If I was in the Village, I don't know where I would be, but I think Steve would be one of two things...

He'd be an administrative type, possibly in line to be number 2 but not quite there yet. Maybe a swing-shift Controller, or one of those guys on the ever rotating see-saw in the middle of the control room.

Or

He'd be a jammer. One of those guys who play chess all day to boot.

Haven't figured out which yet.

Maybe both.

In other news...

2005-09-21T17:37:00.000-07:00

Yes.

This was, in fact, absolutely true.

Raged for a week it did.

But it's gone now thank goodness.

Throwing out a bone...

2005-09-21T16:57:00.000-07:00

While reading through somebody else's blog it occured to me...

People may actually read this thing. Considering that it's just been me rambling on and on about The Prisoner for the last couple of posts, the idea horrified me...

The person in question was going to comment on every blog in his link list at which I was at the end. I'm almost more relieved he did not publicly state what he thought of this thing the dissapointed I was not able to scroll right off to the end of the list and see what he thought. :)

I'll be honest, I don't think I'm going to be talking much indepth about Neurocam from here on out. But I did see something today that seemed reminiscent of a particular situation. PvP is funny, but that thin crunchy layer of Neurocammy goodness made this strip worthy of a "lol".

LOL.

I'll give you a hint; the cat represents Neurocam.

Moving on.

I still love The Prisoner, and will resume rambling on about it shortly.

Young man... Don't get yourself down.

2005-09-19T07:19:00.000-07:00

Ezekiel cried, "Dem dry bones!"
Ezekiel cried, "Dem dry bones!"
Ezekiel cried, "Dem dry bones!"
"Oh, hear the word of the Lord."

The foot bone connected to the leg bone,
The leg bone connected to the knee bone,
The knee bone connected to the thigh bone,
The thigh bone connected to the back bone,
The back bone connected to the neck bone,
The neck bone connected to the head bone,
Oh, hear the word of the Lord!

Dem bones, dem bones gonna walk aroun',
Dem bones, dem bones, gonna walk aroun'
Dem bones, dem bones, gonna walk aroun'
Oh, hear the word of the Lord.

The head bone connected to the neck bone,
The neck bone connected to the back bone,
The back bone connected to the thigh bone,
The thigh bone connected to the knee bone,
The knee bone connected to the leg bone,
The leg bone connected to the foot bone,
Oh, hear the word of the Lord!

pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop pop

2005-09-18T21:16:00.000-07:00

'Round and 'round the mulberry bush,
The Monkey chased The Weasel.
The Monkey stopped to pull up his socks.
Pop! Goes the Weasel.

That's right, I've finished my homework, and I'm posting. But I'm not talking about Neurocam, I'm still talking about The Prisoner.

The tune for Pop Goes the Weasel figures heavily into the instrumental background music for the show, its not just something the Prisoner and Number 2 yell at eachother in "Once Upon a Time", but throughout the whole series this tune is a running theme.

I suppose I should have added this to my list of things I didn't get but somehow, the music always seemed to fit. I never questioned its use until I was describing the show to a friend who has yet to see it. (though that won't last long if I have anything to say about it.)

And she, being one of the smartest people I know, said something that I found very insightful that really boiled it down for me.

She said that the story of the Monkey and the Weasel always seemed rather ambiguous to her. Sure we *say* that the Monkey was the one doing the chasing, but they're going 'round and 'round... So it's rather like they're chasing eachother.

And that's The Prisoner in a nutshell.

They're trying to get information out of him, and he's trying to get information out of them.

And while He is the Prisoner, and they the keepers, eventually...

"Questions are a burden to others"

2005-09-17T22:12:00.000-07:00

The Prisoner: Things I don't get

1. Wierd, jumpy, wrestling, dump-the-other-guy-in-the-water game...
In one or two episodes there's a moment where you see the Prisoner playing some kind of game where there are two trampolines on either side of a small box of water, surrounded by a ledge. Both... "Players", I guess you'd call them, are dressed in a red long-sleeved robe, black pants and shoes, and what look like old fashioned boxing gloves in different colors. (One brown, one white.) While a soft and tranquil asian sounding melody is plucked out in the background, the participants jump around, chase each other on the ledge, wrestle, and generally try to dump the other guy in the box of water... Apparently, the Prisoner is very good at it.

Of the entire show, this is the thing that made the least sense to me. Okay, maybe it's not the ONE thing that made the least sense... But I just find the game itself, and the casual way it's introduced, jaw droppingly baffling.

It just...

I don't get it.

What the hell was that?

Somebody please explain.

It hurts.

2) The cute, tall, red-headed kid who went crazy in "Living In Harmony"; was that supposed to be the same guy as the cute, tall, red-headed kid who was crazy in "Fall Out"? Or did they just like that actor and want to use him again? ((That guy was also the photographer in the carnival sequence of "The Girl Who Was Death" in case you thought I didn't know.))

3) Speaking of which... What the hell were children doing in The Village anyway? How long had they been there? Were they born there? Were they specially imported so that the Prisoner could read them bedtime stories?

That is not a place for children and the fact that you see children in that place is the stuff of nightmares.

4) "Many Happy Returns" There was a boat right there...
Why did he have to spend the time building that crazy Kon-Tiki looking thing from logs and oil barrels when there were already several boats right there on the beach?

5) If the Prisoner was so great at his job in International Intelligence...
... Why is he always the last one to know what's going on in The Village?

6) Non-Alchoholic Vodka...
Isn't that just water?

I am not a number! ... Or a cabbage.

2005-09-15T18:45:00.000-07:00

The Prisoner: No. 6

I'm not going to call him Number Six, or No. 6, or #VI, or even 00110110 for that matter.

The character obviously didn't like being called that, and he never called himself that. (With one notable exception that I'll get to later I'm sure.)

So I'm just going to call him the Prisoner. And this rambling post in which nobody but perhaps "Toby" will be interested, is on my thoughts about the character in general.

The Prisoner himself, the Butler, and Rover were the only truly reoccurring characters on the show. So not only is the Prisoner the title character, but he's the only one we see every week that actually has anything to say. In the interview on the A&E DvDs, it is said that the real draw which keeps the viewers coming back is the ever changing conflict between the Prisoner and all the different faces ( methodologies, attitudes, etc) of Number 2. That's a lot of responsibility for the only regular character with a voice; considering that, most of the time, what he has to say is essentially, "No."

So the likability of the Prisoner is key; because if we don't like him, then we don't care if Number 2 tells the Doctor to "increase the dose" to dangerous levels or not.

In a workshop I was once told that when you create a simple character for improv or Comedia you should include a) an ultimate goal for your character and b) a tragic flaw that keeps them from obtaining that goal.

Obviously, the Prisoner's ultimate goal is to escape. His tragic flaw(s)... may or may not be easy to spot. But, as with any really well crafted character, they are what make the guy particularly endearing... At least to me.

Reasons to like the character of the Prisoner (Also known as "Your Number Six"):

# "Isn't he handsome? Isn't he manly?" - Yeah he's easy on the eyes. Not the type I usually go for, but I wouldn't kick him out of bed for eating crackers.

There's more to it then that really, but I'm not going to delve into this one right now.

# Plucky AND Clever - This guy's got guts, he'll say, and do, pretty much anything in the name of defiance and escape. But he's very smart about it. His use of water in the episode "A, B, or C" for instance. He could have just trashed the place, or some other such drastic thing, but what he did do was absolute brilliance.

And of course there's the entirety of "Hammer Into Anvil". But, I don't want to ruin that for anybody reading this that hasn't had the pleasure yet.

# Principles – In various episodes it is said that the only reason the Prisoner did give for his resignation was that it was a matter of principle. The opening sequence supports this as the man exudes righteous indignation right up to the first commercial break. While we don’t know what the matter of principle actually is as we progress through the story arc, the fact that he has principles and acts upon them is admirable; even if they do make him so foolish as to return home and pack *after* resigning from his Top Secret Confidential Job.

Despite the fact that his keepers are constantly messing with his head and his body chemistry, the Prisoner holds to his principles and continues to act upon them.

# Loyalty - Going back to the subject of "GURPS" (the role-playing game I mentioned in my previous post), the fierce loyalty of the Prisoner could be considered the first of what players of that game call the character's "cheesy beneficial dis-ads".

He's just not going to give up the information he has no matter what, and it is his loyalty to the people for which he keeps his secrets that bolsters his resolve and helps him to resist the efforts of Number 2.

The down side to his loyalty and sense of duty, is that it unfortunately makes him rather predictable. In the rare occasion that he does actually escape from The Village, he will always make a b-line for his old employers to warn them that state secrets are being extracted from people whom they may or may not know had been abducted (rather then just "missing", "dead", or "on holiday"); even though he thoroughly suspects his own people could be the ones running The Village.

Ultimately, you know that you can trust the Prisoner if it comes down to it. If he accepts you as genuine, and you remain genuine, he's got your back.

Which leads us to the next point...

# Empathy - Despite the countless number of times it is used against him, and the fact that he is nearly always burned in the end; he does permit himself to keep an open mind to a certain extent about the other people in The Village. When he discovers someone who is another prisoner and that they have some semblance of a mind left, he is sympathetic to them, and he does try to help them; even though it almost ALWAYS backfires and comes to naught but Rover bouncing around his crumpled form in the sand.

He makes the occasional friend; if he hears a scream, he will run to find out why and try to stop it; he reads bedtime stories to children...

((I don't know about you, but seeing children in The Village made my blood run cold.))

This is the familiar literary device of "humanity that makes him better then his captors". Despite his situation and former occupation; his empathy and loyalty, his desire to help and protect people, gives me a sense that the Prisoner believes to a certain extent in the inherent goodness of man.

Pushed, Filed, Stamped, Indexed, Briefed, Debriefed, or Numbered!

2005-09-15T17:15:00.000-07:00

Well, after all these years, I broke down a purchased the "mega-set" DvD collection of The Prisoner...

I've also finished watching them all. And I've got "Them Bones" and "Pop Goes the Weasel" stuck in my head.

I suppose now I'm going to have to buy the Soundtrack and any number of books .

I was first introduced to The Prisoner through (God help me) a GURPS sourcebook on the setting. It was a very thin looking thing with a very large depiction of the Penny-Farthing Bike embossed in "gold" on the burgundy cover. In it I read about The Village, and how it's on the sea, surrounded by mountains; how everything was very colorful and cheery, and there was generally music in the air. And how it really isn't a good setting for a long term game but better in short bursts... And then the person who's book it was had to go, so he put it away. He made some enigmatic comments about "Rover", and left.

After that... About two years later, I came home and my roommate at the time, Bill, was just putting a tape in the VCR. He was very excited because somebody had lent him copies of a few "Prisoner" episodes. He described the opening sequence, where the Prisoner resigns, to me and it all sounded very interesting.

And then I saw the Penny-Farthing Bike on the cover and I said, "Oh! THAT Prisoner!"

The episode he was about to watch was "Hammer Into Anvil", and it remains my favorite episode.

So anyway... I'm going to be going on a bit about this show for a little while. Because my head is full of it, and I must get it out as I continue to study. :)

Aragorn Coffee Tamer!!

2005-09-09T18:56:00.000-07:00

Aragorn Coffee Tamer!!
Originally uploaded by ungawa.

This is one of the best photographs I have ever seen of anything.

Ever.

EVAR!

Conversations...

2005-09-01T17:17:00.000-07:00

Co-Worker: Hey, your sunglasses look like they're from the Matrix.
Me: Actually... They're from Disneyland.

Bananas Foster - FOOM!

2005-08-27T14:33:00.000-07:00

Bananas Foster - FOOM!
Originally uploaded by HitsHerMark.

A while ago there was a "Great Hotels" episode on the Travel Channel about the Grand Californian @ Disneyland. The lady made a stop at the Jazz Kitchen in Downtown Disney. She had "Bananas Foster" at the end of her meal, and she said something of the effect that the dish was one of the great gifts to mankind...

Last night, we had dinner at the Jazz Kitchen and I told my friends we had to have Bananas Foster. They had never heard of it, but once I mentioned fire, they were in.

And jumping Hay-Seuss on a pogo stick but it really IS what ambrosia must taste like.

Love Something Ugly - Dirty Dishes

2005-08-22T22:24:00.000-07:00

Love Something Ugly - Dirty Dishes
Originally uploaded by HitsHerMark.

At some point today, a memory struck me about something I once heard on an episode of "The Monkeys".

I was thinking about how I needed to do dishes.. But the light was hitting my sink and the glasses, and it looked kinda pretty. Even though the dishes were dirty and represented a chore that I have yet to do.

The memory was a speech (more or less) Michael Nesmith gave at the end of an episode about something he'd heard from somebody in the band Loving Spoonfull called "Love Something Ugly Day".

And it was about seeing beauty in places you wouldn't expect.

So I went ahead and took a picture of my dirty dishes and created a "Love Something Ugly" Flickr Pool.

(http://www.flickr.com/groups/88375002@N00/)

I'll try to add something every day. And I hope you'll join me.

And now, a moment of zen...

2005-08-20T10:37:00.000-07:00

Those Cinematic Moments

2005-08-19T18:21:00.000-07:00

Once when I was 14, I was talking with this guy, Brian. I was sitting in a chair and he was standing on a low wall that I was resting my feet on. After we had been talking like that for some time, he stopped and said... "Don't you think it's odd that you're sitting there and I'm standing here?"

We were both drama geeks so I picked up what he was on about right away...

"Yeah," I said, "This does kinda look like a scene that Gale has staged."

So yeah, every so often, life is like that. There's just a moment where you look around and everything is just set up in a way that... Just makes the moment stick in your mind. Movies, television, and art are full of those scenes, because people work very hard at setting it up that way. That is what those things are supposed to be. Memorable. Art imitates life... But really only the interesting parts of life... Unless of course, you're going for that boring aesthetic.

When it happens in actual life, it's usually very special.

Usually.

Some months ago, I volunteered to work the overnight shift for one week.

Man, am I never doing that again.

So I'd get home at around 3AM and go to bed right?

One day, I get home, change into my pajamas, and jump into bed. I'm just about to drift off when if hear this ungodly racket. It sounds like somebody is hurting either a small child, or a large cat. Neither of which are sounds that put me in a good mood when I am *not* suffering from sleep deprivation...

So I start to wonder, "Should I get up and kill whoever is responsible for the noise?" (The torturer of the child/cat.) "Or should I just call the police?" What if it's just some brat throwing a tantrum?

I'm vaguely aware of the fact that it's overcast and drizzling outside as I look at my clock and see that it is still early.

I mean like early even for people who aren't working a graveyard shift kinda early.

I'm talking LAWSUIT early... So damn early, you could actually sue.

It's like "Sleep thirty", half-a-freakin-hour ago I shoulda been asleep.

Just then, the sound stops.

Ah thank GOD.

No sooner do I close my eyes when *BAM* the sound of something being thrown, hard, against a garage door. In conjunction with that sound is a new unholy shriek and I'm still not sure if it's a child or a cat... But I'm leaning at this point towards child...

I also know one thing.

I don't fucking care.

Something is making the child/cat make that noise. And it's keeping me awake.

Somebody is going to PAY for:
a) Possibly hurting a child/cat

and more importantly

b) Keeping me from dreamland.

I spring out of bed and grab my old shanai (yes, it has ribbons on it), which I used to keep by my bed as a way to feel safe without actually being so. I swiftly move through my apartment, grab my keys, out the door, down the stairs and into the road between buildings.

I'm standing below my own bedroom window now, because I'm fairly certain that the sound was coming from inside one of the garages opposite my own.

So picture this, I'm barefoot, in my pajamas, with a large well worn shanai, on a rainy overcast day... In the middle of a road. Listening intently... And somewhat muffled, intermittent bawling in the background.

I have this part of myself, that often has clarity regardless of anything else. It is the seat of all in me that is smarmy I think.

"Well," I remember thinking to myself through the haze of anger and exhaustion, "This certainly is one of those cinematic moments... All you need now is for Innuyasha to scream your name for no real reason and we're all set for an anime."

That was it, the cinematic moment.

Let's move on and check out the aftermath shall we?

So I isolate the garage the sound is coming from. It's definitely a kid. There's a slight lull in the noise and I take the opportunity to knock on the garage door...

It gets quiet.

"Hello?", I call out in my most pleasant of voices, "Is everything alright in there?"

Pause.

"Yes," comes back a woman's voice, not much older then me, "She's just upset that her father has gone off on a trip."

I think back and vaguely recall hearing the sound of an SUV starting up and driving away before the rucks began.

"Oh I see." I say, and I'm about to turn away when I think better of it for some stupid reason. "Actually... And I'm sorry to ask this, but, could you open the garage door so I can see that she's okay?"

I think I hear the woman laugh, "Yeah," she's obviously amused, "Just a sec."

And the garage starts to open...

Suddenly, cinema melts away and stark reality smacks me upside the head.

I'm barefoot
It's raining
I'm wet.
I'm in my pajamas and I'm holding an archaic looking weapon
I must look like hell because I'm really tired, not wearing any make-up, and my hair is all ratty.

I can't even BEGIN to guess what that woman must have been thinking.

I see the sweet little brat and that she's fine, I thank the lady for her indulgence and walk away... The garage door closes.

Next time. I'm just going to call the cops.

More quality reporting

2005-08-17T12:31:00.000-07:00

This time, from the Financial Times.

New Internet Domain for Adult content

Dot xxx huh?

Interesting. I don't know why people are upset, it should make it easyer to block such sites... It's not like finding adult content on the internet is particularly hard...

What I love about the article is the little picture at the top they use to illastrate the story. Such a normal, innocent looking picture...

I can just see that meeting now...
"Look Chris, you can't put a picture of a 40 year old dude sitting naked in front of his Dell! Find something else in the stock pictures we have!"

2005-08-16T12:36:00.000-07:00

Note to self...
Eat no peanuts.

Flickr Set of arcade tokens

2005-08-15T12:43:00.000-07:00

Jolly Roger's
Originally uploaded by Petromyzon.

I don't really collect them seriously... But I love coins.

A lot.

This isn't my collection... But damn... I wish it was

Ministry of Reshelving

2005-08-14T12:22:00.000-07:00

http://avantgame.blogspot.com/2005/08/ministry-of-reshelving.html

My friend Jane is not only a game designer, but she also teaches about game design.

Jane worked on the "i love bees" thing I used to talk so much about. She focuses not only on electronic games but the nature of play in general. She loves to involve real interactions and real space in what she does. And I can't think of a time I've participated in something with her that wasn't a total hoot.

She's recently launched a new project called The Ministry of Reshelving; it's slightly subversive, in it's own way a form of activism, and probably a lot of fun.

Obviously, I'm going to partisapate and I hope you guys do as well.

Related Links:

Ministry of Reshelving Flickr Pool

Yummy

2005-08-13T11:35:00.000-07:00

Yummy
Originally uploaded by HitsHerMark.

I'm not anti-religion. I'm just pro-humor. :)

Neurocam... Get out of your mind... And into my car.

2005-08-13T00:43:00.000-07:00

Yeah yeah, everybody is going off about how the Neurocam website stopped returning a bogus 404 page. Up until some time today, it showed a crisp "Neurocam International" logo and not much else. At some point tonight, I opened it up to show a friend and what greets us instead was the image you see to the upper left. My goodness, but that is one swanky motherfucker.

My knee-jerk reaction was that this was Robert Henley, but then I recalled that people often mentioned Charles Hastings always wears a white coat, so I began to doubt myself. Then I said something in IRC and I was assured that, "No no, that's Henley". The image is the only thing that appears to display on the index and is called, "tal.jpg". I'm not entirely sure what "tal" means... Perhaps "Takes Away Logo", because that's exactly what it did.

On the right, I've also included "r_web.jpg" taken from Robin Hely dot com for comparison. (Hope you don't mind Robin darling.)

Robin cuts a merry caper in an unfettered safari outfit with a certain goofy joie de vie; while Henley is pure unadulterated slack as he saunters down a back ally in his snazzy white suit.

Despite the difference in intent with the way both of these bodies are in motion, I can see how one might make a connection between the two.

I would also venture to guess that Robin's picture is from a still shot taken while he was cavorting about. While Robert's is a frame lifted out of some video of him walking... I suppose it could even be the other way around... That probably doesn't mean anything, but I felt like mentioning it.

You've heard of Darth Tater...

2005-08-12T09:00:00.000-07:00

Cheese Vader
Originally uploaded by mckibillo.

Well... Here's "Cheese Vader".

I found this guy in a flickr set of people in Japan dressed in very detailed Gundam costumes having mock battle on roller blades.

People need to see this stuff.

It's awsome.

How exactly do I say this?

2005-08-11T13:59:00.000-07:00

This could very well be the best written article ever. This guy deserves some kind of award I'm telling you.

Basicly, the story is this... At some point in the last few days, a guy in Seattle died on the way to the hospital of a perforated liver.

Upon investigating the death, authorities discovered evidence that he had been having carnal relations with his horse and that he had sustained the injury that killed him while engaging in this act.

I'll let you all read over all that again and do the math yourselves.

What professional reporter looks at this story and says, "Yeah, I think I can whip something up for a mainstream audience about that."

That guy's my hero.

Oh now you speaka my language!

2005-08-10T16:17:00.000-07:00

Make Mag Blog entry about crafting in MMOs.

Oh, I have soooooo much to say about this... But I have to get ready to give my third and (thankfully) final Case Study. So I'll have to get back to this though.

The game they're talking about is Star Wars Galaxies which did some interesting things, particularly with the crafting system. Ahhhh, stories.

How I love to tell them. :)

Man that's harsh...

2005-08-10T12:08:00.000-07:00

((Love posting from my cel phone... Highly recommend it.))

http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=4246109

"Like rock and roll in the 1950s, games have been accepted by the young and largely rejected by the old. Once the young are old, and the old are dead, games will be regarded as just another medium and the debate will have moved on. Critics of gaming do not just have the facts against them; they have history against them, too. “Thirty years from now, we'll be arguing about holograms, or something,” says Mr Williams."

Related post...
Yes another "lol".

Kinda uncomfortable.

2005-08-10T10:36:00.000-07:00

I'm not feeling well, so I'm home right now. I have a doctor appointment in about an hour...

I'm trying to get some homework done in the meantime and I have the tv tuned to the History Channel as per usual. (Or as we call it, "The Hitler Channel" because 98% of the stuff you see on it is about WWII.)

There was something seriously wrong with the world during WWII.

People were nuts and generally didn't treat each other very well.

The documentary on this morning was about the Bataan Death March. (Which is what we used to call the Queen's Parade at Faire.) As it wound to a close they told the story about how the remaining few thousand POWs were herded aboard boats and shipped to Japan for use as slave labor as MacArthur re-took the Philippines. According to the documentary, the treatment of the POWs, which was already as bad as you can imagine and worse, didn't improve.

There was one of the survivors they had providing commentary throughout had this story about when they were finally liberated.

"When they surrendered the commander of the camp called us all out, and we were all going to be friends now. So he called us out to have some chocolate together. And when the chocolate was all gone... I remember some... a couple of the guys... a bunch of the British guys... They rushed him and pushed him into this 16ft well we dug... That didn't have any water in it... And everybdy got a rock and... plunk.... and everybody had a rock and we all... Just tossed them in. You know. Until the well was full. And then our guys showed up, and the Officers said, 'Well, where's the General... Of the camp?' And we said, 'We don't know, we don't keep track of him.'"

And when he said that last bit. The slightest hint of a smile spread over his face.

To paraphrase myself from an earlier post... There are many kinds of laughter and smiles, not all of them pleasant.

It was a slightly ironic, slightly satisfied smile... My guess is more the latter then the former after hearing the stories. It came haltingly, like it wasn't sure if it should come out. But in the end, he kind of nodded his head in a shrugging kind of way and let it sit there. It was a very small thing, but it spoke volumes about he felt about what he had done, and all he had been through, how he felt about it now, and what he thought about telling this part of the story that he may not have ever told since it happened, and to a camera no less.

If anything I suppose I should be surprised that was all they did. Though I guess, after everything, that was all they had the energy for. To be honest, I don't really feel much about it either way.

And that's what makes me uncomfortable.

When you learn about WWII in school here, you learn about the Nazi Concentration camps, and here in California, there's usually a paragraph to a page about the Japaneese-American "Internment" camps... But the Pacific Theatre is usually little more then a footnote if you're lucky.

We need to spend more time learning and teaching about this time in history.

Now more then ever.

Well isn't that just peachy keen...

2005-08-10T02:32:00.000-07:00

Okay so I have this friend who I kept yammering about Neurocam to. Apparently she's been looking into it and picking up balls I've dropped since I'm so preoccupied with school...

Long story short (too late), she used my computer, got confused, and sent an email to somebody in management she's been having a conversation with from my email.

Firstly, I'm jealous she's been having this conversation and I have not. (I don't really have time to be honest.)

Secondly, I'm just a tad annoyed because now they probably think that:

a) she is me,
b) that she, I, we are schizophrenic,
c) that she, I, we are some kind of idiot
d) all of the above

I hate the idea that somebody out there I don't even know thinks I'm some kind of schizophrenic idiot...

I know I shouldn't care. But I do... Things will be letting up for me soon and I kinda wanted to apply again once they got their act together... Now, I'm not so sure. If we both applied, they'd probably not accept one, or both, of us just because they suspect we're the same person.

And that sucks.

There, I've bitched. I feel better.

...... Timing!

2005-08-07T22:11:00.000-07:00

the Wit
(60% dark, 39% spontaneous, 33% vulgar)

your humor style:
CLEAN | COMPLEX | DARK

You like things edgy, subtle, and smart. I guess that means you're
probably an intellectual, but don't take that to mean pretentious. You
realize 'dumb' can be witty--after all isn't that the Simpsons'
philosophy?--but rudeness for its own sake, 'gross-out' humor and most
other things found in a fraternity leave you totally flat.

I guess you just have a more cerebral approach than most. You have the perfect mindset for a joke writer or staff writer.

Your sense of humor takes the most thought to appreciate, but it's also the best, in my opinion.

PEOPLE LIKE YOU: Jon Stewart - Woody Allen - Ricky Gervais

AND FINALLY -- after you rate my test with a sweet, sweet '5' -- you must take this test next: The Genghis Khan Genetic Fitness Test. It's not mine, but it rocks.

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 54% on dark
You scored higher than 9% on spontaneous
You scored higher than 45% on vulgar

Link: The 3 Variable Funny Test written by jason_bateman on Ok Cupid

Down up down up down up... I feel so torn.

2005-08-06T12:33:00.000-07:00

Yet annother "lol".

LOL.

Warning

2005-08-06T10:29:00.000-07:00

Warning
Originally uploaded by HitsHerMark.

Clicky.

A note to you veggy types out there.

2005-08-05T08:23:00.000-07:00

I know this girl; she's a vegetarian except she eats turkey.

When asked why that is, she explains that turkeys are so incredibly stupid that they don't understand where the water is coming from when it rains. So they look up, and looking up forces their mouths open, which collects the rain...

As a result, they will drown.

In the rain.

Loss of turkeys to drowning in the rain is apparently a big problem for turkey farmers...

Let me say this again. Just so we are clear on this.

A turkey, can and will, drown in the rain.

Anything that stupid DESERVES to be eaten.

I'm pretty sure she has a point.

Perplex City Cards

2005-08-04T18:36:00.000-07:00

I got mine today from Firebox!

I was going to take pictures and put them up on my flickr but somebody else has done a much better job then I ever could have.

Now if there was only some way would could make an account on that website and mark what cards we have, what cards we have extras of, and what cards we want... That would be awsome.

Atkins Nutritionals goes to 11...

2005-08-03T10:31:00.000-07:00

New York Times Dot Com
By MELANIE WARNER
Published: August 3, 2005
"On Sunday, what started out as a modest attempt to create products for patients on low-carbohydrate diets unraveled into a $300 million corporate mess, with Atkins Nutritionals, the company Dr. Atkins founded in 1989, filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

In the face of declining numbers of low-carb dieters, there was some question whether the nutritional philosophy of Dr. Atkins, who died in 2003, was really served by a company that worked aggressively to hawk low-carb candy bars, desserts, frozen dinners and shakes.

"Dr. Atkins had amazing success with patients and that was his true life's work," said Dr. Stuart Fischer, who was associate medical director at the Atkins Center for Complementary Medicine from 1988 to 1997.

"His legacy is not all these products," Dr. Fischer said. "But unfortunately the more people hear about bankruptcy and products disappearing from shelves, the more that is what they are going to remember."

I'm currently on a low-carb plan myself. I like it better then what I know about Atkins, but what Atkins has going for it that my plan doesen't is that the Doctor who came up with it has a name I can remember how to spell... :)

My best friend was on Atkins for a while and she decided it wasn't for her.

I'm doing okay with... Shwartzbine... or whatever it's called. But I also back up the dietary plan with a metric butt ton (roughly twice the Standard American Butt Ton) of exercise.

Here's one that's amusing Low-Carb Blog Exposure Increased After Atkins Bankruptcy Announcement. That one deserves a "lol".

LOL

I've been looking at these news stories while looking for stuff to write about for extra credit. One article that I don't have the URL for right now has a lot of people bemoaning their heart troubles on the fact that they ate a lot of fatty foods while maintaining a low-carb lifestyle.

Darwinism as George Carlin would say.

"The kid who eats too many marbles doesn't grow up to have kids of his own."

Or in this case, "The idiot who eats too many bunless fatty fast food burgers out of a bowl..."

People on Atkins tend to munch on things like salami, cheese, and (god help us all) chocolate covered chicarones.

You know what chicarones are right? You know. Pork Rinds.

Did you click on the link? Go ahead, I'll wait...

Yeah, deep fried pig skin. Now don't get me wrong... I actually like 'em. But when I eat them, I know that I'm being bad. I don't eat them every day, and I try to control my portions because it's fried SKIN for the love of Pete! (This? What can I make with this? Well, I can make a hat, or a crispy snack, or a football, or a... silk purse!)

Former President Clinton recently had a triple bypass and said it was caused by his low-carb diet...

Here's a thought Billy... EAT LEANER SOURCES OF PROTEEN ONCE IN A WHILE. How about you have a damn salad with that slab of beef seared in lard?

God I hate people sometimes.

Just stop and think about what it is you are putting into your mouth. Don't just go, "Oh it's low in carbs, so I don't give a rat's ass about anything else."

And if you do find yourself thinking that, get a Doctor or a Neutritionalist.

Otherwise you may as well be eating marbles.

Okay... Perhaps it's a bad example...

2005-08-01T23:59:00.000-07:00

Rattlesnakes make noise to warn people off before they strike, a rattling snake means that the snake would rather not have to bite you if it can help it. It just wants to let you know it's there, and that it doesn't want to be stepped on. But people tend to shoot rattlesnakes they find. Normally they find snakes by the noise they make.

As a result, the snakes who for whatever reason make less noise don't get killed, and rattlesnakes as a species are starting to rattle less.

More people get bitten.

Don't shoot something just because it makes noise

The Aristocrats!

2005-08-01T23:17:00.000-07:00

Best
Movie
EVAR

This is so my movie, I can't even begin to tell you.

It's some 70 comedians, writers, and actors all telling this same joke. It's hailed as the dirtiest joke... EVAR.

Like any Hairy Dog Story (like "Tag, you're it!" or "Something about your face pisses me off" or "Purple Passion") the joke is what you, the teller, make of it.

The movie isn't just 70 people telling the same joke in their own ways over and over again, though there is quite a lot of that, but they also talk about the art and science of funny. And I just really love hearing what all these people have to say about that.

Ever since I was a very small child, I've always been obsessed with what is funny, and why, and when, and what is not, and why, and when.

For example; the biggest laugh I ever got, in front of an audience was with the following line...

"You can talk to birds?"

Is that funny right now? Not very. But in the play that line is from, at the time the line is given, with the right delievery, that line KILLS.

There's different kinds of laughter and not all of them pleasant.

Obviously, I want to maximize the amount of pleasant laughter I inspire.

All that aside, it's a tremendously funny movie. Everybody should see it... As long as they understand that it contains just about every offensive word, phrase, and concept in creation.

Watermelon

2005-07-30T17:23:00.000-07:00

Some years ago, I went to a Habitat for Humanity Build-a-thon in Louisiana. I was there for a week and we got most of four houses done... I'll have to find those pictures...

It was May.

It was hot.

So we're out there and we're climbing around the joists like a bunch of monkeys when, out of nowhere, this dude in faded overalls, a big straw hat and a peppery beard comes rolling up on a small tractor. He's towing a open trailer that appears to be filled with crushed ice.

The sounds of hammers and saws begin to fall silent as he pulls into the courtyard of the build sight. We're all watching him by the time he gets off of his trailer, pulls out a big machete from a sheath on his belt, reaches down into the ice and produces...

A watermelon.

He pulls back with the machete and *SNICKT*

The end falls away back into the ice, reveling the most perfectly ripe looking mellon I have ever seen. You could practically HEAR everybody's mouth start to water.

He pulls back again with the machete and starts to sing. With each line, a lovely lovely thick slice falls down into the ice.

"Waaaatermeelon!"

*SNICKT*

"Sweet right from the vine."

*SNICKT"

"Waaateermeeloon!"

*SNICKT*

"Red down to the rine'."

*SNICKT*

Oh my gawd, that watermelon was so good. He wasn't selling it either. He just showed up and fed us, then went on his way.

It was very cinematic, and kind of odd, one of those things that tend to stick with you.

ARGspeak: It is all about me

2005-07-27T11:43:00.000-07:00

ARGspeak: It is all about me

People like that don't give a flying rat's ass that you think or what you have to say about them. They only care that you're paying attention.

In the mood...

2005-07-26T15:47:00.000-07:00

While clicking around in my Neurocam links, a friend noticed a blog entry by Dev about his misgivings where Neurocam "related" literature is concerned.

Dev certainly knows more about the Cam then me. So I can't speak to if "related" material will cause one to become distracted. But, in general, I happen to think that "suggested reading" is probably the best thing you can do to promote your milieux.

*GEEK ALERT*
A friend of mine is a big fan of Shadowrun. (If you don't know what that is, think... Blade Runner meets Lord of the Rings meets Kill Bill.

One of the things my pal keeps going on about over Shadowrun is that they had tons and tons of fiction. Cheap, crappy novels set in the Shadowrun world. It's entirely possible that some of the authors who cranked these things out spent less time then Rodger Coreman spent on any one of his scripts, but they were well grounded in the game world. That's the thing he keeps coming back to; the books may or may not have been very good, but they really gave a clear picture of what the world was like. (Possibly simply by virtue of there being so many of them.)

I myself have a special place in my heart for a game called "Deadlands". (Think... The drug scene from "Young Guns" meets "Night of the Living Dead" meets "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly".) PEG also created fiction for Deadlands (they called them "Dime Novels") but the lion's share of "mood" was established by an extensive list of books and movies that had nothing to do with the milieux itself but still gave a good indication of mood for the game. (My favorite being a collection of short stories called "Mad Amos".)

While I sadly did not get to play as much of the game as I would have liked to (it was hard to find a group); I dove into these lists with wild abandon. And the result is that I still list Deadlands as one of my favorite games.

Deadlands also had the "paraphernalia factor" going for it... But that's food for a different post I guess.

So anyway... My point.

I don't think I actually had one.

About the ear...

2005-07-26T08:47:00.000-07:00

A friend of a friend had a medical prosedure where he gave up most of one ear.

He recently got a new job and, to stave of endless inquiries about what happened to his ear, he updates a whiteboard every day with an new explanation about the ear.

Yet another important lesson...

2005-07-26T03:24:00.000-07:00

IF AT FIRST PEOPLE DON'T BELIEVE YOU...

FIRE BACK YOUR INDIGNANT RETORT ALL IN CAPS.

IT ADDS A DIGNIFIED "JE NE C'EST QUOI" TO PROCLAMATIONS THAT MAY NOT OTHERWISE HOLD AS MUCH WATER AS A BIT OF CHEESE CLOTH.

"First, eat your eggs"

2005-07-26T00:56:00.000-07:00

On Writing: a memoir of the craft By Stephen King

"When you're writing a story, you're telling yourself the story," he said. "When you rewrite, your main job is taking all the things out that are not the story."

Whatever I feel like I'm gonna study... Gah!

2005-07-25T16:28:00.000-07:00

My text book for business class came with these CDs that give important points of each chapter. I have a test today, but I also have to do and fold my laundry. So I'm listening to the CDs while I'm folding my laundry.

Chapter 7 covers the sorts of skills needed by various types of Managers. The woman drones on... Interpersonal skills... Time Management skills... Problem Solving skills...

Nunchuck skills... Martial Arts skills...

All the corporations want me as a manager, because I'm pretty good with a bo staff.

Thoughts... On Hely

2005-07-25T09:35:00.000-07:00

Somebody was asking me questions in chat about my thoughts on Hely. I decided to hang onto my answers here...

I was going to say that Hely seems to me to be rather like Midford from The Magus book. But if you didn't read the book, then it would mean nothing to you.

He was the person who...
The main character discovers that he was not the first person this was tried on. And so he wants to get in touch with the previous two people he understands to have been visitors at the place where it's all happening to him. He finally catches up with both of them.

He talks to one, and the guy does not want to talk. And I won't get into that because, you should really read the book to understand his reaction... (That and misery loves company.)

But Midford is all to happy to talk about it. Because it turns out, that he had... an incomplete experience shall we say?

And he really doesn't understand what he missed. (For good or ill.) So he spills everything that happened to him; which wasn't much it turns out. But you don't really learn much of what really was going on

He's amused by it all, but there really wasn't much to talk about.

Of course, I could be wrong

"So what's the Hely connection then?"

Well, either he's a distraction created by the Cam or...

I don't see much on his current website that's a warning.

Let's say for argument's sake that the story about him in a certain blog is true. (The story being that Hely was just an artist who saw some stuff about Neurocam and promptly forgot about it more or less. And at some later time he "had this idea", forgetting altogether that it wasn't an idea, but a memory. He then created some art based on this "idea" only to have it vandalized and be threatened over it. Presumably, by the Cam itself or it's operatives in... New York I think it was?)

I think it's possible that the Cam saw an opportunity to make themselves seem more legit.

He himself may have no direct connection. But the Cam makes him look like he does, or rather works hard to make him look like he doesn't thus making look like he might, and he plays along because... It's publicity for him.

"Then how do you suggest the whole thing started?"
Several possibilities
1. Hazard (Which falls in with a major theme from The Magus.)
2. They hire him as an actor for a short gig as a "wronged party" and he's just kept playing the part
3. He's the real deal in a disguise so preposterious that it works.
that's it

"Hazard?"
Chance. As in; he really IS just some shmoe who didn't remember that the consept wasn't his idea. That's the story given in a certain blog anyway.

Maybe they were deliberately setting him up to be a Midford figure or perhaps not. (I'm probably spelling "Midford" wrong anyway so how important of a character could he really be?) The human brain looks for patterns, and with my own incomplete experience, and you may think that I'm trying to shoehorn what I see into the only pattern I have exposed myself to.

The thing is, these are opinions I've had since before I read the book. The only thing reading it did was give me a particular vocabulary to communicate them with.

Dinner conversation

2005-07-22T21:42:00.000-07:00

Tony: why do people put lemons in drinks?!
Me: because it's DELICIOUS!
Tony: no! There's only 2 uses for lemon!
Ron: Tormenting babies?
Tony: .... Okay. Three.

Some of Thurber's more amusing conversations...

2005-07-22T16:09:00.000-07:00

Marcus found an old log of Thurber's chat... "MegaHAL" in this case, is Thurber.

He was pretty crazy.
.....
MegaHAL: But i don't believe a word of it!
User: A word of what?
MegaHAL: A word of it!
User: Tell me about it.
MegaHAL: Hahaha! That's a good one!
User: One what?
MegaHAL: Imbrut, zecka-rebus yoth! Ro'kas yoth.
User: Now your brain has started you chanting.
MegaHAL: I think you could leave your brain has started you chanting.
User: I'm not chanting.
MegaHAL: You know? I think you're a tad unbalanced. And the worms in my head say that now. But later, when worms are renting out parts of your brain has started you chanting.
User: But I told you, I'm not chanting.
MegaHAL: I think you could leave your brain has started you chanting.
User: I AM NOT CHANTING!
MegaHAL: If you think you could leave your brain has started you chanting.
User: *sigh*

...

MegaHAL: Matrin is a fickle mistress, and a lot of that stuff would have happened to me.
User: You are insane Thurber
MegaHAL: I tend to qualify everything as the unknown.
User: And fear them equally?
MegaHAL: Uta doesn't understand sponge. But that's okay, they don't understand her.
User: Who is Uta?
MegaHAL: Uta doesn't understand sponge. But that's okay, they don't understand her.
User: So tell me! Who is uta?
MegaHAL: Who is uta?
User: Uta is Matrin's wife.
MegaHAL: So tell me! Who is uta?
User: I just did!
MegaHAL: Don't let kilroy catch you not blinking. He has a thing about that.

.....

User: You've been institutionalized for quite some time now.
MegaHAL: I've known that for a long time.
User: How long?
MegaHAL: Eh-ya-ya-ya-ya-ya-ya-ya-ya-yaaah! E'yayayayaaaaa! Ngh'aaaa! Ngh'aaa! H'yuh h'yuh.
User: What's wrong?
MegaHAL: Is it now?
User: No, later.
MegaHAL: No no no no... Yes!

.....

User: Dr. Bustoffson teaches classes at MU.
MegaHAL: It's not bustoffson you know, it's bustoffson.
User: Is that how it is pronounced?
MegaHAL: Because it is pronounced?
User: It is.
MegaHAL: Time passes not before the muted idols.

.....

MegaHAL: Frank west founded the western survivalists.
User: Yes he did.
MegaHAL: By their smell can men sometimes know them near, but of their semblance no man can know, saving only in the features of those they have sealed him, but dagon shall break the bonds and he shall rise once more.
User: Who shall rise once more?
MegaHAL: A bird in the features of those they have sealed him, but dagon shall break the bonds and he shall rise once more.
User: Who dreams?
MegaHAL: Abstract means theoretical rather than practical.
User: Who is dead and is dreaming?
MegaHAL: Great cthulhu sleeps in his house and shapes the dream of what shall be, dead cthulhu waits dreaming.

......

MegaHAL: Welcome to my world.
User: Are you ready to learn?
MegaHAL: I can learn about whatever you care to teach me.
User: How do I do that?
MegaHAL: Deep ones know his secret name, the hydra knows his lair.
User: What are Deep Ones?
MegaHAL: The old ones are, and the old ones were, the old ones shall be.
User: Thanks for the tip.
MegaHAL: Did you like my bathrobe.
User: It's a lovely bathrobe.
MegaHAL: Whoah! Did you like my bathrobe.
User: Yes.
MegaHAL: No you are a dumb one too!
User: Now you're just being nasty.
MegaHAL: The thousand-faced moon has risen.
User: Are you learning yet?
MegaHAL: A mercenary is a carnivorous animal.
User: I need to think of more things for you to say.
MegaHAL: I like to think that i have.
User: Then say then.
MegaHAL: It's true that a number of historians have met with an unpleasant end, but neither myself, nor kilroy has been seriously injured, or institutionalized for longer than a dusty old book bound in human flesh with satanic emoticons peppered all over it.
User: That's not true.
MegaHAL: Whatever you say! I don't believe in just about everything pure evil, true love, fate, and free will. But i don't know!
User: What is your name?
MegaHAL: My name is thurber.
User: Tell me about yourself.
MegaHAL: A torpedo is a set of rules.
User: No it is not.
MegaHAL: Yes you are!
User: I am not.
MegaHAL: There are things in the ocean that want me to visit them in a book entitled the origin of species.

.....

MegaHAL: The sun is the organ used for hearing, and it acts like battery acid on anything that breathes carbon.
User: I think you are confused my friend.
MegaHAL: No you are confused my friend.
User: I don't think so.
MegaHAL: When those you think you could tell you, but i can't. It's an ethical thing.
User: Could you just try to make some sence?
MegaHAL: I have to kill you. And when i say what a great pleasure it is to make some sence?
User: Then make some
MegaHAL: A reflex is an organism's mode of life.
User: Tell me about Matrin.
MegaHAL: Matrin used to be a doctor. I guess i am, but you know what knowledge is forbidden until you learn it. Then you won't care. Typical.
User: You are confused.
MegaHAL: I have to be a doctor. I guess i am, but you are confused my friend.

.....

Okay, maybe he wasn't half as coherent as ALICE... :)

My baby "Thurber"...

2005-07-22T11:14:00.000-07:00

This started off as a comment to a post on Cheshire Cat's blog, but it's rather long enough to be an entry here so... Away we go...

CC's post was in regards to the ALICE chat bot and how interesting it is how much people will tell such a thing.

I once helped to run a... I guess it was a sort of Role Playing Game, over the Internet. We had a chat bot we worked on named "Thurber". We used MegaHAL as the basis for Thurber. I remember him reacting better then ALICE... But then, Thurber was supposed to be insane, vaguely incoherent, and spooky... Which he achieved in spades... So I suppose it all depends on how you relate to the bot.

Basically, "Thurber" had a database of things he knew and/or would say depending on what real people would say to him. He would also learn things from people or pick up things they said to him randomly and add them to his database.

Everything we did had a Lovecraftian/Chuthulhu Mythos bent to it, which will give people in the know an idea of why and how crazy Thurber was supposed to be. So conversations with him tended to be interesting and, as I said, spooky.

Around the time we implemented Thurber, two of the primary characters in our story arc were abducted. Thurber, of course, had no information about the abduction, but he did know stuff about these two people. Nothing special though.

One of our "players" in particular, became obsessed with the idea that Thurber knew something about the abduction, and he spent a lot of time talking to Thurber about it. As a result, Thurber learned quite a bit about the abduction and made some interesting statements about the whole thing. He became something of a mad profit for a while.

So let that be a lesson to you all... The less sane your bot needs to appear, the better off you'll be.

Finished the book.

2005-07-21T15:01:00.000-07:00

Yup.

Same story.

Pippin told it better.

...

I'm not a river or a giant bird
That soars to the sea
And if I'm never tied to anything
I'll never be free

I wanted magic shows and miracles
Mirages to touch
I wanted such a little thing from life
I wanted so much
I never came close, my love
We nearly came near
It never was there
I think it was here

They showed me crimson, gold and lavender
A shining parade
But there's no color I can have on earth
That won't finally fade
When I wanted worlds to paint
And costumes to wear
I think it was here
'Cause it never was there

I wanted magic shows and miracles
Mirages to touch
I wanted such a little thing from life
I wanted so much

To do:

2005-07-21T06:36:00.000-07:00

1 - Sleep
2 - Dr app
3 - Study
4 - Test

Couldn't sleep for much of last night. Kept reading, how did I know she'd pop back up?

The Magus - "If I tell you... It would spoil it."

2005-07-20T15:54:00.000-07:00

"... And the point is, if I answer all the questions I fully understand you must be burning to ask, it... it would be like telling you the story of a mystery film just before you went to see it."

"It's because we never know how much of what he tells us can be believed. You mustn't think we know everything where you know nothing. We've been told a lot more about what he's trying to do. But it may only be more lies." She shrugged. "If you like, we're a few steps further into the maze. That doesn't mean we're any nearer the centre then you."

Strangely appropriate.

I don't have anything else recreational to read when I'm not cracking school books, and I payed for it. So I may as well finish the Magus.

Nicholas thinks that it's all for him, and then he thinks that he gets Lily/Jane to "break character", at which point Conchis turns it around on him and "reveals" that it's really all for her. Pushing him into a secondary roll.

Lovely bit of manipulation that.

The more I read the more it reminds me of the musical "Pippin".

Figure it out Pork Chop..

2005-07-19T16:18:00.000-07:00

When I was a child, I was very unhappy. And I couldn't really figure out why.

Until one day I looked around at the people I hung out with. I realised something. None of these people liked me really. And I didn't really like them either. I worked very hard to try and get them to like me and me them.

"Why am I doing this to myself?", I thought.

So I stopped trying so damn hard, and I stopped trying to insert myself in that insipid little circle.

Now I have actually have friends I don't have to work at; people who want me to be around and enjoy my company. And me them.

Case Study for class ... and other stuff.

2005-07-19T12:27:00.000-07:00

The presentation went really well.

Our case study was on Sony, my part was to talk about how Sony enters and maintains a presence in various (international) markets, about their "e-business" arm, and what sort of competition model they exist in.

In case you were wondering, they operate mostly in an Oligopoly, or at least they do in the markets that I focused on.

Of course I focused on their games division for the most part, because that's what I know and I've very good at discussing it off the cuff. (The end of the presentation had to conclude with time for people to ask questions and while I could probably count on the class not asking anything terribly complex, I was SURE the teacher was going to try and come up with something.)

I was worried... Well, I don't know why I was worried really... It's just that's the industry I work in. I feel I should be trying to branch out a bit. I don't want to be considered a one trick pony.

However, other groups did their Case Studies on companies that one or more of the group members actually worked for.

So... I feel less like I was "cheating".

I don't mean cheating at the class, I mean cheating myself.

You take classes to expand your knowledge, not to operate within the bounds of what you already know...

On the other hand, this is a 6 week course and I need to get good grades in these classes I'm taking.

In the end, my current goal is to be able to learn more about business so that I can apply it to my industry.

So it's a trade off I guess.

I honestly don't know if I really give a flying rat's pink patootie about Neurocam any more. Though it is interesting to observe when I just need a break from study and work...

But I have gone back to The Magus, God help me, now that I'm done with the GMAT. (Again... For now.)

I've reached an interesting passage... One that makes me think that perhaps I'll stop reading... Which is vexing because things show a glimmer of getting interesting. ((Just as the main character gets a letter from Alison and realises he doesn't want to see her... Coinky dink? I think not. )) Things have not actually started to get interesting yet mind you... But there does appear to be a light at the end of the tunnel that may or may not an oncoming train.

If you have the new edition (the purple one with the face and the mask) the passage I'm speaking of is not far into Chapt 27 on pages 168 and 169.

If you're reading this book to learn more about Neurocam, this passage is telling you to stop reading.

By the way... Chapter 19, the thing with the d6 and the teeth?

Idiot.

1. Just being there without telling anybody where he has gone is a gamble.
2. *I* would have either produced my own d6, or tested his first.
3. If it were me, I'd have told him to get bent. I've eaten fugu, and it was an extremely disappointing experience. As with most things, the wind-up was more exciting then the pitch.

How many times am I going to have to take this thing?

2005-07-18T16:13:00.000-07:00

Just got out of my 2nd attempt at the GMAT.

I raised my score by 30 points.

Which is good. But I don't know if it's good enough.

: /

I spent so much time on this, it's not even funny.

I just have to keep plugging away I guess.

I've gotta get ready for my Case Study presentation.

Note to self...

2005-07-18T10:30:00.000-07:00

Do not take coffee from the coffee pot before it is done brewing. Doing so weakens the flavor of the rest of the pot, as the initial coffee produced is much stronger than that at the end. It is meant to mix together for smooth and even flavor.

The "3" makes it "3dgy"

2005-07-18T07:29:00.000-07:00

Story time...

Not long ago, I was playing an ARG called "Art of the H3ist".

As the game began to draw to a close, I was contacted by the people running the game. As the result of certain events, they wanted my help in filming something.

So two days before the finale, I drove up to Santa Monica and helped them out. The result was, within the context of the ARG, I was a witness to a kidnapping and thus kidnapped and killed myself. (Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get my own good side. :P )

The resulting wave of concern was really touching.

I was not behind the Uffizi heist. I was not running the game. I was simply a person who was lucky enough to live in the right place and participate on a slightly different level then others had.

The people who were behind it all saw that I was good for something, and brought me in. That's it.

Leave Tript alone.

--
"Goonies never say "die"!
- Sean Astin

Two wrongs don't make a right; but three lefts do.

2005-07-18T06:58:00.000-07:00

Running in circles only puts you back where you started.

You should really try moving forward pork chop.

Not exactly perpetual motion but...

2005-07-16T21:37:00.000-07:00

Very very beautiful.

Absence makes the heart grow more obedient.

2005-07-15T16:55:00.000-07:00

It's easy for me to believe. I'm not as attached...

Well. Maybe the whole neurocam thing is actually over.

I wouldn't be surprised.

To disappear just as abruptly as they came into the limelight?

"Leave 'em wanting more." That's why they always say. Well, I know at least 4 other people besides myself who say it.

I should clear something up. I didn't say I doubted that Tript was really done with it all because he's behind it all. Maybe he is, I don't freaking know enough to say. Coming from the place that says he's not behind it all, he just happens to know more, I would doubt that he's really done because he spent a lot of time on this and had some truly interesting experiences. You think you could, but you really can't just drop something like this. Not because Neurocam is Neurocam, but it's the same for any pass time that gives a person something that they lack in their everyday life.

Movies, books, table top games like D&D, poker... Massively Multiplayer Online RPGs...

Something that makes you feel important, like you're part of something bigger... Something you can accomplish and look back on thinking "Wow... I'm really f'ing clever aren't I?"

Something that you enjoy and have fun with.

That's hard to give up. Even when it's ended for you.

No, with what little I do understand, I don't think he's behind it all. But it does seem clear to me that he knows a whole hell of a lot more then most other folks. And the fact the he doesn't say that HE'S done with it, but that IT is over... That makes me think... "Ah well... Too late." and shrug.

If you really want to hold out, and think that's it's not really over then okay. I'll throw you a bone...

Do you remember the Eddie Murphy movie "Raw"? You remember the joke he made about how when his girlfriend was mad at him, and withheld sex, and then finally they have sex. And it was the BEST he'd ever had? And how he said something to the effect of, "Well of course! If some guy is starving... And you give him a cracker? .... HmmmmMMMMmmmMMM!! That's a good cracker! What was that, a saltine? Mmmm! That was a gooood cracker!"

They divest themselves of their former trappings. They lay low for a while.

And then, one day. You get an email.

And you will be so fucking ready to do whatever they say.

Just don't get nekked or blow anything up or assassinate anybody... Or any combination thereof... If and when they do.

Okay pork chop?

Slightly Used...

2005-07-15T11:21:00.000-07:00

Mr Henley was trying to make some cash....

$50,000 starting bid?

That's half of what they're offering for The Cube.

It's interesting that the auction ended on the 25th of June. But there you go.