A Violently Executed Blog

Awesome

2009-10-21T07:13:00.000-05:00

Awesome

Vectored from Chadu:

From the "I weep for your pain" dept:

2009-10-14T12:34:00.003-05:00

From the "I weep for your pain" dept:

The award for "most annoying headline" goes to Reuters!

For many U.S. wealthy, housing crisis still a squeeze

ST. CHARLES, Illinois (Reuters) - Despite some signs that the worst of the U.S. residential housing crisis may be over, many wealthy homeowners are still being squeezed by the combination of weak home prices and the stock market crash.

Are you fucking kidding me? Someone really cares enough about some goddamn overpaid yuppies that can't unload their shoddily-built McMansions fast enough? Fuck them and their ugly houses. They are PART OF THE PROBLEM. There are Americans with real problems - people that have been out of work for YEARS, people whose jobs have gone overseas, people that are losing their houses because the banks are a bunch of crooked, cheating bastards. Ashley and Brad and their kids Snotleigh and Terence don't get one fucking ounce of my pity or concern.

Seriously, Reuters, that was a massive, incredibly big, stinking, reeking, oozing pile of FAIL.

Not Dead, Only Pining

2009-10-14T12:13:00.001-05:00

Not Dead, Only Pining

Thanks for asking, Adrienne, but I'm not dead. Just pining for the fjords.

Not much going on in my life that I care to talk about here.

::shrugs::

How're you guys doing?

And Another Thing

2009-10-06T16:15:00.002-05:00

And Another Thing

Some of you have already emailed me asking how I could be here posting if I was dying of the Armenian Death Cancer Ebola Flu and first, I think that's really RUDE and second I survived because I got better and plus I made myself some soup.

So there's your answer.

I'm A Little Disappointed...

2009-10-06T15:47:00.002-05:00

I'm A Little Disappointed...

I mean, I tell you guys that I'm dying from a horrible disease, the worst case of the flu EVER, and not one person bakes me a pie, or comes over and fluffs my pillow or brings me some orange juice with a little bendy straw in it or ANYTHING.

Hmph.

See if I give you any of the $33,000,000.76 that Miriam Abacha, sister of Nigerian Finance Minister Sonny Abacha, is prepared to wire me from an abandoned account at the Fisrt African Bank Of Foreign Trade.

See? I can post twice in a week!

2009-10-02T20:29:00.002-05:00

See? I can post twice in a week!

Everyone is recovering nicely from the flu, but I'm secretly convinced they lucked out and got the nice flu, while I'm stuck with the Patagonian Monkey Death Flu. I mean, sickness always seems to go so much easier in other people. You know?

But that's not why I'm here today. Nope, I've got a better reason.

Two of my more talented friends (OK, the rest of you are talented too, in your own special way. Except for the one that spits rainbow colors. YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE. That's just sick.) - where was I? Ah, the fever, it deranges my thoughts so... - yes, I remember, two of my more talented friends have cool things out for your enjoyment.

First up is my friend Megan Lynch, who has just cut an album. It's called Songs the Brothers Warner Taught Me, and it's a rockin' collection of songs showcased in the old Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons. You can give it a listen for free, buy a copy to load into your iPod, or whatever digital music conveyance you prefer, and soon - SOON - it'll be available as a lovely little silvered disc, with groovy cover art and liner notes and even a pony! OK, maybe not the pony. But even without the pony, it's some good stuff. Megan's got a set of pipes on her that'll knock your socks off, then make you put 'em back on so she can knock 'em off again. BUY IT, O MY LITTLE INTERNET FILTH MONKEYS.

Second, my friend Gord Sellar has a new story out. This one is in Clarkesworld Magazine, the story is Of Melei, of Ulthar and it's a tight little Lovecraftian number that's pretty damn fine, and I speak from a completely unbiased viewpoint.

Now, having done my duty by my friends, I shall drag myself the laborious way to bed, where I shall endeavor not to die in the night from the Paraguayan Death Mango Rabies Flu. Pray for me, my friends.

I Think I'm Going For A Walk...

2009-09-30T22:02:00.002-05:00

I Think I'm Going For A Walk...

OK, so, yeah, I've been pretty much incommunicado for a long while here.

Things are... well, they're what they are. I'm still job-hunting, still doing the stay-at-home-Dad thing.

Everyone except me has been hit by the flu, I'm just hoping I stay healthy long enough for everyone else to get back to their normal routine. If I don't have to wrangle sick kids, I can drop them off at school in the morning and come home and whinge and hork to my heart's content until school lets out. That would be the closest to "ideal" the flu could get this year.

My old friend Depression is lurking around like a psychotic stalker, waving at me every time I look out the window and driving three cars behind me every time I pull out of the driveway. I'm trying to stay active, do some creative-type stuff, take my meds and keep busy. It's working, most of the time. I've got some home improvement projects to plug away at, which also helps.

I'm going to try to post more - I'm staying away from political posts, though, because they make my blood pressure shoot up to unhealthy levels, especially with all the scary-ass eliminationist talk coming from the shitbag toilet-sucking moron contingent. Which is 99.99% of the GOP, lately.

::deep breath::

Yeah.

So.

Like I said, look for more posts going forward, mostly of the "this-is-what-I-did-this-week" kind. Baby steps, eh?

HAHAHAHAHAHA

2009-09-01T09:13:00.001-05:00

I'm Adam Lipscomb, And I Approve This Message

2009-08-06T23:28:00.000-05:00

I'm Adam Lipscomb, And I Approve This Message

And Now, A Message From Our Sponsors...

2009-08-05T12:03:00.002-05:00

And Now, A Message From Our Sponsors...

Yoinked from Crooks and Liars:

Exciting Goings On In Georgia

2009-08-03T10:10:00.005-05:00

Exciting Goings On In Georgia

Got an email from my parents yesterday - they had a visitor to their house on Saturday:

There have been more black bears in their area of North Georgia recently - they've seen signs of bears before, but this is the first one they've seen up close and personal.

ETA: Forgot to mention it, but these pictures were taken by my mother. Pretty steady hand for up close to a bear, if'n you ask me.

Posted Without Comment

2009-07-29T12:32:00.000-05:00

My Dinner With Gord. And Marvin. And Keisha.

2009-07-25T09:27:00.003-05:00

My Dinner With Gord. And Marvin. And Keisha.

My friend Gord is in town, on his way from Korea to Montreal for Anticipation, this year's WorldCon. I've known Gord and Marvin for years, since way back when we were all members of an SF mailing/discussion list.

Anyhoo, Gord let us know he was coming to town, so we figured it'd be fun to get together with him. Marvin and Keisha picked up Gord and we met at Hoover's.

Gord gave us the lowdown on his life, including the Launch Pad Workshop he just attended, then Marvin and Keisha told about their trip to Vegas for The Amazing Meeting 7.

We wound up sitting and gabbing long past closing time - the manager finally had to shoo us out the door - and then we stood and talked in the parking lot for a bit longer. It was good to see them all, and I'm hoping Melissa and I can get together with Marvin and Keisha for fun Austin-type stuff Real Soon Now.

For once, I not only remembered my camera, I remembered to use it. Here's some pics from dinner:

I Feel So Smart Now

2009-06-22T08:09:00.002-05:00

I Feel So Smart Now

Is it normal to feel incredibly smug when you start using Linux? Because I do.

Smuggy McSmuggerson, that's me.

Also, I've got this near-overwhelming urge to start decorating everything with a penguin motif.

Victory! Of A Sort.

2009-06-21T10:22:00.002-05:00

Victory! Of A Sort.

So, one new hard drive later, I've installed Linux Kubuntu on the laptop. I've got the WiFi connection working, I've got Firefox installed (note to Google: MAKE CHROME FOR LINUX) and I'm working on a download of Wine so I can install iTunes.

Out Of Pocket

2009-06-13T12:31:00.002-05:00

Out Of Pocket

Just an FYI - the hard drive on my laptop died last night, so until I get it fixed, replaced or just get a new laptop (HA!), I'll be online a lot less.

I can get email on my cell, and you can call me - email me if you need my number.

I Only Have One Thing To Say About This

2009-06-04T19:08:00.001-05:00

I Only Have One Thing To Say About This

OH HELL YES.

Suck on THAT, teetotalers!

You Think I'm Crazy?

2009-05-08T08:46:00.002-05:00

You Think I'm Crazy?

Well, you're wrong. Obviously, the spiders have a plan. They're attacking on two fronts. The legions of whistling, venomous, dinner-plate-sized spiders attack from the south, the bulletproof giant spiders attack from the north.

Well, We're Really Fucked Now

2009-05-07T09:51:00.003-05:00

Well, We're Really Fucked Now

Not the Swine Flu - I've given up on the possibility of using the hysteria of the uninformed to somehow leverage employment. No, I speak of something far worse.

No, not a plague of clowns. Not quite that bad, but almost.

I speak of the coming plague of car-sized, armored, meat-eating spiders from Greenland. Sure, the initial article in National Geographic is rather coy - no extrapolation, no dire warnings - but that's not really NatGeo's thing. The first link above does all that, and delivers the real warning. We're talking bulletproof spiders, spiders big enough to eat us whole in one bite (but they won't do that, because that would be too easy. No, they'll tear us apart with their freakish mandibles, tossing random bits to their dog-sized and ravenous young).

Now, don't any of you try to muddle this with your "facts" and "reality" - I know the spiders are coming, just like I've been warning you all along. You go ahead and act like there's no problem, and I'll stock up on anti-tank weaponry. We'll see which one of us ends up spider bait.

Just a Quick Heads-Up

2009-04-17T12:55:00.001-05:00

I'm in the market for work again. Programming, it turns out, wasn't really my bag, baby. I found myself less and less happy with what I was doing, and even less happy with the thought of doing that as a career.

So that's where I am now. Just so you know.

If My Marriage Was A Child...

2009-03-30T12:04:00.002-05:00

If My Marriage Was A Child...

... It'd be old enough to vote today.

At this time 18 years ago, I was standing outside a church posing for pictures with my stomach tied up in knots, because in just a few hours I was going to marry the woman I loved more than life itself.

The wedding itself went well, though I don't remember much of it. All of my memories of the ceremony are of Melissa. I couldn't take my eyes off her, not even when my younger brother Micah fainted from locking his knees.

Since then, through ups and downs, tragedies and triumphant joys, Melissa's been there for me when I needed her, and I've done my best to be there for her.

I wouldn't trade a second of that, not the times we were so angry at each other we couldn't talk rationally, not the times our hearts were broken, none of it. The bad parts are more than made up for by the good parts, and the whole package fills me with joy every time I think about it.

Happy Anniversary, Melissa. You're one of the best things that's ever happened to me, and if the first 18 years make me this happy, I can't wait to see what the next 50 look like.

Who Watched The Watchmen?

2009-03-07T07:54:00.001-06:00

Who Watched The Watchmen?

Saw 'Watchmen' last night.

What really worked:
Rorschach
The Comedian
The prison stuff
The 'world history in 5 minutes' montage at the beginning
Rorshach's death
The art direction

What didn't quite work:
Veidt's reveal
The coda w/ Sally Jupiter
Silk Sprectre II
Not enough Bernie/Bernard

It wasn't the differences per se, or the more faithful bits that kept the movie this side of great. It came down to the cuts more than anything else - Moore and Gibbons wove everything into the story, and the cuts removed a lot of the nuances that fleshed out the story. Additionally, the cuts made Moore's already weak depictions of women a lot more problematic.

All in all, it's a good movie, but not quite a great movie. The graphic novel was, for its time, absolutely ground-breaking and shattering of the superhero tropes as we knew them in the mid-eighties. Since then, other comics and superhero movies have been informed by Watchmen, so that we've seen all of this before - maybe not in the same movie all at once, but we've seen it.

I give Snyder full points for having the balls to attempt to adapt Watchmen, and had his source material been less weighted with its own history and the emotional history of its fans, I think he could have had a great film. In the end, though, there's too much to put on the screen and Snyder fell just a wee bit short. And I'm OK with that - I don't think every hit has to be a home run, it's perfectly OK to get a solid base hit.

So I'll go see it again, and I'll go see the Director's Cut when it comes out, and I'll buy the DVD.

I will be interested in reading/hearing the reactions of people that came to the movie without reading the source material.

At Midnight All The Agents...

2009-03-06T16:14:00.003-06:00

At Midnight All The Agents...

Tonight's the night - Melissa and I are heading to see 'Watchmen' at 7. It's been a while since I've looked forward to a movie as much as I am this one. Those of you that aren't hip to the comic probably don't get it, and them as got into comics after the late 1980s probably don't get it either. I remember picking up the first issue of this comic and being blown away - Moore and Gibbons did one of the best jobs of world-building ever, and the comic has stood up to multiple readings - there are always new nuggets to discover in the text and art.

The reviews I've seen have, for the most part, been positive. People whose opinions and tastes match mine (Wil Wheaton, f'rex) have raved about it. Still, I could hate it. That's possible. If so, there are no doubt some of you that will be delighted to be able to say, 'I told you so!' That's cool.

Anyhoo, I'm leaving work in a few minutes, and I'll probably post a mini review tomorrow morning.

My favorite quote from the comic:

Heard joke once: Man goes to doctor. Says he's depressed. Says life seems harsh and cruel. Says he feels all alone in a threatening world where what lies ahead is vague and uncertain. Doctor says "Treatment is simple. Great clown Pagliacci is in town tonight. Go and see him. That should pick you up." Man bursts into tears. Says "But Doctor... I am Pagliacci."

Today In History

2009-02-26T05:52:00.002-06:00

Today in History

Twelve years ago, twelve years and 2 or 3 hours to be exact, my son Drew was born.

It seems like yesterday he was a toddler, tottering around the house terrorizing the cats, and now he's careening towards his teens, opinionated and clever, starting to face the world on his terms.

Well done so far, son. Keep it up.

I Knew It Was Coming...

2009-02-25T19:15:00.002-06:00

I knew it was coming, but it's still a punch in the gut.

Philip Jose Farmer died this morning.

Damn, I loved (and still do) his work. Riverworld alone earned him permanent status as a master of SF.

I hope he's sailing Upriver on the Not For Hire right now. He deserves that.