Slashboing

Year in Review: 2009 in Films

2010-01-01T17:46:00.000-07:00

Once again I must list all the films I saw in the theaters this year, call them the "best of the year," have a laugh at my own expense, then lament that I haven't seen more films. Notable films I missed this year include Inglourious Basterds, District 9, and G-Force. Every year I try to see more films, but still average about one a month.

Coraline
Fanboys
Watchmen
Monsters vs. Aliens
Star Trek
Terminator Salvation
Up
Transformers 2
Public Enemies
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
Where the Wild Things Are
Avatar

Notable this year is that I saw Up, Star Trek and Watchmen multiple times in the theater.

What does 2010 hold? How about Footloose, The A Team and The Karate Kid? [Joke about 80's Nostalgia]

Previous Year's Film lists

2009 year in review

2009-12-30T21:41:00.004-07:00

I have only made 48 posts to Slashboing this year, half as many as I did in 2008. My reduction in blogging can probably be traced to my use of Twitter. Where I used to develop an idea until I could justify a whole blog post, now I reduce the idea to 140 characters and tweet it. When I see a cool youtube video or link it is much easier to click a "tweet this" button than it is to compose a new post.

So what things made me cross the twitter/blogger threshold and actually compose a Slashboing post? Let us summarize, as is the custom of the season.

January: Steampunk, Death of Richardo Montalban.

February: Absolutely nothing. February must've sucked.

March: Watchmen, Kutiman, Lost, Science Fiction, Cocktails, Rachel Maddow, Doctor Who.

April: Star Wars, Joyful Public Dancing, Science Fiction Conventions

May: Bacon Vodka, Pegwarmers

June: My video making hobby starts, Steampunk, John Hodgman, Longevity of SF television shows

July: 52 weeks of video, Twitter, Dungeons and Dragons, Nipples of Fry and Laurie.

August: Steampunk, Star Trek, Dragoncon, GI-Joe, Complementary comedic sketches

September: Steampunk, Dungeons and Dragons

October: I attempt to memeify the moon bombing, Lost Skeleton

November: Three loves of Pho, Community and 3-2-1 Contact

December: Christmas comments and this review.

This was the year that I started playing D&D for the first time, and decided to blog about it. I started Noob in the Dungeon so I could document the game, and not OVERLOAD Slashboing. I post a record low for yearly posts, and I start a second blog so as not to have too many posts on one topic.

Here's to 2010.

Light over Darkness

2009-12-22T14:38:00.001-07:00

AGAIN we celebrate the victory of Light over Darkness, of the God of day over the hosts of night. Again Samson is victorious over Delilah, and Hercules triumphs once more over Omphale. In the embrace of Isis, Osiris rises from the dead, and the scowling Typhon is defeated once more. Again Apollo, with unerring aim, with his arrow from the quiver of light, destroys the serpent of shadow. This is the festival of Thor, of Baldur and of Prometheus. Again Buddha by a miracle escapes from the tyrant of Madura, Zoroaster foils the King, Bacchus laughs at the rage of Cadmus, and Chrishna eludes the tyrant.

This is the festival of the sun-god, and as such let its observance be universal.

This is the great day of the first religion, the mother of all religions — the worship of the sun.

Sun worship is not only the first, but the most natural and most reasonable of all. And not only the most natural and the most reasonable, but by far the most poetic, the most beautiful.

The sun is the god of benefits, of growth, of life, of warmth, of happiness, of joy. The sun is the all-seeing, the all-pitying, the all-loving.

This bright God knew no hatred, no malice, never sought for revenge.

All evil qualities were in the breast of the God of darkness, of shadow, of night. And so I say again, this is the festival of Light. This is the anniversary of the triumph of the Sun over the hosts of Darkness.

Let us all hope for the triumph of Light — of Right and Reason — for the victory of Fact over Falsehood, of Science over Superstition.

And so hoping, let us celebrate the venerable festival of the Sun.

Robert Green Ingersoll – “The Agnostic Christmas” (1892)

Reminder from Cynical-C

3-2-1 Contact

2009-11-28T01:43:00.004-07:00

The opening credits to 3-2-1 Contact are burned onto my retinas like a brand. I watched so much of this as kid! I really enjoyed the Lisa/Mark/Trini era, but stuck with it through the mid 80's. It's youth science programming like this that made me the man I am today. I guess I should donate to PBS at some point in the future.

I tweeted this a few days ago, but it bears repeating.

Community: I am Batman

2009-11-20T15:10:00.003-07:00

It is setups like this that have made me a fan of the tv show Community. I want to watch the Community webisodes, but I have yet to find a way to do so from Canada. I get cable, and two different NBC affiliates, but I can't watch shows online from my geographic region. Does that sound right to you?

ETA: Thank you youtube for The Community College Chronicles

Community - I am Batman!!!
Uploaded by blacktuna4581. - Full seasons and entire episodes online.

This is my 500th post. Please make a note in the records of the day.

Pho Porn

2009-11-18T23:25:00.003-07:00

Anthony Bourdain loves a bowl of pho as much as I do, though wearing a white shirt is a rookie mistake. He needs one of my red pho gang shirts:

Video via Cynical-c

Moon conspiracy shirt

2009-10-09T07:10:00.001-06:00

I think it's obvious that the Moon bombing was an inside job. Anyone with two eyes and a brain could tell you that, but THEY don't want you know. This shirt will let everyone know the TRUTH!

Or this is an ironic shirt, mocking conspiracy nuts. Or that's just what the Illuminati and the World Bank want you to think.

Wake up sheeple!

[Shirt available from Spreadshirt]

My Fandom History: Part 3

2009-10-07T10:15:00.002-06:00

I have been slowly recounting my personal experiences in science fiction and fantasy fandom. When we left off I was attending a planning meeting for Conversion 22.

I can sum up the next couple of years thusly.

Enough people quit the convention planning committee that by the end my wife was the president, and I was head of programming. We came to "lend a hand" and we ended up running big parts of the show. We brought in Jeremy Bulloch who portrayed Boba Fett in Star Wars, which was great. Sure, a good portion of his speaking fee came out of my pocket, but it was totally worth it, spending time with him and his wife before the convention.

Overall, however, things did not go exactly as planned and we took a lot of flack. We also got a lot of complaints from certain quarters that we had too much Star Wars content at the event.

What was not made clear to me at the beginning, was that the local premiere Science fiction and Fantasy convention was supposed to be geared towards authors, aspiring authors, and (space permitting) artists who might be interested in doing the cover art for said authors. A fine event, but one that is clearly not Star Wars friendly. One author made it very clear that Star Wars was crap and fans who dress up are overweight, arrested adolescents. Clearly not my crowd.

So I decided to turn my energies back to the local Star Wars fanclub that my wife and I helped start. After a year or so, I noticed an unusual trend. Core members were meeting without me and people stopped coming to lightsaber class. I was eventually informed that my cracking wise about the prequels pissed people off, and my raving about DragonCon pissed people off. My wife and I (among others) were removed from the council and Dragoncon was declared to be NOT Star Wars, and its discussion, verboten.

So in short, I pissed off the SF&F fans for liking Star Wars too much, and I pissed of the Star Wars fans for not liking Star Wars enough.

What did I do then? Watch this space.

Previously on Slashboing:

The Lost Skeleton Returns Again!

2009-10-06T14:25:00.001-06:00

I'm really looking forward to this film!

[Lost Skeleton Returns Again]

Steampunk Rap

2009-09-24T12:23:00.002-06:00

Presenting "Cup of Brown Joy" from MC Elemental. Thanks to Sepiachord for turning me on to this.

A Pirate's Life For Me

2009-09-19T19:48:00.002-06:00

A Pirate's Life For Me
Originally uploaded by Angus Blacksheep

Happy Talk like a Pirate day everyone!

Dungeons and Dragons Blog

2009-09-15T18:32:00.004-06:00

As some readers may recall from an earlier post, I have started a first edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons game for my friends who have never played before.

To document the game development and my investigation in Dungeons and Dragons culture I have started a secondary blog: "Noob in the Dungeon". If any of my fellow dungeoneers want editing permission to contribute too, let me know.

Also, I will be using the twitter tag #noobDnD to flag related posts on my twitter feed.

See you in the dungeon.

Dragoncon steampunk meet up

2009-08-30T19:39:00.001-06:00

Dragon con steampunk meet up
Originally uploaded by jaborwhalky.

The Alternate History Track at Dragoncon presents the "Official-Unofficial" Steampunk Meetup:

Hyatt Bar!
Friday the 4th, 7-9:30 PM

Songs to play at Dragoncon: Picard Song

2009-08-21T22:08:00.000-06:00

Captain Jean-Luc Picard is really quite hypnotic.

Songs to play at Dragoncon

2009-08-19T22:21:00.001-06:00

William Shatner tells us about Captain Kirk.

Ballad of G.I. Joe

2009-08-10T16:11:00.001-06:00

The Ballad of G.I. Joe from Olivia Wilde

Great song with Julianne Moore, Henry Rollins, Alan Tudyk, and more.

Open Letter to DragonCon copy writer.

2009-08-05T15:30:00.003-06:00

Dear Person responsible for writing the "New for 2009" page for DragonCon.org.

I am not one to complain about the hard work and effort people like yourself put into organizing an event as complicated and challenging as DragonCon. I know it is through your efforts that I get a fantastic party. However you should know that the "New for 2009" page, while a fantastic idea, fails in execution.

When this announcement page was first launched it was clear and informative. At a glance I knew that registration had moved to the Sheraton, and that the member badges were going to be made of a thicker material this year. But shortly thereafter, the page was re-written with all the clear facts hidden behind sloppy in-jokes, rambling stories and intentionally obstruficated 'leet' speak, all presented in Comic Sans. None of the these additions are necessary or helpful.

Which do you think is more clear and informative:

"Let’s face it; it is really a walk between the Sheraton and the Hyatt. Google Maps lists it as a hike that takes the average person 10 minutes to walk. What Google does not take into account is that the Dragon*Con fan is not the average person. Do you think it would take a wookie carrying two heavy bags of memorabilia or an orc pushing a stroller 10 minutes? No, I think not. Well, you will be happy to know that we will have one of the Dragon*Con buses operation as a “local” shuttle between just the host hotels. And if you have forgotten, those would be the Hyatt, Marriott, Hilton, and Sheraton"

A Dragon*Con Shuttle bus will be running between the Hyatt, Mariott, Hilton and Sheraton hotels.

Some details involving operational hours and frequency would be good too, but such details may not have been known at the time. Simple, to-the-point facts are always appreciated. I'm sure no one ever read an informational announcement for an event and thought "What this really needs is Star Trek reference."

Also re-think your use of the font "Comic Sans." It is not really appropriate for clear, formal communication, and is best reserved for actual comic bubbles.

The barrage of near identical questions made to the convention planners in every forum, phone call and email must be exhausting, so having clear, centralized announcements is critical. Please consider taking the time to clean this page up to the standard set by other great pages on the DragonCon.org website.

Yours in fandom
DrHaggis

Bookend Sketches: Language

2009-08-04T09:02:00.002-06:00

Some more bookend sketches I wish to share with you. Much humour comes from the absurdity and ironies of language, but these two sketches do it exceptionally well, and highlight why some comedians get into the art in the first place. The first sketch ties back to the RAF banter sketch too, for those keeping score.

Monty Python: Woody and Tinny Words

Fry and Laurie: On language

Previously on Slashboing

Bookend Sketches: Indian Food

2009-08-03T20:34:00.001-06:00

These two sketches tell a similar tale, though from different points of view. Brilliant stuff:
Rowan Atkinson: Guys after the Game

Goodness Gracious Me - Going for an English

Bookend Sketches: RAF Pilots

2009-08-02T15:15:00.000-06:00

I do enjoy finding two different comedy sketches that 'bookend' well, due to similar themes and situations. Here are two sketches, 40 years apart that work great together.

Armstrong, Miller, Mitchell and Webb WWII Pilots (no embedding, sorry): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGp4DvFEgh8

Monty Python - Banter :

Bawdy 1970's Hospital

2009-08-01T11:27:00.001-06:00

As a bit of a bookend to the sketch in the previous post here is a hospital sketch from Mitchell and Webb:

Suggestive Hardware terms

2009-07-31T00:20:00.000-06:00

It's not just me who think hardware terms sound dirty, as evidenced by this lovely little sketch from Fry and Laurie.

Vintage Dungeons and Dragons Experiment

2009-07-30T00:23:00.007-06:00

I have never played Dungeons and Dragons. That is a bit of a shameful confession in the geek community. I'm not totally unfamiliar with RPGs, as I have played some of the Palladium titles, like "Robotech" and "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles". Also, I've played enough computer RPGs based on D&D to know the basic tropes. However, I've never been on a dungeon crawl armed only with a pencil, character sheet, a bag of dice and an imagination.

This is not a completely unheard of situation among my friends. Some of us wanted to play in our youth, but had no one to play with, or our parents outright disallowed it. Realizing a group of my friends were all are missing a core geek merit badge I thought a little project is called for.

I propose to my local friends that we acquire some vintage monster manuals and player handbooks, and start up a game of novices. Let us roll up some characters using the game rules we would have been playing with, had we all met as teens. We could either play it in self-imposed isolation, to simulate the pre-internet world we would have been playing in, or we can play it with a wry 21st century, Web 2.0 mind, blogging and twittering our experience.

I think it may be 3D6 of fun to play with other n00bs, and collectively decode a known obsolete and challenging rule system. This would be a Fall/Winter thing, so we have some time to think about it, pick a common release edition and get some books & dice. Who's with me?

Fake San Diego Comic-Con

2009-07-25T15:23:00.005-06:00

If you are unable to attend an exciting convention, one can attend vicariously through the internet. Enough attendees twitter, flickr and blog and their experiences to give those at home a good feel for what they are missing. If you want to take a more active role while sitting on your couch (or behind a desk) you can attend the fake version of the convention.

After seeing fakesxsw posts from people who couldn't be at SXSW, I started up fakeSDCC, a stay-at-home shadow-con for San Diego Comic-con. Part convention satire, part larp, people are playing along, pretending their work desk is a guest signing table or posting about their clever memorabilia finds.

Play along on your blog or twitter, if you want, and I'll save you a seat in the Thundercats/Voltron crossover movie panel.

Twitter posts for FakeSDCC

You're doing it wrong, by popular demand

2009-07-12T18:02:00.003-06:00

I have a new shirt available, emblazoned with the phrase "I don't know what you are doing, but you're doing it wrong". This is a common response from common critics, who don't even have to know what you are trying to accomplish before they declare your failure at it.