This is a Static Age

Arkham Knights S1E9 - And So It Begins write up

2012-02-13T15:09:00.000-06:00

Here is the episode write up for the mid-season break episode of Arkham Knights. . .
Season 1 Episode 9 (mid-season break) And So It Begins

Chuck versus the Goodbye (Series Finale)

2012-02-02T00:29:00.000-06:00

So tonight, the SO and I finished Chuck, with the viewing of Chuck versus The Goodbye. The last episode of what was a pretty fun show to watch. Goofy at times, sweet at others, but pretty much always fun to watch.

A little disclosure. My favorite series finale, bar none, is the last aired episode of Babylon 5, Sleeping in Light. I seriously doubt anything will ever top that for me. Luckily, I don’t expect SiL from any other show, and I didn't expect it form Chuck. This is a good thing, because every other show would then disappoint me.

This wasn't the best episode of Chuck ever. Wasn't the most action-packed, or funniest. That's okay. It was heartfelt, and hit the emotional strings nicely. It seemed a bit meandering – I think the pacing could have used some work. But I think they blew their entire pacing wad in Chuck vs. Sarah, the previous episode. This was clearly a wrap-up episode, especially with the way they crammed in a bunch right in the last few minutes.

And that's about the only negative thing I have to say about the episode.

Now on to what I liked about it:

Jeffster saved the day! I was surprisingly worried that Jeffster wouldn't get another appearance before the show ended, and was quite pleased when they showed up. Especially since I really didn't see it coming. I enjoyed the fact that even though Jeff's mind cleared up, he and Lester were able to remain the best of friends (after a bump or two). I think it's clear that they are more dangerous now than ever before though. Luckily, all that danger is going to be in Germany where women and men will love them! For a moment, I thought Lester was going to decide to stay in the Buy More.

The Subway plug. . . New owners indeed. I hope Subway score a lot of extra business from Chuck, because they plugged the holy hell out of that franchise. Bravo on the final plug.

Casey's hugging of Chuck was terribly sweet. It felt like a genuine hug of affection between the actors, and I found it really touching. I also liked that they worked in Casey's dislike of the Russians into it. On the Right all the way to the end. Casey leaving, even though I understand why, made me sad. As did knowing that Ellie and Awesome were leaving (understandably). But that kind of thing always makes me sad.

Morgan's speech to break through to Casey was one of the character's shining moments I think (after banging Bo Derek of course). I love the development of that relationship in the show. I think it was very nicely done. I liked Casey's non-expressive expressions of emotion towards Morgan.

I was incredibly pleased that, at the end of the day, Chuck got the Intersect back. It belongs in him. Will he keep it? Who knows? Taking on the Intersect again, in the face of forever losing the love of his life, in order to save others epitomized the character of Chuck. He was a hero. I think, even if the Intersect had never initially made its way to him, even King of the Nerd Herd Chuck would have found ways to be the hero that he was. I will say that I really liked Chuck's non-Intersect fight choreography.

I really did expect that a single magical kiss would somehow restore Sarah's memories, in a "Flash"-like flashback segment. I'm pleased they didn't go that route though. It was clear when she and Chuck were on the beach that while she might not remember the details, she still loved him (she just needed a push to access that feeling again). I had a short fear that they would pull a tonal shift on us, and Chuck and Sarah weren't going to work out. But I think it's safe to day that they will.

I've seen quite a few people who didn't like the finale because of something like the Sarah we've come to know and love being gone, or, more common, that it just didn't have the happy ending it should have had.

It ended with Chuck and Sarah, together on a beach, reconnecting, still clearly in love, even if her memories were gone. There was no threat to the world or to their safety. There were no villains lurking in the shadows. No "last mission" to go on. Just them finally being together without the weight of the world on their shoulders. The only obstacle in their path was a bright and shining future full of joy and love.

It was what they dreamed of happening. Maybe not the way they imagined, but it was what they wanted.

It was absolutely a happy ending, and one very appropriate to the show.

So endeth Chuck. . .

I’m going to miss this show. I offer thanks to everyone involved in bringing us five years of the lives and adventures of Chuck Bartowski, Morgan Grimes, Sarah Walker, John Casey, Ellie Bartowski, Captain Awesome, Big Mike, and Jeffster.

General Life Update (Feb 1, 2012)

2012-02-01T10:47:00.000-06:00

Okay. I know most of you won't care, but it's my blog, so bugger off.

Computers

For quite a while now, my computer performance has been slowly degrading (yes, I keep it updated, regularly scan for viruses/malware, clean registry, etc). But more and more, programs that use to operate easily take more CPU power to function, interfering with other programs (used to, I could listen to music while doing things like using the internet – not, when I change pages, it interferes with the CPU going to my media player and audio). So it's been slowly going downhill. I have frequent, but brief "Not Responding" messages on all kinds of programs (from Firefox to Acrobat to WMP). If I have multiple applications open, I get a graphics bleed through (i.e., I’m checking out Facebook, and all of a sudden, part of Windows Explorer or Media Player is suddenly visible and in the way). I can't play any good video games because my onboard graphics won't handle them, and my PSU isn't powerful enough to push even a mid-level graphics card.

Recently, somehow, my printer cable, plugged into a front USB port (as part of a card reader bank) was snapped out, which physically broke the USB port. That seems to have taken the entire card reader bank with it (which sucks, since I like to take a lot of pictures, and now have to try and make my network copy them to my computer, and my home network is very slow sometimes).

On the upside, someone gave me a slightly more powerful PSU, so I installed that. Not a big deal, but it opens the door to being able to put in a semi-decent card so maybe I can play some games. Woot!

I have two other front USB ports right next to the audio ports. So it's annoying, but at least I can still do USB stuff. So I go put in a flash drive to copy some files. Takes about 3 tries before the drive registers in My Computer. Well, shit, that isn't a good sign. A couple days later, I put the flash drive in, and I just cannot make it register. And my wireless USB mouse stopped working also. Hiho internet! Away to troubleshoot! Has to be a hardware failure, because as far as things like Device Manager is concerned, the USB drives are there and functioning normally. The audio ports, at least the headphone jack still works though.

So now, all of my front USB ports are dead, as well as flash card readers. Sure, I could try and use my rear USB ports, but those are currently occupied by external hard drives. Well, this sucks mightily.

Yesterday, as I was looking over a fascinating thread on RPG.net, I was scared nearly to death. Why? Because out of nowhere, there was a loud "POP" from inside my computer, and then I was left with a No Signal message on my monitor. The computer power light was still lit however. So I jump up to look inside the case. I don't see any sparks, melting, or smoke, but it smells like a firecracker inside. So I hit the power button, and just to be safe, flick the rear switch to the Off position as well. After giving it a few minutes, I flip the switch back to On, and hit the Power Button. The computer powers up, and boots normally (which is pretty odd in itself, since I usually have to toggle the rear switch and hit the Power button a few times to get it to boot up – normally, the fans come on but the system does NOT boot up; note it has done this over two different Power Supply Units). Well, that's a good thing, because I like having access to my computer. I get everything going again, try to troubleshoot what might have happened (no luck), and carry on as normal. For some reason, though, the heat sink and rear fan are going full tilt, without slowing down once.

I notice several hours later, after everyone has gone to bed, so there is less ambient noise, that I can still hear the fans going full bore. So for whatever reason, the fans are going full speed all the time, working way harder than normal. I cannot find any additional or excess heat being generated by the system though. What I also notice in the quieted house is the sound of my hard drive. It's accessing frequently, with a low growly, grindy sound. That can't be good. I say that because before the POP event, the hard drive did not access that frequently, and it sure didn't make that sound.

Fuck.

Meh. And I'm in no position to replace this computer anytime soon. So, if you ever check them out, both my Facebook and my web page have links where you can donate money to my computer fund via PayPal. Thanks in advance!

Finances

As I noted, I cannot afford to replace my computer. Because we're typically pretty broke. I didn't realize how broke until the last couple of weeks. Growing up, no one ever taught me much about finances, other than how to write a check in Jr. High Home Economics class. So a piece of advice I could have used would have been something like "Keep every god damned receipt you get for everything for like a year at least!"

Why?

Because I've spent the last week and a half trying to round up documentation to present in a record review hearing in order to get a possible wage garnishment reduced from the 15% they want to take (the most they can take) under the reasoning that it would be an extreme financial hardship.

Great Caesar's Ghost, that requires a lot of documentation that it never occurred to me to keep. Grocery receipts? Gas receipts? Hell no. So I've been scrambling to gather all of that so that when I finish filling out the form, when I get to the part that says

"Based on the above, I feel I can afford to pay $_____ per month"

I can respond with "$50. If you send me $300 per month, then I might be able to afford to send $50 of that back to you"

I've always known we were real tight on the cash by the end of the month. I didn't realize that we're actually in the negatives by the end of the month. Every month. Explains a lot though.

And as it stands, we might miss the deadline for submitting the forms (is that 15 days from the date on the letter, or 15 days from the date I received the forms? I guess it's a mystery for the ages).

Fuck.

Suffice it to say, trying to get this done while generally managing our finances has upped my stress level quite a bit. Luckily, I have some stress relief outlets. Like playing guitar. I have a spiffy Tone Port that plugs into my computer and allows me to change amp sounds, record, etc. It's really cool. Oh. That's right. It's a USB device. I can't use it right now. Well, I still have my weekly role playing game that I run.

Gaming

So for the last 3 weeks (or is it 4?), gaming hasn't worked out. On at least 2 of the game days, things at the house combined with some issues I've been having with the game triggered my depression, which left me in no position to run a game. The most recent session, we got started (after I got news about gaming that left me less interested in running anyway), but nothing actually got done. One player was unavailable, and I’m pretty sure most of the other players were actually doing other things at the same time (we play mostly on line because these days, I can't seem to get anyone to actually come over to play), so no one (except one person) really seemed to be paying attention. And if they aren't paying attention, why the fuck should I bother to try and make the game fun? So I ended the session early, angry and depressed about it. Because it really is my main stress relief and it's failing me miserably right now.

Back in the day, we played like everyone else. Everyone came to the house and we got it on baybee! One player and good friend moved across the country, and so I didn't get to play with him for years. Then another player (and good friend also) moved across the state. So we were down him as well. Well, we kept on chugging on, still having fun for the most part.

Then I discovered Maptool. A spiffy, very customizable virtual tabletop program. It's free and has a damned helpful community. So after years of playing without 2 of my favorite people, I was able to get them back into the game. Sweet fucking deal IMO. So every week, the local players would come over, we'd hook up the laptops, and us, and the two far away players could create tales of dashing heroism again. It was really nice. Sure, there were some minor issues, like players doing other things on the computer if it wasn't their turn or something, but honestly, that wasn't much worse than pre-laptops, when they just had their stupid cell phones to mess with, as well as people who would text them and expect an immediate response, even if something was going on. But we were back up to a full group size, and it was basically good.

Then one player had to stop playing because of job issues and such. Then one had to stop playing because of school and relationship issues (of which problems with gaming was only a symptom, believe me). At this point, there were only 1 or 2 players actually physically coming over to the house. Then one player was reactivated so he could go to Afghanistan. I guess his tours in Iraq just weren't enough for Uncle Fucker – I mean, Uncle Sam. And then one player. . . I don't know. Lost his fucking mind or something, but he just dropped contact with everyone for a while.

Slowly, I've managed to get us back to me + 4.5 players (The .5 is the guy who dropped contact – he's still flaky about actually being available). But even though 3 of those players are local to the city, they don’t' come over here. They just want to do it on the computer. In one case, it's because the guy works all day every other game day, so he's actually playing from work. So on those days, I understand. And one player is, due to family things, I think lucky to even get to play at all, so for now, I accept that person is unavailable in person. I hope that changes in the future. The other guy? I don't know why he doesn't get his ass over here.

But I really, really don't like being the only person playing the game who is at my house. Part of why gaming is a stress reliever is because it provided face-to-face social contact, bullshitting and all of that. I can honestly say, after some thinking, that it just isn't nearly as fun for me if no one else is here to play.

To make things even worse, since my USB ports died, I can't even communicate via voice with the players. So all of my interaction is through typing. So the general socializing component seems (feels?) almost completely missing. And without that (combined with other issues in the group), it just isn't being very much fun for me right now, and in fact, every week, seems to be ADDING to my stress instead of helping to reduce it.

Fuck.

Fitness

I took last week off from weight training. I try to take a week off every couple of months for general recovery, plus I was showing symptoms of overtraining. In the middle of the week I got sick. I didn't enjoy last week at all.

Monday, I started working out again. Every time I take a week off, I revise my routine when I get started again, change things up a little bit, keep my body guessing. So this new routine is 2 days on, 1 day off, 2 days on, 2 days off. So I'm moving to lifting 4 days a week instead of 3. Okay.

Ack.

Today is the first off day. And oh my, can I feel that I worked out. Hopefully, I'll adapt pretty quickly. And with a 4^th day added, maybe get stronger and more fit even more quickly. If I can ever afford to buy a good, convenient source of protein. Because I'm sure as hell not getting enough protein right now to properly build muscle. I'm not sure I'm even getting enough calories in general.

Because I'm too poor right now to buy the food I would need.

Fuck.

Positives

The above is all pretty negative, I know. You're probably wondering why I'm trying to depress you.

Because I can.

But here's some positive stuff.

The youngest seems to be doing a bit better in school, in terms of interacting with the other children in a socially appropriate manner. That's cool.

Despite all the stresses of finances and my mental illness, I think the woman and I are doing pretty good (all things considered). I hope so at least!

We just finished watching all of The Adventures of BriscoCounty Jr. That was a really good show. It's a shame it only got the one season. I think my favorite character is still Pete Hutter. I love that guy. The actor (John Pyper Ferguson – also was in Jeremiah, one of my favorite shows; he should always be dressed as Pete, regardless of the role) is great. Seriously, Pete rocks!

We're almost done with Chuck (no spoilers). I don’t' want to see this show go away, but frankly, it's been really lucky to have lasted this long. But it's been a fun program to watch, and I am soooo curious what they're going to do with the finale.

I've been entering a lot of contests lately. It kills 20-30 minutes in the mornings before I'm actually functional. Haven't had much luck so far. The only thing I've won at this point is a bright green Robitussen stocking cap that is too small for my big old head. But I’m bound to win something cool eventually, right?

So, despite everything that is going wrong, I’m still pretty sound in mind and body I think, and I know I'm handling things so much better than I would have a year or two ago. That gives me a lot of hope for the future.

And that's pretty damn cool.

Be well.

A Vote for Obama (Or Against the GOP)

2012-01-19T23:36:00.000-06:00

I've been trying to stay informed on the GOP race for Jackass for President. It's been both terribly amusing and terribly frightening all at the same time. The candidates are fucking clowns. Period. Try and explain how Herman Cain wasn't a fucking clown. Seriously. Try. It seems like the GOP is really, really scraping the bottom of the barrel this time around. I'm not sure if that's because the bottom of the barrel is all they have left, or because they know they are likely to lose to Obama, and are holding a "good" candidate in reserve for 2016. I like to think it's the former, though, since that means the party is even closer to collapsing and reforming than I thought. And make no mistake – that is what will happen. They've been working too hard and too successfully at pushing out the moderates and ideologically impure, that what is left cannot hold the center together. It will fall in upon itself and something, hopefully saner, will rise from the corpse.

At the same time, as I said, it's been frightening. Have you been paying attention to what they've been saying? I don't mean the stupid shit like Romney classifying 90-95% of Americans as Middle Class (though that's problematic in its own way as an attempt to maintain the fiction in the minds of the populace that they aren't really poor). I mean things like Santorum's tirades against homosexuals and gay marriage. Newt talking about effectively doing away with child labor laws. Both of them not even bothering with dog whistles and just coming out and saying shit about the black communities. Romney saying that discussion about economic inequality should only be had behind closed doors (Know who gets behind those closed doors? Not the fucking people being crushed by economic inequality).

EDIT: Check what Newt has to say here -
"I will issue an instruction on the opening day, first day I'm sworn in, I will issue an executive order to the national security apparatus that it will not enforce Boumediene and it will regard it as null and void because it is an absurd extension of the supreme court in to the commander in chief's (authority)."

Seriously, fuck that guy.

I hate the feeling that there are fewer and fewer people who have a clue as to what America is supposed to be. Seems like more and more, people are trying to turn it into a state that, in another country, we'd lump up on the Axis of Evil. I tire of the narrative that it's bad when they do it to us, but perfectly fine, legal, and Gosh Darn American when we do it to them.

For years after 9/11, continuing to this day, the Right has been pushing the line that if you question them, you must hate America and Freedom. But the actual evidence tells us who really hates America, and who is really scared of a free populace. And those are the people the GOP is trying to front for Presidential Candidates.

Which brings me to the point of this whole stupid post.

Last election, I marked my vote for Obama/Biden. This coming election, I'm going to mark my vote for Obama/Biden again (not that it matters, since I live in the reddest state in the union. Really, it's so red you'd think it was the Soviet Union). Not because I figured Obama would be a great president (I did not), but because I figured the odds were really good that Obama/Biden would be a magnitude better than McCain/Palin. And I still believe that (I also think it's really cool that it was my lifetime when America was finally ready for a black president).

I didn't buy the hype that people tried to build about Obama being some kind of liberal Second Coming. I know a lot of liberals are up in arms and angry about his presidency because he didn't bring all their liberal dreams to life, but it was stupid of them to think he would. He was pretty clearly a centrist at best. As someone as noted, Obama is actually a great Conservative – if we're talking old-school conservative, before the party went insane. But he's pretty damned middle of the road and people need to accept that.

Because middle of the road is still way fucking better than veered off into a ditch with little Bobby flung out a window, which is what we'll get if a member of the current GOP gets the Oval Office.

Look at who they're fielding, and ask yourself, do you really want someone who hates America, hates Freedom, and hates your kids running this country?

I know I don't.

So once again, I'll be marking my vote for Obama/Biden, or, if you prefer, against whoever the GOP shits out on the stage.

You should do so too.

Unless you have the option of a write-in vote, in which case, Weird Al for President yo!

Arkham Knight s1e9 - End of Paradise part 1

2012-01-16T15:04:00.001-06:00

We didn't get very far between tech issues and some other factors.
s1e9 - End of Paradise
Episode Thus Far

My Exercise Playlist

2012-01-09T19:33:00.001-06:00

This is what I listen to when I'm working out (weights and elliptical), in no particular order:

Lamb of God\As The Palaces Burn - 04 - 11th Hour.mp3
Metallica\Death Magnetic - 5 - All Nightmare Long.mp3
Lamb of God\As The Palaces Burn - 02 - As The Palaces Burn.mp3
Madness\Absolutely - 01 - Baggy Trousers.mp3
Lamb of God\New American Gospel - 01 - Black Label.mp3
White Zombie\La Sexorcisto Devil Music Vol. 1 - 4 - Black Sunshine.mp3
Slayer\God Hates Us All - 09 - Bloodline.mp3
Offspring, The\Splinter - 11 - Da Hui.mp3
Mighty Mighty Bosstones\More Noise & Other Disturbances - 03 - Dr. D..mp3
Plasmatics\Beyond the Valley of 1984 - 03 - Headbanger.mp3
Dead Kennedys\Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables - 05 - Drug Me.mp3
Probot\Probot - 02 - Red War (W. Max Cavalera).mp3
Brides of Destruction\Here Come The Brides - 1 - Shut The Fuck Up.mp3
Civil Disobedience\Civil Disobedience - In a Few Hours of Madness - 02 - Faith Not Sight.mp3
Superjoint Ritual\A Lethal Dose Of American Hatred - 2 - Waiting For The Turning Point.mp3
Probot\Probot - 04 - Access Babylon (W. Mike Dean).mp3
Body Count\Body Count - 8 - KKK Bitch.mp3
Operation Ivy\15 - Operation Ivy - Freeze Up.mp3
Unearth\III In the Eyes of Fire - 2 - Giles.mp3
Anthrax\Persistence of Time - 08 - Got the Time.mp3
Mighty Mighty Bosstones\Devil's Night Out - 05 - Haji.mp3
Metallica\Garage Inc. (CD 2) - 1 - Helpless.mp3
Operation Ivy\21 - Operation Ivy - Here We Go Again.mp3
Devildriver\The Fury Of Our Maker's Hand - 4 - Hold Back The Day.mp3
amb of God\Ashes of the Wake - 02 - Hourglass.mp3
Madness\Divine Madness - 12 - House Of Fun.mp3
Minor Threat\Complete Discography - 02 - I Don't Wanna Hear It.mp3
Type o Negative\Life Is Killing Me - 2 - I Don't Wanna Be Me.mp3
Loverboy - The Kid Is Hot Tonite.mp3
Lamb of God\Ashes of the Wake - 01 - Laid to Rest.mp3
Lamb of God\Sacrament - 06 - Descending.mp3
Subhumans\The Day the Country Died - 05 - Mickey Mouse is Dead.mp3
Minor Threat\Complete Discography - 08 - Minor Threat.mp3
X\04 - Nausea.mp3
Danzig\The Lost Tracks Of Danzig - 1 - Pain Is Like An Animal.mp3
Madness\Complete Madness - 08 - Night Boat to Cairo.mp3
Lamb of God\New American Gospel - 10 - O.D.H.G.A.B.F.E..mp3
Madness\One Step Beyond... - 01 - One Step Beyond.mp3
Madness\Divine Madness - 14 - Our House.mp3
Lamb of God\Sacrament - 04 - Pathetic.mp3
Pennywise\Pennywise - 08 - Pennywise.mp3
Exploited, The\Horror Epics - 13 - Propaganda.mp3
Lamb of God\As The Palaces Burn - 01 - Ruin.mp3
Probot\Probot - 03 - Shake Your Blood (W. Lemmy).mp3
Toasters Skaboom\Skaboom!\04 - The Toasters - Shocker.mp3
Exploited, The\Troops Of Tomorrow - 09 - Sid Vicious Was Innocent.mp3
Operation Ivy\02 - Operation Ivy - Sound System.mp3
Meatmen, The\Evil In A League With Satan - 05 - Strap On.mp3
Lamb of God\New American Gospel - 07 - The Subtle Arts of Murder and.mp3
Toasters Skaboom\Skaboom!\01 - The Toasters - Talk Is Cheap.mp3
Lamb of God\New American Gospel - 06 - Terror and Hubris in the House.mp3
White Zombie\La Sexorcisto Devil Music Vol. 1 - 3 - Thunder Kiss '65.mp3
X\13 - Universal Corner.mp3
Vandals\Peace Thru Vandalism - 02 - Urban Struggle.mp3
Misfits, The\Earth A.D. - 12 - We Bite.mp3
Toasters Skaboom\Skaboom!\03 - The Toasters - Weekend In LA.mp3
Motley Crue\Girls Girls Girls - 01 - Wild Side.mp3
Sepultura\Chaos A.D. - 01 - Refuse Resist.mp3
Sepultura\Chaos A.D. - 02 - Territory.mp3

Trying to get Healthy Inside and Out

2012-01-04T09:19:00.000-06:00

So I've had to start trying to eat in a healthier manner. Seems I have high cholesterol and really high triglycerides. If you know me, you know that aside from aspirin and ibuprofen for my headaches, I'm not a fan of medications. So I've decided first to try and deal with this via nutrition management and exercise.

Now I've been weight training pretty regularly for a few months now, but I've only just recently started on my cardio work (soooooo boring), so I've got the exercise part covered. The nutrition part is a pain in the ass though.

What I'm learning nothing new to me – I know healthy eating is harder when you're poor (do I smell a conspiracy?), but it's more difficult than I realized when working on a really tight budget (that has to account for feeding another adult, two teens and a five-year old). And frankly, the menu is kind of boring, but I can learn to live with that. It does mean I get to eat more fish, which is okay. But no tartar sauce, which blows.

Where I'm running into problems is

1. Sodium content: Goodness gracious! We eat a lot of canned and packaged foods, and I've always known those had a high sodium content, but until I started tracking my actual salt intake, I didn't realize how much was involved. I seem to be averaging a bit more than twice the recommended sodium intake per day. I wonder how low my blood pressure would be if I ate the amount of salt I'm supposed to eat (note that according to the doctors, I don't have high blood pressure, even after smoking a cigarette).

2. Protein: I seem to be able to meet my caloric, fat, and carb requirements (with some effort), but I'm falling pretty short on my protein every time (remember, I'm weight training to add, so I have to get a lot of protein). To hit my protein requirement, I have to go over on everything else. I guess I'm going to have to try protein supplements, but I can't really afford that right now. I can only imagine that I'd have made even better muscular gains if I'd been consuming proper protein (and I'm pretty pleased with my gains thus far, even if my shirts are getting smaller).

Anyway, I'm looking for suggestions on anything I can eat that is inexpensive, very low in fat, and very high in protein (more so than yogurt) for the short term until I can afford to look into supplements.

So I've got exercise pretty under control, and I've started on proper nutrition. Now I need to deal with my smoking. Due to some other issues, I'm not prepared to actually quit smoking but am willing to entertain alternatives. My doctor gave me some Nicotrol Inhalers for now. Near as I can tell, those are designed to make me never want to inhale anything again via a Pavlovian coughing response. Seriously. My smoker's cough isn't as bad as what those cause with a fresh cartridge. I'm looking into vaping (e-cigs) as an alternative. I'm not terribly interested in ditching my nicotine addiction, so much as getting to where I'm not inhaling a cloud of assorted toxins every 30 minutes. Vaping seems like it might meet both of those needs.

Now, I'm not talking about the cheap little e-cigs you can pick up at the shady corner convenience store (I just can't bring myself to trust the contents of those). I'm talking about an actual vaping kit (complete with multiple flavors of nicotine!) I've talked to some folks who seem to have had good experiences with those, and theoretically, is could save me money (which could then go towards additional protein).

Even my doctor said the vaping was a great idea if it will help me stop actual cigarettes.

So I'm open to constructive input on any of these things. Suggestions, recommendations, well wishes, etc.

Be well.

P.S. If you like my blog, feel free to become a follower. I can always use the ego boost.

Arkham Knights - s01e08 "Dead of Night" Adventure Log posted

2012-01-02T01:47:00.001-06:00

Updated Adventure Log

Enjoy the ongoing adventures of Mo, Evan, Gao, Olivia, and Manasa!

Hush, Now Gimme Dat Booty Juice (New Pluto Is A Planet Damnet track)

2011-12-24T15:41:00.000-06:00

New Pluto Is A Planet, Damnet track - "Hush, Now Gimme Day Booty Juice" available at

OurStage

Enjoy and Happy/Merry (insert greeting of choice here)!

Addendum: I've moved all of my cover songs from MySpace to Reverb Nation as Fan Exclusives. MySpace will now contain only original tracks.

Doc, It Hurts When I Pee. . . (or How Do You Go to the Doctor?)

2011-12-14T08:30:00.001-06:00

I wanted to ask my faithful followers (Hi honey!) a question about going to the doctor. When you go, do you go for a one specific thing, going every time something seems to go wrong with your ever aging body, or do you wait until you have a list of things?

My preference, I've determined, is to wait until I have a list of things to address. I've got an appointment in a couple of days and so had to compile a list of what I want to address. It has like 10 or 11 entries. Now, they are not all "Oh my gosh, can we fix this please now please?" things. A couple of them are just questions it occurred to me I should ask. Like about my workout routine. I know everything says check with you doctor before starting an exercise regimen, but I've never done that because

A. lack of doctorial access

B. Duh

But since sometimes when I exercise, particularly with isometrics (which seem to cause big old blood pressure spikes), my head feels like it's going to explode, I figured I'd go ahead and ask for their advice.

But a couple of them are actual medical concerns, like the fact that I"m pretty sure I've been able to feel my blood pressure increasing over the last month and a half to the point where almost anytime I get up, I get dizzy, and if I'm already up, reaching above my head causes pressure in my skull and brief dizziness. That's probably bad. I just don't know if it's big bad or little bad. And then there's the headache (that seem to coincide with the blood pressure thing) that lasted from before November, through November, into December.

I'm trying to figure out if my preference is due to my never having easy, regular access to a doctor for most of my life. Up until a year, year and a half ago or so, if I needed a doctor, it was the E.R. for me. But man, I'm not going to the E.R. unless I feel it's an actual gods damned emergency, because I don't want to draw time and care from people who are having actual emergencies. But now, in theory, I can go to the doctor whenever I want, even if it's a little sniffle. But it still feels like I'm taking care away from people who probably need it more than me.

But it's also possible that my preference is just because I'm the way I am. Or that somewhere in my mind, I think I've only got x number of visits, and I don't want to waste them by going one time for every single thing.

Anyway. How do you approach it?

UPDATE: Doctor said it is okay for me to bring a list of things to address. As a result of that -
1. I get to stay a night at Community for a sleep study.
2. I get to go see a neurologist for the headaches I've had for pretty much as long as I can remember.
3. I get to get my chest x-rayed again. I don't think they cared for the results of my breathing tests.
4. I get to go back and get more shots in my back.
5. I'm okay to lift weights and do cardio, I just need to ease into them (little late on the weights).
6. It's entirely possible most of my problems would be solved if I quit smoking and got good sleep on a regular basis.
7. Doc says my situation all considered, looking into e-cigarettes is a good idea for me.
8. God damn, they took a lot of my blood today. I'm pretty sure I need that shit in me, not in vials in a cold box somewhere. Take all the urine you want, but leave me my damned blood!

10-22-11 Downtown OKC Photo Set

2011-11-30T23:18:00.001-06:00

10-22-11 Downtown OKC, a set on Flickr.

New set added to Flickr.

Movie Reviews - November 21, 2011

2011-11-22T00:53:00.001-06:00

Howdy. I figured I'd write something from a place in my mind different than where the last long post came from. A place less filled with anger and disappointment. So I'll talk about movies and television that I've been seen recently. While I'll try to some degree to avoid spoilers, I'll not try that hard.

First up:

Fast Five.

First, the most important thing about this movie – Jesus Holy Christ on the Cross, did you see how fucking HUGE The Rock was in this movie? Good God Almighty. I watched this with my SO and The Daughter, and when he appeared on screen, we all basically went "Did he get bigger? Jeez, he's huge". Then I think the SO went to a special place in her mind for a minute. . . Seriously. I guess he didn't want to take a chance that Vin Diesel might be close in raw size. Success. They were written to be pretty equally formidable, but I bet when Dwayne showed up on set, the director went "Wha? Who told him to eat a village? Too big now!" Luckily, The Rock didn't take his shirt off, or someone would have had to leave the room methinks.

Anyway. I'd seen a bit of the first movie in the series. Didn't like it. Don't like car movies. It was dumb. Make no mistake – Fast Five is dumb. Big, dumb, and loud. Like that guy in high school. You know the one.

But gosh darnit, it was a lot of fun too. And I attribute a lot of that to The Rock. I think the biggest flaw with the movie was that it didn't have a straight hour of The Rock v. Vin Diesel brawling. I would have watched that.

The second biggest flaw was Paul Walker. He brought absolutely NOTHING to the movie. It didn't need him at all.

Again, big, dumb, loud and a lot of mindless fun. If that's something you're interested in, this might be a good movie for you.

Killing Bono

Killing Bono was not a great film. It wasn't a bad film either. It was entertaining, but ultimately forgettable. It stars the smart ass from Misfits (Robert Sheehan I think), Jesse Pinkman's junkie girlfriend from Breaking Bad, and other people. The director did not play to Sheehan's primary strength – the ability to perfectly deliver blistering sarcasm at a moment's notice. The guy who played Bono was okay. He did a good job at duping Bono's facial expressions (at least I thought so. Someone more familiar with Bono, like the SO, might disagree).

The main character was a wanker. Needed to get punched in the face. So did Bono. Not for any particular reason, I just think Bono should get punched in the face at least once a year to make him more humble.

So if you've got some time to kill, are in a movie mood, and want to understand only half of what anyone is saying, this can fill that time.

The Prestige

This movie was made by the guy who made Batman Begins and The Dark Night. It stars Batman, Not-Wolverine, Alfred the Butler, and a couple of women I know not at all (SO told me one of them was Scarlet Johannsen. I guess that means something to someone).

Batman plays a magician. Not-Wolverine plays a magician. Alfred plays a guy who helps magicians. Batman's magician is a working/lower class schlub with a talent for the tricks. Not-Wolverine is a dandyish, upper class magician with a talent for showmanship. Things happen, a rivalry starts, and hilarity ensues.

And then. . . Tesla!!!!

The movie was a little on the long side, and you could tell it was a Nolan film (shades of Memento and the Batman flicks in there). But it was okay. Not super interesting but engaging enough. Both Batman and Not-Wolverine gave good performances. Visually, it was very good, mixing the dirty streets of Victorian London with the grandeur of the theaters to be found there. Very atmospheric, very nicely put together.

The ending might be a disappointment however, as there are a couple of plot twists that you might get a kick out of, or might make you feel cheated.

Thor

I'll tell you right up front – Thor was, for a few years, my favorite comic book, and I'm very picky about my comic book adaptations (I still maintain that the X-Men franchise is pretty crap). So let me say, I enjoyed the hell out of Thor. While I still think the guy who played Thor could have been bigger, I was pretty damned impressed with his appearance for the part. He bulked up quite a bit. This was another one I watched with the SO and the Daughter. I heard both of them gasp when he first appeared shirtless. Hell, I might have gasped a little bit too (I don't think was as big as The Rock in Fast Five though).

The story for Thor was a little on the weak side. But I wasn't looking for an involved, deep, meaningful story. I was looking for cheap, sweaty action. And I pretty much got that. Loki was okay. Thor was okay (the actor has a really charming, infectious smile, I admit). No one else really had much personality, so by that standard, they were all right also.

Earth looked like Earth.

Asgard looked beautiful. I mean, just beautiful. It was a perfect mix of mythology meets Alien Space Gods. Very comic bookish.

It was a hell of lot better than I thought it would be, for sure. Certainly worth checking out if you haven't' already.

Captain America: The First Avenger

Straight up – this movie tied with Iron Man for my favorite Marvel adaptation. I did not have high hopes for CA (I don't like Chris Evans much and was disappointed with his casting). I'll just say it – I was wrong to not have faith in this movie. CA pretty much hit every single note of what I'm looking for in a comic book movie adaptation. The action was right, the super science was right, the depiction of his abilities was right and the shield-slinging was awesome. CA made the bar for DC movies even higher than it already was (face it, other than Batman, they haven't been doing too well lately, and now, they have to try even harder).

The work they did on Steve Rogers pre-Super Soldiering was superior. I mean it. You actually have to see that shit to believe it. And serious props to Evans for bulking and sculpting so that he looked like Cap from the comics. And while I tire of Hugo Weaving being in every movie everywhere, I can't deny that he was an excellent choice for Red Skull (and props to the costume people for the Skull look – excellent). Now, my first choice for Skull would have been Jürgen Prochnow, but he was born during WWII, so is a bit old for the part. Since he couldn't do it, Weaving was a good choice.

The Howling Commandos were good. About the only character I thought didn't work terribly well was Peggy. Don't know if that was the writing, the actress, the director, or one or more of the above. But that's a small thing at most.

As with the Iron Man movies, Thor, and Incredible Hulk, there are a lot of little details that, if you keep your eyes open and know what to look for, make you go "Ahhh, okay. I saw that. Sneaky bastards."

I cannot recommend this movie enough for lovers of superhero films.

Green Lantern

I watched this, if I recall correctly, right after Captain America. That was a mistake. This movie should not have followed CA at all because doing so tarnished my ability to determine if something done poorly in GL was actually done poorly, or if it was just because it followed CA.

Ultimately, this wasn't a bad movie. But it wasn't a good movie either. It suffered from seeming like three different movies that had been jammed together. It was an origin story combined with a manipulated comic arc story (very heavily compressed and altered), and then there was some character development shit that I ignored. It was too long, and there wasn't enough Green Lanterning for my tastes. But at the same time, it had some really good parts. Ryan Reynolds was a decent enough choice for the part. Angela Bassett was a terrible choice for Amanda Waller though. They should have gone with either Smallville's Pam Grier Waller, or CCH Pounder (who has voiced the character in animation and is my primary pick for a live action version as well). Michael Clark Duncan was a terribly uninspired choice to voice Kilowog (Inferior to Henry Rollins' portrayal in Green Lantern: Emerald Knights). Sinestro was pretty good though.

Now the Green Lanterning that did occur was excellent. They did a wonderful job of bringing the emerald constructs to the screen (with a Big Old Treat Construct near the end). I thought the GL costumes worked out really nicely (I believe they were entirely CG?).

So can I recommend this? Yes, with the caveat that you keep your finger near the FF button to speed up some parts.

Camelot

A Starz television show, one season, 10 episodes, then cancelled. Which is too bad. It is the best retelling of the Arthurian myth? Is it Excalibur? Then no, it's not the best retelling. Dumb question. But it's pretty decent. It's more low magic than you might expect, but in a good way (Merlin is a manipulative, magnificent bastard in this). The biggest problem I had with this was the kid who played Arthur. For one thing, he looks like what would happen if my oldest son and the wrestler Edge somehow had a love child. Second, he just isn't kingly. He didn't have much charisma. But that's okay, because neither did the woman who played Guinevere. Together, they were a very yellow, uncharismatic blob.

But everyone else on the show was wonderfully cast. I was very pleased with Clive Standen's Gawaine. But straight up, Camelot belonged to Merlin, played by Joseph Fiennes. I imagine they actually wanted to call the show Merlin, but couldn't because of that one show. . . what's the name? Oh, right. Merlin. But they wanted to. I'd bet money. Because this was his show. He steals pretty much every scene he's in. He brought a gravitas that no one else on the screen could quite match. He manipulated things behind the scenes, lied, cheated, and was magnificent.

The show is pretty much worth watching just for him if nothing else. And while I didn't find the women involved very attractive, it wasn't shy about the bare and thinly yet wetly covered female breasts.

If you find yourself in the middle of repeat season, with nothing else to watch, check it out. It provides at the very least, a much more appealing look at Arthur than that terrible Clive Owen King Arthur film (and frankly, may be more historically accurate).

Planet Hulk

Meh. I didn't love this one. But I didn't find the storyline in the comics compelling either. I thought it was neat to see Beta Ray Thor/Bill in place of Silver Surfer. You don't see BRT much in things (as far as I know). This was, however, on par with the other Marvel animated films. Marvel might kicking DC ass in the live-action arena, but in Animationdome, DC leaves more often than Marvel does.

All-Star Superman

I didn't like the animation style of this film. Otherwise, it was a okay for an Elseworlds type of story. The voice casting was all wring however. By far, the least interesting of the DC animated films so far.

Batman: Year One

I'd heard that Batman Begins took a lot of inspiration from the Batman: Year One comic. If this adaptation is even halfway faithful, then that's a huge understatement. You can spot scene for scene things in this that are in Batman Begins. Watching it is kind of like watching an alternate take of BB, except I think Bale was a better Batman (I'm biased – Bale is my favorite Batman to date).

Oh yeah. Gordon is a BAD ASS in this.

If you're a Batman fan, this is definitely worth a viewing. If you're not, and you just like the movies, then just go watch Batman Begins again.

Green Lantern: Emerald Knights

This is a collection of short GL stories about different Lanterns, set at different times (including a tale of the First Lantern), set within a framework of an evil anti-matter Krona breaking on through to the other side. Hal Jordan, voiced by Mal Reynolds/Rick Castle/Nathan Fillion, narrates the tales. And does a really good job at it. He should absolutely do more voice work. Henry Rollins turns in a good performance as Kilowog. Hell, I think Rowdy Roddy Piper does one of the voices.

Frankly, as a Green Lantern movie, I think this is superior to Green Lantern. I will say, surprisingly, the constructs in Green Lantern were much better than in Emerald Knights.

Worth a watch.

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Well, I guess that's all for now. I swear, there's something I'm forgetting but it's late, and I'm tired, so it will have to wait (if it exists). Until next time, peace.

Arkham Knights (Season 1) RPG Campaign Site

2011-11-21T14:04:00.001-06:00

Here

This is the site where I am keeping track of my current Arkham Knights (Season 1) campaign. This is a weekly game using a modified version of the Shadowrun 4th Edition system (incorporating elements from FATE games). The game is essentially Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel set in Arkham, MA (Lovecraft Country), in 1999.

Site includes character bios, episode (adventure) synopses, special item write-ups, maps, and some rules information. Enjoy and comment.

OWS v Facebook (or "FFS People!")

2011-11-21T13:56:00.001-06:00

As I am sure you are aware, there is a movement of sorts going on across the U.S.A. Occupy Wall Street/Occupy (local area name). This movement has generated a fair amount of nationwide controversy for several reasons (that I’m not going to go over here).

I'm more interested in addressing the controversy on the personal level, in the places people like to post their opinions of things that they should shut the fuck up about (at least until they educate themselves). Places such as that hotbed of "I wish I could say shut the fuck up because no one cares, but clearly, they do", Facebook.

Anti-OWS Military Macros

One of the things I am frequently seeing on the old FB is military macros concerning OWS. One said something like "They're too busy fighting for your freedom to Occupy Wall Street".

These just make me think "Oh, for Christ's fucking sake".

Where to start with this idea?

How about, hey, if they are fighting for our freedom, then maybe you should SHUT THE FUCK UP about OWS. Why? Go visit a library. Ah, hell, never mind. Here you go.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The above text contains several items. One of which is commonly referred to as the right to assemble, freedom of assembly, or freedom of association. See, here's the thing. People who post shit like these military macros seem to think they're making some kind of point (other than "I'm a dumb shit"). What they fail to understand is that if those soldiers are fighting for our freedom, then it is the RIGHT and RESPONSIBILITY of the populace to make use of those freedoms. Otherwise, the military personnel are fighting for NOTHING.

So in this case, guess who is being more respectful of the sacrifices made by the brave men and women of our military between you macro posters and the Occupiers? That's right – the Occupiers. They're engaging the rights we have, in an attempt to bring about a change (hopefully for the better). You're sitting on your ass posting pictures you didn't even bother to create. At worst, you're trying to score poli-points in an argument or shut down a discussion. At best, you're naïve and short-sighted and you need to sit and think about things.

The military is not something I could do (I don't play well with authority and I refuse to fight someone on someone else's terms), but I've many friends in the service, one (who I guess you would call the godfather of my children – I don't know a more secular term) of whom is currently in harm's way. Whether or not you joined to fight, or you joined to escape poverty while thinking "I'll never actually have to fight", the fact that when the shit breaks, you don't run for the hills earns you mucho points in my book. Your reasons for joining don't matter; your courage in the face of danger, dismemberment, and death does.

But let's be honest. Our soldiers are not fighting for our freedoms. Period. They're fighting because they've been sent to fight (justly or unjustly is a different conversation). But fighting for our freedoms? No. Sorry. Our freedoms haven't been under external threat since World War II at most recent (and that's only if you believe the Axis was a credible threat to the American landmass). If the military was actually engaging threats to our freedoms, they'd be here, in the continental United States engaged in (bizarre) warfare with politicians, lobbyists, and corporate representatives (woo! Shadowrun!) That's due to the fact that the only genuine threats to our freedoms in at least 60 years have all been internal. And if you'll recall, a couple of times, the military was used to actively fight against those trying to use their rights.

So we can acknowledge and respect that these are brave men and women doing hard jobs. But can we please stop pretending like they're idealized Dungeons and Dragons Paladins? Because that just is not the case.

"I'm Not in the 99%"

Another thing that is popular on the net is the counter pictures – individuals (who seem to be afraid to show their faces) holding up "handwritten" notes talking about how (for whatever reasons) they aren't the 99%. This is a basic mathematics failure on their parts. Why? Because these are never written by someone who is in the top 1% of wealth holders or income earners. If you are not in that 1%, you are, by default, in the 99% (100-1=99). Basic math – learn it (that's a whole different story about education today.) In one of the more popular recent ones, the individual mentioned that most of his college was paid for via scholarships (and he included some income numbers that were. . . interesting, to say the least). I can't help but think that if you really want to take the approach that you're doing it yourself, maybe you shouldn't mention your education being 90-some-odd percent covered by scholarships. Because that's not doing it yourself. Yes, in many cases, a person has to work their ass off to get a scholarship. But that's still not your money. You didn't earn it, you don’t' have to pay it back. That's a handout. Just as much as "We'll feed you, but you have to stay and listen to the sermon" is a handout. If you were not part of the 99%, guess what? You would NOT NEED scholarships to get an education. So I can't help but wonder what these people are learning in college, since it doesn't seem to be math, or critical thinking skills.

Now, sure, maybe you don't agree with the OWS folks (though how can you say so when they don’t have a singular, coherent message or platform? That's right, you CAN'T). And whatever, you don't have to agree. What you should do is learn to articulate your reasons instead of parroting whatever stupid talking points you heard on talk radio. Actually think about why you disagree and try to explain that in a (relatively) reasonable manner. Maybe then you won't seem like a cartoon. You do yourself a disservice by not thinking through your reasons.

Some of this stems from the idea, spoken or unspoken, that so many have had drilled into their heads in this society – that you're not poor, you're just a temporarily embarrassed rich person. This basic idea – that you can have it all if you work hard enough so you're not poor, you're just not there yet – is a fiction perpetuated in order to keep the poor from going "Hey, wait just a god damned minute, I'm fucking poor! What is this bullshit? Where's my gat?

You hear all the time about how people did it themselves, pulled themselves up by the bootstraps (BOOTSTRAPS!!!!!!), and worked hard to get where they are. What those narratives forget to mention is one simple thing – you CANNOT do it yourself. Period. It is literally impossible to do it yourself. Get a small business tax break? Not by yourself. Tax incentives? Not by yourself. Inheritance? Definitely not by yourself. Use roads to transport your goods or deliver your service? Not by yourself. Use electricity in the course of conducting business? Not by yourself.

There's this thing called infrastructure (go ahead, look it up; I'll wait. . .) Without infrastructure, you earn SHIT. Guess who pays for infrastructure? EVERYONE. Yes, you 53%'s, everyone (personal income tax is NOT the end all, be all of taxes you intellectually bankrupt jackasses). Without the infrastructure that we ALL pay to maintain, you have no home business, no corporate business, nothing. So stop acting like you've done it yourself. You damned well have NOT.

Something else these narratives neglect to mention – luck and connections. It is well known, and well accepted that as much as hard work plays a part in getting a head, so does luck. Joe and Bob can have the same idea for a business, both can bust their asses trying to make it come through, but if one is luckier than the other, bam, he succeeds.

But the basic idea is you are most likely not going to be rich someday. And you really not to stop pretending like you are. This is why so many people support tax breaks and cuts for the rich. They shouldn't support them, but they do. Because they’ve convinced themselves that someday, they'll be the ones getting those breaks and cuts.

Well, for 99% (hey, there's that number again!), it's not going to happen. So stop fighting against your own best interests, because you're screwing all of us.

"Why Don't You Do Something That's Actually Helpful?"

This one is not anti-OWS specific – you see this one all the time in arguments. "If they really want to help others, they should go work in a soup kitchen/homeless shelter/whatever" or some other false equivalency bullshit. This one bugs me for a couple of reasons.

In my experience, the people who say these things do not themselves go volunteer in soup kitchens (or anything else), and of the very few who do, they do it on special days (like Christmas or Thanksgiving – guess what, they need volunteers all the time). There's a good chance you'll get a response like "uhhh, I give to charity every year!" It's not the same. Quit trying to convince yourself that writing a check is the same as donating your time and presence. IT IS NOT.

But most often, they simply don't do anything. They just think those OTHER GUYS should do something instead of engaging in (insert hated cause here). To them, I can only say, fuck you very much. You're part of what's wrong with America.

More importantly, these things (Occupying Wall Street and volunteering in a shelter or kitchen) are NOT EQUAL. They do not aim at the same goals. Volunteering in a soup kitchen, while a good thing, isn't going to help change the national dialogue concerning wealth disparity in America. However, changing that dialogue can contribute ultimately to feeding more homeless. So changing that dialogue is a damned important thing. And you know it. Stop trying to score points. No one is keeping count.

Sometimes, depending on which side of the aisle the complainer is on, they'll say things like "These are just people bitching about First World problems". Like Patriarchy, First World Problems has a place in some conversations. Unfortunately, its use mostly just makes you seem like a pretentious cock drizzle. You might as well say "If you're not curing AIDS in Africa, you shouldn't bother at all". The people participating in these occupations are only just beginning to shows signs of being able to initiate a change in their own yards. What do you actually expect them to do about Third World problems? Oh, you don't have a solution? You just want to bitch and sound progedgy? Well, okay. Fuck you too then.

Yes, some of the Occupiers are asshats who are there for stupid God damned reasons. That happens with every movement. Stop trying to pretend like they are representative. And for the love of Elvis, stop trying to score internet argument points. You don't unlock an achievement. Fuck.

For that matter, you don't know that some of them don't go help by donating time and labor. I'm willing to bet that statistically, many of them do. Because they've already demonstrated something you haven't – they are willing to get out and try to make a change. But it's just so much easier being a computer chair revolutionary, isn't it? (See, I'm doing it right now and barely expending any calories while I do so).

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In case you're planning on arguing, I feel it only right to tell you up front – shut the fuck up now. This isn't a discussion. I'm not interesting in arguing with you because you're wrong. There, argument settled. I'm not even going to read what you have to say because I've already heard it.

Please, just examine your thought processes sometimes. Try to figure out if you reasoned yourself into your belief, or if you rationalized yourself into it. You might be surprised at what you find out.

Rolling Stone: The GOP War on Voting

2011-09-01T22:41:00.000-05:00

The GOP War on Voting

I wish I could say I was in any way surprised, but frankly, I'd be much more surprised if this wasn't going on. The Republicans are right, we DO have a problem with voter fraud in this country. They've just misidentified who the perpetrators are. Somehow, though, I don't think we'll be seeing the culprits face justice any time soon.

I didn't used to pay much attention to politics when I was young, but I do remember that while still not typically supporting a platform I agreed with, the GOP was semi-sane and at least made attempts to cover their tracks, and mask their villainy (even if they weren't good at it sometimes). These days, I just know I'm going to hear about the press conference where John Boehner dons a Cobra Commander mask and announces the takeover of America (hisssssss). And he's not going to be coll comic book Cobra Commander. No, he's going to be the cheeseball cartoon Cobra Commander, because that's what seems appropriate to these times.

I just don't think the real world is ready for the GOP's newfound love of over-the-top cartoon villainy.

Not that any of this matters in this Oh So Red State. It's so red here, you'd think they would hate being called "Red" because Communism Soviet Union Russia Stalin!!!!!!!

The only bright side I can think of is that at this rate, they are concentrating the purity of the party so much, squeezing out moderation so hard, that before long, they'll find themselves with only a handful of members who meet the ideological purity tests, and will have stripped themselves of power and relevance in the process.I look forward to that day, the day when they decide Rush is too much of a liberal pussy for their tastes.

Can't happen soon enough though.

New Pluto Is A Planet Damnet track "Revelation Six (66)"

2011-08-23T17:28:00.000-05:00

Posted a new song: "Revelation Six (66)" http://www.reverbnation.com/c./poni/52796888

Like to give some thanks and props to http://librivox.org/
for the audio recording. Excellent site with an excellent goal.

A General Life Update

2011-08-22T19:17:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm doing okay for the most part. I can feel the evil, self-destructive part of my mind jumping at any little thing (the details of which aren't for you, sorry) to try and get a solid hold, but so far I've been able to deflect it. Still, having to fight it off takes its own toll on the old noodle noggin' (an aside – I wish companies that have turned me down for credit cards in the last 6 months would STOP sending me credit card applications!!!) I still haven't adjusted to being by myself during the days. I'm having a hard time motivating myself to get anything accomplished (like my house work, writing, music composition, photo manipulation and cataloging, etc). I'm working on the (possibly self-delusional) assumption that this is just a transitory phase that will pass soon enough. Tomorrow, I'm going to work on putting up little motivational posters for myself (assuming I can motivate myself to do so!) What I've been thinking is that I need to come up with a structure for each day. A firm (not necessarily fixed) schedule for each day. I think if I give myself a framework, maybe I'll feel less aimless.

On the definite plus side of things, I've been sticking to my thrice-weekly workout routine, and starting last week, escalated to a more developed, intense routine. And while it is hell on my arthritic back, I can see definite gains. I'm on the way to recovering some of the muscle mass I lost over the last year and a half to my depression-based self-neglect. I already feel stronger and in better condition than I did the last time I was working out on a regular basis. And it's helping me to feel better about myself in general. I think I look better and healthier, so I feel better and healthier. Apparently, where goes my body, so goes my mind.

I am frustrated at the fact that I still can't seem to get my weekly game going again, and that's bad for my mind. Sundays (game day) are very frustrating for me right now. But I'm almost at the point of just saying "Fuck those guys then". And while I don't feel like trying to recruit new in-the-flesh players, I admit I'm pondering getting a completely online game with strangers going. It sucks though, because I was really enjoying the game I was running. More so than any game I've run in a while.

I'm concerned for my woman. She's just started back to work, and as usual, they don't have their shit together at all. Seriously. The people in charge at her workplace shouldn't be in charge of a soda machine in a McDonald's, let alone that place. So I know that's frustrating her, and I think she's got some other things on her mind (that she may not even realize). Added onto that is the stress from our youngest having a less-than-easy time in his first year of school (see below).

Financially (which you may recall, I'm in charge of the finances and such matters), we're getting HAMMERED. The godsdamned electric bills are whipping us like red-headed step-children (what is the origin of that statement anyway?) Our electric bill should not be in the area of $400 a month for summer, but it is. Fucking heat wave bullshit. Anyway, that just adds to my stress, her stress, and then the overall household stress level.

We've got new neighbors now. The old neighbor passed away a while back (a shame, she was a nice older woman. The only neighbor I've conversed with since we’ve moved here). They have a dog that is the size of a Great Dane, the color and pattern of a Dalmatian, and has a Barry White bark. I don't think Marsupial (my dog) has gotten a visual, but I think he's intimidated already. As fierce as he likes to think he is, he has a poor record with establishing dominance over other dogs. Over our kids, he's more than established dominance. Other dogs? Not so much.

As I mentioned, my youngest started kindergarten this year. Full-day kindergarten. It could be going better. Apparently, he's spending a lot of time pitching balls-to-the-wall fits. We've had some reports of good mornings, and fit-filled afternoons. He's going to start working a couple times per week with their on-site child specialist person. Last week, about an hour after I dropped him off (following a lovely walk to school), the school called me with a request to come pick him up. He threw a chair at a kid (and scored a hit). Frankly, I hope working with their child person helps, because we don't know what else to do right now. According to his teacher, some of it seems to be him simply getting overwhelmed with things. And he seems to have a real hate-on for writing. That might be due to his having learned to type long before he tried to write, but I don't know.

The woman and I are caught up on Breaking Bad finally. Man, I really don't like most of the characters on that show. I like Hank and their kid but the rest of them are kinda shitty people. I especially dislike Skylar. Nowhere near as much as I hate Kai Wynn on DS9, but it's a pretty strong dislike. We've got only two episodes left of season 2 of Hercules. I'm still enjoying the hell out of that, and the woman has grown to appreciate it for what it is. And that's pretty damn cool. Still wish my kids would watch it with us though. Oh well, screw those guys.

I'm pretty sure I have more to say, but I think I forgot it. So for now, I'll leave you with this question:

Which is better, Minor Threat's Minor Threat album, or their Out of Step album?

New Photo Set from Lake Overholser

2011-08-22T18:09:00.000-05:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fwuffy/sets/72157627371404135/

No real pictures of the lake. Mostly an area right by it.

Catching Up on Things

2011-07-27T02:13:00.000-05:00

Gaming-----

Hrmmmm. . . . what have I been up to? Not gaming. I've been trying to start a game with my family to help feed my need (which is starved these days), but it seems like there's no time when I try. We almost made it tonight but my kids didn't seem interested and my youngest decided he was going to use that time to be obnoxious and unpleasant. 10 years ago, I could have bulldozed through all that and ran the damned game anyway. These days however, when something like that happens, my mind and body almost shut down and I can feel the depression scrambling to take hold at the opening it senses. I mean it. My mind starts going over how nothing ever works out (regardless of the truth of things) and my body goes into sleep mode. I find myself literally falling asleep as a drowsy haze takes over. So tonight, I let it. I fell asleep on the couch, woke up a couple hours later and felt better. Not great – something is still of but I'm pretty damned sure that's depression fighting to retain a hold.

I recently asked my regular group if they were interested in trying to pick back up. Two said (paraphrasing) "yeah, sure", one hasn't responded, and one complained about being left behind by the others. So I don't have a lot of faith in that getting started. I wish I knew someone who ran games. It's been so long since I've played as a player and not GM I can't swear I remember how it works from that side.

Dreams-----

The other night (morning really), I had a dream where we had purchased a new house – a renovated and oddly furnished school. It had all kinds of stuff in the various rooms that I was checking out, when I realized it had an infestation of scorpions. Palm-sized red scorpions that were so tough even the ones I stomped with my boots survived. So most of my dreams was me hunting these damn scorpions and trying to get people to help, but no one would engage in the hunt with me. Unfortunately, I was woken before I was able to see the end of the dream. I went back to sleep to finish it, but I didn't not. So I guess those damned arachnids are still roaming somewhere in my mind, unsquished.

Exercise-----

I've started exercising again pretty regularly. In my depressed state, I lost about 20 pounds over the last year, year and a half, and near as I can tell, most of that was muscle. So I've been trying to rebuild that. Weight three times per week, cardio on the other days. I've been doing good on the weight training (getting it done – my endurance is shot for performance though. It's very sad). I haven't been doing as well on keeping up the cardio, but I have been pretty active in the pool so that counts. It's all making me extra aware of my COPD though. I really need to quit smoking. I'm trying to gear myself up to try that again, but the way it ended last time was real bad (day 3 of quitting and a major flare-up of depression complete with ugly fight is a real bad combination), and I'm very scared of trying again because of that. But at the same time, I'm pretty sure I can hear my lungs dying on me.

Trips-----

Went to the zoo with the woman, my daughter, and the 5 year old. It was a pretty cool trip. The gorillas were way cool and we enjoyed the sea lion show. The heat exhaustion wasn't cool (in the heat we've been having, I seem to be completely dehydrated about 10 minutes after exiting the house). I even got some really good photos (with Carrie's camera) of the gorillas and some other stuff. Unfortunately, I took a nap as soon as we got home, and in that time, Abaddon managed to format the SD card, deleting the photos. That made me angry. We're going to go again tomorrow, with my camera (he's pretty good about not touching mine, less so Carrie's). Hopefully, I'll get some good pics.

I didn't realize how much taking pictures factored into my desire to go places. I had to send my camera in to get the flash replaced, and while it was gone, I just wasn't motivated to go anywhere. I think that's a result of my depression and its belief that things never work out so when things don't, even if it doesn't get a good hold on me, it is still able to exert an influence I may not recognize at the time (I'm trying to learn to though).

Entertainment-----

We (Carrie, me) recently watched all of Misfits. It's a very good show. I recommend it strongly. We watched the first season of Breaking Bad (also pretty good), but can't get the 2^nd season right now. So mainly we have been watching Hercules the Legendary Journeys. When it first ran, I watched it, but didn't care much for it. I watched it a second time a couple years ago and enjoyed it more. Now, watching it with her (but not the kids – I wish they would watch it with us), I'm enjoying the hell out of it. Just accepting it for what it is. It is stupid, and cheesy, and at times is like a live-action cartoon, but I really enjoy it. And I'm not afraid to admit that I have a little crush on Michael Hurst. I also purchased Renegade the Complete Series. I always enjoyed that show. Homoeroticism, martial arts, and fabulous hair! What's not to love?

I finally finished Death Note. I was less than pleased with the ending of that one. We just finished watching Gurren Lagann as a family (the only thing my daughter has ever asked us to watch). It was okay. It had its good moments and its bad moments. I thought the mechs were ugly and the wrong people died. Much like with Death Note, I really didn't care for the ending.

I've been keeping up on my regular shows: True Blood – not loving this season so far, Leverage – ditto (I miss first season Eliot who was far more badass than he is now), Eureka – pleased so far, Burn Notice – waiting for Hulu to get more eps up but enjoying it much, Torchwood – not as gripping as Children of Earth was but I think that's because of the spread out of the eps this time 'round, and Falling Skies – it's okay. Not great but okay.

I recently watched Abelar: Tales of an Ancient Empire (a pseudo-sequel to The Sword and the Sorcerer). It is. . . not good. And it's a two-parter. I mean it. Story just stops and is supposed to be continued in part 2. That's just god damned annoying.

I also watched The Crazies. Didn't love it, didn't hate it. If I didn't like Timothy Olyphant, I probably would have liked it less though.

Family and Life-----

We're doing okay. Much better than we were this time last year. Carrie and I just celebrated our 19^th anniversary. 19 years with me. That's some love right there. I'm thankful beyond words for her. The family overall? Ups and downs. The older kids and I went to therapy today and had a really good session I thought. Gained some insights about how we communicate with each other. Very productive and no hurt feelings afterwards. Abaddon is a handful most of the time. We're slowly teaching him to swim. He loves that. He is starting all day KG this year which is a major life change for him and for me. I'll admit it – I'm afraid of being by myself all day. It's going to be a brand new experience for me, and I'm a bit scared. But school will be good for him I think. He needs to interact with other kids his age. Who knows, maybe I'll be able to turn that time into something creatively productive, right? I'm pretty sure I'll be listening to a whole lot of very loud punk and metal.

Well, I guess that's all for now. I could go on to talk about politics but I don't want to give the depression a strong foothold and that'll do it.

Getting Old Sucks

2011-06-21T22:12:00.002-05:00

Today, myself, my SO and my two older kids went to therapy. Due to circumstances beyond our control, we were late. I was the only one in a good mood going in, and I think I was still the only one in a good mood coming out. After we got home, the SO decided that for today's exercise (I'm using her for motivation), we would go play soccer at her sister's house. So she, myself and my daughter trekked forth to engage in recreational sporting (something I haven't really done in years and with my back I don't even know if I should do).

After kicking the ball around a bit we finally got started. It was me and my daughter against the SO and her sister. Now if you know the So you know she's pretty athletic, loves sports, and thrives on competition. So long story short – we STOMPED THEIR ASSES! The SO played well, the sister gave a good effort, but they could not stand against my daughter's ball handling skill and my player handling skill (soccer is a full contact sport, right?) We stopped when it looked like my daughter twisted her ankle a bit. It was a lot of fun but it was only an few minutes before I was feeling the effects on my back, and the result of my seriously deteriorated stamina (I didn't throw up – but it was close. My endurance apparently extends to getting coffee and that's about it anymore).

Then we headed to the convenience store for treats and smokes. I got a lemon-lime slushi and pork rinds (that I later noticed were a year out of date). From there, we had to make a quick stop at the grocery store. As we pulled up, I took a drink of slushi. I got out of the car, cracked wise about something, and as I was walking around the car, had a brain freeze. Not a funny ha-ha mildly annoying brain freeze. No, I had a nearly-collapsed-burry-vision-demons-are-stabbing-my-brain kind of freeze. The kind that left me leaning on the back of the car for a couple ofg minutes waiting to be able to walk. My heart rate accelerated, I started sweating more profusely. To be honest, I was afraid I was having some kind of stroke. It left me shaky going into the store.

Once in the store, I noticed the vegetables were really shiny so I went to touch one to see if it was over-watered or ice crystals. And the gods damned vegetable shocked me. Now, I hate static electricity and the feeling of being shocked. It takes quite a while for the feeling in my arms and torso to go away. Three minutes later, something else shocked me. TL;DR – I got shocked 6 or 7 times. Pretty much anything I touched that was conductive conducted. I still feel the after effects an hour later. By the time we left the store I was walking like Frankenstien's monster between the effects of the shocks and my lower back being on the verge of deciding it was done. And I got a blister on my foot.

So, the lesson of this story is ultimately

WE KICKED ASS AT SOCCER!!!!!!!! WOO HOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh yeah, it was a lot of fun also :D

Edit: And about 20 minutes after posting this, I broke a fucking tooth.

FwuffyDaDestwoyah's photostream

2011-06-17T16:49:00.001-05:00

FwuffyDaDestwoyah's photostream on Flickr.

Some new photos

"You'll believe a man can fly!" - The End of Smallville (some spoilers)

2011-05-16T14:48:00.000-05:00

"You'll believe a man can fly!"

That was a tagline for Superman: The Movie back in '78. When I went and watched that movie, I was 5. At that age, due to the reading and story selection my mother provided, I was already well on my way to believing a few important things, including the idea that one man can make a difference, and that America was worth a life (if you follow The Destroyer, you see where that one might have come from). Did Superman make me believe a man could fly? Well duh! I was 5. Of course it did!

Superman wasn't a perfect movie, and I know that now (when I'm 38) it is not as magical as it was then. But Christopher Reeve was Superman as far as I was concerned. He set the bar for the performance of both Superman and Clark Kent. This has been a truth for as long as I can remember.

Until now.

Now, Tom Welling is Superman in my mind. Partially because it was 2 movies (there were only 2 Superman movies. Shut up! I'm not to listening to you! Next you'll try and tell me there was a Highlander 2!) compared to 10 years or Smallville (10 years! Can you believe that?) Partially it's because at times, Welling has done a masterful job of channeling Reeve in his performance (It's a truth that without the Superman movies, Smallville would be a very different show). Watch the recent episodes of Smallville. At one point, Clark pushes his glasses up, and you'll think he was possessed by the spirit of Christopher Reeve. But mainly, it's because after years of dicking around with it, touching on it peripherally (I squealed when the see-the-future-kid had a vision of the cape going on forever), the makers of Smallville spent the last couple of seasons thinking "This show is about the birth of Superman. It needs more Superman, less Dawson's Creek". I'm not slamming on Dawson's Creek btw. I caught an ep of that by accident one day and I was hooked all the way to the finale. And it’s not like the Dawson's Creek aspect of Smallville was a surprise that we didn't know was coming. They never hid the fact that it was teen drama with super powers.

But Smallville changed showrunners a couple of years ago, and the new guys got it. The story lines changed a bit, the characterization became stronger, the comic book aspects were made much more prominent, and the photography (which has always been pretty good) became wonderful. They realized they could experiment a bit with the filming, resulting in some of the coolest shots ever in television (and movies and comics). Did they make the show perfect? Obviously not. They still had dictates from on high, a core mission statement, and 8 years of baggage to deal with. But I didn't expect perfect. Even B5 wasn't perfect (B5 is my benchmark for TV shows for the most part).

But they got it.

They realized they were dealing with an American mythology. Our Hercules, our Jesus, our iconic immigrant. And they worked hard to bring that myth to life every week on our little screens. And they failed sometimes. Hard. At other times, they succeeded, wonderfully.

The series finale of Smallville aired recently (probably spoilers ahead). And it was a Smallville episode to the very end. It had all those Smallville elements. Relationship drama that makes you want to smack people and say "Quit being idjits!" Moments of character interaction that could make you roll your eyes, but instead you go Hell yeah! (Clark purged Oliver with his words! Cheesy? Oh yeah. Awesome because Clark just rocks that much? Oh yeah). A supers fight that just didn't deliver? Yep. Some absolutely beautiful visuals? Oh my yes. Tear-jerking interaction with characters that probably shouldn't have even been there? Yep (you know you shed a tear or two up when the ghost of Pa Kent handed Clark the costume and said "Always hold onto Smallville" even if you were also wondering WTF the ghost of Pa Kent was doing there in the first place). A sense of almost-but-not-quite grandeur? In spades.

But for whatever flaws it had, none were so big or so glaring as to make it less fun for me. I know some people were expecting some kind of knock-down drag-out fight with Superman and Darkseid as the climax. I know some folks think Superman throwing the planet was a letdown. "WTF is this shit?" some wonder. And while I accept that some people just wanted a big ol' fight (in any other episode I would have wanted the same), I honestly believe some viewers simply didn't get it and haven't been paying attention.

The point they've been hammering in isn't that Superman is more powerful than a locomotive or faster than a speeding bullet. There have been other characters as powerful if not more so than him on the program. The point they hammered in is that this was a world in need of hope. A world that needed someone they could look up to as a guiding light. The climax was never meant to be a tremendous fight between Superman and some evil bent on world conquest/destruction/control of water rights (That was a classic old school villain plan BTW. Brilliant I thought!) The climax was that when the despair and lack of hope in the people nearly brought the world to its metaphorical knees, one man with the power, the conviction, and the goodness he learned from his adopted people, stepped up and showed them that there was hope. There was someone who, in the face of Armageddon (or Apokolips in this case), would fight for them, and would save them. He'll never stop, never surrender, and never give up on them.

He's Alien Jesus and he made them believe a man could fly.

The knock-down drag-outs are for later movies, cartoons, or another series. This was about him becoming the symbol, and in that, the show succeeded spectacularly. Now for those of you who did get it but simply wanted something different. That sucks. After Earth: Final Conflict and Andromeda, I understand what it's like for a show to just let you down completely. I hope you find other things that deliver for you.

I sincerely hope that there are some youngsters out there who watched this, maybe even grew up with it, and came away with the same feeling of possibility that the movie gave to me.

This is a thank you for 10 years of laughs, tears, and thrills. For bringing back some of that magic that once allowed me to believe that a man could fly.

What's Wrong with DDO part 1

2011-05-06T07:23:00.002-05:00

I said I'd talk about this in a latter post so here we go. This is also going on myDDO blog.

What's Wrong with DDO (Dungeons and Dragons Online)? Part One:

Where to start? There's so much I'd change. First, DDO is based on the Third Edition/3.5 rules set of Dungeons and Dragons. For more information on this rule set, go to http://www.d20srd.org/

Those are the rules, free and legal via the OGL.

DDO is set in Eberron, a world that came about as a result of an open contest to submit world entries. I submitted two. Didn't even make runner up. Poor me. Eberron was pretty much designed to be a game world that took advantage of many of the aspects of D&D that maybe were less than logical in other game worlds, such as FR or Greyhawk.

So, as an MMORPG, I understand that some changes have to be made to accommodate this format as opposed to a table top pen and paper format. There are so many things they've done wrong, I'm just going to hit them as they come to mind. I will say if I ran my games like they run theirs, I'd not have any players left, and they would have beaten me before they left.

Blanket Immunities: In DDO, you have your "trash mobs". These are the common monsters you fight in adventures and slayer/wilderness areas. Then you have Orange-Names. These are amped up monsters. Still pretty killable but arbitrarily protected from long-term charms and the like. Next you have Red Names. Red Names are typically the end fight of an adventure though some may have multiple red-named creatures. From the DDO Wiki:

Red-named monsters:

Are immune from negative level effects
Are immune from instant kill spells and effects, such as vorpal weapons, banishing, Finger of Death, and the like
Cannot be stunned, held, paralyzed or stopped by any similar effects or spells, such as Flesh to Stone, Web, and the like
Are highly resistant to statistic-draining damage: Only 10 points of ability damage is counted and cannot be made helpless (or have any ability score reduced to zero)
Are often highly resistant, if not immune, from specific elemental effects, such as fire or cold
Often have specific damage reductions that require one or more weapon types in combination to bypasses the damage reduction (such as Silver and Pure Good weaponry against vampires)

Basically, the only way to beat red-names is through raw damage, most often melee. There's no good reason for these immunities other than what is effectively GM-fiat. It's like if I ran you through a module and at the big climax, kept telling you "No, that won't work" and you asked why, I'd respond with something like "Because I don't want it to, I want to screw you. It's bad DMing writ large, like every boss monster is the GM's pet creature that he doesn't actually want beaten so he gimps your abilities or cheats like crazy in the fight. But that's not all. After Red Names, you have the Purple Names. Again, from the wiki:

Many of the special abilities of red-named monsters apply to purple-named monsters. In addition, purple-named monsters:

Are completely immune from any ability statistic damage or strength-draining spells such as Ray of Enfeeblement
Cannot be slowed down by any effect or spell
Can be affected by some de-buffing spells if the player can defeat the enemy's spell penetration
Have True Seeing, so their attacks are not affected by concealment effects such as Blur. They aren't able to see through the concealment effects of a spell (the "fog" in Acid Fog, for instance)

Purple-named monsters are often colored as such to warn the player characters that this boss type cannot or should not be defeated until the players (and their party) complete a specific task(s) that either enables the players to damage the purple-named monster at all, or compels the monster to unlock a specific task that completes an objective.

Again, there is no good reason for these immunities. There is no attempt at an in-game explanation either. It's just a bad design and bad call. You'll note, it says they are immune to insta-kills such as vorpal. In the game, deathward and deathblock protects against vorpal weapons. From the SRD entry for Death Ward:

"The subject is immune to all death spells, magical death effects, energy drain, and any negative energy effects."

Now you'll note if you read the entry for vorpal, it isn't a death effect for the purposes of death ward. The spell should not protect you from a vorpal weapon. And yes, I think it's perfectly fine to vorpal the head right off of an end game big bad. Is it anti-climatic? No, it's a damned lucky shot. The lucky shot is one of the cornerstones of D&D combat. "But wait! There are so many vorpal weapons, those fights will be over too fast all the time!" Solution? Remove vorpal from the random treasure generator. Immediately change all existing vorpal weapons to Sharpness weapons (a property that currently only exists on a couple of named weapons, while you can get a vorpal weapon in any level appropriate chest). Make vorpal weapons rare (and I mean rare) bound-to-account drops. There. Now your special bad guy wasn't killed with some random trash weapon.

Holds, Paralysis, and Stuns: First, by the SRD, a hold spell paralyzes the target. A paralyzed target is Helpless with Strength and Dexterity of 0. Helpless means he is subject to a coup de grace attempt – an instant kill strike. A stunned creature drops held items, cannot take actions, loses his Dexterity bonus to AC, and takes an additional -2 AC penalty. A stunned creature is NOT Helpless and therefore not subject to a coup de grace.

In DDO, before Update 9, it worked as follows: Any hit against a Held creature was an automatically successful critical hit. No coup de grace though. Any hit against a Stunned creature was also an automatically successful critical strike. Unless he was stunned as a result of the sound burst spell, in which case, he just took no actions. A paralyzed creature was frozen in place, but you gained no extra damage against it. And by frozen in place, I mean it still moved all over the damn battlefield. So as you can see, this was already all screwed up. Maybe because they made paralyzing weapons amazingly common (solution? See vorpal weapons above).

Apparently, the developers decided this was a problem for Epic Content (you know, the content a majority of the player base will probably never deal with). Since in epic content, everything is already immune to most things, the most common tactic for trash mobs and such was to cast Mass Hold and the auto crit them to death. Being who they are, the developers decided to use a hammer to fix a problem that needed a scalpel. So with the most recent update, they applied the following solution to all content – epic and non-epic: No more automatic critical hits. Period. Doesn't matter if the target is held, stunned, or whatever. Now they take +50% damage. Which nerfed the hell out of weapons with special effects that processed on critical hits as well as some monk attacks. Solution? Go back to the rules in the books.

Special Critical Hit Effects: In DDO, you can get smiters (weapons that on a critical hit against a construct force it to make a saving throw or be destroyed), banishers (weapons that on a critical hit against outsiders force them to make saving throws or be effectively destroyed), and disruptors (weapons that on every hit force undead to make a saving throw or be destroyed). By the book rules, smiting is found on the mace of smiting (not as a random weapon property like it is in DDO), and destroys constructs on a critical hit (no save). Against outsiders, a critical hit with a mace of smiting deals *4 damage instead of a mace's normal *2. As far as I know, banishing isn't a weapon property in the books (unless it was released as non-open content in a book I don't have). And disruption is a random weapon property (blunt weapons only) that forces a save on every hit or the creature is destroyed.

Now in DDO, smiters and banishers were very useful when found on weapons like the khopesh, light repeating crossbow, and great crossbow because critical hits are easy to score with those weapons. All of those weapons also require you to burn a feat to use with proficiency. As of update 9, they made changes to smiters, banishers, disruptors, and vorpal weapons. Now, with smiters, banishers, and disruptors, you have to roll a natural 20 and then confirm the attack roll like a critical hit. This is the same procedure used for vorpal weapons and is called a vorpal strike. Otherwise, they just deal additional damage against applicable targets. Again, forcing the game to a drawn-out melee play style. Actual vorpal weapons, and the other mentioned types now no longer have their normal effect if the target has more than 1000 hit points. In such a case, a successful vorpal strike simply deals +100 damage. Supposedly, to tie into this change, "Many creatures have had their immunities and resistances lowered or removed on Casual and Normal difficulty modes." Personally, I haven't noticed this yet.

Solution? Remove banishing as a weapon property. Return disruption as a weapon property for blunt weapons. Have smiting available only on the Mace of Smiting and make it a rare account bound drop.

You'll note that a lot of these changes were made to address issues the developers had with Epic Content (which, by the way, does NOT follow by-the-book epic rules) but was applied to the entire game. Which is stupid.

Stupid Creatures and Poor Compensation: DDO uses a spell point system (one of the arguments people like to use when defending the changes from pen and paper is that 3^rd edition doesn't use spell points so there! Ha! It doesn't have to be like the book game! They should go read Unearthed Arcana, full of official 3^rd edition optional and variant rules, including a spell point system). Anyway, in DDO, enemy spell casters have infinite spell points and the Quicken Spell feat (allows them to cast faster and you cannot interrupt the spell to stop it). In case you are wondering, no PCs do not have infinite spell points. Supposedly, this is to compensate for the enemy A.I. being stupid. If it had properly limited spell points, it would blow all its spells at you while you hid behind a wall before killing its spell-pointless sorry self. Now I don't know much about coding, but I can't help but think they could write some kind of detection code – if it sees you Yes, cast spell. If it doesn't see you NO, don't cast spell. As it stands, enemy spell casters will spam you with spells at a rate you cannot match and they'll do it forever. Additionally, while a PC is limited to one summoned creature at a time, enemy spellcasters do not appear to have this limitation. Which is just GM fiat BS. Solution? Rewrite the damned A.I.

Monologues: A staple of fiction – before you proceed to whip his butt, the bad guy gets to make a speech about blah blah blah. Typically, this happens because the bad guy has some kind of captive audience. In DDO, you just can't attack him while he's chatting away like he's at the Monday morning water cooler (do people still do that or do they just mess with their iPhones instead now?) I assume it has something to do with the developers either thinking we care about their story or something. All I know is in a pnp game, I typically have or allow the freedom to stab or shot the bad guy in the face A.S.A.P. If he wants to spend that time yapping, well, he deserves to get stabbed in the face.

I've actually had this happen to me once in a CoC game. I told the GM it was BS and if he did it again, I was done. It didn't happen again. Solution? Make the bad guys attackable while talking. If attacked, they stop talking and respond in kind.

Player Immunity to Players: Some of the best memories I have from gaming involve me setting other PCs on fire or getting set on fire. I cannot be held responsible if Joe Fighter didn't have the sense to move away when I yelled "fire in the hole!" and then proceeded to get burned by a fireball spell. But in DDO, characters are immune to the effects of their party members' spell (except for greased, which has been used for laughs often and by many). This means you can toss a fireball at the bad guy who is in melee with Hulking Hulkerson the Barbarian and Hulker doesn't have to worry about going home hairless and smelling of scorched flesh. This immunity also helped lead to the near dominance of one spell from the time a wizard got it until he picked up his 9^th level spells. That spell is wall of fire. You cast a WoF or two and then stand in it while the bad guys burn around you while you come out undamaged and smelling of roses and victory. If you want to mix it up a little, you combine WoF with Otto's Sphere of Dancing – a little disco scene that forces the enemies to dance in place. The combination should be known as Disco Inferno if it isn't already. Because of this, there have been several changes to Wall of Fire and wizards in an attempt to being the spell back into line. Solution? Clearly it is to let party members get hurt by party-cast spells. Cast an acid fog? Hulker better have his acid resistance cloak on then, shouldn't he? No, then he'll learn. Or he won't. Either way, it'll be amusing. Yes, this could lead to more PvP conflict and griefing. I'm okay with that and you should be too.

Well, that's part one. See you in part two.

So Tired of This Week (aka Stuff)

2011-05-06T05:39:00.000-05:00

Okay. Let me start this by telling you that a couple weeks back, somehow, my sleeping schedule and that of my four year-old son got seriously jacked up. That's why I'm writing this at 4: 30 in the morning. I've been attempting to function on probably an average of about 3 hours of sleep a day for a couple of weeks now. Suffice it to say, everything suffers from this. The only thing I can manage to is play DDO and read Cracked, and neither one very well. With bursts of housework. So if this seems rambling, it's because it's rambling. And spell-check probably won't catch all my errors.

First – OBL is dead. Good. It's about time. The folks who were on watch during 9/11 and the following years who failed to find him (going so far as to concentrate on a different country) should be ashamed of themselves for letting this happen on someone else's watch. If he's in any kind of hell, I can only hope it is one where he actually feels the pain and suffering of those who died for him, and because of his cause.

Second – I hate this week. I haven't been able to spend nearly as much time with my woman as I'd like or am used to, and have had almost no time to myself or at least without a 4-year old under my immediate watch.

Our bedroom (a converted garage set at a slightly lower level than the rest of the house) is infested with big black roaches (folks here in OK like to call them water bugs, but they aren't. They're roaches). I hate killing roaches. Have had to do it too often in my life.

Well, it was infested with roaches. Now I think they're trying to migrate to the adjacent kitchen, in order to escape what for them must have been like Katrina. What am I talking about you ask? A few days ago, our washing machine somehow dumped its load of water on the bedroom floor instead of through the drain tube. So that left the floor a sopping mess that took no time to start to smell like mildew. So after a day or two (remember, I'm only barely coherent and have a messed up sense of time right now), we went to see what was wrong with it. I thought the drain tube had just come loose. We figured at the same time, we'd go ahead and replace the hoses from the water pipes to the machine since they needed to be replaced anyway.

In the process of detaching the hot water hose, we discovered something – it was so corroded it wouldn't detach. And the galvanized pipe was so corroded that attempting to remove the valve shatter a bit of the threading, resulting in steaming hot water spewing all over the still not-dry floor. In fact, even more water than before. The only way we were able to stop it was to turn the water off at the main (couldn't find a cut-off on the hot water tank). So that night, I spent 6 hours trying to make that pipe not spew water. I was unsuccessful. Luckily, the not-father in law was able to cut off the hot water and temporarily stop it from spewing. What that means now is at least water isn't coming out all over the place, but we have no hot water either. Which results in a smelly Nicholas. Which, in turn, may be masked by the smelly bedroom. I'm pretty sure we're going to have to rip the carpet out now after this one. In addition, we cannot fix this by ourselves, or even with the help of not-father-in-law. We're going to have to have a plumber come out and handle it and I really don't think we can afford that.

I can't handle the smell in the bedroom so what sleep I am getting is on the couch, which reminds me of a bad time in my life where I was not sleeping in the bedroom with my woman like I should have been, and that worries me. And it's not as comfortable as the bed either. That would be the bed that is at least partially affected by the flood. I hope we don't have to get rid of it.

Earlier this week, I spent 4 hours trying to get rid of some stupid computer virus that I have no idea how I acquired (if it was even me and not someone else on my box). I've had to teach myself (with some guidance here and there from a couple of friends) how to work on computers (which means I do all the computer work for the family as well of course), but I really dislike doing it. I would prefer to never have to work on one because something is wrong with it. On the plus side, I was able to use that time to rearrange my area so that it's more comfortable and aesthetically pleasing to me. Rearranged my desk, hung up some pictures, reorganized a bit.

However, since the virus, my computer hasn't been acting quite as efficiently as usual, though every scan says it's clean. I don't know what's up with that. If we had the cash, I'd just buy a new one. I need a second computer anyway so I can devote one solely to music projects. And I need a drum set. But I'm not getting either of those anytime soon, due in part to having to hire a fucking plumber!!!!

Speaking of things spewing out, about an hour ago, my 4-year old, who is sleeping in our bed because his is covered in stuff we tried to get off the flooded floor, threw up all over the side of the bed and the floor, including all over the surge strip that was right next to it. So I got to clean up vomit instead of going to bed (which was my plan before he spewed). Poor little guy. Throwing up is scary for me. I can only imagine it’s much scarier for a young child.

I haven't been able to get my weekly rpg going for several weeks now and that's bad for my mental health. I keep meaning to run a substitute game with my family but I can't even seem to get that started. Both of which suck harder than your mom. But with my lack of sleep, I can't focus well enough to work on the damn thing anyway.

As I said, I've been playing DDO. It's a piss-poor sub for gaming, but it kinda keeps me from falling asleep in the middle of the day (that would be bad since my son would then have unfettered access to the house), and while piss-poor, it servers a similar function to gaming. Well, this week, they released a new update. Including an adventure chain and rules changes. As with every update, the rules changes are stupid and ill-conceived, and designed to fix problems that aren't problems, and narrow the game play style even more (specifically to melee). I'll post about that in detail in another post.

Suffice it to say, none of the changes are good. Some are just less suck than others. But what's really annoying is that every time they do an update, my lag gets worse. And it's not just lag from everyone being on all at once to test the new changes, it's general lag. And since the main server I play on is also the one they transferred the Euro player base to, they are no good times left to be lag-reduced.

A day or two after they released the update, they had to bring the servers down for a few hours to install a hot fix. Why? Because every time they release an update, they break something else. They cannot update that game without fucking something else up. Well, since the hot fix was performed (and shouldn’t something called a hot fix be done while the servers are up?), my lag has worsened to the point where the game is unplayable at times. I mean literally game-stopping. I died 3 times the other night because the game stopped due to lag. If it weren't for the timing, I'd assume it was something on my end.

Something else – there's a new Conan the Barbarian movie coming out (in 3-D!) Now I love me some REH Conan (but Kull even more). So much, that I want to write like REH did but I lack his gift. I love the first Conan movie even though it wasn't very true to REH's works. It was one of my first fantasy movies and imprinted before my movie tastes were fully developed. So now you know, I like Conan a whole bunch. And that's why I'm sad to say this movie looks like it’s going to suck. Hard. Way hard. While you can't trust trailers, the trailer reminds me too much of the Kull the Conqueror movie. Kull stands as one of the two movies that have disappointed me most in life. The other was Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins. I had such high hopes for both of those movies, and upon viewing them, found my hopes dashed, crushed, mauled, and shat upon. (Speaking of shitty movies, both Predators and Terminator: Salvation sucked). Anyway, the new Conan trailer makes me think of the Kull movie. Which is the worst it could do (well, I guess it could make me think of Remo Williams. That would be extra fucked up since they aren't the same genre).

Second, for Conan – thief, adventurer, reaver, the man who trod the jeweled thrones of the earth under his feet until he took the crown of Aquilonia with his sword, they cast that dipshit from Stargate: Atlantis. Jason Momoa. Played Ronon or whatever his dumb ass name was. Now I'll grant that Momoa has the build of a younger Conan (not later Conan who is more like Arnie). But the man can't act. More importantly, he has no screen charisma at all. Even more importantly, he has a charisma-draining field that sucks the charisma from those on screen with him. Seriously. Watch him in something on screen with the people who are usually good. They are noticeably less good when he's around. He's a charisma black hole, sucking it all in with no chance of escape. On the upside, unlike with Kull or Remo Williams, I have no high hopes to be dashed by this movie. I do hope others enjoy it though. But I've pretty much accepted that they are going to get REH right.

That said, I would have cast The Rock. I think he'd be a superior Conan the Barbarian. Speaking of The Rock, go watch Faster. Now. Go do it. I'll wait.

There, aren't you glad you did that?

Anyway, my basic thrust of this entry is that I'm TIRED OF THIS GODS DAMNED WEEK!!!!!!! And it's not even over yet.

And hey, if you read this blog, feel free to become a follower.

Random Thoughts

2011-03-21T17:44:00.000-05:00

1. Exercise is hard. I just now (like 5 minutes ago) finished exercising for the first time in a while. My back finally feels up to pulling my gravimetrically powerful posterior around a bit. So despite my instincts, I started slow and made sure to stop while my brain was saying "Don't be a wuss, keep going!". Less fun, but more responsible. And to be honest, while I didn't do all that much compared to my previous workouts, I feel it already. That's a good sign, and a bad sign. Still, I feel better for having started the long road to recovering some of the muscle mass my depression-based habits have cost me. Before you know it, I'll be able to drive my forefinger through a skull. Or lift a cup of coffee without cramping.

2. Spring Break!!!!! Woo!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, I know, spring break is actually over now. But I had the best spring break that I've ever had. And I think it was not only the best spring break my family has ever had, but possibly the best off-school time we've ever had. Why? Because we tried, we got along, we actually did some things as a family, and we were happy. Those things? Those are pretty unprecedented in our family (much of the fault for that is squarely on my shoulders). For the most part, I don't think I've been a very good father to my children (not that I've been a bad father, just not a good one), or a good partner to my woman for all these years (and by that, I may actually mean kinda bad). However, I'm at a point in my life where I've had some revelations, and despite my mental issues, I'm trying to be a better father, a better partner, and a better me than I ever have before. I think we have something very good, and with hard work, it will be something great, if not FUCKIN' EPIC! Does it pay off every day? I don't know. But when it does (more often than not), it feels so god damned wonderful. And this was pretty much an entire week not of simply paying off, but paying off the big bucks! So thank you to my kids and my wonderful, endlessly supportive woman for the best week ever.

3. Fuck the state!!!!!!!!!!! I made the leap during spring break to actually go take the written portion of the driver's test in order to get a permit so that I can legally practice driving again, with the hopes of taking the driving portion soon thereafter. Got there, waited, finally talked to someone, was told I couldn't take the test because I was marked in the computer system as "suspended". Just for the record, the last time I drove a car legally was in September of 1991. The day of my accident, my DL had been expired for a couple of days, a fact I didn't realize until the cop pointed it out to me. It's only been the last few months where I've started working on reacquainting myself with a vehicle and have really been feeling the need for speed. Okay, if you know me, you know that last part isn't true - I hate going fast. But I have been feeling the urge to drive. Go places with my son during the daytime, visit friends, etc. I was sooooo jazzed to be there to take the test.

DENIED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

I finally made contact with someone who could enlighten me on correcting this situation that, frankly, the state should have been over already (seriously, I didn't cause any vehicular trouble to the state for 20 years! Gimme a break already!) So, I have to have insurance. I have to pay a $150 reinstatement fee (and I bet that doesn't include the cost of the tests). Given some time, I can find a way to swing that as well. Last, but not least, I have to provide a notarized statement declaring that I wasn't sued as a result of the accident I was found at fault for (That's some bullshit by the way, but that's a different post). Three people were hospitalized as a result of my accident, two of whom were passengers in my car. What do you think the chances are that I wasn't sued by someone as a result of that accident? So I don't know what this means for my driving future. I guess I need to talk to a barrister or something. Regardless, let me reiterate - FUCK THE STATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DOWN WITH WHITEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 (okay, that part just made me chuckle).

4. Bwuh?!? Have the Republicans given up the pretense of being for small, non-intrusive government completely? And for the matter, the pretense of sanity? I mean, whiskey tango foxtrot? It seems like every other day or so, I hop onto the series of tubes we call the world wide web, only to be smacked in the face by an entirely new batch of insaniwhatthefuckerareyoucrazy?!?!?! by some Republican somewhere. And I don't mean boring old shit like calling the PotUS a Nazicommisocialkenyanist. I mean shit like what the Governor in Wisconsin pulled. I mean things like Bobby Franklin's recent activities (look it up - in fairness, that man may just be bugshit crazy though). Things like declaring the defunding of NPR an emergency. Seriously? How is that a fucking priority right now? You're supposed to save that shit for when other things, you know, important things, AREN"T FUCKED UP! Things like having the IRS investigate methods used to pay for abortions. Who knew that "small government" meant small enough to invade the uterus for an inspection? Learn something new everyday. Really, I can't go on. Too depressing. But that party seems to have succumbed to the crazy element and along the way, purged any sane moderates. And that sucks.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not terribly pleased with some of the shit the Obama administration has pulled. But it seems to be a banal, mundane evil when it happens and at the same time, I think he's trying to do some good also. God, I tired of hearing people complain that's he not liberal/Left enough though. It was pretty obvious from the get go that he was pretty centrist and not leftist. Personally, I marked my vote for Obama, but not because I believed in him. I just wanted to vote against McCain. And to that end, he's done mostly what I expected of him. Some of the Guantonomo and PATRIOT Act stuff caught me off guard, and I hope that shit gets changed real quick.

But it's not been like what the GOP has been presenting. I fully expect to wake up one morning, log on, and see a picture of John Boehner twirling a Snidely Whiplash mustache while praising Jesus and stabbing a puppy with a sharpened cross covered in $100 bills. He'll probably eat the puppy afterwards, washing that down with a nice, refreshing glass of Poor Blood (Poor Blood! Quenches your thirst and gets rid of Those People!)

Shit is wack, yo!

5. The Other Guys. Holllleeeeee sheeite, did that movie make me laugh. TOG was so much funnier than I expected it to be. If you don't like Will Farrell, you probably won't care for this. If, like me, you think his stuff is typically okay, but sometimes comically brilliant (or at least brilliantly delivered), then go watch this movie!

6. Date Night. Not nearly as funny as The Other Guys, but certainly provided some laughs. Worth checking out if you're bored, or, like me, you think Tina Fey is pretty sexy.

7. Tucker and Dale vs. Evil. A horror comedy you'll probably never hear of, this was an amusing, and surprisingly charming and touching film. It stars Alan Tyduk (Firefly, Serenity, Dollhouse) and Tyler Labine (Reaper, Dead Last).

8. Black Dynamite. I think Michael Jai White has found his film franchise - though I doubt it will become a franchise, and that's a damn shame (in fact, I bet your ass and half a titty it doesn't become a franchise). Though a spoof of blaxploitationfilms, it was obviously made by someone with a great knowledge and love of those films. A fun movie.

9. Twin Peaks. Last night, my daughter came to me and asked me "Dad, can we watch Twin Peaks?" I was so proud. I responded in the positive, and with dinner, she, myself, my eldest, and my woman watched the pilot ep. I had forgotten just how much I enjoyed Kyle MacLachlan's performance in that show. More importantly, I had forgotten just How. Damned. Pretty. the cast is. Between Lara Flynn Boyle, Madchen Amick, and Sherilyn Fenn, well, let's just say I was tingly all over. I have never actually seen the end of the show, so don't spoil it for me.

10. The Ramones. You know, other than a handful of songs, I just don't like The Ramones.

I probably have more, but fuck it, I think I'm done for now.I'm going to go work on my rpg (The End) for my family. You all have a great day, and I'll be back for more sooner rather than later I hope. I leave you with

I'm going for a walk
not the after dinner kind
I'm gonna use my hands
and I'm gonna use my mind

and who the hell are you to tell me what to do?
you can't even tie your own haggard shoes
your closet is a mess, and your backyard's falling down
and I have no grand ideas or intentions of sticking around

I'm gonna build a world
independent and exempt
all alone I'll be an empire
with no mortgage and no rent

and I don't need to live in your stinking zoo
you can't even feed the animals donated to you
your storage sheds are ramshackled, flies decorate the walls
and you expect me to die here in this shit-filled tiny stall?

and I know you're watching! everything I do
call me threat to your children call me socially unglued
call me master of insanity, unable to relate
call me lazy, bane, and filthy
call me monstrous reprobate

I'm going for a walk and there's nothing you can do
'cuz I don't have to live like you
so I'm going for a walk

-"A Walk" (Bad Religion)