This just in

There is at least one sane person left in Washington D.C..

That is all.

Pixelart Movies, Flash Puzzles, etc

Our first Broadway Series show of the season was last night... Hairspray. It's honestly been so long since I've seen the movie that I remembered almost nothing about it... other than it was one of the "fat Ricki Lake" movies. I do remember that I didn't really care for the movie at all. The musical I really enjoyed, however. It was a pretty fun time. May have to go back and give the movie another chance. Still... as far as fat Ricki Lake movies go, you can't beat Cry Baby. Now there's a quality flick.

Some other quick links/blips:

• The Eyezmaze site has been updated. There are two versions of the "Grow" game I hadn't played that were very fun, and some other minor updates. Check it out. There's even a blog there where he posts stuff in progress.
• In a new twist on "cliff notes", some guy has created pixel-art animated gifs covering most all of the important scenes in Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back. They're good-sized files, so be careful.
• Shadowboxers in movies! I have no idea when these are coming out / when you'd be able to see them, but check out Horrors of War with Joe Lorenzo (and G.Lo here and there) and Living In Technicolor, with Pizzuto in a crazy-house!
  

Fire It Up

As previously mentioned, the Fall Fireball was Friday. It was a good time, though things started out a little disappointing, as they did away with all the "open" tables this year, leaving only reserved tickets. The $45 "guaranteed seat" tickets make a lot more sense knowing this, but I still can't see paying 1.5 times as much just to have a table to set your crap on for a little while. Maybe buying a full or partial table next year, I guess... It was a good time -- there was a lot of good stuff in both silent auctions. We bid on lots of stuff, but unfortunately only got one thing - a checker-pattern ottoman "crouton" - which we won because Amy was the only person to bid on it. I was bummed about losing out on both Cincy-trip packages, which were the things I probably wanted the most. The good thing is that at least they got more money off them for 2Cos/Shadowbox. Also cool auction-wise was Pat & Cindy winning a cruise in the live auction! Very nice. The band shows were, of course, the best part though -- Downtown DFN (the 2Cos band) played for a bit, and later BillWho? did a two-hour set, including lots of good tunes.

Saturday we hit-up the Ren Fest, and Amy was able to come along this time. Got to see some shows I missed last time, and introduce Amy to the fun. Hopefully we'll be able to do it again next year in slightly warmer weather, but we'll have to see how things are going. Also good on Saturday was OSU beating Indiana. Not that that was a huge surprise, but you never know with OSU on the road...

Sunday watched the Browns get whipped by frigging Detroit at home. It's typical Cleveland karma that it was Garcia who came in to lead them to the win. It was a bad football day in general, as my fantasy teams fared pretty poorly as well. I did go shopping with Amy for a bit earlier in the day, so at least it wasn't entirely wasted.

Flock, Fireball

This preview ain't for the faint of heart! If you're the bleeding-edge type and don't mind a few scrapes and busted knees from time to time, feel free to give it a whirl.

Flock

Trying out a new web browser which is based heavily on Firefox, called "Flock". It's supposed to be the first "social" web browser, a la all the other web2.0 apps that the hipsters are all up on these days. I've been interested in trying out a lot of this stuff myself, so I gave it a whirl.

It's not too bad. VERY bleeding-edge, as noted, and there are a number of show-stoppers which will keep me from using it full-time I think, but I do like the blogging integration thought. Flickr integration is pretty cool as well. Instead of regular favorites, it uses your del.icio.us account, which is both interesting and not-so-good. It doesn't seem to be able to group favorites in folders, so there's no "open in tabs" option which I've become pretty hooked on, among other stuff. ... and the funniest part is I first tried to post this blog from within Flock, using the built-in blogging tools, and it completely failed... wasn't able to connect and post it after all. Very funny.

A couple reviews with screenshots if you're interested:
A Firefox Fan's Perspective Of The Flock Browser
Flock, Under Those Feathers

Anyway, so yeah... it's an interesting thought, but not a winner just yet. In other news, going to the Shadowbox Fall Fireball tonight. Amy gets to go this year too! In fact, I think this may be the biggest crowd we've been with yet -- me, Amy, Gary, Randy, Heather, Pat & Cindy. Very slick. Should be a blast. Here's hoping they make crazy amounts of money and that everyone has a great time.

With Au Jus

It makes me crazy. Seriously. Such a little thing, but it bugs the crap outta me when you see an ad for roast beef, carved beef, a french dip sandwich, etc... and it says "served with au jus" or even worse "served with a side of au jus"... Au jus is french for "with juice" -- generally referring to the meat's juices from cooking. So essentially those ads are saying "served with with juice" or "served with a side of with juice".

I'm really not an anal person. I just have issues. Really.

The weekend went by pretty quickly. Amy was gone all weekend - she's currently in Phoenix, and is getting back tomorrow. It's been around 95 there, but unfortunately she still has a pretty nasty cold... I feel so bad for her to have to be travelling AND be sick. Think good thoughts and hopefully she will be home and healthy soon.

OSU won on Saturday. That was good, but they really won despite their best efforts otherwise. It was a rough, rough game to watch. The offense still needs a LOT of work. With two road games coming up, they better get their act together fast. There's a lot of stiff competition in the Big Ten still to come.

The Browns got annhiliated on Sunday... but I didn't watch since they showed the BENGALS game instead. So instead of watching football, I watched a couple different shows on Sci-Fi network. First was Riverworld, which was pretty good. It's apparently a pilot for a series that never happened, but it did pretty well on it's own. It's interested me enough to add the books to my "to-read" list... A really cool concept, so it'll be nice to read more on the whole setting and story. The other thing I watched was both parts of the Legend of Earthsea miniseries. Apparently the author of the books it was based on, Ursula K Le Guin wasn't very happy with the adaptation. I haven't really read much fantasy lately, but I'll probably have to add some of the Earthsea books to my reading list as well.

Should be a good week. Amy gets back tomorrow, I'm going to Shadowbox on Wednesday to see Freak Show again, and going to the Fall Fireball on Friday (which Amy will be able to attend this time!) Woohoo, and a good time shall be had by all.

I Gave In To Peer Pressure

Well, I gave in to peer pressure and saw Serenity on Friday. I haven't seen Firefly yet (though I expect I'll borrow the DVDs and watch them sooner or later). I do have to admit, it's a pretty good movie. It's not a GREAT movie, mind you, but it is a pretty good one. I suspect the reason it's getting so much hype (at least from some circles) is that there are very, very few good sci-fi movies coming out these days. That, and of course the Firefly fans whose consumer power got the movie made in the first place. I really liked the Captain's character - it was a bit shallow, but it was a good take on the concept, and even though seeing him go from the good intentioned yet focusless rogue to the defender of an ideal seemed a bit rushed, it was definitely a nice turn of plot. I'll have to agree with Jeff in that it would have been great to see this story told over a longer period of time, such as a second season of Firefly, for example... but on the other hand, I seriously doubt it would have had the same budget, and I doubt they would've taken the same liberties with some of the characters that wrap things up so nicely at the end. So yeah... I saw it, it was good. I'm glad I didn't wait till it was off the big screen. Sadly, it doesn't appear to be doing all that well at the box office... wasn't even in the top 5 this week. Likely DVD sales will rule the roost, as they did for the series.

Amy & the girls were all in Amish Country this weekend... but I still went to the Ren Fest on Saturday with Pat & Cindy. It was a pretty good time. About as cold as last year when I went, but it wasn't raining this time, so that's an improvement. The Nuns have a new CD out, which we listened to on the way down - it's still very funny, and that meant their show was a little different then last year (though still some of the same stuff). Saw the full armor joust, which was fun, a fireeater, the Swordsmen, the "Naughty Navels" belly dancers, and a decently entertaining pub sing. Lots of other shows we didn't get to see, but I'm going again with Amy (hopefully) in two weeks, so we can check out more stuff then.

Saturday night OSU lost to Penn State.... blah. The defense looked pretty inspired, but the offense just wasn't getting things done. I honestly don't know what more we could do there... maybe Penn State's defense is just that good, but after how awesome we looked moving the ball all over Iowa, you'd think we could've done a LITTLE more than that.

Sunday was a do-nothing day for me, other than watch more football. The Browns won, which was fun, but surprising. They pretty much won dispite themselves, as it looked like a sure loss until the fourth quarter when we scored twice in under a minute, thanks to some help from the Bears. Amy got home Sunday night, so it was nice to spend some time with her before she gets back on the road again for work.

Back at work today, of course, and Amy leaves again for another trip, getting back Thursday, which means it's Max's Continuing Home Alone Adventure. Not exactly sure what I'm going to do... getting pretty bored and fed up with City of Heroes (to the point where I actually cancelled my account). Maybe I'll rent some other games, or maybe I'll just read. It's not like I don't have a huge stack of books in my "to read" pile.

The Hype Surrounds Me

So apparently according to everyone and their uncle, I need to immediately rush out and see Serenity. From the good press and hype it's getting (even if the box office sales didn't quite agree) it's apparently the best movie since Empire Strikes Back, or The Godfather, or Citizen Kane, or Casablanca, or whatever your favorite movie may happen to be. AND... from what I understand, immediately after watching Serenity I will be so in awe that I will want to track down Joss Whedon and have millions of babies with him.

I have a problem with hype. I didn't watch Forrest Gump for a very long time after it came out because of how much hype it was getting. When I finally did watch it I discovered it was, indeed, a very good movie and possibly worth most of the hype. But the hype still kicks me in that rebel nerve and makes me want to not see it...

We'll see. Even aside from the hype, from the trailers I was still pretty lukewarm to seeing Serenity. I'm sure I'll see it eventually, but I'm not in a huge rush, and if I do end up seeing it, I'd like to see Firefly first.

In other news, apparenty you don't even need to have ANY EXPERIENCE AS A JUDGE to be nominated to the Supreme Court. Absolutely frigging insane. Gary's right, we should just get Dubya to stick him out there as a nominee and be done with it.

Again With The Busy

Really, it shouldn't be surprising, but the new week brings a whole lot more busy-ness at work. Interviewing for an open position this week, plus all the other stuff that being early in Autumn quarter brings, means things stay busy. Not really a bad thing.

The weekend came and went pretty quickly. Friday night was nothing exciting - still home alone - watched some TV, played some CoH, hung out with the dogs. No surprise there. Saturday Amy was getting home. I'll let you read her recap of how fun her trip home was - I spent the day mowing the lawn and taking care of some other basics here. As soon as she got home we buzzed out to the wedding, which was downtown at the Kelton House. Amy got home at about 4:10pm, and the wedding was at 4:30. Somehow we managed to make it there less than 10 minutes late, and still got to see almost everything. In between the ceremony and the reception they let folks tour the house for free, which was really cool - some very nice looking old rooms and furnishings, and the basement area was very cool, including the room with information on the underground railroad. It was a very nice wedding (though I couldn't hear 90% of what the minister said), and a very nice reception with some good grub.

Sunday we visited with my parents for awhile. Amy did some scrapbooking, Dad & I hung out and watched football. No Browns or Buckeyes this weekend, but still some decent games. I can't believe the Bengals are still undefeated... Just insane.

After work today we had dinner at a new place nearby called Ha Long Bay Asian Kitchen. Mostly Vietnamese-type stuff. Amy wasn't feeling too great, so she got chicken fried rice (which was really good), Laurie got some rice crepes with stuff, and I got some really interesting "Sesame Beef Rolls" and a mixed beef Pho. Good stuff. The rolls were interesting, but kind of odd, and I don't know that I'd do them again. The Pho was definitely tasty, on par with Lac Viet in the North Market. If we ever go back (which I don't feel the need to rush back...) I'd definitely get it again. Polish off the night with a trip to Cold Stone Creamery for the return of Cake Batter ice cream! Fresh off the salmonella stint, it tastes the same to me, just as good as ever. We weren't the only ones missing it apparently... there's a link on their site (which apparently needs updated) where you could put in your e-mail address to be notified when it returns.