..that after last night, I am no longer allowed to freestyle.
"I got Lene callin' on me like I'm Doctor Jones
Bustin' up in yo case just like I'm Sherlock Holmes
I got good pronunciation 'cos I know phenomes"
Monday, July 20, 2009
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Go, Go, Go
Today I found Speed Racer on DVD for only $7.00, which is an excellent price - I remember the first time I tried looking for it after it was released, it retailed for almost $20.00 - a price I found surprising considering the mixed reviews it got in the theaters. Naturally, I couldn't give up that kind of opportunity, and I sat down to watch it as soon as I got back home!
Personally, I LOVE the Speed Racer film - although the motion and colors can be quite a lot for some people to handle (I understand that the movie's "epileptic" presentation was one of its biggest criticisms). Considering the intentional camp of the film, I think it's very well-acted, with an impressive emotional depth and a focus on some important themes such as loyalty, responsibility, and family relationships. While one could make an argument for a hidden level of complexity to the film that's not immediately apparent, it's actually the film's straight-forward simplicity that I love about it. Although patently unrealistic, there is almost no ambiguity about each character's role - the bad guys are thoroughly despicable (in many and varied ways), and Speed and his family are unequivocally good, honest, and wholesome.
So much of what I'm exposed to in the media these days seems to promote and rely on themes of confustion, uncertainty, and powerlessness. The Matrix is a contemporary cultural icon, and shows that decieve both their characters and their audiences (like Lost, and to a lesser extent the pantheon of CSI shows) are notoriously popular. By contrast, Speed Racer is simple, straight-forward, and unambiguous. Sometimes it's refreshing to have a hero who's just that - a hero.
Anyways, as far as Speed Racer goes, a fine piece of cinema it ain't. It's a ton of fun to watch, though, and I'd recommend it to anyone who can let loose enough to let themselves enjoy a fun and fast-paced movie, even in spite of the sensory overload you may experience!
PLUR!
Personally, I LOVE the Speed Racer film - although the motion and colors can be quite a lot for some people to handle (I understand that the movie's "epileptic" presentation was one of its biggest criticisms). Considering the intentional camp of the film, I think it's very well-acted, with an impressive emotional depth and a focus on some important themes such as loyalty, responsibility, and family relationships. While one could make an argument for a hidden level of complexity to the film that's not immediately apparent, it's actually the film's straight-forward simplicity that I love about it. Although patently unrealistic, there is almost no ambiguity about each character's role - the bad guys are thoroughly despicable (in many and varied ways), and Speed and his family are unequivocally good, honest, and wholesome.
So much of what I'm exposed to in the media these days seems to promote and rely on themes of confustion, uncertainty, and powerlessness. The Matrix is a contemporary cultural icon, and shows that decieve both their characters and their audiences (like Lost, and to a lesser extent the pantheon of CSI shows) are notoriously popular. By contrast, Speed Racer is simple, straight-forward, and unambiguous. Sometimes it's refreshing to have a hero who's just that - a hero.
Anyways, as far as Speed Racer goes, a fine piece of cinema it ain't. It's a ton of fun to watch, though, and I'd recommend it to anyone who can let loose enough to let themselves enjoy a fun and fast-paced movie, even in spite of the sensory overload you may experience!
PLUR!
Monday, July 13, 2009
Barefoot in the kitchen
This is a bad habit of mine. When I'm inside the house, I have a terrible aversion to footwear, unless I'm bitter cold and can't feel my toes already. And so, when I cook (which is more often than it used to be, but still probably not often enough), I tend to do so barefoot.
Some time ago I embarked on a similar endeavor, and with disasterous results. I was frying something in a skillet,and a drop of hot oil *popped* out of the pan and landed right on the top of my foot. After that time, I vowed never to cook whilst barefoot again.
Quite naturally, I was good on my word for all of 2 months before falling back into my old habits!
This time, however, things were a bit different. For one thing, I managed to avoid injuring or burning myself. More importantly, though, was the content of the food. In a lot of ways, I'm true to my roots - I grew up eating lots of meats and breads and potato starches, and so when I actually get myself into the kitchen, it's as natural for me to think "casserole" as just about anything else. Well, my sister is a vegetarian, and at her suggestion I used Morningstar brand "crumbles" (a vegetable-protein-based meat substitute) instead of the lean ground beef I would have normally cooked.
All in all, it was a good choice - the Morningstar defrosted and cooked quicker than the meat would have, and I didn't have to go through the additional step of draining that ground beef usually requires. And whilst the Morningstar did have a noticeable texture difference from regular ground beef, in the context of the casserole, it was hardly a problem at all.
I've not experimented with other Morningstar products, but so far they've received a positive opinion from me. I wouldn't use the crumbles to, say, make burger patties...but I imagine there's another product that's better suited for that purpose.
I am not vegetarian, and have no real intention of adopting a vegetarian diet, but I do try to monitor my meat consumption, especially red meats (this is both easy and difficult for me to do - the menu of the restaurant I work at is very meat-heavy, but we prepare far more poultry than red meat). It's nice to know that there are viable substitutes out there that are both readily available (the Morningstar came from the nearest grocery) and easy enough for a lazy cook like me to prepare.
...Because when one spends all day cooking for other people, the last thing I want to do it come home and have to cook for myself! ;-P
PLUR!
Some time ago I embarked on a similar endeavor, and with disasterous results. I was frying something in a skillet,and a drop of hot oil *popped* out of the pan and landed right on the top of my foot. After that time, I vowed never to cook whilst barefoot again.
Quite naturally, I was good on my word for all of 2 months before falling back into my old habits!
This time, however, things were a bit different. For one thing, I managed to avoid injuring or burning myself. More importantly, though, was the content of the food. In a lot of ways, I'm true to my roots - I grew up eating lots of meats and breads and potato starches, and so when I actually get myself into the kitchen, it's as natural for me to think "casserole" as just about anything else. Well, my sister is a vegetarian, and at her suggestion I used Morningstar brand "crumbles" (a vegetable-protein-based meat substitute) instead of the lean ground beef I would have normally cooked.
All in all, it was a good choice - the Morningstar defrosted and cooked quicker than the meat would have, and I didn't have to go through the additional step of draining that ground beef usually requires. And whilst the Morningstar did have a noticeable texture difference from regular ground beef, in the context of the casserole, it was hardly a problem at all.
I've not experimented with other Morningstar products, but so far they've received a positive opinion from me. I wouldn't use the crumbles to, say, make burger patties...but I imagine there's another product that's better suited for that purpose.
I am not vegetarian, and have no real intention of adopting a vegetarian diet, but I do try to monitor my meat consumption, especially red meats (this is both easy and difficult for me to do - the menu of the restaurant I work at is very meat-heavy, but we prepare far more poultry than red meat). It's nice to know that there are viable substitutes out there that are both readily available (the Morningstar came from the nearest grocery) and easy enough for a lazy cook like me to prepare.
...Because when one spends all day cooking for other people, the last thing I want to do it come home and have to cook for myself! ;-P
PLUR!
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Venture by Night team structure graph, v.2.2.1
This is a social network graph I created with GraphViz to represent the team structure within the Venture by Night Requiem game. This graph is an updated draft. It may contain non-current information, but is close to complete. Click on the image to enlarge it.
blue = team mates
solid blue = reports to
green = upper management
dashed line = no longer works with listed individuals
red box = inactive
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Requiem team structure graph, v.2.1
This is a social network graph I created with GraphViz to represent the team structure within the Venture by Night Requiem game. This graph is an updated draft. It may contain non-current information, but is close to complete. Click on the image to enlarge it.
blue = team mates
solid blue = reports to
green = upper management
dashed line = no longer works with listed individuals
red box = inactive
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Ventrue by Night team structure - draft
This is a social network graph I created with GraphViz to represent the team structure within the Venture by Night Requiem game. This graph is only a draft. It contains non-current information, and is therefore not up-to-date. Click on the image to enlarge it.
blue = team mates
solid blue = reports to
green = upper management
dashed line = no longer member of the listed team
red box = inactive
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
In the beginning...
I'm a storyteller at heart. I may not have the best tales to spin, or the best voice for spinning them, but I love to tell stories and I love to hear them. There's something wonderful about being involved, as audience or storyteller, in a world invented specifically for the excitement, the wonder, and sometimes even the education of the people involved in it.
I reckon that it's this love of story-telling that first drew me to roleplaying, an activity that has at various times led me to associate with actors and with gamers, but that's peripheral to what's been on my mind today, and perhaps that's a topic I'll delve into at another time.
As a child, I can remember deriving no greater pleasure than to become completely engrossed in a story. I was an avid reader (I still adore books, but my rate of consumption has plummeted since I "discovered" the Internet!), even to the extent of tackling some of the modern "classics" (most notably "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and "Journey to the Center of the Earth") long before I was able to appreciate their impact, just because the stories that played out between the covers were so exciting to me. And when I first found out about audiobooks, I can remember spending an entire afternoon sitting in my bedroom with a tape recorder reading one of my favorite Pee Wee Scouts books. I only had one cassette, and I remember how disappointed I was that I wasn't able to fit the entire book onto it...I had the entire book except for the last chapter on that tape! There's no stopping a devoted 7 year old, though; I'm pretty sure I remember reading the last few pages out loud to myself.
So my love of storytelling runs deep, and it runs early. By accounts I've been told, I was a pretty bright kid, as well, always questioning and wanting to learn more about the world around me. And I love my parents because when I would ask them questions, they'd always try to answer them for me, and as often as not that question would come in the form of a story, a fable, a tall tale...or even sometimes just an invention of pure fancy.
I remember especially a time when I was a youngster, probably also 7 years old, although I might have been 6, when I was in the garage with my dad, and I could see the trees blowing in the wind through the open garage door. I asked my dad what cause the wind, prepared to refute the oft-cited Sneezing Trees Hypothesis with a resounding "nuh-uh!" (even back then I was suspicious of this common explanation. You have to have a nose to sneeze, and I never in my life have seen a tree with a nose). But rather than the expected response, my dad must have noticed what had caught my attention and provoked my question - he gave me a simple "the wind is cause when trees move". Now how much sense does that make when you're 7 years old? You're old enough to know that trees make food from sunlight with their leaves, and the sun moves across the sky. And mom would always turn the houseplants sitting next to the windows because they would always lean toward the sun and she didn't want them to look lopsided. So of course it made sense that trees would move their leaves to follow the sun, thus creating wind. Voilà, the story of wind was created!
It wasn't until some years later I learned more of the details of photosynthesis, and that, although trees do shift to follow the sun, the movements are too slow and too slight to cause any sort of atmospheric interferance, even in a large forested area.
But even after all these years, the impact of the story of photosynthesis and the wind has stayed with me. It's helped me come to appreciate all the stories we hear, we tell, and we come up with every day. A story doesn't have to have unicorns or flying turtles to be fantastic, and oftentimes a plausible story can be far more exciting than the actual facts.
And sometimes, all it takes is a little story to reveal just how mysterious and wonderful the Truth can be.
I reckon that it's this love of story-telling that first drew me to roleplaying, an activity that has at various times led me to associate with actors and with gamers, but that's peripheral to what's been on my mind today, and perhaps that's a topic I'll delve into at another time.
As a child, I can remember deriving no greater pleasure than to become completely engrossed in a story. I was an avid reader (I still adore books, but my rate of consumption has plummeted since I "discovered" the Internet!), even to the extent of tackling some of the modern "classics" (most notably "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and "Journey to the Center of the Earth") long before I was able to appreciate their impact, just because the stories that played out between the covers were so exciting to me. And when I first found out about audiobooks, I can remember spending an entire afternoon sitting in my bedroom with a tape recorder reading one of my favorite Pee Wee Scouts books. I only had one cassette, and I remember how disappointed I was that I wasn't able to fit the entire book onto it...I had the entire book except for the last chapter on that tape! There's no stopping a devoted 7 year old, though; I'm pretty sure I remember reading the last few pages out loud to myself.
So my love of storytelling runs deep, and it runs early. By accounts I've been told, I was a pretty bright kid, as well, always questioning and wanting to learn more about the world around me. And I love my parents because when I would ask them questions, they'd always try to answer them for me, and as often as not that question would come in the form of a story, a fable, a tall tale...or even sometimes just an invention of pure fancy.
I remember especially a time when I was a youngster, probably also 7 years old, although I might have been 6, when I was in the garage with my dad, and I could see the trees blowing in the wind through the open garage door. I asked my dad what cause the wind, prepared to refute the oft-cited Sneezing Trees Hypothesis with a resounding "nuh-uh!" (even back then I was suspicious of this common explanation. You have to have a nose to sneeze, and I never in my life have seen a tree with a nose). But rather than the expected response, my dad must have noticed what had caught my attention and provoked my question - he gave me a simple "the wind is cause when trees move". Now how much sense does that make when you're 7 years old? You're old enough to know that trees make food from sunlight with their leaves, and the sun moves across the sky. And mom would always turn the houseplants sitting next to the windows because they would always lean toward the sun and she didn't want them to look lopsided. So of course it made sense that trees would move their leaves to follow the sun, thus creating wind. Voilà, the story of wind was created!
It wasn't until some years later I learned more of the details of photosynthesis, and that, although trees do shift to follow the sun, the movements are too slow and too slight to cause any sort of atmospheric interferance, even in a large forested area.
But even after all these years, the impact of the story of photosynthesis and the wind has stayed with me. It's helped me come to appreciate all the stories we hear, we tell, and we come up with every day. A story doesn't have to have unicorns or flying turtles to be fantastic, and oftentimes a plausible story can be far more exciting than the actual facts.
And sometimes, all it takes is a little story to reveal just how mysterious and wonderful the Truth can be.
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