Archive for December, 2005

2005.12.14

Adjusting the Theme

I think I’ve finally gotten the theme down. I’m concerned that the title might edge out the categories as they are listed next to it, but we shall see. We shall see…

2005.12.14

Wikipedia on Cowboy Bebop

Wow, Wikipedia has an awesome entry on Cowboy Bebop. I never would have picked up on half the things it mentions! It even links out to Wikiquote, which is a source for various quotations from stuff; something Mookee would find very useful and could contribute quite a bit towards himself.

2005.12.14

More Background Stuff for Film

Continuing Ed’s many ideas for things to happen in the background of a film… how about teenagers in a grocery store doing shot putt with cantaloupes? Or Dave’s idea (apparently based on a real situation) where an old Chinese lady goes down the meat aisle sticking a toothpick into each cut of chicken and then tasting the toothpick when she pulls it out?

These are the things that make a film watchable again and again…

2005.12.13

Memories of Boy Scouts

Digging through one of my secret drawers today (yes, I have hidden drawers in some of my furniture!) I found my old Boy Scout paraphernalia. Patches, badges, belt loops, belt buckles, and kerchiefs. Wow, memories. And that was all over 20 years ago! I’d forgotten I was quartermaster for the Troop. I’d forgotten about the custom patches I had made up when I was patrol leader of Dragon Patrol. I still remember the 8th Asia Pacific Jamboree and Camp Ironsides.

I rather miss those days in a slightly more than nostalgic way. I know there are many things about the Boy Scouts that I would disagree with today, but as a kid I could have cared less about their “moral” issues or the religious bent (which I never encountered). It was a great experience, and to me that’s what is most important.

2005.12.12

douglas.nerad.org Coming Along

As some of you may or may not know, I will soon stop updating this site and will be working on douglas.nerad.org. I struggled for some time with creating a WordPress theme that looks like sp.ookee.com but it’s been a pain in the butt. Creating themes/flavours for Blosxom is so-o much easier, and not just because I’m familiar with how it’s done.

So I will continue with sp.ookee.com and start up douglas.nerad.org with the New Year. I’ll migrate a few of the more commonly hit articles from search engines and some of the things I’ve written that I’m particularly proud of, but otherwise it’s going to be a completely new endeavor. Hopefully it will bring in more visitors, too.

2005.12.10

VIZ Holiday Party 2005

VIZ Holiday Party 2005It must be said that VIZ throws one of the best holiday parties I’ve ever attended.

I’ve been to many. DLC was a lot of fun, but it wasn’t DLC that made it fun, it was the people there. Sunset’s parties went sour when Time Warner made cut backs out of necessity. To Sunset’s immense credit they did their best to have some gathering, but with the extremely limited funding the best they could do was what they could provide themselves.

VIZ, however, did things right. They reserved Foreign Cinema and opened the bars to us and our guests. Food was plentiful and, as you would expect from the place, quite excellent. I just wish I’d had more. There was a gift raffle with ten winners of various prizes, including a digital camera and a video iPod.

I had a lovely evening visiting with friends from work, meeting new people, and watching various dramas unfold before my eyes. Everyone dressed nicely and I don’t think anyone didn’t have a good time. Well, perhaps a few of the more intoxicated people didn’t have a good time the next day, but Thursday night everyone was quite happy!

Pictures is me on the right and my fellow IT member R.U. on the left. He’d brought cigars. I enjoyed the quarter of mine I could actually get through. I have to say that if there was a prize for best dressed, R.U. in his top hat and his girlfriend would have won my vote.

Though the party officially ended at 1AM some of us continued on. I was home by 4AM! Fortunately VIZ allows us on the next day to not worry about showing up at work until noon. Lovely.

I hope everyone else enjoys their holiday season as much as mine is starting out to be!

2005.12.08

Should I Support Intelligent Design?

Thinking about Intelligent Design is mostly irritating. That’s because it’s such a simple concept and ignores any sort of complexity in the universe. It’s rather insulting really, because it implies that we are too stupid to even pretend to grok the universe.

But let me tell you about a game Mookee and I thought about when we were a bit younger. In this game you live your life according to rules even you don’t understand. After everyone is dead (we never determined what the end point of the game would be) whoever has the highest score gets to create the next universe, including the rules for the next round.

So according to our games, then Intelligent Design does exist, and the winner of the last round is, essentially, God. I’m not even going to speculate what this has to do with Jesus or the rest of the Biblical characters. Naturally, whoever wins this game is going to be fairly smart, and they wouldn’t have wanted the system to be easily figured out. It can’t be helped that some people would take offense at the game and its rules.

According to the game, I almost have to believe in Intelligent Design. It’s just not the same as what the fundies are promoting, which is a sham. Sad, really, because the more the deny the game the less likely they are to win. At least according to how I’m hoping the current rules work, otherwise I’m screwed.

2005.12.06

The Equalizer Movie

According to Beyond Movie News and vaguely IMDB the Weinstein brothers are going to remake the old TV show The Equalizer. I loved that show, and likely it was the first TV show that wasn’t science fiction that hit my radar as something more than plain entertainment. Stewart Copeland’s theme music was really quite good, too. Hrmm… I wonder where I can pick that up? Probably the iTunes store!

2005.12.04

Welcome to Douglas.Nerad.org!

Eventually this will become the replacement site for sp.ookee.com. Right now it is merely in transition as I redesign the site (though it will look very much like sp.ookee.com), add categories, and basically do all the backend stuff before “officially” launching it.

Look for things to start happening by mid-December, 2006!

2005.12.04

The Three Musketeers

The Three MusketeersIn the process of cleaning up the bookshelves in my room I refound this book I’d been given for Christmas in 1998. The Three Musketeers, by Alexandre Dumas, is an easier read than I expected, and I was delighted to find the story goes far beyond the movie version I am familiar with starring Michael York. I should note that it’s one of my favorite movies in case someone is thinking of something simple to get me for XMas (wink wink).

If there’s anyone not acquainted with the story it is basically about a young man named D’Artagnan from Gascony who goes to Paris to try to join the King’s Musketeers, led by Monsieur de Treville, how he gets mixed in with three of the most famous Musketeers named Athos, Porthos and Aramis, and involved in various court intrigues. I was impressed at how faithfully the movie (not the lame Disney version) follows the events in the story up until the end.

What I didn’t expect was the blithe manner with which love and women were treated. I can’t say women were treated as objects, but the book definitely describes an era past, and probably better gone. Fidelity seems to be not known (and Dumas makes asides hinting that even in his day it was shocking), and the simple goal of getting laid by the most eminent women was an honest goal held by most young men. It didn’t matter if the woman was married, either.

Strangely, the four men we follow were never rich. In fact their problems with money are a constant device used throughout the story. How they get money would be considered mildly unethical these days, as well. For example when Porthos needs to get new equipment to go off to war he manipulates his lover, who is married to a stingy lawyer, until she gives him the money he seeks. The others behave barely better at times.

I also thought the ending, which focuses greatly on Lady de Winter, could have been shortened greatly, though it is quite a portrait of a conniving and evil woman who gets everything that comes to her.

Despite the negative aspects, though, the story is great and has stood the tests of time well. If you’re looking to read a classic over the winter holidays I recommend The Three Musketeers.