So we’ve been getting hit pretty hard with rain all day.
I ventured out into the world briefly this morning to pick up a couple of things, and considered finally getting a haircut, but everyone was in “ZOMG! It’s the end of the world!” panic mode, so I decided that my standard hermit behavior was the best approach to riding the storm out and headed home.
I got a text message from Stacy inviting me over for dinner tonight, but unless the rain stops – which it doesn’t seem as though it intends to do anytime soon – I think I’m going to have to pass.
I don’t want to be on the road with the panicky masses.
Other than that, not much has been going on. I’ve been trying to repair some damaged jpegs that I managed to undelete from one of my drives, but so far I’ve had no luck. I’ve tried a bunch of programs designed to repair damaged jpegs, but I’m not sure what the makers of the programs mean by “damaged,” as not one of them has been able to repair any of my damaged jpegs.
Apparently you can, conceivably, use a hex editor to maybe kinda-sorta repair damaged jpegs, but so far I’ve been unable to find any instructions as to how to go about doing that.
Oh well.
It seems like the rain is actually getting worse, and the wind is starting to pick up, so I guess it’s a good day for my natural inclination to be a hermit.
Saturday, September 06, 2008
Friday, September 05, 2008
Action Is My Middle Name. Wait, I Don't Have A Middle Name. But Anyway, Waffles!
When I got home today I watched last night’s Daily Show and Colbert Report, then kicked the weekend into high gear by taking a nap.
At least tonight I remembered to eat something. I usually have some kind of snack when I get home, and then eat dinner while watching The Simpsons at 7, but my mom called as soon as I got home, which delayed my snacking, so by the time 7 rolled around I wasn’t hungry, and I went upstairs to do some stuff on the computer – paying bills, writing a blog entry, etc. – thinking that I’d get around to eating later. I never really got hungry, so I just sort of forgot about it, and didn’t actually notice that I was hungry until I was in bed, at which point I said “Screw it,” and went to sleep.
Needless to say, I was glad when I got in to work and found that for this month’s “Healthy Breakfast” we actually had waffles and sausage, in addition to the usual selection of fruits, bagels, muffins, and donuts.
So I loaded up on a little bit of everything.
In any case, not much else is going on. I’m hoping that this will be the weekend on which I finally build up enough motivation to get a haircut.
That should be exciting.
At least tonight I remembered to eat something. I usually have some kind of snack when I get home, and then eat dinner while watching The Simpsons at 7, but my mom called as soon as I got home, which delayed my snacking, so by the time 7 rolled around I wasn’t hungry, and I went upstairs to do some stuff on the computer – paying bills, writing a blog entry, etc. – thinking that I’d get around to eating later. I never really got hungry, so I just sort of forgot about it, and didn’t actually notice that I was hungry until I was in bed, at which point I said “Screw it,” and went to sleep.
Needless to say, I was glad when I got in to work and found that for this month’s “Healthy Breakfast” we actually had waffles and sausage, in addition to the usual selection of fruits, bagels, muffins, and donuts.
So I loaded up on a little bit of everything.
In any case, not much else is going on. I’m hoping that this will be the weekend on which I finally build up enough motivation to get a haircut.
That should be exciting.
Thursday, September 04, 2008
Silver Age Bat-Shittery (Plus: Nude Pictures! Or At Least A Pointless Anecdote About Them)
Yesterday Scott came over for “Riff Trax Night.” As I felt the need to make him share my pain, we first watched the Star Wars Holiday Special. I had told him – correctly – that, like Mortal Kombat, nothing could prepare him.
After that we watched Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, which, featuring riffs by Neil Patrick Harris, I found to be just as funny the second time around.
I’ve actually found that several movies that would otherwise be unbearable and unwatchable – such as Batman and Robin and House of Wax (which does at least offer the pleasure of seeing Paris Hilton get brutally murdered, though that follows the pain of seeing her running around in skimpy underwear) – are a joy to watch with the Riff Trax commentary. Hell, thanks to Riff Trax I even enjoyed watching Over the Top.
New comics were delayed by the holiday, so I stopped by the comic shop on the way home today. I actually remembered to bring the gift card I got from Jamie and Casey for my birthday with me this morning when I left. It only took me almost five months to actually use it. I put it to use by supplementing my regular purchases with Showcase Presents The Legion of Super Heroes, volumes 1 and 2. So that gives me some Silver Age bat-shit craziness to look forward to, particularly given that they’ll feature stories written by a teenaged Jim Shooter.
Speaking of Silver Age bat-shittery, I’ve been reading Showcase Presents Superman Family volume 2, which features reprints of old Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane comics.
I have to say that I find the stories absolutely bewildering, and I can’t help but wonder how the comic book industry has managed to last as long as it has. I mean…they’re just…wow.
Favorite scene so far: Perry White scampering in fear to the top of a desk like a woman on a 50’s sit-com who’s seen a mouse, while Lois bravely charges in with a broom in hand, as Jimmy Olsen, whose brain has been swapped with a gorilla’s, shows up for work.
Then again, there’s the story of Jimmy’s “Lucky Turban,” which protects him from harm and gives him the ability to make amazingly accurate predictions, in which we see that Jimmy’s prediction for the next day’s weather is a huge front page headline in The Daily Planet.
Because, you know, why wouldn’t a weather forecast – based entirely on a guess – be front page news?
And this is the stuff that so many current writers are mining for new ideas: it’s the Silver Age – with a modern twist! ™
Anyway, there’s no need to pursue that particular rant, even though, honestly, I don’t actually have much of anything else to write about.
Sometimes You Get Lucky Department:
I get a lot of traffic from people looking for nude pictures of [insert celebrity name here], and I often say that just because someone is famous/semi-famous/infamous or in some way connected to show business, it doesn’t automatically follow that there are nude pictures of that person available for public consumption.
I don’t know why it bothers me so much, but I find myself irritated by the belief that “she’s famous, therefore there must be nude pictures of her available.”
And honestly, the fact that this belief is not true is often a good thing – Phyllis Diller, anyone?
Setting that disturbing thought aside, though, it’s often difficult to find any pictures – nude or otherwise – of some people, and not every person on TV gets stalked by the paparazzi, or has legions of fans that will scan in pictures from magazines, or capture frames from video files. They just don’t have a big enough or obsessive enough following.
(And besides that, there’s no reason to assume they’ve ever appeared in front of a camera sans clothes.)
In any case, the other night, lacking anything better to do, I was watching last season’s finale of House. I watch the show every so often, but I’m not really a big fan. Mostly I watch it so that the episode reviews on Polite Dissent will make more sense to me.
As an aside, the titular House, played by British actor Hugh Laurie, is an obnoxious, arrogant, heartless dick who says whatever he thinks with no consideration for the feelings of others. There have been people who watch the show who have expressed dismay at the fact that I don’t watch the show regularly, saying, “You of all people should like it.” What’s up with that?
Anyway, there was an actress on it who had been a semi-regular character for most of the season, and while I always thought she was attractive, she looked especially good in some scenes of that episode, so I thought, “I should see if there are any pictures of her.”
Now, I wasn’t expecting to find any nude pictures, though I will admit to not being averse to the prospect. Still, in my defense, when I did an image search, I did not use any variation on the words “nude,” “naked,” or “topless.”
Even so, ironically enough, bam! Very first result was a screen capture of her topless in a movie.
So okay, sometimes you get lucky, but still, that doesn’t prove anything, and my contention about making assumptions about nude pictures remains valid.
Apart from the irony, though, what makes it notable was that when I looked at the capture I thought, “Wait a minute…I’ve seen that. In fact, I have a video clip of that scene, and have had it for a long time. I saw her topless before I ever saw her on House.”
Apparently, per IMDb, I had also seen her – fully-clothed – on Big Love before she started on House. I guess she just never registered in my consciousness before.
Anyway, the point of all of this is that I had to think of something to fill out this blog post, and that’s probably – sadly and pathetically – the most interesting thing to happen so far this week.
After that we watched Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, which, featuring riffs by Neil Patrick Harris, I found to be just as funny the second time around.
I’ve actually found that several movies that would otherwise be unbearable and unwatchable – such as Batman and Robin and House of Wax (which does at least offer the pleasure of seeing Paris Hilton get brutally murdered, though that follows the pain of seeing her running around in skimpy underwear) – are a joy to watch with the Riff Trax commentary. Hell, thanks to Riff Trax I even enjoyed watching Over the Top.
New comics were delayed by the holiday, so I stopped by the comic shop on the way home today. I actually remembered to bring the gift card I got from Jamie and Casey for my birthday with me this morning when I left. It only took me almost five months to actually use it. I put it to use by supplementing my regular purchases with Showcase Presents The Legion of Super Heroes, volumes 1 and 2. So that gives me some Silver Age bat-shit craziness to look forward to, particularly given that they’ll feature stories written by a teenaged Jim Shooter.
Speaking of Silver Age bat-shittery, I’ve been reading Showcase Presents Superman Family volume 2, which features reprints of old Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane comics.
I have to say that I find the stories absolutely bewildering, and I can’t help but wonder how the comic book industry has managed to last as long as it has. I mean…they’re just…wow.
Favorite scene so far: Perry White scampering in fear to the top of a desk like a woman on a 50’s sit-com who’s seen a mouse, while Lois bravely charges in with a broom in hand, as Jimmy Olsen, whose brain has been swapped with a gorilla’s, shows up for work.
Then again, there’s the story of Jimmy’s “Lucky Turban,” which protects him from harm and gives him the ability to make amazingly accurate predictions, in which we see that Jimmy’s prediction for the next day’s weather is a huge front page headline in The Daily Planet.
Because, you know, why wouldn’t a weather forecast – based entirely on a guess – be front page news?
And this is the stuff that so many current writers are mining for new ideas: it’s the Silver Age – with a modern twist! ™
Anyway, there’s no need to pursue that particular rant, even though, honestly, I don’t actually have much of anything else to write about.
Sometimes You Get Lucky Department:
I get a lot of traffic from people looking for nude pictures of [insert celebrity name here], and I often say that just because someone is famous/semi-famous/infamous or in some way connected to show business, it doesn’t automatically follow that there are nude pictures of that person available for public consumption.
I don’t know why it bothers me so much, but I find myself irritated by the belief that “she’s famous, therefore there must be nude pictures of her available.”
And honestly, the fact that this belief is not true is often a good thing – Phyllis Diller, anyone?
Setting that disturbing thought aside, though, it’s often difficult to find any pictures – nude or otherwise – of some people, and not every person on TV gets stalked by the paparazzi, or has legions of fans that will scan in pictures from magazines, or capture frames from video files. They just don’t have a big enough or obsessive enough following.
(And besides that, there’s no reason to assume they’ve ever appeared in front of a camera sans clothes.)
In any case, the other night, lacking anything better to do, I was watching last season’s finale of House. I watch the show every so often, but I’m not really a big fan. Mostly I watch it so that the episode reviews on Polite Dissent will make more sense to me.
As an aside, the titular House, played by British actor Hugh Laurie, is an obnoxious, arrogant, heartless dick who says whatever he thinks with no consideration for the feelings of others. There have been people who watch the show who have expressed dismay at the fact that I don’t watch the show regularly, saying, “You of all people should like it.” What’s up with that?
Anyway, there was an actress on it who had been a semi-regular character for most of the season, and while I always thought she was attractive, she looked especially good in some scenes of that episode, so I thought, “I should see if there are any pictures of her.”
Now, I wasn’t expecting to find any nude pictures, though I will admit to not being averse to the prospect. Still, in my defense, when I did an image search, I did not use any variation on the words “nude,” “naked,” or “topless.”
Even so, ironically enough, bam! Very first result was a screen capture of her topless in a movie.
So okay, sometimes you get lucky, but still, that doesn’t prove anything, and my contention about making assumptions about nude pictures remains valid.
Apart from the irony, though, what makes it notable was that when I looked at the capture I thought, “Wait a minute…I’ve seen that. In fact, I have a video clip of that scene, and have had it for a long time. I saw her topless before I ever saw her on House.”
Apparently, per IMDb, I had also seen her – fully-clothed – on Big Love before she started on House. I guess she just never registered in my consciousness before.
Anyway, the point of all of this is that I had to think of something to fill out this blog post, and that’s probably – sadly and pathetically – the most interesting thing to happen so far this week.
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
No Rest For The Wicked
My long weekend threw my sleep patterns even further out of whack, leading to a lot of tossing and turning last night, which I suspect will lead to an early bedtime tonight.
It didn't take long to get back into the routine, though I did forget - until I spotted the first one of the day - that school buses would be back on the road.
I didn't get stuck behind one this morning, but I did get stopped by one on my way home.
School buses: further evidence that kids ruin everything.
(I kid, I kid. I kid about the kids.)
In a comment on my previous post, Scott had the following to say about RLC:
She wants me. You can tell by the look in her eyes.
He was right, as this enlarged and enhanced image reveals:
Of course, he'll have to fight his way through Stacy, me, and RLC's husband in order to give her what she wants.
Speaking of her husband, he played the character of John Jameson in Spider-Man 2. In the comics, John Jameson eventually transformed into a kind of werewolf known alternatively as Man-Wolf and Star-God.
As can be seen in the picture below, his transformation seems to be well underway:
Well Scott, she seems to be okay with beards, so you've got that going for you.
It didn't take long to get back into the routine, though I did forget - until I spotted the first one of the day - that school buses would be back on the road.
I didn't get stuck behind one this morning, but I did get stopped by one on my way home.
School buses: further evidence that kids ruin everything.
(I kid, I kid. I kid about the kids.)
In a comment on my previous post, Scott had the following to say about RLC:
She wants me. You can tell by the look in her eyes.
He was right, as this enlarged and enhanced image reveals:
Of course, he'll have to fight his way through Stacy, me, and RLC's husband in order to give her what she wants.
Speaking of her husband, he played the character of John Jameson in Spider-Man 2. In the comics, John Jameson eventually transformed into a kind of werewolf known alternatively as Man-Wolf and Star-God.
As can be seen in the picture below, his transformation seems to be well underway:
Well Scott, she seems to be okay with beards, so you've got that going for you.
Monday, September 01, 2008
The Only Constant
I haven't done a picture of Rachael Leigh Cook for quite a while, but they say that change is the only constant, so there you go...
Apparently I'm One Of You
I think it’s been pretty firmly established for a very long time that I’m weird and more than a little contrary, seeming to live at odds with the world around me.
Also, I live a life that is rather dull and uninteresting.
Given all of that, one would think that I’d be in the minority when spending my day off from work either doing nothing in particular or engaging in mundane tasks like grocery shopping. I mean, it would seem to follow: I’m boring and seldom do anything fun or interesting, and I’m very much unlike most people, therefore most people should be out doing exciting, fun, and interesting things.
Why, then, was the grocery store overflowing with people? Aren’t they all supposed to be out doing fun things with their families and friends? The grocery store should have been an abandoned ghost town with a single, lonely shopper walking the eerily silent aisles.
Seriously, are you people really as dull as I am? Am I somehow actually in the majority? The notion seems inconceivable.
Monday is garbage day here, but I’d assumed that the garbagemen got the holiday off, so I didn’t put my garbage out last night. I learned that I was mistaken when the sound of the garbage truck turning around and leaving woke me up at eight this morning. Oh well.
So far I’ve been treating today like a typical Sunday; besides doing some grocery shopping, I gassed up the car, and have since come home and started doing the laundry.
Of course, apparently everyone else is engaging in equally boring tasks.
When I was driving around earlier I didn’t see any signs for yard sales. Maybe having yard sales on Labor Day weekend is a UP thing.
I do kind of feel like I’ve wasted my time off even more than usual, though, as I haven’t even made an attempt at doing anything creative with my time. Then again, it’s not like I gain anything from engaging in creative pursuits, so no harm no foul, I guess.
At the grocery store I thought that I’d caught a break in that there was only one person ahead of me at the self-checkout, and she was already at the “Please select your payment method” point. I learned that I was mistaken when I heard her say, “Which button do I push?”
*Sigh*
I mean, really? Is grocery shopping really that difficult?
In any case, I suppose I should get back to the laundry.
Also, I live a life that is rather dull and uninteresting.
Given all of that, one would think that I’d be in the minority when spending my day off from work either doing nothing in particular or engaging in mundane tasks like grocery shopping. I mean, it would seem to follow: I’m boring and seldom do anything fun or interesting, and I’m very much unlike most people, therefore most people should be out doing exciting, fun, and interesting things.
Why, then, was the grocery store overflowing with people? Aren’t they all supposed to be out doing fun things with their families and friends? The grocery store should have been an abandoned ghost town with a single, lonely shopper walking the eerily silent aisles.
Seriously, are you people really as dull as I am? Am I somehow actually in the majority? The notion seems inconceivable.
Monday is garbage day here, but I’d assumed that the garbagemen got the holiday off, so I didn’t put my garbage out last night. I learned that I was mistaken when the sound of the garbage truck turning around and leaving woke me up at eight this morning. Oh well.
So far I’ve been treating today like a typical Sunday; besides doing some grocery shopping, I gassed up the car, and have since come home and started doing the laundry.
Of course, apparently everyone else is engaging in equally boring tasks.
When I was driving around earlier I didn’t see any signs for yard sales. Maybe having yard sales on Labor Day weekend is a UP thing.
I do kind of feel like I’ve wasted my time off even more than usual, though, as I haven’t even made an attempt at doing anything creative with my time. Then again, it’s not like I gain anything from engaging in creative pursuits, so no harm no foul, I guess.
At the grocery store I thought that I’d caught a break in that there was only one person ahead of me at the self-checkout, and she was already at the “Please select your payment method” point. I learned that I was mistaken when I heard her say, “Which button do I push?”
*Sigh*
I mean, really? Is grocery shopping really that difficult?
In any case, I suppose I should get back to the laundry.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
A Whole Lot Of Nothing
Today involved doing a whole lot of nothing, but finding that time managed to fly pretty quickly even though I wasn’t having any fun.
I woke up at 11:30 – I can’t remember the last time I slept that late – did a little bit of nothing in particular, had something to eat, then, after doing some more nothing in particular, looked at the clock and noticed that it was almost 3. When I looked again, it was 6, and I realized that I hadn’t eaten anything since noon, so I took care of that.
Then I noticed that I was out of paper towels and decided that getting some would give me a reason to venture out into the world, which I needed to do before I ended up developing agoraphobia. When I had four days off every week when I worked at AOL I learned that I started getting a little squirrely and anxious about leaving the house (okay, squirrelier and more anxious about leaving the house) if I stayed holed up for more than three days.
So I finally got around to taking a shower, got dressed, and went to Target. This time I remembered to bring the battery from the doorbell remote for comparison, and found the correct battery, though I didn’t remember to bring those other incorrect batteries I bought with me to exchange them.
Oh well.
In any case, I once again, pointlessly, have a working doorbell. So at least I accomplished something today.
I’ve actually been spending most of my time watching more Riff Trax movies, at least when I’m not just idly surfing the Web or wandering aimlessly around the house.
While I was at Target I also picked up some more squirrel poison, as it turns out that the creature in my backyard is not a squirrel-eating badger, but rather a vegetation-eating groundhog. Of course, it’s possible I no longer have a groundhog, as I noted that one of the trays that formerly held squirrel poison was lying empty right by the hole the groundhog had been coming in and out of. On Friday there were a bunch of squirrels congregating in my yard, so I figured I should stock up on special treats for them.
I’d thought about taking a walk around the neighborhood to see if there were any yard sales going on, but in all the excitement of doing nothing I forgot. Maybe tomorrow.
In any case, that’s pretty much all there is to report.
I woke up at 11:30 – I can’t remember the last time I slept that late – did a little bit of nothing in particular, had something to eat, then, after doing some more nothing in particular, looked at the clock and noticed that it was almost 3. When I looked again, it was 6, and I realized that I hadn’t eaten anything since noon, so I took care of that.
Then I noticed that I was out of paper towels and decided that getting some would give me a reason to venture out into the world, which I needed to do before I ended up developing agoraphobia. When I had four days off every week when I worked at AOL I learned that I started getting a little squirrely and anxious about leaving the house (okay, squirrelier and more anxious about leaving the house) if I stayed holed up for more than three days.
So I finally got around to taking a shower, got dressed, and went to Target. This time I remembered to bring the battery from the doorbell remote for comparison, and found the correct battery, though I didn’t remember to bring those other incorrect batteries I bought with me to exchange them.
Oh well.
In any case, I once again, pointlessly, have a working doorbell. So at least I accomplished something today.
I’ve actually been spending most of my time watching more Riff Trax movies, at least when I’m not just idly surfing the Web or wandering aimlessly around the house.
While I was at Target I also picked up some more squirrel poison, as it turns out that the creature in my backyard is not a squirrel-eating badger, but rather a vegetation-eating groundhog. Of course, it’s possible I no longer have a groundhog, as I noted that one of the trays that formerly held squirrel poison was lying empty right by the hole the groundhog had been coming in and out of. On Friday there were a bunch of squirrels congregating in my yard, so I figured I should stock up on special treats for them.
I’d thought about taking a walk around the neighborhood to see if there were any yard sales going on, but in all the excitement of doing nothing I forgot. Maybe tomorrow.
In any case, that’s pretty much all there is to report.
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