anteriorlobe

i hate snow

Fri, 26 Dec 2008 16:57:46 GMT

Title pretty much sums it up, although at the moment things are warming up a bit here in upstate New York. So think of this as a whine that should be backdated a couple days.

Anodyne Onyx

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 04:34:29 GMT

A view from the near future, say around the year 2100, a future where nanotechnology can be used for subcutaneous morphing cosmetics, corneal feeds to data networks, and neural input for VR systems. All the fun stuff.

Anodyne Onyx:

click for larger version

Credits:
* Rendered in Daz Studio 2.2.

* Victoria 4.2 Base, by Daz 3D
* Helena for V4, skin texture, created by Valea
-- (I made adjustments so the skin is very dark and slighly reflective)
* SilverScreen Hair, by Valea

coat, shirt, pants:
* Raiver for V4 A4 Elite, by Ravenhair
* Supervisor for Raiver V4, textures, by boundless
-- (I modified these slightly, mainly by making them greyscale)

* Neo Stop, by marforno and Danie
* Dystopia Destinations: Landing Pad, by Ajax, Moebius87 and billy home
* Dystopia City Blocks, by Ajax, billy home, and Moebius87
(if you really want to know, I used Block 23, Block 31 in the background, and blocks 29, 31, 32, 51, 81 for reflections)

Virginia

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 03:50:53 GMT

Good, it looks like Virginia has gone for Obama. The race is already over right now (10:45 EST), but, still, for some reason I'm glad my previous state of residence is going for the Democrats (or at least it looked that way right now).

Ouch Part II / Finally

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 05:04:12 GMT

Ouch Part II
I had the remains of my defective back molar ripped out this afternoon. Ripped is the right word, he really yanked the damned thing. Twice, actually, because there were two parts. I gave me a headache, but the actual process didn't take very long. And that's fine with me. I don't get nervous seeing the dentist, but, for anything medical I'm quite happy with shorter and faster visits.

It hurts now, but that's why we have Tylenol.

Finally
I'll be glad when the election is over, not because of any saturation in political news, but because it signals the end of the line for the current occupant of the White House, and a move in a much better direction with President Obama. My god, Bush has been a disaster. Granted I am fairly liberal, but I can't really think of one thing that Bush and Cheney have done that is good for the country.

I will miss Sarah Palin. I don't think there has ever been a candidate for national office in this past century who has been so manifestly unqualified. One can make the argument that a successful President does not require a long resume, (that worked for Lincoln), although I personally prefer more to less experience (I was for Hillary in the primaries).

So, one can make that argument. But not in this case. Sarah Palin has so little intellectual depth, she doesn't even understand her own positions on a bare, superficial level. It's truly amazing. Just in the last few days she's shown she doesn't comprehend the First Amendment (she thought her First Amendment rights were in jeopardy because she was criticized by the press... umm... that's like totally backwards. If you want to say your press coverage is biased there are a number of ways to make that argument, but this was just plain moronic.)

Ouch Part III
In the mean time, it's take Tylenol and distract myself with DVDs.

Speaking of which: what the hell was George Lucas thinking with The Phantom Menace? I've seen it before, but I hadn't remember how rotten it is.

Ouch / Uh, oh

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 16:22:56 GMT

From the annals of Problems that did not go away despite the fact that I was Ignoring them.

Ouch
At some point almost a year ago I had a tooth fall out. Or part of it, anyway. It did seem loose for awhile, a curious phenomena but as it didn't hurt I was able to ignore it. Finally it cracked and the crown came out when I was eating, of all things, a bowl of oatmeal. The errant tooth is one of my molars so it isn't particularly obvious. I hope. It didn't hurt, but I figured this might be a good time to see a dentist.

A dentist in Virginia took an X-ray, looked around with that little round mirror on a stick thing, and other random dental stuff. He said that I'd need to go to an oral surgeon, and that it would cost a few billion dollars to replace most of the bones in my skull with various carbon-nanotubes and some sort of para-aramid titanium composite material. My choice was to do that right now! don't wait! now now now! or end up as an extra in the next Resident Evil movie. (Although with Milla Jovovich starring, this might be worth it.)

Or something like that, I may be forgetting the details. What I did notice, though, was that I didn't notice the missing tooth - it didn't hurt at all. Granted, this meant I would not be able to move to the Congo and befriend a troupe of gorillas by cracking the seeds of hard grains, but, I could live with that.

This policy of ignoring the problem worked fairly well until about a week ago. Now the damned thing hurts. I saw an upstate New York dentist and they can rip the rest of this molar out for about 12 bucks. It's very cheap. Granted they will not be replacing the lost tooth with sophisticated bioware, and I'm not sure I get anesthetic at this price, but, at this point I'll take what I can get.

Un-oh
Another pesky issue that has been around for about a year involves my car. I like my car, a tiny little Chevy Aveo. I've only had one problem I need to get fixed (the key wouldn't come out of the ignition), it's a tinny little thing, but fine for me.

The problem? The rear view mirror has a tendency to fall off. But, only when driving, so I'm safe as long as I keep it parked. Now, granted this removable mirror could be useful if I wanted to use my car to film some sort of movie, but, other than that, I would say that a rear view mirror that pops off at random times it not very convenient.

Actually that's not true. It certainly is not convenient, but it's also not terrible random. Fast moving highways seem to be a trigger. Especially at night. Or maybe it just seems that way.

On the plus side I am pretty good at catching it before it hits the floor.

I probably should get some sort of epoxy. (Actually I asked them to fix this when they fixed the problem with the key, and the response was, "yeah, you should get some epoxy.")

I've made three quick trips down to NYC over the past couple of months. (At least for this last trip I bought some maps of the place.) My last little expedition down there involved an interesting return trip through Brooklyn / Manhattan / Bronx on 278 at around 11 PM with a rear view mirror that really wanted to be on the floor. That was fun, in an "I'm going to be killed" sort of way.

So I should get some epoxy and glue it back on. It slides into this little plastic piece that (thankfully) remains on the window, so I wouldn't even have to do much other than slap on epoxy and wander away. So simple. I should probably go out and do that right now.

Nah. It's parked. No danger of falling off right now.

Snow Crash and The Diamond Age

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 03:01:32 GMT

Neal Stephenson is my favorite author, something I've mentioned a couple of times, I'm sure. his new book Anathem is excellent. It's been on the NYT Hardcover fiction bestseller list for the past two months - not a bad thing for speculative fiction. I read Anathem and then immediately read it again; when a book has critical plot points based on a fictional version of Penrose Tiling there is plenty to wring out on a second read.

Earlier this summer I read his mammoth Baroque Cycle and what I think is his most commercially successful novel Cryptonomicon (although that may easily change with the new one). The Baroque Cycle remains my favorite of his work, very involved but a good kind of involved.

So, I went back and re-read Snow Crash and The Diamond Age, both of which I still like a lot. I can't remember when I first read them, it must have been awhile ago, I'd forgotten a number of details, which is good because it keeps the whole thing fresh. The Snow Crash is set in the near future (which, since it was written 1992, makes that now), and the Diamond Age is set in the same world about 60 or 80 years later. I found the tone of these two to be much different, Snow Crash has a number of satirical and just plain silly elements (the protaganist is named Hiro Protagonist, and at the start of the novel he delivers pizza for the Mafia) although they work very well. There is less of that in The Diamond Age and more tragic stuff (Nell, who is a little girl in the begining, lives a terrible life in the begining, helped only by her brother, who sacrifices himself for her).

In terms of sf ideas Snow Crash centers around information technology, most notably in its depiction of the Metaverse, an interactive 3d environment. Of course those things are all over the place now, World of Warcraft and all that. The creators of Second Life, which is the biggest or one of the biggest of these things, explicitly cite Snow Crash as an inspiration.

Diamond Age takes place in a future with ubiqitous, inexpensive nanotechnology, making it easy to build extremely strong structures from densely packed carbon atoms - diamond. This technology, among other things, allows for the creation of a highly interactive and versatile "book" (the pages act as little screens, so its much more than a book) which accidentally falls into the hands of a little girl and allows her to not only survive her very rough childhood, but grow up highly educated, intellegent and able to make a difference. I just learned that the makers of Amazon's Kindle cite the Diamond Age as a source of inspiration.

There is a television miniseries version of The Diamond Age in the works with George Clooney's production company, although it seems to have been delayed, perhaps forever. It's hard to tell on these things. That would certainly be interesting to watch, although even a long miniseries would have to be a adaption of part of the novel. A long discussion of Turing Machines, great in the book, isn't going to turn into particularly compelling TV.

All of this is very good (well, it is for me), but now I'm stuck. Neal Stephenson does have two books written before he wrote Snow Crash, but neither of them look very interesting to me. There is also a third early one, which he co-wrote, but the plot seems to involve a total non-political woman who is picked to run for Vice President. Hmm, I think reality has intruded somewhat on that one, although I am guessing that the fictional version might be uneducated but can't possibly be as dim as Sarah Palin.

Oh well, the next Neal Stephenson novel will be here in... oh, a couple years? Drat.

Anathem

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 18:00:31 GMT

On this past Thursday I picked up Anathem, the new novel by Neal Stephenson (it came out a week ago). It's very, very good, you should go out and buy it now.

I was going to ramble on about it, but, frankly who cares what I think? (OK, despite this I did ramble.) Instead, check out the trailer for the book. Yes, it has a trailer, one which reproduces a number of key scenes* although it does put a bit more emphasis on martial arts style fighting, but still, just check it out.

*Okay, the opening of the trailer where the two characters (Erasmus and Ala) are poking holes in a piece of paper as little sparks appear. The sparks should be on top of the projected image of the Sun and bluish. But, I think we can live with that.

Neal Stephenson is also the author of Snow Crash, a superb and truly classic novel, and, along with William Gibson's Neuromancer (which is also very, very good) defined cyberpunk. This was all before it was done to death, of course. Snow Crash is science fiction (well more of an adventure, social satire, virtual reality and ancient Sumerian-themed novel) but also just a plain good book. Don't listen to me, it's on Time Magazine's list of the 100 Best English Language Novels since 1923. Neuromancer is on the list too.

His most popular book, the one with the most sales, is probably Cryptinomicon, an expansive combination of cryptography, 21st century economics, and more with multiple story lines set in the present and WWII. This is a good book.

But, still, even after reading Anathem, my favorite books are from his Baroque Cycle (originally three: Quicksliver, The Confusion, and The System of the World, but I think not also available as 5 or 6 paperbacks which you should ignore because I see there is some sort of sale on Amazon).

The Baroque Cycle is not science fiction - well, except for one thread which slowly winds through the books until it becomes a big deal at a critical part near the end - it is historical and set in the world of the late 17th and early 18th centuries. It deals with the emergence of modern science, the emergence of modern banking and credit (which clearly has gotten a tad out of whack these days), the Glorious Revolution, and lots, lots more. I mean really, lots and lots more. The setting is phenomenally detailed and accurate. And it's a really, really good story, combining and intersecting the adventures of the three main characters (a friend of Issac Newton, a vagabond adventurer, and a woman who goes from a Turkish harem to being a Duchess in not one, but two countries).

I re-read the Baroque Cycle a few weeks ago, and it remains my favorite novels. It's all really, really good.

Oh, but what about Anathem. I like this a lot too. It does differ from Cryptonomicon and The Baroque Cycle by not having multiple stories, everything is told from the point of view of the main character, who is also the narrator. Also, and this is a bit different, the main character is not always at the center of the main action. These are not bad things, just different.

I could go on, but this is more than enough.

Oh! If you'd like a flavor of the book check out the Amazon page for Anathem, right here, and there are two video clips of NS, one reading from a section in the middle and one where he talks about different aspects.

The clip where he talks about issues in the book is rather choppy, they clearly edited down a much longer discussion. His reading is a bit flatter than ideal, and its a bit harder to tell what is going on because he made up some words for different things and concepts on this almost, but not quite Earth planet. (It turns out there is a very good reason for that, by the way.)

The clip itself, though ends up discussing that world's equivalent of Plato's Cave, here it's clouds and shadows. It turns out, and this gradually becomes apparent to the characters, that a Platonic world view, along with some quantum mechanics, is critical to solving the main mystery and crisis.

So, if you like deeply literate adventures, that spin their characters in a web of ideas, both real and fictional extensions, well then run, don't walk to your nearest bookseller and pick this up! Or, well, click on the buy button at Amazon.

Aliens, Dinosaurs and Spaceships

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 03:27:30 GMT

A few things I have rendered up in DAZ Studio and Bryce over the past couple of weeks.

Discerning viewers who read subject lines will note the absence of dinosaurs in any of these pictures. I was planning on putting a dinosaur in the Mayan jungle shot but, well, there was not much room left with all the, well, jungle. There is a bird though, so that does counts, sort of.

Return

click for larger image

The first image is an attempt at melancholia.

The mission was a success, the long journey is over, orbit will be achieved shortly and then crew can disperse. Mixed emotions on leaving, on returning.

I was very happy with how this one turned out. A great deal of time was spent messing around with various lighting combinations and tweaking poses to take advantage of slight difference in shadows with the lights at different colors or set to only effect diffuse effects or only specular effects, and on and on.

In the end, I really like it after I took the original, which was darker and gloomier, with the red lights from the back tunnels more prominent. I took that image and broaded the color range and really like the result.

To me, I see, a sort of dreamy quality here, as if it were painted. But, that's me.

This was made with DAZ Studio 2.2 using the Victoria 4.2. The spaceship (I guess it doesn't have to be a spaceship) is from The Vault which is available on Renderosity.

Barren World

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The "Barren World" was created in Bryce a couple of weeks ago. It reminds me of the cover of a science fiction paperback from the 70s. I can't remember if that was the intention or not.

Confrontation

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The "Confrontation" was originally going to have a battle with some sort of creature, probably a Brontotherium which is an extinct mammal from, oh, 30 million years ago. Instead I kept adding more jungle plants. In the background there is a bird (cf. dinosaurs) although it is actually a Scarlet Finch that I tinted green. I doubt too many Scarlet Finchs are around Mayan ruins but, well... you can't really see it and... well... just back off from the finch. I'm sure he, or she, has a very compelling story. Perhaps more comlelling than the overall image which, I confess, I liked better right after I finished it. It looks rather washed out. Hmm. Oh well.

If nothing else this render has more things in it than anything else I have done before (although it isn't close to being one with the largest file size). The sky and distant mountains were made in Bryce and the rest was made in DAZ.

At Anchor

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This last one I like and was a quick render in Bryce, with the ship being set up and then imported in from DAZ.

I was thinking of a James Cook in the South Seas sort of theme, but most of the 3d models floating around are pirate ships. So, here, with have H.M.S. Victory, which Nelson wrecked at Trafalgar. Lucky for him the fixed it up and it's still floating in Portsmouth, and is, I believe, the oldest naval ship still commissioned.

But back to the render. So why would a 100-gun, First Rate, ship of the line, with a crew of something like 700 - 800 plus a fair number of marines, be hanging around some misty, indistict shore, apparently without any trace of a crew.

Well. Good question. I think, well... it's clear.... ah hell, I like the "pretty colors" here so just back off!

Are you popular? Take this quiz!

Fri, 09 May 2008 01:52:37 GMT

Okay, I should rephrase the subject line to be "Am I popular?" as I just watched the RiffTrax version of Are You Popular? an educational film produced by educational film producing company Coronet Films back in 1947. In Oklahoma. Don't believe me, then check out it's IMDb page here.

And, I should rephrase the bit about the "quiz" I mentioned above. The title itself is a question, although when pressed I confess that this alone hardly constituents a "quiz."

So, looking at the question Am I Popular? The answer, of course, is depressingly self-evident by the mere fact that I watched Are You Popular?

The short itself is quite comical even before the Riffing by the lovable Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett. What I learned is that the for a girl to be popular (as defined by this short, in other words, not the one who would be popular in real life):

To be popular a girl must "look nice." Sounds reasonable, although the standard seems to be that one must look nicer than the "weird characters."
It helps to "be interested in girls as well as boys." Hey! The narrator said it, not me!
The girl should either feign ignorance, or, even better, actually be stupid. Act like you don't know what a "prop" is.
When your date arrives at your home, excuse yourself to get your scarf and then reemerge with new gloves. (See number 3.)
Be inefficient when compared to boys. Sadly, Carolyn, fails at this task because her date Wally tells her mother that, "Much that I hate to admit it," Carolyn has been helpful with the props. Obviously Wally has been humiliated.
In order to "repay a boy for entertaining her," Carolyn must invite him over for brownies after the date to "teen town." Or, better yet, "bring another couple home."

And, of course, some totally out-of-context comedy lines from the Rifftraxing:

"Look! A mandrill!"
"I can't be the father!"
"I know gang, let's tear her limbs off in an apoplectic fit of popularity!"
"Better than scrawling on the walls with her own blood."
"But in the end it all boils down to whether or not you smoke cigarettes."

Zubarra!

Thu, 08 May 2008 17:42:42 GMT

No sooner have you taken care of a pesky Bolladon when you're stuck dealing with the Zubarra that infiltrated the station! I think this is something we can all relate to.

I liked the character from the Bolladon! render earlier in the week, so she's back, this time with a katana in place of the sabre pistol.

At first I was going to have her catching a glimpse of the Zubarra in the glass of the wall display. The angles didn't work out for that shot, but you can still see the reflection of the snarling creature. So, I suppose this is just after she spotted the Zubarra.

Zubarra!

click for larger version

If you want to see what's written on the wall display, check out the super-large version!

Credits
(all are available at DAZ 3D except the Katana which is a free product available on Renderosity.

* rendered in DAZ Studio 2.1
* Victoria 4.2, by DAZ 3D
* Coat and Shirt from Domino for V4, created by Lourdes Mercado
* Pants from Shadow Dancer for V4, created by Lourdes Mercado
* Shigi Hair, created By: Lesthat, Out of Touch, Vampir3Princess
* V4 Glasses, umm... I can't remember, I'll get back to you on that one
* Level 19, created by Stonemason
* Zubarra, created by Dinoraul

* Katana, created by borada

Two Juntaras and a Bolladon

Wed, 07 May 2008 04:39:12 GMT

Periodically I've been poking around with DAZ Studio and Bryce. I'm having an awful time making decisions, though, all sorts of "vital" things like "should that light go here or here." It's like a giant eye exam.

I think I'm declaring this done. Um, more or less. She isn't holding the gun right!

The environment of columns and water pools is the set Spa of Juntura, actually two of them mixed together, with the addition of the stone wall in the background and some cylinders behind the camera to help create more shadows of "columns." The creature in the back is called a Bolladon in the DAZ online listings. In front is DAZ's Victoria 4.2 with, I think, the generic DAZ hi-res skin texture, the Domino coat/shirt/pants outfit, and Shigi hair, but where I have turned off the double pony tail. The gun, which doesn't fit her hand very well, is from the Privateer set intended for the Michael 3 character. Hmm, maybe I should have looked around for a katana instead.

Bolladon!

click for larger version

Credits (all available at http://www.daz3d.com/)
* created with DAZ Studio 2.1
* Victoria 4.2, by DAZ 3D
* Domino for V4, created by Lourdes Mercado
* Shigi Hair, created By: Lesthat, Out of Touch, Vampir3Princess
* Sabre pistol from The Privateer, created By: ElorOnceDark, Anna Benjamin
* Spa of Juturna, by Redhouse Studios
* Bolladon, by Dinoraul

Sundial Guy

Mon, 05 May 2008 17:06:28 GMT

This shot is of one of the figures holding up a sundial which is located in the center of the "Italian Gardens" in Congress Park located in downtown Saratoga Springs, NY.
I don't know, maybe it's my mood, but he seems like someone who has resigned himself to a rather unhappy occupation.

Taken with my trusty Nikon D40 and 55-200mm VR zoom lens.

Sundial, detail

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Something Different

Sun, 04 May 2008 03:33:41 GMT

This is part of a project I have been working on very slowly - so slowly in fact that this is about the first usable image.

This was made by Rendering all sorts of things inside DAZ Studio and then mixing some "art" filters with Corel PhotoPaint. PhotoShop has quite a few of those, but I was happy with this combinations because it doesn't look like it came out of cookie cutter set of PS filters.

Anyway, here is the small version. Click for the medium. If you're brave click the link below for the full size one (2400x1500).

Priogenic, P1-P1

click for larger version

For the fullsize version (3+ MB) click here.

Heads!

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 05:10:03 GMT

Heads of statues, sort of. I think these are cast reproductions or some new originals. There is a very small little sculpture garden at one end of Congress Park in Saratoga Springs. That one reminded me of a set for the original Star Trek series.

A couple pictures from Congress Park and then a few of the statues they recently pulled out of winder storage ay Yaddo Gardens.

Congress Park: Pan

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A View of the tiny sculpture garden. I think there is going to be a fountain beyond the two columns.

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Persephone ? At Yaddo Gardens, I'm guessing that this is Persephone. Either at least in the form appropriate for the winter.

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The Yaddo Babe

Click for larger view

A view down two of the four scupltures.

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Mallard!

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 03:06:27 GMT

I was wandering through Congress Park in Saratoga Springs this afternoon and there were ducks about, which is normal, and even some resting the grass near the small pond and brooks, also perfectly normal. What I didn't expect was that they are so used to humans you can get fairly close to them. It also helps that you're not supposed to feed these ducks (and from what I can tell people don't) so they're not eying you for a snack. Most of the ones on the grass were just napping.

Mallard, Resting

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Mallard, Walking

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Mallard, Flapping

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pictures of water

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 21:48:11 GMT

Some pictures taken recently of a brook, two creeks and a river.

The Gordon Creek as it passes through Ballston Spa near the Old Iron Spring. (Apr 18, 2008)

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The Kayaderosseras Creek as it passes through Ballston Spa near the bridge on Milton Ave. I like the shadows on the old chunk of masonry, which is probably the remains of an old railroad bridge. (Apr 17, 2008)

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Crew team from some Area College practices in the Mohawk River. I like the blue in the water here, and it contrasts nicely with the red of the oars. (Taken near the bridge on Route 146, Apr 17, 2008)

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Geyser Brook as is passes by SPAC. At the lower right is the snow covered mound of tufa from the Oneida Spring.

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Wildly Popular "Iron Man Trailer' To Be Adapted into Full Length Movie

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 23:58:40 GMT

Big budget film makers always run a risk when they attempt a cinematic adaption of something from another medium. Some successes include the X-Man films based on the popular comic book characters. The TV series "Cavemen" based on the GEICO commercials drew some favorable comments from critics, but few viewers and was quickly canceled.

Some less well known examples include "Easy Bake Squad" about a group of super spies battling evil forces around the world with the help of their Easy Bake Ovens. The miniseries "Atkins" about a motley group of dietitians who solve mysteries while losing pounds and feeling better, did well in the ratings. Tragically a misprint in the novelization recommending 30 to 40 pounds of low fat yogurt a day, and the backlash lead to "Atkins II: Polyunsaturated" being canceled in pre-production. And as for "Baby On Board: The Movie," well the less said the better.

Iron Man: Trailer... and now a Movie?
And now, something potentially troublesome, last summer's popular trailer for Iron Man is being adapted into a full length motion picture. Will this work? After the cut is a video news report that will present some troubling questions.

Oh, and of course, everything in the second paragraph I made up.

Sorry.

Pictures of Things

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 03:09:25 GMT

Some pictures of things: ducks, a geyser, a seagull and a night time reflecting pool.

Taken this evening at Roosevelt Baths in Saratoga Spa State Park. The snow is gone and they just filled up the reflecting pool. It's still cold out though.

This was taken last Wednesday in Saratoga Spa park, along a little trail that runs beside a creek. This is actually very close to SPAC. There is one (small) geyser, as well as a bunch of springs. This is the mineral deposit buildup from a spring which is at the top of the bank. There is a bit of snow still and it was icy because, well, there is all this disgusting mineral water flowing down constantly.

A sea gull. I like the picture just because I was able to get so close. Taken on March 18 at a park across the river from Schenectady.

A bunch of ducks in Reston, VA. This was taken on January 30... which seems eons ago and worlds away from my situation now.

If Mirrors Could Speak

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 00:35:49 GMT

Do you have 99 cents?

No, not for me! For you. Seriously!

Head on over to Rifftrax and pick up the RiffTraxian version of a 1970s school short, If Mirrors Could Speak.

Luckily for us, the film is annotated with a comedic commentary by MST3K alumni Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett. Kevin Murphy is best known as the voice of Tom Servo, Mr. Corbett was the voice of Crow T. Robot and also played Brain Guy in the last seasons. Michael J. Nelson, also the head writer, struggled with his character, "Mike Nelson."

MST3K did a number of educational shorts, including such classics as The Chicken of Tomorrow (something called the "truck" will be important for the Chicken Ranchers of the future), Body Care and Grooming (unless you fit in, conform to all of societies conventions, you will never find a mate), and the incredibly eerie A Date with Your Family (this one is just spooky). This latest piece of RiffTraxanalia fits firmly into that category.

Mirrors and What They Tell Us
If Mirrors Could Speak presents a dystopian world ruled by arbitrary unseen forces, a world where omniscient beings survey the ruins of civilization with disdain as they mock the inhabitants. Also mirrors talk.

Yes, as you no doubt guessed, this is about grade school in the 1970s! For some reason this educational short includes a teacher who is heard but not seen. This is either an homage to structuralism and cinematic le stade du miroir theories of Lacan, or because they were too cheap to pay for an on-screen appearance.

But the mirrors do talk!

Three students are "clowns," one because she is obnoxious, the other is loud and comical, while the third is a "sad clown," who rarely even looks up. (Lucky for him, the teacher openly mocks his shyness... and this is straight in the short, not the Riffing.)

These student "clowns" are symbolically shown by child actors who have faces smeared with a horrid layer of greasepaint, the ill effects of which no doubt kicked in when they reached puberty. By looking into the talking mirror the students can learn how to improve themselves (but see below, for the shocking secret!)

My favorite was the depressed student. He was a "sad" clown. Shy, never speaking in class. The RiffTraxers give him some good lines like, "My soul has been smothered by ennui," and, when asked to play during recess, he declines stating "We are born astride the grave."

The mirror tells the sad student that his problem is that he is "thinking too much about himself," and not about others. Yes, as the comedy commentary adds, his depression is inconvenient for the rest of the class, so could he please stop. The Riffers add the suggestion that he "visit GlaxoSmithKline.com and take our quiz" -- and you can to, by clicking here.)

A Shocking Conclusion
In a surprisingly early example of a blatant loose end which begs for a sequel, only two of the three "clowns" have their grease paint magically cleaned off so that they can rejoin society. Who survives to talk to the next mirror: the bitch, the trouble maker, or the sad sack?

You will have to spend 99 cents in order to find out!

this sucks

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 20:16:14 GMT

Today is the day, 8 years ago, I had my brain surgery. Maybe eventually this day can come and go and I won't even notice.

Meetings and More

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 04:55:08 GMT

There are a number of things I need to do this week, appointments to go to, phone calls to make. I did some of that on Monday. A number of these things are likely to end up being critical for what happens over the next month or six or next year, although it's not clear which of them will end up mattering.

The result is that I have been edgy, but an odd kind of edgy, less angry/grumpy and more depressed and upset. It's hard to explain. Well, maybe not that hard, but not worth the effort.

endless

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 22:05:55 GMT

I haven't been able to sleep at night without an ambien since, well, since a very long time. I am trying (once again) to see if I can extract myself from that, mainly because this means one less drug to buy. (I've done the same thing with one of the two anti-depressants I was on, it's hard to tell if this has had any negative mood impacts.)

I'm not disciplined enough to let the ambien sit in a bottle. Not that I don't try that method, but after 2 or 3 hours of not sleeping I finally just grab one to put an end to the night. So, I just wait for times when the prescription runs out. I'll see how it goes, although based on my past history there is 97% chance that I will ask (i.e., beg) for a new ambien prescription when I have another appointment with an internist in two weeks.

I'm not really sure why I can't sleep. Maybe there is a physical reason, but I suspect it's probably psychological. I have wondered if a placebo would do the same thing. Not that I have anyway to realistically test that hypothesis.

Morpheus
I'm not sure my choice of reading material at night is helping. I finished the Lucifer series and have started to re-read Neil Gaiman's Sandman series. The "sandman" in question being Morpheus, the Lord of Dreams. This doesn't always seem to be the best topic to have floating around when one can't sleep or dream.

As an aside...
I have forgotten how the early Sandman stories aren't as good as the rest. I'll be glad when I finish the second volume and start in on the third, Dream Country. The first story in this one, Calliope, about the muse who is a captive of a bad novel writer, is the first Sandman tale that really jumped out at me, making me realize that this stuff was very, very good.

The last story from the first volume, The Sound of Her Wings, is also extremely good, being the introduction of Dream's optimistic and fun sister, Death. (Really, no sarcasm or irony there.) But, I think when I read it the first time the Endless did not yet have the same emotional impact that would form on reading through the whole series.

One of the many things that make both Sandman and Lucifer so well written (the latter series was written by Mike Carey) is to make engaging characters out of being who are immortal with vast powers to shape or control or destroy the entire universe. Lucifer goes farther, he is (with help from his brother the archangel Michael) about the make his own universe. And yet, Lucifer and Dream and the rest are all very good, very well written characters.

So now what...
What I would like to do is to be able to get moving on a couple of personal projects, hopefully even getting something of substance completed this weekend. Next week there are some appointments I have to go to, ones which could be helpful or just a waste of time.

I have a hard time focusing at all, being tired (or much more tired than usual) isn't helping at all. This afternoon I got sidetracked doing something largely pointless, but, I suppose there is always a chance I could get moving on something this evening. I'm not holding my breath, but I suppose it's not impossible.

RvD2 -- a short film

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 01:37:23 GMT

I was wandering around my computer and came across the DivX version of Ryan vs Dorkman 2, a fan-made short about two guys who have a light saber duel to the death in, I believe, an empty taco factory. I haven't watched that in weeks!

This has got to be the best fan-made anything with a light saber fight, granted these guys are pretty adept with Adobe AfterEffects and after this short was made one of them did work at LucasArts for about a year.

Still, forget that it's origins are nerdy. It's just a really good short film.

First, if you haven't, go check it out at: RyanvsDorkman.com. Just click on the heading at the top right that says "Ryan vs Dorkman 2" and then, I strongly recommend, download the DivX high-def version.

Or, if you're in a hurry, check it out on YouTube, but I'm telling you, it is amazing in high-def.

So why is this a great short?

First, the characterization is excellent even though there isn't any dialog! You figure out fairly quickly who is nice and who isn't. Or at least who is more ruthless. This occurs because the facial expressions, especially by Ryan in a couple of sections, are amazingly good. Subtle, but powerful, you know he's mad, really mad, and it comes across as a believable mad.

It also works because it doesn't use a lot of exposition to explain the premise. (A pet peeve of mine is excessive exposition. Although, I'm hardly alone there.) I can easily see other people tacking on. They don't need to explain stuff, it's either obvious or irrelevant.

The camera work and editing is also really good. They use the tilted camera thing very effectively, and it underlines the eviler parts.

The stedi-cam used in the very begining is also extremely fluid, it's a pity that at this part of the fight (before the pool of water, that is during about the first 40 seconds) the staging of the saber battle is a bit stilted.

The pacing is excellent, it really builds up very well. As they say on their behind-the-scenes video-faq, they realize that an on-camera fight really has to have a plot, in some sense, it has to have sections where it looks like one person is winning, one losing, etc. The pacing here is also excellent in that it really builds up, then comes to an emotional (seriously!) pause, before heading for the final part of the fight.

The comedic elements, and there are a couple, are also well done, especially in terms of where they occur. It's not arbitrary but really helps the overall pacing and doesn't feel like they had a joke they just needed to toss in.

Even the opening and closing titles are great. Simple, but very effective. They convey a science fiction-ish/action theme without being derivative of an actual Star Wars movie.

It's only about 7 minutes long. The end credits, after the first 30 seconds, just list people who sent them money while they were working on it. So while it looks like a cast of thousands, there were really only 4 people (including Ryan and "Dorkman") during the actual shot. They did the rotoscoping of the light saber effect, the wall scorch marks, added in the pyrotechic flashes in the part under the metal grates. Someone else made the 3d models which show up at the end.

It's just a delightful little short.

They even have their own Wikipedia and IMDb pages, so it must be good!

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 06:44:39 GMT

This is a tad different: http://cubo.cc/, it would certainly make a weird screen saver.

Lucifer!

Sun, 30 Mar 2008 04:26:13 GMT

I'm re-reading the Lucifer graphic novels (i.e., comic books) which I read a few months ago. The first time I read them slightly out of order - I was just impatient. This time, even though I am still in vol. 1, I can see little things which later became big things.

Lucifer is a spin-off from Neil Gaiman's Sandman. In the Sandman series Lucifer quit as Lord of Hell, turning the keys over to someone else. In this series we see he has opened a piano bar in LA. But rapidly becomes involved in some intrigue and see what he really wants: a "Letter of Passage" from his father (that would be God).

This version of Lucifer is very much in favor of free will, it was to seek his own destiny which, in this storyline, lead him to rebel against heaven with all that Miltonian stuff. But this is not at all fixed with a standard Christian version, there are gods from other religions and pantheons, and some brief cameos from the Endless.

He's very smart, very sneaky, and not always nice, but a very good protagonist for a series that literally bounces back across the universe and the ends of time. I should add that he is always considerate of Mazikeen, a descendant of the biblical Lilith, who wears a mask with obscures the left side of her face.... Mazikeen is a good character too...

The Wikipedia article on this graphic novel series is here.

Vertigo (part of DC) lets you download a pdf of all or part of the first comic here.

That's it, just wanted to share.

click for larger version!

above: Mazikeen! wearing her half-face mask!

above: Death of the Endless!