Amazing...

This guy needs to be working in Vegas, pronto...


This begs the question... how do you decide to get good at stacking dice with a cup?

Sic Transit iMac...

I want to take a moment and mourn the passing of a friend... my iMac G5, after 3 full years of service, is dead.

I attempted to replace the hard drive today, but found that a plastic connector (for what must, to my mind, be a temperature sensor; it connects to the chassis of the hard drive, not any actual drive components) had become so brittle that just touching it caused it to fall apart. I can only assume my computer had, in the past, gotten too hot for too long; this plastic was truly degraded. I proceeded anyway, and did my best to reconstruct the part, but when I went to start the machine up, the drive wouldn't engage for several minutes, and no start-up screen ever loaded.

Dead for a ducat, dead.

So farewell, dear iMac. You served me well, and we had good times.

I'm glad I backed you up last week. I have to figure out a way to get you recycled, now...

In the meantime, I think it may be time for Tracy to get a laptop of her own. I still want one of the new aluminum iMacs, but I need to wait for that... Leopard comes out soon, and I can wait for the next revision to come along. Besides which, I plan on making a TV my next big purchase... So Tracy having her own machine will give us a home computer solution in the meantime. Besides which, she's started talking about it recently, so hopefully I can convince her... ;)

Anyone interested in a 500GB internal SATA drive? High quality, ready to rock; I'll sell it cheap for 80 bucks. Let me know...

Weekend Blues

Bleh, bleh, and bleh.

Yes, I was supposed to be in Yosemite right now, but on Friday I was just feeling too sick to go. That proved wise; Friday night wasn't very pretty. But yesterday got progressively better; I slept through a lot of it in various fits and naps (hence my being up at 1 a.m.).

Interesting note: at no point this weekend did I really want to watch a movie. Sure, I turned the TV on for a little while, but I really wasn't into it. Which is strange; I do love watching movies, and usually take advantage of time when I cannot do anything else.

But not this weekend, not me. Napping and reading and a episode or two of CSI.

Today is a much better day, I feel fairly good and have tried to focus on getting things accomplished. Tracy gets home soon, which I can't wait for; it's funny how lonely you can get over two little days.

sic transit gloria mundi

I was doing some internet-noodling* this afternoon, and in reading about some Wes Anderson influences, I encountered this phrase, the source of the stated theme of Rushmore: sic transit gloria mundi.

Wikipedia gives the definition as "Thus passes the glory of the world." It goes on to note that a common interpretation is "Fame is fleeting," and that the phrase is commonly used in Papal coronations, to underscore the fact that despite high honor, the Pope is mortal.

In none of this do I see direct connections to glory, or a world in a state of excellence.

So then, dear Reader, I ask you: what is glory? In my experience with common English, it generally seems to be a property of its subject: "the glory of God" is his greatness; or in speaking of, say, a (fictional) king, "He is a glorious man." And even when I hear the much more ambiguous phrase "I do this for glory," I have always thought it to mean "I do this for a higher purpose, to bring myself closer to perfection."

Turns out, though, I had it all wrong.

That last example I give lays it out most explicitly; "I do this for glory" is a simple statement of the reward the person is seeking. For in these Latin translations, the world is never the subject of the meaning. So "glory" is not, then, an internal quality of anything or anyone; rather, like praise, it is given by an outside party to an object of worth.

The Glory of God, then, is his to pass to you; the glorious king is so only because his subjects love him (and not vice versa!); the man does his deeds to win affection in the eyes of the people.

The search for glory is an innately selfish act; or is it? For the man of our last example is as much saying he desires no other payment than to be loved and remembered for his actions; a high price, to be sure, but a simple one to give, because it can be refused.

To say you do something for glory is to announce your intention to do great things; glory can only be earned, people must be convinced in order to bestow it. The man announcing his intent to act for glory says that people bear no risk in trusting him; if he fails, they lose nothing, and if he succeeds, they will pay him without needing to think about it. It is, simultaneously, a statement of arrogance and humility; I shall do this thing, and be great, yet I need nothing beyond this.

Or something like that. I am not a lingual expert, but I find this fascinating; what our words mean so often becomes taken for granted. It's fun to take apart our assumptions, every once in a while.


[* I like this term, at least a bit. "Web surfing" implies a higher level of athleticism and activity, besides which, it is so 1997. Web browsing doesn't really mean anything, as the applications we use are called browsers. "Internet-noodling" is needlessly clunky, but noodling... something feels right about that. Like on a guitar, playing around, not quite aimlessly, but with no clear direction. I like it.]

Thank You, Dad!

My father was always incredibly good at correcting my grammar as a kid. I mean it-- by age 14, I knew more about who/whom, lie/lay, effect/affect, objects/subjects, etc. than many teachers. I got Strunk & White's The Elements of Style as a birthday gift, and still consider it a necessary favorite.*

So you should find it to be no surprise that I am now, as I become an adult myself, exactly the same. Not that I have perfect grammar, or that I don't make mistakes; just that I tend to notice things when they're wrong.

And, being the same, I found the two following sites to be hilarious.

Apostrophe Abuse and The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks both post pictures of various signs, websites, letters, and other print media that break some pretty basic rules.

And often to comedic results.

I laughed out loud numerous times browsing these blogs; I highly recommend them.



[* This book is incredible, especially for anyone who writes. If you don't own it, go buy it right now. I mean it. Now.]

Thursday

Bleh.

Another Thursday, another week almost over.

We're planning on going to Yosemite this weekend; I've never been, and I'm starting to get pretty pumped.

Problem is, I'm also starting to get sick.

So, to bed with me. I may put up a quick post or two, but I'm going to rest and try to get well... because if not, it'll be a lame and boring weekend for me...

Millennium Falcon: The Beginning

This past weekend, I finally got started on the Falcon Lego set... and hot damn, what fun.

Some observations:

• Yes, this is a shit-ton of bricks.


• When building a set with over 5,000 pieces, do you have any idea how long it takes to find the first two?


• Answer: 25 minutes.


• It took me all of Day 01 to even guess which end might be which... it's that big!

Follow the link to check out the Flickr photo set of the work-in-progress...

More Galactica

My good friend Josh, a wonderful editor here at Herzog Cowen, took Tracy and me to the Battlestar: Galactica convention in Burbank last year, which was a whole heck of a lot of fun. I was a mite disappointed, if only because I expected it to be huge, when it was really a small affair, composed of two rooms. It was, however, just like Galaxy Quest with an MC working the stage, and a smattering of applause for the panelists.

Yes, it was awesome.

But, they had this "video" competition, where fans made their own music videos with footage from the show. And they were, summarily, all terrible.

I say again: All terrible.

But it gave Josh an idea. And here it is. Watch it, pass it on if you like it, rate it if you really like it. He's proud.

And I dig it. Big time.

Yikes...

Busy work + iMac not fixed yet + just wanting to relax = Lame, lame, LAME blogging!

Sorry about the week+ absence, here... I certainly didn't mean to disappear, and have no good reason.

To try and get the momentum started back up (and a heavy beast this blog can be, dear readers), here are a few random videos. Just because.


My money was on the bear.


I cannot wait for Season 4. Or Season 1 in HD. Seriously.


Yup. That's exactly what you saw.


Bare with me. I promise to get back into the swing of things starting today.

Look Before You Link

Two weeks ago, I linked to a story about a meteor crash and Peru, and its similarities to the chupacabra myth. In that post, I linked to the Wikipedia chupacabra page to help describe the beast. I glanced at its contents, verified it was what I wanted, and kept writing.

I should have read the entire page.

Turns out, there has been a chupacabra sighting right in m home state of Maine! As luck would have it, the Wikipedia page discussed and linked to a news story about a "hybrid mutant" (!) that was hit by a car in Turner. Apparently, it "may be the mysterious creature that has mauled dogs, frightened residents and been the subject of local legend for half a generation."

Goes to show that you don't need to go to exotic locales to find strange mythical beasts to mutilate your livestock. You just have to go to Turner, Maine.

A Missed Opportunity

Does anyone else think International Treasure is a way better title, and more fun, than Nation Treasure: Book Of Secrets?

Mini-Rant: I AM SO SICK OF SEEING "BANK GOTHIC" FONT! It is used everywhere, and was made popular several years ago by being the official font of "24." Now this, The Kingdom, "Battlestar: Galactica" (closing credits), The Day After Tomorrow, The Matrix films, and plenty of other film/tv projects are using it. Yes, it looks cool, but c'mon, it's way overexposed, and is starting to feel predicable and cliché.

Observation: Disney isn't too hip on numbering sequels these days. It isn't National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets, just like we didn't get Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End. My read is that a numbered sequel (especially done with numerics instead of roman numerals) feels finite and tacked on; as if the producers were stretching the original conept to expand the story. Numbering may also imply a continued storyline... as if we expect to see the original plot points developed further.

The "colon-ized" sequel title seems to lend a more serialized vibe to a film franchise. This is the next set of National Treasure adventure. That tradition goes all the way back to Raiders of the Lost Ark and its colon-ized "Indiana Jones and" sequels.

But... Star Wars, the ultimate serial adventure of our era, is a weird combination of both approaches— or at least it was ret-conned into being a hybrid later on, with Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope. And comic books, which number issue but don't usually number story arcs, get translated into numeric film franchises regularly: Spier-Man 1, 2, & 3, Superman 1, 2, 3, & 4, X-Men 1 & 2, they all eschew straight colon-ized serialization, even when they come from truly serialized sources.

Interesting. I can't say I have final thoughts on that matter, beyond that Disney's two flagship franchises (of the moment) both title their entries the same.

Happy October everyone!

LEGO Mania

I have always been a huge LEGO fan.

Growing up, that was probably my favorite toy. I was a member of the LEGO club for several years. Back home, between my siblings and myself, we filled plastic crates full with our assorted sets. We had sets from all categories, but favored the castle, space, and pirate brands. Back in my day, the types were literally called Town, Space, Castle, and Pirates. And there were few (if any!) custom parts. Yessir, I watched as LEGO diversified, and started calling their lines "Space Police," "Wolfpack," "M:Tron," "Black Tron," "Black Knights," "Dragon Masters," "Ice Planet," "Space Police II," and started doing movie tie-ins with "Star Wars," "Jurassic Park," "Harry Potter," and "Spider-Man."

I built hundreds of custom sets... recreating the suggestions on the backs of the boxes, doing my own ideas, working with my siblings and friends to build larger concepts. My shining achievement was "Mount Dragon," a name ripped right out of Lloyd Alexander's "Prydain Chronicles." It was a completely original castle shaped like a dragon, with large wings, an opening mouth, a dungeon, and catapults.

It was awesome.

LEGOs were the first thing I ever took money out of the bank for. I remember my mother making sure it was something I wanted to do, me saying "yes," and then she took me to take $100 out to go and buy... I think it was an "Ice Planet" ship set.* Ian got some at the same time. We both used to spend a lot of time at a store called, fittingly enough, "Ask Your Mother." Long gone now, it was on Pleasant Street in Brunswick and had the best LEGO selection. I still look at Target, Wal-Mart, and Kmart, and wonder where a kid can go to see the full range of LEGO toys I remember...

I still collect and build LEGOs these days, although at a much smaller scale. A few "Star Wars" sets here and there, the occasional nostalgia purchase on eBay, sometimes building old sets from my youth that I've dug up during trips back home.

In that spirit, here are three LEGO-themed bits of news...

First, check this out; this is the kind of building I didn't do very often, but I salivate while thinking about it now. I wish I had the time to spend on exploits such as this; I think I'd be good at it, as well as love it.

Secondly, David H. pointed this out to me last week: "Forbidden LEGO."

Talk about awesome. This book is the ultimate guide to mischief: take a favorite (and in my life, common) toy, mix in adolescence with a touch of knavishness, and bring to boil with solid instructional material. Catapults, rubber-band guns, fast cars, this book has it all. I've pre-ordered it already, and look forward to showing it to Ashby someday.

Thirdly... I lied earlier. When I said I only collected on a small scale. Because every once and a while, LEGO history is made. Just like with the iPhone, I can't just let that pass me by.

So, several months ago, I took steps to ensure my place on the cutting edge, the front line of the mature LEGO collector.

And Tuesday, earlier than expected, I found this waiting for me at work:

You'd better believe I'm excited now! (And yes, I know I need a haircut) The "Ultimate Collector's Millennium Falcon" is, at over 5,000 pieces, LEGO's biggest set. EVER. And looking at the end result, it looks like it's low on custom pieces.

That's right, good old fashioned generic pieces seems to be the majority here.

I plan on updating as I go through the building process. I haven't started yet... part of me wants to leave the box untouched and pristine, but that part of me will lose out to the part of me that will always want to build LEGOs. The whole process will (hopefully) have a Flickr set devoted to it, and I'll post whenever it's updated.

Wish me luck...


[* Thanks Mom!]