Fun
These posts might also belong to any of the other categories, but there’s something special about them. They’re fun or goofy or just plain different!
I Literally Cannot Title This Anything Save “Some Japanese Game”
I can’t quote publications, but I’ve heard that Seattle is 12 times more culturally influential, per capita, than New York or Los Angeles. This is exactly the sort of self-aggrandizing comment that Seattlites love, and you can almost feel the populace rolling this idea around in their heads like a lozenge in their mouths.
It’s really kind of egotistical and gross. (more…)
Tron: Legacy (The Movie, This Time. Not The Soundtrack.)
The new designs for Tron: Legacy are extremely beautiful
So, I don’t feel it’s necessary to say too much about Tron: Legacy. It’s beautiful, mellow, and contemplative. The original Tron, if you will remember, was not an action movie. Neither is Tron: Legacy.
But it’s gorgeous, and it’s interesting enough, though the script (admittedly better here than in the original) could use a little more… pizazz. They have the seeds of some interesting ideas carried through from the original, including the exploration of the intersection between religion and technology. But these seeds barely sprout, or the code doesn’t branch, or something.
I get the feeling that given some time, the mythos of Tron is going to flesh itself out with fan speculation. Perhaps I’ll find some line of fanboy logic that satisfies my desire to chew on the Tron universe better than Tron: Legacy itself does.
Crosswords
Pretty, isn't it?
I’ve recently started taking the New York Times Crossword Puzzle seriously.
On The Victrola: Tron: Legacy Soundtrack
Tron: Legacy
With talk that includes comparisons to James Cameron’s Avatar, Disney’s Tron Legacy is getting some incredible hype as it leads up to its release next week. Leading the surge of Tron preview media content was the release of the original score, created by French-electronica-legends Daft Punk. (more…)
PenIslandDotCom
Eli taking photos for an upcoming unboxing article
My friend Eli has gotten into fountain pens recently, going so far into pen fandom that he has become an extremely active member of the Fountain Pen Network, posting pen unboxing photos and lengthy reviews. I just so happened to be hanging out with him when he received a couple of new pens that feature a unique filling system. Check out this video.
Pretty crazy.
As for me, my pen of choice is the Kaweco Sport, with Diamine Emerald ink.
Wherein things are Yay.
After months of feeling like a lonely cosmonaut left on his own to care for an interplanetary fueling station, I found out today that my boss has finally hired more people to fill my position at work. After they’re trained and in place, it’ll only be a matter of time until I get promoted to Gates, a position I’ve been trying to get for a year.
So yay.
In similarly happy news, after what seemed like months, I got my Segway PT back from repairs.
So double yay.
Conservatory of Flowers and the Bay Area Garden Railway
The Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park has a special exhibit right now set up by the Bay Area Garden Railways society. It’s a model train layout of famous San Francisco landmarks, and all of the buildings are made out of recycled materials, like computer floppy disks, old milk crates, bottles, circuit boards, cereal boxes, and light fixtures. Here are some photographs that I took of the layout, and of some of the flowers in the Conservatory.
My Dad’s Christmas Story
One Christmas morning, my father attempted to describe Santa as Solid Snake.
This is that story.
“Dad, does Santa really go house to house delivering toys?”
“He does indeed; why just last night this Christmas Eve, I heard him.”
“What? No!”
“Yeah, I was sitting here watching TV after you’d gone to bed, and I thought I heard jingling coming from the roof, like bells on a reindeer. I turned off the TV, and the sound stopped. I unmuted it, and the sound returned! I turned it off and on one more time and then I was sure of it! I heard a jingling, but only when the TV was on! It was Santa, trying to use the sound of the TV to muffle the sounds of him infiltrating our household!”
THE GREAT MAGICIANS OF THE 20th CENTURY!
In addition to his popular appearances as the Daily Show’s resident expert and his long-running stint playing the REVILED and DISGUSTING PC in the adverts for those GLORIOUS and MAGNIFICENT Apple computers, John Hodgman (referred to henceforth by his stage name, “The Master of Hidden Knowledge, Hodgman”) has also received some notoriety for being America’s preeminent fake trivia and esoteric list compiler. In his books, The Areas of My Expertise, and More Information Than You Require, he presents a mind-expanding journey through fabricated facts and figures, supplemented with long and laboriously crafted lists of 700 hobo names (featured in Areas) and 700 mole-man names (featured in More). It was his work in the fields of mole-men and boxcar-riding drifter monikers that spurred me to research and compile this list of THE GREAT MAGICIANS OF THE 20TH CENTURY!
Please keep in mind that this list is a work in progress; look for a supplement here in the future.
And so, without further ado, I present
THE GREAT MAGICIANS OF THE 20th CENTURY!
Seattle’s Cold Snap
We’ve had a little bit of a cold snap here in Seattle over the past week. I was lucky to have decided to bring my camera with me to work on one of the coldest days. I was able to get these great pictures before I started work. My favorite of these three is the one of the bear statue; it looks like the bear had been cryogenically frozen!
Click the pics to see them in full size.
