The Occasional Solipsist

Not a hell of a lot going on around here right now. I have some time off over the xmas holidays that I am filling up with a whole lot of nothing at all. And I am loving it. Xmas was great, even though I had to work the day itself. Trin had such a great time opening her presents and even though she got spoiled absolutely rotten, she was still very polite and affectionate through the whole thing. Been spending lots and lots of time with family, and I am surprised by what a good time I've been having of that.

Here's the rest of that linkfest I started a couple of days ago. These are some other items I found noteworthy enough to take notice of over the last while, but not enough of a big deal to actually write about.

• The LesBionic Woman - Posting this makes me a sophomoric jerk, but its pretty funny. NBC should think about doing this on their show cause otherwise its Cancelled City for the real deal. Bonus points because I have actually met the lesbionic woman herself.
  
  
• SciFi sounds quiz - You hear the sounds, you guess the flick. If you score higher than 92%, you did better than me.
  
  
• Flick Off Campaign to save energy - Ontario's own tongue in cheek campaign to draw attention to personal energy consumption. I just want to get a tee shirt so that it gets misread.
  
  
• how the media distorts real beauty - Now that I have a little girl I am so much more aware of how different the media's portrayal of beauty is from reality.
  
  
• 10 scifi flicks that should get made - These are mostly for videogame wannabes, but there are a few good ones here. Serenity II has a nice ring to it.
  
  
• How DC Comics defines a Crisis - DC's annual Crisis events are sometimes blah, sometimes awesome. But they are usually the major events to occur in the DCU. Good wikipedia read.
  
  
• Star Trek gets new online series - The actors of Trek supply a 40th anniversary gift to fans via a fan made 'unofficial' Trek series that is currently available online only. Its basically fanfic with real actors.
  
  
• How to build a working phaser - I love my PS3 way, way too much to do this to it. But if I ever get a spare...
  
  
• Top 10 tech ads of 2007 - 'Don't Give Up on Vista!' lmao.
  

Labels: everything else

I've been doing some on and offline housekeeping tonight, something I usually do once every six months or so, and for sure at the end of each year. I end up cleaning out any accumulated crap I don't need, backing up my data, tidying my ftp servers, formatting my hard drive and doing a nice clean re-install. I tend to be anal about my keeping my files neat and tidy the way Superwife is about keeping our house the same way.

While I've been housekeeping I decided to play around with my site's look a bit, bring it more in line with my personal site a bit. Comments are welcome.

Anyway one of the things I came across was an almost ludicrous list in my Google Notebook of links that I keep meaning to post about and/or take another look at, but for some reason or another just haven't gotten around to either. In order to clear the way for new crap that I won't write about singly next year I've decided to post them in a few bulk posts. Here they are in really no order at all:

• Timeline of the DC Comics Universe - Good for comics fans who've been away for awhile (like me). Good refresher for current fans regardless.


• The Green Lantern movie is coming - Holy shit I want to see this. Holy shit I want to see this.


• The Official God FAQ - The Definitive Answer.


• Stupid Fucking Mistake Ruining Whole Fucking Day - Doyle Redland on a swearfest and it is so funny
  


• it's fun to make fun of Ricky Williams - Potheads make for such great fodder. Good thing I'm not one anymore.


• recycle old tech stuff instead of throwing it out- Staggeringly unattractive web site but what a great idea


• what the hell happened to the space race anyways? - did we reach the moon and just throw in the towel?
  


• More atheists than people think - But still so many more that don't bother because they think theism is a non-issue. I wish it were.


• Somehow, Wally West ends up everyone's favourite Flash - Not Barry Allen? Really?


• Watch the video of Intelligent Design on trial online - Sorry, nothing intelligent about it. And PBS clearly agrees.
  

Labels: everything else

So its early xmas morning, even earlier than I would normally be up on the 25th of December, and instead of getting ready to watch my little girl exhaust herself opening and playing with her xmas presents, I am instead getting ready to go to work for a 12 hour shift. The joys of shift work are now being fully realized as I get to experience firsthand that when you work somewhere that never closes, someone has to be there on xmas.

There are a few things that are going to make it worthwhile though. It is likely to be stone dead at the office today, and that will be a nice change of pace for a day shift. I will also get paid a ridiculous amount of money thanks to that strong union and their requirement that people that work stat holidays get paid twice their normal rate. And the last one isn't so much a benefit but rather a consolation; Trin is only 2 and a half, and as such isn't going to know that when she celebrates xmas on Boxing Day that she's really a day behind the rest of the world.

And as an atheist I really don't have a leg to stand on anyway. Its not like I'm missing out on the cake and ice cream at the birthday party we're throwing at home for Jesus or anything.

Labels: atheism, everything else, family, work

A friend of mine and I had a chat last night about the idea of the Batman vs Superman movie, an idea which has been around at least as long as the graphic novel that detailed the penultimate battle between the two heroes: The Dark Knight Returns.

The two have always had a fascinating relationship in the comics, and the idea of them squaring off is diverting for comic fans, but let's be honest here: We're talking about fucking Superman here. Batman is cool, and he's always been a personal fave (my list goes something like Superman, Green Lantern, Flash and then probably Bats), but pitting some ninja trained no-power with some cool gadgets against The Man of Steel? Come on. No contest.

This all came up because there is a sweet little easter egg in the new I Am Legend movie in the form of a billboard for the fictional Batman vs Superman movie. Apparently its a little in-joke to the screenwriter for Legend that at one time was involved in a version of the Bats/Supes movie. Full story here.

This same buddy of mine sent me a link to a site that tries to take a contest between the two superheroes seriously, and gives a breakdown of each's strengths and weaknesses, as well as the chance to vote on who you think would win. Check it out here, even though deep down, everyone has to know that Superman would win.

Labels: comics, superman

Not to date myself too much, but the vehicle that first seriously turned me on to RPG gaming was the first Final Fantasy for the NES back in 1990. I was into PC games up til then, mostly of the D&D variety, but I have been a ridiculous fan of all things Final Fantasy ever since. Its entirely possible that if you were to add up the time I have spent playing various FF games, it might come close to the amount of time I have actually spent talking to Superwife. Well, unless you count time we've talked while I was playing a Final Fantasy game.

And yes, I appreciate the irony in calling a game franchise Final anything, and then having 12 sequels and a number of spin-offs.

Anyway, until XIII hits the shelves sometime in 2009 (in three games no less) Crisis Core for the PSP will have to keep me occupied. Direct prequel to FFVII, this game is going to be so much fun. Just hearing that music is enough to send some shivers up my fanboy spine.

Here's the link to the official site, for anyone other than me that is interested.

Release date is March 25, 2008, btw.

Labels: final fantasy, gaming

I am taking my first sick day from work for the first time in I don't know how long. At least since I started my current job and I've been at it for almost 2 years.

Been fighting off a cocksucker of a cold all week and finally gave in today. Decided that I'd rather spend the day with my pot of Neo Citran.

And just now as I was writing this post I just violated my sweet innocent laptop in the worst way by sneezing all over it. Poor thing. There's always victims when people get sick.

Labels: work

So the pressure from the US lobbies looks like it might finally cause Canadian copyright laws to change. For the much, much worse.

Apparently in an effort to impress his asshole friend George Bush, Stephen Harper is backing a bill that is so strict as to be ludicrous. If passed it will make the US' DMCA law look tame by comparison. And tell that to the 20,000 Americans who have been sued.

I am not at all ashamed to be a 'downloader'. There are those who believe that the online dissemination of files, music, video and applications is immoral, and in some cases illegal. I don't. And I certainly don't feel that the downloading of a work that I would not purchase if it weren't freely available otherwise constitutes any kind of fraud. If I do want to own a product enough, I buy it. If I'm just kind of interested, I'll download it. Simple as that. Due to that policy, filesharing has opened my eyes to many different works that I have subsequently gone out and purchased that I would otherwise never have heard of. And why there have to be lines drawn between use of the internet to download content and the copying of it via other means (a television program for example, via a vcr or pvr) is beyond me. But maybe that too will change if Mr. Harper has his way with this bill.

Here's a link to a list of what Canadians can do, and for those in the lazier crowd (like me) here's a quick and easy site that fills out a letter to your MP decrying this nonsense. All you have to do is pick your province and your MP and click send. Don't let this be one of those case where you could have done something and didn't and then complain about it later.

Labels: everything else, rants, tech

Dear Trinity,

It's been a big month for the Brown Family. We finally moved into our new house a few weeks ago, after what seemed an interminable wait. I love your grandparents a lot, but living with anyone who isn't your immediate family for any length of time can be hard even under the best of circumstances. They were gracious and generous, but not having your own space can always cause friction. And I am sure that your Dad was no picnic for them either.

You love the new place, and that has made your Mom and I a little less anxious. With moving you from the only place you've ever lived into your grandparents, then into another place again, we were worried you wouldn't take well to it. But we forgot what a trooper you are. You love your new room, you moved from a crib to a bed in one night, and you pretty much want to spend all of your time in your room, playing with newly rediscovered toys. Maybe the fact that you have a room again is part of it.



One of the benefits (and downfalls) of living up north is all the snow up here. You love it, and you love getting either pulled on your sled in the snow, or pulling it along yourself. Shovelling it and driving in it are different matters, but so long as you're happy, who am I to complain?



Another christmas is coming soon, and you are totally jazzed about that. There are some things that I am not a big fan of with the holiday, but I don't want to ruin the fun that goes along with knowing that some things aren't what you think they are. You'll find that out all on your own, over and over, without my help. You helped your Mom and I decorate the tree and that was a lot of fun. You went right for the Darth Vader ornament, so its not all bad at all.



We got a surprise visit from your Aunt and cousin last week and you had a great time of it. You got to visit and play with your cousin who you hadn't seen since the early part of the summer. She is just over a year old, and cries a lot, and its almost funny how we all forgot how things were with you at that age. Almost. Of course, you have your own idiosyncrasies at this age; throwing things, screaming, tantrums being the most fun on the list. But its so different when its
someone else's child doing anything negative, even if its my sisters. I love my little niece to bits though, and I do hope that you and her get to be close as you are growing up. Of course, the next time they come up, they could leave the nasty cold that they gave all of us at home.



I can't wait until the next time I have a chunk of time off from work again so we can spend more time together. I envy your Mom a fair bit these days, as she gets to hang out in our new place with you all the time. But even though I have to work a lot of the time, its totally worth it. I get to make sure that my two favourite people are happy. And that's pretty much all that matters.



Love,

Daddy

Labels: trinity

'I've made a huge mistake'

I thought I'd start my recently alluded to rant about the snow up here with a little Arrested Development reference. No points for you if you don't get it. But it is something that I have been saying ever since the gods damned snow started showing its face last week.

Aside from quoting from that greatest of comedy series, I have also been asking myself What the fuck I was thinking moving my family farther north in this
country without it occurring to me that I was moving back into 4 solid months of ridiculous snow?

I mean, it started snowing on Friday. It stopped snowing (very temporarily) today. It will almost definitely snow again tomorrow. There are three feet of snowbanks all the way along my road. I had to plow my driveway (which was also ill-advised because its a good 60 feet) with my car this morning. I got stuck about 20 times, had to try and shovel a hole in the foot or so of the white nonsense in the way, and I'm pretty sure I took the last 50,000 kms off of my engine while I was at it. It is now making a decidedly horrifying noise that I am pretty sure signifies that I'll be parting with a lot of money very shortly.

And yes, I suppose it is pretty from my bedroom window. But its nowhere near as pretty as a picture of it would look beside a window view of an ocean. Or maybe a volcano.

And I am a little worried that I am this unhappy now about this crap and I still have another 4 months of it to put up with. Its going to be a long winter.

Labels: rants

I had the opportunity to hang out briefly on my coffee break today at my local comic shop with my own local Comic Book Guy and it just reaffirmed how happy I am with my lot in life of being a geek.

Me and Comic Book Guy swapped stories about our favourite Spider-Man storylines of the past 20 years, both of us agreeing that at least in the case of Spider-Man, retconning has done more harm than good. Anyone else remember Ben Reilly? I always loved his costume. Ok, maybe not the bracelets.

Comic Book Guy highly recommended the 'Ultimate Spider-Man' series, as that one undoes the damage that the various retcons have caused and brings the characters back to their best incarnations. I'll have to check it out. Although I do see the need for comics authors to be able to reverse the damage inflicted by poorer writers and dumbass plotlines. Like waiting 10 years before returning Hal Jordan to the Green Lantern Corps for example. I am so happy that guy is back in Green. And we both agreed that the whole 52/Countdown mess has just been a bad move for DC. Good if you're rich enough to buy a weekly comic about the minor characters in the DCU but mostly filler either way.

My visit got me thinking that I am probably one of the more self-satisfied geeks out there. I love that I work in IT and find occasional time to indulge in my love of comics and scifi. And I work with a whole bunch of proper geeks, from hardcore gamers to comics fans to Star Trek fans. The work itself isn't inordinately fulfilling, but the paycheck does allow me to look after Superwife, Trin and still keep me current with Superman's exploits, so its all good.

And when, as a birthday present, a buddy of mine shoots me a keychain of the Dark Horse logo simply because he knows that I'll recognize it instantly, at least I know that I am not the only one who knows what a dork I am. Here's hoping that is in fact the geeks who shall inherit the earth.

Since I am on comics, here are two resources that I keep up with faithfully for my comic news:

• Variant Edition - Great site, good podcast. Thinking about sponsoring them solely to get a free tee shirt.
  
• Fresh Ink - Podcast. Geek girls really are teh shit. If you were having sex with Blair Butler and you threw in a Brightest Day, Blackest Night oath, she would actually know what you were talking about. Might think you were an idiot, but still.
  

Labels: comics