Vibrate mode

My cellphone lives in my pants pockets along with an assortment of other technology (including a PowerBook DVI-VGA adapter, but that's another story).

I mention this only because sometimes people call me on Sunday mornings and I don't answer. This is not because I don't want to hang out. This is because on Sunday mornings I don't wear pants.

Please revise all Sabbath day plan-making to account for my pantless state.

Thank you.

Sharks v. Canucks

This pirate kicks ass

We briefly lost internet connectivity here at work while I was writing my last post. Fortunately, Pete's new outage notifier let me know! That rocks.

(Note this was a "my internet at work wasn't working" outage, not a "Blogger's down" outage.)

Whither Scott

It's been 6 days since the last White House press briefing with Scott McClellan. I need my fix! Briefings from the national security advisor simply don't cut it.

Last week, the general trend of more and more angry yelling continued. Here's a representative sample from the last briefing on November 9th:

Q: This has nothing to do with the special counsel. This has everything to do with the Ethics of Government Act. And for the record, I would just like to read --

Mr. McClellan: I think, for the record, people can go and look at this on our website. And for the record, this is being asked in the context of an ongoing investigation and legal proceeding, and I've already indicated to you that we're not going to have further comment on it while it is continuing. If you want to --

Q: I would just like to read, for the record --

Mr. McClellan: -- go and read that, you're welcome to do that. But I think other people in this room would like to proceed forward with other questions that they have.

Q: If I can take permission from the other people in this room, may I please read this one section? Does anyone have any objection?

Q: Yes, I don't think we're getting anywhere.

Q: Well, that's not the point.

Mr. McClellan: Okay, there. Thank you.

Q: That's not the point.

Mr. McClellan: Carl, do you have a question?

Q: Wait a minute, let the majority -- let this nice lady speak.

Mr. McClellan: That's all publicly available information.

Q: I know. She just has one more --

Mr. McClellan: Do you have a question? She has to give a question.

Q: She has just one more.

Q: I asked if it was -- I asked --

Mr. McClellan: Let's go to the question. I mean, we can all go and look at that on the website.

Q: Well, fine, but I'll save some time. "Except as otherwise provided in this section, whoever in any matter within the jurisdiction of the executive, legislative or judicial branch of the government of the United States, knowingly and willfully, (1) falsifies, conceals, or covers up by any trick, scheme, or device, a material fact, (2), makes any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation, or (3), makes or uses any false writing or document, knowing the same to contain any materially false, fictitious or fraudulent statement or entry."

Mr. McClellan: It's been put into public record.

Rumble

Here at work, there are snacks every 70 feet or so. Giant candy store bins full of snacks. Which is pretty cool until you realize that you'll want to eat those snacks ... a lot.

I've been eating snacks for about 3 years now. Today, I decided "No snacks!"

Consequently, I'm dying inside.

Embarcanut

Anna is forlorn for want of ice cream.

Ragnaros

Haven't been playing a lot of Warcraft recently. But I did manage to join a guild raid in which we attempted to kill Ragnaros, the final boss of Molten Core.

Completion Fetish

Last night witnessed a confluence of media consumption wherein I wrapped up a number of things I'd been trying to finish. These include:

• Jarhead by Anthony Swofford: The previews looked pretty good for the upcoming film, but I got excited when I read the recent Harper's article about the movie/book.
  
  After reading the article, I realized, among other things, that the film's being directed by Sam Mendes (American Beauty), edited by Walter Murch (Apocalypse Now) and filmed by Roger Deakins (everything good, ever). Plus, I totally didn't realize that Swofford's book was the basis for the movie - despite, you know, being titled the same thing and having written about it 2 1/2 years ago.
  
  I read one review of the book that said Swofford "seemed incapable of writing an uninteresting sentence." Seems about right.


• The Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson: My local bookstore had a tag in this that read "This is the best thing ever. Don't read the back cover, just read it." So I did and it was mighty good. It's a narrative told in verse about characters from a Greek myth but set in modern times. And they're gay. One of them's also a dragon-type deal.
  
  Anyway, it's another in a series of books I've read recently where I have no idea what the heck is really going on but somehow it resonates (Wittgenstein's Mistress, I'm looking at you). Plus, I think I read an interview with Dose One where he said that he digs on Anne Carson's poetry. There are definite similarities.


• The Civil War by Ken Burns: I started this approximately one year ago and just never got around to watching the fifth and final disk. Despite my love of trivia, I still feel that my factual knowledge of the Civil War is a bit hazy. It kinda all runs together after a while. Incomprehensible loss of life. Sad letters home. That same damn song played over and over again.
  
  I had a friend who, after having his wisdom teeth removed, dosed himself up on Percocet and watched the entire Civil War documentary in one sitting. Seems like that might be the best way to experience it.


• Shadow of the Colossus by SCEA: The much-hyped, much-anticipated non-sequel sequel to Ico. And it truly is an amazing-looking game. A great last-generation console title for the PS2. The fact that they manage to pull off a story without telling one is certainly a remarkable achievement. And, of course, the scale of the colossi is superhot.
  
  Overall, though I don't think it's as strong a game as Ico. There are a number of play control issues including oft-mentioned camera problems. The last boss is amazing, but I nearly threw my controller through the screen trying to get the near-blind platforming right.
  
  Anyway, I hope it will serve as great inspiration for some next-gen console titles.
  

Four things finished in one night! Two books read on the bus ride home from work and a couple hours at home for the Civil War and Colossus.

I am now out of new media and my Netflix queue is basically empty of things I actually want to see. I mean, I was most recently watching Pennebaker's behind the scenes of the cast album for Sondheim's Company.

And now I've got "Ladies who Lunch" stuck in my head. That's no good for anyone.

These Mega Magz balls are pretty hot. And not just because of the name.

Kyouzou

Shadow of the Colossus gets released this week for PS2. It's the sorta-not-really sequel to Ico - in my view the best game made so far. If you think that's hyperbolic, check out this review of Colossus from 1up.com:

In short, Shadow of the Colossus breaks storytelling barriers none of us knew existed. It's the rare game for which the often overused words "ground-breaking" were truly reserved for, and it's enough to make you regret every stupid coin you ever collected. Besides merely being one of gaming's great moments, this is the experience of the year.

Golly.