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Notasach, at the moment [Nov. 25th, 2009|04:13 pm]
Looking forward to the food for Idiot White People Day. It's always nice to note that when you keep someone from starving to death, they'll pay you back by taking everything that's yours, and keeps shoving you westwards till your hair is floating. I guess the subtitle for this holiday should be "White People Can't Cook".

On a non-snark note, I have been keeping up with my resolution to draw just for the sake of drawing, and it has had a nice reciprocal effect on my other endeavors. Then again, so has maintaining a hell of a cleaning routine.

My thanks to the Sneadster for giving me enough tools to start writing some Post-Human Pron (misspelling intentional, fellow grammar Nazis), it's good to have a challenging new field to play in. I may have to post links when I get it finished.

Other than that, everyone eat till your brains explode, and remember; the Puritans were people so uptight that the ENGLISH kicked them out.

Gobble Wobble!
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Three good things for me at the holidays. [Nov. 21st, 2009|08:07 pm]
After spending the better part of a decade having Retail Christmases, my dog having to be put down on Christmas Day, my great uncle dying 2 days before XMas day, I haven't been a big fan of the holidays, until my sister spawned my nephews, both of whom have birthdays in December. I have, however, just found something that makes my holidays a little more enjoyable; DOCTOR WHO SPECIALS! Two, this time!

I know I'm uber-geek, but this makes me happier than I've been about the holidays since my age could be expressed with a single digit.
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Anyone have an answer? [Nov. 15th, 2009|11:29 pm]
Why does it seem like October was made of such suck that it has apparently metastasized into November? Given that I myself would gladly redact the month from my brain with only minor exceptions, it's not that I expect a real answer.
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Ramblings about Writings [Nov. 12th, 2009|09:32 pm]
It's damn hard to try and keep a full novel as jam packed as one of Simon R Green's intro chapters. Having to put together a plotline diagram like I'm programming in COBOL again is a very helpful thing.

I love my ebook reader so much I may actually invest in a DX model when I can afford it.

My typing speed is increasing rapidly, and I'd make a promising court reporter, if I could use a steno machine. Consider learning shorthand.

From everything that I can find, noone had anything bad to say about Roger Zelazny, who coincidentally died on the day I graduated high school. If I had that kind of legacy, I'd count myself really lucky.

I apparently have all the prerequisites to be a hero, with the exception of a superweapon or the spandex costume. Very surprising, I must have missed the George Gordon class on anti-heroism.

I think I'll get back to punching keys now, hope everyone's doing okay!
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Note to Self [Oct. 28th, 2009|09:20 pm]
Use new digital camera to get some good pic-fodder for artworks. I have the thing, might as well use it.
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A Decree from OnHigh.. [Oct. 26th, 2009|05:20 pm]
Henceforth, I shall list my occupation and/or hobbies as "Imagineer, Journeyman class."

If you have to ask, you'll probably never understand.

Kind of like trying to comprehend why companies would post want ads when they are actually cutting staff. Or even what the hell was up with Hawk on Buck Rogers.
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Another set of Recommendations.. [Oct. 22nd, 2009|10:36 pm]

Movie and TV show recommendations

As a rather straight-forward thought continuation in a very non-linear week, I decided to do a video recommends list to match my book list done late last week. I've tried to stick to things a little more obscure, just to make the chase-down a little more fun.
Again, if it's not your cup of tea, skip to the next item on your list.

MOVIES

Equilibrium- Christian Bale, Taye Diggs, Emily Watson- a postapocalyptic piece, where emotions are chemically suppressed and sensation is illegal. A really well-done movie, particularly if you have some comprehension of what living in that kind of world would be like.

16 Blocks- Bruce Willis, Mos Def- an action piece about corrupt cops, I recommend this because Bruce Willis is made of awesome.

Arsenic and Old Lace- a black-and-white Cary Grant flick, a comedy about a man who finds out just how nuts his family really is. Kind of reminds me of some of my relatives

The Cave- a group of cave divers stuck in a cavern complex underneath the Carpathian mountains. Creeped me out with the cave-diving.

Cold Equations- a Sci-Fi Channel movie (done when they actually could make TV movies) with Billy Campbell. The story's not the most original, but the acting was well done, I thought.

Crash- a James Spader flick about an underground group of people who are addicted to the feelings during and after car crashes.

Dark City- A city of people that never sees that Sun, and is run by a group of aliens called Strangers. Kiefer Sutherland, Rufus Sewell, Jennifer Connolly. Hard to describe further without really futzkying it up.

Fallen- Denzel Washington must confront a a fallen Angel. Pretty creepy in the crowd scenes.

The Fountain- A Darren Aronofsky flick, this one is about the Tree of Life and one's man's search for it. Kinda what you expect from the guy that did Pi.

Freeway- a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, starring Reese Witherspoon and Kiefer Sutherland.

Haeckel's Tale- a creepy Horror mix of Frankenstein, the Monkey's Paw, and a zombie flick. Not for the faint of heart or the weak of stomach. REALLY.


 

Harvey- a Jimmy Stewart film about a man and his invisible six-foot tall Rabbit.


 

Hero- an awesome Jet Li flick, Wu-xia film extraordinare.


 

History of Violence- Vigo Mortensen stars in this film about a family man whose past comes back to life. Not a very original story, but also well acted.


 

Hot Fuzz- a comedy cop-film by the guys who gave us Shaun of the Dead.

The Illusionist- AWESOME flick about a 19th century stage magician. Ed Norton, Jessica Biel, Rufus Sewell, and I can't recommend this highly enough.


 

Inside Man- Denzel Washington, Clive Owen in a movie about a bank robbery. Pretty original idea and excellent execution.


 

Man on Fire- Denzel Washington and Dakota Fanning in a vengeance flick. The end of this movie STILL makes me cry, and I've seen it more than 7 times.


 

The Machinist- A creepy flick with Christian Bale, and that says something. The man dropped something like 50 lbs before doing it, he looks like he run through a food dehydrator.


 

Meridian- a dark fairy tale from the 80's, with Sherrilyn Fenn.


 

The Prestige- Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman as a pair of duelling stage magicians in the 19th century. One of the very few flicks that I liked MUCH better than the book version.


 

Smokin' Aces- a shoot em up flick with a huge cast list. One of those comedy-of-errors with a real cost in people. Ryan Reynolds is awesome in this one.


 

What Dreams May Come- Robin Williams, Annabella Sciora, Cuba Gooding Jr. Awesome movie about life after death. The visuals alone are worth seeing the price of the DVD.


 


 

TV


 

Babylon 5- Think Star Trek with some script control and better actors. Probably better known than most of the other stuff on this list, but I like this one enough to keep plugging it.


 

The Librarian – three TBS tv movies with Noah Wylie. Fun little romps by one of the smartest men in the world. A little simplistic, but good fun.


 

Prison Break- a group of inmates is broken out by a structural engineer, and that's just season one. The rest gets pretty weird, but still worth seeing.


 

John Doe – a one season show with Dominic Purcell about an amnesiac colorblind genius in Seattle. Completely awesome, and I have no idea why it was cancelled, except that network people suck.


 

Tin Man – Sci-Fi channels miniseries Steampunk Wizard of Oz.

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For those interested, part Two... [Oct. 20th, 2009|01:46 am]

For anyone that was at Crossing the Thresholds this year and was participating in our Reiki Circle/Drum Circle/Dance Mania, the complete images of the symbols used in the attunements is now available here at my Deviantart.com account.

http://waterfire741.deviantart.com/

If there's any that I've forgotten, it's cause I lost any related notes, but I'm pretty sure I had all them all. For anyone else, like it says in the pictures, eat in good health!
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Escape to Random Mountains of Madness... [Oct. 19th, 2009|10:49 pm]
Just a PSA, I am currently feeling seriously silly, euphoric,and random, even for me. I can't seem to keep a straight line of thought in my head for longer than.. hey look a yo-yo!  And Ketchup!
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Book Recommendations, by request. [Oct. 19th, 2009|12:16 am]
For anyone that has asked or might be interested, here are some of my favorite books (I'm partial to series, just to warn you all). If you don't care, then you might want to skip to the next entry on your list.


 

Book Recommendations


 

Wen Spencer- Tinker, Wolf Who Rules : Elfworld and hypertechnology, very well done


 

Laurell K Hamilton- Merry Gentry Series : One of the best soft-core elf series I've ever read. Think Grimm's Fairy Tales combined with the Kama Sutra


 

Justina Robson – Quantum Gravity Series (Keeping It Real, Selling Out, Going Under, Chasing the Dragon) : Elves, Demons, Angels, Fae, Hypertechnology; very dense, but damned good.


 

Jacqueline Carey – Kushiel Series; half-angelic alternate world French people; one of the few intrigue-oriented Fantasy series I've ever read, and damned good in the bargain.

 

Jacqueline Carey – The Sundering Duology; Think Lord of the Rings being told from the point of view of a likeable and understandable Sauron.


 

E. E. Knight – Age of Fire Series; A story told from the POV of three dragon sibling hatchlings, and the fourth book in the series reintroduces them after their own adventures


 

Alan F Troop – Dragon De LaSangre series; Told from the POV of a shapeshifting Dragon in modern day Florida. Think Interview with the Vampire but with Dragons instead.


 

Storm Constantine – Wraeththu Chronicles; hermaphroditic magic-users who inherit the Earth when humanity begins to slide down into extinction. The last three books are better than the first three, but the author had 20 years of practice between them.


 

Jim Butcher – The Dresden Files; modern day Wizard Harry Dresden's adventures in Chicago. One of my favorite series of the last decade.


 

Frank Herbert – The Dune Series; a sci-fi classic. The first 4 books are really good, the last two are much less so, but I also liked the ones written by his son Brian.


 

Brandon Sanderson – Elantra, Mistborn, Well of Ascension, Hero of Ages; this guy's work surprised the hell out of me. Elantra is a stand-alone novel, the other three are in the same series. I can't say much about Elantra that doesn't spoil the plot, but the other three are one of the best twist ending novels I've ever read. This is also the same guy that will be finishing Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, so I'm not the only one that loves his work.


 

Steven Brust – Vlad Taltos series, To Reign In Hell; The Taltos cycle may be a little hard to understand, if you start with the wrong book, but it's well worth the effort for my money. To Reign in Hell is the best retelling of the War In Heaven I've ever encountered.


 

Terry Goodkind- the Sword of Truth series; long, and Goodkind's philosophical bent towards Ayn Rand's work shows through in a few places, but it's still enjoyable.


 

Dean Koontz – Frankenstein; an updating, but not in the cheesy retelling fashion. This picks up in Modern day New Orleans, and I liked it quite a bit.


 

Anne Bishop – Black Jewels Novels, Ephemera Duology, ; very emotive fantasy novels, the Black Jewels Trilogy is awesome, Ephemera is a little mushy, but I've enjoyed everything of hers that I've read, and I've read them all.


 

Patricia Briggs ; Raven Duology; a high-fantasy world, not incredibly original, but very well written.


 

Sarah Douglass; Wayfarer Series, Troy Game series; Douglass has a knack for making her heroes incredibly, brutally real people. They get mad for the wrong reasons, do horrific things, and still manage to keep going. I really don't recommend her Crucible series for the faint of heart, or for beginners. The medieval world she paints in that one is incredibly accurate, brutally so, and incredibly depressing in parts.


 

Simon R Green; Nightside series, Drood Chronicles; two very well done urban fantasy series, with protagonists that are very different from each other. Unlike a lot of other prolific authors, the narrators of each series have distinctly different voices. I prefer the Nightside books, but John Taylor is incredibly competent, and one of the best bullshit artists in the business.


 

Julian May – Galactic Mileu series; one of the best high-tech aliens-come-to-earth series ever, IMO. Unlike most other series of this length, you only really need to read Jack the Bodiless, Diamond Mask, and Magnificat. If you want to, you can add it on later, but it's not necessary, and I like these three the best.


 

Patricia McKillip- I can't recommend her stuff highly enough. Nuff said.


 

Judith Tarr- if you can find it, I recommend the Avaryan novels. If not, her other stuff is good too.


 

Kelly McCullough; His WebMage series is fantastic. If Ravirn, the narrator, gets any more like me I'll have to file a lawsuit.


 

Eric Van Lustbader; The Pearl Series; one of the best written science versus sorcery series I've ever read. A little lengthy but fantastically well done.

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Note to Self, take 783 [Oct. 16th, 2009|11:27 am]
Must remember to do more drawing just for the sake of drawing and not just with a purpose.
On a related side-note, I must invest in a sketchbook and possibly a better projector.
Of the art/craft supplies I have left, at least my pens and pencils haven't degraded with time like my herbs and oils.
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Scammers Alert! [Oct. 6th, 2009|10:57 pm]
To all my friends and enemies and other targets of my randomness:

As of Tuesday 6 October, I have been made the fall-guy for the latest 419 scam, wherein a cybercrim pretends to be me, stuck overseas and uses a variety of emails and chat windows to bilk my peeps out of money. If you need further confirmation that it ain't me, take a look at the dialogue, stilted, not my style, and worst of all, whoever it is can't spell for crap.

DO NOT SEND MONEY! PAY NO ATTENTION TO THESE CHAT WINDOWS AND SUCHLIKE, THEY SHOULD VANISH SOON!
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We now return you to your regularly scheduled detour [Oct. 3rd, 2009|12:24 pm]
After the hullaballoo of mid-August through late September, I recently found myself in a massively anti-social mode. It wasn't the people-hating, rifle-buying, explosives-cooking type of anti-social rage, it was more just "SOCIAL... OVERLOAD.... MUST..... REBOOT!". Between the various things I was running and doing with all my peeps, I've been babysitting contractors, had my car vandalized and had a 3 day delay waiting for repairs, etcetera, etcetera, and just basically feeling like a pet yo-yo. So, for the past week, I've been in a protective isolation state, just trying to find my balance again.

Now, after a few days of relative peace and quiet, I'm back to being my usual fun-loving, completely chalk'n'cheese random self again.

The Caffeinated Dragon (thanks to Cassie for the new nickname!)
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Thresholds Update... only a week late! [Sep. 26th, 2009|04:18 pm]
CTT was completely awesome, I got to see folks that I normally only catch online, I got to embody an element for a huge ritual instead of just running anchor for it, and made some new friends, and deepened some others. At this point, I'm trying to just hit the highlights, and i'm not real huge on minute by minute updates on this, I'm more about sensations and feelings. I felt bad when Jade managed to get herself sick as a dog on friday by mixing some kinds of alcohol (believe you me, I know where she's coming from, I'd been mixing the same things, and I had a massive headache while I was still lit, not to mention the next morning I had the second hangover of my life), but that poor soul's been running like  her head's on fire and people keep throwing on gasoline. For once, I didn't have to swing an axe all weekend, but someone obviously had done that before I got there, since we had plenty for the entire event. Seeing House Snead was awesome, as always, they're some of my favorite people. It was also the weekend of the Yellowjackets, but luckily noone got stung until Sunday, so that was okay, we had an excuse to gibber and curse violently at almost-unseen objects. I may not go out and pretend to be homeless very often, but apparently i'm not bad at doing so.

PS I remember, Raisa, as soon as I get my head into something resembling order, I'll post a list of book recommendations.
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Short li'l Entry [Sep. 12th, 2009|11:42 pm]
-Love having my car back!

-Having a broken and mauled toe sucks carpet dust

-Star Trek (the original) still has relevance and a high rewatch value.

-Reorganizing an electronic library is just as much a pain in the ass as moving hardcopy.

- I'm going to be spending the next two weeks running my ass off, and I LOVE it!
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I has a novocaine... [Sep. 3rd, 2009|12:48 am]
Gotta love it. Get 5 or 6 injections in the roof of my mouth, have someone drill on my teeth for a few hours, and I got to drive an hour home just to pass out for 3 hours. Could be worse, I guess, I could be one of those people that gets demented from anaesthesia.
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Vacation, here we go! [Aug. 18th, 2009|10:12 am]
For those not in the know, the Doc, the Bard, and the Mage (Me!) are going to be spending the next five days on walkabout!
We're gonna spend three days in Rehoboth Beach (Yay for seeing the ocean for the first time in 7 years!!!) before heading up to Connecticut and thence to Salem to laugh at Wiccans taking themselves too seriously.  On a related note I think I should either watch the Covenant again, or perhaps try to read some Lovecraft just to get into the spirit of New England. If I end up becoming a Gloucester fisherman, someone needs to come peel me off the boat.
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Waiting for the Plumber [Aug. 11th, 2009|11:22 pm]
Well, I HAD planned to get some of the things on my to-do-list done today, but due to one thing after another, I haven't done squat except watch Eddie Izzard, finish reading the Mechanical Dreams RPG book, and play online MahJong.
Got to wait 5 1/2 hours for the plumber to show up, since my drain was so clogged I haven't been able to shower since yesterday (EW!) and then had the joy of watching him drive off to get an even longer (100 foot!) snake to reach all the way out to the main sewage line under the street ( Holy crap! would be the pun that comes to mind), and find out that the clog is something that looks like badly decayed blue jeans or perhaps the sewer gator's childhood blankie. Had to also take my Sheltie Apollo to the vet since he has a weird rash-like thing on his stomach, which turns out to be just a minor bacterial infection, easily remedied by antibiotics. However, in the course of the vet tech take his temperature, found out that he has a good sized 'growth' just above his anus, and it needs to be removed. THis is apparently a common occurrence amongst canines, but this poor dog's been to the vet now three times in two weeks, and I get to take him in sometime next week for the removal of said growth.
A day of plumbing woes, growths on the dog's behind, and no creative juices flowing at all, I've had worse. At least my nose isn't gushing blood.
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Thoughts on old TV Shows [Aug. 5th, 2009|12:07 pm]
A) it's strange, on some levels, to be able to download a TV program that came on years before and be able to cram it onto one or two DVDs when you can remember the old school storage solution from the era that said program comes from would require between 10 and 15 VHS tapes,

B) V (or Visitors, for the clueless) was actually pretty well written, for the early 1980s TV. Aliens coming to earth looking for meat and water, two things this planet has in abundance.

C) Even 1980's TV is better than the reality TV of this millennium. I'd rather re-watch Doctor Who than an hour of American Idol or America's Got Talent. I don't watch TV for reality, I watch it for entertainment, or occasionally for education.

D) Old TV shows make a great soundtrack when I'm writing. I can half-listen to it, and if I hit a stumbling block with the typing, I can stop and think about something else for a few minutes.

E) It's always fun to watch an old favorite from childhood and try to guess which'll get remade in the near future, since there's apparently a dearth of good ideas in Hollywood lately.
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(no subject) [Jul. 26th, 2009|11:41 pm]
I. AM. SO. TIRED.

I've been running so hard this week, after I cooked dinner for my parents on Saturday night, I slept for 13 hours straight. I've been overdoing it again. Now I've got that revolting slept-too-much and still feel like dreck.
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