The Light At The End of The Tunnel

On Tweeting & Whatnot...

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 21:45:58 GMT

My LJ list is D.E.D.!

Why? Because Loudtweet isn't working and nobody posts on LJ much anymore.

Fucking strange...

BTW: Go check out Geekerdome.com - IHL is being syndicated there!

On IHL....

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:58:45 GMT

It's back online..

I feel whole again.

On a shipment...

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:37:47 GMT

7/1/2009 2:40 PM ET EDISON, NJ, US SHIPMENT ACCEPTED BY USPS
7/1/2009 3:27 AM ET RUTHERFORD, NJ, US TENDERED TO USPS
6/30/2009 2:38 AM ET RUTHERFORD, NJ, US PROCESSED
6/30/2009 1:54 AM ET RUTHERFORD, NJ, US ARRIVAL ORIGIN DHL GLOBAL MAIL FACILITY
6/29/2009 4:50 PM ET EDISON, NJ, US PICK UP

I feel as if my package is driving for the sake of driving....

On IHL

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:56:19 GMT

...it's down until tomorrow... not ok with that.

On the inevitable...

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 23:20:49 GMT

Queue your friendslist being filled with pictures of Michael Jackson in 3... 2...

On Smarter Than Google...

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 22:02:04 GMT

http://www30.wolframalpha.com/

It's google for nerds. Not geeks. Nerds.

Physics. Music. Math. Etc...

I could play with this for HOURS...

I've been making parabolas for the last 20 minutes.

OOOOH! It can convert things into how many 'STONE' it is!

Post more fun here...

On Steven Seagal....

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 23:35:05 GMT

It's not NSFW... but it's not entirely safe... FOR CHILDREN!

On Lights & Tunnels...

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 20:40:40 GMT

..I might be starting to see a light.

Fuck, cross your fingers for me.

On Sad Ironies...

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 04:30:55 GMT

When I was 18 or so, I was hanging out with some friends at NYU. One of whom might or might not read this... anyway, she told us of this great new coffee chain that is awesome and wonderful and blaseblaseblah.

That was when I had my first cup of *bux. I drank it, said it tasted burnt, and promptly got myself a cup of good ol' even when when it's bad, it's still good enough, Dunkin Donuts.

Over the next batch of years I avoided the ever growing and ever expanding *bux like the plague. Any time I came into contact with their coffee, I either really disliked the taste or just opted to not drink it. I later found out from a 3rd party coffee vendor while working at Sanctuary, that they are known to sear their beans because most people don't understand the difference between burnt coffee and strong coffee.

Hell, look at IHL Pre-100. I do an entire 3 strip joke about how horrible *bux is. Their rapid expansion (which I learned was due to a VERY over eager CEO) choked out small businesses and with the exception of the exceptional, they were known to appear and push out local business in a manner usually regarded as something Walmart would do.

Flash forward to 6 months ago. I'm living on my newly acquired unemployment. It's ample enough to pay bills and afford minor creature comforts, but little else. Until I can find some more data work to get done.. I'll be fine. An old friend from the Sanctuary days calls and tells me that there is a position open at the *bux she works at part time and she would give me a rave review. Recognizing that jobs might become harder to find, (Hell, at that point I had applied to 6 temp agencies and Craigslist had begun to drought) I decide to do the RESPONSIBLE thing and apply. Two interviews later and I'm working for a company that so many years ago I openly despised.

My thought process was utterly naive, but goaded on by my possible bosses. I'd love to start doing entertainment booking again. I'd bring in music or an OMN or poetry or ANYTHING. That shit is EASY for me.

What I've dealt with since then is learning that not only is this company utterly unfriendly, it has a system that is made for you to fail at. I mean that from the lowest barista to the highest manager. It is like some sort of devious bondage device that gives you pleasure when you are standing on your toes... until you relax an inch and then hits you with pain - all the while your toes are getting more sore and more sore.

The people that I work with fall into two categories:
1 - Overeducated or mid-educated types who are here until something better floats their way
2 - People who have drank the Kool-Aid.

Type 1 is the dominant of course, but most are so broken into the system, having worked there longer than I have (some by YEARS) that they are so used to the drudgery of the job that it's hard to break out of it. The others though.. oh for fuck sake.. it's like they don't even notice that they are working for a corporation that veils everything they do in some sort of cute kitchy TLA (Three Letter Acronym) all the while keeping them in line with impossible to reach stocking / sales / cleaning criteria.

It was only yesterday afternoon that I actually let it sink in that I am working for a company I've despised since I was 18...

Now the only thing left to do is change it.. trust me.. I'm fucking working my hardest at that.

On David Carradine...

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 16:28:19 GMT

Good night Caine.

On Fridays...

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 01:23:15 GMT

If you don't get it...

Pretty damn brilliant.

On Posting Resumes...

Fri, 29 May 2009 16:28:32 GMT

I hate finding a perfect job on Craigslist. Pouring myself into the cover letter, only to have an IMMEDIATE RESPONSE asking for me to put my resume on some 'postresumeandsubmittowinjobs.com' site that is obviously just an advertising redirect.

Fucking lame.

On Zero Punctuation's Greatest Review EVER...

Thu, 28 May 2009 19:49:50 GMT

I heart Zero Punctuation. His reviews are scathingly fantastic, and he really is the model for a modern major vidblogger...

Here's his review of Duke Nukem Forever - and if you know anything about this game - you'll find his review as surprising as I did.

On Craig...

Sun, 24 May 2009 17:43:38 GMT

http://www.cracked.com/blog/a-series-of-emails-from-cyberdynes-tech-guy/

Craig - Cyberdyne's new Tech Guy... kinda brilliant.

On Library Science...

Fri, 22 May 2009 17:30:29 GMT

A month or two ago one of the librarians from one of the local libraries came into BarStucks and on a lark I asked whether or not it would be possible for me to get my first trade into the library.

She seemed kind of thrilled at the idea of a local comic guy wanting his book there, and said definitely, but it would take some time. She then offered me the possibility of teaching a course to pre-teens about starting a webcomic. Basics really. What to do. How to start it. What to do when you have no art talent, etc. I lurved the idea, obviously.

So today, when driving around and running some errands I stopped into said library and talked with the young adult librarian. Had a great conversation, and it looks like I'll be teaching a small course in the fall. We'll see - but it's nice to think it'll happen.

The funny happened though when I tried to get myself a library card. You see... I apparently have a fine from 2002 at another library in NJ. I don't remember ever going into that library, but I do remember having those books... no, I don't know where they are now.

So, to get a library in one town, I have to pay another town's fine to the tune of $65.

I actually feel sorta guilty about that. I'll have to pay it off sometime this summer, as the library has so many... BOOKS! I could read for hours with that sorta wealth of information!

HOURS I tell ya!

On Reverend Voice....

Fri, 22 May 2009 00:40:22 GMT

Last week I made a vague missive about returning back to Somerville... well, it's penciled and soon to be penned...

FINALLY... THE REVEREND... HAS COME BACK TO SOMERVILLE, NJ...

Where? Verve Restaurant
When ? Tentatively late August (Details forthcoming)
What ? Host of Cosplay Burlesque

Like I said... penciled and not penned. I'll let you know the minute I have my sharpie out.

On Braveheart...

Wed, 20 May 2009 23:24:11 GMT

For one sweet moment I tasted freedom and drank it up. I suckled upon it's proverbial teat and wasn't going to let go no matter what.

I loved in that time. Loved like I've never loved.

I have never and will sadly never again feel that feeling of pure bliss as I strap the 'chains of the Man' back on.

Sadly that time of amazingnes is over.

I just had to put pants back on...

I miss 'no pants time'...

I miss it so fucking much...

On Lost...

Sat, 16 May 2009 01:34:27 GMT

Spoilers abound and discussions galore

Ok - here's my theory:
- Jacob & MYSTERY GUY from beginning of the season finale. Locke is obviously MYSTERY GUY.
- We can then assume from there that Ben & Richard & Eloise, et al are disciples of Jacob, where Whidmore turned into a disciple of MYSTERY GUY

The question now is what pantheon of LEADER / COUNTER-LEADER are the going with. Given how much the show has shown us EGYPTIAN / BABYLONIAN symbolism - we can assume that they're going that way.

Debbie seems to think it's Ashur / Ishtar - but I don't see how either of them can be Ishtar, as it embodies the warrior aspects but not so much the feminine ones.

Oh.. and white ending with black letters... fucking goosebumps.

Discuss...

On The Reverend James The Voice

Tue, 12 May 2009 00:49:19 GMT

...is it time to strap back on the doorag and host events in Somerville, NJ again?

I'll know more tomorrow night.

On DDO$ - Pirate Bay Strikes Back

Tue, 12 May 2009 00:27:58 GMT

Fucking brilliant...

(Source)

Pirate Bay founder Gottfrid Svartholm (aka anakata) recieved a bill for the 30 million SEK that he, along with Peter Sunde (aka brokep), Fredrik Neij (aka TiAMO), and Carl Lundstrom, was fined in the verdict of the Pirate Bay trial just over three weeks ago. The bill inspired anakata to devise a plan involving sending money to Danowsky’s law firm, but not to pay the fine of course which they say will never be payed. Anakata’s clever plan is called internet-avgift, internet-fee in English. Anakata encourages all Internet users to pay extremely small sums around 1 SEK (0.13 USD) to Danowsky’s law firm, which represented the music companies at the Pirate Bay trial. The music companies will not benefit from this, instead it will cost them money to handle and process all the money.

The plan can be called a Distributed Denial of Dollars attack (DDo$). The plan is an away-from-keyboard DDoS attack. DDoS attacks involve lots of users overloading the victim with internet traffic damaging their ability to provide services. Money, instead of Internet traffic is used in this case. The victim is Danowsky’s law firm which represented the IFPI at the Pirate Bay trial.

A friend of anakata told Blog Pirate that the bank account to which the payments are directed has only 1000 free transfers, after which any transfers have a surcharge of 2 SEK for the account holder. Any internet-fee payments made after the first 1000, which includes the law firm’s ordinary transfers, will instead of giving 1 SEK, cost 1 SEK to the law firm. Since Danowsky & Partners Advokatbyrå is a small firm, all the transactions are handled by hand. Handling all payments will be time consuming, costing the law firm in productivity. Maybe it will even affect their success in other cases.

On Dance of the Dead...

Sat, 09 May 2009 17:05:28 GMT

So, I rented Dance of the Dead on Netflix...

Sounds amusing. Buncha losers have to go and fight the zombies at their prom.

What I've come to notice about it is that it just an OK horror comedy. It's... eh. That is all I can give it. It had TONS of potential to be a fun lil culty zombie geeky movie, and just fails.

The best way I can put it is that the movie as a skeleton for a good zombie comedy is RIGHT THERE. All it would need is somebody funnier than the original writer to come in and add some sarcasm, some geek, some spice, etc.

For example - there is a spot when the main couple of the movie are in the middle of the dance floor amongst all the zombies. The movie does a small dance number which seems SILLY. Now if you were to make it an entire affair with the lights focused on them and the zombies watching on and nodding at how loving they are, etc etc... it had the potential to be HYSTERICAL. That's the issue. Every comedy beat in this movie hits you at about a 1 or 2 and has the potential to be a 4 or 5.

Ah well... I give it credit for it's independentyness... not worth a rewatch though.

On Kittehs & Windows...

Fri, 08 May 2009 19:05:51 GMT

On Detox Day 4.... maybe.

Thu, 07 May 2009 01:21:40 GMT

24oz of coffee today.

Headache not noticable.... gone? Time will tell.

My bowels though have decided to be upset with me.

This might not be coffee related tho.

This might be Nathan Hot Dog related.

I don't need validation one way or the other on this....

On Detox Day 3

Wed, 06 May 2009 00:58:52 GMT

So yesterday, I worked - had two cups of coffee and the headache was dull at best.

Today, I had 24oz of coffee, and I've dealt with it lingering on the back left shoulderblade for most of the day.

Tomorrow, I'll be moving on to two or three SMALL cups instead of two LARGER cups.

This actually hasn't been that bad. Although I've slept a LOT more than I like.

On Coffee Detox - Day 1

Sun, 03 May 2009 17:32:25 GMT

Woke up at 6am
Pre-game: 3 Non-Asprin
Work at 6:30
Water! - 30oz or so...
First rumblings of headache - 9am
First cup of coffee at 10am - 15oz.
Water! - 15oz or so...
Dull neck/headache
Second cup - 1pm - 15oz (drinking slowly, going to try and make it last a few hours to slowly introduce ml of caffeine into system...)
Home - 1:30
Post-game: 3 Non-Asprin

The neck/head throb is dull, but constant.

Tomorrow I go down to 24oz of coffee.

The day after that, 16.

Hopefully the headache will be going away by then. I expect it to more or less last the length of this process.