UPDATE: Higher quality photos of us at Illusions can be found in my Halloween gallery! >:-]
10.31.2008
Heeere's Johnny!
UPDATE: Higher quality photos of us at Illusions can be found in my Halloween gallery! >:-]
Z?
Dear die-ary,
Today I became a monster.
Wenzdae night at Illusions we hosted a Halloween party for 80-90 people, and they were dressed up. So we did also. Spencer's got a great replica (not crappy) Sweeney Todd outfit, Aurora has a red dress with devil horns & a tail, and Sara emulated Hanna Montana really well (eek).
I did a straight-forward vampire -- gelled my hair wild & messy, shaved all but my old moustache & goatee for a sinister look, wore a black seude dress shirt (collar popped) over a black beater with black Dickies pants, and Sara put black eye make-uppy stuff under my eyes for that classic dead-goth look. And the coup de grace: fangs.
They are the Scarecrow-brand fangs and are very high quality, worth the $20! There are 2 fangs, which are caps the go over each tooth -- and they look real. You make a gooey paste with a powder & liquid that are supplied, and gob it into each fang, push the fang into place and let it set for 5-10 min. The goo hardens into a perfect mold customized to each tooth. They stay in place without worry, and can be removed easily. I understand so much now; I want to wear them all the time. But I won't. ;P
During the night on Wed I gave Sara one of my evil happy grins (with the fangs in) and she shouted that I look just like Johnny! That's Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, from the comic book I (we) love. That was it, in that instant I knew for tonight instead of vampire I am going to be JTHM. >:-]
Here's a fantastic slideshow of Johnny (& et al) set to "Animal I've Become" by Three Days Grace for your further understanding.
A quick shopping trip at Target netted me a black & grey horizontally striped T-shirt for $7, which I've put a "Z" & "?" on the front via masking tape. And on the back of the black seude dress shirt I made a white panel from sticky-backed printer paper and in Sharpie I wrote the quote "a long life is never a guarantee." >:-] I want to carry an assortment of knives and maybe a sword, but I'll be tending bar all night & doing the special Halloween version of the show (all new spoooooky music too!) so that jazz would be in my way.
Happy Halloween!
What are you dressing up as? ':-)
Today I became a monster.
Wenzdae night at Illusions we hosted a Halloween party for 80-90 people, and they were dressed up. So we did also. Spencer's got a great replica (not crappy) Sweeney Todd outfit, Aurora has a red dress with devil horns & a tail, and Sara emulated Hanna Montana really well (eek).
I did a straight-forward vampire -- gelled my hair wild & messy, shaved all but my old moustache & goatee for a sinister look, wore a black seude dress shirt (collar popped) over a black beater with black Dickies pants, and Sara put black eye make-uppy stuff under my eyes for that classic dead-goth look. And the coup de grace: fangs.
They are the Scarecrow-brand fangs and are very high quality, worth the $20! There are 2 fangs, which are caps the go over each tooth -- and they look real. You make a gooey paste with a powder & liquid that are supplied, and gob it into each fang, push the fang into place and let it set for 5-10 min. The goo hardens into a perfect mold customized to each tooth. They stay in place without worry, and can be removed easily. I understand so much now; I want to wear them all the time. But I won't. ;P
During the night on Wed I gave Sara one of my evil happy grins (with the fangs in) and she shouted that I look just like Johnny! That's Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, from the comic book I (we) love. That was it, in that instant I knew for tonight instead of vampire I am going to be JTHM. >:-]
Here's a fantastic slideshow of Johnny (& et al) set to "Animal I've Become" by Three Days Grace for your further understanding.
A quick shopping trip at Target netted me a black & grey horizontally striped T-shirt for $7, which I've put a "Z" & "?" on the front via masking tape. And on the back of the black seude dress shirt I made a white panel from sticky-backed printer paper and in Sharpie I wrote the quote "a long life is never a guarantee." >:-] I want to carry an assortment of knives and maybe a sword, but I'll be tending bar all night & doing the special Halloween version of the show (all new spoooooky music too!) so that jazz would be in my way.
Happy Halloween!
What are you dressing up as? ':-)
This is Halloween! / This is Halloween! / Halloween! / Halloween! / Halloween! / Halloween! [Nightmare Before Christmas, This Is Halloween]
10.29.2008
My Favorite Week of the Year
This week is my favorite week of the year: the week before Halloween.
Generally this week has the best day/night temperatures. The trees are changing (this year, a little late). The sky screams "Autumn!" with its cloud patterns, and sunsets. And everything is decorated for Halloween. =)
Christmas is my favorite holiday, for many reasons, but Halloween is only time of the year that comes as a close second. And this week is tops.
Generally this week has the best day/night temperatures. The trees are changing (this year, a little late). The sky screams "Autumn!" with its cloud patterns, and sunsets. And everything is decorated for Halloween. =)
Christmas is my favorite holiday, for many reasons, but Halloween is only time of the year that comes as a close second. And this week is tops.
10.23.2008
On Sunspots, Pointless Points-of-View (aka Politics), and Call of Duty 4 online
If you're interested in science, read the first section below.
If you hate (or even like) special interest groups, causes, and the election, do read the second section (you'll learn something!).
Like gaming? Read the third section, but read Section #2, too.
Sunspots? Yep, here's an article (fairly short & to-the-point, so do read it) on the lack of sunspots this year and it's potential effect on the climate. The neatest thing is the idea that there could be a slight climate change toward the cooler (yay!) and it would counteract any recent/near-future global warming effects.
I'm still not convinced by anything I've read that "global warming" is a man-made or recent event. Just like the stock market, the climate goes up and it comes down. And its trends are long-term. I don't need the hype from doomsayers. Oh! That's the perfect segue into my next topic... ;P
As the presidential election comes closer, all those annoying special interest groups are vying for attention, and religiously supporting whatever candidate promises them the attention they think they deserve because it ought to be a politically correct world. Of course, those promises mean nothing, and watch how fast your candidate-of-choice turns his back on you once he's elected [I of course have my candidate selected, but I'm writing without candidate-bias for everyone's benefit to my point]. So if you're involved in one of the 612 strillion special interest groups blindly following someone because they promise you cake [just a head's up, just like in Portal: thecakeisalie thecakeisalie thecakeisalie!], let me point out some smart lyrics from Billy Joel's "Angry Young Man" (note particularly the last 2 lines):
"I believe I've passed the age of consciousness and righteous rage / I found that just surviving was a noble fight. / I once believed in causes too, / I had my pointless point of view, / And life went on no matter who was wrong or right."
Spencer got the Xohm broadband connection at home and promptly hooked up his PS3 & Xbox 360 to it (which are hooked up to a projector and display a 7' image). It's a good, cheap ($80 for the device, $25/mo subscription) solution for high-speed internet at home. If you're in Baltimore, that is...
So last night we played Call of Duty 4 online in the Team games... mostly deatchmatch and Domination (where there are 3 flags to guard). As usual the people playing were incredible good and us not so much. But we learned fast, and got to the point where we were racking up points and stood toe-to-toe on the endgame boards with the better players.
I say "better" in this sense as in "better fraggers", not necessarily gameplayers. CoD4 is not like Halo where everyone's stats are equal. CoD4 uses a class system, where you choose your 2 guns & assortment of grenades & jazz, add on attachments to your guns to increase their effectiveness in various ways, and also apply "Perks" to yourself/weapons (like increased HP, increased damage, invisible on radar, etc, etc). And you unlock these features, and unlock stronger guns, via an experience system.
This adds an RPG-like feel to what would otherwise be a standard, predicitable FPS! =)
You add EXP and level up by killing people, completing objectives in the objective-based game types, and by completing personal Challenges for each weapon (like getting 25 headshots with each sniper rifle).
So, while playing against opponents that deal more damage per shot than you, and who have more HP than you, getting points via fragging isn't going to be the easiest. Instead, we focused on completing objectives (like recapturing the flag) which award us as many or more points than a kill. Actually, that's the way I prefer to play online FPS anyway. =)
Call of Duty 4 online team play:
The pros: you get to customize your weapons and loadout to your liking. =)
The cons: it takes hours of online gameplay before you unlock every gun, and until then you're playing with & against people who are maxxed out (giving them a higher advantage & making your progress slower).
If you hate (or even like) special interest groups, causes, and the election, do read the second section (you'll learn something!).
Like gaming? Read the third section, but read Section #2, too.
Sunspots? Yep, here's an article (fairly short & to-the-point, so do read it) on the lack of sunspots this year and it's potential effect on the climate. The neatest thing is the idea that there could be a slight climate change toward the cooler (yay!) and it would counteract any recent/near-future global warming effects.
I'm still not convinced by anything I've read that "global warming" is a man-made or recent event. Just like the stock market, the climate goes up and it comes down. And its trends are long-term. I don't need the hype from doomsayers. Oh! That's the perfect segue into my next topic... ;P
As the presidential election comes closer, all those annoying special interest groups are vying for attention, and religiously supporting whatever candidate promises them the attention they think they deserve because it ought to be a politically correct world. Of course, those promises mean nothing, and watch how fast your candidate-of-choice turns his back on you once he's elected [I of course have my candidate selected, but I'm writing without candidate-bias for everyone's benefit to my point]. So if you're involved in one of the 612 strillion special interest groups blindly following someone because they promise you cake [just a head's up, just like in Portal: thecakeisalie thecakeisalie thecakeisalie!], let me point out some smart lyrics from Billy Joel's "Angry Young Man" (note particularly the last 2 lines):
"I believe I've passed the age of consciousness and righteous rage / I found that just surviving was a noble fight. / I once believed in causes too, / I had my pointless point of view, / And life went on no matter who was wrong or right."
Spencer got the Xohm broadband connection at home and promptly hooked up his PS3 & Xbox 360 to it (which are hooked up to a projector and display a 7' image). It's a good, cheap ($80 for the device, $25/mo subscription) solution for high-speed internet at home. If you're in Baltimore, that is...
So last night we played Call of Duty 4 online in the Team games... mostly deatchmatch and Domination (where there are 3 flags to guard). As usual the people playing were incredible good and us not so much. But we learned fast, and got to the point where we were racking up points and stood toe-to-toe on the endgame boards with the better players.
I say "better" in this sense as in "better fraggers", not necessarily gameplayers. CoD4 is not like Halo where everyone's stats are equal. CoD4 uses a class system, where you choose your 2 guns & assortment of grenades & jazz, add on attachments to your guns to increase their effectiveness in various ways, and also apply "Perks" to yourself/weapons (like increased HP, increased damage, invisible on radar, etc, etc). And you unlock these features, and unlock stronger guns, via an experience system.
This adds an RPG-like feel to what would otherwise be a standard, predicitable FPS! =)
You add EXP and level up by killing people, completing objectives in the objective-based game types, and by completing personal Challenges for each weapon (like getting 25 headshots with each sniper rifle).
So, while playing against opponents that deal more damage per shot than you, and who have more HP than you, getting points via fragging isn't going to be the easiest. Instead, we focused on completing objectives (like recapturing the flag) which award us as many or more points than a kill. Actually, that's the way I prefer to play online FPS anyway. =)
Call of Duty 4 online team play:
The pros: you get to customize your weapons and loadout to your liking. =)
The cons: it takes hours of online gameplay before you unlock every gun, and until then you're playing with & against people who are maxxed out (giving them a higher advantage & making your progress slower).
10.15.2008
The Godfather, Apple Cider, and PORTALs
Last night Sara, Spencer, & I went to see The Godfather, digitally remastered, at The Senator Theatre in Baltimore. It's one of five theaters in the country that is showing it, and this week only. Excellent. I was quite impressed that Sara herself suggested it. =)
Sunday the 3 of us went on a quest to find the Apple Cider of Autumnness +1000. We found it at Weber's Farm and it was worthy (it always is; best I've ever had). We hung around after our purchases and looked at the pumpkins and ate apples dipped in warm caramel. Yum!
On our way back we hit the comic book shop in Towson (I bought Bear: Demons book 2), the halloween store, and Barnes & Noble. Then Chipotle to-go from Johns Hopkins area, and watched Constantine at Spencer's.
And Monday night, from ~midnight to 4am I played thru and beat a game called Portal. -It-is-awesome-. Here is a short vid to give you an idea of the game (and it's AI's dark humor). Amazing game, it's a puzzle game in first person and the only gun you have creates 2 portals that connect both ways. It is definitely an exercise of the mind to complete the game, as the puzzles are ingenious & increasingly challenging but not impossible. And the development of the overseeing instructional AI program's (GLaDOS) personality is perfectly twisted. >:-]
Honestly, get this game now.
Now.
Now!
Sunday the 3 of us went on a quest to find the Apple Cider of Autumnness +1000. We found it at Weber's Farm and it was worthy (it always is; best I've ever had). We hung around after our purchases and looked at the pumpkins and ate apples dipped in warm caramel. Yum!
On our way back we hit the comic book shop in Towson (I bought Bear: Demons book 2), the halloween store, and Barnes & Noble. Then Chipotle to-go from Johns Hopkins area, and watched Constantine at Spencer's.
And Monday night, from ~midnight to 4am I played thru and beat a game called Portal. -It-is-awesome-. Here is a short vid to give you an idea of the game (and it's AI's dark humor). Amazing game, it's a puzzle game in first person and the only gun you have creates 2 portals that connect both ways. It is definitely an exercise of the mind to complete the game, as the puzzles are ingenious & increasingly challenging but not impossible. And the development of the overseeing instructional AI program's (GLaDOS) personality is perfectly twisted. >:-]
Honestly, get this game now.
Now.
Now!
10.12.2008
Seasonal Color Changes
It's so easy to alter the font colors on this blog that each season/holiday I will change it up from my expected blues to whatever thematic color(s) are appropriate.
Enjoy dark orange for Halloween.
Spoooooooooooky!
;P
Enjoy dark orange for Halloween.
Spoooooooooooky!
;P
The Haunted Mill
Spring Grove, PA -- My sister, bro-in-law, and I went to The Haunted Mill tonight (Sat night; I took the night off from Illusions). It was spoooooooooky & fun: I love haunted house events. I haven't been there in a couple of years. We used to go with our cousins for a few years in a row, cause the 4 of us are/were big into Halloweenishness. B-)
On the drive up to my sister's place the already-set sun cast an orange glow on the horizon, and the trees in the distance were silhouetted black against the orange sky... spooooooky [again with the Vasquez references, sheesh].
Took about an hour from Reisterstown to get there via the dark winding roads of hills with open sky (bright moon in it). It was nice and cool, 50-some degrees out -- I love Fall. =)
The lines for each event were not bad at all. We did the Haunted Mill (of course) and the Dark Zone (in a barn, kind of a smaller Haunted Mill experience, and they go well back-to-back), and the Terror Trail.
Things I realized:
* The scariest position is as the leader of the group -- you're the one going into the darkness & unknown.
* The best spoooky [I resisted using too many O's that time] atmosphere is when there are few people around, so your group of friends is well spaced from any group ahead of you (so surprises & the mystery aren't spoiled). So go *early*.
* My brain is so design-oriented that I can't help but to look at how things are created & laid out [Sylar?! No...].
* I miss designing the haunted garaaaage at Steve & Christine's old place.
* I miss scaring people on Halloween. >:-]
* This was totally worth it! =)
No pix tonight, because of this equation which you should be able to fathom:
Darkness times (cell phone camera minus flash) equals black photos
On the drive up to my sister's place the already-set sun cast an orange glow on the horizon, and the trees in the distance were silhouetted black against the orange sky... spooooooky [again with the Vasquez references, sheesh].
Took about an hour from Reisterstown to get there via the dark winding roads of hills with open sky (bright moon in it). It was nice and cool, 50-some degrees out -- I love Fall. =)
The lines for each event were not bad at all. We did the Haunted Mill (of course) and the Dark Zone (in a barn, kind of a smaller Haunted Mill experience, and they go well back-to-back), and the Terror Trail.
Things I realized:
* The scariest position is as the leader of the group -- you're the one going into the darkness & unknown.
* The best spoooky [I resisted using too many O's that time] atmosphere is when there are few people around, so your group of friends is well spaced from any group ahead of you (so surprises & the mystery aren't spoiled). So go *early*.
* My brain is so design-oriented that I can't help but to look at how things are created & laid out [Sylar?! No...].
* I miss designing the haunted garaaaage at Steve & Christine's old place.
* I miss scaring people on Halloween. >:-]
* This was totally worth it! =)
No pix tonight, because of this equation which you should be able to fathom:
Darkness times (cell phone camera minus flash) equals black photos
10.10.2008
Photoshop Disasters blog
Photoshoppers (and fans of professional screw-ups & movie out-takes) will enjoy this blog I've been reading: Photoshop Disasters. It posts pics of bad professional Photochopping. It's good to know what makes something paramount, but learning from other people's mistakes is just as useful.
BTW, Comments to my posts are welcome as long as you sign 'em so I know who you are, and they aren't malicious.
BTW, Comments to my posts are welcome as long as you sign 'em so I know who you are, and they aren't malicious.
10.09.2008
Atomic Simplicity
I did this late last night (when you were asleep). It's the prototype for what will be the Hub image of my revamped website's front page. I didn't want to get too crazy with it, just create the tech sphere icon. [The pipes, grid, and light sourcing were last min additions to make it wallpaper worthy.] ;P
Click on it to see the full-size wallpaper @ 1280x800.
Atomic Simplicity
Click on it to see the full-size wallpaper @ 1280x800.
Atomic Simplicity
10.08.2008
Capt'n Morgan Promo Party
So yes, fun times at Angel Rock Bar for the Captain Morgan invitation-only promotion. Spencer, Sara, Peter & I went. We walked from Spencer's house because it was nice and cool out (gotta love Fall!).
All the Captain Morgan drinks were free & flowing.
The band did all covers of rocks songs, and quite well.
Captain Morgan himself came out all slicked to the long nines [get it? get it? pirate joke!] and said some words on a mike... him running for president or some such.
We grabbed seating up in the swank couch section and stayed there. I started doing card tricks for Peter, and that got the attention of some people near us... you know how that goes... ;P
Caught a cab back towards Spencer's house, popped in at a 7-11 for snacks.
Watched The Fifth Element on Blu-Ray.
Peter went home, Sara went to bed.
Spencer & I started watching the special features on disc 1 of Iron Man.
Kitty came over, and we played through all of Iron Man (tho mostly talked thru it).
She left, I left.
Late night, as usual.
Fun, as always. =)
Also, I made an animated userbar tonight which you can see up at the top of this page. Need a hero?
All the Captain Morgan drinks were free & flowing.
The band did all covers of rocks songs, and quite well.
Captain Morgan himself came out all slicked to the long nines [get it? get it? pirate joke!] and said some words on a mike... him running for president or some such.
We grabbed seating up in the swank couch section and stayed there. I started doing card tricks for Peter, and that got the attention of some people near us... you know how that goes... ;P
Caught a cab back towards Spencer's house, popped in at a 7-11 for snacks.
Watched The Fifth Element on Blu-Ray.
Peter went home, Sara went to bed.
Spencer & I started watching the special features on disc 1 of Iron Man.
Kitty came over, and we played through all of Iron Man (tho mostly talked thru it).
She left, I left.
Late night, as usual.
Fun, as always. =)
Also, I made an animated userbar tonight which you can see up at the top of this page. Need a hero?
Strollin' in at dawn / Wakin' up at noon / Is gonna catch up to me soon. / But you can sleep when you're dead / Is what I said / Cause I'm jumpin' off the moon! [BBVD, What's Next?]
10.07.2008
I know where I am where are y00000u?!
A few photos from my cellphone can be found HERE.
This As My New Thoughts Page
I'm dissolving my old manual html Thoughts page/journal from my website to be replaced with this blog.
I have all of the old posts on my hdd, so it's still archived for my own records.
Some thought I would never use an official blog, or thought when I did I'd use L.J.
However, Blogger lets me update from my cell phone via txt msgs without paying for any premium account jazz. Also, it uses my Gmail account. And it's straight forward.
I have all of the old posts on my hdd, so it's still archived for my own records.
Some thought I would never use an official blog, or thought when I did I'd use L.J.
However, Blogger lets me update from my cell phone via txt msgs without paying for any premium account jazz. Also, it uses my Gmail account. And it's straight forward.
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