Gno Schitt

Being a former tech and knowing whats wrong with computers in advance, I have seen this kinda thing when bringing parts in for replacement. It really is ridiculous.

I'm sure / hope you have all heard about this, but I'm interested in starting a discussion about it.

Radiohead is releasing a new album, October 10th. They are offering it for sale digitally on their website for "what you want". So you choose how much you want to pay for a digital version of their album. For the collectors you can also order a huge box set that has 2 cds, art, records, and other stuff for 40 pounds or something.

What is everyone's thoughts on the actual album though? I currently pre-order it for $0 with the intent that once I listen to it, I will decide how awesome it is, and the buy it again for more to support the band, and this means of album distribution. I really like it because I don't like having the physcial cd crap cluttering my room, and I'll rip it to digital right away anyway, and put it on my ipod, and likely not touch the cd again. However, I can see how this wouldn't work as well for an unknown or less popular artist. Although costs are dropped immensely as there is not physical printing, so even if your fans are cheap, it is money going straight into your pockets as profit. Especially when you see stats that say only about $1 of a cd sales goes to the artist. I can't imagine even the evil cd pirates objecting to getting a full album for only $1 which would give Radiohead as much profit as a normal cd. Plus I don't have to give a cut to the evil corporations that I think are hurting music more than helping it.

Other thoughts?

So, this isn't really related to anything that is usually discussed here; but I laughed so hard I think I peed a little:



I can't decide what's funnier; watching her go down like a 6 foot tall baby giraffe, or the fact that the newsmen can't contain themselves!

Hey all, here is a site that I frequent, even though it is not updated all that often. The content that he talk's about is things that I am interested in, and I think that a lot of you will be as well.

Give it a look and I hope you enjoy.

P.S. Lord Jim, you should watch the video on the latest post, it is a bit long, but you will get a kick out of it...

It's confirmed! They're making Spider-Man the Musical and it seems to be inducing in me a combination of laughter and mini-vomiting...

Music and lyrics by Bono and The Edge (does his wife call him The?).

Really guys and gals, if some Hollywood-Broadway puds can waste this much time and money on a project that was probably conceived during a 48 hour E and cocaine binge we aren't we merging our talents to at least make something original? I mean Kyro and I were joking about making a full-cast radio play for fun, why not do that and make our own first million?

Jesus, what will they puke up next...

Saw this video and laughed my ass off. You would think that the jokes would stop being funny by now.

I've been playing in a new weekly D&D game lately. One of the features of the game is an online campaign wiki where we can put in-character and out-of-character talk, to allow us to role-play a bit between sessions. It works brilliantly. If I ever get to run a game again, I'll certainly be using this technique.

I thought that I might post a few of the bits I have been writing for my character, a Barbarian from northern Forgotten Realms named Vaa-dain, just for people to read and comment if they want to. I guess I'll start with his background, and maybe add a tid-bit here and there over the next couple months of the campaign.

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Vaa-dain

Uthgar (Human) Barbarian of the North (Clan of the Great Wyrm)

Age: 21 Height: 5'10

Born with true white hair and dark green eyes, Vaa-dain was never comfortable with his own people. As soon as he was able to carry a spear, he began keeping his own company along the periphery of the territory that his clan had laid ancient claim too. In this role he became valuable to his people as a first-contact, intercepting those who would enter clan lands unannounced before they could penetrate deeply. The most important accomplishment during this time was his brokerage of a truce and trade arrangement between the clan and the mysterious Winter Witches of the darkest northern netherwood. Vaa-dain enjoyed the company of the witches.

As adulthood approached, he began to recognize a certain sensitivity to the arcane. This inclination did not go unnoticed to a certain other young and ferocious warrior of the clan - Rha-zuul - the last son of the great Zuul-Huk-Sho bloodline and future Chieftain. Rha-zuul saw that Vaa-dain would often easily ascertain the purpose of mystical objects and conversed well and comfortably with travellers that would come into their great frosted forest home. When the Winter Witches would come to trade with the clan they would always seek Vaa-dain out and prefer his company over any others. This made Rha-zuul very jealous of the perceived unearned status Vaa-dain enjoyed with these mystics and other powerful travellers. To this insult was added the injury of the fact that Eura-zuul - daughter of the chieftain and sister of Rha-zuul - clearly doted on Vaa-dain.

On one occasion, a travelling half-elven wizardess by name of Azure-Skye stopped within the tribes dense boreal pines with her troupe so that they might rest and stock provisions. She told of their journey north toward the great spine of the world to seek secrets lost there in ages past. Vaa-dain invited them to spend their night with the clan, in safety. Breathtakingly beautiful and radiant with power, she passed over Rha-zuul to spend her time with Vaa-dain and to ask him very unusual questions about his family. She sensed something in him, as he did inside himself. Rha-zuul was furious.

A day passed after Azure-Skye had departed with her adventuring company, and in the very early moments of particularly cold dawn a host of black riders came roaring into forest and stormed the clan hold. They demanded information about a half-elven vagabond thief known to be in these parts. Rha-zuul wasted no time in telling them anything they wanted to know about the wizardess and her chosen path toward the worlds spine. Vaa-dain loudly objected to this betrayal of the stranger, but the chief stood with his son in acquiescence to the requests of the black host of riders. With great laughter the black riders declared the tribe fortunate, for in exchange for their information they agreed to take but one person alive, instead of all of them dead. The Chieftain and his son struggled as mightily as they were able, but could not stop the black armored riders from storming off with Eura-zuul.

Rha-zuul pointed to Vaa-dain. If Vaa-dain had not invited the bastard elven bitch to their camp, this would not have happened. Others began hissing threats, why had Vaa-dain done this to them? Why had he brought great misery down upon the Zuul-Huk-Sho line? Was he an agent of darkness? With a heavy heart, he knew that the time had come to leave his people. He set off to make his own mark and determine what it was about him that was so different - why was he was created just so?

Though he has been away from his clan lands for barely a year he has greatly expanded his knowledge of the lands of north and grown hungry to understand the reasons why his blood burns with the craving of powerful magic and great treasure. A keen mind and natural cunning are complemented by his great strength. His rages, when let loose, are alarmingly vicious yet disciplined – more thinking predator than blind savage. His predatory nature is tempered by his good judge of character, and he has found brotherhood with an unusual mix of arctic kin - a Snow Elf named Farok and a strange Ice Gnome by name of Taelin.

That's right fight fans - UFC Champ Randy "The Natural" Coutre has managed to punch his way into a "lead role" in the up-coming Scorpion King sequel (minus the Rock from all accounts) The Scorpion King: Rise of the Akkadian.

The news is quietly dropped on the MMA Blog via the following quote: "Couture is set to leave for South Africa to film a lead role in, “The Scorpion King: The Akkadian,” next month."

I wonder how long the casting director lasted before screaming like a little girl to be let go of the death grip Randy had on him and produce a contract?

Well good luck Mr. Coutre, experience has shown us that you will need it - and there's no defense against millions of viscous little bloggers.

No matter what else happens, I'm going skiing this winter. My bike trip was foiled by work and weather (equally), but I'm sure I can get away for a two day ski trip if I plan ahead (yeah, go figure).

So, I'm throwing this out there: who skis anymore? I'll go alone if I have to, but it would be cool to try and arrange a group (or even a pair if that's all I can get is one travel buddy*). If you think this is something you'd like to do, post here, or email me.

Some trip planning notes
-If we can do it during the week, that is preferred, travel Sunday, ski Mon/Tues/Wed (maybe) and travel Wed/Thurs
-I'd like to avoid the Banff/Louise/Sunshine area if possible. I've skied there so much
-If we can go through Calgary I might be able to line up a place to stay one night there for free (if our numbers are four or less), but we don't have to go through CowTown if a route to Jasper is selected
-I'm willing to go as early as first week of December, I'd prefer not to go any later than first week of March
-If you come across any good deals but don't plan to come, at least let me know!

* CPM doesn't really want to ski anymore, she has this ladies shopping trip to Edmonton thing that she likes way better than the mountains - ya, I know she's crazy - like a fox!

I DO! I DO!

I like lists myself, and this was a fun little one that I thought I would share with the rest the technophiles that I know.

As a computer scientist, I've really been enjoying this BBC documentary on four very famous mathematicians:  Georg Cantor, Ludwig Boltzmann, Kurt Godel, and Alan Turing.  The common thread between these individuals is alluded to by the title of the documentary, "Dangerous Knowledge" -- the monumental and revolutionary discoveries that these people made ultimately drove them to insanity and suicide.  While this is not entirely accurate, the documentary is nonetheless fascinating.   It's long, at 90min, but in my opinion, worth watching.

I've been listening to the original motion picture soundtrack for "Cool As Ice" for the past week, and I've gotta tell ya, the album is brilliant. The mix of 80's white bread rap/hip hop and slow techno ballads is a welcome change of pace from anything else I've been listening too lately. Here are some highlights:

1. Cool As Ice (Title Track) by Vanilla Ice (feat. Naomi Campbell)
What can I tell you? The track opens with this pipes and synths section that is wonderfully musical. Then it moves into the main song section with electronic beats and fantastic sound effects and orchestral work in the background. Add to that the 'epic' V.I. rapping and Naomi Campbell (who sings really well for a model) and you have a wonderfully enjoyable song.

4. Love 2 Love U by Partners In Kryme (feat. Debbie Cole)
Smooth mainstream accessible 80's rap with accents of strong vocal work and rolling bass lines. At the time, would have been too radical for radio play, but easily out shines a large body of todays contemporary 80's inspired commercialized techno-ish tracks that get air time.

7. Forever by D'New (feat. Temple)
Another pairing of a fairly forgettable electronic act (D'New) with a very memorable elegant and silky voice (Temple) to produce a song that has a much greater emotional impact that you would first think possible. The use of minor root key and subtle discord in juxtaposition with sections of very clever harmony is powerful. This is a song I recently woke up with running in my head. Great stuff.

10. Get Wit' It by Vanilla Ice
To seal the deal with his reinvented James Dean image the album finishes with an excellent technically produced piece of electronica. The use of sounds that move in space (stereo imaged) as well as with pitch creates a fascinating listening experience. V.I.'s rapping is, of course, totally self-indulgent, but strangely appropriate once you set the perspective in the mind of a self-absorbed ego maniacal bubble head (and I'm being pretty kind here). There are little tid bits in this song that I intend to lift and remix into something a little heavier.

It's got me inspired to watch the actual film again too. So, I tracked down an avi copy. This is an open invite for people to join me in watching it at my place sometime over the next week or two.
Anybody out there willing to take it up with me?

This does not tell time, but it does count. I watched it go for about a minute, then I couldn't watch anymore. The only word I really have for it is alarming.

The wet conditions and other time constraints that have been imposed on this weekend make it ill suited to attempt the planned cycle trip. I know there was some interested parties planning on joining me in the wee hours of Sunday morning, but I think we will be looking at a date in September to 'fall' back on (pun intended).

So, my short list is of "pretty sure I'm coming" is:
- Kurt Saunders
- Dawn Ophiem
- Mike Diakuw

I know there were some others that showed interest, but haven't gotten back to me. Does anybody have a date in Sept. that they think works well? What about the long weekend Monday September the 3rd? If the weather stays relatively dry most of the mud should be passable by then.

Please post here with your preference.

These days I'm finding it harder and harder to keep track of the books/authors I have read in the past as well as my "to read" list. I know that among us there are plenty of avid readers as well as internet junkies. Have any of you found a decent website for tracking your reading habits?

At a glance I found http://www.goodreads.com and while it mostly fits what I'm looking for. I don't quite feel that its interface is very good. It also seems to be missing an easy way to track favorite authors.

Any suggestions?

The month of August has been absolutely nuts.

Most bizarre is certainly the machinations of the Vanscoy Highway Committee, of which I am the last (and youngest) member of NINE persons!

For those who do not know, allow me to quickly summarize...

The Dept. of Highways (federal?) has decided that it should complete the twin highway segment from where the highway merges (at the first mine) through to Delisle. Since my town lies along the highway, one of the chief project problems is what to do with us. (BTW - when asked in the provincial house this week about it, our minister for highway development said he had no knowledge of any plan to develop this highway.)

In early July, the engineers office contracted to design the stretch presented three alternative plans for how it could work (really only two as you shall see). At the end of the open presentation, they distributed forms asking for community feedback.

Options 1 & 2 were through Vanscoy where the road is now, with option 2 designed to gobble up the property along the edge of town (i.e. my house). Option 3 called for the new high-speed highway to go north of town - and was clearly the preferred option that the designers wanted to go with. Nobody likes Option 1 (the road through town, narrow, with a lower speed limit). But from my point of view, both option 2 and 3 are great! Allow me to explain...

Option 2: the highway goes through town, they buy my property and I'm forced to move. So, I would buy a lot in the north end of town, and either build a new house, or move my existing house onto a new foundation. This results in no more road noise and a new basement*. I win.

Option 3: the highway goes north around town. I stay where I live. Because of my hugely increased property value, I go ahead with planned reno's in the basement*. This results in no more road noise. I win.

For the last two months I've been meeting with this committee listing to their arguments on how best to convince the Dept. of Highways (and contracted engineers office) that Option 2 (through town, gobble property) is the way to go. We've constructed a clear set of compelling reasons to put the highway through town (there is of course a clear set of compelling reasons to go around town also but the committee isn't really interested in that for the most part, and like I said, I'm okay either way).

After all the wrangling and gnashing of teeth, it looks like the Dept. of Highways plans to go ahead with their original plan anyway - pretty obviously - to go north around town regardless of what us local folks had to say about it.

Now begins the long protracted experience of having no idea what is ultimately going to happen with the project, preventing me from moving ahead with any planned renovations OR relocating. The only bad possible outcome! A perfect situation for preventing me from being able to do anything! I guess I'll keep looking at the same terrible carpet downstairs and putting up with shoddy bathrooms for another FIVE TO EIGHT years while this shakes out.

What kills me about this is, I was in a win/win position, which was a pleasant change. But no, instead we have a conspiracy to make it into a total bummer. You can gag me with an vx missile.

So, it looks like WotC has finally officially announced the impending release of D&D 4 (or should I say 4.0, because we can all see 4.x.x coming down the pipe already). I'm assuming this is at the behest of corporate parent Hasbro to bring the visibility of their flagship RPG system back to the market forefront after the dismal performance of D&D Online against World of Warcraft.

I would have linked this article to the WotC D&D root page, but it is currently having such a high volume of traffic that the server has failed.

There are some interesting possibilities for changes that could make 4e a good system. Less static (more flexible) character classes, the abolition of the division between arcane and divine magic, and the improvement of the usability of the wizard/sorcereous way of spell casting, just to name a few.

In other interesting news, The Gamer: Dorkness Rising will be showing at GenCon this year. Ah, to really embrace the inner Dork. How can you beat that? To wit:

Sometime this month (they won't say exactly when) a 62 year old French man is plunging towards Saskatchewan to attempt the world freefall record of 40 kilometers!

Somehow he's scraped together $14 million worth of funding (hello corporations - if you're looking for tax write-offs I can give you tonnes of useful way to give me your money...). He'll be taking off from Battleford and landing who knows where; so if you hear "Sacre bleu!," "Mon dieux!," or "MERDE!" from above you do not look up, but immediately start ninja-like dive rolls into cover.

Geez, if I'm 62 and looking for excitement I think I'll opt for 26 year old Redhead with scientifically enhanced boobs...

I'm currently trying to find the following movies on VHS or DVD. Some of you may remember these shows, or maybe not. They were pretty 'B' in their time and - from what I've recently read - may not have aged well. But see no reason why that should stop me.

Anyway,


Thursday (1998)
- stars Tom Jane (the new Punisher)
- another Mickey Rourke film



Nemesis (1993)
- is this the only Olivier Gruner film that didn't utterly blow?
- feels more New Rose HotelBurning Chrome than any direct film adaptations of William Gibsons work ever did



Down Twisted (1987)
- am I the only person with fond memories of Albert Pyun films?


If anybody remembers these shows, or believes they can be had via torrent or something somewhere, I'd love to hear about it. If Cinemax (a movie channel in the states) has these movie, doesn't that mean there has to be a digital copy around somewhere?