I may have caused an international incident

I received the following message today (slightly edited for spelling):

Mr Michael Tinfoil
The Year of the Gormain, the twenty-seventh Doramia.

You have made remarks about the person known as Michael Cera, and his upcoming role in the movie "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World" and him being a gnome. Though you later apologized for this offense against the Gnome Kingdoms (I assume you included our vassal states in your statement as well. The Smurfs have had enough trouble as it stands with the recent Troll-Gargamel Alliance) I must kindly remind you of the Gnomish people sacrifices two-thousand years ago when the troll-giant horde swept down from the mountains of Snufflin, threatening the worlds supply of Hafnanaium. Thus I propose that for the next week you put chocolate in your window (none of that cheap kind) to show good-will. And some sugar would be good too. Please send any questions you might have to this address. The human does not know we occasionally loan his email.

Regards

Tomalin Redhorn the XXIIII
Vice-Ambassador of the Gnomish Kingdoms and Vassal States to the Human territories.

P.S: We also like cheese.

...so, uhhh, I regret the haste in which I slandered the good name of gnomes everywhere by likening them to a certain degenerate who is solely responsible for there not being an Arrested Development movie. I hope the Gnomish Kingdoms and their wise, benevolent leaders can forgive this transgression.

That is all.

tribute: Jun Seba

Just found out today that Jun Seba, aka Nujabes, the guy who did the music for the exceptional Samurai Champloo, passed away in late February. Car crash in Tokyo.

He was a big part of what made the series so good, and made that title sequence so damn addictive (I don't usually sit through them when I plow through an anime series, but you bet I did for each episode of this show). The show featured the only song from an anime we've ever bought, Obokuri Eeumi, which just happens to be a fitting tribute for an amazing producer.

Check it out.

blast from the past: freshman year reading

After giving a friend some recommendations for reading, I was reminded of this book. It was the second Heinlein I ever picked up (the first was my father's copy of "The Cat Who Walks Through Walls"), and oddly enough, at the suggestion of my freshman year high school English teacher (who, before that point, I thought was kind of lame). Yeah, I somehow managed to read one of his much later works before anything else. I am sort of cursed in that way; I somehow picked up the seventh book of the Wheel of Time series before all the other ones (although in my defense, it was for a school book report).

Counted amongst Heinlein's "Juvenile" fiction, it is shorter and in some ways, intellectually lighter than his future history or Long family stuff. However, I will never forget it for one really important lesson it taught me.

When the main character, Rod Walker, is trying to decide what equipment or weapons he should bring on his adventure to a hostile and savage world, he remembers the advice of his teacher. He doesn't bring heavy weaponry, guns, or any kind of advanced arms. Why?

Because those things would make him feel safe. They would distract him from the incredibly deadly situation he was in, giving a false sense of security.

Of course, I've never had to really act on this, but in 13 years, I haven't forgotten it!

this is just amazing

In all my years of digesting material about WW2, I have somehow managed to never come across this.

Excerpt:

He [Ed: Jack Churchill] resumed his commission after Poland was invaded, and volunteered for the Commandos after fighting at Dunkirk. Churchill was not sure what Commando Duty entailed, but he signed up because it sounded dangerous. In May 1940, Churchill and his unit, the Manchester Regiment, ambushed a German patrol near l'Epinette, France. Churchill gave the signal to attack by cutting down the enemy Feldwebel (sergeant) with his barbed arrows, becoming the only known British soldier to have felled an enemy with a longbow in the course of the war.[1]

As any former Age of Empires 2 player should know, the longbow IS the signature weapon of the British military, so this shouldn't be that surprising. What is though, is the rest of this guy's life story. Just when you think it is starting to wind down, no! More awesome!

Thanks to the Dauntless Dane for pointing this one out to me :)

good news for people who love bad news...

Sometimes, I am pretty sure I function at an unnecessarily high angst level. As if I was born into the wrong century and should have instead been a melancholy chimney sweep. I really like cleaning things, I enjoy tweed, I could have been a kick-ass chimney sweep. However, the majority of time I can laugh at myself and move past whatever today's new trial is.

Sometimes though, I let myself marinate a little too long in it, so to prevent the marinating from continuing, I'm trying something different. I'm going to will myself out of this mood, not by mocking myself, but instead by focusing on the awesome.

The Awesome:

-The text message I received in error yesterday: "All of a sudden its dumping out honey - hope we can get out!!" Did they get out? Do they still need help? What was dumping out honey? So many unanswered questions.

-"All Songs Considered", "SModcast", and the previously undiscovered fact that I really love podcasts. I also love Kevin Smith, but that's less of an undiscovered fact and more of a universal truth.

-Sleepless by the Decemberists. So beautiful, so moving.

-My future plans for our garden. I spent a big chunk of the weekend drawing up plans to turn our shady apartment backyard into a flourishing wonderland. This is a big experiment for us, so you will see a lot of posts about this coming up.

-My business class has started and drawing up plans for a new future makes me fearful but really buoyant. I just need to let the buoyancy stay and not float away.

-Our taxes are 99% done.

Oh, and one of the most awesome parts.

-Getting to tell Mike a surprise via the website. Guess who thinks she's ready to start gaming again?

the process, part 1

There are some modes of gaming that compel between-game homework more than others. I am currently and joyfully waist-deep in one of them; the technological character. Now, I call it this to differentiate it from the crafter, whose labors are often magically augmented. The technological character may have supernatural aids for his work, but the finished product is the result of pure applied science.

I bring this up to demonstrate, in a sort of blow-by-blow fashion, one such piece of extracurricular research. Besnik Zacker, former military engineer and religious zealot, is now quite undead, quite steeped in the stolen power of exsanguinated foes, and has the potent ability to bring forth from nothing his body volume in nearly anything, from finished man-sized steam engines, to fully loaded and ready to use firearms, to puddles of acid. And he is my character for my tt group's vampire game (for you crunch wonks out there, he uses a souped up version of Path of Conjuration...the setting is a bit more fantasy, and bit higher power level than the average bear). I can't make active chemical processes, like fire, and I can't create living tissue (yet). Now, when I walked into the setting, the technology level was maybe late 1600's. Through my power's ability to make precision devices instantly, and some minor investment into Academics and Engineering, I have at this point invented the high explosive, the self-contained bullet, the revolver, the telescopic sight, the chain-driven belt (to which I have attached a friction generator, that can power a decent sized electric current), a circle-loop air compressor, a two-cylinder chemical-gas powered flamethrower, a high-caliber bolt-action rifle so heavy I can only use it by virtue of several dots of potence.

Last session, I came across four major developments. The first is rocketry. It isn't really related to what I will be researching for these posts. But it let me build something nasty called the rocket spear, a two-stage pointy exploding stick...rocket. So it is getting mentioned. Because it rocks.

The second is the delivery, by virtue of our social character, of a huge stack of alchemically transmuted quartz crystals that not only hold and store a great deal of electricity, but self-recharge slowly over time. Why yes, I would like to skip the voltaic pile step thank you. The third is the discovery of electromagnetic conduction. Right now it is just serving as a sweet party trick, but I have big plans (maybe). The fourth is that I have created an array out of some of the crystals that let me hook them up to wires hooked up to the friction generator. Easy and relatively fast recharge is now possible.

Considering that touching these crystals exposed gives you a strong jolt (not really harmful because I laugh at silly things like nerve damage and vaporized body fluids), which implies that they are very high conductive, I smell an opportunity for yet another major breakthrough. In part 2, I will begin the endeavor of forming a productive and exploitable plan for technological development, and building a plausible scientific case for its emergence in the game. Stay tuned!

link frenzy

Today was such a good day for the internets, I thought I would capture it in a convenient squeeze-tube for you all.

Behold:

- Of course this is Japanese, Crazy Dane! Who else would marry tactile oddity with social pariahism bound in a tight knit weave of synthetic fibers?

- Solid Gold, baby.

- I don't know whose universe she defends, but I'd say they should count their blessings.

- I think my favorite part is when he slams the guy on the left's face into his keyboard.

- The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers are amazing. If you haven't seen both of those trailers, crank up the music on your speakers and do so immediately. Then, check out the performance they did at this year's TED Conference that was just released today. You are welcome.

- The New York Times once again displays its awesome integrity and attention to detail.

- I twittered this earlier today, but it bears repeating. Climate change is real, folks, but a lot of people swallow much heavier hypocrisy and contradiction than the fact that it still snows during the winter means there is no global warming (but let's ignore the fact that warmer global temperatures can lead to greater snowfall).

- I've always wanted to eat a dandelion. But there's no way I can top that, so it is getting crossed off my list.

- I need to get my act together and start incorporating this into my games.

Props to BethFury for most of these ^_^

Video Game Perfection, or how I learned to love the box and not break the controller.

I like being good at things.

And when I say that I like being good at things, I mean, I have total and complete tunnel vision at times because Perfectionist Beth kicks in.

Perfectionist Beth knits like a fiend, but is not necessarily the most fun person to play xbox with. I have very little patience, enjoy constant action, and, until recently, had a hard time controlling my fist of death when sniped by a 12 year old making fun of me on xbox live.

I was kind of nervous about buying a video game system due to Perfectionist Beth and what a jerk she is most of the time. But luckily, Perfectionist Beth was made for xbox. This is mostly due to my true love of achievement points and my joy in trash talking.

The quest for achievement points led to 3 hours spent trying to get one achievement in "Left 4 Dead". I'm still waiting to finally beat a level on Expert.

I can't even say I was close to achieving it. I've been trying to beat the same level on Expert on and off since getting the xbox, and despite last night, I have still not achieved it. It's not even that I'm not good at the game. I will happily toot my own horn (toot toot!) and say that I am awesome at the game. But that one achievement still alludes me.

Yet Perfectionist Beth is not angry about this, Perfectionist Beth is like let's go get that bitch. Perfectionist Beth is finally being used for good and actually aids in my enjoyment in xbox. I joined trueachievement.com, I play for reasonable amounts of time with simple goals in mind, and I'm fun to play with.

Trust me, sometimes I am not a pleasant gamer. Sometimes I am ready to say pretty horrible things to the person that just chainsawed me in half in Gears of War 2.

But most days....

I say bring it on.

(Expect Game Reviews, Game Rants, and more Game related joy in upcoming weeks)

as promised: reivew of Shaman Warrior Vol. 1

It's taken me a couple of days to digest and re-read (I always make two passes at a trade, I find it helps me digest the fine details of the story, but I also tend to view the artwork differently the second time), but I can now give you my review of Park Joong-Ki's Shaman Warrior, Vol. 1

First of all, the action does not disappoint. It is gloriously incoherent (which is part of why the second read-through is so important), and in some places appealingly abstract in the depiction of movement and force. These aren't bad things at all, but if you are expecting to glance at some frames like you would a traditional superhero comic and be able to easily arrest what is going on, you may find yourself a little frustrated. This is a lesson I learned from Mugen no Jūnin long ago though, so I know what to look for. Park illustrates tremendous power through his well built characters, but they portray convincing grace as well. It got my badass swordfighter space pirates motor running at full speed.

Secondly, the art overall is exceptional. Even the ugly characters have a rich beauty to them, something that I found I oddly appreciated. Waves of mooks have quirky faces, with expressions that compress in scrunched rage in one panel, and then relax and look very different, yet still clearly the same character in another. And everyone has full lips, top and bottom! Even the male characters! If you don't immediately grasp why this is a big deal, then you a) probably don't read much manga, and/or b) don't know what full-lipped characters in Japanese art tends to imply, a subject I will not broach here. Now, I don't know if this is a typical feature of Manhwa work, so maybe someone can educate me on that. Suffice to say though, it was immediately jarring to me, and at first, couldn't help but make the characters all look a little more comical. Looking back on it now though? I love it. Lips are a big way to differentiate male and female characters, and Park plays with this in a fun way regarding one of the characters. I have deliberately avoided reading the wiki on Shaman Warrior, but if anyone wants to give me a non-spoilery clue on why Yarong seems kind of feminine, and why the general referenced his "body changing", let me know. I think I could be imagining some subtext that isn't really there though.

Lastly, the story and plot is melodramatic, full of gravity, and has left me wanting more. It isn't quite as grimdark as I usually go for, but has just enough grit to earn my respect. The characterization is excellent, and what might come off as silly or pointless in some other works which I won't name, comes across as genuine and purposeful in Shaman Warrior. I've seen a lot of absurd "code of the warrior" junk, especially in anime, but this book does it amongst the best I've seen, with a strong shot of realism. I need this kind of stuff to be mature, and Park delivered.

In summation, this trade is highly recommended, both for fans of the genre, for comic nerds in general, and for the rest of you who like pretty pictures (there are plenty of those!). Can't wait to crack open Volume 2!

Not everything is yummy.

When I was a little (AHEMuntilIwascollegeagedAHEM), I had a reputation amongst many people (AHEMmyfamilyAHEM) of being bad in the kitchen. I don't blame them. I burned everything and never really took any interest in the process. Plus, in High School, I became a vegetarian and mostly responsible for my own meals. From High School came the University Dining Hall (good ole' inedible Brower). From the Dining Hall came whatever I could make successfully in my microwave.

I never really thought I'd be someone that cooked, especially not good food, and especially not for pleasure.

However, when I started dating Mike, I realized quickly that I wanted that to change that. This was because he loved cooking but also because we generally think of different things to cook. While I love Mike's cooking, he is essentially a bunny (see picture to the right for him in his natural habitat). Raw veggies are number one in his book, while I didn't eat kale until I was 20.

One thing that has always been hardest for me was dealing with the recipes that just didn't go right. I hate wasting food, I hate trying new things and them not working, and I really hate having to make a second dinner when the first one is not edible. It has been awhile since something we made was inedible, but our dinner last night was definitely not a success.

I love the website Smitten Kitchen and have used their recipes with much success in the past. We decided to try a simple recipe on the site, Spaghetti with Cheese and Pepper. It is hard to tell where things went off the rails.

Maybe it was the extra cup of liquid Mike added by accident, or we left the pasta boil too long.

Maybe it was that I didn't mix it quick enough when adding the cheese, or I didn't add enough pepper.

Maybe it was the fact that the fake meat we used to make meatballs on the side was weird and inedible, or that we used whole wheat pasta (that is not my favorite).

Overall, what sounded yummy came out as pretty bland. Edible, but not something that you want to eat.

But the point of this post is not to complain about our kitchen failure. Kitchen failures are key to learning how to navigate within a kitchen. The pancakes that turned out like hockey pucks (bad flour choice), the bread that didn't rise correctly (poor interior temperature), the beans that turned out chalky (sub-par ingredients); all of these disasters led to both of us being more confident and battle-worn cooks.

It doesn't make me want to stop cooking, but rather try the recipe again and see if I can make it work.

So if I can pass on two lessons, they are:
1) Even if my mac and cheese is, humans are not perfect.
2) Not everything is yummy.

Food is just trial and error. Sometimes you need a little flour in your hair, egg on your face, and burnt dish in the sink to realize that you really like it in the kitchen.

Even if it is messy.

The CLP is awesome: Badass Swordfighter Edition

Perhaps one of the coolest things about the Allegheny County area is its library system. It is vast, extraordinarily well stocked, and very prompt with transfers. But most importantly, it has facilitated my need for awesome blood-soaked action comics!

Not that long after it was released, I was able to grab a copy of what was then the latest trade of my favorite all-time manga, Hirokai Samura's Blade of the Immortal. If you have not checked this out, you are hearby ordered to do so immediately. I will never be able to say enough good things about this series, as it tickles every last one of my fanboy sensors. Hardcore characters on both sides of the isle, cinematic and complex fight scenes that often need to be read over and over to arrest, deep layered (as the fans like to say, "circles within circles") storylines, and more shades of gray than the sky here in Winter! Not for the faint of heart.

And today, the CLP (aka the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh) has delivered yet again, helping me to obtain something I have been seeking ever since I saw it on a shelf in the Kintetsu Mall in San Francisco; Park Joong-Ki's Shaman Warrior

I should point out that Shaman Warrior is not manga, but manhaw (basically because it is Korean, not Japanese). Just digging into it now...expect a full review in a day or so!