BunkBlog

Yeah, yeah, I know, “thru” isn’t really a word any more than “lite” is, but what the hell.

So I went to the drive-thru today, and it just reminded me of why the South and Texas (since they are not apparently part of the South) are so weird to my Western self. They have people manning the microphone. Now, what’s absurd is that the machines of the autochef are still doing all the work inside the Jack in the Black Box, but the people at the drive-thru get your order and then repeat it to the voice recognition program to actually place it. The “human touch” is so important, they’ll add layers of error to things just to pretend we’re still in the 19th Century.

Remember, LJ Rabbit Hole Day is tomorrow, the 27th of January. In case you normally make sense on your blog, tomorrow you are not supposed to.

Be surreal.

Focus on the Family Attacks Spongebob Squarepants

Um, he’s a sponge. He doesn’t even have any genitalia. Why is the Far Right so obsessed with sex anyway? Must be some frigid women over there.

Anything that Dr. Dobson is afraid of is something I’ll support wholeheartedly.

Most recently finished book – L.E. Modesitt’s The Ethos Effect.

Although I usually like Modesitt’s science fiction, this one was written a bit differently. I guess I’m just noticing the Tom Swifties too much or something.

Anyway, throwing out the sometimes leaden dialog, the ideas of this Parafaith War sequel are interesting. One of the things SF excels at is showing us extremes of contemporary situations so we can see them from a different viewpoint. Things in this one that you may have heard about in recent years in real life: racial profiling, incarceration without trial or charges, religious fundamentalists driving bad government decisions, and military actions with no apparent logic behind them.

Disseminated by superflow

A few months ago, I had a dream in which LiveJournal and everyone on it went completely nuts for a day. The entire world had turned upside-down and inside-out and nobody was their normal self anymore. And it was such a good read, that I think it should happen for real.

January 27th is the birthday of Lewis Carroll, author of ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND. Alice fell down a rabbit hole into a place where everything had changed and none of the rules could be counted on to apply anymore. I say, let’s do the same: January 27th, 2005 should be the First Annual LiveJournal Rabbit Hole Day. When you post on that Thursday, instead of the normal daily life and work and news and politics, write about the strange new world you have found yourself in for the day, with its strange new life and work and news and politics. Are your pets talking back at you now? Has your child suddenly grown to full adulthood? Does everyone at work think you’re someone else now? Did Bush step down from the White House to become a pro-circuit tap-dancer? Did Zoroastrian missionaries show up on your doorstep with literature in 3-D? Have you been placed under house arrest by bizarre insectoid women wielding clubs made of lunchmeat?

Let’s have a day where nobody’s life makes sense anymore, where any random LJ you click on will bring you some strange new tale. Let’s all fall down the Rabbit Hole for 24 hours and see what’s there. It will be beautiful.

For consideration: this only works if you spread the word, of course, but three and a half weeks is forever in LJ Meme Time.

Code 46 was the movie of the evening last night. I’m a pretty fair afficionado of future tales, and this one was not so good. I think the director was trying too hard to make the movie look like Bladerunner, and the writer was trying too hard to change the language of the future to some Spanarabichinglish goulash. When you notice the Spanish and Arabic and Chinese words too much, they aren’t really natural, are they?

Anyway, the story was decent, but Tim Robbins was doing his best Keanu Reeves impression throughout the film. I know he can emote better than that. What was really entertaining was watching the “making of” featurette and hearing them talk about how Robbins and Samantha Morton had such great chemistry together. Apparently they watched a different movie than I did. For an “idea” story, pretty good; for an engaging piece of cinema, mediocre.

Heard on a Levitra ad, “in the rare case of an erection that lasts for more than four hours…” Um, get a career in porn?

Humpty Dumpty Ball Park Hot Dog Potato Chips

What else can I add to that? Potato chips which taste like hot dogs, with relish. Seriously.

OK, I can add something – check out their other flavors: Fries and Gravy and Grilled Cheese and Ketchup

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow is a cool movie. Alex is running around the den screaming random Sky Captain-related phrases now, driving his mother insane.

Gorgeous movie, really. The first 30 or 40 minutes were fantastic, and then it slowed down a bit. Still maintained a great noir-like look and feel, but Paltrow was doing way too much of the intrepid female reporter crap. I know the movies it is aping were kind of melodramatic, so I’ll let it go a bit. The performance of the late Laurence Olivier was pretty cool, but not as realistic as I thought it would be. The trailers made it seem that Angelina Jolie was the lead, but she doesn’t even show up until at least an hour into the film.

Anyway, fun movie. No particular depth, and some of the surprises are telegraphed 5 to 30 minutes before the punch lines, but fun matinee. Go see it. Take your hyperactive little boys. They’ll love it.

Teacher Arrested After Bookmark Called Concealed Weapon

bq. Harrington said she’ll never again carry her bookmark into an airport.

Guess she learned her lesson. Just think, you could have been mauled by a 50-something schoolteacher and her bookmark!

This morning, I heard a minor celebrity on the radio say something that was actually entertaining: George W. Bush is the only President I can think of that I’m sure I could beat at Trivial Pursuit.

Hehe

I love Tom Tomorrow. Check out This Modern World for an entertaining glimpse at the logic of the Dubya.

Speaking of living in the land of cretins, I can’t see Garden State in this town, even though the movie is doing fantastically well. It is not scheduled to come to San Angelo…at all. This may change, but still – sucks.

How many of the “100 Science Fiction Books You Just Have to Read” has Gary read?

1 Childhood’s End Arthur C. Clarke
2 Foundation Isaac Asimov
3 Dune Frank Herbert
4 The Man in the High Castle Philip K. Dick
5 Starship Troopers Robert A. Heinlein
6 Valis Philip K. Dick
7 Frankenstein Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
8 Gateway Frederik Pohl
9 Space Merchants Frederik Pohl
10 Earth Abides George R. Stewart
11 Cuckoo’s Egg C.J. Cherryh
12 Star Surgeon James White
13 The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch Philip K. Dick
14 Radix A. A. Attanasio
15 2001: A Space Odyssey Arthur C. Clarke
16 Ringworld Larry Niven
17 A Case of Conscience James Blish
18 Last and First Man Olaf Stapledon
19 The Day of the Triffids John Wyndham
20 Way Station Clifford D. Simak
21 More Than Human Theodore Sturgeon
22 Gray Lensman E.E. “Doc” Smith
23 The Gods Themselves Isaac Asimov
24 The Left Hand of Darkness Ursula K. Le Guin
25 Behold the Man Michael Moorcock
26 Star Maker Olaf Stapledon
27 The War of the Worlds H. G. Wells
28 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Jules Verne
29 Heritage of Hastur Marion Zimmer Bradley
30 The Time Machine H. G. Wells
31 The Stars My Destination Alfred Bester
32 Slan A. E. Van Vogt
33 Neuromancer William Gibson
34 Ender’s Game Orson Scott Card
35 In Conquest Born C. S. Friedman
36 Lord of Light Roger Zelazny
37 Eon Greg Bear
38 Dragonflight Anne McCaffrey
39 Journey to the Center of the Earth Jules Verne
40 Stranger in a Strange Land Robert A. Heinlein
41 Cosm Gregory Benford
42 The Voyage of the Space Beagle A. E. Van Vogt
43 Blood Music Greg Bear
44 Beggars in Spain Nancy Kress
45 Omnivore Piers Anthony
46 I, Robot Isaac Asimov
47 Mission of Gravity Hal Clement
48 To Your Scattered Bodies Go Philip Jose Farmer
49 Brave New World Aldous Huxley
50 The Man Who Folded Himself David Gerrold
51 1984 George Orwell
52 The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyl And Mr. Hyde Robert Louis Stevenson
53 Snow Crash Neal Stephenson
54 Flesh Philip Jose Farmer
55 Cities in Flight James Blish
56 Shadow of the Torturer Gene Wolfe
57 Startide Rising David Brin
58 Triton Samuel R. Delany
59 Stand on Zanzibar John Brunner
60 A Clockwork Orange Anthony Burgess
61 Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury
62 A Canticle for Leibowitz Walter M. Miller Jr.
63 Flowers for Algernon Daniel Keyes
64 No Blade of Grass John Christopher
65 The Postman David Brin
66 Dhalgren Samuel R. Delany
67 Berserker Fred Saberhagen
68 Flatland Edwin Abbott Abbott
69 Planiverse A. K. Dewdney
70 Dragon’s Egg Robert L. Forward
71 Downbelow Station C. J. Cherryh
72 Dawn Octavia E. Butler
73 The Puppet Masters Robert A. Heinlein
74 The Doomsday Book Connie Willis
75 Forever War Joe Haldeman
76 Deathbird Stories Harlan Ellison
77 Roadside Picnic Arkady Strugatsky
78 The Snow Queen Joan D. Vinge
79 The Martian Chronicles Ray Bradbury
80 Drowned World J.G. Ballard
81 Cat’s Cradle Kurt Vonnegut
82 Red Mars Kim Stanley Robinson
83 Upanishads Various
84 Alice in Wonderland Lewis Carroll
85 The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Douglas Adams
86 The Lathe of Heaven Ursula K. Le Guin
87 The Midwich Cuckoos John Wyndham
88 Mutant Henry Kuttner
89 Solaris Stanislaw Lem
90 Ralph 124C41+ Hugo Gernsback
91 I Am Legend Richard Matheson
92 Timescape Gregory Benford
93 The Demolished Man Alfred Bester
94 War with the Newts Karl Kapek
95 Mars Ben Bova
96 Brain Wave Poul Anderson
97 Hyperion Dan Simmons
98 The Andromeda Strain Michael Crichton
99 Camp Concentration Thomas M. Disch
100 A Princess of Mars Edgar Rice Burroughs

I’ve actually tried to read Startide Rising several times – it’s a snoozefest to me. And, I dispute the inclusion of fantasy drek on a list that claims to be Science Fiction. Science Fiction doesn’t resort to “here be magick” to explain things.

Jack Valenti and his ilk can go roast in the deepest bowels of heck. I was inspired by a recent article about getting TV episodes from BitTorrent, so I followed the links to a site that hosts the pointers (torrents) that allow people to share the files. I wanted to watch an episode of Andromeda I missed. Well, I can’t connect to most torrents, because my IP is blocked. Why is my IP blocked? Am I a narc? Am I a mole for the RIAA? No, my IP is blocked because I use Cox for myISP (the only choice for broadband above 400kbps here). Cox, for their part, rolls over with such speed when the letters D M C and A are thrown at them that other P2P users have begun ignoring us entirely. Great. Cox has 8% of the internet market in the U.S., and we’re now effectively cut off from the newest avant garde pieces of the internet.

The DMCA sucks ass.

It takes a lot to be dubbed the most dangerous food in the U.K., considering the absurd “food” products those folks eat over there. There’s a new ahem, delicacy called the Stonner which is a deep-fried pork sausage kebab. It has double the calories of a Big Mac and 46 grams of fat per kebab.

The chip shop that sells this monstrosity has a policy of only selling one per customer per week. It’s more of a dare than a meal.

This poster is one example of why so many people in the non-coastal states think that lefties are communists. Capitalism isn’t necessary, with the implication that you would like to get rid of capitalism then? Replacing it with one of those nice systems like centrally-controlled economies or anarchy, I suppose. Those work so much better.

Just found LOW MORALE, thanks to . The centerpiece of all the animation *must* be the Creep video. Since he’s complaining about bandwidth issues, I’ve mirrored it for anyone who must watch it. And you must. You must.

I like to listen to 102.1 THE EDGE because the local radio stations suck ass. So tonight, I’m listening and a voice keeps breaking through. Apparently one of the internal comm lines is patched into the mixer board and they haven’t noticed it is being broadcast. Maybe it is only being sent on the net so nobody has complained. Weird. Anyway, I moved over to 91X instead. 🙂

Thanks to I now have a new way to waste time online. X-E is fucking hilarious. I found a commercial for the Yugo, and then I ran into the review of McDonald’s McGRIDDLES Breakfast Sandwiches. There are some great lines in this thing, but here’s a good wrapup:

bq. I’ve enjoyed how the commercials play them up as “oddities,” because really, that’s the best way to persuade people to eat shit.