I viewed it first...

Just in case someone cares... I was reading Der Spiegel before Rachel Lucas commented on it! She recently commented on her blog, but I have been reading it for months! It took her moving to England to find out about it!


HA!


Later!

The Hunt for Gollum.

What could be better than finding a "prequel" to the Lord of the Rings movie on a day that promised to be kind of boring!

I was flipping through a number of entries on a blog I follow and found this little blurb... The Hunt for Gollum

So I followed the link and found the 40 minute movie, which for an indie film is fantastic and really captures the look and feel of the Peter Jackson movies!

Go check it out! It is worth 40 minutes of your time if you are an LOTR fan!

Later

Dungeons and Dragons post...

I don't normally post about D&D too much, be recently, there have been a few good blog links about the game.

Here they are:

20 Celebrities who play D&D

Everything I know, I learned from D&D

Later!

A great article.... "Why do liberals bleed?"

From a posting on Facebook. I had to post it here. This article makes so much sense!



http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/06/why_do_liberals_bleed.html

Never say that again...

At a local 18th Century/American War for Independance re-enactment, some said in passing that re-enacting is the ultimate in LARPing.. (Live Action Role Playing) In a small way, maybe that is true, but simple, innocent comment was enough to almost shake to the core, mine and my wife's desire to continue re-enacting! LARPing is strictly in the realm of fantasy role playing games, and from my understanding, has nothing what-so-ever to do with education, history, or personal development and learning.

I mentioned that and I think it was enough to salve over the idea that all us re-enactors might be doing nothing more than LARPing. Knowing that LARPing has nothing to do with public education and the passing on of knowledge and history and re-enacting does, then that is good enough for me!

Otherwise, I am gonna start yelling "Fireball, Fireball, Fireball!" and throwing nerfballs and such at the 42nd Highland regiment next time I am doing a battle re-enactment. Maybe then they will fall down... cause cannon and volley fire doesn't seem to work.

I am not a LARPer...

Later

Back to the basics of the game...

In three days, I will once again join my gaming group in the fantasy world of D&D. I have not played this game in quite a while and that is sad because I love the game. I played the snot out of this game while in grade school and high school and the memories of those gaming days will be with me forever. Now I am hopefully making some good memories for my son and some of his friends. But yet, I find I do not enjoy the game as much as I used to. I am not sure why, but I think it is because in this day and age of video games where saving character information is done at the push of a button, I have become the defacto record keeper of the charcter information. When the game is over, the characters go with me, I record the upgrades and advancements and then give them back when a new game starts. I don't really mind that because I know that my players, at least the younger ones, will never pick up the Core Rulebooks and read them. When I was their age, I had committed the rules to memory. Now, I find myself having to tell them what to look for, what to do and what to roll. I would love to have them be able to look through the books, find ideas, weapons, spells and tricks that would make the game more imaginative for them. They do well enough with the role playing but I think they really don't know the game deeply enough to make it more fun for me to be the Game Master... I think this time I am going to let some of that responsibility fall to them and see how it goes. We will see how it turns out and if it becomes more fun for me as the DM to test their ability to survive. If not, I guess I will just have to kill them.

Later...

It doesn't matter who won WWII, all it matters is that the good guys did.

Tomorrow is the anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy France during WWII. As you might have read, the Queen of England was not invited to a anniversary event in France and that opened up a whole can of worms about the very biased question as to what country won the war. I have my opinions as to who won the war and for the most part, I feel it was the combined efforts of the US, British, and French forces during Campaign Overlord, or the D-Day invasion and ensuing months. But to be fair it would be really hard to ignore the efforts of the Russians, but that was more of a grudge match that would have happened regardless of what else was planned. If it had not been for the need of the German OKW to divert more forces from the East to the West, because of the D-Day invastion, it might have been likely that Russia would not have prevailed as they did.

Any way, I am linking a small blog comment that has some humour related to the recent gaff by the Frenchies. It is here

And finally, my thanks to all those people that were involved in the monumental effort on June 6th, 1944.

Later!

Gimme back my bullets!

Maybe here is an explanation as to why I cannot afford to even plink around with my low caliber firearms!

AMMO SHORTAGE

But at least there is the hope that the tight squeeze will be loosening soon.

Later!

Ken Brannagh doing....Thor?!?!

Ken Brannagh, one of my favorite actor/directors and someone that people say I have a passing resemblance to is at the helm of a movie about THOR, the comic book hero. Huh? Brannagh branching out into the geek world? Whatever... I suppose it will be a good action flick, but I wonder what he is planning. It seems so unlike him to try his hand at this sort of film. I guess we will just have to wait and see. If you want more info, go to this article on the new THOR movie. In the article it alludes to Brannaghs experience with Shakespearean battle movies... who knows!? I think it is cool.

Later!

Gun owners are getting prettier...

It's quickly becoming a gun toting nation and that's alright with me...

BANG!

This reminds me that I need to look into buying another handgun.

Later!

reSTARTreked

I think enough time has passed that I can comfortably talk about the new Star Trek film, helmed by JJ Abrams of "Lost" fame. I am a Star Trek fan from years ago. The Original Series! (TOS) I have seen every episode dozens of times, have read all the related books, watched all the subsequent spin off series.. TNG, DS9, VOY, and Enterprise. Of all of those I was still a TOS fan. The Enterprise series was good too. I enjoyed the idea of what happened before the famed crew of the Original Enterprise took her out into the final frontier for her first five year mission.

But when the new Star Trek became a blip on my sensors, I was excited, happy, and very apprehensive. It was going to be a younger Kirk, Spock, McCoy and all of the Enterprise crew. And it was going to be a story of how they all came together on the Enterprise... but wait. I already knew how they came together. It had all be laid out for us in countless episodic background stories and together it became Star Trek canon law. How in the world would Abrams be able to retell all that again without screwing it up and giving new audiences something they can grab onto, especially if they are younger, like my kids and only have a smattering of exposure to the Original Trek history.

Well, he did it. And he, or his writers, did it well. By starting off with James T. Kirk's father and changing history from there, he was able to completely make a whole new history with changing the history I am many others have come to know and love. I will not tell you how he did it or the story line or anything like that, except that instead of fixing the timeline like has been done in so many other Star Trek episodes, Abrams let the "broken" time line become the norm and no attempt to fix it was made. The new time line would now be the norm and it is this that makes me so excited! There is now the opportunity for a whole "new" history and new adventures for Star Trek using the characters that made it the cult classic it is! Kirk, Spock, McCoy and all the belvoed characters have a new lease on life. It is great! I am excited again about Star Trek! There are even Star Trek action figures back on the toy shelves!

If you have not seen the new movie, you should. Some of you out there probably won't just because it is Star Trek, or you don't want to have to think about new characters and time lines, but that is your failing. Give it a chance. I will say, the new Trek is better appreciated if you know the history, but even if you haven't been a fan or even seen much of it, you will like this movie.

The only nit-pick think I have about the show is; 1.) Kirk was supposed to be born in Riverside, Iowa, not in space. 2.) Vulcan ships don't have weapons.

Other than that, I can live with it and embrace it fully!

Live Long and Prosper!

Album covers... I have had enough...

Without getting into too much detail, I am organizing a huge LP record sale as a fundraiser for my office. Since March 16th, I have been up to my eyeballs in musty, dusty records, tapes, and CD's. I have seen way more than my share of album covers for one person. And believe me, some of them are just downright awful. Thankfully, someone has gone to the trouble of compiling a bunch of them in one wonderful website.

That website is Worst Album Covers, and I present it to you for you viewing pleasure.

What is really bad is that I have seen most of what you will see on this site.

Enjoy!

Quotes... Big Bang Theory Style!

If you are such a sorry excuse for a human that you have not yet managed to see at least one episode of the TV sitcom the "The Big Bang Theory", then shame on you.

It truly is one of the best shows on TV and it is treat for the geek crowd. So much is written for the geeks and nerds of the world, and if you are into sci-fi pop culture, then you will laugh yourself silly.

I present to you just a smattering of the quotes and lines from this very well written and witty show. You can find them just about anywhere on the web, but here are some to get you thinking about watching this show. Read them all.. there are so many more.... Enjoy!


Leonard: Why are you learning Chinese?
Sheldon: I believe the Szechuan Palace has been passing off orange chicken as tangerine chicken, and I intend to confront them.
Leonard: If I were you, I'd be more concerned about what they're passing off as chicken


Penny: Why can't all guys be like you?
Leonard: Because if all guys were like me the human race couldn't survive.


Penny: I need some guinea pigs.
Sheldon: Okay, there's a lab animal supply company in Reseda you can try. But if your research is going to have human applications, may I suggest white mice? Their brain chemistry is far closer to ours.
Penny: I swear to God, Sheldon, one day I'm going to get the hang of talking to you.
Leonard: His mom's been saying that for years.


Sheldon: Ah, gravity - thou art a heartless bitch.


Penny: Yes, I know men can't fly.
Sheldon: No, no let's assume that they can. Lois Lane is falling, accelerating at an initial rate of 32ft per second, per second. Superman swoops down to save her by reaching out two arms of steel. Ms. Lane, who is now traveling at approximately 120 miles per hour, hits them, and is immediately sliced into three equal pieces.


Sheldon: I'm sorry but I'm not going to watch the Clone Wars TV Series until I've seen the Clone Wars movie. I prefer to let George Lucas disappoint me in the order he intended.


Sheldon: All I need is a healthy ovum and I can grow my own Leonard Nimoy!


Sheldon: How often does one see a beloved fictional character come to life?
Wolowitz: Every year at ComiCon. Every day at Disneyland. You can hire Snow White to come to your house. Of course they prefer if you have a kid.


*Discussing Paintball Strategy*
Raj: We need a plan. How about Operation Hammer of the Gods?
Leonard: I forget, which one is Hammer of the Gods?
Raj: We hide behind the Dumpsters in the parking lot and ambush people when they come to pee.


Leonard: How can 5 not be worse than 1?
Rajesh: Yeah, Star Trek 5 worse than 1.
Sheldon: Ok, first of all that is a comparison of quality not intensity. Secondly, Star Trek 1 is orders of magnatude worse than Star Trek 5.
Rajesh: Are you joking? Star Trek 5 is the standard against which all badness is measured!

(Arguing ov
er the name for their team after having jointly decided to take part in the University Physics Bowl:)
Sheldon: Teams are traditionally named after fierce creatures thus intimidating one's opponent.
Raj: Then we could be the Bengal tigers.
Sheldon: Poor choice. You know, gram for gram no animal exceeds the relative fighting strength of the army ant.
Raj: Maybe so, but you can't incinerate a Bengal tiger with a magnifying glass.


Raj: Hold on a second. Kreplach??
Howard: Yeah.
Raj: That isn't Klingon. It's yiddish for meat-filled dumpling!
Howard: Well, as it turns out it's also a Klingon word.
Leonard: Really? Define it.
Howard: Kreplach a hearty Klingon.....dumpling.


Wolowitz: Sheldon, I'd kill my Rabbi with a pork chop to be with your sister.


Penny: (Barges into apartment) Hey, guys! My friends and I got tired of dancing so we came over to have sex with you.
(The guys continue to play Halo).
Penny: Told ya.
(Penny and her friends leave).
Sheldon: Why did you hit pause?
Leonard: I thought I heard something.
Rajesh: What?
Leonard: No, never mind.

Cool dog sayings...

"The greatest pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him, and not only will he not scold you, but he will make a fool of himself too." Samuel Bulter

"The misery of keeping a dog is his dying so soon. But, to be sure, if he lived for 50 years and then died, what would become of me?" Sir Walter Scott.


Thoughts to brighten you day on a gloomy, cold, rainy Illinios Tuesday.

Later!

I WILL be back...

Sorry for not blogging for a while. I have been extremely busy as of late and no time for anything else. I will be back. With thoughts motorcycles and things like that. I know you can't wait...

Re-enacting in the future.

As many of you know, I and my friends and family are involved in historical re-enacting. We find it educational, challenging and fun. And for the most part, we focus on the daily aspects of life in the time periods we set our re-enacted personas in. Today, while driving to work, I noticed a skateboarder zipping down the block and thought to myself, "Two-hundred years from now, will anybody re-enact the late 20th and early 21st century?" If if they do, will they get it right? Do you think there will be skateboarding re-enactors? Will they have replica cell phones that they will spend their time on? What about laptops? Just what would future re-enactors do if they decided to revisit our time period? Will they focus mainly on the military events of the time, like most re-enactment groups do, or will there be some focus on the civilian population like some groups are doing now? Many re-enactment groups are forming civilian representations rather than focusing on just the military. Who knows. It was just something I was thinking about. Is there anything worth re-enacting in the late 20th and early 21st century?

Later!

Well, I can't use that excuse anymore....

According to THIS article, I cannot tell my kids to stop playing video games because it will hurt their eyes. I guess instead I should start playing them more! If I could only get my kids to let me get on the XBOX, I could cancel me eye doctor appointments. I hate going to the eye doctor. They stick things on your eyes!

Ode to my dad...

Prior to my father passing away more than two weeks ago, I had it in mind to write something about him and his life and what he meant to me and my family. I never got around to it, and when we knew his time in this realm was limited, I really tried to put something down. But try as I might, I could not come up with anything. Not that he didn't have a huge impact on all of us, but probably because I had already said it to many people as they asked me about him. I had told them simply, "My Dad is(was) my Hero." I told this to one collegue of mine and she sent me this poem about three days later.

SUCCESS
by Martin Buxbaum

You can use most any measure
When you're speaking of success.
You can measure it in fancy home,
Expensive car or dress.
But the measure of your real success
Is the one you cannot spend.
It's the way your kids describe you
When they're talking to a friend.

Friends, I tell you again. "My Dad was my Hero."

That life story did get written, but in two different ways. Two people, one a blood relative and the other just as close as one, told my dad's story in wonderful ways. One was in a endearing, touching, and funny video montage of family photos, and the other was in a letter written to him about how much he meant to all of us. So I am happy that the story of my dad got told in the way it did. It was far better than anything I could have ever done on my own.

Later!

And so it begins?

Check this out!


Marxism, Leninism, Stalinism, Obamaism. It is just the same old socialist attempt to control us and our lives. What you do, what you think, what you own.

Bet I am on a list like this now...

More Music to get fired up with...

I was browsing the site, Playlist.com and found a whole bunch of tracks from the Battlestar Galactica TV series soundtrack. If you have never watched this show, too bad for you. If you have, then you know what I am saying when I say is has to be the best Sci-Fi drama/action series ever produced.

I was going to post links to a number of the tracks that I think are the best but apparently that is not going to work from the blog site, so I suggest you go to my playlist and give it a listen. My faves are the Main Title, Prelude to War, Storming New Caprica, Dirty Hands, The Dance and Wander my Friends. And finally, you have to listen to the remake of Bob Dylan's Along the Watchtower, which fits so well into the series.