So somehow I ended up at the Stargate con in LA.

( A couple of unprocessed pix of Joe )

• 01:06 RT: @TardisCaptain: Just returned from the gaming away team. Lots of fun. Looking forward to the next one on December 4th. #
• 10:08 Star Trek Shoes: bit.ly/vXBBc #
• 14:24 Wow, Conner Trinner was a villain in NCIS... #

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http://www.snopes.com/photos/arts/musicmachine.asp

Video clip purportedly shows a music-playing "farm machine" built at the University of Iowa.

I finally updated Crash and Burn with all the fic recs since July. After, my hands hurt. I need to style-sheet that place. But how to code “new” links as unbolded and “old” links as bold?

( Links )







( Fic Recs: White Collar, Merlin, Star Trek TOR )

FUCK THIS SOCIALIST BULLSHIT!!! WHEN THIS COUNTRY DROWNS IN DEBT AND CHOKES ON ITS NANNY STATE SLOTH, I'LL KNOW WHO TO THANK!!!

Everyone who voted for this needs to be:

There might be spoilers in the comments but I am going to try to keep it pretty spoiler free in the reviews.

This weekend I went to see two movies. One with Peter which was The Men who stare at Goats and one with Caroline which was Astro Boy

The reasons we went to see The Men who stare at Goats were twofold. One there were the commercials which had us laughing and two there was the cast which was a whole bunch of actors that we have enjoyed their performances over the years.

The plot is tissue paper so don’t think too hard about it but the acting is just wonderful with strong performances by just about everyone in it. And then there is the odd meta to the entire piece having Ewan McGregor as a reporter interviewing a guy who claims to be a Jedi Knight which plays through the piece rather nicely. George Clooney impressed me again. Jeff Bridges is such an under rated actor. Every time I see him in something he impresses the heck out of me. Kevin Spacey did what he does best which is a lot with just a little material to work with. The only unfortunate scene is in the middle and there was no way that they could have known what was going to happen in the world the day that they opened. It snapped us out of the film for just a minute but we were sucked back in pretty fast.

Overall I enjoyed it a lot. It is not a film for everyone but I would say that if you are a fan of any of the men in the film, see it. If you enjoy seeing really good strong acting see it. I will say that it is one of those films that you don’t have to see on a large screen. Peter said that it had a cable movie feel to it and since the BBC and Starz were the producers, I could see how he would think that.

Astro Boy was something that I saw in my teens but enjoyed because of the kitschy nature and it was early anime. Caroline has enjoyed watching the episodes of the original series in her father’s lap. When she saw the first trailer, she informed us that she was going to see this movie.

Peter had taken Caroline to see it earlier in the week. She kept insisting that she wanted to take me to see it too. So this afternoon we went. And I enjoyed it. I was a little uncertain from the commercials if I would but it is quite a cute film. The animation style was not as off putting as I thought it was going to be. The pace was good and the story was good too. It kept me involved and Caroline involved as well which can be a real trick with a film that is family friendly.

The voice cast is good. Nathan Lane is over the top but when is Mr. Lane not over the top and it goes with his character. There were a number of voices that at the end while reading the credits, I said “Of Course.” The plot was fine. Donald Sutherland was a good villain of the piece. The origin of Astro was slight rejiggered but it made more sense than the original reason for his existence in the cartoon series. We had more of an emotional investment in him. It had the silly jokes for the kids and a number for the adults. This one does need the big screen for the scope of things. Nice movie. Not too scary for the younger folk and everything works out in the end.

I am grateful that I went to the movies with Peter and with Caroline.

I am home!

I had a blast at the museum. There were a lot of exhibits I wanted to see and I got to see all but one, plus they've TOTALLY REARRANGED EVERYTHING since the last time I was there (admittedly this was a while ago) so it was like a whole new museum yet still filled with all my old favourite artwork.

( Childrens' Books, Burnham, Collage, Castle, Buddha, Sandwiches, Arts, and Crafts. )

This week's Merlin-ness, before I've seen last week's. I take it the troll marriage didn't work out.

( The Witchfinder )

Do you see this amazing sandwich? Witness the sweet potato chips!

OM NOM NOMmmmmmmm.

View from the Nichols Bridgeway, outside the Art Institute's new Modern wing. The landscape of ADVENTUR!

It's weird ... back when I was an undergrad, I used to have problems with insomnia and a really weird sleep schedule, and now that I'm taking classes again, I keep having these intermittent bouts of insomnia a few times a week. Not nearly as bad as before, when I wouldn't sleep for two or three days at a time, but just waking up in the middle of the night and not being able to get back to sleep for hours, if at all.

It's not so much stress as just not being able to stop thinking about what I need to do. I'm a planner and I don't like to have unfinished responsibilities hanging over my head. Classwork is a never-ending series of unfinished responsibilities, and I find myself going around and around in my head on what I still need to do, and not being able to let it go enough to sleep.

Since I'm up anyway, I may as well post on TV. I haven't been watching a whole lot of TV, but it's nice to have a few hours a week when I can make my brain shut up.

( NCIS through 7x06 )

( Supernatural through 5x08 )

( Scrubs through the end of season 3 )

( White Collar 1x01 )

• 06:13 @jaredriley1 Yes, that much is confirmed. And the SOB is still alive now on a ventilator. #
• 15:13 RT: @SeventhFleet: Today's #FollowFriday is @pdaddy6368, Paul Roesberry of the USS Kelly.#ff Who should be named for next Friday? #
• 15:13 @tjmadden That's cool. Congrats. #
• 15:14 @tinkerbellut Like this one? lol #
• 15:17 @jaredriley1 Glad he's alive so that he can be executed? It'll be the most likely result, that or life in a Federal/Military prison. NP. #
• 15:23 Klingons were in Star Trek XI, but were cut out. Want to see what they looked like? (scroll to bottom): tinyurl.com/yexobq8 #
• 17:34 Hill AFB Operational Readiness Exercise 11/2 - 11/9: bit.ly/1AzGcr via @addthis #
• 18:56 Off to Gaming Away Team. #

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And the Ft. Hood shooting hits even closer to home. Pvt. Aaron Nemelka, from West Jordan, UT, (which is the city I live in) was one of the first people killed by that UTTER FUCKING ASSHOLE yesterday. Pvt. Nemelka was nineteen.

Hanging is too good for Hasan. I refuse to dignify him by mentioning the rank he no longer merits.

And of course it's a fucking act of terror. He may have acted alone, may not be part of a cell--but no one thinks that the Oklahoma City Bombing is anything less than an act of terrorism, and Timothy McVeigh only acted with one other person. Lone nuts are perfectly capable of terrorism, and we're fucking delusional if we don't think that. If the killing of an abortionist by an idiot fanatic merits the word "terrorism" (and don't you dare tell me it doesn't, because I see that all the time), then this certainly does. The body count is certainly higher.

A tsunami is a tragedy. An earthquake is a tragedy. This was a cowardly act of cold-blooded premeditated mass murder, by a guy who yelled "Allahu Akbar" before he opened fire on his fellow soldiers. Don't tell me I'm jumping to a conclusion. The conclusion leaped out of a dark alley and mugged me.

Apologies for the R-rated language, but I'm beyond furious and maybe Ben's rubbing off on me a little. He wouldn't have any patience for this kind of sugar-coating bullshit either. "Tragedy" my ass.

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/nothing/veterans.asp

Restaurant chains are offering free meals to U.S. military personnel in conjunction with Veterans Day.

Because it made alliesingsand I giggle madly....

GAH!!!!! I did NOT realize this was one of ellymelly's!!! No wonder it's wonderful!!!

Under the cut for spoilers in my whine...

( WHINE!!!!! Whine...whine...whine... )

(metaphorically speaking) in my formerly nictine-stained fingers...

the .pdf proof for Darwin's Evolutions Vol. 2 No. 1. In which my story "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf" is appearing.

And it's shiny, y'all. OMG THE ILLUSTRATION. It's by the handsome and talented Karl Nordman, and it's SOOOOOOOOOO PRETTY.

I'd forgotten how much I love this story. I'm so happy it's seeing print.

darthhellokitty has given me an IDEA. I should have had this idea months ago, but now that I have it, I'm going to release it onto the internet.

WELCOME TO THE SAM'S CAFE JOB FAIR AND TEMP AGENCY. Our motto is, "Being unemployed is some bullshit. Give me a job."

HERE IS WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN. This post is set up with screened comments. If you are unemployed or soon to be so, post here with your job search. Like so:

HI, MY NAME IS Slim Shady Sam.
I COME FROM France Chicago.
WHEN I GROW UP I WANT TO BE A Ninja Office Boy, a dramaturg, or an emperor.
PLEASE SHARE WITH ME Job openings / Jobsearch sites or temp agencies in my field or area / tips from pros working in my field / internship and volunteer opportunities / someone to beta my resume / etc etc etc

Feel free to post anonymously if you wish.

On Sunday morning, about 36 hours from now, I'll unscreen the comments and post a link directing people back to this post. Anyone who has advice, open positions, or helpful links can then scroll through the comments and help you find what you seek.

Our goal is to help three people get jobs. Just three people! Surely the other 2697 of us can find jobs for three of us.

Go ye forth and network.

I hunted high and low for an image that I wanted to make a "sad" icon with, because sometimes I just don't have a suitable icon for whatever depressing thing has happened lately. And then I found an image that I actually already had hiding on my hard drive, and now I've got one. Go, me.



Because sometimes things happen and all we want to do is squish our stuffed lion.

Totally gankable if anyone wants the thing.