Another year gone.
Another Presidential campaign ready to get into full swing, which means a deluge of annoyances in the form of stupid campaign ads from both sides, and a flood of liberals carrying on over which of their candidates is more pro-gaynalsex, which one is more of a champion of lenience on criminals, which one is a bigger fucking tool.
Of course, as history has taught us, one party holds the office for a term or two, and then the next party gets it. The cycle continues to repeat.
This means (and the general attitude bears things out) that a Democrat is going to illegally steal the election this year, and we're likely not going to see a Republican back in office for another 4 to 8.
It's funny. Given the above, and given the holiday, I should be drinking like a fish, but I haven't had a drop, and am likely to hit the sack in another hour or so.
This year sucks.
Happy 2008, fookers.
You know, one's internal clock can get annoying.
I'm used to waking up around 6am for work.
Unfortunately, even if I turn my alarm off, even if I stay up until 2am in the morning, I still wake up around 6am, and have a hard time getting back to sleep.
What's worse, though, is that even though I can't get back to sleep, I'm still tired as hell, and end up crashing around 9am-10am - HARD.
If I go take a nap, I'm usually out for at least 3-4 hours, which pretty much kills the day.
Lame, huh?
Oh, and I need a new bed, too. I bought new pillows, but those didn't help my sore neck every morning, so now it's time for a new mattress set.
Weak.
So, I got a couple pairs of slacks, which is pretty damned sweet, because buying clothes sucks, and I needed to refresh the wardrobe a bit, and add some fresh stuff in there.
I also scored on a bunch of D&D books, so my library is getting pretty thick, which is most excellent.
The following has been added:
Epic Level Handbook (YES!!!)
Expanded Psionics Handbook (Psionics done right, in one of the best books out there!)
Player's Handbook II
Frostburn
Heroes of Horror (The Archivist class KICKS ASS!)
Heroes of Battle
Planar Handbook
Spell Compendium
Unearthed Arcana
Player's Guide to Eberron
Magic of Eberron
Eberron Explorer's Guide
And quite honestly, one of the coolest books there is, even if you're not neccessarily a D&D fan, but a fan of RPGs:
30 Years of Adventure: A Celebration of Dungeons & Dragons (or, as it's referred to here in the house, "Dungeons & Diesel")
I also got Heroes Season One on DVD, and idiot eBay shippers finally sent a late birthday present: Complete Warrior.
A pretty decent haul. MANY thanks go out to my family and friends - this kicks quite a bit of ass. I can't thank any of you enough! YOU ROCK!
Yeah.
Merry Christmas.
I'll update with my Loot List later.
I was going to post a cool ASCII Christmas Tree, but stupid stylesheets fucked up that plan, and I'm too lazy to figure out how to code it to the System font.
So, here it is, about 28 hours until Christmas, and I'm just not feeling it.
In years past, I've been pretty excited about the season, and totally in the Christmas mood.
This year, I'm just kinda bored with it.
It just seems that the spirit isn't here - or anywhere else, for that matter.
I'm seeing decorations, and people are being pleasant, wishing me a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Seasons Greetings, and all of that, but nobody around me really seems to be in the mood.
What's up with that?
If you're at all familiar with me, you're probably quite aware that I hold LARPers and CosPlayers (and any other associated jackasses) in a fair amount of disdain.
It wouldn't be so bad if the LARP idiocy was contained to a Ren Faire, or if they restrained themselves from being dipshits in public.
CosPlayers wouldn't bother me too much, if the majority of them weren't sweaty otaku-fucks who act superior to the so-called "mundanes" - and don't get me started on the splinter-group of CosPlayers, the goddamned Furries. Fucking perverts.
It all boils down to this: If you can't pull off a decent costume or make-up for whatever event you're participating in, don't bother.
Case in point, the Sweaty Drow Matron:
Clicky For Bigger
Since when do drow elves have sparkly hair, and dress all in black? The schmuck in the center comes real close to pulling it off (nice touch on the eyebrows), but his cheap-ass ear tips that don't fit ruin the whole thing.
Of course, it doesn't help that Jabba the Drow's make-up is melting faster than chocolate in the Sahara.
Normally, I'd be content to mock these rejects privately, maybe emailing a link to a friend or two, but I felt the need to do so here.
Why?
Because, first and foremost, I'm an asshole. Besides that, however, there is another reason.
I discovered the butterelves via Google, and found this delightful little copyright notice at the bottom of the page:
©2002-2007 by Sander van Lambalgen. (Portrait-rights of any people appearing in the pictures belong to those people.) You may not use any of these pictures on another website, distribute them, or make them publicly available in any form (electronic or otherwise) without my explicit permission. This includes linking the images directly into another website. An exception is made for incidental linking to pictures from a message board or other community if those specific pictures depict a gathering of people belonging to that message board or community. Downloading and viewing these pictures for personal use is of course permitted. Contact me (email to photography at this domain) for higher quality versions of the pictures, or if you're interested in stock photography licensing.
Notwithstanding Fair Use (and I'm totally covered, since I'm criticizing the work, not doing it for profit, and God knows I'm not going to affect the potential market or value of that travesty), you don't get to tell people that they can't link to an image, or link it directly into their website, cocktard.
You've put the image online. That doesn't mean you forfeit your rights to said image, but you can't dictate how people link to it. Don't like it? Don't put it online.
As such:
http://juima.org/events/images/c/20060422-Elf_Fantasy_Fair-costumes-18-drow.jpg
Or, embedded:
Suck it.
UPDATE: Mr. Webmaster posted a response, and blocked me from hotlinking and embedding. That's how you do it! I like this guy! (You can cut and paste the URL above, if you want a direct link to the thing).
So, it's looking more and more like I'm actually going to DM a D&D campaign in the semi-near-future.
Between the purchase of a bunch of new material for D&D 3rd Edition/3.5 Edition, reading of all the atrocities being committed with 4th Edition, and some great reviews of some apparently great campaign material, I've decided that I want to run.
This is actually a semi-momentous occasion in our gaming history, because I have never once had the desire to a game.
Sure, the concept appealed to me - *I* control the game - but the reality never seemed to pay off when observing other DMs.
Well, no more.
I've made a few more purchases of game materials, and when it all arrives (likely around the New Year's holiday), I'll be able to sit down and start compiling a campaign, and run a game how I think it should be ran.
That's not to say that I've been unhappy with previous DMs - far from it. I just have my own ideas on how things should be done (like any DM out there, really) and now I've got a chance to do things my way.
Sweet.
Any suggestions on content or DM aides would be appreciated.
What is it, these days, with all of the new bullshit laws being passed with a stupid mnemonic anagram name?
Just yesterday, I read something about the "No FEAR" act - Notification and Federal Employee Anti-Discrimination and Retaliation of 2002 Act.
Jumpin' Jesus on a goddamned pogo-stick!
We're likely paying some retarded clowns six figures a year to come up with whatever bullshit edgy crap a brain-dead politician thinks up.
Senator Shiteater: Hey, Bill, I need to propose a new bill this year. Find something that sounds official that I can call "SUPERMAN".Bill The Overpaid Aide: How about the Senate Universal Purpose Error Reporting Management And Notification act?
Senator Shiteater: BRILLIANT! Now we just need to urinate all over the constitution, and figure out what we want this bill to actually do! We've got a catchy name, boys - it's all downhill from here!
This mental rape needs to stop. I propose immediate enactment of the Tackhammer Act.
It's quite simple, really:
Be it enacted on this day that any proposal of idiotic titles comprised of bullshit mnemonics and anagrams shall be punished by a thorough beating of the offending party with a tackhammer.
Short, simple, to the point. Now I just need to figure out what TACKHAMMER stands for.
Am I the only one who thinks so?
It seems that every single funny or original video that I view has a metric fuck-ton of "related videos" attached to it, listed as a "parody" or a "remake" of the real thing.
First of all, fuckers, learn what a goddamned parody is. Simply placing your greasy, retarded ass in a video, and reciting lines from the original, verbatim, is NOT a parody.
Secondly, the original videos are funny BECAUSE THEY'RE ORIGINAL. You're not original, and even if you were, you're not funny.
If you haven't been under a rock, you've likely heard of the Summoner Geeks video.
It's a computer-animated deal put out by Volition (the folks who created Descent), using characters from their games Red Faction 2 and Summoner. The characters act out a comedy skit by the now-defunct comedy troupe The Dead Alewives.
The original audio skit is hilarious, and was made even more so by the Summoner video, with goofball characters like Luminar rooting around in the kitchen for snacks and drinks.
Of course, like everything witty, funny and original, talentless morons have created their own bastardized versions.
It wouldn't be so bad, if they had attempted to add something to their remake, but these things are just horrible. If it's not poor acting, it's just idiocy.
YouTube has become a repository of shit, shit and more shit. Maybe 5% of the content on there is worthwhile, while the rest of it is just drivel and spew.
God help YouTube, because the users surely can't.
Take a look at the Summoner Geeks link above, and the related videos, and tell me I'm wrong.
Christmas is almost here, and once again, I've managed to do virtually all of my Christmas shopping online - thus, avoiding the crowds of idiots, screaming children and horrible parking.
With the exception of something from Target and a couple of gift cards, I've also - again - been able to use Amazon for the vast majority of my purchases.
I think I need to hurry up with my idea for a new website, and get setup as an Amazon affiliate - I should be able to steer people to some awesome deals, and make some money on the thing...
So, the seller from Monday's post finally got in touch with me.
He tells me he was out of town without email coverage, and is sending the correct (undamaged) item out, and told me to keep the wrong stuff.
Very courteous, very apologetic.
To tell you the truth, I wasn't expecting it.
Customer service standards have have slipped so damned much over the past few years that I really wasn't expecting a response at all.
It's nice to know that there's still people out there that know what customer service is, and still believe in it.
If you aren't watching it, you suck balls.
The show rocks, but it was supposed to be season finale tonight, dammit.
I got myself all psyched up for the finale, and it's got another week to go!
What sucks even more, is that I'm trying to cut bills, so that's another week that I have to keep paying for Showtime!
Dammit!
Dammit dammit dammit!
Kanguru has a 32GB Flash Drive for sale now...
It's $500, so there's really no chance I'm going to buy one - I'd rather buy another laptop for that amount of money.
32GB of Flash, though, that's pretty damned badass.
My spiffy 4GB Memorex is pretty tight, but, damn, it'd be nice to have 32GB in that portable form...I'd never have to delete anything!
Have you seen that commercial where the hot chick's dog talks to her, and tells her he doesn't like her when she smokes weed?
You're kidding me, right?
This has to be the worst commercial backfire EVAR.
This commercial makes me WANT to smoke pot!
Seriously - if my cat talked to me because I smoked weed, I'd be high all the time. If you entered my house, you'd die of smoke inhalation.
That would rock so damned much. I wish I had magic animal-speaking weed. :(
So, the books show up today.
One of the things ordered was a three-book set in a slipcase.
I open the packages to find out that not only is the slipcase all fuckered up, but one of the books in the set isn't even the right one.
Wow!
Awesome!
I've fired off an email to the seller, so we'll see how he handles this - he still hasn't responded to my email asking for tracking information, so, I dunno...
These particular books were actually ordered by my sister, as a Christmas gift, so we're likely going to have to do some shuffling around of other stuff - we can't really exchange them if they're wrapped and under a tree...
Dammit!
I made a couple orders for some more D&D books last week, and it hasn't shown up yet, which means, it won't be here until Monday at the earliest.
Dammit!
That's the downfall to buying online - you can get so much more for so much cheaper, but you have to wait for it to arrive.
Dammit!
I want my stuff.
On a slightly related note, Radigast and I went to the local used bookstore for the first time. We've been living over here over two years now, and it's been in town the entire time, but we've never really thought about it.
It's not that we didn't know about it - we've driven by and pointed it out or discussed it a number of times - it's just that we've never made a point to go in there.
That's an oddity in and of itself. We're voracious readers, and we frequent a bunch of other used bookstores (Book Bin in Corvallis or Salem, Albany Book Company, Reader's Guide in West Salem, etc.), but this place never really attracted us enough to go visit until today.
It's in one of the old "historic" buildings, and it used to be a bank - the old 20'x20' concrete and steel bank vault is still there, making this the second used bookstore with a bank vault that I know of (the other on River Road in Eugene/Springfield, which we learned today has closed, or is closing shortly).
(A brief aside, I desperately want an old building with an old bank vault. That would rock so much.)
One of the first things we asked about when we got in there was if there was any gaming books (D&D, etc.) - of course, there were none, which seems to be common among bookstores ran by old ladies.
She gave us some story about how she doesn't know anything about it, so she wouldn't know what to stock, and it would be too expensive to try to stock the stuff - all of which makes little to no sense.
Knowing nothing about the subject shouldn't bother this lady, because she's got books on just about everything else, and I'm sure she knows nothing about most of them. Her Sci-Fi section was pretty decent, but there were TONS of dupes/trips/quads of some less-than-prime stuff on the shelf.
Knowing what to stock, and the expense of stocking it, however? What the hell? It's a USED bookstore! You cheaply buy what people sell, and you sell it for more money. You don't need to know what it is in order to stock it (though, there is the big old Internet out there so you can learn a bit), and since it's USED stuff bought on the cheap, there's not really a big expense there...
Oh well.
There's always Amazon, eBay and other online sources for my stuff. If the local small business can't (or, in most cases, won't) compete, then I've still got someplace to go...
