6079 Smith W, reporting
Wired Magazine reports that researchers are developing a system that could tie your DVDs to your fingerprint, requiring that you authorize each playback with a fingerprint scanner built into your player.
And once they do that, the MPAA has sold me their very last g**d*** DVD.
Get some green colour
Cute flash animation, with a dangerously catchy tune. A little unpolished, but it’s not like I could do better.
Re-Animator! The Song and The Animation
“Move your dead bones, bones, bones…”
EDIT: I’ve discovered the creator. This is her LJ post about her creation.
Go to 110% on the reactor
Some of the interesting points of the weekend…
Friday night I got to see Carbon Leaf! Or hear them, at least… outdoor concerts are fine until the sky clouds over, the sun goes down, and it’s suddenly 50 degrees. I was huddled under a blanket for most of their set.
Saturday night I played Star Munchkin in a dark, smoky coffeehouse with three complete strangers until 2 am. For some reason, this strikes me as the opening to the all-geek version of “Faust”.
Sunday our friend Laura was with me on the way to pick Rain up for lunch when we happened upon a nasty two-SUV accident that had happened seconds before. Laura has some medical training and hopped right out to see if there was any useful first aid she could supply, while I made myself useful by calling 911. Response arrived within seconds it seemed, and while we can’t say for sure, it looks like everyone escaped with treatable minor injuries, even the three whose vehicle rolled a few times.
And, this morning I’ve done my King Kong impression again by climbing up on a building’s roof to mess with the antennas. I need to get a doctor’s note excusing me from that, or something.
Oh, frabjous day!
Today it is my unbirthday! Following Lewis Carroll, raininva and I have decided that having two birthdays a year is funner. Hers is in November, but she picked today for mine. We are going to a Comedy Club tonight and she gave me a very nice clothing accessory Tuesday night as a present.
Last night I managed 90 minutes on World of Warcraft. I am totally a geek because I’m enjoying smelting and engineering more than I am killing stuff. I made level 10 with my gnome mage, and moved to another page of my map for the first time (but then moved back, as I have lots of unfinished quests where I was). I also replaced a dead headlight and re-aligned one that I installed improperly a few months ago. I like my little Hyundai, but it’s not great design when I have to pull the battery to get to one of the headlight lamps.
I woke up to 70 degree temperatures and sun, which makes it hard to be grumpy even when I do have to get up before 10am. I really needed the quiet night last night; my social life has been cranked up to 11 lately, which is nice, but a little overwhelming. The 1.5 hours of video-gaming was a present to myself. Lord knows when I’ll finally finish Halo 1, Jedi Knight II, Elite Force II, NOLF, BloodRayne, Tron 2.0, ./Hack, Robotech: Battlecry, Red Faction II… okay I’m going to stop working out this list because it is depressing me 🙂
Congrats to yubbie & colleenk, and nius & rainbowsaber, on their new housing developments! (Ouch. That was unintentional, I swear.)
Since everything’s all Star Warsy right now, here’s a pair of websites you should visit:
Pink Five: two of the funniest fan films I’ve seen, easily up there with Troops as fan classics. The third film should be out soon, and they posted a production blog which includes the lead actress’ reaction to meeting a fan dressed as her! I want a Pink Harvest t-shirt or button or something.
A lot of people have heard of this one, but Darth Vader’s blog has the distinction of not only being funny, but damn well written. The entry about Qui-Gon actually sent chills though me with its ineffable appropriateness. I found myself nodding, and saying to myself, “Wow… that makes sense.” And the blog even has an RSS feed.
Okay, back to working.
Reviews and a design challenge
Quick review of the Hitchhiker’s Guide movie:
You should probably go see it if you like any of the other versions, or you like SF comedy. Sure, they took a lot of stuff out. (Cutting 3 hours of radio play down to 90 minutes will do that.) Sure, they changed a lot of stuff. (This was a practice Douglas Adams himself was quite fond of.) But if you go with an open mind and don’t insist on a copy of one of the other Hitchhiker’s media, you ought to have a good time.
Quick review of last Friday’s Enterprise:
Plot? Who cares? Space battle scenes with a certain class of starship… *happy sigh* (There’s some other eye candy too, for het-male or compatible formats.)
In all seriousness… I wonder how a 21st-century costume designer would design a believable futuristic military uniform that would provide eye candy for het-females and compatible? Bill Theiss tried showing some leg in the men’s “skant” uniforms for TNG, and the design died a quick, ignoble death. It’s an interesting question.
Mental clutch not engaging
Uggggh…
Brain is not working this morning. I am slow and stupid. Caffeine not helping. I just pray I get through the morning without embarassing myself too much.
I don’t know what the problem is, I ate well yesterday and got 6 hours of sleep last night (okay, interrupted once or twice by the cat, but I thought I was used to that by now).
Failed to dodge a spoiler yesterday for “Revenge of the Sith”, and it’s disappointing. From all I hear, the movie’s going to be quite good, but I’m disappointed that they chose to include this one little detail.
Last week’s Enterprise, however, was all style, no substance, and yet it rocked. You don’t need things to make sense when you’re having this much fun. The last 6 minutes especially… oooh, nerdgasm. The 8-year-old fan in me was royally entertained. Can’t wait to see tonight’s; at least the show’s going out fighting.
Last night I was eaten by wolves.
My guest pass has expired, so I went and purchased a retail copy of World of Warcraft, and am now an official player. I finished a quest or two last night, but didn’t quite level up: I think most of my friends who play will easily outstrip my progress, though I approve of Blizzard’s “resting bonus” for leveling that combats that a bit. That’s one of the reasons I’m playing: because so far the program is everything I’d want it to be. Everything makes sense and is working the way it ought to, even without the manual beside me, and it feels as though they’ve worked their butts off to make the game accessible and entertaining!
There are piledrivers working in the lot just behind my workplace. They aren’t doing the ‘clangy’ noise as much as ominous, building-shaking thuds. I now have a reference to the sound effect of a marching BattleMech.
The compelling thing about the new Doctor Who series so far isn’t the plots – standard stuff, for him – but that the creators are really focussing on how the Doctor’s presence affects those around him. They’ve touched on what it’s really like to step from the TARDIS into a strange time and place; how a Companion’s friends and family worry when their loved one disappears; and why the Doctor needs a traveling companion almost as badly as he needs his time machine. After 40 years of the show, it’s great to get a little bit inside the heads of the characters in the center.
Oh, and next week we get a Dalek 🙂
Not a large tax base
From an Associated Press story:
“Newly sworn-in President Alfredo Palacio, who was vice president under Gutierrez, installed members of a new Cabinet Thursday in an effort to bring stability to the South American country of 12.5 people.”
12.5 people? Tell me that’s not a banana republic. i think I’ve ruled bigger countries than that.
