as of 5:00pm (that being right now), i am officially "On Vacation." it's very unlikely that there will be any updates during the next 7 or 10 days. until i resume my weekday babblings and incoherencies, visit some of the folks listed on the right, and send me lots of email. i'll be thinking of each and every one of you while i'm gone, and i just may return with souvenirs for everyone*.
* unlikely. in fact, damned near improbable.
later gators!
Thursday, July 05, 2001
Wednesday, July 04, 2001
"I am Connor MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod. State your intentions..." The Highlander steps out from behind the door and lifts his katana in the air. "...or prepare to lose your head!"heh. a Cinematic Swordfight lover's wet dream: Darth Maul vs. Connor MacLeod
"These are my intentions." A double-bladed light saber hums to life. "Come with me or die."
Connor puts down his sword and activates a light saber. He wryly grins. "There are some advantages to buying unusual antiques.
Let's follow the path of training here on why MacLeod will win:
Was trained by Sean Connery who is Indiana Jones' Father, and we all know that Indiana Jones is really Han Solo incognito (hiding from Bounty Hunters), who is cooler than Obi-wan (c'mon he trained someone and let him turn to the darkside he can't be THAT great), who kicked Darth Maul's ass.
Therefore Darth Maul will now have to put on his head and his legs before getting dressed in the mornings.
stumbled across the Tim Russ website. there's something kinda David Hasselhoffish about photos with the caption "Tim Russ in Concert in Holland"
Tuesday, July 03, 2001
ok, so there are a couple of things i mentioned here that i said 'more later' about.
first up- Fray: the comic book store i hate so much actually had it this time (i guess the bitching paid off., plus, they had a couple of books that i've been wanting but hadn't gone out to get). anyway, Fray #1 is well worth the cover price. i think this, the first of an eight issue mini-series, does a fine job of setting up the far future background. i like the art, and i think Joss and Co. set up the characterization nicely. i like that she has no idea that she's the Slayer, since no Slayer has been called in two centuries, and i really like what they're doing with the Council of Watchers. it's a good establishing story. i'll definitely be buying the next issue.
the other 'more later' was about me learning how to use the DVD player (hey, i'd never used one before). i figured it all out, and promptly rented a couple of movies to play with. the first was Dungeons and Dragons. i can't say i was too pleased with that decision.
if you were trying to make a movie based on a hobby that is considered, alternately, freakish, satanic, or ultra-geeky, and it was a hobby that's entire basis is the telling of epic fantastical adventures of daring daringness and courageous bravery, wouldn't you, at least, make sure the story was a good story? wouldn't that be the first priority? and wouldn't you have buttloads of material to choose from if you've been releasing story modules for something like thirty years? how could they have failed in that!?! and that's not even the worst part of the movie! there were so many points in the film where i half expect Darth Maul to come stepping out of the shadows (you know, the evil Councilor/Senator with the secret identity, the girl Empress/Queen, the swords...). what was with the guy with the blue lipstick? the characters were flat and stereotypical (stereotypical of a D&D adventuring group, i mean, complete with the flimsy reason for the characters to be working together), and i found no reason to like any of them. ::sigh:: it sucked.
the one good thing though was skyful of dragons. i really liked that.
the second movie i rented was Charlie's Angels. again, not the greatest story, but hey, we're talking about Charlie's Angels. since the entire movie was, essentially, one big tit-jiggle, my focus for this one was on how much fun it'd be. and it was fun. kicking ass without using guns is cool. kicking ass with martial arts is extremely cool, and there was even a sword (as i've said before, the easiest way to get me watch a film is to put a sword in it)! another thing i like to see is women kicking ass, and there's loads of it. and good lord, if Cameron Diaz were a man, i'd date him. she is so fluid and graceful in motion. it's absolutely sexy.
the one thing that disturbed me much too much: George McFly as the neck-slicing, (attempted) ass kicking villain.
first up- Fray: the comic book store i hate so much actually had it this time (i guess the bitching paid off., plus, they had a couple of books that i've been wanting but hadn't gone out to get). anyway, Fray #1 is well worth the cover price. i think this, the first of an eight issue mini-series, does a fine job of setting up the far future background. i like the art, and i think Joss and Co. set up the characterization nicely. i like that she has no idea that she's the Slayer, since no Slayer has been called in two centuries, and i really like what they're doing with the Council of Watchers. it's a good establishing story. i'll definitely be buying the next issue.
the other 'more later' was about me learning how to use the DVD player (hey, i'd never used one before). i figured it all out, and promptly rented a couple of movies to play with. the first was Dungeons and Dragons. i can't say i was too pleased with that decision.
if you were trying to make a movie based on a hobby that is considered, alternately, freakish, satanic, or ultra-geeky, and it was a hobby that's entire basis is the telling of epic fantastical adventures of daring daringness and courageous bravery, wouldn't you, at least, make sure the story was a good story? wouldn't that be the first priority? and wouldn't you have buttloads of material to choose from if you've been releasing story modules for something like thirty years? how could they have failed in that!?! and that's not even the worst part of the movie! there were so many points in the film where i half expect Darth Maul to come stepping out of the shadows (you know, the evil Councilor/Senator with the secret identity, the girl Empress/Queen, the swords...). what was with the guy with the blue lipstick? the characters were flat and stereotypical (stereotypical of a D&D adventuring group, i mean, complete with the flimsy reason for the characters to be working together), and i found no reason to like any of them. ::sigh:: it sucked.
the one good thing though was skyful of dragons. i really liked that.
the second movie i rented was Charlie's Angels. again, not the greatest story, but hey, we're talking about Charlie's Angels. since the entire movie was, essentially, one big tit-jiggle, my focus for this one was on how much fun it'd be. and it was fun. kicking ass without using guns is cool. kicking ass with martial arts is extremely cool, and there was even a sword (as i've said before, the easiest way to get me watch a film is to put a sword in it)! another thing i like to see is women kicking ass, and there's loads of it. and good lord, if Cameron Diaz were a man, i'd date him. she is so fluid and graceful in motion. it's absolutely sexy.
the one thing that disturbed me much too much: George McFly as the neck-slicing, (attempted) ass kicking villain.
returned to the hospital during lunch today. things went much better, much more quickly. doc's sending me to physical therapy, but also gave me something to stop my whining. the only problem with physical therapy is that i'll be out of town next week, so i'll have to do something about that (the PT, not the road trip. *nothing* is keeping me in town next week).
the boss is still a bastard. bastard. bastard.
the boss is still a bastard. bastard. bastard.
Jeph Loeb talks a bit about the Buffy animated series. and speaking of comics, Buffy(verse) and animated, i finally found a copy of "Fray". more on that in a bit.
instead of ranting about the state of healthcare in the United States, i'm just going to bitch about my visit to hospital yesterday.
first, i cannot make an appointment to see a physician. i have to show up in the emergency room for a non-emergency condition. all i needed was a brief recheck on my back, neck and shoulder, and to have a reauthorization for the prescription i was given. sounds simple, and like it wouldn't take too long, but, because i had to go through the emergency room, i was placed in queue by priority/severity of injury with the trauma patients. when compared to a 94 year old woman who fell and broke her leg, an 8 year old boy who broke his arm in a fall from his bike, the woman with the car accident spinal injury, the guy having the heart attack, and teenage girl with the stab wound, i was low priority. i didn't mind that. i'm a patient person, and i'm compassionate (no, really, i am), so i had no problem with waiting for the trauma patients to be treated.
i did have a problem with being given a lower priority than the woman with the migraine. Excedrin, sweety. they make a migraine formula. i also have a problem with the hospital having only one physician, one physician's assistant, and one nurse on duty in the ER. i know Tulsa isn't Chicago, and we can't have a staffful of beautiful Noah Wyle type physicians there 'round the clock, but i think that a second doctor (or even a second nurse) would have really helped out a lot.
so, after a couple of hours sitting in the exam room, the pain pill i'd take during the afternoon was starting to wear off. the PA examined me, and talked with me for ten minutes or so. she was very nice. she checked my reflexes, then pressed at various spots on my back until i winced and yelped. she asked about my medication. i told her that it'd been several hours since i'd taken anything and that i was really starting to hurt again. she smiled and said "the doctor should be in to see you soon." and she was gone. never saw her again.
the nurse on duty, it turns out, was a guy that i'd worked with at Hell-Mart several years ago. we talked for a while, catching up and reminiscing about the Hellspawned people we used to work with. the last 5 years have been very good to him. very good. tasty good. he popped in every once in a while to check on me. "how are you?" he'd say. "i hurt," i'd say. "i'm sorry," he'd say. "the doctor should be in to see you soon."
the doctor... never came. i waited in that stupid little exam room, which, by the way, had what looked like a meathook hanging from the ceiling, and scared me a bit that a hospital would have meathooks at all, save in the morgue, i guess. even worse than the meathook was the boredom. there was nothing to read in that exam room, not even pamphlets on STDs or pregnancy. there weren't any posters on the wall, not even an eye-chart. there. was. nothing. egg shell white walls with some sort of southwestern style border stenciled around the top, and the floor was tiled in ugly. it was terrible.
worse than the room was the pain. after 5 hours, the medication had faded completely. i hurt. i was curled up on the little bed, whimpering to anyone who passed by 'just some aspirin, please.' it was just my luck that, of all the hospitals in Oklahoma, i chose the one that didn't have any Tylenol on hand. that's the only explanation for why a pleasant and smiley PA and the dashingly handsome nurse gave me nothing, if only to shut me up.
after the seventh hour, i poked my head out of the exam room and saw an EMT crew bring in another trauma patient with a blood-gushing head wound that i was certain would make him a higher priority than me. i gave up. i went home, popped the last of the painkiller, chugged a beer, and went to bed.
unfortunately, i have to try again tonight. at minimum, i need a release (for the insurance company) and a new prescription (for me, so i'll quit whining about how much i hurt). my boss has denied me time off this afternoon to see a physician because he's "under pressure for a deadline" today, which is wrong not only on ethical grounds, but i believe company policy makes it a no-no also. i'll have to find out.
first, i cannot make an appointment to see a physician. i have to show up in the emergency room for a non-emergency condition. all i needed was a brief recheck on my back, neck and shoulder, and to have a reauthorization for the prescription i was given. sounds simple, and like it wouldn't take too long, but, because i had to go through the emergency room, i was placed in queue by priority/severity of injury with the trauma patients. when compared to a 94 year old woman who fell and broke her leg, an 8 year old boy who broke his arm in a fall from his bike, the woman with the car accident spinal injury, the guy having the heart attack, and teenage girl with the stab wound, i was low priority. i didn't mind that. i'm a patient person, and i'm compassionate (no, really, i am), so i had no problem with waiting for the trauma patients to be treated.
i did have a problem with being given a lower priority than the woman with the migraine. Excedrin, sweety. they make a migraine formula. i also have a problem with the hospital having only one physician, one physician's assistant, and one nurse on duty in the ER. i know Tulsa isn't Chicago, and we can't have a staffful of beautiful Noah Wyle type physicians there 'round the clock, but i think that a second doctor (or even a second nurse) would have really helped out a lot.
so, after a couple of hours sitting in the exam room, the pain pill i'd take during the afternoon was starting to wear off. the PA examined me, and talked with me for ten minutes or so. she was very nice. she checked my reflexes, then pressed at various spots on my back until i winced and yelped. she asked about my medication. i told her that it'd been several hours since i'd taken anything and that i was really starting to hurt again. she smiled and said "the doctor should be in to see you soon." and she was gone. never saw her again.
the nurse on duty, it turns out, was a guy that i'd worked with at Hell-Mart several years ago. we talked for a while, catching up and reminiscing about the Hellspawned people we used to work with. the last 5 years have been very good to him. very good. tasty good. he popped in every once in a while to check on me. "how are you?" he'd say. "i hurt," i'd say. "i'm sorry," he'd say. "the doctor should be in to see you soon."
the doctor... never came. i waited in that stupid little exam room, which, by the way, had what looked like a meathook hanging from the ceiling, and scared me a bit that a hospital would have meathooks at all, save in the morgue, i guess. even worse than the meathook was the boredom. there was nothing to read in that exam room, not even pamphlets on STDs or pregnancy. there weren't any posters on the wall, not even an eye-chart. there. was. nothing. egg shell white walls with some sort of southwestern style border stenciled around the top, and the floor was tiled in ugly. it was terrible.
worse than the room was the pain. after 5 hours, the medication had faded completely. i hurt. i was curled up on the little bed, whimpering to anyone who passed by 'just some aspirin, please.' it was just my luck that, of all the hospitals in Oklahoma, i chose the one that didn't have any Tylenol on hand. that's the only explanation for why a pleasant and smiley PA and the dashingly handsome nurse gave me nothing, if only to shut me up.
after the seventh hour, i poked my head out of the exam room and saw an EMT crew bring in another trauma patient with a blood-gushing head wound that i was certain would make him a higher priority than me. i gave up. i went home, popped the last of the painkiller, chugged a beer, and went to bed.
unfortunately, i have to try again tonight. at minimum, i need a release (for the insurance company) and a new prescription (for me, so i'll quit whining about how much i hurt). my boss has denied me time off this afternoon to see a physician because he's "under pressure for a deadline" today, which is wrong not only on ethical grounds, but i believe company policy makes it a no-no also. i'll have to find out.
Monday, July 02, 2001
another email conversation with Jean (snipped for your pleasure):
Jean: would that also mean that the same side [of the moon] always faces the sun, and the other half is perpetually dark?
terrence: actually...[snipped out long explanation of the moon's axis, revolution, phases and eclipses]...i hope this isn't too confusing. it's easier to explain when i can use visuals.
Jean: So, then, there's really not a portion of the moon where vampires would be safe 24/7. Bugger.
in terrenceland, we combine fantasy with reality. and i'm really pleased with myself for remembering the explanation of the moon's "Dark Side." i was still a teenager when i took Introduction to Astronomy, and didn't really make it to all (most) of the lectures. i did attend most of the labs, though, mainly because the GA leading the lab liked to bring her guitar and sing Monty Python songs.
Jean: would that also mean that the same side [of the moon] always faces the sun, and the other half is perpetually dark?
terrence: actually...[snipped out long explanation of the moon's axis, revolution, phases and eclipses]...i hope this isn't too confusing. it's easier to explain when i can use visuals.
Jean: So, then, there's really not a portion of the moon where vampires would be safe 24/7. Bugger.
in terrenceland, we combine fantasy with reality. and i'm really pleased with myself for remembering the explanation of the moon's "Dark Side." i was still a teenager when i took Introduction to Astronomy, and didn't really make it to all (most) of the lectures. i did attend most of the labs, though, mainly because the GA leading the lab liked to bring her guitar and sing Monty Python songs.
from an email conversation with Jean (just for a glimpse of what it's like in terrenceland):
Speaking of suicidal tiny plastic movie characters, I had a tiny plastic Slinky Dog sitting on top of my monitor at work. He'd sat there with no problems for about two years, then on the day Jim Varney (who did his voice in both Toy Story movies) died, he started taking dives off of my monitor. Seriously, he wouldn't sit up there for more than 10 minutes at a time that entire day without falling off. After that he sat there just fine. Creepy, no?
Needless to say, when Tiny Plastic Iron Giant started taking leaps off of my desk, I got worried about Vin. But he's okay. If Plastic!Spike ever starts doing that sort of thing, I'm liable to have a meltdown.
a law-abiding, never-been-arrested, no-warrents-for-me Terrence will not be visiting Tampa (the fascist bastards), nor will a (semi-)literate, remembers-what-he-was-reading-in-high-school Terrence be visiting certain 'burbs of Seattle (fascist bastards) anytime soon.