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Welcome, Rich White Oligarchs! - Daily Show Billboard

.Pi — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 23:45:27 +0000

Welcome, Rich White Oligarchs! - Daily Show Billboard, originally uploaded by The Zeppelin.

Unfortunately I missed out on tickets for this, but I will be going to see Lewis Black on the final day of the convention, which is no small consolation.

Clock so slooooow. ~whine~

.Pi — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 00:14:33 +0000

Stuck at work for about 3 more hours, another 45min beyond that before I get to Blockbuster so I can pick up my copy of Super Smash Brothers Brawl, more time to get home from there, and then only a few hours of playtime before I have to go to bed so that I can go to work again in the morning.

Happy New Year!

.Pi — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 03:38:55 +0000

New Year’s Eve: ‘Worked’, moved desk/computer into ex-roommate’s old room(yay ethernet, no more wireless!)
New Year’s Day: ‘Worked’, post-work still undecided, possibly more furniture shifting.

To make up for these dull days, some of my favorites snaps from the past week and a half or so:

Shinders collapse news

.Pi — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 23:35:59 +0000

Well, now we know what happened with the Shinders collapse:

[Shinders owner] Weisberg, a lawyer by trade, was arrested in June 2006 after officers with the Anoka-Hennepin Drug Task Force pulled over his van. During the search, officers found methamphetamine, Ecstasy, a submachine gun, ammunition, a police scanner and other items, according to a police affidavit.

His lawyer, Minneapolis attorney Joseph Friedberg, had sought to have Weisberg examined for his competency to stand trial. But a court-appointed psychologist evaluated him, and Hennepin County Judge H. Peter Albrecht ruled Monday he is competent.

The brief hearing was conducted in the judge’s chambers and not in open court, a move the judge later said was an oversight.

Asked about the ruling on his client after he left the courtroom, Friedberg remarked, “They’ve determined he’s more competent than his lawyer.”

And

…Anoka-Hennepin Drug Task Force stated that when the van was searched, officers found what they said was about 6.1 grams of methamphetamine, a quantity equivalent to six packets of artificial sweetener. They also found three tablets of methylenedioxymethamphetamine, more commonly known as Ecstasy, and two collapsible nightsticks, a police scanner, ammunition, a digital scale and “a case containing needles.”

Behind the van’s front seat, they found a Kel-Tac .40-caliber submachine gun.

Hooray for (not?) crazy lawyers/comic shop owners!

DSCN2608

.Pi — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 04:07:31 +0000

DSCN2608, originally uploaded by pi8you.

Lightrail

.Pi — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 05:19:15 +0000

DSCN2476, originally uploaded by pi8you.

St Paul Sunset

.Pi — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 01:07:20 +0000

DSCN2416, originally uploaded by pi8you.

This unexpectedly lovely view showed itself as I was leaving work tonight, I love the way the clouds lined up with the gap in the skyline.

*test post from Flickr

and the entertainment side

.Pi — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 18:54:38 +0000

Let’s see…

Books
Finally finished up Steven Erikson’s Midnight Tides the end of last week or so, fantastic as usual, though the characters perhaps outshone the story this time, particularly Tehol and Bugg, one of the best duos ever. Kicking myself for putting it down for 4 months. Argh.

Plowed through Warren Ellis’ Crooked Little Vein immediately afterward. Very, very good book, but be warned, its a twisted book, full of deviance that may disturb you deeply if you aren’t already aware of how messed up both America and sexual fetishes have gotten. I had almost as much fun imagining the reactions of the less hardened as I did in actually reading the book, but then again, I can be quite twisted myself. If you pay attention, there’s also some strong insight to both where things are headed and where things are at(for better or for worse), something Ellis has always been thinking about, as evidenced by Transmetropolitan and Doktor Sleepless, among others.

Followed that up the last couple days with the Welcome to the NHK novel, and I’m of mixed feelings on it due to watching the anime first. On the one hand, the book absolutely moves, and is definitely more manic than the show, but due to this, the characters weren’t nearly as endearing and the plots weren’t as fleshed out as in the anime(the lead’s high school crush doesn’t even get named in the book vs having a fairly prominent role in the show). As such, its still good, but not nearly as much as the show. I’m still working on the manga, and it seems closer to the goings on of the show, but the show is what I absolutely recommend as far as the title goes. Part of that, though, is that I can draw strong parallels to so much of what goes on in the show with my own life, and as such, I wanted the lead to succeed and get through the painful state of his existance.

I’ve just started Stanislaw Lem’s Hospital of the Transfiguration, and despite being similar in size to the prior two books, it should take me more than a couple days of reading on the bus to get through(~20 pages coming in this morning vs ~50 one way with the other two), but that’s a given with how dense his work is. Those 20 pages have already resonated pretty strongly though, as our lead, awkward and an outsider among his own family, is forced to stand in for his ill father at the funeral for his uncle, and we get to ride along with those outsider thoughts. Of course, I haven’t even gotten to the meat of the book yet, but given this and taking place in WWII Europe, I have a feeling I’ll be as deeply enamoured with it as I am Memoirs Found in a Bathtub.

Following that will be either Erickson’s Bonehunters(whose release prompted me to pick up Midnight Tides again) or Goodkind’s Phantom, haven’t quite decided which bit of meaty book I want next. Assuming I don’t go back to focusing on the handhelds…

Gaming
November is both an awesome time to be a gamer and a nightmare of a time to be a gamer, particularly in the last few years. This month alone sees so many games coming out that I want to play, from Soulcalibur Legends and Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 on the Wii, to King of Fighters XI on the PS2, to Final Fantasy XII:Revenant Wings and Geometry Wars: Galaxies on the DS, to Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops+ and Disgaea on the PSP, to name but a few! It’s a good thing that Super Smash Brothers Brawl got shunted to early February, means a few more dollars to spread around. Picking which ones I can afford to pick up will still be very tough, and I may have to try and hit up the Black Friday sales for Toys R Us or KB Toys, as they both seem to have Buy One Get One Free on all their video games, though I don’t quite know if it’s worth the hassle.

As to what I’m actually playing, despite flirting with Soul Calibur III a little bit in the last few weeks, most of my attention at home has been on Hellgate: London, which despite its best efforts at giving me good reasons not to play, is proving just as addictive as Diablo II. If I can actually manage steady online play by the end of the month, I think I’ll probably be diving in for their Founders offer, lifetime access to subscriber content for about a year’s worth of subscriber fees, though that’ll put a dent in getting other games for a while.

On the go, Disgaea’s been getting the nod, what with Tetris-level gaming crack now in portable form and with nearly no load time. though I’ve not coughed up the $40 that they want for it(I’ll probably pick it up if the price ever goes down, but I’m not paying for it in full twice, despite how much time and enjoyment I got out of the PS2 release).

Phoenix Wright 3 has also been seeing some playtime, and the dialogue is just as awesome as ever, but its been more of a cool down at night than anything(though that’s somewhat dangerous as its hard to put down).

I also had to put in for the Magic:The Gathering Online release for Lorwyn, and amazingly managed to win enough packs to make it worthwhile. Though I’d been somewhat concerned with the set earlier, I’m really starting to enjoy it, especially as we finally get some great faeries to play with. I may even have to go in for a decent investment in the actual cards, if I can find the cash for it

Comics
As stated in the last post, I just dropped a ton of that hard to find cash catching up on (the bulk of) the comics I missed in the last month or so, World War Hulk, Iron Fist, Moon Knight, and DMZ continue to be outstanding monthly purchases, Mouse Guard’s gotten going again with the Winter 1152 storyline, I’m starting in on DC with Green Arrow Year One finishing up and Green Arrow-Black Canary getting started(<3 Black Canary), Strange Girl’s just wrapped up in excellent fashion, and more!

I’m also getting more entrenched in reading the DC universe, recently catching up on post-Infinite Crisis Batman and Wonder Woman stuff, as well as going back now to read the Cataclysm-No Man’s Land arcs and starting in on Catwoman v2, on top of most of the whole spread of Countdown and most of the other current releases(of which I’m now really only neglecting the Flash and Superman books).

Anime
On the fansub front, Seirei no Moribito and Oh! Edo Rocket finished in excellent form, Bokura no closing out pretty solid as well, and I look forward to seeing them come out over here. Baccano and Dennou Coil continue to be absolutely amazing shows that get even better with each episode. I’ve stalled on Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, with almost as many unwatched as watched now. Angel Heart slowly is finally into the final quarter of the show, and I’m still enjoying it enough to ponder City Hunter proper at some point. Genshiken Season 2 is just as good as the first go around. You’re Under Arrest Full Throttle has also been in line with its prior incarnations. Sketchbook ~full color’S has been showing itself to be an excellent substitue for ARIA(the President even makes a cameo!). Dragonaut is looking like it will go the way of Divergence Eve or Witchblade, with a decent story/concepting buried under excessively endowed women. Despite the hype, I haven’t been able to get aboard CLANNAD, even though there’s some really nice animation to be found within. And lastly, the sleeper surprise of the season, Bamboo Blade has been proving itself to be quite an entertaining show and one of the only ones I’m actively keeping up with as episodes come out.

DVD-wise, I’ve finished up Noein and have just lined up the rest of BECK, one more to go on Ergo Proxy and Black Lagoon. Welcome to the NHK and FLAG have both started to hit DVD now, and I desperately need to pick them up. I’m also looking to get started on Mai-Otome and possibly Tide-Line Blue, though I’ll probably wait on a cheaper bundle on the latter. I’m still on the fence with Gunbuster 2, as even the discounted $27×3 for ~2-3 hours of show is a bit ridiculous.

Other
Haven’t watched any television since moving, so I’m completely out of the loop on the fall schedule, so the writer’s strike doesn’t leave me hanging on anything. I still need to finish the last few episodes of Eureka though

Movie-wise, the last I’ve gone to see was The Darjeeling Limited, which was just as awkward and entertaining as The Life Aquatic, though I think I still prefer Life Aquatic, as it was completely out there. Up shortly is Beowulf, and I’m seriously considering trying to find it in 3D as it sounds like they’ve finally nailed that aspect of it. Outside of those though, hasn’t been too much that I absolutely needed to see in theaters, until Blade Runner: The Final Cut on Dec 1st, that is. Yeah, that’s going to be Fricking Awesome(despite not owning a Blu-Ray player or HDTV, I’m even considering the Blu-Ray uberbox that comes out shortly after, I love Blade Runner that much).

And lastly, I managed to go to a concert on Wednesday. Not just any concert though, a Dethklok concert. Despite a horrible choice for an opening act and a no-moshing rule, the show was a blast, as our eardrums were assaulted with an hour or so of nonstop music by the most metal fictional band around. I think I may have even had just about as much fun as I did with all of Ozzfest. The best part might be that none of my Metalocalypse-loving friends got to go, so I get to brag about it even more. That, or sharing one of my favorite photos ever with the entire crowd:

And on that note, I’ll wrap this up. I’m sure there’s more I missed that’s worth pointing out, but maybe you’ll hear about it in a couple months or somesuch

state of the month, or somesuch

.Pi — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 16:12:31 +0000

Yep, that’s me, absolutely terrible at blogging. So what’s going on for me?

New apartment’s working out alright, no problems with the roommate, though I think I’ve seen her cat more than I’ve seen her. I’ve even started taking random pictures of the cat Room’s a bit chilly when I come home from work, natural with living in a basement in Minnesota though, and it’ll be nice once summer, heck, once spring rolls around. And as of tomorrow, we should have a 60″ (not HD)TV in place, which I will have most of Tuesday to play with

Work’s work, I’m enjoying it, but there’s still things that fly over my head that I have to deal with on the fly. I’ve started working over on the St Paul side of things, and so now I’m finding out exactly how much more downtown St Paul sucks at night in comparison to downtown Minneapolis. I’m also fully hired on finally, no more of this contract work silliness, woohoo!

Somewhat in celebration of that, I’ve gone and spent too much on comics and anime this past week, even though the monster known as holiday video game releases is just rearing its ugly head, presenting me with well over a dozen new games that I want to pick up within the next month or so. My Amazon wishlist is a scary, scary beast right now at around 1100 items. But I’ll do a followup post here with entertainment goodies…

Other than that though, not so much going on in my life directly. Family issues persist, but as I’m essentially completely removed from the situation, its not something that I dwell on. The holidays could get… interesting, assuming I’m even able to get anywhere for them.

Cleanup on aisle 12

.Pi — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 02:00:25 +0000

Just closing some tabs with various art-bits from the last month or so.

First, some really cool architecture in the form of water towers converted into homes. 1, 2, 3.

Secondly, made my way to the Walker last week to see the big Picasso/American Art exhibit before it left, and I was fairly impressed. As I’m fairly uneducated in the ways of Western art, I couldn’t really do a good job of describing it, but this blog will probably give you a fair idea of what was there to be found. As it was also my first time actually getting to go through the Walker, I came away impressed with a few other things, and am resolved to bring a notebook the next time I go, as I forgot so much of what was there.

A couple of pieces did stick in my head though, the first is this awesome piece, Visions in Paper by Olafur Eliasson:

He’s done a number of other cool pieces as well, as seen on his site.

The second piece is Zak Smith’s Illustrations For Each Page of Gravity’s Rainbow. Essentially illustrating the events of each and every single page of the book, this monster project is on permanent display at the Walker, with all 760 or so pages taking up a pretty hefty chunk of wallspace. While not quite as impressive, you can go through its entirety online or get ahold of it in book form as well, all 4 pounds of it. On second thought, it might actually prove to be an awesome experience to go through it side-by-side with the original story.

And that’s that, more writings at some point.