Worthless and Weak

2012-01-16T23:06:00.002-05:00

What I've been doing with my time. I don't have a scanner, so I just took a photo of it, but here's one that I particularly like.

2011-08-29T18:57:00.002-04:00

I'm unhappy. Why am I unhappy?

I think there are a few reasons. The first is that I'm moving to a new apartment on Thursday. There's a slight amount of stress involved with that move, and maybe that's getting to me. But I think the bigger story is about the why that I'm moving into a new place. Its a minor life step, involving a fairly significant financial commitment. But the whole point of moving isn't to create any positives in my life, its almost purely to avoid negatives. Not having to fight over chores, or worry about how clean the sink is. There's reasons why I'm moving away from my place, but not too many why I'm moving into the new one, and I think that's beginning to sync in.

The other reason is that happiness I think is like a drug. Or rather, it is in some way a drug, some chemical released in the brain. And when you have a lot of it, you notice when its gone. I think that's whats been happening lately. Stuff just kind of sucks; food doesn't taste good, I'm not looking forward to things.

Anyway, a long time ago, way back when I started this blog, I came up with two rules.

The first rule was not to talk about politics. The second was not to talk about how depressed and angsty I am. The rules exist for the same reason, cause thats all that anybody on the internet ever talks about, and nobody ever listens ever. Now, I like to think that I'm a little wiser than I was 8 years ago, that I've learned lessons and that I'm not as susceptible to stupid emotions (as opposed to smart ones, eh, that is I'm not trying to say that all emotions are bad, but that to a large extent one can easily fool one's self into thinking that any little setback is the end of the world, and that's bad.) as i was back then. And to a large extent I'm right, but the things I've learned for the most part allow me to diagnose my own stupidity and to get over it. But largely, its a matter of time, that whereas before I'd wallow in misery for months, now I'm down to about a week. But I'm still there from time to time, and it simply sucks when you don't want to go anywhere or do anything, when your food doesn't taste good and when you're not looking forward to anything. There's still that time when all you want to do is just scream "FUCK YOU" at the world, and well, I'm in it right now. I'll get over it, but right now I'm in it.

2011-08-28T21:38:00.002-04:00

So in what was a really big over-hyped deal, Republican Presidential candidate Herman Cain came to the Northeast this weekend. They say he did over 50 million in damages, shut down the NYC mass transit, and created all sorts of havoc. Well, he can write off the east coast if he wins the nomination.

Oh wait, that wasn't Herman Cain, it was a Hurricane! That's totally different. But I still think that it was totally over-hyped. It was overblown if you will. Of course, Boston wasn't hit that hard, and I heard there was flooding in parts of NY, and of course coastlines always get hit hard by Hurricanes. But I think there's a definite danger of a boy who cried wolf effect," our elected leaders are diluting their credibility. If they would occasionally risk the chance of underestimating the severity of the storm, they would be much more credible when they really need to be heard.

2011-07-28T22:58:00.002-04:00

Well, that's over with. (That being the post directly below this one). I was once told that analyzing and describing your problems is great therapy (because one realizes they aren't that big). I guess the better piece of advice would be to have a scotch, go to sleep, then analyze your problems in the morning.

Anyway, through sheer force of imagination, I've managed to defeat one entirely imaginary problem that I had. Ha!

2011-07-26T00:20:00.003-04:00

Ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh.

I'm in a bad place again. Its going to be a long week. I've been here before, and I hate being here, I've been here before and from the outside you always see how stupid you look and feel. GAH! I don't even know what I"m upset about anymore.

Anyway, this is dumb, I need to go to bed although I'm sure I'm not going to sleep anytime soon. Anyway getting off this dumb computer will help.

Gah indeed.

2011-04-07T22:26:00.002-04:00

" 'There is chamber after chamber, Legolas; hall opening out of hall, dome after dome, stair beyond stair; ans still the winding paths lead on into the mountains' heart. Caves! The Caverns of Helm's Deep! Happy was the chance that drove me there! It makes me weep to leave them.'

'Then I will wish you this fortune for you comfort, Gimli' said the Elf, 'that you may come safe from war and return to see them again. But do not tell all your kindred! There seems little left for them to do, from you account. Maybe the men of this land are wise to say little: one family of busy dwarves with hammer and chisel might mare more than they made.'

'No, you do not understand,' said Gimli. 'No dwarf could be unmoved by such loveliness. None of Durin's race would mine those caves for stones or ore, not if diamonds and gold could be got there. Do you cut down grooves of blossoming trees in the springtime for firewood? We would tend these glades of flowering stone, not quarry them. With cautious skill, tap by tap -- a mall chip of rock and no more, perhaps in a while anxious day -- so we could work, and as they years went by, we should open up new ways, and display far chambers that are still dark, glimpsed only as a void beyond fissures in the rock.'"

I think this passage, more than any other I've read, epitomizes LOTR. Gimli is moved by the simple presence of nature; finding natural caves comparable to the splendor of Khazad-dûm, which had been lost to orcs. Legolas, by comparison, speaks of wishing to see the Fangorn forest, which is the remains of the old forest which once covered middle earth. For both characters, we see a great appreciation of nature, and more-so that the best way to appreciate it is through a passive role, that it is to be observed, and changed only slowly.

Compare this to the description of Orthanc, only a few pages later. There Saruman had built great furnaces, dug great pits and scarred the land with his creation. Tolkien describes it like this:

"A strong place and wonderful was Isengard, and long it had been beautiful; and there great lords had dwelt, the wardens of Gondor upon the West, and wise men that watched the stars. But Saruman had slowly shaped it to his shifting purposes, and made it better, as he thought, being deceived -- for all those arts and subtle devices, for which he forsook his former wisdom, and which fondly he imagined were his own, came but from Mordor; so that what he made was naught, only a little copy, a child's model or a slave's flattery, of that vast fortress, armoury, prison, furnace of great power, Baradûr, the Dark Tower, which suffered no rival, and laughed at flattery, biding its time, secure in its pride and its immeasurable strength."

The contrast couldn't be more clear, on the one hand we have those who seek to enjoy nature, content to be a part of it, and on the other we have those wicked men who seek to rule it, and to bend it to their own wills, and instead create monstrosities.

2011-03-23T20:12:00.002-04:00

So it looks like I can read stuff faster than I can blog about stuff, so i've gotten a little further behind...

So, I've read from the Ring Going South to Leaving Lothlorien. Again, its very interesting what is highlighted in the book, there are two chapters devoted to Moria, full of orcs and cave trolls and balrogs, and then three chapters devoted to Lothlorien, with nothing but elves, and no real danger or "excitement". The most important character from this part is Galadriel, the elf queen. She has one of the three elven rings, and it is revealed that all of Lothlorien's beauty, and indeed the elves themselves, is dependent upon her ring (and the other two), and that destroying the one ring would cause all less rings to slowly die. Faced with this problem, she still urges Frodo on, saying that she would rather see this magnificent beauty fade from the world than have it overcome by Sauron.

This is one of Tolkien's major themes, perhaps the major theme: that beauty is slowly disappearing from middle-earth, and that what is is never as impressive as was, for there are no more mithril mines, no more silmarils, Numenor fell into the sea, and very soon there will be no more rings of power. Yet this is as it should be, that to attempt to turn back time, to use the ring to attempt to regain these treasures would be to invite Sauron's corruption into whatever it touched. This I think, is most clearly illustrated in the character of Saruman, in his attempts to control the power of the world, he can only use it for evil ends.

I'm not sure what (if anything) this decline is a metaphor of, but one very stark similarity is to aging. As we age, all the "wonderful" things in our lives begin t disappear, and that while preserving youth as long as possible is a good thing, it can never be stopped, and attempting to recreate your youth ends only in folly. Indeed, most of the periphery of the book deals with elves, who are eternally youthful, and yet must deal with the truth that they shall soon perish, as they are forced to leave the world for the undying lands.

2011-03-17T19:49:00.002-04:00

Many Meetings, and the Council of Elrond:

So the first book is done, and the second book begins in Rivendell, Frodo is recovering from the encounter with the Ringwraiths, and everybody's back stories are told. We learn about what happened to Galdalf, and are for the first time (through story) introduced to Saruman, (would it have killed Tolkien to have the two main villains of his book not both begin with SA, end with N, and have a and R and a U in the middle). The council of Elrond decides that the ring cannot be hidden, nor guarded, or thrown into the sea, and they dare not use it, for even though they could destroy Sauron with the Ring, it would not benefit the world at all, as they would inevitably become that which they seek to destroy. Finally, they decide that it is not for the mighty or the wise to destroy it, for Sauron will quickly overcome might or outsmart wisdom, but instead Frodo shall hope to go unnoticed to the fires of Mt Doom.

That Frodo, and not Aragorn or Gandalf (or Elrond or Glorfindel or so on) should bear the ring is of great importance artistically, first it is easier for us to identify with Frodo than with a Ranger or a Wizard, and of course having the fish out of water character allows for much easier exposition (when Gandalf or Aragorn tell Frodo about some piece of history, they're really telling us), but it goes even deeper than that. The trilogy is chalk full of symbolism, in fact its easy to make the argument that it is nothing but symbolism, and they symbolism of Frodo is that it is each person's job to combat evil, that we all have a ring to bear, and while there are no doubt Gandalfs and Aragorns in our lives, and we must trust in them, we cannot fully rely on them, and in the end we must rely on ourselves and the Sams of the world.

2011-03-10T19:31:00.002-05:00

Chapters 11 + 12:

Knife in the dark, the eleventh chapter, has the first real action of the book. Pursued by the Ringwraiths to weathertop, Strider and the four hobbits attempt to make a stand. Frodo unconsciously slips the one ring onto his finger, revealing the true nature of the wringwraiths. Frodo wards them off with the word "Elbereth." He is wounded (almost mortally).

The action, perhaps the most important scene of the book so far (one of the most important, anyway), takes up less space than the tale of Beren and Luthien. Of course, this is really what the book is about, the interactions of the characters, and while they are on a quest which will shape the world, we are given far more information of how they react to the world.

Part of this, is simply an artistic tool, Tolkien wants to show off the world he created, and the most interesting way to do that is to show the reactions of his characters have, as they travel through the world.

Before they reach Rivendell, they find the trolls that Bilbo and Galdalf encountered in "The Hobbit." Sam sings a song about trolls, and then they are met by Glorfindel, an elf. The black riders are destroyed by a flood (or not truly destoryed, but for now they are), and we end the first book of the LOTR.

2011-03-07T23:21:00.002-05:00

Chapters 3 - 10.

So, running myself sore on Saturday, and feeling otherwise lazy, I read chapters 3 through 10 of Book One of the Fellowship this Sunday.

These chapters become a little repetitious, or at the very least a pattern emerges. Frodo and company are accosted by danger, they are aided by a stranger, but the stranger does not continue with them, even though the fate of the world hangs in the balance.

The first stranger is Gildor the elf, who they meet after their first encounters with the black riders. Gildor would normally never camp with hobbits, but due to the black riders, does so. Similarly, once the hobbits travel through the old wood, they are saved from Old man willow by Tom Bombadil, and again in Barrow Down. Finally, when they are in the inn of the prancing pony, they are aided by the Butterbur, and Strider.

With Gildor and again with Bombadil, it almost seems as if they only reason they don't journey with the hobbits is due to plot reasons. But almost. With both characters, we see people who are in many ways human, but in many other ways completely different. The elves are described as "so old and yet so young, so gay and yet so sad," which I think is a hauntingly beautiful description of these characters, something which isn't quite human.

Bombadil sings. He sings to old man willow, he signs to the barrow wights, and he sings to himself and to Goldberry. If I recall the Silmarilion correctly, and if you'll forgive some rampant speculation on my part, he is singing a variation (perhaps corruption would be a better word, although corruption is probably a better term for Morgoth's song) of the song began by Illuvitar at the creation of the universe.

But just like Gildor, when given the opportunity to escort them to Rivendell, he instead refuses. In both cases, the characters are more witnesses than actors. They seem to see their roles as outside of the fate of humanity; that whatever happens they will either retreat to the Gray Havens or continue living in the old forest.

Finally, I'll note some things about the world and setting. It seems very static, that while there is history, it seems only to be a list of events and stories, there is no sense of history in the Hegelian sense, there's no momentum, no sense of progress, or even of steady-state equilibriums. The men of Bree-land don't attempt to colonize the lands around Bree because, well it doesn't say. The hobbits don't turn back the old forest, don't try to use it. Everybody seems to think of the world as what it is, and no individual tries to change it, even slightly. I realize this may be part of my 20th century thinking, (dare I say bias?) that we live in an age where we do things everyday that weren't possible a decade ago, and we see changes in the world around us (in terms of architecture, styles and fashions, even music, art, politics, etc) within our lives, so that we can go back to place we used to live, and note how much it changes, and I think that as Americans we get even less of this than average, for instance: Shanghai.

But I think it's more than just a return to pre 20th century thinking. It's a pattern of Tolkien's world, that the world is primarily a place of myth, not an actual realized world, a backdrop to explore heroism, which is certainly not empty, (far far from it), but rather the background just is, the minor characters seem to know that the story isn't about them, but not just for plot purposes, rather because thats their purpose, their platonic essence if you will.

While I'd love to continue writing, and perhaps if I continued to do so long I'd find a combination of words that make a little sense, but it's past midnight, so I will say goodbye, and perhaps I can continue onward with a better understanding and better way to say what I'm saying.

2011-03-06T17:55:00.002-05:00

Chapters 1 and 2:

I was reading a bit about the Lord of the Rings lately, here and there, and noticed that there was a lot of stuff that I don't remember, and thinking about it, I have no idea when the last time I read the whole trilogy was. Probably not since before the movies. Therefore, last night, I started reading it again, and thought that maybe I'd blog my reactions to it.

One of the, problems, I had with the books, (which was amplified by the movies, I think), was that it seemed to me that the Shire was the only place where people actually lived, meaning that for everybody else it seemed that there were simply warriors waiting around for the next battle, or elves sitting around doing whatever it is that 1,000 year old elves do. In any event, I think the first chapter is excellent in setting up the Shire, in describing hobbit communities and customs.

The second chapter is about the Ring, focusing on Smeagol. It surprised me that there wasn't more detail given to Gil-Galad and Isildur, and their battle with Sauron. I also didn't remember Sauron taking residence in Mirkwood.

Overall, what I think I was missing when I read the books originally was that it wasn't about the story, it was about the stories within the stories, the histories that Gandalf and company tell.

While I'd ideally like to have some sort of more lengthy discussion about each chapter for the purposes of this project (which, if history is any guide, I will abandon long before completion), however I fear that I may have to settle for good enough, and just a few points of initial interest will have to suffice. Hopefully, I'll get a better post the next couple of chapters.

2011-01-25T22:40:00.002-05:00

I'm sure glad that I decided to go to Egypt last year and not put it off another year.

2010-11-18T22:18:00.003-05:00

Does anybody else think that the microphone addition to Rockband was the worst invention ever created in the history of ever? Even more so if your roommate can't sing. And its 10:30 fucking hell I think I'm gonna go insane and start just fucking ahhH!!

In other news, I'm officially halfway through The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Good book, you should totally read it. Also, I literally got a turkey in Bowling. I'm trying to clear up space in the freezer for it.

2010-10-23T14:38:00.004-04:00

Last night I watched "The Horror of Dracula." One of the best horror movies I've ever seen. Nothing in it was too scary, it just had a very simple plot, strong characters, great actors and a very well done atmosphere. The movie was basically a bare bones version of Bram Stoker's Dracula, with a group of vampire hunters (John Harker, Arthur Holmwood, and Dr. Van Helsing, portrayed brilliantly by Peter Cushing), attempting to kill Dracula, while Dracula is attempting to convert the romantic interests of the hunters to vampirism.

What sets it apart is its use of violence and gore. While older movies (such as Universal's 1931 classic) would shy away from graphic portrayals of violence, and today's horror films indulge in it, "The Horror of Dracula" had just the right amount of it to give a bit of a chill when seen, but not enough to make you wondering if you're watching Cannibal Holocaust.

Bottom line, it was a really enjoyable movie and they just don't make them like that anymore.

2010-10-15T22:16:00.004-04:00

*Sniff Sniff*

I guess the best line of this song is no longer relevant. This makes me sad...

Rest in Peace...

2010-09-30T07:38:00.003-04:00

why does Massachusetts have a secretary of state? Shouldn't it have a secretary of commonwealth?

(Also, I'm too dumb to vote, apparently).

2010-09-13T23:53:00.002-04:00

I'm angry.

I'm angry because the realization hit me today that my ex never cared at all about me. Never really made any sort of emotional attachment to me, other than simply thinking that I'm a nice guy. Hell, I can't even remember a time when she was angry with me.

Oh well, i guess I just need to take a step back, and say to myself, "this too shall pass"

2010-09-13T19:15:00.001-04:00

number of times I wanted to scream out "FUCK YOU" during an im conversation today... 7

ok.... I need a drink...

2010-08-24T22:27:00.001-04:00

At my door, the leaves are falling,
A cold wild wind will come,
Sweethearts walk by together,
And I still miss someone...

2010-08-06T20:16:00.003-04:00

So I'm actually really really enjoying the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. A surprisingly easy read, although at times Gibbons uses archaic wording, he always keeps it interesting, never stays on one topic too long, and combines historical facts with his opinions in a way which allows you to feel connected to events that happened two millennia ago. I especially like the way he describes most of the emperors, either as benevolent men of virtue and courage, or despotic tyrants who ignore law and pursue only pleasure. Not sure how historically accurate it is, but it definitely feels the need to form an opinion on things as opposed to merely describe them. And, as you're hearing the opinion of someone from 200 years ago, it's in my opinion quite refreshing.

2010-08-02T18:49:00.003-04:00

One of my pet peeves is when you're having an argument with somebody, and they say something like "you wouldn't think that if you were in person X's situation." All they're really saying is that if you were incredibly biased, you would have a different opinion.

For instance, if we're talking about the death penalty, and somebody says "you wouldn't be for the death penalty if you were falsely accused of murder." As if suddenly, being an impartial observer who is able to see both sides of an issue makes you less credible. (not to mention that said tactic can almost always work in the opposite direction. You'd be equally against the death penalty if you were accurately accused of murder). (Side note, I'm not trying to make an argument about the death penalty, it was just the first example that popped into my head.)

2010-08-01T22:09:00.002-04:00

Sometimes I do things without a full understanding of the reasons why. Today, I picked up a copy of Edward Gibbons' "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." I've got no idea if I can get through the whole thing or not; but I'll try.

The first two chapters are about the extent of Rome during the rule of Trajan.

One final thought is that I don't think that books should be so long that the abridged version is 1200 pages. That's a bit excessive.

2010-07-30T19:08:00.003-04:00

Of the 31 highest grossing films of the year so far, a full 16 of them are unoriginal, (either a re-make, a sequel, or based on a TV show or video game).

Of the remaining 15 films, a full five of them are comedies, which are sort of immune from the re-make and adaptation craze. (the only unoriginal comedy on the list was Sex and the City 2). At least one of these originals (Percy Jackson) was surely made with the concept of creating a series.

Looking at the unoriginal films, half of them just scream "what's the point?" Now, some of the sequels are understandable, I mean, of course Twilight and Iron Man are getting sequels, Hollywood cleaned up on those, but not all of them. Many of these seem to have the same plot and title as another film. (The Karate Kid, The Wolf Man, Clash of the Titans, Nightmare on Elm Street, etc).

Now, credit where credit is due, at least Alice in Wonderland, Robin Hood, and Sherlock Holmes seem to do something new with the material, but come on, do we really need another Robin Hood movie?

What really gets me is that virtually any comic book is now made into a movie. And ones that nobody has every heard of and bomb at the box office. I mean, how many people know about "Kick Ass" or "The Losers?" Or for that matter Jonah Hex? Or even Watchmen?

It wasn't always like this, in 1995, only 7 of the top 31 movies were unoriginal. And of those, half of them were sequels to really popular movies, (a Batman Movie, a Bond Movie, and a Die Hard Movie). So what happened? Are they really making more money like this?

2010-07-14T19:53:00.002-04:00

Step 1: Think of a deeply held belief of yours that is at least somewhat controversial (or at the very least, of which other people disagree with you).

Step 2: Imagine that you get a visit from your future self, from say 5 or 10 years from now. Your future self tells you that you were wrong about your aforementioned deeply held belief.

Do you believe your future self?

2010-07-07T19:41:00.003-04:00

So here's an economics puzzle for you...

So we all know that Savings - Investment = Exports - Imports

Savings = Personal Savings + Taxes - Goverment Spending

Therefore we can expand the formula to be:

S - I + T - G = X - M

This has to hold for all economies.

So how is a stimulus possible?

If we increase G then...

Either (personal) Savings increases by the same amount; (Ricardan equivalence holds)

Or Taxes increase by the same amount (which means we aren't even increasing the deficit; at this point we're barely even Keynesians)

Or Investment falls (crowding out)

Or imports increase

Or exports decrease

Or some combination of all

Likewise, if we decrease taxes, somewhere else something has to increase/decrease by the same amount, canceling out the stimulus.

There has to be a flaw here somewhere; if it is true then wouldn't everybody who's against stimulus use this argument? And I can't possibly be the first person to have thought of this; surely somebody else must have an answer somewhere...

2010-07-05T23:10:00.001-04:00

Wow, what a weekend. Friday night seems like forever and a half ago...

2010-07-05T19:45:00.000-04:00

Me and Casey in a "myspace" type photo...

2010-06-28T18:55:00.002-04:00

It's entirely possible I've finally cracked, and lost the ability to distinguish reality from my overactive imagination. It's also entirely possible that, for all intents and purposes, I now have a girlfriend. It doesn't really matter, I've been looking forward to both conditions for quite some time.

2010-06-06T20:20:00.002-04:00

So with nothing better to do on this rainy sunday, I've spent a lot of it reading old issues of Fantastic Four that I bought on a DVD about a year ago. At first, FF was full of a bunch of one issue stories which were actually pretty boring, with villains that weren't really that threatening and heroes which, although they may have been much deeper than the 1 dimensional heroes of the 30s and 40s, were still pretty two dimensional. The art was the Typical Marvel style of the 50's and 60's, and in my opinion, didn't impress.

However, about 40 issues in, they really hit their stride; the stories grew to span multiple issues and the villains became fascinating characters with deeper back stories, the Human Torch started being just a little bit more mature, which was great for the series (going from someone who just shows off or whines to somebody who shows off, whines, and comprehends the grander scheme of his actions is a huge difference).

Finally, the writing has evolved from the FF takes on the villain of the day to stories that have clear character arcs.

2010-05-27T22:46:00.000-04:00

w00t! my new crappy video card is soooo much better than my old crappy video card.

2010-05-25T21:02:00.000-04:00

Where the show "Lost" me...

**Spoilers ahead**

After 6 seasons, ABC's hit show Lost came to an end, and, like most other people, I was quite disappointing with the ending. But looking back at it, and I'm sure this is not an original point, there was no way they were going to give satisfying answers to everything- although looking back at the final season, you can see it.

Where it really went downhill was at the end of season three, when they stopped doing flashbacks, and started doing flash forwards. Other than the one reveal the first time they did it (when you think its dealing with Jack in the past, and that he's calling his wife, but, surprise! He's in the future, and he's calling Kate) it accomplished nothing- no real reason to do it, other than perhaps that they ran out of material for flashbacks.

Once you start doing that, you destroy a lot of the suspense, you now know that people are going to get off the island, and you know who - yeah, you're still wondering about the how, but why?

The second thing that happened is you had to completely destroy all of the characters, and turn them into new characters. So Jack stopped being the man of science and basically turned into Locke, Kate stopped being the fugitive and instead became the Mom, Sayid became James Bond, only Hurely really seemed to have anything to do with his previous character, but now he sees dead people.

The third and worse thing they did with the flash forwards was that they had to start doing things because the island told them to. The island wasn't done with Jack yet. This was acceptable when it was just Locke doing it, because you don't really know if its actually the island of if Locke is just insane, but there's a very fine line between "the island wants us to do this" and "the script wants us to do this." Having a "destiny" in a movie (or cinematic TV show, as Lost was) is really a pet peeve of mine, it's nothing but an excuse to propel the plot, and (I know I'm repeating myself, but whatever), destroys the suspense.

The fourth thing that they did at the end of season 3/beginning of season four, was to fast track the action - now you've got a freighter full of armed soldiers waiting to kill everybody (I don't even remember why) and people who are going to get off the island (cause you already know that). What this did was changed the pace of the whole show. There was a feeling that there was time passing between the episodes, and that if they felt they needed to, they could slow down the shows to tell whatever story was being told that episode. Once the freighter arrived, it seemed to me like they changed that completely, and, not coincidentally, once the freighter was gone, they very quickly killed off the entirety of the non-starring survivors on the island - so there's no minor characters anymore.

Overall, the show succeeded most when it was about people we could relate to having the deal with being stranded on an island that they didn't understand, with little bits of mystery happening every so often. When it stopped being about "what the hell is out there" and started being about time travel or the war between Widmore and Linus, it lost what made it so special.

Another thing that killed it was that had this habit of using cliffhangers during the reveals, like the first time the hatch is blown open at the end of the first season, and people speaking in the annoying quasi-religious manner. For instance "You came to this island because you're special" or
"We're doing what needs to be done." While some of this is fine, especially for the setup, when you're trying to end the whole damn show, why not have a little bit of exposition? For instance, they kept referencing the "rules." Candidates can't kill themselves. Jacob and the Smoke Monster can't kill each other. Ben can't kill Widmore. Etc etc. Why not, instead of having a whole show which kind of explains one of the rules (oh, because Jacob/Smoke Monster's mother said so?) have ya know, a scene where Jacob maybe talks to somebody and runs down either the list of all the rules, or who made the rules and why they need to be followed. The show could have used a lot more exposition, at least when it was trying to end itself.

All that being said, the final episode (and season) was probably about as good as they could have done. Bottom line, Lost could have been better, but was great none the less. I don't write 800 word blog posts about "Chuck."

2010-05-16T22:24:00.001-04:00

I ran 11 miles yesterday. Then I went out for drinks but only had two beers. This morning was the first time in my life that I had a hangover without getting drunk first.

2010-05-12T22:26:00.003-04:00

A thought has occurred to me, and I doubt I'm the first person to have ever thought this but here goes. With certain species of insects, namely ants, termites, wasps and bees, isn't the organism the hive, not the little crawley thing 6 legs a thorax and an abdomen? Lets think about it; at least in terms of ants (which I think I remember something about).

The colony produces various types of ants, such as worker ants or soldier ants, these ants perform specific functions. This is similar to cells in a plant or animal.

Once every so often (during the night of the flying ants) the flying ants will go around and fly everywhere, these are either drones or future queens. When the drone meets the queen, they potentially form a new colony. This is similar to sexual reproduction, with the drones being similar to sperm cells, and the queens similar to egg cells (ok, ok, it is sexual reproduction, but isn't it more informative to view it as sexual reproduction between colonies, not as sexual reproduction between individuals belonging to colonies?)

Third, a vast majority of individual ants don't meet the 6 criteria of life, specifically they don't (and can't) reproduce.

Finally, as the colony is the offspring of a single mating between a queen and a drone, the individuals within the colony have very similar if not identical DNA, much like cells within the body of a plant or animal.

Ok, I'm sure, that this post is either going to completely revolutionize biology, or is either common knowledge among just about everybody, or maybe it's just factually wrong. Whatever

2010-05-10T22:25:00.002-04:00

When I went to get coffee this morning, I ordered a large coffee and a blueberry muffin. After I got the coffee, waited a few seconds for my muffin, and when the girl taking the order went on to the next customer, I interrupted her and said, "hey, where's my muffin?" She replied that I was holding it, and sure enough, she had already given me the muffin.

I guess that's what happens before I have my coffee...

2010-05-09T23:00:00.001-04:00

Isn't it comforting to know that, after 35 years, love really did keep Captain and Tennille together?

2010-05-08T00:27:00.002-04:00

I have this image of Wallace Shawn in my head, that he's completely insecure and shallow, and that anytime anybody says any statement to him any time, he replies, "Inconceivable." If he does this three times, he just shouts out, "Do you know who I fucking am? I was in the princess bride, I was the fucking Dinosaur in Toy Story! I was the next door neighbor in the Cosby Show. THE COSBY SHOW!!!"

He's probably nothing like this, but I like to imagine.

2010-04-24T11:21:00.003-04:00

My goal yesterday was to run 5 miles. I ran 7.3. I definitely feel like I'm in really good shape now, as I'm not even feeling it a little today. So suddenly, my goal of running 12 miles by the end of the summer doesn't just look doable, its looks (almost) easy.

2010-04-12T18:41:00.003-04:00

My old alarm clock, that I've had since who knows when (probably since at least high school), was pretty much on its last legs. I had to put my body-weight into pushing the snooze button in order for it to work, and that would somehow change the radio station. So, this weekend, I got a new one, with a digital tuner and everything. And, inside the box, with the instructions, was (as one would expect) a small flier advertising something, in this case audio books. Now, the vast majority of these books were what you would expect, the latest Dan Brown or Stephen King novel, I think "The Secret" was one of them, and so on. But one was a Curious George book. Is there something I'm missing, why would anyone want a Curious George book on audio? Isn't the point that YOU read the book to your kid?

2010-03-30T20:36:00.002-04:00

!!!

2010-02-28T16:43:00.002-05:00

So I haven't updated in a few days... Anyway, to give a very quick summary of the past few days...

Alexandria was ok, I enjoyed the Fort and the Catacombs, and their museum is really great, other than that, not so much.

The Egyptian Museum was awesome, there is simply so much stuff there it's ridiculous. Over 10,000 items from Tutankhamen alone. Also, there was seriously a collection of 20 sided dice, which were from the Roman or Coptic periods.

The Pyramids were incredible, to describe them in a single word. All of them. Going down into them uses muscles that you really don't use at all, because you're climbing up and down weird inclines while hunched over, which is something people almost never do. Long story short, the fronts of my legs are still aching several days later. Moral of the story, stretch before you go into the pyramids.

The historical parts of Cairo itself is a bit underwhelming. I think the problem is that its really hard to wander around Cairo on foot (I wanted to wander around outside of the Citadel, but had a hard time doing it due to the traffic and stuff. The Coptic museum was nice, but like most museums in Egypt, doesn't do a great job at presentation.

Ranking the Museums in Egypt (I kind of feel like I've been to all of them) by presentation:

1. Nubian Museum
2. Alexandria Museum
3. Luxor Museum
4. Coptic Museum
5. Mummification Museum
6. Islamic Ceramics Museum
7. Egyptian Museum
8. Aswan Museum

Ranking them by content:

1. Egyptian Museum

2. Alexandria Museum
3. Luxor Museum
4. Nubian Museum
5. Islamic Ceramics Museum
6. Coptic Museum
7. Mummification Museum
8. Aswan Museum

I think overall, the best Museum was the Egyptian, and the worse (by far) was the Aswan Museum. But thats just me.

The best piece in the Egyptian Museum was innermost coffin of Tutankhamen, which was made of solid gold.

My favorite temple was tough to say, I liked Karnak, its really tough to accurately describe just how big the place is. I also liked the Luxor temple; that was awesome.

The valley of the Queens was probably the most underrated place I went, its almost as good ast he Valley of the Kings, but simply because it's not on the standard tour, probably had about 5% as many tourists there. There were simply no lines and both tombs were easily accessible.

Thats the same with Dahshur, the pyramids were very impressive, but there weren't too many people there, and going inside the pyramid was very easy.

My least favorite temple were the ones at Fayoum, which don't really count because they're hardly temples in the first place (no remaining hieroglyphs if they had any in the first place).

Other than that my least favorite was Kalabsha, which for some reason I was the only person there, which means I had uninvited tour guides with AK-47s following me around (and then of course asking for bakeesh)!

The one thing I wish I could have done was gone to Dendera, especially after I wasn't that impressed with the temple of Horus at Edfu.

If I were to rank the temples...

1. Karnak
2. Abu Simbel (counting both temples as one, as they are quite similar)
3. Luxor
4. Medina Habu
5. Temple of Hatshetshut
6. Horus @ Edfu
7. Ramesseum
8. Kom Ombo
9. Philae
9. Kalabsha

Big gap between Luxor and Medina Habu, another big gap after Kom Ombo.

Of the four cities I went to, I would rank as following:

4. Alexandria. Nice city, very big, but there isn't that much tourist stuff to do. Unless you plan on diving, it can be done as a day trip from Cairo. I did everything there in one day. I loved my hotel though

3. Cairo. Big city. Very very very big. It is nearly impossible to get from one area to another by walking, and sometimes seems impossible to do so by car as well. Absolutely insane.

2. Luxor. Everybody, and I mean everybody, will treat you as a walking pocketbook. You will be approached by strangers multiple times, even if you're just walking a short distance. They are very very aggressive in what ammounts to begging at times.

1. Aswan. Small city, not too much there, much cleaner than Luxor, so the people were much much less aggressive (at least as far as I found). While you will be asked if you want a Feluca or a taxi, a simple no will usually suffice to get them to stop. The vegetation on the islands at Aswan is simply stunning, (both Elephantine Island and more impressively Kitchner's Island). With the backdrop of the gigantic sand dunes on the West bank, Aswan is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.

2010-02-24T13:32:00.000-05:00

The Egyptian Museum is very big. I mean very very very big. It has lots of stuff, room after room of statues. Row after row of coffins. Hundres of carvings, reliefs, tools, vases and more. Seriously, I went in there at 9:30, and felt I hadn't seen everything until 2:30. Thats a long time, just looking through different rooms.

Of course they have almost the entirety of the Tomb of Tutenkamen, (except for the King himself - he's still resting something close to peacefully in his grave near Thebes. Including a 200 pound coffin made out of solid gold (wow!)

If you were to list all of the Egyptian Pharoahs by importance, King Tut wouldn't make the top ten. Or fifty. Maybe the top 100. And close to every single one of them would have wanted a splendid burial. This means that there were probably dozens of tombs that had much more and much higher quality stuff that was in Tut's. Imagine if we had found Ramses the great's entact, it would have probably had three coffins of solid gold - but we'll most likely never find another entact royal tomb - I guess we should be lucky that we have one.

2010-02-21T15:43:00.000-05:00

Today was my last half day in Aswan, I'm at the airport right now on route to Alexandria. I went to the temple of Kalabsha (which is by the airport) and then traveled directly to the airport. The temple was nice, but I think I'm getting tired of seeing the generic Greek/Egyptian temple (Edfu, Kom Ombo, Philae and now Kalabsha). Don't get me wrong, they are all quite nice, but (unlike say the temples at Abu Simbel), they are all fairly similar to one another, and also similar to the more standard temples, such as Medina Habu.

Also, I was literally the only tourist there. It was completely empty. I had to find the guards (who were cooking fish) who woke up the ticket agent so I could buy my ticket. Then of course they followed me around everywhere, becoming my unwanted tourguide, and of course wanting a little bit of bakeesh for it.

Now, I'm in the airport, (which also feels a little bit like a ghost town, they are other people, but it is in general quite quiet. I have to take a plane to Cairo and then a cab to the train station and then a train to Alexandria, I probably won't get there until 7 or 8 at night; which I'm really really not looking forward to. Alexandria I've heard is very nice, hopefully it will not have the same type of over-tourist feel that Luxor had. Anyway, I don't have much more to say about this, I'm at the airport with an hour and forty five minutes to spare, I figure that I've tempted fate one too many times with regards to intercity travel that from now on I should play it extra safe.

Ok, now I'm in Alexandria. Instead of taking a train to Alexandria, I just took a car the whole way there. It only cost me about 70 dollars, but it was going to cost a fair amount to get to the train station anyway, and considering how incredibly hectic the station in Luxor was, it's quite possible the one in a city probably 50 times as big might just be worse.

On the way here, nothing much happened, except for one turn, just after we crossed the Nile, I saw the hazy outlines of two incredibly Gigantic triangles. I can't wait to see them up close! (oh, also, I saw the two pyramids of Dahshur from the plane today!)

2010-02-20T14:39:00.000-05:00

very lazy day today. Yesterday by the end of the day I was physically exhausted and felt bad, so I decided to put aside 12 hours for sleep, (went to bed at 9 and set my alarm for 9), I actually woke up at 7 but I wasn't in a hurry to get anywhere in particular.

I got out around 10, managed to find a cab and went to the unfinished obelisk and the temples on Philae. The obelisk was nice, not too much there but it is quite big. The temple was also very good, but I've seen plenty of Greco-Egyptian temples, and they all kind of look the same.

Afterwards, I swam in the pool, and just relaxed, which felt very good. I'm going to try the Kalabsha temple tomorrow before my flight, and then its on to Alexandria.

Overall I've loved Aswan, it has been great. The people are about a billion times nicer than Luxor, you can actually walk through the Souks without being harrassed (that much). Also, the Nile here is very very beautiful. Also, I'm feeling much more comfortable here, maybe its that I'm done with the Jet Lag, maybe I'm just getting used to the culture, or maybe the people here are really much much nicer, but I feel like I'm really enjoying myself.

Well, its off to bed soon (I definitely want to make sure I can get enough sleep.)

Later!

Garrett

2010-02-20T01:47:00.000-05:00

Very Long day today. I woke up at 4am to get to the airport to get to Abu Simbel. Abu Simbel, while only two temples, was awesome. The sitting Ramseses are gigantic! Also, the insides were pretty ornate as well. This is one temple where pictures can do a decent job of doing it justice (unlike Karnak, for instance).

After getting back, I had lunch, then cruised around in a feluca for two hours, I stopped by the desert on the West Bank and roe a camel (which was really fun), and then went to the Nubian Museum, which is great. BUt now I'm exhausted, so I'm going to bed very soon.

2010-02-18T12:59:00.003-05:00

So I can finally upload photos to the web, which means I'm gonna just dump a bunch of photos, you can view at your leisure.

So, I barely got to Aswan today. At the train station, there was a line of about 25 people for firstclass tickets, and as I waited for ten minutes, I don't think that one person actually bought a ticket. So the Arab man who was standing next to me told me that I could buy at third class ticket to guarantee a ride, then buy the first class ticket on board.

So I did that, met an American couple on the platform; talked with them for a while, and when the train came, hopped on, and hoped for the best. The first man asked me for a ticket, he spoke less English than I speak Arabic, which means that neither of us had any idea what we were talking about. I talked/argued until the train started moving. Eventually, another man (who also didn't speak English) came up and said more or less the same thing, until I flashed a 50, which seemed to take care of the situation.

But as to Aswan itself, it may be the most beautiful place I've ever seen. The way that the incredible lushness of the island and shores looks against the gigantic sand dunes behind it is simply breathtaking. I took a motorboat tour around the island, and wow, it is beatiful. There are a ton of different bird species flying around and swimming in the river, it is awesome in a word.

Photodump below

2010-02-17T15:08:00.001-05:00

It appears that I have an on-again off-again guided tour strategy. Today, I took a trip down to Edfu and Kom Ombo, home of two Ptolomean Egyptian Temples, which were about a 1000 years younger than any other temple I've seen so far. Built by the Greeks who ruled over Egypt after Alexander the Great conquered Persia, both temples had very defined heiroglyphs. In addition, the temple of Horus at Edfu was almost completely entact architecturally, all the roofing was still complete. Unfortunately, we arrived there at the exact same time as the cruise boats got there; and because the temple was completely enclosed, it became very crowded. However, it had an absolutely Gigantic first pylon, which was something like 47 meters or 150 feet tall.

The next temple was the temple of Haroeris and Sobek at Kom Ombo. This is supposedly the only temple in Egypt dedicated to two different Gods, so it had two of everything, two main entrances, two entrances from the Open Court, and most importantly two Alters. This temple also has the four depictions of Cleopatra, which are some of the few known depictions of her while she was alive.

My guide was pretty good, it was certainly good to have a guide inside the temples to explain many of the heiroglyphs out. ALthough he did make a few of the mistakes common to guides (he said that Hatshetshut was the first female Pharo, she wasn't the very first), but overall he seemed pretty knowledgeable and very friendly, so it was pretty good overall. The car ride was quite long though, almost three hours back.

Anyway, tomorrow I go to Aswan, which I'm really looking forward to.

2010-02-17T15:08:00.000-05:00

2010-02-16T15:08:00.000-05:00

Today I slept in till about 10, I guess I was pretty tired. Upon getting up and out, I was harrassed by some guy for too long, finally though when he realized I wasn't going to give him any money he left.

Then I made it over to the West bank again, and hired out a taxi to take me to the places I didn't go yesterday, this was an INCREDIBLE idea, as these places are in general just as good with one tenth the tourists there. The valley of the queens had no lines at all, and the heiroglyphs were just as good (although tombs were smaller). But still, tour groups don't really go there (the big three on the West Bank are the Temple of Hapshetshut, the West Bank, and the Collossi of Memnon (see yesterday's post).

Next up was the Ramasseum, or the temple of Ramses the Great. It was very good, again it was almost empty, and while not quite as impressive as the Temple of Luxor, it was still a very very good temple.

Medina Habu, the third site I went to today, is the second largest Egyptian Temple, and its Giant heiroglyphs were pretty awesome. Again, I wish I could upload photos, maybe when I get to Aswan... Or worst case, when I get to America.

The rest of the day was spent on a Feluca ride to Banana island, which was nice, (although I got ripped off for it).

Tomorrow, I go to Edfu and Kom Obo, this should be fun and then on to Aswan. (Luxor has been nice, but its been a bit much at times, it seems like you can't walk ten feet without somebody asking you to buy something).

2010-02-15T15:30:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, I decided to go with a booked tour for the west bank of Luxor, as I think I may enjoy having the guide there and the structure. It was pretty good, but the guide didn't know that much, there wasn't too much that he told me that I didn't already know. Also, some of the other people in my tour group were kind of getting on my nerves a little bit, which of course can't be blamed on the tour company, but that is the nature of the beast.

Also, one of the stops was to see the alabastor "factory," to see how stone things are made.

Of all those things, I probably liked the Temple the most, then the Valley, then the light show, and then the Collossi.

The Temple of Hapshetshut is incredibly striking, it is very large, with a three tiered structure, it looks almost greek. ( i really wish I could upload photos.. Maybe when I get to Aswant I will).

The valley of the kings has 60 or so tombs from the new kingdom, Almost all of them are pharoes (hence the name). Unfortunately, as far as we know, all the tombs have been robbed. Most of these were done so in ancient times, probably towards the end of the New Kingdom, the last to be robbed was Tutenkhamun's, in 1922 by archeologist Howard Carter, the contents now mostly reside in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. What's great about the Valley though is the tombs, while very hard to get to, many of them are quite big and all of them have fabolous decorations of hyroglyphs inside.

The Collussi of Memnon is very impressive; it was originally the site of a giant temple, but was destroyed by repeated floods. Now, the most impressive things left are the Two Collossi guarding the entrance, each is about 50 feet tall, and they don't sing anymore.

THe light show at Karnak was fun, a little hokey but it was pretty good, it was of course impressive, mainly because it was just Karnak.

I'm also feeling much more comfortable in Egypt today than I was the last two days, I feel much better walking through the Souks and finding bargaining to be more fun and less stressful.

2010-02-14T14:17:00.013-05:00

If you're ever in Luxor, and you need something, just ask the guy for it. What guy am I talking about? Well, no matter where you are, there will be a guy there, and he can get you what you need. He'll be trying to sell you something, but don't buy what he's selling, but what you want. For instance, tell him you need a taxi, he'll get it for you.

I met a man who told me that he was the only free-mason in Egypt today

Anyway, now that that's out of the way, I can talk about my day. I went to the temple of Luxor and the temple of Karnak, and the Museum of Luxor. My favorite was probably the temple of Karnak.

The Souther Sanctuary, or the temple of Luxor as it is commonly known, is in downtown Luxor, it dominates everything, you really can't miss it.

The road to the temple is lined by sphinxes on either side. These used to go all the way to the temple of Karnak, they're trying to dig them all up, which would be really awesome if it is every completed.

Up close, the temple has two giant statues on either side, with a giant obelisk on the left. The one that used to be on the right is now in Paris.

The entrance to the temple is the most impressive thing about it, but the courtyard is still gigantic.

The temple was of course used by the ancient egyptians, but in later times it was painted over by Christians and used as a church.

Today, there is a mosque built into the temple.

The "Most Selected of Places" (known today as the temple of Karnak) was next. Its entrance isn't quite as impressive as the one at Luxor, but everything else is. The temple and everything about it is gigantic.

It too has rams lined up to its entrance. The highlight is the Hypsostle hall, filled with dozens of simply gigantic columns, each of which is detailed with hundreds of hyroglyphs.

One of the best things about the temple is the number and quality of hieroglyphs.

2010-02-13T16:32:00.001-05:00

So things sucked today.

Big time.

But thats life.

So right now I'm in what seems like (at least to me) a very empty airport in Cairo, I found a spare outlet, hooked my converter and my laptop into it. So everything that happened to me...

THe first flight (BBoston to Rome) had what seemed to be the entirty of the "Bishop Hendrick's High School" class of 2011, I think I overheard that they were going to sing for the Pope, I'm not too sure about that. Maybe you could check out the Bishop Hendrick's high school web page and find out for me. And, I didn't get a wink of sleep during the entire flight, leaving me very tired while in Rome.

Rome's international part of their airport is very confusing, you have to take a tram to the security checkpoint, and then take the same tram back to the terminal you just left. The system they have actually works, but when I did it I felt that I didn't know what the hell I was doing.

The layover in Rome was four hours, I spent it in a desperate struggle to try to stay awake as I was very concerned that if I were to sleep there, I would sleep through my connection.

I evenetually pulled out this laptop and just started writing, that seemed to work Ok at keeping me awake.

Btw, If you ever want to go on a vacation to Rome to shop, you could just go to some other place, provided you have a stop over at Rome. I swear, they have more highscale Italian boutiques than they do gates.

The flight to Cairo was actually pretty good, a man and his wife asked me to trade seats with one of them, as their three girls were sitting alone they wanted to sit next to them. Naturally, I agreed, so as I went to their seat, it turns out it was an emergency exit row! Jackpot. So I actually managed to get some sleep (probably only an hour or two, but it felt excellent.

When I got to Cairo, I had no idea what the hell to do in regards to getting my Visa. I knew that it cost 15 dollars, but I didn't know where to get it. Turns out you have to buy one at the bank and THEn go to passport control.

I was worried about customs, but that was easy. I just walked right past, my bag was waiting for me. Didn't have to declare anything. When I went to the other terminal to get to Luxor (which is where I am right now) (the terminal, not Luxor) (although as I can't post anything from here, I'll have to wait until I get to Luxor until I post this, so I probably will be in Luxor), the lady at the check-in couldn't seem to find my reservation. She told me that my only option was to go to the Flight Controller. The flight controller was a guy who, would ask one question, then would get a phone call on his office phone, as soon as he was done with that, his walkie-talkie would buzz, and he'd have to take that, and his cell phone would ring, and he would randomly get up and yell at people. Eventually, he managed to sign me in and print out my bording pass, (incredibly glad to have it). As I was leaving, I attempted to say "Shukarum Lucca" which I think means thank you in Arabic; and both he and the guy standing next to me laughed at that. No idea if that means that I did anything wrong in saying it, but at least he wasn't mad.

So, after getting some bad Pesto (bad in the sense of it was tough and not tasty, not bad in the sense of making me sick), I managed to find the gate, and am I now writing this very message that you are reading right now.

All thats left for me to do is to go to Luxor, get my bag, get a cab (this is what I'm dreading the most), get to my hotel, check in, and pass out. Its been a very long day (or two days by now), and I can't wait for it to be over, and for my actual vacation to begin.

Ok, so because I have nothing else to do besides find some way to entertain myself for the next hour, I'm going to write about the movie that I saw while Iwas on the airplace. It was "The House on hautned hill" but it was the original one, with Vincent Price. Its available to download for free from the internet because somehow it lost its copyright protection.

The movie was somewhat decent in terms of getting what you expect, I think the only reason anybody sees a Vincent price film is just to listed to Vincent price talk, and he does that enough. But there were several absolutely gigantic plotholes that I really have no choice but to expose.

(btw, spoiler alerts!) The biggest plot-hole was why the Pscyologist and the Price's wife wanted to dump Price's body in acid, after having gotten the freaked out girl to shoot him. I mean, if the whole plan was to get her to shoot him in the first place, wouldn't you want to keep suspicions as low as possible.

Also, what the hell was up with the rope scene? There was absolutley no way for the rope to grab the girl like that without any actual supernatural powers. And another thing, every supernatural type power (save two or three ones) was never actually explained.

And why did the test-pilot go into the wall at the end, and what did he find there?

Finally, the best part of the movie by far is the dancing skeleton at the end of the movie, because it looks so incredibly incredibly fake, and up to that point in the movie you could convince yourself that you were actually whatching a good movie in which everything will be explained in a great climanx; but when the skeleton starts dancing, you're in Silly Symphony territory there.

Anyway, bottom line America, watch this movie if you're bored and have nothing better to do, of ir you're a big fan of Vincent Price. In any case, it has to be better than the new one, right?

2010-02-11T20:54:00.000-05:00

In order to celebrate Black History Month I'm totally going to Africa.

2010-02-04T22:05:00.003-05:00

So psyched! I just did 10 lessons in Arabic, and it was almost like I could read those words, I was sounding out the letters, and was soon able to start reading some words, (like a native speaker will do). I think I'm slowly getting there. But I've only got a week left :(. But on the plus side, I only have one week left till vacation!!

2010-01-24T23:03:00.003-05:00

Yesterday, I played a game of Arkham Horror, or as the girl from Texas calls it, "Arkham Whore." Interesting, but I'm not sure that it really gave us the true HP Lovecraft experience. For instance, you really shouldn't be able to win the game; the great ancient evils really should pretty much destroy the world when they awaken; I mean it should take a little more than a violinist with a tommygun to destroy a horrible being from another planet that has slept on the ocean floor for millions of years. Also, the game needs to be more, well, absolutely terrifying. You need to be wary that after every turn, well, there's something there that you don't want to deal with. I'm not exactly sure how to make that game, but there's got to be a way to do it.

2010-01-18T15:21:00.002-05:00

So I think I'm finally at the point where I can almost read Arabic script. I've gotten most of the letters down (only a few that I have a little bit of trouble with).

Rosetta Stone software I think works better when you can read along (especially for the speaking parts). I've got to really start cramming though, as I have all of three (!) weekends (not counting this one) until I go to Egypt.

2010-01-07T18:22:00.002-05:00

Are you happy now Mark? I've totally destroyed the layout of this blog just so my comments are the same as everybody else's, and so you can access the archives.

2010-01-06T21:32:00.003-05:00

Where does all my time go? It's 9:30 already. Its beginning to feel like the only time I ever have free time is when I'm at work.

Ugh.

2010-01-01T19:26:00.003-05:00

So I think I've finally gotten the hang of conjugating verbs in Arabic. Its tough, for instance, in English, you have 3 "persons" and singular/plural. In Arabic, you've got 1st, 2nd, 3rd, Singular, Plural, and Dual, and you've got gender (male vs female, thankfully there's no neuter so far as I know). So that's like, 18 vs 6 for English. That I know of so far. There could be dozens, perhaps hundreds more that I'm not yet aware of.

2009-12-05T22:55:00.001-05:00

Today's Riddle of the Day:

Who was the title character in the movie "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance?"

Was it Liberty Valance, or was it the man who shot him?

2009-11-17T17:42:00.004-05:00

The inspiration for yesterday's riddle of the day:

2009-11-16T21:43:00.003-05:00

Today's riddle of the day...

There are, in a crypt, two doors. One leads to immeasurable treasure, one leads to instant death. You do not know which is which.

Outside these two doors, there is a coffin with a skeleton inside. He can only answer questions in a yes/no fashion, knocking once or twice. The problem is you don't know whether one knock means yes or no. The skeleton is incapable of lying, and will always answer the question if he is able to do so.

He can only answer one question, before he dies completely, and becomes inanimate. How can you determine which door the treasure is behind by only asking the skeleton one question.

(ok, logical formalities: The skeleton knows which door the treasure is behind. The skeleton cannot answer a question or command which is not asked in a yes/no format).

2009-11-07T11:49:00.002-05:00

So, the large hadron collider was foiled again, this time by a bird.

How many times does something like this have to happen before we start taking seriously the idea that the universe is sending back particles in time to prevent the LHC from activating?

2009-10-28T19:51:00.003-04:00

Presented to you, for absolutely no reason whatsoever, is Lauren Bacall's Twitter Feed!

2009-10-19T06:28:00.000-04:00

October 18 is way too early for snow.

Seriously.

2009-10-15T07:41:00.004-04:00

I was at the store the other day, buying clothes for work. And I saw his purple shirt that I thought looked good - so I bought it and wore it yesterday.

I had like twelve people (okay, that might be a slight exaggeration) comment on my shirt, including one good friend say that she thought it was making me happy (or was evidence that i was happy or something), and this was my friend who's into fashion!

Anyway, moral of the story, buy a purple shirt.

2009-10-10T18:40:00.002-04:00

I hit my first runners high today. After about 5 miles or so, I just went into tunnel vision, and started running about as fast as I could (not sprinting, but a notch below that), and ran at that speed for a mile and a half or so.

Usually, after running, I feel like I've had my ass kicked. Today, I felt like I kicked ass.

2009-10-04T22:56:00.002-04:00

I took a somewhat unusual move the other day, and decided to buy the "Rosetta Stone" software for Arabic (which, for some reason, I always want to call, "Pandora's Box").

It's pretty simple, they just show you pictures, and you have to either choose the right picture for a caption, or the right caption for a picture, or finish a sentence relating to the picture or something.

So for instance, they will show you a picture of an apple, and call it ach-maroo (which, as there is absolutely no translation in Rosetta Stone, I have no idea is spelled correctly), and then show you a picture of a coke can and call it ach-maroo, and then show you a school bus, a firetruck, and a blade of grass, and ask you which is ach-maroo.

Anyway, I've only being doing it for like two weeks, and have only a few issues with it. The first one is that I think that it spends too much time with Grammar, and not enough with Vocabulary, as it is very hard to learn the grammar involved with something if it is not perfectly clear what all the key words are.

Anyway, I'll give you guys a better estimate of whether or not it actually works after a little more time has passed.

2009-09-09T18:02:00.001-04:00

Congratulations Dad!

2009-08-30T21:48:00.003-04:00

You know your weekend really sucked when you find yourself waiting for Monday...

So it feels like my life has been flying apart - through (not much) fault of my own.

On the bright side of things, I've met a girl! Hooraay girls!

2009-08-05T20:02:00.002-04:00

It's been years since I have been randomly approached by somebody saying "Garrett!! Remember me!" Seriously, i don't know when the last time that happened.

Until yesterday, when it happened to me TWICE!!!

2009-07-18T16:36:00.002-04:00

like so often in life, I'm feeling scared and helpless. I wish there was something I could do...

2009-06-28T22:39:00.001-04:00

Happy 26 for me!!

The first thing that congratulated me on my birthday was an automated e-mail from a dating website. Now, over the course of the day, various family members called, and I went out with friends, so I had a good day and everything, but for a while it was kind of depressing.

Also, I ran 6.5 miles today. I think I'm really kicking ass here!

2009-06-20T01:05:00.003-04:00

For the past three weekends, I've spent at least time (dinner or lunch usually) with this friend I've recently made.

I feel like I connect with her intellectually in a way that I don't with almost anybody else. A lot of times when I'm with friends, there will be a time when I start to get bored. This has yet to happen with her, I've probably seen her 10 or 11 times now, and each time I can't help but think the evening (or day, or whatever), ended too soon.

She's quite physically attractive, and I admire her integrity.

The thing is twofold, - when I first met her, she told me that she wanted to keep the relationship platonic. The second thing is that, (for lack of a better term), I don't feel like I'm in a crush with her. It just feels different - can't really explain it.

The question isn't if I should force it- (or, to phrase it more generously, take a chance)- at this point, that's dumb. Until she tells me otherwise I'm going to respect her decision, because the status quo right now is "making a really good friend," which is totally awesome and probably more of what I need right now than a girlfriend.

The question is: am I actually attracted to this girl romantically, or am I just thinking about "more" purely because she's an attractive female? Or is this a distinction without a difference?

2009-06-14T20:15:00.002-04:00

I entered into a bowling league that was six games long. For the first couple of weeks, we absolutely crushed, going 5-0, with the highest average score, and topping out at over 1500.

Today was the championship game. And we lost... Our best player was in Toronto, and, for whatever reason, the pins weren't falling our way. Our player who had wild swings had an off day, he's put up scores 100 points higher than he had today.

So it was tough, to come so far but falter at the finish line. I had a good time (and two of my better games, going 136 and 139).

2009-05-31T20:16:00.002-04:00

There are many things in the universe that I do not know...

For instance, New York has a State Park that is the size of Vermont? Also, New Zealand has an officially recognized wizard.

2009-05-27T20:49:00.000-04:00

Is it possible to be allergic to Benadryl?

2009-05-20T21:29:00.002-04:00

I cleaned by shower today, the grout was full of years and years worth of rust, so I took some CLR and a sponge (and a toothbrush!) and cleaned the whole thing top to bottom. Now my apartment is slightly less dirty!! :)

2009-05-04T21:52:00.002-04:00

This is perhaps the most difficult flash game of all time. I've heard it is possible to beat it though...

2009-04-26T20:30:00.003-04:00

Here is something I made yesterday...

Its an income distribution chart of the whole world, the height of the chart represents the per capita income of the country, the length is the number of people.

2009-04-25T23:17:00.003-04:00

Just about the most awesome thing that has ever happened to me...

I was playing in the park with my four year old niece, as my brother was going to the airport to pick up my parents.

So my niece says to me, "Garrett, I know a song about a horsie, do you want to hear it?"

I of course said yes, expecting it to be something like "old McDonald had a farm." She started singing this song.

2009-04-15T22:58:00.002-04:00

Steve Ditko has written a long, incoherent, rambling, essay about Marvel comics, objectivism, the World Trade Center attacks, and childhood education.

Needless to say, I think it would have been much better if Stan Lee wrote it, and Steve Ditko illustrated it.

2009-04-10T22:26:00.002-04:00

I kinda feel that I've been- ya know- so to rectify that I joined a bowling league - we'll be meeting on sundays coming up in a couple of weeks - apparently, I get a T-shirt - I had to register the size of the T-shirts that I wear. Maybe there is no bowling league - its all just a T-shirt market research scam. Those bastards!

2009-04-08T21:25:00.002-04:00

Videos of Dave Csinsi being Dave Csinsi. Which means they're videos of Dave Csinsi being awesome!

2009-04-07T19:48:00.001-04:00

This morning, I woke up to the new Silversun Pickups song, "Panic Switch"

Today, as I sat down, I wanted to listen to that song again. So I turned on the radio, and it was playing. Weird

2009-04-05T19:43:00.001-04:00

I just bought a head-light for bike. Its one of those LED's, and it has two settings, constant, and blinking. And I really have no idea which one is better. So I ask you, the readers of my blog, both of which have more experience w/ bikes than I do, what setting should I keep it on at night, constant, or blinking?

2009-04-04T23:33:00.002-04:00

My younger brother had a dream the other day.

He and I were at a swimming pool, and some teenage kid was messing with me. So I threw him in the pool. This brought out the manager, who told us we had to leave.

So I grabbed the cigarette from his mouth, and I said "I'm gonna fucking stuff you with this"

Bottom line America: Don't fuck with me!

2009-03-30T23:07:00.002-04:00

Do you know what the most fun alignment to play in DnD is? The answer: lawful good; especially if you treat lawful good as being "better than everybody else;" extra especially if you have another member of your party who is chaotic neutral/neutral evil.

2009-03-22T22:44:00.002-04:00

If Buddhists were to have an eight day long holiday where they give gifts to one another, I think a good name for this holiday would be "Nirvanukkah"

2009-03-18T21:18:00.003-04:00

The most unusual complement I've received recently...

A friend of mine told me that she thinks I would make a very good community organizer.

2009-03-15T13:23:00.002-04:00

My new years resolution was that I would start running, once the weather got nice. Well, today it was nice, so I decided to force myself to run.

I only ran about 14 blocks, but afterwards, I felt like I was going to throw up for about a half hour.

2009-03-14T20:22:00.004-04:00

So I went and saw Watchmen (the movie) today, and here is my review:

Watchmen, based on the Graphic novel of the same name by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, is the story of a group of superheros in an alternate history 1985. It opens as one of them, the Comedian, is murdered in his New York apartment. Another superhero, Rorschach, investigates, leading him to believe that somebody is trying to kill all superheros.

I'm not going to try to explain and summarize the whole plot, as others have done that much better than I could, and the plot is both really really complicated and not that important. What is much more important is the portrayal of the characters, and of the world itself.

On this front, the movie succeeds. Even though each hero is obviously not both athletically fit to the point of being superhuman (any one of them could easily be and an Olympic level athlete), but quite intelligent as well, they all have giant flaws. Nite Owl is an impotent retiree who, not being a superhero anymore, doesn't seem to have much meaning in his life. The Silk Spectre was pushed into the superhero life, never wanted it for herself, her boyfriend, Dr. Manhattan, is the only one with actual superpowers, (he has the ability to bend matter to his will), but he is barely human anymore, just going through the motions. Rorschach is borderline insane, and the Comedian was a misanthropic killer, viewing the whole world as one giant joke.

Everything I've said so far could be written about the book. The movie keeps incredibly close to the source material, where, for the first 10 minutes or so, I recognized almost every line. This didn't work, many of the lines that worked in the book weren't the best fit for the movie.

The opening sequence was done especially well, managing to reduce a giant back-story to five minutes of photos, which I think would give a newcomer to the story a good idea of what was going on.

What really didn't work about the movie is that it stayed so true to the book, that it just wasn't necessary. Some of the fight scenes were pretty good, but really, those were just about the only thing that you got from the movie but not from the book.

That being said, it was enjoyable, and didn't seem like 2 hours, 40 minutes. Worthwhile to see, but read the book first.

2009-03-12T20:40:00.002-04:00

I think the worst kind of rejection is the "lets just be friends." If they didn't like you because of whatever reason, or you didn't get along, well then, thats one thing. there's an issue. But if they "want to be friends," well, then, they think you're a good enough person to hang around with, there's nothing really objectionable about you, there's just a standard, and you don't quite meet it.

2009-03-11T21:18:00.003-04:00

So I decided, that I would actually use this blog for something, and the first thing that came to mind was movie reviews, as I see a few reviews. So I'm gonna try to start now! (it is entirely possible that I may have already somewhere on this blog tried to do this, but whatever).

Our first movie is Satyricon, directed by famed Italian directed Federico Fellini, based on the Novel of the same name by Petronius.

To summarize the plot would be nearly impossible, perhaps the best one can do is say that a Roman commoner travels around and has adventures, frequently involving sex. As the film more or less follows the book, and as whole chunks of the book are missing, the movie tends to jump around a lot.

If there was one overarching story, or development, or growth of a character, than I missed it; the strength of the film was how the individual scenes were incredibly powerful in their depictions.

The best of these was the dinner party at Trimalchio. In it, Trimalchio (an incredibly rich former slave) entertains dozens (perhaps a hundred) people with extravagant food and exotic dances. It's obvious that the host has no actual human relationships, and that throwing parties where sycophantic guests praise him merely to get some small piece of his wealth, is the closest he can get to real human contact. The party ends with a mock funeral for Trimalchio, which is perhaps the most striking in the film. Trimalchio pretends to die, and then all of his guests pretend to mourn for him, and he rewards some of them with gold. This is what Trimalchio had to do to feel good about himself, pretend to die in order to hear how much people would miss him. Pathetic.

This is contrasted by a pair of last wills from a poet named Eumolpus. The first is when he thinks he is going to die, and leaves to his friend Encolpius (who despite not having been mentioned yet, is in fact the main character). The poet has nothing, so he leaves Encolpius with the stars, and the sky, and the sea, and the earth.

The movie ends with Eumolpus' actual death, after attaining great riches. In this will, he leaves his fortune to a group of men, provided that they devour his flesh, just as they sent his soul to hell. The film's final shot is this group of people cannibalizing their "friend" in order to receive their inheritance. While it is not said, clearly the first inheritance, which was nothing (the stars, the sky, etc), was worth much more than horrible second one.

Perhaps the rest of the movie is as good as those scenes, its entirely possible (likely) that I'm missing a lot, however, having watched it once, the movie has left me with no desire to watch it again. If the movie had a more coherent narrative to draw the viewer in, or some reason other than sheer determination for the viewer to continue, it would be much easier for one to catch all the good stuff. But I suppose that if the movie had a more coherent narrative, it would have been a different movie.

2009-03-10T19:11:00.002-04:00

You should totally take the Robot Quiz

I got 16 out of 25. Which is like a 64. But if you take the square root of it, its an 80!

2009-03-07T11:07:00.003-05:00

This is perhaps the greatest thing I have ever seen.

2009-03-01T20:04:00.003-05:00

7 Things I dislike about Watchmen:

First off all, this list contains spoilers, so if you haven't read Watchmen, you just shouldn't read this list. Even if you're not planning to read it, just don't read this list...

1: The comic-within-the-comic was, in my opinion, better than the comic itself.

2: Both heroines mentioned in the original minutemen, the Silk Spectre, and the Silhouette, both have names beginning with the letters "Sil" making them very easily confused.

3: The (implied) reverse gambler's fallacy discussion between Dr. Manhattan and Laurie on Mars regrading miracles so obviously inconsistent with Dr. Manhattan's worldview (he could just as easily be mystified in regarding the position of each individual atom in a grain of sand as in observing the whole of humanity. In short, he rejected humanity, and we're led to believe that he came to accept it again due to a belief that humanity was special in a quantum/thermodynamic sense. While I don't actually reject this, the actual argument made in the book was, in my opinion, flat out wrong.

4: We never find out what really happened to hooded justice. Or really, anything about him, even though he's in some ways the most pivotal character in the book.

5: The book does not give an adequate conclusion to the story - the liberal utopia created at the end of the story is neither given a satisfactory label (good/bad) by the author, nor is it presented in enough detail for the reader to make his own conclusions. It merely implies that the cold war is over, and that horrible social structure of the world at large seems to improve. (From Nostalgia to Millennium). (FOR REAL, SPOILER ALERT: DON'T READ THIS NEXT SENTENCE). In a sentence, the question that it tries to pose is "is the murder of several million people offset by the creation of the new liberal society?" yet it does not give enough detail about the new society to examine said question.

6: It is an inherently political book; yet does not give an appropriate perspective to view itself. In doing so, it fails to give the reader any ability to determine if (parts of) the book is a parody and satire of liberal though, or is a genuine example of a perverted liberal thought process. (I suppose that I need to explain what I'm talking about here. The book favorably compares Kennedy to Nixon, (fair enough), and Nixon is presented as somewhat of a dictator in the book, serving what I think is his fourth of fifth term. However, Nixon isn't presented as particularly evil, almost as if it is implied that Nixon is evil simply for being Nixon, (in fact, in the DefCon 2 scene, Nixon is the most levelheaded and rational of his staff). Meanwhile, Kennedy is portrayed as he is, well, pretty much everywhere, "what would the world be like if this young man wasn't killed before he could save the world." Again, you can disagree with these things, but nothing too controversial with it. The kicker is at the end of the book, after the cold war is over, when the world is now in what I've been calling the "Liberal Utopia" it is revealed that Robert Redford is running for President. Now, while I've got nothing against Robert Redford, well, he really has no qualifications to be president, he was just the prettiest face in 1986. This is aesthetics as morality, the belief that, one day, when everything is right, our country will be run by the best looking person. This can easily be transposed onto Kennedy, is he adored merely because of his aesthetic appeal? What's missing is the point, is Watchmen intentionally ironic in doing this?) Some of course, would argue that this is the point.

7: (Again, with the morality, I know, I know.) At one point, the book mentioned that, after America won the Vietnam war, the pro-American forces went on to massacre the anti-American population. In doing so, it implicitly equated communism with capitalism. That is, it states the fact that the worst consequence of the loss of the Vietnam war (the boat people, re-education camps, etc) would have happened either way. In doing so, the book takes the stand that the cold war was a war over nothing- merely what color the flags in southeast Asia are. It treats morality as merely a matter of aesthetics. (to give it credit, its not being weaselly about it this time).

Of course, all that being said, its a great book, you should read it.

2009-02-25T21:04:00.001-05:00

A long time ago, I started to write a science fiction novel. By far the best line in it is a footnote, explaining: "At the time this part of the book was written, Pluto was still a planet"

(which is of course not to say that this was a good line, but rather that it is better than all the others in the novel so far).

2009-02-23T18:12:00.002-05:00

So I spent a fair deal of my free time for the past week trying to get my nintendo wii to display on my new monitor. The only way I can get it to do that (so far) is to convert the component signal to RF and then feed it through the tv tuner card, then "watching" channel 3 on the media center. So basically, doing the exact same thing I did with my NES, back when I first got my NES, in like, 1989.

The only problem is that the TV tuner card has a 2 second lag, in order to "pause and record live TV." Which makes anything this side of a turn based rpg absolutely unplayable, and even a turn-based rpg infuriating to play (imagine pressing a button, waiting two seconds, then pressing the next button, etc.)

On the bright side, I did the same thing to my laserdisc player, which makes it better, because now I can pause, rewind, etc my laserdiscs! Hooray!!

2009-02-14T00:19:00.002-05:00

Sometimes, it seems to me that God is in heaven, and he has a plan for the whole universe, and that this plan includes me...

So God, thank You, for in Your mysterious ways, You guide me, You help me, and You comfort me, and You make me believe that my life is going somewhere. Thank You.

2009-02-11T22:23:00.002-05:00

This is the third time I've tried to write this post, and have decided that i should hold off on writing it until a later time.

To summarize it in one paragraph, I'm once again confused by a girl, which I suppose is a good thing, because the only time I'm not confused by a girl is when one flat-out rejects me.