ob·strep·er·ous adj.
- Noisily and stubbornly defiant.
- Aggressively boisterous.
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Word of the Day
I came across this word while reading a news article about reckless youths loitering in front of stores. Some of you may find it useful.
ob·strep·er·ous adj.
ob·strep·er·ous adj.
Life Has Become A Never-Ending Project
Geez Louise, it's been 11 days since my last entry. That happens to coincide, more or less, with my loss of internet access at home. I'd use that as an excuse for my lack of posting, but since I rarely ever post from home, I guess I can't.
It's been a busy week-plus. I managed to pack pretty much everything I own before the movers got there last Friday. It wasn't the packing that took forever, it was the sorting. We decided it would be wise to keep similar things together to keep the box labeling simple and to make finding stuff at the new place easier. I'm already glad we did that, but it made for a few late nights at the old apartment.
We're in the new house now, and all is well. We did have an incident of sorts on Saturday night. We were awakened at 2:30 AM to the sounds of our neighbor's daughter screaming bloody murder. That's how we discovered how easily sound can go from one house to another (we're in a row house). We still don't know what was going on next door. My guess is that she was on something or drunk and just went to a weird place in her head. Since the bars close at 2, the timing would support that theory. Anyway, there was a lot of yelling between the mom and her daughter, and ultimately a guy in an SUV came and drove the two of them off somewhere. We saw the mom the next morning, and she welcomed us to the neighborhood and we talked to her a little bit about when trash pickup is and what recyclables get picked up what week. There was nothing said about the previous night. Let's hope it was a one-time thing. The screaming, not the friendly conversation.
So now we have to unpack all of our stuff. On top of that, I have to sort through all of the stuff I didn't get a chance to sort through at the apartment to determine what to throw away. A good portion of the boxes that got moved say "[category of thing, like school notebooks] to be sorted". That's my project. Throwing away most of the stuff I've held onto for the past couple of decades. I figure I can throw away my college notes, which take up an entire box by themselves. I kept that stuff before the Internet came along and made it easy to find that kind of info about 18th century European history and such. It was also pre-History Channel.
I might also have to throw away most of the artwork I did as a kid. Most of it is probably uninspired anyway. If I find the "Know Your Cats" picture I drew, however, that's getting saved. Among other things, it includes a tomcat and a bobcat saying "Hi Tom", "Hi Bob" to each other. Comedy gold!
I'm going to be without internet access at home until December 7. I switched to DSL from cable modem because Comcast pissed me off one or two too many times, and I decided to stick it to 'em. I would have switched to DirecTV too, if it wasn't for the fact that rain tends to break up the satellite signal. So I've got DSL, but for some reason, the service takes a while to get set up. So, while I may have Verizon dial-up service while I wait (I need to look through the DSL package I just got to confirm that), I won't have real internet service for another week. That will cut down on the distractions from my past purging project. Try saying that fast a few times. Peter picked a peck of pickles pondering his past purging project.
Also on the docket: Getting a Christmas tree. M and I have different upbringings on that subject. She always had a real tree with white lights. I always had a fake tree with multi-colored lights. I refused to budge on the lights thing, because I think just having white lights is far too sterile of a Christmas environment, but I relented on the nature of the tree. So we're picking out a tree from a friend's lot this weekend. We've already gotten the multi-colored lights. They have different blink-pattern settings, so I expect them to be super-sweet-cool.
Also: Finding and buying an entertainment console for the TV, DVD, CD and VCR. I had been using my Grandma's entertainment center that she had in Florida when she was still among us. It was big and bulky, but it got the job done. M thought it was hideous, so we had the movers move it directly to the dumpster. Now we have to get a new one. Most of the ones we've seen have the shelves for the various players positioned at the bottom of the unit, mere inches from the floor. First of all, I'm not as young and flexible as I used to be. Getting down onto the floor and having to get back up is somewhat inconvenient. Also, we may have a kid in the next few years, and I'd rather that my DVD player not be easily reached by someone far too young to know what does and does not go into a DVD player. But a shelf unit would off-center the whole TV-and-speakers setup. I suppose there are worse things to worry about. Just ask the people in Sudan.
So that's my life right now. Hopefully by the time Christmas rolls around, everything will be done, and I can go about enjoying our new place.
It's been a busy week-plus. I managed to pack pretty much everything I own before the movers got there last Friday. It wasn't the packing that took forever, it was the sorting. We decided it would be wise to keep similar things together to keep the box labeling simple and to make finding stuff at the new place easier. I'm already glad we did that, but it made for a few late nights at the old apartment.
We're in the new house now, and all is well. We did have an incident of sorts on Saturday night. We were awakened at 2:30 AM to the sounds of our neighbor's daughter screaming bloody murder. That's how we discovered how easily sound can go from one house to another (we're in a row house). We still don't know what was going on next door. My guess is that she was on something or drunk and just went to a weird place in her head. Since the bars close at 2, the timing would support that theory. Anyway, there was a lot of yelling between the mom and her daughter, and ultimately a guy in an SUV came and drove the two of them off somewhere. We saw the mom the next morning, and she welcomed us to the neighborhood and we talked to her a little bit about when trash pickup is and what recyclables get picked up what week. There was nothing said about the previous night. Let's hope it was a one-time thing. The screaming, not the friendly conversation.
So now we have to unpack all of our stuff. On top of that, I have to sort through all of the stuff I didn't get a chance to sort through at the apartment to determine what to throw away. A good portion of the boxes that got moved say "[category of thing, like school notebooks] to be sorted". That's my project. Throwing away most of the stuff I've held onto for the past couple of decades. I figure I can throw away my college notes, which take up an entire box by themselves. I kept that stuff before the Internet came along and made it easy to find that kind of info about 18th century European history and such. It was also pre-History Channel.
I might also have to throw away most of the artwork I did as a kid. Most of it is probably uninspired anyway. If I find the "Know Your Cats" picture I drew, however, that's getting saved. Among other things, it includes a tomcat and a bobcat saying "Hi Tom", "Hi Bob" to each other. Comedy gold!
I'm going to be without internet access at home until December 7. I switched to DSL from cable modem because Comcast pissed me off one or two too many times, and I decided to stick it to 'em. I would have switched to DirecTV too, if it wasn't for the fact that rain tends to break up the satellite signal. So I've got DSL, but for some reason, the service takes a while to get set up. So, while I may have Verizon dial-up service while I wait (I need to look through the DSL package I just got to confirm that), I won't have real internet service for another week. That will cut down on the distractions from my past purging project. Try saying that fast a few times. Peter picked a peck of pickles pondering his past purging project.
Also on the docket: Getting a Christmas tree. M and I have different upbringings on that subject. She always had a real tree with white lights. I always had a fake tree with multi-colored lights. I refused to budge on the lights thing, because I think just having white lights is far too sterile of a Christmas environment, but I relented on the nature of the tree. So we're picking out a tree from a friend's lot this weekend. We've already gotten the multi-colored lights. They have different blink-pattern settings, so I expect them to be super-sweet-cool.
Also: Finding and buying an entertainment console for the TV, DVD, CD and VCR. I had been using my Grandma's entertainment center that she had in Florida when she was still among us. It was big and bulky, but it got the job done. M thought it was hideous, so we had the movers move it directly to the dumpster. Now we have to get a new one. Most of the ones we've seen have the shelves for the various players positioned at the bottom of the unit, mere inches from the floor. First of all, I'm not as young and flexible as I used to be. Getting down onto the floor and having to get back up is somewhat inconvenient. Also, we may have a kid in the next few years, and I'd rather that my DVD player not be easily reached by someone far too young to know what does and does not go into a DVD player. But a shelf unit would off-center the whole TV-and-speakers setup. I suppose there are worse things to worry about. Just ask the people in Sudan.
So that's my life right now. Hopefully by the time Christmas rolls around, everything will be done, and I can go about enjoying our new place.
Friday, November 18, 2005
Did I Sleep For An Entire Week?
Since my commute is so long, I often have to switch over to a different radio station once I've gone too far west for the JACK-FM station to come in. So today I switched over to my western radio station to find that they've begun to play nothing but Christmas music.
Bwahuh? It's November 18. I thought that, store decorations and commercials aside, the Christmas season isn't supposed to be observed until Thanksgiving is over. What are they doing starting the Christmas music marathon so early?
On the plus side, the first song I heard was Bruce Springsteen's "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town". If you have to listen to Christmas music, that's a good start. Following it up with Bing Crosby? That's a bit much. I switched to a CD at that point.
Bwahuh? It's November 18. I thought that, store decorations and commercials aside, the Christmas season isn't supposed to be observed until Thanksgiving is over. What are they doing starting the Christmas music marathon so early?
On the plus side, the first song I heard was Bruce Springsteen's "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town". If you have to listen to Christmas music, that's a good start. Following it up with Bing Crosby? That's a bit much. I switched to a CD at that point.
Thursday, November 17, 2005
Don't Like The Weather? Wait A Minute
As I was pulling into work yesterday, I noticed that the Outside Temperature readout on my car's dashboard said it was 70 degrees outside.
Then the rainstorms came later in the day.
This morning, at the same time of day, the temperature readout said 35 degrees. That's a 50% savings on Fahrenheits!
Then the rainstorms came later in the day.
This morning, at the same time of day, the temperature readout said 35 degrees. That's a 50% savings on Fahrenheits!
FM Sanitized for Your Protection
I was listening to the local JACK-FM station this morning when they played Aerosmith's opus, "Janey Got A Gun". I was a bit surprised to hear the line "She had to let him down easy and put a bullet in his brain" changed to "She had to let him down easy and leave him in the pouring rain".
First, kudos on a seamless edit to whoever did that edit. They pulled the "rain" line from earlier in the song and stuck it in there, and it fit in nicely. Still, I had to wonder if it was that offensive of a line.
A few nights ago, the same station played "Money For Nothing" and took out the entire verse regarding the fellow who enjoyed the company of other men and is a millionaire. I could see the changes in the PC climate in the past 20 years making that... not necessary, but understandable.
I guess it's nothing new. Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl" has alternated between "Making love in the green grass behind the stad-i-yum with you" and "[obvious edit from earlier in the song] A-laughin' and a runnin' hey hey [/obvious edit from earlier in the song] behind the stad-i-yum with you" for years. It actually took me a while to find an unedited version of the song when I was putting together the wedding CD.
I'm not complaining about any of this, really. I just find it interesting.
First, kudos on a seamless edit to whoever did that edit. They pulled the "rain" line from earlier in the song and stuck it in there, and it fit in nicely. Still, I had to wonder if it was that offensive of a line.
A few nights ago, the same station played "Money For Nothing" and took out the entire verse regarding the fellow who enjoyed the company of other men and is a millionaire. I could see the changes in the PC climate in the past 20 years making that... not necessary, but understandable.
I guess it's nothing new. Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl" has alternated between "Making love in the green grass behind the stad-i-yum with you" and "[obvious edit from earlier in the song] A-laughin' and a runnin' hey hey [/obvious edit from earlier in the song] behind the stad-i-yum with you" for years. It actually took me a while to find an unedited version of the song when I was putting together the wedding CD.
I'm not complaining about any of this, really. I just find it interesting.
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Last Caravan Out of The City
After weeks of sporadic packing, during which, among other things, two entire copies of the Sunday newspaper gave their lives to protect the dishes, the actual moving day finally arrived last Saturday.
There was an underlying anxiety regarding whether or not the movers would actually show up, since it had been a while since M had spoken to anybody there. That fear was eventually alleviated when the guy driving the truck called to get directions.
The movers proved to be very friendly and, more importantly, very careful. They even went so far as to wrap the railing/banister in the building's hallway so that neither it nor the furniture would get scratched up from their co-mingling during the furniture's transit.
The move-out process took about 3 hours, the move-in process about 2. The movers were extremely pleased to find out that the sofa and the big-screen TV were going no further than the ground-floor living room at the new house. They'll be less pleased in a few weeks (assuming we get the same movers, and we probably will) when they find out that my 30-inch tall sofa will be going through the 29.5-inch wide back doorway.
We bought the movers lunch, since they did such a good job. Chik-Fil-A ended up shorting us a box of chicken strips that one of the movers had ordered, so I went all the way back to get it. We liked their work that much.
Now begins the less-than-sporadic packing of my stuff. Only 10 days left, and we're just starting. I don't expect to see much of my computer or my DVD player over the next two weeks.
Which reminds me: I'm putting together some print-quality pictures of the wedding to put on Ofoto or some such. That's not getting done for a while now. I missed my chance to get that finished before the packing started.
There was an underlying anxiety regarding whether or not the movers would actually show up, since it had been a while since M had spoken to anybody there. That fear was eventually alleviated when the guy driving the truck called to get directions.
The movers proved to be very friendly and, more importantly, very careful. They even went so far as to wrap the railing/banister in the building's hallway so that neither it nor the furniture would get scratched up from their co-mingling during the furniture's transit.
The move-out process took about 3 hours, the move-in process about 2. The movers were extremely pleased to find out that the sofa and the big-screen TV were going no further than the ground-floor living room at the new house. They'll be less pleased in a few weeks (assuming we get the same movers, and we probably will) when they find out that my 30-inch tall sofa will be going through the 29.5-inch wide back doorway.
We bought the movers lunch, since they did such a good job. Chik-Fil-A ended up shorting us a box of chicken strips that one of the movers had ordered, so I went all the way back to get it. We liked their work that much.
Now begins the less-than-sporadic packing of my stuff. Only 10 days left, and we're just starting. I don't expect to see much of my computer or my DVD player over the next two weeks.
Which reminds me: I'm putting together some print-quality pictures of the wedding to put on Ofoto or some such. That's not getting done for a while now. I missed my chance to get that finished before the packing started.
Friday, November 11, 2005
Change in The Webcomics Links
It's occurred to me that nobody in my audience (that I know of) comes even close to being categorized as a hardcore computer game player. And yet, I've been providing links to webcomics that would appeal pretty much exclusively to such a category of reader. So I chucked the ones that pretty much stick to gaming topics, and I left the ones that either mix in a lot of non-gaming plotlines (PvP) or have never come within a mile of anything related to computer gaming (Scary Go Round).
Speaking of Scary Go Round, I think you guys would like it, if you aren't already reading it. It's pretty much serialized, so you may need to go back a few days/weeks worth of comics to get the context of the most recent comic. But I think it's worth it. I've read the entire 3.5-year run in the archives. Clever British humor abounds!
I've also added Jonny Crossbones. It's an adventure comic that I'm pretty sure would appeal to a certain 9 year old I know that lives near Lake Michigan. The rest of you might like it too. It claims to update every Tuesday and Thursday (3 panels at a time, I'm figuring). Since I just discovered it today, I don't know how faithful the cartoonist is to that schedule.
I'm considering including links to some Flash cartoons/animations that I watch every once in a while. Since M recently wondered aloud why I keep watching them, I'm starting to wonder if I'd be the only one interested in permanant links to them, however. If nothing else, I'll post them in a future blog.
Speaking of Scary Go Round, I think you guys would like it, if you aren't already reading it. It's pretty much serialized, so you may need to go back a few days/weeks worth of comics to get the context of the most recent comic. But I think it's worth it. I've read the entire 3.5-year run in the archives. Clever British humor abounds!
I've also added Jonny Crossbones. It's an adventure comic that I'm pretty sure would appeal to a certain 9 year old I know that lives near Lake Michigan. The rest of you might like it too. It claims to update every Tuesday and Thursday (3 panels at a time, I'm figuring). Since I just discovered it today, I don't know how faithful the cartoonist is to that schedule.
I'm considering including links to some Flash cartoons/animations that I watch every once in a while. Since M recently wondered aloud why I keep watching them, I'm starting to wonder if I'd be the only one interested in permanant links to them, however. If nothing else, I'll post them in a future blog.
End of An Era
We're moving M's stuff out of her apartment tomorrow. That place was the site of many milestones in our relationship. First kiss, first "I love you", I proposed to her there, we spent our wedding night there. Lots of stuff.
But you just gotta let go of the material things and move on sometimes. Besides, the exact location of many of these milestones (her living room couch) is going to the new house with us.
We're very glad that we don't have to do any of the actual moving ourselves. We lack the strength and endurance to get that big-screen TV through the entrance hall and down the stairs.
But you just gotta let go of the material things and move on sometimes. Besides, the exact location of many of these milestones (her living room couch) is going to the new house with us.
We're very glad that we don't have to do any of the actual moving ourselves. We lack the strength and endurance to get that big-screen TV through the entrance hall and down the stairs.
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
I'm A Sucker for Lists
While making my daily visit to Chicken Butt, I saw that my esteemed colleague had put up a list of comedic movies. From there, I was led to Whatever, which had the source list, attributed to a book, The Rough Guide to Comedy Movies by Bob McCabe , which has listed these movies as being canonical in that genre.
The Whatever site invited others to copy and paste the list onto their own blog, with notations of what movies from the list they've seen. Sounds like my cup o' tea, so here goes. Bold movies are ones I've seen, asterisked movies are ones I also own, bold and italicized movies are ones I've seen partially.
Airplane!
All About Eve
Amelie*
Annie Hall
The Apartment
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
Blazing Saddles
Bringing Up Baby
Broadcast News
Caddyshack
Le diner de con
Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb*
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
Duck Soup
Ferris Bueller's Day Off*
Four Weddings and a Funeral
The General
Ghostbusters
The Gold Rush
Good Morning Vietnam
The Graduate
Groundhog Day
A Hard Day's Night
His Girl Friday
Kind Hearts and Coronets
The Lady Killers [1950's Alec Guiness version]
Local Hero
Manhattan
M*A*S*H
Monty Python's Life of Brian
National Lampoon's Animal House*
The Odd Couple
The Producers
Raising Arizona
Roxanne
Rushmore
Shaun of the Dead
A Shot in the Dark
Some Like it Hot
Strictly Ballroom
Sullivan's Travels
There's Something About Mary
This is Spinal Tap*
To Be or Not to Be [1941 Jack Benny version]
Tootsie
Toy Story
Les vacances de M. Hulot
When Harry Met Sally...
Withnail and I
I also noticed that the author of the Whatever blog, John Scalzi, had done a Rough Guide of his own, The Rough Guide to Sci-Fi Movies, with it's own list of canonical movies in that genre.
So, here is that list with the same notations.
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension!
Akira
Alien
Aliens*
Alphaville
Back to the Future*
Blade Runner
Brazil
Bride of Frankenstein
Brother From Another Planet
A Clockwork Orange
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Contact*
The Damned
Destination Moon
The Day The Earth Stood Still*
Delicatessen
Escape From New York
ET: The Extraterrestrial*
Flash Gordon: Space Soldiers (serial)
The Fly (1986 version)
Forbidden Planet
Ghost in the Shell
Gojira/Godzilla
The Incredibles*
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956 version)
Jurassic Park*
Mad Max 2/The Road Warrior
The Matrix*
Metropolis
On the Beach
Planet of the Apes (1968 version)
Robocop
Sleeper
Solaris (1972 version)
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan*
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope***
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back***
The Stepford Wives
Superman*
Terminator 2: Judgement Day
The Thing From Another World
Things to Come
Tron
12 Monkeys
28 Days Later
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
2001: A Space Odyssey
La Voyage Dans la Lune
War of the Worlds (1953 version)
I triple-asterisked the Star Wars movies because I own them in all three variations - original, Special Edition, and Special Edition DVD.
The original blog post for the Sci-Fi list can be found here. Plenty of comments about it on that page! The comedy post also has many a comment.
The Whatever site invited others to copy and paste the list onto their own blog, with notations of what movies from the list they've seen. Sounds like my cup o' tea, so here goes. Bold movies are ones I've seen, asterisked movies are ones I also own, bold and italicized movies are ones I've seen partially.
Airplane!
All About Eve
Amelie*
Annie Hall
The Apartment
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
Blazing Saddles
Bringing Up Baby
Broadcast News
Caddyshack
Le diner de con
Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb*
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
Duck Soup
Ferris Bueller's Day Off*
Four Weddings and a Funeral
The General
Ghostbusters
The Gold Rush
Good Morning Vietnam
The Graduate
Groundhog Day
A Hard Day's Night
His Girl Friday
Kind Hearts and Coronets
The Lady Killers [1950's Alec Guiness version]
Local Hero
Manhattan
M*A*S*H
Monty Python's Life of Brian
National Lampoon's Animal House*
The Odd Couple
The Producers
Raising Arizona
Roxanne
Rushmore
Shaun of the Dead
A Shot in the Dark
Some Like it Hot
Strictly Ballroom
Sullivan's Travels
There's Something About Mary
This is Spinal Tap*
To Be or Not to Be [1941 Jack Benny version]
Tootsie
Toy Story
Les vacances de M. Hulot
When Harry Met Sally...
Withnail and I
I also noticed that the author of the Whatever blog, John Scalzi, had done a Rough Guide of his own, The Rough Guide to Sci-Fi Movies, with it's own list of canonical movies in that genre.
So, here is that list with the same notations.
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension!
Akira
Alien
Aliens*
Alphaville
Back to the Future*
Blade Runner
Brazil
Bride of Frankenstein
Brother From Another Planet
A Clockwork Orange
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Contact*
The Damned
Destination Moon
The Day The Earth Stood Still*
Delicatessen
Escape From New York
ET: The Extraterrestrial*
Flash Gordon: Space Soldiers (serial)
The Fly (1986 version)
Forbidden Planet
Ghost in the Shell
Gojira/Godzilla
The Incredibles*
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956 version)
Jurassic Park*
Mad Max 2/The Road Warrior
The Matrix*
Metropolis
On the Beach
Planet of the Apes (1968 version)
Robocop
Sleeper
Solaris (1972 version)
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan*
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope***
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back***
The Stepford Wives
Superman*
Terminator 2: Judgement Day
The Thing From Another World
Things to Come
Tron
12 Monkeys
28 Days Later
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
2001: A Space Odyssey
La Voyage Dans la Lune
War of the Worlds (1953 version)
I triple-asterisked the Star Wars movies because I own them in all three variations - original, Special Edition, and Special Edition DVD.
The original blog post for the Sci-Fi list can be found here. Plenty of comments about it on that page! The comedy post also has many a comment.
Monday, November 07, 2005
A Sith Lord Neutered
Since my commute home from work lasts about an hour, I tend to have a lot of time to get lost in thought. Last Friday, my train of thought made a stop in StarWarsville (as it often does), and I happened to think about a little thing in Empire Strikes Back that got changed when George Lucas (hereafter referred to as GL) cranked out the Special Edition. It's a little thing, but it really shows what kind of a hack we're dealing with here.
OK, so there's the scene wherein Darth Vader has turned Luke Skywalker into a southpaw and has backed him into the metaphorical corner (in this case, clinging to an outcropping over a bazillion-foot drop). He goes into his spiel about how Luke really oughtta join the family business of ruling the galaxy, and he gets pretty passionate about it. Luke just gives him a look that suggests where Vader can stick his iron fist, and he lets go to fall to his seeming demise.
Then we get a few scenes of Luke hanging from a weather vane and the Millenium Falcon escaping Cloud City, and then we go back to Vader walking down the hall with some stormtroopers.
Here come the changes.
In the original version, Vader says (growls, actually) "Bring me my shuttle". He's just watched his son choose death over being Co-Emperor of the whole galaxy (assuming, of course, that they would have suceeded in offing the current Emperor), and he's one pissed off Sith Lord. And you can hear that in his voice as he spits out the short and to-the-point command. A nice touch, really.
In the Special Edition, he says something along the lines of (I don't remember exactly), "Inform my Star Destroyer of my arrival" in a tone of voice that suggests that he was doing nothing more than kicking back in his office reading TPS reports before deciding it was time for some new scenery and coming out into the hallway to walk with some stormtroopers. (Also, in the 1997 version, but, thankfully, not in the 2004 DVD version, Luke screams like a little girl while he's plummeting away from Vader. Just thought I'd throw that in there)
So why the change? GL says he thought people were confused that, in a later scene, Vader is on the Star Destroyer, but there was nothing showing him leaving Cloud City, so he put in footage of Vader flying in a shuttle back up to the ship. Bwahuh? Doesn't "Bring me my shuttle" indicate that he's leaving Cloud City? Even if that's not good enough to convey "Vader is leaving Cloud City to go to the Star Destroyer", isn't it still a good enough preface to all of the tacked-on shuttle footage?
Also, does GL think we, the viewing audience, are too stupid to just figure out that Vader must have, at some point, gone back to the Star Destroyer, given that we can now see him standing in front of a big window filled with stars in black space? Did we really need to see him doing it? Were people actually sitting around wondering where all the pretty clouds went? I think not.
This is as bad as Greedo shooting first.
[end rant]
OK, so there's the scene wherein Darth Vader has turned Luke Skywalker into a southpaw and has backed him into the metaphorical corner (in this case, clinging to an outcropping over a bazillion-foot drop). He goes into his spiel about how Luke really oughtta join the family business of ruling the galaxy, and he gets pretty passionate about it. Luke just gives him a look that suggests where Vader can stick his iron fist, and he lets go to fall to his seeming demise.
Then we get a few scenes of Luke hanging from a weather vane and the Millenium Falcon escaping Cloud City, and then we go back to Vader walking down the hall with some stormtroopers.
Here come the changes.
In the original version, Vader says (growls, actually) "Bring me my shuttle". He's just watched his son choose death over being Co-Emperor of the whole galaxy (assuming, of course, that they would have suceeded in offing the current Emperor), and he's one pissed off Sith Lord. And you can hear that in his voice as he spits out the short and to-the-point command. A nice touch, really.
In the Special Edition, he says something along the lines of (I don't remember exactly), "Inform my Star Destroyer of my arrival" in a tone of voice that suggests that he was doing nothing more than kicking back in his office reading TPS reports before deciding it was time for some new scenery and coming out into the hallway to walk with some stormtroopers. (Also, in the 1997 version, but, thankfully, not in the 2004 DVD version, Luke screams like a little girl while he's plummeting away from Vader. Just thought I'd throw that in there)
So why the change? GL says he thought people were confused that, in a later scene, Vader is on the Star Destroyer, but there was nothing showing him leaving Cloud City, so he put in footage of Vader flying in a shuttle back up to the ship. Bwahuh? Doesn't "Bring me my shuttle" indicate that he's leaving Cloud City? Even if that's not good enough to convey "Vader is leaving Cloud City to go to the Star Destroyer", isn't it still a good enough preface to all of the tacked-on shuttle footage?
Also, does GL think we, the viewing audience, are too stupid to just figure out that Vader must have, at some point, gone back to the Star Destroyer, given that we can now see him standing in front of a big window filled with stars in black space? Did we really need to see him doing it? Were people actually sitting around wondering where all the pretty clouds went? I think not.
This is as bad as Greedo shooting first.
[end rant]
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Not Quite What Sisyphus Has to Go Through, But Still...
This entry was started on Monday, but time got away from me, and it didn't get finished until today. Damn you, City of Heroes!
Yesterday [Sunday] was the day we moved M's desk and table out of my brother's garage and into the new house. It should be the only time any of us will have to do any moving ourselves (we're bringing in the pros for both of our apartments), and that comes as a great relief.
The day began with lugging M's curio down the stairs to her car, which had been carefully measured to ensure that the thing would fit in there before we went through the trouble of lugging it. The back seats were lowered, the opening between the trunk and the back seats was measured, and everything seemed to be in order. It was noticed that the back seats didn't go down far enough to make a level back seat-to-trunk surface; the folded-down seats caused a bit of an upslope. Since there was an extra 4 inches of extra vertical space between the depth of the curio and the height of the opening, we were confident that it would end up fitting just fine.
If only we could have been proven wrong without having to drag that gorram thing all the way down, only to have to drag it all the way back up to the apartment.
So, once we had the curio back in the apartment, we were running a bit late to the U-Haul place. There was a bit of a line by the time we finally got there, and that line was going sllllloooooowww. Perhaps that was because the guy behind the counter had only a passing acquaintance with the concept of enunciation, and thus had to repeat himself 2 or 3 times everytime he said something. I, for one, couldn't understand half of what he said.
Once we had the truck in our posession, it was time to go to my brother's house. The side of the truck promised it was a "Gentle-Ride Van". Apparently, "Gentle-Ride" is uhaulese for "Heavily-Vibrating". It's a good thing I keep up with my tooth brushing and flossing, because any loose teeth would have come out during the trip. My initial thought was that I had left the parking brake on - the truck's accelleration of 0 to 60 in 2 minutes also gave me that impression - but that proved to not be the case.
Also, the brakes were a bit sensitive. At slow speeds, such as inching up to be the next one out of the parking lot, every tap of the brake caused the truck to stop dead in its tracks with a mighty lurch. I probably looked like an idiot.
And, on top of all that, the inside door handle had broken off at some point before I had made my acquaintance with the truck. In order to get out, I would have to roll down the window and open the door from the outside.
Once we got to my brother's, we had to back into his curvy driveway, which took a few tries. Of course, the truck did a lot of lurching around up and down as I tried to maneuver. There was some concern about getting the back pointed towards the garage in such a way that the ramp could be extended without damaging the wall by the driveway. It turned out that we didn't need to worry because the 10-foot trucks don't have ramps.
My nephews came out to check out the big truck, and found it to be the highlight of their day (assuming, of course, that nothing more exciting happened later that afternoon). The younger one hung out in the cab with my dad and happily played with every doo-hicky he could get his hands on. Later, when I started up the truck, the windshield wipers started going and the turn signal indicated a left turn that I had no immediate intention of making.
Once the stuff was in the truck and tied down via an intricate winding of a single rope, we set off in the earthquakemobile. Upon arrival, we pulled into the alley behind the house, slalomming around the neighbors' trashcans. Somehow, we managed to maneuver the table through the narrow back doorway with minimal problems.
Next up was getting the desk through the front door. Because of the direction we came in through the alley, I ended up having to park in front of the house facing oncoming traffic. Sure, we could have driven around the next block over to position ourselves so we could approach the house from the other direction, but convenience trumped obeying traffic laws. It was a quiet day on the road anyway.
As I pulled into the opening along the curb in front of the house and touched the brakes, the truck slammed to a stop with a loud kablam. I thought I might get to meet a neighbor or two when they came running out to see whose car got hit by the dumbass new guy, but nobody came a-runnin'.
The desk proved to be a bit more problematic than the table, as it was about 2 inches wider than the doorway, and it lacked the table-like base that would make angling so much easier. Oh, we managed to get that sucker angled into the house, fret not, but it wasn't pretty. Also, gravity seemed to be more powerful around the new house than it did around my brother's house, making the desk a bit harder to carry for long periods of time.
Finally, we had everything moved, and we could get that gorram truck back to the U-Haul place. I can't say I was sorry to see it go. I did have to wait awhile before I could completely part ways with it, as the girl at the U-Haul place was all by herself and tied up on the phone, giving directions to someone that managed to get lost on their way there. She was finally able to help me, due in part to her ignoring the continually ringing phone, and I was on my way to live my post-U-Haul life.
We vegged out and watched Netflix DVDs for the remainder of the day.
Yesterday [Sunday] was the day we moved M's desk and table out of my brother's garage and into the new house. It should be the only time any of us will have to do any moving ourselves (we're bringing in the pros for both of our apartments), and that comes as a great relief.
The day began with lugging M's curio down the stairs to her car, which had been carefully measured to ensure that the thing would fit in there before we went through the trouble of lugging it. The back seats were lowered, the opening between the trunk and the back seats was measured, and everything seemed to be in order. It was noticed that the back seats didn't go down far enough to make a level back seat-to-trunk surface; the folded-down seats caused a bit of an upslope. Since there was an extra 4 inches of extra vertical space between the depth of the curio and the height of the opening, we were confident that it would end up fitting just fine.
If only we could have been proven wrong without having to drag that gorram thing all the way down, only to have to drag it all the way back up to the apartment.
So, once we had the curio back in the apartment, we were running a bit late to the U-Haul place. There was a bit of a line by the time we finally got there, and that line was going sllllloooooowww. Perhaps that was because the guy behind the counter had only a passing acquaintance with the concept of enunciation, and thus had to repeat himself 2 or 3 times everytime he said something. I, for one, couldn't understand half of what he said.
Once we had the truck in our posession, it was time to go to my brother's house. The side of the truck promised it was a "Gentle-Ride Van". Apparently, "Gentle-Ride" is uhaulese for "Heavily-Vibrating". It's a good thing I keep up with my tooth brushing and flossing, because any loose teeth would have come out during the trip. My initial thought was that I had left the parking brake on - the truck's accelleration of 0 to 60 in 2 minutes also gave me that impression - but that proved to not be the case.
Also, the brakes were a bit sensitive. At slow speeds, such as inching up to be the next one out of the parking lot, every tap of the brake caused the truck to stop dead in its tracks with a mighty lurch. I probably looked like an idiot.
And, on top of all that, the inside door handle had broken off at some point before I had made my acquaintance with the truck. In order to get out, I would have to roll down the window and open the door from the outside.
Once we got to my brother's, we had to back into his curvy driveway, which took a few tries. Of course, the truck did a lot of lurching around up and down as I tried to maneuver. There was some concern about getting the back pointed towards the garage in such a way that the ramp could be extended without damaging the wall by the driveway. It turned out that we didn't need to worry because the 10-foot trucks don't have ramps.
My nephews came out to check out the big truck, and found it to be the highlight of their day (assuming, of course, that nothing more exciting happened later that afternoon). The younger one hung out in the cab with my dad and happily played with every doo-hicky he could get his hands on. Later, when I started up the truck, the windshield wipers started going and the turn signal indicated a left turn that I had no immediate intention of making.
Once the stuff was in the truck and tied down via an intricate winding of a single rope, we set off in the earthquakemobile. Upon arrival, we pulled into the alley behind the house, slalomming around the neighbors' trashcans. Somehow, we managed to maneuver the table through the narrow back doorway with minimal problems.
Next up was getting the desk through the front door. Because of the direction we came in through the alley, I ended up having to park in front of the house facing oncoming traffic. Sure, we could have driven around the next block over to position ourselves so we could approach the house from the other direction, but convenience trumped obeying traffic laws. It was a quiet day on the road anyway.
As I pulled into the opening along the curb in front of the house and touched the brakes, the truck slammed to a stop with a loud kablam. I thought I might get to meet a neighbor or two when they came running out to see whose car got hit by the dumbass new guy, but nobody came a-runnin'.
The desk proved to be a bit more problematic than the table, as it was about 2 inches wider than the doorway, and it lacked the table-like base that would make angling so much easier. Oh, we managed to get that sucker angled into the house, fret not, but it wasn't pretty. Also, gravity seemed to be more powerful around the new house than it did around my brother's house, making the desk a bit harder to carry for long periods of time.
Finally, we had everything moved, and we could get that gorram truck back to the U-Haul place. I can't say I was sorry to see it go. I did have to wait awhile before I could completely part ways with it, as the girl at the U-Haul place was all by herself and tied up on the phone, giving directions to someone that managed to get lost on their way there. She was finally able to help me, due in part to her ignoring the continually ringing phone, and I was on my way to live my post-U-Haul life.
We vegged out and watched Netflix DVDs for the remainder of the day.
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