azure_armand's Journal

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We saw Muse in Fairfax, VA. Terrible acoustics, but other than that it was a damn good show. The band was really tight, and the lighting & video were possibly the coolest I've ever seen at a rock show.

Since when do bridges ever fall down? Can anyone think of any other example ever (I mean, without sabotage involved)? I've only heard of, like, jungle rope bridges, or model bridges made out of toothpicks and glue collapsing.

Sorry for the sarcastic tone, but that can be the way I react when bad shit happens.

I need to learn about engineering, because it seems counter-intuitive to me when a whole structure collapses all at once like that. I always imagine that just one part of a structure would cave in, maybe just one pillar. I felt the same way when the twin towers went down.

When I lived in Minneapolis near the U, I drove on that bridge constantly. I suppose even for someone who uses it a lot, the statistical probability is pretty low that he or she would be on it when it fell. The chances of an everyday tragedy like a car accident or a stroke is probably higher. Still, I guess I'll never *completely feel safe on a bridge again.

the new Hairspray
Last night I went to see the new Hairspray film. I didn't know much about it, but I know that the original is a pop culture cult classic and I wanted to find out what the deal is.

This new version is a musical with very little spoken dialogue. You know how every 11 year old girl is crazy about Grease? The new Hairspray is like Grease, but its better. The songs are better and the story is better. So if any of you have a niece around Grease age, try to steer her away from Grease and toward Hairspray. Out with the old, in with the new.

I'm not an 11 year old girl (my tastes are closer to those of a 15 year old girl: Labyrinth, Before Sunrise, HIM) but I was certainly entertained for 2 hours.

Poll, based on The God Delusion
I've been reading The God Delusion, by Richard Dawkins. It's scathing and opinionated, but thought provoking and well supported.

Religion is a sensitive topic, and I hope I don't across as one of those online assholes who likes to provoke people. Like I said, Dawkins takes a pretty scathing tone in this book, so be warned if you click the cut. But the book is interesting so I want to put this out there. I'm interested in what you think.

So if you want to play, see if you agree or disagree with the excerpts in the poll, behind the cut. ( Read more... )

fake weapons
The other day I was at my old Minneapolis apartment because we were visiting

whitefox77 and he showed me his airsoft guns. (Airsoft guns look real, but they shoot plastic BBs.) And I hate real guns, but the airsoft guns were really cool. They look and feel real, but they hold a lot more shots than real guns, they have very little recoil, and they are far less lethal than real guns. In other words, they work just like guns in a John Woo movie. You may be a hippie pacifist like me, but if you try to tell me you've never, at least for a second, fantasized about jumping from behind a barrier, firing a fully automatic MP-5 in each hand, well, I don't believe you. Airsoft makes this possible, and now I want one.

Some of you know that

whitefox77 and I wanted to organize lazer tag last year for Convergence, but we were unable to because of Convergence's policy on weapons. (Which is, by the way, this: if it looks like a gun in any way, it is prohibited.) I think this is a smart policy, but wouldn't laser tag be awesome at Con?

I was surfing around online looking at Airsoft stuff, and I stumbled across Tiny Tag.

Laser Tag keychains! It looks perfect for con. Its cheap, simple, and looks nothing like a real weapon. I would have bought some of these if I had enough time for them to ship. Oh, well . . . maybe next year.

we are in Minnesota now.
At the Spyhouse at this very moment, in fact.

the six basic jokes
I'm reading this book on psychology. The author made reference to a theory that there are really only six basic jokes. I've tried to find information on the internet about that but I haven't come up with anything. Is anyone familiar with that concept who can enlighten me?

He also writes about the 80/20 principle, and he explains what it is in more detail. The idea is that some things require more time or resources than other things, and equal investment doesn't usually equate to equal results. For example, a company often makes 80% of their money on 20% of their products. Or, in one's personal life, people often spend 80% of their energy on 20% of their friends.

I think 80/20 is an interesing concept because I can think of examples of it in my own life. (For example, when you wrote papers in college, in the first 20% of time, you got 80% of the paper done, but that last 20% requires much more time and attention so it eats up the majority of the time.)

It will help to remember this idea when I'm working on something and I feel like I'm making very slow progress. That's just necessary sometimes, and it doesn't mean I'm not applying myself.

The Everything Test
Yeah, that's how lazy I'm being this afternoon.

( Read more... )

punk by numbers
We went to Philadelphia this weekend. Well, we spent most of the time outside Philly, but anyway . . . We went swimming, we almost went horseback riding, and we went to a Phillies baseball game. Not normally my thing, but I surprised myself by actually following the game and I wasn't bored at all. It was an outdoor stadium, which I've never been in before (I've only seen Twins games at the Metrodome). The opposing team was San Francisco, and it was fun to hear the crowd boo when Barry Bonds came up to bat. Damn, they really hate him. I guess I don't really blame them.

I just found out that S4 is laid up, so here's thinking of you. This should keep you entertained for 5 minutes - punk by numbers.

Grindhouse
Figment and I had nothing to do on Saturday night so we decided to make a date out of it and go see Grindhouse at the local Cinema & Drafthouse. Tarantino films aren't normally my thing, nor are B-movies. (I've never particularily liked anything with Bruce Campbell in it, for example.) But damn I had a blast.

I largely have

discreetmusic to thank for my enjoyment of the film. I didn't realize it at the time, but all of those evenings hanging out at his apartment on Eat Street watching videos gave me a grounding in the classics of exploitation cinema - George Romero, Dolemite, Gone in 60 Seconds (the original, not that Angelina Jolie bullshit) and Friday the 13th in 3-D, really made it fun to watch Grindhouse and notice the conventions that they were referencing.

I'm sure this is true of most films, but this one really gained a lot seeing it on the big screen. The grainy film quality, the sloppy editing, the soundtrack that sounds like it was done on a 1970s Moog synthesizer, the "missing reels", the trailers . . . all of it really needed to be seen in the proper context.

If you . . . are thinking . . . of seeing this film . . . . . on DVD . . . . DON'T!!!

Also, don't see it at the shiny multiplex. The Cinema Grill was a great venue. A drive-in would be perfect. A cheapass ghetto second-run dollar theatre would do the job nicely as well.

Its great having

tomscud in town, but ever since he loaned me Knights of the Old Republic, (a computer role-playing game) I've done little else but that and work. But it is a really awesome game.

We went to see the DC rollergirls this weekend. They're definitely less polished than the MN teams (they don't even have membership into the national organization yet), but in a way it was fun to watch a more amateur bout because it was easier to follow. I ran into a buddy of mine from Minneapolis at the rollergirl event too, who has moved here, so now I know one more person in town. I still have a lot more friends in MN than I do here, but my social life has been looking up a bit lately. (Except for the amount of time I spend fighting the Sith lords with lightsabers - that's not helping.)

There will be a very mellow party happening at Caly's tonight. We're just going to hang out and play games. If you feel like coming, let me know because it would be good to see you!

I'm at the Black Dog in St. Paul.

Happy Gnome tonight
I will be at the Happy Gnome with Spacebug and S4 tonight, around 8:00. The happy gnome used to be called Chaing O'Haras, and it is in St. Paul on Selby street, 3 blocks east of Dale.

Stop by if you would like.

CRC
I'm at CRC coffee, 34th & Lyndale. Let me know what y'all are up to after work.

in town now
OK, I'm in Minneapolis now, and I leave Wednesday morning. Unfortunately, its just me and not Figment this time, but I hope I can still see some of my peoples. Respond if you're free before I go.

I'm coming to MN
I arrive in Minneapolis on Saturday morning. I leave on Wednesday morning. I hope I can see lots of y'all.

I am a humor columnist today
In my high level class today, I had to explain what a cliche is. I wasn't trained as a literature teacher, I was trained in how to get people to speak English. But this kind of thing comes up in that particular class because its the highest level. So I wasn't really prepared to explain cliches, but I said, "Well, its something that you hear so often that it gets old. Like . . ."

I couldn't think of anything that someone their age would know. "Dead as a doornail" or "like father, like son" wouldn't be familiar at all to them, much less have the ring of a cliche.

So I said, "Rap has a lot of cliches. Like how everybody always says, 'I'm a playa' over and over."
And the student said, "oh, yeah . . . or 'I keep it real'!"

Exactly.

Coming to MN
I have a new trip to MN planned. I will arrive in the morning on Saturday, April 7, and I'm leaving on the morning of Wednesday, April 11. Figment can't come, but we will both make a trip in late June.

I won't get to see the Rockits play, but I'll at least be able to hang with my favorite Rockit. I hope to see a bunch of y'all while I'm there.

We are not coming to MN
Because of flight delays due to weather, we called off our trip to MN. The airlines were unable to get us to Minneapolis today. We will re-book some other time. We will figure it out tomorrow. Right now we are sick of thinking about airlines. (We spent all day at the airport.)

I will miss all of you. See you next time. Go Rockits.