Update on the table progress

Here you go, Monticore.

There is still lots and lots of shaping and fitting to do yet, but this is the basic structure. I'm not sure how great it will look with the awkward-shaped top on it, but we'll see. I'm having fun cutting tenons and mortises.

Okay, I'm kind of excited about this one

I finished my last game review which should get posted early next week and I'll just say that it was a pooper of a game.

But the next game actually looks kind of interesting in that it's outside of any type of game I've played before. It came out this summer and is based on the Japanese horror film series that gave us The Grudge called Ju-on: The Grudge. It's described as a "haunted house simulator" which doesn't sound all that exciting but the description of game play sounds pretty cool.

Ju-on: The Grudge is sparse on game controls. The Wii Remote is used to direct the player character's flashlight. The player is pressured not to remain in the same place for too long as it will cause the onryō to come find the player. While the game isn't multiplayer in the most literal sense, if there is a second Wii Remote synced to the console, each of the buttons on that controller can be used to instantly trigger a unique scenario for the main player to experience, heightening the tension. The game also features mechanics that measure the Wii Remote's movements during gameplay, the result being that the more the player flinches, the worse their success rate becomes.

As evidenced from the game's few teaser trailers, there are five stages expected to be playable in Ju-on: The Grudge: a warehouse, a hospital and a mannequin factory, in addition to an abandoned apartment complex and the Saeki residence. In most cases, the flashlight provides the only means of visibility for the player, so it is necessary to replenish the power of the tool using batteries found throughout the level, which do not spawn in the same location with each play. This battery power is displayed in the form of a meter on the lower-left corner of the heads-up display. If the game's lead specter Kayako Saeki takes hold of the player, the Wii Remote can be shaken to break her grip. Furthermore, when in Kayako's grip, her death rattle can be heard through the Wii Remote's speaker.

I'm gonna make Carrie play it with me this weekend since she loves scary shit. Me, I'm a pansy, so I'll probably be blogging about having to wash my pants after playing.

Table updates

Here are some picture updates from the table I mentioned in the last furniture post. There will be one more curved piece sweeping from the top left down to the bottom right which will create sort of an arrowhead shape if you can visualize that.

I'll see your Christopher Walken reading Lady Gaga and raise you William Shatner reading Levi Johnston

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Ha ha ha ha ha!

William Shatner recently mocked Sarah Palin by dramatically reading her tweets in a new segment on the "Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien."

Now the "Star Trek" legend has turned his attention to Levi Johnston, the baby daddy of Palin's grandson.

On Thursday's show, the Emmy-winning "Boston Legal" star recited Johnston's personal Twitter posts in a beatnik-style reading accompanied by bongos.

"Maybe I'm a genius and not even know it," Shatner reads. "Maybe I don't exist and it only seems like I do. Maybe this is a parallel universe where I don't. Anybody know where I can get some good weed?"

Among the questions that keep Johnston up at night, he asks, "What's the deal with taxi drivers not speaking English, is it a law against it?" or "Is it true that fat kids never get kidnapped?"

Best of all are the references to his upcoming spread in Playgirl magazine.

"You know you're a celebrity when strangers want to see your penis," says Shatner, who then deadpans, "LMAO."

Music to feel

I love this song, Dondante, by My Morning Jacket. Modern blues at it's finest. Just let the whole thing wrap around you; let Jim James and his guitar take you somewhere. The build to the last four minutes is totally worth it.



In a dream, I saw you walkin'
Like a kid alive and talkin', that was you
In the classroom, you were teachin'
On the streets you were policin' that was you

To the one I now know most
I will tell them of your ghost like a thing never, ever was

And all that ever mattered
Will some day turn back to batter like a joke
Behind thin walls, you hid your feelings
Takes four legs to make a ceilin' like a thing

In a dream I saw you walkin'
With your friends alive and talkin', that was you
Well I saw it in your movements
And even though you never knew it, well I knew

Just how sweet it could be
If you'd never left these streets

You had me worried, so worried that this would last
You had me worried, so worried that this would last
But now I'm learning, learning that this will pass
But now I'm learning, learning that this will pass

STOP! Hammer Time.

A late Wednesday Smile.

Yeeeaaaaah, not so much

Says a blogger at Yahoo Sports, regarding a petition to deactivate RB Larry Johnson who is in trouble for recent uses of the word "faggot" in a derogatory manner on his Twitter account:

It's a nice notion, trying to protect the record book from someone who isn't believed to have the character of others in there before him. It's easy to see where petitioners are coming from, and their devotion to to a proud Chiefs history is commendable.

If it were my team, though, and some disreputable character was about to put his name in my team's record book ... I don't think I'd sign a similar petition. At the end of the day, what's most important to me is that the team is doing its best to win football games.

Which is exactly why we should help to block investigations into dog fighting, steroid use, sexual assault allegations, and other things that hinder players from playing the game (like what look to be intentional eye gouging attempts). Damn it, they need to be able to play the game without being hindered by investigation or displeasure for hateful, criminal, or "enhancing" activities.

It's about winning dammit, not character!

Letter to the editor: Special Edition

This letter to the editor comes replete with a clarifying comment in the thread below it:

As our nation continues its inexorable slide toward financial collapse, the citizenry should ponder what punishment should be meted out to current and past politicians who have allowed the collapse to occur.

You can be sure that these rascals will do everything to avoid paying their dues from declaring martial law to fleeing to France. But it is only fitting that they pay some stiff price, and now is the time to put them all on notice.

Jess King
Lindsay

And just in case you didn't get enough crazy or hyperbole:

[A] full-scale financial collapse greater than the so-called great depression is something that will affect all Americans. Politicians from all parties and both conservative and liberal have caused the mess but some are more guilty than others as can be deduced by their voting record. Actually the acts leading to financial collapse are not even illegal but they still are highly irresponsible and, because of the seriousness, actual treason.

I do like that something can be both "actual treason" and "not even illegal" at the same time. Try that one on your brain.

More weirdness

Last night I had a dream in which I learned of a tip that Barack Obama would be breaking into a hospital in California. So, I called a hotline number to report the tip. The next day Obama was arrested while sneaking around inside of a closed hospital with a flashlight (nevermind how my mind came up with the idea that hospitals closed down for the night and turned all the lights off). It was all over the news.

The dream was so vivid I had to check my phone when I woke up to make sure I hadn't really dialed some 800 number and Obama hadn't actually been arrested for trespassing in a closed hospital.

Hey, maybe it was an abandoned hospital and Obama is just into urban exploring.

Wait, what?

Allowing me a moment to get political here, all I've heard about in my reading and watching of the TV in the run up to yesterdays elections and such was that NY-23 was the race to watch and that it was gonna be a big deal that a Republican was going to win a seat in a district that hasn't voted for a Democrat since the mid 1800s.

I didn't hear much about the governor's races in New Jersey and Virginia or the referendum on gay rights in Maine.

So, a Dem wins a seat in a district that hasn't sat a Dem since the Civil War, Garamendi pulls a contested seat in California and the Repubs win admittedly liberal NJ, middle of the road Virginia, and probably scare-mongered a close vote on gay rights in Maine and this is a "transcendent" GOP on the rise?

Watch the news today about how Obama ought to be watching his ass now and talk of the midterms. I'll tell you why Obama should be watching his ass. It's because he's having difficulty following through on some of those campaign promises and hasn't quite been the voice for change that everyone was hoping he'd be. It's certainly not the divided Republican party that is doing anything. They wouldn't have a voice at the table were it not for Obama pandering to the bipartisanship that the Republicans use to gut everything they can get their hands on and then say they won't vote for it. If you train your baby to understand that throwing a fit gets them attention, they'll throw fits.