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Monday, March 28, 2005
I'm walking to work today as normal, it's the most exercise I get unfortunately, and I come to a four-way stop. Being that rare pedestrian who usually obeys traffic laws, I stop, cross south, then stop again to cross east, as does apparently a car beside me. I assume this, because I checked for a turn signal as I am wont to do due to a strange obsession with living and remaining intact.
Imagine my surprise when I put my foot down on the road that instead of also going east, the car was instead turning south. We acknowledged each other, I thought maybe he was pissed at me and maybe I missed his turn signal, but as he continued his turn I noted that there was indeed no signalling happening. Then I was very pissed at him. Use your fucking turn signal, asshole. There is a reason it's there, AND NOT HITTING PEOPLE IS THAT REASON! Holy crap, how friggin' hard is that little flick of your hand to turn the fucking turn signal on? I've driven before, it doesn't seem that fucking hard! I've never seemed to have a problem with it.
He came to a stop at the four-way intersection first, so I would have let him go first had he been signalling. I've seen those idiot pedestrians who don't seem to think that stop signs and basic traffic rules apply to them. I'm not like that. If you have the right of way, you get the right of way (unless you signal me to cross, then thank you, especially in bad weather). The only think I ask is to know what direction you intend to travel in, and unless I see a blinking light I'm going to expect you to be driving forward.
Your turn signal. It's not just a neat idea, it's the law fuckwad.
posted
by Tabby at 3/28/2005 09:47:00 a.m.
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Wednesday, March 23, 2005
I have seen more snow being dumped in this city for these first two days of spring than I have for any two day period all winter. Just when it was pretty much all thawed as well. If you live somewhere that doesn't have snow, consider yourself lucky because no matter how beautiful it is, and it really is beautiful when it's fresh, it's a pain in the ass. Especially the big puddles that thaws tend to leave. Urgh.
posted
by Tabby at 3/23/2005 04:41:00 p.m.
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Sunday, March 20, 2005
As I've mentioned before, I have really gotten in to playing role playing games on my computer. Morrowind, Knights of the Old Republic, things like that. Now, I've got what I believe to be a very novel idea for an RPG, but I have no idea what to do with it. I don't know how to submit it to game companies that might be interested, or how to protect my intellectual property rights if I did. I've got a feeling it's going to languish along with my very good movie ideas that are stuck in my noggin to never see the light of day.
Nothing like living your dreams. At least the makers of Spring Break Shark Attack, airing tonight on CBS and locally in Edmonton on A-Channel, lived their dreams. Come on, how can you not watch something called Spring Break Shark Attack?
posted
by Tabby at 3/20/2005 12:29:00 p.m.
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Friday, March 18, 2005
Monday, March 14, 2005
At some point yesterday, my pet fish Charlie died. To most people he would have been just a fish, not the kind of pet you can play or cuddle with so they can't understand why his death has hit me so hard and why I'm grieving today.
I've had Charlie for almost four years, certainly a good lifespan for a fish. He's been with me through a lot, and when I moved out back into my own place again last year, he was there in his bowl by my couch ensuring I never felt truly alone. I doubt he was able to recognize me, but he was aware when I was around. I didn't see enough people sitting beside him to see if he got as active with them sitting there. He probably would have, but still, right now I'd like to imagine it was seeing me that got him swimming around. I do know that he was able to recognize when he was being fed, when I put my empty fingers over his bowl once and saw him following them and then looking for food.
I was kind of numb when I found him dead. There was a brief flurry of activity when I tried to see if some fresher water would revive him, but it didn't. The numbness carried over until I did something I can't forgive myself for, I flushed him. When I saw his little body going down the toilet, I lost it. I'm sure I could have found some place to bury him, maybe even some place I pass by regularly so I could at least have a reminder, say hello, everytime I walk outside. Now the only reminder I have is the big empty spot on the end table where my fish belongs.
Goodbye Charlie. Thank you for being a part of my home and my life for three years. I will always love and remember you.
posted
by Tabby at 3/14/2005 07:42:00 p.m.
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Thursday, March 03, 2005
Just a small update on this here blog. I've had to switch to a new host for my images, so I did a little tweaking and upped the contrast in the "SEE..." and "EXPERIENCE..." graphics above. Hopefully they'll be easier to read now on more monitors. I've never had a problem on mine, but I noticed at work on some screens they can be next to impossible to see. The low contrast was just bad design. I'm sorry.
I'd like to put a black border on the far left and right just to make things a little neater, but that just seems a little too much like work right now.
posted
by Tabby at 3/03/2005 04:59:00 p.m.
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Wednesday, March 02, 2005
Garfield. There was once I time I thought he was the cat's pajamas, and that time was probably pretty close to when "the cat's pajamas" was a popular colloquialism. The strip was at one time one of the best, funny and most of the time fairly entertaining. I'm not quite sure when the whole thing started to suck. Was it the 100th Monday gag? Was it when Garfield started walking on his hind legs on a regular basis? I know I detest the look of the bipedal orange feline. The comic may not suck as much as Family Circus, but at least that panel has "cute" going for it in the art department.
Despite the current crappiness of the strip, I was excited when I first heard of the Garfield movie, and even moreso when I heard that Bill Murray would be starring as the voice of our hero. With good writing and a talented star, this might actually work. Then the reviews came in and they were less than glowing. That's okay, I still wanted to see it but now I wasn't sure if I wanted to spend money on it.
My former roommates bought the DVD, so great, I could finally see it! Well, I thought so at first then it turned out I borrowed the case only, so next time I was over I corrected that error. I had it at my place for about a week, then last weekend after helping them move on the second day, I was home early enough that I had time to relax and enjoy a movie. Now I could finally see it!
I'm not really blaming any of the stars, most of whom I usually appreciate in the work they do, even Jennifer Love Hewitt who gets dumped on a lot but I like her. I do blame the writers and director and likely the studio hacks who I do blame for this humourless piece of garbage. A comedy doesn't have to make me laugh for me to enjoy it, it just has to amuse me. Entertain me. This movie got a chuckle out of me once, and it was a half-assed chuckle at that. I kept sitting there, waiting for something even vaguely amusing to happen. Waiting. Waiting.
Not only did only one faintly amusing thing happen, but Garfield came across as a real asshole. I know he abuses Odie in the comics, but what can work there doesn't work so well in live action. They used a real dog to play Odie, so being mean to him really strikes a bad chord.
And speaking of live action, the decision to have every animal except Garfield be live, and have Garfield himself a cartoonish CG was a very bad decision. He stuck out like a sore thumb and it just didn't make sense. Having all the animals CG would have worked better, allowing all of them look more like their comic strip counterparts as well as allowing for less wincing at Garfield's abusive treatment of Odie.
Even Bill Murray couldn't save this flick. But then, I don't necessarily find him funny all the time. I loved him in Groundhog Day, Ghostbusters, Stripes, and Lost In Translation (not really a comedy, but damn, that was a far better film than Bored of the Rings 3 and deserved the Oscar far more). I didn't care for him at all in Caddyshack and some of the sketches I see him in on Saturday Night Live reruns.
Bill Watterson had the right idea. He created Calvin & Hobbes, and retired the strip before it lost its edge and refuses to this day to let it be marketed with t-shirts and toys or for any filmed version to be made, be it animated or live action. He alone was the writer and artist as well, so unlike the current Garfield which is cartooning by committee - I don't even know if Jim Davis has much to do with the daily strip anymore - and has to be kept innocuous so as to keep the marketing empire that has sprung up around it running without a hitch.
Garfield's time as come. It's too late to let this once-great strip retire with even a little dignity left, at least let it go before even more indignities are piled on top of it. Let it die before it becomes B.C. or Hagar the now truly Horrible.
posted
by Tabby at 3/02/2005 05:19:00 p.m.
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Tuesday, March 01, 2005
Not too long ago I was standing in line at a convenience store, waiting patiently to trade some of my nation's currency for manufactured food items, and I scanned the magazine racks by the till because frankly I had nothing else to do. Amongst the few periodicals on display there (the bigger racks with the wider selection were behind me) were three men's magazines side-by-side.
These weren't those kinds of men's magazines, you know, the ones they buy "just for the articles", but instead those newer ones like Maxim and such. In fact, Maxim was one of them. I couldn't tell you what the other ones were called, but that's irrelevant anyway. They all appeared to be in pretty much the same vein anyway.
How could I tell this? Because they all had the exact same fucking picture on the cover!
Okay, not the exact same picture per se, all the models were different women, though two of them were Desperate Housewives (Terry Hatcher and Eva Longoria, which makes this even stranger), but they were all in pretty much the exact same pose. You know, on their knees with their butts to the ground, leaning forward a little and their arms down in front with their hands on the floor so their breasts were squeezed somewhat together. They were all even facing the same direction.
It doesn't shock me that men find that pose sexy, nothing about the penile-minded surprises me anymore. I would like to point out however when demonstrating the pose to others I found it just very uncomfortable. Is it the potential discomfort guys find sexy? Nah, I'm kidding, I know it's the squeezed boobies that get fellas off.
What I find offensive about the whole sordid affair is the lack of creativity. When confronted by three women in the exact same pose on three different magazine covers in the same month, something is wrong in the originalness department, and thinking back on it now I know I've seen that pose before, but I've just never thought about it. I suppose there are limits to the number of positions the human body can take, and most of them aren't the kind that will entice horny heterosexual men, aged 18-34, to purchase magazines and buy the sponsors' products.
So never mind me. I have to go practice my uncomfortable poses so that I can do my part in keeping our economy afloat and protect our consumerist way of life.
posted
by Tabby at 3/01/2005 10:27:00 p.m.
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The
critics are calling
I
Was an Atomic Robot Jungle Vixen...
"Very
cool!" "Awesome!" "Good times!"
"Inspires
me..." A Critic - I
respect
"Cool.
And miles more exciting..." Someone Else -
You
might not know
"I
totally love it!" Whoo hoo! -
Posted
somewhere
"All
I have to say is... Cool!" Another Critic
"I
like the look..." An Opinion - YACCS
Comments
"You
think I have time to give you a quote? You're out of your
mind!" Wil Wheaton -WWfreakin'DN!
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