533 thoughts on “Deadpan Unshow XX”

  2. B2————-Hit

    …and that’s enough Battleships for a Thursday morning.

    Morning Pan, much as I hate to continue the stereotype of UK weather, it’s raining again!

    There was a study that was done that asked x amount of people in the UK what was their fav topic of conversation,

    Sadly, top of the list, above sex, politics and crime, was the weather.

    Yeah going to have to fight that urge…

  11. my wife and I went through the Jack in the Box drive thru last night and ordered like 30 tacos just to see what they say.

    We were there for quite a while.

    But had quite a spicy night.

  19. Would rather listen to 12 minutes of Jack Mangan rambling than 1 minute of New York Times reporting by Jack Cushman.

    Don’t go podfading. There’ll be no reason to smile left in the world.

  26. Not staying.

    Just a quick hop in. Heard the episode and giving a quick note to say “I’m not dead, yet”

    Busy, busy busy.

    Should be back to normal (relatively speaking 😉 ) on Monday.

    See you then !!!

  32. Yeah I tried a raindance ditto but it backfired on me!

    Good to see you are ok TEB.

    I’m alone in thinking Jack sounded a bit ‘down’ in this unshow?

  40. Van: I agree there does seem to be a lack of sunshine this time around, but Jack knows if he needs anything from us, all he has to do is ask. 🙂

    You next task is to find a total conversion for the old Lucasarts game “Tie Fighter” but using the now public domain “FreeSpace 2” engine.

  42. You forgot “should you choose to accept it”, Rhettro.

    Speaking of gathering souls and sucking them, I’m heading out shortly to do my presentation at the Evil, Inc. Sales conference. Wish me luck!

  44. “Should you choose to accept it?” No dammit, Van must OBEY!!!!

    LOL, okay maybe it needs to be his choice. 😉

    Good luck with the Evil Hordes EssBee.

  51. I actually bought the special edition of FreeSpace 2, I have all the orginal disks and bonus missions. I however haven’t finished them. Doh! I need to reinstall it on my newer machine. Plus, there have been a ton of fan made graphical updates I need to install. Perhaps I’ll do that this weekend, get FreeSpace up and running on my new machine and my save games copied over.

  53. ditto – Re: your comment from waaay up above.
    I’ll bet you would if it was applied correctly (or incorrectly – depends on your point of view!).

    Good luck and good wishes to the Vegas bound.

    Yea TEB!

  60. Are you a Vista Sista, Marlo? And yes – dumbass memories on wax cylinder be awesome. I SO need to get some stolen rap lyrics from Thomas Edison. . .

    . . . or stolen inventions, if you ask Nikolai Tesla.

    WNDR – did your hairstylist melt your cylinders?

    Rhett – what do you think? That’s next week.

  65. Working on my timesheet. *bleh*

    Based on my sources that show is on Thurday the 28th, and starts at 5:30PM. I wouldn’t be able to get home before 6:00, so that would put us at the Pavilion around 7:00. Would it be worth it if we missed the first hour and a half of the show?

  66. Also I wanted to post a *swoon* to the TEB appearance. 🙂

    And it’s nice to see Marlo around here again. I wish Jessica could drop by more often. 🙁

  67. Unless you went straight there from work. Motorhead and Testament are the first 2 bands — how badly do you want to see them? I’d say that Black Sabbath and Judas Priest are the important ones.
    And how much are tix?

    We should probably discuss this offline, Rhett 🙂

  69. What, this isn’t offline?

    Honestly, I don’t really care for Motorhead. It might be cool to hear “Ace of Spades” live, but I won’t loose any sleep over it if I don’t. I would like to see Testament, but I’m not really a fan. JP and Dio would be the reason I bought a ticket. So maybe this could work, we could just meet there. Let me talk with the Misses and check ticket prices. 🙂

  73. Does anyone use “Visual Basic 3″ any more? Is that another dead language?

    I have a Text book on the subject, copyright 1993 (claims to be the” MOST complete reference”).

    It’s pretty clear that I am never going to teach myself VB3 so do I trash the book or do any of you computer types think it might have use for someone else?

  82. Jack: My Spousal Unit invested in my survival with a new laptop. I need a matte screen, so choices were desperate.

    Anyway, it is Vista. And it is throwing up on itself every time is does it’s updates. And then, it goes and does it again.

    And WHY did the Richards at ms insist you must install updates, and the computer will eventually spontaneously reboot—while you are working! So you lose your work! Every time! It would make me insane even if it wasn’t vomiting all over.

    The first wipe was to kill the bloat and spy crap the tech guys preloaded for my inconvenience.

  83. marlodianne, amen sister. I was just rushing to get to my presentation this afternoon and my computer went into “Installing 1 of 17 updates, DO NOT unplug.” It took 15 minutes and I almost jumped out the window. Or, even worse, unplugged the damn thing.

  84. *ding!*
    Times up.
    An “Osborne” was the first truly portable computer. It was ingenious for it’s time and sold like a million of the in the first year. My dad still has his and I think it still works.

    The problem was that the inventor had all the creative geek brillance of Steve Jobs but NONE of the marketing skill. With an excited geek world at his feet, Osborne anounced all of the upgrades that the “Osbourne 2” would have and that he was then going to make a super fantastic one called the “Vista” (I think).
    The young computing world cheered … and his sales dropped off overnight. No one want to shell out the cash for the current model with such good stuff just around the corner. Unfortunately, his 2nd model wasn’t even scheduled for release for another year and the “Vista” was still on the design board.
    Without sales the guy went bankrupt … just as Kaypro stepped up to the plate.

    This has been tonights, “Adventures in early computer hardware.”

  112. Morning Pan,

    So this weeks film choice is between the oh so naff looking Clone Wars or a restored print of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

    The spaghetii western is calling me…

  117. Well had a few hours to kill while out buying cables so saw Clone Wars while it was quiet.

    Yeah it’s a dud, but the the few kids in the cinema sounded like they were enjoying the pyrotechnics.

  118. But you have to wonder at what George Lucas was thinking to allow such a needless remix of the Star Wars theme tune.

    Not forgetting the cheesey narration to introduce the story rather than text scrolling text into the distance…..

  119. The last “Star Wars” film I saw removed any question from my mind that G. Lucas had abandon what ever creative muse he may have had and was just milking the Star Wars cash cow.
    He doesn’t make movies anymore … he sells franchises.
    Would you like that order of “Clone Wars” super sized ?

  124. Finally got round to buying an optical audio lead so I could plug it into my Dolby Digital box and use my surround speakers.

    Haven’t used it since Deadpan 94, and for some reason it’s giving off an antiseptic smell…

  126. Happy Friday Pan! I have to agree with Ed that the “Fate of the Galaxy” news is good news. Last night I found my FreeSpace 2 – Game of the Year CD’s and got it installed on my machine. Then I downloaded the FSOpen – FreeSpace patch which is an open source rewrite of the original to updated the graphics and playability. The end result is pretty amazing. I hope the Star Wars guys can pull off the conversion.

  132. “The last “Star Wars” film I saw removed any question from my mind that G. Lucas had abandon what ever creative muse he may have had and was just milking the Star Wars cash cow.
    He doesn’t make movies anymore … he sells franchises.
    Would you like that order of “Clone Wars” super sized ?”

    I’ve been indulging my inner Star Wars geek recently so all this SW talk is very timely. 🙂 I want to agree with everything JOe has said above.

    My personal preference would have been for George Lucas to make a single prequal movie, make it 3 hours long like all the LOTR movies were, and have someone else write all the dialog. That would make for a huge improvement overall. I don’t understand why GL wants to focus all his energy on the time period before ANH. Looking at most of the material written for the time period after the films, it’s really quite good. The character of Kyle Katarn in the Dark Forces – Jedi Knight games was brilliant. The idea of fighting the Remnants of the defeated Empire and other dark lords is a lot more exciting to me than rehashing of events that we all know the outcome for. Okay, end of rant. 🙂

  133. Since you’ve re-brought-it-up …

    While I love the Star War Universe and hold the original 3 (ok, maybe 2) films in reverence, I no longer see Lucas as the great filmmaker I once thought him to be.
    In retrospect, I think he is a tech guy. He is all about the the effects and gadgetry and the technology.
    I think he would be well served to stick to “How to make a stunning visual” and let creative story tellers decide what that visual should consist of.

    /my 2 cents worth

  135. I think Lucas is a stunning visionary and some of his early efforts that are short on dialog work quite well, THX1138 for example. But I agree, Lucas needs to stop writting. LOL

    What would a Star Wars sequal be like if it was written directed by Joss Whedon, Riddly Scott or David Fincher be like? Full of awesome I would guess.

  141. Still trying to trying to troubleshoot my Internet set-up.

    What is it about a web site that is a “log-in” page that makes it different from a “normal” site? What is that my computer can’t find when it “times out” for those sites?

  143. Pop quiz, hotshot: will my upcoming surgery be more or less painful than trying to make this laptop play nice with vista? Or, will I just be killed off by the paperwork?

    Show your work.

  147. Marlo: Good luck on your surgery.

    Trucker: I haven’t tried the RPG only the minis. But I find a lot of the fan fiction superior to Lucas’ vision. LOL

  148. EssBee: well, they keep giving me these things they call ‘painkillers’, but it’s a total misname methinks, and they act all surprised when I’m still screaming from pain. I guess for surgery I’ll at least be unconscious for the worst of it, one hopes. 😛

    Rhettro: Thanks, and pssst, thanks for saying you missed me. Makes one feel all squishy. 🙂

  154. OLYMPIC GEEK MOMENT!!!!

    For any of the rest of you who stayed up too late watching womens gymnastics … that piece of music that the final American girl used on her floor exercise… was that from Serenity/Firefly?
    It sure sounded like it and given the Chinese/American flavor or the Firefly Universe it would be a brilliant choice!

  159. WNDR: I flew into Tulsa, and drove out to /joplin hence the lack of warning. Not enough free time from work for fun. I think I need to try a saving throw vs. work.

    Marlo: Sorry to hear about your pain. My one bit of advice for Vista is that it’s an update whore, check that all your drivers and BIOS are up to date before updating Vista. It seems that if things aren’t tip top Vista likes to throw a hissy fit.

  161. “snark” would be it’s own sport, like “swimming” with various sub-events.
    For instance the 4xSnark Relay. This would consist of an ensamble cast of 4 (such as in Buffy) that would take turns laying on the “snark”

  168. In all fairness after using Vista on my new laptop this summer I could take it or leave it. I think it has better native support for the newer hardware profiles out there, like my touchscreen tablet. However it has so many gadgets and shiny items it’s a horrible hardware hog. But give it a year and it will be cheap to get a computer with the capabilities to run Vista well. Just like when XP came out.

  171. Well as mentioned previously, going to see the restored ‘The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly’ this weekend.

    I’m sure shopping will feature at one point.

    As well as a Sunday dinner.

    Avoidance of crowds is a must.

    Sleep.

  173. Good luck Van.

    I don’t have any concrete plans, but odds are good there will be laundry, new pants buying, carpet steaming and sleeping going on. There’s also a change I’ll get a hair cut and I may take my son to the comic shop for some more Star Wars Minis.

  174. I have to say I’ve gotten used to Vista. I remember having the same reservations against XP but XP wasn’t nearly the hardware hog. That said yeah, it is easy to get a machine that supports Vista, and other than my Adobe CS2 issues (as in Vista doesn’t support it… Simple solution, use CS3) I really haven’t had any problems running it. I thought I did with some Behringer hardware I’d bought with the machine, but after testing it on my XP machine I learned it was the Behringer hardware that was the issue. As far as “bells and wistles” go, I could go without the gadget bar but having a calculator running at all times is fairly cool. The fact that I can watch a show from the task bar is pretty neat as well. I also like what they did with the start menu, instead of having to search through panel after panel of programs I can just type in the name of the program I’m looking for and it calls it right up. And as a guy who runs a home network and is really into file sharing, I like the fact that your not “user locked” with any of your profile document folders, like My Documents, etc. With XP you’re completely locked from sharing these directories, so accessing stuff like podcasts or burned CDs from your wireless network isn’t possible unless you’re using Vista.

    And as far as the DRM goes, I’ve never noticed it. In fact if I had to say the worst thing I’ve run into with this operating system, besides the short learning curve, is that the built in DVD burning software doesn’t work for shit.

  175. Well I’ve lost all system sounds..lol

    Strange thing is that music and video playback is fine in iTunes and VLC.

    Sounds appears to work fine in games I’ve tried.

  178. Weirdly, vista worked fine on the first version of this laptop. That one had a password locking the bios, so it had to go back. This identical model is gasping through every damn update like a stranded fish.

    We managed to get somewhere forcing it to only do one update at a time.

    Such a pita….

  180. Or as a Pain In The… Asterisk.

    If it was bread, it would the too much whole wheat kind, that claims to be good for you, but tastes like refried death.

    And it would go moldy two weeks before its best before date.

    And yet still be the best dough product you could get.

  181. Well, finally got to see some of the olympics tonight. Watched Phelps win his 7th gold for the 2008 games. Very cool.

    Following that, saw this Adlington lady break a 19 year old record world record in the 800m swim. Congrats to the UK, Van.

    And, sheesh – 800m is almost half a mile. I’m sure I’d be dead if I tried to swim that far.

  182. And, now. let us have a moment of silence in remembrance of the dearly departed Farpoint Recap. Dub’s wit will definitely be missed. Hopefully, we will get to hear it from time to time on Deadpan.

    As long as Jack can code things so that no voting buttons appear when Dubshack is around, I think we can keep him around the Deadpan bar 🙂

  184. I just got back from a concert!
    I was dead tired and cranky from Olympic lack of sleep and really didn’t want to go but someone talked me into going out. Glad they did.
    A couple bottles of wine and an evening in the mosh pit has reset my outlook. 🙂

    Night Mush!

  188. Morning/afternoon/happy new day, Deadpan!

    I’ve just had a smidge of success with my Internet issue.
    I am now back to where I was some 10 days ago … as long as I use ethernet and not wireless.
    Baby steps … baby steps.

  189. Hi Deadpan!

    Congrats with that success, JOe!

    I’m currently sitting in a coffee shop that shall remain unnamed (it’s the one that doesn’t have free wifi) in Aurora, watching the downpour and reading/surfing. It’s 53 degrees outside, and we’re headed to a bbq once my babe finished with her meeting down the street.

  190. Well it was great to see that particular spaghetti western at the cinema (I had only seen it previously on TV).

    Even though it’s been restored, blue skies are very grainy.

    They must have lost the audio on added scenes, so it’s a bit jarring hearing someone impersonate Lee Van Cleef.

    Morricone’s score is still bloody brilliant.

  191. So weird moment for today:

    On the train was a woman Reading ‘The Art of Downloading Music’.

    She didn’t appear to have any sort of music player on her person.

  193. Is that a hint of snark I detect Ed? 😉

    It doesn’t seem like a secret to me that FPR was dead before it started. I had enjoyed the snark level I was able to bring on Wingin’ It but keeping up with it weekly was killing me, and there were weeks of that show that I’d listen to the live feed and just want to scream. Then I’d chat with Brian and he’d remind me it was all a big joke, and I thought I was pulling a Tropic Thunder by making a joke of the joke. Had I any inkling at the time that I had fibromyalgia and IT was the reason my life was falling apart and not podcasting, at least I could have been more honest with people. Thats probably my one and only regret.

    Of course now that I do know I don’t know what this does for me. It’s been a little over a week since my diagnosis, my doctor is still battling the insurance company to cover the medication he wants me on and while my own research shows that if this drug does work it will likely do very little for me, amongst all the choices of drug treatments it does appear to be the most promising. But its only a small part of the overall treatment… The has got to be the most complex syndrome I’ve ever encountered, and most of its symptoms can be alleviated with simple lifestyle changes… But those changes are specific and require a timeframe of years.

    In the mean time I have little to do but sit and wait. I had a writing/podcasting project in mind that I’ve been unable to do anything with it for lack of concentration. I figured contributions to the deadpan would be easier on me, but again, see lack of concentration. I kind of feel like an empty vessel more than anything right now… Occaisionally I’ll get an idea and it’ll have vanished from my mind faster than it arrived. I feel kind of lost at sea, without rudder or compass… The future is no more evident to me than anyone else can tell me. And as for the past… Well I think a lot of us around here would rather look ahead than behind. I personally just want to close my eyes and pretend I’m not here at all.

  196. The following comment is a public service announcement from the Smarty Hotties of Chicago:

    ATTN: Deadpan. We must alert you to a vast right wing conspiracy…

    Just as there is only 1 Highlander movie, the Star Wars movie empire only consists of anywhere between 3-6 movies (we are all free to decide which number that is. Personally I think it is a 4 movie series) and stops there. Any talk of some animated version is a LIE.

    Do not. I repeat DO NOT walk into a movie theater claiming to be showing an animated Star Wars movie. It will do nothing but turn your brain to mush and make you want to kill someone.

    you have been warned

  198. Yes, Van. Yes indeed.

    We made the same mistake and hoped to save others from doing the same. We knew it was going to be bad, but felt some fucked up need to see the complete George Lucas vision. We were not aware how completely fucking horrible it would be.
    We consumed large amounts of alcohol after in hopes of erasing it from our memory. The alcohol only seemed to increase the sudden and intense bouts of tourettes (spelling?) syndrome the movie seemed to have given us. It was ugly.

  199. http://tinyurl.com/594xs8

    Well perhaps this will help. I got my Geek on this weekend, and created a slideshow of my DnD and Star Wars minatures and games. Be sure to click the full screen button to get the full effect. Warning – Toxic levels of geekiness may lurk at this link. 😉

  200. Hugh sez: Lucas’s family needs to have a tough love intervention with him

    I agree. Like in Sopranos!

    Hugh sez: Yeah [silvio] You were throwing up in the toilet, and your hair was touching the water. Disgusting [/Silvio] or whatever it is he sez to Christopher

    [adrianna] Chris-ta-fur [/adrianna]

    Hugh sez: LOL. We can Soprano voice each other for hours.

    So true! so how abouts we stop soprano voicing and have a little play by play action?

    Hugh sez: yes!

  203. Deadpan unshow 16 continues…

    Rachel Ray something

    *pause*

    outrobabble

    send Jack some content

    he has a lot on his mind

    we’re wrapping up greasy spoon

    Hugh sez: Jack is all confused

    he is 🙂

    Southland tales ep reviews

    Dubshack went off the deep end

    and here is the last 18:15 of his thoughts…

  207. quantum entanglement

    Hugh sez: I’m going to pick up chics by saying I work in Quantum Entanglement

    Don’t you pick up enough chics by saying your a stock trader?

    Hugh sez: Yes. Women love the stock trading

    Hugh sez: [whisper] Dubshack makes fun of dead people!! [/whisper]

    duplicate Rocks? *shudder*

  208. Ok Dub

    we’re sorry. We can’t listen to this whole thing. We haven’t even seen the movie

    Hugh sez: please take no offense

    We know we suck. You can hate us, we understand. Most people hate us 🙂

    Hugh sez: who could possibly hate you babe?

    awwwww

  210. Deadpan 97

    MR ANDERSON!!!I love the Matrix, and I love Neo

    Dr Who!

    wow its a geekgasm intro

    Hugh sez: I love Trinity

    oooo me too.. I would so do Trinity

    Hugh sez: I would so do you and Trinity together

    oh you are so making fun of me

    Hugh sez: I SO am

    LOL *smack*

  215. nobody is a dirty dirty whore!

    Hugh sez: I love nobody

    you love me!

    Hugh sez: are you a dirty dirty whore?

    yes!

    Hugh sez: then I do love you!

    LOL.. awwww. you are ever so sweet to me

    Hugh sez: I try babe.

    Rapid eye desk contents

  222. Greasy Spoon Nipples Udder Bangles Susanna Hoffs Dickens Comments Cockles Spooges Comment-a-palooza shitzus donkus nose hairs nipples Comments solo nipples privates nipples sphincters comments comments teets areolas nipple comments comments nipples nipples greasy jelly nipple comments through Un show 16

    Smarty Hotties® – 26
    The Energizer Bunny – 23
    justa j0e – 19
    Vanamonde – 19
    Mr ditto swooon – 15
    Rhettro – 12
    Dubshack – 11
    Ed From Texas – 8
    Rhettro – 8
    Jeremy- 6
    Leann 2.0 – 6
    Trucker Overdrive – 5
    Alvie – 4
    disgruntled scientist – 4
    Thomas – 3
    Jackamo – 3 (even though it doesn’t count according to him)
    Amy Bowen – 3
    Lost Ralph – 3
    WNDR wolfie – 2
    Addie in boulder – 2
    EesBee – 2
    psion andy – 1
    Leather Clad Mistress of Deadpan – 1
    John Boze: 1
    g squared – 1

  223. nipple novelty (ha ha ha)

    Jacks reading the standings

    straight to the nipples

    the right one LOL

    Hugh sez: no Jack. he left one is the special one

    Don’t tell them that!

    Hugh sez: shut up woman! Hit submit comment (like she wasn’t going to let yu all know this info anyway)

    LOL. Heh

    Hugh sez: Don’t worry babe. i will protect your left nipple from Deadpan

    my hero!

  226. Greasy Spoon Nipples Udder Bangles Susanna Hoffs Dickens Comments Cockles Spooges Comment-a-palooza shitzus donkus nose hairs nipples Comments solo nipples privates nipples sphincters comments comments teets areolas nipple comments comments nipples nipples greasy jelly nipple comments nipples through ep 97 phase 1

    Smarty Hotties® – 26
    The Energizer Bunny – 25
    Vanamonde – 20
    justa j0e – 19
    Mr ditto swooon – 17
    Rhettro – 12
    Dubshack – 11
    Ed From Texas – 8
    Rhettro – 8
    Jeremy- 7
    Leann 2.0 – 6
    Trucker Overdrive – 5
    Alvie – 4
    disgruntled scientist – 4
    Thomas – 3
    Jackamo – 3 (even though it doesn’t count according to him)
    Amy Bowen – 3
    Lost Ralph – 3
    WNDR wolfie – 2
    Addie in boulder – 2
    EesBee – 2
    psion andy – 1
    Leather Clad Mistress of Deadpan – 1
    John Boze: 1
    g squared – 1

  229. Good evening, Pan. Just getting caught up before turning in for the night.

    Dub, only the requisite level of snark required for any posting on Deadpan. I definitely recommend that, once it stops being “fun” and becomes more like “work” it’s probably time to stop a podcast. Your circumstances are certainly extraordinary and “real life” most certainly has to come first.

    P.S. Jack – don’t read that paragraph up above. Deadpan forever……or until it’s not fun anymore.

    Personally, I’ve enjoyed the bits of wit that you’ve scattered about the Farpoint empire. As for ideas drifting into the either before you can do anything with them – I recommend keeping a notepad on you 🙂

    Deadpan is the way!

  239. knock knock
    who’s there?
    banana
    banana who?
    knock knock
    who’s there?
    banana
    banana who?
    knock knock
    who’s there?
    banana
    banana who?
    knock knock
    who’s there?
    orange
    orange who?
    orange you glad I didn’t say banana?

  251. Two Selenites heading towards Earth in their flying saucer. One says to the other:

    “You’ll like this place, it has atmosphere”.

  252. Two hydrogen atoms walk into a bar.

    One says, “I’ve lost my electron.” The other says, “Are you sure?” The first replies, “Yes, I’m positive…”

  255. Q What’s black and white and read all over

    A1 A zebra with a sunburn
    A2 A newspaper
    A3 A nun falling down the stairs (not PC)
    A4 Insert your own answer here

  258. All right, I think that’s all the stupid kids jokes i know.

    time to clean kitty litter and take out the garbage.

    Back soon.

  259. Yeah I know it’s a serious situation, but when flicking through TIME at my local borders, couldn’t help smiling at the headline (for Russia-Georgia skirmish) ‘The Empire Strikes Back’…

    What do you get if you splash boiling water on TEB?

    A hot cross bunny.

  265. Holy cow. My computer wouldn’t let me defrag, said I have low disk space. Did a check. Only 700 meg free. Must now try to clear some space.

  268. With the exception of the large dragons, which are in the living room, he actually keeps them nicely separated and categorized and in a GIANT flat(ish) container that takes up the entire under the bed. He used to use a computer program to keep track of what he has (sorry don’t remember the name but he got it on line) but I don’t think they’ve updated the datafile with the new series yet (the Giant series)

  272. And to be clear, the “regular weirdo” title is mine! LOL

    Van: Feel free to add any additional titles to your name. Baron Von Vanamonde has a nice ring to it. 😉

  278. First nipple:

    Pretty cool link, Vanamonde!

    Rhett: that is an impressive display of geekiness! Even a Dragon magazine. But — not a single Cheeto anywhere in sight.

    Marlo: best wishes for your surgery. Please keep us posted.

    Dub: your snark is always welcome here.

  279. Second nipple:

    I have plenty of stories from Vegas. . . . And lots of names to drop. JohnBoze (aka Paul Maki) was my roommate. As nice and funny in person as he is here — just much taller. I also met HellZiggy, who was super super nice. Dan Klass seems like a really good guy. Jonathan something or other, aka Spiritus something or other. . . Brian from Coverville, Tabz, Jonathan Coulton, FPM Bob – and many more! And of course, go to hang with old friends Tee Morris, Pip Ballantine, Brad P from NJ (there’s a photo of the 4 of us drinking a Warp Core Breach at Quark’s bar), Debbie (Spellwight), Stephen Jacob, Evo Terra and Sheila, Mike Mennenga (for about 5 minutes) and Jeffrey Willerth (for about 3 minutes), Dan and CJ. . . um, I’m sure I’m leaving someone out.

    The NME was a pretty good time.

  280. Thanks Jack, I think I had a bag of Cheetoes somewhere. LOL Glad you enjoyed the PME’s. I hope some of the PME story telling makes it’s way back into the next Pan. Of course it’s your show so do what you want, I’m not the boss of you. 😉

  283. Rhettro, there was a Zork Game (Grand Inquisitor), who had the line in it somewhere:

    Who is the boss of you? Me, I am the boss of you.

    I use to say that all the time to my kids 😉

  284. You know I’ve played a ton of Infocom games, saidly Zork wasn’t one of them. Ah, the days of putting a speed spell on a rainbow turtle and sending him to retrieve a scroll, because his hard shell would resist the piercing of arrows.

  287. Hey Van, (if you’re still on line) I’ve always been curious, what’s the time difference between you and… pick a spot in North America, I’ll do the conversion from there.

    I know that Beijing is 14 hours ahead of us.

  290. It’s 12:50 where I am so I guess it’s about 7 hours different (I thought it was more)

    DP is not on Arizona time, they’re only one hour behind us)

  304. TEB, I’m the opposite. I was perfectly content to snap touristy photos with my crappy phone camera.

    But then, I’ve never been much of a photographer. If I was, I’d buy that telescopic attachment.

  305. To be honest, I’m not a huge picture person, anyway. I’ll take a picture if I think of it, but it’s never really big on my “to do list” when I’m out touristing around

  306. Bleh! Mondays are always busy at work. We bought a new digital camera recently so the minis pictures was one way for me to try it out. 🙂

  310. Lookin’ good, Jack.

    I’m feeling awfully retrospective (not rhettrospective) tonight. Ah life. Ah loss. Ah anguish.

    Give the ones you love an extra squeeze tonight.

  312. It was, Ed. Jack was much like on-pod, but much live-er. No, actually it was really nice to be able to have one-on-one conversation without cellphone lag or Skype lag, or the misinterpretations to which typed conversations are prone.

    Same with all the folks I got to talk to, really. Wished I would have had more time to talk to Evo, said as much to him. But I did at least I did get valuable advice for when I go get my business snipped “Take the full three days off work.”

    We did get to meet a giant of writers. I’ll not namedrop, but I will say Hungarian television had better watch out next week…

  315. Does look like a swell time.

    I gotta hit the hay.

    CONFESSIONS OF AN OLYMPIC JUNKIE – I didn’t even watch the NASCAR race last Sunday … I had too much Olympics to watch.

  316. Morning Pan,

    Yes it’s raining again, low pressure system deciding to hang around rather move off.

    Summer appears have to have been officially cancelled.

    Ah well, off to work I go.

  317. Alright time to find a new job… I want to have fun too!!

    I want to meet Pip, Jack, Brian, Debbie, Evo, Jo Co.

    I want to be a podcast star too! Dammit!

    Alright ranting done thank you.

  322. Hah! Wolf, you come across fine on Wander Radio.

    CD: a cup of tea with milk and sugare
    CE: Some raisins covered in belgian chocolate

    Yum!

  324. So what’s wrong with being “rhettrospective?” LOL

    Listened to the Kate Bush episode of Coverville on the ride in, good stuff!

  328. WNDRWolf: I thought your voice was perfect for your character in “The Questors from Effpiem.”

    …speaking of which… my life has asploded since Deadpan #100 came out. I’m planning on recording a “bookmark” message for Deadpan #102, then getting back into it.

  331. Wow everyone’s here!

    Van: Done get to soggy.

    justa: (sung to the tune of “Highway Star”) “I’m a pod cast star!”

    ditto: We need to invent a catagory for what Jack does. “Creative Anarchy” comes to mind.

    EssBee: Now you’re talking!

    Amy: AMY!

  334. Rhettro: Hi! Yes, I’m here after a long hiatus filled with… *drumroll*… moving with my family to a new house. It’s exciting, but it’s eaten up all the time I otherwise would have spent writing and recording.

  339. Morning DP:

    Just got back from spending the morning downtown. I think I prefer it when I don’t have to go into the office 🙂

  341. No worries Amy, we’re not holding you to a schedule. LOL

    Wolf, sounds good.

    I have a friend who writes scenarios for Wizards of the Coasts’ Star Wars mini games. He sent me a link to an internet company that sells minis individually. Damn! There goes my paycheck.

    http://tinyurl.com/5khmf7

  344. Rhettro – For you and the other Deadpanites… I have a music episode coming out with new music from Brad Sucks…

    Amy – There is always my schedule…which is when I can fit it in…

  347. “So I’ve been playing Bionic Commando:Rearmed on the 360. Great fun, but hard..oh so hard…”

    Am I the only one who read that as “reamed”?

    I guess listening to 12volt theater on the way to work will do that. Nice introbabble by our Dear Mr. Mangan in episode 12, btw.

  349. Oh cool – that’s out now. Thanks again, Trucker, for letting me say “motherfucker” on someone else’s podcast.

    I got an email from the Parsecs this year, telling me that I’d been nominated, but its links were all screwy. I didn’t follow up and received no follow-up. I can’t imagine Deadpan ever winning an award — but then, that’s not why Deadpan is here, right?

    I can’t speak for Paul (JohnBoze), but I managed to do the whole weekend fairly cheaply. You guys are all the coolest kids. Methinks we need to choose a Con somewhere and invade. Turn a big chunk of it into Deadpancon.

  351. I just want to throw out that Comic Con ’09 is a real possibility for me next year. Just FYI, hotel space books up fast. I think we reserved a room in Feb back in ’06 for the late July Con.

  359. Yeah, nothing like beating on a few stereotypes to further a political message. Of course all it does is make you look woefully out of touch. LOL

  360. I agree with that too, ditto. I was SO annoyed by a few things over the weekend:

    1. FULL coverage, without cutting to any other events, of the women’s marathon for 2.5 hours.

    2. At LEAST 30 minutes of fawning over Michael Phelps and his coaching and his mother Sunday night.

    I could do a Copper Con or Cactus Con — maybe not as scary as Dragon Con for a first timer?

    CP: Mirror — Mary J. Blige

  361. Definitely dickish. Would that make McCain a Chaotic Evil half-orc?

    CopperCon 2008 happens in less than 2 weeks, same weekend as DragonCon. Phoenix’s next Cactus Comic-Con could make sense. Hmm. Or they still do LepreCon here every spring.

    If we could coordinate with some Con’s organizers to include a Deadpan track – – – and get a significant number of us there, then I’d also be willing to travel.

  369. EssBee you now have my attention… Bunnies are tasty…wait you meant…

    crap nevermind.

    CW:What is wrong with the Parsec Awards?

    CP: Queue – Anne Stringer “Variant Frequencies”
    (yeah I am about 1.5 weeks behind on my listening)

  375. Catching up on the comments now that I’m back from lunch. Not sure how to react the the fact WNDR likes to eat bunnies. (Not sure how my husband would react either…)

  377. Despite a very slow start, Canada is now up to 13 medals. I might be wrong (actually it wouldn’t surprise me) but I think that may be more than the last summer Olympics. We’re more of a winter sport country.

  384. Re: McCain –
    I’m afraid he is more of a Golam. Simply an animated puppet for darker forces.

    Re: Olympic coverage
    NOT NEARLY ENOUGH POLEVAULT DAMMIT!

    Re: Deadpan and Awards.
    Somehow, “acceptance” by the wider podcasting hoard would seem to only Cheapen the art that Jack has created. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it no mater how cool an award would be. 😉

    Re: Amy Bowen
    Yeeeeeaaaaaaaaa!!!!!

  392. Oh, come on! I was booking my flight to see the bikini.

    ditto, it’s my turn now for the mind numbing conference call. This, I think, is the 8th call we’ve had on the same topic. I’m sure something new will occur to us today.

  393. CP: Jenny Says — Cowboy Mouth

    I saw Cowboy Mouth at the 2006 JazzFest in New Orleans. They were just awesome hometown boys at a very somber JazzFest when NOLA was still pretty destroyed. Good/intense memory.

  395. Another problem with vista…

    Even though I practically had to challenge the sales guy to a knife fight to get him to upgrade the ram–he insisted 1 gig was already too much; I insisted vista needs 2, min, just to not spaz out completely–the 2 gigs is not enough to run photoshop without it nearly crashing with every file open and save.

    I realise photoshop was THE resource hog, no matter how hard ms tried to compete, but dang. I need to use the bloody thing to work. Sigh.

  397. ditto: I don’t know *why* we can’t do the summer olympics. It’s not like we actually have more months of winter. I think it’s just we put more value on things like hockey and skating. The ability to, say, run in a circle doesn’t impress us.

  402. I mean, any small developing nation could enter a few athletes here and there and not do well … but year after year the UK has entered them in droves without ever having a negative impact on their not winningness.

  408. LOL ditto.
    When I read your post I thought it said, “Is Dubya compensating for something?

    … and I thought, “Well … YAH!”

    Then I clicked the link and realized the error of my ways.

  417. Hey everybody, I hate to shill for my own pod cast on this show. I need to contribute more and haven’t been pulling my weight for the deadpan community.

    I’m doing a parsecs picks and predictions over on my show. I would suggest to do this over on the deadpan but it’s rife with negativity and podtaint. Deadpan has been a community of fun. I would really love to hear your input on who you think should win and will win.

    http://www.12vtheater.com

    http://www.parsecawards.com/node/541

    Dead pan would fall under “Best Speculative Fiction Comedy/Parody Podcast”

    I feel bad that I can’t bring over more fans to the deadpan. I don’t think I have too many listeners anyway.

    Dead pan is the way.

    wndr wolf you have great voice. 🙂

  431. I’e tried a few of those in the UK jj, and had good results. You have to be careful with what actually will get printed though, since cropping can occur if the aspect ratio of your scan or photo isn’t the same as the printers used by the company.

  439. Wow, I can’t believe it’s only ten. This morning is going sooooooo slow. I think I’ll take off to the mall for 1/2 and hour to see if that will help speed things along 🙂

  442. I’m definitely out for a 2008 Con appearance. But, I am hopeful for something in 2009.

    Is Balticon a possibility? It has at least sounded like a more podcast friendly place. I’d probably be up for another return to DragonCon as well. Even as a first timer myself last year, I found it a fun time. I wouldn’t be scared off of it if you’ve never been there.

  445. As for online photo printing – on the few occasions that I do print pictures, I upload them for printing at the Walgreens down the street from me and they turn out well enough. Usually ready in an hour, no shipping charges, and I can pick them up when I go out for errands.

    I do absolutely agree with the recommendation that you crop your picture in advance to the aspect ratio you will be printing. Do it before you upload where you have the most control. A few years ago I did some family pictures and went and uploaded separate files for the 8×10’s and 5×7’s that I had printed. They turned out quite well.

  450. Essbee – I wish I could help you.
    Ed – Balticon would be nice, I may not be able to make that. Lots of planning needed to go into that. The sooner this is decided the better for me.

  463. CP: 12 Volt Theater, Nathan Lowell interview. He lives in Greeley, CO! Just up the road from me!

    TEB is all set on the BFP front. She’s all about the AHP (apple head plant) action.

  469. Thanks for the “on-line photo” input everyone.
    I shall pursue it (if I can stay awake).

    Even though Dragon Con had a tinge of taint about it and I came home thinking, “Well, I don’t have to do that anymore.” … I too find myself thinking about making a return trek.
    Not this year but maybe next (?).

    If I ever win the lottery I’m going to get a block of room and send for all youse guys!
    (hmmm maybe I should actually BUY a lottery ticket then)

  473. Our Olympic count is still at 13. They better get on it. Of course, I guess the fact that it’s 3:30 am, there, means we’ll have to wait a few more hours…

  480. Crikey TEB, you part Inuit* or something?

    *-Inuits are (in)famous for bleeding profusely from small cuts due to the large amounts of Omega 3 fat in their diet.

  485. Crikey Van you part Wiki* or something?

    *- The Wiki were known for their vast amounts of diverse and unrelated knowledge.
    Their culture being the basis for what is now known as the “Wikipedia”.

  510. ditto was serving cake in a previous post!

    Which is also the answer to “Who finds dinner sexy?”
    I for one, have had some meals that I found to be tasty enough to nearly induce orgasm.
    Often they are of the dessert variety and involve chocolate but there was this one steak in Los Vegas … mmmmmmm

  514. Essbee I’m glad Nathan lives up the road from you. The last thing you want to do is traveled “down the road” to meet someone. May please have a rimshot.

    Is anybody from here going to Dragoncon so I can say hi. I really don’t care if you listen to my show not. It’s cold as meaning people from the deadpan. Or slice or any other show I listen really.

  519. All right! Let’s get the ropes set. Ready? Good!

    All right, here comes a reasonably slow one. Toss it.

    Oops, nope you overthrew. Here’s another–good!

    Okay, now mount up!

    Yee-Haw! You’ll have that there tumbleweed broke in time for vittles…

  521. Oh, I guess since I spilled it to just about everyone in Vegas…

    There’s another mini-Boze on the way down here at the ranch…

  528. Re: Blu-Ray
    A buddy was telling me that the cost of trying to get a video production distributed in Blu-Ray format (as opposed to plain old DVD) was insane. There was a surcharge of over a thousand dollars just to pay the freaking “liscensing fee” to use the Blu-Ray logo on the disc … a logo that you are contractually obligated to put on there if you get the disc encoded in the Blu-Ray format.

    Ain’t monopolies grand!
    (Did these people learn nothing from the Betamax debacle?)

  529. Morning Pan,

    Get an Xbox 360 (use the vga lead) or PS3 or a DVD player that upscales video. Sit a few feet back, and picture looks good on an HDTV.

    That was your money saving tip for the morning.

  532. The problem I face is that my TV, while HD capable, is pre HDMI. So, Blu-Ray/HD-DVD is right out. I’ve looked at upscaling DVD players, but most of them only upscale over the HDMI connection as well.

    I do have a progressive scan DVD player which looks pretty good. I’ll have to see if any analog upscaling DVD players have come down to a reasonable price yet.

  533. “I’ll have to see if any analog upscaling DVD players”

    Doesn’t that defeat the purpose?
    It would be like getting a Ferrari without wheels.

    I thought that “upscale” meant to convert the digital information on the DVD to an HD signal. If you then convert it back to an analogue NTSC signal you have undone all that.

    If you buy an upscaleing DVD player but don’t use an HDMI cable to get all that data to an HD monitor, I don’t believe you are getting any added benefit.

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