Posted on Shows

Jack Mangan’s Deadpan #142: Flash in the Pan, Part 3. Mongopalooza Part 2

Crabbe Show Notes.

Thanks TEB for the show notes!

Jack Mangan’s Deadpan #142: Flash in the Pan, Part 3. Mongopalooza Part 2

Jack’s “Hooked on a Flash”

Next two episodes will feature Tee Morris (http://teemorris.com/) on Flash Gordon

Big pat on the back to all Deadpanites for surpassing comment goal

Promo – Night’s Knights by Emerian Rich (http://www.emzbox.com/)

Guest Tee Morris continues his talk of Flash Gordon from DP episode 140

Greasy Nipple by
JohnBoze
Justa J0e

Tee Morris Continued

Echoed Greasy Nipple by
Vanamonde
Johnny Null

Tee Morris Continued

Greasy Nipple
Cj
Nomad Scry

Tee Morris Continued

First comment of the week
Vanamonde

Next episode: conclusion to Flash in the Pan

Vote on the next Duel of the Fates

Stay tuned to episode 144 for news of Huey Lewis

Send in content: 206-350-Tomi (8664) or e-mail: sphericaljackmatgmaildotcom

Closing music (Soldier Boy Jam)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

1,434 thoughts on “Jack Mangan’s Deadpan #142: Flash in the Pan, Part 3. Mongopalooza Part 2”

  2. If in debt, rub it yet.

    Van is quick on the draw! I thought for sure that Nomad Scry was going to catch the first one this week, since he’d recently posted a Garfield comment on 141.

    Goodnight, Flush.

  13. reaper peaks this head out from around the corner
    Is it safe… will I brake it again…
    reaper slowly hits the submit button and backs away

  18. I’m here and then I’ll be gone. I have an escape breakfast with a couple of my mom friends this morning.

    Eventually I’ll come post an update. Right now I need to sync my ipod so I can take the show on the road with me.

  24. I guess also when I’m working some of what I do includes waiting on others or waiting for things to brake… I often can have lots of time on my hands

  36. Yes Van! We were quite surprised to see the actual book in the store. I skipped ahead and the sex scene really does seem to start on page 105 like they mentioned in the show, and the dedication is the same as they mentioned also.

    TV tie ins can sometimes be strange

  38. Vanamonde: Being compared to Jim Davis is an insult, IMO, unless you’re talking about his staying power. Garfield hasn’t been funny in decades. Had a good few years in the beginning, though.

  39. The book is about an upscale reporter named Rook (I groaned at that one too) who does a tag along with an officer for a story he’s writing.

    Gee, I wonder where they got that idea from?

    It’s also only 200 pages, the one on the show looks a lot thicker than that.

  61. Ah, TEB – I, too know the book. At least by reputation. My wife actually bought a copy for her Kindle. Definitely an interesting twist on tie-ins.

  63. Good Morning, Pan!

    I feel lucky to have missed the wonk drama.

    NS: by calling Scott Kurtz “the Jim Davis of Webcomics”, we mean that he’s quietly successful in the webcomics field.

    Paws Inc (the Jim Davis/Garfield corporation) is a multi-billion dollar per year business. Garfield is simply shown in so many newspapers in so many languages, you wouldn’t think about finding a paper that didn’t carry it. At the same time, stuffed toys, greeting cards, memorabilia, games, movies, etc. make up the lion’s share of the company’s income. Which makes the Garfield Comic strip a strong advertising ploy.

    Now, Scott Kurtz over at PVP isn’t nearly as successful as Jim Davis. He’s not even as successful as Penny Arcade, but he’s made his success on his own terms and he owns his characters, which is exactly where Jim Davis started.

    OK. Stepping away from the lectern.

  64. Bunny’s not happy. My favourite fitness store closed down. Had to go to one a further from my house 🙁

    But still got what I wanted, now chewing Chinese food waiting for the news to come on

  65. Sometimes having a neurotic cat is a good thing. She is strictly an in-door cat, but it’s such a nice day I have the back door open while I work in the kitchen. Luckily, I know she won’t go beyond the deck because she’s afraid of grass.

  67. Ok so the update on my Gram is this: She appears to be recovering. A couple days ago the doc thought she’d had a stroke and she was going to be put in hospice care.

    Now the docs are saying they think it might have been an allergic reaction to some new meds she’s on. They’ve taken her off and she’s stopped hallucinating and actually ate some food.

    So, we are back to seeing what happens next.

  70. What bugs me about Jim Davis:

    He’s stated that from the get-go, he was creating a franchise to launch merchandising sales in addition to the Sunday Comics base, using data about what had worked for other comics and characters in the past. So Garfield isn’t the inspired work of a genius like Schulz, Watterson, or Larson, driven by wit and a passion for comics, it’s a product designed by an uber-savvy marketing guy.

  74. I’m hitting the “virtual pavement” again today.

    I have an interview next week that looks promising, but not getting my hopes up as they’ve been recently dashed. Keeping my options open!

  76. jackmangan: Yes. You are correct, sir. In fact, Garfield is based on general principles inspired by Peanuts. Not the clever, funny, early years, but the sedate “Snoopy sleeping on his dog house” years. The comfortable years that everyone felt comfortable with, like a warm security blanket. Very clever marketer, very uber-savvy, and really kind of a wanker on the whole.

    Monotonous. But even more clever is the fact that Jim Davis wants Garfield to stay that way. He doesn’t want his creation to become ridiculously popular. Sudden popularity might kill the franchise. Which is why in the ’90s when the Garfield “stick to the car-window” suction cup toys got pulled from the shelves for 5 years and other Garfield stuffed toys as well. Davis saw a flair up in popularity and put it down for the longevity of the enterprise. He is a good businessman. I also hear that once a week he even tells the people who draw his strip for him what Garfield’s doing that week.

    Makes me sit back and feel sick, but in an awed kind of way.

  79. Cj: More mental empathy emissions heading your way. Scheduled for Noon as usual.

    DJ Bunny: And while the destruction of a Garfield doll and apparent ridicule by the persons sticking it ass-end out of their trunk might seem counter productive – Those guys still payed $15 Canadian or more to do it… Jim Davis wins again…

  93. There was a cute/horror sketch on BBC tv involving one of those Garfield suction cup dolls.

    You see a thug break into a car, as he enters the car the audience sees the eyes of Garfield move towards the thief..then you see the thief getting mauled by the doll.

    Naked Video the show was called.

  94. I don’t have a problem with Davis targeting a market. It might not make him an artistic genius, but he it also meant he didn’t have to be a starving artist. Besides, he could have been wrong about marketing plan, so you still have to give him credit for taking the risk. Nothing is guaranteed and he certainly worked for his success.

  96. Another philosophical question;

    If you had credit debt so high that your credit was cut off and you were about to have your house and car re-possessed because you couldn’t make those payments … so you went to your Uncle and had him use his considerable net worth to take out a loan and give that money to you to bail you out …

    Would it be out of line for him to expect to have some say in how you spent that money (such as NO lavish spending on yourself) until you had payed him back?

  100. J0e: It would not be out of line for him to request no lavish spending before you paid him back IFF no agreed payment schedule was in place. If you agree to pay him back $x per month and you stick to that, and suddenly you find yourself in better financial straights, he has no right to step in and change the agreement and prevent you from going on a cruise or some such.

    It all comes down to whether you say “I’ll pay you back when I can” VS. “I’ll pay you $500 a month”

  101. Ok in the UK ‘nookie’ is a slang word for sex.

    Does it mean the same thing in Canada and the USA?

    This was after seeing JB’s post on FB.

  124. Bunny, I was surprised that the Rick Castle book was a real book. Let me know if it’s any good. I’m also reading a new book – Blood Engines by T.A. Pratt (Book 1 of the Marla Mason series). It’s a wanna-be Dresden Files type book. Not bad so far.

  125. Evening pan. finely done with my fixin running around, shopping, renting, and taxiing. that all started about 100 nipples ago. the pan has been sizzling… hehe I love puns

  126. i just learned i had a Syndrome that is important enough to have it’s own acronym (GBS) I must be a geek because that made me happier about it

  141. OK. I’ve officially had too much caffeine today…

    I’m out for the night, Panites!

    May your Ballrooms always Blitz, may your Nuclear Wessels always be in Alameda, and may your Barbie Dolls always grow up to be smarter than Einstein and have magical powers…

  142. I remember broadcast TV altering the Weird Science line,
    “But first I’d like to butter your muffin”

    to the much more family friendly:
    “but first I’d like to better know you, muffin”.

  151. “‘Cassandra, I have to say it–You look excellent.”

    “Thanks. I’ve been so busy lately with my band, I thought I was getting meningitis.”

    “I thought I had mono for an entire year. It turned out I was just really bored… You’re so fine You’re so fine, you blow my mind…”

  155. The friend of whom I speak has nothing to do with nor has ever had anything to do with Deadpan.

    I promise. 🙂

    Deadpanties are purrrrfect and helpful and loving.

    I *swooooon* for all Deadpanties.

  158. Pumpkin is the finest of the fall flavors. Aside from Oktoberfest.

    So Lejon went to play an Atari ST game tonight with his friends? An Atari ST game party would seriously rock. For about 45 minutes.

    I often quote the “I thought I had mono for an entire year…..” line, but I’d somehow forgotten the meningitis joke.

  166. Hmmmm, think I could last longer than 45 minutes on the ST version of Supersprint..vroooooooooom!

    Morning Pan, going 64 bit soon, wish me luck…

  167. CPIMM: Metallica – Sanitarium

    It’s stuck there. Crap. How can I sleep with this song stuck in my brain?

    Welcome to where time stands still
    No one leaves and no one will
    Moon is full, never seems to change
    Just labeled mentally deranged
    Dream the same thing every night
    I see our freedom in my sight
    No locked doors, no windows barred
    No things to make my brain seem scarred

    Sleep, my friend, and you will see
    That dream is my reality
    They keep me locked up in this cage
    Can’t they see it’s why my brain says “rage”

    Sanitarium, leave me be
    Sanitarium, just leave me alone

    Build my fear of what’s out there
    Cannot breathe the open air
    Whisper things into my brain
    Assuring me that I’m insane
    They think our heads are in their hands
    But violent use brings violent plans
    Keep him tied, it makes him well
    He’s getting better, can’t you tell?

    No more can they keep us in
    Listen, damn it, we will win
    They see it right, they see it well
    But they think this saves us from our hell

    Sanitarium, leave me be
    Sanitarium, just leave me alone
    Sanitarium

    Just leave me alone

    Fear of living on
    Natives getting restless now
    Mutiny in the air
    Got some death to do
    Mirror stares back hard
    kill is such a friendly word
    seems the only way
    for reaching out again

  178. EssBee. The book reads a lot like an episode of Castle. Being only 200 pages it’s a fairly quick read. I started it on Wednesday and only have 20 pages left so will most likely finish it today.

    If you like the show, you’ll probably like the book. Bring popcorn.

  180. LOL

    Just reading where the head of Faux’ News department met in private with a White House official to try and plead for his reporter. Seems that about a week ago or so, the White House cut off Faux News from news conferences citing that they had abandon standard reporting practices, replacing facts with opinions and were no longer considered a news agency.

    Basically, the head of Faux news department was asking the White House to try and keep a distinction between his news reporters (and their 10 minutes of actual news coverage) and the anti-Obama commentators that made up the other 23 hours and 50 minutes of Faux’s daily broadcast.

  181. I missed a ton yesterday, so trying to catch up

    ditto: I was unimpressed by The Rocketeer. Of course, it could’ve been because of the insane amount of hype surrounding it for so long. I doubt any movie could’ve lived up to it.

    I also recall the VHS version took quite some time to come out, and originally had a price tag in the neighborhood of $120.

  184. I know I am probably the loan conservative here (I am NOT a Republican) but I know not a single person in the media would have stood for it if MSNBC gotten this treatment by the Bush administration.

  185. And a tsk to Mr. Tee: Buckaroo wasn’t “sitting around” when he said, “No matter where you go, there you are.”. He interrupted his concert, since he is, of course, also a rock star, to console a crying woman. He sensed her sorrow.

    But I would totally go for a Buckaroo Banzai Palooza. Mind you, I can’t name a single actor in the movie, apart from John Lithgow (sp?). Odd what we remember.

  193. My cube is in the storm shelter if it weren’t for my Google desktop weather app I wouldn’t have any idea what was going on outside.

  197. TEB: More often than not Rubic’s. the walls are gray with back accent in the “hardware to fit together parts” I also have a 3×3 grid of Farside comics to add to the affect 🙂

  210. Let’s see… what’s on the menu for the upcoming week that I’ll need groceries for:

    Maybe I’ll do a Beef Satay tomorrow
    Rosemary Cream Steak on Sunday
    Mini Meatloaf on Monday
    Tuesday is MA so it’s leftover night
    Wednesday will be Spaghetti and Meatballs
    Thursday is also MA so it’s leftovers again
    Friday is gaming so it’s fast food night.

    That sounds like a good week’s menu. Now to write down what I need for groceries…

    Later!

  212. Haven’t done much cooking lately. Probably won’t have time over the weekend. But, I should dig through the cookbooks and come up with a meal plan. Something different for a change.

  217. ditto: I know my job isn’t unique with this and I also have users who just don’t listen.
    user: “So… the you think it’s the hard drive”
    In my head: “no moron I just said it wasn’t or are you just referring to the PC as “hard drive””
    what I actually say: “not sure I’ll have to take a look at the event log but we’ll get it fixed”

  218. reaper: Yep, it is a very human thing.

    It is also a really frustrating part of the computer industry, something that the industry as a whole is purposely blind about. It is easier to claim that some piece of technology or process is at fault rather than admit that the overwhelming majority of project failures are the result of communication failures.

  219. ditto: Preach it brother!!! people don’t respond well to being told they didn’t listen. I have at least 4 users that I often just copy and paste something I wrote earlier in the email thread. I get comments from other users who are CCed in the email asking if that is what I did. we get a lot of laughs from that kind of thing. I am VERY glad our cubes are the only ones in the storm shelter at work because we rant, complain, let off steam, and laugh quite a bit in our little concrete bunker.

  222. I saw a good Slate article yesterday calling out to actual journalists to stop appearing on FoxNews segments, to stop treating it as if it were a legitimate outlet for News or unbiased commentary. Nothing like a boycott, just a cold shoulder. I’d talked to J0e offline once about making a similar statement onpod about the loudmouth faux-right opportunists. I still might, but I’ll probably just keep the politics on the billiards table. 🙂

    Now to get fully caught up.

  223. jackmangan: Actually, the Time Bandits game in question is either a board game or a card game (can’t find much on it, and I’ve never played before).

    Coincidentally, Wednesday night I assisted a friend who recently found/acquired an old Atari 2600 system with games. They needed an RF Modulator and matching transformer, which (so they said) you can no longer purchase in retail establishments such as “Radio Shack”. Since I had a couple to spare, I doled out. They paid in Sushi. I felt that worked out well.

  226. sometimes when I fold the towels my dog will sit on them as I fold and stack them on the couch. when I keep stacking them on top of him he doesn’t seam to mind. I don’t think he would like it if I tried to put him away with the towels though.

  229. My boss is being a schmo.

    Actually she’s not being unreasonable, but she’s asking questions that I know we weren’t prepared to answer.

    She’s starting to do her budget for next year (the joys of working for a big corporation) and wants to plan a trip out to see me in the spring (since, by then it will be close to two years since we’ve seen each other face to face).

    She knows, with hubby in the teaching profession, I take time off in the spring. I know hubby and I are taking a week in April, but there was talk of a DP meet up in March. Not to be all deadliny on y’all, but she’s asking me for a ballpark date by month end (next Friday), so she can give a rough date to the powers that be for her trip out here.

    Since it’s really Jack’s thing, I’m asking him if the weekend of March 13th would work. Cj? Other Panites?

  235. I believe that’s the first weekend of SXSW, but I highly doubt I can justify that kind of expense. March 13 should work for me to do the next Deadpan MMMmmmeetup. That will also give you cold-climate folks a break.

  241. I still have 30 more minutes of silliness, than about 40 minutes of driving silliness maybe even some store silliness to pick up stuff for dinner…
    Enough with the silliness. I just want to sit on the couch with a beer

  242. It doesn’t have to be March 13th Jack, if you’ve got other, even hoped for, plans. The week before or the week after will also work. I just picked the 13th as mid-month.

    I do have a week before my boss starts poking me for a decision.

  249. Lejon: more gray in the middle but the “hold it together”parts are about that dark. though I have standard fabric walls so I can hang things other wise I would go crazier!!

  250. Jack: I think I’ll go with skittlebrau that seams silly enough.
    Actually I just picked up Bud Light Golden Wheat. Not a bad attempt at taste for light beer. I recommend it if it is on sale… and you have a good coupon…

  253. I live in Wisconsin so I have some pretty good choices because on top of the locals we can also get Chicago and Twin City beers. My Favorite is Spotted Cow on tap (not the same in the bottle). When I get to a brew pub I don’t recall ever getting a light beer so I don’t know how that stack up.

  255. I can endorse Spotted Cow (anything outta New Glarus, really). I had a Big Rock Grasshopper two weekends ago. My favorite Twin Cities brewery is Surly. Wingin’ It listeners may recall when I sent Surly Furious to Evo. Not sure if Jack was in studio that day…

  256. Reaper, you live in Wisconsin which means you can get Stone & Dogfish Head too. Always irks me that you can get those in WI, but not in MN.

  258. JohnBoze: I don’t recall seeing any Stone in my neck of the woods but I will keep an eye our for it. I haven’t gotten adventurous enough for Dogfish head yet but I am always tempted.

  260. I’d definately be in for a Buckapolooza. 🙂

    But that movie was so painfully 80’s I remember thinking it was dated in while watching it for the first time IN the 80’s. LOL Still the best movie with a surgeon/guitar hero as the main character.

  265. I had a friend that like to fish for squirrels… Fishing seams like the wrong name for that but I guess at least people know what you mean…

  267. This region of conversation is leaving me in the need for an Overthruster Brew with a Lectroid chaser… Perhaps I will pretend to be a businessman slowly getting stoned in Allentown while complaining that I didn’t start the fire, NO I didn’t light it but I’m trying to fight it, and Where Is Orson Wells when you need him???

  275. JonhBoze: hearing the name of places I had been added a little to the story for me. Believe it or not there is a farmersville, wi near FDL it has 4x as many animals as people.

  277. Jack: one hand has stopped now b/c it is now clutching a beer. however 1 handed typing isn’t easy…
    that reminds me I wanted to check for stone & dog fish head beers @ the store… drat foiled again

  280. we have/had some RBT in town. there is a 30ft high walleye on a trailer. It used to be parked just out side my house when I was growing up. and we have a bull that is about 35ft high. I know both are still around town somewhere… we also have some Sinclare dinosaurs at the local truck stop but they are not big.

  308. Hi, Guys and Girls. I still feel like shit. H1N1 can suck it.

    reaper, you’re not the lone DP conservative. I’m a flaming homo environmentalist feminist lib, but there are other conservatives on the board.

  311. I’m conservative (NOT at republican yes I do thing that is an important distinction) but to me that means I can disagree with you but I can’t tell you what you can do. just like you can disagree with me… and I often enjoy that. if we all agreed we couldn’t grow because we would all (well maybe) be right.
    if i never talked with someone i didn’t agree with i could never change my mind or get better in my argument. I am a conservative because i believe in individuals ability to make things better and i have more i give more. and maybe not the best motivation to do something greed works if someone didn’t want to make money doing what they loved I couldn’t enjoy my spotted cow b/c they couldn’t/wouldn’t do it if they didn’t make money
    where did I put that locker for my soap box…

  312. sorry i’m not very good @ grammar and that comment need more commas. all in all thanks for accepting me and giving me a laugh and smile when i need it even though we don’t see eye to eye

  313. back to the silliness
    anyone play super smash brother brawl, Mario kart Wii, Dr Mario Wii, or tetris Wii? playing agents random people gets old…
    ya i know i’m a big kid but all my friends play ps3 or xbox games…

  314. reaper: agreed. All views are welcome here, as long as they’re respectful. It’s a community, yo, not a commune.

    CW: BtVS S6, E? The one where Spike and Anya hook up.

  316. Van if you are ever up for some kart let me know. I’ll have to dig up my licenses number… I love games that don’t take themselves to seriously…
    kind of a way of live for me

  321. The film is still brilliant BTW.
    I didn’t realize till just now that Pixar had a hand in it.
    Pixar, Tim Burton and Danny Elfman. If they ever decide to take over the world I am going to HAVE to sign up to be one of their henchmen. How could I not?

    On a sad note … part of the magic of this film is the art involved in the “stop motion” film technique. With the huge strides that have been made in Computer animation just since this film came out … it’s easy to forget the effort and almost magical art involved in making those smooth motion shots where the charactures are moving and the camera is revolving around them.

    Now it’s all done on the desktop by an army of minimum wage, pixal pushers and a render farm. Still magic I guess but … kind of like the difference between flying in a commercial airliner and just simply levitating. Both methods are flying but one has that certain something !

    Oh well. A good evening anyway.

  322. reaper: Anytime you’d like to be pwned by a 5 year old girl you let me know and we’ll hook you up with Sarah and some Smash Bros. Brawl.

    Or you could play against Dan and it might be a fair fight.

    Srsly though. My daughter kicks da butt!

  324. ~Intolerance, trolling, incivility, disrespect, a Deadpanite craves not these things. Otherwise, different intelligent, reasonable viewpoints are welcomed.

    ~Van, I’d say that coin toss depends entirely on the incident.

    ~And on a much more trivial note, I pose the question: Paranormal Activity or Zombieland? Which to go see?

  326. Catching up:

    Rigid Breast Tissue

    My motto is “Neither a leader nor a follower be” which means that I tend to disagree with anyone who is a [insert label here] – It makes politics interesting.

    I hate and enjoy Smash Bros – I cannot find any sort of skill to it. Just hit buttons fast and hope. Not like DOA2:Hardcore for PS2 where it was almost all skill. Random mashing got you dead, fast.

    Jack – I think the noise around Paranormal Activity reminds me of Blair Witch. Zombieland sounds like it has a hope of not being bad. So…. I vote you see PA so you can tell us how shit it is. =) Okay?

  327. We had to trade in our Wii because it stopped reading discs after we got Smash Bros. Thankfully Nintendo is a babe and made it really easy to send it back for repairs. Turn around was less than a week.

  336. 0473-7601-7382 is my smash brother friend code. I am normal posting when i’m playing b/c it takes so long to find others to play
    5112-3847-8093 is my kart number. i’m a little rusty on that but I at one point get gold on all the tracks I still don’t have start rating on the mirror tracks though

  340. Smash brothers is a game where you can get very far but button mashing and i do that when i get frustrated and then i suck. I think the game is so much fun for me because there are challenges that force you to get better at attacks or blocking and dodging. I only have 11 of them left but some are also just tedious like brawl for 100 hours or collect all stickers/CD.

  348. Good morning. My, you’ve all been busy bees.

    I’ve already returned a video game to Hollywood and went to check on my Gram.

    She’s much worse, although she did seem to realize at one point that I was there. I was able to get some water in her and reminder her how much we love her. She’s being re-evaluated by hospice today. I don’t believe we have much longer – but I’m really in no place to make that determination. So I wait.

  355. justa J0e: I agree. Wallace and Grommit is also an excellent showcase of stop-motion animation. There’s a charm that’s virtually impossible in any other medium. It also lends “weight” to the characters and environment, since they actually exist. To my eyes, the ships in Star Wars look more realistic than more recent movies, since they were actually fabricated. Yes, it’s obvious they employed serious kit-bashing, but they have substance.

    In contrast, look at The Matrix trilogy. In which ever movie had the exploding skyscraper (the third, I think?), they employed insane amounts of data and horsepower to render scenes. They sent the fabric used for Neo’s trenchcoat to NASA to get quantifiable data on the reflective/refractive/and so on properties of the material. But watch him fly through the building while it’s exploding. It looked phony and dated. When it was first in the movies it looked cheesy. Imagine what it will look like in say, five years from now.

    Even though I love tech, and I’d love to work professionally with Blender/Lightwave/Maya, there are real limits to what it can achieve.

  356. Cj: It’s sad and terrible to go through these things in life. I hope we can be at least some semblance of humor, heart, stability, and support.

  358. On the topic of politics, I tend to be picky about where and when I talk about it. There’s several reasons.

    * People can get very touchy about the subject, and I’d rather not get into a fight, verbal or physical, if I can get away with it.
    * I’m more often online at work, but I typically have very little time to poke my head in and say something. So I do not have the time to read or formulate anything of much substance.
    * Growing up, my father would talk to us about politics. The most boring, dreadful garbage you have to hear as a child.
    * I tend to be in the John Stewart camp. People spend too much time labeling themselves and waving flags simply because they’re on one team or another, not actually working towards “the greater good”.
    * Talk is cheap. People don’t do anything.
    * Your vote really doesn’t count.

  359. Yesterday I saw a car with the vanity tag: PC WHIZ. I just don’t know if that means he likes computers, or if he advocates Kegel exercises.

  363. So word is Fox News was not on the list of networks who requested invites to the Treasury interview mainly due to the fact that Fox News never requested an interview.

  371. November this year is far too full of other crap to consider registering an official Nanowrimo bid, but I have been thinking about working the structure of and possibly beginning some RBT-related writing.

  373. after noon pan, just watched “a first look” at V looks interesting. I remember the TV show/Mini-series as a kid and as I recall I really enjoyed it. The new one looks cool the first 9:30 minutes of the 10 minute video was a waist of time though

  380. SGU light was pretty good. so far my least favorite but it was still good.
    Johnny: I have the V mini-series and it is pretty good for the time. I was young when the series was on, it aired 84-85. I might just be remembering it through the SF hungry eyes of youth…

  382. I am looking forward to V. I remember watching it when I was younger, but I don’t remember the details. I just know it was on in my house. I was never a huge TV kid, but this does seem like it will be a fun watch!

  387. reaper: I’m not aware of a way to stream Netflix with Linux. To my knowledge, when announced, it’s going to built up around Moonlight/Silverlight/WTFIt’sCalledThisWeek.

  389. Johnny: That sucks. That type of thing is what keeps we away from Linux. well that and the fact that I don’t want to spend time getting things to work. I don’t like looking at PCs past messing around after work.

  391. reaper: I’ve done a ton of distro-hopping. I’ve found very little in the way of hassle. Far less than my Windows box at work. I even ran Arch Linux. I had problems in Arch largely due to the fact I kept trying out new DEs and WMs. I’ve been running Ubuntu Studio for quite some time with only two niggling annoyances. I’m sure that I can fix them, but I’m about to switch to a different distro, probably Sabayon.

    As long as you pop in a LiveCD of the distro you’re interested in and it works, you’re pretty much golden.

  393. Hey, uh . . . trivial trivia here. Ya know those spinny blade things at the bottom of a blender? Those are sharp. Just figured I’d let people know.

  396. Johnny: I think the most important hurtle is the SAF (spouse acceptance factor) I tried Linux first back in 98 but no one made a driver for my video card (still haven’t) so the best i ever go for res was 640X480 that made it imposable to do anything. when i have messed with linux in the past i liked it

  397. Hi, everyone. I have spent the evening with my mom and uncle saying goodbye to my Grandma. She passed away a few hours ago and is finally resting well. She lived a long life full of love and laughter and while I know she’ll be missed, I’m definitely relieved that she is at peace and that I was able to kiss her this morning and tell her that I loved her and hear her tell me she loved me in return.

    You’ve all been so wonderfully supportive. Thank you. *hugs*

  398. Cj: I know there isn’t anything any of us can say that will make it easier but we are here round the clock too as it seams. I lost most of my grandparents more than 10 years a go. it is a hard one.

  406. Cj: You’re wonderfully lucky to have had such a beautiful send-off. When I last saw my (maternal) grandmother, she was very heavily sedated. She was obviously reacting to what I was saying, but it was so very muted. She couldn’t even open her eyes. To have a last exchange like you had, that’s something to really cherish.

  407. Lejon: Forgot about that one! No, I actually have not. It’s actually on my list of things-to-do. First I am going to swap distros, and then try to find a way to pipe content over to the television without spending too much. I can’t stand watching movies/shows on the computer. Perhaps I’m old.

  409. Jack: That is excellent culinary advice!

    We’re trying smoothies for healthy, low-cal snacks.

    We’re also switching to almond milk for most things. 50 calories per cup as opposed to 90 in skim milk.

  410. I salute you JN, but milk without fat is so pointless for me I would rather do without..fat adds to the taste in a way that so hard to describe.

  412. Vanamonde: Yes, we much prefer the taste of whole milk. Then we switched after reading the concerns over the hormones in milk. Oh, and we’re very big on cheese. That’s a tough one.

  413. JohnBoze: Oh, we’re paying off debt here and are on a modified Dave Ramsey plan. No living high on the hog here. Whatever the hell that means. Lady J tells me the cost is pretty much comparable, since milk keeps going up. Especially if you get the larger sizes.

  416. Oh, and in the way of movie updates, it was indeed The Thing From Another World. And the arm-chomping scene was clearly from the remake. I think it holds up very well.

    We also watched for the first time Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Enjoyable, but not great. Lady J says that she preferred the remake, which she’s seen some years ago.

  417. Johnny: guess that depends on how much time you want to invest. you can get the story from the miniseries was only 200 minutes or so. i don’t recall seeing anything game changing in the 19 hour full series but I was pretty young.

  418. Morning. Thanks for the free game link, Van. I’m downloading them. My kids love to play games on the ipod touch. Good for when we are stuck … anywhere for a time.

  419. Thank you again to everyone for your kindness.
    JN: I agree. It was a blessing to have the time with my Gram. My life is very blessed and I appreciate how lucky I am to have the love that I do have in my life.

  421. Cj: I might be alone in this but pumpkin is by far one of my favorite flavors. That might be a byproduct getting sick from chocolate, things that are overly sweet and certain forms of milk. Pumpkin tends to not violate any of the few but weird dietary requirements.

  424. Johnny: no problem i just hope i’m not sending you down the wrong path. looking at the dates of everything i was only 4-6 when the showed aired and we didn’t have cable so i wouldn’t have cough any reruns on a scifi channel.

  425. So two series off my watch list, Three Rivers (as mentioned too peachy) and now Mercy. I tried watching the first episode last night but only managed 20 minutes.

  426. It has been so long since I read Rendezvous with Rama, I have no idea how the refueling happened. In fact… I don’t think I can actually remember anything about that book.

    Then again, it has been 15 years or more.

  428. Holy Crap you guys have been busy! I am now back on line after a clean install with Windows 7. Stepped up to 64 bit land this time. My Nvidia driver is giving me trouble.

    I’ve finally caught up reading comments and….now I must run away again. Daughter has a karate tournament soonly.

    CJ – my sympathies for your Gram, but I’m glad that you were able to get some closure with her.

  429. Ed from Texas, tell her to sweep the leg.

    So, I took *did* see Zombieland instead of Paranormal Activity, and it was indeed a lot of fun. I don’t know how much further the zombie comedy can be stretched (Dead Alive, Evil Dead, Shaun of the Dead)

    I also remember greatly enjoying Rendezvous with Rama about 15 years ago, but also don’t remember the refueling.

    V: Weren’t there 2 miniseries? As hokey as they were, avoid the syndicated TV show at all costs.

    Oh Rhett: that was me on the bridge. Sorry about the traffic jam.

  430. Preachy rather than peachy..um .

    The refuelling happens right near the end, where Rama surrounds itself in a shield at it’s closest approach to the Sun and drains off some material from the Sum. The Endeavour is caught in the wake when Rama switches in it’s non-Newtonian drive..

  431. Just finished a game of Arkham Horror with my hubby. We have never managed to beat that game. So, while it’s fun, it’s also quite frustrating to play a game that seems winless.

    Friends of ours want to get together and play it on Halloween. Maybe it will be easier to beat with more players, but i have my doubts.

    Now to build cities.

  432. Oh and Fantastic Mr Fox was indeed fantastic, worth checking out.

    There was a family sitting near me, and near the beginning one of the young children blurted out:

    how can they talk?

    A skeptic in the making…

  433. Is it actually winnable TEB? HP Lovecraft was infamous for unhappy endings. Maybe the designers are keeping in the spirit of the stories.. 🙂

  439. Pingback: Sleepy podsuming | BrainWyrms

  452. What were those floating bulbous things a few years back, the boobahs or something? I thought they were hilarious… mostly because the boy was totally embarrassed by them. I R Evyl!

    Also, the scariest thing about that was Jack Blacks highlights.

    Gack.

  454. I forgot to answer the question from earlier:

    Woot.com has a color code that represents the number of purchases you’ve made. I was a happy black boxer a long time ago at 25. But then the criteria increased. I was addicted, so it did not take long to get my box back to black at 50. Of course, they increased it again.

    And I’m soooo itching to get my box back. Why? Cuz Woot says I’m better than you if I have a black box. And I trust Woot.

    I wish I was only being sarcastic.

  462. Insomnia is teh suck.

    Is anyone still up with me? I don’t want to be alone.

    You know what was a great invention?

    Cream cheese. It’s perfect pretty much and almost as good as sour cream.
    I love sour cream.

    And cream cheese.

    Creamy things are good.

  475. Morning Van.

    We have too many insomniacs. We need a special issue Deadpan of droney, boring, stultifying, sleepy-making music and monologues of dreams.

    I have no idea how to make a monologue of dream.

  477. And, it’s Monday.

    My daughter did well at her tournament yesterday. I’ll post video if Facebook will ever cooperate.

    I spent the better part of yesterday evening fighting with Windows 7. It’s definitely an improvement over Vista, but far from perfect. I still had to fully disable UAC in order to get my Ipod to sync. I also had to disable the “glass” windows in order to keep my video driver from crashing every few seconds. Most times, it would “recover”, but every so often, it would go full blue screen. I don’t think I ever had a blue screen with Vista.

  497. Good morning Pan, third day of a 4-day weekend for me. Taking the kids to grandma & grandpa’s this noonhour, then this evening, Paul & Storm and Jonathan Coulton date with Darcy. I expect to run into HellZiggy & Hellbob, Bill Corbett of MST3K fame, and possibly John Moe (formerly of Weekend America public radio show.

  501. Morning, Pan!

    I’m home today, using up a pre-planned vacation day. Glad to have it too, because I’m still coughing from deep within those lungs.

    Yanks vs. Phils. Meh.

  503. Reaper wishes he had a local hockey team to watch.
    The cloeset i have is the Green Bay Gamblers or Milwaukee admirals
    NHL Action is a bit to far away 4 hours to Chicago or the Twin Cities are a bit far away

  505. reaper, sometimes the minors are just as exciting and even more so than the majors. We also have a minor league team, The Hitmen, who I’ve seen on a number of occasions. Our minor league players will go into the main area after the game and sign autographs. My daughter has a number of autographs from players who are now in the majors.

  516. I’m off for now. Gotta get a shower then get the kids up, washed, dressed, fed, and off to school. Then I have errands to run.

    I’ll pan y’all later.

  522. Been a busy weekend. Finally checking in here…

    Cj: My sympathies. I know what it feels like to loose a treasured family member. Enjoy your treasured memories and be glad that she isn’t suffering any more. Not that any of this helps, but….

  523. Never been a great fan of watching team sports, although will indulge when the World Cup is on.

    Spotify is streaming the Flash theme to my speakers as I type.

    So got a replacement 3GS from Apple, using the 3G again for a few days really shows how poor an upgrade the 3GS has been..really is a point release.

  524. On the phone with the phone (hold) car service place to arrange a winter check up and putting winter tires on my car. Exciting.

    Pulled my stove out this morning to clean under/behind it. I really must do that more often. Yuck!

  526. Took down the curtains. Am trying to decide if I want to replace them with blinds. Blinds are easier to wipe from splash up (window by sink), but curtains are ultimately easier to clean. Simply take them down and throw them in washing machine.

    hmmmm, must consult hubby on this one…

  528. I finished my errands faster than expected. I even changed all my linens and have 40 minutes before I have to pick up my son.

    I think I shall indulge in some “me” time.

    Or I could work.

    Me vs. Work.

  531. Hubby says I should get new curtains for the kitchen. The ones in there are about 15 years old so I guess it’s time. He says, we can keep the old ones and “swap them out whenever we get bored with them”.

    That’s easy for him to say, he won’t be the one changing them.

  535. I love watching the minors in hockey even the FDL Bears are fun to watch but I can’t see any team on TV on a regular basis and at $5/game/person i just can’t afford it. we try to see the Green Bay team a few times a season. The resch center is an awesome venue for games.

  539. Bunny: I often don’t notice when my wife changes something around the house and I at least so far haven’t told her we need a change. She tends to get sick of things much sooner then me.

  543. TEB, you may want to check to see if you have one stabilizing foot under the door hinges. On my fridge that is what kept my wife from pulling out it out when we needed to de-frost it after one of the kids left the freezer door open a little.

  544. reaper: My husband was bad for changing furniture around. I use to work in an office and, during the summer when he was home, I would often come home to the furniture moved around.

    The last time he did it though, I made him stop. He tried to move the china cabinet on his one and it fell on him. Besides breaking a number of objects, he needed stitches. – he did empty it but it fell on him and he fell backwards onto the items -. I was not happy when I got a phone call at work asking if we had any antiseptic and over sized bandages.

  546. Lejon: YES!!! that was the first thought I had saw it. I fear a new generation might get that backward…
    wonder who had that idea in a book first though…

  550. I highly recommend checking out minor league games, if you have a local team. It’s really the only affordable way to take the whole family out to a pro sports event.

    Didn’t all of the “giant spaceships over the cities” stuff rip off Arthur C. Clarke?

  553. Lejon, that would be way cooler.
    but the first thing that comes to my mind with that thought is (Thanks TD-0013) the big man eating hole on Jabba the huts home planet. wish i could remember TD-0013’s term for it
    Hmmm wonder how big a funnel you would need to do that and not miss many people

  560. ditto: Clearly I’m a mom. All I could think of while watching it was how badly someone would be injured if it lands on their head.

    And then, he said, “We light it and make a run for it.”

    I did not see him run. I saw him mosey on out of the way.

    I’m thinking fun, exciting, and not altogether a very smart sport.

    Then again – I did play a lot of softball and baseball myself. You know those sports where someone takes a hard ball and thwacks it as hard as they can with a bat directly into a field of 9 of their peers.

    We aren’t a smart people sometimes.

  565. Spent part of the afternoon searching for curtains. Couldn’t find any I liked. Looks like I’ll end up sewing new ones.

    This weekend I’ll drag hubby to the fabric store and see if there’s anything he likes.

    Now to change kitty litter, take out garbage. My work is never done.

  569. Our kids are at my folks’ place. Now we just need these last three other kids to depart, then it is across to Saint Paul to pick up our friend, then to the Guthrie for the concert.

    A proper minion, I have goodies which I will give Paul & Storm after the show.

  581. Mold growing in my Jack-o-lanterns. 🙁

    I’m going to mix up a “weak” solution of water and bleach to spray on the inside of my pumpkins in an effort to retard the funk.
    Anyone know what a good dilution would be? I’ve got a 22 oz (650ml) spray bottle.

    Anyone? Anyone? CJ ? Bunny?

  584. Bleach-o-lanterns sounds like a fun experiment, but probably not what you were going for, J0e.
    (BTW: “retard the funk” is going to be the name of our band’s first album.)

    EssBee, I agree about shutting off the asshats.

  587. TV off. Man, they are dumb. On every news channel.

    I just whipped up the Chinese delivery # for dinner. Hot & sour soup sounded good on my throat, so it’s on the way.

    *cough*

  589. Don’t know if Clarke started the vibe of giant spaceships above major cities.. But those did appear in his novel Childhood’s End.