1,431 thoughts on “Scroll Train”

  3. Alas photography was banned.

    The exhibition was not very big, but some interesting stuff in there..and how cramped capsules the cosmonauts had to put up with.

  4. I’m really impressed with the new Symphony X album “Underworld”. I plan on writing an Amazon review when I get a chance, once I get out from under these work deadlines.

  9. CW: Danger Mouse 2015
    I just found out that they brought this show back. Seems to be done to about the same level as The Looney Tunes Show of 2011. Nothing will ever match the original, but they have managed to update into something modern (e.g., utilizing cell phones) while maintaining a similar feel to the type of comedy that the original shot for.

  10. You know you’re getting old when:

    I was on the phone. While talking, I was puttering around the house. Among the things I did was take my iPad and put it into the bedroom. I then went to look for my phone to bring it into the bedroom too. I looked in a couple of rooms before it hit me…

    I think it’s time to sit and read until the hockey game comes on

  24. Your crap joke for the day:

    At the touch of her lips, it grew long and swollen.

    I gasped as she squeezed and pulled expertly.

    It was the best ballon giraffe I’d ever seen.

  32. “Slowly Growing Deaf” is not just a Mr. Bungle song.

    Also – a hearty “fuck you” to my beloved Avs. Way to start the season in the worst way imaginable. As if they needed even LESS confidence than they had going into the season. A big hearty BOO!

  34. Who knew that Stephen Hawking guy was so smart?

    “If machines produce everything we need, the outcome will depend on how things are distributed. Everyone can enjoy a life of luxurious leisure if the machine-produced wealth is shared, or most people can end up miserably poor if the machine-owners successfully lobby against wealth redistribution. So far, the trend seems to be toward the second option, with technology driving ever-increasing inequality.”

  35. Soooo all these fuckfaces posting on FB about how they are all going to boycott Campbell’s Soup do realize that FB is also anti-homophobia, right?

  36. Northern AZ and Southern TX Universities both in the same day.
    I don’t know whether it’s better to bring attention to it or stop awarding these shooters with attention

      • It doesnt matter, no, BUT I wouldnt classify it as a ‘school shooting’. It certainly doesn’t fit in the same vein as the others.

        I havent read about TX yet.

        • “This is the third shooting on the TSU campus in the past two months, and the second at this apartment complex”

          So no. I dont think I’d label this as a ‘school shooting’ either. Rather I’d lump it in with the everyday gun violence in every city problems in this country.

  40. Well I think I’m done messing around with PC innards. Tonight fitting of two new cards was rather laughable in it’s slowness and my creakiness and my need for a cushion for my knees.

    At least the bloody things work.

  41. Soulier, re: the trombone song:

    The trombone sounds odd and out-of-place with that electronic background, but I think this is a good thing. It’s attn-grabbing in a good way.

    Was it synth trombone or a real live horn player?

    I also found the abrupt ending a bit jarring.

      • Yeah I feel its really uneven at best. Kinda saddens me but there’s some good stuff still on there. Agree 100% in comparison to the last two. And those closing electomentals are just unnecessary and feels like album filler

  48. So any of you Vikings fans watched the new ‘The Last Kingdom’?

    Rutger Hauer being in it is usually a sign of shittyness these days.

  62. Watching the first two Last Man on Earth’s this season – I remember why I adore this show. And Van there’s no cringeworthy moments!

  78. Watched “Ghostbusters” last night for the first time in decades.
    Had forgotten how much fun that movie is. Just about everyone in that film turns in a performance that far exceeds what that type of movie requires.
    Some great lines as well –
    – “Back off man! I’m a Scientist.”
    – “Shhh Listen! Do you smell that?”
    – Sigorney, possessed “I want you inside me.”
    Bill “It seems a little crowded. I think there are two or three people in there already.”

  165. Essbee, there’s a new detective from the BBC called River that Stars the prof from the Thor films.

    It reminds me of a short lived Jeff Goldblum TV series called Raines but grittier.

  180. The neighborhood crackpot has put up a new message on his homemade yard billboard. For a long time it’s read “Obama is a Moslem.” Now it’s “Trump for President!!!!!!!!!

    • Let’s try Giamatti out with some dialogue. Picture him saying the following:

      “This was no boat accident.”

      Marsha Mason: “I thought you said you were decent.”
      Giamatti: “I am decent. I also happen to be naked.”

      “We’re actors. We’re the opposite of people.”

      “I am the most renowned killer of fish in the whole United States Army Air Force.”

      “You’re the most beautiful, exciting thing I’ve ever seen in my life and I don’t know anything about you.”

      Yup. I think Giamatti works.

  187. Crap joke for the day:

    I’ve invented a new sexual position. All you do is lie back to back with your partner, wait till they fall asleep and quietly masturbate.

    I’ll call it “marriage.”

  202. Morning Pan

    Today is voting day here in Canadaland. Finally, the campaigning will be over.

    (this may seem sarcastic since we only had three months of campaigning but it was the longest run Canada has ever had so it seemed like forever to us here in the GWN)

  203. “inside the chamber of cryo-genetical fire
    A magical wizard is doing a spell
    Powered by robots, a whole (???) coming to life”*

    *all sung in a strong Swedish accent. Did I mention that you should treat yourself to the Flash Gordon-y :metal: wonder of Gloryhammer?

    • I think it most likely that most fans will either love it or hate it. There will be little in between. There is no way to make something that all the fans will like and biggest trap that Abrams could fall into is trying to please everyone. My hopes are still reasonable. But, I think my best bet is to take Mark Hamil’s advice and just go into it expecting to see a good movie and enjoy myself rather than expect to relive what I had in 1977.

      • Excellent points.

        But this *is* a new Star Wars *movie*, so it’s impossible to completely disconnect it from that transcendental experience from our childhoods. Animated series and musical Xmas specials are one thing, but our expectations are naturally set too high for the major theatrical releases (My theory on why the decent-to-good prequel films are widely considered the worst films ever made).

        I’ll be happy if VII as good as that first JJ Trek movie.

    • Look at it this way. It could be worse. You could live in a Star Trek world where money doesn’t exist (on Earth anyway), but people still have to work, sometimes in jobs they don’t like. In other words, you could do a job you don’t like and get absolutely nothing in return.

      (seriously, *hugs*, ditto)

      • I never did see/hear that explained clearly. . . I once saw a scene where Picard lectured someone on how humans worked for the betterment of themselves and humanity – – but this was coming from the captain of a freaking starship. I always wondered if the plumbers would make the same speech.

  211. Morning Pan

    We have a new leader… or will in two weeks when he is sworn in. This leader is the son of a previous leader. I hope he learned something from the US when they had the same thing.

  213. Oooooh ‘From Bedroom to Billions’ is on UK Netflix.

    It’s a documentary about the UK part in computers and gaming.

    Even has an interview with the guy who wrote Manic Miner.

  218. So tonight I ponder the class system.

    If you all lived in the UK, and did similar jobs as you do now, most (if not all of you) would be classed as middle class.

    Me, I’m working class.

    Hmmmm.

  221. In case there are Audible subscribers here, the Joe Hill comic Locke & Key has been turned into an audio drama and is free. The acting gets a bit over the top but it’s pretty well done overall. Certainly worth every penny.

  227. Apparently Siri does something special when you wish her “Happy Back to the Future Day”!
    I don’t know what it is as I don’t have a Siri, but I’m sure some of you will enjoy

  230. Went for a walk. Also went to see if the keys work for the new mail boxes (like the letter told me to do). The mailboxes aren’t even installed yet. Apparently Canada Post is going to start delivering mail to these (nonexistent) boxes on Monday. Their contractor better get a move on.

    Not that I get much actual mail anyway. I think the only thing I got in the mail this week were the keys to the mailbox.

  234. Showerthought: In Back to the Future II, the scene were the older Marty gets fired via video chat, his boss said “Read my Fax!”. Interesting that the movie creators had the perception that video chat would be part of the future, but that people would still rely on faxes and not electronic communications for written correspondence….

  242. Your crap joke for the day:

    I bought a box of condoms today, and each one had a tiny musical instument attached… it was a rubber band.”

    • Bonus crap joke:

      “An old, blind cowboy wanders into an all-girl biker bar by mistake…

      He finds his way to a bar stool and orders a shot of Jack Daniels.

      After sitting there for a while, he yells to the bartender, ‘Hey, you wanna hear a blonde joke?’

      The bar immediately falls absolutely silent.

      In a very deep, husky voice, the woman next to him says, ‘Before you tell that joke, Cowboy, I think it is only fair, given that you are blind, that you should know five things:

      1. The bartender is a blonde girl with a baseball bat.

      2. The bouncer is a blonde girl with a ‘Billy-Club’.

      3. I’m a 6-foot tall, 175-pound blonde woman with a black belt in karate.

      4. The woman sitting next to me is blonde and a professional weight lifter.

      5. The lady to your right is blonde and a professional wrestler.

      ‘Now, think about it seriously, Cowboy … do you still wanna tell that blonde joke?’

      The blind cowboy thinks for a second, shakes his head and mutters, ‘No … not if I’m gonna have to explain it five times”…

  246. I don’t understand people. There is this one bookstore who doesn’t pay their bills. In fact, our lawyer is currently in talks with them about their unpaid bills. Yet, the manager/owner of the store had the nerve to phone and ask why we were no longer accepting orders from them. :ermm:

  247. You know, nothing Confirms the world is fucked up like finding out black cats have high euthanasia rates in the USA because they don’t get adopted because they are considered bad luck.

    /sigh

  248. BTW – Finished reading the only book I’ve read in the last 2 years.
    It was “The Martian”.
    I enjoyed it. As my dad put it, “It was a page turner”.

    I feel like I don’t need to see the movie now.

  250. Hubby had a bit of an adventure

    The flight from Calgary to Abbotsford is a little over an hour. However, I guess the Abbotsford airport was fogged in so the plane had to divert to Vancouver. After a few hours in the Vancouver airport, they loaded everybody up in a bus to drive to Abbotsford.

    The drive from the Vancouver airport to Abbotsford should have been about an hour and a half. Part way through, the bus had to pull over for some minor repairs.

    When all was said and done, hubby’s hour long trip ended up being close to six hours.

  256. Jared “I am a sick fuck” Fogle was ordered to pay his 14 victims One Million dollars in restitution. Now, that’s NOT a million each – that’s a million split between the 14. Is it just me or does that just not seem like enough? after all, this is America where real punishment lays not in the prison system for the wealthy but in their bank accounts.

    • What number is enough for pain and suffering? No I don’t think it’s enough, but I don’t think there is a magic number. I don’t know his net worth though. His potential to earn future income has seriously diminished though.

      • Not what I’m saying. No there is no magic number for them but there is for HIM when it comes to punishment and making sure he never lives well again. There’s no magic number for his jail time for his victims either.

        He made about 2 million a year the past 10 years or so, I believe.

      • No idea what he makes, but I’d assume that’s the equivalent of a $1000 for a normal person.

        I never looked into the salacious details, but if there are young victims of his depravity, then why isn’t he being locked away from society forever?

  257. That ‘Locke and Key’ audio drama must be haunted, since I started to listen I’ce had random stop/starts and skips to later chapters.

    • They stayed pretty close to the comic itself. The only changes I could hear were ones that would be needed to address the fact that you can’t see what’s going on like you can in a comic book. Minor wording changes really. I think the actors hammed it up a bit too much, and I’m not sure how well the story could be followed by someone who didn’t read the comic fist. For free, it was pretty well done.

        • Do you like all your audio books abridged, or just the ones based on comics? I think the real issue is that you think the comic was too long and rambly. I don’t say this entirely tongue in cheek. Comics are meant to be drawn out for many issues. Could be that only abridged audio versions of comics can stand up to that medium.

  261. Just loaded up 6 black bags full of leaves and the tree is not even close to done. This might be the last year I do this myself . . . oy.

  262. I do reserve the right to hate ‘The Man in the High Castle’ if there is ever any indication of replicants, I’m giving them a pass on the origami.

    Cough

  272. Ok so Harrison Ford is 73 and Carrie Fisher is 59… that means Han was 38 and Leia was 24 in Empire when they kissied and fell in love.

    Oh Han you smooth operator…

  273. The woman who plays Betsy Ross in Sleepy Hollow may be the worst actor Ive seen on tv in a long time.

    That being said, Van how are you finding Season 3 now that the show is basically monster of the week fare?

    • It’s stil