Stone Scrolled Crazy

You know.

It was overdue.

I do still have Amy’s MMMmmmeetup Travel Updates audio to be released. That’s still coming soon.

1,639 thoughts on “Stone Scrolled Crazy

  1. Replying to Jacks post last thread –

    “Jack
    July 14, 2015 at 11:59 pm
    I dunno… I like the less Fresh Prince trailer quite a bit. It’d be great to see a Killing Joke breed of psycho joker onscreen – – not to mention an impressive-looking Harley Quinn AND Deathstroke.”

    I’d love to see those things as well! When do you think theyll make that movie…?

    • Zing!

      I can’t judge by seconds of footage in a trailer – – and I’m not expert on any of these characters – – but this seems like a decent, as-yet-unseen take on The Joker. And Jared Leto is up to the job. It’s a little weird to see him covered in hipster tats.
      Harley Quinn seems exactly right.
      Deathstroke looks cool, but will probably get short-shrifted, in favor of the higher profile characters and actors.

      • Look one thing is for sure… if you had told me even 10 years ago that this kind of film would actually happen I would have told you that crack is whack

  2. Ok PS4 unpacked and setup.

    First impressions:

    It works.

    It’s smaller than I thought it would be.

    Currently downloading all the games I grabbed with my PSN subscription.

  3. Ok there’s actually a clickbait article on the side of my screen that says “20 Child Stars That Became Ugly Adults”

    Fucking what the fuck….cmon, Humanity

  4. Crap joke for the day:

    A woman said to her friend, “I don’t know what to do. My husband is such a mess maker that you can’t imagine. He doesn’t put anything in its place, I am always going around the house organizing things.”The friend says, “Take a tip from me. The first week after we were married I told my husband firmly, ‘Every glass and plate that you take, wash when you are done and put back in its place.’”The first woman asked, “Did it help?”Her friend said, “I don’t know. I haven’t seen him since.”

  5. Reading about Jim Jones and the Jonestown mass suicide.

    I’ve known about it vaguely for a long time, but reading the details..WTF!

      • It has been argued that many of the adults were unwittingly murdered as well not having made the choice or being informed what they were taking. And then you can get into the debate of whether the cult mentality or mind washing is equal to murder or suicide.

        Classic psych study. Bext read up on the Stanford experiments

      • I posted a link to a 2he documentary about Jim Jones on the last thread — or maybe the one before that. Too lazy to look.

        He and his cronies did actually violently murder a bunch of his people after gunning down Senator Ryan and his staff. It wasn’t all Kool-Aid.

    • His story and the story of his cult has fascinated me my entire life. Its an incredible story and what a lunatic that man was.

  6. Crap joke from Twitter:

    @GlennyRodge: “My dog’s learning to speak a foreign language.”
    “Español?”
    “No, he’s a labrador.”

  7. My summer of bust continues.
    Getting ready to depart on another long drive to go to a track meet.
    I will (with luck) be vaulting in the morning. Much to my disappointment I have not been able to practice since my last meet due to a lower back injury I sustained in the gym about 4 weeks ago. Couldn’t even bend enough to tie my own shoes for about a week and a half.
    I shall give it the old college try though. I only have (had) 4 meets I could go to this year and I have put in too much work not to at least try.

  8. BTW – human interest note.
    An old friend of mine is quitting his job and moving with his wife and son to Orlando. A long time dream of his was to retire and then go to work at a Disney Park as an “in park” actor. We almost lost him last December. Heart attack and then complications. There were a few days where his family was told to say their good buys. Then there was a period of a week when he slipped into a comma and they did not think he would wake up.
    Well he did and now has decided that “waiting” to chase a dream is not always a luxury you will be granted. So he is just doing it.

    • That seems to be the consensus from a number of folks I know. We’ll definitely be holding off until it hits the rental cycle.

      Likely the same For Ant-Man. I’m sure it will be fun and all Marvelly, but i don’t seeing it being the breakout event like Guardians of the Galaxy was last summer.

  9. Right Pan, no Marvel slacker here, off to see Antman.

    I’ve never even seen any of the comics so coming to this one fresh as a daisy.

  10. Got a video.

    It’s got two audio tracks.

    1 Russian and 1 english

    The russian is the only one that plays unless I watch it on the computer (using VLC) and switch it off.

    I don’t want to watch the video on my computer.

  11. Just came back from the doctor’s office. She told me I need more salt in my diet. I never even knew that was a thing. I’ve heard of people needing to cut back on salt, but adding more?

    Once again, my body is proving it does not fit into a standard model.

  12. Oh Supersuckers…

    So if anyone here remembers the “hidden track” craze of the 1990’s when CDs were in full swing this should make you smile – the 1994 Supersuckers album “La Mano Cornuda” contains 13 tracks with a 14th hidden track. The hidden track is the entire album again. HA!

  13. So Sunday didn’t work out so well.

    They were running well behind. I was supposed to jump at 11am.
    They didn’t have my group warm-up until 1:30. I have a handheld weather instrument (yes, I am a geek) and it said the “feels like” temperature at that point was wavering from 108F to 114F. There was also a “dangerous air quality alert” for the Atlanta area. Swell.
    I also had just managed a protein bar before arriving for an 11am event. They had no food concessions and so I had no fuel in me by 1:30.

    I cleared my opening height on the first jump (about 2.8m) and then realizing my tenuous position, passed to 3.15m. On my first jump I was lazy and didn’t get my feet back enough. On my second jump … I felt the energy drain out of my legs as I was coming down the runway, like water draining out of buckets full of holes. I was just done. 🙁
    I am just too old for those extreme conditions.
    After making 3.3m at my last meet I had really hoped to clear 3.4m this time out.
    Not so much.
    I have one more chance this year. About 3 weeks from now. I’m currently trying to find the motivation to forge onward.
    It would be sooo much easier to sit on the coach, in air conditioned comfort … and drink beer.

  14. Inwatched the documentary about Lance Armstrong and his doping scandal.

    It was sensational and intense. WOWZA. That guy is such a douchebag and ahole. He screwed over so many people, not to mention, corporate sponsors, the general piblic, the cancer community, and US taxpayers. What a dick!

    It also shed light on the corruption in the IFC, so I can only imagine what FIFA is like!!!

    “Stop at Nothing: the Story of Lance Armstrong on Netflix.

    • There is a great documentary (on ESPN occasionally ) about Greg LeMund, 3 time winner of the Tour de France and now, the only American to ever win that race.
      He raced back in the 80’s and very early 90’s and the battles between he and France’s Henault were epic. They were supermen, often finishing the multi-day event 3 or 4 minutes ahead of everyone else. Not even Hammer could touch this. Then after his 3rd win “something” changed in the sport. The next year there was miraculously, more then 2 dozen riders whose times were more then 20 minutes faster then LeMund … and he had not slowed down any. He quite racing after that.

      He is considered by many to be the last human to ever win the Tour de France without some form of doping.

      *The more you know*

  15. Your history post for the day.

    1. The French lost more men in WWI than the U.S has in all its wars combined.

    2. Happy 46th birthday to Apollo 11!

  16. Hello from beautiful Cayucos, California! This will be a catchup post.

    Jack says:
    “I do still have Amy’s MMMmmmeetup Travel Updates audio to be released. That’s still coming soon.”

    This makes me happy. :happy: I left some new messages on my way out here to CA, and more are to come on the 29th when I return to Omaha.

    J0e: I’m cheering for you, too!

  17. We had a pretty spectacular thunderstorm here on Saturday night into Sunday morning. We’ve never had one of those while we’ve been in Cayucos before. It was an interesting and different experience.

    My vacation so far has included going to the local arty theater for the last two nights in a row. “Mr. Holmes” and “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” are both really good and well worth seeing.

    Today’s agenda includes walking on the beach, possibly going on a hunt for beach glass and/or moonstones, and maybe doing some jewelry-making and sewing. 🙂

      • I liked Alien 3 and Fincher is one of my favorite directors. I wonder how the movie would have turned out if he was given the freedom to do his complete vision?

      • It did have a lot of good things going for it. . . but overall, it failed for me.

        I can handle a dark plot twist, but the movie opens with 2 of your favorite characters from Aliens found dead.

        William Gibson’s discarded script for the third Alien film is out there to read. I’ve only skimmed it, but it seems a damn shame Fincher wasn’t able to go there instead.

        Still better than any of the Alien atrocities that followed.

    • Please explain to me again why bottle episodes seem to annoy you. Is it that they are adhering to a budget? Do you feel the plot suffers because they stay in one location or a few? Do you feel the actors don’t convey their characters as well?

  18. So I never owned a Jaguar, so only ever play Tempest 2000 at retro museums.

    So playing TxK on a Playstation TV is the closest I’m going to get and it’s grand.

  19. Just spent some disappointing, yet reassuring time with the Installer from AT&T.
    Disappointing because he confirmed that they would NOT be supplying me with Fibre service to my house.
    Reassuring because I was pretty sure this was the case even though the sales guy on the phone insisted that they could and would in fact be providing me with Fibre service.
    I sent the man on his way and will be calling the least bad of my other two options.

  20. Hubby and I went for a walk. We say squirrels playing, squirrels fighting, and birds taking a dirt bath. Really, it was cute. The birds acted like they were in a puddle of water, but were in a patch of dirt instead.

  21. Ok, now I know climate change is a thing. We just had an emergency alert for a tornado warning. I can’t remember calgary ever having a tornado. The outlying areas and further north yes, but never in calgary itself

    They also said its mostly in South Calgary. I live there :ermine:

  22. The news people gave up breaking in to programming and are now running a constant stream. I personally, find the whole thing very strange. We have shut off our computers to be safe though. Thank goodness for mobile

  23. News person gave a list of communities in the path of the tornado. You will be happy to know we ARE in one of those communities. Is it wrong I find the whole thing rather both rather strange and amusing

      • I think it’s 90% clear of our area. The news has still got their knickers in a twist but the hail has stopped, the wind is slowing and I see bits of the sun. We were even brave enough to come back upstairs and turn the computers back on. I think my area, at least, is in the clear.

        A lot of noise but not really much beyond that.

        • The Weather Channel was just showing images of your funnel cloud.
          As someone who has gotten a little too “up close and personal” with tornados, I’m glad it remained a source of mild amusement for you. 🙂
          BTW – future storm tip.
          If you find yourself in this situation again take your computer (or external hard drives) to the basement with you.
          The chances of actually getting a direct hit from a tornado are small. The chances of having debris or hail blown through a window … or having an errant gust of wind damage a little bit of your roof are not that extreme. AT that point you get a whole lot of rain in the house and stuff gets ruined. Like hard drives.
          An ounce of prevention and all that. Just say’n.

    • That diversion lasted longer that expected. I started looking up Alan Reed (the voice of Fred Flintstone) to see if he had been in anything live action. Found a puzzling listing for the voice of the caterpillar in a version of Alice in Wonderland that read: The Talking Caterpillar (Fred Flintstone) (voice). So then I had to track down this wacky Hanna Barbera version of Alice in Wonderland that had Sammy Davis Jr. and Zsa Zsa Gabor. I’ll actually get around to watching it some other time. I have it for now.

    • Wow. I thought he’d retired when he’d left the Devils.

      Be warned: he used to be a hardass GM, alienating star players and fan favorites, presumably just to prove he and his budget were in command. He’s obviously softened up in recent years (cough, Kovalchuk). He’s 72 now, so who knows how many years and how much spit and vinegar he has left in him. Hopefully he’ll bring some good years and hockey sense to the Leafs.

    • The Large Marge scene may not be as funny as it was in 1984, but there are still countless great moments.

      Just stop there. Do not proceed to Big Top Pee Wee.

  24. Rhettro says:
    “Yes it does. I guess if we set up a date/time then the more likely it will happen. 🙂 I’ll be in Cali from Friday through the end of the month so start thinking about August.”

    Cool! I agree that a Roll20 date needs to happen. I will be back in Omaha on July 29.

    I would watch “Moose-nado” and love it. :silly:

  25. Crap joke for the day:

    I was in McDonald’s and this fit young girl took my order.

    “I can make it large for you for an extra 30p,” she said sweetly.

    “You already have, love” I replied, “so how about a wank for a pound?”

  26. Can I just Nurse Geek-out for a second?

    We are using a new type of blood product rapid infuser during my big surgical case today. I can infuse up to four different types of blood products at one time, simultaneously, into a person’s blood system!!! That means, a person can get 4 “units” of blood into their bloodstream in under 3 minutes.

    WOW!

  27. Well ticket booked to see ‘South Paw’ at the flicks this weekend.

    No messing around with crowds as I’m going to a cinema that is walking distance.

    #fuckinghatecrowds

  28. Your crap joke for the day;

    A kangaroo kept getting out of his enclosure at the zoo. Knowing that he could hop high, the zoo officials put up a ten-foot fence. He was out the next morning, just sauntering around the zoo. A twenty-foot fence was put up. Again he got out.When the fence was forty feet high, a camel in the next enclosure asked the kangaroo, “How high do you think they’ll go?”The kangaroo said, “About a thousand feet, unless somebody locks the gate at night!”

  29. Well, we’re living in the future now. Thanks to some special deals, we have both a Google Chromecast and an Amazon FireTV Stick. While they get some use at home, they have unfortunately been useless where they could have been most helpful – while traveling. Since hotel WiFI needs a web browser to sign in and acknowledge terms, etc. neither stick would work in such an environment.

    While checking into the current state of things with my wife traveling for work this week, I came across this most helpful write up:

    http://www.worksmartandtravel.com/2015/use-chromecast-in-your-hotel-room/

    The TP Link portable router was about $17 on Amazon, so I gave it a shot. Got it configured here before Jen left and she reports this evening total success. It finally gives me a use for the digital copies of movies that I’ve purchased. Disney movies through their application, and others through Flixter/Ultraviolet. Not to mention everything we have access to on Amazon with the FireTV stick.

    Wife is happy, so bonus points for me. The frequent travelers of Deadpan may find the setup useful. She did have to use her laptop to serve the connection to the router, which I expected. It seems a rare thing anymore for a hotel room to have a hard wired LAN connection anymore.

  30. Holy crap, Rush! Those old guys blew the walls off of US Airways Arena. The set list started with current stuff, and gradually moved back through the older stuff.
    Including Xanadu, 2112, and The Camera Eye in their entirety. The Camera Eye!
    I’m still a little woozy from that one.

    • Rush was my favorite band growing up. However, the ever progressing style that I loved so much past by me with Roll The Bones. Some friends of mine from New York flew down here to force me to go to the Tampa show and I can’t thank them enough. The point where they break out the old school lasers just about had me in tears. My poor wife, however, wasn’t expecting a 3.5 hour concert with no opening band and got a little tired of me turning to her and saying “get comfortable, this is about a 20 minute long song”.

      • Asshat, Tiffany was also awesomely patient throughout all of the obscure, 10+ minute songs.

        My only “complaint” is that they traded out Distant Early Warning for a much more obscure Grace Under Pressure tune.

        I’d also have liked Red Barchetta, but The Camera Eye was a worthy trade.

        • I like that some of the “standards” got traded out for more obscure songs. They actually played Distant Early Warning in Tampa. I think they’re trying to deviate from the set list at least a little from place to place. Probably helps them stay sane.

  31. Your crap joke for the day:

    A woman and her ten-year-old son were riding in a cab in New York City.It was raining and all the hookers were standing under the awnings.“Mom,” said the boy, “what are all those women doing?”…“They’re waiting for their husbands to get off work,” she replied.The cabbie turns around and says, “Geez lady, why don’t you tell him the truth? They’re hookers, boy! They have sex with men for money.”The little boy’s eyes get wide and he says, “Is that true, Mom?”His mother, glaring hard at the cabbie, answers in the affirmative.After a few minutes, the kid asks, “Mom, what happens to the babies those women have?”…“Most of them become cab drivers,” she said.

  32. CW: Night Moves

    From 1975, the answering machine is cool (and chunky) and that large black slab that looks like a flat screen TV must be the monolith hiding out.

  33. Well Windows 10 installation didn’t quite go according to plan.

    It got stuck on the initial settings setup and I had to reboot.

    The laptop feels more sluggish running this upgrade.

    Weird quirks, like the the touchpad not working as well.

    May have to do a total reinstall to see if that helps.

  34. Crap joke for the day:

    Anyone who says marriage is an equal partnership is talking utter bollocks.

    I gave up my mates, my motorbike, drinking, drugs, gambling…

    All she gave up was fucking sex.

  35. Listening to Alice Cooper’s 1977 album ‘Lace and Whiskey’. You know, the one that he shuns his usual shock rock persona in favor of pretending he’s a private eye. The album is a fiction account of said private eye’s adventures. His band mates dumped him because of it (supposedly). I think its a fantastic record

  36. rE: Windows 10

    So turns out AMD screwed up windows 10 support for Series 6 HD chipsets including the one in my laptop and desktop.

    So no upgrade for the desktop yet.

  37. Your crap joke for the day:

    A gorilla walks into a bar and orders a martini to the amazement of the bartender.
    When the bartender gives the gorilla the martini, he’s further surprised to see that the ape is holding a $20 bill.The bartender takes the $20, then he decides to see just how smart the gorilla is, so he hands the gorilla on $1 change.The gorilla quietly sips the martini until the bartender breaks the silence.“We don’t get too many apes in here,” he says.The gorilla replies, “At $19 a drink, I’m not surprised.”

  38. You make me mad and wild
    Well, we’re gonna rock and pile you
    We’re gonna do our best

    The best kicks you in the head, alright
    Yeah, it’s gonna get crazy tonight
    Let me hear you all go wild

  39. RE: Windows 10 – the story continues

    So after doing a reset the laptop works much better under W10.

    It boots faster than W7 did new.

    Games work fine (well those that can run on a low spec system).

    Suspend works strangely, even when the battery has a lot of life still in it, it will switch from sleep to hibernate after a random amount of time.

    The Edge browser doesn’t overheat the laptop like Chrome was doing.

    Much happier now.

  40. Crap joke from Twitter:

    A woman just dropped a £10 note next to me. I thought, ‘What would Jesus do?’, so I turned it into wine. I bought wine.

  41. Another crap joke:

    I told my wife that there are three types of women…

    slags, whores, bitches and argumentative cunts…

    she said that’s four types…

    I said yeah…

    there you fucking go again!

  42. Bonus crap joke:

    A police officer called the station on his radio.
    “I have an interesting case here. An old lady shot her husband for stepping on the floor she just mopped.”
    “Have you arrested the woman?”
    “Not yet. The floor’s still wet.”

  43. Declined the op on the bone spur, no guarantee of success and it was going to be GA with was going to be an added risk with the sleep aponea.

    • I’d had the Killing Joke comic recommended to me for years, and I found it deeply unsettling when I finally read it. No one had warned me to brace myself for some fucked-up shit.

      This material is treated seriously here, and I’m averse to it ever, ever being played for laughs or treated lightly. I’d assume Moore was trying to illustrate just how truly awful and unfunny a vicious lunatic like the Joker would really be.

    • Back in my youth, I read the first two of the Invasion Earth “Greatest Science Fiction Decology Ever Written” books. Got about ten pages into the third one and finally had the sense to throw it in the trash.

      *shudder*

    • I have wanted to go back and read his pulp fiction before he went down the crazy religious path. Harlan Ellison likes to tell about Hubbard using rolls of butcher paper in his typewriter to get the stories out faster (pulp authors were paid by the word). I’ll go back and check it out at some point.

    • (I haven’t clicked the link. [We need an acronym for this. DCL?])

      My dad got me book 10 of that series when I was a kid, obviously thinking “he likes to read; he likes that Star Wars stuff” and picking up the first SF-looking book he saw on the shelf in the bookstore.

      Otherwise, I got 500 pages into Battlefield Earth on a friend’s recommendation, and couldn’t take it anymore.

      This was all before we knew he was a kook.

  44. Between last year’s freak snow storm, last week’s high winds and tornado warnings, and the freaky heavy rain we’ve been having the last few days, I don’t know how much more branch breakage my trees can take before they just give up completely and die.

  45. Its my annual pilgramage to the DCI LIVE.

    First up, The Academy from AZ- AStep Back In Time- Mary Poppins

    A fun and simply classic field show. Got hometown team!

  46. Next- The Colts- …and A Shot Rings Out

    A fabulously funny murder mystery plot set in the 40’s. The Pit ensamble wore grat toned clothes, as to be black n white. Neat. Fun story. I loved it

  47. Ok, in the old Wild West PC days, a major o/s update would usually get me to buy anew computer to run it properly.

    My current desktop has went from Vista, to 7, to 8 (and 8.1) to Windows 10.

    I’ve upgraded the ram, changed the graphics card and installed an SSD but this is the longest time I’ve hung on to a PC.

  48. I seem to be holding on to machines longer than I used to. With most of my gaming switching to consoles and the fact that many modern PC games run smoothly with a simple graphics card upgrade, there really hasn’t been a need for a new computer. I am planning on getting an SSD for my laptop prior to upgrading it to Windows 10. I’ll probably get another year out of my desktop before I upgrade it. I built it in 2007, still ticking.

  49. Boston Crusaders-i missed the show name.

    a medievil battle, war and death scene. Great
    Vocalist. Operatic. Great rifles amd tom tom drums

  50. Intermission

    And another sold out crowd in my theater. In fact, my first theater choice was already sold out before I got my ticket.

    Go DCI!

  51. My favorite just took the field. WOW

    hantom Regiment- City of Light

    Audrey Hepburn taking a 24hr trip
    To Paris. WOW!!!! Amazing

    A freakin church organ!
    Loved the sunflower flags and skirts. So impactful

  52. Santa Clara Vanguard- Spark of Invention

    Electronica Tesla. The percussion and drill written was the best for the music played. Outstanding!!

    Used a Theramen…. What a peculiar instrument

  53. The final corps

    Blue Devils-ink
    Tells childrens stories

    Always #1. Never really my personal favorite. Too loud, too high-pitched horn sounds. Chaotic. Sweet story, tho.

      • As in if he’s true to his word and runs as a third party in the election, its game over for the Republican party. Too many split votes. The Hamburgler could run for the Dems and win.

          • Cant. Too big a word.

            No Clinton beat Dole because Clinton actually did a great job his first 4 years. Now I really dont remember the Bush-Clinton year so its very possible that Bill snuck into the White House then

          • The whim of the pop culture masses.
            We had Bush who was so out of touch with “the common man” that when he went in a grocery store for some PR event he totally spazzed out at the check out scanner. Marveled at it as if it was Alien Technology.

            So the public decided it need a President that was more like “the common man”.
            Sadly, Mr. Clinton proved to be a little TOO much like the common man.

            So “we the people” over reacted again in the opposite direction.

  54. So I work for a company that is using David Beckham in their current ad. For our quarterly meeting this week, they had life sized cardboard cutouts made. This is all done with Beckham’s knowledge and consent. Well 4 of them have disappeared. We got the following email this morning. Mind, this is not a small company.

    “At the Town Hall meeting on Wednesday, there were several David Beckham cut-outs on hand for people to take selfies with. Unfortunately, four of them were seen being carried out quickly from the Winter Garden. These cut-outs were not for public consumption, and we need them back to be used at future events. If you, or someone you know, absconded with David, while we appreciate your enthusiasm, we would like them back by Monday, Aug. 10. Please return them to the guard’s desk in the lobby of Building 6300. No questions asked.”

  55. For those of you who missed it, here is the final quote taken from John Stewert’s last essay into “Camera 3” from last night …

    “I say to you tonight friends the best defense against bullshit is vigilance,”
    Stewart said. “So if you smell something, say something.”

  56. Yay! to a few. UGH to some. Because god knows we need to more Bad Boys films and a Jumanji remake.

    “We’re excited to announce that Sony Pictures Entertainment today unveiled release dates for 16 films in 2016 and 2017:
    Money Monster – 4/8/16
    The Shallows – 6/24/16
    Ghostbusters – 7/15/16*
    Patient Zero – 9/2/16
    The Magnificent Seven – 9/23/16*
    Underworld 5 – 10/21/16
    Passengers – 12/21/16
    Jumanji – 12/25/16
    The Dark Tower – 1/13/17
    Resident Evil Movie 6 – 1/27/17
    Bad Boys 3 – 2/17/17
    Baby Driver – 3/17/17
    Barbie – 6/2/17
    Uncharted – 6/30/17
    The Lamb – 12/8/17
    Bad Boys 4 – 7/3/19”

  57. So I discovered wordsmith.org/anagram today.
    These are my favorite anagrams from the podcast/board

    Panama Jack Dang Ends
    Pancaked Nags Mad Jan
    Japan Dance Dang Mask
    Manna Snack jaded gap

  58. Cynful: it is possible that I may know someone (me) who may have possibly run off with two or three David Beckham cutouts (me).

    My source is a seven year old Tuxedo Cat, who shares a likeness with David Beckham, along with his name. Just sayin’

    We all love us some Beckham.

    Meow

      • I had no idea you thought Beckham was cute Jack 😉
        Good name. He seems a genuinely decent guy. Our CEO claims he is “friends” and business partners with him for the team they’re building in Miami and has shared several “behind the scenes clips” with us.

  59. So for non facebookers, I was watching the Temple of Doom earlier today in HD.

    Ack! It looked quite shoddy in high res.

    I really most stop doing this, it’s ruining my childhood memories.

  60. CW: Dr. Who S8, E1

    Nice to sit and relax after a very busy week in Dallas and a fun, but tiring jazz concert date last night. Ahhhhh.

  61. So we got free fix to the Everclear show tonight, with Toadies and Fuel opening.

    It was a little bit sad. I’ve seen a bunch of shows at this club, and I’ve never seen it so empty.

    Everclear put on a good show, though, and Toadies were really impressive.

    Also weird for a rock concert to be completely done at 10:15 at night.

        • This is making the rounds hear as the Calgary Steam Punk Society is co-hosting a party room with us. They plan to serve a number of different absinthe. They decided to do this when they discovered we are doing a whiskey tasking in our part of the room. $300 doesn’t actually buy you a lot of whiskey.

          • It is my understanding that what is marketed as “Absinthe” in the US is not the traditional (real) Absinthe of the Mary Shelly days or what they called “The Green Fairy” in the film Moulan Rouge.
            That is (or has in it) a narcotic and is illegal to import or sell here.
            I do no know if the same rules apply in Canada.

          • Youre right JJ. Ive had both “American” and Czech Absinthe. Big difference. It was recommended that, for the Czech, that i melt a spoonful of sugar and shoot that right before the drink – not for taste but so my throat would be coated to protect it from the drink. US versions dont have that kick – although beer aged in absinthe barrels is a new fad around here.

          • I’ve had absinthe. However, as it primarily tastes of black licorice, I dislike it quite a bit. I’ve seen conflicting articles on the narcotic (wormwood) that is missing from the American version with some saying it is supposed to have a hallucinogenic effect and others saying that it is all BS and absinth is simply really strong and get you hammered “right proper”. If I want to get drunk that fast, I’ll stick to 151 proof rum or, better yet, 99 Bananas. Tastier drinks indeed.

  62. Ummmmmm, the MR office opens at 8:00am. It is now 8:18am. No one is at the MR desk. So I inquire. The response to my reasonable inquiry–“She should be there. I’m not sure where she is at. But she should be there.” Followed by. . . silence.

    It’s okay, MR people. My time is not valuable. I have all the time in the world to wait for you on a Monday morning, typically the busiest business day of the week. I will wait.

  63. So today I watched two pilots, Blindspot and Lucifer.

    Time will tell if they can sustain it but Lucifer’s pilot was fun.

    Enticing as Jaime Alexander in tattoos was, the premise comes over as a poor Blacklist ripoff and the male lead has the charisma of block of lead.

  64. Enjoyed the Minority Report pilot even though the assassin method was stupid (why did it not infect the whole crowd eh?) and the cool tech seemed more of a time waster than actually helpful.

  65. I actually made it through the entirety of Tubular Bells, Part I last night (Track 1 of the 70s album).

    It’s been many years. I’d love to get back to a point in my life where that’s a noteworthy event, worthy of discussion.

    Is that an immature, simple desire? Is this what Facebook is for? Why are bananas yellow?

    • … and I just spent a day and a half trying to rebuild a hydraulic floor jack.
      The end result is a ruined shirt, the permanent smell of hydraulic fluid in my nose, a mess in my garage that may never come clean and a 3 Ton Hydraulic Jack that still doesn’t frelling work.

      Yet I still take that over an expense report.

  66. That reminds me. If anyone has suggestions for my fantasy football team, you know where to find me. We’re picking in two weeks. Time to research.

  67. Been out watching the Persieds.
    Saw about a half dozen or so in the last hour.
    I now know what it looks like when one comes right directly at you.
    I’ve always wondered at that.

      • It’s taken a lifetime of watching. I’ve made the attempt to watch the Persieds and the Leonids for the last 25 years.
        In that time this was the first “head-on” I’ve ever seen. It was pretty quick but was a mostly circular glow of light that grew bigger and then there was a bright flash of light in the middle of it and it all disappeared.

      • I witness that once about 20 years ago. Had some folks over to watch the Persieds and as it was late we were just giving up.
        I stood up and suddenly the yard was lite up, not like someone had turned some lights on but like it was DAY time. I can recall my brain kind of locked up for a second. Then it scrambled for an explanation I can remember thinking “Oh Lightning. Wait a minute, it’s a completely clear night. We are watching meteors.”
        I looked up and this giant fireball with a massive amount of “fairy dust” (for lack of a better term) streaming out behind it was moving right overhead.
        Never seen anything like that again.

  68. So ticket booked to see Man from UNCLE tomorrow as a treat after a visit to the dentist.

    Reviews have been okayish, but what the hell!

  69. Crap joke for the day:

    MOTHER SUPERIOR informs all her nuns ‘ we’ve got a case of gonorrhoea in the convent` one of the nuns shouts back thank god for that, I was getting sick of merlot!!

  70. So reading the wiki entry on ‘The Rocketeer’, strange to think the the villain is based on a discredited biography of Errol Flynn.

  71. Morning pan

    I woke up about a half hour before the alarm went off. Not unusual, it’s happened before. I though I’d start my work out but that only lasted five minutes until a spider attacked me. So now I’m sitting in the living room, in the dark waiting for the alarm to wake hubby so he can deal with the eight legged preditor.

  72. I have to go to the airport in a bit to pick some people up. Just looked at the YYC arrivals board. These people are coming in on two different airlines, and from two different cities. Yet, both their flights are running two minutes early. How’s that happen?

  73. Crap joke for the day:

    I’ve had to sack Peter Parker. I only sent him out to pick a peck of pickled peppers. And how many pecks of pickled peppers did Peter Parker pick?

    Fuck all. He came back with a stupid story about radioactive spiders.

    • Maybe not summer. I forgot that Kingsman, Chappie, and Jupiter Ascending were Feb/Mar. Just seems like this has been a dud year so far

      • I never write off a year until it’s done. We’ve had some decent films too. Although Mad Max and Jurrassic World got some mixed reviews in this group, they weren’t all bad. Most people liked Inside Out and Mr. Holmes. And don’t forget that Star Wars falls in this year as well, even though we don’t know what it will bring. I’m just learning Hollywood doesn’t always have what I crave and I have to seek out from other sources.

  74. The downside to this Edge browser is that pages with over a thousand comments start to slow down typing speeds when making a reply.

  75. I forgot to mention that we watched “My Neighbor Totoro” again this past weekend, since Tiffany had never seen it (we won’t mention that she tried to get up to walk the dog right before the bus stop scene). Still holds up, and is pretty universal.

    Has anyone seen the Miyasaki documentary on Netflix streaming? He was supposedly a pretty dark guy. It’s in our queue.

  76. It’s nice to find a new podcast that is educational in a pointless fact kind of way.

    Well new to me.

    So today I learnt Humphrey Bogart owed a lot of his film success to George Raft turning down roles…

  77. The internet has voted and these are the top ranked horror films of the 21st century.

    10. Drag Me To Hell

    9. Mulholland Drive

    8. Shaun Of The Dead

    7. The Babadook

    6. It Follows

    5. Let The Right One In

    4. The Descent

    3. 28 Days Later

    2. Pan’s Labyrinth

    1. The Cabin In the Woods

    Thought?

    • Initial thoughts:

      Couldnt agree more with #1.

      Is Mulholland Drive really a horror film?

      Drag Me to Hell is criminally overrated

      All the other films (tho Ive not seen 6 or 7 yet) are excellent choices

      • I think that Shaun of the Dead and Cabin in the Woods fall into the “Dark Comedy” realm.
        While they are my favorite 2 of the list … I question if they should be on a best “horror” list.

      • Interesting list. Is “Pan’s Labyrinth” horror? Either way, it deserves praise.
        Mulholland Drive?

        I agree with Lo Pan on “Drag Me To Hell.”

        I wonder if “Paranormal Activity” would have made this list if it hadn’t been so popular. I only saw the first, but I thought it was really well done.

        • I think the rinse and repeat of Paranormal Activity series and the reputation of the production company prevented it from being on the list.

    • Babadook is kind of stupid and more psychological suspense than horror.
      Last House on the Left deserves to be on the list even though the original is better than the remake.

      BTW I will be seeing Lance Henriksen, Terrance Zdunich, Eric Roberts and Chris Sarandon (and many others I’m sure) this weekend if it all works right.

  78. I give you: The Remaining

    The PVR writeup: Cataclysmic events and biblical enemies shatter a wedding, and the event’s participants face an uncertain future, scrambling for safety while questioning their beliefs

  79. So, this movie only has two of the three warnings that make a good terrible movie. It’s missing strong language. Which is different. Usually, if a movie is missing something, it’s usually nudity.

  80. Good Morning!

    Man, that Taylor Swift sure knows to entertain for two solid hours! What a fantastic and engaging concert last night.

  81. I read the first 2 issues of “We Stand On Guard”. I really liked it. I especially liked all the little Canadian references. For example, the war starts in 2112. 🙂 The French Canadian character cracks me up. I like the fact that they don’t translate his French, and I’m especially glad he’s not speaking Quebecois; that would be hard to understand. Overall: good stuff.

  82. Alright, I just have to say that Weird Al puts on an amazing concert experience. And, I’m quite ashamed that I wasted 42 years of my life before actually seeing him live. Still, it was a special evening that my daughter and I got to enjoy together.

  83. Holy shit!!!!!! I am going to see Faith No More at Red Rocks in Sept. JACK! They are announcing more dates I guess so keep your eye out!

  84. Okay, I have an honest question, and please forgive my ignorance. If Caitlyn Jenner is charged with manslaughter for vehicular homicide, what type of correctional facility will she be placed in? I’ve heard Chelsea Manning was placed in solitary confinement, but I’ve also heard of transgendered people being placed in the prison of their birth gender, not their chosen one. Trying to abate my ignorance even though its a celebrity.

    • “Gene Simmons is a scumbag” had been a viable headline for about 30 years now.

      This goes beyond scumbag, though, if he’s involved (I haven’t read beyond the headline).

      • SO basically they are investigating a crime that occurred in his home when he was on tour. So not him… but if he’s associating with that ilk… I dunno man.

    • Note – the myth that lights were used to lure ships in. villagers certainly did murder the crews and plunder ships that got shipwrecked.

  85. Cleverness from Twitter:

    @brian_bilston: ROBERT FROST’S NETFLIX CHOICE

    An action thriller
    with Liam Neeson
    or a post-apocalyptic
    world forsaken?

    Decides upon The Road not Taken.

    • I admit I skimmed this when I saw it last night. I’m generally against giving those fucks any attention, but I clicked because it’s Lejon. I’ll give it a real read.

      • I don’t care about “hugo winner”. I read three of the nominated books (Goblin Emperor, Ancillary Sword, Three Body Problem) and enjoyed all three. I didn’t read any of the short fiction, not because of the Sad Puppy issue, more because I’m not really a short fiction type of person.

        To me, The Hugos are like any other popular vote awards. I liken them to American Idol. Get enough people to vote for you and you’re in, regardless of talent or other such nonsense.

        The Hugo nominee list is a starting point for me. I look at what’s nominated, read what the book is about on Amazon, Wikipedia, etc and decide if it’s something I would be interested. Some years, I read more than others. I have even gone some years where none of the books looked particularly interesting to me. *shrug* Everybody’s taste is different so I just go with it.

        • Most of the Hugo winners I’ve read won the award years before I got round to reading the stories. So the award was pretty much irrelevant.

          Take ‘Rendezvous with Rama’, it won the Hugo in the early 70’s, I didn’t read it till the 80’s, and since I was reading as much ACC’s work as I could get it would have been read anyway.

      • When I first heard of the Hugo Awards I thought, “Hey cool, awards for the type of fiction I enjoy.” That’s about it. I never read a book because it was nominated or awarded a Hugo. I read books based on friends’ recommendations or well researched reader reviews. It saddens me that the Hugos are mired in politics, but I think the unfortunate truth is that most award organizations are.

  86. So a highlights reel from the Con. It was super crowded. The vehicles outside were fun: Ghostmobile, MysteryMachine, etc. Enough actors that I recognized but couldn’t put a name to their face. Of the ones I recognized: Jeff Kober was nice, Chris Sarandon was not, Leif Tilden was a surprise (I recognized his voice before I knew who he was), Lance Henriksen was kind of quiet, Chris Mulkey played his guitar between people and Sid Haig was a fan favorite. I got to see the person I came for and get hugs. Lots of weird and interesting objets for sale. Lots of goth clothing and a few interesting cosplay. I might consider this in the future and staying for some of the films.

  87. Morning Pan

    For the second day in a row, our city is covered in a smokey haze from Washington State. They’re telling people with asthma and other such issues to try to stay indoors as much as possible. It’s a good thing that doesn’t apply to me.

  88. This spirit basically waits around, twiddling its ghostly thumbs, hoping someone will pull go into their attic, cellar, or wherever you store old crap, and pull out his preferred mode of communication.

  89. I still have trouble getting my brain around the fact a ghost just sits around waiting for someone to find and use an old Ouija board. What does it do while it’s waiting. Does the ghost play white the board? If so, who does it try to contact?

    Very silly, if you ask me.

  90. Just finished Wyrmwood Road of the Dead. Seems to me that the Aussies have been making generally better horror films that us yanks for at least a few years now. 100 Bloody acres was also pretty kick ass.

  91. Hubby had to do a talk for the schools in his system yesterday. As part of the presentation, he had a picture of himself from his high school id. Today, one of the teachers took that picture and compared it to a picture of Lionel Ritchie. The resemblance is actually pretty close.

  92. There is an old Alfred Hitchcock movie (or maybe an episode of the Twilight Zone) with a chase scene that ends up on a Merry-Go-Round. There is a fight (or perhaps a gunshot) and the controls for the ride get knocked to “ludicrous speed”. The Merry-Go-Round begins spinning faster and faster. Lights start to flash insanely as the calliope music blares in an increasingly off pitch and frantic manor. Some on-lookers back away in horror but others are rooted in place, unable to look or move away from the disaster in progress. Then parts of the ride start to pull loose. Bolts begin to fly off. The Merry-Go-Round, now spinning at a maniacal speed, begins to ominously wobble. It is no longer a question of “Will this end badly?” but instead “How long till this thing fails SPECTACULARLY and how many people will it take out with it?”

    Lately when I hear a news report about Donald Trump, I can’t get this scene out of my head.

    • I recall that movie. “Strangers on a Train”, wasn’t it?
      I believe that stunt was real. The old guy was really in danger, crawling under the out-of-control merry-go-round. Hitchcock said he regretted putting the actor in that situation, and would never take that kind of risk again for a film.

  93. I find it funny that someone who rants about having panic attacks after seeing road traffic images in their FB feed, sends an image of a spider to arachnophobe.

  94. Crap joke for the day:

    Fred and Mary got married.
    But they can’t afford a honeymoon, so they go back to Fred’s parent’s home for their first night together. In the morning, Johnny, Fred’s little brother, gets up and has his breakfast.
    As he is going out of the door to go to school, he asks his mom if Fred and Mary are up yet.
    She replies, “No”.
    Johnny asks, “Do you know what I think?”
    His mom replies, “I don’t want to hear what you think! Just go to school.”
    Johnny comes home for lunch and asks his mom, “Are Fred and Mary up yet?”
    She replies, “No.”
    Johnny says, “Do you know what I think?”
    His mom replies, “Never mind what you think! Eat your lunch and go back to school.”
    After school, Johnny comes home and asks again, “Are Fred and Mary up yet?”
    His mom says “No.”
    He asks, “Do you know what I think?”
    His mom replies, “Ok, ok, tell me what you think!!!”

    He says: “Last night Fred came to my room for the Vaseline and I think I gave him my airplane glue.”

  95. Tonight I discovered another form of booze to enjoy, a chocolate liqueur from Austria,

    It’s that tasty I’m wiping the dregs up with my finger.

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