A few sketches of the family

...I always doodle the pets on X-mas cards and whatnot, and Andi mentioned that I should make an effort to save or scan some of them. Since work is a bit on the slow side today, I've tried to recreate a couple of them to post. Of course, these seem inferior to the original, muse-inspired, masterpieces (Har!), but here you go.

Happy New Year, by the way. I keep hearing that 2007 was a "Year of Endings," which as far as I can tell, means that people are referring to the Asian astrological calendar. The Year of the Pig, you see, will be over in February, and that is the end of a 12-year cycle. It seems like it would be auspicious that be born in the next calendar year (not that we know anybody who's contemplating a premiere soon, or anything), but I have some friends (the J&J J factory) who were psyched to bring their new son in the world during this current year ("Fire Pig!") because it's particularly fortunate.

Anyhoo, it seems to me that this means 2008 will be a year of beginnings, and we're certainly looking at a number of exciting changes: New family, new careers, new state/city/zip code, etc. I'm still optimistic about it all, so nobody burst my bubble, OK? (Just kidding.)

Since I will almost certainly start playing Mass Effect as soon as I get home (great game, by the way), I probably won't post any "real" end of the year message later -- We're having company over for a New Year's Godfather Movie marathon tonight -- so, please, everybody out there take care of yourselves and each other.

On to the pictures:

This is just about the best idea ever.

A building in Tokyo shaped like Godzilla.



No, it's not really being built (yet), but the concept is perfect. Wow.

Well, this is a risky link...

...because, well, of the three people who read my blog, one is too old to find this funny, one is too young to get it, and the third is going to offended by the profanity at the destination site. And, worse, all three of you have better taste and higher standards of quality than I do.

However, despite these dangers, I can't help myself, as this is just about the funniest thing I've seen today. And I drive through part of Durham to get to work, so I know funny.


"Rap represented in mathematical graphs and charts."


If my friend W. wasn't on some vision quest that involves being "out of the office" for three months, he'd understand.

Lovely WWF Awareness Posters

For those of you who also blunder around the blogosphere, you may have seen these elsewhere, but I like them so much that I thought I'd put them up here, as well.

*In personal news, I have a phone interview for a library job with UNM tomorrow... Fingers crossed!

My daemon is Humphrey

Here’s a prime example of why I wanted to separate the family postings (that, by the way, is a plug for http://shaneandrea.blogspot.com/) from my rantings: Some brief thoughts about Pullman’s The Golden Compass…

There are some of you who are involved, on one side or the other, in the (largely media-created) “debate” about the books and movie. As I keep saying, I don’t really have a horse in that particular race, especially when I don’t really see any real Christian/Heretic /Humanist/Dogmatist conversation as being very well represented by either the books or the current national conversation.

So, here’s the deal from my perspective: I’ve read the books. I liked them, although it took two tries to get up the momentum to push through the first one. They are not classics of any genre, and they certainly wouldn’t sit on my idealized shelf next to Tolkein, but they’re not bad. That’s just one man’s opinion. I hear from Mom that the audio books are really good, and I can readily imagine that the style of the narrative would work really well in that format (similarly, Harry Potter, to me, is most engaging as an experiential synthesis between the books and the movies… Each of the two media are, alone, pretty good, but they become great when Reese’s-Peanut-Butter-Cupped together into a movie supported by the texts. In other words, not every book is best as a book).

Wow, I was close to getting distracted, there…

So, the Pullman books are pretty good. The movie was mediocre and it certainly doesn’t deserve a sequel, especially one which will undoubtedly veer widely away from the source material. That’s part one of my take.

Part two is this: I, myself, am something of a pseudo-humanist who has deep sympathies for organized religion. Hmmm. Maybe I'm a motive or two-level utilitarianist, actually, which doesn't really preclude humanism, but catches a slightly different flavor. Sigh. I need to re-expose myself to a lot of this stuff before I start casting too many stones. Which reminds me, how this for stones:

This all segues into my disdain for the whole Dawkins, anti-religion, crowd. Considering the spiel, there, is supposed to be that rationalism and practice of scientific method are some of the best tools that we have for moving through the universe – which I happen to agree with – there’s some pretty specious argumentation that gets thrown around. Dawkins needs some serious remedial logic, starting with a review of what modus tollens means.

Of course, biologists are not philosophers are not scholars of religious studies are not theologians are not opinionated yokels from North Carolina, and it’s always dangerous when one tries to splash in others’ wading pools.

The take-away from my point of view is that it is ridiculous to non-rationally demonize (Ha! A joke there!) organized religion, at least in rational discourse. In literature, in fantasy, it makes a world of sense to use beautiful and heavy metaphors to move your ideas around. When you’re trying to convince your neighbor that you have deeply-held beliefs about things (whether we’re talking about the divinity of Jesus, the innate value of human beings, or whatever else floats your boat), it makes more sense to use sympathy, compassion, understanding, and thoughtful, honest, communication.

It’s possible that you can, maybe, glimpse a bit of my deeply held beliefs mixed up in that sentence.

So, it’s tricky when I’m asked about my opinion, here. I don’t love the books, I disliked the movie, and I think that Pullman is a pretty problematic spokesman for any kind of “alternative to organized religion.” If I’m feeling generous, I can say that he’s a good young adult author and that’s it. I also loathe the whiney victim bit that one hears constantly repeated by both “Christians” in this country (who, are, like, totally being oppressed by the left-wing media and the ivory tower academics and the Zionists) and the “Secular Humanists” (or whatever they’re called today; these are the poor souls who are waging the lonely, passionate battle of free will against the tyranny of Rich White Men and Zionists. Groan). There’s a slim chance that there might be one or two people who don’t fit in these two camps, but if there are, they must be illegal immigrants or Duke fans, so I’m not sure if I care to know them.

Well, I’m now officially rambling. I guess I just hope that people are arguing about the importance or danger of The Golden Compass, which is really called Northern Lights, anyway, are finding the experience to be useful. I am all for conversation between people in diverse camps, especially about issues that excite and interest them. My preference would be for everyone to keep open ears and hearts, but that’s just me. My advice is this: Do no harm.

After all, that is the reason for the season. Right? Oh dear, I’d better shut up before I pry open that kettle of monkeys with a fish. (Ha! Two jokes in one, there!)

Hedgehog Cuteness

Almost painfully cute pictures:

Abandoned baby hedgehogs are too weak to hibernate.

On the Shane front...

End o' semester, a little busy, but all is good.

NEW BLOG!

Hi all,

Andrea and I have put together a new place to place family pictures and postings:

http://shaneandrea.blogspot.com/

The idea is to separate my babbling from the family stuff a bit, just for the sake -- and sanity -- of you, the reading public. Of course, you're welcome to keep checking out the thrilling adventures of "It's OK" (this blog) for as long as you'd like.

A Few Pictures from Andi's Shower!

*These images are courtesy of Andi's friend, Lady D. If you'd like to see more, or if you want prints of these, let me know and I can play middleman to get you an invite to the full photo album.

Saturday night's alright

Well, Andi is in Denver and seems to be having a good time, although (unsurprisingly) seems a little tuckered. Things here have been pretty good: Played some video games, worked out, hiked the dog, bathed the dog, moved some boxes, did some homework. Pretty low key, which is nice. I also did some processing on my list of potential kid names (current front-runner: "Mephisto" (of comics and wrestling coolness, not the blog or shoe variety).

In other news, I've been pondering splitting this blog in twain: one for my randomness and one for the family-related stuff, but that sounds like effort that would just distract me from God of War 2.

On the media front, I've made a few poor ROI investments by watching stuff like the remake of The Fog, The Beast Must Die!, and Attack of the Show reruns (boring, disappointing, and creatively autophagous, in that order). Yet, I keep watching, so I must be enjoying it.

Here's the dog on our hike. I tried to get her to take some pictures of me, but, well, she's a dog.


















Also, for those keeping score, here's what remains of the tree in our back yard:

Don't worry, take a nappy.

I was sitting in a lecture with a professor the other day whose research, in part, addresses the stress that arises from Inbox spam. I guess it’s a bigger deal to some people than others (I mean, though, really? Spam stresses you out?), but I liken it to one of those typical reactions to technology that we’re all familiar with:

When the first guy put up a tent, everyone else was like, “Whoa, that’s cool! Portable shelter! But we’re worried about the fact that we can’t keep an eye out for roaming smilodons…” So somebody poked a hole in the tent, making the first window, and everybody went: “Sweet! We can totally keep an eye out for Saber-toothed beasties, but now there’s a breeze, and, by the way, the wall is a little shaky…”

So, then came the less-shaky wall, and the window with glass (“But now the sun blinds me when I stare out through it!”), then horizontal blinds, etc. And, of course, the kid who’s born in the house instead of the yurt, instead of the tent, instead of under a tree, instead of sitting in the middle of a field (now those guys had it rough), grows up with the glass windows and understands the limitations and benefits of the walls and the windows. While her grandparents are still complaining about how bright the sunshine is and how the curtains don’t function properly, she has more important fish to fry: Her inbox is full of erectile dysfunction-related spam.

Everybody understands how this works, at least on some level, but we are so obsessed with the idea that change is coming faster, harder, wilder, and more out-of-control than ever before. Some people write thoughtful articles about the “Culture of Change” and other, equally intelligent, folks write ranting blogs about the impending doom of the human race as we IM and twitter ourselves into madness. Heck, there’s more than a little Ludd-o-philia in a lot of librarians who SWEAR that there is an inherent human need for people to help other people organize information and that card catalogs or Second Life are the best tools for the helpers to get paid to use to do their job.

Sigh. I don’t know where I’m going with this. As usual, I start to flare out when writing something blog-style (like crane technique, “no can complete”). I guess that if I had a point it’d be something like this: It’s cool that you’re stressed about spam, or that you care that other people are stressed about spam. However, it seems to this chucklehead that the crux of the matter is really at the stress, itself – stress over the spam, the sun, or the sabretooth – not the things that we invent to cause it.

I should probably pepper this post with links to pertinent articles and books and etc., but I’m just about done with work this fine Friday evening and I’m off to walk the dog, have dinner with my friend Ed, go to a meeting, and then crash at home playing God of War 2 on my re-borrowed Playstation 2 (which reminds me: The Xbox has passed through the Ring of Red Light and must be sent away for a few weeks. Now there’s something work stressing about.). Good night and good luck.

The Red Planet

Those UN buzzkills. Stoopid scientists.

Lovecraft Family Circus

If these amuse you, I can email you several more. I wish I could tell you who the original mash-up creator is, but I have only seen these as posted copies of copies.

I'm a Chaotic Good Half-Elf Bard!

Science tells me so: What D&D Character are you?

Waterbored.

Curious as to what the fuss is all about? (Hint: Torture. Yes, it's torture. Period. The arguments that, "we do it to our own troops for training," and, "it saves lives," both miss the point. The question is, are we, as a society, willing to allow torture to be practiced by our military? The answer may be that we are, but don't candy coat it.)

http://waterboarding.org/

Top Secret News soon to be revealed!

In the meantime, some pictures:


The "Baby Sounds" disc is supposed to acclimate the animals to, well, baby sounds. Round one mostly caused confusion...






The dangers of leftover Halloween candy...











I hate to say it, but Andi is really letting herself go.

Werewolf Bar Mitzvah

Have a Super Samhain!

...Somehow, I doubt that'll ever catch on as a holiday catch-phrase. Oh well.

So, tonight, we have friends coming over to feed trick-or-treaters (we actually got a ton last year) and hang out. I have a DVR brimming with horror movies both new and old, as well as a new copy of Slither on DVD. I suspect, however, that the TV will be busy with Guitar Hero III -- Which, of course, rocks.

It's a bummer that I'll miss the 'weenie Halo "Playlist of the Living Dead," but that's OK.

Anyway, all is well. We're trying to solve the conundrum of winter clothing for Andrea (especially since we actually saw some frost this morning!), but everything else is going well. We have a Child Care class on Saturday, which should be fun.

That's about it, have a good Halloween.

It's Finally Autumn!

Raining, dark, lovely... I'm sure it'll be 80 degrees again next week, but it's a nice respite.

In more/less important news, how is it that things like "Sayonara, Syrian Nukes" happen totally -- sorry about the impending pun -- under the radar? A month ago. Weird.







Washington Post

You may have heard of Texas...

...it's a pretty big state. Wikipedia says that it's 261,797 square miles (of course, on any given Monday, Wikipedia might tell you that Chuck Norris is the King of Texas, too, so take that statistic with a grain of salt. On the third hand, I suspect that Ranger Norris may, in fact, have some sort of monarchical role in the secret government of the People's Republic of Texas, so who knows?).

Anyway, I got distracted, there. Texas is big, right? Well, you may or may not know that there is a large toxic island in the Pacific that's twice as big as Texas and composed primarily of onshore plastics that have been tossed in the trash. A LARGE, TOXIC, ISLAND, visible from space, over half-a-million square miles in size.

Paper or plastic?


(*Thanks for bumming me out, Boing Boing.)

All's Fair...

Andi and I hit the State fair on Saturday with our friends Steve and Anna. It was fun, fairly people-intense, and mostly food-centric. The cows were cute, but the four-mile lines for the Ferris Wheel were not. All in all, thumbs up.

Wonder what I'm eating? In my left paw is a cup of Deep Fried Coca Cola. Yes, it really is, and it tastes like... Well, not much else that I've ever had, and I've eaten whole pickled eels, raw crawfish brains, and fresh blood sausage. In my other hand is a Deep Fried Peanut Butter-and-Jelly Sandwich. Yes, it really is, and it tastes like... Ambrosia. And I've eaten Pocky sticks and Jammy Dodgers.



The food came from this place, which will also deep fry a bologna sandwich, Twinkie, or banana pudding:









Now that is good, clean, American fun. This is a giant chicken in armor:









These were my fellow travelers:

Piper at the Meadowmont Club Pool

On the last day of their season, one of the local pools lets the chlorine level slip and then invites dogs to swim (entrance fee: $5 donation to the local humane society). Fun ensued:

BOO! (Warning: Adult Content)

Somehow, this mask is more lifelike than the real thing...

(Scroll down for the horror.)

Moving Decision

I have seen our future home, and it's for sale on EBay.

Seriously.

57 Acres near Spokane. $300,000 down.

Oh Boy!

The future l'enfant terrible has revealed a gender: It's raining men! Time to start brushing up on the boy-rearing classics... Field of Dreams, Star Wars, Oedipus Rex, pissedOff.com, etc.








By the way, my in-house concept artist has helped me out yet again. Statistically, the lad is 98% likely to look like an exact 50/50 blend of these two images:

Andi and Piper -- One of 'em went swimming last weekend

Crib Notes

Kid furniture! All we're missing is a noisy and smelly little monkey.

Goodbye, 'Lander.

It's interesting how certain people, places, events, media, etc. can catch us as just the right developmental phase and plant a deep seed of affection. One example in my case, as my friends can attest: I was a huge fan of the movie Highlander. I first saw the original film as part of a cinema immersion over at Jason and Ryan's house, sandwiched between -- and I am 100% certain that my memory is faulty on this one -- Lethal Weapon and Raw Deal. I was hooked immediately and rented it from the Video Station the next night to watch with Dad (it was important, you see, to share my discovery).

I suppose that my immediate fascination was borne of that perfect storm of goofy production values, pseudo-epic mythology, quasi-martial arts, location shots in Scotland, and the bizarre coolness of marble-mouthed Chris Lambert (who, just to burst your bubble, was actually born in Great Neck, New York). Any freudian readings of my interest that center on a fascination with two sweaty, male, warriors swordfighting involves issues nicely repressed, thank you. Since then, I've seen the original movie dozens of times, and I've seen every one of the theatrical versions in the theaters on their opening weekend. I have seen every episode of the television series and can quote blah-blah, etc., etc... I don't need to belabor my Highlander-cred; Just accept that it holds a dear place in my heart.

Which brings me to Highlander: The Source. I don't have the heart or motivation to really review this thing, but suffice it to say that it was really, really, bad. All of the threats to a film's potential quality that come from issues like multiple directors and screenwriters, shoe-string budgets, the weight of leaden narrative continuity, multi-national production "support," B- list actors, derivative plots, etc. created a volatile cesspit of quality that, when sparked by at least three horrible ideas for breaking new ground with the core concept, ignited into a conflagration of cinematic crap. I've known for a while that there really don't seem to be any more Highlander stories to tell, and this movie, unfortunately, proved it. The "rules" of a Highlander movie -- part of what made it so cool to a 13-year-old -- define a very specific, and limited, storytelling environment. I'm absolutely certain that The Source has killed Highlander for the time being, just as I bet the people (Panzer and Davis; one of whom, I think, is now dead (which must make for some odd business meetings)) that own the rights will decide that the only way to spin up the engine on their derailed money train will be to remake the original one of these days. Shrug.

If nothing else, The Source is a fitting cap for my Highlander experience, the firebomb to balance out that long-ago hurricane of my interest and excitement. "Who wants to live forever?" indeed.

Finally, Humphrey will be ready for his journey to Mordor*

"Organic Armor"







*This headline was stolen almost directly from Gizmodo.

Am sick.

Most likely this little guy (Yersinia pestis)'s fault.

Hair IV: The Revenge

Andi's newest (coolest) hair, and our in-utero white-noise generator (the cat, not the laptop ;):