So Long and Thanks for the Cold

I'm trying to get back up to speed with the blog, so I should probably mention the most major event of the past week or so. Our friends Les and Jon have taken off on their big move out to the west coast. Needless to say, my feelings on the matter are mixed. I do think the move is a good idea for various reasons, so I'm happy for them on one level. But it is pretty tough to have friends go from being people you see at least once a week to people you only see when you have time to make the trek across the country. I've never been all that adept socially and though I have improved over the years, it's still not easy for me to meet new people. So having friends leave tends to be a pretty big deal. On the plus side, they're going to be living pretty close to where my sister lives now, so I can get a lot of visiting out of one trip. Still I imagine these next couple of weeks will be an adjustment period.

One lingering reminder of the guys is the cold which they passed along to me while we helped them pack up the moving van. It's a pretty nasty affair with a lot of congestion and soreness and coughing. I've spent the past few days on Nyquil, Dayquil, generic Robutussin, throat drops, orange juice containing massive amounts of vitamin C, and ice cream. The latter two were inherited from Jon's fridge and have been rather helpful. Les and Jon are apparently still suffering the effects of the cold, which I hope is due to them being on the road and not to the normal duration of this particular illness.

If you're curious, Jon is documenting the roadtrip on his blog, which you can get to through my link over on the right.

And Now, The Kittens

Don't worry. I haven't expanded my fuzzy family, or at least, not the immediate one. But remember how I said there was some big news a while back? Well this is it. I just wanted to wait until I had pictures.

A month or so ago, my sister and her boyfriend adopted two little kittens from a rescue organization. They're now about three months old and pretty well adjusted to their new home and people, from what I hear.


That's Phoebe




That's Owen




Since I haven't actually met them yet, there not too much more to say. I am working on a report on my trip to ComicCon, but it's kind of slow going. Once I work my way through that, I'll have more new stuff to discuss. For now, enjoy the cute kitties.

Questions

I answered this for Jon and now I'm putting it up here. For the sake of honesty, I'm copying the questions verbatim and not removing any. But "No Comment" and "I don't know" are perfectly acceptable answers. Just post your answers in a comment reply to this entry.

1. Who are you?
2. Are we friends?
3. When and how did we meet?
4. Do you have a crush on me?
5. Would you kiss me?
6. Give me a nickname and explain why you picked it.
7. Describe me in one word.
8. What was your first impression?
9. Do you still think that way about me now?
10. What reminds you of me?
11. If you could give me anything what would it be?
12. How well do you know me?
13. When's the last time you saw me?
14. Ever wanted to tell me something but couldn't?
15. Are you going to put this on your blog and see what I say about you?

Congratulations, It's A Bathroom

The big news for today is that our basement bathroom is finally finished. This is the second bathroom in our house and the first is in need of a major overhaul, which is part of why we had the new one put in. (Not having a bathroom for unknown number of weeks ain't my idea of fun.) The tile is all in and everything works. It's not the most conveniently located bathroom in the world, but it seemed like the best option given the space we have and it works.

After getting pretty fed up with the one I had, I went out and bought a Mac keyboard for the Mini. It's a great improvement. My shortcut keys all work again and the extra USB ports allow me space to plug in my iPod. I started to install Creative Suite yesterday, but then I realized that I needed to install Photoshop first. It's not a huge deal, but I kind of lost enthusiasm for doing it that day. Maybe tomorrow.

I've also got some other pretty exciting news, but I think I'll save that until I have some pictures to go with it. Stay tuned.

Independence Update

Whoops, sort of slacked off on updating this thing for a while there. Chalk it up to momentary peaks of busy interspersed between the usual valleys of lazy.

I guess the big news of late is my new computer. For a variety of reasons (not least of which was wanting to play World of Warcraft with my sister), I decided I needed my own computer. So I got a little Mac Mini, the desktop computer that's slightly larger than a CD case in length and width and just two inches high. It's about as powerful as the older computer (now completely Andrew's) with a few new bells and whistles. I bought it a few accessories and it's been running pretty well despite a brief hiccup due to the mouse's software and a keyboard that will likely need replacing. Of course, my sister's computer is currently out of commission, but at least I can get my new World of Warcraft character caught up to hers.

As it's the Fourth, I should wish a happy birthday to my dad. I called him with my well wishes earlier today and the present I want to give him should be arriving sometime this week.

We're getting into the final countdown for the San Diego Comic Con. It's our first year going, so we're excited and a tad overwhelmed. The full schedule just went up and there's tons of stuff I want to see, some of which overlaps. It's going to be really hard choosing between the Teen Titans Q&A and voice actor script reading and the Slave Labor Panel with Greg Weisman discussing the new Gargoyles comic. And that's not even factoring in all the other stuff I want to see and shop for.

I'll try to get back to more frequent blogging soon, but I make no guarantees until after my vacation.

Hot, Hot, Hot

It's hardly original to complain about the weather, but this heat is pretty tough to ignore too. It was roughly in the high 90s today and that's been pretty near par for the course this summer. We do not have central air conditioning, but we do have a window unit in our bedroom and a relatively cool basement to retreat to when we're feeling overheated. I'm really more concerned about the animals. Terra the hamster tends to do pretty well as her ancestors came from the desert. (She did, however, give us a brief scare when she was resting outside of her cage earlier today.) The bunnies, however, just aren't built for this weather. To help them cool off, we mist them with a spray bottle of cold water, give them a bottle of ice, and keep the kitchen fan on for them. We even tried bringing them up to the bathroom today and putting a little cold water in the tub so they could splash around if they decided too. They didn't seem to care for it, but we did get to shop them how to hop down the stairs afterwards. We also try to brush them frequently, though that's harder than it sounds. Their fur is very light and fine and they shed a lot this time of year, making it tough to get anywhere close to everything with any kind of brush we've tried. Plus, neither of them will usually sit for it; the scars I have from Blitz's struggling last time we held her down for grooming are still faintly visible.

Aside from the heat, I'm doing OK. It does, however, seem like a lot of stuff is coming up all at the same time. I might, in theory, be able to deal with it separately, but piled up together, it's a bit much. You know what they say: when it rains, you get wet.

Oh, I should definitely mention that Jon graced us with both his presence and his famous souffle omlettes this morning. The heat and humidity made things a little complicated, but they were still delicious and definitely on my list of top omlettes. After breakfast, we watched a trailer DVD I had received with my copy of Nintendo Power with previews of all kinds of games. Andrew is starting to find the Nintendo DS very tempting.

Hope you're all staying cool.

"I Too Am In Suburbia"

Two days ago, I discovered a dead pigeon outside of the building where I work. Either the building or the city has a potted plant next to the door for beautification purposes and the pigeon was lying right behind it. I didn't look to closely, but there were no obvious signs of injury, so I'm guessing the bird just settled down in the shady spot and passed away. At least, I hope so.

I do feel somewhat sad in situations like this even though I realize that they're natural and hardly uncommon. But when I come across a dead animal, I have a very definite gut reaction, in that my gut gets tight and I'm stuck between a desire to look away and an inability to do so. I'm not sure why this happens. Maybe it's the fact that it's unexpected and I never know how much carnage I'll end up seeing. Maybe it's related to something in my childhood; our cat Sheba would kill the occasional mouse and sometimes I'd come across the remains. Or going further back, maybe it's an instinct inherited from my distant ancestors who, upon coming across a dead creature, might well have become very concerned that whatever had killed it was still lurking around. Or possibly most likely, maybe I just don't like being reminded of my own mortality.

The strange thing is that I never have this reaction when I've had to deal with my own pets passing away. I certainly have a reaction; when our hamster Jinx died, I was upset to the point where it started to effect me physically. But we did make the decision to see her before we buried her. (The vet kindly wrapped her in a towel after he euthanized her, so there was the option not to.) Again, no tight gut or anything. It's possible that in these situations, I'm more prepared or too sad to have the usual reaction. Whatever the reason, I'm glad of it, because I think I needed the closure in that case.

Anyway, between the building owners and the town, the pigeon was taken away at some point. Which is good because there's a educational toy store two doors down from us and I imagine most kids would be pretty upset seeing a dead bird. And I'm not traumatized by it or anything. It never lasts more than a few seconds. It's just one of those things that gets me thinking, and that's what blogs are for, right? I do wonder how common it is for people to react like this when seeing a dead animal unexpectedly. Is it normal or is it just me?

Beyond Words

(I did want to have pictures for this one, but I think it'll be easier if you just head to the official site, check out what they have, and go from there.)

I like to think of myself as a fairly articulate person most of the time, especially when I'm writing. But there are times when I'm so completely blown away by something that I'm quite literally at a loss for words. This seems to happen when I see Miyazaki films. I spent several minutes completely unable to say anything after seeing "Spirited Away" for the first time. I suppose that partially explains why it's taken me a few days after actually seeing it to try to write about "Howl's Moving Castle".

In the world of "Howl's Moving Castle", witches and wizards are common, but exist largely on the fringes of society. One particular wizard by the name of Howl travels about in a giant structure that walks about on spindly little legs and is rumored to devour the hearts of pretty young girls. Our heroine Sophie doesn't figure that she has much to fear from Howl; she's never thought of herself as pretty and her work at her late father's hat shop seldom leads her into danger. Nonetheless, she does end up getting mixed up with Howl, who seems much less dangerous than the rumors suggest. And shortly after, Sophie is transformed into an old woman by the much less pleasant Witch of the Wastes. Seeking a cure, Sophie leaves her home and ends up at the titular castle where she becomes Howl's cleaning lady.

So that gives you some idea of the story. But like a lot of Miyazaki's films, "Howl" is impossible to appreciate from just a plot synopsis. The story isn't just an excuse for the visuals as it tends to be in some anime. But it is definitely what makes Miyazaki's films truly breathtaking. Very few other animation studios so consistently show me things that I feel I've never seen before. Take the castle itself, for example. It looks like a mishmash of mechanical parts with occasional pieces of house sticking out of it and a vague face on the front. It's also the most convincing moving "background element" I've seen in animation. Its various components retain a 2D handcrafted look, unlike many oversimplified or overdetailed 3D elements in 2D films. And it has a very distinctive way of moving around, a trait which all of the characters seems to share. In this one film, you've got a fire demon with a mostly amorphous body, the grotesquely fat Witch of the Wastes whose rolls of fat are largely concentrated around her neck (or lack thereof), an enchanted scarecrow who bounces around on the stick that serves as his legs, and an aging dog who the elderly Sophie has to lug up a flight of stairs at one point. It's a very diverse cast of characters, yet they all still feel like they belong to the same world.

Another hallmark of Miyazaki's films is the level of detail. In "Howl" this ranges from the elaborate hats Sophie is working on at the start of the film (making her own plain hat seem all the more so), to the dust and cobweb strewn mess of most of Howl's castle that Sophie has to clean up, to the strange assortment of pendants and toys that clutter Howl's personal quarters. The result of all this detail is a world that you buy completely, one that you almost want to reach out and touch. I'd actually take deep breaths during scenes in wide open fields. The lushness of these places is just so convincing that I wanted to breathe it in on some level.

So to sum up my fairly obvious impressions, GO SEE THIS MOVIE. It's a work of art and an incredible experience.

Oh, and am I the only one who thinks that Howl is pretty hot?

Anyone?

hello?

At The Movies

Andrew and I went to see "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". I realize this movie is not exactly breaking news, but we somehow never got around to seeing it when it was in the first run theaters. So we went to an evening showing at a second run place.

I've actually never read any of the Hitchhiker's Guide series. (I know, I'm a failure as a nerd.) Andrew was the one who really wanted to see it. I myself am more excited about Hayao Miyazaki's latest, "Howl's Moving Castle", which should be getting out of my dreams and into wide release this Friday. So I went in with a kind of "take it or leave it" attitude. Given all this, I did have a pretty fun time.

The "Hitchhiker's Guide" movie isn't going to change your life in any direction. It's not a total visual extravaganza, it's not mind-alteringly deep, and it's more subtly humorous than gut busting funny. But sometimes that's fine and this is one of those cases. It was kind of nice to see a movie that wasn't trying to wow me with special effects every other scene. Not to say that the effects aren't good, but they seem content to take a back seat to the story. The various aliens all looked good, though Marvin felt a little light in the weight department. The sets were nicely understated, the acting was solid and convincing, all in all it did it's job. I guess my one real complaint, though it's fairly light, is that most of the aliens did end up looking human. It kind of took away from the whole "Earth blew up and you're the last two humans in existence" thing. But again, I haven't read the book so I don't know how accurate this was.

So yeah, it's a fun view, if not really must see material. I'd recommend it.

Oh, and Andrew says the robot waiting in line is the Marvin design from the "Hitchhiker's Guide" TV show.

Clocks are Full of Elixir

Confused? Well, I'm replaying an old favorite video game: Final Fantasy VI. It originally came out for the Super Nintendo and you may know it as Final Fantasy III. Y'see, back in the day, Japan actually had about three more Final Fantasy games that we in the States did. Japan's Final Fantasy IV was actually only the second game released here, so we knew it as Final Fantasy II. FFVI underwent a similar name change for it's US release. Then someone at Squaresoft apparently decided that life would be much easier if Final Fantasy games had the same number in Japan and America. So Final Fantasy VII was known as such worldwide, even though it had only been preceded by three games over here. And when Square started re-releasing some of the older FFs for the PlayStation and including some of the formerly Japan-only titles, they used the Japanese numbering.

So where was I? Oh yeah, the title. Well, one interesting thing about FFVI is that clocks are indeed full of elixir. Walk up to pretty much any wall clock in the game (there are a few exceptions), search it, and you're the proud owner of an elixir. Considering that elixirs fully restore your hit points and magic points, it's a pretty good deal. But there's only one elixir per clock, so it's not an endless supply.

I usually find that old RPGs are still a lot of fun. As I've said before, RPGs are heavily based around telling a story, which doesn't tend to date the way the graphics do. And since the fighting controls are menu based, you don't have problems with the controls not being as responsive as they are in modern games. Even though Final Fantasy games have stayed the same in a lot of ways over the years, it's fun to see changes in gameplay that either influenced a later game or never really showed up again.

Just in case you're getting the only half true impression that my life is nothing but video games and the internet, I did had something of a social life this week. Jen came by to visit yesterday. Since Jen now lives out in Michigan, I don't get to see that much of her these days. We were hoping to have some more people join us, but unfortunately, that didn't pan out. So we just hung out in my living room and chatted for a while. It was a good time, though it did remind me how little time I spend with any of my few girlfriends. It's not so much by choice; distance and time just seem to get in the way. I suppose I should probably make an effort to meet more women around my age, but I've realized that I don't know what women my age do.

Despite the very hot weather, Andrew and I are finally getting around to doing some much needed painting. He's working on the front door and I painted one of our basement windowsills. It's a bit of a slow process, but the heat does make the paint dry faster. We'll probably get some more done tomorrow.

....But It's Never Over.

I hate conflicts. I know there are some people out there who get a kick out of arguing their viewpoints with others, but that's not me. Even really minor disagreements tend to upset me more than they should. I can deal with friendly debates, but that's really about it. Given the choice, I'd rather avoid the whole thing altogether.

But just because I don't like arguing doesn't mean I don't end up doing it on occasion. There are times when I'd really rather just let something slide, but there are times when someone pushes me a bit too far and I pretty much have to take some kind of a stand. I think I'm pretty good at articulating my views, I just don't have that much confidence in the very often. I like to believe that my ability to see another person's side of things is a positive trait, but it makes me pretty lousy in arguments.

Even when I do have some confidence in what I'm standing up for, I still hate arguing about it. No matter how much both parties try ( or claim to try) to keep things objective, there's always emotion in an argument. There probably wouldn't be an argument were that not the case. And the more emotion you get tied in, the less likely it is that there's ever going to be a solution. Both sides get emotionally attached to their positions, they start hearing what they want to believe the other person is saying, and nothing gets resolved.

Now I'm probably as guilty of this as anyone. Andrew has told me that I can be really nasty in a fight and he probably gets the worst of it since he lives with me. But I try. I try to listen, to stay relatively objective, to address the points the other person makes. But unfortunately, that's seldom a guarantee that the other person will extend the same courtesy to me.

As usual, no specifics, at least on the blog. It was kind of a rough day or two but we'll live. And I imagine I will be totally off this subject tomorrow. So stay tuned.

Over

Two posts in one day. Weird, isn't it?

Well, the thing I was talking about earlier pretty much came to a head tonight and now it's pretty near done with. No one is physically hurt, Andrew and I are both pretty much OK in all respects. We've made a decision. It's not the outcome I would have preferred, but I think under the circumstances, it's for the best. Like I said, it's not a huge deal, nothing big and life changing, so don't worry. I still don't feel that it's appropriate to talk about it since the matter isn't totally resolved and I'm still fairly upset. I may well never air it on the blog. So just remember that everyone's OK and don't worry.

I Chase the Bright Elusive Butterfly of Sleep

I guess this title is a little out of date. You see, I was going to write about how I couldn't sleep either Sunday or Monday night. But due to that fact, I was really too tired to make a post about it, especially yesterday evening. And having exhausted myself for two nights straight, I actually slept pretty well last night. And this after I'd thought up a nice post to make about sleeplessness and that metaphor from the commercial for some sleep aid pill where elusive sleep is represented by a butterfly. Oh well.

So why couldn't I sleep? I dunno. I figure it could be any number of things. The weather has suddenly become very hot and sudden changes in the weather tend to affect me adversely. We haven't moved our air conditioner down yet either and the fan we do have can be a bit noisy. I was also nervous about a couple of things Sunday night, though that wasn't really the case on Monday. Sometimes it's just that my brain refuses to shut up, even though it's run out of intelligent things to say.

Anyways, I'm feeling a lot better today, despite a brand new cause of stress rearing its ugly head last night and continuing into this morning. Its not something I think I should discuss here. What you think should and shouldn't go on your own blogs is your own business and I'm not about to tell you you're wrong. But my personal feeling is that this is not a diary and I can't just assume it's only being read by a few friends (even if that's probably the case). And no matter who's reading my blog, I feel it's generally best not to put feelings I'm having in the middle of a dispute out in the open where everyone can see them and they'll remain for the foreseeable future. However, I did hand write a rather lengthy synopsis of the issue in question in my sketchbook just for my own use. I've found that writing out all my thoughts on something can be rather therapeutic and I may actually have need of them sometime in the future. I'd also be fine discussing the issue privately if anyone is curious or concerned (though trust me, it's not that big a deal). I just don't want the whole thing roaming around the wilds of the internet.

Big Yellow Birds

Andrew helped me make this avatar for the Atomic Underpants Message Boards. I imagine everyone who reads this (all three of you) already know that this is a chocobo, preferred mode of transportation of many in the Final Fantasy games. Oh sure, you almost invariably get an airship which is usually faster. But chocobos have more character. They can sometimes get to places where airships can't land. And they have their own theme song which has remained pretty consistent through the games.

Aside from letting you ride in style, chocobos have also been involved in several side quests which allow you to reap great rewards upon completion. One of the first was in Final Fantasy VII, which allowed you to raise, race, and breed the birds in order to hatch chocobos with the ability to cross different types of terrain. Final Fantasy IX allowed you to go on worldwide treasure hunts with a single chocobo. Final Fantasy VIII could have been a really great chocobo game, but the stupid PocketStation never came out in the States, so you never got to go adventuring with your little feathered friend.

There have also been two games released in the U.S. with a chocobo as the star. Chocobo's Dungeon 2 (the first one never got a U.S. release) had a rather cartoony chocobo working his way through the levels of a deep dungeon with various allies in tow. Chocobo Racing featured many of the same characters from Chocobo's Dungeon. Chocobo zips around on jet powered roller-skates and settles various disputes by racing. A version of the Chocobo's Dungeon chocobo as a coin bank sits atop my PS2 next to a plush Final Fantasy IX chocobo.

Before everyone gets completely sick of me going on about chocobos, here's an amusing little animation that Kim linked to on her blog. The tune is the famous Chocobo Song, but the lyrics are original. Enjoy.

Getting Back on Track

Sorry about the lack of posts as of late, but I have actually been somewhat busy. The Atomic Underpants Robot Contest, which Andrew was running, came to an end on Tuesday. And as the one of us who has a better understanding of HTML and GoLive, I was charged with putting the site together. It ain't perfect by any means, but I did manage to get everything up a day after the contest ended, which was pretty good. We're keeping it open to submissions, but without the deadline or the prize. So if you or anyone you know would like to do a one-page comic about robots, here's your chance.

The "Gargoyles" layout drawing I purchased came in the mail a few days ago. Based on what someone online told me and the size of it now that I have it in hand, it is definitely a layout drawing and not a storyboard. Storyboards are much smaller and "Gargoyles" apparently used the format where the boards were drawn on xeroxed templates. It looks really nice, though these is a crease down the middle. Art for features tends to get archived or at least treated very well these days, but I imagine no one realized that TV show layout drawings would ever be sold to rabid fans someday. The cel is not here yet' it was sent back to studio for repairs on the linework, which I was told would be necessary. The people at Van Eaton Galleries seem really nice; I almost wish I could buy things from them more often.

I've got a few more random things I want to talk about, but I think I'll save them for future posts. Stay tuned.

Thank You, Jon (Again)

I know I already gave a shout out to Jon when he pointed me in the direction of the soundtrack to my beloved "Final Fantasy VII". Well, now Jon has helped me to expand my little iPod mini's musical vocabulary. Quite a bit. To the point where I could probably go to the gym for several weeks without repeating anything whatsoever. Now there is some stuff on here that likely won't be accompanying me to my workouts. (And I probably could have led a perfectly happy life without ever hearing William Shatner's cover of "Mr. Tambourine Man".) But the majority of what I've listened to or found so far is pretty awesome, and that definitely includes the orchestral Super Mario Bros. Theme.

So thanks, Jon. I really appreciate it. Hope you enjoyed the food and "God of War".

The "Revolution" Starts at an Undetermined Date in 2006

E3 (the Electronic Entertainment Expo, I believe), the video game industry's big shindig to show off shwag, is over. Has been for a while, in fact. Granted I haven't followed every update or kept up with every revelation. But what I did see was pretty interesting. There's a lot of games coming out, like "Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess, Final Fantasy XII, Kingdom Hearts 2, Nintendogs, and a bunch of other games that I'm either very interested in or definitely going to buy someday.

But of course, the big news was the next generation consoles. The first story to break was the XBox 360, followed by the PlayStation 3. And last but hopefully not least, there was Nintendo. Along with a new iteration or two on the GameBoy, Nintendo gave the public a preview look at its new system, codenamed the Revolution. Now it doesn't seem like the Revolution is quite as far along in development as its competitors; fans mostly got a looks at the box and a few tantalizing bits of info about what it's going to be able to do. From what I've seen and read, this has the potential to be a big step in the right direction for Nintendo, but there's still a few things that may end up holding it back.

The Good:

Backwards compatibility, All the way backwards - In what may be their smartest move with the Revolution, Nintendo announced that not only will the new system be able to play GameCube discs, it will also give you access to N64, SNES, and NES games. Through the Revolution's online capabilities, players will be able to download older games to play on their new system. Nintendo is reportedly even talking to other companies in an effort to get non-Nintendo titles made for the old systems into the library of available games. There's no word yet on what, if anything, this service will cost. But if Nintendo can keep the price reasonable, it'll help to take a big bite out of the emulator market.

It's Online - The GameCube really got left behind when it came to online gaming, with essentially only one title to make your modem worthwhile. But no more. The Revolution will be able to go online and the only title announced for its launch - a new version of "Super Smash Bros." - will make use of this feature. (Kim, if we both get the system and this game, we can play "Smash Bros." together all the time!!!

Normal Sized Discs and DVD - finally. The shape of their software was another problem that held Nintendo back in the console wars. While the first PlayStation doubled as a CD player and the PS2 and XBox could both handle your DVDs as well, Nintendo brought up the rear with cartridges and mini-discs. Now Nintendo has shown that the Revolution will take full sized discs and - with the aid of a separately purchased peripheral - be able to play DVDs as well.

Wireless Controllers - This looks like it's going to be the standard for next-gen systems; XBox 360 is definitely wireless out of the box and it looks like the PS3 will be as well. But after Nintendo missed out on so many opportunities in the past, it's nice to see them getting in on the ground floor with their competitors.

It's Cheaper (Maybe) - One of those most tempting tidbits about the Revolution is that Nintendo is going to try to launch it at under $200 retail. This could give the system a major boost if the 360 and the PS3 debut at higher prices. I'm not going to hold my breath on this one, but it'll be pretty cool if they can make it happen.


The Bad:

Timing - XBox 360 us due out sometime this November. PlayStation 3 is supposed to come out in March of next year. The Revolution . . . well, we're not quite sure yet. Like I said, Nintendo's newest system still seems like it has a ways to go before it's really ready for the public. So it's a good guess that the Revolution will be the last of the next-gen consoles to debut. If gamers decide that they want a new system sooner rather than later, Nintendo could get burned.

The Dumb Hint about the Controller - probably the biggest mystery surrounding the Revolution is its as yet unseen controller. Nintendo says this is the feature that will really make the Revolution revolutionary. But details on what makes it so special are few and far between. Which is fine. But Nintendo's on hint about the new controller strikes me as kind of dumb. They're saying we should think about the fact that it needs to be able to play games from all of Nintendo's past consoles. Well guess what? I can already do that on my GameCube controller! So it's hardly a helpful hint. (Andrew however, has made a guess that it's going to be an LCD touchscreen that can show any number of different button configurations. Just a guess, since neither of us know anything more than the general public.)

It's a Smaller System - By Nintendo's own admission, the Revolution is just not going to be as powerful as its competitors. It's designed to be a smaller, more affordable system that's accessible for the whole family. If Nintendo can keep the price low at launch, this might work out for them. But still, potential buyers may be tempted away by the 360 and PS3.


So that's my layman's view of the Revolution, from what's been said so far. There's a lot of factors that are still up in the air that could tip the scale in one direction or the other: launch titles, prices for downloading old games, third party support, and what that mysterious controller ends up being. I'll keep you informed if I hear anything new. But for now, the Revolution is looking interesting at the very least.

But It's So Pretty!

Okay, so I bought something today. Two somethings. And they're not exactly inexpensive either. But this was one of those rare opportunities that doesn't come around all that often. And I think I'd be kicking myself if I hadn't taken it.

I bought this:




Also this:




Now really, how often am I going to have the chance to buy original artwork from "Gargoyles", my very favorite animated TV show? Not many, I'd say. There were quite a few other cels and drawings to choose from and it was not an easy decision. (To my very slight credit, these are nowhere near the most expensive they had.) What I like about this cel is that it's a multi character composition and they're all on model, but it's not too perfect like a sericel. (Sericels are those limited edition cels depicting popular scenes from movies and TV shows or sometimes simply groups of characters. Production cels are the real deal; cels that were actually used in the animation process.) It also shows them breaking out of stone, which is something unique to this show and its characters. The drawing (which is either a storyboard or a layout drawing, I'm not sure yet) may not be a perfect match to the cel, but it's definitely the same scene. And I really love Angela turning and smiling at Bronx, even if it's not in the final scene.

So now I own artwork from "Gargoyles" and all that's left is to atone for having spent the money. I have promised myself and Andrew to lay off the big ticket purchases. But I should probably think about selling some stuff as well. Or maybe I could fast.

Gray Days

I know, complaining about the weather is pretty pointless, as there's very little you can do about it. Yet, here we are. If you happen to live in Massachusetts (and most of the people I know to be reading this do), you know that the weather has just been really lousy lately. It's cold, it's gray, it's wet, and it's not going away. The odd thing is that I often like rain, though not necessarily being in it. I especially like thunderstorms (part of the inspiration for my blog's title). But this is just several days of thick clouds and little showers here and there. Nothing really dramatic; just kind of depressing. The kind of weather where you'd rather just stay in bed in the morning because anything you have to do seems pointless and too hard. (I skipped the gym today, on Andrew's suggestion. Probably going tomorrow.)

So what did we do on our dreary Wednesday? After work, Andrew picked me up and we went to get comics. Later on, we had dinner at The Cheesecake Factory, which just opened near us. I am slightly addicted to cheesecake, so going to a place with possibly the world's widest selection of cheesecakes is somewhat dangerous. We both had sandwiches and each took half home. I finally settled on a slice of Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Cheesecake (I think that's the order it went in) which was the longest name on the menu and extremely tasty. The prices weren't too bad either, so we had a good time.

Oh, and we watched some of the commentary on the Batman DVD last night. Fun stuff, as usual. The commentary for "Read My Lips" included Michael Reaves, one of my favorite TV writers who's been all over television animation, including "Gargoyles". Oftentimes, Andrew and I get into a minor dispute because he like going straight to the commentary track for TV shows we've seen before and I like to watch them straight first to refresh my memory. But I saw these Batman episodes so many times they're pretty much ingrained in my head, so I didn't object to watching the commentary right away,

The march of DVDs continues. It looks like "Danger Mouse: Seasons 1 and 2" is coming out next week. How am I going to watch all these DVDs? Where will I put them? Is this really a problem I should be complaining about? Probably not.

In Brief

Got home from visiting Tim and his kitties a little late, so I'm kind of beat. The iPod works great at the gym. "Demon Days" seems pretty good so far. I'm just about to head upstairs to watch my Batman DVD. I wish this rain would stop so I can go get comics tomorrow.