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Month: September 2007
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Cry wolf and let slip the…um…wolves and stuff.
Jesus. You people are probably starting to think that I’m making all this baby stuff up by now.
With a number of factors in play, including the insurance angle which completely befuddles me, we’re in a holding pattern until Monday. No baby this weekend, sorry. My apologies for what must continually seem like crying wolf. I’d love to be cuddling up to a baby tomorrow. But I’d also like for my wife, who has to do the really painful legwork on getting him here, to be comfortable with the timetable. She’s in bed right now with Olivia purring her to sleep. Me, I’m agitatedly sitting here shoveling new game reviews into the PDF database by the half-dozen, and watching the anything-but-classic 1984 Doctor Who story Warriors Of The Deep as it dubs to DVD-R, and wondering, indeed, why anyone would want Warriors Of The Deep on DVD. But I’m a Johnny Byrne fan – he also wrote The Keeper Of Traken and, oh, about 70% of Space: 1999 (and still hasn’t gotten a royalty check from Berman & Braga for the number of Voyager episodes that completely ripped off Space: 1999) – and I’ll get Warriors whenever it officially comes out on DVD just to hear him go off (albeit in his own classy, eloquent way) on what a hash they made of his script.
I’m sure you guys think I’m barking mad to be casually going on about action figure collecting, old video games, and DVDs while waiting for the little guy’s arrival. Hopefully you realize that some of this is purely a coping mechanism, self-distraction at its most blatant.… Read more
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T minus 1 day?
Okay, so here’s the score at halftime.
We’re not in labor, but mom has been depressed and miserable for over 24 hours. So we’re back to plan “A” – she goes into the hospital at midnight tonight to begin the process of inducing labor so we can have a baby around this time tomorrow. Now, she’s still locked up tighter than Fort Knox, so I have very little doubt that a C-section is going to go hand-in-hand with the induction. Put simply, This Is Gonna Hurt. She’s been home from work for four weeks, out of six weeks of paid maternity leave, and my reading up on the subject has been that recovery from a C-section is a 6-to-8-week thing in and of itself – and that’s assuming that the woman can then return to a desk job, not something physical like delivering the mail. Also, if she’s recovering from a C-section, I’ll probably need to stay home to take care of her and Evan, rather than trying to keep part-timing. So…we’ve got a problem, and one whose solution I’m not sure of. I get no paid leave from my part-time gig – if I don’t show up, I don’t get paid – so we’re looking at a bit of pain on the purse strings here. (Hey, at least Evan’s got a ready-made food supply until further notice – I’d probably join him at the buffet line except I’m sure I’d get the crap slapped outta me.)
Please don’t anyone mistake this for a beg, solicitation, or anything else. This is really just me trying to work out in my head How We’re Going To Do This. Jan’s got some insurance paperwork in to claim disability on her random wild blood pressure from a while back, so that might help. I’m not a big fan of people who file for disability at the drop of a hat, but I think this one is perfectly justified. I’m already trying to set up something to do some stuff on a telecommute basis for my part-time gig, but that’ll probably put enough money in my pocket for half a cheeseburger, and I don’t even know if it’s the half with the cheese or not. The video work is variable at best, and while I placed one ad in Entertainment Fort Smith’s bridal issue that netted me two cold calls – one of which was hands-down one of the rudest jerks I’ve ever dealt with in my life – it’s clear that the video work is going to have to come from outside the area to make that a viable source of income. And I’m not sure how to start there when I can’t get more than two local cold calls from an ad in what was supposed to be the biggest issue of the year (though I’m not going to go into why a bridal issue would be published in July, a month after, oh, say, the big bridal month, but there ya go, says the guy who got married on July 1st). Guess my ad writing skills ain’t all that and a bag of microchips, eh?
Of course, for the moment, I’ll just be happy if I’m looking at my baby boy this time tomorrow. That’s what really matters.… Read more
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Doctor Who classic figure news
Outpost Gallifrey sez:
Character Options have announced the first in the new Classic Series range of figures. The first wave will include four single releases and two twin packs. There is currently not a release date. The list is still under negotiations and approvals, but Wave 1 is currently slated to include:
The Fourth Doctor in his Red velvet jacket from the story Revenge of the Cybermen. This figure will include two interchangeable heads – one with the hat, one without.
The Fifth Doctor with short hair as seen in the story Resurrection of the Daleks.
The Sixth Doctor in his patchwork frock coat with short hair as seen in Attack of the Cybermen.
A Sea Devil complete with string vest.
A Zygon with the Skarassen control device.
Voc Robots from The Robots of Death. This twin pack will include SV-7 (Super Voc) and D-84 (Dum Class).
Magnus Greel and Mr Sin from Talons of Weng Chiang will be the second twin pack.
My take on it:
Okay, all this business with “with short hair” and “from the episode…” is making me nervous. CO, please attend carefully: I’m only buying one of each Doctor unless there’s such a radically different one that there needs to be a second one of [insert actor here] on my shelf. Say like a season 26 McCoy and a 1996 movie McCoy. In fact…that’s the only example I can think of, and that’s just because I like McCoy so much. The episode-specificity implied in the above statement makes me grumble a bit.
I approve of the choices though. Three of my ten favorite Doctors right off the top, and you can take Tom Baker’s head off too! 😆 I also approve of the Zygon, Sea Devil and Bots o’ death. I may pass on Chang though.
Yep, you heard me right people. I’m only gonna get the ones I want. I’m gettin’ old. And the boy’s gonna need some toys too, so I gotta be frugal. (Though if he turns out to be a Star Trek and/or Star Wars and/or Doctor Who fan, well…heh heh heh. Luckiest. Kid. Ever.)… Read more
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You’re flirtin’ with time, baby
Still nothing to report. We’re having quite a bit of back-and-forth with the doctor on induction; in one week exactly, Jan will be ten months pregnant, so that pretty much seals it: the kid is part horse. However, there’s no fetal distress at this point – I mean, Jan‘s plenty miserable, but she’s married to me, so she’s probably used to that – so we’re looking at holding out. The push to induce is coming entirely from the doctor’s end, with no real basis other than that she’s on call this weekend. Add to that the pretty high likelihood that a C-section would follow the induction becuase things just aren’t physically ready yet down there, and I’m just not crazy about rushing into things this weekend.
I know everybody wants to see the little guy. I do too. His mom was going on and on this morning about taking pictures of him dressed up in every one of his little outfits (oh God…this is my son, not a dress-up doll!). 😆 I can’t wait to see him wear the bib that a friend of mine got for me that says “NOT NOW, I’M DOWNLOADING!” But we want this to happen on nature’s timetable. If he hasn’t dropped down, and the clearly-marked exit hasn’t effaced, then obviously something, somewhere isn’t ready. (Of course if it was a matter of endangering the health of mother or baby, I’d be lining up to beam him out of there.) I’d rather let nature be the determining factor than a doctor who wants to do this while she’s already on call. (Don’t even get me started on doctors thinking like that.)
Sorry, everyone’ll just have to wait a bit longer. Don’t worry, you’ll hear the shrieks when the real thing is goin’ down.… Read more
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BlogPlug
Just wanted to drop a brief mention of Gapporin’s new music blog, daysarenumbers, over at LiveJournal. Even though I keep going on and on about the “eclectic” vinyl collection I bequeathed to him during housecleaning, I have a feeling this guy lives and breathes and listens “eclectic” with or without me. He’s a regular eclectic light orchestra. (Fair warning: since ubik and I have both started commenting, it threatens to turn into an ELO geek-out, but you can help prevent that particular forest fire.)
Head on over there and take a look.… Read more
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Wow, a tuba would sound great here. Or a xylophone.
Click here for a big honkin’ Jeff Lynne interview in Yamaha All Access – it’s a nifty little magazine that you can read online or print to read at your leisure (even though I’d have to imagine that this sucker would eat a whole print cartridge). Great pictures – it’s like the man just doesn’t age. What a freakin’ house that guy has too! (Paid for in part, no doubt, by the gazillion copies of each one of his albums that I own; fortunately, thanks to Gapporin’s visit a few weeks ago, I think I’m down to just one copy of each album on vinyl, and I no longer own a vinyl copy of “Doin’ That Crazy Thang”…which may well be cause to rejoice.) It’s not the most insightful interview I’ve ever read with him, but hey, I’m happy to see him saying something about writing songs. You know, as opposed to, say, recycling “Mr. Blue Sky” for the highest bidder once a year. But I have to disagree with him on one front: there’ll always be room for the classic ELO sound. I think now it’s just going to be a matter of who’s delivering it – L.E.O., Jason Falkner, Roger Manning, Ben Folds, Paul Melancon, or even Jeff’s former bandmates still touring as The Orchestra. As much as I give him credit for writing incredible songs, he says it himself – the arrangements arrived at the same time as the songs when he wrote them, and they hit our ears the same way. Now, that first ELO Part II album in 1990 proved adequately that you can’t just arrange something like an ELO song and get the same effect, but it’s worth remembering that, as far as we the audience are concerned, we met song and arrangement at the same time, and loved it.
Still no baby news. And you know what? I’m not surprised. My wife is getting tired of hauling the little guy around, but I’m not even remotely surprised by his reluctance to come outta there. This is my son we’re talking about. I don’t like to get out of bed in the morning. You think any kid of mine is going to be eager to leave a nice comfy womb where he’s warm and cozy and doesn’t have to worry about a thing? Hell no. Just like his old man, the little guy’s just going to have to be prodded. Persistently. With a Nerf sledgehammer.
I think he and I will get along too fine. (And, in so doing, will probably get on his mom’s nerves a lot.)
… Read moreEDIT: I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that I found out about this article from the Showdown mailing list, covering all things ELO and Lynne. You can find the subscription details here.
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A request for soundtrack gurus out there
This is kind of a bizarre one, but at least I can do ya better than “it sounds like…”. I’ll provide you with an actual clip! (Though you’ll have to have Flash installed.)
Go to this page and watch the video of the 1982 arcade game Fantasy. Pay close attention to the music playing in the background of the second “level” – the first one where our hero is on foot, dispatching alarmingly cute natives with his sword as cannonballs whiz past everyone’s head. I later heard that music, fully orchestrated of course 😆 , as the opening title music to a WWII movie whose title I can’t remember for the life of me.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it: name the movie that the music in question comes from.
Feel free to repost this request on any music/soundtrack blogs or forums you frequent (provided that it’s not done in a spammy manner, of course – I wouldn’t have that here and I certainly wouldn’t want it done in my name elsewhere). This isn’t a weird midnight music craving like the Van Halen thing the other night, by the way – I’ve been meaning to post this for months. Years if you want to know the truth. Whatever that movie is, it’s a soundtrack I definitely want to find.… Read more
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All quiet on and/or near the western front
Nothing big to report. Did some more minor housecleaning today, and ran a lot of errands. One thing I utterly failed to get done was get the infant seat installed in the Mommymobile – the guy who does that for folks at the Van Buren PD was out of pocket when I got there. I’ll try again Monday.
There are few things as certain in life as death, taxes, and the fact that sooner or later, your Avid user settings will be corrupted. @#$%. (And this is without two other dudes using it – I don’t know what this machine’s excuse is.)
I’ve also been doing some WordPress-style remodeling on Phosphor Dot Fossils, getting the first few test entries into the system. I’m really, really happy with how that’s shaping up; basically, I’m categorizing every entry in a zillion different ways, so you’ve got a huge number of ways to sort through the database: by year, by platform, by the first letter of the title, by control scheme, even by game play elements. You want to look at baseball games only? Maze games only? Games by a certain manufacturer? No sweat. I think there’s a lot of value to the existing library of PDF reviews that has perhaps been buried without having some kind of sorting mechanism; this should redress the balance a bit. (Oh, and I’m gonna drop my customary anti-cut-and-paste code into place too, because let’s not forget that there are other folks who think that PDF is quite a valuable resource too. 😛 ) Head over there, try out the sorting options on the right-hand sidebar, and let me know what you think. It’s a beautiful thing.
Speaking of which, I have found a new use for one of the display cases I used to haul to OVGE every year:
I figured I might just need to keep these little guys under glass (or in this case plastic) from here on out. (By the way, the giant droid god on the left isn’t Andrew’s – I found my own large-scale R2 while cleaning house.)
I know these are a stupid vice to have, but they’re at least harmless. Yes, I know it’s just the same thing repainted in about a dozen different ways. That doesn’t make me like ’em any less.
By the way, speaking of geeky stuff, I thought I’d post my wife’s score from that Nerd Test a few days ago. If you’re reading this, you’ll probably be impressed:
Read it and weep, gentlemen. 😆… Read more
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Royal flush
Okay, this is getting ridiculous. Some time earlier this year, the shower/bath in the master bathroom stopped working. All bathing activity now has to take place in the bathroom right behind the game room (something which will only make sense to the 2-3 people who have actually visited my house). Now the toilet in that bathroom has stopped working, meaning that one must now go to the master bathroom. Or step outside and hope no one’s looking. (Hey, I have a pregnant woman in the house. I’ve actually done this to avoid waking her. Someone’s gotta fertilize the yard and leave a mystery for future archaeologists, and one dog ain’t gettin’ the job done. And we live way the hell out in the country.) Sometimes I think to myself that there’s a reason we got a good deal on this house…
From the “all the cool kids are doing it” department:
I think I’m actually pleased with that rating. I’m disappointed with my history/lit score there, but I just woke up and it’s three in the morning. (Simple equation explains why: nesting instinct resting instinct.) I must however take the authors of this test to task for not including more obscure sci-fi, video game, anime and prog rock questions, and not one word about 20 sided dice? The authors of this test were clearly non-nerds operating from a set of stereotypes. I need to get together with someone who’s actually capable of coding something similar and do a nerd test for my own site, and let me tell you, this one would separate the men from the boys in short order.
I’m going to go back to bed now and hopefully occupy myself more with getting back to sleep than with being cranky.… Read more
