June 30, 2006

I just LOVE this photo of a found container at Chromasia. I even more like the conversation in the comments talking about how he produced it. Also, take a look at the rest of the series by clicking next.

Well, I found a mild distraction again in music.

Let's waste time
Chasing cars
Around our heads


I need your grace
To remind me
To find my own


If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?


Forget what we're told
Before we get too old
Show me a garden that's bursting into life

June 29, 2006

She told me last night, i'm not the one
half my heart was ripped out, but i still got some
if this light should stay red
i'll be sitting here listening to Nebraska.

June 28, 2006

I was returning to an empty second floor when I noticed a customer standing idly at the register, awaiting her turn. I also noticed she was a recognizable entertainment celebrity here in Toronto. I turned around and asked her if she needed assistance and she smiled brightly, "I am doing a return." I came down and proceded to do a return in my grandest i actually care about you manner. To return product I have to ask for the customer's information and her face dropped suddenly when I asked her what her name was; I guess she was hoping to be a little more recognizable & memorable. June 28 06

June 27, 2006

Interesting idea that Kevin Smith has about promoting Clerks 2.

Bixarre how Comcast fires employee caught sleeping on camera when the video was placed on YouTube to complain about the customer service he was recieving. The employee was obviously on hold with the department that needs looking at.

Now this would be a challenge. It's a New Orleans Square Haunted Mansion Model... in papercraft. beware annoying music.

June 26, 2006

If you read more than once in a while you know I have been going through stuph. Part of the realizations I have been having is that I might have to be slightly medicated in order to feel like I am living normally. Considering it, thinking about it, realizing I am just a little afraid of it. Then I read Extroverted Like Me and want to run screaming over the hills like Kermit the Frog with hands all willy-nilly. June 26 06

June 25, 2006

The site has changed since I actually saw the contest (2005) on TV but it's still a great place to learn how to Build A Better Burger.

This webcomic with D&D themes and Disney-like drawing is just brilliant; it's Yet Another Fantasy Gamer Comic.

June 22, 2006

I must have linked to Dr. Toast’s Amazing World of Toast before, right?

Have I linked to the Toast(er) Art Gallery before? (thx jer)

What do you do with a dead computer? What do you do with dead computer, early in the morning?? I just put them out to the curb and they are usually gone before morning.

Ugh, v should know better than link to a producer of papery things called lovelydesign. i am resisting the urge to find my credit card in it's hidden spot.

More local photobloggers exhibiting prints of their photos at the Cross Cultural Solutions Auction.

June 21, 2006

iMoments brings us Graphic-ExchanGE - a selection of graphic projects. It's just puuuuuure eye candy for dezinish-envy people like myself.

Amusingly enough, this is my secondly most common played character. The first would be a 1/2 Elf but all the same. as the rest.

I Am A: Neutral Good Dwarf Fighter Ranger

Alignment:
Neutral Good characters believe in the power of good above all else. They will work to make the world a better place, and will do whatever is necessary to bring that about, whether it goes for or against whatever is considered 'normal'.

Race:
Dwarves are short and stout, and easily recognizable by their well-cared-for beards. They are hard workers, and adept at stonework and engineering. They tend to live apart from other races; generally in deep, underground excavated systems, and as such tend to be distant from other races.

Primary Class:
Fighters are the warriors. They use weapons to accomplish their goals. This isn't to say that they aren't intelligent, but that they do, in fact, believe that violence is frequently the answer.

Secondary Class:
Rangers are the defenders of nature and the elements. They are in tune with the Earth, and work to keep it safe and healthy.

Deity:
Marthammor Duin is the Neutral Good dwarven god of protection and travel. He is also known as the Finder of Trails, the Watcher over Wanderers, the Watchful Eye, and the Wanderer. His followers are also wanderers, and are open to new ideas far more than most dwarves. They are typically guides or scouts. Their preferred weapon is the heavy mace. Marthammor Duin's symbol is an upright mace in front of a fur-trimmed leather boot.

Find out What D&D Character Are You?.

Mano brings us a link to a Something Awful article on my lovely favourist bad director Uwe Boll. The article is your usual, "He's so bad and why..." kind of article but it has a link to a lovely challenge from Dr. Boll. It's says that if you can prove to him that you are one of his most vitriolic detractors, evidenced by posts on forums and such, he will invite you to come to Vancouver (where he is filming Postal) and beat up up in a ten round boxing match.

When J told me about this I must admit to a certain amount of excitement that almost dredged me from my doldrums. Imagine him flying ME, number two on Google for 'Uwe Boll Sucks', out to Vancouver. I would not only beat him up soundly but also accept a challenge to show him how things SHOULD be done. I would become a creative consultant, a partner in his business to bring popular video games to the big screen. Then I would have changed his reputation, altered the perception of the fanboys, created a monster of creativity and set the one true path of my life. Really, it's not that far out and I am sure it is how some people in LA started their careers. Just some weird sort of synchronicity.

Alas, he more likely wants the people who are leaving comments in my infamous post, not me. June 21 06

Now you too can swear like a not real person.

I guess this is what D&D Players / LoTR fans / WoW Players do when they are bored. I dare you to click Play Orc.

OK, I understand that the A-List and associated industry bloggy type people are supporting friends & associates by trying out the Vox system because we know they don't need another place to put their thoughts. What I find interesting is how they are all writing those short blurbs that we used to write in the early days of blogging.

June 20, 2006

Wow, is being painfully shy as a kid to blame for all of this?!?!

June 19, 2006

My inner voices have been deafeningly loud as of late. No amount of distraction, amusement, physical activity, lascivious contemplation, productive activity, music or imagination has been able to quiet them. None of which they have been saying has been positive. No amount of the forefront brain responses, those that are refuting the loudness as silliness, are working. I used to have quite a few tricks to quiet them: a few days of doing nothing but working & playing video games, getting engrossed in a good book, watching many many good movies by myself, wandering around outside noticing beauty, overworking, writing fantasy D&D related materials, taking many many photos and playing with them in photoshop marvelling that such images came from me, sitting with a stack of comics books & Doritos & Coke for an uninterrupted few hours of tights & capes, working on websites and revelling in creation, etc. These used to work. Nothing is working right now.

It's at this point where I wonder if I do not want distraction, no matter how fulfilling or productive it is. I wonder if I need true blue new. Do I need to wipe away all that I am now and try being something else? How much do I have to clean up to clean up these thoughts?

At what point do I stop pretending it will go away on it's own and just see someone (qualified) about it? I have been distracting myself from that answer for 30 years. Yes, thirty years. June 19 06

Rannie's borrow P&S has a feature called widescreen. That is so neat!

One of my favourite photoblogs, tenebrophilia has moved to a new site called A Walk On Earth.

Oh yeah, I definately need this toast making merit badge; in fact I believe I deserve it !

June 18, 2006

Really, sometimes it can just be the location that makes the shot.

Rannie is doing a series with a new Canon Powershot SD700 IS. Oip! Now I won't be able to get away with blaming the quality of my shots on them being done with a Canon P&S.

When you're walking downtown
Do you wish I was there
Do you wish it was me
With the windows clear and the mannequins eyes
Do they all look like mine


You know you could
I wish you would
Come pick me up
Take me out
Fuck me up
Steal my records
Screw all my friends behind my back
With a smile on your face
And then do it again
I wish you would


I wish you'd make up my bed
So I could make up my mind
Try it for sleeping instead
Maybe you'll rest sometime
I wish I could -- Come Pick Me Up, Ryan Adams.

Moo said in a comment to a previous post that I should pick up a guitar and become a country singer, considering the sentiment of the post he was commenting on. It may have something to do with the music I was listening to lately. June 18 06

I once had an idea to start a new blogging phenomena. Instead of posting photos or links or thoughts & ponderings, I would post little videos. Those videos would be those short lil captures of the world that are about all you can do with the shitty quality of digital video from a P&S digital camera. Oh well...

June 15, 2006

See, if Transformers had always been done in hot CGI, I might have liked teh show.

June 14, 2006

So, it seems that this image of BBB might not be acceptable on Flickr. Fucking weird.

A weird thing I have noticed about my personality is this. When I feel I have an advantage over a person, be it in knowledge or skill or something, I feel confident, positive in my interactions with them, friendly, eager to interact with them, etc. If I feel they have the advantage(s) over me I am distant, cool, polite but not eager to interact with them. Then there are the people who I am indifferent to in advantages and disadvantages, those people who do not affect me either way and depending on their personality, I can either seek them out or feel meh about their presence. And rarely, ever so rarely, the latter group is the perfect group where the weights and measures balance perfectly and we mesh well; I do the best with these people. The problem lies in defining people into these groups and far too many being lumped into the Have Advantage Over Me group, as of late.

The other thing I was thinking is, "Will I notice when the irrationalities of my ways of thinking, the nutty little thought patterns, begin to outweigh the positive, rational thoughts?" June 14 06

Guffaw! Snort. Spray coffee. Laugh some more at annoying Folgers commercial.

I think I will try this at work today, with the automated stock check system.

Ahh yes, music to grunt by. (via danelope)

We saw the new touch interface table/monitor a few months ago with some theoretical software being used but now we can see Warcraft III and Google Earth on it.

June 13, 2006

OK, I must admit I have many more than five good things:

1. i am relatively healthy
2. my cats somewhat like me
3. i have many many many toys
4. she tells me she loves me a whole buncha times
5. i have a roof over my head

All I want from the Christies auction of 40 Years of STAR TREK is the flute from the Picard episode where he lives an entire lifetime in the blink of an eye.

I love the illustrations at static Ilesc.

June 12, 2006

So I ended up going out anyway and doing what I intended. I have a bad habit of creating an idea of what I want to do, in my head, and then deconstructing it entirely before I actually do it. Then I don't do it. So, this time I bitch-slapped my Id and went ahead and did it anyway. I chose to go down to the waterfront with my digital camera and my book. On the way I grabbed a sandwich & coffee from Starbucks (the curried chicken one) and sat in bench which was probably pretty damn close to the one I envisioned. As I ate my sandwich (some of it ending up my sleeve smeared on my arm >:) I read my book and watched kiddies & seniors hop onto and off of the tour boats. Once finished the sandwich my coffee was cool enough (i cannot drink hot hot coffee and no matter what McDonalds said in the lawsuit, hot hot coffee does not taste better) and I finished it as I read a bit more. Then I grabbed the camera and wandered around the waterfront, grabbing my needed dispossessed easter-coaster quota of lapping water sounds. I passed by the photoblogger exhibit called Photogrammetry and was once again utterly impressed by the quality of work by the four, once you see it in the new media of BIG AND ON PAPER. Gayla's work really rocks. Once done there I wandered east until I hit Lower Jarvis sending off an impromptu invite to someone to join me for coffee. I do not do spontaneous as well as I used to but they didn't get the invite (in time) so I guess I still do not do. Then it was up through St Lawrence Market and home. I have enough images on the camera to avoid 'walking to work' photos for a while so I am happy. And sweaty. And still in last night's clothing. June 12 06

I would also love to see this movie called Takeshi's , a self-created work of 'deconstruction' by Beat Takeshi.

I would like to see Salaryman Kintaro as it has a pretty great, non-standard-anime theme. The mother site, SaruDama, is pretty cool too.

All I can say about Tales From The Vault!: Canadian Pulp Fiction is NEAT ! (via snarkout)

Wow, the Cat Cocoon is one complicated hidey hole for animals that just as often prefer an open box. (via girlhacker)

I should do what everyone else is doing in the Blogosphere (tee hee) and post something about my extreme disinterest in the World Cup. Normally, it being the beginning of a week I might look for something to do, some movie to see, some event we might attend but this week (how much longer?) I find myself thinking, if I did email them suggestions, I would get a response like, "Are you frickin' kidding?!?! Go do something with friends when it's Norway vs Zembabwei on the giant screen at the XYZ Sports Bar?!?!" Weird, considering my friend's usual despisal of sports bars. And only part of this is fictional. June 12 06

I haven't reposted the blog by William Gibson in a few years and we should get in the habit of reseating old links.

Intention: awake early (oh it's 8:38am and I am not asleep), drink some coffee, throw on the night-before's clothing, catch a train, sit at the waterfront with a digital camera and a book, come back with brunch. It's 10am and blogs have captured me again. Bleah. June 12 06

Could this Luc Besson film be the Dark Crystal of this generation or just another animated piece?

Maybe a neat idea. Take a picture of a smartpox blob with your camera-phone. It decodes into some information like a URL, text message or whatever. Kinda interactively lame.

June 11, 2006

I finally understand the whole reason behind the site being called Boing Boing as I boinged from a Daring Fireball post to a Silicon Valley Watcher post to a a Scobelizer post about GeekBrief.TV, a video podcast with a cute girl talking about tech stuph. Really, if you want your tech segment to be watched, have a cute girl do it. Not a stunning, why-isn't-she-in-Hollywood kinda girl but the kind of girl that your development team only wishes they had the nerve to ask out when she actually understands what they mean by Ruby on Rails. Really, we all know that geeks are no longer just satisfied with dating/marrying/becoming-obsessed-about the girl who just is willing to sleep with them or is only the girl who turned them down in highschool or is able to talk Dr. Who & X-Men (grant morrisson run) & XML with them. The geeks are now making enough money AND can dress themselves. You cannot rely on the old standards of an overweight geek shilling your tech product OR the pretty TV personality who can read a teleprompter but asks you how to watch a podcast. No point, just an observation. June 11 06

Hey! Look who's back !!

June 10, 2006

I guess the point is to show their creativity? Whatever it is, it's a coute vide by Coudal Partners called "Copy Goes Here."

isto-ica are two people who take incredible portraits really pointing out the Beautiful People here in Toronto.

June 09, 2006

Just for Chai, it's General Zod - 2008 Presidential Candidate.

I am hearing many reviewers say of A Prairie Home Companion, "It will not work outside the US because they have never heard (of) the radio show." They are right; I have never listened to american public radio. In fact, I was obvlious enought to not know americans had a vibrant public radio until the advent of blogs, where many of the writers also listened to the radio. But if you are canadian, I imagine that the Home Companion could be compared to the live shows of The Vinyl Cafe where Stuart McLean reads about the world's smallest record store while introducing local musicians. June 09 06

June 08, 2006

I have taken to writing short posts on my crappy BlackBerry and emailing them to myself.

I am sitting in a MagicCuts awaiting the odd-monthly trim, reading McLeans magazine. The article is about conversation, stirred by Stephen Miller's book “Conversation: A History of a Declining Art”. Declining? Considering my friends and I meet at least once a week for a movie and food, or just food, and the food is an excuse for us to talk, I am not sure I understood his point. His book doesn't seem focused on highbrow conversation, just the idea of talking to each other. Is that idea so lost? The repeating theme of their conversation (the article was an interview) was the family at the dinner table and the stereotypical grunting teen who leaves quickly to go to his room. Email, text msg-ing and chat rooms are the new culprit it seems. Every generation has a new excuse why families do not talk; mine was the TV. So as I see it, it is not conversation that is gone but the usual lack of talking teens. What I think might be missing is constructive conversation. There are so only so many times you can talk about old TV shows before you get dead air. What about the inHouse dinner party where a host has a number of friends over to discuss... something, something not just The Weather or Work or The Kids. Do people do that anymore? Do people have dinner parties anymore? We never really did, if you do not count the potlucks, but I always liked the idea. June 08 06

June 07, 2006

Never heard of Tiki Bar TV but it is strangely compelling, or maybe it was just the sparkly shorts on Cally. Or is it that Lala is holey moley hot?

I just spent the last few minutes going through my own photoes via the Microsoft Picture Viewer and I realized, "I really like my own photography." That is not something I can often say about my own creativity. It also says that layout can change a lot of perspective on imagery. Maybe I should completed the intended re-design of PhoToast. June 07 06

Some really neat vector artwork at SHIMOJO SHINJI.com. (via yuki)

Part of playing City of Villains is interacting with your friends and other people via the pre-scripted animations called Emotes. Thanku very much Jer, for this Animated Emote Guide.

June 06, 2006

I am the same age as waiter of waiterrant and probably of the same income bracket. Actually he probably makes more money than I do but I have had the exact same conversation as he starts the piece with.

Today is 06-06-06 so I hope Christine (associate number 666) was called in to work today. June 06 06

We walked into Spike Lee's new movie, Inside Man, about ten minutes late, something I am usually loathe to do. But I got the time wrong so... Already the bank robbery was under way and the cops were gathered around the stone building in that cramped little area of Manhattan I remember walking through. I love caper movies, I love Spike Lee's clothing choices and Clive Owen is pretty cool to boot. The movie was only alright though, the secret not being that great a secret and Jodie Foster's character could have been much much more shadow organization. The best parts are the interviews and the give-every-man-his-due credits. June 06 06

Saturday night was to be a night of food, dancing and exhibition of the Philipino martial arts that a couple of friends are into. I expected an event much like any event I have been to at home with folding tables, food served on paper plates, relatives being introduced, beer from coolers via tickets, people dancing to a sub-par DJ who's system is also sub-par. And that is exactly what we got, minus the drag queens. It seems the eskrima "dojo" also has connection to some of the philipino drag community and we were treated to some numbers by their best singers. To say one thing, it was unexpected. To say another thing, it was a hoot. June 06 06

Shooting War is a decent online comic read. It's an Iraqi war story set about five years from now.

This Dictionary of Victorian London would be an incredible resource for a Steampunk game.

June 05, 2006

Yes, my favourite boulangerie in Montreal was and is Olive & Gourmando. The best sandwich from my work-time-lunch-time was my fav during the visit. They also have a kick-ass business card design and website. Oh did I mention the pretty counter girls? *big silly grin*

June 01, 2006

If only I had been able to buy this for the mother-in-law's (she was once a nun and still verrrrrry catholic) visit last week. Yes, it is for Holy Toast. (via the bestest buddy in halifax)