Other · people's · blather

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In No Particular Order, for those who would like to know.

1. I have my interview with the US Consulate in Montreal scheduled for Monday, Nov. 23. The purpose of the interview is to determine whether or not Darrin and I have a bona fide marriage. With some judiciously chosen items from the mountain of evidence in support of this fact, I expect the interview will go well.

2. Darrin will be coming to Hamilton on Friday the 20th and staying a week, so he will be able to go to the interview with me.

3. He will also be able to see me in "Hamlet's Dorm", a fabulous adaptation of Hamlet featuring six Hamlets, two Ophelias, and a host of indispensable supporting characters playing out the story of the Melancholy Dane in a university dorm room. I have loved playing one of the Hamlets in this production. We've had 3 great shows and have 5 more next week.

4. Our plan has been to make The Big Move by car, with the two cats, just after New Year's Day.

5. Item #4 has, of late, been a less traumatic reality than it was in the past. I thought I would never get used to the idea of leaving, but apparently I love Darrin just enough to do it.

6. A slight complication has arisen in the fact that I made the shortlist for a tenure-track faculty position in Classics at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. To say I am surprised would be quite the understatement. Gobsmacked is more like it. If I were to go and then be offered the job, it would be a serious temptation, as it is not entirely outside the realm of possibility that Darrin could also find good work in Halifax. I initially applied on the what-if principle; I may decide to go to the interview on the same principle. You just never know. It's good to keep options open if you've earned them.

7. I'm teaching one Latin class this semester and while I enjoy it, I am troubled by the extreme attrition rate. We are left with half (maybe less) of the students we started with. Latin is tough; don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

8. The Hamlet cast/crew have me wrapped around their collective little finger. Have met a couple of wonderful people I now feel privileged to know. Someone tagged me with the nickname "Momlet": Best. Nickname. Ever.

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http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp11122009.shtml

If you're in Dallas, come see me today at Dallas Webcomics Expo - http://dwex.info for info - 11am to 6pm. I'm at table six.

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If there are any problems with the comic or website, or if you have any questions, comments, or complaints you would like to address directly to Randy, please email him at choochoobear@gmail.com.

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"Star Trek" is currently one of the "evergreen" geeky-tee topics that everyone recognizes on sight, along with "Star Wars," "Super Mario," and C'thulhu. Hmm... I need to do another C'thluhu shirt soon, I think, just to keep up with the quota. Anyway, after reviewing the ELO and comedy-ridden musical ode, "Redshirts," I think I've finally figured out what purpose the disposable crimson-clad personnel serve in the procreation of our most vigorous genetic code. Anyway, it'll be available in the coming weeks, and I'll post a little notice when it materializes.

On to artifacts/relics, and a garage sale find: An original "Magic 8-Ball," complete with box. This was only a buck, so I couldn't pass it up. The packaging lists, among its many functions, "conversation piece" and "paperweight." What struck me was that it's not very round, tapering towards the base, and is kind of distorted. From what little I can find, this was common for the first-run balls. The bottom window looks to be made of glass, and the fluid level, sadly, is less than ideal. The fortune-die is also unreadable, appearing to be totally black. I don't think there's a way to restore it to its original future-guessing function (this page has a dissection of a modern 8-ball, and it seemed to provide quite the challenge), so I'll just have to enjoy the campy box graphics and let the coming years remain a mystery. Still, cool deal for a dollar.

Okay, I've been advised that "Dragon Age: Origins" is fun, awesome, and that I should stay the heck away if I want my life to continue. I have a friend that's actually playing "Champions Online" to prevent himself from playing "Dragon Age." A bit like quitting smoking by taking up heroin, but to each their own, I suppose. :) It does appear to have its fair share of bugs, including NPC heads enlarging, detaching and flying towards the viewer. I'm sure calls in to medication help lines has increased among players.

Not learning from "Tripping the Rift," SyFy is embarking into animation again, with Outer Space Astronauts. It looks, from the still, like a color version of those animated stings at the end of every "Battlestar Galactica" episode. Sci-fi, as a genre, is ripe for comedy, so I hope they pull it off in their initial 5-episode mission.

Speaking of sci-fi, there's a movie in theaters called "The Box." A great many fans of genre fiction were probably already quite familiar with the tale thanks to the "New Twilight Zone" episode, Button, Button" (here's part two). I'll don't know if the film does anything new or interesting with the concept, but the best flavor of the story I've seen is this hilarious clip. I think I know people like that...

Here's a sentence I never dreamed I'd read: "Murray says the warning was needed because students didn't heed his "reasonable request" to stop the meeping." Yes, students managed to disrupt class by forming a Facebook-fueled "Beaker Brigade," and generally making everything a bit more surreal.

So since we've segued into the surreal, here's the internet:

- A fan-film addition to "Doctor Horrible" has been made! It's a ten-part YouTube (or whichever service you pick from their page) festival of prequelity where our story takes a Horrible Turn.
- Fireworks + toy cars + slo-mo filming = every 10-year-old boy's dream clip.
- Here's a movie tie-in that seems so incredibly obvious that I have no rational explanation why it hasn't existed for years: Garden Jawas.
- Ninja Cat has returned, stalking his nemesis, the Black Feather.
- Any flaws in game mechanics are made up for by the fact that you're beating zombies into pulp: Zombie Exploder has you dragging either your fists or feet into the path of hungry zombies in an effort to pummel them back into motionless corpses (or parts of corpses, at any rate).
- Auto Tune has been a part of popular music for a while, and the "Know Your Meme" YouTube show has the history of the invention, accompanied by Prof. Weird Al Yankovic.
- Yo Ho Ho Cannon is a pretty cheesy pirate game, but I kind of liked the challenge of having to aim sequentially-firing cannons at one target...
- Here's a link to 15 questions asked in Google job interviews. I feel soooooo dumb now...
- Remember when computers in movies were futuristic? They had to create those graphics without the benefit of said future-machines.
- And we close with another game, Spectro Destroyer. Bounce your beam off of colored walls, changing its 'spectrum' to that of your final target.