Angst Ahoy

New vid goodness, hooray!

Let the sorting begin.

144 episodes and 716 moments later, and now I can finally begin work on sorting. It's almost overwhelming, there are so many. But by golly, by gosh, I WILL finish this thing.

Though not today, I'm sure.

And after I do my homework.

But finished it shall be!

Top 100 Trials

Just reached the midway point through season 7, and it's easy to tell that I've hit the string of episodes that were entirely mediocre and largely boring. For the past four episodes, I've added a mere 15 moments to my master list. I had more than that just in "Tabula Rasa" for cryin' out loud. (Yeah, okay, so it's "Tabula Rasa", but still.)

Rewatching them reminded me of how well the season started. The first seven episodes are really pretty damned good. Which just makes it all the more disappointing how downhill it went after "Conversations With Dead People", at least for me. And am I, like, the only person in the world who was bored to tears with all the Buffy/Spike stuff? Give Spike a shirt and shut him the hell up, please. If I'd had my way, I think I would've turned it into Willow, Xander, Giles and Anya: the Vampire Scoobies.

Bah.

Still, just eleven eps to go before the sorting nightmare can begin. I am determined to see this project completed before the year is out.

Kinda Fugly

Everyone with even a slight affection for Buffy (and perhaps a few without) should run right over to Mr. Monkeybottom's site and download and enjoy the "O Fortuna" video (at the bottom of the page). Seriously, it's freaking hilarious. The Dawn section had me ROLLING.

The others on the page are okay. It drags a bit, but "YMCA" is amusing if you look at it with the tongue-in-cheek that's obviously intended (I think is really all about killing Potentials, and how can that not be fun?). But it's all about "O Fortuna". It's genius. Get it now.

And for today:

Today's inspirational bout of Dadaism:

hooves change aspersion waller beethoven lane apprise transect dish betoken deforest macrostructure dalton beset incontrovertible therapist classificatory hothouse bimodal

Think about it, won't you?

Spam cracks me up.

I wanted to take a moment (from the gut-wrenching misery of the end of S6 I'm going through for the Top 100) to make mention of the highly amusing spam I've been getting lately. I'm not entirely sure why, probably in an attempt to fool spam filters or something, but I've been getting these e-mails lately with the most bizarre grouping of random words I've ever seen. It's like a stream of consciousness poem written by a penguin on LSD. Take this spam I just received a minute ago:

abysmal claustrophobic secession eocene methuen comet colloidal brownell incongruous crank richards neptune beatrice extravagant avertive alberich dogmatism cognitive satisfy schizomycetes

There was more to it than that, but honestly, who can make it through that introduction to the meaty salty spamy goodness?

I'm half inclined to start keeping a log of those words. Maybe if I study it hard enough, I'll find the secret of life.

Listening To:Flaying.

Looking Forward To:Getting to the point where I can actually work on the Top 100 instead of collecting moments. In a year or two.

Birthday greetings

Today's Mum's birthday. Flood her inbox! That's always funny.

And now, the funny.

I'm not sure if I mentioned it or not, but my first Math test a month or so back was something of an adventure. Not in that it was particularly difficult, but the teacher wasn't going to be there, so she had to get a sub to proctor. Apparently, whoever was picked for the job had difficulty in telling the difference between 1:50 and 2:50, and after about half an hour of waiting, we all left.

Well, I had my second test scheduled for today. I got ready and drove out to campus. Luckily (at least for driving's sake), the snow had pretty stopped falling and although it had stuck, it was already beginning to melt. Arriving at campus, I was struck by the huge volume of cars leaving, but didn't think too much on it. I quickly found a space to park and, bundled up in my trench, headed to class.

I was intercepted at the door by a classmate who told me that he'd heard all classes had been cancelled. We confirmed it with information -- no class today, go home.

If I make it out of this class with a test taken on time, I think I shall be very surprised. Particularly since there's only one left to go. One would hope that light would shine more favourably on the final, but our batting average isn't too spiffy at the moment, so I'm not expecting much.

Of course, the fun part was then getting back in my car and sitting in it for half an hour waiting to back out. Still though. Home, and I have a few extra days to bone up on radical functions and complex numbers.

And hey, I can even spend the rest of the day plowing through Chaos Bleeds before it has to go back. Not a bad game, and the story's actually rather interesting, but god damn -- this chick is no Alyson Hannigan and I resent her for it.

Listening To:Cars driving by in the slushy snow.

Looking Forward To:Finishing the game without killing Xander any more. Poor Puffy Xander.

Wintery Goodness

I just got up, and was pleased to be greeted by snow. I don't think it's sticking, but it's coming down fairly heavily, so maybe. I love the Northwest.

The secret Skittles ingredient

I woke up this morning in an decidedly poopy mood, though I'm pleased to report that it's burned off somewhat. Although I think I ate too many Skittles earlier, cuz I'm all jittery now. Sugar usually doesn't affect me, so I'm wondering if it's not the cocaine-laced rainbow or something.

I've devoted most of my today thus far into my epic video creation, which probably won't be done for another couple of weeks yet, since it's taking so long. And it may go on hold once I get my X2 DVD, since my vid idea for that is still keen in my mind. (Watch, it'll turn out nothing like I envision it after all this time).

Hm. Just realized. Jittery AND a headache. That's not happy.

I think I shall go play with Jett. Burn off some of this odd imitation fruit candy crazies.

Listening To:Building a Mystery - Sarah McLachlan (also to be a video one day)

Looking Forward To:My heart not racing.

On a roll.

I have a new video. Much like my last latest, it's not an epic tear-jerker (though one of those is in progress), but it is indeed fun, and that will have to do for now. Go check it out. Please justify the 36 hours I spent collecting footage for the damned thing when I had it compiled within four.

Media Pain

By popular request (cuz I'm so behind on my comic reviews), I just posted my synopsis and review to Uncanny X-Men #432. Go check it out over at Flatscan. There's enough vitriol for everyone.

Also on my hate list is Matrix: Revolutions, which we saw today. Jesus wept. You know when the audience erupts into laughter during your 10-minute touching death scene, there's a problem.

Gods preserve us from this crap.

Fun morning hijinks.

I've just spent the past 45 minutes or so fixing my desk. In a fit of what I would like to think was charmingly characteristic anger (but what is probably better described as "irritatingly childish"), I sort of destroyed the little pull-out keyboard thing I had goin' on. I was able to fix it, luckily (although I'm left with two bits that don't seem to go anywhere ... probably not a good sign).

FYI: If the little pull-out keyboard thing on your desk isn't working properly, it actually doesn't help to pull really, really hard on it. Go fig.

I have now experienced what it's like to have your hands covered in tiny rollerball grease. It's not as pleasant as you might think.

Listening To:"The Weight of the World"

Looking Forward To:Lunch with Mike today after a rather unpleasant, yet necessary, last night.

So glad I don't drive in the morning anymore.

I've been somewhat out of the radio loop lately, what with the time frame I head to school and no longer having those hour long commutes. But I was curious about something and did a smattering of research, only to find out that KNRK dropped Gustav & Daria, easily the funniest pair of radio personalities I've ever heard, ousting previous champions Walton & Johnson without even trying.

So that's it. No more Local Entertainment Guide, no more Mark Trail ... Instead, it's all Marconi. From Seattle, no less. Not that I was ever a huge fan of extended monologues centering around masturbation and flatulence, but honestly, who the hell can stand to listen to that shit at 6:30am?

Horrible, bad move, NRK. I'm glad I have that MP3 CD player in my car, that's all I can say.

I must keep my eyes and ears open. Gustav & Daria have to find a new home. The world's a much less funny place for their absence.

Listening To:My saved collection of "Local Entertainment Guide" files. Dammit.

Looking Forward To:Finishing up Top 100 moments for S5 tonight.

It's a gift.

For our writing homework this week, we had to work with an assigned partner -- trade essays, get feedback, stuff like that. I just got the response back from my partner, and was quite amused. It's good to know that, after all this time, I haven't lost my gift for exceptional bullshitting on essays. My partner was going on and on about how incredible it was, how she would love to be such a good writer some day ... I mean, it's an essay about a short story that I first read ten years or so ago, nothing spectacular. I pumped it out in about 20 minutes with music blaring in my headphones. I only barely remember what it was about.

I may suck at a great many things, but bullshitting isn't one of them.

Listening To:Jump Around - House of Pain

Looking Forward To:Taking a shower.

Such a wuss.

Still pushing along, workin' on the Buffy Top 100. I just finished "The Body". You know, I've seen that thing multiple times now, know exactly what's going to happen, and it STILL causes an inordinate amount of dust particles to somehow mysteriously fly into my eyes.

(Incidentally, for those interested, I now have 50 episodes to go and I'm up to 365 moments. This is going to be a sorting nightmare.)

So THAT'S why.

Every now and again, Mike reminds me why I married him. <wiping eyes> Gods, he can be funny sometimes. And he even meant to be this time around.

("It sounds like someone's beating Alvin, Simon and Theodore with a bat." <cracking up again>)

Link fixed

Thanks for the point-out, Matt. The video link has been fixed.

Avatarama

Also in the "being productive" file is Mike's latest section of 1-Up!. Yes, he actually updated! And it looks really neat, too, full of all sorts of painstakingly hand-grabbed Video Game avatars.

Check it out. Now.

Dream State

Strange dream last night, possibly chalked up to illness, possibly just my brain doing weirdness. My mother, someone who I think was supposed to be Mike but wasn't, myself and a couple of other people who seemed familiar but I can't identify now were delivering a rare action figure to a collectible store in this mall. Not just any mall, though, the thing was something like 10 stories and, of course, the target store was at the very top. And of course it wasn't just any action figure -- it was a bomb. I got the feeling that we were being coerced somehow into delivering the bomb; we didn't really want to do it, but had to.

As we went through the levels of the mall, stuff that I feel was probably what passes for character development in the dream state occurred, and after much time we reached the top floor. We showed the figure (still boxed, of course) to the store owner, and he was beside himself with glee at finding one. I remember that he called it "Mo Novaya" (which is the name of a frequent poster to The Pack) and I recall thinking that it looked like Lulu from FFX.

Anyway, the owner took the figure delightedly, and the "Mike" character went off with one of the employees to discuss a price. Me and the other people I can't identify were standing around chatting aobut how we didn't think it was really a bomb after all, when the owner opened the figure and we noticed that a timer on the box started counting down. Shouting that it was a bomb, we all tore out of the store. Somehow, everyone else in the mall was alerted to the bomb, and everyone was making it to an exit. We ran down all 10 flights of stairs (with ease, despite the thousands of people in the mall. Gotta love dream logic) and got several blocks away before we figured we were at a safe enough distance.

We turned to look at the mall, a sort of gothic building from the outside, towering above everything around it. We thought that maybe it was a dud, but then heard the explosion and, in what was fairly impressive image, watched as hundreds of birds and bats flew out of building. It started to collapse in on itself, debris hitting a nearby two-story red brick building (looking like a low-rent apartment complex from SimCity) and causing it to fall. Then a second building, and a third. The mall, meanwhile, was mostly imploding and collapsing in on itself. I remember telling those around me that we'd have to hold our breath if the smoke and debris came our way, but none did.

The smoke from the mall then began to swirl together and turned into a viscious cyclone. I thought it was going to head straight for us, but instead it went off to the right and decimated another building. I thought to myself that it wouldn't last to long, because Oregon doesn't have tornados like Louisiana, and sure enough it dissipated.

Mass destruction, collapsing buildings, all of which I am the cause of. Sure that's gotta mean something.

Listening To:My head buzzing.

Looking Forward To:Working more on the Top 100 list. (2/3rds through S4, 234 moments so far.)

Flatscan Files: 15 October 2003

I'm only about three weeks late, but the Flatscan reviews for 15 October are finally posted. Just two weeks to go (before Wednesday) and I'm caught up.

I should be sick more often, I'm being so productive! ....I go pass out now.

Stocking up

Yeah, okay, so it was done pretty much just to make 4Paws look bigger, but what the heck. New vid.

And now, off to eat my "I'm sick" dinner of soup and sandwich with extra doses of love from Mike.

<snerk>

I feel like crap. I think the cold weather has decided to settle in on my lungs or something. And here, I was just thinking to myself the other day that I hadn't been sick in a while. So, of course, by thinking that, I have no one to blame by myself.

All achy and shivery and ... gyah.

Still, bright side: maybe I can get my winter cold out of the way early this year. Just no flu. Please no flu.

And that, as they say, is that.

Just finished Season 7. Quick thoughts:

1. Anya ... Dammit. :(
   
2. Die Kennedy Die. (okay, I admit to not minding much about her independant character, but she's no Tara and a pox upon her for trying)
   
3. It was either me or the writers or something, but SMG seemed utterly bored by most of the season. I guess I can't blame her, though, as I was too. I'm probably alone in this, but I just don't find Spike interesting enough for all the screen time he got.
   
4. Way too many inconsequential characters, and the ones that I actually gave a damn about suffered as a result.
   
5. Pacing? Heard of it? It felt simultaneously drug out and yet rushed. How did that happen?
   
6. Liked Caleb, though I guess Mal was really pissed that Firefly got cancelled.
   
7. The focus, for me at least, was totally lost. I watch the show for the connection, the relationship between the main characters. Extremely disappointed that for the most part, this connection was utterly missing.
   
8. Enjoyed Faith immensely.
   
9. Wood was pretty cool too.
   
10. I thought it was awesome how they drug up so many details that were left dangling from previous seasons (the "kick his ass" lie, D'Hoffryn's thingie, Miss Kitty Fantastico, etc.). Wish we could've seen some fallout from the lie, though.
    
11. "Conversations With Dead People" is still a great episode.
    
12. The few moments, when they clicked, clicked very well, but it largely just made me wish there were more of them.
    
13. Anya ... dammit all. <sigh>

Disappointment is the word du jour for this season, without a doubt. Still love the show, but I do wish they would go back and redo the whole thing the right way this time. There was, pun unintended, so much potential, and I feel that much of it was wasted.

I guess that's why the gods invented fanfic, eh?

Video! Goodness!

See? I told you I'd get it back up again.

And wouldn't that just suck?

I just received a snow advisory until tomorrow night. Yeah, it's pretty much that cold right now. Snow would rock, though. We didn't get any at all last winter, so maybe it's starting early to make up for it.

Aside from keeping an eye on the window for snow, I'm working on the relaunch of 4Paws. I found a couple of my videos on some old backup discs and I'm currently reconverting them into WMV files. There's a loss of quality, but given the compression technology on-hand at the time of their original creation, it's a decent trade-off for considerable size reduction. And better than nothing, right?

Look for the new section soonish.

Listening To:Blue - Angie Hart

Looking Forward To:Snow!