Wrastlin'

Lipstick and Dynamite

An NPR Report on the movie 'Lipstick & Dynamite'

Lucha Loco

Michael Vale passes

You can sleep in. You've done enough work. We'll make the doughnuts now.

10 + 1 New Asian Movies Worth Seeing

Full Report with images HERE.

Howl's Moving Castle

"Hayao Miyazaki is arguably the greatest director currently working in feature-length animation."

Aegis

"Aegis ably demonstrates that it isn't just Hollywood heroes who can kick ass."

Neighbor #13

"Neighbor #13 plays like a cross between Ichi The Killer and Fight Club, with a healthy dose of Kill Bill/Oldboy-style revenge thrown in."

The Myth

"Seeing Jackie Chan in a Hong Kong (read: not Hollywood) movie is reason enough for anyone to see The Myth..."

Election

"Box office numbers in Hong Kong are usually reserved for fluffy commercial films starring a pair of girls who aren't really twins, so the success of Election is more than surprising."

Wait 'Til You're Older / All About Love

"The attraction here: Andy Lau...plus Andy Lau and Andy Lau."

Everlasting Regret

"Everlasting Regret challenges the veteran starlet to actually act, and her performance was subjected to a Hong Kong media microscope unlike any other."

Sympathy for Lady Vengeance

"...a brilliant and darkly funny movie about grudges held, redemption sought, and the most important thing of all: good pastry."

April Snow

"Bae Yong Joon is at his most resplendently romantic in April Snow - especially during the famously hot love scene with Son Ye Jin."

Welcome to Dongmakgol

"Welcome to Dongmakgol could be the Korean film people talk about well into 2006."

Vincent Schiavelli

Sad holiday season...



Vincent Schiavelli died of lung cancer Monday at age 57 in Italy. Schiavelli had memorable turns as a mental-ward patient in One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest and as a science teacher in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. In 1997, Vanity Fair named him one of America's best character actors. He also wrote three cookbooks.

CHRISTMASTIME

Smashing Pumpkins

We miss your group Billy...

Chrismahannakwanzaka

Hope you all had a great Christmas or Hanukkah and I hope to see you all very soon.

My Gawd... this is funny!

Yup... from NPR again. HERE.

NES // Illustration Friday // Latkes // Holiday Songs

Well, Collin does it again! He sends me two kickin' links that I have to share.

The first if a Nintendo link... well, kinda'. GAH! Muuust haaave.

The second is Illustration Friday. Kinda' like Derek's Phrickin' Photoblog Phriday... but drawn. This site collects some of the better ones. Let's see if I can do this starting next year...

Also, an NPR link to Latkes. You don't need to be jewish to enjoy them. YUM!

And here's another NPR link to some good holiday songs! Reverand Horton Heat, The LeeVees, Sammy Davis Jr., Tiny Tim, Ricky Skaggs and more!

Since you've been gone...

WOW! I have been out of bloggin' for a while. Sorry about that folks (well, the five of you who read this). I've been really swamped at work. I'll try to get in a post or two later this week. Thanks for your patience.

But to hold you over... here's a very interesting NPR story.

How to talk to humans

http://paulenglish.com/ivr/

Another opinion... while i'm at it...

My opinion...

Indy Music makes it big

NPR had a great story about an indy band.

Listen to the NPR story HERE.

For the 'All Songs Considered' webcast, it's HERE.

Visit the band's site HERE.

Waxing off for the last time...

1932-2005

Brickquest

Collin, thank you. This friggin' ROCKS!!!

CCC

I put up his blog link to the side. This DJ mixes songs to make a new sounding song. Some of them are not the best, but they are ALL interesting. Some are just simply fantastic. Give 'em a listen! They're all free downloads. His "Beatles album" was removed, but it was truly some great music.

I really like 'Lust Train'. Very innovative.

WAH-HA-HA!!!

http://gprime.net/video.php/getalife

Sing... sing a song...

This Swedish site allows you to type in your message and it will "sing" it back to you using fragments of well-known songs. Give it a try. You can even email the message to someone else.

http://www.sr.se/p1/src/sing/index.htm#

This I believe:

Penn Jillette gives his 'This I Believe' essay on today's NPR Morning Edition. It is well written and interesting food for thought. He's a very 'realistic' person.

Remembering Eddie

*********************

*********************
R.I.P EDDIE GUERRERO - 1967-2005
They had a fantastic show dedicated to him on Monday. Jen and I were pretty teary-eyed the whole show (well... more than teary-eyed). His death surprised everyone. They all were pretty torn up... and it was a great show. Everyone did their very best that night. I wish I had recorded it... great show.

WWE.com spoke with Eddie’s widow, Vickie Guerrero: “It was heart failure. It was from his past – the drinking and the drug abuse. They found signs of heart disease. She (the examiner) said that the blood vessels were very worn and narrow, and that just showed all the abuse from the scheduling of work and his past. And Eddie just worked out like crazy all the time. It made his heart grow bigger and work harder and the vessels were getting smaller, and that’s what caused the heart failure. He went into a deep sleep.

As soon as they saw his heart, they saw the lining of his heart already had the heart disease. There was no trauma, and Eddie hadn’t hurt himself in any way. It answered a lot of questions. I knew Eddie wasn’t feeling very good for the last week. He was home and kept saying he wasn’t feeling good and we thought it was just “road tired.” So we thought he just had to rest. It answered a lot of my questions, too, because he was just so exhausted. She said it was normal because the heart was working so hard."

They'll be showing the SMACKDOWN show tonight... they're dedicating it to him tonight as well.

Getting lectured tonight...

Going to Denver to go to a lecture about samurai and seppuku (ritual suicide). Promises to be interesting.

I would also like to get together with Heather & Collin to go to Denver for the Egyptian exibit.

ALL IS NOT LOST!!!

So last night I was uploading my backup for the jojopedia.com website and I made the grizzly discovery that my files were gone. Not the images (for some weird reason) just the HTML scripts. I was 2 seconds away from just canning the whole thing and saying "well, it was good while it lasted".

I put out an S.O.S. on the Jojo message board to ask people who visited my site to look on their computers in the cache files to see if they had any of the html pages they could send me.

Then, a guy mentioned "archive.org". It doesn't have all the files, but is has most of them.

So now I go through the painstaking task of re-creating the files I can find on archive.org ... wow. What a life-saver.

For my wife

Jennifer mentioned on her blog that she would like to hear more J-Pop music as she thinks it's the future of good music. I agree. Here's a link for you all to try out. Feel free to add your own links if you have any.

Melanie-chan's music

NEW MUSIC

Playing the GUITAR HERO game I got, I unlocked some music... one of which I particularly like.

It's a song called "Even Rats" by a group called "The Slip". Check them out.

You can visit their "MY SPACE" site and listen to a song fer free too...

Stuff

Not much going on this week. Been pretty busy with work and then I come home tired.

Anyhoo, I re-modded my links to the right. I added the CHEET museum's IGN list. It's missing only Japanese games. It lists 383 games where there are actually 443.

I also added some Japanese-weird sites (anticipating Jen and my trip next year).

Pop'n images & shots

Today I post cute gifs from the Pop'n games.



And HERE'S an article about producing the best Jell-O shot using SCIENCE!

There is no God

All the proof I need:

http://www.mothergooserocks.com/frerejacque.html

http://www.mothergooserocks.com/headandshoulders.html

PROJECT: COMPLETE

So, I finished my project (for the most part) yesterday and spent a great deal of the afternoon 'playtesting' it. It works like a charm and plays very well. It is a LOT different to play on this than it is the mini or even the PS2 controller. In many ways it is EASIER to play this ASC contraption. I am excited to get it painted and adorned with images.

Once again, you can visit the site HERE.

Also, i'll be doing a demo for the GUITAR HERO game this Wednesday (hopefully) at the EB Games on Platte from 5:30-7:00. I say hopefully because they might not be releasing the game until November 8th (next week). I'll keep you posted here.

Also, here are some images from around the web. I guess actual musicians are using the GUITAR HERO guitar in their concerts. This is good news for the game as it means people will be buying the game simply because the musicians are using them.





Here's a complete track listing for the game:

Ace of Spades, Bark at the Moon, Cochise, Cowboys From Hell, Crossroads, Fat Lip, Frankenstein, Godzilla, Heart Full of Black, Hey You, Higher Ground, I Love Rock and Roll, I Wanna Be Sedated, Infected, Iron Man, Killer Queen, More Than A Feeling, No One Knows, Sharp Dressed Man, Smoke on the Water, Spanish Castle Magic, Stellar, Symphony of Destruction, Take It Off, Take Me Out, Texas Flood, Thunderkiss 65, Unsung, You Got Another Thing Comin, Ziggy Stardust

You can hear clips HERE. The company producing this game is unfortunately using a house band to record the songs... but damn if they aren't good! A few songs I can't tell the difference between the house band and the real band.

I'd be interested in hearing what Derek thinks of these samples...

And a big "thank you"....

I just wanted to post a really quick 'THANK YOU' to my friends who had concern for me last week. I really do appreciate it. I love you guys and gals.

My grandmother had a special ability to tell who were good people and who weren't. I have been luck in that she always told me that I had good taste in friends. She could always tell who the good ones were.

Thanks gang.

My buttons came in!

http://www.geocities.com/noriaki_kakyouin/day8.html

Getting ready to complete my controller...

Hey-o Captain Jack... time to rest now...

If you have DDR... dance a song for him.

http://www.captain-jack.de/PAGES/0HOME.htm

http://ripcaptjack.ytmnd.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Alejandro_Gutierrez

http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/

Phriday Phunnies

If ya don't see the images... Geocities hates me. (sigh) I miss my freepgs.com account. Try back in an hour or so.

Now, look closely to this one...
1
2
3
4
5
6

YO BUTT AIN'T MADE FO DAT!

Oh, southern baptist preachers are funny...

Thanks to RAZMA for the link.

Wow. I suck!

First, an apology: I am sorry I was in SUCH a bad mood yesterday. I really honest and for true had a very good reason for it....

Next, an explanation:
1) On Tuesday my wife's car went kaput in Pueblo to the tune of $800 +$50 a day for a rental (which she returns today).
2) Yesterday morning on my way to work I smelled coolant and drove to work (20 min) breathing in the stuff. My car was towed and fixed to the tune of $400. It doesn't help that I just went to the doctor last Thursday for an upper-resperatory infection (the anti-boitics are not working). I still smell coolant in my nose and breath and clothes even today. It permeated my body and lungs.
3) These two expenses plus the refrigerator being replaced last month dips deep into savings for our trip to Japan which we might not be able to take now.
4) The people who own free.pgs.com (the site that had my Jojopedia.com site) had a fire and lost everything. I have backups (old ones), but they don't know when they will be back in service.

I really am sorry I got into such a funk. Thanks for being there for me.
*****
Now for the daily 'home-made' site: here's a guy who took a Pop'n Music controller from RANSAI and modded it to use lights.

To quote Lewis Black

"Giant frogs, giant frogs, what can I say.............back to you!"

Crap day today. Crap. Absolutely crap.

Here's your f%$@*'in website!

HACK-A-DAY

Home-Made is better!

Much thanks to Collin for this. Since i'm making a controller I think he sent me this link... so for the next week or two i'll feature home-made electronics stuff.

Home-Made NES Micro!

Also, here's the website for my controller. I need to make a banner... and a background.... (sigh) so much to do...

Good stuff this weekend

I really wasn't expecting to find it, but this weekend while at Best Buy I found collections 1 & 2 of GATCHAMAN un-edited and in Japanese! It was only $22 so I got the first series.

Watching it took me back to when I was 8 and 9 years old and living in Boulder. Saturday mornings, I would race downstairs to watch my cartoons... and one of my favorites was 'Battle of the Planets'! And when I posted the theme song to Gatchaman on Friday it was because they had it on Pop'n Music!

And I have decided to make the Pop'n Music ASC controller. I'll set-up a page just like I did when I attempted to make my Iron Man Costume... but I won't set a deadline (you know me and deadlines).

Tonight I work on the new 'Go' comic. I have a promise to keep.

Make a Pop'n Music Controller

Thinkin' hard about doin' it! And with the prices today, I think I can make it for less.

Then again... I know what my wife is thinking as she's reading this ("Crap! ANOTHER project he'll work on for a few weeks and then abandon!

And where's this month's 'Go comic', eh?

And you said you'd bake us a cake!")...

Phrickin' Phriday W.T.PH?!?

(each link is different)

Dare da, dare da, dare da
Sora no kanata ni odoru kage
Shiroi tsubasa no Gatchaman
Inochi o kakete tobidaseba
Kagaku nimpo hinotori da

TOBE! tobe, tobe, Gatchaman
YUKE! Yuke, yuke, Gatchaman
Chikyu wa hitotsu, chikyu wa hitotsu
Ohh, Gatchaman, Gatchaman

Dare da, dare da, dare da
Umi no jigoku ni hisomu kage
Tsuyoi yuuki no Gatchaman
Arashi o saite kumo kireba
Kagaku nimpo hinotori da

TOBE! Tobe, tobe, Gatchaman
YUKE! Yuke, yuke, Gatchaman
Chikyu wa hitotsu, chikyu wa hitotsu
Ohh, Gatchaman, Gatchaman

***********
TRANSLATION
***********

Who is it, who is it, who is it
That shadow dancing in the sky
It's the white wings of Gatchaman
leaping on faith
in the science technique firebird

FLY! Fly, fly, Gatchaman
GO! Go, go, Gatchaman
The Earth is alone, the Earth is alone
Ohh, Gatchaman, Gatchaman

Who is it, who is it, who is it
Lurking in the shadows of ocean depths
The tremendous courage of Gatchaman
Slices through the clouds of raging storms
in the science technique firebird

FLY! Fly, fly, Gatchaman
GO! Go, go, Gatchaman
The Earth is alone, the Earth is alone
Ohh, Gatchaman, Gatchaman

Oldest Noodles (4,000 yrs) Found in China!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4335160.stm

Late Neolithic noodles: They may settle the origin debate

The remains of the world's oldest noodles have been unearthed in China.
The 50cm-long, yellow strands were found in a pot that had probably been buried during a catastrophic flood.

Radiocarbon dating of the material taken from the Lajia archaeological site on the Yellow River indicates the food was about 4,000 years old.

Scientists tell the journal Nature that the noodles were made using grains from millet grass - unlike modern noodles, which are made with wheat flour.

The discovery goes a long way to settling the old argument over who first created the string-like food.

Professor Houyuan Lu said: "Prior to the discovery of noodles at Lajia, the earliest written record of noodles is traced to a book written during the East Han Dynasty sometime between AD 25 and 220, although it remained a subject of debate whether the Chinese, the Italians, or the Arabs invented it first.

Lajia is a very interesting site; in a way, it is the Pompeii of China

Prof Kam-biu Liu
"Our discovery indicates that noodles were first produced in China," the researcher from the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, explained to BBC News.

The professor's team tells Nature that the ancient settlement at Lajia was hit by a sudden catastrophe.

Among the remains are skeletons thrown into various abnormal postures, suggesting the inhabitants may have been trying to flee the disaster that was enveloping them.

"Based on the geological and archaeological evidence, there was a catastrophic earthquake and immediately following the quake, the site was subject to flooding by the river," explained co-author Professor Kam-biu Liu, from Louisiana State University, US.

"Lajia is a very interesting site; in a way, it is the Pompeii of China."

It was in amongst the human wreckage that scientists found an upturned earthenware bowl filled with brownish-yellow, fine clay.

When they lifted the inverted container, the noodles were found sitting proud on the cone of sediment left behind.

"It was this unique combination of factors that created a vacuum or empty space between the top of the sediment cone and the bottom of this bowl that allowed the noodles to be preserved," Professor Kam-biu Liu said.

The noodles resemble the La-Mian noodle, the team says; a traditional Chinese noodle that is made by repeatedly pulling and stretching the dough by hand.

There is evidence that a sudden calamity overtook the Lajia site.

To identify the plants from which the noodles were made, the team looked at the shape and patterning of starch grains and so-called seed-husk phytoliths in the bowl.

These were compared with modern crops. The analysis pointed to the use of foxtail millet (Setaria italica) and broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum)

"Our data demonstrate that noodles were probably initially made from species of domesticated grasses native to China. This is in sharp contrast to modern Chinese noodles or Italian pasta which are mostly made of wheat today," Professor Houyuan Lu said.

GUITAR HERO!

I collect many peripheral controllers for my video game museum... I have a taiko drum controller, maracas, keyboard (recently aquired), dj station, pop n' music button controller. Oh, and a guitar. I like the guitar. I like it a lot.

Now it's coming to America!

More Role-playing goodness!

How does that thing work?

The 8-Ball revealed!

Noriaki Kakyouin Cosplay

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
9
10
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20

Rock On!

Well, we have fantastic neighbors in the area that I live in. Not only do they look out for each other, but they are very friendly.

So today (posting on the weekend) I got to meet our next door neighbors to the north of us whom we have been meaning to introduce ourselves to for quite some time. They are really great people and have a band called 'Holiday Run'... and they crank out some seriously good tunes from their basement. Sometimes I will either sit outside and listen to it or turn down the TV and open the front door a bit. The song on their website is the one I hear the most... only I have never heard the vocals before. It's really great with vocals too.

As you all know i'm pretty eclectic in my musical tastes, but this is just good music. Check them out. They're super sweet people to boot (they gave me cookies).

Advance Wars Play-by-email

When I first met Collin, he was participating in a play-by-mail game. It sounded like lots of fun.

Now, I am really a fan of play-by-email/mail/when-you-can games on the internet. I just found a very cool one based on the Nintendo game ADVANCE WARS. You may have seen an earlier post about some paper-tanks... same game.

www.amarriner.com

If you're a fan of the game then please join. I'm on as (what else) 'noriaki_kakyouin'.

Surprise!!!!

Collin's not the only red-head in town! OOH! AH!

Super Mario: The Opera

Thanks Collin. This is too cool... and decent music... very They Might Be Giants-esque. I like all the songs so far.

Friday FUN!

LET'S MOSH!!!

Leave It To Bush

Bush's linguistics

Running up walls!

A little ninja

SOCK BABY! HELLO!

And FINALLY there's a NEW STRATEGY GUIDE!!!

And (from Needle's site) The X-Box 3-shtiii...60 selling scammmidea. I pretty much agree with everything here.

Xbox 360 Core System - $299
•Xbox 360 console
•Wired controller
•Detachable faceplate
•Xbox Live Silver membership
•Standard AV cables

Xbox 360 - $399
•Xbox 360 console
•20GB detachable hard drive
•Wireless controller
•Wireless Xbox Live headset
•High-definition AV cables
•Ethernet cable
•Xbox 360 Media Remote Control (limited time)
•Detachable faceplate
•Xbox Live Silver membership
Three things immediately jump to mind from this:

A) How is the $299 package a feasible deal at all? First off, with no hard drive you have no way to save your games. This basically forces you to buy a $39 memory unit with the system. If you are going to spend $339 then, might as well go the whole hog. The deluxe kit has a lot of nice features that Microsoft promised would be part of the experience anyway. Things like a wireless controller, the hard drive, an Xbox Live headset, high-def AV cables (for the "HD-Era") are all things which really have to be in the system.

So, if it's a given that the $399 is really the only way to play, then think about your cost on launch day. $399 + $59 (one game) + whatever your state's sales tax is. I figure it's a safe assumption that you are looking at $500 easy, without considerng a second controller or even a second game!

$500+ for a system that looks marginally better then the Xbox you have now? Ehhhh...

B) Microsoft has now gone ahead and told Sony that it's ok to release the PS3 at $399. There's no hiding the fact that Sony's new system is going to be an expensive beast to make. Basically, MS has now let them off the hook and made public perception of their price point better. Had Microsoft instead gone with a HD-included $349, or really a $299 price point... then Sony would have been in a ton of consumer pressure to release their system at a cheaper price and take a bigger loss on selling the system.

As it stands though, it looks like $400 is the new standard price point for systems. Blame Microsoft for that one.

C) Microsoft is fracturing the user base around the Hard Drive. By releasing two different packages, it is now not guaranteed that the user will have one. This means that developers can no longer go about putting in features such as streaming (a method of storing and reading data off the hard drive, which drastically reduced load times in a lot of Xbox games), without having a secondary method of handling the situation if the gamer doesn't have the hard drive. This is a bad situation which will unfortunately result in developers all but ignoring the hard drive.

It also (again) opens the door for Sony to make a hard drive standard in the PS3. This would entice developers of larger, more detailed games that wanted to utilize the features of a hard drive over to their camp. Bottom line though is, the hard drive is one of the things that made the Xbox has (relatively) big as it is today. It's really strange that they would turn their back on that.

All in all... not sure what Microsoft is thinking. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out with the consumers, but on paper it doesn't look good. For me, personally, they haven't shown me $500 worth of potential.

Baby Bird Update

Well, the little trooper made it to the morning of 9/21/05, but didn't have enough strength to last the day. The nice lady at the shelter said that he passed away pretty quietly around 3:30pm. His head wound was just too much for his small body to take.

Come to find out he was a worbler. I have a few pictures I took of him before we took him to the vet's. The lady asked if we wanted him or if she could bury him in her backyard. She said that she did that for the ones that didn't make it. I said it would be great if she would bury him.

Jen's a bit upset as am I. I have conflicted emotions on whether it was good to save him... if he suffered? It's tough to dwell on such matters.

"Man, I really need a cherry coke."
--Kevin Matchstick

Rock/scissors/paper/...sponge?

MUST PLAY!!!

Baby Bird

Last night I was coming out of work and saw a baby bird. I thought to myself, "Oh! A baby bird on the road... I hope it'll be ok." and drove off. About 10 seconds later I stopped the car and spun around thinking to myself, "I'm such a sucker."

So I get there and the poor bird isn't trying to avoid the cars (and the tires were missing it by centimeters!) but I scooped him up and took him inside to get a box to carry him home in. I picked up Jen from work (we're carpooling in this day of gas prices) and we went to Petsmart for a birdcage.



She has wanted a bird for a very long time but I think they need to be in the wild... so I don't want one... but I was willing to take care of this little guy.



We got home and he slept all night long. When he was awake his left eye remained closed. This morning he woke up and chirped when we opened the curtains to the living room. He has a bit of drainige from his nostrils, but nothing too bad.

So I get to work and call the WILD FOREVER FOUNDATION and they let me know of a vet who takes care of wild animals for free. I asked if the baby could not be released if we could take care of it.

"You got attatched, didn't you?" she asked. I could tell she was smiling. "Well, Colorado state law unfortunately says that if an animal cannot be released back into the wild it must be euthanised... but this vet i'm sending you to has a large plot of land and she will do almost anything to avoid that. It just sounds like a head injury. Sometimes magpies and Falcons steal birds and drop them. Your bird probably has a head injury. It sounds like it will do ok as long as it gets the right medicine and treatment."

So my boss is graciously letting me go early from work to take the bird to the vet (HIGH COUNTRY VET on Drennan). I hope it gets better. Jen's going to be a bit saddened, but perhaps we can get her a new feathery friend sometime soon.

***UPDATE***
Looks like the bird-vets at the High Country Vet are on vacation so I was referred to take the little guy to Dr. Leroy E. Eggleston who is just off of 18th and Uintah (west). Hopin' for the best.

New Nintendo Revolution Controller

Opinions?

More information here

League of Exceptional Gentlemen

November 16th 1898

Welcome to another edition of 'Bizarre Adventures'! This previous week on 'the League of Exceptional Gentlemen' we saw The Doctor (played by Stephan Hillman/Tom Baker), one day after solving the case of Weng Chiang, at the British Secret Service office where he was directed by Campion Bond to assemble a new League to solve a dire case for Britannia!

The Doctor's new assistant, a very young Secret Service Assistant Coordinator Alfred Pennyworth, escorted him to a seedy shack near the London docks where the met up with a sailor by the name of Wolf Larson (played by Michael Ruch), whose rumors of him being deceased were clearly underrated.

The trio then ventured out into the countryside to meet up with a scientist of highest repose named Professor Edward Challenger (acting provided by the austere Carlton Quick). The rotund Professor gladly joined the troupe to research for Queen and Country!

Rushing back to London they meet their newest, and most reluctant, member named Adrian Montague (who is really a Mr. Connor Macleod incognito/portrayed by Mr. Forrest Oates). Mr. Montague agrees to participate only after Mr. Pennyworth produces a strange folder with information about his past... all the way to the 1500's! And what is that symbol on the folder... and is that a similar symbol on Mr. Pennyworth's arm?

Returning to H.Q. the team meet their final member, a haughty Mary Poppins (acted by the gentle Mrs. Nancy Oates) was speaking to Mr. Bond.

Bond then, the League being complete, escorted the lot down to the museum proper where 10 gurneys were aligned with bodies. The figures were murdered faerie folk (leprechauns, centaurs, mermaids, and the like) all stabbed fatally and found, one a day, all about London. Even more mysterious was a single gold key found on each of the bodies.

After investigating these murders, the League found that near each of the murders there was a patch of earth that seemed to be enchanted! Such mystery in only their first hour of being formed! Upon returning to the MI5 H.Q. what was there to greet them but a NEW MURDER? This murder, a satyr, was even more brutal than the rest. His golden key smelled of sea-salt. A London Bobby, wounded when called to duty by our culprit, stated that this character fled down a corridor and... up.

The next morning, Miss. Poppins took hold of her key and detected that it felt a 'drawing sensation' towards the docks. The group followed on foot and stopped at a small cabin that was surrounded by a patch of land that was curiously in the shape of a sailing vessel! Mr. Pennyworth tried to divert their advance, but was ignored.

Announcing their arrival, a dark figure invited them into his cabin. Looking like a down-on-his-luck one-armed shanty sailor this mysterious figure was quite the proper British gentleman. He stated that he was expecting the group after hearing of the murders. "We have been planning to set a trap for the culprit ourselves," he stated plainly, "but now that you lot are here we can have your aid."

"Whom do you speak of?" Mr. Montague asked quizzically.

The gentleman motioned and was joined by mystical creatures emerging from the shadows. "Do not be afraid, they are my friends. I am their protector, but I have not been doing so good a job."

"And, whom might you be, good sir?" asked Mr. Challenger.

After a draw upon his long pipe the chap answered, "Nelson. Horatio Nelson of her Majesty's service."

"A-Admiral Nelson?" Mr. Larson stuttered.

"The same." was his reply.

Stay tuned for partial excitement!

Reunions with dear friends

BIG BROTHER

While growing up in Boulder I had got a Big Brother from the Big Brother's Club of America. His name was (well, still is) Stan Owocki and he really influenced my life... and I his. Stan worked at NCAR in Boulder and, at the time, I was crazy-into astronomy. Having a Big Brother who was studying astrophysics didn't hurt either. He met his future-wife (a Big Sister) at a Halloween party for the Big Brothers/Sisters Club we went to. They fell in love and got married... and he moved away. Well, I have been thinking about him for many many years and always wondered what happened to him. Happy to say that he lives in Delaware and is a highly accredited astrophysicist and Prof. at the University there! He has a beautiful daughter named Sarah and two good-looking boys named Kevin and David. It's exciting to know that I can keep in tough now with someone who really influenced my life for the better.

**********

POKEMON CLUB

When I worked at Compleat Games & Hobbies in 1998/1999 I started the "Pokemon Club" for the kids to come and play the Pokemon Card game. My store was the only one in the State to have such a club and the only one that I know of in the Nation that offered 'badges' (that I made) for winning games. Well, there are about three boys that I really called my 'Pokemon Kids'. I have lost touch with them, but they were good kids and really helped me out when the club meetings got busy and took initiative to help the younger kids out.

Eric was one of these boys, and we kept in touch throughout the years, but work and other projects kept us apart. I got an email from him the other day from a message board I joined just last week. I invited him to my CHEET museum night gathering this Saturday and it will be really great to have him attend.

********

This past week has really been a blessing to me. You can NEVER have too many friends.

Advance Wars Paperwork

I love paper creations. You will notice that one of the blogs I like is "Paper Forest" where they show things people made from paper. Here's a cute link that makes Advance Wars items out of paper.

And now... the BIG NEWS

Ok. I have been given permission to spill the beans as to what the big news is.

My wife Jennifer is going to be a published poet!

It has been tough finding someone who wants to publish a book of poetry, but we have a reputable publisher who said 'yes'. She's going to get the contract soon and then... it'll be 6 months to a year to get it out, but out it will come!

I'll let you know more as it happens, but I am very excited for her and I hope you all wish her the very best. I couldn't be prouder.

Here-a we goooo!

And here's a pretty good article about Nintendo's history from Wikipedia. Can you believe that Nintendo was started in 1889?!?!

J-Pop hits the DS

So i got the game Daigasso! Band Brothers this Tuesday and have been playing the heck out of it. The game is another rhythm game much like DDR but for your fingertips. After you master the game there are many hidden additions like a music making shoppe where you can take actual music and make it another rhythm song. It also allows up to 8 other players to play on one cartridge. Each person plays one instrument and together you make beautiful rockin' music.

Anyways, I know only a few songs off of the main playlist and thought it might be nice to download the actual songs and put them on a CD to listen to so I can get more familiar with them. So I found that someone beat me to it... but they have the actual songs to download for free!

So here's the website. Enjoy. These songs are pretty fun to listen to. J-pop is so eclectic, it's always new. My favorites are 'Mr. Children', 'Glay', and 'Spitz'. Mr. Children and Glay are a bit more modern and Spitz is more indy-rock-ish.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARIO!!!

Yup. September 13th is Mario's 20th birthday! Let's all wish him a happy one!

Rest in Peace, Lil' buddy

GIVE BLOOD!!

Gave blood today at the company blood drive. Saw two people pass out afterwards. I feel fine, though. TYPE O- REPRESENT!

Graffiti Warrior

http://www.banksy.co.uk/menu.html

Brilliant. Looks like he makes stensils, beforehand then runs out, paints, and then runs. Or, with his indoor stuff, makes it and places it when nobody is looking.

I like it.

Quiz from Heather

ANCIENT CHINA
Famous Ruler: Emporer Zhengzong
Living Quarters: Brick or wood posts, with plaster
floor; partly underground
Hardship: Invasion of the Mongols
The Chinese Empire was one of the strongest
empire's ever. Feng shui rocks!


What Time Period Do You Belong In?
brought to you by Quizilla

My Gawd... it's... full of stars...

http://www.bbspot.com/News/2003/09/rpg_life.html

You vote: real or not real?

Sound of Thunder

If a butterfly flaps it's wings in Detroit, does time change if you crush it?

Based on a novel (I read it in History of Sci-Fi class in High School) it is about a group that goes back in time for an expedition and comes back to a different world. I am very excited to see this adaptation.

The Prof is in...

http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php?date=2005-08-24&res=l

Watching people playing with virtual dogs

Yesterday I posted sites about how I enjoy seeing people having fun with games. It's something I do... call me weird, it's me.

So today, in honor of my payday (and me affording to get the damn thing) here's a link to a little girl in Japan experiencing her first Nintendo DS and Nintendogs. In the first clip she and her mom names him 'Luke' (or 'Ruku' as she pronounces it). In the second she shows her grandfather and he teaches it a trick. The third has her playing with a frizbee... and needing more practice. Needless to say I really enjoyed watching the second clip.

I have also heard that DS has dropped in price to $129. This makes it very affordable and I am excited to meet other people with one.

The DS has wi-fi capabilities which makes it able to communicate with others... but if you leave the Nintendogs in 'sleep-mode' and just wander around, if someone else has a DS in 'sleep-mode' and you pass the DS will bark and your pupies will exchange gifts and/or unlock dogs you may not have yet. It's POKEMON all over!!!

And no worries Jen... I won't ignore our own REAL puppies because of this. Virtual dogs don't keep your toes warm in the middle of the night (grin). Then again... virtual dogs don't slobber all over you or shed either...

People watching

Sometimes I just like to people watch. Just to enjoy reactions to certain things. One of my favorite British shows on this subject is called "Trigger Happy TV". It's very similar to Candid Camera except that nobody (well... very few people) gets embarassed from being 'punked'. Trigger Happy TV just creates situations and observes people's reactions to the events. Like how people react to watching a guy in a snail costume SLOOOOWLY crossing the street... or watching two guys in big mascot dog costumes beating up a guy in a big mascot cat costume

Well, today I found an interesting site that recorded people's reactions to their first exposure to the new Nintendo DS handheld system (be sure to let them load). I got more excited just watching their reactions than anything else. I really liked #47, an Australlian doctor playing the Nintendogs game. #09 was fun because he's a business man, and #15 was just too cute because she was so introverted... you could tell this was interesting to her. And in #19 the grandfather eventually played it more than the little girl!

Which ones were your favorites?

Free entertainment.

I'm feeling better now, the world's done shaking

Went to a concert at the Colorado State Fair Sunday night with my wife. We had a BLAST! The concert was Collective Soul and they were really great. Easilly a top-3 concert.

As far as I know this was Jen's first REAL rock concert (Weird Al really doesn't count) and she rocked out! She really seemed to have a great time, and i'm really happy about that. Her happiness means a lot to me. She's got a secret that I have been DYING To let loose, but I won't until she gives me the ok, but it has made her VERY happy and that's great.

MORTOR!!!

Thanks to Collin for this hillarious animated Gif.

Click HERE to get the image.

Dante was right?

Second Level of Hell

You have come to a place mute of all light, where the wind bellows as the sea does in a tempest. This is the realm where the lustful spend eternity. Here, sinners are blown around endlessly by the unforgiving winds of unquenchable desire as punishment for their transgressions. The infernal hurricane that never rests hurtles the spirits onward in its rapine, whirling them round, and smiting, it molests them. You have betrayed reason at the behest of your appetite for pleasure, and so here you are doomed to remain. Cleopatra and Helen of Troy are two that share in your fate.


And so, when I die, I will have sex with Cleopatra and Helen of Troy? AWESOME!!!

The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Second Level of Hell!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Very Low
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Low
Level 2 (Lustful)	Very High
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	Low
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Low
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	High
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	Moderate
Level 7 (Violent)	Very High
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	Very High
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	Low

Take the Dante's Inferno Test

My japanese name is 藤原 Fujiwara (wisteria fields) 誠 Makoto (sincerity).
Take your real japanese name generator! today!
Created with Rum and Monkey's Name Generator Generator.

My Superhero Name is The Amazing Vengeance.
Take The Superhero Name Generator today!
Created with Rum and Monkey's Name Generator Generator.

Thanks to Grace for the tests...

Kiss kiss

I loves my Dragon Quest collection. Go to the links below and vote for me.

Kiss Kiss

Dragon Quest VIII

Dragons Quest will be coming out soon. VERY exciting.

Dragon Quest VIII Official US Site

Become part of the Slime Knights and earn swag!

Well, the next better thing

I had a dream last night.

I had a dream that I had a webcast for the Jojo community to get news and to ask questions of Jojo and VIZ comics (the official translators of the book series).

I'm making that come true.

I just emailed the editor of Jojo at VIZ and he sent me the address of the person i'm to contact. I sent the following email:

To whom it may concern,

I am the webmaster of a popular North American Jojo's Bizarre Adventure fansite called 'jojopedia.com'. I have been online since April 2001 previously at 'Geocities' and, by the time of my URL registration of 'jojopedia.com' on August 1st, I had over 39,000 visitors in that time with an average of 17 visitors daily with parts of the site translated into Italian by some fans of its own. Now with the notice of an official translation of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure by your company VIZ Comics, my website has been getting on average 110 hits per day from people all over the world and I have received over 5,000 hits since my move on August 1st of this year. I am an active member in the online Jojo community and have been reading Jojo's Bizarre Adventure in its original Japanese since 1989.

I am adding to my website a 'Jojo Webcast' which will be a webcast for and about the Jojo's Bizarre Adventure community as a whole. In this I would be talking about things that are coming up in the US, Japan, Italy, and France (where Jojo is the most popular), interviews with webmasters, translators for fansites, and hopefully with some people at VIZ. I received your email address from a gentleman whom I believe is the editor of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure whom then instructed me to make my formal request to you. I hope this is acceptable.

I am writing to ask permission to interview one (or more) of the fine people working at VIZ Comics on the Jojo's Bizarre Adventure story, either translator, editor, or someone involved in the production of the manga. People in the community are 'chomping at the bit', as it were, for the book to come out in English and I thought that an interview with someone 'in the know' would be a great way to let the fans know a bit about some behind the scenes facts at VIZ and how Hirohiko Araki has influenced this translation as a whole.

For the interview I would send the exact questions I would ask in the interview via email and, if at all possible, I would like to have the interviewee send their answers back in '.wav' form for the webcast. I would then record the questions being asked myself and piece the interview together to make it sound as though we were having a conversation. If necessary, to make sure the broadcast interview is acceptable to you, I would send you the completed broadcast first and not make it available to the public until I receive your ok. This webcast would then be a free download at my website at 'jojopedia.com'. If you have optional ideas I would be more than happy to hear about them.

I thank you for your time and hope that we can work something out. I am very excited that VIZ is the company translating Jojo and hope to hear from you soon.

Sincerely,
Justin S. Carmical
http://www.jojopedia.com

She's out of the office this afternoon, but hopefully she will reply by the end of next week.

C.H.E.E.T.

I know it has been months and months since the last CHEET night but I am finally ready to host another night of games food and friendship.

The magic date is: Saturday September 24th at 6:30pm-midnight. The theme will be, appropriately, 'New Beginnings'. This theme denotes something that was fun once upon a time, went away/disappeared for a while and then you found it and enjoyed it all over either in a new release or the old way it was. The 'Retro-High-Score' game of that night will therefore be Super Mario Brothers 3 (the game that made Mario popular again and stays fun even 16 years after it originally came out). The high score winner in this game will, as always, win a game trinket from 'the vault' (or whatever I happen to pick-up at Hot Topic that day).

Bring your controllers and any games you wish to share. We will start off with a rousing Party Game to get everyone playing together and then we can play other things as the members wish. Pizza will be ordered at 7:30. Bring your dollars and beverages of your choice. Adult beverages are always welcome.

I am planning a December CHEET meeting that will be for kids as well as adults. A White Elephant gift exchange will be the event of the evening and 'kids' games will be the theme... i.e. no blood and gore or naughty violence allowed. I will post many more reminders as both dates draw nearer... and, as is typical, the dates may change up to two weeks before.

Also, good news: The museum has officially reached 25 different game systems/handhelds and 402 different games! We'll have plenty for you to do that night... trust me.

Hope to see you all there this September and, in the immortal words of Tom Beaudette: "We'll keep the NES on for you."

owowowowOWOWOWOW! OW!!!

Sorry for the lack of posting, folks... but I have had NASTY migraines all week at work and they have RUINED my week, lemme tell you. OW!

I will be taking some pictures this weekend. I'll post them when I get them. Hope y'all enjoy.

Great weekend...

Many many things to cover today, my friends.

My weekend was great. I got to play poker with some friends ($5.00 got you $2,000 worth of chips) on Saturday and got to sing a bit of karaoke.

Jen and I saw 'SKY HIGH' on Saturday afternoon and really enjoyed it. She also told me that the kids were contracted for a possible TV series as well. AND the trailer had a teaser for the new Harry Potter movie due out in November. GAH! I WANNA SEE IT!!!

I also rented a really great Chinese movie called 'Six Strong Guys'. It's a bit of a chick-flick, but... well, for guys. I really enjoyed it. It starts off with 4 friends who decide to throw themselves off of a building because of their 'terrible' lives, and they end up embracing life instead. Very good movie. I'm looking to buy it.

And Jojopedia.com strted up with rave reviews. On Monday I got over 500 hits.

I am anticipating a new Japanese Nintendo DS game that features Jotaro (Jojo #3) and Dio as characters. It's called "Jump Superstars". I pre-ordered it last month (as soon as I heard about it) and it is almost time for it to ship (ships on August 8th). Cannot wait.

******************

Now, for a bit of a rant. My mom emails me today and asks me if I could help her instal some webcams so she can watch her cat 'Petey'. Now, Pete has been real ill for quite some time, and this weekend she had a pretty bad scare.

It is my opinion that it is one of her other cats (Itzy) who is causing all this stress on poor Pete. Itzy is a mean cat that was once friendly. When my grandfather died Itzy (his cat) got nasty. My mom keeps him because he was Papa's cat.

So, I told her my thoughts on the subject:
***
Well, for the bad news: it is very expensive. You need a working computer, a web cam, broadband service (~$50 a month) and you need to make sure he's going to be in one spot (room) the entire time. To webcam the whole house would require more cameras and is a bad idea unless you plan on making money off of this yourself (an' I don't want people paying money to see my mom... GOT IT?!?! (little joke) ).

I know how much you love him, but mean Maggie and mean Itzy have screwed with him enough that he's really messed up mentally and he is drained. Him being so sick doesn't help. I can give you suggestions on what you need to do:

Step one: Itzy needs to go. Period. Find him a good family through PetsMart and he'll be ok, but since dad died Itzy has been a terror. He's a good 1 pet animal but he has screwed with Maggie and Pete enough. For 'Pete's sake' please find Itzy a new home. I was sent to Mamie & Papa's when I had problems because you couldn't deal with my problems and yours... and i'm better. You need to do the same for this, and it's the same thing. Saving him because he was dad's is NOT a good excuse for keeping a mean creature. I'm not kidding and i'm not sorry. He's not sweet, he's mean. He was nice to dad and he was nice to you AT FIRST... he then saw what a 'mark' you are and took control of the place.

Step two: Kennel Pete when you're out. He likes being out, but being bullied by Itzy is NOT helping him get healthy. Pete needs to be secure where he can't get hurt by a fight. If you're too concerned about him then you need to kennel him while you're out. If you don't like that idea then you should just keep on going as you have been.

Step three: Just keep what you're doing, but if he looks like he's in pain... you need to stop that pain. Euthenasia is legal for pets (not humans) who are in pain. Talk to your vet, but keeping him alive, just because you love him, is a mean thing to do.

I love you, but you may need to let go of some things. And being the 'cat lady' doesn't help your pocket-book or your love life, hun. (little jokey-poo). A webcam is not the best idea right now. You need to look out for you. And right now this isn't helping matters.

Love you MUCH more than you love me... call me if you need to talk tonight.
Jus
***
For me, I love my pups and think of them as family... but they are not humans and if one of them is hurting the other and I can't stop the behavior... they're out! Period! End of story!

"But would you do that to your own kids?" Some people may ask...

YES! Yes I would. If I could not handle them and, try as I may, I could not get them to behave... yes. They're gone! Send them to someone who can help them... because I can't.

Harsh? Perhaps.
Realistic? You bet. I know my limitations. If they are met and nothing is getting done... then off they go. Bye bye. Bye bye. Bye bye.

I am absolutely TERRIFIED of having children. Terrified. I roll the thought of having a vasectomy 'tomorrow' constantly... every day. "Oh, it's different when you have your own". No. No it's not. I would be a terrible father. Absolutely terrible. Why have children? No, really... why? To pass on a name? To make life just to make life? To please family? These are terrible reasons to have children. Why can't two people enjoy each other without having kids?

JEEZUS did I digress just now or what?! I'm so sorry.

Reactions? Am I a jerk? Feel the same as me? Anyone?

Had to post it.

Funny. I wonder who did it?

When Geocites has you... they won't let go!

I have been working on trying to re-direct people from my old geocities cite to the new one... but wow. Geocities must love me or something!

The script I use starts to transfer you in 15 seconds... but it keeps the annoying bar at the side! GAH! That sucks! Any ideas?

Almost there... stay on target...

If you get the above joke, then I applaud you.

Well I am, as the title states, almost there. I have put up all the character background stories, edited the FAQ to fit my page, uploaded a $h!+-load of pictures... now I just have to 'tweak'. My tweaks include (but are not limited to):

* making the stone images on the front page go down when they are rolled over
* getting scans of paper for the character areas
* moving some of the videogame information and images to the FAQ
...and whatever else people find.

Wish to help out? No knowledge of Jojo is necessary. Go to the following link and email me your thoughts both good and bad. Tell me how simple it is to navigate and how I can do things better. Is there anything you would like to see? Is there something that is very cool? Is there something you would like to help with that I just haven't thought of? Gimme it all.

http://www.freepgs.com/noriaki_kakyouin/index2005.htm

Thanks a lot.

Wow. Just... just wow.

Late night post to let you all know the good news. But to tell you the good news I have to back-up a bit and give you some background.

Ok. Before my Jojo website was up, there was another website that had the best information for Jojo. It was pretty up-to-date and well visited. It was called, quite simply, the "Jojo FAQ". It was featured in a magazine or two. Very cool. Ok.

Come to find out that the guy who ran it (Jason) got a job with VIZ Comics. VIZ is the company that is translating Jojo's Bizarre Adventure into English. Well, tonight I got an email from none other than Jason:

Hello Noriaki,

I was thinking about your new website and I have a weird question for
you... would you be interested in taking over my JoJo FAQ for me? ;)

It's not that I'm tired of doing the FAQ... actually, the problem is that I am now working on the JoJo manga for Viz, and I'm worried that some Viz person might realize that I do the FAQ and get pissed off that I'm giving away semi-secret information. Also, I'm worried that I will be unable to objectively talk about the English version of the manga, since I work on it.

So, if you would like to take over the hosting of the FAQ, that'd be fine
by me. Feel free to modify it, although of course I'd prefer if you kept
my old version somewhere and credited me. ;)

Alternately, if you don't want to take over the FAQ, that's fine too. I
don't want to hit you with a big burden. Like I said, I'd be happy to keep
maintaining it (as much as I *do* maintain it... :/ ), but I'm just a
little anxious that it might be a conflict-of-interest now that I'm
actually working on the manga.

Let me know what you think!

Sincerely,
Jason

I think my heart stopped. I immediately sent a reply back saying yes. I'm going to keep the site the way he made it, link to the site directly from my new front page and... be the webmaster of two of the three largest Jojo FAQ sites in North America.

With my finishing the front page, spending some great quality time with my wife, finishing the new Harry Potter book, and doing well in computer Go... this has been a great weekend.

Phrickin' Phriday Photoblog

Derek does it. Heather does it. Collin sometimes does it. So I think i'll do it to. What is it? Falling in love? NO!

IT'S PHREAKIN' PHOTOBLOG PHRIDAY!

This week's theme? My beautiful wife. If you click on the images it will get bigger for you.


My friend Max and I made an entry for a Go contest sponsored by the AGA. We didn't win (I have NO clue why) but Jen posed for us.


This is Jen holding a monkey at a safari in Arkansas.


Heh... I said monkey.


This is my favorite. This is our 'first anniversary' tea at the 'Cat Bird Seat' in downtown Colorado Springs. We shared it with our best man and maid of honor Forrest and Nancy Oates. Jen and I dressed up as Alice and the Mad Hatter. I bought that tea pot for her anniversary gift.



This was her under the archway at the Cat Bird Seat.


She got her hands henna-ed at the Ren Faire last weekend, and they came out wonderfully. I took these so I could do it next time. She asked if they would take anything off since she only has 9 fingers. He laughed and took $5 off. WOO HOO!


A close-up version.


And this is what she wore to the Ren faire. She was a pixie! A very cute pixie... a very VERY cute pixie.

Style-sheet ah! It's a good thing. Style-sheets ah! What's a good thing?

HTML Note:
font size=6 is the same as point size 24
font size=2 is the same as point size 10

I was informed by my good friend Brad that what looked good on Firefox looked bad on Opera and IE. So I changed font and stuff.

And 'stylesheets'? They are a good thing. It saved me tons of scripting and with just a few lines of stylesheeting code on my html, I saved easilly 36 lines of html code. WOW!

Just and old fashioned webpage playing on my radio...

I have no clue why I keep titling my latest entries after 60's and 70's songs... maybe i'm just re-living my youth...

Anyways, I put some tables on the Jojo 7 website and slapped a temporary background over it. I wanted that page to not only be the nexus for the Steel Ball Run character descriptions but to keep people up to date as to the happenings, placements and other stuff. So I think a racing schedule would be appropriate. What do you all think?

I put the same background temporarilly on the Gyro Zepelli page too... just to see how it would look.

I'll be meeting with my friend Brad tonight to get the front page's white space gone-zo.

Tonight i'm gonna be playing Go to relax. We're going to be at the Pikes Perk on Vickers & Academy from 6:30-8:30 or so playing Go and working on the website... come on by if you like.

Link, link everywhere a link. Blockin' out the webpages, breaking my mind. Go here, don't go there, can't you see the link.

Well I was working hard on linkage for the front page and I learned SO much. Like the fact that even though you may put several images in a row... they won't necessarilly be flush side-by-side.

Took me 45 minutes to find out why I kept on getting 4 pixels in between each image. Wow. HTML is a tricky sister! But I got it and all the links beautiful and good. My friend Brad is gonna help me get the white space gone-gone and that'll mean it'll be all done for the NEW front page!

Try out the links. There's 10. Can you find them all? Go ahead... try them out! It is supposed to look like stone being pushed into the wall.

Next, i'm gonna work on the second page I need to do SOMETHING with. JOJO-7. This link sends people to the Steel Ball Run pages and shows how much race has been run. What I have so far... I hate. So now it's off to thinking what would look good.

To everything - scan scan scan - there is a season - scan scan scan

Well, I gotta make the August 1st deadline... I think I will, but there might be some skimping on some things... I have so many ideas and not the skill to implement them. I don't mean that I can't do it because I lack in art skills... not that but I lack in COMPUTER art skills. I have Adobe Photoshoppe 6 and I am teaching myself how to use it. It's not fun. I struggled for 45 minutes to put the lines in the new front page last night... wow. Hated that.

But, except for the links at the bottom, the front page is pretty much how I want it to look. And the better thing is that all the people who know about egyptology love it too.

Now I need to work on making the links (the bottom row images) look like they're going into the stone. That'll be Thursday's work. Tonight, I scan like a mad-man to get images from Steel Ball Run into the 'system'.

I got an icon I kinda' like. Been working the majority of the morning on putting it on the pages I have up already... in between work, that is.

Front page madness...

The new front page to the website is taking shape.

Favorite Icons: Favicon

Well, here's how to make them small itty bitty pictures that appear to the left of some URL sites.

1) Make an image that is 16x16. Make sure it is in 16 colors or this won't work.

2) Save it as a normal name (short if possible) and save it as a bitmap selection called an icon (.ico). For example: "favicon.ico"

3) Upload it to your main site.

4) Underneath the <head> brackets, add a new line and add: <LINK REL="SHORTCUT ICON" HREF="http://www.mydomain.com/myicon.ico">

5) Reload yer page. Unfortunately I cannot make a decent 16x16 icon for my site yet. All the ones I have made look crappy... so if anyone wants to help...

One page is getting there

For the next few weeks until August i'm going to be terribly busy with the rush at work and my work on the newly fabricated Jojopedia.com. So the majority of stuff I will be a quick diary post and/or Jojo stuff. Sorry. I know i'm terribly un-original...

Here's what I have so far for the Steel Ball Run character pages. The name of the newspaper will not be the Gazette Telegraph... that was just for placement of the banner.

Now as soon as I can figure out the html for putting the words to the top of the columns and to justify the text... i'll be sound as a pound. I'd also like to know how they put images to the left of the urls on certain websites. Like how this website (Blogger) has that orange box with the white 'B' inside of it.

Ebay Surprise

Bag full of UNCUT Lucky Charms Marshmallows!

New Web Browser

Well, I have been suggested by a few friends recently that if I am to surf safely on an IBM that I should NOT NEVER NO-HOW EVER EVER EVER use Internet Explorer.

Why? Well it seems that the nasties that people get are made specifically for people who use that browser. I asked some computer people in our building and they stated that they too use alternate browsers.

The one most highly suggested was FireFox. It's free, has lots of automatic stuff, and will transfer your links, history, and cache over so you don't lose anything in the transfer. So I downloaded it and am using it right now.

It's a bit strange to get used to, but I think I can handle it. And, you know me, the fewer buggies that get into my computer the better!

Another choice that was highly suggested from my friend Brad and another computer guy was Opera, but I think i'll work with Firefox.

Go cat, Go

Ok. Bad pun. But I have a lot of friends who are getting into the wonderful 4000 year old game of Go and I want to send them to some groovy sites.

*Interactive Go: This is the first site I send anyone who wants to learn how to play Go. This site teaches the rules and basic smart moves.

*Dragon Go Server: A play-by-email Go site. Great for playing from work or from home. I'm on as 'noriaki_kakyouin'. Let me know when you have signed up.

*Springs Go Club: The Colorado Springs Go Club. We meet Wednesdays and Thursdays.

*AGA: The American Go Association.

*CGoban 2: This can not only read SGF Go files that you can download but you can also play live online games.

*Gobase: This is one of the epicenters of the Go community. You can download many games here to review and replay. Also find out what's going on in the Go world as a whole.

*The Magic of Go: A weekly article written to help teach some essentials of Go. It can be confusing, but it is informative.

and lastly
*Hikaru no Go games: Hikaru no Go is a great Japanese manga that has gotten many new people to enjoy Go. It is currently being translated by VIZ comics into English and is available for $7.95 in good bookstores around town. The artist used actual games from history as the games Hikaru and the group would play. This site has found most of the games as SGF files and has them available for download.

I have the entire series as .jpg scanlations if you want a copy.

A LETTER FROM PENN JILLETTE

There's a movie coming out this month called The Aristocrats. The movie has such strong content - in language only - that it's being released unrated. And of course some of the usual right wing pundits have had to get their say in about how filthy it all is. So Penn Jillette, who made the film along with Paul Provenza, has penned this open letter:

The Aristocrats: Everyone Who Sees this Movie, Will Love It

By filmmaker, Penn Jillette

That’s my goal. I want everyone who sees our movie, “The Aristocrats” to enjoy it. I really do. So far we’ve done a really good job. We’ve had only a few people walk out, and most everyone else seemed to have a great time. Certainly a higher percentage of people who’ve seen our movie liked it than the percentage of people who liked “Lord of the Rings.” One reason is that “Lord of the Rings” sucks and our movie is good. But more importantly, everyone is supposed to like “Lord of the Rings.” They made it for everyone, because everyone has all the money. We didn’t make “The Aristocrats” for everyone; we made it for our friends.

You can tell right away our flick ain’t for everyone. Our movie uses that four letter word that begins with “C.” Our movie uses that word a lot. A way lot. You know the word; it’s the word you say and everyone is automatically sexually harassed. A hostile work environment in one word. It’s the word that adults call “The C word” in front of other adults. Adults who say every other dirty word as every part of speech won’t say that goddamn C word. When Aristocrats say the C word in the movie, it’s worse than just using the C word. We don’t use it in anger or as a mere ejaculation. We don’t even use it as synecdoche. The Aristocrats mean it as the real thing. We’re not just using dirty words; we’re using dirty images, and dirty ideas. And even worse, we’re doing it just for fun. Just for a laugh. The movie’s not for everyone.

“Don’t say shit in front of a C. H. I. L. D.” - Kinky Friedman

Think of the most disgusting images you can. Think of the worst scatological and non-consensual sex you can. Imagine children. Imagine young children. Imagine children that are related to each other. Children who are related to you. Imagine animals. Young endangered animals who are related to each other. Young endangered animals who are related to you. Nope, you’re not even close. The movie has over 100 professionals. They are much more disgusting than you can ever be, that’s because they’re professionals.

The movie is a lot more than dirty words and disgusting images. The taboo language is not even the main thrust; the main thrust is a movie with no nudity, no violence, and no conflict. It’s a movie about laughing with your friends. It’s very political because it’s not political at all. The Aristocrats just take for granted they can say anything they want. Fighting for freedom is a losing battle. Taking liberty is what real Americans do. It’s a love story, it’s political, it’s patriotic, it’s funny, funny, funny, funny, funny, funny. But, you shouldn’t see it if you’ve ever been offended by any word ever ever.

If you’re going to be offended don’t bother coming. It was a cheap movie to make. We don’t need everyone’s money. We have other jobs. Our asses aren’t on the line. If you think you’re going to like this movie, please, you’re invited. If you’re in Vegas and you meet me, I’ll show it to you for free over my house. My wife and I will serve popcorn. But, if you you’ve EVER been offended by any joke, read a book, I suggest “Moby Dick.”

Michael Moore and Mel Gibson are the same person, except for a few sit-ups. Moore thought his cheesy political blooper reel was going to tell people how to vote. Mel thought that his little gay SM movie about his imaginary friend was going to help him get to heaven. George W. Bush is president and there’s still no god. You failed boys. Someone should have told Mike that the bad guys are smarter than him and someone should have told Mel that the Three Stooges were Jewish.

Both those filthy rich losers wanted EVERYONE to see their movies. Moore wanted the Republicans to be shocked by how wrong they were and see the light shining out of his fat ass. Mel went for straight off the rack proselytizing. They both just got even richer.

I’m already richer than I should be. I don’t want to shock or offend anyone who doesn’t enjoy being shocked and offended. I want to make people laugh and love life and love watching all my friends making each other laugh.

So, IF YOU HAVE EVER EVER EVER BEEN OFFENDED BY ANY JOKE – DO NOT SEE THE ARISTOCRATS! If you think you might be offended by our movie, why don’t you go see “Lord of the Rings?” (in other words: go to hell.)

And then -- everyone who sees our movie will love it.

We all hold something in...

I just read what Collin posted on his blog and felt the need to post here as well. His experience is far worse than I have felt... but when I did hate... I hated well.

To begin with, may I say that I believe, in part, of the ancient Egyptian idea that if you wipe a person's name from history they will cease to exist. Names have some sort of power. So I don't mention his name. I called him my 'nemesis' at one time because he really was the Moriarty to my Holmes. We were SO similar it was just wrong. We liked the same things, did similar acts, and had similar thoughts. He just went down a path I could have... but didn't.

I had a nemesis.

I'm a firm believer in freudenschade. I love it. I, sometimes, never feel better than when someone who deserves to feel pain... does. And I got to thinking: maybe that's why I pity my "ex-nemesis". I have used the help and support given to me without spitting it back into the faces of my family and friends. I am on my feet debt free. I have a great wife. I have a house. I have a great job. And he?

He's really having a bad time in his life right now: can't hold a job down, lives from place to place, is poorer than shite, people that once trusted him now dis-PISE him, his cleptomania is getting the better of him and he's falling down and down... and his lies no longer work to protect him. Very bad things.

A nemesis is someone who just keeps on hurting you. Now, he can't even take care of himself enough to pay his collecting bills and mounting debts.

Heh. Good.

I'm not angry anymore, though. I just feel pity. Freudenschade and pity.

She got me!

Long story short, I told my wife how I saw a skunk and her two babies down on Colorado and 14th. I thought they were so cute and she said that she wanted one. I told her it's be ok if their stink gland was removed. She said 'really?' and I said, "Yeah, why not? But where are you gonna find one?"

"EBAY!" she exclaimed.

'Yeah, right...' I thought.

So today she sends me a screenshot from ebay...

HERE

It was hard to believe because of the image having so many problems (my trained artistic eye): lines cut off, black patches near the title, out-of-sync words and letters... but it was the text description got me thinking that maybe it was real and the weird distortions is her computer or something (me being nieve). But why would ebay allow this? You're not supposed to sell live creatures on ebay. I sent her an email asking her if she really wanted to drive to Arkansas I was all for getting it (wow... am I a sucker!).

I called a co-worker over to my computer and showed her the image. She asked if there was more about it, so I went to ebay and typed in the ebay item number...

ZING! ARGH!!! She got me!

Funny thing is that she did this joke all by herself, art and all. She never ceases to amaze me. I really am lucky to have such a cool wife.

Now I plot my revenge (laughs)

JOJO IS HERE!!!

Well, in the latest edition (August 2005/#32) of Shonen Jump, at least.

The manga translation offers the first chapter of the book (that comes out next month) in this edition. So far I was worried about the translation and editing, but I must say that they have done a very decent job at translating and making it SOUND like it hasn't been translated while keeping true to the text. They shortened a bit of the dialogue, but it flows nicely and gets the point across well. For an English translation I was expecting something different, but this... this is ok.

In the book that will come out next month... Noriaki Kakyouin makes his appearance. This is my favorite character from the series and you'll be able to see why I use 'his' name.

I am SO excited about this, you cannot even imagine. Some people have been following rock stars and get absolutely giddy when they see them, even from far away. Other people feel that way about places and animals. For me, it's this manga. I have been patiently waiting since 1989 (the first time I read it in the Japanese Shonen Jump Weekly) for this time. It's just a book, I know... but it's MY book! JOJOOOOOO!

Another weekend runied because of my inability to read instructions.

Well, the party I was going to go to this 4th was actually taking place on the 3rd... so I missed it. I read the email wrong. So I'm staying at home working on the website. I feel really bad about letting everyone down... especially my wife. We were both really excited to go... but I fu&%ed up... dammit.

I'm really beginning to wonder if I have some sort of reading disability as this happens all the time. No kidding. I'm not feeling sorry for myself. I really wonder if I have an inability to read some things correctly.

On the upsides,

I had a marvellous time playing poker and singing karaoke with Derek and the gang on Saturday and the hunt for the 'Coyote Treasure' is starting today (7/4/2005).

Grand Opening: August 1st 2005

So in anticipation of the new Jojo website i'm making, for those of you who visit me, I am going to show you bits of what I have planned for www.jojopedia.com!

I will have hidden links to interviews and downloads complete with 'stone-grinding' sounds when you depress a link. I will also have the 'Steel Ball Run' (the newest comic) site as a newspaper from 1890 written as though a reporter was following the race... complete with authentic ads from the 1800's.

These pages will change and merge as I get closer to the August 1st deadline so please feel free to leave your comments and visit the areas every week to see what has changed. I will be adding these links to the sidebar on Monday.

Link #1: Index-2003 (this is what I was thinking of in August of 2003 when I knew I wanted to change the front page)

Link #2: Wall 8 (this is what I mocked up last year with 'egyptian images' of Noriaki Kakyouin and Jonathan Joestar holding Dio's head)

Link #3: Jojo 7 (This is the main link to the current story of 'Steel Ball Run')

Link #4: Gyro Zepelli (This is a mock-up of the character pages. This will change greatly in the next few weeks)

Another quiz because I have nothing else for all you happy people on a busy Friday afternoon

Stolen from Heather (thank you Heather)
*********
A - Age you lost your virginity? - 15

B - Band listening to right now? - Billy Corgan

C - Dream car? - one that works...

D - Dad's name? - by birth: Craig Vincent Patrick, from raising/loving me: Dale Wheeler Carmical.

Dale ('Papa' as I called him) is really my grandfather, but he raised me when I lived with them from 1983-2000. He was like a father to me and we did all the dad-son sorts of things we could. Scouts, fighting, fishing, fighting, woodworking, fist-fighting (well, almost), metalsmithing, fighting... He was my biggest fan: he would go into my room when I was out, get my drawings and sketches, and show them to his neighbor friends to 'show-off'... THAT'S how cool he was.

Late in 2000 I wrote a letter to him, told him how much I missed him and 'Mamie' (Elsie: my grandmother)... told him how I felt and asked him if I could call him 'Dad' from now on since he is really more like a father to me than like a grandfather. I was afraid he would say no.

When I talked to them later that week. I said 'hello'... and he replied 'Hello, son' (he never called me that or anything similar before). And ever since then I called him 'Dad' and he called me 'Son'. It bothers my mom (she's nervous about the 'incestuous' undertones it 'might' have), but I don't care.

He's my 'Dad' by choice not by birth, everyone knows it, and I'm damn lucky to have known him. He was an awesome guy. I miss him an awful lot.

E - Easiest person to make me laugh? - Forrest Oates

F - Food you miss most? - Simply because Heather mentioned it: Chick-Fil-A

G - Any encounters with ghosts? - In Florida I encountered LOTS of encounters. The one that most comes to mind was when I woke up and heard a family come into the house. I heard a dog running around and ran into the door (as excited dogs will do). So I decided to get up. I put on my pants and opened the door... the house was empty. Nobody was in since the previous night!

H - Person most hated at the moment? - Nobody. I used to hate a guy (called him my 'nemesis' because he so much like me if I had been... well... evil) but now I just pity him. I NEED A NEW NEMESIS!

I - Interesting unknown fact about yourself? - I masturbate more than anyone else in the universe.

J - The first letter of the last person who broke your heart? - "L"

L - Last time you did LSD? - Never did LSD. Smoked my last weed in 2002, though.

M - Most memorable moment you can think of in a minute? - My 33rd Birthday. Being with all my friends and family that evening was one of the best nights of my entire life.

N - Nicknames? - 'J-Man', 'J', Prof. Noriaki Kakyouin (someone dubbed me that in an email), and 'rabbi'

O - What's the most valued possession? - My wife and then my friendships. Physically: my Jojo manga collection, but physical items can be replaced. Thank you ebay!

P - Poison of choice? - Collin introduced me to this on my 21st birthday and it's been my staple ever since: Vodka Collins.

Q - The last quote you heard: "TGIF." - Last Friday on ABC

R - What are you allergic to? - Poultry (eaten), fish (eaten), animal dander (breathed). I take Benedril for the eaten stuff and Claritin and Sudafed for the dander.

S - Song you sang last? - "The Impression That I Get" at karaoke.

T - Time you woke up? - 6:55am

U - Fav. pair of underwear? - Whatever my wife is wearing right now. (wink). OH ON ME?!?! Oh... I don't have a pair. I just started wearing them again recently.

V - Vegetable you hate most? - Pickled beets.

W - What are you the most afraid of? - Spiders

X - X-rated love life? - Well, let me just say that I got a 33% on the last purity test I took (lower % is worse).

Y - Year you were born? 1971

Z - Zodiac sign? Aries