furtive explorations

In this case, I forgot to ever make an alias for "blog@"my domain so all my complaining about never getting any e-mail was false. I got two pieces of spam and once really nice missive from the fine mind at metascene. Also, I finally got around to not using his redirect from the old link on tripod or hard typing the address in. Sad, really.

Honestly, I shouldn't have to make an alias for that address since it wasn't ever supposed to be real. The address is properly "extremely+blog@"my domain so that my mail filter under the extremely alias handily sticks it in the proper mail folder for me. But the occasional mailer/spam-spider out there trims off either the "+blog" part (still gets to me) or the "extremely+" part (goes into a black hole thanks to my sendmail config). In this case, I'd bet on him hand typing it or maybe back in September was the day I first put up the address, wrong? Ooops. *sigh*

Best line in his mail? meanwhile, pray for dead fish... Hey, I like that! And he comes up with good links like plastic.com which isn't the bland coprophillic err... corporate site you might expect. Also, he found this Matrix link that kix-azz.

Also, life in general is kinda shitty all around. Nightmares keeping me up nights, jury duty, work problems, plus I think I have a third arm growing out of my back. Well, ok, that last one is just this crazy movie I sympathize with more and more.

Really, the only good thing is a little bit of time to practice drawing and sketching and a bit of time to tinker with some code. Other than that, nothing going on. I sure hope you guys and gals are having fun out there in the real virtual world.

Just in case you didn't know it was total bullshit at the outset, here are some horrible facts to ruin your perfectly honest ignorance: Snopes page is good, and this Straight Dope column is nice, and this Dictionary explains a more likely derivation of the word.

I'm sorry to ruin your day with cold, hard facts but you've been out of the trees long enough not to monkey-see-monkey-do every crappy urban legend you get in e-mail right back out again.

Yeah, that is the "Suck" I'm talkin about. Who knew just listening to people talk could be so exhausting and painful all at the same time. Well, other than Ricki Lake fans...

Umm, yuck? I love it!

As funny as friday's Schlock Mercenary was, I think that this week he is channeling Douglas Adams. Compare this one with your memories of the Frogstar Class D and that one with the whale and petunia bit.

I still don't get Bruno but I do love the way he draws a character evil in one frame and goofy in another like here.

I sure am glad that Dr. Fun is back in top form.

You can tell when 3 or 4 panel comic artists have hit their stride when they stick more than two jokes a day in their strips.

This is so true, we do this sort of thing whenever the geeks gather.

JURY DUTY: Day 1: Larry the A/V Deputy

7:45am

I'm here early, bleagh. JeffCo, KY has a complete zone in the building for jury pools. Huge room that holds 250+, nice little kitchenette and vending machine room, and a work area with tables, phones and extra power for laptops. Way cool. And, like any brand new government facility, the microphone/PA system is on the fritz so they have to yell. Larry, our orientation Sheriff's Deputy, takes a go at fixing the PA. Even in the ranks of the Sheriff's department, you get wannabe A/V geeks. As the morning wears on, we discover he is the "commedian" of the speakers too.

10:30am

There is always one person in any crowd who just doesn't get it. Outrageous behaviour is so common place for these people that they just seem to have no idea. Today a "lady" brought in her kids because she had tried to get excused but sent the paperwork in too late. Her, wait for it, lawyer had recommended that she attend the first session since her paperwork was in flux. So this woman keeps her kids out of school and fucking brings them with her! I think she was just using them for extra oomph to her sob-story about parents and grand-parents dying or almost dying. It sounded well rehearsed, she tells a lot of trouble tales I figure.

1:30pm

Really, the only good thing about this so far has been getting to see how it all works. It is a crazy system here, they do jury-pooling in Jefferson County, KY. 2 weeks on call, any day you are called in, you spend 1/2 or the whole day waiting to see if any court needs you. 42 judges, almost 30 courts, and around 275 jurists all ticking away the hours. Best of all, you get paid a whole 5 dollars a day!. Plus, a whopping $7.50 in "expenses". Whooee, its like I hit a jackpot... in 1920.

2:35pm

5 pulls so far, no call for me. "Everything is done at random around here" says the lady running the show. That should be engraved over the doorway of every government building. Really, that was the best quote of the whole day of sitting in here so far.

2:45pm

I break down and go for caffeinated, carbonated, caramel-colored refreshment. Of course, I crack the top open right as they call my number. The 6th round was for me, crank the top back down and head out of there. Circuit Court, so it is going to be a criminal case. Belinda is our deputy, she seems really nice and friendly and -- umm -- armed. I sure love standing in the hall waiting around, I hope we get to do this for 20 minutes... Hurray, we did!

No data on the judge or trial of course, I'm alergic to needing my own jury-trial. Of course, that still leaves me open to complain about the truly important things, like how annoying people are.

4:45pm

We break for the day, the 50+ people who tromped off to this one get to wait until tomorrow to find out who gets to be a jurist and who gets thrown back in for the next fisherman. All night with a hook in my mouth.

What is more fun than being asked "thought-provoking" questions by lawyers? Well, I'm glad you asked! It turns out, that asking them questions isn't! See, lawyers are like politicians, they don't actually answer your questions, they either use them as the spring-board for a speech that is almost but not quite entirely off-topic to your question or they go into a brutal, time-wasting conversation with the judge about some obscure aspect of the law. Best of all, when they do go into conference, you get treated to the wonderful world of white-noise. Nothing like 30db of static to drown out a lawyer and slowly drive 50+ people insane. It is like the British and the Chinese got together to invent a new form of torture where you are broken mentally by having bureaucracy dripped onto your forehead really, really slowly. well, ok, politicians don't actually consult with judges during questioning, it just seems that way thanks to Presidents Nixon and forward...

Like a POW I keep wondering if it would really be worse if I tried to escape. It might be worth a couple days in jail for contempt to get out of two more weeks of this.

BAD? If the HotSync app freaks out, stops your new USB mouse from working, and eventually BSODs your Win98 box.

UGLY? The HotSync app continues to fix your Visor perfectly, with only its window and part of a Netscape window showing over the black screen that suddenly replaced the blue screen (of death).

One quick reboot of both my computers and bing, you get updates...

Count yourself lucky I didn't link up "hot animal passion"

How many people know that Odin is the "One-eyed God"? Well, you fucking should if you are going to write fucking stories about him, even if it is for TV. Dumbass stupid ignorant TV writers...

First off, you can tell that it is an Indiana Jones rip if they are talking about Nazi's digging around in ancient trasures and occult powers. We won't get into the fact that Indy is a rip-off too. Second, you gotta be real sad to have fallen all the way from the "Ark of the Covenant" to "Mask of Odin" when stealing someone else's plot. Third, Himalayas? Norse-men? Hello? WTF would it be doing there?

I waited a whole day to post on it till I was sure how I felt about it. The music was great and a real treat. They caught the feel of the era, in a goofy way, and made it feel like America should feel. Charles Durning never fails to make me laugh and he was particularly well suited for the role he played. Clooney was a grand suprise since I usually get tired of him being too much in a movie. Not too much of anything in particular mind you, just "too much". In this, he was perfect as the fast-talking con who is as worried about his hair as his escape. The Cohen Brothers pull off a great deal a slow and fast humor and they never cease to deliver wild characters at appropriate moments.

In the end, I give it 3.5 out of 5 with occasional flashes of 4.5s =) It did seem to be a little light on actual story and relied too much on one outlandish event after another, just like the Odyssey it is loosely based on. On the other hand it is a rich film, with great scenes and wonderful human moments. The way they repeat lines over and over just makes the lines funnier which is a remarkable thing in and of itself. Go see it, what else can I say?