Mushy Stuff

2013-03-07, 6:44 pm
Categories: Stream of Consciousness

I suppose that I should say a few words about the lady I'm marrying.

Longtime readers of this site have seen me bounce around -- I was still in high school when I put the original version up. In the years since, I've gone from school to school and job to job. Generally, I've been pretty happy (even during my "I hate you all" phase). But a lot of the time I was pretty lonely, and, at least since finishing college, I pretty consistently haven't known what was coming up next in my life.

I suppose that last is still true to some extent. At the moment I'm between temp jobs and don't know what the future may bring.

But I know who'll be there with me.

It's not just that I'm not lonely anymore. It's not just that I met a lady, or that I met a lady who's smart and kind and laughs at (most of) the same things I do. Or that we clicked pretty much immediately and have made it four years so far.

It's all of that. All of it together. It's that we make each other better. It's that whatever happens, we'll face it together, we'll be stronger for it and for each other, and it'll all come out in the end.

Apostrophe

2013-03-06, 8:25 pm
Categories: Music

El Paso, 1975; soundboard recording uploaded by MyNameIsKojak.

Linux is Ready for Your Dad

2013-03-06, 7:14 pm
Categories: Stream of Consciousness, Tech

Well, maybe not your dad. But mine, at least.

My dad's in town -- I'm getting married, you see -- and asked me if I could get him a computer to use while he's here.

All I had lying around was an ancient Dell Dimension 8230. I suck Win7/32 on it.

And then found out that the audio didn't work. For Dad that was a deal-breaker.

I opened up the box (and was surprised not to get a cloud of dust to the face -- I don't remember blowing it out, but I must have, and fairly recently) and determined that the sound card is a Creative SB Live, model number CT4780. And that there's no Windows Vista/7 support for it.

I found a third party driver at kxproject.com, but it hadn't been updated since 2009 -- and didn't work either.

So at this point I asked my dad if he wanted me to install Windows XP on his computer, and probably wait the better part of 2 days for all the patches to download and install, or if he'd rather I put Linux on it. He said to give Linux a shot. (He'd used it for a little while at home when his Win7 installation was giving him trouble and a friend installed it for him.)

I settled on Xubuntu for a machine of that vintage. The install was quick, it had a checkbox for non-free software (including Flash and MP3 support), and it seems to support all the hardware out of the box -- including the sound card. And it runs faster than Win7 did.

Now, my dad's not a gamer. He doesn't even use Office. All he needs is a browser and Flash.

Which is of course true of an increasing number of users -- hell, Google's selling a $1300 laptop that just runs a browser. So it's not like this is a major bombshell or anything -- but it's still an interesting shift, no?

Seal Call Fusion Music

2013-03-05, 11:12 pm
Categories: Music, TV

Per uploader zappainfrance:

Seal Call Fusion Music 3:14
"We Don't Mess Around" Circus Krone, Munich/Sept. 8, 1978
includes quotes from "Day By Day" (Stordahl/Weston/Cahn)
and "Penguin In Bondage" (Frank Zappa)

(And yes, you may have seen this briefly posted last night and then promptly yanked when I realized I'd accidentally posted two Zappa videos on the same day. I am trying to get them scheduled in advance given my busy schedule this week, and I managed to confuse my sleep-deprived self.)

Cleanup Duty

2013-03-05, 8:51 pm
Categories: Announcements

Today I vacuumed up the spiderwebs on my back porch and hosed down the block and tile. Then I went to the barber, and then the dentist.

Tomorrow I hope to get the front side of the house done. And then I need to do the inside. And learn to tie a bowtie.

Riddle Me This: When is a Spoiler Not a Spoiler?

2013-03-04, 12:20 pm
Categories: Comics, Stream of Consciousness

When it's on the damn cover.

Robin, RIP

"Spoilers" follow. If, you know, you looked at that cover and found yourself scratching your head wondering what could possibly happen in this comic.

As I may have mentioned once or twice last week, I've been laid-up with a cold. I wasn't up to leaving the house for comics last Wednesday. I knew there was some big "One of these characters will die!" thing going on in Batman Inc #8, that comics sites like Bleeding Cool were filling their headlines full of spoiler warnings, and that non-comics media outlets like the New York Post were blithely covering it with no such concern for spoiler warnings.

And then, on Thursday, one day after the issue hit, I ran across a headline on Robot 6 that spelled it out. I was pretty pissed-off at the breach of etiquette.

Up until I finally made it into the comic shop yesterday and actually saw the issue in question.

At which point I realized that yes, all this spoiler-warning nonsense really was nonsense. It's not a spoiler if it's on the damn cover.

The issue itself wasn't bad. Had some good moments; I particularly like Damian telling Dick he was his favorite partner.

The ending -- well, there are some fantastic reaction shots of both Batman and Talia, but ultimately the whole thing actually felt a little anticlimactic considering how much it'd been built up.

Plus, it's comics. Odds he'll actually stay dead? There is a comic book called Batman and Robin. To the best of my knowledge, it is not being cancelled. I suppose they could make Tim Robin again, or there could be some other Robin, but...well, I'm pretty sure Damian's going to get better. Lazarus Pits may be involved.

(There's also the point that the cover is based on one from the Batman: RIP arc a few years back. Batman, of course, also did not actually die. And "RIP" turned out to stand for "Rot in Purgatory". Which, I guess to be fair, is an apt way to describe all the benched DC characters.)

Stick It Out

2013-03-03, 8:58 pm
Categories: Music

A favorite from Joe's Garage; it taught me all the German I know.

Geneva, 1980; uploaded by Jimmie B. Extra-NSFW, even by Zappa standards.

Statue

2013-03-02, 11:49 pm
Categories: Movies, Music

Another piece of unused footage intended to be used in Uncle Meat, courtesy of Ed Seeman. Via Ed:

It shows Cal Schenkel creating the Zappa likeness statue to be used for the cover of "WE'RE ONLY IN IT FOR THE MONEY"