Most of you are probably familiar with the Discovery Channel program called Mythbusters.  After watching a few episodes on my new DVR, I encountered a quote from Adam Savage which gave me a several-hours-long giggle fit:

"I just swallowed a radio... for science!"

I just noticed that it's past midnight, meaning that December and 2009 are both over.  As 2010 begins, I want to thank all of you for being good friends to me and I hope that when I say "I love you," you know who you are.

Happy new year, everyone!

Last night was the premier of the newest season of MTV's "The Real World" in Washington, DC.  I was curious, so I watched the season pilot.  The usual mix of eight 21 to 23-year-olds: four boys, four girls; two bisexuals, and one atheist ( Read more... )

Thanks to alexx_kay  I have seen the most epic movie review of all time.  First of all, it is about 70 minutes long on YouTube (in seven 10-minute chunks).  Second, it is devastatingly incisive, pointing out all (or most) of the many, many things that were done wrong on Star Wars Episode I, starting with the writing team.  Third, the review is in character ( Read more... )

I'll try to keep this review spoiler-free, but that will be very difficult.

Okay, have you ever wondered what would happen if you crossed the Peter Principle with Alien Nation?  District 9 attempts to answer that.  The aliens have been living in a ghetto of Johannesburg, South Africa for 28 years, and the agency assigned to govern them has decided ( Read more... )

No, not books.
Last night, I was on YouTube catching up on my subscriptions, and I decided to open up Wikipedia pages so I could read more details about the topics which were mentioned in the videos I had watched.  So what articles did I wind up with?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emanuel_Swedenborg
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment

( Read more... )

I saw T4 last night with my wife and another gaming friend at a second run theater in Fairfax.  The first thing to note is that I had a good time.  It was not a perfect movie by any stretch of the imagination.  There were two or three moments which knocked me partway out of my suspension of disbelief, but I was able to crawl back in with only minor ( Read more... )

I happen to find myself a player in two rpgs based in the Ravenloft setting.  One game uses the d20 system of 3rd edition D&D, while the other uses GURPS 4th edition.  Perhaps the greatest challange of running or playing in a Ravenloft game is maintaining the mood.  The players tend to be friends who are in a social mindset (otherwise they wouldn't ( Read more... )

Stopping at an inn for the night in a dark and mysterious land prowled by big cats, one character looked out the window and asked the GM what the weather was like that night.
An answer lept to my mouth (though I was not the GM): "Cloudy, with a chance of scattered panthers."

I usually don't do memes, but this one is very interesting.  List 15 books which were influential in your life (with explanations) the you come up with in 15 minutes.  Then tag 15 friends.
These books are in the order I wrote them down, not in order of importance or anything.

1. The Jungle Book - Rudyard Kipling - This was the first book that I ( Read more... )