This Week

This week I have reviews lined up for some contemporary Japanese fiction. All are murder stories, be they mysteries or about murderers. I enjoy a lot of Japanese fiction, but they can be confusing and, frankly, depressing affairs. Two of the books are by Natsuo Kirino, and one is by Ryu Murakami. I wanted to do one or two of Haruki Murakami's works (no relation) but could not tell where to start, and I have discussed him in the past. So, I hope you enjoy the reviews, and if you are a reader, I do recommend each of these, though I enjoyed them to varying degrees.

Nerd Girl of Note #47

There are the ladies of horror, sci-fi, action, comicbook adaptations, classic television, and then there is NGoN #47: Adrienne Barbeau.

She has done almost everything to fit her snugly into this list; she was in three nerd-cred iconic roles: Alice in Swamp Thing, Selina Kyle/Catwoman in the animated Batman series and animated Gotham Girls, and of course Maggie in Escape from New York.

She's a prolific actress, whose ability to work has not diminished with age to the degree of her compatriots (IMDb shows she is currently in production on two films). Her only real competition is from Pam Grier. Here are some of her highlights:

• Carol Traynor in Maude with Bea Arthur ('72-'78)
  
• Stevie Wayne in The Fog ('80)
• Marcie Thatcher in The Cannonball Run ('81)
• Wilma Northrop in Creepshow ('82)
  
• The Computer voice in The Thing ('82)
  
• Barbara Rossetti on The George Carlin Show ('94)
  

This list could go on and on. She's been a Scooby-Doo voice actor, on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, most incarnations of The Love Boat, The Drew Carey Show, and voiced video games like Marvel Ultimate Alliance, Batman: Arkham Asylum, and the upcomming God of War III. Fantasy is one of the few areas she is lacking in, but you could, if you wanted to, count Amazon Women in the Avacado Jungle of Death, which is a sort-of fantasy/Indiana Jones spoof.

Premature Game Review: Soulcalibur Legends (Wii)

Yes, I know. I am way behind on the whole console gaming thing. You young kids with your PS3s and XBox360s have been enjoying the new games while poor old Whiteplume has been rocking the Playstation 1 for about ten years now... and PS2 was already on the way by then. So forgive me if I discuss a three-ish year old game. Namco/Bandai's Soulcalibur Legends for the Wii.

I always loved Soul Edge, whether doing battle with my friends, or handing off in a "see if you can beat this asshole" fashion. It was great fun, and I specialized with Taki and Li-Long. Hardest opponents were always Inferno (obviously) and the despicably creepy, yet inexplicably enthralling Voldo.

So, now with the Wii, I thought I'd get some of my fun back. I thought. Soulcalibur Legends is like playing Tomb Raider without the puzzles, or a 3-D version of Golden Axe. It is single player, and thus-far completely combat... Now, combat only wouldn't be bad, except that this one purports to be an Action RPG. There is no real RPG element yet, at least no more than you'd find in Castlevania of old. You start off with only Seigfried, and the first additional character you get is, I believe, Ivy.

Worst part is that there is no "versus" combat. The whole point of games like Tekken, Street Fighter, Dead or Alive, and Soul Edge/Blade/Calibur is some fun beat-em-up action against your buddies. Without that, it is pretty pointless.

Oh, and no Seong-Mina or Li-Long. That really sucks.

Scavenger Hunt with a Very Special Prize

UPDATE: #22 has been eliminated. Either I have posed the wrong question, or IMDb and other sources are incorrect. I was under the impression that Tony Robinson, Baldric from The Black Adder was in The Young Ones episode "Bambi" as a Footlights student. IMDb says he is in the episode, but not as the character I am positive he is, and Wikipedia lists another actor altogether. I believe the DVD commentary mentioned Tony Robinson, but decided to eliminate the question. Thank you for your support.

Okey. I have mentioned owning this in the past, and I know there are some people interested in it. For lack of a better way to do this, I invoke a web scavenger hunt. The prize...


This is the old Sears exclusive, tall, blue, disco-booted Snagletooth from the cantina "playset" released in '78/'79. He is in rough shape, as my Star Wars figures were well loved, but free, save for a little effort.

The rules.

• Find images or video of the items below on the internet.
• The same site cannot be used twice (including eBay, Amazon, YouTube, etc.). This of course limits you to one post on your own blog.
  
• Compile links to the items and send them my way.
• In case of a tie, we'll do "paper scissors rock lizard Spock" via email.
• I am willing to ship anywhere worldwide, if I can figure out how.
  

The items.

1. Cover of Marvel Team-Up which takes place on the QE2.
2. Dr. McCoy MEGO action figure.
3. The Doctor Donna.
4. Adventure People figure with blue helmet and shorts.
5. Tiny Apollo and/or Starbuck.
6. Amy Jo in uniform without helmet.
7. Dwight Yoakam in Bandidas.
8. Salt Vampire
9. The Abominable playing the organ.
10. Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing together.
11. Scramble screen-grab.
12. Doctor Strange and Clea.
13. Ed Harris invades Nicaragua.
14. Brigitte Nielsen "Gunslinger" pose.
15. Pam Grier in Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.
16. Jackie's Max in space.
17. Lara Croft shooting dinosaur.
18. Edmund, Duke of Edinburgh, Archbishop of Canterbury.
19. Kala, frightened/surprised.
20. Evil-Lyn and Teela, together.
21. Leia and Artoo.
22. Baldric on The Young Ones.
23. The Baroness punching Lady Jaye or Scarlett.
24. Triumph busts on that Jersey boy.
25. The Snaggletooth that was easy to get.
26. Early '90s MTV purple avenger's nemesis.
27. Green baby-face farting aliens.
28. Chun-Li fighting an X-Men member.
29. Gamma World Bunny.
30. Me at Sloppy Joe's.

Some of these may be hard to find, but will help separate the wheat from the chaff.

Since I have some time away, due date is Monday, 8 February. Email me your links here. May the Force be with you.

The Stars at Night, are Big and Bright...

[clap][clap][clap][clap]

Well folks, I am on my way to San Antonio in about a week. Do I have any nerd/geek friends there, or suggestions on where to go?

I am staying at the Marriot way out in West Nowheresburg... Not even sure yet how to catch the bus downtown. I hate to drive, but we may have to rent a car to get to anything cool.

Any cool game stores, hobby shops, topless bars, restaurants... I'm not into the touristy stuff, but am going to have a lot of time on my hands. Any of you folks there? I'm always up for a coffee or a beer :-D

Justice League Unlimited: Green Arrow

As a kid, I loved Green Arrow. The Super Friends was my only real access to the character, since I was not a big comic reader. My parents were both into archery (Dad, mostly), so I had real bows and arrows around as a kid. Later on, my favorite part of The Dark Knight Returns was the bull-headed, one armed madman Green Arrow. Then came Justice League Unlimited.


Voiced by Soap Opera actor Kin Shriner, JLU brought Green Arrow back to life for me. He is similar to Batman, in that he has no super powers, is a rich playboy, and relies on physical prowess and hi-tech armaments to fight crime. On the plus side, he is not (as far as JLU goes) a hardened vigilante with a dark side. Green Arrow is out for justice, and when he first appears he is battling armed thugs... Gang members, robbers and the like. He is not interested in saving the world, but in protecting people from the crimes and abuses that the heavy-hitters cannot bother themselves with.

He gets all the good lines too. He is a bit like Spider-Man was in the '70s and '80s, wise cracking and tough, but not vicious (typically) in word or deed.

Green Arrow: [to Chloe over radio] Green Arrow to Watch Tower. Boy Scout's out of the woods.
Superman: Boy Scout?
Green Arrow: If you hadn't run off all half-cocked, you could've picked your own codename. You don't wanna play for the team, that's fine. Be smart about it.
Superman: Point taken. Where's Bart?
Green Arrow: Impulse? He didn't get to pick his own codename either.

A Triple Threat of Misery

No, not Stephen King's Misery, or Misery, but three great movies that could be called "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich."

Now, I have no love for Nazis, but they make great film characters. Here is a triple feature I mentioned to Empress Kate, all of which I now possess:

1. Cabaret (Fosse, 1972)
2. The Damned (Visconti, 1969)
3. The Night Porter (Cavini, 1975)

So, what do these films have in common? They are not so much about the Second World War as they are about the people involved. Take a gander.

Cabaret

Bob Fosse's film adaptation of the Broadway musical stars Liza Minnelli and Michael York as American and British expatriates, respectively. They have gone to Germany prior to the Nazis rise to power. This is a time before the Röhm-Putsch, or "Night of Long Knives," and involves the Nazis main competitors, the Sturmabteilung (SA), aka "Brownshirts."

Easily the most melodramatic of the three, Cabaret involves all the fringe groups of the period: performers, homosexuals, Jews, and the Nazis themselves. Sally Bowles (Minnelli) is dying to become a star and find a rich man to bilk. Brian Roberts (York) is an ESL instructor and homosexual. Bowles and Roberts both fall in love with the same man, Baron Maximilian von Heune (Helmut Griem), a rich playboy. Slowly, the country starts following the Nazis' lead as depicted by "The Master of Ceremonies" (Joel Grey) who transforms from wanting to escape the Great Depression to Anti-Semitism. The movie is enjoyable, and quite chilling at times. It goes on a bit long, but has a lot of ground to cover.

The Damned

Luchino Visconti paints a picture of decadence and depravity in Nazi Germany. This covers much of the same period as Cabaret, and includes Helmut Griem as an SS officer named Aschenbach.

The Damned covers a lot of topics. We have the downfall of the Brownshirts, the burning of the Reichstag, and the growth of anti-Bolshevism. The players here are all plotting for control of the lucrative steel works that have fallen into the hands of the depraved, semi-competent, mother controlled heir Martin (Helmut Berger).

The Night Porter

Dirk Bogarde and Charlotte Rampling (both of which play roles in The Damned) star in Liliana Cavini's disturbing film of fugitive SS officers hiding in Vienna after the war. One of them, Maximillian "Max" Aldorfer (Bogarde), comes in contact with a woman to whom he was both torturer and lover.

Max is working as the night porter in a Vienese hotel, when a famous conductor comes to stay. The conductor's wife, Lucia Atherton (Rampling), was Max's special pet when he was a concentration camp officer. They recognize each other immediately and fall into their old relationship when Lucia's husband leaves for the next stop on his tour. Max is associated with other fugitives who are trying to clear their names by eliminating surviving witnesses. Lucia's appearance is trouble for them, and Max's unwillingness to expose her drives the story.

While these films are not a trilogy, they all go nicely together. They vary in tone greatly and tackle one of recent history's great dilemmas in different ways. It would also be hard for me to pick a favorite. They all have their flaws, but are great films in many ways as well. If you held a gun to my head, I would say The Night Porter is best, but if I was to be on a desert island I would go with Cabaret, since it is a musical and has some charming moments. For beauty of cinematography and style The Damned is hard to beat. If you get a chance to see any of these it will be worth your time.

Read Tenebrous Kate's review of The Damned here.

Criterion Blu-Ray Upgrade Program

Update: I was perhaps overly impressed by this. I am keeping it posted, but with a retraction. It's not such a great deal. Criterion is still a great collection.

Okey folks. This rocks.

Criterion features some of the most important films ever made, and have started releasing Blu-Ray. They have an upgrade from DVD program. Their site here, copied for your convenience.

28. I want to replace my Criterion Collection DVDs with new Blu-ray editions. Do you have an upgrade program?

We offer a $20 Blu-ray upgrade program for customers who have already bought the equivalent edition on DVD. Just mail your disc, along with a check or money order for $20 (plus $5 shipping and handling), made payable to the Criterion Collection, to:

The Criterion Collection
Attn: Jon Mulvaney
215 Park Avenue South, Fifth Floor
New York, NY 10003

You can also pay by PayPal by making a payment to store@criterion.com (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover welcome). Please include a printout of your Paypal receipt with your disc.

Be sure to include your U.S. or Canadian mailing address inside the package, as we cannot ship outside North America. Please also include your e-mail address in case we need to contact you. You can send in your disc for exchange anytime, but we won’t be sending out the Blu-ray discs until their release dates.

If you exchange multiple DVD editions at the same time, you only need to pay for shipping once. But your order will not be shipped until all the Blu-ray discs have been released.
We’ll mail the Blu-ray disc in a sleeve, and you’ll be able to place the new disc in your existing packaging. This offer only applies to “like” editions. For example, you can return disc 1 of the rerelease of The Third Man but not the earlier, out-of-print edition.

If you have any questions about the Blu-ray upgrade offer, please e-mail Jon Mulvaney at mulvaney@criterion.com. We reserve the right to change or discontinue this program at any time.

My disclaimer: Check their site, since they can change the program.

I am already won over. No need to try so hard.

As if I did not like Lady Gaga enough, we were watching a behind the scenes clip of the Love Game video shoot. Here is a screen grab:


La Gaga tells us that this sequence was inspired by Liliana Cavini's The Night Porter (1974) starring Charlotte Rampling and Dirk Bogarde


I love that she finds inspiration in such films.The Night Porter is a story of love gone completely wrong; obsession, sadomasochism, depravity, co-dependence... In a word, it is tragic.

Nerd Girl of Note #46

Chloe Moretz is no stranger to acting, having done quite a bit of live action and voice roles, but you may not know her. I think you will come April 10th when we see her as Hit-Girl in the un-super hero movie Kick Ass.

Kick Ass looks like it is going to be a fun film, but perhaps a bit disturbing. Problematic for me is that there is a lot of gun-play, which we tend to think the good guys would not be party to. Now, I am not familiar with the comicbook, but I imagine that since none of them have super powers guns are a necessity... Yes, Batman doesn't use guns, but he also has a lot of ridiculous tech to fall back on.

For me, Hit-Girl is going to be a big part of the film. Chloe's fight scenes are really cool, particularly since she is merely 12 years old. Certainly there is a lot of CGI and digitally removed wires, but that's everything these days. I think it is going to be pretty impressive.

Muscle March for Wii Ware

So, we have a Wii now. I am looking through the download games, and I see something that looks to be a gay porn game, but I was wrong. It is so frickin' weird, but so fun. It is Muscle March from Bandai.


"WTF is it?" you ask. I'll tell you.


Remember in all the Looney Tunes cartoons when a character would smash through a wall, and his/her silhouette would be the resulting hole? That is it. You play a body builder, and your gym's protein powder has been stolen. You and three others chase the thief. He will smash through walls doing one of four poses. You recreate the pose to fit through the hole. Eventually all your friends fall out, and you are left to chase alone (one player mode). After you go at it for a while, you must run to tackle the thief. Tackle him and you finish the stage, fail to and you must chase some more


Yes, it is stupid, but it is fun and will wear you out (granted, I had a few beers in me, and am a fat slob). If you have a Wii, it is worth the 500pt purchase.

See more from Bandai here.

Queries and Followers

Well, it was about time I looked at my webmaster tools, and what do I see? Followers!

There are roughly 200 of us, though the stats are not great... Some people follow through multiple means, but I am going to say 200! Woot! Welcome to all the new followers, and to the old ones, thanks for hangin' in through the dry times. Anyone want to plug there own blog, feel free to do so in the comments.

Just for fun, here are my top search queries.


Good to see my pal Darla Crane is getting some love here.


And if you were looking for Debra Wilson, I totally forgot we had Debra Wilson Week a bit over a year ago.

Oh, Google Street View...

Playing around with Google Street View and tried to relive my trip to Toronto (we walked up and down Yonge St. a lot). Here was a missed opportunity. @tas33 didn't feel like going to a topless place on our trip. Ah, well.


By the way. How do you tip dancers in Canada? Fivers only?

Archaic Game Material: Descent into the Depths of the Earth

One of the first D&D modules I ever bought was D1-2 Descent into the Depths of the Earth & The Shrine of the Koa-Toa. I think I bought it for the image on the back (which I can't find anywhere) of a guy getting his brains sucked by a mind flayer (illithid for you youngsters).

I must admit, we never played it properly, being munchkins at the time. In fact, we always skipped the Descent part and and got right to the Shrine. Being young players with no guidance, we reveled in our munchkinhood, which sadly has left me with no idea of what this module actually contained.

Ah, well...

Bonus geek cred to anyone who can provide the back image. ;-)

Let's just admit something...

I think we all know, I'm not hatin' here, but really... It's the boobs.


I am sure she is a fine actress and all. I don't watch Mad Men, but have seen a bit of it. Really though, let's just admit it's the boobs and take a step away from prudishness.

Pet Peeves? Why, Yes.

I am always amazed at how often I see this mistakenly written. Even on the fucking covers of national magazines. Almost as bad as the There/Their/They're error.

A Blonde Joke

Being blonde, I can make these...

A blonde was driving through the country, past a field of tall grass. The blonde looked out the window and saw another blonde sitting in a canoe, in the middle of the field, rowing furiously.

The blonde pulled the car over and stomped to the edge of the field.

"Hey, you!" The blonde driver yelled, "It's blondes like you that give the rest of us a bad name! You are lucky I can't swim, or I'd come out there and kick your ass!"

The problems with being a tech.

This one is going to be a bit ranty, but I need to get this out. Please don't be overly offended. Remember, I am just a cartoon wizard and not someone whose opinion matters.

There are numerous problems associated with being in IT. And here are a few of them.

1. Users. Sorry to start there, but it fits. Users are your first priority, and main source of issues. They are not, however the worst problem.
2. Users who think they are techs. "Hey, Darius! I am taking some IT classes at my local community college!" - "That's great! Here is some advice. Tech your fucking machine at home. Do not tech machines I am responsible for. Period." These folks are the rectal rash of your job. They think there is so little to know. I am the first to tell you techs are just glorified auto mechanics, but I also don't work on my own car.
3. IT managers. Just make that managers in general.
4. Other techs. As a rule, techs know half of what they should know, and a quarter of what they say they do. The mouthier the tech, the less knowledgeable he tends to be. If a tech runs his mouth constantly, don't listen to him. Also, techs forget that they have areas of skill - this does not mean they know everything about all fields of IT. Beware of any tech who always has the answer.

Okey. Sorry. Glad to get that out.

Breaking the Three-and-Two-Thirds Wall

I try not to cross Blogger and Tumblr too often, but I thought some of you would enjoy this. Wanna see my Tumblr? It is here.

Wacky Film: The Haunted World of El Superbeasto

I won't lie to you. I like Rob Zombie. I have not seen all of his movies, and don't like all of those I have seen, but the man is a real throwback. He is kind of a William Rotsler to Tim Burton's Luis Buñuel, in that Buñuel made Belle du Jour, and Rotsler made The Agony of Love — the same story, one told with surrealism, the other with exploitation.

Zombie's The Haunted World of El Superbeasto is an animated film based on the comic of the same name (also by Zombie). El Superbeasto (voiced by comedian Tom Papa) is a washed-up luchador turned crime-fighter in a world similar to the Neitherworld of the animated Beetlejuice. His sister Suzi X (Sheri Moon Zombie) is the more professional of the duo. Their ultimate battle is against Dr. Satan (Paul Giamatti) who has kidnapped stripper/gold-digger Velvet von Black (Rosario Dawson) in an attempt to become all powerful through an unholy union. Along the way there are zombie Nazis and demon mutant women to thwart.

As a story, it is nothing new. There are a lot of great nods to horror's past. At one point you see an organist who looks like Vincent Price, then his face falls off and is clearly Dr. Phibes. Possibly the best part is Rosario Dawson's foul-mouthed ghetto hoochie Velvet von Black (below, with Dr. Satan). It is like Dawson is channeling Samuel Jackson playing a stripper, and she is hilarious.

There are some great cameos, like Tura Satana briefly voicing Varla from Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, Sid Haig as Captain Spaulding from House of 1000 Corpses and Casandra "Elvira" Peterson makes an appearance.

Is this one 100% terrific? Not really, but it is enjoyable. The most annoying part is Suzi X and her robot sidekick Murray (voiced by the normally great Brian Posehn). It is a dirty cartoon... Well, full of T&A and rough language, so hide the kiddies. It is worth a rental for sure.

Nerd Girl of Note #45

Joanne Linville has the odd distinction of appearing as the first female Romulan on ST:TOS in the episode "The Enterprise Incident" (3x04). Her character was unnamed, apparently only whipering it to Mr. Spock, then declaring how "rare and beautiful" it was, but it was never spoken aloud.

Ms. Linville was also in numerous cop/detective shows, such as CHiPs, Charlie's Angels, Hawaii 5-0, I Spy, as well as episodes of The Twilight Zone, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents, plus numerous Westerns, medical dramas, and soap operas. See her IMDb profile here.

Watch "The Enterprise Incident" at FanCast.

Big Pile O'Boxes from Amazon!

Yesterday saw the arrival of several DVDs and the Wii!

• Rob Zombie's animated The Haunted World of El Superbeasto
• Zucker-Abrams-Zucker classic Kentucky Fried Movie
• Luchino Visconti's The Damned

The most fun was getting the Wii. I don't know why we did not get one sooner. Wii Sports is a lot of fun, and I am looking forward to Mario Cart and maybe some other titles.

Fiction's Finest Nerds #27

Once upon a time there were many great things coming out of MTV's now rotten rectum. Liquid Television, The State, The Maxx; hell, even The Jenny McCarthy Show was pretty good. The coolest thing MTV ever birthed was also the nerdiest.

I still want to be Daria, and in some ways I am. I don't fit the stereotype for my sex, despite being heterosexual. I am uncomfortable with crowds, heights, white people, machismo, advertising, jocks, beauty queens... The list goes on. And while I am no authority on Daria Morgendorffer, I am going to assume her list is similar.

Rumor has it that Daria will be showing up on DVD this year, and I certainly hope so.

Eugénie de Franval (Sade, 1800) and Eugenie de Sade (Jesus Franco, 1970)

This is sort of a Giftmas Rundown post since I got Jesus Franco's 1970 legfest from an unwitting family member (via a giftcard). Eugenie de Sade is a retelling of the Marquis de Sade's novella Eugénie de Franval, part of the original The Crimes of Love collection (currently available as part of Justine, Philosophy in the Bedroom and Other Writings here Amazon/Amazon UK/Chapters). I was interested in the film after reading Empress Kate's review - I am typically wary of Franco, and always wary of stories that claim to be Sade influenced. With my Franco fears placed in check I decided I could care less about the Sadean aspect since the film got such high praise.

Now, I am no film critic, but I will tell you it is beautifully shot. A lot of the greatness is just looking at the imagery. Also, if you have a perfectly sensible leg fixation, this is a must see as Soledad Miranda is either in long shirts, or short skirts slit to the waist through most of the film. Lastly, I really loved the music. Well, most of it. Some of the dubbing and sound editing are flaky. My DVD is from Blue Underground, if that means anything to the real cinephiles out there.


Some spoilers here...

As far as the Sadean element goes, it appears that Franco out-Saded l'Divine Marquis. Sade's story is that of l'Comte de Franval who raises his daughter, Eugénie, to be a libertine. This disturbs his wife and mother-in-law. Franval tries to implicate his wife in scandal by having his friend, Valmont, cuckold him. This friend falls for Eugénie instead and forms an intrigue with the wife. Eventually Valmont is murdered, and Franval and Eugénie plot to kill the wife. Perfectly Sadean, until the end... Madame Franval is killed by her daughter, but Eugénie feels so terrible about it that she dies on the spot. Franval learns of his wife's death and repents his sins, then he kills himself. What?

In Franco's story, Franval is known as Albert Radeck, and he and Eugenie have the same relationship, sans the mother whom Radeck killed after Eugenie's birth. The two plot murders to commit together. Eugenie is sent to seduce and destroy a young man, but falls in love with him. Maddened by her treason, Radeck kills the young man and attempts to kill Eugenie, but dies himself. That is the Sade I know.

Since this story is from The Crimes of Love it is understandably odd from the Sadean standpoint. These stories were moralistic in tone, as opposed to earlier works. There is no description of sex or even of bodies. It is a PG-13 kind of book. It is possible that Sade, who was now out of prison and wanted to stay out, began writing in a more acceptable tone. Unfortunately, Napoleon Bonaparte had a real hard-on for Sade, calling Justine (1791) "the most abominable book ever engendered by the most depraved imagination." Napoleon had Sade imprisoned again in 1801.

So, in an odd turn of events, I would recommend the movie before the book. If you want a moralistic Sade, I would recommend Oxtiern, The Misfortunes of Libertinage, the short story. Oxtiern is a better villain, and the result is less goody-two-shoes.

The Veal World

TAS33's Vegetarian Meatloaf

Here it is!

1 12oz package of ground beef substitute (frozen)
1/2 white onion, diced
1 egg
1 handful of breadcrumbs
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup ketchup
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese

Mix ingredients well
Grease cookie sheet with olive oil
Form mixture into free-standing loaf
Bake at 350 for 45min
Remove and spread 1/2 cup of ketchup on top
Bake 10 more minutes.
Allow to cool ~10min before cutting/serving

Strange Dream

Believe it or not, I am fairly new to dreams. Oh, I've had dreams before, but due to my sleep disorder it was an uncommon event. I had the weirdest, longest dream ever last night, and oddly enough I remember a lot of it, but as Prince says, "forgive me if it goes astray."

First, the wife and I are traveling with both our parents. It is snowing, and we are having to take a twin bed for some reason. Because it takes up so much room we have to take two cars.

We arrive at some event at a hotel. It feels like a wedding reception, but is kind of glossed over. Afterward we are sitting in the lobby and two guys are smoking a huge joint which they eventually offer to me, but when they hand it to me both ends are burning.

Then, either one of you guys, or a Twitter follower perhaps, calls me to say they are in Fayetteville and wants to help me set up some computer game. I explain that I am not in Fayetteville, but explain what I need.

Then I want to go back to my room, so I press the elevator button. When the door opens, the guy inside says "no you don't" and presses the close button. I leap in just in time and sneer. Then I realize I don't know what my room number, so I don't know what floor to push. The guy in the elevator says something snide and slips out.

I chase him and wind up at a cafeteria where my Tweet-friend SaRenna Lee is working as a waitress. I seem to remember chasing her around the cafeteria, then she broke into song. She sounded like Kristin Chenoweth (Wicked/Pushing Daisies/Glee). Apparently there were talent scouts there, because in the middle of the song a car pulls up driven by the guy who called me earlier, and he gets out with a model named "Suzie Boobies" who was crying that she was not going to get the part because Sarenna was wowing the scouts.

That's about it. Weird enough?

SaRenna Lee:

Two Fake "The Doctors" from Siskoid's Blog of Geekery

These are from "The Curse of the Fatal Death" - a Comic Relief parody, as posted by Siskoid here. Two of my favorites:

Rowan Atkinson (The Black Adder, Mr. Bean, etc)

Joanna Lumley (AbFab, The New Avengers, etc)

Both would have made fantastic The Doctors. In my book Atkinson can do no wrong.

Favorite Albums: Newk's Time (1957)

I am no jazz expert. A dabbler, perhaps. An appreciator. Frankly, I don't listen to much jazz at all, but I have always loved Sonny Rollin's album Newk's Time.

My favorite is the Miles Davis attributed "Tune Up" which leads off the album, but all are very enjoyable. The sound is primitive, in that they sound like they are playing in an empty club. Not all the notes are wonderfully clean, which is typically a plus for me with jazz as it implies things are less polished/rehearsed.

A great part, if you listen closely/loudly, or with headphones, is Doug Watkins' bass. He provides this excellent bottom that does not intrude, letting the sax, piano, and drums handle the solo work for the most part, except on "Blues for Philly Joe" where he opens up a bit around 4:10 with some heavy walking runs.

If you are a sax or jazz fan, this is a great album by one of the masters.

Track listing:

1. "Tune Up" (Davis) (5:43)
2. "Asiatic Raes" (5:55)
   
3. "Wonderful! Wonderful!" (Edwards, Raleigh) (5:57)
   
4. "The Surrey with the Fringe on Top" (Rodgers-Hammerstein) (6:30)
   
5. "Blues for Philly Joe" (6:42)
   
6. "Namely You" (3:18)

On Blip.fm:
Sonny Rollins - Tune Up
Sonny Rollins - Blues for Philly Joe

And the People's Choice Award Goes to...

Obviously, Talons of Weng-Chiang is the choice Tom Baker as Doctor Who story.


Here is what Amazon has to say:

"The Talons of Weng-Chiang" is one of the very best Doctor Who stories, a six-part adventure set in a gothic Victorian London inspired by The Phantom of the Opera and Sax Rohmer's tales of Fu Manchu, with nods toward Jack the Ripper, Dracula, and Sherlock Holmes. The final story from the Golden Age of the show, Philip Hinchcliff's three-year tenure as producer, the tale boasts superior production values and a bizarre storyline involving a time-traveling war criminal, giant rats in the London sewers, and a malevolent ventriloquist's doll with the brain of a pig.

Pitted against this flamboyant madness, largely centered on an East End music-hall run by the self-important Henry Gordon Jago (a memorable performance by Christopher Benjamin) are Tom Baker's fourth Doctor, in pre-self-parody top form, and Louise Jameson's Leela at her primal best. There's strong support from Trevor Baxter as the Watson-like Professor Lightfoot, and John Bennett as the villainous Li H'sen Chang. Really helping matters is the first-rate direction from David "Genesis of the Daleks" Maloney, evoking a creepy atmosphere in a fantasy London of shadows and fog. "Weng-Chiang" was the pinnacle of gothic Who and still remains highly enjoyable entertainment. —Gary S. Dalkin

While this one lacks my second favorite companion, intrepid journalist Sarah Jane Smith, it appears to have all the elements I love. While I am not a huge Who fan, it is one of the great things about the series that it is so amorphous, and can go from aliens to Victorian London with no problems.

Thanks to everyone who made suggestions, I'm sure I'll be checking a lot of these out.

Let's do the time warp too soon!

Sure, we all love talking about how much we are going to miss David Tennant and how we are thrilled/scared/worried about Matt Smith, but I am going to jump ahead to #12. That's right, time to debate Matt Smith's replacement before the scar tissue has formed on his Doctor Who hymen.

Now, there has been talk prior to Smith getting the role of it being time for a female Doctor, or a "Doctor of Color" and I couldn't agree more. Now, apart from the diversity aspect of an Asian or African Doctor, there would be little change to the character. It would be highly inappropriate to make a big deal out of his race every episode. A female Doctor, on the other hand, would be a man trapped in a woman's body. Even though there are personality changes after the regeneration, it is the same character. There are two things they could do here:

1. Make a big deal out of it... Have The Doctor fall in love with a new companion, but have the new gender be the obstacle.
2. Have The Doctor encounter the problems inherent in having a really brand new body, hormones and such. I realize this sounds sexist, and is to a degree, but we do have sexual dimorphism. Not sure about Time Lords, but since we have seen a female Time Lord who is remarkably human like, I would imagine they do as well.
   
3. Ignore it completely.

I think the third option would be the most fun. Have the female lead play the doctor just as if she were a man. Yes, it would be the elephant in the living room, but I think it would add something special to the character.

Now, what woman... One choice is gone already; Catherine Tate. Now, Joanna Lumley or Jennifer Saunders would be great. Also I like Lucy Montgomery (right) from the BBC show Tittybangbang as well as appearances on The IT Crowd and The Mighty Boosh. I think it would be necessary for the actress to be a comedienne, as the spirit of ignoring gender is absurdist from a style point of view.

Anna Biller's Blog

So, all of you remember my review of Viva, right? Well, I have since discovered that Ms. Biller has a blog powered by our very own Blogger: Anna's Blog at Life of a Star. There is an interesting article she wrote concerning the line between art and pornography. She also does posts that our retrocentric readers will enjoy.

Kreativ Blogger Award

Wings at Caffeinated Joe recently gave me this award. It is very touching, and not in the way you have to show on a doll.

The Rules Which MUST Be Followed:
1. Thank the person who nominated you for this award.
2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
3. Link to the person who nominated you for this award.
4. Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting.
5. Nominate 7 Kreativ Bloggers.
6. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.
7. Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know they have been nominated.

I am a lousy rules follower, and I hate singling out blogs. I get very excited about a few and then as I try coming up with others the lack of interest on my part starts to show. That being said, I will take my time here and do a few shout-outs.

Of course the great part is, I get to talk about me!

1. I love cacti. If it is a cactus, chances are I'll love it.
   
2. I don't particularly agree with social norms and mores.
   
3. If I had been born a girl I think I would have slept with the chess team guys in high school, or similar nerds. That is knowing what I know now. I think it would give them a leg up (and over, for that matter) as well as helped me establish my sexual self in a healthy manner. This all might just stem from being unappealing to even nerd girls in high school.
   
4. I cannot watch The Exorcist. Just can't.
   
5. My great desire in life is to go to a church that does communion, and guzzle all the wine on my go. Its the little things that can really drive people crazy.
   
6. I still have not told the story about almost dying on my wedding day.
   
7. I love the colors purple and green together.

Now, as far as awards go, this is where the rule breaking begins. I am going to do two, and if they see it here they'll know about it, and if they don't wish to participate I fully understand.

I enjoy the written word, particularly when it is combined with wit, insight, and a dash of subversion. I am not a skilled fiction writer, so I appreciate those who write positions, reviews, commentary. Also I enjoy blogs that (unlike mine) are dedicated, as though it were a publication. Therefore, the blogs I am suggesting you look at, if you do not already, are Love Train for the Tenebrous Empire and House of Self-Indulgence.

I give both these blogs mention here fairly often, and they are some of my earliest follows. Both are wonderful movie blogs which always point out something new to me; whether it is a historical note or an description of some nuance. Both Empress Kate and Yum-Yum should start Amazon accounts to get paid on the DVDs I buy after reading their reviews. Both seem unwilling to shill for the man, which only adds to my respect.

In closing, the universal "they" say that you hate in others that which you see in yourself, so the inverse might explain my love for both blogs. Adventures in Nerdliness is a blunderbuss of items related to what I am interested in today, while my nominees' blogs are focused and consistently well done. If I had to pay to read blogs, these are the blogs to which I would subscribe, and I am a cheap bastard.

Another ask, for the film fanatics this time.

What movie is this from?


via The Uranium Cafe

Hassle Free "Gang & Dog"

Okey, I am looking forward to getting these.


Hassle Free Miniatures UK has this nice set of the Scooby Doo Gang for £16GBP (roughly $25USD/€18EUR). No idea what the shipping would be, but is likely worth it.

Okey, an ask.

Since we are now transitioning Doctors, and it will be a while before the 11th Doctor graces BBC America, I thought I'd hit my Doctor Who fans with a question.

Like many Americans my age who were even aware of Doctor Who, there was only one Doctor; Tom Baker. Now that there is more on DVD of the Baker years I am interested in getting some DVDs, but the cost per episode is a bit prohibitive.

So, I put it to you, dear readers. If you had to buy one Tom Baker Doctor Who DVD, what would it be? I should note that I have a multi-region DVD player that will display PAL format.

Premature Book Review: The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma

The third installment in The Mysterious Benedict Society series takes its name from a game known as "The Prisoner's Dilemma" in which two people play the role of suspects in a crime and must decide whether to betray each other or not. The punishment varies depending on the outcome, and of course there is no conference between the two suspects. There is a great deal of info on the web about the game.

If you remember my review of the second book in the series, this review will sound similar, with a few exceptions. This book gets a bit more dark a bit more quickly. The espionage element is more forward, and some new twists offer a variety of potential outcomes that readers might only guess at.

Mr. Curtain has returned as the primary nemesis, but there are other returning villains and expansion of other characters. It is enjoyable because while Mr. Curtain is an arch-fiend, he is not alone. There are other bad people in the world, some possibly worse than he.

Thus far, I am enjoying this one with the knowledge that the previous book improved vastly about half-way through. I am hoping Stewart will pay-off again. The book also calls back the original book, making me want to reread it.

You're allowed to laugh, btw...

The girl in the new logo, in case you were wondering, is a mannequin. I mention this because I originally posted it on Tumblr and got no reaction. I was afraid people thought it was a real person with really, really, jacked-up eyes. Fear not, young padwans. It is but the illusion of life.

Nerd Girl of Note #44

While her sister gets lots of play for being über-cute, I have recently learned to love Emily Deschanel after learning to love Bones.

I never watched Bones until it started appearing in syndication. Deschanel's dry wit is very cutting and she has a miraculous deadpan delivery which is always snort inducing. Here is a favorite exchange (paraphrased) between Bones and and Booth (David Boreanaz, of Angel fame) when investigating a rash of pregnancies at a high school:

Booth: "Don't they teach Sex-Ed at this school?"

Bones: "If they do then there are serious gaps in the curriculum."

It's not that funny on "paper" but is great with her delivery.

So, if you haven't watched Bones, give it a try. I like it, and remember, I hate cop shows.