More Random Babbling: 2015

[Silver Sorrow]

The New Year's spread:

Stupid havok physics. Flingin' my donuts around.


God help me, I'm back in Mass Effect.

I don't know about everyone else, but playing through a game for the 27th time is a little...ehhhh...boring. Good thing I have my despair to keep me occupied.

EDIT:

I just saw a couple of shots from my family's Xmas portrait sitting...I have no idea who half of those people are. That I'm related to them is something I'm told I should assume is true...but who the hell are they? All of my cousins have maybe 18 or 19 kids each, and now THEY'RE old enough to start getting knocked up. I think we may be at the point where name tags and a programme featuring a detailed family tree foldout are necessary. Family gatherings used to be so simple...

[Starfox]

You should register Scribo for a trademark now. Because there's already some woman that registered scribotherapy... No kidding. I try to imagine what would give a therapy based on Scribonnaise. Could be interesting 

but playing through a game for the 27th time is a little...ehhhh...boring.

Maybe BUT, an excellent investment when you consider that most games are played for 20 hours and forgotten. If you consider the time played/dollar ratio, games like Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim, Fallout and Mass Effect are definitely worth it.

[Silver Sorrow]

I like to think that Scribo could very well break down a few of those wearisome societal barriers. For example, why not exploit the multi-purpose versatility of Scribo by combining a cocktail party with a high colonic? Drop pants, mingle, get your colon cleansed...

Sorry. It's a little late for me. 

The description is lovely, btw:

Educational services, namely conducting speech seminars and writing workshops in the field of journaling as self-therapy

"Hark! Young American, to the clarion call of that most noble of callings, that of the Scribotherapist! Yours is the True Path; go forth, and teach those damaged little bastards how to cure themselves by writing down their dumb little thoughts!"

If you consider the time played/dollar ratio

True; I've certainly gotten my money's worth out of them...although in some cases, it's a toss-up between reasons: did I play them so much because I enjoyed them, or because I was too messed up to play other games? 

I should probably post something random here:

It's kind of strange that all of the greatest guitarists are named "Steve"...Steve Hackett, Steve Howe, Steve Rothery, Steven Wilson, Steve Vai, Steve Stevens, Steve Clapton, Steve Di Meola, and of course, who can forget the enormous impact of John, Paul, Steve, and Ringo?

[bobdog]

... you forgot Steve Van Halen and Stevie Nicks.

[Silver Sorrow]

...and Steve Liebert and Steve Segovia and Steve Perry (not to be confused with the other Steve Perry) and Steve Page and Steve Hendrix and...

...wait; I think Ms. Nicks was played more than she played, if you catch my meaning ("if the tour bus is a-rockin', don't come a-knockin'!").

Finally saw Maleficent. Better than I thought it would be. The Good Mrs. Pitt looked like she had a hell of a good time with the role.

And now I dig into some of my old notes. Excerpts from "Midnight Scribbles, vol. 1":

- Dropping goats from bell tower: Catholicism has ever confounded me.

- Shapeshifter. Turning into a giant spider never helps.

- "Whatever it was, it looks like I ran over a 200-lb bag of tomatoes."

- Reaching out to others: trying to get someone to look at thing on back

- MONITOR SNEEZESHIELD

This is why I stopped keeping a notebook bedside. I originally thought that maybe, just maybe, something brilliant (or better yet, useful) might occur to me during the night. These results here are the *most lucid* of whatever I jotted down. So, yeah...I just ignore the "ideas" anymore.

[Silver Sorrow]

Watching the Superbowl Halftime Tribute To Musical Mediocrity starring Katy Perry and her amazingly irritating voice, I was reminded of Tom Clancy's The Sum Of All Fears. [For the Unitiated: arab terrorists nuke the Superbowl.] Then I transposed that onto what I was watching.

The punchline:

"It's too bad so many had to die...but at least they got Katy Perry."

[Silver Sorrow]

Confession Time:

I can't listen to King Crimson without feeling like it's an exercise in self-torment, as if I'm being punished for all the wrong that I've done.

Aside from "In The Court Of The Crimson King," that is; that one's perfect for highway driving. Oh, and "Matte Kudasai" is nice. But just about everything I've heard by them...it hurts. It really does. "But I *deserve* it, goddammit!" I scream as blood spurts out of my ears, "My sins are many and black as darkest night!"

Perhaps I need sleep.

[Silver Sorrow]

[Starfox]

Yep, I heard the sad news last night. The ranks of the original cast are thinning a bit more. Last time I saw him was a cameo appearance in the latest Star Trek movie... "Into Darkness" was it?

Spock was the character in Star Trek who survived all the others. But obviously life is not a show... at least not the same kind of show.

RIP

[Silver Sorrow]

Life is off-kilter. We NEEDED Nimoy to balance out Shatner's existence. But now...

When I was a kid, I liked sweatpants because you could fold the legs in such a way that they looked like the pants they wore on the original series.

Anyway...

Earlier this evening, I wondered how life would have been different for me if the internet had been around when I was a teenager (I mean in its current state; not as it was then). Out of nowhere, a fully-formed phrase popped into my head: "seven consecutive life sentences." So I stopped wondering.

[Silver Sorrow]

Any given issue is usually too complex for me to even begin caring about figuring out, but this one's a little too close to home: over the last couple of years, we've had more earthquakes in Oklahoma than they've had in California. [source: the fact that all Oklahomans now speak with a bad vibration in their voice.] The US Geological Survey came to the conclusion that it's because of all the fracking by the oil companies. The oil industry said, "whoa, whoa, whoa, WHOA there, pardner! Let's not jump to any conclusions!" Because, you know, money wins out over common sense every time. So we're all gonna die here.

Wikipedia: fracking
Illustrated explanation: Dangers Of Fracking


Oh, and somewhat related (the linking concept is: rich scumbags with no accountability), the White House has declared itself exempt from Freedom Of Information Act [FOIA] regulations.

America...America...

[Starfox]

When it comes to governments, whatever the country, I'm always reminded of Peter Gabriel's

I don't remember, I don't recall
I've got no memory of anything at all

Because that's governments to you.

America...America...

That's a good one 

[Lord Mantrid]

I think tonight is as good of a night to drink vodka as any.

Shit. I'm not as good at this as you guys.

[Silver Sorrow]

It helps if you despise the human race in general. Drink up...shoot in...let the beatings begin!

Um. Sorry. Once in a while Metallica slips out.

Lessee...haven't babbled lately. Okay, three items:

1. Why was I spraying water on a tree at 2:15am? A bird. Apparently, this bird had developed a massive tumor in its teeny-tiny little brain and figured that entire world needed to hear its song, non-stop, from evening well into the wee hours. As I value my sleep more than a bird's neurological problems, I took the garden hose and washed that tree down but good. The little rotter ceased its nerve-abrading chirp, and all was right in the world. I would have gladly set the tree on fire to shut the winged vermin up, but then I would have had a charred stick instead of a tree. I can only hope that the bird was so soaked that it couldn't get off the ground and a cat ate it.

I just wish this method worked on my neighbor's dog. Although I think a high-powered rifle would be a more effective deterrent in this case.

2. I was watching a game show, wherein a woman won a Prius. "Winning a Prius," I opined, "is like your parents giving you a three-legged puppy."

I may have been in a less than charitable mood at the time.

3. Since I'm not winning any awards from PETA anytime soon, I thought this would be the perfect time to take a nauseatingly cute animal meme and twist it into something that will make yo momma vomit. I call it: "Cute Friend, Deadly Friend."

The concept is be to pair a cute animal with something decidedly not cute and wholly dangerous; ideally, *aggressively* so.

So far, I've only come up with a few examples. (I mean, I do have other things to do; I'm not devoting every ounce of whatever's left of my ever-eroding mental faculties to this thing. There are walls that I haven't stared at yet, and I am WAY behind on my slack-jawed drooling.)

So:

- A puppy and an anaconda

- Baby ducks and a South American bird-eating Goliath tarantula (a segment I would call "Duck McNuggets")

- A chihuahua and a swarm of very angry bees

- Baby bunnies being overtaken by army ants

- Kittens and a sheet metal press.

- My neighbor's yappy little dog and a blender

...and so on. And now if you'll excuse me, I need to change my phone number and insist that everyone call me "Raoul."

Self-realization: okay, now I get why no one from school has tried to contact me in the last 20 years...

[Silver Sorrow]

The summer Steam sale hasn't been all that great this year. It used to be fun, but they messed with the format and now it sucks. Still, I did get a couple of games like The Vanishing of Ethan Carter and Rube Works for a good price.

However...most of the things I have in my wishlist are either too new for deep discounts or reflect their complete lack of understanding as to what makes a good discount. 10%? 15%? Like a certain nasally-gifted Nanny once pointed out, it isn't a real sale unless it's at least 50% off.

The GOG sale was even better for me: the Two Worlds games AND the remake of Grim Fandango for under $15? Thank you. I still have yet to get the Witcher 3, but when I do, it'll be through GOG. It's funny, but the large drink cup I got at Carl's Jr. yesterday practically begged me (not out loud...I didn't hear voices, in case anyone was wondering) to go to Gamestop and buy Witcher 3...$5 off! Please please please for love of everything decent and holy PLEASE come to Gamestop and buy this game!

Naaaaah. Suffer.

In related news, Rockstar pulled a complete asswipe move: they anticipated the Steam sale by jacking the price of GTA V from $60 to $80. That way, you're still paying full retail even with a 25% discount. Miserable little bastards. Never again, Rockstar.

I feel that I should probably post something visually inappropriate here.

There.