Thursday, July 27, 2006

Smiting the smitten

So, work continues to roll over much of my time, though sadly I'm no longer working on a cool project, I've been reduced to counting articles for the next inventory. Slightly demeaning, but I suppose that if I don't do it, some real editor will have to, so at least I'm being productive. When I can focus on it, that is...heh. At least work hasn't raised my ire this summer like it did last year...a little bit after this time last summer, my friends who were working there with me had already gone back to school and I was left basically alone to do the same mind-numbing task I'd been doing all summer.

This summer is already vastly ahead of that on a number of levels - most of my projects have been interesting, and fighting Communism is good exercise.

Saw A Scanner Darkly a few days ago, and the trailers don't do it justice. The trailers are about as confusing as the movie itself is, however, but in the end it DOES make sense; you just have to think about it a little *gasp!* Yes folks, this is what science fiction should be - it asks questions about the human condition and about social issues through the filter of fictional science, rather than relying simply on ZOMGLAZERSPEWPEWPEW!!!!!!111eleven! This is what I feel makes Battlestar so good; yes, there are spaceships and explosions and drama, but you can have profound philosophical, psychological, and moral discussions out of it. A Scanner Darkly deals, very subsersively, with the drug culture and, when you look closely at what Philip K. Dick is saying, the pharmaceuticals industry. If you get a chance to see it, do so, it's quite thought provoking, actually pretty damn funny, and is beautifully stylized. I shudder to think how long it took to take a live-action film and basically replace everything with cell-shaded quasi-CGI.

Saturday, July 01, 2006

Jewish tanks roll into Gaza Strip...and Chicago?

So, I'm walking through Wrigleyville, stopping at various used bookstores (the mustiness was palpable, it was great) and a couple of hardcore stores (it's strange when you walk into a storefront guarded by life-size models of Aliens and Predators wearing spiked metal collars and stuff) which somehow also contain hippie shoppes. Doy de doy, walking down the street and what do I see? A very Orthodox Jew driving down the street in a huge RV labeled as a "Mitzvah Tank". Its other text offered help with all sorts of Jewish services...and who wouldn't want a tank at their Bris? I mean really. Sadly, I lacked a camera and could not get a picture, but the Inter-Net came to the rescue, and so here is a close approximation of what I saw. Except that it was driving down the street towards Wrigley Field past shops with fat, male mannequins in dresses in the windows, so it was rather more humerous at the time.

Apparently the Mitzvah tanks are not particularly rare in big cities, which raises the question - why did the Hebrew Hammer not drive one? And if you're asking who the Hebrew Hammer is, watch the movie. It's awesome, even if it was a Comedy Central original movie.

I think that my battle with the communists is over (for now...) as we've finished most of the revisions we decided to allow and sent off a final draft of the "problem" articles to see what's what. But wherever truth is being twisted, where innocent texts are under assault by the bestial paws of Censorship, I will be there, For Great Justice!

The latest "episode" of my werewolf story is below, back after a ridiculously long hiatus. I had no idea I'd gone quite that long without posting a new chunk of it; as much as I love it, I'm a hideous slacker when it comes to writing. So, if you're bored and want to refresh your memories, Garou, Prelude and Garou, Part I are there for your mnemonic pleasure.

And as if I haven't already gone over my quota for hyperlinks, here's a little tidbit of Zombiology.