Bi-Mon-Sci-Fi-Con

broderic on May 30, 2004

Visited Balticon for a part of the day. I am not that geeky. As evidence I present to you that I only know of the ABCs of science fiction, Isaac Asimov, David Brin and Arthur C. Clarke. Any other writers of science fiction I have no clue about. This was my first experience at a con where I actually paid the entrance fee and attended (or pretended to attend) some of the lectures. Okay, just one, the LOTR parodies which were funny. So I paid for almost nothing.

I was expecting more from Balticon. I expected bigger. I expected people dressed up as their favorite character from TekWar or the DragonRider series. Instead it seemed smaller and not enough people dressed up. Perhaps if I got into the spirit of it I would’ve had more fun. As it was, it was too geeky for me by the half.

Note to self embrace your inner geek. I am just gonna have to wait for my favorite con.

Memorial Day is “The Day After Tomorrow”

broderic on May 29, 2004

Last night, we saw The Day After Tomorrow. Just because it is saddled with a ridiculous title doesn’t mean that it is a terrible movie. Like all summer movies, it has a few nits to pick, but overall a rather enjoyable movie. Hmm? Enjoyable? That’s weird because I usually give movies the ambivalent “s’okay” meaning, “Watch it if you must, but I told you so if it sucks.”

I would say the same about The Day After Tomorrow, but it was stupid fun and deserves your money. Cold weather is the new bad guy. Our damsel in distress outruns that wintery blast. Super cooled are freezing things instantly. And everything is CG. What is there not to like about the flick? Watch it if you must, but I told you so that you’re gonna have a fun time.

4 of 5 stars.

Now iMusic 18!

broderic on May 27, 2004

Slate does a funny article about celebrity playlists. I don’t think they’re that bad, but I really haven’t checked them out. What I thought they would be good for was to expose you to new music. Who should know more about some obscure band that plays kick ass tunes than musicians themselves? Unfortunately, as Slate points out, that is not always the case, and many of the playlists suck. Can’t some of the rap producers or hip-hop stars clue us in on some cool cut from which they boosted a loop from? Can’t some alternative, neo-garage band point us to a band who is even more garagey than they are?

The article ends by focusing on the Theivery Corporation playlist. It says their’s doesn’t suck. What do you expect from one of the more interesting groups today. They should have an eclectic mix because their music seem to be a blend of many genres. As you can tell, I like them.

Van Helsing… You murderer!

broderic on May 25, 2004

So, last Thursday I saw Van Helsing (You murderer!). Not a very good movie, because it had the barest of plots. Most of the story was in support of the action, and the action was all cliched as if the director (also the writer!) needed to cram all action movie scenes into the movie. Aliens – we got vampire eggs! Fast and the Furious – nothing faster than Transylvania horses! Dracula! Wolfman! I was waiting for them to throw in the creature from the black lagoon.

The overall tone of Van Helsing was to be campy. Too bad no one told Hugh Jackman and Kate Beckinsale.

2 of 5 stars.

NextPost.

broderic on May 20, 2004

As you can see, I’m trying to make things a little sane here. I have begun a “blogroll” over to the right. These are my usual reads, the couple of blogs I read at the start of my day over coffee. I guess in this day an age blogs have replaced the morning paper. I plan on adding more, and if I do, I am thinking about categorizing them. I don’t just read political blogs. I don’t want to give the impression that that is all I read. I read other types, but the political blogs are the ones that I can remember their URLs. Perhaps a syndication reader would help.

Anyway, I’m trying.

Okay, here we go.

broderic on May 19, 2004

Continuing to write entries is a trying thing. I keep struggling trying to figure out what I want to write about. Should it be political? I read a lot of political blogs, but I never commented on anything I read. I felt that I was not ready to have my opinions critiqued. Should it be personal? I don’t even sign these posts with my real name. How can I open up and give a glimpse of myself to strangers?

It seems that these early posts will be about my problems in finding something to write about. Does anyone have suggestion?

Congratulations, Ness & Rod!

broderic on May 16, 2004

Yesterday was my cousin, Vanessa’s, wedding. I wanna to say congratulations to both Vanessa and her new husband, Rod and wish them a long happy life together. WooHoo!