In a mirror, dimly

Top 10 cities - comparing the happiest with the most depressed (via an article on MSN.com):

What sucks here, is that I live in the 4^th most depressed city!

The Interview Meme: how to play

1. Leave me a comment saying “interview me.” The first five commenters will be the participants.
2. I will respond by asking you five questions.
3. You will update your blog/site with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions. (Write your own questions or borrow some.)

My questions came from Quantum Tea:

Q: If you got a tattoo, what would it be?

Class of 2005

They say you should get tats which have meaning, that you should have a good reason for them. I’ve survived nearly the whole course of VLI - what more reason do I need? Other alternatives: some kind of Celtic cross / knot with multiple colours, something similar to the colours in the Book of Kells. I also like the symbolism in Celtic Christianity of the wild goose to represent the Holy Spirit (instead of the dove) - a scary, out of human control, force of nature, worthy of respect, that goes where it wills.

Q: Which cat is your favourite, Quantum or Tangle, and why?

Quantum mechanics says that until you obverse the system it’s in all possible states and the act of observation collapses the probability waveform down to a single observed reality, doesnt it? OK. So, the answer to the question is dont look … that way I can have both as my favourite all at the same time. I mean, how could Tangle ever chirp and walk into the room with tail stump in the air and knitted mouse toy in his mouth the way that Quantum does? Or Quantum be as cuddly and cute and adorably orange as Tangle?

Q: Why do you use Blogger, as opposed to another web-based blog service?

Do you want the red pill or the blue pill answer to that?

The blue pill [simple answer] is because I’ve not written my own yet. The red pill [complicated answer] is bound up in wanting to make sure that Chronicle Lite keeps working for other users of Blogger as that was the original intended audience of the tool. What better way to make sure it works than to put myself into the category. That, and Blogger is good enough, covers whats absolutely required. If I want more features I’ll scratch the itch myself and write my own blog server.

Q: Describe your ideal weekend

No demands and no obligations. Sufficiently outside of obligation that the guilt at sitting around and doing whatever doesnt strike. I’m not sure that the ideal weekend has specific things to do attached. Its more about feeling free, and not feeling guilty about neglecting something or other. In other words sometime after graduation when there are no more assignments, projects or reading I might get close to an ideal weekend. That said, I think warm (90F / 32C) temperatures and bright sunlight would be ideal.

Q: What do you think your life will be like in five years time?

What do I think my life will be like in 5 years? Hmmm. Hopefully better than it is today. After all … who ever hopes that life gets worse?

I dont know what it is about videogames, but they always seem to inspire grandiose pronouncements on the part of the players. If words could be literally eaten, these pronouncements would then be the staple diet of most gamers as they’re proved utterly wrong. Take, for instance, Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords and more specifically me playing the game last night.

This is the worst arrangement ever, these 2 are toast before they ever begin. They’ll never rescue my main guy…

The “rescue” of the main player dude in the game, from G0-T0’s yacht, involes you picking 2 of the other (secondary) cast to fight and solve the puzzles all through the game level. I picked the two most useless characters - Bao-Dur and T3-M4 only to find that they were a powerhouse together - send in Bao-Dur first to use his ability to knock out shielding and then the renewable shield that T3 carries means he’s pretty much safe from the droid shooting back … who cares that Bao-Dur gets flattened and has to wait out the rest of the fight while T3 gets it done? Better still, they’re immune from the poison gas mines (assuming that Bao-Dur wears the breath mask) that are meant to trip you up. So, yes, I eat my words having seen these 2 in action. So if you’re looking for a hint on finishing the G0-T0’s yacht level on KOTOR2, go with these guys - they kick way more droid ass (uhhhh, floating spherical rotunda) than (say) The Handmaiden and either Visas or Kreia.

How could I not blog this - my confirmation email from buying a certain set of movie tickets:

Your Movie: ...  Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith PG-13
Showtime: .....  12:01am, the evening of Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Theater: ......  AMC Esquire 7
                 6706 Clayton Rd.
                 Saint Louis, MO 63117

and further down the confirmation email:

Ticket Pickup Instructions: Tickets may be retrieved at the Automated Box Office (ABO), the theatre box-office or Guest Services at the location where your movie is playing. You will need to bring the credit card you used to purchase the tickets in order to retrieve them. The MovieTickets.com confirmation number will not retrieve your tickets. While purchasing tickets online ensures you a ticket, seating is first come, first served. For this reason, we recommend you arrive at least 30-45 minutes before showtime.

30 to 45 minutes before? I think that I’ll be arriving something like 4 to 5 hours before!

The story behind the song can be found if you look in the songwriting section of passionforyourname.com

Reading through the prophetic writings of Isaiah 53 I was struck by the description of Jesus. “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him” (Is 53:2). The Son of God humbled himself and walked upon the earth in human flesh. If we were to have passed him in the street, we wouldn’t have given a second glance. However once our eyes have been opened to who Jesus is, and all that he has done for us, we see him very differently. One glimpse of Jesus in all his glory and spleandour is enough for us to see how incredibly beautiful he is. In fact once this revelation has hit us forevermore our souls will sing of this beauty. These thoughts were the seeds to this song. Whilst I was on a trip in Australia I was singing out ideas when I stumbled across the chorus. It actually started as a tender song. The first section that came was the bridge at the end û “You opened my eyes to your wonders anew.” The chorus followed pretty quickly.

It was very much a slow song at this stage. I then had real trouble trying to find a verse. Nothing seemed to fit. When I’m struggling to finish a song I’ll often listen back to old ideas. Find some inspiration. As I was doing this I came across a verse melody which I really liked. It was more upbeat but the thought crossed my mind of using it for ‘Beautiful One.’ It did fit, but it turned the song into a fast, praise song. However I really liked it. There’s something cool about shouting out and declaring;

     Beautiful One I love You
     Beautiful One I adore
     Beautiful One my soul must sing.

The only thing left to finish was the lyrics. All songs need hooks, both melodically and lyrically. I tried to get this with the ‘Wonderful so Wonderful,’ and the ‘Powerful so Powerful.’ A simple little hook to start each of the verses with. I was attempting with the lyrics to paint a picture of who God is. Speaking of His glory, His mighty works, the cross that saves us, the mystery of knowing Him. All this gives a deeper understanding of why we should sing, ‘Beautiful One.’

We sang this song at the Vineyard Community Church in Columbia Missouri and I’ve not been able to get it out of my head since then. I really like hearing the songwriter talking about his inspiration - passionforyourname.com looks like a fascinating website.

I know that it’s early to be thinking of it, but 2006 is shaping up with some scary looking movies.

I present to the court exhibit-A, or should I say, exhibit “A-Team” over at IMDB. Other than an announcement there’s nothing else out there, so I cant show probable cause, but I ask the jury to take the facts into account.

As further evidence I would like to submit to the court the following list of sequels that should never have been considered, yet will be scaring audiences next year:

• Bean 2
• Die Hard 4.0
• Hellboy 2
• The Italian Job II
• Jurassic Park IV
• Mission: Impossible III
• The Net 2.0

In addition, members of the jury should be aware that any movie based on a videogame, or worse still a movie as the sequel to a videogame (i.e. “Resident Evil: Apocalypse”) is a virtual certainty to be bad, hence my distaste for:

• Deus Ex
• Metroid

Of course the court must also recognize the flawed premise of certain movies. Any work of fiction that attempts to pass itself off as fact is doomed. When such movies are as divorced from actual historical accuracy as The Da Vinci Code then I dont care if big names like Tom Hanks are in it - it’s not worth the cash to go see it.

• Mrs. Doubtfire 2
• The Punisher 2
• Resident Evil: Afterlife

On the “questionable” list

• Terminator 4

And, just to balance things out, how could I forget

• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

The only way that Pirates of the Caribbean II could fail is if they decided for some r

A group of () 14 of us went out on Wednesday night for Tapas at Modesto (for those that are interested: its at 5257 Shaw St. Louis, MO 63110. Map courtesy of Google Maps.) Having eaten there I can understand why it won “Best Place for a Group Dinner” consistently over the last couple of years. Sauce magazine reviewed the restaurant saying

It’s difficult to find a plate of tapas the Guru doesn’t like, but Dinsmoor’s dishes show a particularly lovely presentation, deep flavors and a nifty imagination for mixing and matching to complement and highlight the tastes, whether familiar or not.

describing Modesto as “an establishment whose very attitude brings forth the desire to return, and soon.”

Over the evening I think we ate virtually all of the hot tapas:

• Gambas al Modesto–sauteed shrimp with lemon zest, red pepper, garlic and olive oil
• Pollo Asado con Pasas–pan-roasted chicken breast with red wine and raisin sauce
• Empanada de Vieiras–scallops baked in pastry with pepper, lemon and cream
• Salchichas de la Casa–grilled, house-made sausages with sweet and sour figs
• Mejillones en Salsa de Sidra–mussels steamed in hard cider with chorizo and peppers
• Bistec a la Cabrales–hanger steak with Cabrales cheese and port wine sauce
• Albondigas Caseras–veal and pork meatballs with almond, garlic and sherry sauce
• Calamares Fritos–fried calamari and cherry peppers with salbitxada
• Champinones con Mojo–sauteed shiitake, oyster and crimini mushrooms with almond mojo
• Pinchos de Cordero–Moroccan-style grilled lamb kebabs with mint-yogurt sauce and tomato-onion salsa

File this under “Oohhh, cool…” - the new War of the Worlds movie website has been updated with more than just the (paltry) teaser trailer. Lots to see … biggest problem is that the entire site is Flash. Oh well. Triumph of style over function!

Our front garden (and I use the term in the losest possible sense) has a 45 degree slope down from the porch down to the sidewalk, with steps leading up to the front door. Right slap bang in the middle of the left side of the garden was a large forsythia bush. Allegedly they can grow as large as 10 feet tall and 15 feet wide, ours was a “mere” 6 feet in all dimensions. It was an absolute bear to try to trim and prune - the rear was just about reachable but unless you play basketball in one of the professional leagues, there was no way you’d be able to prune the front of it at the top. Consquently the bush had a reasonable round shape, trimmed at the top at the back and an unsightly sprout of branches at the front. Ugly.

Somewhere online it said

Pruning Forsythia:

Flowers form on prior year’s growth, not new growth. So, it’s important to prune them immediately after the flowers have bloomed. You can cut back old growth to about four inches from the ground.

Don’t hesitate to be aggressive in pruning these fast growing plants. They will grow back at a fast rate.

Hmmm, ours was blooming to about 3′ on all sides, on the outside of the tangled mess. Looked like old wood to me, so we went at it with wild abandon, pruning it to a random assortment of anything between 2 and 8 inches in length. You’ll note that I’ve used the past tense when speaking of the bush - one 6 foot forsythia has now been reduced to 4 (packed) yard waste sacks and about a dozen woody stumps. Strangely enoug the yard looks so much better without it. It’ll probably take a year or so to grow back but I believe that careful pruning of the new growth should leave us with something that looks better than ever.