The Lurker in the Monkeyhouse

Ok I'm finally moving to my own journal, invisible_al, after much fun and games squatting in this particular fiction-suit. But time to move on, see people on the flipside :).

Beans on toast best brain food for breakfast, possibly easier to get hold of than US Army brand neurotransmitters that can help people stay up for 90 hours straight.

Penn Jillett names daughter Moxie CrimeFighter Jillette. "We chose her middle name because when she's pulled over for speeding she can say, `But officer, we're on the same side,'" Jillette explained. "'My middle name is CrimeFighter.'" Damm that's cool.

Texone.org:Tree, type in your website url and watch a forest bloom.

Anyone fancy going to The Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra concert on the 25th of June? I just spotted some posters for it on my way in to work.

I only know them from the soundtrack they did for Incrible Crisis on the PS2 which I remember playing with lord_blipvert back during his exile in the deep south. At the time we both thought, "this game is really quite odd, but what a cool soundtrack". Hmmmm I'm going to a gig because I heard them on a game soundtrack, does this make me teh g33k50r?

spamusement.com. A bit of friday fun.

[edit] This one's for pax_draconis (possibly this one for a lot of people on my friends list)

Over half way now into BSG series 1, I think it's the seveth episode, where Baltar finds God, that it really kicks it up a notch. I love the fact that in his head he's still the smart suited man about town and in reality he's this wild looking unwashed guy who talks to himself. Oh and can I just give it up for Edward James Olmos, he was pretty cool on the West Wing but damm he just smoulders doesn't he?

And you know for all they push number 6 as OMG sexy lady, I look forward to the day when Boomer kicks the shit out of her, she really is too smug to live. I've been slightly spoiled to the significance of what the Presidents seeing, but that just intrigues me more. Wonder what I'm up to on the bank holiday :).

Haven't seen Star Wars yet, might download it because Lucas isn't getting any of my money just so I can sit in cinema and be pissed off. Are there any good films out there on the horizon? This could be cool, an Australia Zombie Flick and I'm still waiting for Serenity, damm it.

I've finally got round to answering people in that last meme post here, but here's a round up of some questions I was asked.

What shampoo do you use?
Panten - ProV, The Purple colured one. It's a pity they never teach boys about hair, for a while there I wasn't using conditioner and then I was putting it on first for reasons that will not probably become clear again.

How anyone can be so Jewish and yet not be Jewish?
I must be channelling some kind of collective unconcious, I expect Mossad will eventually track me down and demand it's return.

How many times per day, on average, do you want to kill one of your fellow men? (I will likely be asking this to all the Pagga admins...)
Oh at least 1, but it's usually work mates, only one person still retains the ability to drive me into a killing frenzy over the internet, after 8 years of internet argument I know when to go and have a cup of herbal tea before unleashing hot death over the net. Although its good that the person who signs their posts 'fluff' on Pagga has stopped doing that or they would be number two on my list.

Why you bother with all the hard work and energy for Pagga. I'd have been weilding an axe among the hard of thinking years ago.
It's all about giving something back, I have not as yet run a game and I don't crew as much as I should, this is what I do for all those marvelous people who have brought me joy through their games. It's also a good thing to bring people together, I like to see people talking to each other. Also it's one of the few things in the world that is mine, I helped build it and it's still there despite the Lizzi's and other Heffalumps.

Someone has just saved me the trouble of starting 'Is Pagga a bit crap' thread by posting, Is Pagga dumbing down, it's allowed me to get some stuff off my chest that I've been ruminating on for a few days.

Now this is the by now traditional 'The sky is falling/Is Pagga Dying?/It was much better in the olden days' thread, recognisable from many boards not just Pagga. But the point is serious, if you'd like to make a point about what's wrong with Pagga and what could be done to improve it I'd be greatful if you'd wander by.

My birthday on the 28th May has kind of snuck up on me this year (this is not a hint btw) and I'm at a bit of a loss what to ask for. Comics would be easy but I'm feeling the need to feed and expand my head, so I'm throwing it open to the floor anyone care to recommend me some good head expanding fiction and non fiction?

I've already asked for The Future of Ideas and If on a Winter's Night a Traveller I remember being recommended by a few people.

Anyone reading anything to do with art and design, politics, current affairs or none of the above? Might as well ride this book hunger while I've got it after all :).

Well that was an interesting post on Pagga to write, no idea if I've done it justice or not but it's 4am so time to publish and be dammed. Classic case of being too close to something to see what the real issue is and being caught up in 'group thinking' on a subject, until someone turns your head to show you what's happening just outside your field of vision.

As for the rest of the meme stuff I'll answer them tommorrow, with a round-up of questions asked following Ashekats lead.

....and again with the meme thing.

1. Reply and I'll write something about you.
2. I will then tell you what song/movie reminds me of you.
3. I will say something that only makes sense to you and me.
4. I will tell you my first memory of you.
5. I will tell you what animal you remind me of.
6. I'll then tell you something that I've always wondered about you.
7. Then post this in your own journal...

Following plumsbitch's request in her last post.

***********************************

Comment here and I'll tell you something I adore* about you, on the condition** that you then take this and post it in your own LJ to spread the love.

*Adoration is a pretty strong concept. Still, there are many ppl here it applies to.

**This will not be enforced with much strictness or, indeed, at all.

***************************************

The Original 007, wonderful little essay about Sir Francis Bacon and John Dee, Kenneth Hite would approve.

No election comment in this post, just a very unfortunate choice of logo :).

BBC NEWS: Cambodian Troops Quarantine Quan'sul after a mystery mosquito bourne virus causes havok.

Pretty sure everyone has seen the Serenity Trailer by now, I will confine myself to saying WOO HOO and leave it at that :).

Hitherby Dragons continues to be amusing with The Passion of the Joy Thing.

Also have lent Marvel Boy to read by athena25, the story of a young Kree hero who gets shot down by the dastardly Dr Midas and decides to agressively 'Uplift' the planet while he's here. It's Grant Morrison doing his thing, blowing up shit like the UN building and has such things as a memetic corporation trying to take over Earth so it can spawn and a uber cool female supervillian called Oubliette. It's a shot of graphic novel joy, I'd recommend it.

Oh has anyone heard anything about Primer, apparently it's the next PI or El Mariachi, it was shot for $7000 and is quite good with messing with you head according to some. Anyone seen it in the UK so far?

Also saw the trailer for Howl's Moving Castle recently. Ignore the annoying American voice over and enjoy the animation, Hayao Miyazaki does a story by Dianna Wynne-Jones, I can't see any problem here. Aparrently it's not quite as good as Spirited Away, but even an average Miyazaki story will stomp all over Disney's frozen corpse.

Sarah's and my flatmate Jules has just finished editing a program that's on Channel 4 tonight all about the history of peoples participation in elections and why people aren't voting. It's called Election Unspun: How to Win Power and is on at 8pm. Jules is quite proud of it, what with the many many problems getting it together they still managed to get it finished it time (with about 6 hours to spare).

I'm told to watch out for the Tony Benn interview segments as he's always worth watching and pay close attention to the interviews in the back of a black cab. Also pay attention to the quality of the rioting shots, took them ages to get that archive right apparently :).

So tune in tonight. That is all.

I've got a work colleague who's asking for some advice on what Virus Checker and Firewall he should be buying. I use AVG Virus scanner (free version) and have a hardware firewall on my router (I used to use Zone Alarm lite) and I've no problem in recommending AVG but I thought I'd throw it open to the floor. What software do you use and would you recommend it? Also any articles on how to secure your home computer from the ground up would be welcome as I've read some recently but I can't find them at the moment :(.

Thanks

Illegal body mod clinic's florish in Russo-Ural Combine

Russian clinics operating within loopholes in the law are using stem cell injections to treat everything from Parkinsons to impotence, the fun part is you have no idea if the injections you're getting contain stem cells at all. When garage genetics (desktop genetics being the next step) takes off I swear things are going to get seriously weird.

I am so stressed! that bitter old queen kneeshooter gone and said that they saw me talking crap about vervain_. Don't let me hear about that again or I'm gonna kick some heads!

Oh yeah. Why does hepstar keep posting images in their journal?! I keep telling them I'm on a modem! I'm going to unfriend them to teach them a lesson!!!!!!!!!!

This entry automatically generated by the LJ Drama Generator!

I am currently sitting bundled up next to an open window letting cold air rush through Sarah's room, the builders were painting the outside so at first we decamped to the living room to devour episodes of the first season of the West Wing while curled up under a blanket. We really must do that sort of thing more often.

It also reminded me just how good the West Wing is, the standard to writing and dialog is impeccable, it is relentless in it's manipulation of my emotions, and the acting is outstanding, CJ is also . The only problem with it is that it throws into sharp relief the current administration, it all seems such a very long time ago. I agree with the woman I heard about who was carrying the sign that said 'Josiah Bartlet is MY president' to protest against the Shrub. Hell I'd vote for Martin Sheen, it worked for Regan why not him? (obs. political reference of the day Thomas Friedman on the falling US dollar)

This also leads me into my roleplaying packed last few days, we're reaching the end of an arc in jfs's Ars Magica game, I've just started playing a Vampire Requiem game with athena25 and on sunday myself and erestania started in bitofstuff's Planescape campaign.

Ars Magica is finally kicking into high gear ready for a final battle of some kind with the fairy queen of winter, looking forward to a big budget next session, we've been saving the special effects budget up all season for this one :).

Requiem is looking good as well as Jake and Felicity, the ref team, are making all the right noises about the kind of vampire game they want to run. I'm a former politics lecturer and we have a right-on lawyer, an oxford don and a former night club owner, I'll let you guess who athena25 is playing. I'm also a Nos who's part of the Carthian movement (non-shit anarchs) and watching the West Wing has helped me solidify where my character is going. It was also notable for the quickest loss of an 8pt merit I have ever seen in a game :) (bar possibly the guy at GD who admitted to being an imperial spy).

Planescape was also a lot of fun as we attempted to fit together a rag tag bunch of freaks into a coherant party while not dying horribly, as we are all 1st level characters this is always a possibility. Apart from delvy's combat monster gladiator of course. I'm playing the guide to the other matt's wizzard character, who I must get a hat with Wizzard on at some point as we wander round the shades *ahem* I mean the hive :).

Also I may have mentioned a internet community I'm part of called Barbelith, it's rather special and has taught me most of what I know of how to run an on-line community. Well it closed it's doors to new members a while back after some hard core troll problems it's opened them again with an invitation only policy. If people would like me to give them an invite just e-mail us at mark dot wilkin at gmail dot com. Have a look round, you might like it.