Upgradation
I'm going to attempt to upgrade to the new Movable Type (my blogging software) today, so things are liable to get a bit dicey around here. Or not, but let's not jinx it. It's the "release candidate" version of the software, meaning that it's out of beta, but not quite the final release. In other words, it's still in beta, but it seems stable enough that I'm going to give it a try. See you on the other side (and soon, I hope).

Update: Upgrade complete. Sorta. Some of my template tags appear to be throwing errors. If you're reading this, then I've figured it out, but it's annoying that this worked with MT3.3 and is broken now.

Again Update: It appears that the comments popup is no longer supported. Indeed, they deprecated its use a long time ago, and it's been acting funky ever since, so now when you click on "comments" you go to the individual post page (anchored down to the comments section). To be honest, I've been meaning to do this for a while, but I've never gotten around to it. Anyways, I'm still putzing around with the new system. Lots of interface changes make everything seem strange again, but I'm not sure if they're for the better or not.

Yet Another Update: Lots of breakage in the archives. I still have to switch over the comments to the new style links, and it seems that MT4 and Opera don't play well together when it comes to the template editor, as I managed to screw up this page (should be fixed now) and some other templates (still working on them). There are a bunch of annoying bugs that only seem to affect Opera, and I'm finding it frustrating.

One More Update: All the archives should be pretty much fixed, but there might still be some issues here or there that I'm not aware of yet.



Travelling
Over the next two weeks, I'll be travelling a lot. This week, I'll be attending UPA 2007 in Austin, TX. Next week, I'll be attending another conference in Boston (insert obligatory Road Trip joke here). I'll have internet access, so I'll be around, but the regularly scheduled Wednesday posts may suffer.

Anyway, in anticipation of Robot Chicken's Star Wars special, here's one of their previous episodes. Hilarious.


This one's pretty good too.



Friday, the day of lists
I've been lazy about the whole Friday is List Day thing, so here are a couple lists:

Random 10:

• Tool - "Eulogy"
• Isaac Hayes - "Run Fay Run"
• Angelo Badalamenti - "Red Bats With Teeth"
• Led Zeppelin - "When the Levee Breaks"
• Fantomas - "Experiment In Terror"
• U2 - "Sunday Bloody Sunday"
• Guster - "Red Oyster Cult"
• Mr. Bungle - "The Air-Conditioned Nightmare"
• Radiohead - "Bones"
• Guster - "I Hope Tomorrow Is Like Today"

6 Relatively Obscure Bit Characters From 80s Movies That I Love
Can you guess what movies they're from?

• Clarence Beeks (Hint: Has info regarding frozen concentrated orange juice)
• Enrico Pallazzo (Hint: Famous Italian opera singer)
• Alonzo Mosely (Hint: FBI Agent)
• Ed Traxler (Hint: Police Lieutenant)
• John Cocktoastin (Hint: It's Scotch-Rumanian)
• Lazlo Hollyfeld (Hint: Lives in a closet)

Listy McFriday
Roy says that Fridays are list day, but I'm not sure I believe him. I figure I should do it anyway, just in case.

Random 10 Songs

• Tool - "10,000 Days (Wings Pt 2)"
• Aphex Twin - "Alberto Balsalm"
• UNKLE - "Nursery Rhyme / Breather"
• David Bowie - "Heroes"
• Eels - "Lone Wolf"
• Franz Ferdinand - "The Fallen"
• Steroid Maximus - "Chain Reaction"
• Peeping Tom (Featuring Amon Tobin) - Don't Even Trip
• Vince Guaraldi - "Cast Your Fate to the Wind"
• Beck - "Devils Haircut"

Five Signs I'm a Geek
Aside from the obvious and overt ones.

1. Sometimes when I want to find a particular passage in a book, I wish I could just press CTRL + F and search. Alas, most books don't have a keyboard. (In addition, I wish I could do this to podcasts.)
2. I'm so addicted to mouse gestures that I often find myself attempting to use them in other applications. (Also a sign that I'm a geek: I know what mouse gestures are.)
3. I tend to optimize my walking patterns, especially through areas I have to navigate frequently, like the parking lot at work. (Strangely, it appears that I'm not the only one).
4. The number of times I've seen certain movies has reached triple digits. Yes, I said movies, plural. (Bonus points to anyone who can name them. There's at least one really obvious choice, and they're all pretty geeky. As such, my knowledge of intricate details in said movies is also pretty geeky.)
5. I can name all of the Colonial Marines in the movie Aliens from memory (see previous bullet, bonus points nullified for this particular movie).

Ok, I guess the fouth item in the list could be classified as "obvious and overt." Sue me.



Friday Is List Day, Again
Let's try this again.

Random Ten:

• Faith No More - "Evidence"
• The Beta Band - "Troubles"
• Led Zeppelin - "Bring it on Home"
• The Secret Machines - "Sad and Lonely"
• Propellerheads - "Take California"
• Hotei, Tomoyasu - "Battle Without Honor or Humanity"
• Pink Floyd - "Sheep"
• Pearl Jam - "Present Tense"
• MDFMK - "Get Out of My Head"
• Audioslave - "Doesn't Remind Me"

Video Games I've Played Recently:

• Hitman: Blood Money - A lot of fun for a DIAS game. Of course, you have to figure out what you're supposed to do first, and that's not always easy. Seriously, how am I supposed to know that I need to put a sedative in the donut box in the caterer's van because the caterer will take the donuts to the guys in the surveilance van, who will eat the donuts, pass out, and allow me to steal one of their suits, thus allowing me to enter the guarded house without arousing suspicions. Dammit, I can't even describe it without taking 4 lines of text! Luckily, after you complete a few missions, you make enough money to stock up on weapons and ammo, thus allowing you to bypass all the sublte trickery in favor of just killing everyone. This actually has a lot of replay value, and I actually kinda like that you can fire the game up and just pick one of your favorite scenarios.
• Half Life 2 and Half Life 2: Episode One: An excellent game, with lots of fun, action-packed sequences, but the story left me a little baffled. As it turns out, they've opted to continue the story with a series of "episodes," but after playing Episode One (which came with the HL2 box I bought), I wasn't too impressed. I got the same feeling about the storyline that I get from Lost and Heroes. The writers are just making it up as they go, with no real idea how they're going to end the story (this Writers of Lost spoof sums up why I won't watch that show again until I know there's a good ending worth getting to). Anyway, storyline concerns aside, it's still a fun game and I really enjoyed it.
• Oblivion: A very interesting game. Sorta the Grand Theft Auto of RPGs. I'm not sure I love the FPS fighting system for using swords and other close-quarters combat, but the game is a blast because of it's open-ended structure. Freedom of movement in the world, and lots of possible side-quests make this a true time-sink. Alas, not much time to play lately, so I haven't gotten all that far.

Movies from the 2007 Philadelphia Film Festival I Definitely Want to See:

• Exiled: I'm a fan of director Johnny To's The Mission, but his other films are hit and miss (though I've only seen a few, and he's quite prolific). Even still, I'm looking forward to this one, described as Johnny To’s homage to spaghetti westerns. Asian gansters get their own category in this year's festival (instead of being lumped into "Danger After Dark" like last year) and there are a couple of other films in the series I'd like to see as well.
• Severance: I discovered the emerging British horror scene during last year's festival (I saw two excellent British horror films, The Descent and Evil Aliens), so I'm looking forward to this movie which is described as: BBC's “The Office” re-imagined as a horror movie.
• In the Shadow of the Moon: I admit it, I'm a sucker for space race films and documentaries. So a documentary boasting never-before seen footage of space along with humorous first-hand commentary is right up my alley.

I'm not sure how much time I'll be able to devote to the Philly Film Festival this year, but I definitely want to see a few films, so expect some posts in early/mid April. I haven't gone through the schedule in detail yet, but the above films jumped out at me (my initial impression is that this year isn't as good as last year, but again, I haven't gone through this stuff in enough detail).



No Entry Today
Sorry, twas a busy weekend. Boy, this weekend stuff sure is a drag... I can't wait to get back to work tomorrow.

*ahem*

Yeah, so if you're really itching to read some stuff, check out Dan Gable, which I wrote last week (just a bio, but I might be building a post around it sometime next week). Also, DyRE aims to incite jealosy in me by talking about a few movies, including The Battle of Algiers, in the forum. He was mostly successful.



I'll be traveling this weekend,
I'll be traveling this weekend, so there will most likely be no new post on Sunday (as my schedule normally dictates). In the mean time, as always, there are other things to do at Kaedrin than just the blog. Check out the Tandem Stories for some interactive storytelling, or stop by and have a chat in the forum. There's lots of other stuff to do here at Kaedrin, so check it out if you're so inclined...

By the way, I am typing this post on Zempt, basically a local Movable Type client (running on Windows) that can interact with the Movable Type installation on my server. It has some nice features, including a much better entry GUI, but it is lacking in some things as well. It has some nice shortcuts for inserting code (links, bold, centering, etc...), a nice preview function, and (my favorite) a spellchecker. The interface is somewhat customizeable, but at the same time I rather like how the browser interface has all the post options visable on one screen. The options are easily accessed in Zempt, but the operation isn't quite intuitive. For instance, I don't know what will happen when I say "Publish New Post" here. I was playing around wiht this earlier, and wasn't acting the way I thought it would...

All in all, I like it, but I'm not sure it will completely overtake the standard browser interface. Then again, I'm using version 0.3 of Zempt, so perhaps the future releases will exceed expectations

Well, I'm off, have a good weekend, see you soon...

Update: Funny, the words "blog" and "Zempt" were not included in the dictionary for spellcheck...



Besieged
My body hath been besieged by a foul sickness, held at bay only by my weakened immune system's army. Like the warriors trapped in Minas Tirith, my only hope lies in our ability to overcome odds, with a little help from my friends (namely, the Riders of DayQuill and the hoards of Chicken Noodle Soup).

In case you cannot tell from that first paragraph, my body was not the only thing negatively affected by this enemy I face. I grow tired of both body and mind, and thus do not have the energy to do much else but throw a few links at you and rest. So here we are:

• Tales of Teenage Life, as told by 22-year-old Russian, Irina Denezhkina. This article is little more than a short glimpse at the author and her rise from obscurity (her works were originally published on the internet, then published and translated all over - to be released in the US in mid-2004), but her work sounds interesting nonetheless. Plus, she's really cute:)
• A Terrorist Training Guide: I found the emphasis on low-tech means (especially of communication) to be interesting.
• Robert Philip Hanssen: "A Review of the FBI's Performance in Deterring, Detecting, and Investigating the Espionage Activities of Robert Philip Hanssen" I've not finished reading this, but I am always fascinated by such stories.
• Let it Snow by David Sedaris : A winter story in the New Yorker. It's no SantaLand Diaries, but it's fun.

Well, that's it for now. Thanks to Crypto-Gram and of course my ever-faithful chain-smoking monkey research squad for the links.

Update: I'm a cheater, I added the Sedaris story long after this post, but I didn't want to create a whole new post just for that, and it fit here, so there. Take that. If your reading this at all, I suppose.



Set an open course for the virgin sea
In a few days time I'll be embarking on a much needed vacation, so I won't be around to post this Sunday and possibly the next. I had planned to leave a few posts here to fill the void, but Road Runner decided to cut out on me last night and has only just come back...

While I'm out cruising the high seas, you might want to check out some of the other features here at Kaedrin. Tandem Stories are a form of interactive storytelling in which each successive paragraph is written by a different author (or by alternating authors). We've been playing around with this stuff for years here at Kaedrin, so take a look at some of these:

• Raindrops : I started this story just so everyone would have something to do while I was gone. Intern George McGraves loves the rain. Today, he'll find out just how much the rain likes him, with the help of you!
• The Fantabulous Adventures of Mark and Bill - This is series of sit-com-like tandem stories that chronicles how a misguided programmer, Mark, gets his wife back with the help of Bill Gates. I just started off part 4, where Bill Gates and Steve Jobs confront each other in an ice cream shop, so have at it!
• The Rebel Fire Alarms - Kaedrin's first and arguably, best, tandem story. Unfortunately, you can no longer add to this one, but its an interesting read. A menacing presence has invaded the Hickville University campus with only a small band of misfits to stop it. Malfunctioning fire alarms are only the tip of the iceberg as our heroes quickly find out that there is much more at stake than just Hickville U. Hijinks ensue.

There you go. And, of course, you could always have a chat in the forum with the regulars (they don't bite... hard). Have fun, and I'll see you in a week or two...

Update 8.24.03 - I'm back!



Gone Fishin
I won't be around much for the next week or so, for I have courageously volunteered to brave tropical storms, typhoid, cholera, dengie fever, tsetse fly disease, and those worms that drill into your leg and grow to a length of nine feet in order to investigate the mysteries of the Bermuda Triangle (aka, the Devil's Triangle). There are lots of theories on the mysterious phenomenon, but I intend to find out what really goes on there (my favourite theory: Cthulhu "lies not dead, but dreaming in the under water city of of R'lye" which is probably somewhere in the Bermuda Triangle).

Anyway, while I'm gone, you can entertain yourselves by conversing with the "friendly" folk of the Kaedrin Forum, or even by contributing to one of the four ongoing Tandem Stories (a form of interactive storytelling in which each successive paragraph is written by a different author). If you like those stories, try this Choose Your Own Adventure story, which is also quite fun.



Interactive Madness
Write Your Own 13th Story is a branching interactive story, sort of like those choose your own adventure books I used to read when I was a kid (which were awesome, btw). Also check Xmark's Interactive Story Forum, and, of course, there's always Kaedrin's very own Tandem Stories for interactive story goodness!



Meat Helmets
There's not really much I can think to say about Hats Of Meat other than that I want a "Base-Bull Cap". Since I know you want to know more about this bold and innovative fashion statement, check out the MeatHelmet page. Fascinating.



Random title
Some random links for your enjoyment:

• Head Hunting Firm Decapitates 250: Funniest article I've read in a while. Another one that sends waves through the blogging community: Link Whore Arrested
• Evolution of a Weblogger: I think I'm doing allright; hopefully this blog will never evolve like that (you'll never see it turn into a sappy journal, thats for sure). In fact the whole Torrez.org site rocks. Thanks grenville!
• Another Color Schemer: This 'un uses flash...

Ahoy Hoy!
Ask Jesus is a pretty funny page which gives an option to "jesusify" your page (similar to, but not as good as, Rinkwork's classic "Dialectizer", ). My favorite language is still "Jive". Thanks to DyRE for 'da link (posted via the Kaedrin Forum)



Tandem Insanity
Those who are familiar with Kaedrin's Tandem Stories might get a kick out of XMark's Interactive Stories. You can continue the stories already there and you can even start your own story! He's also got some links to other kickin' interactive story sites.

BTW, I've begun to archive this weblog so you can see all the posts since its inception.



Rebel Yell
Kaedrin has just been given the "Rebel Rebel Yell" award, complete with spiffy graphic on the right (ack! its gone!). The award comes from Michman's Rebel Rebel Star Wars Fansite. For quite some time now, Michman has woven an interstellar tapestry of adventure, romance and a few guffaws for generations of Star Wars Role-Playing Gamers. Check it out, I'm also being interviewed by Michman for inclusion in his Tie Interviewer section (Sneak Peak).

More things people do while stuck in traffic (Contributed by Spencer via the infamous Kaedrin Discussion Forum) :

• Picking their teeth
• Cleaning out ear wax
• Picking nose
• Balancing checkbook
• Getting dressed

Poles Apart
Rinkworks' Reader Polls is a treasure trove of interesting and sometimes funny polls. A Sampling:

• Which of the following words is the most intrinsically funny?
• What do you believe concerning time travel?
• Have you ever been on the Internet?

I am definitely interested in doing regular polls here at Kaedrin, but I have yet to find a good free service to use... Speaking of polls, go check out 4degreez.com's Famous People Recognition Survey. Its probably one of the best polls I've ever seen. Four chose an extremely diverse group of famous people and historical figures, ranging from well known to highly obscure. Only about 150 people have taken the poll, but some of the results are astounding (for instance, 7 people did not know who Jesus was!?!).



Ripe (With Decay)
Yes, my vessel body has passed another year of grueling life. This Color Schemer is spiffy, though not half as cool as the 5k Web Color Visualizer



Generate this!
These generator's could probably come in quite handy when writing a tandem story entry:
Press Release Generator
Fantasy Name Generator

And of course there's always the trusty Shakespearian curse-generator and the Web Economy BS generator. Blah.



Thou haughty sour-faced malignancy
Use the Shakespearian curse-generator to deftly insulte thine enemies. When you get bored with that, try creating some Web Economy BS here.



Oriented
I started my job today. Blah. It was orientation today. My real work starts tomorrow. Blah.

I finished Red Dragon, by Thomas Harris the other day (eventually I'll put up a review in Kaedrin Books). I liked it, but I don't think its as good as everyone says. I would rather watch Silence of the Lambs again. I'm now reading The Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder. It doesn't keep you on the edge of your seet, but it is a fascinating look at how the computer industry used to be (it traces the creation of a new computer that was to compete with the VAX - this is circa 1979 folks, so things are a little different now). No wonder computers and their software are so bloated today.

X - Men grossed over 50 million dollars last weekend (#2 for the summer behind MI2). Sure enough, a sequel is in the works (and a third is also rumored). I'm happy for them. And worried that the sequels'll suck.



This was before I used to have titles
Woo Hoo! Welcome to the the official Kaedrin Weblog, maintained by his royal highness, tallman. His sovereign court includes the topics of Movies, Web Design, and Books amongst other various subjects. Many updates coming soon!

Where am I?
This page contains entries posted to the Kaedrin Weblog in the Uncategorized Category.

Inside Weblog
Archives
Best Entries
Fake Webcam
email me

Archives
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
December 2005
November 2005
October 2005
September 2005
August 2005
July 2005
June 2005
May 2005
April 2005
March 2005
February 2005
January 2005
December 2004
November 2004
October 2004
September 2004
August 2004
July 2004
June 2004
May 2004
April 2004
March 2004
February 2004
January 2004
December 2003
November 2003
October 2003
September 2003
August 2003
July 2003
June 2003
May 2003
April 2003
March 2003
February 2003
January 2003
December 2002
November 2002
October 2002
September 2002
August 2002
July 2002
May 2002
April 2002
March 2002
February 2002
January 2002
December 2001
November 2001
October 2001
September 2001
August 2001
July 2001
June 2001
May 2001
April 2001
March 2001
February 2001
January 2001
December 2000
November 2000
October 2000
September 2000
August 2000
July 2000

Categories
2006 Movie Awards
2007 Movie Awards
Administration
Anime
Arts & Letters
Atari 2600
Best Entries
Computers & Internet
Culture
Disgruntled, Freakish Reflections
Harry Potter
Hitchcock
Humor
Link Dump
Lists
Military
Movies
Music
Neal Stephenson
Philadelphia Film Festival 2006
Philadelphia Film Festival 2008
Politics
Science & Technology
Security & Intelligence
The Dark Tower
Uncategorized
Video Games
Weblogs