FuzzyCo

The last-last time Erica was in Mississippi, Tricia gave her a "Ghost Hunter" camera to bring back -- a disposable camera that automagically* inserts "ghosts" into your photos. We took it on two major photo expeditions -- we had it along when we were on the Rosehill Cemetery walking tour a few weeks ago and we went out last night and took a walk to look at the Halloween decorations in our neighborhood. On the latter trip, Erica and I would ask each other, "Do you know the legend of [the place we're standing in front of]? It's hauuuunttttedddd!" and then snap a photo.

I got the roll developed today and the ghosts aren't quite as cheesy as I thought they'd be. Many of them are actually old photos and they are rather eerie. I've posted the whole roll for your day-late-spooky pleasure.

* I'm assuming they pre-expose the film with the images. That makes the most sense, right?

Are you tired of trying to decide which is coolest: pirates or ninjas or robots or apes or hobos or zombies? Well, stress no more -- this single shirt from Apelad (and shirt.woot) has got you covered! Because it's woot, it's $10 today and then $15 after that, until it gets cut from the catalog in some complicated process. Best to just jump on the band wagon immediately. Jump, I tell you, jump!

So much cute in one place! Do I have the best niece and nephews? Why yes I do.

1633 is a sequel to, of all things, 1632 -- a sci-fi novel wherein an entire modern West Virginia town is transported back to 1632 Germany, right in the middle of the Thirty Years War. The first book was rather adventure-filled as the Americans attempted first to survive and then to bring something of democracy to 17th century Europe. This second book in the now-sprawling series is much more talky. The already complicated politics of the time are rendered even more complex by history books stolen from the Americans. The English king, for example, has Oliver Cromwell arrested before he's actually done anything, because the history books say he will lead a rebellion in the future. Characters spend pages and pages on info-dumps and speculation on the motives and plans of other factions. Really, I don't think I should like this book at all, and yet I kept reading and reading. FuzzyCo grade: B-.

Blewt (producers of Don't Spit the Water, Impress These Apes, etc., etc.) are holding a fundraiser -- for a mere $20 you can have the Don't Spit the Water character of your choice* record a special video greeting for your family, loved ones, boss, arch-nemesis, etc., etc. You get to pick what the character says, does, and so on, we record it, and it's delivered to the recipient on January 1, 2008. Happy New Year!

* And yes, that includes both Cutie Bumblesnatch (Erica) and Dr. Baron Ludwig von Evilschlager (me).

There's more than a whiff of space opera around Iain M. Bank's The Player of Games -- an alien empire determines their rulers by means of a complex game and so The Culture sends one of their greatest game players to investigate. But it's also an intensely personal journey of one man and a biting indictment of all empires. And it's an adventure. And it was about fifty times better than I was expecting. FuzzyCo grade: A.

Man, if you wanna have even your nerd friends call you a geek, carry around a Star Trek novel for a couple of days. My excuse for reading The Final Reflection is that it's by the late John M. Ford. Ford didn't publish that many books, but they're all worth reading. Yes, even the two Star Trek novels he wrote.

This novel is set well before the original Star Trek series (it features a cameo by Dr. McCoy literally in diapers) and is entirely from the point of view of Klingons. Ford was one of the first to take a stock 'unknowable enemy' and posit that they might be doing what they do for reasons that make sense to them. The whole 'honor-obsessed' Klingons of the Next Generation shows and beyond -- that all comes from Ford originally.

It's also a novel about playing games, which is just odd, since the last sci-fi novel I read was about that, too.

It's also just a really good novel about a young man (well, Klingon) making his way in an Empire, and a universe, that has little sympathy for anything new, or different, or weak.

FuzzyCo grade: A.

Mike Doughty's on his The Question Jar Show tour right now -- small venues, set list assembled on the fly from audience shouting, questions answered from a jar -- and he and Andrew were in Chicago last Thursday night. Pictures were taken.

There were many fun moments in the show (you know, that Mike's funny) and gosh darn if Andrew doesn't play a pretty cello, but a personal favorite was we finally got to hear Andrew play Guardame Las Vacas (aka Keeping Watch Over Some Cow aka The Cow Song) in front of an audience:

I just dropped Erica off at the airport -- her dad's not doing that well and she's on her way back to Mississippi to help take care of both her sweet parents. I know Tricia appreciates it when folks leave encouraging comments on her blog. And if you're a friend of Erica, this would be a great week to check in on her by email or text.

Apelad has a design up at Threadless. Go score it some 5s, please.

I haven't run since the mostly-Marathon, but I've now signed for a 5 mile "Turkey Trot" in Austin, Texas since I'll be down visiting my family for Thanksgiving. And heck, if it turns out not to fit our plans, there are worse things than donating $20 to Caritas of Austin. (And I'm really hoping that the run t-shirt has those turkeys from the poster -- they're so intense.)

Update: Don't do any of the hackery in this entry! Jim Fowler has released ForgetMeNot 4.1 to support Safari 3.0.4. Just go download it!

Because I never finish any project, I'm in love with a little plugin for Safari* called ForgetMeNot -- it remembers what windows and tabs were open when you quit Safari and reopens them when you start back up**. I've got a ton of windows open as To-Do reminders.

Well, Apple just released Safari 3 for Mac OS X 10.4*** (it comes with the 10.4.11 update) and ForgetMeNot doesn't want to load. There's a version of ForgetMeNot just for Safari 3, but it was only tested with the Safari 3 beta and SIMBL (the plugin framework that ForgetMeNot runs under) doesn't want to load it. Further, the developer of ForgetMeNot is a grad student (go U of C!) and hasn't updated his personal blog since May, so who knows when he'll get around to updating it.

(Oliver kindly points out in the comments that Safari 3 has a "Reopen all windows from last session" command in the History menu. The only downside to that command is that it's not automatic on startup. I've only used Safari 3 for about 10 minutes, but I think I need that automatic-ness. Hence, this quest...)

But there is a way you can get ForgetMeNot 4.0 working with Safari 3.0.4. HOWEVER this technique just by-passes SIMBL's sanity check — there might be big giant bugs waiting to destroy your browser. You're probably much better off waiting for Mr. Fowler to update the software.

But if, like me, you simply must use ForgetMeNot and are not willing to wait, go to /Library/Application Support/SIMBL/Plugins, right-click on ForgetMeNot.bundle and choose "Show Package Contents". Open Contents and then open Info.plist with the text or plist editor of your choice. You want to change the values for MaxBundleVersion and MinBundleVersion from 522 to 523. Save the file (you'll likely have to authenticate with admin rights to overwrite the existing file).

Again, let me emphasize that all this does is tell SIMBL that ForgetMeNot is compatible with Safari 3.0.4. It doesn't make it so, if there are bugs. There might be bugs. They might wipe your harddrive. Don't come crying to me if that happens.

I've been running this way for… oh, ten minutes now with Safari 3.0.4 on Mac OS X 10.4.11. No problems yet!

* Yes, there are similar plugins for Firefox, I just like Safari.
** Unfortunately, it does its "remembering" when you quit Safari, so it can't help you if the application crashes.
*** And Safari 3 is the browser in Leopard (10.5) but I'm not sure when I'll be upgrading. ActiveDirectory is, basically, broken.

Clash of Star-Kings by Avram Davidson

Both the title and back cover blurb of this slim novel rather overstate the excitement contained within ("they came from the Evil Stars!"). Which is not to say it was a disappointment, but rather than a grand adventure it's a short, tense tale of a small Mexican village where things are not as they seem (ala The Wicker Man) and the few scifi elements mentioned (a brief mention of a "star ship") could easily be discarded to leave this a disturbing fantasy. FuzzyCo grade: B+

A week ago, I thought this was hilarious: "overheard at starbucks: can't wait to hear the daily show's take on the writers strike."

Because, you know, they're on TV... which they're striking from...

But, the thing about the modern age is that you don't have to have a TV show to get your message out. So you can, in fact, get the Daily Show's Writers' take on the writers strike.

Update: The Colbert Report writers weigh in as well... here in the person of Team Gerdes friend Pete Groz, who wants you to think of the poor executives.

(via Sidelights)

David's doctors have given him a prognosis of a few months. Dammit. I'm headed down to Mississippi tomorrow for at least a week. Erica will be there indefinitely.

The first book of Ben Mezrich's that I've read, Bringing Down the House, was about a group of MIT students who used a group blackjack technique to make a lot of money until casinos began to figure out their system and brought heat down on them. This new book, Busting Vegas, is about a group of MIT students who used a group blackjack technique to make a lot of money until casinos began to figure out their system and brought heat down on them. Seriously. A chapter in I had to double-check to make sure I wasn't just reading the same book over again. And perhaps because he knows that he's repeating himself somewhat, Mezrich is trying way too hard here. It's a dramatic story, but the prose is overblown and Mezrich tries to make even walking through a trendy Boston neighborhood seem psychologically intriguing.

And the dialogue... At one point Mezrich notes that interview subjects often meet him in noisy places to defeat the recording devices they presume he's carrying and notes that he's "not that kind of writer." Well, he might want to start, because the reconstructed dialog he puts in people's mouths is stilted and unrealistic. (I would quote you some, but I gave the book away minutes after I finished.)

FuzzyCo grade: C.

Shaun turned me on to this gritty independent film that purports to be a documentary* following a burglar in Chicago. The documentary form allows for a low budget approach to filming, and it also lets the filmmakers leave a lot of questions unanswered. It is, perhaps, realistic, but if you're used to straightforward narratives, or even to thrillers where every twist and turn is explained by the end of the film, the ending may leave you somewhat unsatisfied.

For the majority of the film the actor playing the thief (who's also the director of the film), Malik Bader, is right in front of the camera. So does he have the chops to carry a film like this? He's certainly a engaging character. He's likable despite his decidedly anti-social profession. There's some over-acting going on, but it might just be the kind of dramatic pretense you could expect from the sort of personality who would allow documentarians to follow him along on burglaries.

FuzzyCo grade: A-

* Evidently, this film has been shown at some film festivals as though it were a straight documentary, with inevitable backlash when the deception is discovered. It's a shame that the filmmakers have let a gimmick like that cloud the reputation of a fine indie film.

There's an article in the latest Columbia Chronicle about Sickest Stories. There are a few factual problems with the story (WNEP never became the Playground, for example -- the latter just moved into the former's space a few years back) but if nothing else, the article is accompanied by a picture of me wearing my snazzy Showmen's League of America t-shirt (why, yes, I am a member).

Because we don't have enough going on, half a tree fell into the backyard of Erica's parents' place last night -- busting the fence and narrowing missing the dog yard. Jeremy and I got to play lumberjack this morning. Pics when I have a better connection, and time (which will be awhile -- if I have downtime, I try and find something to clean). Tricia wrote it up, more eloquently.

For your holiday viewing pleasure (seriously, gather the whole family around the computer), various spits from the Don't Spit the Water! performance on November 10, 2007 at the Metropolis Arts Center in Arlington Heights, Illinois.

(Bonus video of Ken Barnard as Dancemaster John Rambo Rocketpant over at the Blewt! blog.)

I'm sure most people would describe Danny Boyle's 2005 film Millions as "whimsical" or some such. I mean, a cute kid who talks to saints finds a bag full of money and does his best to give it away to "the poor". We kind of got hung up on the dead parent part of the plot, though. Thanks a lot, Danny.

I'm in Vicksburg until Tuesday. Notable non-David-related events so far include that tree losing two big limbs into the Reids' backyard (Jeremy, Katie, Don, and I all took turns with the chainsaw to turn this into this. And look what we found!) and Teddy, the handicapable kitten, getting shaved by the vet (this --> this). We love her, but she does now look like one of the Henson Creature Shop's creepier creations.

There's been a steady stream of visitors for David, which is great, but also tiring. I guess tomorrow is our last all-family day for a while, as Katie is leaving for Columbia. Erica's uncle Carl brought over tamales tonight (they were out of Boudin!). I don't think any of these sentences have anything to do with each other, but I am tired and it's just 7:30. Did I mention things were tiring? Erica and I "got out" today by taking a trip to Wal-mart. Sigh. It's going to be hard on both of us when I head back to Chicago, but I'm glad we have the flexibility in our lives that she can be here for so long.

When I was uploading those cat pictures this afternoon, Tricia asked if I had been taking pictures of David. Frankly, I hadn't been sure if everyone would want photos from these trying times, and so I had been holding back. "You'd better get on that," she told me. So tonight we took some all-pajama'd family portraits before we settled in to watch some TV. (More on Flickr)

When I think about it, I'm not sure why I like Brian Regan so much. His jokes are pretty simple, and half his act consists of an exaggerated mugging that I'm not really into. But the fact remains that he makes me laugh. Someone loaned David I Walked on the Moon and we all watched it tonight. Funny stuff, and clean, too, if that's important to you. FuzzyCo grade: B.

We've started the holiday season, here in Vicksburg -- we went down to the main street holiday-ganza* shopping district today and tonight we watched Bad Santa (technically, the "Badder Santa" edition) tonight. Bad Santa got a lot of backlash when it came out, but I think that was the fault of the marketing. Certainly I remember trailers that seemed to indicate that it was a Christmas version of teen-age potty humor. In fact, it really belongs in the "small-time crooks' lives fall apart because they're small-time crooks" genre, like an Elmore Leonard or Carl Hiaasen novel (or film adaptation thereof). And in that genre, it's hilarious. If anything (has the statute of limitations on spoilers run out on this film yet?) I might have almost been happier if Willy had just died on the steps of the kid's house. FuzzyCo grade: A-.

Not for kids! It's not for kids at all. Cynical adults only, please.

* Not very ganza, I have to report, but we did get one present bought.

I'm back in Chicago. Erica is still in Mississippi. Things are not good. I added a few "David and" duo shots to the set of photos from the last week.

Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge is the best sf novel I've read in a long time. Make that, the best novel I've read in a long time. It's action packed (there are two major plot twists in the first 16 pages!), full of spot-on future speculation, and full of distinctive characters. My only complaint is that there are a few loose threads left at the end. Vinge is said to be considering a sequel. I can't wait. FuzzyCo grade: A+.

Not the best sf novel I've read in a long time. (I'm just being snarky -- it won a Hugo. And I guess Timothy Zahn writes good Star Wars novels.) FuzzyCo grade: B-.

Update: More thoughts on Cascade Point in my Hardfought review (they're two halves of a Tor Double).

Above, possum in the dog house. Also, possum in the house (by Steve Delahoyde).