Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Busted Leggy...


Here is the verdict on my nephew "D." Spiral fracture in his tibia after falling out of a shopping cart. Anyways, let's all wish him a speedy recovery.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Grosse Pointe Blank...


I just...NEED...to see this movie again. It's my own form of therapy.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Leprechaunukkah...


Yes, it's THAT day! The day in which we celebrate St. Patrick driving the "snakes" (metaphor for pagans) out of Ireland.
Also, happy birthday to Colin and Jeff!

UPDATE: The Wilde Rover was a bust, so I did nothing for St. P's. Also, this is a holiday on two fronts:

1. Frat boys who wear beads-- these guys just want an excuse to drink, plain and simple.

2. The real Irish-- this holiday is one of pride and shame. Disloyalty/secession from the crown of England, car bombs (the kind made with C4, not Guinness), Michael Collins and Darby O'Gill (the Disney movie from the 50's that is still the national movie of Ireland). This day is kind of like Mardi Gras-meets-the-Kent-state-shooting-tragedy, all rolled into one.

Monday, March 10, 2008

Indiscipline...



I do remember one thing.
It took hours and hours but...
By the time I was done with it,
I was so involved, I didnt know what to think.
I carried it around with me for days and days...
Playing little games
Like not looking at it for a whole day
And then... looking at it.
To see if I still liked it.
I did.

The more I look at it,
The more I like it.
I do think its good.
The fact is...
No matter how closely I study it,
No matter how I take it apart,
No matter how I break it down,
It remains consistant.
I wish you were here to see it.

I like it.

Sunday, March 09, 2008

So again, I work in the gaming industry...


My boss gave me a homework assignment over the weekend. It's a good thing I didn't put any of my high school teachers down as references when I applied for this job, or my boss would have discovered that I don't care much for homework. Anyways, my boss is a businesswoman, through and through. She's sees numbers in everything. She's a numbers gal. And she loves to read. Needless to say, she reads books about business. So she handed me this book on friday about building brands, and marketing them. I realize this is good information, but I can see a couple of problems up front:

1. Can I apply this business sense, written by a guy who branded life insurance and investments at John Hancock, to the gaming industry? I mean, I work with wizards and aliens and robots and the like.

2. I don't like to read all that much.

Lucky for me the author (we'll call him Mr. Biz) made a fatal flaw in his book. I'll refer to page 3, where he says "...the single most important thing you need to know when building a brand is..." and he gives the answer right then and there. Now I don't have to read the rest of the book!! This is a real time-saver, especially when Ghostbusters is on tv. (Note: I don't remember what that 'thing' is he mentioned, but I just have to go back to page 3. Thanks Mr. Biz!)

Saturday, March 08, 2008

Gary Gygax, Creator of D&D, fails last save...


By Official Rumors Contributing Editor Bjorn Eriksson

Growing up in Somalia, it's hard to escape the harsh reality of plague, starvation and war. But wouldn't those things be cooler if "Plague" were a 2nd level spell you could cast, and the war you fought each day were against Goblins armed with axes? That's what first got me into Dungeons & Dragons. For me, I have dedicated my entire fictional life to Mr. Gary Gygax, who sadly passed away this week. As a boy, I would take my weekly allowance of rice down to my local game store (I believe you call them "Red Cross Supply Depots") and would dive right into an adventure that would take me far away from the troubles of real life.
While my brother Tony and his friends would shoot down US Blackhawk Helicopters that were supposed to be bringing us food, my friends and I would explore haunted ruins filled with Trolls and Warlocks. My brother never had time for D&D, in fact, never had time for ME! We were never close. But in Somalia, family is all you have, and I would look for anything that he and I could have in common. Then one day, while preparing for a raid on a UN Peacekeeping patrol, my brother picked up one of my Dungeons & Dragons Player Handbooks. I saw his face light up when he realized that he could play a rebel fighter that actually wears armor! And even better, this game had RPG's! From that day on, things were better between Tony and I. We had a language we could both speak, be it "Role-Playing Games" or "Rocket-Propelled Grenades," the RPG world would be a place we could BOTH fight! Thank you Mr. Gygax, you've made my tiny village of "Red Zone Alpha-Six-Zero" a more enjoyable place.

Sunday, March 02, 2008

Nature is Ancient...


It's wet in the middle
with a shell around it
it's called life

It goes wherever it wants to
don't try to predict it
then you'd offend it
it's meant to surprise

Nature is ancient : but surprises us all
Nature is ancient : but surprises us all

Rescue me
from level-head-ness
and the unnecessary luxury of being calm

Nature is ancient : but surprises us all
Nature is ancient : but surprises us all

She's got dark hairs on her head
blonde on her arms
she sneaks up from behind
come on, you deserve it!