Stupid, Stupid Ads

Lately, advertisements have been popping up in my Blogger dashboard 'n' junk. It's super annoying, and it's also super stupid, because they're all hiding under stuff so that I can't always see or ever click on them.



It's just generally weird as all heck.

-Signing off.

This Plays To My Love of Massive Destruction

One of my favorite films is Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. So finding this was pretty cool.



If you're wondering what in the world this is and you've never seen the film, it's a reference to a historical event in the film's world where a bunch of giant monster things literally set the world on fire. You can see the only real look at the movie's version of the events around 0:09-0:11 in this (Korean) trailer for the film.



Incidentally, it's my favorite Miyazaki film (admittedly of just two I've actually seen, but the other is the much-hyped Spirited Away) as well as just generally among my favorite films.

Incidentally, the actual purpose of the clip I found is to advertise some kind of museum exhibit... or something. I think. Maybe.

-Signing off.

He's Also a Member of the Imperial Japanese Army (Hence the Uniform)

You learn something new every day. For instance, I'd never heard of Yasunori Kato before, but he's a pretty influential character from a pretty influential work.

Who is Yasunori Kato?



He's the (slightly indirect but also plenty direct) inspiration for a fellow you might have heard of if you're a video game fan: One M. Bison.



He's also been called the Japanese counterpart to Dracula or as similar to Aleister Crowley (by the author who created him, in fact) and apparently is responsible for the resurgence in popularity of the traditional Japanese magic system called onmyodo.

Incidentally, Kato comes across to me as something of a kaiju (giant Japanese monster). Why? Because his mission in life is to destroy Tokyo.

-Signing off.

Stay Classy

Even if he uses the words "nerd" and "dork" a lot, this Rex Velvet guy is pretty classy.



Bowler cap? Classy. Eyepatch? Classy. Three-piece suit? Classy. (Incredibly fake) curly mustache? Classy.

Playing the supervillain for a Make-a-Wish kid? Classy.

'''' (I apologize if I'm for some reason not supposed to customize the size of a news site video embed, but it only gave me small [AKA "tiny"], medium [AKA "small"], and large [AKA "too darned big for my blog"]. If it doesn't work, here's a link. I also had to do some weird formatting to get things to not be hideous.) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yeah, he's confrontational, melodramatic, and all that. He's also pretty classy. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Who is he talking about, anyway?* --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *Yes, I know (generally) who Phoenix Jones is; ironically, I'd never heard of him before I saw the first video. This guy is honestly more fun. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -Signing off.

Funny/Not Funny

Aspects of this are very funny (read: Stupid logic = funny).



On the other hand, to paraphrase Death from Discworld, I DON'T HOLD WITH CRUELTY TO CATS.

It's made even worse by the fact that the poor cat is a Persian. Those have a tendency to suffer breathing difficulties because their faces are so flat, y'know (thus, their whole existence qualifies as a minor cruelty to cats).

I like cats. Dogs are merely tolerable to me, other than a dog I used to know who was almost literally everyone's best friend (especially with the cat I had at the same time) and another dog I used to know who seemed to have been trained in manners by a cat (i.e. she was much quieter and more reserved than any other dog I've ever met). Oh, and a mean dog I used to know who was both incredibly clever and incredibly stupid, though he was fun to have around because he was insane instead of a typical dog.*

*Incidentally, said dog was nuts because a previous and unknown-to-us owner abused him when he was little; the funny parts had little to do with the insanity that came from that. Said dog was also scary as all heck and possibly the best guard dog ever, although most of the family had to tread lightly around him, especially when he first came to live with us. He did get better.**

**Telling this story made me realize I don't have a "dogs" category. See how much more I like cats?

-Signing off.

Invid's Guide to the Star Wars Universe: Alien Species (#52)

Incidentally, today's article is full of uncommonly hard-to-spell names.

511. K'Jtari. The k'Jatari k'Jtari invented some kind of really cool martial art. I presume it must be cool because it's said to "influence its practitioners both physically and mentally," is described as ancient, and apparently works for more species than merely the k'Jtari themselves.

Rating: 2/5. Of course, that could be said of lots of martial arts... other than the multiple species thing, and we have no way of proving or disproving that at the moment, do we?

512. Ka'aa. The K'aa Ka'aa are frustrating, as they might be native to the Farnax sector, but they might not be. There's no way of knowing. (Incidentally, the Farnax sector contained the Koornacht Cluster, which in turn contained the Yevetha, a super-genocidal species who helped set the mold for the later Yuuzhan Vong. Notably, the Farnax sector is in the Deep Core, which is about as far from the outside of the Star Wars galaxy as it gets.)

Rating: N/A.

513. Ka'hren. Ka'hren are ugly and have long arms and big hands. Apparently they're morons, because they didn't think there was a point to recording history until after other species made contact with them, even though they bordered on being ancestor worshipers. Or maybe there's a connection there?

They also originally had no concept of betrayal, which I find improbable.

Rating: 2/5. Only modestly interesting, and also ugly. Did I mention ugly?

514. Kabierouns. Kabierouns are... rather odd-looking. Not in a bad way, though. They're large, have very long necks, very weirdly shaped and mounted heads (i.e. in how they connect to their necks), large, heavily muscled bodies, and long fingers.

Rating: 3/5. There's not much to them beyond their appearances, but those are sufficiently interesting (if a bit anatomically strained) to earn them a decent score.

515. Kadri'Ra. The Kadri'Ra are draconic creatures widely believed to be descended from the Duo Duino Duinuoguin Duinuogwuin, who are fusion-powered space dragons. The Kadri'Ra are similar in that they can survive in space, live for over a thousand years, and are very long and serpentine and have way too many arms and legs, but can't fly or breathe nuclear fire like their presumed ancestors, and can go for days but not months without air.

They also look cooler, which counts for a lot in my book.

During the reign of the Empire, they were declared nonsapient and legitimate targets for enslavement, and their population had dwindled from about 140 million to just 14,000. Aw, man.

Rating: 5/5. I waffled a bit because they're so similar to their relatives that they overlap maybe a little too much, but decided they deserved the full 5.

516. Kadrillians. "Semi-intelligent" terrapins, they are the only inhabitants of their planet to survive being massacred by some crazy demon-looking race who killed lots and lots of people.

[EDIT: Wow, left out a rating... Let's say 3/5.]

517. Kage. The Kage look rather like they're inspired by Japanese culture, and since their name looks like the Japanese word for "shadow," I'm rather inclined to say that it's likely they are in fact inspired by Japanese culture.

They apparently ride big danged centipede things.

Rating: 3/5. Anybody willing to ride big danged centipede things and wear ninja clothes and kimonos are cool with me.

518. Kalaanites. The Kalaanites' sole appearance was in an RTS game. This presumably means that they die a lot.

Aside from that, they seem to be some kind of vaguely interesting-looking hairy guys.

Rating: 2/5. Okay, it looks like their planet was the victim of an Imperial invasion and that's why they're in the game; my point stands.

519. Kalai. The Kalai apparently appeared from nowhere aboard a ship called Destiny that was docked at a deep space station of some sort. They're incredibly mysterious, and many believe them to be telepathic living light. Or something.

Rating: 2/5. You can get a lot of mileage out of a mysterious species, but it's clear nobody's gotten any out of these guys.

520. Kalduu. Kalduu are flying telepathic jellyfish creatures who helped the other native species of their homeworld become peaceful. They also apparently consume germs from "hosts," whatever that means in this context, respire carbon dioxide into oxygen, and reproduce by splitting in two.

In other words, they're modestly awesome.

Rating: 4/5. I get the feeling that there's either missing information or that their original description must be lacking.

-Signing off.

Combining Mecha Done... Very Wrong

This is funny, but the correct response is still "What."



Especially since it's... kinda rapey.

-Signing off.

Superheroes Except Darker

The manga/anime franchise Guyver is a dark, violent series that takes elements of early Japanese superhero characters and series, most notably Kamen Rider (which there is a very strong and more than superficial resemblance to in both the hero's design and basic abilities and in the goals, designs, and abilities of the villains, though in both cases Guyver expands upon the concepts used by Kamen Rider and takes them up a few notches, thanks to being able to do them more easily on the comic page or in animation) and explores them in a sort of divergent evolution.



The video game franchise Prototype is a dark, violent series (admittedly of only two, and unlikely to continue) that takes elements of Western superheroes and explores them in a (probably slightly further, as like I've said, elements of Guyver are just a sort of reskinned Kamen Rider, which was already more violent than most contemporary Western superhero stuff anyway) divergent evolution.



There are a surprising number of similarities (I tend to think that it'd be easy to write a "fusion" crossover between the two series, as their collective tones are pretty compatible, as well as the relative power levels of the various characters) as well as the also obvious key differences (PROTOTYPE IS FULL OF ZOMBIES [not that this is a problem for that hypothetical crossover], along with the fact that Guyver debuted nearly two and a half decades earlier and is still going).

Incidentally, the protagonist of the first Prototype is codenamed "Zeus." That's also the name that one of the Guyver protagonists goes by when concealing his identity from the villains. (It's slightly more significant in Guyver, as the villainous organization is called Chronos and said protagonist is connected to that organization and wants to destroy it, as Zeus rebelled against and conquered his father Kronus/Chronos.)

On an additional note, I once remarked on this blog that I had "little" interest in Guyver. Such was not true of my sister, and so she recently bought the 2005 Guyver anime when presented the opportunity, and we've been watching it when we have opportunities. (It's a bit awkward, as we can't watch such a bloody series with our ten-year-old brother around, and our parents certainly wouldn't appreciate it either.) I've enjoyed it so far as a clever, well-thought-out series.

While I think Prototype has an interesting story, on the other hand, I'm still very unlikely to ever play it (much less likely than watching Guyver turned out to be).

-Signing off.

Blowing Stuff Up-The Whole Reason For Games Like This

This video demonstrates the superweapons from the Command & Conquer game Tiberian Sun (and its expansion pack, Firestorm, and also some cutscenes).



The purple barrier from around 2:15 is called the Firestorm barrier, and it's... underwhelming for its name.

What's really entertaining, though, is that CABAL, the blue Zordon-like face guy (who is a computer of some kind), unleashes a giant transforming robot when his base is attacked.

It's amusing because he looks like Zordon.

-Signing off.

Darnit, Now I'm Actively Missing That Show

Y'know, honestly I have basically no interest in Batman movies.

That's the fault of Batman: The Animated Series, which, well, was better than all but a very few movies could hope to be.

So this commercial playing off the movie trailers to advertise the series is kind of ironic.



'Cause, y'know, love the series, totally apathetic about the movie they're trying to capitalize on.

I've seen maybe three minutes of Batman Begins at most, and anything else is commercials I decided to ignore. In fact, I've been so successful at avoiding watching television since there's been nothing good on that I haven't even seen a single commercial for the upcoming one. I wouldn't even really know it was coming out if it weren't for the Internet (and lately, that's been true of most movies).

...Boy, I sound like some kind of crazy curmudgeon, don't I? (I turned 29 earlier this week, by the way.)

-Signing off.

Invid's Guide to the Star Wars Universe: Alien Species (#51)

(Confirmed for certain today that I'll have to do another sweep through the list in order to get new species added after I went through those sections. It's actually kind of exciting.)

501. Jilruans. Jilruans are a "towering" species that seem to have a predilection for serving fat slug-guy races (Hutts and the like). Just how big they are is unclear, because the information on them is kind of inadequate, but they certainly aren't small from pictures, so at least there's that. They seem to have glowing eyes.

Rating: 3/5. They look intimidating and they actually have some history for them... and once again, a lot of them got killed by Yuuzhan Vong, though in this case it seems that most of the victims were actual soldiers. Gotta give them credit for that.

502. Jin. Jin have infrared vision (no word on whether they can see in "normal" visible frequencies) and "rich culture and art."

Rating: 2/5. Whatever.

503. Jin'ha. The Jin'ha apparently specialize in working with cortosis ore, a substance that can be used to short out lightsabers when it gets cut (it's also resistant to being sliced, though only enough so that it wouldn't be cut deeply) and also seemed to like cybernetics... maybe. Apparently, they're a bit mysterious. They also fought Jedi at some point.

Rating: 3/5. A little generous, but they're interesting in appearance.

504. Jindas. Jindas are a species who are spacefarers, but a sizeable population of them ended up on Endor after a spacecraft crashlanded. They used to give a wizard their fine food, but after said wizard broke a tooth on some of their food and came to the crazy conclusion that they were trying to poison him, he put a curse on them that caused rock to come to life and chase them if they stayed in one place too long. This forced them to change their occupation to traveling minstrels.

I am not making this up.

Rating: 3/5. It still makes me smile that technically the Star Wars galaxy has out-and-out magic in it, even if it's handwaved and retconned as somehow being the Force every single time.

505. Jokhalli. The Jokhalli are guys with elongated faces and two arms that branch into two forearms past the elbows. They apparently can speak a Baragwinian trade dialect and are commonly xenophobic primitives. They have a dice-rolling gambling game they like.

Rating: 3/5, mostly because they have a reasonably interesting design.

506. Jostrans. Jostrans are centipede-things of a fairly large size ("human arm-sized"). Their civilization was destroyed when the living planet Zonama Sekot unwittingly disrupted their ecosystem while passing through their solar system. Thereafter, the Jostrans survived by climbing inside the bodies of another species and symbiotically bonding with them (essentially merging with their spines and partly taking over their nervous systems in the process).

How does that even work?

Rating: 1/5. That's... not really how symbiotes and parasites develop, guys. Not in a handful of generations, anyway.

507. Junkers. Junkers may or may not actually be a species as such, because they're really, really cyborgy, for lack of a better term. They are, as their name suggests, technology scavengers.

Rating: 3/5. Mostly because they look neat.

508. Juzzians. Juzzians have cone-shaped bodies, sharp teeth, probably developed the Juzzian armlock, and make/made edgy art.

Rating: 3/5. What a delightful random collection of features.

509. Jumerians. The Jumerians are known to have been part of the Old Republic from very early in its existence, and still present during the New Republic after the fall of the Empire.

Apparently, they gave Leia a singing lamp as a wedding present. She probably didn't like it.

Rating: 2/5. I want to know why they gave her a singing lamp! That's the real interesting part! (And no, I'm actually serious. Did they intend it as a joke? Were they being insulting? Why?)

510. K'aargs. K'aargs are ambiguously canonical guys with hilariously scary faces who apparently were conquered by a Nightsister (if you're not familiar with them, they're Dark Side-using Force wielders from the planet Dathomir, where normally only women use the Force) and then worshiped her as a goddess, as they're pretty primitive. Some rebelled against her.

And that's all there is to know, because there's almost nothing to know. It's also unlikely there will ever be anything else to know.

Rating: 3/5, out of pity for them and respect for their honestly hilarious faces. (Incidentally, they apparently originated in a French RPG magazine.)

-Signing off.

There's A City I Wouldn't Live In

I don't know how interested I am in the upcoming Robocop film (the original was pretty great for the most part, and remakes are always something you can only judge on an individual basis), but this trailer/viral thing is pretty sweet.



I'd actually kind of appreciate a Robocop film that took the basic story and made something that was only a harsh PG instead of an R without losing the parts of the story that made it great. And yeah, I'm well aware that for most people the appeal has a lot to do with its violence and mature themes, but I really think there are a lot of stories that are told with such elements that could be told as well or better without them. That there have been two Robocop cartoons (one that I'm pretty sure was a direct sequel to the movie, and another which... I can't say I know that one's deal, but it existed, and I know it had good animation, anyway) says at least that the character works in lighter, softer frameworks than the film.

-Signing off.

Great Narrator

He's not quite Victor Caroli (narrator of the G1 Transformers cartoon), but he's still pretty great.



He's possibly made even better here by the fact that you're not supposed to get all that at once.

-Signing off.

Invid's Guide to the Star Wars Universe: Alien Species (#50)

(Woohoo, hitting #500 today... Yay. I made a small revision to an older article based on stuff that's come out since I originally wrote it. [EDIT: What the heck, what's up with that stupid link error? Gah, Firefox and Blogger, why are you teaming up to do this to me?])

491. Jastaal. They're birds who apparently are land-bound, but come close to flying at times when they run.

Rating: 2/5. Very little information, but considering that there are real birds that do what these are said to, I find it an interesting description.

492. Jawas. Jawa language has a smell-based component, and Jawas can also detect numerous things about each other by scent (such as who their family is, mood, and whether or not they're in a state of arousal-yes, really, though that's less impressive than the family thing). They don't actually look like the costumes, as the costumes are their desert garb-instead, they're generally described as "rodent-like." Accounts differ as to whether the Jawas are related to the Sand People or if they're some kind of human degenerates.

A major part of Jawa culture revolves around their clans and shamans, who are always female and apparently are the only truly respected female members of their societies.

Also, if you've ever wondered where the Jawas got their sandcrawlers, about four thousand years before the movie era, a big mining corporation was trying to make a quick buck on Tatooine, but the stuff they were after turned out to be pretty worthless; taking their huge mining transport vehicles back offworld would likewise have been more trouble than it was worth, so they just abandoned them.

That's right, Jawas are driving around things older than most Earthly civilizations.

Rating: 5/5. I've got a soft spot for the little scavengers. (Notice how I focused on the less-well-known aspects of Jawas? It's not like I really needed to tell you that they're tiny technology scavengers and shady businessmen.)

493. Jazbinans. The Jazbinans are described as "humanoid with feline features," and this amounts to them essentially looking like more realistic versions of those generic animal people who are background characters in a lot of Disney comics.

Rating: 1/5. They're kinda creepy, and not in a good way, though of course one's mileage may vary. I can't stand them.

494. Jenet(s). The Jenet are scavenging rodent people who... are basically less primitive Jawas who exist in more places, and are ugly out in the open instead of covering up.

Huh.

Rating: 3/5. They're kinda boring without the Jawas' quirks (such as shouting "UTINI!"). The only noteworthy thing about them is that they claim to have fought a war with "tree goblins" called Danchaf that were classified as nonsapient by scientists, but who the Jenet claimed were once intelligent and ruled the world.

495. Jeodu. Jeodudes have these ugly triangle heads that make them rather distinctive. Apparently, as they have tiny white crystals on their heads, "Dequc," which means "whitehead," is a common name among them. Apparently, rather a lot of them joined a criminal organization called Black Nebula in order to try to revive the other criminal organization, Black Sun. Cute.

Rating: 3/5. This is almost entirely because they're so distinctively ugly.

496. Jerni. The Jerni supposedly developed a device called the Eternity Crystal in order to manipulate time to prevent cataclysms (by traveling back to try to avert said events), but Darth Vader probably made that up. The Jerni did apparently exist at one time, but they were pretty well extinct a long time ago. In fact, Wookieepedia lists their "average lifespan" as extinct, which is legitimately hilarious.

Rating: 2/5. I actually kind of like in-universe hoaxes when they're used well.

497. Jerrilekan. There's basically no information on their page (well, the possibility that they were aquatic was presented), but their planet Jerrilek's page has this tidbit: Jerrilek's civilization died out at least a million years before the events of the films. That's a long time even by the Star Wars galaxy's standards.

Rating: 2/5. Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, those must be some pretty sturdy buildings if they're still there after a million years underwater.

498. Jeylac. Apparently an eyepatch-wearing guy from a find-your-fate type book kept one as a slave, and tried to use a device to mess with the poor entity's brainwaves. As this was in a find-your-fate type book, presumably at least some of the time it would result in your sudden unexpected death, and sometimes in eyepatch guy's.

Rating: 1/5. No information, not even whether the gadget mentioned actually works on said species.

499. Jiivahar. They appear to basically be bugmonkeys, by way of being tree-living guys who secrete sticky stuff to improve their climbing abilities. They also look amusing.

Rating: 3/5. Not much to say on them.

500. Jillsarians. Jillsarians have four arms, and otherwise look rather human, if with a tendency to be big and beefy.

Rating: 3/5. I'm probably being a bit generous because one of their probable members is a rather good-looking female.

-Signing off.

Mood Whiplash

I have... kinda weird Internet browsing habits.

Two videos that I found my way to today: Implicitly violent humor.



Insanely cute Japanese gal trying (and mostly succeeding) to speak English while advertising a product.



This is not an unusual combination for me.

-Signing off.

Funny (But Stupid)

Of course, what else would you expect out of something with guns that shoot dubstep?

Warning: Violent content.



The effects are rather well-done, too.

-Signing off.

That Metroplex Line Is Still Cheesy

I'm particularly tired, so here we are, a trailer thing. Not as awesome as the last couple, but not bad (and hey, we get to hear Peter Cullen say "-no, I order you-" which is pretty cool)



If you pay attention carefully, the last shot of Metroplex punching involves Megatron taking the hit, hence lots of people saying "So that's why he's got a new body in this game!"

-Signing off.

Quite A Mashup

That's all I have to say on this little skit.



Well, other than "Don't encourage him if you don't want him to do that by playing his own game!" (Seriously.)

-Signing off.

Invid's Guide to the Star Wars Universe: Alien Species (#49)

481. Ithorians. Ithorians are the "cantina alien" colloquially known as "hammerheads." Don't call them that, though, because it'll mean you're a serious jerk.

Ithorians are really, really good-natured and gentle people. They don't believe in fighting or warfare, believe in planting two plants to replace every plant that they kill, and live in flying cities to avoid damaging their homeworld's ecosystem. That is seriously taking the "treasures all life" thing up to Albert Schweitzer type levels. (Schweitzer is said to have once cried over some bacteria or something that he killed to observe under a microscope, if memory serves.)

They also have two mouths, four throats (I don't think I want to think about how that works), and can talk in stereo or even expel concussive blasts of air (taken up to eleven in Genndy Tartovsky's Clone Wars cartoons, where an Ithorian Jedi tore up concrete trying to stop General Grievous). Despite this and their distinctive head shape, they're actually (supposedly) mammals.

The Ithorian homeworld, Ithor, was on the receiving end of a biology-destroying bacterial attack by those (expletive) Yuuzhan Vong, though the Ithorians themselves were not significantly affected. The Ithorians had a close relationship with the Bafforr trees, the attack's actual target, and so this made them even sadder than having one's lush but empty homeworld wiped out by a bunch of extragalactic jerks might normally.

Rating: 5/5. The Ithorians aren't quite as perfect as the Bafforr trees, but they're still pretty important and interesting.

482. Ithullans. The Ithullans were rendered nearly extinct by the Mandalorians, as the Mandalorians were wont to do in their halcyon days. We don't know that much else about them, except that they were part of a group called the "Nessies" because they were from a region called the Stenness Node, and that their homeworld was/is the breeding ground for roughly Star Destroyer-sized space wasps that eat space slugs and have their corpses hollowed out for use as cargo ships.

Rating: 3/5 by association.

483. Ixlls. Ixlls are some kind of hot-air balloon-like flying critters. They may be able to fly in space, and sensed a giant missile that was about to take out their homeworld. They aren't extinct, despite their homeworld being blown up and them lacking much in the way of technology, but how many survived is unclear.

Rating: 3/5. They're honestly a bit boring, but they give an interesting flavor to the stories they appeared in.

484. Iyra. Iyra are radially symmetrical "cephalopods" (the quotes because cephalopods in the real world aren't radially symmetrical) who grow more tentacles the older they get, leading to the hilarious quote "How dare you speak to me like that! You don't even have a fifth tentacle!"

They have some stuff about how their tentacle number affects social standing, and that if one loses a tentacle due to injury, it also loses social standing and must have its eye corresponding to that tentacle (they get more eyes, too, I guess) surgically removed.

Yikes.

Rating: 3/5. I dislike the implications, but that quote... Dang, that quote.

485. Izi. According to a play by a Hutt playwright, the Izi all got killed by Xim the Despot. Considering that the Hutts were the ones who ended Xim's reign, it seems like this could well be suspect.

Rating: 2/5. That, of course, is assuming there ever were any Izi.

486. Jacipri. Apparently, the Jacipri are famous for their mythology, which is largely about the birth and death of the galaxy.

Rating: 2/5. Yeah, I guess it needs to be somewhere.

487. Jakelians. Of the Jakelians, the article lists under Appearances "Cestus Deception (First mentioned) (Retcon)." ...What?

Rating: N/A. Go away, confusingness.

488. Jandoonians. Apparently, the Jandoonians vanished without a trace a long time ago, and their ghosts are rumored to haunt their planet.

Rating: 2/5. I guess that needs to be somewhere too.

489. Jante. Apparently, they got mixed up in an arms race with some other bunch, the Empire forced them into a ceasefire, and then they "withdrew." From the ceasefire or the conflict? Unclear! UNCLEAR

Rating: 1/5. Because it's unclear.

490. Jarells. Jarells look like purple mustachey Cthulhu guys (only cooler than that sounds). That's cool with me.

They live in the good ol' Kathol sector, incidentally.

Rating: 4/5. Cool.

-Signing off.

It Also Skates But I Don't Think It Has a Form

I have a question:



What is the stroke that the ant is using at 1:08? It looks like the sort of thing that might be described as a "front crawl," but I'm not sure I buy that.

-Signing off.

Musing On Alchemy

Alchemy is strange.

Note that I'm not talking about imaginary lead into gold silliness. I'm talking about the larger thing that is alchemy.

Alchemy is where the East meets the West.
Alchemy is where Christianity meets paganism.
Alchemy is where science, philosophy, and religion all get relaxed and chummy with each other.
Alchemy is where the small is believed to intersect with the big (alchemy just so happens to have an intertwined history with astrology, among other things).

Alchemy is synthesis, the combination of different things into a new thing. This is completely aside from the old pseudo/protoscientific things and the charlatanism that the word likely evokes.

While I can't take it very seriously, I find it very interesting, and well worth investigating.

-Signing off.

Grab and Throw, Grab and Throw

I've never played Half-Life, but I have to admit that the game's gravity gun strikes me as perhaps the second-most fun video game method of destroying things.



The most fun way, of course, is to crash into things in a game with collision physics that inflict damage while you have an invulnerability cheat going. Well, crashing is just generally fun in games.*

*In-game driving behavior does not reflect on my real-world driving behavior. My parents call me a sunday driver and old people tear past me on the road.

-Signing off.