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Showing posts from February, 2014

Five Things on a Friday: Groot & Rocket Raccoon Edition

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I mentioned this yesterday, but let me just start by reiterating that this has been an incredible bear of a week.  I won’t get into the details, but bottom line, I feel like I’ve been sprinting on a treadmill, running hard but getting absolutely nowhere.  The weekend promises to be the same but even moreso, and then next week opens with 10” to 12” of snow on Monday, and there’s no end in sight after that. So.  It’s pretty much all  Groot  and  Rocket Raccoon  today, and truth is, I don’t even  want  to try talking about anything else.  Take that for what it’s worth.

Godzilla!

Meant to put this up yesterday, but the day itself was such a zoo that I never had a chance. Among other things, my daughter Hannah has her first book report due at the end of the week, including an oral presentation.  At the same time, she's also got try-outs for the school play, which is a big deal when you've been taking voice lessons for two years.  So we've been dealing with an important life lesson this week, i.e. procrastination is bad.  However, we've had to handle it with kid-gloves because I don't want to risk wrecking Hannah's emotional state right before she has to perform; that won't accomplish anything positive. The one good thing that happened yesterday was that I got out for a run at lunchtime.  Four miles in almost exactly thirty-one minutes, for a 7:40/mile average.  That is way  faster than I probably needed to run, but like I said, this hasn't been the easiest week.  At a certain point, you have to balance the spiritual with the

Headlines That Caught My Eye

The New American Way of War (Slate) Slate gives an overview of the headlines.  Since I read it and liked it, I'm linking it first. In a nutshell: War is all about Special Operations and the Navy going forward.

Erin M. Evans on D&D's 40th Anniversary

Ms. Evans is one of my favorite current Forgotten Realms authors.  And since I have nothing else to run today, let's take a listen to what she has to say about D&D's 40th Anniversary.

Finally Got Out

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Snow, beach, bike, sun...  What else can you ask for? Down by Marnick's in Stratford.

Sunday's Stray Thoughts

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Wasn't planning to do a post this morning, but then I saw this presumably homemade Red Sonja Lego minifig, and well, this is how posts are born. “ @ivygirl851 : @GailSimone pic.twitter.com/kB4ec0kUah ” Red Lego Sonja! — Gail Thorkenstonen (@GailSimone) February 23, 2014

Saturday Morning Trials and Tribulations

In case you're wondering, I've been feeling like absolute shit all morning.  It was a really stressful week, and then I slept weird last night, so that by the time I woke up this morning, I had a ripping headache.  The knot on the back side of my neck pulled all the muscles tight across the top of my head, and on top of that, I had a lot of sinus pressure.  That led to stabbing pain behind my eyes, which was no doubt also at least partially the result of staring at a computer screen all week. Anyway, it was not good.  I won't say that it was quite as bad as a migraine, but it hurt like Hell, and I felt nauseous and bloated on top of everything.  Worse than that was the fact that lying down made the headache worse because it increased the sinus pressure in my head.  So I couldn't just roll over and sleep it off.  I had to actually get up and hope that I'd start feeling better sooner rather than later.

Five Things on a Friday: The Cosmic Olympic Edition

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I’ve only really got two things on my mind this week--the  Guardians of the Galaxy  and the  Olympics .  Take that for what it’s worth. 1. Guardians Trailer Feedback. The trailer for this summer’s Guardians of the Galaxy movie premiered  on Tuesday night , and then I ran it on the blog on Wednesday morning.  I liked th e trailer tremendously, of course, but beyond that, here’re m y initial thoughts:

Seen on Twitter

I'm listening to Justin Beiber as I put this together, so if it's even more inane than usual, now you know who to blame. Apologies in advance for how long it's gonna take this post to load. *** Canada win gold in women's curling beating Sweden 6-3 http://t.co/SQZ1P9zDFS #Sochi2014 #lovecurling pic.twitter.com/mpyTTNF4cD — BBC Sport (@BBCSport) February 20, 2014 Hardly a shocking result.  They've been dominant all tournament. Great Britain's women took bronze.

Guardians of the Galaxy Trailer

Oh man...  That movie looks as crazy as it can be.  But my kids are gonna LOVE it!

Guardians of the Galaxy Trailer?

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If you believe the hype, then today's the day we'll finally  see the trailer for Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy , due out August 1st.

The Newest Winter Olympic Event

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The Penguin Slide! Here's Hannah, showing the form that made her the Gold Medalist in this event.  

A Look at Blog Traffic and the Overall State of the Blog

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Readership is up.  I'm not sure exactly how much, and I have no way of knowing who exactly is reading, but I do know that folks are coming by and checking out the blog.  If that's you, welcome! Let me just say, I'd love for you to drop a comment or two if you have the time, and you see something you like.  First, because--as I said--I've no way of knowing who's here.  Second, because if you don't let me know why   you came , I don't know what to do more often.  Third, because I think a blog works best when there's a sense of community amongst readers, and though I've tried to foster that here, we're not there yet.  And finally, because although I have a few metrics that hint at what my total readership is, the reality is that they're crude tools.

It Never Ends

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The worst winter ever strikes again! We're expecting another 1" to 4" this evening, to go with the foot or more that we already having laying on the ground. *** While we're talking, I finally  got in a workout this week.  In the pool, naturally. Where else's am I going with all this snow on the ground? Anyway, today's sets:

Five Things on a Friday: Winter Olympic Edition

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Happy Friday!  Hope you guys had a good week. Let’s get to it. 1. I Feel Bad for Shaun White. White in 2008, before his corporate makeover. Snowboarding legend Shaun White went to the  Olympics  this year to win his third gold medal and to cement his legacy in the sport—if such was actually needed.  For more than a decade, White has been  Michael Jordan  to a sport full of  righteous dudes ,  which maybe explains both his dominance in the sport and the fact that his fellow snowboarders don’t seem to like him very much .  Personally, I don’t care what his competitors think; if he’s the only one who cares enough about winning to take the sport seriously and train like an athlete, then he deserves to win.   Except that he didn’t.  In fact, his entire Olympic experience looks pretty miserable so far.

This Is Why We Run

I made my train. I had to run the long three blocks from the 2/3 Subway Station on 125th to the Metro-North Station on 125th and Park Ave at something like 90% effort, but...  I did  make it.

Rest Stop

My favorite song from Matchbox 20 . It's been a while since I've broken up with anybody, and I'm not looking to change that any time soon.  But.  If you must break up, my opinion is that this is definitely the way to go.

I Can't Believe How Good the LEGO Movie Was

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It was really, really good.

D&D Next Solo Campaign (Part 1)

I was gonna wait to post this until it was done, but I'm gradually realizing that it may never  be done, and it seems that there is serious demand for some kind of D&D Next Solo Campaign now .  So here's the first part of a little adventure that I am tentatively calling "A Spy's Life Is Never Boring" . In addition to your  PC, this particular campaign also stars Sneakatara Boatman and/or Nathaniel Darkmore , two characters from my forthcoming, also tentatively titled novel "War Stories from Wanderhaven" . To be clear: I am putting this out there in the hopes that you will get interested enough in Sneax and Nathaniel to give my book a chance when it comes out (much) later this year.  I'm also hoping to keep working on this thing and to eventually finish it, but right now, all I have is this one (hopefully creative) encounter--and a second, if you happen to stumble upon it. There may be a few kinks in the works here, so if you find an

Why Can't We Have a Movie Based on Thundarr the Barbarian?

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A friend of mine posted some sketches of Thundarr the Barbarian and a few other of the old Hanna-Barbara action cartoon characters from the early 80s this morning, and it got me thinking.  How can it be that we've had movies based on things like Battleship the boardgame and Rock'Em Sock'Em Robots , but Thundarr and his cohorts have been sitting on the shelf for thirty years?

Five Things on a Friday: VERY Short Edition

1.  It's Friday . And I got a lot of sleep last night.  So I feel great!  But I can tell that it's off-putting to my fellow morning commuters.  I keep saying "Hello!" and they keep looking at me like they want me to drop dead.  You every have one of those days?

I'm Getting Sick of Snow

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This Winter Wonderland can kiss my ass.  Seriously. Six to eight inches Monday, followed by something like four this morning, which is supposed to turn into freezing rain midday. Ugh. I've seen predictions calling for up to a half-inch of icing on top of all the snow, which is going to turn the greater NYC area into something like what Atlanta was two weeks ago, except with scattered power outages at the distribution level on top of everything else.

Random Musings

You were probably looking for a more exciting Super Bowl than that, but I confess that I loved it.  I mean, I know  the Eli Manning was cheering for his brother because they showed him sitting in the press box during the game, and he looked miserable. But. I find the image of him wearing a Super Bowl ring on each hand amusing, especially at mandatory family gatherings like Thanksgiving Dinner.  You just know that'll drive Peyton crazy, and Eli doesn't have to say a thing.  Because, come on. Eli would've won  that Super Bowl. He just would've risen to the occasion.

It's not so much that I ran seven miles today...

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...it's that I ran seven miles in these pants.  The Purple Pants of POWER! You damn right!  I make that shit look good.

Art and the Artist: Pictures from Sally's Art Show

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If you read our Christmas letter this year, then you already know that Sally started a small business last year called "Art and the Artist" in which she teaches art to kids out of our basement.  She teaches several different classes, and they don't all use the same methodology, but typically, she reads a story to the kids and then has them put together a piece in the style of the artist, using appropriate materials and methods. The point is not so much to teach the kids art as it is to teach them how to use different tools and techniques to help them develop their fine motor skills and their appreciation for the use of various media.  But as the kids get older, the challenges get more significant, and indeed, a few of the pieces that Sally had on display were, I thought, very good. Anyway, she held the event at Roger Salls Photography here in Stratford, and I thought it went very, very well.