Freeze it 10:32 AM

20021012a
Originally uploaded by tohoscope.

The first serious winter weather is moving into North Texas. I almost didn't come into work, of course now that I've made it into work I'm stuck here. Great. I should've went with my first instinct. It's sleeting right now. I can hear the tiny bits of ice tippling on the cars outside the window. Heck, you can even see it. It's cold enough to stick to the car. It'll take time to chisel and heat up the car to get home now. Crap. Should've stayed in bed.

Faking the format 12:17 PM

Made some headway making subtitled DVDs. Turns out WinAVI actually makes hardsubbed DVD files. So I was making more work for myself by making hardsubs and then authoring DVD files. Of course this could've all been bypassed if I could figure out why I can't get DVDFlick to work. I thought I'd be able to author on Renderfarm, but it choked. I have no idea why. Maybe if I could find an earlier version of DVDFlick It would work, again. I still do not understand why it worked once, and then never again. Phase of the moon...

Time seems to be moving very slowly today. Perception of time. Weird.

UPDATE: Found the SourceForge page for DVDFLick and previous release files. Will attempt to make DVDs with selectable subs tonight!

DanimeHELL 11:59 AM

RSVP'd for Saturday's party. It should be fun. I'll be doing a mini OtakuHELL at Josh and Micheal's. I'll get to goof around and show stuff I normally don't show. Which makes me think I should do a little prep work, get a few disks ready for the deal. Maybe even a new eye-catch. Can't hurt. Something like, "Danno's 40th Birthday Extravaganza!" or "Spectacular!" It'll be a good excuse to rebuild the 200 and Halcali discs, too.

Over the Hill 2:56 PM

It came and went and I still gots no PSP. Aw well...

Stealin' 12:58 PM

Perfectly Good Guitar

Well he threw one down form the top of the stairs
Beautiful women were standing everywhere
They all got wet when he smashed that thing
But off in the dark you could hear somebody sing

Chorus:
Oh it breaks my heart to see those stars
Smashing a perfectly good guitar
I don't know who they think they are
Smashing a perfectly good guitar

It started back in 1963
His momma wouldn't buy him
That new red harmony
He settled for a sunburst with a crack
But hes still trying to break his mommas back

Chorus

He loved that guitar just like a girlfriend
But ever good thing comes to an end
Now he just sits in his room all day
Whistling every note he used to play

There out to be a law with no bail
Smash a guitar and you go to jail
With no chance for early parole
You don't get out till you get some soul

Chorus

Late at night the end of the road
He wished he still had the old guitar to hold
Hed rock it like a baby in his arms
Never let it come to any harm

Chorus

Almost there 12:08 PM

Chad just sent me an Amazon gift certificate for my birthday. So it won't be long now. I'll be old.

Back to sleep 1:14 PM

eyespot

Having trouble waking up in the middle of the night and not being able to go back to sleep. Very tired.

Video Killed 12:41 PM

Jamglue and Splice and SingShot

Watched Eurythmics Greatest Hits DVD before turning in last night. Video is a dodgy medium. Some good, some bad. But the music was good. The two videos for the 1984 movie were interesting. Couldn't get those songs outta my head...

Ms. Echo sez I dress like a war refugee.

Acting Up 1:47 PM

20021016a
Originally uploaded by tohoscope.

Blogger has been acting up the last few days. Let's hope everything's cleared up...

Another test 10:16 AM

http://www.webcomicsnation.com/tohoscope/

Death by Magic 9:28 AM

Watched this documentary miniseries on stage magic, and it's ok. The most informative episode was the last, DEATH BY MAGIC. Lots of tales of escapes gone wrong and the deadliest of all magic gags the bullet catch. Turns out even Houdini did a take on the ol' bullet catch gag, until the head of the magic society straightens him out. Worth renting, but not buying...

Testing 2:11 PM

IMG_2425
Originally uploaded by tohoscope.

Testing

Needs more monkeys 10:29 AM

I'd wanted to get a copy of CHINESE GODS for a few years. And I found this DVD while scanning the children's video section of Half Price. Which is probably not the group that'd enjoy this animated feature film for what it is. That's if you don't count showing this at a party while taking massive bong hits. Made in mainland China I'm certain that I'm not the intended audience for this movie. This is a mess of a movie with wild imagery and references to Bruce Lee. It's stupid goofy, making you think it's for kids, until people start getting stuck with spears and things get bloody. I'll have to watch it again and see if anything could be used for HELL. In the meantime I'm gonna enjoy some Alakazam the Great. Now there's a movie.

Kill or be Art 9:08 AM

I had only heard of BUDO - THE ART OF KILLING as a rare mondo movie. So when I saw a used copy on the shelf at Half Price I was interested, but cautious. Mondo movies can be a mixed lot. Sometimes you get Mondo Cane, sometimes you get Faces of Death. And I was really hoping that BUDO wasn't going to be the latter. In fact it's a shining example of the right way to do Mondo.

Filmed at the height of the martial arts wave started by Bruce Lee, BUDO is a pretty straight forward catalog of Japanese martial arts. Judo, kendo, karate, and more. And above all BUDO shows all the work that goes into mastering these martial arts. Hell, I got tired just watching these poor bastards beat the crap outta each other. This movie may not be for all people, but I think most folks would find it interesting and informative. But you could say the same about any well made documentary.

The Indian Rope Trick 11:42 AM

I picked this DVD up at Half Price Books on Saturday. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but it turned out to be a good buy. Penn & Teller's Magic and Mystery Tour is a CBC Documentary Miniseries made up of three episodes each devoted to the street magic of three different countries. I followed the DVD menu and watched each program in order, first reading the liner notes which added a nice background to the adventure. And it's a mad adventure.

We start in China, where everything seems to be in contradictory. Magicians are a suspicious lot in Communist China. Yet there is a state run Magic theme park that stands empty. I thought there would be problems with the Chinese government but it pales next to the buracracy in the next episode in Egypt. Armed soldiers are everywhere and many things can't be filmed. Scary stuff. But the icing on the cake is the final episode in India. Blood is every where. The back streets of India are a place of dreams and horror and humanity. I had to turn away a few times, it was that brutal. Oddly enough, the Wild Men gag involving two geeks ripping chickens to shreds with their teeth didn't bother me at all, it made me think of Memiors of a Sword Swallower. I need to read that book again.

The search for the Indian Rope Trick is one of those great mysteries that can't be solved and Penn and Teller's quest is the highlight of the DVD. Their interaction with the street magicians shows the knowledge of magic and the respect between these magicians as they trade props and tools with each other beyond the limits of language. Slight of hand and misdirection is a universal tongue. Who could guess?

This is a great DVD and I'd recommend it to everybody. Rent it if you can!

Thunder Suite 12:39 PM

It was a grey sky weekend. Finally the clouds opened up sundown Sunday. I still haven't gotten used to the thunderstorms in Texas. The lightening strikes here are like cannon shots. Every time I drifted off to sleep to the sound of the rain I'd be jolted awake by a barrage of thunder. This went on all night long. I didn't really get much sleep. So, I'm kind of dragging today.

Did some work on the NaNoMango comic over the weekend. Made a visit to Half Price both Saturday and Sunday and found some good stuff that I'll review over the week. Watched the second episode of Torchwood (which wasn't as good as the first,) and then remembered Nodame Cantobile. I made a DVD of the first episode for Bruce and Mundee and watched it Sunday night. A very nice adaptation of the manga, and I'm looking forward to the next episode. I think this show would do really well here in the states. But I could be wrong.

Visit Majutsu Land 12:09 PM

National Graphic Novel Writing Month? 12:25 PM

It's November and I'm already behind on the whole Na-No-Wri-Mo thing. I should be cranking out the second page of a comic, any comic, for the project. But I'm still deciding on what I want to do. 30 days, 30 pages. Should be simple, right? Gah. What will it be? Something funny, cartoony? Maybe a parody? I was thinking about doing that Tsutomu Miyazaki bio-comic. Or maybe something else...

click to play 10:17 AM

Play Quicktime version

vPIP works very well with Quicktime. I haven't tried it with SWF, yet. The reason that this Quicktime file has no sound is that for some reason my copy of Quicktime Pro won't let me export to Quicktime with sound. WTF? I don't want to drop another $30 for the latest version of Quicktime Pro! Crap.

UPDATE: No need for spending cash on Quicktime Pro. SUPER! does the job. Well, it works on the Averatec. For some reason I get an error on Accounting One.

"I got a rock..." 10:11 AM

I lit the torches on the walk and had The Great Ed Pumpkin on fire and set up the night cam to capture the Trick or Treaters and I got a sum total of 3. One Skeleton and two witches.

I finally gave up around 8pm.

The problem as I see it is that the Edstead is at the end of a Dead End street. And as I looked around last night, Casa de Ed was the only house passing out candy. All the houses up the street were tightly shuttered and blacked out. So anybody casually looking down West Tucker BLVD would assume there was no point to hike all the way down to where I was waiting with buckets of candy.

So, to those three kids who did ring the doorbell, you roxxor. Thanks. Next year I'll just hang out at Bruce and Mundees where the real action was last night.

-danno!