I think it's rather unfortunate that more music artists don't consider the whole of their CD to be a composition like the individual songs therein.

I understand that radio-play is what getting a CD out is all about, but precious few artists seem to give more than a cursory thought to song order on an album. Every song stands for itself. Every track draws a line in the sand and warns the other songs to keep their significance on the other side of the line.

So when I occasionally stumble across an album where the music is allowed to cross-pollinate and it's done well, I have to wonder: "Why aren't more people trying this?"

By the way, I'm talking about Mercury.

You're Coach Z. People seem to like you even
though they can't usually understand you and
you sleep in the lockerroom. You need a
girlfriend. Seriously. At least until your
rap career takes off.


What HomeStarRunner Character are you? (pictures)
brought to you by Quizilla

I dug this up from the Archives of Real Life Comics because I've been itching to see it again. Comedy gold!

On a completely unrelated note, I have reached a conclusion:

Druids are dumb.

That is why they are all dead. That is why corridors of Paranor echoed with their dying screams. Because they are dumb.

So the next time a druid tries to convince you of something, ask him or her: "Oh yeah? Well if you're so smart, why are you all dead?"

So before proceeding with All Tomorow's Parties, I'm taking a break from more serious fiction.

Terry Brooks, The First King of Shannara.

I used to love Terry Brooks' stuff when I was younger. So I tried to pick this book up about 6 months ago. I stopped reading it because it felt silly.

Why did it feel silly?

The antagonist is set up very early on as an ancient Lord of Darkness. A sinister evil for evil's sake sort of villain. You know the type: Sauron... Valdemort... Microsoft...

The thing that makes it silly is that I don't really believe in that sort of Evil anymore. So it makes me take the story a little less seriously when such an Evil presents itself.

The Evil I believe in is more subtle than goat's heads and lurching zombies. I believe in an Evil that clenches in the pit of your stomach. I believe in an Evil that is easy and comfortable. An Evil that can win in debates by carefully manipulating the issues.

I really think that the vast majority of people who commit sordid deeds do so thinking themselves completely justified. Evil comes in a way that doesn't look evil to the committer of the act.

Even the terrorist thinks he's working for the higher good.

So when the Warlock Lord seeks only to expand his "Evil Influence," I kinda want to scoff.

Idoru is finished...

And now for a bit of oddness. Chris reports that a mutual friend of ours had been laboring under the misconception that I was somewhere around 22 years old.

This isn't really an isolated occurance. At work, I have been accused of being "all of 21." And I can think of an occurance of being pegged as 23 by another student at EMU last semester.

Odd thing is; I'm 28. Touching 30.

How is it that people my age typically get old so fast that I look so young to others?

Very strange...

Now munching liesurely through Idoru. And noting a marked improvement in Mr. Gibson's ability to plot things.

Virtual Light kept me reading because I started it and it was fairly painless. Idoru actually calls me back to it from across the room. It says, "Guess what's next! Now isn't that interesting?" to me.

Although I don't find Gibson's writing particularly fun to read. It does itch my brain in a way that makes me anxious to continue.

I was a junior in college. A new college. New people who already had friends. I was a thousand miles from home. My computer was busted (fried controller card). I felt alone.

I faced off the loneliness by reading. A lot.

One of the things I picked up in those days was a Japanese comic entitled: Battle Angel.* A story about a cyborg with no past, in a place she didn't understand. A story that helped me reach my own conclusions about ethics. A story that showed me why I should be honest with others and with myself even when there's nothing to be gained and no one will ever see it.

I followed the comic to it's conclusion in digest format. The strength and resonance of the experience is a chord that buzzes in my soul even today.

Yukito Kishiro, the comic's author and artist concluded the series earlier than he would have liked and had always regretted it. So he's currently giving the conclusion another go under the title Last Order.

Why bring this up now, you ask?

Well, this Wednesday marks the release of the first volume of Last Order in digest format. I, for one, am quite excited.

* Note, gentle readers; this comic has a great deal of violence and a passing amount of nudity in it. ^_~

Some intereasting commentary of issues related to my earlier post/discussion that I dug outta the discussion Xian linked to...

Analysis of issues from my previous post
Annotated Architect Converation

And on a completely unrelated note: Japanese Trucks! (Make sure to click the "Next" link--there are night pictures with them all lit up) What I wanna know is if those things are street-legal... Cause I want one! Badly!

Ester Drang and Starflyer 59 came through Ann Arbor and played the Blind Pig last night. Ester Drang was loud again. Starflyer rocked the hizouse like they always do.

The last time I saw a Starflyer show was in Columbus with Randy and Jeremy Rush. The band was going to be in Columbus, touring for their new album Americana (which was red--it was strange because it meant that they were straying into non-metalic album colors).

My hair was long then. We drove down in a borrowed car listening to a cassette of Fell Venus and painted our fingernails with glow-in-the-dark fingernail polish. Randy skanked and I engaged in my trademark interpretive lurching. And the audience gave us space to be wierd.

Fond memories...

You know what irks me?

The fact that people repeatedly complain about how The Matrix: Reloaded has a sex scene in it. But nobody has any problem with the over-the-top violence.

When I went in to see the movie, I knew there was going to be a sex scene in it. Point 1: The movie is rated R. Point 2: Every preview released for the film has a clip from the sex scene in it. I went into that movie, knowing there was a sex scene in it without a single spoiler.

A little research beforehand people... Don't take your kids to see R-rated flicks--just sayin'

Right. So Reloaded has a sex/rave scene in it.

This scene establishes a few of things characterization-wise:

• Neo and Trinity's relationship is intimate
• Trinity is a strong female character capable of being vulnerable
• It's a celebration of flesh. Thematically, the one empirical difference between humans and the AI.

This scene is 5 minutes long--tops (less if you clip out the tribal dance). No nudity.

Then the movie turns around and blows up cars, buildings, people; exercises endless forms of handfighting. For 2 hours you are treated to struggle and destruction. Agent Smith returns seeking answer to the question "Who am I?" in the only way he knows to deal with conflict, removing obstacles.

So people walk out of the movie after all this and they look at each other and say: "Sex scene?! That was totally inappropriate!"

Honestly, if there was something to worry about as a side-effect of this film, it's the desensitization to violence.

Your 10 year old kid isn't gonna run out and have sex after seeing this film. He's gonna run out and play Matrix by hitting other kids.

And, for God's sake people; DON'T TAKE YOUR KIDS TO R-RATED FILMS.

You are the gate-keepers of information, not the television.

My name is Shaun Gilroy and I liked The Matrix: Reloaded.

For those of you who this means anything to--

I beat the Final Battle in Advance Wars on turn 20 This time around...

Translation those of you not in the know: That's fast.

This weekend past, it was a productive one;

• I spent my entire Friday evening with Xian trying to fix our VGAP server (again).
• Andrea and I engaged in a rather extensive lightsaber duel in the toy section of Meijer
• I put some serious time into Beating Advance Wars for a 3rd time.
• I finished it off with a wide-screen viewing of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

I have to wonder how I fit it all in!

Did I mention I saw Finding Nemo this week?

Well I did. Twice.

And, as I was watching the movie the second time, I began to wonder if this film was inspired by Seaman.

Seaman was a Dreamcast game in which you had to raise an ugly human-faced fish and have conversations with it over the microphone controller attachment that shipped with the game.

The thing that most drastically steered me away from the game was the fact that Seaman creature was Ugly. Neither cute- nor cool-looking by any stretch of the imagination.

Watching the faces of the clown fish in Finding Nemo, I had to wonder if the guys at Pixar had played the game and realized how much better it would have been if the fish had been cute. Then they realized there was maybe a film hidden in there somewhere.

In any case. Finding Nemo delivers.

But you don't have to take my word for it.

Places to go: San Francisco

I'm working on a story set in SF right now. So, since I've never actually been to San Francisco, I'm reading San Francisco Off the Beaten Path and finding it to be a pleasantly written and interesting resource.

Of course there's no substitute for real life experiences. So I need to organize a field trip to some of these places I'll be writing about.

The real beauty of Science Fiction, really, is the creative laziness it allows you. What I don't know; I can cheat and make up. I'd feel worse about that if that wasn't exactly what I'd have to do even if the story was based in my homeland of Ann Arbor.

Because WotC Store in Great Lakes Crossing is stupid and is selling off all of their Non-WotC role playing stuff at 70% off, I was able to acquire the Godlike book for the most agreeable price of $13.

It's an incredibly interesting game setting. The big idea is that within the span of WWII, indivuduals with superhero-style talents began to appear (in a very x-men sorta way). And they were, of course, utilized by their particular governments for the war effort.

Superhero Roleplaying in a World on Fire.

An extremely intiguing concept. Gonna have to try and convince somebody to run an adventure or two. Anyone?

*ahem* Ed?