Getting Fresh With Me

Listening to: The Tragically Hip - It's a Good Life if You Don't Weaken
Watching: Bones
Playing: Silent Hill 4; Shadow of the Colossus

When you take a freshly purchased onion from your fridge, and peel off the skin to discover a thick fuzzy coat of deep blue mold--enough to insulate piping, stuff the world's most revolting pillow, or even enough to synthesize all the penicillin needed to treat Tommy Lee's infections for the next decade--do you, not only recoil in horror, natch, but want to find some tongs, so you can stomp back to store, go over to the grocery's produce manager, and make them lick it?

No?

Okay then.

The Shepherd, the Angel, and Walter the Christmas Dog

Dave's Christmas Book

I wonder if it will soon have a sequel, the Easter edition, that also includes the annual Hoisting of the Potted Hyacinths, when those Episcopalians get really loose...

Audio: Herbert West - Reanimator - Part 5 - The Horror From the Shadows by H. P. Lovecraft

And here we go, the fifth installment in our free audio book series of the classic Lovecraft serial, available in mp3 and ogg format.

From my Archive.org description:

This a Forbidden Dragon recording. Read by Marlo Dianne.

Part V of VI (5 of 6).

Many men have related hideous things, not mentioned in print, which happened on the battlefields of the Great War. Some of these things have made me faint, others have convulsed me with devastating nausea, while still others have made me tremble and look behind me in the dark; yet despite the worst of them I believe I can myself relate the most hideous thing of all--the shocking, the unnatural, the unbelievable horror from the shadows...

Convinced that death is merely mechanical failure, and that they can find a chemical mechanism to reboot the machine, West and our nameless narrator, are on the hunt for bodies--the fresher, the better. Through graveyards and laboratories, they want to find death, chase it, trap it, prod it, and defeat it. But when you chase something to within arm's reach, it can reach back...

Published in 1922 as a six part serial, Herbert West: Reanimator is a classic story of sci-fi and horror by H. P. Lovecraft. Atmosphere, language, and science blend effortlessly, timeless in this gruesome tale of a doctor of death.

Herbert West: Reanimator - Part 5 - The Horror From the Shadows by H. P. Lovecraft

My Prince Has Come...And Gone

I've finished Prince of Persia - The Two Thrones.

It's an improvement over Warrior Within, largely in that the real prince is back. I so missed his sweetly sarcastic voice overs. Of course, like the first two games, it has innovations, and some truly gorgeous art. It does not have the rich and compelling story telling of the first game, but it does attempt to return to that direction, after the WTF nonsense and sad skank that was peppered in Warrior Within. The idea of essentially pitting the real prince against the dark prince was brilliant, but I wish they had more time to play it out, and flesh things out more.

(must not spoil, must not spoil) I was annoyed at other characters returning as gutless helpless twits. I wanted to beat the pigs at Ubisoft with a studded cluestick.

The gameplay was mostly solid, with the just shy of insane challenge level that the POP games so smugly taunt you with. The final boss battle was terrible, boring and annoying, but then it wasn't *the* finale, and that was much better. I love how it looped back to the first game at the end, so even though it does play a tad short and light on the development, I didn't feel cheated. I beat the game in about 20 hrs of play, so it's only about 20% shorter in practical terms, but it's single-mindedness and tendency to skimp on details and fleshing makes it feel much shorter.

I do feel sad though that they say it will be the last game. With this and GTA calling quits at the same time, the future of gaming looks bleak. Oh, I know Ubisoft and Rockstar aren't going anywhere, but there is nothing to promise that their next entries will have the same strengths. I am sure their marketing guys are shaking and swearing, wet with sweat...

On Pain of Death

Listening to: Stabilo - Happiness and Disaster
Finished Watching: Deadwood Season 2

"Pain or damage don't end the world. Or despair, or fucking beatings. The world ends when you're dead. Until then, you got more punishment in store. Stand it like a man... and give some back."

--Al Swearengen, from Deadwood, "E.B. Was Left Out"

Observation

If you are watching Underworld with a chemist, there will be an annoyed comment that silver nitrate is colourless.

(Though not *quite* as annoyed as the comment when watching the X-Files and an 'NMR' of 'distilled water' is shown, and it has enough peaks to be whipped dessert topping.)

Temple of Cod, Now in Audio

Creative Guy Publishing (CGP), has begun releasing some of their titles in audio format.

The first title to get the audiophile treatment is Temple of Cod by Adrienne Jones, with narration by Tim Buchholz...

In their minds, hearts, or pasts, everybody has their demons.

If you're an artist, you're lucky, you can get them out on paper or canvas.

Once out, though, very few of those demons will punch you in the head. Even fewer will punch your buddies.

Meet Elliot. Elliot's demons are very real, very weird, and very, very pissed off.

The women in his life called him 'closed off'. So he looked inside of himself. Deep inside. What he found, he brought to the surface. And now, it's holding him hostage at his beachside cabin. Worst of all, it knows how to sing and dance.

Temple of Cod -- Let sleeping fish lie.

Sample and ordering info.

Oh, Look...A Fan Letter

From the comment trail...

[paste]

Anonymous said...

I'm posting this here because I see no e-mail comtact.

I am trying to listen to the libravox "dracula", and I CAN'T because every time I get to a "Marlo Diane" chapter, I have to SKIP It.

Diane, you have the annoying, whiny reading voice I have ever heard. It is just the same to WHINY notes, over and over.

Either TAKE lessons , or stop RUING Libravox with your UNLISTENABLE voice.

Are you deaf? DO you not listen to the chapters you record? Can you not hear how WHINY and ANNOYING you sound?

You SUCK.

Stop ruining libravox.

You must be a complete IDIOT.

Thank you.

8/05/2006 01:43:32 PM

[/end paste]

You can just imagine how special I feel.

Random Recommends

Listening to: Stabilo - Happiness and Disaster
About to Watch: Deadwood Season 2
C/D Novel Progress (rough draft): 29631 wrds

Jack Mangan's Deadpan:

A podcast with beautiful original music and interesting interviews. I also understand some odd people find it funny somehow.

Stabilo - Happiness and Disaster:

Yet another fantastic Canadian band. Haunting and gorgeously lyrical, you'll listen to every track over and over. Having MuchMusic was worth it for the single time I glimpsed 'Flawed Design'. I had to go find these guys *immediately*, and they've been in heavy rotation ever since.

Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory:

Because Johnny defines enthralling. He hasn't always been in great movies, but he is always great, being so deliciously weird and all. I watched these nearly back to back and you can't believe it's the same guy (other than the weirdness, natch). I was disappointed in the first Pirates movie, but not this one. I love movies, but I rarely suffer the movie theatre. Once a year, at most, is all I can take. But Pirates 2 was well worth it for the visuals of the ships alone, even if Johnny doesn't, ah, float your boat. :D

Unconditional Love:

I never heard of this movie, and caught it on my sat on a random click. I only caught the second half or so, but it was so bizarre and wonderful. Both sweet and a laugh riot. You know, what chick flicks should be, but never are.

Sign of the Beast?

I finish my Underworld / Constantine double bill, and when I switch off the PS2, and back comes the tv sat, there, in shameless glory, is Hasselhoff in concert.

Coincidence? Discuss.

Reading Rainblow

From my local library...

Haunted by Kelley Armstrong:

The Elena, ie. werewolf, books had me fleeing in a few pages, fairly queasy, in all the wrong ways. I was eventually convinced by a friend to try the Paige books, and found those much better. More flowing prose, and a narrator who didn't make me want to throw up, that was handy. Plus, there were some excellent moments of humour. In this one, we get the story told by Eve, and while it wasn't quite as sharp as I was hoping, it certainly wasn't dull either; I read most of it in one sitting. There's some good bits here.
Recommended.

The Truth (With Jokes) by Al Franken and 1776 by David McCullough:

I grouped them together because they did the same thing to the same effect. They both took something that I *know* is fascinating, and with terrible prose and indifferent delivery made it so soul crumblingly boring that I could not slog past the first chapter of either book. I glazed over so much that I was reading paragraphs over, not remembering what I had just read. Very disappointing. Pass.

In Her Shoes by Jennifer Weiner:

I had the abridged audio book, and it was *still* boring. I thought it had a bit of promise in the beginning, helped by the reader's sarcastic delivery, but by the end of the first CD it hadn't gone anywhere that interesting, and I just couldn't be bothered to insert CD 2 (of 5). Pass.

Tales for a Stormy Night by Yuri Rasovsky:

Ugh. In an audio book, the reader / narrator is everything, and these readers were... Well, I tried three different tales, but never got past the first paragraph of so for any of them. Among the problems for me were bizarre unnatural pauses that made the sentences impossible to follow, a reader who was delivering each word in a different voice, and another who was reading in such a low and lifeless monotone it sounded like he had been unwillingly roused from nap. Pass.

The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie:

I had high hopes for this one, and the first half mostly delivers, being both interesting and readable with elegant detail and touches of twisted and biting humour. Sadly, the second half gets very caught up in plotting and becomes more of a traditional straight action thriller type book, which is real letdown because, you guessed it: it's boring. Sigh. Still, it's Laurie's only book, and worth a look for part one. Scour your library for a copy.