First World Problems
My computer's been clunky lately and Thursday morning when I got home from work, the only thing that displayed on the screen was a folder labeled with a question mark.
Having no patience for such introspection from a very expensive appliance, I attempted various Mac-specific fixes to no avail. I dropped it off at Mac Specialists on the way to check on my Mom (who was in the hospital getting her Gall Bladder removed). Friday I was informed that the hard drive is shot. Fortunately, it was still under warranty from the time it got repaired after being struck by lightning. I should get it back late next week.
In the interim, Kuroi, my netbook with the tiny keyboard, has been crashing with demoralizing regularity. Last night I had a friend look at it and discovered that MacAfee was dueling with the Norton that was bundled with the machine but was ostensibly never activated.
It's slow and I can't do frame grabs with this set-up, but I can actually poke about online for the first time since Wednesday night.
In other news, after a brief scare where she tried to pick up her grandaughter and opened herself up, Mom is doing much better, though it is a chore to keep her from lifting anything.
Dad goes under the knife in two weeks for a hernia operation. I'll be super mister butler man for six weeks thereafter, so I' withdrew (early enough for a refund) from the two summer classes I was taking. I may take them in one of the later summer sessions.
Anyway, as compensation for having sat through that banality bombardment, here is Kem Kem's rendering of 'Rei' Yamamoto, from Yamato 2199..
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Hmmm, red eyes. That would be kinda freaky looking up at you from the pillow.... :-)
I can sympathize having gone through computer troubles of my own. (and I long for System 8.6's lack of a need to reinstall your apps after an update.). It's one update after another, it seems.
Posted by: Mauser at Mon May 27 01:24:31 2013 (cZPoz)
OK. Here Is The Real Scoop on This Story
The story going around with this pic is that some HOA would not let a fellow fly an American flag and this was his response...
Now HOAs are a pernicious blight upon our civilization and and those that run them and think they are swell are bad and should feel bad. Thus there is a lot to like about this story. However, this story breaks down upon the slightest thought. The quidnuncs that form Home Owners Associations are going to have as one of their first despicable acts, strict rules on what colors their victims can paint their houses. Thus this made little sense unless the fellow was just going whole hog in an effort to stick his thumb in their eye.
It turns out after 2 minutes of image searching that this is actually a dispute with a local historical society. Historical societies that enforce repair regulations are like HOAs with government sanction so this is actually even a better story than the fake (assuming Captain America here doesn't end up in jail).
1
HOAs having veto over the color of your house is exactly why I thought the store was fake as such, but I love the actual version even better.
Victorians come in such a wide variety of colors I can believe there aren't any restrictions on paint--I've seen black ones, pink ones, and other odd color combinations.
Posted by: RickC at Wed May 22 12:10:02 2013 (WQ6Vb)
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Eh, it's not the end of the world. Lots of advances in microsurgery, and it's almost outpatient. Sounds like they plan to keep me around for a bit for observation, but the doc says I should be back at work in a week or two after the surgery. He's one of the top ten neurosurgeons in the country.
The real pain is that I was getting established in a new section and role post-stroke (the measures I took to ensure stress reduction at work were swift, effective, and left bruises), and now this. My plans involved working 5-10 more years and at least one more promotion. Instead I'm burning all my vacation and sick time, then taking unpaid leave. Not good.
Posted by: ubu at Thu May 23 09:37:48 2013 (GfCSm)
Gargantia Episode 7
In this episode we learn a few things.
Though its area has been reduced considerably by the grinding and pressure the now thawed global glaciers exerted as well as the rising sea levels of the now completely melted icecaps, there IS dry land...just not much.
Note the chart behind Ridget
We find out who the staff are that surround Ferrock most of the time. They are the leaders of the three other major fleets that have signed contracts to join with Gargantia. They signed a renewable contract submitting their external affairs to Gargantia, acknowledging the associated policies and the fact that Ferrock is in overall charge but they directly run their own fleets.
We find out that Whale Squid are held in high esteem by the populace of Gargantia and attacking them is considered a faux pas on the order of killing an albatross and is sufficiently bad luck to have anyone that does it risk becoming a pariah.
If you saw the last episode you can probably guess how we found that out......oops.
We learned some other things too....
After Ledo (convinced that it is a Hideauze) attacks the whale squid, he crawls up onto a barge covered in whalesquid guts....I was previously under the impression that the whale squid was just a big ass squid, but a close inspection during this episode revealed that it had too many eyes....and then there is this amongst the squid chitterlings....
THAT is something I never bothered to screencap. But we've seen them before. It's a Hideuze tooth much like the ones our hero had carved into a flute for Amy and her brother.
Ledo and Bellows are interrogated by Ridget due to the gravity of the situation.
Attacking,
let alonekilling a whalesquid is deeply frowned upon, not only because
of folk tales, but because they are extremely dangerous animals that
can devastate an entire fleet.
Ledo tries to explain that the Hideauze are a transcendental threat and the fleet must take action.
He explains through his auto-translate that he is duty bound to destroy this Hideauze outpost. Ridget points out that Whalesquids have been around as long as anyone can remember and are in general only a threat if molested. They are extremely powerful creatures however, and killing one could endanger everyone under their charge.
It seems that Bellows and Ledo were salvaging equipment in an area with a lot of Whalesquid activity Before the Whalesq...HIDEAUZE showed up and Ledo engaged it there were indications (unconfirmed) that the area was a treasure trove of pre-cataclysm tech.
Knowing this, Pinyon attempts to put together a crew to explore the wreckage and tries to hire Bellows to dive for him in whalesquid territory. She refuses, mocking him and his dreams as childish and prideful....She perhaps goes too far as it is revealed to be common knowledge that Pinyon's brother was killed by a whalesquid. Pinyon nearly looses it and almost hits Bellows before he leaves.
We also find out that Ferrock is indeed in poor health and he is advised to take time off and stay in a wheelchair.
Ledo stops trying to speak the language and goes around trying to explain to people the peril he believes they are in.
To remove any doubt for him, Chamber, Ledo's Giant Robot confirms that a genetic
test he ran came back positive for Alien Enemy of Humanity.
Ledo decides he has no choice, he suits up and prepares to go battle the Hideauze to save the people of Gargantia.
At this point a HUGE pod of them is detected heading for the fleet. Ferrock orders silent running and has all ships cut power. To assist morale he (with GREAT difficulty) stands up, walks to the con, grabs hold of a railing and remains standing for the duration of the crisis.
Ledo fears that if the creatures get within striking distance of the fleet, they will annihilate it before he can stop them. However, he is stopped short of his mech by Ridget and several armed Gargantians. Ridget says that if the fleet is attacked she'll have no objection to him cutting loose, but she threatens to shoot him to prevent him from attacking first.
The Hideauze pass directly under the fleet causing some eerie vibrations but no fatalities.
Ledo stands down.
EPILOG:
Pinyon meets with the council of captains and formally requests to be released from his contract. Pinyon wants to attempt to salvage the advanced tech he believes is in Hidaeuze territory he's assembled a volunteer crew to that end and Ledo has agreed to work for him. If they are lost it will be away from Gargantia and Gargantia will be under no contractual obligation to get involved at all.
At this point a bombshell is dropped.
Flange, the leader of one of the largest fleets joins Pinyon in asking to be released from his contract. He states that the technology of the great lost age is worth great risk for the benefits it could gain humanity. He makes clear that he harbors Gargantia no ill will and hopes one day to return.
Ferrock os horrified at this for a number of reasons. The loss of Flange's ships will gut the fleets defensive capability. Unstated, it probably occurs to Ferrock that Squid aliens will not be impressed with the legalities of severing contracts should they come bent on revenge. If this HAS occurred to Ferrock he's not saying because as the episode is ending he's suffering a massive heart attack.
Wow.
What's neat about this is that there don't seem to be any real villains. Even Pinyon's motivations while certainly ambitious are not entirely without merit. If the ruins/wreckage pan out then it could indeed be a boon for all humanity. Ledo is actually trying to save everyone and Ferrock and Ridget have perfectly reasonable reasons to doubt him.
It does raise some questions:
Given that the Hideauze tend to attack whenever people come across particularly advanced tech it may be that they are keeping humanity down as if they were in a zoo or something.
How advanced IS humanities tech and how much was lost?
How did humanity survive the cataclysm, and where did the ships come from?
Are the nanomachines the fleet draws power from HUMAN tech or Hideauze?
This is a very well thought out story so far. I'm really, really enjoying this show. more...
1
I'm entertaining the idea that
the whale squids are sapient, and their swim-by was a deliberate show of force. "OK, you killed one of us. It better be the last."
Episode7 Attack on Titan
After the horror and flashback to yet more horror in the previous two
episodes this one begins with a somewhat upbeat revelation...As far as
is known there were no civilians eaten by the giants! Everyone made it
through the gates before they were closed except the soldiers fighting
the delaying action. The military, however has suffered mightily and as
the episode begins Mikasa is going back to rejoin her friends and
assist in the survivors in an orderly retreat. She arrives to find Sasha Potato Girl trying to rally a bunch of thoroughly demoralized troops, which include Armin.
And then, Mikasa's eyes...just sort of die.
I must say this about the artists in this show. They really have the portrayal of dead, soulless eye's down pat.
I mean they've nailed it. The stills don't quite do the effect of this
justice. While not particularly graphic the dead thousand yard stares in
this episode are haunting in a way that really stays with you.
Of course, in MIkasa's case this is due to her leaning about Erun's fate. As one would expect she does not handle it well...
Here is the situation.
Their martial art involves a harness that includes power operated
cables, grapling hooks and ascenders all powered by natural gas
cylinders and supplemented by very short bursts from a rocket in the
small of the back. This allows them to swing about like fighters in
some Xia brothers film and get to the vital spot on the back of a giants
neck.
Well, after all that fighting, their gas cylinders are running low and
without them they cant hope to make it to the wall, let alone scale it
to reach safety. There is a facility with a recharge facility, but it is
overrun by giants and most of the logistical command staff have fled.
Potato Girl and a male recruit named Connie Springer are trying to
organize an assault on the place to get at the natural gas depot and
relieve those trapped inside , but no one will move.
At this point Mikasa of the dead eyes motivates everyone by the
straightforward method of calling them all cowards and not worth saving
and that she'll kill all the giants herself and abandon them...but they
can come if they want.
It's unclear if motivation was her intent but it has that effect.
On the way Mikasa is separated from the group when she runs out of gas.
Armin and Connie detach to find her but she has crashed in a heap at the
foot of a giant in the wrong end of a dead end alley. As she
contemplates why she is continuing to resist the inevitable, another
giant shows up and rips the giant menacing her asunder....Armin arrives
and scoops Mikasa up to the roof. He gives her his (barely used)
cylinders and blades. He, Connie and Mikasa watch the bizarre
spectacle of the Aberrant Titan vanquishing others while ignoring them.
This episode ends with our protagonists pretty much in the same position
as when it began, but a lot happened in between their making little
progress. This battle is in it's third episode, and yet it doesn't seem
to be dragging yet....which is unusual.
Mikasa had a moment of introspection that was interesting in that it had
two aspects. On the one hand she determined that she is not going to
give in to despair and she will fight to the bitter end. This is pretty
straightforward and while well stated and inspiring it's not really
unusual. What was unusual was the other thing she concluded. She
reflected upon the fact that she's in a defacto leadership position and
reflects on how this entails a good deal of DOWNWARD s well as upward
loyalty.
Mikasa has been portrayed throughout the show as a very decent person,
but she really does grow in this episode even as she dies on the inside.
There aren't many shows where this has come to the fore and off the top
of my head I can think of only three other fictional fantasy female
leaders who have had this virtue. Meia Gisbourne and the Captain in Van
Dread, and to a slightly lesser extent Bellows in Gargantia. This may
not be a focus of the series but it is was refreshing to see this
ethical point addressed.
There was also plenty of dystopic horror, and gruesomely gruesome gruesomeness, so the show hasn't had a sudden shift in tone...it's still
hard to watch. But it remains intelligent and I note that nothing in
this show has been extraneous...so that crazy ass giant means something.
Also, for those who've been watching the show : what happened to the key?
The March of Technology
I don't know WHERE I got this. It was in my unsorted .gif folder.
It's interesting though as it does show how music media evolved over 27 years and how fast the changes became in the 2000s.
So...
I have some friends on Twitter who wonder "What's the big deal?" "Why RU so upset? H8er!!!" I have one friend who wrote in Davros in the last election...because he couldn't see any difference.
140 characters is not enough to explain anything involving complexity,
so for them I'll go point by point to the best of my abi....what?
"PoliTIIIIIIICCSSSS!" "Oh GOD! MAKE HER STOP" "Put it below the fold PLEASE!"
A Catastrophic Spelling Mishap
Not long ago I was reading thread on a naval history forum that discussed a proposal by the German Navy to use their Biber midget submarines in the Mediterranean Sea as well as for local defense. Attacks were contemplated on Alexandria as well as some other North African harbors.
Unfortunately the thread initiator made an error which rather derailed the thread....
Surprises: Attack on Titan has lots of them,. Gargantia on the Verduous Planet has surprises too, but they are usually of an entirely different sort.... more...
1
As they say on Twitter, "Gargantia:
even if you have no marketable skills, you can find love with an underage exotic dancer".
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Wed May 15 10:49:34 2013 (RqRa5)
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Yeah.
Regards the latest episode.
That whole bit in the restaurant was...odd. I actually did a double take wondering if it really was them because it seemed to make no sense that it was.
They did mentioned earlier that they were doing a dance 'for the festival' but I'm still not seeing how that cameo makes any sense...
...unless Pete's assessment is correct.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Wed May 15 12:20:00 2013 (F7DdT)
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OK I just rewatched it...It's a cafe in a food COURT and the stage act IS part of the run up to the festival. (God knows what the main act was). I was confused because most of the actual festival takes place off camera.
It was still a bit gratuitous.
Though not as gratuitous as the "SEE!? WE'RE HIP! WE HAVE GAYS!!1!! AND THEY'RE ALL OVER THE TOP QUEENS BECAUSE....GAAAY!!. LOOK AT OUR CRAZY GAY PEOPLE. THE'VE GOTTEN OUT OF THE GAY CAGE!! WE'RE EDGY! IT'S NOT ASSAULT BECAUSE...THEY'RE GAY...SO THEY CAN'T HELP IT. IT'S FUNNY. AND IF YOU DISAGREE YOU'RE A H8ER UNLIKE US BECAUSE
"
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Wed May 15 13:13:39 2013 (F7DdT)
The series is set so far in the future it could be an evolved chipmunk or a gene modded chinchilla. It looks more like a cross between a Delmarva fox squirrel and a flying squirrel given the pointy ears.
I probably should have said flying squirellish indicator of female lead status.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Thu May 16 07:54:45 2013 (F7DdT)
One day, long ago, the world ended.
Huge giants just showed up and started...eating people. This seems to have coincided with a near complete technological collapse as society is now sporting renaissance era tech.
Society, furthermore now consists of a walled area of Europe that looks to be a bit smaller than Andorra. The walls, over 150 feet high seem impervious to the giants. As a hedge, there have been built two secondary walls protecting progressively smaller areas. For 100 years there have been no breaches and humanity has developed a sort of pleasant if neurotic normalcy within its' prison.
Within this womb of denial reside these three young misfits. Left to right we have...
Not Pictured: The high-octane-nightmare-fuel they are witnessing.
Armin, a bookish nerd who dreams of seeing the outside world.This heretical notion as well as his socially unacceptable belief that humanity is becoming too complacent about its tenuous hold on existence gets him beat up a lot. Fortunately for his longevity he is friends with... Erun, an athletic young man, who excels at fisticuffs and hangs out with the wrong sort of people (see above). As a result of this antisocial influence he has read the forbidden geography book Armin has squirreled away and dreams of seeing the ocean. When he gets old enough, he wants to join the Reconnaissance forces and explore the outside world. His parents do not approve, as the recon forces have a horriffic attrition rate. He's something of a hothead with a bit more idealism than sense. fortunately this is often tempered by his close proximity to... Mikasa, an orphan who is his adopted sister. Her parents were refugees from some mysterious, far away land called "Asia" so naturally, this being anime, she is cool as a cucumber and good at everything. Having suffered through great loss, she does NOT want to loose her adoptive family and she strives to assist in extricating Erun from his many self-inflicted challenges with a fervor that borders on co-dependency.
Well, as you can see from the expressions on our protagonists faces, in the course of the first episode things go downright pear shaped.
OK, the end of episode 1 and most of episode 2 involve a
particularly large giant 3-5 times as big as any others showing up and
kicking in the gate to the walled territory. The smaller giants then swarm
into the city where they begin devouring the populace. Meanwhile, the
military, who would find this situation tough in the best of times, is
very nearly useless due to having become complacent and confident behind
their walls. The soldiers are routed and most that are not devoured
flee. A few take the time to to assist the civilians like Hannes here.
We
first saw him in episode 1 drunk at his post and generally not
displaying a good military bearing. In episode 2 he runs in to engage a
giant, takes one look at it, realizes he is drunk, unfit to fight and
heads for the hills. However, he somewhat redeems himself when he
returns to save the kids, wrenching them from their mother as they
attempt to extricate her from the rubble of their house. He pulls them
out kicking and screaming as the giant he did not engage devours their
mother in front of them*. (I'll spare you the screen cap).
As
mentioned before there are 3 walls. They are called Rose, Maria and
Sina...in the course of episodes 1&2 the territory between Rose and
Maria is overrun. The gates of Wall Maria have to be closed to save
those inside and 1/3 of the human population is lost.
* We see Hannes later in episode 4. He's still the same friendly guy, but he's gotten his act together and has become the very demanding captain of the gate guard for Wall Maria. Hannes is determined to never repeat his mistakes and ensure others don't either. An interesting theme of redemption from a frequently dystopic show.
Attack on Titan actually has had quite a bit to say about the
dangers of complacency, the utter contempt ruling elites can develop for
those in the hinterlands, the necessity of freedom in healthy human
development and the cancerous rot that results from its absence...and it
often says them in the most graphically unsettling ways possible.
This show has has some extraordinarily disturbing visuals. If it were a live action film it might get an NC-17 rating. There is just something nightmarish on a primal level about people being eaten by big, naked, implacable giants that look like otaku.
Actually, nightmarish doesn't begin to describe it.
This is a gut wrenching show and difficult to watch but it is actually pretty interesting.
With a structure, that evolves into something very much like a war story, it successfully captures the horror and dread of going into combat in a way that few shows have. The show is full of surprises and there's already been some decent character development. I do like the fact that Erun, while very much a shonen lead arch-type is NOT possessed of some awesome power and is not really the best at anything...getting by instead on his wits and tenacity.
Episode three has a 5 year time skip. There is a brief flashback revealing that due to most of the croplands being between Maria and Rose there was a famine. This was alleviated by the straightforward method of organizing the adult males fom the overrun portion into a militia and sending them out with a small military force and some engineers to retake the occupied territories...and then locking the gate.
Other than that 3 and 4 are boot camp stories. Our heroes have enlisted and the cast triples in size as they deal with basic training and exposition on the shows signature martial art, a complex ballet involving swords and swinging through the air on wires. The other takeaway is that while one can apply for any position one wants. only the top 10 percent can get into the military police, only those with the best academic scores can get into the gate guards (it involves engineering) and the lowest performing end up in either the scouts or the regular guard force. This, as Erun points out is in fact ass backwards as everyone is striving to hone their giant killing skills to get as far as possible away from the giants in the interior compound. The front-line troops are set up to fail.
Erun, to the astonishment of everyone (except Mikasa and Arun, who know he's a loon) signs up for the Recon forces he strove so long to join. When questioned on the sanity of this he gives an impassioned speech that inspires several others to do so as well. Graduation day comes and the cadets are running about their duties on the wall in anticipation of their new assignments, when a 60 meter giant just...sort of...teleports in and kicks down the gate to Wall Maria.
And then things get bad....
Be advised that Attack on Titan does not shirk from showing women perishing in combat with all the same gruesomeness as the men. However, the series has several likeable and strong female characters, including Potato Girl here.
"Why yes. My name actually IS Potato Girl. You gotta problem with that?"
5 episodes in the show has really caught my interest and has a lot of potential. I intend to keep watching in the hope it lives up to it. I'm certainly looking forward to episode 6 because episode 5 seems to be taking the show in a very unusual direction.....
.No really...I GOTTA SEE EPISODE SIX!
Unfortunately, as I type this Crunchyroll has announced that...
Due to a materials delay, episode 6 will be delayed
Ghaa!
UPDATE: Well they finally showed number 6.
That was downright Wheadonesque.
This show is brutal but it is genuinely surprising me. At this point things have progressed so far that a more detailed & spoileriffic summary is really needed to discuss the show.
The reason for the stress regards Episode 6 was that Episode 5 ended on what I assumed was a cliffhanger.
In episode 5:
The Giants began flooding the city, but this time the military engaged with great determination and discipline albeit to little effect. However, Erun's team was completely green. When one of them was eaten, he rushed in rashly to avenge his fallen comrade, and his team followed him in support. Things went south very quickly as they ended up surrounded. Armin saw something particularly horrific and his brain went into BSOD mode. Erun was gravely injured and several of the likeable characters we'd come to know got eaten....including Armin...however Armin is a Player Character, is in the credits and that just cant stand so Erun overcame the pain of his missing foot and did a completely improbable rescue from the closing mouth of the Giant pulling Armin free!.....
However, this left him in a rather tenuous position...
Of course Erun is the main character. He has dreams and aspirations. His shirt is not red and....oh.
...and then our hero was bitten in half and swallowed. (Roll Credits)
Thus the anticipation of...
Episode 6:
I expected a cop out of some sort in this episode but...no...To my astonishment it appears that the protagonist is still quite dead!
The episode begins with some other soldiers who have stumbled upon the random crumbs of Erun's team which consist of lots of blood, Eruns hand and a catatonic Armin. Armin recovers enough to travel but is haunted by survivors guilt which is further fanned by one of the less likeable rescuers.
He advances to the rear and along the way finds progressively more disturbing imagery that forces him to confront the do or die nature of the world.
The rest of episode 6 is mostly a Mikasa story and between her kicking ass and dispensing justice....
...there is also a brief flashback to the murder of her parents*. This was an
incident in which Erun had saved her when he was 9 years old. She
immediately returned the favor. At the end of the episode she volunteers
to assist the units that are left behind and runs to check on Erun and
Armin's unit, unaware of the grim news she is about to receive.
Wow.
That was QUITE unexpected.
The closest thing I've seen to this was the opening episode of Gai Rei Zero which was an intentional misdirection, but that was only one episode.
This drives home a point that does not get enough attention in movies....
Those rows of crosses at Arlington and other war graves, the people under them were not supporting characters or supernumeraries. They were human beings with dreams, hopes ambition and just as much to contribute as anyone.
Erun has been the lead, the focus and the glue for the cast for 5 whole episodes. This is a remarkable decision and potentially quite interesting. The secondary characters are all quite quirky and this presumably means that Potato Girl and company will have more of a chance to shine.
This IS Studio IG so I assume that Mikasa will be the lead if anyone is. However I'm through assuming with this show.
* We also learn that even when the entirety of humanity is at the absolute end of it's rope and restricted to one tiny corner of the planet, there will still be pervy white guys willing to pay top dollar for an Asian chick.
Also this fellow who brought an M-5 Stuart to a pumpkin shoot.
Sadly, there were no 37mm pumpkins available, so he lost.
There's a fellow out past Zuni who has a Stuart that is apparently road (but not highway) legal, though that legality may be dependent on rural exemptions for farm equipment. . There's another Stuart in Crewe in front of the firehouse that at least for a time was hooked up to a radar gun and would train it's 37mm on and track speeding cars.
2
I think they are 30mm RARDENs, but they may well be big paintball guns.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Sat May 11 17:19:53 2013 (F7DdT)
3
After some googling, it looks like those are FV432s, originally with 30mm autocannon mounts. RARDEN, as you said. But it looks like they modified the mounts to take 40mm paintball cannon. I hope they require players to button up before they disengage safeties, a 40mm paintball round still looks like it might seriously mess up a person hanging out of a hatch.
Posted by: Mitch H. at Mon May 13 15:11:59 2013 (jwKxK)
Did I Think That, or Did I Post That?
Due to the unanticipated cram session, aside from a brief nap in the car, I got no sleep from Sunday morning until Tuesday. Tuesday night my attempt at sleep was thwarted by the vast quantities of espressos and other caffeine delivery methods I'd partaken of over the previous days. Wednesday, I had to work late, had niece duty and caught up on current events...which, along with lingering caffeine had me staring at the ceiling in dread after I went to bed. Thursday, I took all manner of caffeine to keep from falling asleep on the way to work which kept me up most of that night as well. By yesterday I was punchy and stupid but too wired to sleep. Various chores and errands as well as an ill-conceived desire to celebrate my matriculation kept me up till a bit after 11pm by which time I think I'd had less than 5 hours of sleep all week.
I woke up today at quarter to noon.
Ahhhhh....Sleeep.
Everything looks more colorful now.
I felt so much better as I drank my coffee and pondered my day...except for this silly nagging fear that....(checks SENT folder) .
..oh %$#!
...oh dear.
..Yes indeed.
Ray Harryhausen
Ray Harryhausen died Tuesday in London aged 92. He was a genius who really helped to perfect the stop motion techniques pioneered by his mentor Willis O'Brien.
In 1953 he did an expanded adaptation of Ray Bradbury's short story "The Foghorn" which became The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms. That film spawned the whole giant atomic monster genre of the 1950's including a Japanes film that was in some ways a re-imagining of the Harryhausen film...I seem to recall it began with a "G".
Harryhausen brought much magic to the screen in a series of modestly budgeted but exquisitely produced films in the the 50's and '60s, and was still doing effects work into the early '80s.
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