Current mood:

bouncy

2008 Year End Review Meme!
[ripped from the paws of elabeth]

01. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before?

You know how, in the movies, there's a crisis...  terrorists... the Korean War... bridal sale... whatever.  Some random person gets hurt and they can't breathe, so the hero tries to save their life and has to jab a pen in their neck so they can take in oxygen through the tube?

That's something I didn't do this year.

I'm hoping 2009 will give me the chance to jank someone silly in the throat.

I don't really do this.  So either I did, or didn't keep them, depending on your perspective. 

I will continue this trend into 2009.  (Now there's a resolution I'll keep.)

Okay, fine, here's a resolution:

I will see the new Star Trek flick on opening night. 
Or the next night. 
Opening weekend, at the very least. 
Definitely on DVD. 
Or maybe I'll just download a shitty cam...
I've seen picutres from it, at least.

No, but -- wow -- quite a few people I'm friends with are suddenly in the process of manufacturing miniature hybrids of themselves.

It's a damned strange feeling.

My first reaction is surprise, because initially I think "wow, that's a pretty young age to start a family".

But then I remember just how fucking old I am now, and that most of my friends are only a good 3-6 years younger than me. 

I come back down to earth and realize that this is actually a fairly average age for people to engage in that sort of business.

At that point, if I ever drank, drinking would then ensue.

(Note: Those of you who are older than me, please
forgive me.  I can't imagine you, too, didn't suffer
some sort of "age anxiety" once you hit your thirties.)

Thankfully, nobody I actually knew.

There were people I wanted to have die, but instead I wasted that genie wish on world peace.  Still waiting on that one.

I have a UPS tracking number and everything.  It's still "in transit" somewhere in New Jersey...

Dude.  I went all over the goddamn place.  I trotted the globe so hard that I was like a Harlem Globetrotter.
(If you define "all over the place" to roughly mean "to work and back", that is.)

<cryptic>Freedom.</cryptic>

April 29th, 2008.  A date that will live in infamy.

Why? 

Because, without getting sappy, there isn't any one particular date.  There were several.  So I just picked a date at random.  Eat it.

You mean besides just existing.  HA HA!  Self-hate for the win, as they say!

Well, let's see... I failed to stop that bomb from going off, that one time, killing all the people at Pizza Hut.  But, for reals dawg, that wasn't my fault.  I had to get back home because LOST was on in like 15 minutes and I didn't want to have to download it later.  That would have been a real hassle, because I refuse to watch a show if I've missed even a minute of it.

Seriously though, my lack of finishing my project for the Retro Remakes Compo brought me quite a bit of shame.

Aside from assorted minor cuts, bruises, dry skin, or whatnot, I've been pretty lucky this year. 

I didn't "accidentally" fall on a saw blade and spill my brains all over the pavement like I did in 2007.  WHEW.

It's a tie between the Xbox 360 and my HDTV.  They're both quite lovely, and go together. 

I really like my new laptop, too. 

Oh wow, it sounds like I'm completely rich or something now.

Listen, these things were spread out over the year, gotten relatively cheaply, and are the result of sheer luck. 

You get the hell away from my Porsche, too.  I don't want to find any scratches.  I just had it painted.  Leopard print paint is hard to come by for cars.

Do you really think I keep track of this shit?  Do you think I made a list?  What am I?  Santa Claus?  Listen, I don't have the reindeer for that.  I can't afford it.  Besides, I could never get my apartment zoned for keeping reindeer.  Believe me, I've tried.  The best I can manage are little bucks made from multi-colored pipe cleaners.  And brother, those things don't fly.

The big obvious answer is to go the political route.  But these things have all been said a million times over.  It's done.  I haven't made reference to them in a long time, so I'm leaving it be.

The REAL behavior that angers me has to be that of Microsoft.  I got into their NXE beta program toward the end of it's run, and reported that the update broke the audio output over the HDMI connection.  It's completely silent.  You have to do magic tricks popping out the hard drive to enable it every single time you want to use the damned thing.

It was reported.  Others reported it. 

The update went out anyway, as scheduled.  And it's still broken.  Microsoft has broken my 360 for essnetially the last 2 months now, and I've yet to hear of any plans to fix this, or even official acknowledgement.

Why the fuck did you bother having a beta test?  YOU DO THAT TO FIND AND FIX BUGS BEFORE RELEASE.

Oh god, I'm getting pissed just writing this... where the hell is my Excedrin?

The Fortymobile.  I swear to god I will blow that goddamn thing up.

I got PANTS-SOAKINGLY STOKED when I started to write this post.  And so far it's not disappointing me.

"Shut the fuck up" has a nice ring to it.  I hate questions like this.

...have much shorter hair.

I went ape-shit in a fit of depression back in August and severed my once-luscious locks. 

I don't regret it.  But if I had to do it again, I'd get a professional to do it instead of just hacking away in a mirror...

That said, I think I'm going to try to grow it out again.  I'm not sure yet.  I just sort of miss having a pony tail, I guess.  I haven't made a decision on it yet...  However, if I do, that means I have to figure out how to somehow skip past the dreaded 'mullet' stage without looking like a douchebag and ending up a source of ridicule on 4chan.

Maybe I can get a clip on pony tail.  And a clip-on tie.  And then I can hook the clip-on tie to the clip-on pony tail and fling it into the street and let people try to figure out what the hell it is.

Exercise.  I've slacked a bit in the last 2 to 3 months.  I don't like it.  I really fucking hate winter.

Coding.  I've been coding a lot less this year.  I'm finally starting to burn out, I think.  I had a project being worked on for a coding competition, but thanks to work beating the shit out of me, I simply didn't have the time or will to hit the deadline.

I sometimes eat crackers.  Multi-grain Club crackers.  And not just one or two, but like, a whole sleeve of them.  I'm a pig.  That can't be good for me, especially combined with the first part of #18.

I also have an unhealthy additiction to toast or english muffins with peanut butter spread on top of it.

Not good.

Like most previous years, it was quiet.  Didn't have a tree this year, though. 

I didn't get anything, but I did, however, give.  I found that far more enjoyable.  Good lord, that must be a sign of age.  Usually I just don't participate.  At all.  But this year I got stuff for a couple people.  It's more fun than it has a right to be.

Well...I met Kristy (monsterhouse) back in February.  She's the best.  It sucks that we don't live closer.  We might, you know, go out for pizza.  Or something.

I feel a bit guilty about not saying anything about her on here, but I don't really discuss everything here.  Suffice it to say, she's the best thing to happen to me.  She's awesome.  I'm truly humbled. ♥ ^_^'

Torchwood REALLY impressed me in it's second series.  This was a complete surprise for me, because after the first half of Series 1 I'd pretty much written it off as oversexed and uninspired.  Bringing James Marsters on board for a couple episodes was enough to get me to watch again.  More simply: I came for the Marsters, but found myself staying for the show itself long after he left.  Eagerly awaiting a third series.

Doctor Who's fourth series fell down my list of favorites pretty hard this season.  I love the show, but RTD's 'misses' actually hurt his 'hits'.  I don't hold out much hope for what new material is to come from the final few episodes under his watch in 2009.  The Christmas special, The Next Doctor, however, got the final four off to a promising start.

I discovered and finally watched Spaced.  HIGHLY recommended.  Quite pleased that the US remake of it burned in flames.  We would have ruined that show.

Saw season 1 of '24'.  Excellent show.  I kind of like the arc of S1 as presented, and I'm not sure if I'd care to see it run into the ground...

...speaking of which, that brings me to the other series I got myself caught up on: Heroes.  After years of hearing about it, I finally took the plunge.  Season 1 stands as one of the most enjoyable television I've had the pleasure of watching.  With the loss of Bryan Fuller as writer to work on Pushing Daisies toward the end of the first season, the show would never be this good again.  Instead, the prematurely aborted second season presented a show that almost seemed surprised by it's own success, caught with it's britches down without a plan.  Ideas were recycled.  Characters mixed up, spun around, and doing things that didn't quite make sense for them.  Season 3 improved things marginally, but it still was almost a chore to get through.  Luckily for the show, Bryan Fuller will return for the second half of the season, hopefully bringing his magic murder bag with him, giving us a half season that was as compelling as the first once again.

Pushing Daisies returned for it's second season, only to be cancelled despite nearly universal high praise.  Why this sort of thing happens is a mystery to me.  The viewers are there.  Are they just not selling enough ads to cover the cost of the show?

Putting a finite number on how many episodes are left in LOST's run, it's fourth season, now shorter, was far more brisk with each episode advancing the plot, instead of just teasing us with network-appeasing filler.  Season 5 kicks off in just under a month, and looks to be even better.

Earlier this month I discovered Metalocalypse and became an instant fan.  Caught up on the entire series.  It just clicks for me.  Absolutely hilarious shit.

I started watching The Daily Show on a more regular basis, thanks to Hulu.  Always been a fan, but hadn't gotten to see it as often as I would have liked.

Also on Hulu, I gave The Office (US) a whirl, in it's current season.  I didn't last long.  I adore the original UK series, and enjoyed the first handful of US episodes for what they were.  But... gah.  I just can't.  How the hell many years will they stretch that shows concept out?  Maybe I just hit a bad batch of episodes and there's much better... unfortunately I probably won't find out.

Then there was Aqua Teen Hunger Force, the show I tend to fall asleep most nights thanks to a DVD with about ~40 episodes in DivX format crammed onto it.  It started off with three episodes not actually containing the Aqua Teens.  They were... well, they were fun but without Shake, Frylock, and Meatwad they got tedious.  A little Carl goes a long way.  But three episodes of nothing but him... oy.  Interestingly, at the very least it introduced a modicum of continuity between episodes for a period of time.  The gas leak.  Marcula.  And the Teens being cocooned in a cave in the Mojave Desert.  Didn't last long though, thankfully.  Favorites this season: Laser Lenses, The Marines, Bible Fruit, Shake Like Me (to be aired in 2009, one of four early unaired releases on the S6 DVD set).

Fuckin' Venture Brothers is still as strong as ever in it's third season.  Not too pleased with what they did to #24, however.  :F

Other shows of note that I started watching and enjoying:

• 30 Rock
• NCIS
• Dead Zone

I may be forgetting some, but that's the basics.

I think it's safe to assume that I watched far more television this year, than I ever did in previous decade combined.  Maybe. 

Only a fraction of it was actually seen when originally broadcast over the air. 

Ponder that, networks.

In 2009 I hope to finally watch Battlestar Galactica.

And maybe Babylon 5.  No promises.

Nintendo. 

Okay, not "hate".  I'm just kind of tired of them.  I had their back ever since the NES era -- hell I had a R.O.B. -- but I've finally made my break with them as a dedicated fanboy.

I've seen how awesome a console can be through the 360, and after getting that taste, it's hard to even look at the Wii and take it seriously.

All the problems that I glossed over back at the start of this generation were put up with simply because we knew that all that mattered were the games.  If the games were good, it didn't really matter if the graphics weren't as nice.

That's still true. 

And that's the problem.

Nintendo, as a platform, has gotten soft.  Really soft.  Softer than the Gamecube era.  It started promising, but it nosedived, and you can thank the casual game market for that.  The Wii is up to it's gills in shovelware, but the machine has a near supernatural lure to the uninititated.

Quite simply, they're rolling in the jack, and there is no incentive for this to change any time soon. 

I will be quite interested in seeing how they fare in the generation after this one.  I doubt they will be able to get away with simply duct-taping two of their previous gen consoles together like they did with the Wii.

Soul of a New Machine
iWoz
Head First into Design Patterns

I haven't finished them, but those are a sampling of some I've enjoyed lately.  I have trouble actually finishing books nowadays.  I can't focus anymore.  (I also find that I don't type as well as I used to.  Way moareerorsantypoes.  I'M OLD.  Or something.)

I've actually found myself getting more into music this year. 

I'm still a fucking dunce when it comes to names and titles, but I'm looking more into indepdendent bands and such, looking for that next addictive aural fix. 

I never used to crave good music before.  I used to go numb at the idea of exploring anything outside of my usual staple of Aerosmith, Megadeth, Floyd, Machinae Supremacy, and so forth. 

I'm growing.

See #11.

A raise.

It's a tie between Iron Man and The Dark Knight.  TDK is the better flick on a technical and artistic level, but Iron Man is just plain nuts-out fun.

Other flicks I enjoyed in no particular order: Cloverfield, Wall-E, Incredible Hulk, Hancock.

Indiana Jones & the Crystal Skull gets a special mention for two reasons (and not because it was any good):

1. It was controversial as fuck, but a long time coming -- almost as fun as Phantom Menace's ability to polarize and anger fans.
   
   
2. It had a couple scenes filmed in New Haven, and more enjoyably for me, at the Essex Valley Railroad on board the very trains and station were I worked in 1995.

I went to work, and in a surprising twist, I came home.

I turned 32.  Just like how bread left out for a week "turns".

Being a power of 2 made it sting a little less.  I doubt I will be nearly as impressed when I'm 64.

I'm finding more rogue grey hairs.  This is starting to upset me.

Being able to emit laser beams from my eyes would have kicked it up a notch, I think.  Having a car that didn't act like it have an incurable disease would have been a nice touch, too.

The epic t-shirt and jeans ensemble continues it's multi-decade march. 

The jean jacket look, however, is starting to wear a bit thin.

Finding a new hobby that I really enjoy in photography.  Kristy, Furtim, Disdain.  LJ.  Sleeping.

Who did I "fancy"? 

I guess I have a celeb-geek-crush on Felica Day.  (But who has transistors in their veins and doesn't.)  She's replaced Alyson Hannigan for me, who stopped being "geek-friendly attractive" a long time ago, and became merely mainstream attractive.  Shame.

Wil Wheaton continues to prove himself awesome, too.  (And I mean that in a totally non-gay interpretation of 'fancy'.  Asshole.)

What am I? 

A stew? 

Hrm.

I'd have to say the behavior of John McCain's supporters cranked my blood pressure a tad.

Not ALL of them.  I'm not going to throw a blanket over the entire group.

Just that very special subset of individuals who saw him as a shining beacon of Caucasian Christian sensibilities that would save them all from the gay-friendly evil liberal hordes of The Well-Spoken Devil Negro trying to smash down the walls of their White Castle. 

The closet racists that used the political race as a chance to exercize their hate muscles publically under the thin guise of Rebpublican vs. Democrat.

These epic shit stains on society who rallied around their candidate simply because he "wasn't the black guy".  (It didn't help that the candidate in question didn't do a great deal to stop it -- hell, he needed every vote he could get.)

This whole election was a perversion.  At least history was made, despite the odds.

Done with this.

George Carlin.

With all my heart.

Aside from the loss of my dog Penny in 2001, his was the biggest loss I'd ever faced.*

It sounds cheesy, but he was like a second father to me.  Granted, one that I never met, and only saw on stage, and in interviews, but still.  He was one of the few people that I really looked up to and could proudly consider a 'hero'. 

He had a great deal of influence on my life over the years.  He inspired me to be creative with humor and anger.  He taught me that with the right timing and delivery, even a mundane story can be hilarious.  No topic should be taboo, if the joke is there.  Life is too short and meaningless to pander to peoples stupidity.

On stage he was an absolutely unstoppable force of nature. 

But off-stage, he was the nicest person you can imagine. 

I've never failed to be impressed by his ability to balance the two halves. 

George always said, "if you scratch a cynic you find a disappointed idealist".

We shall not see his like again, I should think...

* I've been lucky not to lose a human family member or close friend yet, so please bear with me.

See #22. :)

Also, every year I meet several interesting people via LJ.  This year was no exception.

I was going to create a list shout-outs to them, but this post is already running long, and I can't seem to get a definitive list of who added me this year. 

You know who you are.  I would give you a tin of chocolate cookies or something if I could.  Glad to have you aboard!

And for those that left, and didn't tell me why, well... sorry for being a dick.  (I guess?)

I don't expect any sort of notice when that happens, in the end, this is all just for entertainment and should be drama-free.  Most of us are "adults". 

But for those that did, it's appreciated, I understand, and you'll be missed.

It's not hopeless.  Seems like it.  But hang in there. 

Just like the kitty cat on the motivational poster.

Sicky sweet, but true.  Usually.

Never gonna let you down.
Never gonna run around and desert you.
Never gonna make you cry.
Never gonna say goodbye.
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you.

(I bet this is a real original answer.  *snort*)

Nope.

See you in 2009, folks!