book buying tip # 429

Think twice before purchasing any tome cursed with an ominous subtitle along the lines of toward a ______ rhetoric of _______.


Nothing good can come of it, dear readers.

Ivan, inspiration to us all

Motivated by his stylish BLOG MAKEOVER (and also by the ceaseless march of the calendar year), I have updated the banner to match the tenor of our times.

Never let it be said that the Baxblog isn't topical!

attn IVAN

Game Writing: Narrative Skills for Videogames, a review.

Not that you need a lot of narrative skills to whip your mewling herd of underlings into making better ground textures faster, but it never hurts to have that extra arrow in your quiver!

Also, everyone head over and check out Ivan's sexy new look.
He's a braver man than I, fiddling with the new blogger graphic stuff.

Update on Litvinenko assassination

clicky clicky

I've been an avid follower of this story since it broke.
Murder by exotic radiation administered via teapot?
Count me in!

strange articles

the weirdest and wildest from Wikipedia.

Including the longest place name in the USA! Faux Cyrillic! This Page Left Intentionally Blank! Fatal Hilarity! Inventors killed by their own inventions!

And a host of other oddities.

vintage smut

Just bought a box of classic old smut novels, the disreputable ones that are almost embarassed to list a publisher.

some of my favorite titles:

Secrets of the ULTRA SEXUAL
The Strange Ranger
Twelve Inches Around the World
Up Yours, Buddy

GRATZ to DT's Brother's Brother

for being named one of Keith Olbermann's Newsmakers of the Week.

Good to see my readers striving to comport themselves public-wise in a way that reflects well on my klassy, high-toned BLOG.

Culinary Solutions #234

Problem:
The roasting pan is too crowded with chicken to generate sufficient potato largesse.

Solution:
Similar to the not enough room in the turkey for all the stuffing cure: throw a bunch of potatoes in another pan with some oil, salt and pepper and cook them simultaneously.

When the chicken is done and resting comfortably on the cutting board add them to the roasting pan and finish in bird grease, shaking the pan every so often to brown on all sides.

DEEEE-LICIOUS.

testing "the jinx"

on someone else's team, of course.

Bears just went up 31-14 about halfway through the 4th, and I'm declaring this game OVER.

In the words of Chick Hearn, it's in the refrigerator- the butters getting hard, the jello is jiggling.


Now....let's see if my eager proclamation makes any difference in the final outcome.


Oh, and also I just want to note that I've been telling people all week that Drew Brees SUCKS in cold weather.

worst book title of the young year

To Catch A Mouse Make A Noise Like A Cheese by Lewis Kornfeld.

The cover copy touts this as a volume of "intimate, witty advice from Radio Shack's master marketer".

Gawd.

Inhuman Orville

Hey Devra, we were right!

Computer animated Redenbacher pitches popcorn.

We saw this ad last night during the golden globes, and there was something so wrong with it we paused in our dining to consider what it was.

I suppose you could call that a triumph for the advertiser, but when pitching a food product I'm not sure "eeww, gross...what the hell is wrong with that guy?" is your preferred audience reaction.

It was kinda like watching someone talk in Half Life 2.
In the context of a computer game your reaction is probably "hey, that looks pretty good!" but the same thing in the real world is unsettling and alienating.

Like the architecture of the sunken city of R'lyeh, there is something subtly and undefinably wrong with it.

Running From Camera

The rules are simple: I put the self-timer on 2 seconds, push the button and try to get as far from the camera as I can.

Sports Talk

Congratulations to DT's Brother and DT's Brother's Brother on the success of their Bears. I feel it is my responsiblity to note that Seattle recruited their secondary from the Portapotty line in the parking lot before the game, lest the brothers DT wax too enthusiastic in the light of their victory.

On a more personal note, I hereby renounce the heretic Chargers and their perverse imp of a coach, Mary Shittenheimer. I will no longer root for my team in the playoffs until the suits exorcise said imp, with or without the help of Max Von Sydow.





(side note: my god, look at that disgusting 70's blanket! It looks just like the blankets at both my grandparent's houses. *shudder*)

EMI Europe abandons DRM

via boingboing.

Crippleware makes sense from a very narrowminded corporate perspective, but in the long run it just creates more 'pirates'.

I mean, which option sounds more appealing to you:

Spend 15+ bucks on a CD that won't let you rip it or make copies

or

Downloading the CD for free in an easily tranportable digital format

I've downloaded a ton of stuff I own just because it's faster and simpler than wrangling it off the disc.

Nice that one of the corporates is waking up to the fact that reducing customer flexibility isn't a smart business model.

NUT

The Wife Explains

Why she doesn't read fantasy or SF:

"It's all like, 'he met with the Gremlin and they spoke in the language of Ur'...I don't need that shit!"

ATTN IVAN

Angel Dolfyn has a challenger!

file under Wicca/Magick/Personal Empowerment.

best part may be the author bio:

(the author) has been interested in the magickal arts since childhood. She's a Wiccan Priestess, director of the International Wiccan/Pagan Press Alliance- and the mother of four young witches.

Look upon my works, ye mortals, and despair.

/edit
super awesome BONUS LINK.

Are you a solitary practitioner who wants to experience the support of others who are on the same path? Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be part of a Coven, but had no luck finding one where you live?

Why not join an iCoven™ right here online with your friends?

Trademarking iCoven...that's what I call brass balls!

final edit:
Weak!
the latest edition has a lame new cover.

booooo!

January means LISTS

list of the year's ten best lists (how meta is that!)

Best Week Ever's 10 best list

10 Gayest Moments of 2006

Alternet's ten best top tens

Letterman's Ten Signs you're not one of the most fascinating people of 2006

Pitchfork's top 50 albums of 2006
and
top 100 tracks of 2006

Metacritic's best reviewed films of 2006
and
games
and
books

Top Ten Rules for a Top Ten List

ESPN's fights of the year
(an excellent list that nails all the high points)

Five Hackers who left a mark on 2006