Nim’s Island review

I was disappointed in Nim’s Island. It wasn’t a bad film, it just didn’t make the most of its potential. Still, for a kid’s movie it is better than many. Here’s the review.

Death at a Funeral review

Time to catch up on posting my reviews. Here’s a DVD that I enjoyed. Actually, it was Alan Tudyk’s performance that I enjoyed. Here’s my review for Death at a Funeral.

A Nice Day

The spring winds died down today. This weekend they were going crazy. Yesterday I had to find a place to take Spencer out for a walk that wouldn’t knock us down. I gave it some thought and decided to up my carbon footprint and drove the dog out where the trail would be somewhat sheltered from the wind and there might be some water. I hit the Pumphouse Wash in Kachina Village.

I used to walk this all the time when I lived in Kachina. The last 10 years of drought had taken away the lovely spring creek-like environment, but this winter’s snows have brought back that gorgeous flow of water. Spencer loved it. So did I.

Spencer, a dog of very little brain, may not remember that the Pumphouse Wash was his first off-the-leash walk that I gave him. He’d been brought up by my Mom in Mesa and she had to give him up. I was the lucky beneficiary and ended up with a silly Corgi. Unlike my big dogs, Chewie and Han, Spencer was not used to the Flagstaff area. So, I took him out on a beautiful morning before work. I got the three dogs on the trail, took the leashes off of Chewie and Han, keeping the leash on Spencer for a bit. I worried about letting Spencer have the freedom to run off, but then it dawned on me — Spencer has a squat little body and would have a hard time outrunning me. The leash came off.

Spencer had an interesting time walking the trail. He enjoyed the heck out of it and loved smelling the northern Arizona smells. It was when we headed back and got close to my truck that my well-oiled walking routine hit a snag. Chewie and Han let me leash them again before getting near the truck. I was able to get them in the back of the truck (with a camper shell). Spencer? Nope, he didn’t want the leash at all, much less get back in my truck. It took 15 minutes of cajoling and cussing under my breath before he decided to give in.

Now we walk all the time and it is all old hat. Still, it was nice seeing all that water yesterday, plus walking among the pines. Today’s walk along the dirt road wasn’t half as nice. At least the wind died down today. It was a nice day.

Posies

Whew. It’s hard work.

Okay, it’s not hard work — it’s fun. I keep playing with QAvimator and have come up with tons of poses.

Without poses we would have only the default pose. It’s rather…eh.:

Designing my own, I can upload the poses, called “Animations” per Second Life, and then either put them in my Animation Override tool or just play them as needed. For newbies, to play an animation you just have to find them in your inventory, under the Animations folder. Right click the item and select either “Play Locally” (only you can see your avatar posing) or the “Play in World” (everyone sees it!).

Poses are great for taking modeling shots, or to try to create a mood. I do like trying to come up with some. Here’s a good chunk of my pose styling:

I’ve posted before about my manipulations of the Second Life avatar here, here, and here. There is something so satisfying to come up with a casual stand or a glamorous modeling pose. It’s like playing with a Barbie that can really bend!

Another New Place for Moran

My nomadic existence in Second Life continues. It’s no longer cottage living for me. Now I’m in the suburbs and I even have a garage. It’s a nice place:

The living room (and yes, I do like the sherbety colors don’t I?):

The upstairs that still needs furnishing:

And, of course, the garage:

My latest car will fit in the garage with lots of room to spare:

This is the Oui Coupe from Curio Obscura and offers lots of fun. So it’s only the size of a breadbox? Who cares? Just check this out:

Other than my skirt hanging out I can squeeze into it nicely (and it makes me giggle every time). It comes in handy when there’s not a lot of space.

Highly Defining my TV

I just got off the phone with a lovely woman asking me questions for a survey about the law about high definition TV (HDTV). Next year we’ll all need either a TV that is high definition or at least a converter box to make our old-fashioned TVs compatible. It was interesting answering these questions, because even though I told the woman that I don’t care about the upcoming change I still had to hear all the options. I mean, I don’t watch “TV” — I only watch DVDs. I get no cable, no satellite service, no local signals. I live commercial-free.

Questions about what I’m going to do next February when the law goes into effect, didn’t apply to me. I told her that I’d just do what I’m doing now: put the DVD in and watch it. The real fun questions dealt with how I heard about the law… did I hear about it from a TV commercial or show? Um, excuse me? No TV watching, remember?

If the time comes when my TV breaks down or I decide to succumb to the temptations of cable or satellite I will buy the right kind of TV to play what I need to play. Until then? Sorry, I can’t answer these questions with any urgency.

Kinking it Up

Well, as my back keeps kinking up, putting me in that painfully grouchy place, I decided to stick with the kinky theme. Kinky Boots is in my DVD player. I liked the movie when I first saw it, and it still entertains me. At least it gets my mind off my back.

Here’s my original review of the film.

That Sinking Feeling

Oh dear. How can I spend my time like this? Of all movies to put into DVD player, I select Titanic. I can’t help it. I still love this movie, melodramatic tale that it is. My heart can just go on and on….

Squid Night

I don’t know a squid from an octopus, but PZ Myers does. He writes about science and evolution at the Pharyngula blog. It seems that cephalopods are near and dear to Myers’ heart, so when he showed up in Second Life to talk about science, evolution, and getting expelled from the movie Expelled, fans of his showed up in style. It was squid night at Virtually Speaking:

I think that’s a squid, though it could be an octopus. It floated above us as we listened to Myers and Jimbo Hoyer. Here are the fans:

Only in Second Life can a group of people discuss where to buy a squid “outfit” because it looks darn cool.

The Bank Job review

I enjoyed The Bank Job. It’s certainly not a great movie, but it is an entertaining one. Here’s my review.

Tostones for Me

Well, I tried something new tonight. I had a plantain and decided to try this recipe for tostones. It turned out mighty good, but what else could I expect? It’s a fried food. Can you go wrong with lots of oil, salt, and ketchup? Heck no!

EdWords on Stephen Colbert

I love John Edwards. His appearance on the Colbert Report was a hoot.

Clinton, Obama, give this man a jet ski!

In the Shadow of the Moon review

What a great documentary for a space geek like me. I loved hearing from the astronauts who went to the moon. Here’s the review.

Part of Our First Amendment is Wasted

You know the part of the First Amendment that guarantees freedom of the press? Jeez, the press sure knows how to make me want to take it away from them. And to think that I used to get angry at people who thought the press shouldn’t have all that freedom. That used to piss me off. Lately though, I can understand that attitude.

First, some good journalism actually happens: we find out about our leaders approving and detailing how to torture (no, forget “harsh” or “enhanced” “interrogation techniques” – it’s torture), but instead of this being the major story in every newspaper it just seems to be background noise to a possible Obama “gaffe”. The whole “bitter” thing gets much more airplay.

Tonight was the debate in Philadelphia between Senators Clinton and Obama. Do the well-payed “journalists” hosting the debate (Charles Gibson and George Stephanopolous) even try to ask substantive questions? Oh, hell no. It’s all about flag pins, patriotism of a preacher, sniper fire in Bosnia, and whatever stupid campaign gaffes they can drag up. Iraq? Health care? Gas prices? Mortgage meltdowns? Global climate crisis? Rising food prices? Oh, those are silly things to ask about when they can dig into the “important” trivial issues:

More time was spent on all of this than segments on getting out of Iraq and keeping people from losing their homes and other key issues. Gibson only got excited when he complained about anyone daring to raise taxes on his capital gains.

The traditional media outlets are a joke, and ABC is one of the worst. I gather that Stephanopolous got some question coaching from Sean Hannity of Fox News! Yet it was ABC that broke the story about the administration’s involvement in the torture plans. So, what is their problem? And the news media wonders why they are losing credibility.

More journalism, less trivia!

Dragons at 10 O’Clock

I’ve found a new book series that has me putting off the dusting and vacuuming (of course, anything can make me procrastinate when it comes to dusting and vacuuming). Naomi Novik’s books about a  world with dragons and Napoleon have me hooked. I started with His Majesty’s Dragon.

Imagine the British and the French at war. Sure, there’s the British Navy fighting to keep Napoleon from attacking England, but there’s also the Aerial Corps . . . consisting of dragons and their crews.  Think dogfights, but instead of  men flying airplanes their crafts are dragons — some of them acid spitting. It’s a fun read.

I just finished the second book in the series, Throne of Jade, which takes Captain Laurence and his dragon Temeraire to China. And now, here’s where the danger of owning a Kindle comes into play, I’ve just downloaded the third book, Black Powder War. This all comes from downloading a sample chapter from the first book on Friday night. I’m on my third book already! The Kindle makes it all too easy.

And yes, I will have dragons at 10 O’clock if I start reading now. But the books are so much fun. Who cares if I stay up late reading?