Thursday, August 30, 2007

midnight TRON this weekend!

in lieu of a new genuine post, i offer up my call to action, re: a midnight screening of TRON this weekend. =)


greetings, programs!

who's up for a nerdtastic evening of state-of-the-art (circa 1982) big screen computer generated cinema? it's jeff "the dude" bridges teaming up with bruce "the scarecrow" boxleitner to take on david "evil" warner and the all-powerful master control program (a young uncredited rick astley) in a winner-take-darpanet, game programmer vs. game program, battle to the de-resolution, frolf to the finish to save the virtual world!

in other words: TRON! midnight. coolidge corner theater in brookline. saturday night.

are you thinking - "TRON?! that's so primitive. what could such an ancient form of entertainment possibly offer me, clever american consumer, version 2.0 that i am?" well, the nerds in control of your consumables love it, so you might wanna pay attention!

so, who wants in? i'll try to figure out some pre-nerdstorm food/drink and/or activities options. i do believe there are several sushi options near the theater, and j.p. lick's across the ave to keep us deliciously busy until showtime.

this might be pushing it for some folks, but would a late show of WAR (jet li vs. jason statham, who cares why?) or BALLS OF FURY (in s.a.t. form... BALLS OF FURY : ping-pong :: KARATE KID : karate + christopher walken) work for anyone?

well, top priority, let me know if you're up for meeting up for midnight TRON. if you're up for some pre-show whatnot as well, let me know that, too, and feel free to hit me with a suggestion. and go ahead and round up your own nerd flock! share the good TRON news (playing midnight friday and saturday night) w your squad leader, wingman, company, padawans, wraith, teammates, ranger, barbarian, magician, thief, cavalier, or acrobat!. =)

keep on keepin on~

p.s. i don't know who played the mcp. : P

p.p.s. orson welles voiced the world-eating transformer unicron in the original animated TRANSFORMERS film from the 80s, featuring "the touch" by rick springfield!

... or so i've heard.

end of line.

Monday, August 27, 2007

when sleeping with a cast on your arm...


i don't remember doing it, but i'm guessing i went for the sleep button with a little added en-casted gusto this morning...

can't get the readout back to normal clock-ness, either. fiberglass wrap fabricators and digital alarm clock makers in cahootz?

keep on beepin on~

Sunday, August 26, 2007

"Hello, my name is David and I'm going to take you from behind..."


didn't they give graham norton a go on u.s. television a while ago? i seem to recall catching a couple of episodes, but not sticking with it. i suppose it had to be cleaned up, eh? i guess it didn't fly in the states. more's the pity.

i'm loving the "new" season of DOCTOR WHO on scifi, btw. david tennant continues to be brilliant, and his new companion, played by freema agyeman is delovely. i don't remember the writing of the show being so tight in the incarnations before eccleston and tennant, but i totally dig the motifs, themes, and plot twists that are kept alive in the recent seasons' continuity. this is the first time i've seen the doctor's relationship with his companion pushed so explicitly as a relationship. am i way off in that observation?

also! =)

keep on keepin on~

Friday, August 24, 2007

speaking of THE KING OF KONG...

just saw THE KING OF KONG again, this time at the kendall with a gang that included in, rowan, jeff, kim, dan, ray, M, and dennis. a fun group, and from their reactions and post-film chatter, very appreciative of the film's goodness. a surprising bonus, three of the film's subjects—twin galaxies' founder walter day, billy mitchell disciple brian kuh, and, frack, can't remember his name, but i believe he was credited in the film as the crystal castles *foot* playing champion (fer realz)—were in the audience. they weren't listed or introduced as guests at the screeniing. they must've just watched the film, or at least the latter part of it. i was a little surprised, and wondered at possible ego-stroking motivation, but jeff pointed out that these guys are based and living in new hampshire. what w the film in limited release, a boston screening would be the most convenient one for them to check out. once they were recognized by exiting moviegoers, they drew a decent crowd. we all paused to give them the eye on the way out, but didn't glom. to be honest, no questions really came to mind. nothing that wouldn't actually be critical or sarcastic... directed at that kuh fellow, not the others.

i wonder how he took the audience reaction to his appearances on film...

please, go see the film before reading any further, as * SPOILERy * information follows... in boston, it's playing for a week at kendall square, and i believe it will start screening at the coolidge corner theater's minimax theater. not sure how long. check the site for other locations...


anyhow, rowan did some poking around online after we got back and found some rather disappointing news... in july of this year, billy mitchell reportedly set a new record high score on donkey kong.

digging that up got me started on looking for more news. after the movie, dennis mentioned that there's supposedly a dramatic feature, to be based on the events of KING OF KONG, in the works. turns out, it's the documentary's creators who are reportedly working on a script for a dramatization of the billy-vs-steve story. check out the creator's first thoughts on casting options. me, i'm rooting for ralph macchio and william zabka. =)

rowan actually made the suggestion of FIREFLY's nathan fillion for weibe before i found any info about it online.

sorry. mtvnews was the only source i could expediently find for this info. not my typical go-to source for news.

oh, found one line of corroboration of the feature film development in a new york magazine quickie...

also discovered that CHASING GHOSTS, a documentary following the lives of the arcade game high scorers featured in the 1982 life magazine spread mentioned in KING OF KONG, has been making the festival rounds this year. i haven't seen anything about a wide release date, but check out the movie trailer and website, particularly the "players" page. looks like there's more than one story in this collection of characters, eh?

man, i REALLY want to play that elevator board from donkey kong...

keep on beepin on~

"Here, have these, just in case."

some relationship fun. i can't wait til i'm old enough to feel ways about stuff!

thanks to RA for passing along this gem. =)

empty pringles tubes.

keep on keepin on~

Thursday, August 23, 2007

impossible is...?

the original "viral sensation..."

that sounds like something you should only share in a discussion w your physician, don't it? "viral sensation?"

and... the quietly yet sublimely hilarious michael cera riff...

thanks to my sis for passing this along! =)

"cross them out!"

man, i gotta go see SUPERBAD.

keep on keepin on~

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

cast off, cast on...

some pics of the discarded cast and one of the new, but sadly, no less itch-ridden one...




keep on itchin on~

Monday, August 20, 2007

free(-r) at last...

checked in w the ortho doc again this morning. the doc decided the xrays and healing so far looked good enough to trade the long cast in for the short, forearm one...



ah, the saw... the first time i had a fiberglass cast cut off it was on my left arm, back in seventh grade. when the doc fired up the saw, it totally freaked me out. when he actually made contact w the cast, i started screaming. i think i was howling and yelling almost the whole time it was being cut off. this time i managed allright, *and* got some snapshots. =)




i got a few minutes to alcohol swab clean my dirty dirty limb. probably could've used a half hour w a steam cleaner, tho. while i was at that, the nurse asked me if i'd like green, red, or blue. i went with green...


on the walk home from the doc...



keep on keepin on~

Thursday, August 16, 2007

thank you, castblast!


ordered this stuff last week and it arrived on monday. isn't the "buster" sign thru the coathanger clever? and kind of disturbing out of context? yeah, i thought so.

with the long arm cast on for over a week, the pain from the break is mostly gone. it surges when i pick up stuff at an odd angle or that's just a lttle too heavy, and also sometimes when my arm/the cast strikes something, which happens more than i like. with the elbow angle built into the long arm cast, walking around "naturally" i'm inclined to take out triangular chunks of doorways, in the way daffy duck leaves his silhouette in the wall when he scrams out of a scene to avoid getting married or whatnot, y'know?

anyhow, aside from the overt physical restriction of the case (mucking with all kinds of everyday things including driving and volleyballing... well, okay, the break does that all on its own, but whatev, work with me here), the worst ongoing part of the cast experience has been the itching. maybe i wasn't clear about that in my previous blearghing? so, i've hit the internet on and off looking for advice and solutions to the problem. i found castblast online before my first ortho follow-up (last week wednesday) and ordered it. the vendor i went thru informed me that the product couldn't be overnighted due to the pressure of the contents or something or other, so i went with ground delivery somethin somethin... yeah, the cheapest option, wannafightaboutit?

it's very much like the dust-off i've been using (the cannisters of compressed air/keyboard duster), on the recommendation of that most excellent nurse at the ortho's office, only the jet of air also includes talcum powder and an anti-bacterial somethin or other. i was kind of concerned about the powder factor, as the "dos and don'ts" list i was given with my cast expressly advises against using talc/baby powder under the cast. given the primordial soup factor between skin and fiberglass, it becomes an irritant. but, hey, the internet wouldn't steer me wrong, right?

well, i've been using it as directed since i got it and it's pretty darn effective. unfortunately, "as directed" means only 4 times a day max, not necessarily "as needed." i save the big doses for just before i go to sleep, and it still takes some time with the q-tips and the regular dust-off to get the itching to subside, and then more time to set myself up with proper pillow and wall buttressing so that my arm sits comfortably enough to sleep...

annoying, depressing, maddening. good times... good times...

still, the point of this post: the castblast is definitely a force for good.

other advice i've come across to counter the itch factor with a fiberglass cast...

a hair dryer on a fan or cool setting directed at the cast exterior over the itching area. this is to dry out the moisture in the area that is likely causing the irritation.

holding the offending limb higher than your heart. this minimizes the blood flow to the casted part and partially desensitizes it, psyching your nervous system out of detecting itchiness. i end up doing this on and off while walking around outside in the high temps. i'm pretty sure it gets some odd looks, but screw em, i'm itching!

i've found suggestions that you use plastic chopsticks or knitting needles to just dig under the cast and scratch, but after the stern look i got when i mentioned the q-tips to my doc, well, i'm not touching those.

the nurse at the ortho office also mentioned taking benadryl, and mentioned a perscription strength option as well.

keep on keepin on~

some recent fox noise

i've been in something of a news vacuum for the last couple weeks, and completely missed this steaming pile of an elevated non-issue (*no one* needs another 9/11) and the follow-up of moronic behavior. i'm no doubt making myself part of the problem by passing it along, but, following the thread did get me to watch stewart's first daily show opening remarks after 9/11, which were remarkable and touching, although given the context/closeness to the date it might be a little heavy for sensitive viewers.

working backwards...

keith olberman's countdown: worst person august 14, 2007

gibson's radio show (audio, w slideshow), on which he polls callers about the "need" for "another 9/11" and takes the non sequitur of an opportunity to knock on jon stewart's emotion and sincerity on the daily show broadcast of 9/20.

on fox noise, gibson speaks to columnist stu bykofsky, author of article "to save america, we need another 9/11." gibson seems enthusastic: "it's gonna take a lot of dead people to wake america up."

bykofsky's original column. did he really mean it literally here? or does he just get pushed into that take in the cable news follow-up on it? how thoughtless can he, his editors, and their paper be?

the 9/20 daily show segment to which gibson refers when mocking jon stewart.
also viewable here.

keep on keepin on~

Sunday, August 12, 2007

popcorn chicken!


look to the skies tonight after midnight for the perseids...

keep on keepin on~

this one's for Bender...


that's flight of the conchords, right there, with "the humans are dead." good crack. micespace was pushing them on their home page a few weeks back, which, sadly, led me to avoid them... until i found out last night, from the lovely and talented HM, that half of the flight also happens to be the eagle half of the stars of EAGLE VS. SHARK, a totally loveable bit of absurd indie romance and rite of passage from the new zealand sector. see it for some sweet and quirky laughs. i'd hafta say if you liked NAPOLEON D, you're predisposed to enjoying this fried gem. new zealand. they grow their funny and their undead strong down there. give them a try, and hop skip and jump thru their other goodies online for more. =)

keep on beepin on~

Saturday, August 11, 2007

frack'd...

last thursday i went in to see the ortho specialist. good news, no need to set the bones, use pins, or do anything involving the word surgery. bad news, the cast i got is a "long arm" cast, which covers my arm from below the shoulder down to my wrist (actually over my palm, w only fingers and thumb uncovered). i was told then that i'd likely be in a cast up to 8 weeks, the long arm one for 2-3 weeks, and then a shorter one, from below the elbow to the wrist, for the rest of the time. 8 weeks takes me to the end of september. bleah.
(that's a mirror image. it's my right arm that's all mum'ra'd up.)

the long cast didn't seem unforgivably awful the first day or two, but after four or five days, it was extremely un-fun. the pain at the fracture gradually diminished, but the itch factor beneath the cast rose exponentially. i was warned against using any sharp implements to scratch underneath the cast, using talc/baby powder, or any sort of liquid or lotion, as all would cause irritation, and possibly even cuts and scratches, which in the primordial microclimate of the cast would likely end up getting infected.

a very excellent assistant at the doc's office suggested using dust-off, cannisters of compressed air, typically used to clean keyboards and electronics, y'know? to "scratch" at itches, and that definitely helped. i went thru two new cans in four days and ended up making a staples run just to reload on them.

you've gotta be careful to keep those cans upright when you're using them. i think i gave myself a bit of frostbite when i apparently tipped the can while shooting up w dee ay-uh and it spat some of its compressing liquid coolant or whatever it is onto my arm beneath the cast. freaked me out. felt the so-cold-it-kinda-burns-ness of it, removed the cannister nozzle, flexed my hand, fist, open hand, fist, open hand, over and over, until the cold, and then the numbness, passed. i waited a bit longer after that, keeping my arm still, freaked by the warning label on the cannister, featuring, in bold extra large type - "FIRST AID TREATMENT... In all cases contact physician."

or... "PRIMEROS AUXILIOS... Comuniquese con un medico, en todos los casos."

and of course there was the fear of somehow jostling the arm and shattering it into frozen pieces inside the cast (sometimes a good imagination is your own worst enemy)... i finally tried the cannister again, no tipping, to see how the air felt against the hopefully not hypothermic skin. it seemed fine, so, it must be fine, right?

right.

heh. reminds me of the best warning message ever (fictional, alas)... IF SWALLOWED, CONSULT A MORTICIAN. haha =) courtesy of the simpsons, and some kind of crazy glue that bart used to attach a fake nose to his face.

after five days w the cast, it got to the point where i'd spend two hours trying to subdue the itch factor before i could get comfortable enough to fall asleep. even then, sleep would be interrupted by uncomfortable positions of my arm and then more itching. frickin frackin madness!

during one of these sessions, i came up w something that helped a little more than the air blasts. i started going in to rub at the itches (that could be reached) using a q-tip. the range was limited, of course, but it brought some decent relief... for a spell. i figured out a way to one-up it a little later and used the q-tip to rub in some lanacane bug bite/itch relief lotion. it wasn't an instant fix, but i think it helped me subdue the itching sooner than i would have without it.

anyhow, a week later, i went in for a follow-up visit. i had the arm, with cast, x-rayed. the doc showed me the x-rays and said that everything looks good. the bones haven't shifted at all and the fracture is healing. she couldn't say when the long arm cast would come off, tho. my arm would have to be evaluated again in a next visit in 1 to 2 weeks. fine.

so, i went to make a next appointment at the registration desk and it turned out that the only available slot was two weeks later. bleah. that means, best case scenario, i go in two weeks later, get x-rayed, everything looks good, and i get to crack this cast off, hopefully get a chance to steamclean my withered chicken skinned arm, and get fit with the shorter forearm cast, which i'll hafta wear for 4-6 weeks.

some best case.

i explained to the doc about the q-tipping, and she shook her head at that, which i kind of expected. cuz, sure, its tipped w cotton, but the rubbing, as satisfying as it feels, is still about scratching at skin that's already irritated, unwashed, and sun-starved. i also mentioned the lanacane and got a finger wage for it. kinda expected that, too, as it's a lotion and any moisture is just more organic building blocks to add to the mutant arm creature soup.

i've been working from home since the injury. partner joe's been super good about divvying up the work so that he deals with more fast-track, fires-to-out-out type requests, and i get to work on stuff more suited to my current gimpy pace and capabilities. i did make it out to nahant for a day at the beach (thanks K and D!). it was that outing that got me to figure out i could use packing wrap (y'know, the saran wrap stuff on a roll w a handle) to seal off the top of my cast.

for the beach trip it was to keep sand out. back home, i realized that it would also be a perfect seal for the whole garbage-bag-over-the-cast arrangement needed to shower w my frac'd up arm. not very easily applied - you try package wrapping a trash bag around your right arm using just your left - but so far, very effective.

with vball out of the picture, i'm working on knocking off some of the collected shows on the dvr. summer fare, old and new, includes MAD MEN, THE CLOSER, RESCUE ME, TRAVELER, MY BOYS, EUREKA, and the ever lovable DOCTOR WHO (now with new hot sidekick). i've also managed to get a bit back into the movie-ing swing of things. half and half solo outings and groups. i'll hafta get around to tapping out some review-rambles... soon... eventually...

keep on keepin on~

Sunday, August 05, 2007

LOST fans: this isn't fair, is it?

no, i don't have anything to say about the season finale or spoilers for the next season, no complaints or exclamations regarding 1-08-08 or whatever it is (did anyone else hear it's a voltron flick?)... no, what i want to point out/to is a bit of button-pushing that just doesn't sit well w me right now. have a listen/look...

do you understand?

It's pretty masterful manipulation, and so very simple a thing, but see, i've heard the song maybe a dozen times at random times over the last month, maybe, and it cuts thru every other sound around me when it's on. until i listened when i heard it in the car on the way home from the beach, i had no idea what the song was about (still a little unclear now even, but without a lot of rationalizing, it's def got nothin to do w the show), no idea who the artist was, but i was already inclined, programmed, even, to be into it.

bleah.

keep on itchin on~