Event - Time interviews Neil Gaiman and Joss Whedon...

TIME.com Interview: Neil Gaiman and Joss Whedon

TIME: I think there's actually a law that you guys can't be in the same room at the same time. It's like the President and the Vice President, or something.

Joss: Like the two Ron Silvers in Timecop.

TIME: That's exactly the simile I was looking for. So you guys both have movies coming out on September 30th.

Neil: It will be National Geek Day.

Two of my favorites... I think I just had a nerdgasm.

Odd - Let the wookiee pitch

"An actor dressed as Chewbacca throws out the ceremonial first pitch prior to the game between the Red Sox and Blue Jays."

Event - Since I found Serenity...

Main Title Theme Written by: Joss Whedon
Performed by: Sonny Rhodes

Take my love, take my land
Take me where I cannot stand
I don't care, I'm still free
You can't take the sky from me
Take me out to the black
Tell them I ain't comin' back
Burn the land and boil the sea
You can't take the sky from me
There's no place I can be
Since I found Serenity
But you can't take the sky from me...

Get the MP3 here: The Ballad of Serenity

Event - 2005 Weston Irish Fest

My wife and I are volunteering to help out at this years Weston Irish Fest. If you are in the KC metro area come by.

Personal - Meme du'jour

10 Favorites...
Favorite Color: Gray
Favorite Food: Burritos
Favorite Band: The Cars
Favorite Movie: Raiders of the Lost Ark
Favorite Sport: Football
Favorite Season: Fall
Favorite Day Of the Week: Sunday
Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: Pumpkin Pie
Favorite Time of Day: 11:00 p.m.

9 Currents...
Current Mood: Disgruntled
Current Taste: Salty
Current Clothes: Shorts and a t-shirt
Current Computer Background: Serenity (Firefly)
Current Finger/Toenail Color: N/A
Current Time: 9:45 p.m.
Current Surroundings: Basement of my house
Current Annoyance(s):Something in my eye
Current Thought:Wish I could get this thing outta my eye

8 Firsts...
First Best Friend: David Smith
First Love: Dana
First Screen Name: Suckerpunch
First Pet: Queenie (britney spaniel)
First Piercing: N/A
First Crush: Trinette
First Music: Kenny Rogers
First Car: 1977 Chevy K-5 Blazer

7 Last...
Last Cigarette: Lost track
Last Drink: Saturday night
Last Car Ride: Home from work today
Last Text Message: No idea
Last Movie Seen: Anchorman
Last Phone call: Father-in-law wanting help with his computer
Last CD Played: A Celtic mix CD I made

6 Have You Ever...
Have You Ever Dated One Of Your Best Friends: No
Have you Ever Broken the Law: Yes
Have You Ever Been Arrested: Yes
Have You Ever Skinny Dipped: Yes
Have You Ever Been on TV: Yes
Have You Ever Kissed Someone You Didn't Know: Yes

5 Things...
You're Wearing: Shorts, t-shirt, watch, wedding ring... that's it
You Did Last Night: Watched the Chiefs get humiliated
You Can Hear Right Now: My wife upstairs talking to the dog
You Can't Live Without: The net
You Do When You're Bored: Surf the net

4 Places You've Been To..
1. Las Vegas
2. St. Louis
3. British Columbia
4. Seattle

3 People You Can Tell Anything To...
1. My wife
2. My dad
3. My dog

2 Choices...
1. Black or White: Black
2. Hot or Cold: Cold

1 Person You'd Do Anything For:
Amanda

Personal - Pancakes make the world a better place

Made pancakes for the crew again this a.m.. That's two days in a row of me playing chief cook and bottle washer. No complaints, but I think every breakfast tastes better when you don't have to cook it.

Stayed up with my brother-in-law and watched 8 hours of Firefly. He's going to be in KC next weekend to see the opening of Serenity with me. Damn what a great show.

Non-sequiter moment: Wolf Blitzer looks like he's turning into an albino.

Personal - Final Tractor count... 4

Plus two fire trucks, a hearse, two mustang convertibles, a semi truck and several flat beds carrying the classes of 1970, 1950 and 1955.

Personal - Fall Fest in a small town

Took a much needed day off from the office. Woke up to a rain storm and to Baby Q crying. She's been sick and had a rough night.

We're in my wifes hometown for the weekend. We're going to a Fall Fest tomorrow morning. It's a very "Mayberry" type town. Lots of old people. I predict many tractors in the parade.

Mrs. Q doesn't really like Kansas City. She's a small town girl and I think she wishes we were still here. (We lived here for a year after we were married then I drug her off to the city.) Her Dad and Grandma live here and she feels beaucoup responsible for their happiness. Neither of them are in great health and now that we're 3 hours away it's always rough on her to see how lonely they are.

To further complicate things, it was four years ago tomorrow that my wifes mother passed away. Can't believe it's been four years...

Politics - Bush Waives Saudi Trafficking Sanctions

"President Bush decided Wednesday to waive any financial sanctions on Saudi Arabia, Washington's closest Arab ally in the war on terrorism, for failing to do enough to stop the modern-day slave trade in prostitutes, child sex workers and forced laborers."

This speaks for itself and makes my stomach turn.

Tech - Firefox updated to 1.0.7

Firefox - Rediscover the web

Blogs - Silent Bob Speaks

My Boring Ass Life? This clown (and by clown I mean wonderfully talented writer/director) is living the life I was supposed to have, and he calls it boring.

Music - Molly O'Poverty's Guide to (Mostly) Free Music

Molly O'Poverty's Guide to (Mostly) Free Music

Lots of electronica. Some good stuff.

Humor - "Freedom" Quarter

Bush to rename rebuilt French Quarter "Freedom" Quarter

Politics - Just in case you are keeping score.... part 2

A short, but funny letter to the President from Bill Maher.

"Mr. President, this job can't be fun for you any more. There's no more money to spend--you used up all of that. You can't start another war because you used up the army. And now, darn the luck, the rest of your term has become the Bush family nightmare: helping poor people. Listen to your Mom. The cupboard's bare, the credit cards maxed out. No one's speaking to you. Mission accomplished.

Now it's time to do what you've always done best: lose interest and walk away. Like you did with your military service and the oil company and the baseball team. It's time. Time to move on and try the next fantasy job. How about cowboy or space man? Now I know what you're saying: there's so many other things that you as President could involve yourself in. Please don't. I know, I know. There's a lot left to do. There's a war with Venezuela. Eliminating the sales tax on yachts. Turning the space program over to the church. And Social Security to Fannie Mae. Giving embryos the vote.

But, Sir, none of that is going to happen now. Why? Because you govern like Billy Joel drives. You've performed so poorly I'm surprised that you haven't given yourself a medal. You're a catastrophe that walks like a man. Herbert Hoover was a shitty president, but even he never conceded an entire city to rising water and snakes.

On your watch, we've lost almost all of our allies, the surplus, four airliners, two trade centers, a piece of the Pentagon and the City of New Orleans. Maybe you're just not lucky. I'm not saying you don't love this country. I'm just wondering how much worse it could be if you were on the other side.

So, yes, God does speak to you. What he is saying is: 'Take a hint.'"

-Bill Maher

Current Events - Katrina : The Gathering

The next big CCG? Katrina: The Gathering, in which you tap Dick Cheney to take control of Dubya or tap an intern to destroy Bill Clinton.

Brilliant.

Food - Damn, I loves me my Slurpee!

The Slurpee is 40 years old!

Current Events - Exxon's not making enough money

"Do you realize President Bush has just given a tax break to ExxonMobil?'' thundered Rep. Ed Markey (D-Malden). "Of all the companies in the history of the world that needed a tax break, this month, ExxonMobil should be at the bottom of the list."

Current Events - Bush: 'I take responsibility' for federal failures on Katrina

CNN.com - Bush: 'I take responsibility' for federal failures on Katrina : "'Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government and to the extent the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility,' Bush said during a joint news conference with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani."

Here's the deal... whether he says he's responsible or not, as the president he IS responsible! He's the guy that all the secretaries answer to.

Remember when Reagan had a sign on his desk that read, "The Buck Stops Here"? It did and still does. Only Junior has a sign on his desk that reads, "Fool Me Once... Won't Get Fooled Again" and no one knows what the hell that even means!

He’s not responsible for the weather. He’s not responsible for the dead and dying. He is responsible for how well or how poorly the Federal Emergency Management Agency, under the direction of a man HE put there, is run.

They are failing.

He has failed.

Again.

Humor - Balcony, please...

One night, George W. Bush is tossing restlessly in his White House bed. He awakens to see George Washington standing by him. Bush asks him, "George, what's the best thing I can do to help the country?" "Set an honest and honorable example, just as I did," Washington advises, and then fades away.

The next night, Bush is astir again, and sees the ghost of Thomas Jefferson moving through the darkened bedroom. Bush calls out, "Tom, please! What is the best thing I can do to help the country?" "Respect the Constitution, as I did," Jefferson advises, and dims from sight.

The third night sleep is still not in the cards for Bush. He awakens to see the ghost of FDR hovering over his bed. Bush whispers, "Franklin, what is the best thing I can do to help the country?" "Help the less fortunate, just as I did," FDR replies and fades into the mist.

Bush isn't sleeping well the fourth night when he sees another figure moving in the shadows. It is the ghost of Abraham Lincoln. Bush pleads, "Abe, what is the best thing I can do right now to help the country?"

Lincoln replies, "Go see a play."

Media - Visa "Metaphors"

Is that Tom Brady's wife in that Visa commercial?

What, winning three Super Bowls wasn't enough?

Games - Iron Realms

Iron Realms offers four unique text based MMORPG's for free. I'll post my impressions of each later.

Games - Blizzard gets greedy

WoW General Discussion -: "Character-Transfer Service
Another feature of the Web site we'll be implementing is fee-based character transfers. This is a feature that's been very frequently requested and one which we want to provide for players as soon as we can. We'll offer character transfers from one realm to another, as well as allow players to move characters from one account to another. While we want to offer this service as a convenience, we also want to prevent its use for exploitive reasons, so there will be a time restriction to limit the frequency that a character can be moved."

So, basically, I can level a character and sell give it to another player?!?! How is that fair? The Chinese farmers are probably drooling all over themselves.

Current Events - New Orleans Flood in Your City

Most individuals across the country have no idea the magnitude of the disaster and the enormous need and help that is needed. Using the maps below, individuals can accurately imagine the size of the disaster by comparing their city. With the "hitting home theme" more individuals may be inclined to help or support relief efforts.

If the New Orleans flood hit Kansas City.

Current Events - Katrina Relief, part 2

I added a small banner to the upper right corner of the blog that was provided by Brian Alvey. You can add it (or one for the Salvation Army) to your blog there at his site.

Thanks Brian.

Politics - Just in case you are keeping score....

Arbusto - FAILED
Harken Energy - FAILED
bin Ladden - FAILED
Iraq - FAILED
Katrina - FAILED

Follow up - When is looting not looting?

Romenesko has a quote from the AFP caption writer on the couple who "found" the bread in NOLA.

Meh, I guess it could be sincere. Maybe I'm just that jaded.

Politics - August 30, 2005

Personal - Good, Bad, Worst

Good: Going to the bathroom at work and seeing someone has left a newspaper there.
Bad: It's the USA Today.
Worst: It's the business section... from last monday.

Event - It's the end of the world as we know it...

Exit MundiI: A Collection of End of the World Scenarios. Kind of cathartic to see all the many ways we could go out.

I was always pulling for the revolt of the sentient cyborgs type scenario.

Personal - Nothing to see here

Move along... move along.