Video Things

This weekend we went to my friend Drew's house. He has an awesome projector / home theatre setup in his basement, to which we attached his dorm computer and bundled wireless connection. We played a lot of gamecube games, watched Advent Children again on the ginormous screen (it looks much better when massive), and also spent an hour or two watching humorous internet videos. I thought as we were watching them, "Hey, this would make a good blog post." So, here is a list of the various videos we watched. If there are any here you haven't seen, take a look - they're all fairly amusing. Almost all these links are to Google Video.

• Mahir - a man made a web site and this music video to try and get a date. I think it worked.


• Gunther [NSFW] - "Oooohhh... you touch my tra la la..." music video. Has as much nudity as a James Bond movie.


• Ikaruga - Guy playing Ikaruga 2-player mode... one ship per hand! It makes me never want to play video games again. Hat Tip: Sly


• Street Fighter Salsa - the name pretty much says it all. Great ending.


• Tunak tunak tun - Bad / silly music video by an Indian pop artist... it's a really catchy song & dance, though!


• Moskau - Dschingis Khan and his infamous breed of 'historical disco.' I'll give it to the Russian, though - he can DANCE!


• Ballad of Bilbo Baggins - This is definitely the coolest thing Leanord Nimoy has ever done. Go 60's hobbit dancers!


• Monkey vs. Robot - This is an awesome, if scary, music video by some band. The lyrics will enchant you, though.


• Numa Numa - If you haven't been living under an iRock for the last year, you've probably seen this. If not, go, and watch! Lest ye be lacking in interweb coture!

Technorati Tags: Video, Funny, Link

D&D Things

I play Dungeons and Dragons. Well, some modified versions of it, but you get the idea. Tabletop roleplaying - it's one of the few things that can compete with blogging for "nerdiest things Andrew does." I play two games - I am a player in a game of World of Warcraft (NOT the MMO game) and I run a game of BESM d20 (an Anime-style RPG). I use a laptop to run everything, except for a set of dice I got for my birthday, which I now use for basic attacks and suchlike.

However, I will say it was quite a pain trying to find everything I needed. So, I thought I might post some links to a few nifty things that are helping me make a smooth game out of it all. I run OS X for most of my work (especially since my 2.5 yr old windows box appears to have totally died, and taken my external hard drive with it), so the useful applications will be for that platform.

System Reference Document - Warning: 9.5MB PDF document. I got really annoyed that I had to open up 15 different .RTF files, that didn't look real good in TextEdit or Word, just to read the rules without damaging my books. So, I combined them all into this handy PDF. Bookmarks for each section make finding stuff pretty handy (though someday I would like to hyperlink everything together), and Preview has that nice little Spotlight bar.

Xiphoid Dice Roller - This is the coolest dice roller I have ever seen. It's text-based. Type in 40d20 and hit enter, and it rolls 40 twenty-sided dice and totals them up. Type in (40d20) * 2 + 15, and it rolls the dice, multiplies them by two, and adds 15. Brilliantly simple.

Backpack - not really a program, but the infamous 37signals information management product turns out to be awesome for holding campaign data. I am using mine to run my BESM game. The main page contains information outlining the campaign premise, notes about campaign-specific mechanics, and a list of things the players can currently acquire. The other pages detail the main villains of the game, with notes on their statistics and their underling's battle stats. Finally, I have a Writeboard set up to detail the campaign's overall information.

Last but not least, a simple .RTF file written in TextEdit keeps track of my characer's information for the game I play in. His name, personal data, information about the story, his ever-expanding "spells known" and "spells readied" lists, his items, feats, and other attributes are all recorded in bulleted lists. Each stat (such as: 60hp) has an indented sub-item detailing if I've lost any hp that day, and why. It really helps me be sure I know exactly where I'm at. I made this in textedit before I really knew about Omni Outliner, but I'm sure that would work just as well for campaign data.

That's really all there is to it. It's a lot of data management, which is fun to us nerds even when it isn't critical for business. That's probably a part of the reason that D&D's glut of rules and statistics give geeks so much pleasure.

Have fun!

Technorati Tags: DnD, d20

Antigay Things

From my Inbox:

As you may have already heard: a LOT has happened, very rapidly, during thelast 24 hours. We have less than a day to stop this chain of events. Here'sthe short version of what's going on:

The Indiana House of Representatives will debate an amendment to House Bill1010 on Wednesday (TODAY at 5:30pm) that would prohibit cities and countiesfrom providing their own equal rights protections based on sexual orientationor gender identity. This will negate the protections that West Lafayette andTippecanoe county offers, and it is believed that Amendment 12 WILL PASS unless something extreme is done immediately.

The following activities will happen today on campus, and we will need EVERYONE's help:

1) A protest will be taking place from 9am to 5pm on the Memorial Mall. The Queer Student Union will organize this, and the purpose will be to provide information that enables the campus public to call their representatives, demanding that they oppose the amendment. Please join us on the Mall to helpus raise visibility and spread the word.

2) Info sheets will be available in the Queer Resource Center (STEW G20) and at the protest, containing the instructions below for how to contact representatives. Please pick up a stack and help us distribute these to asmany people as possible. Make sure, also, that you yourself call and/or emailthe legislators. This is the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT THING THAT ANYONE CAN DO.

To phone in your opposition:
-Call the Statehouse's switchboard at: 1-800-382-9842
-Ask for: a) Speaker Brian Bosma, b) Representative Sheila Klinker, or c)Representative Joe Micon (call once for each, if you can)
-Say: that you are from West Lafayette, and that you "oppose Representative Thompson's Amendment 12 to House Bill 1010"

To email your opposition:
- Send email to: Brian Bosma at h88@in.gov, Sheila Klinker at h26@in.gov, and Joe Micon at h27@in.gov
- Say: that you are from West Lafayette, and that you "oppose Representative Thompson's Amendment 12 to House Bill 1010" OR
- Go to this link: http://eqfed.org/campaign/HB1010?rk=y7SlLe71aREbW
- Fill in the information to send a form letter

3) Indiana Equality will be organizing a rally at the Statehouse at 5pm. If you wish to attend, ask for more information at the protest or in the QRC. This amendment will only be stopped with everyone's effort - please help to keep six years of protections safely in place.

-QSUB

So what is happening here? A state is appropriating a municipality power for the sole purpose of bigoted gay-bashing. Now before you criticize me for being a big mean Democrat who uses nasty names like bigot, hick, douschewad and assjack, realize that former king of bigots Jerry Falwell thinks gays should have employment and housing protections. So that makes these Republican fuckwads MORE antigay than Jerry Fucking Falwell. They're also violating conservative and libertarian principles, and adopting the abhorrent Bushism of "Big Government, as long as its for gay-bashing." It's early, but I'm pretty pissed off about this as both a partial libertarian, and as a homo. I'm gonna see if I can't take some action.

Anyone from Indiana who reads this, please contact your representatives, speaker Brian Bosma, and tell them you OPPOSE Amendment 12 to House Bill 1010 on the basis that it is anti-conservative, anti-gay, and anti-smart. Please comment here if you do so, and I will give you a cookie. Or something.

We can use all the help we can get with this. Even the slightest effort - an form letter from this website - would help immensely. Thank you for your help!

UPDATE: The amendment has been withdrawn from the Bill. This danger has passed. A huge thanks to everyone who called / emailed / etc., and congrats to my queer & ally fellows!

Technorati tags: antigay, bigot, lgbt

Gay Marriage Things

baltimoresun.com:

A Baltimore Circuit Court judge ruled today that Maryland's law against same-sex marriage "cannot withstand constitutional challenge," a key ruling in the volatile national debate on gay rights.

And once again, I miss my home state. Hopefully this will be carried through the state supreme court, and life will be a little happier for gay Marylanders.
Technorati tags: gay, marriage, gay rights

Definition Things

A few definitions for your post-Ohayocon world:

Glomp: (slang) to embrace enthusiastically; to pounce on and hug. (Wiktionary)

PCD: Post-Con Depression - a state of depletedness, sadness, and emptiness occurring as the direct result of a convention being over.

Yaori: Yaoi + Yuri. What happens when a lesbian couple cosplays as a gay male couple (one of which looks like a woman in the manga anyway), thoroughly confusing everyone.

Technorati Tags: Ohayocon, Definition, Anime

Haku Things

Haku (dress)
Originally uploaded by agius.

This was my cosplay at Ohayocon 2006. I only wore it a little bit (lack of pockets kills my gadget foo), but it was a lot of fun to do. The rest of my pics are in an iPhoto-gallery here.

I can't really post a summary, because I was all over the place. I didn't really stop anywhere for more than 10 minutes or so, so talking about everything I did would be an essay. In short:

• Rave: I had two blue glowsticks.


• DDR: I played Anubis and Queen of Light expert. No tournament.


• Naruto Photoshoots: I was at both.


• Yaoi: Yeah, we watched an episode. It was hilarious.


• Artist's Alley: I did some hanging out & shopping here.


• Masquerade: I stayed until the young Haku / young Sasuke yaoi skit. It was funny!


• Random Battle Group: I watched a few of the fights, but then I left, 'cause it was getting a little smelly in the room.


• Who's Line is it Anime?: Kyo sang a ballad to me. I gave him a kiss at the end.


• Gaming: Watched Naruto and Smash Bros. tournaments. Played IIDX for the first time. That game ROCKS!


• Hanging out: I spent most of the con time just hanging out with people. Lots of names - Michelle, Chloey, Matty, Wilsey, Kiba-boy, D, Kattywampus, Kyo, Cid, Ryuichi-boy... a lot more, I'm sure. I can't remember everyone. I'm sorry if I forgot you. Please email me and let me know - I like to keep up with con buddies!

It was a lot of fun. I hope everyone I met had a great time, too. Now it's time for school again. So - off I go! Hopefully more relevant things will appear here again before long.

Internet Things

I met someone cool at Ohayocon 2006. She had to get ready for a skit to appear in the cosplay masquerade, which I promised I would watch. I stayed for her skit, and meant to follow up and compliment her on it, as I found it quite humorous. Unfortunately (as often happens at cons), I ended up being all over the place and somehow never saw her again.

I was doing an ego search on Technorati to see if my cosplay appeared anywhere (...it didn't). But, I found this girl's LJ. How awesome is that?

Full con report is pending the organization of my pictures.

Technorati Tags: Ohayocon, Convention, Anime, Technorati

Comic Things

Toyed with Strip Generator, a free comic-maker for those of us with no artistic talent.

Ultimately, I think I'd rather just draw my own, even if it looks worse. Strip Generator has some cool, punkish icons and pictures, but how are you supposed to tweak the mood of your comic when everything is pre-generated? But that's just me.

Have fun! Hat tip: The Unofficial Apple Weblog

Technorati Tags: Stripgenerator, Comic, Art

New Year Things!

Happy New Year to everyone out in Blogland! All my good pictures have friends in them, and it is my general practice not to post pics of people without their permission, thus, my cruddy screencap out of a movie I took of the ball dropping. But, my friends and I had quite a party. Some people got drunk, but most of us had pizza and other goodies, watched some shows, and had a rousing discussion flowing through all things nerdy. I hope someday, when I have a place, I can host parties as well as our host did.

My New Year's Resolutions:

1. I will move forward in my career path this year.
2. I will lose those last damn 10-15lbs that make me overweight.
3. I will bring my GPA back up this year.
4. I will have more than 150 blog posts at the end of the year on this blog.

I think most of them are good, and fairly achievable. I figure Newe Year's Resolutions aren't really any different from the constant goal-setting I do with GTD, but Jan 1st is a great time to kick off the to-do items I've had sitting here most of break and haven't been doing well on.

So, a Merry New Year's to all!


Technorati Tags: New Year, 2006