I Make Things - Entertainment

Necrography

nospam@example.com (Latcarf) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 14:04:00 -0400

A new horror fiction magazine is out. It's published biannually and contains fiction, poetry, art, and photos of the horror genre.

It's currently available for sale and has gotten some nice comments from readers. Looks pretty good.

The main web site is at necrography.com and there's a blog at blog.necrography.com.

Check it out and buy a couple copies, I think I will - always good to support independent markets...

Niggy Tardust!

nospam@example.com (Latcarf) — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 17:15:42 -0400

Year Zero

nospam@example.com (Latcarf) — Mon, 07 May 2007 15:51:33 -0400

Final Fantasy XII

nospam@example.com (Latcarf) — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 16:21:52 -0400

Final Fantasy XII was released today! I picked up my collector's edition copy of the game and guide last night at midnight.

I've been waiting for this console version of my favorite game series for what feels like an eternity. There were so many delays getting it to the US market. I've had my copy pre-ordered (and fully paid for) since June!

Now that I'm moving on, I can finally close up shop on Final Fantasy XI; the first Final Fantasy masssive multiplayer online role-playing game. I admit it was fun but it just didn't have the in-depth storyline you find in the console games. It's that storyline and character development I love about the Final Fantasy series.

I'm closing up my Chronicles of Latcarf blog (a character blog for my Final Fantasy XI persona) also. While it's a bittersweet closure, I'm happy to think I don't have to work so hard to write about my exploits anymore. It was fun for a couple years but a character blog is alot of work and I'me certainly tired of it! I cancelled my FFXI account but I can still renew it in three months so I'll see how I feel about it January. It's tough to let so many hours of work just vanish.

For now, I'll be spending a little time each day getting to know the characters of Ivalice - the world of Final Fantasy XII. I hope it's a great escape!

Born Again Rocketeer

nospam@example.com (Latcarf) — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 16:41:37 -0400

I've become a B.A.R (born again rocketeer) recently. Last January I was shopping with my family at a hobby store when I wandered into the model rockets section. The familiar fascination from my teenage years swept over me and soon I found myself walking out with an Estes "Python 4" rocket kit and some building supplies.

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Audioslave: Revelations

nospam@example.com (Latcarf) — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 18:17:16 -0400

Audioslave came out with a new album recently; Revelations. Like their previous two albums, I really like it. They've quickly become one of my favorite bands. Tom Morello's unique guitar riffs and Chris Cornell's gritty vocal styling make for a great mix on top of Tim Commerford's bass and Brad Wilk's drums.

The Rage Against the Machine and Soundgarden mind-meld have produced an offspring juicier then the sum of its parts. Just like Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave's sounds are produced from only the drums, guitar, and bass that the members play. I look forward to listening to this album everytime I fire up iTunes or turn on my iPod.

No More Sony Robots

nospam@example.com (Latcarf) — Thu, 16 Feb 2006 22:19:48 -0400

Sad news. Actually this has been out since early February but it's still sad news. Sony is stopping production of Aibo, the intelligent robot dog and first mass marketed robot. I love robots and it's a shame that Sony won't be making Aibo any longer. I haven't ever gotten an Aibo (too expensive for me for a long time) but I would have loved to have that little robot dog.

The fact that Sony killed off Aibo is actually a bigger hit to consumer robotics in general. As pat of their corporate restructuring they are stopping all robotics production and thus killing of other (really cool) projects like QRIO the consumer level humanoid robot.

I'm going on a quest to see if I can find an Aibo before they're all gone. Sony said it will support Aibo, with batteries, replacement parts, etc, for the next seven years. Guess that'll be about 41 in dog years.

Long Wait for Advent Children

nospam@example.com (Latcarf) — Tue, 31 Jan 2006 17:06:35 -0400

I happened to look at my Amazon.com account to track an order I recently placed. I also checked on one I'd placed months ago.

Hmmm... Well, quite obviously that's an error since FFVII - Advent Children is really due out in March. Still, seeing this certainly mirrored what the waiting has felt like.

The Aristocrats

nospam@example.com (Latcarf) — Sat, 28 Jan 2006 01:19:43 -0400

Paul Provenza and Penn Jillette's comedy documentary "The Aristocrats" has been out on DVD for four days now. Even though, on the surface, it's pretty much all about a very dirty joke told between comedians, it is about much more than that.

Firstly it is about exercising the first amendment. While the language in Aristocrats is worse than a pirate's, it exists and is publicly available because it is protected by the first amendment. I'm sure that in this atmosphere of rampant political correctness, there will be many people that think this movie should not even be available for rental or purchase. Unfortunately, the first amendment allows our freedom of speech and that goes for speech we agree and speech we disagree with.

Secondly, it is about the nature of comedy; why comedy is funny. At it's core, comedy is a reflection of a society's morals and values. Every joke is based in reality and then taken that one step further to to making shocking, ridiculous, unbelievable and funny. The Aristocrats shows, in a behind the scenes manner, how comedians keep their "razor edge of funny" sharp. The Aristocrats joke itself is like a whetstone for a comedian.

Finally, the Aristocrats is about a ridiculous, funny, and downright disgusting, dirty joke. It is a piece of adult humor that has its roots in Vaudeville and carries with it a long history of tradition. It is toilet humor stretched to a feature length and it truly is a funny movie.

If you get a chance to watch the Aristocrats, make sure you do. When you're done watching, check out the Aristocrats Wikipedia page to learn even more about the Aristocrats. Paul Provenza and Penn Jillette have done such an honor to comedy in their homage to the comedian and the dirtiest joke in his (or her) arsenal. We honor them by watching (and enjoying).

TiVo Red Remote

nospam@example.com (Latcarf) — Fri, 06 Jan 2006 01:36:06 -0400

I got my new TiVo Red remote control in the mail today. I'm a sucker for limited edition stuff. No different than my regular TiVo remote except for the fact it has a cool, red, rubberized coating.

Now I have four TiVo remotes for one TiVo box: original, original with white skin, limited edition rubberized blue, and limited edition rubberized red. Hooray for limited edition stuff!

FFXI DDoS Dilemma

nospam@example.com (Latcarf) — Wed, 27 Apr 2005 18:47:00 -0400

The Final Fantasy XI (and PlayOnline) Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks are still going on and it is definitely making an impact on game-play.

Square-Enix made a somewhat stupid decision to do a major update during these attacks and many, many people suffered from timeout errors and failed updates. I couldn't update for over 24 hours and when I finally did, my plants were dead. Not being able to connect is a real problem in a persistent-world massive multiplayer online game (MMOG); especially one as high maintenance as FFXI.
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Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

nospam@example.com (Latcarf) — Tue, 26 Apr 2005 16:22:00 -0400

Well, I'm glad to see someone else is taking a shot at putting the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy on screen.

The book is great (actually the whole five-plus-one book trilogy is great), and BBC did a fair job making a TV series back in the 80's - even though it's rather dated, it's still fairly fun.

Now, with today's special effects and CG, Hitchhiker's Guide can make a better transition from the mind of Douglas Adams' to the silver screen. I'm sincerely looking forward to this show.

Vortis

nospam@example.com (Latcarf) — Fri, 15 Apr 2005 01:36:30 -0400

My girlfriend was listening to some crazy music at the iTunes Music Store this evening and I just had to find out what the hell it was. The band is called Vortis and it sounds super antagonistic to the status quo and current political atmosphere. That made me even more interested.

So, I Googled them and I became even more intrigued and delighted. As it I thought, Vortis is pretty gritty and antagonistic to the current state of world affairs. Ok, so I do like them.

Here's some icing on the Vortis cake, the lead singer, F.T. is a 59 year old ex-Purdue philosophy professor! How's about that for qualification to be in a poignant punk band.

Check these guys out.

Deadwood

nospam@example.com (Latcarf) — Mon, 11 Apr 2005 20:49:02 -0400

The second season of HBO's "Deadwood" has gotten me riveted just as much as the first. I almost can't stand the wait from Sunday to Sunday to see a new episode.

I bought the first season on DVD and had to re-watch all the episodes twice just to get all of the nuances in the dialog.

If you haven't watched Deadwood yet, you may be put off by the coarse language, but once you get past that, you'll find the characters are really very eloquent in their gritty, old west way.

This series was created by David Milch (NYPD Blue writer) and is set in South Dakota around the late 1800 (after Custer's last stand at the Little Big Horn). Whether or not you are into Western's, this series is super captivating!

Dear Friends - San Francisco Concert

nospam@example.com (Latcarf) — Tue, 08 Mar 2005 03:50:00 -0400

Tonight was the San Francisco concert of "Dear Friends: Music from Final Fantasy" - music by Nobuo Uematsu. And you'd better believe I was there!

The concert was performed by Symphony Silicon Valley and the San Jose State Chorale at the Nob Hill Masonic Auditorium. It was conducted by Grammy Award winning Arnie Roth and attended by Uematsu himself.

I sat four rows back just one section off center in a VIP row. The venue was acoustically pleasing and the music, of course, was absolutely excellent. The whole experience was enhanced by three large screens that showed the symphony members and select CG scenes from various Final Fantasy titles.

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