Well it's the weekend again, so it means I should throw some words on virtual
paper. Get the brainmeats out of the way quick, being back on seroquel
means I'm sleeping more/better, but my anxiety is still way out there.
(not expecting immediate fix, I know better). Depression lurks in a ninja
kind of way, I see good things, I feel good things, but it leaps out every
now and again in a nihilistic kind of way that reminds me that I'm still rather
broken. But I've been broken before, and I've put myself together,
repeatedly. I am a New Yorker after all, we're survivors.
So enough strum und drang. What is best in life Vulpine? Well, I'm not
Conan, so lets start with books. Been reading a bunch of old school Mythos
still. Got a pile of other stuff to read, but other than a little history
it's all tentaclular horrors. Listened/ing to a few books by Charlie
Stross to get in the mood for his latest Laundry File book next month.
Not the whole series, just enough to get back in the series. So many books,
so little time.
Went to see 'The Mummy' today. A solid bit of cheese, with a side of ham
from Russell Crowe. Yes it could have been much better, but it still was
fun and Sofia Boutella was a nice mix of creepy, evil, and lovely. Plus,
she was literally covered in hieratic script, so a walking book. Sign me
up for the cult please. *grin* Also, for any Lovecraftians who've seen it, did anyone look at the red jewel McGuffin and think 'Shining Trapezohedron' ? Or was that just me trying to make everything into a Mythos reference
What will I do tomorrow? Probably just chores and stuff. Been meaning to
clean up the bedroom for months now, may just pop an audiobook or podcast
in and spend a while in there trying to get things organized. This is
alongside a store run, laundry and similar stuff, so I may set reasonable
goals instead. Assuming I don't just hide in bed with a book, or within
a movie marathon of cheese and gore. We'll see. For now though, going to
call this a post before it's technically Sunday. Laters cultists.
Well yesterday I went on a Sci-Fi fest with Amythest and Nymaz. Went to see
'Ghost in the Shell' and 'Life'. So I thought I'd throw together some
reviews.
I'm not going to comment on the various controversies about 'Ghost in the
Shell'. Just going to describe what I saw. It's a very stylistic, cyber
punky movie. Shiny and grimy at the same time. Scarlett Johansson looks
really good as the Major, but her acting was very cyborgish. The various
anime versions of the Major shows her with snark and emotions. The
plot is a mix of the original GitS and Stand Alone Complex, with some
added backstory that really wasn't necessary. On the plus side, the
effects are good, and the action scenes are dynamic. And since I have
a major crush on ms Scarlett, even if her acting was kind of wooden, it was
enjoyable to watch. Glad I saw it on the big screen, and I'll probably pick
it up on dvd/bluray, but if I'm wanting a cyberpunk fix, I'll probably
turn to 'Stand Alone Complex' or the original movie (which I'm watching now).
3 out of 5 ghosts in the machine.
Then we went to see 'Life'. Now this was a fun movie. Alien life form
examined on the ISS. Alien life form runs amok, fun is had. Unlike
'Prometheus' the scientists don't make completely stupid decisions. They
make mistakes, but they're understandable ones. None of the characters are
'mad scientists', and are all pretty likable. The monster is shoggoth-y
and the CGI was very well done. There's even a Lovecraft shout out in
the beginning, which made me a very happy cultist. Lots of 'Alien' themes,
and some 'The Thing' flavors, but with it's own way of doing things. It's
also pretty bleak, as most good SciFi/Horror is, keep in mind. Will
definitely watch repeatedly once I have it in my hot little pseudopods.
I think it gets 5 out of 5 flailing pseudopods.
So that's Vulpine at the movies. Had a good time, even if I wasn't feeling
too good. Hopefully next weekend I'll get to see another Lovecraftian
flick, 'The Void'. If not, it will be on DVD soon. Ok, catch you all later.
Had a good Saturday. Woke up way early, not originally the plan but
I had weird dreams and I just wanted to be out of that weirdness. Did
the usual Saturday foo (store run, other chores). I was going to leave
early to go raid a bookstore and be social with friends, but I ended up
dealing with a fiddly database server, so I didn't leave til later than
I planned. Not a huge deal, just felt a tad off. Finally did leave, and
headed up to the flagship Half Price Books in Dallas. Sold a few DVDs back,
as much to clear up space as anything else, besides a few bucks I got a
10% off coupon for my purchases. Useful that. I only picked up 3 books,
a bibliography of Lovecraft (it's the older edition, so it's out of date
on stuff but still useful), a book called 'The Magick Bookshop', stories
about an occult bookshop, and 'Secret Agent 666: Aleister Crowley, British
Intelligence and the Occult', which I've had on my esoterica wishlist for
years. Should make for some interesting reading. Well, not the bibliography,
that's going to be more for digging into randomly.
After the book raid, I went to visit some friends and watch movies. We
ended up shockingly watching horror flicks, well 2 of us did, while a certain
raptor played Minecraft. Worked out well, got some puppy time, got to
talk geek, was good. Had an amusing conversation with J about horror around the world, and we came to the
realization that I've seen a LOT of horror movies from all over. I could
rattle off theme differences between Spanish, Italian and French horror,
or how Korean horror is what happens when you take Japanese and Hong Kong
horror movies, and turn it up to 11. But I couldn't tell you about Vietnamese
horror cinema at all, or names for Indian horror flicks (though I'm pretty
sure Bollywood has some, and they have musical numbers). We also agreed
that the world needs more Middle Eastern horror, and there's probably a
ton of African movie makers who will scare the pants off people. (Not
just South Africa, but Nigeria and others). So much horror, so little
time.
Came home a while ago, watching more horror (Hammer Films). Book time
in a while, then hopefully getting to sleep in. A fox can dream at
least.
Had a good night's sleep, full of strange
dreams about a city that I dream about on a regular basis. Not sure what it's
based on, but it seems the same every time it shows up. This time I was
able to cut through traffic and get back to DFW because I was able to
slip through spacetime. (I blame that bit on reading the tech details about
Alastair Reynolds' 'Revelation Space' novels). Woke up, and sadly the
cool dream didn't carry over. Had a major league anxiety attack. Took
my happy meds, watched a movie, and generally bumped all plans back.
By the time I was up for going to the movies, I was pretty decent.
Met up with my friends, watched the third 'The Purge' movie. Given
the foo going on lately, I had a feeling this movie wouldn't be much fun.
But it had some good bits, besides the political foo. Lots of violence,
lots of one liners from a few characters that were hysterical, and it ended
on a vague high note. If you liked the first 2, you'd probably like this
one.
Headed home, picked up packages, (Yay finally got my copy of 'Swords v
Cthulhu'). Headed back out a little later to have dinner with some
other friends, celebrating a spawning day. Went to a Greek/Mediterranean
place, very tasty. We ate foods, chitchatted, caught up. Definitely
will go back there. Took care of some other stuff, and came home. Fired
up 'Prometheus' because I needed some fluff. Scientists making horrible
decisions always makes me feel better.
So yeah, in a better place than 24 hours ago. Plan for tonight is probably
to watch movies and veg. Later I'll dig into my new, shiny book.
Tomorrow I have more errands to run, laundry to do, and will probably
just be chill. Then another week of work, with a series of things I need
to focus on. Nothing bad, just adjusting priorities. No real plans for
the week besides work. So for that, I'm going to call this a post.
Well Sunday was pretty decent. I got up around the usual time, bummed
around Château Innsmouth for a while. Headed out to hang out with
friends, with a side trip to the flagship Half Price Books in Dallas.
Oh lord, I went nuts, a ton of DVDs and blurays, and a number of books
for the Mythos collection. I really need to get a couple of new bookcases.
before my collection explodes. My credit card may be crying.
Went up to hang out with P and J
Watched the 2nd and 3rd Poltergeist flicks, which I haven't seen since
I was a kid. Not great, but not bad. I remember them being much worse.
Then, because we've inflicted a ton of bad movies on the P
he picked 'Mumford' which was a very odd and quirky flick about a therapist
in a town in major need of therapy. So not my kind of flick, but it had
some funny moments, and it ended on a good note. By then I was tired
and kind of icky feeling. So I took off. Was glad to hang out with
my pals.
Also heard from my globe trotting musketeers. It seems Logan International
is of the suck, and people in Boston are weird. They're on their way to
Iceland for another stop, then off to Scotland, Mild envy. But honestly,
if I was with them I'd probably be driven to jump ship and hightail it to
the British Museum for a week. And I'd miss all the other fun.
Drove home, put in one of my new purchases...and found out I'd already
seen it (and wasn't terribly impressed by it). Giving it another try, since
I did spend money on it. Also ripping the other purchases for my future
watching. Probably going to stay up late tonight, I'm kind of jittery.
I've also decided to give myself a mulligan on tomorrow. I need to make
a store run for missing things, and return the Redbox I got yesterday (and
forgot to return today). Besides that, it could be books, it could be
movies, I may even go out to the movies or out to somewhere nice for dinner.
I don't know, I'm just going to take it as it comes.
So that's about it for Sunday's braindump. Going to make a snack, and
keep on keeping on. Take care.
Weekend report. Saturday was some chores, and then hanging out with
Amythest and Nymaz. Took one of Amythest's kitties to the vet, she's
going fine. Dropped her back off at home, and we went to the movies.
Saw the new 'Independence Day' flick, which was fun, but not as good as
the original. The magic of the original would have been hard to recreate.
The effects were good, and the background of the movie was actually pretty
positive. Plus aliens with tentacles are always good to me.
Post the movie, we went to a local sushi buffet. Nothing out of this
world, but it was pretty tasty. We then ran a couple of errands to kill
time before the second movie...'The Shallows'.
'The Shallows' was your basic woman vs nature, done rather well. The
shark, while it was acting kind of outside the norm for Great Whites,
wasn't completely off the wall like most shark movies. The actress,
Blake Lively, was good. The shark effects were really good. It was a
really good flick, and nice to show sharks as not utter demons, while
still showing them as a creature you should be afraid of. 8 or 9
fins in the water.
Came home after the movie, took forever due to construction on the highway
I didn't notice til it was way too late. Oh well, I had Lovecraftian podcasts
to listen to so I just made the best of it. Got home, went to bed with a
book. One of the 'Aliens' novels that originally came out in the 90's.
Nice bit of xenomorph fluff. Went to bed, slept, dreamed some weird
dreams, and woke up full on anxious. Tried to stay in bed, fail. Took
my meds, and I'm camping out at the Desk of Doom (tm) til things settle
down, then I'll go down and do laundry and stuff at Amythest's as usual.
So yeah, that's my weekend. The anxiety is starting to fade a little,
that's good. Hope it decided to bugger off for a while. I can dream
at least. At least next weekend is a 3 day weekend. Ok, enough rambling.
Catch you all later.
Well Saturday has been alright. Woke up after a weird dream about buying
and running a school. Futzed around the Château Innsmouth, maintenance
never showed. *sigh* Watched 1.5 Amityville Horror flicks, then headed
up to visit some friends. Who's AC was out, ick. Got to finally watch
'The Witch' with subtitles, which cleared up some dialog bits, but it
seems I grokked the general Puritan theology and 17th century English.
Also watched the original 'Poltergeist', always a fun flick. But after
that flick I was pretty much a puddle, so I headed home with the AC on
high.
Got Taco Bell for dinner, finished watching the .5 of the 2nd Amityville
movie. Got mail after the sun went down, which including my replacement
NecronomiPod. It's currently running through all the updates. And boy
is there a lot of them. Also watching 'Amityville 3D' which is one of my
guilty pleasures.
Probably going to make it a fairly early night of bed and book, getting
overheated will do that to a fox. Plus I have a ton of Mythos and Ancient
History to read. Tomorrow is keeping up the ghostness, the plan is to go
see 'The Conjuring 2' with Amythest. It's been a ghostly weekend I guess.
Catch you all later, unless the spooks catch me first.
Well, after a crazy week of working at Carcosa, I've gladly lazed most
of last night and today. The Thursday night maintenance went much better
than Tuesday. Less servers, more help, more planning. Still didn't get
enough sleep, so come Friday night after work I pretty much ate dinner,
and went to bed with a book. Was asleep before 10am, and I pretty much
slept til 10am. Had some unpleasant dreams about a former friend, and
some weird ones about blood relatives and submarine bases (reading
wiki articles on subs probably contributed to the later. Also, somewhere
there was sabre fencing. *shakes head* My subconsciousness needs a deep
cleaning.
Got up today, got moving. Cleaned out the car finally, went and did critter
care, got meds, got packages, and ended up coming home due to a lack of
tentacles. Been watching a collection of 'Devil Worship Horror Movies'
mostly from the 70's. Epicly cheesy and fun, definitely got my money's
worth. Done some chores, done some VM updates, mostly just have been
vegging.
My Nexus 5 decided to flake out, so I migrated back to my old 4, and put in
a RMA request from the company I bought the 5 from. Very annoying. Glad
I hung on the 4 for experimental purposes. Did manage to pull a backup,
and reset it to factory default before sending it off. Still a pain in
the tentacle.
Ok, going to call this a post, and keep on watching the wild fun of
bad movies. Catch you all later.
So today was meeting up with the Musketeers and going to see XMen:
Apocalypse. But first, as is traditional for Memorial Day Weekend, I
raided a couple of Half Price Books for 20% off savings. Got a couple
of 'loaner' copy books to hook friends on favorite authors, a horror
collection of randomness (with a T.E.D. Klein story I've never read),
another book on HPL I didn't have, and a DVD copy of 'Ravenous'. Yay for
snazzy and cheap stuff.
Went to see XMen. It's pretty good, though kind of over long and slow in
spots. My favorite XMan is there, Nightcrawler. They need to give him
a saber and some swashes to buckle though. Psylocke was epicly yummy,
and the big battles were fun to watch. Not the best Marvel flick ever,
but worth watching on the big screen.
Ran some errands after the movie, hung out for a bit and was amused at
cats stalking the wild ice cream back at Chez Amythest's. Came home,
cranked up the AC, and started watching Deadpool, because who doesn't
like Deadpool ? Going to stay up for a while, probably watch some more
superhero flicks. They are one of my favorite non-horror genres.
Tomorrow is knocking my TODO list down to size. So much laundry... But
hermit time will be good. Still trying to think of a good marathon of
movies to watch while doing chores. We'll see. Catch you all later.
Thank Cthulhu it's Friday. The annual Deathcold/Allergy fest kicked in
last weekend, but I managed to avoid calling in. The allergies have mostly
passed, but I'm now in the middle of the coughing fest that comes along.
Not fun. But I've felt much worse in years past.
Carcosa is pretty decent. Was given root access to all the linux instances
yesterday, which makes my life easier. Mostly have been dealing with
Windows foo still. Somewhere the linux gods are laughing. Did try to get
some Nagios foo done today and made a series of oopses that were bloody
annoying. I am rather out of practice with Nagios, something I should
correct in short order. Also had multiple meetings that were...multiple.
Oh well, that's the life of Corporate Cultists.
Came home after work, was originally going to get take out. But after
today I really just wanted to come home, and I had plenty of food here.
So home I came, got into comfy clothes and cooked up a pot of mac and
cheese. Queued up the 'Re-animator' trilogy and I'm vegging here at
Château Innsmouth. I was going to do a set of assorted chores, including
catching up on the laundry...but I think I'll just be here at the
Desk of Doom (tm), and watching movies. Oh yeah, and catching up with
the internets that I've missed while working.
I'm doing ok, a little blue, seems I'm losing touch with an old friend, and
it makes me sad. Oh well. At least I get to see my besties tomorrow,
and watch 'Sharkando 3' and 'Deadpool'. And I have a metric shoggoth
load of books, and cheesy horror movies...and oh crap, I never turned on
the external disk array on Dagon. Bugger. *scrambles to fix and start the
rsync process*. I really, REALLY need to make these things fail with a
notification *facetentacle* Oh well, better to catch it now, before
horrible things happened. Guess I'll call this a post, and get back to
watching backups run, and Dr West reanimate things randomly. Ciao.
