Later this week I will be doing what I love the most: bringing a multitude of computer parts together to build a new computer.
It was in early 2004 that I pooled together some money and over the course of four months purchased all the parts I would need to build a new computer. In March/April of 2004 I finally built my first computer, powered by an Athlon 64 3000+, 512 MB of memory, a 160 GB harddrive, and a Radeon x700 video card. It was a $600 monster that at the time ran all of my games without breaking a sweat. Over the years I have made minor tweaks - a new video card, more memory, and lots of new harddrive space - but nothing at the core changed much, as I was limited by the motherboard and processor that I had.
After several months of research and careful planning, I am letting my current computer - nicknamed "Dragonfly" - slowly run its course into extinction while I get ready to piece together my next rig. I'm not starting entirely from scratch: I have a perfectly good case, tons of hard drive storage, and of course an expensive video card (Radeon x1950) that will service in my new machine just fine.
I'm moving from a pokey (yet utterly efficient) 1.8GHz Athlon 64 to a Core 2 Duo 3.16GHz processor that is pretty close to the top of the gaming heap. I desperately wanted a quad-core system, but prices on the Core 2 Quad line haven't come down to be in line with my budget quite yet. I'm able to score a high-end dual-core processor for under $200, which is awesome. I'm bumping from 1 GB of memory to 4 GB of overclocked DDR3 memory, which will be quite a boost for me in a Windows XP envirnment (I won't be upgrading to Windows 7 until I go quad-core in a few more years).
All in all, I'm spending just over $300 to upgrade my computer to once again be pretty close to the cutting-edge, at least in terms of what my use for it will be (gaming, mostly, as well as serving files off 1.5 TB of media storage, eventually).
For five years I have prided myself on the machine I created and dubbed "Dragonfly," and this weekend I will get to see my next baby come to life, which leaves this parent with a difficult question: what do I name it?
B3 out.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Story Summaries For All
When you pick up a book and read the back of it, what are you reading? In most cases, it is a short summary of the story within. While it is known that you should not judge a book by its cover, the truth is that the vast majority of books need to sell you on their story just with the back cover, within that paragraph or two.
To this end, as a creative writing exercise I have written what I envision as the best summaries of some of my old, current, and upcoming fiction. Most of this is stuff that I haven't finished yet, so I hope this is a good motivator to get back on some of my short stories that have been dormant for a while.
Event Horizon
Kalman Kennard - Kale for short - tires of his routine life at home: the bore of working a dead-end retail job while attending community college finally catches up to him, and he moves from home to attend school at Pine Creek University far up in the Rocky Mountains. A stark contrast to his life in eastern Nebraska, Kale finds university life everything he thought it could be: long hours in the classroom, lots of papers to write, not to mention sex, drugs, music, alcohol, and parties.
While catching up with a "normal" college life, Kale stumbles upon Horizon Dormitories, an ominous building that doesn't quite fit in with the rest of campus, but it introduces him to the freedom of his own limitless dreams, as well as the beautiful Shaylee. With his heart longing for a girl trapped in a dream world that Kale doesn't believe in, he must overcome his own disbelief in the impossible to find happiness.
Minor Thirsts
A young married couple has everything they ever wanted out of life: high-paying jobs, a large house on an expansive yard, a stable of SUVs, and their first child on the way. They also sit on the brink of financial and emotional collapse as they struggle to cling on to the life they know and love in an America that has taken clean, potable water for granted for far too long.
This introduction to the Minor Thirsts series stays simple yet to the point: one day clean water - a necessary element of life - will be scarce enough on this planet to be the subject of war, and the world introduced here sits on the brink of total world war.
Minor Thirsts: Great Lakes Ground Zero
First and third-world nations become equals as the world wages war over the most basic of necessities: potable water. With millions of people around the world dying every day from disease, famine, and thirst, the world's most abundant fresh-water sources become the center of conflict for the survival of the nations of the world.
A young man, Justin, looks forward to his 21st birthday in the coming week, but must celebrate it from the confines of his service in the United States Army as his unit stands as the first line of defense on the edge of the largest and most fierce battleground of any known war: The Great Lakes. Desperate to have fun on his birthday, a chance romantic encounter with a 17 year old civilian Hayley lands Justin in more hot water than anyone can afford.
Beautiful Lies
Adam goes out on the town one Friday after a boring day at work, and every beautiful accountant from the office will be up for grabs, especially Marissa, his long-time romantic interest. Ignoring his unique medical condition, Adam ends the night nearly dead: every time he tells a lie, no matter big or small, a part of him dies - quite literally.
Crawling into Saturday morning as a disfigured shell of his former self, Adam finds that loneliness and lying can go hand-in-hand, and he sets about righting his wrongs with the office staff and especially Marissa, who cannot see him for anything other than a lying, hideous cripple. Adam must correct himself without telling any more lies, or else risk losing both Marissa and his own life.
Deserted Dream
Charles and Denise are en route to their dream wedding on a charter plane in the Bahamas. In perfectly clear weather their single-engine plane fails and crashes to a small but uninhabited island. With a dead pilot and no way of communicating with the outside world, the married couple that everyone was routing for begins to fall apart as each realizes that their choice of who to be stranded with on a desert island might not carry over to marriage after all.
The Reminder
A business man, a family man and an honest man, Erick has an incredibly perfect job as a software developer which allows him to make a ton of money while barely lifting a finger. One night he succumbs to the once and rare temptation of a young, beautiful woman - Jenny - one night after work. He later discovers that his fantasies were a bit misplaced, as Jenny turns out to be an absurdly mature 14 year old - and the daughter of Erick's boss.
Erick's life turns to hell as Jenny forces him to work for her in exchange for her silence. In the mean time, Erick searches for a way out: already worried about his position at his job, he slowly falls apart as he contemplates quitting, moving, or fessing up to his crime before he raises an eyebrow to the idea of murder or suicide. Who will snap first?
Now that you've read what I have cooking, now comes the $64,000 question: how many of these stories would you want to actually read?
B3 out.
To this end, as a creative writing exercise I have written what I envision as the best summaries of some of my old, current, and upcoming fiction. Most of this is stuff that I haven't finished yet, so I hope this is a good motivator to get back on some of my short stories that have been dormant for a while.
Event Horizon
Kalman Kennard - Kale for short - tires of his routine life at home: the bore of working a dead-end retail job while attending community college finally catches up to him, and he moves from home to attend school at Pine Creek University far up in the Rocky Mountains. A stark contrast to his life in eastern Nebraska, Kale finds university life everything he thought it could be: long hours in the classroom, lots of papers to write, not to mention sex, drugs, music, alcohol, and parties.
While catching up with a "normal" college life, Kale stumbles upon Horizon Dormitories, an ominous building that doesn't quite fit in with the rest of campus, but it introduces him to the freedom of his own limitless dreams, as well as the beautiful Shaylee. With his heart longing for a girl trapped in a dream world that Kale doesn't believe in, he must overcome his own disbelief in the impossible to find happiness.
Minor Thirsts
A young married couple has everything they ever wanted out of life: high-paying jobs, a large house on an expansive yard, a stable of SUVs, and their first child on the way. They also sit on the brink of financial and emotional collapse as they struggle to cling on to the life they know and love in an America that has taken clean, potable water for granted for far too long.
This introduction to the Minor Thirsts series stays simple yet to the point: one day clean water - a necessary element of life - will be scarce enough on this planet to be the subject of war, and the world introduced here sits on the brink of total world war.
Minor Thirsts: Great Lakes Ground Zero
First and third-world nations become equals as the world wages war over the most basic of necessities: potable water. With millions of people around the world dying every day from disease, famine, and thirst, the world's most abundant fresh-water sources become the center of conflict for the survival of the nations of the world.
A young man, Justin, looks forward to his 21st birthday in the coming week, but must celebrate it from the confines of his service in the United States Army as his unit stands as the first line of defense on the edge of the largest and most fierce battleground of any known war: The Great Lakes. Desperate to have fun on his birthday, a chance romantic encounter with a 17 year old civilian Hayley lands Justin in more hot water than anyone can afford.
Beautiful Lies
Adam goes out on the town one Friday after a boring day at work, and every beautiful accountant from the office will be up for grabs, especially Marissa, his long-time romantic interest. Ignoring his unique medical condition, Adam ends the night nearly dead: every time he tells a lie, no matter big or small, a part of him dies - quite literally.
Crawling into Saturday morning as a disfigured shell of his former self, Adam finds that loneliness and lying can go hand-in-hand, and he sets about righting his wrongs with the office staff and especially Marissa, who cannot see him for anything other than a lying, hideous cripple. Adam must correct himself without telling any more lies, or else risk losing both Marissa and his own life.
Deserted Dream
Charles and Denise are en route to their dream wedding on a charter plane in the Bahamas. In perfectly clear weather their single-engine plane fails and crashes to a small but uninhabited island. With a dead pilot and no way of communicating with the outside world, the married couple that everyone was routing for begins to fall apart as each realizes that their choice of who to be stranded with on a desert island might not carry over to marriage after all.
The Reminder
A business man, a family man and an honest man, Erick has an incredibly perfect job as a software developer which allows him to make a ton of money while barely lifting a finger. One night he succumbs to the once and rare temptation of a young, beautiful woman - Jenny - one night after work. He later discovers that his fantasies were a bit misplaced, as Jenny turns out to be an absurdly mature 14 year old - and the daughter of Erick's boss.
Erick's life turns to hell as Jenny forces him to work for her in exchange for her silence. In the mean time, Erick searches for a way out: already worried about his position at his job, he slowly falls apart as he contemplates quitting, moving, or fessing up to his crime before he raises an eyebrow to the idea of murder or suicide. Who will snap first?
Now that you've read what I have cooking, now comes the $64,000 question: how many of these stories would you want to actually read?
B3 out.
SNL Jeopardy FTW
This SNL skit is so bloody awesome that it needs to be watched again and again and again and again.
Easily the best SNL Jeopardy skit ever produced.
http://www.hulu.com/watch/73362/saturday-night-live-jeopardy
B3 out.
Easily the best SNL Jeopardy skit ever produced.
http://www.hulu.com/watch/73362/saturday-night-live-jeopardy
B3 out.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Perfection + 1: 21st Century Breakdown Review
I couldn't say enough nice things about American Idiot, Green Day's jaw-dropping 2004 album that proved that the trio from Oakland, California had the ability to evolve from their punk roots into a powerhouse band leading mainstream rock into the 21st century.
Well apparently Billie Joe and company are not impressed with the 21st century they landed in, because 21st Century Breakdown details an America falling apart by its own accord - and subsequently begs for us to turn it around - and does so with 3 acts of 18 tracks that never let up the rock-opera power-chords borne from American Idiot.
Indeed, 21st Century Breakdown is the direct sequel to American Idiot, and this is apparent both lyrically and musically. Green Day may have brought punk-rock into the mainstream in the mid-90's, but their biggest achievement to date is the maturing that happened with American Idiot. Rather than revisit old material and methods, Green Day chose to push themselves harder and farther, and the result is a logical extension of 2004's masterpiece.
In fact, 21st Century Breakdown is better than American Idiot as a whole (note: this is what it looks like to improve upon perfection), but it also suffers from feeling a bit too familiar at the same time. From the get go, the titular track "21st Century Breakdown" sets up the rest of the album with the why, the how, and the history of how we set ourselves on a path towards a breakdown, and also introduces the two characters featured throughout the album. A grand intro brings us into the song and over the course of five and a half minutes the full band is on display, a similar multifaceted display of guitar, drums, bass, and vocals that was so apparent on American Idiots' "Jesus of Suburbia." I don't blame Green Day for reusing the same formula for getting things off the ground: it works wonders, sounds great, and rocks hard.
I will spare the minor details of the actual story Green Day set out to tell. The short, glossy version: two characters, Gloria and Christian, navigate an America on the brink of breakdown and learn about themselves in ways that only our media-seared, war-wary nation might today. 21st Century Breakdown contains a better-told story than American Idiot, but does so only on the whole. American Idiot excelled at the art of the single: any song on that disc was awesome on its own right, yet could all come together in a sequential listen and form a cohesive whole. 21st Century Breakdown is a bit more different: there are better songs than others scattered throughout the three acts, and the album is best listened to and studied as a whole rather than picking apart individual songs. Still, it rocks pretty hard overall. Standout tracks include "East Jesus Nowhere," "Before the Lobotomy," "Last of the American Girls," and "21 Guns" - the spiritual successor to "Wake Me Up When September Ends."
Everything about 21st Century Breakdown screams of maturity. Green Day has grown musically and done what very few bands in the history of rock have done: expanded past their origins, creating new music and methods without alienating their core sound or losing touch with their roots. Green Day has evolved for the 21st century of rock, and because of this can be called no less than one of the greatest rock bands in the world today.
If I had to levy one honest complaint against the album it would be an argument against the extreme polish given to the entire product. Every instrument is perfectly placed, every vocal finely tuned, and every piece of artwork tweaked to fit just right. While many of Green Day's earlier works never had the luxury of so much production attention, it's clear here that millions of dollars of work by producers, artists, and studios were poured into this album to make it perfect. This is certainly a big-budget album with a big budget team behind it, so while it does sound and look perfect from front to back, I do believe that Green Day is deserving of all this attention. This may not be everyone's up of tea, but your mileage may vary.
But sheesh, I'll stop bitching now...
Seventy minutes of Green Day's best is on display here. While 1994's Dookie was a monster of a debut album (15 million copies sold to date), 21st Century Breakdown is the band's standout album, the centerpiece that will ultimately define the band in the history books years down the road. While you can waste a Saturday afternoon listening to the antics of "Brain Stew" or "Longview," you could spend your entire Sunday morning, noon, and night taking in and analyzing the powerful rock chords of 21st Century Breakdown. Green Day has certainly grown up gracefully, and every minute of this album puts that on display beautifully.
Bravo.
Well apparently Billie Joe and company are not impressed with the 21st century they landed in, because 21st Century Breakdown details an America falling apart by its own accord - and subsequently begs for us to turn it around - and does so with 3 acts of 18 tracks that never let up the rock-opera power-chords borne from American Idiot.
Indeed, 21st Century Breakdown is the direct sequel to American Idiot, and this is apparent both lyrically and musically. Green Day may have brought punk-rock into the mainstream in the mid-90's, but their biggest achievement to date is the maturing that happened with American Idiot. Rather than revisit old material and methods, Green Day chose to push themselves harder and farther, and the result is a logical extension of 2004's masterpiece.
In fact, 21st Century Breakdown is better than American Idiot as a whole (note: this is what it looks like to improve upon perfection), but it also suffers from feeling a bit too familiar at the same time. From the get go, the titular track "21st Century Breakdown" sets up the rest of the album with the why, the how, and the history of how we set ourselves on a path towards a breakdown, and also introduces the two characters featured throughout the album. A grand intro brings us into the song and over the course of five and a half minutes the full band is on display, a similar multifaceted display of guitar, drums, bass, and vocals that was so apparent on American Idiots' "Jesus of Suburbia." I don't blame Green Day for reusing the same formula for getting things off the ground: it works wonders, sounds great, and rocks hard.
I will spare the minor details of the actual story Green Day set out to tell. The short, glossy version: two characters, Gloria and Christian, navigate an America on the brink of breakdown and learn about themselves in ways that only our media-seared, war-wary nation might today. 21st Century Breakdown contains a better-told story than American Idiot, but does so only on the whole. American Idiot excelled at the art of the single: any song on that disc was awesome on its own right, yet could all come together in a sequential listen and form a cohesive whole. 21st Century Breakdown is a bit more different: there are better songs than others scattered throughout the three acts, and the album is best listened to and studied as a whole rather than picking apart individual songs. Still, it rocks pretty hard overall. Standout tracks include "East Jesus Nowhere," "Before the Lobotomy," "Last of the American Girls," and "21 Guns" - the spiritual successor to "Wake Me Up When September Ends."
Everything about 21st Century Breakdown screams of maturity. Green Day has grown musically and done what very few bands in the history of rock have done: expanded past their origins, creating new music and methods without alienating their core sound or losing touch with their roots. Green Day has evolved for the 21st century of rock, and because of this can be called no less than one of the greatest rock bands in the world today.
If I had to levy one honest complaint against the album it would be an argument against the extreme polish given to the entire product. Every instrument is perfectly placed, every vocal finely tuned, and every piece of artwork tweaked to fit just right. While many of Green Day's earlier works never had the luxury of so much production attention, it's clear here that millions of dollars of work by producers, artists, and studios were poured into this album to make it perfect. This is certainly a big-budget album with a big budget team behind it, so while it does sound and look perfect from front to back, I do believe that Green Day is deserving of all this attention. This may not be everyone's up of tea, but your mileage may vary.
But sheesh, I'll stop bitching now...
Seventy minutes of Green Day's best is on display here. While 1994's Dookie was a monster of a debut album (15 million copies sold to date), 21st Century Breakdown is the band's standout album, the centerpiece that will ultimately define the band in the history books years down the road. While you can waste a Saturday afternoon listening to the antics of "Brain Stew" or "Longview," you could spend your entire Sunday morning, noon, and night taking in and analyzing the powerful rock chords of 21st Century Breakdown. Green Day has certainly grown up gracefully, and every minute of this album puts that on display beautifully.
Bravo.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Genuine Gems: The Lion King
As I promised a while back, it is time for my Genuine Gems concept to get off the ground. First up in a regular series, I examine one of the most important examples of film in my life: The Lion King.
Simply put, this is my religion. I am not a religious person by any means, but if I did believe in a god, The Lion King would be it. The crutch of my morals, my beliefs in how to treat other people, how I examine my own life, and how to look to the future, are rooted in the lessons this film teaches. While I may not always adhere to my beliefs and morals the best I can, I always return to this film with a moment of silence every so often to remind myself of who I am.
And that is ultimately the beginning of the lesson of The Lion King. It is a story about life itself ("the circle of life") and all the trials and tribulations that come with growing up and maturing from an inexperienced child to a responsible adult - the process of growing to understand and accept one's place in the world. That such a serious lesson is taught in a Disney film for children is should not go without some kind of amazement.
Furthermore, an equally important lesson is taught that goes hand-in-hand with the lesson of growing up: while the mistakes in our lives may not always be our own, it is important to always learn from our past (mistakes and all), and never to run from them. This is the core of becoming a responsible adult - taking responsibility for one's actions.
While I definitely have had trouble in the past with accepting responsibility for my mistakes, I do not fear making mistakes anymore. Every decision I make may potentially lead to a learning opportunity in my future, and I push onward in all aspects of my life expecting the best but cautiously aware of what could go wrong one day with all the decisions I have to make.
On top of all this the The Lion King is a pretty solid Disney movie otherwise. Elton John's musical score is pretty much my favorite of any animated film (it was what got me to appreciate music in the first place). The animation isn't terribly outstanding, but the attention to detail does stand out (perks of ears, wagging tails, claws protruding). The script keeps a healthy pace every step of the way, but never makes the 90 minute move feel too short or too long - the adventure is solid and well-told even after the 100th viewing (I'm probably on my 400th viewing by now).
The Lion King might have just hit me at the right time. I was 10 years old in 1994 when I first saw it in theaters. I later learned that I had a natural talent for drawing, and put pencil to paper by sketching my favorite Lion King characters during my free time at school. This grew into an explosion of creativity that led to my full interest in music, movies, and eventually even writing.
I will keep The Lion King with me until I grow old and die, and now you know why.
B3 out.
Simply put, this is my religion. I am not a religious person by any means, but if I did believe in a god, The Lion King would be it. The crutch of my morals, my beliefs in how to treat other people, how I examine my own life, and how to look to the future, are rooted in the lessons this film teaches. While I may not always adhere to my beliefs and morals the best I can, I always return to this film with a moment of silence every so often to remind myself of who I am.
And that is ultimately the beginning of the lesson of The Lion King. It is a story about life itself ("the circle of life") and all the trials and tribulations that come with growing up and maturing from an inexperienced child to a responsible adult - the process of growing to understand and accept one's place in the world. That such a serious lesson is taught in a Disney film for children is should not go without some kind of amazement.
Furthermore, an equally important lesson is taught that goes hand-in-hand with the lesson of growing up: while the mistakes in our lives may not always be our own, it is important to always learn from our past (mistakes and all), and never to run from them. This is the core of becoming a responsible adult - taking responsibility for one's actions.
While I definitely have had trouble in the past with accepting responsibility for my mistakes, I do not fear making mistakes anymore. Every decision I make may potentially lead to a learning opportunity in my future, and I push onward in all aspects of my life expecting the best but cautiously aware of what could go wrong one day with all the decisions I have to make.
On top of all this the The Lion King is a pretty solid Disney movie otherwise. Elton John's musical score is pretty much my favorite of any animated film (it was what got me to appreciate music in the first place). The animation isn't terribly outstanding, but the attention to detail does stand out (perks of ears, wagging tails, claws protruding). The script keeps a healthy pace every step of the way, but never makes the 90 minute move feel too short or too long - the adventure is solid and well-told even after the 100th viewing (I'm probably on my 400th viewing by now).
The Lion King might have just hit me at the right time. I was 10 years old in 1994 when I first saw it in theaters. I later learned that I had a natural talent for drawing, and put pencil to paper by sketching my favorite Lion King characters during my free time at school. This grew into an explosion of creativity that led to my full interest in music, movies, and eventually even writing.
I will keep The Lion King with me until I grow old and die, and now you know why.
B3 out.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Swoon Review: More of the Same? Sure.
My year of awesome music kicked off to a rocky start. Blue October was first to release a new record that I was highly interested in, but I was not impressed with the results. Next up come the Silversun Pickups (SSPU) with Swoon.
If Blue October's Approaching Normal was something different for the band, a little experimentation gone wrong, SSPU don't mess with a good thing. Swoon is a great album loaded with crunchy guitar riffs, excellent drum-work, and a solid bass-line. "There's No Secrets This Year" matches Carnavas' "Melatonin" in energy, blasting into the distorted guitars and comfortable vocals that any SSPU fan is acoustomed to hearing. Between here and the excellent track five, "Panic Switch," SSPU has trouble seperating themselves from Carnavas. Swoon is largely a been-there, done-that album that blends so well together with their previous work, it almost distracts the listener from taking in the new material.
This is, of course, the curse of a solid band: SSPU has a unique sound that rocks overall. Unfortunately, casual fans will most likely pass this album up and choose Carnavas to scratch their SSPU itch. Hardcore followers of the band will swear by Swoon as The Next Great Thing. This battle is largely divided among party lines.
B3 out.
If Blue October's Approaching Normal was something different for the band, a little experimentation gone wrong, SSPU don't mess with a good thing. Swoon is a great album loaded with crunchy guitar riffs, excellent drum-work, and a solid bass-line. "There's No Secrets This Year" matches Carnavas' "Melatonin" in energy, blasting into the distorted guitars and comfortable vocals that any SSPU fan is acoustomed to hearing. Between here and the excellent track five, "Panic Switch," SSPU has trouble seperating themselves from Carnavas. Swoon is largely a been-there, done-that album that blends so well together with their previous work, it almost distracts the listener from taking in the new material.
This is, of course, the curse of a solid band: SSPU has a unique sound that rocks overall. Unfortunately, casual fans will most likely pass this album up and choose Carnavas to scratch their SSPU itch. Hardcore followers of the band will swear by Swoon as The Next Great Thing. This battle is largely divided among party lines.
B3 out.
Thursday, May 07, 2009
Out and About
Looks like I have a great weekend coming up:
B3 out.
- I'm going browsing for new cell phones briefly sometime this weekend, with the intentions of shopping for a eventually picking up a Blackberry.
- Colleen's graduation is Saturday morning, which will be a weird event to witness from the sidelines, rather than the stage. While I'm looking forward to cheering her on, I also know it will be a two to three hour event - kinda long for my attention span.
- Saturday night I will be scouting out locations and discussing meeting details with Dale about our BG Writers Workshop meetings coming up. Once again, our first meeting will be May 16th at 6pm.
- I'm planning to bust out Guitar Hero and Rock Band 2 and play like mad sometime this weekend, so anyone who wants to come out and play, hit me up on Facebook.
B3 out.
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