I Watched the Watchmen

I liked it. As a fan-boy I don't think it could ever match the original, but as a stand alone movie I enjoyed it. Overall it captures the graphic novel very well and I look forward to the extras and deleted scenes of the DVD.

There was a big line to get in and another big line for the next show when we got out at 10:00. Hopefully it will pull in some big opening night numbers. Of course I happened to pick the same theater and showing that all the Petroglyph guys went to which was kinda cool.

I didn't see anybody else wearing their original watchmen pin from 1986.

Some off the top of my head, non-spoiler, some-what critical comments:

I think the discussion between Jon and Laurie on Mars could have been done better. Her big realization was done much better in the book with the layered flashbacks.

Also Jon's thing with the thermodynamic miracles wasn't set up and explained that well. In the book he talks about the thermodynamic miracles when he is first showing her around and that's when he says he wanted to see one, which him realizing that we have been witnessing them everyday have more impact.

Missed the odd time things with Jon. Him telling Laurie that she is about to revel something to him and then being surprised when she does in her reply. Also his distorted state when the tachyons are messing with him, "excuse me Rorschach, I'm explaining this to Laurie 2 minutes ago."

I think they should have had more narration, like in the book. It would have helped people who hadn't read the graphic novel as well as given them more to work with.

Not enough smiley face references. Or maybe I missed them?

No, embracing Hiroshima lovers silhouette graffiti either even though the one shot from the dinner where you see it getting painted through the window, across the street was spot on in the movie.

Blue penis was 4 times the size it was in the comic. Seriously, it has always been referenced as the little blue dinkle, not the swinging blue pipe!!! Dave Gibbons had said they were worried that DC wouldn't let them show full frontal nudity in the comic so he was very careful to casually conceal it most of the time in the framing and draw it understated like in Roman statues so it was something you would only notice in passing.

Several added things were really good like the beginning credit sequence that lays some foundation and drives home that this is not our 1985. The fight scenes had a lot of impact as well, getting hit hurts.

I've already planned to go see it again at the matinee showing tomorrow.

So tell me about these here comic books...

I have been involved in a lot of conversations about the comic book industry in the days leading up to the Watchmen Movie and at one point I always shoot off about how the industry is due for another very large change.

Before I start let me say two things:

1. I no longer have the source for this, I think I may have gotten a lot of what I am basing this on from a pod-cast interview and not something I read which is why I can't find it.

2. If you think comic books are about nothing but people in spandex shooting 'beams' at each other (pew pew), I'll bet you money I can find you a comic that isn't about super heroes that you will read and then say to me, "Wow, that was good! What else can you recommend?"

The first big change in this chain was when comic book publishers decided to keep the price of comic books low. They were for kids and 25-35 cents was what kids could afford. Because of this the newsstands started to stock fewer titles. They have only so much shelf space and a regular magazine that sells for more, means more profit for them.

This caused the appearance of comic book specialty stores. In some ways this was good for the industry because it allowed the independents to come in, but it also meant that the sales numbers for comics dropped to a fraction of what they had been doing. In order to maintain profits they had to raise prices to the few bucks each issue costs today.

But now a lot of people think they are too expensive and look for ways to save money. Enter mail-order places where you can order your comic books online, pay much less, and have them mailed to you. Adding to this is the number of people who have stopped buying individual issues and have ‘gone to the trade’ as they call it. Meaning, they are buying the trade paperbacks (aka graphic novels) which reprint a run of the issues usually encapsulating one story arc from 6-8 issues. They can be bought in the comic store but also in major bookstores and even from those mail-order places for much cheaper.

This is where we are at now. The problem I foresee is that comic book stores operate on a very tight budget and they are always at risk of going out of business. Let me also throw in here that the collectable market is dead. If you are saving those old comics thinking they will make you rich one day you are sadly mistaken. If, like me, you are just bagging, boarding and collecting them because you can’t stop then you are just sad. Actually, I am going to start ‘going to the trade’ myself. Seriously, I’m tired of lugging those big white boxes across the world.

The point of the collectable market being dead is to point out that the comic book stores aren’t making a lot of money buying and selling back issues.

What I see happening in the future is comic book stores going away, more trade paperbacks and such in bookstores. Currently the Manga books from Japan are doing incredible in bookstores and the U.S. comic publishers are going to find the formula to match that. I think this will herald a giant change in how books are produced, written, serialized, advertised, etc. I think that independent publishers are going to be hit very hard by this and won’t come back into serious play for awhile. I do however, think that after all the turmoil, say 10 years from now, that things will be better than they are now.

Comic book publishers are also trying things with publishing online, but I don't think that is going over to well. People like to hold something in their hands and read it. Snuggle up in bed with a book. But, if we can get some advances in electronic paper anytime soon, that may change. We will also need some better way of handling electronic purchases - I bought the damn thing, it's mine, I should be able to control how I store it and be able to get at it later. I'M LOOKING AT YOU ITUNES!

The wild card in this mix is the movies. Lots of movies based on comics, doing well, is keeping the publisher's (more specifically the major corporations who own the publishers) profits up.

But that’s just my opinion and I reserve the right to change it as new evidence is presented and time goes by.

Slot Machine Tickets

Another thing that was happening about the same time I was leaving Vegas 5 years ago was the take over by of the slot and video poker machines by the ticket-in / ticket-out system. Tickets, as in no more cash money paid out by the machine, instead they print a bar-coded ticket that you take up to the cashier or a machine to get your money. The machines still accept bills and even those same printed out tickets, but the machines now don't accept or pay out coins which makes them a lot easier for the owners to operate.

I worked very briefly as a slot floor person at the Bellagio right after Westwood, while I started sending out my resume. That was right at the same time they were converting their machines to the ticket system. During that time I saw insides of a lot of slot and video porker machines. I know what a pain the coins were. The buckets would fill up, coins spilled out inside the machine, they would get jammed, etc. Not to mention the pain in the neck it was to deal with all the coins at the cashier's stations around the casino. So I can see where they are coming from wanting to cut down on the whole coin problem. Though, from my experience I would say the tickets jam more often than the coins ever did, but the rest of the argument still stands.

What I am really wondering about though, is the slot and video poker machines in the gas stations, convenience stores, grocery stores, and the like. I have never been a big gambler, but I also hate change in my pocket. As I would walk out of a convenience store I would dump my change into one of the poker machines, play a hand or two, lose, and then continue on my merry way minus the annoying jingling change. On a very rare occasion I might even win a few bucks.

Now that even these machines have be converted to the ticket system, I am dying to know if they make less money? I doubt that I was the only one who would dump their spare change into the damn things. And I can't really see this being an issue the owners of the machines would have overlooked or missed when deciding to convert them to the ticket system. Maybe the spare change from people during the day is/was nothing compared to the people who sit down and feed a few twenties into them.

Do Not Call

When I left the U.S. five years ago, there was all this talk about this great and wonderful "National Do Not Call Registry" that was being implemented to stop unwanted telemarketing calls. But over the past few days, I swear that not 10 minutes passes without some telemarketer calling.

I have gotten several that were in reference to "our previous conversation." Really, you called me in AUSTRALIA to talk about getting me a new credit card even though I show no U.S. income for the past 5 years. Seriously, why would I want to bank with a company whose first sentence to me is a lie?

But my favorite one just came through while I was typing the previous post. The phone rings, I answer with a friendly, "hello?" I then hear, "I'm sorry, none of our sales staff is available at the moment to handle this call. Please while for the next available sales person."

They called me and and then they PUT ME ON HOLD TO WAIT FOR THEIR SALES PITCH!!!

I just went to the official government website for the registry which has a feature where you can confirm that your phone number is on the list as well as a form to fill out to file complaints against telemarketers.

The first problem I'm having is that I think it expects the email address I enter to be the the same one originally used to enter the number. I think my mother used an old yahoo.com address that she use doesn't use anymore. I put in my own email address, but I'm still waiting for the response email to say if her number is on the list or not.

The second problem is with the complaints, no caller-id on these phones and I'm sure even if there was, the numbers would be blocked. I guess I'd have to stay on the line long enough to get the name of the company so I could register a complaint.

Granted there are dozens of websites with "how to annoy a telemarketer" including one I heard a recording of where the guy pretends to be a police officer at a crime scene and starts interrogating the telemarketer. Unfortunately, I don't have the link anymore. It was in Per-chat if any of you Interzone peoples are reading this.

This is what I'm reduced to

Alright a real quick post. Yeah, they are just coming fast and furious while I sit here jobless. I'm burning so much creative energy I have to wear different colored socks just to get myself grounded.*

I just caught up to current with The Big Bang Theory tv show. Yes Cameron, I already caught up with Dollhouse. I just love Amy Acker as Dr. Claire Saunders. She was cute on Angel, but there is something about her on Dollhouse with the scars on her face that just fascinates me. I'm hoping this steams from a natural male-protector role and not something creepy. I already have enough interesting problems for other people to deal with.

I am so glad that we have Joss Whedon back doing TV. Now if we could just get another Aaron Sorkin show going I could rest easy.

No Cameron, I haven't watched anymore of the second season of Terminator. The Sarah Connor Chronicles. I told you before, I'm going to get the whole season from iTunes.

Anyway, about Cameron. He interrupts like that all the time. What I wanted to post about was the lyrics to the theme song for The Bing Bang Theory written and performed by The Bare Naked Ladies. It goes like this:

The Bing Bang Theory Theme Song - Bare Naked Ladies

Our whole universe was in a hot dense state,
Then nearly fourteen billion years ago expansion started. Wait...
The Earth began to cool,
The autotrophs began to drool,
Neanderthals developed tools,
We built a wall (we built the pyramids),
Math, science, history, unraveling the mysteries,
That all started with the big bang!

I have one small problem with it. The line in the background "we built the pyramids" right after "We built a wall" just doesn't work. First of all it is redundant. Secondly, it throws the rhythm off right in the middle of a very fast rhythmic part of the song. Next time you are watching the show, sing along and try replacing that line with "Not to mention pyramids." I think you'll find it works much better.

*I was joking about the socks. I only own two types of socks: black dress socks and short, white, athletic socks. Wearing one of each would do the opposite of grounding me. If you witness me wearing such, you should alert the medical authorities immediately as I have most likely gone off my medication. Okay! Okay! MedicationS - plural.

The Graveyard Book - Movie

I know what you are saying, "Wow, I third blog post in one day!" Thing is, when I was looking up the names of the actors in "The Crying Game" on IMDB for the previous post I learned something that warranted its own post.

They are going to make Neil Gaiman's Newbery Award winning novel, "The Graveyard Book" into a movie. The link between the two is that it is being directed and scripted by Neil Jordan who also did "The Crying Game."

You can read the article iCelebZ.com.

My Point, and I Really Do Have One...

Now, my friend Nick just wrote me an email. Granted it was in response to one I had written him earlier in the day. But he ended it with a comment in regard to the previous blog post.

"Oh, and I meant to comment on your blog about this, but since I’m writing an email I may as well mention it now. Although mentioning the squid monster isn’t a spoiler for the movie, it *is* a spoiler for the graphic novel!"

Now, in answer to that postulation about the supposed spoiler in regards to the graphic novel, I must refer him to point 1a which would apply to the unfortunate soul who has yet to read the graphic novel.

1a. You don't know what the hell I am talking about with "giant, physic, squid" anyway

Saying something about the "giant, physic squid" no more ruins the graphic novel than if I were to talk about the remake of Star Wars, Episode IV, A New Hope by saying, "They added a ring to the explosion." It doesn't really tell you anything and to be truthful throwing out "giant, physic, squid" makes absolutely no sense until you actually get to the end of the graphic novel. It's not like anybody who hadn't read the graphic novel would read "giant, physic, squid" and even have a clue where I was going with that under any circumstance.

Now granted, there are clues leading up to the ending, but honestly, they don't really make sense until your second read.

However, I had told my friend Paul that I was going to see "The Crying Game" years ago and he mentioned there is a twist at the end and I should be careful not to let anybody spoil it for me. I said I had heard there was a twist ending because one of the actors was on The Tonight Show the night before. He suddenly got concerned asking which actor. I didn't know which actor because I can't ever remember names if my life depended on it. I started to describe either Forest Whitaker or Stephen Rea, I forget which as it was a long time ago. Paul was relieved upon hearing it was a guy. From that, I guessed the secret of the crying game as soon as she was introduced on-screen. So maybe he is right and I should leave open the possibility that it is a spoiler.

All of that is besides the point though. The point is that he didn't comment. He instead mentioned what he was going to say in email. Do you know how often that happens? Do you know how many people email me with responses to my blog posts instead of using the provided comment section? Don't bother guessing, I'll just spoil it for you and say, "A lot!"

The problem with this is that it would appear to all other readers that there is, in fact, nobody reading my blog except Bug Hunter and Cap'n John, two individuals who I have never meet but; however, on top of appearing to be quite nice and friendly, at least post comments. For this I thank them, post comments occasionally on their blogs, and now that I am back in the U.S. hope to one day meet them over, say, pancakes.

We shouldn't be too hard on Nick though. I was just using him because he is the latest example of this problem that I am having. Nick did write me a wonderful letter of recommendation for my time at Interzone which you can read if you go dig for it under the resume link on the right-hand menu.

Watchmen Ending

Just another quick note, the book, "Watchmen the Film Companion" with a half and half Rorschach, half drawn, half real-life from the movie, on the cover kinda reveals the new ending. We already knew there wasn't going to be any giant physic squid, and that isn't a spoiler because:

1. If you haven't read the book
- a. Shame on you and you are really missing out
- b. You don't know what the hell I am talking about with "giant physic squid" anyway
2. I'm telling you it ISN'T something, how can it be a spoiler if I am saying it isn't this or that!?
3. I'm not saying anything about what the new ending plot point is actually.

The book by Peter Aperlo is a film companion and doesn't really have much, besides some new pictures, that isn't already available on the internet. It only mentions the new ending plot point twice, and in passing as if you have already seen the movie.

The USA weekend pull-out in the Las Vegas Review-Journal had a piece on the Watchmen movie complete with centerfold poster of the movie versions of the characters as drawn by original Watchmen artist Dave Gibbons. Though to be honest, the only things that are different are the slight changes to the Night Owl's costume and Veidt. Everybody else looks like they stepped right out of the graphic novel, or individual issues if, like me, you happened to have been there way back then. Yeah I'm bragging.

The lovely Kristina (I'm contractually obligated to call her that) has already bought tickets for our little group for Friday on the Imax screen of the Red Rock Casino.

Oh, I wore the original Watchmen pin that they gave out as a promotion back in 1986, Smiley face with the drop of blood, (yeah, I'm bragging again) when Eric#1 and I went out on Friday night. We only went to two places, but despite a lot of people showing interest in it, only the bouncer at one club actually knew what was and expressed his hope about the movie being any good.

Back in Vegas

Nothing really to post at the moment, but I am back home in Las Vegas and I thought I should at least say as much.

I did want to mention that Business Class is definitely the way to go for 18 hour flights. I finally cashed in some of those Qantas frequent flier miles. It's not like I haven't flown First or Business Class before, but 18 hour flights are where the value starts to outweigh the cost. I also paid a little more for a flight with less dead time between flights, Perth to Sydney to L.A. to Las Vegas, but there was a 4 hour unscheduled delay in Sydney which, even though they tried to make up time, caused me to miss my connecting flight out of L.A. The next flight out wasn't until a few hours after I got in and it was also delayed a bit. All in all I wound up in Vegas at about 6 hours after I was supposed to.

I also once again missed the last 10 minutes of a movie I was watching. This one was City of Ember. Last time it was Deception. Both times I would have been able to finish the movie if the Captain would have shut up when he ran out of things to say over the PA.

"Well folks we ahhhh should be ahhhhhhh landing here pretty soon and ahhhhhhh..."

Seriously, try writing out what you are going to say before picking up the mic and learn to stfu when you run out of things to say. It's very obvious that public speaking is very new and exciting for these pilots.

Who Watches the Nachos?

Look what Tim drew for me!

The story behind the nachos is that when Tim was first switching over to being a Content Designer, Ellen had asked if he should be invited to the design meeting.

I said, "Sure, but he has to bring the nachos."

Tim failed to bring any nachos.

The next design meeting, I had this sambrao that I bought for one of Interzone's theme days, this one being "Mexican day" which may have also been Cinco de Mayo but probably not. I filled the rim of the hat with corn chips and brought along some salsa to show Tim that a proper design meeting has to nachos.

Synthtube and the Tech Vixen

I’m putting up two new sidebar links. Celebrate as much as you deem appropriate and can handle under such conditions.

First for Alex Ringis, the sound designer at Interzone, we have SynthTube.

"SynthTube is a site that collates and reviews the best Synthesizer-related videos from YouTube and around the web, and reviews them, with a specific focus on highlighting the gear and performers involved in their creation"

Alex was recently BoingBoinged for his video of the naked baby playing a synthesizer. You can relax while watching it, at no time does the baby pee on the keyboard. I was so tense the whole way through, because I was just waiting for the little tike to let go.

Second up, we Liza of the many blogs/projects/hobbies, who may have something this time if she sticks with it (poke poke). As you may know from comments on other recent blog posts here, Tech Vixen just went up this weekend

Tech Vixen is a network of blogs all about technology, written from a woman's perspective. We are currently running four blogs in total - the main blog with news and links to the sub-blogs as well as "Gaming Vixen", "Comp Vixen", and "Gadget Vixen".

As we are just starting out, we are on the lookout for interested women (17 years or older) who are interested in running one of our sub-blogs (the gaming slot is already filled, but "Gadget Vixen" and "Comp Vixen" are still open). We are also looking to start new blogs regarding web development/blogging and other techy topics. Bloggers are able to monetize their sites by including ads in the content of their posts on the sub-blogs.

Head on over to the site for more information.

Liza also just put up a post about me leaving on her site. Now I'm all sad and mopey.

Goodbye Interzone

I just got back from my Interzone going away dinner. I was bit overwhelmed by it all and I had this lump in my throat the whole time. I think I was hit more by this than when Westwood closed which is saying quite a lot.

It was great to see everybody. I think the attendance was more a credit to the good Italian food rather than my presence. Not that they served cannoli though, what was up with that? How can you call yourself a real Italian restaurant without good cannoli?

The crew at Interzone are amazing, so many people so bought in on the project. There was some very nice things said about me and what I've done, but to be completely honest, I was standing on the shoulders of some really talented people. I also have to thank everybody for having faith in me and giving me the opportunity. Thanks again.

I do feel like I have let everybody down by leaving. I really didn't want to go. I really wanted to see this out. But too many thing have piled up and I have to take care of things with family back in the U.S.

I do want to express my anger at Liza and Jeremy though. The picture on that card will haunt me forever! You have not heard the last of me! Vengeance shall be mine!

The Last Gilmore Girls Post

Wow, season 7 of Gilmore Girls was completely off the mark. It was like all the characters were replaced by pod people who thought they were the real people, but if you looked real close you could see they were different. The plots and storylines were okay, but the execution wasn’t tuned. What was an entertaining show filled with interesting and eccentric characters became an annoying melodramatic parody of itself.

I just did some Googling of the show and found out that Amy and Daniel could not come to an agreement with the network and they left the show at the end of the sixth season. I’m not saying she was some creative genius, or that there is anything wrong with Dave the new guy in charge, but the change was noticeable and bad for the show. From the ratings of that last season it looks like I wasn’t the only one who noticed the problems.

Thank for nothing Bendis! Though, I did finally finish Secret Invasion so I can finally catch up on the Bendis Tapes at Word Balloon. Hmm, maybe I'll save them for the airplane trip. I also tried to register at Bendis' web site, Jinx World,so I could post on his forum, but they won't accept non-free email addresses such as yahoo.com and I don't want to use the hewitt.org address anymore.

Monkey Buisness

A cartoon in the New York Post criticizing the stimulus bill recently passed by President Obama is being called racist. The cartoon is referencing the shooting of a pet chimpanzee last week, pictures police officers shooting a chimp and saying, "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill."

This is what I was dreading with our new president. I was tired of the whole "black" President stuff before the election was over and I've been dreading the whole racism retort used to blast any type of criticism of his policy after he was elected. Don't get me wrong, due to our country's unfortunate history, finally breaking the "old white men" trend is great and all. But, I certainly hope people voted based on the candidates and their ideas and not their skin color.

Barack Obama is THE President of the United States of America, not the "black" President. Any attack on him or his policies should be devoid of reference to the melamine content of his skin and any defense used against those attacks should be build on more solid of a foundation than a house of racism cards.

If some narrow-minded pin-head gets one arm free from his spiffy white jacket that ties in the back long enough to grab a crayon and draw a quick portrait of THE President in black face, clan robes and dancing a barefoot jig with fried chicken in one hand and watermelon in the other; I don't need somebody to point out that it's racist. I can make that mental leap myself, thanks.

Being politically conservative, I am anticipating railing against some future policy decisions of this administration. I just want to warn everybody now, anybody planning on calling me a racist should fill out the aggravated assault paperwork now. It will save the police time later.

I'll also come clean and say I didn't vote in the last election. I waited too long to update my absentee overseas ballot stuff after moving to Perth. Do you know who I would have voted for? I don't. I was never a big McCain fan, but I also don't know if I would have crossed the isle and voted for President Obama. I think the whole reason I hadn't made up my mind about either candidate is that I am weary of anybody who the media is excited about during the election. Remember McCain was the media darling in the 2000 Republican primaries.

P.S. There are still way more cartoon chimps lampooning President Bush, and I'm pretty sure they aren't racist either.

P.P.S. Personally, I am for the Jon Stewart economic plan: (watch the video)

1. Create a stimulus package that will bail the working class out of debt.

2. The money will go to the financial industry via workers paying off their debt.

3. This will increase the liquidity of the banks.

4. People, free from their debt, will have more money to invest in the economy.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

I’m pretty much packed. I’m just waiting on the moving estimates now to see how much more I am going into debt without a job. I bought the tickets already. I fly out next Wednesday morning and land in Vegas 10 minutes before I take off.

They rejected Jeremy’s application to take over the lease on the house here. There would have been no break in rent, no need for showings, no prepping the house, transfer of the bond over, etc. Now I have a week to figure out what to do with the stuff I can’t take. Jeremy now has to figure out where he is going to live.

All this and the final season of “Gilmore Girls” is really bumming me out. If popular entertainment has taught me anything though, I am pretty sure it’s all going to end on a big, happy, finding 3 packs of Smarties* in your overcoat from the previous winter, moment. Granted, that will probably be depressing too but I can handle that. The last few women I have gone out with are still fresh enough in my mind to keep me grounded on the whole romantic front. That and the theme music to the show really gets on my nerves, it’s like a nice cold slap across the face which keeps things in perspective.

I got one more disappoint lining up. I could avoid it if I speak up, but I’m hesitant because I kinda have a morbid fascination to see if doesn’t happen.

Oh and no pity party by the way. I’m big on the whole karma thing. The more things suck the bigger payoff I expect later. Unless I’m paying off all the crap I’ve done in the past… hmm better to stay positive. Though, if I’m expecting a payoff does that go against the karmic philosophy? I haven’t really read up on the subject, I’m more flying by the seat of my pants kind of guy. One more thing, can you tell me if this thing on my back looks more like a parachute or a knapsack?

On the good news front, I think I’ve dropped enough hints to the parents that for a belated birthday present I wanted a repeat of the Mother’s sauce and Dad’s assembly and cooking of the Fratillies.

Fratillies (probably spelled wrong) is an amazing Italian thing, like pizza taken to the next level. We discovered them when my dad was stationed at San Vito Air-Force base when I was a kid. So you know a panzerati (probably also spelled wrong) is right? If not it’s like a pizza, folded in half, and baked. Fratillie is the same thing only umm broiled? Deep fried? Umm cooked in a vat of oil, which ever that is.

* I did actually find 3 packs of Smarties in my giant leather overcoat (and my watchmen button, woot!) Actually it was 3 packs of Fizzers, which is what they call Smarties here. Smarties in Australia are more like M&Ms. To totally blow the lid off the cover-up, M&Ms are a total rip off of Nestlé Smarties. I lost that bet last year, though I just found out that American Smarties were called Smarties before Nestlé Smarties which were originally called Chocolate Beans. Here are some relevant selected sections from the various Wikipedia entries. Knowledge is power.

Nestlé Smarties are a colourful sugar-coated chocolate confectionery popular in Europe and the Commonwealth of Nations. They have been manufactured since at least 1882, originally by H.I. Rowntree & Co..

Rowntree's of York, England have been making "Chocolate Beans" since at least 1882. The product was renamed "Smarties Chocolate Beans" in 1937. Rowntree's were forced to drop the words "chocolate beans" in 1977 due to trading standards requirements (the use of the word "beans" was felt to be misleading) and so adopted the tagline "Milk Chocolate in a Crisp Sugar Shell".

The brand became known as "Nestlé Smarties" in 1993, five years after Rowntree's was acquired by Nestlé. Smarties are no longer manufactured in York; production has now moved to Germany, where a third of them were already made. Outside Europe, Nestlé's largest production facility for Smarties is in Canada, where Nestle has been manufacturing products since 1918.
In the United States, Smarties are a type of artificially fruit-flavored candy produced by Ce De Candy, Inc., from 1949 through the present. They are marketed in Canada under the brand name Rockets, to avoid confusion with Nestlé Smarties. The original product is the English Fizzers from Swizzels Matlow. In 1949, the brother of the chairman of Swizzels Matlow traveled to the US and established Ce De Candy.

M&M's Chocolate Candies are candy-coated pieces of milk chocolate with the letter "m" printed on them, produced by Mars, Incorporated. Popular in the United States, several variations of the candies exist, including plain milk chocolate, peanut, peanut butter, dark chocolate (with and without peanuts), and almond. First produced in 1941.

Forrest Mars, Sr., founder of the Mars Company, got the idea for the confection in the 1930s during the Spanish Civil War when he saw soldiers eating Smarties, a chocolate morsel covered with a hard sugar shell so that the chocolate would not melt.

Friday the 13th

I went by work today and Brad pounced on me as soon as I was in the door and drug me in front of the students he is teaching at TAFT. He was giving them a tour of the office and a sneak peak at Interzone Futebol.

I gave them a quick history of my career in the game industry and then told them a few stories that Brad cleverly fed me openings to. He is such a great straight man, I think it's his hair.

Then I went to buy some more packing tape and bumped bumpers with somebody pulling out behind. I had been blinded by a giant van parked next to me and I was so worried that another car was going to hit me as I was pulling out, that I didn't see the guy behind me. Both cars were fine. I had a smudge and he had a smudge and the plastic of his bumper popped out. It popped back in fine, nothing broken.

Then I went to the bank to cash in my jar of coins. I asked if they had a counting machine, knew of another branch that had a counting machine, or if all else fails if I could have the little baggies to separate the coins into, in that order.

They said no, the nearest branch was a 20 minute drive away (and it was already after 4:00), and yes BUT... the other bank next door had a counting machine and they didn't think you had to be a member to use it.

I went back to the car to get my jar which I had been driving all over town with, and despite the fact that I used the seat belt to hold in place, was spilling all over ever few minutes. That's when I found I had locked the keys in the car with the engine running... again.

Thankfully, the last time I did that I joined the RACQ. But since I had transferred my cell phone over to Richard to get out of my hellish contract with Satan (aka Telstra) I didn't have a phone. After a few minutes I found a phone booth (wow, how quaint) and called RACQ.

The time I spent listening to the automatic hold messages: A very very long 15 minutes in which time I shouted back at each of their little, "Aren't we great?" messages that wanted me to pay more money to sign up for more insurance features.

The time I spent waiting for the guy come after the call: A very quick 15 minutes in which I assured numerous passers by that I didn't think the car would overheat despite the noises the fan was making trying to keep it cool.

In the end, the jar of coins was just shy of $140 AUD, a little less than last two times which topped $150. I didn't shake it as much this time trying to cram more coins in so as to avoid having to go cash them in.

I am supposed to have some people come to look at the house today but they are about 30 minutes overdue. Jeremy put in an application to take on the lease but we still haven't heard back from the owners. Cross your fingers, because if he doesn't get the lease I am going to have to scramble to sell my furniture and white goods at the last minute.

Nemeses

Tired of hearing me go on about the Gilmore Girls yet? Well, don’t worry they are just the MacGuffin in this story. I say “story” but you can go ahead and read that as “rant.”

I mentioned before that I talked to the girl working at Blockbuster about when season 1 disc 2 was due back in. It was actually case #2 containing discs 3 & 4. I felt it was important to update you on that mistake, as I know you are taking notes for the test later. She pointed out that the people who just watched discs 3 & 4 were probably going to want discs 5 & 6 next. She recommended that I check them out now, so I could jump ahead of them.

Discs 3 & 4 were finally returned late yesterday and now I've watched up to disc 6. Just after putting up my last post, I realized that I would be finished with it in a few hours and have nothing to watch in the morning. I jumped in the car and tore off to rent all of season 2. It was with a cold, creeping, horror that I realized that case #1 of season 2, containing the first two discs, was already checked out!

It was them! My Gilmore Girls nemeses! They did the same thing! They checked out the first two discs to leap ahead of me! They aren’t due back till next Thursday. They are probably just going to sit on them until I return the last 2 discs of season 1!

Again, we only have Brian Michael Bendis to blame. I bet he is in league with those slow watchers! He probably goes over their house ever night and they all snuggle up on the couch with popcorn and share a blanket that they spread over their legs. They probably only watch one episode a night so they don't spoil it by rushing too fast. Oh but sometimes they can't help it, they just get too excited and they watch (gasp) two in a row!

I bet they think they've won. Well, they haven't! I have the rest of season 2 and they better just pray that I'm going to return them! I could just take them with me when I leave the country! What would they do then! Yeah, that would learn ’em not to mess with me!

I saw all of the seasons at the mall for $24 AUD each, but A) I really don’t have money to spend at the moment especially since I just quit my job and bought new shoes and B) I don’t want to have region 4 discs!

What Kind of Day It Has Been

I guess the major update is that I resigned as Creative Director of Interzone yesterday. It was a result of a lot of things accumulating at once. You many already know that I’m not big on the sharing of personal details, so I'll just say it was a very amicable break and the door is still open for me possibly returning in the future. I want to say that the team at Interzone was one of the best I have ever worked with. I honestly have never seen such a high percentage of the team be so bought into the product and willing to do what ever it takes to make it work. Nick, my boss, also had some very nice things to say in my ‘I leaving’ email thread about how I transformed the game from where it was to something both development and corporate could buy off on. It was very mushy and I’m expecting an excellent letter of recommendation.

At the moment I’m sitting here trying to enjoy my last day of relative normality before I have to actually put some sort of plan in motion to move back to the United States. There is all sorts of stuff that I'll have work out such as selling the car, furniture, white goods (what they call major appliances here in Australia), etc. I even splurged and had an ice-cream (pralines and cream in a waffle cone of course) to help cushion the chaos that will start in the next few days.

Currently though, I am going a little nuts trying to find some reference in this episode of the Gilmore Girls (Christopher Returns) of when Lorelai made plans to meet Luke. In going through the episode several times I have found all sorts of mistakes. Reflections of the crew in the window, shadow of the mic, and one scene where Christopher says that tomorrow is Saturday making it Friday night, which is when they should be having the weekly dinner at her parent’s house. This is also the second time that Dean mentions that he has a motorcycle though he told Lorelai that he didn’t have one when she first grilled him about dating Rory. And this whole thing about what was said the previous night at the dinner table, they never made it to dinner. I also think it’s raining in the baseball game scene in the beginning and that they are filming under tents or something. You can hear the rain and occasionally see some heavy raindrops. Anyway, I have finally figured out that the plan with Luke was set up from the previous episode and that is the night she is supposed to help him paint the diner. I probably would have figured out that faster, if I had let the episode finish instead of stopping it and going back to the beginning. Oh I am so going to write a nasty email to Bendis for doing this to me!

I have also decided to take a break from my current audio book, “Of Fire and Night” the fifth of seven books in the Saga of Seven Suns series by Kevin J. Anderson, to listen to “The Graveyard Book” by Neil Gaiman. It is written in classic Gaiman style and I give it a thumbs up. You'll probably find it in the “Young Adult” section of the book store but don't let that fool put you off.

One thing that I have been wondering about is why they aren’t pimping Gaiman more on his movies? There was no mention of his name in the advertising of any of his movies so far including the upcoming “Coraline”. He is a best selling author with a rabid fan base. Why wouldn’t they at least toss out a “Based on the novel by Neil Gaiman” in the ad? Granted, the fan base being as rabid as we are, most of us knew about each movie long before it was presented to the unwashed masses.

Edit: I accidentally clicked the wrong thing and added Gaimen instead of Gaiman to my dictionary and didn't notice Neil's name was misspelled all over the place. Fixed.

Global Game Jam

Last week I missed the Global Game Jam. I had a personal event happen that Friday night and then took a drive down the coast of Australia on Saturday to sort my head out.

Anyway, here is a LINK to all the Perth entries. If I had been there I would have seen myself working on Under One Roof.

I haven't played all the Perth one's yet but I've poked through the overall list. I have to say that as a whole, the Perth entries would appear to be heads above most of the rest.

Bendis must be made to pay!

I blame Brian Michael Bendis. Not only that, but it’s his fault as well. Now, I know you have not yet committed yourself enough to this narrative to Google who the hell Brian Michael Bendis is, let alone put forth a ruckus demand for an explanation, but I’ll just carry through anyway.

So not much to do over Christmas Holidays last month. It’s the middle of the summer here and it’s hot. It’s hot like Vegas, but with that added touch of humidity to make sure the sweat sticks to you instead of just being wasted by dripping off and soaking the carpet. I’m holed up in my room, scrolling through the list of cable channels on the TV guide. I was fully intending to just stare endlessly at the myriad of shows sliding down the TV screen until I passed out and got some much needed sleep. But instead of a walk in stardust, I noticed… Okay it’s hard to admit this; because once I say it, it’s out there and I can’t take it back… I noticed that the Gilmore Girls was on.

Okay, let’s jump back a bit. Brian Michael Bendis has mentioned this show in the past. He’s a writer I like, you could even say a favorite writer. You still haven't Googled him so I’ll just toss out that he is a comic book writer. I am just going to give you a compliment by assuming the revelation of his medium did not drop your expectations of him; though, we are still on for this all being his fault. One of my secret little hobbies is to check out the things my favorite writers like. So, I watched an episode of the Gilmore Girls. Two, I watched two episodes of the Gilmore Girls. There were two episodes on, one after the other. Really it was just easier to keep it on that channel than exerting all that energy searching for the remote and changing the channel.

Now it’s a month later and it wasn’t when I found myself programming the cable box to record episodes that I realized I had a problem. It wasn’t even when I found myself obsessing about the fact that of the three episodes I was watching every week, they were from two different seasons and it was totally spoiling the flow of the overarching storyline.

It was today that I realized I had a problem. I stopped at Blockbuster on the way home from work knowing full well that I had a huge late fee. I went up to the counter, without even a female companion with whom I could pretend to be dating and only renting the DVDs at her insistence. It was right after convincing the girl behind said counter to look up when season one disc two was due back because they only had disc one and three. If you knew more about me, you wouldn’t be at all surprised by that. She wisely pointed out that people who rent disk two will probably be looking to rent disk three, and that I should rent disk three now and preempt them. That is when I realized that I had a problem.

So yeah, I’m sitting here and I just finished watching the whole season one disc one of Gilmore Girls. I'm already jonesing out that disc two isn't due back at Blockbusters till the end of the week. Brian Michael Bendis must be made to pay for this, because it is all his fault.