Quick Life Update
I’ve found the house I want to move into. Planning to make an offer this week. Otaku, No Video continues to expand, so that it now includes: Two to three videos per week on YouTube (at least one anime review and at least one manga review) A live video news show, streaming on the internet every Saturday afternoon for 1 to 1.5 hours. Three blog posts per week A chat room, which […]
What should my contribution be?
Read this today in Peter Drucker’s Managing Oneself: Throughout history, the great majority of people never had to ask the question, What should I contribute? They were told what to contribute, and their tasks were dictated either by the work itself—as it was for the peasant or artisan—or by a master or a mistress—as it was for domestic servants. And until very recently, it was taken for granted that most people were subordinates who did as they were told. […]
Apple Cinnamon Bread
Apple Cinnamon Bread Hardware Bread machine Appropriately-sized pan or a baking sheet Software 1 small apple 150 grams water 4 Tablespoons butter 520 grams bread flour 3 Tablespoons wheat germ (optional) 1 Tablespoon cinnamon 1 teaspoon salt 1 Tablespoon yeast Directions Peel and dice the apple. Place the ingredients in the above order in the bread machine. Put the bread machine on the dough cycle and start it. […]
Suburban Self-Sufficiency: The Backyard Homestead
I may be moving soon. My new job at NASA (squeeee!) requires a minimum 75-minute commute twice daily, usually in heavy traffic. While I’m okay with the drive itself–having grown up in this area, I have to be–I’m losing too much time. Even with audio books, three hours a day on the road is too much. So I’ve been looking at houses near Goddard. One is a small house […]
My, How Wired Has Fallen
My impression of the last half-dozen issues of Wired: Messy, cramped layout. Colors that clash and don’t add information. Tons of ads. And I mean multiple consecutive pages of just ads. Very few full pages of content. Many stories have a fearmongering aspect. A good example is the article on Simon Singh, who was sued about his work on pseudoscience. This is portrayed like a Worrying Threat To Science, as though religious nutjobs […]
Swingers
Swingers has heart. It’s clear that its main strengths lie in its script and its actors. The rest of the film fades away in comparison. Much like, say, The Big Lebowski. The script contains more memorable lines and sequences than the vast majority of films, and it does so at the expense of a strong, driving story. This is not a complaint; Swingers is about a man caught in an awkward time in his life. It’s […]
The Big Adventures of Barry Ween
A recommendation from the three guys at iFanboy means a lot to me. They know how to review and recommend a comic book. So on a whim, and after a stratospherically high recommendation from Ron, I bought The Big Book of Barry Ween. It’s an independent comic about a boy genius and the adventures he goes on. Thankfully, hilarity really does ensue. Cliched set up; hilarious execution. Judd Winick’s writing is consistently funny and his […]
Fly Me to the Moon
I’m several weeks into my new job at NASA. I’m elated and frightened. I’m experiencing a new employee’s stress. Besides learning the location of the kitchen, and when the trash is collected, I’m incredibly scared of screwing up. Of missing some vital assignment or suggesting the wrong thing or telling the wrong joke. So much shared culture has built up here, and I’m afraid of suggesting the taboo topic, the subject that will forever […]
Taxi Driver is a Superhero Movie
Here’s the plot of a movie: A regular guy grows increasingly frustrated by the crime and evil that surrounds him on the streets of New York. So he gains the power to fight back, then sees a young girl in trouble and saves her from the men who’ve kidnapped and drugged her for money. That’s the plot of Taxi Driver. Three things intrigued me most while watching this film for the first time last week: 1) I thought […]