MWMiller

11:55 pm: animasturbation
HELLO INTERNET

Here is a meme for what animated feature thingies I've seen. REJOICE. Issezzere that the rules are:

- X what you saw
- O what you haven't finished/saw sizable portions
- Bold what you loved
- Italics for what you disliked/hated
- Leave unchanged if neutral

( opinionating on twos )

ATTN: solidbox. What Russkietoons do you (or anyone else) recommend? RSVP.

Tags: animation, cartoons, memes, unsolicited opinions

02:52 am: For You Blue
Well. I haven't been updating much, and really, why should I need to? There're only so many ways I can phrase "I'm still looking for work", so let's just take it as read. Rarely does some other topic come to my mind as worth commiting to electrons.

Now here's something. Nina Paley, cartoonist, has been working for much of this decade on Sita Sings the Blues, a surreal animated adaptation of the Ramayana, an epic legend from India. It's stylish, experimental, clever, funny, charming and heartbreaking—there's just one problem.

Sita's been snagged in disputes over the copyrights of some records from the 1920s used in the soundtrack. Whatever you may think of copyright-related issues, they've held up the movie's general public release. Unless you were lucky enough to make it to one of the few festivals it's been shown at, you haven't seen Sita.

Now you can.

I guess Paley decided "damn the copyrights, full speed ahead!" and has released Sita Sings the Blues for digital download. You can read Roger Ebert's rave review, see some gorgeous stills, watch the trailer and see a preview of the first 11 minutes. If that's sufficiently whetted your appetite, you filthy pirate, go ahead and peruse the downloading options ranging from "Hey, I can almost kinda sorta make out what's happening if I squint" postage-stamp size to "DIY Blu-ray Disc fodder" super high quality. And that fat intertube you're sitting on doesn't have anything better to do today, right? Right. Share and enjoy.

Tags: cartoons, movies, nina paley, sita sings the blues

01:15 am: Arf arf
Today's my birthday (observed), but more importantly, it's a major anniversary! On the 17th of January, 1929, the following momentous meeting happened between Olive Oyl's brother, Castor Oyl, and a certain big-chinned sailor:

Happy 80th anniversary, Popeye. Toot toot!

Tags: anniversary, birthday, cartoons, comics, popeye

02:43 pm: Want to be startin' something
My new year resolution is to be nicer to people who are nice to me, and avoid angst and heartbreak over those who aren't,

Tags: meme, new year

01:59 am: Confusion!
Non-friend comments disabled, friend comments screened and IP logged. Why are furries so paranoid?

04:41 am: Now THIS is a Democratic Party!

11:20 am: Glossalalia
Note to self: If Ottawa, ON doesn't work, try Gloucester instead.

Tags: data entry, work

03:53 pm: From BC to Newfoundland
Another note to self: Since Google Maps doesn't know from Canadian postcodes, Canada Post's handy-dandy postcode lookup comes in...handy.

Tags: work

09:54 am: The long and winding road
Interesting methodology, questionable results: What makes people vote Republican? Strict hierarchy, fear of change, cognitive inflexibility...

Tags: politics

08:53 am: Hellooooo, baaaaaby!
I hope this road was named after canola.

12:31 am: You got the powah!
Holy crud, electricity's back since a quarter past 6 PM. It's now half past 8 so I can only assume it will stick this time.

So like what did I miss?

06:49 pm: It's been a long, long, long time
So, you might've heard about the hugenormous wind storms beating the tar out of Klumbis on Sunday. (Thank goodness I took care of my laundry on Saturday.) Status: No electricity at home (and might stay that way until next week); power AND Internet here at the library. YAY LIBRARY.

No major property damage or felled trees at home, which is good. This beats being on Galveston Island right now, that's fo' sho'. STAY TUNED FOR UPDATES ON YOUR LOCAL STATIONS.

01:18 pm: Maps are very, very important
Note to self: Over here is Google Maps with the cut-down no-scripting interface.

08:23 am:

Here comes summer,
Here comes summer,
  Chirping robin, budding rose.
Here comes summer,
Here comes summer,
  Gentle showers, summer clothes.
Here comes summer,
Here comes summer—
  Whoosh—shiver—there it goes.

—Shel Silverstein

12:19 am: We are the champions!
Holy crap, I finished the script.

NOW TO GET A MICROPHONE

AND RECORD A VOCAL TRACK

AND GET A CRASH COURSE IN LIVES OR CINELERRA OR SOMETHING

AND SYNC EVERYTHING UP

AND ENCODE IT NICELY

AND AND AND AND AND

01:18 am: Time flies
Six minutes to go. SIX MINUTES. Just six minutes. YOU CAN DO IT, ME.

06:38 am: Should I stay or should I go?
Social MUDs bring ever-diminishing returns.
Do I have fun on them anymore?
Do I get along with anyone on them anymore?
Do I even know anyone on them anymore?

About eight minutes to go on a 63-minute movie. Wow this is harder than it looks. Everybody else who's tried has said it's harder than it looks, and I went in knowing it was harder than it looks, but I couldn't even conceive of how much harder it is. This is harder than it looks!
Yes, I'm being vague. More as it develops.

12:27 pm: Out and about
Just to keep from sinking into a mire of cranky cynicism, I'm going to attend the Columbus Arts Festival tonight. Sounds interesting and diverting, assuming I don't melt from the heat. Who knows, maybe the surroundings will help me get jazzed up about the various maybe-possibly-someday projects that've been floating around in the back of my head.

05:13 pm: From around the world...it's probably true!
I rather like Klumbis, but there are times when I hate Ohiah.

12:24 am: Here we are again, happy as can be

Looks like the whole buying-a-car thing may have to be infinitely postponed. When Daddums and Mommums asked to have me removed from their car insurance via GEICO (since I, well, don't have a car to drive anymore), the swell guys there nicely informed us that they would do no such thing unless I gave up my driver license in favor of a state ID.

Oh, and that not only were they not going to let me take my leave from the caveman-infused hell hole, they were upping our yearly premium from about $590/yr to OVER $1600/yr DAMN YOU TO HELL AND BACK GEICO, FUCK YOU IN THE MOUTH AND IN THE ASS.

Pardon me, but I'm finding this just a mite annoying. Makes me wonder whether there's any legal recourse for telling them "When I said remove a driver from the plan I meant it, now do it already!".

And given the way gas prices are skyrocketing (averaging about $3.20 for regular unleaded here, and like Keith Richards, getting higher all the time), do I even want to pretend to want to be driving a car any time soon? Good god this economy's fucked.