Thursday, March 29, 2007

Well, THAT Was Insanely Complicated.

I finally got Technorati sorted out. They certainly don't make it easy--it had to do with the fact that Blogger automatically indexes and feeds all blogspot posts to Technorati. But because I use an old template (and I'd like to thank Eliza Wee, designer of this marvelous template, before something tragic happens) it didn't have the proper code imbedded in the page for full indexing of posts. So I went around and around with adding bits of random code supplied by both Blogger and Technorati; I managed to screw up my link color briefly, had about a week when my Technorati profile was visible, which I did NOT want, and finally now seem to have it worked out. Bleh. I think I'll try indexing my other blog later today--since it's a newer template, maybe I won't have this problem.

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Is That So Wrong?

So I got into a bidding war on Ebay today. See, when I was a kid, I had these posters that I got from Burger Chef--one of those "Collect All Four" kinds of things, and of course they were Star Wars, so I HAD to have them. Over the course of time and adolescence, the posters got demoted and finally I think got moldy in my parents' wet basement and were pitched. Now, in true midlife crisis fashion, I happened across them on ebay and decided I must have them--a Set of Four! Mint! Never rolled or folded! And only $15 for the set plus shipping. So I threw out a bid over the weekend. Then this morning I got the dreaded "you have been outbid" notice in my email... so I upped my bid to $20. Still only $5 a poster, that's pretty awesome! Then another outbid notice in the afternoon, so...er....$22? $25? $30?....Dude wants these posters worse than me! By god, then, he'll PAY FOR THEM. I nudged his bid up over $40 before finally deciding (with about 2 minutes left) that I didn't want them that bad. It's only me regaining my carefree childhood, nothing really important or anything. But then, as I was letting go of the thought, I remembered that my boss at the game co had mentioned he'd got these same posters from a guy who had a store on ebay--as opposed to an auction. So as the sand drains away on the final seconds of the auction, I go searching on Ebay stores. Look, there they are--for $20 a set. Clicked "Buy Now" so fast I may have broken my mouse, and now they are MINE. For $20 less than I was willing to bid. And.... I admit to a moment of pure, unkind pleasure when I looked back at the auction and found that the final selling price was over $50, a third bidder came in and sniped it during the final seconds. And all I could think was "Ha! Suckers!"

Is that so very wrong?

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

TechnoRama!

I'm experimenting with Technorati. Anyone have any opinions on its usefulness?

***update: already I'm confused. I've tried searching for exact phrases from recent posts (such as "experimenting with Technorati") to see if this blog picks up on their search engines, and so far nada. I must say they're not really helpful with the info on exactly how the engine works, so I'm a little challenged in troubleshooting. Moved the bit of code up into my page header, we'll see what that does.

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

I Do All My Own Stunts....

I saw a t-shirt that said this not long ago, and I think I need to own one. My stunt for the morning was getting my mental clock wonked by an hour, and arriving wayyyy too early to work; so here I blog.

Last night's IFS selection was Double Dare, a film about two women in the movie stunt industry. It features Jeannie Epper, a member of the biggest stunt-family in Hollywood whose best-known work was doubling for Lynda Carter on "Wonder Woman," and Zoe Bell, who doubled Lucy Lawless on Xena, and Uma Thurman in Kill Bill, among other things. When I was a kid, I desperately wanted to be a stuntman (gender divisions for me were indistinct then as now) and spent a lot of time practicing falling off of things and pretend-punching my friends. Sadly, a complete lack of physical talent or coordination stood in the way of this dream, and it didn't come to pass. (Some might say the fall into the penguin tank counts as a professional-level stunt, but it wasn't on purpose, and I didn't make it look good.) But I have an eye for good stuntwork and fight choreography, which probably had its birth in years of watching Epper on Wonder Woman. As I think I've said before, my fondness for Xena/Hercules is rooted partly in the writing of the early seasons and the general campy silliness of the show, but also largely a result of the complex and intricate fight choreography. This fascinates me still; so it was a real treat to finally see this film and "meet" the woman behind all the harness and wire work. Would have liked a bit more from the stunt coordinators about what goes into stunt design and prep, but really the movie was less about the mechanics of the whole thing and more about the difficulties of being a woman in what's essentially still a very male-dominated industry. It was almost painful watching Epper make phone call after phone call--"Hey, it's Jeannie. So.... You have any work for me? Anything at all? No? Well, keep me in mind..." Then again, watching the spontaneous joy-fest when Bell gets the Kill Bill job was pretty damn exhilerating--YAHOO! WAHOO! She deserves to be successful, she's fantastically talented. I look forward to seeing her work in films and TV for years to come; while I may not ever have mastered falling off of things for money, I have a great admiration for them that do it every day.

Sunday, March 04, 2007

Stegosnowrus Approach


Stegosnowrus Approach
Originally uploaded by blackbear88.
Attack of the Stego-Snowrus!

When the weather turned warm a week or two ago, I had a day when I should have been doing something much more productive, but figured that a foot of soft sculptable snow was something I don't have access to every winter.... So instead, I made this in my yard. The snow-sleet-snow combination during the storm resulted in a wet snow layer on top of about 2" of an icy crust, with more dry powdery snow underneath. That crust fractured nicely into pieces suitable for Stegosaurus plates, as well as his fingers and toes.

Two more pics of him over at Flickr, and I'm sorry to say it rained the day after I made him, so his life was brief but wonderful.