My Arduino kit is here. Lets see how this goes.
Several months ago I jumped on an opportunity to purchased some really nice Giclée prints for my office and home studio. I had them sitting at my house for months knowing that the framing would cost a fortune. I finally bit the bullet and had them framed and the end results turned out really nice.
The first set for my studio are three limited run Zelda prints from Marinko Milosevski.The printing took a while, but the end result was gorgeous and it was really cool to have the individually numbered prints
The second batch were four art deco sort of science fiction travel posters from an artist called Steve Thomas. Again, the results turned out quite good I think.
Ok, here is some craziness for you. This past weekend, while driving home from a skiing trip my wife and I were discussing board games. One of the games that we played over the weekend was Jumanji. This game conceptually has the potential to be amazing, but the game that came out from Hasbro back in 1995 is unfortunately quite awful.
We got to talking on our car ride home how cool it would be to not only build an actually jumanji board, but also bout how we could improve the rules of the game so it could actually be fun. One thing led to anger and our ideas began filling our heads on the three hour car ride home.
So, this is a project we now are looking to dive into. I think between the two of us we have the skills to make it happen and perhaps turn it into a new game on its own.
For the past couple of weeks at work, we have had a discussion ongoing about the greatest films of all time. Now, one of the best courses I ever took at college was a film course my very last semester at U of I. It was am amazing course that opened up my eyes to a whole bunch of films I had never seen or even heard of. What's more is that the university had an actual theater to use so all of the films were viewed in their original film format. It was an amazing experience.
So back to our discussion at work, a few of us have set out to list our top ten list of films. After getting into the discussion a bit we decided to make a top ten films list and also a top ten movies list. We felt the films list was for the films that made technical or thematic impacts in film making or the industry, while movies are the sort of thing that may be wonderfully fun, but may not technically be a defining element in culture or the industry. Of course when you really sit down to think about it, limiting your list to just ten films is insanely difficult. So I also have listed my notables that didn't make my top ten, but certainly could have.
Top 10 Films
- Blade Runner
- Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
- North By Northwest
- Ghost in the Shell
- The Lord of the Rings
- The Godfather
- Kagemusha
- Once Upon A Time In The West
- Metropolis (1927)
- 12 Angry Men
Notable Films
- Unforgiven
- We Were Soldiers
- Rashomon
- Akira
- 2001 Space Odyssey
- Waltz With Bashir
- Bram Stoker's Dracula
Top 10 Movies
- Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
- Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade
- Enter The Dragon
- Dr. Strangelove
- Tampopo
- Space Balls
- The Princess Bride
- The Fifth Element
- Evil Dead II
- The Nightmare Before Christmas
Notable Movies
- Meet Me In St. Louis
- The Little Mermaid
- Dark City
- Ong Bak
- Metropolis (2002)
- Young Guns
- Terminator 2
I have come to realize as a motorcycle owner that part of this experience is lusting after more and more motorcycles. It really is too bad that there isn't more opportunities to rent motorcycles for a day or two. I also of course feel I need a larger garage for all of these lusts. A two car garage just doesn't cut it unfortunately.
All right, so here is my new list of wanted motorcycles.
- Ryca CS-1 (aka Suzuki Savage Conversion)
- Ural (Orange!!!)
- Harley Davidson XR1200 (best looking HD no one bought)
- Royal Enfield Classic 350
- 197X Honda GL 1000 Goldwing (Strip it down to cruiser)
- Honda VFR400 (Love the ugly headlights)
- Triumph Street Triple (2012 Purple)
- Yamaha TW200 (Dat ass.....I mean tires)
- Honda NC 700x (Ultimate Commuter)
- KTM Duke 690
2013 is here!!! So last year I had a whole bunch of goals from last year . Did I complete most of the ones I set out to do? Let's find out and givet hem a quick review. Let's cross of what I think I succssfully accomplished.
- One Song a Month
- Learn about Buddhism
- Skydive
- Finish furnishing house
- Personalize office
- Donate at least $100 a month to charity
- Learn to rock climb
- Cross country ski
- Be a better husband
- Zen
- Go on a date once a month with wife
- Go see a musical
- Pickup model building again
- Goto a concert
- U of I football game
- Ride more motorcycle
- Don't look back in anger
- Replace valves in other 2 toilets
- Build a workbench
- Take more quiet time
- Expand my musical repitoire
- Be patient
OK......So not too bad. I missed some of the big items, but some of the smaller more interpersonal items I definitely accomplished. This year has been very busy though with Megan getting into the full groove with her new job. I think one thing Megan and I need to focus on this year is more personal time together. But I will save that to a post next week for my 2013 goals.
So Guns………… So I was initially going to prepare a whole long discussion on the whole aftermath of the shooting, but instead of espousing a lot of text, I am just going to bullet point my thoughts.
- Children Died.
- It was horrible and I cried.
- Journalists interviewing the children are in poor taste.
- Journalists still have every right to do it.
- The parents need to say no.
- Let’s stop pretending journalists are some sort of bastion of integrity. Journalism has always been a slimy business in America.
- Your prayers aren’t doing shit to help anyone. Take real action.
- Don’t treat children like idiots. Talk to them and let them process this event. Don’t hide it from them.
- God and schools have nothing to do with anything.
- The gun was the mechanism, not the cause of this problem.
- Don’t erode civil liberties in the name of protection.
- Mental Health is ONE OF the root problems.
- Assault rifles are not what the media is telling you they are, and they are not what you think they are.
- Stricter gun control does need to happen in this country.
- That said people should be able to own any gun they want for whatever reason they want.
- Self-defense for gun ownership is mostly bull shit in my opinion.No one I have ever known or talked to has known anyone who has ever been involved in an incident needing a gun for self-defense.
- Stop with the hyperbole.
- People are upset and want answers.
- Don’t let emotions rule your judgment.
- Sometimes there are no answers.
- Sometimes there is no solution.
- Sometimes there is nothing that could possibly have been done to prevent something.
- This is the real world and bad stuff happens all the time. Face it. Accept it. Learn from it. Grow from it.
Time for another reading list update.
As 2012 is coming to a close, I have to say that the reading list this year has been a pretty good one. I am on track for fifteen or sixteen books read if I keep my pace up through December. It is hard to believe that I haven't posted one of these since April.
Anyways, tons of books read. Most notable of them has been the first two books of the John Carter series. Yes, the same John Carter that Disney tried to make into a movie last summer. While the movie wasn't a smash hit at the box office. the first two books in the series are absolustely incredible. They are adventure pulp fiction at its best, and I was litterally on the edge of my seat while reading them. They have quickly gone to the top of my favorite books shelf. They are also public domain so if you have an e-reader, go download them for free.
I also read books two and three of the Harry Potter series. I remember why those movies are so engaging. Nobody but J.K. Rowling can make boarding school sound so appealing.
Finally I just started reading "The Hobbit" again last week. This year is the 75th anniversairy of the book and the movie is coming out in December. I think it apt to re-read the book, since I haven't read it since about fifth grade. To be honest I remember almost none of the story and I am amazed again at how good the book is. I am surprised how much the tone really comes across as a children's book though. The whole prose really gives a sort of Narnia vibe a little bit, much more so than the "Lord of the Rings".
You can see above that my childhood copy is a bit of a wreck, so I am actually reading a copy I bought my wife several years ago.
About a week ago my wife bought me a GoPro for my birthday. So with some luck the weather was nice yesterday and I decided to ride my motorcycle up to my parent's house for breakfast to test it out. I tried the timelapse feature on the bike. I have to say I am impressed, ignoring the fact that my windshield on my bike is covered in bugs. I am sooooo stoked to use this thing next season on rides.
Friday night was sushi with Megan and the Crystal Castles at the Congress theatre.
Saturday was dinner at Brauhaus for some kitsch and German food.
Sunday was the Hot Chocolate 5K.
Above is a picture of some gifts and other things from this weekend. Overall quite and good time.