Hey hon! I come bearing a gift. 😀

damn, but that’s a big bow

The Miami Herald | 12/18/2002 | Fantasy gets an edge and a bit about the miraculous flying elf in TTT 🙂

Friday Five

1. What was your biggest accomplishment this year? Graduating.

2. What was your biggest disappointment? Barely graduating. And realizing that those four years of (very expensive) college didn’t teach me very much about the real world.

3. Will you be making any New Year’s resolutions? Get a job I’m happy with.

4. Where will you be at midnight? Do you wish you could be somewhere else? At home with the ‘rents most likely…possibly some relatives will come by…I wish that special someone could be with me. Alas, I don’t have one. Sometimes I wish I could be somewhere like a party, and maybe I can convince my parents to go to the First Night celebrations this year…or not. There’s something to be said for being at home: you can get drunk without worring about driving, and you can fall asleep immediately after midnight if the day was too long for you 🙂 Sad how in my old age I’m wanting to sleep more, eh?

5. Aside from (possibly) staying up late, do you have any other New Year’s traditions? We usually toast with something at midnight. A virgin margarita, or a glass of Asti…and my mom decorates in blue and gold.

heart article for mom

Stealing from Punz cause she’ll never know since she’s in Israel for two and a half weeks 😉

what adjective are you?

quiz by maikamariel

SOYsolv®: You are made from soybean oil, and are used in a wide range of applications, including asphalt release, mastic removal, and hydrocarbon cleaning. You are biodegradable, and your flash point is >300°F, Pensky-Martens closed cup, and >650°F open cup. Find out what kind of industrial solvent you are

Human Virus Scanner

The virus that have infected you will be show here along with thier cures, if known.

Viruses you suffer from:

Religion

Read “God’s Debris” by Scott Adams (yes, the Dilbert guy)

Sci-fi

Stop wearing the stick-on ears.

Hippyism

Free love is passe and potentially dangerous, and patchouli smells like cat piss.

Environmentalism

Consume more stuff! It’s easier to buy new stuff than to recycle.

Macintosh

Use a mouse with more than one button.

Viruses you might suffer from:

Linux (80%)

Install the latest version of Microsoft Windows. Learn to love it.

Politics (95%)

Stop caring!

Brand Names (95%)

Having a well-known name doesn’t make it good.

Computer Games (60%)

Stop staring at the screen and get some fresh air. You should see a doctor about the RSI in your thumbs.

Prog Rock (60%)

Long hair looks dumb with a bald spot. Listen to CD’s they don’t crackle.

Early RotK stuff

So my approach was: You’ve just seen The Fellowship and you’ve popped out to the lobby for a popcorn break — it might have lasted a bit long, twelve months; that’s quite a lot of popcorn — but then we’ve gone back in and the projectionist has just put on the next reel. I wanted that kind of unity to the story.Peter Jackson, on why he didn’t start TTT off with a prologue (read the whole article here, because PJ and PB talk about why they changed stuff…spoilerish if you haven’t seen TTT!)

Is it true that some of them reacted by running away?

In the first two years after Steven wrote the program… [laughs] We couldn’t stop them deserting the field of battle. The truth of it is that he thought he’d originally use vision. The problem with vision is that it’s extremely blinkered. If I’m facing in this direction, I can’t find an enemy. Now he uses sound, which gives them a 360 degree ability to find your enemy. But it’s bloody funny. We’ve got tests that date back to 1998 and 1999 where in the back of the shot, there’s thousands of soldiers just fleeing the field! We always thought that the computer was far more intelligent than humans. Richard Taylor on the MASSIVE program

Did it strike you that he also looks a bit like E.T.?

I never thought of E.T., actually, but other people have mentioned that he’s a bit like E.T. on crack. Andy Serkis, about Golum

In a small Southern town there was a “Nativity Scene” that showed great skill and talent had gone into creating it. One small feature bothered me. The three wise men were wearing firemen’s helmets. Totally unable to come up with a reason or explanation, I left. At a “Quick Stop” on the edge of town, I asked the lady behind the counter about the helmets. She exploded into a rage, yelling at me, “You damn Yankees never do read the Bible!” I assured her that I did, but simply couldn’t recall anything about firemen in the Bible. She jerked her Bible from behind the counter and ruffled through some pages, and finally jabbed her finger at a passage.

Sticking it in my face she said “See, it says right here, ‘The three wise man came from afar.'”

1. Opening presents…rip ’em open with all abandon, or carefully open, preserving the pretty paper for recycling? occasionally rip with abandon. But if the paper is really pretty, slowly. Or if I know what I’m getting, slowly, so the anticipation builds…

2. Do you and yours take turns, opening one gift at a time, or does everyone just rip into everything at the same time? Turns, sort of. It’s usually which ever person’s pile comes next.

3. If you get something you don’t like…do you try to return it, or keep it so as not to hurt the giver’s feelings? I haven’t gotten anything horrendous that I can think of, but I’d probably return it. My relatives are pretty good about giving gift recipits, so if I did get something bad it could easily be returned.

4. Do you spend the holiday at home (yours or someone else’s), or do you go out and eat, see the newest movie, whatever? We stay at home but go to relatives houses nearby.

5. What do you do with Christmas cards after the holiday is over? Save them, or toss them? Save ’em…even though I know I’ll never read them again. It’s just that packrat mentality 😉

6. Cook Christmas dinner, or does someone else do that? Christmas Eve had traditionally been a buffet at my cousin’s grandparent’s house. But this year that party was early, so we’re cooking tonight! I’ll help, of course…

7. It’s Christmas Eve, and you have run out of wrapping paper. Do you go out and buy more, or wrap the rest of the gifts in the Sunday comics? I’d use the comics. Why not? Recycling is good.

8. On Christmas morning…up at the crack of dawn, eagerly anticipating the loot…or would you rather sleep in? I used to get up very early, waking up my parents in the process. But then I would still wake up early but let them sleep. Now everyone just sleeps in. We’re getting old 🙂

9. Do you want a white or a green Chrismas? White, of course! And wonder of all wonders, it’s SNOWING! Lots!

10. Going to church on Christmas…yes or no? Perhaps. It might be difficult to get to the candlelight service tonight, so I don’t know if we’ll go. depends on whether they get the roads plowed or not. And if we’re all wrapped up in wrapping paper, lol.

Merry Christmas, my friends. May you get all you desire (or deserve 😉 ).