I don’t really have a nice, cohesive post for today.  So instead, I’m popping back in here throughout the day to add ideas, observations and amusing anecdotes as they occur to me.  Some might call that lazy blogging…and yeah, they’re probably right.  But feel free to throw your own geeky observations and snippets in the comments below.  Or ask me a question, yeah that’s perfect, then I don’t have to look for things to write about on my own!  Definitely that question thing.  Okay, here goes…

*9:29am – Watched the final two episodes of Fanboy Confessional (I talk about it in a previous post), on furries and LARPing respectively.

The Furry episode: I will admit that my view of furries was tainted by that biased CSI episode of yesteryear.  So I’m really happy to get a more honest look at that aspect of fandom.  Still no interest in it, but I am also no longer afraid of being forcibly yiffed at a con.

The LARPing episode:  I’m familiar with LARPing; I used to participate in vampire LARPs, and tried to get involved with the local Alliance LARP, but schedule and time conspired against me.  Loved the episode overall, and again, they did a great job of giving us equal parts newb and veteran experience, as well as behind-the-scenes peeks.  One thing with which I will take umbrage: At the very beginning of the episode the narrator says, “…role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons and Bloodbowl…”

What!? *adjusts retainer* *pushes up nerd glasses* \begin nerd rant\ Bloodbowl is not an RPG, sir!  It is a table-top miniatures game.  And while it has elements similar to an RPG, such as character advancement, no REAL role-player would ever consider it a role-playing game! \end nerd rant\ (Note: you need to imagine the retainer lisp for the full effect.)

But with the exception of that little bobble (Bloodbowl an RPG, please!) I have really enjoyed Fanboy Confessional.  I hope they get green-lit for more episodes, because there is a lot more fandom for them to cover!

*11:32am – Can I just say how much I am enjoying Master of Devils, by Dave Gross?  Good, ‘cuz I’m gonna because I am!  Having officially received the first copy in Canada (the author said it so it is true. Science!) for my birthday, I began reading it the next day after I recovered from said birthday.  I am ten chapters in and loving it!  I will post a longer review when I finish, but if you have the chance go buy a copy right now!

It is also a much different reading experience for me when I know the author personally.  Sometimes that can be a bad thing.  But in this case, having known Dave for even the short period that we’ve been hanging out, I find it has enhanced my enjoyment of the book a great deal.  I’ll talk more about that in the extended review as well.

*12:36pm – A funny thing just happened on my walk to Starbucks.  And I mean funny in a “wow people are ignorant” kind of way…

As I’m making my way to my local coffeetorium, I happen to pass an otherwise attractive young woman on the sidewalk, who was just lighting up a cigarette.  I must have allowed some form of disapproval to show on my face (though I’m fairly certain I didn’t), because she felt compelled to defend herself with a witty, “What are you looking at, fatstuff?”.

Normally I would walk on by, because I’m not twelve, I don’t have anything to prove and there was nothing to win by engaging.  But something in me decided today was a Training Day for the ignoratti, because engage I did.  I stopped, smiled, and in a friendly conversational tone replied, “Right now I’m looking at someone who is probably 20 years younger than me who will be dead 20 years sooner than me from lung disease.  And FYI, I used to weigh close to 600 lbs, now I weigh a little over 300lbs.  And I am working to lose the last 100, sometimes failing but succeeding more often every day.  So when you go home tonight and are wheezing because you walked up a flight of stairs to your cigarette-stained apartment, maybe you should ask yourself what you are doing to lose your ignorance.”  And then I turned and walked into Starbucks.

And that girl ended up being the barrista that made my drink.  But my soul felt clean as I drank what I’m fairly certain was a skinny latte with “extra foam”…

*2:21pm – I’ve been catching up on the most recent seasons of Burn Notice, and I have to say I am still loving the show.  It is pretty formulaic, but the writing is clever and the characters are enjoyable, especially the weekly guest stars.  The one stand-out for me is Bruce Campbell’s character Sam Axe.  It has been a treat to watch him play the same character for 4-1/2 seasons, watch him develop and grow the part.  And I’ll admit it, I have a bit of a man-crush on Bruce Campbell.  Heck, Sam Axe is part of the reason I’m leaning towards acquiring some Hawaiian shirts…

*5:34pm – I may be in the minority, but I think it was a mistake to end Stargate Atlantis in favour of Stargate Universe.  I only watched a handful of episodes, but my impression of SGU was that someone really missed Lost and Battlestar Galactica, so they combined it with the SG universe to create a Frankenshow.  In the process, they cut off what was a really great series with excellent characters and stories.  Which was stupid; there was no reason it had to be one show or another.  Given that SGU only made it two seasons, hemorrhaging viewers the entire time, I think SGA could have been left in place.  After all, it worked between SG1 and SGA, right?  That’s my Stargate rant…

*6:28pm – Okay, I think this is the last nugget today.  Are you ready for another funny/scary movie set in England?  Me too! I therefore present to you, Attack the Block.  I can’t wait!

This was fun, I’ll have to try it again some time.  Back to regular blogging tomorrow.