It has become obvious to me in the 14+ weeks since I last updated my blogs that, since becoming a slightly less irresponsible adult, with a job and everything, I don't have time anymore to compose long, rambly blog posts in Notepad and try to cross-post them to a bunch of different social networking sites and get them each to display properly.

Here is what I've decided to do: I will try to be better about checking e-mails and RSS feeds, I will continue to be on AIM/Yahoo!/MSN/GTalk via Pidgin and my IRC channel via XChat, and I will use my new Twitter account and occasionally Facebook for my micro-blogging urges (both via TweetDeck). I will pretty much just read other people's updates on any other social networking sites that I have an account on.

Hopefully this will be much more manageable, and if you want any of those account names or need me to add you back on anything, send an e-mail to Escher3030 AT gmail DOT COM and I won't ignore it like most of my other e-mail because it will be from a person and not a newsletter!

And that's it,
Nicholas

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Enough about fanboyish stuff, let's talk about me on my blog for a change because for once I actually have something to talk about!

I went to work for the first time last Tuesday! I believe this job is only temporary, to assess my strengths as an potential employee someplace else, however the hour long bus trip to and from work, the work itself, and the paycheck are all quite real. So, awesome?

Strangely, the hardest part so far has been the bus trips. Getting on the right buses, getting off at the right stops. Time and my recently acquired map of Downtown Seattle should help to correct this, somewhat.

Work on Danbo the Ruby-powered cardboard IRC bot has temporarily stalled again as I try to figure out how to seperate the output (what the connection is receiving from the server) and the input (the raw IRC commands I'm entering in) into different console windows. Unfortunately, Windows machines don't support fork() like Unix-based machines do, so that makes solving this problem tougher. They say you can't keep a cheese bot down, so I'm optimistic that I'll get this thing to work eventually.

And that's it,
Nicholas

Tags: addicted to bass, bass, bot, cheese, danbo, downtown seattle, fork, job, ruby, work

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Last week was the 2009 New York Comic Con and the Cosmic Debris crew was there, so it's time for an Emily the Strange news update. This is where I use my Internet Detective skills, and a little old fashioned Google-fu if things get messy, to track down information on the future of the Emily the Strange brand.

According to Rob Reger, the first novel is done and should be out in June. It will be titled Emily the Strange: The Lost Days (a novel) and more information can be found by visiting that page I just subtly linked. As you may or may not remember, this novel will provide the loose basis for the upcoming movie and is about Emily getting amnesia and having to discover who she is. All of this is told through her perspective in the form of a diary and it sounds like it will be an awesome read.

Regarding the movie, it is now going to be a live-action film with some animation snuck in, not the live-action/animation hybrid like Reger says he was hoping for. I personally find that kind of disappointing, but Reger says he also developed a TV show that will be animated, so that softens the blow a lot, assuming it doesn't get caught in "development hell".

Details remain scarce on the videogame, but a video linked from the novel's HarperCollins Children's page seems to imply that Backbone Entertainment was involved at some point, if they aren't still involved. I don't think I have experience with any of their games, so I can't comment on whether this is good or bad.

Miscellaneous Emily news time! The second Emily novel is already written and the illustrations are being worked on as we speak. Expect an "Art of Emily" book from Dark Horse later this year as well as a third series of the comic (by the way, MySpace Dark Horse Presents has an Emily the Strange story up now, entitled "She Moves in the Dark", which you should definitely check out if you haven't already). NetToons has a "create your own Emily cartoon" thing set up, which seems to have improved a lot since the Alpha. A stand-alone 3-D Movie Maker-type program would have been way cooler, but I can understand why that's not possible.

Before I go, I will finally reveal my sources, in case I left anything important out, or you simply want to read the interviews themselves. Thanks to Forces of Geek and The Quarter Bin for conducting such great interviews. Oh, and as for "Rosamondgate", it's ultimately up to Emily's individual fans to reach their own conclusions, but, after doing a little contemplation, I'm obviously still a fan. Leave a comment or bug me on AIM, if you need a more in-depth answer than that.

And that's it,
Nicholas

Current Music: Red Elvises - Boogie On The Beach | Powered by Last.fm
Tags: awesome, dark horse, emily the strange, google-fu, harpercollins, internet detective, myspace, nettoons, new york comic con, nycc, rob reger, rosamondgate, the lost days

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Imagine that, an update! I had to, because I saw an awesome movie that I enjoyed immensely and felt the need to get the word out. Honestly, I think I'm more like the last person to see this movie, since it came out about a decade ago and I've heard the title mentioned a couple dozen times in my social circles. Come to think of it, being one of the last group of people in the world to see this movie, after all the initial noise has dispersed, is kind of fitting, maybe, given the film's post-apocalyptic theme.

So anyway, I saw Six-String Samurai and it is very much my type of movie. The setting is completely off-the-wall but the narrative is very straight-forward, which I think works out well in this case. The dialogue is fittingly sparse, allowing the individual lines to have more of an impact. The soundtrack has to be mentioned, because composer Brian Tyler's score and the tracks picked out from Siberian surf-rockers The Red Elvises' catalog do an amazing job setting the film's tone.

Here's the opening titles, if you happen to not have seen the film and I somehow piqued your interest: "In 1957, the bomb dropped, and the Russians took over what was America. The last bastion of freedom became a place called Lost Vegas and Elvis was crowned King. After forty rockin' years, The King is dead. Every guitar picking, sword swinging opportunist, including Death himself, hears the call echoing across the wastelands. Vegas needs a new King." So that's the setup, explained better than I ever could.

One final note: Danbo (the Ruby-powered cardboard IRC bot) lives, kinda! More about that when he becomes more than a glorified hand puppet.

And that's it,
Nicholas

Current Music: Red Elvises - Good Golly Miss Molly | Powered by Last.fm
Tags: awesome, brian tyler, danbo, red elvises, six-string samurai

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To be completely frank, you probably weren't going to hear from me again for a month, but I stumbled across what I consider a perfect analogy for explaining the appeal of roguelikes, such as Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer, to the layperson AND I realized the parallels between my experience trying to reach the lair of the Golden Condor in Shiren and that trying to learn the Ruby programming language.

The appeal of roguelikes--or a major part of the appeal, I'd argue--is that they are basically the Klondike Solitaire (the version that comes with Windows) version of dungeon exploring pen and paper role-playing games (such as Dungeons & Dragons). The metaphor extends deeper than "they are both single player experiences", because they both have an element of luck, but how smartly you play greatly influences the outcome.

Here's where I get a little technical, so the faint-hearted can stop here and I won't mind at all. In roguelikes, dungeon floor plans, enemy and item locations, and most if not all item identities are procedurally generated. What this means is that virtually no two floors of a dungeon are the same, even if you play a great many times, and you don't always know what an item will do before you use it.

As you play and die, and then play again from the beginning, you slowly pick up how the system works and make smarter decisions in the future, like how different types of enemy ruin your day, which types of items are more likely to not do horrible things to you if you attempt to use them, etc. It makes exploration and combat a puzzle, and forces you to keep on your toes. And that wraps up my attempt to quickly explain the appeal of roguelikes.

This method of learning how a system worked seemed vaguely familiar to me, and I just recently realized that it is basically the same as my approach to learning Ruby. First I start at the very beginning (a very good place to start, I'm told), make my way through learning the various concepts until I get completely lost, then take a break for a little bit and start from the beginning again, the next time getting a little farther along before I get hopelessly confused.

Honestly, I don't know if this validates my methodology, but since I'm self-teaching I don't think there's a way to really check other than to see if I eventually learn Ruby and make some progress on my IRC bot. So wish me luck and pray that Riva, the Goddess of Fate, has my back.

And that's it,
Nicholas

Tags: awesome, klondike solitaire, mystery dungeon, procedural generation, ruby, shiren the wanderer

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Awesome stuff will happen in 2009. Things are gonna change, I can feel it.

Wonders you will witness this calendar year include:

1. Reigning in my overspending.
2. Exercising at least once a day.
3. Not putting off laundry until the last possible second.
4. Blogging more frequently (I, um - I got opinions, and they must be shared with everyone).
5. Possessing enough Ruby knowledge to make a good start on Danbo, my cardboard IRC bot.
6. Reading a chapter a day of the Martin Gardner-annotated Hunting of the Snark until I have read it in its entirety.
7. Reading a chapter a day of the Edith Grossman-translated Don Quixote until I have read it in its entirety (immediately following Hunting of the Snark).
8. Reaching the top of Table Mountain in Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer (which is an excellent roguelike that I will talk about at great length some other time).

That's a good enough list to start with, I think. I'm hoping that some of these things will "chain", such as exercising leading to feeling better leading to less spending, but we will just have to see.

And that's it,
Nicholas

Current Music: Justice - We Are Your Friends (Reprises) | Powered by Last.fm
Tags: awesome, circus, danbo, don quixote, exercise, hunting of the snark, laundry, lewis caroll, martin gardner, miguel de cervantes, mystery dungeon, new year's, overspending, resolutions, ruby, shiren the wanderer

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Raisin Bran Crunch is friggin' amazing. Happy holidays, everyone!

And that's it,
Nicholas

Current Mood: festive
Tags: holidays, raisin bran crunch

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Because the juxtaposition of the following and my Xanga layout makes me giggle. Teehee.

Sunny, yesterday my life was filled with rain
Sunny, you smiled at me and really eased the pain
The dark days are gone and the bright days are here
My sunny one shines so sincere
Sunny one so true, I love you

And that's it,
Nicholas

Edit: Dammit, LiveJournal, why must you be so difficult >:O!

Current Location: Mercer Island, WA
Current Mood: sunny
Current Music: Bis - Eurodisco | Powered by Last.fm
Tags: boney m., sunny

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I just thought you should know that my Jack Sparrow's compass-that-is-a-CD-player no longer works.

;_;.

And that's it,
Nicholas

Current Mood: sad
Current Music: Bis - Eurodisco | Powered by Last.fm
Tags: cd player, compass, jack sparrow, pirates of the carribean

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Oh, hi guys! I was so focused on this Bomb Squad instrumental radio special, that I forgot to update in forever!

You see, while I enjoy a good hip-hop now and again, I'm just starting to fill in my hip-hop history Bingo scorecard. However, now I can finally fill in the "Public Enemy/Bomb Squad" square.

It all started when I was thinking about Kid Koala--like I do every 5 minutes--and, in particular, his comment about how his "Slew" project (which I can hardly wait for) is going to be "Black Sabbath meets Bomb Squad", and how I hardly knew anything about this extremely influential production team, other than that they were extremely influential and I hadn't heard anything they'd done before. So, like I always do whenever I find an interesting topic that I wish to know more about, I put on my Internet Detective cap and got to work.

Luckily for me, it turns out there are a couple of good resources concerning the Bomb Squad on the internet. First, if you want to hear their stuff firsthand, the Washington D.C. community Jazz station, Pacifica Radio WPFW 89.3 FM "The Messenger", has a Christmas/New Year's special called "Bring the Noise" where "The Other Side" host Bobby Hill plays three hours of Bomb Squad instrumentals. A local listener and huge fan of this program happens to have recorded the Bomb Squad instrumental specials for 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 for your and my listening pleasure.

The second useful resource I found, which I haven't had time to investigate fully, was Hank Shocklee's lecture at the Red Bull Music Academy, which looks like fascinating stuff.

Here's something I could use some help with. I've found a few dance/club songs that I really really like, and I'm looking for more candidates with that elusive "je ne sais quoi" that make them rise above the rest--or appeal to my weird taste, at least. These are some songs that I'm currently digging: bis's "Eurodisco", Buy Now's "Body Crash", Madonna's "Hung Up", and pretty much anything by Uniting Nations.

And that's it,
Nicholas

Current Mood: giggly
Current Music: Bis - Eurodisco | Powered by Last.fm
Tags: 89.3 fm, bingo, bis, black sabbath, bobby hill, body crash, bomb squad, bring the noise, buy now, club, dance, eurodisco, hank shocklee, hip-hop, hung up, instrumental, internet detective, je ne sais quoi, kid koala, madonna, pacifica radio, public enemy, red bull music academy, slew, the messenger, the other side, uniting nations, wpfw

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These anime avatar things have been popping up all over the web and I almost went insane trying to find the source. However, being the certified black belt in Google-fu that I am, I eventually found it and I thought I'd share this knowledge with you lot.

The website is called "Face Your Manga" and you are very welcome. Getting to the bottom of internet mysteries is what gets me through the day.

And that's it,
Nicholas

Current Location: Mercer Island, WA
Tags: anime, avatar, awesome, face your manga, informative, internet mystery, manga

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H'ok, so my election post is taking too long to materialize from the ether, and I feel compelled to post something, so here is some new Emily the Strange and Kid Koala news bites. Huzzah!

Dark Horse Comics is doing a cross-promotion with Jones Soda Co. and the bottles look neat. Minor quibble: I wish they had used new artwork instead of previous designs. I personally am going to take a pass on this collectible, as other Emily merchandise has priority--like the comics that I am so woefully behind on.

Three bits of Kid Koala news: music-wise, Kid has a track on Jack Johnson's Sleep Through the Static Remixed, which I accidentally stumbled upon while searching through the iTunes music store. Stumbling around has also led me to the redesigned Kid Koala website about a day before it was announced on MySpace and Facebook, and this September 24 interview with Kid Koala in Ground Control Magazine, wherein Kid Koala talks about The Slew and being a dad, among other wonderful things.

One final item of interest to me and, presumably, to you, is that the works of the Dan the Automator/Del the Funky Homosapien/Kid Koala supergroup, Deltron 3030, has been uploaded to AmazonMP3 and iTunes by a label known as "Deltron Projects". I'm not sure if it means anything in regards to the stalled Deltron Event II, but I found it interesting, anyway.

And that's it,
Nicholas

Current Mood: cranky
Current Music: Buckethead - Ghost Host | Powered by Last.fm
Tags: amazon mp3, dan the automator, dark horse comics, del the funky homosapien, deltron 3030, deltron event ii, deltron projects, emily the strange, facebook, ground control magazine, itunes, jack johnson, jones soda company, kid koala, myspace, nufonia, the slew

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It's tough. Just because something touches you really really deeply, like EELS or "Pushing Daisies" touches me, that doesn't mean that it will do the same to anyone else. But, even though I know that, I want to pushpushpush regardless, because even if it touches someone else only a fraction as much, it will have been worth it. I guess. I don't think my success rate has been all that high, to be honest.

Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh.

And that's it,
Nicholas

Tags: eels, emo, pushing daises, touch

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You read that right, I'm going to dish on the horribly boring stuff that's been going on lately so that when I don't talk about life stuff later, you'll know that you're not missing out on anything juicy!

So I picked up the "Danbo the cardboard IRC bot" project again (see ish #125 -Ed) only to figure out the roadblock to my learning Rooby (the "oo" stands for object-oriented, maybe?) is atrophied problem-solving skills. The solution I came up with, after speaking with my most trusted advisors (read: anyone who would listen), was that I drag out a pre-calc book and solve some pre-calc problems! WOO-HOO! And then maybe I can borrow my brother's calculus textbook and learn calculus, but I don't want to get myself too revved up just yet!

Something I've been asking almost everyone is "What TV shows are you going to follow this season?" I ask this because, for one thing, I've gotten some really great recommendations for shows to watch and rekindled my love affair with television, and, for another thing, it gives me a chance to push Pushing Daisies on people, which is starting up again this Wednesday and more people need to watch and buy the first season of. I've already expounded on the amazingness of Pushing Daisies on this blog a while ago (see ish #86 -Ed), so I'll skip that part and just dive into what I'm watching this season:

• The Colbert Report (Airs Mondays-Thursdays @ 11:30/10:30c on Comedy Central) (Website)
• Eureka (Airs Tuesdays @ 9/8c on Sci Fi) (Website)
• It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (Premiered Thursday, Sept. 18th @ 10/9c on FX) (Website)
• The Office (Premiered Thursday, Sept. 25th @ 9/8c on NBC) (Website)
• Dexter (Premieres Sunday, Sept. 28th @ 9/8c on Showtime) (Website)
• Chuck (Premieres Monday, Sept. 29th @ 8/7c on NBC) (Website)
• Pushing Daisies (Premieres Wednesday, Oct. 1st @ 8/7c on ABC) (Website)
• 30 Rock (Premieres Thursday, Oct. 30th @ 9:30/8:30c on NBC) (Website)
• Chowder (Reruns on Cartoon Network) (Website)
• The Venture Bros. (Reruns on Cartoon Network) (Website)

Yep, math and TV. So, what are you guys watching?

And that's it,
Nicholas

Tags: 30 rock, calculus, chowder, chuck, danbo, dexter, eureka, irc, it's always sunny in philadelphia, mathematics, precalculus, pushing daises, ruby, stephen colbert, the colbert report, the office, the venture bros.

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Even though I may be late to the party, I want to talk about Chromeo. And even though I usually suck at doing reviews of things with any depth to them, I'm going to concentrate really hard and try to pull this one off.

The internet tells me that Chromeo is "electrofunk", and I trust it as I trust all things that provide me with porn. What Chromeo's music brings to my mind is Dan the Automator's tongue-in-cheek, makeout music super-group known as "Lovage", transplanted into the '80s. Chromeo is made up of two guys who go by the names "Dave 1" and "P-Thugg", and if all these names sound incredibly tacky to you, just realize that this is part of the hilarious beauty of it all.

As of now, they have two albums you could possibly track down: their 2004 debut, She's in Control, and their 2007 follow-up, Fancy Footwork. She's in Control has some great tracks, such as "Me & My Man", the smash hit "Needy Girl", "You're So Gangsta", "Destination: Overdrive", and "Rage!", while Fancy Footwork has songs like "Tenderoni", "Fancy Footwork", "Bonafied Lovin' (Tough Guys)", "Momma's Boy", and the album-closer "100%".

If you were to acquire just one of their full-lengths, go for Fancy Footwork, no question. Both albums have their share of stand-out tracks, but Fancy Footwork makes for a more cohesive "album experience".

And that's it,
Nicholas

Link: Fancy Footwork online listening station

Tags: chromeo, dan the automator, dave 1, electrofunk, fancy footwork, lovage, p-thugg, she's in control

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I like Daft Punk! Do you like Daft Punk too? Awesome!

Daft Punk recently did an interview with Stop Smiling Magazine in which they talked a bit about their art film, Electroma. I found it fascinating because I apparently played right into the duo's hands with my reaction to the film. According to Thomas Bangalter (who, my research tells me, is the one donning the silver helmet at Daft Punk's live shows), "When we were conceiving Electroma, we knew it was not specifically an entertaining experience on the first viewing. We were thinking more of the long-term effect that the images would have." This matches my thoughts perfectly: I didn't like it at first, but then it slowly began to grow on me in retrospect.

Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo chimes in, "Electroma was an attempt to break the formula that is everywhere now in cinema. Watching movies today is a very passive experience: A lot happens on the screen, but as soon as you walk out, you don't remember anything." If I'm reading the subtext of the interview correctly, then basically what they were trying to do was bring art films to the masses just like Discovery brought House music to the masses. Which I think is genius, quite honestly.

Anyway, I linked an excerpt from the interview above and you should read it if you enjoy Daft Punk and you enjoy reading.

And that's it,
Nicholas

Tags: awesome, daft punk, electroma, human after all, interview, stop smiling magazine

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A little onion gave me this idea. Guess the song from the lyrics, or don't and make me cry.

1. "and i was thinking 'bout how / everyone is dying / and maybe it is time to live"
2. "I know tomorrow brings the consequence at hand / But I keep living this day like the next will never come"
3. "When you attend a funeral / It is sad to think that sooneral / Later, those you love will do the same for you / And you might have thought it tragic / Not to mention other adjec- / Tives for all the weeping they will do"
4. "He's a private eye, a crooked cop, / A secret agent, and a celebrity pharmacist"
5. "If I give you my lovin', would you take it? / If I opened my heart, would you turn the key? / 'Cause I knew from the start, baby, we could make it / We could make it together, you and me"
6. "There's a kitty on my foot and I want to touch it"
7. "Blowin' bubbles out of the window / Chewin' bubblegum and blowin' b-b-b-bubbles / Gettin' gettin' rid of rid of all of my troubles / Watchin' the tadpoles glubba glubba in the puddle"
8. "I'm a punk rock prom queen / Brown-paper magazine / Hotter than you've ever seen / Everywhere and in between"
9. "(AutoBeat Lifestyle.) / AutoBeat allies roll, undercover bots ride in to the next rap show. / (Protecting you is what we do.) / Slide through the door, step out through the scene, scope enemy strongholds quickly. / (Be an AutoBeat ally.) / Destructive, decomposing leaks drip out dead when the enemy speaks. / (Call us.) / Grimrock got a bot ID'd. / (To save.) / Hit it at warp speed. / (Your neighborhood.) / That blast brought him down to his knees, chalk that up, AutoBeat victory. / See, you can't hear it. / Sit back, put your hand on the wheel and steer it."
10. "It might not be the right time / I might not be the right one / But there's something about us I want to say / 'Cause there's something between us, anyway"
11. "I'm not alone 'cause the TV's on, yeah / I'm not crazy 'cause I take the right pills / Everyday"
12. "And this is not a case of lust, you see / It's not a matter of you versus me / It's fine the way you want to be on your own / But in the end it's always me alone"
13. "Sadie dry your tear / I will be the one / To pull you through the mirror / Before you come, before you come undone"
14. "Broken hands and withered souls / Emancipated from all you know / You've got to go / And dig those holes"
15. "Paranoia, paranoia / Everyone's comin' to get me / Just say you never met me / I'm runnin' underground with the moles / Diggin' holes"

And that's it,
Nicholas

Tags: lyrics, music, shuffle, song

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Hey guys, I uploaded something to YouTube just for you all!

And that's it,
Nicholas

Tags: dear friends, deputy dan, firesign theatre

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If it seems like I haven't been around much lately or I haven't been getting much accomplished, blame Mario Kart Wii for being TOO MUCH FUN!

Let me try and think about what's been going on lately. I took the bus into Bellevue last week to meet up with a friend and pick up Mario Kart Wii because I have been trying for months and months to find a copy, as everyone has been sold out, but Gamestop said they had recently gotten some back in stock. I finally saw The Dark Knight a few days ago, and have to say that it was an intense experience that I really enjoyed. Next movie I'm going to go see will probably be The Nightmare Before Christmas 3-D, as that is one of my favorite movies ever and I'm hoping that since it wasn't originally in 3-D it won't suffer as badly from the "images so close you instinctively close your eyes" phenomenon. Also, I'm going to apply one more time at the library, since another page position has opened up. Wish me luck.

And that's it,
Nicholas

Tags: batman, mario kart wii, nightmare before christmas 3d, the dark knight, tim burton

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Today is a sad day for me, as the local Seattle-area group that was number one on my Last.fm for the longest time played their final show as a band yesterday at the High Dive in Seattle. The universe won't be the same without the Optimus watching over us, protecting us from the Wackacon threat, and I regret not seeing them live before they went their separate ways.

Fortunately, it's not all doom and gloom, though, as Optimus Rhyme will supernova with one last EP coming soon and a Wheelie Cyberman project codenamed "Supercommuter" that sounds amazing from the two songs released so far on their MySpace. Check both groups out, if you haven't already, at MySpace.com/OptimusRhymeLive and MySpace.com/Supercommuter.

And that's it,
Nicholas

Current Mood: sad
Tags: optimus rhyme, supercommuter, wackacon, wheelie cyberman

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