A Gray Area

Who Will Watch the Watchmen

2008-12-28T18:00:26Z

So...

Fox is currently winning in their lawsuit against Warner Bros. over the Watchmen movie rights. For those of you who haven't been following, I'll make a quick summary.

In about February of 2008, Fox decided to file a lawsuit against Warner Bros. over the Watchmen movie rights, which supposedly had been purchased. Fox is claiming that the contract of the purchase wasn't fulfilled and that Warner Bros. owes them.

There's currently a boycott of Fox movies because of this, one that I'm inclined to join, even if Fox is putting out the Wolverine movie. Link to the latest article I've read on the subject is below.

At Midnight All the Agents

I probably should've put this up sooner, but it's christmas/new years.

Shaking Hands: Rant, tl;dr

2008-12-28T09:19:54Z

I have very steady hands. Normally, I can be a very still, very calm person. I've found though, that there are some rare situations where I can't help but feel my heart pounding like it's trying to get out and my hands shake when I move them.

At the same time I both feel the urge to get up and take action and the desire to be as perfectly still as I normally am.

I hate the thought of people seeing my hands shaking, though, so I try not to move my hands, or at least to make the movements as small as possible.

(Though I'm sure that they wouldn't be shaking so much if I were to jump up and punch someone, it's the slow, calm movements that make me shake more.)

I'm sure they'll take it the wrong way.

Betrayal is a bitch, and sorry isn't good enough. I still feel as though I'm very faintly shivering inside.

I guess the thing that pisses me off the most though is how much it seems to have gotten to me. I am really, really tired of being betrayed (and my friends wonder why I don't trust people. I would like to be able to, it's unpleasant to be concealing things).

Night!

2008-12-19T21:35:22Z

I am very rapidly becoming nocturnal... I told myself I wasn't going to sleep in today, but I didn't get out of bed until 1... (granted, I have no clock in my room and I took off my watch before going to bed for some reason)

Still... I'd like to keep a relatively acceptable sleep schedule.

All the little things

2008-12-18T05:50:21Z

It's odd, what things actually make me sad these days.

I wish I had the courage to write more about it, but I was never the brave one. It's just... silly.

ZOMG CAPTAIN AMERICA!

2008-11-13T02:51:58Z

Watch the youtube film I'm linking to. Live Action, real Captain America.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWDyoO42qIw&feature=related

I lack words to do him justice.

Raw Shark?

2008-10-21T00:45:02Z

Went out earlier today before dinner. Forgot to on way home from school.

Bought boots. Latest RepCom novel, Order 66, random Star Wars book, Watchmen.

Very, very good. Halfway done. Must stop reading to do homework.

I hate music video fads!

2008-08-04T20:26:32Z

But this Caramelldansen Dr. Who is too hilarious not to watch.

#132

2008-07-05T01:08:56Z

There's a fandom secret about a tiny little rp I'm in.

Is it wrong that I look first to you, the few people who glance towards my lowly section of the internet, and wonder which of you out there did it?

Then I snicker and try not to giggle and say 'Ship it like a Primary Export'.

Google Ordered to Hand Over Youtube User Information

2008-07-03T21:09:25Z

Article on the court order behind this link

That link has more detailed information on what has happened, as well as a link to the pdf of the Judges order.

Here is another link that also paints an interesting picture of what Viacom actually asked for, as opposed to just what they got

If this concerns you, I encourage you to put it up on your own journal or a community you feel is relevant.

Avengers! Assemble!

2008-06-20T14:32:15Z

So, I happened to find a nice little forum Marvel rp. Based on the 'what-if' comic where Steve and Tony managed to work together to stop the Civil War.

Not too many people yet and it's still getting set up, so take a look at Avengers Initiative Institute

And why do my two current RP's both end in the same word? Regardless, the people there are fun.

Hopefully anyone reading this knows my AIM address, if not just leave a comment or something and I'll help you get in touch with the rp mods.

Costuming!

2008-06-12T03:02:24Z

Didn't get my latest costume ready in time for a-kon, haven't really touched it.

MGS 4 is coming out, so this will delay it, but I hope to like, get kinda finished with it? I don't know if I'll be able to make the helmet or not, though I'd like to.

Might have to make the helmet out of something other than what i'm using for the rest of the costume, the shoulder pads are also proving problematic.

As is the 'back detail'. Also need to make cape.

Lapommedeva will be hopefully watching me play MGS4, apparently she prefers to watch people play. Some sort of odd video game voyeur?

Enough rambling for my new friends.

Progresses!

Cloth Suit: 15% complete
Armor: 10% complete
Cape: 0%
Weapon: 0%

Writing stuff

Request letter: 80%? (1500+ words)
App: 50%?
Comics to read: OVER 9000! (300-400?)

Perhaps Problem

2008-01-27T20:18:24Z

Craft foam soaks up glue very well. This is making gluing craft foam problematic.

I think I might be using the wrong kind of glue.

I will give it more time to attempt to stick before seeking alternative adhesives.

Problem

2007-12-26T21:21:06Z

It really feels like I'm somehow bad at working through problems in my relationships.

All my relationships with my friends and family.

I hate getting into arguments with my friends and family, or problems or misunderstandings. But more than having them, I hate leaving problems unsolved.

If there is a problem, I want to work through it, rather than let it sit and grow and become worse.

I don't encounter problems very often, but sometimes I somehow manage to do or say something that gets someone upset.

I do want to fix things, but I can't repair a relationship by myself. I'm tired of people running away or shutting me out.

Iron Man!

2007-12-23T22:54:21Z

Marvel is making an Iron Man movie. I was sitting through the previews for I Am Legend, and within the first few seconds of the Iron Man preview I had spazzed, having determined exactly what it was for.

That was followed a preview later by the new Dark Knight preview...

Is it sad that I was happier about seeing the previews than I was the movie? My mom really liked I Am Legend, and it was a good movie but... I felt like it could have been done a little better. It just didn't quite do it for me, and a few things about the CG were distracting. (Oscillating skin around the mouth while roaring and impossibly large mouth on the humanoids)

I am excited about the Iron Man movie, though. I hope that Marvel will do a complete run of all their most popular and well known heroes. (Read: I hope they do a Captain America movie).

Goals

2007-11-18T02:18:03Z

Before I turn 23 I want to have accomplished the following:

-Graduated from university with a degree in computer science.

-Learn a foreign language, preferably Russian.

By the summer of 2009 I want to be able to:

-Be able to do 58 situps in a minute
-Sprint Three Hundred Meters in under 40 seconds
-Do 71 pushups at a time
-Run 1.5 miles in under ten minutes

grayfoxinabox @ 2007-11-15T20:34:00

2007-11-16T02:35:23Z

when did i become meaningless?

things need to start getting better now.

even i give up eventually

Need a Light?

2007-10-02T03:32:21Z

So, I have a class that is called Computers and Ethics. It's a computer-oriented ethics class. Our teacher was trying to demonstrate something, and for this, he wanted to use a microphone.

So, there's what appears to be a cute little compact bendy microphone that looks like this. So, he's messing with the settings on the computer control, and turning on and off the microphone and messing with it and tapping it and trying to figure out WHY it isn't working.

When one of my very helpful classmates decides to finally point out that it isn't actually a microphone... it's a desk light! After the teacher spent five minutes tapping it and trying to talk in it.

Now that he's looking for it, he can see that there is in fact a light turning on and off as he's hitting the switch. Well, at least now we know why he wasn't getting any sound out of it.

Highlights of Programming Lecture!

2007-10-01T21:54:02Z

So, my teacher, several times, erased a large portion of her code while trying to tab it over by highlighting all of it and pressing the wrong key, replacing code that had probably taken a good half an hour to write with 'q' in just under three seconds.

Then when she meant to hit 'shift' she held down 'z' instead.

Lastly, noticing a problem with her program she very cheerfully smiled and said 'Oh, it looks like I need braces!'

Lastly on the subject of that class I shall include a few parts from my notes.

"We can check if we have an uppercase letter in the char variable ch1 by writing

if(ch1 >= ‘A’ && ch1 <=’Z’)

hungry… itchy… tasty…

The || operator, the logical OR operator, is a binary operator that takes two Boolean expressions as its operands and combines them into a Boolean expression that has the value true, when either or both of its operands are true. In other words the || operation is true if at least one of its operands is true."

And...

"The ! operator reverses its operand’s truth or falsehood. In other words, if expression has the value true, !(expression) is false. If expression has the value false!(expression is true)

if(error ==false) is the same as if(!error)

which is to say that the expression is true if (error is false), is the same as: the expression is true if (not error is true)"

From the Gamer's Perspective of Resident Evil [SPOILERS]

2007-09-22T04:14:53Z

I saw the third resident evil movie, and I have to say, before I start insulting it, that it wasn't NEARLY as bad as I thought it would be. I was actually impressed compared to my initial expectations.

Cut for... well... ranting on all three movies and SPOILERS

So unless you REALLY want to know my horribly biased opinion, you don't need to read what's been cut.

Previously, I had two arguments with the resident evil movies.

1) who the hell is this woman they made into the main character? I want MY game characters back

2) Speaking of the Game Characters, where the hell are they?

I imagine the reaction from the fans of the game after the first movie was such that they decided to actually include some of the characters in the second.

But lets start with the first, what does it have going for it?

1) Mansion
2) Underground Facility
3) T-Virus
4) Licker

There is a mansion involved, but not the mansion I know and fear. There were people living in this mansion. In the first game, everyone in the mansions is DEAD and STARS are the main characters.

Okay, it's a movie spin-off of a game, I'll tolerate the changes here. The Hive... okay, it's an underground facility, it's in the wrong spot and it's too big, but for the sake of the movie-ness, we'll allow it.

T-virus! None of the back ground of the virus is given here, but the first game told us next to nothing, so I won't hold it against the poor movie people trying to make plot in a limited time.

Licker... bonus points for including a game monster, but... where are my Hunters and my Tyrant?

The guy gets infected by the licker...

Now, the second movie, where Alice has been experimented on.

Redeeming points of the second movie:

1) STARS
2) It takes place in Raccoon City
3) Nemesis

Bad things

1) ~~Alexia~~ Angela Ashford
2) Dr. Ashford
3) Nemesis

Okay... they put in Jill, and Carlos. Angela Ashford and Dr. Ashford... well, Dr. Ashford didn't make the virus in the game, and it was always supposed to have been intended as a viral weapon.

They came up with their own back-ground for Nemesis, but it's poorly explained and executed, however, I guess they needed to do something for movie-going people wondering about Nemesis.

It looks like RE 2 the game was left out plot-wise. They can't, at this point, abandon Alice as a main character, but my main Resident Evil villains are still waiting in the wings to be utilized. I had honestly hoped they'd stop with the second one.

'That was a great movie to wrap things up with' Only they didn't wrap them up. Alice was captured and experimented upon... and here's where I really lose faith in the game to movie things, in the scene where she looks at the security camera and kills the guy watching the surveilance using her mind.

Suspension of disbelief and all that, but they're really deviating from the games, and it looks like they just made her too powerful. This puts us at the point where we have an amazingly powerful main character who would need even more amazing enemies.

Cue the third movie, several years later. The T-virus has spread through the entire world and infected everything

Good points

1) Wesker
2) ...Claire Redfield and Carlos
3) ....Tyrant....?

Bad Points

1) Alice clones
2) Psychic powers
3) Logical errors in the scripting
4) Claire Redfield

Okay, Wesker did appear in this, and I was overjoyed to see him on the big screen. That said...

Every single Wesker Cosplayer I have ever met at a con would have been a better Wesker... well, given a few years more of age, that is. They could have gotten a better actor, could have done better with his hair, and his suits. This is WESKER people, better suits please next time.

However, I'm moderately pleased with the rest of what they've done with Wesker. I feel that it was within reasonable keeping of his character. The only other bad thing I can say is that Wesker wasn't around to fake his death in the first movie. But I'll forgive them that, because they put him in.

Claire Redfield is next on the list. The actress was too old to be Claire. Yes, she was pretty, but the portrayal of Claire was just... off. Even accounting for the differences in timeline, I think they could've done a better casting job here.

Logical errors. They're minor, but parts of the script just don't make much sense if you've been paying attention and not staring at the hot women the entire time.

Lastly we get to the tyrant (there was a point where I was CERTAIN I was going to see Hunters, but, I was disappointed). We do in fact get a large, dangerous beast with an over-sized arm claw. However, it has tentacles, and it can talk. But we won't hold that against it.

It does however pass the test of being damn near unkillable, even by a main character that has been powered up as much as Alice. In the end it's a Clone of Alice that saves the day.

And we leave off with the promise of a fourth movie that looks like it shall contain hundreds of clones of Alice all going after Wesker.

They get points for keeping Wesker alive, points for the tyrant. And the crows.

PLEASE! MAKE THEM NOT MAKE A FOURTH ONE! Unless, of course, Wesker is going to be awesomely Wesker, Birkin is going to appear and make a G-virus, and Wesker smacks a bunch of main characters around and then makes his escape at the end.

Then they could make a fourth movie with my blessing. And with how many clones there are, Wesker would have to do a LOT of smacking.

It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. That being said, my standards were so low that, had it actually have been as bad as I thought it would be, the only course of redemption for willingly watching it would have been to commit ritual suicide.

Malfactoring... er.. Mentoring

2007-09-10T21:28:37Z

So I'm in the mentor program at school.

As it turns out, there ARE people who I can help!

And they pay me to do help them.

Teacher's a bit... eh... I asked her a question and she was condescending and rude with her answer, so it's no wonder other students aren't going to her for help.

Test in Machine Ethics

Edit: The school pays me to help them, that is.

Are we lobbing hand grenades? I don't think we are.

2007-08-30T02:20:00Z

Very close.

Finished:
First top
Second Top
Third Top
Belt
Leg Guard
Pants
Second Mask

In Progress:
First mask: 75% (finish painting, add details)
Left Shoulder Detail: 90% (paint, add fastenings)
Chest Detail: 10%?

It's all fun and games when people are getting hurt.

2007-08-29T19:19:01Z

I am getting back in touch with my masochist side.

I really freaked out the guy I was working with last night in martial arts, but he deserves it. I think I might've gone a bit too far when he was trying to hurt me and finally found the pressure spot and I went "Ah, yes! That's the spot!"

Or broke out in a fit of laughter when one of the senior members tried to do the same thing to me, but he didn't press as hard, and it did tickle.

Got more done on the costume, but got to get to class!

One is the loneliest number

2007-08-27T22:24:09Z

I am in fact dancing by myself!

Or at least, cosplaying by myself. The person who was going to cosplay with me has finally confirmed that they will not be joining me this time.

And the Scond Mask is now 60% done

The second day of the rest of my life

2007-08-27T02:06:05Z

Status

Finished:
Pants- Finished
Second top layer- Finished
Third top layer- Finished (unless I decide to attach it to the second top)

In Progress:
Leg guards- 70%(Add the trim and make it so I can actually wear them)
Sword- 50%(Finish painting, finish assembling pieces)
Left Shoulder Detail- 45%(Half completed, plus paint)
Second Mask- 30%(Put the covering on it, paint, add the details, add band)

Things I haven't even started on:
First Top Layer- (cut out, pin, sew)
Belt- (cut out, reinforce, add trim)
Chest Detail- (Get design off internet, find appropriate tools, craft)
First Mask- (cut out [guess on the changes from the previous one], pin, sew)

Need to buy/find: body paint, paperclay, metal rod for the sword

Dancing by Myself!

2007-08-26T01:35:29Z

It's the week-before-the-con costume crunch and I am currently loosing to the bobbin thread.

First, it made a few little places where the thread was loose, so I had to undo all of it and try to sew it again.

Then it was loose on the entire thing, so I took it out and tried to fix it.

I figured maybe it was my fault so I tried it again.

Then I decided that that bobbin wasn't going to work so I tried to spin a new one.

It took me four attempts to get one that wasn't all messy, and it's still kinda not the way it should be.

Then the bobbin thread broke.

I still have to finish the pants, make the leg-guards (currently working on those), make the belt... and I think that might be it unless I decide to make a new shirt and mask.

I need to buy more fabric, I need different clasps because I don't have time to sew 20+ of them on by hand and make sure they're positioned correctly. I also need to get paint, a metal rod, and plaster.

I probably need to hem and sew the shirt.

Oh, then there's the stuff that I have to sculpt. Need more paperclay and a print-out of the design.

Oh! And I this is the first time I've made anything using a pattern. I got very confused, it was almost easier to make pants without the pattern.