Happy 20 Years, Dad

Congrats on 20 Years at HCHS, Dad!

I wish i could be there with you this summer at the 4th, but you know I'll be on staff for marching band this fall!

:)


The Doings -Mr. Waggoner's opus: Band alumni reunite

Batman Begins

Im a fanboy, i admit it. From star wars to comic books, to babylon 5 and even star trek, i was raised on sci fi/fantasy, and have always loved it. I loved the first batman film. I even loved the second one. Both to me were very true to the story, the lore and the feel of batman. Gothic, gritty, dark, etc. The characters in those movies played the parts great. Michael Keaton was a perfect Bruce Wayne if i ever saw one, he had the part down perfect. Tonight i went to see Batman Begins, and i was less than thrilled.

This sort of stuff matters to me. Continuity in stories like this to me is the most important thing. Dont get me wrong, there was alot done with this new film that was very good. I think christian bale was the 2nd best batman that has been on the big screen. My problem revolves around 1 part of the movie, however, it is one of the largest parts in regards to batman lore.

It was set up that Jack Napier was the one to kill the wayne family after leaving the opera. jack Napier who then became the joker, so well played by Nicholson in the original 1988 film. Batman and the Joker are 2 hero/villain pairs that everyone will always remember. That relationship was set up at that point to show the history between batman/wayne and his nemisis. Now, in the new film. they make it some random thief who had minimal ties to some crime boss. That to me pretty much took a dump on the entire set up of the reason why wayne was so driven to fight crime. The "Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight" line was something to haunt him and make him to who he is. This movie tried to make him more noble, have more of a care for gotham, where his real drive to fight crime came from truly personal reasons.

I was fine with the backstory of him going to asia to learn about criminals. Im fine with the entire tibetan/liam neeson situation. But for the sake of the story, and dear old bob kane, why did they have to shred the single incident who made batman who he was. Changing it just so that they could turn it into a plot device for their NEW film took everything that was done before and simply tossed it aside. Tim Burton used that story in a perfect way. Showed gotham for what it was for batman, merely a venue to take down those who did wrong. Batman is not like other superheroes, where he feels compelled to do good because of the powers he has, he trains and becomes who he is FOR REVENGE. Napier/Joker is what he focused on to become the superhero. Once he was dealt with, that left him to change his MO to assist gotham, but in this new film, they turned it around.

Also, detective(the future commissioner) grissom played by gary oldman was way too noble of a character as well. In the original films, he was a flawed character as well. Doing good, but definately tortured due to the state of the city, and knowing how volitile the situations were. Caine was good as alfred, doing almost as good of a job as michael gough did in that part. The addition of Morgan Freeman as Fox was a welcomed one, definately showing where batman "got all his wonderful toys". Like i said, this movie isnt completely flawed, i think it just focused on making batman more real and more noble than the character really was. Batmans motives were originally selfish. He was obsessed.

Go watch the 1988 movie. Id love to hear some other viewpoints.

Try it, Bub.

Who Sleeps?!

Here i am, waiting for my 630am flight at Port Columbus, a long story which i might get into later. Heading home to chicago today for birthday and other festivities, should be a good time.

Last night was amazing. DMB was on fire, and it was a great way to end my 4 show run this summer, and for me to see my 24th DMB show on my 24th birthday(thats irony right there) Here is the set.

Wednesday Jun 8 2005
Germain Amphitheater

So Much To Say
#41
Dream Girl
Grey Street
American Baby
One Sweet World
Hello Again
Seek Up
Die Trying
#40[Tease]
What Would You Say
Crush
Hunger For The Great Light
Lover Lay Down
Stand Up *
Louisiana Bayou *

__________________

Stolen Away On 55th & 3rd
Warehouse

What a great mix of old and new tunes, plus a tease of #40 with the full band. RR on Stand Up and Bayou was sick as could be expected, and seek up was incredible. What a great show on my birthday, there wasnt much more i could ask for. I think sloka was close to passing out a few times, and i feel bad for his left arm, since i kept punching it whenever a song I was suprised to hear would come out. Insane i tell you...INSANE. Not to mention me and slooks screaming "MOM ITS MY BIRTHDAYYYY" during what would you say....i think the people around us thought we were crazy...and we probably were :P

Besides that, my birthday was pretty routine, Slooks and i nerded around the apartment in the morning, then caught some lunch at the new Ruby Tuesdays they put up on 23 by polaris parkway, then hit micro center and best buy. Alas, i didnt buy anything, but i was about 2 inches from buying a G5. Cant do that yet, i cant really afford to just go blowing close to 2 grand unless i have to.

We got home last night close to 12, were in bed by 1230(after some tasty taco bell) and up this morning at 4:30. Poor slobob has to drive back this early...at least i can just sit on a plane...hes gotta actually think. Hes a strong kid though, he can do it!

In other exciting news, Columbus Airport has gotten new seating for all its terminals....it was way overdue. This is a good thing, since i spend most of my time in this airport, its like me buying a new couch. Wish i could bring callie, though :(

I think thats about it for me, though. Thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday, and definately to sloka for a great couple of days.

/sleep

Jack Bauer Sez...

This week...Jack Bauer Sez....




HAPPY 24TH BIRTHDAY!


Yep, its true. Today is t3h 24st. Callie gave me a special whap on the face to wake me up this morning for my birthday. :P

Last night was a good DMB concert here in columbus. Robert Randolph guested on Bayou again, and also on Watchtower, which was sick. We also got to see the first Bartender of the tour, and another incredible Two Step. I took the time during crash to use the facilities and get a drink. Crash never changes, and i couldnt deal with screaming drunk girls right then. Overall, a good concert. I was definately happy. It also didnt hurt that It took us 10 minutes each way to get from the concert to home :) None of that 4 hour gaaahbaaage. Here is the setlist from last night.

Tuesday Jun 7 2005
Germain Amphitheater

Everyday
Improv Intro
Dream Girl
Rapunzel
Where Are You Going
Hunger For The Great Light
Out Of My Hands
Too Much
Bartender
Die Trying
Crash
Stand Up
Louisiana Bayou *
Steady As We Go
American Baby
All Along The Watchtower *

__________________

Smooth Rider
Two Step

Special Guests:
* Robert Randolph


Monday was fun too, hung out with slooks during the day, then hit a pirates game downtown pittsburgh at night. What a nice park, and slooks yeoinked some killer tickets from his work, and killer parking pass too. GOod times, good times. Drove back yesterday morning, got sloka hammered and headed to the concert. No big plans for today except going to the last of 4 dmb concerts, then getting ready to head to chicago early tomorrow morning.

Have a good week everyone!

Day 2!

Less traffic this time, and we definately had a good time grilling out/drinking/hanging out in the parking lot. Sloka, his ladyfriend and I got to the lot about 4:30 and tailgated untill close to 8pm, which was the 2nd time ive ever missed an opening band! This time it was robert randolph and the family band, but we still have 2 more shows to see them. They are incredible.

The show tonight was great. Great energy, great setlist, great mix. Heres the set.

Sunday Jun 5 2005
Post-Gazette Pavilion

One Sweet World
Rapunzel
Dream Girl
Grey Street
Smooth Rider
Too Much
Louisiana Bayou *
Lover Lay Down
Hello Again
Jimi Thing
Die Trying
So Much To Say
Stand Up
Two Step

__________________

Old Dirt Hill
Ants Marching

Special Guests:
* Robert Randolph

Bayou was sick with robert randolph, the best too much ive ever seen, and an incredible two step. It was an incredible show. I give it an A-

Good drive home, going through all my mix CDs and singing our lungs out to bad 90s music, i thought i was gonna die laughing! Tonight is a Pittsburgh Pirates game, if the rain doesnt kill it, then im back to columbus tomorrow for tues and wed concerts! Yes, its true, wed is my birthday as well...whoodathunk it?

Later all!

DMB Week 2005

Day 1 of DMB week 05 has come! I got to pittsburgh around 3, and we headed up to Burgettstown. The drive was terrible, a drive that should have taken us about 90 minutes took us close to 4 hours door to door. Sloka, a pitt naitive said he never had seen traffic that bad. After getting there and meeting up with his new ladyfriend and her friends, we got to our seats right as the show started, a first for me, as i always like to catch the opening band. Setlist as follows.

Saturday Jun 4 2005
Post-Gazette Pavilion

#41
Granny
American Baby
Rhyme & Reason
Out Of My Hands
Everyday
Dream Girl
Die Trying
Lie In Our Graves
Louisiana Bayou
Crash
Stand Up
Where Are You Going
Hunger For The Great Light
All Along The Watchtower

__________________

Steady As We Go
Warehouse


Was pretty good. In the 21 shows ive been to, i give it a B+. The new songs are actually pretty good, although Steady as we go and out of my hands were both kind of slow...but maybe they will grow on me.

Tonight is night 2, hopefully no traffic! Heading out the door as we speak. Blog later!

JAM ON!

Sith != Evil

There is a common misconception that the Sith access the Force through evil or that being a Sith Lord automatically means that you are evil. This is not true. Any extreme emotion can access the Force. The essence of the Sith's power is in passion, not evil. Passion can take the form of joy or love as well as anger or hatred. Sith are typically evil in that they are often blinded by their passion or corrupted by the power granted to them by the Force.

- How Stuff Works article on Sith.



Very interesting. Very very interesting.

Go HCHS Red Devil....hackers?

Yep. This is my old high school....the one where my dad still works. Ironic that I do network security, and the technology department that I worked in 5 years ago gets national news coverage?

Sounds like from what I've heard, it was more social engineering of a teacher's password than actual "hacking", but it still proves that everyone needs to take network security very seriously. If this issue started, or even continued based on some of the things i heard, some simple education on password management would have solved alot of their problems.

It also doesnt help that the school is (im sure) using older equipment that doesnt recieve the proper auditing and testing.


Slashdot | HS Students Steal SSNs to Prove They Can

My New Motto

In Heaven there is no beer
(No beer?!)
That's why we drink it here
And when we're all gone from here
Our friends will be drinking all the beer.

In Heaven there is no wine
(No wine?!)
So we drink till we feel fine
And when we leave this all behind
Our friends will be drinking all the wine.

In Heaven there is no fear
(No fear)
So we worry too much here
And we drink ourselves full of beer
To help us when we deal with the fear.

In Heaven there are no drugs
That's why we hang with thugs
And when the Lord pulls the plug
All the thugs will still be selling drugs, yeah.

Thugs and drugs
Beer...

In Heaven there is no sex
(Oh no!)
So let's do that next
And when our muscles no longer flex
Someone else will be having sex.

In Heaven there are no wars
Or cars, or movie stars
And when we no longer are
The world will probably still be having wars.

What the heck! Yeah!

Sex and war,
Bars and cars.
Drugs, thugs,
And delicious food.

What I Did All Weekend

My dad asked me what I did all weekend....a picture is worth a thousand words.




I play Star Wars: Galaxies, an online roleplaying game. This weekend was the weekend that after months and months of missions and flying time, I received my Imperial Pilot Ace mission, which was to take down a capital ship. The mission is so hard, it requires you to get a group of people to come assist in taking it down. But as you see...we did it.

Thanks to:
Malyce - for getting me through most of Tier 4
TPL Pilots - For helping me through Tier 1 and 2
Keldon - may he RIP.
ISB - Thanks to everyone in my guild :-D
The Corvette Assault Crew - Malyce, Awed, Mardius(in his pimp firespray), Radakk, And the guy with the name starting with U that i couldnt pronounce.

Last but not least. T3h Valn. j00 rock.


Ive been working on getting Pilot Ace since last october. It finally paid off. Go ahead, call me a nerd. I dont care.

BETZ. BLOG. EV4R.

The Darth Side: Memoirs of a Monster

As if I needed another TV show to watch...

This looks pretty slick. I just hope the new one on cartoon planet is an actual series, not just shorts that run at random times, that way i can Tivo them, and never miss one. Im pretty excited about the second one, sounds very, very interesting.


Slashdot | Lucas Confirms Star Wars spin-off TV series

Me Loves A Good Game

Not only am I a star wars fan, but a Real Time Strategy fan as well. This game looks to be the best of both worlds.

Take a look at the screens, it looks incredible.


LucasArts | Star Wars Empire At War

Thank god...

Jumpin Jim Jeffords Jumps For Good

Well, i learned my lesson...

Wow...I thought id try to spice things up by letting Webproze in here...I think i learned my lesson, my poor cat...

Here I am in St. Louis. Havent posted a real worthwhile blog in a while, so I figured I'd give a little update. Not much of an update, though...I've been to some neat locations in the past few weeks, Atlanta, Tennessee and now St. Louis. Its been different, ive been enjoying my travel more, the only reason I can think of is that im rarely gone all week, normally 3-4 days at the most. Ive seen some nice areas of the country lately, and have some nice ones coming up as well.

Personally, I'm not one to rant out here about really personal things, but I've come to the realization that dating sucks. I've come to the conclusion that im officially undatable anymore. Plus, I'm really sick of being told I'm a great friend, but not datable. Thats the worst insult I can think of.

Update on the ankle. Xrays were clear, thank god. Just a torn tendon(for those of you that didnt know, i tore it a few weeks ago, then reaggrivated it on vacation). The pain comes and goes, and I still have to wear this godforsaken brace. However, its fun to take the pain medication I was perscribed in the afternoon of a day that I got up at 4pm. Add in some client wonkiness...you have a good time. However, Idiot here tripped in a movie theatre on a date this weekend, took a cup holder to the chest, reaggrivated my ankle and bent my right middle finger some strange direction. I got bruises all over from that lesson in smoothness.

Adam and I definately found a bad-good chinese place today. Shizzles will get it.

The more I see paris hilton, the more I realize shes a waste of space. I say that as I stay at a hilton property. Hmm...

Time to go finish watching american idol, house and SVU. Constantine as usual was OFF THE HOOK.

Holla.

Well, apparently I have the right to remain silent....

Those friendly men in blue just stopped by. Just to see if everyone was ok, after the accidental discharge of the loaded firearm.
Unfortunately, I was a little shook up after the shooting incident and decided that much grain alcohol was to be consumed.
Then they showed up.
I almost talked my way out of trouble, when the cat came strolling around the corner. Apparently they don't take kindly to shaved pussies in Columbus. Well...not shaved per se...more of a 'closely trimmed'.
When she was covered in wesson oil after the game of 'naked twister', I figured that we couldn't have her licking all that off (you know how cats are with hygiene).
It was so good to have girls here to help, since they have experience doing that sort of thing.
Anyway, the police didn't take kindly to what THEY said was abuse, but what I tried to explain away....but by the time I got to naked twister, they had already read me my rights.
Anyone got $5000 for bail? Hope BW's reads this soon as this big guy in the corner with a lot of tatoos keeps eyeing me in my hawaiian shirt like he wants to be a close friend....

Webproze

Dont mind him...i think his parents fed him paint chips as a kid....

No really, im pretty sure they did. Every once in a while, he gets this look in his eye like his brain is swelling...and he starts talking in tounges. Its kinda scary and kinda cool at the same time. I guess youll have that with ex-marines who spent years of their lives figuring out how to blow shit up.

Man...i wish i spent years of my life blowing shit up...i think the closest ive been is spending years of my life blowing shit out of proportion.

Anyways...its 530am on a saturday. Cant sleep tonight...thought id leave a little note.

Later all.

Kitty kitty kitty.......

Hmm....kitty seems to be hiding. Dunno why, she really seemed to like the Absolut. However, BW's seems to be running short on the liquor all of a sudden.

All the people I invited are clamoring for more and I'm raiding the cupboards and am only finding cat food.

What does this guy eat? Little Friskies? That's all I can find on his shelves...talk about a spoiled pussy.

Ah there she is....looking kinda queasy...

Wow....I certainly hope that's a hairball she just choked up, because that's WAY too big to be a mouse.

Hey, look what I found, a Sig-Sauer 9mm. I heard that BW's likes guns...wonder if he keeps it loaded
BANG!!
...Damn, hope he doesn't need that telephone anytime soon. Wonder how many rounds he's got in there...good thing I'm trained to handle these things
BANG!!
Well, now I feel like Elvis....drunk, constipated, AND I shot the TV....I think I'm gonna stop now, and go throw up on the cat....More later

Knock knock.......

Is anyone home? Just your friendly neighborhood blog-sitter, coming by to watch the liquor cabinet....uh, I mean, the blog while BW's takes a much deserved sabbatical.
I think he left me a note on what I should do....feed the cat...water the plants...yeah, I think I can kill two birds with one stone there.

Just move these plants over toward the kitty house and bingo.

Hmm..now gotta get her something to drink...well, since I'm getting MYSELF something to drink, I'll just share...let's see...Absolut? Yeah, kitty will like that.

Aw, look at her sleep......