tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69408412024-03-23T13:55:18.142-04:00The Headpiece for the Staff of RaThe Staff was really just a big stick…Anyway, it was capped by an elaborate headpiece with a carving of the sun at the top. What you had to do was take the Staff to a special map room in Tanis--it had the whole city laid out in miniature on the floor. When you placed the Staff in a certain spot in this room, at a certain time of day, the sun would shine through a hole here in the headpiece and then send a beam of light down here—to the map--giving you the location of the Well of the Souls...MosBenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14396378353702882073noreply@blogger.comBlogger2251125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6940841.post-75908493330001873922010-01-04T07:47:00.002-05:002010-01-04T07:52:25.487-05:00The Search For The Master"Joss Whedon Is My New Master" has been a popular phrase since Firefly became a cult hit. With the cancellation of "Dollhouse", however, some are questioning their loyalties, as witnessed <a href="http://io9.com/5433834/who-is-your-master-now">here</a> and <a href="http://io9.com/5438466/revealed-your-new-master-for-2010">here</a>. What strikes me as odd, however, is that they're basing this on the cancellation of "Dollhouse", which ran two seasons, when their initial declaration of subservience came after "Firefly" was canceled after half a season. Granted, "Dollhouse" wasn't as good as "Firefly", but it still got damn good at times, and the last three episodes look to be a great cap to the series. Anyway, not that anyone checks here anymore, but if you have any ideas of who your new Master is, if you feel you need one, let's chat it out in the comments.MosBenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14396378353702882073noreply@blogger.com33tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6940841.post-36572408351359158492009-12-06T19:07:00.003-05:002009-12-06T19:08:33.744-05:00Ninja<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1aARV3lsQaJxtqxBRE5uDIxkbSrO07hp4nN_13WRNoTEBGqK9iDIYVkyBIPBR1GycgI1bVz5iRd7SmbbH1awwUz88ZrKzX23BWsu-jinX5jqk8adUCXcW5STsMjCZ52AcdFRkuQ/s1600-h/ninja-without-a-torch.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 258px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1aARV3lsQaJxtqxBRE5uDIxkbSrO07hp4nN_13WRNoTEBGqK9iDIYVkyBIPBR1GycgI1bVz5iRd7SmbbH1awwUz88ZrKzX23BWsu-jinX5jqk8adUCXcW5STsMjCZ52AcdFRkuQ/s400/ninja-without-a-torch.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5412279407342654722" border="0" /></a>MosBenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14396378353702882073noreply@blogger.com35tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6940841.post-55037136984904592162009-11-12T22:03:00.003-05:002009-11-12T22:12:48.182-05:00Dollhouse CancelledEveryone who cares about this probably already knows, but Dollhouse has officially been canceled by Fox. They're set to "burn" the remainder of the current 13 episode season by showing two episodes per week in December.<br /><br />Dollhouse has been pretty divisive among Whedon fans, at least from what I gather on the Tubes. It's certainly not as funny as Firefly, and the cast didn't quite have the magic of that show either. Still, there's plenty to like there if you stuck with it past the first five episodes (which were merely decent, but certainly not bad). I think the show probably did suffer from high expectations set by Firefly. We shouldn't forget though, that Firefly only got that first half season. Would it be remembered as fondly if it got as many episodes as Dollhouse did? I'd like to think so, but it's possible that it could have dropped off a bit in quality.<br /><br />Personally, I hope this ends Whedon's relationship with Fox. They shunted Buffy off to UPN for its last couple seasons. They killed Angel just when it regained a fresh take on its premise. They murdered Firefly without giving it a chance to grow, and they set Dollhouse up to fail with a terrible time slot and poor promotion. I know, maybe Whedon's shows just aren't "network shows", so maybe I shouldn't blame Fox. I just hope his next show takes him to Syfy or HBO. I'd love to see what Joss Whedon could do with a series that wasn't constantly being compared to the ratings of Everybody Loves Raymond.<br /><br />Edit: Oh, and I like PVP fine, but fuck this <a href="http://www.pvponline.com/">noise</a>.MosBenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14396378353702882073noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6940841.post-77499197131362794442009-11-11T10:20:00.001-05:002009-11-11T10:21:50.095-05:00Revisiting ColbertI saw Stephen Colbert out-of-character a week ago, and it reminded me of this video from a few years ago. Man, he's so awesome. <a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7uvw_colbert-on-obrian_events">Link</a>.MosBenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14396378353702882073noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6940841.post-16136173469391307312009-11-04T07:56:00.002-05:002009-11-04T08:11:13.633-05:00Election '09So, last night was a pretty disappointing night for Democrats. Two Governorships gone and marriage equality lost in Maine. Still, we picked up NY-23 and Washington State approved equal rights (but not "marriage") for gay couples. <br /><br />The worst part for me is that now I have to put up with months of conservatives on TV and in person talking about how this reflects a general shift in national politics and we probably shouldn't pass healthcare reform now. Nonsense. I'm skeptical of reading too much into single election years even if they have several races, so I'm certainly not going to make too much of this one. <br /><br />Owens will probably lose the NY-23 seat next year if the Republicans don't make it into a national race about the soul of the Republican party. If they have a primary, which they probably will, they'll probably end up with a candidate a little more conservative than Scozzafava, but nowhere near as conservative as Hoffman, and that candidate will probably pick up that seat. It won't be because the President did or didn't pass healthcare reform, but because it's a more conservative district.<br /><br />And ultimately, the Republicans will eventually win back Congress and the White House, and they may even do it at the same time. No party will ever have an unending majority, and it's not because Americans are constantly re-evaluating whether they want healthcare reform or not. It's because there are years with high turn outs and years with low turn outs. Years when the under-30 vote comes and years when they don't. It's because the economy goes up and it goes down and when it goes down incumbents are likely to lose, even though there's little if anything elected officials can do to stop the cyclical nature of the markets (note: I'm not saying economic policy is meaningless here). And of course, there's a strong tendency to "give the other guys a shot" every once in a while. <br /><br />And then, of course, you have to realize that in any individual election there are local concerns that probably trump national politics. Corzine was not liked. Hell, I've never liked him, and that was before he ran an anti-fat guy campaign. So look, I love politics and I'm always game for chatting about what's going on, but politicos have to realize that, like any obsession, it's easy to take your thinking too far.MosBenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14396378353702882073noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6940841.post-74075075995868602642009-10-29T21:21:00.002-04:002009-10-29T21:23:04.015-04:00Video Game Night: Week 8Ok, the Phillies are in the World Series on Monday, so I'm not going to be around for Video Game Night this week. People that don't care about the World Series should feel free to show up and make their own game night fun, and I'll put a quick poll up in case people want to vote beforehand.MosBenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14396378353702882073noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6940841.post-39323828093612305482009-10-29T07:13:00.002-04:002009-10-29T07:15:06.077-04:00EVE Online<a href="http://www.massively.com/2009/10/28/major-eve-online-alliance-cva-disbanded-espionage-or-hack/">Here's</a> another example of how EVE seems both bizarre, awesome, and totally different from what's going on in other massive games. Still, it also seems like you have to be pretty dedicated to get anywhere.MosBenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14396378353702882073noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6940841.post-87808222345418257582009-10-27T22:19:00.001-04:002009-10-27T22:19:53.339-04:00FYIThis last week's Dollhouse was so God damn good.MosBenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14396378353702882073noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6940841.post-108525960849494552009-10-27T21:11:00.003-04:002009-10-27T21:23:47.782-04:00Christopher Walken Cooks A ChickenI swear to God, I could watch this man do anything and be completely fascinated. My mind just numbs over, like when I used to watch "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood." <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2009/10/lunch_break_61.html#comments">Link</a>.<br /><br />Update: So, the site that has the Walken video is like a You Tube of cooking videos, and there are several celebrity videos, including Ron Jeremy making an omelette. <a href="http://www.imcooked.com/view_video.php?viewkey=20cd0fe646d38bc2145c&page=1&viewtype=&category=mv">Link</a>.MosBenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14396378353702882073noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6940841.post-54525810465903384812009-10-19T07:11:00.001-04:002009-10-19T07:13:49.352-04:00Video Game NightThere's playoff baseball again tonight. I'm probably going to be late, if I manage to make it at all. Those who don't have any interest in the game are welcome to start without me. The poll is tied, so those who show up can work it out amongst themselves.MosBenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14396378353702882073noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6940841.post-63407096103674798992009-10-16T19:10:00.001-04:002009-10-16T19:10:42.745-04:00Way To Go PhilsI hate you.MosBenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14396378353702882073noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6940841.post-28616068175042654392009-10-15T11:11:00.002-04:002009-10-15T11:24:18.964-04:00Video Game Night: Week 8Ok, so this week's Video Game Night didn't go so great. At least, I assume it went horribly because I wasn't there. We also had others unable to play due to Philly's post-season baseball, working late, etc. I hope some of you showed up and played anyway. <br /><br />Anyway, back on the horse this week. We've had some talk lately from people that might start to swell our ranks by joining us more regularly for VGN. Great! That's a good opportunity for me to point out that the poll on the right side of the page is just a guide. It lets people know that that game will be played on Monday night, but that doesn't mean it has to be the only game played. Lots of people out there haven't been able to pick up Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 yet, but it's been dominating the voting since it came out and probably will for a little while. But it's also a 4 player game. If we get more than four people showing up and four want to play Marvel, but the others want to play, say, The Orange Box, that's cool! Just form up your own party and start playing! Video Game Night just allows us to expand our friends lists a bit and know that there will be gaming on Monday nights if you can make it.<br /><br />I should also remind people that Half.com is a great resource if you haven't picked up our group of core games (Left 4 Dead, The Orange Box, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, NHL 10, and Castle Crashers). Left 4 Dead is down to $18, The Orange Box is down to $10, MUA2 is down to $33, and NHL 10 is down to $45. I imagine the upcoming release of Left 4 Dead 2 will push down the first game a bit. Castle Crashers is a downloadable game, so Half.com doesn't really help, but it's cheap anyway. <br /><br />Also, people should feel free to suggest new games to add to our core group. Think Modern Warfare 2 should become a core game? Make a motion and get a second and we'll have a vote on it. Have an older game that for whatever reason people either don't have or I'm not putting in the polls? Let me know!<br /><br />And if you're new to Video Game Night, or you just don't think you have everyone's name in your friend's list, post it as a comment here. For anyone that doesn't know, my handle is MosBen.MosBenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14396378353702882073noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6940841.post-11129875047156965582009-10-12T21:06:00.005-04:002009-10-12T21:52:06.781-04:00PhilliesBoy guys, it'd sure be great to not be in the bottom of the eighth and to not be down 4-2. If only you'd loaded the bases one or two times. Oh wait, you did. Scoring some runs there sure would have been nice.<br /><br />Update: Good job Ryan Howard. A two run double is nice.<br /><br />Update, the Second: Jaysen Werth - You're a very good vampire.<br /><br />Update 3X: That'll do, Lidge. That'll do.MosBenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14396378353702882073noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6940841.post-91971624029675596212009-10-12T19:29:00.003-04:002009-10-12T19:31:27.672-04:00Video Game Night: Week 7Last minute heads up. It looks like several Video Game Night regulars are either showing up late or not coming at all. Consider Marvel Ultimate Alliance hereby stripped of its official status as the game of the week. Anyone that shows up can play whatever they want. I might be showing up, but it's up in the air.MosBenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14396378353702882073noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6940841.post-55943439703437450972009-10-12T09:44:00.000-04:002009-10-12T09:46:11.292-04:00Columbus DayI think we should clearly get rid of Columbus Day, but as someone who gets the day off, I'll take it. Still, if we weren't going to do something worthwhile like have a Native Americans Day, we could at least take the holiday of Columbus' shoulders and have Exploration Day in celebration of the human drive to explore the unknown. We would include other historic explorers (though most of those guys were pretty scummy too), but we could also expand it to astronauts and future space explorers. It'd be a good day for education about both history and science, rather than trying to white wash the pretty terrible things of a guy who wasn't even the first European to land here.<br /><br />Plus, it'd be a good excuse for Trek marathons on TV.MosBenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14396378353702882073noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6940841.post-3578183366948734362009-10-04T03:06:00.002-04:002009-10-04T03:19:10.997-04:00Dollhouse: Episode 14 & 15Well, I missed the first week of the new season of Dollhouse because ever since I joined the DVR world I've completely lost track of when things are actually on TV. Since I don't pay attention to schedules, I missed that shows were coming back for new episodes. Anyway, I'm caught up now.<br /><br />To start, Fox only aired 12 episodes last season, but there was a crucial thirteenth episode on the first season dvds (thanks Drew!). That episode completely changed the outlook for the show, with a post-apocalyptic vision of the future. Some of the things shown in that episode are being planted as seeds in these episodes, which is nice but troubling.<br /><br />What strikes me about these two episodes in particular is that Eliza Dushku is really pulling through on the promises made by Joss Whedon at the start of the series that she was a great actress that hadn't been given the chance to show her chops. Throughout the first season I was always skeptical; always looking for a slip up or reason to doubt her. Well no longer. I didn't even think about it while watching these two episodes until I was done and realized, "Wow, she really pulled that all off well!" <br /><br />I'm also really pleased with Alexis Denisoff's appearance in the show. As a Whedonite I think it's great to see him again, and I think he's great in that he performs well. I just hope they do more with him than the teasing of an insider. They played that story last season and it needs to get more interesting, but I'm sure it will.<br /><br />Finally, I really like the way these two episodes take some time to cast the Dollhouse in a positive light. Joss is never going to get over the instinctive unease that the audience is going to have with a program like the Dollhouse, but it's nice that he reminds us every now and then that it can be used for good purposes. <br /><br />I promise that for future episodes I'll give more detail in reference to the story, but that'll have to wait for posts where I'm only discussing one episode at a time and not at three in the morning.MosBenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14396378353702882073noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6940841.post-52115161072869303662009-10-03T13:30:00.001-04:002009-10-03T13:31:57.823-04:00WowGuy wearing a helmet cam is causes and avalanche, is buried, and is rescued, all caught on film. <a href="http://gizmodo.com/5366887/pov-helmet-cam-captures-skier-causing-avalanche-getting-buried-and-getting-rescued">Link</a>.<br /><br />Thanks, <a href="http://www.penny-arcade.com/">Tycho</a>.MosBenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14396378353702882073noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6940841.post-42907059066345049082009-09-29T20:44:00.002-04:002009-09-29T20:50:16.085-04:00Another Glen Beck PostEvery time I post a Glen Beck video I get that guilty feeling that I get when I feed a troll on a message board. Part of me knows that by acknowledging the troll I'm just encouraging more insanity, but the other part of me can't help being flabbergasted by someone who's obviously a douche.<br /><br />Anyway, Katie Couric does her best to get Mr. Beck to simply explain a quote which he doesn't deny or repudiate, but he won't even engage. I'm assuming this interview is part of some book tour for his new book, but why even take the interview if you're not going to answer even the most basic questions about the controversial public image that you've intentionally created.<br /><br />Ok, I don't know why I ask questions whose answers I already know. By being interviewed by Couric and painting her simple questions as some kind of crazy lefty trap he plays to the crowd that thinks Couric was mean to Palin when she asked the then-candidate a few simple questions and got stupid answers.<br /><br />Arghh! I'd like to say more, but this guy just gets me too riled up. Just watch the video. What a tool. <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2009/09/lunch_break_47.html">Link</a>.MosBenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14396378353702882073noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6940841.post-15196217506642358112009-09-29T07:13:00.003-04:002009-09-29T07:34:26.427-04:00Cool VideosHere's a really sweet goal. In case you can't quite see it, he drops the puck down his left side, then shoots behind his legs to the right. <a href="http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/Video-Early-goal-of-the-year-candidate-from-the;_ylt=Ag0Zmsl5JFDKHzlG37yo7R97vLYF?urn=nhl,192537">Nice</a>.<br /><br />Second, auto-tuned Carl Sagan has a hot new <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSgiXGELjbc&feature=player_embedded#t=210">jam</a>.<br /><br />What was Microsoft thinking? If feels like at any moment one of these people might pull out a chef's knife and stab everyone. Painful! <a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/microsoftpri0/2009914907_howtothrowawindows7hostparty.html">Link</a>.<br /><br />Dunno if I ever got around to linking to it, but Auto-Tune the News #8 came out a few weeks ago. It's not their best, but it still bumps. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvV4sSaWYgo&feature=related">Link</a>.MosBenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14396378353702882073noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6940841.post-44560491907664629482009-09-28T07:22:00.002-04:002009-09-28T07:25:59.263-04:00Video Game Night: Week 5Alright, any last minute messages for Video Game Night: Week 5 should go in the comments here. If you're planning on playing but are running later than 8pm Eastern, let us know. If you're new to gaming night and have any questions or perhaps don't think everyone has your Xbox Live handle, here's the place to tell us. Looks like Marvel Ultimate Alliance is on tap for tonight. I'll get new polls up tonight for this week.<br /><br />It also looks like NHL 10 has won the poll for which NHL game we should pick up, so I'll start adding it to the weekly polls.MosBenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14396378353702882073noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6940841.post-61256015568554002172009-09-23T22:25:00.002-04:002009-09-23T22:27:29.331-04:00Whiskey Tango FoxtrotSeriously, every time I think Glen Beck has revealed to us the full extent of his crazy, he finds a way to up the crazy one more time. At some point he's going to just murder some poor grandmother to make some insane point about death panels. <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2009/09/tab_dump_79.html">Link</a>.MosBenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14396378353702882073noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6940841.post-39891919790163717252009-09-21T21:30:00.002-04:002009-09-21T21:33:50.187-04:00NHL Game?There's a poll up asking which NHL game we should get for Video Game Night. The group voted to have an NHL game as one of our core group of games, but we delayed specifying which version until the new batch was released. Well, the new NHL games are out, so which one do you guys think we should get? I'm not going to consider this a valid poll unless we get five or more votes, so even if you haven't been showing up for Video Game Night for some reason (I know we have a few broken 360s out there) make sure you vote in the poll.<br /><br />Also, I hope more people start showing up for video game night. It'd be one thing if people were inconsistent, but there was quite a bit of interest in this back when it was proposed and we're seeing the same three people week in and week out. It'd be nice to get some larger groups from time to time.MosBenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14396378353702882073noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6940841.post-22374553698048389962009-09-21T21:24:00.003-04:002009-09-21T21:27:36.183-04:00Video Game Night: Week 4 - Epic FailWell, to be fair, I don't know that it was a totally epic failure. Drew and Jay may be able to attest to some fun. I wasn't able to play because they didn't change the major fault in the first game which didn't allow groups to play if they different amounts of downloadable content (Drew and Jay have the Juggernaut, I do not), and because Gamestop screwed up my preorder bonus (I was supposed to get Juggernaut, but didn't).<br /><br />Anyway...annoying. Here's to putting this sad tale behind us and having better luck next week. Oh, and more than three people next week too!MosBenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14396378353702882073noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6940841.post-34560675687536861692009-09-19T22:33:00.002-04:002009-09-19T23:16:28.658-04:00Three OhSo tomorrow is my 30th birthday. Time certainly seems to go faster the older I get, but it's still crazy to look back on my third decade and see how long it's really been. I was a sophomore in college when I turned 20, living in the non-freshman dorm. Since then I graduated college and law school, worked for a judge, and have been going in the current gig for a couple years. I had one serious girlfriend, broke up, had a long dry spell, got another serious girlfriend (a better one at that!) and now I'm engaged. I back packed across Europe with friends and moved across the country. <br /><br />Despite ostensibly being an adult for this whole last decade, it feels like the person I am at 30 is no more like me at 20 than 20 year old me was like 10 year old me. Well, here's hoping that the next decade is as fun as this last one has been.MosBenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14396378353702882073noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6940841.post-18923961254731646112009-09-16T22:02:00.002-04:002009-09-16T22:06:47.068-04:00Five Ways To Improve Max Baucus' BillSo, Max Baucus' health insurance reform bill was released today, and as expected it's not great. It does have a few surprisingly good areas, but there are also horribly bad ideas in there, so <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2009/09/five_ways_to_improve_max_baucu.html">Ezra's</a> got five things you could do to improve the bill. Honestly, from what I'm reading about the bill, I think it wouldn't be half bad if you followed Ezra's recommendations, including a triggered strong public option.MosBenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14396378353702882073noreply@blogger.com1