Brian aka Tomanta (aka Burnout, aka...)

galin @ 2008-08-19T12:39:00

2008-08-19T17:45:42Z

The McCain campaign:

"It may be typical of the pro-Obama Dungeons & Dragons crowd to disparage a fellow countryman's memory of war from the comfort of mom's basement, but most Americans have the humility and gratitude to respect and learn from the memories of men who suffered on behalf of others."

Later, the apology:

"If my comments caused any harm or hurt to the hard working Americans who play Dungeons & Dragons, I apologize. This campaign is committed to increasing the strength, constitution, dexterity, intelligence, wisdom, and charisma scores of every American."

Galenblade on the Penny Arcade forums said it best:

"....this campaign's getting weird."

galin @ 2008-01-07T23:40:00

2008-01-08T05:46:46Z

Haven't posted in a long time. Not much to post, had a job interview a few weeks back for an IT job. Basically compiling reports and whatever other IT stuff the director needs help with. They want someone with more experience, but if they don't find one that will work at an entry level salary I have a good shot at it.

Been enjoying the hell out of my Xbox 360. Assassin's Creed is awesome, Mass Effect is pretty cool and Rock Band rocks beyond words.

Also, because there have been a couple of cat pictures I have to toss this one of my brother's cat Inara from a few months ago (a friend added the label):

galin @ 2007-06-02T22:58:00

2007-06-03T04:00:35Z

So, last year my brother (the aspiring actor/director) got a chance to be an extra for Mr. Brooks. Finally found out that he did indeed make the final cut of the movie! (now it means I have to go see a Kevin Costner flick :( ).

If'n you are interested, reports from my parents say he can be found about halfway through the film in a scene where Demi Moore is talking to another detective on the street. My brother is in a purple shirt and walks by (out of focus). He also shows up a little bit later talking to someone else.

Now I have two films to go see this week... (the other being Knocked Up)

galin @ 2007-04-07T11:31:00

2007-04-07T16:33:24Z

The last thing I expected when I moved back to Texas was SNOW in FREAKING APRIL.

But I kid you not, it is snowing right this minute. Not heavy and it definitely won't stick, but it is definitely snowing.

It's a sign of the apocalypse.

galin @ 2007-03-15T22:48:00

2007-03-16T03:49:33Z

Been a while since I posted, but not much has been going on since I moved until this week.

On Tuesday, my little brother got married (a couple of months earlier than we expected...). But I'm happy for him anyway and it is in no way my fault that he was 15 minutes late.

Then yesterday, I finally found a job. More phone tech support, which I'm not thrilled about, but it pays better than I expected and /hopefully/ I'll be able to advance fairly quickly. Now I need to try and get some certifications.

galin @ 2007-01-21T13:17:00

2007-01-21T19:23:15Z

After the drive from hell (I pulled a Jack Baeur yesterday - woke up at 6a Sat, got home at 6a Sun [left at 10a). Rain and fog (baaad fog), but not any freezing stuff, looks like I left just in time to avoid bad stuff.

More later.

galin @ 2007-01-07T22:12:00

2007-01-08T04:13:15Z

Children of Men is the best movie I have seen in a long time (and I don't say this lightly because I've seen a lot of good movies lately). It has a great story, supurb acting, but what edges it out over the competition is that it is a visual feast the likes of which cannot be described by mere mortals.

Go see it.

Seriously.

Why are you still here?

galin @ 2007-01-01T21:07:00

2007-01-02T03:08:17Z

Looks like I will be moving back to Texas. Probably around the 20th with a slight chance of it being the week after. Parents are coming up to help.

In many ways, this makes me sad. I've made a fair number of friends here, but without a job and without any immediate prospects, I don't think it is financially sound for me to stay. The selling point is that Jacksonville is 2 hours from Dallas, 3 from Houston, and 4 from Austin. A reasonable distance to 3 major tech sectors, and since I want to find a job programming... probably a good place to be.

I need boxes! boxes, boxes, and more boxes!

galin @ 2006-11-07T23:15:00

2006-11-08T05:15:27Z

Dem's take the House. Maybe Bush can finally fulfill his "uniter not a divider" campaign promise from 2000.

Dem's take a good chunk of governors.

It looks like Tom Delay's former seat now belongs to the Dems as well. Poetic justice.

Now, the Dem's have a chance to find some backbone (which they really should have done six months ago). Let's hope they can get some competant leadership that will let them keep their momentum, because in '08 going "We're not Republicans" won't work.

I'll have some more thoughts in the next day or so, I want to get a better picture of the new landscape first.

galin @ 2006-11-05T21:19:00

2006-11-06T03:18:58Z

You are FUCKING KIDDING ME.

You want to know how easy it is to change the number of votes from the machine that tabulates the votes? You open an Access file and simply change the numbers. Yes, it is THAT EASY.

HBO special on voting machines available here. For now, at least.

galin @ 2006-07-26T18:51:00

2006-07-26T23:51:10Z

Dead Like Me

If you've never seen it, you should get the DVDs.

That is all.

galin @ 2006-07-23T14:29:00

2006-07-23T19:28:56Z

Clerks II is... really, really good.

I mean, it's a Jay & Silent Bob film, so one has to expect a certain type of humor and it sort of wanders until the third act, but the film is a great sequel. Not nearly as good as the original but the characters are the same (and there are plenty of great callbacks to the first). By the end, however, it feels like it was always intended to be the conclusion to the story, and perhaps even the Jay & Silent Bob-verse. I'm not sure how to describe it without giving anything else away... just that if you're a fan of Kevin Smith's past movies you should definitely check it out.

Why now? Why not two years ago?

2006-07-12T14:02:15Z

Apparently, Disney is being sued for copyright violations over Pirates of the Caribbean. Now, judging from the info I have the suit relates primarily to the franchise itself - similarities to supernatural pirate themes, specific character and ship names were apparently "stolen".

My question is, why wait until NOW to file the suit? The first movie was a huge hit and came out in 2003, plenty of time to file a legitimate suit. Instead he waited until the day that the sequal was released.

The complaint, it should be added, does not specify HOW Disney stole the ideas. It has a vague claim that they were showed to "a variety of employees and agents" of the defendants.

Link.

galin @ 2006-07-05T15:28:00

2006-07-05T20:28:58Z

So last week I decided to take another leap into the world of Web Design/Programming.

More specifically, I'm learning CSS, PHP, and SQL.
Going pretty good so far. I've understood everything [including that Internet Explorer is loathed by many a web designer for failing to comply with CSS standards] and find it fairly intuitive. As large project I am going to design a guild website for Warcraft, including a guild roster and forums (so it's basically a full-fledged CMS).

Today's goal was to get a user login and e-mail verification system working (not a pretty one, just functional). So far I have the user login, about to start on the verification. Then I'll delve into cookies as well so they can stay logged in. Not sure what will be after that.

galin @ 2006-07-05T08:29:00

2006-07-05T13:29:18Z

Yea.... so these old comic covers prove Superman is an asshole. Witness Superman telling Jimmy Olsen he gives the worst Father's Day presents ever. Witness him torture Olsen and Aquaman. Witness Superman force Jimmy Olsen to confess to the murder of... Clark Kent?

galin @ 2006-07-01T08:39:00

2006-07-01T13:39:01Z

What. The. Hell.

Fox & Friends co-host Kilmeade advocated "Office of Censorship" in wake of NY Times banking surveillance story

I think I am going to dig up their email address and send them a copy of the first amendment.

galin @ 2006-06-30T12:45:00

2006-06-30T17:44:46Z

If you head over to the official site for the new Transformers movie you can see the teaser trailer.

And now you know. And knowing... oh, wait, wrong 80s cartoon franchise.

galin @ 2006-06-24T12:47:00

2006-06-24T17:47:23Z

I find it highly amusing that Microsoft Word recognizes "Xbox" in the spellcheck but not "Playstation" or "Gamecube".

galin @ 2006-06-23T11:59:00

2006-06-23T16:58:47Z

Good news, everybody.

Comedy Central is producing 13 new episodes of Futurama. Hopefully this is in addition to the 4 Direct-to-DVD movies that were already announced.

galin @ 2006-06-20T22:23:00

2006-06-21T03:23:18Z

Jon Stewart: The country is run by extremists because moderats have shit to do.

galin @ 2006-06-15T13:50:00

2006-06-15T18:52:24Z

Had a job interview of sorts today. I say of sorts as it was with STL Technology, which... isn't really a temp agency, more of an outsourcing agency if that makes sense. Anyway, they think I am a good fit for a technical writing position which makes me ecstatic. If you ignore my lack of experience in technical writing (which is why I have been wary about applying for that type of job) that type of job is a pretty good fit with my career goals/experience.

As an added bonus, they found my Resume on Career Builder. THEY found, I hadn't even heard of them until they called to set up an initial interview. Today's interview was short, but I feel good about it. I was told they would forward my resume to whomever posted the position and I would hear back from them.

galin @ 2006-06-12T18:04:00

2006-06-12T23:06:04Z

The Hildebrandt Brothers were the first modern-day artists whose names I learned, primarily from the artwork they did for the Marvel Masterpieces trading card sets. The Hildebrandts have long been among the best and hardest working fantasy artists around, so it makes me sad that Tim Hildebrandt passed away.

Check out their work here.

galin @ 2006-06-01T10:28:00

2006-06-01T15:28:05Z

Wikipedia has a lengthy article on the phenomena known as "Comic Book Death", whereing characters die and then return to life at a later date.

Included is a lengthy list of DC and Marvel characters to experience this, notable characters who have died and NOT returned, and then characters from other media (Sherlock Holmes, Spock, Optimus Prime...) that have also experienced it.

The last entry in this section, at the very bottom of the page, is highly amusing.

galin @ 2006-05-30T14:43:00

2006-05-30T19:43:05Z

Back in Illinois (have been for a couple of days). Texas was fun. Got my brother and his friends hooked on Heroscape. Helped my brother film a short movie (Boom operation? Not that fun. A counterweight woulda helped, though). Saw The Da Vinci Code (my thoughts on it are here) and X3.

Actually, saw X3 twice. Mentioned in passing at around 10 on Thursday that there was a midnight showing that night and my brother & co. decided they wanted to go to that one. So we all (my dad included) drove to Tyler, only to find out it was sold out at both screens. So we drove around and found a theater where it wasn't sold out.

We went again on Friday, because my dad is obsessed with the digital screen at Tyler's Carmike - but we didn't get to see it on said digital screen. Ah well.

EDIT: My thoughts here

Now I'm getting back into job-search mode. Still have not heard back from Country; when I called last week they just said my resume was still under review.

Using free time to clean out my closet. I chunked away almost all of my magazines (I kept only Dragon/Dungeon and the old Inquest that published a letter. Bye-bye Inquest, Scrye, EGM, Wizard, and Nintendo Power!). Also discovered that at the back of my closet there was some sort of water damage (just dampness? *shrug*). Everything - including, thankfully, my comic collection - came out fine [I just need to replace a box, which isn't a bad idea anyway] EXCEPT one of my high school yearbooks. My senior yearbook, at that. That sustained heavy damage (back cover padding is gone, several of the pages aren't very pretty). grr.

Now I have to figure out a more organized way to store all the stuff that was in my closet. And more junk to throw away. I moved all of my textbooks out of boxes and underneath my futon, that wil help some. Ah well, at this rate I have plenty of time...

galin @ 2006-05-09T18:27:00

2006-05-09T23:26:34Z

Well, didn't hear anything from Afni today (they said they would let me know either way by today).

Unless I hear from them tomorrow, I am going to plan on going home next week. Also, will apply to Country.