La Zys Howno Tes
Jackman Gansde Adpa Nunsh Ow45
Duel of the Fates round one complete. Check the standings on the Deadpan webpage
Greasy Nipples
Ed from Texas
Jeremy from Seattle
Nomad Scry
The Smarty Hotties
reaper
Lo Pan
EssBee
LostRalph (First comment of the week)
Can we hit 500 comments this week on the Deadpan board?
Send in content: 206-350-Tomi (8664) or e-mail: sphericaljackmatgmaildotcom
Closing music (Hey, there was no closing music!)









32? Wow.
Yikes! That sucks.
Wow. That is way too young.
Just back from Avatar. I really enjoyed it. It is exactly what I expected and what I believe it billed itself as: a fun space opera. It really is Dances with Wolves in space, which I don’t think that’s a bad thing. Yes, it is predictable and has some rather amusing dialog. However, it was a beautiful movie. The CGI was well done and the Na’vi did not suffer from uncanny valley problems. I also liked the blend of Chinese mythic landscapes populated by “Indians” tribes with some African mysticism thrown in for good measure. Overall, I was very entertained.
uncanny valley problems?
Van,
Dunno if you can access this one, but it’s a free game that’s supposed to be highly rated for Ipod/Iphone:
http://appshopper.com/games/minisquadron
Look up the message board Ed :)
D’oh! And it was even today. I thought short term memory loss was supposed to be the sign of getting old…..er, wait a minute!
Well anyway, this will be the first app I try for my Touch. Free is good.
http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/usb-gadgets/bf6c/
Me Grimlock am not laser mouse
Ed … so far I ONLY use free apps on my iTouch :)
If you haven’t grabbed The Weather Channels app yet you should.
Live weather radar in your hand !
Van: The Uncanny Valley is a psychological problem relating to CGI depictions of people. People are pretty willing to accept a CGI representation as a person, especially as the graphics get better and better. Until a point. At that point, people’s minds begin to reject the representation. It looks like a person, but there is something wrong. It is “uncanny”. When quality improves further, this problem goes away.
The graph of acceptance vs quality makes a kind of S-curve. The dip where people have problems is called the uncanny valley.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley
The CGI movie “The Polar Express” is a good example of this problem. There were many people that had problems with the graphics.
Now, Cameron has an easier job with the CGI since these are “aliens”. However, they are very humaniod aliens. We are meant to accept them as people. I found that the CGI quality was excellent. Good enough where I completely forgot about it. Which is why I didn’t notice uncanny valley problems.
… and thus ends Another Uncanny Valley Sunday.
I thought it was a weird elongated depression between uplands, hills, or mountains, esp. one following the course of a stream.
I did like the fact that the female Na’vi were not over endowed as they tend to be in scifi movies.
Morning Pan, bloody freezing, warming hands on laptop.
With polar express I thought it was more the ‘dead eyes’ that was the issue.
So, is there any productivity to be found this week? I predict little.
Speak for yourself Ed, in my job the run to Xmas is never easy.
Ed, we have so little here we nearly shutdown
Ed: I also recommend the Pandora radio app (of course free).
Van: What’s the problem with over-endowed female aliens? If they’re good enough for Kirk, they’re good enough for me.
And I personally felt the problem with the Polar Express animation was in the movements as opposed to the eyes.
my 2 cents on polar express: sorry couldn’t watch it. My daughter was baby sitting my little cousins and they where watching. I think it was creepy because of the eyes and movements so i had to leave.
Good morning, Gents!
Bunny, those chocolates are ORGASMIC.
Today: Sly B and I are awaiting delivery of a ton of pellets for our stove ($300) and then are off to Boulder (ugh) for lunch with a friend who is cat-sitting for us while we are out holiday visiting for the next 6 or 7 days. We’re then going to my favorite spot in Boulder, the game store It’s Your Move, to see if we can find something fun for us to play with our parents as we visit, and something for the 4 and 7 year old nieces. Should be a pretty fun day.
Oh, we watched Waters of Mars last night and LOVED it. Tonight we may catch up on Dollhouse.
Stay warm, Van!
Ed: I plan on being completely unproductive this week. :)
productivity — What is that?
Good Morning Pan.
Can someone remind me the name of that website that lets you ship large files for free?
yousendit.com
Thanks!
Jack, fresh content awaits.
Going to be gone for a few days. Take care fellow panites. :)
Take Care ditto.
Be safe!
Morning Pan!
Busy week upcoming. Today we’re going for East Indian buffet lunch with friends. tomorrow we spend the day with my grandmother, Wednesday we’re spending the afternoon having tea with friends, visiting hubby’s grandmother Thursday…
I thought, when you go on holidays, you’re suppose to relax.
Something to ponder
http://scifiwire.com/2009/12/mythbusters-takes-on-star.php
I was rooting for the Gorn, you know just to save those over endowed females from ravishing.
A nitpick: The Uncanny Valley also applies to various automatons, as well.
Polar Express sucked.
Usedhair I know I’m in the minority on this, but I really not into big breasts in scifi depiction and reality.
I’m a leg man, myself. In addition to that, I find the boob-focus in various media very tiresome.
Myself … I think it’s all in the presentation.
While the chest is nice, my hubby’s always liked a well rounded butt more.
Did that fall under TMI?
Oh and as for all you slackers not having to deal with directly with the Xmas madness..grrrrrrrrrrr!
TEB: Yes, boobs are fine, but arse is TMI. :-)
As a culture, we ought to show a little bit more maturity, respect, and taste with our images of bozangas.
Jack: I always try to tip my hat when I see a nice rack.
All kinds of TMI
http://www.jonathancoulton.com/2005/10/14/thing-a-week-5-baby-got-back/
It’s snowing. I know most people think snow for Christmas is fine, but really, who wants to spend their holidays shovelling?
I spend my holidays shovelling but it isn’t snow
Cool.
http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/featured/plastic-toys-reformed-grotesque-art/17929
Good summary:
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/12/the_bottom_line.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+scienceblogs%2Fpharyngula+%28Pharyngula%29
Jack: Very cool link. Thanks.
I like the Transformers computer gear as well. It’s a shame the flash-drives are only 2gig.
Thank you for that link, Null!
Here’s another one:
http://www.tomscott.com/weather/starwars/
Thats Jacked.
Jack: That’s EPIC!
Oh Dear,
http://io9.com/5430785/zachary-quinto-fulfills-your-trek-slash-fantasies
heh
http://i.imgur.com/Ge1hS.jpg
OMG!
My hubby is a sweetheart!
He was on the airline site for another reason, saw there was a seat sale so booked my flight for the Deadpan mmmm meet-up as an early Christmas gift. I spoke to Cj (when he told me he was going to do this) and everything is set up (so we can’t change the date now).
Looking forward to seeing you all (and some of you again) then!
Oh that dirty dirty Zach. Him puts the “sigh” in Sylar.
OMG! That Spork was Awesome!
So, Sage Tyrtle is rounding up poetry samples from adolescence, and when I asked she said prose would also be accepted. I went in search of the plastic bin of past writings. I found some late-80′s stuff to use, but that’s not my point here…
I found, to my surprise, I discovered the original longhand version of the performance art piece that I thought was lost and I based “The Sad Tale of Jimmy-Life and Death of a Party Animal” on. The Jimmy story was in an ep of the Deadpan last May, anyone want to hear a recording of the original?
Sure, JB, go for it. —- just don’t send a reading of the Spork slash. Cj would probably have some good stuff for Sage Tyrtle too.
Go Mr. TEB! That’s great news, Bunny. Now everyone else has that much more encouragement to show up. Second weekend in MMMmmmarch.
And of course if other Panites have poetry of their past you can send it to sagetyrtle at gmail, she will have a minion read it in what she is calling “1973 Poetry Reading Style”. (There will be drums).
Hey Hey! Disney’s putting Captain EO back in Disneyland for a limited run.
Money. Whores.
Isn’t Christmas all about whores? I figure Mrs. Clause doesn’t put out enough, since the item at the top of Santa’s Christmas list is Ho’s
Lunch was good but I can’t spend all my time here. I really have things to do before more company comes at dinner time.
Jeremy from Seattle: Very nice!
I guess around this time of year, the tumbleweeds are made of holly. Fa la la la yeah.
Safe and happy travels to all of you on the road.
Lots of good links today. Star Wars Weather = Full of Win!
An unexpected delivery arrived from Think Geek today. One of you North Pole folk wouldn’t know anything about that, eh?
At last, I have Ewallet in a handheld format once again. I had been using it’s predecessor, Flexwallet, going back to my PocketPC days. It looks like there’s never going to be a Palm Pre version (and it looks like the company has also dropped support for the old Palm OS as well).
But, my Touch runs apps, don’t ya know! I feel a moment of geeky bliss upon me.
Think Geek is the funnest store, but I’m not your DPSS, Ed.
We bought Catan today at the game store, and Disney Scene It for the girls. Fun shopping day!
Uploading a mega bonus episode of Wander Radio -
Only available through the feed until Saturday… Reason it has spoilers.
Currently curled up on the couch with a warthog in my hand (it’s a beer), listening to my hubby channel his inner Pantera. This is what holidays should be. *contented sigh*
This is truly the season of warthogs and “Vulgar Display of Power”
Spork, haha!
Midnight nachos are made of win.
Poetry from the 80′s? *MY* poetry? Scary.
“Im late! Im late! For a very important date! No time to say hello! goodbye! Im late! Im late! Im late!” (For the holidays. I’m srsly never going to be ready in time)
If I remember correctly, one of my teenage poems started
Black, black, heart attack
And continued slipping down after that.
/slips
/falls on ass
Nomad! How many times have I told you not to just leave your black heart lying out on the floor like that! It’s slippery!
Ed if your tempted to raise the stakes and stump up a few bucks for apps then searchbon the app store for:
Flight Control
Harbour Master
Geodefense
Geospark
The last two look very retro whilst new.
Hmmm. They look like they’d make the perfect stocking stuffer … (hint,hint)
The house guest arrived last night.
His memory is going (had to be shown where his bedroom was several times) and she wants to tell me endless depressing stories of how bad his memory is getting.
The only slightly amusing part is when she is telling me how bad his memory is and she repeats a story she just told me 20 minutes ago.
*sigh*
Alzheimer’s sucks.
Certainly does JJ, Condolences on what is to come..it’s not an easy journey.
Morning Pan!
Off to visit my grandmother today! I’m bringing her a cake, some jams and homemade gingerbread cookies. Maybe I should be wearing a red hood?
Ugh! Teenage self inflicted poetry. I hate to admit it but I still have some of mine. They included little aliens in pink pajamas. I was a very strange little girl.
You don’t bunny?
I also remember doing a silly, trying to be depressing Sci Fi Christmas poem.
I’m going to see if I can find it. Then you’ll see how a strange teenage bunny’s mind works
No Wolf, my hood is brown
Just stopping by to say HI before I start catching up.
If you don’t see me for a while, it’s probably either catchup time, or work got busy… Again…
Morning pan, I’m actually being productive today. I have gotten 4 servers updated and cleaned along with the fans and power supplies for the blade server rack. I was amazed by the amount of metal shavings found in there.
No, Japan.
Japan, NO!
http://www.toplessrobot.com/2008/06/super_terrific_japane_thing_elder_porn.php
I think we need more retro-hokey teenage poetry. Or Rhettro hokey.
I have one bad, angsty, free-verse poem I wrote when I was a teenager that I’m pretty ashamed of. I also have several metered poems that I’m pretty proud of.
I think we’re setting up a new Deadpan segment. Actually, I think Cj already set it up for us.
If my folder of godawful teenage poems still exists, then it’s somewhere back in my old NJ room.
I suppose this was inevitable, after the Star wars one:
http://www.collegehumor.com/article:1796048
Go with it Lo Pan, people are living longer these days..
I will not go with anything that makes me watch 75 year olds do the dirty.
Jack I liked the SW one better but theres some good lotr lolz there
But Lo Pan, aren’t you thousands of years old?
What am I getting blamed for now?
Yeah, I’ll call in and read my bad old poetry. Suddenly trying to remember if I actually showed that to one of you now.
Good gawd, it’s truly awful
WNDRWolf: Your show played flawlessly, and was a magnificent compilation! Well done, sir!
The downside of grinding your favorite coffee beans at home:
Coffee-shop coffee tastes worse than ever.
Thank you JN – I think I may have figured out that particular problem…
Oh Jack, but I dont look a day over 28. Its the black blood… does wonders for the skin.
It rubs the black blood on its skin or else it gets the-
OK, that’s just gross.
It rubs the home-ground coffee beans on its skin or else it gets the hose again.
Hey everyone,
The Holidaze have me hellabusy at the moment. Preparing for a 15 hour car to Dorthy’s house “aka Kansas” tomorrow.
Rhett – dont do it. Nothing good comes from Kansas.
Coffee skin!!!!! Jack you have a dark streak….
OMFG! The Hit Girl themed red band trailer for Kick-Ass is up…. so….wonderful… and nsfw
http://www.toplessrobot.com/2009/12/hit-girl_has_a_potty_mouth.php
Happy and safe Holidaze travel to you and the family, Rhett. I got your back if anyone complains that Nevermore isn’t Christmas music.
C -95 til we hit the goal of 500…
Weird here, they say a huge winter storm is bearing down on us, travel may be tough on Friday.
Totally doesn’t seem like it. We only have a 45 min. drive to my folks’ house Friday.morning, and I have no idea wht that drive will be like…
There is a huge storm rolling into town. The thunder just shook my house.
The above is not poetry.
Off to work I go – in the rain.
Great article about Martin Brodeur’s career (yes, I know I’m the only one who cares):
http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/Brodeur-clutches-history-traps-NHL-shutout-reco?urn=nhl,210273
Bad poetry? Seriously? I’ve got tons.
For Sooth.
For the record:
The Gamers: Dorkness Rising
Is some funny.
Shout out to Wolf, do you have someone with the initials DJG on your FB friends list?
And for some bad poetry, let’s take a brief tour inside the songs that run through my head now and again…
I wear my sunglasses at night
so I can…
so I can…
blame it on the rain
Yeah, yeah.
Here comes the rain, again.
falling on my head like a memory
falling on my head like a new emotion.
Here it comes again,
here it comes again.
Red rain is falling down,
Red rain,
Red rain is pouring down,
Pouring down all over me.
Hanging around, nothing to do but frown
Rainy days and Mondays always get me down.
Tell me why
I don’t like Mondays.
Tell me why
I don’t like Mondays.
I want to shoot the whole day down.
Twenty-twenty-twenty-four hours to go,
I want to be sedated.
Nothing to do and no where to go
I want to be sedated.
There’s lots of pretty pretty ones
They want to get you high,
But all the pretty pretty ones
Will leave you low, and blow your mind.
I want a new drug.
One that does what it should.
One that won’t make me feel too bad;
One that won’t make me feel too good.
Can you take me high enough
to fly me over yesterday?
Can you take me high enough?
I’m so glad that I know more than I knew then.
Gonna keep on tryin’ till I reach the highest ground.
Anymore Anymore Cannot take it anymore
Got to get away from this stone cold floor.
Nowhere to look but inside
where we all respond to
Pressure
You just blew Lo Pan’s mind.
Lo Pan, you might point out that today is Tuesday…
Every day is Monday to Lo Pan.
OMFG indeed! Kick-Ass is not a misnomer!
I KNOW RIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Theres more.. lemme find for you…
BAH the rest got taken down by the studio. Anywho safe to say theres not a movie I’m looking forward to more next year.
JfS is that a beatbox in your pocket or are you… you know.
BTW Lejon… you lost Lo Pan after Damn Yankees. For shame, sir.
Let’s just say that there isn’t anything in my pocket. *hubba-hubba*
Penis jokes FTW!
Lejon, that was teh excellent!
Wait, a beatbox in your pocket? Just don’t scratch.
Ever scratch yourself until you have a hole in your bag?
Alright, the LOTR FB string was pretty good. Not quite as impactful as the Star Wars ones as that stuff just runs in our blood. But, still pretty good.
So….fucking….gooooooooooood
http://www.google.com/url?q=http://s0.ilike.com/play%23Faith%2BNo%2BMore:Everything's%2BRuined:137988:s6334327.9519158.56513.0.2.144%252Cstd_4a0cc81ef2a34a3b836b19c45fae44de&ei=AKMxS6OGGoG1tgeXyISACQ&sa=X&oi=music_play_track&resnum=1&ct=result&cd=2&ved=0CAgQ0wQoADAA&usg=AFQjCNFMcnU9I8YoKl523PMz_o5D9c7fBQ
We were so happy…
Things worked out better than we had planned
Capital from boy, woman and man
We were like ink and paper
Numbers on a calculator
Knew arithmetic so well
Working overtime
Completed what was assigned
We had to multiply ourselves
A bouncing little baby
A shiny copper penny
And he spent himself
Would not listen to us
But when he lost his appetite
He lost his weight in friends
Baby became a fat nickel so fast
Then came puberty
Exponentially
Soon our boy became a million
People loved him so
And helped him to grow
Everyone knew the thing that was best
Of course, he must invest
A penny won’t do
But he made us proud
He made us rich
But how were we to know
He’s counterfeit
Now everything’s ruined
bah! bad link. this:
http://s0.ilike.com/play#Faith+No+More:Everything's+Ruined:137988:s6334327.9519158.56513.0.2.144%2Cstd_4a0cc81ef2a34a3b836b19c45fae44de
The sting of black heart/blood nipples left me with an ear to ear grin. Rah.
Me Dammit!!!! THIS LINK FOR REAL!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5irHyoRNcRY
Erm, stRing. Though sting is good too.
no really… greatest song and vid ever. deal with Lo Pan’s wrath if you dont agree. or dont.
Well, look there, tis a Lo Pan. Hello Lo Pan of the Deadpan.
Its me! Wait is yous gone?
I’m WAY gone.
Jack: Yep, this definitely sounds like a new Deadpan segment. :-)
Lejon: Around here, we call that string of lyrics you just posted a “lyrics mash.” Lyrics mashes have appeared as Deadpan segments before, and that one would make a great one. If you’d like to submit one, all you have to do is record yourself reading your string of lyrics – not singing, just reading – and submit it. :-)
I had a very successful day of Christmas shopping today! (Yes, I put off shopping for family until the last minute. -_-; ) Two of the three presents I got are already wrapped and under the tree, the other one still needs to be made.
Morning Pan, last work day before Xmas. Just got to get through today and then I can avoid the festive madness for three days.
Amy speaks the truth. The lyricsmash segments were always fun; I’d hate to think their time has come and gone. Lejon, consider yourself encouraged to record that, if you have the time and inclination.
Lo Pan- I never knew they’d made an actual video for “Everything’s Ruined”! Brilliant song, brilliant album, brilliant band.
Goodnight, Mike Patton.
No, seriously… it’s not Wednesday night?
Smack
Crash
Stupid wall
aaaaaagh!
Oh wait.
So get this. I can’t post to the deadpan from work but I found a way to read comments. RSS Feeds are made of win. Sooooo… at least I’m not completely out in the cold.
Tho… I am lonely now with the nobody to talk to thing.
boo hoo
OK – I’m just fake crying. Can’t pull one over on all y’all can I?
I seem to have misplaced a box of Kleenex. on.. it’s under the tree. Why is it there? I’d go get it but I have my stupid knee propped up with a hotpad right now. It rained today and aggravated my old age.
Cj – I tend towards being/getting confused, so I catch up on the daily nips via Google Reader (having plugged the DP RSS in quite a while ago). It neatly takes care of wondering if I’ve already read everything or not.
Did I just get moderated?
Huh. No, I just made a missing post. Okay. Fine. Let’s try this again.
Reading womics.
Timewaster extraordinaire.
(That’s the missing post.)
BTW:
http://dailycostume.com/images/noadmission.jpg
25 min to go.
Morning pan. Going in for a half day. The long weekend beckons. Hopefully going to find time to catch Avatar and the new Sherlock Holmes sometime between the festivities.
FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDOM
Heh! this isn’t Sparta…