Updates

Just thought I'd check in with my adoring fans after another unfortunate hiatus and realized that I left you all with a major cliffhanger last time!  I can totally talk about that thing now.  It was my privilege to work on The Driving Dead, a really cool series of PSAs for IDOT starring the one and only Michael Rooker, who you may know from such films and series as Days of Thunder, Tombstone, Cliffhanger, and the ever popular The Walking Dead, not to mention Guardians of the Galaxy.  Obviously he's a very good and very versatile actor and he was fantastic to work with.

Here's a picture of he and I goofing around on set.  He has a lot of stories, let me tell you.  And between takes or while setting up for a shoot he is a fun guy to be around.

Here's a more "formal" picture of us.  It was a blast hanging out with him for a couple of days.  So glad I was able to take off work those days.  The first two episodes are up and more are to come, so head over to The Driving Dead and check it out!  I'd challenge you to see if you can spot me, but I'm pretty well hidden.  I can point out where I am, but otherwise no one would probably ever know.



And in other news, I have a shameless plug for a comic site I peruse on a semi-regular basis.  If you use the link and buy something, you'll get $5 off your first order and I'll get a $5 credit to my account, which is nice.  So the site is Comixology and it's actually a really neat site for comic junkies who can't get enough, although if you have a lack of self control it could get dangerous for you, based on the availability of so many comics.  Click on the link and get us both $5!

How time flies

So it's been almost a year again since my last post.  That's a little depressing.  What's even worse is I can't think of much to mention to get you up to date with me.  I guess that means you're up to date.  Some great movies and games have come and gone.  I've watched and played some of them.  I probably enjoyed them.

Oh, that reminds me.  I got into Sherlock (a while ago now) and it's awesome!  Still waiting for the next season, though.  And between that, Star Trek:  Into Darkness, and The Hobbit, I've discovered that I really like Benedict Cumberbatch.  He's quite versatile and very good.  I also revisited the show Fringe and my girlfriend and I have really been enjoying watching that together.  Thanks to our friends who let us borrow the first two seasons!  You know who you are.

There is one other thing I really want to mention.  However, I've been sworn to secrecy for the time being.  Suffice it to say that I've been helping some friends of mine with a project and I've enjoyed working on it thoroughly.  I'll be able to expound on it further soon, I think.  But for now, just be satisfied in knowing that there will be another post in the near future that will include something actually interesting.  I thought about posting a teaser photo to whet your appetite, but I probably shouldn't.  So what you get is a teaser of a teaser.  I'm such a tease!

StreetPass

I think I may have an addiction.  An unhealthy attachment to StreetPassing.  You might call it an obsession.  I carry it with me in case I come across someone else using it, make special trips to places I know people are using it, and make sure to get my steps in every day.  It's harmless, I know, but ridiculous all the same.  I know it, AfroRyan knows it, several friends know it.  Curse you, Nintendo for making such an addictive little mini-game!  I love it for some reason!  I would like to point out that the browser on the 3DS sucks, though.  If you're watching, Nintendo, if you could fix that, it would be great.

Interfacing

I've been wondering for a while why my Twitter feed hasn't been updating down there on the side.  I finally got around to figuring out what the problem was.  Apparently there have been changes in the programming of Twitter and how you link things and a bunch of technical rigamarole, but it looks like I got it fixed.  And all by myself!  (If you don't count Google searching and walk-throughs)  Not sure why it was so important for my feed to be on this page, but it was.

Ever get back from lunch at work and need to use the bathroom, but someone else just went in and you know you don't want to go in there immediately after what they've just done, but you need to do the same thing?  Yeah, I don't like that situation.  Hopefully I've waited long enough now.

Beautiful Monsters

This month on A Blue Shelf And...

When I'm waiting for programs to do what I told them to do at work, sometimes I do Google searches to find neat pictures.  I believe I explained that in a previous post.  Anyway, being a child of the late 80s and 90s, there are some old tv shows that I remember vividly with very fond feelings.  When I find a great artist who re-imagines the characters of the show and makes me want to watch it all over again, I am very appreciative.  As I am not one such artist, I can't do such a thing myself, but I'm going to point out a couple of greats that I've found recently that just made my day.  My apologies in advance for the fact that they'll all be in a line from top to bottom.  I'm still working on how to do this better and since I don't do it often, I'm not getting much practice.

These Gargoyles pics can be found at immarart.deviantart.com, formerly digitaltofu.deviantart.com and I think they're just fantastic.

Following in the same vein, these Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles pics can be found at davidrapozaart.deviantart.com and they are likewise fantastic.

Both artists have a host of other work that is well worth a look.  I would definitely recommend them both.  I'm thinking we need to do some reboots of old shows and hire these guys to do their stuff.  Darker and even more awesome versions of already awesome concepts.  Enjoy!

October News

Looks like I skipped over September and most of October.  No matter.  I blog when I want!  Anyhoozle, I've been getting into this whole fantasy football thing and I have to say I am not very good at it.  Either that or I'm not paying close enough attention to stay on top of it.  Nevertheless, I'm ranked last in my league at the moment.  Granted that's the first time I've been in last by myself, but still, I don't like being last.  Not sure what I'm gonna do about it.  Probably nothing.

In other news, our gathering of the Church does these small groups called home teams.  I've wanted to get into one for a long time, but due to work (mostly) or other obligations I've never had the time to do it until recently.  I must say I'm loving it.  We're about to kick off our Trunk or Treat event we do at Halloween every year and I'm pretty pumped about what my home team is doing.  Given that several people in our team are in the praise band, we're naturally doing a music-themed "trunk".  I use that term loosely because I don't know that we have a trunk so much as a stage, band, and dining area, complete with tables and servers.  The characters I know will be in the band include Steven Tyler (myself), Han Solo (one of our guitar players/singers), and Billy Ray Cyrus (our drummer).  Oh, and did I mention the whole event will be taking place inside our new building?  That's right, we are driving cars inside our new building to do the event indoors (before we get it all refinished).  Could be a logistical nightmare, but it's gonna be awesome.  I'll try to get some pictures posted sometime.  They'll probably be all over facebook.

I've also been taking a systematic theology class taught by our lead pastor.  That's been a blast.  There's a lot of information to go over.  I didn't really need more homework, since I don't always get the stuff for school done, but at least this is meaningful.  And I've gotten to know several people at our campus quite a bit better, which is cool.

There, I posted in October.  I make no promises regarding frequency of posts in the near or distant future.  Here's my current desktop background at work:

 

Fan Service

I was determined not to have only one post in the month of August, so I just saved myself.  Basically while I'm waiting for a program to open at work I took the opportunity to drop my fans a line or two.  Just letting you know I'm thinking about you.  *cheezy smile and wink*

 

Do you feel the love?

Secretariat

I had a few thoughts I wanted to post about, but the only one coming to mind right now is the following:  what is the root word of the term "secretary?"  Is is secret?  Is it safe?  -lol-  Is it secrete?  Is it something else I haven't thought of yet?  If it's secret, that seems to be a bit of a dubious title, like secret-keeper.  That would lend credence to the thought that the boss is of an underhanded or double-dealing sort and the secretary is privy to all the inner machinations of his/her plans.  If it's secrete, that's just a disgusting way of saying that the person creates or discharges effort, paperwork, reports, emails, bodily fluids, what have you.  And in both cases the same can be said of the term "secretariat."

On an entirely unrelated note, I think I may add some gifs to my page to animate it a little.  That sounds like a fun time.  I don't know what, though.  I really don't want to trash up the place, which happens when you overdo it.  That doesn't sound like fun at all.  That sounds more like a bout of influenza gets hold of my blog and fires from two settings very undesirable solutions of matter all over it.  I'll say one thing; there won't be a bunch of glittery ponies or vampires or hot mamas.  It's gonna stay nice and nerdy, the way I want it.  Probably old video game sprites or something.  Maybe something else.  Maybe nothing.  It all depends on what I can find.  I need to get my computer and external hard drive back.  Might have something on there I could use.  Ok, lunch break's over.  Back to work.

Realizations

I just realized a few things about my blog.  One is that the last post is really long with the pictures in it.  Another is that I never posted whether or not I enjoyed The Watchmen...which I did.  It seems like there was something else, something other than the fact that some of the links on the side have changed since I was posting regularly, but as it often does, it escapes me.  It's not as though I was holding it captive, though, so I'm not sure why it felt the need to escape.  It's free to come and go as it pleases.  And just like that, I'm back in the groove of posting spontaneous thoughts.  Unfortunately, it is at this time that I have been given another task (finally).  So work before play, which according to the old proverb will make me (or at least Jack) a dull boy.  Such is life.  To war! -- I mean work!

Steampunk Abounds

Today's post is choc ful of pictures and let me preface the post with this statement:  I did not create any of the images or the contents therein.  I was just too lazy and forgetful to include where I found all the images.  You can find them if you do a Google search for steampunk, though.
Anyway, I was aware of a steampunk subculture, but I guess I never really thought about how widespread it was until recently.  I found all kinds of hits when I did my search (I frequently like to Google search random stuff) and thought I'd share some of the ones I found more interesting.

We've got Star Wars cosplay and art.

Here's a Portal piece.

I didn't recognize this one right away, but it's Ghostbusters.

 A different take on Alice in Wonderland.

This Scarecrow seems like steampunk with a little zombie thrown in.

I literally did a double take on this X-Men shot.

Apparently this Iron Man was the Marvel Costume Contest Winner at New York Comic Con 2010 and deservingly so, I say.

Some helmets made by individuals who certainly love steampunk.

 Then we get into the more "practical" applications.  From what I can tell from the sites, all these devices actually work.  The Game Boy appears to be just a standard paint and mod job, but really cool.  The flash drive is even for sale if you want it on Etsy, but the price I saw for the 8GB was $125.  While it's completely waterproof, that's still kinda pricy.

 This iPhone case is also for sale on Ebay with a starting price of $195.  Still neat.

Perhaps one of my favorite discoveries is this guy.  At sillof.com he has loads of reimagined characters in action figure form.  Most of them are Star Wars, but then he has comic book characters as well.  Personally, I love it, but I'm kindof an action figure nut.

Here we have the heroes,

the bounty hunters,

and the villains, all in steampunk form.

 Then there's the Justice League heroes

and villains.

And finally here's the Avengers.

And of course, there are lots of popular steampunk-influenced movies out there like Around the World in 80 Days, Hellboy, Van Helsing, Sherlock Holmes, Howle's Moving Castle, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Illusionist, and of course, possibly the poster child of steampunk movies, Wild Wild West, not to mention tv shows, to my knowledge, most prominently anime, and some video games.

So briefly, I know I'm not discovering anything new; that's not the point of the post or the blog in general.  I just thought the varied and widespread nature of the steampunk movement was rather interesting, especially since the genre itself is so neat, as well as the sister-genres of clockpunk and dieselpunk.  I was not as thrilled by biopunk.  It seems a little gross.

So that's my Google adventure for the day.  Neato torpedo!  Lol, and Trapjaw!