We are going on vacation! On June 14th, me and Mrs. SignalNoise fly out of (lovely) O'Hare for a (too brief) stay in San Francisco! We'll be there from the evening of the 14th to the morning of the 18th - which ain't long. But it's all we can afford/all we can get off of work. We actually haven't been on a *real* vacation since...
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On Sunday, we went to The Arcade Fire show at the (historic) Chicago Theater. I think to describe it as a "rocking time" would be a vast, poor understatement. It was really one of the finest shows I've seen in a while - it was one of those fantastic shows where the audience was having a great time and the folks on stage seemed to...
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toothpickmoe:
I hope my own wife has as good a time when she sees them here.
esme:
I imagine you're joking...but why on earth would you marry someone who doesn't like fun? 
Random update! Sort of a "what's been what with me" as of late:
So, I'm home alone this weekend. My wife's sister (my sister-in-law, a phrase that still sounds odd to my ears) is in high school. In her biotech class, it came up that my wife had an MA in biology, worked as a lab tech, and now is in pharmacy school. Since my...
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So, I'm home alone this weekend. My wife's sister (my sister-in-law, a phrase that still sounds odd to my ears) is in high school. In her biotech class, it came up that my wife had an MA in biology, worked as a lab tech, and now is in pharmacy school. Since my...
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akirali:
As per usual, my borderline ADHD has prevented me from reading your whole entry. I will say thought, that I've been meaning to check out Havoc for a while 
As for why we don't get that same sort of inventiveness and creativity in the movies vs in comics: not only are movies more expensive, they are mass market. By their very nature, comics are niche products. People that read comics are much more invested in them because its not like you and your friends can go down to the corner multiplex and check out 20 different comics along with a packed house. Because you have to kinda work at getting comics in the first place, readers can tend to be more accepting of change. Besides, we've been conditioned to accept the change because most of these stories have been continuously told since before WWII. Change is a constant in the industry, just to stay relevant and fresh. I'm sure if my grand kids are getting new Star Wars movies, they'll look different from A New Hope.
As for why we don't get that same sort of inventiveness and creativity in the movies vs in comics: not only are movies more expensive, they are mass market. By their very nature, comics are niche products. People that read comics are much more invested in them because its not like you and your friends can go down to the corner multiplex and check out 20 different comics along with a packed house. Because you have to kinda work at getting comics in the first place, readers can tend to be more accepting of change. Besides, we've been conditioned to accept the change because most of these stories have been continuously told since before WWII. Change is a constant in the industry, just to stay relevant and fresh. I'm sure if my grand kids are getting new Star Wars movies, they'll look different from A New Hope.
akirali:
To elaborate:
They tried to shove way too much into the movie and the ending just came off as slapdash and rushed. Also, I've never liked Tobey or Kirstin in the movies, and the fact that Topher Grace and James Franco stole the movie from them just made matters worse.
They tried to shove way too much into the movie and the ending just came off as slapdash and rushed. Also, I've never liked Tobey or Kirstin in the movies, and the fact that Topher Grace and James Franco stole the movie from them just made matters worse.
So, I'm sick. I'm trying to write, and I'm not sure what the fuck I'm talking about. This has all resulted in me shutting out the rest of the world and most of other responsibilities.
Tonight, I will bitch slap my theory section.
Tonight, I will bitch slap my theory section.
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toothpickmoe:
On the surface, at least. What happened after hours is anybody's guess.
toothpickmoe:
I have a feeling Danza was a pegger.
On Monday, I presented at a workshop. I got beat up the room, down the room, and then back across it again. It was a brutal experience. To some degree, it was *needlessly* brutal, and there were some people who really seemed to just get off on kicking the grad student's ass. That's OK. It builds character. But I really did get some good feedback....
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rickets:
I was going for Glamor Shots by Deb.
I don't know. I'm glad there was constructive stuff, but I think it's poor form to brutalize a grad student. It doesn't make for better scientists or academicians. It just scares people away.
I don't know. I'm glad there was constructive stuff, but I think it's poor form to brutalize a grad student. It doesn't make for better scientists or academicians. It just scares people away.
toothpickmoe:
Sounds like you've got quite a few things to fall back on.
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emperor_norton:
Glad to be back.
"Coffee and Pie, Oh My!"
Nice quote.
"Coffee and Pie, Oh My!"
Nice quote.
gainsbarre68:
Thanks, I will. Not much travel, I'm afraid, but I'm going to be in Germany, so I guess that's something. Once I get there I'll stay put and do research, at least until July.
Classical Text Editor is something that's in heavy use in Medieval Studies. Along with Tuestep, it's one of the two main programs for putting together a critical edition with the attendant apparatus. On the Cusanus edition we used Tuestep (developed in Tuebigen) but CTE was developed by Austrians at the Medieval Center in Wien. It's the better of the two, I think, insofar as you can teach yourself how to use it. With Tuestep you really need a course to learn it.
Classical Text Editor is something that's in heavy use in Medieval Studies. Along with Tuestep, it's one of the two main programs for putting together a critical edition with the attendant apparatus. On the Cusanus edition we used Tuestep (developed in Tuebigen) but CTE was developed by Austrians at the Medieval Center in Wien. It's the better of the two, I think, insofar as you can teach yourself how to use it. With Tuestep you really need a course to learn it.
So E told me to take a year's worth of courses on GIS (fancy map making skills!).
Now E tells me that he's "not sure maps prove anything - they're really just illustrative."
This is a battle that is just beginning to brew.
Also: I'm pretty sure I need to learn to fake network analysis, and that's not going to be fun.
Now E tells me that he's "not sure maps prove anything - they're really just illustrative."
This is a battle that is just beginning to brew.
Also: I'm pretty sure I need to learn to fake network analysis, and that's not going to be fun.
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obd:
so you need maps with pie charts & graphs?
toothpickmoe:
Is there any other kind?
Deep down, I'm an optimist about human beings. We do lots of annoying stuff, like you know sometimes marginalizing the pain of our fellow human beings, but really our capacity to live together and cooperate is generally astounding. Last night, I was flipping channels and stopped on Wildboyz for a second (seriously - stick with me here for a second), which is the Jackass spin-off...
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emilygee:
Super!
I'm doing research in the R.R. Donnelley archive this quarter and over the summer -- it's housed in Special Collections at the Reg. Of late, I've been down in HP on Wednesdays and Fridays -- I could meet up for coffee (starting the following week as I'm dirt broke right now) in the morning or after 5PM. Let me know what would work best for you.
Hope to finally meet IRL.
I'm doing research in the R.R. Donnelley archive this quarter and over the summer -- it's housed in Special Collections at the Reg. Of late, I've been down in HP on Wednesdays and Fridays -- I could meet up for coffee (starting the following week as I'm dirt broke right now) in the morning or after 5PM. Let me know what would work best for you.
Hope to finally meet IRL.
ckdexterhaven:
Well, i think it's either one of two things. Now that he has his own show (which is really good, by the way), where he isn't required to be the token conservative (like he was on Crossfire), he's much more comfortable expressing his independent views. Or it could be that he's just a fucking hypocrite, who is taking advantage of an unpopular war and an unpopular President to bash the Republican party to make himself look better. After all, when the war propaganda machine was in full strength, Tucker wasn't exactly looking at it with a critical eye (as Pat Buchanan was, for example). I'm leaning towards the former.
Editing is both one of the most frustrating and most rewarding things that I do.
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toothpickmoe:
X-Files movie part 2 is a go!
prophetnoise:
Long lost deviant siblings?????
So, this weekend I attended the Midwest Political Science Association's yearly meeting. This is not particularly heroic, since it's only a bus ride away (at the quite gorgeous but very creepy Palmer House Hotel on State Street) and I only went up on Friday. So it goes (I had to work this in to commemorate Kurt Vonnegut - he was one of my favorites).
First,...
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First,...
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toothpickmoe:
No, you sound like someone who is pretty well immersed in what they're doing. Wait, is that the definition of an obsessive freak? 
spamtwo:
I don't use names I just refer to them as designers and developers, mostly it's just designers
I'll probably check it out the next time I go to Rotofugi.
You went THERE, right?
My regular comic book store is Brainstorm Comics, over there on North Ave.