I have a feeling I'm going to strongly identify with this movie.
From FAINTHEART ON MYSPACE: "Faintheart is a hilarious and heartwarming British romantic comedy set in the world of Viking battle re-enactments"
Yep, that's definitely British humor. Looks like it'll be released in the UK February 2009. Maybe us Americans will get it this spring too?
My new hero is Randall Munroe. I've been reading his online comic for a while, because I figure as long as I continue to get the jokes, I'll be able to claim higher than average intelligence. It's comedy that makes you smart.
XKCD.com is all done with stick figures, yet it's action-packed and intelligently funny. But it's also occasionally really vulgar (you were warned) and sometimes so painfully obscure I find myself searching online for clues about whatever he referenced that went over my head.
I've thought for a while that Mr. Munroe has an anachronistic streak, noting such comics as Tabletop Roleplaying and Open Source. But now he has proved himself as a most worthy cartographer with his latest comic effort, this Map of Online Communities.
I'll point out an extra 'easter egg' as well. Each comic contains a message within the metadata of the file. This one reads: "I'm waiting for the day when, if you tell someone 'I'm from the internet', instead of laughing they just ask 'oh, what part?'
He really goes the extra mile to make sure your XKCD experience is rich and exciting!
His other Map of the Internet isn't quite as pretty as this one, but it's certainly worth a look if you have ever been curious as to how IP addresses might look if mapped out on a plane using fractal mapping that preserves grouping.
Wow, don't you feel smarter already?
An unholy partnership has occurred while my back was turned. It seems that Wizards of the Coast has created a MySpace account for Dungeons and Dragons.
I've visited a few times now to see how fast they are growing their 'friends' list (about 1d6 per day so far) and to keep an eye on the ads. It seems Wizards has cast a spell of banner ad summoning on MySpace so that only D&D related ads show up on their page. What arcane magic is this?
Oh. Hmmm. I just tried again and there is a rather normal ad now. MySpace must have made their saving throw this time.
Well in any case, if you are a fan of D&D and have a MySpace account, you should add yourself, if only to have it show on your pages' group list. Then everyone will know just how much of an ubergeek you are.
Personally, I'm going to farm the photos for the ever popular "webcam shot of skinny shirtless guys with swords" images. You know, in case I need a laugh...
Today I read that World of Warcraft has officially reached 8 million members. And Second Life has breached 2.5 million; when did that happen?
Also today, the SCA Group on MySpace turned 4000! That's more than 10% of the paid membership of the SCA (approximately 30,000 paid members).
My SCA MySpace group has swelled in size over the last couple of months. It is now over 2,500 members. Because of moderating the group, I get all kinds of messages, requests and forwards. But one of the most horrible things about MySpace (even though most of it is fun) is the 'story chain letters'. One person starts a story, and the next adds a few words, and so on...
I usually just delete stuff like this, but I realized that I pretty much lived this story so far at Estrella War last February.
I have decided to start a 3 word story, lets keep it SCA related and for those who dont know what SCA is then just keep it Medieval related like knights, horses, kings etc. so come on!!! War is coming lets get geared up and play ^_~ Copy and paste into a new bulletin with your 3 words at the bottom !!!
No Sh*# there I Was:
1. I had Just - Julie
2. Finished Killing the - Gunther *G.E.R.*
3. Fighter from lame - Sammy
4. Then drank Bane - Magical lol
5. All Night Long ~ Dargo
6. even though my ~ Bishy
7. bottle of Rum ~Krusty
8. was almost empty ~ madihah
9. and my Pants ~ Patrick
10. were on the flagpole ~ Meriam
11. In drunken bewilderment ~ Mhari
12. I staggered to ~ Rick
13. a Nightwolf Party ~ Fonda
14.To Hunt pirates~Jessika star butt
15: and drink mead ~ Carrie
I'll keep an eye on this chain and see if it gets funnier....
Another thing learned from MySpace today: Where to go to protest HBO for cancelling Deadwood: SAVEDEADWOOD.NET
Where is the time going? It's almost summer! Event season is almost here. Looks like only an act of God will allow me to get to Grand Outlandish this year. I may as well just plan for Crossroads instead.
It's all about the income. Or lack thereof. Especially when the 'experts' are predicting that the price of gas will be $3 a gallon at least over Memorial Day weekend. Seeing as how my poor old event van gets only 17 miles to the gallon, well...you do the math. It's too depressing for me.
Long gone are the days when I could use my disposable income to fund my SCA life. Now it's the choice between event money or groceries. I really need a job that pays more than $12 an hour.
Sigh. You know you have too much disposable income when you trick out your car with oriental carpet mats. Personally, I would if I could...
By the way, if you haven't visited my MySpace profile lately, I added a slide show of Estrella War photos.
Also of note on MySpace is the SCA group I started waaaay back when MySpace was just a teeny blip on the radar screen instead of the social networking behemoth it is today. More than 2000 SCA'ers have joined the group and are, for the most part, behaving themselves. Knock on wood.
In other news, I've just gotten Sid Meier's Pirates for PC, and it looks like it will suck away many, many hours of my precious time.
At least I'll be able to pretend I'm accumulating disposable income by looting ships and plundering ports.
Arrr, mateys!
It has been over TWO WEEKS since my last confession. No, I'm not a recovering Catholic, I just thought that sounded like a nice opening line.
Boy, time sure flies when you are moving an hour away. I feel really bad I haven't kept up with the headlines, but honestly, not much has happened in the SCA lately. Well, other than Sir Bela Kos winning Outlands Crown Tournament and a run down to Dragonsspine for "Shake the Midwinter Blues."
So, my SCA life is on hold until I can get all my garb unpacked. Looks like I won't be making it to Feast of Fools this weekend, either. The truck for the last big furniture trip to Denver comes on Saturday morning. After that I'll be waaaaay too pooped to even consider driving over 2 hours for an event.
Well, here's the list of amazing things I found online in the last couple of weeks.
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Kitemitsu.org has some FABULOUS Estrella War photos
Run by a fellow MySpacer "Kitemitsu Daikatsu" , this site has a wealth of down and dirty battle shots. Even a few Outlanders! Check out Kitemitsu.org and select "Pictures" from the menu...
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Geoffrey Chaucer Hath A Blog
Boy, is Middle English a tongue twister. Chaucer's Blog is a bit tedious on the eyes, but whoever is writing this blog is funny. And has way too much free time.
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College Of St. Golias in the Outlands makes the news
From El Defensor Chieftain.com:
A battle from the Middle Ages rages in Socorro almost every Saturday.
New Mexico Tech serves as home to the College of St. Golias, a group that studies and practices the customs of medieval times as part of the international Society for Creative Anachronism Inc.
Recently, members of the group traveled to Phoenix for a competition and won with their kingdom, the largest geographical division in the society. (read more)
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I remember racing home from school so I wouldn't miss a single minute of Star Blazers. This was my very first exposure to an animation style that would later be dubbed "Anime" and end up reaching cult status.One of my friends online, whom I know only as AW71, posted a story on the SCA group that I moderate on MySpace. It was so great that I asked if I could share it with you on this blog, so here it is.
Dateline, 31 January 2003, somewhere in the sands of Kuwait.
It is cold, the wind hasn't stopped blowing, and sand is everywhere. It's difficult to breathe, let alone see. The first chance I get, I think to myself, I'm calling home and having my lady send me a liripipe.
For those that don't know what a "liripipe" is, it's a 13th century English garment. It's a hood with a long cloth tail that can be used to wrap around your neck and face when it gets cold.
I call her and make my request. Not only does she send me a sand-camouflage-colored liripipe, she sends me five extra ones...just enough for the soldiers in my crew. All of us don them, and the liripipes did the trick. Next thing I know, I'm getting requests from everyone in our tent for one....including many of the officers, and higher-ranking NCO's. My wife sews 30 of them and sends them out.
I sell them for five bucks each, and they are quickly the rave of Camp Udairi. The batallion commander and batallion sergeant major then requested one, and after that, they gave out the instructions for proper wear of the liripipe; to be worn correctly or not at all....worn with head gear at all times, so as not to be taken for the enemy....tuck the outer portion inside the shirt so the rank is not covered.
Pretty cool that a garment over 800 years old made its way back to present day use!
Anachronisms ROCK! Thanks AW71, and thanks for playing in that big dangerous sandbox for us...
PS: Join MySpace, it's free and there's a ton of geeks just like you on there.
I had some friends who convinced me last year to put a profile on MySpace.com, so that we could all email each other, put up funny pictures, and meet other people who liked the same things we liked.
Well, I created a group for SCA people to gather and converse in, and it has grown to 300 people as of today. Pretty cool. People have used it to do garb research, get rides to events, discuss techniques and even poke fun at the silly stuff.
I am very impressed with the behavior of all the members. They have all been kind, chivalrous and helpful. I know that some chat rooms and groups have had trolls, flamers and people who just generally want to stir stuff up, and I'm grateful that I haven't had to ban one single person from posting.
Of course, now that I've said that, Murphy's Law will kick in anytime....
Anyway, sign up on MySpace.com. It's free, a gigantic time suck, and the people are cool!
